English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  October 21/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2025/english.october21.25.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006 

Click On The Below Link To Join Elias Bejjaninews whatsapp group
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FPF0N7lE5S484LNaSm0MjW
اضغط على الرابط في أعلى للإنضمام لكروب Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group

Elias Bejjani/Click on the below link to subscribe to my youtube channel
الياس بجاني/اضغط على الرابط في أسفل للإشتراك في موقعي ع اليوتيوب
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAOOSioLh1GE3C1hp63Camw

Bible Quotations For today
Parable Of The The Widow & The judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people 
Luke 18/01-08: "Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, "Grant me justice against my opponent." For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, "Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming." ’And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’"

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 20-21/2025
Elias Bejjani/October 21/2025/ My X Account
The Anniversary of the Aaichiye، Massacre and the Assassination of Dany Chamoun and His Family ...They loved Lebanon unto martyrdom and offered themselves as pure sacrifices upon its altar/Elias Bejjani/October 21/2025
Text and Video: Commemorating the Martyrdom of Wissam al-Hassan and the Betrayal, Cowardice, and Failure of the March 14 Party Leaders/Elias Bejjani / October 19, 2025
The significant progress toward peace achieved by the Trump administration presents a valuable opportunity/Charles Elias Chartouni/October 20/2025
Overseas Voting Sparks Clash Between Berri and Geagea…
Barrack Recites His “Psalms” — But Is Anyone Listening?
Israeli army announces strikes on 'Hezbollah infrastructure' in South Lebanon
Israel strikes three areas across South Lebanon
Violent Israeli strikes hit south as drones overfly Beirut, Dahieh
Aoun's call for indirect talks with Israel accepted locally and externally
Salam says Aoun wants US to step in to break ceasefire impasse
Berri says meetings with Aoun 'always excellent'
Seeking answers: Lebanon awaits Bulgaria's decision on extraditing "Rhosus" ship owner
Grade-tampering scandal rocks Lebanese University’s law faculty — the details
Bassil warns against 'surrender', wants 'just peace' in exchange for disarmament
Israel still fires on Lebanon almost a year after truce. Some predict same for Gaza
Peace, truce, or stalemate? Lebanon’s debate over negotiations with Israel deepens
Hezbollah and the “Reality Principle”/Michel Touma/This Is Beirut/October 20/2025
Israel Still Fires on Lebanon Almost a Year After a Ceasefire. Some Predict the Same for Gaza
Deadly Blows and Setbacks Deepened Hezbollah’s Crisis During War with Israel
Berri Reveals to Asharq Al-Awsat Details of How Suggestion to Negotiate with Israel Was Dropped
The Jeopardized Peace/Dr. Charles Chartouni/This Is Beirut/October 20/2025
One Year After Nasrallah’s Death, Hezbollah Struggles to Rebuild
Heading Toward 5G: Is Lebanon Ready?
Pope Leo XIV’s Visit: Bookings Soar, Hotels Remain on Standby/Christiane Tager/This is Beirut/October 210/2025
Canonization of Ignatius Maloyan at the Vatican in the Presence of President Aoun
A Personal Perspective – Syria and Lebanon Are the Next Pieces for Levant Peace/Ambassador Tom Barrack/X platform/October 20/2025
From the Land of the Cedars to the Throne of Peter: Lebanon Rejoices in Its New Saint/Marwan Chidiac/Nidaa Al-Watan/October 21, 2025
Israeli Military Drill on the Border: 'The War with Lebanon Is Not Over'/Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 20-21/2025
Trump Says Hamas Will Be 'Eradicated' If They Breach Gaza Deal
US envoys arrive in Israel to shore up Gaza ceasefire after major flareup
Israeli military says Red Cross on its way to receive Gaza hostage body
Diplomatic push: US halts Israeli escalation, paves way for new phase in Gaza plan
Netanyahu Says Israel Dropped 153 Tons of Bombs Sunday on Gaza
Israel Says Forces Received Hostage Body from Red Cross in Gaza
Iran Says Cooperation Deal with UN Nuclear Watchdog Is Void
Khamenei Tells Trump to ‘Keep Dreaming’ over Claims of Destroying Iran Nuclear Sites
Zelensky says meeting with Trump 'positive' though he didn't get Tomahawk missiles

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on October 20-21/2025
The Implications of Hamas's Public Executions and the World's Silence/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/October 20/2025
Russia’s shortage of workers is so severe that it is luring foreigners into sweatshops/Angela Howard/The Hill/October 20/2025
Why Iran Won’t Follow FATF Counter-Terrorism Rules/Saeed Ghasseminejad, and Toby Dershowitz/National Interest/October 20/2025
Man on a Difficult Mission/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
The Real Trump Factor in the Gaza Deal/Dana Stroul/The New York Times/October 21/2025
Trump’s Plan and the Risks of ‘Mutual Dependence/Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
Selected English Tweets from X Platform For 19 October/2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 20-21/2025
Elias Bejjani/October 21/2025/ My X Account
Please be informed that my account on the X platform has been suspended for reasons unknown to me. This is the fourth account in five years to be arbitrarily suspended.

The Anniversary of the Aaichiye، Massacre and the Assassination of Dany Chamoun and His Family ...They loved Lebanon unto martyrdom and offered themselves as pure sacrifices upon its altar.
Elias Bejjani/October 21/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/10/68292/
The systematic brutality targeting Lebanon’s free and sovereign men and women — leaders, clergy, and intellectuals — has continued since the 1970s through various oppressive and terrorist means. Nothing has changed for the better since the Aaichiye, massacre and the assassination of martyr Dany Chamoun and his family. Lebanon remains occupied, and its rulers, politicians, and party leaders — the vast majority of them — are Trojan collaborators executing the occupier’s commands while trampling the nation’s interests.
First came the Palestinian occupation, followed by the Syrian one, and then the cancer of Hezbollah and its godless masters, the mullahs of Iran. Today, as we commemorate the Aaichiye massacre and the martyrdom of Dany Chamoun and his family, we must recognize, with national and spiritual awareness, that Hezbollah has destroyed Lebanon, displaced its people, dismantled its institutions, and dragged it — against the will of the majority — into a devastating war with Israel to serve Iran’s interests.
Despite all the destruction and loss, Hezbollah refuses to acknowledge defeat, surrender its weapons to the state, and abide by the ceasefire, the constitution, and international resolutions. History teaches us that nations not nourished by the generous sacrifices of their people collapse, their identity fades, and their dignity and heritage are erased.
Holy Lebanon — blessed with youth who fear neither death nor martyrdom for its sake, like Dany Chamoun and his family — will endure, for evil cannot overcome it. Martyrdom is born of faith and love: faith in a homeland and a cause, and love so pure and giving that it ascends to the level of offering one’s life for those we love.
The martyrs are the beacon that lights our path to freedom and the incentive to continue Lebanon’s sacred mission of dignity and spiritual greatness. As we remember the Aaichiye massacre and the assassination of Dany Chamoun and his family, we affirm that our faith in God, in Lebanon, and in our right to live freely and with dignity requires us to endure pain and hardship, for nations are built only on love, hope, and sacrifice — even unto martyrdom.
Many years have passed since those crimes, yet the horrors of the Aaichiye massacre and the assassination of Dany Chamoun and his family remain vivid in the hearts and minds of Lebanon’s free and sovereign people. These were heinous crimes committed by the Syrian occupier and his local mercenaries — godless agents and devils who accepted the role of tools and traitors.
Tragically, some of our own people submitted to the role of Trojans and Judases, betraying the blood of martyrs. They are the moral, national, and ethical cancer devouring our country. These very same figures still control Lebanon’s fate today, dragging it — through hatred, envy, and bitterness — toward ruin and destruction.
The political class and political party mafias who side with the Iranian occupier, embodied by its local terrorist armed proxy, Hezbollah, have betrayed the martyrs’ blood in exchange for power and privilege. They traded sovereignty for seats and turned a blind eye to all international resolutions concerning Lebanon.
The Aaichiye massacre and the assassination of Dany Chamoun and his family still fill our hearts with sorrow and our eyes with tears for those noble heroes who sacrificed their lives for Lebanon and its people.
We must never forget that Lebanon is a sacred land, its boundaries written in the Holy Scriptures. It is God’s own domain, mentioned more than seventy-seven times in the Old Testament:
“The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” (Psalm 92:12)
“His fragrance shall be like Lebanon.” (Hosea 14:6)
In Islam, Lebanon is held in reverence. The Prophet Muhammad said: “Three mountains are among the mountains of Paradise.” They asked: “O Messenger of God, which mountains?” He said: “Mount Uhud — it loves us and we love it — Mount Sinai, and Mount Lebanon.”
It is also said that among the seven mountains bearing the divine throne on Judgment Day, Lebanon will be one of them. (As cited by historian Antoine Khoury Harb in The Name of Lebanon Through the Ages.)
In conclusion, freedom is a divine gift granted to humanity so that we may be free in thought, word, and belief. So, our Heavenly Father, grant us steadfastness in truth and courage in bearing witness to it.
Martyr Dany Chamoun, the martyrs of Aaichiye, and all the martyrs of Lebanon’s sacred land are the leaven of faith that continuously gives life to our nation, planting within it love, generosity, and hope.

Text and Video: Commemorating the Martyrdom of Wissam al-Hassan and the Betrayal, Cowardice, and Failure of the March 14 Party Leaders
Elias Bejjani / October 19, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/10/135924/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOUG-CU7-PE
On the anniversary of the assassination of martyr Wissam al-Hassan, it is crucial to remember that Hezbollah, Iran’s armed terrorist proxy, is the force behind his murder. This group, with its long and bloody history, has assassinated hundreds of Lebanese who dared to oppose its occupation and criminal grip on the country. Wissam al-Hassan was one of many courageous figures who paid the ultimate price for resisting Hezbollah’s dominance and exposing its destructive agenda.
Hezbollah has become a relentless assassination machine, silencing anyone who stands against it—politicians, military figures, journalists, and activists alike. Its operations are not isolated incidents of political rivalry; they are part of a systematic effort by Iran’s regime to tighten its control over Lebanon through fear, violence, and bloodshed. From Wissam al-Hassan to countless others, Hezbollah’s methods have always been ruthless and calculated, designed to eliminate any figure who advocates for Lebanese sovereignty and independence.
What is perhaps even more appalling is the role played by Lebanon’s political elite in enabling this occupation. The heads of Lebanon’s political parties, including many who once identified with the March 14 coalition, have betrayed the principles of freedom and resistance that Wissam al-Hassan and others died defending. Instead of standing firm against Hezbollah’s tyranny, they chose to collaborate with it, seeking personal gains—positions of power, government posts, and political influence—while turning a blind eye to Hezbollah’s systematic destruction of Lebanon’s independence.
These political leaders, who once vowed to oppose Hezbollah, now participate in a government that grants legitimacy to the very group responsible for the assassination of one of their own. Their actions have not only undermined justice for Wissam al-Hassan and other martyrs but have also paved the way for Hezbollah to continue its campaign of terror unchecked.
Today, as we remember Wissam al-Hassan, we must recognize that the real enemy is not just Hezbollah but also the corrupt political class that has sacrificed the country’s sovereignty for personal interests. Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanon remains strong, not solely because of its weapons and militias, but because the political leaders have sold out the nation’s independence in exchange for short-term personal benefits. This betrayal is as damaging as the assassinations themselves.
Hezbollah will continue its deadly path unless the Lebanese people, and the international community, hold both the terrorist group and its enablers within the political system accountable for their crimes. It’s time to expose not only Hezbollah’s murderous agenda but also the complicity of those who have allowed it to thrive, to restore justice for Wissam al-Hassan and countless other victims of their treachery.

The significant progress toward peace achieved by the Trump administration presents a valuable opportunity
Charles Elias Chartouni/October 20/2025
The significant progress toward peace achieved by the Trump administration presents a valuable opportunity if key obstacles can be overcome. None of the earlier, ill-conceived attempts to end the cycle of violence compare with the outstanding diplomatic achievement of the American administration. The humbug of the French president has faded away, and the whole wokist frenzy capitalizing on the war in Gaza dissipated. What’s intriguing at this stage is the waffling of Hamas and its attempt at sabotaging the new dynamic and forestalling the rising political horizon. The violent crackdown on the opposition and the foreclosure of the political space are bad omens. President Trump’s swift reaction and timely warning clearly indicate the terror group’s unwillingness to renounce its hegemony and determination to regain control over the Palestinian political landscape. The political statements issued by Hamas’s competing power centers are misaligned with the truce mandates, marked by unilateralism, and suggest a scenario of wars merely postponed. The stalling process has set in and is overtly meant to challenge the emerging political horizon. The unfolding political evolutions point towards Iran and its revanchism. Iran has decided to overturn the political dynamics and back its domestic political and military handlers in both Gaza and Lebanon.

Overseas Voting Sparks Clash Between Berri and Geagea…
Barrack Recites His “Psalms” — But Is Anyone Listening?
Nidaa Al-Watan/October 21, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
The main headline yesterday was a lengthy article posted by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack on his “X” account, titled “Syria and Lebanon: The Next Step Toward Comprehensive Peace in the Middle East.” In it, Barrack emphasized the importance of Lebanon disarming Hezbollah before Israel does so itself.
Meanwhile, Massad Boulos, President Donald Trump’s advisor for African affairs, announced that “the regional peace talks may expand to include Syria and Lebanon.”
This unprecedented diplomatic development coincided with an intensified wave of Israeli drone activity over Lebanon, including, for the first time, flights directly above the Presidential Palace in Baabda.
Simultaneously, Nidaa Al-Watan learned that European and Western countries have warned several civil organizations operating in Lebanon to exercise extreme caution, avoid nonessential movement, and suspend activities in high-risk areas such as the South, Bekaa Valley, and the vicinity of the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Aoun and Berri Discuss Negotiations with Israel
According to Nidaa Al-Watan, President Joseph Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met yesterday in Baabda to discuss the situation in the South, ongoing Israeli strikes, and Lebanon’s position after the Gaza agreement.
The discussions reportedly focused primarily on the question of negotiations with Israel. President Aoun, who previously proposed reopening land border talks, was met by Speaker Berri’s insistence on reactivating the existing “mechanism” involving all relevant parties.Both agreed to keep communication channels open before adopting any negotiation framework, pending Israel’s and Washington’s positions. Political sources told Nidaa Al-Watan that Berri “tried to give the impression that the President was siding with him, thus neutralizing Aoun’s proposal and stripping it of its substance, turning it into a procedural rather than strategic initiative.” They added that Berri’s remarks about his “excellent relationship” with the President were also meant as a message to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, portraying the latter as further removed from the Presidency than Berri himself.
Barrack: A Major Confrontation Between Israel and Hezbollah Is Looming
Barrack wrote that “Syria’s courageous steps toward a border agreement — and possibly future normalization — mark the first phase in securing Israel’s northern border. The disarmament of Hezbollah must be the second step.” He warned that “if Beirut does not act, Hezbollah’s military wing will inevitably face a major confrontation with Israel — at a time when Israel is strong and Iran’s support for Hezbollah is at its weakest.”Barrack added: “The new U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, will arrive next month to help Beirut navigate these complex challenges. Now is the time for Lebanon to act.”
Observers wondered whether his lengthy post was a prelude to stepping aside in favor of Ambassador Issa or a final warning that leaves no room for interpretation.
Lebanon in the Eye of the Storm
Senior political sources close to the U.S. position told Nidaa Al-Watan:
“This is part of a strategic American movement, and Barrack’s statement fits within that context. His warning — that if Lebanon fails to disarm Hezbollah, Israel will take matters into its own hands — is of major significance, especially in timing.”
They added: “This is the first such message after the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit and President Aoun’s initiative to open negotiations with Israel. It signals a renewed American engagement, asserting that Lebanon is next after Gaza — not forgotten or shelved. This is a pre-storm warning: Lebanon can avoid the coming tempest only by disarming Hezbollah. Otherwise, it will find itself at the heart of it.”
The sources concluded:
“Strategically, the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons has now entered the American diplomatic agenda following the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit. Washington is clearly urging Beirut to act, as Hezbollah shows no intent to abandon its armed project.”
Hezbollah Responds
While there was no official response to Barrack’s comments, Hezbollah MP Hussein Al-Hajj Hassan stated: The American statements and Israeli demands are clear. As Barrack himself said recently, peace is an illusion. Israel does not want to withdraw from the five disputed points — it wants to go wherever, whenever, and however it pleases.”
Berri–Geagea Clash Over Expatriate Voting: “Parliament Is Sovereign”
In a separate development, a heated exchange erupted between Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Speaker Nabih Berri after Geagea posted the following on “X”:
“Mr. Speaker Nabih Berri, you cannot equate yourself with the Parliament.
Your statement that ‘we have tried expatriate voting once and for the last time, and it will never be repeated no matter how much shouting there is,’ undermines Parliament, the parliamentary system, the Lebanese state, and democracy itself.”
Berri’s camp later replied: “Where did you get the words you attributed to me? Do you have nothing left but to fabricate statements in my name?”
Geagea fired back on “X”: “Mr. Speaker, this is exactly the response I hoped for. We now await the inclusion of the urgent draft law, signed by 67 MPs, on the agenda of the next legislative session. With all due respect.”
Parliamentary sources told Nidaa Al-Watan that Geagea’s aim was to press Berri to list the expatriate voting amendment bill and remind him that he is Speaker of Parliament — not of the MPs themselves — meaning the majority decides. Later in the evening, Minister of Culture Ghassan Salamé visited Geagea in Maarab, where they discussed the expatriate voting issue.
Adwan: Today’s Session Is Administrative, Not Legislative
MP Georges Adwan announced last night that today’s Parliament session “is administrative and organizational, not legislative.” He added that MPs from the “Strong Republic” bloc will attend, noting that no change is expected in committee leadership. He clarified that MP Michel Douaihy will withdraw his candidacy for the bureau, and no surprises are expected.
Adwan concluded: “After the session, we will adopt an escalatory stance regarding expatriate voting.”
A Long Day of Security Escalation
On the ground, Israeli drones continued flying at low altitude over Beirut and the southern suburbs since morning. Witnesses also saw one flying above the Presidential Palace in Baabda — a first. Around 2:20 p.m., Israeli warplanes launched eight airstrikes targeting open areas and valleys around Al-Mahmoudiya, Al-Jarmaq, and the Khardali River, near Kfar Roummane in South Lebanon. The explosions echoed across Nabatieh, Marjayoun, and Iqlim al-Tuffah, setting off multiple forest fires. Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on “X” that the strikes targeted Hezbollah infrastructure in the Nabatieh area.

