English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  October 04/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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Bible Quotations For today
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting-place, but it finds none.
Saint Matthew 12/43-45/:”‘When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting-place, but it finds none. Then it says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 03-04/2025
Elias Bejjani/Text and Video/Arabic and English: The Conspiracy of Gebran Bassil, Hezbollah, and Amal Against the Electoral Rights of the Lebanese Diaspora
Elias Bejjani/Bkirki and the Maronite Bishops Are Called Upon to Expel Bassil from the Church and Punish Him with Excommunication 02 October/2025
The Targeting of Sheikh Abbas Yazbek by the Politicized Judiciary Subjugated to the Terrorist Hezbollah Militia Is Rejected and Condemned/Elias Bejjani/September 30/2025
Israeli Strikes Weaponize Timing From Nabatieh to Beirut Suburbs
General Haikal Tours South of the Litani, Coordinates with UNIFIL
Washington Supports Weapons Restriction with $230 Million
Interior minister seeks dissolution of pro-Hezbollah art association
UNIFIL calls on Israel to stop attacking UN peacekeepers, Lebanese soldiers
US allocates $230 million to shore up Lebanese army as it moves to disarm Hezbollah
UN Force in Lebanon Says Israeli Army Dropped Grenades Near Peacekeepers
Berri says elections on time, law can't be amended
Cabinet to discuss Monday army's 1st report on arms monopoly plan
Violent Israeli strikes target Ali al-Taher hills for 4th time since ceasefire
UNIFIL slams Israeli grenade attacks near peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers
Interior minister seeks dissolution of pro-Hezbollah art association
Al-Manar reporter who insulted Salam fails to attend questioning
Foreign Ministry following up on fate of Lebanese who were on Gaza flotilla

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 03-04/2025
Trump orders Israel to stop bombing Gaza after Hamas partially accepts his peace plan
Trump tells Israel it ‘must immediately stop’ bombing Gaza to enable hostage release after Hamas accepts elements of peace plan
Hamas says it accepts some elements of Gaza peace plan after Trump issues ultimatum
Trump gives Hamas until Sunday evening to reach Gaza deal
Hamas faces multiple pressures and own divisions as Trump sets Sunday deadline for response to peace plan
UN Says Notion of a Safe Zone in Southern Gaza 'Farcical'
Trump's Gaza Plan Not in Line with Muslim Countries' Proposal, Says Pakistan
Hamas Clashes with ‘Al-Majayda’ Clan in Gaza, Israel Strikes
Erdogan Tells Trump He Welcomes Peace Efforts, but Israel Must Stop Attacks for Their Success
Balfour Declaration never called for creation of ‘State of Israel’: Lord Roderick Balfour
Israel arrests over 20 foreign journalists on Gaza-bound aid flotilla: Watchdog
Morocco’s PM calls for dialogue as ‘the only path’ to addressing country’s challenges
UK police may have accidentally shot dead victim in synagogue attack
Unidentified drones fly over Belgian military base
Kyiv says Russia launches largest ever attack on gas sites
Munich airport resumes flights after drone sightings trigger suspension
Canada PM says will meet Trump in Washington on tariffs
Houthis Bury Hundreds of Unidentified Bodies Across Three Provinces

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on October 03-04/2025
The Evil Intent to Destroy Israel/Nils A. Haug/Gatestone Institute/October 03/2025
So that opportunities are not lost/Zaid AlKami/Al Arabiya English/October 03/2025
Ukraine Can Win: Is Trump Right?/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/October 03/2025
Intra-Sectarian Shifts Regarding the Country’s Fundamental Question/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/October 03/2025
Question: “What is the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)?/GotQuestions/October 03/2025
Selected X tweets For on October 03/2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 03-04/2025
Elias Bejjani/Text and Video/Arabic and English: The Conspiracy of Gebran Bassil, Hezbollah, and Amal Against the Electoral Rights of the Lebanese Diaspora
Elias Bejjani/Bkirki and the Maronite Bishops Are Called Upon to Expel Bassil from the Church and Punish Him with Excommunication 02 October/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/10/144900/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDe3NuvZ7Vw&t=19s
In Lebanon’s modern history, few examples illustrate the fusion of legal manipulation and political malice as clearly as Article 122 of the 2017 electoral law. This article denies non-resident Lebanese citizens their natural and constitutional right to vote in their original districts inside Lebanon—just like their fellow resident citizens. Instead, it isolates expatriates into a separate voting category and allocates them six parliamentary seats—one per continent—divided equally between Muslims and Christians, based on an unworkable and deeply flawed legal premise.
This was no coincidence. Article 122 is part of a long-term, premeditated scheme that began with the Taif Agreement—a turning point that significantly weakened Christian political influence, particularly the powers of the Maronite presidency. It abolished true Muslim-Christian parity in most state institutions, reducing it to a mere formality in top-level positions. Article 122 is a direct continuation of this exclusionary agenda, further marginalizing the Lebanese diaspora—most of whom are Christians—and stripping them of their rightful role in shaping national policy.
This malicious project is not new. It dates back to the era of Syrian-appointed President Emile Lahoud. At the time, the Foreign Ministry’s expatriats Affairs, under Shiite political operative Haitham Jomaa—a loyalist of Nabih Berri—attempted to promote this plan among expatriates. Maronite MP Naamatallah Abi Nasr led a failed campaign to market it, facing overwhelming expatriots’ rejection. Many diaspora activists, including the author of this piece, stood at the forefront of the resistance and exposed its hidden agenda. The plan was ultimately shelved—only to be revived in 2017.
Shockingly, it was revived through the very Christian parties that were supposed to defend expatriate rights. In a moment of short-sightedness—or perhaps calculated betrayal—both the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the Lebanese Forces (LF) supported Article 122. In exchange for a handful of additional seats, they legitimized a monstrous law designed to weaken the voice of the Christian diaspora. Whether through ignorance or political cowardice, they gave cover to a measure whose long-term damage far outweighs any short-term gains.
Today, it is no surprise that Nabih Berri and Hezbollah oppose empowering Christian expatriates. Berri’s sectarianism is well known, and Hezbollah—an Iranian-backed, jihadist terrorist proxy—has always aimed to silence any opposing or sovereign Lebanese voice. Yet the real disaster—the Iscariot betrayal—comes from Gebran Bassil himself. As head of the FPM and a Maronite, Bassil still defends Article 122, betraying the very Christians he claims to represent. Already sanctioned under the U.S. Magnitsky Act for corruption, Bassil walks in the footsteps of his Father-in-law, Michel Aoun, who traded national sovereignty for power and submitted to Hezbollah’s humiliating domination. This toxic and treacherous Micheal Aoun has left Lebanon in ruins—economically, institutionally, and morally.
What fully exposes Bassil is the bold and patriotic statement recently issued by Maronite bishops in the diaspora. In clear and courageous language, they rejected Article 122 and demanded its cancellation, affirming that Lebanese expatriates must be allowed to vote in their original districts as full citizens—not be reduced to second-class voters or “continental MPs” with no land, no community, and no real political identity. (Click here to read the diaspora Bishops’ statement in Arabic)
Text of Article 122 of Election Law No. 44/2017
“Six seats shall be allocated to Lebanese expatriates, to be added to the number of members of Parliament, making the total number 134 deputies, in the electoral cycle following the first cycle held in accordance with the provisions of this law. The six deputies shall be distributed among the six continents as follows:
One deputy for the continent of Africa
One deputy for the continent of North America
One deputy for the continent of South America
One deputy for the continent of Europe
One deputy for the continent of Australia
One deputy for the continent of Asia
In the distribution of these seats, parity between Christians and Muslims shall be observed, so that:
One seat is allocated for Maronites
One seat for Greek Orthodox
One seat for Catholics
One seat for Sunnis
One seat for Shiites
One seat for Druze
The mechanism for nomination, voting, and special electoral districts for expatriates shall be determined by a decree issued by the Council of Ministers based on the proposal of the Ministers of Interior and Foreign Affairs. Six seats shall be deducted from the 128 Parliament seats in the subsequent cycle, from the seats belonging to the same sects that were allocated to non-residents.”
But in reality, Article 122 has no democratic value. It is a veiled tool of exclusion and disenfranchisement. It neither provides fair representation for local voters nor protects the political rights of Lebanese abroad. It is not reform—it is deception.
In conclusion, upholding Article 122 amounts to a blatant betrayal of the constitution, the National Pact, and the Lebanese diaspora—especially its Christian community. Every honorable political force and every free Lebanese—at home and abroad—must raise their voices and demand the abolition of this shameful, disgraceful article.
Let Article 122 be repealed.
Let the dignity of the diaspora be restored.
Let every Lebanese expatriate vote fully—as a citizen, not a mere financial provider.

The Targeting of Sheikh Abbas Yazbek by the Politicized Judiciary Subjugated to the Terrorist Hezbollah Militia Is Rejected and Condemned
Elias Bejjani/September 30/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147777/
The arbitrary and degrading detention of Sheikh Abbas Yazbek — a Shiite cleric opposed to the terrorist Hezbollah — is categorically rejected and condemned in the strongest terms.
On September 26, 2025, at Beirut International Airport, Sheikh Yazbek was banned from travel, and his passport, identification papers, and phone were confiscated — a blatant violation of the law and of the most basic human rights.
This incident is yet another chapter in the systematic campaign of intimidation targeting anyone within the Shiite community who dares to raise their voice against Hezbollah. It once again proves that the Lebanese judiciary, particularly the Military Court, remains nothing more than a tool in Hezbollah’s hands, deployed to silence opponents and fabricate charges against them, while the militia continues to control vital state institutions.
What happened to Sheikh Abbas Yazbek is not merely a personal assault but a deliberate warning to every free Shiite: opposing Hezbollah comes at the cost of humiliation, assassination, or judicial persecution. Although his personal documents were returned to him today after a superficial investigation, the political and moral damage was already inflicted. That was the real objective — to tarnish the image of dissenters and break their resolve.
There must be no illusions or appeals to the so-called Lebanese state to restore Sheikh Yazbek’s rights, for there is no state in Lebanon today. What exists is nothing more than a system entirely occupied and subjugated to the will of the Hezbollah terrorist militia.
Patriotic Lebanese — at home under occupation and in the Diaspora — have a national duty to rally around Shiite opponents of Hezbollah, supporting them by every available means. They must not be left as easy prey for Hezbollah’s security and judicial machinery of intimidation. Equally, Lebanese patriots must call upon international human rights organizations and all defenders of freedom to expose these practices and denounce the weaponization of the judiciary and security agencies for political oppression.
Today, the Shiite community in occupied Lebanon is fully hijacked by Hezbollah. Its people live as hostages in a suffocating environment where dissent is met with humiliation, fabricated charges, or outright assassination. Yet it is abundantly clear: these repressive policies will never silence the free voices, nor will they break the will of honorable men and women who resist Hezbollah’s tyranny.
Freedom for Sheikh Abbas Yazbek and for every free Lebanese voice.
Shame and disgrace to those who turned the Lebanese judiciary into Hezbollah’s weapon.

Israeli Strikes Weaponize Timing From Nabatieh to Beirut Suburbs
Beirut : Asharq Al Awsat/October 03/2025
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon are no longer measured only by rubble or the number of buildings destroyed. What residents now describe is a sustained “spectacle of terror”: constant drone patrols, leaflets and warnings dropped over border villages, and sudden strikes in the dead of night or on religious holidays. The aim, locals and psychologists say, appears to go beyond hitting specific targets, it is to turn time itself into a weapon, forcing civilians to live in a state of stifling, anticipatory fear.
Dawn firebelt around Nabatieh
In the same policy pattern, the woods of Ali al-Taher above Nabatieh al-Fawqa became a belt of fire on Friday morning when Israeli raids near Jabal al-Shaqif produced massive blasts that ignited fires and damaged homes and shops.
Low-flying drones and the dropping of stun devices heightened panic, leaving residents disoriented and extending fear into the minutiae of everyday life. “ The sound of aircraft is terrifying, and once the strikes begin you know immediately the blow is coming. The sound alone plants fear,” said Rasha, from Kafr Rumman in the Nabatieh district, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat. She said the attacks leave people “living in permanent terror even after they stop,” adding: “That jolt never leaves us — every strike leaves a mark and deepens our insecurity.”
Warning then strike: Sept. 18
The night of Sept. 18 was an intense example of the pressure tactic: Israel issued urgent warnings to the towns of Mais al-Jabal, Kafr Tibnit and Dibin and provided maps of buildings it said were at risk. Minutes separated the alerts from strikes on houses, prompting the mass displacement of thousands. In that dynamic, the warning itself becomes part of the punishment, cementing terror into the collective consciousness. Holidays as targets — the southern suburbs The deliberate timing is clearest in the southern suburbs of Beirut. At dawn on Eid al-Fitr, an Israeli strike hit a Hezbollah official in one neighborhood, turning a moment of celebration into a bloody scene that terrified residents. Weeks later, on Eid al-Adha, urgent warnings preceded an assault that struck eight buildings at once. The chants of takbir mixed with the sound of explosions as religious observance became a trigger for flight and displacement. By targeting holiday moments, strikes are aimed at the communal moment itself, a time of spiritual and family significance.
Psychological dimension
“The spectacle imposed by Israel is not new to the southerners’ consciousness, but it takes a different form now — programmed terror through drones and airstrikes,” said psychologist Dr. Daoud Faraj. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said that where village life in the 1990s was shaped by a visible military presence, today that presence has been replaced by a technological war machine — drones that never leave the southern skies and have become a constant source of anxiety. Faraj said the deliberate timing of strikes — at dawn or on holidays — is intended to produce a collective psychological shock.
“The aim is not only military,” he said. “It is strategic on a psychological level: to create the sense that death can arrive at any moment, that daily life can collapse in a second.”He warned the tactic produces “fatalistic resignation. People no longer experience fear as a natural urge to flee; they pass a threshold into passive waiting — awaiting death or disaster — which is the most dangerous legacy of war because it paralyzes rational thought and decision-making.”Faraj added that the predominantly Shiite communities being targeted face the spectacle directly: those with means move to safer areas, while the poor are forced to remain in danger, confronting their fate daily with a numbed consciousness. Military angle “The escalation is not simply a choice of timing,” said retired Brig. Gen. Khaled Hamadeh. “The strikes are tied to located targets, and also to the state’s failure to fulfil its commitments,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat. He described the escalation as an instrument of pressure meant to force the implementation of a unilateral arms plan.

