A man mourns a Hezbollah fighter killed, along with his brother, also a fighter, and ten members of their family, in two strikes on an inhabited residential home in Kfar Roummane, Nabatieh, on Sep. 8, 2026. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L’Orient-Le Jour)
Continuing the series of sanctions aimed at neutralizing Hezbollah's "political economy," the United States this time opted for diplomacy, reaching out to the Higher Shiite Council (HSC), in yet another attempt to drive a wedge between the Lebanese Shiite community and Hezbollah. U.S. Ambassador to Beirut Michel Issa met Tuesday with the vice president of the religious body, Ali al-Khatib. This was the first such contact since the start of the war in the region; Dorothy Shea was the last U.S. ambassador to have visited the HSC, in 2022. Admittedly, Tuesday's discussion between the U.S. ambassador and Khatib (de facto leader of the HSC since the death, more than four years ago, of its former president, Sheikh Abdel Amir Kabalan) was part of a broader tour of religious leaders in the country by the diplomat. But the...
Continuing the series of sanctions aimed at neutralizing Hezbollah's "political economy," the United States this time opted for diplomacy, reaching out to the Higher Shiite Council (HSC), in yet another attempt to drive a wedge between the Lebanese Shiite community and Hezbollah. U.S. Ambassador to Beirut Michel Issa met Tuesday with the vice president of the religious body, Ali al-Khatib. This was the first such contact since the start of the war in the region; Dorothy Shea was the last U.S. ambassador to have visited the HSC, in 2022. Admittedly, Tuesday's discussion between the U.S. ambassador and Khatib (de facto leader of the HSC since the death, more than four years ago, of its former president, Sheikh Abdel Amir Kabalan) was part of a broader tour of religious leaders in the country by the diplomat. But the...
Houthis have taken control of key city near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait
