English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  September 06/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven
Matthew 18/01-05: "At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 05-06/2025
The Cabinet’s Failure to Adopt a Timeline for Disarming Hezbollah…A Big Difference Between “Welcomed” and “Approved”/Elias Bejjani/September 05/2025
Hezbollah’s Sanctification of Its Weapons Is Idolatry… Worshiping a God of Iron Destined to Rust/Elias Bejjani/September 04/2025
Reflections on the 105th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Greater Lebanon/Elias Bejjani/September 02/2025
Lebanese Cabinet receives military’s weapons plan
Army plan does not include timeline, report says
Lebanese army to extend authority nationwide under phased weapons withdrawal plan
Speaker Berri welcomes government formula, warns against street protests
PM Salam: Cabinet welcomes army plan to consolidate weapons across Lebanon
US officials warn Lebanon inaction on Hezbollah may push Israel to 'finish the job'
Govt. 'welcomes' army's weapons monopoly plan, asks for monthly reports
Pro-Hezbollah motorcycle marches in the southern suburbs after the cabinet session on weapons
Iran tries to find new ways to transfer funds to Hezbollah, report says
Report: International community to reward state's steps
Iran Seeks New Channels to Funnel Cash to Hezbollah
Berri supports the government's plan and opposes any street protests, "even if it requires me to personally go out to confront it"
Cautious US welcome for the army's plan and congressional appreciation for the Lebanese government's performance
Ending UNIFIL's mandate is abolishing the international umbrella... Will it give Israel a free hand?
Why a weakened Hezbollah still poses a challenge to Lebanon’s government/Scott Petersonr/Christian Science Monitor/September 04/2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 05-06/2025
Araghchi criticizes Western obsession with nuclear proliferation in the region
Iran: The possibility of a new war is very high... Tehran seeks a "new form" of cooperation with the IAEA
US Considers Restricting Iranian Delegation During UN Meetings
Emir of Qatar Receives Message from Iranian President
Trump Announces "In-depth Negotiations" with Hamas... and Warns It
Israel strikes high-rise building, threatens to hit more in Gaza City offensive
Israeli forces shoot dead Palestinian near West Bank checkpoint
Arab bloc says no peace without end to 'hostile' Israel actions
Hamas releases video showing two Israeli hostages held in Gaza
UAE says Israeli annexation of West Bank would cross a ‘red line’
Pope insists on 2-state solution to end Gaza war during meeting with Israel president
WHO chief urges Israel to stop starvation ‘catastrophe’
US sanctions Palestinian rights groups over ICC probe
Israel says expecting one million Gazans to flee new offensive
Gates of hell’: Israeli minister issues warning as Gaza operation continues
UN General Assembly backs Saudi-French plan to resume two-state summit on Sept. 22
Trump says India and Russia appear ‘lost’ to ‘deepest, darkest China’
Putin says foreign troops deployed to Ukraine before peace deal 'legitimate targets'
Houthi Arrests of UN Staff Threaten Aid Operations in Yemen

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 05-06/2025
Bangladesh Racing Toward a Caliphate/Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury/Gatestone Institute./September 05/2025
China Forgets its Amnesia/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 06/2025
Turkiye’s multivector foreign policy both a choice and a necessity/Dr. Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/September 05, 2025
Xi’s military parade showed just how dangerous China has become/Bradley Bowman/New York Post/September 03/2025
Slected X tweets For September 05/2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on September 05-06/2025
The Cabinet’s Failure to Adopt a Timeline for Disarming Hezbollah…A Big Difference Between “Welcomed” and “Approved”
Elias Bejjani/September 05/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147031/
Clearly, the Lebanese Cabinet has failed in dealing with the Lebanese Army’s plan, which—constitutionally, and in accordance with international resolutions and the ceasefire agreement—was supposed to set a timeline for the withdrawal, dismantling, or surrender of Hezbollah’s weapons and all other illegal arms to the state before the end of the current year.
In a deceitful linguistic maneuver, the government used the term “welcomed” the army’s plan, instead of saying “approved” it, while the plan itself was kept secret, with no dates set for implementation. All that was agreed upon was that the army would present a monthly report to the Cabinet about its progress on the plan’s provisions. This is very similar to the way  to the chronic Lebanese judicial and parliament's heresy in referring certain case to committees for endless study.
Simply put, what happened today is nothing but a scandal, a dilution, a cover-up, and outright submission to the thuggery of Nabih Berri and the bullying of Hezbollah, leaving the militia-state in control of the state. The most absurd part of the Cabinet’s decisions was linking the implementation of the Barrak-Lebanese plan to the approval of both Israel and Syria.
The fact remains: if the government, backed by the president, is truly serious about reclaiming the state from the militia-mini state and liberating the Shiite community from its Iranian captor and its local Trojan agents, then the immediate requirement is the dismissal of Iran’s five Shiite ministers from the government and the appointment of free Lebanese Shiite ministers instead.
As for the so-called “king” Shiite minister, Fadi Maki, he must be dismissed immediately, as he is a coward, submissive, and spineless. He failed to take a courageous national stance to liberate his community from Iranian domination, hiding behind excuses that only confirm his cowardice and fear.
In conclusion, Lebanon must put an end to Nabih Berri’s theatrics and Hezbollah’s immorality and arrogance. The five pro-Iranian Shiite ministers must be immediately dismissed and replaced with free, truly Lebanese Shiite ministers—of whom the community has no shortage.

Hezbollah’s Sanctification of Its Weapons Is Idolatry… Worshiping a God of Iron Destined to Rust
Elias Bejjani/September 04/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/146998/
Hezbollah's transformation into idolatry
It is no longer hidden from anyone that what is called “Hezbollah” is no longer merely an armed militia or a military proxy of Iran, but has in its rhetoric and practices transformed into an idolatrous gang that sanctifies weapons made of iron and worships them as if they were a divine revelation. These weapons, which were deceitfully and falsely presented as a means to defend Lebanon, the resistance, liberate Palestine, and pray in Jerusalem have today become an end in themselves, a sacred text placed above the state and above human beings, to which obedience and loyalty are imposed—even at the cost of the Lebanese people’s lives, dignity, and future.
It is not surprising that such heresies come from a mafia-like gang that has mastered terrorism, crime, and assassinations, traded in every forbidden thing from drugs to money laundering, supported the criminal Assad regime, and carried out terrorist operations in Lebanon and dozens of other countries. Whoever practices this degree of violence and depravity, it is no wonder that he openly declares his blasphemy and denial of God, and boasts that his weapon is “sacred” and tied to the honor, pride, destiny, and very existence of his Lebanese Shiite community—whom, since 1982, has kidnapped and taken hostage, fighting with their youth and sacrificing them in terrorist operations and in Iran’s sectarian and expansionist wars.
Blasphemy and Heresy
This gang calls itself, in blasphemy and heresy, “Party of God,” and in boundless arrogance claims that its weapons are sacred—meaning it does not even understand the meaning of its own name—while worshiping weapons that are mere iron. And iron, no matter how long it lasts, will rust. What kind of god is this that Hezbollah worships, whose end is rust and inevitable extinction? The undeniable truth is that just as the ancient idols fell with their worshippers, this iron idol—these weapons—will also fall, and those who sanctify them will be defeated.
The Phenomenon of Weapon Sanctification in Political Discourse
Since Iran created Hezbollah in 1982, with the cooperation of Hafez al-Assad’s Baathist Syrian regime, It has transformed its weapons from an alleged means of defense into a “sacred end.” This heresy appeared in its ugliest forms in the speeches of this Iranian armed proxy leaders—most recently Sheikh Naim Qassem, who spoke of the weapons as though they were a revealed creed. Similarly, Nabih Berri, head of the Amal Movement and Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, in his most recent speech also leaned toward the same idolatry, elevating the weapons to the level of gods that must be sanctified and guarded with souls.
But the truth is that these weapons are nothing but iron. And iron, as science, history, and experience all attest, rusts. What kind of “god” is this that is worshiped, when it is destined for decay?
The Bible says: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything... You shall not bow down to them nor serve them” (Exodus 20:4–5).
And the Qur’an says: “Have you considered al-Lat and al-‘Uzza, and Manat, the third—the other?... They are nothing but names which you have named—you and your fathers—for which Allah has sent down no authority” (Al-Najm 19–23).
These texts clearly reveal that what Hezbollah is doing—sanctifying and worshiping a new idol called “weapons”—is idolatry.
The Consequences of This Sanctification on the Lebanese State
When a tool of war is transformed into a sacred text, political dialogue is abolished and the state is killed. The Lebanese citizen is asked to offer his water, electricity, medicine, and education as sacrifices upon the altar of iron. The state is no longer an end in itself, but merely a detail in service of a mafia-idolatrous project.
History delivers its stern judgment: “Every nation that sanctified its sword ended up burying itself with it.”
The Relationship Between Hezbollah and Iran and Its Influence on Lebanon
Hezbollah has never been a Lebanese party. Since its inception, it has been a military, security, and cultural arm of Iran, established to serve the "Welaet Al Fakeah," not the Lebanese state. Therefore, the sanctification of weapons is merely a reflection of the sanctification of Iran itself, which views Lebanon as a mere colony run from Tehran.
The Political and Social Control the Party Exercises over the Shiite Community
Since 1982, the party has worked to hijack the Shiite community and turn it into a hostage in the service of Iran's project. Lebanese Shiites have been forced to sacrifice their sons in wars that have nothing to do with them: in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Gaza. Entire neighborhoods in the south and the southern suburbs have been transformed into weapons depots and tunnels, and their residents are no longer free citizens, but soldiers in a foreign army.
The losses incurred by Lebanon and the Shiite community as a result of Hezbollah's wars 
Since Hezbollah embroiled Lebanon in absurd wars, the Lebanese people in general, and the Lebanese Shiite community in particular, have paid a heavy price, including thousands of martyrs and victims, unprecedented displacement, the collapse of the economy and infrastructure, massive destruction in the south, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and the Bekaa Valley, impoverishment, and stifling international isolation.
National decision-making has been confiscated and the state has been transformed into a failed entity.
The latest chapter of these disasters was the 2023 war, when Hezbollah declared war on Israel in support of Hamas. The result was a crushing defeat, in which most of its leaders, including Hassan Nasrallah, were killed. The "sacred" party has become a burden, begging for a ceasefire and then refusing to abide by it.
Conclusion
Hezbollah is neither a resistance party nor a movement of faith. It is a gang of deceivers and hypocrites who turned iron into an idol they worship, while true religion forbids the worship of idols. The party knows neither faith nor principle. It is a Persian occupation project seeking to keep Lebanon captive and colonized, using weapons as an eternal excuse for domination.
“Having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5).
“And of the people are some who take others as equals to Allah. They love them as they should love Allah” (Al-Baqarah 165).
The god of Hezbollah is a weapon made of iron. And its weapon will rust, and its project will collapse, just as all idols throughout history have collapsed.

