2026 in Lebanon
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Events in the year 2026 in Lebanon.
Incumbents
[edit]| Photo | Post | Name |
|---|---|---|
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|
President of Lebanon | Joseph Aoun |
|
Prime Minister of Lebanon | Nawaf Salam |
Events
[edit]January
[edit]
- 9 January – The government signs an agreement with an international consortium consisting of TotalEnergies, Eni, and QatarEnergy to develop the Block 8 gas field off the coast of southern Lebanon.[1]
- 12 January – The Le Commodore Hotel Beirut ceases operations after having been in existence since 1943.[2]
- 13 January – The United States designates the Lebanese chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization, citing its support for Hamas.[3]
- 15 January – Authorities announce the arrest of a Syrian national in Byblos on suspicion of providing financial support for Assad loyalist fighters in Syria on behalf of exiled senior officials of the Assad regime.[4]
- 26 January – The Qatar Fund for Development announces a $430 million aid package to Lebanon, primarily to support its energy sector.[5]
- 30 January – The government approves an agreement allowing for the repatriation of Syrian nationals serving prison sentences in Lebanon.[6]
February
[edit]- 8 February – Fifteen people are killed in the collapse of two adjoining residential buildings in Tripoli.[7][8]
- 9 February – Atwi Atwi, an official of the Islamic Group and former mayor of Al-Hebbariyah, is abducted in a cross-border raid by Israeli forces.[9]
- 10 February – The United States imposes sanctions on the gold trading firm Jood SARL, citing its role in raising funds for Hezbollah.[10]
- 16 February – FIFA president Gianni Infantino is granted a Lebanese passport on account of his marriage to a Lebanese national.[11]
March
[edit]- 2 March –
- 2026 Israeli–United States strikes on Iran: Hezbollah carries out an aerial attack on Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. In response, Israel launches a military operation in Lebanon.[12]
- The government bans military activities by Hezbollah.[13]
- 4 March – Israeli strikes on a hotel and residential areas in the towns of Aramoun and Saadiyat, in the south of Beirut, kill 11 people and injure four others.[14]
- 5 March – The government prohibits activities by members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps within Lebanon and instructs authorities to detain and deport individuals linked to the group. The cabinet also introduces a visa requirement for Iranian nationals entering the country.[15]
- 6 March –
- At least 41 people are killed, including three soldiers, and 40 more injured in a series of Israeli airstrikes in and around Al-Nabi Shayth, Beqaa Valley.[16]
- Three Ghanaian UN peacekeepers are injured in an Israeli missile strike in southern Lebanon.[17]
- 8 March –
- An Israeli airstrike on a hotel in central Beirut kills at least four people and injures 10 others.[18]
- Two Israeli soldiers are killed in overnight clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.[19]
- 9 March – Killing of Pierre al-Rahi: Maronite Catholic priest Father Pierre al-Rahi is killed by an Israeli double strike on a house in the Christian-majority town of Al-Qlayaa.[20]
- 11 March –
- Seven people are killed and 18 are injured after an Israeli strike on Temnine Et Tahta, Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. Five people are also injured after a strike on the nearby village of Aali en Nahri.[21]
- Hezbollah launches over 100 rockets at Israel, injuring five civilians in Upper Galilee.[22]
- 12 March –
Aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in the Bachoura neighborhood of Beirut, 18 March 2026. - Eight people are killed and 31 more injured on the Israeli airstrike on the Ramlet al-Baida beach in central Beirut. Seven more people are also killed in other attacks in the country.[23]
- Hezbollah launches over 200 rockets and 20 drones at northern Israel, injuring two.[24]
- 16 March – The IDF's 91st Division launches a ground operation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, expanding a buffer zone along the border.[25]
- 17 March – A Lebanese soldier is killed and four more are injured in an Israeli airstrike in Qaaqaait al-Jisr, Nabatieh Governorate.[26]
