English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  September 25/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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Bible Quotations For today
No one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 09/38-50/:”John said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward. ‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. ‘For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.’ “.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 24-25/2025
God punishes us for our infidelity and lack of faith in Michel Aoun, who has succumbed to all the temptations of Lucifer, and in his son-in-law, Gebran the Magnitsky (sanctioned under the US Magnitsky Act), and in all those who are of their Trojan ilk/Elias Bejjani/September 23, 2025
Naim Qassem lives in a pathological state of denial. His constant existence in an underground pit has rotted his mind and distanced him from reality./Elias Bejjani/September 20/2025
This is how Hezbollah backed down from the "Roché Rock" issue
Report: Barrack voiced remarks after being criticized in Washington
After Barrack controversial remarks, Salam reiterates commitment to disarm Hezbollah
Aoun says committed to preserve unity, using force to disarm Hezbollah out of question
Khamenei says Hezbollah a continuing force after Nasrallah
Iran's Ghalibaf says Hezbollah is stronger and more united than ever
Hezbollah weakened but financially resilient a year after Israel war
The Art of Losing: Hezbollah’s Stubborn Path
Hezbollah denies issuing statement on planned Raoucheh event
Report: Hezbollah's Raouche event authorized but not rock illumination
Inside Lebanon’s shadow economy: The Captagon trade and its toll
Lebanon Steps Up Against Captagon Trafficking Network/Bassam Abou Zeid/This Is Beirut/September 24/2025
Parliament to Convene Monday – No Electoral Law on Agenda
Macron reaffirms support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, calls for Israeli withdrawal
Drone Crashes Inside UNIFIL Headquarters in Naqoura, No Injuries Reported
UNIFIL says Israeli drone crash violated Lebanese sovereignty
LF leader Geagea meets UK ambassador, stresses army support and timely elections
Parliament Committee Approves Waste Plan Empowering Municipalities
Olive Oil 2025: A Harvest That Leaves a Bitter Aftertaste/Christiane Tager/This is Beirut/September 24/2025
Rasamny Warns Against Roadside Dumping as Winter Nears
Israel Is Not Lebanon’s Problem/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/This Is Beirut/Published on September 23/2025
Interview with former Minister Youssef Salameh to Our Website: The Armistice Agreement is No Longer Enough, and the Solution May Lie in a Peace Agreement
Militarily and politically weakened, Hezbollah manages to keep finances afloat
Hassan Nasrallah and the Culture of Overselling/Excerpt from a Letter to the LCCC Editor
Head of the Lebanese Forces party Samir Geagea.
War is Looming/Nadia Ghosoub/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 24, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
Nawaf Salam: The Coup Leader Who Shook the Citadel/Samar Zreik/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 24, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
The Clichés of "Sayyed" and the Slogans of "Bake"/Imad Moussa/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 24, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
September's Questions/Marwan Al-Amin/Voice of the Nation/September 24, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
What Aoun heard from Rubio was not what the world heard from Brzezinski/Joyce Akeiki/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 24, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 24-25/2025
Turkey’s Erdogan gets Trump’s red carpet — but don’t reward his treachery with US fighter/Sinan Ciddi & William Doran/New York Post/September 24, 2025
An autocratic Turkey does not deserve US military aid/Sinan Ciddi & William Doran/Washington Examiner/September 24, 2025
When U.S. Tuition Dollars Collide with National Security/Derek Levine/Gatestone Institute./September 24/2025
America’s Peace to End All Peace/By recognizing Palestine, several new states have challenged U.S. domination of the negotiations with Israel./Michael Young/Carnegie Middle East Center/Published on September 24/2025
Taming Israel?!/Dr. Abdel Monem Said/Asharq Al Awsat/September 24/2025
Why Netanyahu struck Qatar and not Turkey or Egypt/Elfadil Ibrahim/The Arab Weekly/September 24/2025
Selected X tweets For September 24/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on September 24-25/2025
Yemen drone attack wounds 22 in Israeli resort town: army, rescuers
Trump seeks to reclaim active role on Gaza as he meets Arab, Muslim leaders
Arab, Islamic leaders urge Trump to end Gaza war, achieve peace
Israeli, US attacks on Iran ‘inflicted grievous blow’ to prospect of regional peace: Pezeshkian
Trump envoy Witkoff expects Mideast ‘breakthrough’ in coming days
UN Security Council under intense pressure to halt Gaza bloodshed amid political deadlock
Israel says talks with Syria hinge on disarmament and Druze protection
Netanyahu rejects Western recognition of a Palestinian state
Activist flotilla seeking to break Israeli blockade of Gaza says drones attacked its boats
Spain’s PM says he will send warship to protect Gaza aid flotilla
Syria, Israel Near ‘De-Escalation’ Pact, US Envoy Says
Syria, Israel nearing de-escalation pact while Sharaa still ‘worried’
Egyptian Writers: The Al-Sharaa Regime Has Not Disavowed Its Jihadist Past; It Presents Itself As Moderate While Massacring Syria's Minorities
Syrian president warns against Israeli attacks in landmark UN address
Iran starts rebuilding missile sites hit by Israel, experts say key component is missing
Iran Refuses to Give up its Ballistic Missile Program
US Secret Service Find Devices Capable of Crippling Cellular Network in and Around UN Headquarters

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 24-25/2025
God punishes us for our infidelity and lack of faith in Michel Aoun, who has succumbed to all the temptations of Lucifer, and in his son-in-law, Gebran the Magnitsky (sanctioned under the US Magnitsky Act), and in all those who are of their Trojan ilk.
Elias Bejjani/September 23, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147563/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW_b8SjEaTk&t=160s
The popular receptions and celebrations held for Michel Aoun and his sanctioned son-in-law during their tours in some regions of Lebanon in recent days are a shameful and strange reality, to which the popular saying “the cat loves its strangler” and “Stockholm syndrome” apply.
These receptions are the best evidence of the depth of our national and spiritual tragedy. On a personal faith-based and firm conviction, I have become certain that the Lord is punishing us Christians in Lebanon and the diaspora in particular, with a class of stinking, devilish, corrupt, and corrupting politicians and clerics who have gleefully succumbed to all the temptations of Lucifer, the king of demons. This is because we have distanced ourselves from our faith and the duty to protect our sacred homeland, and we have deliberately and premeditatedly preferred all that is worldly, earthly, and uncontrolled instinctive.
I have personally become convinced that the punishment and retribution for this instinctive reality come to us through infidel leaders, politicians, rulers, and clerics, foremost and most dangerous of whom are the corrupt and narcissistic Gebran Bassil, and his uncle Michel Aoun, who has killed within himself all the components of shame and conscience, which are God.
Through the power, debauchery, and harlotry of these scribes and Pharisees of politicians, heads of so falsely called political party (in reality commercial companies), and turbaned and hooded groups, God is punishing us by letting them roam freely, deciding our fate by buying and selling us in the slave market. They have surpassed their masters in inventing all kinds of evils and falls, drowning us in their quagmires and burning us with their fire.
In this context of punishment, I find it strange that there is still a single rational and faithful Christian in Lebanon and abroad, capable of differentiating between good and evil, right and wrong, who has not explicitly cursed Michel Aoun, his son-in-law, and the majority of politicians and heads of party companies after all the infidelity, ingratitude, collaboration, betrayal, corruption, depravity, errors, and sins they have committed.
In short, whoever is still submerged in a coma of ignorance, stupidity, and slavery, and continues to “glorify” and “sanctify” Michel Aoun and his son-in-law Gebran, receiving them, walking their walk, and saying their say despite their un-Lebanese and unpatriotic actions and choices, it simply means that the effects of the heavenly curse, divine wrath, and retribution will not stop. They will continue to strike Lebanon and its people through this duo and through all those of their ilk from politicians, clerics, and leaders.
It remains that the political and national exposure of Bassil and his uncle, their practices, errors, and sins, does not in any way mean that the rest of the heads of our party companies, their followers, and 99% of our political teams, and the turbaned and hooded ones are better than them, even if they do not provoke the noise, disgust, and curses that Gebran and his uncle, and those who follow them of merchants, opportunists, and narcissists, provoke.
We ask: How can any Lebanese expatriate support Gebran Bassil and Micheal Aoun and not curse them, and not work to overthrow them from all that they politically and nationally represent, while they, with debauchery, shamelessly oppose the participation of Lebanese expatriates in the parliamentary elections just like their resident relatives? How can the expatriate not curse them when they are the ones who handed the country over to Hezbollah and let it turn it into an Iranian colony? Those who still support them in the diaspora should go to the nearest mental health clinic and pray day and night, hoping that God will forgive them for their national, spiritual, and mental falls.
It remains that our current reality is a reality of a time of drought, misery, sorrow, and disbelief… while Lebanon of sanctity and saints is being eaten to the bone by the worm of moral and ethical decay due to a lack of faith and the fear of God and His final judgment.

Naim Qassem lives in a pathological state of denial. His constant existence in an underground pit has rotted his mind and distanced him from reality.
Elias Bejjani/September 20/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147431/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH3I4a6yFUY&t=174s
The speeches of Sheikh Naim Qassem are no longer worth delving into. They are repetitive, parrot-like, and recycle the same lies and hypocrisy of a so-called “resistance” that was nothing but an Iranian criminal terrorist project—now gone forever. Hezbollah has been stripped bare of its heresies and empty bravado after Israel inflicted on it a crushing defeat, eliminated its commanders, and continues—on a daily basis—to hunt down its operatives across multiple Lebanese areas, without the group being able to respond with even a single bullet.
This criminal Hezbollah has now been reduced to a mere sound organization: militarily, politically, and through its media mouthpieces. Empty threats, ridiculous posturing, and accusations of treason against the overwhelming majority of Lebanese who reject it and demand its removal—militarily, politically, and criminally—through the enforcement of international resolutions and the ceasefire agreement that amounted to an act of surrender signed by Hezbollah and its patron Iran.
As for Naim Qassem, who hides underground in a dark pit where no light or sun reaches him—terrified of Israel—he has become completely detached from reality. Rot seems to have infected his mind, and perhaps the drugs he consumes (hashish, Captagon) are adulterated, causing him hallucinations and daydreams, just as was evident in his speech yesterday on the occasion of the “anniversary of Ibrahim Aqil’s killing.”
The man lives in absolute denial—blind to all the developments, defeats, and disasters Hezbollah has inflicted upon Lebanon and upon its Shiite community. Moreover, this state of denial is not limited to him; it engulfs Hezbollah’s MPs, officials, media voices, and supporters. It is a pathological denial, coupled with anger, leaving them incapable of moving through the natural stages of dealing with pain (denial, bargaining, anger, depression, acceptance). Qassem, Iran, and Hezbollah’s leadership remain shackled and imprisoned in the stage of denial and anger, and all their discourse reflects this diseased mindset.
His call for Saudi Arabia in his yesterday speech to “open a new page” with Hezbollah and to engage in dialogue to freeze disputes is nothing short of a mental farce. Saudi Arabia is a sovereign state, not a gang. It cannot and will not negotiate with an organization designated globally as terrorist—an Iranian jihadist criminal group that has been and continues to be behind the Houthis’ attacks on the Kingdom, the Gulf states, and international shipping routes.
A final piece of advice to the remaining Hezbollah officials still alive, and to their clerical patrons in Iran: take Sheikh Naim Qassem out of his underground hole and place him in a mental hospital. His speech of September 19, 2025, was a disgraceful bundle of denial, hallucinations, daydreams, and delusions—a pathetic farce. And as a person, he remains revolting and repulsive.

This is how Hezbollah backed down from the "Roché Rock" issue
Nidaa Al-Watan/September 24, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
Beyond the issue of illuminating the Roché Rock with the images of the former Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and his successor, Sayyed Hashem Safi al-Din, the matter escalated into a major dispute, or as commonly said, a "verbal battle" between the government and Hezbollah.
The story began with Hezbollah's media announcement of its intention to illuminate the Roché Rock as part of the first anniversary commemoration of the "martyrdom" of Nasrallah and Safi al-Din. Notably, Hezbollah itself decided to illuminate the rock, as evidenced by an article on the party's official news website, Al-Ahed, which stated: "Hezbollah calls for illuminating the Roché Rock with the images of the party's two Secretaries-General, Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safi al-Din, to commemorate the first anniversary of their martyrdom."
In the same article, it was also stated that the party itself initiated the idea: "Hezbollah announces activities for the first anniversary of the martyrdom of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, most notably the illumination of the Roché Rock." This confirms that the party was the one who proposed illuminating the rock. However, when the opposition grew stronger, and Prime Minister Tammam Salam insisted on his position, the party backed down. A statement was issued by its media office, declaring that "no statement had been issued by the party regarding the activity scheduled for tomorrow (today) at Roché." The refusal to allow the lighting was issued from the government palace, prompting the Prime Minister to immediately tweet: "I issued a circular regarding compliance with the laws governing the use of public land and sea areas, archaeological and tourist sites, official buildings, and landmarks of national significance. I ordered strict enforcement of the prohibition of their use without obtaining the necessary permits and licenses." The key phrase in this circular is "obtaining the necessary permits and licenses," meaning the ball is now in the Beirut governor's court. Hiding behind an association! A report leaked that an association close to Hezbollah had submitted a notification for a gathering on the Corniche, opposite the Roueche Rock, to commemorate the two slain leaders. "Based on this, and in order to uphold public freedoms and the right to assembly, the governor granted them permission, provided they adhere to the conditions of not blocking the road, not obstructing traffic, preserving public property, and refraining from illuminating the Roueche Rock or projecting images onto it, in accordance with the Prime Minister's circular." It was also emphasized that security forces would be deployed around the Roueche area, both on land and sea, to prevent any violations of the law following the issuance of the Salam circular. It was reported that strict measures would be taken by the security forces to prevent any breach of the law, with riot control units to be present to ensure compliance. Sources indicate that a parliamentary delegation from Hezbollah visited the Interior Minister and pledged that the event would not include illuminating the rock with images of Nasrallah and Safi al-Din. Salam and Haikal meeting.
While awaiting a response from Hezbollah regarding its commitment to the terms of the license, Prime Minister Salam met with Army Commander General Joseph Aoun at the Presidential Palace to discuss the overall situation. Political sources commented on these developments, stating that the Prime Minister had scored a significant political victory against Hezbollah, which had attempted to leverage its remaining "excess power," but ultimately backed down due to Salam's firm insistence on upholding the law, particularly the circular he issued. This was facilitated by Speaker Nabih Berri, who consulted with Salam by phone.
Brucker's remarks cause consternation within the Lebanese government
Internally, sources close to the "Nida Al-Watan" newspaper indicated that, despite attempts to understand Tom Brucker's stance on the issue of the state's handling of weapons, his remarks have caused considerable consternation within the Lebanese government. His words cannot be taken lightly, especially given the dwindling time and options available to the Lebanese state. The sources also noted that Hezbollah is not leaving any room for a peaceful resolution or for averting the threat of war, and that all attempts by Speaker Nabih Berri to soften Hezbollah's stance and encourage it to make even symbolic concessions have failed. The sources emphasized that everyone is awaiting President Aoun's return from New York to determine how to respond to the evolving US position. Aoun's meeting with Rubio focused on generalities and did not delve into specifics, unlike Brucker's remarks or those of Ortega. Aoun's return will reveal the US and international stance on these events, allowing for a more informed response.
A supportive US stance towards Lebanon
On the US front, the statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New York was noteworthy: "We will support Lebanon in overcoming its economic crisis, and the Lebanese government continues to oppose Iranian policies." It is worth noting that Rubio met with President Michel Aoun. "Nidaa Al-Watan" learned that the atmosphere during the meeting was positive, and Aoun asked Rubio to help his country by pressuring Israel to withdraw from the occupied areas, enabling Lebanon to implement its plan to control weapons. He explained that under stable conditions, the state could be strengthened, and the Lebanese army would be able to operate effectively. Sources indicated that Aoun spoke about controlling weapons throughout Lebanon, not just in the south, and explained to Rubio the obstacles facing the army, as well as the army's plan and reforms. Aoun also discussed the government's work, noting that it had taken many steps in this area, but that the situation still required follow-up. He emphasized that the primary concern remained security in the south, as it affects all of Lebanon. Rubio assured Aoun of US support for the army and promised to follow up on these issues. The president left the meeting with a positive impression. Furthermore, Aoun discussed the Lebanese economic situation, the reconstruction process, and the reconstruction plan, to which Rubio promised to give further consideration and reiterated US support for Lebanon's economy. Foreign Minister Responds to Iranian Leader
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Youssef Rajeh responded to the Iranian Supreme Leader regarding Hezbollah. He wrote on X: "We deem it important to emphasize that the only legitimate authority in Lebanon is the government and its irrevocable decisions, foremost among which is the decision to disarm all non-state armed groups and to assert state sovereignty, adopted on August 5. We also stress that the Lebanese Army is the sole and permanent guardian of Lebanon, its people, and its sovereignty."
Did Lebanon block two Iranian flights?
Meanwhile, reports surfaced that Lebanon had refused entry to two Iranian planes carrying Iranian officials to attend the first anniversary of Nasrallah's assassination.
These reports were met with no official clarification from either the Lebanese or Iranian side.
Stalemate over the electoral law
In Parliament, despite 61 MPs requesting that the expedited bill concerning the voting rights of Lebanese expatriates be placed on the agenda for the upcoming legislative session, this did not occur. Based on this development, the signing MPs are considering escalating measures, including withdrawing from the subcommittee tasked with studying the electoral laws and suspending their participation. They argue that discussing an expedited bill in committee before it is presented to the full parliament violates the parliamentary rules, which stipulate that a bill must first be presented to the plenary session before being referred to a committee, should its expedited status be revoked.

Report: Barrack voiced remarks after being criticized in Washington
Naharne/September 24, 2025t
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s latest shocking remarks came after a series of consultations within the team that works closely with U.S. President Donald Trump, a Lebanese source informed on the ongoing deliberations in Washington said. Lebanese figures who contacted Barrack “sensed that he is facing a harsh campaign of criticism from U.S. sides that adopt the Israeli point of view,” the source told al-Akhbar newspaper. The U.S. figures are “holding him responsible for not being strict with the Lebanese authorities,” suggesting that “his approach with the Lebanese officials has encouraged them to maneuver,” the source said. The U.S. figures also believe that he is “repeating in Lebanon what he did in Syria, when he hinted to Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa that he could maneuver in the face of the U.S.-Israeli demands, which pushed al-Sharaa to make a wrong interpretation of the Israeli stance and caused him a major problem in the Syrian south and Sweida,” the source told al-Akhbar. “Barrack revealed to figures whom he met on the sidelines of the New York meetings that he is very worried and seriously fears a return of the Israeli war on Lebanon, and that he had to say what he said in his latest interview in order to highlight his country’s official stance and to stress that he is not doing an independent work,” the source said. He also meant to “clarify to Lebanese officials that Israel is serious in its program, not only to disarm Hezbollah by force, but also to make the Lebanese state pay for not performing the role requested from it,” the source added.

After Barrack controversial remarks, Salam reiterates commitment to disarm Hezbollah
Naharnet/September 24, 2025
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, like many other Lebanese, was surprised by U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack's recent comments which questioned the Lebanese government's commitment to disarm Hezbollah following the November 2024 ceasefire with Israel.
In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Barrack had said "the Lebanese, and I don't mean this in a disrespectful way, all they do is talk", claiming that there is no real action on Hezbollah's disarmament. "I affirm that the government is committed to fully implementing its ministerial statement, particularly with regard to carrying out reforms and extending the state's authority over all its territories," Salam said in a statement he posted Tuesday on the X platform. "I am surprised by the recent statements made by Ambassador Thomas Barrack, which question the seriousness of the government and the role of the army" he said, adding that he is confident that the army is fulfilling its responsibilities in protecting Lebanon's sovereignty, ensuring its stability, and carrying out its national duties, including implementing the disarmament plan. "On this occasion, I call on the international community to intensify its support for the Lebanese Army and to pressure Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupies, as well as to stop its repeated aggressions in implementation of the ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024."Barrack had said in the interview that stirred controversy in Lebanon, that the U.S. military assistance to the Lebanese Army is intended for domestic purposes rather than confronting Israel. "We're gonna arm them (the Lebanese army) so they can fight their own people (Hezbollah) and not Israel." Barrack also said that Hezbollah has "zero incentive" to lay down its weapons while facing constant Israeli military pressure and occupation and that Israel will not withdraw from five hills it is currently occupying in south Lebanon. Israel had said it could withdraw from territory they hold in southern Lebanon once Hezbollah is disarmed. Barrack in his remarks pointed out that Israel might not while Lebanon and Hezbollah clearly want something in return, but it is not clear if he meant Israel will not withdraw before Hezbollah disarms or even after the disarmament. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said if Lebanon takes the necessary steps to disarm Hezbollah, then Israel will respond with reciprocal measures, including a phased reduction of the Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon. After the Lebanese government took last month the decision to disarm Hezbollah, Barrack said the "Lebanese government has done their part" and "now what we need is for Israel to comply with that equal handshake."In the recent interview, he seemed to change his stance, accusing the government of only "talking" with no real action, and revealing that Israel will not withdraw which will give Hezbollah more excuses to keep its arms. Salam expressed in his post Lebanon's deep belief in the possibility of achieving a lasting peace, founded on the principles of justice, international law, and U.N. resolutions. To Barrack in the interview, peace was an illusion. It never existed and never will exist in this part of the world, he said.

