Arab Americans’ perspectives on the Middle East crisis
November 15th, 20240 It is time to realign our compass with the values that we and this nation stand for and reshape our narrative to leave a heroic and meaningful legacy for future generations. For months, countless children, women and the elderly have lost their lives or severely injured. An immeasurable number of children are now orphans, women have lost...
Israeli strike targets media personal in Lebanon, kills three journalists
October 26th, 20240 BEIRUT – An Israeli strike early on Friday morning killed at least three journalists and wounded several others as they slept in guesthouses used by media in Hasbaya in southern Lebanon, Lebanon's health ministry and local media reported. Those killed were camera operator Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda of the pro-Iranian...
DHS offers protections for Lebanese nationals currently in the United States
October 18th, 20240 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is announcing new actions to provide temporary immigration reprieves to eligible Lebanese nationals currently in the United States and allowing them the opportunity to request work authorizations. Included in the announcement are details related to the Deferred Enforced...
U.S. organizing flights to evacuate American citizens out of Lebanon as Israeli airstrikes intensify
October 14th, 20240 WASHINGTON D.C. — The U.S. State Department continues its efforts to evacuate American citizens out of Lebanon amid escalations between Israel and Hezbollah. During State Department press briefings with spokesperson Matthew Miller on October 8 and 9, discussion regarding the U.S.' efforts to evacuate American citizens out of Lebanon...
Biden administration backs Israel’s operations in Lebanon despite risk of expanding conflict
October 4th, 20240 The Biden administration believes it is appropriate for Israel to continue with its ground and air attacks on Hezbollah for now, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday, even as he acknowledged the risk of the operation in Lebanon expanding beyond Israel's current aims. Israel sent troops into southern...
Dearborn rally condemns Israeli aggression on Lebanon: Harris won’t get our votes, and Nasrallah remains in the hearts of millions of his admirers
October 4th, 20242 DEARBORN – Amid the intensifying Israeli aggression on Lebanon, hundreds of Arab Americans gathered in front of the Dearborn Police headquarters Wednesday to protest the daily massacres committed by the Israeli military in the region. They also denounced the unlimited support provided by Washington to Israel’s war efforts. The...
Gov. Whitmer, other Michigan officials urge U.S. administration to evacuate Americans stranded in Lebanon
October 4th, 20240 LANSING – Governor Whitmer and other officials from Michigan have urged the Biden administration to intensify its efforts to bring American citizens and their families stranded in Lebanon back to the U.S., as the security situation worsens due to the Israeli attacks against Lebanon escalated the beginning of last week. In a letter...
Iranian missiles attack dampen Netanyahu’s euphoria over Nasrallah’s assassination
October 4th, 20240 Last week was not an ordinary one in the history of the Middle East. Major events unfolded, starting with the assassination of Hezbollah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah by 85 tons of explosives in an Israeli airstrike. The strike targeted Hezbollah’s stronghold in Haret Hreik, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on...
Dearborn man and father of four killed by Israeli strike in Lebanon; bombardment worsens, displacing and killing hundreds
October 4th, 20240 Lebanon continues to be subjected to bombardment by Israeli missiles that have resulted in innocent civilians killed and city infrastructure destroyed. Beirut, the capital, has been heavily hit with an onslaught of airstrikes since Israel began targeting Lebanon amid its war with Hezbollah. As infrastructure is destroyed and...
Taiwan questions head of pager firm linked to Hezbollah devices blasts
September 20th, 20240 TAIPEI – The president and founder of a Taiwanese pager company linked to the detonation of thousands of pagers targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon was questioned by prosecutors late into the night on Thursday, then released. Taiwan-based Gold Apollo's president and founder Hsu Ching-kuang has said it did not manufacture the devices used...
Nasrallah: Israeli attacks crossed “all red lines” and made a “declaration of war”, vows retaliation
September 20th, 20240 Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah says the pager and walkie-talkie attacks against its members in Lebanon and Syria this week crossed “all red lines” and the group will retaliate and is undeterred in its fight against Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza. On Thursday, in his first televised speech since the...
Alleged Hezbollah financier expected to plead guilty in U.S. sanctions case
September 7th, 20240 NEW YORK — A dual Lebanese-Belgian citizen accused by the United States of financing the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah is expected to plead guilty in a criminal case charging him with sanctions evasion and money-laundering conspiracies. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said in a court filing on Thursday that lawyers for Mohammad...
Lebanese justice ministry accuses former central bank chief of financial crimes
September 6th, 20240 Lebanon's justice ministry formally accused former central bank governor Riad Salameh of financial crimes on Thursday, the state news agency and judicial sources said, echoing charges brought against him by state prosecutors when he was arrested this week. Salameh, 73, was arrested on Tuesday over alleged financial crimes, including...