Israeli army announces strikes on 'Hezbollah infrastructure' in South Lebanon
LBCI/October 210/2025
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced that Israeli forces carried out strikes targeting "Hezbollah's infrastructure" in the Nabatieh area of South Lebanon.
According to Adraee, Hezbollah continues efforts to rebuild its military infrastructure across Lebanon, in what he called a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.
He added that the Israeli army "will continue to act to remove any threat and defend the State of Israel."

Israel strikes three areas across South Lebanon
LBCI/October 210/2025
Israeli airstrikes targeted on Monday Aaichiyeh, Mahmoudiya, and Jarmaq in South Lebanon.

Violent Israeli strikes hit south as drones overfly Beirut, Dahieh
Naharnet/October 210/2025
Eight violent Israeli airstrikes targeted open areas and valleys on Monday in the southern areas of al-Mahmoudiyeh and al-Jarmaq and the stream of the al-Khardali River in the Nabatieh district, the National News Agency said. The blasts echoed across vast areas of the south and triggered forest blazes. The Israeli army claimed the strikes targeted Hezbollah "infrastructure," adding that Hezbollah "continues its attempts to rebuild" itself across Lebanon. Israeli drones were meanwhile overflying Beirut and its southern suburbs at very low altitudes, an activity that started in the morning and resumed in the afternoon. Similar overflights were also reported over several other regions. The developments come amid a major Israeli military exercise near Lebanon’s border. The Israeli army said the drill is part of its annual exercises.

Aoun's call for indirect talks with Israel accepted locally and externally
Naharnet/October 210/2025
President Joseph Aoun’s latest call for indirect negotiations with Israel under U.S. and U.N. sponsorship enjoys the acceptance of the various local parties as well as externally, an informed source said. “Clear signals supportive of the president’s initiative have been received, in parallel with direct and indirect contacts that encourage this course,” the source told al-Joumhouria newspaper. A European diplomatic source meanwhile said that Aoun’s proposal is “advanced” and reflects Lebanon’s desire to reach a political solution, adding that the EU encourages this approach. The source added that they believe that the U.S. is interested in Aoun’s proposal.

Salam says Aoun wants US to step in to break ceasefire impasse
Naharnet/October 210/2025
After a ceasefire reached in Gaza, Lebanese politicians called for the implementation of the Lebanon ceasefire amid almost daily strikes despite a deal reached between Lebanon and Israel in late November, almost a year ago. President Joseph Aoun has called for indirect negotiations with Israel "to find solutions" as the ceasefire reached a dead-end, with Israel still attacking the country and occupying five hills in its south. Aoun’s initiative aims to urge the U.S. to step up and save the stalled negotiations, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said, in remarks published Monday in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.The indirect negotiations, taking place in Naqoura between Lebanon and Israel through the ceasefire monitoring mechanism co-chaired by France and the U.S., have failed to stop Israel’s violations despite Lebanon’s commitment to the ceasefire, Salam said, hoping that the U.S. would respond to Aoun’s call and succeed in creating a breakthrough that might end the deadlock and help in implementing the ceasefire.

Berri says meetings with Aoun 'always excellent'
Naharnet/October 210/2025
President Joseph Aoun met Monday with Speaker Nabih Berri at the Baabda Palace. Berri said after the meeting that the meetings with Aoun are "always excellent."

Seeking answers: Lebanon awaits Bulgaria's decision on extraditing "Rhosus" ship owner
LBCI/October 210/2025
Forty days after Bulgarian authorities detained Igor Grechushkin, the owner of the ship Rhosus, under an Interpol warrant, Lebanon is still awaiting a decision on his extradition. Lebanese authorities promptly filed a formal request for Grechushkin's return before the 40-day detention period expired. However, in Bulgaria, the initial period passed without a ruling, prompting an extension. Beirut submitted all required documents and sent Judge Mirna Kallas from the Public Prosecution Office to Bulgaria twice during that period to expedite the process and clarify that Grechushkin is not facing charges that could lead to a death sentence.
So, who is Igor Grechushkin?
Grechushkin's name emerged prominently in international transactions linked to his company, which purchased the Rhosus, and in the dealings that redirected the vessel to Lebanon before it was abandoned at Beirut Port. In a murky financial operation, Grechushkin bought the ship through a company he had founded a year earlier and transferred part of the payment to an entity other than the original seller, raising questions about third-party involvement in the vessel's ownership. During its voyage from Georgia to Mozambique, Grechushkin abruptly rerouted the ship to Beirut without informing Lebanese authorities that it was carrying ammonium nitrate. Once the Rhosus was stranded in the port, he funded the repatriation of the ship's crew but made no effort to repair or reclaim the vessel, later dissolving his company from the commercial registry. These inconsistencies placed Grechushkin at the center of the Beirut Port explosion investigation. Lebanon's Information Branch previously questioned him in Cyprus days after the blast, with Cypriot police present. Judge Tarek Bitar, who leads the probe, remains determined to pursue further questioning. He has formally requested that Grechushkin be interrogated in Bulgaria through Lebanon's top prosecution office. As authorities await a response, all eyes turn to November 4, when Bitar is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing related to a lawsuit filed against him by Lebanon's Public Prosecutor—one that has already led to a travel ban against the investigating judge.

Grade-tampering scandal rocks Lebanese University’s law faculty — the details
LBCI/October 210/2025
A grade-tampering scandal has been uncovered at the Lebanese University’s Faculty of Law and Political and Administrative Sciences, Branch 1, prompting swift disciplinary action and both administrative and security investigations. The issue came to light after the Kuwaiti Embassy requested a list of grades for its students enrolled in the faculty. While preparing the list, the college director noticed irregularities, including two exam booklets for different students written in the same handwriting, as well as altered professor signatures and modified grades. It appeared that new exam booklets with higher grades had replaced the originals, which contained lower scores. The college director referred the matter to University President Bassam Badran, who quickly issued four decisions: dismissing the college director, the secretary, and five staff members from their duties and placing them at the university’s disposal pending the outcome of investigations. A committee of four professors was also assigned to investigate suspected grade manipulation involving Kuwaiti students and submit its findings to the university administration. In parallel, the Lebanese State Security, which usually handles corruption cases, opened its own investigation. It reportedly uncovered additional tampering involving two Lebanese students, where grades were raised during the review of exam booklets without official records, professor signatures or proper documentation in the university system. The Lebanese University stressed that it would show no leniency in the case and that anyone found guilty will be held accountable. It also clarified that no certificates or transcripts had been issued based on the falsified grades, and that the investigation committee’s report is nearing completion to determine responsibility.

Bassil warns against 'surrender', wants 'just peace' in exchange for disarmament
Naharnet/October 210/2025
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has said Hezbollah's disarmament should only happen when Lebanon's rights are secured and the country is protected. In an interview late on Sunday, Bassil stressed that indirect negotiations with Israel should give Lebanon its rights and "a just, permanent, and long-lasting peace". "What is important is that these negotiations don't lead to surrender, our airspace and land and sea borders are constantly violated, and our sovereignty is violated. When Lebanon regains its rights and when it is actually protected, there will no longer be a need for weapons."Bassil said he supported that Hezbollah hand over its arms to the Lebanese army but not without something in return. He said Hezbollah's armament was a result of an "exceptional situation" and asked for security guarantees in exchange for the group's disarmament. Bassil also said direct negotiations with Israel in the future are not out of question and that what matters is not if the negotiations are direct or indirect but that the negotiations give Lebanon its rights.

Israel still fires on Lebanon almost a year after truce. Some predict same for Gaza
Naharnet/October 210/2025
As a tenuous ceasefire took hold in Gaza this month, Israel launched more airstrikes on southern Lebanon — 11 months into a ceasefire there.
The bombardment of a construction equipment business killed a Syrian passerby, wounded seven people including two women, and destroyed millions of dollars worth of bulldozers and excavators. The Oct. 11 strikes would be an anomaly in most countries not at war. But near-daily Israeli attacks have become the new normal in Lebanon, nearly a year after a U.S.-brokered truce halted the latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Some see a likely blueprint for the Gaza ceasefire, with ongoing but lower-intensity conflicts. On Sunday, Israel struck Gaza after it said Hamas fired at its troops, in the first major test of the U.S.-brokered truce. Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, described the Lebanon scenario as a "lessfire" rather than a ceasefire. Lebanon "could well serve as the model for Gaza, essentially giving leeway to Israeli forces to strike whenever they deem a threat without a full resumption of conflict," she said.
- A ceasefire with no clear enforcement -
The latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict began the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza. The militant group Hezbollah, largely based in southern Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas and the besieged Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling. The low-level conflict escalated into full-scale war in September 2024. The ceasefire on Nov. 27, 2024, required Lebanon to stop armed groups from attacking Israel and Israel to halt "offensive" military actions in Lebanon. It said Israel and Lebanon can act in "self-defense," without elaborating. Both sides can report alleged violations to a monitoring committee of the U.S., France, Israel, Lebanon and the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, but the deal is vague on enforcement.
In practice, Israel has largely taken enforcement into its own hands, asserting that its strikes in Lebanon target Hezbollah militants, facilities and weapons.
Israel says it aims to stop the badly weakened group from rebuilding. Lebanese officials say the attacks obstruct its efforts to get Hezbollah to disarm by giving the group a pretext to hold onto its weapons. Lebanon also says Israel's strikes, including the Oct. 11 one, often harm civilians and destroy infrastructure unrelated to Hezbollah.
Lebanon's health ministry has reported more than 270 people killed and around 850 wounded by Israeli military actions since the ceasefire. As of Oct. 9, the U.N. human rights office had verified that 107 of those killed were civilians or noncombatants, said spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan. No Israelis have been killed by fire from Lebanon since the ceasefire. From Nov. 27, 2024, to mid-October, UNIFIL detected around 950 projectiles fired from Israel into Lebanon and 100 Israeli airstrikes, spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said. During the same period, it reported 21 projectiles fired from Lebanon toward Israel. Hezbollah has claimed one attack since the ceasefire.
Conflicting narratives -
After the Oct. 11 strikes in Msayleh, Israel's army said it hit "engineering equipment intended for the reconstruction of terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon. "Lebanese authorities, Hezbollah and the equipment's owner disputed that. "Everyone in Lebanon, from all different sects, comes to buy from us," owner Ahmad Tabaja told journalists. "What have we done wrong?" President Joseph Aoun called the strikes "blatant aggression against civilian facilities." Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri accused Israel of seeking to prevent communities' reconstruction. Lebanon complained to the U.N. Security Council.
A few days later, Israel struck a cement factory and a quarry, claiming Hezbollah planned to use it to rebuild its infrastructure.
Last month, an Israeli strike hit a motorcycle and a car carrying a family in Bint Jbeil. It killed Shadi Charara, a car salesman, three of his children — including 18-month-old twins — and the motorcyclist, and badly wounded Charara's wife and oldest daughter. It was among the highest death tolls since the ceasefire, sparking particular outrage because of the children.
"My brother was a civilian and his children and wife are civilians, and they have nothing to do with politics," said sister Amina Charara. Israel's military said it was targeting a Hezbollah militant, whom it did not name, but acknowledged that civilians were killed.
Even when the target is a known Hezbollah member, the military necessity can be disputed.
Earlier this month, an Israeli drone strike killed a Hezbollah member who was blinded last year in Israel's exploding pagers attack, along with his wife. Israel's army said Hassan Atwi was a key official in Hezbollah's Aerial Defense Unit. Hezbollah officials said he had played no military role since losing his eyesight.
- The end of 'mutual deterrence' -
Hezbollah was formed in 1982, with Iranian backing, to fight Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon at the time. Israeli forces withdrew in 2000, and Hezbollah grew into one of the region's most powerful non-state armed groups.
In 2006, Hezbollah and Israel fought a month-long war that ended in a draw. For the next 17 years, "there was a tense calm ... that was largely due to mutual deterrence," said Nicholas Blanford, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's Middle East program.
Strikes in Lebanon were generally understood to be off limits. Both sides wanted to avoid another damaging war. Now that equation has changed. Though Blanford said Hezbollah could still deliver blows to Israel, the group's "deterrence has been shattered by the recent war," he said. In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Hezbollah political official Mohammad Fneish said the prospect of coexisting with daily Israeli attacks is "not acceptable."But the group has largely limited itself to calling on Lebanon's government to pressure Israel with what Fneish called "its political, diplomatic or other capabilities."
He added: "If things develop further, then the resistance leadership is studying matters, and all options are open."Yacoubian, the analyst, said she didn't see the situation in Lebanon changing any time soon, "barring a breakthrough in behind-the-scenes negotiations brokered by the U.S." With the Gaza ceasefire, she said, the difference could be the "significant role" of fellow mediators Qatar, Egypt and Turkey.

Peace, truce, or stalemate? Lebanon’s debate over negotiations with Israel deepens
LBCI/October 210/2025
Talks have recently intensified in Lebanon about the possibility of negotiations with Israel. But opinions are deeply divided: some reject the idea entirely, others accept it only if a third party is involved, some insist the talks be limited to military officers without the participation of diplomats or politicians, and others agree on the condition that the two delegations not sit in the same room. The key question, however, is whether Israel truly wants to sit down with the official Lebanese government — a government that so far has proven unable even to stop a Hezbollah gathering in Beirut’s Raoucheh area.
Lebanon’s authorities have also failed to set a timeline for implementing the disarmament clause in the ceasefire agreement that Hezbollah accepted nearly a year ago.
This reality raises another question: Will Israel negotiate directly with Hezbollah?
Nothing suggests that. Israel’s main demand remains clear — the elimination of Hezbollah, whose military capabilities have been severely weakened and whose fighters continue to be targeted daily. Nearly 300 of its members have been killed since the ceasefire agreement.
Israel continues to strike bulldozers and construction equipment, and its drones remain constantly present in Lebanon’s skies, 24/7.
So, what interest does Israel have in negotiating with Lebanese authorities? What could these authorities offer Israel that it cannot take itself?
As usual, Lebanese politicians keep the public occupied with terms like “negotiations,” “truce agreement,” or “peace deal,” even though they know Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main goal: to eliminate the threat of Iran and its proxies from the region once and for all — even if that means maintaining the current situation for years or launching a major regional war in an attempt to reach a permanent peace with Iran first, and then with the rest of its allied states.

Hezbollah and the “Reality Principle”
Michel Touma/This Is Beirut/October 20/2025
Major developments are unfolding rapidly in the Levant, placing the region before what increasingly seems like an urgent reality: Hezbollah’s leadership, and more broadly its Iranian backers, need to align their political conduct with the so-called “reality principle.” In psychoanalytic terms, the “reality principle” means facing facts with clarity and insight, and adapting to circumstances as they are — even when doing so clashes with publicly declared ambitions or rigid ideological positions.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah’s leaders, cadres, and fighters now face a new reality that the group seems largely unaware of — one that is far from flattering. Hezbollah has moved from the stage of so-called “resistance,” once a source of pride, to a politics of ostrich-like avoidance in the face of daily Israeli raids that are increasingly destructive and deadly. At the same time, the faction has shifted from the once-noble phase of “martyrdom on the road to Jerusalem” to concerns that now seem largely trivial, even absurd — excuse the stretch of the term — from projecting images onto the Raouche Rock, to a shadowy politically aligned NGO, to a gathering of young scouts giving a Nazi salute in a sports stadium.
The pro-Iranian group is more than ever trapped in an outdated ideology and a rigid, unquestioning loyalty to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. As a result, it struggles to acknowledge its growing isolation on the domestic scene and the contradictions in its political stance. Having lost its regional role as a strike force and military instructor in neighboring countries on behalf of the Pasdaran — and, above all, being unable to act as a warmonger against Israel — Hezbollah has been reduced to a much narrower and far less prestigious role. Its focus is now turned inward, toward the Lebanese state and local actors.
Worse still, while profound upheavals have shaken and continue to reshape the entire region of the Levant, Hezbollah remains frozen in the dogmatic, backward-looking political discourse of the 1990s and seems unable to take stock and acknowledge, likely under the influence of its Iranian backers, that the Middle East has changed radically and that a new geopolitical landscape is taking shape.
Long before Hezbollah, other regional players, all significant, knew how to follow the “reality principle” and take the balance of power into account in their decisions. In 1982, for example, when the Israeli army besieged Beirut, the PLO did not stubbornly cling to its positions and instead withdrew from Lebanon, ending the dominance it had maintained over the country since the late 1960s. Likewise, after the October 1973 war, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat agreed to end the fighting and the long-standing conflict with Israel once he realized, as he would later stress publicly, that he was actually at war with the United States and not just with Israel.
The great misfortune faced by the peoples of the Levant since the outbreak of the Middle East conflict in the late 1940s lies in the tendency of the region’s leaders to let complete irrationality and unreasonable behavior prevail over clear-sightedness and geopolitical pragmatism. The result of these seventy-five years of futile military ventures speaks for itself. Today, it is high time to put an end to blindness, deception, dogmatism — and, above all, to intellectual terrorism — a force of alienation and a barrier to social well-being, progress, openness to others, and the long-awaited, lasting peace. The prosperity of all peoples in this region depends on it.

