English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 29/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
The parable of the sower: But as for what
was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty,
and in another thirty.’”.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 13/18-23/:”‘Hear
then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and
does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the
heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground,
this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet
such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or
persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the
cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.
But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and
understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in
another sixty, and in another thirty.’”.
Titles For The Latest English
LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October
28-29/2025
Elias Bejjani/October 21/2025/ My X Account
The Annual Feast Day of the Apostles: Saints Simon and Jude/Elias Bejjani/October
28, 2025
Video Link from BW Youtube Platform: His Last Request Before Execution Was to
See the Virgin Mary — What Happened Shocked Everyone
His Last Request Before Execution Was to See the Virgin Mary — What Happened
Shocked Everyone
Video Link to an Interview with Dr. Charles Chartouni from the Transparency News
YouTube Platform, addressing the ongoing, very serious Lebanese governance
failures, pro-Hezbollah stances, and the necessity of negotiations and peace
with Israel
Former Minister Youssef Salameh from Bkerke:"With the absence, or intentional
sidelining, of the State—which holds the exclusive mandate to protect
Lebanon—those entrusted with Lebanon's glory must not fail to act. I have every
hope that action will be taken before it is too late."
Dr. Saleh Al-Mashnouk/ The fault lies not with who set up a checkpoint and
killed a Lebanese youth, but with who allowed them to set up checkpoints and
kill Lebanese youth.
Ortagus: Don't Miss the Opportunity He Did Not
Believe
US envoy Ortagus affirms
Washington’s commitment to Lebanon’s security, official source tells Arab News
Lebanese worry as tensions with Israel rise ahead of US envoy’s visit dragging
in UNIFIL
Diplomatic race in Beirut: Can US and Egypt prevent another war?
Ortagus meets Aoun and Berri, reportedly proposes indirect talks involving
'civilians'
Lebanese PM Salam discusses ceasefire mechanism with US envoy Morgan Ortagus
Lebanon's Social Affairs Minister meets Morgan Ortagus, highlights need for
international support
Egypt spy chief meets Aoun and Berri, reportedly seeking Gaza-like deal
Israel to carry out operation against Hezbollah if govt. fails to disarm it,
report says
Political debate: Lebanon's 2026 elections at risk as Parliament and Cabinet
clash over electoral law
Boycott over expat voting forces adjournment of legislative session
Report: Hezbollah has smuggled hundreds of rockets from Syria
UN, France slam Israel after attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon
Hezbollah weapons clearance: Israeli strikes continue as Lebanese Army
accelerates southern operations
Israel-Lebanon situation: Israel sees large-scale conflict with Hezbollah as
likely
Lebanese army walks political tightrope to disarm Hezbollah, proceeds under
US-Israeli Maya/Gebeily and Laila Bassam/The Arab Weekly/October 28/2025
Pope Leo to visit eight cities in Turkey, Lebanon on first trip abroad as
pontiff
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on October
28-29/2025
US Vice President Vance says Gaza ceasefire is holding
Israeli planes strike Gaza in test of US-brokered ceasefire
Israel opposes its veto to Turkey’s participation in Gaza’s future international
force
Hamas must clarify its position on carrying weapons: Palestinian PM
Jordan’s king questions role of US-backed force in Gaza
Syrians skeptical as US moves slowly on sanctions relief
President Ahmad Al-Sharaa discusses Syria’s economic recovery with Saudi
ministers
Iran declares major private lender bankrupt, other banks face difficulties
Iran proposes regional currency to boost trade
Gunmen kill two on coach in Syrian Druze-majority province
Syria announces seizure of 11 million captagon pills from Lebanon
Russian, Syrian defense ministers hold talks in Moscow
Zelenskyy says Kyiv ready for peace talks, but will not cede territory
Japan PM will nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize, White House says
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
on October
28-29/2025
Qatar’s Calculated Bet on the Islamic Republic /Saeed Ghasseminejad/Real
Clear World/October 28/2025
Iraqi polls grapple with Israeli and Iranian relations as country prepares to
vote/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/New York Post/October 28/2025
Make Believe 'Global Justice'/Nils A. Haug/Gatestone Institute/October 28/2025
The recurring struggle for the soul of America/Dr James J Zogby/The Arab
Weekly/October 28/2025
Selected English Tweets from X Platform For 28 October/2025
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October
28-29/2025
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 Annual Feast Day of the Apostles: Saints Simon and
Jude
Elias Bejjani/October 28, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/10/148612/
Today, the Catholic Church joyfully celebrates the Feast of the Apostles Saints
Simon and Jude — two steadfast pillars upon whom the foundation of Christ’s
Mystical Body was laid. Their names, forever linked in the Canon of the Mass,
symbolize an apostolic pairing united in mission, martyrdom, and eternal legacy.
Though historical details outside the New Testament remain scarce, their fervent
dedication to proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the known world continues to
inspire the faithful across generations.
Who They Were and Their Early Lives
St. Jude, often referred to as “Judas, son of James,” or “Thaddeus” in the
Gospels to distinguish him from the traitor Judas Iscariot, was one of the close
“brethren” or kinsmen of Jesus. Through his father Cleophas (or Alphaeus), the
brother of St. Joseph, Jude was a first cousin of the Lord. Tradition holds that
he was born in Galilee around 10 AD.
St. Simon, uniquely identified as “the Zealot” (or “the Cananaean”), earned this
title either for his affiliation with the Jewish nationalist movement known as
the Zealots or for his passionate zeal for the Law. This distinction underscores
Christ’s unifying power, which brought together men of vastly different
backgrounds — such as Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector — into His
circle of Apostles. Tradition suggests that Simon was also born in Galilee,
perhaps in Cana, around 5 AD.
The Apostolic Mission in Beirut and the East
After the Ascension of Jesus, the Apostles dispersed from Jerusalem to avoid
persecution and to fulfill their divine mandate: “Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations.” According to a strong tradition upheld in the Eastern
Churches — particularly the Syriac Orthodox and Maronite traditions — Saints
Peter, Simon, and Jude journeyed to Beirut (in present-day Lebanon).
There, Simon and Jude were said to have played a crucial role in establishing
the early Church, spending several years in Beirut. They are traditionally
credited with building the very first Christian church in the city. Local
tradition also holds that St. Peter was with them, organizing the first
ecclesiastical hierarchy — Patriarchs, Bishops, and Priests — and establishing
the early structure of the Holy Mass.
In this formative period, five major Patriarchal Sees were envisioned: Rome
(Vatican), Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria.
Antioch, located in the Syrian region, was founded first, with St. Peter as its
initial Patriarch around 42 AD. He later moved to Rome around 54 AD. These
developments highlight the Levant — including Lebanon — as a vital center for
the early Church’s missionary and administrative life. Following their ministry
in Lebanon, Saints Simon and Jude continued eastward, spreading the Gospel in
Mesopotamia and Persia (modern-day Iraq and Iran), where they accomplished their
most celebrated missionary work.
Their Miracles and Enduring Patronage
The apostolic mission of Simon and Jude was accompanied by remarkable miracles.
A prominent tradition recounts St. Jude’s journey to King Abgar of Edessa, who
suffered from leprosy. At the king’s request, Jude brought him an image of
Christ — the Mandylion or Image of Edessa — through which the king was
miraculously healed. This act of mercy and intercession established St. Jude as
the Patron Saint of Desperate and Impossible Causes, a devotion that remains
widespread to this day.
In Persia, the two Apostles performed many wonders, casting out demons, healing
the sick, and converting multitudes to the faith. Their success, however,
provoked the anger of local pagan priests, ultimately leading to their
martyrdom.
Martyrdom, Relics, and the Legacy of Antioch
According to the most widely accepted account, Saints Simon and Jude suffered
martyrdom together in Persia around 65 AD. Yet, another ancient tradition —
deeply rooted in Lebanese Christianity — maintains that they were martyred in
Beirut, where they had first preached the Gospel.
The Beirut Tradition:
This account affirms that the two Apostles were buried beneath the altar of the
first church they founded in Beirut.
The Roman Relocation:
After the legalization of Christianity by Emperor Constantine, their relics were
transferred to Rome in the 4th century (c. 325 AD). Today, their remains rest
beneath the Altar of St. Joseph in the left transept of St. Peter’s Basilica in
the Vatican, sharing the sacred space with the Prince of the Apostles himself.
The Apostles Simon and Jude left an indelible mark on the foundation of the
universal Church. Through them, the Sacraments and the authentic teachings of
Christ were transmitted to the early Christian communities of the East.
The Patriarchal See of Antioch, first established by St. Peter and deeply
connected to their legacy, endured centuries of persecution. In 676 AD, St. John
Maron, the first Maronite Patriarch, relocated the See to the Monastery of St.
John Maroun in Kfarhay, Lebanon — the heart of Maronite Christianity. The
continuity of that apostolic line endures today in Bkerke, Lebanon, the current
seat of the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East.
Through their missionary zeal, miraculous works, and ultimate martyrdom, Saints
Simon and Jude stand as eternal witnesses to Christ’s truth. Their faith —
steadfast even to the shedding of their blood — laid the groundwork for
Christianity in the East and remains a luminous example of courage, unity, and
perseverance in the service of God.
*The author, Elias Bejjani, is a Lebanese expatriate activist
Author’s Email: Phoenicia@hotmail.com
Author’s Website:
https://eliasbejjaninews.com
Video Link from BW Youtube Platform: His Last Request
Before Execution Was to See the Virgin Mary — What Happened Shocked Everyone
His Last Request Before Execution Was to See the Virgin Mary — What Happened
Shocked Everyone
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/10/148598/
This is a story that shows the power of the
miracles of the Virgin Mary — Our Lady, Mother of Jesus — even in places where
hope seems to have completely disappeared. In this video from our channel
dedicated exclusively to testimonies of faith in the Virgin Mary, accounts of
graces received, and stories of the miracles of the Virgin Mary, you will
discover the astonishing story of Michael Carter, a man who lived for years
unjustly condemned, but who experienced a direct and supernatural intervention
of Our Lady, the Mother of Heaven. The story shows how the intercession of the
Virgin Mary can cross walls, bars, sentences, and even hardened hearts, to
rescue those whom the world had already abandoned. As you watch, you will see
how praying the rosary, devotion to the Virgin Mary, and trust in the mercy of
the Virgin Mary can change destinies, reveal the truth, and grant miracles that
science cannot explain.
This video is part of our commitment to spread Marian devotion and strengthen
faith in Our Lady, Mother of Jesus and our Mother. Here you will find stories
about the miracles of Our Lady, Marian apparitions, testimonies of conversion,
unexpected healings through the Virgin Mary, graces received, spiritual
deliverances, and life transformations obtained through the intercession of the
Virgin Mary. The case of Michael Carter is a powerful example: he rediscovered
his faith and, above all, the loving presence of the Virgin Mary. During his
final hours, the small image of Our Lady that he held in his hands began to
shine with a celestial light, before guards, directors, and witnesses. This
unexplainable phenomenon unleashed a series of events that led to the revelation
of the truth and his release.
The story shows how the Virgin Mary, Our Lady, powerfully intercedes with Jesus
Christ, her Son, and pours out graces upon those who need them most. Many call
it coincidence… but for those who believe, it is a miracle of the Virgin Mary.
This video seeks to rekindle in the hearts of the faithful the certainty that
the Mother of Jesus continues to act in the world, performing miracles,
consoling the afflicted, protecting the innocent, and guiding sinners back to
the path of salvation. If you have faith in Our Lady, if you believe in the
power of the Holy Rosary, if you desire to hear testimonies of Marian miracles
and real stories of conversion and redemption, then this channel is for you.
Watch until the end and allow this story to strengthen your faith and renew your
hope. Share this video with those who are going through difficult times, so that
they too may find comfort in the arms of the Most Holy Mother. Subscribe to the
channel to receive new stories of the miracles of the Virgin Mary, apparitions
of Our Lady, and testimonies that prove the Virgin Mary never abandons her
children. When everything seems lost, remember: Our Lady, the Mother of Jesus,
is always interceding for us.
#MiraclesOfMary #VirginMary #FaithStory #CatholicMiracle #MarianDevotionmiracles
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Video Link to an Interview with Dr. Charles Chartouni from the Transparency News
YouTube Platform, addressing the ongoing, very serious Lebanese governance
failures, pro-Hezbollah stances, and the necessity of negotiations and peace
with Israel
October 28/2025
(Free Translation from Arabic by Elias Bejjani)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/10/148623/
Text summary of the Interview with Dr. Charles Chartouni
Transparency Youtube Platform/October 28/2025
In a fiery interview from Washington, strategic
expert Dr. Charles Chartouni exposes the "deep state" ruling Lebanon, asserting
that the country has fallen under the control of a "policing, terrorist state."
In this explosive episode of the "Al Siyasa Wal Nas" (Politics and People)
program with Patricia Samaha, Dr. Chartouni gets straight to the point regarding
illegal arms and citizens' lives.
The Truth Behind the Killing of Elie Abou Hanna
Regarding the death of the young man, Elie Abou Hanna, at the Shatila
Palestinian Camp checkpoint, Chartouni stresses that the direct cause was the
failure and negligence of the Lebanese state. He asserts that the time for
"fallacies" about Palestinian weaponry is over, and that the persistence of
armed checkpoints in the Palestinians camps is a clear waiver of sovereignty. He
also drops a political bombshell concerning the political trials faced by
opponents, accusing Hezbollah of using the judiciary for settling scores.
Escalation of Assassinations and the Fate of the South
Dr. Chartouni offers a clear analysis of the recent Israeli escalation and the
assassination of high-ranking Hezbollah cadres, affirming that this is a direct
result of the Lebanese state's failure to disarm in accordance with
international commitments. He stresses that the situation is a matter of
"timing, nothing more and nothing less," and that a major military operation
will lead to clear geopolitical changes. He analyzes the visits of Morgan
Ortagus and Egyptian Intelligence Director Hassan Rashad, viewing them as
unified and unambiguous messages to the Lebanese leadership.
The Normalization Debate and the Fall of Big Heads
In his strongest statements, Chartouni asserts that "there is no alternative to
negotiating with the Israeli state," calling it a "vital matter" to end 65 years
of open warfare, and demanding that the next president make a decisive move. He
also attacks the performance of the Army Commander, the Prime Minister, and the
Speaker of Parliament, declaring: "The chapter of this man [Nabih Berri] must
end. He used all foreign interventions to break the rules of constitutional
work." He criticizes Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam's insistence on stubbornness
and refuses to hold the upcoming parliamentary elections without guaranteeing
the diaspora vote and disarming.
