This is Beirut 16:42 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
At a Damascus airbase once off-limits under Bashar al-Assad, a crew now films a TV series about the final months of the ousted leader's rule as seen through the eyes of a Syrian family. "It's hard to believe we're filming here," director Mohamad Abdul Aziz said from the Mazzeh base, which was once also a detention center run by Assad's air force ...
This is Beirut 13:37 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Israel said on Thursday Hamas "will be disarmed" as part of the US-sponsored peace plan for Gaza, after a top leader from the Palestinian Islamist movement suggested a weapons freeze. The ceasefire, in effect since October 10, halted the war that began after Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But it remains fragile ...
This is Beirut 10:45 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Hamas International Criminal Court Israel Palestine Amnesty International
Amnesty International on Thursday accused Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups for the first time of crimes against humanity, including extermination, during and after the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war in Gaza. "Palestinian armed groups committed violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes, and crimes against ...
This is Beirut 08:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
USA US House of Representatives US Treasury Damascus Caesar Act
The US House of Representatives has voted to repeal the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, a landmark sanctions regime imposed in 2019 on officials of former president Bashar al-Assad’s government for war crimes and human rights abuses. The repeal measure was included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, ...
This is Beirut 10/12 23:46 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Israel Hamas Gaza Khaled Meshaal
A top Hamas leader told Qatari news channel Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the militant group is open to a weapons "freeze" but rejects the demand for disarmament put forward in the US-sponsored peace plan for Gaza. "The idea of total disarmament is unacceptable to the resistance (Hamas). What is being proposed is a freeze, or ...
Seth J. Frantzman 10/12 17:10 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Israel Benjamin Netanyahu USA Lebanon Syria Gaza
On December 2 Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israel Defense Forces soldiers wounded in recent fighting in southern Syria. Their injuries followed a November 26 IDF raid on the village of Beit Jinn in southern Syria, an operation that left several Syrians dead and wounded a number of Israeli soldiers. Netanyahu had a ...
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 10/12 16:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Lebanon Israel Palestine Syria Tom Barrack
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack keeps warning that Lebanon will be “reabsorbed” into Syria unless Hezbollah is disarmed, a historically unfounded threat from someone who derides the Sykes-Picot boundaries as colonial nonsense yet treats Syria’s borders as sacrosanct. His selective anti-colonialism spares Syria, disregards Kurdish and Druze ...
This is Beirut 10/12 15:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Port Beirut Lebanon Rhosus Bulgaria
A Sofia court on Wednesday refused to extradite a shipowner wanted by Lebanon over the devastating 2020 Beirut port blast, one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions that destroyed swathes of the Lebanese capital, killed more than 220 people, and injured more than 6,500. Lebanon wants Bulgaria to extradite Igor Grechushkin, a ...
Maria Chami 10/12 14:45 - Reading : less than a minute
What if the future of artificial intelligence was being built right in the heart of the desert? In the United Arab Emirates, a colossal 26 km² AI campus is taking shape, a project designed to become one of the largest data-center parks in the world, capable of serving up to 4 billion people.
Natasha Metni Torbey 10/12 14:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Hezbollah Israel Lebanon Al Qard Al Hassan Hezbollah financing
After introducing ATMs, easy-access loans, and clandestine counters scattered throughout the alleys of Beirut’s southern suburbs, al-Qard al-Hassan (AQAH), Hezbollah’s financial arm, has taken its operations a step further: direct gold trading. Gold bars, coins, and jewelry are reportedly now being offered to the Shiite community, turning gold ...
Mario Chartouni 09/12 20:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Damascus European Union Washington Russia Syria ISIS
In the narrative promoted by Moscow and Damascus, Russia and Bashar al-Assad’s regime are credited with delivering the decisive blow against ISIS in Syria. This account frames Russia’s military intervention, which began in September 2015, as the turning point in the fight against the terrorist group. Yet, a closer look at the data paints a ...
This is Beirut 09/12 19:55 - Reading : less than a minute
Syrian state media said shelling of unknown origin hit a Damascus area home to a military airport on Tuesday, without causing casualties. "The vicinity of the Mezzeh military airport in Damascus was targeted by three shells of unknown origin, without causing casualties or material damage," state news agency SANA quoted a military source as ...