English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  September 30/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Jesus reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent
Matthew 11/20-24/:”Then Jesus began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.But I tell you, on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 29-30/2025
The corrupt and treacherous Gebran Bassil is an enemy of the Lebanese diaspora/Elias Bejjani/September 27, 2025
Hassan Nasrallah Was a Gang Leader Serving a Foreign Agenda — Not a Lebanese Martyr/Elias Bejjani/September 28/ 2025
The Assassination of the terrorist Hassan Nasrallah was a gift to the patriotic Lebanese/
Elias Bejjani/September 27/2025
UNIFIL: Israeli presence hinders Lebanese army deployment
Israeli Drone Strikes Kill Two in Beqaa and Nabatieh
Aoun, Berri discuss 'what happened in Beirut days ago'
BDL Leads Financial Recovery and Reassures Depositors
Aoun addresses the "Rousch" incident... Star of Nejmeh Square... Law or quorum?
Parliament in uproar: Lebanese MPs clash over elections and diaspora voting
Lebanon’s Raoucheh Rock dispute escalates as President Aoun declares army a ‘red line’—the details
UNICEF, Germany empower Lebanese youth to move from education to work
Israeli airstrike hits water tanker in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, killing one
Casino du Liban chief Roland Khoury released on financial bail
Donors: No military support conferences for Lebanon before disarmament and reforms
A Spotlight on Naufal Salam/Saleh Mashnouk/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 30, 2025
Haikal's Decoration is An Escalation in Aoun-Salam Clashes... and Biri as Mediator/Ghadeer Halawi/Al-Madain/September 30, 2025
Central Bank Governor: Fiscal Gap Law by Year's End, Lending to Resume Next Year
Positive Saudi-Iranian contact restores Riyadh's role as Lebanon's patron/Youssef Faris/Al-Markazia/September 30, 2025
Joseph Aoun: Get Out! Resign/Hisham Bou Nassif/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 29, 2025
Live Long and Shine/Nadim Koteich/Asas Media/September 29/2025
Lebanon must win back its disillusioned young generation/Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/September 29, 2025
Lebanon’s Karim Souaid and Argentina’s Javier Milei: Reformers Navigating Financial Crossroads/Walid Sinno/Middle East Transparent/29 September 2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 29-30/2025
Video Link For the press conference held by President Trump and Netanyahu to announce the peace plan to end the war in Gaza.
Canadian Conservative Leader Poilievre: Christians ‘may be the number one victims of hate-based violence
Trump and Netanyahu say they've agreed on a plan to end Gaza war and await Hamas to accept terms
Key points of Trump's Gaza peace plan.
Trump says Israel backs Gaza peace plan
‘Common security of Gulf under threat,’ warns Prince Turki Al-Faisal
Leaked plan for Gaza Authority led by Tony Blair draws Palestinian criticism
UN Security Council meets on Palestine as Trump, Netanyahu hold talks
Denmark stops short of recognizing Palestine at UN General Assembly
Canada urges Israel to open land corridors for Gaza aid
UK police arrest 60 over Palestine Action protest in Liverpool
Turkiye helps rescue Gaza aid activists after ship breaks down
Pentagon urges missile makers to double output for potential China conflict, WSJ reports
Bahrain’s crown prince, Pope Leo XIV discuss dialogue among cultures
Jordanian authorities dismantle drug trafficking gangs
UAE president arrives in Egypt for visit
Ukraine’s Zelensky proposes joint aerial shield with allies

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on September 29-30/2025
Thanks to the West's 'Useful Idiots,' Iran's Terror Proxies Celebrate Recognition of 'Palestinian State' by Moving Jihad to West Bank/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./September 29, 2025
When Erdoğan Shifted Focus to the Kurds in Syria/Ahmad Sharawi & Sinan Ciddi/The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune/September 29/2025
Qatar Is Knocking on Canada’s Door/Natalie Ecanow/Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)/September 29/2025
Syrian integration in focus as Syrian President Sharaa speaks at UN/Seth J. Frantzman/FDD's Long War Journal/September 29/2025
The plan to distribute cups of poison/Ghassan Charbel/Arab News/September 29, 2025
Selected X tweets For September 29/2024

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 29-30/2025
The corrupt and treacherous Gebran Bassil is an enemy of the Lebanese diaspora.
Elias Bejjani/September 27, 2025
What a wretched time it is when this petty,  opportunist & treacherous Gebran Bassil the enemy of the Lebanese diaspora represents the Maronites! Actually it is A time of decline and moral decay.
 Criticizing Bassil does not excuse the other party leaders for their narcissism and corruption, but he is the most blatant, the most corrupt, and the most closely aligned with Hezbollah and its Iranian project. Today, he is with Hezbollah and Speaker Berri to prevent amending the electoral law, the law that was a crime in 2017, a law tailored to Hezbollah's needs, including the provision for electing six MPs from the diaspora. To be fair, the Lebanese Forces Party did oppose that law at the time.

Hassan Nasrallah Was a Gang Leader Serving a Foreign Agenda — Not a Lebanese Martyr
Elias Bejjani/September 28/ 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147724/
The rally held yesterday in Beirut to mark the first anniversary of Hassan Nasrallah’s death turned truth upside down. It attempted to transform a man responsible for wars, assassinations, and foreign subservience into a “martyr of Lebanon.” Such a description is not only propaganda — it is a distortion of national memory and a violation of both Lebanese law and political reality.
The Meaning of National Martyrdom
In Lebanon, national martyrdom has a clear definition: it is the sacrifice of one’s life in defense of the homeland under the authority of its legitimate state institutions. It implies loyalty to the constitution, sovereignty, and the people of Lebanon. Anything outside this framework — no matter how loudly glorified — cannot truthfully be called Lebanese martyrdom.
Nasrallah Never Fought Under Lebanon’s Flag
Hassan Nasrallah never acted on behalf of the Lebanese state. He commanded Hezbollah, an illegal militia directly tied to Iran’s Supreme Leader and the project of Wilayat al-Faqih. His loyalty was to Tehran, not to Beirut.
A Regional Project, Not a National Mission
All of Nasrallah’s decisions and operations served Iran’s expansionist strategy: from Syria to Iraq, from Yemen to Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. His wars were never for Lebanon’s sovereignty — they were for Iran’s geopolitical reach.
Crimes Against His Own People
Within Lebanon, he oversaw campaigns of assassinations and intimidation targeting political leaders who opposed Iran’s occupation project. The blood of fellow Lebanese stains his record.
Responsible for Atrocities Abroad
Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria under Nasrallah’s command propped up Bashar al-Assad’s criminal regime and contributed to the mass killing of innocent civilians. His organization’s fingerprints are visible across regional conflicts.
A Record Steeped in International Terrorism
Under his leadership, Hezbollah carried out deadly attacks that killed hundreds of American and French soldiers in Lebanon, conspired against Saudi Arabia, attempted to overthrow the government in Bahrain, plotted to assassinate the Emir of Kuwait, and orchestrated terrorist operations across the globe. This is not the legacy of a national martyr, but of an international criminal.
Why the Title “Martyr” Is a Fraud
To equate Nasrallah with Lebanon’s true martyrs — those who died defending the nation within its lawful institutions — is both a moral betrayal and a legal distortion. Martyrdom cannot be claimed by those who died carrying out foreign orders, serving sectarian projects, and violating the sovereignty of their own country.
Conclusion
Hassan Nasrallah was never a martyr of Lebanon. He was the leader of a gang serving a foreign theocracy, a man whose choices destroyed Lebanon’s sovereignty and brought untold suffering to its people. His assassination does not elevate him; it exposes the hollowness of the false titles his party tries to impose. To honor him as a martyr is to insult Lebanon’s true martyrs — and to surrender truth itself to the machinery of propaganda.

The Assassination of the terrorist Hassan Nasrallah was a gift to the patriotic Lebanese
Elias Bejjani/September 27/2025
Hassan Nasrallah is a terrorist who headed a criminal network that dragged Lebanon into the jihadist project of Iran’s clerical regime. His assassination and the dismantling of his organization would be a divine blessing and the start of the country’s deliverance.

UNIFIL: Israeli presence hinders Lebanese army deployment
Central News Agency/September 30, 2025
UNIFIL announced its support for the Lebanese army in carrying out its mandate under Resolution 1701 and its redeployment in southern Lebanon, emphasizing that as long as the Israeli presence continues, the Lebanese army cannot achieve full deployment as stipulated in the resolution.

Israeli Drone Strikes Kill Two in Beqaa and Nabatieh
This is Beirut/September 29/2025
Southern Lebanon witnessed renewed Israeli drone strikes on Monday, killing two people and injuring one amid rising border tensions. An Israeli drone targeted the town of Aitaroun, wounding one civilian. In Shamsiyeh, a village in West Beqaa’s Sohmor region, another strike hit an excavator, killing its operator. In a third attack, a guided missile fired by a drone struck a water tanker in Upper Nabatieh, leaving one person dead. The Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health confirmed the toll, stating, “Israeli drone strikes on southern Lebanon today resulted in one person killed in Sohmor, one killed in Upper Nabatieh and one injured in Aitaroun.”Residents also reported drones flying at low altitude over Ghassaniyeh, Kawthariyet al-Siyad and Khartoum, with intensified activity earlier in the morning over Zahrani. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reiterated its support for the Lebanese Army’s redeployment across southern Lebanon under UN Resolution 1701, stressing that Israel’s ongoing presence obstructs full deployment. A UNIFIL spokesperson said, “As long as the Israeli presence continues, the Lebanese Army cannot achieve full deployment in accordance with Resolution 1701.”

Aoun, Berri discuss 'what happened in Beirut days ago'
Naharnet/September 29/2025
Speaker Nabih Berri said Monday that, “as usual,” he held an “excellent” meeting with President Joseph Aoun at the Baabda Palace. “We discussed the current affairs and he briefed me on the outcome of the meetings that he held in New York and I put him in the picture of what happened in Beirut days ago,” Berri added, referring to the controversy over Hezbollah’s decision to defy authorities and project the images of its slain chiefs onto the iconic Raouche Rock. Asked whether the situations will improve, Berri said: “God willing that happens.”

BDL Leads Financial Recovery and Reassures Depositors
Liliane Mokbel/This Is Beirut/September 29/2025
At a luncheon debate hosted by the École supérieure des affaires (ESA), Karim Souhaid, the Governor of Lebanon’s Central Bank (BDL), presented his assessment of the country’s economic situation – “slowly but surely moving in the right direction” – to around 40 members of the Mouvement des entreprises de France (MEDEF), currently on an exploratory visit to Lebanon and Syria.
For context, MEDEF represents more than 200,000 micro-, small- and medium-sized French businesses. Souhaid also outlined BDL’s proposal for a “Banking Restructuring Framework,” under which it would shoulder the largest share of the financial burden. He emphasized “the Bank’s duty to rebuild a banking system that is solid, well-capitalized, well-governed and well-regulated.” “A sector capable of repaying depositors – in full if possible, gradually if necessary – but always in a manner that preserves the trust they have placed in us,” he added.
BDL: The State’s Bank, Not Its Banker
In his assessment, Souhaid described “a central bank that has been both architect and victim of an unprecedented banking and financial crisis, which brought Lebanon’s real economy to a standstill.” “Today, it has also become the main engine of its recovery,” he added. He explained that “the central bank was a player, because the regulator it should have been, sometimes gave in to the temptation of riding the banking sector’s profit euphoria and meeting the state’s financing needs without limits. It was also a victim, because this role weakened its balance sheet and plunged the economy into an unhealthy dependence.”Souhaid emphasized that “today’s BDL is no longer the state’s banker, but the state’s bank.” “It is an institution that now aims to be closer to Colbert, builder of lasting structures, than to Gordon Gekko, driven by profit. A disciplined and responsible bank, sometimes restrained, but focused on stability and long-term sustainability,” he noted.
BDL Unveils a ‘Banking Restructuring Framework’
Relying on the provisions of the Lebanese Code of Money and Credit (CMC), which stipulates that BDL does not legislate but rather advises, guides and proposes, Souhaid presented the framework, which rests on four pillars:
1.Reducing BDL’s deficit by eliminating irregular claims and obligations from its balance sheet, including deposits of questionable origin, unjustified conversion of Lebanese pounds into dollars after the crisis, excessive interest and similar items.
2.Segmenting regular deposits into three categories: small ($1–$100,000, representing 84.8%), medium ($100,000–$1 million, 14%) and large (over $1 million). 3.Repaying depositors – prioritizing small depositors and a portion of medium-sized accounts — in cash over a defined period, with the remaining balance repaid in securities backed by BDL assets (gold, claims on the state, real estate and corporate assets and reserves). 4.Distributing the financial burden among the state, the BDL and commercial banks, with BDL shouldering the largest share of the cost.
Credit: The Lifeblood of the Economy
Souhaid repeatedly stressed the importance of credit, which he described as “the lifeblood of the economy,” echoing the words of economist Jean Tirole: “Without credit, there is no activity; without activity, neither the public nor the private sector can survive.” He expressed confidence in the authorities’ commitment – including the president and the prime minister – to pursue reforms. “This undertaking cannot succeed without cooperation. It will involve the government, our international partners – primarily the IMF, the World Bank, France and more broadly the global community – and also, I trust, the engagement of French entrepreneurs and investors, who have long regarded Lebanon as a place of innovation, resilience and regional influence,” he concluded.

