English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For June 07/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 05/43-48/:"‘You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy."But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 06-07/2025
The first Aoun led us to hell, and the second Aoun is working to keep us there./Elias Bejjani/June 06/2025
President Aoun’s appointment of former minister Ali Hamie—a Hezbollah loyalist in ideology, thought, and allegiance—as a presidential advisor is a disturbing and suspicious move that raises serious doubts/Elias Bejjani/June 03/2025
Video Link to an Interview on the "Josor News" Platform with Writer and Director Youssef Y. El Khoury/Hezbollah Caused the Destruction of Lebanon Twice
Link to a video commentary by Dr. Saleh Al-Mashnouk from Al-Mashhad TV Platform/Israel's true agents and traitors only emerged from within Hezbollah's circle
Israel directly warns Lebanese president as tensions soar after Beirut strikes
Israel ‘will attack Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed’
Israel warns of more Lebanon strikes if Hezbollah not disarmed
Lebanese military official to AFP: Israel blocked army from inspecting Beirut site before strike
Lebanese army warns Israeli airstrikes might force it to freeze cooperation with ceasefire committee
Aftermath of a deadly night: Israeli airstrikes shatter quiet in Beirut
Eid al-Adha under fire: Israel's Beirut strikes seen as signal to Washington
France urges Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory
Iran slams Israeli 'aggression' against Lebanon
Lebanese Army warns Israeli airstrikes may force it to freeze cooperation with ceasefire committee
Preliminary Report Details Airstrike Damage in Beirut Suburbs
Israel Steps Up Military Pressure on Lebanon’s Official Authorities/Bassam Abou Zeid/This is Beirut/June 06//2025
Illegal Weapons: Geagea Slams State Inaction Amid Israeli Attacks
Lebanese Energy Minister refutes predecessor's claims over Iraqi oil deal
Doping on the Loose, Health Under Threat/Karl Hajj Moussa/This is Beirut/June 06//2025
Where Law Meets Anxiety/Johnny Kortbawi/This is Beirut/June 06//2025
Lebanon’s Hospitality Sector Declares Full Readiness for Summer 2025
The Houthi Alternative for Lebanon/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 06/2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published  on June 06-07/2025
Trump administration issues new Iran-related sanctions amid stalled nuclear deal talks
Iran FM warns European Powers against 'Strategic Mistake' at Nuclear Watchdog
Issue of ultra-Orthodox conscription in Israel threatens Netanyahu's govt.
Musk offers peace signal to Trump after all-out verbal war
Israel army issues evacuation warning for parts of Gaza City
No Eid’ for West Bank residents who lost sons in Israeli raids
Israeli strike on Gaza hospital kills three journalists
Activist boat says rescues migrants en route to Gaza
Israeli army says lacks over 10,000 soldiers including around 6,000 combat soldiers
Netanyahu admits Israel supporting anti-Hamas armed group in Gaza
Media groups urge Israel to allow Gaza access for foreign journalists
Israel army announces 4 soldiers killed in Gaza, thousands more troops needed
Homes smashed, help slashed: no respite for returning Syrians
Syrian leader makes first visit to cradle of country’s uprising
Syrian families return home in time for Eid al-Adha after years in notorious displacement camp
Iraq frees Australian, Egyptian engineers after four years, but keeps travel ban
Wagner Group leaving Mali after heavy losses but Russia's Africa Corps to remain
Trump signs orders to bolster US drone defenses, boost supersonic flight
Pentagon watchdog investigates if staffers were asked to delete Hegseth’s Signal messages

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources  on June 06-07/2025
Palestinian nationalism must be saved/Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/June 06, 2025
Trains and talks: Turkiye’s dual track in Ukraine war/Dr. Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/June 06, 2025
How companies should — and should not — deploy AI/Vinciane Beauchene and Allison Bailey/Arab News/June 06, 2025
Britain still has work to do on defense/Luke Coffey/Arab News/June 06, 2025
Iran-US: The Fountain Pen Diplomacy/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 06/2025
Final Preparations Before Striking the Iranian Nuclear Reactors/Colonel Charbel Barakat/June 07/2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 06-07/2025
The first Aoun led us to hell, and the second Aoun is working to keep us there.
Elias Bejjani/June 06/2025
From the outside, where we see the true picture, we say with sadness and conviction that what is called the "New Era" is in reality neither new nor sorrowful; rather, it is a shameful continuation of previous eras of humiliation, dhimmitude, submission, brokering, and deals. The opportunity given to Lebanon was unfortunately lost. And he who said, "We are going to hell" (Michel Aoun), was followed by - whether out of ignorance or cowardice, it makes no difference - (Joseph Aoun) who is working to keep Lebanon in that "hell" to which his predecessor led us... a time of hardship, drought, and misery. In conclusion, our country is incapable of governing itself, and for its salvation - if there is a sincere, willing, and capable international and regional will towards it and its people - it must be placed under Chapter VII and declared a failed and rogue state.

President Aoun’s appointment of former minister Ali Hamie—a Hezbollah loyalist in ideology, thought, and allegiance—as a presidential advisor is a disturbing and suspicious move that raises serious doubts
Elias Bejjani/June 03/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/143891/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0ThpNmDOkM&t=11s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-21Pfj4ppDE&t=128s
In a move that can only be described as baffling, disgraceful, and deeply disappointing, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has today appointed former minister Ali Hamie as presidential advisor for reconstruction affairs. This decision flagrantly disregards all principles of sovereignty, politics, and constitutional integrity, while sending a dangerous signal about the direction of Aoun’s presidency and the nature of those surrounding him. It also reflects a gross misunderstanding—or willful ignorance—of the existential threat posed by Hezbollah, the Iranian-controlled terrorist group whose ideological foundation is rooted in the doctrine of Wilayat al-Faqih.
Who is Ali Hamie? Simply put, he is a partisan figure wholly committed—intellectually, ideologically, and culturally—to Hezbollah's system and worldview. This means his loyalty lies not with Lebanon, but with an external power, as dictated by the concept of Wilayat al-Faqih, which rejects national allegiance in favor of religious obedience to the Iranian Supreme Leader. Within this framework, no Shiite adherent to such ideology can be truly independent in thought, honest in counsel, or patriotic in orientation, because his compass always points to Qom and Tehran—not to Beirut.
So by what logic, with what understanding, and in pursuit of what reform agenda, does the president appoint such a figure as an advisor on national reconstruction? What meaningful contributions can Ali Hamie make to Lebanon in this capacity? Will his counsel be sovereign and patriotic? Of course not. Even if he desired to serve Lebanon, his ideological chains bind him, preventing him from acting outside the parameters of the Iranian agenda.
Even more alarming is the nature of the post itself: “Reconstruction

Video Link to an Interview on the "Josor News" Platform with Writer and Director Youssef Y. El Khoury
Hezbollah Caused the Destruction of Lebanon Twice
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/143982/
June 06/2025
This powerful interview addresses a range of critical and existential Lebanese issues, including:
1-The Taif Agreement: A historical analysis of the agreement’s background and its inherent dangers, emphasizing that Lebanon’s identity is exclusively Lebanese. The discussion also highlights the grave consequences of imposing an Arab nationalist identity on the Lebanese people.
2-Hezbollah’s Accountability: A call for the prosecution of Hezbollah, exposing the deep-seated harmony, complicity, and shared interests between this armed Iranian proxy and Lebanon’s political, partisan, and ruling elites.
3-Hezbollah’s Wars for Iran: A critical assessment of the wars waged by Hezbollah on Lebanese soil, conducted solely to serve the interests of the Iranian regime.
4-The Injustice Against Amer Fakhoury: A review of the injustice suffered by Amer Fakhoury, and how his eventual vindication by the American judiciary laid bare the lies and fabrications spread by Hezbollah and the Iranian occupation.
5-Sovereign Perspectives: A sovereign and patriotic analysis of Lebanon’s most pressing existential challenges.
6-Challenges Facing the Film Rafic: An overview of the obstacles faced by the film "Rafic"

Link to a video commentary by Dr. Saleh Al-Mashnouk from Al-Mashhad TV Platform
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/143996/
Saleh Al-Mashnouk: Israel's true agents and traitors only emerged from within Hezbollah's circle - 
Saleh Al-Mashnouk discusses the truth about betrayals within Hezbollah's ranks and whether it will surrender its weapons to the Lebanese state. An in-depth analysis of the events, their political and security background, and their impact on the future of Lebanese sovereignty.
June 6, 2025
A video link to an interview from the "Josor News" platform with writer and director Youssef Y. El Khoury/A historical explanation of the background and dangers of the Taif Agreement, exposing the truth and reality that Lebanon's identity is Lebanese and nothing else, the dire consequences of forcing the Arabism identity /A demand for the necessity of prosecuting Hezbollah and stressing on the fact of the harmony, conformity, and mutual interests of the political, partisan, and ruling class with it/The problems thefilm "Rafic" facing /The wars that Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into for the benefit of Iran/The injustice that befell Amer Fakhoury and his vindication by the American judiciary, which exposed all the lies and fabrications of Hezbollah and the Iranian occupation/And a sovereign reading of many current existential issues
Josor Beirut Podcast/Director Youssef El Khoury: Hezbollah caused the destruction of Lebanon twice

Israel directly warns Lebanese president as tensions soar after Beirut strikes
LBCI/June 06/2025
Israel has escalated its threats against Lebanon following airstrikes that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs, with Security Minister Israel Katz issuing a direct warning to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, vowing continued attacks and accusing the Lebanese Army of conducting "coordinated displays."Katz reiterated longstanding Israeli claims that Hezbollah is boosting its military capabilities with the Lebanese state's approval, specifically alleging that drone production is underway in residential areas, posing a threat to northern Israeli communities. Israeli security officials and military analysts defended the strikes on Beirut's suburbs, describing them as a "necessary step." The attack has sharpened the divide in Israel over the legitimacy and strategic wisdom of expanding military operations into the Lebanese capital and other regions. The airstrikes followed Israeli military assessments suggesting Hezbollah is preparing for an escalation, with expectations that Lebanon might retaliate. In response, Israel deployed additional air defense systems in the north and announced that its armed forces are fully prepared for a range of scenarios, including extensive defensive measures. Amid growing security concerns, some Israeli officials have expressed skepticism toward the intelligence behind the latest attacks. Doubts over whether Hezbollah is indeed rebuilding its arsenal have led to calls for Israel to submit its intelligence reports to international monitors tasked with overseeing the ceasefire agreement between the two sides. Using Lebanon's alleged failure to uphold the ceasefire agreement as justification, the Israeli military is reportedly considering intensifying its deployment along the northern border, expanding surveillance and reconnaissance operations, and threatening further strikes for every intelligence report suggesting Lebanese violations.

Israel ‘will attack Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed’
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/June 06/2025
BEIRUT: The Israeli military struck several sites in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday that it said housed underground facilities being used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah for the production of drones. The devastating wave of airstrikes — on the eve of the Eid Al-Adha holiday — resulted in widespread destruction and hundreds of civilians being displaced.
The coordinated assault targeted eight buildings across four neighborhoods in the southern suburbs, completely demolishing targeted structures while damaging about 122 surrounding residential units. Families were made homeless and forced to seek shelter on Beirut’s streets and the surrounding areas as their homes were made uninhabitable. The Israeli military expanded its operations beyond the capital, issuing warnings to residents of Ain Qana in the Nabatieh district, located north of the Litani River. Sites were struck following evacuation procedures, with Lebanon’s Health Ministry confirming injuries to three civilians on Friday. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz delivered a stark warning in the aftermath, directly linking regional stability to Israeli security concerns. Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun described Thursday’s strikes as a “flagrant violation of international agreements and fundamental principles of international law, UN resolutions, and humanitarian standards, occurring on the eve of sacred religious observances and providing conclusive evidence of the perpetrator’s rejection of regional stability, settlement, and just peace.”Aoun interpreted the attacks as “a message from those committing these atrocities directed primarily at the US and its policies and initiatives, delivered through Beirut’s suffering and the blood of innocent civilians — submission Lebanon will never accept.”Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also condemned the strikes, describing them as a “systematic and deliberate assault on Lebanon’s security, stability and economy, and a flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and UN Resolution 1701.”Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, echoed the condemnation, saying that the “Israeli aggression targets all Lebanese people, including Muslims, even on the eve of Eid Al-Adha.” He called the strikes “an affront to national and sovereign values.”Katz said: “Calm in Beirut is directly connected to Israel’s security.” He threatened an intensified military campaign unless Israeli demands regarding Hezbollah’s arsenal were met. He added: “There will be no tranquility in Beirut, no governance, and no stability in Lebanon without Israeli security. “Lebanon must honor existing agreements, and failure to meet requirements will result in continued forceful military action.” Katz specifically demanded Lebanese government action to “disarm Hezbollah and halt drone production threatening Israeli citizens.” He rejected any return to the conditions prior to Oct. 7, 2023, and vowed to “prevent such developments through all available means.”Meanwhile, a video of Lebanese actor Nadine Al-Rassi has been circulating on social media in which she expresses frustration over the targeting of Lebanese territory on the eve of Eid Al-Adha and at the start of the summer season. What angered her most was the warning of Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee to “all” Lebanese people. Adraee later responded to Al-Rassi’s video on X, clarifying that his warning “was not directed at the Lebanese people, as you believe. Let me be clear: We do differentiate and we do distinguish.”
He added: “We have never had a problem with the Lebanese state or its people. We have no interest in harming Lebanon’s tourism sector. However, when clear terrorist operations are launched against us, and Lebanese territory and actors are used to conspire against us, we are forced to respond. “The Lebanese people’s true problem lies with a terrorist group that has failed to learn from the past and has instead dragged them into unnecessary crises. Let us be rational and recognize that the people’s interest must come first, and that dignity is non-negotiable.”The Lebanese army condemned the “aggressions, which came on the eve of Eid Al-Adha, (and were) a clear attempt by the enemy to hinder the revival and recovery of our homeland and its ability to benefit from the positive circumstances available.”
A source close to the Lebanese Presidency told Arab News: “President Joseph Aoun has intensified his contacts with the American side, which chairs the committee monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire. The committee is headed by an American military officer, along with a French military representative and representatives from Lebanon, Israel, and UNIFIL (UN Interim Force in Lebanon). He is awaiting how the issue will be addressed in light of the Lebanese army’s statement.”The source added: “All pillars of the state stand united with the military institution. The question that arises is: Is it Israel that sets the agenda?
“The army has fulfilled its responsibilities under the ceasefire agreement regarding the confiscation of Hezbollah’s weapons south of the Litani River. However, the issue of disarming north of this line is a Lebanese matter, and the steps for its implementation are determined by the Lebanese authorities, which do not operate following the Israeli agenda.”The Lebanese army had sent patrols to inspect two of the buildings targeted by the Israeli military on Thursday after the warning of an attack had been received, informing the authorities that nothing had been found associated with the manufacture of drones.
However, according to a Lebanese security source, “the Israeli army fired a warning missile above the targeted building, which led to the withdrawal of the Lebanese army from the site.”The strikes were the first of their kind in over a month and the fourth since the ceasefire agreement that ended the most recent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. ths after a ceasefire agreement was sealed in a bid to end hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. “There will be no calm in Beirut, and no order or stability in Lebanon, without security for the State of Israel,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
“Agreements must be honored and if you do not do what is required, we will continue to act, and with great force.”Under the ceasefire brokered by the United States and France, Lebanon committed to disarming Hezbollah, which was once reputed to be more heavily armed than the state itself. Hezbollah sparked months of deadly hostilities by launching cross-border attacks on northern Israel in what it described as an act of solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack. The war left Hezbollah massively weakened, with a string of top commanders including its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah killed and weapons caches dotted around Lebanon incinerated. Israel has carried out repeated strikes on south Lebanon since the truce, but strikes targeting Beirut’s southern suburbs have been rare. “Following Hezbollah’s extensive use of UAVs as a central component of its terrorist attacks on the State of Israel, the terrorist organization is operating to increase production of UAVs for the next war,” the military said, calling the activities “a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”Under the truce, Hezbollah fighters were to withdraw north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south. Israel was to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon but it has kept some in five areas it deems “strategic.”The Lebanese army has been deploying in the south and removing Hezbollah infrastructure, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam saying Thursday that it had dismantled “more than 500 military positions and arms depots” in the area. Following the strike on Thursday, Lebanon’s leaders accused Israel of a “flagrant” ceasefire violation by launching strikes ahead of the Eid Al-Adha holiday. President Joseph Aoun voiced “firm condemnation of the Israeli aggression” and “flagrant violation of an international accord... on the eve of a sacred religious festival.”The prime minister too issued a statement condemning the strikes as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty. One resident of southern Beirut described grabbing her children and fleeing her home after receiving an ominous warning before the strikes. “I got a phone call from a stranger who said he was from the Israeli army,” said the woman, Violette, who declined to give her last name. Israel also issued an evacuation warning for the Lebanese village of Ain Qana, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the border. The Israeli military then launched a strike on a building there that it alleged was a Hezbollah base, according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency.

Israel warns of more Lebanon strikes if Hezbollah not disarmed
Agence France Presse/06 June ,2025
Israel warned Friday that it will keep striking Lebanon until Hezbollah has been disarmed, hours after it hit Beirut's southern subrubs in what Lebanese leaders called a major violation of the November ceasefire. An Israeli military evacuation call issued ahead of Thursday's strikes sent huge numbers of residents of the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, long a bastion of Iran-backed Hezbollah, fleeing for their lives. The attack on what the Israeli military said was Hezbollah underground drone factories came on the eve of Eid al-Adha, one of the main religious festivals of the Muslim calendar. The strikes came around an hour after Israel's military spokesman issued an evacuation call, and sent plumes of smoke billowing over Beirut. The attack came six months after a ceasefire agreement was sealed in a bid to end hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. "There will be no calm in Beirut, and no order or stability in Lebanon, without security for the State of Israel," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. "Agreements must be honored and if you do not do what is required, we will continue to act, and with great force," he threatened.
Under the ceasefire brokered by the United States and France, Lebanon committed to disarming Hezbollah, which was once reputed to be more heavily armed than the state itself.
The hostilities started when Hezbollah launched cross-border attacks on northern Israel in what it described as an act of solidarity with Gaza and the group's Palestinian ally Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the brutal war that followed.
The war on Lebanon left Hezbollah massively weakened, with a string of top commanders including its longtime leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah killed and weapons caches dotted around Lebanon incinerated. Israel has carried out repeated strikes on south Lebanon since the truce, but strikes targeting Beirut's southern suburbs have been rare."Following Hezbollah's extensive use of UAVs as a central component of its terrorist attacks on the State of Israel, the terrorist organization is operating to increase production of UAVs for the next war," the military said, calling the activities "a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon."
Ominous warning -
Under the truce, Hezbollah fighters were to withdraw north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south. Israel was to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon but it has kept some in five areas it deems "strategic". The Lebanese Army has been deploying in the south and removing Hezbollah infrastructure, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam saying Thursday that it had dismantled "more than 500 military positions and arms depots" in the area. Following the strike on Thursday, Lebanon's leaders accused Israel of a "flagrant" ceasefire violation by launching strikes ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday. President Joseph Aoun voiced "firm condemnation of the Israeli aggression" and "flagrant violation of an international accord... on the eve of a sacred religious festival."The prime minister too issued a statement condemning the strikes as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty. One resident of southern Beirut described grabbing her children and fleeing her home after receiving an ominous warning before the strikes. "I got a phone call from a stranger who said he was from the Israeli army," said the woman, Violette, who declined to give her last name. Israel also issued an evacuation warning for the Lebanese southern village of Ain Qana, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the border. The Israeli military then launched a strike on a building there that it alleged was a Hezbollah base, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency.

Lebanese military official to AFP: Israel blocked army from inspecting Beirut site before strike
LBCI/June 06/2025
A senior Lebanese military official told AFP that Israel prevented the Lebanese Army from inspecting a location in Beirut's southern suburbs before carrying out airstrikes late Thursday. "During the day, the Israelis sent a message indicating there was a suspected weapons site in the southern suburbs of Beirut and inquired about it," the official said, referring to a site within a destroyed building complex. The Lebanese Army surveyed the location and responded via the ceasefire monitoring committee, which includes Israel, Lebanon, the United States, France, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), that no weapons were present. However, the official said Israel did not issue any further messages through the committee before striking multiple locations in the area later that night. "When Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted a warning about upcoming strikes, the Lebanese Army attempted to inspect the first referenced location, but Israeli warning strikes prevented our forces from completing the mission," the official said. The Lebanese Army, in a statement on Friday, condemned the attack, warning that continued violations of the ceasefire agreement and Israel's refusal to cooperate with the monitoring committee undermined both the Mechanism and the military's role. The army added that such actions could force it to reconsider its participation in the monitoring framework.

Lebanese army warns Israeli airstrikes might force it to freeze cooperation with ceasefire committee
AP/June 06, 2025
BEIRUT: The Lebanese army condemned Friday Israel’s airstrikes on suburbs of Beirut, warning that such attacks are weakening the role of Lebanon’s armed forces that might eventually suspend cooperation with the committee monitoring the truce that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war. The army statement came hours after the Israeli military struck several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs that it said held underground facilities used by Hezbollah for drone production. The strikes, preceded by an Israeli warning to evacuate several buildings, came on the eve of Eid Al-Adha, a Muslim holiday. The Lebanese army said it started coordinating with the committee observing the ceasefire after Israel’s military issued its warning and sent patrols to the areas that were to be struck to search them. It added that Israel rejected the suggestion. The US-led committee that has been supervising the ceasefire that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war in November is made up of Lebanon, Israel, France, the US and the UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon known as UNIFIL. “The Israeli enemy violations of the deal and its refusal to respond to the committee is weakening the role of the committee and the army,” the Lebanese army said in its statement. It added such attacks by Israel could lead the army to freeze its cooperation with the committee “when it comes to searching posts.” Since the Israel-Hezbollah war ended, Israel has carried out nearly daily airstrikes on parts of Lebanon targeting Hezbollah operatives. Beirut’s southern suburbs were struck on several occasions since then. The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel began on Oct. 8, 2023, when the Lebanese militant group began launching rockets across the border in support of its ally, Hamas, in Gaza. Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling and the two were quickly locked in a low-level conflict that continued for nearly a year before escalating into full-scale war in September 2024. It killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, while the Lebanese government said in April that Israeli strikes had killed another 190 people and wounded 485 since the ceasefire agreement. There has been increasing pressure on Hezbollah, both domestic and international, to give up its remaining arsenal, but officials with the group have said they will not do so until Israel stops its airstrikes and withdraws from five points it is still occupying along the border in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah says that it has ended its military presence along the border with Israel south of the Litani River, in accordance with terms of the ceasefire deal.

Aftermath of a deadly night: Israeli airstrikes shatter quiet in Beirut
LBCI/June 06/2025
The toll of the latest Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs is clear: devastation, displacement, and fear. Residents returned briefly to damaged buildings to gather what possessions they could salvage. For many, it was a final farewell to homes that were no longer habitable. The targeted buildings in Saint Therese have been reduced to heaps of debris, with surrounding structures also bearing heavy damage. The strikes were part of one of the most intense nights of bombing the area has witnessed since the ceasefire. Eight residential buildings, comprising more than 100 apartments, were destroyed in the neighborhoods of Saint Therese, Haret Hreik, Rweissat, and Al Kafaat. Despite prior warnings and so-called "precautionary" strikes issued by the Israeli army, residents described the night as terrifying. This marked the fourth Israeli attack on Beirut's southern suburbs since the ceasefire agreement, but it was the most aggressive to date. Israel claimed it was targeting Hezbollah facilities and drone-manufacturing infrastructure. In response, the Lebanese Army issued a statement detailing its actions. Upon receiving Israel's warnings, the army coordinated with the U.N.'s ceasefire monitoring committee and deployed patrols to inspect the threatened sites, despite Israel's refusal to accept their proposals. The army reaffirmed its commitment to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and the cessation of hostilities agreement. It warned that Israel's continued violations and its disregard for international mechanisms were undermining both the Lebanese military and the U.N.'s monitoring role and could ultimately lead the army to suspend cooperation with the monitoring committee altogether.

Eid al-Adha under fire: Israel's Beirut strikes seen as signal to Washington
LBCI/June 06/2025
A day ahead of Eid al-Adha, Israel launched a series of surprise airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, drawing condemnation from Lebanese political and military leaders who accused Tel Aviv of deliberately undermining regional stability and defying the ceasefire monitoring committee in place since late last year. The escalation began Thursday afternoon when the ceasefire monitoring committee contacted the Lebanese Army, requesting an inspection of alleged Hezbollah military targets in the Mrayjeh neighborhood. The army responded by deploying a unit to the site, which found no evidence of any military activity and provided photographic proof to the committee. Hours later, at 8:30 p.m., Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued a public warning, threatening strikes on three locations unrelated to Mrayjeh. The Lebanese Army immediately informed the committee of its intent to inspect the new sites to avert the attack. Despite U.S. intervention urging Israel to hold back, Tel Aviv signaled its intent to strike. A Lebanese military team reached one of the targeted buildings and confirmed it was free of weapons but was forced to retreat after Israel began firing warning shots. The strikes followed soon after. Israel claimed the targets were Hezbollah drone storage facilities, a justification swiftly rejected by Lebanese officials. The Lebanese Army issued a rare warning, threatening to suspend cooperation with the ceasefire monitoring committee over Israel's refusal to coordinate or adhere to the ceasefire agreement. Amid mounting political contacts, the Lebanese presidency issued a sharply worded statement from Baabda Palace during a visit by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. President Joseph Aoun described the assault as a message from Israel to the United States, expressing discontent with Washington's regional policies through what he called "Beirut's mailbox of blood and civilian suffering." The presidency implied Israel was reacting to U.S. positions on Iran, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, using Beirut as a proxy for its frustration. Meanwhile, questions swirled around the outcome of recent talks between U.N. Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and Israeli officials. Some Lebanese political circles speculated that Israel could be using these strikes to pressure Lebanon into a security arrangement under fire. Lebanon's leadership reiterated its longstanding stance: peace can only be achieved through a two-state solution, in line with the Arab consensus. Prime Minister Salam is expected to reinforce this position at the United Nations on June 17 during a session focused on the Palestinian issue. According to sources close to the group, Hezbollah believes Israel's broader goal is to sign peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt and create a weapons-free buffer zone stretching from Syria to Lebanon. Observers fear the situation could escalate further, particularly as Lebanon prepares to initiate a process to disarm refugee camps. Some also suggest that Israel's strikes are an attempt to divert attention from internal political turmoil in both the U.S. and Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing domestic pressure.

France urges Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory
LBCI/June 06/2025
France strongly condemned the latest Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburb, calling on Israel to "withdraw as quickly as possible from all Lebanese territories," according to a statement issued by the French Foreign Ministry.The statement urged all parties to abide by the existing ceasefire agreement and refrain from actions that could further destabilize the region. "Paris calls on all parties to respect the ceasefire agreement," the ministry said, adding that the monitoring mechanism established under the agreement remains essential in helping both sides address security concerns and prevent any escalation that could endanger the stability and security of both Lebanon and Israel. The statement emphasized that the dismantling of unauthorized military positions on Lebanese soil is primarily the responsibility of the Lebanese Armed Forces, with support from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Iran slams Israeli 'aggression' against Lebanon
Agence France Presse/06 June ,2025
Iran condemned Israeli "aggression" against Lebanon on Friday after its arch foe carried out air strikes against alleged targets of Tehran-backed Hezbollah in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei described the Thursday evening strikes "as a blatant act of aggression against Lebanon's territorial integrity and sovereignty."

Lebanese Army warns Israeli airstrikes may force it to freeze cooperation with ceasefire committee
Associated Press/06 June ,2025
The Lebanese Army condemned Friday Israel's airstrikes on southern suburbs of Beirut, warning that such attacks are weakening the role of Lebanon's armed forces that might eventually suspend cooperation with the committee monitoring the truce that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war. The army statement came hours after the Israeli military struck several buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs that it claimed held underground facilities used by Hezbollah for drone production. The strikes, preceded by an Israeli warning to evacuate several buildings, came on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday.
The Lebanese Army said it started coordinating with the committee observing the ceasefire after Israel's military issued its warning and sent patrols to the areas that were to be struck to search them. It added that Israel rejected the suggestion. The U.S.-led committee that has been supervising the ceasefire that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war in November is made up of Lebanon, Israel, France, the U.S. and the U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon known as UNIFIL. "The Israeli enemy violations of the deal and its refusal to respond to the committee is weakening the role of the committee and the army," the Lebanese Army said in its statement. It added such attacks by Israel could lead the army to freeze its cooperation with the committee "when it comes to searching posts." Since the Israel-Hezbollah war ended, Israel has carried out nearly daily airstrikes on parts of Lebanon targeting Hezbollah operatives. Beirut's southern suburbs were struck on several occasions since then. The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel began on Oct. 8, 2023, when the Lebanese group began launching rockets across the border in support of embattled Gaza and its ally Hamas. Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling and the two were quickly locked in a low-level conflict that continued for nearly a year before escalating into full-scale war in September 2024. It killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, while the Lebanese government said in April that Israeli strikes had killed another 190 people and wounded 485 since the ceasefire agreement. There has been increasing pressure on Hezbollah, both domestic and international, to give up its remaining arsenal, but officials with the group have said they will not do so until Israel stops its airstrikes and withdraws from five points it is still occupying along the border in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah says that it has ended its military presence along the border with Israel south of the Litani River, in accordance with terms of the ceasefire deal.