Aoun says committed to preserve unity, using force to disarm Hezbollah out of question
Naharnet/September 24, 2025
As world leaders convened in the annual meeting of presidents, prime ministers and monarchs at the United Nations General Assembly with a plea to choose peace over war, President Joseph Aoun called on the General Assembly to stand with Lebanon. "The Lebanese experience has taught me that there is no development without peace, no peace without justice, and no justice without human rights," Aoun said, as he called for an immediate halt of Israeli aggression on Lebanon, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied Lebanese territory, the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, and a full implementation of U.N. Resolution 1701. Aoun also asked the leaders to support the Lebanese Armed Forces and to help Lebanon rebuild the war-hit regions through international aid conferences. On the sidelines of the meeting, Aoun told the German Foreign Minister that resorting to force to implement the state's monopoly on arms is currently out of question and that he is committed to preserve unity in Lebanon. The General Assembly meeting continues Wednesday with the leaders of Ukraine, Iran and Syria among the speakers.

Khamenei says Hezbollah a continuing force after Nasrallah
Naharnet/September 24, 2025
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has marked the first anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah’s former secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, calling him a “great wealth for the Islamic world.”“He was not just for Shiites or Lebanon. He was a wealth for the whole Islamic world,” Khamenei said. “He is gone, but the wealth he created remains,” he added. Iran's leader also said that Hezbollah should not be underestimated, describing it as a continuing force with influence well beyond Lebanon.

Iran's Ghalibaf says Hezbollah is stronger and more united than ever
LBCI/September 24, 2025
Iran's Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Wednesday that Hezbollah's current condition is better than in the past, citing gains in faith, capability, and cohesion while acknowledging ongoing challenges. "When I say Hezbollah is more vigorous now than at any time before, I mean in terms of faith, capability, unity and both material and moral dimensions," Ghalibaf noted, adding that this did not mean the group faces no challenges. Ghalibaf said that during a recent visit to Lebanon he met front-line fighters who had been responsible for the front, spoke with them, received a report on recent developments, and offered necessary advice. He also said that showing mercy to Israel would be "an injustice to humanity" and urged that it be opposed strongly.

Hezbollah weakened but financially resilient a year after Israel war
Agence France Presse/September 24, 2025
One year after a devastating war with Israel dealt massive blows to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed movement is still managing to pay its fighters and fund its social services. The killing of its longtime leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike on September 27 last year left the Shiite group reeling, yet it has maintained cohesion under his successor, Sheikh Naim Qassem.
As the group faces mounting pressure to disarm, the United States has also sought to cripple its finances. U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said Hezbollah has been receiving "$60 million a month" since a November ceasefire. AFP spoke to several Hezbollah members and beneficiaries of its services, all of whom said the organization was meeting its financial commitments. They requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject. Fighters still receive monthly cash salaries of $500 to $700 -- well above Lebanon's minimum wage of $312. Families of Hezbollah "martyrs" continue to receive stipends covering rent and other essentials, while the group's vast network of schools, hospitals and charities makes it "one of the largest employers in Lebanon", according to researcher and Hezbollah expert Joseph Daher. Hezbollah is "definitely under political and economic pressure", Daher said, though it is difficult to assess the depth of the impact.
Reconstruction and surveillance
A Hezbollah source said that since the ceasefire the group has provided about one billion dollars to 50,000 families affected by the latest war. AFP could not independently verify the figures. Unlike after the 2006 war, when Hezbollah spearheaded rebuilding in the south, current leader Qassem has insisted the state should fund post-war reconstruction, which has yet to begin. Since the formation of a new Western-backed government this year, and Hezbollah's slip in political dominance, Beirut has tightened scrutiny of the group's financial dealings.
The December fall of longtime Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad also disrupted supply routes and cash flows from Iran. Authorities have stepped up monitoring of money entering Lebanon, especially from Iran, and the central bank has banned all dealings with Al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-linked financial institution. Israel bombed the firm's branches during two months of all-out war last year that devastated Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon's south, east and in Beirut's southern suburbs. A client of the firm, which offers credit in exchange for gold deposits and has been a lifeline to members of Hezbollah's Shiite Muslim community, said "fear took over" about losing her gold collateral during the crackdown. But she was able to recover it after repaying her loan.
Cash flow
Experts say Hezbollah relies on a web of companies and businessmen, as well as bundles of banknotes flowing in from abroad. Lebanon suspended flights from Iran in February, cutting off one route. A security source also reported tighter searches of passengers arriving from Iraq and other countries serving as conduits for Hezbollah. The United States accuses Hezbollah of raising funds through global businesses, drug trafficking and even "blood diamonds" from Africa. Western and Gulf states also allege it profits from the captagon trade -- an accusation the group denies. "The international community has realized that Hezbollah thrives in a weak, unstable, cash-based economy," Sami Zoughaib, a researcher at the Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think tank, told AFP. Cash has been king in Lebanon since the economic collapse began in 2019. Daher said the group still receives income via companies registered in Iraq and Lebanon, and affiliated businessmen operating elsewhere. In a report this year, Canada said Hezbollah was thought to be using businesses, crypto currencies, bank transfers and charitable funds to receive "outgoing Canadian funds". According to Daher, the ouster of Assad in neighboring Syria has been "the biggest blow" to the group's finances so far. Cash and weapons used to flow easily across the porous Lebanon-Syria border, while Hezbollah also made money from smuggling goods, he said. Syria's new Islamist authorities, distrustful of Iran and sharply opposed to Hezbollah, have cracked down on such activities.

The Art of Losing: Hezbollah’s Stubborn Path
Marc Saikali/This is Beirut/September 24, 2025
Hezbollah has lost. Yes, lost. The military campaign? Lost. The battle for public opinion? Lost. The fight for legitimacy in Lebanon? Lost. And yet the Shia militia keeps haunting the country, convinced that a LED projection on a rock will somehow rewrite history.
Illuminating the “Pigeon Rock” with portraits of dead leaders is Hezbollah’s latest masterpiece. Pretending to be a protector, it has never been anything but stubbornness made flesh. While Lebanon waits to rebuild and move forward, Hezbollah plays with light projections, believing illusion can replace reality. It does not. Meanwhile, American and Western powers scream that Hezbollah must disarm or risk dragging the country back into war. But what is the point of reasoning with actors trapped in their own parallel universe, obsessed with symbols and ghosts, blind to the ruin Lebanon has already endured? Hezbollah believes a portrait, a threat, or a speech can undo the damage already done. But reality is merciless. Reality doesn’t work that way. The harder Hezbollah insists, the closer Lebanon slides toward the abyss. When the bombs fall again, our allies, exhausted from trying to save us from ourselves, will simply say: “We warned you.”Hezbollah’s stubbornness is not political. It is deadly.

Hezbollah denies issuing statement on planned Raoucheh event
LBCI/September 24, 2025
Hezbollah’s media relations office said Wednesday it has not issued any statement regarding the activity planned for Thursday in Beirut’s Raoucheh area.

Report: Hezbollah's Raouche event authorized but not rock illumination
Naharnet/September 24, 2025
An association close to Hezbollah has submitted a request to organize a rally facing the Raouche Rock in commemoration of Hezbollah’s slain leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine and the request has been approved by Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud, Al-Jadeed TV reported on Wednesday. The association, however, was asked to pledge not to illuminate the rock with the images of Nasrallah and Safieddine and not to exceed 500 participants, the TV network added. “The ceremony will begin with the Lebanese national anthem and will involve speeches and mourning hymns, from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm Thursday, amid a pledge not to impede traffic movement and to maintain discipline,” Al-Jadeed said. Hezbollah’s media relations department later issued a terse statement clarifying that it has not issued any statement about “the activity scheduled to take place tomorrow in Raouche.”
It was not immediately clear if it was referring to Al-Jadeed’s report or other reports that are circulating on social media. A poster published Tuesday and widely attributed to Hezbollah had called on supporters to take part in the event, saying the rock would be illuminated with the Lebanese flag at 6:50 pm and with the pictures of Nasrallah and Safieddine from 6:55 pm to 7:00 pm. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam had on Monday instructed “all public administrations and institutions, municipalities, their unions, and all relevant agencies” to be strict in “enforcing the laws governing the use of public land and sea properties, archaeological and touristic sites, official buildings, and landmarks that carry a unifying national symbolism.”“I requested strictness in preventing their use before obtaining the necessary licenses and permits,” he added. Hezbollah’s initial announcement had prompted several politicians and Beirut lawmakers to declare their rejection of the move. MP Waddah al-Sadek said the move is “unacceptable on all levels.”“They are not official figures and their pictures will be displayed in a city whose most residents reject their policies, not to mention that some accuse them of taking part in the murder of their leader (ex-PM Rafik Hariri),” Sadek added, noting that Hezbollah “has not obtained any permission from the municipality or the (Interior) Ministry” to carry out the activity. “What’s worse is that their party, as usual, warns against being dragged into a civil war but wastes no chance to provoke Beirut’s residents. We must also not forget that the ‘glorious day’ is still carved in the memory of the Beirutis,” Sadek went on to say, referring to Nasrallah’s description of the May 7, 2008 day, when Hezbollah and its allies staged an armed takeover of parts of the capital. “The government, which has shown its strength in its (latest) decisions (on arms monopolization), must prevent Hezbollah and others from making any provocative moves in order to preserve civil peace in the country,” Sadek added. Beirut MPs Fouad Makhzoumi and Nabil Bader also wrote similar posts on the X platform. On social media, Hezbollah supporters meanwhile reminded that the rock had been illuminated in the past with pictures of Saudi King Salman, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and the Saudi, French and Emirati flags. Hezbollah’s historic and revered leader Nasrallah and his successor Safieddine were killed in huge Israeli airstrikes on their underground bunkers during last year’s Israeli war on the group. The Raouche Rocks are iconic natural limestone formations off the coast of the Raouche area in Beirut. Named Pigeons' Rocks for the wild rock doves that historically nested in them, these two massive rock islets have been shaped by erosion and are a popular spot for tourists and locals to admire from the nearby corniche or through boat tours that navigate through the arch of the largest rock.

Inside Lebanon’s shadow economy: The Captagon trade and its toll
LBCI/September 24, 2025
Along the Lebanese-Syrian border, a clandestine trade is generating enormous wealth for some operators, turning them into millionaires and even billionaires. Unlike real estate companies or tech hubs, this is a shadow economy built on the production and trafficking of Captagon.
The scale of the business is staggering. While the cost to produce a single Captagon pill is less than 50 cents, the price in Gulf markets ranges between $8 and $15, with millions of pills sold annually. Exact figures are difficult to determine due to the secretive and illegal nature of the market, but estimates suggest production exceeds one billion pills per year.
According to the Lebanese Anti-Narcotics Bureau, seizures over the past five years are as follows:
* 2020: 1,000,000 pills
* 2021: 30,000,000 pills
* 2022: 12,000,000 pills
* 2023: 12,000,000 pills
* 2024: 26,000,000 pills
This totals approximately 82 million pills, which, at $8 per pill, would generate a minimum of $650 million if sold legally.The situation escalated sharply in 2025. In just nine months, seizures increased by 76% compared to the total of the previous five years, amounting to 145 million pills.
This includes 75 million documented by the Internal Security Forces, 65 million seized by military intelligence during a major Wadi operation, and 5 million in Ferzol. The total value of these seizures is roughly $1.16 billion at $8 per pill. The surge in seizures reflects major shifts in regional control. The weakening of Syria’s Assad regime led to the fall of its Captagon empire, while the diminished influence of Hezbollah in Lebanon allowed state and military forces to strengthen oversight of smuggling routes, disrupt trafficking networks, and raid dozens of production facilities. Authorities say the early months of 2025 signal a turning point in Lebanon and Syria’s fight against Captagon, offering a real opportunity to curb production and mitigate the social, security, and economic crises generated by this illicit trade.

Lebanon Steps Up Against Captagon Trafficking Network
Bassam Abou Zeid/This Is Beirut/September 24/2025
In 2025, Lebanon achieved a significant breakthrough in the fight against the manufacturing and trafficking of Captagon pills– inflicting losses of hundreds of millions of dollars on those behind these illicit operations. Lebanese security forces demonstrated their ability to confront this criminal cartel – a challenge of major local, regional and international concern.
In this context, Lebanon received praise from several international powers, most notably the United States, which provides technical expertise and funding to strengthen anti-drug efforts. Saudi Arabia has also collaborated with Lebanese security agencies on intelligence sharing. This partnership has successfully exposed trafficking networks both into and out of the country.
According to statistics from the Army Intelligence Directorate, the number of Captagon pills intercepted since the beginning of this year has reached 50 million, in addition to 65 million pills seized in Boudai and 5 million more in Ferzol in recent days. This brings the total number of pills intercepted by the army so far this year to 120 million. Considering an average street value of $5 per pill, particularly outside Lebanon, the total estimated value of these seizures amounts to approximately $600 million.
Moreover, the Internal Security Forces also scored a major success against Captagon trafficking, with Minister of Interior Ahmad al-Hajjar announcing on Monday the seizure of 6.5 million pills—valued at an estimated $32.5 million in international markets.
According to army statistics, the number of Captagon pills seized over the past years is as follows:
- In 2020, 1.1 million pills.
- In 2021, 6.3 million pills.
- In 2022, 994,651 pills.
- In 2023, 4.7 million pills.
- In 2024, 11.6 million pills.
In fact, Captagon interceptions began rising sharply in 2024, the same year Hezbollah faced Israeli military action, followed by the fall of the Assad regime. According to numerous international and Arab sources, these events disrupted the Captagon production and trafficking network, which was a key source of funding for both Hezbollah and the Syrian regime. Targeting this network was also a top priority for major Arab and international players, who urged Lebanese authorities and the new Syrian leadership to take action.
The recent Boudai operation exemplifies the army’s local efforts. Following raids in Dar Al-Wassia and Yamouneh, traffickers relocated large quantities of Captagon to the Boudai plain. Armed with intelligence on the new stockpile, the army conducted a raid and confiscated the pills. Army intelligence continues investigations to apprehend those involved, and security sources believe that the criminal network comprises Lebanese and Syrian nationals.

Parliament to Convene Monday – No Electoral Law on Agenda
This is Beirut/September 24, 2025
Parliament is set to convene at 11 AM on Monday, September 29, with 17 legislative items on the agenda following a preparatory meeting of the Parliament Bureau on Wednesday chaired by Speaker Nabih Berri. The session will address a range of government draft laws and MPs’ proposals. These include agreements with the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, amendments to the Central Bank law, and Lebanon’s accession to international conventions on culture and biodiversity. Lawmakers will also consider key financial measures, including a $250 million World Bank loan, an additional LBP 2,350 billion allocation for public sector pensions and amendments to the Public-Private Partnership law. Other proposals address issues such as waste management, consumer protection, pharmacy regulation, retirement for Ministry of Information contractors, and legal statuses of dismissed customs officers and Internal Security Forces personnel. At the end of the meeting, Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab noted that these items were carried over from the previous session’s agenda and emphasized that Parliament aims to act quickly to pass essential reforms without delays.
Addressing questions about electoral law amendments and the legislative process, Bou Saab reiterated that the authority to place urgent draft laws on the agenda rests solely with the Speaker of Parliament. Bou Saab rejected the idea of extracting one proposal for separate discussion, citing procedural consistency. On concerns about postponing parliamentary elections, Bou Saab clarified, “The committee is not discussing election delays. We are studying reforms or new legislation.”

Macron reaffirms support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, calls for Israeli withdrawal
LBCI/September 24, 2025
French President Emmanuel Macron told Al Arabiya on Wednesday that France fully supports Lebanon’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and unity. He stressed that Israel must immediately withdraw from southern Lebanon.

Drone Crashes Inside UNIFIL Headquarters in Naqoura, No Injuries Reported
This is Beirut/September 24, 2025
UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel confirmed on Wednesday that an Israeli drone crashed inside the UN peacekeeping force's headquarters in Naqoura the previous day. No one was injured in the incident. Ardiel explained that UN peacekeepers specializing in explosive ordnance disposal immediately isolated the drone and secured the area. “The drone was found to be unarmed and equipped with a camera,” she said, adding that the Israeli army later confirmed it was theirs. “While UN peacekeepers are equipped and prepared to respond to any threats to their safety in self-defense, this drone came down on its own,” Ardiel noted. “UNIFIL takes any interference with or threats to its personnel, facilities or operations very seriously and will lodge an official protest over this incident,” she stated. “Despite these challenges,” she added, “UN peacekeepers continue to operate with impartiality and determination to support security and stability in southern Lebanon.”UNIFIL: Lebanese Army Expands Deployment in South in Line with Resolution 1701UNIFIL: Lebanese Army Expands Deployment in South in Line with Resolution 1701 Lebanon and France Discuss Military Support and Reconstruction InitiativesLebanon and France Discuss Military Support and Reconstruction Initiatives. Israeli Attack on UNIFIL: France Urges Protection of PeacekeepersIsraeli Attack on UNIFIL: France Urges Protection of Peacekeepers

UNIFIL says Israeli drone crash violated Lebanese sovereignty
LBCI/September 24, 2025
A spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said Wednesday that an Israeli drone crashed inside the mission’s headquarters in Naqoura the previous afternoon. Kandice Ardiel, UNIFIL’s spokesperson, said no one was hurt in the incident. Peacekeepers trained in explosive ordnance disposal secured the site and confirmed the drone was not armed but equipped with a camera. The Israeli army later acknowledged the drone was theirs. “While peacekeepers are equipped and ready to take action against threats to their safety in self-defence, this device fell on its own,” Ardiel said, noting that, like all “drone and other flights over south Lebanon, this is a violation of Resolution 1701 and Lebanese sovereignty.” She stressed that UNIFIL “takes any interference or threat against its personnel, installations, or operations with utmost seriousness and will formally protest this act.”
Israeli drone carrying grenade crashes in Meiss El Jabal, says Lebanese Army Despite the challenges, she added, UNIFIL remains committed to working “impartially and steadfastly in support of security and stability in south Lebanon, which ongoing violations continue to put at risk.”

LF leader Geagea meets UK ambassador, stresses army support and timely elections
LBCI/September 24, 2025
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea met with British Ambassador to Lebanon Hamish Cowell in Maarab to discuss political and security developments. Geagea reaffirmed support for the Lebanese Army and stressed the need to end all illegal weapons to move toward reform and state-building. He also emphasized that the parliamentary elections must take place on time, rejecting any postponement.

Parliament Committee Approves Waste Plan Empowering Municipalities
This is Beirut/September 24, 2025
The Finance and Budget Committee, chaired by MP Ibrahim Kanaan, held a session on Wednesday that focused on Lebanon’s deepening waste management crisis and financial concerns related to private sector end-of-service indemnities. The committee approved a measure that empowers municipalities to manage waste collection and treatment in exchange for a symbolic fee. The plan introduces a tiered payment system: municipalities, public institutions and government departments will contribute between 5% and 20% of the minimum wage, while industrial institutions and tourist resorts will pay 400%. Kanaan said the move aims to ease the financial burden on the central government while strengthening the role of local authorities. “Landfills are landfills of death, and we reject them,” he said, reiterating the committee’s firm opposition to expanding existing landfill sites. He stressed that administrative decentralization is essential to giving municipalities both the authority and means to act without being overwhelmed. According to Kanaan, the Ministry of Environment has prepared a national plan to address the landfill crisis, which he said “can no longer be ignored.” He noted ongoing discussions between the government, municipalities and international institutions, including the World Bank, to pursue a sustainable solution after decades of failed policies. Kanaan also clarified that the committee’s current discussions on end-of-service indemnities relate strictly to private sector employees under the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), and not to public sector workers. He said the committee is working on a solution that guarantees employees’ rights, with shared responsibility between the state, private institutions and the NSSF. While no final decision has been reached, Kanaan expressed hope that a framework will be ready to present to the committee within two weeks.