Video-Link Timestamps-TimeTopic
00:00:19 The Policing and Terrorist State: Chartouni recounts details of his
targeting and exposes the judiciary.
00:04:01 The Killing of Elie Abou Hanna: The state's failure is what killed the
young Lebanese man in Shatila!
00:07:07 The Fallacies Must End: Palestinian armed checkpoints... Who authorized
them?
00:09:49 Escalation of Assassinations: Is this the big security operation
expected in the South?
00:13:27 Messages from Washington and Cairo: What did Morgan Ortagus and Hassan
Rashad carry to Beirut?
00:15:41 Stubbornness and Deception: Attacking Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam and
revealing the limits of the crisis.
00:22:20 Re-armament: Has Hezbollah rebuilt its military arsenal and
capabilities after the Israeli strikes?
00:25:28 No Alternative to Negotiation: Charles Chartouni calls for
normalization with Israel to save Lebanon.
00:30:03 Boycotting the MPs' Session: Did the protesting MPs triumph over Nabih
Berri in the diaspora file?
00:32:42 A Decisive Decision: Why does Chartouni refuse to hold parliamentary
elections under arms and corruption?
00:35:10 The End of This Man's Chapter: Has Nabih Berri's political capital run
out after sanctions and public rejection?
Former Minister Youssef Salameh from Bkerke:"With the absence, or intentional
sidelining, of the State—which holds the exclusive mandate to protect
Lebanon—those entrusted with Lebanon's glory must not fail to act. I have every
hope that action will be taken before it is too late."
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/10/148629/
NNA/October 28, 2025
(Free Translation from Arabic by: Elias Bejjani)
His Beatitude, the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar
Bechara Boutros al-Rai, received the Head of the "Identity and Sovereignty
Gathering," Former Minister Youssef Salameh, this morning at the Patriarchal See
in Bkerke. Following the meeting, Salameh stated:
"We all know that Bkerke played a foundational role in fortifying the Lebanese
entity and a pivotal role in the birth of the State of Greater Lebanon. It has
remained committed to the culture of communal life among various sects,
challenging psychological barriers erected over decades, and betting on a
unifying humanity and a shared identity.
Because Lebanon is going through a fateful stage where the features of the new
Middle East are being drawn, and is undergoing a Caesarean birth according to
new standards and balances; and because the hysterical state it is currently
experiencing can only be overcome by submitting to the logic of negotiations;
and because it is preferable that the starting point for the intended
negotiations be the 1949 Armistice Agreement signed between Lebanon and Israel
(which was approved after direct negotiations between the two countries); and
because completing it today—in consideration of the balance of power and the
requirements of this time—is a duty to restore life to Lebanon, enabling it to
position itself in neutrality that fortifies its message and restores its
pioneering role in keeping pace with modernity."
Salameh, stressed that "after the State’s hesitation in decisively choosing its
options has become evident, and because a swift and decisive choice and
implementation is required, I wished upon His Beatitude to revive history and
act with an 아버지's (paternal) responsibility for this homeland, transcending the
constraints of a text whose authors themselves have disavowed it. When the agent
is absent, the principal appears and decides, especially if what is required is
to save the life of a dying nation."
Salemeh pointed out that "fate willed that history repeat itself, and that
Bkerke has a role in re-drafting the new Lebanon, in making peace, and in
consecrating and protecting Lebanon's identity so that it can interact
sophisticatedly with the region's future and its new balances."
Salemeh concluded: "I reiterate, with the absence, or intentional sidelining, of
the State—which holds the exclusive mandate to protect Lebanon—those entrusted
with Lebanon's glory must not fail to act. I have every hope that action will be
taken before it is too late."
Dr. Saleh Al-Mashnouk/ The fault lies not with who set up a checkpoint and
killed a Lebanese youth, but with who allowed them to set up checkpoints and
kill Lebanese youth.
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/10/148634/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDNDk1agpc0
28 تشرين الأول/2025
Ortagus: Don't Miss the Opportunity He Did Not Believe
Nidaa Al-Watan / October 29, 2025
(Translated from Arabic)
Yesterday, too, the Parliament proved that it is its own master and not the
Speaker of the House its master. Sixty-five deputies told Speaker Nabih Berri:
"Believe that you cannot legislate without us." The Speaker of the House could
not bang his gavel and say "passed," so the session was adjourned for the second
time, and the data proved that Speaker Berri can pull rabbits out of his sleeve,
but he cannot gather a majority for what is null and void.
Yesterday, the deputies rebelled against their Speaker, who, despite all his
weight and pressure, could not muster sixty-five deputies to open the session.
Thus, the sixty-five opposed his position, and only fifty-seven deputies—what
remains of his "rabbits"—supported him. In the calculations of the winners and
losers in this fierce battle, the head of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir
Geagea, scored a valuable goal against the Speaker of the House by successfully
mobilizing the opposition to Speaker Berri's refusal to put forward amendments
to the electoral law. Dr. Geagea's efforts were supported by efforts made by
more than one party.
What Happened?
Parliamentary sources who closely followed the contacts that preceded the
session revealed that these contacts began on Friday between the solid core of
the opposition, consisting of the Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb, some
Independents, and some Change MPs. The contacts were completed on Sunday night,
reaching the issue of the Moderate Bloc. Contrary to rumors and what some try to
suggest about foreign pressure, the sources reveal that the operation was purely
local, and the Lebanese Forces completed its contacts to mature a specific
position.
The sources continue that what happened constitutes a turning point in the
approach to political issues because it is impossible to move to a new stage in
file management with old tools. The government's role is to take the draft law
presented by Foreign Minister Youssef Rigi seriously and to decide on it in a
Cabinet session. The deputies who attended the session must learn from what
happened and align themselves with the popular base, as the exceptional
transformations in the region require exceptional decisions from the deputies.
Regarding the number of deputies who entered the session, the parliamentary
sources reveal that the number was fifty-seven deputies, while five deputies
were on the Parliament's premises and were ready to enter the session if the
number reached sixty-one, but the number did not reach that and remained at
fifty-seven, which made the five deputies stay outside. This precise count
refutes the claim that the number reached sixty-two deputies inside the hall.
Thus, the parliamentary majority supporting the expatriates' right to vote for
all 128 deputies succeeded in disrupting the quorum for the legislative session,
which Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned to an unspecified date.
Ortagus: A Tour, Not Talk
Diplomatically, there is active movement towards Beirut. The US envoy, Morgan
Ortagus, toured the three presidencies. She met with President of the Republic
Joseph Aoun, accompanied by the Chargé d'Affaires of the US Embassy in Lebanon,
Keith Hannigan, and the Political Counselor at the Embassy, Matthew Tutillo. In
the meeting, President Aoun stressed "the need to activate the work of the
'Mechanism' committee, especially regarding the cessation of continuous Israeli
violations and attacks on Lebanon, and the implementation of Resolution 1701 in
the South to enable the Lebanese Army to complete its deployment up to the
southern international border." He also emphasized "the necessity of enabling
the southern citizens to return to their homes and repair the damaged ones,
especially with the approaching winter season." The US envoy began her tour with
a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and also met with Prime Minister
Nawaf Salam.
The US Envoy: "The Party" is Violating the Agreement
Nidaa Al-Watan learned that Ortagus's tour with officials focused on the
worrying security situation. She indicated that the continuation of the
situation in Lebanon in this manner is not beneficial and must be addressed, and
there is an American desire for a solution. She called on Lebanon to benefit
from the American momentum, as happened in Gaza and is happening in Syria. She
stressed that President Trump's option is to move towards a comprehensive peace,
and this opportunity is available to Lebanon and must not be wasted, and Lebanon
must not be left out of the peace process.
Ortagus conveyed Israel's fear of "Hezbollah's" movements and the rebuilding of
its capabilities. She indicated that Israel is concerned about this issue
because "The Party" is violating the ceasefire, and if the state does not
address the issue of "The Party's" movements, this exposes the situation to
volatility, while Washington wants the truce to continue. Ortagus indicated the
activation of the Mechanism's work and support for it, and the readiness to
activate and develop its activity, as well as Washington's continued support for
the Lebanese Army.
Regarding the meeting between President Aoun and Ortagus, the sources clarified
that the escalating atmosphere raised in the media is incorrect, and the meeting
involved presenting ideas with nothing final. There was a position from the
Lebanese officials, as President Aoun confirmed Lebanon's readiness to begin
indirect negotiations under Washington's sponsorship, and spoke about the
Israeli violations and their continued occupation of Lebanese territories and
their prevention of the army from reaching the borders, which delays the
implementation of Resolution 1701.
Egypt on the Path of Endeavors
In parallel with Ortagus's tour, the Egyptian Intelligence Chief is in Beirut.
Major General Hassan Rashad met with the President of the Republic, briefing him
on the efforts made in Gaza and expressing Egypt's readiness to help establish
stability in Lebanon. He also reiterated Egypt's support for Lebanon. President
Aoun conveyed his greetings to President Sisi through Rashad, thanking the Arab
Republic of Egypt for the support it provides to Lebanon in all fields, and
welcoming any Egyptian effort to help stop the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and
restore stability to its territories.
According to Nidaa Al-Watan's information, Major General Rashad spoke about his
visit to Israel and his meeting with Israeli officials, but he did not carry a
complete initiative. Instead, he confirmed his country's readiness to narrow the
gap between viewpoints and play a role in negotiations between Lebanon and
Israel if Lebanon desires it, especially since the situation on the ground is
dangerous and Cairo does not want it to explode.
Saudi Envoy: Postponement, Not Cancellation
Not far from this, Nidaa Al-Watan's information confirms that the visit of the
Saudi envoy, Yazeed bin Farhan, to Lebanon was not canceled but postponed, so
that the picture becomes clearer, especially regarding the negotiations, and so
that the visit is fruitful and carries a clear agenda after diligent Saudi
follow-up on the Lebanese file, as well as the files of Syria, Gaza, and the
region.
The Army Takes a Difficult Path
In parallel, two sources told Reuters that the Lebanese Army has blown up a
large number of "Hezbollah" weapons caches to the extent that it has run out of
explosives, as it races against time to meet a year-end deadline to confine
weapons to the state. The two sources, one security and the other a Lebanese
official, said that the shortage of explosives, which has not been previously
reported, has not prevented the army from accelerating the pace of inspection
missions to search for hidden weapons in the South. One of the sources and two
other officials familiar with the army's activities said that the army is now
merely sealing the sites it finds instead of destroying them until American
shipments of explosive devices and other military equipment arrive. The other
two informed officials stated that the inspection operations resulted in the
discovery of nine new weapons caches in September, and dozens of tunnels used by
the group were also sealed. More soldiers are being recruited for deployment in
the South. However, progress in the rest of the country appears to be equally
uncertain. A second Lebanese official close to "Hezbollah" and two security
sources said that despite the army's progress, it wants to avoid fueling tension
and buy time for Lebanese politicians to reach a consensus on the group's
arsenal in other parts of the country.
US envoy Ortagus affirms Washington’s commitment to
Lebanon’s security, official source tells Arab News
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/October 28, 2025
BEIRUT: US envoy Morgan Ortagus on Tuesday praised the Lebanese army’s efforts
in implementing the government-approved plan to centralize control over weapons
under the state’s authority. “Ortagus affirmed the US administration’s
commitment to Lebanon’s security and stability,” an official source told Arab
News. Having arrived in Beirut Monday evening, Ortagus held meetings Tuesday
afternoon with Lebanese officials, including President Joseph Aoun, Parliament
Speaker Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
She is scheduled to attend a session of the Mechanism Committee at the
headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon in Naqoura on Wednesday.
According to an official, Ortagus refrained from making public statements during
her meetings. The source described the atmosphere of her meeting with President
Aoun as positive, noting that she viewed the Mechanism Committee’s work as
progressing. They emphasized the need to find ways to implement the ceasefire
agreement between Israel and Lebanon, in effect since Nov. 27, as a contribution
to Lebanon’s stability.
Berri’s office explained that the meeting with Ortagus focused on “Israeli
violations and the work of the five-member technical committee monitoring the
ceasefire.” Following her meeting with Berri, media reports indicated Ortagus
proposed expanding the Mechanism Committee to include civilian members, as the
current committee is limited to military officers. Ortagus also reported “an
Israeli account of weapons being smuggled from Syria to Lebanon, noting that the
US administration has not yet confirmed this matter.”
From his end, President Aoun stressed to Ortagus “the need to activate the work
of the Mechanism Committee to stop the ongoing Israeli violations and attacks on
Lebanon and to implement Resolution 1701 in the south, enabling the Lebanese
army to complete its deployment to the southern international border.”President
Aoun also emphasized the need to pave the way for southern citizens to return to
their homes and repair damaged ones, particularly as winter approaches. During
her stay in Israel, Ortagus toured the border with Lebanon alongside Tel Aviv’s
Defense Minister Israel Katz. During the tour, Katz affirmed that Israel would
continue to defend the northern regions against any threat. On Tuesday, the
Lebanese army worked to dismantle an earthen embankment erected by the Israeli
army on the outskirts of the town of Markaba in Marjayoun, in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corp. quoted Israeli security sources as saying that
Hezbollah succeeded in smuggling hundreds of short-range missiles from Syria to
Lebanon in recent months. While some attempts to smuggle arms have been
thwarted, other shipments reportedly reached the group’s warehouses in Lebanon.
Tel Aviv has informed Washington of the details regarding these arms-smuggling
operations across the Syrian-Lebanese border. Israel Hayom reported that
official Israeli estimates indicate that Hezbollah possesses approximately
10,000 missiles. The newspaper quoted Israeli officials as saying that if the
Lebanese government is unable to disarm Hezbollah, there would be no alternative
but to carry out a “focused and targeted operation against Hezbollah targets.”
In parallel with Ortagus’ visit, Egyptian Intelligence Chief Maj. Gen. Hassan
Rashad arrived in Beirut and met with Aoun. Rashad, according to the media
office at the Presidential Palace, “expressed his country’s readiness to help
stabilize southern Lebanon and end the volatile security situation there. He
also reiterated Egypt’s support for Lebanon.”Official sources told Arab News
that “Rashad conveyed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s concern for
Lebanon and its stability. He spoke about the Gaza agreement and the Sharm
El-Sheikh summit and raised the possibility of benefiting from this experience
to extend this atmosphere to Lebanon.”Aoun, according to the media office at the
Presidential Palace, welcomed “any Egyptian effort to help stop Israeli attacks
on Lebanon and restore stability.”On Monday, Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Alaa
Moussa explained that the visit of the Egyptian intelligence chief falls within
the framework of security and political coordination with Lebanon, adding that
the developments in the scope and pace of Israeli attacks call for caution.
