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...

The suffering and death in Gaza has prompted growing calls for a halt in five weeks of fighting in order to protect civilian lives in the densely populated territory. French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel to stop bombing civilians in Gaza, saying there was "no justification" and the deaths...

Beirut, Lebanon - Visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein on Tuesday urged for calm to return to Lebanon's southern border with Israel, after weeks of skirmishes following the start of the Israel-Hamas war. "The United States does not want to see conflict in Gaza escalating and expanding into Lebanon," Hochstein told a...

A latest report by IIF highlights three possible outcomes from Gaza operations, each with profound implications for MENA economies and political stability.

Amman, Jordan-- Jordan and Lebanon have called for the speeding up of international efforts to stop the war on Gaza and prevent a spillover of the conflict in the region. The exhortation to halt the destruction of life and property in the besieged enclave of the Gaza Strip came in...

Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu was suspended from government meetings "until further notice" for advocating dropping a nuclear bomb on besieged and devastated Gaza.

Jerusalem - The Israeli military said on Saturday it had struck "two cells" and a Hizbollah post in response to attempted firing from Lebanon as cross-border shelling continued while Israel fights Hamas in Gaza. The latest skirmishes came a day after Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned that the war between...

Beirut, Lebanon - Lebanon's army on Thursday retrieved the bodies of two shepherds killed by Israeli fire, official media said, raising to 66 the number killed in Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began, according to an AFP tally. Lebanon's southern border has seen tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between Israel and Hamas ally...

Chevron's Tamar gas field halt, rising global oil prices, and jeopardized gas supplies to Egypt and Jordan underscore the impact of geopolitics on energy security.

"Dozens" of tanks entered the Zaytun district for over an hour, witnesses told AFP, saying they were "firing at any vehicle" driving along the main Salahedin Road. Warplanes also bombed the road, leaving large craters in it. More than 8,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombardments since Oct 7.

A string of attacks have been carried out against US forces in Iraq and Syria as well as increasing exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the Lebanon border since the Gaza conflict began. Late Sunday, the Israeli military said it was striking "Hezbollah terrorist targets in Lebanon".

Ghosn and his wife must "vacate the property... within a month", according to a copy of the decision seen by AFP and dated October 16. The home with pink walls in the Lebanese capital's upscale Ashrafieh neighbourhood is worth some $19 million and is registered to Lebanese company Phoinos Investment,...

The International Organization for Migration said in an update that 28,965 people have been displaced, mainly in the country's south, adding that the figure had risen by 37 percent since October 23. Some have found refuge with family members elsewhere in the country, while those who can afford it have...

Hamas released a list of around 7,000 names of people in Gaza it said had been killed in Israeli strikes. The list was produced a day after US President Joe Biden said he had "no confidence" in the militant group's death toll figures. Israel says 1,400 people were killed in...

Israeli strikes have now killed more than 6,500 people in Gaza, a rise of over 700 since Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. One doctor said he was forced to perform emergency surgery on the wounded without anesthetic. Israel has cut off impoverished Gaza's usual water, food and other supplies,...

According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), its jets hit military infrastructure and mortar launchers of the Syrian Army in retaliation for "the launches toward Israel yesterday." The strikes were inside Syria. Fears are growing that Israel's war with Hamas will create wider regional turmoil, and especially further inflame existing...

Beirut, Lebanon - US troops have been redeployed to the eastern Mediterranean, forty years after one of the deadliest attacks on US troops in the Middle East, raising concerns about the potential for a new conflict in the region, Associated Press reported today.   On October 23, 1983, a suicide bomber...

There have also been increasing cross-border exchanges of fire along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, between Israeli troops and Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.

Jerusalem - Casualties were reported along the Israel-Lebanon border on Saturday as the army traded fire with Iran-backed group Hezbollah amid fears of a new front opening as Israel battles Hamas. Israel already ordered the evacuation of Kiryat Shmona, a border town which is home to some 25,000 people, as...

RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Israeli troops on Saturday raided the West Bank home of a senior Hamas leader and detained members of his family, witnesses said. Saleh al-Aruri is the deputy to Hamas' overall leader Ismail Haniyeh and one of the founders of the Islamist group's military wing. Based in Lebanon,...

KIRYAT SHMONA, ISRAEL - The Israeli military announced plans to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday, after days of clashes with Hezbollah fighters along the border with Lebanon. Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions have traded cross-border fire with Israel for days, after Hamas fighters attacked communities in...

Markets had enjoyed a healthy run Tuesday on optimism that while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was preparing for a ground offensive in the blockaded territory, the crisis could be contained.

Following Hezbollah's call, hundreds of demonstrators scuffled Tuesday night with Lebanese security forces outside the US embassy in the Beirut suburb of Awkar, where protesters hurled stones and set a building on fire, according to AFP correspondents. Palestinian refugee camps in the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre erupted in...

As Israel advises around 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza Strip to evacuate, concerns grow about the potential ripple effects on neighboring Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt.

Shanghai, China - China will this week weigh into the Israel-Hamas war by sending its special envoy to the Middle East, after the United States asked it to use its influence to stop the conflict from spreading. Washington says it hopes China's friendship with Hamas backer Iran could help calm the...

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned in a live broadcast to state TV of the possibility of pre-emptive action by the resistance axis in "in the coming hours" while Israel prepares to invade the Gaza Strip. Tehran has repeatedly warned that invasion of Gaza would be met with a response...

As Israel prepares for a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip, the international community has mobilized to try to protect civilians and prevent the conflict spreading across the region. But Tel Aviv's avowed determination to crush Hamas, the group behind the October 7 attack on Israel, are hampering mediation efforts.

