The Latest Breaking News from Beirut

A woman accompanied by activists and brandishing what she said was a toy pistol broke into a Beirut bank branch on Wednesday, taking $13,000 from her trapped savings. Sali Hafez told the local Al-Jadeed TV that she needed the money to fund her sister’s cancer treatment. She said she had…

Lebanon is drawing up a controversial plan to deport thousands of Syrian refugees every month. The country is in the midst of an economic meltdown and its government says it can no longer host more than 1 million Syrians. NGOs, though, say forced deportations are illegal and that Syria is…

Eyewitnesses say an armed woman and a dozen activists broke into a Beirut bank branch and took more than $13,000 from her trapped savings

A group of depositors, at least one of whom is armed, took hostages at Blom bank in central Beirut on Wednesday, a security source said.

The US mediator arbitrating negotiations of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel, Amos Hochstein, reported “very good progress” towards arranging for a deal that benefits the Lebanese economy. Hochstein’s optimism followed his meetings with several Lebanese officials in Beirut. Many in Lebanon remain “cautious” as the results of talks…

The US envoy mediating between Lebanon and Israel over the two countries' disputed maritime border said Friday some progress has been made but that more work needs to be done to resolve the issue. Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser for energy security at the US State Department, has been mediating…

Beirut’s Hachette Antoine/Naufal Publishing has recently released a new collection composed of four volumes featuring a selection of Nizar Qabbani’s poems. The four volumes focus on love, women, words, and revolution. “Every title gives a glimpse about the poems selected for each volume. The books are introduced by authors and…

Want to see a modern nation torn apart by violence and reduced to feudalism? You really don't, but it could happen

Lebanese authorities, at the start of next week, will try to appoint a second judge to the stalled inquiry into the deadly August 2020 Beirut port blast, a move which is anticipated to further complicate the probe. Judge Tarek Bitar's investigation into the 2020 explosion, which flattened swathes of the…

The Lebanese government is preparing to send a technical delegation to Iran to negotiate acquiring "free" fuel to ease the power outages crisis in the country, which now supplies only one or two hours of state-provided electricity per day. Lebanon is seeking Iranian fuel and wants to avoid US sanctions.

The appointment of a second judge, without the power to summon suspects or press charges, would undermine the investigation, victims say.