November 5th, 20210Lebanon is facing its worst rift yet with oil-rich Gulf Arab states, spurred by comments made by Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi before his official appointment about the Saudi-led campaign that has created a severe humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Thursday he had agreed with...
October 22nd, 20210The subject of decades-old sectarian strife has been rekindled in Lebanon, following a deadly shooting of protesters last Thursday.
The leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) dismissed accusations by Hezbollah that it has a militia and seeks civil war as the fallout of deadly violence, in which seven Shi’a Lebanese were shot...
October 14th, 20210BEIRUT — At least six Shi'as were shot dead in Beirut on Thursday, in an attack on protesters who were heading for a demonstration called by Hezbollah to demand the removal of the judge investigating the explosion that ripped through the city's port last year.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah and its ally, the Shi'a Amal Movement, accused...
October 4th, 20210BEIRUT — The judge investigating Beirut's catastrophic port explosion survived attempts to have him removed from the inquiry when a court dismissed two complaints against him on Monday.
The investigation into the Aug. 4, 2020 explosion, one of the biggest non-nuclear blasts in history, has made little headway amid a smear campaign...
September 29th, 20210BEIRUT — Hundreds of relatives of victims of last year's Beirut port explosion, some chanting and some silent, took to the streets on Wednesday, angry that an investigation into the disaster had been delayed for the second time this year.
Some carried miniature figures of people on death row with signs below reading "the end for...
September 16th, 20210Hezbollah began bringing Iranian fuel into Lebanon via Syria on Thursday, a move the group says should ease a crippling energy crisis but which opponents say risks provoking U.S. sanctions.
Dozens of trucks carrying Iranian fuel oil entered northeastern Lebanon near the village of al-Ain, where Hezbollah's yellow flag fluttered from...
September 10th, 20210BEIRUT - Lebanese leaders agreed a new government led by Sunni Muslim tycoon Najib Mikati on Friday after a year of feuding over cabinet seats that has exacerbated a devastating economic collapse, opening the way to a resumption of talks with the IMF.
The breakthrough followed a flurry of contacts with France, which has led efforts to...
September 1st, 20210BEIRUT — The Lebanese government has received no request for fuel to be imported from Iran, the caretaker energy minister said on Wednesday, appearing to confirm that the Shi'a group Hezbollah has bypassed the state with a move to import Iranian fuel.
Hezbollah, a heavily armed group founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982,...
August 19th, 20210A group of lawmakers wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, calling on U.S. support towards Lebanon’s deteriorating economic and political situation.
U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn), Charlie Crist (D-FL), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Darin LaHood (R-IL), co-chairs of the...
August 10th, 20210BEIRUT — On Tuesday, President Michel Aoun condemned criticism of Lebanon's Christian Maronite patriarch after he expressed opposition to the Iran-backed Shi'a group Hezbollah, warning that insults must be avoided to safeguard national unity.
Following a cross-border salvo between Israel and Hezbollah, Patriarch Bechara Boutros...
August 6th, 20210The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets towards Israeli forces on Friday, drawing fire from Israel into south Lebanon, in a third day of cross-border salvoes amid wider regional tensions with Iran.
Suggesting its attack was calibrated to avoid further escalation, Hezbollah said it had targeted open ground...
July 26th, 20210BEIRUT — Wealthy Lebanese businessman Najib Mikati secured enough votes in parliamentary consultations on Monday to be designated the next prime minister.
Mikati, who has been prime minister twice before and unlike many Lebanese leaders does not hail from a political bloc or dynasty, received 72 votes out of a total of 118 members...
February 5th, 20210BEIRUT — Activist, publisher and filmaker Lokman Slim was found dead in a car in Southern Lebanon on Thursday.
Slim died from four bullets in the head and one in the back. Slim’s sister Rasha al-Ameer suggested he had been murdered because of his ardent criticism of Shi’a Hezbollah. He was last seen after visiting a poet...
December 16th, 20200BEIRUT — Two former Lebanese ministers charged with negligence over a huge explosion at Beirut port in August that killed 200 people snubbed a judge on Wednesday by not turning up for questioning.
