Lebanon News — AKHBAR.COM

Hezbollah on Friday hit back at the U.S. administration over its announcement that the group is under the control of Iran’s Quds Force, the expeditionary arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The Sehnaoui files trace four decades of the family’s ties to Israeli and US political circles, from Nabil Sehnaoui’s contacts with Israeli officials in Beirut in 1983 to Antoun Sehnaoui’s Washington network and reported role in Netanyahu’s 2026 dinner.

The Washington framework agreement is discussed as a product of executive consensus. President Aoun signed. Prime Minister Salam endorsed. The cabinet approved. The institutional surface presents a unified Lebanese state negotiating with Israel under American sponsorship. The institutional reality is different. The framework was negotiated without the prime minister. Salam was not in Washington. He…

President Joseph Aoun is leading an effort, in cooperation with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, to pursue a military cooperation agreement between Lebanon and the European Union with the aim of bringing in a European military force to replace UNIFIL, whose mandate expires at the end of this year, al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

The inclusion of fugitives to the Israeli occupation in Lebanon’s general amnesty law has sparked widespread debate, particularly after MPs from the Lebanese Forces suggested their return was now only a matter of time.

The first day of the seventh round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel in Rome focused on border issues and mechanisms to verify the implementation of security arrangements, a senior Lebanese official told Anadolu on Tuesday, Anadolu reports. “The first day of the seventh round of negotiations with Israel concluded, with the afternoon discussions divided…

Amid conflicting reports about the situation in the Ali al-Taher area, which continues to come under Israeli airstrikes, a prominent Hezbollah source confirmed that the group "has no intention of surrendering the Ali al-Taher hill to the Lebanese Army, the enemy, or any other party.”

A dispute between Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Defense Minister Michel Menassa over Lebanon's general amnesty law has grown into a broader confrontation over the army's role, ministerial authority and civilian oversight of the military.

TEHRAN— Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Tuesday that Iran played a key role in reducing Israeli military pressure on Lebanon, arguing that Tehran ensured an end to Israeli attacks and a full withdrawal from Lebanese territory were incorporated into a memorandum of understanding.

U.S. President Donald Trump “has said that he would be willing to talk to Hezbollah if it would lead to an end of conflict, or peace,” Ed Gabriel, the head of the American Task Force on Lebanon, said.

A legal reading disputes the claim that Article 64 gives Lebanon’s prime minister exclusive authority to speak for the government. The dispute followed his decision to prevent the defense minister from addressing parliament on Tuesday.

Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos said Tuesday that an indictment in the 2020 Beirut port blast will be issued within the next few months, adding that the investigation has entered its “final stages,” Anadolu reports. “Judicial investigations are no longer facing obstruction under the mandate of the current government,” Morcos told Anadolu on the sidelines…

Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri has emphasized the importance of UNIFIL forces' presence in southern Lebanon and their assigned role, both in “maintaining security in the south and in supporting the Lebanese Army's deployment across all Lebanese territory up to the international border, as stipulated in Resolution 1701.”

Lebanon’s Parliament has approved a general amnesty law and exceptional reductions in some sentences, after Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told lawmakers that his government’s position was “justice, then justice, then justice.”

Lebanon and Israel are holding a fresh round of direct talks in Rome under US sponsorship. It is the seventh such meeting since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel, which responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion. The talks were criticised by the leader of…

If Lebanon and Israel fail to agree on a new pilot zone in south Lebanon, Washington will designate the aforementioned zone, U.S. General Joseph Clearfield told Lebanese officials during his latest visit to Beirut, according to a senior Lebanese official.

President Joseph Aoun argues that Lebanon does not need capabilities equal to those of Israel as long as it has a US political umbrella capable of compelling Israel to comply. But what happens when Washington does not use that umbrella?

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said Tuesday there is “no obstacle” to holding a public meeting between his group and the Syrian leadership, Anadolu reports. “There is no obstacle to holding a public meeting between Hezbollah and the Syrian leadership at a suitable time,” Qassem said in a televised speech on the group’s Al-Mayadeen television. Hezbollah…

Israeli strikes and shelling targeted overnight into Thursday Houla, Markaba, Wadi Slouqi, Qabrikha, al-Mansouri, Majdalzoun, Ali al-Taher and Touline, as troops carried out detonations in Zawtar al-Sahrqiyeh, Majdalzoun, al-Mansouri and al-Khiam.

A state that pursues citizens over their opinions while ignoring a political figure engaging with a state attacking its land and people is not merely facing a failure in law enforcement. It is facing a crisis in its very definition of the nation.

BEIRUT, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Lebanon on Tuesday marked the sixth year since a deadly blast at Beirut port, with victims and Lebanese officials expressing a renewed but cautious hope that justice could finally be served over one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. The blast on August 4, 2020, which killed more than…

President Joseph Aoun met Thursday with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican and thanked him for his efforts to support Lebanon in resisting Israeli aggression and securing the liberation of its territory.

UNIFIL's announcement on finding 4 tons of explosives derived from ammonium nitrate in Houla, South Lebanon, has raised questions about the origin of the material and why its ownership was omitted from the official statement.

TEHRAN — Five Lebanese army soldiers were injured on Sunday when a suspicious explosive device detonated in the southern town of Kafra as their military vehicle escorted local residents through the volatile Bint Jbeil district, according to a statement by the Lebanese army.