General Haikal Tours South of the Litani, Coordinates with UNIFIL
Washington Supports Weapons Restriction with $230 Million
Nidaa Al-Watan / October 4, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
Following Hamas's acceptance of US President Donald Trump's plan to stop the war, attention turns to Lebanon, where domestic and international observers are awaiting whether the US administration will offer the same deal to Hezbollah. This would leave the group with two choices: either the voluntary surrender of illegal weapons, or allowing Israel to act alone, in its own way, and as it deems fit. Caught between these two choices, Lebanon stands on a fault line, subject to a balance of international power that will not tolerate any adventures or bravado outside the framework of a sovereign and independent state.
In a related development, the announcement yesterday that a Cabinet session will be held the day after tomorrow, Monday, confirms the commitment to the monthly reporting requirement for the Army Command regarding the implementation of the decision to confine arms to the state, which the government adopted last August 5. This timing coincided with a series of related developments, notably the approval of the administration of US President Donald Trump to provide $230 million to the Lebanese Army as part of its effort to disarm Hezbollah. Yesterday also witnessed an escalation in Israeli operations, including drone flights over the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam explained in a media interview yesterday that setting the government session for Monday is to meet the one-month deadline given to the Army Command on September 5. He noted that there should be no pre-judgment about what the Army Command's decision will contain. He stressed the application of the law, rejecting selectivity. He affirmed that applying the law is what prevents discord, not leniency in its implementation, as some promote.
Test Session
Nidaa Al-Watan learned that the Monday session, to be held at 3:00 PM in Baabda, will be important in determining governmental solidarity. The agenda includes a resolution to dissolve the association that organized the Al-Rawcheh celebration, so eyes will be on the position of each ministerial bloc within the Council of Ministers, especially the harmony between President of the Republic Joseph Aoun and Salam. The prominent issue, however, is the presentation of the Army report, which will indicate how to deal with the next stage regarding the issue of restricting weapons, which will open a national discussion. Attention will also be paid to the conduct of the ministers of the Shiite "Duo" during and after the session.
Raad's Circumventing Visit
Political circles, speaking to Nidaa Al-Watan, noted the visit of the head of the "Loyalty to the Resistance" bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, on the eve of setting the Monday session date, to the President of the Republic and Army Commander Rudolph Haikal. They said the visit was preemptive to what the session would produce. They explained that Raad sought to ensure that the outcome of the session would not be a provocation to "the party" but would be consistent with its wishes. Raad also informed the President and the Army Commander that the issue of south of the Litani differs from the north. Regarding the south, Hezbollah can proceed normally, but concerning the party's weapon north of the Litani, he openly stated that it is not open for discussion in any way. The circles confirmed that the goal of Raad's visit was to contain, nullify, and minimize the impact of the anticipated Army Command report. The same circles pointed out that Raad did not visit the Prime Minister because "the party" considers itself in a confrontation with him, and instead "tried to circumvent Salam by visiting Baabda and Yarzeh, which is regrettable, but it is the reality."
Dissolving "the Party's" Association
In a related context, and following the controversy surrounding the illumination of the Al-Rawcheh rock with the images of Hezbollah Secretary-Generals Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, Minister of Interior and Municipalities Ahmad Hajjar requested the dissolution of the "Lebanese Arts Association - Risalat" and the withdrawal of its operating license. This is due to its violation of the Beirut Governor's letter No. 3681/B M dated 24/9/2025, its internal regulations, the obligations it committed to when requesting the license, as well as its violation and encroachment upon public property laws and its use for purposes other than those intended, for goals that affect public order without prior license or approval. The Ministry of Interior's request was placed as the second item on the Cabinet's agenda.
US Assistance to the Army
Concurrently, the administration of US President Donald Trump approved $230 million in aid for the Lebanese security forces, including $190 million for the Army and $40 million for the Internal Security Forces (ISF). Democratic Congressional aides mentioned that the funding was released just before the end of Washington's fiscal year on September 30. One aide commented, "For a small country like Lebanon, this is very significant." A Lebanese source indicated that the funding will enable the ISF to take on domestic security responsibility in Lebanon so that the Army can focus on other vital missions.
Army Commander in the South
For his part, Army Commander General Rudolph Haikal visited the UNIFIL Headquarters in Naqoura, where he was received by UNIFIL Commander General Diodato Ibniara and a number of officers. An extended meeting was held to discuss ways of cooperation and coordination between UNIFIL and the Army and the implementation of Resolution 1701. The Army Commander also visited the Benwa Barakat barracks in Tyre, meeting with the Commander of the South Litani Sector, Brigadier General Nicolas Tabet, and a number of officers and soldiers. He then moved south towards the town of Biyada, inspected the Fifth Brigade Command, and met with the Brigade Commander, officers, and soldiers there. In the afternoon, he also visited the Francois El Hajj barracks in Marjayoun.
The South on a Hot Israeli Plate
Security-wise, the Ali Al-Taher woods on the northern outskirts of the town of Nabatieh Fawqa were subjected, for the fourth time since the end of the 66-day war, to a violent wave of Israeli warplane raids with several concussion missiles, which caused a huge explosion, created a fire belt, and led to large fires in the woods and cracks in dozens of homes in nearby neighborhoods. The Israeli Army announced that the raids targeted a position used by Hezbollah for fire management and defense. For its part, UNIFIL stated in a press release that the Israeli Army, the day before yesterday, dropped bombs near peacekeeping forces who were working alongside the Lebanese Army to provide protection for civilian workers in the town of Maroun Al-Ras, where they were removing rubble from war-damaged homes.
Minister of Justice's Circular
In a notable judicial development, Minister of Justice Adel Nassar issued a circular addressed to notaries, prohibiting anyone subjected to international sanctions from engaging in any sale, purchase, or lease transactions. This is a regulatory step aimed at supporting Lebanon's commitment to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards, and to fortify it against FATF pressures. The Minister of Justice told Nidaa Al-Watan that the circular is not limited to the names on US sanctions lists but includes international sanctions contained in the lists issued by the Central Bank of Lebanon. He revealed that, to ensure effective implementation of the circular, he requested the Central Bank to provide a hotline directly linking notaries to the Special Investigation Commission, allowing for immediate verification of any party intended for transaction.
Awaiting the Vatican Date
On another note, Nidaa Al-Watan learned that preparations for the Pope's visit are intensifying, but the Lebanese official authorities are awaiting a statement from the Vatican in the coming days to confirm the visit and set its date. Information suggests it will take place on November 30 and December 1 and 2, unless there is any change from the Vatican. The visit will be of political as well as religious importance, especially since the Vatican is an active player on the Lebanese scene, using its international relations to serve Lebanese causes.


Interior minister seeks dissolution of pro-Hezbollah art association
Naharnet/October 03/2025
Following the controversy sparked by the illumination of the iconic Raouche Rock with images of slain Hezbollah chiefs Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar on Friday demanded the dissolution of the Lebanese Art Association-Rissalat. Hajjar accused Rissalat of violating a memo by Beirut’s governor, the assembly notice it had submitted, “the laws that govern public properties” as well as public order, noting that it did not have “an authorization or prior permission” to illuminate the rock. According to MTV, Hajjar’s request has been placed as the second article on the agenda of the cabinet session that will be held on Monday. The illumination of the iconic rock stirred controversy and division in recent weeks, as Prime Minister Nawaf Salam urged local authorities to prevent any unauthorized usage of landmarks. A Lebanese official told AFP that Hezbollah had "obtained the authorization" of the local authorities for the gathering on the Raouche seaside corniche "but without illuminating the rock."In a statement last Thursday, Salam said the organizers had "clearly violated the accord" with the local authorities, adding that he had requested the perpetrators' arrest. A Hezbollah representative confirmed to AFP that the organizers had only requested permission for the gathering. He said it was unclear which agency had authority to give permission for the light show on the rock and that they considered it was covered by "freedom of expression" under Lebanon's constitution. The event was a show of force by the Shiite militant group and political party, which suffered serious blows in last year's war with Israel and has been under domestic and international pressure to give up its remaining arsenal since then. Hajjar has said that it was not possible to halt the rock illumination activity due to the huge number of Hezbollah supporters who attended the event.

UNIFIL calls on Israel to stop attacking UN peacekeepers, Lebanese soldiers
Al Arabiya English/October 03/2025
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon on Friday slammed Israel for violating Security Council Resolution 1701 after the Israeli army dropped grenades near peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers. In a statement, UNIFIL said the Israeli army dropped grenades near peacekeepers working alongside Lebanese soldiers in southern Lebanon on Thursday. “The workers were trying to clear the ruins of homes destroyed due to the war,” UNIFIL said. Israel dropped grenades at two different sites. UNIFIL said it had informed the Israeli army about the activity in advance, and immediately demanded that the firing stop. No one was injured. “Attacks on peacekeepers or interference with their mandated tasks shows disregard for the safety and security of UNIFIL peacekeepers and the Lebanese army, and the stability they are working to restore in south Lebanon,” UNIFIL said. “Such actions also constitute a serious violation of Security Council resolution 1701. We call on the [Israeli army] to cease attacks on or near peacekeepers, civilians, and Lebanese soldiers and allow us to carry out our mandated tasks without obstruction.”

US allocates $230 million to shore up Lebanese army as it moves to disarm Hezbollah
The Arab Weekly/October 03/2025
US President Donald Trump’s administration approved $230 million to shore up Lebanon’s military and security forces as they push to disarm the Iran-aligned militant group Hezbollah, sources in Washington and Beirut said. A Lebanese source familiar with the decision said the funding included $190 million for the Lebanese Armed Forces and $40 million for the Internal Security Forces. Democratic US congressional aides said the funds had been released just before Washington’s fiscal year ended on September 30. “For a small country like Lebanon, that’s really, really significant,” one of the aides said on a call with reporters, requesting anonymity in order to speak freely. The funding was released at a time when the Republican president’s administration has been slashing many foreign assistance programmes, saying that its priority in spending taxpayer dollars is America First.
The release of the funds appeared to reflect the priority Trump has put on trying to resolve Middle East conflicts, including Gaza, Lebanon and the wider region. Asked for comment, a US State Department spokesman said in an emailed statement that US assistance supports Lebanese forces “as they work to assert Lebanese sovereignty across the country and fully implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the only viable framework for a durable security arrangement for both Lebanese and Israelis.”The resolution, adopted in August 2006, ended the last round of deadly conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. A conflict between Israel and Lebanon that began a year ago after the Gaza war has battered Hezbollah and left swathes of Lebanon in ruins. President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked the US-backed army on August 5 to devise a plan to ensure that all arms across the country would be in the hands of security forces by the end of the year. Hezbollah has rejected calls to disarm since the devastating war with Israel. But the Shia militant group is under pressure to give up its weapons from its rivals in Lebanon and from Washington.The Lebanese source said the funding would allow the Internal Security Forces to take over internal security in Lebanon so the army can focus on other critical missions.

UN Force in Lebanon Says Israeli Army Dropped Grenades Near Peacekeepers
Asharq Al Awsat/October 03/2025
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Friday that the Israeli military had dropped grenades near its peacekeepers the day before, urging the army to stop such attacks. "Yesterday, the Israel forces dropped grenades near peacekeepers working alongside Lebanese soldiers to provide security for civilian workers" in south Lebanon's Maroun al-Ras, a UNIFIL statement said, adding that nobody was hurt. The statement urged the Israeli army "to cease attacks on or near peacekeepers, civilians, and Lebanese soldiers... and allow us to carry out our mandated tasks without obstruction".

