Lebanon Financial News

The fighters took control of «half of the city of Aleppo» as regime forces withdrew, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The offensive began on Wednesday, the same day that a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighbouring Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NABATIEH, Lebanon—Exhausted Hezbollah fighters filed past a throng of civilians through this small Lebanese city on Thursday, withdrawing northward a day after a cease-fire aimed at halting more than a year of fighting between the Iranian-backed militant group and Israel. As they pulled back, ordinary residents flowed south, past mountains of rubble, returning to homes they had fled as intensifying fighting engulfed the towns and villages of Lebanon’s south.

The escalation came a day after Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah began a ceasefire in Lebanon, halting more than a year of hostilities and raising hopes among many Palestinians in Gaza for a similar deal with Hamas, which rules the enclave. Israel's military campaign — with the avowed intent of eradicating Hamas militants after the group's deadly raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — has laid waste to the enclave of 2.3 million people.

Hezbollah was breached hours after Lebanese security sources said Israeli tanks attacked six areas of southern Lebanon, calling into question a truce reached after more than a year of fighting. A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah took effect on Wednesday under a deal brokered by the U.S. and France, intended to allow people in both countries to start returning to homes in border areas shattered by 14 months of fighting. The Israeli military said the ceasefire was violated after what it called suspects, some in vehicles, arrived at several areas in the southern zone.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon could not have come a moment too soon, especially since Tel Aviv had seemed determined to pursue its war against the Iran-backed militia with the same intensity as its campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

Stocks in Asia saw a muted open after Donald Trump’s tariff plan roiled emerging markets in the previous session. Equities opened higher in Sydney, while dipping in Tokyo and Seoul. US equity futures were little changed after the S&P 500 rose for a seventh day to notch its 52nd record this year. A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar slipped 0.1%, paring some of its strength seen on Tuesday that pressured the Mexican peso and Chinese yuan, among others.

Gold prices fell sharply, tumbling by Rs 2,200/ 10 grams in the last 2 days while silver prices fell by Rs 2,700/kg in the same period.

small-cap Russell 2000 index hitting an all-time high after Scott Bessent's nomination as U.S. Treasury secretary helped push bond yields lower. Focus also turned to talks of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon, which pushed oil prices lower, dragging the Energy index 2% lower.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. BEIRUT—From his tiled terrace in the foothills overlooking Beirut, Mohammed Dayekh is watching a place he once loved go up in flames. A 34-year-old director and screenwriter with jet black hair and tattooed forearms, Dayekh grew up in southern Beirut.

Lebanon, including 29 deaths from a devastating attack that flattened a multi-story residential building in central Beirut's densely populated Basta area. According to the IDF, 12 Hezbollah command centers were struck by the Israel Air Force in Dahieh, Beirut, including sites used by Hezbollah's Intelligence Unit, coast-to-sea missile unit, and Unit 4400--responsible for smuggling weapons from Iran through Syria into Lebanon. The IDF said, these command centers were used to plan, command, and execute terrorist attacks against Israel and monitor terrorist activity against IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Lebanese Ministry of Health revised the death toll upward on Sunday, initially reporting 20 deaths before confirming the higher number. Rescue teams continued working late into the weekend as the tragic aftermath of the Israeli airstrike became clear.

antisemitic terror incident". The UAE's Interior Ministry later said authorities arrested three suspects involved in the killing of Zvi Kogan. The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Sunday said that Israel «will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death». Israeli authorities did not say how they determined the killing of Kogan was a terror attack and offered no additional details.

Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines. Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on US-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a «direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts» to end the war.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of Iran, France, Germany and the United Kingdom would take place on Friday, without specifying a venue. «A range of regional and international issues and topics, including the issues of Palestine and Lebanon, as well as the nuclear issue, will be discussed,» the spokesman said in a foreign ministry statement.

Israeli military campaign that appears aimed at pressuring Hezbollah into a cease-fire deal.

Beirut killed at least 15 people, officials said, as the once-rare attacks on the heart of Lebanon's capital continued without warning while diplomats scrambled to broker a cease-fire.

The stakes are high, with speculation about Khamenei's successor and the broader implications for Iran's political landscape. Iranian journalist and analyst Ashkan Safaei Hakimi outlines two main scenarios: one where a new leader attempts to improve relations with the West, likely only creating a perception of reform, and another where political instability leads to a popular uprising and potential regime change. Khamenei has been Iran's supreme leader for nearly three decades, holding immense power over major issues like foreign policy and the nuclear program. Speculation about his health intensified after an October 27 New York Times report suggested his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, might be his successor. Over the weekend, rumors surfaced that Khamenei was in a coma, but Iranian state media countered these claims by publishing a photo of him meeting with Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani.

Hezbollah and that gaps were narrowing, signalling progress in Washington's efforts to clinch a ceasefire. White House envoy Amos Hochstein spoke in Beirut following talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a day after the Lebanese government and Iran-backed Hezbollah agreed to a U.S. ceasefire proposal, albeit with some comments on the content. «I came back because we have a real opportunity to bring this conflict to an end,» Hochstein said at a press conference after the meeting. «It is now within our grasp. As the window is now, I hope the coming days yield a resolute decision.»

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. An airstrike killed five people in central Beirut, and rockets fired from Lebanon killed one person in northern Israel and caused several injuries in a Tel Aviv suburb, amid a continuing U.S. push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hezbollah militants.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. TEL AVIV—As Israel advances its invasion of southern Lebanon, its troops are finding large troves of Russian weapons, confirming longstanding suspicions in Israel that Hezbollah is enhancing its fighting capacity with the help of sophisticated Russian arms. Some of the weapons, which include modern Kornet antitank missiles manufactured as recently as 2020, were sent to southern Lebanon in recent years from Russian stockpiles in neighboring Syria, according to Syrian security officials and an Arab official.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. DEIR BILLA, Lebanon—Christians in this small northern Lebanese village keep a lookout at night for unwanted visitors, asking drivers headed up the hill toward the Shia part of the neighborhood what their purpose is. They have installed cameras and often sit around until 3 a.m.

Israeli strike in the Lebanese capital Beirut killed Hezbollah's media relations chief Mohammed Afif on Sunday, Times of Israel reported. According to the Times of Israel, Hezbollah has confirmed the death of Mohammad Afif. Afif was killed in an IDF strike on the headquarters of the Syrian Ba'ath Party in central Beirut, Times of Israel reported.