English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  December 04/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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Bible Quotations For today
The Gospel Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 25/01-13: “‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 03-04/2025
Reflections and Faith Narrative on the Life of Saint Barbara on the Anniversary of Her Annual Feast/Elias Bejjani/December 04/2025 
A Historic Decision by Joseph Aoun… Lebanon on the Path to Joining the Abraham Accords
Lebanon appoints former envoy as civilian to lead its delegation to Israel truce monitor
Netanyahu appoints representative to 'government-economic' meeting in Lebanon
Lebanon, Israel Send Civilian Envoys to Ceasefire Committee for Expanded Talks
Rubio says Iran, Hezbollah built a foothold in Venezuela, raising US security concerns
The State Fortifies its Negotiating Arsenal: A Gesture from the Heart of Sovereignty to the Contact Line
Lebanon PM says peace with Israel could bring economic ties, but both far off
Lebanon PM Says Truce Monitor Negotiations with Israel Not Peace Talks
Mechanism holds 'positive' talks, 'search of homes' not discussed
Report: Ortagus suggested bombing Nasrallah's funeral
What did pope Leo say about Hezbollah's arms?
Israel preparing for 'major escalation' against Hezbollah, report says
Syria Says Killed Man Caught with Landmines Intended for Hezbollah
Where Does the "Pope's" Visit Stand Regarding the Tragedies of the Shiites?/Marwan Al-Amin/Nidaa Al-Watan/December 4, 2025
Israel Accuses Hezbollah of Assassinations in Beirut Port Blast Case/Tylia El Helou/This is Beirut/December 03/2025
Lebanon Must Answer the Pope’s Call for Peace/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/This is Beirut/December 03/2025
Morgan Ortagus unlocks a landmark Lebanon–Israel breakthrough/Yassin K. Fawaz/The Arab Weekly/December 03/2025
Can Pope Leo inspire peace in Lebanon?/Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/December 03, 2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 03-04/2025
Pope plans trip to Africa, starting with Algeria, rejects anti-Muslim sentiment in the West
Israel says received presumed remains of Gaza hostage
Israel army says four soldiers injured in clash with Gaza militants
Rafah Crossing to Open Soon to Let Gazans Cross into Egypt, Israel Says
Egypt denies coordinating with Israel to reopen Rafah crossing
Netanyahu pardon plea seen as bid to ensure survival ahead of 2026 vote
Egypt in Talks with US to Co-chair Gaza Reconstruction Conference
General Assembly Adopts Resolution Asking Israel to Withdraw from Golan
Italy eyes deeper Gulf partnership as Meloni attends GCC summit in Bahrain
Kremlin says Putin accepted some US proposals on Ukraine and is ready to continue talking
GCC leaders: Threats to any member state’s sovereignty endanger collective security
Manama Summit Seeks to Bolster Joint Gulf Work, Int’l Partnerships
Iraq says Khor Mor gas field attack carried out two drones, perpetrators identified
Iran’s Khamenei defends hijab as more women flout dress code

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 03-04/2025
The Ghosts of Hangar 12/Christophe Boltanski/Lukman Slim Foundation/August 03/2023
Venezuela's Anti-US Alliances/Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute./December 03/2025
Dismantling the Gulf System/Mamdouh al-Muhainy/ASharq Al-Awsat/December 03/2025
Bethlehem strives to reignite hope amid occupation/Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/December 03, 2025
Selected Face Book & X tweets for /December 03, 2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 03-04/2025
Reflections and Faith Narrative on the Life of Saint Barbara on the Anniversary of Her Annual Feast
Elias Bejjani/December 04/2025 /(From the Archive of 2013)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/12/149880/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngwM5c_E7LU&t=310s
The Universal Church commemorates the memorial of Saint Barbara on December 4th and seeks her intercession. However, historians differ in determining the time of her birth and martyrdom. Some believe that she received the crown of martyrdom in 235 AD during the seventh persecution instigated by Emperor Maximinus Thrax against Christianity. What supports this opinion is that her story mentions that she corresponded with the scholar Origen, who died in 255 AD.
Her Birth and Upbringing
Barbara was born in the early third century AD in the city of "Nicomedia." She was the only daughter of her father, "Dioscorus," a fanatic pagan known among his people for his excessive wealth, prestige, hard-heartedness, and hatred of Christianity. His only daughter, Barbara, was gentle in manners, kind, and humble, loving all people. Barbara's mother died when she was young, so her father placed guards on her to keep her in the magnificent palace out of extreme fear for her. He also brought in brilliant tutors to teach her all kinds of linguistic, philosophical, and historical sciences, so that she would grow up like other wealthy girls of her era. Her father also filled the corners of the palace with idols of various deities that he worshipped so that his only daughter would imitate him in prostration and worship.
Her Conversion to Christianity
Barbara received a high secular education, but she felt a great emptiness in her mind and heart. Among her servants were some Christians, so she inquired of them about their God who does not dwell in stones. They explained to her the principles of the Christian religion and suggested that she correspond with the great scholar Origen, the teacher of the School of Alexandria, who could simplify the truths of the Christian faith for educated people like her. Barbara wrote to Origen about the philosophical and religious thoughts running through her mind. She asked him to condescend to be her teacher. He rejoiced at this and answered her letter, clarifying the truths of the Christian faith. He sent her a book by the hand of his disciple, "Valentianus," whom he instructed to explain the teachings of the Lord Jesus to Barbara. When Barbara read his letter, she was filled with the Holy Spirit. With exceptional courage, she brought Valentianus into her palace to be one of her teachers. He instructed her in the principles of the Christian faith and explained to her the doctrine of the Divine Incarnation and the perpetual virginity of Mary, the Mother of God. After deepening her understanding of Christianity, she requested the grace of baptism. The priest Valentianus baptized her, and she consecrated herself to the Lord Jesus. She was diligent in prayer and meditation on the life of the Redeemer day and night, and her disdain for the idols with which her father filled the palace increased.
Her Refusal to Marry a Pagan
One of the sons of the nobles in "Nicomedia," a pagan, asked for Barbara's hand in marriage. Her father broached the subject with her, but she refused to marry him, claiming her desire to remain by her father's side and the difficulty of parting from him and moving away. Her father then decided to accustom her to separation, so he traveled to another city for a few days.
Her Destruction of Idols and Sanctifying the Trinity
Barbara took advantage of her father's absence from the palace by increasing her fasting, prayer, and meditation on the Holy Scriptures and the lives of the saints. She also destroyed the many idols of her father scattered throughout the palace. Her father had ordered a special bathhouse to be built for her in the palace with two windows. She ordered the builders to open a third window so that the number of windows through which light entered would correspond to the number of the Holy Trinity.
The Appearance of the Lord Jesus to Her
The Lord Jesus appeared to her in the form of a very beautiful young child. She was happy for a few moments, but then her joy turned into deep sorrow when the form of the Divine Child changed, as His body was covered in blood. She remembered the Redeemer and His enduring the suffering and crucifixion for the redemption of humanity. Angels appeared to her, comforting and encouraging her. Thus, Barbara lived heaven while still on earth, resembling the angels in purity and innocence.
Her Father Learns of Her Conversion to Christianity
When her father, "Dioscorus," returned from his trip and found that she had destroyed his idols, he raged like a wild beast and, in his fit of anger, nearly killed her with beating and cutting. But she fled from his presence. After a few days, he spoke to her again about marrying a pagan young man. She refused, declaring that she had dedicated herself to the Lord Jesus. He lost control and almost murdered her, considering her words an insult to him and his pagan religion. He tried to explain to her that if she remained this way, she would cause him to lose his prestigious position in the state. He threatened that if she remained a Christian, he would wash away his shame by shedding her blood with his own hands. Here, Barbara asked him to listen to her, just for once, and she explained to him the futility of idol worship. At that, he was infuriated and reported her to the city governor.
Her Public Confession of Christ
Based on her father's complaint, the governor summoned her to be tried publicly. He tried to lure her with golden promises if she recanted her faith in Christ, but he failed when she expressed her disdain for all the wealth and power in the world, and her pride in Christ Jesus... The governor then ordered Barbara to be chained, stripped of her clothes, and scourged with whips barbed like knives. Her body was torn, yet she endured without complaint, but glorified Christ and asked Him to grant her the strength to confess Him before the court. The next day, the governor ordered her to be interrogated publicly. The attendees were very surprised to see her body free of the marks of the scourges. The governor tried to tempt her again, and since his promises and threats did not affect her, he ordered her legs to be lacerated with iron combs. They also burned her with lit torches, severely beat her head, cut off her breasts, and then salted her wounded body... All this happened while she was praising God and proclaiming her faith in Jesus.
Her Continued Struggle and Endurance of Torment
They returned Barbara to her dark prison, and the next day they led her before the governor. Great was the astonishment of the people as they saw her in perfect health. The governor attributed her healing to his gods. The latter said to her: "See how the gods were able to protect you!" Barbara replied: "If your idols had life, they could have protected themselves the day I destroyed them in my father's palace. The living God is the one who bandaged my wounds." The governor became furious and asked his soldiers to behead Barbara after dragging her naked through the streets. God covered her with a heavenly light.
Her Martyrdom at the Hands of Her Father
Her father asked the governor to allow him to cut off her head with his own hand, and he allowed him to do so. Her father led her outside the city, foaming with rage. When they reached the top of the hill, Barbara knelt on the ground, crossed her hands over her chest in the shape of a cross, and bowed her head. Her father took the axe, swung it at her neck, and cut it off.
The Life of Saint Barbara of Baalbek and "Hashle Barbara"
In her book about Saint Barbara, entitled in French Barbara of Baalbek, the writer and artist Lina Mor Nehmé asserts that Saint Barbara belongs to Phoenicia (and specifically to Baalbek). In a special interview in Anwar newspaper, Nehmé considered this book a "revolution" against the material celebrations that the Feast of Saint Barbara is limited to today, as it is overshadowed by the feast of demons and fairies known as Halloween, imported from the Celtic groups who settled in Britain and Ireland, and brought with them by the Irish to the United States, where it overshadowed All Saints' Day, which coincides with it, as it is considered a pagan holiday. Although Lebanon is still less affected than other countries, Nehmé says, it has begun to catch the contagion little by little, as many practice the customs of the Western holiday just to have fun. It is important to emphasize that the rituals of Halloween are an act of devil worship, and it is important to spread the true story of the holiday among people.
Despite the existence of many stories about Saint Barbara, with details varying according to the region and the locals, Nehmé chooses the story of the people of Baalbek and explains in the end that it is the most convincing among others. She narrates the story in the voice of "Master Abdullah," a Phoenician engineer who inherited his profession in building the Baalbek complex, which his ancestors started, and who is responsible for one of the main working teams in 235 AD. The author adds some details for dramatic necessity, as he fell in love with Barbara and asked for her hand.
Abdullah and the Story
Abdullah opens the story by introducing himself and pointing out that the Phoenicians built the Baalbek complex, not the Romans, as is commonly rumored. The writer expands on this in a French book from 1997, entitled Baalbek, a Phoenician Mark, in which she works to prove that the temples of Baalbek were built by Phoenicians, and that these transferred their art to the Romans, who gave their name to what (they could not carry back to their country) as was customary at the time. Abdullah then introduces the Phoenician merchant "Dyxorus," one of the most important and powerful aristocrats in the region, who offered him a job for his daughter Barbara. The engineer describes the man's cruelty and his love for the Romans in a style similar to comic books, showing the educational side of the writer, as it seems she is telling a story for children, wrapped in simplicity and humor, and including the necessary basic meanings. In the following four chapters, the narrator describes Barbara's struggle to believe in gods who demand the sacrifice of the innocent, her search for answers to her cosmic questions, and her finding them with the Egyptian theologian Origen. He also describes her rebellion against her father's gods and against him, and her defense of her faith in (the God of Christians), despite the hardships that awaited her, which did not push her to change her mind, but led her to death. But the story of Saint Barbara does not end here, but with what she did after her death to the souls of the living, especially Abdullah, the engineer who loved her before he knew her, and learned the love of Christ through her, as many have done and continue to do to this day. Today is connected to yesterday for Nehmé, who published the first part of a study on Prophecies of the Bible on Contemporary Lebanon last July (2000), which sparked controversy.
"Bsiyeh Barbara"
For her part, in an article by the writer Zina Khalil about Saint Barbara, "Bsiyeh Barbara," she says: The Lord Jesus said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." The wheat, or the grain of wheat, is the symbol of this night, "St. Barbara's Eve," which is celebrated by the majority of Christians in Lebanon in memory of "Saint Barbara," who was martyred on December 4, 303 AD, and whose body is currently in a church in Old Cairo. Her father, Dioscorus, was fiercely attached to paganism... Saint Barbara, however, received knowledge from the Christian scholar Origen, and her heart became attached to the Lord Jesus. She dedicated her life to Him and received baptism without informing her father, deciding to live as a virgin devoted to worship. When her father realized the matter, he flogged her until blood flowed from her, and tore her body with sharp awls while she remained silent and praying... After this incident, "Barbara" fled to the wheat fields and wore clothes to hide her features... Since then, the Christian world has celebrated her feast. On the night of December 3rd every year, adults and children leave their homes in costumes, each chosen according to their taste. Over time, the costumes have evolved according to the trends of the era, which have an impact on the clothes and masks used on this occasion... After dressing up, they roam the houses of neighbors, relatives, and friends, greeting them, dancing joyfully, and chanting the song, "Hashle Barbara with the girls of the neighborhood, I recognized her by her eyes, by the touch of her hands, and by this bracelet, Hashle Barbara"... We also don't forget the "Eid Sweets" from every house they visit (candies, Qatayef with cream and almonds or walnuts)... After the hospitality, they complete the song if the hostess was generous, saying: "Argheeli fawq Argheeli, the house people are generous." But if she was stingy, they leave the house with angry looks on their faces, saying: "Argheeli fawq Argheeli, the house people are stingy."
We also remember some sayings that people repeat on this occasion:
Barbara, you have spoken (or glittered), before the Lord you have strutted. Your father, the infidel, the worshiper of stones, brought the sword to kill you, the sword became a fishhook. He brought the rope to hang you, the rope became a belt. He brought the ember to burn you, the ember became incense.
Bsiyeh Barbara, and the wheat is in the cave, O my teacher, open the bag, may God send you a groom, by the grace of the Virgin and Christ. And a tile above a tile, the mistress of the house is a seamstress, a hook above a hook, the mistress of the house is wealthy. Bsiyeh Barbara, two columns and a saw, if it weren't for the Sheikh (master/lady), we wouldn't have come or entered this neighborhood.
In the West, Christians turn to prayer and supplication to Saint Barbara to protect them from misfortunes and dangers, especially during lightning strikes and at the hour of death... This martyr is honored by those in dangerous trades and industries, such as those who fire cannons, make gunpowder, work with weapons, and smelt metals. Also, all those who risk their lives have taken the saint as their special patroness, such as builders, firefighters, and others. It is mentioned in the life of Saint Stanislaus, the Jesuit monk, that he sought the intercession of Saint Barbara when he was approaching death and had no one to feed him with the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. She answered his call and appeared to him with two angels, and one of them administered the food of the angels to him. He says: "I have a custom that, upon arriving at Father Joseph Yammine's office, we open the 'Synaxarion' to discover which saint's feast we are under. It happened once that there was confusion about the origin of a saint, as the information about him conflicted, as is the case with Saint Barbara, whom the Maronite Synaxarion says was born in Nicomedia, while Lebanese traditions and Father Boutros Daou confirm that she is from the city of Baalbek, as stated in his book History of the Maronites."
NOTE: The information in this study is cited from various documented ecclesiastical, theological, research, and media references.

