This is Beirut - middle east

Gold Prices Hit Record High Amid Geopolitical Uncertainty

This is Beirut, 2024-10-18 11:00 - Reading : less than a minute

Gold prices hit a record high above $2,700 on Friday as traders piled into the safe-haven commodity at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, including in the Middle East after Israel said it killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar. Bullion hit an all-time high of $2,704.89 in early Asian trade, up from its previous record of $2,688.83 touched on ...

Israeli-Iranian Conflict: The Strait of Hormuz as a Pressure Tactic

Liliane Mokbel, 2024-10-17 10:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Europe Gulf Kuwait Middle East Saudi Arabia Tehran Ukraine United States

Iran may have to resort to a strategic tool: control of the Strait of Hormuz. According to several analyses, this tactic could be as devastating as a nuclear weapon. However, unlike a nuclear weapon, whose use would bring catastrophic consequences for Iran itself, the threat of closing the Strait of Hormuz serves as a form of "asymmetric ...

Patriarch Rai Quoting Pope Francis: 'Violence Never Brings Peace'

This is Beirut, 2024-10-13 13:45 - Reading : less than a minute

Bechara Rai Middle East Pope Francis

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai read out a letter from Pope Francis addressed to the Christians of the Middle East during his Sunday homily. During the mass celebrated at the patriarchal headquarters in Bkerke, Patriarch Rai shared the Pope's words to "comfort" and "encourage" the faithful. "I will not tire of repeating that war is a defeat, that ...

US Expands Sanctions Against Iran’s Oil Industry Over Israel Strikes

This is Beirut, 2024-10-11 22:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Middle East Tehran USA

The United States hit Iran's oil and petrochemicals sectors with fresh sanctions on Friday in response to Tehran's October 1 attack against Israel, designating dozens of new companies and firms. In a statement on Friday, the Treasury Department said it was going after Iran's so-called "shadow fleet" of ships involved in selling Iranian oil in ...

Japanese Atomic Bomb Survivor Group Wins Nobel Peace Prize

This is Beirut, 2024-10-11 21:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Middle East Tehran Ukraine United Nations Japan

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to Japan's Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors pushing for a nuclear weapons ban, as states like Russia threaten to use them. The group, also known as Hibakusha and founded in 1956, received the honor "for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and ...

European Mediterranean States Discuss Middle East, Migration

This is Beirut, 2024-10-11 18:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

European Union Middle East Palestine United Nations West Bank

Leaders from nine European countries around the Mediterranean Sea met in Cyprus on Friday to discuss the wars in the Middle East, which they fear will fuel migration and threaten their own security. Heads of state or government from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia and Croatia were joined by the king of Jordan, ...

Russia and Iran Hail ‘Close’ World Views

This is Beirut, 2024-10-11 16:26 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Middle East Tehran Ukraine Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday hailed their "close" views on world affairs, with the Russian leader saying ties with Tehran were a "priority" for Moscow. The pair held a meeting in Turkmenistan, one of the world's most secretive states, amid soaring tensions in the Middle East, with Israeli air strikes on Beirut ...

Al-Quds Force Chief Esmail Qaani Jailed and Interrogated in Iran?

This is Beirut, 2024-10-10 18:22 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Hassan Nasrallah Middle East

Iranian general Esmail Qaani, head of the al-Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is alive but is reportedly in custody and under investigation in Iran, according to information revealed on Thursday by the British media outlet Middle East Eye (MEE). During his interrogation, Qaani reportedly suffered a heart attack and ...

Arrogance and Betrayal

Salam Zaatari, 2024-10-10 11:05 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Middle East

Lebanese citizens are grappling with many questions, chief among them: how did we end up here? Why did Hezbollah pursue a war that no one asked for? Was it arrogance, or a trap? Did Iran abandon its militias, or is this just arrogance masked by empty promises? The south of Lebanon is now desolate, with over half a million displaced. Dahye is a ...

UNRWA and ICJ Favourites to Win Nobel Peace Prize

This is Beirut, 2024-10-09 12:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hamas International Court of Justice International Criminal Court Middle East Ukraine United Nations

The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded Friday, a ray of light in a dark year for world peace, with the International Court of Justice, UNRWA and UN chief Antonio Guterres seen as favourites. In the final run-up to the announcement, Nobel-watchers are struggling to predict this year's laureate, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, famine in ...

One Year After, the Fallacies of Apocalypticism

2024-10-07 09:30 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Hamas Middle East Palestine South Lebanon

The violent outbursts of October 7, 2023, were portrayed as the last bouts of a war of liberation targeting Israel. This boring sloganeering, far from being a novelty, belongs to a trite repertoire of damning rhetoric that punctuated every single stage of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Unfortunately, this rhetoric was paired with violence, repeated ...

Macron to Netanyahu: France Committed to Israel’s Security

This is Beirut, 2024-10-06 20:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Emmanuel Macron Hamas Middle East Benjamin Netanyahu

French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed Sunday his country's "unwavering commitment" to Israel's security in a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while insisting on a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, the presidency said. "On the eve of the first anniversary of the Hamas terrorist offensive against Israel, he expressed the ...

middle east