Berri says elections on time, law can't be amended
Naharnet/October 03/2025
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri stressed Friday that the May 2026 parliamentary elections will be held on time. Berri added that “the remaining time does not allow for any amendment” of the electoral law, hinting that expats are supposed to vote for six newly-introduced seats and not the current 128 seats. The Speaker also wondered “how those who were with the current electoral law and defended it in the past are trying to object against it today.”Moreover, Berri said that “Lebanon can confront everything through its unity and can persevere and continue with the unity of its sons.”
Expats had voted heavily in favor of the opposition during the 2018 and 2022 parliamentary elections. Hezbollah and the Amal Movement argue that they do not enjoy the same campaigning freedom that the other parties enjoy abroad and have thus deemed the six newly-introduced seats as the lesser of two evils.
It is still unclear how the voting for the six seats will take place seeing as there is no clear mechanism distributing the seats on sects and continents. The Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb Party and some Change and independent MPs are meanwhile calling for allowing expats to vote for the current 128 seats as happened in the 2018 and 2022 elections. The law had been amended back then to allow for the postponement of the introduction of the six new seats.

Cabinet to discuss Monday army's 1st report on arms monopoly plan
Naharnet/October 03/2025
Cabinet will convene at 3:00 pm Monday to discuss the army's first monthly report on its arms monopoly plan, TV networks said on Friday. Cabinet had on August 5 tasked the army with developing a plan to restrict arms to the state by year end, an unprecedented move that theoretically paves the way for disarming Hezbollah. The plan sparked opposition from Hezbollah, which warned that it would not agree to any timetable for disarmament while Israeli aggression against Lebanon continues. The army submitted its plan to the government on September 5 and the government adopted it despite a walkout by Shiite ministers, asking the military to submit monthly reports on implementation. According to media reports, the plan consists of four stages, with the first to be implemented in the area south of the Litani River near Israel’s border. The bearing and transfer of arms will also be prohibited across Lebanon during this stage, the reports said. The second stage will afterwards be implemented in the area between the Litani River and the al-Awali River, the third in Beirut and its suburbs and the fourth in the Bekaa. Lebanon has hinted that the serious implementation of the plan would not begin before Israel starts withdrawing from five strategic hills it is still occupying in south Lebanon.

Violent Israeli strikes target Ali al-Taher hills for 4th time since ceasefire
Naharnet/October 03/2025
Violent Israeli airstrikes targeted at dawn Friday the Ali al-Taher hills in the Nabatieh region, with the sounds of explosions echoing across south Lebanon.The Israeli army claimed that it bombed the area after detecting Hezbollah “activities” in it, saying the strikes hit “weapons, military buildings and subterranean infrastructure.”The bombing sparked major blazes in the area’s forests that took firefighters four hours to extinguish. It also damaged dozens of nearby houses and shops.This is the fourth time that the area has been targeted since the November ceasefire, with Israel claiming that it contains a major Hezbollah underground site.

UNIFIL slams Israeli grenade attacks near peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers
Naharnet/October 03/2025
The Israeli army on Thursday dropped grenades near UNIFIL peacekeepers working alongside Lebanese soldiers to provide security for civilian workers in the southern border town of Maroun al-Ras, UNIFIL said on Friday. The workers were trying to clear ruins of homes destroyed in the latest war. "Around 11:30 am, peacekeepers at two different sites heard a grenade explode near an excavator, about 500 meters away from them. Moments later, the first group saw a drone fly overhead and witnessed an explosion about 30-40 meters away. About 20 minutes after that, the second group saw another drone drop a grenade that exploded just 20 meters over their heads," UNIFIL said in a statement. It noted that it had informed the Israeli army about the activity in advance, and immediately demanded that the firing stop. "Fortunately, no one was injured, and the works eventually continued," UNIFIL added, noting that "attacks on peacekeepers or interference with their mandated tasks shows disregard for the safety and security of UNIFIL peacekeepers and the Lebanese army, and the stability they are working to restore in south Lebanon.""Such actions also constitute a serious violation of Security Council resolution 1701. We call on the IDF (Israeli army) to cease attacks on or near peacekeepers, civilians, and Lebanese soldiers and allow us to carry out our mandated tasks without obstruction," it said.

Interior minister seeks dissolution of pro-Hezbollah art association
Naharnet/October 03/2025
Following the controversy sparked by the illumination of the iconic Raouche Rock with images of slain Hezbollah chiefs Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar on Friday demanded the dissolution of the Lebanese Art Association-Rissalat.
Hajjar accused Rissalat of violating a memo by Beirut’s governor, the assembly notice it had submitted, “the laws that govern public properties” as well as public order, noting that it did not have “an authorization or prior permission” to illuminate the rock. According to MTV, Hajjar’s request has been placed as the second article on the agenda of the cabinet session that will be held on Monday. The illumination of the iconic rock stirred controversy and division in recent weeks, as Prime Minister Nawaf Salam urged local authorities to prevent any unauthorized usage of landmarks. A Lebanese official told AFP that Hezbollah had "obtained the authorization" of the local authorities for the gathering on the Raouche seaside corniche "but without illuminating the rock."In a statement last Thursday, Salam said the organizers had "clearly violated the accord" with the local authorities, adding that he had requested the perpetrators' arrest. A Hezbollah representative confirmed to AFP that the organizers had only requested permission for the gathering. He said it was unclear which agency had authority to give permission for the light show on the rock and that they considered it was covered by "freedom of expression" under Lebanon's constitution. The event was a show of force by the Shiite militant group and political party, which suffered serious blows in last year's war with Israel and has been under domestic and international pressure to give up its remaining arsenal since then. Hajjar has said that it was not possible to halt the rock illumination activity due to the huge number of Hezbollah supporters who attended the event.

Al-Manar reporter who insulted Salam fails to attend questioning
Naharnet/October 03/2025
Al-Manar reporter and pro-Hezbollah activist Ali Berro on Friday failed to attend an interrogation session at the Raouche police department over the issue of the illumination of the Raouche Rock and launching verbal attacks on PM Nawaf Salam.
“Berro’s lawyer showed up and said that his client is a journalist … and can only appear before the Publications Court, but State Prosecutor Judge Jamal al-Hajjar ordered that he be summoned again to interrogation before the Raouche police station, saying that the appropriate measures would be taken if he fails to show up,” the National News Agency said. Berri had appeared in a video next to Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa during Hezbollah’s sit-in opposite the Raouche Rock last week. In the video he brags that Hezbollah had illuminated the iconic rock with the images of its slain leaders despite Salam’s rejection while voicing insults and veiled threats against the premier.

Foreign Ministry following up on fate of Lebanese who were on Gaza flotilla
Naharnet/October 03/2025
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry announced Friday that it is following up on the issue of “Israel’s detention of two Lebanese citizens who were aboard the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla.”The Ministry is “carrying out the necessary contacts to know their fate and secure their release as soon as possible,” it said in a statement. Media reports have identified the two Lebanese as Lina al-Tabbal and Mohammad al-Qaderi. Tabbal is a French-Lebanese international law expert who hails from the northern city of Tripoli while Qaderi, a Lebanese-Brazilian, is the head of the Brazil-based Latin Palestinian Forum. Most of those who were aboard the flotilla had thrown their cellphones into the sea, but Tabbal had said: “We are 100 miles away from Gaza and we’re expected to arrive at 5:00 am. We expect the Israeli forces to arrest us tonight and we’re preparing for the worst scenarios.”
“For Gaza, for Syria, for Lebanon … for Humanity. Because pain knows no borders .. and neither should dignity,” she had also written in an English-language post on X. Israel said on Thursday it will deport the activists who were on the aid flotilla intercepted at sea as they headed towards Gaza, adding that none of the vessels had successfully breached its maritime blockade.The Global Sumud Flotilla of around 45 vessels began its voyage last month, with politicians and activists including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg heading to Gaza, where the United Nations says famine has set in. Israel said the activists would be deported to Europe, without specifying which countries they would be sent to.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 03-04/2025
Trump orders Israel to stop bombing Gaza after Hamas partially accepts his peace plan
WAFAA SHURAFA, BASSEM MROUE and JOSEPH KRAUSS/
Associated Press/October 03/2025
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday ordered Israel to stop bombing the Gaza Strip after Hamas said it had accepted some elements of his plan to end the nearly two-year war and return all the remaining hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Hamas said it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians, but that other aspects of the plan require further consultations among Palestinians. Senior Hamas officials suggested there were still major disagreements that required further negotiations. There was no immediate response from Israel, which is largely shut down for the Jewish Sabbath, and Hamas' response fell short of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demands that the group surrender and disarm. But Trump welcomed Hamas' response, saying: “I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE."“Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out," he wrote on social media. Hamas said aspects of the proposal touching on the future of the Gaza Strip and Palestinian rights should be decided on the basis of a “unanimous Palestinian stance” reached with other factions and based on international law. The statement also made no mention of Hamas disarming, a key Israeli demand included in Trump’s proposal.
Trump's plan would end the fighting and return hostages
Trump appears keen to deliver on pledges to end the war and return dozens of hostages ahead of the second anniversary of the attack on Tuesday. His peace plan has been accepted by Israel and welcomed internationally, but key mediators Egypt and Qatar have said some elements need further negotiation. Egypt welcomed the Hamas statement, saying that it shows that the Palestinians want to “end a dark period in the history of the region," and pave the way for a future state, something Israel opposes. Earlier, Trump had warned that Hamas must agree to the deal by Sunday evening, threatening an even greater military onslaught. “If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas," Trump wrote Friday on social media. "THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.”
Under the plan, which Trump unveiled earlier this week alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas would immediately release the remaining 48 hostages — around 20 of them believed to be alive. It would also give up power and disarm. In return, Israel would halt its offensive and withdraw from much of the territory, release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and allow an influx of humanitarian aid and eventual reconstruction. Plans to relocate much of Gaza's population to other countries would be shelved. The territory of some 2 million Palestinians would be placed under international governance, with Trump himself and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it. The plan provides no path for eventual reunification with the Israeli-occupied West Bank in a future Palestinian state.
Palestinians long for an end to the war, but many view this and previous U.S. proposals as strongly favoring Israel. Hamas officials air objections in TV interviews
Trump’s proposal “cannot be implemented without negotiations,” Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official based outside of Gaza, told the Al Jazeera network. The Hamas statement said it was willing to return all remaining hostages according to the plan’s “formula,” likely referring to the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange. It also reiterated its longstanding openness to handing power over to a politically independent Palestinian body. But Abu Marzouk said it might be difficult for Hamas to release all the hostages within 72 hours as the proposal dictates, because it could take days or weeks to locate the remains of some of the captives. He said Hamas was willing to hand over its weapons to a future Palestinian body that runs Gaza, but there was no mention of that in the official statement. Another Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, told Al Araby television that Hamas would refuse foreign administration of the Gaza Strip and that the entry of foreign forces would be “unacceptable.”
US and Israel seek to pressure Hamas
Israel has sought to ramp up pressure on Hamas since ending an earlier ceasefire in March. It sealed the territory off from food, medicine and other goods for 2 1/2 months and has seized, flattened and largely depopulated large areas. Experts determined that Gaza City had slid into famine shortly before Israel launched a major offensive aimed at occupying it. An estimated 400,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks, but hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind. Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office, said she saw several displaced families staying in the parking lot of Shifa Hospital during a visit on Thursday. “They are not able to move south because they just cannot afford it,” Cherevko told The Associated Press. “One of the families had three children and the woman was pregnant with her fourth. And there were many other vulnerable cases there, including elderly people and people with disabilities.”Most of Hamas' top leaders in Gaza and thousands of its fighters have already been killed, but it still has influence in areas not controlled by the Israeli military and launches sporadic attacks. Hamas has long insisted it will only release the remaining hostages — its sole bargaining chip and potential human shields — in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu has rejected those terms, saying Hamas must surrender and disarm.
Second anniversary approaches
Thousands of Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, attacking army bases, farming communities and an outdoor music festival, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They abducted 251 others, most of them since released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says women and children make up around half the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties. The offensive has displaced around 90% of Gaza's population, often multiple times, and left much of the territory uninhabitable. Both the Biden and Trump administrations have tried to end the fighting and bring back the hostages while providing extensive military and diplomatic support to Israel.

