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Lebanon

Lebanon

April 25, 2026

Beirut 5:19 pm

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Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan (L) disembarks from an airplane upon his arrival at the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut on Jan. 23, 2025.

In Lebanon, Saudi Arabia pursues quiet diplomacy as Trump pushes Israel normalization

Saudi Arabia has been engaged in intense diplomacy in Lebanon in recent days, leading up to the extension of a ceasefire with Israel.

US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (R) holds a signed "Make America Great Again" hat while (L-R) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Lebanon Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad listen to US President Donald Trump speak during a meeting with Lebanon Ambassador to the US and Israel Ambassador to the US, at the White House in Washington, DC on April 23, 2026. US President Donald Trump met Lebanese and Israeli envoys at a new round of peace talks Thursday, with Beirut seeking a one-month extension of a

Analysis

Israel fears Trump angling for Lebanon deal to offset Iran missteps

Some Israelis worry the US president might force them to accept an unsatisfactory agreement driven by his inability to secure a tangible achievement in Iran.

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

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Israel Ambassador to US Yechiel Leiter, US Vice President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lebanon Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh and US ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting at the White House in Washington on April 23, 2026.

Trump says Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended by three weeks

President Trump said the second meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese envoys went "very well."

Amal Khalil, a veteran correspondent for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, in the southern Lebanese border village of Jebbayn in 2024.

Lebanon bids farewell to Amal Khalil, journalist killed by Israel: What to know

Khalil's death in a targeted strike on a house where she and a colleague took cover sparked widespread condemnation by Lebanese officials and international media groups.

Latest News

Interview

Olmert: Only Israel-Lebanon deal can curb Hezbollah, occupation 'unviable'

Olmert

Lebanon-Israel negotiations to continue even as Iran talks stall

Jewel SAMAD / AFP via Getty Images

Who are Lebanon’s main players influencing talks with Israel?

Joseph EID / AFP via Getty Images

Aoun says Lebanon seeks 'permanent agreements' with Israel after White House invite

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun delivers a speech during a meeting of Pope Leo XIV with authorities, civil society and diplomatic corps at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of the capital Beirut, on November 30, 2025. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Lebanese protesters demonstrate against the monetary policies of Lebanon's Central Bank governor in the capital Beirut on January 25, 2023. - European investigators will question Lebanon's central bank chief Riad Salameh (portraits) next month as part of a probe into his and his brother's affairs, a judicial official told AFP earlier this week. Investigators from France, Germany and Luxembourg heard witnesses in Beirut last week as part of the case of suspected financial misconduct including possible money

Lebanon's pound hits new bottom, ahead of Riad Salameh interrogation

A French judge arrived in Lebanon this week to question central bank head Riad Salameh over his alleged financial crimes.

Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh gestures during an interview with AFP at his office in the capital Beirut on December 20, 2021. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon’s bank chief Salameh in hot seat as French judge arrives in Beirut

The French judge will question Riad Salameh over the central bank governor’s alleged involvement in financial crimes.

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Freedom House

MidEast freedom rankings: Syria worst, Tunisia in decline, says Freedom House

Syria remains to be the least and Israel the best performing country when it comes civil and political freedoms while the biggest one-year decline has been observed in Tunisia.

Lebanese security forces stand guard outside the parliament building in downtown Beirut as members of parliament gather to elect the new Lebanese president on April 23, 2014. Lebanon's parliament failed to elect a new president, with no candidate securing the two-thirds of the vote needed to win and many lawmakers leaving their ballots blank. AFP PHOTO/JOSEPH EID (Photo credit should read JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Explainer: Four contenders vying to become Lebanon's next president

Hezbollah recently threw its support behind Suleiman Frangieh, but it could settle for a compromise candidate. Only some of those seeking the office oppose the Iran-backed group’s influence in the country.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Smoke rises during clashes between an extremist group and the Palestinian security forces in Ain al-Hilweh camp, near the southern coastal city of Sidon, Lebanon, April 8, 2017.

Clashes in Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camp as security void looms

The UN recently warned that poverty and crime is on the rise in the camp due to the Lebanese economic crisis.

A policeman is stopped by security guards from entering a branch of BLOM Bank in the Lebanese port city of Saida (Sidon) on September 26, 2022 as banks reopened to depositors with scheduled appointments only, following a week of closure due to security concerns. (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

In Lebanon, police join 'robbers', storm bank to get their own money

The Lebanese currency hit another record low on Tuesday, as judicial investigation into central bank chief Riad Salameh moves forward.

A woman on September 15, 2022, visits an exhibition titled 'Allo, Beirut?', that shows archives of Lebanon's troubled past fused with artistic depictions of a grim present, at the capital's Beit Beirut heritage-house-turned-museum. - Newspaper clippings, film negatives and diary entries from before Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war tell the story of government corruption, public sector strikes and student protest movements.(Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

‘A huge crime’: Archive of Lebanon's news agency since 1961 is 'stolen'

The archive belonging to the National News Agency contained photographs of Lebanon’s civil war.

Activists from of the Lebaanon’s LGBTQ community take part in a protest outside police station in Beirut on May 15, 2016, demanding the release of four transsexual women and calling for the abolishment of article 534 of the Lebanese Penal code, which prohibits having sexual relations that "contradict the laws of nature". (ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Culture

Lebanon's LGBTQ community faces digital exploitation, blackmail

Lebanon's LGBTQ community is being targeted through social media platforms and dating apps, and the perpetrators are acting with impunity.

LEBANON-VOTE A Lebanese army soldier mans the turret of a humvee (HMMWV) while on patrol in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, on May 15, 2022 during the national parliamentary elections. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon’s army suffers with currency collapse as desertions mount

The drastic devaluation of wages threatens soldiers’ performance in the tumultuous period Lebanon is going through.

Aisha Mohammed Ali, 25, a mother of five who is a refugee from Aleppo, Syria, teaches the alphabet to one of her daughters, on January 5, 2022 in Tripoli, Lebanon. Tripoli is home to one of the country's largest population of Syrian refugees, 9 out of 10 of whom live in extreme poverty. (Photo by Andreea Campeanu/Getty Images)

Syrian refugees in Lebanon turn to TikTok 'begging' for money

TikTok has allowed thousands of refugees in Lebanon to beg for money from donors online by exposing their children and poor conditions to the outside world, a method that heightens the risk of exploitation and human-trafficking.

A Lebanese security official holds a handful of confiscated captagon pills in his palm at the judicial police headquarters in the city of Zahle in Lebanon's central Bekaa valley on July 21, 2022. (Photo by JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)

Three Lebanese soldiers killed in Bekaa drug raid

Lebanon plays a big role in the Captagon trade, though authorities are trying to crack down on drugs.

A Lebanese protester flashes the V-sign for victory and shouts slogans as others vandalise banks in Beirut on February 16, 2023, one day after the Lebanese pound hit a record low against the dollar on the black market. - The country's grinding political and economic crises shows no signs of abating as the pound has lost more than 95 percent of its value against the greenback since the start of the economic collapse in 2019. (Photo by JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)

Banks burn in Lebanon as exchange rate falls to historic low

Lebanese banks were already on strike and the government’s interventions have failed to alleviate the economic crisis.