Lebanon Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Our pages have been full of suffering in 2024. War has raged on three continents: the world watched Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine most closely, but the fighting in Sudan was the most deadly.

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's regime was brought down by insurgents in the country, who managed to take control of major territories of the country, forcing the President to escape to Russia and seek asylum there. Meanwhile, there are already reports on how Moscow intelligence officials helped plan Al-Assad's escape, through a Russian airbase along the Syria coast. Now, a shocking development has been seen, where it is being claimed that a white tiny pill, named the Captagon, was responsible for bringing down the Syrian regime, helping the insurgents.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Cleopatra chats with Yayoi Kusama, who stands beside Raja Ravi Varma’s muse at Delhi’s Taj Mansingh—the opening scene of season 3 of the Netflix show Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives is somewhat surreal until you realise it’s set at last year’s MASH Ball for which guests had been asked to dress like they had “stepped out of a painting". Delhi-based art collector and host Shalini Passi was styled as Cleopatra in a white-and-gold dress by Lebanese fashion designer Elie Madi, who had based the outfit on Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Cleopatra and Caesar (1866) and Frederick Arthur Bridgman’s Cleopatra on the Terraces of Philae (1896).

Visiting UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and external affairs minister S Jaishankar, among other issues, focused on the power vacuum and absence of institutional governance in Syria amid pro-Al Qaeda-ISIS transition government taking over power, it is learnt. The two sides are also understood to have discussed implications of the Syrian developments and ISIS-Al Qaeda gaining in strength in the region. The Gaza-Lebanon situation is also understood to have been discussed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Hamas has yielded to two of Israel’s key demands for a cease-fire deal in Gaza, Arab mediators said, raising hopes of an agreement that could release some hostages within days despite the repeated collapse of previous negotiations. The militant group told mediators for the first time that it would agree to a deal that would allow Israeli forces to remain in Gaza temporarily when the fighting stops.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Wednesday. The command's leader General Erik Kurilla «was present at the implementation and monitoring headquarters today during the ongoing first Israeli Defense Forces withdrawal and Lebanese Armed Forces replacement in Al-Khiam, Lebanon, as part of the (ceasefire) agreement,» CENTCOM said in a statement. «This is an important first step in the implementation of a lasting cessation of hostilities and lays the foundation for continued progress,» the statement quoted Kurilla as saying.

Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday denied reports that soldiers were operating beyond a buffer zone along the Israel-Syrian border. «Reports circulating in some media outlets claiming that IDF forces are advancing or approaching Damascus are completely incorrect,» tweeted Col. Avichah Adraee, the IDF's Arabic language spokesperson. «IDF forces are present inside the buffer zone and at defensive points close to the border in order to protect the Israeli border.» He was contradicting a Reuters report saying Israeli forces had reached the southern village of Qatana, which is 10 km inside Syria and were within 25 km of Damascus.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. TEL AVIV—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stand on Tuesday to testify in his long-running corruption trial even as he manages a multi-front war—underscoring the tensions around his leadership Netanyahu, who will be the first sitting Israeli prime minister to testify in his own trial, was indicted in 2019 for corruption, fraud and breach of trust, charges he denies. Despite repeatedly requesting an extension because of Israel’s war in Gaza and in Lebanon, the courts said he must be available to testify three times a week for six hours at a time over the next few weeks.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—The unexpectedly rapid downfall of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria has turned the country’s future from a back-burner issue to a suddenly high stakes concern for the departing Biden administration—and almost certainly for Donald Trump. U.S.

Jack Depp, the 22-year-old son of actor Johnny Depp and French singer Vanessa Paradis, has been quietly carving his path away from the limelight. Unlike his sister Lily-Rose Melody Depp, who is currently making waves in Hollywood with her role in Robert Eggers' Nosferatu, Jack has embraced a more low-profile existence. Despite his star-studded lineage, Jack has spent time working at a popular Lebanese restaurant, L’Area, in Paris's Bastille district. The trendy eatery, known for its exposed roof rafters, mosaic floors, and eclectic clientele of music, fashion, and film industry elites, including actors like Matt Damon and Matt Dillon, has become a local hotspot. According to Radar Online, Jack worked at the restaurant for two years, showcasing a strong work ethic both behind the bar and in the kitchen, before taking a break earlier this year. L’Area’s owner, Edouard Chueke, has managed the restaurant for over 15 years and revealed that Jack’s family, including his mother Vanessa Paradis and sister Lily-Rose, are frequent visitors. Jack’s mother has long been vocal about protecting her children from the pressures of fame. She has consistently emphasized their right to choose their own paths, away from the spotlight that often comes with having celebrity parents. Jack, who is bilingual and splits his time between

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria marks the eclipse of Iran’s self-styled axis of resistance in the Middle East. While the successful advance of the Syrian Sunni insurgents into Damascus seemed sudden, it didn’t happen overnight.

