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Lebanon

Lebanon

July 5, 2026

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Motorists drive past a billboard bearing a picture of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, ahead of his funeral in Tehran on July 3, 2026. Iranian leaders began paying their respects on July 3 before the coffin of the country's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war, as Tehran prepared for a vast funeral. Khamenei's body arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla on July 3 ahead of ceremonies which are expected to draw millions. (Photo by AFP via Ge

Analysis

As US-Iran talks falter, Israel views war outcome as 'total strategic failure’

Israeli officials believe the US failure to attain the kind of agreement with Iran that it originally sought stems from the strategic mistakes made during and after the recent war.

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

The court stands at the start of the first hearing at the International Court of Justice in which Myanmar is accused of committing genocide against the country's Muslim minority, the Rohingya, in the Hague on January 12, 2026. The Gambia filed the genocide case in cooperation with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in 2019. Myanmar's military deliberately targeted the Rohingya minority in a bid to destroy the community, Gambia's Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told the International Court of Justice Mond

Explainer

Does provision 13 of Lebanon-Israel deal bar Beirut from pursuing war crimes claims?

Part of the Israeli-Lebanese agreement has led to calls for Beirut to grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction in Lebanon or sign the Rome Treaty to allow prosecutions.

Nawaf Salam and Asaad al-Shibani shake hands in Beirut on July 2, 2026.

Syria, Lebanon stress noninterference as Damascus mulls Hezbollah talks

When asked whether Damascus would be willing to meet with Hezbollah in the future, Syria’s foreign minister indicated that it would not rule out such a meeting.

An activist takes part in a demonstration against sexual harassment, rape and domestic violence in the Lebanese capital Beirut on December 7, 2019. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Culture

Lebanon arrests man after video of public assault on wife goes viral

The man seen violently beating a woman at a restaurant has been arrested, but the incident has reignited debate over domestic violence amid warnings that such abuse can increase during periods of war.

Latest News

Analysis

For Israel, Lebanon deal 'historic' despite fears Hezbollah will rebuild

Shia Muslim devotees gather for a mourning ritual near the shrine of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah who was killed in a 2024 Israeli-airstrike, in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 26, 2026 at the peak of Ashura, a 10-day period commemorating the seventh century killing of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Joyce Karam

Editor-in-Chief

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

Hanna Davis

In Beirut, reporting on politics, migration, human rights

Rodayna Raydan

In Boqaata, reporting on culture

Greek Orthodox Patriarch John Yazigi (C) leads a prayer at the Balamand Monastery in Koura, near the north Lebanese city of Tripoli, to call for the release of bishops kidnapped in northern Syria two months ago, June 22, 2013. Patriarch John Yazigi led the candle-lit vigil on Saturday for Greek Orthodox archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim, appealing to their kidnappers to free them and urging Syrian security forces to do more to win their release. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim (LEBA

Worries Grow About Fate Of Kidnapped Syrian Bishops

The fate of the two bishops kidnapped in Syria on April 22 is still unknown, but they are feared to have been abducted and killed by Chechen jihadists, according to a Lebanese official.

Lebanese Army Commander General Jean Kahwaji (L) and Army Chief of Staff General Walid Salman attend a graduation parade for Lebanese officer cadets at a military academy in Fayadyeh, near Beirut, marking the 68th Army Day, August 1, 2013. Lebanon's defence minister extended the term of the army chief on Wednesday to avoid a vacuum in military leadership at a time when the country is facing violence linked to Syria's war and political paralysis. The extension by two years of Army Chief Jean Kahwaji's posti

Recent Attacks Portend Danger For Lebanon

The Lebanese are divided about the Syrian crisis, but recent rocket and other attacks suggest the country might already be entrenched in its neighbor’s civil war.

Egypt's interim Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy (3rd L) speaks as German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (2nd R) looks on during their meeting in Cairo August 1, 2013. Germany urged Egypt to avoid "the appearance of selective justice" on Thursday amid a crackdown on deposed President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, which remained defiantly dug in at a protest camp the police have orders to remove. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX126WM

The Road Map That Egypt Needs

A number of conditions could break the deadly stalemate in Egypt and produce a smooth transition.

