Lebanon

Lebanon, Cyprus sign maritime demarcation deal, paving way for possible energy exploration

Lebanon and Cyprus signed a long-awaited maritime demarcation deal on Wednesday, paving the way for potential exploration of offshore gas fields and energy cooperation in the Mediterranean. Lebanese President Joseph…

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Hezbollah rejects negotiations with Israel

Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Thursday that the militia group had "a legitimate right to resist (Israeli) occupation", adding that it would support the Lebanese army. Hezbollah also said that, while…

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UN votes to end its peacekeeping force in Lebanon after nearly five decades

The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to end the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, marking the conclusion of nearly half a century of international…

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Israeli military strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs

Israeli air strikes pummelled the southern suburbs of Lebanon's capital late on Thursday, sending thousands of people fleeing on the eve of a Muslim feast day and prompting accusations by…

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UN peacekeepers attacked by civilians in Lebanon, no casualties reported

A large group of civilians wielding metal rods and axes attacked a patrol of U.N. troops in southern Lebanon on Friday, causing damage to U.N. vehicles but no injuries, a…

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Lebanon turns the page with new president and new government

Lebanon’s new government has been met with cautious optimism by its people, who have endured years of political paralysis, economic crisis, and, most recently, a devastating conflict between Israel and…

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Israel says it struck ‘multiple’ Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley

Israel’s military said Friday it struck “multiple” Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, two months into a fragile ceasefire with the Lebanese group after major hostilities last year.“The targets that…

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Who is Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese army commander elected president?

General Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese army commander who was elected president on Thursday, kept his military on the sidelines of a recent war between Israel and armed group Hezbollah, ordering…

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UPDATED: Lebanon’s army chief elected president

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who enjoys U.S. approval and showing the diminished sway of the…

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Lebanon to cooperate with Interpol on arrest of Syrian official accused of war crimes

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Lebanon will cooperate with an Interpol request to arrest former Syrian intelligence officer Jamil Hassan, accused by US authorities of war crimes under…

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Israel says ceasefire with Hezbollah violated, fires on south Lebanon

Israel said on Thursday that its ceasefire with Hezbollah was breached hours after Lebanese security sources said Israeli tanks attacked six areas of southern Lebanon, calling into question a truce…

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Gunfire heard across Beirut as Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire takes effect

A ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah came into effect at 0200 GMT on Wednesday after U.S. President Joe Biden said both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the…

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Lebanese sources: Biden, Macron set to announce Israel-Hezbollah truce

U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to announce a ceasefire in Lebanon between armed group Hezbollah and Israel imminently, four senior Lebanese sources said. In…

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More than 200 children killed in Lebanon in past two months, UNICEF says

More than 200 children have been killed and 1,100 injured in Lebanon in the past two months, the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) said on Tuesday. The more than year-old conflict…

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Lebanon, Hezbollah accept US ceasefire proposal

An Israeli airstrike killed five people in central Beirut on Monday, Lebanon's health ministry said, the second day in a row Israel has hit a target within the capital as…

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Lebanon awaits truce proposals after US envoy expresses hope

Lebanon is awaiting concrete ceasefire proposals, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was quoted as saying on Wednesday, after a senior U.S. official said he saw "a shot" at a truce soon…

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Hezbollah says no official ceasefire proposal received yet

Hezbollah has not received any proposals on a truce for Lebanon, a spokesperson said Monday, as Israel's foreign minister said diplomatic efforts had made "progress" and amid Israeli media reports…

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Lebanon, Israel could agree to ceasefire within days, Lebanese prime minister says

Lebanon's prime minister expressed hope that a ceasefire deal with Israel would be announced within days as Israel's public broadcaster published what it said was a draft agreement providing for…

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Hezbollah elects Naim Qassem as head to succeed Nasrallah

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had elected deputy head Naim Qassem to succeed Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air attack on Beirut's…

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Israeli strike kills three journalists in south Lebanon

