Syrian air defense intercepted Israeli missiles south of Damascus on Monday, with no casualties reported, a military source told Syria's official news agency SANA. "The Israeli enemy carried out an airstrike from the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting points south of Damascus," with Syria's air defense intercepting most of the missiles,...

Lebanon's hijacked sovereignty must be restored after an election denied the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah a parliamentary majority, said Christian leader Samir Geagea. Geagea's campaign for the May 15 election centered mainly on disarming Hezbollah, cementing his role as the movement's staunchest domestic rival.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said: "We urge those elected and the country's political leaders to heed the Lebanese people's call for change and to work seriously, and with urgency, to take the necessary actions to rescue the economy,"

When Firas Hamdan was injured at a protest near Lebanon's parliament two years ago, the then activist never imagined he would one day return as a lawmaker. Hamdan, one of 13 independent politicians who emerged from a mass anti-government protest movement in 2019, made it to parliament on a reformist...

Hezbollah and its allies fell just short of the 65 seats needed to control the 128-seat chamber.

The reformists, who campaigned on the legacy of a 2019 anti-establishment protest movement, could yet obtain the support of several other independent and non-aligned lawmakers in the 128-member assembly.

Scuffles and cases of voter intimidation were reported on polling day, although Interior Minister insisted when announcing partial results that their number was "very low".

Official results later Monday will show whether Hezbollah, a political and military movement seen as a state within a state, and its allies can keep an actionable majority in Lebanon's 128-seat parliament. Election turnout was just 41 percent -- eight points lower than in 2018.

A UN-backed tribunal on Thursday found two Hezbollah members guilty on appeal for the 2005 death of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri, saying both were involved in the bombing that killed him. Appeals judges at the Netherlands-based court said trial judges "erred" in 2020 by acquitting the two men,...

Lebanon and Israel have seen unrest often, and drones have become a regular feature of their heavily guarded border.

Lebanon said Monday it had busted at least 17 suspected Israeli spy networks, in one of the largest nationwide crackdowns in recent years. Interior minister Bassam Mawlawi informed cabinet that security forces had "clamped down on 17 spy networks working for Israel," acting information minister Abbas Halabi said after the meeting....

Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory since 2011, targeting government positions as well as Hezbollah fighters.

The US State Department announced in a statement that "Adnan Ayad, Jihad Adnan Ayad, Ali Adel Diab, and 10 companies are designated under Executive Order 13224.”

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated three Hezbollah-linked financial facilitators and their Lebanon-based travel company. Specifically, OFAC designated Adel Diab, Ali Mohamad Daoun, Jihad Salem Alame, and their company, Dar Al Salam for Travel & Tourism. This action comes at a time in...

Lebanese group Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement said Saturday they were ready to return to government meetings after three months of political deadlock that has exacerbated the country's economic crisis. Lebanon's government was formed in September after a 13-month political impasse.

The latest exchange of insults follows a crisis between Lebanon and Gulf Arab states over the war in Yemen.

The midmarket rate for the Lebanese pound is around 1,500 to the dollar, but the reality on the ground is that the black-market rate of 30,000 prevails.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said the Hezbollah allegations do not reflect the official position of Lebanon.

President Michel Aoun has called for national dialogue on matters including a defense strategy.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Sunday it struck a Huthi rebel camp in the capital Sanaa, as it intensified an aerial bombing campaign against the Iran-backed insurgents. The coalition, which backs Yemen's internationally recognized government against the Huthis in a civil war, said it destroyed weapons storehouses in...

Israeli strikes targeting a part of Syria where fighters loyal to Lebanon's Hezbollah are based killed five people Wednesday, a war monitor said. The official Syrian news agency SANA, citing a military official, had reported earlier that two civilians had been killed.

Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi triggered the dispute with an interview recorded in August and aired last week. In it, he said that Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels were "defending themselves... against an external aggression". Lebanon on Monday called for talks with Saudi Arabia to ease the dispute.

The decision closely mirrored that of Saudi Arabia, which too ordered the Lebanese ambassador to its country to return home.

The sanctions boosted pressure on Iran ahead of the reopening of negotiations on the country's nuclear program. The sanctions came nine days after an attack on a US military base in Al-Tanf in Syria that involved drones, and two days after Iran said it would return to talks to revive...

Hundreds of his supporters gathered in his mountain bastion and marched in a show of support. Geagea had warned last week he would ignore the summons if his rival, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, was not called in for questioning too.

Seven people were killed as snipers opened fire on a rally by Hezbollah, the powerful group allied with Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, and fellow Shiite movement Amal as they protested against a judge investigating last year's devastating port blast.

Heavy fighting claimed at least six lives and left dozens wounded in Lebanon's capital Thursday as an escalation of tensions around last year's massive portside explosion turned parts of Beirut into a war-zone.

Heavy fire rang out as ambulances rushed the wounded through the deserted streets, a few blocks from the Palace of Justice, where hundreds of black-clad protesters had gathered moments earlier to demand Tarek Bitar's removal.

It is the second time Bitar has had to suspend the investigation in the face of lawsuits filed by former ministers he had summoned on suspicion of negligence.

Iran is set to deliver more fuel in the coming days to Lebanon for distribution by the Shiite movement.

Lebanon has been without a government for more than a year, and the main priority of Prime Minister Najib Mikati's newly-selected cabinet would be to guarantee petrol and electricity supplies and curb other shortages that are crippling the country.

BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has said that the first delivery of Iranian fuel would arrive Thursday in Lebanon to help ease dire shortages in the embattled country. Lebanon is facing one of its worst-ever economic crises, with more than three out of four Lebanese considered to be under the...

The move, prohibited by US sanctions on Iran's oil industry, could drag Lebanon into the covert naval war between Tehran and Israel

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah described the air strikes this week as a 'very dangerous development'