Trump tells Israel it ‘must immediately stop’ bombing Gaza to enable hostage release after Hamas accepts elements of peace plan
Andrew Feinberg/The Independent/October 03/2025
President Donald Trump on Friday called on Israel to cease the bombing campaign it has waged against Gaza to permit hostages to be released by Hamas after the militant group said it agreed in part to his 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza pending some negotiations of details. Writing on Truth Social, the president said Hamas was “ready for a lasting PEACE” based on a statement released by the group earlier in the day in which they agreed to proceed with the hostage exchange portion of the peace plan, which he’d unveiled on Monday alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that,” Trump said. He also said discussions “on details to be worked out” were already in progress before adding: “This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.”The president’s statement followed a statement that had been released by Hamas agreeing “to release all Israeli prisoners, both living and dead, according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump's proposal” so long as “the field conditions for the exchange are met.”Hamas also said it had agreed to turn over the day-to-day responsibility of running Gaza, which it has controlled since 2007, “to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats), based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support” while maintaining that other points in the 20-point plan regarding the future of Gaza should be discussed within a “comprehensive Palestinian national framework” that it would contribute to “with full responsibility.”At the same time, the group’s statement did not address a provision in the plan calling on Hamas’ militant wing to permanently disarm. A senior Hamas official, Mousa Abu Marzouk, told Al Jazeera on Friday that the group would not agree to do so before the Israeli occupation of the enclave ends, but said Hamas would be willing to hand over its weapons to a future Palestinian body that runs Gaza. The militant group’s announcement and Trump’s call for Israel to halt bombing came just hours after Trump posted an ultimatum giving them until 6:00 pm on Sunday to accept the deal and vowed “all hell” would break out had an accord not been reached by then. “If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” he said, adding later that there would be “PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.”
He also threatened Hamas several times in his Truth Social post, claiming that its members are “surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED, just waiting for me to give the word, ‘GO’, for their lives to be quickly extinguished” by Israeli forces while vowing that Hamas militants “will be hunted down and killed” and urging Palestinian civilians to evacuate “this area of potentially great future death” in Gaza City “for safer parts of Gaza.”A spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, Majed Al Ansari, said in a statement that the government of Qatar “welcomes the announcement by the Hamas movement of its agreement to the proposal ... to end the war in Gaza [and] its readiness to release all hostages, within the framework of the exchange formula outlined in the proposal.”He added that Doha agreed with Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire “to facilitate the safe and swift release of hostages and to achieve rapid results that stop the bloodshed of our Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip.”

Hamas says it accepts some elements of Gaza peace plan after Trump issues ultimatum
Associated Press/October 03/2025
Hamas said Friday that it has accepted some elements of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip, including giving up power and releasing all remaining hostages, but that others require further consultations among Palestinians. The statement came hours after Trump said that Hamas must agree to the deal by Sunday evening, threatening an even greater military onslaught nearly two years into the war sparked by the Oct. 7 attack into Israel. There was no immediate response from the United States or Israel, which is largely shut down for the Jewish Sabbath. Hamas said it was willing to return all remaining hostages according to the plan's "formula," likely referring to the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange. It also reiterated its longstanding openness to handing power over to a politically independent Palestinian body. But it said aspects of the proposal touching on the future of the Gaza Strip and Palestinian rights should be decided on the basis of a "unanimous Palestinian stance" reached with other factions and based on international law. The statement also made no mention of Hamas disarming, a key Israeli demand included in Trump's proposal. Trump's plan would end the fighting and return hostages
Trump appears keen to deliver on pledges to end the war and return dozens of hostages ahead of the second anniversary of the attack on Tuesday. His peace plan has been accepted by Israel and welcomed internationally, but key mediators Egypt and Qatar have said some elements need further negotiation.
"If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas," Trump wrote Friday on social media. "THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER."Under the plan, which Trump unveiled earlier this week alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas would immediately release the remaining 48 hostages — around 20 of them believed to be alive. It would also give up power and disarm. In return, Israel would halt its offensive and withdraw from much of the territory, release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and allow an influx of humanitarian aid and eventual reconstruction. Plans to relocate much of Gaza's population to other countries would be shelved. The territory of some 2 million Palestinians would be placed under international governance, with Trump himself and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it. The plan provides no path for eventual reunification with the Israeli-occupied West Bank in a future Palestinian state. Palestinians long for an end to the war, but many view this and previous U.S. proposals as strongly favoring Israel. Hamas official says more talks are needed. Trump's proposal "cannot be implemented without negotiations," Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official based outside of Gaza, told the Al Jazeera network. He said it might be difficult for Hamas release all the hostages within 72 hours as the proposal dictates, because it could take days or weeks to locate the remains of some of the captives. He said Hamas was willing to hand over its weapons to a future Palestinian body that runs Gaza, but there was no mention of that in the official statement. He also took issue with the proposal's language about ridding Gaza of terrorists, since Hamas considers itself a national liberation movement. He said Hamas also wants to know more about the international forces that might help police postwar Gaza.
US and Israel seek to pressure Hamas
Israel has sought to ramp up pressure on Hamas since ending an earlier ceasefire in March. It sealed the territory off from food, medicine and other goods for 2 1/2 months and has seized, flattened and largely depopulated large areas. Experts determined that Gaza City had slid into famine shortly before Israel launched a major offensive aimed at occupying it. An estimated 400,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks, but hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind. Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office, said she saw several displaced families staying in the parking lot of Shifa Hospital during a visit on Thursday. "They are not able to move south because they just cannot afford it," Cherevko told The Associated Press. "One of the families had three children and the woman was pregnant with her fourth. And there were many other vulnerable cases there, including elderly people and people with disabilities." Trump wrote that most of Hamas' fighters are "surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED, just waiting for me to give the word, 'GO,' for their lives to be quickly extinguished. As for the rest, we know where and who you are, and you will be hunted down, and killed."Most of Hamas' top leaders in Gaza and thousands of its fighters have already been killed, but it still has influence in areas not controlled by the Israeli military and launches sporadic attacks that have killed and wounded Israeli soldiers. Hamas has held firm to its position that it will only release the remaining hostages — its sole bargaining chip and potential human shields — in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu has rejected those terms, saying Hamas must surrender and disarm.
Second anniversary approaches
Thousands of Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, attacking army bases, farming communities and an outdoor music festival, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They abducted 251 others, most of them since released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says women and children make up around half the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties. The offensive has displaced around 90% of Gaza's population, often multiple times, and left much of the territory uninhabitable. Both the Biden and Trump administrations have tried to end the fighting and bring back the hostages while providing extensive military and diplomatic support to Israel.

Trump gives Hamas until Sunday evening to reach Gaza deal
Reuters/October 03/2025
US President Donald Trump gave Hamas until Sunday evening to reach a last-chance agreement on his plan for Gaza’s future or have “all Hell” break out against the Palestinian militants. “An agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday Evening at SIX (6) P.M., Washington, D.C. time,” Trump wrote Friday on social media. “Every Country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.”For the latest updates on the Israel-Palestine conflict, visit our dedicated page. Asked whether his group had finalized its response to Trump’s Gaza plan, a Hamas official told Reuters late on Thursday: “Not yet, intensive discussion is underway.”The official said Hamas had held talks with Arab mediators, Turkey and Palestinian factions to shape “the Palestinian response.”Trump had said on Tuesday he would give Hamas three to four days to accept the 20-point document, which calls on the group to disarm -- a demand it has previously rejected. The plan specifies an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of all hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and the introduction of a transitional government led by an international body. The US president, increasingly frustrated by his failure to secure a ceasefire, described Hamas as a “ruthless and violent threat in the Middle East” that drew heavy retribution for its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.In his Truth Social post, Trump said remaining Hamas militants in Gaza are trapped and “will be hunted down, and killed” without a deal, and warned “innocent Palestinians” to leave for safe areas of Gaza without specifying where that would be.

Hamas faces multiple pressures and own divisions as Trump sets Sunday deadline for response to peace plan
The Arab Weekly/October 03/2025
The militant group has to reckon with the tough choices it has to make. “Accepting the plan is a disaster, rejecting it is another disaster,” said a Palestinian official.
Friday 03/10/2025
Hamas’ review of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan stretched into a sixth day on Friday, as Israel continues its assault on Gaza City trying to force inhabitants to leave. In the meanwhile, US President Donald Trump gave Hamas until Sunday evening to reach an agreement on his plan for Gaza’s future, calling it a last chance for the Palestinian militant group. “An agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday Evening at SIX (6) PM, Washington, DC time,” Trump wrote on Friday on Truth Social. “Every Country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.”Trump on Tuesday had given Hamas “three or four days” to respond to the plan he outlined this week with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. While it ponders the Trump plan, Hamas also faces sustained pressure in the region, from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, to convince it to accept the plan. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Thursday that Cairo was working with Qatar and Turkey towards that end. “We are meeting with them. We are coordinating with our brothers in Qatar and also our colleagues in Turkey, in order to convince Hamas to respond positively with this plan,” said Abdelatty. “If Hamas refuses, you know, then it would be very difficult. And of course, we will have more escalation. So that’s why we are exerting our intensive efforts in order to make this plan applicable and to get the approval of Hamas,” he added.
Hamas seems to be struggling with the tough choices it has to make. “Accepting the plan is a disaster, rejecting it is another disaster, there are only bitter choices here, but the plan is a Netanyahu plan articulated by Trump,” a Palestinian official, familiar with the Hamas deliberations with other factions, said. The French top diplomat summed up Hamas’ predicament in less-than-subtle words. “It has lost. It must accept its own surrender,” said Jean-Noel Barrot. Trump’s plan demands that the militant group release the remaining hostages, surrender its weapons and to have no future role in running Gaza. A Palestinian source close to the group’s leadership said on Wednesday that Hamas officials want amendments to clauses in Trump’s plan including provisions on disarmament. According to a Palestinian source, “Hamas wants to amend some of the clauses such as the one on disarmament and the expulsion of Hamas and faction cadres.”Hamas leaders also want “international guarantees for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip” and guarantees that no assassinations attempts will be made inside or outside the territory. Another source familiar with the negotiations said the Palestinian group was split over Trump’s plan. “So far there are two views within Hamas: the first supports unconditional approval because the important thing is to have a ceasefire guaranteed by Trump,” the source said. But others have “great reservations on important clauses,” the source added. “They reject disarmament and for any Palestinian citizen to be taken away from Gaza. “They support a conditional agreement with clarifications that take into account demands by Hamas and the resistance factions so that the occupation of the Gaza Strip is not legitimised while the resistance is criminalised,” the source said. In an interview with Al Jazeera on Tuesday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said parts of the Gaza plan required further “clarification” and talks, including Israel’s withdrawal from the strip. “This is primarily the duty of the Palestinian side, along with the Israeli side,” he said. Abdelatty also said that while Cairo was broadly supportive of Trump’s proposal for Gaza, more talks were needed on it. “There are a lot of holes that need to be filled,” he said. The plan sees Israel making few concessions in the near term and does not lay out a clear path to a Palestinian state, one of the key demands of not only Hamas but all other Palestinian factions and the Arab and Muslim world. But a number of analysts believe any serious discussion of this issue will have to wait till after a Gaza ceasefire, which hinges of Hamas’ response to the Trump plan. The plan states that Israel would eventually withdraw from Gaza but does not define a time frame. Hamas has long demanded that Israel must fully withdraw from Gaza for the war to end. Many world leaders have publicly supported Trump’s plan.

UN Says Notion of a Safe Zone in Southern Gaza 'Farcical'
Asharq Al Awsat/October 03/2025
The United Nations insisted on Friday there was no safe place for Palestinians ordered to leave Gaza City, and that Israeli-designated zones in the southern Gaza Strip were "places of death".Since launching its air assault on Gaza City in August ahead of its ground offensive there, the Israeli military has repeatedly told Palestinians to head south. "The notion of a safe zone in the south is farcical," James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children's agency UNICEF, told journalists in Geneva. Speaking from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Elder pointed to how "bombs are dropped from the sky with chilling predictability; schools, which had been designated as temporary shelters are regularly reduced to rubble, (and) tents... are regularly engulfed in fire from air attacks".The Israeli military has urged Palestinians to relocate to a "humanitarian area" in Al-Mawasi on the coast, where it says aid, medical care and humanitarian infrastructure will be provided. Israel first declared the area a safe zone early in the two-year war but has carried out repeated strikes on it since, saying it is targeting Hamas. Elder insisted that "the issuance of a general or a blanket evacuation order to civilians does not mean that those who remain behind lose their protection as civilians". At the same time, he warned, the "so-called safe zones ... are also places of death". Al-Mawasi, he pointed out, "is now one of the most densely populated places on Earth. "It's grotesquely overcrowded and has been stripped of the most basic essentials of survival."The UN had begun in late 2023 "debunking this concept of a unilaterally-declared safe zone", Elder said.
"The law is very clear," he stressed.
"It is the responsibility of the occupying power -- Israel -- to ensure that a safe zone has all the essentials for survival: that is nutrition, shelter and sanitation. "None of those are present in a level that is fitting of a population," Elder said, adding that the UN at the start had "at least assumed that these places would not be bombed". But over the past 18 months, the Israeli-designated safe-zones had been hit "dozens of time", and "people in tents have suffered from airstrikes". Humanitarian agencies regularly warn that the amount of urgent supplies being allowed into the Gaza Strip are grossly insufficient to meet the immense needs of the population in the Israeli-besieged Palestinian territory. "To cope with that situation, our colleagues, particularly in our hospital in Rafah, have decided to build our own materials," such as "home-made, wooden crutches", said Christian Cardon, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross. The ICRC announced on Wednesday that had been "forced" to suspend its activities in Gaza City due to Israel's intensified military operations. "There are no longer any international staff in Gaza City. We had between two and five expatriates before," Cardon told AFP, adding that the ICRC has 350 staff, including 50 international staff, throughout the Gaza Strip. The World Health Organization is calling for humanitarian corridors to allow access to hospitals, its representative in the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, told reporters.