A Historic Decision by Joseph Aoun… Lebanon on the Path to Joining the Abraham Accords
This is Beirut/December 03/2025
The news of appointing former ambassador Simon Karam to head the Lebanese delegation to the “Mechanism” meetings—and the Presidency’s confirmation of his participation in today’s session in Naqoura—can only be understood within the context of the bold steps President Joseph Aoun is taking to move toward direct negotiations to resolve disputes and steer Lebanon away from the brink of war. This historic step can only come through the Abraham Accords. And this is fully in line with President Aoun’s character. In his address to the Pope, he stated, “We affirm today that the survival of this Lebanon, gathered entirely around you, is a condition for peace, hope, and reconciliation among all the children of Abraham.”He also said, “Tell the world about us—that we remain the only meeting ground in our entire region, and I dare say in the whole world, where such a gathering can unite around the successor of Peter, jointly representing all the children of Abraham, with all their beliefs, holy sites, and shared values.”What President Joseph Aoun announced today is far from a minor detail—especially following the historic visit of Pope Leo XIV, a visit that consecrated the path of peace through its speeches, symbols, and messages. It is this very path that President Aoun embraces and champions as the only way to save Lebanon, revive it, and restore its role as a beacon for the Middle East. There is no doubt that President Aoun’s step will face fierce attacks—from the enemies of life, the enemies of peace, and the worshippers of war. But the decision has been made. And President Aoun is surrounded by Arab and international support, backed by the Vatican, while the will of the Lebanese people today is stronger than any voices calling for death and destruction. The road ahead is certainly long and filled with complexities, but one fact stands: this road has finally been opened.

Lebanon appoints former envoy as civilian to lead its delegation to Israel truce monitor
Al Arabiya English/December 03/2025
Lebanon announced on Wednesday that it would appoint a civilian to lead its delegation to the body overseeing the ceasefire with Israel, after a request from the United States. Until now Lebanon, which does not recognize Israel, had insisted on keeping a military officer in the role. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that he “has instructed the Acting Director of the National Security Council to send a representative on his behalf to a meeting with government-economic elements in Lebanon.”“This is an initial attempt to establish a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon,” the statement said. Lebanon’s military representatives have avoided any direct contact with Israel’s delegation. The appointment of a civilian comes after Lebanon declared itself ready for negotiations with Israel. At the same time, Israel has been intensifying its strikes in Lebanon which the Israeli military mostly says target militant group Hezbollah, despite the ceasefire agreed in November 2024. “President Joseph Aoun has decided to appoint former ambassador Simon Karam to lead the Lebanese delegation,” presidency spokeswoman Najat Charafeddine said. The decision followed a US request and “after being informed that Israel agreed to include a non-military member in its delegation,” she added. Israel has sent troops into Lebanon on several occasions and relations remain extremely sensitive between the two countries. The most recent war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah has upended Lebanese politics by significantly weakening the militant group and its grip on power. The United States is also pressuring Lebanon’s government to rapidly disarm Hezbollah and has pushed for direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. The next meeting of the oversight body, which also includes US, French and UN representatives, is scheduled for Thursday, Charafeddine said.

Netanyahu appoints representative to 'government-economic' meeting in Lebanon
Naharnet/December 03/2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a non-military member in Israel's delegation to the body overseeing the ceasefire with Israel. Netanyahu's office said Wednesday that the PM has instructed the Acting Director of the National Security Council to send a representative on his behalf to a meeting with government-economic elements in Lebanon. "This is an initial attempt to establish a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon," the statement said, minutes after Lebanon announced that it would appoint a civilian to lead its delegation to the ceasefire committee. Lebanese presidency spokeswoman Najat Charafeddine said the decision followed a U.S. request and that Lebanon was informed that Israel will also include a non-military member in its delegation. The ceasefire committee, which also includes U.S., French and U.N. representatives, will meet today, Wednesday, in Naqoura in south Lebanon.

Lebanon, Israel Send Civilian Envoys to Ceasefire Committee for Expanded Talks
Asharq Al Awsat/December 03/2025
Israel and Lebanon sent civilian envoys to a military committee monitoring their ceasefire, top officials from both said on Wednesday, in a move set to expand the scope of talks between the long-time foes for the first time. The meeting was a step towards a months-old US demand that the two countries broaden talks beyond monitoring the 2024 ceasefire, in line with US President Donald Trump's agenda of peace agreements across the Middle East. It came even as fears of a renewed flare-up between Israel and powerful Lebanese armed group Hezbollah persist. Lebanon remains officially in a state of war with Israel, and criminalizes contacts with Israeli nationals. Meetings between civilian officials from the two sides have been extraordinarily rare throughout their fraught history. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has said in recent months, however, that he is open to negotiations to pursue a more robust truce and he dispatched a civilian envoy on Wednesday for the first time. Israel said it would send a representative in a bid to establish a relationship and economic cooperation with Lebanon. Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024 that ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Since then, they have traded accusations over violations.
'POSITIVE SIGNAL'
The committee, chaired by the US, met on Wednesday for approximately three hours on the Blue Line, which serves as the frontier between Lebanon and Israel. Since it was established to monitor the 2024 truce, it has only been attended by military officers from Israel, Lebanon, the US and France, as well as United Nations peacekeepers. Aoun's office said he appointed Simon Karam, a former ambassador to the US, to head Lebanon's delegation after the US told Beirut that Israel had also agreed "to include a non-military member" in its delegation at the meetings.  A statement issued after the session concluded said attendees welcomed the added envoys as an "important step" toward ensuring that the committee is "anchored in lasting civilian as well as military dialogue". It said it was looking forward to working closely with the Lebanese and Israeli representatives to integrate their recommendations to nurture peace along the long-volatile border. A Lebanese source familiar with Karam's appointment said Aoun had repeatedly signaled his openness to negotiations with Israel in recent months but had received no response. "When the US passed on that the Israelis were appointing a civilian to the Mechanism, Lebanon took this as a positive signal from them and appointed one as well," the source said. Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian, in an online briefing to reporters, said Wednesday's meeting was "a historic development". "This direct meeting between Israel and Lebanon took place as a result of Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu's efforts to change the face of the Middle East. As the prime minister has said, there are unique opportunities to create peace with our neighbors," Bedrosian said. Netanyahu had instructed Gil Reich, acting director of the National Security Council, a civilian governmental body, to send a delegate on his behalf. "This is an initial attempt to establish a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.  A Lebanese security official briefed on the meeting said only that it was "positive" and declined to say whether the agenda, which typically only covers implementation of the truce, was broadened to include any political or economic matters.
FEARS OF ESCALATION
Hezbollah's media office did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters on the talks' expansion. The Iran-backed group has repeatedly rejected any negotiations with Israel as a "trap". Despite the ceasefire, Israel has continued air strikes on what it says are Hezbollah's efforts to rebuild its military capabilities in breach of the truce. Lebanon says Israel's bombardment and occupation of hilltop positions in South Lebanon amount to breaches. Fears have been growing in Lebanon that Israel will expand its strikes to a full-blown military campaign after expressing frustration with the pace of Lebanese authorities' efforts to seize Hezbollah's weapons across the country.

Rubio says Iran, Hezbollah built a foothold in Venezuela, raising US security concerns
Ghinwa Obeid - Al Arabiya English/December 03/2025
Iran – and by extension its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – along with Lebanon’s Hezbollah have established a “foothold” in Venezuela, US State Secretary Marco Rubio said in remarks published Tuesday, amid ongoing tensions with Nicolás Maduro’s regime. “They also happen to be the foothold of Iran and that is not spoken about enough,” Rubio said. “Iran, its IRGC and even Hezbollah, has a presence in South America and one of their anchor presence, especially for the Iranians, is inside of Venezuela.” Rubio’s comments in an interview with Fox News came at the height of President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce the inflow of narcotics from Latin America and months into US strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean, exerting pressure on Venezuela. “Where they have planted their flag in our hemisphere is on Venezuelan territory with the full and open cooperation of that regime,” Rubio said. “The fact that Maduro feels threatened by the presence of US assets in the region and counter drug mission, proves he’s into the drug business.”In recent months, the US has stepped up the pressure with anti-drug trafficking campaign targeted towards Maduro, whom the US seems as illegitimate. It has deployed an aircraft carrier group and numerous other assets in the Caribbean. Maduro sees the US moves as an attempt to topple his regime. Iran is an ally of the leftist regime and has recently condemned the US pressure on Venezuela with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi calling it a “bullying approach.” The governments of both countries are under US sanctions and in 2022 they signed a 20-year cooperation plan in Tehran, pledging partnership on oil, defense and other issues.
Hezbollah’s influence
As for Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese group, it has for long been seen to have a presence in South America, with operatives that help secure finances for the militant group. In October, the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control held a hearing to address this matter. The Chairman, Senator John Cornyn, claimed in his statement at the time that “Hezbollah has found a home in Venezuela…where the [Hugo] Chávez and Maduro regimes have developed close ties with Iran and Hezbollah,” also expressing concern that Venezuelan passports were issued to Hezbollah members. “Its activities in Latin America are chiefly focused on raising funds for its terrorist operations in the Middle East and elsewhere,” Cornyn said, adding that the group might be on the look to “to further expand its Latin American drug trafficking and money laundering networks” in light of the recent setbacks that Iran and the group have faced.

The State Fortifies its Negotiating Arsenal: A Gesture from the Heart of Sovereignty to the Contact Line
Nidaa Al-Watan/December 04/ 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
On the eve of Eid al-Burbara, official Lebanon donned the mantle of a sovereign decision, a bold step intended to strip the counterfeit masks of "resistance" off their true face and an urgent attempt to avert the specter of war looming over the country. It appears that the "blessings" carried by Pope Leo XIV during his visit have cast a shadow over the Lebanese scene. The state recorded a significant achievement in its negotiating record via the "Mechanism" process, by appointing former Ambassador Simon Karam as the head of the Lebanese delegation. Observers interpreted this qualitative shift as a serious attempt to break the political and diplomatic stalemate resulting from Hezbollah's insistence on retaining its weapons on one hand, and Israel's determination to disarm it by force if the Lebanese government does not take responsibility on the other.
Ambassador of Sovereignty
"Nidaa Al-Watan" learned that the idea of appointing a political figure to head the Lebanese delegation to the "Mechanism" committee had been intensely discussed for over two months. The initial list underwent a careful screening before the choice settled on Ambassador Karam. This followed precise calculations made by the President of the Republic, General Joseph Aoun, clearly based on Article 52 of the Constitution. He was keen to ensure this decision was surrounded by a national political umbrella, preceding it with consultations with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to secure unifying cover, avoiding additional internal arguments about the delegation head's identity. The selection was based on a set of criteria, foremost among them his firm sovereign background, and his diplomatic and academic career, which rivals that of his Israeli counterpart, Uri Resnick. This is in addition to his negotiating expertise and deep knowledge of American approaches, as well as his participation in the Lebanese delegation to the Madrid negotiations between the Arabs and Israel (1991)—an experience considered one of his most prominent diplomatic milestones, giving him an advantage in managing sensitive discussions where politics intersect with international law and the balance of power. In this context, American sources considered Karam's appointment a positive step by the Lebanese state, reflecting an awareness of the gravity of the phase and the precision of the timing. However, they stressed that Washington is, in turn, monitoring the practical translation of this path regarding the disarmament of Hezbollah, which remains the fundamental obstacle to establishing stability and avoiding explosion. Furthermore, shifting the head of the Lebanese delegation from the military to the political level carries clear political, diplomatic, and legal connotations, enhancing the Lebanese state's ability to assert its rights—from the disputed points on the Blue Line and the occupied points, to the issue of prisoners and detainees, and the repercussions of Syrian-Israeli negotiation on the Lebanese reality.
From Follow-Up to Initiative
The concerned parties saw that the time was right to move to an approach that gives the state the position of initiative, not just follow-up, especially since the committee's composition now allows the inclusion of political and diplomatic elements in the discussion, after the military aspect had been dominant throughout the previous phase. Information also reveals that Karam's presence at the Naqoura meeting yesterday marks the beginning of a new stage within the committee, where the military approach recedes in favor of a deep political reading based on the Constitution, sovereignty, international law, and negotiating experience. Monitoring circles confirm that the Lebanese state aimed to send a message that protecting supreme interests is achieved not only through security on the ground but also through politics at the table, and that amending the delegation's composition reflects a conscious shift towards balanced management of one of the most important files related to calm in the South. The data concludes that Karam's joining will grant the Lebanese delegation greater capacity for influence and solidify the state's presence within the committee as an active party seeking to invest the international moment in reorganizing the rules of political-diplomatic engagement to serve Lebanese sovereignty and border stability. As for the "resistance" front, although the step of appointing Ambassador Simon Karam was framed as strengthening the Lebanese negotiating position, its impact was likened to a "thunderbolt" within Hezbollah circles. Through its television channel, the "Party" considered that the state went ahead with this decision unilaterally and must bear the consequences, placing the appointment in the category of unnecessary concessions. It argued that the coming days will prove the promises and covenants false and will reveal that Washington has no real intention of protecting Lebanon or preserving its interests. The appointment is expected to be a substantial topic of discussion at the Council of Ministers' table today, between supporters and opponents.
Direct - Indirect
Returning to the meeting of the "Mechanism" committee yesterday, and after the Israeli government spokesperson, Shosh Pedrosian, declared that the "direct meeting" between Lebanon and Israel constituted a "historic development" and a product of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to change the face of the Middle East, "Nidaa Al-Watan" learned that the session did not deviate from the traditional framework. It was held in the previously adopted indirect format, amidst a generally positive atmosphere, focusing on generalities and preparing the groundwork for calmer negotiations. According to the information, US Envoy Morgan Ortagus emphasized the importance of de-escalation and controlling the tempo on the ground, suggesting that the Lebanese Army must intensify its deployment and movements to accelerate the control of illegitimate weapons, thus avoiding any imminent escalation. Ambassador Simon Karam, in turn, spoke about the border situation, especially in the South, affirming Lebanon's intention to maintain calm and avoid war. The Lebanese delegation presented a detailed review of Israeli violations and repeated raids. The Israeli side focused on the issue of Hezbollah's disarmament, warning against the Party's continued rebuilding of its military system in clear violation of previous understandings. It was agreed to hold the next round of talks in 15 days.
In contrast, Netanyahu's office indicated that the meeting of the ceasefire monitoring committee took place in a "positive atmosphere," revealing a preliminary agreement on formulating ideas aimed at enhancing economic cooperation between the two countries. However, the office stressed that Israel has set a clear, non-negotiable condition: the disarmament of Hezbollah as an absolute priority, regardless of any proposed economic cooperation paths. It also reported that both parties agreed to keep the channels of dialogue open and follow up on the meetings in the next phase. Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat noted that "Israel is open to understanding with its neighbors, provided the Lebanese government succeeds in eliminating Hezbollah and shows a serious desire to establish economic relations," adding: "We will consider the matter positively, but the priority remains removing the security threat first."

Lebanon PM says peace with Israel could bring economic ties, but both far off
Reuters/December 03/2025
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Wednesday that a lasting peace with Israel could pave the way to normalizing ties with the country and establishing economic ties but that those milestones remained far off given current tensions.
“Economic (talks) will be a part of normalization, normalization will follow peace. It cannot precede peace,” Salam said, when asked about Israel’s statements that it was hoping to build ties and economic cooperation with Lebanon.“We are far from being there,” he told reporters at his office. Lebanon and Israel have been enemy states for decades. Israel has invaded Lebanon several times in operations against militant groups, most recently in 2024 after nearly a year of exchanging fire with Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. Israel still holds positions in southern Lebanon and is carrying out airstrikes against what it says are Hezbollah’s efforts to re-arm and plan new operations against Israel. Salam said a November 2024 ceasefire deal would have to be fully implemented before further steps were considered, saying Israel would need to withdraw troops and halt strikes and Hezbollah would need to fully disarm. Hezbollah has rejected giving up its arsenal in full, but Salam said it had agreed to the ceasefire deal which asserts the state’s monopoly on arms. “Hezbollah must live up to its commitments,” he said.

Lebanon PM Says Truce Monitor Negotiations with Israel Not Peace Talks
Asharq Al Awsat/December 03/2025
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Wednesday said new negotiations with Israel taking place under the auspices of a ceasefire monitoring mechanism were not broader peace talks, while adding his country was open to the mechanism verifying efforts to disarm Hezbollah. Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since 1948, and despite the new diplomatic contact, Salam said in an interview that "we are not yet at peace talks."He also said Lebanon was "open to verification by the mechanism" when it came to its efforts to disarm Hezbollah. Israel and Lebanon sent civilian envoys to a military committee monitoring their ceasefire, top officials from both said on Wednesday, in a move set to expand the scope of talks between the long-time foes for the first time. The meeting was a step towards a months-old US demand that the two countries broaden talks beyond monitoring the 2024 ceasefire, in line with US President Donald Trump's agenda of peace agreements across the Middle East. It came even as fears of a renewed flare-up between Israel and powerful Lebanese armed group Hezbollah persist. Lebanon remains officially in a state of war with Israel, and criminalizes contacts with Israeli nationals. Meetings between civilian officials from the two sides have been extraordinarily rare throughout their fraught history. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has said in recent months, however, that he is open to negotiations to pursue a more robust truce and he dispatched a civilian envoy on Wednesday for the first time.

