Cautious optimism among Arab and Muslim Americans in Detroit over the Gaza ceasefire agreement
January 17th, 20250 After 647 days of relentless violence and genocidal crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday was seen as a moment of hope, marking the potential end of a devastating nightmare. This long-overdue agreement represents more than just a pause in conflict; it is a...
Lebanon: A race on two fronts
January 17th, 20250 In Lebanon, citizens welcomed the election of a president after more than two years of vacancy. However, a political crisis emerged when the "Shi'a duo" — the Amal Movement and Hezbollah — felt an agreement had been breached regarding their support for President Joseph Aoun. The duo was taken aback when 88 parliamentarians designated...
Who is Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese army commander elected the 14th president of Lebanon?
January 10th, 20250 General Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese army commander who was elected president on Thursday, kept his military on the sidelines of a recent war between Israel and the Hezbollah resistance group, ordering it to prioritize civil peace even as troops were killed. Aoun, a 60-year-old career soldier, became the fifth Lebanese army commander to...
Lebanon’s parliament elects army chief Joseph Aoun as president, ending a two-year vacancy
January 10th, 20250 On Thursday, Lebanon’s parliament voted to elect army chief commander Joseph Aoun as the 14th president of the country, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum. The vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group and at a time when...
Who is Massad Boulos, Trump’s advisor for Arab and Middle Eastern affairs?
December 6th, 20240 On Sunday, President-elect Trump announced his selection of Lebanese American businessman Massad Boulos as his senior advisor for Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. This appointment has garnered significant attention from media outlets both within and outside the United States, including in the Arab world and in Boulos' homeland,...
Dearborn woman launches donation initiative for people in Lebanon after her family was displaced
November 29th, 20240 DEARBORN — A woman from Dearborn has started her own initiative to donate goods to Lebanon as Israeli strikes continue to hit parts of the country, displacing and killings thousands. Suzana Hassan, a mother of three, felt compelled and inspired to help after she learned that her entire family in Lebanon was displaced. Through...
Israel and Hezbollah agree to a ceasefire in Lebanon brokered by the U.S. and France, war on Gaza rages
November 29th, 20240 On Wednesday, tens of thousands of displaced Lebanese residents began returning to their homes in Southern Lebanon as a ceasefire was called, halting the fighting between Israel and Lebanese group Hezbollah. After a nearly 14 month cross-border fight and Israel's invasion into Lebanon last month, with thousands killed, displaced and...
Israeli aggression faces firm resistance in Lebanon and Gaza amid escalation and internal pressures on Netanyahu
November 15th, 20240 The Israeli offensive in Gaza and Lebanon continues to face significant challenges on multiple fronts. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is grappling with an intensifying internal political crisis and a looming corruption trial while the Israeli military faces an emboldened and well-organized resistance on the ground. Military stalemate...
Arab Americans’ perspectives on the Middle East crisis
November 15th, 20241 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......
