Lebanon Financial News

HAIFA, Israel—Above ground, Rambam Health Care Campus treats the wounded from the fight in Gaza. Below ground, northern Israel’s leading hospital is preparing for what could be the country’s next war—an all-out conflict with Hezbollah. Four operating rooms, a maternity ward and a dialysis center are among the facilities the hospital has set up three levels down in its underground parking garage, part of its plan to keep functioning if the daily tit for tat exchange of fire between Israel and the U.S.-designated terror group across the border with Lebanon escalates.

Israeli military is checking whether an explosion in central Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday was caused by a drone attack, the army said. Police said the body of a man was found in an apartment close to the explosion and said the circumstances were being investigated. «Earlier tonight (Friday), an explosion sounded in the area of central Tel Aviv. We are looking into the reports that it was an aerial target. The incident is under review,» the military said in a brief statement.

HSBC Holdings Plc said on Wednesday it appointed Georges Elhedery as its group chief executive, with effect from Sept. 2, making him the third CEO in less than eight years for the global lender. Elhedery is the current chief financial officer and will replace outgoing head Noel Quinn in September. Since 2020, Elhedery had been the co-head of the Global Banking and Markets business, the division that houses HSBC's trading and investment banking advisory businesses. Lebanon-born Elhedery, who began his career in banking as a rates trader before joining HSBC in 2005, was named the surprise successor to Ewen Stevenson as CFO in October 2022, just weeks after returning from a sabbatical.

An Israeli drone strike on a car near the Lebanon-Syria border HAS killed a prominent Syrian businessman who was sanctioned by the United States and had close ties to the government of Syria’s President Bashar Assad

Argentina designated Hamas a terrorist organisation on Friday and ordered a freeze on the financial assets of the Palestinian group, a largely symbolic move as President Javier Milei seeks to align Argentina strongly with the US and Israel. Announcing the decision, Milei's office cited the militant Palestinian group's cross-border attack on Israel last October 7 that killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage, in the deadliest assault in Israel's 76-year history. The statement also mentioned Hamas' close ties to Iran, which Argentina blames for two deadly militant attacks on Jewish sites in the country. The move comes just days before the 30th anniversary of one of those attacks, the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. It killed 85 people and wounded hundreds more in the worst such attack in Argentina's modern history.

conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border, the daily exchanges of strikes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces have sparked fires that are tearing through forests and farmland on both sides of the frontline. The blazes — exacerbated by supply shortages and security concerns — have consumed thousands of hectares of land in southern Lebanon and northern Israel, becoming one of the most visible signs of the escalating conflict. There is an increasingly real possibility of a full-scale war — one that would have catastrophic consequences for people on both sides of the border. Some fear the fires sparked by a larger conflict would also cause irreversible damage to the land.

Gaza, including two children at a home and at least one United Nations worker, Palestinian hospital officials and first responders said, even as stalled cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas show signs of renewed momentum. Four out of every five people in Gaza — nearly 2 million Palestinians — have been driven into the territory's center by expanding Israeli military offensives and evacuation orders, the army estimated earlier this week. Civilians are taking shelter in makeshift tent camps and crowded urban areas, and many have been displaced multiple times. Violence also flared Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces killed seven people in a raid and an airstrike, according to Palestinian health officials. And on the Israel-Lebanon border, rockets fired by militant group Hezbollah lightly wounded two Israeli soldiers, the army said, as concerns grow that these low-level clashes could escalate into a wider regional war.

Hezbollah, has been using some low-tech strategies to try to evade its foe's sophisticated surveillance technology, informed sources told Reuters. It has also been using its own tech — drones — to study and attack Israel's intelligence gathering capabilities in what Hezbollah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has described as a strategy of «blinding» Israel. The sides have been trading fire since Hezbollah's Palestinian ally in the Gaza Strip, Hamas, went to war with Israel in October. While the fighting on Lebanon's southern border has remained relatively contained, stepped-up attacks in recent weeks have intensified concern it could spiral into a full-scale war.

Oil prices edged up in early trade on Monday, supported by forecasts of a supply deficit stemming from peak summer fuel consumption and OPEC+ cuts in the third quarter, although global economic headwinds and rising non-OPEC+ output capped gains. Brent crude futures rose 16 cents, or 0.2%, to $85.16 a barrel by 0032 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $81.71 a barrel, up 17 cents, or 0.2%.

The winner of Iran’s presidential election will inherit domestic discord and an economy battered by sanctions, but also a strength: Tehran has more sway on the international stage than in decades. Iran, under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s leadership, thwarted decades of U.S. pressure and emerged from years of isolation largely by aligning itself with Russia and China, giving up on integration with the West and throwing in its lot with two major powers just as they amped up confrontation with Washington.