Reflections on the 105th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Greater Lebanon
Elias Bejjani/September 02/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/146914/
105 years ago, the declaration of the State of Greater Lebanon took place. The only historical era in which Lebanon truly enjoyed peace, prosperity, and stability lasted until the early 1970s. After that came disintegration, along with divisions, wars, and chaos triggered by the armed Palestinian invasion, the rise of local nationalist, Arabist, leftist, and jihadist movements, the Nasserist tide, and militant leftist activities.
The process of disintegration and collapse deepened with the Taif Agreement, which was imposed due to an imbalance of local and regional power. Today, Lebanon has reached the peak of its decline and loss of sovereignty under the Iranian occupation, enforced through its jihadist and terrorist military proxy that blasphemously and heretically carries the name “Hezbollah” (“God’s Party”).
From the Mutasarrifate to the State: Contexts of Greater Lebanon’s Birth
The proclamation of Greater Lebanon was a pivotal event in the modern history of the Levant, occurring against the backdrop of the Ottoman Empire’s collapse and the rise of competing national and regional projects. While some local and regional forces sought to realize the “Greater Syria” project under Emir Faisal I, supported by the Arab Revolt, an alternative vision backed by France emerged: the establishment of a distinct political entity in the coastal and mountainous regions of Bilad al-Sham. This paper offers a deep analytical reading of the 105th anniversary of Greater Lebanon’s proclamation, moving beyond traditional historical narratives to deconstruct the root causes, outcomes, and enduring implications of this event on Lebanon’s state structure and identity up to the present day.
The Proclamation of Greater Lebanon: Between Local Aspirations and Colonial Reality
The proclamation of Greater Lebanon was not a unilateral decision imposed by the French Mandate authority; it was the culmination of intersecting local, regional, and international interests. The entity was formally declared through an administrative decree issued by General Henri Gouraud, the French High Commissioner in Syria and Cilicia, on August 31, 1920, which took effect the following day, September 1, 1920.
The Local Role: Patriarch Elias al-Huwayek
Maronite Patriarch Elias Boutros al-Huwayek played a decisive role in the birth of Greater Lebanon, and is considered one of the four most important figures in this context. His vision went beyond creating a mere sectarian refuge for the Maronites; he was firmly convinced of the need for a viable economic entity.
After the famine that devastated Mount Lebanon during World War I, Patriarch al-Huwayek realized that the Mutasarrifate, with its narrow borders, was unable to feed its inhabitants and was plagued by poverty and mass emigration. In response, he led a delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where he presented a detailed memorandum on October 24, 1919, demanding expanded borders for Lebanon.
His demands were based on historical and geographical arguments, claiming they coincided with the ancient borders of Phoenicia, as well as those of the Ma‘nid and Shihabid principalities, and with maps from an old French military mission. These claims extended Lebanon’s boundaries from Lake Homs in the north to Lake Huleh in the south, incorporating vital agricultural plains absent from the Mutasarrifate. Thus, Patriarch al-Huwayek was not advocating for a closed sectarian enclave, but for a pluralistic homeland capable of sustaining its people economically.
The French Role: Strategic Support
France had long viewed Lebanon as its foothold in the Middle East, casting itself as the “protector” of Eastern Christians since the 17th century. Supporting al-Huwayek’s demands was therefore not mere benevolence, but part of a strategic plan to cement French influence in the Levant against rising Arab nationalism. The proclamation of Greater Lebanon crowned this French role, with France presenting itself as the protector of minorities in constant tension with their Muslim surroundings. In his speech, General Gouraud praised Patriarch al-Huwayek as “the great Patriarch of Lebanon who descended from his mountain to attend this glorious day.” Thus, the proclamation resulted from the convergence of two wills: a local will for a viable entity and a colonial will for dominance. The economic crisis and famine of Mount Lebanon pressured the Maronite Patriarchate to demand territorial expansion, while France saw in those demands the perfect justification for its military and political presence under the guise of “protecting minorities.” The outcome was the creation of a new entity that satisfied part of the Lebanese population but clashed with the vision of another part.
A New Map and a Divided Identity: Voices of Opposition and Faisal’s Project
Despite local support, the proclamation was met with fierce rejection from most inhabitants of the newly annexed regions. This opposition reflected deep divisions in national visions — divisions that remain alive today.
Annexed Areas and Local Positions
Decree No. 318 defined the new entity’s borders to include the Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon plus the districts of Baalbek, the Beqaa, Rachaya, and Hasbaya, as well as the sanjaks of Beirut and Sidon. These regions, which had previously belonged to Ottoman provinces like Damascus and Beirut, suddenly found themselves part of a political entity with different orientations. The general stance of Muslims (both Sunni and Shia) was rejection, though expressed differently across regions:
Tripoli and Beirut: resistance took the form of strikes, civil disobedience, and political opposition led by Sunni notables.
Jabal ‘Amil (South Lebanon) and the Beqaa: resistance was armed, with guerrilla warfare waged against French forces. At the Wadi al-Hujayr Conference, Shia leaders openly pledged allegiance to King Faisal in Damascus.
The roots of this opposition lay in their shift from being part of a ruling majority under the Ottomans to becoming a minority within a Christian-led entity. Many preferred integration into a larger Arab state — “Greater Syria” (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan) — under Emir Faisal’s leadership.
The Faisal Era and the Collapse of the Arab National Project
Prince Faisal ibn al-Husayn was the preferred monarch for opponents of Greater Lebanon. On March 8, 1920, the Syrian General Congress declared Syria’s independence within its “natural borders” and crowned Faisal as king. This Arab nationalist project was the favored alternative for Muslims who rejected the French Mandate and Lebanon’s separation. Yet, the dream was short-lived. In July 1920, France issued Faisal an ultimatum to accept the Mandate; though he reluctantly agreed, French forces advanced on Damascus and defeated the Syrians at the Battle of Maysalun on July 24, 1920. Faisal’s withdrawal from Damascus removed the Arab nationalist alternative that opponents had hoped for. This collapse was not incidental but an essential precondition for the success of the Greater Lebanon project. With Faisal gone, opponents were left with no choice but reluctant acceptance of the new reality.
Ottoman Provinces and Their Reactions to Greater Lebanon
Region (annexed) Previous Ottoman Affiliation Reaction
Baalbek, Beqaa, Rachaya, Hasbaya Province of Damascus Armed resistance (guerrilla war)
Beirut & Sidon Sanjaks Province of Beirut / Province of Haifa Political resistance (strikes, civil disobedience)
Tripoli Province of Tripoli Strong political resistance (strikes, civil disobedience)
This early divergence between armed resistance in the South and Beqaa, and political resistance in coastal cities, reveals deeper fractures within Lebanese society — fractures that predated the state’s creation and continued to resurface thereafter.
The “Golden Age”: Superficial Prosperity, Deep Inequality
After full independence in 1943 and the establishment of the Lebanese Republic under its sectarian system, Lebanon experienced an unprecedented economic and social boom during the 1950s and 1960s. Beirut earned nicknames like “the Paris of the Middle East” and “the California of the Eastern Mediterranean.”
Signs of Prosperity and Modernization
This boom was built on services, particularly banking and tourism. Beirut became a regional financial and tourist hub, attracting visitors from across the world. Cultural and artistic life flourished, with thriving nightclubs, cafés, and theaters. Landmarks like the Phoenicia Hotel and Casino du Liban, which hosted international figures, symbolized the era. Infrastructure also improved, including trams and railways.
Roots of Economic and Social Crisis
But the boom was superficial, masking deep contradictions. The Lebanese economic model was unbalanced — a “dependent capitalism” relying heavily on foreign capital and remittances, centered on services at the expense of agriculture and industry. This produced severe income inequality: families in Beirut and Mount Lebanon disproportionately benefited from opportunities. By 1954, average annual income in Beirut was five times that of rural agricultural families. Just 4% of Lebanese controlled 33% of national income, while most suffered from poverty. These regional and class disparities — with sectarian dimensions — formed a ticking time bomb awaiting ignition.
From Fragile Balance to Civil War: Palestinian Presence and the National Movement
Lebanon’s “golden age” rested on a fragile internal balance, which soon collapsed under regional pressures.
The Rise of Armed Palestinian Presence
Initially, Palestinians in Lebanon lived quietly. But after the 1967 defeat, fedayeen activity escalated, leading to clashes with the Lebanese army in 1968–1969. The situation worsened after the PLO leadership relocated from Jordan to Lebanon in 1970 following Black September.
The Cairo Agreement: A State within a State
Signed on November 3, 1969, between the Lebanese army and the PLO under Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s mediation, the Cairo Agreement effectively granted the PLO semi-autonomous authority in the camps and the right to launch armed operations from Lebanon. This created a “state within a state,” undermining sovereignty and dividing Lebanese society between supporters and opponents.
The Lebanese National Movement
The Palestinians were not the sole cause of civil war; they were the spark that ignited pre-existing contradictions. Armed Palestinian presence found strong support from the Lebanese National Movement, a coalition of leftist, Arab nationalist, and Syrian parties led by Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt. The Movement’s goals went beyond supporting Palestinians: it called for abolishing political sectarianism, implementing social and economic reforms, and affirming Lebanon’s Arab identity. It included members from various sects — Muslims, Druze, and even some Christians — showing it was not merely sectarian, but a transformative force challenging Lebanon’s system. Thus, Lebanon’s war was not Lebanese vs. Palestinians, but an internal struggle over Lebanon’s identity and future. The Palestinian cause became a tool in domestic battles, leading to civil war on April 13, 1975.
Key Clauses of the 1969 Cairo Agreement and Consequences for Lebanese Sovereignty
Right to armed struggle from Lebanese territory → undermined sovereignty.
Increased Israeli retaliatory raids → weakened the army.
Creation of autonomous committees in camps → state within a state.
Camps turned into security zones beyond state control.
Facilitated fedayeen movement across borders → weakened border control.
Heightened tensions between army and Palestinian factions.
Failure of the Experience or National Necessity?
One hundred and five years after the proclamation of Greater Lebanon, a critical re-examination is necessary, away from founding myths.
Foundational Myths: Critical Deconstruction
Lebanon’s identity was built on narratives such as being a “refuge for minorities” or a “Mediterranean Phoenician entity.” Its identity remained contested between “Mediterranean” and “Arab”.
Conclusion: Can It Continue?
The Greater Lebanon experiment has not been a total failure, but as proclaimed, it has proven unsustainable. The liberal economic model was fragile, dependent on external wealth, and incapable of ensuring social justice. It deepened inequalities between rich and poor, center and periphery.
The sectarian system, designed as a political solution for power-sharing, was never applied in its spirit; sectarian elites exploited it for influence, obstructing state-building on the basis of citizenship and equality. The problem was not the idea of Lebanon itself, but the flawed foundations on which it was built, and the fact that parts of the Muslim community never truly embraced it, preferring an Arab-Islamic entity.
Centralized sectarianism was never a permanent solution — at best, a temporary fix. Once it became the problem itself, it opened the door to Palestinian, Syrian, and later Iranian penetration, leading to the state’s collapse. Lebanon now requires a “new national formula”, one that establishes a just civil entity based on federalism. But before moving to federalism, a precondition is the complete disarmament of all Lebanese, Iranian and Palestinian militias, and the dismantling of their educational, military, intelligence, and financial structures, so that all communities and regions stand equal. A federal system would guarantee each sectarian and ethnic community its rights, preserve its identity, history, and culture, and enable coexistence within a fair and viable state.

Lebanese Cabinet receives military’s weapons plan
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/September 05, 2025
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Cabinet on Friday received the Lebanese Armed Forces’ plan to restrict the possession of weapons to state personnel on Friday.
While the Cabinet “took note” of the plan, four ministers from Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement, along with a neutral Shiite minister, walked out at the start of the session in protest over the plan. Since disarmament talks began earlier this year, Hezbollah has firmly rejected handing over its weapons. Despite repeated objections, the government last month confirmed its intention to proceed, giving the Lebanese Army Command a month to develop, present, and implement the plan by the end of the year. Hezbollah and the Amal Movement objected, citing Israel’s failure to fulfill its ceasefire obligations to withdraw from occupied positions and cease violations, attacks, and assassinations on Lebanese soil.
Last November, Hezbollah negotiated a ceasefire agreement with Israel via Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and a US mediator. While the party agreed to all the provisions of the agreement, the Lebanese government has yet to receive the full details.
Israel refuses to implement the agreement before Lebanon implements the clause related to the disarmament of Hezbollah. The Israeli stance was communicated to US diplomat Tom Barrak less than two weeks ago.
Though Hezbollah and Amal ministers had agreed to the government’s ministerial statement — which included arms restriction clauses — they exited the Cabinet when Army Commander Gen. Rodolphe Heikal began presenting the plan.
“We withdrew from the session, not from the government, in line with our positions,” Hezbollah Minister of Labour Mohammed Haidar said after leaving the Presidential Palace. “Because this session is a continuation of the session to decide on the arms monopoly, we cannot continue attending it. The position is political and directed against one item: arms. We participated in the discussion of four items on the agenda, and when the discussion reached the arms item, we withdrew.”He added that while the group “respects the Army commander and the military establishment,” it “will await the results of the session to build upon what is required, and contacts are still ongoing.” In a statement to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV station, Haidar said that “any decision taken during the session in the absence of the Shiite community is contrary to the national charter.”Minister of Administrative Development Fadi Makki, who has maintained a neutral stance on the issue and faced pressure from Hezbollah in previous sessions, addressed President Joseph Aoun before departing Friday’s meeting, saying: “I place my resignation in your hands if the situation continues to deteriorate.”
A political source who attended the session explained to Arab News that this step “does not mean a verbal resignation, but rather a position to avoid further embarrassment from Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, as well as from the president and prime minister.”
After the Cabinet meeting, Mekki said: “I sought, as much as I could, to overcome the obstacles. I was among those calling to discuss the Army’s plan and leaving the issue of the timeframe to the discretion of the Army Command, an institution we consider the guarantor of the nation’s unity and sovereignty. “However, given the current situation and the withdrawal of a key component, I cannot bear the burden of such a decision again, and I have decided to withdraw from the session. I stated that if my resignation from the government serves the national interest, then I am prepared to place this resignation at the disposal of President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.”
Mekki urged ministers and political leaders to discuss the plan within the framework of the agreed-upon ministerial statement concerning the restriction of weapons to the state and its institutions. He emphasized the need for thoughtful deliberation and prioritizing the “nation’s interests, the welfare of the south, and civil peace above all else.” Finance Minister Yassin Jaber, the Amal Movement representative in the government, said: “We withdrew from the session, but not from the government, and we will participate in the next Cabinet session and await the final statement to build on it.”
Calls circulated on social media for a gathering in Beirut’s southern suburbs to organize a motorcycle rally in support of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement. However, a security source said the call was “incorrect.”The Lebanese Armed Forces took strict measures in public squares and at the entrances to Beirut’s southern suburbs before the end of the Cabinet session to prevent any protests from spiraling out of control. Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar confirmed before entering that “the security situation is under control, and God willing, nothing will happen during or outside the session.”
According to reports, the Shiite ministers cited “the Israeli attacks that occurred during the last 72 hours deep in southern Lebanon, which led to the killing and wounding of civilians, in addition to targeting Hezbollah members,” in expressing their positions during the Cabinet session.

Army plan does not include timeline, report says
Naharnet/September 05, 2025
The plan that the army will present in today's cabinet session does not include a timetable, LBCI reported Friday. "The army cannot commit to a fixed deadline as the implementation of the plan depends on logistics, operational resources, and the situation on the ground," the TV channel said, adding that its sources have refuted a report (published Wednesday in ad-Diyar) claiming that Hezbollah's disarmament would start from Beirut. "The army cannot begin in any area before completing its mission in the south," LBCI sources said. Hezbollah had said it would not accept any timetable on handing over its weapons to the Lebanese state while Israeli strikes continue, while Washington is pressing Lebanon to take action on the matter, with U.S. envoy Tom Barrack presenting officials with a proposal that includes a timetable for Hezbollah's disarmament.

