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...

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has criticized UNIFIL's inability to fully access certain areas, including sites belonging to a Lebanese environmental NGO which the United States has claimed is a front for Hezbollah activities. The head of the powerful armed Shiite group, Hassan Nasrallah, earlier this week warned against renewing the...

Tehran, Iran -- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Thursday that discussions with Saudi authorities have resulted in constructive statements regarding assistance for Lebanon's situation. "In the discussions we had with Saudi authorities, we heard constructive statements from them regarding assistance to the situation in Lebanon," Amirabdollahian stated, adding that...

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.

Beirut, Lebanon -- Acting Lebanese Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri has said the bank will not be providing government lending to cover Lebanon's 2023 state budget deficit. This applies to both the Lebanese lira and the US dollar. "The Central Bank has no plans to address the nation's deficit through...

The latest tit-for-tat exchange saw Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and the chief of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, vow to send the other's country "back to the Stone Age" if the other escalates violence. On the sleepy streets of Ghajar, home to manicured flower beds and ice cream...

Seen as a key culprit in the country's dramatic economic crash, former governor Riad Salameh's bank accounts were ordered to be frozen by Lebanon days after the the US, the UK and Canada slapped him with sanctions. The central bank has ordered the lifting of banking secrecy and the freezing...

BEIRUT, LEBANON – The US is responsible for the military escalation in eastern Syria, where terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (outlawed in Russia) intensified their activities recently, the Syrian Arab Republic’s foreign ministry said. "US forces are sponsoring terrorists, who are responsible for the August 10 ambush on...

BEIRUT, LEBANON -The Lebanese army arrested 134 migrants near the northern border with Syria on Saturday after foiling their attempt to take a boat to Europe, it said in a statement. The group of would-be migrants -- made up of 130 Syrians and four Lebanese nationals -- were taken into custody...

BEIRUT, LEBANON - Lebanon's culture minister said on Wednesday he had asked authorities to ban hit movie "Barbie" for purportedly "promoting homosexuality", as anti-LGBTQ rhetoric soars in one of the Middle East's more liberal countries. "It was decided... to send a request to Lebanon's General Security agency... to take all necessary...

"The situation in Ain al-Helweh camp has now calmed down," Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said referring to south Lebanon's restive Palestinian camp. "Security and intelligence services... have no information that the situation could spin out of control and spill over to other camps," he said.

BEIRUT, LEBANON - A Lebanese minister on Saturday sought to clarify comments condemned by Kuwait over aid money to rebuild Beirut's grain silos that were destroyed in a devastating port blast three years ago. The oil-rich Gulf state in 2020 said it was ready to rebuild the storehouses, which Lebanon had...

Hundreds of protestors marched alongside victims' families demanding long-awaited justice as the country marked three years since one of history's biggest non-nuclear explosions rocked Beirut. So far nobody has been held to account for the tragedy as political political and legal pressures hamper the investigation.

The main activist group representing families of those killed has called for a protest march on Friday afternoon, converging on the port. On Thursday, 300 individuals and organisations including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International renewed a call for the United Nations to establish a fact-finding mission, a demand...

BEIRUT, LEBANON - Lebanon on Thursday handed over to Italian authorities an alleged member of Italy's notorious 'Ndrangheta mafia wanted for involvement in the international drug trade, a judicial official said. Lebanese authorities "handed over Bartolo Bruzzaniti, 48 ... to an Italian security delegation which put him on a private plane...

The country ascends four spots in Kearney's 2023 Global Services Location Index, reflecting its thriving business environment and emergence as a tech hub with 4,000+ startups.

Lebanon's deeply divided political class has failed to agree on a replacement for Salameh, 73, creating another power vacuum in a country that also has no president and is ruled by a caretaker government. Salameh, who held the post for 30 years, is a key figure of the Lebanese political...

The fighting between Fatah and Islamists in the camp, which erupted overnight and subsided by the evening, killed a Fatah military leader and four of his colleagues, the secularist movement said. A ceasefire was agreed from 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) during a meeting of Palestinian factions including Fatah, also attended...

The president met with a string of leaders from the Arab world and the European Union and discussed ways to deepen partnerships with these countries. During the meetings, Sheikh Mohamed explored ways with the leaders to support and develop these relations for the benefit of the people of all countries...

Amchît, Lebanon--In a pristine patch of Lebanon's north coast, a rare marine visitor has fueled opposition to a seafront development, in a country where unchecked construction has obstructed access to beaches. Residents of Amchit say a Mediterranean monk seal sometimes visits the area, taking refuge in the crystal-blue waters of a...

As inflation averages 171% in 2022, one of the highest rates worldwide, people prefer to fix old items such as shoes than buy new ones.

Baghdad, Iraq -- Iraq said Sunday it has found a site in a province bordering Saudi Arabia where captagon is produced, a rare discovery in a country that has become a transit route for the illicit drug. "Today, and maybe for the first time, a laboratory where captagon is produced was...

The Israeli army said in a statement that "a number of suspects approached the northern security fence with Lebanon and attempted to sabotage the security fence in the area". The Israeli military released footage it said was of the incident showing several people approaching the fence before an apparent blast...