Israel Still Fires on Lebanon Almost a Year After a Ceasefire. Some Predict the Same for Gaza
Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
As a tenuous ceasefire took hold in Gaza this month, Israel launched more airstrikes on southern Lebanon — 11 months into a ceasefire there. The bombardment of a construction equipment business killed a Syrian passerby, wounded seven people including two women, and destroyed millions of dollars worth of bulldozers and excavators. The Oct. 11 strikes would be an anomaly in most countries not at war. But near-daily Israeli attacks have become the new normal in Lebanon, nearly a year after a US-brokered truce halted the latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Some see a likely blueprint for the Gaza ceasefire, with ongoing but lower-intensity conflicts. On Sunday, Israel struck Gaza after it said Hamas fired at its troops, in the first major test of the US-brokered truce. Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, described the Lebanon scenario as a "lessfire" rather than a ceasefire. Lebanon "could well serve as the model for Gaza, essentially giving leeway to Israeli forces to strike whenever they deem a threat without a full resumption of conflict," she said.
A ceasefire with no clear enforcement
The latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict began the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza. The Iran-backed Hezbollah, largely based in southern Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians. Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling. The low-level conflict escalated into full-scale war in September 2024. The ceasefire on Nov. 27, 2024, required Lebanon to stop armed groups from attacking Israel and Israel to halt "offensive" military actions in Lebanon. It said Israel and Lebanon can act in "self-defense," without elaborating. Both sides can report alleged violations to a monitoring committee of the US, France, Israel, Lebanon and the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, but the deal is vague on enforcement. In practice, Israel has largely taken enforcement into its own hands, asserting that its strikes in Lebanon target Hezbollah members, facilities and weapons. Israel says it aims to stop the badly weakened group from rebuilding. Lebanese officials say the attacks obstruct its efforts to get Hezbollah to disarm by giving the group a pretext to hold onto its weapons. Lebanon also says Israel's strikes, including the Oct. 11 one, often harm civilians and destroy infrastructure unrelated to Hezbollah. Lebanon’s health ministry has reported more than 270 people killed and around 850 wounded by Israeli military actions since the ceasefire. As of Oct. 9, the UN human rights office had verified that 107 of those killed were civilians or noncombatants, said spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan. No Israelis have been killed by fire from Lebanon since the ceasefire. From Nov. 27, 2024, to mid-October, UNIFIL detected around 950 projectiles fired from Israel into Lebanon and 100 Israeli airstrikes, spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said. During the same period, it reported 21 projectiles fired from Lebanon toward Israel. Hezbollah has claimed one attack since the ceasefire.
Conflicting narratives
After the Oct. 11 strikes in Msayleh, Israel's army said it hit "engineering equipment intended for the reconstruction of terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon."Lebanese authorities, Hezbollah and the equipment’s owner disputed that. "Everyone in Lebanon, from all different sects, comes to buy from us," owner Ahmad Tabaja told journalists. "What have we done wrong?"Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the strikes "blatant aggression against civilian facilities." Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri accused Israel of seeking to prevent communities' reconstruction. Lebanon complained to the UN Security Council. A few days later, Israel struck a cement factory and a quarry, claiming Hezbollah planned to use it to rebuild its infrastructure. Last month, an Israeli strike hit a motorcycle and a car carrying a family in Bint Jbeil. It killed Shadi Charara, a car salesman, three of his children — including 18-month-old twins — and the motorcyclist, and badly wounded Charara’s wife and oldest daughter. It was among the highest death tolls since the ceasefire, sparking particular outrage because of the children. "My brother was a civilian and his children and wife are civilians, and they have nothing to do with politics," said sister Amina Charara.
Israel’s military said it was targeting a Hezbollah militant, whom it did not name, but acknowledged that civilians were killed.Even when the target is a known Hezbollah member, the military necessity can be disputed. Earlier this month, an Israeli drone strike killed a Hezbollah member who was blinded last year in Israel’s exploding pagers attack, along with his wife. Israel's army said Hassan Atwi was a key official in Hezbollah’s Aerial Defense Unit. Hezbollah officials said he had played no military role since losing his eyesight.
The end of ‘mutual deterrence’
Hezbollah was formed in 1982, with Iranian backing, to fight Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon at the time. Israeli forces withdrew in 2000, and Hezbollah grew into one of the region's most powerful non-state armed groups. In 2006, Hezbollah and Israel fought a month-long war that ended in a draw. For the next 17 years, "there was a tense calm ... that was largely due to mutual deterrence," said Nicholas Blanford, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Middle East program. Strikes in Lebanon were generally understood to be off limits. Both sides wanted to avoid another damaging war. Now that equation has changed. Though Blanford said Hezbollah could still deliver blows to Israel, the group's "deterrence has been shattered by the recent war," he said. In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Hezbollah political official Mohammad Fneish said the prospect of coexisting with daily Israeli attacks is "not acceptable."But the group has largely limited itself to calling on Lebanon's government to pressure Israel with what Fneish called "its political, diplomatic or other capabilities."He added: "If things develop further, then the resistance leadership is studying matters, and all options are open." Yacoubian, the analyst, said she didn't see the situation in Lebanon changing any time soon, "barring a breakthrough in behind-the-scenes negotiations brokered by the US." With the Gaza ceasefire, she said, the difference could be the "significant role" of fellow mediators Qatar, Egypt and Türkiye.

Deadly Blows and Setbacks Deepened Hezbollah’s Crisis During War with Israel
Beirut: Ali Saray/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
Months before his assassination, former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah believed that the “support war” his party had launched against Israel in October 2023 in support of Gaza would remain within the limits of the “rules of engagement”. He believed that Iran would not allow four decades of “Islamic resistance” in Lebanon to fall easy prey to the enemy. However, a series of wrong calculations prevented the party from taking decisive decisions during the conflict, which by September 2024 had turned into an all-out war. This report reveals how Israel’s assassination of major Hezbollah leaderships effectively cut off Nasrallah from knowing every detail of what was happening on the ground. Field leaders appointed to replace the slain ones did not have enough information. Others have speculated that the party’s problem did not lie in the commanders, but in the loss of rocket launcher operators, who were a “rare commodity” in the party and the war. Asharq Al-Awsat interviewed a number of Lebanese and Iraqi figures, who were in touch with the Hezbollah leadership in 2024, for this report to help fill in some gaps in the various narratives that have emerged related to the buildup to Nasrallah’s assassination in September 2024.Lebanese authorities say 3,768 people were killed and over 15,000 injured in the war, while Israeli figures have said that Hezbollah lost around 2,500 members in over 12,000 strikes.
War within limits
In the first weeks of the war, Hezbollah was convinced that the “rules of engagement” on the ground would remain in place and that it would not turn into an all-out war, revealed a Lebanese figure who was in close contact with party military commanders. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, he stated that Nasrallah would tell meetings with influential party officials that the war would be limited to border skirmishes with Israel, as had happened in the past. One leading Hezbollah member said the party believed that Iran would be able to “set the deterrence in the war and reach a ceasefire through maneuvering in its negotiations” with the West, added the Lebanese figure. “The party was waiting on Iran to restore balance in the war that was tipped in Israel’s favor and to eventually reach a ceasefire without major losses,” he went on to say.
Iranian officials, led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have always said that Tehran would not abandon its allies. Nasrallah himself had always credited Iran with supporting his party financially and with weapons.
Three commanders
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat from his residence in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Lebanese Shiite cleric said Hezbollah was slow in realizing that it was headed towards all-out war with Israel. The cleric, who earned his religious studies in Iraq’s al-Najaf, lost four members of his family during the war.Nasrallah, he added, lost key commanders who were his eyes and ears on the field. Whenever Israel killed a field commander, it was as if Nasrallah “lost an eye that helped him see clearly. He was obsessed with following up on field developments” and Israel was taking these tools away from him, he revealed. The greatest blows to Nasrallah were the losses of commanders Taleb Abdullah, Ibrahim Akeel, and Wissam al-Taweel. Taweel was a prominent commander in the party’s al-Radwan unit. Israel killed him on January 8, 2024. Abdullah was responsible for Hezbollah’s operations in the central sector of the border with Israel and stretching to the Litani river. Israel killed him on June 11, 2024, in what the cleric said was the harshest blow to Nasrallah. Akeel was commander of Hezbollah’s military council. Israel killed him on September 20, 2024. In the end, Nasrallah lost these three commanders and a state of chaos ensued in the operation rooms. “Other commanders on the field complained of how decisions were being improvised because members were acting out of alarm and suspicion instead of discipline,” said Lebanese sources. Despite these major losses during a period of eight months, Nasrallah and his entourage continued to think inside the box and within the rules of engagement, still ruling out that an all-out war would happen. Lebanese journalist Ali al-Amin said Nasrallah believed that the party was still capable of militarily deterring Israel and preventing a comprehensive war. He was ultimately wrong.
Secrecy
Hezbollah’s problem lies in Hezbollah itself and how its commanders operate. Lebanese sources explained that the field commanders killed between January and November 2024 were part of a disconnected chain of command, in that they were not a whole that relayed expertise and information smoothly. The sources explained further: “When a commander is killed, his replacement does not have access to his predecessor’s field information and details, which are held in secrecy. This was one of Nasrallah’s problems in dealing with the war.”More interviews with Asharq Al-Awsat revealed that each commander built his own network of relations, methods and information based on his own personal experience as an individual. When he is killed, this network dies with him, along with information about weapons caches or field plans. At one point, Israeli drones hovering over a Hezbollah unit would have more information about the party than the newly appointed commander, said the cleric.
Israel’s infiltration
Nasrallah first started having doubts that Israel had breached Hezbollah after the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, former Hamas deputy politburo chief, on January 2, 2024. Wissam al-Taweel was killed that same month. The cleric said Nasrallah had not expected these assassinations and notably kept silent after they happened. Later, he chose defense instead of offense, said Al-Amin. He revealed that field commanders had urgently requested a meeting with Nasrallah to call on him to launch an all-out war, because Israel was hunting down their members. Nasrallah adamantly refused. Instead, the party became more isolated and began having deep doubts. The cleric explained that this is how Shiite movements in particular behave. They isolate themselves for internal reflection. Security sources said that at the same time, Hezbollah reviewed its communications networks in the hopes of finding the Israeli breach. A prominent Shiite figure, who has been in contact with Hezbollah since 2015, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the channels of communication with the party changed several times as more and more assassinations took place in Lebanon. “We would come in contact with a new person every time we needed something from Dahieh (Beirut’s southern suburbs and a Hezbollah stronghold),” he added. In August 2024, the Iranians asked Iraqi factions to support Hezbollah in its war. The Iraqi leader said they were instructed to make media statements that they were ready to go to war. A month later, Iraq’s Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada faction said it would send 100,000 fighters to the Lebanese borders, but none did.
Pager operation
The party grew more anxious to uncover how Israel had breached it. Then came the devastating pager operation in September. The attack isolated leaders from each other and their field networks. Communications within the party were almost dead and at some point, the remaining leaderships even gave up trying to find out where the breach was from. Following the attack, field units did not hear anything for days from their commanders, revealed the cleric. It took the command a long time to resume contacts. During that time, a military commander asked Nasrallah if the rules of engagement still stood. Nasrallah did not give a definitive answer, which was unusual for him, according to information obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat. Nasrallah realized that he was now in an open war that he did not want, but it was already too late, revealed sources from leading officials who had attended important meetings. Political science professor Ali Mohammed Ahmed tried to explain why Hezbollah refused to change its course of action. He said that maintaining the rules of engagement would ultimately not fall in Israel’s favor. But what really tipped the war in its favor was its superior technology that Hezbollah had not taken into account.
The final scene
On the day of his assassination on September 27, Nasrallah headed to Dahieh with deputy Quds Force commander in Lebanon Abbas Nilforoushan. We will never know what they discussed. They headed to an underground Hezbollah compound and soon after Israel pounded the site with tons of bunker buster bombs. Tons of questions were raised the day after in Dahieh and everywhere. Looking at photos of his slain relatives, the Lebanese cleric said: “It took Hezbollah supporters a long time to recover from the shock. When they did, they asked, ‘who let down whom? The party or Iran? The resistance or Wilayet al-Faqih?’”Ahmed said Hezbollah operated in a single basic way: it could not quit a war imposed on it, and so, it fought on. Al-Amin stressed that Nasrallah would never have opened the “support front” without backing from Iran and his conviction that Israel would take into account threats from Tehran’s proxies in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. However, the successive military and security setbacks led to a state of disarray and Nasrallah effectively cut the connection between Iran and Hezbollah, he added. Eventually, both sides realized that they had fallen into a trap. Ahmed underlined one important development that took place early on during the war. Israel killed the strategic rocket launcher operators. The operators are a “rare commodity” and difficult to replace. Hezbollah’s problem did not lie in its loss of field commanders, but the rocket operators, he said. When the party launched hundreds of rockets at Israel a day before the ceasefire took effect, “we realized that it succeeded in replacing the slain operators,” he added. “No one let down anyone. The problem lies in both Iran and Hezbollah and how they seemingly could not move on from the October 7, 2023 attack. Time was moving, but they were not,” he stated. Iraqi researcher Akeel Abbas explained that the party and Iran did not grasp the extent of the major change that was taking place, even after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that October 7 was like his country’s September 11. “Everyone understood that the old rules no longer stood and that new ones were being imposed by force,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat. “Iran was incapable of keeping pace with the major changes Israel was creating. It needed more time to prepare for such a largescale confrontation,” he remarked.

Berri Reveals to Asharq Al-Awsat Details of How Suggestion to Negotiate with Israel Was Dropped
Beirut: Thaer Abbas/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Monday that the proposal to hold negotiations between Lebanon and Israel was dropped because Tel Aviv was not receptive to Washington’s suggestion over the matter. Berri told Asharq Al-Awsat that the current path is the one through the mechanism that includes representatives of the countries sponsoring the November 2024 ceasefire that ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah. The speaker met on Monday with President Joseph Aoun at the Baabda palace for talks on the security situation in the South and negotiations with Israel. In a brief statement after the meeting, Berri said: “Talks with the president are always excellent.” The presidency said they tackled the general situation in the country, especially the South amid the ongoing Israeli violations. They also covered the developments in the region in wake of the Sharm El-Sheikh summit and ceasefire in Gaza. Berri met with Aoun three days after the president held talks with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and hours after US envoy Tom Barrack issued a stark warning that “Israel may act unilaterally” if the Lebanese government continues to hesitate in its decision to impose state monopoly over arms.
Backing down from negotiations with Israel
Berri revealed that Barrack had informed Lebanon of Israel’s rejection of an American proposal that calls for launching negotiation and for Israel to simultaneously stop its military operations for two months. The period would end with Israel’s withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territories and the launch of the border demarcation process and military arrangements. “There has been a backing down from the path of negotiations with Israel, so what remains is the mechanism through the committee that is overseeing the ceasefire,” Berri explained. Barrack had relayed the proposal to Lebanese officials last week. It also calls on the president, PM and speaker to hold talks with him over the Israeli withdrawal during a two-month period and a halt to the violations. Lebanon was receptive of the initiative. However, Barrack informed Lebanon officially of Israel’s rejection of the proposal, said Berri, so the only remaining diplomatic path is the committee overseeing the ceasefire. The committee will notably now meet once every two weeks, when it previously used to meet sporadically, he revealed. The speaker reiterated Lebanon’s commitment to the ceasefire, refusing to say whether he was optimistic or pessimistic, adding that it was a mixture of both.
Barrack warns Lebanon of grave consequences
Earlier on Monday, Barrack posted an opinion piece on his account on the X platform, titled: “A Personal Perspective – Syria and Lebanon Are the Next Pieces for Levant Peace.”“October 13, 2025, will be remembered as a defining moment in modern Middle Eastern diplomacy,” he wrote, referring to the Sharm El-Sheikh summit. “Should Beirut continue to hesitate (over disarming Hezbollah), Israel may act unilaterally – and the consequences would be grave.” He warned that Hezbollah may seek to postpone the 2026 parliamentary elections, under the pretext of war with Israel. “This would ignite major chaos within Lebanon, fracturing an already fragile political system and reigniting sectarian distrust,” cautioned Barrack. “The perception that one militia can suspend democracy could potentially erode public confidence in the state, invite regional interference, and risk pushing Lebanon from crisis into outright institutional breakdown.”“Meanwhile, the Lebanese government’s principle of ‘One Country, One Military’ remains more aspiration than reality, constrained by Hezbollah's political dominance and the fear of civil unrest,” added Barrack. “Early this year, the United States offered the ‘One More Try’ plan, a framework for phased disarmament, verified compliance, and economic incentives under US and France supervision. Lebanon declined to adopt it due to Hezbollah representation and influence in the Lebanese cabinet.”“Syria’s courageous moves toward a border agreement and hopefully future cooperation mark the first steps toward securing Israel’s northern frontier. Hezbollah’s disarmament must be the second. Lebanon now faces a defining choice: to seize the path of national renewal or remain mired in paralysis and decline.”“If Beirut fails to act, Hezbollah’s military arm will inevitably face major confrontation with Israel at a moment of Israel’s strength and Iran-backed Hezbollah’s weakest point. Correspondingly, its political wing will undoubtedly be confronted with potential isolation as it approaches the May 2026 elections,” the envoy said.