Lebanese worry as tensions with Israel rise ahead of US
envoy’s visit dragging in UNIFIL
The Arab Weekly/October 28/2025
US envoy Morgan Ortagus is expected in Beirut for talks with Lebanese officials
on disarming militant group Hezbollah amid fears in Lebanon that Israel could
launch a renewed air war on the group sparking anew cycle of death and
devastation. Those worries have been driven by days of intensifying Israeli
strikes on Lebanon’s south and east that have killed more than a dozen people,
most of them Hezbollah members, according to Lebanese security sources. Lebanon
fears the bombing shows Israel intends to ramp up its air campaign, despite a
November 2024 ceasefire that was intended to end a year-long war between Israel
and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Ortagus, the White House’s deputy Middle
East envoy, is expected to attend a meeting on Wednesday reviewing the Lebanese
army’s efforts to clear Hezbollah arms caches in the country’s south, in line
with the 2024 truce.She will also attend a meeting of the ceasefire monitoring
mechanism that brings together Lebanon, Israel, the US, France and the UN.
Another US envoy, Tom Barrack, warned last week that Hezbollah may face a new
confrontation with Israel if Lebanese authorities fail to act quickly to disarm
the group in full, which Hezbollah has rejected doing so far.Two brothers were
killed Monday in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, officials said, bringing
the total toll from such attacks to 13 since Thursday. Israel’s air force has
stepped up bombings in recent days, saying that it is striking members of
Iran-backed Hezbollah and its infrastructure, despite an ongoing truce in
Lebanon reached in November 2024. Lebanon’s health ministry said in a statement
that two brothers were killed in the Israeli strike on the village of al-Bayyad
in the Tyre district.
Lebanese official news agency ANI said the two were killed in an attack on a
sawmill in al-Bayyad. Lebanese leaders have accused Israel of attempting to
prevent reconstruction in the region, devastated by last year’s war, by
targeting the machinery including diggers and bulldozers. Three people were
killed on Sunday in raids on southern and eastern Lebanon. The Israeli army said
it targeted an arms dealer working for Hezbollah and another man who was “aiding
the group’s attempts to rebuild its capacity for military action”. Hezbollah
leader Naim Qassem told the group’s Al-Manar channel in an interview broadcast
Sunday that the group was “prepared to defend itself” if needed. “The
possibility of war exists but is uncertain, it depends on their calculations,”
Qassem said in reference to Israel. “We are ready for defence, but not for
attack,” he added, stating that Hezbollah was upholding a ceasefire in force
since last November. On Sunday, an Israeli strike killed a man that Israel said
was a weapons dealer on behalf of Hezbollah. Lebanese security sources said the
man, named Ali al-Musawi, was the most senior member of the group to be killed
since the ceasefire.
“Very dangerous”
Israeli military action in south Lebanon has dragged UNIFIL troops into the
maelstrom. Also on Sunday, United Nations peacekeepers said they had
“neutralised” an Israeli drone that was flying over their patrol in south
Lebanon in “an aggressive manner”. Reuters reported that peacekeepers shot the
drone instead of downing it with jamming devices because it was deemed to be
posing a threat, and that an Israeli tank then fired a warning shot near
peacekeepeers. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said the drone was
carrying out “routine intelligence gathering” and was not posing a threat. He
said Israeli troops then threw a hand grenade at the area but did not fire
directly at UN troops. The spokesman did not explain the reason for the Israeli
grenade attack. The United Nations and France on Monday condemned Israel after
incident. “We are very concerned about the incident that occurred on Sunday,”
said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. “Our colleagues at UNIFIL are in touch with
the IDF to protest vehemently what has happened. It is not the first time that
we feel we’ve been targeted in different ways by the IDF (including) pointing
lasers or warning shots. It’s very, very dangerous,” he said. The UN
peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL works with the Lebanese army to enforce the
ceasefire agreement that ended more than a year of conflict between Iran-backed
Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel. According to a French diplomatic source,
the UNIFIL troops involved in Sunday’s incident were French. “France condemns
the Israeli fire that targeted a UNIFIL detachment on October 26, 2025,” the
French foreign ministry said in a separate statement. The Israeli military says
its continued strikes in Lebanon are targeting Hezbollah’s attempts to
re-establish military infrastructure in the south, which the group denies doing.
Since Hezbollah was gravely weakened by last year’s fighting, the American
government has been pressuring Lebanon to have the group surrender its arms to
the country’s army. As part of last year’s ceasefire deal, Israeli troops were
to withdraw from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah was to pull back north of the
Litani River and dismantle any military infrastructure in the south. According
to the agreement, only the Lebanese army and UNIFIL are to be deployed in the
south of the country. Despite the terms of the truce, Israel has kept troops
deployed in five border points it deems strategic.
Diplomatic race in Beirut: Can US and Egypt prevent
another war?
LBCI/October 28/2025
Is Lebanon heading toward another war?
The question is being raised once again amid a surge of diplomatic activity in
Beirut, marked by the visits of U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus and Egyptian
intelligence chief Hassan Rashad. Following Israeli claims that Ortagus carried
a warning about a potential military strike, it appears the message was indeed
delivered, albeit in diplomatic language. According to LBCI sources,
Ortagus told Lebanon's three top leaders that Israel possesses "evidence"
showing Hezbollah is rearming, which could serve as a pretext for future Israeli
escalation. The purpose of her visit, officials said, was to urge Lebanese
leaders to take swift and tangible steps toward disarming Hezbollah to avoid a
new military confrontation. Ortagus also praised the performance of the Lebanese
Army and reaffirmed Washington's commitment to Lebanon's sovereignty and
stability. Talks also touched on the mechanism for monitoring the ceasefire
agreement with Israel. Ortagus reportedly raised the idea of expanding the
mechanism committee monitoring the ceasefire to include civilians alongside
military officials. Lebanese officials, for their part, stressed the need
to reactivate the mechanism, particularly to stop Israel's repeated violations
and attacks on Lebanese territory. A notable stop in Ortagus' visit was her
meeting with Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed. According to LBCI sources,
Ortagus commended the ministry's efforts and emphasized the importance of
strengthening state presence and services in southern Lebanon. She inquired
about key social programs, from the "Aman" assistance card to housing support
for residents and aid for those affected by recent conflicts. The envoy also
discussed potential new sources of international support for southern
communities. While Ortagus met with Lebanese officials, Egyptian intelligence
chief Hassan Rashad was also in Beirut on a separate yet related mission. After
holding talks with the Israeli prime minister last week, Rashad arrived in
Lebanon carrying a message that Egypt is prepared to help prevent further
escalation and support efforts to ensure weapons remain solely in the hands of
the state. His mission follows Cairo's successful mediation in Gaza's ceasefire,
raising the question of whether Egypt could play a similar mediating role with
Hezbollah. President Joseph Aoun welcomed Egypt's renewed diplomatic engagement,
viewing it as a potential step toward restoring stability. Yet Beirut remains on
edge—caught between the push for calm, the rush to implement ceasefire
provisions, and the looming threat of escalation.
Ortagus meets Aoun and Berri, reportedly proposes indirect
talks involving 'civilians'
Naharnet/October 28/2025
U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus on Tuesday held meetings with President Joseph Aoun
and Speaker Nabih Berri and was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Nawaf
Salam. A Presidency statement said Aoun emphasized the need to activate the work
of the Mechanism ceasefire monitoring committee, especially in terms of “halting
the continuous Israeli attacks on Lebanon and implementing Resolution 1701 in
the South to enable the Lebanese Army to complete its deployment up to the
southern international border.”The president also underscored “the need to
enable southern citizens to return to their homes and repair the damaged houses,
especially as the winter season approaches.” Unnamed sources meanwhile told Al-Arabiya's
Al-Hadath channel that "Ortagus informed President Aoun that Washington is
satisfied with the army's implementation of the arms monopolization plan."
A statement issued by Berri’s office said the talks tackled “the general
situations and the military developments related to the daily Israeli violations
and attacks on Lebanon, in addition to the work of the five-party technical
ceasefire monitoring committee (Mechanism) and the activation of its work.”MTV
reported that Ortagus proposed to Berri two choices: “direct talks with Israel”
or “indirect negotiations through the Mechanism committee, which might be
expanded to involve civilians.”“This could be the exit that is being worked on,”
MTV said. Al-Jadeed television reported similar information. Ortagus also
relayed to Berri “what is being rumored about the smuggling of arms from Syria
to Lebanon and said the U.S. administration has not yet verified this issue,”
MTV added. “She did not endorse the Israeli claim but relayed it as it is and
expressed concerns should it turn out to be true,” the TV network said. Al-Jadeed
television meanwhile said that Ortagus "did not carry any warning message to
President Aoun and there was a focus on a format for activating the Mechanism
committee and speeding up its work." "Aoun is relieved over his meeting with
Ortagus and all the talk about intimidation and war threats carried by the U.S.
envoy is baseless," MTV added. "In her meeting with Aoun, Ortagus also proposed
expanding the work of the Mechanism committee and expressed the U.S.
administration’s readiness to help Lebanon in its proposals," MTV said. U.S.
sources had told MTV overnight that it is not true that Israel has rejected
indirect negotiations with Lebanon. “There is no threat that a war might erupt
and these claims are fabricated,” the sources added, noting that “Ortagus will
continue the work she has been doing with the Mechanism committee.”“Ortagus will
focus in her discussions on the need to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding and
re-arming itself, and U.S. Ambassdor Michel Issa will work on the issue once he
assumed his missions,” the U.S. sources said.
Lebanese PM Salam discusses ceasefire mechanism with US envoy Morgan Ortagus
LBCI/October 28/2025
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met at the Grand Serail with Morgan Ortagus,
adviser to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, to discuss the work and role
of the mechanism committee monitoring the cessation of hostilities. The meeting
was also attended by U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires in Beirut, Keith Hannigan.
Salam emphasized that the goal of any negotiations is to implement the ceasefire
declaration issued last November, particularly to stop Israeli attacks and
ensure the complete withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territories. He added that
one of the key objectives of this process is to secure the release of Lebanese
detainees. Salam also noted that implementing the government’s decision to
confine all weapons to state authorities, both south and north of the Litani
River, requires urgent international support for the Lebanese Army and Internal
Security Forces (ISF) through a dedicated international conference. He stressed
that stabilizing South Lebanon also demands global assistance to organize a
conference focused on economic recovery and reconstruction.
Lebanon's Social Affairs Minister meets Morgan Ortagus, highlights need for
international support
LBCI/October 28/2025
Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed met with U.S. United Nations
Mission adviser Morgan Ortagus at her office in Beirut, alongside U.S. Chargé
d'Affaires Keith Hennigan, to discuss Lebanon’s social and security challenges,
particularly in the southern regions. The meeting focused on the Ministry’s role
in responding to humanitarian needs, strengthening state presence in affected
areas, and implementing social support programs. Discussions also addressed
living conditions and humanitarian developments in South Lebanon. Sayed
emphasized that reinforcing state presence in the south requires stabilizing the
region through full implementation of the ceasefire agreement. She stressed that
Lebanon urgently needs enhanced international attention and practical support to
help its institutions confront humanitarian and social challenges, noting that
Lebanon’s stability is closely tied to regional stability. The minister also
outlined the Ministry’s new strategy and future action plan, underlining that
social development is a key pillar in promoting national stability across
Lebanon.
Egypt spy chief meets Aoun and Berri, reportedly seeking
Gaza-like deal
Naharnet/October 28/2025
Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Mahmoud Rashad met Tuesday in Lebanon with
President Joseph Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri. The Presidency said Aoun and
Egypt’s intelligence head discussed “how to leverage the atmosphere of the Gaza
deal and the Sharm el-Sheikh summit to expand it to include Lebanon.”“Rashad
expressed his country’s readiness to help consolidate stability in the South and
end the turbulent security situation in it,” the Presidency added, noting that
Aoun “welcomed any Egyptian effort to help halt the Israeli attacks on Lebanon
and restore stability in it.”“The Egyptian intelligence chief put President Aoun
in the picture of the efforts that were exerted in Gaza and expressed Egypt’s
readiness to help establish stability in Lebanon,” Al-Jadeed television
reported. Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Alaa Moussa earlier expressed great
optimism about Lebanon's future in an interview with An-Nahar newspaper, saying:
"I am extremely optimistic about this country's future, because Lebanon deserves
the best, and it will be better, God willing." Rashad had met days ago with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A political source told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper that the Egyptian
intelligence chief is “not carrying an Israeli message,” adding that “depicting
the visit in this manner is an underestimation of the Arab role represented by
Egypt.”“The Egyptian initiative toward Lebanon is backed by Saudi Arabia and
aimed at crystallizing a vision supportive of Lebanon through finding an
executive mechanism for the negotiation principle that would be similar to what
was adopted for the Gaza agreement,” the source said. “The visit also seeks to
explore the possibility of holding a conference in Sharm el-Sheikh or in the
city of Riyadh to sign a peace treaty, and this requires a clear Lebanese
commitment to implement everything that the new authorities in Lebanon had
committed to in terms of the Lebanese state’s sovereignty over its entire
territory through its legitimate forces and as to monopolizing the war and peace
decisions in its hand exclusively,” the source added. “Any proposed Arab
solution would be based on committing to the Arab decision, away from Lebanese
alleyways and side agreements,” the source went on to say, warning that “the
grace period granted to Lebanon is about to finish.”
Israel to carry out operation against Hezbollah if govt.
fails to disarm it, report says
Naharnet/October 28/2025
If the Lebanese government fails to disarm Hezbollah, there will be no escape
from carrying out a focused and targeted operation against the group's sites,
Israel Hayom said Tuesday, quoting officials. The Israeli daily estimated that
Hezbollah possesses "only about 10,000 rockets", compared to the approximately
120,000 it possessed on the eve of the last war.
Political debate: Lebanon's 2026 elections at risk as
Parliament and Cabinet clash over electoral law
LBCI/October 28/2025
As Lebanon approaches the May 2026 parliamentary elections, political tensions
are rising over proposed changes to the electoral law, particularly regarding
voting rights for expatriates. One camp supports amendments allowing Lebanese
living abroad to vote in their home districts, while opponents insist on
maintaining six reserved seats in district 16, arguing that expatriates wishing
to vote should return to Lebanon. The dispute contributed to the failure to
reach a quorum for Tuesday's parliamentary session, drawing attention to the
upcoming Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, where the electoral law is expected to
dominate discussions. The agenda includes two competing bills: one from Foreign
Minister Youssef Rajji seeks to abolish the six expatriate seats and permit
overseas voting, while Interior Minister Ahmad Al-Hajjar proposes updating
Article 84 of the electoral law by replacing the magnetic ID card with a QR code
system. The magnetic card currently exists only in the text of the law. Can the
Cabinet reach the required two-thirds majority of 16 votes, particularly with
five Shiite ministers opposed to the changes? Sources familiar with the matter
told LBCI that the likely approach for Wednesday is to avoid holding a vote.