Lebanese army to extend authority nationwide under phased weapons withdrawal plan
LBCI/September 05, 2025
Ministerial sources told LBCI that the army’s disarmament plan calls for a gradual withdrawal of weapons, beginning with the southern Litani River region, followed by the area between the southern Litani and Awali Rivers, then Beirut, and finally the Bekaa region.
The plan also includes the continued disarmament of camps and the extension of army authority across all Lebanese territory.

Speaker Berri welcomes government formula, warns against street protests
LBCI/September 05, 2025
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri responded positively to the government’s formula and the army’s disarmament plan, according to information obtained by LBCI, noting that neither set a timeline for implementation, and both conditioned execution on Israel’s acceptance.
Berri also reportedly said, “I am against any street movement, and if necessary, I would personally take to the streets to confront it.” A U.S. official told LBCI the government’s decision on Friday appeared “relatively positive,” but said attention now turns to what the army’s plan will deliver.

PM Salam: Cabinet welcomes army plan to consolidate weapons across Lebanon
LBCI/September 05, 2025
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the cabinet welcomed the army’s plan to consolidate weapons across all Lebanese territory and implement it within the framework set during the August 5, 2025, session. He added that the cabinet decided to require the army command to submit a monthly report on the plan’s progress.

US officials warn Lebanon inaction on Hezbollah may push Israel to 'finish the job'
Naharnet/September 05, 2025
Lebanon’s leaders are running out of time to disarm Hezbollah before they risk losing U.S. and Gulf Arab financial support, and even a renewed Israeli military campaign, the New York Times quoted U.S. officials as saying, ahead of a key cabinet meeting in Beirut on Friday. The warning comes at what U.S. officials call a critical moment in Lebanon’s history, as the country’s cabinet considers a plan to force Hezbollah to surrender its weapons. The United States, Israel and the Gulf Arab states are pressuring Lebanon’s government to “act decisively and not be intimidated by Hezbollah threats to incite violence,” the New York Times said. Administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, worry that Lebanon’s government will flinch from a potential confrontation with Hezbollah, the U.S. newspaper reported.
One official warned that inaction or half measures could lead Congress to cut off America’s roughly $150 million in annual funding for the Lebanese Army. The greater risk to Lebanon from delay or half-measures, U.S. officials say, is that Israel will conclude it must “finish the job,” as one put it, through renewed military campaign that could incur major damage and casualties. Lebanese leaders complain that Israel has not made a credible commitment to withdraw in concert with the disarmament plan. That leaves them exposed to political charges that they are doing the bidding of a foreign occupier by acting against Hezbollah. Edward Gabriel, president of the American Task Force on Lebanon, said that any plan’s success depends not only on a credible plan for disarming Hezbollah, but also “clear assurances of Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory.” Gabriel added that “U.S. mediation will be indispensable” to achieving that balance. Beirut’s distrust is compounded by a lack of communication between Israel and Lebanon, where it is a crime to interact with Israelis. One of the Trump officials called establishing contact between the Lebanese and Israeli armies a vital goal.

Govt. 'welcomes' army's weapons monopoly plan, asks for monthly reports
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/September 05, 2025
Cabinet on Friday welcomed the Lebanese Army's weapons monopolization plan and decided to keep its details confidential while asking the army to submit monthly reports on its implementation, Information Minister Paul Morcos said after a key session that witnessed a walkout by all five Shiite ministers. “The army will begin implementing the plan according to its available and limited capabilities,” Morcos added. The army has the right to evaluate its plan according to the operational situation and that might require extra time,” the minister said. “Any progress toward implementing the U.S. paper hinges on Israel's steps,” he went on to say. The five Shiite ministers had walked out of the session as Army Commander General Joseph Haykal joined it to present the army’s plan. The ministers of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement withdrew from the session and were followed by independent Shiite minister Fadi Makki. The five ministers later left the Baabda Palace after reportedly holding a brief meeting with an adviser of President Joseph Aoun. TV networks meanwhile said that Makki "put his resignation at the disposal of the president.”
"Our walkout was in line with our rejection of discussing the American paper," Labor Minister Mohammad Haidar of Hezbollah said. "The army chief is presenting his plan in the cabinet session and we’ll await its results to act accordingly and contacts are still ongoing," Haidar added, clarifying that the Shiite ministers walked out of the session but have not resigned from the government. "We’ll wait for what will happen in the session before taking our decision, and any decision taken without the Shiite community’s representatives would be against the National Pact," he added. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that the ministers had agreed to withdraw when the army commander arrives “because we consider that this plan comes out of an illegal decision... and we will not debate a matter that is built on a basis that we do not recognize as legal.”Lebanese officials have so far proceeded with caution on disarmament, fearing that an attempt to take Hezbollah’s remaining weapons by force could trigger civil conflict. Since the ceasefire, the Lebanese Army has regularly collected caches of weapons and ammunition from the area south of the Litani River, from which Hezbollah has largely withdrawn, but the group’s heavier missiles and drones have remained hidden.Hezbollah has said that the plan plays into the hands of Israel and the United States.In August, under heavy U.S. pressure and fearing Israel would intensify its strikes, Lebanon's government ordered the army to draw up a plan for disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year. Hezbollah reiterated its opposition to the move on Wednesday, with its parliamentary bloc calling on Lebanese authorities to "reverse their... unpatriotic decision."The government says disarming Hezbollah is part of implementing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement from November that ended over a year of hostilities between the group and Israel. Friday's cabinet session came after intensified Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon over the past two days, which killed at least five people, according to the health ministry and the state-run National News Agency. David Wood, a senior Lebanon analyst at the International Crisis Group, told AFP that "Israel is trying to send a message that only concrete action on disarmament, rather than pledges and words, will do the job."Should the cabinet approve the plan, Wood said Hezbollah could consider other options like "imposing pressure on the Shiite ministers to resign from the government" or "trying to organize mass protests."In an attempt to ease tensions, Speaker of Parliament and head of the Amal Movement Nabih Berri called on Sunday for discussions to be "a calm and consensual dialogue."
- 'New era' -
In late August, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said "the path of monopolizing arms, extending state authority and monopolizing decisions on war and peace is a path that has begun and there is no turning back."Ahead of the session, posters depicting Salam and President Joseph Aoun were put up in the streets of Beirut with the caption: "We are all with you. One army, one arsenal, one state. A new era for Lebanon". Hezbollah was the most powerful political force in Lebanon before its most recent war with Israel, able to sway and disrupt governments. The balance of power has since shifted, with Hezbollah badly weakened by the war as well as the overthrow of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria. "A solution must be found, and it is preferable that it be done in a proper manner, and that disarmament be achieved through mutual understanding," Abdul Rahman Trabulsi, a 60-year-old Beirut resident, said, adding that he believes Hezbollah's role "has ended."In contrast, Ali Khalil, a 20-year-old restaurant worker, said that "weapons will not be taken, it's impossible," adding, "let them go first and fix the government and the state, then think about the weapons". "If they decide today to seize the weapons, there will be a confrontation," he added. Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has accused Lebanon's government of handing the country to Israel by pushing for its disarmament. Qassem also said Hezbollah and Amal had postponed a previous call for protest to allow room for discussion and "to make adjustments before we reach a confrontation that no one wants."However, he added, "if it is imposed on us, we will face it." Hezbollah was the only group to keep its weapons after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of resistance against Israel, which occupied the south until 2000.

Pro-Hezbollah motorcycle marches in the southern suburbs after the cabinet session on weapons
Janubiya/September 5, 2025
Beirut's southern suburbs are witnessing a motorcycle march following a cabinet session that discussed the army's plan to restrict weapons to the state. All Shiite ministers withdrew from the session when the plan was discussed. Earlier today, Information Minister Paul Morcos announced, while reading the cabinet's decisions, that the cabinet had heard and welcomed the army's plan to restrict weapons. He decided to keep the content of the army's plan and its deliberations confidential, stressing that the army command would submit a monthly report to the cabinet regarding the weapons restriction plan. He stated that "the Lebanese army will begin implementing the weapons restriction plan according to available capabilities, and the army commander presented the restrictions related to the plan, which relate to the army itself and the obstacles imposed by Israel itself." He added, "The army will act within the framework set for it in the August 5 session, but the army has the right to exercise operational discretion."

Iran tries to find new ways to transfer funds to Hezbollah, report says
Naharnet/September 05, 2025
Iran has been trying in recent weeks to transfer funds to Hezbollah through Iraq and Syria, with some attempts failing and others succeeding, a media report said.
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper said Friday that Syrian and Lebanese security authorities have recently detected increased Iranian attempts to pump aid to Hezbollah, adding that some aid has likely been successfully delivered to the group with the help of smuggling networks while other shipments were foiled. A senior Iraqi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, told the daily that he had been asked by Iran in late August to facilitate the transfer of funds to Syria through an official border crossing in western Iraq, and that he refused due to security and political complexities.
Senior Iraqi officials also told the daily that Iran has asked Iraqi faction leaders to find new ways to rebuild Hezbollah's capabilities in Lebanon, as it faces difficulties to support its proxies in Baghdad where restrictions on Iraqi factions are increasing. The report said the U.S. is trying to track the channels through which funds were transferred to Hezbollah.

Report: International community to reward state's steps
Naharnet/September 05, 2025
The era of “the war decision outside state control” has ended, Lebanese sources said on Friday, shortly before a key cabinet session on arms monopolization. “The army’s plan is the start of the arms monopolization course and there will be a continuous revision for improving it,” the sources told Al-Arabiya television. President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam “understand Speaker Nabih Berri’s concerns and appreciate his decision not to boycott the government,” the sources said. “The so-called defense strategy is no longer on the table and it is rejected by the state,” the sources added, revealing that “there will be international efforts this month to reward the state’s steps.”

Iran Seeks New Channels to Funnel Cash to Hezbollah
London: Ali Saray/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 06/2025
A senior Iraqi official said he rebuffed a request from Iran in late August to grant “extraordinary facilities” at a western border crossing for the transfer of large sums of cash to Lebanon’s Hezbollah via Syria, citing political and security risks. The official, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, said Tehran had assured him its networks inside Syria could handle the onward transfer. “They told us, ‘We have people who can deliver it to Damascus. Iraqis should not worry about that,’” the official said. Cross-border sources in Syria and Lebanon said Iranian efforts to funnel funds to Hezbollah – under mounting pressure from US and Lebanese demands to disarm – have intensified in recent weeks, with some shipments reportedly making it through with the help of smuggling networks. Washington is now tracking financial channels that may have moved millions of dollars into Hezbollah’s coffers, according to regional security sources. Hezbollah, facing strains within its Shi’ite support base, is seeking fresh resources to shore up loyalty and rebuild military strength, Lebanese political figures say. A US Republican senator, Lindsey Graham, told Lebanese lawmakers last month that Washington had intelligence showing Hezbollah received fresh injections of cash, and he warned the US was probing how the transfers took place. Iran, bracing for what it calls an inevitable new war with Israel, has instructed allied militias to explore new ways to sustain Hezbollah, Iraqi Shi’ite political leaders told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“It is a mistake to assume Iran will go into the next confrontation without deep, resilient defensive lines in the region, especially in Lebanon,” one said. The push reflects Tehran’s difficulties in Iraq, where Shi’ite factions face tighter restrictions and are increasingly hesitant to act openly under the “axis of resistance” banner. “The room for maneuver in Baghdad is clearly shrinking,” a senior Shi’ite leader said. Iraqi security officials said the al-Qaim crossing, near the Syrian town of al-Bukamal, has been under close US surveillance and is considered too risky for covert financial transfers. The area is already known as a “drone playground” for US forces and others, making suspicious movements hard to conceal. Smuggling routes across the Iraq-Syria frontier – long controlled by Shi’ite groups, remnants of Assad’s forces, ISIS fighters, and other networks – remain active, but Syrian officials insist no cash shipments have crossed through official gateways. Lebanese analysts say Hezbollah has recently shown a tougher stance on disarmament, reversing earlier signals of compliance, a shift they link to possible fresh funding. While the group has limited its public spending to repairing homes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, many believe it is stockpiling cash for the next war. The US Treasury has repeatedly announced fresh measures to choke off Iranian financing, and in 2022 estimated Tehran supplied Hezbollah with up to $700 million annually. Hezbollah’s former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, had openly boasted in 2016 that Iran was its primary source of funding.
Despite Israeli strikes targeting financiers and couriers between Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, regional sources say Tehran and Hezbollah continue to preserve alternative routes for money transfers. Lebanese security officials admit sealing the porous Syrian border remains difficult, with vast stretches open and the under-resourced Lebanese army struggling to block illicit crossings.

Berri supports the government's plan and opposes any street protests, "even if it requires me to personally go out to confront it"
Al-Markaziya/September 5, 2025
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri expressed his positive reception of the government's formula and the army's plan regarding the state's monopoly on arms, stressing that the positive stance stems from the "flexibility of the formula," which did not specify a strict timeframe for implementation and linked implementation to Israel's acceptance of the proposed security and political plan. In a notable statement, Berri said, "The plan as received from the Council of Ministers, as well as the presentation made by the Army Commander, included a realistic approach to the issue, as implementation is contingent upon a number of obstacles, most notably the ongoing Israeli attacks, which the government took into consideration." He added, "The failure to specify a timeframe means that there is an awareness of the difficulty and complexities of the situation on the ground." Taking a firm stance, Berri expressed his categorical rejection of any street protests that might threaten internal stability, saying, "I am against any street protests, even if it requires me to personally go out to confront them." Speaker Berri's visitors also conveyed He expressed his satisfaction with the Council's decisions and the army's plan, saying, "The ministers of the two sides withdrew from the session out of principle, but the decisions are good." Asharq Al-Awsat quoted Berri as saying, "Things are positive... and I think the toxic winds are beginning to blow." Berri believed that "what happened regarding the army's military plan preserves civil peace."