The Jeopardized Peace
Dr. Charles Chartouni/This Is Beirut/October 20/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/10/148377/
The significant progress toward peace achieved by the Trump administration presents a valuable opportunity if key obstacles can be overcome. None of the earlier, ill-conceived attempts to end the cycle of violence compare with the outstanding diplomatic achievement of the American administration. The humbug of the French president has faded away, and the whole wokist frenzy capitalizing on the war in Gaza dissipated. What’s intriguing at this stage is the waffling of Hamas and its attempt at sabotaging the new dynamic and forestalling the rising political horizon. The violent crackdown on the opposition and the foreclosure of the political space are bad omens.
President Trump’s swift reaction and timely warning clearly indicate the terror group’s unwillingness to renounce its hegemony and determination to regain control over the Palestinian political landscape. The political statements issued by Hamas’s competing power centers are misaligned with the truce mandates, marked by unilateralism, and suggest a scenario of wars merely postponed. The stalling process has set in and is overtly meant to challenge the emerging political horizon. The unfolding political evolutions point towards Iran and its revanchism. Iran has decided to overturn the political dynamics and back its domestic political and military handlers in both Gaza and Lebanon.
The same political script applies to both Lebanon and Gaza. Hezbollah is set on blocking Lebanese statehood and undermining its ability to recover from a prolonged twilight. The fractured political landscape and the well-entrenched obstructions of the Deep State are highly instrumental in this regard. The operational capability of an emancipated Lebanese state is preempted at the source. The Lebanese parliament is bogus and demonstrates its ineptitude and incapacity to challenge the political extraterritoriality of Shia fascism — let alone its complicity whenever constitutional mandates and territorial sovereignty are undermined.
The executive power is deeply cleaved and doesn’t seem to abide by constitutional regulations or unite around a common political program. Ambiguities hover over its contradictory statements regarding the implementation of the negotiated truce, and its political apathy betrays any principled commitment to enforce it. This ongoing procrastination, doublespeak, and dithering once again call into question the relevance of Lebanese statehood and provide a platform for regional destabilization.
In both cases, the decommissioning process and the normalization of the political narrative are openly challenged, while domestic political operatives find themselves once again reinvested in Iran’s politics of destabilization. This observation invites us to rethink our political assumptions and try to figure out what the alternative solutions would be if we were to avoid the impending demise of the rising political dynamics. At this stage, President Trump’s reservations about the two-state solution are shaped by opportunistic calculations, by the indirect diplomatic bargaining with Iran, and by the ambiguities inherent in that process. Ultimately, there are no chances for a working political solution unless the Islamic regime in Tehran changes its political narrative, engages the sequential diplomatic strategy, and renounces its maverick political status.
The ongoing political mediations should confront domestic political actors and their Iranian mentors across the political spectrum, questioning their intentions and ability to influence emerging political courses. Challenging the saboteurs’ political and military agendas is imperative if we are to forestall the projected derailment. No diplomatic mediation can succeed unless Iran is either defeated, contained, or co-opted. The domestic recalcitrance owes to the ability of Iran to check the alternative political horizon, nurture Islamic extremism, and institutionalize political chaos. There is no chance for incremental political change while attempting to accommodate the political and strategic interests of the Islamic regime in Tehran. The residual political nodes of Iranian imperialism should be annihilated, and Iran's political and nuclear irredentism should be done away with. The relaunch of the peace process should overhaul the strategic equation to make genuine conflict resolution possible. As long as Iran has the operational latitude in the near future, the chances of restructuring the regional order are preempted. The reliance on the goodwill of malevolent terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah is a non-starter. The Sharm el-Sheikh summit marks a major milestone in the search for a sustainable political solution and in addressing the impasses of a regional order that has long failed to achieve geopolitical stability, build modern institutions, or update its political semantics and narratives. Peacemaking efforts cannot rely on the erratic political processes and strategic ambiguities that have marked contemporary political history.

One Year After Nasrallah’s Death, Hezbollah Struggles to Rebuild
This is Beirut/October 210/2025
A year after the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike on Beirut on September 27, 2024, Hezbollah is quietly attempting to rebuild its shattered leadership and reassert its influence. According to a detailed report by Le Figaro correspondent Georges Malbrunot, the Shia militia now operates in a state of semi-clandestinity, forced to overhaul its military and political structures after a succession of humiliations that shook the very core of its power.
Leadership in Disarray
Le Figaro describes the chaos that engulfed Hezbollah following the killing of Nasrallah and his presumed successor, Hashem Safieddine. In Beirut’s southern suburbs, Dahiyeh, the group’s stronghold, senior officials went into hiding, sleeping in cars or at trusted relatives’ homes. “For ten days, everyone was lost, like a body in a coma,” a Hezbollah member told the French daily. The group’s leadership, decapitated by Israeli airstrikes, had gone silent. Fighters in southern Lebanon continued to engage Israeli forces based on prearranged plans, but most were ultimately killed, around 1,200, according to Le Figaro’s sources.
Two weeks later, Iranian officers led by Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani stepped in to restore a semblance of military command. Yet the political vacuum persisted.
Divisions Over the War
Malbrunot’s report revisits Hezbollah’s internal divisions following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Two camps emerged: one led by Nasrallah, who favored limited engagement out of solidarity with Hamas, and another led by Safieddine and Radwan Force commanders, who pushed for a full-scale offensive in northern Israel. Nasrallah’s decision to maintain “minimal solidarity” proved disastrous for southern Lebanon, which bore the brunt of Israel’s retaliation. “Either we go to war, or we don’t,” lamented a Hezbollah fighter quoted in the piece.
Deep Infiltration and Espionage
Beyond battlefield losses, Hezbollah’s exposure to Israeli intelligence operations has become a defining vulnerability. Several senior figures were eliminated, some betrayed by relatives or intimate partners. Among them was senior commander Fouad al-Shokr, killed after Israel monitored his mistress. Within Hezbollah ranks, he became sarcastically known as “the martyr of lust,” Le Figaro reports. “Nasrallah was deceived,” said a technician close to the group, explaining that the longtime leader, isolated in his bunker, had relied on distorted intelligence spread by Israeli infiltrators. Under Tehran’s supervision, Hezbollah has since reorganized its leadership. MP Ali Fayad told Le Figaro that a new, younger, and more discreet military structure has been put in place. Mid-level cadres have been replaced, and all sensitive communications now take place in person to avoid Israeli interception.
The South Under Tight Watch
In southern Lebanon, reconstruction is slow and Hezbollah’s visibility diminished. According to Le Figaro, the Lebanese Army has deployed only 2,000 soldiers in the region, far fewer than the 10,000 stipulated under the November 27, 2024 ceasefire.
“The army remains discreet to avoid provoking Hezbollah, as the situation is still unstable,” a senior Lebanese officer told the paper. Across towns like Naqoura, Alma al-Shaab, and Tibnin, destruction and poverty linger. Israeli drones continue to monitor the area, and Gulf states are making any financial assistance conditional on Hezbollah’s disarmament, a demand that remains far from being met. Despite these challenges, Hezbollah continues to draw support from its Shia base. “Most of us believe the Lebanese government can’t defend us,” said a young resident of the South. “So, between two evils, we choose the lesser, Hezbollah.”A Western diplomat told Le Figaro that Hezbollah had agreed to disarm south of the Litani River but was resisting interference further north. “Israel’s continued strikes show it believes most of its mission has already been accomplished,” the diplomat added.
A Wounded but Enduring Force
Politically, Hezbollah remains a key player, with 27 members in parliament, influence in parts of the army, and a still-functioning social apparatus. Yet its dominance has faded. “Its MPs no longer inspire fear, they’re openly criticized in parliament,” a Lebanese lawmaker told Le Figaro on condition of anonymity. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam now advocates gradual disarmament across Lebanon, backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States. President Joseph Aoun, however, warns against confrontation: “It’s better not to challenge a wounded beast,” Le Figaro quotes him as saying. Once viewed as invincible, Hezbollah now finds itself weakened, exposed, and driven underground. But as Malbrunot concludes, it remains “a central player in Lebanon, diminished, forced into secrecy, yet still standing: at once a militia, a party, and a community struggling to survive.”

Heading Toward 5G: Is Lebanon Ready?
This is Beirut/October 210/2025
When Minister of Telecommunications Charles Hage announced a three-year plan to introduce 5G across Lebanon, questions immediately arose about the country’s ability to modernize its infrastructure. The plan, revealed on October 15, aims to position Lebanon at the forefront of innovation. It promises ultra-fast internet speeds, minimal delays and the ability to connect millions of devices across homes, businesses and public services.
However, behind the ambitious project lies a more complicated reality. “For 5G to be more than just a slogan, we need a stable network, uninterrupted power supply and investments that match the scale of the ambition,” says an expert familiar with the project.
A former senior official at the Ministry of Telecommunications, speaking to This is Beirut on condition of anonymity, agrees. “Progress is important, of course, but first, we need to strengthen what we already have,” he says. “We should gradually phase out 2G and focus on 3G and 4G before seriously considering 5G. Right now, the network still has many weaknesses. If we spread our resources across multiple generations of technology, we risk failing everywhere.”
It is a clear-eyed observation backed by technical evidence, according to some analysts. “In a previous test, Lebanese operators reached record speeds of 1,800 Mbps. An impressive achievement, surely, but one without real structural impact,” the expert noted. He adds that a project of this scale requires a much higher density of antennas than 4G. To cover the same area, ensure reliable service and prevent the signal from being blocked by obstacles, more base stations are needed, along with stronger power capacity and constant maintenance. Yet, Lebanon still has areas where 3G and 4G are unstable or even nonexistent. Another major challenge is the frequent power outages in many regions. These disruptions weaken any network infrastructure, which requires a constant power supply, including 5G stations, data centers and backhaul equipment – the intermediate network that links peripheral components to the core system.
Moreover, the appropriate spectrum, or frequency bands, must be available, well-regulated and allocated transparently. Legal and administrative frameworks need to advance alongside technical progress to prevent delays, cost overruns or political impediments.
Another issue to be considered is the cost of launching 5G. Lebanon has been facing an economic crisis since 2019, and both operators and the state will need to mobilize substantial capital to build, maintain and upgrade infrastructure, sometimes relying on imported equipment that is extremely expensive. When asked how much funding would be required, the senior official declined to comment. He emphasized instead, “You cannot embark on such a process halfway.”
Progress Made, But Gaps Remain
Despite these structural challenges, some industry players are pushing forward. Public and private operators are stepping up initiatives to modernize their networks and prepare for the arrival of 5G. Last September, Alfa inaugurated a new data center in the Jdeideh area of Beirut, described as one of the most advanced in the country. It houses the core network and key platforms such as OCS, HLR, CS Core, IMS and others. These platforms form the technical backbone of the entire mobile network, handling subscriber identification, call switching, billing and modern multimedia services. The center is expected to support 40 to 45% of Alfa’s internet traffic. Meanwhile, in 2018, operator Touch conducted a 5G demonstration at the Grand Serail, reaching speeds of around 1.5 Gbps and showcasing advanced applications such as cloud-based VR, which offloads the graphical processing of virtual reality headsets to remote servers.
At the same time, the state operator Ogero has been expanding fiber optic coverage across the country. In 2024, it connected more than 221,000 households to fiber and plans to add another 406,000. During this period, it also increased its backhaul capacity, the main links between stations or data centers, from 20 Gbps to 40 Gbps.
The progress is undeniable, but experts say it still falls short of what is needed to ensure a national 5G network is viable. In the meantime, 4G coverage remains uneven, many base stations lack proper maintenance, and power outages hinder overall network performance.
According to them, the rollout of 5G depends on more than just technology. It requires close coordination between Ogero, Alfa and Touch, strict oversight from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, which was recently reactivated after more than a decade of inactivity, and a long-term strategic vision to organize the market, issue licenses, protect consumers and guide the sector over the long term.
“Lebanon will also need to rely on international partnerships, particularly from Europe and Asia, that can provide expertise and funding. Without this public-private cooperation, the project risks remaining a mirage,” warns the former senior official from the Ministry of telecommunication. From a political standpoint, Lebanon is ready to take the plunge. Yet, a long road lies ahead before achieving a fully operational, reliable and accessible 5G network. The country has important building blocks in place: fiber optic networks, technical demonstrations, a central data center and a regulatory framework back in action. But network coverage, resilience to outages, financing and rural and peripheral connectivity remain major undertakings that must be addressed.

Pope Leo XIV’s Visit: Bookings Soar, Hotels Remain on Standby
Christiane Tager/This is Beirut/October 210/2025
With the historic visit of Pope Leo XIV, scheduled from November 30 to December 2, 2025, drawing near, Lebanon is experiencing a surge in travel bookings. Airlines report a strong rise in demand, while the hotel sector is still waiting to see tangible gains.
The announcement of Pope Leo XIV’s first trip to the region has generated widespread excitement. Data from several travel agencies show that reservations for Lebanon are climbing sharply, driven by pilgrims and international visitors eager to witness this historic event. Airlines are already reporting higher occupancy rates, reflecting growing anticipation as the visit draws closer. “Lebanon is experiencing a significant rise in travel bookings ahead of the scheduled visit of Pope Leo XIV from November 30 to December 2, 2025,” said a travel agency owner, noting that the country is preparing to welcome thousands of visitors. The visit represents a landmark moment for Lebanon’s Christian community and the nation as a whole.
The Hotel Sector Awaits Its Moment
Locally, however, the enthusiasm has yet to translate into higher hotel bookings. “We have not seen a significant increase in bookings so far,” said Pierre Achkar, the President of the Lebanese Hotel Association. He noted that most of the expected visitors are members of the Lebanese diaspora, coming to attend the papal visit while staying with relatives or in family homes. The same trend holds for guesthouses, which have likewise not reported a surge in bookings during this period. Tourism insiders are nonetheless hoping for a late surge in bookings in the days leading up to the Pope’s visit, especially at pilgrimage sites and in hotels near Beirut, Byblos and Jounieh.
Frontline Pilgrimage Destinations
Even as hotels await a surge in bookings, religious sites are already bracing for a significant influx. Excursion bookings to the Saint Charbel Monastery in Annaya and Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa have already seen a noticeable rise, according to several travel agencies specializing in religious tourism. Parish groups and organized religious tours are planning full pilgrimages around the papal visit, with some already fully booked for those dates.
“Many want to come and pray at Annaya or Harissa before or after the official masses,” said a pilgrimage organizer, who expects a rise in visits throughout December.
Beyond its tourism impact, this visit carries strong symbolic weight for Lebanon, a country in crisis yet blessed with unique religious diversity. The arrival of Pope Leo XIV is seen as a message of hope and peace and a reminder of Lebanon’s central role in interfaith dialogue in the Middle East. Economic benefits, though modest for now, could expand as the date approaches and the spiritual fervor briefly transforms into a unifying force for the nation.

Canonization of Ignatius Maloyan at the Vatican in the Presence of President Aoun
This is Beirut/October 19/2025
President Joseph Aoun and First Lady Naamat Aoun attended the solemn Mass during which Blessed Bishop Ignatius Maloyan, of the Armenian Catholic Church, was proclaimed a saint on the altars of the Catholic Church. The ceremony, celebrated on Sunday morning in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, was presided over by Pope Leo XIV in the presence of several heads of state and international dignitaries, as well as numerous cardinals and patriarchs, including Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi and Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, Catholicos of the Armenian Catholic Church of Cilicia. During the Mass, Pope Leo XIV also proclaimed the canonization of six other blesseds: Peter To Rot, Vincenza Maria Poloni, Maria del Monte Carmelo Rendiles Martínez, Maria Troncatti, José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros, and Bartolo Longo.
In his homily, the Holy Father declared:
“Today, seven holy men and women stand before us, witnesses who, by God’s grace, kept the lamp of faith burning and became beacons shining with the light of Christ throughout the world.”
He added:
“The Lord calls on His disciples to persevere in prayer without growing weary. Just as we never tire of breathing, we should never tire of praying. As breathing sustains the body, prayer sustains the soul.”At the end of the ceremony, Pope Leo XIV greeted President Aoun, as well as Italian President Sergio Mattarella and the official delegation from Armenia, expressing his hope that peace will prevail throughout the world and that violence and suffering will come to an end.
Pope Leo XIV Meets President Aoun
Before the Mass, Pope Leo XIV received President Aoun and the First Lady. The Lebanese president conveyed that all Lebanese are eagerly awaiting the Pope’s visit, scheduled for the end of next month, and assured him that all necessary preparations have been made to ensure its success, thanking the Holy Father for accepting the invitation.
Pope Leo XIV confirmed that he will indeed visit Lebanon, describing it as “a visit of peace and hope.”On the sidelines of the celebration, President Aoun also met with Italian President Sergio Mattarella. As a reminder, Ignazio Choukrallah Maloyan was an Armenian bishop and martyr killed in 1915 by Ottoman forces for refusing to convert to Islam during the Armenian genocide.