Aoun addresses the "Rousch" incident... Star of Nejmeh Square... Law or quorum?
Nidaa Al-Watan/September 30, 2025  (Translated from Arabic)
President Aoun awarded Army Commander Rouhollah Haikal the Grand Cordon of the National Order of the Cedar
Nidaa Al-Watan learned that intense contacts took place last night between various factions of the parliamentary opposition to boycott today's session, in an attempt to prevent the passage of the electoral law in its current form.
The battle over the diaspora vote is at a critical juncture, between jeopardizing the quorum for the session and securing a meager quorum. The question is: has the proposal to allow the 128 MPs to vote from their locations put the parliamentary elections in jeopardy? It is feared that this is indeed the case, and what Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri said reflects this impression. The Speaker summarized his position by saying: "Enough with the attempts to circumvent the current electoral law." The Speaker's words can be considered a "road map" to next May, the constitutionally mandated date for parliamentary elections.
The head of the parliamentary Administration and Justice Committee, MP George Adwan, said: "There is a risk that the elections will not be held on their constitutional date, amid attempts to obstruct this process, which would demonstrate that we, as a state, a government, and a parliament, have failed."
In a statement addressed to the Prime Minister, Adwan said: "Elections are an administrative and executive matter, and the government must take all necessary measures to prepare for them." He explained, "We have decided to suspend our participation in the committee, so that it does not become a pretext for wasting time and delaying the elections. We call on all blocs with a similar position to stand together in every step, starting with not participating in the committee." Adwan called for "a plenary session of the parliament to be broadcast live, so that each parliamentary bloc can express its position on the elections, thus clarifying the situation and revealing clearly who wants to hold the elections and who does not." Following this, a heated exchange ensued between MP Ali Hassan Khalil and members of the Lebanese Forces party, stemming from Khalil's accusation that the Lebanese Forces were trying to sabotage the elections. After Adwan's statement, Khalil said, "It's clear that these people want to sabotage the elections," to which Adwan and the Lebanese Forces MPs applauded. Khalil then retorted, "You have no morals; everyone should respect themselves—shame on you!" Shouting erupted in the hall, with MP Pierre Bou Assi telling him, "You should respect yourself." After the parliamentary blocs withdrew, MP Ali Hassan Khalil emphasized that "regardless of the political justifications for the withdrawal, its underlying purpose remains to paralyze the work of parliament," calling on the withdrawing blocs to reconsider and attend tomorrow's (today's) session. He stated that "the law is the rule governing relations between all parties, we have no electoral concerns, and we are ready for elections when conditions permit. We cannot conduct elections abroad without a level playing field." The Independent Parliamentary Forum also boycotts today's session. The Independent Parliamentary Forum decided not to participate in today's session, explaining that its decision stemmed from its desire to "allow the maximum space for ongoing contacts and consultations, in order to foster a climate of consensus among Lebanese citizens in general and political blocs in particular." Bou Assi represents Speaker Berri
It was noteworthy that Parliament Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab immediately convened a meeting of the parliamentary committee on the electoral law for Thursday morning, to hear from the Interior Minister regarding the electoral law. How will the opposing MPs react to this? And will anything new emerge? Especially since whispers are circulating in the corridors of Parliament about the following dilemma: should the issue of controlling weapons be resolved before the parliamentary elections, or should the parliamentary elections take place before the issue of controlling weapons is resolved? Parliamentary sources commented on Deputy Speaker Bou Saab's "impulsive" move, considering it "swimming against the tide." These sources asked: What is the background to Bou Saab's move? And what political favors is he repaying to Speaker Berri? Based on all these factors, today's session is poised between failing to achieve a quorum, if the opposition succeeds, and securing a meager quorum, if Deputy Speaker Bou Saab manages to do so. Aoun addresses the Raouche incident After returning from New York, President General Michel Aoun began addressing the repercussions of the Raouche rock incident. In this context, he intensified meetings and contacts to mend the rift, prevent further escalation, and restore the authority of the state. He also gave strong support to the army and security forces, emphasizing that they are a red line, thus reaffirming his commitment to the principles of the state and its institutions. He stressed that there is no alternative to legitimacy, which will extend its authority over all Lebanese territory, because the time for a strong state has come. Following up on this development, "Nidaa Al-Watan" learned that President Aoun will receive former Prime Minister Tammam Salam at Baabda Palace today to discuss all that has transpired, reaffirming the unity and solidarity of the authorities and continuing the project of building a strong state. On the other hand, President Aoun met with Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri to address the repercussions of the events in Raouche. The meeting was positive, as their positions were in agreement, and Berri emphasized that he did not want any problems on the ground or any escalation of tensions. They agreed to monitor the situation closely. After the meeting, Speaker Berri stated: "As usual, the meeting with His Excellency the President was excellent. We discussed current issues, and he briefed me on the results of his meetings in New York, and I informed him about what happened in Beirut a few days ago." "Nidaa Al-Watan" also learned that President Aoun will continue his efforts in this regard, working to prevent any slide into internal conflict, and will also focus on following up on the upcoming army support conference in Riyadh. The focus will also be on the situation in the south and the major challenges it entails.
MP Hassan Fadlallah's statement is false.
Meanwhile, informed sources, through "Nidaa Al-Watan," refuted the claim made by MP Hassan Fadlallah, a member of the "Loyalty to the Resistance" bloc, that an agreement had been reached between President Aoun and the Shiite "duo" before his election as Speaker of Parliament. The sources clarified that Fadlallah's statement is false and intended to mislead, and that Aoun did not agree to anything with the "duo." The proof, they said, lies in what he stated half an hour later in his inaugural address, specifically regarding the exclusive right of the army to possess weapons. He did not change a single word in the speech he had prepared, having carefully crafted every word. He will not end his term until he has fulfilled every promise he made. As for why the Presidency did not issue a statement refuting Fadlallah's claim, the sources indicated that the President does not respond to every statement made, and that Fadlallah was not even present at the meeting between the representatives of the Shiite "duo" and President Aoun. Therefore, the Presidency is not concerned with what Fadelallah says, neither directly nor indirectly.
Mansy and Qahouji to Saudi Arabia
Nidaa Al-Watan learned that Defense Minister Michel Mansy, accompanied by Intelligence Chief Brigadier General Tony Qahouji, will travel to Saudi Arabia today, Tuesday, to meet with several Saudi officials. The discussions will focus on two main issues:
First: the upcoming army support conference, which the Kingdom will host next month.
Second: the Lebanese-Syrian relations file, given that the Kingdom is the main backer of efforts to normalize these relations. The meeting will also cover bilateral military and security cooperation.
Roland Khoury released
The Mount Lebanon Accusation Court, presided over by Judge Fadi Al-Araydi, approved the release of the General Manager of Casino Lebanon, Roland Khoury, and three others detained in the casino case, upon payment of a bail of 20 billion Lebanese pounds for each of them.
Two airstrikes, two deaths
Military developments continued in the south and the Bekaa region. An Israeli drone carried out an airstrike yesterday afternoon targeting the town of An-Nabatieh al-Fouka, hitting a water tanker on the road leading to the town with a guided missile. The strike resulted in one death, though details about the identity of the target were not available.
An earlier Israeli drone strike targeted the Bekaa town of Sahmar, resulting in one death.

Parliament in uproar: Lebanese MPs clash over elections and diaspora voting
LBCI/September 29/2025
The political clash over Lebanon’s electoral law dominated Monday’s parliament session, overshadowing the legislative agenda that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri had intended. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, steering the session, ruled that discussions should focus solely on legislation, noting that any amendments to the electoral law should be handled by the subcommittee reviewing all proposals, not in the plenary. In response, MPs from the Kataeb Party, Lebanese Forces, the Change and Reform bloc, and the Moderation bloc insisted that discussions on armed groups and the electoral law were a priority. They withdrew from the session, causing a loss of quorum, after Berri rejected any debate beyond legislative matters.The opposition MPs are pushing for expatriate voting for all 128 parliamentary seats, while the Amal-Hezbollah bloc, supported by the Free Patriotic Movement, insists on applying the current law, allowing diaspora voters to elect six MPs or return to Lebanon to vote in their districts. The standoff reflects purely electoral calculations, analysts say. The debate escalated into accusations of trying to derail the elections, notably between MP Ali Hassan Khalil and Lebanese Forces MP Pierre Bou Assi. Khalil accused the opposition of attempting to sabotage the vote, prompting sarcastic applause from Kataeb, Lebanese Forces, and Change bloc MPs. Khalil responded by calling the interruption “impolite,” to which Bou Assi replied that the comment “backfires on you.”MP Kabalan Kabalan backed Khalil, joking, “Let’s turn this into a school of troublemakers.” The session ultimately ended due to disruptions from members of both sides.

Lebanon’s Raoucheh Rock dispute escalates as President Aoun declares army a ‘red line’—the details
LBCI/September 29/2025
The illumination of Raoucheh Rock triggered a political crisis in Lebanon, with repercussions extending to the country’s military institutions, which were accused of negligence. President Joseph Aoun, who was attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York at the time, did not comment on the issue while abroad. Upon his return to Lebanon, he issued a statement declaring that the army and security forces constitute a “red line.” In a symbolic gesture, President Aoun awarded the National Order of the Cedar, with the rank of Grand Cordon, to Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal, recognizing his leadership and service. The move was intended to send a message to critics of the military institution. Earlier, Aoun met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in what was described as an “excellent” meeting. During the session, Aoun briefed Berri on his discussions in New York, while Berri updated him on recent events in Beirut. According to LBCI sources, a meeting is scheduled for Tuesday between President Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Observers are watching to see whether the Raoucheh Rock dispute will be resolved or if attention will shift back to issues such as disarmament and economic reforms.

UNICEF, Germany empower Lebanese youth to move from education to work
LBCI/September 29/2025
UNICEF and the German government, through the German Development Bank (KfW), are continuing their efforts to empower Lebanon’s youth through initiatives that support their transition from education to productivity, strengthen their role in community recovery, and open pathways for leadership and active participation in building a better future. According to a joint statement, UNICEF’s “From Learning to Earning” initiative has equipped thousands of young people with practical skills aligned with labor market demands, restoring a sense of capability, dignity, and independence.
The statement noted that 7,397 young men and women have been able to earn an income and access employment opportunities despite Lebanon’s economic challenges. This was achieved through literacy and numeracy programs, competency-based training, life skills development, support for employment opportunities, and entrepreneurship initiatives. Uta Simon, Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy in Beirut, said: “Through its partnership with UNICEF, Germany has provided opportunities to thousands of Lebanese youth over the past ten years. Youth are Lebanon’s future, and investing in them is an investment both in individuals and in a better future for the country.” She added that German government support via KfW has allowed young people to earn income, launch their own projects, and contribute to emergency response and post-conflict recovery efforts. UNICEF Representative in Lebanon, Marcoluigi Corsi, emphasized: “Investing in youth is not a luxury — it is central to UNICEF’s vision of empowering every young person with the ability, opportunity, and dignity to shape their own life path. In Lebanon today, we are translating that vision into action by supporting youth in the critical transition from education to productivity, ensuring that no young person is left behind.”He added: “Our decade-long partnership with the German government has enabled us to empower youth in leadership, assist in their recovery, and help revive their communities from the ground up.”

Israeli airstrike hits water tanker in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, killing one
LBCI/September 29/2025
On Monday, an Israeli airstrike targeted a water tanker in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, southern Lebanon, killing one person.

Casino du Liban chief Roland Khoury released on financial bail
LBCI/September 29/2025
The investigative panel, headed by Judge Fadi Aridi, ordered on Monday the release of Roland Khoury, the General Manager of Casino du Liban, in exchange for a financial bail.

Donors: No military support conferences for Lebanon before disarmament and reforms
Jassent Antar/Al-Madina/September 30, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
There are serious doubts about whether the conference to support the Lebanese army, originally scheduled for October in Riyadh, will take place or be postponed. The conference was supposed to be held in Paris, the main partner in its organization, but an undisclosed agreement led to its relocation to Riyadh. The conference aims to provide military support to the Lebanese army, coinciding with the international momentum following the election of Michel Aoun as president and the formation of a government by Fouad Saniour, with clear Saudi-American backing. However, diplomatic sources told Al-Madina that no international conferences to support Lebanon are expected in the near future, neither in Riyadh nor in Paris. This is due to the donors' insistence on fundamental conditions for providing any aid or loans, foremost among them the disarmament of all non-state armed groups and the implementation of necessary reforms at all levels.
From Paris to Riyadh: Changing the venue, not the objective
France had pledged to organize three conferences: one for military support, one for reconstruction, and one for reforms. The conference to support the Lebanese army is the only one that was transferred to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, while Paris remains the venue for the reconstruction and reform conferences. According to sources familiar with the preparations who spoke to Al-Madina, France is coordinating with Saudi Arabia to ensure the success of the conference, should it take place, in which Prime Minister Fouad Saniour will participate. Sources believe that, given its strong and influential position, Saudi Arabia has become more involved in security and defense issues in the region. French sources, however, maintain that the economic and political situation in France, along with the challenges facing the French president, preclude Paris from hosting a conference of this scale. However, the French capital will remain the venue for the reconstruction and reform conferences. On another note, French sources emphasized that support for the Lebanese army will be contingent on the government and the military continuing the reform process, primarily focusing on ensuring that only the Lebanese state holds weapons. Will Saudi support for the Lebanese government translate into tangible results? This Saudi initiative is seen as direct support for the government of Prime Minister Tammam Salam, especially given the strong and positive relationship he has with the Kingdom, and the high level of trust he enjoys from the Saudi leadership. This momentum follows recent decisions by the Lebanese government, most notably the adoption of the army's plan to consolidate weapons under state control—a move that has garnered widespread international support. However, diplomatic sources stressed that "the proof will be in the implementation." This is not the first time Saudi Arabia has provided support to the Lebanese military. In December 2013, Saudi Arabia pledged a $3 billion grant to the government of then-Prime Minister Saad Hariri for the purchase of French weapons for the army. Last year, Paris hosted a conference to support Lebanon, allocating $200 million for the Lebanese army. However, according to military sources speaking to Al-Madad, no funds have been received to date. What does the Lebanese army need? Diplomatic sources told Al-Madad that France and Saudi Arabia will ask the Lebanese government to provide a detailed list of the Lebanese army's needs, including the required equipment and supplies. The army had previously submitted regular reports outlining its logistical and military needs, and these lists were discussed with international donor agencies, but very little of what was requested has been provided so far. The basic needs include: support for the navy, particularly anti-aircraft and armored vehicles, electronic and technical equipment, modern communication and radio systems, engineering equipment for explosive ordnance disposal, and other items. According to sources, what the army has received to date remains insufficient compared to its actual needs. The United States did provide a grant of $14.2 million to the army, but this was specifically for equipment to be used in the area south of the Litani River.

