Antoine Khoury

Four people were killed by an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon on Monday, Lebanon's state news agency reported, testing a fragile ceasefire in the conflict between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel. 

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to visit Syria, the Syrian presidency announced Sunday, without specifying a date. The visit would make him the first Western head of state to travel to Damascus since President Ahmad al-Sharaa came to power in late 2024.

Maronite Patriarch Béchara Raï welcomed Sunday the framework agreement signed in Washington between Lebanon and Israel, while delivering a pointed warning that Lebanon must never become a bargaining chip in regional or international negotiations.

The Israeli military withdrawal from two "pilot zones" in southern Lebanon, scheduled under last Friday's framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel, has been postponed until both sides agree on a "joint supervision mechanism," Israeli Channel 11 reported.

Syria and Iraq agreed Tuesday to deepen cooperation across multiple sectors, including energy, marking the first visit by Iraq's foreign minister to Damascus since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.

The framework agreement reached Friday between Lebanon and Israel at the fifth round of Washington negotiations is drawing sharply contrasting reactions across Lebanon's political landscape, with Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel declaring victory and Aounist figure Gebran Bassil sounding notes of caution.

Hezbollah supporters stormed the streets of Beirut on Friday night, riding motorcycles through central neighbourhoods near Parliament and along the road leading to Beirut's international airport, in a furious reaction to the framework agreement signed in Washington between Lebanon, Israel and the United States.

Lebanon's Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar ordered Thursday the removal of pro-Iran banners that had been displayed along the road leading to Beirut's international airport, the country's most visible gateway to the world.

The Syrian Liberal Party has issued a bold call for a decisive international military alliance to disarm Hezbollah and restore full stability to Lebanon, proposing that Beirut formally request assistance from the existing US-sponsored international counterterrorism coalition.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun chaired a high-level meeting Tuesday with Army Commander General Rudolf Hage and members of the advisory team accompanying Lebanon's delegation to the Washington negotiations, as the fifth round of Lebanese-American-Israeli talks enters what he described as a potentially decisive phase.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday welcomed the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, praising what he described as its respect for Lebanon's "specificity" and expressing hope that it would lead to "concrete measures putting a definitive end to the cycle of violence."

The ink on the US-Iran framework agreement was barely dry before the recriminations began, not from Tehran's enemies in Washington, but from the very allies Donald Trump was supposed to be protecting.