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

Lebanon

Lebanon

September 4, 2025

Beirut 7:43 am

26°C

The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun (left), receives Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at the Baabda Presidential Palace, on Sept. 1, 2025.

Lebanon faces tough test as army pushes plan to seize Hezbollah weapons

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam discussed preparations for a cabinet session due this week that will tackle an army plan to take control of weapons outside of the state’s authority.

ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Israel cautious on Lebanon withdrawal despite Netanyahu overtures, US push

The Trump administration is pressuring Netanyahu to make concessions to the Lebanese government in exchange for its efforts to disarm Hezbollah.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem delivers a statement during a ceremony to honor the Shiite cleric Abbas Ali Al-Moussawi, who passed away the week prior, Beirut, Aug. 25, 2025.

Analysis

Attack, concede, stall: Hezbollah’s options as Lebanon advances disarmament plan

Despite mounting US pressure on the government to disarm the Shiite group, its leader, Naim Qassem, says it will not surrender its weapons.

Dario Sabaghi

By Dario Sabaghi

unifil

UN Security Council renews Lebanon peacekeeping mission for one year

The compromise vote gives Lebanon's army buffer time to meet US demands to fill security vacuum in the country's south before a planned withdrawal of UN peacekeepers in 2027.

Latest News

Lebanon's army receives 8 truckloads of weapons from Palestinian camps

MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images

Lebanese PM meets Egypt’s Sisi amid Hezbollah disarmament push: What to know

Lebanon's new Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam delivers a statement at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, on Jan. 14, 2025.

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

AFP via Getty Images

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

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

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

Hezbollah operative receives life sentences for Hariri assassination

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon at the Hague had already convicted Salim Jamil Ayyash for involvement in the 2005 car-bomb assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister.

Members of Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah take part in a Martyr's Day parade in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek on November 11, 2020. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Slovenia designates Hezbollah as terrorist organization

Slovenia has followed other European states in designating Hezbollah as a terror group, including both its political and its military wings.

A picture shows a man standing at the booth of a money exchange company in the city of Jounieh north of Beirut on December 01, 2020. - Lebanon's economy is sinking into a "deliberate depression", the World Bank said on December 1 in a damning report stressing the authorities' failure to tackle the crisis. Lebanon's economy started collapsing last year as a result of years of corrupt practices and mismanagement. The crisis was made worse by a nationwide wave of anti-government protests that paralysed the cou

Lebanese GDP to decrease by nearly 20% in 2020

The World Bank has proposed several reform measures as Lebanon continues to struggle with currency depreciation, the COVID-19 pandemic and more.

A picture taken on October 12, 2020, shows maritime border markers near the Rosh Hanikra Crossing, also known as the Ras Al Naqoura Crossing, between Israel and Lebanon. - On October 1, Lebanon and Israel, which are still technically at war, said they had agreed to begin UN-brokered negotiations over the shared frontier, in what Washington hailed a "historic" agreement, with a tentative date set for the discussions for October 14, which would be confirmed, according to a US envoy. (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AF

Israel-Lebanon sea border talks postponed

Israel and Lebanon have paused direct discussions over their maritime dispute in a gas-rich part of the Mediterranean in October under US supervision.

Lebanese youths gather around the Revolution fist, symbol of Lebanons October 2019 uprising, after it was set on fire during clashes between anti-government protesters and supporters of former prime minister Saad Hariri, in the capital Beirut's central Martyr's square, on October 21, 2020. - Hariri resigned as premier in October 2019 in the wake of unprecedented street protests, but he is now expected to make a comeback at the helm of the next government.
Most parliamentary blocs have pledged support for Ha

Lebanon’s PM struggles to form Cabinet amid economic crisis

Lebanon’s political elite have yet to form a government despite the urgency as the country slides further into economic collapse.

The influential head of Lebanon's General Security apparatus, Abbas Ibrahim, is pictured during an interview at his office in the capital Beirut on July 22, 2020. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon’s intelligence chief visited Damascus amid efforts to free Austin Tice

Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim suggested efforts to secure the American journalist's release continued after Ibrahim visited Washington last month.

An Italian medic walks around in the coronavirus ward at the Italian field hospital in the Lebanese University campus in the town of Hadath, north of the capital Beirut on September 8, 2020. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon returns to lockdown as virus cases surge

COVID-19 infections have risen steadily in Lebanon since the August explosion in Beirut.

Syrian refugee in Lebanon sets himself on fire

The UN refugee agency said the 58-year-old man was hospitalized and is receiving the necessary care.

People arrive to receive food aid packages from workers, mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, at the Food Blessed NGO's centre in Lebanon's capital Beirut on July 28, 2020. - Amid Lebanon's worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, food aid has become a lifeline even for the once relatively affluent middle class. Lebanon's economy has collapsed in recent months, with the local currency plummeting against the dollar, businesses closing en masse and poverty soaring at the same alarmi

Lebanese brace for lifting of subsidies as conditions deteriorate

As Lebanon suffers from its worst economic crisis in decades, the Lebanese are growing concerned as the central bank warns that its reserves will soon be depleted, forcing it to lift subsidies off basic commodities.

An Israeli navy corvette is pictured from the southern Lebanese border town of Naqura as it patrols the waters on October 28, 2020 during talks between Lebanese and Israeli delegations on the demarcation of the maritime frontier between the two countries. - Lebanon and Israel, still technically at war and with no diplomatic ties, launched a second round of maritime border talks Wednesday under UN and US auspices to allow for offshore energy exploration. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYY

Second round of maritime-border talks between Israel, Lebanon

Israel and Lebanon conducted a second round of mediated talks with the goal demarcating the maritime border between the two countries.

Guatemala designates Hezbollah a terrorist organization

The United States praised the Latin American country's decision as it tries to get more states to designate the Iran-backed Lebanese group terrorists.

Supporters of Saad Hariri's Future Movement Party wave the party flag and the national flag during a parade to celebrate him being tasked with forming a new government in Lebanon's southern city of Sidon (Saida) on October 22, 2020. - Three-time Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri was renamed to the post to create a reform-orientated cabinet that can lift the country out of its worst economic crisis in decades. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon’s Hariri again tapped as prime minister

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has tasked veteran politician and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to form a new government.