BEIRUT (AP) — Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s estranged older brother says he hopes upcoming elections in crisis-hit Lebanon will bring about a new generation of leaders, adding that he'll do whatever he can to bring about positive change and accountability for past corruption.
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced Monday he was leaving politics for now and would not run in upcoming parliamentary elections. The decision marks the first time in three decades the powerful Sunni family is out of politics, adding uncertainty in a country grappling with a financial meltdown.
BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions Thursday on two Lebanon businessmen and a lawmaker, saying they have profited from corruption while the country struggles through its worst economic crisis in modern history.
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s newly appointed Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Monday urged unity to begin recovery from a devastating economic and financial meltdown roiling the country. He said he will strive to form a new government but the situation is too dire to overcome with the usual fractious politics.
BEIRUT (AP) — Tension intensified in Lebanon on Friday, with riots leaving more than two dozen people injured in the northern city of Tripoli, including five soldiers who were attacked with a hand grenade.
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri stepped down Thursday over what he called “key differences” with the president, deepening a political crisis that has left the Lebanese without a government for nine months even as they endure an unprecedented economic meltdown.
BEIRUT (AP) — Shops, government offices, businesses and banks shuttered their doors in Lebanon on Thursday, as part of a general strike to protest deteriorating economic conditions and press for a government to deal with the worsening political and economic crises.
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s currency hit a new low on Sunday, as the country's economic and political crisis worsened with no apparent solutions in the near future.
The currency has lost more than 90% of its value since October 2019, when anti-government protests erupted.
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s president and prime minister-designate traded barbs Wednesday, accusing one another of obstruction, negligence and insolence in a war or words that has for months obstructed the formation of a new government as the country sinks deeper into economic and financial crisis.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has invited representatives of Lebanon’s Christian community to the Vatican on July 1 for a day of prayer and reflection “about the worrisome situation in the country.”
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis met with Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Thursday and urged all Lebanese political leaders to “urgently commit themselves to the benefit of the nation," as the country endures a series of crises and disagreements that have prevented the formation of a government...
BEIRUT (AP) — Protesters blocked some roads in the Lebanese capital with burning tires Monday after talks on the formation of a new Cabinet broke down, heralding more economic and financial collapse for the small Arab country...
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s prime minister-designate said Thursday that a government that could restart talks with the International Monetary Fund would be the main way to halt the country’s rapid economic collapse, adding there was still opportunity to form such a Cabinet...
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s president called Wednesday on the prime minister-designate to form a government immediately or step aside as the country plunges deeper into economic crisis...
TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — A tense calm prevailed in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Friday after rioters set fire to several government buildings, capping days of violent clashes as anger over growing poverty made worse by the coronavirus lockdown boiled over...
BEIRUT (AP) — Top Lebanese politicians and the militant Hezbollah group rallied on Friday against charges of negligence levelled against the caretaker prime minister and three former ministers over the massive explosion in Beirut’s port, underscoring the enormous difficulties facing the investigation...
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s president tasked former Prime Minister Saad Hariri with forming a new government Thursday, bringing back the veteran politician a year after he was toppled amid nationwide protests against widespread corruption and a flunking economy...
BEIRUT (AP) — A missile exploded earlier this month near the convoy of former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri while he visited a mountainous area in the eastern Bekaa Valley, a Saudi-owned TV station reported Sunday...
BEIRUT (AP) — A former education minister backed by the militant Hezbollah group and its allies was selected Thursday as Lebanon’s new prime minister to break a political impasse amid mass protests, although he almost immediately ran into opposition from demonstrators on the streets...
BEIRUT (AP) — Supporters of Lebanon's two main Shiite groups Hezbollah and Amal clashed with security forces and set fires to cars in the capital early Tuesday, apparently angered by a video circulating online that showed a man insulting Shiite figures...
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese security forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons Sunday to disperse hundreds of protesters for a second straight day, ending what started as a peaceful rally in defiance of the toughest crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in two months...
BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of protesters rallying against the Lebanese political elite blocked roads in central Beirut on Tuesday, preventing lawmakers from reaching the parliament and forcing the postponement of a legislative session.
