Michel Aoun
Bangladeshi Muslims protesting against Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, gather after Eid al-Fitr prayers in front of Baitul Mukarram Mosque and wave Palestinian and Bangladeshi flags in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)
The Latest: Israeli airstrike on Gaza house kills at least 7

The Associated Press May. 14, 2021 07:55 AM EDT

An anti-government protester holds lit flares while shouting slogans during a protest against the rising prices and worsening economic and financial conditions, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, March 12, 2021. Lebanon’s parliament on Friday approved a $246 million loan from the World Bank that would provide cash assistance for more than 160,000 families in the small country hit by an unprecedented economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. The Arabic on the wall reads "All means all." (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Lebanese parliament approves World Bank loan to help poor

By Bassem Mroue Mar. 12, 2021 11:56 AM EST

FILE - In this March 8, 2021 file photo, a protester flashes a victory sign as he aims to block a road during a protest, in Beirut, Lebanon. It's an expression of anger but also of helplessness: Dense palls of smoke rising around Beirut and other parts of Lebanon from burning tires that anti-government protesters are using to block roads. The tactic has become the hallmark of a new flare-up of demonstrations against an intransigent political class that does nothing as its country slides toward the political and economic abyss. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
Burning tires: Lebanon's protesters send dark, angry message

By Sarah El Deeb Mar. 10, 2021 01:07 AM EST

A protester waves a Lebanese flag near burning tires set to block a main highway, during a protest in the town of Jal el-Dib, north of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 8, 2021. The dayslong protests intensified Monday amid a crash in the local currency, increase of consumer goods prices and political bickering between rival groups that has delayed the formation of a new government. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanon's army chief warns economic crisis is hurting troops

By Bassem Mroue Mar. 08, 2021 09:00 AM EST

An anti-government protesters burns tires to block a road, during a protest in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 2, 2021. Scattered protests broke out in different parts of Lebanon Tuesday after the Lebanese pound hit a record low against the dollar on the black market, a sign of the country's multiple crises deepening with no prospects for a new Cabinet in the near future. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Lebanon's president wants investigation into currency crash

Mar. 03, 2021 11:55 AM EST

Protesters set burning tires on fire to block a highway that leads to Beirut's international airport, during a protest against against the economic and financial crisis, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 2, 2021. The Lebanese pound has hit a record low against the dollar on the black market as the country's political crisis deepens and foreign currency reserves dwindle further. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Protests in Lebanon as local currency hits record low

By Bassem Mroue Mar. 02, 2021 09:53 AM EST

A man waits his turn to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during a nationwide vaccination campaign, at the Saint George Hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. Lebanon launched its inoculation campaign after receiving the first batch of the vaccine — 28,500 doses from Brussels with more expected to arrive in the coming weeks. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
World Bank threatens to suspend vaccine funding to Lebanon

By Bassem Mroue Feb. 23, 2021 07:38 AM EST

A Lebanese army soldier stand guards outside the building of Tripoli municipality that was set on fire by protesters Thursday night, during a protest against deteriorating living conditions and strict coronavirus lockdown measures, in Tripoli, Lebanon, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Tense calm in northern Lebanese city after violent clashes

By Fadi Tawil Jan. 29, 2021 09:45 AM EST

French President Emmanuel Macron makes introductory remarks during a visio-conference meeting about support and aid for Lebanon, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. France is hosting an international video conference on humanitarian aid for Lebanon amid political deadlock in Beirut that has blocked billions of dollars in assistance for the cash-strapped country. (Ian Langsdon, Pool via AP)
France and UN rally aid for Lebanon, urge political reforms

By Zeina Karam And Sylvie Corbet Dec. 02, 2020 05:21 AM EST

Lebanese anti-government activists protest outside a Lebanese court, as they demanding the improving judicial independence, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. A year after anti-government protests roiled Lebanon, dozens of protesters are being tried before military courts that human rights lawyers say grossly violate due process and fail to investigate allegations of torture and abuse. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
In Lebanon, army courts target anti-government protesters

By Amir-Hussein Radjy Nov. 22, 2020 01:40 AM EST

FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2019 file photo, Riad Salameh the governor of Lebanon's Central Bank, listens to a journalist's question during a press conference, in Beirut, Lebanon. A New-York-based company that was contracted by Lebanon's government to conduct a forensic audit of the country's central bank has decided to pull out of the deal because it was not able to acquire needed information and documents, Lebanese outgoing finance minister said Friday, Nov. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
NY-based company pulls out of Lebanon bank's forensic audit

