English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For July 07/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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Bible Quotations For today
Jesus said to His Disciples: Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10/08-15/:”Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for labourers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 06-07/2025
Bassil,s,Berri’s & Hezbollah's Conspiracy Against Lebanese Expatriates—Especially Christians/Article 122: A Calculated Plot to Silence and Marginalize the Christian Diaspora/Elias Bejjani/July 06/2025
I Call On Joseph Aoun To recruit Randala Jabour and May Khreish To His Advisors' Brigade/Elias Bejani/July 03, 2025
Hezbollah leader refuses to disarm until Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon
Geagea Calls on Government to Lead Talks on Hezbollah’s Disarmament
Intensified Israeli Raids Pound Southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Overnight
Salam: State Must Regain Monopoly over Arms
Qassem: Defense of Lebanon Is a 'Duty'
Patriarch Rai: 'Those in Charge Have Forgotten That Responsibility Is a Service, Not a Business'
Mufti Derian's First Official Visit to Syria: Prayer, Symbols and Rapprochement
ChronicleLebanon’s Beaches: The Great Slimming Down
Palestinian leadership scales back Beirut ambassador’s role, eyes further changes — the details

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 06-07/2025
Iran alone in crises: Where were Russia, China in their time of need?
IDF says it killed Hamas commander in cafe strike that killed dozens of civilians
Hamas government office rejects US accusation of involvement in Gaza aid site attack
Netanyahu Says he Believes Trump Can Help Seal Ceasefire Deal
Israeli airstrikes kill 38 Palestinians in Gaza as truce negotiating team heads to Qatar
Hamas security officer says group has lost control over most of Gaza
Turkey says 5 soldiers killed by methane gas during cave search in northern Iraq
Shiite neighborhoods in Damascus commemorate Ashoura quietly after Assad's ouster
Boko Haram militants kill 9 people and injure 4 in northeastern Nigeria, authorities say
Syria fights ‘catastrophic’ fires for fourth day
Desperate search for missing girls as death toll in Texas floods jumps to 78
BRICS 'condemn the military strikes' against Iran: Summit statement

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on July 06-07/2025
On War And Peace Between Lebanon and Israel/Hazem Saghieh/Acharq Al Awsat/July 06/2025
Trump Claims Sweeping Power to Nullify Laws, Letters on TikTok Ban Show/Charlie Savage/The New York Times/06 July/2025
How to convert a temporary ceasefire into a permanent one/Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/July 06, 2025
Arab youth and the promise of the creative economy/Arnab Neil Sengupta/Arab News/July 06, 2025
Dual citizenship concerns simmer below the surface/Ray Hanania/Arab News/July 06, 2025
Turning populism’s tools against populism/Mariana Mazzucato and Rainer Kattel/Arab News/July 06, 2025
‘Only Islam Is the True Religion’: The Persecution of Christians, May 2025/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute./July 06/2025
Iran’s Terrorist Regime Is Wounded, Not Dead —Watch It Carefully/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/July 06/2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 06-07/2025
Bassil,s,Berri’s & Hezbollah's Conspiracy Against Lebanese Expatriates—Especially Christians/Article 122: A Calculated Plot to Silence and Marginalize the Christian Diaspora
Elias Bejjani/July 06/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/144900/
In Lebanon’s modern history, few examples illustrate the fusion of legal manipulation and political malice as clearly as Article 122 of the 2017 electoral law. This article denies non-resident Lebanese citizens their natural and constitutional right to vote in their original districts inside Lebanon—just like their fellow resident citizens. Instead, it isolates expatriates into a separate voting category and allocates them six parliamentary seats—one per continent—divided equally between Muslims and Christians, based on an unworkable and deeply flawed legal premise.
This was no coincidence. Article 122 is part of a long-term, premeditated scheme that began with the Taif Agreement—a turning point that significantly weakened Christian political influence, particularly the powers of the Maronite presidency. It abolished true Muslim-Christian parity in most state institutions, reducing it to a mere formality in top-level positions. Article 122 is a direct continuation of this exclusionary agenda, further marginalizing the Lebanese diaspora—most of whom are Christians—and stripping them of their rightful role in shaping national policy.
This malicious project is not new. It dates back to the era of Syrian-appointed President Emile Lahoud. At the time, the Foreign Ministry's expatriats Affairs, under Shiite political operative Haitham Jomaa—a loyalist of Nabih Berri—attempted to promote this plan among expatriates. Maronite MP Naamatallah Abi Nasr led a failed campaign to market it, facing overwhelming expatriots' rejection. Many diaspora activists, including the author of this piece, stood at the forefront of the resistance and exposed its hidden agenda. The plan was ultimately shelved—only to be revived in 2017.
Shockingly, it was revived through the very Christian parties that were supposed to defend expatriate rights. In a moment of short-sightedness—or perhaps calculated betrayal—both the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the Lebanese Forces (LF) supported Article 122. In exchange for a handful of additional seats, they legitimized a monstrous law designed to weaken the voice of the Christian diaspora. Whether through ignorance or political cowardice, they gave cover to a measure whose long-term damage far outweighs any short-term gains.
Today, it is no surprise that Nabih Berri and Hezbollah oppose empowering Christian expatriates. Berri’s sectarianism is well known, and Hezbollah—an Iranian-backed, jihadist terrorist proxy—has always aimed to silence any opposing or sovereign Lebanese voice. Yet the real disaster—the Iscariot betrayal—comes from Gebran Bassil himself. As head of the FPM and a Maronite, Bassil still defends Article 122, betraying the very Christians he claims to represent. Already sanctioned under the U.S. Magnitsky Act for corruption, Bassil walks in the footsteps of  his Father-in-law, Michel Aoun, who traded national sovereignty for power and submitted to Hezbollah’s humiliating domination. This toxic and treacherous Micheal Aoun has left Lebanon in ruins—economically, institutionally, and morally.
What fully exposes Bassil is the bold and patriotic statement recently issued by Maronite bishops in the diaspora. In clear and courageous language, they rejected Article 122 and demanded its cancellation, affirming that Lebanese expatriates must be allowed to vote in their original districts as full citizens—not be reduced to second-class voters or “continental MPs” with no land, no community, and no real political identity.
What Article 122 Says
Six parliamentary seats are reserved for expatriates—one per continent:
Africa
North America
South America
Europe
Australia
Asia
These are divided equally among the following sects:
Maronites
Greek Orthodox
Catholics
Sunnis
Shiites
Druze
A future Cabinet decree—based on proposals from the Ministers of Interior and Foreign Affairs—will define the specific districts and voting mechanisms. In the following election cycle, six seats will be deducted from the original 128 members of Parliament, drawn from the same sects to which the expatriate seats were assigned.
But in reality, Article 122 has no democratic value. It is a veiled tool of exclusion and disenfranchisement. It neither provides fair representation for local voters nor protects the political rights of Lebanese abroad. It is not reform—it is deception.
In conclusion, upholding Article 122 amounts to a blatant betrayal of the constitution, the National Pact, and the Lebanese diaspora—especially its Christian community. Every honorable political force and every free Lebanese—at home and abroad—must raise their voices and demand the abolition of this shameful, disgraceful article.
Let Article 122 be repealed.
Let the dignity of the diaspora be restored.
Let every Lebanese expatriate vote fully—as a citizen, not a mere financial provider.

I Call On Joseph Aoun To recruit Randala Jabour and May Khreish To His Advisors' Brigade.
Elias Bejani/July 03, 2025
The popular proverb states, "Tell me what you read, and I'll tell you who you are." We can coin a similar adage: "Tell me who your advisors are, and I'll tell you who you are."
Building on this principle, which connects advisors to individuals and, more critically, to public officials, I personally urge President Joseph Aoun to recruit May Khreish, a prominent Southern resistance and defiant lawyer still mourning Sayyed Nasrallah's assassination. Additionally, Randala Jabour, a Syrian nationalist journalist known for her ideological devotion to Antoine Saad's Greater Syria, her commitment to Hezbollah's resistance, and her unwavering hostility towards Zionists and their "usurping" state, would be a valuable addition.
It's crucial to acknowledge that these two figures were aligned with Gebran Bassil and his father-in-law, giving them invaluable experience in all forms of opportunism, expediency, and political adaptability.
Adding Khreish and Jabour to the Baabda Advisors' brigade is now essential, as the Lebanese proverb wisely states, "To complete the carried load with hawthorn."
Historically, sound advice came at a price. However, given the culture of the "resistance merchants" and their cronies—steeped in illusions, daydreams, and psychological denial, justification, and projection—our counsel is freely offered. This advice aims to support the President in his approach to "negotiating with Hezbollah in a bid to hand over its weaponry to the state." These negotiations, however, contradict UN resolutions, the ceasefire agreement, and the agenda of all regional and international powers who brought both President Aoun and Nawaf Salam into power. Their mandate is to supervise the implementation of UN resolutions, not to negotiate with proxies of the Iranian occupation to entrench their presence and legitimize their weapons through cunning rhetoric and manipulative tactics.
Undoubtedly, Khreish and Jabour are the ideal advisors for the path Joseph Aoun has pursued thus far. As for the rest of the President's advisor brigade, there's no need to elaborate more.

Hezbollah leader refuses to disarm until Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon
Associated Press/July 6, 2025
BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem reiterated Sunday the militant group’s refusal to lay down its weapons before Israel withdraws from all of southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes. He spoke in a video address, as thousands gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashoura. Ashoura commemorates the 680 AD Battle of Karbala, in which the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, was killed after he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate. For Shiites, the commemoration has come to symbolize resistance against tyranny and injustice.
This year’s commemoration comes in the wake of a bruising war between Israel and Hezbollah, which nominally ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in late November. Israeli strikes killed much of Hezbollah’s top leadership, including longtime Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, and destroyed much of its arsenal. Since the ceasefire, Israel has continued to occupy five strategic border points in southern Lebanon and to carry out near-daily airstrikes that it says aim to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its capabilities. Those strikes have killed some 250 people since November, in addition to more than 4,000 killed during the war, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. There has been increasing international and domestic pressure for Hezbollah to give up its remaining arsenal. “How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?” Kassem said in his video address. “We will not be part of legitimizing the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalization (with Israel).”In response to those who ask why the group needs its missile arsenal, Kassem said: “How can we confront Israel when it attacks us if we didn’t have them? Who is preventing Israel from entering villages and landing and killing young people, women and children inside their homes unless there is a resistance with certain capabilities capable of minimal defense?”His comments come ahead of an expected visit by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack to Beirut to discuss a proposed plan for Hezbollah’s disarmament and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the rest of southern Lebanon. Barrack posted Saturday on X that Lebanon is facing “a historic moment to supersede the strained confessionalism of the past and finally fulfill (its) true promise of the hope of ‘One country, one people, one army’” and quoted U.S. President Donald Trump saying, “Let’s make Lebanon Great again.”

Geagea Calls on Government to Lead Talks on Hezbollah’s Disarmament
This is Beirut/July 06/2025
The leader of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, has called on the government to take the lead in responding to a US roadmap aimed at helping Lebanon gradually resolve its border issue with Israel—which maintains a military presence at five points—and to tackle the issue of illegal weapons within its territory.
In a statement released on the eve of the arrival of US envoy Tom Barrack in Beirut, Geagea warned against a return to the kind of power-sharing arrangement that dominated during Syria’s tutelage over Lebanon, a “Troika of power that undermined the country’s institutions.”“For nearly two weeks, we’ve been hearing about American proposals intended to move things forward in Lebanon. These proposals aim to end Israeli occupation and attacks on the one hand, and to remove illegal weapons from Lebanese soil on the other,” said Geagea. “The US envoy arrives in Beirut tomorrow, and yet the issue has still not been discussed by the government. No official position has been taken to date,” he added. Geagea went on to implicitly criticize the sidelining of Lebanon’s constitutional institutions, noting that discussions around the US initiative have so far been led by President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, the latter negotiating on behalf of Hezbollah. “Have we returned to the old formula devised under the Assad regime, where a so-called Troika ruled in place of the institutions, ultimately driving the country into ruin?” he asked.
Geagea demanded some clarifications: “Is it the government that’s waiting to hear Hezbollah’s response? Shouldn’t it be the other way around, with Hezbollah awaiting a decision from the government?”He called on the Cabinet to meet without delay to produce a “national Lebanese response” to the US plan, “one that would tangibly, not just rhetorically, ensure Israel’s withdrawal (from the five border points), end its raids on Lebanon, and lead to the establishment of a real state that protects its citizens and defends their interests.”“Those working to sabotage this opportunity will bear a heavy responsibility before the Lebanese people and before history,” he warned, adding: “The fate of the country and its people cannot be toyed with for the sake of bolstering Iran’s position in upcoming international negotiations.”Several MPs from the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb parties have criticized the handling of the US proposal, saying the government and Parliament have been bypassed. During the latest parliamentary session, Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel expressed outrage that such crucial decisions affecting Lebanon’s future were being made outside the framework of the legislature.
The US roadmap reportedly calls for Lebanon to commit to a phased disarmament of Hezbollah and Palestinian factions, to be completed by November. In return, Israel would gradually withdraw from the five border areas. Washington is also pushing for structural reforms to strengthen the authority of the state and set Lebanon on a path to recovery. Among the proposals is a resolution to the long-standing border demarcation issue with Syria. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has not entirely dismissed the idea of talks over its arsenal, but on Sunday, its deputy leader Naim Qassem insisted the group “will not yield to international pressure or give up its weapons.”