Olive Oil 2025: A Harvest That Leaves a Bitter Aftertaste
Christiane Tager/This is Beirut/September 24/2025
Olive oil, a cornerstone of Lebanese cuisine and a symbol of hospitality, faces a critical moment. The 2025 season looks disastrous, with production sharply plunging, threatening traditional eating habits and further straining already struggling farmers.
In Lebanon, it’s hard to imagine a meal without a drizzle of olive oil. It flavors the morning man’oushe, enlivens salads, and graces every mezze platter. But this year, this staple of the Lebanese table risks becoming a luxury. The 2025 olive season is exceptionally poor, with serious consequences for both producers and consumers.
A Tradition Under Threat
In the South, the heart of Lebanon’s olive groves, disappointment runs deep. “Last year, we should have produced between 500 and 600 barrels of oil, but because of the war, no one could harvest. The olives fell and rotted. We only managed 60 or 70 barrels,” says a major producer who asked to remain anonymous. This year, the blow is even harsher. “Expected production will be just 20 to 25% of 2024’s already historically low yield, which was devastated by the bombings,” he adds. Several factors explain the crisis. First, the climate: a severe lack of rainfall has left olives small, dry, and low-yielding. Second, the natural cycle of the groves: unlike in Europe, Lebanon experiences alternating years of abundance and scarcity, and 2025 falls on the wrong side of the cycle. Finally, the aftermath of 2024: the war prevented farmers from harvesting an otherwise excellent season, causing tons of olives to be lost and deepening the financial strain on producers.
A Surge in Prices Looms
With supply so limited, olive oil prices are set to soar. “Last year, a barrel sold for $150. This year, it could reach $200,” says the producer. Olive oil is not a luxury in Lebanon. It is a staple in almost every dish, consumed daily and on special occasions, deeply rooted in the country’s culinary traditions. For many families already struggling with the economic crisis, the rising cost of the “green gold” will strain household budgets.
Farmers on the Brink
This double blow, with massive losses in 2024 and an almost nonexistent 2025 harvest, threatens thousands of rural families. Many entirely rely on olive cultivation, a tradition passed down through generations. Without support, some may be forced to abandon their lands, putting a key part of Lebanon’s agricultural and culinary heritage at risk. Beyond this immediate crisis, the very future of Lebanese olive oil is at stake. Without modern irrigation systems, government support, and safety nets for farmers, the sector remains vulnerable to climate and geopolitical shocks. Lebanese olive oil, known for its quality and fruity taste, could be a major export asset. But first, the industry must be saved from collapse. Olive oil has never been more precious or more threatened. If nothing is done, this symbol of Lebanese identity could vanish from everyday tables, surviving only for a privileged few, a scenario that would feel like a betrayal for a country whose history has been written for centuries under the olive trees.

Rasamny Warns Against Roadside Dumping as Winter Nears
This is Beirut/September 24/2025
Public Works Minister Fayez Rasamny on Wednesday urged citizens to “take responsibility” and stop dumping waste along roadsides, warning that sewage mixing with rainwater poses serious risks ahead of the winter season. In his remarks at a press conference in Dbayeh, near one of the capital’s most flood-prone areas, Rasamny outlined the ministry’s preparedness plan and public awareness campaign. He stressed that while ministries are coordinating efforts, limited state resources and underfunded municipalities cannot address the challenge alone.
“We need contractors to take over and monitor roads during the winter,” Rasamny said, noting that awareness campaigns are already underway and that private companies are being asked to step up their involvement. Joined by MPs, representatives from the Ministries of Interior and Energy, and members of the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), the minister emphasized that cooperation is essential: “we are doing our duties, but the problems are much bigger than us. Cooperation is the name of the game at this stage.”
Rasamny concluded by calling on municipalities to intensify awareness drives and enforce fines to curb roadside littering, describing citizen participation as critical to preventing seasonal flooding. Flooding and traffic jams caused by heavy rains remain a recurring scourge in Lebanon, where aging infrastructure struggles to absorb precipitation. With each episode of rainfall, roads, tunnels, and strategic access routes—such as those leading to Beirut International Airport—are submerged, trapping motorists and paralyzing traffic for hours.
This situation stems from several factors: inadequate and poorly maintained sewage networks, rapid and chaotic urbanization that reduces natural infiltration zones, and the ongoing deterioration of road infrastructure, clogged with debris and mud carried by the water.
The consequences are severe: loss of life, extensive material damage, wrecked vehicles, and blocked roads. In recent years, examples have multiplied: in November 2024, torrential rains flooded several neighborhoods of the capital, immobilizing hundreds of cars, while in December 2023, four children perished in floods that also forced the closure of key roads.

Israel Is Not Lebanon’s Problem
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/This Is Beirut/Published on September 23/2025
Lebanon’s pursuit of its national interests is obstructed by a complex array of domestic and regional actors, with Hezbollah at the forefront, alongside some Arab capitals and the “Palestinian issue.” Lebanon must snap out of its shyness and stand up for its national interests, making it clear that it has bigger fish to fry than the Palestinian problem and that its solidarity with fellow Arab governments has come at unaffordable cost.
The problem started in 1969 with the signing of the Cairo Agreement, which marked a pivotal surrender of Lebanese sovereignty, granting the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) the right to launch attacks against Israel from Lebanese territory. This decision, driven by intense external pressures, set a damaging precedent for Lebanon’s sovereignty and stability that persists to this day.
Israel’s reprisals were not the only challenge Lebanon faced. Armed Palestinian militias operated unchecked, not only targeting Israel but also terrorizing Lebanese citizens, extorting local businesses, and eroding the authority of the Lebanese government.
In 1969, Lebanon succumbed to Arab pressure and the so-called “Arab street” sentiment, failing to resist the Cairo Agreement. Beirut should have insisted that Arab states advocating for Palestinian liberation host the militias themselves and bear the consequences of their actions. Instead, Lebanon acquiesced, allowing its territory to become a battleground for a cause not its own.
In 2025, Lebanon remains reluctant to assert its national interests boldly. While it may offer moral support and limited material aid to Palestinians, Lebanon must not sacrifice its sovereignty for the cause of Palestinian sovereignty. Fifty-six years after the Cairo Agreement, Lebanon still hesitates to declare unequivocally: Israel is not its problem—Hezbollah is.
Earlier this month, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attended a joint summit of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Doha, convened to condemn Israel’s strike on a Hamas safe house in Qatar. The attack, which killed some operatives but missed senior targets, was decried as a violation of Qatari sovereignty, sparking global outrage. Yet, for over half a century, the systematic undermining of Lebanese sovereignty by Hezbollah and Palestinian militias has never prompted a single Arab League or OIC summit to address this ongoing crisis.
Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, not only expected Lebanon to prioritize Qatar’s sovereignty over its own but also openly defended Hezbollah. He argued that expecting the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to disarm the pro-Iran militia risks igniting a civil war, a stance that dismisses Lebanon’s right to restore its authority. Thus, Aoun was compelled to endure lectures on why Lebanon should not reclaim its sovereignty while Qatar’s concerns took precedence, highlighting the double standards in regional politics.
This same hesitancy shapes Lebanon’s approach to Hezbollah. Successive governments have accepted Hezbollah’s flawed argument that disarming the militia requires national consensus. Since the Shia community opposes disarmament, Hezbollah claims the state’s monopoly on arms violates the “national convention.” In reality, Hezbollah’s armament lacks any legitimate consensus and violates Lebanon’s constitution, the Taef Agreement, and multiple UN Security Council resolutions. Its very existence undermines the “national convention” it claims to uphold, perpetuating a state within a state.
Yet neither President Aoun nor Prime Minister Nawaf Salam directly challenges Hezbollah by name. Instead, they speak vaguely of the state monopolizing arms, avoiding explicit mention of the militia. They denounce Israel to appear patriotic and comply with the directives of wealthy Gulf states, desperately seeking Arab and Islamic approval. This timidity reflects a broader failure to prioritize Lebanon’s national interests over external pressures and financial incentives.
No nation places the interests of a single faction, like Hezbollah, above its collective good. No state prioritizes the sentiments of the “Arab street,” amplified by Qatar’s Al Jazeera, over its sovereignty. Nor does any country defer to foreign capitals simply because they offer financial aid for reconstruction. Lebanon must break free from these external influences and chart its own course.
To reclaim its sovereignty, Lebanon should distance itself from the Palestinian cause and consider withdrawing from the Arab League and OIC. Its policy must be “Lebanon first—and last.” Other nations, including the Palestinians for 77 years, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf states, have unapologetically pursued their own interests. Lebanon must adopt a similar resolve, placing its national priorities above regional solidarity.
Until Lebanon’s leadership ceases seeking external validation and boldly asserts its interests, the nation will remain trapped in the misery it has endured for decades. Lebanon must shed its reluctance, reject foreign dictates, and forge a path to restore the respect, stability, and sovereignty its people deserve.
*Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD).

Interview with former Minister Youssef Salameh to Our Website: The Armistice Agreement is No Longer Enough, and the Solution May Lie in a Peace Agreement
Akhbarkum – Akhbarna/Nadia Shreim/Translated by Massoud Mohamed/September 24/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147598/
Hours after President Joseph Aoun’s speech at the United Nations, in which he diagnosed the Lebanese crisis and called on the international community to help Lebanon emerge from it, political parties expressed divergent views—just as they did regarding the recent statement by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack, who said that the Lebanese “talk a lot but do nothing.”
But what is the opinion of former minister Youssef Salameh, head of the “Identity and Sovereignty Gathering,” on these two matters?
Salameh says:
“My first reading of the President’s speech suggested that His Excellency gave an accurate description of the Lebanese situation and of Lebanon’s role and mission in the region and the world. But when I delved deeper into the content, I found that it carried a tone of pleading, as he was asking the world to help us regain our sovereignty and shape our national identity, whereas he should have said that we are working to restore sovereignty and consolidate our identity. In parallel, he sidestepped the truth when he claimed that we had fulfilled our obligations under the Lebanese-American memorandum concerning the implementation of Resolution 1701, when in fact our commitment was merely rhetorical.”
Barrack’s Remarks
He adds:
“After the government decided on the exclusivity of arms and tasked the army with its implementation, it then welcomed the army’s plan but kept it under wraps and never asked the army to enforce it. Here lies the validity of U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s recent remarks, which confirm exactly what I am saying.”
Salameh further pointed out that the President’s speech omitted the phrase “ending the state of war with Israel” and returning at least to the Armistice Agreement, noting that the Armistice Agreement is no longer sufficient on its own. The situation may require more wisdom and courage to move toward a Peace Agreement. Only then will Lebanon truly fulfill its role and mission, doing what is required to help the region regain its stability and ensure the well-being of its people.
The Roadmap
What is the roadmap that should be adopted to resolve Lebanon’s crisis? Salameh answers:
“Before drawing the roadmap and prescribing the treatment capable of reviving Lebanon from its current state, we must carefully diagnose its illness.
In reality, since the founding of Greater Lebanon nearly a hundred years ago, Lebanon has suffered from a duality of loyalties and a hunger for power on one side, and from anxiety, fear, and equally a hunger for power on the other.
On the positive side, the spirit of Greater Lebanon was embodied in the desire of Christians and Muslims to live together and to establish a culture of shared life, albeit at the cost of years of setbacks and instability.”
He added:
“The lean years that passed over Greater Lebanon have taught us that it has become a necessity for all its citizens—except for a small minority that is on the verge of extinction once Lebanon regains its absolute sovereignty, which it lost more than half a century ago and may regain soon. From here, we conclude that we are close to overcoming the crises of loyalty and belonging.”
The Hunger for Power
He continued:
“What remains is for us to overcome the crisis of hunger for power, this epidemic that has afflicted our people—Christians and Muslims alike. In this context, it must be noted that external powers of various kinds, which have controlled Lebanese decision-making both in security and politics for decades by exploiting the fractures of society, appointed a system that has ruled Lebanon throughout these decades. This system succeeded in looting public funds and impoverishing its people, turning them into prey for its lust for power and wealth, becoming an internal occupying force that emptied democracy of its meaning by transforming the people into a commodity and elections into an open market for auctions and bargains.”
No Reform With This System
The head of the “Identity and Sovereignty Gathering” stressed:
“In light of this reality, it has become clear to us that it is impossible to reform the system to treat Lebanon’s power-disease while this entrenched system still exists. We cannot rely on it to facilitate its own demise. Therefore, I believe it is more useful to call for a ‘civilized mandate’ over Lebanon that helps us agree on a constitutional system that protects diversity and establishes a spirit of citizenship among Lebanese—a necessity to consolidate national unity, which alone can shield Lebanon from dangers.”
The United States
He concluded:
“In this context, I propose that the United States of America be the mandated and guarantor state, assuming responsibility for helping Lebanon adopt and spread a culture of peace in the region in line with its nature and mission on the one hand, and for building modern institutions and addressing constitutional gaps on the other. All of this would be in exchange for a percentage of Lebanon’s national income—income that is already being stolen in large part by the ruling and controlling system.”
https://akhbarkum-akhbarna.com/archives/69936

Militarily and politically weakened, Hezbollah manages to keep finances afloat
The Arab Weekly/September 24/2025
One year after a devastating war with Israel dealt massive blows to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Iran-backed movement is still managing to pay its fighters and fund its social services. The killing of its long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike on September 27 last year left the militant group reeling, yet it has maintained a level of organisational cohesion under his successor, Naim Qassem. As the group faces mounting pressure to disarm, the United States has also sought to cripple its finances. US envoy Tom Barrack said Hezbollah has been receiving “$60 million a month” since a November ceasefire. Several Hezbollah members and beneficiaries of its services said the organisation was meeting its financial commitments. Fighters still receive monthly cash salaries of $500 to $700, well above Lebanon’s minimum wage of $312. Families of Hezbollah “martyrs” continue to receive stipends covering rent and other essentials, while the group’s vast network of schools, hospitals and charities makes it “one of the largest employers in Lebanon”, according to researcher and Hezbollah expert Joseph Daher. Hezbollah is “definitely under political and economic pressure”, Daher said, though it is difficult to assess the depth of the impact. An Hezbollah source said that since the ceasefire the group has provided about one billion dollars to 50,000 families affected by the latest war. Unlike after the 2006 war, when Hezbollah spearheaded rebuilding in the south, current leader Qassem has insisted the state should fund post-war reconstruction, which has yet to begin. Since the formation of a new Western-backed government this year, and Hezbollah’s slip in political dominance, Beirut has tightened scrutiny of the group’s financial dealings. The December fall of long-time Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad also disrupted supply routes and cash flows from Iran. Authorities have stepped up monitoring of money entering Lebanon, especially from Iran, and the central bank has banned all dealings with Al-Qard al-Hassan, an Hezbollah-linked financial institution. Israel bombed the firm’s branches during two months of all-out war last year that devastated Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon’s south, east and in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
A client of the firm, which offers credit in exchange for gold deposits and has been a lifeline to members of Hezbollah’s Shia Muslim community, said “fear took over” about losing her gold collateral during the crackdown. But she was able to recover it after repaying her loan.
Experts say Hezbollah relies on a web of companies and businessmen, as well as bundles of banknotes flowing in from abroad. Lebanon suspended direct flights from Iran in February, cutting off one route. A security source also reported tighter searches of passengers arriving from Iraq and other countries serving as conduits for Hezbollah. The United States accuses Hezbollah of raising funds through global businesses, drug trafficking and even “blood diamonds” from Africa. Western and Gulf states also allege it profits from the Captagon trade, an accusation the group denies. “The international community has realised that Hezbollah thrives in a weak, unstable, cash-based economy,” said Sami Zoughaib, a researcher at the Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think tank. Cash has been king in Lebanon since the economic collapse began in 2019. Daher said the group still receives income via companies registered in Iraq and Lebanon, and affiliated businessmen operating elsewhere. In a report this year, Canada said Hezbollah was thought to be using businesses, crypto currencies, bank transfers and charitable funds to receive “outgoing Canadian funds”.According to Daher, the ouster of Assad in neighbouring Syria has been “the biggest blow” to the group’s finances so far. Cash and weapons used to flow easily across the porous Lebanon-Syria border, while Hezbollah also made money from smuggling goods, he said. Syria’s new Islamist authorities, distrustful of Iran and sharply opposed to Hezbollah, have cracked down on such activities.

Hassan Nasrallah and the Culture of Overselling
A Call to the Shiite Community First… Enough is Enough! Nations Are Not Built on Pettiness and Hatred! Today It’s Raouché Rock… What’s Next?
Excerpt from a Letter to the LCCC Editor
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147614/
In business and media, the term overselling is used to describe exaggeration and glorification as a way to convince customers. This method, however, is a double-edged sword: exaggeration usually exposes a lack in quality or demand, ultimately leaving the audience unconvinced.
The clearest example of this marketing model can be seen in Hezbollah’s media machine, which adopts a tone bordering on—if not surpassing—sanctification when building upon the “myth” of its former Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah. This tone often draws from multiple religious sources. In the past, it even provoked Christians when Hezbollah invoked the symbol of “light” following his assassination in September of last year—light being deeply tied to the Trinity in symbol, imagery, and meaning. More recently, absurd expressions such as “the holiest” and “the supreme” have surfaced—claims so excessive they may now even offend Muslims themselves. After all, it is well known that Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, the first Caliph to succeed the Prophet Muhammad, rejected the title of sayyid (master), insisting instead that “sovereignty belongs to God alone.”
The observer is left to wonder if multiple people are managing Hezbollah’s media file, given the variety of tones and marketing styles. At times, the focus is on grandiose rhetoric, embroidered with a lexicon of sanctity and divinity. At other times, the narrative dives into Lebanese cultural identity, forcefully attempting to plant roots for Nasrallah—even where none exist. This explains the recent choice of Raouché Rock, a landmark that has nothing to do with Hezbollah’s environment, ideology, or identity—an identity utterly at odds with the creativity of Sabah, the emotions of Farid al-Atrash, the longing of Abdel Halim Hafez, the encounters of lovers, the timeless songs of Fairouz, and that oasis of togetherness atop the rock and within its famous sea tunnel.
Overselling has become a signature trait that reveals much about Hezbollah’s desperate quest for transcendence, dressing up the trivial with exaggerated meaning—whether by promoting “ascension to the heavens,” as if the compass of the “chosen people” had been recalibrated, or by staging “flower worship,” whose bloated budget could have been better spent returning displaced families to their homes. Even more alarming is the religious self-flagellation, now flavored with politics and issued as a fatwa that goes so far as to curse the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister.
This relentless exaltation and glorification are nothing more than further proof of bankruptcy—a last-ditch attempt to provoke and incite against the symbols of the state. The better course for those behind these empty screens and flowery yet shallow phrases would be to return to worship untainted by politics, and to pray for the salvation of a venerable community that the regime of the mullahs has, for years, stripped away from true faith and shackled to an ideology serving nothing but its own interests.
And so, the call goes out to the sons and daughters of the Shiite community first: Enough is enough! Nations are not built on cheap theatrics and on hatred. Today it is Raouché Rock—what will it be tomorrow?

