Gebran Bassil

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil (R) shakes hands with visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo following a public statement in the Lebanese capital Beirut on March 22, 2019. (Jim Young/Pool/AFP)

September 6, 2019, 9:44 pm

Pompeo said to warn Lebanon that Israel could strike Hezbollah missile factory

Arabic newspaper quotes US secretary of state telling Lebanese FM that facility should be dismantled or Israel will ‘destroy it in the coming days’

By TOI staff

Arab leaders pose for the camera, ahead of the 30th Arab Summit in Tunis, Tunisia, March 31, 2019. (Zoubeir Souissi, Pool photo via AP)

March 31, 2019, 4:29 pm

Led by Saudis, Arab leaders unite against Trump’s recognition of Golan Heights

22-member league — minus Syria — condemns US president’s policies favoring Israel, but is not expected to take further action

By AP and TOI staff

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, shakes hands with Lebanese President Michel Aoun, right, at the presidential palace, in Baabda east of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, March 22, 2019 (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

March 23, 2019, 9:44 am

Pompeo urges Lebanon to move away from ‘dark’ Iran and Hezbollah

In Beirut, secretary of state says US will use ‘all peaceful means, everything at our disposal’ to choke Tehran-backed terrorist group that holds three Lebanese cabinet posts

By AFP

In this picture provided by Hezbollah Media Relations office, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, right, meets with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Beirut, Lebanon, February 11, 2019. (Hezbollah Media Relations Office, via AP)

February 11, 2019, 11:44 pm

Nasrallah thanks Iran’s Zarif for support against ‘Zionist aggression’

In Beirut meeting, Hezbollah leader says Tehran’s backing ‘led to victories in many arenas’; Iran foreign minister vows to back ‘resistance’

By TOI staff and Agencies

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, right, speaks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Beirut, Lebanon, on February 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

February 11, 2019, 6:34 pm

Lebanon to boycott Warsaw Mideast summit over Israel’s attendance

Speaking alongside Iranian counterpart, Lebanese FM also cites expected critical stance toward Iran at US-led conference

By Agencies and TOI staff

Attack tunnel dug into Israel from southern Lebanon that the Israeli military believes Hezbollah planned to use in future wars, which was discovered in January 2019. (Israel Defense Forces)

January 17, 2019, 3:26 pm

Hezbollah tunnel construction began before 2006 Second Lebanon War — report

In 2005, IDF tunnel adviser reportedly told then-Northern Command chief Benny Gantz about terror group’s cross-border underground passages; warning was apparently ignored

By TOI staff

Israeli troops search for attack tunnels dug into Israel from southern Lebanon that the Israeli military believes Hezbollah planned to use in future wars, in January 2019. (Israel Defense Forces)

January 13, 2019, 9:07 am

Finding ‘6th, biggest and last’ Hezbollah tunnel, IDF ends Northern Shield op

Military announces discovery of final underground passage from Lebanon, the largest one found, believed to have been part of plan to send fighters to conquer northern Israel

By Judah Ari Gross

Construction work takes place near a new concrete wall on the border between Israel and Lebanon, near Rosh Hanikra in Northern Israel, on September 5, 2018. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)

January 11, 2019, 4:55 pm

Lebanon to file complaint at UN over Israel’s building of border wall

Order by Lebanese FM to raise issue at Security Council comes amid IDF campaign to destroy Hezbollah attack tunnels that enter Israeli territory

By Agencies and TOI staff

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaks via a video link, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, October 12, 2018 (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

October 12, 2018, 9:49 pm

Nasrallah: Hezbollah ‘deliberately’ ambiguous on Israeli claims of missile sites

Terror group chief dismisses Netanyahu’s UN speech as a ‘farce,’ says he does not intend to provide ‘free information’ to the enemy on alleged precision missile facilities

By TOI staff

Screen capture from video of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showing a diagram of what he said was Hezbollah terror group sites near Beirut during his address to the 73rd UN General Assembly in New York, September 27, 2018. (United Nations)

October 1, 2018, 10:30 pm

Netanyahu: Hezbollah ‘brazenly lying’ to world about weapons sites

Israeli PM says foreign ambassadors in Beirut went on ‘fraudulent propaganda tour’ hosted by Lebanese FM as terror group had 3 days to clear the area

By TOI staff and Agencies

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil gathers 73 foreign envoys and journalists at Al-Ahed stadium in Beirut's southern suburbs on October 1, 2018 during a tour he organized of alleged missile sites around the Lebanese capital's international airport in a bid to disprove Israeli accusations that the Hezbollah movement has secret missile facilities there. (AFP PHOTO / ANWAR AMRO)

October 1, 2018, 8:24 pm

Israel derides Lebanon for what it says is cover-up of Hezbollah missiles sites

As Beirut’s foreign minister leads foreign envoys on tour aimed at disproving Netanyahu’s allegations, IDF issues video noting you can hide a lot in three days

By TOI staff and AFP

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil talks to the media as he gathered ambassadors near Beirut international airport on October 1, 2018 during a tour of alleged missile sites around the Lebanese capital in a bid to disprove Israeli accusations that the Hezbollah movement has secret missile facilities there. (AFP PHOTO / ANWAR AMRO)

October 1, 2018, 5:11 pm

Lebanon FM gives diplomats tour aimed at disproving Netanyahu’s missile claims

Gibran Bassil says ‘Netanyahu is spreading lies’ with his allegation at UN of Beirut facilities used by Iran-backed Hezbollah to improve, hide advanced weapons

By AFP and Judah Ari Gross

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil, left, talks with an assistant as they stand next to a giant screen following voting by Lebanese expatriates in six Arab countries, ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in Lebanon on May 6, at the Lebanese Foreign Ministry in Beirut, on April 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

April 28, 2018, 12:01 pm

Lebanese expats vote in parliamentary elections

Citizens living in six Arab countries cast ballots ahead of May 6 vote, the first in nearly a decade

By Agencies

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil speaks during a press conference on August 18, 2014 in Baghdad, Iraq. (Ali Abbas-Pool/Getty Images via JTA)

December 28, 2017, 9:31 pm

Lebanon FM slammed for saying ‘We are not against Israel living in security’

Lawmakers call for Gebran Bassil to resign after stating in a TV interview that Beirut has no ideological problem with the Jewish state

By JTA and TOI staff

File: A general view shows the Arab League summit in the Jordanian Dead Sea resort of Sweimeh, March 29, 2017. (AFP/Khalil Mazraawi)

November 19, 2017, 11:59 am

Lebanese foreign minister to skip Arab League summit on Iran

Divided between pro-Tehran Hezbollah and a Sunni alliance backed by Saudis, Beirut torn by regional Saudi-Iranian rift

By AFP