Intensified Israeli Raids Pound Southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Overnight
This is Beirut/July 06/2025
Israeli warplanes carried out a wave of intense airstrikes across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa on Sunday evening, targeting multiple locations. The strikes come on the eve of US envoy Tom Barrack’s expected arrival in Beirut. Barrack is due to receive Lebanon’s formal response to Washington’s proposed roadmap aimed at resolving two major issues within six months: the presence of illegal arms in the country, and the continued Israeli military presence at five border points in the south. Quoting military sources, Israel’s Channel 14 described the strikes as “exceptional.” The attacks targeted several key areas. These included the Kfar Melki Valley and the triangle between Aïn Qana, Sarba, and Houmine in the south. In Bourj Rahal, near Tyre, three successive airstrikes caused significant material damage. Additional strikes hit Wadi Tebna, Baysariya, Deir Qanoun el-Nahr, and Ras el-Aïn, with the bombardment stretching as far as the coastal area of Zahrani. In that region, the town of Erzay was hit multiple times. The Bekaa Valley saw similarly sustained attacks. The highlands of Bouday and the jurd (rugged terrain) of Chmestar came under fire, along with reported strikes on the jurd of Janta and near Nabi Chit in the Anti-Lebanon mountain range, an area known to host Hezbollah positions. At least three separate strikes also targeted Falaway, Wadi el-Zayné, and Bouday once again. No fatalities were reported, though three paramedics were injured in a car accident as they raced in an ambulance to respond to the strikes in Bourj Rahal. Late in the evening, the Israeli military announced via Telegram that it had struck “multiple Hezbollah military sites, including strategic weapons production and storage facilities.” The statement also confirmed that rocket launch sites in both the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon were hit, calling Hezbollah’s presence in these areas a “blatant violation of agreements between Israel and Lebanon.”“The Israeli military will continue to act to eliminate any threat to the State of Israel,” the statement added. Following the wave of airstrikes, Israeli drones were reported flying at low altitude over the Baalbeck region and the southern suburb of Beirut.

Salam: State Must Regain Monopoly over Arms
This is Beirut/July 06/2025
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam reiterated on Sunday the need to fully implement the Taif Agreement, stressing that Lebanon’s failure to confine arms to the hands of the state remains a fundamental obstacle to national stability. “Arms must be confined to the hands of the state, and we have failed to fulfill this clause since the Taif Agreement,” Salam said during a visit to the Rashaya region. He underlined that the path to restoring state authority lies in completing the implementation of the 1989 agreement and addressing the distortions that emerged in its application. Salam pointed specifically to two unfulfilled pillars of the accord: expanded administrative decentralization and balanced regional development, which he described as essential to achieve lasting stability in Lebanon. During the visit, Member of Parliament Wael Abu Faour voiced support for Salam, saying, “We are in fateful days and fateful choices, and we are confident that you will lead Lebanon to safety.”“We support you because we need a state that reassures all its citizens, and we stand by you in these critical days when choices are limited,” Abu Faour concluded. Prime Minister Salam laid the foundation stone for the Beqaa Islamic Complex in Chtaura, alongside MP Hassan Mrad and Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian. In his speech, Salam described the project as a symbol of national unity and spiritual commitment, highlighting the Beqaa’s role as a model of coexistence despite long-standing neglect. He emphasized that balanced development and citizens’ dignity are essential for lasting stability, and reiterated the government’s commitment to reform through stronger institutions, judicial independence, and restructuring the banking sector. The tour also included a broad meeting in Ghazzeh at MP Yassin Yassin’s residence, attended by ministers, local officials, and community leaders. Salam discussed recent legislative reforms and affirmed continued work despite the government’s limited mandate. MP Yassin presented key development demands focused on agriculture, infrastructure, and youth support. The visit concluded in Taalabaya, where Salam stressed that true national stability requires both state monopoly over arms and robust social safety nets to preserve citizens’ dignity.

Qassem: Defense of Lebanon Is a 'Duty'
This is Beirut/July 06/2025
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem reaffirmed on Saturday the group’s unwavering stance on resisting Israel, declaring that Lebanon will remain in a “continuous struggle to defend its sovereignty and land against the Israeli enemy.”In his speech, Qassem stated that defending Lebanon is not a choice but a “duty,” and affirmed that “liberation will continue even if the time is long.” He reiterated Hezbollah’s rejection of all normalization efforts with Israel, stating that the group would not be party to “any legitimization of the occupation or humiliating normalization.”Addressing recent developments, Qassem accused Israel of breaching the ceasefire agreement “with thousands of violations,” and warned that “Israel’s threat of a new agreement does not mean Hezbollah will accept surrender.”“The aggression must stop, and the signed agreements must be fully implemented so that Lebanon can move towards the stage of building stability in the region,” he said. Qassem also dismissed external pressure for Hezbollah to disarm. “Threats will not make us surrender, and do not ask us to leave our weapons.”He added that Hezbollah sees the continued Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory as a “crisis” that requires confrontation. “Any solution must begin with achieving full withdrawal from the occupied territories and halting air attacks on Lebanon,” he said. “We are part of the solution,” Qassem added. “We will not accept Israel remaining a security threat to Lebanon and the region.” Concluding his remarks, he left the door open for a national dialogue, stating, “When the enemy implements the terms of the agreements, we are ready to discuss a defense strategy that serves Lebanese national security.” He added, “We do not accept living in Lebanon in a big prison.”

Patriarch Rai: 'Those in Charge Have Forgotten That Responsibility Is a Service, Not a Business'
This is Beirut/July 06/2025
From the Maronite Patriarchate's summer headquarters in Diman, Maronite Patriarch Rai denounced the loss of a sense of duty and mission among Lebanon's leaders in his Sunday homily. “The country is a mission, and the Lebanese are sent to their homeland to participate, not to withdraw,” he declared. The Patriarch pointed to the forgetfulness of some leaders that “responsibility is a service and a sacrifice, not a business or a market.” He also warned that Lebanon's crisis is not just economic or social, but moral and existential, marked by a loss of a sense of mission. “When politics loses its spirit of service, it becomes a struggle of interests,” he added, calling for a return to “the values on which Lebanon was founded: love, dignity, coexistence, openness and creativity.”Calling on citizens and leaders alike to adopt a “missionary” attitude, he insisted, “Lebanon can only rise again if its children shoulder their responsibilities with a missionary spirit, in all fields: politics, economics, education, justice...”

Mufti Derian's First Official Visit to Syria: Prayer, Symbols and Rapprochement
This is Beirut/July 06/2025
Presentation of the “Wisam Dar el-Fatwa” by Mufti Derian to Syrian President Ahmad el-Chareh during a meeting marking the return of bilateral religious dialogue between Beirut and Damascus. ©NNA Lebanon's Grand Mufti Abdel Latif Derian paid a visit to Syria, his first since taking office in 2014. Accompanied by a delegation of senior Lebanese Sunni religious leaders, he began his visit with a solemn prayer at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, one of the most important sites of Islam and Arab-Muslim heritage.
Mufti Derian and the members of the delegation then met a number of leading Syrian figures, including the Minister of Awqaf, Sheikh Mohammad Abu al-Kheir Shukri, and the Mufti of Damascus, Sheikh Abdel Fattah el-Bazm. The dialogue focused on strengthening religious cooperation and the importance of preserving common values in the face of regional challenges. The highlight of the visit was an official meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at Qasr al-Shaab. Mufti Derian delivered a highly symbolic speech, evoking the return of fraternal ties between the two countries and praising the “courage, patience and wisdom” of the Syrian head of state. He called for Lebanon and Syria to turn the page on past divisions and establish a renewed relationship based on partnership and complementarity. On this occasion, Mufti Derian awarded President Sharaa the prestigious golden “Wisam Dar el-Fatwa,” a rarely awarded decoration, for his efforts in favor of Islamic dialogue and the Arab cause. Grand Mufti Abdel Latif Derian highlighted the importance of strong Lebanese-Syrian relations during his recent visit to Damascus.
“We went to Damascus because it is the gateway to our Arab depth,” Derian said. “We visited the new administration to tell them: May God guide your steps in serving Syria, and we in Lebanon stand with the choices of the Syrian people.”
Derian underscored Lebanon’s desire to build “the best possible relations” with Syria, emphasizing that such ties must be established on a state-to-state basis. He praised the efforts of President Joseph Aoun and President al-Sharaa in that direction, noting, “I sensed from al-Sharaa a deep love for Lebanon and a clear will and determination to forge the strongest possible ties.”Touching on domestic matters, the Mufti also called for preserving the sanctity of places of worship. “Our mosques across all regions are beacons of faith and knowledge, and this is how they must remain,” he said. “My hope is that we keep politics away from places of worship.”

ChronicleLebanon’s Beaches: The Great Slimming Down
Marc Saikali/This is Beirut/July 06/2025
When we usually talk about beaches in Lebanon, it’s only to bemoan their polluted state. But this summer, something has changed. People aren’t scanning the waves for floating plastic bags anymore. It’s not the heat (still sweltering), the entrance fees (still outrageous), or the music volume (still unbearable). No, the real shift is in the average waistline of beachgoers. And here, we’re witnessing nothing short of a revolution. Or rather, a collective meltdown. Off with love handles, bulging bellies, and generous silhouettes. We have instead toned hips and ultra-slender bodies stretched out on the sand like fashion magazine ads.
Let’s put it this way: beaches now look like they’re sponsored by Photoshop. The secret? Two words—staple products widely used by a particular class of Lebanese: O… or its cousin M…. No need to name them, but everyone will know exactly what they are. Originally developed to treat diabetes, these injectable drugs are widely repurposed in Lebanon for rapid weight loss. They’ve become more common than power outages. One shot a week, and voilà—pounds vanish, just like disarmament promises. A true weapon of mass calorie destruction. One minute you’re a dabké queen, the next, a runway model.
And as with anything that “works” in Lebanon, everyone’s jumped on the bandwagon. Pharmacies are frequently out of stock, and people scramble for these little magic pens. The result: an unprecedented epidemic of slimness. Everyone is melting, disappearing, and evaporating in XS swimsuits. Yet, beware: this new body standard comes at a price—literally. Those who can afford these medications, which range anywhere from $100 to $1,000 a month, now wear their thinness like a social badge. Meanwhile, those who can’t afford these syringe-based diets keep their curves… So it’s not just weight being lost—it's dragging salaries down as well. The slim are under treatment; the rest are waiting for a bank transfer. We no longer speak of social classes, but weight classes. Hence, a new phenomenon is taking hold: body shape as a socioeconomic indicator. You no longer read someone’s status from their watch, car, chalet, or sunglasses—but from their waist and arms. You have a flat stomach? So, you're a financial success story. You have a slight belly? So, you're struggling. Bodies on the beach have become a new, highly Instagrammable marker of class. So yes, on Lebanon’s scenic shores, people are still getting tanned—but now they’re slimming down before our very eyes. A light summer, in every sense.

Palestinian leadership scales back Beirut ambassador’s role, eyes further changes — the details
LBCI/July 6, 2025
A growing rift between the Palestinian Embassy in Beirut and the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah has come into public view. The authority of Palestine's ambassador to Lebanon, Ashraf Dabbour, has been scaled back, significantly reducing his responsibilities. By decree from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who also chairs the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Dabbour’s role as deputy supervisor of Palestinian affairs in Lebanon has been revoked. His responsibilities are now limited strictly to his diplomatic duties as ambassador, with no further involvement in Palestinian affairs in Lebanon — including those related to factions, committees, security, public services, or humanitarian issues. Under Abbas’ new directives, the popular committees in the Palestinian camps are now politically, administratively, legally, and financially linked to the PLO’s Department of Refugee Affairs, which has been designated the central authority. The department is expected to begin restructuring the committees and organizing elections. These committees will handle service, social, and humanitarian matters, while political factions will remain confined to their broader representative role within the national framework. A senior PLO official in Lebanon confirmed that the changes followed a visit this week by a central Palestinian delegation to review the situation. According to the official, the delegation uncovered financial and administrative irregularities within the embassy. Dabbour was reportedly among those who opposed the handover of Palestinian weapons to the Lebanese state. However, the official suggested Dabbour’s position may have been a preemptive move, anticipating Ramallah’s growing dissatisfaction with his performance and the eventual curtailing of his role — or possibly his replacement, though no official decision has been announced. Ambassador Dabbour confirmed to LBCI that he is abiding by the decision, relieving him of his duties. He noted that a delegation from the financial and diplomatic oversight bodies visited and reviewed all matters but said he did not know whether the decision was based on the committee’s recommendations or other factors. Dabbour defended his stance on the weapons issue, saying his opposition was based on the need to establish appropriate mechanisms and avoid implementing such a move hastily or without adequate planning. He also stressed the importance of consultation with other Palestinian factions and of avoiding any confrontation between Palestinians in Lebanon and the Lebanese state or surrounding communities, which could jeopardize the security of both the camps and the country. Palestinian sources noted that more significant decisions may be issued regarding the Palestinian situation in the coming period.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 06-07/2025
Iran alone in crises: Where were Russia, China in their time of need?
Euronews Farsi/Euronews/July 6, 2025
When Russia sought assistance from China, North Korea and Iran amid its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, some Western officials expressed concern about the formation of a new axis against Western countries. But none of these countries came to Iran's aid during the Iran-Israel war or when American forces attacked Iran's nuclear facilities. China and Russia, the most powerful countries in the axis, have only expressed verbal condemnation of Washington's actions but stopped short of providing any financial, material or military assistance to Tehran. Alexander Gaboyev, Director of the Carnegie Centre for Russian and Eurasian Affairs, told the New York Times: “Each of these countries is completely pacifist and they don't want to get involved in each other's wars. Unlike the US and its allies, these countries do not necessarily have the same structures, values and institutional links with each other." The four countries have authoritarian regimes and are hostile to the United States, which has always tried to undermine them and question their legitimacy. They also have some strategic ties with each other which seek to circumvent US-led economic sanctions by advancing trade and exchanging weapons technology. Michael Kimge, a professor of history at The Catholic University of America and a former US State Department official, also believes that “there is probably little coordination between China, North Korea, Iran and Russia, so that they share views and have conversations around the centre of dissatisfaction with the United States, but not very meaningful coordination with each other.”Among those countries, only Russia and North Korea have a mutual defence pact. In addition to sending weapons to Russia, North Korea has deployed more than 14,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces in their more than three-year long military offensive in Ukraine.Moscow and Pyongyang's relationship is rooted in a shared communist past and anti-American war on the Korean peninsula from 1950 to 1953. China under Mao Zedong's rule was also present then. This same historical background also explains the close ties between China and Russia. The two countries' leaders have maintained a personal bond over the years, with their governments announcing “unimpeded cooperation” only weeks before the Kremlin launched its offensive on Ukraine in February 2022. China, of course, still shows itself adhering to some of the international values that Washington promoted during the pre-Trump era, and accordingly has refused to send major arms aid to Russia during the war.
However, according to US officials, China has played a role in rebuilding Russia's defence industries and remains one of the largest customers of Russian oil. Russia and Iran have never had such a relationship. One of the reasons could be religious differences. Iran has a theocracy that is viewed with doubt by the other three secular and socialist governments of Russia, China and North Korea. Moscow and Beijing view the spread of Islamic fundamentalism with concern. Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken draconian measures against Muslims in the country, cracking down on some Islamic rites among Uighur and Kazakh ethnicities. Sergei radchenko, a cold war historian at Johns Hopkins University, also told the New York Times: “there is no common value but statements about a multipolar world order between them, and at the same time, there are so many contrasts between them that Putin has pointed to and said that his relations with Iran's neighbours, including Israel and Arab countries, are more important than the friendship between Russia and Iran.”“Putin is a cynical, opportunistic actor who thinks only of his strategic interests, and he will do so if he needs to sacrifice Iran. And of course, that feeling is reciprocated in Tehran as well," he added. China was also a mere observer during the Iran-Israel military confrontation. Jinping said all sides “should work to reduce tension”. The Chinese leader strongly condemned US President Donald Trump's strikes on Iran and accused the Washington of violating the UN Charter.
But like Russia, Beijing didn't help Iran either. Though China sometimes takes an official stance toward conflicts in the region, it often tries to appear neutral in order to safeguard its interests. The country has for years expanded ties with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Iran's two regional rivals of whom they've clashed with for years. A broad regional war would jeopardize China's oil imports from those countries, so Beijing is seeking to calm the conflict, not inflame it. China's goal to play a neutral mediating role in the Middle East became apparent in March 2023, when it played a role in a diplomatic agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia. China also used that opportunity to strengthen its ties with Syria, Iran's ally in the region. Enrico Fardella, a professor at the University of Naples Lorentale who formerly taught at Peking University, believes that now that Iran has been weakened by the war with Israel and the fall of Syria's longtime President Bashar al-Assad, Beijing is cautiously and carefully assessing the situation to see which governments, political groups or militias find the upper hand, or fill a vacuum in the region. Yun Soon, a researcher on Chinese foreign policy at the Stimson Research Institute in Washington, believes the term “pivot” to describe the relationship between China, Russia, Iran and North Korea remains valid. Although these countries do not have a common defence pact, they share a common view of anti-America, anti-West, and anti-liberal democracy. “The alliance, even without mutual defence, remains an alliance,” he noted. "That they do not fight for each other does not mean that their cooperation is insignificant. China has provided Iran with nuclear and missile technology, financed Russia's war and kept North Korea alive". But Yun Soon noted that Beijing's support for Iran is limited and Chinese officials do not trust Iran's religious leadership. They see Iran as a country “too simplistic, opportunistic, hesitant and unstable in foreign relations.” He also added that Chinese officials are aware Iran, like North Korea, is an isolated country and needs China under any circumstances even if their relations sometimes suffer ups and downs.