This direction reportedly emerged from a meeting between Parliament Speaker
Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Sources indicate that Salam has
asked Berri to ensure the five Shiite ministers remain present for the session,
a matter the Prime Minister is expected to discuss with President Joseph Aoun
ahead of the meeting. The five ministers from the Amal-Hezbollah duo are also
expected to attend Thursday's session and are unlikely to leave. Even if the
Cabinet merges the two proposals into a single draft and sends it to Parliament,
two scenarios remain possible: Berri may choose not to convene a parliamentary
session on the electoral law, limiting discussions to the budget as stipulated
by the constitution; or he may call a session to consider all submitted
amendments collectively, while refusing to vote on the accelerated bill proposed
by Lebanese Forces Party MPs until all proposals are fully discussed—a process
that could take several months.
Boycott over expat voting forces adjournment of legislative session
Naharnet/October 28/2025
Speaker Nabih Berri on Tuesday adjourned a legislative session due to lack of
quorum, after the Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb Party and their allies boycotted
in rejection of Berri’s refusal to put on the agenda a bill allowing expats to
vote for all 128 seas in the upcoming parliamentary elections. The LF had said
that participation in the session it would reflect “submission to Speaker Nabih
Berri’s hegemony over parliament.”“It would be a cover-up for a constitutional
and ethical crime against hundreds of thousands of Lebanese expats who are
facing an attempt to deprive them of their right to contribute to changing the
situations through ballot boxes,” the LF bloc said. The current electoral law
only allows expats to vote for six newly-introduced seats in parliament.
Sixty-five MPs, including those of the LF and allies, are meanwhile demanding to
amend the law in order to allow expats to vote for all 128 seats. Hezbollah and
Amal argue that they do not enjoy the same campaigning freedom that other
parties enjoy abroad and are objecting against the possible amendment. The
six-seat system had been suspended in the 2018 and 2022 elections and expats
were allowed to vote for the 128 MPs, each according to their registered
electoral district.
Report: Hezbollah has smuggled hundreds of rockets from Syria
Naharnet/October 28/2025
Hezbollah smuggled hundreds of rockets from Syria to Lebanon over the past
months and the Israeli army only managed to thwart some of the shipments, the
Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation said. Israel has informed Washington of
the details of the smuggling operations and its need to “maintain attacks on
Lebanon,” the report added. Israel’s i24NEWS channel meanwhile quoted an Israeli
official as saying that Israel “will soon reach a decisive point as to staging
an operation in Lebanon.”
UN, France slam Israel after attack on UN peacekeepers in
Lebanon
Agence France Presse/October 28/2025
The United Nations and France have condemned Israeli fire near U.N. peacekeeping
troops in southern Lebanon, after an incident during which peacekeepers
neutralized an Israeli reconnaissance drone. "We are very concerned about the
incident that occurred on Sunday in which an Israeli drone dropped a grenade in
the vicinity of a UNIFIL patrol, and subsequently an Israeli tank fired a shot
at the peacekeepers in Kfar Kila in the UNIFIL area of operations," said U.N.
spokesman Stephane Dujarric, referring to the incident in southern Lebanon. "Our
colleagues at UNIFIL are in touch with the IDF to protest vehemently what has
happened. It's not the first time that we feel we've been targeted in different
ways by the IDF (including) pointing lasers or warning shots. It's very, very
dangerous," he said. The U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL works with the
Lebanese army to enforce the ceasefire agreement that ended more than a year of
conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. According to a French diplomatic source,
the UNIFIL troops involved in Sunday's incident were French. "France condemns
the Israeli fire that targeted a UNIFIL detachment on October 26, 2025," the
French foreign ministry said in a separate statement. It said that "these
incidents follow those observed on October 1, 2, and 11, when the Israeli army
had already targeted UNIFIL positions."On Sunday, UNIFIL said an Israeli drone
flew over its patrol in an "aggressive manner". "The peacekeepers applied
necessary defensive countermeasures to neutralize the drone," it said in a
statement. The incident "shows disregard for safety and security of the
peacekeepers implementing Security Council mandated tasks in southern Lebanon",
it said. UNIFIL later said another Israeli drone came close to its patrol
operating near Kfar Kila and dropped a grenade. "Moments later, an Israeli tank
fired a shot towards the peacekeepers. Fortunately, no injury or damage was
caused to the UNIFIL peacekeepers and assets," the statement added.
- Drone 'deliberately' shot down -
The Israeli army still occupies five positions in southern Lebanon, along the
border with northern Israel, and despite the ceasefire continues to carry out
strikes on Lebanese territory, claiming to target Hezbollah. Israeli military
spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on X earlier on Monday that "an
intelligence-gathering drone was downed in the area of Kfar Kila." "An initial
inquiry suggests that UNIFIL forces stationed nearby deliberately fired at the
drone and downed it. The drone's activity did not pose a threat to UNIFIL
forces," Shoshani wrote. As part of last year's ceasefire deal, Israeli troops
were to withdraw from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah was to pull back north of
the Litani River and dismantle any military infrastructure in the south.
According to the agreement, only the Lebanese army and UNIFIL are to be deployed
in the south of the country. Under U.S. pressure and fearing an escalation of
Israeli strikes, the Lebanese government has moved to begin disarming Hezbollah,
a plan the movement and its allies oppose. Despite the terms of the truce,
Israel has kept troops deployed in five border points it deems strategic. Israel
has also intensified strikes in recent weeks, with several deadly attacks
launched over the past few days.
Hezbollah weapons clearance: Israeli strikes continue as Lebanese Army
accelerates southern operations
LBCI/October 28/2025
The Lebanese Army has destroyed a large number of Hezbollah weapons caches in
South Lebanon, to the point that its stock of explosives has reportedly run low,
according to sources cited by Reuters. The sources noted that despite the
shortage, the army has stepped up inspections in the south to locate weapons,
but now opts to seal discovered sites rather than destroy them until shipments
of U.S.-supplied explosives and other military equipment arrive. The equipment,
reportedly valued at $14 million, was announced by Washington in September,
though delivery could take several months.
Recent operations include the discovery of nine new weapons caches in September
and the closure of dozens of tunnels previously used by Hezbollah fighters, all
south of the Litani River. The operations have mainly remained out of the public
eye. Hezbollah has largely accepted the army's actions in the south, while
avoiding provocations that could alarm its broader base. The group maintains
that weapons seizures south of the Litani comply with the ceasefire agreement,
which it interprets as limiting operations to that area, despite the agreement
explicitly granting Lebanon's security forces exclusive authority to carry
weapons nationwide. The army is reportedly aware of the differing
interpretations and is using the window to allow Lebanese politicians time to
reach a consensus on Hezbollah's arsenal beyond the south, avoiding heightened
tensions. Its goal remains to clear the south of weapons by 2026, without
committing to a timeline for other regions. These developments occur amid
continued Israeli violations, including airstrikes, targeted assassinations, and
temporary incursions into South Lebanon.
Israel-Lebanon situation: Israel sees large-scale conflict with Hezbollah as
likely
LBCI/October 28/2025
Israeli military and intelligence assessments now treat a major war with Lebanon
as a likely eventuality, one that would penetrate well deep into Lebanese
territory. In that context, Israel has asked Washington for permission to
continue precision strikes on what it describes as arms shipments to
Hezbollah—actions Jerusalem says are necessary to blunt a direct threat to its
national security and that it views as violations of the ceasefire. An
intelligence report reviewed by Israeli authorities alleges that Hezbollah moved
hundreds of rockets from Syria into Lebanon, most of them short-range, as part
of a broad effort to strengthen the group's strike capabilities and prepare for
possible operations against Israel. The report and other military assessments
say the group has been extracting lessons from the recent war and adapting its
tactics. Across northern Israel, from the Ramat David base to the international
border, air traffic has been heavy and the army has increased troop deployments,
reflecting heightened readiness. Israeli planners say that if large-scale
hostilities break out, the fighting would demand a far broader and longer land
campaign than recent operations in Gaza or Syria—with extensive use of armored
columns and tanks, heavier air and ground fire support, and expanded logistical
and force-protection systems for ground troops. At the same time, Israeli
planning assumes Hezbollah could pursue complex cross-border incursions on
multiple axes intended to disperse and disorient Israeli forces. Jerusalem is
also monitoring the group's reported efforts to enhance its unmanned aerial
vehicle unit 127 and to field more anti-tank guided missiles aimed at nearby
Israeli communities, developments that would complicate any ground advance and
widen the geographic scope of combat.
Lebanese army walks political tightrope to disarm
Hezbollah, proceeds under US-Israeli Maya
Gebeily and Laila Bassam/The Arab Weekly/October 28/2025
Lebanon’s army has blown up so many Hezbollah arms caches that it has run out of
explosives, as it races to meet a year-end deadline to disarm the Shia militia
in the south of the country under a ceasefire agreed with Israel, two sources
told Reuters. The explosives shortage, which has not been previously reported,
has not stopped the army quickening the pace of inspection missions to search
for hidden weapons in the south, near Israel, the two said, one of whom is a
security source and the other a Lebanese official.
It would have been unimaginable for Lebanon’s military to embark on such a task
at the zenith of Iran-backed Hezbollah’s power just a few years ago, and many
observers were sceptical even after the ceasefire agreement. But Hezbollah was
hit hard by Israel’s war last year, which killed thousands of fighters and the
upper echelons of both the military and political wings, including leader Hassan
Nasrallah. The war also killed more than 1,100 women and children and destroyed
swathes of Lebanon’s south and east. The US has kept up pressure on Lebanon to
disarm Hezbollah, which is designated a terrorist group by Washington. President
Donald Trump’s deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus is in Beirut this week to
discuss momentum on disarmament with Lebanese officials.
As they wait for US deliveries of explosives charges and other military
equipment, Lebanese troops are now sealing off sites they find instead of
destroying them, said one of the sources and two other people briefed on the
army’s recent activities. Their searches yielded nine new arms caches in
September, the two other briefed officials said. The security source said dozens
of tunnels used by Hezbollah had also been sealed and more soldiers were being
steadily recruited to deploy to the south. Reuters spoke to 10 people including
Lebanese officials, security sources, diplomats and a Hezbollah official, all of
whom said the army expects to complete its sweep of the south by the year’s end.
Meeting the deadline would be a considerable feat for an institution once unable
or unwilling to stop Hezbollah rebuilding a military presence near Israel after
a previous war in 2006 – and for a country in which Hezbollah was once the
dominant political force.
Progress in the rest of the country looks far less certain.
Despite its advances, the army wants to avoid inflaming tensions and to buy time
for Lebanon’s politicians to reach a consensus about the group’s arsenal in
other parts of the country, a second Lebanese official who is close to Hezbollah
and two security sources said.
It has not published images of the work destroying weapons caches, or even said
the weapons belong to Hezbollah. Under the November 2024 ceasefire that ended
more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon agreed
that only state security forces should bear arms in the country. That would mean
fully disarming Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has publicly committed to the ceasefire but is not a formal signatory.
It insists the disarmament as mentioned in the text only applies to the south of
Lebanon.
On September 5, the cabinet adopted a more detailed five-phase plan for imposing
the state monopoly on arms – starting in the south and gradually moving north
and east, the security sources and the second Lebanese official said. The army
said it would clear the south by December, without committing to a timeline for
the rest of the country. The government has said the plan is contingent on
Israel halting air strikes that have continued despite the ceasefire. All the
sources said the army would have to navigate treacherous political terrain to
achieve full disarmament. Ed Gabriel, who heads Washington-based non-profit the
American Task Force Lebanon and met with Lebanon’s military and political
leaders in October, said the army’s cautious approach reflected the possibility
of civilian strife if it moved too fast outside of the south.
“It’s a Lebanese answer to disarmament,” he said.
Hezbollah has not opposed the seizures of unmanned weapons caches in the south
and has not fired on Israel since the November truce. However, it has publicly
refused to relinquish its weapons elsewhere, hinting conflict was possible if
the state moved against the group.
Moving north and east without a political consensus risks confrontation with
Hezbollah fighters or street protests by Lebanon’s Shia community, among whom
Hezbollah remains popular, the two security sources and the second Lebanese
official said. In a written statement to Reuters, Hezbollah’s media office said
the ceasefire meant Lebanon’s army was fully responsible for the zone south of
the Litani River, referring to the water body that crosses southern Lebanon near
Israel. But any disarmament efforts north of the river would require political
consensus, it said. “The rest – that depends on a political settlement, which we
don’t yet have. The army is betting on time,” said a Lebanese official close to
the group.
The army still fears a stand-off with Hezbollah’s constituency could again
fracture the army, which split during Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, one Lebanese
official told Reuters.
In a speech on Sunday, Hezbollah secretary general Naim Qassem described the
army’s approach as good and balanced but also issued a warning, saying he hoped
the army was not considering clashing with the Shia community. The media offices
of the Lebanese army, cabinet and presidency did not respond to questions from
Reuters for this story. The Israeli military did not respond to requests for
comment.
The army does not possess its own information on where Hezbollah’s stockpiles
are located, two security sources told Reuters. It has relied on intelligence
supplied by Israel to “the Mechanism,” the sources said, referring to a
committee established by the truce deal, chaired by the US and including France,
Israel, Lebanon and UN peacekeepers.
In late May, the army was receiving so many reports from the Mechanism that it
could not keep pace with the requests for inspections, the two sources said. If
troops found a depot, they kept any ammunition or new equipment compatible with
their own arms and destroyed rockets, launchers and other material, the two
sources said. Operations in the south by the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL
yielded tunnels dozens of metres long and unexploded ordnance, according to
UNIFIL statements.
Demolition charges
The army depleted its explosives stocks by June. In August, six army troops were
killed trying to dismantle an arms depot. Reuters could not determine additional
details of the circumstances of the accident. The US is keen to help: in
September, it announced $14 million in demolition charges and other aid to help
Lebanese troops “degrade Hezbollah” and approved $192 million aid to the army
the day before the US government shutdown.
The US also approved $192 million aid to the Lebanese army the day before the US
government shutdown. US Senator Jeanne Shaheen advocated for the aid after a
visit to south Lebanon in August left her impressed with the army’s efforts and
convinced it needed more support, an aide in her office told Reuters. It could
still take months for the detonation charges to be delivered Lebanon, a source
familiar with the process said.