Hezbollah proposed earlier this week to hand over the strategic Ali al-Taher area to the Lebanese Army, amid “the decline of its ability to hold onto it and its attempt to withdraw the fighters and equipment that are present there,” an informed Western diplomatic source said.

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Five Lebanese soldiers were wounded Sunday in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, the army said, Anadolu reports. A military statement said the soldiers sustained minor injuries in the town of Kafra in Bint Jbeil while escorting civilians in an army vehicle. The army did not provide further details on the circumstances or the type…

Syria's interior ministry said authorities took custody of a former general under deposed ruler Bashar al-Assad who was extradited from Lebanon on Wednesday and is accused of crimes including murder and torture.

President Joseph Aoun publicly criticized the Israeli occupation for continuing to demolish homes, level villages, and target religious and heritage sites despite the ceasefire and the Framework Agreement signed in Washington.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday stressed the importance of Palestinians in Lebanon complying with a government decision to place weapons solely under state authority and cooperating with Lebanese security agencies, Anadolu reports. Aoun made the remarks during a meeting with a Palestinian delegation headed by Yasser Abbas, the special representative of Palestinian President Mahmoud…

President Joseph Aoun will head to Rome this week for talks focusing on the future of the United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, whose mandate ends this year, a Lebanese official told AFP.

Security ties between Lebanon and Syria are gradually expanding, driven by regional and international efforts to restructure communication channels between the two countries and establish a regular mechanism to address shared security concerns.

Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal said Israel was seeking to stir internal divisions in Lebanon, urging national unity to counter such efforts. Haykal said creating internal strife was “one of the objectives of the Israeli occupation” and stressed the need for awareness and unity to confront such attempts. He said the military was facing…

U.S. and Arab efforts, described as last-minute attempts, were made in the past hours to hand over the Ali Taher site to the Lebanese Army, but these efforts failed because Hezbollah, acting on Iranian orders, has refused to leave the area, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's summit with US President Donald Trump in Washington marked a politically significant moment. Yet the official optimism surrounding the visit appeared to exceed what the meeting actually delivered.

Lebanese security forces conducted a raid on a home in Beirut over a family dispute. During the operation, they reportedly discovered a large weapons cache, and subsequent interrogation allegedly uncovered that the cache’s owner was a “member of Hezbollah.” The post Lebanese security forces incidentally discover Hezbollah weapons cache during raid appeared first on FDD's…

Lebanon's judiciary decided on Tuesday to extradite a former Syrian general it detained this month following a warrant from Damascus accusing him of "killing and crimes against humanity", a judicial official said.

By Tala Ramadan BEIRUT, July 29 (Reuters) - A group of Lebanese lawyers filed a complaint with the country's top prosecutor on Wednesday requesting an investigation into banker Antoun Sehnaoui over a dinner he allegedly co-hosted in Washington that was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The document accused Sehnaoui of "communicating with the…

Hezbollah has not yet received a "green light" from Iran to launch operations against Israel and Washington has not given Israel the green light to carry out a large-scale operation on the Ali Taher heights, sources told Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath channel.

President of the Republic, Joseph Aoun, on Wednesday met with House Speaker, Nabih Berri, at Baabda Palace on Wednesday, where they reviewed domestic and regional developments, with particular focus on the situation in southern Lebanon amid continued Israeli attacks on villages and towns, including the demolition and destruction of homes, and the n…

Hezbollah has not yet received a "green light" from Iran to launch operations against Israel and Washington has not given Israel the green light to carry out a large-scale operation on the Ali Taher heights, sources told Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath channel.

Egypt has said that achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East depends on ending the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent, sovereign Palestinian state along the 4 June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with international legitimacy resolutions and the two-state solution. Speaking before the UN Security Council…

Hezbollah will defend Ali al-Taher against Israel by all means possible and will not relinquish the strategic hill, Hezbollah MP Hassan Ezzeddine vowed Tuesday, adding that the group welcomes any Iranian assistance.

As Lebanon's army deploys in the southern village of Zawtar al-Gharbiya, Hassan Sbeih is among those reassured by the troops and hoping the move will soon extend to areas still occupied by Israel. Last week, the Lebanese military began deploying to the devastated village, one of the first "pilot zones" under a framework agreement reached…

The Israeli airstrikes that assassinated two Hezbollah commanders represented “a harsh message to Hezbollah,” following “a security operation carried out about a week prior to the strikes, which Hezbollah is still keeping secret," a diplomatic source said, adding that it is likely to remain unclaimed.

Commenting on the recent statements by the so-called Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raji, Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Lebanese Parliament, MP Dr. Ibrahim al-Mousawi, made the following statement: “It is completely clear to everyone that there is no Foreign Minister for Lebanon, but rather a militia delegate whose sole concern …

President Joseph Aoun reaffirmed on Monday Lebanon’s unyielding commitment to the full implementation of the Israeli-Lebanese framework agreement, underscoring the vital, supportive, and earnest role of the United States in facilitating the process.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said Tuesday that explosive hazards and remnants of war continue to pose a threat in parts of southern Lebanon despite a decline in violence, Anadolu reports. In a statement, the peacekeeping mission said explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) specialists are deployed ahead of peacekeepers to assess areas before any…