IDF says it killed Hamas commander in cafe strike that killed dozens of civilians
Ruth Comerford - BBC News and Alice Cuddy - BBC News, Jerusalem/July 6, 2025
Israeli forces say they killed the commander of Hamas's naval force in northern Gaza in a strike on a seaside cafe in which dozens of civilians were killed. After the attack on the popular al-Baqa cafe in Gaza City on Monday, family members in Gaza and abroad told the BBC of their shock at the scale of civilian casualties. In a statement on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike killed Ramzi Ramadan Abd Ali Saleh, along with Hisham Ayman Atiya Mansour, deputy head of Hamas's mortar unit, and Nissim Muhammad Suleiman Abu Sabha. Saleh was a "significant source of knowledge" within Hamas and had been involved in planning and advancing "maritime terrorist attacks", the IDF said. Israel's strike on bustling Gaza cafe killed a Hamas operative - but dozens more people were killed. Sources in Gaza had previously told the BBC a senior Hamas commander was rumoured to have been at the cafe at the time of the strike.The IDF also said it had taken steps "to mitigate the risk of harming civilians" but did not provide any further details as to why so many people were killed in the incident. The BBC has reviewed 29 names of people reported killed in the strike on the cafe, at least nine of whom were women, while several were children and teenagers. Those killed included artists, students, social activists, a female boxer, a footballer and cafe staff. Staff at Shifa Hospital, which received bodies from the attack, said its toll as of Thursday had reached 40 dead, including people who had succumbed to their injuries, and unidentified bodies. An official at the hospital said some of the bodies had been "blown to pieces", and that 72 injured patients were brought there - many having sustained severe burns and significant injuries that required surgery. The al-Baqa Cafeteria was well-known across the Gaza Strip, and considered by many to be among the territory's most scenic and vibrant meeting spots. It had remained popular even during the war, especially due to its unusually stable internet connection. The IDF did not directly respond to multiple BBC questions about whether it considered the number of civilian casualties to be proportionate. In its statement on Sunday it said it would "continue to operate against the Hamas terrorist organization in order to remove any threat posed to Israeli civilians", before saying the "incident" was "under review". Meanwhile, indirect talks between Israel and Hamas began in Qatar on Sunday to discuss the latest proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 57,338 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Israeli strike on Gaza seafront cafe kills at least 20 Palestinians, witnesses and rescuers say

Hamas government office rejects US accusation of involvement in Gaza aid site attack
Reuters/July 6, 2025
CAIRO/ TEL AVIV -A Hamas government media office rejected accusations by the U.S. State Department that the group was involved in a Saturday attack that injured two Americans at an aid distribution site in Gaza, it said on Sunday. The U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said on Saturday the injured American aid workers were receiving medical treatment after a grenade attack caused non-life-threatening injuries. A representative for UG Solutions, a North Carolina-based company providing security at GHF's aid distribution sites in Gaza, told Reuters on Sunday that the injured Americans were employed as private security contractors. The contractors were former U.S. special forces and did not open fire after they were injured in order to avoid risking harm to nearby civilians, the person said. The Hamas-run media office described the U.S. accusation as misleading, saying it was aimed at justifying "the continued killing and starvation of Palestinian civilians". "We categorically and unequivocally reject the claims issued by the U.S. State Department alleging that the Palestinian resistance threw explosives at American personnel operating at sites run by the so-called "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – GHF," it said in a statement.

Netanyahu Says he Believes Trump Can Help Seal Ceasefire Deal
Asharq Al Awsat/July 06/2025
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he believed his discussions with US President Donald Trump on Monday would help advance talks on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal that Israeli negotiators resumed in Qatar on Sunday. Israeli negotiators taking part in the ceasefire talks have clear instructions to achieve a ceasefire agreement under conditions that Israel has accepted, Netanyahu said on Sunday before boarding his flight to Washington. "I believe the discussion with President Trump can certainly help advance these results," he said, adding that he was determined to ensure the return of hostages held in Gaza and to remove the threat of Hamas to Israel. It will be Netanyahu's third visit to the White House since Trump returned to power nearly six months ago. Public pressure is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire and end the war in Gaza, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. Others, including Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, have expressed support. Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a "positive spirit", a few days after Trump said Israel had agreed "to the necessary conditions to finalize" a 60-day truce. But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals. Netanyahu's office said in a statement that changes sought by Hamas to the ceasefire proposal were "not acceptable to Israel". However, his office said the delegation would still fly to Qatar to "continue efforts to secure the return of our hostages based on the Qatari proposal that Israel agreed to".
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a demand the militant group has so far refused to discuss. Netanyahu said he believed he and Trump would also build on the outcome of the 12-day air war with Iran last month and seek to further ensure that Tehran never has a nuclear weapon. He said recent Middle East developments had created an opportunity to widen the circle of peace. On Saturday evening, crowds gathered at a public square in Tel Aviv near the defense ministry headquarters to call for a ceasefire deal and the return of around 50 hostages still held in Gaza. The demonstrators waved Israeli flags, chanted and carried posters with photos of the hostages. The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Gaza's health ministry says Israel's retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, displaced the population, mostly within Gaza, and left the territory in ruins. Around 20 of the remaining hostages are believed to be still alive. A majority of the original hostages have been freed through diplomatic negotiations, though the Israeli military has also recovered some.

Israeli airstrikes kill 38 Palestinians in Gaza as truce negotiating team heads to Qatar
WAFAA SHURAFA and KAREEM CHEHAYEB/Associated Press/July 6, 2025
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 38 Palestinians in Gaza, hospital officials said on Sunday, as Israel sent a ceasefire negotiating team to Qatar ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's White House visit for talks toward a deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who will meet with Netanyahu on Monday, has floated a plan for an initial 60-day ceasefire that would include a partial release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for an increase in humanitarian supplies allowed into Gaza. The proposed truce calls for talks on ending the 21-month war altogether.“There are 20 hostages that are alive, 30 dead. I am determined, we are determined, to bring them all back. And we will also be determined to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu said before departing, emphasizing the goal of eliminating Hamas' military and governing power.
Israel approves aid to northern Gaza, official says
Separately, an Israeli official said the security Cabinet late Saturday approved sending aid into northern Gaza, where civilians suffer from acute food shortages. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the decision with the media, declined to give more details. Northern Gaza has seen just a trickle of aid enter since Israel ended the latest ceasefire in March. The Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation 's closest aid distribution site is near the Netzarim corridor south of Gaza City that separates the territory's north and south. In Yemen, a spokesperson for the Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced in a prerecorded message that the group had launched ballistic missiles targeting Israel's Ben Gurion Airport overnight. Israel's military said they were intercepted.
Israel hits 130 targets across Gaza
Israeli strikes hit two houses in Gaza City, killing 20 Palestinians and wounding 25 others, according to Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of Shifa Hospital, which serves the area. In southern Gaza, Israeli strikes killed 18 Palestinians in Muwasi, an area on the Mediterranean coast where thousands of displaced people live in tents, officials at Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis told The Associated Press. It said two families were among the dead. “My brother, his wife, his four children, my cousin’s son and his daughter. ... Eight people are gone,” said Saqer Abu Al-Kheir as people gathered on the sand for prayers and burials. Israel's military had no immediate comment on the individual strikes but said it struck 130 targets across Gaza in the past 24 hours. It claimed its strikes targeted Hamas command and control structures, storage facilities, weapons and launchers, and that they killed a number of militants in northern Gaza.
Rift over ending the war
Ahead of the indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar, Netanyahu’s office asserted that the militant group was seeking “unacceptable” changes to the ceasefire proposal. Hamas, which gave a “positive” response late Friday to the latest U.S. proposal, has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war’s end, while Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the group’s destruction. The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Most have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

Hamas security officer says group has lost control over most of Gaza
Rushdi Abualouf - Gaza correspondent/BBC/July 6, 2025
A senior officer in Hamas's security forces has told the BBC the Palestinian armed group has lost about 80% of its control over the Gaza Strip and that armed clans are filling the void. The lieutenant colonel said Hamas's command and control system had collapsed due to months of Israeli strikes that have devastated the group's political, military and security leadership. The officer was wounded in the first week of the war, which began after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, and has since stepped away from his duties for health reasons. He shared several voice messages with the BBC on condition of anonymity. Israeli strike at Gaza market kills 18 Palestinians, doctor and witnesses say
Netanyahu confirms Israel arming clans opposed to Hamas in Gaza
In the messages, the officer painted a picture of Hamas's internal disintegration and the near-total collapse of security across Gaza, which the group governed before the conflict. "Let's be realistic here - there's barely anything left of the security structure. Most of the leadership, about 95%, are now dead... The active figures have all been killed," he said. "So really, what's stopping Israel from continuing this war?""Logically, it has to continue until the end. All the conditions are aligned: Israel has the upper hand, the world is silent, the Arab regimes are silent, criminal gangs are everywhere, society is collapsing."
Last September, Israel's then-defence minister declared that "Hamas as a military formation no longer exists" and that it was engaged in guerrilla warfare. According to the officer, Hamas attempted to regroup during the 57-day ceasefire with Israel earlier this year, reorganizing its political, military, and security councils. But since Israel ended the truce in March, it has targeted Hamas's remaining command structures, leaving the group in disarray. "About the security situation, let me be clear: it has completely collapsed. Totally gone. There's no control anywhere," he said.
"People looted the most powerful Hamas security apparatus (Ansar), the complex which Hamas used to rule Gaza. "They looted everything, the offices - mattresses, even zinc panels - and no-one intervened. No police, no security."The officer said a consequence of the security vacuum was gangs or armed clans were "everywhere". "They could stop you, kill you. No one would intervene. Anyone who tried to act on their own, like organising resistance against thieves, was bombed by Israel within half an hour."So, the security situation is zero. Hamas's control is zero. There's no leadership, no command, no communication. Salaries are delayed, and when they do arrive, they're barely usable. Some die just trying to collect them. It's total collapse."On 26 June, at least 18 people were killed when an Israeli drone strike targeted a plainclothes Hamas police unit attempting to assert control over a market in Deir al-Balah, accusing vendors of price gouging and selling looted aid, witnesses and medics said. The Israeli military said it struck "several armed terrorists" belonging to Hamas's Internal Security Forces. Palestinians mourn next to the bodies of people killed in an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on 26 June 2025
In this vacuum, six armed groups affiliated with powerful local clans have emerged as serious contenders to fill the void, according to the officer.These groups have access to money, weapons and men, and are active across all of Gaza, but mostly in the south.
One of them is led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a figure who has attracted attention from the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the occupied West Bank and is a rival to Hamas, as well as regional players - particularly after Israel confirmed last month that it was supplying him with weapons. The officer confirmed that Hamas had placed a large bounty on Abu Shabab's head, fearing he could become a unifying figure for its many enemies. "Hamas would ignore ordinary thieves. People are hungry and [the fighters] don't want to provoke more chaos. But this guy? If the Hamas fighters find him, they might go after him instead of Israeli tanks."Sources in Gaza told the BBC that Abu Shabab was working to co-ordinate with other armed groups to form a joint council aimed at toppling Hamas. A retired Palestinian security official, who was part of the force that cracked down on Hamas's military wing in 1996 following a wave of bombings in Israel, said Abu Shabab's network was gaining traction. "Abu Shabab's group is like an orphaned child who everyone will want to adopt if he succeeds in undermining Hamas rule," said the official, who now lives in Cairo. "Publicly, all sides deny links to the armed groups in Gaza. But Abu Shabab has met a senior Palestinian intelligence officer three times and sent messages of assurance to the Egyptians through relatives in Sinai," he claimed. He also said Abu Shabab "maintains good ties with Mohammad Dahlan's camp". Dahlan is a former Gaza security chief who has lived in exile since he fell out with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas 15 years ago. The Hamas security officer warned the group was "willing to do anything" to eliminate Abu Shabab not because of his current military strength, but out of fear he could become a symbol around which all of Hamas's adversaries rally. "For 17 years, Hamas made enemies everywhere. If someone like Abu Shabab can rally those forces, that could be the beginning of the end for us." As Gaza is plunged further into lawlessness, with entire neighbourhoods descending into gang rule, Hamas finds itself not just under Israeli fire but increasingly surrounded by rivals from within.