Head of the Lebanese Forces party Samir Geagea.
Beirut: Thaer Abbas/Asharq Al Awsat/September 24/2025
Head of the Lebanese Forces party Samir Geagea said resolving the crises in the region will require more time, citing “facts, the sequence of events, and the political stances of various parties, particularly the influential international ones such as the United States.”In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Geagea stressed that developments over the past two years “are ongoing and will continue until a new order is reached.”As for Lebanon, he said: “The roadmap was crystal clear in the [President Jospeh Aoun’s] swearing in speech and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s ministerial statement. There is no need to waste time. We must put our affairs in order.”While acknowledging that progress is moving “in the right direction,” he argued that it is happening too slowly, placing the blame squarely on Hezbollah and the remnants of the so-called “Resistance axis.”Geagea accused Hezbollah of “fiercely opposing government decisions, going so far as to threaten civil war and resort to violence whenever the state insists on building a real state with exclusive control over arms.” He added: “Their rejection of any cooperation in state-building is what obstructs and delays everything in Lebanon. Delays in disarmament prevent the establishment of a functioning state, block economic recovery, and stall reconstruction.”
Weapons as a domestic power card
Geagea admitted that “it is not easy for a group to surrender its weapons if they serve a political purpose.” Yet, he argued that experience has shown “these arms do not change the balance; they only give Hezbollah extra weight in Lebanese politics.”He questioned the party’s insistence on keeping its arsenal despite its own acknowledgment of a full withdrawal from south of the Litani River, saying: “If they truly intend to pull out, why hold on to the remaining weapons? The answer is clear: these arms serve as leverage in Lebanon’s internal equation and as a card for Iran to claim influence in the country.”
He praised the Lebanese Army’s plan to enforce exclusive state control of arms but wished “its timeline were shorter.”The plan, he said, ensures that “south of the Litani will be fully demilitarized, and north of the river, there will be no weapons convoys, no armed men, no rocket fire - any such act will be prosecuted by law, unlike in the past.”He acknowledged progress, but urged faster implementation “to serve the displaced from 30 to 40 destroyed villages in the South.”Geagea dismissed claims that disarmament in the South is tied to Israeli withdrawal from occupied points, calling it “misleading.”
He said the government’s August 5 decision on monopoly over weapons and the army’s September 5 plan “make no mention of Israel.”“Building the Lebanese state is not conditional on what Israel does. In fact, Israel benefits most from the current situation, where Hezbollah keeps its weapons and Israel enjoys full freedom of action in Lebanon’s skies,” he stressed. Geagea warned that Hezbollah is exploiting the Israeli threat to justify retaining its arsenal: “The greatest protection for Hezbollah and the resistance camp is Israel itself. Whenever there’s a crisis, they invoke Israel to silence people. But the best way to face Israeli danger is to build a real Lebanese state.”
Parliamentary elections
On next year’s parliamentary elections, Geagea ruled out their postponement. “We have held elections under far more difficult circumstances. Constitutional deadlines are untouchable. Whatever the conditions, elections must be held,” he urged. Moreover, he criticized attempts to tie elections to the current electoral law, which he considers unfair to expatriates. The ultimate decision, he said, rests with parliament. “This is how democracies function. The disaster is when proposals are blocked from reaching the general assembly,” he added. Asked if he was hinting at parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s role in obstructing such proposals, Geagea said he will not jump to any conclusions. He warned that time is running out: “For two months, subcommittees have debated draft laws with no result. These must be referred to the full parliament for a vote.” He expressed concern that proposals might be blocked because a majority in parliament supports them. Geagea also ridiculed claims by the “Resistance Axis” that they cannot campaign abroad and that expatriates lack voting freedom. “If the law remains as is, with expatriates electing only six MPs, would that suddenly grant them freedom of choice or allow Hezbollah to campaign? Their real fear is that expatriates vote independently, free from pressure. That is why they want to deny them the right to elect all 128 MPs,” he declared.He argued that the "resistance camp” is clinging to every clause of the electoral law “because their political position is deteriorating, and even losing a seat or two now has major repercussions.”
The new president and government
Geagea expressed optimism about the president and government’s performance. “We are part of this government, and we see a state being rebuilt, albeit not as quickly as we would like. For the first time in years, Lebanon has a surplus of $1.2 billion, whereas in the past it was borrowing $7-8 billion annually to cover its budget,” he remarked. He noted ongoing reforms, including banking sector regulation, banking secrecy laws, and a forthcoming financial reorganization law. “Everything is moving in the right direction, though we are not yet where we want to be. We must accelerate to reach the new Lebanon we dream of,” he urged.

War is Looming
Nadia Ghosoub/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 24, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
The specter of war hangs over Lebanon and the region as events accelerate and regional and international issues intertwine. Political and military indicators suggest that the next six months, starting in October, could witness a significant escalation that will redraw the map of the conflict between Iran and its allies on one side, and the United States and Israel on the other.
Reliable diplomatic sources reveal that Hezbollah has been undertaking a comprehensive restructuring of its combat force for several weeks, including developing its missile arsenal and building new capabilities. Weapons are flowing to it via a supply route that extends from Iraq through Syria to Beirut, with funding and logistical support provided by officers and military personnel recruited specifically to facilitate the movement of equipment.
This development sends a double message: from Hezbollah to Washington and Tel Aviv that it remains a formidable force, and from Israel to Iran that any escalation could reach Tehran itself.
Coinciding with the anniversary of the assassination of several Hezbollah leaders, information emerged about the dissolution of the "Coordination and Liaison Unit" led by Wafiq Safa, as well as the dismissal of media relations official Rana Saheli, with more flexible figures being appointed to key positions. These changes are seen as an indication of organizational repositioning in preparation for a new phase of confrontation.
Meanwhile, Israel closely monitors the monthly reports issued by the Lebanese army, but does not trust them, considering them of no use to either itself or its ally, the United States. This skepticism is used as a pretext to prepare for a new military strike, while Tel Aviv intensifies its maneuvers and reconnaissance activities on the southern border in anticipation of any developments. Tom Barrack, a close associate of US President Donald Trump, stated in an interview with Hadley Gamble that "Hezbollah is rebuilding its strength, and the Lebanese government must clearly declare that it will disarm it," emphasizing that "Hezbollah is our enemy, and Iran is our enemy, and we need to cut off their heads and prevent their funding." Despite this escalating rhetoric, Barrack clarified that the United States would not intervene militarily directly, neither with its own forces nor through the US Central Command, suggesting a US desire to leave the confrontation to Israel while providing political and logistical support. This coincides with intense diplomatic activity regarding the Palestinian issue. Although some 152 countries have recognized Palestine since 2002, its full membership in the United Nations remains suspended due to the US veto in the Security Council. In September, Saudi Arabia and France led the New York conference to develop a 15-month plan for establishing a Palestinian state, ending the conflict, and reforming the Palestinian Authority, while Germany chaired the sessions without formally recognizing the Palestinian state. This issue adds a new layer of tension to the situation, as Israel views any progress toward full international recognition of Palestine as a strategic threat, which intersects with its escalation against Hezbollah and Iran. Observers link these developments to the end of Trump's first year in office, as Washington seeks to establish itself as the sole guarantor of security in the new Middle East. With the prospects for diplomatic solutions dwindling and hostile rhetoric escalating, the region appears to face two stark choices: either a swift comprehensive settlement or a large-scale military confrontation. The buildup of weapons by Hezbollah, Israeli skepticism, the inflammatory statements from the United States, and the escalating Palestinian and international activity all suggest that war has become a real possibility, not just a political ploy. If these conditions persist, the coming weeks and months could prove to be a pivotal period that will shape the Middle East for decades to come.

Nawaf Salam: The Coup Leader Who Shook the Citadel
Samar Zreik/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 24, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
Anyone who visits the Government Palace, that imposing building resembling a historical fortress or an Ottoman sultan's palace, standing proudly on a hill overlooking the site of one of the architects of independence and "partner" in the National Pact, Riyad al-Solh, will clearly see the impact of the revolution brought about by this new arrival to the club of presidents.
President Nawaf Salam transformed the palace from a citadel of power, bearing some of the spirit and characteristics of "Iwan-i-Khosrau," burdened with a retinue of advisors, managers, officers, and power-seekers, separated from the people by concrete walls, security checkpoints, and an insulating layer of courtiers, into a building where government decisions are made simply and without ostentation, free from the trappings of power, security detachments, and checkpoints. He opened his heart, as well as his doors, to visitors without distinction, to ambassadors and politicians, as well as to elites outside the narrow circle of power, local councils, NGOs, and ordinary citizens.
One of the ideas Nawaf Salam brought with him to the palace was that one of the reasons for the outbreak of the "October 17th Uprising" was the enormous gap that had widened between the political authority and the people, to the point where the former acted like an old tailor who insisted on patching up old flaws and forcing the people to wear them. This led the people to take to the streets to make their voices heard, declaring that patching things up could no longer hide the flaws of a decaying regime. Previously, obtaining an appointment with the Prime Minister required navigating an endless maze of bureaucratic procedures, outside the formal, scheduled meeting times. Now, the process is simple and streamlined. Visitors to the Prime Minister's office today leave with the firm impression that Nofal Salam has fundamentally transformed the institution, both politically and symbolically. He has restructured the office's operations and procedures, bridging the gap and humanizing the relationship between the government and the public. He has transformed it from a historical, political fortress into a constitutional bastion that upholds the rule of law and promotes a culture of good governance, thus contrasting sharply with the arbitrary practices and disregard for the constitution that characterized the previous regime. To truly grasp the extent of this transformation, simply compare the ease of scheduling an appointment at the Prime Minister's office with the complexity of the same process at the Parliament building. Even for a member of parliament or a journalist, securing a few minutes of the Speaker's time during his daily walk is a rare privilege. In this context, Nofal Salam appears unconventional and even revolutionary; he does not present himself as a leader, but rather as a statesman striving to restore the dignity and respectability of the office.
Here lies the source of the animosity that Hezbollah has harbored towards him for years, because they have come to know his ideas and his unwavering stance, which makes it difficult to reach compromises that they are accustomed to. Hezbollah preempted his arrival with negative propaganda, launched its official relationship with him with excessive hostility, and adopted a rhetoric of hatred and vilification against him, which it has been disseminating to its base, until his enmity surpassed even that of Israel in the writings and expressions of most of its members—expressions that are mostly vulgar, and some of which are subtly malicious, like adding poison to honey. Hezbollah sees Naufal Salam as the spearhead of the state apparatus seeking to defeat it, and therefore, it constantly provokes conflicts against him. In football, the spearhead is the player who positions himself in front of the opponent's goal and leads the attacks; one player differs from another by his skill in scoring goals from difficult positions, despite the harshness of the defenders, who sometimes resort to physical violence. Indeed, the conflicts and "violent" policies have not prevented Salam from moving forward with establishing the state's monopoly on the use of force and putting the state machine back on track; although it moves slowly, like old steam trains, it is steady in its progress. This is what angers Hezbollah and drives it to provoke more minor conflicts. Hezbollah knew the consequences of displaying the portrait of its late secretary-general in a place as symbolic as the iconic Roché Rock in the hearts of Beirutis and Lebanese people, and the reaction of the Prime Minister; therefore, it did so, placing him in a difficult position: either to back down and weaken the rising authority of the state, or to escalate the level of hostility to the point of explosion with its already volatile base. For Salam, the matter is settled: he will not allow sectarian political propaganda and a visual identity cloaked in the sanctity of death to be imposed on the capital, which embodies the center of power and symbolizes the state's identity. This does not, however, mean that he harbors any animosity towards the deceased figure or his symbolic meaning for his supporters. It is worth noting that the Speaker of Parliament issued a statement of condolence following Nasrallah's assassination, signing it as a representative of "Amal Movement," not in his official political capacity, and he did not wear black, which holds particular symbolic significance for Shiites in expressing grief. Berri, known for conveying messages through symbolism and subtle cues, did this deliberately. Has this affected his standing as a "partner" or "elder brother"? The animosity towards Salam stems from the door to state power that he opened, and the rest is mere detail.

The Clichés of "Sayyed" and the Slogans of "Bake"
Imad Moussa/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 24, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
"I fear the Lebanese will suffocate from the intensity of this embrace." This was one of the most beautiful slogans of Saeb Bak, uttered in the early 1980s, and the condition for achieving this emotional unity was that no outsider should interfere. In that decade, the Mount Lebanon War occurred, during which the Druze displaced their Christian neighbors for nearly two decades. The outsider had a hand in that war. The leader of Amal Movement skillfully led the brilliant February 6th uprising, resulting in the displacement of Christians from the southern suburbs to the eastern region. Historians did not note any foreign involvement in that glorious uprising, nor was the three-year-long civil war, which claimed hundreds of lives, merely a democratic clash between the followers of Assad and Khomeini. And let us not forget that the Christian brothers loved each other very much during the two most glorious years of the General's era.
May God have mercy on the soul of Saeb Bak and his beautiful, patriotic slogans. May God grant long life to those who constantly bombard us with the trinity of "Army, People, and Resistance" and impose it on every ministerial statement. The enemy has oppressed the resistance and the people of the resistance, and yet the MPs of the "Shiite Alliance," and only they, continue to boast and revel in that outdated formula.
Recently, the Speaker of Parliament issued a statement on "the first anniversary of the Israeli aggression against Lebanon." One might think that the head of state is confused about the dates. Did the war begin on October 7, 2023, or on September 23, 2024? Was the "support war" merely a skirmish, a friendly debate, an emotional exchange between two allies, which then degenerated into hatred and crime? In any case, it is a painful reminder of a resounding defeat suffered by the Islamic resistance and its environment, a result of flawed calculations and delusions of power. The clichés of the "leader," such as his statement, "The army will never be a border guard for Israel, its weapons are not weapons of discord, and its mission is sacred: to protect Lebanon and the Lebanese," do not diminish the catastrophic nature of this defeat. How can the army be a border guard for Israel? Isn't the northern border of Israel the southern border of Lebanon? Our esteemed "leader," neither digging tunnels under houses in the south, Bekaa, and southern Beirut, nor stockpiling missiles and drones, nor deploying the Al-Rizwan Brigade in the south, protected Lebanon's borders or liberated the Shebaa Farms and the rest of the disputed territory. That same weapon only added occupation to occupation, and division to division. And yet, neither the "party" learned anything in two years, nor did the "leader" teach anything. Now then, what kind of discord does our astute Speaker of Parliament, our most shrewd and experienced politician, fear? The only discord on the horizon is the one his staunch ally ignites, sometimes by clinging to a useless weapon, sometimes with provocations and incitement, and sometimes by defying the Lebanese, Arab, and international will. These days, this "militant" brother does nothing more than polish the image of the "party," shift responsibility for rebuilding what the war destroyed onto the bankrupt government, and spout the same tired clichés about dialogue, reconstruction, and roadmaps, as seen through the eyes of Mohammad Raad. Didn't the head of state once say, "Whoever brought the donkey into the city, let him take it out"? Then let him do it!

September's Questions
Marwan Al-Amin/Voice of the Nation/September 24, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
For decades, the people of the South have endured the bitterness of wars and their devastating consequences. Displacement, destruction of homes, and bloodshed have left their memories scarred with sorrow, and death has become a constant visitor to every household, as if the South were destined to be an open stage for recurring tragedies. But the latest war was even harsher and inflicted deeper wounds. On September 23, 2024, the war erupted, and its outbreak was, in fact, not surprising. Hezbollah was well aware that a catastrophe was imminent, after receiving warnings from Arab and international figures, from European envoys to the American envoy Amos Hochstein. Nevertheless, the group chose to turn a deaf ear, leaving the South and its people trapped in the line of fire.
Despite the certainty of this disaster, Hezbollah made no attempt to prevent it. It clung to the "unity of battlefields" strategy, promoted by Tehran, as if the South were merely a pawn in its game. It did not prepare an evacuation plan, nor did it establish shelters to protect people's lives and dignity. Thus, the people of the South found themselves trapped in their cars for long hours, enduring humiliation and suffering on the roads, while Hezbollah had nothing to offer but empty slogans repeated on platforms and in the media.
Over the past years, Hezbollah has poured billions of dollars into its military arsenal. It dug tunnels, carved underground passages for combat, and built the infrastructure for its battles. But it never once considered the humanitarian infrastructure that protects people in times of danger. No shelters were built, no temporary housing centers were established to protect their dignity and provide them with refuge. Clearly, investments were made only where they served the Iranian agenda, while the lives of the people were disregarded. The tragedy of the south is not a mere coincidence, but rather the direct result of deliberate choices made by Hezbollah, under Iranian guidance. Its concern was never the protection of human life or the preservation of human dignity, but rather to turn the people into cannon fodder in a war that was not their own, and to use them as mere bargaining chips in the regional power struggle. In Tehran's view, the south is not Lebanese territory, but rather an open battleground for its wars, and its inhabitants are not citizens, but human shields to be sacrificed in a game far beyond their control. Therefore, silence is no longer an acceptable option. Accountability is a duty, and holding them to account is an urgent necessity. Hezbollah must be asked: why did it invest billions of dollars in tunnels and missiles, while leaving its own people displaced on the streets without any shelter? Why did it turn the south into a war zone instead of making it a safe haven for its people? Hezbollah must also answer other questions: How did the Pegasus operation take place? Who was responsible for it? How was Israel able to penetrate its ranks and assassinate most of its leaders, including two secretaries-general? What is the point of clinging to weapons, now that their ineffectiveness against Israel has been proven? And what happened to the promise made by Mr. Nasrallah to rebuild the houses better than before? Since the announcement of the ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah's rhetoric has only further insulted the intelligence of the people and disregarded their suffering. After being the direct cause of their displacement and plunging them into humiliation, death, and destruction, Hezbollah has nothing to offer but hollow and meaningless slogans. Isn't it the bare minimum of respect for people's suffering to speak to them honestly and truthfully? Don't they have the right, at least once, to have their intelligence respected and to hear serious and responsible words, rather than mere empty promises and unrealistic rhetoric? Unless the doors to questions that lead to the truth are opened, the people of the South will continue to pay the price with their blood and their dignity, caught in endless wars and conflicts that have nothing to do with them.

What Aoun heard from Rubio was not what the world heard from Brzezinski
Joyce Akeiki/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 24, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
Amidst the high-profile statements by US envoy Tom Brzezinski, who said that the Lebanese state is negligent and does nothing to disarm Hezbollah, and that the group is rebuilding its capabilities and has received millions of dollars recently, President Michel Aoun met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New York, in the presence of Brzezinski and the deputy US envoy, Morgan Ortagus. US sources who participated in the meeting described it to Nidaa Al-Watan as excellent, while Lebanese sources revealed that the atmosphere of the meeting with Rubio was completely different from the tone of Brzezinski's high-profile statements. Rubio was very understanding of every point President Aoun raised, and he expressed the US administration's appreciation for the efforts made by Aoun and the Lebanese government regarding the decision to disarm Hezbollah and to establish state authority over all Lebanese territory.
Nidaa Al-Watan learned that Rubio inquired with Aoun about the army's plan and asked for a detailed explanation of its phases. The president explained the plan in full, emphasizing to the US Secretary of State that the Lebanese state would not back down from the decision made by the government on August 5 to disarm Hezbollah, and that the Lebanese government is committed to implementing the army's plan, but that the army needs material and financial support to be able to implement it. Rubio appeared to understand Aoun's position, and he assured him that funding and equipping the army would happen, and that the process had already begun, because the entire future depends on the role of the army. President Aoun understood from Rubio that the US administration would not directly link military funding and support to disarmament, as it does with reconstruction efforts and attracting investment to Lebanon. Rather, the military support would be provided in stages, contingent on the implementation of the army's plan. If the plan progresses, the support would continue; if the plan stalls, the support would cease. Furthermore, with the aim of fostering the conditions for a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the Middle East, "Nidaa Al-Watan" learned that Aoun asked Rubio to pressure Israel to take a step that would facilitate the implementation of the Barak Plan, put it back on track, and give the Lebanese state leverage to persuade Hezbollah to disarm. This required step from Israel could be a cessation of hostilities against Lebanon and a phased withdrawal from its occupied territories in southern Lebanon. "Nidaa Al-Watan" also learned that Rubio expressed his willingness to assist in this matter and concluded the meeting by promising positive results.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 24-25/2025
Yemen drone attack wounds 22 in Israeli resort town: army, rescuers
AFP/September 24, 2025
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said a drone launched from Yemen struck the southern resort town of Eilat on Wednesday, with rescuers reporting nearly two dozen wounded. A military statement said the drone “fell in the area of Eilat” on the Red Sea coast after air defenses had failed to intercept it, in the second such incident within days. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service said its teams had treated 22 casualties, including two men, aged 26 and 60, who were in serious condition with shrapnel wounds. One person was moderately injured with a shrapnel wound to the back, and 19 others were in light condition suffering “from shrapnel and other injuries,” the medical service said. Police said the drone fell in Eilat’s city center, causing damage in the area frequented by tourists. Footage shared on social media, which AFP could not independently verify, showed a drone flying above the resort town before crashing with smoke rising from the impact area. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which occurred on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants have claimed similar attacks throughout the Gaza war since late 2023. In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, Eilat mayor Eli Lankri called on the government to “strike the Houthis hard” in retaliation for the drone attack. Lankri added that repeated Houthi attacks have disrupted operations at the Eilat port. The army earlier said air raid sirens rang throughout Eilat, a popular resort town at Israel’s southern tip near the Egyptian and Jordanian borders where Israeli authorities had reported a drone strike on Thursday. Yemen’s Houthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drone at Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, with the militant group saying it was acting in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas whose October 2023 attack sparked the war.In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military on Wednesday pressed its assault on Gaza City, from where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee.