Mechanism holds 'positive' talks, 'search of homes' not discussed
Naharnet/December 03/2025
The ceasefire monitoring committee, known as the Mechanism, held a “positive” meeting on Wednesday in Naqoura, MTV said, in talks that for the first time witnessed the participation of Lebanese and Israeli civilian figures. The TV network added that the meeting witnessed the usual arrangements and that the Lebanese representatives left with the impression that the Lebanese Army would be given a chance to carry out its work and that today’s meeting would be capitalized on. MTV added that the meeting did not tackle the issue of searching homes in south Lebanon by the Lebanese Army and that U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus did not carry any Israeli threats or warnings.

Report: Ortagus suggested bombing Nasrallah's funeral
Naharnet/December 03/2025
U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus had suggested to Israeli officials that Israel bomb the funeral of slain Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that was held in Beirut on February 23, Israeli media reports said. Ortagus raised the issue of attacking the funeral under the pretext of “targeting Hezbollah leaders,” Tamir Morag, the political correspondent of Israel’s Channel 14, said. “The Israeli side did not agree to the advice and eventually opted not to attack the funeral, although Israeli warplanes overflew Beirut (at a very low altitude) during the ceremony,” Morag added. Ortagus visited Israel on Tuesday and on Wednesday she took part in a meeting in Lebanon for the ceasefire monitoring committee. MTV described Wednesday’s meeting as positive, after Lebanon and Israel sent civilian figures to the periodic talks in an unprecedented move signaling a higher level of diplomacy.

What did pope Leo say about Hezbollah's arms?
Naharnet/December 03/2025
In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Pope Leo XIV said he had read a letter from Hezbollah but that he prefers not to comment on it, adding that the Church proposes that Hezbollah disarm and seek dialogue instead. The pope said that peaceful solutions would be more productive and better for the Lebanese people, and vowed to keep on working to convince parties in Lebanon to disarm and choose dialogue instead of violence. The Pope said he held political meetings in Lebanon away from the media and that he focused on calming domestic and regional conflicts. In another interview with LBCI, Pope Leo said that he has communicated and will continue to communicate with world leaders to establish peace in Lebanon, after the channel's journalist asked him if he had communicated with U.S. president Donald Trump to ask him to pressure Israel to halt its attacks on Lebanon.

Israel preparing for 'major escalation' against Hezbollah, report says
Naharnet/December 03/2025
Israeli media have reported that Israel is preparing for a "significant escalation" with Hezbollah, deemed "inevitable" despite Washington's efforts. Reports claimed that Israel showed U.S Envoy Morgan Ortagus Tuesday "intelligence that proves Hezbollah is rebuilding and rearming" in south Lebanon and that the Lebanese Armed Forces are either unable or unwilling to stop that. "Israel needs American legitimacy for any step it takes," an Israeli official told Channel 12. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar meanwhile claimed that Hezbollah is "arming itself much faster than it is disarming," and that responsibility for the situation "lies with the Lebanese government." He also claimed that Iran is still financing Hezbollah via Turkey. "We had a good discussion on the situation in Lebanon. I said that the one violating Lebanese sovereignty is Hezbollah. Hezbollah's disarmament is crucial for Lebanon's future and Israel's security. The U.S. is our greatest ally, and we'll continue our close cooperation," Sa’ar said in a post on the X platform after meeting Ortagus. Since a ceasefire was reached with Israel last year, the United States has increased pressure on Lebanese authorities to disarm Hezbollah. In August, the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise a disarmament plan. Since then, the army has briefed the government twice on the plan but the discussions were kept secret. The army will present its third report tomorrow, Thursday, in a cabinet session. The army says the Israeli occupation of five hills in south Lebanon and the near-daily strikes are obstructing its deployment in the south, while Israel says it will keep up strikes, claiming that Hezbollah is rebuilding itself.

Syria Says Killed Man Caught with Landmines Intended for Hezbollah
Asharq Al Awsat/December 03/2025
Syrian authorities said on Wednesday they had killed a man and arrested four others who were attempting to smuggle hundreds of landmines to Lebanon's Hezbollah. In a statement, the interior ministry said it launched a raid in Al-Jebbe, near the capital Damascus, during which "four people were arrested and a fifth neutralized after a clash.” Khaled Abbas Taktouk Internal security director for the Yabrud region, which is close to the Lebanese border, was quoted as saying that "1,250 mines armed with detonators" were seized. According to the statement, they were "intended to be smuggled to Hezbollah" in Lebanon.

Where Does the "Pope's" Visit Stand Regarding the Tragedies of the Shiites?
Marwan Al-Amin/Nidaa Al-Watan/December 4, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
The presence of Pope Leo XIV in Lebanon represented a remarkable morale boost for Christians, following heavy years of calamities that swept the country. The visit came at a moment of sharp regional transformation, serving to remind everyone of the constancy and importance of the Christian role in the Lebanese fabric, at a time when the Christian presence is suffering a demographic drain in most countries of the region, including Lebanon. In his speech, the Pope emphasized the necessity of clinging to steadfastness and the courage of remaining in Lebanon, viewing them not merely as a necessary option but as an act of faith in this country's ability to rise again. He directed his clearest message to officials, calling on them to prioritize peace above all else, in an attempt to assert that peace has become the only option capable of saving Lebanon.
His call for peace was not a passing detail in his address but the broad headline that consistently resonated throughout the visit. The word "peace" was repeated dozens of times, signaling the immense need for it to move the country into a new phase.
Undoubtedly, peace provides the most conducive climate for enabling Christians to live and maintain their historical role, and it is also the primary pillar for halting the demographic drain affecting them in Lebanon and the rest of the region. It is natural for the Pope to carry this concern and to place his finger directly on the wound without any ambiguity. This visit broke the barrier of silence, not only among politicians but also within the public opinion. Talking about peace will now be circulated comfortably, with a loud voice instead of a whisper or confusion. This visit has removed the demand for peace from the circle of "national taboos," granting Lebanese people of all stripes a new legitimacy to put forth peace as a non-negotiable national priority. Speaking of peace after the Pope's visit is no longer the same as before.
If "peace" represents the most prominent theme of the Pope's visit for Christians, then for the Shiites, it is an existential necessity, not a political luxury. All forms of violence and armed action, regardless of their slogans and ideologies, have brought the Shiites—especially the people of the South—a great deal of destruction, death, and displacement.
Perhaps the latest military adventure waged by Hezbollah has been the most crushing for them compared to all previous rounds, as the scale of destruction inflicted upon the southern towns has reached an unprecedented level since the establishment of the Lebanese state. This time, the matter is no longer just another episode in the "destruction then reconstruction" equation that the Southerners have been accustomed to for decades. What is happening now transcends all of that to reach the level of a direct existential threat, with a real danger of turning those towns into uninhabited areas if Hezbollah, and behind it Iran, persists in its approach of stubbornness and defiance.Here, the Pope's call for peace becomes not just a plea for Christians alone, but a cry that converges with the message directed by Sayyed Ali Sistani to Iranian leaders in order to save the Shiite component, which stands on the brink of the abyss.
"Blessed are the peacemakers" is not just a verse the Pope invoked from the Holy Bible; it is more like a political commandment seeking statesmen with enough courage to preserve the Christian presence and role in this country, just as it is an urgent necessity to save the Shiite existence itself and halt the hellish spiral that continues to devour its people. In a country caught between the hammer of war and the anvil of collapse, peace becomes not a religious slogan or a sermonizing discourse, but the last option for survival for all Lebanese people without exception.

Israel Accuses Hezbollah of Assassinations in Beirut Port Blast Case
Tylia El Helou/This is Beirut/December 03/2025
With Lebanon’s investigation into the 2020 Beirut port explosion obstructed and international pressure for its progress fading, the truth remains elusive.
New and highly sensitive allegations emerged on Tuesday after the Israeli army accused a specialized Hezbollah cell—Unit 121—of assassinating four Lebanese figures who allegedly held information implicating the Shiite militia in the August 2020 Beirut port explosion. The claims, made by the army’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee on X, have reignited questions about a string of unsolved killings and the broader obstruction of the port blast investigation.
Four Killings, One Pattern
According to the Israeli military, Hezbollah’s Unit 121 targeted individuals—officials, journalists, and critics—who could have revealed that the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the port were being kept there on behalf of or under the protection of the militant group.
Among those killed:
Joseph Skaff, former head of Beirut’s port customs, who repeatedly requested the removal of the ammonium nitrate and died under disputed circumstances in 2017.
Mounir Abou Rjeily, former head of the Customs Anti-Smuggling Division, who was stabbed to death in December 2020 in a targeted and unexplained attack.
Joe Bejjani, a photographer assisting Lebanese army investigators with blast documentation, who was shot dead in his car later that month in a professional-style hit captured on CCTV. Lokman Slim, an intellectual, publisher, and outspoken critic of Hezbollah who was murdered in February 2021 in south Lebanon after publicly accusing the militia and the Syrian regime of responsibility for the explosion. Rasha al-Ameer—sister of Lokman Slim and co-founder of Dar al-Jadeed publishing house—said that Slim had already named the forces he believed would ultimately kill him. “Lokman wrote a public letter, which you can easily find, the day the mob hung curses on the walls of our residence. He explicitly said the names of the head killers,” Ameer told This is Beirut.
On December 13, 2019, Slim issued a statement declaring that he would hold Hezbollah and the Amal Movement responsible if he or his family were harmed. Slim’s letter followed the posting of threatening flyers on his home in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Ameer added that Dar al-Jadeed published Slim’s interview on Al-Hadath, where he spoke clearly about those who bought and used the ammonium nitrate at the Beirut port. “Let the judges in this country work. We need the indictment of Judge Bitar. The indictment of Roula Sfeir and many other indictments. We live in a high-tech world; killing small killers who will lead to the bosses should be an easy task,” she said.
Her remarks underscore a belief widely shared by Slim’s family and supporters: that his assassination was political, calculated, and connected to the port blast file—and that Lebanon’s judicial paralysis is shielding those truly responsible.
Hezbollah’s “Unit 121”: The Silent Security Arm
The Israeli army’s accusations focus on Unit 121, a clandestine branch within Hezbollah believed to operate directly under the authority of the militia’s top leadership.
Regional intelligence assessments say the unit specializes in the following:
internal surveillance;
intimidation of critics;
sensitive or deniable operations;
and high-profile targeted killings.
Its activities largely occur in areas where Hezbollah maintains de facto security control, limiting the ability of the Lebanese state to investigate or prosecute.
A History of Political Killings and Silenced Investigations
Lebanon’s modern political history is marked by assassinations—journalists, ministers, military officers, security experts, and critics targeted across decades.
In many cases, including Slim’s, the killings occurred in areas where Hezbollah exerts heavy influence. Investigations often stall due to political pressure, fear, or lack of access to evidence. This pattern has intensified since the Beirut port explosion:
Judges working on the blast case have faced suspension, legal harassment, and political obstruction. Families of victims accuse Hezbollah and its allies of blocking every attempt to question senior officials or security figures. Critical witnesses and investigators have been intimidated or sidelined. The Israeli army’s allegations have resurfaced a suspicious timeline of killings that many in Lebanon find difficult to dismiss.
The Nitrate Question
Hezbollah has repeatedly denied any involvement in storing or using the ammonium nitrate that exploded at the Beirut port on August 4, 2020. However, several unresolved issues persist: The material remained at the port for seven years with no decisive action from any security agency, including those with strong ties to Hezbollah. Multiple officials, including Skaff and Abou Rjeily, attempted to raise the alarm over the nitrate, only to be subsequently killed. Lokman Slim, in his final interviews, referred openly to “those who brought and used the nitrate,” directly implicating Hezbollah and the Syrian regime.
With Lebanon’s investigation into the explosion obstructed and international pressure for its progress fading, the truth remains elusive.
A Case Frozen—and a Country in the Dark
More than four years after the explosion that killed over 220 people and devastated half of Beirut, Lebanon still has no accountability, no indictment, and no functioning investigation. Adraee’s statement may be part of Israel’s information warfare, but it taps into a deeper Lebanese reality: Four killings linked to the port file remain unsolved. Potential witnesses were silenced. The judicial process has been sabotaged. And the Lebanese state appears unwilling—or unable—to confront those involved.

Lebanon Must Answer the Pope’s Call for Peace
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/This is Beirut/December 03/2025
Lebanon, and the world, must heed the Pope of Peace over the so-called “Party of God,” Hezbollah. From the heart of Lebanon—a biblical land living under Hezbollah’s shadow—Pope Leo XIV issued a clarion call for genuine peace, not merely a ceasefire, between longstanding adversaries. Although he refrained from naming Israel directly, the implication was unmistakable: the pontiff was urging Lebanon to pursue normalization with its southern neighbor. The pope's arrival and words could scarcely have been more urgent. Lebanon's Christians, once the sole majority in an Arabic-speaking nation, now constitute barely one-third of the population. They have faced vilification since the state's founding in 1920. Islamists across both Shia and Sunni lines have long branded Christians as betrayers of pan-Arabism and its rallying cry, the Palestinian cause. To many Muslims, Lebanon’s Christians appear as a Western-aligned fifth column, more devoted to distant coreligionists than to their Arabic-speaking compatriots. Yet this suspicion echoes a deeper history. Like other non-Muslim minorities across the Middle East—Jews, Druze, Alawites, Bahá'ís, Ismailis, and nonbelievers—Christians have weathered over a millennium of subjugation under successive Islamic rulers and empires. Muslims rightly assert that their faith mandates protection for non-Muslims, and this is true in principle. But protection falls woefully short of equality. Beyond Lebanon and Israel, Christians in the Middle East remain second-class citizens. Save for Lebanon, the constitutions of all 21 Arab League member states declare Islam the official religion, enshrine Sharia as a primary source of law, and mandate that the head of state be Muslim. Even Arab League summits commence with recitations from the Quran.
Where pan-Arab nationalism blurs into Islamism, Lebanon's Christians—and Palestine's Jews—sought sovereign homelands. The Jews prevailed. The Christians did not.
The final stand of Lebanon’s Christians against Islamism, pan-Arabism, the Palestinian cause, and the resulting wars and devastation occurred during the civil war. In 1970, when Lebanon hosted the Palestinian militias expelled from Jordan, these groups sowed chaos, launching assaults on Israel, provoking brutal reprisals, and terrorizing Lebanese civilians. In response, Christians rallied into state-loyal militias. They hoped the Cold War's end would herald peace, but Washington betrayed them. As a quid pro quo for Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad's role in ousting Iraqi forces from Kuwait during the Gulf War—and his token attendance at the 1991 Madrid talks between Arabs and Israel—the U.S. ceded Lebanon to the Assad regime in Damascus. This betrayal taught pan-Arab nationalists and Islamists a bitter truth: for the right price, the West would abandon Levantine Christians. Iran mastered this tactic, with Qatar and Turkey close behind—courting America while crushing Middle Eastern non-Muslims, be they Israel's Jews or the Christians of Lebanon, Syria, or Iraq. Pope Leo XIV grasps what the West still fumbles: In the Middle East, Christians and Jews teeter on the brink of extinction, their communities eroding to vanishing points. In Lebanon—the Arab world's erstwhile Christian-majority beacon—the faithful now hover at one-third of the populace, per official tallies. In truth, with waves of emigration to North America, Europe, and affluent Gulf states, their share likely dips to one-quarter.
Hemorrhage in Christian numbers is stark in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. In fact, the sole Middle Eastern nation where Christian numbers swell in tandem with the general populace is Israel. Reversing this decline in an increasingly Islamized region will require years of resolve. Pope Leo XIV's journey to Turkey and Lebanon marks a vital beginning. His plea for peace merits amplification as binding policy—not just for America, but for Lebanon's government, still puppeteered by Hezbollah's chief ally, Speaker Nabih Berri. Rather than demanding swift, unconditional peace with Israel, Beirut—and even Samir Geagea, head of the largest Christian political bloc in Lebanon—obsess over demonizing Israel. Lebanon insists that curbing Israel's operations against Hezbollah must come first, a stance that contradicts the Cessation of Hostilities that Lebanon signed with Israel and further entrenches enmity between the two neighboring countries. Lebanon, and the world, must heed the Pope of Peace over the so-called “Party of God,” Hezbollah. Failure to do so will leave the nation—and the region—languishing in endless war and woe.