Turkey says 5 soldiers killed by methane gas during cave search in northern Iraq
Associated Press/July 6, 2025
ISTANBUL — Five Turkish soldiers have died after exposure to methane gas on Sunday while searching a cave in northern Iraq for the remains of a fellow soldier killed by Kurdish militants in 2022, the Turkish Defense Ministry said. Soldiers were searching a mountain cave when 19 of them were exposed to the gas, which is colorless, odorless, flammable and can cause asphyxiation in sufficient concentration. “They were immediately transported to the hospital (but) despite all interventions, five heroic personnel were martyred,” the ministry said in a statement. “Rescue operations in the area continue.”The ministry did not give a specific location for the incident other than the “Claw-Lock Operation region,” a reference to an operation launched against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in north Iraq in April 2022. The Turkish unit affected by methane gas was searching for the remains of an infantry officer killed by “terrorist gunfire” during a search-and-clear operation in May 2022, the ministry said. For the last three years, teams have been hunting for his remains. The cave was at an altitude of 852 meters (2,795 foot) and was known to have been used as a hospital by the PKK in the past, although it had since been cleared by Turkish soldiers. The office of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the soldiers were “exposed to a high concentration of accumulated methane gas.”Turkey and the PKK have waged a 40-year conflict which has often spilled over into Iraq and Syria. Turkey has set up a series of bases in northern Iraq, where the PKK has been established for decades. The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and most of the West, announced in May that it would disband and renounce armed conflict as part of a new peace initiative with Turkey.
Its fighters are expected to begin handing over their weapons over the next few days in the first concrete move toward disarmament.

Shiite neighborhoods in Damascus commemorate Ashoura quietly after Assad's ouster
ABDELRAHMAN SHAHEEN and OMAR SANADIKI/Associated Press//July 6, 2025
DAMASCUS, Syria — Shiite pilgrims from Syria and abroad used to flock to the Sayyida Zeinab shrine outside of Damascus every year to commemorate Ashoura, a solemn day marking the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.
In the days leading up to Ashoura, the streets would be lined with black and red mourning banners and funeral tents. On the day of the commemoration, black-clad mourners would process through the streets, while in gathering halls known as “husseiniyas,” the faithful would listen and weep as clerics recounted the death of Imam Hussein and his 72 companions in the battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq. Protecting the shrine dedicated to Sayyida Zeinab, the Prophet Muhammad’s granddaughter and sister to Hussein, from Sunni extremists became a rallying cry for Shiite fighters during Syria’s 14-year civil war. It was often pointed to as justification for the intervention of militants from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq in the Syrian conflict in support of former President Bashar Assad. This year, after Assad’s ouster in a lightning rebel offensive led by Sunni Islamist insurgents, the Shiite neighborhoods of Damascus were subdued. The hotels that were once brimming with religious tourists were empty. There were no banners or processions. The faithful continued to observe their rituals inside the shrine and prayer halls, but quietly and with strict security measures.
Violence takes its toll
Syrian Shiites already felt they were in a precarious position after Assad’s ouster. Their fears increased after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a church outside of Damascus last month, killing 25 people and wounding dozens more. Government officials blamed the attack on a cell of the Islamic State group and said they had thwarted plans by the same cell to attack Sayyida Zeinab. In Damascus' Zain al Abdeed neighborhood, mourners entered gathering halls after going through a search and screening with metal detectors. Qassem Soleiman, head of a body that coordinates between the Shiite community and the new government, said Shiite leaders had agreed with the state that they would hold their Ashoura rituals but would “cut back on certain things outside of the halls in order for no one to get hurt and for there not to be problems.”The attack on the Mar Elias Church in Dweil’a “put us into a state of great fear and anxiety,” he said. “So we tried as much as possible to do our commemorations and rituals and ceremonies for Ashoura inside the halls.”Jafaar Mashhadiyia, an attendant at one of the gathering halls, echoed similar fears. “The security situation is still not stable — there are not a lot of preventive measures being taken in the streets,” he said. “The groups that are trying to carry out terrorist attacks have negative views of Shiites, so there is a fear of security incidents.”
Worry affects the economy
The absence of pilgrims coming from abroad has been an economic hit to the area.
“There are no visitors,” said a hotel owner in the Sayyida Zeinab area near the shrine, who asked to be identified only by his nickname, Abu Mohammad, because of security concerns. During the lead-up to Ashoura, “the hotels should be 100% full,” he said. “The Iraqis normally fill up the area.” But this year, they didn't come. His economic woes predate Assad’s fall. In the months before the rebel offensive in Syria, a low-level conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah escalated into a full-scale war in Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands fled from Lebanon across the border into Syria to escape the bombardment, with many of them staying in the hotels in Sayyida Zeinab at discounted rates, Abu Mohammad said. A guard at a checkpoint in Sayyida Zeinab, who gave only his nickname, Abu Omar, in accordance with regulations, said he had seen no security issues in the area since the fall of Assad. “There are attempts to sow discord and sectarianism by corrupt people who were with the former regime and want to play on the string of sectarianism and destroy the country and create issues between us,” he said, describing them as “individual efforts.”
Abu Omar pointed to a group of local men sitting in chairs on the sidewalk nearby smoking hookah. “If they didn’t feel safe here next to us, next to a security checkpoint, they wouldn’t come and sit here.” Soleiman said he hopes that next year, the foreign pilgrims will be back and Shiites will be able to openly commemorate Ashoura, with Syrians from other groups coming to see the rituals as they did in the past. “We hope that next year things will return to how they were previously, and that is a call to the state and a call to the General Security agency and all the political figures,” he said. “We are one of the components in building this state.”

Boko Haram militants kill 9 people and injure 4 in northeastern Nigeria, authorities say
DYEPKAZAH SHIBAYAN/AP/July 06/2025
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Islamic extremists killed nine people and injured four in Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, authorities said Sunday. The attack was carried out by Boko Haram militants on the Malam Fatori community, Babagana Zulum, the state governor, said. He did not say when the attack happened. The community, very close to the border of Chad, is about 270 kilometers (167 miles) from Maiduguri, Borno’s capital city. The governor, represented by Sugun Mai Mele, the commissioner for local governments, visited the community and warned residents against collaborating with Boko Haram militants. “Anyone found collaborating with the insurgents to bring harm or attack to the people of Malam Fatori will be cursed,” he said, adding that there are measures being put in place to fortify the town against future attacks. A resurgence of Boko Haram attacks has been shaking Nigeria’s northeast in recent months, as Islamic extremists have repeatedly overrun military outposts, mined roads with bombs and raided civilian communities, raising fears of a possible return to peak Boko Haram-era insecurity despite the military’s claims of successes. Last month, a suicide bomber suspected to be female killed at least 10 people and injured several others in an explosion in a restaurant in the Konduga area of Borno, as the state struggles to curb attacks by the extremists. Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown jihadis, took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law. The conflict also has spilled into Nigeria’s northern neighbors. Some 35,000 civilians have been killed and more than 2 million displaced in Nigeria's northeastern region, according to the U.N. Apart from the insurgency in the northeast, Africa’s most populous country is also facing serious security challenges in the north-central and northwest regions, where hundreds have been killed and injured in recent months.

Syria fights ‘catastrophic’ fires for fourth day
AFP/July 06, 2025
DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities said some 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of forest had “turned to ash” in wildfires as firefighters from neighboring Jordan arrived Sunday to battle a fourth day of blazes in the province of Latakia. Syrian emergency workers have faced tough conditions including high temperatures, strong winds, rugged mountainous terrain in the coastal province and the danger of explosive war remnants, in a country worn down by years of conflict and economic crisis. An AFP correspondent in Latakia’s Rabiaa region saw emergency workers battling a blaze near homes, while vast swathes of forest and olive groves were burnt and smoke filled the air over a long distance. Jordanian civil defense teams crossed into Syria on Sunday morning, the Syrian ministry for emergencies and disaster management said, after Turkiye sent assistance a day earlier. Minister Raed Al-Saleh said on X that “hundreds of thousands of forest trees over an estimated area of around 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) in 28 locations have turned to ash.”He later decried “a real environmental disaster” at a press conference in the province. More than 80 teams including civil defense personnel have been helping battle the blaze, he said, noting local organizations and residents were also providing assistance, in addition to teams and firefighting aircraft from neighboring Jordan and Turkiye. Saleh said it would take days to declare the blazes completely extinguished once the fire was brought under control, calling them “catastrophic.”Syria’s defense ministry said the air force was assisting, publishing images of a helicopter collecting and dropping water. Jordan’s public security directorate said in a statement that the “specialized firefighting teams from the civil defense... have been provided with all the modern equipment and machinery necessary to carry out their duties to the fullest extent.”Swathes of forested area and farmland have burnt and some villages evacuated as the fires raged including near the Turkish border. The United Nations deputy envoy to Syria Najat Rochdi said in a statement Sunday on X that Damascus “needs more international assistance” to face the fires.A statement from the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Syria Adam Abdelmoula said that “UN teams are on the ground conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the disaster and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs.”
Nearly seven months after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar Assad, Syria is still reeling from more than a decade of civil war that ravaged the country’s economy, infrastructure and public services. With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves and low rainfall. In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP that Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.”

Desperate search for missing girls as death toll in Texas floods jumps to 78
AFP/July 07, 2025
HUNT, Texas: Rescuers in Texas raced against time Sunday to find dozens of missing people, including children, swept away by flash floods that killed at least 78 people, with forecasters warning of new deluges. US President Donald Trump said he would “probably” visit the southern state on Friday. The president brushed off concerns his administration’s wide-ranging cuts to weather forecasting and related federal agencies had left local warning systems worse-off. Instead, Trump described the flash floods as a “100-year catastrophe” that “nobody expected.”At least 40 adults and 28 children were killed in the worst-hit Kerr County in central Texas, Sheriff Larry Leitha said, while at least ten more people were killed by flooding in nearby areas. “You will see the death toll rise today,” warned Texas public safety chief Freeman Martin at a press conference.
“Across the state, in all the areas affected by flooding, there are 41 known missing,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said. As questions grew about why warnings did not come sooner or people were not evacuated earlier in the area popular with campers, Trump said the situation was a “Biden setup.” “That was not our setup,” Trump told reporters on Sunday, adding that he would “not” hire back meteorologists when probed about staff and budget cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS). Asked about whether he would change his plans to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he responded: “FEMA is something we can talk about later.”Trump, who previously said disaster relief should be handled at the state-level, also signed a major disaster declaration that freed up resources for Texas. In central Texas, some 17 helicopters joined the search for missing people, including ten girls and a counselor from a riverside Christian summer camp where about 750 people had been staying when disaster struck.
In a terrifying display of nature’s power, the rain-swollen waters of the Guadalupe River reached treetops and the roofs of cabins in Camp Mystic as girls slept overnight Friday, washing away some of them and leaving a scene of devastation.
Blankets, teddy bears and other belongings at the camp were caked in mud. Windows in the cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of the water. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned Sunday that slow-moving thunderstorms threatened more flash floods over the saturated ground of central Texas. Governor Abbott warned that heavy rainfall could “lead to potential flash flooding” in Kerrville and surrounding areas, as officials warned people against going near the swollen river and its creeks. The flooding began at the start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend as months’ worth of rain fell in a matter of hours, much of it coming overnight as people slept. The Guadalupe surged around 26 feet (eight meters) — more than a two-story building — in just 45 minutes. Flash floods, which occur when the ground is unable to absorb torrential rainfall, are not unusual in this region of south and central Texas, known colloquially as “Flash Flood Alley.”Scientists say that in recent years human-driven climate change has made extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heat waves more frequent and more intense.
Officials said while rescue operations were ongoing, they were also starting the process of debris removal. “There’s debris all over the place that makes roads impassable, that makes reconstruction projects unachievable,” Abbott said. People from elsewhere in Texas converged on Kerr County to help look for the missing. Texans also started flying personal drones to help look but local officials urged them to stop, citing a danger for rescue aircraft. One of the searches focused on four young women who were staying in a house that was washed away by the river. Adam Durda and his wife Amber, both 45, drove three hours to help. “There was a group of 20-year-olds that were in a house that had gotten washed away,” Durda told AFP. “That’s who the family requested help for, but of course, we’re looking for anybody.”Justin Morales, 36, was part of a search team that found three bodies, including that of a Camp Mystic girl caught up in a tree. “We’re happy to give a family closure and hopefully we can keep looking and find some of the... you know, whoever,” he told AFP. “Help give some of those families closure. That’s why we’re out here.”