Lebanon, the Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said the Embassy of India in Beirut is in «constant touch» with the Indian nationals there and added an advisory has been issued for them as a matter of «abundant precaution». MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in response to a query during a weekly media briefing here, said the advisory is not a «not a travel advisory» restricting the Indians to travel to Beirut. Some reports had claimed that India has issued a travel advisory for its nationals. «Our embassy in Beirut has issued an advisory. A lot of Indian nationals stay there, work there… there are professionals. As per the information that I have, about 2,000-3,000 people are there. Our embassy is in constant touch with them. We have not issued any travel advisory. We have just said that they should keep in touch with the embassy, so that if there is any incident, we can take action as soon as possible,» he said.

An Iranian-backed umbrella group known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed an attack targeting the southern Israeli port city of Eilat

Bianca Censori keeps on hitting the headlines from time to time with her risque, attention-grabbing dresses and has emerged as one of the most photographed celebrities of her time. She has shocked her fans, the modeling world and many others with her unexpected outfits. Who is the man who guides or advises her in taking these unexpected extremes? Her husband Kanye West? No, a fellow Aussie model turned clothing designer, Gadir Rajab is the person who helps Censori shock the world.

Washington on Sunday to discuss the next phase of the Gaza war and escalating hostilities on the border with Lebanon, where exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have stoked fears of wider conflict. Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking Israel shortly after Hamas' Oct. 7 assault sparked the war in Gaza, and the sides have been trading blows in the months since then. Hezbollah has said it will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. «We are prepared for any action that may be required in Gaza, Lebanon, and in more areas,» Gallant said in a statement before setting off to Washington, where he said he would meet his counterpart Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Israeli strikes across northern Gaza on Saturday, as rescue workers scrambled to find survivors beneath the rubble, according to Palestinian and hospital officials. Fadel Naem, director of the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, told The Associated Press that more than three dozen bodies arrived at the hospital. The Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency group active in Gaza, said its emergency workers were digging for survivors at the site of a strike in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City and that it had pulled several dozen bodies from a building hit by an Israeli strike in an eastern neighborhood of Gaza City. Israel said Saturday that its fighter jets struck two Hamas military sites in the Gaza City area but did not elaborate further.

demand optimism and concerns over escalating conflicts offset an industry report that said U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly rose. Brent crude futures for August, due to expire on Thursday, were up 20 cents to $85.53 a barrel by 1235 GMT, while the more active September contract gained 21 cents to $84.74.

Hezbollah movement, US envoy Amos Hochstein said on Tuesday, following an escalation in cross-border fire between the foes along Lebanon's southern frontier. Iran-backed Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israel for the last eight months in parallel with the Gaza war. Last week, the group fired the largest volleys of rockets and drones of the hostilities so far at Israeli military sites, after an Israeli strike killed the most senior commander yet. Hochstein, special envoy to US President Joe Biden, said he had been dispatched to Lebanon immediately following a brief trip to Israel because the situation was serious. «We have seen an escalation over the last few weeks. And what President Biden wants to do is avoid a further escalation to a greater war,» Hochstein said on Tuesday.

Two top Democratic leaders in Congress have unblocked the sale of 50 F-15 jet fighters to Israel, paving the way for a major weapons deal that had been held up over concerns about the killing of thousands of civilians in the war in Gaza. The $18 billion sale is one of the largest arms deals with Israel in recent years, and comes as President Biden is facing calls from leaders in his own party to withhold American weapons in order to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept an end to the Gaza war.

World War 3 begin next week? A week after observing the 80th anniversary of D-Day when the Allied forces had landed at Normandy in World War 2, will another internecine war erupt soon? This question looms over world leaders, defense experts, historians as well as astrologers. All eyes are set on Indian astronomer Kushal Kumar, who predicted the beginning of Word War 3 on June 18, 2024. Dubbed as 'new Nostradamus', he told the 'Daily Star', «NOW, Tuesday, 18 June 2024 has the strongest planetary stimulus to trigger WW3.» Earlier, he predicted the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month. In a post on 'The Medium', Kumar, cited a recent terror attack on Hindu pilgrims in the Indian administered state of Kashmir. He has also talked about the shots fired at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. The 'new Nostradamus' has also talked about the escalation of tension and conflict between Israel and the Islamist militant organization Hezbollah, after the Lebanon-based outfit fired rockets at the Jewish state.

militant group Hezbollah fired successive barrages of rockets at northern Israel on Wednesday, after an Israeli air strike killed a senior commander in south Lebanon the previous day.

Lebanese militant group, increasing the pressure on the Netanyahu government to secure its northern border, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal. Hezbollah, a US-designated terrorist organization closely aligned with Iran, opened a battlefront with Israel on October 8, one day after the deadly Hamas-led raid inside Israel triggered the current war in Gaza.On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was prepared for a “very intense operation" along the border with Lebanon.