Morgan Ortagus unlocks a landmark Lebanon–Israel breakthrough
Yassin K. Fawaz/The Arab Weekly/December 03/2025
The introduction of civilians — mandated to discuss political, legal, and governance matters that soldiers cannot resolve — marks nothing less than a structural shift. For the first time, Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives sat across from one another under UN supervision to advance the 2024 ceasefire framework. Deputy Special Presidential Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus, speaks after meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (not pictured) at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon August 26, 2025. Deputy Special Presidential Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus, speaks after meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (not pictured) at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon August 26, 2025. Diplomatic progress in the Middle East rarely arrives through spectacle. It comes instead through pressure, persistence, and the patient work of those who refuse to accept that stalemate is a permanent condition. Today in Naqoura, on Lebanon’s southern coast, a quiet but significant milestone was reached: for the first time, Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives sat across from one another under UN supervision to advance the 2024 ceasefire framework. Lebanon’s civilian representative, Simon Karam — a former ambassador to Washington — was formally appointed by the President of the Republic, a choice intended to signal that the Lebanese state was stepping into the process at the highest constitutional level. The meeting, attended in person by Senior US Envoy Morgan Ortagus, represents the most substantial evolution in the ceasefire mechanism since its creation. For two years the framework had remained narrowly focused on military coordination. The introduction of civilians — mandated to discuss political, legal, and governance matters that soldiers cannot resolve — marks nothing less than a structural shift. And according to senior Lebanese officials, the breakthrough was neither accidental nor organic. It was engineered. “Let’s be honest,” a senior Lebanese official conceded privately. “This step is the result of months of work from Morgan Ortagus. She pushed for it, she insisted on it, and she got her way. Without her persistence, this meeting would not have taken place today.”In a country accustomed to ambiguity, such candour is unusual. But Washington’s envoy has long been known for her clarity — and for her ability to impose a sense of direction on processes that teeter between inertia and collapse. Since the end of the 2024 Israel–Hezbollah conflict, the ceasefire committee — based at UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters — had been almost exclusively military. Its mandate was limited to monitoring incidents, verifying complaints, and preventing escalation. UN officials often argued that the format was inadequate for dealing with the deeper issues that repeatedly ignited the frontier: border demarcation, overlapping sovereignties, the presence of armed groups, and the political vacuum inside Lebanon.
Yet expanding the committee was long considered politically impossible. Lebanon’s fragmented politics, Hezbollah’s dominance in the south, and Israeli mistrust meant that no one wanted to take the first risk. That calculation changed as Washington recalibrated its strategy — and as Ortagus began her behind-the-scenes campaign to transform a fragile ceasefire mechanism into a political platform.The arrival of civilians at the table is the first tangible result.
Beyond the Litani
What Washington now calls “looming deadlines” are not tied to geography alone. They stem from the 2024 ceasefire agreement, which requires Lebanon to restore the state’s monopoly over armed force — a standard that goes far beyond the old language of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. For years, the international conversation revolved around a geographic phrase: south of the Litani River. UN Security Council Resolution 1701 prohibits any armed non-state actors from operating in that zone. But American and Israeli officials increasingly view this standard as a relic — insufficient for addressing the modern threats posed by Hezbollah’s precision-guided missiles, tunnel networks, and decentralized launch sites. The United States now frames the challenge differently. A senior US official explained the evolving position: “The issue isn’t just south of the Litani anymore. The issue is Hezbollah’s border infrastructure, wherever it sits.”
Israel’s view is even sharper. For its security establishment, a stable frontier cannot coexist with Hezbollah’s fortified positions anywhere in the southern theatre — whether 500 metres or 15 kilometres from the border. The new logic is simple: capability matters more than geography. It is against this backdrop that Washington sees civilian talks as essential. Military officers can manage violations; civilians can negotiate dismantlement, demobilisation, and demarcation.
Lebanon’s own commitment
The Lebanese state, despite its chronic dysfunction, has taken steps that align — at least in principle — with this shift. On 5 September 2025, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam endorsed the Lebanese Armed Forces’ “Homeland Shield Plan”, a phased roadmap that commits Lebanon to restoring the state’s monopoly over weapons.
The plan lays out five phases, beginning in the south and gradually expanding to the Bekaa Valley, Beirut’s southern suburbs, and ultimately the entire country. Notably:
Hezbollah and Amal ministers walked out during the session. The cabinet still adopted the plan after their departure. The plan formally commits the Lebanese state to the disarmament of militias — including Hezbollah. Reuters reporting confirms that the Lebanese army has been working to meet a “year-end deadline” to disarm armed groups in the south — so aggressively, in fact, that it reportedly “ran out of explosives” while blowing up arms caches. This deadline is not legally codified, but it is real in political and operational terms. It reflects the US and Israeli expectation that 2025 must produce measurable progress — or new consequences. Its final phases envision a country where the Lebanese state — and the Lebanese state alone — controls heavy weapons, missile infrastructure, and organized paramilitary units. Lebanese officials may not say it publicly, but the plan exists because the alternative is clear: the failure to enforce disarmament internally will invite Israeli enforcement from the outside. This is the quiet logic behind Ortagus’ reference to deadlines: they are not merely diplomatic milestones — they are strategic tripwires.
Hard Reality
Inside Beirut, few officials say it publicly, but the understanding is now widespread: the pre-2024 status quo is gone, and no actor — not Washington, not Jerusalem, and not the Arab states — intends to allow Hezbollah to re-establish it. Regional capitals that once tolerated ambiguity have shifted as well; Gulf and Arab governments increasingly see Hezbollah’s parallel military structure as a regional liability, not a Lebanese exception.
A regional security figure familiar with the disarmament discussions put it starkly: “Either Lebanon moves toward disarmament through the state, or Israel will move toward disarmament through force.” Israel has already communicated as much to Washington. If Hezbollah continues to entrench missile infrastructure, tunnel complexes, or cross-border launch capabilities, Israel will not wait for Lebanon’s political class to reach consensus.
Washington does not dispute this. Instead, it aims to shape the conditions in which Lebanese state action becomes more viable — and Israeli military action less likely.
This is where Ortagus’s push for a civilian track becomes strategically significant: it creates a forum through which the Lebanese state can formally assume responsibilities that, for decades, were too politically radioactive to address.
New US diplomatic signature
Ortagus’s presence in Naqoura was not ceremonial. It was a signal that the United States is shifting from passive supervision to active shaping.
Her approach fits a distinctive American style:
unsentimental,
methodical,
anchored in measurable benchmarks,
intolerant of ambiguity,
and fundamentally aligned with the belief that stalemate is not an option.
Her private reference to “looming deadlines” was not rhetorical. It referred to:
the Lebanese army’s year-end obligations under Homeland Shield,
US and Israeli expectations for reducing Hezbollah’s operational footprint,
the need to stabilise the frontier before political windows close,
and a broader strategic reality: time favours escalation, not stability.
Ortagus’ task has been to prevent drift — and today’s civilian meeting is the clearest evidence yet that drift has been replaced with direction.
Rare Opening
For the first time since 2024, the Lebanon–Israel file shows signs of evolution. Civilian involvement opens the door to discussions that could not be held in a purely military format:
demarcation of outstanding border points
legal and technical frameworks for weapons removal
dismantlement of tunnel networks
the political conditions for security normalisation
reconstruction planning
state-to-state dispute resolution channels
Israel supports the shift because it wants clarity.
Washington supports it because it wants durability.
Lebanon — or at least its formal institutions — supports it because the alternative is catastrophe. As the Lebanese official who credited Ortagus with the breakthrough put it:
“Call it whatever you want. All I know is this: she made it happen.”
In a region where diplomatic achievements are rare and often ephemeral, this one stands out—not because it solved the conflict, but because it finally moved the process.
And in the Middle East, movement can be the difference between a contained crisis and an uncontrollable one. At a time when breakthroughs are scarce, that counts for something. And in Washington, it should count even more.
**Yassin K Fawaz is an American business executive, publisher and security and terrorism expert.

Can Pope Leo inspire peace in Lebanon?
Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/December 03, 2025
There are many interpretations of the word “peace” in the Lebanese context. The fact that the visiting Pope Leo this week repeated it more than 20 times in one speech does not necessarily tilt the paradigm toward a more certain future for Lebanon or the wider Middle East. It is hard to find a Lebanese that does not want peace, but usually that is a peace tailored by their clan, tribe or political party’s narrative.
Yes, the majority of Lebanese are at last tired of perpetual conflict, but peace is unlikely to reign in the absence of a just and fair settlement between Israel and the Lebanese, the Palestinians, the Iranians and the Syrians. Such a development might finally bring about an enduringly stable Lebanon and maybe a more tolerant Middle East. Pope Leo, making a two-day visit to Lebanon after four days in Turkiye, prayed for peace both in the multiconfessional country and in the region. A joyful Lebanese population welcomed the pontiff in their well-known and warm style, with the young and old, Muslim and Christian, political and apolitical lining the streets to wave at the pontiff. In some places, he was cheered like a pop star, in others he was seen as a savior, but the reality is that Pope Leo’s sincere message of peace can only go so far. His message will not persuade the big powers, with their conflicting agendas, to vie for peace in Lebanon, the region or anywhere else on Earth.
The pope’s visit and prayers no doubt offered just a small respite for stricken Lebanon, where an internal stalemate over the disarming of Hezbollah continues to distract the president and government from pursuing a reform program that could set the country on a peaceful and stable path. A year ago, many believed that such an opportunity would never be possible, but the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the battering of Hezbollah by Israel, along with the weakening of the Iranian regime by Israeli and US strikes, changed things.
As he traveled around Lebanon, Pope Leo stayed faithful to his message of saving humanity, not just Christians. “For the world, we ask for peace. We especially implore it for Lebanon and for the entire Levant,” he said while visiting an ancient monastery. Addressing the country’s youth during another stop, he called on them to help build a better world than the one they inherited. But even with the best enthusiasm and goodwill they could muster, their world sadly forms part of a seemingly cursed Middle East. This is a place where nations have rarely ever been at peace with themselves or their neighbors, amid competing identities, sectarianism and ideological and economic divides. One hopes that the message of hope and peace delivered by a sincere pope will last longer than his journey back to the Vatican. I am not being a cynic here, since the region, from Lebanon to Palestine and Syria to Sudan, remains a powder keg.
What is true of our world today are the limitations of moral, ethical and humanitarian considerations when it comes to bidding for peace. This brings to mind the alleged words of Joseph Stalin after he was asked to consider having the pope at a Second World War peace conference: “How many divisions does the pope have?”And the same applies today. A close look at Lebanon, where the pope urged its government and people to seek tolerance, inclusion and peace, reveals a country in the grip of domestic discord like never before. And this is in addition to the ongoing low-intensity Israeli attacks against Hezbollah operatives and capabilities in the south and east of the country, as well as Beirut’s suburbs. The inhabitants of thousands of border villages remain displaced as a result of last year’s war with Israel. Despite the ceasefire deal signed a year ago by Hezbollah and Israel — with no involvement of the Lebanese government — Israel continues to launch almost-daily bombing raids into Lebanon. The UN peacekeeping mission in the country has recorded more than 10,000 violations and counting.
Hopes of peace, from Lebanon to Syria, Gaza and the West Bank, remain at the mercy of Israel’s overarching and untamed reach, as Tel Aviv strikes whatever it considers a threat to its national security.
Hopes of peace, from Lebanon to Syria, Gaza and the West Bank, remain at the mercy of Israel’s overarching reach.
In Gaza, the ceasefire is more like a “reduce fire,” as the Israeli attacks continue on a near-daily basis. The casualties and destruction keep coming, with the world getting accustomed to a low-intensity conflict and limited humanitarian aid reaching the needy.
The West Bank is not faring any better, as Israel’s crackdown since Oct. 7, 2023, has escalated into a siege of the Palestinian population by the army and military-backed settlers. Human Rights Watch last month stated that Israel’s operations in the West Bank amounted to “war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.”Syria, despite the fall of the Assad regime and the removal of the years-old Iranian influence, is also not being spared the long Israeli arm. The government in Tel Aviv is reserving the right to reach into Syrian territory at will, eroding trust in the new government, which is supported by international and regional powers. So, the pope’s message of peace is likely to fall on deaf ears from Lebanon to Gaza, Syria and elsewhere, since the word is subject to interpretation and context. The man on the street in Lebanon, like elsewhere, is committed to peace and desires it, but the question is who will enforce it in a world that is retreating on its commitment to uphold human rights and is increasingly governed by the powerful and their unilateral violence, rather than a rules-based international system?
**Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years’ experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 03-04/2025
Pope plans trip to Africa, starting with Algeria, rejects anti-Muslim sentiment in the West
Asharq Al Awsat/03 December/2025
“Personally, I hope to go to Algeria to visit the places from the life of Saint Augustine,” he said, in reference to the fifth-century saint from the North African country. The pope said anti-Muslim sentiment was “oftentimes generated by people who are against immigration”. Wrapping up his first international trip as pontiff, Pope Leo XIV said on Tuesday that he would like to visit Algeria in 2026 as part of a voyage to Africa, which could be his next overseas destination. “I hope to make a trip to Africa, which could be my next trip,” the US pope said during a press conference aboard the papal plane during his return from a six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon. “Personally, I hope to go to Algeria to visit the places from the life of Saint Augustine,” he said, in reference to the fifth-century saint from the North African country. Leo, who was elected in May, belongs to the Augustinian order, which was founded in the 13th century and has nearly 3,000 members in around 50 countries. Such a visit would allow the head of the Catholic Church to “continue the discourse of dialogue and bridge-building between the Christian and the Muslim worlds”, he said. “The figure of Saint Augustine plays an important role as a bridge because in Algeria he is highly respected as a son of the nation,” the 70-year-old pontiff said. A trip to Africa could also include visits to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, a Vatican source said. Leo, leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, also said he would “very much” like to visit “Latin America, Argentina, Uruguay”, as well as Peru, where he spent more than 20 years working as a missionary. Leo XIV also criticised anti-migrant activists in the West who stoke “fears” of Islam and said co-operation between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon should be an example for Europe and the United States. The pope said anti-Muslim sentiment was “oftentimes generated by people who are against immigration and trying to keep out people who may be from another country, another religion, another race.”He said his visit to Lebanon was intended to show “that dialogue and friendship between Muslims and Christians is possible”. Leo said stories he heard during the trip of Christians and Muslims helping each other were “lessons … that we should perhaps be a little less fearful”. The US-born pope spent two decades in Peru as a missionary within the Augustinian order. He has been critical of growing nationalist sentiment in Europe and the United States and has called for an end to the “inhuman treatment” of migrants under US President Donald Trump. He has also exhorted followers to reject an “exclusionary mindset” that he said had led to nationalism around the world. Leo has said the Catholic Church “must open the borders between peoples and break down the barriers between class and race”.