- 18 March – Six people are killed and dozens injured in an Israeli airstrike on a building in Beirut.[27]
- 24 March –
- Lebanon expels the Iranian ambassador, Mohammad Reza Sheibani, citing Iran’s financial and military support for Hezbollah.[28]
- Israeli defense minister Israel Katz states that the IDF will control a "security zone" up to the Litani River in southern Lebanon until the threat of Hezbollah is removed.[29]
- 26 March – Two Israeli soldiers are killed in action in southern Lebanon.[30]
- 28 March – Five paramedics are killed in an Israeli airstrike in Zawtar al-Gharbiyah.[31]
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April
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- 1 April – Israeli airstrikes kill seven people, including the Hezbollah commander for Iraq, and injure dozens in Beirut and nearby Khalde.[32]
- 6 April – Christian anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces official Pierre Mouawad, his wife Flavia, and another woman are killed in an Israeli airstrike.[33]
- 7 April –
- Three people are killed and several are injured by an Israeli airstrike in Maarakah, Tyre District.[34]
- One person is killed by an Israeli drone strike in Deir ez-Zahrani, Nabatieh District.[34]
- Israel deploys the 98th Division to southern Lebanon, raising the force there to five divisions.[35]
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserts that the US-Israel-Iran ceasefire does not apply to Lebanon, contradicting mediator Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's announcement.[36]
- 8 April – Hezbollah says that it halted attacks on Israel and on Israeli soldiers in Lebanon,[37] but later claims responsibility for launching rockets towards northern Israel in response to massive Israeli attacks on that day.[38]
- 14 April – The first direct diplomatic negotiations between Lebanon and Israel since 1993 are held in Washington, DC.[39]
- 15 April – Two Filipino migrant workers are killed in a hostage-taking incident by their employer in Beirut.[40]
- 17 April – A 10-day truce between Lebanon and Israel comes into effect.[41]
- 18 April – Two French soldiers are killed and two others are injured in an attack on UNIFIL peacekeepers blamed on Hezbollah.[42][43]
- 23 April –
- President Trump says that Israel and Lebanon agree to a three-week extension of the ceasefire.[44]
- Italian soldiers install a new statue of Jesus Christ in the Christian village of Debel in place of a previous statue given by the IDF, who destroyed the previous statue with a sledgehammer, drawing widespread outrage.[45][46][47]
- 27 April – Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said that the group will not revert to the pre-March status and will respond to Israeli attacks.[48]
May
[edit]- 6 May –
- Sixteen people are killed and 21 injured with three paramedics by Israeli drone strikes and airstrikes across southern Lebanon despite the ceasefire.[49]
- An Israeli airstrike on a building in Beirut kills a top commander of Hezbollah's Radwan Force.[50]
- 8 May – Israeli attacks kill eight people and injured 15 including three children in Southern Lebanon and As-Saksakiyah.[51]
- 10 May – Israeli attacks kill at least 39 people in Lebanon with the IDF stating that it attacked Hezbollah targets.[52][51]
- 13 May – Israeli drone strikes kill at least 22 people, including eight children in the towns of Arab Salim, Harouf, Roumin and Jieh south of Beirut.[53][54]
- 15 May –
- The U.S. State Department announces that Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend their ceasefire for 45 days, and that more specific political and security negotiations will begin on May 29 and June 2, respectively.[55][56]
- Israeli airstrikes kill at least seven people across Nabatieh, Tibnin, and Harouf, and injure 37 people in Tyre.[57]
- 17 May –
- Israeli airstrikes kill at least eight people across Jwaya, Tayr Debba, and Tayr Felsay.[58][59]
- An Israeli missile strike on an apartment near Baalbek kills a commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and his daughter.[60]
- 18 May –
- Hezbollah claims that it shot down an Israeli aircraft over Ayta al-Jabal, hit the vehicle of the commander of the IDF 300th Brigade in Shomera in northern Israel, and targeted an IDF position in Maroun al-Ras with drones.[61]
