English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For June 29/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 16/13-20/:'When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 28-29/2025
The summoning of journalists Carine Abd El Nour and Bishara Charbel by the Criminal Investigations Bureau—without specifying the nature of the accusation—is a flagrant violation of the law and a vile assault on press freedom/Elias Bejjani/June 28/2025
The Concept and Meanings of the “Heart” in the Bible/Elias Bejjani/June 28/2025
Walid Jumblatt Insults the Intelligence of the Lebanese People/Elias Bejjani/June 26/2025
A video link to an interview with writer and journalist Nabil Bou Monsef and retired Brigadier General and military expert Nizar Abdel Kader
Israeli strikes on south Lebanon kill three: ministry
Trump: We're with Lebanon all the way
Tripoli raid turns deadly as fugitive kills officer — the full story
Behind closed doors: Can Lebanon craft a unified response to the US proposal in time?
Syria says seized 3 million captagon pills coming from Lebanon
Is Arms Control Key to the Continuation of UNIFIL and the Quintet's Mission?
New Deadly Israeli Strike in Southern Lebanon
Israeli Strike on South Lebanon Kills One
Four wounded in Israeli drone strike in Shaqra
Hezbollah missile or Israeli strike?
Berri still insisting on Hamadeh and Mansouri
Legal cannabis in Lebanon: A long-stalled plan finally takes root
Qassem Calls “Inappropriate” Weapons Debate
Seven Million Dollars Seized at Beirut Airport
Alfa Announces 80% Network Upgrade Amid War Recovery Efforts
FM Rajji Rejects Foreign Interference in Lebanon’s Internal Affairs
Thérèse of Lisieux: Holiness Made Possible/Fady Noun/This is Beirut/28 June/2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 28-29/2025
Trump slams Israel's prosecutors over Netanyahu corruption trial
Iran could again enrich uranium 'in matter of months': IAEA chief
Iran reopens central and western airspace to international transit flights
Tehran remains committed to diplomacy, but ‘peace by force is not peace,’ Iran’s ambassador to Japan tells Arab News Japan
US President Trump hopeful for Gaza ceasefire, possibly ‘next week’
Iran holds state funeral for top brass slain in war with Israel
Netanyahu denies report that Israeli troops have orders to shoot Palestinians seeking aid
Gaza aid system ‘leads to mass killings’
Qatar urges Israel, Hamas to seize ‘window of opportunity’ for Gaza truce
Israeli strikes kill at least 72 people in Gaza as ceasefire prospects move closer
Six Israelis detained for attacking soldiers in West Bank: Military
Longtime State Department spokesman, diplomat Richard Boucher, dies at 73
Armenia Arrests Another Top Cleric Over an Alleged Coup Plot
G7 agrees to exempt US multinationals from global minimum tax

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on June 28-29/2025
A pause or a prelude? The fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya English/June 28/2025
What it means to build local AI/Elina Noor/Arab News/June 28/2025
Sacrificing tomorrow’s survival in favor of today’s foreign exchange/Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/June 28/2025
Partnering for prosperity: UK’s industrial strategy and Saudi Vision 2030/Neil Crompton/Arab News/June 28, 2025
Missile exchanges may have ended — but questions remain/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/June 28, 2025
Shifting tourism from preservation to regeneration/Rashid Alhatilah/Arab News/June 28/2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 28-29/2025
The summoning of journalists Carine Abd El Nour and Bishara Charbel by the Criminal Investigations Bureau—without specifying the nature of the accusation—is a flagrant violation of the law and a vile assault on press freedom.
Elias Bejjani/June 28/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/144679/
Once again, the Lebanese judiciary, still shackled by the grip of Nabih Berri and Hezbollah, exposes its corrupted and compromised nature. In a shocking breach of legal protocol and an outright dismissal of the jurisdiction of the Publications Court, journalist Carine Abd El Nour, Managing Editor of Al-Hurra weekly, and its Editor-in-Chief, journalist Bishara Charbel, have been summoned for interrogation without even being informed of the charges against them. This is not merely a procedural misstep—it is a disgraceful slap in the face of justice and a stark confirmation that what remains of Lebanon's judiciary is little more than a servile instrument in the hands of the Iranian-controlled deep state.
We had hoped, following the defeat and disbandment of the terrorist Hezbollah, that Lebanon would finally breathe freely—liberated from the suffocating grip of the militias that have long corrupted and terrorized the nation. Yet, today’s events confirm that the judiciary remains tragically captive to Nabih Berri’s mafia and Hezbollah’s terrorist machine, both of which epitomize criminality, coercion, the suppression of liberties, and the trampling of all constitutional principles.
The targeting of the free press—Al-Hurra in this case—is nothing more than a desperate attempt to silence voices that expose their corruption and confront their illegitimate authority.
Let us be clear: this is not the first time Lebanon’s judiciary—under the control of the deep state—has trampled laws and targeted writers, journalists, politicians, and sovereign activists. These judicial abuses have become systematic. The persecution of free individuals with independent, patriotic views is now the norm rather than the exception. Even more appalling is the summoning of journalists without informing them of the charges—an act that displays outright contempt for the dignity of the press, freedom of speech, and all legal norms.
Despite the transformative changes in the region—the defeat of Hezbollah, the collapse of Assad’s brutal regime, and the crumbling of the Iranian mullahs' aura following the elimination of dozens of their leaders and nuclear scientists and the destruction of key nuclear capabilities—Lebanon’s leadership remains hostage to the Iranian occupation and its terrorist proxies that continue to control the country and its judiciary.
We therefore call upon the Minister of Justice, the President of the Republic, and the Prime Minister to take a firm and transparent stand. Either they remain complicit tools in the hands of Nabih Berri, Hezbollah, and the Iranian regime—enforcing their will, suppressing freedoms, and dismantling the state—or they rise to the level of true national leadership, with the resolve and courage to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty, its people, its institutions, and its constitution.
We also urge the free world and all human rights organizations to immediately intervene and take strong, clear positions. These oppressive practices are an existential threat to Lebanon’s fragile democracy and its freedom of expression. Silence, in this context, serves as a green light for continued violations. Only clear, principled, and decisive stances can act as a safeguard for the Land of the Cedars, which continues to struggle for survival, dignity, and liberty.

The Concept and Meanings of the “Heart” in the Bible
Elias Bejjani/June 28/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/144659/
The word “heart” appears over 300 times in the Bible. Theologically, it has little, if anything, to do with the physical organ that pumps blood. Instead, it refers to the core of human existence, the center where all our capacities converge, including our conscience, emotions, and entire range of feelings and contradictions. In modern psychological terms, it’s our “self” or “ego.” Therefore, from a theological, emotional, spiritual, and faith-based perspective, the heart isn’t the physical organ beating in our chest. It’s the spiritual and existential reality that forms the very essence of our personal being. It’s the central point where all the threads of our human existence intertwine. In observing church rituals and icons, we notice the immense significance given to the “Heart of Jesus” and the “Immaculate Heart of Mary.” Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, dozens of verses emphasize the critical importance and centrality of this spiritual, intellectual, and faith-based understanding of the heart.
The Heart in God’s Commands
This understanding is clearly seen in the first of the Ten Commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27, Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus Himself speaks of the heart as the root of human intentions and the origin of all our actions. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person” (Matthew 15:19-20). This confirms that the very essence of who we are, whether for good or ill, originates in the heart.
Only God truly knows the intentions of our hearts
Only God truly knows the intentions of our hearts, whether good or evil. Because He loves us and awaits our return to His heavenly home—a home not built by human hands—He, as a merciful Father, constantly warns us through various means. He does so when we defile our hearts, fall into the devil’s temptations, and follow our “old self”—the self of original sin—abandoning the “new self” born of baptism by water and the Holy Spirit. “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules’” (Matthew 15:7-8). This verse highlights the importance of genuine worship that springs from the heart, rather than just outward rituals.
A Pure Heart: A Gift from God
The Bible teaches us to always pray to God with humility, sincerity, and faith, asking for the grace and gift of a pure, upright, and good heart. “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). This prayer expresses a deep longing for spiritual renewal, rooted in a new heart. God the Father created humanity in His image and likeness, giving us a heart like His own. When He sees that heart being defiled, He rushes to our aid, sending prophets, saints, and righteous people to guide us back to the right path. However, when we disobey, remain unrepentant, and fail to atone, He disciplines and punishes us, as He did in the time of Noah and Nimrod, and with Lot’s cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
God’s sorrow over the corruption of human hearts
“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled” (Genesis 6:5-6). These verses vividly show God’s sorrow over the corruption of human hearts. God works through natural law, conscience, and prophets to awaken the hearts of humanity, so they may return to Him, find Him, give Him their hearts, and observe His ways and commandments. “With your own eyes you saw those great trials and the signs and great wonders. But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. Yet I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet” (Deuteronomy 29:3-5). Here, we see that a lack of understanding and perception stems from the heart.
The Heart as a Dwelling Place for the Holy Spirit
Our Lord God bound our hearts to His, so that we may love Him with all our heart and soul, and live through Him. God fully accomplished this in the New Covenant through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers. Our hearts become a dwelling place for His Spirit, sanctified for Him, making us temples of God’s Spirit. Our hearts become altars consecrated for worship through devout prayers and sincere love. As our hearts are purified, we come to see God, and Christ works within us through faith. Thus, it is crucial to pause and reflect on the biblical and theological meaning of the heart.
The heart is that reality in which the human being finds his or her unity and inner orientation
In his commentary on the Third Secret of Fatima, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) offered a concise description of the heart: “In biblical language, the heart means the center of human existence, the integration of mind and will, temperament and feeling.” He added: “The heart is that reality in which the human being finds his or her unity and inner orientation.”
The heart is a human capacity that goes beyond and deeper than intellectual ability, and beyond the reach of our imagination. It is the dimension of divine instinct and also the depth of the soul. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 17:9-10). This verse emphasizes that only God truly sees and tests the hidden depths of the heart.
It’s impossible for any of us to fully penetrate another person’s inner being, no matter how close they are, or to know what’s stored within their heart and thoughts. However, we can understand it through their actions, words, and feelings, which bear witness to what’s in their heart, “for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34). And this heart becomes defiled when its owner succumbs to the traps of worldly desires, failing to curb and refine them due to a lack of faith and weak hope.
The Heart and Love
In our prayers, we say, “Lord, give me a heart like Your own” (“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10)). This means: “Bestow upon me the gifts of love, for love is God, and love is the heart.” The meaning of love, which is God Himself, was beautifully defined by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13: “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Biblical Verses on the Heart
Many verses in the Bible illustrate the meanings of the heart. Here are a few more:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8).
“He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9).
“The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god” (Psalm 24:4).
“They would not be like their ancestors—a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him” (Psalm 78:8).
“Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel?” (Ezekiel 18:31).
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). This verse specifically speaks of the inner transformation granted by God.
Then Jesus said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of people’s hearts, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person” (Mark 7:20-23).
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you” (Proverbs 4:23-25). This verse emphasizes the importance of protecting the heart as it is the source of life.
“As the secrets of their hearts are laid bare, they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is truly among you!'” (1 Corinthians 14:25).
“Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed” (Isaiah 6:10). This verse shows the consequence of stubbornness and refusal to hear God’s word.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus: A Fount of Divine Love
Pope Benedict XVI: “The roots of this devotion (to the Sacred Heart of Jesus) are deeply embedded in the mystery of the Incarnation. Through the Heart of Jesus, God’s love for humanity was revealed in a vivid way. Therefore, authentic devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus retains its meaning and particularly attracts souls thirsting for God’s mercy—an unfathomable spring of living water capable of quenching the deserts of the soul, allowing hope to grow.”
Prayer to the Sacred Heart
O Jesus, You possess a compassionate heart, full of goodness and kindness. You see me and love me. You are merciful and forgiving, for You cannot witness misery without desiring to heal it. Behold, I place all my hope in You, trusting that You will not abandon me, and that Your graces will always surpass my expectations. Therefore, Jesus, fulfill all Your promises for me, grant me the graces necessary for my state, bestow peace upon my family, comfort me in my trials, and be my refuge throughout my life and at the hour of my death. If I am lukewarm in faith, I will grow fervent through You. If I am fervent, I will ascend to higher degrees of perfection. Grant me, Jesus, a special grace to soften hardened hearts, and to spread devotion to Your Sacred Heart. And inscribe my name in Your adored Heart, that it may never be erased. I also ask You to bless my home, where the image of Your Most Sacred Heart is honored.

