This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Haniyeh shows smoke rising from the site of a series of Israeli controlled explosions in the nearby village of Mansouri on Sept. 28, 2026. (Credit: Kawnat Haju/AFP)
Lebanon finds itself caught between two very different positions. On one side is the stance taken by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in the United States, where he met Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. On the other is Hezbollah’s, laid out during the second anniversary of the assassination of its secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, as current party leader Naim Qassem reiterated his criticism of the Lebanese state and negotiations with Israel.Discussions are currently underway over how to revive the talks. Against this backdrop, Simon Karam, who heads the Lebanese negotiating delegation, traveled to Rome, specifically to the Vatican. The visit follows President Joseph Aoun’s earlier trip there, during which he met Pope Leo and asked him to intercede with the Americans.Karam’s trip is therefore both a preemptive move and an...
Lebanon finds itself caught between two very different positions. On one side is the stance taken by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in the United States, where he met Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. On the other is Hezbollah’s, laid out during the second anniversary of the assassination of its secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, as current party leader Naim Qassem reiterated his criticism of the Lebanese state and negotiations with Israel.Discussions are currently underway over how to revive the talks. Against this backdrop, Simon Karam, who heads the Lebanese negotiating delegation, traveled to Rome, specifically to the Vatican. The visit follows President Joseph Aoun’s earlier trip there, during which he met Pope Leo and asked him to intercede with the Americans.Karam’s trip is therefore both a preemptive move and...
