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Lebanon

Lebanon

December 23, 2025

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A convoy carrying a UN security council delegation, tours the border with Israel close to the southern Lebanese area of Naqura on December 6, 2025. UNIFIL peacekeepers have been tasked with acting as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon since March 1978, and with monitoring the November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP via Getty Images)

Exclusive

Second Lebanon-Israel meeting sidelined France, saw US pressure on Netanyahu

Differences over the so-called economic zone and the high civilian toll from Israeli strikes capped the second meeting between Lebanese and Israeli officials on Friday.

Joyce Karam

Rina Bassist

By Joyce Karam , Rina Bassist

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto (Middle-L) meets with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) in Beirut at Baabda Palace, on Dec. 22, 2025.

Italy pledges to maintain troops in southern Lebanon after UNIFIL withdrawal

Italy plays a crucial role in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, with an Italian leading its command and the country contributing over 1,000 troops to the mission.

Rabih DAHER / AFP via Getty Images

Second Lebanon-Israel meeting agrees to strengthen Lebanese army: What to know

The second round of civilian-led talks between Israel and Lebanon focused on the economic track while also addressing the removal of Hezbollah's weapons.

Latest News

US, France and Saudi Arabia agree to conference to bolster Lebanon’s army

This photograph taken during a press tour organised by the Lebanese army shows Lebanese soldiers standing atop a military vehicle in Alma Al-Shaab, near the border with Israel in southern Lebanon, on November 28, 2025. It was the first guided tour the army gave journalists since a November 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP via Getty Images)

Syria foils major arms smuggling attempt to Lebanon: What we know

The Internal Security Directorate in the Zabadani area of rural Damascus thwarted an attempt to smuggle a shipment of weapons and seized large quantities of RPG shells that were hidden in an organized manner and prepared for smuggling towards Lebanon, on Dec. 17, 2025.

Analysis

Trump's Syria envoy Barrack tests Israel's patience as Netanyahu pushes back

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets with US special envoy Tom Barrack, Jerusalem, Dec. 15 2

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

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

New urban forest planted to save Beirut's river

Local and international civil groups came together in Beirut to create an urban forest as part of a larger project to restore the heavily polluted Beirut River.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun heads the first meeting of the new Saad al-Hariri's cabinet at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, February 2, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir - RC14542F8110

Amid protests, Lebanon’s Cabinet faces difficult choices on public sector austerity

Analysts doubt that Lebanon’s Cabinet will be able to reduce the budget deficit and salvage the long-term health of the Lebanese economy without taking unpopular austerity measures, and not taking them would lead to an even more dire economic situation.

Award-winning book narrates migration in five letters

Hoda Barakat's "The Night Post," which tells the story of five Arab migrants, won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction amid controversy.

A century of Lebanese documents preserve shifting identities

The exhibition “Identity Papers” uses old government documents and artworks to show how identity is created, informed and changed by official papers.

NGO offers Lebanon taste of lionfish in effort to contain invasive species

A Lebanese group is promoting the lionfish, a threat to the Mediterranean Sea ecosystem, as a tasty and profitable fishery.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia January 14, 2019. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS - RC1E4A498AC0

Saudis’ troubled ties in region threaten Trump's anti-Iran agenda

The Trump administration is tightening the screws on Iran, but Saudi Arabia, Iran's archnemesis, may not be of help drumming up support for the US policy given the state of its current relations in the Arab world.

Lebanon's Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan attends a handover ceremony at the ministry in Beirut, Lebanon February 6, 2019. Picture taken February 6, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir - RC13E9A5B8D0

Lebanon’s interior minister pushes for prison reform amid calls for radical change

Unless broad, structural reforms to the administration of prisons and military detention centers are passed in conjunction with changes to the criminal justice process itself, the reforms announced by Lebanon’s interior minister so far will likely only have a moderate impact on the penal system.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to reporters in flight after a previously unannounced trip to Baghdad, Iraq, May 8, 2019. Mandel Ngan/Pool via REUTERS - RC1CBE5511B0

Israel looks to Trump to halt Iranian nuke

Iran's announcement that it will resume uranium enrichment is causing great concern in Israel.

Lebanese LGBT salon brings out beauty in everyone

Out, Lebanon's first beauty salon catering to members of the LGBT community, was founded as a place where patrons can feel at home, not simply tolerated.

Why first intifada is back on Middle East art scene

In conjunction with a new exhibition, founders of the Palestinian contemporary art scene met in Beirut to discuss how the political events of their time influenced their work.

Yemeni members of the southern separatist movement, loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, stand next to a tank on April 15, 2015 in Aden's northern suburbs. Saudi-led coalition air strikes hit rebel targets in the Yemen's main southern city after overnight attacks by anti-government forces killed seven people, military sources and medics said. AFP PHOTO / SALEH AL-OBEIDI (Photo credit should read SALEH AL-OBEIDI/AFP/Getty Images)

Yemen's divided parliament growing further apart

Literally and figuratively, the two sides of Yemen's split parliament are miles away from each other and show no sign of reconciliation.

Officials attend a session of the peace talks on Syria in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Mukhtar Kholdorbekov - RC1305474A80

New name, same old problems: Syria talks kick off in Kazakh capital

The name of the venue for the Syria peace talks may have changed from Astana to Nursultan, but the challenges the participants faced were familiar ones.