Cautious US welcome for the army's plan and congressional appreciation for the Lebanese government's performance
Central/September 5, 2025
Commenting on the Cabinet's approval of the army's plan, a US official indicated that the government's decision today appears relatively positive, and it remains to be seen what the army's plan will deliver. Separately, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced that the Lebanese government has made significant progress over the past year.

Ending UNIFIL's mandate is abolishing the international umbrella... Will it give Israel a free hand?
Youssef Fares/Al-Markazia/September 5, 2025
Al-Markazia - The Security Council's renewal of the International Emergency Force (UNIFIL) operating in southern Lebanon for a period of one year and four months continues to be closely monitored locally and internationally, especially after it became clear that Lebanon was subjected to a diplomatic trap, according to a European source. This will have significant and dangerous repercussions for Lebanon and the south in particular. According to the source, the greatest danger posed by the decision to end UNIFIL's role and mandate after one year is also the termination of work under Resolution 1701 in 2026. Consequently, the entire border area will be subject to so-called Israeli security arrangements, including freedom of movement, security and possibly military, and red lines drawn by Israel for the Lebanese state, as happened in southern Syria. In addition, the source warns of Israeli security activity along the border strip by establishing a demilitarized buffer zone and ending UNIFIL's mandate, as the Israeli plan is incompatible with the presence of legitimate, international forces, as stipulated by UN Security Council resolutions, that protect peace and stability in the region. Israel seeks to monopolize the entire border area, with a depth of at least 5 kilometers, along the entire length of the border, similar to what it does in Syria and the Gaza Strip. Change MP Melhem Khalaf confirms to Al-Markazia that within a year, Lebanon, and specifically its south, will be without the international cover that the presence of international forces has long provided. The additional four months are allocated to dismantling their barracks and equipment. Consequently, they will no longer have any presence on Lebanese soil. This reinforces Israeli ambitions for our waters and land and its conditions for withdrawing from what it occupies. What is also frightening is that the issue is accompanied by talk of the United States' intention to establish an economic zone similar to the promised "Riviera" for Gaza. This obscures the talk about buffer zones and the refusal to allow the residents of the villages along the strip to return to them. Furthermore, the termination of UNIFIL's work means the end of Resolution 1701 and all previous international resolutions, which, despite their ineffectiveness, remain a UN and international reference for Lebanon in its diplomatic confrontation with Tel Aviv. This confrontation has enabled Lebanon to protect itself and its territory from the 1960s until today, despite the wars and Israeli attacks that have occurred. Leaving Lebanon without an international umbrella in light of Israel's expansionist ambitions and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's explicit talk about Greater Israel poses a major threat to the country's unity. He concludes by calling for the necessity of fortifying Lebanon at this fateful stage, as the entire region is experiencing fear, not only of the establishment of Greater Israel, but also of the return of the Persian and Ottoman empires.

Why a weakened Hezbollah still poses a challenge to Lebanon’s government
Scott Petersonr/ChristianScience Monitor/September 04/2025
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2025/0904/lebanon-government-control-hezbollah-disarmament-israel?cmpid=shared-twitter
|When Lebanon’s Western-backed government once declared a private Hezbollah telephone network illegal, the response was immediate: The Shiite militia’s gunmen took over the streets of Beirut, blocked districts with burning barricades, and blockaded the airport.
“The decision is tantamount to a declaration of war ... on the resistance and its weapons in the interest of America and Israel,” proclaimed then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah back in 2008. “Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them. Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off.”
Through decades of internal and external wars and political upheaval in Lebanon, Hezbollah and its potent arsenal of battle-hardened fighters, rockets, and missiles have been a constant check on governmental power in Beirut
Yet the Iran-backed militia is now facing an unprecedented political and military reckoning, with the remains of its once-vaunted arsenal in the balance.
The difference today? Hezbollah’s decision to open a “solidarity front” of rocket attacks against northern Israel, after Hamas mounted the Oct. 7, 2023, assault that precipitated the war in Gaza.
The violent exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel came to a head last autumn with a surprise onslaught by Israel. That attack wiped out Hezbollah’s top political and military leaders – including Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah – destroyed much of Hezbollah’s arsenal, and left Shiite strongholds in Beirut and southern and eastern Lebanon in ruins. Hezbollah says 5,000 of its fighters were killed, and 13,000 wounded.
A ceasefire reached last November requires Hezbollah to disarm and the Lebanese Army to take control of all border areas, in exchange for Israel withdrawing entirely from southern Lebanon and ceasing attacks – none of which have fully happened.
Pressure to follow through
The current Lebanese government, formed in January, is under pressure from the United States and Israel to deal with Hezbollah. Last month, it formally instructed the Lebanese Army to draft a plan to disarm the Shiite force by the end of the year. The army is due to present its plan to the Lebanese cabinet Friday. Hezbollah has indicated that doing so will prompt it to suspend cooperation with the army in southern Lebanon.
As part of the Beirut government’s bid to establish a state monopoly on arms in Lebanon, Palestinian factions have also begun a disarmament process, though analysts say results so far are little more than symbolic.
Yet the response from Hezbollah – long regarded, until its recent decimation by Israel, as the most potent member of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” alliance – has been relatively muted. There have been no mass uprisings by Hezbollah’s Shiite supporters, and no Hezbollah effort to resign from or collapse the government.
If the 2008 telecommunications decision “was a declaration of war,” then the government’s August resolution to disarm Hezbollah “is a much, much, much bigger decision,” says David Wood, the Beirut-based senior Lebanon analyst for the International Crisis Group.
“Until now, Hezbollah has very clearly voiced its opposition to that [disarmament] decision, but hasn’t resorted to the kind of political and, shall we say, extra-legal tactics that it has deployed in the past, when decisions didn’t go its way,” says Mr. Wood.
“Probably the most obvious inference is that Hezbollah is not in anywhere near as strong a political position as it was after its previous conflict with Israel in 2006,” he says.
That year, Hezbollah fought Israel to a standstill in a 33-day conflict that led to the destruction of Shiite strongholds in Beirut and southern Lebanon. Hezbollah emerged with broad cross-sectarian support.
Existential issue
Nevertheless, Hezbollah’s popularity has dropped since the high point of the 2006 war. The 2008 takeover of Beirut tarnished the militia for breaking its own promises not to use its weapons against fellow citizens. Hezbollah’s reputation fell again due to its intervention in Syria, alongside Iran and Russia, which ensured the survival of dictator Bashar al-Assad – whose regime engaged in industrial-scale torture and killings.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah also helped put down pro-democracy protests in 2019, when streets across the country were crammed with people of all sects demanding an end to corruption and sectarian rule.
For Hezbollah’s Shiite base, the disarmament issue “is existential,” says Makram Rabah, an assistant professor of history and archaeology at the American University of Beirut.
“They know that, after years of bullying other Lebanese factions, and killing and humiliating people, the hour of judgment has come upon them, so they are not willing to disarm because they don’t know what will happen,” he says.
“I believe the Lebanese don’t want to punish them, but they need to go back to reality and act like normal citizens,” says Dr. Rabah. “That means they can take advantage of the corrupt system, but they cannot override the system every time they don’t like it.”
Still, Hezbollah is not likely to make an easy compromise. It has cooperated with dismantling some of its military infrastructure south of the Litani River, as the truce deal specifies, though it reportedly has been less helpful locating and destroying its arms depots. And it has balked at disarming elsewhere, in areas that are targeted almost daily by Israeli airstrikes.About these ads
“We will not abandon the weapons that honor us nor the weapons that protect us from our enemy,” Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Aug. 25. “If this government continues in its current form, it cannot be trusted to safeguard Lebanon’s sovereignty.”
While other Lebanese sectarian militias disarmed over the years, Hezbollah kept its weapons, arguing that those weapons were necessary to “defend” Lebanon and to deter Israeli attacks.
U.S. incentive?
As an incentive to disarm, United States envoy Tom Barrack recently floated the possibility of backing a special economic zone in southern Lebanon meant to benefit Hezbollah’s Shiite base.
“We have 40,000 people that are being paid by Iran to fight,” Mr. Barrack said last week. “What are you going to do with them? Take their weapon and say: ‘By the way, good luck planting olive trees?’”
He offered few details. Analysts give little weight to such an idea and also note that the U.S. has signaled that it won’t restrain Israel in Lebanon.
“The longer disarmament is stalled, the more Israel is likely to expand its attacks and effectively take disarmament into its own hands, even more than it is now,” says Mr. Wood.
Another reason disarmament is problematic for Hezbollah, says Dr. Rabah, is because the militia has “always used the word ‘resistance’ as synonymous with its arms.”
“For the longest time they used what they called the ‘Golden Trinity’ – the Army, the people, and the resistance. So now this so-called Golden Trinity has been discredited. … The government has said, ‘You can no longer control the state,’” he says.
“More importantly, the weapons themselves failed on the battlefield,” he adds. “The people who asked for the ceasefire were Hezbollah, not the Israelis. The Israelis were willing because they ran out of targets.”
More than 3,500 Lebanese were killed in Israeli strikes last fall, and 1.2 million people displaced. Israel invaded Lebanese territory, still occupies land at five locations in the south, and conducts frequent strikes against what it says are efforts by Hezbollah to regroup and rearm.
“Israel is not helping the situation by continuing to undermine the ceasefire,” says Mr. Wood. “It allows actors like Hezbollah to say, ‘Why on earth would we disarm when the country is under attack, when we’ve given space to the Lebanese state to resolve this through diplomacy, and it’s not working.’”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 05-06/2025
Araghchi criticizes Western obsession with nuclear proliferation in the region
National News/September 5, 2025
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi criticized on Friday what he described as the "Western obsession" with nuclear proliferation in the region, while ignoring Israel's nuclear arsenal, describing it as "complete nonsense." “There is a state of deafening Western silence on the expansion of the only nuclear arsenal in the region (Israel),” Araghchi wrote in a post on the X platform. He added that “the silence of the European Troika and the United States regarding Israeli nuclear weapons” “deprives these countries of any credibility in their alleged commitment to nuclear non-proliferation.” The Iranian minister continued that the issue for the West “is not the existence or spread of nuclear arsenals, but rather determining who is allowed to advance scientifically, even if it is within the framework of peaceful nuclear programs.” Satellite images have shown accelerated construction work inside a secretive nuclear facility in the Negev desert, refocusing attention on Israel’s nuclear weapons program, amid speculation that the new construction could be either a modern nuclear reactor or a nuclear warhead assembly facility. According to the Associated Press, the facility, known as the Shimon Peres Center for Nuclear Research near the city of Dimona, has long been a focus of suspicion about Israel’s possession of a nuclear arsenal. According to nuclear energy experts, the images, taken on July 5 by the Planet Labs company, show A clear escalation in the pace of construction compared to what was first observed in 2021. The images show thick concrete walls and multi-story infrastructure, in addition to massive cranes operating on site, indicating a large-scale underground project, Sky News Arabia reported.

Iran: The possibility of a new war is very high... Tehran seeks a "new form" of cooperation with the IAEA
Middle East/September 5, 2025
Tehran has confirmed that the possibility of a new war with Israel is "very high," at a time when it is seeking to reset its relationship with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by formulating a "new form of cooperation" with the IAEA. Since the European Troika announced the activation of "snapback" and the reimposition of international sanctions within 30 days ending at the end of September, Iran has been working on two fronts: trying to avoid a new confrontation with Israel, and restoring its international relations to ensure its return to negotiations over its nuclear program. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said during a visit to Baghdad on Friday that Iran is trying to avoid a new conflict, but "the possibility of war between Iran and the Zionist regime remains high," according to Al-Iraqiya state television. Khatibzadeh said, "The war that took place against Iran changed the facts on the ground, especially after the attacks on nuclear reactors." However, the Iranian diplomat stressed that his country is "ready for negotiations, but only if the outcome is guaranteed. Everyone saw how we were betrayed during previous negotiations." The war broke out last June and lasted 12 days, during which Israel, with US support, launched raids targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, most notably the underground Fordow plant. The war resulted in the deaths of at least 1,000 Iranians and 30 Israelis, according to official data, amid widespread criticism from human rights organizations of both sides due to "serious violations" during military operations. In a related development, Iran announced the launch of talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday in Vienna, Austria, to determine a "new form of cooperation," according to Reza Najafi, Iran's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna. Najafi explained that the talks are taking place at the expert level, while Tehran emphasized that any new agreement will be contingent on the results of the ongoing nuclear negotiations. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had previously emphasized in statements that "there will be no new cooperation with the agency before reaching a final understanding on the nuclear issue," considering that the agency had agreed on the need for a different framework for dealing with the next phase. Araqchi met with the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaya Kallas, on Thursday in Doha, where the two sides discussed the future of the nuclear agreement and regional developments. Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, quoted an informed source as describing the meeting as "not bad," with the possibility that the dialogue will witness positive developments in the near future. The source explained that Kallas and Araghchi met in Doha and exchanged views on the course of dialogue between Tehran and Europe. The source added, "In my opinion, this meeting was not bad, and it could be more positive in the future." The Iranian Foreign Ministry indicated in a statement that the two sides agreed to "continue consultations in the coming days and weeks," while Araghchi renewed his call on the European Union to "fulfill its duty and thwart anti-diplomatic moves." It is noteworthy that the decision by Germany, France, and Britain to activate the "snapback" to reimpose sanctions on Iran due to its violations in uranium enrichment threatens the collapse of the 2015 nuclear agreement as it approaches its expiration next October.
Use of Force. For his part, Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Iravani, reiterated what he described as "threats to use force against nuclear facilities." Tasnim, the Revolutionary Guards' news agency, reported that Iravani, in his address to the UN General Assembly's high-level plenary session dedicated to commemorating the International Day against Nuclear Tests, stressed that the recent reckless attacks by Israel and the United States against Iran's nuclear facilities are deeply concerning. He pointed out that these facilities operate under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency and for purely peaceful purposes in accordance with Article IV of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, yet they were deliberately targeted, which represents a blatant violation of international law and the principles of the UN Charter.

