October 13th, 20231 On Thursday, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, saying the use of such weapons puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injury.
Asked for comment on the allegations, Israel's military said it was "currently not aware of the use of weapons...
September 8th, 20230On September 7, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi announced that the Hashemite kingdom could no longer accept Syrian refugees. He stressed that the future of displaced Syrians lies within their own country.
During a joint press conference in Amman with Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin, Safadi said, “Jordan will not be...
September 2nd, 20231Arab American community activists are urging the Department of Homeland Security to declare Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Lebanese nationals in the U.S..
It would grant temporary immigration status for people to live and work in the U.S. due to challenges in their home country.
Adam Beddawi, policy manager for the National...
August 18th, 20230BEIRUT — A forensic audit into Lebanon’s central bank by a New York-based company has revealed years long misconduct by the bank’s former governor and $111 million in “illegitimate commissions,” according to a report by the company.
It’s the latest chapter in the saga of Lebanon’s embattled former central bank governor...
August 18th, 20230An escalating war of words between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon echoes heightened tension at the border, with each vowing to return the other to the "stone age" and preparing for a possible conflict even as they deny seeking one.
Israel and Hezbollah have avoided war across the Lebanese-Israeli frontier since their last major clash...
August 12th, 20230The clashes on Wednesday between Hezbollah members and armed Christian villagers in the town of Kahaleh, which is a Lebanese Forces stronghold, stole the limelight and overshadowed all other events in Lebanon. The clashes that claimed two casualties — a member of Hezbollah and a Christian villager — came after a series of security...
August 4th, 20230The Hamas resistance movement has asked the secretary general of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, to make the best effort he could to end the deadly clashes between factions in the Palestinian Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon.
The head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, requested that Nasrallah get...
July 31st, 20230According to local media, heavy fighting between armed Palestinian groups at a refugee camp in Lebanon continued for a third consecutive day on Monday morning. At least nine people have been killed since the clashes began on Saturday. More than 40 people have been wounded.
Tensions sparked at the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Saida...
June 29th, 20230DEARBORN — A Dearborn native of Palestinian and Lebanese descent has been selected as one of 30 finalists in the running for Miss Arab USA.
Razan Zaher was born in Michigan before her family returned to Lebanon, where she was raised, and went on to earn her bachelor of arts in English studies and her diploma with honors.
Zaher, a...
March 10th, 20230Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Friday to resume ties after years of hostility which had threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria.
The deal was announced after four days of previously undisclosed talks in Beijing between top security officials from the two rival...
January 29th, 20230BEIRUT – More than 200 people protested outside Lebanon's justice palace on Thursday over efforts to derail an investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion, as top judges cancelled a meeting to discuss the fate of the inquiry.
Judge Tarek Bitar announced on Monday he was resuming his investigation into the blast that...
November 21st, 20220- This story was originally published in Business Insider
Donald Trump's daughter Tiffany, 29, wed billionaire Michael Boulos before 250 guests at the former president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on November 12.
Boulos, 25, joins the family after he and Tiffany began dating in 2018. They were engaged in January 2021 with Tiffany...
November 10th, 20220Lebanon faces an indefinite government crisis that further complicates the path out of its financial meltdown, adding to risks of instability as hardship deepens and state institutions teeter on the brink of collapse.
Lebanon has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Michel Aoun's term as president ended on...
October 28th, 20220BEIRUT — Lebanese and Israeli leaders finalized a U.S.-brokered maritime demarcation deal on Thursday, bringing a measure of accommodation between the enemy states as they eye offshore energy exploration.
Leaders from Lebanon, Israel and the U.S. have all hailed the deal as "historic" but the possibility of a wider diplomatic...
October 24th, 20220Before Lebanon's government approved a U.S.-brokered deal settling a decades-long maritime boundary dispute with Israel, the powerful Hezbollah had scrutinized the final draft line by line and given a crucial nod of acceptance.
Branded a "terrorist group" by Washington and a sworn enemy of Israel, the Iran-backed Hezbollah was certainly...