A Spotlight on Naufal Salam
Saleh Mashnouk/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 30, 2025   (Translated from Arabic)
We have often heard about this concept, as if it were a phenomenon from a bygone era. We were told that in Lebanon, during the "golden age," there were statesmen, although nostalgia, by its very nature, tends to exaggerate and distort historical events. In the past decade, we have witnessed many political phenomena, both positive and negative. On one hand, militia leaders and political opportunists created an era of mafia-militia alliances. On the other hand, sovereign and reform-minded political leaders fought their battles outside the political decision-making circles against that hellish decade. But this is the first time (with the exception of the ten-minute swearing-in speech) that we truly feel that, within the constitutional institutions, and at the level of direct decision-making, there is a statesman named Naufal Salam. This is not meant as personal praise, as he is not one to seek such adulation, nor does the nature of his project allow for it. Rather, it is a recognition that the sovereign and reformist political project now has a figurehead who can be relied upon and who deserves our support. In this sense, what was highlighted last week was not the Roché Rock (due to the poor quality of the laser used), but rather the person of the Prime Minister, specifically as the embodiment of the idea of ​​striving for a strong and modern state. Naufal Salam is waging his most important battles not against the militias, which are no longer capable of hindering the establishment of such a state, but against the legacy of thirty-four years of political corruption that has permeated the mindset of the state. This corruption was fully revealed in the events at Roché Rock, particularly in the behavior of the officials directly responsible for asserting the authority and prestige of the state in that location. While Naufal Salam simply and straightforwardly called for the law to be applied equally to all citizens, without discrimination or favoritism, other officials resorted to the logic and rhetoric that brought Lebanon to its current predicament: "preventing discord" and "preserving public order." These two phrases are integral to the Orwellian "thought police" (referring to George Orwell's famous novel 1984) language used to maintain the militia's control over public space. Of course, the Orwellian picture is incomplete without an inspiring leader, a devoted people, and, naturally, a powerful army. A comparison of Salam's statement about the Roché incident with the Defense Minister's statement on the same event clearly illustrates the difference between the logic of a state and that of a failed state. Ironically, Naufal Salam's problem may be his excessive adherence to the logic of the modern state, before the objective conditions were ripe for addressing the issue on that basis. In his mind, and based on his experience, officers are state officers, and judges are state judges; therefore, he saw no need to secure a personal share in the "deep state." He didn't demand officers from his "quota," not even for the sake of maintaining public order. Perhaps he didn't want to acknowledge that the rot within the state is so deep that it precludes dealing with institutions using a modern approach. This certainly weakens his ability to influence events at present. This reminds us of the historical incident at the Yalta Conference after World War II, when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill raised the objections of the Pope to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, to which Stalin replied: "The Pope! How many divisions does the Pope have?" It goes without saying that the Soviet Empire collapsed irrevocably (albeit after some time), partly due to the efforts of the Catholic Church (which was gaining influence). Ultimately, the power of legitimacy always surpasses the legitimacy of power. Some criticize Fouad Slim for not belonging to the club of traditional Lebanese politicians, as if that were a flaw. The truth is quite the opposite: this club, its culture, its rhetoric, and its practices are what brought us to where we are today. ​​Fouad Slim's strength, indeed his very essence, lies in the fact that, despite having interacted with the members of this club for many years, he has never sought to join it. He presents himself as the antithesis of this entire system and its legacy. And precisely for this reason, we see him as the embodiment of the struggle for a truly functioning state, in all its dimensions. We recognized this from day one (my personal opinion, however, is irrelevant), but the test of time has elevated him to the highest level—a statesman of the highest caliber, with courage bordering on recklessness, and unwavering determination. Therefore, Mr. President, we bestow upon you our highest award for national responsibility: for fulfilling your fundamental duties.

Haikal's Decoration is An Escalation in Aoun-Salam Clashes... and Biri as Mediator
Ghadeer Halawi/Al-Madain/September 30, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
Two key issues were on the agenda when Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri traveled to Baabda: repairing the relationship between the President and the Prime Minister, and preventing the disruption of parliamentary sessions after Christian political forces deliberately withdrew to block the session, thus negatively impacting the Parliament's functioning. As soon as the parliamentary session ended, Berri immediately headed to Baabda. His meeting with President Michel Aoun lasted no more than fifteen minutes. Afterwards, he stated that the meeting was excellent and that he had discussed topics related to Aoun's visit and meetings in New York, as well as recent events following the Roché Rock incident—and this is the crux of the matter. Prior to this visit, Berri met with Prime Minister Tammam Salam before the start of the parliamentary session. While the Parliament was in session, Baabda was preparing to honor the Army Commander, General Joseph Aloufi, an honor that cannot be separated from the Roché Rock incident and the subsequent accusations leveled against the army and its commander, starting with a statement by the Prime Minister demanding accountability for those who allowed the rock to be illuminated with images of Hezbollah's leaders. Baabda did not limit itself to the honor, but rather emphasized that the army is a red line, praising the work and coordination of the security forces. It should be noted that this honor and meeting came after Salam had also received the Director General of Internal Security Forces, Major General Raed Abdullah. Such an honor was unlikely to be welcomed by the Prime Minister, who hinted at criticism of the military establishment in his recent statement, reflecting tension in the relationship between the Presidency and the Prime Minister's office, which the Speaker of Parliament sought to address. According to sources, the Speaker of Parliament intervened to mediate quickly between the President and the Prime Minister, paving the way for Salam's visit. He did not deny the existence of a rift or a deterioration in relations, saying in response to a question about whether things were improving between Aoun and Salam: "God willing, all will be well." Brihi's visit can be seen as a prelude to a meeting scheduled for this morning between Aoun and Salam, which is expected to be a frank discussion, especially since Salam must have understood the implications and intentions behind Aoun's statements. Well-informed sources say that the relationship between the two presidents is strained, particularly after Salam accused the security forces, and the army in particular, of negligence. Previously, the disagreement centered on the approach to the issue of exclusive control over weapons, with Salam insisting on leaving it to the army to draft a plan to disarm the militias, thus absolving himself of responsibility before the international community. If the army commander fails to present such a plan, Salam would be off the hook, as Aoun chose the army commander and the heads of the security agencies. The facts indicate that Salam overreacted to the events at the Raouche Rock, as well as in his statement assigning responsibility and demanding accountability for those responsible, and that he was indeed considering resigning had it not been for the mediation efforts and a call he received from abroad urging him to continue fulfilling his duties. This was the first time he considered resigning, even if he did not explicitly state it.
Poor relations between Aoun and Salam
Two things are clear in light of recent events in the country: the poor relationship between Aoun and Salam, to the point that Salam was planning to visit Baabda yesterday but then backed off after Aoun's statements and the honoring of Haikal; and secondly, the fact that the Prime Minister's emotional volatility could lead him to resign again at any moment of another disagreement with Aoun, which could have a negative impact on the government's functioning and potentially paralyze it. The Parliament itself is also at risk of having its legislative sessions disrupted, given what transpired during yesterday's session, especially since the insistence of some to obstruct these sessions will undermine the current administration. This trend is a cause for concern in Baabda, which wants to push forward with the passage of key legislation and prevent any paralysis of the government. Aoun's meeting with Salam will not resolve the crisis or end the dispute; the first spark has been ignited, and disruption could become the defining characteristic of this period, particularly with the parliamentary elections approaching—whose very occurrence is now uncertain—and with the apparent intention to paralyze committee work, disregard constitutional deadlines, and postpone any discussion of the issue until after the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Central Bank Governor: Fiscal Gap Law by Year's End, Lending to Resume Next Year
Beirut/September 30, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
As part of a visit by a delegation of business leaders and representatives of French companies specializing in reconstruction and urban development, "Medef," led by its president, Gérard Wolf, who met with the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Finance and Economy, Central Bank Governor Karime Saïd hosted the delegation at the Institute of Financial Studies, in the presence of French Ambassador Hervé Magro. Wolf revealed that "the French delegation, comprising some 40 leading French companies and institutions, came to Lebanon yesterday, four years after their previous visit." He expressed the delegation's readiness and interest in investing in Lebanon, utilizing the best technologies, and affirmed their intention to contribute to the country's modernization and strengthening by assisting in the areas of transportation, energy, health, and all vital sectors. For his part, Saïd explained to the delegation the pillars of the Central Bank's approach, which is based on improving and streamlining the bank's balance sheet, identifying financial losses, and expecting the fiscal gap law to be enacted by the end of this year. The third pillar involves distributing the losses and assigning responsibility to each party. The final pillar relates to the legal aspects and the necessary legal and executive measures. In response to a question about the resumption of lending, Saïd expected it to resume next year, thus restoring economic activity to its normal course. In his remarks, Saïd said: "The country has gone through a severe financial and banking crisis that affected all sectors of the economy and exacerbated the fragility of the banking system. However, the Central Bank of Lebanon's management today is adopting a different approach, based on transparency and discipline, and abandoning the previous policies that contributed to the worsening of the crisis." He stated that the central bank is no longer in a position to provide unconditional support for government policies, but rather seeks to build a sound monetary framework, focusing on stability and drawing its strength from legislation and international standards, moving away from the pursuit of quick profits and financial speculation. Saied explained the framework he has developed for restructuring the banking sector, which is based on four main pillars aimed at addressing the accumulated distortions in the central bank's balance sheet, protecting depositors' rights, and distributing losses equitably among the state, commercial banks, and the central bank itself, which has committed to bearing the largest share of the burden. He emphasized that these measures are not mere theoretical proposals, but rather practical steps implemented under local supervision and with the support of international partners such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the French government, reflecting a genuine commitment to restoring confidence. He stressed that economic recovery begins with rebuilding trust. The financial system cannot recover without a well-governed and adequately financed banking sector capable of providing credit to businesses and citizens, and restoring a healthy relationship between banks and depositors. He affirmed that returning depositors' funds is a priority, whether through liquidity injections or through financial instruments backed by central bank assets. Saied invited French investors to strengthen their presence in Lebanon and participate in the economic recovery initiative. He emphasized that despite its recent challenges, Lebanon remains a center of innovation and leadership in the region and is poised to regain its status as an attractive destination for quality investments and partnerships. He stressed that financial reform in Lebanon will not be superficial or temporary, but rather based on solid foundations of good governance and transparency, drawing inspiration from successful international models, particularly the French model of public finance management. Saad expressed hope that Lebanon would once again become a land of opportunities, a fertile environment for investment, capable of attracting partners and investors, and thus building a more balanced and sustainable economy.

Positive Saudi-Iranian contact restores Riyadh's role as Lebanon's patron
Youssef Faris/Al-Markazia/September 30, 2025 (Translated from Arabic)
Al-Markazia – Those following regional and local developments are hopeful that the Saudi-Iranian dialogue and the resumption of negotiations between Washington and Tehran, in light of the Iranian-European talks, will lead to a regional settlement that will have an impact on the Lebanese situation. This could establish a long-term political truce in Lebanon and exert serious US-French-Arab pressure on Israel to withdraw from the south and cease its violations, thus paving the way for a national settlement of the issue of weapons, based on a security strategy that France is working to implement to prevent any internal explosion that threatens stability in Lebanon. This is in parallel with French efforts with Saudi Arabia on this front and other efforts to stop Israeli aggression against Lebanon. However, European diplomatic circles rule out any near-term solution to the situation on the southern border, given Israel's continued aggression and its determination to carry out its plans to the end throughout the region. The Netanyahu government sees this as a golden and historic opportunity to impose its vision of a Greater Israel, with full US support and complete Arab and international silence. Tel Aviv responded to the positions and decisions of the Arab-Islamic Summit by launching the ground invasion of Gaza, continuing the war of annihilation, expanding its operations in Syria, and continuing assassinations in Lebanon. These circles have revealed regional and Israeli indications of an expansion of the Israeli aggression against Lebanon in the coming weeks, with the possibility of a ground advance in the south or the Bekaa Valley. The timing of this war depends on the conclusion of the Gaza war, the compilation of a security, intelligence, and technical database of targets against Hezbollah, and the Lebanese government's ability to implement its decision to maintain the exclusive control of weapons by the state. Former Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Elie Ferzli, told the National News Agency (NNA) that Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem's call for dialogue with Saudi Arabia reflects the positive developments in the talks between Riyadh and Tehran, which appear to have yielded key agreements. He stressed the urgent need for dialogue, whether at the local, regional, or international level. He added that the continuation of this rapprochement process in the region will enable Saudi Arabia to once again play a pivotal role in Lebanon, as it did in 1992, leading to the cessation of hostilities and the Taif Agreement. He believes that Saudi Arabia is likely to play a central role today in achieving an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and in establishing a national security strategy that empowers the Lebanese state. Ferzli concluded by noting what US Congressional delegation member Tom Price said during his recent visit to Lebanon about the emerging Saudi-Iranian relationship and its positive implications for Lebanon. According to Ferzli, this development will inevitably clash with Israel's ambitions in Lebanon and the region. He denied any knowledge of any secret Iranian-American talks.