Israel says received presumed remains of Gaza hostage
AFP/03 December/2025
Israel announced Wednesday it had received hostage remains found in Gaza from the Red Cross, which were being transported to the morgue for identification. It comes as the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains fragile, with both sides accusing each other of violating the terms. Under the first phase of the deal - which came into effect in October - Palestinian militants were due to return all 48 hostages they held captive, 20 of whom were still alive. All but the bodies of two hostages - Israeli Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak - have since been handed over, but Israel has accused Hamas of dragging their feet on returning remains. “Israel has received, via the Red Cross, the coffin of a deceased hostage, which was delivered to (army) and Shin Bet (internal security service) forces in the Gaza Strip,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. “The coffin of the deceased hostage... crossed the border into the State of Israel a short while ago and is on its way to the National Institute for Forensic Medicine, where identification procedures will be carried out,” the Israeli army said in a statement. The military did not specify whether what was discovered were the remains of one of the last two Gaza hostages but the premier’s office said authorities were in “continuous contact” with their families. Israeli police in a brief statement said they were “currently escorting, with reverence, the coffin of the fallen hostage to the National Center of Forensic Medicine.”A Hamas official told AFP before the Israeli statement that a team from the two groups’ armed wings had “found remains that are possibly those of an Israeli hostage” under the rubble in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza. AFP footage from northern Gaza showed masked militants from the two groups standing on the back of a truck with a stretcher covered with a white body bag. Diggers were busy working to remove vast piles of rubble.
‘No link’ in past remains
On Wednesday morning, Netanyahu’s office said forensic tests showed remains retrieved from Gaza the day before were “not linked” to the last two dead hostages held in the Palestinian territory. Israeli police said on Tuesday they had received the presumed remains of one of the remaining hostages and escorted what they called “the coffin of the fallen hostage” to the forensic center. Hamas has blamed difficulties in finding the remains beneath the sea of rubble created by the two-year war with Israel. The Gaza Strip remains in a deep humanitarian crisis despite the ceasefire which came into effect on October 10. Under the first phase of the deal brokered by Trump, Palestinian militants have handed over the last 20 living hostages, and so far, the remains of 26 out of 28 deceased ones. In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of dead Palestinians. Militants took 251 people hostage during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the devastating war and resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people. Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 70,117 people, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
The ministry says since the ceasefire came into effect, 360 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. Israel’s military has reported three soldiers killed during the same period.

Israel army says four soldiers injured in clash with Gaza militants
AFP/03 December/2025
Israel’s military said four soldiers were injured Wednesday in a clash with Palestinian militants in the southern Gaza Strip, where a ceasefire has largely halted fighting between Israel and Hamas. The US-brokered ceasefire which came into effect on October 10 remains fragile, with both sides accusing each other of violating the terms. The Israeli military said that during an operation in the area of eastern Rafah on Wednesday, soldiers encountered several militants “who emerged from an underground terrorist infrastructure.”“During the encounter, an (Israeli) combat soldier was severely injured, two additional combat soldiers and a non-commissioned officer were moderately injured,” the military said in a statement. It added that the soldiers were evacuated to hospital for medical treatment, and their families had been notified. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli premier sent his “wishes for a speedy recovery to our heroic soldiers,” accusing Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement. A security source in Gaza told AFP that at around 4pm local time (1400 GMT), “very heavy artillery shelling took place from occupation vehicles east of Rafah city, along with heavy gunfire from warplanes.”The source added that an Israeli helicopter had also landed in the area. The military said Sunday that it had killed more than 40 militants over the past week in operations targeting tunnels near Rafah, where dozens of Hamas fighters are holed up beneath areas controlled by the Israeli military. Multiple sources told AFP last week that negotiations were underway regarding the fate of the fighters still in south Gaza’s tunnel network. On Thursday, a prominent Hamas member in Gaza told AFP that the group estimated their number to be between 60 and 80. The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people. Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 70,117 people, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry. The ministry says since the ceasefire came into effect, 360 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. Israel’s military has reported three soldiers killed during the same period.

Rafah Crossing to Open Soon to Let Gazans Cross into Egypt, Israel Says
Asharq Al Awsat/03 December/2025
Gaza's main gateway will open in the next few days, Israel said on Wednesday, allowing thousands of Palestinians who are in need of medical care to leave the war-ravaged enclave through Egypt. COGAT, the Israeli military arm that oversees humanitarian matters, said the opening of the Rafah crossing will be coordinated with Egypt, under the supervision of the European Union mission, similar to a mechanism employed during a previous Gaza ceasefire agreed in January 2025. Under US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan that has largely halted the two-year war between Israel and Hamas, the crossing was to open in both directions.
THOUSANDS OF PALESTINIANS WAITING FOR TREATMENT
Before the war, the Rafah crossing was the only direct exit point for most Palestinians in Gaza to reach the outside world and was a key entry point for aid into the territory. It has been mostly closed throughout the conflict. At least 16,500 patients in Gaza are in need of medical care outside of the enclave, according to the United Nations. Some Gazans managed to leave for medical treatment abroad through Israel. "We have been waiting for the Rafah opening for months," said Gaza businessman Tamer al-Burai, who needs treatment abroad for a respiratory condition. "At last, I and thousands of other patients, may have a chance to receive proper treatment," Burai told Reuters by phone from Gaza. Israel has kept Rafah shut in both directions since the ceasefire came into effect in October, saying that Hamas must abide by the agreement to return all hostages still in Gaza, living and deceased. Hamas has returned all 20 living hostages in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners, but two more deceased captives - an Israeli police officer and a Thai agricultural worker - are still in Gaza. Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian group allied with Hamas which had also held some of the hostages taken in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war, said on Wednesday that it was searching together with the Red Cross for the body of one of the remaining deceased captives. The Islamic Jihad announcement came a day after Hamas handed over remains it said were of one of the two deceased hostages, but which were found to not belong to either of them following forensic tests in Israel. Handing over all the hostages was a central tenet of the first phase of the ceasefire. Major obstacles lie ahead of the next phase, including the question of Hamas disarming, Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, governance of the enclave and international security arrangements.

Egypt denies coordinating with Israel to reopen Rafah crossing
AFP/03 December/2025
Israel said on Wednesday it would open the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt to allow residents to exit the Palestinian territory “in the coming days,” but Egypt denied such a deal with Israel. “In accordance with the ceasefire agreement... the Rafah Crossing will open in the coming days exclusively for the exit of residents from the Gaza Strip to Egypt,” COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said in a statement. But Egypt swiftly denied that it had agreed a deal, insisting that the key crossing be opened in both directions. “If an agreement is reached to open the crossing, it will be in both directions, to enter and exit the Gaza Strip, in accordance with the plan of US President Donald Trump,” the state information service said in a statement, quoting an official Egyptian source. Israel’s COGAT added that the crossing would operate under the supervision of the EU’s Border Assistance Mission, “similar to the mechanism that operated in January 2025,” when the crossing was briefly opened during a six-week truce. Two European diplomatic sources told AFP they had originally been preparing for the crossing’s opening for pedestrians on October 14 after a similar announcement, before the opening was delayed. Reopening the Rafah crossing is a part of Trump’s peace plan for the Palestinian territory, as well as something UN agencies and other humanitarian actors have long called for.
‘Insufficient’
Egypt regularly calls for the crossing to be opened to humanitarian aid, in accordance with the US-brokered plan. Convoys stationed on the Egyptian side of the border continue to pass through the nearby Israeli crossing at Kerem Shalom. But while the agreement provided for some 600 lorries per day to be allowed through, “UN data puts that number at just over 100 per day,” United Nations sources in Cairo said. “The vast majority of cargo entering is food, while essential goods like tents and medical equipment are still denied or face significant delays.” The sources added that while about half of Gazan households reported better access to food in November, overall food access remains “insufficient” throughout the territory, according to the World Food Program. The Israeli army took control of the Palestinian side of the crossing in May 2024, claiming that it was being “used for terrorist purposes,” with suspicions of arms trafficking. It was briefly reopened during the ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas that took effect on January 19, initially allowing the passage of people authorized to leave Gaza, and later of trucks. The Rafah crossing is a crucial entry point for humanitarian workers and for lorries transporting aid, food and fuel, which is essential for daily life in a territory deprived of electricity. For a long time, the crossing was the main exit point for Palestinians from Gaza who were authorized to leave the narrow strip of land, which has been under Israeli blockade since 2007.

Netanyahu pardon plea seen as bid to ensure survival ahead of 2026 vote
AFP/03 December/2025
Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon in three ongoing corruption cases is widely seen as his latest bid to ensure his political survival, as the canny premier stares down the prospect of close elections in 2026. The first sitting Israeli prime minister to stand trial, Netanyahu has been dogged by the allegations for years, and has had to appear in front of a judge weekly for hearings. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and denounced the cases as a politically motivated plot against him. He submitted his request on Sunday to President Isaac Herzog, who will now decide whether to take the rare move of pardoning Netanyahu before any conviction. “The pardon request that Netanyahu’s lawyers submitted is not a legal move. It is purely a political move,” prominent columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the Yediot Aharonot daily. The request starts a negotiation led by Herzog that could see the trials end through a plea bargain agreement, a pardon or a combination of the two, the columnist said. “If Herzog grants him a deluxe pardon he will be freed from his trial... he will ride that wave all the way to victory in the elections,” he wrote Monday.
“If the negotiations end in failure,” he added, “Netanyahu will ride the wave of victimhood all the way to victory in the elections.”
‘Political tool’
Netanyahu, 76, is Israel’s longest-serving premier, having spent more than 18 years in the post across three spells since 1996. The next election must be held no later than November 2026, but could be even earlier if Netanyahu chooses, or if his hand is forced by the loss of his very fragile majority. The premier has already made it clear he intends to run again, though he is facing a tricky race. Polls have shown that if an election were held today, Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party would win, putting him in prime position to form the next government. But according to a Kan poll conducted the day of his pardon request, the prime minister’s parliamentary bloc would win just 52 seats, compared to 58 for the opposition -- not counting Arab parties, which are unlikely to join a coalition with either side. Meanwhile, Netanyahu faces a wall of anger in Israel. Nearly two-thirds of Israelis want him to acknowledge his responsibility for the security failures that led to Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Opinions are mixed on the prospect of offering him clemency, with between 40 and 48 percent of Israelis opposing it, and 35 to 38 percent in favour, according to two surveys published after the request. For Netanyahu, it is all about securing the next term, said legal expert Dorit Koskas, who said the premier was using the pardon as a “political tool.” He wants to “erase the consequences of his failings so he can continue his political career instead of finally being held accountable,” she told AFP. Political journalist Ari Shavit speculated in Yediot Aharonot that Netanyahu would propose a deal: “a pardon in exchange for a complete halt to the judicial reform” that deeply divided the country in 2023. Netanyahu’s government proposed far-reaching judicial reforms that critics said sought to weaken the courts, prompting massive protests that were only curtailed after the onset of the Gaza war.
Trump backing
But Netanyahu has one significant and powerful supporter: US President Donald Trump, who wrote to Herzog last month seeking a pardon for the prime minister. Netanyahu said in a letter sent alongside the pardon request that an end to his trials would heal the divisions in Israel. Although the Israeli opposition rejects a pardon without Netanyahu’s withdrawal from political life, Herzog said Monday he would focus only on Israel’s “best interests” when he weighs the request. According to political analyst Myriam Shermer, a pardon for Netanyahu would only reduce divisions if it allowed “a broad centrist coalition to emerge... after years of political deadlock.”Israel’s system of proportional representation has often led to coalitions made up of very different parties which frequently results in unstable governments. To achieve a broad centrist coalition, Shermer said the opposition must end its stigmatisation of Netanyahu, and the prime minister must agree to govern with parties other than his current far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies. She added Netanyahu would also have to establish a “real commission that will examine the security and political failings” that led to the October 7 attack, which the premier opposes despite wide support across Israel for such a move.

Egypt in Talks with US to Co-chair Gaza Reconstruction Conference
Cairo: Mohamed Mahmoud/Asharq Al-Awsat/03 December/2025
Egypt is in talks with Washington to co-chair an international conference on “early recovery and reconstruction” in the Gaza Strip. The diplomatic push comes amid continued Israeli violations and growing concerns that the current ceasefire could collapse. Experts who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat said the Egyptian initiative may accelerate the conference - originally expected to be held at the end of November - and help curb further Israeli breaches while reassuring international partners about funding commitments for Gaza’s rebuilding. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said during a press conference in Berlin on Tuesday with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul that Cairo is “consulting with the United States to form a joint chairmanship for the reconstruction conference,” adding that Egypt hopes to reach agreement on a date “as soon as possible, in cooperation with partners.”On Nov. 25, a senior Egyptian source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the conference would be postponed due to escalating conditions in Gaza and the need for “better circumstances on the ground” to ensure meaningful outcomes. Later that month, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tamim Khallaf confirmed that Egypt is working with regional and international partners to create a conducive environment for the event, stressing Cairo’s aim to ensure “maximum effectiveness and impact.” An emergency Arab summit hosted by Cairo on March 4 adopted a five-year, $53-billion plan for Gaza’s reconstruction, prioritizing early recovery and rebuilding without displacing Palestinians. The summit also called for a UN-coordinated international donors’ conference. At last October’s Sharm El-Sheikh Summit for Peace, which helped secure the Gaza ceasefire, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stressed the importance of holding the reconstruction conference in November, according to a presidential statement. Ezzat Saad, executive director of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, said US participation is crucial because Washington brokered the ceasefire plan and can help enforce it amid “deliberate Israeli attempts” to undermine the agreement in place since Oct. 10. He added that American involvement would also reassure donors and encourage more substantial contributions. Barakat al-Farra, former Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, described Egypt’s move to involve Washington as “excellent,” noting that it mirrors the successful model of the Sharm El-Sheikh peace conference.
He said joint leadership would constrain Israeli efforts to impose separate reconstruction zones, maintain occupation, or divide Gaza. Meanwhile, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said Tuesday that mediation efforts to maintain the ceasefire “are ongoing amid worrying violations,” warning that “each breach weakens the truce.” He noted that despite the challenges, this remains “the longest-lasting ceasefire,” and mediators are working to advance toward the agreement’s second phase. The ceasefire was shaken in late November after at least 21 people were killed in Israeli strikes, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense, amid stalled progress toward the next phase of the agreement brokered by Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and Türkiye. Saad said sustained mediation could still move the process forward if US pressure on Israel materializes, paving the way for security arrangements, Israeli withdrawals, and reconstruction. Al-Farra added that progress toward phase two becomes more likely if Washington agrees to co-chair the conference with Egypt, leaving Israel with little room to obstruct implementation.

General Assembly Adopts Resolution Asking Israel to Withdraw from Golan
Asharq Al Awsat/03 December/2025
The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights. The resolution, titled “The Syrian Golan,” was adopted on Tuesday by a recorded vote of 123 in favor to seven against (Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, United States), with 41 abstentions. By its terms, the Assembly declared that Israel’s December 14, 1981 decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan “is null and void and called for its rescission.” The Assembly also called on Israel to resume talks on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks and to respect the commitments and undertakings reached previously. It also demanded that Israel withdraw from the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of June 4, 1967. General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry political weight. Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said the “General Assembly once again proves how disconnected it is from reality.” “Instead of addressing the crimes of the Iranian axis and the dangerous activities of militias in Syria, it demands that Israel withdraw from the Golan Heights - a vital defense line that protects our citizens. Israel will not return to the 1967 lines and will not abandon the Golan. Not now, not ever,” he added on X.

Italy eyes deeper Gulf partnership as Meloni attends GCC summit in Bahrain
Al Arabiya English/03 December/2025
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni on Wednesday attended a Gulf-Italy summit in the Bahraini capital Manama. Italy is participating as the guest of honor at the 46th GCC Summit. “Italy can work with Gulf states to help overcome divisions, and we seek to work with them to establish global security,” Meloni said. She added that Italy can serve as a gateway for Gulf states into the European market. Meloni also highlighted opportunities for cooperation in the energy sector and expressed Rome’s readiness to host a summit bringing together Mediterranean and Gulf states.For his part, GCC Secretary-General Jasem Albudaiwi affirmed that relations between the Gulf and Italy are longstanding and solid. He noted that trade exchange with Italy surpassed $35 billion in 2024. Read more: GCC leaders say threats to any member state’s sovereignty endanger collective security

Kremlin says Putin accepted some US proposals on Ukraine and is ready to continue talking
Reuters/ 03 December/2025
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin accepted some US proposals aimed at ending the war in Ukraine and rejected others but that Russia was ready to meet US negotiators as many times as it took to reach an agreement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was speaking after talks in Moscow between Putin and US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner went into the early hours of Wednesday morning, with a Kremlin aide saying afterwards that “compromises have not yet been found.”Asked if it would be correct to say that Putin had rejected the US proposals, Peskov said that it would not. “A direct exchange of views took place yesterday for the first time,” Peskov said. “Some things were accepted, some things were marked as unacceptable - this is a normal working process of finding a compromise.”Peskov said that Russia was grateful to Trump for his efforts but that the Kremlin would not be giving a running commentary on discussions with the United States as publicity was unlikely to be constructive. “Work is currently being carried out at a working expert level,” Peskov said. “It is at the expert level that certain results should be achieved that will then become the basis for contacts at the highest level.”A leaked set of 28 US draft peace proposals emerged in November, alarming Ukrainian and European officials who said they bowed to Moscow’s main demands. European powers then came up with a counter-proposal, and at talks in Geneva, the US and Ukraine said they had created an “updated and refined peace framework” to end the war. Putin on Tuesday said European powers were trying to sink the peace talks by proposing ideas which were absolutely unacceptable to Russia. Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters after the Witkoff talks that Moscow had previously received a 27-point set of proposals and then four additional documents which were discussed with Witkoff. Putin last week said that the US and Ukraine had divided up the initial proposals into four components. The exact contents have not been disclosed.