BRICS 'condemn the military strikes' against Iran: Summit statement
AFP/July 6, 2025
Iran won the diplomatic backing of fellow BRICS nations meeting in Rio de Janeiro Sunday, with the bloc condemning recent Israel and U.S. air strikes on military, nuclear, and other facilities. "We condemn the military strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran since 13 June 2025, which constitute a violation of international law," leaders said in a summit statement, without naming the United States or Israel by name.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on July 06-07/2025
On War And Peace Between Lebanon and Israel
Hazem Saghieh/Acharq Al Awsat/July 06/2025
True to form, the Lebanese are evading discussions of existential questions regarding their present and future. Instead of debate, we find vitriolic quarrels in which each side antagonizes the other, using grand causes to score petty points. In similarly typical fashion, their "opinions" reflect sectarian loyalties and motives that are not difficult to identify. That is why, despite our history of wars and bloodshed, Lebanon has never had a cross-sectarian pacifist movement. Accordingly, peace, as a universal value and an end in itself, occupies little space in our discourse about war and peace, and by implication about Hezbollah handing its arms to the state. We place nothing above- and thus have nothing to lift us above- sectarian polarization and our sects’ predetermined positions. As a result, we have a trivialization (and often glorification) of violence on one side and, on the other, opposition to war that is defended from several different angles but does nothing to develop a more robust and deeper culture of peace. This suggests that the pursuit of domination and its latent violence underpin both stances: the stance of the camp arguing that these arms should not be handed over and the stance of those who brandish the threat of Israel collecting these weapons itself if they are not relinquished. Because that is the case, affect is at the heart of both sides of the debate. Those who do not want peace with the Jewish state often invoke episodes from our history of mutual hostility and point to what is happening in Gaza, before concluding that peace with this "tumor" is not tenable. Those who want peace, on the other hand, speak like bureaucrats, adding and subtracting figures without considering sentiments that stem from past experiences. They are explicitly betting that, together, rational self-interest and the blank pages that await us in a promising future built around cooperation will turn the page on the memories of the past and the emotions of the emotional.
Peace, in any case, is not a question of emotions, though this does not imply total apathy for emotions. Its advocates are not necessarily enamored of Israel, and it could be a positive sign that some among them are apprehensive about this extremely powerful neighbor and link their desire for peace with another, their desire to reduce the reasons for such concerns and to drain the well they spring from. There are many rational reasons to prefer peace. War, in addition to the death and pain it engenders, has profoundly negative repercussions for inter-sectarian dynamics domestically, that is, for the little that remains of our national unity. Since the late 1960s, we have been learning that every weapon held to fight Israel is a weapon that fires at what is supposedly shared among the Lebanese. Moreover, ending the war and laying down our arms are prerequisites for an economic recovery, foreign investment, reconstruction, and breaking our isolation from the region and the world. The advocates of war and arms, on the other hand, have nothing left to offer but resentment and closed horizons. Sulking is of course a luxury that no one can afford at a time when political and economic calamities are grinding the Lebanese, especially after the resistance card was completely burned, and with it the fingers of its fighters.
There is no use in inventing, because of our attachment to a war that no one is fighting, Israeli "ambitions" in Lebanon, nor in brandishing the existential threats posed by an evil neighbor who will gobble us up or stamp us out even if we all embrace Mahatma Gandhi's doctrine of nonviolence.
It seems that fighting the surge of sentimentality, which continues to undercut reason, should not lead to cold calculations that are contemptuous of sentiment and avoid appeals to affect. Such a reductionist approach is harmful; we see it from those heralding a transition that, between Wednesday and Thursday, we move to trading with Israel and collaborating on developing our use of artificial intelligence. Solving the problem rhetorically- with fantasies of a transition "from ideology to technology," as though choosing to rely on the latter is a decision above ideology- does not help either. These simplistic frameworks, which mirror the Trumpian consciousness and its conception of the world and politics, are shocked by their encounter with the complexity of reality in various ways; and so they turn a blind eye to death, destruction, displacement, and gaping psychological wounds. The most recent manifestation of reality’s capacity to shock may have come for Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. Commenting on peace with Syria, he spoke of a normalization deal that would allow Israel to maintain control over the Golan Heights. Such obstacles may not be insurmountable, but they are certainly impossible to ignore. However, if defending peace should not obscure its complexities and challenges, then these complexities and challenges should not stand in the way of defending peace either. With regard to emotions that have always surrounded this penchant for war, there is now no point in ignoring the recent inversion of all other meanings. Those who do not wish to be "isolationists”- to be isolated from Syria and the region- must realize that the faction clinging to its arms is the only "isolationist" around today. As for "unity with our brothers in arms," it has been unraveled by the evaporation of the "brother" supporting his "brother.” Neither did Iran support Gaza and Lebanon, nor did Gaza and Lebanon support Iran. As for the question of "abandoning Palestine," it has become abundantly clear that the only way for Lebanon (and other Arab countries) to help Palestinians at this devastating time, is to build stable and respected states. Anything else would render our "solidarity" a solidarity of one impotent with another.

Trump Claims Sweeping Power to Nullify Laws, Letters on TikTok Ban Show
Charlie Savage/The New York Times/06 July/2025
Attorney General Pam Bondi told tech companies that they could lawfully violate a statute barring American companies from supporting TikTok based on a sweeping claim that President Trump has the constitutional power to set aside laws, newly disclosed documents show. In letters to companies like Apple and Google, Ms. Bondi wrote that Mr. Trump had decided that shutting down TikTok would interfere with his “constitutional duties,” so the law banning the social media app must give way to his “core presidential national security and foreign affairs powers.”
The letters, which became public on Thursday via Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, portrayed Mr. Trump as having nullified the legal effects of a statute that Congress passed by large bipartisan majorities in 2024 and that the Supreme Court unanimously upheld.
Shortly after being sworn in, Mr. Trump issued an executive order directing the Justice Department to suspend enforcement of the TikTok ban and has since repeatedly extended it. That step has been overshadowed by numerous other moves he has made to push at the boundaries of executive power in the opening months of his second administration.But some legal experts consider Mr. Trump’s action — and in particular his order’s claim, which Ms. Bondi endorsed in her letters, that he has the power to enable companies to lawfully violate the statute — to be his starkest power grab. It appears to set a significant new precedent about the potential reach of presidential authority, they said. “There are other things that are more important than TikTok in today’s world, but for pure refusal to enforce the law as Article II requires, it’s just breathtaking,” said Alan Z. Rozenshtein, a University of Minnesota law professor who has written about the nonenforcement of the TikTok ban, referring to the part of the Constitution that says presidents must take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
The executive branch has the power, as a matter of prosecutorial discretion, to choose not to enforce laws in particular instances or to set priorities about what categories of lawbreaking they will prioritize when resources are limited.
Previous presidents have occasionally made aggressive use of that power, including when President Obama temporarily shielded from deportation undocumented immigrants who had been brought to the country as children.
But the Obama administration also said such “deferred action” could be revoked and did not claim it made their presence lawful, nor cease to enforce immigration law against others. In her letters, Ms. Bondi went far beyond that. Because of Mr. Trump’s order, she said, tech firms that acted contrary to the statute were breaking no law, even in theory, and the department was “irrevocably relinquishing” any legal claims against them — including under future administrations.
The companies, she wrote, “committed no violation of the act” and “incurred no liability under the act” during the periods that Mr. Trump had declared a suspension of the law. She also told them they may continue to provide services to TikTok “without violating the act, and without incurring any legal liability.”
Essentially, legal experts said, Mr. Trump is claiming a constitutional power to immunize private parties to commit otherwise illegal acts with impunity.
Zachary S. Price, a University of California San Francisco law professor who has written extensively about the limits of executive power to not enforce laws, compared Mr. Trump’s move with the Obama administration’s rules that delayed carrying out certain provisions of his health care law to ease the transition. But he portrayed the TikTok move as more extreme. “This is a much bigger deal in that it is just nuking the whole statute instead of tweaking certain provisions,” Professor Price said. “It’s very damaging to the political process.”Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law School professor and former senior Justice Department official in the Bush administration who has written about the TikTok issue, said Mr. Trump’s encroachment on the power of Congress established a precedent that far exceeded actions by other presidents that prompted partisan outcries.
“Recent past presidents have been aggressive in exercising law enforcement discretion, but they haven’t suspended the operation of a law entirely or immunized its violation prospectively,” Professor Goldsmith said.
He cited an 1838 Supreme Court case, involving a law about payments to government contractors, that says the Constitution does not give presidents the power to dispense with laws — a power that the British king used to have.
A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment. Representatives for Apple and Google’s parent company Alphabet did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Both companies make TikTok available to users of smartphones and other mobile devices in their app stores.
TikTok also relies on other companies to operate, including the providers of cloud computing services. Other companies that received Justice Department letters released on Thursday included Akamai, Amazon, Digital Realty Trust, Fastly, LG Electronics USA, Microsoft, Oracle and T-Mobile. Last year, Congress enacted a law that banned the app in the United States unless its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, sold it to a non-Chinese firm. Supporters of the law cited concerns that the Chinese government could amass sensitive user data about Americans or use the TikTok algorithm to manipulate public opinion. The law says that companies that violate it can face civil fines up to $5,000 per user. A third of Americans say they have used TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law in January, and TikTok briefly disappeared from app stores for American users of Apple iPhones or smartphones using the Android operating system, which is run by Google.
But on Inauguration Day, Mr. Trump directed the Justice Department not to enforce the TikTok ban for 75 days to give his administration time to figure out what to do with it.
Mr. Trump also directed the attorney general to send letters to companies “stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct that occurred during the above-specified period, as well as for any conduct from the effective date of the act until the issuance of this executive order.”He cited no authority for doing to, although he vaguely gestured toward his “unique constitutional responsibility for the national security of the United States, the conduct of foreign policy, and other vital executive functions.”
Neither the Trump administration nor the tech companies had made public the letters sent by Ms. Bondi. In May, The New York Times filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for the letters. A Silicon Valley software engineer, Tony Tan, also filed a FOIA lawsuit for them in California.
Mr. Tan, who received a more extensive set of Ms. Bondi’s letters on Thursday than the Justice Department provided to The Times, has also filed a lawsuit against Alphabet seeking board meeting notes and other corporate records related to its decision to restore TikTok to the Google app store.
In March, several Democratic lawmakers who opposed the TikTok ban told the White House that it was unacceptable for the executive branch to simply ignore the law and tried to enlist the administration’s support for legislation that would authorize a delay.
On June 29, Mr. Trump said in an interview that the government had found a buyer for TikTok but that it still needed to be approved by China’s leader, Xi Jinping. The White House had also said in April that it was close to a deal, but it apparently collapsed after his imposition of tariffs on China.
Professor Price warned of the constitutional implications carried by the letters, noting that presidents “don’t have the power to change the law itself.” He added, “That’s the line the TikTok order and these letters breach by purporting to legalize conduct that is unlawful by statute.”

How to convert a temporary ceasefire into a permanent one
Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/July 06, 2025
The US administration appears to have decided to push for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, possibly to be announced during the visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Monday. The question that is on everyone’s mind is: Are we facing the end of this terrible revenge war or will this be another two-month ceasefire (or less) before the genocide resumes? What are the future scenarios? After 21 months of retaliatory warfare under an illegal pretext, a 60-day ceasefire is expected to begin soon. A ceasefire may alleviate the unprecedented suffering of the Palestinian people, especially those in Gaza, but unfortunately it will not end the war unless the pressure continues to grow on Israel to immediately end its criminal war against the Palestinian people.
Netanyahu’s agreement to a ceasefire may come because of a series of pressures on him. Firstly, from the Israeli military, which pays a daily price because of consistent resistance acts against the occupiers. This has resulted in a clear rejection by the army’s top brass of the continuity of a war without a purpose. In addition, Israeli citizens continue to demonstrate daily, demanding an end to the war because they realize that is the only way to secure the release of the hostages and a return to normality.
In addition, there is mounting international pressure. World leaders appear to have belatedly begun to exert tangible pressure on Israel, as we have seen with the EU seriously considering sanctions as a result of Tel Aviv’s violation of the terms of the cooperation agreement between the two parties. Article 2 of the agreement states that it can be revisited if there is a gross violation of human rights.
But perhaps the most important source of pressure on Netanyahu is the corruption case against him that is likely to conclude soon.
Most legal experts expect that the Israeli prime minister will be convicted, which would carry with it a prison term. This is important because, as PM, he has the leverage of accepting a plea bargain that could ensure he stays out of jail in return for agreeing to stay out of politics completely. This option could be removed if the Orthodox parties in his governing coalition push for early elections, as polls show he will likely not be able to create another winning coalition. Elections must be held in 2026 in any case, so he does not have a lot of time to consider making a deal before the court makes its final ruling.
It is unclear how Hamas would behave if a Palestinian, Arab or international party governed the Gaza Strip.
While the end of the war could be part of a decision by Netanyahu to cut his losses and stay out of jail, the immediate pressure might be on Hamas and other resistance factions to decide how they will behave in the days after the end of the war. Their choices could influence whether an agreement to end the war comes sooner or later.
Pressure to end the war, therefore, will not be limited to the Israeli side. There are clear Israeli, American and international demands on Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Not only will Hamas have to decide to give up control of the Strip, but it must also make a much harder decision. Will it be willing to give up its weapons? Until now, it has refused to — otherwise, we could have had a ceasefire agreement much earlier. It is unclear how Hamas would behave if a Palestinian, Arab or international party was granted the ability to govern the Gaza Strip. The big question will be whether such an agreement for the day-after scenario can be done while the Palestinian resistance remains armed. Who would agree to govern Gaza if there was no guarantee by Hamas that it would not use its armed power to sabotage governing policy?
Will the resistance commit to allowing reconstruction without engaging in violent actions against the governing body or even against Israel, which would surely retaliate and the war would be back on? Even if Hamas accepts the Arab plan of a temporary technocratic governing committee, how would the issue of it and Islamic Jihad’s possession of weapons be bridged? Some have suggested that the solution may be to place weapons in closed warehouses. But the most critical issue is whether the resistance, especially Hamas and Islamic Jihad, will agree to transition from violent to peaceful, nonviolent resistance and become political parties rather than armed resistance factions. Thus, there are questions Israel must answer and some questions the resistance must answer. The question remains: Which parties have influence over the two sides to resolve the problems that stand in the way of ending the war and beginning the arduous process of rebuilding Gaza, while simultaneously working diligently to find a comprehensive political solution to the Palestinian issue?
**Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist. He is the author of "State of Palestine NOW: Practical and Logical Arguments for the Best Way to Bring Peace to the Middle East" (available in English, French, German, and audiobook). X: @daoudkuttab