Trump's Gaza Plan Not in Line with Muslim Countries' Proposal, Says Pakistan
Asharq Al Awsat/October 03/2025
The 20 points that US President Donald Trump announced this week under his plan to end the war in Gaza were not in line with a draft presented to him by a group of Muslim-majority countries, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday. The group had proposed a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza during a September 22 meeting with Trump, whereas his plan envisages a partial Israeli pullback to prepare for a release of remaining hostages held by Palestinian Hamas militants. "I have made it clear that these 20 points which Trump has made public are ... not the same as ours. I say that some changes have been made in it, in the draft we had," Dar said in remarks to Pakistani lawmakers, Reuters reported.
PLAN TO END WAR BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS MILITANTS
Trump on Monday published a 20-point blueprint for ending the war between Israel and Hamas under which all hostages, living and dead, would be returned within 72 hours of a ceasefire. It refers to a redeveloped "New Gaza" in future. The plan leaves many details for negotiators to hash out and hinges on acceptance by Hamas. Israel's subsequent war following October 7 attack has killed over 66,000 Palestinians and widely demolished the small enclave, according to Gaza health authorities. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had earlier welcomed Trump's plan. Sharif while in transit had given a general response to Trump's broader social media post, Dar said. The Trump administration wants Arab and Muslim countries to agree to send military forces to Gaza to enable Israel's withdrawal and to secure funding for transition and rebuilding programs, Axios reported.
MUSLIM NATIONS PROPOSED FULL ISRAELI WITHDRAWAL
Dar said the eight nations received a commitment from Trump that he would not allow an Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank, which far-right allies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his governing coalition have called for. A consensus draft prepared by the Muslim countries asked for a "full Israeli withdrawal" and "a path for a just peace on the basis of the two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Dar said, reading from a copy of their proposal. The creation of a Palestinian state co-existing with Israel is Pakistani policy, he said. Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out Palestinian statehood, saying this would endanger Israel. The Trump plan said all military operations would be suspended and battle lines frozen in Gaza until conditions were met for a "complete staged withdrawal" of Israeli forces. Hamas would have to disarm under Trump's plan and on Tuesday he gave the Islamist group three to four days to accept it. The plan envisages a "Board of Peace" of international overseers led by Trump himself and including former British prime minister Tony Blair in an undefined role. Gaza would get a temporary, transitional government consisting of a "technocratic, apolitical" committee made up of Palestinians and international experts.

Hamas Clashes with ‘Al-Majayda’ Clan in Gaza, Israel Strikes
Gaza: Asharq Al Awsat/October 03/2025
Dozens of people were killed or wounded on Friday when Hamas fighters clashed with members of a powerful clan allied with the rival Fatah movement in the southern Gaza Strip, residents and medical sources said. The pre-dawn fighting erupted in Khan Younis after hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed homes in the Majayda quarter, a stronghold of the al-Majayda clan whose members are largely affiliated with Fatah. Witnesses said at least 250 armed men, carrying light and medium weapons, took part in the assault. Accounts of casualties varied, but sources on both sides confirmed deaths among Hamas fighters and clan members. A man from the al-Majayda family was fatally shot while receiving treatment in the Nasser hospital after being wounded in the raid, relatives said. The confrontation marked the latest flare-up in a feud that began two months ago when Hamas men allegedly shot and wounded a member of the clan in Khan Younis, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. The man later died, prompting al-Majayda gunmen to kidnap two Hamas members, one of whom served as a bodyguard to Yahya Sinwar, the group’s former political chief. The feud escalated further last month when al-Majayda fighters killed two members of Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzeddine al-Qassam Brigades, and seized their weapons, according to Hamas officials. The clan refused demands to hand over suspects to Hamas security forces, leaving tensions simmering. Friday’s raid by Hamas targeted al-Majayda men accused of involvement in those killings, residents said. At least two clan members were killed when their house was stormed, along with others from the extended family. Hamas also reported losing two fighters, including a field commander in Qassam. As the battle raged, Israeli warplanes struck the area, killing at least 16 Hamas fighters and civilians, as well as two more al-Majayda family members, local medical sources said. Israel has not commented on the strike.
Both sides also took captives, sources said, with reports later of an exchange of bodies and detainees brokered by other clans and community figures. The violence underscored Gaza’s deteriorating security situation amid Israel’s ongoing war in the enclave. Armed clans and criminal groups have grown increasingly active, looting aid, clashing with Hamas and even raiding hospitals, residents and rights groups say. Hamas has vowed to crush such groups, carrying out raids in recent months that killed clan fighters and executed suspected collaborators with Israel.

Erdogan Tells Trump He Welcomes Peace Efforts, but Israel Must Stop Attacks for Their Success
Asharq Al Awsat/October 03/2025
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his US counterpart Donald Trump in a phone call on Friday that Türkiye welcomed efforts to reach peace in the region, but that Israel must stop its attacks for efforts to be successful, the Turkish presidency said. Erdogan and Trump met at the White House last month for the first time in six years, for a meeting that the Turkish leader said helped the NATO allies make "meaningful progress" on a range of issues. In a statement, the presidency said the two had discussed bilateral ties in the call requested by the US side, adding that Erdogan stressed the importance of taking steps to boost their cooperation, namely in the defense industry. Erdogan also said that their meeting had strengthened ties, it added. The two leaders also discussed the situation in Gaza, the presidency said, adding that Erdogan told Trump that Türkiye was working hard to achieve regional peace and welcomed initiatives aimed at that goal. "Erdogan emphasized that Türkiye had increased its diplomatic contacts for peace, that it would continue to support (Trump's) vision for global peace, and that Israel stopping its attacks is important for the success of initiatives aimed at achieving peace in the region," it said. Türkiye, which has called Israel's attacks on Gaza a genocide and halted all trade with Israel, has voiced support for Trump's latest plan to end the war in Gaza.

Balfour Declaration never called for creation of ‘State of Israel’: Lord Roderick Balfour
Al Arabiya English/October 03/2025
Lord Roderick Balfour, great-nephew of Britain’s former foreign secretary Arthur Balfour, has said the 1917 declaration expressed only “sympathy” for a Jewish homeland, but never promised the creation of a state – a distinction he argues is overlooked in today’s conflict. “I have it in my hand because I always want to get it absolutely right,” Balfour told Al Arabiya English in an interview. “His Majesty’s government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. So there’s no ‘we will support the creation of a State of Israel’ as is, you know, under pressure to create for Palestine at the moment… It’s a declaration of sympathy, that’s all. Everything else is a wish.”He added that the line often forgotten is the one that “gets me into trouble in Israel”: “It being clearly understood that nothing shall be done, which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”For him, what is happening today “is not what he or the government of the day would’ve wished.”Family legacy and first encounters with the Declaration. Despite the weight of his family name, Balfour said the document was not part of his upbringing. “The Balfour Declaration you may have read before hung on the back of the lavatory door in our house in France. Nobody ever talked about it. It was just not a feature through the fifties and the sixties and the seventies when I was growing up,” he said. His first serious encounter with the declaration came during the Six-Day War in 1967 while working in Paris. “Unlike today, you’d be amazed. All the Champs Elysee and all the area round thing was completely pro-Israeli. Bizarrely, that wouldn’t be the same today. At all,” he said.
Responsibility, pride, and controversy
Asked whether the Balfour Declaration was a source of pride or controversy in his family, he said: “I think in its original form and for the reasons it was written, there is pride. But we very much see Arthur as having done it as the foreign secretary.” He emphasized his great uncle’s humanitarian instincts, noting that “he was a great philosopher, and he was a great humanitarian and so obviously he was very influential within the cabinet.”Balfour acknowledged that bearing the family name carries a sense of responsibility. “That really is why I accept the invitation to do these interviews,” he said. “It gives me an opportunity to defend the declaration and point out what it actually says.”
On Palestinians and the missed promise
On the question of why the declaration favored one people but not another, Balfour argued that in 1917, the Palestinian population was not viewed as persecuted. “The Palestinians, if you like, for want of a better word, were not under persecution. Nobody was chasing them. Everybody was… basically an agrarian economy with sheep and goat herds, nothing, no sophistication. Very few people, as I say, you know. And therefore, I think they thought if a few Jews wanted to go and live there peaceably, why would there be a problem?” He contrasted that with the modern reality of displacement and violence: “What is going on today is not what [Arthur Balfour] or the government of the day would have wished.”
Recognition of Palestine and two-state solution
On Britain’s recent recognition of Palestine, Balfour said it was a symbolic but important gesture. “It shows that we are in favor of the two-state solution, but there’s got to be a lot more before it actually means anything,” he said. Pressed on whether a two-state solution is still viable, he responded: “Clearly the Israelis don’t think so, and I don’t think Hamas thinks so because Hamas want to get rid of Israel, and Israel doesn’t trust any of the Arab countries while they’re run… the Palestinian enclaves.”He suggested that only sustained regional cooperation, backed by major powers, could create a path forward, noting that “commerce has taken over from the theocracy element” in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which he said are “very, very keen to have peace.”
A century-old promise, a modern struggle
Ultimately, Balfour said the declaration should be read as was written, not as later generations have interpreted it. “It’s official in the sense that it came out of the British government and was expressed a wish. With a particular reservation.”
Reflecting on the unresolved conflict, he said: “I’ve never understood why the Palestinians and the Jews did not all just get on and build the fabulous economy together. It’s been so one sided.”

Israel arrests over 20 foreign journalists on Gaza-bound aid flotilla: Watchdog
Al Arabiya English/October 03/2025
Reporters Without Borders has condemned Israel’s arrest of “more than 20 foreign journalists” after Israeli forces intercepted a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, calling for their immediate release. In a statement released on Thursday evening, the Paris-based media watchdog said there were more than 20 foreign reporters on board the Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail last month for Gaza, where the United Nations says famine is taking place. The journalists were arrested between Wednesday and Thursday when the Israeli navy began intercepting the boats ferrying politicians and activists including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg towards Gaza, RSF said. Vessels with more than 400 people on board had been prevented from reaching the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said on Thursday. “Arresting journalists and preventing them from doing their work is a serious violation of the right to inform and be informed,” said Martin Roux, head of RSF’s crisis desk. “RSF condemns the illegal arrest of the news professionals who were on board these ships to cover a humanitarian operation of unprecedented scale,” said Roux. Among the some 20 journalists on board were reporters from Spain’s El Pais, Qatar’s Al Jazeera and Italy’s public broadcaster RAI. The media organizations have had “no news of their journalists” since arrests began on Wednesday evening, said RSF. Israel said it would deport those arrested to Europe, adding that none of the vessels had breached its maritime blockade of Gaza. Since the start of the war, Israel has not allowed the international press to operate freely in the Palestinian territory. Only a handful of selected media outlets have been permitted entry, embedded with the Israeli army, and their reporting is subject to strict Israeli military censorship. According to RSF, the Israeli army has killed more than 210 journalists have been killed since the start of the Israel’s war on Gaza. Israel has also killed 66,225 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to figures from the health ministry in the territory, which the United Nations considers reliable.

Morocco’s PM calls for dialogue as ‘the only path’ to addressing country’s challenges
The Arab Weekly/October 03/2025
In his statement, Aziz Akhannouch said his government had “engaged with the demands expressed by the youth movements” and was ready “for dialogue and discussion”. In reaction to youth protests, Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch said on Thursday he was open to dialogue as “the only path” to addressing the country’s challenges. In his statement, Akhannouch said his government has “engaged with the demands expressed by the youth movements” and was ready “for dialogue and discussion. “Once again, we reiterate that a dialogue-based approach is the only path to addressing the various challenges facing our country.”The street protests initially began a few days ago with demands for better education and healthcare. They have been organised by a loosely-formed, anonymous youth group calling itself “GenZ 212” using online platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and the gaming app Discord.
The GenZ 212 movement seems inspired by similar youth-led protests in Asia and Latin America. In a number of occasions the protests have increasingly shown a tendency to spin out of control with some of the demonstrators engaging in violence and assaulting security officers, despite the GenZ 212 group saying it denounces violence and advocates only peaceful expressions of protest. Akhannouch expressed regret at the deaths of three people during the events, praising the interventions of security forces who “continue to fulfil their constitutional mission of protecting public safety and order and safeguarding individual and collective rights and freedoms”. The deaths occurred on Wednesday when three youths armed with knives were shot while trying to steal weapons and ammunition from a police station in Lqliaa, near Agadir. Authorities have vowed to crack down on those participating in looting or vandalism. Rioters could face 20 years to life in jail, Ouali Alami, a senior official at the public prosecutor’s office, told state news agency MAP. Seventy percent of participants in acts of vandalism and clashes with security forces across Morocco have been minors, a spokesman for the interior ministry said.
By Thursday, the number of people injured had risen to 640, including 589 members of the security forces, the ministry said. It said 413 law enforcement vehicles and 195 private cars had been damaged. “Adults have been placed in police custody, while minors have been held under protective measures,” the interior ministry spokesman said. “Authorities will take all necessary legal measures, without hesitation or leniency, against anyone proven to be involved in acts criminalised by law.”The violence appears to have undermined popular support for the protest movement. “I used to support their demands for education and health but after I saw this fire, I am wondering how can this serve their demands?” said Fatima, 54, outside a bank that had been torched in a densely-populated area in Sale, near Rabat.