GCC leaders: Threats to any member state’s sovereignty endanger collective security
Al Arabiya English/03 December/2025
Gulf leaders on Wednesday stressed that the security and stability of GCC states are indivisible, and that any violation of the sovereignty of one member state constitutes a direct threat to the collective security of all. At the 46th session of the GCC Supreme Council in Bahrain, Gulf leaders underscored the importance of respecting the sovereignty of GCC member states and other countries in the region. They rejected any interference in internal affairs and any use – or threat – of force. The Sakhir Declaration 2025 emphasized the need to strengthen international cooperation to safeguard regional security and deepen political, security, and economic partnerships with friendly nations, international organizations, and economic blocs. It also highlighted the importance of enhancing collaboration in areas related to sustainable development. The declaration further called for combating all forms of extremism and terrorism, as well as hate speech and incitement. It urged joint efforts to counter transnational crime and reaffirmed support for the Joint Maritime Forces headquartered in Bahrain, which play a crucial role in protecting energy supplies, securing maritime navigation, and safeguarding global trade. The leaders also reiterated their commitment to making the Middle East free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, preventing arms races, and reinforcing regional stability. In pursuit of a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the Middle East, the leaders welcomed the outcomes of the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit. Through the Sakhir Declaration, they expressed support for regional and international efforts aimed at ensuring full compliance with the agreement to end the war in Gaza. They also emphasized the importance of facilitating humanitarian aid, reconstruction efforts, and all initiatives leading toward the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state along the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with the two-state solution, the Arab Peace Initiative, and relevant international resolutions. This, they said, fulfills the aspirations of the Palestinian people – and the wider region – to live in security and peace. On the economic front, leaders at the Sakhir Summit reaffirmed the importance of completing the requirements for a unified Gulf market and a customs union, while promoting trade and tourism. They encouraged investment in strategic projects, particularly in infrastructure, transport, energy, telecommunications, water, and food. The leaders also highlighted the need to strengthen cooperation in technology, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity under a unified GCC strategy. The aim is to advance knowledge integration, share expertise in digital transformation, combat cybercrime, ensure safe digital environments, and encourage active participation by youth and women in development efforts. They also underscored the role of think tanks and research centers in anticipating future trends and shaping public policy that supports sustainable development. The summit reaffirmed the Gulf states’ commitment to environmental responsibility, sustainable initiatives, and renewed pledges to protect the environment and address climate-change challenges. Leaders highlighted the importance of reducing carbon emissions, expanding clean and renewable energy projects, and preserving natural and marine resources, in line with regional and global efforts to reach net-zero targets and achieve sustainable development goals. The leaders also expressed appreciation for the participation of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the joint session between the two sides. The talks focused on strengthening long-standing ties of friendship, and both parties agreed to draw up a joint action plan to elevate the relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, reflecting the GCC’s openness to building broader partnerships with friendly nations.

Manama Summit Seeks to Bolster Joint Gulf Work, Int’l Partnerships
Asharq Al Awsat/03 December/2025
Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries convened in Al Sakhir, Bahrain, on Wednesday to underscore the “solid bonds and integration among the members.”“The leaders underlined their determination to continue advancing coordination and integration among the GCC states across all political, security, economic and social fields, towards the aspired unity that serves their shared fraternal interests and contributes to establishing the foundations of security, peace and prosperity in the region and the world,” said a statement. “The leaders expressed satisfaction with the achievements made in the course of joint GCC action, including integration milestones realized under a cohesive defense and security system, balanced and prudent diplomatic positions, and sustainable development and economic projects,” it added. “These achievements reflect the Council’s political cohesion and alignment in vision, objectives and positions on regional and international issues. They also stressed the importance of continuing efforts at an accelerated pace to achieve further gains for the GCC states and their peoples.”
Regional affairs
They underscored respect for the sovereignty of GCC states and all countries of the region, non-interference in their internal affairs, and rejecting the use of force or threats. They stressed that the security and stability of GCC states “are indivisible, and that any infringement upon the sovereignty of a member state constitutes a direct threat to their collective security.” The leaders welcomed the outcomes of the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit, held in October, and underlined their support for regional and international efforts aimed at ensuring full adherence to the agreement to end the war in Gaza, facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid and reconstruction. They expressed full support to “advancing efforts to establish an independent, sovereign Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967, borders with East Jerusalem as its capital in line with the two-state solution, the Arab Peace Initiative, and international resolutions, in a manner that fulfills the aspirations of the Palestinian people and all peoples of the region to live in security and peace.”
Economic affairs
The leaders stressed the importance of completing the requirements of the GCC Common Market and the Customs Union, enhancing trade and tourism, and encouraging investment in strategic projects, particularly in infrastructure, transport, energy, communications, water, and food. They emphasized boosting digital infrastructure integration, facilitating e-commerce, and supporting the development of shared systems for digital payments and cloud services, contributing to full economic citizenship and comprehensive, sustainable development. The leaders underscored the significance of continuing economic diversification pathways and strengthening innovation and sustainability-based economies to ensure long-term prosperity for GCC states and their peoples. They stressed the importance of bolstering cooperation in technology, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity within the framework of a joint GCC strategy that strengthens knowledge integration, supports the exchange of expertise in digital transformation, combats cybercrime, ensures a secure digital environment for societies, and promotes the effective participation of youth and women in the development process, while emphasizing the role of think tanks and research centers in anticipating the future and formulating public policies that support sustainable development.
Int’l cooperation
The leaders highlighted the importance of strengthening international cooperation to safeguard regional security, deepening political, security, and economic partnerships with friendly countries, international organizations, and economic blocs. They stressed the need to deepen collaboration in areas of sustainable development, combating extremism and terrorism in all its forms, countering hate speech and incitement, tackling transnational organized crime, and supporting the efforts of joint naval forces headquartered in Bahrain to enhance energy security, protect maritime navigation, and safeguard international trade. The leaders further stressed working towards making the Middle East a region free of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction, and averting arms races, to reinforce regional security and stability. The leaders expressed their appreciation for the participation of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in bilateral discussions in Bahrain, which focused on strengthening the deep-rooted historical relations. They agreed to establish a joint action plan to elevate relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership aimed at boosting their shared interests, reflecting the GCC states’ openness to building broad partnerships with friendly nations. The leaders of the GCC states underscored “the need to develop institutional cooperation mechanisms to expand horizons of fraternal solidarity and strategic integration to achieve sustainable security and prosperity for the GCC states and their peoples, within a safe and stable region, and to contribute to building a world that is more just and prosperous.”

Iraq says Khor Mor gas field attack carried out two drones, perpetrators identified
Reuters/04 December/2025
Iraq’s armed forces said on Wednesday that the attack last week on Khor Mor gas field, one of the largest in the Kurdistan region, was carried out using two drones, one which hit the field and another which fell outside it. Iraqi armed forces said the perpetrators behind the attack had been identified, and described them as “outlawed elements.”

Iran’s Khamenei defends hijab as more women flout dress code
Al Arabiya English/03 December/2025
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday delivered a staunch defense of the hijab as more women flout the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, prompting criticism from ultraconservatives. His remarks came a day after more than half of Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament accused the judiciary of failing to properly enforce the law on mandatory headscarves on women. Last week, Khamenei’s office faced backlash from some ultraconservatives after it published in its newspaper a photo of an unveiled Iranian woman killed in the June war with Israel. In the picture, the woman appeared with a baseball cap on her head, her hair clearly visible. “In the Islamic Republic, it has been shown that a Muslim woman, wearing the hijab and respecting the Islamic dress, can progress more than others in all areas and play an active role both in society and in her home,” said Khamenei in a meeting with a group of women. “With this vision, established in the Islamic Republic after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, our women and girls have progressed in many areas.” Covering the neck and head and dressing modestly became mandatory for women in Iran following the Islamic Revolution that overthrew the US-backed shah in 1979. Women in Iran have in recent years been increasingly flouting the strict dress code especially since nationwide protests following the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old Iranian Kurd had been arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women. Amini’s death triggered months of unrest, with hundreds of people killed and thousands more arrested in what authorities labelled foreign-instigated “riots.”Iran’s government has refused to ratify a bill passed by the parliament in 2023 that would have toughened penalties for women who do not wear the hijab or dress improperly. Since coming to power in July 2024, President Masoud Pezeshkian has maintained that women cannot be forced to wear the hijab. In January, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said the bill was shelved as it “could have had serious social consequences.”With AFP