Walid Jumblatt Insults the Intelligence of the Lebanese People
Elias Bejjani/June 26/2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb2Jp_5F0vk
Mr. Walid Jumblatt remains a prisoner of the outdated, un-Lebanese, unpeaceful, and jihadist mentality of the so-called "National Movement"—with all the connotations these terms carry in the classical language of Sibawayh. He has always been, and continues to be, a captive of a culture rooted in hatred, contempt, intellectual manipulation, terrorism, invasions, arrogance, and a relentless drive to eliminate and displace Lebanese citizens whom he sees—through his twisted mindset—as a “worthless category.”
He willingly and submissively worked against Lebanon’s identity, state, traditions, coexistence, and diverse social fabric, all under the banner of the “anti-national movement.” That’s why he wrapped himself in the terrorist, jihadist Arafat-style keffiyeh—side by side with his ally Nabih Berri and a bitter faction of the left that despises even itself. He then shamefully and obediently aligned with the criminal Assad regime, which openly admitted to assassinating his father.
Now, he resurfaces in a childish, Hollywood-style media appearance to inform us that he has handed over his party’s  weapons to the state—implying that everyone else should do the same. But because he cannot remove the Palestinian keffiyeh or break free from the ideological chains of the anti-national movement, he justified the continued existence of Hezbollah’s weapons and linked the arms in the Palestinian camps to the so-called human rights of the Palestinians.
These are chameleon-like positions—ever-shifting in a hundred directions—understandable only through the lens of his mindset, his ideology, and the keffiyeh he still proudly wears. None of this is hidden from the Lebanese people. Trapped in his feudal and arrogant mentality, he began his speech with: “I agreed with Taymour,” as if the country belongs to him and his son, and they alone have the authority to decide the fate of Lebanon.
In conclusion, this is a man who has not only become addicted to—but has also inherited—a culture that belongs to the past, one that time has cast aside and rejected. Accordingly, Lebanon will never see real and positive change as long as he, Nabih Berri, the terrorist Hezbollah, and the majority of these so-called political parties—local and foreign proxies—along with their entrenched deep state, continue to control the levers of power.
As for the stupidity and intellectual barrenness — not to mention the lack of patriotism — of the cheerleading herd of politicians and media mouthpieces who praise the  Jumblat's so-called wisdom and vision… the less said, the better.

A video link to an interview with writer and journalist Nabil Bou Monsef and retired Brigadier General and military expert Nizar Abdel Kader
June 28/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/144674
A video link to an interview with writer and journalist Nabil Bou Monsef and retired Brigadier General and military expert Nizar Abdel Kader from "MTV" station. A national and sovereign reading of the dangers of not disarming the terrorist and Mullah-affiliated Hezbollah, and allowing it to deceive Lebanon under the heresy and depravity of the "defense strategy." Also, on the duty of Aoun and Salam to implement the inaugural address and the ministerial statement.

Israeli strikes on south Lebanon kill three: ministry
AFP/June 28, 2025
BEIRUT: Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed three people on Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry said, in the latest attacks despite a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. In a statement, the health ministry said that an “Israeli enemy” drone strike on a car in Kunin, south Lebanon, killed one man, adding later that another person was wounded. The Israeli military said the strike “eliminated the terrorist Hassan Muhammad Hammoudi,” who it said was responsible for anti-tank missile attacks against Israeli territory during the recent war. In a second statement later on Saturday, the health ministry said a strike on a motorcycle in Mahrouna, near Tyre, resulted in “two martyrs and wounded one person,” with one of the dead a woman. The attacks came a day after Israel killed a woman and wounded 25 other people in strikes across the country’s south. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that the woman was killed in an Israeli drone strike on an apartment in the city of Nabatiyeh. But Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on social media that the army “did not target any civilian building,” attributing the death to a Hezbollah rocket set off by an Israeli strike. The Israeli military said it had “identified rehabilitation attempts made by Hezbollah beforehand and struck terror infrastructure sites in the area.”Adraee said the civilian building “was hit by a rocket that was inside the (fire and defense array) site and launched and exploded as a result of the strike.”Israel has repeatedly bombed its northern neighbor despite the November ceasefire that aimed to end over a year of hostilities with Hezbollah. Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region. Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country, but has kept them in five locations in south Lebanon that it deems strategic.

Trump: We're with Lebanon all the way
Naharnet/28 June/2025
U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated his support for Lebanon. “Lebanon is a great place with brilliant people and hopefully we can bring it back again,” Trump said in response to a Lebanese reporter’s question during a press conference.
“We're with Lebanon all the way … We'll try and straighten it out,” he added.

Tripoli raid turns deadly as fugitive kills officer — the full story
LBCI/28 June/2025
What was meant to be a routine arrest of a suspect wanted for murder and attempted murder turned into a violent shootout involving gunfire and hand grenades. Around 4 a.m., a "SWAT" team from the Judicial Police arrived at a building in Tripoli to arrest Nasser Roumieh, who was staying with his family on the second floor. Signs of close-range combat — bullet holes and blood stains — revealed the intensity of the confrontation inside the building. Roumieh opened fire on the unit and threw five hand grenades, killing Warrant Officer Elias Tawk and injuring two officers and a soldier.The building was quickly surrounded, and Roumieh’s brother intervened to persuade him to surrender. The negotiation succeeded, and the suspect eventually appeared on the balcony and declared his surrender. He and members of his family were taken in for questioning. The Roumieh family had lived in the apartment — now sealed with red wax — for years. The suspect had been hiding in Syria since committing murder and several attempted murders but returned to Lebanon days ago to attend his father’s funeral, where he was tracked and targeted for arrest. Already accused of past crimes, Roumieh’s return led to yet another tragedy with the killing of Tawk, mourned by the Internal Security Forces as a fallen hero. Tawk leaves behind a wife, two children, and a community of grieving family and friends.

Behind closed doors: Can Lebanon craft a unified response to the US proposal in time?
LBCI/28 June/2025
Lebanon’s leadership is racing against time to finalize a unified response to the proposal put forward by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack amid ongoing internal consultations. Following Friday’s meeting between President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, consultations continued Saturday with a sit-down between Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. According to LBCI, the Ain el-Tineh meeting did not produce a finalized official Lebanese response to the U.S. proposal, but it laid important groundwork as officials await Hezbollah’s position, particularly on the disarmament issue.
Sources told LBCI that Salam’s visit was coordinated with the presidency and aimed at hearing the concerns of the Hezbollah-Amal Movement political duo, especially regarding Barrack’s proposal. The discussions centered on three key points. The first was the Barrack proposal. Negotiations over its contents remain unresolved. Hezbollah is reportedly demanding clear American guarantees, particularly regarding the release of detainees, Israeli withdrawal from five hilltop positions, and an end to assassinations and daily violations. Lebanon’s main reservations center on the need for synchronizing steps: weapons handover on one side, matched by Israeli commitments on the other — a “step-for-step” framework. The second point was the urgent need for economic reforms, especially those targeting the cash economy, smuggling control, and banking sector restructuring. According to LBCI, the United States and Saudi Arabia are pressing for the swift passage of long-overdue financial reforms. These are seen as essential, alongside disarmament, for unlocking international aid and jump-starting reconstruction efforts. The third point was Monday’s legislative session, which is considered critical, as key reform laws are expected to be passed amid increasing international pressure not to waste more time. Against this backdrop, July is shaping up to be decisive for the fate of Hezbollah’s weapons, both south and north of the Litani River. Washington is pushing for a swift, official government statement confirming the launch of the disarmament process under Barrack’s roadmap, with the envoy expected in Beirut soon. Notably, the U.S. document does not include a clear implementation timeline. The question now is whether Lebanon will issue a unified response before Barrack returns — or whether Washington will impose its own timetable.

Syria says seized 3 million captagon pills coming from Lebanon
Agence France Presse/28 June/2025
Syria said Friday that authorities had seized some three million pills of the illicit stimulant captagon after clashes with a drug trafficking network near the Lebanese border. Authorities observed the network "coming from Lebanon into Syrian territory" via illegal border crossings in the Jarajir area in the northern Damascus countryside, said a statement released by the interior ministry. Syrian forces set up a roadside ambush that "led to clashes between the security forces and members of the cell", some of whom abandoned their vehicle and fled, the statement said. "Around three million pills of the drug captagon were seized in addition to 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of hashish," the statement said, adding that authorities would not allow Syrian territory "to be a passage or haven for drug smuggling". Lebanon and Syria share a porous, 330-kilometer (205-mile) border that is notorious for smuggling. Captagon, which is also produced in Lebanon, became Syria's largest export during Syria's civil war which erupted in 2011. It was also a key source of illicit funding for the government of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. Since his overthrow in December, the new Islamist authorities have sought to crack down on the drug trade and have announced the discovery of millions of captagon pills and said they have thwarted smuggling attempts. Earlier this month, Interior Minister Anas Khattab said authorities had seized all captagon production facilities in Syria.

Is Arms Control Key to the Continuation of UNIFIL and the Quintet's Mission?
This is Beirut/28 June/2025
International pressure is mounting on Lebanon to assert full state control over arms possession.According to sources quoted by al-Hadath, this move is now seen as essential for the continuation of both the international Quintet’s role and the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon. The Quintet, which includes the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, may suspend its efforts if no serious steps are taken to begin disarming non-state actors. The same warning applies to the UNIFIL mission, which could be reconsidered if the Lebanese state fails to act, according to these sources.
US envoy Tom Barrack reportedly issued a firm deadline to Lebanese officials: one week to begin tangible action, followed by a six-month review period to assess measurable progress. During his visit to Beirut, Barrack also emphasized that border demarcation with Israel remains a top American priority for achieving lasting regional stability. In response, Israel is reportedly ready to withdraw from five contested southern positions if Lebanon moves forward with its planned cabinet session in ten days, which will include discussion on the monopoly of arms by the state. Significantly, sources say Hezbollah ministers will not boycott the upcoming cabinet meeting that will be held to discuss the arms issue, an indication that the group may opt to engage in governmental discussions rather than block them.

New Deadly Israeli Strike in Southern Lebanon
This is Beirut/28 June/2025
Two Israeli strikes killed three people in southern Lebanon on Saturday.
One person was killed and two others were injured in a drone strike that targeted a motorbike on Saturday afternoon in the Mahrouna area, in the Tyre district. The victim has been identified as Abbas Wehbe, “an Intelligence officer of Hezbollah’s Al-Radwane group”, according to the Israeli army. َA woman later succumbed to her injuries. Earlier that morning, another Israeli drone strike targeted a car in Kounine, also killing one person, Hassan Mohammad Hammoudi Jomoa. During the evening, the Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, stated that Hassan Mohammad Jomoa was “responsible for anti-tank missiles in the Bint Jbeil area within Hezbollah.”“During the war, he oversaw plans to launch anti-tank rockets toward Israeli territory,” he wrote on his X account, adding that the Israeli army “will continue to eliminate any threat to Israeli territory.” Targeted Israeli assassinations have become an almost daily occurrence in Lebanon since the ceasefire that took effect on November 27, 2024, following over a year of hostilities, including two months of open war with Hezbollah. On Friday, a woman was killed and several people wounded in a raid targeting the apartment of a Hezbollah official in Nabatiyeh.

Israeli Strike on South Lebanon Kills One
This is Beirut/AFP/28 June/2025
An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed one person on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Public Health – the latest attack despite the ceasefire. In a statement, the Ministry said that an “Israeli enemy” drone strike on a car in Kounine killed one man, according to a preliminary toll. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident. The attack comes a day after Israel killed a woman and wounded 25 other people in strikes across the south. The National News Agency reported that the woman was killed in an Israeli drone strike on an apartment in Nabatieh. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on social media that the army “did not target any civilian building.”The Friday attacks included a “wave of successive heavy strikes” in the Nabatieh region, which injured seven people, according to the NNA.The Israeli military said it “identified rehabilitation attempts made by Hezbollah beforehand and struck terror infrastructure sites in the area.”Adraee said the civilian building “was hit by a rocket that was inside the (fire and defense array) site and launched and exploded as a result of the strike.”Israel has repeatedly bombed its northern neighbor despite the November ceasefire that aimed to end over a year of hostilities with Hezbollah. Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country, but has kept them in five locations in South Lebanon that it deems strategic.

Four wounded in Israeli drone strike in Shaqra
Agence France Presse/28 June/2025
Four people were wounded in an overnight Israeli drone strike on a house in the southern town of Shaqra. The strike came after a woman was killed and 25 other people wounded in Israeli strikes earlier in the day in the country's south, as the Israeli army blamed Hezbollah munitions for the death. Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, particularly in the south, since a November 27 ceasefire meant to end over a year of hostilities, including two months of all-out war that left Hezbollah severely weakened. Earlier this month, Israel warned it would keep striking Lebanon until Hezbollah has been disarmed.

Hezbollah missile or Israeli strike?
Naharnet/28 June/2025
Israel said Friday it didn't bomb any residential building in Nabatieh after a woman was killed and 20 other people were wounded as Israel’s air force carried out intense airstrikes on mountains overlooking the city of Nabatieh. Shortly afterward, the apartment building was hit in the nearby city of Nabatieh, resulting in the death of a woman. Twenty other people were wounded. Israel denied the strike on the building. It said its fighter jets struck a site used by Hezbollah to manage its fire and defense array in the area and that the projectile that hit the building had flown from a nearby Hezbollah depot targeted by an Israeli strike. The Israeli army said it identified rehabilitation attempts by Hezbollah beforehand and struck infrastructure sites in the area.Videos circulated Friday on social media, showing missiles flying from an area hit by an Israeli strike.