Joseph Aoun: Get Out! Resign
Hisham Bou Nassif/Nidaa Al-Watan/September 29, 2025 (Translated From Arabic Freely by the LCCC Editor)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147751/
The statement issued by the Lebanese Ministry of Defense after the Raouché incident is pivotal in the current political moment and in the history of civil-military relations in Lebanon. The statement declared that the army’s mission is “to ward off strife, prevent the situation from sliding into the abyss of confrontation, deter those who encroach upon civil peace, and consolidate the foundations of national unity.” While lamenting “ingratitude,” “bias,” and “placing the burden of the streets on the protectors of legitimacy,” the statement affirmed that the army “has a President who protects it, a Commander who watches over it, and a people who love it and see in it the last remaining hope after God and Lebanon.”
It is hard to cram a greater amount of nonsense into fewer words. No, the “people” do not see in the army a source of hope after God and Lebanon. Rather, they see in it the institution whose Commander, Emile Bustani, signed the infamous Cairo Agreement of 1969 in the hope of becoming President, or of restoring Fouad Chehab to the presidency. They see in it the army that engaged in the “War of Elimination” in the eastern region; whose leadership adapted without difficulty to the subsequent Syrian occupation, at a time when its intelligence services in the 1990s harshly persecuted sovereignist students who refused to accept that occupation; and the same army that later—and up to the present day—has accommodated itself, again without difficulty or friction, to the domination of the Shiite militia over the country.
The arrogance of militarism, imagining that the Lebanese place the army “after God and Lebanon,” is an intellectual frivolity entirely worthy of third-world armies. And yet, the issue is not here. The issue is that the statement of the Ministry of Defense is a coup against legitimacy and the constitution. Coups do not always mean columns of tanks heading to occupy a presidential palace. There are “Velvet Coups” that occur without a single slap when the militaria decides to shed the restraints of the constitution.
Furthermore, coups do not necessarily mean that an outsider seizes power. There is what is called an autogolpe (self-coup), whose essence is that a party within the system, having reached its position legally, uses its powers to dismantle legitimacy from within. In depth, this is exactly what the Lebanese Ministry of Defense has done with its recent statement.
Why? First, because it assigned to the army a political mission: the protection of “national unity.” This is the hallmark of coup-driven militaries in the Third World. For example, the Turkish military once assigned itself the mission of defending secularism. The armies of Latin America used to claim the mission of crushing the left, even if citizens had voted for it. By contrast, in democratic states, the army has no political role whatsoever; its function is exclusively to carry out the orders of the executive authority. Full stop. If officers dislike the orders, they can resign, but the military as such has no right to interfere in national politics. From the Defense Ministry’s statement, it is clear that it is granting itself the right to decide which orders it wishes to execute and which to reject on the grounds of “protecting national unity”—that is, on the basis of a political mission it has invented for itself outside the constitution. That is a velvet coup.
Second, it is clear from the statement that the Ministry of Defense views the army’s instructions as coming from the Presidency and the Commander. What was striking was the total absence of any reference to the Council of Ministers, which, under the Taif Constitution, is the source of executive authority. Very plainly: the Council of Ministers, through its head, issued directives squarely within its constitutional prerogatives; the leaders of the security forces, who reached their positions according to constitutional procedures, decided that the constitution does not concern them—and therefore neither do the orders of the Prime Minister. That is a self-coup.
Joseph Aoun is directly responsible for all of this because he personally chose both the Minister of Defense and the Army Commander. The criticisms directed at both of them in recent days after the Raouché events are valid, provided no one forgets that the Minister and the Commander are Joseph Aoun’s allies. He is therefore politically responsible for their actions. That they colluded with Nabih Berri and the Shiite militia against the Prime Minister—and against the hopes of the Lebanese that their state would not remain failed and surrendered to a fundamentalist militia—means politically that Joseph Aoun himself is complicit.
The Ministry of Defense’s narrative that it acted to “avert strife” is a claim that rebounds directly against Joseph Aoun, Michel Menssa, and Rodolphe Haikal. Hassan Nasrallah is accused in the public consciousness of assassinating Rafik Hariri, the leader of Beirut’s Sunnis. And here is Nasrallah’s “party” commemorating him in Beirut, not far from the very site of Hariri’s assassination. What greater provocation to the Sunnis than this? What greater provocation to any Lebanese who is not complicit with the Shiite militia? The army’s withdrawal from the scene was not protecting the country from strife—it was paving the way for it.
The Lebanese harvest under Joseph Aoun has become bitter. Émile Lahoud did what he did when he was president, but he did not waste an international opportunity for Lebanon, because none was on offer. Joseph Aoun, by contrast, is squandering an international moment of attention toward Lebanon that may not be repeated for decades. And if Joseph Aoun believes the Lebanese did not notice that Donald Trump met Ahmad al-Sharaa in New York, and not him, then he is mistaken. His failure to disarm the Shiite militia secures his place on the list that already includes the signatories of the Cairo Agreement, the Tripartite Agreement, and of course those who refused to sign the May 17 Agreement. And whoever failed to act as he should have during his first presidential year, when momentum, hope, and international support were at their peak, will not act better in the remaining years of his term. If only he would leave.
If he does not, then every Lebanese who rejects Shiite militia control over Lebanon must realize that confronting the militia’s weapons necessarily means confronting their political protectors. And it has now become clear that Joseph Aoun is one of them.

Live Long and Shine...
There must be direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to resolve what can be resolved, which is a lot, and to pave the way for closing the South Lebanon front and liquidating the idea of resistance as a political doctrine in its own right.
Nadim Koteich/Asas Media/September 29/2025 (translated from Arabic freely by the LCCC editor)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147747/
The scene of illuminating the Raouche Rock with the pictures of the "Party's" (Hezbollah) late Secretary-Generals, contrary to the government’s decision, completely undermined all the reasons for the outrage that erupted over the remarks of the US envoy Tom Barrack when he said: “The Lebanese talk but do not act.” The first thing that will occur to Barrack and Morgan Ortagus is that the Raouche scene precisely confirms the American and Israeli conclusions regarding the Lebanese state's inability to enforce its sovereignty, and the "Party's" continued defiance of constitutional legitimacy, and the subjugation of what remains of institutions or apparatuses and individuals within these institutions and apparatuses. After Raouche, the statement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the platform of the United Nations was perfectly congruent when he said: “I appreciate its (the government's) declaration of its goal of disarming the 'Party.' But we need more than just words... Until that happens, we will do everything necessary to defend ourselves and maintain the ceasefire conditions established in Lebanon. Our goal is not just to monitor the 'Party's' movements, but to pre-empt any violation of the truce or any attack on us at any time.”
A Desperate Tactical Maneuver
What happened at the Raouche Rock, coupled with the call by the "Party's" Secretary-General Naim Qassem to turn the page on the tension with Saudi Arabia, could have laid the foundation for the birth of a new national discourse, one that fortifies the country, by the "Party's" acceptance of being under the umbrella of Lebanese and Arab identities. Instead, what transpired exposed the "Party's" existential dilemma and its need for temporary shelter under the Lebanese identity and the Arab embrace, to protect its weapons at home and its Iranian role in the region. What could have been a real change ended up being merely a desperate tactical maneuver to rehabilitate the image of a party defeated before its popular base and before Lebanese and Arab public opinion, without any essential modification or lessons learned. What exacerbates the seriousness of this scene is that the "Party," through its maneuvers, succeeded in diverting attention from the essential item—disarmament—to internal disagreements among the state institutions themselves, between the army and its commander, who was publicly thanked by one of the fiercest militia leaders, and between the Prime Minister, as well as between the latter and his Minister of Defense.
If the Raouche display succeeded in anything, it was in demonstrating the state's impotence and confirming that the "Party," despite its overwhelming defeat by Israel, still acts toward the Lebanese as if it is stronger than the legitimate institutions, and that it is a political and security fait accompli that the Lebanese interior has no alternative but to deal with.
What happened at the Raouche Rock, coupled with the call by the "Party's" Secretary-General Naim Qassem to turn the page on the tension with Saudi Arabia, could have laid the foundation for the birth of a new national discourse, yet the cost of this success will be harsh on both Lebanon and the "Party." If the Lebanese government and the presidency, according to regional and international conclusions, are content with mere statements and "half-baked" plans, and if they are all incapable or unaligned (which is more dangerous) in implementing their own decisions, why would Washington consider them a reliable partner?
As for Israel, the Raouche scene carries a double message. On one hand, it confirms that the "Party" is going through a genuine crisis that pushes it to seek political exits for its Lebanese situation, meaning that the Israeli military pressure has borne fruit. On the other hand, it shows that the "Party" has not yet abandoned its project, but is trying to reposition itself within new frameworks. This assessment supports the Israeli stance, clearly expressed by Netanyahu, that Israel will unilaterally take on the task of ripening the conditions for the "Party's" permanent disarmament.
A Purely Lebanese Interest
The Raouche scene, with all its symbolism and political maneuvers, poses an existential question to the Lebanese: Do they want a real state capable of protecting their interests and achieving their ambitions, or do they prefer to continue, sometimes in the illusion of "resistance" that resists nothing but the interests of the Lebanese themselves, and sometimes in appeasing an armed militia for fear of a booby-trapped civil peace?! Netanyahu may be an ugly face for the idea of peace between Lebanon and Israel, as he advocated in his UN speech. However, this horizon is not a diplomatic luxury or a national betrayal, but a strategic necessity imposed by the new geopolitical realities in the region. The Lebanese-Israeli conflict, unlike other disputes in the region, lacks the deep historical knots that make its resolution impossible.
There is no issue of occupied territories in the traditional sense, no settlements, and no conflicting religious claims over Lebanese territory. What prevents peace is only the presence of an armed militia carrying a "Khomeinist" ideology of the doctrine of eternal conflict with Israel. This truth makes the disarmament of the "Party" not merely an Israeli or American security demand, but a purely Lebanese interest. The continuation of this armament means the continuation of the state of "no-peace, no-war" which drains Lebanese resources and drowns Lebanon in a state of security, political, economic, and societal decay.
There must be direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to resolve what can be resolved, which is a lot, and to pave the way for closing the South Lebanon front and liquidating the idea of resistance as a political doctrine in its own right. The alternative is the renewal of war within a few months, after the passage of about three monthly reports from the reports that the Lebanese Army promised to submit according to its plan that the government "welcomed." These reports will reveal that the progress on the ground is illusory and will be used as a pretext to resume the strikes and demonstrate how much the "Party" has lost of its military fitness and justification for its existence.
And then... Live Long and Shine...