Judge Fadi Sawan charged three former ministers and the caretaker prime minister last week, sparking fierce debate about whether he had...
November 9th, 20200BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun said on Saturday that Lebanon would seek evidence and documents from the United States that led Washington to impose sanctions on his son-in-law, Gebran Bassil, a prominent Christian politician.
On Friday, the United States blacklisted Bassil, leader of Lebanon’s biggest Christian political...
September 17th, 20200WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, the United States imposed sanctions on a Hezbollah official and two Lebanon-based companies as the country experiences a deep economic crisis, accusing them of being linked to the Hezbollah group.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it blacklisted Arch Consulting and Meamar Construction,...
August 18th, 20200LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands — On Tuesday, a U.N.-backed tribunal convicted Salim Jamil Ayyash, allegedly a member of the Hezbollah group, of conspiring to kill former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in a 2005 bombing that set the stage for years of confrontation between Lebanon’s political forces.
Hariri, a Sunni Muslim...
August 15th, 20201On August 4, hours before a massive explosion rocked the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an ominous warning to Lebanon.
“We hit a cell and now we hit the dispatchers,” Netanyahu said during an official tour of a military facility in central Israel. “I suggest to all of them, including,...
August 26th, 20190BEIRUT - Lebanese farmers and residents of Beirut suburbs hit by drones at the weekend vowed on Monday to stand their ground in the event of any Israeli attack, amid heightened tensions between the Hezbollah group and Israel.
Two drones crashed on Sunday in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which are dominated by the the Shia, prompting...
July 22nd, 20190BEIRUT — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah spoke during the annual commemoration of the 2006 victory of Lebanon's second war with Israel, addressing his support for Iran and saying he sees it as a partner that not only threatens Israel, but also views itself as a proud part of an “axis of resistance” against the U.S. and its...
July 13th, 20190BEIRUT - The leader of Hezbollah said on Friday that Washington was seeking to open channels of communication despite ramping up sanctions against the Iran-backed movement’s officials.
“Trump’s administration is seeking to open channels of communication to Hezbollah in Lebanon through mediators. ... These are the American...
January 31st, 20190BEIRUT - Lebanon formed a new national unity government on Thursday, ending nine months of wrangling, and Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said bold moves were needed without delay to address chronic problems facing the heavily indebted state.
This cabinet of Hariri, who has Western backing, includes most parties including the Hezbollah...
January 26th, 20190BEIRUT — Hezbollah has “for years” been able to enter Israel, the Lebanese group’s leader said on Saturday, responding for the first time to Israel’s discovery of tunnels dug into Israeli territory from Lebanon.
Israel’s unveiling of what it called Hezbollah “attack tunnels” last month, and Lebanon’s accusation that...
December 21st, 20180TEL AVIV — The Israeli military claimed it sealed off four tunnels on Thursday that it said had been dug by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah under the border from Lebanon.
The work was being carried out on the Israeli side of the frontier demarcation, known as the “Blue Line”, according to an Israeli military...
December 21st, 20180TEL AVIV — Israel will escalate its attacks against Iranian-aligned forces in Syria after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
Some Israeli officials have said President Trump’s move, announced on Wednesday, could help Iran by removing a U.S. garrison that...
December 7th, 20180WASHINGTON — A Lebanese businessman sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for being an important financial supporter of Hezbollah pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges associated with evading U.S. sanctions imposed on him, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Kassim Tajideen, 63, pleaded guilty to conspiring with at least five...
December 7th, 20180Israel asked Lebanon’s army and U.N. peacekeepers on Thursday to destroy a tunnel it said had been dug by the Hezbollah group across the border into what it called its territory.
Israel’s occupation forces said this week it had identified a number of passages and sent diggers and troops close the front line with Lebanon to block...
October 26th, 20180DEARBORN— Ibrahim Souedan, a 59-year-old husband and father to five, is currently facing deportation back to his homeland of Lebanon. According to his lawyer, he has no criminal record, but Souedan was an FBI informant who helped to convict a man associated with Hezbollah, a predominately Shi’a political party based in...
