Lebanon - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Lebanon

Lebanon

July 3, 2026

Beirut 7:20 pm

28°C

Motorists drive past a billboard bearing a picture of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, ahead of his funeral in Tehran on July 3, 2026. Iranian leaders began paying their respects on July 3 before the coffin of the country's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war, as Tehran prepared for a vast funeral. Khamenei's body arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla on July 3 ahead of ceremonies which are expected to draw millions. (Photo by AFP via Ge

Analysis

As US-Iran talks falter, Israel views war outcome as 'total strategic failure’

Israeli officials believe the US failure to attain the kind of agreement with Iran that it originally sought stems from the strategic mistakes made during and after the recent war.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

The court stands at the start of the first hearing at the International Court of Justice in which Myanmar is accused of committing genocide against the country's Muslim minority, the Rohingya, in the Hague on January 12, 2026. The Gambia filed the genocide case in cooperation with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in 2019. Myanmar's military deliberately targeted the Rohingya minority in a bid to destroy the community, Gambia's Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told the International Court of Justice Mond

Explainer

Does provision 13 of Lebanon-Israel deal bar Beirut from pursuing war crimes claims?

Part of the Israeli-Lebanese agreement has led to calls for Beirut to grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction in Lebanon or sign the Rome Treaty to allow prosecutions.

Nawaf Salam and Asaad al-Shibani shake hands in Beirut on July 2, 2026.

Syria, Lebanon stress noninterference as Damascus mulls Hezbollah talks

When asked whether Damascus would be willing to meet with Hezbollah in the future, Syria’s foreign minister indicated that it would not rule out such a meeting.

An activist takes part in a demonstration against sexual harassment, rape and domestic violence in the Lebanese capital Beirut on December 7, 2019. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Culture

Lebanon arrests man after video of public assault on wife goes viral

The man seen violently beating a woman at a restaurant has been arrested, but the incident has reignited debate over domestic violence amid warnings that such abuse can increase during periods of war.

Latest News

Analysis

For Israel, Lebanon deal 'historic' despite fears Hezbollah will rebuild

Shia Muslim devotees gather for a mourning ritual near the shrine of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah who was killed in a 2024 Israeli-airstrike, in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 26, 2026 at the peak of Ashura, a 10-day period commemorating the seventh century killing of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP via Getty Images)

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Joyce Karam

Editor-in-Chief

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

Hanna Davis

In Beirut, reporting on politics, migration, human rights

Rodayna Raydan

In Boqaata, reporting on culture

A man works in a field of cannabis at Hermel, Bekaa July 31, 2013. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ranked Lebanon in 2011 as one of the world's top five sources of cannabis resin. In recent years, security forces have sent tractors, bulldozers and armoured vehicles to plough up, flatten or burn the cannabis crops, leading to clashes with farmers armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Dramatic as they were, those shows of force by authorities achieved only partial success in a

Drug use creeps up in Lebanese schools

Despite warnings circulating online about a new drug quickly spreading in Lebanese schools, experts say that while the issue deserves attention, drug abuse among students is not as widespread as the rumors suggest.

A general view shows Roumieh prison, in Roumieh January 12, 2015. Lebanese forces stormed the country's largest prison on Monday where Islamist militants are detained, security sources said, as authorities searched for those behind a double suicide attack at the weekend. Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk headed to Roumieh prison east of Beirut early on Monday and told Reuters the crackdown came after intelligence showed some of the inmates were connected to the bombings, which killed eight. REUTERS/Mohamed A

Lebanon holds IS at bay, for now

The failure of the Islamic State’s plan to control territory and create an emirate in Lebanon bodes well, says a Lebanese security official who claims that Lebanon has clamped down on the major three terrorist hotbeds in the country.

Men take down a picture of former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in the mainly Sunni Beirut neighbourhood of Tariq al-Jadideh February 5, 2015. Lebanon has begun removing political posters and party banners from neighbourhoods of the capital in a move to unify a country still divided from a civil war, following an agreement between the militant and political Hezbollah party and its rivals. Picture taken February 5, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY) - RTR4OHK4

Hezbollah, Future Movement find 'delicate stability' for now

The dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement continues despite the limited results it has yielded so far.