Preliminary Report Details Airstrike Damage in Beirut Suburbs
This is Beirut/June 06//2025
The Reconstruction Committee in Beirut has released preliminary statistics detailing the damage caused by Thursday’s Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of the capital. The figures reveal widespread destruction across multiple neighborhoods, with residential buildings, institutions, and private property bearing the weight of the attack. According to the committee’s early assessment, a total of nine buildings were completely destroyed, while 71 others sustained varying degrees of damage. The attacks also impacted 177 institutions and 50 vehicles, underlining the broad scope of the material losses.
The hardest-hit areas include Al-Ruwais, Saint Thérèse, Al-Kafa’at, and Al-Qaim. Each of these neighborhoods reported significant destruction to both infrastructure and housing units. In Al-Ruwais, two buildings were leveled and over a hundred residential units were affected. Saint Thérèse saw damage to more than 30 buildings, with over 300 housing units partially or completely destroyed. Al-Kafa’at reported the destruction of three buildings and severe damage to more than 190 residential units. Among them was the Al-Kafaat Foundation, a development and nonprofit organization that provides rehabilitation and education to the Lebanese people. In Al-Qaim, two buildings were flattened and over 330 units were damaged.

Israel Steps Up Military Pressure on Lebanon’s Official Authorities
Bassam Abou Zeid/This is Beirut/June 06//2025
As the Israeli Army issued a warning to Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday, Lebanon sought to avoid Israeli airstrikes on the targeted sites. The Lebanese representative to the Ceasefire Monitoring Committee approached the committee’s chairman, US General Michael Leeney, promising that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) would enter and inspect these sites on the condition that they would not be attacked. However, Israel rejected the Lebanese proposal and insisted on carrying out the strikes without providing an immediate explanation for refusing the request. A notable development came with a statement from Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz, who addressed Lebanese President Joseph Aoun directly, “You must ensure that the Lebanese Army truly enforces the ceasefire agreement — not through coordinated theatrics, as it attempted to do yesterday.”Sources within the Ceasefire Monitoring Committee interpreted this as a clear indication of Israel’s lack of trust in the LAF’s efforts to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, particularly regarding Hezbollah’s disarmament. According to these sources, Israeli officials have repeatedly informed the committee that the Lebanese Army is not taking serious steps to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, especially in areas north of the Litani River – locations Israel claims to have mapped extensively. They added that the intelligence shared by the Lebanese on certain sites failed to align with what Israeli authorities consider verified data. Consequently, Israel rejected the LAF’s intervention in the areas targeted on Thursday night, arguing that the outcome was predetermined: there would be no weapons or military installations found. From Israel’s perspective, any LAF involvement in these locations would amount to shielding Hezbollah. Thus, it holds the Lebanese state – its president and government – accountable for failing to fulfill its obligations under Resolution 1701, particularly the dismantling of Hezbollah’s armed presence. On the other hand, the statement issued by the Lebanese Army on Friday hinted at a possible suspension of cooperation with the Ceasefire Monitoring Committee. Lebanese sources stressed that this does not reflect a withdrawal from Lebanon’s commitments, and that the committee and UNIFIL witness its seriousness in inspecting any site suspected of harboring weapons or military structures. They revealed that, earlier on Thursday and based on an Israeli request transmitted via the committee, the army had searched a site in the Mreijeh area of the southern suburbs and found no military components. Moreover, the threat to suspend cooperation should not be seen as Lebanon backing away from its official commitments, but rather as a form of pressure to activate diplomatic efforts – particularly American – to ensure that Israel honors its commitments: namely, to withdraw from still-occupied sites, release detainees and address points of contention along the Blue Line. The question remains: Does Israel truly intend to uphold these obligations? Western diplomatic sources have urged restraint from both parties, stressing the need for strict adherence to the mutual commitments. They warned that a halt in Lebanese cooperation with the monitoring committee would ultimately play into Israel’s hands, enabling it to intensify military pressure and further hold Lebanon responsible for any deterioration. With the US firmly backing Israel’s position, such a move would give Israeli leaders greater political and military leeway, raising concerns over how far Israel might go in future operations.

Illegal Weapons: Geagea Slams State Inaction Amid Israeli Attacks
This is Beirut/June 06//2025
Lebanese Forces party leader Samir Geagea strongly criticized the state’s failure to resolve the issue of illegal weapons and to act amid ongoing Israeli attacks. He warned that Lebanon remains dangerously exposed due to the government's inability to assert exclusive control over military decision-making. In a statement issued Friday, Geagea dismissed symbolic gestures and verbal condemnations of Israel as meaningless without concrete action. “There is nothing heroic about calling the enemy an enemy,” he said. “True heroism lies in officials taking the necessary practical steps to avoid the dangers posed by this enemy.” He emphasized the daily risks faced by Lebanese citizens, calling it “absolutely unacceptable” that they continue to live under constant threat of aggression. Geagea stressed the urgent need for international support to halt Israel’s military operations and to ensure its withdrawal from the remaining occupied Lebanese territories. However, he noted that such support “hinges on the Lebanese state asserting full sovereignty over weapons and decisions of war and peace.”He added that “everyone knows that our Arab, European, and American friends are not willing to help a state that does not possess exclusive control over arms and, by extension, the authority to decide on matters of war and peace.”Geagea pointed to a broad framework of legal and political commitments that support disarming non-state actors in Lebanon, including the Taif Agreement, UN Security Council Resolutions 1559, 1680, and 1701, as well as the 2024 ceasefire agreement signed by a cabinet in which Hezbollah held a ministerial majority. He claimed that these align with the will of the vast majority of Lebanese, who aspire to a sovereign and functional state. “All of these point to one clear demand: dismantle illegal armed groups and place all weapons under the sole authority of the state — only then can a real state exist in Lebanon,” he stated. Geagea called for immediate and decisive action from the Lebanese authorities. “Given all these compelling reasons, nothing justifies the state’s delay in fulfilling its duties to protect Lebanon and its people. And if anyone has a practical solution other than mourning the darkness day and night while continuing to live in it, then let them step forward.”

Lebanese Energy Minister refutes predecessor's claims over Iraqi oil deal
LBCI/June 06/2025
Lebanese Energy Minister Joe Saddi issued a strongly worded statement on Friday, rejecting what he described as "a series of inaccuracies" made by former Minister Walid Fayad regarding the Iraqi oil agreement. He accused Fayad of misleading the public over financial and procedural matters. The statement, released by Saddi's media office, emphasized that successive energy ministers have been importing fuel from Iraq since 2021, with only the first contract officially ratified by Parliament. The second and third contracts, though approved by the Cabinet, remain unendorsed by lawmakers.
Saddi also clarified that the fourth contract, at the center of the latest dispute, had its tendering process initiated by Fayad before the deal was signed. According to the statement, Fayad awarded the initial bid to a company he referenced in recent remarks. While Saddi confirmed that he had finalized the contract, he stated that this was done strictly in accordance with the principle of maintaining continuity of public services without launching a new tender or incurring further obligations outside of the existing framework. He insisted that no new financial burden was imposed on Lebanese taxpayers before receiving parliamentary approval, countering Fayad's assertions. The statement added that both Finance Minister Yassine Jaber and Minister Saddi informed Parliament about the status of the contract during the latest joint committee session. On the financial front, Saddi challenged Fayad's claim that the agreement amounted to just $600 million, stating the actual value was approximately $1.28 billion, with $753 million already due and the remaining balance to mature through the next year. "In the end, every official owes it to the Lebanese people to speak with honesty and transparency," the statement concluded.

Doping on the Loose, Health Under Threat
Karl Hajj Moussa/This is Beirut/June 06//2025
Behind chiseled physiques and promises of peak performance lies a doping market spinning out of control. The phenomenon is spreading, as health professionals sound the alarm over readily available products that are endangering an ill-informed youth.
On May 26, 2025, the president of the Lebanese Order of Pharmacists, Joe Salloum, called on the authorities to “put an end to the unchecked sale of performance-enhancing stimulants in gyms and on social media.”In gyms and across social media, doping stimulants are being openly sold under the guise of dietary supplements. These products appeal to a generation chasing the perfect body, often willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that ideal. While some users hide their use like a guilty secret in locker rooms, most are unaware of the serious risks involved.
A Booming Parallel Market
Makram Haddad, a pharmacist interviewed by This is Beirut, stated that “doping products are freely circulating in certain gyms without any medical supervision, as if they were mere vitamins.”He added that “many unqualified trainers, sometimes users themselves, offer these products to young people eager for quick results, without ever warning them of the dangers.”The trend is also widespread online, where influencers flaunt muscular physiques while promoting boosters or fat burners with supposedly miraculous effects, rarely acknowledging the health risks involved. Labib Choucair, a physiotherapist and anti-doping control officer, also warned about the growing normalization of these substances, cautioning that “this normalization creates an illusion of safety, when these products may in fact contain extremely dangerous compounds.”“Young people can access them easily — online, in certain shops or directly in gyms — without any regulation or oversight from the authorities,” he added. Choucair also pointed to the role of influencers, noting that “on social media, many contribute to this normalization by promoting muscular bodies without ever mentioning the side effects of these substances.” This polished narrative reinforces the illusion of safety and encourages uninhibited use. In response to what has become a widespread threat, experts are denouncing a troubling lack of regulation. “The state remains passive, with no oversight or serious inspections,” warns Haddad, “allowing an illegal trade to thrive at the expense of public health.”Tony Ghossein, a fitness coach, highlights another growing concern, “Since the economic crisis, the market has been flooded with unregulated brands. Their composition is questionable, and they pose a real risk to young people’s health.”
Devastating Substances
Contrary to the harmless image they project, “these products are far from benign, often containing steroids, amphetamines and other potent stimulants whose composition is highly questionable,” explains Haddad. Immediate effects include palpitations, high blood pressure and sleep disturbances. Choucair warns that “the medium- and long-term risks are severe, including strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms, as well as serious psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, aggression and depression.”“These substances have a devastating impact on both mental and physical health, especially among young people,” he stresses.Ghossein notes that young people often turn to him, directly or indirectly, with questions about “shortcuts” to quickly build muscle. According to him, the risks are often downplayed despite being very real.
A Misinformed Generation
Young people are especially vulnerable to these dangers, as social pressure and unrealistic beauty standards online fuel an urgency to sculpt their bodies quickly. “What exacerbates the problem is the widespread lack of health education,” Haddad notes. The situation is further compounded in gyms by the absence of medical oversight. “The lack of professional supervision creates a gap often exploited by unqualified trainers,” Haddad explains, adding that “without proper guidance, young people remain ill-informed and exposed to hazardous practices.”
Preventing Harm Through Early Action
Amid this growing problem, health professionals are calling for swift action. Haddad stresses the need to “reinforce laws regulating the sale of performance-enhancing products, particularly those distributed without authorization in gyms and online.”He urges “regular, unannounced inspections and enhanced oversight of digital platforms and physical outlets.”Choucair, for his part, emphasized prevention through awareness campaigns. “It’s vital to launch targeted outreach efforts to young people to dispel myths and educate them about the real risks,” he advised. The expert also emphasizes that “pharmacists are on the front lines to alert, advise and prevent,” and that their role in health education should be recognized and strengthened. Both experts agree that mandatory certification for gyms and trainers would ensure more professional and safer oversight. Without decisive intervention, this dangerous trend risks spreading further, endangering the health of an already vulnerable youth and deepening the divide between the idealized body image marketed to them and reality.

Where Law Meets Anxiety
Johnny Kortbawi/This is Beirut/June 06//2025
Lebanon is poised to enter a contentious and unpredictable debate ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, with disputes already emerging over the electoral law that will govern the vote. Tensions escalated after Speaker Nabih Berri rejected expatriate voting and called for a new electoral law, describing the current legislation as a “monster.” His bloc, represented by MP Ali Hassan Khalil, has proposed shifting to a single nationwide constituency based on proportional representation. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea swiftly criticized the proposal, denouncing how the debate was initiated and defending the existing law as the best option under Lebanon’s complex political and demographic conditions. The current debate in Lebanon transcends the technicalities of the electoral law itself; it embodies deep-rooted anxieties stemming from recent developments and more broadly, the country’s post-war trajectory. Persistent instability among political factions and Lebanon’s diverse sectarian minorities has fueled serious fears that any new electoral law could disproportionately advantage one group over others or serve particular political interests. Proposals range widely—from the single-member district system used in France to the idea of Lebanon as a single nationwide constituency based on proportional representation. The fundamental debate is not about how the country is geographically divided—whether into one or 128 districts—but about how Lebanese citizens view the role and responsibilities of a Member of Parliament. Sectarian concerns fuel support for smaller districts, which allow communities to elect their own representatives, while larger districts tend to empower dominant groups to consolidate political influence. This dynamic highlights an ongoing power struggle between stronger and weaker sects, with electoral laws often reinforcing privileges for some at the expense of others. Currently, these tensions are also linked to the Shia community’s efforts to expand its political influence in the wake of military setbacks last autumn. Therefore, the discussion on electoral law cannot be solely approached as a legal or procedural matter. It is fundamentally shaped by deep fears—fears that rarely yield fair or effective legislation and more often sow division and conflict. This, in essence, is the true nature of the challenge Lebanon faces.

Lebanon’s Hospitality Sector Declares Full Readiness for Summer 2025
This is Beirut/06 June ,2025
The Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafés, Nightclubs and Pastry Shops officially announced that Lebanon’s hospitality and nightlife sector is fully ready for Summer 2025. “The tourism sector is fully prepared and will offer the highest level of service,” said Syndicate President Tony Ramy during a ceremony held on Thursday at Beirut’s Phoenicia Hotel, under the theme “Connect with People. Connect with Ideas. Connect with Opportunities.”The event, titled “Meet Our Local Heroes,” brought together syndicate members, hospitality business owners, sponsors and media representatives. It served as a tribute to the entrepreneurs, partners and workers who have kept the sector alive and thriving despite years of political, economic and health-related turmoil.“Preparations are underway in full coordina tion with professionals who have joined forces to share ideas, plan strategically and build a unified vision for the future,” Ramy noted. “Tourism is not just a season, it’s a way of life. Today, we send a unified message that this sector stands tall, ready and resilient, just like the cedar. After five years of back-to-back crises, the syndicate has emerged as a reference point in the tourism industry. Lebanon is rising again, whether people like it or not,” he emphasized. Ramy also revealed the launch of national, academic, professional and social initiatives that reflect the sector’s strengths and ambitions. “Let us hold our heads high and say: We are the people of tourism, art, generosity and hospitality, the makers of joy and celebration. We are Lebanon’s touristic image, and with the syndicate as our unifying home, we will stay united,” he declared. The ceremony was hosted by journalist Maurice Matta, who highlighted the tourism sector’s renewed vibrancy and growing economic impact. “Lebanon has reclaimed its place on the global tourism map,” Matta said. “This was made possible by the heroic business owners who never gave up, who continued fighting through wave after wave of crisis with strength and belief.”He also praised the workers and production partners who form the backbone of the industry, noting that “the syndicate’s leadership during times of hardship, particularly in Summer 2022, when it pioneered dollarization efforts within the private sector, was crucial.”