Iran's theocratic government, it keeps getting worse. Its decades-long strategy of building an «Axis of Resistance» supporting militant groups and proxies around the region is falling apart. First came the crushing Israeli campaign in Gaza triggered by the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Iranian-backed Hamas. That war spawned another in Lebanon, where Israel has mauled Iran's most powerful ally, Hezbollah, even as Israel has launched successful airstrikes openly inside of Iran for the first time. And now Iran's longtime stalwart ally and client in Syria, President Bashar Assad, is gone. As dawn broke Sunday, rebel forces completed a lightning offensive by seizing the ancient capital of Damascus and tearing down symbols of more than 50 years of Assad's rule over the Mideast crossroads.

Bashar al-Assad to flee the country and impose a new revision of the strategic map in the Middle East. The Syrian strongman had for nearly 14 years held off an uprising that many believed had been exhausted. But his downfall followed a series of battlefield convulsions for other allies of Iran. Israel has all but decapitated the Hezbollah leadership in Lebanon since September, while the killing of Hamas figureheads has dealt major blows to Assad's key backer Tehran.

Bashar al-Assad oversaw a merciless crackdown on a pro-democracy revolt that morphed into one of the bloodiest wars of the century. On Sunday, as rebels entered the capital, a Syrian war monitor said he had left the country, in what could spell the end not just of his 24-year rule but the downfall of his clan's five-decade reign. After facing down nationwide protests demanding his ouster and an armed rebellion that he all but crushed, Assad had — until a lightning rebel offensive — taken back control of much of Syria in the civil war that began in 2011.

Bashar Assad was in serious trouble was 10 years ago, at the height of the country's civil war, when his forces lost control over parts of the largest city, Aleppo, and his opponents were closing in on the capital, Damascus. Back then, he was rescued by his chief international backer, Russia, and longtime regional ally Iran, which along with Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah militia helped Assad's forces retake Aleppo, tipping the war firmly in his favor. Now, as insurgents pursue a shock offensive that quickly captured not just Aleppo, but other key cities across the country's northwest and in the south, reaching the suburbs of the capital Damascus, the Syrian leader appears to be largely on his own.

Matan Zangauker in captivity on Saturday. In the video a man who introduces himself as Matan Zangauker, 24, can be seen pleading with the Israeli leaders to make a deal that would bring captives being held by Hamas in Gaza back to Israel. Mediating countries, including Qatar, see increased momentum for a possible deal that could allow the 100 hostages being held in Gaza to be released in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners, after Israel signed a landmark ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon last month.

missiles and drones to Syria and increase the number of its military advisers there to support President Bashar al-Assad in his battle against rebels, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday. «It is likely that Tehran will need to send military equipment, missiles and drones to Syria… Tehran has taken all necessary steps to increase number of its military advisers in Syria and deploy forces,» the official said on condition of anonymity. «Now, Tehran is providing intelligence and satellite support to Syria.» For Iran, Assad is a crucial ally, part of its «Axis of Resistance» to Israel and U.S. influence in the Middle East.

Oil prices edged up on Monday supported by upbeat factory activity in the world's second largest oil consumer China and as Israel resumed attacks on Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreement, stoking tensions in the Middle East. Brent crude futures climbed 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $71.92 a barrel by 0107 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $68.09 a barrel, up 9 cents, or 0.1%.

Syria's second-largest city Aleppo has fallen from government control for the first time since the country's conflict began more than a decade ago, a war monitor said Sunday, after a surprise advance by rebels. An Islamist-dominated rebel alliance has pressed a lightning offensive against forces of the Iranian- and Russian-backed Syrian government since Wednesday, the same day a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighbouring Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after two months of all-out war. The Syrian army — supported by Russian air power — had recaptured in 2016 rebel-held areas of Aleppo, a city dominated by its landmark citadel.

Hezbollah weapons smuggling sites along Syria's border with Lebanon, the Israeli military said Saturday, testing a fragile, days-old ceasefire that halted months of fighting between the sides but has seen continued sporadic fire. The military said it struck sites that had been used to smuggle weapons from Syria to Lebanon after the ceasefire took effect, which the military said was a violation of its terms. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities or activists monitoring the conflict in that country. Hezbollah also did not immediately comment. Israeli aircraft have struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, citing ceasefire violations, several times since the ceasefire began on Wednesday.

It was the first opposition attack on Aleppo since 2016, when a brutal air campaign by Russian warplanes helped Syrian President Bashar Assad retake the northwestern city. Intervention by Russia, Iran and Iranian-allied Hezbollah and other groups has allowed Assad to remain in power, within the 70% of Syria under his control. The surge in fighting has raised the prospect of another violent front reopening in the Middle East, at a time when U.S.-backed Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both Iranian-allied groups.