Berri still insisting on Hamadeh and Mansouri
Naharnet/28 June/2025
Cabinet will convene Friday at the Grand Serail to discuss an agenda of 17 articles, while the judicial and financial appointments are still hinging on the conditions of Speaker Nabih Berri, media reports said. “Berri is still insisting on the appointment of Zaher Hamadeh as financial prosecutor and will not back down. He is also insisting on Wassim Mansouri for the post of Central Bank vice governor,” Al-Jadeed TV reported. “Take whatever you want and give me Mansouri and Hamadeh,” the TV network quoted Berri as saying. Governmental sources meanwhile said that “if Berri maintains his stance, the relevant ministers might raise the file in Cabinet, which would lead to a vote as happened in the appointment of the central bank governor, or they would settle for voicing their reservations or objections and having them registered in the minutes of meeting.”

Legal cannabis in Lebanon: A long-stalled plan finally takes root
LBCI/28 June/2025
Lebanon’s agricultural seasons are no longer limited to fruits and vegetables. This time, a new and controversial crop is joining the list: cannabis, which is on track to become a legal and state-regulated crop.
What’s the latest?
Although Parliament passed a law legalizing the cultivation of medical and industrial cannabis in 2020, implementation stalled for years due to political disputes and delays in forming a regulatory authority. That is finally changing. The Agriculture Ministry has announced the start of practical steps, beginning with the appointment of a regulatory authority that will oversee, monitor and manage the cultivation, production and marketing of cannabis — all within a legal and controlled framework. The regulatory authority is expected to be finalized by the end of July or early August, as requested by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
Once operational, the authority will establish a clear mechanism for implementation and oversight. If carried out effectively and responsibly, legal cannabis cultivation could generate estimated revenues of $1 billion to $3 billion, aided by Lebanon’s favorable agricultural climate. Lebanese pharmaceutical companies are closely watching these developments, viewing them as a major investment opportunity that could open the door to local production and exports — particularly in the medical and therapeutic sectors.

Qassem Calls “Inappropriate” Weapons Debate
This is Beirut/28 June/2025
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem has dismissed an upcoming cabinet debate on the issue of illegal weapons, calling the timing “inappropriate” given the current state of conflict with Israel. Speaking Saturday on the third day of Ashura commemorations, Qassem pushed back against growing calls for Hezbollah to disarm, questioning the logic behind such demands while Israeli attacks continue. “Who in their right mind believes now is the time to hand over weapons while we are still in the midst of battle, and the Israeli enemy has yet to respect the ceasefire agreement?” he asked.
Qassem stressed that it is the responsibility of the Lebanese state to respond to what he described as ongoing Israeli violations targeting civilians. “This is the moment for the state to fulfill its duties. Do you think we will remain silent indefinitely? We are followers of Imam Hussein, and our motto will always be that of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah: ‘Never to humiliation.’”Hezbollah’s chief criticized those warning against giving Israel a pretext for further aggression, arguing that Israel doesn’t need justification for its actions. “What it is doing in Palestine and Syria is proof of that. Any sign of weakness will only encourage further Israeli expansion, but not at our expense.”The Hezbollah official reiterated the group’s readiness to return to armed confrontation if necessary, saying they’re “not weak” and “won’t be fooled by an agreement that remains unfulfilled”.“Yes, we are capable of facing the Israeli enemy should confrontation become inevitable. We will prevail, because we are fulfilling our duty and placing our trust in God. We always emerge victorious, through triumph or martyrdom. We are the disciples of Imam Hussein, of the master of martyrs Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and we abide by the principle: between humiliation and dignity, we choose dignity.”Qassem also questioned the motives of those distancing themselves from Hezbollah’s stance. “Why do some say this doesn’t concern them? Is it because they’re not being targeted, or because they’re coordinating with the enemy? Why refuse to acknowledge the deterrent role the resistance has played for years against Israel?”According to Qassem, Israel has been planning a war on Lebanon since long before the current escalation, aiming for a large-scale offensive in September 2024.
“Their goal is to decapitate Hezbollah’s leadership through targeted assassinations and to cripple our military capabilities by striking command-and-control systems and eliminating thousands of fighters,” he claimed.
“This is their strategy to destroy Hezbollah entirely.”

Seven Million Dollars Seized at Beirut Airport
This is Beirut/28 June/2025
According to sources quoted by al-Hadath, $7 million were recently seized at Beirut International Airport, noting that "the smuggled funds were discovered in suitcases aboard a flight arriving from an African country to Lebanon."According to the same sources, "the owners of the bags containing the illicit money are from a town in southern Lebanon."The Financial Crimes Bureau has been assigned to investigate the matter. The seized amount was placed in a secure vault at the central bank. Authorities are pursuing investigations to verify the origin of the funds.

Alfa Announces 80% Network Upgrade Amid War Recovery Efforts
This is Beirut/28 June/2025
Alfa pushed ahead with the centerpiece of its three‑year modernization plan, an 80% upgrade of network components and infrastructure. The move came as part of a statement aimed at refuting claims that Minister of Telecommunications Charles Hage is hindering development efforts. The company also stressed in a statement that, under Minister Hage’s guidance, it is nearing completion of its most extensive rehabilitation effort yet to repair stations damaged by the recent war in South Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Baalbeck‑Hermel region.
To date, Alfa has restored 80 of 107 damaged stations in the South, deployed three temporary facilities in Rmeich, Houla and Khiam, and brought back into service seven stations in Baalbeck‑Hermel and 23 in Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to the statement. Nearly two dozen border installations are being rebuilt from the ground up, with another five undergoing final repairs. Alongside physical restoration, Alfa is accelerating its digital transformation by investing heavily in 5G readiness. Investment in network development is projected to rise to 17% of revenues in 2025, compared with just 7% in 2024, fueling infrastructure upgrades, the phase‑out of 2G by year’s end, and enhancements via 3CC and 4CC technologies. Sustainability is also a priority: 33% of the network (444 stations) now runs on solar power, marking an 11% annual increase. Alfa’s statement comes as a direct rebuttal to media reports suggesting ministerial interference. The operator affirms full ministerial backing and highlights that its comprehensive restoration and upgrade program aims to rebuild full-service capacity and lay the groundwork for next‑generation connectivity.

FM Rajji Rejects Foreign Interference in Lebanon’s Internal Affairs
This is Beirut/28 June/2025
Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji reaffirmed Lebanon’s stance against external interference and called for mutual respect in regional relations during his speech at the “Path to the State” conference on Saturday. Rajji stressed Lebanon’s commitment to a non-interventionist policy: “We do not want anyone to interfere in our internal affairs, just as we will not interfere in the affairs of others. For the first time, the current regime in Syria has officially recognized Lebanon as a sovereign state, and we are actively negotiating with international partners to secure the return of Syrian refugees.”
He added, “Lebanon is back on track, but we still face numerous challenges. We are not asking Arab nations for financial support; we seek strong relationships and sustainable partnerships.”Addressing questions about Lebanon’s regional positioning, Rajji clarified, “We have no involvement in the continuation of the current regime in Iran. What we demand is simple, full respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty.”On the issue of Palestinian arms within Lebanon, he described it as “a purely technical, security, and military matter.”The Foreign Minister also noted efforts through diplomacy and international cooperation to secure Israel’s full withdrawal from Lebanese territory. Highlighting the burden of Lebanon’s prolonged crises, Rajji stated: “The government is doing everything in its power to restore stability, but it needs time, as we are dealing with the legacy of deep and accumulated issues.”He stressed that the matter of disarmament must be handled through institutional channels: “The issue should be brought before the Cabinet, and it is up to the Prime Minister to decide when to place it on the agenda.”

Thérèse of Lisieux: Holiness Made Possible
Fady Noun/This is Beirut/28 June/2025
The relics of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux are currently touring Lebanon. Despite certain excesses—such as the brevity of some “visits” and the hurried processions past her reliquary—this form of popular devotion remains deeply rooted in Church tradition. The veneration of relics—and belief in their power—dates back centuries. As Scripture recounts: “Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a raiding party; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.”
(2 Kings 13:21)
A Tradition Grounded in Faith
The veneration of relics is closely linked to the Church’s belief in the communion of saints. Through these relics, we honor holy men and women who, by their love for Christ, have shaped the history of the Church and the world. We believe that we remain in communion with them, and that they dwell in the place where Christ, through His Resurrection, has gone before us.This devotion is based on the belief that their bodies were temples of the Holy Spirit, sanctified by His presence, and that these remains—through faith—can work miracles, heal the sick, move mountains, suspend the laws of nature, and transform the course of history.
Above All, a Spiritual Encounter
To ensure that visiting these relics is more than a museum-like experience—or that touching the glass does not become a superstitious gesture—it is essential to create the conditions for a personal encounter with the saint, and above all, with Christ, whom they loved.
As Lazarist priest Ramzi Jreige explains: “Catechesis must accompany the relics’ journey so they can inspire the faithful to pursue the same path to holiness.”
Why Is Thérèse So Beloved?
What accounts for the extraordinary popularity of Thérèse of Lisieux? What earned her the title “Doctor of the Church”? Thérèse never pursued higher studies. The “doctrine” behind this title is not found in any systematic treatise. What we have are her memoirs, written at her sister’s request (her sister was also her superior at the Carmel of Lisieux), along with letters, poems, short plays for her Carmelite sisters, and reflections gathered in the final months of her life. None of this fits the traditional mold of a Doctor of the Church.
Thomas Aquinas, with his Summa Theologica, and Saint Augustine, with his Confessions and City of God, are classic Doctors. But Thérèse of Lisieux?
The “Little Way”: Holiness Within Reach
It was the authenticity of her life and the radical simplicity of her “Little Way” that earned Thérèse this extraordinary distinction. What is this way? It is the path of ordinary holiness—accessible to anyone. In her relationship with God, Thérèse managed to achieve much through very little. By imbuing the smallest acts with great love, she achieved a kind of spiritual “return on investment.”She often admitted falling asleep during prayer and struggling to recite the rosary—yet every gesture was marked by love, self-forgetfulness, and sincere devotion to God. That is the Little Way. Thérèse is a Doctor of the Church not only because of her life, but because of her death. She faced her final days with heroic faith.
Even after her death, Thérèse has remained vividly present to the world. This, too, is one of her greatest legacies. She expressed her desire to “spend her heaven doing good on earth,” and she has indeed become one of the most beloved saints of the modern Church. The “good” she offers is, above all, the desire to share in the love of God she knew so intimately. Her enduring presence is not sustained by reputation alone, but by the power of her intercession. If her help were not real, time and forgetfulness would long ago have erased her name.
Thérèse died of tuberculosis at age 24 in a remote corner of France, yet today she enjoys worldwide renown. Though she never left her cloister, she is—alongside Joan of Arc—a secondary patroness of France, the patron saint of missions, and a Doctor of the Church.
To these honors, we might add another, no less significant. In the final months of her life, bedridden and in great suffering, Thérèse overcame the terrible temptation to end her own life. She confided this struggle to her superior, warning that dangerous medications should never be left within reach of the gravely ill.
For those who have lost a loved one to despair, or who themselves feel tempted to leave life before their time, the compassion and intercession of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux are a source of profound hope. Her writings are well worth reading. The Complete Works are available in bookstores. Her masterpiece, Story of a Soul (officially titled Autobiographical Manuscripts), is available in paperback and is surprisingly moving. Also worth exploring are the excellent biographies by Bishop Guy Gaucher, Bishop of Lisieux.
The pilgrimage of her relics in Lebanon will conclude on July 20.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 28-29/2025
Trump slams Israel's prosecutors over Netanyahu corruption trial
Reuters/June 29, 2025
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Saturday criticized Israel’s prosecutors over an ongoing corruption trial against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it was interfering with his ability to conduct talks with both Hamas and Iran. In a post on Truth Social, Trump also suggested that given the billions of dollars worth of military aid Washington was providing to Israel, it was not going to “stand for this.”

Iran could again enrich uranium 'in matter of months': IAEA chief
AFP/June 29, 2025
WASHINGTON: UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months,” despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks, CBS News said Saturday. Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear and military sites on June 13, saying it was aimed at keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon — an ambition the Islamic republic has consistently denied. The United States subsequently bombed three key facilities used for Tehran’s atomic program. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the extent of the damage to the nuclear sites is “serious,” but the details are unknown. US President Donald Trump insisted Iran’s nuclear program had been set back “decades.”But Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said “some is still standing.”“They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” Grossi said Friday, according to a transcript of the interview released Saturday. Another key question is whether Iran was able to relocate some or all of its estimated 408.6-kilo (900-pound) stockpile of highly enriched uranium before the attacks. The uranium in question is enriched to 60 percent — above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade. That material, if further refined, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs. Grossi admitted to CBS: “We don’t know where this material could be.”“So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved. So there has to be at some point a clarification,” he said in the interview. For now, Iranian lawmakers voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA and Tehran rejected Grossi’s request for a visit to the damaged sites, especially Fordo, the main uranium enrichment facility. “We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where is it and what happened,” Grossi said. In a separate interview with Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” program, Trump said he did not think the stockpile had been moved. “It’s a very hard thing to do plus we didn’t give much notice,” he said, according to excerpts of the interview. “They didn’t move anything.”US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday underscored Washington’s support for “the IAEA’s critical verification and monitoring efforts in Iran,” commending Grossi and his agency for their “dedication and professionalism.”The full Grossi interview will air on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday.