Trump seeks to reclaim active role on Gaza as he meets Arab, Muslim leaders
The Arab Weekly/September 24/2025
United Nations, New York US President Donald Trump tried Tuesday to reclaim a leading role handling the war in Gaza after being sidelined by the diplomatic momentum of Western allies recognising a Palestinian state at the United Nations and Israel pressing on with its military assault on Gaza without the US doing anything to restrain it. Giving an impression of engagement, Trump had a meeting on the UN General Assembly sidelines with leaders and senior officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan. Although no statement was issued by participants, the meeting was said to have focused on ending the ongoing war in Gaza and reaching a permanent ceasefire.
“It was a very successful meeting with all of the big players except for Israel but that’s going to be next,” Trump said. The Emirati news agency WAM said releasing all hostages and taking steps towards addressing the worsening humanitarian crisis in the war-torn enclave were also discussed as priorities at the meeting. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the gathering was “very fruitful.”
Speaking to reporters in New York after the meeting, Erdogan said a joint declaration from the encounter would be published and that he was “pleased” with the outcomes, but did not elaborate. On Monday, Axios had reported that in addition to freeing hostages and ending the war, Trump was expected to discuss at the meeting US plans around an Israeli withdrawal and post-war governance in Gaza, without Hamas involvement. Washington wants Arab and Muslim countries to agree to send military forces to Gaza to enable Israel’s withdrawal and to secure funding for transition and rebuilding programmes, Axios said. But without a clear plan for the day after, oil-rich Arab countries are not expected to contribute to the reconstruction drive. The same day, the US president told the United Nations that he condemned moves by Western powers to recognise a Palestinian state, as the United States appeared increasingly isolated in its staunch support of ally Israel. In a speech to the UN General Assembly, Trump said world powers should focus instead on securing the release of hostages held in Gaza, nearly two years after Hamas seized them in the deadly attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
France, Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal are among the countries that have recognised a Palestinian state in the last few days. Their moves were borne out of frustration with Israel over its offensive and intended to promote a two-state solution. In recent weeks, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government has begun a long-threatened ground assault on Gaza City with few prospects for a ceasefire.
France and Britain were due to host a meeting on Tuesday with Germany and Italy, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Canada and Australia to discuss a potential stabilisation force for Gaza, which would only happen after a ceasefire and would need a UN mandate.
Netanyahu blindsided Trump with a strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar earlier this month that all but doomed any mediation effort to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
Encouraged by an implicit green light from Washington, Israel has pursued its ground assault in Gaza City pushing hundreds of thousands of desperate Palestinians southward to uninhabitable areas, amid global condemnation of a widening humanitarian crisis in the coastal strip.
“Trump has not been able to achieve any major progress or gains in the region, particularly on the Israeli-Palestinian top front,” said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute think-tank in Washington. “In fact, things are worse than when he entered office.”
With an end to the nearly two-year-old conflict seeming more remote than ever, the apparent sidelining of Trump has added to scepticism over his repeated claims since his return to office in January that he is a masterful peacemaker who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that if Trump really wants to win the coveted Nobel, he needs to stop the war in Gaza. “There is one person who can do something about it, and that is the US president. And the reason he can do more than us, is because we do not supply weapons that allow the war in Gaza to be waged,” Macron told France’s BFM TV from New York.
Some analysts see Trump’s unwillingness to apply Washington’s leverage with Netanyahu as a realisation that the conflict, like Russia’s war in Ukraine, is much more complex and intractable than he has acknowledged. Others see it as tacit acceptance that Netanyahu will act in what he considers his own and Israel’s interests and that there is little the US president should do to change that. Still others speculate that Trump may have been distracted from the Middle East by domestic issues such as the recent murder of conservative activist ally Charlie Kirk, continuing fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and the president’s deployment of National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities for what he says are crime-fighting missions.
Although Trump has at times expressed impatience with Netanyahu’s handling of the war, he made clear in his UN speech on Tuesday that he is not ready to back away from strong support for Israel. While leaders taking the podium at the UN gathering did not directly chastise the US president for his stance, there was clear frustration at his unwillingness to act.
“It all depends on Trump, who could end this war with one choice word to Israel’s prime minister,” said Laura Blumenfeld, a Middle East expert at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies in Washington. That word, she said, is “enough.”
The US is Israel’s chief arms supplier and historically acts as its diplomatic shield at the UN and other world bodies. Last week, the US vetoed a draft Security Council resolution that would have demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Trump has given no sign he will use those pressure points.
Still, some analysts declined to rule out the possibility that Netanyahu, due to visit the White House on Monday for the fourth time since Trump returned to office, may yet exhaust Trump’s patience. Israel’s strike in Doha dampened Trump’s hopes for more Gulf states joining the Abraham Accords, a landmark agreement brokered by his first administration in which several Arab countries forged diplomatic ties with Israel. Israel is now weighing annexing parts of the occupied West Bank, which might be fuelled by anger against the international push for recognition of Palestinian statehood. Most Middle East experts say such a move could undermine relations between Israel and the UAE and would also close the door on the prospects for Gulf power Saudi Arabia ever joining, and that Netanyahu is not likely to go ahead without the green light from Trump, who has been non-committal so far.

Arab, Islamic leaders urge Trump to end Gaza war, achieve peace
Arab News/September 24, 2025
LONDON: During a meeting with US President Donald Trump, eight leaders and ministers from Arab and Islamic states stressed the need to end the war in Gaza. The leaders of Qatar, Jordan, Turkiye, Indonesia and Pakistan, as well as Egypt’s prime minister and the foreign ministers of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, met with Trump on the sidelines of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. They highlighted the “humanitarian catastrophe and high human toll” in Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians since October 2023. They said the war has “serious consequences for the region and impact on the Muslim world,” rejecting the forced displacement of Palestinians from the enclave, the Saudi Press Agency reported. They added that an immediate ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas, and the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid into Gaza are “the first step toward a just and lasting peace.”They reaffirmed their commitment to rebuilding the lives of Palestinians in Gaza, and stressed the need for a comprehensive construction plan that outlines security arrangements in the territory and ensures international support for the Palestinian Authority, which they support in its reform efforts. They also stressed the importance of protecting Jerusalem’s holy sites and maintaining stability in the occupied West Bank, where violence by Israeli settlers has increased since late 2023. The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate with Trump to end the war and achieve peace. The meeting was co-hosted by Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Kamal Madbouly, Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

Israeli, US attacks on Iran ‘inflicted grievous blow’ to prospect of regional peace: Pezeshkian
Arab News/September 24, 2025
LONDON: Israeli and US attacks on Iran in June “inflicted a grievous blow upon international trust and the very prospect of peace in the region,” Iran’s president said on Wednesday.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, the first time he has spoken in a global forum since the 12-day Israel-Iran war over the summer, Masoud Pezeshkian said Israeli and US strikes on his country were a betrayal of diplomacy. The war saw the assassination of a number of Iran’s highest military and political leaders, and broke down weeks of negotiations with the US. “The aerial assaults of the Zionist regime and the US against Iran’s cities, homes and infrastructures, precisely at a time when we were treading the path of diplomatic negotiations, constituted a grave betrayal of diplomacy and a subversion of efforts toward the establishment of stability and peace,” he said. “This brazen act of aggression, in addition to martyring a number of commanders, citizens, children, women, scientists and intellectual elites of my country, inflicted a grievous blow upon international trust and the very prospect of peace in the region,” he added. “The people of Iran, despite the most severe protracted and crushing economic sanctions, psychological and media warfare and persistent efforts to sow discord, at the very instant the first bullet was fired upon their soil, rose in unison in support of their valiant armed forces.”Pezeshkian slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “criminal” and denounced Israel for committing “genocide” in Gaza, causing mass starvation, perpetuating “apartheid within the Occupied Territories,” and carrying out “aggression against its neighbors.” Just days before international sanctions could be reimposed on Iran over its nuclear ambitions, Pezeshkian said: “I hereby declare once more before this assembly that Iran has never sought, and will never seek, to build a nuclear bomb. We don’t seek nuclear weapons.”He condemned the recent Israeli strike on Doha that targeted Hamas negotiators, and declared Iran’s solidarity with the government and people of Qatar. He also welcomed a defense agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan that was signed last week. Pezeshkian hailed it “as a beginning for a comprehensive regional security system with the cooperation of the Muslim states of West Asia in the political, security and defense domains.”

Trump envoy Witkoff expects Mideast ‘breakthrough’ in coming days
AFP/September 24, 2025
NEW YORK: US envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday he expected a breakthrough related to Gaza in the coming days, saying President Donald Trump had presented a plan to regional countries.Witkoff, a real estate friend of Trump who has become his roving ambassador, said the US president shared ideas when meeting with a group of Arab and Islamic countries Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. “We presented what we call the Trump 21-point plan for peace in the Mideast and Gaza,” Witkoff said. “I think it addresses Israeli concerns as well as the concerns of all the neighbors in the region,” he told the Concordia summit on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. “We’re hopeful, and I might say even confident, that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough.”Witkoff and Trump have repeatedly voiced hope for ending the devastating nearly two-year war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was more somber on a trip last week to Israel, which has launched massive new offensive to seize Gaza City.

UN Security Council under intense pressure to halt Gaza bloodshed amid political deadlock
Ephrem Kossaify/Arab News/September 24, 2025
NEW YORK: The world is confronting “one of the darkest chapters of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the UN secretary-general said on Tuesday, warning that nearly two years after the “horrific Hamas terror attacks” of Oct. 7 and the “devastating Israeli military response,” violence has only deepened across the Occupied Territories, posing grave threats to regional and global peace and security. The Israeli onslaught in Gaza City is compounding an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis, said Antonio Guterres. “Famine is a reality, with the population constantly forced to move and being starved,” he told a high-level UN Security Council meeting. “To call this situation untenable, and morally and legally indefensible, doesn’t begin to capture the scale of human suffering.” Impunity prevails “and our collective credibility is being undermined,” he said, adding that violence is spreading from Gaza to the occupied West Bank and beyond, including several countries in the region, most recently Qatar. “Efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal — led by Qatar, Egypt and the US — suffered a serious blow on Sept. 9,” Guterres said. “The Israeli attack (on Doha) wasn’t only a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity — it also threatened the very norms and mechanisms we rely on for diplomacy and conflict resolution.”Guterres also warned that the viability of a two-state solution is “steadily eroding,” reaching its “most critical level in more than a generation.” He added: “Relentless settlement expansion, de facto annexation, forced displacement, cycles of deadly violence — including by extremist settlers — have entrenched an unlawful Israeli occupation and pushed us perilously close to a point of no return.”Guterres sounded the alarm over Israel’s recent approval of settlement construction in the E1 area which, if implemented, would destroy the contiguity of a Palestinian state. “Israeli settlements aren’t just a political issue — they’re a flagrant violation of international law,” he said. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority is facing an existential crisis, with fiscal, political and institutional pressures severely undermining its ability to function, he added. Israel’s withholding of tax revenues, the collapse of the Palestinian economy, and a drastic decline in donor aid have left the PA unable to pay salaries or provide basic services, Guterres said. He emphasized the urgent need for international financial and political support to stabilize the PA and maintain it as a viable partner for peace. He noted a “glimmer of hope” with the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution that took place on Monday, commending France and Saudi Arabia for co-chairing it and helping to revive political momentum. Guterres welcomed increased international recognition of Palestinian statehood, particularly by France and the UK, calling this the clearest path to achieving a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders with Jerusalem as the shared capital. He urged the international community to seize this momentum, stressing that the future of Gaza must be rooted in international law, free of ethnic cleansing and aligned with a political vision for a viable Palestinian state.
He called for an immediate halt to settler expansion, violence and annexation threats, and reiterated the International Court of Justice’s demands for Israel to end its settlement activities and unlawful presence in the Occupied Territories. Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative to the UN, Abdulaziz Alwasil, described Gaza as “a catastrophic situation that’s deteriorating day by day” due to ongoing military escalation and a prolonged siege. He said the repeated Israeli aggressions and violations of international law stem from “the lack of accountability and the prevalence of impunity,” which has undermined the credibility of the UN and threatens both regional and global peace and security. Alwasil criticized the failure of the international community to deter these actions, warning that it risks erasing national sovereignty and deepening the regional conflict. He called on the UNSC to “shoulder its responsibilities” by enforcing accountability measures against Israel to restore peace and uphold international legitimacy.He condemned Israel’s continued intransigence and expansionist policies, including violations of the sovereignty of regional countries such as Qatar. Stressing the urgent need for a just resolution, Alwasil insisted that peace can only be achieved through a comprehensive approach based on the “implementation of a two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the lines of 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital.”Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Tanya Fajon lamented the UNSC’s paralysis and its failure to fulfill its obligations to maintain international peace and security.
She warned that when politicians facing charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity walk free while judges are placed under sanctions, the international community cannot remain silent without becoming complicit through complacency. Fajon stressed that the breakdown of the rules and obligations underpinning the international system constitutes a direct threat to global peace and security. “Gaza has become a textbook example of the failure of the international community,” she said. “It has become a place in which people dread the nightfall and fear what a new day will bring.
“Gaza has become the deadliest place for children, the deadliest place for humanitarian and medical workers, the deadliest place for journalists, the place of the first-ever proclaimed famine in the Middle East. “Marked by continuous offensives and strikes against hospitals, schools, homes, shelters and holy places, it’s defined by death and despair, where hostages suffer and civilians count heartbeats left.”Tajon told council members that “Gaza is a man-made catastrophe which is live-streamed across the globe and sustained by those acting in contradiction to everything we stand for.”Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told the UNSC that it is essential that Israel change its course immediately and that the war in Gaza ends. He emphasized that the council, tasked with maintaining international peace and security, should be able to make this demand as a bare minimum.
“That means all of us, every single member, working in concert and common cause toward this goal. It means setting aside political differences to save lives,” he said. Rasmussen lamented last week’s US veto, the sixth since the start of the war, on a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages. Addressing Americans directly, Rasmussen quoted President Donald Trump as saying the war in Gaza needs to be stopped immediately. “Denmark continues to support the dedicated efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to mitigate a ceasefire,” he said. “Your unwavering commitment to find a path to peace is critical in the context, but we count on you in this council too. Your leadership is critical in our joint aspirations of bringing peace and stability to the region.”UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said her country’s “historic recognition” of Palestine is part of acting to protect the viability of the two-state solution as the only path “to a just and lasting peace,” and part of “rejecting extremist ideas on all sides, which involved too often fantasies of the destruction of the State of Israel or expulsion of the Palestinian population.”Mike Waltz, US permanent representative to the UN, reiterated Washington’s demand that Hamas immediately release all remaining hostages, “cease putting civilians in harm’s way, cease sacrificing their own people for propaganda aims,” and “disarm” and “surrender,” adding: “This war could end today if that happened.”Waltz said there was no credible Palestinian partner for peace, adding that PA leaders were denied visas to be in New York this week because they “failed to meet their Oslo commitments.”He said: “The commitments were basic, including renouncing terrorism, renouncing violence, resolving issues through direct negotiations with Israel. “The Palestinian Authority has failed to clear even those low bars, and their attempts to bypass negotiations through what can only be called lawfare, including at the ICC (International Criminal Court) and at the ICJ, and its pushes for unilateral recognition of statehood … this charade is disappointing. It’s clearly fueled by domestic politics, and has given Hamas a reward for refusing to surrender.”

Israel says talks with Syria hinge on disarmament and Druze protection
Reuters/September 24, 2025
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday that negotiations are underway with Syria, and their outcomes depend on safeguarding Israel’s interests, including disarmament in southwestern Syria and the safety and security of the Druze community. Netanyahu said last Sunday that progress had been made on a security agreement with Syria, but finalizing the deal is not imminent.

Netanyahu rejects Western recognition of a Palestinian state
Reuters/September 24, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the recent recognition of a Palestinian state by some Western countries “does not bind Israel in any way.” The Prime Minister’s office added on X, “There will be no Palestinian state.”
On Monday, dozens of world leaders gathered at the United Nations to support the creation of a Palestinian state, marking a historic diplomatic shift nearly two years after the Gaza war—an initiative strongly opposed by Israel and its close ally, the United States.

Activist flotilla seeking to break Israeli blockade of Gaza says drones attacked its boats
Associated Press/September 24, 2025
Activists taking part in a flotilla seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza said Wednesday that some of their boats were attacked by drones overnight while sailing south of Greece.
The Global Sumud Flotilla said it was attacked during the night by "unidentified drones and communications jamming." It said that "at least 13 explosions" were heard on and around several flotilla boats, while drones or aircraft dropped "unidentified objects" on at least 10 boats. No casualties were reported but there was damage to the vessels and "widespread obstruction in communications," it added. Activists posted a brief video on the flotilla's social media account showing what appeared to be an explosion on or near one of the vessels. Greece's coast guard did not report any distress calls. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions regarding the attack.
Italy sending a frigate
Italy condemned the attack and activated a navy frigate to be on hand for possible rescue operations, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said. Crosetto said the Italian Navy's frigate Fasan, which was sailing north of Crete, was "already heading towards the area for possible rescue operations." Italy has informed Israel about the decision. "In a democracy, demonstrations and forms of protest must also be protected when they are carried out in accordance with international law and without resorting to violence," Crosetto said.
Italy had warned Israel to respect the rights of Italian activists taking part in the flotilla. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told lawmakers earlier this month that he had personally called Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar about the case. Tajani said at the time that 58 Italians were participating in the flotilla, including some lawmakers. The European Union also warned against any force being used against the flotilla. "The freedom of navigation under international law must be upheld. ... So no attacks, no drone strikes, no seizures. Any use of force against the flotilla is not acceptable," said Eva Hrncirova, a spokesperson for the European Commission. "We respect the humanitarian commitment of the people who are on board of the flotilla."
Defiant activists
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who is on board one of the boats, called the strikes a "scare tactic" and implored the flotilla's supporters to stay focused on Gaza rather than on the activists sailing in the Mediterranean Sea. She said damage to the fleet was being assessed. "We were aware of the risks of these kind of attacks and that's not something that's going to stop us," Thunberg said on a livestream. "The most important thing isn't that we were hit by drones. Drones are something that Palestinians experience 24-7," she added. Simone Zambrin, an Italian activist with the flotilla, said drones "have been flying over our heads for days now" and on Wednesday "dropped devices at our boats, damaging both the sails and the hearing of some of our crew members." "We expected it because it is a rhetoric that is part of what Israel is trying to do with regard to missions like ours," Zambrin said. "It tries to instill fear because it is afraid of our arrival."Greg Stoker, an American activist on board one of the boats, said in a social media post that the vessel's VHF radio communications also suffered interference, with the jammers playing an ABBA song over the VHF channel the flotilla was using.
Sailing to Gaza
The flotilla, which organizers say includes about 50 vessels and participants from dozens of countries, is carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, for Palestinians in Gaza. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has accused organizers of being linked to Hamas — an accusation organizers reject — and says it has proposed that the activists unload their aid in the Israeli port of Ashkelon for it to be transported into Gaza. "Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade," the ministry said on Monday. "Israel urges the participants not to break the law and to accept Israel's proposal for a peaceful transfer of any aid they might have."
Attacks on the flotilla
The flotilla has reported several attacks since it set sail from Spain on Sept. 1, including two while some of its boats were in Tunisian waters. The convoy is claimed to be the largest attempt to date to break the Israeli maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has now lasted 18 years, long predating the current war in Gaza. The almost two-year war has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry does not say how many were civilians or combatants, but says more than half have been women and children.
The world's leading authority on hunger crises said last month that Israel's blockade and ongoing offensive had already pushed Gaza City into famine. More than 300,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks as Israel has ordered the population to move south, but an estimated 700,000 remain, according to U.N. agencies and aid groups. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants carried out an attack inside Israel that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, saw about 250 people taken hostage. Israel says its operation in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to surrender and return the remaining 48 hostages. Israel believes around 20 of the captives are still alive. It is not the first time that activists trying to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza have come under attack. Another vessel said it was attacked by drones in May in international waters off Malta. An overland convoy traveling across North Africa also attempted to reach the border but was blocked by security forces aligned with Egypt in eastern Libya. In 2010, Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara, a boat participating in an aid flotilla attempting to breach the blockade of Gaza, killing 10 Turkish activists on board.

Spain’s PM says he will send warship to protect Gaza aid flotilla
Reuters/September 24, 2025
The Global Sumud Flotilla is using about 50 civilian boats to try to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza
Spain will dispatch a naval vessel from Cartagena to assist the flotilla in emergency
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday he will join Italy in sending a military warship to protect an international flotilla seeking to deliver aid to Gaza after it was attacked by drones off Greece. Sanchez told a press conference in New York where he has been attending the UN General Assembly that the citizens of 45 countries were on board to deliver food to the population of Gaza and express solidarity with their suffering. “The government of Spain insists that international law be respected and that the right of our citizens should be respected to sail through the Mediterranean in safe conditions,” he said. “Tomorrow we will dispatch a naval vessel from Cartagena with all necessary resources in case it was necessary to assist the flotilla and carry out a rescue operation.”The Global Sumud Flotilla is using about 50 civilian boats to try to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, with many lawyers and activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg. The vessels were attacked by 12 drones in international waters 30 nautical miles (56 km) off the Greek island of Gavdos, said Marikaiti Stasinou, a spokesperson for March to Gaza Greece, which is part of the flotilla. Thunberg told Reuters on Monday that they had drones flying over them each night. “This mission is about Gaza, it isn’t about us. And no risks that we could take could even come close to the risks the Palestinians are facing every day,” Thunberg said in a video call from the ship.