Arab youth and the promise of the creative economy
Arnab Neil Sengupta/Arab News/July 06, 2025
For decades, the Arab world’s economic narrative was dominated by hydrocarbons, with oil and gas shaping everything from cultural vision to foreign relations. More recently, the promise of artificial intelligence and digital transformation has captured the imagination of policymakers. But there is a quieter revolution underway that could prove just as pivotal for the region’s future: the rise of the creative economy, driven by the energy and imagination of the Arab youth.
The creative economy — encompassing art, music, dance, photography, film and entertainment — has emerged as one of the fastest-growing sectors globally, generating annual revenues of $2.25 trillion and employing 30 million people, according to UNESCO. For a region where nearly two-thirds of the population is under the age of 30, the creative industries potentially offer not just jobs but a sense of purpose and identity. They can nurture talent, spur innovation and provide a promising path to economic diversification as the world accelerates its transition to a low-carbon future.
At the heart of this potential transformation are the Arab world’s young people — tech-savvy, globally connected and eager for change. They are not content to be mere consumers of culture, they want to be its creators and curators. The explosion of local music scenes in Egypt, Lebanon and the Gulf, the rise of Arab rappers and DJs blending traditional sounds with global genres, and the growing popularity of regional film and photography festivals all point to an emerging creative renaissance.
Initiatives like the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, which provides grants to musicians, producers and cultural organizations across the Arab world, demonstrate the appetite for creative expression and the potential for regional collaboration. Since its inception, the fund has supported a wide range of projects, from music and cinema to visual and performing arts, helping to break down barriers and amplify Arab voices on the global stage.
However, realizing the full potential of this youth dividend requires more than just funding. It calls for a mindset that values creativity as much as technical skills and that sees culture as a driver of innovation and economic growth. Policymakers must prioritize arts education, protect intellectual property rights and create platforms for young talent to showcase their work. They must also address challenges ranging from weak infrastructure to limited access to funding that hold back the sector’s growth.
Some Arab countries have already begun to recognize the strategic importance of the creative sector. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Gulf states, whose governments have spent billions of dollars on developing cultural infrastructure in the form of museums, opera houses, exhibition spaces and music venues, hosting international festivals, and supporting homegrown artists.
The Arab youth are not content to be mere consumers of culture, they want to be its creators and curators.
Saudi Arabia has pulled out all the stops to position itself as a global entertainment hub, opening its doors to both international and local talent. The Kingdom’s support for music, film and live events has created a vibrant cultural scene, attracting global players who are now investing in discovering and promoting Arab artists. This influx of capital and expertise is not only creating jobs but also elevating the region’s cultural output to international standards.
The UAE has committed more than 30 billion dirhams ($8.1 billion) to a decade-long strategy to boost its creative industries. The establishment of the Creative Media Authority is just one part of this vision, aiming to unify various creative sectors into a vibrant ecosystem and nurture emerging fields like gaming and e-sports. Meanwhile, Qatar has established itself as a regional leader in the creative economy, with its cultural and creative industries contributing 20 billion riyals ($5.4 billion) in 2021 — about 2 percent of its gross domestic product — and more than a third of university graduates specializing in creative fields.
These three Gulf governments are using a mix of world-class infrastructure, robust policy support and targeted incentives to build an environment where young talent in art, music and entertainment can thrive and contribute substantially to economic growth.
The Gulf region’s approach offers valuable lessons for other Arab countries, many of which remain heavily reliant on hydrocarbons or are betting exclusively on AI and tech. While digital transformation is essential, it need not come at the expense of human creativity, a resource as renewable as it is underutilized. By investing in the creative economy, Middle Eastern and North African countries can diversify their revenue streams, promote social cohesion and project a positive image of the region to the world.
For the Arab world, the benefits of a thriving creative economy go beyond dollars and jobs. In a region often defined by conflict and crisis, the arts offer a means of healing, dialogue and self-expression. They help societies process trauma, challenge stereotypes and contemplate alternative futures. For young Arab people, in particular, the creative industries provide a chance to tell their own stories on their own terms.
To sum up, the time has come for Arab governments, businesses and communities to recognize the creative economy not as an afterthought but as a strategic asset. The Gulf states’ investments offer a template for the rest of the Arab world, but the real engine of change will be the region’s youth. If given the resources, trust and freedom to create, they could transform not just their own lives, but the future of the Arab world itself.
**Arnab Neil Sengupta is a senior editor at Arab News. X: @arnabnsg

Dual citizenship concerns simmer below the surface
Ray Hanania/Arab News/July 06, 2025
Nearly 7 million Americans have sworn allegiance to another country besides the US, data shows. Some might brush off the issue of dual citizenship because it only impacts about 3 percent of America’s population. But compare that with the No. 1 concern of many Americans today: the 11.7 million foreigners who have entered the country and are living there illegally. Why is the issue of illegal migration so much more of a concern for American political leaders than the issue of swearing an oath of loyalty to a foreign country?
Both were in the news last week, but they were addressed very differently by both politicians and by the mainstream news media. Congress on Thursday passed President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which sets aside more than $170 billion for immigration and border enforcement. However, the new law does not address the issue of dual citizenship. But this took center stage at the White House the same day, when the president greeted Edan Alexander, a dual American-Israeli citizen and soldier in the Israeli military who was held hostage by Hamas after being captured during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack. Born and raised in New Jersey, the 21-year-old moved to Israel in 2022, where he swore an oath of allegiance to Israel to gain citizenship. He then enlisted in the army and was serving as a staff sergeant when he was captured. He was freed by Hamas in May in an apparent goodwill gesture as part of negotiations to secure a ceasefire.
During the White House meeting, no mention was made of the fact that he had never served in the US military to defend America. Pro-Israel propaganda has extensively used Alexander’s US citizenship to fuel anti-Arab sentiments. It asserts that Hamas and Palestinians generally are not just anti-Israel, they are also anti-American. But the real question is, can someone who pledges loyalty and patriotism to a foreign country truly be an American?
As a Palestinian American who served during the Vietnam War, whose brother served in the US Marines and whose father and uncle served during the Second World War fighting the Nazis, why is our loyalty questioned but not Alexander’s — a person who has never served America but has served a foreign country? Ironically, the loyalty of Americans of Arab heritage like myself — and especially those who are Muslim — is often questioned, challenged and even used as a basis to confront our expressions of concern for Israel’s war crimes and genocide in the Gaza Strip over the past two years.The real question is, can someone who pledges loyalty and patriotism to a foreign country truly be an American?
Arab and Muslim students protesting Israel’s Gaza war on college campuses have been viciously attacked and accused of antisemitism. The US Justice Department has launched efforts to expel them. Most American politicians prefer to avoid the issue of dual citizenship, but they pounce on false accusations of anti-Americanism by pro-Palestine students. While pro-Israel propaganda has suppressed public debate over the treachery of a person swearing dual national loyalties, the issue continues to force its way into public debates. In March, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduced legislation — the Dual Loyalty Disclosure Act — that, if it were to become law, would require Americans who run for federal office to declare if they have citizenship of a foreign country.“Dual citizens elected to the United States Congress should renounce citizenship in all other countries,” said Rep. Massie. “At a minimum, they should disclose their citizenship in other countries and abstain from votes specifically benefiting those countries. If we are going to continue to allow members of Congress to acquire and retain citizenship in other countries, they should at least be required to disclose to voters all countries of which they consider themselves to be citizens." The bill is co-sponsored by, among others, Reps. Andy Biggs, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Clay Higgins, all supporters of Trump who have been vocal about opposing excessive foreign aid to all countries, including Israel, and redirecting those funds to “American needs.”Dual citizenship is an issue of patriotism for every nation. Why should people who enjoy citizenship and benefits in one country be able to pledge their loyalty to another country and serve in its military? It is an expression of that person’s lack of faith in the country in which they live. It is like having a plan B: just in case things do not go well in one country, they can use their dual citizenship to flee to another country and to be loyal to it instead. Dual citizenship is a political contradiction that challenges the foundation of national loyalty. It should be banned, not just in America but in every country around the world.
**Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist. He can be reached on his personal website at www.Hanania.com. X: @RayHanania

Turning populism’s tools against populism
Mariana Mazzucato and Rainer Kattel/Arab News/July 06, 2025
For UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other leaders confronting right-wing populist headwinds, the challenge is not only to govern competently, but to do so in ways that make reform visible, fast and politically meaningful to persuadable voters. Otherwise, with voters in many countries beginning to doubt that public policy can actually improve their lives, populism will keep gaining ground, fed by the idea that progressive politics amounts to technocratic talk with no results. Democratic governments of all political stripes are almost universally failing to recognize this new terrain of political legitimacy. Too many policy programs are built on assumptions from a bygone era: that a consensus can be built gradually, that behavioral change (like the shift to preventive health systems) will be politically rewarded, and that evidence-based policymaking can overcome “alternative facts.”This failure reflects a political choice. After all, fiscal rules are almost always broken for war. Hence, in March, incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, before he even took office, convinced the Bundestag to loosen the country’s constitutional “debt brake” to allow for €500 billion ($589 billion) in off-budget infrastructure investments and to exclude defense spending above 1 percent of gross domestic product from the government borrowing limit.
To be sure, defense has long been a powerful tool to galvanize citizens. But it is a go-to issue for populists, who rely on nostalgia for a mythical past when the nation was supposedly strong and united. For those who genuinely want to lead the nation, such rhetoric will not work. Whether he intended it or not, Starmer’s recent speech echoing the nationalist and racially charged “rivers of blood” speech of Enoch Powell, a British Tory of the 1960s and 1970s, will only alienate many of his voters. Such language inevitably rings hollow in a country as deeply multicultural as today’s UK.
The choice for progressives is whether to focus on building more housing and other “stuff,” or to reimagine the political and institutional machinery that provides for such goods. The first option may bring some wins in the short term, but only the second one can deliver a lasting transformation that voters will not soon forget. Besides, too many governments lack the capacity to deliver even short-term wins. Reform plans tend to be overly bureaucratic and old technocratic habits have dulled the current generation’s political instincts. While plans often read well in manifestos, they fail to shift public perceptions or deliver outcomes that ordinary voters will feel and appreciate. To develop the organizational muscle to deliver meaningful results fast, progressive governments must invest in creative, agile bureaucracies that know how to get things done. The situation demands not only more ambition, but also a sharper sense of how reforms will be received in a political ecosystem defined by short attention spans and deep institutional distrust. Policies need to be thought through both strategically (for the long term) and tactically (short term).
That means focusing on local settings, where legitimacy is rooted. Cities are not only ideal testing grounds, they are also where many elections are won, where social and economic divides are most visible, and where inclusive, experimental governance can make a direct, tangible difference. Rather than pursuing national reforms that will take a decade or more to implement, progressive leaders should craft local policies to deliver results (from green jobs and affordable housing to preventive healthcare) within a single mayoral term.
The reform process needs symbols and stories grounded in everyday experiences, not Excel spreadsheets.
Governments can learn from their digital and design teams. The UK’s Government Digital Service and New York City’s Civic Service Design Studio have shown how cross-disciplinary teams working outside traditional silos can create new channels for citizen engagement, streamline public services and change the bureaucracy from within. These efforts are effective not only practically, but also politically, offering proof that governments can learn, adapt and deliver. This — not Elon Musk wielding a chainsaw — is what government efficiency really looks like.
The climate agenda underscores the need for public sector agility. Although climate-risk messaging is strong and based firmly in science, it has failed to jump-start the necessary reforms at scale. Clearly, the green transition must be treated not only as an environmental issue, but as a defense strategy — as the only path for achieving durable economic and territorial security. The UK’s new industrial strategy, the first of its kind in almost a decade, is a step in this direction.
But individual policy programs are tactical. Democratic governments also need new foundations for how to think about the economy, statecraft and value creation over time. That means moving beyond the narrow metrics of cost-benefit analysis or GDP growth.
These metrics reflect a linear logic that no longer applies. Our policy tools must reflect the nonlinear, adaptive and deeply interconnected character of the problems we face, whether climate collapse, rising inequality or technological disruption. Public finance, for example, should be seen not as a constraint but as a tool for shaping innovation and investment. Outcomes-oriented budgets — not fiscal conservatism — should be a government’s default position.
Such a broad intellectual shift must be institutionalized across the public sector, including through expert communities that can inform policy from within the government to ensure delivery. Governments will need to build this capacity as a core function of statecraft, not as an add-on.
Make no mistake: the populist far right has not only moved fast, it has built a powerful, well-organized movement that has achieved outsize influence, especially through control of the media narrative. To confront this, democratic-minded governments need to distinguish between the populists’ illusion of speed (all the “efficiency” propaganda) and the reality of what it takes to govern and build lasting capacity. The right often champions static efficiency — doing the same things faster or cheaper. But what we need is dynamic efficiency: the ability to adapt, learn and transform systems to meet complex, evolving challenges.
Reform can no longer be treated as a technical process, because politics inevitably involves theater. Progressives must put on a performance with a purpose. The reform process needs rituals, symbols and stories grounded in everyday experiences, not Excel spreadsheets.
The far right has understood this, to devastating effect. While the West’s democratic governments should not mimic their populist opponents, they do need to meet them on the emotional and cultural terrain where politics is ultimately decided. The future of democratic governance depends on it.
Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London and the author, most recently, of “The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes Our Governments and Warps Our Economies” (Penguin Press, 2023).
Rainer Kattel is Deputy Director and Professor of Innovation and Public Governance at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. ©Project Syndicate