Iran reopens central and western airspace to international transit flights
AFP/28 June/2025
Iran has expanded access to its airspace for international overflights following a ceasefire with Israel, though flight restrictions remain in place across much of the country, an official said Saturday. “In addition to the eastern half of the country’s airspace being available for domestic, international and overflight operations, the airspace over the central and western parts of the country has now also been opened only for international overflights,” Majid Akhavan, spokesman for the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, said in a statement carried by the IRNA state news agency. Flights to and from airports in the north, south and west of the country, including Tehran’s Mehrabad and Imam Khomeini international airports, remained suspended, according to Akhavan. “All fellow citizens are requested not to go to airports located in the northern, southern and western regions of the country,” he said, urging travelers to follow updates through official sources only.The move comes after Iran reopened its eastern airspace on Wednesday, following a ceasefire that ended 12 days of fighting with Israel. Iran had closed its skies entirely on June 13 after Israel launched a wave of airstrikes, prompting Iranian missile retaliation.
Airports now operating include Mashhad in eastern Iran -- which Israel claimed to have targeted during the conflict -- as well as Chabahar in the southeast. Flights in other regions remain suspended until further notice.

Tehran remains committed to diplomacy, but ‘peace by force is not peace,’ Iran’s ambassador to Japan tells Arab News Japan
Khaldon Azhari/Arab News/June 28, 2025
TOKYO: From the only country ever targeted by atomic bombs, a senior Iranian diplomat has called for a return to diplomacy over destruction amid simmering nuclear tensions in the Middle East. Peiman Seadat, Tehran’s ambassador to Japan, says his country remains open to dialogue but cautions that “peace by force is not peace” following recent attacks on its nuclear sites and failed negotiations. In an exclusive interview with Arab News on Saturday, Seadat described genuine diplomacy as requiring “mutual respect, even on points of disagreement, equal footing, and a willingness to achieve a satisfactory outcome for parties involved.”Iranian authorities are “now assessing the situation” and weighing options for resuming negotiations, he said. Seadat’s remarks come amid simmering tensions following a 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, which ended with a ceasefire on June 24. Accusing both the US and Israel of choosing aggression over diplomacy, he said the attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities were carried out two days before planned talks with the US, and thus have deepened a “legacy of distrust.”“Rather than condemning the party that disrupted the negotiations, the Americans sided with the aggressor,” he said. “They, therefore, betrayed the very negotiation to which they were a party. “Accordingly, the conclusion is that they were complicit in the aggression, a fact they further proved when they launched attacks against our peaceful nuclear sites, thus joining the Israelis in gross violation of every tenet of international law.” In his first public remarks after the truce, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared victory, claiming Iran “slapped America in the face” by striking the Al-Udeid base in Qatar in retaliation for the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities. Warning that any future attacks would prompt further strikes on American targets, he asserted Iran’s regional capabilities and rejected calls for concessions. Khamenei also downplayed the impact of the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, claiming that the US acted mainly to protect Israel after Iranian missiles penetrated Israeli defenses.
US President Donald Trump ridiculed Khamenei’s victory claims, insisting Iran had been “decimated” and its nuclear sites “obliterated” during the conflict. Trump said he had considered but ultimately rejected plans to assassinate Khamenei, claiming he “saved him from a very ugly and ignominious death” by stopping direct attacks from the US or Israel. He also said he halted plans to lift sanctions on Iran following Khamenei’s “blatant and foolish” statements and warned he would “absolutely” consider bombing Iran again if Tehran resumed nuclear enrichment at threatening levels.
Trump further claimed to have pressured Israel to avoid delivering a “final knockout” blow, suggesting Israeli strikes could have targeted Tehran directly if not for US intervention. On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned Trump’s comments, saying a potential nuclear deal hinges on the US ending its “disrespectful tone” toward the supreme leader.
“If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and stop hurting his millions of heartfelt supporters,” Araghchi posted on the social platform X.
Seadat said that Iran remained committed to diplomacy, citing his country’s continued adherence to the 2015 nuclear deal and participation in talks until Israeli strikes derailed the process. “Iran has always been a party to genuine diplomacy, but peace by force is not peace; it is, rather, coercion,” he said. “What we wanted was a cessation of aggression, and we achieved it at this stage, with resolve. So, while we remain highly vigilant, we will see how the situation unfolds.” As diplomatic strains persist, Israeli officials have signaled a readiness to escalate. On June 26, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told local media that Israel has a “green light” from Trump to strike Iran again if it appears to be advancing its nuclear program.
He added that Israel would not have needed US permission to target Khamenei directly.
That same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory and framed the conflict as a strategic opportunity to expand diplomatic ties with Arab states. “We have fought with determination against Iran and achieved a great victory. This victory opens the path to dramatically enlarge the peace accords,” Netanyahu said in a video address, referencing the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries in 2020. This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows excavators at tunnel entrances at the Fordo facility in Iran on Friday, June 27, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP)However, Gulf states have condemned both Iran’s missile strike on Qatar and Israel’s attacks on Iranian facilities, citing concerns over regional stability and national sovereignty.  In a joint statement on June 16, Arab countries rejected and condemned Israel’s military aggression against Iran, calling instead for a return to negotiations. Seadat insisted that Iran’s nuclear program remains peaceful and said Iran’s parliament moved to limit cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) only after repeated, ignored reassurances from Tehran.
“Up to the moment our sites were attacked in contravention of the NPT rules, the IAEA Statute, and two resolutions by its General Conference that prohibit any attack on IAEA-safeguarded peaceful nuclear sites, 130 IAEA inspectors were in place, meaning one-fifth of all inspections conducted by the IAEA in the world,” Seadat said. He added: “Regardless of disagreements, the IAEA continued its most robust verification regime in the world in Iran.”
Even after the attacks, Seadat said, both the IAEA and US intelligence confirmed there were no signs of nuclear weapons activity — despite early claims, which he attributed to a “very irresponsible” IAEA report. He said the 2015 nuclear agreement created “a balance: a cap on our peaceful nuclear program in return for full removal of sanctions.” That arrangement, he added, was especially reassuring as it was backed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231. “This is a model that Japan and some others have. They also enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. I do not know what to say, unless the meaning of reassuring has changed, perhaps because of the aggressions by the Israeli regime and the Americans on Iran,” Seadat said. Tensions had started escalating after a May 31 IAEA report revealed that Iran had increased uranium enrichment to 60 percent — the only non-nuclear weapons state to do so — and expanded its stockpile of near-weapons-grade material by 50 percent in three months. Iran dismissed the report as “politically motivated” and “baseless accusations.” On Wednesday, Rafael Grossi, IAEA director general, said his top priority is resuming inspections in Iran to determine the impact of the recent strikes. The extent of any damage remains unclear. While Grossi suggested Iran may have relocated parts of its stockpile ahead of the attacks, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday he had seen no intelligence supporting that claim. Looking ahead, Seadat noted that Japan could play a significant diplomatic role, referencing its unique moral standing as the only country to have experienced atomic bombings. “The Hibakusha, the first generation of survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, still walk among us in Japan,” he said. “Because of this, Japan possesses a profound moral authority, having known the depths of suffering like few others.” He added that Japan is well-positioned to support peace through “inclusive” regional development, particularly efforts that enhance energy security for all. Seadat also said there is growing alignment between Iran and Arab and Islamic states, which he described as a “positive and constructive path” toward regional peace. However, he cautioned that maintaining momentum would require active, sustained support from all sides. Although East Asia lies far from Iran, Seadat emphasized cultural similarities and the potential for cooperation — especially through Japan’s technological expertise and diplomatic engagement. “We need this new paradigm in our region, and I believe Japan, through the dynamism of its diplomacy, can contribute to it,” he said.

US President Trump hopeful for Gaza ceasefire, possibly ‘next week’
AFP/28 June/2025
US President Donald Trump voiced optimism Friday about a new ceasefire in Gaza, as criticism grew over mounting civilian deaths at Israeli-backed food distribution centers in the territory. Asked by reporters how close a ceasefire was between Israel and Hamas, Trump said: “We think within the next week, we’re going to get a ceasefire.”The United States brokered a ceasefire in the devastating conflict in the waning days of former president Joe Biden’s administration, with support from Trump’s incoming team. Israel broke the ceasefire in March, launching new devastating attacks on Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel also stopped all food and other supplies from entering Gaza for more than two months, drawing warnings of famine. Israel has since allowed a resumption of food through the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which involves US security contractors with Israeli troops at the periphery. United Nations officials on Friday said the GHF system was leading to mass killings of people seeking aid, drawing accusations from Israel that the UN was “aligning itself with Hamas.”Eyewitnesses and local officials have reported repeated killings of Palestinians at distribution centers over recent weeks in the war-stricken territory, where Israeli forces are battling Hamas militants. The Israeli military has denied targeting people and GHF has denied any deadly incidents were linked to its sites. But following weeks of reports, UN officials and other aid providers on Friday denounced what they said was a wave of killings of hungry people seeking aid. “The new aid distribution system has become a killing field,” with people “shot at while trying to access food for themselves and their families,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian affairs (UNWRA). “This abomination must end through a return to humanitarian deliveries from the UN including @UNRWA,” he wrote on X. The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.
The country’s civil defense agency has also repeatedly reported people being killed while seeking aid. “People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “The search for food must never be a death sentence.”Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) branded the GHF relief effort “slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid.”
Israel denies targeting civilians
That drew an angry response from Israel, which said GHF had provided 46 million meals in Gaza. “The UN is doing everything it can to oppose this effort. In doing so, the UN is aligning itself with Hamas, which is also trying to sabotage the GHF’s humanitarian operations,” the foreign ministry said. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a report in left-leaning daily Haaretz that military commanders had ordered troops to shoot at crowds near aid distribution sites to disperse them even when they posed no threat. Haaretz said the military advocate general, the army’s top legal authority, had instructed the military to investigate “suspected war crimes” at aid sites. The Israeli military declined to comment to AFP on the claim. Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz that their country “absolutely rejects the contemptible blood libels” and “malicious falsehoods” in the Haaretz article.
Civil defense says 80 killed
Gaza’s civil defense agency told AFP 80 Palestinians had been killed on Friday by Israeli strikes or fire across the Palestinian territory, including 10 who were waiting for aid. The Israeli military told AFP it was looking into the incidents, and denied its troops fired in one of the locations in central Gaza where rescuers said one aid seeker was killed. Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP six people were killed in southern Gaza near one of the distribution sites operated by GHF, and one more in a separate incident in the center of the territory, where the army denied shooting “at all.” Another three people were killed by a strike while waiting for aid southwest of Gaza City, Bassal said. Elsewhere, eight people were killed “after an Israeli air strike hit Osama Bin Zaid School, which was housing displaced persons” in northern Gaza.
Militants attack Israeli forces
Meanwhile, Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said they shelled an Israeli vehicle east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza on Friday. The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas-ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said they attacked Israeli soldiers in at least two other locations near Khan Yunis in coordination with the Al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,331 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.

Iran holds state funeral for top brass slain in war with Israel
AFP/28 June/2025
Iran began a state funeral service Saturday for around 60 people, including its military commanders, killed in its war with Israel, after Tehran’s top diplomat condemned Donald Trump’s comments on supreme leader Ali Khamenei as “unacceptable.”
The proceedings in Tehran for the nuclear scientists and military commanders killed in Israeli strikes began at 8:00 am local time (0430 GMT). “The ceremony to honor the martyrs has officially started,” state TV said, showing footage of people donning black clothes, waving Iranian flags and holding pictures of the slain military commanders. Images showed coffins draped in Iranian flags and bearing portraits of the deceased commanders in uniform near Enghelab Square in central Tehran.
The United States had carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, joining its ally Israel’s bombardments of Iran’s nuclear program in the 12-day conflict launched on June 13. Both Israel and Iran claimed victory in the war that ended with a ceasefire, with Iranian leader Khamenei downplaying the US strikes as having done “nothing significant.”
In a tirade on his Truth Social platform, Trump blasted Tehran Friday for claiming to have won the war. He also claimed to have known “EXACTLY where he (Khamenei) was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the US Armed Forces... terminate his life”.
“I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH, and he does not have to say, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!’” the US leader said.
Trump added he had been working in recent days on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran, one of Tehran’s main demands. “But no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more,” Trump said. Hitting back at Trump Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the Republican president’s comments on Khamenei.
“If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei,” Araghchi posted on social media platform X.
“The Great and Powerful Iranian People, who showed the world that the Israeli regime had NO CHOICE but to RUN to ‘Daddy’ to avoid being flattened by our Missiles, do not take kindly to Threats and Insults.”
The Israeli strikes on Iran killed at least 627 civilians, Tehran’s health ministry said. Iran’s attacks on Israel killed 28 people, according to Israeli figures.
‘Historic’ state funeral
The ceremony in Tehran “to honor the martyrs” will be followed by a funeral procession to Azadi Square, about 11 kilometers (seven miles) across the sprawling metropolis.
Mohsen Mahmoudi, head of Tehran’s Islamic Development Coordination Council, vowed it would be a “historic day for Islamic Iran and the revolution”. Among the dead is Mohammad Bagheri, a major general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the second-in-command of the armed forces after the Iranian leader. He will be buried alongside his wife and daughter, a journalist for a local media outlet, all killed in an Israeli attack. Nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, also killed in the attacks, will be buried with his wife. Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami, who was killed on the first day of the war, will also be laid to rest after Saturday’s ceremony -- which will also honor at least 30 other top commanders. Of the 60 people who are to be laid to rest after the ceremony, four are children.
‘Imminent threat’
During his first term in office, Trump pulled out in 2018 of a landmark nuclear deal -- negotiated by former US president Barack Obama. The deal that Trump had abandoned aimed to make it practically impossible for Iran to build an atomic bomb, while at the same time allowing it to pursue a civil nuclear program. Iran, which insists its nuclear program is only for civilian purposes, stepped up its activities after Trump withdrew from the agreement. After the US strikes, Trump said negotiations for a new deal were set to begin next week. But Tehran denied a resumption, and leader Khamenei said Trump had “exaggerated events in unusual ways,” rejecting US claims Iran’s nuclear program had been set back by decades. Israel had claimed it had “thwarted Iran’s nuclear project” during the 12-day war. But its foreign minister reiterated Friday the world was obliged to stop Tehran from developing an atomic bomb. “The international community now has an obligation to prevent, through any effective means, the world’s most extreme regime from obtaining the most dangerous weapon,” Gideon Saar wrote on X.