US Considers Restricting Iranian Delegation During UN Meetings
Houston: Asharq Al-Awsat/September 5, 2025
The administration of US President Donald Trump is considering imposing restrictions on several delegations scheduled to participate in a high-level UN meeting this month, which would severely limit their ability to travel outside New York City. The administration has already denied visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his accompanying delegation. According to an internal State Department memo seen by the Associated Press, potential travel and other restrictions could soon be imposed on delegations from Iran, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and, perhaps surprisingly, Brazil during the high-level gathering of leaders at the UN General Assembly, which begins September 22. While the potential restrictions are still being studied and circumstances could change, the proposals would be another step in the Trump administration's visa crackdown, including a broad review of those already legally authorized to enter the United States and those seeking to enter the country for the UN meeting. Iranian diplomats in New York are subject to strict restrictions on their movements, but one proposal would prohibit them from shopping at members-only large wholesale stores, such as Costco and Sam's Club, without first obtaining explicit permission from the State Department. These stores have long been a favorite of Iranian diplomats assigned to or visiting New York, as they can purchase large quantities of products unavailable in economically isolated Iran at relatively cheap prices and send them home. It is not yet clear if and when the proposed ban on shopping in Iran will take effect, but the memo said the State Department is also considering drafting rules that would allow it to impose terms and conditions on memberships in wholesale clubs for all foreign diplomats in the United States. For Brazil, it is unclear whether any potential visa restrictions would affect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva or lower-ranking members of the country's delegation to the high-level UN gathering. The Brazilian president is traditionally the first world leader to address the assembled leaders on the opening day of the session. The US president is traditionally the second speaker. Lula was a target of the US president, who objects to his government's prosecution of his friend, former President Jair Bolsonaro, on charges of leading a coup attempt. One country that will see fewer restrictions is Syria, whose delegation members have been exempted from restrictions on their travel to the UN for more than a decade. While Sudan and Zimbabwe were mentioned as potential targets, the memo did not specify what restrictions might be imposed on their delegations.

Emir of Qatar Receives Message from Iranian President
Doha: Asharq Al-Awsat/September 5, 2025
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, received a verbal message from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian regarding relations between the two countries and the situation in the region. The Qatar News Agency reported that Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad received Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi at Lusail Palace on Thursday, from whom he received a verbal message from President Masoud Pezeshkian. The agency added that the message "related to bilateral relations between the two countries and issues of common interest, especially the situation in the region."

Trump Announces "In-depth Negotiations" with Hamas... and Warns It
Agencies - Abu Dhabi/September 5, 2025
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Washington is conducting "very in-depth" negotiations with Hamas, demanding the release of all hostages held in the Gaza Strip. "We are in very deep negotiations with Hamas," Trump told reporters at the White House, noting that "it's going to be a tough, tough situation" if the group continues to hold Israeli hostages. "We've said, 'Let them all go. Let them all go now. Much better things will happen with them, but if you don't let them all go, it's going to be tough and it's going to be a tough situation.'" Trump said some of Hamas's demands were "good," without elaborating. About 50 hostages are still being held by Hamas in Gaza, and 20 are believed to be alive. But Trump added, "Among the 20 (living) hostages, there may be some who have recently passed away." He said the massive protests in Israel over the hostages "put Israel in a tough spot." The US president promised a quick end to the war in Gaza during his election campaign, but a resolution appears imminent. Hamas has said it will release some hostages in exchange for a temporary ceasefire, while Trump has reiterated his desire for the full release of the hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war in Gaza will not end until all hostages are released, Hamas is disarmed, Israel imposes security control over the Strip, and an alternative civil administration is formed. Hamas is demanding an end to the war and a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Israel strikes high-rise building, threatens to hit more in Gaza City offensive
Associated Press/September 05, 2025
Israel struck a high-rise building in Gaza City on Friday after an evacuation warning, as the military stepped up operations aimed at seizing control of the famine-stricken city of some 1 million Palestinians. Strikes elsewhere in Gaza City killed at least 27 people, health officials said. The military accused Hamas militants of using high-rises in the city for surveillance and planned ambushes, and said it would carry out "precise, targeted strikes" on militant infrastructure in the coming days. Israel has begun mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists and is repeating evacuation warnings as part of its plan to widen its offensive, which has sparked opposition domestically and condemnation abroad. Palestinians said Friday's strike targeted the Mushtaha tower in Rimal, an upscale neighborhood before the war. Gaza City resident Ahmed al-Boari said people fleeing Israeli operations elsewhere in the city had sought shelter in and around the building. Satellite imagery showed a large number of tents nearby. It was not immediately clear if anyone was wounded or killed in the strike. Israel said it struck the building because it was used by Hamas for surveillance. Photos of the building taken before Friday's strike showed that its roof was already heavily damaged from earlier raids.
Fears grow as Israeli forces advance
Israel has declared Gaza City, in the north of the territory, to be a combat zone. Parts of the city are already considered "red zones" where Palestinians have been ordered to evacuate ahead of expected heavy fighting. That has left residents on edge, including many who returned after fleeing the city in the initial stages of the war, which has already displaced around 90% of the territory's population. The city's Shifa Hospital said 27 people were killed in Israeli strikes overnight into Friday, including six members of a single family. The Israeli military says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because the militants operate in densely-populated areas. The offensive has also sparked widespread protests among Israelis who fear it will endanger hostages still held in Gaza, some of whom are believed to be in Gaza City. There are 48 such hostages, 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive. The protesters accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the war in order to satisfy his far-right governing partners instead of reaching a ceasefire with Hamas to bring the hostages home. "The government of Israel is waging a war of attrition against us, against the citizens of Israel as a whole, and against the families of the hostages in particular," said Lishay Lavi-Miran, the wife of hostage Omri Miran.
Hamas video shows hostages
Hamas released a propaganda video Friday of two hostages in Gaza City. The video shows Guy Gilboa-Dalal in a car, at one point joined by another hostage, Alon Ohel.
Gilboa-Dalal speaks, likely under duress, pleading for an end to the war and the return of hostages. He was last seen in a video more than six months ago with another hostage, Evyatar David, as they watched other hostages being released during a ceasefire.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in their attack on southern Israel that triggered the war on Oct. 7, 2023. Most have since been released in ceasefires or other agreements.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says women and children make up around half the dead. Israel says the war will continue until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is disarmed, and that it will retain open-ended security control of the territory of some 2 million Palestinians. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Protests against U.S. sanctions on Palestinian civil society
Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups protested new U.S. sanctions aimed at Palestinian civil society, saying in a joint statement that they would inflict "severe harm on key human rights organizations that have worked for decades to protect Palestinians."
The Trump administration on Thursday announced sanctions on three Palestinian groups — Al Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The new measures would make it harder for them to receive donations from the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was targeting the groups over their involvement with the International Criminal Court's efforts to investigate, arrest and prosecute Israelis.
Last year, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, alleging crimes against humanity in Gaza. The United States and Israel have rejected the allegations and the U.S. has sanctioned a number of ICC judges and prosecutors.
"The U.S. is effectively punishing the very act of addressing human rights violations and abuses," said Ammar Dwaik, head of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights. "This criminalizes accountability and sets a dangerous precedent worldwide that governments can silence investigators."

Israeli forces shoot dead Palestinian near West Bank checkpoint
Agence France Presse/September 05, 2025
The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces shot dead a 57-year-old man near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Friday, while the military said it had "eliminated the terrorist".In a statement, the Palestinian health ministry announced "the martyrdom of citizen Ahmed Abdel Fattah Shahada... by occupation bullets," near a checkpoint south of Nablus in the northern West Bank late on Friday. The Israeli military said in a statement that "a terrorist arrived at (a) checkpoint and hurled a suspicious object at (Israeli) soldiers operating in the area.""The terrorist did not comply to (Israeli military) instructions, thereafter the soldiers followed standard operating procedures and eliminated the terrorist in order to remove the threat," it added. It said no Israeli soldiers were injured. Violence has surged in the Palestinian territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967, since the start of the Gaza war nearly two years ago. Since Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023, at least 973 Palestinians, including militants, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers, according to figures from the Palestinian health ministry. During the same period, at least 36 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.

Arab bloc says no peace without end to 'hostile' Israel actions
Agence France Presse/September 05, 2025
The Arab League has said that peaceful coexistence in the Middle East cannot be achieved without a Palestinian state and an end to what it described as Israel's "hostile practices".
In a resolution submitted by Egypt and Saudi Arabia and adopted on Thursday, the League said that "the failure to reach a just solution to the Palestinian cause and the hostile practices of the occupying power" remain major obstacles to "peaceful coexistence" in the region.
The resolution was part of a wider meeting in Cairo which wrapped up on Friday with Arab foreign ministers endorsing a "Joint Vision for Security and Cooperation in the region".
The meeting came as Israeli forces intensified their military offensive around Gaza City -- the territory's largest urban center -- and just days after Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for annexation of swathes of the West Bank to "bury the idea of a Palestinian state". In the resolution, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, the Arab bloc said that lasting peace, cooperation and coexistence in the Middle East are not possible while Israel continues to occupy Arab land or "issues implicit threats to occupy or annex further Arab lands".Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with Israel.
The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalized relations with Israel in 2020 under the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords. However, Saudi Arabia's own normalization talks with Israel were frozen after Hamas's October 2023 attack sparked the Gaza war.
In its resolution, the League said any lasting settlement must be based on a two-state solution and the 2022 Arab Peace Initiative, which offers a full normalization of relations in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied in 1967.

Hamas releases video showing two Israeli hostages held in Gaza
Agence France Presse/September 05, 2025
The armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas released footage on Friday purporting to show two hostages seized on October 7, 2023 alive in Gaza City late last month.
The video shows one hostage in a car being driven through a neighborhood with destroyed buildings, calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to carry out a planned military offensive to conquer Gaza City. Israeli media identified him as Guy Gilboa Dalal, who was attending the Nova music festival in southern Israel when he was abducted by militants during their unprecedented attack nearly two years ago. In the video released on Friday, he says in Hebrew that he is in Gaza City and that the footage was filmed on August 28, 2025. Towards the end of the clip, he is shown meeting another captive, whose family have asked that he not be identified. AFP was unable to immediately verify the video or the date it was filmed. In February, Hamas published a video showing two Israelis including Gilboa Dalal in a vehicle watching a hostage release ceremony during a brief ceasefire.

UAE says Israeli annexation of West Bank would cross a ‘red line’
Arab News/September 05, 2025
DUBAI: The UAE has warned Israel that any move to annex parts of the occupied Palestinian territories would cross a “red line” and destabilize the region, underscoring the UAE’s support for Palestinian statehood despite its normalization of ties with Israel in recent years. The Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported that Khalifa Shaheen Al-Marar, a UAE minister of state, confirmed the Emirati stance on Thursday following the conclusion of the 164th session of the Council of Arab Foreign Ministers.
The rebuke had been circulating in the press after statements made by Emirati special envoy Lana Nusseibeh in a Times of Israel interview earlier in the week.
“Israel’s annexation of the West Bank or any part of the occupied Palestinian territories represents a red line, and taking such a step would undermine regional security,” Al-Marar said. He said the Emirates were committed to protecting Palestinian rights and pursuing a two-state solution as the only viable path to a comprehensive peace.
He added that the Cairo meetings, chaired by the UAE, produced a consensus among Arab states on the urgent need to halt the war in Gaza, reject Israeli displacement policies, and prevent any attempt to erase the Palestinian cause through annexation.
“The UAE continues to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and is proceeding, within the framework of its relations with sisterly Arab states, to find a solution that ensures halting the war and restoring stability in the Strip, followed by necessary political and humanitarian arrangements,” Al-Marar said. The UAE normalized relations with Israel in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords, becoming the first Gulf state to formally establish diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. The move opened avenues for trade, investment, and technology cooperation, according to WAM, non-oil bilateral trade volume between the UAE and Israel reached more than $2.5 billion in 2022. But the relationship has been complicated by Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and the stalled peace process with the Palestinians. Emirati officials have repeatedly balanced deepening economic and diplomatic engagement with Israel against firm rhetorical support for Palestinian rights.
In recent years, the UAE has also used its position as a regional mediator — engaging with the US, European powers, and Arab states to press for de-escalation in Gaza and for renewed international commitment to a two-state solution.