The Houthi Alternative for Lebanon
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 06/2025
The Houthis resemble a boxer who, whenever he thinks he is about to strike his opponent, finds himself on the receiving end of devastating blows. However, despite his broken nose, gouged-out eye, and the blood pouring from his face, he refuses to leave the ring.
Such behavior is met with glorification and veneration by the Resistance Axis. Per the Axis’s worldview, the Houthis’ determination to remain in the ring under such conditions brings them honor and dignity while standing up for and in solidarity with Gaza.
As for the actual achievements that reward the Houthis for sacrificing their country and people, they amount to little more than launching a missile that is usually intercepted, instigating air raid sirens in Israel, sending people to shelters for an hour, or at most, threatening maritime shipping routes... all "for Palestine’s sake" of course! Results, in any case, are unimportant; what matters is their effort, initiative, and intent.
Every day, a different spokesperson for Hezbollah or its friends in the Axis rears his head to denounce the Lebanese state’s failure to fulfill its duties and its capitulation to occupation. This slander is usually paired with smears against any bet on confronting Israel in the political or diplomatic arenas. With the party itself reeling from a painful military setback, the Lebanese army unequipped for such conflicts, and the overwhelming majority of the Lebanese people opposed to a war they believe is futile, the Houthi alternative is precisely what these slanderers are proposing.
That is, the only appropriate course of action is to show little regard for the lives of our own people as we perform "solidarity" with Gaza and Palestine without actually doing anything to alleviate the suffering of Gazans or any Palestinians. On top of that, it would entail Lebanon would be reinvented into a pariah in its region and the world, just like the enclave in Yemen that Houthis govern in strange ways.
Houthiism means, among other things, salvaging a pretense of heroic glory from the failure and fragmentation engendered by national division, civil war, and starvation. Thus, it is the attempt to derive strength - or something that resembles it - from weakness that cannot be hidden or denied.
This belligerent disposition with a suicidal dimension was born of the wretched phenomenon of regimes that can only survive through war. If the war eventually wipes them out, they die martyrs in a death that is choreographed as heroic.
There might be another implicit dimension: defending a world of the past that cannot be revived - in this case, the Mutawakkilite Kingdom that many Houthis died defending when it was overthrown by a military coup in 1962.
Also in defense of a dead world and past, the Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima ended his life in 1970, with a heroic ritual suicide driven by his loyalty to the old Japan that had been "polluted" by modernization and Westernization. Leading four others in a suicide mission, he launched a failed coup he had deludedly believed could restore his country’s divine past. When he failed in this attempt that had always been bound to fail, he launched into a tirade and disemboweled himself.
There was also collective suicide at the "People’s Temple" in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978. There was a desire to abide by a religious cult’s doctrines, and that desire was pushed to its extreme conclusion. More than 900 people perished, many of them children who were poisoned in order "to please God."
These mythological visions of the world diminish the importance of clinging to life and pursuing a better model. The monster or evil is lying in wait, undeterred by politics, diplomacy, or anything else we can do. Thus, the only thing left to do is to scream "Death is sweet," exactly as the Houthis have done and continue to do. As they count down to a death presented as heroic, the Houthis are turning the territory they control into a sacrifice at the altar of the Iranian regime, the supreme totem whose interests one should die defending. As such, advocating the Houthi alternative for Lebanon amounts to calling on its people to die for the Iranian state’s interests and several other crazy considerations. Hezbollah, when it was powerful, founded this school of thought that the Houthis subscribed to, so much so that they are now leading the race of the Resistance Axis’ Arab factions toward gratuitous death.
The fact remains that advocating for the Houthi alternative - with all the violence, poverty, and sacrifice that comes with it - also entails spreading an alarmist consciousness that convinces us that we must confront an imminent and unavoidable existential threat. That is how causality and the notion that every occurrence happens for some reason, are replaced with belief in an essentialized enemy that will inevitably attack and invade us, be it after a "support war" or without one.
The fact is that this form of mythological thinking has deep roots. The latest war has only pushed it to a more acute, dramatic, and dangerous place. The Lebanese have been offered several models to follow over the decades. The Baathists suggested models they had set up in Syria and Iraq. The models proposed by the communists ranged from South Yemen to Bulgaria to North Korea. Of course, the Khomeinist model in Iran remains the ideal one championed by the Khomeninists.
The difference between the Houthi alternative and those of the past might be that this time, death is incomparably more certain and faster.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 06-07/2025
Trump administration issues new Iran-related sanctions amid stalled nuclear deal talks
Al Arabiya English/06 June/2025
The US has unveiled new Iran-related sanctions amid uncertainty over nuclear deal talks, according to a Treasury Department notice. The latest round of sanctions designated 10 individuals and 27 entities. The sanctions, which also target some entities in the UAE and Hong Kong, come as US President Donald Trump's administration is working to get a new nuclear deal with Tehran.

Iran FM warns European Powers against 'Strategic Mistake' at Nuclear Watchdog
This is Beirut/With AFP/06 June ,2025
Iran warned European powers on Friday against backing a draft resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency next week accusing Tehran of non-compliance, calling it a "strategic mistake"."Instead of engaging in good faith, the E3 is opting for malign action against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X, referring to Britain, France and Germany. "Mark my words as Europe ponders another major strategic mistake: Iran will react strongly against any violation of its rights."The warning from Iran's top diplomat comes as the three European governments prepare to join Washington in backing a censure resolution at next week's board meeting, a diplomatic source told AFP. The resolution would accuse Iran of failing to meet its nuclear obligations and carries the threat of referral to the UN Security Council if Tehran "does not show goodwill", the source added. Araghchi said Tehran had demonstrated "years of good cooperation with the IAEA – resulting in a resolution which shut down malign claims of a 'possible military dimension' (PMD) to Iran's peaceful nuclear programme". "My country is once again accused of 'non-compliance,'" he added, blaming "shoddy and politicised reporting" .The criticism follows a quarterly report from the IAEA last week which cited a "general lack of cooperation" from Iran and raised concerns over undeclared nuclear material. Tehran rejected the report as politically motivated and based on "forged documents" it said had been provided by its arch foe Israel. The pressure on Iran comes amid indirect talks with the United States, mediated by Oman since April 12, to forge a new nuclear agreement between the longtime foes.The two sides have been publicly at odds over uranium enrichment, the process that produces fuel for nuclear reactors or, in highly extended form, the material for a nuclear warhead. Iran insists it has the right to enrich uranium under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the issue is "non-negotiable".But in a post on his Truth Social network on Monday, President Donald Trump said the United States "WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM" by Iran. Tehran and Washington are seeking a new agreement to replace a 2015 deal with major powers which Trump unilaterally abandoned during his first term in 2018. The agreement quickly unravelled as Trump reimposed sweeping sanctions and Tehran began walking back its own commitments a year later. Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent, well above the 3.67 percent cap set by the 2015 deal but below the 90 percent threshold required for a nuclear warhead.Britain, France and Germany, which were all party to the 2015 deal, are considering whether to trigger a "snapback" of UN sanctions under its dispute resolution mechanism -- an option that expires on the deal's 10th anniversary in October.

Issue of ultra-Orthodox conscription in Israel threatens Netanyahu's govt.
Agence France Presse/June 6, 2025
The issue of conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army has become a thorn in the side of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sparking threats to derail his coalition and trigger early elections if he ends a long-standing exemption. Military service is mandatory in Israel, but under a ruling established at the country's creation -- when the ultra-Orthodox were a very small community -- men who devote themselves full-time to the study of sacred Jewish texts are given a de facto pass. Whether that should change has been a long-running issue in Israeli society, but efforts to scrap the exemption, and the attendant blowback, have intensified during the nearly 20-month war in Gaza as the military looks for extra manpower."Israel is moving closer to elections," read a headline from the ultra-Orthodox newspaper Yated Neeman on Thursday, quoting Rabbi Dov Landau, who leads the Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party allied with Netanyahu. "A government that behaves like this towards Torah students is shameful and must be brought down," the paper added, quoting the rabbi. Netanyahu's coalition, formed in December 2022, is one of the most right-wing in the country's history, and includes two ultra-Orthodox parties. The prime minister had promised them his government would pass a law continuing the exemption for ultra-Orthodox men, but he has so far failed to deliver. The supreme court, meanwhile, ruled in June of 2024 that the state must draft ultra-Orthodox men into military service, saying their legal exemption had expired. Recently, a member of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party has pushed for a bill aimed at increasing the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox, or Haredim, and toughening sanctions on those who refuse to serve -- including travel bans and suspending driver's licenses.
Turning tide? -
About 66,000 Haredim are of conscription age, according to the army. In April, a military representative told a parliamentary committee that of 18,000 draft notices sent to ultra-Orthodox individuals, only 232 received a positive response. While Netanyahu's coalition could survive without the seven MPs from the UTJ, it would lose its majority if the 11 lawmakers from the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Shas party decided to quit the government. Tensions have been simmering with rabbis from the UTJ for weeks, and Shas is now also threatening to leave. A Shas source told AFP the party's threat was "a way of putting pressure on Netanyahu to find a solution before Monday". Israeli media reported intense negotiations between Netanyahu, Shas and Yuli Edelstein, the lawmaker who put forward the enlistment bill. Sensing a turning tide, opposition leader Yair Lapid on Wednesday said his party would propose a bill to dissolve parliament "next week", in a bid to take advantage of potential support from the ultra-Orthodox.
Political 'dilemma' -
"This is an existential issue for the ultra-Orthodox," said Emmanuel Navon, a political science professor at Tel Aviv University. "Even if they won't get any better with another government, they could go all the way" and bring down Netanyahu's coalition, he added.
According to a poll published in the right-wing daily Israel Hayom in March, 85 percent of Israeli Jews support a change in the law on Haredi enlistment, with 41 percent in favor of a law requiring all those of conscription age to enlist. Navon said Netanyahu "is in a dilemma" -- on the one hand, keeping his promise to the ultra-Orthodox parties might preserve his coalition, but on the other, passing a law to continue their exemption could cost him his electorate. "Netanyahu considers himself irreplaceable and will run in the next elections, so he cannot pass an exemption law without losing his voters, nor can he vote for a conscription law without losing his most loyal political allies," Navon said.

Musk offers peace signal to Trump after all-out verbal war
Ian Swanson/The Hill/June 6, 2025
Tech mogul Elon Musk offered a modest sign of peace toward the White House late Thursday after an all-out social media war with his ally, President Trump. The peace signal was small and came in the form of a reply to an post on the social platform X by Bill Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square and an ally of both men who has sought to cool tensions on the right on various issues before. Musk posted the reply of “true” to a post by Ackman that said: “I support @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk and they should make peace for the benefit of our great country. We are much stronger together than apart.”
Trump earlier in the day had ripped Musk on camera and on social media, as the man who funneled hundreds of millions to Trump’s presidential campaign unleashed a fusillade against him. Thursday night, however, Trump was quiet, and Politico reported that White House aides were arranging a phone call between the two men Friday as an attempt to settle the waters. But NewsNation, citing a White House official, reported that as of early Friday morning, Trump and Musk had not spoken and a phone call was not planned. A complete reconciliation looks tougher after Thursday, when Musk called for Trump’s impeachment and insulted Trump by saying he was in the files of Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious sex crimes offender. And there were signs overnight that even if Musk was offering one positive sign with Trump, he was far from ready to make nice. The pinned post at the top of Musk’s account on his social platform X remains a poll asking whether a third party should be started in the United States, a crystal clear sign of his antipathy toward Trump. Just before 10 p.m. EDT, he posted another reference to Trump and the Epstein files, though it also mentioned the controversy surrounding his own reported ketamine use.
At 9:21 p.m. EDT, he posted that “nothing would matter” if the U.S. went broke, another clear criticism of the “big, beautiful bill” passed by the House that contains a version of Trump’s main legislative agenda.
It is that legislation that triggered the feud between the president and the world’s richest person.

Israel army issues evacuation warning for parts of Gaza City
AFP/June 06, 2025
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: The Israeli military issued an evacuation order for residents of parts of Gaza City on Friday ahead of an attack, as it presses an intensified campaign in the battered Palestinian territory. “This is a final and urgent warning ahead of an impending strike,” army spokesman Avichay Adraee said. The army “will strike all areas from which rockets are launched.”The evacuation order comes at the beginning of the Eid Al-Adha holiday, one of the main religious festivals of the Muslim calendar. The Israeli military has recently stepped up its campaign in Gaza in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war. International calls for a negotiated ceasefire have grown in recent weeks.Hamas’s lead negotiator, Khalil Al-Hayya said on Thursday that the Palestinian Islamist group was ready to enter a new round of talks aimed at sealing a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Talks aimed at brokering a new ceasefire have failed to yield a breakthrough since the last brief truce fell apart in March with the resumption of Israeli operations in Gaza. Israel and Hamas appeared close to an agreement late last month, but a deal proved elusive, with each side accusing the other of scuppering a US-backed proposal. Israel has faced mounting pressure to allow more aid into Gaza, after it imposed a more than two-month blockade that led to widespread shortages of food and other essentials.It recently eased the blockade and has worked with the newly formed, US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to implement a new aid distribution mechanism via a handful of centers in south and central Gaza. But since its inception, the GHF has been a magnet for criticism from the UN and other members of the aid world — which only intensified following a recent string of deadly incidents near its facilities.Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 4,402 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,677, mostly civilians.

