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Lebanon

Lebanon

December 11, 2025

Beirut 7:15 pm

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Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji visits the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naqoura, southern Lebanon, on October 24, 2025, touring border villages and the Blue Line aboard a UNIFIL helicopter as part of efforts to assess the security situation along the frontier. (Photo by Courtney Bonneau / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by COURTNEY BONNEAU/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon's FM snubs Iran, turns down invitation to visit Tehran: What to know

Youssef Rajji declined an invitation from his Iranian counterpart to visit Tehran, saying, "The appropriate conditions for such a visit were not present.”

TOPSHOT - Syrian and Lebanese people in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli celebrate on December 9, 2024, after Islamist-led rebels declared that they have taken the Syrian capital in a lightning offensive, sending President Bashar al-Assad fleeing and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria. (Photo by Fathi AL-MASRI / AFP) (Photo by FATHI AL-MASRI/AFP via Getty Images)

Clashes and protests in Lebanon over Syria's anniversary: What we know

As celebrations erupted in Lebanon to commemorate the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Hezbollah supporters held counter-rallies.

An Israeli military tank patrols along the border fence separating northern Israel from southern Lebanon on November 24, 2025. Hezbollah held the funeral on November 24 for its top military chief and other members of the militant group a day after Israel killed them in a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Lebanon-Israel direct talks pause operation against Hezbollah — but for how long?

The US blocked Israel from widening its strikes on Hezbollah this week, yet another flare-up in their enduring conflict seems likely despite first direct talks between Lebanon and Israel.

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

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)

Lebanon, Israel to hold second round of direct talks: What we know

While Israel and Lebanon continue talks, Israeli airstrikes have persisted, and Hezbollah shows no sign of complying with disarmament requirements.

Latest News

Who is Simon Karam, head of Lebanon’s delegation to talks with Israel?

Simon Karam

US pressure prompted Israel-Lebanon talks to avert war with Hezbollah

US deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in Gaza, at UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 18, 2025.

Lebanon and Israel hold first direct talks in decades: What to know

A view of a concrete wall built by Israel near the Blue Line in southwest Yaroun, Lebanon, on Nov. 13, 2025.

Culture

Lebanon’s first lady Nehmat Aoun takes center stage during Pope's visit

Adri Salido/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

Senior News Editor

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional geopolitics, China in the Middle East

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

Greg Nash/Getty Images

Sen. Coons to visit Lebanon amid Israel-Hezbollah clashes, leadership crisis

Democratic Senator Chris Coons is headed for Beirut in what some observers comment is a show of US support for Lebanon at a time of ongoing crisis.

This picture shows a general view of Lebanon's port city of Tripoli on April 26, 2023. A crushing economic crisis in Lebanon has impelled members of the security forces to take on side hustles to get by, raising concerns about security in the eastern Mediterranean country. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Nearly 1,000 buildings in Tripoli, Lebanon are at risk of collapse: Amnesty

Amnesty International has denounced the local Tripoli government’s lack of action to protect residents who have been living in unsafe buildings since last year’s earthquake.

Smoke billows following two Israeli air raids (L and R) in the southern Lebanese city town of Ghaziyeh.

Israel strikes near Sidon in serious Lebanon escalation

The latest strikes hit an area some 30 kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border, where Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in tit-for-tat exchanges since last October.

School Lebanon

In south Lebanon, schools resume classes as displaced shelter inside

Hezbollah steps in as municipalities struggle to respond to the growing number of displaced.

Smoke billows above the village of Khiyam, in southern Lebanon, during an Israeli bombardment near the Lebanese border, Feb. 8, 2024.

Israel, Hezbollah cling to deterrence to avoid escalation

Most experts doubt an expansion of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border, but events on another border could change that.

MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images

Hezbollah says Israel will pay in ‘blood’ as cross-border fighting intensifies

The fire exchanges that have been ongoing between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel since October have intensified this week, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese village of Shihin near the border on February 11, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP) (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

France's plan seeks Hezbollah pullback, army deployment to Lebanon-Israel border

France is pushing a plan to de-escalate Israel-Hezbollah tensions and avoid a full-fledged war similar to 2006.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Smoke billows from an Israeli airstrike as flares fall on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, near the border with Israel, Jan. 19, 2024.

Suspected Israeli strikes in Syria amid escalation with Hezbollah in Lebanon

A Hezbollah commander in Lebanon was injured in an Israeli strike as foreign diplomats worked to de-escalate tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Nawaf Salam, Lebanon's Ambassador to the United Nations, speaks to the media after Security Council consultations on the Palestinian request for full United Nations membership during the General Assembly September 26, 2011 at UN headquarters in New York. AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images)

Meet Lebanon's Nawaf Salam, new ICJ president

Salam, Lebanon’s former ambassador to the UN, becomes head of the UN’s top legal body at a critical time amid the Gaza war.

Supporters of Lebanon's President Michel Aoun cheer under a large national flag, as he prepares to leave the presidential palace in Babbda at the end of his mandate, east of the capital Beirut, on October 30, 2022. - Already reeling from three years of economic meltdown, Lebanon faces the prospect of its multi-faceted crisis deepening further when President Michel Aoun's mandate expires. (Photo by anwar amro / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

In Lebanon, Hezbollah’s alliance with Christian FPM movement shows cracks

The presidential vacuum and ongoing cross-border hostilities have strained already deteriorating relations between the Shiite Hezbollah group and the Free Patriotic Movement.

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne chairs a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the Middle East, including the situation in Gaza and Israel on Jan. 23, 2024, in New York City.

France's new FM Sejourne makes first visit to Egypt, Lebanon, Israel & Jordan

French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné is set to visit the Middle East, meeting with almost all the parties involved in the Gaza war, except Qatar.

A Lebanese woman looks at graffiti on a smashed glass facade in the heart of the capital Beirut on October 25, 2019 as anti-corruption demonstrators cut off major roads across the country for a ninth day, pledging to carry on with their protests despite the president offering to meet their representatives. - The entire political class has been targeted in days of unprecedented street demos that have dominated city centres and closed banks, schools and universities across Lebanon. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Mideast corruption rankings: UAE least corrupt, Lebanon & Iran close to bottom

Arab states’ average corruption score dropped to an all-time low in 2023, as did Turkey’s, the corruption index shows.