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Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026.
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz.
Some key things to watch for today:
- 10 a.m. Meeting of unions and associations of the land transport sector in Lebanon with a representative of the Minister of Agriculture, followed by a press conference at 2 p.m. at the Lebanese-Syrian border crossing in Masnaa.
- 10:30 a.m. Conference by the Health Ministry and the World Health Organization – Lebanon to evaluate the National Cancer Control Plan 2023–2028, held at the Ministry.
- 11 a.m. Press conference by Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh to launch the Creative and Cultural Industries Strategy in Lebanon, held at the National Library.
- 11 a.m. Press conference by The Khiam Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture on the international campaign to free the Lebanese detainees kidnapped in Israeli prisons, held at the center's headquarters in Corniche Al-Mazraa.
- 12 p.m. Press conference by the "We Are All Gaza, We Are All Palestine" network to launch a campaign in support of Lebanese and Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, at the Press Syndicate Building.
- 1 p.m. Press conference by the Advisory Center for Studies and Documentation to launch a legal report on Israeli crimes in Lebanon, held at Beit al-Mamluk Hall, Sour.
- 5 p.m. Launch of Mechanics Week, including a conference and exhibition on mechanical engineering in the health sector, with the participation of major local, regional, and international companies, at the Engineers Syndicate in Beirut.
Israeli drone strike kills child, ISF officer father and army veteran in Sour: An Israeli drone strike on Yanouh (Sour) killed a child, his father, who was an Internal Security Forces officer, and a Lebanese Army veteran. Israeli gunfire earlier the same day killed a municipality employee in Aita al-Shaab.
Israel abducts al-Jamaa al-Islamiya member from his home in Hebbarieh: Israeli troops infiltrated Hebbarieh Sunday night, stormed the home of a member from al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, and abducted him across the border. He is among more than a dozen people who were kidnapped either before or during the war and continue to be detained in Israeli prisons, even after the cease-fire.
Key context: The same day, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem re-iterated the need for a unified national position in the face of continued Israeli attacks. He argued this should take precedence over any further efforts to disarm his party, which has ceded its weapons in the border regions but refuses to do so elsewhere so long as Israeli attacks persist.
Israel has violated the cease-fire over 12,000, with over a thousand attacks that have killed more than 340 people, with Lebanon, the U.N., and nations worldwide denouncing the repeated violations.
IMF delegation begins five-day visit to Beirut: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation arrived in Beirut for a five-day visit to follow up on Lebanon’s efforts to secure financing, after a previous staff-level agreement stalled amid delays in implementing reforms.
Lebanese officials have stepped up the pace, making good on pledges to amend the banking secrecy law and to legislate frameworks for bank restructuring and for addressing the country’s more than $80 billion in financial sector losses.
The IMF has welcomed the progress but expressed reservations over the outcomes. Amendments sought by the lender have at times run up against lobbying by Lebanese interest groups, notably over provisions requiring commercial banks’ equity to be wiped out before losses are imposed on depositors — a requirement the Association of Banks in Lebanon has sought to circumvent.
To learn more about the delegation’s visit and how Lebanon’s progress fares with IMF-requested demands, read Mounir Younes’ full article.
Cabinet decrees the evacuation of 114 buildings in Tripoli and the provision of housing assistance to evacuees: In an emergency meeting convened yesterday, Cabinet called for the evacuation of 114 buildings at risk of collapse in the northern Lebanese city and for the provision of one-year's worth of housing assistance for displaced residents. It also ordered further structural surveys and the launch of reinforcement work for eligible buildings.
The decision follows a building collapse on Feb. 8 in the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood which killed 14 people, including a child. Another building had collapsed in the city in recent weeks that killed three people and left dozens more displaced. Yesterday, the same day as the emergency Cabinet meeting, a residential complex housing some 200 people was evacuated over fears of collapse.
Other important news:
- Israel killed four Palestinians in an attack on a residential building in Gaza City in another violation of the October “cease-fire.”
- Demonstrators have rallied across Australia to protest a visit by Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, who had said there were no “innocent” victims in Gaza.
- U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Israel to reverse its “unlawful” decision to deepen its occupation of the West Bank, calling it “gravely concerning.” Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also condemned Israel’s West Bank measures, accusing Israel of imposing “unlawful sovereignty."
- UNRWA has issued an urgent appeal for $1.26bn in funding “to respond to one of the gravest, protracted humanitarian crises in recent history” in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory.
- President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri attended mass in downtown Beirut on Monday to celebrate Saint Maroun's Day.
This morning’s recommended read:
What the newly released Epstein Files reveal
Enzo Quenescourt and Gabriel Blondel look at some of the places references to Lebanon, Beirut and Lebanese officials have popped up in the documents recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice from its investigation into financier, convicted child sex abuser and suspected sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Before you go...
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