Iran is slowly pulling out of Syria in response to Israeli strikes, as well as growing domestic discontent linked to the economy and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the Israeli military said Thursday.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab is warning of a major food crisis in Lebanon which is facing an unprecedented economic and financial crisis made worse by the coronavirus pandemic.

In an opinion piece published in the Washington Post late Wednesday, Diab also warns of eventual "starvation" in the Middle East that he says may spark a new migration flow to Europe.

A former U.S. Green Beret and his son accused of helping aid former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn flee Japan while awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges were arrested Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department said.

A video showing Lebanese soldiers striking a doctor inside a hospital in the northern city of Tripoli stirred a social media uproar Wednesday and led to the arrest of the troops.

The footage was captured by CCTV late Tuesday after a man was brought to the city's Dar al-Shifaa hospital with a bullet wound following clashes between two families.

Twenty years after Hizbullah pushed Israel's last troops from southern Lebanon, both sides are gearing up for a possible war that neither seems to want.

One of Syria's wealthiest businessmen who is a cousin of President Bashar Assad said Tuesday the government has ordered the seizure of his assets and barred him from doing business with the state for five years, escalating a dispute that has been deeply mixed in family affairs.

The latest decisions against Rami Makhlouf come after weeks of highly publicized and unusual disputes over outstanding payments that the government is seeking from the country's largest telecommunication company, which he heads.

A Lebanese man has pleaded guilty in federal court in Minnesota to conspiring to export drone parts and technology from the U.S. to Hizbullah in Lebanon.

U.S. Attorney Erica H. MacDonald said Monday that Usama Hamade, 55, pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally export goods and technology.

An Israeli patrol on Sunday shot and wounded Syrian shepherd Mohammed Noureddine Abdul Azim in the outskirts of the Lebanese border town of Kfarshouba before abducting him into Israel, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

A top Lebanese central bank official has been detained pending investigation into the country's financial crisis, including the free fall of the Lebanese currency, a judicial official said Friday.

Lebanon's financial prosecutor ordered the detention of Mazen Hamdan, the head of cash operations at the bank, late Thursday. He is the most senior official to be named in an ongoing probe into possible financial wrongdoing. Hamdan was ordered to appear for questioning about what Lebanon's official news agency called "the manipulation of the dollar exchange rate."

The government’s reinstated nationwide lockdown began on Thursday following a spike in reported coronavirus cases in Lebanon, as the health minister said the efficiency of the measure will be accessed on Sunday when the four-day lockdown ends.