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 03-04/2025
Christophe Boltanski/Lukman Slim Foundation: The Ghosts of Hangar 12….A highly important study from the 2023 archives, published by the Lokman Slim Foundation, details Hezbollah’s assassination of four witnesses in connection with the Beirut port explosion: Joseph Skaff, Mounir Abou Rjeily, Joe Bejjani, and Lokman Slim
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/12/149897/
The Ghosts of Hangar 12
Christophe Boltanski/Lukman Slim Foundation/August 03/2023
The Beirut Port Blast of Aug. 4, 2020 killed more than 200 people and injured thousands. To this day, it is still unclear who imported the ammonium nitrate to the port, and why. With the official investigation stalled, a series of suspicious assassinations has fostered doubts about the cause of the catastrophe.
Christophe Boltanski wades through the tangle of facts and lies to try and assemble the puzzle.
For want of something better, the highway that spans the port of Beirut serves as a memorial to the families of the dead. Surrounded by crude drawings and angry slogans, photos of the victims of the fireball that devastated part of the city on Aug. 4, 2020 line the side of the bridge. This highway, perpetually jammed with traffic, is hardly a place for contemplation, but from its vantage point everything is in plain view: the heaps of torn metal, burned-out cars, boats on their side, twisted pulleys, the skeletal towers of the grain silo, and, where the dock should be, a huge crater awash with muddy water. In the distance one can even see the pier next to which the Rhosus sank, omen of the disaster to come.
A mosaic shattered into a thousand pieces. An enigma. This is what Beirut’s port looks like: a time-frozen field of ruins, the visual replica of a paralyzed justice system. The inquiry is stalled because of the diverse proceedings brought against Tarek Bitar, the judge in charge of the investigation. Three years further on, one of history’s largest non-nuclear explosions remains unexplained: 235 deaths, more than 6,500 injured, 77,000 apartments destroyed, and zero results. No trial to date, not even one accomplice behind bars. A new unpunished crime in a country that has seen so many others.
Journalists, lawyers, activists are trying to break down this wall of silence. They want to understand how a cargo of explosives could arrive in Beirut and then be left abandoned in a hangar for six long years, before detonating in a blinding shaft of light. To achieve their purpose, they must unravel an incredible tangle of false names, shell companies, fraud and lies. “It’s a lifetime worksite” comments Zena Wakim, a lawyer with the foundation Accountability Now, which works against impunity in Lebanon. “In this affair, things are never what they seem. It all requires investigations which are extremely complicated and dangerous.”
From the start, one man proposed a method for not getting lost in this tentacular case.
“What we have here is a jigsaw puzzle,” explained Lokman Slim, during an interview on Arabic television. This Lebanese intellectual, publisher, archivist, translator and documentarist is remembered for his free-speaking, secular, rigorous, sometimes forceful style. His idea was to examine the total picture, and not the sum of different elements, because a single piece, examined on its own, signifies nothing. Once the sides of the puzzle have been assembled, the large volumes defined and certain details brought to light, a whole other picture appears. While the Lebanese authorities would only concede a series of omissions, Lokman Slim denounced a “war crime” committed by Russia, Syria and Hezbollah. Twenty days later he was found shot to death in his car.
His body lies at rest in his garden, in front of the family house in southern Beirut. To reach his grave, one must get through a roadblock, then a second, then a maze of narrow streets decked in yellow, the color of Hezbollah. On the walls of the gray, high-rise buildings there are faded portraits of “martyrs” in combat gear. In the midst of this chaos of concrete and warlike images, the Villa Slim is an oasis. The front door is open, as always. The son of an eminent Shiite lawyer, Lokman Slim lived among his own in the district of Haret Hreik, now the stronghold of a political-military movement that he relentlessly challenged.
Surrounded by her husband’s countless books and files, the German-Lebanese filmmaker Monika Borgmann is fighting to know the truth: “His interview caused a stir. He was just presenting facts in a very logical way. Naturally people told him: ‘You’re going too far.’ But he had given so many interviews on sensitive subjects.” Lokman’s sister, Rasha al-Ameer, who with her brother created the publishing house Dar al-Jadeed, has similar doubts: “He was obstinate. It was David against Goliath. I used to tell him: ‘They have rockets but what do you have?’” She sighs. “This interview was maybe the last straw, but they had plenty of other reasons to kill him.”
Slim’s is not an isolated case. Like the aftershocks that follow an earthquake, major crimes in Lebanon always give rise to others. In the aftermath of the explosion, several assassinations shocked the city. Homicides that were never solved, always perpetrated by professionals and followed by botched investigations, too quickly suspended for an alleged lack of leads and suspects.
At first glance, the victims have nothing in common, except that they are all linked to the port of Beirut. Why were they murdered? Was it because of information they had or the post that they occupied? Did they threaten to break the law of silence? Would their testimonies have helped reconstitute the pieces of the puzzle? Their friends and families have agreed to speak, some for the first time, most of them remaining anonymous and obviously scared. “Be diplomatic,” one of them whispered, “because our lives are at risk.”
Before telling their story, it will be useful to examine another suspicious death, the death of a customs officer that occurred before the catastrophe.
In Beirut port, colonel Joseph Skaf headed the anti-illegal migration and money laundering division.
On Feb. 21, 2014 he alerted his seniors to the “public security” risk posed by a vessel, the Rhosus, docked for the last three months, because it was carrying ammonium nitrate, “a highly dangerous and explosive material.” In a handwritten letter, he advised that it should be moved away from the pier to the breakwater and put under surveillance. “Before him, no-one had mentioned the presence of nitrate in the port,” said one of Lebanon’s most eminent investigative journalists, Riad al-Qobeissi of the Jadeed-TV channel. The customs officer suspected fraud. He found it strange to moor a cargo for such a long time at that location. That is why he asked for it to be moved away.
Who owned the Rhosus ? How did it get there? According to a first version based on the testimony of its captain, it was acquired by a Russian businessman, Igor Grechushkin, convicted of aggravated theft and without naval experience. The vessel left Batoumi, on the Black Sea, on Sept. 27, 2013 heading for the port of Beira in Mozambique, with a cargo of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate produced by the Georgian chemical plant Rustavi Azot, the end client being a private firm, the Fabrica de Explosivos de Moçambique. In heavy debt, the shipowner diverted the vessel to Beirut in order to load a second cargo and thus have the necessary funds for its passage through the Suez Canal. But the seismic survey machines that the Rhosus was to take on board were too heavy. During loading on Nov. 25, they damaged a hatch cover. The port authorities declared the vessel unfit for navigation and immobilized it, later ordering its seizure after complaints of unpaid claims. Greshushkin took this opportunity to disappear. This account, widely repeated, is full of lies.
After being transferred to airport customs operations, colonel Skaf let the matter rest. His letter was never answered. Stuck in a drawer somewhere, it never even reached some of those it was addressed to. If this officer had not been transferred somewhere else, could he have prevented the catastrophe? “We will refuse to let them unload this cargo,” he told his brother.
The catastrophe should never have happened. As in other countries, Lebanese law forbids materials for military use entering its territory without a special permit. Depending on its nitrogen content, ammonium nitrate has various uses: below a threshold of 33.5 percent, it is a widely used fertilizer. Above this, it is used to make explosives. With a content of 34.7 percent, the white powder packed into the hold of the Rhosus is used to make bombs.
On the first documents — the unified list and arrival statement — sent to customs and the port authority, this was not mentioned. The mails exchanged between the various departments did not define the nature of the merchandise. The authorities only seemed to be concerned by the unloading process because the vessel was at risk of sinking. On June 27, 2014 a summary judgment judge ordered the cargo to be stored in a “safe place.” He also had no idea what was in it. “In its request, the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation mentions a ‘dangerous substance’ which might pollute port waters. Why does it not mention ammonium nitrate?” asks Riad al-Qobeissi. At the time, the holder of this coveted, and very lucrative, portfolio was Ghazi Zeaiter, a leader of the Shia party Amal, Hezbollah’s ally.
The vessel’s contents were unloaded on the sly during the night of Oct. 22-23, 2014 and stacked in Hangar no. 12, reserved for dangerous materials, and then forgotten.
Two years later Joseph Skaf, now aged 56, retired and ran for office in parliamentary election on an independent ticket. On March 4, 2017 he attended a campaign dinner. At 3 a.m. he had still not returned to his apartment in the north of Beirut. His wife failed to reach him by phone. She was worried. A friend went to look for him and found his Range Rover at the foot of his building, headlights on, the trunk open. He shouted “Joseph” and saw his body 1.8 meters away, stretched out, arms crossed, on the ramp going down to the underground carpark. His skull was crushed, his eye swollen, his hands and knees covered in bruises and a rib broken, as if he’d been in a fight. The autopsy found no internal cause that would explain his fall. No heart attack, no stroke, no alcohol in the blood. A medical report attributed his death to a cerebral hemorrhage, with no other details. The police called it an accident.
“They did not protect the scene of the crime and questioned no one. They wanted to close the case as quickly as possible,” said one of his close friends. A forensic medical expert appointed by the family came to a very different verdict. According to him, Skaf “was the victim of a brutal attack.” He was struck in the eye and below the rib cage before being pushed from a great height.
A customs officer will always have enemies, especially at Beirut port, nicknamed “the cave of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves.” This outgrowth in the heart of the city is a concentrate of the shortfalls in the Lebanese system. It’s the kingdom of fraud, bribery, the mafia, scandal after scandal. Forced to act after so many empty promises, in 2019 president Michel Aoun created an anti-corruption bureau in the heart of the port zone and entrusted it to State Security, one of the country’s four intelligence services.
“My mission was to gather information on every form of misappropriation. We started from scratch, with few resources or staff,” recalls its chief, captain Joseph Naddaf. He now works in a newly renovated building near the container terminal. His old offices, next to the silos, were destroyed. Civilian security agents armed with assault weapons ensure his protection. Aged 35, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, he is the whistle-blower in this story. His warnings, instead of being heeded, tripped off a devastating chain reaction.
Towards the end of 2019, a “source” informed him of the presence of ammonium nitrate in Hangar 12. His investigation didn’t get far. “I didn’t know what it was. I had to ask experts, and it was the beginning of Covid.” When he visited the hangar, he was surprised to see there was no watchman there. “One of the rear doors of the warehouse had been forced open. Right next to it, there was a hole in the wall fifty centimeters in diameter. I could see bags piled in great disorder. Anyone could have taken them.” Staying outside, he just took photographs of the ripped, half-empty bags. “I was not authorized to enter. Only customs and the port authority had access. My role was just to make a report.” He wrote five. In the report delivered to the prosecutor’s office on June 1 2020, he reiterated the facts, with the warning: “Ammonium nitrate, in case of fire, would cause a huge explosion with disastrous consequences for Beirut’s port. We fear that this material could be stolen and used to make explosives.”
His report started making the rounds and threatened to be leaked in the media. On July 20, State Security sent a summary of it to President Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab. A risk of theft and explosion? Once the matter had been referred, general prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat could have demanded that the bags be transferred to a secure location, or even that they should be counted to make sure none was missing. He simply asked for repairs to be made. On August 4, around 4 pm, three workmen from an outside company soldered the damaged door without knowing what was behind it. The port employee who should have supervised the work was not there. After their departure, at 5:54, a witness posted a video on Twitter showing thick, black smoke clouds billowing over the hangar. The fire service arrived on site four minutes later. A first explosion shook the air at approximately 6:07, followed thirteen seconds later by an even more powerful one.
The next day, while stunned residents combed the ruins, the famous letter from Joseph Skaf reappeared online. His friends and family were stupefied to discover its existence. “He had never spoken about it to us, but it was definitely his handwriting,” said one of them. They didn’t know who had published his message from the grave, nor why it had been divulged at this precise time. It added more fire to their doubts. One of his sons, Michel, until then silent, tweeted on Aug. 8: “A crime was committed in March 2017. My father did not slip or fall. He was brutally attacked and assassinated in front of his home.”
Another case rekindled their suspicions.
Once again it concerned a customs official, an ex-colonel. Having retired early, Mounir Abou Rjeily was building himself a second residence in Qartaba, a mountain village above Byblos. On Dec. 1, 2020 he went up there to see how the work was progressing. Because of a thick mist, he decided to sleep on site. In the morning, his cell phone was not answering. Worried out of her mind, his wife, Maguy, drove there and found him in pajamas on his bed, lying in a pool of blood. His teeth had been ripped out, his skull fractured. “There had to be at least three assailants,” said Simon Karam, the family’s lawyer. One of them beat him to death with a club, while the others held his shoulders. No prints, no signs of a break-in, no signal from an unknown phone in the vicinity. That specific day the neighbor was absent. It was a professional job.
The judge opted for a presumed burglary that went wrong. After turning the villa upside down, the attackers left with a flat screen. Lawyer Karam denounced a decoy: “They didn’t touch the safe containing money and jewelry.” So what was the motive? “Our police force is very efficient,” he said. “In the case of organized crime, they quickly arrest the guilty. If it’s political, they never find them.”
When Maguy found her husband’s lifeless body, her first call was to the widow of Joseph Skaf: “They have killed Mounir, like Joseph!” she cried. The two men were friends. They both worked at the port. Shocked by the brutal death of his colleague, Mounir Abou Rjeily went into retirement five months later. Aged only 50. Did he know Joseph’s letter existed? “Of course,” said a friend. He brought his fingers together, pretended to write, staring in front of him, as if making imaginary signs in the air. “They wrote it together,” he murmured.
A cycle of violence began that recalled the wave of killings perpetrated in 2005 after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The victims were personalities on the political or media scene. This time it was about ordinary people.
On Dec. 21, 2020 at 7 a.m. precisely, Joe Bejjani leaves his house.
Every morning the same ritual: he turns on the heating in his GMC and waits for it to warm up to fetch his two daughters, then he drops them off at the kindergarten and drives to his office. He is 36 and works for the telecoms company Alfa. Built on the mountainside on the fringe of the Kahaleh township, his house overlooks Beirut. As is often the case in Lebanon, it is equipped with a video surveillance system. Just after the crime, the police viewed the images on site. Someone recorded the sequence with a mobile and posted it on Facebook. We see Joe get into his car. Ten seconds later, a man in a black woolen cap runs to catch up with the car, holding a pistol with a silencer. He opens the car door and fires four shots. An accomplice wearing a motorcycle helmet comes behind him carrying a sort of toolbox. He dives into the car, searches the body, snatches the victim’s mobile and slams the door. The two killers take off down rugged terrain, usually covered by scrub, which has since conveniently burned on two occasions. A motorcycle is waiting for them fifty meters below.
They barely take the trouble to disguise themselves. The first man is wearing an anti-Covid mask over his mouth, the second a helmet without a visor. Yet they know they are operating in the most scrutinized zone in the country. When they get down from the village, they go past the presidential palace, the ministry of defense, military barracks. “The police know their faces, their itinerary yet couldn’t identify them or find any details that would explain things. How is this possible?” asks Youssef Lahoud, the Bejjanis’ lawyer. The cameras lose all trace at the edge of the southern suburb.
“Who is Joe?” Amal, his mother, fights back her tears as she repeats the question, as if sharing it. Why take up against her son? He had no enemies. He was not in politics. One thing makes him stand out: “Since he was a boy, he loved everything to do with the army.” He spent his spare time photographing soldiers and tanks. He was on good terms with the Lebanese army who issued him a press card. In exchange, he gave them prints free of charge. Did he see something he shouldn’t have? On Aug. 14, 2020 he posted an image on his Twitter account that was widely shared: “In the background you can see the grain silos and Hangar 12 where the explosion occurred,” he wrote.
“When he posted that photo it got a lot of attention,” remembers Bejjani’s wife Nayla. “He took it in 2017, during a delivery of American tanks to the Lebanese army.” Were there other photos in the archive? “He often went to the port during military events. When he was in a zone that was closed to the public, he often took the opportunity to photograph other things.” That is all she knows. The police took away his cameras, computers, his USB key and the surveillance cameras. “They gave them back to us two weeks later. They were all empty.”
After a year of fruitless inquiry, Nayla Bejjani broke her silence and started giving interviews. “I was accusing everyone.”
The minister of the interior summoned her: “Take care,” he warned her. “Your daughters have already lost their father. I can’t protect you.” She now lives in France with her children and has refugee status. After the explosion, she recalls her husband’s fury. “He was very angry. He would say to me: ‘Lebanon is finished. We have to leave’.” On August 18 he posted a quotation from George Orwell: “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” A bit later, he announced he was no longer going to work with the army. Several countries, including France and the United States, were at the time conducting investigations on site. “He wanted to help them.” How? Did he even do it? She does not know.
Will Judge Bitar manage to solve the mystery of what happened at the port?
He has just a computer and two clerks at his disposal to unravel one of the most complex affairs in the country’s history. Those who stand to lose from his investigation are waging a full-blown war against him. He is the target of hate campaigns and there have been more than 40 demands that he recuse himself. Each time he resumes his investigation, yet another appeal stops it dead. If he looks to his peers for support, they find procedural obstacles springing up in their way. If he issues an arrest warrant, the police refuse to execute it. Having indicted the attorney general, Ghassan Oueidat, Oueidat sued him in turn for “abuse of power” and in the process, ordered the release of the 17 people still being held in prison.
“It’s maddening!” complains Paul Naggear. He and his wife Tracy have just attended a demonstration outside the courthouse as they do every month, alongside the parents of other victims. “There were around 30 of us. Why so few? People have given up hope.” They live at the top of a glass-fronted building opposite the silos. They lost their three-year-old daughter, Alexandra, on August 4 when the plate glass window in their lounge shattered. They didn’t expect much from the inquiry. “We knew it wouldn’t go anywhere.” They are calling for an inquiry led by the United Nations Human Rights Council. “What we want is to establish the facts.” So many of their questions have gone unanswered. Like many of Beirut’s inhabitants, Tracy is convinced she heard a plane before their world was turned upside down. She suspects a missile strike. “That’s the Israeli hypothesis,” says Paul.
French experts have discounted this line of inquiry. On Aug. 6, 2020 15 police forensics officers were dispatched to Beirut in connection with a manslaughter investigation opened in Paris (there were three French nationals among the deceased). They spent a week taking samples in and around the crater. Their report states that they were “working on the basis that a fire broke out at about 5.30 p.m. in the northern part of warehouse 12.” They tend to think it was an accident, but do not rule out criminal conduct. “We cannot make any assumptions about how the fire started.” They cite welding, an electrical fault, a cigarette butt or a malicious act (splashing flammable fluids around or setting fire to rubbish) as possible triggers. By contrast, “the fact that the explosions were preceded by a fire means that a missile or explosive device can be ruled out as the cause of the detonation: either would have resulted in an immediate explosion rather than a fire.”
The FBI also sent specialists from the US. They concluded that just 550 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded on August 4. So what happened to the other 2,200 tons? It is possible that they burned up. French divers recovered ammonium nitrate blocks from the depths of the harbor. “When you have a deflagration rather than a detonation, the burning material disintegrates more quickly than it explodes. Particles are widely dispersed,” explains Brian Castner, an explosives expert with Amnesty International. Another possibility is that it was stolen. Part of the cargo could have been misappropriated either before or after it arrived in hangar no. 12.
“There are several things that lead me to think that some of it was missing,” says journalist Riad al-Qobeissi. We were told that the goods were unloaded in one night. I did the calculation and that’s impossible! It would have taken at least 48 hours to unload the ship. And you can’t store 2,750 one-ton sacks on this dockside, it’s just not wide enough.”
One of Lebanon’s neighbors used to make ample use of ammonium nitrate but is unable to import it as a result of international sanctions. From 2013 onwards, Syria has had a new weapon at its disposal: the barrel bomb, a rudimentary device developed by the Scientific Studies and Research Center, a Syrian regime ‘laboratory of horrors,’ and made from diesel, scrap metal and a few scoops of ammonium nitrate. Barrel bombs were used the following year, dropped from helicopters to wipe out rebel towns and cities.
While there is no hard proof of Syria’s involvement, there is a body of circumstantial evidence. In August 2020, the OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project), a consortium of journalists, revealed that the Rhosus belonged to Cypriot arms dealer Charalambos Manoli and not Grechushkin — he was simply the carrier and his contract had just expired when the ship was diverted to Beirut. At the time of the sailing, Manoli owed $1 million, pledged against his ship, to the Federal Bank of the Middle East (FBME), which was subject to US Treasury sanctions in 2014 for money laundering on behalf of Hezbollah and the Scientific Research and Studies Centre in Damascus.
Was the Rhosus simply bound for Southern Africa? Given the state it was in, it is unlikely that this floating dump would have been permitted to cross the Suez canal, where strict safety regulations apply. According to Megaphone, a Lebanese online information site, when Grechushkin’s lease expired, the ship could not cross the Mediterranean. As a result, on Nov. 1, 2012 it turned up in Tartous, a Syrian port that is home to a Russian naval base. “It sailed out, empty, five hours later, says Megaphone journalist Jonathan Dagher. What was it carrying? We don’t know.”
The Mozambicans never purchased the ammonium nitrate offloaded in Beirut. The buyer turned out to be a trading company, Savaro, an empty shell company with no assets and a straw (wo)man manager. “When we saw that this company was listed with Companies House in London, we referred the matter to the English courts,” says Nasri Diab, one of the lawyers for the port victims. On Feb. 1 the High Court in London found Savaro liable for damages over the explosion. The plaintiffs are still trying to identify its real owners. In another coincidence, Savaro shares its address at 10 Great Russell Street with engineering companies Hesco and IK Petroleum Industrial; all three companies have been at this location since the same date, June 25, 2011. Hesco and IK Petroleum Industrial belong to Georges Haswani and Imad Khoury respectively, businessmen with dual Syrian-Russian nationality. Both are subject to US sanctions for providing support to Bashar al-Assad’s war machine.
Lokman Slim was one of the first to point a finger at the Syrian regime and its Lebanese ally.
On the evening of the blast, he jumped on a motorbike and rushed down to the harbor. He wanted to see, understand and report on what was going on. In the weeks that followed, he conducted an investigation, as he always did. He kept records of the country’s crimes for decades, to try and prevent people from forgetting. During these troubled times, Monika suggested they leave for Germany. He refused. “He wanted to stay here,” she says. “He thought there was a political opportunity to be seized.” He knew he was in danger. In 2019, Hezbollah activists plastered their home with death threats.
On Jan. 15, 2021 during an interview with Saudi’s al-Hadath television, he went even further in his accusations. On Jan. 31 the attacks began on the web. The same messages were posted over and over, calling him an agent in the pay of Israel. “The number of fake profiles and retweets was indicative of a highly orchestrated campaign,” says Nasri Messarra, a social media sociologist. On Feb. 3, Slim went for dinner at a friend’s house in Niha, in southern Lebanon. He was captured on a number of security cameras, which showed five cars tailing him. He was abducted that evening on the outskirts of the village and found at dawn, riddled with bullets, 40km away.
As with the other cases, there were no efforts to protect the crime scene. Onlookers mingled with police officers. Nobody wore gloves. And the investigation ground to a halt. “They only asked me personal questions — whether Lokman had had any clashes at work, if he was homosexual or suicidal — and not one about the threats he’d received,” says Borgmann. When his death was announced, Jawad Nasrallah, the son of the leader of Hezbollah, published a tweet that was promptly deleted: “The loss of some is in reality an unexpected gain and kindness to others.” In an open letter written in December 2019 following the attack on his home, Lokman Slim had held the leaders of the two Shi’ite factions, Hassan Nasrallah and Nabi Berri, “fully responsible” for whatever might happen to him.
https://www.lokmanslimfoundation.org/blog_detail/3/