A Personal Perspective – Syria and Lebanon Are the Next Pieces for Levant Peace
Ambassador Tom Barrack/X platform/October 20/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/10/148360/
October 13, 2025, will be remembered as a defining moment in modern Middle Eastern diplomacy. In Sharm el-Sheikh, world leaders did more than celebrate the release of hostages, a ceasefire, and the commencement of peace negotiations. They gathered to endorse President Donald J. Trump’s bold, twenty-point vision for renewal, reconstruction, and shared prosperity across the region.
Under his leadership, decades of fear and stagnation began to give way to purpose and optimism. Arab, Muslim, and Western nations joined in a single endeavor: to replace paralysis with progress, and isolation with inclusion.
For the first time in a century, a genuine consensus emerged – an understanding that the Middle East, long divided by tribe and faith and scarred by colonial legacy, could now weave a new tapestry of cooperation. What began as a truce in Gaza evolved into something much greater: the first tesserae in a renewed mosaic of partnership. Under President Trump’s stewardship, stability is no longer enforced through fear but envisioned through shared opportunity; peace is no longer a pause in violence but a platform for prosperity. No doubt Gaza, that has been plagued by violence, will continue to be punctuated with mishaps, speed bumps and violations of trust in spite of the great strides made last week. Nevertheless, the regional Nation States for the first time in decades have unanimously condemned terrorist practices within their region.
Syria: The Missing Piece of Peace
Yet the next two vital pieces of this architecture of peace remain incomplete. First, Syria: fractured and weary after years of war, it stands as both a symbol and test of whether this new regional order can truly endure. No tapestry of peace can be whole while one of the world’s oldest civilizations lies in ruin. The winds of reconciliation that began in Gaza must now cross Israel’s northern frontier and breathe life into Syria’s redemption.
The U.S. Senate has already demonstrated foresight by voting to repeal the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act – a sanctions regime that served its moral purpose against the previous, treacherous Assad regime but now suffocates a nation seeking to rebuild. The House of Representatives must now follow suit, restoring to the Syrian people their right to work, to trade, and to hope.
When Congress enacted the Caesar Act in 2019, the world faced atrocities of an unforgivable scale. Sanctions were the moral instrument of that moment. They froze assets, cut off illicit funding, and isolated a brutal regime. But Syria after Dec 8, 2024, with the inauguration of a new Syrian government, is neither Syria of 2019 nor the government that ruled it previously. Its leadership has embarked on reconciliation, having restoring ties with Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Europe, and even engaging in border discussions with Israel.
On May 13, 2025, in Riyadh, President Trump announced his intent to lift U.S. sanctions on Syria – a historic pivot from coercion to cooperation. That promise became policy on June 30, when an Executive Order formally revoked most Syria sanctions, effective July 1. These twin actions transformed U.S. policy from punishment to partnership, signaling to investors and allies alike that America now stood for rebuilding, not restraining.
Repeal sanctions is not charity; it is strategy. It unlocks the ability of allies and private investors to rebuild Syria’s power grids, water systems, schools, and hospitals. It unleashes one of the most consequential reconstruction efforts since post-war Europe. Economic vitality remains the surest antidote to extremism; commerce is the bridge from conflict to coexistence. The lingering sanctions no longer punish despots, they punish the teachers, farmers, and shopkeepers who must power Syria’s recovery.
Repeal, then, is not appeasement. It is realism. It aligns policy with facts on the ground and with the aspirations of a region ready to turn the page. Twenty-six senior Christian clerics from Syria have appealed to Congress to end the sanctions, warning that they are now one of the principal causes of the shrinking Christian presence in their homeland. Their plea is a moral echo of the region’s changing tide.
President Trump and the Senate have already shown courage. The House must now complete the act of statesmanship. To repeal Caesar is not to forget history, it is to shape it anew, replacing the lexicon of retribution with the language of renewal.
The Gaza Peace Summit was not symbolic theater, it was the overture to a new symphony of cooperation grounded in energy integration, economic interdependence, and shared human aspiration. The release of hostages, the cessation of hostilities, and the commitments made at Sharm el-Sheikh have laid a foundation that now must be constantly monitored, amended and administered in Gaza because there is no doubt that this is a process rather than an event. The rhythm of dialogue, however, now needs to be extended northward – to Syria, and ultimately to Lebanon. The Abraham Accords for the entire region is the true North Star.
For the first time in living memory, political will, economic necessity, and public hope are aligned and all that stands in the way of progress is a hostile and treacherous Iranian IRGC leadership and its proxies. President Trump has offered the region a renewed covenant, one that exchanges hostility for harmony, despair for development, and isolation for shared destiny. The Caesar Act achieved its purpose. Now, as the President has urged, it is time to “give Syria a chance.”
Now is the time for Congress to act in repealing the Caesar Act.
Lebanon: The Second Frontier
As Syria reclaims stability with its neighbors, including Israel and Türkiye, it forms the first leg of Israel’s northern security framework. The second leg must be the disarmament of Hizballah within Lebanon and the beginning of security and border discussions with Israel.
The Biden Administration-sponsored 2024 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, brokered through U.S., French, and UN intermediaries, sought to halt escalation but ultimately failed. There was no direct agreement between Israel and Hizballah due to the fact that Lebanon still views dealing with Israel as a crime and consequently no real mechanism for enforcement exists. Iran’s continued funding of Hizballah militia in spite of sanctions and a divided Lebanese Council of Ministers delivering mixed messages to its own Lebanese Armed Forces, who lack the funding and authority to act. The result was a fragile calm without peace, an army without authority and a government without control.
Israel today still occupies five tactical positions along the “Blue Line,” maintaining early-warning capacity while conducting daily strikes against Hizballah depots. Meanwhile, the Lebanese government’s principle of “One Country, One Military” remains more aspiration than reality, constrained by Hizballah’s political dominance and the fear of civil unrest.
Early this year, the United States offered the “One More Try” plan, a framework for phased disarmament, verified compliance, and economic incentives under U.S.A. and France supervision. Lebanon declined to adopt it due to Hizballah representation and influence in the Lebanese Council of Ministers. Rather the Lebanese Cabinet and Council of Ministers are trapped in sectarian paralysis and are attempting to make a good faith step forward, which Israel has completely discounted. The Israelis have simply said the rhetoric does not match reality.
As Damascus stabilizes, Hizballah grows more isolated. The militia’s foreign control undermines Lebanon’s sovereignty, deters investment, and erodes public confidence and is a constant red flag to Israel. But the incentives for action now outweigh the costs of inaction: regional partners are ready to invest, provided Lebanon reclaims the monopoly on legitimate force solely under the Lebanese Armed Forces. Should Beirut continue to hesitate, Israel may act unilaterally – and the consequences would be grave.
Disarming Hizballah is thus not only Israel’s security imperative; it is Lebanon’s opportunity for renewal. For Israel, it means a secure northern frontier. For Lebanon, it means sovereignty restored and the chance for economic revival. For the United States, it fulfills the President’s peace by prosperity framework while minimizing U.S. exposure. For the broader region, it removes an essential Iranian regime proxy alongside of Hamas and accelerates Arab modernization and integration.
To that end, the United States has tried to usher Lebanon towards a peaceful solution with Israel, through incentives rather than imposition linking reconstruction aid from the Gulf States to measurable milestones, ensuring verification (without enforcement authority) through U.S., France and UN oversight, and strengthening the Lebanese Armed Forces through targeted training and support (the United States just this month committed over 200 million additional dollars to the Lebanese Armed Forces). Washington was willing to provide diplomatic cover for Hizballah’s peaceful political transition, coordinate regional statements connecting investment to progress, and assist Beirut in presenting disarmament not as surrender, but as sovereignty reclaimed. All these initiatives have stalled while the rest of the region is accelerating towards expulsion of Iran’s terrorist proxies.
Syria’s courageous moves toward a border agreement and hopefully future cooperation mark the first steps toward securing Israel’s northern frontier. Hizballah’s disarmament must be the second. Lebanon now faces a defining choice: to seize the path of national renewal or remain mired in paralysis and decline.
The United States must support Beirut to quickly separate from the Iranian backed Hizballah militia and achieve alignment with the anti-terrorist rhythm of its region before the new wave of zero tolerance for terrorist organizations consumes it.
If Beirut fails to act, Hizballah’s military arm will inevitably face major confrontation with Israel at a moment of Israel’s strength and Iran backed Hizballah’s weakest point. Correspondingly, its political wing will undoubtedly be confronted with potential isolation as it approaches the May 2026 elections.
If Hizballah comes under serious military attack from Israel and faces territorial, political, or reputational losses, it will almost certainly seek to postpone the May 2026 elections to preserve its power base and regroup. Elections in such a moment would expose its weakened standing, risk electoral setbacks for its allies, and embolden rival factions to challenge its dominance within Lebanon’s fragile sectarian system. By invoking “national security” and “wartime instability,” Hizballah could justify a delay as a means to maintain unity and protect the Shiite community from perceived external exploitation. In reality, postponement would buy time – to rebuild militarily, re-organize politically, and renegotiate the post-war balance of power before facing the electorate.
Postponing the 2026 elections under the pretext of war would ignite major chaos within Lebanon, fracturing an already fragile political system and reigniting sectarian distrust. Many Lebanese factions – particularly Christian, Sunni, and reformist blocs – would view the delay as an unconstitutional power grab by Hizballah to entrench its control and avoid accountability for the war’s devastation. Such a move would likely paralyze Parliament, deepen the government vacuum, and trigger nationwide protests reminiscent of the 2019 uprising – but this time amid armed tension and economic collapse. The perception that one militia can suspend democracy could potentially erode public confidence in the state, invite regional interference, and risk pushing Lebanon from crisis into outright institutional breakdown.
Thanks to the momentum of the President’s “20-Point Plan,” the path toward an expanded Abraham Accord has never been clearer without regard to what may be a bumpy road to the Hamas resolution. What was once aspirational is rapidly becoming attainable. Iran stands terminally weakened – politically, economically, and morally – while Saudi Arabia now stands at the precipice of formal accession. As Riyadh moves, others will follow. Soon thereafter, the nations of the Levant may find alignment irresistible, drawn not by pressure but by prosperity. It is an extraordinary achievement to witness peace yielding dividends and prosperity taking root among nations that only a week ago were adversaries. History will remember this as the week when a century of conflict began to give way to a generation of cooperation. Let us keep in mind that cooperation is merely a path towards peace and understanding, not a guarantee. We must all continue to work tirelessly on allowing these intricate pieces to the mosaic to finally find their place next to one another.
President Trump’s newly appointed and extremely capable Ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, arrives in Beirut next month to help Lebanon steer a steady course through these complex issues.ow is the time for Lebanon to act.

From the Land of the Cedars to the Throne of Peter: Lebanon Rejoices in Its New Saint
Marwan Chidiac/Nidaa Al-Watan/October 21, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
For the third consecutive day, the Vatican and the world beyond its walls continued to echo with the joyful announcement of the canonization of Bishop Ignatius Shukrallah Maloyan, the Armenian Catholic Bishop of Mardin — a shepherd who turned his cross into a bridge between earth and heaven, and whose martyrdom became an eternal flame in the hearts of the faithful. From St. Peter’s Square to Armenia, and all the way to Our Lady of Bzommar Monastery in Lebanon, the name Maloyan resounded like a hymn of light — a call to faith, steadfastness, and hope.
A Lover of Bzommar and a Martyr of Faith
In both history and spirit, Bzommar remains a mirror of holiness. From its sacred soil emerged this humble Armenian monk who loved the land of Lebanon as dearly as he loved his native Armenia. At the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Bzommar, Shukrallah Melkon Maloyan spent his formative years, drawing from the springs of knowledge and prayer before returning to Mardin to serve as a true shepherd after the Heart of Jesus — tending to his flock amid trials and pain. But the Ottoman storm that swept the East in the early 20th century put his faith to the ultimate test. He refused to renounce Christ despite torture and enticement, choosing instead to walk the path of Calvary with the steadfastness of the martyrs. He was shot to death on June 11, 1915, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, uttering his final words:“Lord, have mercy on me. Into Your hands, I commend my spirit.” Thus, his voice became an echo of the Armenian martyrs whose blood watered the lands of the East with faith, tears, and hope.
A Holiness That Transcends Borders
The recent Vatican celebration was far more than a formal canonization of seven blesseds; it was a universal moment of unity, when the Church, in all her languages and cultures, gathered around a sanctity born of suffering and bearing the fruit of peace. Pope Leo XIV, in his address to the participating delegations in Paul VI Hall, affirmed that the new saints are “shining signs of hope in a world that needs light.”Turning to the Lebanese and Armenian delegations, the Pope said: “We share in the joy of the beloved Armenian people as we contemplate the holiness of the martyred bishop Ignatius Maloyan, who never abandoned his flock in times of tribulation but chose instead to shed his blood for the sake of God. May his intercession rekindle the zeal of believers and bear fruits of reconciliation and peace for all.”
A Lebanese Delegation at the Heart of the Celebration The official Lebanese delegation — composed of several MPs and former ministers — was led by His Beatitude Raphael Bedros XXI Minassian, Catholicos-Patriarch of Cilicia for Armenian Catholics. Their presence was a powerful affirmation of Lebanon’s deep spiritual connection with Rome and its enduring bond with the Holy See.
Voices from the Heart
In the halls of the Vatican, one Lebanese pilgrim expressed her emotion, saying: “It was a moment overflowing with grace, as if we were reliving the Resurrection itself. Lebanon is the land of saints, yet each time we feel a new blessing — as though God speaks to us again, saying: ‘Your pain is not wasted; it becomes holiness.’”
An Armenian pilgrim added:
“Today we ask for the intercession of Saint Maloyan to bless Lebanon and Armenia and to plant peace within us. It is indescribable to witness the canonization of the first Armenian Catholic saint by the Pope himself — a heavenly moment of unity between East and West.”
Minassian: Maloyan’s Holiness Is a Call to Fearless Faith
Last night, His Beatitude Patriarch Minassian presided over a Thanksgiving Mass at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter in St. Peter’s Basilica, surrounded by a large crowd of Lebanese and Armenian faithful who had traveled to Rome for the occasion.
In his moving homily, the Patriarch declared: “We are not here merely to remember a man from the past, but to thank God for writing an eternal page of the Gospel through the living witness of one of His servants. This is not a fleeting celebration, but the Church’s response to the cry of a soul that loved Christ unto martyrdom. The Cross is not defeat — it is victory.”Quoting Christ’s words, “Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” he affirmed that Maloyan’s sainthood is a call to a faith that knows no fear — a faith that speaks, burns, endures, and loves to the very end. Citing the martyr’s final declaration — “We die, but we die for Christ” — he presented it as a way of life, saying: “Martyrdom is not a tragic end, but a path to resurrection — where death and pain are no more.” He concluded with a heartfelt appeal:
“Holiness is not a privilege for the few; it is a universal calling. Let us walk in the footsteps of Christ with steadfast hearts, pure faith, and burning love.”As the Armenian hymns rose within the Vatican, it was as if prayers from Mount Lebanon, Mardin, and the lands of the martyrs ascended together to heaven.
Lebanon, Ever Present
From Mardin, which witnessed bloodshed, to Bzommar, which nurtured faith, to the Vatican, which crowned martyrdom with glory — earth and heaven unite today around one message: Holiness is not beyond reach.
Lebanon, the land of apostles and saints, continues to give the world witnesses who nourish it with faith. The third day of celebrations was not merely a remembrance of a saint crowned with glory, but a renewal of an unbreakable covenant of faith — a message of hope from the heart of the Church to every weary heart: When pain is lived in the love of Christ, it becomes a light that never fades.
In an age of anxiety and war, the star of Saint Ignatius Maloyan shines brightly, reminding us that the Cross is not the end of the road but its beginning, and that those who loved to the shedding of blood now live eternally in glory. Peace to his memory, blessings upon Lebanon rejoicing in its new saint, upon Armenia that gave the world a martyr of faith, and upon the Vatican that embraced his light at the heart of the universal Church.