An Israeli strike early on Friday morning killed at least three journalists and wounded several others as they slept in guesthouses used by media in Hasbaya in southern Lebanon, Lebanon's…

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Macron pledges €100M for Lebanon aid

France will give €100 million to support Lebanon and assist the more than 1 million people displaced by the recent Israeli invasion, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday at the…

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Israel confirms death of heir apparent to slain Hezbollah leader

Israel confirmed it had killed Hashem Safieddine, the heir apparent to late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed last month in an Israeli attack targeting the Iran-backed Lebanese militant…

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Israel strikes north Lebanon town, UN expresses concern about peacekeepers

Israel expanded its targets in its war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, killing at least 21 people in an airstrike in the north, health officials said, while millions of Israelis…

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UNIFIL: What is the mandate of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon?

United Nations peacekeepers were deployed to patrol Lebanon's southern border with Israel in 1978 after Israel invaded south Lebanon.The mandate for the operation - known as the U.N. Interim Force…

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Israeli military says infantry, armoured units joining Lebanon ground operation

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that regular infantry and armoured units were joining ground operations in southern Lebanon, but said they would remain limited and localised in scope. Israel…

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Diversions, disruptions: aviation grapples with Middle East escalation

Rising tensions in the Middle East have created air travel chaos, with global airlines diverting or cancelling flights on Wednesday and regional airports, including Lebanon, Israel and Kuwait, showing long…

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Israel begins Lebanon ground invasion

Israel's widely expected ground invasion of Lebanon appeared to be getting underway early on Tuesday as its military said troops had begun "limited" raids against Hezbollah targets in the border…

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What happens now that Hezbollah chief Nasrallah has been killed?

The following comments were made to Reuters after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday. MEHRAN KAMRAVA, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT AT GEORGETOWN…

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UPDATED: Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah killed in Israeli airstrike

Hezbollah has issued a statement confirming the death of its secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday, ending…

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Israeli foreign minister rejects ceasefire proposal, Lebanon on edge

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday rejected proposals for a ceasefire with Hezbollah after the United States and France called for a 21-day halt in the fighting that has…

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US and allies call for 21-day ceasefire along Israel-Lebanon border after UN talks

The United States, France and several allies called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border while also expressing support for a ceasefire in Gaza following intense discussions at…

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Pope Francis, back from flu, calls airstrikes on Lebanon ‘unacceptable’

Pope Francis called Israeli strikes on Lebanon a "terrible escalation" of the Middle East conflict on Wednesday at the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican, which went…

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‘Leave now’, Britain tells nationals in Lebanon as it mobilises troops

Britain mobilised hundreds of soldiers to Cyprus to help its nationals evacuate following a significant escalation between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, urging people to leave immediately. As contingency plans are…

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UPDATED: Israeli strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah continue

Israel struck targets in southern Lebanon Tuesday and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel as violence spilled over into a second day. The sharp escalation in hostilities…

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Crisis in South Lebanon: Displacement Amid Intense Airstrikes

Residents of south Lebanon have begun fleeing north in a renewed wave of displacement as Israeli warplanes pound wide-swathes of the country’s south. The Israeli aerial assault is the most…

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Hezbollah Declares Open-Ended Battle with Israel

Hezbollah has said it has entered an “open-ended battle of reckoning” with Israel after launching a series of rocket attacks on the north of the country as world powers implored…

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Exploding pager operation ‘planned for at least 15 years’

The operation to manufacture the pagers that exploded in Lebanon earlier this week, targeting Hezbollah members, had reportedly been planned for at least 15 years. Planning the attack involved shell…

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Israel unleashes heavy strikes on Lebanon, Hezbollah leader defiant

Israeli warplanes carried out late on Thursday their most intense strikes on southern Lebanon in nearly a year of war, heightening the conflict between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah…

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Israeli strikes hit multiple targets in Lebanon