Venezuela's Anti-US Alliances
Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute./December 03/2025
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22083/venezuela-alliances
Perhaps more significant to US strategic interests [than Venezuela's trafficking illegal drugs] is Maduro's cooperation with an anti-American alliance of autocracies, including Russia, Cuba, China and Iran.
Iran's regime, both before and after a number of visits to Venezuela, delivered military drones to Venezuela and has been strengthening Venezuela's military, thereby enabling Venezuela to threaten its neighbors, including Guyana, Trinidad and Colombia, as well as the US.
Cuba's role in Venezuela is even more invasive than that of Iran.
Russia's role in helping to buttress Maduro's regime includes arms sales, joint army and air force exercises, Russian naval warship visits, and the stationing of Russian defense advisors in Venezuela. In turn, Russia receives Venezuelan oil at below-market prices.
China has extended an estimated $60 billion in loans to Venezuela.
The main reason for the charge of Maduro's illegitimacy stems from the view that Venezuela's presidential elections have been fraudulent. Opposition protests have failed to dislodge the socialist regime, which has so far been sustained by Chinese loans, Russian weapons and Cuban troops. The Venezuelan people, disenfranchised and disarmed, have, in addition, been bullied into submission by regime-sponsored neighborhood revolutionary leftist gangs called "colectivos."
The Trump administration appears to be hoping that its current sanctions on Venezuela will be harsh enough for Maduro's supporters to oust him without the US having to become militarily involved. Trump recently suggested the possibility of a land invasion, about which he did not sound overly enthusiastic. If nothing is done, however, Maduro will simply continue to wreck the formerly wealthy country while its people carry on in squalor.
Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro, in addition to facilitating the trafficking of illegal drugs into the United States, cooperates with an anti-American alliance of autocracies, including Russia, Cuba, China and Iran. Venezuela's comprehensive links with its authoritarian allies must be severed forcibly if necessary, to protect US interests and preserve the Monroe Doctrine. (Illustrative image by Google Gemini)
US President Donald J. Trump's condemnation of Venezuela's illegal leader Nicolás Maduro includes his regime's facilitation of trafficking illegal drugs into the United States. The leader of Venezuela's democratic opposition, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corrina Machado, has accused Maduro of being chief of a criminal narcotics organization, Cartel de los Soles ("Cartel of the Suns"). US military forces have destroyed several speedboats laden with cocaine and other illegal drugs leaving Venezuelan ports.
Perhaps more significant to US strategic interests is Maduro's cooperation with an anti-American alliance of autocracies, including Russia, Cuba, China and Iran. The US has deployed military aircraft and a fleet of 22 warships to the area, to which Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded by "signal[ing] its willingness to supply Venezuela with advanced hypersonic missiles, including the nuclear-capable Oreshnik."
Maduro's regime is also alleged to have helped arm a terrorist faction of the Colombia-based Marxist terrorist group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in its decades-long campaign to overthrow Colombia's government. Venezuela's regime also reportedly has ties to Hezbollah drug-trafficking organizations, which have cells in Venezuela and Colombia.
Iran's regime, both before and after a number of visits to Venezuela, delivered military drones to Venezuela and has been strengthening Venezuela's military, thereby enabling Venezuela to threaten its neighbors, including Guyana, Trinidad and Colombia, as well as the US. Iranian and Russian military advisors have directed military drills on land and in the seas adjacent to Venezuela. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has delivered several high-speed missile attack boats to Venezuela.
Iran and Venezuela also long ago established an air bridge between Tehran and Caracas. The flights are manned by Iranian crews and enable both countries to maintain secrecy in the global transport of weapons and terrorist operatives. In 2022, IRGC-linked aircraft flew several missions carrying only Iranian and Venezuelan nationals. One aircraft was a formerly Iranian-owned Boeing 747 with no cargo aboard.
During Maduro's visit to Iran in 2022, the two countries signed a cooperation treaty, which includes agreements on science and technology as well as deals on agriculture, communications, culture and tourism. The Maduro regime has been so welcoming to Iranian intelligence agents that some of Hezbollah's long-established Latin American network at the tri-border nexus of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay has been overtaken by Hezbollah activities on Venezuela's Margarita Island.
Venezuela's startling provision of one million hectares (roughly 2.5 million acres; nearly 4,000 square miles) of farmland to Iran in 2022 was kept under wraps until Iranian agrarian economist Ali Revanizadeh disclosed it to the Venezuelan media.
The land grant was ostensibly to be used to grow staple crops such as corn and soybeans, allowing water-starved Iran to better feed its population, now in the throes of a crushing drought. Iran's current use of Venezuela, however (here, here and here), combined with the IRGC, raises the possibility that Iran and its surrogate terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas might be using the vast acreage for military and terrorist operations.
Iran's alliance with Venezuela most importantly provides Tehran with opportunities to target US interests in Latin America and the southern United States. More than 1,500 Iranians attempted to enter the US through the southern border under the Biden administration; 700 were released into the US. It is unclear if these illegal aliens may well be manning Iranian terrorist cells in the US, or commissioned to execute intelligence or terrorist-support operations.
Maduro's links to Iranian intelligence agencies are, in addition, being used to execute operations inside the US. Iranian terrorists planned to kidnap anti-Islamic regime activist Masih Alinejad from her Brooklyn home, and transport her by speedboat to Venezuela.
Latin America's Iranian Hezbollah network appears to be propping up the Maduro regime in an oil-for-gold scheme.
Cuba's role in Venezuela is even more invasive than that of Iran. US sources relate that there are about 15,000 Cubans in Venezuela. Some are counterintelligence officers, whose job is to purge any Venezuelan military officers whose loyalty to Maduro is found suspect. One source claims that Maduro's personal bodyguards are also mostly Cuban. Venezuela reportedly hosts Cuban infantry troops commanded by two Cuban generals. Havana has also dispatched to Venezuela doctors, teachers, nurses and engineers. These Cubans are presumably helping to fill the void left by Venezuela's middle-class professionals who fled abroad.
Russia's role in helping to buttress Maduro's regime includes arms sales, joint army and air force exercises, Russian naval warship visits, and the stationing of Russian defense advisors in Venezuela. In turn, Russia receives Venezuelan oil at below-market prices.
China has extended an estimated $60 billion in loans to Venezuela. Beijing's investments in Venezuela are largely tied to the country's oil industry. Some of Venezuela's debt is being serviced by deliveries of petroleum to China. As other sectors of Venezuela's economy continue to decline, the Maduro government may be forced to pay back its debts to China by transferring more of his country's sovereign assets to Beijing.
More than fifty countries in the free world consider the Maduro regime illegitimate. This view also seems to be shared by millions of Venezuelans, nearly eight million of whom have fled the country's political oppression and economic collapse.
The main reason for the charge of Maduro's illegitimacy stems from the view that Venezuela's presidential elections have been fraudulent. Opposition protests have failed to dislodge the socialist regime, which has so far been sustained by Chinese loans, Russian weapons and Cuban troops. The Venezuelan people, disenfranchised and disarmed, have, in addition, been bullied into submission by regime-sponsored neighborhood revolutionary leftist gangs called "colectivos."
The massive interference in Venezuela's affairs by adversaries of the US should raise concerns for the continent's democracies and whether Caracas is still independent. American and Latin American democratic states need to monitor how much Venezuelan sovereignty has already been surrendered to authoritarian enemies of freedom. Venezuela's comprehensive links with its authoritarian allies must be severed forcibly if necessary, to protect US interests and preserve the Monroe Doctrine.
The Trump administration appears to be hoping that its current sanctions on Venezuela will be harsh enough for Maduro's supporters to oust him without the US having to become militarily involved. Trump recently suggested the possibility of a land invasion, about which he did not sound overly enthusiastic. If nothing is done, however, Maduro will simply continue to wreck the formerly wealthy country while its people carry on in squalor.
**Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
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Dismantling the Gulf System
Mamdouh al-Muhainy/ASharq Al-Awsat/December 03/2025
It is not only states that go to war; international systems are also part of the competition. The Russian-Ukrainian war is not a conflict between two states, but between two systems. That is why the Europeans and the Americans, especially under President Joe Biden, support Kyiv, while the Chinese and North Koreans support Moscow. Historically, the Americans supported the Europeans in their war against Nazism. They helped their European allies defeat the Axis powers because Hitler’s victory would have meant the defeat of the US. The Americans benefited from the free-trade system established by the British Empire without paying a heavy price. Their country was far away and their neighbors were peaceful, but Hitler emerging victorious would have meant the end of the liberal order, the disruption of shipping routes, and obstructions to trade. They quickly entered the war and they did not leave Europe after it ended.
They put Europe back on its feet economically, through the Marshall Plan, and militarily, through NATO. They did not allow another fascist Germany to rise, clipping its claws and integrating it into the new democratic capitalist system, so much so that it has now become pillars of this system.
Why are the Americans and the West worried about China? Because of economic competition? Yes. Because of Taiwan? Certainly. Their ultimate fear, however, is that China might create an international system that undermines, or even dismantles, the global order they had built after World War II. States clash and compete not because they hate one another, but because they seek to impose political and economic systems that serve their interests. In our region, Saddam Hussein tried to impose a new order through his invasion of Kuwait. He was supported by and aligned with states that shared his interests and ideas. He hoped the world would accept the reality on the ground that he had imposed. King Fahd’s historic and courageous decision stood in his way, preserving the Gulf’s stability, cohesion, and its own system, which contradicted Saddam’s vision and ambitions. The Iranians, through the framework of their strategy of exporting the revolution, militias, and proxies, sought to establish a system that would underpin their interests and influence. Hassan Nasrallah, Qassem Soleimani, and Ali Tabatabai were loyal soldiers of this project. Erdogan has, earlier in his term, tried to impose his own system, combining Muslim Brotherhood ideology and neo-Ottomanism. The Gulf states have also formed their own regional system, which is one of the most successful systems in the troubled Arab region. It has no extreme nationalist and religious ideologies or separatist entities. It is politically stable, economically prosperous, religiously tolerant, and culturally open. The Gulf system has engendered prosperity and drawn investment and global talent, with people from across the globe coming to regard the Gulf as their home. It maintains strategic relations and political and economic interests with major powers.
The Gulf order has withstood difficult tests; it has gone through severe crises and overcome them. This was not achieved by chance. This system was built on shared interests, similar forms of governance, common values, and common enemies. The adversaries of this Gulf system seek to break and dismantle it, replacing it with an alternative better suited to their aims. The end or weakening of the Gulf order would serve their interests and would constitute a victory for them, and so they strive to undermine its legitimacy, sabotage its international relationships, target its interests, and undermine its unity. The Gulf summit in Bahrain affirms that this regional system remains strong and cohesive in a turbulent world and a fractured region. Preserving it is a political and strategic duty needed to safeguard the Gulf’s stability and future in the face of attempts at infiltration. Let us not forget that weakness and fragmentation whet the appetites of the wicked.

Bethlehem strives to reignite hope amid occupation
Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/December 03, 2025
This Christmas, the streets and squares of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, are preparing to shine once again. After two years of mourning and celebration abstention in solidarity with their Gazan brothers and sisters due to the devastation of Israel’s war on the Strip, the city is reclaiming its festive spirit.
On Saturday, the traditional Christmas tree in Manger Square will be lit, signaling the start of the festive season. This is not just a celebration of the season, it is also a powerful symbol of resilience, hope and Palestinian determination to celebrate life in the face of relentless adversity. Various activities, music and celebrations will be added to the tree-lighting ceremony with the hope of returning people’s smiles after years of sadness. Bethlehem is more than a city, it is a symbol of humanity’s shared heritage. Revered by Christians worldwide as the birthplace of Jesus, it has long been a spiritual and cultural destination for pilgrims and tourists. Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity are not only sacred sites but touchstones of history, community and identity. For centuries, Christians have gathered here to pray, sing carols and reflect on the values of peace and love. Yet, today, this heritage exists under the shadow of occupation, conflict and the daily realities of life under Israeli military control. Palestinian towns and cities, from Beit Jala and Ramallah to Nablus and Zababdeh, are decorating streets, churches and homes, striving to restore a sense of normalcy and spiritual reflection. For Bethlehem Mayor Maher Canawati the tree-lighting ceremony represents a reaffirmation of community, unity and faith. “Christmas in Palestine is not merely a cultural display,” he says. “It is a deeply spiritual act — a time for peace, solidarity and compassion for those who continue to suffer.”
Annual events include processions welcoming church patriarchs, caroling, musical celebrations and midnight Mass. Former Mayor Anton Salman adds that the lighting of the Christmas tree expresses Palestinians’ determination to live and maintain hope amid ongoing adversity.
Religious leaders echo this message of resilience. Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia Atallah Hanna highlights the continuing suffering in Gaza and the West Bank, noting that the end of active conflict has not ended grief or oppression. “Yet hope endures,” he said. “Christmas embodies the values of peace, love and brotherhood.”
Dr. Samir Hazboun, head of the Bethlehem Arab Rehabilitation Society, emphasized that celebrations such as the Dec. 6 tree lighting unite Muslims and Christians, reaffirming national solidarity in a city that has long served as a microcosm of Palestinian life.
Yet, beneath the lights and prayers, Bethlehem faces harsh realities. Unemployment has risen to 31 percent and tourism, the city’s economic lifeline, has been losing about $2.5 million of revenue daily since Oct. 7, 2023. Hotels, restaurants and factories operate far below capacity and workers struggle to maintain their livelihoods. Before Israel’s military campaign on Gaza, the city welcomed about 1.5 million visitors a year; now, the tourism industry teeters on the brink of collapse, a casualty of both war and the pandemic-era lockdowns.
The last two years have not only witnessed the total absence of tourism and denial of work permits, but they have also seen aggressive Israeli settlement expansionism.
Bethlehem Gov. Mohammed Taha Abu Aliya has issued a stark warning about Israeli actions. In a press conference last week, he said the city and its surrounding areas face escalating attacks by Israeli settlers and military forces. Settler violence, land confiscations and settlement expansion continue unabated as international attention focuses elsewhere. Abu Aliya called on Pope Leo, global church leaders and governments to act immediately, criticizing muted international responses and urging American churches to intervene to protect this historic city. “Bethlehem is a window to Palestine,” he said, praising local journalists for documenting occupation and resistance while countering attempts to erase Palestinian narratives.
The Christmas tree, in this context, is far more than a festive decoration. It is a beacon of life, resistance and national identity. Its lighting signals that, despite decades of occupation, destruction and grief, Palestinian families continue to hope and celebrate. Children will marvel at the lights, choirs will sing carols in multiple languages and pilgrims will walk the same streets that generations have traversed to reach the birthplace of Christ. This act, simple yet profound, is a testament to the Palestinian people’s refusal to surrender their dignity and joy, even under immense pressure.
Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity are not only sacred sites but touchstones of history, community and identity. Bethlehem’s story is also a call to the world. It reminds us that the Christian tradition of peace and love cannot be separated from the realities of justice and human rights. While the lights of Manger Square shine brightly, they illuminate a city under siege — a people living under constant threat, yet determined to nurture hope, faith and resilience. The world cannot simply observe; it must respond, amplify Palestinian voices and act to protect the city’s heritage and its residents, along with their right to live in dignity. This Christmas, as the tree is lit and the first carols echo across Manger Square, Bethlehem sends a universal message: hope and joy can persist even in the darkest of times. The celebration of life, unity and faith continues despite adversity. Palestinians — Christians and Muslims alike — demonstrate that light will always shine through suffering. Bethlehem remains a beacon, reminding the world that the values Jesus preached — peace, justice and love — remain as urgent today as they were two millennia ago.
**Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He is the author of “State of Palestine Now: Practical and Logical Arguments for the Best Way to Bring Peace to the Middle East.” X: @daoudkuttab

Selected Face Book & X tweets for /December 03, 2025
Roger Bejjani
An important Iranian official "affirms" that 33% of the Lebanese military are members of HZB!!Clearly fallacious!But what is incomprehensible is the lack of HR reaction!!
Nothing!? That is scandalous to say the least.

Monika Borgmann
“We are glad to know that after years of procrastination, there seems to be renewed attention into the investigation into Lokman Slim’s killing. We call on the judicial authorities to ensure this is not another false start and that the investigation will lead to those responsible for the killing, including the masterminds, being charged and held to account,” said Agnes Callamard.
#LokmanSlim


@followers
@highlight
@everyone