Netanyahu denies report that Israeli troops have orders to shoot Palestinians seeking aid
The Associated Press/28 June/2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz emphatically rejected a report in the left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz on Friday, which claimed Israeli soldiers were ordered to shoot at Palestinians approaching aid sites inside Gaza. They called the report’s findings “malicious falsehoods designed to defame” the military.More than 500 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded while seeking food since the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began distributing aid in the territory about a month ago, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on the roads heading toward the sites. Reacting to the Haaretz piece, Israel’s military confirmed that it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites. It rejected the article’s allegations “of deliberate fire toward civilians.”The foundation, which is backed by an American private contractor, has been distributing food boxes at four locations, mainly in the far south of Gaza, for the past month.
“GHF is not aware of any of these incidents but these allegations are too grave to ignore and we therefore call on Israel to investigate them and transparently publish the results in a timely manner,” the group said in a social media post.
Palestinians trying to find food have frequently encountered chaos and violence on their way to and on arrival at the aid sites. Tens of thousands are desperate for food after Israel imposed a 2 1/2-month siege on Gaza, blocking all food, water and medicine from entering the territory pending the setup of the GHF sites.The bodies of eight people who died Friday had come to Shifa Hospital from a GHF site in Netzarim, although it was not immediately clear how they died, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmyiha, the hospital’s director, told The Associated Press. A GHF spokesperson challenged the report, saying they did not know of any incidents at or near their sites Friday. Twenty other bodies his hospital received Friday came from airstrikes across north Gaza, he said. Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach the hubs, moving through Israeli military zones where witnesses say Israeli troops regularly open fire with heavy barrages to control the crowds. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots. Mohammad Fawzi, a displaced man from Rafah, told the AP that he was only able to get empty boxes, not food, from the aid site in the Shakoush area in Rafah when he trekked there early Thursday morning. “We’ve been shot at since 6 a.m. up until 10 a.m. just to get aid and only some people were able to receive it. There are martyrs and injured people. The situation is difficult,” he said. The group Doctors Without Borders on Friday condemned the distribution system as “a slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid” and called for it to be immediately shut down. More than 6,000 people have been killed and more than 20,000 injured in Gaza since the ceasefire collapsed on March 18. Since the war began, more than 56,000 people have been killed and 132,000 injured, according to the health ministry. The Gaza Health Ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but has said that women and children make up more than half the 56,000 dead. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians, because they operate in populated areas.
The Israel-Hamas war started following the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage. About 50 of them still remain in captivity in Gaza. The latest deaths include six people killed and 10 wounded in Israeli strikes on a group of citizens near the Martyrs Roundabout in the Bureij Camp in central Gaza Strip, officials at Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said Friday. The United Nations chief meanwhile urged leaders to show “political courage” and agree to a ceasefire like the one forged between Israel and Iran. Secretary-General António Guterres also urged a return to the UN’s long-tested distribution system for aid in Gaza, where he said Israeli military operations have created “a humanitarian crisis of horrific proportions.” “The search for food must never be a death sentence,” Guterres stressed to UN reporters Friday.

Gaza aid system ‘leads to mass killings’
AFP/June 28, 2025
GAZA CITY: UN officials said a US- and Israeli-backed distribution system in Gaza was leading to mass killings of people seeking humanitarian aid, drawing accusations from Israel that the UN was “aligning itself with Hamas.”Eyewitnesses and local officials have reported repeated killings of Palestinians seeking aid at distribution centers over recent weeks in the war-stricken territory, where Israeli forces are battling militants. The Israeli military has denied targeting people seeking aid, and the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has denied that any deadly incidents were linked to its sites. The new aid distribution system has become a killing field with people shot at while trying to access food for themselves and their families.
Philippe Lazzarini, Head of the UN agency for Palestinian affairs
But following weeks of reports, UN officials and other aid providers denounced what they said was a wave of killings of hungry people seeking aid. “The new aid distribution system has become a killing field,” with people “shot at while trying to access food for themselves and their families,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian affairs , or UNWRA. The Health Ministry in the territory says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.Hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza.
Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach the sites, moving through Israeli military zones. The country’s civil defense agency has also repeatedly reported people being killed while seeking aid.“People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “The search for food must never be a death sentence.”Medical charity Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, branded the GHF relief effort “slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid.”That drew an angry response from Israel, which said GHF had provided 46 million meals in Gaza.“The UN is doing everything it can to oppose this effort. In doing so, the UN is aligning itself with Hamas, which is also trying to sabotage the GHF’s humanitarian operations,” the Foreign Ministry said. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a newspaper report that the country’s military commanders ordered soldiers to fire at Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza. Left-leaning daily Haaretz had earlier quoted unnamed soldiers as saying commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds near aid distribution centers to disperse them even when they posed no threat. Haaretz said the military advocate general, the army’s top legal authority, had instructed the military to investigate “suspected war crimes” at aid sites. The Israeli military declined to comment on the claim. Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz that their country “absolutely rejects the contemptible blood libels” and “malicious falsehoods” in the Haaretz article. The military said in a separate statement it “did not instruct the forces to deliberately shoot at civilians, including those approaching the distribution centers.”It added that Israeli military “directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians.”Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza from March for more than two months.It began allowing supplies to trickle in at the end of May, with GHF centers secured by armed US contractors and Israeli troops on the perimeter. Guterres said that from the UN, just a “handful” of medical deliveries had crossed into Gaza this week.

Qatar urges Israel, Hamas to seize ‘window of opportunity’ for Gaza truce
AFP/28 June/2025
Gaza mediators are engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from this week’s ceasefire with Iran and work towards a truce in the Palestinian territory, Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said. Israel and Iran on Tuesday agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Qatar just hours after the Islamic Republic launched a salvo of missiles towards the wealthy Gulf state, targeting the American military base hosted there. The unprecedented attack on Qatari soil followed Washington’s intervention into a days-long war between Israel and Iran which saw US warplanes strike Iranian nuclear facilities, prompting promises of retaliation from Tehran. In an interview with AFP on Friday, Ansari said Doha -- with fellow Gaza mediators in Washington and Cairo -- was now “trying to use the momentum that was created by the ceasefire between Iran and Israel to restart the talks over Gaza.”“If we don’t utilize this window of opportunity and this momentum, it’s an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past. We don’t want to see that again,” the spokesman, who is also an adviser to Qatar’s prime minister, said. US President Donald Trump voiced optimism on Friday about a new ceasefire in Gaza saying an agreement involving Israel and Hamas could come as early as next week.Mediators have been engaged in months of back-and-forth negotiations with the warring parties aimed at ending 20 months of war in Gaza, with Ansari explaining there were no current talks between the sides but that Qatar was “heavily involved in talking to every side separately.”
‘The right pressure’
A two-month truce, which was agreed as Trump came into office in January, collapsed in March with Israel intensifying military operations in Gaza afterwards. “We have seen US pressure and what it can accomplish,” Ansari said referring to the January truce which saw dozens of hostages held by Hamas released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The Qatari official said particularly in the context of US enforcement of the Israel-Iran truce, it was “not a far-fetched idea” that pressure from Washington would achieve a fresh truce in Gaza. “We are working with them very, very closely to make sure that the right pressure is applied from the international community as a whole, especially from the US, to see both parties at the negotiating table,” Ansari said. There were no casualties on Monday when Iran targeted Al Udeid, the Middle East’s biggest US base and headquarters of its regional command. Ansari said that as leaders were weighing their response to the attack, a call came from the US president to Qatar’s emir, saying “there is a possibility for regional stability... and that Israel has agreed to a ceasefire.”“Qatar could have taken the decision to escalate,” Ansari said. “But because there was a chance for peace... we opted for that,” he said.

Israeli strikes kill at least 72 people in Gaza as ceasefire prospects move closer
AP/June 28, 2025
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli strikes killed at least 72 people across Gaza overnight and into Saturday, health workers said, as ceasefire prospects were said to be improving after 21 months of war. Three children and their parents were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent camp in Muwasi near the southern city of Khan Younis. They were struck while sleeping, relatives said. “What did these children do to them? What is their fault?” said the children’s grandmother, Suad Abu Teima, as others knelt to kiss their bloodied faces and wept. Some placed red flowers into the body bags. Also among the dead were 12 people near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, and eight more in apartments, according to staff at Shifa Hospital. More than 20 bodies were taken to Nasser Hospital, according to health officials. A midday strike killed 11 people on a street in eastern Gaza City, and their bodies were taken to Al-Ahli Hospital. Another strike on a gathering in eastern Gaza City killed eight including five children, the hospital said. A strike on a gathering at the entrance to the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killed two, according to Al-Awda Hospital.
Hopes for a ceasefire agreement in the coming week
US President Donald Trump says there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters on Friday, he said, “We’re working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.”An official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer will arrive in Washington next week for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other subjects. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas have been on again, off again since Israel broke the latest ceasefire in March, continuing its military campaign in Gaza and furthering the territory’s dire humanitarian crisis. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half believed to still be alive. They were among 251 hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparking the war. “What more is left to do in Gaza that has not already been done? Who else is left to eliminate?” Yotam Cohen, brother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, said Saturday evening as weekly rallies by families and supporters resumed following Israel’s ceasefire with Iran.
Over 6,000 killed since latest ceasefire ended
The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It says more than half of the dead were women and children. It said the dead include 6,089 killed since the end of the latest ceasefire. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians because they operate in populated areas. There is hope among families of hostages that Trump’s involvement in securing the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran might lead to more pressure for a deal in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is riding a wave of public support for the Iran war and its achievements, and he could feel he has more space to move toward ending the war in Gaza, something his far-right governing partners oppose. Hamas has repeatedly said it is prepared to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war in Gaza. Netanyahu says he will end the war only once Hamas is disarmed and exiled, something the group has rejected.
Hundreds have been killed while seeking food
Meanwhile, hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza. After blocking all food for 2 1/2 months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded while seeking food since the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began distributing aid in the territory about a month ago, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on roads heading toward the sites. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots and that it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites. Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach the sites, moving through Israeli military zones. Separate efforts by the United Nations to distribute limited food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys. Saturday’s death toll included two people killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting to receive aid near the Netzarim corridor, a road that separates northern and southern Gaza, according to Al-Shifa and Al-Awda hospitals, which each received one body.
There was no immediate Israeli military comment.