Syria, Israel Near ‘De-Escalation’ Pact, US Envoy Says
Asharq Al Awsat/September 24/2025
Syria and Israel are close to striking a "de-escalation" agreement in which Israel will stop its attacks while Syria will agree to not move any machinery or heavy equipment near the Israeli border, a senior US envoy said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of UN General Assembly meetings in New York, US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said the agreement would serve as the first step towards the security deal that the two countries have been negotiating. Syria and Israel are in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israeli airstrikes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have pushed into southern Syria. US President Donald Trump has sought to strike an agreement between the two sides that would be announced this week, but not enough progress has been made so far and the Rosh Hashana holiday, the Jewish New Year this week, has slowed down the process, Barrack said. "I think everybody is approaching it in good faith," Barrack said. Israel and Syria have been Middle East adversaries for decades. Despite the overthrow of Syria's longtime President Bashar al-Assad last December, territorial disputes and deep-seated political mistrust between the two countries remain. Israel has voiced hostility to Syria's new government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and has lobbied Washington to keep the country weak and decentralized. After months of encroaching into the demilitarized zone, Israel abandoned the 1974 truce on December 8, the day an opposition offensive ousted Assad. It struck Syrian military assets and sent troops to within 20 km (12 miles) of Damascus. Since then, Israel has carried out more than 1,000 strikes on Syria and conducted more than 400 ground incursions, Sharaa said last week. Speaking shortly before Barrack at an event in New York, Sharaa, who led opposition forces that overthrew Assad's regime last year, expressed concern that Israel may be stalling the talks. "We are scared of Israel. We are worried about Israel. It's not the other way around," he said.

Syria, Israel nearing de-escalation pact while Sharaa still ‘worried’
The Arab Weekly/September 24/2025
Syria and Israel are close to striking a “de-escalation” agreement in which Israel will stop its attacks while Syria will agree to not move any machinery or heavy equipment near the Israeli border, a senior US envoy said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of UN General Assembly meetings in New York, US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said the agreement would serve as the first step towards the security deal that the two countries have been negotiating. Syria and Israel are in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israeli air strikes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have pushed into southern Syria. US President Donald Trump has sought to strike an agreement between the two sides that would be announced this week but not enough progress has been made so far and the Rosh Hashana holiday, the Jewish New Year this week, has slowed down the process, Barrack said. “I think everybody is approaching it in good faith,” Barrack said. Israel and Syria have been Middle East adversaries for decades. Despite the overthrow of Syria’s long-time President Bashar al-Assad last December, Israeli military incursions and deep-seated political mistrust between the two countries have endured. Israel has voiced hostility to Syria’s Islamist-led government, pointing to President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s former jihadist links, and has lobbied Washington to keep the country weak and decentralised. After months of encroaching into the demilitarised zone, Israel abandoned the 1974 truce on December 8, the day a rebel offensive ousted Assad. It struck Syrian military assets and sent troops to within 20 kilometres of Damascus. Since then, Israel has carried out more than 1,000 strikes on Syria and conducted more than 400 ground incursions, Sharaa said last week. Speaking shortly before Barrack at an event in New York, Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda chief who led rebel forces that overthrew Assad’s government last year, said he was concerned that Israel may be stalling the talks. “We are scared of Israel. We are worried about Israel. It’s not the other way around,” he said. “I hope that that will lead us to an agreement that will keep the sovereignty of Syria and also resolve some of the security fears of Israel,” Sharaa declared on the sidelines of the UN summit. The Syrian leader downplayed the prospect of Syria joining the so-called Abraham Accords, in which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalised relations with Israel in 2020. “Syria is different, as those that are part of the Abraham Accords are not Israel’s neighbours. Syria has been subjected to more than 1,000 Israeli raids, strikes and incursions from the Golan Heights into Syria,” he said. He voiced doubts about trusting Israel, questioning whether it sought to expand in Syria and charging that Israel has violated peace agreements with two other neighbours, Egypt and Jordan. “There is also huge anger over what’s going on in Gaza, not only in Syria but in the entire world, and of course this impacts our position on Israel,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that there was a new window of possibility for peace with both Syria and Lebanon after an Israeli military campaign devastated Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shia militant movement that was close to Assad. In May Sharaa met US President Donald Trump in Riyadh, who took the advice of Saudi Arabia and Turkey to lift Assad-era sanctions on Syria, despite Israeli misgivings. Sharaa hailed Trump’s move and called on the US Congress to fully lift sanctions, which “put a burden on people who have already suffered from the former regime’s oppression.” Rubio, in his recent meeting with Sharaa, discussed Syria’s relations with Israel and called on the country to seize the chance to “build a stable and sovereign nation,” US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.

Egyptian Writers: The Al-Sharaa Regime Has Not Disavowed Its Jihadist Past; It Presents Itself As Moderate While Massacring Syria's Minorities
MEMRI/September 24/2024
Following the deadly clashes that broke out in July 2025 in Syria's Al-Suwayda governorate between Druze factions and Bedouin tribes, which resulted in the death of over 1,000 Druze, Egyptian journalists and writers published articles claiming that the Al-Sharaa regime, which supported the Bedouin tribes during the clashes, is a terrorist ISIS-like regime that only pretends to be moderate and egalitarian. The slogans uttered by Syrian President Al-Sharaa about democracy and freedom, they said, are aimed at gaining temporary Western support for his regime – a regime which in practice is no different from extremist Islamist organizations like ISIS and Al-Qaeda that seek to establish an Islamic caliphate and do not hesitate to use terrorism to achieve this. The writers harshly condemned the massacres carried out by Al-Sharaa's supporters against Syria's Alawite and Druze minorities, and warned that these actions endanger Syria's unity and the stability of the region as a whole. It should be noted that Egypt has been facing a dilemma regarding its relations with the Al-Sharaa regime since its advent in late 2024, especially due to Egypt's fear that Al-Sharaa's successful coup against the Assad regime would inspire the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement and other forces to attempt a similar coup in Egypt.[1]
The following are translated excerpts from these Egyptian articles.
Egyptian Journalist: Al-Sharaa Is Deceiving The World With His Ostensible Moderateness; He Is No Different From ISIS
In an August 25, 2025 article in the Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Yawm, journalist and author Osama Ghareeb wrote that Al-Sharaa is deceiving the world into seeing him as moderate, while his ideology and goals are identical to those of the extremist jihadist organizations. He likened Al-Sharaa to the Taliban, which he said is showing some flexibility and openness to the West in order to consolidate its rule in Afghanistan, but which will eventually implement its real goals once circumstances are ripe:
"The Taliban is showing flexibility to the international community… It refrained from taking revenge on civil servants and soldiers that served Afghanistan's [former] government… Many years' experience led the Taliban to realize that the world would not accept them in their ISIS-like version, so they took a few steps back, in a tactical move. Based on the experience of fellow [jihadist] organizations like ISIS and the MB, they [realized] that the Islamic shari'a state could wait and be built by stages."
According to Ghareeb, Al-Sharaa is doing the same: adopting a moderate outward stance while waiting for the opportunity to establish an Islamic caliphate-state. He warned: "What was once in the heart remains in the heart… All the [jihadist] organizations that wish to establish an Islamic state want to emulate ISIS more than anyone else, but [only] when they can do so without bringing negative consequences [upon themselves]." He concluded by noting that Al-Sharaa "shows greater moderateness than the Taliban and is able to postpone his barbaric dreams and deceive the world that he has changed and become moderate." But the problem is with his supporters, the Islamist foreign fighters "who pressure him and will not accept anything less than a massacre against people they disagree with, for that was their condition for agreeing to accept him as their leader in the first place…"[2]
Editor Of Egyptian Daily: Al-Sharaa's Regime Is "The World's Terrorist Crack Team"
Dandrawi Al-Hawary, editor of the Egyptian daily Al-Yawm Al-Sabi', attacked Al-Sharaa's regime, calling it the "world's terrorist crack team" that has brought together terrorists from all over the world to massacre Syria's minorities. He wrote: "…When the world's terrorist crack team reached the People's Palace in Damascus, there were celebrations and parties into the night over this historic event, which was seen as a blatant victory. As a result, Syria became a magnet for terrorists and extremists from all the world's countries… who began [to implement] the corrupt ideology that focuses on purging Syria of the various religious minorities, accusing them of heresy and [arguing] that they must be killed…"
After taking over Syria, Al-Hawary said, Al-Sharaa's organization, Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), "persecuted clerics, artists and emblems of Syrian society, and then carried out shameful massacres against the Alawites in the coastal cities" and against the Druze in Al-Suwayda. Thus, "Syria is experiencing a bona fide massacre, bereft of any moral, human or even national standards, alongside insane chaos, amid the complete absence of the state and its institutions. This is a heavy tax peoples must pay when fall for the mirage of false slogans and promises regarding a paradise of freedom and democracy…" As a result, he said, "Syria has entered a dark tunnel and the wounds of despicable sectarianism have opened…", and it will be difficult if not impossible to overcome this, given that Al-Sharaa is apparently "not coming out against his followers and preventing them from carrying out these systematic [acts of] massacre, arson and destruction!"Al-Hawari concluded by saying that these deadly events have exposed the true face of the Al-Sharaa regime. "Today bitter tears have replaced the dancing, singling and celebrations [that followed the fall of the Assad regime]. The mask of Syria's [new] leaders has fallen, and their real face has been revealed. The trick of changing the short cloak [worn by Al-Sharaa when he was known as Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani, leader of HTS] for a suit and tie does not fool anyone, for it is deeds that are convincing, not talk!"[3]
Former Egyptian MP: The Deadly Clashes Exposed The ISIS-Like Character of The Syrian Regime
In an article in the daily Al-Shurouq, intellectual and former MP Amr Hamzawy explained why Egypt disapproves of Al-Sharaa's regime, unlike other countries that are more open towards it. "Egypt had reservations about the ideological background and political inclinations of the new rulers in Damascus, for they belong to streams that accuse others of heresy. [Moreover,] they are violent and extremist figures previously associated with Al-Qaeda and ISIS, who, before coming to power, were involved in crimes and in systematic human rights violations…"
Al-Hamzawy voiced skepticism about Al-Sharaa's new image: "Cairo is not deceived by the new media discourse of Ahmad Al-Sharaa, previously known as Al-Joulani, which focuses on the values of citizenship, coexistence and tolerance." This is because the massacres carried out by Al-Sharaa's supporters against the Alawites on the Syrian coast and the Druze in Al-Suwayda "demonstrated what can be described as the 'ISIS-like character' of HTS, which permits violence and killing on a sectarian basis," and gave rise to "growing doubts about HTS's desire and ability to overcome its ISIS-like character… and become capable of ruling a country with a very diverse national and social fabric."Accordingly, Al-Hamzawy said, Egypt "translated its reservations… into a policy that boils down to 'minimizing relations' with the new leaders in Damascus," who are not committed to "the values of citizenship, coexistence and social accord, which affect the chances of stability in Syria and the Arab East and therefore [also] Egypt's national security…"[4]
[1] On this see MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1804 - Egyptian Regime Forming Cautious Ties With New Syrian Leadership, Amid Fears That Syrian Revolution Will Inspire Muslim Brotherhood To Promote Similar Revolution In Egypt – January 30, 2025.
[2] Almasryalyoum.com, August 25, 2025.
[3] Youm7.com, July 20, 2025.
[4] Al-Shurouq (Egypt), July 26, 2025.

Syrian president warns against Israeli attacks in landmark UN address
Jonathan Lessware/Arab News/September 24, 2025
LONDON: Israel’s attacks against Syria threaten to unleash “new crises” in the region, President Ahmad Al-Sharaa told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Al-Sharaa, who led opposition forces in a lightning offensive to overthrow Bashar Assad late last year, became the first Syrian leader to address the UNGA in nearly 60 years. He outlined the progress made since he came to power, and the many challenges still facing his country after more than a decade of civil war. Chief among those has been Israel’s airstrikes and military operations in Syria. “Israeli strikes and attacks against my country continue, and Israeli policies contradict the international supporting position for Syria,” the former commander said, adding that Israel’s attacks threaten “new crises and struggles in our region.”But despite the aggression, Syria is committed to dialogue, he said, adding: “We call on the international community to stand beside us in the face of these attacks.”Al-Sharaa said Syria is also committed to the 1974 agreement to separate Syrian and Israeli forces through a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. As opposition fighters led by Al-Sharaa took control of Damascus in December, Israel took advantage of the tumult and seized the buffer zone, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that the disengagement pact was “over.”Since then, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes and ground operations inside Syria, including in the center of the capital. Tensions also flared over sectarian violence in June in Syria’s Suwayda province. Israel said it carried out airstrikes to protect the Druze minority in the region. The US has been pushing for calm between the two countries, and this week Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said they are getting closer to a new de-escalation agreement. The deal aims to stop Israel’s attacks on Syria, which in return would agree not to move any heavy equipment near the border. Speaking at an event in New York on Tuesday, Al-Sharaa said he is hopeful that the deal will materialize, but said it is Syria that is “scared of Israel, not the other way around.”
The US has been among major international powers that have offered cautious support to Al-Sharaa’s administration, lifting some sanctions on Syria in the hope of offering an economic lifeline to drag the country out of years of chaos and bloodshed. He used his UNGA speech to call for the complete lifting of all international sanctions “so that they no longer shackle the Syrian people.”He also reeled off a list of achievements since he took power, guided by an approach based on diplomacy, security and economic development. Al-Sharaa said he has put in place a political roadmap that is proceeding toward elections next month for a new parliament, and his government has overhauled civil and military institutions. He added that he has acted against outbreaks of sectarian violence, set up fact-finding commissions and allowed access to investigative UN teams. “I guarantee to bring to justice everyone accountable and responsible for bloodshed,” he said. “Syria has transformed from an exporter of crisis to an opportunity for peace for Syria and the region.”
Al-Sharaa’s appearance at the UN marks a remarkable political ascent from leader of an Islamist rebel group to international statesman within 10 months. Since arriving in New York on Sunday, he has packed in high-level meetings and events, including talks with US Secretary of State Mark Rubio and French President Emmanuel Macron. Perhaps the event that most summed up his elevation from militant to political leader was an interview on stage on Tuesday with Gen. David Petraeus, who commanded US forces during the 2003 Iraq invasion. Petraeus’s troops detained Al-Sharaa in Iraq between 2006 and 2011 while he was fighting the American occupation there. “His trajectory from insurgent leader to head of state has been one of the most dramatic political transformations in recent Middle Eastern history,” Petraeus told the audience, adding that he is a fan of Al-Sharaa.

Iran starts rebuilding missile sites hit by Israel, experts say key component is missing
Associated Press/September 24/2025
Iran has begun rebuilding missile-production sites targeted by Israel during its 12-day war in June, satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press show, but a key component is likely still missing — the large mixers needed to produce solid fuel for the weapons. Reconstituting the missile program is crucial for the Islamic Republic, which believes another round of war with Israel may happen. The missiles are one of Iran's few military deterrents after the war decimated its air defense systems — something that Tehran long has insisted will never be included in negotiations with the West. Missile experts told AP that obtaining the mixers is a goal for Tehran, particularly as it prepares for possible United Nations sanctions to be reimposed on the country later this month. The sanctions would penalize any development of the missile program, among other measures. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is due to address the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. Known as planetary mixers, the machines feature blades that revolve around a central point, like orbiting planets, and offer better mixing action than other types of equipment. Iran could purchase them from China, where experts and U.S. officials say they've purchased missile fuel ingredients and other components in the past. "If they're able to reacquire some key things like planetary mixers, then that infrastructure is still there and ready to get rolling again," said Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies who studied Iranian missile sites. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to questions about the country's efforts to rebuild its missile program.
Israeli war targeted solid-fuel missile sites
Solid-fuel missiles can be fired faster than those using liquid fuel, which must be loaded just before launch. That speed can make the difference between launching a missile and having it destroyed in a launcher — something that happened during the war with Israel.
Iran has solid-fuel missile manufacturing bases at Khojir and Parchin, two sites just outside Tehran, as well as at Shahroud, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) northeast of the capital. Even before the most recent war, all of those sites came under Israeli attack in October 2024 during hostilities between the countries. Attacks during the war in June appeared aimed at destroying buildings that housed the mixers, which are needed to ensure the missile fuel is evenly combined, according to experts. Other sites struck by Israel included manufacturing facilities that likely could be used to make the mixers. Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC taken this month and analyzed by AP show construction at both the Parchin and Shahroud facilities. At Parchin, mixing buildings appear to be under repair, Lair said, and similar rebuilding is happening at Shahroud involving mixing buildings and other structures. The speed at which Iran is rebuilding shows the importance Tehran puts on its missile program. Iran's bombed nuclear sites so far have not seen the same level of activity. During the war, Iran fired 574 ballistic missiles at Israel, according to the Washington-based Jewish Institute for National Security of America, which has a close relationship with the Israeli military. In two exchanges of fire before the war, Iran launched another 330 missiles, the think tank said. The Israeli military had estimated Iran's total arsenal at around 2,500 missiles, meaning that over a third of its missiles were fired. Before the war, Iran was on track to be able to produce more than 200 solid-fuel missiles a month, said Carl Parkin, a summer fellow at the James Martin Center. That drew Israeli strikes to missile-building facilities. "Israel's targeting indicates that they believed mixing was a bottleneck in Iran's missile production," he said. "If Iran is able to overcome their mixing limitations, they'll have all the casting capacity that they need to start producing at high volumes again." The Israeli military declined to respond to questions over its strategy. Iran's defense minister, Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, recently claimed Tehran now has new missiles with more advanced warheads."The 12-day war with Israel has altered some of our priorities," he said on Aug. 22. "We are now focused on producing military equipment with higher precision and greater operational capabilities."
Chinese mixers seen at Syria missile site affiliated with Iran
Iran may choose to rely on China to obtain mixers and the chemicals to make solid fuel.
Such chemicals may have caused a massive explosion in April that killed at least 70 people at a port in Iran. Iran still has not explained the blast, which happened as its diplomats met with Americans in Oman over its nuclear program. Just days after the explosion, the U.S. State Department sanctioned Chinese firms it said provided the Islamic Republic with "ballistic missile propellant ingredients."Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guard likely supplied a planetary mixer to an underground ballistic missile construction facility in Syria near the town of Masyaf, some 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, near the Lebanese border. Footage released by the Israeli military months after the September 2024 raid on the facility showed the mixer, which bore a resemblance to others sold online by Chinese firms. Iran's president and military officials visited Beijing earlier this month for China's Victory Day parade. Iran's government has provided no detailed readout on what Pezeshkian said to Chinese President Xi Jinping, and China's state-run media offered no indications that Tehran asked for help. The Chinese Foreign Ministry, asked about possibly supplying Tehran mixers and fuel ingredients, told AP that Beijing is "willing to continue leveraging its influence to contribute to peace and stability in the Middle East." "China supports Iran in safeguarding its national sovereignty, security and national dignity," the ministry said. "At the same time, China is deeply concerned about the continued escalation of tensions in the Middle East."Can Kasapoğlu, a senior fellow with the Washington-based Hudson Institute, said Beijing could supply guidance systems and microprocessors as well for Iran's ballistic missiles. "If Iran uses its relationship with China to bolster its disruptive military capabilities, the 12-day war could be a mere speed bump for the Iranian regime, rather than a decisive defeat," he wrote. Lair, the analyst, said if Iran restarts its production at prewar levels, the sheer number of missiles produced will make it harder for the Israelis to preemptively destroy them or shoot them down. "They are clearly very invested in their missile program, and I don't think that they're going to negotiate it away, ever," he said.

Iran Refuses to Give up its Ballistic Missile Program
Asharq Al Awsat/September 24/2025
Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani criticized on Tuesday a US proposal requiring Iran to cut the range of its missiles to below 500 km, while a government spokeswoman said Tehran’s ballistic program and defense capabilities would not be subject to negotiations.
Speaking at a meeting with members of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Larijani said Tehran is not opposed to negotiations that serve the country’s interests, while condemning Western powers of breaking their pledges. He noted said Iran had “pursued all possible ways” to resolve the dispute over the “snapback mechanism” of sanctions against Tehran through dialogue, but that the other side has been obstructive. “If a reasonable and fair proposal comes with guarantees for Iran’s interests, we will accept it. But we remain committed to defending our national interests and security, just as we stood firm on our missile capabilities,” he declared. “The West raises the slogan of negotiations but in practice pursues other goals,” he noted, adding that Tehran would welcome “a reasonable and fair proposal with guarantees for Iran’s interests.”On the US proposal to reduce missile range to less than 500 kms, Larijani said: “Is such a thing acceptable for an Iranian? The problem lies precisely here, that they make unacceptable demands.”He stressed that Iran not only welcomes dialogue, but will accept any proposal that is “rational and fair” and guarantees the nation’s interests. “It is a lie that Iran refuses to negotiate; we were in negotiations when military attacks were launched against us,” he said of the strikes Israel carried out in June. His comments came as US officials showed no clear sign of intent to negotiate with Iran. “Iran’s path is in direct conflict with the destabilizing policies of the Zionist regime. Iran welcomes political, economic, and security cooperation with regional countries,” Larijani stressed. Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Iran’s missile program and defense capabilities are not up for negotiations. “We neither seek permission for our missile capabilities nor will we reduce them. We will never trade the security of our people for anything,” she vowed. She stated that during the 12-day war in June, it was Iran’s missile power and national unity that protected the country.

