Antoine Khoury

US-Iran indirect negotiations resumed Thursday in Geneva for a third round, described by Tehran as "intense and serious." 

Hussein bin Abdullah, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Jordan, on Monday chaired a meeting at Al Husseiniya Palace to discuss ways to advance Jordan’s financial technology (FinTech) sector, as the country seeks to position itself as a regional innovation hub.

Israeli airstrikes targeted Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and the Ain al-Hilweh camp on Friday, killing more than 12 people in what appears to be a significant escalation in the ongoing confrontation along the Israel–Lebanon front.

A Hezbollah lawmaker, Ali Fayad, on Sunday warned the Lebanese government against setting “any timetable” or making “new commitments” regarding the disarmament of the Iran-backed group north of the Litani River, according to Lebanon’s state news agency.

Kuwait has added eight Lebanese hospitals to its national sanctions list over alleged links to terrorism, according to the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai. The hospitals are all located in areas where Hezbollah is influential: southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

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.