November 30th, 20250Pope Leo XIV’s first foreign trip, to Turkey and Lebanon, will be packed with opportunities to advance relations with two of the Catholic Church’s top priorities: Orthodox Christians and Muslims.
It will also give history’s first American pope the spotlight to speak in broader terms about peace in the Middle East in languages...
November 21st, 20250In the days after October 7, 2023, then-President Biden cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to make the same mistakes the U.S. made following 9/11. Biden never publicly spelled out his meaning, but it was understood as a warning to Netanyahu: Don’t overreact or overreach, as President George W. Bush had done by...
October 24th, 20250Despite ongoing Israeli violations of the Gaza ceasefire, President Trump’s administration spent the past week showing some seriousness about consolidating the truce and reining in Israel’s far-right, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, not only in Gaza but also in the occupied West Bank, after the Knesset’s initial vote to annex it to...
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 1st, 20250On the morning of Sad Saturday, July 26, sorrow descended over Lebanon and the Arab world following the announcement of the death of the brilliant playwright and musician Ziad Rahbani at the age of 69, after a struggle with illness. His passing triggered national mourning in Lebanon and echoed across the Arab world and beyond.
According...
June 6th, 20250The past week brought no breakthroughs in the multiple flashpoints across the Middle East. Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza raged on, alongside escalated military aggression on Lebanon and Syria. Meanwhile, negotiations between the United States and Iran made no meaningful progress, as Tehran insisted on its...
April 25th, 20250DEARBORN – The visit of Major General Hassan Ezzat Choucair, director general of Lebanese General Security, to the Detroit area last week was met with great enthusiasm. The trip, which spanned more than five days, included official meetings and community events that reflected the Lebanese American community’s deep appreciation for...
March 21st, 20250With a green light from President Trump and no deterrent in sight — except for Yemen’s steadfast support front — Israel’s killing machine has resumed its genocide in Gaza during the holy month of Ramadan, as desired by Benjamin Netanyahu, who is desperately trying to preserve his shaky ruling coalition committed to pursuing...
March 14th, 20250The past week was filled with contrasting developments, some carrying serious dangers while others offered cautious optimism, shaped by the region’s ongoing conflicts and shifting diplomatic efforts.
Gaza: the struggle of the second phase of the ceasefire
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government pushes...
March 7th, 20250Israeli aggression continues to escalate in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, following a clear strategy that Israeli leadership has openly admitted aims to redraw the regional map of the Middle East. This aggressive policy is bolstered by strong U.S. support, further reinforced by President Trump’s threats against the residents of Gaza,...
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...
February 21st, 20250As the first phase of the “Gaza Agreement” continues to be implemented, Thursday witnessed Hamas handing over the bodies of four Israeli hostages. Meanwhile, Israel’s delays in initiating talks for the second phase appear to have ended. Several Arab countries are preparing to counter President Trump’s reconstruction plan, which...
February 14th, 20250Washington Awaits Arab countries' plan for Gaza
President Trump has openly escalated pressure on Egypt and Jordan to accept Palestinians he intends to expel from Gaza, as part of his vision to transform the war-ravaged strip into the "Riviera of the Middle East." His aggressive stance was evident during his meeting with King Abdullah II...
January 31st, 20252
The sight of hundreds of thousands of Gazans returning to the northern areas of the Strip, coupled with the return of southern Lebanese residents to their villages on Sunday, served as a double blow to the Israeli occupation. It was also a practical declaration of the failure of Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon, which the...
January 17th, 20250Born on December 15, 1953, in Beirut, Nawaf Salam hails from a prominent political family. His father, Abdullah Salam, was one of the founders of Middle East Airlines, Lebanon's national carrier, and represented the family on its board of directors between 1956 and 1983.
Salam is married to Sahar Baassiri, a journalist and Lebanon’s...
January 10th, 20250On 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...
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, 20241It 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...
October 26th, 20240BEIRUT – 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...
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 25th, 20240Israeli officials keep repeating that Israel is fighting on multiple fronts. The truth is that Israel chooses to fight on multiple fronts. The two claims are fundamentally different.
Recently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went as far as saying that his country is fighting on seven different war fronts, all driven by the...
October 4th, 20240LANSING – 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...
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...
October 4th, 20240Lebanon 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...
August 10th, 20240LEBANON — 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...
August 10th, 20240DEARBORN – On the eve of the Michigan primary elections, dozens of pro-Palestinian supporters protested Monday in front of the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn to condemn Israel's ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. The protesters also denounced the assassination of Hezbollah leader Fouad Shukr in southern Lebanon and Hamas...