Islamist preacher Omar Bakri attends an interview with Reuters at his home in Tripoli, northern Lebanon May 24, 2013. Bakri praised Michael Adebolajo, one of the suspected killers of a British soldier in Woolwich, but said his actions were spontaneous and that he acted alone. Syrian-born Bakri, who founded the banned Islamist group al-Muhajiroun, was banished from Britain in 2005. REUTERS/Stringer (LEBANON - Tags: CRIME LAW RELIGION CIVIL UNREST) - RTXZYWR

Extremist Preacher Denies Al-Qaeda’s Presence in Lebanon

Salafist preacher Omar Bakri Fostock has denied that al-Qaeda maintains a presence in Lebanon, but doesn’t rule out the establishment of an Islamic emirate in the country.

The Caracalla Dance Theatre performs a new theatrical production of "The village" (Al-Dayaa) during a dress rehearsal during the Baalbeck International Festival in Baalbek, in the Bekaa valley, July 14, 2009. The Baalbeck International Festival is an annual entertainment festival that takes place in July and August in the Roman Ruins of the Baalbek Temples. REUTERS/Ahmed Shalha (LEBANON SOCIETY ENTERTAINMENT) - RTR25NWB

Lebanon's Latest Church-State Scuffle

In Lebanon’s complex, diverse society, religious institutions often take on vocal roles in protecting what they regard as affronts to the sanctity of their beliefs.

People walk past empty restaurants in downtown Beirut November 20, 2012. In addition to tumbling exports, Lebanon's tourist industry has declined by as much as 15 percent. Most Gulf countries warned their citizens this year not to visit Lebanon after clashes erupted between supporters and opponents of the Syrian uprising. Lebanon has also lost most of the 600,000 Arab tourists who usually drive into Lebanon through Syria each year. To match Reuters Summit MIDEAST-SUMMIT/LEBANON-SYRIA REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Lebanon's Economy Shrinks Under Burden of Syrian Crisis

Traditionally bolstered by its larger and more economically diverse neighbor, Lebanon’s economy has felt the sting of the war raging in Syria.

Syrian and Palestinian refugees register their names in order to receive humanitarian aid at the Offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Beirut April 29, 2013. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXZ3F9

Lebanon Needs Viable Solutions For Displaced Syrians

Just as it is inevitable that displaced Syrians will continue to flow across the Lebanese border, it is also inevitable that the Lebanese state’s inability to keep up with the burden will drag Lebanon into a crisis of its own.

An Indonesian soldier from the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) stands near a U.N. armoured vehicle as a picture of Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is seen behind him in the southern Lebanese village of Adaisseh July 24, 2013. Europe's decision to blacklist Hezbollah's "military wing" was triggered by the Lebanese movement's growing role in Syria, but the partial ban may have little practical impact due to fears of destabilising Lebanon and the wider Middle East. REUTE

EU Decision Leaves Hezbollah More Resolute Than Ever

At a critical time in Lebanese politics, the EU decision to classify Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist organization has reopened debate about the party’s participation in government and its right to possess arms.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat (C) arrives for talks with Israel's Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the State Department in Washington, July 30, 2013. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held their first peace talks in nearly three years on Monday in a U.S.-brokered effort that Kerry hopes will end their conflict despite deep divisions. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX124QA

Peace Talks in Need of Clarity

Legal clarity will be crucial as the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resume.

People pray at the shrine of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Hussein ibn Ali at the Al-Hussein mosque, named after the grandson, before Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the mosque in old Cairo February 5, 2013. Ahmadinejad was both kissed and scolded on Tuesday when he began the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution. The trip was meant to underline a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state, President Mohamed Mursi, last Jun

The Coming Rapprochement Between Iran and the Brotherhood

As both Sunni and Shiite groups in the Middle East are targeted by the West and its allies, some predict a forthcoming Sunni-Shiite rapprochement.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (C) reacts as he poses with his Greek counterpart Antonis Samaras (L) and Greece's Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos (R) after signing agreements in Istanbul March 4, 2013. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3EK7W

Turkey's Egypt Question

Turkey's role in the Middle East will turn on how it handles the crisis in Egypt.

A poster of Mohamed Hassan Shehade, a Hezbollah fighter who died in the Syrian conflict, hangs on a building in Adloun town, south of Sidon in southern Lebanon, July 23, 2013. The European Union agreed on Monday to put the armed wing of Hezbollah on its terrorism blacklist, a move driven by concerns over the Lebanese militant group's involvement in a deadly bus bombing in Bulgaria and the Syrian war. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CRIME LAW) - RTX11W1Q

No Separation in Hezbollah Political and Military Wings

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah mocks the EU’s misunderstanding of the inseparable nature of the party’s military and political branches.