Pope insists on 2-state solution to end Gaza war during meeting with Israel president
Associated Press/September 05, 2025
Pope Leo XIV and his top diplomats thave old Israel's president that a two-state solution was the "only way out of the war," as the Vatican called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and entry of humanitarian aid to famine-stricken Palestinians there.
The Vatican issued Thursday an unusually detailed statement following Leo's meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who also met with the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin and foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. Herzog, for his part, said he had asked Leo to meet with families of the hostages, and called for intensified international efforts to secure their release. The audience marked the first by history's first American pope with the Israeli head of state. Leo spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July after an Israeli shell slammed into the only Catholic church in Gaza, killing three people and wounding the parish priest. The Vatican has tried to maintain its tradition of diplomatic neutrality throughout the war, calling for the return of hostages while denouncing Israel's attacks against civilians in Gaza. But both Pope Francis before, and Leo since his election in May, have voiced mounting outrage at Israel's actions in Gaza, with the late pope calling for an investigation to determine if they constituted genocide.
In its statement after the audience, the Vatican said that during the talks the Vatican conveyed hope "that negotiations would resume promptly so that, with goodwill and courageous decisions, as well as the support of the international community, it would be possible to secure the release of all hostages, urgently achieve a permanent ceasefire, facilitate the safe entry of humanitarian aid into the most affected areas, and ensure full respect for humanitarian law, as well as the legitimate aspirations of both peoples."
It repeated the Holy See's longstanding support for a Palestinian state. "Discussions focused on how to guarantee a future for the Palestinian people and peace and stability in the region, with the Holy See reiterating the two-state solution as the only way out of the ongoing war," it said. Herzog said Israel was striving "in every possible way" to bring the hostages home and was determined to work for "peace, tranquility and stability" in the region. In a statement, Herzog's office said he described Israel's efforts to facilitate aid to Palestinians in Gaza, and said the talks also included discussions about the rise of antisemitism worldwide and the importance of protecting Christian minorities in the Middle East.
"The very fact that Pope Leo XIV, who has only just begun his tenure, received the president of the state of Israel in the Vatican is a very important statement. It reflects the great significance of the relationship between the Holy See and the State of Israel, and of course with the Jewish people, and the importance of the very sensitive issues and challenges we experience today," he said. Herzog's role as Israeli president is largely ceremonial. A former Labor party leader, he has called for unity and compromise since taking office.
Herzog's office had initially said the audience came at Leo's invitation, but the Vatican disputed that. Hamas took 251 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, in the attack that also killed about 1,200 people and triggered the war. Most hostages have been released during previous ceasefires or other deals. Israel has rescued eight hostages alive. Of the 50 still in Gaza, Israeli officials believe around 20 are still alive.
Before his death in April, Pope Francis regularly called for the release of hostages and met with their relatives at the Vatican. But he also labeled Israel's attacks in Gaza "immoral" and disproportionate and called for an investigation to determine if they constituted genocide. Israel has denied the genocide charge, says it only targets militants and takes measures to spare civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas. Leo, who was elected history's first American pope in May, has continued Francis' tough line. He has called for the release of hostages but demanded Israel stop the "collective punishment" and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza.
Last week the 69-year-old former missionary called for a permanent ceasefire, the safe entry of humanitarian aid and for humanitarian law to be fully respected.

WHO chief urges Israel to stop starvation ‘catastrophe’
AFP/September 05, 2025
GENEVA: The World Health Organization chief on Friday urged Israel to stop the “catastrophe” of people starving to death in Gaza, saying at least 370 people have died from malnutrition since the war began. “This is a catastrophe that Israel could have prevented, and could stop at any time,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Starvation of civilians as a method of war is a war crime that can never be tolerated: doing so in one conflict risks legitimising its use in future conflicts,” he said. His comments came two weeks after the UN declared a famine in Gaza, blaming the “systematic obstruction” of humanitarian deliveries by Israel. The Health Ministry in Gaza reported on Friday that 373 people, including 134 children, had died from starvation and malnutrition in the besieged Palestinian territory since the war there erupted in October 2023. Tedros repeated the number and said that it included “more than 300 just in the past two months.”“People are starving to death while the food that could save them sits on trucks a short distance away,” he lamented. “The most intolerable part of this man-made disaster is that it could be stopped right now,” he said, questioning why Israel was allowing the situation to persist. “The starvation of the people of Gaza will not make Israel safer, nor will it facilitate the release of the hostages,” he insisted. The WHO chief also stressed that “where hunger goes, disease follows.”“Lack of food and clean water and cramped living conditions are leaving people with weakened immune systems exposed to more disease,” he said. He said that in the past month alone, more than 100 cases had been reported of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which can occur after another infection and lead to paralysis. He also decried that there are currently more than 15,000 patients in Gaza in need of urgent specialized care who are awaiting evacuation. “More than 700 people have died while waiting for medical evacuation, including almost 140 children,” he said. “We call on the government of Israel to end this inhumane war,” Tedros said. “If it will not, I call on its allies to use their influence to stop it.”

US sanctions Palestinian rights groups over ICC probe
AFP/September 06, 2025
WASHINGTON: The United States has imposed sanctions on three leading Palestinian NGOs, accusing them of supporting International Criminal Court efforts to prosecute Israeli nationals. The move is the latest in Washington’s effort to hobble the ICC, which has sought arrest warrants for Israeli officials over alleged war crimes in Gaza. The court has also pursued cases against Hamas leaders. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday designated Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights under an executive order targeting entities that assist ICC investigations into Israel. “These entities have directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent,” Rubio said. In response, the three NGOS condemned the sanctions, saying in a joint statement that the United States had “chosen to safeguard and entrench Israel’s Zionist settler-colonial apartheid regime and its unlawful occupation.”They said the move was part of a “decades-long campaign by Israel and its allies to erase the Palestinian people and systematically deny their collective right to self-determination and return.”The United States, Russia and Israel are among the nations that reject the ICC. “We oppose the ICC’s politicized agenda, overreach, and disregard for the sovereignty of the United States and that of our allies,” Rubio said in a statement. Last month, the United States imposed sanctions on two ICC judges and two prosecutors, including ones from allies France and Canada. In June, Rubio sanctioned four judges from the court. “The United States will continue to respond with significant and tangible consequences to protect our troops, our sovereignty, and our allies from the ICC’s disregard for sovereignty,” Rubio warned.
‘Completely unacceptable’ -
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk called the latest US move “completely unacceptable.”“For decades now, these NGOs have been performing vital human rights work, particularly on accountability for human rights violations,” Turk said in a statement. “The sanctions will have a chilling effect not only on civil society in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, but potentially globally,” he added. Amnesty International also condemned the new sanctions as a “deeply troubling and shameful assault on human rights and the global pursuit of justice.”
“These organizations carry out vital and courageous work, meticulously documenting human rights violations under the most horrifying conditions,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, a senior director at Amnesty. She accused the Trump administration of seeking to “dismantle the very foundation of international justice and shield Israel from accountability for its crimes.” The ICC’s prosecution alleges Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, including by intentionally targeting civilians and using starvation as a method of war.
Israel launched the massive offensive in response to an unprecedented attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, in which mostly civilians were killed. The ICC has also sought the arrest of former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, who has since been confirmed killed by Israel.

Israel says expecting one million Gazans to flee new offensive
Agence France Presse/September 05, 2025
Israel estimates that its imminent offensive on Gaza City would displace one million Palestinians, a senior military official said Wednesday, as Gaza's civil defense reported dozens killed across the territory. In Jerusalem, meanwhile, hundreds of Israeli protestors took to the streets to call for a truce and hostage release deal after nearly two years of war. Israel's military has been building up its forces for the planned operation to seize Gaza City, the Palestinian territory's largest urban center located in its northern part, despite mounting global concern for Palestinian civilians suffering dire humanitarian conditions.
Military chief Eyal Zamir said troops were already "intensifying our combat operations", according to an army statement. The senior official from COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said "approximately 70,000" Palestinians had already left Gaza's north in recent days, fleeing the Israeli advance. Briefing journalists on condition of anonymity, the official said Israeli authorities expected "a million people" to flee south, without giving a specific timeframe. The vast majority of Gaza's more than two million people have been displaced at least once during nearly two years of war. According to U.N. estimates, nearly a million people currently live in and around Gaza City, where famine has been declared. In late August, an Israeli military spokesman said the evacuation of Gaza City was "inevitable", while the Red Cross has warned that any Israeli attempt to do so would be impossible in a safe and dignified manner.
'Waiting 700 days
Families of hostages held in Gaza and Israeli anti-war groups called for a three-day protest in Jerusalem, culminating on Friday -- day 700 since the Palestinian group Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on Israel in October 2023. The mother of soldier Matan Angrest, who is held in Gaza, appealed to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a news conference. "I have been waiting 700 days for you to get my child out of hell, and it is in your hands. I could see Matan again tomorrow, with a single decision on your part," said Anat Angrest. Of the 251 hostages seized during the Hamas attack, 47 are still in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead. Last month Hamas said it had accepted a new truce proposal that would include phased hostage release. But as mediators have awaited a formal Israeli response, Netanyahu said the war would only end on Israel's terms as he pushed ahead with plans for the Gaza City offensive. "Instead of seizing the agreement on the table to reach a comprehensive deal, you choose to continue sacrificing them, abandoning them," Angrest said. Nira Sharabi, whose husband Yossi was killed in captivity, called for an end to the war. "Military pressure endangers the lives of the hostages" and "jeopardizes the possibility of bringing back the dead" for burial, she said. During the protests in Jerusalem, a bin was set ablaze near the prime minister's residence, and the fire spread and destroyed a car belonging to a reservist. Police called it "a red line that has been crossed", while Justice Minister Yariv Levin denounced "terror" on the part of the demonstrators.
Deadly strikes -
On the ground, Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 62 people on Wednesday. Umm Abd Abu Al-Jubain told AFP she lost her daughter, son-in-law and several other relatives in a strike on Gaza City. The bodies were "in pieces, and we pulled this boy out" from under the rubble, she said of her grandson, who survived the strike. "Your father and mother have gone and left you, my dear," Abu al-Jubain told the bruised boy, holding him in her arms. As Israel prepares for Gaza City's evacuation, the COGAT official said a planned "humanitarian area" would be set up, extending from a cluster of refugee camps in central Gaza to the southern area of Al-Mawasi and eastwards.Israel had designated the coastal area of Al-Mawasi a humanitarian zone in the early days of the war, but has repeatedly struck it since. In mid-August, U.N. human rights office spokesman Thameen al-Kheetan said Palestinians in Al-Mawasi had "little or no access to essential services and supplies, including food, water, electricity and tents". Hamas' 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 63,746 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

Gates of hell’: Israeli minister issues warning as Gaza operation continues
LBCI/September 05/2025
Scenes of explosions in central Gaza reflect the “gates of hell” imagery used by Defense Minister Israel Katz, who warned that once opened, the “gates” would not close until Hamas accepts Israel’s conditions to end the war, chief among them the release of all Israeli hostages and the group’s disarmament. On the ground, the Israeli army’s strategy in the first phase of the battle has focused on destroying high-rise buildings in the Gaza Strip, citing claims that Hamas uses them as bases to control the city. Israel also announced it has gained control over 40% of the city. Katz’s threats followed Hamas’ release of a video showing two Israeli captives, which fueled anger over the government’s insistence on occupying Gaza despite warnings about the risks to the hostages. Contrary to reports suggesting opposition to the Gaza operation, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir supports the occupation and expects the operation to take an extended period. UN chief urges immediate Gaza ceasefire, warns of casualties from Israeli operation. Meanwhile, the army acknowledged in a report that the danger to the hostages is increasing as hope for a near-term deal fades. At the same time, the army continues instructing residents to leave their homes for the south and has reinforced the area with vehicles and combat units, amid threats of a ground operation and military control of Gaza if the hostage issue remains unresolved.

UN General Assembly backs Saudi-French plan to resume two-state summit on Sept. 22
Ephrem Kossaify/Arab News/September 05, 2025
NEW YORK CITY: The UN General Assembly on Friday voted to resume a high-level international summit on the two-state solution on Sept. 22, reviving a process that was suspended during the summer amid escalating violence in the Middle East. It followed a proposal by Saudi Arabia and France that was adopted despite strong objections from Israel and the US, both of which disassociated themselves from the decision and described the initiative as politically motivated and harmful to peace efforts. The High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine initially convened during the 79th session of the General Assembly but was suspended on July 30. The conference will now resume during the General Assembly’s 80th session, at the level of heads of state and government, underscoring the need for what proponents describe as an urgent international push toward a just and lasting peace between Israel and Palestine. Speaking before the vote on the proposal, the Saudi representative to the UN, Abdulaziz Alwasil, delivering remarks on behalf of Riyadh and Paris, said the initiative was not aimed at any particular side or party but was “a reflection of our shared commitment to uphold international law and relevant UN resolutions.”He added: “The situation on the ground in Palestine has never been more dire. Escalating violence, deepening humanitarian suffering and the erosion of hope for peace all underscore the urgency of our collective responsibility.
“This process cannot be allowed to stall. The resumption of the conference is a substantive commitment by the international community to act with resolve, consistency and responsibility.”Israel rejected the decision, accusing backers of the proposal of “procedural bullying” and complaining of a lack of transparency in the process behind it. “This is not a serious attempt at peacemaking, it is a performance, a publicity stunt,” the Israeli representative said. “Far from advancing peace, it threatens to prolong the war, embolden Hamas, and undermine real diplomatic efforts.”
The representative warned that such gestures send the wrong signal to militants, and that terrorist groups such as Hamas have publicly praised recent international initiatives, interpreting them as validation of their tactics. The US also formally opposed the decision by the General Assembly, warning that the conference itself, along with the resolution mandating it, lacks legitimacy. “We were surprised and dismayed to see this proposal added to the agenda only yesterday,” the US envoy said, bemoaning a lack of transparency surrounding the text, the timing and the budgetary implications of the move. Describing the resumption of the summit as an “ill-timed publicity stunt,” the envoy warned that the conference could embolden Hamas and prolong the conflict, and stated that Washington would not participate. “This is an insult to the victims of Oct. 7,” the US representative said, referring to the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in 2023. “Our focus remains on serious diplomacy, not stage-managed conferences designed to manufacture the appearance of relevance.”