In recent months, Hezbollah’s position about the future of its weapons has
appeared fluid. In public statements, the group warned the state against trying
to seize its arsenal – but also said it would be willing to discuss the fate of
its arms if Israel commits to a real ceasefire.
In private, some representatives of the group have floated the possibility that
progress could be made elsewhere if reconstruction allowed Shia constituents to
return to villages and towns destroyed in the war, the Lebanese official close
to the group said. Others have flatly rejected decommissioning its weapons under
any circumstances. The group is still conducting internal discussions on the
future of its arsenal and is also playing for time, the Lebanese official close
to Hezbollah and a Lebanese political source said. In its written statement,
Hezbollah said the status of its weapons depended on an end to the Israeli
aggression, its withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories, the return of
prisoners, and ensuring reconstruction.
The security sources say that a lack of information makes it difficult for the
army to estimate what exactly Hezbollah has stored, and where, including in the
eastern Bekaa – a vast plain where Hezbollah is thought to store the bulk of its
long-range missiles and other strategic arms. Israel provided some reports of
weapons in areas north of the Litani but the army deemed them too sensitive to
act on without a consensus on whether and how to disarm Hezbollah there, one of
the security sources and one of the diplomats based in Lebanon said
Despite providing intelligence on weapons locations, Israel is proving another
obstacle in the south, the officials briefed on the cabinet meeting said.
Several soldiers have been wounded by Israeli fire while on inspection missions,
the two security sources said. Israeli drones have dropped grenades near
soldiers and UN peacekeepers in the south, UNIFIL has said.
The army has also warned that Israel’s occupation of five hilltops within
Lebanon near the border with Israel could delay a full sweep of the area, the
two security sources said.
And when Lebanese troops tried to erect a rudimentary watch-tower to monitor the
border, Israel objected, the two security sources said. The tower remains
unmanned.
The Israeli military did not respond to questions about the wounded Lebanese
troops and the abandoned watchtower.
Washington is keen to see Lebanon expedite disarmament in the rest of the
country after meeting the year-end deadline for the south, the congressional
aide said. US envoy Tom Barrack has warned of possible Israeli action if that
deadline is not met. “The US sees that Lebanon needs to do more, and faster,”
Gabriel said. The United States fully supports Lebanon’s “courageous and
historic decision to disarm Hezbollah,” a US State Department spokesperson said
in response to Reuters questions. “The region and the world are watching
carefully,” the spokesperson said. Lebanese soldiers stand guard outside an army
base in the southern city of Tyre, on August 28, 2025. Lebanese soldiers stand
guard outside an army base in the southern city of Tyre, on August 28, 2025.
Pope Leo to visit eight cities in Turkey, Lebanon on first
trip abroad as pontiff
The Arab Weekly/October 28/2025
Pope Leo will visit eight towns and cities in Turkey and Lebanon later this
year, the Vatican said, his first trip outside Italy as pontiff, and he is
expected to make appeals for peace across the region. Leo, the first US pope,
will visit Turkey from November 27 to 30 and then will be in Lebanon from
November 30 to December 2. Leo’s predecessor Pope Francis had planned to visit
both countries but was unable to go because of his worsening health. Francis
died on April 21 and Leo was elected as the new pope on May 8 by the world’s
cardinals. A central part of the visit to Turkey will be several joint events
with Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox
Christians, who is based in Istanbul. They will celebrate the 1,700th
anniversary of a major early Church council, which took place in Nicaea, now
called Iznik. “It is profoundly symbolical that Pope Leo … will visit (the
patriarch) on his first official journey,” Rev. John Chryssavgis, an adviser to
Bartholomew, told Reuters. Leo will also meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan
in the capital Ankara, visit the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, and will celebrate a
Catholic Mass at Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena.
In Lebanon, the pope will meet President Joseph Aoun in Beirut, will host an
inter-religious meeting and will lead an outdoor Mass on the Beirut waterfront.
The pope will also pray at the site of the 2020 chemical explosion at the Beirut
port that killed 200 people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.
Travelling abroad has become a major part of the modern papacy, with popes
seeking to meet local Catholics, spread the faith, and conduct international
diplomacy. A new pope’s first travels are usually seen as an indication of the
issues the pontiff wants to highlight during his reign. Both Turkey and Lebanon
are majority Muslim countries, and Francis put a strong focus on Muslim-Catholic
dialogue during a 12-year reign that included 47 trips abroad. The official
motto of Leo’s Lebanon trip is “Blessed are the peacemakers”.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on October
28-29/2025
US Vice President Vance says Gaza ceasefire is holding
Reuters/28 October/2025
US Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday the ceasefire in Gaza was holding
despite Israeli strikes in Gaza City and both Israel and Hamas accusing each
other of violations. “The ceasefire is holding. That doesn’t mean that there
aren’t going to be little skirmishes here and there,” Vance told reporters. “We
know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked an (Israeli military)
soldier. We expect the Israelis are going to respond, but I think the
President’s peace is going to hold despite that.”
Israeli planes strike Gaza in test of US-brokered ceasefire
Reuters/October 28, 2025
JERUSALEM/CAIRO: Israeli planes launched strikes in Gaza on Tuesday after Israel
accused the militant group Hamas of violating a ceasefire in the Palestinian
territory, the latest test of a fragile deal brokered earlier this month by US
President Donald Trump. At least nine people were killed in the strikes,
including four in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood and five in a car targeted in
Khan Younis, according to local health authorities. The Israeli military did not
immediately comment on the strikes, the latest violence in a three-week-old
ceasefire and which followed a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
office saying he had ordered immediate “powerful attacks.”The statement did not
give a specific reason for the attacks but an Israeli military official said
Hamas had violated the ceasefire by carrying out an attack against Israeli
forces in an area of the enclave that is under Israeli control.
“This is yet another blatant violation of the ceasefire,” the official said. The
US-backed ceasefire agreement went into effect on October 10, halting two years
of war that was triggered by deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7,
2023, and that has devastated the narrow coastal strip.
Both sides have accused each other of ceasefire violations. US Vice President JD
Vance, part of a parade of Trump administration officials who visited Israel
last week, said that despite the latest flare-up, “the ceasefire is
holding.”“That doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be little skirmishes here
and there,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill. “We know that Hamas or somebody
else within Gaza attacked an (Israeli) soldier. We expect the Israelis are going
to respond, but I think the president’s peace is going to hold despite
that.”Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli media reported an exchange of fire between
Israeli forces and Hamas fighters in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The
Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the reports. Hamas
denied responsibility for an attack on Israeli forces in Rafah. The group also
said in a statement that it remained committed to the ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Tuesday’s strikes on Gaza City followed what Israel called a “targeted strike”
on Saturday on a person in central Gaza who it said was planning to attack
Israeli troops.
Netanyahu accuses Hamas of violating ceasefire
Netanyahu said earlier on Tuesday that Hamas had violated the ceasefire by
turning over some wrong remains in a process of returning the bodies of hostages
to Israel. Netanyahu said the remains handed over on Monday belonged to Ofir
Tzarfati, an Israeli killed during Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack. Tzarfati’s
remains had already been partially retrieved by Israeli troops during the war.
Hamas initially said in response to this that it would hand over to Israel on
Tuesday the body of a missing hostage found in a tunnel in Gaza. However, Hamas’
armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, said later it would postpone the planned
handover, citing what it said were Israel’s violations of the ceasefire. Hamas
said Netanyahu was looking for excuses to back away from Israel’s obligations.
Under the ceasefire terms, Hamas released all living hostages in return for
nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees, while Israel pulled
back its troops and halted its offensive.
Search for hostage bodies
Hamas has also agreed to hand over the remains of all dead hostages yet to be
recovered, but has said it will take time to locate and retrieve the bodies amid
Gaza’s ruins. Israel says the militant group can access the remains of most of
the hostages. The issue has become one of the main sticking points in the
ceasefire, which Trump says he is watching closely. He has touted the truce and
hostage-prisoner exchange deal as one of the top foreign policy achievements of
his second term. The Israeli strike that killed three people in Gaza City was on
a residential building, and an area close to Shifa hospital, the largest
operational hospital in northern Gaza, was also hit, according to Gaza
officials, witnesses and Hamas media. The search for hostage bodies stepped up
over the past few days after the arrival of heavy machinery from Egypt.
Bulldozers were working in Khan Younis on Tuesday, in the southern Gaza Strip,
and further north in Nuseirat, as Hamas fighters deployed around them. Some of
the bodies are believed to be in Hamas’ network of tunnels running below Gaza.
Witnesses in Khan Younis said the Egyptian teams, working with armed Hamas
fighters, were digging deep near the Qatari-funded Hamad Housing City in the
western side of Khan Younis, reaching tunnel shafts. Reuters images showed an
excavation a dozen or so meters below the surface, with Hamas men at the bottom
of the trench next to a tunnel opening in an apparent search for bodies. Gaza
health authorities say 68,000 people are confirmed killed in the Israeli strikes
and thousands more are missing. Israel launched the war after Hamas-led fighters
stormed through southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and bringing 251 hostages
back to Gaza.
Israel opposes its veto to Turkey’s participation in
Gaza’s future international force
The Arab Weekly/October 28/2025
Israel will not accept the presence of Turkish armed forces in Gaza under a US
plan to end war in the Palestinian territory for good, Israeli Foreign Minister
Gideon Saar said on Monday. US President Donald Trump’s plan includes an
international force in Gaza to help secure a fragile ceasefire which began this
month, halting two years of war between Israel and Palestinian militant group
Hamas. But it remains unclear whether Arab and other states will be ready to
commit troops to the international force. “Countries that want or are ready to
send armed forces should be at least fair to Israel,” Saar said at a news
conference in Budapest. Once warm Turkish-Israeli relations soured drastically
during the Gaza war, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan lambasting Israel’s
devastating air and ground campaign in the small Palestinian enclave. Turkey has
been keen to join the planned international stabilisation force, an idea Israel
firmly opposes. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that Israel
would decide which countries it would allow to join the security force. Israel’s
defence minister has dispelled any ambiguity as to his country’s opposition to
the inclusion of Turkey.
“I would say that countries that want or are ready to send armed forces should
be at least fair to Israel,” Saar said at a press conference alongside his
Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto. “During the last four years and even
before that, Turkey, led by (President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan, led a hostile
approach against Israel, (that) included not only hostile statements, but also
diplomatic and economic measures against Israel,” he said. “So it is not
reasonable for us to let their armed forces enter (the) Gaza Strip, and we will
not agree to that, and we said it to our American friends,” he added. While the
Trump administration has ruled out sending US soldiers into the Gaza Strip, it
has been speaking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey
and Azerbaijan to contribute to the multinational force. Last week Netanyahu
hinted that he would be strongly opposed to any role for Turkish security forces
in Gaza. On Sunday, he said Israel would decide which foreign forces to allow in
Gaza. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to Israel aimed at shoring
up the truce, said on Friday the international force would have to be made up of
“countries that Israel’s comfortable with”. He made no comment on Turkish
involvement.
Hamas must clarify its position on carrying weapons:
Palestinian PM
Al Arabiya English/28 October/2025
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa told Al Arabiya on Tuesday that
Hamas should clarify its official position regarding the issues of Gaza’s
governance and the group’s weapons. Mustafa said that “any state that respects
itself does not accept the plurality of weapons, law and governance.” He
stressed that weapons, law and order in the Gaza Strip must exclusively be in
the hands of the Palestinian state. The Palestinian premier, however, notde that
Israel doesn’t want the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza again. “But Gaza
must be run entirely by the PA and we do not accept partial roles,” Mustafa
stressed. He noted that the Palestinian government has agreed with Arab states
on supporting the PA in carrying out its duties in Gaza. Mustafa also
highlighted Saudi Arabia’s role in garnering support for the Palestinian state.
“Our forces are being trained in Egypt and Jordan in order to carry out their
duties in Gaza,” the premier said adding that there are 18,000 security
personnel are in Gaza and are ready to resume their duties. International Force
.Commenting on the international force that is expected to be formed to help
secure the situation in Gaza as part of the US President Donald Trump’s plan,
Mustafa underscored that the PA should have a say in this matter. The force
“must come with the approval of the Palestinian Authority,” Mustafa said adding
that its mission should be temporary. “Its role should be a supportive one,” he
said and that it shouldn’t been seen as a “substitute.”
Jordan’s king questions role of US-backed force in Gaza
The Arab Weekly/October 28/2025
The King of Jordan Abdullah II expressed reservations about the international
force that the United States plans to form and deploy in the Gaza Strip, saying:
“If we’re running around Gaza on patrol with weapons, that’s not a situation
that any country would like to get involved in.”The remarks were made during an
interview with the British BBC channel, which published excerpts. The king
stated that countries would reject being asked to “enforce” peace in Gaza if
deployed under the Trump ceasefire plan, noting the distinction between
enforcing peace and keeping it. “What is the mandate of security forces inside
of Gaza? And we hope that it is peacekeeping, because if it’s peace enforcing,
nobody will want to touch that,” king Abdullah told BBC Panorama. His comments
reflect doubts over the role of this force in the Gaza Strip and whether its
formation is intended to hold participating countries responsible for security
enforcement while relieving Israel, whose international image was severely
affected by its two-year war in the territory. No government, particularly Arab
ones, would accept engaging in clashes with Palestinian factions or playing the
role of Israel’s protective police, as such a step would amount to political
suicide. Under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan, Arab states and
international partners are to send stabilisation forces and consult with Jordan
and Egypt, both of which have extensive experience in the field. US Secretary of
State Marco Rubio said last week that efforts are underway to establish the
international force, which should be composed of countries that Israel is
comfortable with. He confirmed that the US administration is coordinating with
various parties regarding the planned deployment in the territory, noting that
the force has not yet been formed and that many countries have expressed
interest in participating. Rubio added that the US is working to create suitable
conditions for the international force and to ensure that what happened on 7
October 2023 is not repeated. He hinted that deployment may occur through the
United Nations and that a framework for deployment will eventually be found.
Hamas, which continues to refuse disarmament, has repeatedly rejected any
foreign oversight of Gaza, including the international force and the peace
council envisioned in Trump’s plan. In the BBC Panorama interview, King Abdullah
said that Jordan and Egypt are willing to train Palestinian security forces,
explaining: “Peacekeeping is that you’re sitting there supporting the local
police force, the Palestinians, which Jordan and Egypt are willing to train in
large numbers, but that takes time. If we’re running around Gaza on patrol with
weapons, that’s not a situation that any country would like to get involved in.”
