Lebanon - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Lebanon

Lebanon

August 27, 2025

Beirut 5:37 am

27°C

AFP via Getty Images

Lebanon’s ex-Central Bank chief to be released on $20M bail: What to know

Judicial authorities in Lebanon agreed to release former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on $20 million bail nearly a year after his arrest on fraud and embezzlement charges.

A truck with a container leaves the Port of Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on August 1, 2025. US President Donald Trump unveiled new tariffs on July 31 on nearly 70 countries -- including a blistering 35 percent on neighbor Canada -- as he seeks to reshape global trade to benefit the US economy. However, in a minor reprieve that opens the door to further negotiations, the White House said the measures will take effect in a week for most countries, not Friday as previously expected. (Photo by ANDREJ I

Canada: Montreal port tied to Hezbollah car trade, presence in Americas

The Canadian government said Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as Sikh nationalist groups, are receiving financial support originating from Canada.

US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack speaks during a joint press conference following his meeting with Lebanon's president at the Presidential Palace in Baabda on August 18, 2025. Barrack called on Israel to honour its commitments under a ceasefire that ended its war with Hezbollah, after the Lebanese government launched a process to disarm the militant group. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

US envoys in Lebanon as Hezbollah balks at disarmament plan

Israel said it was “ready to support” Lebanon’s efforts to disarm the militant group by year's end.

Lebanese army soldiers are stationed at the Burj al-Barajneh camp for Palestinian refugees in Beirut's southern suburbs on Aug. 21, 2025, as armed Palestinian groups in the refugee camps start handing over their weapons.

Lebanon begins disarming Palestinian factions after refugee camp hands over weapons

Lebanese and Palestinian officials confirmed that the first phase of the disarmament process of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon has begun.

Latest News

Lebanon PM in Jordan as Beirut pushes Hezbollah disarmament, Iran’s influence wanes

Jordanian King Abdullah II receives Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Amman on Aug. 19, 2025.

Lebanon's PM slams Hezbollah chief for making 'threat of civil war'

RABIH DAHER/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Lebanon key to Trump plan for turnaround in Middle East

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, in Baabda, east of Beirut, July 7, 2025.

Andrew Parasiliti

By Andrew Parasiliti

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, national security

Iran’s Larijani in Lebanon as Beirut, Tehran spar over Hezbollah disarmament

Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani (C) speaks to reporters after meeting with Lebanon's parliament speaker in Beirut on Aug. 13, 2025.

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

Israeli armored military vehicles and humvees patrol along the border with Lebanon near the northern kibbutz of Bar'am, Israel, March 15, 2023.

Hezbollah, Hamas seek to exploit Israel's internal weakness to attack

The security incident last Monday near the border with Lebanon worries the IDF, as Hezbollah tries to exploit the ongoing crisis in Israel.

JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images

Lebanon’s bank chief charged with corruption, snubs EU investigators

Visiting Beirut, World Bank’s regional Vice President Ferid Belhaj has set three conditions to reconsider financing the country’s dilapidated electricity sector.

Lebanese protesters demonstrate against the monetary policies of Lebanon's Central Bank governor in the capital Beirut on January 25, 2023. - European investigators will question Lebanon's central bank chief Riad Salameh (portraits) next month as part of a probe into his and his brother's affairs, a judicial official told AFP earlier this week. Investigators from France, Germany and Luxembourg heard witnesses in Beirut last week as part of the case of suspected financial misconduct including possible money

Lebanon's pound hits new bottom, ahead of Riad Salameh interrogation

A French judge arrived in Lebanon this week to question central bank head Riad Salameh over his alleged financial crimes.

Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh gestures during an interview with AFP at his office in the capital Beirut on December 20, 2021. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon’s bank chief Salameh in hot seat as French judge arrives in Beirut

The French judge will question Riad Salameh over the central bank governor’s alleged involvement in financial crimes.

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Freedom House

MidEast freedom rankings: Syria worst, Tunisia in decline, says Freedom House

Syria remains to be the least and Israel the best performing country when it comes civil and political freedoms while the biggest one-year decline has been observed in Tunisia.

Lebanese security forces stand guard outside the parliament building in downtown Beirut as members of parliament gather to elect the new Lebanese president on April 23, 2014. Lebanon's parliament failed to elect a new president, with no candidate securing the two-thirds of the vote needed to win and many lawmakers leaving their ballots blank. AFP PHOTO/JOSEPH EID (Photo credit should read JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Explainer: Four contenders vying to become Lebanon's next president

Hezbollah recently threw its support behind Suleiman Frangieh, but it could settle for a compromise candidate. Only some of those seeking the office oppose the Iran-backed group’s influence in the country.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Smoke rises during clashes between an extremist group and the Palestinian security forces in Ain al-Hilweh camp, near the southern coastal city of Sidon, Lebanon, April 8, 2017.

Clashes in Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camp as security void looms

The UN recently warned that poverty and crime is on the rise in the camp due to the Lebanese economic crisis.

A policeman is stopped by security guards from entering a branch of BLOM Bank in the Lebanese port city of Saida (Sidon) on September 26, 2022 as banks reopened to depositors with scheduled appointments only, following a week of closure due to security concerns. (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

In Lebanon, police join 'robbers', storm bank to get their own money

The Lebanese currency hit another record low on Tuesday, as judicial investigation into central bank chief Riad Salameh moves forward.

A woman on September 15, 2022, visits an exhibition titled 'Allo, Beirut?', that shows archives of Lebanon's troubled past fused with artistic depictions of a grim present, at the capital's Beit Beirut heritage-house-turned-museum. - Newspaper clippings, film negatives and diary entries from before Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war tell the story of government corruption, public sector strikes and student protest movements.(Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

‘A huge crime’: Archive of Lebanon's news agency since 1961 is 'stolen'

The archive belonging to the National News Agency contained photographs of Lebanon’s civil war.

Activists from of the Lebaanon’s LGBTQ community take part in a protest outside police station in Beirut on May 15, 2016, demanding the release of four transsexual women and calling for the abolishment of article 534 of the Lebanese Penal code, which prohibits having sexual relations that "contradict the laws of nature". (ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon's LGBTQ community faces digital exploitation, blackmail

Lebanon's LGBTQ community is being targeted through social media platforms and dating apps, and the perpetrators are acting with impunity.

LEBANON-VOTE A Lebanese army soldier mans the turret of a humvee (HMMWV) while on patrol in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, on May 15, 2022 during the national parliamentary elections. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon’s army suffers with currency collapse as desertions mount

The drastic devaluation of wages threatens soldiers’ performance in the tumultuous period Lebanon is going through.

Aisha Mohammed Ali, 25, a mother of five who is a refugee from Aleppo, Syria, teaches the alphabet to one of her daughters, on January 5, 2022 in Tripoli, Lebanon. Tripoli is home to one of the country's largest population of Syrian refugees, 9 out of 10 of whom live in extreme poverty. (Photo by Andreea Campeanu/Getty Images)

Syrian refugees in Lebanon turn to TikTok 'begging' for money

TikTok has allowed thousands of refugees in Lebanon to beg for money from donors online by exposing their children and poor conditions to the outside world, a method that heightens the risk of exploitation and human-trafficking.