Lebanon must win back its disillusioned young generation
Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/September 29, 2025
Hardly anyone alive today remembers the roaring ‘20s, the post-First World War cultural revival; the jazz age that rejected the values, ideas and institutions of a previous generation that had led Europe to self-destruction. Lebanon may today be going through something similar, with traumatized postwar youths reacting to what they see as a society and a state that has failed them in every possible way.
This piece is inspired by an intense but fascinating evening I spent with a group of young people from a certain political party who are engaged in the process of rethinking the country. Our discussions confirmed the deep generational divide. Their generation is simply questioning everything ours believed in. They are reviewing the country’s history and stripping it down to rebuild it again. I could not help them; they must go through this painful process themselves. I am optimistic they will find a way to believe in the future of the country without totally negating its past and everything it stands for.
The burden is heavy and there is a huge legacy to process. The civil war is ancient history for them and the Taif Agreement that ended it did not change anything, with the country occupied by both Syria and Israel. Lebanon was controlled by Syria for 15 years after Taif and by Hezbollah since Syria’s withdrawal. We have been through devastating wars and debilitating paralysis where nothing functions. Three revolutions in the space of 15 years changed nothing. We experienced total economic and financial meltdown, banks failed, the government failed, the army and the judiciary failed, even elections failed to bring in new blood, and Beirut port exploded. “Please don’t tell me there is nothing wrong with us” becomes almost convincing. The German sociologist Wolfgang Schivelbusch defined this state of mind as that of a culture of defeat, through which the postwar generation has to digest what happened. It faces the difficult task of making sense of the preceding generation’s actions, failures and sacrifices. This process often takes a few forms and goes through phases. Members of the postwar generation react against what they see as the moral or political bankruptcy of their parents, leading to cultural and intellectual rebellion. They examine several historical examples of defeat, like the American South after the civil war of the 1860s, France after its defeat at the hands of Bismarck in the 1870s and Germany following the First World War.
The postwar generation faces the difficult task of making sense of the preceding generation’s actions, failures and sacrifices
Many in Lebanon will recognize some of the phases that societies go through. The pattern includes an initial shock, featuring depression, self-doubt and the belief in systemic failure. This includes questioning the past, what got us there and doubting the very foundations of the nation, country and society. There is the realization that the prewar political, military and social system failed. Even national identity, which seemed solid before, will begin to be seen as a fragile delusion. The old regime needs to be overthrown. There is a need to find scapegoats, represented by the former authorities, to get rid of the rot.
Most interesting is a process of self-scrutiny and emulation in which the defeated society, in a moment of deepest self-doubt, starts believing that it must learn from the enemy to survive. We have seen this in several instances. The American South trying to become a “better North” by adopting the norms of the enemy. The French after their defeat in 1870 started to adopt the Prussian model of militarizing their schools. The same phenomenon is observed by Ibn Khaldun, the Muslim philosopher and historian. In his “Muqaddimah,” he observed that the defeated emulate the victor in all their manners and habits. The imitation extends to all aspects of life, including distinctive characteristics, dress, occupations and customs.
The third phase is when society comes to terms with the defeat and finds ways of creating a new myth because, according to Schivelbusch, the extreme self-criticism cannot be sustained indefinitely. A narrative that allows society to regain self-confidence and believe in itself must be formed.
Schivelbusch’s central theme is that defeated societies question the foundations of their identities, generate myths to glorify their past and ultimately engage in a paradoxical equation of military failure and cultural superiority. The cultural reaction to defeat is often marked by self-scrutiny and a determination to affirm a moral victory, which he calls an “inversion.”
We may be an extreme case because of the multiple crises that came one after the other, with hardly any time in between
Such theories may be helpful in trying to understand the new cultural and political developments in Lebanon. But we may be an extreme case because of the multiple crises that came one after the other, with hardly any time in between.
The 2005 Cedar Revolution saw the country polarized across all traditional divides, between the pro-Syrian March 8 and anti-Syrian March 14 camps. But this was followed by another war and several years of paralysis, with the state and the political system failing to cope, even in the provision of basic services such as refuse collection. This triggered another revolt in 2016, in which the slogan “You Stink” was addressed to all political leaders. The failure to deal with wildfires in 2019 triggered yet another revolt, with the slogan “All Means All” targeting both the March 14 and March 8 political parties and calling for the abolition of the power-sharing system.
The financial crisis that followed also triggered riots, in which the banks and the politicians were seen as part of the same system. This was followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Beirut port explosion, which was again seen as a result of the corruption and neglect of the entire political and security establishment. Then the judiciary also failed in its mission to conduct an investigation. When despair hits rock bottom, one often hears arguments in favor of a benevolent dictatorship, like that of Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew or Turkiye under Ataturk. For the fourth time, Lebanon has just elected an ex-army commander-in-chief as president. For someone like me, brought up in the old system and still believing in it, adding up all these slogans amounts to a death wish — turning the country into its nemesis, the old Syrian regime: Ruled by a dictator and his security establishment and where there are no political parties, no banks, no sectarian power-sharing system and hardly any independent judiciary. Therein lies the country’s greatest challenge. For Lebanon to recover, a dialogue of generations must result in the reemergence of confidence in the country’s mission.
*Nadim Shehadi is an economist and political adviser. X: @Confusezeus

Lebanon’s Karim Souaid and Argentina’s Javier Milei: Reformers Navigating Financial Crossroads
Walid Sinno/Middle East Transparent/29 September 2025
One inherited runaway inflation, the other a collapsed banking sector. Yet Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Lebanon’s new central bank governor Karim Souaid share a core principle: restoring trust in money.
Milei’s reforms, launched in 2024, centered on slashing Argentina’s fiscal deficit, stabilizing the peso, and shrinking central bank liabilities while protecting property rights—including foreign-currency deposits. Unlike reckless “shock therapy” that wipes out savers, Milei lifted currency controls gradually. Argentines regained the right to open dollar accounts, sign contracts in foreign currency, and move their savings more freely. His objective was simple but radical: to legitimize and protect dollar deposits rather than confiscate them.
The results have been painful but necessary. Inflation, though still high, is being wrestled down. Confidence in the peso is slowly returning. And Argentines, long accustomed to hiding their “mattress dollars,” are being coaxed back into the banking system. Milei’s market-oriented discipline, lauded by the IMF, has restored at least a measure of predictability after decades of destructive populism. Souaid confronts an even harsher landscape. Appointed Lebanon’s central bank governor earlier this year, he inherits a financial system in ruins: frozen deposits, bankrupt banks, and a political class that has profited from both. His plan is no less ambitious than Milei’s—and arguably riskier given Lebanon’s fractured political system.
At its core, Souaid’s approach rests on clawing back the unacceptable interest windfalls generated by the “financial engineering” schemes of his predecessor, the now-indicted Riad Salameh. He is pursuing illicit financial activity head-on, a stance welcomed by the U.S. Treasury, in order to rebuild the central bank’s balance sheet. That stronger footing, in turn, would allow him to safeguard as many lawful deposits as possible—beginning with the smallest and most vulnerable savers.
The strategy is cautious but principled. By protecting depositors and forcing the system to absorb past excesses, Souaid aims to lay the groundwork for renewed growth. If paired with a reform-minded government willing to liberalize Lebanon’s sclerotic economy, it could reopen a path toward prosperity.
But here lies the danger. The IMF, which now cheers Milei’s defense of depositors in Argentina, risks torpedoing Lebanon’s recovery by insisting that Beirut repudiate $16.5 billion owed to its own central bank. Such a move would effectively punish depositors twice—first by freezing their savings, then by destroying the very balance sheet meant to secure their eventual recovery. The IMF’s stance prioritizes foreign bondholders over Lebanese households and undermines Souaid’s cautious but necessary plan.
This double standard is striking. Argentina is praised for reforms that protect savers; Lebanon is pressed toward policies that would wipe them out. Both countries need international support, but external prescriptions without domestic political will can be worse than useless.
Lebanon’s challenge, unlike Argentina’s, is not just economic but political. Entrenched banking lobbies and sectarian factions block every serious reform. Souaid cannot impose discipline alone. He needs legislation, backing from political leaders, and above all, a unified commitment to prioritize citizens over cronies. Without that, Lebanon risks drifting deeper into financial paralysis. The lesson is clear. Trust—whether in pesos or in lira—is the foundation of recovery. Milei grasped that, and even his harshest critics admit he has restored confidence that Argentina can break its inflationary spiral. Souaid grasps it too. The question is whether Lebanon’s political elite—and its international partners—will allow him to act. If they do, Lebanon might yet retrace Argentina’s difficult but hopeful path. And if they don’t, the same IMF that now applauds Milei will eventually be left cheering Lebanon’s collapse.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 29-30/2025
Video Link For the press conference held by President Trump and Netanyahu to announce the peace plan to end the war in Gaza.
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147759/
FULL REMARKS: President Trump & Netanyahu Outline 20-Point Gaza Plan — Ceasefire Could Be Near |AC1E
DWS News/September 29/2025

Canadian Conservative Leader Poilievre: Christians ‘may be the number one victims of hate-based violence
CBC/September 29/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147753/
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Monday that Christians and their places of worship are being targeted and, if elected, he will crack down on religion-based hate through tougher sanctions for crimes like arson.
Speaking to reporters at an announcement on food inflation, Poilievre said he has watched with alarm at the "terrible" spate of church burnings, incidents he described as "terrorist attacks" directed at Christians.
"One hundred churches have been burned," Poilievre said. "Christians may be the number 1 group that are victims of hate-based violence. But, of course, it's not politically correct to say that."According to the most recent Statistics Canada data, the majority of hate crimes targeting a religion reported by police in 2023 were directed at Jews (70 per cent) and Muslims (16 per cent). There were a total of 1,284 hate crimes targeting a religion that year — a sharp 67 per cent increase from 2022, and a phenomenon largely driven by more police-reported incidents against Jewish (900 hate crimes) and Muslim (211) communities.
Statistics Canada does show there was an uptick in hate crimes directed at Catholics in 2021 — religion-based violence that came after the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation said preliminary findings from a radar survey of the grounds of the former Catholic-run Kamloops Indian Residential School indicated as many as 215 children could be buried on the site. There were 43 police-reported crimes targeting Catholics in 2020, according to Statistics Canada data, and that figure jumped to 155 the year after. Since then, the number of crimes against Catholics has dropped.
Still, there are other signs that Christians and their churches are being targeted.
Last week, a century-old Ukrainian Orthodox Church northeast of Edmonton was torched during what police described as a crime spree — the latest in a series of arson attacks. According to media reports, at least four other churches have seen set ablaze so far this year, including vacant churches in Winnipeg and Newfoundland, a Catholic church in rural Saskatchewan and a joint Anglican-Lutheran church in Manitoba. It is hard to pinpoint just how many churches have been torched or defaced in recent years but there are some data points to suggest it's a relatively common occurrence. A recent report from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, citing data tabled by the government in the House of Commons, found 238 arson attacks on churches and other religious institutions between 2021 and 2023 — up from 152 in the prior three-year period. Institutions in the Prairies and B.C. were disproportionately affected by arson during that time period, the report found. CBC News probed some Canadian church burnings carried out between 2021 and 2023 and found 33 such incidents. Fourteen of those fires took place on First Nations reserves and 13 were in small or rural towns. The Catholic Civil Rights League, which maintains a church attacks database, has documented dozens of suspicious incidents in recent years. Poilievre said "this anti-Christian hate needs to stop," and he pledged a tougher criminal stance to try and tamp it out, including mandatory prison terms for extortionists, stronger laws against hate crimes, the deportation of foreign criminals and more resources for police and border services.
"Frankly, Canadians of all faiths, including Christians, deserve to worship in peace," he said.

