A U.S. court has asked Lebanon’s judiciary to serve legal papers against two top Lebanese politicians seeking to compel their response to accusations they orchestrated the kidnap and torture of a Lebanese-American couple. Elie Samaha, a U.S.-Lebanese citizen, and his wife Lara Samaha, who holds a U.S. green card, are …

Henri De Croÿ was accused of masterminding a scheme that hid hundreds of millions from tax authorities on behalf of rich clients in Europe. Reporters found him in Cartagena, busy investing money in a series of luxury properties. He once walked the halls of global financial institutions and hobnobbed with …

The Kurdistan Regional Government on Thursday accused Iraqi Hezbollah-linked militants of carrying out a drone attack in Erbil that wounded three civilians and damaged several vehicles. The strike occurred on the outskirts of Erbil, on the road to Pirmam, at 9.35pm local time on Wednesday. Officials said a drone was …

The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group threatened Thursday to strike a gas rig Israel is setting up in the Mediterranean Sea and that Lebanon claims is in a disputed maritime area between the two countries. Israel says the location is part of its U.N.-recognized exclusive economic zone. Hezbollah’s Hassan …

How Beijing’s Economic Missteps and Support for Russia Soured European Leaders In April and May, as Russia’s war in Ukraine entered its third month, China sent a special envoy to meet with officials in eight central and eastern European countries. The timing was not coincidental: in the two months since …

The West Needs a Policy to Manage a War That Will Go On With Russia’s war against Ukraine having passed the 100-day mark, calls for the conflict to be brought to an end are multiplying in the United States and Europe. Italy has put forward a detailed peace plan, French …

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the South Caucasus has been unable to find a model for regional cooperation or form regional organizations. As I have noted elsewhere, “Over the past three decades, various initiatives for regional cooperation have been proposed, including the ‘Peaceful Caucasus Initiative’ (Eduard Shevardnadze), ‘Stability …

For an organization that disintegrated twice over the past four-and-a-half decades — once in 1976 and again in 1984 — the Lebanese army is no stranger to crisis. But with Lebanon’s economy in free fall, the predicament in which the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) now finds itself is unprecedented. The …

The war in Ukraine has become a turning point for developing countries, many of whom could give up the gains made in economic growth and reduction in poverty over the past three decades. A growing number of developing nations are vulnerable to political instability caused by debt crises, as is …

The bottom line While the transfer of US high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) and British multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) will help Ukraine, we assess that the amount of systems and ammunition planned for transfer in the first tranche will only have a minor impact in the fighting. Russia’s …