Middle East

Op-edPeace with Israel: Lebanon's Path to Economic Revival

Hussain Abdul-Hussain 2025-12-30 10:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanon Israel United Arab Emirates Baalbeck Bahrain

An unconditional peace treaty with Israel, inspired by the Abraham Accords' success, could reduce Lebanon’s security risks, unlock billions in foreign investments, revive trade, agriculture, and services, and create jobs—offering economic salvation while preserving Lebanon’s support of Palestinians. Normalization could boost Lebanon’s ...

Yemen Declares State of Emergency as Separatist Conflict Flares

This is Beirut 2025-12-30 10:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

United Arab Emirates Gulf Houthi Saudi Arabia Yemen

The leader of Yemen's presidential council declared a state of emergency and cancelled a security pact with the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday after Abu Dhabi-backed separatists seized swathes of territory. "The Joint Defence Agreement with the United Arab Emirates is hereby cancelled," a statement said, while a separate decree announced a ...

Lebanon Signs Deal to Purchase Natural Gas from Egypt

This is Beirut 2025-12-29 17:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lebanon Nawaf Salam Joseph Aoun USA Natural Gas

Lebanon said Monday it plans to purchase natural gas from Egypt, seeking to reduce its reliance on fuel oil for its ageing power plants in a country hamstrung by regular electricity cuts. The electricity sector has cost Lebanon more than $40 billion since the end of its 1975-1990 civil war, and successive governments have failed to reduce losses, ...

UN Visit to Sudan's El-Fasher Finds Traumatised Civilians in 'Unsafe Conditions'

This is Beirut 2025-12-29 16:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

United Nations Sudan Conflict Aid

Traumatised civilians left in Sudan's El-Fasher after its capture by paramilitary forces are living without water or sanitation in a city haunted by famine, UN aid coordinator Denise Brown told AFP on Monday. El-Fasher fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in October after more than 500 days of siege, and last Friday a small UN ...

Tehran Shopkeepers Shut Stores Over Economic Hardship, Currency Volatility

This is Beirut 2025-12-29 14:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Tehran Economy Currency Sanctions protests

Some shopkeepers in Tehran closed their stores on Monday in protest against economic hardships and sharp swings in Iran's embattled currency, Iranian media reported, following similar demonstrations a day earlier. State news agency IRNA said some shopkeepers and traders at Tehran's bazaar "have closed or partially closed their stores," adding ...

FocusDe-Radicalizing Hezbollah's Base: A Realist Framework

Salam El Zaatari 2025-12-29 13:15 - Reading : 8 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah Lebanese Army Washington

Any serious discussion about de-radicalizing Hezbollah supporters must begin by discarding comforting illusions about the organization. It is not a fringe extremist group operating on the margins of Lebanese society but a heavily armed political-military organization embedded in parliament, municipalities, unions, border economies, and a regional ...

Three Turkish Police, 6 Islamic State Militants Killed in Clash: Minister

This is Beirut 2025-12-29 11:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Europe Turkey

Three Turkish police were killed and nine other people wounded in an operation Monday against the Islamic State group in the northwest of the country, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. The fighting took place at Yalova on the Sea of Marmara during one of scores of raids against the militant group, the minister said, adding that six Islamic ...

Netanyahu to Ask Trump for Green Light on Lebanon Escalation

This is Beirut 2025-12-29 11:05 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Hezbollah Israel Lebanon Trump Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to make Lebanon a top priority in talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday in Florida, with reports indicating he will seek Washington’s approval to escalate Israeli military strikes there. According to Israeli media reports, Netanyahu will seek U.S. approval to intensify military ...

Netanyahu to Meet Trump in Florida for Crucial Gaza Talks

This is Beirut 2025-12-29 09:45 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Gaza Israel Trump Netanyahu Ceasefire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Donald Trump in Florida on Monday, with the US president pushing to move to the next stage of the fragile Gaza truce plan. The crucial meeting at Trump's lavish Mar-a-Lago resort comes as some White House officials fear both Israel and Hamas are slow-walking the second phase of their ...

PoliticsWinds from the East and North: Lebanon Faces Pressure on Multiple Fronts

Bassam Abou Zeid 2025-12-28 16:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah

Recent developments suggest that Lebanon is a stage for the activities of supporters of Syria’s former regime. Amid these movements, they have also been preparing operations inside Syria, particularly along the coast and in Homs, where Alawite communities are concentrated. Their activities appear to be supported, to some extent, by ...

UN Force in Lebanon Says Peacekeeper Wounded by Israeli Fire

This is Beirut 2025-12-27 12:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

United Nations Lebanon Hezbollah Israel UN Security Council

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said an Israeli attack near their position in the country's south wounded a peacekeeper on Friday, reiterating a call for Israel to "cease aggressive behaviour". It is the latest incident reported by the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL acts as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon and has ...

8 Killed and 18 Wounded in Terrorist Mosque Bombing in Homs

This is Beirut 2025-12-26 17:05 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Syria Alawite Homs

Eight people were killed and others wounded on Friday in a terrorist bombing at the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the al-Waer district of Homs, Syrian state media reported. The Islamic State group (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack. The director of the Emergency and Ambulance Department at Syria’s Ministry of Health, ...