Trump and Netanyahu say they've agreed on a plan to end Gaza war and await Hamas to accept terms
ADAM GELLER, SAM MEDNICK and AAMER MADHANI/
Associated Press/Sptember 29/ 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday they’ve agreed on a plan to end the war in Gaza, but it’s unclear whether Hamas will accept the terms. Trump on Monday laid out a 20-point plan for ending the Israel-Hamas war and establishing a postwar governance in the war-battered Palestinian territory. Trump's plan would establish a temporary governing board that would be headed by Trump and include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The plan does not require people to leave Gaza and calls for the war to end immediately if both sides accept it. It also calls for all remaining hostages to be released by Hamas within 72 hours of Israel accepting the plan. Trump said Israel would have the “full backing” of the United States to take steps to defeat Hamas if the group doesn’t accept the proposed peace deal. “I think we are beyond very close,” Trump said at the start of a news conference with Netanyahu where he detailed the plan. “We're not quite finished. We have to get Hamas.”“If Hamas rejects your plan, Mr. President, or if they supposedly accept it and then do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job by itself," Netanyahu said. "This can be done the easy way or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done”The president went on to urge Palestinian people to take responsibility “for their destiny” and embrace his peace proposal. Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s intelligence chief presented Trump's proposal to Hamas negotiators, who are now reviewing it in "good faith," according to a person familiar with the matter. The person was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition anonymity.
While Hamas has said in the past that it would agree to step back from governing Gaza, the militant group has refused to disarm, something Netanyahu has long demanded as part of any long-term truce to end the war. Netanyahu earlier on Monday extended a formal apology to his Qatari counterpart for a recent military strike targeting Hamas officials in the Gulf emirate that infuriated Arab leaders and triggered rare criticism by the U.S. of Israel. Netanyahu made the call to Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, as he met with Trump. Trump described the exchange between the Israeli and Qatari leader as a “heart-to-heart” call. “As a first step, Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his deep regret that Israel’s missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar unintentionally killed a Qatari serviceman,” the White House said in a statement. “He further expressed regret that, in targeting Hamas leadership during hostage negotiations, Israel violated Qatari sovereignty and affirmed that Israel will not conduct such an attack again in the future.” The White House talks, and apology from Netanyahu, come at a tenuous moment. Israel is increasingly isolated, losing support from many countries that were long its steadfast allies. At home, Netanyahu’s governing coalition appears more fragile than ever. And the White House is showing signs of impatience. It remains to be seen how Netanyahu will be able to justify to far-right members of his coalition his acceptance of the proposal after promising to press against the militant organization until it was “eliminated.” The Trump plan indicates that once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who "commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty." The plan adds that members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza would be provided safe passage to receiving countries.
Netanyahu's apology for strike that angered US ally
Netanyahu also used the visit to mend fences with a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.
Israel stuck the headquarters of Hamas’ political leadership in Qatar on Sept. 9 as the group’s top figures gathered to consider a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The strike on the territory of a U.S. ally was a stunning escalation and risked upending talks aimed at winding down the war and freeing hostages. No senior Hamas officials were killed in the strike.
The attack on an energy-rich Gulf nation hosting thousands of American troops, which has served as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas throughout the war and even before, was described by Trump as out of step with Israeli and U.S. interests. And Trump sought to move quickly to assuage his Qatari allies.Qatar, meanwhile, condemned the strike as a “flagrant violation of all international laws and norms” as smoke rose over its capital, Doha. Other key U.S. allies in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, promised their support to Qatar.
The White House said al Thani welcomed Netanyahu's “assurances” and emphasized “Qatar’s readiness to continue contributing meaningfully to regional security and stability.” But even as the White House was spotlighting the apology, Israel’s far right national security minister newly defended the decision to carry out Israel’s attack.Itamar Ben-Gvir, a key coalition partner of Netanyahu’s, in a posting on X called the operation “an important, just and ethical attack.”
“It is very good that it happened,” he added. Trump has been growing more frustrated with conflict
Trump joined forces with Netanyahu during Israel's brief war with Iran in June, ordering U.S. stealth bombers to strike three nuclear sites, and he's supported the Israeli leader during his corruption trial, describing the case as a “witch hunt.” But the relationship has become more tense lately. Trump was frustrated by Israel's failed strike this month on Hamas officials in Qatar. Last week, Trump vowed to prevent Israel from annexing the West Bank — an idea promoted by some of Netanyahu's hard-line governing partners. The international community opposes annexation, saying it would destroy hopes for a two-state solution.On Friday, Trump raised expectations for the meeting with Netanyahu, telling reporters the U.S. was “very close to a deal on Gaza.”
Proposal does not include expulsion of Palestinians
Trump’s proposal to stop the war in Gaza calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages within 48 hours and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian enclave, according to three Arab officials briefed on the plan. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not been formally unveiled. Hamas is believed to be holding 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed by Israel to be alive. The militant group has demanded Israel agree to end the war and withdraw from all of Gaza as part of any permanent ceasefire. Trump discussed the plan with Arab and Islamic leaders in New York last week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. It doesn’t include the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, which Trump appeared to endorse earlier this year. The 21-point proposal also calls for an end to Hamas rule of Gaza and the disarmament of the militant group, said the officials briefed on the plan. Hundreds of Palestinians, including many serving life sentences, will be released by Israel, according to the proposal. The plan also includes the establishment of an international security force to take over law enforcement in postwar Gaza, they said. A Palestinian committee of technocrats would oversee the civilian affairs of the strip, with power handed over later to a reformed Palestinian Authority, they said. **Geller reported from New York, and Mednick reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Sam Magdy in Cairo; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Joseph Krauss in Ottawa, Ontario; and Seung Min Kim, Mathew Lee, Chris Megerian and Tia Goldenberg in Washington; and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Key points of Trump's Gaza peace plan.
Agence France Presse/September 29, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday laid out a plan to end the war in Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he backed the proposal.
The two allies demanded approval by Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered a massive Israeli offensive, with Netanyahu warning he will "finish the job" if Hamas says no. Here are the key points:
WAR ENDS AND HOSTAGES RELEASED -
Israel will immediately suspend military operations once the two sides agree, and Hamas then will have 72 hours to return all October 7 hostages including the remains of those who are dead. Israel in turn will free 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences, 1,700 Gaza residents detained in the war, and the remains of 15 Palestinians for the remains of each dead hostage. Israel will eventually withdraw from Gaza in phases.
TRUMP TO HEAD TRANSITION BODY-
Trump himself will become chair of a transitional "Board of Peace" in Gaza that will include former British prime minister Tony Blair. The board will consider "exciting development ideas" and turn the war-ravaged territory into a special economic zone with preferential tariff rates. Trump has previously spoken of developing property in the Mediterranean territory, where virtually the entire population of two million has been displaced by war that has reduced most buildings to rubble.
NO FORCED DISPLACEMENT -
Contrary to calls by right-wing Israeli government ministers, Palestinians would not be forced to leave Gaza and Israel will not annex the territory. Instead, the plan says that the transitional body will "encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza."
NO ROLE FOR HAMAS BUT CONDITIONAL AMNESTY -
Hamas, which took control of Gaza in 2007, will play no role in future governance.
However, Hamas members will be granted amnesty if they commit to "peaceful coexistence" and decommission their weapons. Hamas members will also be allowed safe passage to leave Gaza.
INTERNATIONAL STABILIZATION FORCE -
The plan calls for an "international Stabilization Force" to deploy immediately in Gaza, with support from Arab states. The force will train Palestinian police in Gaza and work to ensure security with Israel and neighboring Egypt. Indonesia has previously voiced willingness to contribute troops.
UNCLEAR FUTURE FOR PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, STATE -
The plan does not rule out a Palestinian state, despite Netanyahu's longtime vows to fight one, including after recent recognition of a State of Palestine by France, Britain and other powers. "The conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people," the plan says. The plan also suggests allowing a role for the Palestinian Authority once it has "completed its reform program" and points to a French-backed initiative to strengthen the Ramallah-based body, which opposes Hamas. But Netanyahu in remarks alongside Trump said he saw "no role whatsoever" for the Palestinian Authority without it "undergoing a radical and genuine transformation."

Trump says Israel backs Gaza peace plan
AFP/September 29, 2025
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Monday that he had Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s backing for a wide-ranging Gaza peace plan that would bring an immediate ceasefire. The plan, which Trump has circulated to Arab leaders, was released after Trump met Netanyahu in Washington. Trump told a press conference that Netanyahu had agreed to the plan, which calls for an immediate ceasefire, followed by disarmament of Hamas and Israeli withdrawal.
Hamas also has yet to give its approval but Trump said he was hopeful the militant group was in favor. Trump said approval from all sides was “beyond very close.”
The 20 point plan states that on agreement by both sides, “the war will immediately end” with Israeli withdrawals timed to release of the last hostages held by Hamas. During that initial period, there would be a ceasefire. Key points include deployment of a “temporary international stabilization force” and creation of a transitional authority headed by Trump. The deal would demand Hamas militants fully disarm and be excluded from future roles in the government. However, those who agreed to “peaceful co-existence” would be given amnesty. Following Israeli withdrawal, the borders would be opened to aid and investment.
In a crucial change from Trump’s earlier apparent goals, Palestinians will not be forced to leave and instead, the document said, “we will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.”
The US president had met key Arab leaders at the United Nations last week and said Sunday on social media that “ALL ARE ON BOARD FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL, FIRST TIME EVER.”Netanyahu has recently given little reason for optimism, vowing in a defiant UN speech Friday to “finish the job” against Hamas and rejecting Palestinian statehood — recently recognized by several Western nations.
Normally a staunch ally of Netanyahu, the US president has shown increasing signs of frustration ahead of the Israeli premier’s fourth White House visit since Trump’s return to power. Trump was infuriated by Israel’s recent strike on Hamas members in key US ally Qatar. And he warned Netanyahu last week against annexing the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as some of Netanyahu’s cabinet members have urged, a move that would seriously complicate the route to Palestinian statehood. Netanyahu’s coalition government is propped up by the far-right ministers who oppose a peace deal.
Voices from Gaza -
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes continued across the Gaza Strip, killing at least four people in Khan Yunis, according to the Hamas-run territory’s civil defense agency.
Families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza urged Trump to uphold his Gaza proposal.
“We respectfully ask you to stand firm against any attempts to sabotage the deal you have brought forth,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in an open letter to Trump. In Gaza, people expressed a mix of hope, exhaustion and distrust ahead of the White House meeting. “I don’t expect anything from Trump, because Trump supports Netanyahu in destroying the Gaza Strip and displacing people to carry out the Riviera project,” said Mohammed Abu Rabee, 34, referring to Trump’s earlier proposal to turn the Palestinian territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”The outcome may hinge on how far Trump pushes Netanyahu, said Natan Sachs, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. “Netanyahu has a clear preference for continuing the war and defeating Hamas, but I don’t think it’s impossible for Trump to convince him otherwise,” Sachs told AFP. The Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally from Israeli official figures. Israel’s offensive has killed 66,055 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

‘Common security of Gulf under threat,’ warns Prince Turki Al-Faisal
Arab News/September 29, 2025
RIYADH: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the former Saudi ambassador to the US and the UK, on Sunday warned that the security of Gulf states is under threat from a “pariah state” following the recent Israeli attack on Qatar. Prince Turki described Israel’s Sept. 9 aggression, when it targeted Hamas leaders in Qatar as they discussed a ceasefire agreement that would end the Israeli war on Gaza, as “treacherous” and called for Gulf states to rethink their approach to security as a result. Speaking at the Dean of Ambassadors’ Gala Dinner marking the golden jubilee of Arab News at the Cultural Palace in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, Prince Turki said: “The Gulf region is witness nowadays to an aggressively treacherous attack by Israel on the sovereignty of Qatar. This attack is a reminder to all countries of the Gulf that their common security is under threat by a pariah state that gives no regard to any law or rule governing international relations.” He added: “This attack is an eye-opener to question the credibility and reliability of alliances when threats come from Israel. This dictates our states to rethink the nature of threats and to rebuild their strategic policies to safeguard their security by all means to face such threats. Israel must not be allowed a free hand.”While addressing Sunday’s event, Prince Turki reminisced about the establishment of Arab News, which he helped found back in 1975, and congratulated staff at the newspaper on its 50th anniversary. In his speech, he also addressed the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the role of the international community, particularly the US. “I believe that no region in our world has felt the impact of the state of international uncertainty more than the greater Middle East region,” he said. “Who is to blame for this continued situation is an open question. However, while countries and leaders of the region bear a responsibility, the US bears the biggest share of this responsibility. “We see the US descending from the role of honest broker to the role of the staunch ally of Israel. The blatant double standard practiced by the US in dealing with the Israeli occupation of Palestine and its recent genocidal war on Gaza and the West Bank are plainly witnessed not only by Arabs but by all peoples around the world. “In order for President (Donald) Trump to be the peacemaker, as he wants to be, he should correct the past mistakes committed by the US to the peace and security of its friends and allies.”
Prince Turki welcomed the recent progress made toward the realization of a two-state solution, as a diplomatic push by Saudi Arabia and France yielded a series of recognitions of the Palestinian state by Western powers at last week’s UN General Assembly. And he hit back at accusations by the Israeli government and its supporters that recognition is a reward for Hamas and its Oct. 7 attacks. “Among the many tropes faced by the Kingdom and France and all countries that recognized Palestine as a state is that this is a reward to Hamas. What a deceitful and evil assertion to deny Palestinian people their inalienable right to their own state,” he said. “It is the 80 years old Israeli colonial occupation of Palestine and denial of the Palestinian people their right to self-determination that rewards Hamas and other similar groups. Without the occupation, there will not be resistance to it.”

Leaked plan for Gaza Authority led by Tony Blair draws Palestinian criticism
Arab News/September 29, 2025
LONDON: A leaked draft proposal for a postwar governing body in Gaza has raised alarm among Palestinian figures, who warn it would sideline them in favor of international officials and split Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. The 21-page confidential document, seen and confirmed by The Guardian and Haaretz, outlined a Gaza International Transitional Authority headed by a chair with sweeping powers. Among those suggested for roles are Sir Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, Marc Rowan of Apollo Global Management, and Aryeh Lightstone, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel. Sources said the names were illustrative and used without permission. The plan envisages a seven to ten-member council approved by the UN Security Council, with only one Palestinian member “from the business or security sector.”
The council would make “binding decisions,” issue legislation and oversee appointments, according to the document. Its chair would “set the political and strategic direction for GITA” and lead diplomacy with Israel, Egypt and the US, without mention of the Palestinian Authority. “You would have a council with a majority of foreign members legislating for Palestinians in Gaza,” said Xavier Abu Eid, a former member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s diplomatic negotiating team. “There is already suspicion of Tony Blair because of the Palestinian experience when he was the Quartet representative (of the UN, US, EU and Russia mediation group). But the biggest is over what it means for Palestine as a single political entity, something that was recognized even by Israel in the Oslo Accords. This plan effectively legally separates Gaza from the West Bank and does nothing to explain how they will remain part of the same territory,” Eid added. A source close to Blair said that while he had been involved in talks, “the guiding principle is that Gaza is for Gazans, with no displacement of the population.”The sourced added: “We do not support or endorse any proposal that involves the displacement of Gazans. The document states that any transitional governing body for Gaza would ultimately return authority to the Palestinian Authority, as part of a pathway toward a Palestinian state.”Mustafa Barghouti, general-secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, told the Washington Post: “We’ve been under British colonialism already. He has a negative reputation here. If you mention Tony Blair, the first thing people mention is the Iraq war.”The draft emerged ahead of an Oval Office meeting between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump told reporters last week: “We are very close to a deal on Gaza.” He promised an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages within 48 hours, and a gradual Israeli withdrawal, according to Arab officials briefed on the plan.