Travelers in Lebanon attempting to leave the country, airlines halt flights to Beirut amid rising tensions
August 10th, 20240 LEBANON — As tensions rise in the Middle East and an anticipated attack from Iran looms, Lebanese natives and foreigners attempt to evacuate the region at Lebanon's Rafic Hariri airport. Following Israel's strike in Beirut's southern suburbs that killed Hezbollah's second in command as well as Israel's strike in Tehran that killed...
White House grants deportation reprieve to Lebanese, citing Israel-Hezbollah tensions
August 2nd, 20240 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The White House will offer deportation relief and work permits to an estimated 11,500 Lebanese nationals already in the U.S., due to conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, President Biden said in a memo on Friday. The measure, under an authority known as Deferred Enforced Departure, will allow......
Biden’s administration tells Americans in Lebanon: “Be prepared to shelter in place”
August 2nd, 20240 WASHINGTON – D.C. – On Wednesday, the Biden administration urged Americans in Lebanon to “shelter in place” amid rising tensions in the Middle East over a series of attacks and retaliation among Hezbollah, Israel and Iran. The State Department updated its travel advisory for the entire country of Lebanon to Level 4: Do Not...
Nasrallah: War with Israel has entered “new phase” after killings of top resistance leaders
August 2nd, 20241 On Thursday, Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned that the conflict with Israel has entered a “new phase,” as he addressed mourners at the funeral of a commander from the group who was killed by an Israeli airstrike this week in Beirut. Meanwhile in Tehran, Iran’s supreme leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei prayed over the......
State Department issues DO NOT TRAVEL advisory for Lebanon
July 31st, 20240 FROM U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib's Office With the Israeli government escalating the risk of regional war, we want to make sure you are aware of recent travel advisories. The State Department has issued a Level 4 Do Not Travel Advisory for Lebanon, and has encouraged Americans who are already in the country to leave at the earliest and...
Hezbollah’s leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah warns Israel against wider war
June 21st, 20240 BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Hezbollah has new weapons and intelligence capabilities that would allow it to target and destroy more critical Israeli military and infrastructure positions deeper inside Israel in case of an all-out war, the powerful group’s leader warned on Wednesday. Sayed Hassan Nasrallah’s comments came as the...
Federal lawsuit filed against Lebanese banks and their American affiliates for defrauding U.S. depositors
May 17th, 20240 WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to a complaint filed May 15 in federal court, for years, Banque du Liban (BDL), Byblos Bank, S.A.L. (Byblos) and others (together, the “Lebanese Banking Enterprise”) have stolen billions of dollars from U.S. depositors. These U.S. citizens and residents claim the Lebanese Banking Enterprise...
Hezbollah strikes at northern Israel in retaliation for deadly day in southern Lebanon
February 16th, 20240 BEIRUT — On Thursday, Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at a northern Israeli town in a "preliminary response" to the killing of 10 civilians in southern Lebanon, the deadliest day for Lebanese civilians in four months of cross-border hostilities. The United Nations urged a halt to what it called a "dangerous escalation" of the......
Nasrallah vows revenge after Hamas leader’s killing, “cannot be silent”, warns Israel against spreading Gaza war
January 5th, 20240 BEIRUT — On Wednesday, the head of Lebanon's Hezbollah said it "cannot be silent" after the killing of Hamas' deputy leader in the suburb of Beirut and warned that his heavily armed forces would fight to the finish if Israel chose to extend war from Gaza to Lebanon. Israeli forces meanwhile kept up their aerial and ground assaults...
Growing concerns over mysterious military flights from Tel Aviv to Lebanon
November 21st, 20230 According to a report from Al-Akhbar on November 21, multiple mysterious foreign military cargo flights are continuing to land at Beirut and Hamat airports. There has been increased speculation about whether the flights are bringing in equipment to be used against Hezbollah. Between November 14 and 20, at least nine planes from......
Nasrallah threatens escalation of fighting against Israel at the Lebanese border
November 3rd, 20230 BEIRUT — The leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah group said Friday that his powerful militia is engaged in unprecedented cross-border fighting with Israel and threatened escalation. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s widely anticipated speech was his first since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, sparked by the Palestinian militants’...
Jordan and Lebanon no longer safe havens for refugees fleeing Syria
September 8th, 20230 On September 7, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi announced that the Hashemite kingdom could no longer accept Syrian refugees. He stressed that the future of displaced Syrians lies within their own country. During a joint press conference in Amman with Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin, Safadi said, “Jordan will not be......
