"Ten people, including six civilians and two Hizbollah fighters, were killed in Israeli strikes on a building in the Hamra neighborhood of Homs," the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP. The strikes completely levelled the building in one of the city's most affluent...

Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas official in Lebanon, said the movement's leaders were reviewing a proposed framework hammered out by top officials from Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the United States. Speaking at a news conference, he said Hamas "has repeatedly said" it was "open to discussing any initiative.

Washington, US - American forces shot down eight drones near Yemen and destroyed four more on the ground, the US military said on Saturday, announcing a series of incidents that took place the previous day. The strikes and shootdowns in and around Yemen came as American forces launched a wave of air...

Tyre, Lebanon - When Ines Tehini and her family fled their south Lebanon village after Hizbollah and Israel began exchanging fire in October, she thought they would be home in a matter of days. But nearly four months later in a school turned shelter, her hopes for a swift return to...

The targets included a site operated by Lebanese group Hezbollah on a road leading to the Sayyida Zeinab district and a site on the road to Damascus airport that had recently been vacated by pro-Iran groups, the Britain-based war monitor said.

Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbollah movement, a Hamas ally. Hizbollah claimed responsibility Monday for at least 12 attacks on Israeli army positions near the border, using...

Israel's relentless military offensive has since killed at least 26,422 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the territory's health ministry. The Gaza war has forced more than one million Palestinians to flee to the far-southern Rafah area near the Egyptian border, according to the UN,...

Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a near-daily exchange of fire between Israel's army and Lebanon's Shiite movement Hizbollah, an ally of Gaza-based Hamas. On Monday, Hizbollah announced that three of its fighters had been killed "on the road...

It will engage in the import and trading of oil products.

Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a near-daily exchange of fire between Israel's army and Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah, an ally of Gaza-based Hamas. On Monday, HIzbollah announced that two of its fighters had been killed "on the road...

A Lebanese security official said the Israeli strike on a car in south Lebanon "killed a member of Hizbollah's protection team", adding that the senior commander he was protecting "escaped death". Since the war began between Hamas and Israel, the Lebanese-Israeli border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel's...

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi vowed not to let the "cowardly assassination" go unanswered. Israel has been blamed for intensifying strikes targeting senior Iranian and allied figures in Syria and Lebanon -- backers of the Palestinian movement Hamas -- raising fears that fighting in the Gaza Strip could spread further.

BEIRUT, LEBANON - "Good morning, madame. This is the bank calling. Are you at home?"   Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out more than three months ago, residents of southern Lebanon have been receiving strange phone calls from Lebanese numbers and from people speaking in Lebanese accents. The voices on the...

Doha, Qatar - Asian Cup hosts and holders Qatar have been on a mission to banish the painful memory of their 2022 World Cup flop and forward Akram Afif is leading the charge. Qatar lost all three of their World Cup games on home soil on their way to a first-round...

At least 24,448 Palestinians, more than 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents, have been killed in Israeli bombardments and ground assaults, according to the Gaza health ministry's latest figures. "When we talk about rebuilding Gaza, it's not anymore like before, where we had to rehabilitate some shelter and...

Gaza's health ministry said that more than 60 people were killed and dozens wounded in "intense" strikes and artillery fire across Gaza. The Hamas government media office said two hospitals, a girls' school and "dozens" of homes were hit overnight. Hospitals in Gaza have been hit repeatedly since the start...

Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah declared that Israel has not achieved any "real victory" in 100 days other than killing. In a televised speech to his supporters, Nasrallah said the "enemy has failed in achieving its declared, half-declared and implicit objectives." His speech commemorated the death of a senior Hizbollah commander...

As Blinken wrapped up a whistlestop tour of the region, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) heard arguments in a landmark case accusing Israel of breaching the United Nations Genocide Convention. South Africa told the top UN court that Israel's bombing campaign of the besieged Gaza Strip justified a plausible...

In a statement, Hizbollah said that it targeted the "enemy's northern command centre" in the Israeli city of Safed with "several suicide drones". The attack, according to Hizbollah, an ally of Hamas, was part of its response to the killings of top field commander Wissam Tawil on Monday and Hamas...

Jordan's king urged Blinken to push for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the humanitarian crisis brought by three months of war. King Abdullah, whose country signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, also reaffirmed the need for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian question.

Josep Borrell held talks with the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, Lebanese media reported. An EU source confirmed the meeting, which came hours after the group's fighters fired rockets at an Israeli military base in response to the killing of a senior Hamas figure in a suspected Israeli...

The European Union foreign policy chief warned against a regional conflict that would involve Lebanon, as border clashes intensified nearly three months into Israel's war with Hizbollah ally Hamas. “It is absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict," Josep Borrell said during a press conference in...

Beirut, Lebanon - Lebanon's Hizbollah fired on Saturday over 60 rockets at an Israeli military base, the group said, describing the barrage as a response to the killing of Hamas's deputy leader in Beirut. "As part of the initial response to the crime of assassinating the great leader Sheikh Saleh al-Aruri......

BEIRUT, LEBANON - The head of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbollah group warned Israel on Friday that it will respond swiftly "on the battlefield" to the killing of Hamas's deputy leader in its south Beirut stronghold. "The response is inevitably coming. We cannot remain silent on a violation of this magnitude because it...

Washington, United States - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna agreed to seek steps to avoid a wider Middle East war following strikes in Lebanon and Iran, the State Department said on Thursday. In a telephone call the day before, the two top diplomats "discussed...

Beirut, Lebanon - Four Hizbollah fighters were killed overnight in southern Lebanon, the Iran-backed movement announced on Thursday, in what Lebanese state media said were Israeli strikes on the border town of Naqura. The deaths, which according to a source close to the powerful group include a local Hizbollah leader, follow...