Israeli Military Drill on the Border: 'The War with Lebanon Is Not Over'
Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
Israel’s army announced on Sunday the launch of a five-day military drill along the Lebanese border to prepare for “different scenarios,” in what officials described as a clear message that the war with Lebanon is not over and the risk of renewed escalation remains. The drill comes as Israeli strikes on Lebanese territory continue and Hezbollah reiterates its refusal to disarm. The group claims it has rebuilt its military capabilities and accuses Tel Aviv of seeking to drag Lebanon into negotiations and eventual normalization. Army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement on X that the exercise, which began Sunday evening and runs until Thursday, is taking place “along the border with Lebanon, in towns, coastal areas, and the home front.”He explained that the military would train for multi-branch cooperation to address a variety of scenarios, including defending the area and responding to immediate field threats. He also warned that explosions would be heard and that the exercise would include enemy simulation, drones, aerial and naval units, and intensive movement of security forces. The drill, he stressed, had been planned in advance as part of the army’s 2025 training schedule. Meanwhile, Israeli forces carried out further incursions in southern Lebanon. According to the National News Agency, “a unit of the Israeli army advanced overnight toward the Birkat al-Mahafer area in the town of Aitaroun, placing four concrete blocks with a sign reading: ‘No entry, danger of death,’ in an effort to push farmers away from their land.”
“The War Has Not Ended”
Riad Kahwaji, Director of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said the drill was “a clear Israeli message that the war with Lebanon has not ended and the possibility of escalation remains.”In an interview, he explained that continued Israeli strikes, combined with this new exercise, are part of “a pressure strategy meant to remind everyone that what happened was a truce, not the end of the war. The Lebanese front remains open, partly to serve Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political goals, and partly to keep pressure on the Lebanese government and Hezbollah over the weapons issue.”
Kahwaji noted that developments in Gaza would play a decisive role in determining how the situation unfolds. “We need to see how the ceasefire in Gaza will be implemented and stabilized. That will affect expectations of escalations on other fronts, including Lebanon. We could see intensified strikes without reaching the level of full-scale war,” he said. He added that Lebanon’s leadership currently faces “a state of confusion over how to address the weapons of Hezbollah,” which, he argued, “plays into Israel’s hands and gives it justification to continue its military operations.” As long as Hezbollah retains its arsenal, he said, the border will remain tense and the threat of war will persist.
Hezbollah: “We Will Not Submit”
Hezbollah officials continue to reject any disarmament, framing Israel’s ongoing attacks as an attempt to “subjugate” the group. They insist their military strength has been restored. Hussein Jishi, a Hezbollah MP, said during a ceremony in southern Lebanon that “the continued daily Israeli attacks confirm the enemy’s determination to continue its war on Lebanon, disregarding the ceasefire agreement.” He accused Israel of expanding its operations to include civilian targets such as construction equipment, a concrete mixing plant, a fuel storage tank belonging to the South Lebanon Water Authority, and even civilians on the roads. For his part, Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah criticized those who blame the party for the destruction, saying reconstruction is the responsibility of the state. “After November 27, there was no support war, yet the enemy continued to destroy civilian infrastructure. Why? Because it wants the south emptied of its people,” he declared. Fadlallah stressed that the current government budget does not allocate funds for reconstruction but that Hezbollah and its ally Amal have made it a priority, particularly compensating families whose homes were destroyed to allow them to rebuild.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 20-21/2025
Trump Says Hamas Will Be 'Eradicated' If They Breach Gaza Deal
Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
US President Donald Trump said Monday that he would give Hamas a "little chance" to honor the Gaza truce deal with Israel but warned the group would be "eradicated" if it fails to do so.
"We made a deal with Hamas that they're going to be very good, they're going to behave," Trump told reporters. "And if they're not, we're going to go and we're going to eradicate them. If we have to, they'll be eradicated." US envoys met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday aiming to corral Israel and Hamas to get the Gaza ceasefire plan back on track after an explosion of violence over the weekend that threatened to derail the week-old truce. Israel and Hamas have both recommitted to the ceasefire plan pushed by Trump since Sunday's flare-up in which a Palestinian attack that killed two soldiers prompted an Israeli bombardment killing at least 28 people in Gaza. However, with even the first stages of the truce shaken by repeated flashes of violence, including on Monday, it is far from clear whether the US will be able to keep pressure on the two sides and maintain momentum to end the conflict.
TALKS ON NEXT PHASE OF CEASEFIRE PLAN
The US envoys, Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, were expected to push to shore up the truce and then start talks on the next, more difficult, phase of the 20-step plan during their visit. US Vice President JD Vance was also due to visit Israel on Tuesday, with Netanyahu saying the pair would discuss regional challenges and opportunities.  High-level US diplomacy in the region, with talks also due later on Monday with Hamas in Egypt, underscores the importance of cementing the ceasefire to Trump, who last week proclaimed "the historic dawn of a new Middle East". On Monday, Palestinian medics said three more people had been killed by Israeli tank fire near the "yellow line" demarcating Israel's military pullback inside Gaza from the main populated areas. The Israeli military said forces had fired at fighters who crossed that line. Gaza City residents said they were confused about the line, with electronic maps available but physical markings not established yet on most of the route. "The whole area is in ruins. We saw the maps, but we can't tell where those lines are," said Samir, 50, who lives in Tuffah. Israel's defense minister on Monday published video showing bulldozers towing yellow blocks into place to mark out the line.
HAMAS TO HAND OVER BODY OF ANOTHER HOSTAGE
Witkoff and Kushner's visit to Israel, aimed at discussions on the next phase of Trump's complex ceasefire plan, was scheduled before Sunday's flare-up in violence, according to US and Israeli sources. Israel is unlikely to publicize any progress in the talks until the remains of more hostages are returned, and it believes Hamas could hand over up to six more bodies immediately out of the 16 still in Gaza. Other bodies may be hard to recover because of destruction in the enclave. Hamas said it would hand over the body of another hostage later on Monday. Egypt will host talks in Cairo on Monday with Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas' exiled Gaza chief, over ways to follow up on implementing the ceasefire, the group said in a statement.  A Palestinian official close to the talks said the group's delegation would discuss ways to push forward the formation of a technocratic body to run Gaza without Hamas representation.
Hamas and other allied factions reject any foreign administration of Gaza, as envisaged in the Trump plan and has so far resisted calls to lay down arms, which may complicate implementation of the deal.
RESIDENTS FEAR MORE OUTBREAKS OF VIOLENCE
Both Israel and Hamas have said they remain committed to the ceasefire after Sunday's violence. Israel said it launched strikes across the enclave in response to a Palestinian attack that killed two soldiers operating within the agreed deployment line in Rafah in southern Gaza. "Israel will not accept any violations of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip," an Israeli government spokesman said on Monday, repeating that Hamas could have no future role inside Gaza and would be disarmed. Hamas' armed wing, which has refused to commit to disarmament under the plan, said it was unaware of clashes in Rafah and had not been in contact with groups there since March. Hamas has detailed what it calls a series of violations by Israel that it says killed 46 people and stopped essential supplies from reaching the enclave. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said any Hamas fighters in areas of Gaza still under Israeli control must leave immediately and anyone remaining beyond the yellow line would be targeted without warning. Despite an earlier threat to withhold supplies from Gaza over the brief truce breakdown, an Israeli security official said aid convoys would continue to enter the enclave.  With the truce still uncertain, Gaza residents fear more violence. "I felt my heart dropping to the ground, I felt the ceasefire collapsed," said Abu Abdallah, a Gaza City businessman displaced in the central Gaza Strip. "What happened yesterday made people go crazy to buy food, greedy merchants hiked the prices. The deal looks so fragile," he told Reuters via a chat app.

US envoys arrive in Israel to shore up Gaza ceasefire after major flareup
Associated Press/October 20/2025
Special envoy Steve Witkoff and the U.S. president's son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Israel Monday to shore up the tenuous ceasefire that's holding in Gaza, a day after the fragile deal faced its first major flareup with Israel threatening to halt aid transfers after it said Hamas militants had killed two soldiers. The U.S. Embassy said the two envoys had landed in Tel Aviv. The Israeli military later said it resumed enforcing the ceasefire, and the official confirmed that aid deliveries would resume Monday. By early afternoon, it was not immediately clear if the flow of aid had restarted. More than a week has passed since the start of the U.S.-proposed truce aimed at ending two years of war. U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that Hamas has been "quite rambunctious" and "they've been doing some shooting." He also suggested that the violence might be the fault of "rebels" within the organization rather than its leadership. Since the ceasefire started, Hamas security forces have returned to the streets in Gaza, clashing with armed groups and killing alleged gangsters in what the militant group says is an attempt to restore law and order in areas where Israeli troops have withdrawn.
On Sunday, Israel's military said militants had fired at troops in areas of Rafah city that are Israeli-controlled according to agreed-upon ceasefire lines. Hamas, which continued to accuse Israel of multiple ceasefire violations, said communication with its remaining units in Rafah had been cut off for months and "we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas." The next stages of the ceasefire are expected to focus on disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from additional areas it controls in Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory. The U.S. plan proposes the establishment of an internationally backed authority. In an interview with 60 Minutes on the weekend, Kushner said the success or failure of the deal will be if Israel and the international mechanism will be able to create a viable alternative to Hamas. "If they are successful Hamas will fail, and Gaza will not be a threat to Israel in the future," he said. Meanwhile, a Hamas delegation led by chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya was in Cairo to follow up the implementation of the ceasefire deal with mediators and other Palestinian groups. Palestinians in Gaza are wary that the deal will hold after Sunday's flareup. Monday saw funeral services for some of the dozens of people killed earlier by Israeli strikes across the strip. Associated Press footage mourners lining up for funeral prayers behind bodies draped in white sheets. "There should be concerns as long as the matters have yet to be settled," said Hossam Ahmed, a displaced person from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. There is also concern about how much aid Israel is letting into Gaza, which is part of the agreement.An Israeli security official said Monday that aid would continue to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and other crossings after Israeli inspection, in line with the agreement. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations. In their Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war, Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people as hostages. The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.
Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.

Israeli military says Red Cross on its way to receive Gaza hostage body
LBCI/AFP/October 20/2025
Israel's military said Monday that the Red Cross was on its way to receive a hostage's body in south Gaza that would be the 13th to be returned since the start of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. "According to information received, the Red Cross is on its way to the meeting point in the southern Gaza Strip, where a coffin of a deceased hostage will be transferred into its custody," the army said in a statement.

Diplomatic push: US halts Israeli escalation, paves way for new phase in Gaza plan
LBCI/October 20/2025
In a swift diplomatic effort, Washington succeeded in pressing Israel to reverse its decision to continue airstrikes on Gaza and to block humanitarian aid to the enclave, after Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement. Despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Security Minister Israel Katz agreeing to the U.S. demand, Katz continued to issue threats to Hamas through messages relayed to the American monitoring mechanism overseeing the ceasefire. At the same time, U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff postponed his scheduled talks in Tel Aviv on Sunday, spending the day exerting pressure on Israeli officials to backtrack on their decisions. His efforts paved the way for his arrival on Monday in a calmer atmosphere, allowing discussions to begin on the second phase of the Trump plan. Those talks, which also include Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the U.S. president, focus on the deployment of an international force in Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the disarmament of Hamas.

Netanyahu Says Israel Dropped 153 Tons of Bombs Sunday on Gaza
Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
Israeli forces dropped 153 tons (337,307 pounds) of bombs on targets in Gaza in response to what it said was a ceasefire breach by the Palestinian group Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament Monday. "One of our hands holds a weapon, the other hand is stretched out for peace," Netanyahu told members of the Knesset. "You make peace with the strong, not the weak. Today Israel is stronger than ever before." Israel said Sunday that it had launched a wave of air strikes against targets in Gaza after two of its soldiers were killed in an attack by Hamas. The Palestinian group denied any knowledge of the attack.

Israel Says Forces Received Hostage Body from Red Cross in Gaza
This is Beirut/AFP//October 20/2025
Israel said it had received on Monday the remains of another Gaza hostage handed over as part of a US-brokered ceasefire deal. "Israel has received, through the Red Cross, the coffin of a missing hostage who was handed over to the [Israeli military] and Shin Bet forces inside the Gaza Strip," a statement from the prime minister's office said. The military and Shin Bet later confirmed the remains were back in Israel and were being sent to "the National Institute for Forensic Medicine, where identification procedures will be carried out."A senior Hamas official told AFP that the group's armed wing had handed over the captive's remains to the Red Cross after receiving them from the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Marxist-Leninist movement the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). A statement from the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said, "In fulfillment of our national responsibility, we... announce that we are handing over the body of one of the Zionist soldiers in implementation of the terms of the agreement."Prior to this handover, Hamas had returned 12 bodies of hostages to Israel, out of the 28 it had pledged to return as part of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

Iran Says Cooperation Deal with UN Nuclear Watchdog Is Void
Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
Iran has scrapped a cooperation deal that it signed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) UN nuclear watchdog in September, its Supreme National Security Council Secretary said on Monday, according to state media.The statement came around three weeks after Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said Tehran would scrap the agreement, which let the IAEA resume inspections of its nuclear sites, if Western powers reinstated UN sanctions. Those were reinstated last month. The confirmation will be a setback for the IAEA which has been trying to rebuild cooperation with Tehran since Israel and the United States bombed the nuclear sites in June. "The agreement has been cancelled," Ali Larijani said while meeting with his Iraqi counterpart in Tehran, according to state media. "Of course, if the agency has a proposal, we will review it in the secretariat," he added.

Khamenei Tells Trump to ‘Keep Dreaming’ over Claims of Destroying Iran Nuclear Sites
Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Monday rebuffed claims by US President Donald Trump that the country’s nuclear sites had been destroyed by US strikes in June. In a statement on his official website, Khamenei told Trump to "keep dreaming" over the comments on the sites' destruction and questioned the US president's right "to say what a country should or should not have if it possesses a nuclear industry". In mid-June, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Iran. The US briefly joined in, striking key Iranian nuclear facilities. Last week, during a speech at the Israeli Knesset, Trump reiterated that the US confirmed "obliterating" Iranian nuclear sites during the strikes. "So we dropped 14 bombs on Iran's key nuclear facilities. Totally as I said originally obliterating them and that's been confirmed," he said. In a Sunday interview with Fox News, Trump also said Iran "no longer became the bully of the Middle East" after the US strikes which "destroyed their nuclear capability". He further called the strikes "the most beautiful military operation".The true impact of the US strikes remains unknown. The Pentagon has said that the strikes delayed Iran's nuclear program by between one and two years, contradicting an initial classified US intelligence report that according to American media found the setback was only by a few months. On Monday, Khamenei called Trump's remarks "improper, wrong, and bullying".The June war with Israel took place two days ahead of a planned sixth round of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington, which had begun in April. Nuclear talks have been derailed since with Iran saying it was open to negotiations only if the US provided guarantees of no military action.