US Secret Service Find Devices Capable of Crippling Cellular Network in and Around UN Headquarters
Asharq Al Awsat/September 24/2025
The US Secret Service found and seized an illegal network of sophisticated equipment in the New York area that was capable of shutting down the cellular network as foreign leaders prepared to gather nearby for the annual UN General Assembly, the agency announced on Tuesday. The devices were all found within 35 miles of New York City, where more than 150 leaders and other high-level officials from across the globe were gathering on Tuesday. One official said the network was capable of anonymously sending 30 million text messages per minute. The official said the agency had never before seen such an extensive operation. There is no specific information that the network, now dismantled, posed a threat to the UN General Assembly, Secret Service officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The scale of the equipment discovered suggests the network could be part of a nation’s surveillance operation, experts said. Initial analysis of the data on some of the SIM cards has identified ties to at least one foreign country, as well as links to criminals already known to US law enforcement officials, including cartel members, Secret Service officials told reporters on Monday in a call previewing Tuesday’s announcement. “We will continue working toward identifying those responsible and their intent, including whether their plan was to disrupt the UN General Assembly and communications of government and emergency personnel during the official visit of world leaders in and around New York City,” Matt McCool, the top agent at the Secret Service’s New York field office, said in a video statement recorded by the agency ahead of the announcement. Investigators found the SIM cards and servers in August at several locations within a 35-mile radius of the UN headquarters.
The discovery followed a monthslong investigation into what the agency described as anonymous “telephonic threats” made to three high-level US government officials this spring, one official in the Secret Service and two who work at the White House, one of the officials said. The agency did not provide details about the threats made to the three officials, but McCool described some as “fraudulent calls.”“This network had the potential to disable cellphone towers and essentially shut down the cellular network,” he said. Investigators have been going through the data on SIM cards that were part of the network, including calls, texts and browser history. McCool said they expected to find that other senior government officials had also been targeted in the operation. The agency shared crime scene photos of servers with antennas and SIM cards. In some cases, the servers holding the SIM cards were on floor-to-ceiling shelves. Anthony J. Ferrante, the global head of the cybersecurity practice at FTI, an international consulting firm, said the operation appeared to be sophisticated and costly. “My instinct is this is espionage,” said Ferrante, who previously served in top cybersecurity positions at the White House and the FBI. In addition to jamming the cellular network, he said, such a large amount of equipment near the UN could be used for eavesdropping. James A. Lewis, a cybersecurity researcher at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, said that only a handful of countries could pull off such an operation, including Russia, China and Israel. In addition to the Secret Service, the New York Police Department, the Justice Department, Homeland Security Investigations and the office of the director of national intelligence are investigating. “This is an ongoing investigation, but there’s absolutely no reason to believe we won’t find more of these devices in other cities,” McCool said. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said agents also found 80 grams of cocaine, illegal firearms, computers and cellphones when they discovered the network.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on September 24-25/2025
Turkey’s Erdogan gets Trump’s red carpet — but don’t reward his treachery with US fighter
Sinan Ciddi & William Doran/New York Post/September 24, 2025
President Donald Trump is rolling out the red carpet for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Thursday — a victory for the autocrat, who spent years unsuccessfully begging for an audience with then-President Joe Biden.
Erdogan is finally getting his moment, but make no mistake: He isn’t coming to Washington for polite handshakes and photo-ops.
He’s coming with a shopping list — and topping it is America’s crown jewel fighter jet, the F-35. But US law bans him from getting it. And Trump must slam the door shut.
Back in 2019, Turkey spat in Trump’s face when it bought Russia’s S-400 air and missile defense system. The Kremlin designed those missiles to track and shoot down the very F-35s Erdogan now wants.
Washington warned him, Congress begged him, NATO allies pleaded with him.
Erdogan ignored everyone, hugged Moscow and proudly rolled out his shiny new Russian toys.
The penalty was clear and swift: Turkey was expelled from the F-35 program.
That December, Congress passed into US law Section 1245 of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which explicitly forbids the transfer of F-35s or related tech to Ankara. That law remains in effect. Now, six years later, Erdogan is hoping to charm or bully Trump into looking the other way. His pitch? Russia is running low on missiles thanks to its disastrous war in Ukraine, and wants its S-400s back.
Erdogan proposes returning them — and waltzing back into the F-35 club in exchange.
Nice try.
Even if Erdogan dumps his Russian weapons, America shouldn’t reward his double-dealing.
Let’s be blunt. Selling Erdogan our most advanced fighter jet would mean arming a state sponsor of terrorism. He is not some misunderstood ally gone astray, but an Islamist strongman who bankrolls and shelters Hamas. After Hamas’ blood-soaked Oct 7 massacre of Israelis, Americans and others — the worst single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust — Erdogan didn’t recoil in disgust. He embraced Hamas even tighter.
His regime handed Turkish passports and safe havens to Hamas leaders like Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal. When Haniyeh was killed in Tehran last summer, Erdogan declared a national day of mourning and lowered flags at Turkish embassies around the world — including in Tel Aviv. That is not the act of an ally. That is the behavior of an enemy hiding behind NATO membership. Moreover, if given the F-35, Erdogan could use these highly advanced jets to menace US allies in Europe and the Mediterranean.
He has already rattled sabers at Greece, another NATO member, by pushing his so-called “Blue Homeland” doctrine — an aggressive scheme to seize Greek waters and islands recognized by international law. In recent months he has threatened Athens with ballistic missiles and demanded Greece demilitarize its own islands. Imagine what he could do with a fleet of stealth jets. Cyprus is another victim: Turkey still illegally occupies a third of the island, and this year Ankara even threatened Nicosia with “dangerous consequences” after it purchased Israeli air defense systems. Erdogan buying Russian missiles was bad enough — threatening to punish neighbors for buying Israeli ones shows the depths of his hypocrisy.
And then there’s Syria. Since 2016, Turkey has launched three invasions aimed squarely at the Syrian Democratic Forces, America’s most loyal and effective partner in the fight against ISIS.
Just this month, Ankara threatened the SDF with fresh attacks — so handing Erdogan F-35s would put US partners in Syria squarely in his crosshairs.
Erdogan’s apologists like to say Turkey was once an important ally. True.
But that Turkey is gone.
Under Erdogan’s Islamist rule, Ankara is a destabilizing force — cozy with Hamas, flirtatious with Moscow and aggressive toward America’s real allies.
Trump must not fall for Erdogan’s bait-and-switch.
The F-35 isn’t just another plane: It’s the world’s most advanced stealth fighter, a weapon designed to keep America and its friends one step ahead of China, Russia and Iran.
Giving that edge to a leader who praises terrorists, bullies allies and plays footsie with Moscow would be a betrayal of US interests. The law is clear. The stakes are higher. And Erdogan’s record speaks for itself. So when Erdogan sits across from Trump in the Oval Office and slides over his list of demands, the president’s only answer should be a blunt one: No.
Sinan Ciddi is director of the Turkey program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where William Doran is an intern.

An autocratic Turkey does not deserve US military aid
Sinan Ciddi & William Doran/Washington Examiner/September 24, 2025
With defense appropriations season in full swing on Capitol Hill, offering Turkey military aid would only reward President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s threats against Washington’s allies, strain NATO’s cohesion, and enable Turkey’s further slide into autocracy.
Members of Congress are in the midst of proposing several much-needed amendments to the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. Among these are programs to strengthen security coordination with Washington’s Mediterranean allies, investigate Turkey’s special relationship with Hamas, and punish Erdogan’s abysmal treatment of the Turkish people and Ankara’s formal allies.
Throughout the past year, Erdogan’s behavior on the international stage has clearly reflected his willingness to undermine NATO at every opportunity. Between entrenching Turkey in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and conducting naval exercises against Greek maritime sovereignty, Erdogan offers no pretense of respect for the alliance.
All the while, his bid to bankrupt Turkish democracy, with a seemingly insatiable desire to repress and jail political opponents and civilians alike, is turning Turkey’s authoritarianism into autocracy. Despite an abysmal track record, Ankara still seeks to acquire strategic weapons capabilities from Washington — specifically the F-35 joint strike fighter.
During the dog days of summer, Erdogan poured political capital into dismantling what remains of Turkey’s democratic opposition. The process began in March, when the Erdogan-controlled judiciary forcibly removed Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, from office. Imamoglu, widely expected to declare himself the presidential candidate of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, was Erdogan’s most formidable challenger since 2003. He now sits in prison, with virtually no chance of release.
Imamoglu’s jailing marked a turning point. It showcased Erdogan’s readiness to weaponize the judiciary to eliminate the rival most capable of defeating him in 2028. Turkey now resembles Russia, where qualified candidates are treated as threats precisely because they are qualified.
The crackdown did not stop there. Erdogan is now targeting CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel, who led the party to victory in the 2024 local elections. The president is maneuvering to reinstall former chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu, whose repeated failures, most notably in 2023, pose no risk to Erdogan’s rule.
By midsummer, Erdogan’s campaign to hollow out the opposition intensified. In July, the mayors of Adana, Adiyaman, and Antalya were arrested on dubious corruption charges. In August, nine provincial CHP mayors defected to Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or AKP. On June 7, the AKP petitioned Parliament to strip 61 of 135 CHP deputies of their immunity, leaving them vulnerable to a pliant judiciary.
The assault culminated on Sept. 2, when an Istanbul court dissolved the CHP’s elected provincial leadership, replacing it with regime-appointed caretakers. Many expect this to pave the way for Ozel’s ouster, cementing Erdogan’s effort to neuter the opposition into irrelevance.
The United States now faces a moment of truth. Erdogan is not just undermining Turkey’s democracy — he is hollowing out NATO’s credibility by turning Turkey into an autocracy within the alliance. Washington has a narrow window, this budget cycle, to impose meaningful consequences. Sleeping on this opportunity would mean acquiescing to the death of democracy in a NATO member state.
Bipartisan amendments calling attention to Ankara’s undemocratic behavior are crucial for enforcing Turkey’s commitments as a NATO ally and reminding Erdogan of the price to pay for his autocratic bent. Starting with policy on the Eastern Mediterranean, representatives have proposed several measures in the NDAA to put Turkey’s regional aggression in check.
First among them is a push to expand counterterrorism cooperation in the “3+1” partnership between the U.S., Greece, Israel, and Cyprus. In particular, the bill pledges to establish a joint counterterrorism program, known as CERBERUS, that will train all four countries’ forces for future terrorist threats. Erdogan’s vocal support for Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023, demonstrates clearly Turkey’s poor track record on counterterrorism in the Eastern Mediterranean. In light of this, lest the U.S. forget Ankara’s backing of jihadist militias and open threats against U.S. counter-Islamic State group partners in Syria, a 3+1 counterterrorism framework offers much promise.
Naval cooperation is also a much-needed boost to the security of U.S. allies in the Eastern Mediterranean. The bill’s proposed TRIREME program complements counterterrorism efforts through training all four countries’ coast guards and navies at the Greek naval base in Souda Bay, Crete. Washington’s blind eye to Turkish aggression has allowed Erdogan to tout his Blue Homeland doctrine with rhetoric and drills threatening Greek and Cypriot maritime sovereignty. By cementing joint naval exercises and training out of Souda Bay, Washington can meaningfully discourage Erdogan’s saber-rattling.
Last but certainly not least, members of Congress are calling to investigate Turkish malfeasance in the Middle East and restrict arms exports to Ankara. Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) proposed two key amendments for this year’s NDAA — one to commission an intelligence report on Turkish support for Hamas and Syrian armed groups, and another to restrict arms sales to Turkey should Erdogan threaten Israel militarily. Furthermore, a proposal from Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) would ban all arms exports to Turkey until the Trump administration confirms that Erdogan’s government is no longer encroaching on Greek or Cypriot sovereignty.
But conditioning military aid to Turkey should also depend on Erdogan’s treatment of Turkish civilians and democracy, not just his international conduct. NATO’s fundamental values, “the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law,” charge its members to stand against threats from autocracy’s peddlers in Russia, China, and Iran. Restricting defense spending for Erdogan’s autocracy is a stand Congress ought to make for the sake of NATO’s principles and for those persecuted for believing in Turkish democracy.
Turkey’s status as a NATO treaty ally is a responsibility, not an excuse to write off Erdogan’s autocratic practices or his shameless threats against vital U.S. allies. Congress should consider these proposals with great interest if the U.S. truly seeks a more committed NATO, a safer Mediterranean and Middle East, and a standard of democratic freedom for the treaty’s citizens.
**Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow and director of the Turkey Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. William Doran is a research intern in the Turkey Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

When U.S. Tuition Dollars Collide with National Security
Derek Levine/Gatestone Institute./September 24/2025
China recognizes the strategic value of these students. As American universities and laboratories are global leaders in advanced research, Beijing has developed a multifaceted strategy to acquire that knowledge. One element is the China Scholarship Council (CSC), which funds Chinese citizens to study in the United States, particularly in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) on the condition that they return home to serve China's scientific and technological ambitions.
Espionage is an activity additionally concerning, as well as the role China's intelligence agencies play in recruiting ordinary citizens for it.... According to reports, the Ministry of State Security (MSS) and the Military Intelligence Department (MID) threatened Mr. Wu with serious prison time if he refused to cooperate. Complementing this is the Thousand Talents Plan, which offers lucrative salaries, research funding, housing benefits, and prestigious positions to overseas-trained students and researchers, incentivizing them to bring back advanced skills, technological expertise, and sensitive intellectual property. Intelligence officials see these initiatives as an encouragement of espionage.
If the applicants were from a reliable ally, the situation might be different. However, China has already declared a "people's war" on the U.S. through the doctrine of "Unrestricted Warfare," first outlined in a 1999 publication by two PLA colonels. Although Trump has expressed hopes of turning the CCP into a partner, that goal has not been realized, and under the current Xi regime, meaningful cooperation remains highly unlikely. So why would the U.S. consider it an "honor" to admit 600,000 students who may seek to help China to achieve its ambition of becoming the dominant global power in the 21st century?
Universities might understand that they are not operating in a vacuum; they are at the heart of a global competition where intellectual property, advanced research, and talent are critical assets. Protecting these assets means implementing robust safeguards, carefully scrutinizing foreign influence, and ensuring that the drive for tuition revenue never compromises national security. The future of America, as well as the West, depends on it.
China's Thousand Talents Plan offers lucrative salaries, research funding, housing benefits, and prestigious positions to overseas-trained Chinese students and researchers, incentivizing them to bring back advanced skills, technological expertise, and sensitive intellectual property. Intelligence officials also apparently see these initiatives as an encouragement of espionage.
In late August, President Donald J. Trump announced that up to 600,000 Chinese students would be allowed to study in the United States. He stated that without the revenue from full tuition and fees from international students, financially vulnerable schools could collapse:
"I like that their students come here, I like that other countries' students come here. And you know what would happen if they didn't, our system would go to hell immediately. And it wouldn't be the top colleges, it would be colleges that struggle on the bottom."
This policy, however, has drawn criticism across the political spectrum, even from supporters of MAGA. They argue that it prioritizes tuition dollars over national security.
American universities face a delicate balancing act. Foreign student tuition is undeniably lucrative, but it comes with strategic risks. With the average annual tuition including room and board ranging between $80,000-$100,000. U.S. institutions currently earn approximately $50.2 billion in tuition from international students annually. More than 50 percent of these international students come from just two countries: India and China.
Among these, Chinese students represent a significant proportion, with many paying full or near-full tuition for their U.S. education. There are more than 6.3 million people in China who reportedly have a net worth of more than a million dollars. Since most of these students are self-funded, and as international students are generally ineligible for state tuition or domestic scholarships, these students bear the full financial burden themselves. As a result, the vast majority of Chinese students independently fund their studies in the U.S.
There are 277,398 students from China currently studying in U.S. higher education institutions, often elite ones. For Chinese families, an Ivy League or top-tier U.S. degree is more than just an academic credential; it is a prestigious status symbol and a key indicator of success. Graduating from a world-renowned university carries significant career advantages, not only within China but also globally, enhancing job prospects and social standing. This perception of value drives a steady flow of Chinese students willing to invest heavily in education abroad.
China recognizes the strategic value of these students. As American universities and laboratories are global leaders in advanced research, Beijing has developed a multifaceted strategy to acquire that knowledge. One element is the China Scholarship Council (CSC), which funds Chinese citizens to study in the United States, particularly in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) on the condition that they return home to serve China's scientific and technological ambitions.
Complementing this is the Thousand Talents Plan, which offers lucrative salaries, research funding, housing benefits, and prestigious positions to overseas-trained students and researchers, incentivizing them to bring back advanced skills, technological expertise, and sensitive intellectual property. Intelligence officials also apparently see these initiatives as an encouragement of espionage.
Espionage is an activity additionally concerning, as well as the role China's intelligence agencies play in recruiting ordinary citizens for it. Bin Wu, a philosophy professor who relocated to the U.S., was reportedly approached by Chinese operatives offering substantial financial incentives in exchange for sensitive technology, including sensitive night-vision technology. According to reports, the Ministry of State Security (MSS) and the Military Intelligence Department (MID) threatened Mr. Wu with serious prison time if he refused to cooperate. Wu ultimately established front companies in Virginia to purchase and export the sought-after technology to China. This mode of operation underscores the extent to which Chinese intelligence agencies will go to acquire critical technological assets.
Similarly, Dongfan "Greg" Chung, an aeronautical engineer at Boeing, transmitted hundreds of thousands of pages of sensitive aerospace and military data to China over a 30-year career, assisted by another spy, Chi Mak. Wang Xin, a researcher at UCSF, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport and charged with visa fraud after lying about his PLA affiliation. He had claimed on his visa application that he had left the People's Liberation Army in 2016, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection later discovered that he was still employed as a "Level‑9 technician," a military rank roughly equivalent to major, and that he was also receiving compensation from the China Scholarship Council. Court documents allege that Wang was instructed by superiors to observe the layout of the UCSF lab with the intent to replicate it in China, and that he attempted to transfer scientific studies via email and physically carry them back to PLA‑linked labs.
These cases reveal a consistent strategy: the MSS and MID target individuals with access to dual-use or strategically important technologies, offering financial or professional incentives, and by exploiting personal vulnerabilities to coerce participation in espionage. Those reluctant to comply can be reminded that their families back home may be at risk. With at least six known CCP-linked illegal police stations still operating across the U.S., additional channels of coercion likely remain, including pressure applied through Chinese 'educators' and 'diplomats.'
While espionage concerns are real, a recent interview with the author—conducted with Suisheng Zhao, a leading China scholar, highlights the strategic advantage of having Chinese students in the U.S. He emphasized that Beijing frequently seeks to shape narratives abroad through state propaganda--portraying the U.S. as politically unstable and its system as inferior, pointing to events, such as the 2008 financial crisis, the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in China and the so-called January 6 insurrection. In reality, Chinese students living and learning in America will experience freedom, meritocracy, and world-class education firsthand. This exposure allows them to compare systems directly, recognize the strengths of the U.S., and potentially influence change upon returning to China, making their presence in American universities strategically significant beyond academics.
However, this view overlooks the real national security risks posed by some foreign students. Second-tier universities may be tempted to rely on international tuition for financial survival, but money cannot replace excellence. It must do a better job at recruiting American students. To stay competitive, these schools must attract world-class scholars, build cutting-edge labs, and provide education that earns students' respect on merit—not price. Tuition alone cannot train the next generation of leaders who will guide America through the challenges of the 21st century.
To address these risks, many policymakers argue that national security and academic integrity can be safeguarded if international students are properly vetted for ties to the CCP or military, and if STEM graduates entering sensitive industries undergo rigorous background checks. However, this perspective ignores China's broader objective in sending students to American schools: ultimately to surpass and displace the U.S. as the world's leading superpower. It also downplays or deliberately overlooks the significant threat posed by CCP operatives in the U.S. seeking to co-opt students, whose presence is both intentional and central to their mission. If the applicants were from a reliable ally, the situation might be different. However, China has already declared a "people's war" on the U.S. through the doctrine of "Unrestricted Warfare," first outlined in a 1999 publication by two PLA colonels. Although Trump has expressed hopes of turning the CCP into a partner, that goal has not been realized, and under the current Xi regime, meaningful cooperation remains highly unlikely. So why would the U.S. consider it an "honor" to admit 600,000 students who may seek to help China to achieve its ambition of becoming the dominant global power in the 21st century? A more prudent approach would be for the US government to provide universities with grants equivalent to the tuition from these students and reserve those slots for American students. Why are we educating potential competitors, let alone enemies?
Maintaining U.S. technological and strategic leadership requires constant vigilance. The very institutions driving cutting-edge research and shaping the innovators of tomorrow also have the potential to serve the interests of global rivals, such as China, if left unchecked. Universities might understand that they are not operating in a vacuum; they are at the heart of a global competition where intellectual property, advanced research, and talent are critical assets. Protecting these assets means implementing robust safeguards, carefully scrutinizing foreign influence, and ensuring that the drive for tuition revenue never compromises national security. The future of America, as well as the West, depends on it.
*Derek Levine is a full-time professor at Monroe University, and the author of "The Dragon Takes Flight: China's Aviation Policy, Achievements and Implications for the United States and Europe" and "China's Path to Dominance: Preparing for Confrontation with the U.S.". He can be reached at dlevine@monroeu.edu
© 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.