Hezbollah and other Palestinian factions in Lebanon have exchanged cross-border fire with Israel since Hamas's surprise October 7 attack on Israel ignited a war that has killed more than 1,300 people in Israel. Palestinian gunmen also seized an estimated 150 hostages while Israel's retaliatory air and artillery bombardment has killed...

Speaking from Beirut's airport, the top diplomat said that Iran's regional allies, known as the "axis of resistance", could respond if Israel's Gaza offensive escalates. "The continuation of war crimes against Palestinians and Gaza will receive a response from the rest of the axes," he told reporters. At least 1,200...

Beirut, Lebanon - Shelling by government forces targeting several locations in rebel-held northwest Syria killed seven civilians including four children on Saturday, a war monitor said. The Damascus regime has been bombing opposition-held areas in apparent retaliation for an attack on a military academy graduation ceremony in Homs on Thursday...

Lack of funding for the school system has precipitated repeated teachers' strikes and school closures, resulting in children being increasingly pulled out of the formal learning system, and in some cases being forced to work. Lebanon's public institutions have been crumbling since the economy collapsed in late 2019, pushing most...

French President Emmanuel Macron's special envoy urged Lebanese factions to find a "third way" for electing a new president, warning that France and its allies were losing patience after a year of deadlock. "The life of the Lebanese state itself is at risk," Jean-Yves Le Drian, a former foreign minister,...

JERUSALEM - Israeli and Lebanese troops exchanged tear gas fire on Saturday on a disputed and highly militarised section of the demarcation line with the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, the two armies said. The Israeli army said its troops used "riot dispersal means" to turn around a Lebanese earthmover that had...

Beirut, Lebanon - A gunman fired more than a dozen bullets at the US embassy in Beirut, Lebanese officials said on Thursday, with the diplomatic mission reporting no casualties in the late evening incident. "At 10:37 pm local time (1937 GMT), small arms fire was reported in the vicinity of the...

Beirut, Lebanon - A Syrian Kurdish armed group attacked an area controlled by pro-Turkish fighters in rebel-held northern Syria on Monday, killing at least 14, a war monitor and a factional leader said. The Kurdish Afrin Liberation Forces took advantage of factional fighting that broke out after midnight on the outskirts...

The International Monetary Fund renewed its criticism of Lebanon for failing to enact reforms demanded by creditors in return for releasing billions of dollars in emergency bailout loans. “Lebanon has not undertaken the urgently needed reforms,” said the IMF's Ernesto Ramirez Rigo in a statement at the end of a...

Doha, Qatar - The Cultural Village Foundation (Katara) revealed the lists of nine works that would be included in the 9th Katara Prize for Arabic Novel. This includes published novels, unpublished novels, young adult unpublished novels and unpublished critical studies, with a total reaching 36 novels and critical studies, Qatar...

SIDON, LEBANON - Palestinian fighters agreed a new ceasefire on Thursday after more than a week of deadly violence in Lebanon's largest refugee camp, two Palestinian officials told AFP. At least 17 people have been killed and around 100 wounded in the fighting in Ain al-Helweh refugee camp, on the outskirts...

BEIRUT, LEBANON – The secretary general of the Union of Arab Chambers has called for diversified business models to facilitate the growing economic ties between Arab countries and China. In an interview ahead of the sixth China-Arab States Expo, which is scheduled to take place from September 21 to 24...

The Ain al-Helweh refugee camp, on the outskirts of the southern city of Sidon, has been rocked by violence since last week. The clashes have pitted members of the Fatah movement, which controls the camp, against hardline Islamist militants, excluding Hamas.

In the wake of a blistering and dry summer, residents of the mountainous Akkar region near the Syrian border are voicing fears about climate change and water scarcity. Akkar was already one of Lebanon's most disadvantaged regions before the national economy imploded in late 2019, plunging much of the population...

Sidon, Lebanon--Three fighters and a civilian were killed Saturday in clashes at a south Lebanon Palestinian camp, official media reported, as Prime Minister Najib Mikati rebuked Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas over the spiraling violence. Renewed fighting broke out late Thursday in Ain al-Helweh refugee camp on the outskirts of the coastal...

Sidon, Lebanon - Two fighters and a civilian were killed on Saturday in clashes at a south Lebanon Palestinian camp, official media reported, as Prime Minister Najib Mikati rebuked Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas over the spiraling violence. Renewed fighting broke out late on Thursday in Ain al-Helweh refugee camp on the...

An AFP correspondent in Sidon reported the sound of intermittent automatic weapon fire and rocket launchers emanating from within the camp on Friday morning.

The United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) had warned last week that armed militants were occupying its schools in the camp, calling on "all armed groups to immediately vacate its premises". Tiny Lebanon hosts an estimated 250,000 Palestinian refugees, according to UNRWA.

Millions of Syrians have fled abroad since their country's civil war broke out in 2011 following the government's repression of peaceful pro-democracy protests.

BEIRUT, LEBANON - Sporadic clashes took place on Saturday in a Kurdish-held area of eastern Syria, a monitor said, after a curfew was imposed following the arrest of an Arab armed group's leader. Fighting erupted in the Kurdish-controlled areas of Deir Ezzor province on Monday after the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces...

Taking a dig at President Emmanuel Macron, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Macron should focus on "situation inside France instead of paying attention to questions of interference in other countries." Iran had rebuffed French accusations over Tehran's interference in Lebanon that France sees as a roadblock to end...