Business as usual in Lebanon is unacceptable and any new government must be committed to – and capable of implementing – reforms that bring economic opportunity, good governance and an end to endemic corruption, a top U.S. diplomat said on Thursday.

The IDF struck sites belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, after two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Ashkelon on Thursday night.One rocket fell in an open field, while the second was intercepted by the Iron Dome system.

A prominent Syrian Muslim cleric in charge of the Damascus region was killed Thursday when a bomb planted in his car exploded outside the capital, state news agency SANA said. Adnan al-Afiyuni, the Sunni Muslim mufti for Damascus province, was considered to be close to President Bashar al-Assad who hails …