Antoine Khoury

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.

The Israeli army ordered the evacuation of 29 villages north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon on Sunday, ahead of what it described as imminent strikes against Hezbollah positions.

Lebanon's Maronite bishops have thrown their full support behind the Lebanese state and its ongoing direct negotiations with Israel, calling on all Lebanese to unite around their national institutions and army.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has delivered a stinging assessment of Iran's role in his country's affairs, telling the British daily The Times that Tehran's rejection of the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire agreement was not merely a political stance,  it was a deliberate signal that Iran considers itself the ultimate decision-maker in Lebanon.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has moved to quash speculation about a potential Syrian military intervention in Lebanon, insisting that his country's approach is aimed at ending the war there, not extending it.