Istanbul- Careful when you mock Jensen Huang. Even honeypotters get honeypotted. The Jensen Huang affair, starring the golden boy of the American chip industry, has reminded…
Browsing: Lebanon
By BASSEM MROUE SIDON, Lebanon (AP) — Rabbi Elie Abadie left his native Lebanon more than five decades ago and has not even visited since, but…
The Trump administration has done more than any of its predecessors to restore sovereignty for a much traumatized nation, Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces’ operations in 2024…
https://youtu.be/7vNTcD5wWjM Former US deputy presidential envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, reveals how she quietly pushed Israel and Lebanon toward direct talks, and…
Hezbollah and Amal are already manipulating where donor funding goes and who gets credit for reconstruction, so Washington and its partners should coordinate ways to bypass…
The only way to dismantle Hezbollah is to create the right incentives for the Lebanese government. When I served as assistant secretary of state for Near…
As the Hatay Academy Symphony Orchestra carried Fairuz’s songs from wounded Antakya to an Ankara open-air stage, the music evoked another battered Mediterranean city that has…
Lebanon’s political system is the product of a century of compromises designed to allow a diverse society to coexist within a single state. From independence and…
Türkiye’s offer to participate in security arrangements for southern Lebanon marks Ankara’s attempt to become a central actor in the transition from U.N. peacekeeping to Lebanese…
Brief Analysis Circumstances are ripe for a successful visit, but both presidents are looking for more than bonhomie—Aoun needs practical U.S. commitments of operational and financial…
Shaffaf Exclusive Over the course of Michel Aoun’s presidency, one name quietly but persistently threaded its way through Lebanon’s most sensitive political and financial deals: Alaa…
Workers load dismantled tents onto a truck at a displaced families’ camp along Beirut’s waterfront on July 1, 2026. Last week in Washington, Lebanon and Israel…
Brief Analysis This landmark document offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build real peace between Beirut and Jerusalem, but progress needs to be swift and visible given…
The recent Washington Institute article on proposed U.S. foreign assistance cuts should be read in Beirut with alarm. At the very moment when Washington is trying…
Jieh, a seaside town south of Beirut, was once known for its beach resorts, long sandy shoreline and summer crowds. For decades, Beirutis escaped the city’s…
SK_Azzi @Tinderella1421 Nothing says “European values” quite like EU-funded infrastructure in South Lebanon being named after IRGC commander and defense minister of Iran Mostapha Chamran. In…
Lebanon’s political class should stop confusing regional patronage with national interest. The country’s economic collapse has exposed a reality that many factions in Beirut still refuse…
Shaffaf Exclusive Lebanon is attempting to discuss peace while suffering one of the worst economic collapses in modern financial history. Six years after the sovereign default…
Shaffaf Exclusive As Lebanon sways between the prospect of peace with Israel and threats of civil conflict, emotions are running high for both proponents and opponents…
Shaffaf Exclusive: History does not repeat itself in exact form, but it often rhymes in ways that policymakers ignore at their peril. Lebanon today risks reliving…
Given concerns about Hezbollah backlash, Beirut will likely want to proceed incrementally toward its stated goal of establishing a state monopoly on weapons Today (23 April),…
Since March 2, according to a non-exhaustive count by Le Monde, the Shiite militia-party, close to Iran, is believed to have lost 494 of its members…
Shaffaf Exclusive Today, after another round of destruction along the border, Donald Trump picked up the phone. He called Joseph Aoun. He called Benjamin Netanyahu. A ceasefire followed. Then came…
For decades, Lebanon has lived in the shadow of conflict,its borders tense, its economy strained, and its people often forced to look outward for survival. But…
The military and diplomatic risks of reentering south Lebanon are weighty, but Israel can mitigate them by publicly clarifying its security objectives, pursuing a bilateral political…
(Smoke rises from explosions induced by Israeli military activities on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Al Taybeh.) Rights groups fear tactic of ‘domicide’…
(Shaffaf Exclusive) I went to Beirut for a week and found two cities living on top of each other, like mismatched transparencies that refuse to align.…
The aftermath of Israeli strikes in Tyre, Lebanon. Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images by Barak Ravid The Lebanese government and the Trump administration have asked Israel for…
When Pope Leo XIV landed in Lebanon he echoed the words of Pope John Paul II, “Lebanon is a Message”. In this EWTN News special, Colm…
The U.S. Must Judge Terrorists by Their Actions and Ideology, Not the Veneer of Respectability with Which They Paint Themselves After Israel’s “Operation Grim Beeper” neutered…
The French government has drafted a proposal to end the war in Lebanon that would require the Lebanese government to take the unprecedented step of recognizing…
The renewed conflict offers an opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah’s capabilities, potentially clearing the way for breakthrough diplomacy with Israel. Early on March 2, evidently heeding…
The next northern-front threat isn’t a ‘Hezbollah alternative’ – it’s an Islamist partner hiding in plain sight, built for legitimacy in peacetime and attack in war…
Excerpt: “Only the Central Bank governor has been targeting the cash economy via circulars attempting to regulate the sector; however, Lebanon does not have a clear…
Testimony submitted to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa. February 3, 2026
Lebanon is witnessing something unprecedented: a senior official at the central bank launching a two-front war of accountability. On one front, he is demanding…
I, recently, returned to Saida, that predominantly sunni city south of Beirut — sentimental to me and politically charged for Lebanon. My own memories there are personal: I…
Recent leaks made public by Al-Jazeera suggest that this is the case, but the story may be more complicated. The year 2025 marked a period of…
Ankara may seek to annul a maritime deal with Cyprus and expand its influence in the next parliament Since the downfall of the Assad regime in…
More than a year has passed since the end of the Israeli war against “Hezbollah,” and today we stand only days away from the first anniversary…
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s December 19 address unveiling the Gap Law marks a pivotal moral and political reckoning in Lebanon’s financial collapse. Confronting years of…
(Lt. Col. A, head of the Political and Strategic Branch at Military Intelligence: “she was among the officers who advocated for eliminating Nasrallah last September”) *…
The problem with any Financial Rescue law in Lebanon is brutally simple. Everyone wants someone else to pay. Start with the State: Critics say the…
Follow the black trail. Key dates summing up the capture and cartelisation process: The Zahrani refining capacity reached 17,500 bpd until the refinery was…
Just days before the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, the government of Lebanon announced that it would provide official disability cards and full benefits to…
A billboard displays an image of Pope Leo XIV, ahead of his upcoming visit to Lebanon, near the grain silos at Beirut’s port that were heavily…
Bravo au gouverneur de la banque centrale de #Lebanon @KarimSouaid ! Être la cible de menaces outrancières #Hezbollah (voir ci-dessous) signifie qu’il fait forcément quelque chose de…
And today, the one Lebanese official who has demonstrated genuine courage finds himself alone in the very state he is trying to defend. Karim…
Written by a Lebanese “Iranian proxy”, Sondoss Al Asaad, the following editorial of Teheran Times expresses the frustration of Hezbollah at Karim Souaid’s reforms aimed at…
(Hagia Sophia and Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul. (photo: 2024 Raul / Shutterstock) Turkey is largely bereft of Christianity, while Lebanon still has a vibrant Christian presence.…