جردة بوقائع أحداث اضطهاد المسيحيين خلال شهر أيار 2025/الإسلام هو فقط الدين الحقيقي
‘Only Islam Is the True Religion’: The Persecution of Christians, May 2025
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute./July 06/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/144930/
“This is not a farmer-herder clash. It is a genocidal campaign. Our communities are being wiped out methodically. The international community must not remain silent.” — Dr. Joshua Riti, a local administrator, persecution.org, May 25, 2025 – Nigeria
“Typically, kidnapped girls… some as young as 10, are abducted, forced to convert to Islam and raped under cover of Islamic ‘marriages’ and are then pressured to record false statements in favor of the kidnappers, rights advocates say. Judges routinely ignore documentary evidence related to the children’s ages, handing them back to kidnappers as their ‘legal wives.'” — Morning Star News, May 28, 2025 – Pakistan
Despite fierce opposition from Pakistan’s top Islamic authority and other Islamist groups, on May 29, President Asif Ali Zardari, signed into law a landmark bill banning child marriage, setting the minimum age for marriage for both genders at 18 years, but only in the Islamabad Capital Territory, not the entire country.
“Somalia’s constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and prohibits the propagation of any other religion… It also requires that laws comply with sharia (Islamic law) principles, with no exceptions in application for non-Muslims. The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to mainstream schools of Islamic jurisprudence.” — Morning Star News, May 27, 2025
That there are so many “accidental” fires of churches in Egypt suggests one of two things: either the extremists have…become more sophisticated… in their attacks on churches… or else Coptic Christians, for some inexplicable reason, have become the most careless, fire-prone people in the world: more Coptic churches than any other kind seem to keep “accidentally catching fire.”
A Christian woman managed to record the savage destruction and arson the Muslims carried out. (She was ordered by State Security to remove the video, which she did; some copies, however, evaded censorship.) — Egypt
This is hardly the first time in Berlin that Muslims target and attack people for being Christian. — Germany
“Posters on the fences of the Christian and Alawite city of Tartus in Syria: Either you immediately change your religion from Christian to Muslim and convert to Islam, or you pay protection and tribute fees with your lives. Unknown individuals are distributing posters throughout the city, and at the end it is written: All religions are infidels, and only Islam is the true religion.” — X, May 20, 2025 — Syria
“We live like refugees in our own country.” — Monsignor Najeeb, Assyrian International News Agency, May 29, 2025, — Iraq
On May 16, a judge in Lahore handed Jessica Iqbal, a 16-year-old Catholic girl, back to her 32-year-old Muslim abductor, despite clear signs that she was coerced into claiming she had converted to Islam and married him.
The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of May 2025.
The Muslim Slaughter of Christians
Nigeria: In the opening days of May, Muslim Fulani militants killed six Christians in Plateau State. “They hacked dead three Christians… and injured four others,” said a local, adding that their aim is “to drive away Christian victims of terror.” A pastor warned of “a grand design… to wipe out more than 200 Christian communities.” The same report notes that over 3,100 Nigerian Christians were murdered last year.
On May 7, Fulani herdsmen killed two Christians in central Nigeria, “after killing 10 others in the same area the previous month.”
On May 12, the Islamic terror group, Boko Haram, killed two Christian educational workers near an army base.
On May 14, Fulani militias killed eight more Christians and destroyed over 740 acres of farmland in Plateau State. Survivors described midnight attacks on sleeping families, with homes burned and crops trampled.
On May 24, Muslim herdsmen slaughtered 42 people in three Christian communities in Taraba state.
On that same day, Fulani terrorists shot and left a Catholic priest for dead before kidnapping his companions. Seriously wounded, he survived.
Although the Fulani are often presented as non-extremist herdsmen driven to seek new lands due to climate change, according to an International Freedom or Belief report,
“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity.”
“This is not a farmer-herder clash. It is a genocidal campaign,” said Dr. Joshua Riti, a local administrator after the May 14 attack. “Our communities are being wiped out methodically. The international community must not remain silent.”
Mozambique: A May 12 report notes that Islamic extremists are intensifying their attacks against Christians, including beheadings, kidnappings, arson, and church burnings. More than 349 people were killed in 2024, a 36% rise from last year. “Many Christians are suffering,” a local priest said.
Indonesia: On May 19, five Muslim boys aged between 11 and 13 savagely beat and kicked an 8-year-old boy known for his Christian faith, church attendance, and biblical knowledge. He died soon after. Previously, they would bully the child, known only by the initials, “KB,” but on that day, the beating was so bad that he arrived home hunched over in pain. When his parents learned what happened, they went to school and met with the principal. When he called in the bullies for a meeting, they confessed. According to KB’s father,
“My child’s stomach was kicked, that’s why it’s swollen. The child doesn’t want to eat rice and even vomits blood…. He was having difficulty breathing. On the way to the hospital, he was already having convulsions. His condition was terrible.”
On May 26, the 8-year-old boy succumbed to his wounds. “He was my first child,” his devastated father said. “He was a good and strong child…. I can’t believe all of this. I feel like I’m dreaming.”
Pakistan: On May 12, Muslims, including a former police officer, brutally tortured to death a Catholic laborer, Kashif Masih. The accusation: stealing a cell phone. Kashif’s brother, Riyasat Masih, said the 35-year-old Christian had worked for former police inspector Malik Irfan for three years. At 2:30 a.m., Irfan’s relatives raided their home, alleging theft, but “found nothing.” Kashif, it turns out, had already been in Irfan’s custody since May 11. By 5 a.m., neighbors found Kashif dumped in the street, “badly bruised with blood gushing out.” Before dying, he told his family Irfan had accused him of theft and ordered seven men to “beat him till he confessed.” They tortured him with clubs and iron bars, and hammered steel nails into his legs. “I cannot express the pain when I saw my younger brother’s body,” said Riyasat. “The bruise marks showed the brutality he had suffered at the hands of his influential employer and his goons.” Though police were initially reluctant to file charges against a former officer, a Christian protest forced them to arrest Irfan. The other suspects remain free or out on bail. The report notes that Kashif’s murder is not an isolated occurrence. On February 27, Muslims in Faisalabad shaved, blackened, and paraded a Christian man on a donkey for alleged wood theft. On June 6, 2024, a Muslim factory owner electrocuted 18-year-old Waqas Salamat to death for quitting his job.
Pakistani Rape and Forced Conversion of Christian Girls
On May 16, a judge in Lahore handed 16-year-old Catholic girl Jessica Iqbal back to her 32-year-old Muslim abductor, despite clear signs that she was coerced into claiming she had converted to Islam and married him. “My daughter couldn’t recite the Kalima or answer any questions about Islam,” said her father, Iqbal Masih. “It was obvious she had been forced—but the magistrate still let her go with her abductor.” Jessica had been kidnapped on April 30 by their neighbor, Azeem Ullah. Masih immediately filed a police report, but Ullah was released within hours—and vanished three days later. In court, Jessica appeared terrified.
“She told us she was helpless… she feared for our lives,” her father said. “Our lives are devastated. This mental anguish is killing me.” Sohail Habil of HARDS Pakistan confirms the pattern:
“In 99% of these cases, girls are threatened into lying. The judge saw through it, and did nothing.”
In Pakistan, this is common. Christian girls—some as young as 10—are abducted, raped, and forced into sham Islamic “marriages,” often with judicial approval, the human activist added.
Separately, on May 27, Pakistan’s top Islamic authority, the Council of Islamic Ideology, rejected and labeled a bill criminalizing child marriage as “un-Islamic.” The bill—passed by the lower National Assembly on May 16 and the Senate on May 19—defines a child as anyone under 18 and criminalizes any marriage involving a minor. It equates marital cohabitation with minors to statutory rape, punishable by up to three years of rigorous imprisonment. The Muslim council also criticized the federal parliament for bypassing it during legislative review and argued that the bill’s definitions and punishments contradict Islamic injunctions.
The “anti-Islamic” legislation also targets abduction, forced conversion, and forced marriage, common abuses faced by Christian girls. According to one report, there is an urgent need for all these laws and measures:
“Typically, kidnapped girls in Pakistan, some as young as 10, are abducted, forced to convert to Islam and raped under cover of Islamic ‘marriages’ and are then pressured to record false statements in favor of the kidnappers, rights advocates say. Judges routinely ignore documentary evidence related to the children’s ages, handing them back to kidnappers as their ‘legal wives.'”
Despite fierce opposition from Pakistan’s top Islamic authority and other Islamist groups, on May 29, President Asif Ali Zardari, signed into law a landmark bill banning child marriage, setting the minimum age for marriage for both genders at 18 years, but only in the Islamabad Capital Territory, not the entire country.
Muslim Abuse of Apostates to Christianity
Somalia: From May 17 to 19, a young Somali man’s brief return home ended in brutal rejection after his family discovered he had converted from Islam to Christianity. Once a drug addict, the 20-year-old found new life and sobriety through faith in Christ on April 20 after an underground Somali pastor shared the gospel with him. The family was initially “very excited and happy to see their son again smartly dressed and well groomed,” the pastor recounted; but when they learned the source of his transformation, their mood quickly changed. They eventually began interrogating him, demanding he “pray the Islamic way.” When he refused, his father said:
“You were better when you were performing prayers before receiving Issa [Jesus]. Now you have become worse. Leave this house and never come back.”
Now homeless and ostracized, the young man laments the cruelty of those who once cared for him:
“My mother who used to be very lovely and friendly… has now turned against me and even denied me breakfast at home. Now that I have loved Issa, I do not have a family standing with me. I do not know what to do. I need prayers.”
According to the Morning Star News,
“Somalia’s constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and prohibits the propagation of any other religion… It also requires that laws comply with sharia (Islamic law) principles, with no exceptions in application for non-Muslims. The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to mainstream schools of Islamic jurisprudence. An Islamic extremist group in Somalia, Al Shabaab, is allied with Al Qaeda and adheres to the teaching.”
Malaysia: On June 25, Malaysia’s Court of Appeal ruled that only sharia courts may decide whether a person can leave Islam—reaffirming that civil courts have no authority in such matters. The case involved a 47-year-old man who converted to Islam in 2010 to marry a Muslim woman. After their divorce in 2015, he sought to return to Christianity, his original faith. He applied in 2016 to renounce Islam, but the sharia court rejected his request, ordering him instead to undergo “counselling sessions.” A sharia appeals court upheld the decision.
After exhausting sharia options, the man turned to the civil courts, seeking recognition of his Christian identity. But the Court of Appeal dismissed his case, with Justice Nazlan Ghazali stating:
“We affirm that sharia courts have the exclusive jurisdiction to hear these cases and civil courts cannot interfere.”
The court also ruled that the man had provided “insufficient” evidence to justify renouncing Islam, though he may reapply. This ruling underscores the near-total legal control sharia courts hold over personal faith in Malaysia, leaving Christian converts without recourse in civil law.
Muslims Attacks on Christian Churches and Cemeteries
Egypt: On Friday, May 2, a massive fire “broke out” at the St. George Church in Qift, Qena governorate. The entire church and its contents were engulfed by the flames. Although no casualties were reported, according to the report, St. George’s “is an ancient church with a historical character and deep religious symbolism for the people of Qena Governorate. It holds a special place in everyone’s hearts as a spiritual and cultural landmark that hosts numerous religious and social events annually.” As usual, authorities quickly dismissed the fire as an “accident”—thereby adding it to the many other churches to “accidentally” catch fire in Egypt in recent months and year. (See here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, for a few.)
In one month alone, August 2022, 11 churches supposedly “caught fire.” In one of these fires, 41 Christian worshippers, including many children, were killed.) That there are so many “accidental” fires of churches in Egypt suggests one of two things: either the extremists have—possibly with insider help, including from state security—become more sophisticated and clandestine in their attacks on churches (in one instance, a surveillance camera caught a votary candle suddenly and randomly exploding and creating a fire), or else Coptic Christians, for some inexplicable reason, have become the most careless, fire-prone people in the world: more Coptic churches than any other kind seem to keep “accidentally catching fire.” Moreover, if it is true that lit candles, faulty wires, and other electrical problems are behind this ongoing surge in church fires, why are “accidental” fires in mosques and Muslim prayer halls—which outnumber churches in Egypt by a ratio of 60 to 1—completely unheard of?
Indonesia: According to a May 9 report, for 45 years now, Catholics in Bulukumba have been denied a church due to repeated Muslim opposition, even though they have met all legal requirements. Forced to worship in homes and warehouses, they now use a temporary building.
In separate incidents, between May 16 to 19, more than a dozen Christian graves across three cemeteries in Yogyakarta’s Special Region, which is 93% Islamic, were vandalized, shocking the local Christian community. Many crosses, both wooden and stone, were broken or desecrated. On May 21, a male junior high school student was arrested. Although authorities insisted that he was “unaffiliated with a particular group or ideology,” and “suffered from a mental disorder,” Pastor Putu Praba Darana begged to differ: “I think there is a religious sentiment element in this case.” Nor is this an isolated incident. As the Morning Star News notes,
“Vandalism and desecration of Christian graves in the area first occurred in December 2018, when the top of a cross at the gravesite of a Catholic, Albertus Slamet Sugiardi, was cut into a T shape… In addition to removing any Catholic symbols from the cemetery, the community expressed a desire to designate it exclusively for Muslims.”
France: After stating that 58 Christian graves were desecrated with Islamist graffiti, including the slogans “Submit to Allah” and “France belongs to Allah,” a May 23 post states,
“Such attacks are not only acts of vandalism but carry a strong symbolic and ideological message aimed at intimidating Christian communities and asserting radical Islamist narratives. The targeted nature of the graffiti, coupled with the defilement of sacred burial sites, elevates the act from mere property damage to a hate crime intended to sow fear and provoke tension between religious and cultural groups.”
In a different occason, according to a May 10, Fr Laurent Milan, a Catholic priest who had just conducted mass in a church in Montfavet, found himself surrounded and threatened by a mob of about ten young men shouting “Allahu Akbar.” The attackers, including minors, gained entry by claiming to be Muslim visitors but then launched insults and threatened to burn the church. “They didn’t insult me personally,” said Fr Milan, “It was provocation and abusive language, directed against the Catholic religion.”
This attack is part of a rise in anti-Christian hostility in France the European Conservative reports. Three days earlier, youths disrupted a parish meeting with shouting and banging on windows. On April 18, Good Friday, two priests were attacked in Lisieux and Tarascon—one priest was grabbed by the collar, the other slapped. In Cambrai, a 96-year-old priest was kidnapped and brutally beaten by burglars who tied him up and stole religious items. The assailants remain free.
Perhaps most notoriously, in 2016, two Muslims forced Father Jacques Hamel, an 85-year-old Catholic priest, to kneel at his church altar before ritually slitting his throat and videotaping the slaughter.
General Muslim Abuse of Christians
Germany: Late at night on May 20 in Berlin, a group of men “of Arab origin” asked a man in the street if he was a Muslim. When the 24-year-old man, name withheld, responded that he was Christian, they violently beat him, dealing severe blows to his head before fleeing. The man required hospital attention.
This is hardly the first time in Berlin that Muslims target and attack people for being Christian. In previous years, a man was injured for wearing chain with a cross, another was beaten and threatened with a knife because of his Christian tattoo and another was attacked for wearing two wooden Christian crosses. Also, less than a year ago, the St Matthew’s Church in Berlin was the target of an arson attack.
Egypt: In late May, Muslim mobs attacked and burned Christian properties in Minya province upon learning that a Christian household was about to have a mobile network booster installed on their roof. (According to the all-important Pact of Omar, in order to safeguard their lives, Christians had to agree
“not [to] build houses overtopping the houses of Muslims.”) As the mob, which included hijabbed women and children, destroyed and torched Christian property, they could be heard in a video crying “Allahu Akbar” (“Allah is the greatest”) —Islam’s war cry against kuffar (infidels)—while also demanding the immediate expulsion of all Copts from the village (in keeping with the Pact of Omar which, additionally, promotes collective punishment.
A Christian woman managed to record the savage destruction and arson the Muslims carried out. The video can be viewed here. (She was ordered by State Security to remove it, which she did; some copies, however, evaded censorship.) Barricaded in her home, she videotaped the mobs from her barred window as they completely trashed, set fire to, and hammered parts of her family’s property. You can hear the woman say (in Arabic), “Do you see—oh, world! do you see, what they’re doing, and how they behave?” Soon after that, you can hear her say “Save us! Please save us…. O, save us!” She also cries out, “O Lord, Lord, Lord—please have mercy! [kyri eleison]” At one point, addressing the Muslim vandals outside her barred window, she says, “Please, please have mercy! We’re going to die, we’re going to die!”
No mercy was offered, just more rage and, as can be heard, an ongoing chorus of “Allahu Akbar!”
“Look how they destroyed our whole house—the fence, doors, windows!” she says at one point. When she sees someone running away with a piece of her property, she cries “Thieves … thieves! Where is the government? What government?!” As usual, the mobs were given amble time to vent their rage before the authorities and firefighters responded. At the end of the recording, it seems that the mobs finally break into her home and assault her and other family members—at which point she started screaming and crying hysterically. The video abruptly ends soon thereafter.
Syria: While harassing a Christian majority town, masked men in military uniforms made “threat[s] to kill Christians.” According to a May 5 report,
“Syria has recently experienced a dramatic and worrying escalation of hate speech that fuels tension and threatens civil peace…. The current racist campaigns and inflammatory statements have contributed to divisions among the constituents of the Syrian society and increasing violence… [A] group of masked men in military uniform attacked a store selling alcoholic beverages in Rablah town, which is inhabited mostly by Christian citizens, in Al-Qusayr countryside in Homs. The gunmen assaulted a young man who was in the store at the time of the attack, sabotaged the store’s contents and stole money. Before leaving the area, the gunmen threatened to kill the town’s residents, called residents as ‘infidels’ and insulted the Christian religion and its symbols.”
Separately, according to a May 20 post,
“Posters on the fences of the Christian and Alawite city of Tartus in Syria: Either you immediately change your religion from Christian to Muslim and convert to Islam, or you pay protection and tribute fees with your lives. Unknown individuals are distributing posters throughout the city, and at the end it is written: All religions are infidels, and only Islam is the true religion.”
Iraq: According to a May 29 report, nearly eight years after the Islamic State’s fall, the nation’s Christian population remains in a state of crisis, facing persistent discrimination, forced displacement, and cultural erasure. Once numbering 1.5 million, Christians now total just 140,000, despite roots that stretch back to the 1st century, long before the 7th century Islamic conquests. Iraqi Christian leaders and NGOs stress a systematic effort to erase their presence, beginning with the Islamic State’s seizure of Mosul in 2014. In the words of Monsignor Najeeb, Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul:
“As soon as they seized the city, jihadists’ voices echoed from mosque loudspeakers and megaphones to mock Christians, announcing that they must choose: conversion, exile, or submission under dhimmi status. Most fled with only their cars and what they wore.”
Even after ISIS, Christians continue to suffer routine discrimination: “Today we are not equal,” laments Yohanna Yousif of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization. “They have all the rights; we have none.” Roland, a project manager, echoes this sentiment:
“I applied online to be a teacher and received a positive response by email. But when the list of accepted candidates was published, my name had been removed because I’m a Christian. Similarly, in class, when a Christian student is top of the class, teachers give them lower grades so that a Muslim student can take the first place.”
Shiite militias like Hachd al-Chaabi, who have nearly 240,000 fighters, are accused of seizing Christian lands and conducting a “real demographic shift.” In Bartella, Christians—once a majority—are now a minority. Monsignor Najeeb calls it a “heritage genocide,” adding, “We live like refugees in our own country.”
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or location. It includes incidents that take place during, or are reported on, any given month.
*Follow Raymond Ibrahim on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21727/only-islam-is-the-true-religion-the-persecution

