Lebanon War

Iranians hold national flags as they gather in Tehran's Revolution Square after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, on April 8, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.

Analysis

Ceasefire or strategic pause? How Iran is framing war narrative amid deep mistrust

Beneath the surface of official messaging, a more complex and uneasy reality is emerging — one defined by lingering mistrust, hard-line dissent and uncertainty over what comes next.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Firefighters attempt to extinguish a fire following an Israeli strike at the Corniche al-Mazraa neighbourhood of Beirut on April 8, 2026.

Iran hits Gulf, threatens truce as Israel escalates in Lebanon: What to know

Iranian attacks continued in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait hours after a ceasefire between Iran and the US was announced.

TOPSHOT - Iranians react after a ceasefire announcement at the Enqelab square, in Tehran, on April 8 2026. The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire Tuesday barely an hour before US President Donald Trump's deadline to obliterate the rival country was set to expire, with Tehran to temporarily reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images) /

Analysis

Trump ceasefire leaves Netanyahu flustered as Iran gains politically

US President Trump’s decision on a ceasefire with the Tehran regime leaves Israel far away from its Iran war objectives.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Jalaa MAREY / AFP via Getty Images

Israel pushes deeper into Lebanon as Iran envoy refuses to go: What to know

Israeli forces have reportedly reached the banks of the Litani River as part of a plan to set up a buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon.

Latest News

Dermer’s return puts Netanyahu’s 'brain' at center of US-Israel calculus

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) is joined by Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and other officials for a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (not pictured) at the Pentagon, July 9, 2025.

Analysis

Displacement and dissent: Hezbollah’s war with Israel splits Lebanon’s Shiites

A Hezbollah flag is seen in a destroyed car after an Israeli airstrike in Nabi Chit (Al-Nabi Shayth), Lebanon, on March 26, 2026. In the first week of March, the Israeli army carried out an unsuccessful nighttime commando operation there to recover the remains of Ron Arad, a pilot missing since 1986, triggering airstrikes and destruction in the area that forced residents to flee their homes. (Photo by Fabio Bucciarelli / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Karim Safieddine

By Karim Safieddine

In Beirut, reporting on politics

In Lebanon, deadline looms for expelling Iran envoy amid Hezbollah pushback

FADEL itani / AFP via Getty Images

Iranian ballistic missile intercepted over Lebanon, US Embassy feared as target

Lebanese soldiers stand at the site where, according to Lebanese authorities, fragments from a missile interception fell in the town of Sahel Alma, north of Beirut, on March 24, 2026. Explosions rocked several areas north of Beirut that have so far been spared in the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah war, according to residents and local media, with a military official saying the blasts likely came from an intercepted Iranian missile. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP via Getty Images)

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the eastern outskirts of the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on March 24, 2026. Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel has since launched strikes across Lebanon, killing at least 1,039 people and displacing more than a million others, and sent ground troops into the country's south. (Ph

Analysis

Israel hedges, intensifies Iran and Lebanon strikes ahead of Trump talks

Israel believes that US President Trump might soon opt to end the war, leading to a surge in Israeli strikes ahead of a potential ceasefire.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, Mohammad Reza Sheibani (L), shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an undated photo.

Lebanon expels Iranian ambassador as war tensions mount

Lebanon has withdrawn the accreditation of Iran’s ambassador to Beirut amid mounting tensions over Hezbollah's involvement in the Iran war.

Displaced families set up tents along Beirut's waterfront in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 10, 2026, after fleeing recent Israel-Hezbollah hostilities.

Lebanon scrambles to contain tensions over displacement as Israel ups threats

Displaced Shiites are facing growing resentment from host communities in areas outside of Hezbollah’s control in Lebanon amid uncertainty over their return to southern Lebanon, where Israeli attacks and advances signal a potential ground invasion.

France's President Emmanuel Macron (L) wearing sunglasses shakes hands with Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam prior to their meeting at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris, on January 23, 2026. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Narrow opening: Can Lebanon’s push for talks shift Israel’s war calculus?

Although Israel, for the moment, refuses to halt military operations in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah as rocket and missile strikes continue, sources say Israel is nevertheless leaving the door open to negotiations.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Lin Jian

China to send aid to Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan as Trump delays Beijing summit

The aid announcement comes as President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his late March visit to China would be postponed.

A flag of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah flutters above the rubble of a building that was hit in January by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Qannarit, on Feb. 16, 2026.

Kuwait arrests 16 over alleged Hezbollah links, including 14 nationals

Lebanon pledged its full cooperation with Kuwait after the arrests and praised the Gulf state's actions.

An Israeli self-propelled howitzer artillery gun fires rounds toward southern Lebanon from a position in the upper Galilee in northern Israel near the border on March 15, 2026.

Is Israel planning a buffer zone in Lebanon or will it go beyond Litani?

A primary Israeli concern, per reports, is that Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force commando units could infiltrate the border to attack northern Israeli communities.

A man looks at the site of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 12, 2026.

Lebanon summons Iran envoy over Hezbollah-IRGC attacks: What to know

The move comes after Hezbollah launched over 200 rockets toward Israel, just as Iran fired a barrage of missiles, triggering a violent Israeli escalation in Lebanon.

Smoke and flames rise at the site of airstrikes on an oil depot, Tehran, Iran, March 8, 2026.

Analysis

Running out of time: Israel escalates Iran strikes as Trump weighs ‘elegant exit’

The Israeli military is pushing for more strikes on Iran before the window of opportunity closes, when US President Trump decides to end the war.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike targeted an area in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 7, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon releases Hezbollah members on $20 bail as Israel escalates attacks

Hezbollah members who were arrested in Lebanon last week were released on a nominal bail under pressure from the group.

Plumes of smoke rise from the sites of Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 3, 2026. The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon on March 3, including warning residents in two southern Beirut neighbourhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of an imminent operation. (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP via Getty Images)

After Israel's ultimatum, Lebanon orders arrest of Iran IRGC members

The Lebanese government has instructed military and security agencies to arrest IRGC members in Lebanon, after Iranian-backed Hezbollah joined the conflict between Iran on the one hand and the US and Israel on the other, by launching attacks against Israel.

TOPSHOT - Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 3, 2026. The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon on March 3, including warning residents in two southern Beirut neighbourhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of an imminent operation. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

Israel advances in south Lebanon as army withdraws, Quds leader killed

Israel said it killed Reza Khazaei, chief of staff of Hezbollah’s Lebanese Corps within Iran’s elite Quds Force, in a naval strike.