UN Security Council meets on Palestine as Trump, Netanyahu hold talks
Caspar Webb/Arab News/September 29, 2025
NEW YORK: The US ambassador to the UN stood as a lone voice in support of Israel on Monday, as he repeated accusations that the countries that recognized Palestine last week had “rewarded Hamas.”Mike Waltz was addressing a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East as US President Donald Trump was set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Waltz accused the UNSC of having an “obsessive focus” on Israel. “The US continues to work tirelessly to free all 48 hostages and end the war … If we want to end the war, we need to place accountability where it belongs, with the terrorist organization known as Hamas,” he said. “Members of this body rewarded Hamas for its horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7, by unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state.”Hamas “sees actions like that as winning and as a win for them,” Waltz said, calling on the council and UN member states to “pressure Hamas to end the bloodshed.”A stable West Bank “keeps Israel secure, and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region,” Waltz said. Last week, Trump reportedly promised Arab and Muslim leaders at a closed-door UN meeting that the US will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. In Monday’s meeting, Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN’s deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, outlined the status of Resolution 2334, adopted in 2016, which calls for an end to Israeli settlement building in the Occupied Territories, among other stipulations. This year, from June 18 to Sept. 19, Israeli planning authorities advanced or approved about 20,810 housing units in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, he said. “Demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures also accelerated … Israeli authorities demolished, seized or forced people to demolish 455 structures in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, displacing 420 people, including 175 children and 118 women,” he added. During the same period, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported the deaths of at least 7,579 Palestinians and at least 37,201 injured, mostly women and children, Alakbarov said.Despite the world’s focus on events in Gaza, violence in the West Bank is continuing “at an alarming rate,” he added. Alakbarov described a series of incidents across cities in the West Bank, notably Tulkarem and Jenin, in which large-scale operations by Israeli forces killed Palestinian children. “After 23 months of fighting, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is beyond breaking point,” he added. Alakbarov shared the views of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the implementation of Resolution 2334. “Israeli settlement expansion continues to accelerate alongside the proliferation of outposts and steps in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) promoting the annexation of the West Bank,” Guterres said. “Israeli settlements have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law and UN resolutions. “They’re systematically shrinking the territory of the Palestinian state and further entrenching Israel’s unlawful occupation. “I’m appalled at the horrific humanitarian situation in Gaza, with unbearable levels of suffering and untenable living conditions. Famine in Gaza is a man-made disaster.” The UNSC meeting included remarks from permanent and non-permanent states, including Russia, France, China and Slovenia.
The latter, which recognized Palestine last year, is serving as a non-permanent member of the council for 2024–2025. Samuel Zbogar, Slovenia’s ambassador to the UN, said “the horrors of Gaza dominated all discussions” at the UN General Assembly over the past week, highlighting the almost unanimous message that “the suffering in Gaza must end.” He said Slovenia supports the Palestinian Authority and the UN Relief and Works Agency as crucial bodies in any postwar governance of Gaza. Zbogar described UNRWA as an “indispensable part of the fiber of Palestinian society that “must be protected.”Each national recognition of Palestine over the past week — which included France, the UK, Canada and Australia — strengthens the “legitimacy of Palestine and moves us closer to a just settlement,” he said.“I want to underline that we also hear voices for peace in Israel … We hear families of hostages calling for ceasefire,” Zbogar added. “We hear voices of so many Israelis understanding that their safety and future is intertwined with the safety and future of Palestinians … We hear Jewish voices around the globe emphasizing that peace can’t be achieved through war.”Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN, told the council meeting that Israel continues to violate Resolution 2334 “with impunity.”Israel’s use of “systematic military operations, illegal settlements and forced displacement” are aimed at “extinguishing the very prospect of a two-state solution,” he said. “The people of Palestine can’t wait. The cause of peace, and the credibility of this council, depend on what we do in this moment.”

Denmark stops short of recognizing Palestine at UN General Assembly
Mustafa Abu Sneineh/Arab News/September 29, 2025
LONDON: Denmark on Monday called for an end to the Gaza war and expressed readiness to “build on” the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while stopping short of recognizing Palestinian statehood. Denmark is the only Scandinavian country that has yet to recognize Palestine. Christina Markus Lassen, the Danish permanent representative to the UN, told the General Assembly: “The keys to recognition of a Palestinian state can no longer lie in the hands of the Israeli government. The Palestinians themselves must become masters of their own destiny.”
Nine countries recognized Palestinian statehood in September: the UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, France, Monaco, Luxembourg, Malta, and most recently San Marino. “Israel has a right to self-defense, but what’s going on in Gaza right now has nothing to do with self-defense,” Lassen said. “A man-made famine is spreading. Thousands of civilians are being killed. The humanitarian catastrophe is of unbearable scale. It must be brought to an end immediately ... The war in Gaza needs to stop.”Copenhagen has been a traditional supporter of Israel, and Danish officials have refrained from depicting what is happening in Gaza as a genocide, a term that several EU and UN officials have used recently. The two-state solution remains the only solution to lasting peace for two peoples, both deserving of security, both deserving of dignity
Christina Markus Lassen
However, pressure is mounting on the Danish government to use its current presidency of the EU to push Israel to end the war and comply with international humanitarian law. AkademikerPension, a primary Danish teachers’ pension fund valued at $24 billion, divested its investments in Israel last week.
It is the second Scandinavian fund to do so, following Norway’s sovereign wealth fund — the world’s largest — which withdrew investments in Israeli companies in August. Lassen said last week’s UN conference on the two-state solution, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, has “clearly demonstrated that the momentum is growing,” and “Denmark is prepared to build on” the initiative. “The two-state solution remains the only solution to lasting peace for two peoples, both deserving of security, both deserving of dignity,” she added. “We’re witnessing a renewed energy and enthusiasm for peace based on the two-state solution.” Lassen called for reforming the UN, and endorsed calls for the expansion of the Security Council to improve its effectiveness, noting that “the costs of inaction are felt across the world” in conflicts in Gaza, Haiti, Sudan, Myanmar, the Sahel region and Afghanistan. “The UN is as essential as ever. Without the UN, the world would be in a much worse state,” she said.

Canada urges Israel to open land corridors for Gaza aid
Zaynab Khojji/Arab News/September 29, 2025
NEW YORK: Canada on Monday called on Israel to open land corridors for unimpeded access to humanitarian aid at scale in Gaza. Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand also called on Israel to protect the civilian population and health care facilities in the Palestinian enclave. Canada recognized Palestine last week, marking a shift from its long-standing position that statehood should be the result of a negotiated settlement. The decision was announced alongside the UK and Australia, with Canada saying the two-state solution was no longer tenable without this action.
“Canada recognizes the state of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future,” Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on X at the time. Anand said last week’s recognition “reflects long-standing Canadian policy, based on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and our commitment to a two-state solution, a future where Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace and security.”The two-state solution is eroding, “as is evident in Israel’s illegal expansion of West Bank settlements,” she added. Canada has committed over $340 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza, and its military has participated in air drops, Anand said. She expressed support for partners in the region “who continue their efforts to reach a ceasefire as soon as possible and to contribute to the political processes that must follow. Canada will participate in these processes in every way that we can.”
She added: “We’re committed to efforts to strengthen the capacity of the Palestinian Authority, working collaboratively with partners in the region.”Anand condemned as “horrific” the Hamas attack on Israel of Oct. 7, 2023, and called the group an “impediment to peace.”She added: “Canada calls on Hamas to lay down its weapons and to release all remaining hostages immediately. The scope of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is catastrophic and requires urgent action.”

UK police arrest 60 over Palestine Action protest in Liverpool
Arab News/September 29, 2025
LONDON: Police officers detained 66 people on suspicion of supporting the banned Palestine Action during a protest outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Sunday. Merseyside Police subsequently de-arrested two individuals, while 64 others were held in custody and have now been released on bail. They were aged between 21 and 83 years old and were apprehended on suspicion of a terrorism offense. The organizers of the protest, Defend Our Juries, said that around 100 individuals held signs reading “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action” on Sunday afternoon outside the conference center. In July, the UK government designated Palestine Action as a “terror organization” after the group took responsibility for damaging two Voyager planes at RAF Brize Norton base. The group is currently awaiting a court ruling on whether it will be permitted to appeal its case in the High Court and challenge the government’s decision. “I’m risking arrest today under terrorism legislation because, as a former Labour councillor in Liverpool, I am deeply ashamed of how Labour is acting,” Keith Hackett, a 71-year-old protester, told The Independent. Observers deployed by human rights charity Amnesty International said protesters were “hauled from the streets by police — a scene which just a few months ago would have been shocking but is quickly becoming the norm.”An Amnesty spokesperson said: “There are serious human rights concerns around not only the proscription of Palestine Action, but also the chilling consequences this decision has had. People are being silenced and peaceful protesters are being pulled from our streets into police vans. The UK’s overly broad terrorism laws are being misused to suppress free speech.”A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said: “Instead of shutting down protest, it’s time the Labour Party took the responsibility to prevent genocide seriously and impose blanket sanctions on Israel including stopping the flow of arms from factories in this country.”

Turkiye helps rescue Gaza aid activists after ship breaks down
AFP/September 29, 2025
ISTANBUL: Turkiye helped evacuate activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla after one of the vessels broke down and began taking on water, organizers and Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported Monday. The Global Sumud Flotilla, which includes Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg among its participants, departed from Barcelona earlier this month aiming to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory. The United Nations has warned of widespread starvation in Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing military offensive. In a statement posted on Instagram, the flotilla organizers said the mission was temporarily halted after one of the ships, Johnny M, sustained a leak in its engine room. “All participants have been safely transferred to another vessel. Some will be reassigned to other ships, while others will be brought ashore,” the statement said. According to Anadolu, the vessel was located in international waters between Crete, Cyprus and Egypt when it issued a distress call early Monday.Turkish authorities, including the Turkish Red Crescent, coordinated the evacuation effort. Semih Fener, the captain of one of the ships dispatched to assist, told Anadolu the incident was due to a technical malfunction, not a sinking. “We picked up 12 people and distributed them to other ships. Four people will return home,” he said, adding that the evacuees would travel to their respective countries via Turkiye. The Turkish Red Crescent confirmed to AFP it had coordinated the evacuation.

Pentagon urges missile makers to double output for potential China conflict, WSJ reports
Reuters/September 29, 2025
The US Pentagon is urging defense contractors to double or quadruple production rates focussing on 12 critical weapons due to concerns over low US stockpiles in a potential conflict with China, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

Bahrain’s crown prince, Pope Leo XIV discuss dialogue among cultures
Arab News/September 29, 2025
LONDON: Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the crown prince and prime minister of Bahrain, discussed the importance of fostering values of tolerance and coexistence worldwide with Pope Leo XIV during a visit to Vatican City State on Monday. Prince Salman emphasized Bahrain’s dedication to defending religious freedom and protecting the right to worship. He also underscored the importance of enhancing cooperation across diverse fields, according to the Bahrain News Agency. He also highlighted that the numerous mosques, churches, and temples in Bahrain reflected the country’s dedication to peace and harmony, as well as its commitment to encouraging dialogue among cultures. Prince Salman stressed the pope’s role in promoting coexistence, tolerance, compassion, and peace, as well as fostering religious understanding and solidarity among faiths. Several senior officials also attended the meeting, including Sheikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, minister of the prime minister’s court; Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, minister of foreign affairs; and Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa, minister of finance and national economy.

Jordanian authorities dismantle drug trafficking gangs
Arab News/September 29, 2025
LONDON: The Jordanian Anti-Narcotics Department has dismantled a criminal gang connected to drug trafficking networks in the Middle East and arrested 14 suspects in the city of Madaba. The Public Security Directorate conducted raids on various sites where large quantities of drugs were stored for sale and distribution, following weeks of investigation and surveillance. Over the weekend, police confiscated 160 packages of hashish, 500 grams of cocaine and an unspecified quantity of narcotic pills, a spokesperson said. In a separate incident, a special unit arrested the leading narcotics supplier in Balqa governorate and confiscated 29 packages of hashish and four firearms, the Petra news agency reported. In the Central Badia region, another dealer was arrested while transporting and attempting to sell drugs. Authorities seized 50 packages of hashish during the operation. Jordan is known as a transit point for drug smuggling and distribution in the Middle East, with criminals using drones alongside conventional methods to smuggle narcotics into the country from neighboring Syria and Iraq and move drugs into Arab Gulf states. Jordan and Syria agreed in January to form a joint security committee to secure their border, combat arms and drug smuggling and work to prevent the resurgence of the terror group Daesh.

UAE president arrives in Egypt for visit
Arab News/September 29, 2025
DUBAI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan arrived on Monday arrived in Cairo for a visit to Egypt. Sheikh Mohamed and his delegation were welcomed by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi upon their arrival at Cairo International Airport, state news agency WAM said. The two leaders discussed the longstanding fraternal ties between their nations and their shared commitment to enhancing them, WAM added. The UAE Ruler is being accompanied by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Court for Special Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Tahnoun Al-Nahyan, Adviser to the UAE President, alongside a number of ministers and senior officials.

Ukraine’s Zelensky proposes joint aerial shield with allies
Reuters/September 29, 2025
WARSAW: Ukraine has offered to build a joint aerial defense shield with its allies to protect against threats from Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, after a series of airspace incursions that caused alarm on NATO’s eastern flank. NATO leaders have said that Russia has been testing the alliance’s readiness and resolve with airspace incursions in Poland and the Baltic states, and Kyiv says its experience in dealing with aerial threats would be valuable. “Ukraine proposes to Poland and all our partners to build a joint, fully reliable shield against Russian aerial threats,” he said in an address to the Warsaw Security Forum delivered via video link. “This is possible. Ukraine can counter all kinds of Russian drones and missiles and if we act together in the region we will have enough weapons and production capacity.”Ukraine has already said that its troops and engineers will train their Polish counterparts on countering drones. The topic of defense cooperation with Kyiv was high on the agenda as leaders gathered in Warsaw for the annual security forum. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told the conference that “Europe’s and Ukraine’s defense industry must work together more closely and effectively.”
“The European Union must back this by providing a much more flexible regulatory framework for the defense industry in Europe.”Following the Russian incursions into NATO airspace, countries on the alliance’s eastern flank have agreed on the need for a “drone wall” with advanced detection, tracking and interception capabilities. However, Pistorius warned that establishing this would not be a quick process. “We’re not talking about a concept that will be realized within the next three or four years,” he said. “We need to prioritize, and recognize that we require more capabilities and capacities than previously described.”