Israel has previously announced the deaths in Gaza of Hamas commanders IN the war, but Aruri is the most high-profile figure to be killed, and his death came in the first strike on the Lebanese capital since hostilities began. The strike adds to widespread fears that the Israel-Hamas war could...

Air strikes in eastern Syria "likely" launched by Israel killed at least 19 pro-Iran fighters, a war monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "19 pro-Iranian fighters, including four Syrians, and six Iraqis, were killed and more than 18 were wounded" in at least nine air strikes overnight...

Lebanon-Israel border has witnessed increasing hostilities amid the Israel-Hamas conflict since October 7, escalating exchanges involve the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah. Since hostilities began, more than 150 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah combatants but also more than a dozen civilians, three...

The army said that one of its soldiers injured by an anti-tank missile along with other troopers was in a serious condition. The army blamed Hizbollah for constant firing at Israeli "civilian and religious sites". Hizbollah, which on Tuesday announced the death of two of its fighters, says it is acting...

Qlayaa, Lebanon - In the Lebanese Christian border village of Qlayaa, the priest urged his parish to keep the Christmas spirit alive despite clashes between Hizbollah and Israel forcing many to flee. Nestled among lush, green fields and flowing olive groves, Qlayaa has echoed to the sound of bombing on an...

Lebanon is ready to implement a UN resolution that would help end Hizbollah's cross-border attacks on Israel if Israel also complies and withdraws from disputed territory, Lebanon's prime minister said. The frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and the Iran-backed...

The impact of the conflict had reversed a slight recovery for Lebanon, which has battled a deep economic crisis for years, the Washington-based bank said in a report. "Prior to October 2023, economic growth was projected -- for the first time since 2018 -- to slightly expand in 2023," by...

Around 80,000 Lebanese serve in the army, which is seen as a key pillar of the country's stability. The force is also deployed in the country's south, which has seen deadly exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, since the Israel-Hamas war began in...

There have been near-daily cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Hamas ally in Lebanon, and Israel since the Palestinian group's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel.

Brhane said the World Bank integrated climate into all its work across the MENA region and is on track to align 100 percent of new operations with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Beirut, Lebanon - Lebanon's compounding crises are having a "devastating" impact on children and their education, a United Nations agency said Wednesday, warning of additional pressure as the Israel-Hamas war spills over into the country. UN children's agency UNICEF said more than a quarter of households surveyed last month reported children...

Activists had called for a strike in solidarity with the besieged territory covering businesses, public workers and education. Many Palestinians took part and rallies were staged in the West Bank, according to Essam Abu Baker who coordinates Palestinian factions in Ramallah.

According to a medical source quoted by media, Israeli artillery fire targeted the " vicinity of a Lebanese army post in Ras el-Naqura, lightly injuring three soldiers". The attack on Lebanese army on Friday follows Israeli cross-border shelling on Tuesday that killed two people, including a Lebanese soldier, escalating the...

Issam Abdallah, 37, was killed instantly in the strike on October 13 in the south of the country near the Israeli border. The others present -- two other Reuters journalists, two from Al Jazeera, and two from AFP -- were all injured. AFP photographer Christina Assi, 28, was seriously wounded, later...

The Lebanese army in a statement said that its position was targeted by the "Israeli enemy" on the southern border. The border between Israel and Lebanon has seen intensifying exchanges of fire since the war broke out between Hamas and Israel, mainly involving Iran-backed Hizbollah, raising fears of a broader...

A four-day truce between Israel and Hamas began on Friday, and a source close to Hizbollah told AFP that the Iran-backed group would also adhere to the ceasefire if Israel did. UNIFIL said "this attack on peacekeepers, dedicated to reducing tensions and restoring stability in south Lebanon, is deeply troubling,"...

Syrian government bombardment killed nine civilians including six children as they harvested olives in northwestern Idlib province, the country's last main rebel bastion, a war monitor said. "Ground bombardment by regime forces" struck the group "in the village of Qoqfin", in Idlib province's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area, the Syrian Observatory...

Tehran, Iran – Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey witnessed a significant surge in a boycott targeting multinationals that have either pro-Israeli stances or financial ties with Israel such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, and KFC, Lebanese Al-Mayadeen news network reported.  Amidst rising global condemnation of Israel's actions in Gaza, the boycott movement gains...

Hizbollah says it has been acting in support of Hamas since the Palestinian Islamist movement's October 7 attacks on Israel, which Israeli officials say killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw about 240 people taken hostage. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and its retaliatory air and ground offensive in...

Beirut, Lebanon - Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has met with Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbollah, which has traded cross-border fire with Israel since the start of the Gaza war, the Lebanese movement said on Thursday. Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, the border between Lebanon and Israel...

The group, in a statement, said that Abbas Raad, son of the head of Hizbollah's parliamentary bloc Mohammed Raad, was "martyred on the road to Jerusalem". Later Hizbollah issued separate statements with the identities and photographs of four other fighters who were also killed. The group and Israel have been...

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported "the deaths of three citizens -- two journalists and another civilian -- in enemy bombing" of the Tair Harfa area

Beirut, Lebanon - In a ramshackle Palestinian refugee camp here, Hayat Shehadeh wrings her hands as she watches the Israel-Hamas war. Her daughter is in Gaza, and she has not spoken to her for a week. "I can't sleep. I get up at 3:00 am... I go to watch the television,"...

A local mayor and Lebanese state media corroborated the journalists' account of the cross-border incident, which came exactly a month after deadly strikes blamed on Israel hit a press group near Alma al-Shaab in southern Lebanon. Around a dozen journalists from several media outlets were on a tour to inspect...