UK police may have accidentally shot dead victim in synagogue attack
Reuters/October 03/2025
British police said on Friday they may have accidentally shot two victims, including one who died, in their attempts to bring under control an attack on a Manchester synagogue during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. In Thursday’s attack two men, Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, were killed after a British man of Syrian descent drove a car into pedestrians and then began stabbing several people outside Manchester’s Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. The attacker, whom armed officers shot dead at the scene, was not carrying a firearm, said Greater Manchester Police chief constable Steve Watson, though one of those killed suffered a gunshot wound. “It follows therefore this injury may have been sustained as a tragic and unforeseen consequence of the urgently required action taken by my officers to bring this vicious attack to an end,” Watson said in a statement. The attacker wore a vest that had the appearance of an explosive device, but the police later determined it was not capable of causing an explosion.
UK vows to crack down on antisemitism
Watson said another worshiper is believed to have suffered a non life-threatening gunshot wound, and that it is thought both victims were close together behind the synagogue door, as worshipers tried to prevent the attacker from gaining entry. Police have named the attacker as Jihad al-Shamie, 35, and said they could find no records to show he had been referred to the government’s anti-radicalization program. In a statement on Facebook, the family of al-Shamie said that they were in “profound shock” and wanted to distance themselves from what they called his “heinous act.”The British government vowed to redouble its efforts to tackle antisemitism as the Jewish community reeled from the attack. On Friday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited the site of the attack and spoke with members of the police and ambulance services workers where he praised “the degree of professionalism and speed” they showed in their response.
Police also urged organizers of a planned protest in London this weekend in support of a banned pro-Palestinian group to cancel or postpone the event, saying it would divert police resources needed to protect fearful communities. Organizers said the protest, the latest in a series in which police have arrested more than 1,500 people, would go ahead, and that it was the police’s choice whether to make more arrests of people “peacefully holding signs.”Like other European countries and the United States, Britain has recorded a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in the nearly two years since the war in Gaza started. Israel has accused Britain of allowing rampant antisemitism to spread through its cities and universities, and repeated that criticism after Thursday’s attack. Starmer last month announced that Britain was recognizing a Palestinian state, a decision that was criticized by Israel as a “huge reward to terrorism.” Britain’s interior minister, Shabana Mahmood, criticized pro-Palestinian protests that took place hours after the Manchester attack, calling them un-British and dishonorable and urging people to show a bit more “humanity and some love towards a community that is grieving.”
Antisemitic incidents, Jewish community’s concerns
The killing shocked Britain’s Jews, particularly in Manchester, home to the country’s largest Jewish community outside London and a highly diverse city.
Many Jewish leaders noted that they were the only faith in Britain that routinely required security at its institutions. Last year was the second worst on record for antisemitic incidents in Britain, surpassed only by 2023, according to the Community Security Trust, which provides security to Jewish organizations across Britain. It recorded more than 3,500incidents last year. Islamophobic incidents in Britain have also increased since the start of the Gaza war. On Friday morning there was a heavy police presence at the scene of the attack, with debris still lying in the street and bunches of flowers being left nearby. Dawud Taj, a 28-year-old from Manchester, said the government should have done a better job at protecting people. “There’s an atmosphere in the air,” he told Reuters as he walked to the city center, “and everything feels a little bit shaky.”

Unidentified drones fly over Belgian military base
AFP, Brussels/October 03/2025
Unidentified drones flew over a military training base in eastern Belgium, near the German border, Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken said Friday. The sightings came after several airspace violations by Russian drones in European skies and mysterious drones flying over Denmark late last month before two gatherings of European leaders in Copenhagen. “Several drones were spotted by local police, both on the Belgian side and on the German side,” the minister told broadcaster RTBF, adding that an investigation had been launched. Francken said he did not know how many drones had flown or where they came from. The drones flew over Elsenborn military base overnight Thursday to Friday, a spokeswoman for the defense minister told AFP. “We are checking, we are looking into what happened, but at this stage, we don't have more details,” she added.

Kyiv says Russia launches largest ever attack on gas sites
AFP, Kyiv/October 03/2025
Russia overnight carried out its largest attack on Ukraine’s gas network since Moscow first invaded in 2022, Kyiv’s state-owned gas operator said Friday. Moscow’s military has targeted Ukraine’s power grid relentlessly in waves of overnight attacks that have at times plunged millions into darkness and cut off heating supplies as temperatures plunged below freezing. “The enemy carried out the largest mass attack on gas production infrastructure since the beginning of the war,” Ukraine’s state-run gas company Naftogaz said in a statement.“As a result of this attack, a significant portion of our facilities have been damaged. Some of the damage is critical,” said Naftogaz chairman Sergiy Koretsky. Around 35 missiles and 60 drones were fired at its facilities in the northeastern Kharkiv region and central Poltava region, it added. “Some were successfully shot down. Unfortunately, not all,” it said. There were power cuts in several regions, Ukraine’s energy ministry said, but did not provide further details. Russia’s military said it had attacked Ukraine’s “military-industrial” complex in combined missile and drone strikes. Massive power outages in Ukraine are less common now than during the winter of 2022-2023, when Russian attacks triggered widespread electricity cuts across the country. The International Criminal Court in 2024 issued arrest warrants for Russia’s ex-defense minister and its top army commander over the strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid, which it said constituted a war crime. Ukraine has also launched retaliatory long-range drone strikes on Russia’s oil refineries, seeking to cut off vital energy revenues that it says fund Moscow’s army. A source in Ukraine’s SBU security service told AFP on Friday that Kyiv had struck a refinery some 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from the front in Russia’s Orenburg region. Unverified social media videos showed a drone crashing into what appeared to be a refinery, sending a plume of gray smoke into the sky. The local Russian governor of the region said on social media a drone had hit an industrial facility, without elaborating.

Munich airport resumes flights after drone sightings trigger suspension
AFP/October 03/2025
Germany’s Munich airport restarted flights on Friday after several drone sightings forced its closure overnight, the latest in a string of similar aviation disruptions across Europe. Airports in Denmark, Norway and Poland have recently suspended flights due to unidentified drones, while Romania and Estonia have pointed the finger at Russia, which has brushed off the allegations. Munich became the latest to close its airspace on Thursday night after several drone sightings, causing more than 30 flights to be cancelled or diverted and leaving nearly 3,000 passengers stranded. Flights had restarted by early Friday, with flight tracking websites showing planes departing the airport at around 5:50 am (0350 GMT). A spokesperson for German flag carrier Lufthansa said “flight operations have since resumed according to schedule”.“Nineteen Lufthansa flights were affected -- either cancelled or re-routed -- because of the airport suspension,” the spokesperson said. A police spokesperson earlier told AFP that several people spotted drones around the airport at about 1930 GMT on Thursday, and again an hour later, leading to the closure of both runways for an hour. The airport said it had laid on camp beds, blankets, drinks and snacks to affected passengers. German authorities have launched a search to identify the origin of the drones. Police helicopters were deployed but “no information is available on the type and number of drones,” the spokesperson said. The incident came ahead of German Unity Day -- a national holiday -- and the final weekend of Oktoberfest, which draws hundreds of thousands of people to Munich every day. The annual beer gala and funfair had already closed for half a day on Wednesday after a bomb scare.
‘Drone wall’
The drone sightings in Denmark and high-profile aerial incursions by Moscow in Estonia and Poland have heightened fears that Russia’s assault on Ukraine could spill over Europe’s borders. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Europe on Thursday that the recent drone incursions showed Moscow was looking to “escalate” its aggression. Germany is on high alert, saying a swarm of them had flown over the country last week, including over military and industrial sites. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Berlin needed to “find new responses to this hybrid threat” -- including potentially shooting down the drones. Denmark also raised the alarm, with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterating last week that only one country “poses a threat to Europe’s security -- and that’s Russia”.Moscow said it “firmly rejects” any suggestion of involvement, with Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing Europe of stoking “hysteria” to justify rising military spending. EU heads of state met in Copenhagen this week to discuss bolstering the bloc’s defenses with the establishment of a “drone wall”. Denmark accepted a Swedish offer of Stockholm’s anti-drone technology to ensure the meeting could proceed without disruption. Meanwhile, the United States is sending anti-drone defenses to Denmark, Copenhagen’s defense ministry said. NATO has said it has “enhanced vigilance” in the Baltic following the airspace intrusions.

Canada PM says will meet Trump in Washington on tariffs
AFP, Montreal/October 03/2025
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet President Donald Trump in Washington next week for talks on a trade war that is hammering Canada’s economy, Carney’s office said Friday. Canada has not yet reached a broad trade deal with the Trump administration, unlike other major US trading partners, including the European Union. So far, Trump has maintained tariff exemptions on all goods compliant with an existing pact -- the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) -- agreed during Trump’s first term. Carney’s office reiterated Friday that the preservation of that deal means Canada “has the lowest average tariff rate of any American trading partner, with 85 percent of Canada’s trade with the US being tariff-free.”But the president’s global, sector-specific tariffs -- primarily those targeting autos, steel and aluminum -- have hit Canada hard. Those sectors have faced job losses and forced Carney’s Liberal government to announce billions of dollars in support for the struggling industries. USMCA revision talks are scheduled for next year, and Carney has said his team is focused on preserving a good deal for Canada, which also benefits the United States and Mexico. He will fly to Washington on Monday ahead of the meeting with Trump on Tuesday, the prime minister’s office said, describing the talks as focused “on shared priorities in a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the US.”The former high-profile central banker, who only entered politics in January, is facing increasing criticism at home over the enduring impacts of Trump’s trade war. He successfully campaigned with a pitch that his deep experience in global economic management made him the ideal candidate to defend Canada against Trump’s protectionism. But opposition parties are upping the pressure over what they call a lack of results. “It has been a gigantic bait-and-switch we were sold about this brilliant negotiator,” Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said this week. “Where is it? Point me to a single win,” he said.

