Antoine Khoury

France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot arrived in Damascus on Thursday, marking the first stop of a regional tour at a time when Paris is reassessing its anti-jihadist strategy and closely monitoring rising tensions between the United States and Iran.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the issue of extraditing former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has not been discussed in recent talks between Moscow and Damascus. 

The leader of Lebanon’s Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, has strongly criticized Hezbollah, calling its secretary-general Naim Qassem “an outlaw” and urging the Lebanese government to dissolve the group’s military and security wing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host his Syrian counterpart Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday, marking their second meeting since the 2024 overthrow of former Syrian leader Bashar el-Assad, a longtime ally of the Kremlin.

Hezbollah’s secretary-general Naïm Kassem lashed out on Saturday at Lebanese voices calling for the state’s monopoly over weapons, in other words, the full disarmament of his organization. 

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Joe Raggi launched a blistering attack on Hezbollah on Tuesday, declaring the group's weapons have become "a burden on the Shiite community" and warning that only state control of arms can protect the country.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa arrived in Beirut on Friday, greeted at the airport by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who made a telling plea: maintain an international force in southern Lebanon with strong European participation.

Since the mid-1980s, Lebanese Hezbollah, working in close collaboration with Iranian intelligence services and the Revolutionary Guards, has meticulously woven a network of businesses within Lebanese diaspora communities worldwide, operations frequently suspected of masking illicit activities.

The Syrian army began shelling Kurdish-held neighborhoods in northern Aleppo on Wednesday, following the expiration of a deadline given to residents to evacuate the area.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is set to visit Beirut on Saturday, according to Saudi channel al-Hadath and confirmed by a diplomatic source to L'Orient-Le Jour, as Lebanon attempts to recalibrate its relationship with Tehran.

Mastercard has granted Qatar’s QNB Group a license to expand card issuing and acquiring services in Syria, allowing the bank to offer Mastercard payment solutions to individuals and businesses locally and internationally.

Three rockets struck the Damascus district of Mazzeh on Saturday, landing near a military airport and damaging a mosque and a telecommunications building, according to a statement by city authorities.