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Lebanon

Lebanon

April 21, 2026

Beirut 1:33 pm

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Olmert

Interview

Olmert: Only Israeli-Lebanon deal can curb Hezbollah, occupation 'unviable'

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Al-Monitor that Israel will only be able to defang Hezbollah if it reaches an agreement with the Lebanese government.

Jewel SAMAD / AFP via Getty Images

Lebanon-Israel negotiations to continue even as Iran talks stall

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun also said that Lebanon will lead the negotiations and that no other party will take part, emphasizing that this track is separate from any other talks.

Joseph EID / AFP via Getty Images

Who are Lebanon’s main players influencing talks with Israel?

Amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, focus is now on the main political players in Lebanon and their role in shaping or derailing any deal.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun delivers a speech during a meeting of Pope Leo XIV with authorities, civil society and diplomatic corps at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of the capital Beirut, on November 30, 2025. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP via Getty Images)

Aoun says Lebanon seeks 'permanent agreements' with Israel after White House invite

Aoun says Lebanon is entering a “new stage” of negotiations with Israel focused on “permanent agreements” following a US-brokered ceasefire and a White House invitation extended to both him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Latest News

Analysis

Why Netanyahu caved to Trump on Lebanon and what it means for Israel

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Jerusalem on February 26, 2026. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Iran says Strait of Hormuz 'completely open' to ships

MUSCAT, OMAN - MARCH 25: Locals take photos of two bulk carriers anchored at Muscat Anchorage on March 25, 2026 in Muscat, Oman. Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which conveys about 20% of the world's oil and gas, has mostly come to a halt after the joint U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that began on February 28. Iran, in a defiant reply to a ceasefire proposal from the United States, has claimed that sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz "is its natural and legal right." Under international law, t

Trump announces Lebanon-Israel ceasefire, will invite Aoun and Netanyahu to White House

Trump, Rubio speak to Lebanon's president amid push for Aoun-Netanyahu call

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (C) arrives to attend a cabinet session to discuss an army plan to disarm the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, on September 5, 2025. In August, under heavy US pressure and fearing Israel would intensify its strikes, Lebanon's government ordered the army to draw up a plan for disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

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

RABIH DAHER/AFP via Getty Images

Fresh Hezbollah-Israel escalation kills 8, raising fears of Lebanon open front

Wednesday’s escalation renewed fears that Lebanon could be dragged into a wider war with Israel as Gaza negotiations collapse.

Lebanon's Central Bank governor Riad Salameh gives an interview with AFP at his office in the capital, Beirut, on Dec. 20, 2021.

Switzerland reports violation by Lebanon’s Audi bank in Riad Salameh probe

The action by FINMA concerns connections around disgraced former Lebanese Central Bank governor Riad Salameh.

Lebanese protesters burn tyres during a demonstration called for by the banks depositors committee against monetary policies, on May 9, 2023.

Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt rank least happy countries in Middle East

The Middle East and North Africa are the two regions where “happiness has fallen at every age.”

Freed Lebanese prisoner Samir Kantar (L), wearing Hezbollah military fatigues, arrives with his freed comrades (back) and Wafiq Safa (R), Hezbollah coordinator for the prisoner swap with Israel, to the airport in Beirut on July 16, 2008. Five Lebanese prisoners freed by the Israeli authorities arrived in Lebanon today, hours after Hezbollah handed over the bodies of two Israeli soldiers seized by its guerrillas two years ago. Among those freed in a prisoner swap greeted with triumph in Lebanon but anguish i

What’s behind Hezbollah's Wafiq Safa rare UAE visit?

Wafiq Safa's visit is the first public trip by a Hezbollah official to the United Arab Emirates.

Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in an Israeli strike in Lebanon's southern area of Tyre on March 13, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli strike kills Hamas official in south Lebanon

As the border escalation between Hezbollah and Israel flares, another Hamas figure has been killed in an Israeli drone strike in south Lebanon.

AFP via Getty Images

Lebanon on edge: Hezbollah fires 100 rockets as Israel hits Baalbek

Israeli airstrikes pounded Lebanon’s northeast city of Baalbek after Hezbollah fired 100 rockets in Israel in the heaviest exchange of fire since October.

A picture taken from northern Israel, along the border with southern Lebanon on March 4, 2024, shows smoke billowing following Israeli bombardment on the Lebanese village of Markaba. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Lebanon, not Gaza, could trigger regional war as Israel-Hezbollah tension soars

Mediators believe a deal can't be reached on Hezbollah's withdrawal from the Lebanese border until an Israel-Hamas cease-fire.

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

US special envoy Amos Hochstein (C) arrives to a meeting with Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati, amid continuing tenions on the Lebanese-Israeli border, one month after the start of the war between Hamas and Israel, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 7, 2023.

Amos Hochstein arrives in Lebanon as Hezbollah-Israel escalation threatens war

Hochstein’s visit comes as the US seeks an end to the fighting along the Lebanese-Israeli border in parallel with a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) man their armored vehicle in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura, near the border with Israel, Oct. 15, 2023.

Lebanon: Suspected Hezbollah-UNIFIL clashes amid Israel border escalation

The incident, which is not uncommon, comes at a time of heightened Israeli-Hezbollah tensions and growing fears of an all-out war.

Farah Dakhlallah will be the first spokesperson for NATO of Arab descent.

Meet Farah Dakhlallah, NATO's first spokesperson of Arab descent

A British-Lebanese citizen, Dakhlallah will make history this Friday as NATO's first spokesperson from the region, which could boost the alliance's outreach to the Arab-speaking world.

Then head of Israeli Military Intelligence Tamir Hyman speaks at the Institute for National Security Studies think tank in Tel Aviv, Jan. 28, 2020.

Ex-Israeli military intel chief: Hamas split, Netanyahu govt derail Gaza deal

Former intelligence chief Tamir Hayman believes that a Gaza cease-fire could open opportunities for normalization with Saudi Arabia.

AFP via Getty Images

Israel strikes deeper, hits Lebanon's Baalbek in first since 2006 war

The strikes were the deepest inside Lebanese territory since border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah began nearly five months ago.