No Eid’ for West Bank residents who lost sons in Israeli raids
AFP/June 06, 2025
JENIN: Abeer Ghazzawi had little time to visit her two sons’ graves for Eid Al-Adha before Israeli soldiers cleared the cemetery near the refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. The Israeli army has conducted a months-long operation in the camp, which has forced Ghazzawi, along with thousands of other residents, from her home. For Ghazzawi, the few precious minutes she spent at her sons’ graves still felt like a small victory. “On the last Eid — Eid Al-Fitr, celebrating the end of Ramadan in March — they raided us. They even shot at us. But this Eid, there was no shooting, just that they kicked us out of the cemetery twice,” said the 48-year-old. “We were able to visit our land, clean up around the graves, and pour rosewater and cologne on them,” she added. As part of the Eid celebrations, families traditionally visit the graves of their loved ones. In the Jenin camp cemetery, women and men had brought flowers for their deceased relatives, and many sat on the side of their loved ones’ graves as they remembered the dead, clearing away weeds and dust. An armored car arrived at the site shortly after, unloading soldiers to clear the cemetery of its mourners, who walked away solemnly without protest. Ghazzawi’s two sons, Mohammed and Basel, were killed in January 2024 in a Jenin hospital by undercover Israeli troops. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group claimed the two brothers as its fighters after their deaths. Like Ghazzawi, many in Jenin mourned sons killed during one of the numerous Israeli operations that have targeted the city, a known bastion of Palestinian armed groups fighting Israel. In the current months-long military operation in the north of the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, Israeli forces looking for militants have cleared three refugee camps and deployed tanks in Jenin. Mohammed Abu Hjab, 51, went to the cemetery on the other side of the city to visit the grave of his son, killed in January by an Israeli strike that also killed five other people. “There is no Eid. I lost my son — how can it be Eid for me?” he asked as he stood by the six small gravestones of the dead young men.

Israeli strike on Gaza hospital kills three journalists
Arab News/June 06, 2025
LONDON: Three journalists were killed and four others injured in an Israeli strike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital’s courtyard in central Gaza, drawing condemnations from media rights groups. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said the attack struck a media tent and identified the victims as Ismail Badah, a cameraman for Palestine Today TV channel, which is affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group; Soliman Hajaj, a Palestine Today editor; and Samir A-Refai of the Shams News network. The strike injured 30 others, including four journalists. Among them were Imad Daloul, a correspondent for Palestine Today, and Ahmed Qalja, a cameraman for Qatar-based Al-Araby TV, both are reported to be in critical condition. The syndicate accused Israel of “a full-fledged war crime” that “reflects a deliberate and systematic policy aimed at silencing the Palestinian narrative.” It said that targeting journalists “within the grounds of a hospital constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.”The Israeli military said in a statement that the strike targeted “an Islamic Jihad terrorist who was operating in a command-and-control center” in the hospital’s yard, without providing details or evidence. In a statement on Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the attack, calling for international action to stop Israel from targeting journalists “based on unsubstantiated terrorism claims.”CPJ regional director Sara Qudah said: “These are not isolated incidents, but systematic attacks by Israel on the media. This disturbing and deliberate pattern must end. “The killing of journalists in a hospital courtyard on the holy day of Yawm Al-Arafah — preceding Eid Al-Adha — underscores the relentless dangers facing the media in Gaza.”

Activist boat says rescues migrants en route to Gaza
AFP/June 06, 2025
ATHENS: A vessel organized by an international activist coalition to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza has rescued several migrants from the sea near Crete, a support group in Greece said on Friday. The Madleen, launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, said it had received a distress signal from a boat in the Mediterranean, forcing it to change course off the coast of Crete. The Madleen has “a 12-member crew of peaceful activists” headed for Gaza “with the aim of breaking the blockade of Palestine by the state of Israel,” the March to Gaza Greece group said. “Upon arrival (at the scene), it discovered that the boat was sinking with approximately 30-35 people aboard.”At that point, the Madleen was approached by a ship that initially identified itself as Egyptian. “The activists aboard the Madleen quickly realized that this was a false identification and that the ship was, in fact, a Libyan coast guard vessel,” they said. “Libya is not considered a safe country and for this reason some of the refugees jumped into the sea to avoid being returned there. “The Madleen rescued four Sudanese individuals who had jumped into the water and brought them aboard.”After several hours of calls for assistance, a Frontex vessel eventually picked up the rescued individuals, the group said, referring to the European Union’s border and coast guard agency. The Madleen sailed from Sicily on Sunday. Those on board include climate activist Greta Thunberg. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, launched in 2010, is a non-violent international movement supporting Palestinians. It combines humanitarian aid with political protest against the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the critical humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. It blocked all aid into Gaza on March 2. The United Nations warned on May 30 that the entire population of more than two million was at risk of famine. Fighters from Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. A total of 1,218 people died, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.The militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead. Since October 2023, Israel’s retaliatory war on Hamas-run Gaza has killed 54,677 people there, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. The United Nations deems the health ministry figures to be reliable.The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israeli army says lacks over 10,000 soldiers including around 6,000 combat soldiers
AFP/06 June ,2025
Israel's military on Friday said it lacked over 10,000 soldiers, including around 6,000 for combat units, as it pressed an intensified campaign in the Gaza Strip.The army "lacks over 10,000 soldiers, including about 6,000 combat soldiers. This is a genuine operational need, and that's why we're taking all necessary steps," army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a televised press conference when asked about the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the army.

Netanyahu admits Israel supporting anti-Hamas armed group in Gaza
AFP/June 06, 2025
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel is supporting an armed group in Gaza that opposes the militant group Hamas, following comments by a former minister that Israel had transferred weapons to it. Israeli and Palestinian media have reported that the group Israel has been working with is part of a local Bedouin tribe led by Yasser Abu Shabab. The European Council on Foreign Relations (EFCR) think tank describes Abu Shabab as the leader of a “criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks.”Knesset member and ex-defense minister Avigdor Liberman had told the Kan public broadcaster that the government, at Netanyahu’s direction, was “giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons.”“What did Liberman leak? That security sources activated a clan in Gaza that opposes Hamas? What is bad about that?” Netanyahu said in a video posted to social media on Thursday. “It is only good, it is saving lives of Israeli soldiers.”Michael Milshtein, an expert on Palestinian affairs at the Moshe Dayan Center in Tel Aviv, told AFP that the Abu Shabab clan was part of a Bedouin tribe that spans across the border between Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai peninsula. Some of the tribe’s members, he said, were involved in “all kinds of criminal activities, drug smuggling, and things like that.”Milshtein said that Abu Shabab had spent time in prison in Gaza and that his clan chiefs had recently denounced him as an Israeli “collaborator and a gangster.”“It seems that actually the Shabak (Israeli security agency) or the (military) thought it was a wonderful idea to turn this militia, gang actually, into a proxy, to give them weapons and money and shelter” from army operations, Milshtein said. He added that Hamas killed four members of the gang days ago. The ECFR said Abu Shabab was “reported to have been previously jailed by Hamas for drug smuggling. His brother is said to have been killed by Hamas during a crackdown against the group’s attacks on UN aid convoys.”Israel regularly accuses Hamas, with which it has been at war for nearly 20 months, of looting aid convoys in Gaza. Hamas said the group had “chosen betrayal and theft as their path” and called on civilians to oppose them. Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, said it had evidence of “clear coordination between these looting gangs, collaborators with the occupation (Israel), and the enemy army itself in the looting of aid and the fabrication of humanitarian crises that deepen the suffering of” Palestinians. The Popular Forces, as Abu Shabab’s group calls itself, said on Facebook it had “never been, and will never be, a tool of the occupation.”“Our weapons are simple, outdated, and came through the support of our own people,” it added. Milshtein called Israel’s decision to arm a group such as Abu Shabab “a fantasy, not something that you can really describe as a strategy.”“I really hope it will not end with catastrophe,” he said.

Media groups urge Israel to allow Gaza access for foreign journalists
AFP/June 06, 2025
NEW YORK: More than 130 news outlets and press freedom groups called Thursday for Israel to immediately lift a near-total ban on international media entering Gaza, while calling for greater protections for Palestinian journalists in the territory. Israel has blocked most foreign correspondents from independently accessing Gaza since it began its war there following the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack by militant group Hamas. An open letter shared by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders called the restrictions “a situation that is without precedent in modern warfare.”Signees included AFP’s global news director Phil Chetwynd, The Associated Press executive editor Julie Pace, and the editor of Israeli newspaper Haaretz Aluf Benn. The letter added that many Palestinian journalists — whom news outlets have relied on to report from inside Gaza — face a litany of threats. “Local journalists, those best positioned to tell the truth, face displacement and starvation,” it said. “To date, nearly 200 journalists have been killed by the Israeli military. Many more have been injured and face constant threats to their lives for doing their jobs: bearing witness. “This is a direct attack on press freedom and the right to information.”The letter added that it was a “pivotal moment” in Israel’s war — with renewed military actions and efforts to boost humanitarian aid to Gaza. This, it said, makes it “vital that Israel open Gaza’s borders for international journalists to be able to report freely and that Israel abides by its international obligations to protect journalists as civilians.”Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a separate statement that Israel must grant journalists access and allow them to work in Gaza “without fear for their lives.”“When journalists are killed in such unprecedented numbers and independent international media is barred from entering, the world loses its ability to see clearly, to understand fully, and to respond effectively to what is happening,” she said. Reporters Without Borders head Thibaut Bruttin said the media blockade on Gaza “is enabling the total destruction and erasure of the blockaded territory.”“This is a methodical attempt to silence the facts, suppress the truth, and isolate the Palestinian press and population,” he said in a statement. Thursday’s letter was issued the same day the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said three reporters were killed by a strike close to a hospital in Gaza City.
Israel’s military said the strike had targeted “an Islamic Jihad terrorist who was operating in a command and control center” in the yard of the hospital.

Israel army announces 4 soldiers killed in Gaza, thousands more troops needed
AFP/June 06, 2025
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military announced Friday the deaths of four soldiers in Gaza, saying it needed thousands more troops to press its offensive, just as the premier’s coalition faces the prospect of collapse over ultra-Orthodox conscription. News of the soldiers’ deaths came as Gaza’s civil defense agency reported 38 killed Friday in Israeli attacks across the territory, where Palestinians observed the Eid Al-Adha holiday under the shadow of war for a second consecutive year. Military spokesman Effie Defrin said the four soldiers were killed as they “were operating in the Khan Yunis area, in a compound belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization.”“Around six in the morning, an explosive device detonated, causing part of the structure to collapse,” he said, adding that five other soldiers were wounded, one of them severely. The deaths bring to 429 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since the start of the ground offensive in late October 2023. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his condolences to the soldiers’ families, saying they “sacrificed their lives for the safety of all of us.”Israel recently stepped up its Gaza campaign in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack sparked the war.Asked by a reporter about the issue of ultra-Orthodox conscription, which has emerged as a thorn in the side of Netanyahu’s government, Defrin said “this is the need of the moment, an operational necessity.”The army was short around 10,000 soldiers, he added, including about 6,000 in combat roles, adding that “tens of thousands more notices will be issued in the upcoming draft cycle.”The conscription issue has threatened to sink Netanyahu’s government, with ultra-Orthodox religious parties warning they will pull out of his coalition if Netanyahu fails to make good on a promise to codify the military exemption for their community in law. At the same time, much of the public has turned against the exemption amid the increasing strain put on reservists’ families by repeated call-up orders during the war. In April, a military representative told a parliamentary committee that of 18,000 draft notices sent to ultra-Orthodox individuals, only 232 received a positive response. Netanyahu’s office announced shortly after 1:00 am on Friday that he had met with a lawmaker from his Likud party who has recently pushed for a bill aimed at increasing the ultra-Orthodox enlistment and toughening sanctions on those who refuse.
The premier’s office said “significant progress was made,” with “unresolved issues” to be ironed out later. Netanyahu also faced scrutiny after he admitted to supporting an armed group in Gaza that opposes Hamas. Knesset member and ex-defense minister Avigdor Liberman had told the Kan public broadcaster that the government, at Netanyahu’s direction, was “giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons.”The European Council on Foreign Relations think tank describes the group a “criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks.”
The humanitarian situation in Gaza, meanwhile, has reached dire lows, with residents enduring severe shortages of food and other essentials, even after a more than two-month Israeli blockade on aid was recently eased. The shortages have made it all but impossible for many Gazans to celebrate Eid Al-Adha, which fell on Friday and is traditionally marked with huge family meals and gifts of new clothes. Suad Al-Qarra told AFP from Nasser Hospital on Friday that her son never got a chance to wear his new clothes. “He went to get dressed and there was an explosion,” she said, her soft voice breaking. “I took him to the hospital and (they) found him dead.”“They took the children from us,” she continued. “I bought him Eid clothes yesterday and he didn’t wear them, instead he wears a white shroud.”In the Muslim faith, Eid commemorates the sacrifice Ibrahim — known to Christians and Jews as Abraham — was about to make by killing his son, before the angel Gabriel intervened and offered him a sheep to sacrifice instead. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s strikes. Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 4,402 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18 after a brief truce, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,677, mostly civilians.

Homes smashed, help slashed: no respite for returning Syrians
Reuters/June 06, 2025
DAMASCUS: Around a dozen Syrian women sat in a circle at a UN-funded center in Damascus, happy to share stories about their daily struggles, but their bonding was overshadowed by fears that such meet-ups could soon end due to international aid cuts. The community center, funded by the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR), offers vital services that families cannot get elsewhere in a country scarred by war, with an economy broken by decades of mismanagement and Western sanctions. “We have no stability. We are scared and we need support,” said Fatima Al-Abbiad, a mother of four. “There are a lot of problems at home, a lot of tension, a lot of violence because of the lack of income.”But the center’s future now hangs in the balance as the UNHCR has had to cut down its activities in Syria because of the international aid squeeze caused by US President Donald Trump’s decision to halt foreign aid. The cuts will close nearly half of the UNHCR centers in Syria and the widespread services they provide — from educational support and medical equipment to mental health and counselling sessions — just as the population needs them the most. There are hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees returning home after the fall of Bashar Assad last year. UNHCR’s representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, said the situation was a “disaster” and that the agency would struggle to help returning refugees. “I think that we have been forced — here I use very deliberately the word forced — to adopt plans which are more modest than we would have liked,” he told Context/Thomson Reuters Foundation in Damascus. “It has taken us years to build that extraordinary network of support, and almost half of them are going to be closed exactly at the moment of opportunity for refugee and IDPs (internally displaced people) return.”
BIG LOSS
A UNHCR spokesperson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the agency would shut down around 42 percent of its 122 community centers in Syria in June, which will deprive some 500,000 people of assistance and reduce aid for another 600,000 that benefit from the remaining centers. The UNHCR will also cut 30 percent of its staff in Syria, said the spokesperson, while the livelihood program that supports small businesses will shrink by 20 percent unless it finds new funding. Around 100 people visit the center in Damascus each day, said Mirna Mimas, a supervisor with GOPA-DERD, the church charity that runs the center with UNHCR. Already the center’s educational programs, which benefited 900 children last year, are at risk, said Mimas. Nour Huda Madani, 41, said she had been “lucky” to receive support for her autistic child at the center. “They taught me how to deal with him,” said the mother of five. Another visitor, Odette Badawi, said the center was important for her well-being after she returned to Syria five years ago, having fled to Lebanon when war broke out in Syria in 2011.“(The center) made me feel like I am part of society,” said the 68-year-old. Mimas said if the center closed, the loss to the community would be enormous: “If we must tell people we are leaving, I will weep before they do,” she said
UNHCR HELP ‘SELECTIVE’
Aid funding for Syria had already been declining before Trump’s seismic cuts to the US Agency for International Development this year and cuts by other countries to international aid budgets. But the new blows come at a particularly bad time. Since former president Assad was ousted by Islamist rebels last December, around 507,000 Syrians have returned from neighboring countries and around 1.2 million people displaced inside the country went back home, according to UN estimates. Llosa said, given the aid cuts, UNHCR would have only limited scope to support the return of some of the 6 million Syrians who fled the country since 2011. “We will need to help only those that absolutely want to go home and simply do not have any means to do so,” Llosa said. “That means that we will need to be very selective as opposed to what we wanted, which was to be expansive.”
ESSENTIAL SUPPORT
Ayoub Merhi Hariri had been counting on support from the livelihood program to pay off the money he borrowed to set up a business after he moved back to Syria at the end of 2024. After 12 years in Lebanon, he returned to Daraa in southwestern Syria to find his house destroyed — no doors, no windows, no running water, no electricity. He moved in with relatives and registered for livelihood support at a UN-backed center in Daraa to help him start a spice manufacturing business to support his family and ill mother. While his business was doing well, he said he would struggle to repay his creditors the 20 million Syrian pounds ($1,540) he owed them now that his livelihood support had been cut. “Thank God (the business) was a success, and it is generating an income for us to live off,” he said. “But I can’t pay back the debt,” he said, fearing the worst. “I’ll have to sell everything.”