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's prime minister resigned Tuesday, bowing to one of the central demands of anti-government demonstrators shortly after baton-wielding Hezbollah supporters rampaged through the main protest camp in Beirut, torching tents, smashing plastic chairs and chasing away protesters...
BEIRUT (AP) — The resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Tuesday meets a key demand of Lebanon's anti-government protesters but will also plunge the country into even greater uncertainty, with no clear path to resolving its growing economic and political crisis...
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's prime minister gave his partners in government a 72-hour ultimatum to come up with "convincing" solutions for a rapidly worsening economic crisis, as nationwide protests against the country's entire ruling political class escalated...
JERUSALEM (AP) — Hezbollah militants on Sunday fired a barrage of anti-tank missiles into Israel, prompting a reprisal of heavy Israeli artillery fire in a rare burst of fighting between the bitter enemies...
BEIRUT (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hopes to use his first visit to Lebanon this week to step up pressure on Iran and its local ally, Hezbollah...
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese political factions agreed Thursday to form a new government, breaking a nine-month deadlock that only deepened the country' economic woes...
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon marked 75 years of independence with a military parade Thursday in Beirut, but many anxious Lebanese feel they have little to celebrate: the country's corruption-plagued economy is dangerously close to collapse and political bickering over shares in a new Cabinet is threatening to scuttle pledges worth $11 billion by international donors...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia expelled the Canadian ambassador Monday and froze "all new business" with Ottawa over its criticism of the ultraconservative kingdom's arrest of women's rights activists — yet another warning to the West reflecting Riyadh's newly assertive foreign policy...
BEIRUT (AP) — Few countries are as vulnerable to the Middle East's mayhem as Lebanon, which has taken in a million refugees from the catastrophic war in neighboring Syria, seen the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia embroiled in that war and watched Saudi Arabia try to oust its prime minister...
PARIS (AP) — Lebanon's prime minister appealed for support for his country from world powers at a summit convened by France on Friday to bolster Lebanon's institutions as it emerges from a bizarre political crisis...
BEIRUT (AP) — Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince relies on a small core group of advisers, none more provocative than Thamer al-Sabhan, the fiercely anti-Iran government official whose fingerprints were on the hurried and ultimately unsuccessful resignation of Lebanon's prime minister earlier this month...
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri walked back his resignation on Wednesday after weeks of intensive international diplomacy aimed at restoring the delicate political balance that has kept the country from being pulled apart by regional tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran...
PARIS (AP) — Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri said he will return home in the coming days from where he will declare a political stance for the first time since making a strange resignation announcement from Saudi Arabia that unleashed fears of a crisis in Lebanon...
PARIS (AP) — The Latest on developments surrounding Lebanon's crisis with Saudi Arabia in the wake of Prime Minister Saad Hariri's resignation (all times local):...
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is trying on a new mantle: Mideast peacemaker.
He's trying to defuse Lebanon's political crisis and preserve regional stability by leveraging France's trade relations with rival players in the region and historical ties to its former protectorate...
PARIS (AP) — Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has accepted an invitation to visit France after his surprise resignation from Saudi Arabia nearly two weeks ago that rattled the region, the French president's office said Thursday...
Zimbabwe's army has taken President Robert Mugabe and his wife into custody, triggering speculation of a military coup, though the military's supporters have called it a "bloodless correction...
BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the crisis in Lebanon following Prime Minister Saad Hariri's surprise resignation earlier this month (all times local):
9:10 p.m.
French President Emmanuel Macron says he is not offering Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri political "exile," but wants him to come to France for a while to help calm tensions in Lebanon and dispel fears that he is a Saudi prisoner.
BEIRUT (AP) — Saudi Arabia's dramatic moves to counter Iran in the region appear to have backfired, significantly ratcheting up regional tensions and setting off a spiral of reactions and anger that seem to have caught the kingdom off guard...
When Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation in a televised speech from Saudi Arabia last weekend, it stunned his country and created a mystery that lasted for more than a week...
BEIRUT (AP) — In his first TV interview since he announced his surprise resignation last weekend, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Sunday he will return to his country from Saudi Arabia "within days" to seek a settlement with the militant group Hezbollah, his rivals in his coalition government...
BEIRUT (AP) — Just when things were starting to look up for Lebanon's economy, a new political crisis threatens to send it crashing down again...