Middle East

PoliticsMechanism Meeting Faces Competing Interests and Agendas

Bassam Abou Zeid 2025-12-18 17:40 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu Lebanon Hezbollah Israel

The mechanism meeting on Friday takes place amid a series of unfolding events, beginning with the Paris meeting that set a preliminary date for the Army Support Conference in February, continuing with army operations in Yanouh in the Tyre district and videos from Toulin in the Nabatieh district, and culminating with the highly anticipated summit ...

Hezbollah’s Ammar Al-Moussawi Makes Secret Visit to Saudi Arabia

This is Beirut 2025-12-18 17:10 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hezbollah Saudi Arabia Lebanon Israel Joseph Aoun

Hezbollah official Ammar Al-Moussawi has been on a secret three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, coordinated through Turkish mediation following his trip to Istanbul for the “Al-Ahd for Jerusalem Conference,” according to Nidaa Al-Watan. Sources cited by the newspaper said the meetings focused on providing “reassurances” regarding the recent ...

US Congress Ends Syria Sanctions

This is Beirut 2025-12-18 08:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

US Congress USA Donald Trump Damascus Democrats

The US Congress on Wednesday permanently ended sanctions imposed on Syria under ousted leader Bashar al-Assad, paving the way for the return of investment to the war-ravaged nation. President Donald Trump had already twice suspended the implementation of sanctions in response to pleas from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, allies of the new government ...

Netanyahu Announces $35 Billion Gas Deal with Egypt

This is Beirut 2025-12-17 21:32 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Benjamin Netanyahu Israel Egypt Gas Energy Chevron

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he approved on Wednesday a major gas export deal with Egypt worth nearly $35 billion. "Today, I approved the largest gas deal in Israel's history. The deal is worth 112 billion shekels ($34.7 billion). Of this total, 58 billion shekels ($18 billion) will go to the state coffers," ...

AnalysisFrom Rockets to Reels: Iran and Hezbollah’s Fight for Survival through Propaganda

Salam El Zaatari 2025-12-17 18:40 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah Lebanon Israel Palestine Iran

After the 2024 Israel–Hezbollah war, Iran and its main regional proxy faced a grim reality. Hezbollah survived the war, but its top leadership had been assassinated, much of its arsenal destroyed, thousands of its fighters killed, and it was forced to retreat from south of the Litani. In response, Iran and Hezbollah have shifted from kinetic ...

Iran Refusing to Allow Independent Medical Examination of Nobel Winner

This is Beirut 2025-12-16 18:10 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Narges Mohammadi Iran

Iranian authorities are refusing to allow an independent medical examination of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi after she was beaten during her arrest last week, her family said on Tuesday. Her brother Hamid Reza Mohammadi, who lives in Norway, told reporters in Paris via video link that she had informed her other brother in Iran in a ...

AnalysisHezbollah or Iran: Who Will Fall First?

Natasha Metni Torbey 2025-12-16 11:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah Israel Tehran

Repeated Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, increasingly explicit warnings of war, signals exchanged between Tel Aviv, Tehran, and Hezbollah, and seemingly peripheral events, such as the Sydney terrorist attack and renewed scrutiny of Iran, may appear disconnected. Viewed together, they form a coherent sequence. The real issue is not escalation ...

VideosIran’s Female Bikers Push Limits

This is Beirut 2025-12-15 19:55 - Reading : less than a minute

Tehran Iran Women Motorcycles

Once riding at night to avoid scrutiny, Maryam Ghelich now teaches motorcycle riding to hundreds of Iranian women. Despite legal and social barriers, female motorcyclists are becoming increasingly visible on the streets of Tehran.

Iran Nobel Winner Narges Mohammadi Unwell after 'Violent' Arrest

This is Beirut 2025-12-15 16:57 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Iran Narges Mohammadi Nobel Prize

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi was taken to hospital twice after being violently arrested last week, her supporters said Monday, following a telephone call with the campaigner that raised concerns about her physical condition. Mohammadi, who won the 2023 Nobel Prize, was detained Friday after addressing a memorial ceremony in ...

Khamenei Adviser Affirms Iran Will 'Resolutely Support' Hezbollah

This is Beirut 2025-12-14 18:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Iran Ali Khamenei Lebanon Hezbollah

A senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader said Sunday that the country would "resolutely support" Hezbollah in the group's efforts to confront Tehran's regional foe, Israel. The remarks by Ali Akbar Velayati came as Lebanon faces pressure from the United States and Israel to disarm Hezbollah, which engaged in more than a ...

Syrian Who Killed Americans Was Part of Security Forces

This is Beirut 2025-12-14 15:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

United States Syria Palmyra U.S. Army Islamic State Group

Syria's interior ministry said Sunday the gunman who killed three Americans in the central Palmyra region the previous day was a member of the security forces who was to have been fired for extremism. Two U.S. troops and a civilian interpreter died in what the Syrian government described as a "terrorist attack" on Saturday, while Washington said ...

Hamas Says Weapons Are 'Legitimate Right', Open to Proposals That Preserve It

This is Beirut 2025-12-14 12:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hamas Gaza Israel Khalil al-Hayya

Hamas's Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said on Sunday that the militant group had a "legitimate right" to hold weapons and that any proposal for the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire must uphold that right. "Resistance and its weapons are a legitimate right guaranteed by international law and are linked to the establishment of a Palestinian state," ...