Six Israelis detained for attacking soldiers in West Bank: Military
AFP, Jerusalem/28 June/2025
Six Israelis were detained for assaulting soldiers near a village in the occupied West Bank where deadly clashes with Palestinians erupted this week, the military said on Saturday. The fresh violence around the central West Bank village of Kafr Malik came after the Palestinian health ministry said three men died there in an attack by Israeli settlers on Wednesday. Soldiers went to disperse a gathering of Israelis near the village overnight, the military said in a statement. “Dozens of Israeli civilians hurled stones toward them and physically and verbally assaulted the soldiers, including the Battalion Commander,” it said.
“In addition, the civilians vandalized and damaged security forces’ vehicles, and attempted to ram the security forces,” it added. “The security forces dispersed the gathering, and six Israeli civilians were apprehended and transferred to the Israel Police for further processing.”Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military declined to say whether those arrested were residents of Israeli settlements in the territory, occupied by Israel since 1967. The military referred the query to the Israeli police, which was not available to comment. “I strongly condemn the serious incidents of violence and the attack on IDF soldiers,” Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. “I call on the law enforcement authorities to act immediately to locate all those who resorted to violence and bring them to justice.”
West Bank violence
In a separate incident on Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said three men died in Kafr Malik in an attack by settlers. AFP journalists saw several hundred people gather for the three men’s funerals on Thursday. The Palestinian foreign ministry alleged “official complicity” by Israel in Wednesday’s attack, in a message on X. “Israeli occupation forces prevented ambulance crews from reaching the wounded and obstructed civil defense teams from entering the village for several hours, allowing fires ignited by the settlers to spread and destroy dozens of homes,” it said. The Israeli military did not respond to a request by AFP to comment on those claims. A military spokesman told AFP its forces intervened on Wednesday after “dozens of Israeli civilians set fire to property in Kafr Malik” and a “confrontation” involving “mutual rock-hurling” broke out between Israelis and Palestinians.
Referring to action by the Palestinians, the spokesman said: “Several terrorists fired from within Kafr Malik and hurled rocks at the forces, who opened fire toward the source of fire and the rock-hurlers.” Five Israelis were arrested, the military added. Left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the five were released on Thursday. Police did not comment. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law. Their growth has accelerated since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office in 2022 in an alliance with far-right parties who wish to annexe the territory outright. Countries including Britain and France and several human rights groups have condemned settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Violence has surged in the West Bank since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Israel. The Palestinian Authority says Israeli troops or settlers have killed 945 Palestinians, many of them militants but also scores of civilians, since the start of the Gaza war, according to Palestinian health ministry figures. Israel says 34 of its soldiers and civilians have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids since that date.

Longtime State Department spokesman, diplomat Richard Boucher, dies at 73
The Associated Press/29 June/2025
Richard Boucher, who served for more than a decade as the spokesman for the State Department and assistant secretary of state for public affairs, has died at age 73, according to friends and family. He died on Thursday in a hospital in northern Virginia after a battle with an aggressive form of cancer, according to two people close to his family. Boucher had been the face of US foreign policy at the State Department podium across administrations throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, beginning in the George H.W. Bush presidency and continuing through Bill Clinton’s and George W. Bush’s terms in office. Boucher served as the spokesman for secretaries of state James Baker, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice. In a career that took him from the Peace Corps through Africa and Asia as well as in Washington, Boucher also served as US Consul General in Hong Kong during the 1997 handover of the territory from Britain to China and later used the skills he learned there to help orchestrate an end to the US–China spy plane crisis in early 2001. After leaving the spokesman’s job, Boucher became assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia and was then ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Retired veteran CBS journalist Charles Wolfson, who worked with Boucher for years, lauded him as an effective State Department spokesman but also a valued professional colleague and friend. “He was a superb diplomat, an excellent spokesman, and an even better human being,” Wolfson said.

Armenia Arrests Another Top Cleric Over an Alleged Coup Plot
The Associated Press/28 June/2025
Armenia has arrested a second prominent cleric on charges of plotting against the government – the latest escalation in a clampdown on outspoken critics of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. A court in Yerevan on Saturday ordered Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan to be held in pre-trial detention for two months, his lawyer Ara Zohrabyan said. He said the decision was “obviously illegal and unfounded,” saying his client will appeal. State prosecutors accuse Ajapahyan of publicly calling for an armed ouster of the government. On Friday, security forces faced off with crowds at the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church outside Yerevan as they tried to arrest Ajapahyan. Videos circulating on social media showed clergymen jostling with police while bells of a nearby cathedral rang out. After Armenia’s National Security Service urged Ajapahyan to appear before authorities, local media showed him entering the building of Armenia’s Investigative Committee in his gray robes. “I have never hidden and I am not going to hide now,” Ajapahyan told reporters on Friday. “I say that what is happening now is lawlessness. I have never been and am not a threat to this country; the main threat is in the government.”
Last year, tens of thousands of demonstrators called for Pashinyan’s ouster after Armenia agreed to hand over control of several border villages to Azerbaijan and to normalize relations between the neighbors and bitter rivals.
On Wednesday, authorities arrested Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who leads the Sacred Struggle opposition movement. He was accused of plotting a sabotage campaign to overthrow Pashinyan – charges that his lawyer rejected as “fiction.” Members of Sacred Struggle, which has bitterly opposed the handover of the border villages, accused the government of cracking down on political rights. Although the territorial concession was the movement’s core issue, it has expanded to a wide array of complaints about Pashinyan, who came to power in 2018.
Another vocal critic of Pashinyan, Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, was arrested last week on charges of calling for the government’s overthrow, which he denied. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in territorial disputes since the early 1990s as various parts of the Soviet Union pressed for independence from Moscow. After the USSR collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatist forces backed by the Armenian military won control of Azerbaijan’s region of Karabakh and nearby territories. In 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured broad swaths of territory that were held for nearly three decades by Armenian forces. A lightning military campaign in September 2023 saw Azerbaijan fully reclaim control of Karabakh, and Armenia later handed over the border villages. Pashinyan has recently sought to normalize relations with Azerbaijan. Last week, he also visited Azerbaijan’s top ally, Turkey, to mend a historic rift. Turkey and Armenia have a more than century-old dispute over the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in massacres, deportations, and forced marches that began in 1915 in Ottoman Turkey. Historians widely view the event as genocide. Turkey vehemently rejects the label, conceding that many died in that era but insisting the death toll is inflated and resulted from civil unrest. Attempts to impeach Pashinyan, who came to power in 2018, were unsuccessful. Although territorial concessions were a core issue for Sacred Struggle, it has expanded to a wide array of complaints about Pashinyan as the Apostolic Church’s relationship with the government deteriorated. On June 8, Pashinyan called for church leader Karekin II to resign after accusing him of fathering a child despite a vow of celibacy. The church released a statement at the time accusing Pashinyan of undermining Armenia’s spiritual unity but did not address the claim about the child.

G7 agrees to exempt US multinationals from global minimum tax
AFP/June 28, 2025
OTTAWA: The Group of Seven nations said Saturday they have agreed to exempt US multinational companies from a global minimum tax imposed by other countries — a win for President Donald Trump’s government, which pushed hard for the compromise.
The deal will see US companies benefit from a “side-by-side” solution under which they will only be taxed at home, on both domestic and foreign profits, the G7 said in a statement released by Canada, which holds the group’s rotating presidency. The agreement was reached in part due to “recently proposed changes to the US international tax system” included in Trump’s signature domestic policy bill, which is still being debated in Congress, the statement said. The side-by-side system could “provide greater stability and certainty in the international tax system moving forward,” it added. Nearly 140 countries struck a deal in 2021 to tax multinational companies, an agreement negotiated under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). That agreement, deeply criticized by Trump, includes two “pillars,” the second of which sets a minimum global tax rate of 15 percent. The OECD must ultimately decide to exempt the US companies from that tax — or not. The G7 said it looked forward to “expeditiously reaching a solution that is acceptable and implementable to all.”On Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had signaled that a “joint understanding among G7 countries that defends American interests” was in the works. He also asked US lawmakers to “to remove the Section 899 protective measure from consideration in the One, Big, Beautiful Bill” — Trump’s policy mega-bill. Section 899 has been dubbed a “revenge tax,” allowing the government to impose levies on firms with foreign owners and on investors from countries deemed to impose unfair taxes on US businesses. The clause sparked concern that it would inhibit foreign companies from investing in the United States.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on June 28-29/2025
A pause or a prelude? The fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya English/June 28/2025
On June 25, 2025, a ceasefire between Israel and Iran came into effect, bringing a sudden and dramatic halt to twelve days of direct and unprecedented military confrontation. The truce surprised many observers around the world. For weeks, tensions had escalated rapidly after Israel launched airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, followed by a wave of Iranian missile and drone retaliation. The ferocity of the exchange, coupled with long-standing hostilities between the two states, led many analysts and politicians to assume that Israel would pursue the campaign until Iran’s nuclear infrastructure was completely dismantled or until the Islamic Republic’s central authority was irreparably shaken.
Many expected Israel to press its military advantage and continue striking; There were even speculations that the broader goal might be to destabilize or collapse the Iranian government altogether. Yet the ceasefire, as unexpected as it may have seemed to some, was ultimately the product of deeper historical patterns, strategic calculations, and logistical realities.
First, a look at the history of Israel’s military conflicts reveals that temporary ceasefires are a consistent feature of its wartime strategy. During past wars with Hezbollah in Lebanon or in operations against Hamas in Gaza, ceasefires were accepted at key junctures. These pauses have rarely signaled the end of conflict. Instead, they have served multiple purposes – providing breathing room for the population, allowing the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to assess battlefield performance, and giving political leaders time to navigate shifting diplomatic and military conditions. In that context, the current ceasefire with Iran should not come as a shock. Though the stakes and geography are dramatically broader in this case, the strategic logic remains consistent. Ceasefires could be tactical pauses.
For Israel, this ceasefire most likely offers significant, albeit temporary, advantages. First and foremost, it allows the government and military command to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of their twelve-day aerial campaign. With advanced surveillance, satellite imaging, and digital tracking systems, Israel can now measure the success of its strikes, identify which Iranian assets remain intact, and prepare for any future engagements. These kinds of reassessments are critical in an era of high-tech, multi-front warfare.
Second, the truce enables Israeli civilians to return to a semblance of normalcy. Throughout the conflict, cities like Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Beersheba were subjected to repeated Iranian missile and drone attacks. For many residents, life had ground to a halt. The ceasefire now allows citizens to reemerge, regroup, and recover from the psychological strain of continuous alerts and air raid sirens. The return to normal life – no matter how temporary – is a crucial relief for the country. Third, the ceasefire grants Israel a valuable diplomatic opportunity. By agreeing to halt its military operations – even after successfully striking key targets – Israel projects to the international community that it is not pursuing escalation for its own sake. This move can help mend some of the frayed ties with Europe and parts of the Global South, where criticism of Israeli military policy has grown. At the same time, it reinforces Israel’s image as a responsible actor, capable of restraint even in the face of provocation.
Fourth, the IDF now has time to replenish its resources, repair any damage to bases or weapons systems, and evaluate operational weaknesses. Despite Israel’s superiority in the air, the Iranian counterattacks – especially the use of longer-range drones – provided Israel with a sobering glimpse into Iran’s evolving tactics. This ceasefire gives the Israeli military the space to adapt, train, and integrate new technologies into their defense apparatus. Fifth, and no less important, the ceasefire allows Israel to redirect its focus to other strategic concerns. With the Iranian front on pause, Israel can recalibrate its posture and attend to other critical theaters.
From Iran’s perspective, the need for a ceasefire was even more urgent. For nearly two weeks, Israeli air dominance over Iran was overwhelming. Precision strikes targeted military installations, air defense systems, radar units, and multiple nuclear-related sites in Natanz, Fordow, and Arak. In addition, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) suffered major losses, including several high-ranking commanders. The Iranian public – already under severe economic pressure from international sanctions – faced further hardship as oil refineries and power grids were damaged. More than 100,000 residents fled Tehran in a matter of days, fearful that the next wave of Israeli strikes would devastate the capital.
Internally, the government faced growing frustration: How could a country with one of the region’s largest militaries be so vulnerable? Why had the government not anticipated the scale of Israeli retaliation? The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly faced intense pressure from within the elite circles of the IRGC and clerical establishment. In such a climate, agreeing to a ceasefire was less about diplomacy and more about necessity. Iran needed to stop the bleeding – militarily, politically, and psychologically. The pause offers Tehran a chance to evaluate the damage, regroup its forces, and attempt to fortify what remains of its nuclear infrastructure. It also gives the leadership time to address domestic unrest, recalibrate messaging, and possibly shift blame onto external enemies to consolidate control.
Yet the key question remains: will the ceasefire hold?
If past history is any indicator, the prospects are not encouraging. Ceasefires in this region are rarely long-lasting. They are fragile by design – stopgaps between rounds of fighting, not solutions to the underlying tensions. In this case, the balance of power has shifted dramatically, and that creates an incentive for renewed confrontation. For Israel, walking away from a conflict while the Iranian government is at its weakest point in decades might be seen as a strategic blunder. This is a rare window – one where Iran’s command structure has been shaken, its nuclear plans disrupted, and its population demoralized. Some in the Israeli cabinet may argue that allowing Iran to recover from this moment would be tantamount to leaving a wounded enemy alive on the battlefield.
Moreover, from a strategic standpoint, Israel now faces the risk that Iran – having experienced such a devastating attack – will accelerate its push for nuclear weapons. Even if Iran had not made the political decision to pursue a bomb before, this war may have changed that calculus. The logic of deterrence could now dominate Iran’s thinking: Only by acquiring a nuclear weapon, Iranian strategists may argue, can the country prevent another catastrophic strike. Iran has already announced the suspension of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a worrying signal that transparency is no longer a priority. In this environment, trust is virtually nonexistent.
Finally, the ceasefire’s fragility is also reinforced by the broader geopolitical context. Proxy forces aligned with Iran – particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and various militias in Iraq – remain active. They can resume attacks on Israel or US allies at any time, either with or without Tehran’s direct orders. Any incident along these fronts could easily unravel the ceasefire. Similarly, internal politics in both countries can lead to escalation. An assassination, a rogue militia strike, or even a political crisis could reignite hostilities overnight.
In conclusion, while both Israel and Iran found compelling reasons to agree to this ceasefire – strategic breathing room, humanitarian concerns, and domestic stability – the truce rests on shaky foundations. It is, in many ways, a pause born of exhaustion rather than reconciliation. As history has repeatedly shown, these kinds of ceasefires in the Middle East are inherently unstable. Unless profound diplomatic engagement follows – and there is little sign of that at present – the risk of renewed war remains not only possible, but probable.

