November 14th, 20250Lebanon prides itself on being a democracy, but for countless citizens, that ideal exists only on paper. No community feels this disconnect more deeply than the Shi'a. Though they are widely believed to be the country’s largest sect — perhaps even its true majority — they remain excluded from genuine political power and access to...
November 1st, 20250Osama Siblani: “Those who claim to represent the Lebanese diaspora in America speak only for a small minority, not for the majority in Michigan.”
By Roaa Qassem – Al-Akhbar (Lebanon)
Since 2017, Lebanon has witnessed ongoing debate over its parliamentary election law and the place of expatriates within it. As was the case before...
October 10th, 20250WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment of Michel Issa as the new U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, succeeding Ambassador Lisa Johnson. Issa is expected to arrive in Beirut by the end of October to formally begin his duties, according to an official notification delivered to the Lebanese government.
Issa —...
August 29th, 20250While the Israeli killing machine sharpens its swords to pounce on Gaza City with the declared goal of disarming Hamas, the Trump administration is undertaking a similar mission in Lebanon by exerting maximum pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. The push is to force the Lebanese Army into confrontation with Hezbollah...
August 15th, 20250“Greater Israel” — from theory to implementation
The “Greater Israel” project — stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates — is no longer a mere fantasy or “conspiracy theory.” It has become a tangible direction on the ground, evident both in statements by Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,...
August 15th, 20250Lebanon’s leaders have just lit a fuse they may not be able to put out. In a move backed and pushed by Washington, the Lebanese government has approved a U.S.-designed plan to disarm Hezbollah by year’s end. The army has been ordered to draft the blueprint, dismantle resistance positions across the country and coordinate with U.N....
August 8th, 20250Israel’s far-right government decides to expand war to fully occupy Gaza as Lebanon faces crisis over Hezbollah disarmament proposal pushed by the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Occupation of Gaza
After 10 hours of deliberations, Israel’s Security Cabinet — in the early hours of Friday, August 8 — approved Prime Minister...
July 11th, 20250At the conclusion of a four-day visit to Washington, which included daily meetings with President Trump and senior members of his administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed conditional approval of a temporary ceasefire agreement in Gaza and a partial prisoner exchange with Hamas. He also threatened to resume his...
July 11th, 20250On Monday, U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said he was satisfied with the Lebanese government’s response to a proposal to disarm the Hezbollah group, adding that Washington is ready to help the small crisis-hit nation emerge from its long-running political and economic crisis.
The U.S. envoy to Lebanon, Tom Barrack, spoke to journalists...
February 28th, 20250
Israel openly declares its continued occupation of south Lebanon and Syria with "American blessing"
As Israel admitted to a "total failure" in preventing Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israeli settlements, and as its more than 14-month-long war on Gaza and South Lebanon has failed to achieve its objectives — rather...
January 17th, 20250In 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...
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...
November 15th, 20240The 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...
October 26th, 20240
Lebanon frontline and Israeli setbacks:
Over a month into Israel’s comprehensive and vicious military campaign against Lebanon, the Israeli army struggles to accomplish any significant gains along the northern border. Hezbollah forces, meanwhile, are not only repelling ground incursions but also intensifying their missile...
October 4th, 20240The 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...
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...
September 20th, 20240TAIPEI – 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...
September 20th, 20240Hezbollah 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...
September 7th, 20240NEW 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...
August 2nd, 20240WASHINGTON – 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...
June 21st, 20240BEIRUT — 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...
June 14th, 20240Hezbollah fired the most rockets it has launched at Israel in a single day since cross-border hostilities broke out eight months ago, as part of its retaliation on Wednesday for an Israeli strike which killed a senior Hezbollah field commander.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire since the eruption of the Gaza...
May 8th, 20240By Jamal I. Bittar
Last Friday, Israel launched an assault on Iran in response to an Iranian incursion onto Israeli soil the weekend prior, involving over 300 missiles and drones. Among the various options available to the Israeli government – ranging from assaults on numerous nuclear facilities, military bases and key national...
March 1st, 20240
BEIRUT — On Thursday, the Hezbollah group signaled that it would halt its attacks on Israel from Lebanon when the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip stops, but that it was also ready to keep on fighting if Israel continued hostilities.
Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been trading fire since the Palestinian group Hamas...
February 16th, 20240BEIRUT — 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...
January 12th, 20240This article was written shortly before Israel assassinated the deputy head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, in Beirut on January 2. The assassination is a further illustration of the Israeli government's desire to escape the consequences of its disastrous war in Gaza, by igniting a regional...
January 5th, 20240BEIRUT — 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...
November 10th, 20230WASHINGTON, D.C./BAGHDAD – On Thursday, U.S. forces were targeted in three attacks in Iraq but suffered no casualties, security sources have said, in the most geographically widespread series of strikes on U.S. assets in a single day since the Israel-Hamas conflict started.
A defective drone in Iraq may have helped keep America from...