October 21st, 20220BEIRUT — Lebanon's parliament failed to elect a president for the third time on Thursday, bringing the country closer to institutional deadlock amid a deep financial crisis.
Outgoing President Michel Aoun's term ends on Oct. 31 and divisions remain among political blocs over the makeup of a new cabinet.
Lebanon has been without...
October 19th, 20220BEIRUT — U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein will be in Beirut next week, carrying a copy of the maritime agreement with Israel for Lebanese officials to sign, Lebanese negotiator Elias Bou Saab told Reuters on Wednesday.
The deal — hailed by all three parties as a historic achievement — marks a diplomatic departure from decades...
October 12th, 20220BEIRUT — Negotiators in recent talks between Lebanon and Israel over a maritime border dispute said this week a "historic" deal had been struck between the two countries.
“Lebanon has obtained its full rights, and all of its remarks have been taken into account,” said Lebanon’s Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab, who submitted the...
October 6th, 20220BEIRUT — Lebanon said U.S.-brokered talks to demarcate its maritime border with longtime foe Israel were at a "make or break" point on Thursday after Israel rejected revisions to a draft deal requested by Beirut, throwing years of diplomatic efforts into doubt.
The draft, which has not been made public, had a warm preliminary...
September 16th, 20220Savers held up two banks in Lebanon on Wednesday to demand access to their own deposits frozen in the country's paralyzed financial system, underlining desperation among citizens unable to access savings since an economic crisis began in 2019.
There were similar incidents in Beirut in August and in eastern Lebanon in January.
The...
September 15th, 20220ANAHEIM, CA — After years of lobbying by advocates, Anaheim finally designated its Arab American enclave as "Little Arabia" on Tuesday.
In a statement, Anaheim's spokeswoman told CNN the city plans to follow up the designation with in-depth research.
"The Little Arabia designation recognizes an area of our city we've always...
September 14th, 20220September 16 marks the 40th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, the killing of around 3,000 Palestinians at the hands of Lebanon’s Phalangist militias operating under the command of the Israeli army.
Four decades have passed, yet no measure of justice has been received by the survivors of the massacre. Many of them have...
September 14th, 20220Two seemingly armed and desperate Lebanese depositors held up banks on Wednesday to force access to their own money, which has been blocked during a national financial meltdown.
One woman with a gun, that she later said was a toy, and some associates briefly held hostages at a branch of BLOM Bank in the capital Beirut, before leaving...
September 13th, 20220Maritime border talks between Lebanon and Israel that could help allocate oil and gas resources are close to concluding after around two years of negotiations, a top Lebanese security official told Reuters on Tuesday.
"We're talking about weeks — actually, days — to finish the delineation issue," the head of Lebanon's General...
August 23rd, 20220LEBANON — Nadia Fawaz, a Lebanese chess champion, was matched with an Israeli player, Elia Grozman, in the fourth round of the 28th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival. Lebanese outlet The961 has reported that Fawaz, however, decided she did not want to play with an Israeli and has withdrawn from the international chess...
August 13th, 20220NEW YORK — The man accused in the stabbing attack on Salman Rushdie pleaded not guilty Saturday to attempted murder and assault charges in what a prosecutor called a "preplanned" crime, as the renowned author of The Satanic Verses remained hospitalized with serious injuries.
A judge refused to grant bail Thursday to Hadi Matar, 24...
August 4th, 20220Lebanese mother Liliane Cheaito, stuck in the hospital since the Beirut blast two years ago, saw her son for the first time on Thursday following a court ruling in a protracted family dispute with her husband.
Cheaito has not left the American University of Beirut's Medical Center since August 4, 2020, when she was brought in bruised...
July 15th, 20220Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had strong words on Wednesday about a maritime oil dispute between Lebanon and Israel.
Nasrallah warned that "no one" would be allowed to operate in maritime oil and gas fields if Lebanon was barred from its "rights" in extracting from areas off of its own coast.
"If Lebanon is prevented...