What it means to build local AI
Elina Noor/Arab News/June 28/2025
Following OpenAI’s public launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, the underpinnings of artificial intelligence large language models seemed firmly “WIRED” — Western, industrialized, rich, educated, and democratic. Everyone assumed that if large language models spoke a particular language and reflected a particular worldview, it would be a Western one. OpenAI even acknowledged ChatGPT’s skew toward Western views and the English language. But even before OpenAI’s US competitors (Google and Anthropic) released their own large language models the following year, Southeast Asian developers had recognized the need for AI tools that would speak to their own region in its many languages — no small task, given that it has more than 1,200 of them. Moreover, in a region where distant civilizational memories often collide with contemporary, postcolonial histories, language is profoundly political. Even seemingly monolingual countries belie marked diversity: Cambodians speak nearly 30 languages; Thais, roughly 70; and Vietnamese, more than 100. This is also a region where communities mix languages seamlessly, where nonverbal cues speak volumes, and where oral traditions are sometimes more prevalent than textual means of capturing the deep cultural and historical nuances that have been encoded in language.
Not surprisingly, those trying to build truly local AI models for a region with so many underrepresented languages have faced many obstacles, from a paucity of high-quality, high-quantity annotated data to a lack of access to the computing power needed to build and train models from scratch. In some cases, the challenges are even more basic, reflecting a shortage of native speakers and standardized orthography or frequent electricity supply disruptions. Given these constraints, many of the region’s AI developers have settled for fine-tuning established models built by foreign incumbents. This involves taking a pretrained model that has been fed large quantities of data and training it on a smaller dataset for a specific skill or task. Between 2020 and 2023, Southeast Asian language models such as PhoBERT (Vietnamese), IndoBERT (Indonesian) and Typhoon (Thai) were derived from much larger models such as Google’s BERT, Meta’s RoBERTa (later LLaMA) and France’s Mistral. Even the early versions of SeaLLM, a suite of models optimized for regional languages and released by Alibaba’s DAMO Academy, were built on Meta, Mistral, and Google’s architecture. But in 2024, Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen disrupted this Western dominance, offering Southeast Asia a wider set of options. A Carnegie Endowment for International Peace study found that five of the 21 regional models launched that year were built on Qwen.
Ironically, efforts to localize AI could deepen developers’ dependence on much larger players, at least in the initial stages.
Still, just as Southeast Asian developers previously had to account for a latent Western bias in the available foundation models, now they must be mindful of the ideologically filtered perspectives embedded in pretrained Chinese models. Ironically, efforts to localize AI and ensure greater agency for Southeast Asian communities could deepen developers’ dependence on much larger players, at least in the initial stages. Nonetheless, Southeast Asian developers have begun to address this problem, too. Multiple models, including SEA-LION (a collection of 11 official regional languages), PhoGPT (Vietnamese) and MaLLaM (Malay), have been pre-trained from scratch on a large, generic dataset of each particular language. This key step in the machine-learning process will allow these models to be further fine-tuned for specific tasks.
Although SEA-LION continues to rely on Google’s architecture for its pre-training, its use of a regional language dataset has facilitated the development of homegrown models such as Sahabat-AI, which communicates in Indonesian, Sundanese, Javanese, Balinese, and Bataknese. Sahabat-AI proudly describes itself as “a testament to Indonesia’s commitment to AI sovereignty.”But representing native perspectives also requires a strong base of local knowledge. We cannot faithfully present Southeast Asian perspectives and values without understanding the politics of language, traditional sense-making and historical dynamics. For example, time and space — widely understood in the modern context to be linear, divisible and measurable for the purposes of maximizing productivity — are perceived differently in many indigenous communities. Balinese historical writings that defy conventional patterns of chronology might be viewed as myths or legends in Western terms, but they continue to shape how these communities make sense of the world.
Historians of the region have cautioned that applying a Western lens to local texts heightens the risk of misinterpreting indigenous perspectives. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Indonesia’s colonial administrators frequently read their own understanding of Javanese chronicles into translated reproductions. As a result, many biased British and European observations of Southeast Asians have come to be treated as valid historical accounts, and ethnic categorizations and stereotypes from official documents have been internalized. If AI is trained on this data, the biases could end up further entrenched.
Data is not knowledge. Since language is inherently social and political — reflecting the relational experiences of those who use it — asserting agency in the age of AI must go beyond the technical sufficiency of models that communicate in local languages. It requires consciously filtering legacy biases, questioning assumptions about our identity and rediscovering indigenous knowledge repositories in our languages. We cannot project our cultures faithfully through technology if we barely understand them in the first place.
**Elina Noor is a senior fellow in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. ©Project Syndicate

Sacrificing tomorrow’s survival in favor of today’s foreign exchange
Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/June 28/2025
Countries in the Mediterranean appear trapped in a calculated, self-inflicted crisis. Those on southern shores systematically drain finite-capacity aquifers to cultivate luxury exports for foreign consumers, while simultaneously surrendering their food security to volatile global grain markets. This is not environmental misfortune but an engineered outcome of decades of policy choices prioritizing export revenues and external interests over national water resilience and domestic sustenance. The sheer magnitude of this engineered dependency defies sustainability. Consider Egypt, for instance, which is already categorized as a water-scarce country. It holds the dubious distinction of being the planet’s single largest importer of wheat, spending billions in precious foreign currency simply to secure the basic flour it needs for its state-subsidized bread, a cornerstone of social stability consumed by millions daily. Yet, simultaneously, Egypt ranks among the world’s Top 12 exporters of citrus fruits, potatoes, strawberries, and cotton. Each of these crops demands a staggering amount of irrigation in an environment where every drop of water is contested. Exporting a single tonne of strawberries or a bale of Egyptian cotton effectively ships thousands of precious cubic meters of the nation’s dwindling water reserves, primarily to European supermarkets. What emerges is a financial calculus that reveals a profound distortion; the collective annual revenue generated by these “high-value” agricultural exports falls drastically short of covering the colossal, ever-increasing bill for imported wheat. This gap is further widened by population growth and the immense fiscal burden of bread-subsidy programs, which are essential, yet unsustainable, props for fragile social contracts.
It is a pattern replicated across other parts of the Mediterranean’s southern shores. Morocco, for instance, in the midst of persistent droughts severe enough to mandate water rationing in urban areas, paradoxically functions as a mega-exporter of water-thirsty tomatoes, citrus, melons, berries, and avocados.
Its primary trading partner for this exchange is Europe, eerily perpetuating an extractive dynamic disguised as free trade. Meanwhile, lucrative profits flow to private exporters and satisfy European consumer demand for off-season luxury produce, but the true cost is borne by depleted aquifers and communities facing shrinking water quotas. Similarly, Jordan, drawing down the shared Al-Dissi aquifer that is under the strain of scarcity, channels high-quality groundwater into growing peaches and nectarines, again for export. A common trend begins to emerge in which water-thirsty goods are prioritized over achieving relative domestic food sovereignty.
Israel has even managed to take things a step further. Jerusalem not only leverages its prowess and contested control over land and water resources to dominate high-value fruit exports to supportive European markets. Capitalizing on an ongoing “avocado boom,” while exerting near total control over the food supplies of subjugated neighboring territories, it essentially weaponizes sustenance and robs surviving Gazans of the ability to achieve food and water security on their own terms. So why do states persist in these self-destructive exchanges, given the region’s acute water distress amid the worsening effects of climate change?It is a slow-bleed crisis in which the most vulnerable are the first to pay as aquifer levels fall and soaring bread prices rip up social contracts. Firstly, follow the water — and the money. The conversion of arid landscapes into export-oriented plantations did not happen spontaneously; it was engineered through decades of deliberate policy shifts. Beginning in the 1970s and accelerating into the 1980s, international financial institutions imposed structural adjustment programs that demanded the privatization of state assets, the dismantling of farming subsidies, and wholesale reorientation toward foreign exchange generation. This created an agricultural aristocracy: large-scale agribusinesses and politically connected landowners who secured preferential access to subsidized water and prime land. In Egypt, while smallholders faced crippling energy price hikes for irrigation pumps following subsidy cuts mandated by the International Monetary Fund, forcing many to abandon farming, elite exporters flourished by cultivating water-guzzling strawberries bound for European supermarkets, using state-subsidized infrastructure.
This contrasts sharply with the diffuse, long-term societal cost of depleted aquifers and a staggering national food import bill. Egypt’s annual wheat expenditure alone dwarfs the collective revenue from its famed citrus and potato exports.
Today, exporters form a potent lobby, thereby ensuring policies continue to prioritize their water-intensive cash crops over staples for local consumption, directly undermining national food resilience. Secondly, a dangerous technological fatalism appears to have invaded the region’s policy-setting circles. Wealthier countries have conjured a myth of infinite hydrological adaptation through massive, energy-intensive seawater desalination projects. This creates a convenient illusion for leaders in less affluent, and increasingly parched, countries that future megaprojects will absolve them from the need to confront the unsustainable water exports of today.
This partly explains why drought-stricken Morocco continues to expand its water-thirsty avocado orchards. And, why Jordan continues to extract water from non-renewable aquifers at rates far exceeding the ability to replenish, to supply farms growing fruit for export while clinging to hopes of large-scale desalination, despite lacking the fiscal capacity or sources of sustainable energy to deploy it meaningfully. Such cognitive dissonance is jarring, since present-day policymakers actively accelerate water depletion for short-term export gains, while banking on unaffordable or ecologically questionable technologies to bail them out later. This “magical thinking” ignores a harsh arithmetic: the energy cost and environmental footprint of desalinating seawater for basic survival would be exponentially higher than the water that is effectively, and recklessly, exported today in every tonne of off-season berries or citrus fruit.
The end result is a system that functions as a slow-motion crisis transfer, extracting irreversible natural capital from the South to subsidize stability and abundance in the North. European consumers gain year-round access to affordable luxury: Moroccan winter strawberries retailing for €2.50 ($3) a kilogram in Parisian supermarkets; Israeli avocados shipped to Dutch tables; all irrigated with water sourced from aquifers that might require millennia to replenish. Simultaneously, Southern Mediterranean elites and transnational agribusinesses secure reliable profits. Moroccan tomato exporters and Egyptian cotton magnates operate with state-subsidized water allocations that distort true resource costs.
Meanwhile, the ecological and economic foundations of water-stressed countries undergo systematic erosion. Fossil aquifers are drained. Local food systems atrophy as once-thriving milling industries across Iraq, Syria and Palestine have collapsed, forcing “Fertile Crescent” countries to become flour importers despite their proximity to the historical heartlands of wheat. Water flows perpetually uphill toward power and capital. The true cost of this — which can be measured in depleted water reserves, escalating import bills, lost agricultural resilience, and the deepening vulnerability of the majority — is borne by the populations and the very ecological stability of these countries. Each tonne of exported citrus uses 560 cubic meters of irreplaceable Egyptian groundwater. Each hectare of Moroccan avocados consumes 1.5 million liters a year, while the taps of the local population run dry.
It is a system that sacrifices tomorrow’s survival in favor of today’s political quietism and foreign exchange — a slow-bleed crisis in which the most vulnerable are the first to pay as aquifer levels fall, deserts advance and soaring bread prices rip up social contracts. Addressing this requires a dismantling of the political economy that privileges water exports over conservation and local nourishment — a task that demands much more courage than simply investing in the next desalination plant.
**Hafed Al-Ghwell is a senior fellow and executive director of the North Africa Initiative at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. X: @HafedAlGhwell