By Bassem Mroue Nov. 20, 2020 09:30 AM EST

A UN peacekeeper sits atop a light tank near the post where the indirect talks between Israel and Lebanon were being held in the southern Lebanese border town of Naqoura, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. Lebanon and Israel are to begin indirect talks Wednesday over their disputed maritime border, with American officials mediating the talks that both sides insist are purely technical and not a sign of any normalization of ties. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanon, Israel begin indirect talks over maritime border

By Bilal Hussein, Bassem Mroue And Josef Federman Oct. 14, 2020 04:23 AM EDT

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2020 file photo, French President Emmanuel Macron, center left, gestures as he visits the devastated site of the Aug. 4 explosion at the port of Beirut, Lebanon. An economic meltdown, a revolution, financial collapse, a virus outbreak and a cataclysmic explosion that virtually wiped out the country's main port. The past year has been nothing short of an earthquake for tiny Lebanon, with an economic meltdown, mass protests, financial collapse, a virus outbreak and a cataclysmic explosion that virtually wiped out the country’s main port. Yet Lebanese fear even darker days are ahead. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, Pool, File)
AP Analysis: Dark days ahead for Lebanon as crisis bites

By Zeina Karam Sep. 29, 2020 02:11 AM EDT

FILE - This Feb. 2, 2019 file photo, then Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil arrives to attend a meeting of the Lebanese cabinet at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon. A former Lebanese foreign minister and son-in-law of President Michel Aoun has tested positive for the new coronavirus, his office said Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
Former Lebanese FM, president's son-in-law, has coronavirus

Sep. 27, 2020 05:37 AM EDT

FILE- This Aug. 19, 2020 file photo shows the the scene of the Aug. 4 explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon. Facing an economic meltdown and other crises, Lebanon’s president on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, asked for the world's help to rebuild the capital's main port and neighborhoods that were blown away in last month’s catastrophic explosion. President Michel Aoun spoke in a prerecorded speech to the U.N. General Assembly, telling world leaders that Lebanon is facing multiple crises that pose an unprecedented threat to the small country’s existence. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
Lebanon asks world's help 'trying to rise from its rubble'

By Zeina Karam Sep. 23, 2020 02:40 PM EDT

In this UNTV image, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, speaks in a pre-recorded video message during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, at UN headquarters in New York. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from heads-of-state, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic. (UNTV via AP)
The Latest: Venezuela's Guaidó urges nations to decry Maduro

By The Associated Press Sep. 23, 2020 10:25 AM EDT

FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2020 file photo, French President Emmanuel Macron, left, smiles as he meets Lebanon's President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020. In a televised address Monday, Sept. 21, 2020, Aoun warned that the crisis-hit country could be going to “hell” if a new government is not formed. An initiative led by Macron called for a Lebanese government of independent specialists that was to be formed by Sept. 15. (Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool via AP, File)
Lebanese president warns of 'hell' if no new gov't formed

By Zeina Karam Sep. 21, 2020 10:31 AM EDT

FILE - This Wednesday, July 29, 2020 file photo, dozens of Palestinians flash the victory sign as they protest against their permanent settlement in Lebanon and demanding immigration, near the U.S. embassy in Aukar, northeast of Beirut, Lebanon. The financial crisis that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is experiencing could lead to ceasing some of its activities in what would raise risks of instability in this volatile region, the head of the agency said Wednesday, Sept. 16. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
Palestinian refugee agency warns of instability amid crisis

By Bassem Mroue Sep. 16, 2020 08:23 AM EDT

Arnaud Tranchant, left, chief Navy officer for the French helicopter carrier Tonnerre, talks to French President Emmanuel Macron off the port of Beirut, Tuesday, Sept.1, 2020. The visit was Emmanuel Macron's second since the devastating Aug. 4 explosion — the most destructive single incident in Lebanon's history — that killed at least 190 people . (Stephane Lemouton, Pool via AP)
French leader warns Lebanese politicians of ‘last chance’

By Zeina Karam And Bassem Mroue Sep. 01, 2020 12:56 PM EDT

FILE - In this Jan. 1, 2011 file photo, People line up outside a bar during New Year celebrations in Beirut, Lebanon.It was a century ago on Sept. 1, 1920, that a French general, Henri Gouraud, stood on the porch of the French residence in Beirut surrounded by local politicians and religious leaders and declared the State of Greater Lebanon - the precursor to the modern state of Lebanon. (AP Photo/Grace Kassab, File)
Turning 100: Lebanon, a nation branded by upheaval, crises

By Bassem Mroue Aug. 31, 2020 02:45 AM EDT