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...

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,...