Partnering for prosperity: UK’s industrial strategy and Saudi Vision 2030
Neil Crompton/Arab News/June 28, 2025
The UK and Saudi Arabia stand at a pivotal moment in their bilateral relationship. As we witness the remarkable transformation underway across the Kingdom through Vision 2030, I am pleased to share how the UK’s newly launched Modern Industrial Strategy creates an exceptional opportunity to further strengthen the partnership between the two nations. This week, the UK government unveiled its comprehensive, 10-year industrial strategy, establishing a clear roadmap for economic growth focused on eight high-value sectors in which Britain has international competitive advantage.
This strategy represents our commitment to making the UK an even more attractive destination for international investment by creating a stable, open, and strategic business environment. What makes this moment particularly exciting is how closely our industrial strategy aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. Both national frameworks share remarkably similar objectives: economic diversification, technological innovation, human capability development, and the creation of environments that attract quality foreign investment. This alignment creates natural synergies that can accelerate mutual prosperity.
As partners in economic transformation, we recognize that prosperity requires a strategic approach. The global landscape has changed fundamentally in recent years, presenting new challenges, from supply chain disruptions to energy-security concerns. Yet within these challenges lie tremendous opportunities for collaboration on frontier industries in which both nations can excel together. The eight growth-driving sectors of the Industrial Strategy that will power Britain’s economic future are: advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries, creative industries, defense, digital and technologies, financial services, life sciences, and professional and business services. In each of these sectors, we see clear alignment with Vision 2030’s priorities for economic diversification. The Great Futures campaign, launched last year, has already proven to be an exceptional vehicle for delivering on this shared vision. We brought more than 450 business leaders to the Kingdom in May 2024 — the largest and most senior UK business delegation to visit any country in over a decade — and witnessed the immense appetite for partnership between our business communities. That event catalyzed partnerships worth more than £7.7 billion ($10.6 billion) and delivered more than 50 agreements across priority sectors.Together, we can build a future of shared innovation, sustainable growth, and mutual success.
Neil Crompton
These are not merely commercial transactions; they represent transformative collaborations that advance the strategic interests of both nations. Take clean energy, for instance. UK firm HYCAP has partnered with leading Saudi companies to invest more than £750 million in hydrogen-powered transport, securing more than 1,000 jobs across both kingdoms. Meanwhile, Carbon Clean’s collaboration with Saudi Aramco on modular carbon capture technology is accelerating sustainable development. In infrastructure development, British expertise is contributing significantly to projects that are reshaping the landscape of the Kingdom under Vision 2030. These include airports, aviation, rail transportation, and construction within Saudi giga-projects, with many more in the pipeline. Financial services represent another area of exceptional synergy. London’s position as a world-leading financial hub has created natural partnerships with Saudi institutions. The UK is the main location for Saudi companies and investors who want to issue green and Islamic bonds outside the Kingdom, while the London Stock Exchange has 100 percent of Saudi market share across corporate and sovereign banks. Human capability development stands at the heart of both our strategies. The recent Great Futures UK-Saudi Skills Forum brought together our governments to accelerate their partnership on technical and vocational education. Working with Saudi ministries, the UK is identifying sustainable opportunities to develop the skills vital for the economy of tomorrow.
As we look ahead, the announcement of the UK-Saudi Sustainable Infrastructure Assembly marks an important next step in our partnership. This initiative will boost collaboration between the UK’s financial and professional services sectors and Saudi Arabia’s sustainable infrastructure developers, ensuring that British expertise can contribute effectively to Vision 2030 projects. The Industrial Strategy has been international from the start, built on lessons learned from what works in other countries, and designed for the global context. This is evident in our diplomatic engagement approach, which prioritizes mutually beneficial partnerships rather than competition. We seek to deepen economic collaboration with partners such as Saudi Arabia to increase reciprocal investment and trade, foster innovation, and bolster the resilience of supply chains critical to our frontier industries. Later this year, Great Futures will mark a year of successful partnerships with a leadership summit in London. Bringing together senior UK and Saudi ministers, alongside representatives from key industries in both nations, this celebration will showcase the tangible achievements of our campaign while setting the agenda for future collaboration. I hope many Saudi business and government leaders will join us on this important occasion. The relationship between the UK and Saudi Arabia has never been stronger, with bilateral trade exceeding £17 billion annually and more than 1,300 UK firms operating in the Kingdom. But I believe the opportunities before us are even greater. By aligning the ambitions of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, we can create a model for international economic collaboration that delivers prosperity for both our nations. Together, we can build a future of shared innovation, sustainable growth, and mutual success. The UK stands ready as your committed partner on this journey.
**Neil Crompton is the British ambassador to Saudi Arabia. X: @UKAmbKSA

Missile exchanges may have ended — but questions remain
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/June 28, 2025
As befits 21st century diplomacy, US President Donald Trump announced a complete and total ceasefire between Iran and Israel on social media, congratulating “everyone” for this, especially himself. After regrettable violations within the first few hours of the truce, which needlessly caused more loss of life, the deal to end this 12-day war seems to be holding. It is probably the first good news for the region in months, as both sworn enemies have given way to pressure exerted by Washington and are holding fire, at least for now. Until the ceasefire was agreed there was a danger the region might become embroiled in a long war of attrition. Now that the missile and drone exchanges have ended, one inevitable question is whether this costly affair could have been prevented — not just as a hypothetical exercise, but as a lesson in how to avoid another military confrontation between two of the most powerful militaries in the region. Could diplomacy have achieved the same, or even better, results, without inflicting death, destruction, and psychological scars on both combatants? The build-up to these 12 days of hostilities began more than a quarter of the century ago, and some might argue as far back as 1979 when the Iranian revolution rather artificially marked Israel, for its close relations with both the toppled shah and the US, as an enemy. History will look back at this deep enmity and might struggle to find objective reasons for it. Initially this hostility served the revolution as a tool for consolidating its hold on power at home and suppressing opposition. In turn, it also helped to propel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power as Israel’s defender against the Iranian threat, both conventional and potentially nuclear. Time will possibly reveal how close Iran was to assembling a nuclear bomb, and most analysts agree that the US decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal in 2018, during Trump’s first term, removed the shackles from Iran’s uranium enrichment program, bringing it closer to weapons grade. It is hardly believable that the Tehran regime should have invested such huge resources only for civilian use. It is also the case that in forming and leading the so-called axis of resistance, Iran, through its proxies in the region, posed a threat to stability sufficient to eventually merit a response. Ultimately, despite being a source of major disruption, even a lethal one in the case of Hamas, and to a lesser extent Hezbollah, it could not match Israel’s military capabilities, especially when the latter was backed by the US and other allies. On this occasion, Netanyahu managed also to lure Trump to act against his instincts and use military force. For the US leader the dilemma was between maintaining his posture as a president who brings an end to wars, and the temptation to deliver an almost risk-free strike against Iran’s main nuclear sites after Israel’s air force had eliminated the country’s air defense capabilities.
Could diplomacy have achieved the same, or even better, results?
The latter then gained the upper hand, enabling Trump, in a matter of days, to potentially inflict a decisive blow against Iran’s nuclear program, especially in Fordow, where it is believed more than 400 kg of uranium enriched to 60 percent was stored, and then lean on both sides to stop the hostilities. When both violated the ceasefire, Trump was furious, telling the media in no uncertain terms that “we basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what ... they’re doing.” Yet, his criticism of Israel was far more robust, including a demand that Netanyahu order its pilots to return from another mission immediately. Allowing Iran a symbolic attack on US military bases in Qatar without any loss of life permitted an act of theater that allowed Tehran to save face after weeks of humiliation during which it lost many of its military chiefs and top scientists, exposing the level of Israel’s penetration to nearly every government department, scientific institution, and military command. Nevertheless, Israel’s vulnerability was also exposed by its failure to sufficiently protect its civilian population, revealing a severe shortage of adequate shelters as their enemy hit hospitals, the main international airport, and even oil refineries in Haifa. What emerged quickly was the difference between the open-ended conflict that Israel embarked on and Washington’s priorities. Israel had many far-reaching objectives beyond Iran’s nuclear program, including degrading its conventional military power, and instigating regime change. For Trump, however, it was simply about setting back the nuclear program and returning to the negotiating table. The war with Iran gave Netanyahu a new lease of life. A man who had barely talked to the Israeli media or mixed with people in public, especially since Oct. 7, suddenly could not stop himself from doing both, including visiting sites that were hit by Iranian missiles. But 21 months after the massacre, incapable and unwilling to take responsibility, he still has not visited the communities that were destroyed there. Yet the destruction caused by Iran gave him much-needed justification to continue the war before Trump put a stop to the conflict, and the photo-ops were exactly what he needed considering his high level of disapproval among voters. After this brief bout of fighting, Netanyahu’s Likud party is doing slightly better in the polls, which might tempt him to call a snap election, but in the meantime, he will have to convince Israel’s voters that the outcome of this war justified the unprecedented terrifying 12 days that they endured. Can he, together with Trump, also translate military achievements into a diplomatic success, one that ensures both that future uranium enrichment is limited to what is needed for civil use, and that Tehran ceases its meddling in the affairs of other countries? This remains an open question, but the next task for Israel’s prime minister is to explain to the electorate why the war in Gaza is still raging and 50 hostages are still in captivity.
**Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg

Shifting tourism from preservation to regeneration
Rashid Alhatilah/Arab News/June 28/2025
Since COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, tourism has rebounded rapidly. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, it is expected to hit record levels in 2025. But this growth demands an urgent reassessment of how tourism impacts the natural world. This is especially critical in coastal regions, which attract nearly half of all international travelers and are home to some of the planet’s most vulnerable ecosystems, including coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass beds. A new model is emerging: regenerative tourism. Rather than focusing solely on preservation, it aims to restore and enhance these ecosystems.
Rooted in science, innovation and careful planning, regenerative tourism offers a new relationship between people and place — one that strengthens biodiversity, supports communities, and creates lasting value. At Red Sea Global, this approach is applied across every stage of development, using data, design and ecological insight to show how tourism can contribute to long-term environmental recovery. Regeneration begins not with restoration, but with rethinking how we design and build from the start. The Red Sea and AMAALA, two of our flagship destinations, are developed with this question in mind: How can we leave a place healthier than we found it? In Al-Wajh Lagoon, for example, development is limited to just 22 of more than 90 islands, with nine designated as conservation areas. At AMAALA, development is capped to accommodate no more than 500,000 guests per year to protect delicate habitats from overuse.
At Shebara, overwater villas were built directly above the sea, avoiding sensitive beach zones and using marine-safe materials. The Desert Rock resort was carefully integrated into the landscape, preserving the natural contours of the mountains while minimizing disruption to the surrounding environment. And at AMAALA’s organic farms, sustainable food production operates entirely off-grid, powered by solar energy and integrated into the local ecosystem. Together, these projects reflect our broader goal of delivering a 30 percent net conservation benefit across The Red Sea and AMAALA by 2040.
Our environmental restoration programs go beyond conservation — they aim to rebuild ecosystems at scale and boost their long-term resilience.
We have launched an extensive seagrass restoration initiative, recognizing the critical role these underwater meadows play in nurturing marine biodiversity, from dugongs to sea turtles. Seagrasses also improve water quality and act as efficient carbon sinks.
At the same time, our coral gardening program has transplanted more than 100,000 corals across the Red Sea, achieving survival rates that exceed global benchmarks. These efforts help reestablish reef habitats that support a wide range of marine life. Perhaps most ambitious is our mangrove regeneration program. Supported by a nursery of 1 million sq. meters, we have planted more than 3 million mangrove trees across our destinations. These trees stabilize coastlines, support fisheries, filter pollutants and store significantly more carbon than tropical rainforests.
Rooted in science, innovation and careful planning, regenerative tourism offers a new relationship between people and place. To ensure long-term impact, we have partnered with the National Center for Vegetation Cover and other stakeholders to protect and expand these efforts.
At Red Sea Global, technology is a core part of the infrastructure for regeneration. From real-time marine sensors to nature-based solutions, innovation helps us make smarter, faster decisions and expand our impact across sectors.
Our marine environments are monitored using AI-powered sensors that track water quality, biodiversity and environmental changes in real time. This enables rapid response, reduces reliance on human divers and improves data accuracy.
We also invest in technologies that mimic or enhance natural systems — often called nature-based solutions. These span construction, clean energy, agriculture and water treatment, offering practical ways to cut costs, boost efficiency and restore ecosystems.This approach redefines how we value the natural world. Ecosystems are no longer seen as passive scenery or extractable assets, but as active participants in a regenerative economy.
The Corallium Marine Life Institute lies at the heart of our regenerative approach. As both a research center and visitor experience hub, Corallium enables marine species to reproduce in controlled environments that replicate the Red Sea’s natural conditions. These “living laboratories” allow us to test and refine ecological interventions before applying them in the wild. Collaboration is key to our progress. We work closely with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, the Coral Research and Development Accelerator Platform, and innovation platforms such as WAVE — an initiative launched by Princess Reema bint Bandar — to support ocean-positive solutions. These partnerships bring together researchers, entrepreneurs, policymakers and conservationists to align innovation with environmental impact. Looking ahead, global platforms such as The Ocean Race 2027, which will celebrate its Grand Finale at AMAALA, will bring international attention to the urgent need to protect ocean health. Through sport, science and storytelling, such events help catalyze public engagement and drive meaningful change. At Red Sea Global, we are building destinations where guests play an active role in regeneration. Through education, immersive experiences and hands-on restoration efforts, tourism becomes a practical tool for protecting natural systems. There is growing recognition that environmental health and economic resilience are deeply connected. Regenerative tourism offers a realistic way to align development with long-term ecological and social value. The path forward depends on collective commitment, thoughtful design and a willingness to rethink how development, nature and people coexist.
The opportunity is clear: to make regeneration the baseline — setting a new standard for tourism to build smarter, travel better, and help restore what has been lost.
• Rashid Alhatilah is the group head of environment at Red Sea Global

Selected Twitters For Today on June 28-29/2025
Amine Bar-Julius Iskandar
His assassins will be out of jail in a couple of years. But our young man is dead leaving behind a broken family and a desperate community
If we have to choose between life and coexistence, we choose life
Those who still call for Taef and coexistence are responsible of each loss