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Arab League Not Asked to Mediate Between Lebanon, Libya

In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2019 photo, Lebanese security officers check a hall where an Arab economic development summit will be held, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2019 photo, Lebanese security officers check a hall where an Arab economic development summit will be held, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Arab League Not Asked to Mediate Between Lebanon, Libya

In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2019 photo, Lebanese security officers check a hall where an Arab economic development summit will be held, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2019 photo, Lebanese security officers check a hall where an Arab economic development summit will be held, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The Arab League confirmed Tuesday that it has not been asked to mediate between Beirut and Tripoli, in the wake of Libya’s boycott of the Arab Economic Summit to be held in Beirut this week.

"Libya has officially announced its boycott of the summit in the wake of the burning of its country's flag by the Amal movement in Beirut,” the official spokesman of the Secretary General of the Arab League, Mahmoud Afifi, said.

Libya announced its boycott of the summit after Amal supporters took down a Libyan flag erected on the road leading up to the Biel center in downtown Beirut, where the summit will be held, replacing it with their own.

Afifi deemed the flag tearing incident as "regrettable,” adding, “We will see to where things will be heading.”

The two-day Arab Economic Summit will convene in Beirut on Friday.

Asked about the level of representation, Afifi said: “We look forward to the highest representation from attending countries, however, the hosting state sends invitations and is better informed about the level of representation.”

Reports in Beirut said Monday that the summit would witness a poor attendance at the presidential level given that the event comes shortly before the Arab-European summit, scheduled to be held in February in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh resort.

The summit takes place despite an internal dispute caused by Speaker Nabih Berri, who has expressed his objection to Libya’s invitation after calling for the event’s postponement over the failure to invite Syria.

Berri’s Amal movement objects that Lebanon builds ties with Libya due to the 1978 disappearance of the movement’s founder, Imam Musa Sadr, and two of his companions during an official visit to the country.

Afifi said the summit would tackle several issues, including Arab food safety and challenges faced by UNRWA in the region, particularly in the Occupied Territories.

The summit’s agenda includes two proposals from Jordan concerning economic and social challenges faced by countries hosting Syrian refugees.

Afifi said a high-ranking delegation from the Arab League Secretariat would arrive in Beirut Wednesday to take part in preparatory meetings for the summit.

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Arab World

IMF Says Lebanon Needs Key Reforms for Program

People walk along the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as the sun sets in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2026. (EPA)
People walk along the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as the sun sets in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2026. (EPA)
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IMF Says Lebanon Needs Key Reforms for Program

People walk along the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as the sun sets in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2026. (EPA)
People walk along the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as the sun sets in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2026. (EPA)

Lebanon must push through a number of key economic and banking sector reforms to secure a new International Monetary Fund program, the Fund said on Thursday.

"It will require continued progress on key reforms, including the entry into force of the bank resolution ‌law, and appropriate ‌financial gap laws ‌consistent ⁠with international standards," IMF ⁠spokesperson Julie Kozack told reporters during a press conference.

She added a 2027 budget and medium-term fiscal framework that were "consistent with debt sustainability for the country" were also ⁠required.

Lebanon first signed a ‌preliminary agreement ‌with the IMF in April 2022, more ‌than two years after its ‌financial system imploded following decades of profligate spending and corruption in the ruling elite.

It recently passed a new ‌banking restructuring law which was welcomed by the IMF, but ⁠this ⁠week Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun quietly referred that law to the country’s constitutional council, triggering a review.

The move has sparked concerns among reformists in Lebanon that the country is backtracking on the key piece of legislation and potentially putting its IMF support hopes at risk.

Arab World

Lebanon Army Says Seized 245 Kg of TNT at Syria Border

An army unit seized approximately 245 kg of TNT. (Lebanese Army on X)
An army unit seized approximately 245 kg of TNT. (Lebanese Army on X)
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Lebanon Army Says Seized 245 Kg of TNT at Syria Border

An army unit seized approximately 245 kg of TNT. (Lebanese Army on X)
An army unit seized approximately 245 kg of TNT. (Lebanese Army on X)

The Lebanese army announced on Thursday that it had seized nearly 250 kilograms (around 550 pounds) of explosives being transported from neighboring Syria into Lebanon, though it was unable to apprehend the smugglers.

"An army unit seized approximately 245 kg of TNT, four explosive devices, eight detonators and electrical wiring for the detonators", which were being "smuggled from Syrian territory into Lebanese territory", the army said in a statement.

"The smugglers fled back toward Syria as soon as an army patrol arrived at the scene," it added.

Lebanon and Syria share a 330-kilometer (205-mile) border known for being porous.

Since the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, both Lebanon and Syria have been working to stamp out overland smuggling along their shared border -- including the trafficking of weapons and captagon.

Damascus regularly announces the interception of arms shipments destined for Lebanon on behalf of Hezbollah, an organization that denies any presence or activity in Syrian territory.

Arab World

UN Worried about Impact of Latest Lebanon War on Agriculture

Deputy Director-General of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Beth Bechdol speaks during an interview with AFP in Beirut on October 1, 2026. (AFP)
Deputy Director-General of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Beth Bechdol speaks during an interview with AFP in Beirut on October 1, 2026. (AFP)
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UN Worried about Impact of Latest Lebanon War on Agriculture

Deputy Director-General of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Beth Bechdol speaks during an interview with AFP in Beirut on October 1, 2026. (AFP)
Deputy Director-General of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Beth Bechdol speaks during an interview with AFP in Beirut on October 1, 2026. (AFP)

The deputy director-general of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP on Thursday that she was "deeply concerned" about the impact of the latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict on agriculture in south Lebanon.

The latest war "puts additional pressure on farmers and rural communities that, frankly, were already facing considerable hardships", said the FAO's Beth Bechdol.

"We're deeply concerned" about the situation in south Lebanon, where agriculture is "at the heart" of livelihoods, she said in an interview in Beirut.

"It is our best assessment that 56,000 hectares, which is more than 22 percent of Lebanon's agricultural land, has been reported as affected or damaged," including burned or physically damaged, she said.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March by attacking Israel, which responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

The conflict came after hostilities that erupted in 2023 and all-out war the following year.

While the latest violence has decreased since a June ceasefire, hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced, mainly from the south, and Israel maintains troops in a self-declared "security zone" running around 10 kilometers (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border.

Israeli forces have been carrying out widespread demolitions affecting villages and farmland.

"Farmers and their families are no longer able to be connected to their agricultural land," Bechdol said, noting that the conflict has also "disrupted markets and reduced access" to essentials for food production including fertilizers.

In June, a UN-backed assessment from Lebanese authorities estimated agricultural production losses in south Lebanon this year had reached at least $530 million.

Bechdol also expressed concern about potential contamination and soil damage in south Lebanon due to unexploded ordnance and residues from military operations.

She said she had held discussions in recent days on the possibility of the FAO getting involved in partnerships on de-mining work in south Lebanon.

She also said she was "very concerned about just general food security levels" in Lebanon.

In April, a UN-backed report said more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon were expected to face acute hunger in the following months due to the latest war.

This week, UNICEF said four in five households in Lebanon "are struggling to afford basic necessities as conflict compounds years of economic crisis".