Zelensky says meeting with Trump 'positive' though he didn't get Tomahawk missiles
Naharnet/October 20/2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his reportedly tense meeting with U.S President Donald Trump last week was "positive" — even though he did not secure the Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine — and emphasized what he said is continued American interest in economic deals with Kyiv. Zelenskyy said Trump reneged on the possibility of sending the long-range missiles to Ukraine, which would have been a major boost for Kyiv, following his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin hours before the Ukrainian leader and American president were to meet on Friday. "In my opinion, he does not want an escalation with the Russians until he meets with them," Zelensky told reporters on Sunday. His comments were embargoed until Monday morning. Ukraine is hoping to purchase 25 Patriot air defense systems from American firms using frozen Russian assets and assistance from partners, but Zelensky said procuring all of these would require time because of long production queues. He said he spoke to Trump about help procuring these quicker, potentially from European partners.According to Zelensky, Trump said during their meeting that Putin's maximalist demand — that Ukraine cede the entirety of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions — was unchanged. Zelensky was diplomatic about his meeting with Trump despite reports that he faced pressure to accept Putin's demands — a tactic he has kept up since the disastrous Oval Office spat on Feb. 28 when the Ukrainian president was scolded on live television for not being grateful for continued American support. Zelensky said that because Trump ultimately supported a freeze along the current front line his overall message "is positive" for Ukraine. He said Trump was looking to end the war and hopes his meeting in the coming weeks with Putin in Hungary — which does not support Ukraine — will pave the way for a peace deal after their first summit in Alaska in August failed to reach such an outcome. So far, Zelensky said he has not been invited to attend but would consider it if the format for talks were fair to Kyiv. "We share President Trump's positive outlook if it leads to the end of the war. After many rounds of discussion over more than two hours with him and his team, his message, in my view, is positive — that we stand where we stand on the line of contact, provided all sides understand what is meant," Zelensky said.
Zelensky expressed doubts about Hungary's capital of Budapest being a suitable location for the next Trump-Putin meeting. "I do not consider Budapest to be the best venue for such a meeting. Obviously, if it can bring peace, it will not matter which country hosts the meeting," he added. Zelensky took a stab at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, saying he does not believe that a prime minister "who blocks Ukraine everywhere can do anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution."Zelensky also expressed skepticism about Putin's proposal to swap some territory it holds in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions if Ukraine surrenders all of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. "We wanted to understand exactly what the Russians meant. So far, there is no clear position," he said. Zelensky said he thinks that all parties have "moved closer" to a possible end to the war. "That doesn't mean it will definitely end, but President Trump has achieved a lot in the Middle East, and riding that wave he wants to end Russia's war against Ukraine," Zelensky added. He said the United States is interested in bilateral gas projects with Ukraine, including the construction of an LNG terminal in the southern port city of Odesa. Other projects of interest to the U.S. include those related to nuclear energy and oil.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on October 20-21/2025
The Implications of Hamas's Public Executions and the World's Silence
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/October 20/2025
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21998/hamas-public-executions
Hamas, in short, has decided to eliminate any Palestinian opposed to terrorism and supportive of coexistence with Israel.
Hamas's actions also demonstrate that the terror group is determined to exploit the current ceasefire to reassert its control over the Gaza Strip.
The silence, or apathy, of the international community, including so-called pro-Palestinian groups and individuals, towards Hamas's crimes only encourages the terror group to proceed with its crackdown on its own people. The silence of the world, in addition, sends a message to the Palestinians that they should refrain from rising against Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
We have not yet heard of a single Hamas terrorist talking about recognizing Israel's right to exist. In the eyes of Hamas leaders, the Trump peace plan is just another temporary ceasefire that should be used for rearming, regrouping, and preparing for massacring more Israelis.
In recent months, Hamas has been quoting a famous statement by its former leader, the late Ismail Haniyeh, to confirm that the terror group will never recognize Israel's right to exist: "We said it five years ago and we say it now... we will never, we will never recognize Israel."
No transitional government or "Board of Peace" will ever be able to enforce law and order as long as Hamas terrorists feel free to murder any Palestinian who wants peace and coexistence with Israel.
De-radicalization will happen only after Palestinians see that Hamas has been totally defeated, disarmed and removed from power.... Failure to eradicate Hamas will only pave the way for another October 7 massacre against Israel.
No transitional government or "Board of Peace" will ever be able to enforce law and order as long as Hamas terrorists feel free to murder any Palestinian who wants peace and coexistence with Israel.
US President Donald Trump's plan for ending the Hamas-Israel war states that "Gaza will be a de-radicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors." His plan also stipulates that "Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough" and that "once all [Israeli] hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty."
Although Hamas has released the 20 living hostages and, since the announcement of Trump's plan in early October, has handed over the bodies of some of the fallen, the Gaza Strip remains anything but a "de-radicalized terror-free zone."
After the ceasefire went into effect, Hamas terrorists began rounding up dozens of Palestinians as part of a massive crackdown on critics and opponents of the terror group. At least 32 Palestinians have been publicly executed and many more otherwise killed by Hamas thugs under the pretext of "collaboration" with Israel. Fifty-two of those killed belonged to Hamas's rival Doghmush clan.
Trump's plan specifically notes that Gaza should not "pose a threat to its [Israeli] neighbors." Hamas's brutal crackdown shows that Gaza is posing a threat to its own people: Palestinians.
Hamas has not provided any evidence that many of those who were blindfolded, forced to kneel and executed extrajudicially in the street, in front of Palestinian children and teenagers, were linked in any way to the Israeli security forces. By labeling its victims as "collaborators," Hamas is seeking to justify its crimes to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The terror group knows that Palestinians have no sympathy for anyone accused of treason and working for the Israeli "enemy."
As Hamas drags Palestinians to the streets to face its firing squads, the international community appears to be looking the other way. Hamas, however, is not going after criminals, outlaws and suspected collaborators, as it claims. Instead, it is targeting those who dared to speak out against the terror group that brought death and destruction to the Gaza Strip after its October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel. Hamas is targeting Palestinian clans and individuals who dared to publicly challenge its atrocities against both Israelis and Palestinians.
Even if Hamas's claim that some of these Palestinians were "collaborators" with Israel is true, it means that these people chose to help Israel in its war on terrorism. Hamas, in short, has decided to eliminate any Palestinian opposed to terrorism and supportive of coexistence with Israel.
If anything, these murders show that the Gaza Strip is still not a "terror-free zone." Hamas's actions also demonstrate that the terror group is determined to exploit the current ceasefire to reassert its control over the Gaza Strip. The silence, or apathy, of the international community, including so-called pro-Palestinian groups and individuals, towards Hamas's crimes only encourages the terror group to proceed with its crackdown on its own people. The silence of the world, in addition, sends a message to the Palestinians that they should refrain from rising against Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
The Trump peace plan assumes that there are Hamas terrorists who might commit to coexistence with Israel and lay down their weapons. Hamas's actions and rhetoric in the past two weeks, however, suggest that the opposite is true. We have not yet heard of a single Hamas terrorist talking about recognizing Israel's right to exist. In the eyes of Hamas leaders, the Trump peace plan is just another temporary ceasefire that should be used for rearming, regrouping, and preparing for massacring more Israelis.
On October 16, Hamas announced, in a statement marking the first anniversary of the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 atrocities:
"[T]he martyrdom of leader Yahya Sinwar, and before him the leaders and symbols of the movement, will only increase the strength, steadfastness, and determination of the movement, its people and its resistance to adhere to their approach, continue in their path and be loyal to their blood and sacrifices...
"[T]he ember of the Al-Aqsa Flood [the name Hamas uses for its October 7 massacres] will remain burning and the banner of resistance will not fall until comprehensive liberation and the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."
When Hamas talks about "comprehensive liberation," it means conquering all the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and replacing Israel with an Islamist state.
Notably, Hamas is still fully committed to its 1988 charter, which states:
"The Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered; it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that." (Article 11).
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors." (Article 13)
In recent months, Hamas has been quoting a famous statement by its former leader, the late Ismail Haniyeh, to confirm that the terror group will never recognize Israel's right to exist: "We said it five years ago and we say it now... we will never, we will never recognize Israel."
For Hamas, any Palestinian or Arab who dares to make peace with Israel is a "collaborator" and "traitor" who deserves the death sentence. Hamas's public executions of "collaborators" aim to send a warning not only to Palestinians, but to all Arabs as well: Peace and coexistence with Israel is an act of treason punishable by death.
The Gaza Strip will never be de-radicalized as long as Hamas continues to roam the streets and launch violent and ruthless crackdowns on Palestinians. No transitional government or "Board of Peace" will ever be able to enforce law and order as long as Hamas terrorists feel free to murder any Palestinian who wants peace and coexistence with Israel.
De-radicalization will happen only after Palestinians see that Hamas has been totally defeated, disarmed and removed from power. This is the only way to ensure the success of the Trump peace plan. The way things are going in the Gaza Strip these days, it appears that we are returning to the pre-October 7 era, during which Hamas maintained its grip on the Gaza Strip with an iron fist. Failure to eradicate Hamas will only pave the way for another October 7 massacre against Israel.
**Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
**Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute.

Russia’s shortage of workers is so severe that it is luring foreigners into sweatshops
Angela Howard/The Hill/October 20/2025
Russia’s economy has proven remarkably resilient, despite years of sanctions and economic statecraft. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t deep cracks in Russia’s unstable economic foundation, with only a thin veneer masking increasingly severe shortages — especially of workers.
Russia is in a desperate labor bind. The country has a shrinking, aging population — a fact it ignores as it sends its young men into the meatgrinder of the war in Ukraine. To generate military manpower, Russia has gotten creative, recruiting criminals out of prisons, North Koreans, and mental health patients. Regardless, the endless need for fresh troops on the front line has taken bodies away from industry just as Russia’s military-industrial needs are expanding rapidly.
Russia now desperately needs to fill jobs on assembly lines that make war materiel, but it has a plan: exploiting the Global South, including its so-called friends.
BRICS members India, Brazil, and South Africa have all been recruitment targets for what appears to be forced labor. Russia issues to their citizens a siren song against which many young women are unable to steel themselves, with devastating results.
For at least two years, Russian company Alabuga Special Economic Zone has been luring young women from developing countries with the promise of good jobs and educational opportunities. When they arrive, they are pressed into drone production. They are made to work with corrosive chemicals for long hours, with restricted communications and few or no rights. The women have faced sexual harassment and seen “deductions” taken from their already meager pay for things like rent.
Moreover, Russian military-industrial sites — including Alabuga facilities — have been subject to Ukrainian strikes, putting the women’s lives at risk — a risk to which they never consented.
The international Forced Labor Convention of 1930 considers forced labor as work “extracted…under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily.” The United Nations’ protocol on human trafficking includes “recruitment” of workers “by means … of fraud, of deception … to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” The Alabuga SEZ may be guilty of both violations.
Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan owns and controls Alabuga SEZ. Alabuga also works hand-in-glove with Russia’s diplomats and has assembled Iranian drone components for Russia’s military. Russia’s cultural center in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, served as a launch pad for a hiring fair. A Russia House in Bangui, Central African Republic, hosted at least one interview with a program recruit. Messaging presents the recruitment initiative as “a revival of Soviet cooperation with African countries and other regions.”
Alabuga also uses partner states’ trusted figures as propaganda megaphones. In August, a South African influencer apologized for promoting the recruitment scheme online.
Educational institutions in Uganda and Burkina Faso have hosted Alabuga recruitment drives; economy-focused civil society organizations in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, and Madagascar have met with Alabuga officials; and diplomats from African and Latin American states have visited and some have promoted Alabuga sites.
Alabuga SEZ has targeted 84 countries, prioritizing recruitment in Africa and Latin America. Although some countries have called out Russian labor fraud, it has been too little, too late. South Africa’s warning and investigation, which began in August, does little to help women already taken to these sweatshops.
Russian recruiters also take advantage of economic and political environments which enable labor fraud success. In South Africa, for example, women aged 15 to 34 face a 48 percent unemployment rate — the world’s worst recorded economic inequality — and entrenched political corruption. Russia seizes on this desperation, targeting women rather than men, considering them less combative, easier to control, and less likely to find opportunities at home.
Alabuga SEZ and some affiliated officials and entities are already designated for sanctions by the U.S. That hasn’t stopped them from recruiting workers. To stop the practice, the U.S. must take a more active approach to pulling out the financial roots of this international network. This should include consideration of secondary sanctions on actors outside Russia who aid Moscow’s desperate effort to keep its assembly lines moving — especially those receiving money for their promotional efforts. The U.S. can pair this effort with its broader policy aimed at financially crippling Russia’s war machine.
Beyond financial penalties, the U.S. should shine a light on Russian exploitation and lies, making clear to its BRICS partners and beyond that there are strings attached to Moscow’s friendship. It is possible to reach potential victims by publicly discussing the threat and identifying malign recruitment efforts on social media, pushing platforms to take posts down. Meta and TikTok community policies prohibit content enabling such exploitation. In the process, the U.S. will remind the Global South that the consequences of Russian aggression do not stop at Ukraine’s borders, or even at Europe’s doorstep.
It is possible to reach potential victims by publicly discussing the threat and identifying malign recruitment efforts on social media, pushing platforms to take posts down. Meta and TikTok community policies prohibit content enabling such exploitation. In the process, the U.S. will remind the Global South that the consequences of Russian aggression do not stop at Ukraine’s borders, or even at Europe’s doorstep.
**Angela Howard is a research analyst at the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5558495-russias-shortage-of-workers-is-so-severe-that-it-is-luring-foreigners-into-sweatshops/
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Why Iran Won’t Follow FATF Counter-Terrorism Rules
Saeed Ghasseminejad, and Toby Dershowitz/National Interest/October 20/2025
As usual, Tehran will make surface-level concessions and play for time. But it will never commit to genuine counter-terrorism regulation.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is touting its decision to conditionally ratify the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) as a diplomatic breakthrough and a signal that Tehran is finally ready to cooperate with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In doing so, it may regain access to the global financial system. The move is nothing of the sort, and no one should buy it.
Tehran’s move is a calculated deception. By ratifying the CFT only, as its statement says, “in accordance with the Constitution” and “[Irans’s] domestic laws,” the regime has effectively exempted itself from the treaty’s core obligations. That caveat allows Tehran to keep financing the same groups and militias that have made it the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.
Under FATF standards, accession to the CFT must be unconditional. Iran’s self-declared reservation guts the convention’s central requirement: to criminalize the financing of terrorism “by any means, directly or indirectly.”
The Islamic Republic insists that organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are not terrorists but “resistance movements.” Its conditional ratification formalizes that double standard. Iran claims compliance on paper while continuing to bankroll these groups in practice, a violation not just of the treaty’s spirit but of its plain text.
For more than four decades, Tehran has treated terrorism as a core instrument of its statecraft. The Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) runs an extensive global network that illicitly moves money, weapons, and personnel to its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Gaza, and Yemen. Hezbollah alone receives hundreds of millions of dollars annually from Iran.
FATF must judge Iran not by symbolic gestures but by measurable change: shutting down illicit money laundering channels, prosecuting their facilitators, and cutting off the IRGC from the international financial system. So far, Tehran has done none of that. Instead, it has refined its sanctions-evasion playbook through front companies, barter trade, and cryptocurrency transactions, all designed to keep the money flowing to its militias abroad.
The US Treasury has recognized Iran’s modus operandi for years under both Democratic and Republican administrations. As recently as July, the Treasury sanctioned illicit networks headed up by Hossein Shamkhani, son of the advisor to the Supreme Leader, Ali Shamkhani. Hossein’s networks control a large share of Iran’s crude oil exports. The Iranian population is the victim of his schemes. The profits substantially benefit his family and the regime, wealth used to buy exclusive properties around the world using purchased foreign passports that “allow them to travel undetected and hide their connections to Iran when conducting business overseas in furtherance of their corrupt schemes,” the Treasury noted.
Iran’s non-compliance extends beyond its Shia proxies. Documents seized from Osama bin Laden’s Pakistani compound in 2011 and declassified by US intelligence describe a pragmatic relationship between Tehran and Al Qaeda. “Iran is our main artery for funds, personnel, and communication,” Osama bin Laden wrote in one note.
Al Qaeda operatives and family members moved through or resided in Iran under restrictive conditions, while the regime used them as bargaining chips and sources of leverage. These arrangements contradict the CFT’s central premise: that state parties must prevent and suppress the financing and facilitation of terrorist groups of any kind.
A government that has hosted or tolerated Al Qaeda affiliates cannot plausibly claim to be implementing international counter-terrorism finance standards.
The United Nations’ reimposition of snapback sanctions on Iran in September makes Tehran’s claims of meeting FATF’s requirements even more indefensible. By restoring the arms embargo, asset freezes, and financial restrictions suspended under Resolution 2231, the UN has legally re-imposed the obligations Iran sought to escape.
FATF requires jurisdictions to comply with UN sanctions regimes as a matter of course. Yet Tehran rejects the legitimacy of those sanctions, calling them “illegal.” It openly refuses to implement them. Iran cannot credibly claim FATF compliance.
The contradiction is structural: Becoming a FATF member presupposes adherence to multilateral rules, while Iran’s revolutionary ideology depends on violating them. The same government that funds Hamas and Hezbollah cannot simultaneously commit to suppressing terror financing.
Tehran’s strategy is obvious: make a superficial concession to buy time, ease financial pressure, and seek to build a reputation as a responsible actor that cares about terrorism financing. Its goal is to persuade foreign banks and international financial institutions to resume cooperation. While most banks with strong due diligence and compliance departments will see through the deception and understand that doing business with Iran remains far too risky, others may use conditional ratification to cover those in Europe and Asia eager to reopen business with Iran.
FATF and its members should resist that temptation. They should maintain Iran’s blacklist status until it removes all reservations to the CFT and recognizes all UN-designated terrorist groups; dismantles the IRGC’s terror-finance network and stops funding militias abroad; prosecutes officials and bankers involved in financing terrorism; and accepts and implements UN sanctions in full or takes actions that the UN decides to lift them.
Anything less rewards deception and undermines the credibility of the global financial crime regime.
Iran’s ratification of the CFT is not reform; it is rhetoric. It changes nothing about how the regime funds, equips, and coordinates terrorist organizations across the Middle East. FATF’s mandate is to ensure that the international banking system cannot be exploited for such purposes. If FATF allows Tehran’s conditional compliance to stand, it will signal that political convenience outweighs enforcement, that even the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism can buy legitimacy with a footnote.
FATF must keep the Islamist regime in Iran where it belongs: on the blacklist.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-east-watch/why-iran-wont-follow-fatf-counter-terrorism-rules
***About the Authors: Saeed Ghasseminejad and Toby Dershowitz
Saeed Ghasseminejad and Toby Dershowitz are senior advisors at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy. Follow the authors on X @tobydersh and @SGhasseminejad.

