Spotlight
Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, is in Lebanon this Friday and Saturday to welcome the seventh humanitarian flight landing in Beirut. This Humanitarian Air Bridge will deliver essential health and shelter items – from the EU's own stock and its partners – to the most vulnerable, reaffirming the European Union's solidarity with Lebanon and steadfast humanitarian support to the country.
The Commissioner is meeting with President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri, as well as humanitarian partners on the ground: United Nations agencies, local and international humanitarian actors, and women-led associations. The Commissioner is also visiting EU-funded projects, including shelters, a reception center for Syrian refugees, a children's hospital, a Palestinian refugee camp, and heavily affected areas.
Full Story
An Israeli strike on Friday killed four people including two women in the southern Lebanon town of Toura, the health ministry said, as state media and AFP correspondents reported Israel was conducting widespread strikes.
The Health Ministry in Lebanon said that an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Toura near the port city of Tyre killed four people and wounded eight.
Full Story
Lebanon and Israel will hold a third round of direct talks in Washington on Thursday and Friday next week.
"Thursday's discussions will focus solely on consolidating the ceasefire, while Friday's discussions will move to other issues related to Israeli withdrawal, the return of captives, the return of displaced persons, and other details," MTV reported.
Full Story
Air raid sirens sounded in several cities in northern Israel on Friday after shelling from Lebanon, the Israeli military said, amid a fragile truce with Hezbollah.
After the sirens were activated, "a number of launches were detected toward Israeli territory," an Israeli military statement said.
Full Story
President Joseph Aoun on Friday told European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, that "the support provided by the EU to Lebanon must be channeled into exerting pressure to compel Israel to cease fire and refrain from demolishing and bulldozing homes in the villages it occupies in the south, as well as from targeting paramedics, journalists and civil defense personnel."
Full Story
More than half of Lebanon's population depends on humanitarian aid, a European Union official said on Friday, as Israel continues its attacks on the country despite a ceasefire in the two-month-long war.
"At present, more than three million people, meaning more than half of the population here in Lebanon, depend on humanitarian aid to survive," EU crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib told reporters after meeting President Joseph Aoun in Beirut.
Full Story
By 4 May, the Ministry of Social Affairs had documented the displacement of over 1.1 million individuals, including 124,231 people in 625 shelters.
Active hostilities continued in several areas in the south of Lebanon, despite the ceasefire.
Full Story
Any agreement between the United States and Iran can also help lower tensions in Lebanon, where a separate truce was under renewed strain after an Israeli strike on southern Beirut killed a commander from militant group Hezbollah on Wednesday.
But recent violence threatens to unravel the fragile truce in effect since April 8 that brought an end to weeks of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Full Story
An Israeli strike on south Lebanon killed a member of the civil defense, the rescue organization said Friday, a day after another strike killed a rescuer from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee.
In a statement, the civil defense said their rescuer was killed "as a result of an Israeli strike that targeted him" on the road between Rashaya and Kfarshouba, despite the truce in effect.
Full Story
Lebanon and Israel will hold a new round of talks on May 14-15 in Washington on seeking a peace deal, a U.S. official said.
"There will be talks between Lebanon and Israel Thursday and Friday next week in Washington," a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.
Full Story