Trump says India and Russia appear ‘lost’ to ‘deepest, darkest China’
Reuters/September 06, 2025
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday said India and Russia seem to have been “lost” to China after their leaders met with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, expressing his annoyance at New Delhi and Moscow as Beijing pushes a new world order. “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” Trump wrote in a social media post accompanying a photo of the three leaders together at Xi’s summit in China. Later on Friday, however, he told reporters he didn’t think the US had lost India to China. “I don’t think we have,” he said. “I’ve been very disappointed that India would be buying so much oil, as you know, from Russia. And I let them know that.” Asked about Trump’s social media post, India’s foreign ministry told reporters in New Delhi that it had no comment. The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment and representatives for the Kremlin could not be immediately reached. Xi hosted more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Putin and Modi were seen holding hands at the summit as they walked toward Xi before all three men stood side by side. “I’ll always be friends with Modi,” Trump told reporters on Friday. “He’s a great prime minister. He’s great. I’ll always be friends, but I just don’t like what he’s doing at this particular moment. But India and the United States have a special relationship. There’s nothing to worry about. We just have moments on occasion.” Trump has chilled US-India ties amid trade tensions and other disputes. Trump this week said he was “very disappointed” in Putin but not worried about growing Russia-China ties. Trump has been frustrated at his inability to convince Russia and Ukraine to reach an end to their war, more than three years after Russian forces invaded Ukraine. He told reporters on Thursday night at the White House that he planned to talk to Putin soon.

Putin says foreign troops deployed to Ukraine before peace deal 'legitimate targets'
Associated Press/September 05, 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that any foreign troops deployed to Ukraine before a peace agreement has been signed would be considered "legitimate targets" by Moscow's forces. Putin's comments came hours after European leaders repledged their commitment to a potential peacekeeping force. "If any troops appear there, especially now while fighting is ongoing, we assume that they will be legitimate targets," he said during a panel at the Eastern Economic Forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok. Putin also dismissed the idea of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine after a final peace deal, saying "no one should doubt" that Moscow would comply with a treaty to halt its 3½-year full-scale invasion of its neighbor. He said that security guarantees would be needed for both Russia and Ukraine. The Russian leader's comments follow remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that 26 of Ukraine's allies have pledged to deploy troops as a "reassurance force" for Ukraine once fighting ends. Macron spoke after a meeting in Paris of the so-called coalition of the willing, a group of 35 countries that support Ukraine. He said that 26 of the countries had committed to deploying troops to Ukraine — or to maintaining a presence on land, at sea or in the air — to help guarantee the country's security the day after any ceasefire or peace is achieved. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, almost eight years after Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. Moscow has repeatedly described the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force "unacceptable."

Houthi Arrests of UN Staff Threaten Aid Operations in Yemen
Taiz : Mohammed Nasser/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 06/2025
A new wave of arrests by Yemen’s Houthi movement has sparked fear among the United Nations and international aid workers operating in rebel-held areas, raising concerns that life-saving assistance could grind to a halt. At least 18 UN employees have been detained in recent weeks, part of a broader campaign that aid officials say has created an atmosphere of terror. UNICEF warned that the risk of hunger and protection crises is reaching alarming levels, driven by displacement and the collapse of livelihoods. More than 12.5 million people in Houthi-controlled areas are in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to UN figures. Several aid workers told Asharq Al-Awsat they now face an impossible choice: flee Houthi areas - losing their jobs and income in a country where the economy has collapsed - or remain under the constant threat of arrest. Many believe the campaign, in which detained staff are accused of espionage, is aimed at sidelining employees unwilling to pledge loyalty to the group. If veteran aid workers are forced out, the sources warned, UN agencies could be left with no choice but to hire staff aligned with Houthi interests. This strategy mirrors the group’s closure of local NGOs, which enabled it to control beneficiary lists and aid distribution as the sole local partner in large swathes of Yemen. Houthi leaders have dismissed international condemnation, claiming they are dismantling “spy cells” involved in crimes, including the recent Israeli strike that killed members of their cabinet. In a statement, the group insisted its actions comply with Islamic law, national legislation, and international human rights norms, though it argued UN immunities do not cover espionage. UN envoy Hans Grundberg warned that detentions, raids on UN offices, and confiscation of assets pose a “serious threat” to the organization’s ability to deliver assistance, stressing that all staff must be protected under international law. UNICEF confirmed that some of its staff, including the deputy country director in Sana’a, are among the detainees. The agency highlighted that 19.5 million Yemenis will need humanitarian aid this year, with 500,000 children at risk of acute malnutrition and nearly 18 million people lacking access to basic healthcare. Poor sanitation could leave 17.4 million exposed to deadly diseases, while 4.5 million children remain out of school. The UN’s 2025 response plan seeks $2.47 billion to reach 10.5 million of the most vulnerable, but only 13.6 percent has been funded. UNICEF alone requires $212 million to assist 8 million people, including 5.2 million children. UN agencies continue to stress that while aid is essential to save lives, sustainable peace, economic recovery, and long-term development are the only way to reduce dependence and build resilience across Yemen.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on September 05-06/2025
Bangladesh Racing Toward a Caliphate
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury/Gatestone Institute./September 05/2025
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21876/bangladesh-toward-caliphate
In an unprecedented escalation of Islamist persecution, Jamaat-e-Islami — the Bangladeshi ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) — has begun imposing the jizya tax on Hindus and other non-Muslims, openly declaring its intent to replace the country's secular democratic framework with Islamic sharia law. Backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, and linked to global jihadist networks, including Al Qaeda, Jamaat-e-Islami's move comes just months after a coup that brought Muhammad Yunus to power, triggering a rapid rise in radical Islamic influence. This development threatens not only Bangladesh's fragile democracy but also poses a strategic security risk to South Asia and the wider free world.
In the United States, Jamaat-e-Islami maintains deep ties with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). According to the Observer Research Foundation, these organizations have succeeded in securing funding from U.S. federal agencies — particularly USAID, the Department of Agriculture, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
In 2020, Sam Westrop documented in the Middle East Quarterly that millions of federal taxpayer dollars have flowed to US-based Islamist groups with alleged terror connections — a trend that continued even during the first Trump administration: "A variety of other dangerous Islamist groups continue to enjoy government approval and partnership. USAID openly urges Americans to donate to terror-linked charities such as LIFE for Relief and Development..."
Under interim head of government Muhammad Yunus, radical Islamist groups have grown emboldened, openly pushing for the transformation of the country into a theocratic state.
This vacuum has allowed ISIS and Al-Qaeda to expand their regional presence. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, seeing a "golden opportunity", has intensified its subversive operations in both Bangladesh and other neighboring countries.
This development is not just a domestic issue — it is a warning to the world about the resurgence of militant Islamism in South Asia.
In an unprecedented escalation of Islamist persecution, Jamaat-e-Islami — the Bangladeshi ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood — has begun imposing the jizya tax on Hindus and other non-Muslims, openly declaring its intent to replace the country's secular democratic framework with Islamic sharia law. Pictured: Thousands of members of the Bangladeshi Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir hold a "March For Khilafah" through the streets of Dhaka, demanding that the country's secular democracy be replaced by an Islamic caliphate, on March 7, 2025. (Photo by Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images)
In an unprecedented escalation of Islamist persecution, Jamaat-e-Islami — the Bangladeshi ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) — has begun imposing the jizya tax on Hindus and other non-Muslims, openly declaring its intent to replace the country's secular democratic framework with Islamic sharia law.
Backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, and linked to global jihadist networks, including Al Qaeda, Jamaat-e-Islami's move comes just months after a coup that brought Muhammad Yunus to power, triggering a rapid rise in radical Islamic influence. This development threatens not only Bangladesh's fragile democracy but also poses a strategic security risk to South Asia and the wider free world.
On July 25, 2025, local media reported that Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, president of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, publicly declared that Hindus and other non-Muslims must pay the jizya tax. According to one report from July 31:
"Non-Muslims living in Bangladesh should be made to pay the 'Jizya tax'. Since Muslims pay 'Zakat' (A portion of their wealth donated for religious purposes), if equal rights are desired, then Hindus should pay the Jizya. This is what is correct as per Sharia law, said a leader of the political party Jamaat-e-Islami in a public gathering."
The jizya is a tax historically imposed on non-Muslims in Islamic states and empires, as a symbol of subjugation and second-class status. Its collection in present-day Bangladesh marks a dangerous shift from the country's secular founding principles toward a theocratic order.
Global context: Muslim Brotherhood under scrutiny
On July 16, US Senator Ted Cruz introduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025, aimed at designating the MB as a foreign terrorist organization. This move, if passed, would have major implications for groups tied to the MB worldwide, including Jamaat-e-Islami.
However, security experts caution that such a designation, while significant, would not automatically halt the MB's global expansion. The organization has proven adept at using political, financial and social fronts to continue its influence covertly.
Jamaat-e-Islami's troubled past and international ties
Jamaat-e-Islami sided with Pakistan in Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence, the organization actively collaborating with the Pakistani military during the genocide of Bengali civilians. Today, the organization enjoys continued patronage from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, as well as various Islamist and jihadist organizations.
In the United States, Jamaat-e-Islami maintains deep ties with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). According to the Observer Research Foundation, these organizations have succeeded in securing funding from U.S. federal agencies — particularly USAID, the Department of Agriculture, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
In 2020, Sam Westrop documented in the Middle East Quarterly that millions of federal taxpayer dollars have flowed to US-based Islamist groups with alleged terror connections — a trend that continued even during the first Trump administration:
"A variety of other dangerous Islamist groups continue to enjoy government approval and partnership. USAID openly urges Americans to donate to terror-linked charities such as LIFE for Relief and Development, the target of multiple federal terror finance investigations, which led to several convictions of its officials. USAID also encourages donations to the Zakat Foundation of America, a charity that funds groups in Gaza linked to Hamas and is closely tied to the Islamist Turkish regime and to Islamic Relief, the flagship financial institution of the global Muslim Brotherhood.
"Islamic Relief is the largest Muslim charity in the Western world. Yet it has been banned in the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and regions of Bangladesh where Rohingya refugees live because of its reported radicalization efforts. It has also been named a leading Islamist institution by German and Swedish officials. Yet Islamic Relief still enjoys a close relationship with various components of the U.S. government. Both the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Emergency Management Agency list it as a partner. In May, USAID hosted Islamic Relief for an iftar meal. And in 2018, Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore agreed to be the guest of honor at an Islamic Relief reception on Capitol Hill.
Other endorsements of Islamist groups announced by federal bodies include the terror-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was established as part of a Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas network in the United States, and the Islamic Circle of North America, which is linked to the violent South Asian Islamist movement Jamaat-e-Islami. In addition, officials at one of CAIR's most extreme branches, CAIR-Florida, have been meeting Department of Justice and DHS officials."
Bangladesh's dangerous turn toward theocracy
Since last year's regime change coup, Bangladesh's secular political foundations have been eroding rapidly. Under interim head of government Muhammad Yunus, radical Islamist groups have grown emboldened, openly pushing for the transformation of the country into a theocratic state.
This vacuum has allowed ISIS and Al-Qaeda to expand their regional presence. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, seeing a "golden opportunity", has intensified its subversive operations in both Bangladesh and other neighboring countries.
In recent months, Al-Qaeda operatives and other Islamist extremists have increased their activities in Bangladesh. Last week, Ziaul Huq Zia — a notorious Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist and one of the US State Department's most wanted fugitives — openly called for establishing offices of terrorist movements from Manipur, Khalistan, and Kashmir inside Bangladesh.
Zia, believed to have secretly returned to Bangladesh after last year's jihadist-backed coup, made his statement in a Facebook post. Strangely, shortly after his post was publicized, the US State Department's website quietly removed its announcement of a $5 million bounty on him.
The alarming implications
The imposition of the jizya tax by Jamaat-e-Islami is not an isolated incident. It is a clear signal that Bangladesh's religious minorities are being systematically targeted under a creeping Sharia-based agenda. This action not only violates the secular principles enshrined in Bangladesh's 1972 Constitution, but also undermines international human rights norms.
The silence of Bangladesh's current interim government on this matter raises troubling questions: Is this the beginning of state-sanctioned religious persecution in Bangladesh? And if so, how far will it go before the international community intervenes?
If the jizya tax collection is allowed to continue unchecked, Bangladesh risks sliding into a medieval-style religious apartheid, where Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and other non-Muslim minorities are reduced to second-class citizens in their own country. This development is not just a domestic issue — it is a warning to the world about the resurgence of militant Islamism in South Asia. The international community, particularly democratic nations that value religious freedom, must act decisively before Bangladesh becomes yet another cautionary tale of a secular state devoured by theocratic extremism.
**Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is an award-winning journalist, writer, and Editor of the newspaper Blitz. He specializes in counterterrorism and regional geopolitics. Follow him on X @Salah_Shoaib
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