Houthis Bury Hundreds of Unidentified Bodies Across Three Provinces
Asharq Al Awsat/October 03/2025
The Houthi group has intensified weeks-long campaigns of arrests and enforced disappearances targeting civilians in areas under its control, Yemeni sources said, as reports emerged of mass burials of unidentified bodies, raising fears of extrajudicial executions inside detention centers. The sources said the Houthis recently buried around 13 bodies in a mass grave in al-Jawf province, far from the oversight of the International Committee of the Red Cross or judicial authorities, noting that the corpses had been held for months in the freezer of the state-run Al-Hazm Hospital. The burials come as hundreds of families in al-Jawf continue searching for children abducted months or even years ago, amid Houthi refusals to disclose their status. Relatives suspect the bodies may belong to detainees who died under torture or were executed in internal purges. Earlier, in early September, the Houthis reported burying more than 320 bodies in Sanaa and Amran provinces, including 126 in Sanaa and 194 in Amran, claiming the remains were unidentified. Activists and lawyers, however, said most were likely detainees, forcibly disappeared individuals, or Houthi fighters killed on the frontlines whose identities were never verified. In Amran, local sources said senior Houthi leaders directly oversaw the burial of 194 bodies in mass graves, without notifying prosecutors or security agencies under Houthi control, and entirely excluding the Red Cross from the process. Yemeni rights activists condemned the burials, saying that Houthi actions represent a complex humanitarian crime.
Rising Enforced Disappearances
The burials in al-Jawf, Sanaa, and Amran coincide with tightened Houthi security measures to prevent celebrations of the “26 September Revolution,” amid an unprecedented spike in kidnappings and enforced disappearances. A rights report by the Monitoring and Documentation Unit at the Capital Media Center said the Houthis committed more than 182 violations across Sanaa and several provinces in August alone, including killings, injuries, arrests, abductions, and enforced disappearances. During the same period, the group reportedly abducted around 100 members and leaders of the General People’s Congress party (Sanaa faction), as well as a senior official from the Socialist Baath Party. The Houthis also raided offices of international organizations, abducting 11 UN staffers and six former local employees. Commercial sectors were not spared, the report added, documenting 12 raids targeting traders and residents in the capital, alongside four incidents of intimidation against women and children. These developments come amid widespread criticism of the international community, which has largely remained silent, while civilians in Houthi-held areas face heightened security repression, absence of justice, and deteriorating humanitarian conditions.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on October 03-04/2025
The Evil Intent to Destroy Israel
Nils A. Haug/Gatestone Institute/October 03/2025
Raging against Israel are those hypocritical, self-righteous, self-seeking, egocentric, cowardly leaders: Emmanuel Macron (France), Keir Starmer (UK), Anthony Albanese (Australia), Mark Carney (Canada), Pedro Sanchez (Spain) and their ilk, seemingly without an ounce of integrity between them, supporting an avowed genocidal death cult that publicly expresses the desire to murder all Jews, Christians, and other "infidels," and take down the West.
If you do not want to fight the invasions in your own countries, at least stand aside and do not obstruct someone else doing it for you. These feckless so-called leaders even fail to protect their own Jewish citizens from domestic terror. By so acting, and by legalizing Islamic Sharia law, they are oozing toward complete submission to the Islamist hordes they have encouraged to reside in their midst. In this way, as Trump cautioned, they are actively destroying their own nations and Western civilization itself.
Sadly, suicidally, it is also about appeasing their radical Islamist voters – who will probably reciprocate, as Trump noted, by wanting more.
Raging against Israel are those hypocritical, self-righteous, self-seeking, egocentric, cowardly leaders: Emmanuel Macron (France), Keir Starmer (UK), Anthony Albanese (Australia), Mark Carney (Canada), Pedro Sanchez (Spain) and their ilk, seemingly without an ounce of integrity between them, supporting an avowed genocidal death cult that publicly expresses the desire to murder all Jews, Christians, and other "infidels," and take down the West. There are no longer gray areas in the implied intent of major Western nations, such as France, Spain, Portugal, Canada, the UK, Australia and others, to isolate or destroy Israel. Hamas and associated jihadist murderers are not Israel's primary enemies; rather, Israel's real enemies are its purported allies -- those Western powers seeking its demise by legitimizing a terror-dominated Palestinian state alongside, and within, the borders of the world's only Jewish homeland. Ironically, these are the countries Israel is defending as it fights a seven-front war, sacrificing nearly a thousand of its heroic soldiers. Israel is defending these Western nations against an invasion that President Donald J. Trump clearly warned is "not sustainable":
"You're destroying your countries.... Europe is in serious trouble. They've been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody's ever seen before. Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe, and nobody's doing anything to change it, to get them out. It's not sustainable. And because they choose to be politically correct, they're doing just absolutely nothing about it....
"Now they want to go to Sharia law, but you're in a different country, you can't do that. Both the immigration and their suicidal energy ideas will be the death of Western Europe if something is not done immediately. This cannot be sustained. What makes the world so beautiful is that each country is unique, but to stay this way, every sovereign nation must have the right to control their own borders.... as we do now, and to limit the sheer numbers of migrants entering their countries and paid for by the people of that nation that were there and that built that particular nation at the time. They put their blood, sweat, tears, money into that country, and now they're being ruined...."Proud nations must be allowed to protect their communities and prevent their societies from being overwhelmed by people they have never seen before with different customs, religions, with different everything. Where migrants have violated laws, lodged false asylum claims or claimed refugee status for illegitimate reasons, they should, in many cases, be immediately sent home. And while we will always have a big heart for places and people that are struggling and truly compassionate, answers will be given. We have to solve the problem and we have to solve it in their countries, not create new problems in our countries."With Europe's major powers recognizing an independent Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly on September 23; and with the burden of sanctions to various degrees, coupled with a ban or restrictions on sales of weapons and munitions by hitherto allies, Israel stands almost alone -- except for the current US administration.
Raging against Israel are those hypocritical, self-righteous, self-seeking, egocentric, cowardly leaders: Emmanuel Macron (France), Keir Starmer (UK), Anthony Albanese (Australia), Mark Carney (Canada), Pedro Sanchez (Spain) and their ilk, seemingly without an ounce of integrity between them, supporting an avowed genocidal death cult that publicly expresses the desire to murder all Jews, Christians, and other "infidels," and take down the West. Israel faces enemies from all fronts, not excluding many Israelis. Who stands against Israel's leaders and elected government? Large numbers of mainly leftist-elitist Jews, both in Israel and in the diaspora, who seek to topple Israel's duly elected government, while thousands of able draft-age haredi men males of the refuse to join the military – at a time when hundreds of their compatriots have been killed to protect them, their families, and the nation itself. Islamists around the world in the millions seek Israel's death and destruction; Western leaders do not care if Israel survives or not – and from their recent actions apparently would prefer if it did not. Western leaders, from their actions in selling out Israel's security to its enemies, look as if they do not care if any Jews survive. After all, Europe has few Jews (0.2% of the continent's population) in the overall scheme of things.
Rather than supporting Israel as it fights not only for its own survival but to defend the values of the West, Macron, Starmer, Sanchez, Carney, Albanese and Co. vote for a Palestinian state within Israel – to the detriment not only of Israel's safety and security, but their own. If you do not want to fight the invasions in your own countries, at least stand aside and do not obstruct someone else doing it for you. These feckless so-called leaders even fail to protect their own Jewish citizens from domestic terror. By so acting, and by legalizing Islamic Sharia law, they are oozing toward complete submission to the Islamist hordes they have encouraged to reside in their midst. In this way, as Trump cautioned, they are actively destroying their own nations and Western civilization itself.
The forthright journalist Melanie Phillips queried: "Are these people wicked or just very, very stupid?" Initially, fair-minded people gave these "leaders" the benefit of the doubt. However, with their recent actions against Israel on the world stage, it has become obvious that they cannot simply be written off as stupid or naive. Some are highly educated and intelligent. The only explanation is that they possibly do have evil intent. They did not even bother to make their recognition of a non-existent Palestinian state conditional on Hamas releasing the hostages.
At best they might be regarded as worthless. A supine NATO does not even appear willing to invest anything other than pious words into helping Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky oppose Russia's outright acts of war against Estonia, Denmark and Poland. Their actions are probably designed, as in World War II, just to hunker down against adversaries and appease domestic Islamists, even though these newcomers to Europe have publicly sworn to murder Jews and burn them alive if possible – just as Hamas did to not only to Jews but also to Arabs and others on October 7, 2023.
Insofar as Jews are concerned, the upshot of the compromised consciences of these major European leaders is that, as Israel's Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli made clear:
"The streets of Europe are once again not safe for Jews. Many of its leaders, instead of showing courage, show cowardice. Instead of standing with the truth, they stand with Palestinian propaganda falsehoods. Instead of standing with those who were attacked, they stand with those who launched a barbaric assault."Naturally, Hamas and other Islamist fanatics are overjoyed at the UN resolution recognizing their terror state of Palestine as independent. In this way they have, in the main, achieved their aims and been rewarded for the murderous onslaught on October 7, murdering defenseless babies, boys, girls, the elderly and infirm, while carting others off to tunnel dungeons as hostages and playthings. The message sent to the terrorists is: Terrorism works, so keep doing it!
"The Palestinian national movement, Fatah and Hamas wings alike, largely has shown itself to be committed to Israel's debilitation and destruction, not to a peaceful two-state solution," notes Israeli columnist David M. Weinberg.
Whereas the Western leaders in question could, once upon a time, be excused as having a degree of "moral ambiguity," this excuse can no longer apply. Obviously, they are not honest brokers. "They want a Palestinian state," wrote Israeli political analyst Avi Abelow in a September 22 column, "not because they care about Arabs, but because they can't stand a proud, strong Jewish state that defends itself."
Turning to address Starmer, Albanese and Carney, Abelow scathingly writes:
"Thank you for making it crystal clear that the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia now stand with a genocidal death cult. That they reward the barbaric atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023, with diplomatic prizes. That morality, memory and justice have been officially sacrificed on the altar of Jew-hatred, woke politics and Islamic appeasement.
"Let's stop pretending this has anything to do with peace, rights or law. Starmer's plan is not about 'justice.' It's not about a 'two-state solution.' It's not even about Palestinians. It's about one thing only: Punishing the Jewish people for surviving."
Sadly, suicidally, it is also about appeasing their radical Islamist voters – who will probably reciprocate, as Trump noted, by wanting more.
Despite much of the world harboring animosity towards the Jews, possibly out of envy for having had the audacity, through hard work, to do so well -- who else has turned deserts and malaria swamps into a thriving state? -- the Jews and their ancestral homeland of Israel shall survive.
**Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A Lawyer by profession, he is member of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Dr. Haug holds a Ph.D. in Apologetical Theology and is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.' His work has been published by First Things Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute, National Association of Scholars, Jewish Journal, James Wilson Institute (Anchoring Truths), Jewish News Syndicate, Tribune Juive, Document Danmark, and many others.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21928/intent-to-destroy-israel
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

So that opportunities are not lost
Zaid AlKami/Al Arabiya English/October 03/2025
Since the moment the State of Israel was declared in 1948, the question of missed opportunities to establish a Palestinian state has haunted the political history of the region. The beginning was with the UN resolution of 1947, which called for the partition of Palestine into two states: one Jewish and one Arab. It was the first serious opportunity to achieve the minimum rights of the Palestinian people. True, the decision was unfair, as it gave the Jews more than 56 percent of the land even though their population at the time did not exceed 30 percent. But it constituted international recognition of a Palestinian entity alongside the Jewish state. Yet the absence of a unified Palestinian leadership, and the refusal of some Arab states to accept the resolution on the grounds of its injustice, caused that historic moment to slip away. Meanwhile, the Israelis exploited the vacuum to consolidate their state. Over time, what was once considered an injustice turned into a distant dream.
Between that moment and what followed, opportunities continued to be lost. After the 1948 war and the Nakba that ensued, Palestinians remained displaced without true representation. Then came Egypt’s attempt, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1970, to unify the factions under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The goal was for the PLO to be the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. But soon divisions once again eroded Palestinian unity. Multiple factions emerged, reaching 18 groups acting in the name of the cause, but in reality more divided than united on a national program. This gave Israel a golden opportunity to advance its project.
After the defeat of 1967, Israel offered to withdraw from the occupied territories in exchange for peace, with the exception of Jerusalem – but the offer was rejected. After the 1973 October War, which opened a window of hope for peace, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat seized the international moment and went to Jerusalem in a historic 1977 visit. The Americans then sponsored the Camp David Accords. Those agreements mentioned Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza, but Palestinians were not direct parties to them. Pressures from some Arab countries also pushed them to withdraw from participation, squandering yet another opportunity that could have paved the way for statehood. Even King Fahd bin Abdulaziz’s 1981 initiative, which offered a comprehensive vision for a settlement, did not receive sufficient Palestinian engagement.
In the early 1990s, the Madrid Conference of 1991 opened the way to the Oslo Accords of 1993, which were a turning point: the PLO recognized Israel, and Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. The agreement stipulated gradual Israeli withdrawal and the establishment of Palestinian self-rule. But it soon faltered due to Palestinian division, rejection by Hamas and other factions, and then the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. All of this led to the collapse of the process and the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, following the failure of the Camp David Summit in which US President Bill Clinton tried to reach a final settlement.
Further initiatives followed: Taba in 2001, the late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz’s initiative that became the Arab Peace Initiative in Beirut in 2002, then the Roadmap for Peace in 2003, and the Annapolis Conference in 2007. All were lost between Israeli intransigence, Palestinian division, and international paralysis. Even in 2008, when Ehud Olmert presented a map for a Palestinian state on more than 94 percent of the West Bank with land swaps, it failed due to his weak political standing and Palestinian divisions.
Today, with Gaza largely destroyed after nearly two years of war sparked by Sinwar’s “Aqsa Flood” operation, US President Donald Trump has presented a new plan. It includes an immediate halt to the war, gradual Israeli withdrawal, prisoner releases, comprehensive reconstruction funded internationally, and a transitional administration under international supervision – with a path for economic development and Arab and international guarantees to prevent renewed violence. The plan may not meet all the aspirations of the Palestinian people, but it represents a first step in a long road toward statehood, stability, and rebuilding. History teaches us that every missed opportunity has turned into a major loss, and that every hesitation or division has cost Palestinians blood and land.
Today there is a real chance to stop the attempt to close the file of Palestinian statehood once and for all under the pressure of Israeli settlement and extremism. If Palestinians seize it wisely, perhaps Gaza – which has paid the heaviest price – can become the starting point toward a different future. But if it is squandered, it will only add another loss to a long record of failures.