Man on a Difficult Mission
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
“Israel’s arrogance will lead it and the region to disaster. The nuclear bomb will not protect it against rockets raining down from Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, Yemen and even Iran itself. I am not talking about Israel’s total collapse, but it will be dealt a painful blow. People who immigrated to Israel will think about leaving it because they won’t feel safe anymore.”Late Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad movement Dr. Ramadan Shalah once told me this years ago. I heard a similar statement from someone else, and realized that the Iran-allied factions were preparing to launch the “major strike” against Israel with all their might, one which General Qassem Soleimani had dreamed of dealing.
There were whispers that the spark would be lit first in Lebanon and that Hezbollah’s elite forces would infiltrate the border and fight in the land of Galilee. Hezbollah’s opening of the “support front” in solidarity with Sinwar’s Al-Aqsa Flood Operation was evidence of this major strike. The Houthis then followed and Israel and Iran traded strikes.
Netanyahu responded to Sinwar’s “flood” with a total earthquake. And so, we bore witness to a Palestinian-Israeli war, Lebanese-Israeli war, Houthi-Israeli war and an Iranian-Israeli war. These wars changed the balance of power in the region. With the ceasefire in Gaza, the people in power in the region are confronted with difficult missions. Iran’s supreme leader had never had to contend with such a difficult mission as the one presented by the Israeli strikes on his country and killing of its generals and scientists. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had never dealt with a mission as difficult as watching Israeli jets occupy the skies of Tehran. He also watched as Syria quit the “Axis of Resistance”, Lebanon demand state monopoly over arms and the president who ordered Soleimani’s killing order strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
It is difficult to believe that Netanyahu has changed and that he is now interested in peace. He believes in victory, displacement, dealing crushing blows, and imposing new realities on the ground or conditions for surrender. It wasn’t easy for him to yield to Donald Trump’s desire to present himself as a peacemaker who resolved a very dangerous chronic conflict.
Who, however, can guarantee that America’s enthusiasm over this issue will continue, especially if Trump gets his hands full with other files? Netanyahu, who has regained the hostages, may exploit new developments to maneuver around Trump’s plan.
Hamas, meanwhile, was in desperate need of a ceasefire. It fought with unprecedented fierceness even as the war claimed its leaders and thousands of its fighters, tens of thousands of civilian lives and destroyed Gaza. Hamas paid the price of reaching a ceasefire. The solution begins with releasing the hostages and relinquishing power in Gaza and its military arsenal. It paid the price for launching the Al-Aqsa Flood.
Has Hamas truly grasped what it has agreed to? Will it really quit the scene? Can the movement live without its arsenal? What if voices started to speak up in Gaza to blame it for giving Israel an excuse to launch a genocidal war? Hamas will find it difficult to find actual allies. Iran alone is not enough and at any rate, Tehran is incapable of turning back time to change the circumstances for itself and its allied factions.
Hamas cannot remain unyielding while the situation in Gaza and the region change. Will Hamas be able to change to such an extent as to stand idly by to allow solutions to play out as they should? Khalil al-Hayya has a difficult mission on his hands.
Hezbollah had no choice but to agree to a cessation of hostilities and the implementation of resolution 1701. The assassination of its secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah was a difficult blow. He was a partner with Soleimani in shaping the “Axis of Resistance”. Hezbollah’s great loss turned into a catastrophe when it lost Syria. Add Israel’s technological superiority to these two losses, then it would be difficult to imagine how Hezbollah could possibly wage a new war against Israel. Perhaps that’s why Israel is continuing its daily killings in Lebanon, perhaps it is luring it into another unequal war that would deepen Hezbollah’s losses. The great question is: how does the party leadership read these changes? There is an overwhelming demand for it to lay down its weapons, but is the party capable of living without them? What remains of Iran in the region if it loses all the lines of defense that Soleimani set up and had been very generous in funding and supplying with rockets? Is the Hezbollah leadership ready to deal with the changes, or would it rather wait and see, banking on the waning of international interest and loss of momentum created by the Sharm El-Sheikh summit? Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem has a difficult mission on his hands. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also have a difficult mission to deal with. They know there can be no reconstruction and stability without imposing state monopoly over arms. They are aware of how difficult the mission is and that Lebanon may face international isolation if it does not fulfill its commitments. Most dangerous of all is if it chooses to remain in the military aspect of the conflict with Israel, while Ahmed al-Sharaa's Syria has chosen to quit it. Sharaa himself has a difficult mission on his hands.

The Real Trump Factor in the Gaza Deal
Dana Stroul/The New York Times/October 21/2025
Praise for President Trump’s diplomacy in brokering a cease-fire in Gaza has mostly focused on how he persuaded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to accept a deal. Many assume that Trump threatened to withdraw US support from Israel or otherwise pressured the Israeli leader into capitulating.
But there is a more convincing explanation for Trump’s success. Far from merely menacing Netanyahu with consequences, the American president’s key intervention was to give a political lifeline to the deeply unpopular Israeli leader. The secret of Trump’s success with Netanyahu was offering carrots on domestic politics, not sticks on foreign policy.
There were, of course, important external factors that laid the groundwork for the deal. Both Israel and Hamas had finally concluded that continuing the war was a losing proposition. For Hamas, Israel’s operations over the past year have been devastating. The group’s ability to maneuver and resupply itself is hobbled, its cash flow has been severed, and its top leaders have been eliminated. Outside Gaza, Hamas’s supporters in the Axis of Resistance have also been degraded by Israel’s strikes across Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran itself. Hamas found itself isolated in the region and increasingly unpopular in Gaza.
For Israel, the war had reached a tipping point. Its operational gains no longer outweighed the collapse of Israel’s international standing, the erosion of bipartisan American support over civilian casualties in Gaza or the strain on Israel’s war-weary military. The new phase of the war that Netanyahu announced over the summer — in which Israel aimed to hold most of the Gaza Strip and once again clear northern Gaza of Hamas — committed the Israel Defense Forces to an unsustainable drain on munitions and manpower.
Israel’s broad-daylight strike against Hamas political leaders in Doha, Qatar, also created an opening. Two years of rising fury in the Muslim world over the agony in Gaza were already putting stress on leaders across the Middle East.
This brings us to the role of Trump, whose critical contribution was less about pressuring Netanyahu than diving deep into his political quagmire. President Biden never wavered in his support for Israel’s campaign to dismantle Hamas after the horrors of Oct. 7. But Biden’s team also applied pressure — including withholding certain munitions and publicly calling out likely Israeli war crimes — to push Israel to protect civilians and increase humanitarian aid. When Trump returned to office, he ended any daylight with Netanyahu on Gaza. Trump did not object when Israel halted all humanitarian aid to Gaza in March. He did not threaten to withhold US support, despite alarming indicators of famine in the Gaza Strip and rising reports of civilian casualties.
Many analysts assumed Netanyahu, constrained by his far-right coalition, would not accept any end to the war without a complete Hamas surrender. Any compromise in which Hamas could reassert itself could have triggered early elections in Israel, costing Netanyahu the premiership and exposing him to his ongoing trials for corruption.
Trump flipped the script. The US president lavished praise on his counterpart, extending him the political protection of Trump’s overwhelming popularity in Israel. In return, Netanyahu agreed to Trump’s proposal to free the hostages and let Hamas survive, for now.
After last week’s breakthrough, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner pointedly flanked Netanyahu in a meeting with Israel’s cabinet, directly engaging in Israel’s internal debate on approving the cease-fire deal. Witkoff and Kushner went on to laud Netanyahu at a rally in Tel Aviv’s “Hostages Square,” despite boos from the crowd. Finally, and most jarringly, Trump paused during his triumphal speech to the Israeli Knesset on Monday to urge Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, to pardon the prime minister for charges of corruption in ongoing trials.
That is the real Trump factor in the Gaza deal: pressing the presidential thumb on the scales in Israel’s electoral and legal processes.
The price of today’s breakthrough will be tomorrow’s turbulence. To sustain Arab and Muslim leaders’ buy-in on the cease-fire, Israel will need to exercise restraint when faced with Hamas’s inevitable resistance to disarm. Hamas challenged the cease-fire within 48 hours, firing close enough to the Israeli withdrawal line that the US military issued a terse warning to the terrorist group.
This grim reality in Gaza will be increasingly hard for Netanyahu during the coming campaign season, as he continues to be attacked for accepting a deal that leaves Hamas in place. Trump could be dragged even deeper into Israeli politics as he seeks to protect Netanyahu from his cabinet’s far-right flank and prevent the fragile cease-fire from collapsing.

Trump’s Plan and the Risks of ‘Mutual Dependence’
Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 21/2025
Last week was a watershed: the Gaza Peace Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh and the American president’s address to the Knesset will remain etched in the memory of both supporters and opponents alike. While it is too soon to tell whether President Trump’s effort will succeed, the objectives that have already been achieved amount to a turning point. However, this positive momentum, as well as the international consensus that has accompanied it, conceals the serious challenges the region is about to confront. The complexity of its conflicts, foremost among them the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, suggests that a resumption of hostilities is the only realistic alternative.
This plan and the fanfare could be said to embody the form and nature of political life in the twenty-first century. Trump should be judged by his actions, not his words, but he seems to be pushing for comprehensive security arrangements that change the face of the region. It would be wise to seize this opportunity to build a more stable Middle East, and it would be reckless, even insane, to try to overlook recent developments and resume the conflict through the framework of religious Zionism and political Islam.
Beyond the technical details, what matters most is pulling the plug on the machine of death and destruction in Gaza, preventing Israel from going through with its plans for forced displacement and annexation (whether in the Strip or the West Bank), putting an end to the era of militias and non-state actors, and reclaiming Palestine and its cause from Iran and its allies- bringing the Palestinian question back into the Arab and international fold to ensure comprehensive peace process in the region. That is the essence of the second phase of the twenty-point plan.
The events of the past two years have turned the region on its head. In addition to the immense toll that the fighting has taken, it has also weakened Iran and undermined its influence in the Levant: the Assad regime fell, Hezbollah has been crippled, and Iran’s nuclear program has taken a hit. Militant political Islam, both Sunni and Shiite, has been battered. These sweeping shifts paved the way for Trump’s plan and the unprecedented international consensus surrounding it.
Nonetheless, one cannot ignore the obstacles and bitter lessons that have accumulated over the past seven tragic decades of Palestinian history. Benjamin Netanyahu’s absence from the conference was not a coincidence. It reflects the domestic crisis currently brewing in Israel, which rejects any path to peace that would constrain extremism and settlement expansion. His absence also reflects his awareness of the world’s rage.
However, Netanyahu is not the only one to blame for the impasse. The mistakes of the Arabs and Palestinians have also undermined the cause, squandered successive opportunities to build a unified, modern Palestinian state. From their rejection of the 1947 Partition Plan, to Arab and Palestinian divisions and Hamas’s seizure of Gaza in 2007, and finally the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, which showed the extent of Palestinian forces’ political blindness. The devastating Israeli response that almost wiped out what remained of the cause. That is, the cause has continuously been bleeding out because of Israeli extremism, Palestinian division, and Arab impotence.
What next?
The region’s future will probably not be shaped by Iran and its projects. Israel is unlikely to dominate either. Despite Israel’s military superiority, Israel’s political and demographic limitations mean that it cannot impose full control. The broad trajectory in the region suggests that the center of gravity is gradually shifting toward the Gulf states, Türkiye, and perhaps Egypt, if the latter can overcome its economic crises and reinforce domestic stability. For its part, the United States remains the driving force shaping the region.
Still, the road to peace remains laden with obstacles. First, we have the volatility in Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. In Gaza, a quiet civil war seems to be brewing as the rift between Hamas and the clans grows. Hamas has redeployed its security apparatus and launched campaigns against its rivals. Ironically, Hamas maintaining control serves Netanyahu’s interests. A dynamic of “mutual dependence” has shaped the politics on both sides of the conflict since 1996: the persistence of Hamas’s control prevents the Palestinian Authority’s return to the Strip, keeping the Palestinians divided and giving Israel a pretext to freeze political processes. The same logic applies to Hezbollah in Lebanon. As for Lebanon and Syria, because of their complex domestic challenges, neither was present in the Sharm el-Sheikh conference or the previous meeting in New York. Despite the Arab outreach and international support, Syria has yet to reach the domestic settlements needed for its integration into the peace process. Lebanon, for its part, remains hostage to political crises and Hezbollah’s influence, which has left the state hesitant and incapable of joining the path of regional reconciliation.
Meanwhile, the progress achieved on the peace track raises questions about possible Syrian-Lebanese cooperation in pursuit of peace amid shifting regional dynamics and the collapse of the “Axis of Resistance.” After losing its influence in the Levant, Iran’s isolation also raises questions about whether it will accept this new reality or seek to sabotage efforts to ensure peace through proxy wars. Accordingly, the emerging regional formula rests on a delicate balance between an emerging peace and unresolved tensions.
Trump’s plan has opened the door to change. It is a turning point in international relations and conflict-resolution in the region. The plan is founded on coordinated global action, marginalizing unilateral efforts. Excessive enthusiasm for the plan is mistaken, and underestimating it is a sin. Let us recall Antonio Gramsci’s words: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.

Selected English Tweets from X Platform For 19 October/2025
Eastern christians
https://x.com/i/status/1979884843384402211
A martyr from the Armenian Genocide today became a saint. Meet Bishop Ignatius Maloyan, born in Mardin and trained in Lebanon. He was executed with his parish in 1915 for refusing to deny Christ, and his canonization honors his faith, courage, and devotion. #ArmenianGenocide

Pope Leo XIV
I am close to all those who suffer because of violence, insecurity, and so many hardships in Myanmar. I renew my heartfelt appeal for an immediate and effective ceasefire. May the instruments of war give way to those of peace through inclusive and constructive dialogue!

Pope Leo XIV
God shows a preference for the poor: the Lord’s words of hope and liberation are addressed first of all to them. Therefore, even in their poverty or weakness, no one should feel abandoned. And if the Church wants to be Christ's Church, it must be a Church in which the poor have a privileged place. #DilexiTe

Bishop Robert Barron
https://x.com/i/status/1979917956235616317
Friends, when something tragic happens and people offer their prayers, you’ll often hear now, “I've had it with thoughts and prayers. We have to act.” In some extreme cases, people of prayer are mocked, as though prayer is just something completely ineffectual that we should leave behind in favor of action. We’re the first generation in recorded human history ever to feel this way. Human beings, across cultures, have always believed in the power and efficacy of prayer. Our first reading this week from Exodus 17 beautifully displays this power—and the fact that prayer, far from undermining action, sustains and supports it.

Blitz
20 October 1978: Sheikh Bachir Gemayel accuses the U.S State Department of wilfully ignoring Syria's ambitions in Lebanon, instead of confronting or addressing them.
https://x.com/i/status/1980225301159571597

Jean Riachi
Karim Soueid broke with Riad Salameh’s line by acknowledging that the Banque du Liban’s debt to the banks is commercial in nature — a step toward accounting truth. In doing so, he identified the core of the crisis: the massive hole in the central bank’s balance sheet, where nearly 90% of the banks’ assets are trapped. Riad Salameh, with the aim of denying the losses that the BDL had incurred as a result of his own policies, had repeatedly and publicly denied the existence of this debt, claiming that the central bank no longer owed dollars to the banks. Soueid’s proposed strategy — rebalancing the BDL’s balance sheet by writing off the most controversial liabilities (illegitimate funds, excessive interest, and conversions into LBP) — is sound, even though the latter is contentious and if its implementation will be complex. If gold continues to rise and the geopolitical situation continues to improve — the value of the BDL’s real-estate and corporate assets could rise significantly — the central bank could become even more solvent and see its its balance sheet strengthen over time.
But even a solvent central bank will not be enough to ensure the full repayment of deposits. As long as its balance sheet remains illiquid, deposits will continue to carry a heavily discounted value. Gold, as a liquid and internationally recognized asset, could play a crucial role in accelerating deposit repayments and therefore improving “present value” recovery rates for depositors — especially large ones.
It is time to break the taboo surrounding gold.

How could Barrack be so misinformed?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
How could Barrack be so misinformed? His poetry about the greatness of the vision that’ll change history for the first time in thousands of years aside, let me debunk two points:
1. By listening to Lebanese concerns only but not to Israeli, Barrack drafted a document for a “sequenced” disarmament of Hezbollah. Why should Israel accept sequenced when UNSCR 1701 and Cessation of Hostilities demand immediate disarmament? Because Lebanon cannot figure its stuff out? Also, “good faith” sounds good, but it put Israel stopping policing Hezbollah at the very beginning, which would have allowed the militia to rearm, not disarm. And because Barrack learnt about “thousands” of years of conflict only last year, he’s not aware of decades of Israel good faith efforts toward Lebanon, whether Israel pressure for a peace treaty in 1983 or unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. Berri, Speaker for 33 years, ran circles around newbie Barrack, who bought all of Berri’s shenanigans. Barrack ended up blaming Israel.
2. Hezbollah wants parliamentary election, yesterday, unlike what Barrack thinks. Why? Because as long as Hezbollah is armed, it can undermine the integrity of election and force elect its candidates, winning majority. Most importantly, Hezbollah will use its arms to threaten any Shia who might win any of the 27 Shia seats (out of 128) in parliament for fear that an anti-Hezbollah Shia can be elected speaker and replace Hezbollah’s Berri.
Barrack just doesn’t know what he’s talking about. (And I’ll leave his mumble jumble on Syria aside for now).

Fouad Makhzoumi
Dear Ambassador Tom , your insight into Lebanon’s challenges and the urgent need for disarmament and reform is truly inspiring. Your dedication to Lebanon’s stability and the crucial role of free parliamentary elections shows your unwavering commitment to the country’s future. Lebanon is lucky to have you advocating for its rightful path to sovereignty and peace

Hussain Abdul-Hussain
https://x.com/i/status/1980036662437753239
Lebanese are breaking the taboo and uttering the “peace with Israel” word. Video shows most watched weekly talk show host Marcel Ghanem doing his bit.

Jean Riachi
“Lebanon has never left my heart” is without doubt the most meaningful statement made by the new U.S. ambassador to Lebanon. Michel Issa is one of us — born and raised in Lebanon, he knew a country that was open to the world and on a path toward modernization before it was swept away by the madness of the Assad and Khomeinist eras.
Unlike the typical career US diplomat who sees the Lebanese as an interesting but insignificant people and Lebanon as a country of little strategic value — and unlike Tom Barrack, whose distant Lebanese roots never translated into a real understanding or lived experience of Lebanon — Michel Issa is genuinely one of us. There is hope that he can help steer U.S. policy so that, without falling again into discouragement as in the past, America will work to bring Lebanon back among the nations of the free world.