He reiterated the statement by the Jordanian government spokesperson, Mohammad
Al-Momani, that Jordan will not send forces to Gaza because the kingdom is
“politically very close” to developments there. When asked if he trusted Hamas
to relinquish any political role in Gaza, the King replied: “I don’t know them,
but those who work closely with them, Qatar and Egypt, feel very optimistic that
they will comply.” King Abdullah added: “If we do not solve this problem, and if
we do not find a future for Israelis and Palestinians and a relationship between
the Arab and Islamic worlds and Israel, we will be in a predicament.”Qatar and
Egypt have led mediation efforts during the war in cooperation with the United
States, while Jordan participated in international efforts to deliver aid to
Gaza and evacuate sick and wounded children. King Abdullah personally flew over
the territory on three missions to parachute aid supplies. “Looking over the
back ramp was just shocking,” he said. “The devastation of that part of Gaza was
just a shock to me. I’ve seen it myself, and how we, as the international
community, are allowing this to happen is mind-boggling.” The king requested
President Trump’s support to evacuate 2,000 seriously ill Palestinian children
from Gaza. In a White House meeting in February, Trump described the step as a
“beautiful gesture.” Since then, 253 children have been evacuated to Jordan, and
over 5,000 children have been medically evacuated, mostly to Egypt, the UAE, and
Qatar. More than 15,000 Gazans are still awaiting evacuation, including roughly
3,000 children, according to the World Health Organization. To leave the
territory, children and their guardians must undergo comprehensive security
checks by Israel and host countries, which the WHO has described as
“excruciatingly slow.” The Israeli military group overseeing aid deliveries to
Gaza, COGAT, emphasises the “great importance” of facilitating humanitarian
access, including evacuation of patients with “complex medical conditions,”
while stressing the necessity of security checks for individuals travelling
through Israeli territory.
Syrians skeptical as US moves slowly on sanctions relief
The Arab Weekly/October 28/2025
The US administration has initiated a series of procedural steps to lift certain
sanctions on Syria following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and
the emergence of a new authority under President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Earlier this
month, the US Senate approved a provision in the budget that would allow the
termination of the Caesar Act, pending subsequent ratification by the House of
Representatives and eventual approval by the President. Observers suggest that
these US moves are more symbolic than substantive, pointing to delays in the
administration’s implementation of its commitments on sanctions relief, which
continues to hinder Syria’s economic recovery. The Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights highlighted, in a report published on Monday, the factors underlying the
US slowness. The report noted that the gradual lifting of sanctions continues to
worry Syrians and raises questions about Washington’s true intentions,
especially given that the original rationale for imposing the sanctions,
targeting the Assad regime, has effectively disappeared. The Observatory also
questioned whether these developments are connected to Israel’s future role in
Syria, particularly following its recent incursions in the south of the country.
Israeli forces recently advanced into the Quneitra countryside, including the
villages of Eastern Samadaniya and Ufania, establishing temporary checkpoints.
Civilians were detained, and motorcycles confiscated, actions considered
violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, and heightening fears of broader
military escalation. Syrians remain concerned about escalating military tension
between Syria and Israel and the continued detention of civilians, particularly
amid the deployment of military posts and armoured vehicles.
Lawyer Mohamed Ali Sayegh, head of the Media Office at the National Coordination
Body, told the Observatory that the United States and other countries do not
take any steps, whether rapprochement with other states or the lifting of
sanctions, without expecting reciprocal measures.
He stressed that sanctions relief on Syria would not be immediate or
unconditional, but rather implemented in stages. Reports indicate that the
process is expected to take six months, with a maximum estimate of one year,
allowing Washington to assess Syria’s compliance with both the visible and
undisclosed US conditions. Among these conditions is the prohibition of any
military action against Israel, which at the onset of the previous regime’s
collapse targeted Syria’s military infrastructure, bombing much of the Syrian
army’s weapons and equipment.
Sayegh added that following the destruction of Syria’s military capabilities,
Israel has moved into southern areas to consolidate its strategic ambitions,
including controlling key positions such as Mount Hermon and extending its
presence into areas less than twenty kilometres from the Syrian capital. This
incursion could serve as leverage for Israel to secure Syrian concessions over
the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon, and to formalise normalisation under the
Abraham Accords, in exchange for halting operations within Syrian territory and
withdrawing from some non-strategic areas it recently occupied.
Negotiations continue over whether Israel will revert to the 1964 armistice
line, as demanded by the Syrian transitional government, or whether new
boundaries are being imposed by Israel in southern Syria. Regarding developments
in Sweida and repeated calls to protect Druze and other minorities, Sayegh
described these as additional tools to pressure the Syrian authorities into
further concessions. He noted that the United States, which coordinates its
regional policies closely with Israel, is unlikely to pressure Tel Aviv, as
US-Israeli strategies in the region are part of deep and broad mutual
understandings. Most Israeli actions proceed with American approval, while
public US statements or media pronouncements serve primarily as a façade and a
distraction for Arab public opinion. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
called on the international community to advocate for the lifting of sanctions
on Syria, take action to halt Israel’s incursion into Quneitra, facilitate its
withdrawal from Syrian territories and uphold national sovereignty. The
Observatory also warned of the risks associated with settlement efforts in
Syrian territory in exchange for sanctions relief, noting that this is the key
condition the United States is leveraging.
President Ahmad Al-Sharaa discusses Syria’s economic
recovery with Saudi ministers
Arab News/October 28, 2025
LONDON: President of the Syrian Arab Republic Ahmad Al-Sharaa and Saudi Foreign
Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan explored ways to enhance and develop
cooperation across various fields during a meeting in Riyadh. Al-Sharaa arrived
in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to participate in the ninth Future Investment
Initiative conference, which runs until Thursday and gathers world leaders and
ministers. The two parties also discussed opportunities for economic cooperation
in the energy, industry, infrastructure, and technology sectors, as Syria
aspires to achieve economic stability, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Syrian
Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani, and Dr. Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban,
the Saudi minister of state and member of the Council of Ministers, attended the
meeting. In a separate meeting, Al-Sharaa discussed various aspects of security
collaboration, economic cooperation, and regional and international development
with Saudi Minister of Interior Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif. He also met
Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih, along with Al-Shaibani and the Syrian
Minister of Economy Mohammad Nidal Al-Shaar, to discuss investment, development,
and reconstruction partnerships with Saudi Arabia, as well as efforts to support
Syria’s economic recovery. Al-Sharaa is to speak at the FII9 conference and meet
representatives from international investment firms to discuss cooperation and
regional economic growth. The official visit includes discussions with Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
Launched in 2017, the FII — often referred to as “Davos in the Desert” — has
become a key platform for Saudi Arabia to showcase its economic diversification
strategy under Vision 2030. This year’s event, which runs until Oct. 30, brings
together global policymakers, investors, and corporate leaders to discuss trends
shaping the world economy and explore partnerships across emerging industries.
Iran declares major private lender bankrupt, other
banks face difficulties
The Arab Weekly/October 28/2025
Tehran Iran declared one of the country’s largest private banks bankrupt with
its assets absorbed by the state, official media reported, in a rare move in the
country grappling with international sanctions. Founded in 2012, Ayandeh Bank
had a network of 270 branches across the country, including 150 in the capital
Tehran alone. But it had more recently been crippled by debt, with accumulated
losses amounting to the equivalent of about $5.2 billion and roughly $2.9
billion in debts, according to the ISNA news agency. On Saturday, queues of
customers could be seen outside a former Ayandeh Bank branch in Tehran, with
police also present, an AFP journalist reported. The state-owned Melli Bank has
absorbed the assets of the now-defunct Ayandeh Bank, following a decision by the
Central Bank, which has given assurances that depositors will be able to recover
their savings. “The transfer from Ayandeh Bank to Melli Bank is now complete,”
said Melli Bank director Abolfazl Najarzadeh on state television on Saturday. On
Thursday, Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said Ayandeh Bank customers
had “nothing to worry about”. An official at the Central Bank of Iran, Hamidreza
Ghaniabadi, said “bad debts” had prompted the bankruptcy. He told Iran’s IRNA
news agency that “more than 90 percent of Ayandeh Bank’s funds were allocated
either to parties related to the bank or to projects managed by the bank
itself,” which were never repaid. Ayandeh Bank had been behind lavish projects
such as the immense Iran Mall shopping complex in Tehran, which includes an ice
rink and cinemas. In addition to Ayandeh, five other banks — Sarmayeh, Day,
Sepah, Iran Zamin and Melal — are also facing difficulty, according to Iran’s
Tasnim news agency. The United Nations re-imposed tough sanctions on Iran in
September after months of tense diplomacy aimed at reviving nuclear talks
derailed since June, when Israeli and US forces bombed Iranian nuclear
facilities. The sanctions are a “snapback” of measures frozen in 2015 when Iran
agreed to major restrictions on its nuclear programme under a deal that
President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018 during his first term.
Iran proposes regional currency to boost trade
AFP/28 October/2025
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday proposed that Iran and its
regional trading partners establish a shared currency to boost commerce amid
crippling Western sanctions. Years of international sanctions, largely imposed
by the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program, have severely weakened
Iran’s economy. The latest measures were reimposed by the United Nations in
September, after months of stalled nuclear diplomacy. Speaking on the sidelines
of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit in Tehran, Pezeshkian said
religious and cultural ties in the region could create conditions for closer
communication and cooperation. “Even a common currency could be adopted in the
region to help promote economic development,” he told a meeting with Tajik
Interior Minister Ramazan Rahimzada, according to the presidency’s website.
Founded in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey, the ECO now has 10 members,
including five Central Asian countries, and aims to strengthen regional trade.
Sitting at the core of the Middle East and with a population of more than 91
million according to the World Bank, Iran regards its geographical location as a
bridge between Asia and Europe. Tehran is pursuing economic opportunities
despite sanctions over its nuclear program. Western countries, led by the US and
supported by Israel, accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, a claim Tehran
denies. Pezeshkian said that if regional countries unite economically and
culturally, they can overcome obstacles imposed by external powers.
Gunmen kill two on coach in Syrian Druze-majority province
AFP/October 28, 2025
DAMASCUS: Gunmen killed at least two people when they opened fire on a coach
along the road between Damascus and Druze-majority Sweida in southern Syria on
Tuesday, state media reported, months after deadly sectarian clashes in the
area. State news agency SANA reported that “a passenger coach... on the
Damascus-Sweida road was fired upon by unidentified gunmen, killing two people
and wounding others.”Local outlet Sweida 24 identified the victims as a woman
and a young man. The outlet said that the coach was on its way back from
Damascus, “within the area where General Security checkpoints are deployed.”
Sweida province witnessed a week of bloodshed that began on July 13 with clashes
between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin but rapidly escalated, drawing in
government forces, armed groups from other parts of Syria and Israeli
intervention. Syrian security forces have been deployed in and around Sweida
province since a ceasefire ended the clashes, while Druze factions remained in
control of the city of the same name. A monitor alleged that all the coach
passengers were reportedly Druze. In September, the Syrian government announced
a plan backed by Jordan and the United States to restore calm and to hold “those
who attacked civilians” accountable, but the situation remains unstable.
Syria announces seizure of 11 million captagon pills from Lebanon
AFP/October 28, 2025
DAMASCUS: The Syrian interior ministry said Monday that it had seized about 11
million captagon stimulant pills that entered the country from neighboring
Lebanon in one of the largest busts since the fall of former ruler Bashar Assad.
In a statement, the interior ministry said “the anti-narcotics branch in Homs
province seized a vehicle coming from Lebanon containing approximately 11
million captagon pills.”The statement added that the authorities are continuing
to “conduct the necessary investigations to uncover the identities of those
involved and identify the criminal networks linked to the operation.”Captagon,
which is similar to amphetamines, became Syria’s largest export during the civil
war that erupted in 2011, with its trade serving as a key funding source for the
government of ousted president Assad. Since his fall in December, the new
authorities have reported numerous major seizures of captagon across the
country. However, neighboring countries continue to report the interception of
large shipments. In Lebanon, Assad’s ally Hezbollah also faced accusations of
using the captagon trade to finance itself. The Lebanese military announced in
September the seizure of 64 million captagon pills in the east in one of the
largest operations against the illicit stimulant in the country. The synthetic
drug has flooded the region, with neighboring countries occasionally announcing
seizures and asking Lebanon and Syria to ramp up efforts to combat the trade.
Russian, Syrian defense ministers hold talks in Moscow
Reuters/28 October/2025
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has held talks in Moscow with his
Syrian counterpart, Murhaf Abu Qasra, the Russian defense ministry said on
Tuesday. During the negotiations the sides discussed “the practical
implementation of promising areas of bilateral cooperation,” the ministry said.
In mid-October, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Moscow and met with
Russian President Vladimir Putin, pledging to honor all previously signed
agreements between the two countries – a commitment seen as a signal that
Russia’s two main military bases in Syria remain secure.
Zelenskyy says Kyiv ready for peace talks, but will not cede territory
Reuters/28 October/2025
Ukraine is ready for peace talks but will not withdraw its troops from
additional territory first as Moscow has demanded, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
said. In comments to reporters released on Tuesday, he said he was happy for
talks to be held anywhere, except in Russia itself or on the territory of
Moscow’s close ally Belarus. Plans for a summit in Budapest this month between
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin were put on hold
after Moscow stuck to demands, including that Ukraine cede more territory as a
condition for a ceasefire. Trump has backed Ukraine’s call for an immediate
ceasefire on current lines.
European and Ukrainian officials set to meet
Ukrainian and European officials will meet on Friday or Saturday to discuss the
details of a ceasefire plan, Zelenskyy told reporters on Tuesday after meeting
the visiting Dutch foreign minister, David van Weel. “It is not a plan to end
the war. First of all, a ceasefire is needed,” Zelenskyy said. “This is a plan
to begin diplomacy... Our advisers will meet in the coming days, we agreed on
Friday or Saturday. They will discuss the details of this plan.” In Monday’s
comments to reporters, Zelenskyy said he was happy to attend peace talks,
including in Hungary, despite reservations about some of the positions of its
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who, he said, “blocks everything for Ukraine.” “If
there will be results, then God bless - let the talks take place anywhere,” he
said. “It almost doesn’t matter, just not in Russia, of course, and definitely
not in Belarus.”
Zelenskyy also urged US lawmakers to pass tougher restrictions on Russia after
Trump imposed sanctions on Moscow’s two biggest oil companies. Ukraine would
need stable financing from its European allies for another two or three years,
Zelenskyy said. He also said in his remarks on Tuesday that he hoped for China’s
help to end the war. “We would like very much for China to put pressure on
Russia to end this war and not to assist its continuation in any way,” he said.
