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  • Hezbollah supports ceasefire efforts in Lebanon, deputy leader says

     Hezbollah's deputy leader said in comments broadcast on Tuesday that the group backs efforts to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon, and for the first time omitted any mention of a Gaza truce deal as a pre-condition to halting the group's attacks on Israel. Naim Qassem's remarks were shown on television after Israeli forces began ground operations in the southwest of Lebanon, expanding incursions into a new zone.

  • BP abandons goal to cut oil output, resets strategy

    BP (BP.L), opens new tab has abandoned a target to cut oil and gas output by 2030 as CEO Murray Auchincloss scales back the firm's energy transition strategy to regain investor confidence, three sources with knowledge of the matter said. When unveiled in 2020, BP's strategy was the sector's most ambitious with a pledge to cut output by 40% while rapidly growing renewables by 2030. BP scaled back the target in February last year to a 25% reduction, which would leave it producing 2 million barrels per day at the end of the decade, as investors focused on near-term returns rather than the energy transition.

  • Khamenei says Israel will not defeat Iran as strikes pummel Lebanon

    Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Iran and its regional allies will not back down, after an Israeli attack on Beirut that is thought to have targeted the heir apparent to the assassinated leader of Tehran-backed Hezbollah. Iran raised the stakes when it fired missiles at Israel on Tuesday, partly in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hezbollah secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a towering figure who turned the group into a powerful armed and political force with reach across the Middle East.

  • Palestinian Life in the West Bank, East Jerusalem After Oct. 7

    For the past decade, Palestinians living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have rated their lives between 5.0 and 5.5 out of 10. In 2023, in the weeks before Oct. 7, they rated their lives at a 5.5, which is as positive as they have been since Gallup began measuring life evaluations there in 2006. Today, almost a year later, Palestinians’ evaluations of their current lives have dropped by nearly 1 point to 4.6, the lowest average in almost two decades.

  • Mapping Israel’s Invasion of Lebanon

    Israel and Hezbollah were fighting at close range in southern Lebanon on Wednesday in at least two areas near the border, according to reports from the Israeli military, Hezbollah and Lebanon’s army.

  • As Crisis Builds, Lebanon’s Government Is Nowhere to Be Found

    Hezbollah, the Iran-funded Shiite Muslim militia that doubles as a major political party and social services organization, does not run Lebanon in any official sense. But under Mr. Nasrallah, it sometimes seemed as if it was the only force that mattered: a state within a state with its own military, schools, hospitals and youth programs.

  • Israel calls for evacuations from south Lebanon, explosions in Beirut

    Israel's military urged residents of over 20 towns in south Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately on Thursday as it pressed on with an incursion after suffering its worst losses in a year of fighting the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah. The call for evacuations from southern towns included the provincial capital Nabatieh, suggesting another Israeli operation designed to further weaken Hezbollah is imminent.

  • Israel reinforces military presence in Lebanon as Hezbollah reports clashes with troops

    The Israeli military said on Wednesday that regular infantry and armoured units were joining its ground operations in Lebanon, stepping up pressure on foe Hezbollah, as it prepared to retaliate against Iranian missile strikes. Already battling Hamas in Gaza, Israel is beefing up its presence in south Lebanon in its conflict with Hezbollah a day after it was attacked by Iran, raising fears the oil-producing Middle East could be engulfed in a wider conflict.

  • Panic as Lebanese expats race to book flights for family out of Beirut amid escalating Lebanon-Israel conflict

    As most airlines suspend flights to and from Beirut, tickets on Lebanon’s national carrier MEA – the sole remaining operator – are sold out for weeks, stranding many seeking escape.

  • Saudi Arabia stresses need to ‘preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity’

    Saudi Arabia has stressed “the need to preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” amid ongoing Israeli strikes on the country, the Kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued on Monday. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is following with great concern the developments taking place in the Republic of Lebanon,” the statement continued, adding that it “affirms its solidarity with the Lebanese people against the repercussions of these events and the need to limit their humanitarian consequences.”