The mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, which expires Thursday, was extended last year with a slight modification that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah criticised at the time as "a violation of Lebanese sovereignty." The Security Council on Wednesday is to meet on extending UNIFIL's mandate.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in the last 12 years of civil war in Syria, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions. "The Israeli enemy undertook an aerial aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International...

Israel, during more than a decade of civil war in Syria, has launched hundreds of air strikes on its territory, targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions. Israel rarely comments on the strikes, but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its...

Citing a military source, Syrian state news agency SANA said that Israel carried out air strikes near the government-held city of Homs. The air strikes hit "some points in the vicinity of the city". Israel, during more than a decade of war in Syria, has launched hundreds of air strikes,...

Mired in a crippling economic crisis since 2019, Lebanon has been governed by a caretaker cabinet for more than a year and without a president for almost eight months. No group has a clear majority in parliament and lawmakers have failed 12 times to elect a new president.

The vote for the presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian under Lebanon's delicate sectarian power-sharing system, pitted the Hezbollah-backed Sleiman Frangieh against financial official Jihad Azour, who has mainly been endorsed by Christian and independent legislators. But neither had the requisite support, with Azour garnering 59 votes and Frangieh 51...

A military judge has accused five members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, only one of whom is in custody, of killing an Irish United Nations peacekeeper in December last year, a judicial official said. Fadi Sawan issued a 30-page indictment accusing five Hezbollah members of "forming a group of malefactors...

AARAMTA, LEBANON - Lebanon's Hezbollah movement simulated cross-border raids into Israel on Sunday in a show of its military might, using live ammunition and an attack drone, AFP correspondents said. Around 200 Hezbollah fighters took part in the raids, part of large-scale military exercise in Aaramta, around 20 kilometers (12 miles)...

Three civilians were wounded in Israeli air strikes near the Syrian city of Homs, state media reported, with a war monitor saying a Hezbollah munitions depot was hit. Over a decade, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syria's territory, targeting Iran-backed forces, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and the country's...

Iran's foreign minister called on Lebanon to overcome political deadlock and elect a president, urging foreign governments not to interfere in the choice. "We will support any election and agreement reached between all Lebanese sides... and we call on other foreign parties to respect the choice of the Lebanese," Hossein...

On Thursday, the Israeli army said more than 30 rockets had been fired from Lebanese territory into Israel in the largest escalation on the northern border since Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006. It was the first time Israel has confirmed an attack on Lebanese territory since...

Damascus, Syria - An Israeli air strike on Tuesday killed two Syrian civilians, state media reported, the fourth such attack on government-held areas of the war-torn country in less than a week. During more than a decade of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its...

Tehran, Iran--An officer from Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards was killed in Israeli air strikes on Syria early on Friday, a website affiliated with the Guards said. During more than a decade of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah...

BEIRUT, LEBANON - The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said Thursday it had not observed any border crossings after Israel said it killed a suspect wearing an explosive belt who may have entered from Lebanon. The Israeli army said on Wednesday it was probing the possible involvement of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement...

In yet another missile strike by Israel on Damascus, 15 people were killed and a residential building was destroyed in the Syrian capital. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike, which hit close to an Iranian cultural center, had killed 15 people including civilians. Israel has targeted Syria...

Lebanon has adopted a policy of dissociation from Syria's years-long war but on Wednesday, it sent its first high-level official delegation and rescue team to Damascus since the start of the conflict. The delegation met with Assad and expressed readiness to open Lebanon's air and sea ports to help send...

The central bank "took a decision to freeze all the accounts" of Hassan Moukalled as well as those of his sons Rayyan and Rani and two businesses that he owns, it said in a statement. The US Treasury had issued the sanctions on Tuesday, calling Moukalled "a corrupt money exchanger...

The August 4, 2020 explosion at the Beirut port killed more than 200 people and destroyed swathes of the capital. Authorities said tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer haphazardly stocked in a port warehouse since 2014 had caught fire, causing one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions.

Lebanon has charged seven people for participating in an attack against United Nations peacekeepers that killed one Irish soldier in mid-December, a judicial official said. Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others injured on December 14 when their UN Interim Force in Lebanon vehicle was attacked near Al-Aqbiya...

Two Syrian soldiers were killed in an Israeli missile strike on Damascus International Airport, according to the country's state news agency SANA. The missile strike put the airport out of service, the news agency reported, quoting a military source who said that the Israel attacked with "barrages of missiles, targeting...

Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group has handed over a man suspected of killing an Irish United Nations peacekeeper earlier this month, a security official said. Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others injured on December 14 when their UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle was attacked near the...

Beirut, Lebanon--Lebanese investigators have identified suspects in the fatal shooting of an Irish United Nations peacekeeper whose vehicle came under fire earlier this month, a judicial official told AFP on Thursday. Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others injured on December 14 when their UN Interim Force in Lebanon...

At least two people were killed in an Israeli missile strike on Hezbollah weapons depot in the Damascus area overnight, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor. Syrian state media reported "explosions in the vicinity of Damascus" and said that some of the missiles were intercepted by...

Parliament is split between supporters of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its opponents, neither of whom have a clear majority. "Holding a session every week won't change anything," said lawmaker Alain Aoun, of former president Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement (FPM).

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two individuals and two companies for providing financial services to Hezbollah.

Lawmaker Michel Moawad, who is seen as close to the United States, won the support of 42 of parliament's 128 MPs, but his tally fell well short of the required majority and was exceeded by the number of spoilt ballots cast by pro-Hezbollah lawmakers.

Lebanese lawmakers failed for a sixth time to elect a successor to former president Michel Aoun, whose mandate expired last month. Parliament is split between supporters of the powerful Hezbollah movement and its opponents, neither of whom have a clear majority. Lawmaker Michel Moawad won the support of 43 of...

Continuing with its belligerence toward Syria, Israel attacked many positions near Damascus in the early hours of Thursday, in the third such attack in less than a week. According to the Syrian defense ministry, Israel attacked from the direction of the occupied Palestinian territories targeting several positions in the vicinity...

Already governed by a caretaker cabinet, crisis-hit Lebanon is hurtling towards an imminent power vacuum, with just days before the current president's term finishes at the end of the month. Aoun was elected in 2016 after a more than two-year vacancy at the presidential palace, as lawmakers made 45 failed...

It comes after Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Wednesday said the agreement would make conflict with Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah less likely. The agreement between the countries that have remained technically at war since Israel's creation in 1948 was earlier applauded by world leaders, including US President Joe...

The draft agreement floated by US envoy Amos Hochstein aims to settle competing claims over offshore gas fields and was delivered to Lebanese and Israeli officials at the weekend. Lebanese authorities, who confirmed receipt of the terms on Saturday, have pledged to deliver a reply "as quickly as possible".

Israel says the Karish field is located entirely within its exclusive economic zone, but Lebanon insists that part of the field falls within its own waters. The US has mediated in the dispute, which escalated in early June when Energean brought a production vessel into the field.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has warned Hezbollah that any attack on its gas assets could set off war, after Hassan Nasrallah threatened to “sever” Israel’s hands if it taps a disputed offshore field. Last month, Israel said that it had downed three drones launched by Hezbollah towards Karish.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the attack, adding that the two people, whom it did not identify, were in an area bordering the Israeli-occupied Golan.

The UN's mission in Lebanon called Sunday for the country's military to guarantee the security of its peacekeepers, alleging personnel were "threatened" by armed men the day before. A routine UNIFIL patrol was confronted on Saturday by "a group of men in civilian clothes" in southern Lebanon.

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.