City Beirut Financial News

By Andrew Hayley and Jeslyn Lerh

mourners broke into sobs as they huddled around defiant family members of slain Hamas deputy Saleh al-Aruri in his village in the occupied West Bank Wednesday, a day after his death in Lebanon. Aruri, exiled from his village Arura since he was released from an Israeli jail in 2010, was killed in a drone strike on a southern Beirut suburb that Lebanese officials said was carried out by Israel.

Israeli strike killed the deputy leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas. The day after loud blasts ripped through the district from the drone attack that killed Saleh al-Aruri, armed men of Hezbollah were standing guard in the mainly Shiite Muslim area that is their stronghold. Local residents said they were surprised to learn that their busy street housed the secretive Hamas bureau in a non-descript three-storey building nestled next to a pharmacy and a sweets shop. Israel has not claimed the deadly attack but Hamas, the group behind the October 7 attack that sparked the Gaza war, and Lebanese officials have no doubt it was Israel who killed Aruri and six Hamas operatives. Beirut's southern suburbs have long been a stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group, but it is also an overcrowded residential area packed with civilians, shops and restaurants. «No one knew that there was a Hamas office here,» said Ahmed, 40, who works in the nearby sweets shop.

BEIRUT : Israel was on high alert for an escalation with Hezbollah on Wednesday after one of the top leaders of the Palestinian Hamas was killed in a strike in Beirut that was widely blamed on Israel and heightened the risk of a broader Middle East conflict. The killing of Saleh Arouri, the most senior Hamas member slain since the war in Gaza erupted nearly three months ago, provided a morale boost for Israelis still reeling from Hamas' Oct. 7 attack as the militants put up stiff resistance in Gaza and continue to hold scores of hostages.

The U.S. military says its forces opened fire on and killed several Houthi rebels after they attacked a cargo ship in the Red Sea

AFP. A high-level security official told the agency that the leader was killed along with his bodyguards in the strike by Israel, which vowed to destroy Hamas after the movement's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel. Israel has previously announced the killing in Gaza of Hamas commanders and officials during the war, but Aruri is the most high-profile figure to be killed, and his death came in the first strike on the Lebanese capital since hostilities began.

Lebanon's Hezbollah group says top Hamas official Saleh Arouri was killed on Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb. Arouri, one of the founders of Hamas' military wing, had headed the group's presence in the West Bank. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before the Hamas-Israel war began on October 7. Israeli officials declined to comment.

Gaza on Saturday, as the Biden administration approved a new emergency weapons sale to Israel despite persistent international cease-fire calls over mounting civilian deaths, hunger and mass displacement in the enclave. Even a brief halt in fighting seems out of reach. A senior Hamas official told The Associated Press in Beirut on Saturday that the group has not budged from its position that a permanent cease-fire has to be the starting point for any further releases of Israeli and foreign hostages the group holds, which runs counter to a recent proposal by Egypt for a staged end to the war. It's a demand Israel is bound to reject. Israel has said it will pursue its unprecedented air and ground offensive until it has dismantled Hamas, a goal viewed by some as unattainable because of the militant group's deep roots in Palestinian society. The United States has shielded Israel diplomatically and has continued to supply weapons.

basmati rice have fallen due to militant attacks against merchant ships in the Red Sea, leading to 5-10% fall in basmati prices in the domestic market, exporters said. Leading shipping lines' decision to avoid the Suez Canal route amid Houthi attacks has also impacted sunflower oil imports from Russia and Ukraine. Sunflower oil prices in the local market are likely to go up by 3-4% as international prices have increased by $30 per tonne in the last one week to $940 per tonne, trade insiders said.

The World Bank says the ripple effects of the war in Gaza are likely to knock Lebanon’s fragile economy back into recession

ground invasion. At the same time it is evacuating villages near its border with Lebanon for fear that a second front could open in the north. Hizbullah, an Iran-backed Shia militant group based in Lebanon, has exchanged fire with Israel.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday will break weeks of silence since war broke out between Hamas and Israel, in a speech that could impact the region as the Gaza conflict rages. After Hamas militants launched an unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon's southern border has seen escalating tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian group, stoking fears of a broader conflagration. The cross-border attacks heated up Thursday, as Israel responded with a «broad assault» after Hezbollah attacked 19 Israeli positions simultaneously, according to the group. Rockets also hit the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona near the border in a barrage claimed by the Lebanese section of Hamas's armed wing. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has warned that «the region is like a powder keg» and that «anything is possible» if Israel does not stop attacking Gaza. US President Joe Biden has sent two aircraft carrier groups to the eastern Mediterranean and warned Hezbollah and others to stay out of the conflict. «We've got significant national security interests at play here,» US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. «I don't believe we've seen any indication yet specifically that Hezbollah is ready to go in full force.