A man holds a mock Qassam rocket during a rally organised by Lebanese and Palestinian supporters of the Islamist movement Hamas and the Islamic Group, Jamaa Islamiya in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza strip where Hamas is engaged in a major confrontation with the Israeli army on July 11, 2014 in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike, raising the toll in four days of violence to 100, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said. AFP PHOTO / MAH

Is Hamas planning a strike from Lebanon's refugee camps?

A senior Hamas leader's call to open new fronts against Israel from Lebanon was neither confirmed nor denied by the movement, raising questions about the possibility of forming cells on the ground.

The head of the northern Israeli command, Gadi Eisenkot, delivers a briefing to the press on August 3, 2010 in Kiryat Shmona along the tense border between Israel and Lebanon, following clashes between troops on both sides that left 3 Lebanese soldiers, a journalist and a a senior Israeli officer killed. AFP PHOTO/JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Bennett, Liberman battle for defense portfolio

The next Israeli defense minister, be it Moshe Ya'alon, Avigdor Liberman or Naftali Bennett, will have to cope, together with new IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, with a new reality in which Hezbollah targets Israel from the Syrian border.

French President Francois Hollande attends a news conference in Riyadh December 29, 2013. France will supply weapons to the Lebanese army if it is asked to do so, French President Hollande said on Sunday during a visit to Saudi Arabia where he met King Abdullah. REUTERS/Stringer (SAUDI ARABIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX16WOP

Arms shipment to Lebanon to arrive in April

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has announced that the first arms shipment of the Saudi grant, which has been stalled for more than year, will arrive to Lebanon on April 1.

A Lebanese soldier stands guard in front of a ship that delivered military donation from the U.S. government to the Lebanese army, during a ceremony at Beirut's port February 8, 2015. More than 70 M198 Howitzers, as well as 26 million rounds of ammunition including small, medium, and heavy artillery rounds, were delivered on Sunday from the United States as military aid to the Lebanese army. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR4OOO9

Delay of French-Saudi military aid to Lebanon a mystery

US military aid has filled a crucial gap in Lebanon as a Saudi-French aid package has been delayed for unknown reasons.

An Israeli soldier speaks on his mobile phone at a military outpost on Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights over looking the Israel-Syria border February 4, 2015. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4O8R8

Hezbollah fears being squeezed from Syrian-Israeli borders

With Jabhat al-Nusra controlling the southern border area of Syria and reports on cooperation between the group and Israel, the Syrian-Israeli border has become an area of concern for Hezbollah and Iran.

Obama: 'Iran’s program has not advanced'

US allies puzzled by March deadline for consideration of Senate sanctions bill; Iran’s gesture to Saudi Arabia; Iran’s man in Beirut; Erdogan’s anti-Western pivot; Aleppo’s fuel shortage; Israel reconciling to Hamas?

What was behind Qasem Soleimani’s visit to Lebanon?

Lebanese media reported that the commander of the Iranian Quds forces, Qasem Soleimani, met with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, perhaps prompting the latter's changing the unwritten, retaliatory "rules of engagement" with Israel.

Lebanese army troops drive an armoured personnel carrier (APC) in the village of Ras Baalbak in the eastern Bekaa Valley near the border with Syria during clashes between Islamist fighters and Lebanese troops on Jananuary 23, 2015, leaving casualties on both sides. Gunmen launched a large-scale attack on an army outpost close to Ras Baalbek, near Lebanon's eastern frontier with Syria, an area that has seen regular incursions from militants fighting in Syria's war. AFP PHOTO / STR (Photo credit should

Latest attack in Lebanon sends message on IS endgame

Clues about the militants’ ultimate designs for the country can be found in the most recent attack by insurgents on the Lebanese border.

Israeli soldiers stand on concrete blocks near the border with Lebanon January 29, 2015. Israel and Hezbollah signalled on Thursday their rare flare-up in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border was over, after the Lebanese guerrillas killed two Israeli troops in retaliation for a deadly air strike in Syria last week. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CONFLICT) - RTR4NHGX

Hezbollah, Israel claim victory, reset deterrence

Nasrallah steps back from confrontation with Israel after attack; Iran sanctions in perspective; Netanyahu plan may backfire; Kurdish victory in Kobani a setback for Turkey; Are Iraqi Kurdish land grabs sowing future conflict?