Syrian leader makes first visit to cradle of country’s uprising
AFP/June 06, 2025
DAMASCUS: Syrian Arab Republic’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Friday visited the southern city of Daraa, the cradle of the country’s uprising, for the first time since ousting longtime ruler Bashar Assad almost six months ago. State news agency SANA published footage showing a cheering crowd greeting Sharaa, who was seen waving and shaking hands with people during the visit, which came on the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha. Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab visited Daraa’s historic Omari mosque during the trip, the presidency said in a statement, releasing images of the visit showing the leader among the crowd. SANA also said he met with local civil and military officials, as well as a delegation from the Christian minority. Provincial governor Anwar Al-Zoabi said in a statement that the visit was “an important milestone in the course of national recovery.”In 2011, young boys who had scrawled graffiti against Assad were detained in Daraa, sparking nationwide protests. After the war erupted following the brutal repression of protests, rebels seized control of Daraa and hung on until 2018, when the city returned to Assad under a deal mediated by Russia that allowed former fighters to keep their light weapons. On December 6, as Sharaa’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) led a lightning offensive on Damascus from the country’s northwest, a coalition of armed groups from Daraa province was formed to help oust Assad, who was toppled two days later.
The province was plagued by unrest in recent years.

Syrian families return home in time for Eid al-Adha after years in notorious displacement camp
Ghaith Alsayed And Abby Sewell/The Associated Press/June 6, 2025
AL-QARYATAYN, Syria — Yasmine al-Saleh has two occasions to celebrate this year: the Eid al-Adha holiday and her family’s return home after nine years in a notorious displacement camp in the Syrian desert. True, the home they returned to, in the town of al-Qaryatayn in the eastern part of Syria’s Homs province, was damaged during the nearly 14 years of civil war. Al-Saleh fears that even a small earthquake will bring it down on their heads. Many of the surrounding buildings have collapsed.“When I first entered my house — what can I say? It was a happiness that cannot be described,” al-Saleh said tearfully. “Even though our house is destroyed, and we have no money, and we are hungry, and we have debts, and my husband is old and can’t work, and I have kids — still, it’s a castle in my eyes.”Last month, the last families left Rukban, a camp on the borders with Jordan and Iraq that once housed tens of thousands of families who lived under a crippling siege for years. People started gathering in Rukban in 2015, fleeing Islamic State militants and airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition, Russia and the forces of then-Syrian President Bashar Assad. Displacement camps became widespread in Syria during the war, but the situation in Rukban was particularly dire. While the bulk of the camps sprung up in opposition-controlled areas in the country’s northwest, Rukban was hemmed in on all sides by areas controlled by Assad’s forces and by the border. Jordan sealed its border and stopped regular aid deliveries in 2016 after a cross-border IS attack that killed seven Jordanian soldiers. For years, the U.N. and other humanitarian organizations were largely unable to bring aid in. Food, water and other essentials were only available via smuggling at exorbitant prices, and there was almost no access to medical care.
Al-Saleh recalled that when she gave birth to her two daughters, she feared that she would die in childbirth as other women in the camp had. In recent years, some aid got in via the U.S. Army. The camp was located in a 55-km (34-mile) “deconfliction zone” surrounding the base. Many of the camp’s residents were families of fighters with the U.S.-backed Syrian Free Army. “Conditions were horrid,” said Lt. Col. Ryan Harty, who was stationed at the nearby al-Tanf garrison as squadron commander in 2024 and assisted with the aid shipments. “They lacked medical care, medical supplies, food, basic food supplies, water — anything you could think of that you would need to sustain life, they lacked.”
The U.S.-based NGO Syrian Emergency Task Force worked with military officials to implement a provision that allows American aid groups to send humanitarian goods on military cargo planes if the planes are not fully loaded with military supplies. Eventually they were also able to secure seats on the planes to bring doctors to the camp. Maj. Bo Daniels, who was chief of the civil affairs team al-Tanf in 2023, was the first to realize that doctors could be classified as “humanitarian aid.”“I’ve been in the Army now for 24 years. I’m an Afghanistan and Iraq veteran,” Daniels said. He has mixed feelings about those deployments. But in Syria, he said, he felt that “every day my missions really, truly mattered.” Working in Rukban, he said, was "was probably the proudest thing I’ve ever done in my military career." Still, the situation remained dire. A few months before Assad’s fall, Amnesty International issued a statement condemning the Syrian government’s tightening siege of the camp and criticizing Jordanian authorities for continuing to “unlawfully deport Syrians to Rukban despite the camp’s unlivable conditions” and the U.S. government for making “little visible effort to improve the desperate conditions despite its ability to do so.”Many former residents were desperate enough to leave the camp and head to government-held territory, risking arrest and forcible conscription to the Syrian army. Before Assad's fall, about 8,000 people remained. After Assad fell, there was an immediate exodus from the camp. But a few hundred people — including al-Saleh’s family — remained, unable to scrape together the funds to make the move. Islamic Relief USA paid for trucks and buses to move some 564 people and their belongings back to their homes last month. The Syrian Emergency Task Force said in a statement that the repatriation of those families brings “an end to one of the worst humanitarian crises in Syria” and “marks the end of the tragedy of Rukban.”
For some, their return was bittersweet.
Bakir al-Najim, another recent returnee to al-Qaryatayn, said, “After 10 years of displacement, we will celebrate Eid al-Adha back in our hometown.” But, he said, “we are poor, we have no jobs, we have no food or drinks to offer our (Eid) guests.” Ahmed Shehata, chief executive officer of Islamic Relief USA, said the UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations that would normally provide aid to returning refugees and internally displaced people are scrambling to find the funding after the Trump administration’s recent major cuts to U.S. foreign aid. He said his organization is in talks with the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR about allocating a significant amount of funding to provide aid to those returning to their homes. Al-Saleh said however difficult her family's circumstances are now, they are nothing compared to the time they spent in Rukban. “Rukban was a death camp,” she said. “All I can say about it is that it was a death camp.”

Iraq frees Australian, Egyptian engineers after four years, but keeps travel ban
AFP/June 06, 2025
BAGHDAD: Iraq has released an Australian mechanical engineer and his Egyptian colleague who were detained for more than four years over a dispute with the central bank, authorities said Friday, though the two remain barred from leaving the country.
Robert Pether and Khalid Radwan were working for an engineering company contracted to oversee the construction of the bank’s new Baghdad headquarters, according to a United Nations report, when they were arrested in April 2021. A report from a working group for the UN Human Rights Council said the arrests stemmed from a contractual dispute over “alleged failure to execute certain payments.”Both men were sentenced to five years in prison and fined $12 million, the working group said. A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Pether, in his fifties, was released “due to his poor health.”Australian media have previously reported that the family suspected Pether had developed lung cancer in prison and that he had undergone surgery for skin cancer. A second Iraqi official confirmed the release of Radwan, adding that he was not allowed to leave the country until a “final decision” was made regarding his case.Australia’s ABC broadcaster quoted the country’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, as welcoming the release and saying the Australian government had raised the issue with Iraqi authorities more than 200 times. Simon Harris, foreign minister for Ireland, where Pether’s family lives, posted on X: “This evening, I have been informed of the release on bail of Robert Pether, whose imprisonment in Iraq has been a case of great concern. “This is very welcome news in what has been a long and distressing saga for Robert’s wife, three children and his wider family and friends.”Speaking to Irish national broadcaster RTE, Pether’s wife, Desree Pether, said her husband was “not well at all” and “really needs to just come home so he can get the proper medical care he needs.”“He’s completely unrecognizable. It’s a shock to the system to see how far he has declined,” she said.

Wagner Group leaving Mali after heavy losses but Russia's Africa Corps to remain
Mark Banchereau/The Associated Press/June 6, 2025
DAKAR, Senegal — The Russia-backed Wagner Group said Friday it is leaving Mali after more than three and a half years of fighting Islamic extremists and insurgents in the country. Despite Wagner’s announcement, Russia will continue to have a mercenary presence in the West African country. The Africa Corps, Russia’s state-controlled paramilitary force, said on its Telegram channel Friday that Wagner’s departure would not introduce any changes and the Russian contingent will remain in Mali. "Mission accomplished. Private Military Company Wagner returns home,” the group announced via its channel on the messaging app Telegram. It said it had brought all regional capitals under control of the Malian army, pushed out armed militants and killed their commanders. Mali, along with neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. As Western influence in the region has waned, Russia has sought to step into the vacuum, sweeping in with offers of assistance. Moscow initially expanded its military cooperation with African nations by using the Wagner Group of mercenaries. But since the group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed in a plane crash in 2023, after mounting a brief armed rebellion in Russia that challenged the rule of President Vladimir Putin, Moscow has been developing the Africa Corps as a rival force to Wagner.
Africa Corps is under direct command of the Russian defense ministry.
According to U.S. officials, there are around 2,000 mercenaries in Mali. It is unclear how many are with Wagner and how many are part of the Africa Corps. Beverly Ochieng, a security analyst specializing in the Sahel for Control Risks consultancy, said the Russian defense ministry had been negotiating with Mali to take on more Africa Corps fighters and for Wagner mercenaries to join Russia’s state-controlled paramilitary force. “Since the death of Prigozhin, Russia has had this whole plan to then make the Wagner Group fall under the command of the Ministry of Defense. One of the steps they made was to revamp or introduce the Africa Corps, which is the way in which the Russian paramilitaries would retain a presence in areas where the Wagner group has been operating,” Ochieng said. Wagner has been present in Mali since late 2021 following a military coup, replacing French troops and international peacekeepers to help fight the militants. But the Malian army and Russian mercenaries struggled to curb violence in the country and have both been accused of targeting civilians. Last month, United Nations experts urged Malian authorities to investigate reports of alleged summary executions and forced disappearances by Wagner mercenaries and the army. In December, Human Rights Watch accused Malian armed forces and the Wagner Group of deliberately killing at least 32 civilians over an 8-month span. The announcement of Wagner's withdrawal comes as the Malian army and the Russian mercenaries suffered heavy losses during attacks by the al-Qaida linked group JNIM in recent weeks. Last week, JNIM fighters killed dozens of soldiers in an attack on a military base in central Mali. Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South, said the major losses might have caused the possible end of Wagner's mission. “The lack of an official and mutual announcement from both the Malian authorities and Wagner indicate possible internal dispute which led to this sudden decision. Simultaneously, this could point to a new framework for Russian presence in the country," he said. Replacing Wagner with Africa Corps troops would likely shift Russia's focus in Mali from fighting alongside the Malian army to training, said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. “Africa Corps has a lighter footprint and focuses more on training, providing equipment and doing protection services. They fight less than the ‘Rambo-type’ Wagner mercenaries,” Laessing said.

Trump signs orders to bolster US drone defenses, boost supersonic flight
Reuters/June 06, 2025
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Friday signed executive orders to bolster US defenses against threatening drones and to boost electric air taxis and supersonic commercial aircraft, the White House said. In the three executive orders, Trump sought to enable routine use of drones beyond the visual sight of operators — a key step to enabling commercial drone deliveries — and take steps to reduce the US reliance on Chinese drone companies and begin testing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Trump is establishing a federal task force to ensure US control over American skies, expand restrictions over sensitive sites, expand federal use of technology to detect drones in real time and provide assistance to state and local law enforcement. Trump also aims to address the “growing threat of criminal terrorists and foreign misuse of drones in US airspace,” said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “We are securing our borders from national security threats, including in the air, with large-scale public events such as the Olympics and the World Cup on the horizon.”Sebastian Gorka, senior director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council, cited the use of drones in Russia’s war in Ukraine and threats to major US sporting events. “We will be increasing counter-drone capabilities and capacities,” Gorka said. “We will increase the enforcement of current laws to deter two types of individuals: evildoers and idiots.”The issue of suspicious drones also gained significant attention last year after a flurry of drone sightings in New Jersey. The FAA receives more than 100 drone-sighting reports near airports each month.Drone sightings have at times disrupted flights and sporting events. Trump also directed the Federal Aviation Administration to lift a ban imposed in 1973 on supersonic air transport over land. “The reality is that Americans should be able to fly from New York to L.A. in under four hours,” Kratsios said. “Advances in aerospace engineering, material science and noise reduction now make overland supersonic flight not just possible, but safe, sustainable and commercially viable.”The Trump orders do not ban any Chinese drone company, officials said. Last year, former President Joe Biden signed legislation that could ban China-based DJI and Autel Robotics from selling new drone models in the US DJI, the world’s largest drone manufacturer, sells more than half of all US commercial drones.