China Forgets its Amnesia
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 06/2025
Last week, China hit the world headlines with two events that could change the perception of its role and place in the global system in either negative or positive way.
The first event was the summit of the so-called Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that brought together heads of state from 10 member nations plus another 10 wannabe members. Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the first category along with Indian Premier Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif and a string of Central Asian “stans” plus Iran. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and North Korean leader Kim Jun-un were in the second category. Western pundits saw the summit in Tianjin as an attempt at building a rival pole of power to challenge the United States and its European and Japanese allies. They played he old tune of “a new multipolar world system,” forgetting that in using the geographical term metaphor one can’t have more than two poles.
Let us think out of the box and suggest that the Tianjin summit may turn out to be an example of applying the old Nixon Doctrine in a new context. The Nixon Doctrine was designed to create a new world order in which ensuring peace and security would no longer be the sole responsibility of the Unmuted States. Under it, the US would remain committed to all its treaty obligations, notably via NATO, CENTO and SEATO but would no longer intervene in other military conflicts with boots on the ground.
As a spin off from that doctrine, the US imagined the creation of several “cores of stability” around one or two locally powerful nations to keep peace and security in their respective regions. Under that system the nations included in the “core” would also be able to sort out their own differences and avoid military conflict that might lead to intervention by outside powers. Well, the SCO under Chinese leadership could well develop into such a “core” without necessarily threating the Western powers or Japan.
All SCO members have long-standing territorial and political disputes with deep historic roots. So if the SCO thanks to Chinese mediation and leadership succeeds in sorting out those sources of tension and conflict shouldn’t Tianjin be hailed as a good example of the Nixon Doctrine in action? A careful reading of President Xi Jinping’s speech and the communique issued after the summit shows that China is in no way committing itself to offering military support to any SCO member that might embark on aggression against other nations. In other words, China sees the SCO as a restraining mechanism rather than a cheering chorus for expansionism and aggression. The second event, the huge unprecedented military demonstration in Beijing is also seen by many Western pundits as a sign of Xi’s belligerent intentions. According to that reading, Xi wants to unseat the US as the sole guarantor of what is left of a crumbling world order.
However, a rival reading may be possible.
By showing its newly gained military might, China may well be applying for a seat at the high table. Isn’t the French military parade of 14th July each year bigger than what Xi put on in Beijing? Hasn’t Russia smiled with its military teeth each year in celebrating victory in World War II? Do we need to mention the military parade that President Donald Trump organized on his birthday? When a two-bit despot like Kim Jong Un is allowed his own parade why should anyone begrudge President Xi for having a bite if that apple?
The Beijing parade had a much deeper message. Xi presented it as an homage to China’s role in “defeating fascism” in World War II, thus, for the first time, joining the narrative that propelled the US, the USSR, Britain and China before the Maoist regime, and France into the five leaders of the new world order via the United Nations.In other words, Xi is forgetting the amnesia imposed on China under Mao Zedong with his notorious slogans “destroy the old to build the new” and “forget the past and imagine the future.” For Mao, the regime he created in 1949 was a meteor without a past, hitting the world in its trajectory. The Great Proletarian Cultural revolution was designed to “wipe out the memory of the past.”Yao Wenyuan, a theoretician of that revolution, saw Communist China as “a new horn child” with no memory of what its ancestors did. Thus, pigtails were banned, Ming vases smashed, calligraphy forbidden, classical Chinese music silenced, poetry shunned as a relic of feudalism and old buildings replaced with Stalinist beehive like blocs.
More importantly, Buddhism was repressed and Confucius transformed into an enemy of the people. Under Mao, China’s role in creating the League of Nations and later the United Nations was also forgotten because those events happened before the Communists seized power. Also forgotten was the heroic war that China waged against Japanese aggression during World War II because that happened under Kuomintang nationalist leadership. Maoists were not the first revolutionaries to try to inject amnesia into societies they dominated. The 18th century French revolutionaries, too, changed the calendar to start counting the time from Year 1 that is to say the time they seized power. Xi is trying to end China’s amnesia by reminding his people and the world that China didn’t start with the 1949 Maoist outburst. He is trying to reclaim China’s place as a major power whether we like it or not. It is up to others to see it as a rival, a competitor, a partner or an enemy. A nation without a memory is far more dangerous than one that remembers its family story. A word of warning however: if mismanaged and used for nursing old resentiments historical recall could be as dangerous as amnesia.

Turkiye’s multivector foreign policy both a choice and a necessity
Dr. Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/September 05, 2025
Whether described as hedging, balancing or bargaining, Turkiye’s policies toward the Western and non-Western worlds are shaped by different parameters, shifts and continuities. It is, without doubt, an approach that is difficult to decipher, both for observers and Turkiye’s counterparts.
Back in 2013, when Ankara joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a dialogue partner, it led to confusion and concern within the West, which Turkiye had traditionally been allied to. At the time, observers commented along the lines of: “This organization is the most serious opposition to NATO. On the one hand, you are a NATO member, but on the other, you want to become a member of an anti-NATO organization. This attitude has the potential to change the balance in the world.”
When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who was serving as prime minister at the time — played the Shanghai Cooperation Organization card, many dismissed it as a mere bluff aimed at pressuring NATO and the EU, with which relations had stalled over various issues. However, the Turkish political elite was seriously exploring alternatives and now, more than a decade later, it has become clear that Ankara’s move was far more than just a bluff. This is a strategic move to engage with non-Western powers at a time when US influence appears to be waning
Erdogan was in China this past week, attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit alongside several world leaders. But Turkiye is not on track to become a full member anytime soon. Its existing security commitments, particularly as a NATO member, make such a shift tough. Currently, Turkiye stands out as the only NATO member among the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s list of dialogue partners and the only country still formally pursuing EU accession. Similarly, Turkiye has become the first NATO member to formally express interest in joining BRICS, an economic bloc led by Russia and China under the leadership of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
For Turkiye, holding observer status within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is significant. However, this is not an attempt to replace its Western engagements, but rather a strategic move to also engage with non-Western powers at a time when US influence appears to be waning. Erdogan reaffirmed this approach, saying that engagement with the organization should not be seen as an alternative to Turkiye’s NATO membership or its EU aspirations.
On the sidelines of the Tianjin summit, Erdogan held bilateral talks with the leaders of Russia, China and Iran. His meetings carry particular significance in the current geopolitical context. Although Russia has been cornered due to the war in Ukraine, Iran’s regional influence has diminished amid its war with Israel and China has largely kept its distance from these developments, Turkiye was geographically at the center of all these crises, from Syria to Israel to Ukraine, and, in many ways, the problems of these powers play to Ankara’s advantage.
Turkiye’s mediating between Russia and Ukraine, expanding ties with China and maintaining of a cordial relationship with Iran show how Ankara views its strategic flexibility. This provides it with leverage in its ties with Russia, China and Iran that the Western powers do not have. At the same time, despite all their grievances, it still has influence in Western capitals, which the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states lack.
Turkiye’s approach to Russia, China and Iran differs significantly from that of the West. Ankara is capable of managing its relationship with Tehran as long as Iran does not directly threaten its core interests. The same logic applies to Russia. Turkiye does not view Moscow as a fundamental threat — while the two countries may clash on certain foreign policy issues, they have largely succeeded in managing their differences.
This reflects Turkiye’s multivector foreign policy, which prioritizes cooperation over rivalry and tension. This policy is not based on like-mindedness, but pragmatism and maintaining good relations with one, while not throwing its relationship with the other under the bus. A multivector foreign policy is not only practical for Turkiye but also beneficial for its middle power status, as it gives it the space to maintain a pragmatic equal distance from rival greater powers.
Turkiye has leverage in its ties with Russia, China and Iran that the Western powers do not have. In fact, with both Russia and Iran, Turkiye has demonstrated an approach that the West often cannot pursue: compartmentalization of issues. For example, despite supplying drones to Ukraine, Turkiye has maintained close ties with Moscow. While Western countries have imposed heavy sanctions on Russia, Turkiye’s exports to Moscow have surged. That said, Turkiye’s relationships with both its Western and non-Western partners are not without limits. The Turkish leadership now argues that the country should not be confined to the Western camp alone, carving out a more flexible, multivector foreign policy, which is not always straightforward. This shift in foreign policy is closely tied to changes in the domestic political landscape, which drastically altered after 2016. Since then, Turkiye’s ruling political elite has not only been reshaping the country’s domestic landscape, but also its global engagements by moving beyond its traditional Western alignment, aiming to secure a seat at the table in both non-Western and Western capitals.This is a policy that is distinct from its predecessors. This shift is driven by a growing recognition that the global center of gravity is gradually moving from West to non-West. It also reflects how the current political elites view the international system based on their own values and perceptions. Unlike many observers, I do not see Turkiye as trying to build bridges between non-West and West; rather, it appears to be pursuing a dual-track strategy, engaging with each side based on separate agendas. Thus, Turkiye’s multivector policy is both a necessity due to international dynamics and a choice of its ruling political elite.
**Dr. Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkiye’s relations with the Middle East.

Xi’s military parade showed just how dangerous China has become
Bradley Bowman/New York Post/September 03/2025
https://nypost.com/2025/09/03/opinion/xis-military-parade-showed-just-how-dangerous-china-has-become/
With the leaders of Russia, Iran, and North Korea watching, Beijing conducted a massive parade on Wednesday, demonstrating the results of a years-long effort by the Chinese Communist Party to build a military it hopes can defeat the United States in the Pacific.
Beijing’s growing prowess has eroded American security and increased the likelihood of war in the Taiwan Strait, but it is not too late for Americans to respond.
The top U.S. military officer in the Pacific testified more than two years ago that the People’s Liberation Army “continues the largest, fastest, most comprehensive military buildup since World War II in both the conventional and strategic nuclear domains.”
Unfortunately, the PLA’s capabilities have only improved since then, as the parade and recent assessments by the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence community demonstrate.
Many of the weapons on display in the parade are tailor made for targeting U.S. military forces and possibly deterring a decision by Washington to help Taiwan in a crisis.
That includes several hypersonic YJ-series anti-ship missiles, whose speed and maneuverability may pose serious threats to U.S. naval vessels by making interception more challenging.
The PLA also displayed several intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of targeting the U.S. homeland. This included the DF-61’s apparent public debut at the parade, which underscored China’s progress in expanding its nuclear arsenal.
To make matters worse, “China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are pursuing unprecedented levels of cooperation,” as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine testified in June. That includes broad and deep cooperation among these authoritarian adversaries in the cyber, economic, information warfare, and military domains that is making each adversary more capable in their ongoing or prospective spheres of aggression.
So how should Americans respond?
As a first step, Americans should recognize that our adversaries are waging an information war against us. China and Russia, in particular, seek to divide and distract Americans as much as possible, hoping that we are so dysfunctional at home that we are either unable or unwilling to defend our vital interests abroad.Americans should recognize this fact, unite as much as possible, and begin to go on the offensive in the information domain.
Second, leaders in Washington must ensure we are devoting sufficient resources to defense. America’s military advantages have eroded primarily because we have spent near post-World War II lows on defense as a percentage of GDP.
Devoting sufficient resources to defense will help procure the maximum quantities of key weapons systems and munitions that industry can produce; build additional defense production capacity as quickly as possible; and facilitate faster delivery of decisive combat capabilities to American forces.
Finally, at a time when our adversaries appreciate the value of partners, Americans should not take our unmatched network of allies and partners for granted. The United States is powerful, but given the threats we confront, we need friends more than ever.
That includes our NATO allies, our allies in the Pacific, and partners such as Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel.
But we should also manage relations carefully with countries such as India.
India is a major power and important partner for the United States. A prosperous and powerful India can advance American interests and help prevent Chinese hegemony in the Indo-Pacific. India can create additional dilemmas for Beijing which can help make it think twice about aggression.
To this end, the U.S. and India have significantly increased security cooperation in recent years. That includes a significant increase in India’s purchases of American weapons, as well as regular combined military exercises in both countries. India also is a member of the Quad diplomatic and security partnership, which includes the United States, Japan, and Australia.
Unfortunately, New Delhi’s behavior since Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 large-scale re-invasion of Ukraine has been very disappointing. India’s purchases of discounted Russian oil have surged since then. While India imported less than 1% of its oil from Russia before the invasion, that number reportedly skyrocketed to roughly 45% by May of 2023. Now India is one of the leading customers of Russian oil, providing Putin valuable revenue to support his brutal war of aggression.
President Donald Trump is right to try to end India’s purchase of Russian oil, but his administration should pursue this policy in a way that does not destroy important progress in Washington’s relationship with New Delhi and deprive the United States of a necessary partner in the effort to counter Beijing.
Americans are right to be concerned about what they saw in the parade in Beijing. But if we take the necessary steps, we can continue to deter aggression in the Pacific and protect America’s vital interests.
**Bradley Bowman serves as senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Slected X tweets For September 05/2025
Hanin Ghaddar
Bottom line: the #LAF does not want to confront #Hezbollah, and that’s also a political decision. The lack of a timeline - with clear phases for implementation - gives the Shia duo a lot of leverage to prepare for elections and continue rebuilding their political and financial infrastructures. Disarmament needs to be done swiftly and effectively, by the end of the year. Otherwise, Lebanon would’ve exposed itself to another Israeli war.
http://mtv.com.lb/News/1608842

Youssef Raggi
Lebanon affirms that decisions regarding the control of arms are a sovereign matter. The government’s objective is to extend the authority of the state across all Lebanese territory, and we categorically reject any external interference in our internal affairs.

Rama Hodefa
https://x.com/i/status/1963698041862725846
Subtitled video: In his latest speech, Sheikh Hikmat Al Hijari outlined key demands, calling for the right to self-determination and independence, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, the complete withdrawal from villages held by government forces, and the establishment of an international crossing for the governorate. Among other points, his statement underscores a resolute stance on regional sovereignty.
#Druze #Syria #Sweida