- The Lebanese health ministry announces that the death toll has surpassed 3,000 people, with at least 3,020 people killed and 9,273 wounded since the war with Israel began on March 2.[62]
- 19 May – Israeli airstrikes kill 19 people and injure 34 in Nabatieh District and Tyre District.[63][64]
- 20 May – Israeli airstrikes kill at least eight people in Ad-Doueir, Tibnin, Burj el-Shamali, and Shebaa.[65]
- 22 May -
- Six people are killed and six more injured in an Israeli airstrike in Deir Qanoun an-Naher. Two paramedics are among the fatalities, while three more are injured.[66]
- A paramedic is killed and four more are injured in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Tyre District.[67]
- 23 May — An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Sir el Gharbiyeh kills at least 11 people and injures six.[68]
- 31 May — The IDF seizes Beaufort Castle.[69]
June
[edit]- 1 June — Israel agrees not to hit Beirut's southern suburbs, and Hezbollah agrees not to attack Israel as part of a US proposal, with the cease-fire framework to be expanded to include entire Lebanon.[70]
- 3 June — Israel and Lebanon agree to renew the ceasefire mediated by the US, and to establish "pilot zones".[71]
- 4 June –
- 6 June – Rene Mouawad Airport in Qleiat is inaugurated in a ceremony led by prime minister Nawaf Salam.[74]
- 7 June – Lebanese state media says that an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut kills two people and injures 11 others. The IDF says that it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure after the group fired towards northern Israel.[75]
- 10 June – Saudi Arabia lifts a ban on imports from Lebanon that had been in place since 2021.[76]
- 14 June — Israel announces that it killed Ali Musa Daqduq, a senior Hezbollah commander responsible for the Karbala provincial headquarters raid that killed five American soldiers during the Iraq War in a strike in southern Lebanon over the weekend.[77]
- 15 June — Pakistan, the primary mediator, states that both the United States and Iran declared the "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon" as part of the agreement to end the 2026 Iran war. Israel states that its forces will remain in Lebanon.[78][79]
- 19 June — President Trump announces a renewed ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.[80]
Holidays
[edit]Source:[81]
- 1 January – New Year's Day
- 6 January – Epiphany and Armenian Christmas
- 9 February – St. Maroun Day
- 20 March – Eid al-Fitr
- 25 March – Annunciation Day
- 3 April – Good Friday
- 5 April – Easter Sunday
- 1 May – Labour Day
- 25 May – Liberation and Resistance Day
- 27 May – Eid al-Adha
- 16 June – Islamic New Year
- 15 August – Assumption Day
- 4 September – The Prophet's Birthday
- 22 November – Lebanese Independence Day
- 25 December – Christmas Day
Deaths
[edit]- 17 February – Mohsen Dalloul, 93, journalist and politician, minister of agriculture (1989–1992) and defense (1992–1995)[82]
- 5 March – Antoine Ghandour, 83, writer.[83]
- 9 March – Pierre el-Raï, 50, priest.[20]
- 26 March – Ahmad Kaabour, 70, singer.[84]
- 22 April – Amal Khalil, journalist.[85]
- 30 April – Milia Maroun, fashion designer.[86]
References
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- ^ "Beirut's Commodore Hotel, a haven for journalists during Lebanon's civil war, shuts down". AP News. 14 January 2026. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ "Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations". AP News. 13 January 2026. Retrieved 13 January 2026.
- ^ "Lebanon arrests Syrian citizen suspected of funding pro-Assad fighters". AP News. 15 January 2026. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
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- ^ "Lebanese group accuses Israel of abducting its leader in raid". Al Jazeera. 10 February 2026. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
- ^ "US sanctions target alleged Hezbollah gold exchange". Arab News Japan. Agence France Presse. 11 February 2026.
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- ^ "Woman among 9 killed in south Lebanon by Israeli strikes". Al Jazeera. 19 May 2026. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- ^ "Death toll in Israeli strike on Lebanon's Deir Qanoun en-Nahr rises to 10". Al Jazeera. 19 May 2026. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
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