Pentagon watchdog investigates if staffers were asked to delete Hegseth’s Signal messages
AP/June 07, 2025
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon’s watchdog is looking into whether any of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s aides were asked to delete Signal messages that may have shared sensitive military information with a reporter, according to two people familiar with the investigation and documents reviewed by The Associated Press. The inspector general’s request focuses on how information about the March 15 airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen was shared on the messaging app. This comes as Hegseth is scheduled to testify before Congress next week for the first time since his confirmation hearing. He is likely to face questions under oath not only about his handling of sensitive information but also the wider turmoil at the Pentagon following the departures of several senior aides and an internal investigation over information leaks. Hegseth already has faced questions over the installation of an unsecured Internet line in his office that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols and revelations that he shared details about the military strikes in multiple Signal chats. One of the chats included his wife and brother, while the other included President Donald Trump’s top national security officials and inadvertently included The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson had no comment Friday, citing the pending investigation. The inspector general’s office would not discuss the details of the investigation but said that when the report is complete, their office will release unclassified portions of it to the public. Besides finding out whether anyone was asked to delete Signal messages, the inspector general also is asking some past and current staffers who were with Hegseth on the day of the strikes who posted the information and who had access to his phone, according to the two people familiar with the investigation and the documents reviewed by the AP. The people were not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Democratic lawmakers and a small number of Republicans have said that the information Hegseth posted to the Signal chats before the military jets had reached their targets could have put those pilots’ lives at risk and that for any lower-ranking members of the military it would have led to their firing. Hegseth has said none of the information was classified. Multiple current and former military officials have said there is no way details with that specificity, especially before a strike took place, would have been OK to share on an unsecured device. “I said repeatedly, nobody is texting war plans,” Hegseth told Fox News Channel in April after reporting emerged about the chat that included his family members. “I look at war plans every day. What was shared over Signal then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things. That’s what I’ve said from the beginning.” Trump has made clear that Hegseth continues to have his support, saying during a Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia that the defense secretary “went through a lot” but “he’s doing really well.”Hegseth has limited his public engagements with the press since the Signal controversy. He has yet to hold a Pentagon press briefing, and his spokesman has briefed reporters there only once. The inspector general is investigating Hegseth at the request of the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island. Signal is a publicly available app that provides encrypted communications, but it can be hacked and is not approved for carrying classified information. On March 14, one day before the strikes against the Houthis, the Defense Department cautioned personnel about the vulnerability of the app. Trump has said his administration targeted the Houthis over their “unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence and terrorism.” He has noted the disruption Houthi attacks caused through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, key waterways for energy and cargo shipments between Asia and Europe through Egypt’s Suez Canal. The Houthi rebels attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, between November 2023 until January this year. Their leadership described the attacks as aimed at ending the Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on June 06-07/2025
Palestinian nationalism must be saved
Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/June 06, 2025
When the foreign ministers of Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and the UAE wanted to visit the Palestinian city of Ramallah last weekend, their goal was not a photo op in the city’s Al-Manara Square. It was a clear show of support for Palestinian nationalism.
As preparations for the June 17-20 Saudi-French high-level conference on the two-state solution in New York accelerate, Israel is intensifying its efforts to delegitimize Palestinian nationalism. Behind its campaign against Hamas lies a deeper strategy to deny Palestinians their inalienable right to self-determination. The Arab-Muslim ministerial visit to Ramallah was not simply about bolstering an unpopular Palestinian president. Its genuine purpose was to express solidarity with the Palestinian presidency. To be fair, President Mahmoud Abbas has undertaken modest reforms that deserve public support. While insufficient, these reforms should not be dismissed outright, especially not by an Israeli government that works relentlessly to undermine the very existence of the Palestinian Authority. Ironically, Israel transmitted its rejection of the visit by way of Hussein Al-Sheikh, the new Palestinian vice president, who has been a supporter of security cooperation with Israel. The Israelis are engaging in a one-way process in which they gain security cooperation while failing to reciprocate by respecting the very institution that is providing this cooperation. Unilateral Israeli attacks and permanent occupation of Palestinian refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nablus are not the way to encourage two-way cooperation. Behind Israel’s campaign against Hamas lies a deeper strategy to deny Palestinians their inalienable right to self-determination. Furthermore, Israel continues to withhold Palestinian tax revenues it collects under the Israel-Palestine Memorandum of Understanding. While this agreement, often referred to as the Oslo Accords, allowed a 3 percent administrative handling fee, Israel is legally obligated to transfer the remainder of the monies collected to the Palestinian government. Instead, it is unjustifiably holding 7 billion shekels, roughly $2 billion. President Abbas and his newly appointed deputy, Al-Sheikh, have bent over backward to address Israeli objections, including the unpopular cessation of stipends to families of prisoners and martyrs. But even this painful concession has not resulted in the release of funds. As a consequence, Palestinian public servants have been forced to accept a fraction of their salaries just ahead of the Eid Al-Adha holiday.
The multifaceted Israeli campaign — against refugee camps, the Palestinian government and any role for Ramallah in postwar Gaza — is aimed at crippling, if not eradicating, the Palestinian national entity centered in Ramallah.Arab and Muslim leaders, along with the global community, must persist in upholding Palestinian national rights. By the end of 2024, the state of Palestine had been recognized by 146 countries, with several others, including Western nations, preparing to follow suit. The international community must do far more to uphold Palestinian nationalism and the right of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem to live in freedom, free of occupation, settlements and colonial control. The plans for Arab and Muslim leaders, traveling by Jordanian military helicopter, to visit the Palestinian presidency in Ramallah were blocked by the Israeli occupying powers. This unprecedented move — targeting officials from countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel — was a grave insult to those who defied public opinion at home to sign peace treaties and normalize ties with Israel, even while it occupied Palestinian and Arab lands.
The response should not be limited to a video call with Abbas. It must include intensified political and economic support for Palestine. Countries capable of investing trillions globally must step up to support the Palestinian people and critical UN agencies like UNRWA.
The Palestinian leadership, for its part, must exceed the bare minimum reforms that are being asked of it. Abbas must lead the effort to reunite Palestinians under the Palestine Liberation Organization umbrella and renew his legitimacy through an inclusive process involving both Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and the diaspora. While national elections are essential, immediate steps can be taken to heal divisions and rebuild the Palestinian national movement. This will require compromise, including a strategic shift by armed factions from military struggle to unified political and popular resistance.
Arab and Muslim leaders, along with the global community, must persist in upholding Palestinian national rights. The denial of the foreign ministers’ entry to Ramallah should not be forgotten but rather serve as a reminder that this conflict did not begin in October 2023. And that the fate of detainees on both sides is not the only barrier to a just and lasting peace. Palestinian statehood is the most logical and lasting solution to the decades-long conflict in the Middle East.
**Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He is the author of “State of Palestine NOW: Practical and logical arguments for the best way to bring peace to the Middle East.” X: @daoudkuttab

Trains and talks: Turkiye’s dual track in Ukraine war
Dr. Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/June 06, 2025
Since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukraine’s airspace has been closed and its roads have been unsafe for travel. Thus, trains have become the primary means of access. Over the past three years, numerous foreign leaders who have wanted to show their solidarity with Ukraine have taken trains to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the capital Kyiv. The 10-hour overnight train journey that takes them from southeastern Poland to Kyiv has come to be known as “iron diplomacy” and acts a symbol of commitment. Typically, the schedule and exact route of these train journeys are kept confidential and two alternate routes are always prepared — one for the actual train and another for a decoy “ghost train” to mitigate the risk of an attack. This was a precaution particularly used during then-US President Joe Biden’s trip last year. Among the latest officials to embark on this symbolic journey was Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was accompanied by a delegation of journalists. The Turkish media became the first to be given access to the train, which was heavily guarded, with security personnel both on board and along the route. Typically, during these journeys, the curtains remain closed to minimize visibility for Russian drones. However, the curtains were left open during Fidan’s journey — signaling Turkiye’s weight in the war and the changing conditions on the ground. This iron diplomacy is more than just taking world leaders from Poland to Ukraine via rail, it is pivotal in maintaining international support for Ukraine. Each journey demonstrates that, despite the war, Ukraine remains connected to the world. It is also an essential platform for fostering diplomacy and maintaining global attention on the war. Iron diplomacy was one of the ways that Ankara aimed to show its solidarity with Ukraine during challenging times. For Turkiye, these diplomatic efforts reflect a broader strategy.
Iron diplomacy was one of the ways that Ankara aimed to show its solidarity with Ukraine during challenging times. Since the start of the war, Ankara has carefully positioned itself as an actor capable of engaging with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among its latest attempts to find a diplomatic solution to the war is the so-called Istanbul process, which aims to bring the two sides together for peace talks. Two rounds of talks have been held under the Istanbul process, in May and June. Last month’s meeting, which coincided with a visit by US President Donald Trump to the Gulf, did not result in a ceasefire but did achieve an agreement on a prisoner exchange. Monday’s most recent round, chaired by Fidan and Turkiye’s security establishment, also failed to secure a ceasefire. However, Fidan noted a “more optimistic tone” as negotiations resumed. The lack of tangible progress is likely due to the complex nature of the war and lack of sufficient will from the two sides. From the Istanbul process, Turkiye’s broader goal is to convene a high-level summit between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Zelensky and Putin — a summit that could be a potential turning point in the war.
With the Istanbul process, Turkiye has succeeded in bringing both parties together and it now aims to become the primary actor by creating a diplomatic space beyond the traditional US-Russia framework. Here, Ankara’s role defies easy categorization. While some label it a mediator or negotiator, Turkiye more accurately acts as a facilitator. While a mediator, who enters the process to assist parties in search of a solution, is unfamiliar with the system or conflicting situation, the facilitator is part of the system where the wars arose. Turkiye is part of the geopolitical landscape impacted by the war — that is the Black Sea region. This region, historically vital to Turkiye’s security and strategic interests, has become even more critical amid the ongoing Western-Russian rivalry. This proximity gives Ankara both the incentive and the leverage to remain engaged. Turkiye’s motivation also stems from its desire to expand its influence on the international stage, safeguard regional stability and carve a role for itself in the postwar settlement. The lack of tangible progress is likely due to the complex nature of the war and lack of sufficient will from the two sides.
So far, all efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine to a negotiated peace have failed. However, a glimmer of hope remains for a diplomatic breakthrough that could finally end the war. This is why both the US and the EU have placed their hopes in Turkiye, while Ankara, in turn, is relying heavily on its carefully managed relationships with both Moscow and Kyiv. Although the West has often been uneasy about Turkiye’s close ties with Russia, there is now growing recognition — both in Washington and across European capitals — of the value of having a partner that can maintain open lines of communication with the Kremlin. This shift is evident in Trump’s cautious approach in order to avoid any problems with Turkiye and the EU’s increasing emphasis on Ankara’s role in ensuring regional security and acting as a diplomatic bridge between East and West. Despite its vocal support for Ukraine’s NATO aspirations and its alignment with Western institutions, Turkiye has successfully compartmentalized its relationship with Russia. Turkiye relies on two main characteristics of a facilitator to achieve success: trust and persuasiveness. Ankara’s continued trust-building with both Moscow and Kyiv makes it uniquely suited for the role of potential facilitator, while its style of personal diplomacy plays a significant role in its persuasiveness. If Turkiye can secure a breakthrough via the Istanbul process, it would be a game-changer not only for Ankara but also for Europe and Russia. Such an outcome would also confirm the words of veteran Turkish ambassador Ertugrul Apakan: “Success might sometimes only be achieved after many failed attempts ... There is no single recipe for successful mediation, just as no conflict is the same as another.”
*Dr. Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkiye’s relations with the Middle East. X: @SinemCngz

How companies should — and should not — deploy AI
Vinciane Beauchene and Allison Bailey/Arab News/June 06, 2025
Even though nearly half of office workers now turn to generative AI in their daily work, fewer than one in four CEOs report that the technology has delivered its promised value at scale. What is going on? The answer may lie in the fact that generative AI was initially presented as a productivity tool, which led to it being strongly associated with cost-cutting and workforce reductions. Spotting the risk, some 42 percent of employees surveyed in 2024 worried that their job might not exist in the next decade. In the absence of training and upskilling to harness the technology’s potential, it is not surprising that there would be more resistance than enthusiasm. Like antibodies fighting off a foreign body, there can be an “immune response” within organizations, with employees and managers alike resisting change and looking for reasons why AI “won’t work” for them. In addition to slowing adoption, such resistance has prevented a fuller exploration of other potential benefits, such as improved decision-making, enhanced creativity, the elimination of routine tasks and higher job satisfaction. As a result, there has been little consideration of how to “reinvest” the time that AI can save. AI adoption is not about saving minutes. It is about reinventing work for the benefit of employees and the organization.  Yet our research finds that employees who use generative AI regularly can already save five hours per working week, allowing them to pursue new tasks, further experiment with the technology, collaborate in new ways with coworkers or simply finish earlier. The challenge for business leaders, then, is to emphasize these potential benefits and provide guidance on where to refocus one’s time to maximize value creation. Consider the example of a global healthcare provider that recently deployed generative AI across its 100,000 employees. It created a scalable AI learning program with three objectives: high AI literacy across the organization, so that all employees could make the most of the technology; a broad suite of AI tools for every work scenario; and compliant usage. Owing to this holistic approach, the company soon improved employee satisfaction and productivity at the same time. But AI adoption is not about saving minutes. It is about reinventing work for the benefit of employees and the organization. When a company treats generative AI merely as a timesaving tool, it is more likely to chase piecemeal use cases — 10 minutes saved here, 30 minutes saved there — which will not have a meaningful impact on the overall business. After all, small-scale AI applications that yield diffuse productivity gains are difficult to reinvest or capture on a profit and loss statement.
Without a holistic strategy to redesign their core processes around AI, organizations risk optimizing isolated tasks rather than fundamentally improving how work gets done. The result, all too often, is that bottlenecks will simply be relocated to other parts of the process or value chain, limiting overall productivity gains. For example, in software development, an AI that speeds up coding can lead to more arduous debugging or other delays, negating any efficiency gains. Real value comes from integrating AI across the entire development lifecycle. This example also raises a larger issue: Too many organizations pursue scale without first reimagining the structures and workflows needed to harness cumulative gains. The usual result is a missed opportunity, because time savings that are not reinvested strategically tend to dissipate. Rather than adopting a let-a-hundred-flowers-bloom approach, organizations should pursue a few big transformational initiatives focused on reimagining work from end to end.
The true promise of generative AI lies in unlocking what we call the “golden triangle” of value: productivity, quality and engagement/joy. An AI strategy should reimagine workflows to eliminate inefficiencies, augment decision-making and processes to encourage innovation and creativity, and enhance work, not mechanize it. Employees are more likely to embrace AI enthusiastically when it eliminates drudgery, feeds creativity and accelerates learning. Proper attention to upskilling will ensure that the technology augments human potential, boosting workplace engagement and job satisfaction.
By emphasizing engagement and the quality of experience alongside productivity, organizations can move beyond a cost-driven perspective to one that creates more value for the business, its employees and its customers. AI can be much more than an automation mechanism, provided that firms adopt a comprehensive strategy for deploying it. Organizations should pursue a few big transformational initiatives focused on reimagining work from end to end. Business leaders should keep five imperatives in mind. The first is to focus on the biggest pools of value with the best-defined business cases for integrating AI. The second is to reimagine work, rather than simply optimizing it. AI should be used to transform entire workflows, not just automate a few steps. Third, managers must invest in upskilling, so that everyone understands the technology and its potential. Fourth, the golden triangle, with its balance between productivity, quality and employee engagement/joy, should be businesses’ golden rule. Lastly, organizations should measure value beyond cost savings. Businesses that deploy generative AI most effectively will track its effects on workforce empowerment, agility and new revenue streams, not just operational costs.
By heeding these imperatives, companies can use AI as a force for reinvention, rather than just a productivity tool. In the process, they will set the pace for the next era of business.
*Vinciane Beauchene is Managing Director and Partner at BCG, where she serves as Global Lead on Human x AI.
*Allison Bailey is a senior partner and Managing Director at BCG, where she serves as *Global Vice Chair for People and Organization Practice. Copyright: Project Syndicate