Japan PM will nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize,
White House says
Agence France Presse/October 28/2025
Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will nominate U.S. President Donald Trump
for the Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said Tuesday. Trump has become
increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January, and
claims to have ended several conflicts around the world, a role that experts,
however, downplay. Trump says US is Japan ally 'at strongest level'. Trump said
Tuesday that the United States was an ally of Japan "at the strongest level" as
he met new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo. "We are an ally at the
strongest level, and it's a great honor to be with you, especially so early in
what will be, I think, one of the greatest prime ministers," he told Takaichi at
their meeting, who took office last week. PM Takaichi wants 'to realize new
golden age of Japan-US alliance' Takaichi said she wanted to "realize a new
golden age" of relations with the United States as she met Trump in Tokyo. "I
would like to realize a new golden age of the Japan-U.S. Alliance, where both
Japan and the United States will become stronger and also more prosperous," she
said as the two leaders sat down for talks. She also thanked Trump for his
"enduring friendship" with assassinated prime minister Shinzo Abe.
The Latest
English LCCC
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
on October
28-29/2025
Qatar’s Calculated Bet on the Islamic Republic
Saeed Ghasseminejad/Real Clear World/October 28/2025
Qatar’s wealth and prestige are built on the incompetence of the rulers of
Iran’s Islamic Republic. As long as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and
his gang of fools are in charge in Tehran, Doha needn’t worry about competition
for its vast liquid natural gas (LNG) empire, nor for its role as duplicitous
interlocutor between the West and the most radical parts of the Islamic world.
The Western debate surrounding Iran tends to center on uranium centrifuges,
sanctions, missiles, and sometimes regime change. But for Qatar, Iran’s small,
natural gas-rich neighbor across the Persian Gulf, none of those matters. What
does matter? Preventing the collapse of the Islamic Republic. Why? Qatar’s
extraordinary prosperity is anchored in the world’s largest natural gas
reservoir, the North Dome–South Pars field, which it shares with Iran. Together,
the two countries sit atop roughly 2,000 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas
reserves. That’s nearly 30 percent of the global total. But what should have
been an equal partnership has turned into one of the most asymmetric energy
relationships in the world.
On the Qatari side, efficiency, massive investment, and Western technology
transformed the North Dome into an energy superpower. Since the early 90s, Doha
has invested tens of billions of dollars in LNG infrastructure and built a large
fleet of Q-Flex and Q-Max carriers, the world’s largest gas tankers. In 2022, it
exported about 81 million metric tons of LNG, roughly 20 percent of global
supply, earning $87 billion in revenue from LNG, LPG, and condensate exports.
The state-owned QatarEnergy is now expanding capacity to 142 million tons per
year by 2030, an increase of nearly 84 percent.
Across the maritime border, the contrast is stark. Despite holding more than
1,100 Tcf of gas reserves — greater than Qatar’s — Iran exports virtually none
as LNG. Recurrent sanctions, corruption, and technological isolation have
crippled South Pars development. When TotalEnergies pulled out in 2018 under
U.S. pressure, a $5 billion expansion project collapsed. Since then, Iran’s gas
reinjection systems have stagnated, and its domestic consumption has soared,
forcing the regime to import gas from Turkmenistan during peak winter months.
Iran’s failure to monetize its share of the field has cost it hundreds of
billions of dollars over the past three decades. For Qatar, Iran’s dysfunction
is a built-in subsidy. Every cubic meter Tehran fails to produce or liquefy
strengthens Doha’s dominance in Asian markets, from South Korea and Japan to
India and China. A capable, sanctions-free Iran with access to Western capital
could rival Qatar within a decade. But as long as Tehran remains isolated and
inefficient, Doha’s position is secure.
The Geopolitics of a Weak Neighbor
Qatar’s second reason for wanting the Islamic Republic to endure is
geopolitical. The existence of the clerical regime grants Doha a unique niche as
the Persian Gulf’s indispensable go-between. Qatar can talk to actors the West
won’t, Hamas, the Taliban, and Tehran’s leadership itself.
A post-Islamist, normal Iran would end this advantage. An Iran welcomed back
into the global system would speak directly to Washington, London, and Paris,
cutting out Doha as an intermediary. Doha’s hedging is deliberate. It hosts Al-Udeid
Air Base, the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East, while
maintaining cordial ties with Tehran. This balancing act only works because Iran
remains isolated. Beyond economics and geopolitics, a subtle ideological current
binds Doha and Tehran. Though one is Sunni and the other Shiite, both have
backed Islamist movements that challenge the secular, Western-aligned order.
Tehran’s sponsorship of Hamas, and Doha’s financial and political patronage of
the same group, exemplify this trans-sectarian alliance of convenience. A
nationalist or technocratic government in Tehran would have little interest in
supporting such causes, erasing one of the few points of strategic alignment
between the two capitals. The Islamic Republic’s inefficiency guarantees Doha’s
economic dominance in the LNG market; its isolation underwrites Qatar’s
diplomatic leverage; its revolutionary foreign policy secures Doha’s ideological
goals. A stable but stagnant and Islamist Tehran is a known quantity, a
profitable, predictable neighbor that destabilizes Qatar’s rivals through Hamas
and other proxies. A free and functional Iran, by contrast, would be a direct
competitor for investment, energy markets, and Western goodwill.
Washington leans hard on Qatar as a mediator in its relations with Tehran. But
the United States should remember Qatar’s underlying calculus: For Doha, the
Islamic Republic is a valuable asset that must survive.
https://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2025/10/27/qatars_calculated_bet_on_the_islamic_republic_1143434.html
**Saeed Ghasseminejad is a senior adviser for Iran and financial economics at
FDD, specializing in Iran’s economy and financial markets, sanctions, and
illicit finance.
Iraqi polls grapple with Israeli and Iranian relations as country prepares to
vote
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/New York Post/October 28/2025
Iraqis head to the polls Nov. 11 to elect 329 parliament members for a four-year
term, marking the seventh free election since Saddam Hussein’s 2003 fall.
Candidates are treading carefully, pledging neutrality in the geopolitical
tug-of-war between the United States and Iran while using accusations of
“normalization with Israel” as a weapon to discredit rivals. The specter of
Israel looms large in Iraq’s electoral rhetoric, despite the country’s lack of
formal ties with the state. “There are Shiite and Sunni leaders who have given
assurances for free normalization with Israel,” said lawmaker Ibrahim al-Sumaidaie,
a member of Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development
bloc. “There are political figures who have started to flirt and provide
assurances to Washington under the table.”
Al-Sumaidaie, who’s running for another term, predicted “the next cabinet will
face pressure to join the Abraham Accords” to normalize relations with Israel
but bragged only Sudani can stop the advent of Iraqi peace with Israel. His
comments reflect the issue’s sensitivity, as any perceived openness to the
Jewish state risks political suicide in a country where anti-Israel sentiment
runs deep. The “assurances” accusation is particularly damaging due to a 2022
law criminalizing any form of backing for Israel. This law, which led to a man’s
life sentence for a pro-Israel Facebook post, has made “normalization” a
radioactive term in Iraqi politics. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a Sudani-allied
secular Shia with ties to Saudi Arabia, has faced such accusations but firmly
rejected them. “Allawi has not and will not call for normalization with the
Zionist entity,” his office stated.
Yet Israel is not the only regional player tainting Iraq’s electoral discourse.
Iran, long a dominant force in Iraqi politics, has become equally toxic for
candidates. It was once a given pro-Iran factions would hold sway, particularly
among Shia politicians. No more. Candidates, even those historically aligned
with Tehran, are advocating for neutrality to shield Iraq from regional
conflicts, including potential wars involving Iran, the United States or Israel.
MP Diaa al-Nasseri, a member of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of
Law bloc, praised his leader for “sparing Iraq from strikes and the regional
war.” Maliki’s coalition, once a staunch Iran ally, is publicly distancing
itself from the Islamic Republic. “The Iranian influence is less prominent in
Iraq’s new reality,” Nasseri, also seeking reelection, argued.
It’s a departure from the past five elections, in which pro-Iran Shia factions
typically united under Tehran’s orchestration. Iran’s weakened regional clout —
particularly since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent
campaigns against Hamas and other Iranian proxies like Hezbollah — has
fragmented these alliances. Shia factions, once tightly knit, are scattered
across rival electoral slates, competing against one another in a sign of
growing pragmatism over ideological loyalty to Iran. It reflects a broader trend
toward interest-driven politics, where local concerns and power dynamics take
precedence over foreign allegiances. Iran’s declining influence is also evident
in Iraq’s pro-Iran Hashd Shaabi militias’ troubles. These groups previously
sought to emulate Lebanon’s Hezbollah, amassing significant power and resources
while dominating state institutions. But weakened by losses and lacking strong
leadership, the militias struggle to maintain their grip on state concessions,
including an estimated $3 billion annually for 238,000 claimed fighters. Reports
indicate only 48,000 fighters exist. The rest are imaginary fighters Iraqis call
“space cadets.” Militia leaders cash ghost fighters’ salaries and redirect them
to fund Iran’s operations in Lebanon and Yemen.
A proposed law to formalize the militias as government forces, securing their
funding, was blocked under US pressure, forcing militia leaders to compete
electorally to preserve their access to state resources.
Prominent militia figures are navigating this new reality through electoral
politics. Faleh Fayyad and Ahmad al-Assadi, senior Hashd Shaabi members, are
running on Sudani’s ticket, while Hadi Ameri campaigns independently under the
Fatah banner. Two other militia heavyweights, Qais Khazali and Ammar Hakim, are
leading their own tickets, further illustrating the splintering of once-unified
pro-Iran factions. The US-engineered ethnosectarian power-sharing model, which
divided influence among Shia, Sunni and Kurds, is eroding. Each community has
fractured into rival factions, forming cross-sectarian alliances based on
political expediency rather than ethnic or religious identity. The 2021 election
highlighted this shift when Shia cleric Muqtada Sadr’s bloc secured 71 seats but
failed to form a majority. When Sadr allied with Sunni and Kurdish factions to
cross the 165-seat threshold, Iran-allied Sunni judge Faeq Zaidan
controversially redefined “majority” as two-thirds, blocking Sadr’s coalition
and revealing Tehran’s lingering influence. But with Tehran’s grip loosening,
non-Shia figures like Sunni former speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi, previously
banned, are poised to reassert their influence through next month’s election.
Iraq’s stability, underpinned by $120 billion in annual oil revenue, comes at a
cost. Corruption and a bloated public sector drain resources, with politicians
using patronage to secure loyalty rather than investing in infrastructure or
economic diversification.
While Iraq is no longer the regional menace it was under Saddam Hussein — who
invaded Kuwait in 1990, attacked Israel and sponsored terrorism — it remains far
from a liberal democracy. Yet no dictatorship or civil war and the emergence of
peaceful power transitions signal progress.
The 2025 election underscores Iraq’s evolving political landscape. Candidates’
focus on neutrality reflects a desire to prioritize national interests over
foreign entanglements. Normalizing ties with Israel could yield economic
benefits, as demonstrated by the Abraham Accords’ trade and technology gains,
but public opinion, shaped by decades of anti-Israel sentiment, remains a
barrier. And while Iran’s meddling in Iraqi affairs has receded, Tehran is
certainly planning a comeback in Iraq and the rest of the region. Economic
diversification, critical to moving beyond oil dependency, demands pragmatic
policies that normal relations with Israel and Iran could facilitate. But
emotional rhetoric often overshadows these practical considerations. Iraq’s
democracy, though nascent, is taking root. The election highlights a shift
toward pragmatic alliances and declining foreign influence, offering hope for a
more stable and independent future. If this trajectory continues, the 2003
US-led invasion, often viewed as a catastrophe, may eventually be seen as a
turning point for the better.
https://nypost.com/2025/10/26/opinion/iraqi-pols-grapple-with-israeli-and-iranian-relations-as-country-prepares-to-vote/
**Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a Foundation for Defense of Democracies research
fellow.
Make Believe 'Global Justice'
Nils A. Haug/Gatestone Institute/October 28/2025
The events of October 7, 2023, one recalls, began on a quiet, peaceful holiday
morning. Innocent Israelis near the Gaza Strip were either still asleep in their
homes, had just started going about their day, or were enjoying the Supernova
music festival. All at once, thousands of rockets launched from Gaza came
raining down, terrorists flew in on motorized paragliders, and bulldozers
crashed through the Gaza border fence, followed by pickup trucks and motorcycles
pouring over the border carrying murderous hordes intent on slaughtering them.
As a result, Israelis of all ages, babies included, were cut down, raped, burned
alive, and beheaded – for no reason other than living in Israel. Israel
retaliated, as any normal nation would have done. Nonetheless, it was viciously
blamed, starting the next day, for defending its people and homeland, and
pursuing the perpetrators of atrocities.
The use of the term "global justice" for charges against Israel is therefore an
artifice -- a slogan designed to deceive the public into believing an invented
people is a "just cause," as the late senior Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) official, Zuheir Mohsen, admitted in 1977:
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is
only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our
Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians,
Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do
we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national
interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people"
to oppose Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity exists
only for tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined
borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can
undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment
we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to
unite Palestine and Jordan."
Israel's war against terror, if one regards it as a fight between a civilization
with laws vs. seventh-century terrorism with machetes, is the quintessence of a
just war. Unfortunately, for its critics, it happens to be a righteous,
justifiable, act of self-defense...
If Israel is committing genocide, they're really, really bad at it. They could
have had genocide on October the eighth.... It's absurd. If they were trying to
commit genocide, it would not have taken them 22 months." — US Ambassador to
Israel Mike Huckabee, CBS News, August 8, 2025.
"The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time
of monsters." — Antonio Gramsci, Italian politician, 1924.
Many of Europe's leaders, in pandering to terrorists for votes, can be
considered complicit in the rise of Jew-hatred and are therefore culpable for
the consequences – which, ironically, look as if they will be worse for their
countries than for Israel, the country they have been trying to undermine.
Today they are celebrating and congratulating US President Donald J. Trump on
the release by Hamas of the living Israeli hostages as part of his Gaza peace
plan. Yesterday they were trying to come up with any means they could to
disregard him and undermine Israel.
On October 1, after Israel's interception of Greta Thunberg's Gaza-bound Global
Sumud Flotilla, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro said: "The free trade
agreement with Israel is cancelled immediately. The entire diplomatic delegation
of Israel must leave Colombia immediately."
