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Lebanon

Lebanon

October 15, 2025

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Lebanese Presidency/AFP via Getty Images

Syria’s FM pays Lebanon first official visit since Assad’s fall: What to know

Lebanon and post-Assad Syria are seeking to rebuild their relations by addressing longstanding issues that caused tension between the two countries for decades.

The chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces, Gen. Rodolphe Haykal, meets with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha, Oct. 8, 2025.

Lebanon army chief visits Qatar amid push to disarm Hezbollah

Haykal has held meetings with the Qatari army chief, the country’s prime minister and its minister of state for defense affairs.

Newly elected Miss Lebanon Perla Harb poses on stage after winning the Miss Lebanon 2025 pageant, in Zouk Mosbeh, north of Beirut, on Oct. 4, 2025.

Culture

Miss Lebanon 2025 crowned in ceremony highlighting culture, heritage

Lebanon crowned Perla Harb as the country’s new beauty queen in a grand ceremony highlighting Lebanese culture.

Lebanese army soldiers and security forces deploy near a vehicle that was hit by a reported drone-strike at the entrance of the village of Barja, about 30 kilometres south of Beirut, on Sept. 9, 2025.

US approves $230M for Lebanon’s push to disarm Hezbollah

New US funds for Beirut signal rare bipartisan approval for progress by Lebanon's security forces as they dismantle Hezbollah weapons caches, but significant risks remain as the militant faction resists full disarmament.

Latest News

Culture

Lebanese play explores struggle between exile and staying in Lebanon

An image of “Tarboush Jedde Maallak”.

Lebanon seizes $1.5M in cocaine at Beirut airport: What to know

A photo taken during a tour organized by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Works and Transport shows staff loading cargo onto a plane at Beirut's international airport on June 24, 2024.

Won’t shove it 'down our throats': Netanyahu blasts Palestine recognition in UN speech

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the United Nations headquarters on Sept. 26, 2025 in New York City.

Analysis

A year after Israel's pager attack, can battered Hezbollah rebound in Lebanon?

Supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah group take part in a gathering in Beirut on Sept. 17, 2025.

Beatrice Farhat

Adam Lucente

By Beatrice Farhat , Adam Lucente

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

Senior News Editor

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional geopolitics, China in the Middle East

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

Lebanese army soldiers and peacekeepers (blue helmets) of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Lebanon builds road on Israeli border, as tensions with Hezbollah escalate

The incident followed Lebanese construction in the area and is the latest in a series of escalations between Israel and Hezbollah in recent weeks.

Lebanese protesters take part in a demonstration called for by the banks depositors committee against monetary policies, on May 9, 2023. Lebanon's economic meltdown, described by the World Bank as one of the worst in recent global history, has plunged most of the population into poverty according to the United Nations. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon’s Riad Salameh interrogated, assets frozen as citizens raid banks

The judicial proceedings against central bank governor come against the background of a worsening economic and political crisis, and as his term is set to expire next month.

Israeli soldiers take position along the border with Lebanon, in the town of Metulla in northern Israel, July 12, 2023.

Analysis

Israel’s Hezbollah deterrence is eroding as Lebanon border heats up

IDF seniors warn that Hezbollah is becoming bolder and bolder, increasingly attempting to infiltrate Israeli territories and to provoke incidents with Israel.

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

An Israeli soldier extinguishes a bush fire caused by a Molotov cocktail.

Hezbollah threatens to ‘act’ if Israel attacks Lebanon after border shooting

Tensions are particularly high between Israel and Lebanon in large part due to the conflict over the Ghajjar border town.

Lebanese TV station LBCIs anchorwoman Dima Sadek arrives at a Beirut court on November 4, 2015, as she appeared before a judge on the backdrop of a complaint filed by Hezbollah against her. The lawsuit was filed after Sadek hosted a TV episode on corruption, accusing Hezbollah of being involved in corrupt operations. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK BAZ (Photo credit should read PATRICK BAZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Outrage in Lebanon as journalist Dima Sadek sentenced to prison

Journalist Dima Sadek's one-year jail sentence for defamation and slander has raised an uproar among activists and others who fear for freedom of expression and media in the country.

An Israeli soldier uses a binoculars during a patrol in the town of Ghajar in the annexed Golan Heights bordering Lebanon on July 6, 2023. The Israeli army said it was conducting strikes on southern Lebanon after a mortar launched from its northern neighbour exploded in the border area between the two foes. The latest military action was launched three months after the two countries saw their worst cross-border fire in years. (Photo by jalaa marey / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel strikes targets in Lebanon after rocket fire from border

The cross-border escalation follows weeks of tensions building up in a contested area on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Lebanese protesters demonstrate against the monetary policies of Lebanon's Central Bank governor in the capital Beirut on Jan. 25, 2023.

France to transfer central bank governor’s frozen assets to Lebanon

Millions of euros worth of assets and properties in Europe were confiscated last year as part of a probe into the embezzlement of $330 million from Lebanon’s central bank in money transfers to an obscure offshore company.

Members of the Lebanese Army deploy as families await news of their relatives at the entrance of the port in the northern city of Tripoli, on the morning of January 1, 2023, following a rescue operation by the navy of a sinking migrant boat in Mediterranean waters, off the Lebanon's northern coast. - Two migrants died and another 200 were rescued when their boat sank off Lebanon's northern coast, from where increasing numbers make the risky journey to flee a collapsed economy. An AFP correspondent in the im

In Lebanon's north, armed clashes renew fears of sectarian strife

The incidents come as the country reels under a devastating economic crisis.

Hagop Kantarjian, M.D., poses with one of his favorite paintings, "Seated Woman with Red Guitar" (2021).

Culture

From Lebanon to Texas, award-winning cancer doctor charts new course for leukemia research

Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, whose life work has transformed research, diagnosis and treatment of leukemia, also expands cancer research networks and collaboration in the Middle East.

Lebanese protesters clash with bank guards in Beirut during a demonstration called for by the banks depositors committee against monetary policies, on May 9, 2023. Lebanon's economic meltdown, described by the World Bank as one of the worst in recent global history, has plunged most of the population into poverty according to the United Nations. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

IMF warns Lebanon crisis will intensify as corruption, paralysis continue

Lebanon's economic and political crisis is worsening, as currency depreciation, political instability, lack of reform, corruption and anti-refugee sentiment continue to plague the country.

People walk past the main gate to the campus of the American University of Beirut (AUB) in the heart of the Lebanese capital, on January 13, 2022. - Power shortages and soaring petrol prices mean many Lebanese students can neither afford to reach their classes nor study from home, a conundrum that is ravaging a generation's future. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

9 Middle East universities, 3 in Saudi Arabia make world’s top 300 schools

Nearly 150 universities from the MENA region are featured in a list of the world’s top universities.

This picture taken on July 21, 2022 shows a view of sacks of confiscated captagon pills, presented at the judicial police headquarters in the city of Zahle in Lebanon's central Bekaa valley. - A decade of appalling civil war has left Syria fragmented and in ruins but one thing crosses every frontline: the drug fenethylline, commercially known as captagon. The stimulant -- once notorious for its association with Islamic State fighters -- has spawned an illegal $10-billion industry that not only props up the

Lebanon seizes Captagon shipment bound for central Africa, Gulf

Lebanon's latest bust comes as US sanctions and other measures work to counter trafficking in the country.