The paper, whose staff numbered five, including its founder Gebran Tueni, started with a capital of 50 gold pieces raised from friends, and a circulation of a mere 500 copies.

On 19 December 1976, Syrian forces occupied the offices of the daily,[5] prompting Ghassan Tueni to suspend the publication for a while and leave Lebanon for Paris.

[10] An-Nahar provided a platform for various freethinkers to express their views during the years of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon.

[9] On 11 October 2018 An-Nahar published eight blank pages to pay attention to the difficulties experienced in Lebanese press.

[15] Prominent writers for An-Nahar have included novelist and critic Elias Khoury, who used to edit its weekly cultural supplement Al Mulhaq (which appears on Saturdays) and, until his assassination, historian, journalist and political activist Samir Kassir.

[20] The paper was closed for ten days on 3 May 1961 due to the publication of a cartoon depicting Lebanon as a province of Syria.

[22] In March 2006, the Damascus correspondent of An-Nahar was charged in Syria with publishing "false information harmful to national security" after writing about the intelligence services of the country.