Israeli jets and artillery hit multiple targets in southern Lebanon overnight, Israel's military said on Thursday, amid spiralling tensions following the mass attack on Hezbollah communications devices this week. The…

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Hezbollah devices explode again in Lebanon, raising fears of wider Israel conflict

Hand-held radios used by armed group Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday across Lebanon's south in the country's deadliest day since cross-border fighting erupted between the militants and Israel nearly a year…

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Kremlin warns Lebanon pager attack is a possible trigger for wider M. East conflict

The Kremlin warned on Wednesday that an attack on Lebanese group Hezbollah and others using exploding pagers could become a trigger for a wider regional conflict and called for its…

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Gold Apollo says Budapest-based BAC produces model of pagers used in Lebanon blasts

The model of pagers used in detonations in Lebanon were made by Budapest-based BAC Consulting, Taiwanese pager firm Gold Apollo said on Wednesday, adding it had only licensed out its…

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Israel main suspect behind explosives in 5,000 Hezbollah’s pagers

Israel's Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters. The operation…

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Israel launches strikes in Lebanon and Hezbollah fires hundreds of rockets

Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel early on Sunday, as Israel's military said it struck Lebanon with around 100 jets to thwart a bigger attack, in one…

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Foreign nationals leave Lebanon as Iran prepares retaliation against Israel

Urgent calls grew for foreign nationals to leave Lebanon, which would be on the front line of a regional war, as Iran and its allies ready their response to high-profile…

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What to know about top Hezbollah commander targeted by Israel in Beirut

Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander whom Israel said it killed in an airstrike in Beirut on Tuesday, has been one of the group's leading military figures since it was…

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Israel claims to kill Hezbollah senior commander in Beirut strike

Israel's military claimed it killed Hezbollah's most senior commander in an airstrike on Beirut on Tuesday, in retaliation for a cross-border rocket attack that killed 12 youngsters three days ago…

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IDF says 10 Hezbollah targets hit

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck around 10 Hezbollah targets in seven different areas of southern Lebanon. The IDF also said it "eliminated" a member of the group…

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More airlines cancel Beirut flights amid escalation

Greece's Aegean Airlines and Germany's Condor cancelled flights to Beirut on Tuesday, the latest airlines to suspend services to the Lebanese capital in recent days as tensions escalate between Israel…

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Why the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is heating up again

A deadly rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has added to concerns that Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah could be sucked into a full-scale war - something…

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Hezbollah on ‘high alert’ in case of Israeli retaliation

Israel's security cabinet on Sunday authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to decide on the "manner and timing" of a response to a rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights…

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Israeli warplanes break sound barrier over Beirut

Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Beirut and other areas of Lebanon on Tuesday, Lebanese security sources and media reported, rattling nerves as the conflict between the Iran-backed Hezbollah…

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Head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah threatens Israel and Cyprus

The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah said that nowhere in Israel would be safe if a full-fledged war breaks out between the two foes, and also threatened EU member Cyprus for…

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UPDATED: Gunman fires shots at US Embassy in Lebanon

A gunman fired shots at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon on Wednesday and was wounded in an exchange of fire with troops, the Lebanese army said. The army said the…

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Syrians in Lebanon fear unprecedented restrictions, deportations

The soldiers came before daybreak, singling out the Syrian men without residence permits from the tattered camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. As toddlers wailed around them, Mona, a Syrian refugee…

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Hezbollah tells Iran it would fight alone in any war with Israel

By Samia Nakhoul, Parisa Hafezi and Laila Bassam Quds Force, Hezbollah chiefs met in February: sources Risk of Israel-Hezbollah war discussed: sources Iran advises militia allies to avoid wider conflict:…

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Israel strikes deeper into Lebanon as Hezbollah downs drone

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Israel mounted airstrikes west of the Lebanese city of Baalbek on Monday, killing at least two Hezbollah members, sources in Lebanon said, in its deepest…

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