Levant Brief

A smiling man in a blue blazer works on a laptop at an office desk

Governance8 September 2026

A Mount Lebanon municipality moves building permit applications online

Demo article: Residents can now track a permit request step by step instead of returning to the town hall to ask where it stands.

Culture27 August 2026

Baghdad's Mutanabbi Street hosts a late-night poetry reading

Demo article: Booksellers kept their stalls open after dark as poets read to a crowd that filled the street.

Latest

A cedar forest on a rocky mountain slope, with a rope-fenced footpath in the foreground

13 September 20261 min read

Civil defence volunteers in the Bekaa complete a winter rescue drill

Demo article: More than 80 volunteers spent two days practising road clearance and stranded-driver rescues ahead of the snow season.

Towering sandstone rock formations rise above orange desert sand under a clear blue sky

Geopolitics and Security

13 September 20261 min read

Mountain rescue volunteers in the Kurdistan Region prepare for winter

Geopolitics and Security

12 September 20261 min read

Search and rescue teams train in Wadi Rum for desert emergencies

Close-up of ripe golden wheat in a field

Geopolitics and Security

12 September 20261 min read

Community sessions teach returning farmers to spot unexploded ordnance

Geopolitics and Security

11 September 20261 min read

Emergency medical volunteers run an earthquake preparedness drill

11 September 20261 min read

Israel blows up Ali al-Taher tunnels

Israel blows up Ali al-Taher tunnels with 1,100 tons of explosives

A large container ship stacked with shipping containers moored beside a blue gantry crane

Business and Economy

11 September 20261 min read

Tripoli port logs a busy season for fresh fruit exports

Business and Economy

10 September 20261 min read

Aleppo soap makers restart workshops and look for export orders

Business and Economy

10 September 20261 min read

Olive oil producers prepare for an early harvest after a hot summer

Business and Economy

9 September 20261 min read

Basra date growers bet on packaged exports

Lebanon

All Lebanon

13 September 20261 min read

Civil defence volunteers in the Bekaa complete a winter rescue drill

Demo article: More than 80 volunteers spent two days practising road clearance and stranded-driver rescues ahead of the snow season.

11 September 20261 min read

Israel blows up Ali al-Taher tunnels

11 September 20261 min read

Tripoli port logs a busy season for fresh fruit exports

8 September 20261 min read

A Mount Lebanon municipality moves building permit applications online

5 September 20261 min read

Volunteers replant cedar seedlings on a fire-scarred mountain slope

Syria

All Syria

12 September 20261 min read

Community sessions teach returning farmers to spot unexploded ordnance

Demo article: Trainers visited villages to show families what to look for, and whom to call, before working fields left untended for years.

10 September 20261 min read

Aleppo soap makers restart workshops and look for export orders

Demo article: Family workshops are reviving the slow olive-and-laurel method, and say online buyers abroad are their best hope for growth.

6 September 20261 min read

Local councils in Homs post spending plans on neighbourhood noticeboards

Demo article: Printed budgets now go up in bakeries and mosques, and residents are invited to comment before projects are approved.

Young seedlings growing beside black drip irrigation lines in mulched soil

3 September 20261 min read

Farmers along the Orontes turn to drip irrigation to stretch scarce water

Demo article: Growers say drip lines cut water use sharply, but the upfront cost is keeping smaller farms from switching.

Jordan

All Jordan

12 September 20261 min read

Search and rescue teams train in Wadi Rum for desert emergencies

Demo article: Volunteers and tour guides practised locating lost hikers and treating heat exhaustion ahead of the busy season.

9 September 20261 min read

Amman start-ups test a shared delivery network for neighbourhood shops

4 September 20261 min read

Irbid pilots a single hotline for municipal complaints

Mounds of coral and a sea fan on a reef, with small yellow fish swimming past

1 September 20261 min read

Aqaba divers record signs of coral recovery at a restored reef site

A stone mosaic panel spelling the word Poetry inside a decorative border

28 August 20261 min read

A Madaba mosaic workshop trains a new generation of artisans

Israel & Palestinian Territories

All Israel & Palestinian Territories

11 September 20261 min read

Emergency medical volunteers run an earthquake preparedness drill

Demo article: Volunteer first responders practised triage and communications for a large earthquake, a risk along the Jordan Rift Valley.

10 September 20261 min read

Olive oil producers prepare for an early harvest after a hot summer

7 September 20261 min read

A municipal council starts livestreaming its public meetings

Solar panels cover the roofs of a row of apartment buildings at dusk

2 September 20261 min read

Rooftop solar panels spread across family businesses in an old market

29 August 20261 min read

A small theatre company tours a play about coastal fishing families

Iraq

All Iraq

13 September 20261 min read