America’s Peace to End All Peace/By recognizing Palestine, several new states have challenged U.S. domination of the negotiations with Israel.
Michael Young/Carnegie Middle East Center/Published on September 24/2025
Israel’s strategy in recent weeks has been to disparage the decision of several countries to recognize the state of Palestine. Yet when France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Portugal, and Belgium, took such a step at the United Nations early this week, or indicated that they would, the Israeli and American reaction was anger. How strange, and telling, that a decision the Israelis and their advocates had ridiculed as “childish” and “performative,” even “an absurdity,” could provoke so excessive a response.
The Israelis were stung by the recognition decisions, as was the United States. There is much they can, and will, do to undermine Palestinian statehood. But they also know that unilateral steps to prevent a Palestinian state, through Israel’s annexation of the West Bank and Gaza for instance, could provoke severe blowback internationally. Yet what really stood out was that the Americans and Israelis appear to realize that they have lost control of the Palestinian-Israeli narrative, one they had spent decades dominating and manipulating.
To understand what’s going on, we should recall that the United States has never recognized a Palestinian state. This may sound strange, given American sponsorship of the post-Oslo negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis. Yet for decades, successive administrations have adopted an approach that the final outcome of negotiations has to be decided in the context of the negotiations themselves. In other words, what the parties are negotiating toward is itself negotiable. This has allowed Israel to systematically extract concessions from the Palestinians, without pressure to reciprocate by accepting a Palestinian right to self-determination culminating in a state.
This logic was first expressed in February 1972, when the Nixon administration took a major decision in its systematic efforts to undermine Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967. At the time, the United States affirmed on several occasions that Israel did not need to commit itself to a full withdrawal from occupied Arab territories as part of any interim agreement with the Arabs. This was the same thinking the Americans applied during the Oslo process, whereby Israel could safely engage in endless interim negotiations, but without committing itself to accepting Palestinian statehood.
By recognizing a Palestinian state unilaterally, the mainly European countries that are allies of the United States have challenged this decades-long configuration. To protect Israel, successive U.S. administrations have sought to impose themselves as the sole gatekeeper in negotiations involving the Israelis. That is why Washington was never enthusiastic about the Geneva Conference of December 1973, which it co-sponsored with the Soviet Union. Nothing came of it as the Nixon administration preferred to deal with Arabs and Israelis themselves, without Moscow’s interference. Those nations that have just recognized Palestine, however, have effectively concluded that the U.S.-led process has failed, that Israel, with U.S. backing, is trying kill the idea of a Palestinian state, therefore that there is no reason to yield to Washington’s displeasure.
If the United States is no longer recognized as the indispensable sponsor of a Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement, then what we have is a premise for internationalization—the idea that peace can also be pushed forward by other actors in the international community. Not that Israel will agree, or course. However, when over 150 countries have recognized Palestinian statehood, against the preferences of Israel and the United States, it means the two are going to pay an increasingly heavier diplomatic price for refusing to acknowledge, let alone endorse, the political choice of the majority.
There is a third factor that has disturbed the Israelis and Americans, namely the near insurrectionary mood in the United Nations, the venue chosen for recognition of Palestine. Despite tensions with many countries in the world body, the United States hosts the organization and remains its largest contributor. In the Security Council, the Americans could usually rely on support from the two Western European permanent members—France and the United Kingdom—to retain a majority against China and Russia. Israel, in turn, depended on U.S. vetoes to prevent any condemnation of its actions.
Yet today, on the Palestinian statehood question, the Americans stand completely alone. They still hold veto power, but continuously vetoing decisions approved by all other permanent Security Council members, or disregarding the votes of virtually all states in the General Assembly, will damage U.S. political standing. It will also highlight how outside the consensus the Americans are, when for decades they were the ones dictating the consensus.
There are also some potential procedural risks, as laid out by Charles Freeman, a former U.S. ambassador. Freeman recalled that, in the case of a deadlocked UN Security Council, the General Assembly can meet in an emergency session to pass a resolution under the Uniting for Peace precedent, allowing it to circumvent the deadlock. This is what happened during the Korean War. Such resolutions are not binding, but would put the United States and Israel in the hot seat. The fact that two longstanding U.S. friends on the Security Council now differ with Washington over the Palestinian issue could, potentially, make it easier for the General Assembly to replicate this precedent.
Another criticism of the recognition decision is that it will not bring a Palestinian state any closer to fruition. Probably, but the unease of the Israelis and their facilitators may derive from a precedent that they prefer not to mention today: the Balfour Declaration. When Britain issued the declaration in November 1917, the Ottoman Empire still controlled Palestine. An allied victory was certainly likely at the time, but it would still take another year for the empire to surrender. In other words, one could argue that the Balfour Declaration also had a performative dimension to it, particularly as the vast majority of the population in Palestine was Arab. Britain would even try to walk back aspects of the declaration in the white papers of 1922, 1930, and 1939, but would always struggle to do so because of the initial declaration’s great power.
The Palestinians are probably making a similar calculation about the latest decisions involving them. They can see that the two countries most opposed to their state are isolated, even among allies; that U.S. actions at the UN are holding the international community hostage on Palestine; and that an American monopoly over mediation in a Palestinian-Israeli settlement is no longer regarded as legitimate by many countries, implying that internationalization of a solution may have a better chance of succeeding.
This is the natural summation of the American thinking behind the three-decade-old Oslo process, which was never aimed at securing Palestinian national rights. Those condemning the countries that have just recognized Palestine argue that their action makes peace more distant than ever. That’s laughable, because peace was never truly possible under the conditions the Americans and Israelis had forced on the lumbering Oslo process. For decades, the preferred Israeli template has been that of a Palestinian entity that is less than a state, devoid of sovereignty, denied a right of return for its refugee population, under Israeli geographical and security control. The United States has fully bought into this.
What the latest moves at the UN have underlined is that the American and Israeli superstructure governing past negotiations is no more. The Israelis, in the words of their own parliamentarians, are now openly describing their intention to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and to follow this up with the same in the West Bank. What peace can this bring that would make a delay in approving Palestinian statehood preferable? It’s not surprising that America’s partners no longer want to be part of Israeli crimes. The vote on recognition, far from being absurd, signals the first moment of real truth on the Palestinian-Israeli front in four decades. That’s what has so enraged Israel and its American enablers.

Taming Israel?!
Dr. Abdel Monem Said/Asharq Al Awsat/September 24/2025
How does one deal with a raging beast on a murderous rampage, slaughtering and destroying everything in sight? Either one kills or tames it. The same applies to states that use force in Nazi fashion, leaving rivals with no option but war, as was the case with Germany in World War II. It was defeated and forced into unconditional surrender, as was Japan after its emperor surrendered following the nuclear bombs that struck the country. This time, it is Israel that has risen to this level of belligerence as it perpetrated genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people. It is important to note that Israel is a nuclear state which enjoys the unconditional support of the United States, and now it is currently leveraging its power not only to assault several Arab capitals - most recently Doha, and before that, Beirut, Damascus, Sanaa, and Tehran - but to take a broader regional posture.
Its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says that Israel should become some sort of “Super Sparta” to reshape the Middle East. He has promoted the idea of “Greater Israel” and proudly presents maps of Israel that include the territories of several Arab states. Netanyahu and his supporters’ - within and outside the Israeli government - rhetoric is explicitly hostile to these countries.The beast is wreaking havoc, leaving everyone around it with no choice but to defend their borders and their lives by building a balance of power that compels Israel to think twice before making a move. Beasts also hesitate and retreat when they find their opponents growing stronger militarily, economically, and diplomatically.
After the Doha Summit that brought the Arab and Islamic states together, Israel’s international isolation solidified enough to lead Netanyahu to conclude Israel might be shunned for years, adding that it has no choice but to rely on itself. Speaking at a conference held by the finance ministry, he said that Israel “will need to adapt to an economy with autarkic characteristics.” That is, he said that Israel must become less dependent on foreign trade.
It was Netanyahu who introduced the “free-market revolution in Israel,” opening its economy to the world, and he must now contend with global isolation. Israel’s arms industry, among other key sectors of the economy, will be undermined, and Israel may find itself unable to rely on foreign arms imports. “We’ll need to develop our weapons industry - we’re going to be Athens and super Sparta combined. We have no choice, at least for the coming years when we’ll be required to deal with these isolation attempts.”
Netanyahu’s remarks amounted to recognition of the severe international backlash against Israel’s escalation of its war in Gaza. It now confronts partial or total arms embargoes from France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and other countries because of its conduct in the Gaza war. However, it imports most of its arms from the United States, which will continue to supply the Jewish state.
For years, Israel was considered a regional and global economic power, a status it largely owed to its advanced tech industry. The war has put a dent in its economy. It is already the longest and most costly conflict in the country’s history. In short, Israel finds itself at a critical juncture both militarily and economically. Self-reliance will drain it further, as Israel will have to make difficult choices. Given its small population, it must choose between militarization and war on the one hand, and the economic activity that funds endless conflict on the other.
Arab pressure has not been in vain: UN Resolutions, multilateral statements, and the Arab media have shown the world how Israel is perpetrating a “Holocaust,” a “Nakba,” “famine,” and “ethnic cleansing.” These are scenes the world has not witnessed since the Nazis’ massacres and their genocide of the Jews.
The roles are reversed this time. At the Security Council, the Arabs made an ardent humanitarian appeal to Israel after the Israeli attack on Doha, urging an end to this madness. Indeed, Israel cannot achieve rapprochement in the Middle East unless it is contained, and failure to do so will come at a heavy price for the region. In his speech to the Arab-Islamic summit, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi addressed the Israeli people directly, warning them that their leaders are pushing their country into an abyss of endless conflict that could nullify peace treaties and fuel instability that Israel cannot isolate itself from. The Israeli beast has a crucial opportunity to stop applying the Nazi handbook that shapes its dreams and ambitions. It must grant the Palestinian people their legitimate rights; only then can it join this region that genuinely seeks development and progress.

Why Netanyahu struck Qatar and not Turkey or Egypt
Elfadil Ibrahim/The Arab Weekly/September 24/2025
To the casual observer, the Israeli missiles that slammed into Doha on September 9 looked like an act of madness. By attacking a key US ally, sabotaging ceasefire negotiations,and striking the very nation mediating the conflict, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu seemed to be a leader driven by reckless impulse. But this was not madness. It was a cold calculation targeting a nation whose very nature, its small size, deep investment in diplomacy and dependence on the US for security, a dependence made all the more exploitable by a Trump administration that has proven highly permissive of unilateral Israeli aggression, rendered it incapable of any meaningful military retaliation. This was an operation conceived less for military effect than for political theatre. The attack allowed Netanyahu to project an image of a leader unbound by geography or diplomatic norms, hunting Israel’s enemies to the ends of the earth. And in the aftermath, Netanyahu refused to rule out future strikes against “nations who harbour terrorists”, a thinly veiled warning aimed squarely at Egypt and Turkey, where Hamas’s overseas leadership also moves. The crucial question then is not why Netanyahu struck Qatar, but why he refrained from targeting Hamas in Turkey or Egypt. To understand this is to view the Doha strike not through a military lens, but a political one. While the operation failed to eliminate its primary targets, its success could also be calculated by a different metric: domestic political gain for a leader besieged by scandal.
Netanyahu is not just fighting a war in Gaza; he is fighting for his political survival in Israel where he is bogged down in a years-long corruption trial and is now embroiled in the explosive “Qatargate” affair. The allegations are that his most trusted media strategists, Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, were on the payroll of a Qatari-linked lobbying firm, allegedly working to burnish Doha’s image in the Israeli press.
This scandal is layered atop a deeper, more cynical history of Netanyahu’s own making. In the mind of the Israeli public and media, Qatar is synonymous with Hamas. Yet it was Netanyahu’s own government that for years leading up to the October 7 attacks, not only tolerated but actively encouraged Qatar to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into Gaza. This policy was deliberately designed to maintain a basic level of stability in the strip, and most importantly, to entrench the political split between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, thereby preventing any possibility of a unified Palestinian front or state. Netanyahu’s government has also banned the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera network, whose critical coverage of Israel’s conduct of the war has been met with the repeated, lethal targeting of its journalists by Israeli forces, further cementing Qatar as a hostile actor in the public mind.
For the Israeli premier, attacking Qatari territory was therefore a major political cleansing. It instantly changed the headline from “Netanyahu’s Aides Investigated for Taking Qatari Money” to “Netanyahu Strikes Hamas Leadership in Qatar.” He was not just targeting Hamas operatives; he was targeting a political scandal and the deeply inconvenient history of his own failed strategy, hoping to bury them both under the rubble in Doha.
But Netanyahu cannot afford such a performance against actors who can, and will, hit back.
Turkey, in particular, presents a formidable military and diplomatic challenge that makes a direct strike unthinkable. Turkey fields the second-largest army in NATO, a force with a sophisticated domestic defence industry that is actively developing its own long-range missiles and air defence systems for, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently stated, the explicit purpose of “deterrence.”This hard military reality is backed by its NATO membership. An Israeli strike on Turkish soil would risk invoking the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defence clause, the principle that an attack on one member is an attack on all. This would precipitate a crisis of unimaginable proportions for Washington and Europe. This deterrent is buttressed by an equally powerful, and more personal, diplomatic reality: the strong relationship between President Erdoğan and President Trump. This is a relationship Trump himself has heavily invested in, praising Erdoğan as “very smart” and stating plainly during Netayahu’s White House visit in April, “I happen to like him, and he likes me.”
This personal rapport is the political lubricant for their negotiations over a landmark defence deal, including the sale of new F-16s and a potential resolution to Turkey’s long-standing exclusion from the F-35 programme, with a White House meeting scheduled for September 25 to discuss the matter further.
It is against this backdrop of military and diplomatic red lines that the increasingly acrimonious relationship between the two leaders, Erdoğan and Netanyahu, must be understood. Unable to risk direct confrontation, their conflict is instead confined to rhetorical and proxy battles.
This includes Erdoğan’s patronage of Hamas, whom he publicly defended as “liberators” while reportedly providing them with passports and safe havens. It also extends to a tense proxy stand-off in Syria, where Ankara supports the new transitional government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa while Israel cultivates alliances with Druze factions in Sweida, aiming to fracture Syrian unity and secure its own strategic foothold.
The rivalry even bleeds into the historical arena, manifesting in the bitter dispute over the Siloam Inscription, a 2,700-year-old Hebrew tablet held in Istanbul since the Ottoman era, the return of which successive Israeli governments have been trying to secure since the late 1990s. The recent resurfacing of this dispute amid rising tensions elicited Erdoğan’s defiant declaration, “we won’t give you that inscription, nor even a single pebble belonging to al-Quds al-Sharif (Jerusalem),” highlighting a simmering civilisational clash. Yet this war of words, proxies and artefacts is precisely where the conflict is destined to remain, because both leaders understand the military alternative would be mutually destructive. Egypt presents an even more immediate and existential deterrent for Israel. The 1979 Camp David Accords are the bedrock of Israel’s regional security. An attack on Egyptian soil would shatter that treaty and open a conventional military front with the largest Arab army. The warning from Egypt’s Information Chief, Diaa Rashwan that “Egypt also does not like war, but is ready for it” was a statement backed by a formidable military deployment.
As Israel ramps up its Gaza City offensive, Cairo, fearing a mass displacement of Palestinians, a possibility it views as a ‘red line’, has acted decisively. Cairo has mobilised an estimated 40,000 troops in the Sinai Peninsula, nearly double the number permitted under the peace treaty. The significance of this move is underscored by a recent Axios report that Netanyahu has become so concerned by this buildup, which includes extended runways and underground facilities, that he has asked the Trump administration to press Egypt to scale it down. This is a tacit admission that Egypt’s deterrent is real and keenly felt in Jerusalem. This hardening posture is further solidified by the recent announcement that Turkey and Egypt will hold their first joint naval drills in 13 years, signalling a growing alignment that further complicates any Israeli military calculations.
Netanyahu is a gambler, but he is not a fool. He understands his limitations. The Doha strike was a calculated performance of strength against a target that could not retaliate, a manoeuvre aimed not at the battlefield in Gaza, but at the political arena in Israel. He will not make the same move against Turkey or Egypt because he knows they can, and will, hit back.
**Elfadil Ibrahim is a writer and analyst focusing on Sudanese and Arab politics.

Selected X tweets For September 24/2024
Pope Leo XIV
The Church dedicates the coming month of October to the #HolyRosary. I invite everyone to pray the Rosary for #Peace each day of the month—individually, in the family, in community. On Saturday, October 11, at 6:00 PM, we will pray the Rosary together in St. Peter’s Square, during the vigil of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, also recalling the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope Leo XIV
When it seems we have hit rock bottom, let us remember that this is the very place from which God is able to begin a new creation. This creation is made of people raised up, with hearts forgiven and tears wiped away. #GeneralAudience

John Bolton
Reports of the Trump admin withholding $400M of military assistance to Taiwan are deeply disturbing. Taiwan is the world’s key manufacturer of sophisticated computer chips, which underlines the risk of Chinese hegemony over the island.

wassim Godfrey
As it seems not a single Lebanese leader wants to meet halfway Senator Graham's proposal, no one wants to save Lebanon just business as usual in the mafiocrat system of taef ,just buying time

Hussain Abdul-Hussain
There is no two state solution on the table that allows for the continued existence of a Jewish state called Israel. All the offers are either for two states — both of them Palestine — or for one binational state that turns Jews into a minority and therefore turns Israel into Palestine.
Get real, offer something that includes genuine Palestinian wish to see Israel exist as a Jewish state, and an Arab and Islamic Palestine next to it will become a possibility.

Hussain Abdul-Hussain
If Kashmiris have the right to self-determination, why not the Kurds and Druze of Syria also get the same right? Why not the Kurds of Iraq? What kind of self-determination applies to some populations but not others?

Hussain Abdul-Hussain
@hahussain
Conclusions from anti-Israel speeches at the UN:
- Some sovereign are not seeking peace and tranquility. They’re hoping for a reversal in the balance of power to allow Hamas to annihilate Israel.
- They’re antisemites
- They prove that the UN is not only irrelevant to world peace, but is a place where some nations gang up against other nations.
- They prove that the world remains a lawless place of “either kill or get killed.”
- They justify every bullet Israel has shot to defend its existence.

Dr Walid Phares
The first and most potent goal jihadists achieve in the West is spreading chaos—both in minds and in policy. The West may be the most powerful bloc on Earth, but jihadists possess the financial means and psychological tactics to disorient it—calmly and deliberately. They do it with a smile...This tweet is for a few years from now.

Rania Hamzeh
Over 100 Druze women held captive while the Syrian President is welcomed at the UN. Join us, demand their freedom now! 🇺🇸🇮🇱🇸🇨🕊️

Dr. Reda Mansour
Did you know that the Palestinian territories recognized by countries as a state are 6,000 square kilometers, and the besieged Suwaida province is 5,550 square kilometers.
Hepocracy is a dangerous disease.
#ExpelJolaniFromAmerica

Secretary Marco Rubio
Incredible speech at the UN from @POTUS He's setting the model for the free world. Strong borders and energy dominance are what make America great. Every nation must stand against unmitigated immigration disasters and fake energy catastrophes.

Department of State
https://x.com/i/status/1970480143870128453
“We are not going to fund an NGO industrial complex that built itself up, was taking a substantial percentage of the money, and not going directly to the recipients … we are restructuring the way we do aid that’ll be a lot more effective and integrated into the holistic foreign policy.”

Danny Danon 🇮🇱 דני דנון
While I was explaining yesterday to the BBC reporter why Macron’s move gives a huge prize to terror, Turkey’s President Erdoğan walked out of the General Assembly after smearing Israel.

Michael Young
Tom Barrack's performance in his Sky News Arabia interview, particularly his harder line on Lebanon, is the result of his growing isolation in Washington. The pro-Israel firmament has demanded his resignation for things he previously said in Beirut, while Ortagus was apparently brought back to keep an eye on Barrack, with the support of Lindsey Graham and Israel. The Israelis rebuffed him on his plan for Hezbollah's disarmament, undermining his credibility further. So, what does he try to do to remain relevant? He veers rightward, as we can see in his interview. We are nearing the moment I wrote about recently, when the U.S. will demand that Lebanon act more forcefully with Hezbollah. If we don't do so, the Israelis will resume their attacks against Lebanon. https://lorientlejour.com/article/147823