Ukraine Can Win: Is Trump Right?
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/October 03/2025
“Ha! Ha!” This was how the other day in Moscow national security adviser Dmitry Medvedev reacted to a quip by US President Donald Trump asserting that Kyiv “can win all of Ukraine back to original borders where this war started.”Dmitry Alexyevich, who once served as a parenthetic president of Russia, was seen in the West as a reformer who might lead Russian into the European orbit whatever that meant. Today, acting as deputy chief of the Russian National Security Council, he is President Vladimir Putin’s bully boy threatening Western nations with nuclear war. But is the idea of wining this war against Russia just another Trumpian flash of imagination as was his assertion a year ago that he could terminate the war in a jiffy?
At first glance the idea of winning a war against Russia might sound hallucinatory. The largest country in the world, a former superpower with the biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons Russia was born and bred in war from its inception as a more or less autonomous state in Kiev in 882.
By some accounts Russia, including its later version as the USSR, has been involved in over 120 wars, big and small, some 40 of them in the 19th and 20th centuries. Russologist Gregory Carleton argues that Russia is the product of what he calls “defensive expansionism”. Russian geography provides few natural defenses such as seas, high mountain ranges, and deep woodlands. This means that whatever is established as Russian territory immediately needs a glacis against future foreign aggression. Then it is the glacis that is threatened requiring further expansion. This was how the tiny Rus state of Kiev ended up extending from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean across 11 time zones. “Russians have always lived with fear of extinction,” wrote Ahmad Mirfenderky, a leading Iranian russologist and long-time ambassador to Moscow in the last century. “The bear is constantly imagining the hunter, and ready to jump on any shadow.”
That may explain Putin’s attack on Ukraine for his unjustified fear it might join NATO, something almost impossible at the time because of the treaty’s rules membership rules. But even if Ukraine is annexed, Russia would still look for another glacis until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean.
“Russia won’t stop until it is topped,” Mirfenderesky wrote on Moscow’s dream of annexing Iran and reaching the Indian Ocean.
A history of Russian wars depicts a seesaw in which victory and defeat have alternated with remarkable regularity. It also shows that Russia can and has been defeated, making Trump’s recent tweet something more than a rhetorical stab. A catalogue of those wars could fill a book. But some examples might serve as an appetizer for further study. Russia’s first big defeat came in 1169 when it had to surrender to a coalition of Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland after 25 years of war. The next big defeat came in 1616-17 in another war with Sweden as a result of which Russia was cut from the Baltic Sea. In 1634 Russia suffered another defeat against Poland and Lithuania leading to the humiliating Smolensk Treaty. In 1651-53 Russia was defeated by the Safavid Shah Soleiman of Iran in the Sunzha River battle that kept Russia out of the Caucasus for 200 years. In 1652 Russia fought a series of battles against the Qin dynasty of China and lost territory north of the Amur River.
Fast forward to the 20th century: Russia’s most humiliating defeat came in 1904-5 when Meiji Japan attacked and destroyed the Russian fleet in the Sea of Okhotsk and defeated elite Russian divisions in the Far East, annexing the Kuril archipelago. Russia recognized Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria and allowed it to set up a base in Port Arthur. The fall of Bashar al-Assad was also a military defeat for Russia’s expeditionary force of thousands carpet-bombing Syrian cities from the air and guiding pro-Assad forces on some battlegrounds.
Finally, one may even add the Cold War as another Russian defeat. Russia’s biggest historic victories in Napoleonic wars came in alliance with European powers and in Second World War with US joining Britain and Russia to defeat Hitler’s Germany.
Yes, Trump may be right; Russia can be defeated. But to those who ponder expanding the war against Russia, a word of caution may be in order. Russia did lose 19 of its 40 major wars. But a pattern of taking revenge was established under which Russia almost always recovered what it had lost - from the Baltics to Kuril - in a seesaw struggle that made victory and defeat two faces of a coin constantly tossed up. Medvedev’s nuclear gesticulations notwithstanding, Russia could theoretically be driven out of Ukrainian occupied lands, including the Crimean Peninsula. But there is no guarantee that such an outcome would cure Russia’s affliction with defensive expansionism and its thirst for revanchist response. Putin’s general military call-up, the largest since 1916, is bound to encourage those who advocate defeating Russia. And that refers us back to the Florentine clerk: Do not wound a deadly enemy and let him live! Either kill him or turn him into a friend. It is to Trump’s credit that, unknowingly perhaps, he has pondered both options, with a tilt towards the latter.

Intra-Sectarian Shifts Regarding the Country’s Fundamental Question
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/October 03/2025
This is not an op-ed about “the shifts of sects” but the shifts ‘’within’’ sects that emerged in recent days or that had previously been latent, already present beneath the surface before they recently rose to the fore.
Of course, every discussion of “the sects” and their positions necessarily entails broad strokes riddled with generalizations. Nonetheless, sects remain the best available ontological category for developing accurate notions of developments in Lebanon and understanding the trajectories that these developments could take.The Raouche Rock incident and the controversy it stirred offered a condensed presentation of sectarian communities’ stances, some that were surprising and others that went against reductionist expectations premised on stereotypes.
If we accept the notion that the attitudes of sectarian communities can be deduced from the political behavior of the top officials who represent them, as per the Lebanese political system- albeit without making the false assumption that this yardstick offers much precision- we could claim that “the Sunnis’ representation” approach the fundamental question of weapons currently facing the county in the healthiest manner.
The “voice of the Sunni component” in the state may have been hushed relative to the cacophony coming from the bastions of other sects, but the factors behind the “Sunni stance” are neither mundane nor easy to disregard. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who cannot be reduced to his Sunnism, stood for responsible and patriotic scrupulousness, which is unusual in Lebanese politics, paired with a legalistic consciousness and a constitutional mindset. Together, these factors demonstrate that addressing disarmament speaks to the reformer in Salam, not just the Sunni in him. One could perhaps make the case that these qualities do not contradict some aspects, among them the “political Lebanonization” of the Sunnis often attributed to the late Rafic Hariri, of the background of “Sunni attitudes.” Another element is the sense of victimhood stemming from Hariri’s assassination and the broad suspicions of who had been behind it, which made the Raouche incident feel, to many, akin to rewarding the murderer inside the victim’s home. The community’s heavily urban demography, which is favorable to the state and averse to violence, contributed to shaping that background, especially since the waves of religious-political radicalism in the region have begun to recede and as the Gulf model makes its case by emphasizing a stability that supporters see as the antithesis to unbridled extremism.
As for the Maronites and Christians more broadly, they remain, for well known historical reasons, the sect closest to being the state’s base and, by extension, the most committed to the principle of the state’s monopoly of means of violence. Among the political parties that represent the Christian community, the ‘’Lebanese Forces’’ and the ‘’Kataeb’’ have perhaps adopted the positions most faithful to this tradition. However, the community’s top state officials, the president and the leaders of the agencies and institutions that fall under the presidency, have taken a different line.
Here, we are facing what could be called the Aounist cavity- in reference to former president Michel Aoun and his “understanding” with Hezbollah, a cavity with the legacy of Elie Hobeika and the “Tripartite Accord” on its outer edges. One cannot fail to recall the "alliance of minorities” theory, which the rise of the new Syrian regime may have rekindled and solidified. Several junctures, some foundational (like “Operation Fajr el-Jouroud” battles on the Syrian-Lebanese border) and some more recent (like the massacres along the Syrian coast and in Sweida, not to mention the bombing of Damascus’s St. Elias Church and the reverberations of those tragedies) were traversed on the path that led us here.
The Aounist political trajectory is also a continuity of another broad political track: the drive to return to the pre-Taif era, which the first Aoun had fought with arms. As to the way the president engaged with the prime minister during the Raouche Rock episode, it only reinforces the impression that he is viscerally hostile to the Taif Agreement. In at least two respects, this Aounist inclination is flipping traditional Christian mode on their head: one is the radical approach to confronting Hezbollah’s armament, and the other is extreme concern for aligning with prevailing regional and international attitudes, which the Aounist school has nothing but disregard for and whose opportunities it never fails to squander. As for the top Shiite official, he decided, amid the climate imposed by Hezbollah’s armament, to establish a parallel political “state” to supplement the parallel military “state” that Hezbollah had established. Leveraging his solidarity with the president, the speaker of parliament has managed to position himself as the country’s primary domestic and foreign policy arbiter. Meanwhile, intra-Lebanese divisions and hostilities continue to deepen, and Lebanon’s place and weight in the world steadily decline.
We can, however, note that the Shiite community’s foremost official is betraying Imam Musa al-Sadr, his former mentor, twice. Defying the stagnation of the Shiite political representation, which had lagged behind the educational, economic, and financial progress of the community, was among the most prominent defining features of Sadrism- Speaker Berri, meanwhile, has held his post for no less than a third of a century. As for the second U-turn on Sadr’s approach, the latter’s ultimate concern was compelling the state to safeguard the South and its people, shielding them from Palestinian and Lebanese radical movements that had been striving to broaden the arena of conflict- Hezbollah, with the Speaker’s blessing, seeks the exact opposite. That is why Musa al-Sadr had to be reinvented to allow the two sides of the “Shiite duo” to synergize their efforts. This reinvention, in its current form, is what we call “zaabara” (a scam) in colloquial Arabic, that portrays defeat as victory and victory as defeat, and so on and so forth.

Question: “What is the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)?”
GotQuestions/October 03/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/10/147895/
Answer: The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27-28), also known as Yom Kippur, was the most solemn holy day of all the Israelite feasts and festivals, occurring once a year on the tenth day of Tishri, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. On that day, the high priest was to perform elaborate rituals to atone for the sins of the people. Described in Leviticus 16:1-34, the atonement ritual began with Aaron, or subsequent high priests of Israel, coming into the holy of holies. The solemnity of the day was underscored by God telling Moses to warn Aaron not to come into the Most Holy Place whenever he felt like it; he could only come on this special day once a year, lest he die (v.2). This was not a ceremony to be taken lightly, and the people were to understand that atonement for sin was to be done God’s way.
Before entering the tabernacle, Aaron was to bathe and put on special garments (v. 4), then sacrifice a bull for a sin offering for himself and his family (v. 6, 11). The blood of the bull was to be sprinkled on the ark of the covenant. Then Aaron was to bring two goats, one to be sacrificed “because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been” (v. 16), and its blood was sprinkled on the ark of the covenant. The other goat was used as a scapegoat. Aaron placed his hands on its head, confessed over it the rebellion and wickedness of the Israelites, and sent the goat out with an appointed man who released it into the wilderness (v. 21). The goat carried on itself all the sins of the people, which were forgiven for another year (v. 30).
The symbolic significance of the ritual, particularly to Christians, is seen first in the washing and cleansing of the high priest, the man who released the goat, and the man who took the sacrificed animals outside the camp to burn the carcasses (v. 4, 24, 26, 28). Israelite washing ceremonies were required often throughout the Old Testament and symbolized the need for mankind to be cleansed of sin. But it wasn’t until Jesus came to make the “once for all” sacrifice that the need for cleansing ceremonies ceased (Hebrews 7:27). The blood of bulls and goats could only atone for sins if the ritual was continually done year after year, while Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient for all the sins of all who would ever believe in Him. When His sacrifice was made, He declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He then sat down at the right hand of God, and no further sacrifice was ever needed (Hebrews 10:1-12).
The sufficiency and completeness of the sacrifice of Christ is also seen in the two goats. The blood of the first goat was sprinkled on the ark, ritually appeasing the wrath of God for another year. The second goat removed the sins of the people into the wilderness where they were forgotten and no longer clung to the people. Sin is both propitiated and expiated God’s way—only by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Propitiation is the act of appeasing the wrath of God, while expiation is the act of atoning for sin and removing it from the sinner. Both together are achieved eternally by Christ. When He sacrificed Himself on the cross, He appeased God’s wrath against sin, taking that wrath upon Himself: “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:9). The removal of sin by the second goat was a living parable of the promise that God would remove our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12) and that He would remember them no more (Hebrews 8:12; 10:17). Jews today still celebrate the annual Day of Atonement, which falls on different days each year in September-October, traditionally observing this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer. Jews also often spend most of the day in synagogue services.

Selected X tweets For on October 03/2025
Pope Leo XIV
The world is a wonderful gift made up of different forms of life, given to us so that we might help and complete one another. Differences are not an obstacle, but rather an invitation to build harmony to reveal the beauty of creation. #SeasonOfCreation

Christian Emergency Alliance
https://x.com/i/status/1973836598048346317
Syria: Christians in the Valley of the Christians marched under the slogan: “We die but refuse humiliation. Christian blood is precious.”The protest broke out after masked Islamists reportedly gunned down three Christian men.Pray for the Christians of Syria.

أحمد شريف العامري
@ahhmedshh
How many funerals before Britain wakes up? A synagogue in Manchester turned into a scene of terror, families torn apart, children growing up in fear. When will it stop? When will leaders admit that Islamist networks embedded in schools, mosques, NGOs, and finance are not “community voices” but the machinery of radicalism? Every delay, every excuse, every speech that protects them instead of dismantling them leaves citizens exposed. Britain was once a place of safety, now it is a place of fear. The question is no longer if another attack comes, but when.

Senator Ted Budd
Good to see more attention being paid to the violence against Christians in Nigeria.
The U.S. should designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern to address the continued unchecked acts of violence & terrorism against the Christian religious minority in Nigeria. https://fxn.ws/431y0SS

Mike Winger
It’s time for Christians all over the world to start talking about Nigeria.
More than that, what can we do to stop Muslims from murdering so many Christians there? There are reports of over 50,000 Christians who have been murdered since 2000, in Nigeria. It’s difficult to know what the real numbers are because the Nigerian government is lying to everybody about them.

Azat
@AzatAlsalim
https://x.com/i/status/1973890710043783442
Deborah, a Christian student in Nigeria was brutally murdered after being accused of blasphemy for mentioning Jesus in a WhatsApp group!
It’s not shown on TV because they only divert your attention with Gaza.
Every year thousands of Christians are killed

Andrew Scheer
The world has largely ignored the persecution of Christians in Nigeria: 7,000 killed, 3.5 million displaced, and three churches destroyed every day. It’s time to break the silence, raise awareness, and support those enduring unimaginable suffering.

Shadi khalloul
We had very fruitful meetings at the Swedish parliament discussing Aramaic Christian matters . Informed them about the process we did in Israel for recognition of our Aramaic national identity as Native Christians and our future projects. This was an important meeting with members of Parliament and speakers, very honorable swedes indeed. Israel was the only state to recognize our Aramaic identity, while Arab states not doing so until today, but oppressing it.

Siyad Raleme
The Lebanese Republic isn't a democracy. It’s a mafia where a few parties and politicians monopolize the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, preventing the separation of powers to make themselves immune to judicial accountability.

Jamil Jivani
What I observed today in parliament: Liberals have had a clear bias against Christians for years, as shown in their unwillingness to address the burning of churches. They get offended when you point this out, but still expect you to trust them with more control over your speech.