Britain still has work to do on defense
Luke Coffey/Arab News/June 06, 2025
The British government last week published its long-awaited Strategic Defence Review. Led by former Defence Secretary and NATO secretary general Lord Robertson, the review outlines the major geopolitical challenges facing Britain and offers 62 recommendations to make the UK and its allies more secure. The government accepted all of them.Unsurprisingly, the review identifies Russia as the most acute threat to UK security. However, it also highlights the challenges posed by China, North Korea, and Iran. While many of the findings reaffirm existing concerns, the review makes three particularly important observations and course corrections that deserve attention. First, it shows that the UK is taking seriously the military lessons from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After three years of near-nightly missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities, the need for robust air defense is clearer than ever. The review pledges £1 billion in new funding for homeland air and missile defense, a long-overdue investment. Another lesson from Ukraine is the critical importance of a strong defense industrial base capable of producing large quantities of munitions and artillery shells. At points during the war, Russia and Ukraine were expending more shells in a week than some European countries manufacture in an entire year. When the time came to supply Ukraine, many European nations lacked sufficient stockpiles. This was a wake-up call — especially for countries that had allowed their defense industries to atrophy.
The UK is now taking steps to address this. The review commits £6 billion to build six new munitions and missile factories, including £1.5 billion for an “always-on” production facility. This means Britain will be able to rapidly surge production in a crisis without starting from scratch. Additionally, the review commits to producing 7,000 long-range strike weapons in the near term, another recognition of evolving battlefield needs. Second, the review firmly reorientates the UK toward European security by adopting a “NATO First” policy. This means prioritizing Britain’s role in the alliance above other regional or global commitments. The timing is appropriate. Since Britain left the EU in 2019, its place in Europe has often been questioned. But following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK has reasserted its leadership role in European defense — both within NATO and through bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
The document also emphasizes the UK’s continued engagement in the Middle East, especially with the Gulf states.
The explicit commitment to NATO First is a welcome signal to Britain’s European partners. It affirms that, even outside the EU, the UK remains a key pillar of the continent’s defense architecture. Third, while NATO remains the primary focus, the UK will continue to project power globally. The review confirms plans to produce a new class of nuclear-powered attack submarines, developed jointly with the US and Australia under the AUKUS partnership. This capability extends Britain’s reach far beyond Europe and demonstrates that, in the words of the review, “NATO First does not mean NATO only.”
The document also emphasizes the UK’s continued engagement in the Middle East, especially with the Gulf states. Each of the six Gulf monarchies is mentioned by name, and the review reaffirms Britain’s long-standing naval presence in Bahrain — an essential strategic foothold in the region.
Despite these strengths, the review contains gaps and raises concerns, particularly around funding. Accepting all 62 recommendations is politically bold, but doing so without guaranteed funding is risky. Although the government has pledged to increase defense spending from 2.3 percent to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027, this falls short of the 3–5 percent levels being discussed by NATO leaders before their summit this month in The Hague. Take, for example, the eight new attack submarines: there is no full funding commitment. The government promises new investment “in future years,” but offers no guarantees. A so-called Defense Investment Plan will be published this year to detail how these ambitions will be financed. But for now, this ambiguity leaves observers uncertain. Why accept all recommendations if the Treasury hasn’t formally agreed to pay for them?
Another concern is the lack of whole-of-government coordination. Unlike the previous Conservative-led government, which conducted numerous Strategic Defence and Security Reviews, the Labour government dropped the “security” component. Past reviews incorporated not only military planning, but also issues such as cybersecurity, border control, counterterrorism, and resilience against pandemics and disinformation. These are vital elements of national security, and omitting them risks undermining Britain’s broader preparedness.
The new review does warn of threats from cyberattacks, assaults on critical infrastructure, and disinformation campaigns, but these threats are often outside the remit of the armed forces to address. Unless the government embraces a cross-departmental approach and integrates other security agencies into defense planning, it risks creating dangerous blind spots. Perhaps the most glaring issue is the size of the British armed forces. If there is one lesson from Ukraine, it is that large, professional armies still matter. Britain’s Army currently stands at just 74,400 soldiers. The review proposes to increase this to 76,000 after the next election, a marginal boost that will also take years to implement. This is insufficient. Moreover, a smaller conventional force shrinks the recruitment pool for the UK’s elite special forces, who are typically drawn from the regular military.
Despite these challenges, the review is an important first step. Its focus on NATO, industrial resilience, and lessons from Ukraine are encouraging signs that Labour is serious about restoring Britain’s defense credibility. But serious work remains. Unless the government fully funds its promises, addresses the absence of cross-government security integration, and expands the armed forces in a meaningful way, the review will fall short of its ambitions. When Labour last came to power in 1997, they published a defense review in 1998 but then failed to produce another during their entire 13 years in office. This time, they should follow the Conservative model and commit to conducting reviews every few years. As this review rightly notes, the world is becoming more dangerous. It is in everyone’s interest for Britain to remain a strong, credible force on the global stage.
• Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. X: @LukeDCoffey.

Iran-US: The Fountain Pen Diplomacy
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 06/2025
Will they, won’t they?
This is the question that those interested in current talks between Tehran and Washington on Iran’s nuclear program are darting around in the hope of getting a straight answer.
Public statements from both sides offer no clear answer.
President Donald Trump seems confident that an accord that reflects his wishes is well on the way to conclusion. He is even musing about a golden age of prosperity that awaits Iranians once the accord is signed. Confident that his new diplomacy, let’s call it diplo-business will deliver what eight US presidents, including Trump in his first term, failed to do.
“They (the Iranian side) are negotiating intelligently,” Trump says. You might say: we’ve been there, done that and bought the T-shirt!
And you won’t be wrong.
In 2016, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif were awarded the prestigious Chatham House prize for their roles in negotiating “the historic Iranian nuclear accord” signed between six world powers and Iran.
The London-based think-tank claimed that the agreement “ended sanctions on Iran in return for curtailing its controversial nuclear program.” It praised the two men for their part in resolving “one of the most intractable diplomatic stand-offs in international affairs in the 21st century.”You might wonder why an intractable problem that was solved a decade ago has bounced back begging to be solved again.
And you would be right.
The reason is that both sides practiced what the late French Prime Minister, Jacques Chaban Delmas, described as “fountain pen politics”. “Whenever I faced an intractable problem I used my secret weapon: my Waterman fountain pen and signed the problem out of the way,” he said in an interview. In 2015, having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize before even being elected, President Barack Obama was desperate to do something to at least partly justify the unmerited award before he leaves the White House. The Iranian nuclear issue provided the opportunity needed. Over a decade or propaganda that Tehran mullahs were building the bomb to trigger an Armageddon turned such an agreement into a holy grail in diplomatic circles. For Obama giving the final nod was even made easier because the “accord” that Chatham House described as historic was a “non-paper agreement” which meant no one needed to sign anything; waving the shadow of the fountain pen was enough. The mullahs knew that the “agreement” drafted by Obama would have no impact on their ambitious plans to extend their theo-ideological empire as far as they could and as long as they didn’t hit something hard on the way. They also knew that Obama couldn’t and wouldn’t end sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union. But his nod and wink would be enough to let Tehran earn the $60 to $100 billion a year it needed to pay its billion including the wages of its mercenaries across several Middle Eastern countries.
Let’s return to the present situation.
I know that predicting the future should be left to fortune-tellers or Alvin Toffler and his “Third Wave” disciples. So, risking ending up with egg on my faces I predict that the two sides will end up borrowing Chaban’s fountain pen or its descendant and give Chatham House another occasion to grant one of it “prestigious” awards, this time perhaps to Abbas Araghchi and Steve Witkoff if he retains his side-chair at the Trump kitchen cabinet table.
The pen used won’t be a golden one like the one that Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi quietly pocketed in Muscat last month.
Trump wouldn’t get the Peace Prize because the Nobel coterie that grants it is regards him as public-enemy number one. But why do l think the fountain pen is being filled with ink for another Chatham House “historic moment”?
The first reason is that Tehran has succeeded to reduce the whole issue to one of the degree of enrichment of uranium that Iran would be allowed to retain.
“Enriching uranium inside Iran is our red-line,” says the Foreign Minister. “Any suggestion that Iran be denied that right means end of negotiation.”
Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei goes further by implying that uranium enrichment us the only issue between Tehran and Washington.
“Whether Iran enriches uranium or not is none of your business,” he said last Wednesday addressing Trump. “Who do you think you are to make such a demand?”
Other mullahs have been whistling the same tune.
This is the scenario that the “Supreme Guide” is building around his jujitsu:
We persuade everyone, especially the Iranian people that the Great Satan is trying to entirely shut down our uranium enrichment. But we are resisting hard and in the end shall force the Great Satan to recognize our right to enrich uranium may be not to our heart’s content, but at least to 3 or 4 percent.
Thus we could declare another “historic victory” against the Great Satan go add to “other recent victories” that the “Supreme Guide” says we have scored in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Gaza and Yemen. As long as Trump doesn’t cite real issues, such as exporting revolution, promoting terrorism, seizing hostages, funding what is left of terrorist groups across the world, sending drones to Russia free of charge and cut-price oil to China the mullahs will play the game around enriching the uranium they don’t need.

Final Preparations Before Striking the Iranian Nuclear Reactors
Colonel Charbel Barakat/June 07/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/144000/
Last night, Israeli aircraft, after issuing warnings to civilians, launched a heavy bombardment on sites in Beirut's southern suburb, known as Dahieh al-Janoubieh, believed to house drone factories that Hezbollah had been preparing for confrontation with Israel. Hezbollah, which has neither surrendered its weapons to the Lebanese state nor faced accountability for dragging Lebanon into a devastating war—one that crippled the economy, destroyed infrastructure, and killed thousands—continues to gamble on being used by Iran in its broader conflict with Israel. At the heart of this conflict lies Iran’s ambition to dominate the Middle East and control its resources, all under the pretext of confronting Israel.
Despite the significant regional shifts following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood—an Iranian-orchestrated initiative meant to turn Arab public opinion against the Abraham Accords and block any Arab-Israeli rapprochement—Tehran persists in pursuing military nuclear capabilities. The objective is to impose a new regional order that positions Iran as the dominant force. Iran's nuclear program was never peaceful nor devoid of military aims. Its leadership seeks nuclear power to impose hegemony over neighboring states, which it views as artificial constructs of Western colonialism designed to exploit the region’s wealth. In Tehran’s eyes, Iran alone holds the rightful claim to these resources once it reestablishes control.
Many Lebanese Shiites, having fully embraced Iranian ideology and long-term goals, have been recruited into this cause, becoming fighters in the army of the Supreme Leader (Wilayat al-Faqih). They believe he is destined to rule the region. In this context, temporary losses and sacrifices are acceptable—seen merely as steps on the path toward eventual control of the Middle East’s peoples and wealth. Iran has repeatedly attempted to blackmail wealthy Arab states as a means of asserting dominance. This ideology explains the indifference of Shiite religious and political leaders to the massive loss of life and property resulting from Hezbollah's military actions. They believe that such suffering will cease once their new order is established.
The Iranian regime views both the West and wealthy Arab nations as unwilling to engage in direct conflict. Therefore, it believes that once Iran becomes a nuclear power, the regional equation will shift irreversibly. The West will be forced to withdraw its fleets and accept the new balance of power. As for Israel, if it survives, it will be reduced to a protectorate of the Iranian regime—abandoning its alignment with the West to coexist with the new regional hegemon dictating the course of events.
Refusing to allow the future of the Jewish people to hang in the balance, Prime Minister Netanyahu has opted for decisive action, unconcerned with global public opinion—opinion heavily shaped by Iran’s propaganda machinery portraying humanitarian crises and civilian suffering. Netanyahu remains focused on the immediate enemy and on "cleaning house."
Hezbollah late Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah’s strategy of gradual escalation—designed to prolong the conflict without heavy losses—was clearly intended to buy time for Tehran to maneuver diplomatically and militarily. But both he and his Iranian patrons miscalculated Israel’s military capabilities and Netanyahu’s iron determination, especially in what he sees as an existential confrontation. This explains Israel’s precision strikes, its relentless campaign to eliminate Hezbollah and Hamas, and its preparations to move the confrontation into Iranian territory itself.
As the conflict escalated and Hezbollah suffered substantial losses, Iran instructed its proxy to seek a ceasefire in order to avoid a complete collapse. This led Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government to push for an unconditional truce. The goal was to regroup, preserve what strategic assets remained, and prepare for future phases. Iran has not given up. On the contrary, its past experiences with indecisive Western governments—prone to shifting priorities—have emboldened it. Tehran believes it can continue to stall for time through negotiations that the West is unlikely to refuse.
Even under a President like Donald Trump—perceived as a hawk with a firm stance—Iran is confident in its ability to prolong negotiations indefinitely. The regime knows how to navigate diplomacy and stall long enough to preserve the core of its nuclear program: the domestic enrichment capacity that would allow it, at any moment, to resume weapons-grade production under any pretext.
But events may unfold differently from what Iran anticipates. Israel may find itself compelled to strike Iran’s nuclear reactors and other strategic sites—an act that would almost certainly provoke a fierce Iranian response. Many believe Hezbollah still holds advanced weaponry and missiles it would be ordered to launch in retaliation, bringing about catastrophic consequences for Lebanon reminiscent of the devastation prior to the latest ceasefire.
Was the Israeli airstrike last night a response to the Iranian minister’s visit to Lebanon—an unofficial visit echoing the Ahmadinejad era—or was it a message to the Lebanese government that failure to adapt will result in further escalation? The silence from Lebanon’s president and army command suggests this message fell on deaf ears. Or perhaps the strike is simply part of Israel’s broader strategy to neutralize threats in advance of a larger, more decisive move.
The coming days will reveal more, but what is already clear is deeply troubling. Lebanon appears headed for yet another summer of instability—trapped once again in the cycle of externally imposed wars and its own political subservience, from which it has yet to liberate itself.