Iran’s Terrorist Regime Is Wounded, Not Dead —Watch It Carefully
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/July 06/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/144933/
Now comes the more difficult and longer-term task: making sure Iran’s regime does not rise again…. Iran is still a revolutionary Islamist state that sees the US as the great Satan, sees Israel as a cancer, and believes that its divine mission is to conquer and export its Islamist revolution to the West.
Khamenei’s declaration was that of a theocrat who thinks that Trump’s Western talk of “you often get more with HONEY than you do with VINEGAR” is laughable, pathetic and that of a “loser.” In Khamenei’s view, if Trump were not weak or stupid or both, Trump would have killed him. Khamenei no doubt believes that Allah is on his side; that Allah, not Trump, saved him; and that his regime is therefore invincible.
Anyone who knows this part of the world understands that Khamenei will not thank Trump. Khamenei clearly does not see Trump’s reprieve as mercy. Khamenei doubtless sees his survival as a confirmation that Allah protected him, and that it is infidel America that is worthy of contempt and being eliminated.
The Iranian regime has a long history of attacking and killing Americans, starting with having kidnapped the members of the US embassy and held them for more than a year.
There is also the possibility that other countries might be eager to sell Iran nuclear components — for “peaceful purposes,” of course.
There appears to be a dangerous tendency in the West — especially among liberal elites and international bureaucrats — to celebrate ceasefires as solutions. A ceasefire with a regime such as Iran is not a solution or “peace.” It is a pause, a breathing space, to regroup, re-arm and resume plotting.
This must be the end of the Iranian regime. Not a pause. Not another “negotiation.” The end. Would the US have let the Nazi Party remain in power after World War II? Anything less, really, is a betrayal of the American people, the amazing Israelis, the extraordinary American pilots, and the West.
Thanks to the courageous and unapologetic leadership of US President Donald J. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, severe and long-overdue blows were dealt to the Iranian regime.
The United States and Israel reminded the world that tyranny can be confronted. Now comes the more difficult and longer-term task: making sure Iran’s regime does not rise again. That means crippling sanctions, backed by military readiness. That means exposing and dismantling Iran’s war machine, propaganda machine and foreign influence operations in Europe, America and Latin America, and preferably the regime itself. Iran is still a revolutionary Islamist state that sees the US as the great Satan, sees Israel as a cancer, and believes that its divine mission is to conquer and export its Islamist revolution to the West.
While much of the world stood idly by, terrified of “escalation” and “provoking” Iran, the US and Israel stepped up and did what everyone else lacked the resolve to do. They hit Iran where it hurts: inside its nuclear weapons program, military infrastructure, and missile development and storage sites.
For that, Trump and Netanyahu must be commended without hesitation. They deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for ridding the world of a serious threat. These two nations together showed what happens when tyrants are held to account.
Now, as the dust settles and a shaky ceasefire has been declared, we are faced with a chilling reality: the Iranian regime has not been defeated. It is wounded, not dead.
Despite being hit harder than at any time in its history, the Islamic Republic of Iran seems not to have changed its plans. On the contrary, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is still in power, surrounded by sycophants and ideologues who feed his delusions of divine purpose. If you listened to what Khamenei said after the ceasefire, you would not think he just survived a military onslaught. You would think he had won. He stood at the podium and declared that Iran had handed the United States a “severe slap in the face.” He bragged about delivering justice to Israel and attacks on American bases in the Gulf.
Khamenei’s declaration was that of a theocrat who thinks that Trump’s Western talk of “you often get more with HONEY than you do with VINEGAR” is laughable, pathetic and that of a “loser.” In Khamenei’s view, if Trump were not weak or stupid or both, Trump would have killed him. Khamenei no doubt believes that Allah is on his side; that Allah, not Trump, saved him; and that his regime is therefore invincible. Khamenei seems to be signaling that his regime has no intention of retreating. “You have the watches but we have the time,” goes the saying.
Trump, possibly expecting perhaps a small nod of gratitude, stated that he had deliberately spared Khamenei’s life and that Khamenei should thank him. Khamenei had been on the brink of being eliminated, Trump related, but that the United States and Israel had held back.
Anyone who knows this part of the world understands that Khamenei will not thank Trump. Khamenei clearly does not see Trump’s reprieve as mercy. Khamenei doubtless sees his survival as a confirmation that Allah protected him, and that it is infidel America that is worthy of contempt and being eliminated.
Khamenei may well double down on his anti-Amercanism, anti-Israelism and his determination to have nuclear weapons. He may be more likely than ever to launch new plots against Americans abroad, to target dissidents and diplomats, to arm proxies, to funnel weapons into Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and Iraq, and to sponsor assassinations — just as he has always done.
The Iranian regime has a long history of attacking and killing Americans, starting with having kidnapped the members of the US embassy and held them for more than a year. A regime already obsessed with regional hegemony, nuclear weapons and the destruction of Israel and America might now pursue these goals with renewed urgency. This brings us to another alarming issue: Iran’s nuclear program is still not dismantled or destroyed. The most recent intelligence and IAEA reports confirm that Iran has stockpiled more than 400 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60% — alarmingly close to weapons-grade level of 90%. More alarmingly, we do not know where the uranium stockpile is located.
There is also the possibility that other countries might be eager to sell Iran nuclear components — for “peaceful purposes,” of course. Iran surely welcome trade, but not as a new policy of peace, just as a way to finance the old policy. The regime that has always been refreshingly open about its intent.
Iran has lied for years — to the world, the UN, and the IAEA. It has built secret nuclear sites, hidden equipment, and played cat-and-mouse games with diplomats. The world cannot afford humor a regime committed to “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” and wait for a change of heart that is not likely to be forthcoming.
There appears to be a dangerous tendency in the West — especially among liberal elites and international bureaucrats — to celebrate ceasefires as solutions. A ceasefire with a regime such as Iran is not a solution or “peace.” It is a pause, a breathing space, to regroup, re-arm and resume plotting.
Every time the West gives Iran room, the regime will use the opportunity once again to expand its terror network, tighten its domestic control, and move closer to nuclear weapons capability. It happened after the JCPOA in 2015. It happened again during the appeasement years of the Obama and Biden administrations. Unless we learn from our mistakes, they will happen now, again.
At the very least, even though it will not work, Iran must be forced to hand over its enriched uranium stockpile, shut down its nuclear infrastructure, and sign onto binding, verifiable, and irreversible disarmament. Not a temporary deal. Not a “framework.” A complete, permanent termination of its expansionist ambitions; its hostility to Israel and other neighbors in the Gulf; its nuclear ambitions and support for all its terrorist proxies. If we fail to secure that now, we are only guaranteeing that at some point the problem will return —bigger, and more dangerous, than before.
This must be the end of the Iranian regime. Not a pause. Not another “negotiation.” The end. Would the US have let the Nazi Party remain in power after World War II? Anything less, really, is a betrayal of the American people, the amazing Israelis, the extraordinary American pilots, and the West.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
*Follow Majid Rafizadeh on X (formerly Twitter)
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https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21726/iran-terrorist-regime

Selected Twitters For Today on July 06/2025
Wassim Godfrey
**We converted through the message of lord Jesus and through group work and preaching not by invasions of the sword the country had temples of romans and Phoenicians too , this is how maronites converted pagans or jews or even other christians
**There is no similarities at all , have you seen in Europe taking back their byzantine lands in the middle east and changing mosques to churches by force in the recent 100 years like what is being done in turkey and Iraq and soon syria
**Christians were never invaders it was their land byzantine you as a Muslim invaded it converted with the sword and Sabi and takkyah style asslem tasslem they were defending their homeland of course can't argue with a Muslim on that point would not admit his massacres by religion

Hanin Ghaddar
Do you know that in Sunni Islam, Ashura, which falls on the 10th day of Muharram, is a day of remembrance primarily focused on the salvation of Prophet Musa (Moses) and the Israelites from the Pharaoh, as detailed in the Quran? Isn’t this fascinating?