Gaza early Monday, including in areas where Palestinian civilians have been told to seek refuge, after another small aid shipment was allowed into the besieged Hamas-ruled territory. Israel is widely expected to launch a ground offensive in Gaza following Hamas' brutal October 7 rampage into southern Israeli communities. Tanks and troops have been massed at the Gaza border, and Israel says it has stepped up airstrikes in order to reduce the risk to troops in the next stages.

U.S. State Department on Thursday issued a worldwide security alert for Americans overseas amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, citing increased tensions in various locations around the world and the potential for extremist attacks and violence against Americans. The alert did not single out any specific global event but comes amid a conflict in the Middle East after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct.

Nifty 50 today: The domestic market witnessed significant selling pressure on Wednesday, October 18, which made the benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty 50 conclude the day in negative territory. This downturn could be attributed to growing concerns about an escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Concerns are growing that the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict may escalate into a larger regional crisis, potentially involving other nations.

United States authorized non-essential personnel and their families to leave their embassy near Beirut on Tuesday, citing the unpredictable security situation in Lebanon due to the Israel-Hamas war. The State Department also raised its travel advisory for Lebanon from level three, issued in July, to the highest available level four, as it told Americans to avoid the country. «Do not travel to Lebanon due to the unpredictable security situation related to rocket, missile, and artillery exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah or other armed militant factions,» the State Department said in a statement Tuesday. Hamas launched a massive assault against Israel on October 7, shooting, stabbing and burning to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians. Reeling from the worst attack in its history, Israel launched a wave of retaliatory air strikes against the Gaza Strip, killing about 3,000 people, mostly civilians. Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran, has since been involved in a series of tit-for-tat incidents along the south Lebanese border with Israel. After a blast ripped through a Gaza hospital on Tuesday, killing hundreds, Hezbollah called for a «day of rage.» Israel and Palestinians have traded blame for the blast, though neither's claim could be independently verified. Following Hezbollah's call, hundreds of demonstrators scuffled Tuesday night with Lebanese security forces outside the US embassy in the Beirut suburb of Awkar, where protesters hurled stones and set a building on fire, according to AFP correspondents. Hundreds also gathered at the French embassy in Beirut, raising Hezbollah flags and also hurling stones which piled up at the embassy's main entrance. Palestinian

Axios. This comes as the diplomatic sources said that on Saturday in Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with UN ambassador to the Middle East Tor Wennesland.

BEIRUT (Reuters) — Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah, 37, who was killed on Friday while filming Israeli missile attacks at the Israeli-Lebanon border, brought courage, compassion and insight to his work covering some of the biggest news stories of the past decade.

AFP report, Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said, "We, as Hezbollah, are contributing to the confrontation and will (continue) to contribute to it within our vision and plan," Qassem told a pro-Palestinian rally in Beirut's southern suburbs. "We are fully prepared, and when the time comes for action, we will take it," he said.

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Maya Gebeily

Aleppo, putting them out of action, Syrian state media said on Friday. Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) cited a military source to report that the missile strikes happened «simultaneously» at 13:50 (local time), causing material damage to the airstrips, which resulted in them being «out of service.» «The Israeli latest aggression comes in the framework of the occupation authorities' continued policy, based on aggression and violation of the international law and the UN convention,» Syrian foriegn Ministry said in a statement as cited by its state media agency. Israel has so far not commented on the strikes on the Syrian airports. Al Jazeera publication quoted Syrian television channel Sham FM as stating that Syrian air defences were activated in response to the attacks on both airports. Damascus and Aleppo airports not only handle civil aviation but also host military bases. Israel has in the past carried out strikes on targets in Syria, including its airports as part of operations believed to be aimed at disrupting Iranian supply lines, Al Jazeera reported. The attacks on the two Syrian airports come ahead of a planned visit by Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who on Thursday departed from Tehran for Baghdad and is scheduled to proceed to Syria and Lebanon later. Before his departure, Amirabdollahian addressed reporters in Tehran, stating that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is the primary source of crises in West Asia, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported. The Iranian minister, on his arrival in Beirut, said if the Israeli bombardment of Gaza continues, the war may open on «other fronts».