The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release that read:
"Colombia reiterates its solidarity with the Palestinian people and reaffirms
its compromise with multilateralism, with respect to international law and
global justice."
Hamas was, unsurprisingly, delighted, saying:
"We salute the positions of the Colombian government and President Gustavo
Petro, and their steps opposing the criminal Zionist policy and supporting the
rights of our Palestinian people, especially in light of the brutal war of
extermination."
The inference to be drawn from Petro's statement is that Israel had breached
accepted standards of "global justice." Hence, ostracizing Israel and deporting
its diplomats from Colombia must have appeared to him a valid judicial act.
While there exist various categories of justice, such as due process justice
(pursuant to rule of law), distributive justice (economics), social justice (the
supposed basis of DEI activism), and so on, invoking a concept of "global
justice" bereft of context -- after all, it was Hamas that had started the Gaza
War on October 7, 2023 by invading Israel, torturing and raping, murdering 1,200
Israelis, and kidnapping 251 others -- seems to be just another leftist pretext
for castigating Israel and the Jews.
Given the populist inversion of truth and justice on the world stage, the
American engineer and author Stephen Pimentel contends that certain regimes are
no longer anchored in their traditional Judeo-Christian founding principles.
Various governments seem to have become de-Christianized to some degree, and
reflect a relativist worldview. Canada, Australia, France and Spain, for
instance, exhibit such a political stance. Presently, Columbia is no exception.
Pimentel writes:
"This new type of regime is a postliberal creation, retaining the vocabulary of
democracy but redefining it as a set of outcomes, including equality, diversity,
health, and safety, to be engineered by a credentialed elite. Democracy is no
longer self-government but indoctrination.
"A regime of this nature requires a new language, or rather a corruption of the
old one. Words must be unmoored from their historical meanings to serve the
present."
"Serving the [populist] present" is the outcome, one without emphasis on
justice, truth, fairness, due process or objective inquiry to assess innocence
or guilt.
For global justice to be relevant, like all other categories of justice, it must
incorporate legal underpinnings. So, the question can be asked, "Have the
actions of Hamas contravened principles of international law in their attacks
against the innocents of Israel?" Answer: Yes.
Secondly, "Are Israel's actions in defending itself and securing its homeland
against a seven-front attack justified?" In other words, "Is Israel fighting a
just war - by which is meant, are they justified in their retaliatory actions
and the necessity of defending themselves?" Answer: Yes. The events of October
7, 2023, one recalls, began on a quiet, peaceful holiday morning. Innocent
Israelis near the Gaza Strip were either still asleep in their homes, had just
started going about their day, or were enjoying the Supernova music festival.
All at once, thousands of rockets launched from Gaza came raining down,
terrorists flew in on motorized paragliders, and bulldozers crashed through the
Gaza border fence, followed by pickup trucks and motorcycles pouring over the
border carrying murderous hordes intent on slaughtering them. As a result,
Israelis of all ages, babies included, were cut down, raped, burned alive, and
beheaded – for no reason other than living in Israel.
Israel retaliated, as any normal nation would have done. Nonetheless, it was
viciously blamed, starting the next day, for defending its people and homeland,
and pursuing the perpetrators of atrocities. This is the purported reason for
Israel's condemnation on the world stage, especially the charge of breaching a
concocted idea of "global justice."
In Western legal thought, justice is derived from the Judeo-Christian concept of
biblical justice and generally applied to the realm of individuals. Penalties
cannot summarily be applied to nations. In the Western arena, far-leftist such
as BLM, gender ideologues, DEI activists, and other tribal causes claim a narrow
version of social justice, sometimes dependent on race or melanin for their
identity affiliations -- and legal privileges. It seems as if recently, this
sense of justice is to apply globally, to nations. This attempt to globalize
"social justice" - itself a discredited concept that elevates the power of race
or melanin rather than empirical evidence -- presumably based on a wish for
retribution -- not from the people who committed the alleged prior injustice,
but from whoever happens to be at hand.
In the eyes of many socialist-communist-Islamic ideologues, global justice has
been -- and may still be -- a rationale for justifying a murderous onslaught
against Israel's people, and all Jews. Palestinians presumably need to be
delivered from Israel's alleged historic "oppression" -- never mind that Jews
have lived on the land under dispute for nearly 4,000 years. The use of the term
"global justice" for charges against Israel is therefore an artifice -- a slogan
designed to deceive the public into believing an invented people is a "just
cause," as the late senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official,
Zuheir Mohsen, admitted in 1977:
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is
only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our
Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians,
Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do
we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national
interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people"
to oppose Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity exists
only for tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined
borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can
undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment
we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to
unite Palestine and Jordan."
Israel's war against terror, if one regards it as a fight between a civilization
with laws vs. seventh-century terrorism with machetes, is the quintessence of a
just war. Unfortunately, for its critics, it happens to be a righteous,
justifiable, act of self-defense — worse, one conducted with unprecedented
morality. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee remarked in an interview on CBS
News:
"If Israel is committing genocide, they're really, really bad at it. They could
have had genocide on October the eighth.... It's absurd. If they were trying to
commit genocide, it would not have taken them 22 months."
So, why not the cry for "global justice" on behalf of Israel? Simply stated, the
reason is Jew-hatred. Bias -- and perhaps jealousy at so many accomplishments --
by Western leaders reflects a hatred against a minuscule population group, and
an endeavor to deprive them of their ancestral land.
The assumed intent of global justice is to achieve peace between two warring
parties in a conflict. However, with Islamists and Israelis holding totally
opposing ideological worldviews, any accommodation can only be temporary,
destined to rise again in the future. The new Arab supervisors of Gaza might not
have armaments, but it does not mean that they will stop hating Israel. They
might like Trump's sales pitch for prosperity, but that does not preclude
retaining a deep, indoctrinated wish to eliminate the "infidel."
It is irrational to believe that any global justice can be achieved when a group
committed to peace is excoriated for defending itself by a group committed to
domination by terrorism.
The professed arbiter of international affairs, including global justice, is the
United Nations, which pretends to have enforcement authority through its
affiliate, the International Court of Justice, for charging aberrant nations,
and the associated International Criminal Court for allegedly miscreant
individuals, even if they have not signed on. Sadly, the UN and its affiliates
such as the Security Council, the Human Rights Council, and UNRWA, have lost all
credibility on the world stage. Calls escalate for its disbandment.
The UN, apart from a few service agencies with narrow scope – perhaps such as
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the World Food Programme (WFP),
and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) -- no longer serves any
legitimate purpose. It contravenes its own charter, protracts wars, and has been
hijacked by radicals who have a majority platform for their hatred of Israel and
the West. The UN has lost relevance; the world would be better without it. The
same ossification has infiltrated the European Union, which has likewise become
a leftist authoritarian forum, dictating to its member nations suicidal
policies, such as muzzling freedom of expression.
Due to the unfortunate circumstance that certain Western nations have been
rewarding terror in the pursuit of a tenuous ideology of global justice against
Israel, the end result will inevitably be an escalation of militant Islamism
worldwide, notwithstanding peace agreements or cessation of hostility between
warring parties. Western leaders continue to bring this socially and politically
destructive scenario upon themselves as well as others. If they continue, soon
there might not even be a Europe as we have known it. Much of the old continent
will resemble downtown Amman.
"The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time
of monsters," wrote the Italian politician Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937). It is
"monstrous" that Israel can be accused, especially by its so-called allies, of
contravening principles of global justice when in fact it was Gaza's murderous
Islamist hordes, seeking Israel's demise, who crossed the boundaries of decency,
just war, restraint, compassion, and the thin line separating civilization from
barbarism. Stimulated by a perverse leftist theory of "social justice," and an
aggressive agenda by Islamists for power in the Western political ecosystem, the
traditional values of Western civilization are quickly receding.
The Catholic philosopher Romano Guardini (1885-1968), foresaw this eventuality,
writing: "Everywhere we see true culture vanishing, and what is replacing it is
barbaric."
Many of Europe's leaders, in pandering to terrorists for votes, can be
considered complicit in the rise of Jew-hatred and are therefore culpable for
the consequences – which, ironically, look as if they will be worse for their
countries than for Israel, the country they have been trying to undermine.
Gramsci's "monsters" are arriving with a vengeance.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21982/make-believe-global-justice
**Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A Lawyer by profession, he is member
of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, the
Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Dr. Haug holds a Ph.D. in Apologetical
Theology and is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden –
the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning
in a Dark Age.' His work has been published by First Things Journal, The
American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute, National
Association of Scholars, Jewish Journal, James Wilson Institute (Anchoring
Truths), Jewish News Syndicate, Tribune Juive, Document Danmark, Zwiedzaj Polske,
Schlaglicht Israel, and many others.
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute
The recurring struggle for the soul of America
Dr James J Zogby/The Arab Weekly/October 28/2025
A century ago, Khalil Gibran wrote a love poem to Lebanon, “You have your
Lebanon, I have my Lebanon.” He spoke of his affection for the Lebanese people’s
generosity and hospitality and Lebanon’s beauty in contrast toits bickering
politicians who soughtonly their own aggrandisement. I saw in this poem
parallels between the contradictions at play in Lebanon and those in my country,
the United States of America.
Today, many Americans are living in fear and despair, watching their president,
seemingly unchecked, tearing down some of democracy’s foundations and gutting
essential social and economic programs. They ask: “How could this be happening?”
and “Can our country survive this onslaught?”
Butwhile some have felt hopeless, others are driven to respond. A week ago,
seven million Americans took to the streets in 2,700 cities and towns to
demonstrate their resolve to save America’s democracy and arrest the drift
toward authoritarianism.
It’s a reminder that two Americashave always defined our history: one pushing to
restrict democratic freedoms and the other working to expand them.
America was born with the original sins of genocide against native peoples, the
forced enslavement of Africans, and the annexation and subjugation of
Spanish-speaking peoples of the Southwest. As the country grew and attracted
immigrants, these newcomers— Irish, Italians, Central Europeans, Jews, or
Arabs—were often met with discrimination, repression, and even violence.
This, however, was only one part of America’s story. For every racist,
segregationist, anti-immigrant bigot, there were abolitionists who fought
slavery, and organised movements that championed immigrants, labour, and civil
rights for Blacks, Latinos, and Native peoples. For every xenophobe like Fr.
Coughlin or Pat Buchanan, or segregationist like Bull Connor or George Wallace,
there was a Martin Luther King, Caesar Chavez, and Jesse Jackson. Despite
persistent bigotry and waves of recurring anti-immigrant bigotry, what remains
are the core of Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech and the spirit of the Statue
of Liberty’s words welcoming the “tired and poor, yearning to be free.”
This is my family’s story. While my father’s mother and siblings immigrated to
America after World War I, he was delayed and then unable to secure a visa
because Congress determined that there were too many immigrants from the
Mediterranean region. Eager to reunite with his family, he got a job on a ship
sailing to Canada and then crossed into the US without documents in 1923. He
received amnesty in the 1930s and became a citizen in 1943.
Four decades later, as a deputy campaign manager for Jesse Jackson’s
presidential campaign, Ihad the opportunity to place his name in nomination at
the 1984 Democratic Convention.Reflecting on my personal history and the broader
American story, I noted: “I am the son of an illegal immigrant who is nominating
for president the great grandson of a slave. Nowhere but America could this
happen.”
These two Americas are always with us—and we must never forget either one. If we
forget the threats to freedom, we let down our guard and become vulnerable to
assaults when they come. But if we forget America’spromise and the heroes and
movements who in every generation have fought and won, then we lose hope and
fail to meet the challenges before us.
To those who despair that what’s happening today is “un-American”—efforts to gut
voting rights, curtail immigration, use of military force to violently expel
migrants and threaten freedom of speech and assembly—we must respond: We’ve been
here before, risen up to confront these threats to liberty, and won.
In just my lifetime, we’ve witnessed other dark periods: the hysteria and
repression of the McCarthy era’s manufactured anti-Communism scare; the racism
and violence that followed the civil rights movement; the assassinations of John
and Robert Kennedy and Dr. King; the deeply polarizing Vietnam war; the national
trauma of 9/11 and the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hate crimes and government
repression that followed; and the disastrous failed wars against Afghanistan and
Iraq. Each time, we rose to meet these challenges.
Given our history, I feel confident that in the face of today’s xenophobia,
racism, repression, and hate, we will rise again. Like Gibran, we will assert:
“You have your America, I have my America.”
*Dr James J Zogby is the President of the Washington-based Arab American
Institute.
Selected English Tweets from X Platform For
28
October/2025
Mass today celebrating the feast day of St Simon and St Jude
Eblan Farris
Morning Mass today celebrating the feast day of St Simon and St Jude
When Jesus ascended into Heaven all of the Apostles left Jerusalem (St. James is
the only Apostle who stayed). The Apostles left because - 1. they were being
persecuted and 2. to spread Jesus' word.
St. Peter, St. Simon, and St. Jude went to Beirut, Lebanon, and stayed there -
approx. 5,6, or 11 years, while there St. Simon and St. Jude built the first
Catholic Church there in Beirut, St. Peter with them devised the hierarchy of
the Church (Patriarchs, Bishops, Priests) and the Mass. While St. Simon and St.
Jude stayed in Lebanon to complete the building of the Church, St. Peter went on
to Antioch (42AD) to build and hold the first Patriarch seat of the Catholic
Church. The Vision was to have 5 districts in the first Catholic Church - Rome
(Vatican), Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria. With Antioch
being set up first by St. Peter. St. Peter then went on to Rome (54AD) to
continue building the districts. St. Andrew Peter's brother took Constantinople,
St. Evodius succeeded St. Peter as the 2nd Patriarch in Antioch, St. James in
Jerusalem, and St. Matthew in Alexandria.
St. Jude and St. Simon were buried at the Altar of the first Church in Beirut
that they set up, their bodies were later transferred in 325 to the Vatican to
be buried next to St. Peter.
St. Jude and St. Simon were buried at the Altar of the first Church in Beirut
that they set up, their bodies were later transferred in 325 to the Vatican to
be buried next to St. Peter).
Later in history, because of persecution, St. John Maron would move that seat to
Kfar Hey, Lebanon in 676, the monastery of St John Maroun - Kfarhay. According
to tradition, St John Maroun built the first monastery when he was the bishop of
Batroun in 676 over a hermitage. He made the monastery his patriarcal seat when
he was elected in 682. (Side note, my Father and my Uncle who would later become
a Monsignour in the Maronite Catholic Faith - both attended school there at the
St. John Maron School).
Today, the seat of The Patriarch of Antoich and All the East resides in Bkerke,
Lebanon where it is still ongoing today.
Credit - Eblan Farris