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on September 29-30/2025
Thanks to the West's 'Useful Idiots,' Iran's Terror Proxies Celebrate Recognition of 'Palestinian State' by Moving Jihad to West Bank
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./September 29, 2025
The groups and their patrons in Tehran do not care if Palestinians in the West Bank are killed and displaced as a result of their terrorism. Iran's mullahs and their Palestinian proxies have only one thing in mind: murdering Jews and eliminating Israel.
Those Western countries [France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, among others]... have chosen to ignore that the PA is unwilling to confront the terror groups in the West Bank.
In the eyes of the Iranian regime, Hamas and PIJ, these moves could not have taken place were it not for the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
"Why are the countries recognizing a Palestinian state today? Before October 7, did any country dare recognize a Palestinian state? The fruits of October 7 are what caused the entire world to open its eyes...." — Ghazi Hamad, senior Hamas official, to Qatar's Al-Jazeera, August 2, 2025.
Even if the war in the Gaza Strip ends, Qatar, Iran, Hamas and PIJ will never give up the fight to destroy Israel and replace it with a radical Islamist state. The attempt to transform the West Bank into a second base for jihad highlights that ending the war in the Gaza Strip will not end the dream of wiping Israel off the map.
As all eyes are fixed on the Hamas-Israel war in the Gaza Strip, the Iranian regime and its Palestinian terror proxies are working to move the fighting to the West Bank. IDF forces this month found dozens of rockets (pictured) and explosives in a building in the area of Ramallah.
Recently, armed cells belonging to Iranian-backed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have escalated their terrorist attacks in the West Bank against Israeli soldiers and civilians. The Palestinian groups responsible for the death and destruction in the Gaza Strip over the past two years are even trying to fire rockets from the West Bank into the rest of Israel. The groups and their patrons in Tehran do not care if Palestinians in the West Bank are killed and displaced as a result of their terrorism. Iran's mullahs and their Palestinian proxies have only one thing in mind: murdering Jews and eliminating Israel.
Last week, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they discovered a rocket in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem. Earlier, another rocket was reportedly fired at Israel from the village of Kufr Ni'meh, located near the West Bank city of Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinians. After the attack, IDF forces found dozens of rockets and explosives in a building in the area of Ramallah.
Israeli security sources described the seized weapons and the firing of the rocket as a "game changer" in the West Bank. These sources asserted that Iranian-linked elements were behind the scheme to turn the West Bank into a further battlefield against Israel.
"Intelligence assessments indicate that armed groups in the West Bank are seeking to manufacture rockets locally to target Israeli cities in central and northern Israel, such as Kfar Saba, Ra'anana, Netanya, Hadera, Afula, and Beit She'an... Iran has also reportedly recently supplied mortar shells and ammunition to armed [Palestinian] factions in West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem."
These Palestinian armed groups, known as "The Battalions," are affiliated with the armed wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and several years ago began operating in the West Bank. For the past two years, dozens of their members have been killed or arrested by Israeli security forces. Since the beginning of 2025 the IDF has been waging a relentless war on the terrorist groups, especially in Jenin and Tulkarem. Just when it seemed that the Israeli security forces had succeeded in their mission, the armed groups resurfaced, this time equipped with rockets designed to attack Israeli cities.
In the past week, PIJ's armed wing, Al-Quds Brigades, issued a number of statements in which it claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers. The Jenin Battalion said:
"We detonated explosive devices targeting military reinforcements in the town of Silat ad-Daher near Jenin."
The Ramallah Battalion, for its part, proclaimed:
"Our fighters succeeded at exactly 10.40 AM today in detonating a number of explosive devices of the Sijjil-2 type at a military point near the [Israeli] settlement of Psagot."
It was the first time that Palestinians had heard of the Ramallah Battalion. Until recently, such groups had emerged only in the northern West Bank, especially in the areas of Jenin and Tulkarem. Notably, Ramallah serves as the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority (PA), as well as of its security forces, which have so far failed to prevent the Iranian-backed terrorists from operating in the city.
On September 25, Israeli security forces killed two senior members of PIJ's armed wing in the northern West Bank: Mohammed Qassem and Ala'a Jawdat. PIJ said in a statement after the terrorists were eliminated:
"We affirm that we will remain steadfast on the path of jihad [holy war] and resistance until liberation [of all of Palestine] and the return [of all Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Israel]."
Hamas also mourned the slain terrorists and vowed:
"The assassination of resistance fighters in the West Bank will only increase our people's determination to escalate the confrontation and resistance [against Israel]."
Iran's effort to copy the Gaza Strip's model of "resistance" against Israel to the West Bank coincides with increased talk about the need for a "two-state solution" and recognition of a Palestinian state by Canada, the UK, Australia, France and other countries. These countries have decided that the West Bank should be part of the proposed Palestinian state, meanwhile totally ignoring Iran's ongoing efforts to transform the Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps there into another base for jihad to kill Jews and destroy Israel.
Those Western countries, in addition, have chosen to ignore that the PA is unwilling to confront the terror groups in the West Bank. Under the current circumstances, it is obvious that the West Bank would be used as a launching pad to attack Israel, the same way the Gaza Strip was used on October 7, 2023.
The expansion of Iran's terror proxies in the West Bank is undoubtedly linked to the growing talk about the "two-state solution" and recognition of a Palestinian state. In the eyes of the Iranian regime, Hamas and PIJ, these moves could not have taken place were it not for the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
Last month, senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told Qatar's Al-Jazeera television network:
"Why are the countries recognizing a Palestinian state today? Before October 7, did any country dare recognize a Palestinian state? The fruits of October 7 are what caused the entire world to open its eyes to the Palestinian issue – and they are moving toward it with force."
Western countries that have chosen unilaterally to recognize a Palestinian state have in fact emboldened the Iranian regime and its Palestinian jihadist proxies.
The leaders of Iran, Hamas and PIJ view Western leaders such as France's Emmanuel Macron, the UK's Keir Starmer, and Australia's Anthony Albanese as "useful idiots" in their jihad to eradicate Israel.
Even if the war in the Gaza Strip ends, Qatar (here, here and here), Iran (here, here and here), Hamas and PIJ will never give up the fight to destroy Israel and replace it with a radical Islamist state. The attempt to transform the West Bank into a second base for jihad highlights that ending the war in the Gaza Strip will not end the dream of wiping Israel off the map.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21940/jihad-west-bank
**Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
**Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)

When Erdoğan Shifted Focus to the Kurds in Syria
Ahmad Sharawi & Sinan Ciddi/The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune/September 29/2025
https://jstribune.com/sharawi-ciddi-when-erdogan-shifted-focus-to-the-kurds-in-syria/
2015 marked a change in the Syria policy of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He began to walk back his initial goal of toppling the Asad regime and turned towards Syria’s surging Kurdish forces. Specifically, he wanted to prevent the emergence of a Kurdish-controlled enclave along Turkey’s border with Syria that could affect Turkey’s own Kurdish population.
A look back explains the shift. In September 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) laid siege to Kobani, a Kurdish-majority town on the Syrian side of the border. Riots erupted in ethnic Kurdish communities in Turkey as the government appeared unwilling to help Kobani’s residents. Erdoğan’s initial position was explicit: Ankara would not support military operations in Syria against ISIS that were unrelated to Turkish support of anti-Asad resistance forces.
Kobani marked the beginning of a change in Turkish policy. Observing that the West, particularly the United States, was backing Kurdish forces, Erdoğan saw a domestic threat. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is a designated terrorist organization in Turkey (also in the US). But the main Kurdish force fighting ISIS in Syria, the People’s Defense Units (YPG), shares the ideology of the PKK and is heavily influenced by PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan.
Erdoğan urged the US not to intervene on behalf of the Syrian Kurds, saying, “I told Mr. Obama, ‘Do not drop those bombs. You will be making a mistake.” Erdoğan also opposed any arrangement in Syria resembling the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. On January 26, 2015, he reiterated to reporters: “What is this? Northern Iraq? Now, they want Northern Syria to be born. We can’t accept this. Such entities will cause great problems in the future.”
Kurdish success in Kobani encouraged the YPG to press into other ISIS-held areas. In May 2015, the group launched an offensive to seize Tal Abyad, situated between the YPG-controlled enclaves of Kobani and the rest of YPG territory in al-Hasakah province. The aim was to create a contiguous territory along the Turkish-Syrian frontier as part of Rojava, the Kurdish term for northern Syria. Tal Abyad was originally a mixed town comprised of Arab, Turkmen, and Kurdish communities. Following ISIS’s takeover in 2013, the Islamic State forced the Kurdish community to leave the area.
During the Tal Abyad offensive, Erdogan reiterated that the Kurdish takeover of the area posed a direct threat to Turkey, voicing concerns about the displacement of Turkmens and Arabs. Nevertheless, he also occasionally signaled cooperation with the YPG, even allowing Salih Muslim, a leader of YPG political entity the Democratic Union Party, to hold unofficial meetings in Ankara with foreign ministry officials.
One example of YPG-Turkish coordination came in February 2015, when Turkish soldiers entered northern Syria through the Kobani crossing, accompanied by YPG militia. The Turks came to move the historic tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, to a safe spot in Turkey, away from the ongoing Syrian civil war. The tomb, a tiny Turkish exclave in Syria under the Treaty of Ankara of 1921, was then surrounded by ISIS fighters.
But Turkish domestic politics intervened. In June 2015, Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party lost seats in parliamentary elections. In the weeks that followed, a wave of terrorist attacks triggered a massive security crackdown on the PKK, which in turn declared the resumption of hostilities against Turkey. Erdoğan declared it “impossible to continue a peace process with Kurdish militants.” He then called for snap elections and, in November 2015, reclaimed parliamentary seats lost just months earlier.
In October 2015, several Kurdish factions announced the formation of the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance whose core was the YPG (and its auxiliary, the YPJ or “women’s protection units”). Turkey denounced it as a terrorist movement, owing to PKK links. Ankara also criticized the United States, remarking: “The fight against the terrorist organization Islamic State should not be carried out with another terrorist organization.”
Erdoğan’s new Syria policy was rooted in domestic politics. Between 2013 and 2015, his stance towards the PKK had been conciliatory, coinciding with his policy of regime change in Damascus. However, the shift in public opinion evident in the June elections, and fears of an expanded Rojava on his border, forced a change. Erdoğan redirected his government towards fighting Syria’s Kurds.
Also in November 2015, the Turkish military shot down a Russian Su-24 fighter jet over its airspace. This ended up furthering the refocus of Ankara’s Syria policy away from toppling the Asad regime. As part of the reconciliation process to overcome the crisis with Russia, Erdoğan decided to work closer with Vladimir Putin.Ultimately, Erdoğan did not succeed in weakening the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. And the eventual fall of the Asad regime was not as a result of Turkish policy.
*Ahmad Sharawi is a research analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, focusing on the Levant. Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow at FDD and director of the Turkey program. You can follow Sinan on X, @sinanciddi.

Qatar Is Knocking on Canada’s Door
Natalie Ecanow/Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)/September 29/2025
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund just took a $500 million bite out of Canada’s mining industry. On September 17, Ivanhoe Mines announced that the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) invested that amount to acquire about 4 percent of the Vancouver-based company. The “strategic investment” will support Ivanhoe Mines “in finding, developing, and sustainably supplying the critical minerals essential to the global energy transition and advanced technology applications,” said QIA CEO Mohammed Said Al-Sowaidi.
The Ivanhoe investment is not Qatar’s first dig into Canada’s mining industry. In March, Qatari royal Sheikha Sara Nasser Al-Thani entered into an agreement with Vancouver-based mining company, Doubleview Gold Corp, “to build and foster a potential collaboration with the state of Qatar by way of the Qatar Investment Authority.” In its press release, Doubleview said it had “received a statement of interest” from the sheikha for a critical metals deposit in northwest British Columbia.
Qatar’s interest in Canada is not limited to mining. Qatari money is spreading across the Great White North in ways observed elsewhere in the West. Qatar has already established a foothold elsewhere in the Commonwealth — in fact, the Qatari royal family reportedly owns more of London than King Charles himself. Without vigilance, Canada could eventually become Qatar’s next Commonwealth beachhead.
Qatari Investments in Canada’s Energy Sector
In addition to mining, Qatar is taking an interest — and a stake — in Canada’s energy sector. In 2013, Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) and British energy company Centrica acquired “a package of producing conventional natural gas and crude oil and associated infrastructure” in western Canada for $1 billion. The following year, QPI announced that it had acquired 40 percent of “Centrica’s wholly owned Canadian natural gas business for $200 million.”
Qatar Petroleum has since rebranded as “QatarEnergy.” QatarEnergy’s 2023 annual review — the most recent review publicly available — indicates that the company owns 40 percent of the license for two potential drilling zones off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, and 30 percent of the license for a third potential drilling zone.
Beyond Natural Resources
For Qatar, Canada evidently offers more than natural resources. It offers lucrative partnerships and access to cutting-edge technology. In June, QIA launched a $200 million fund with Montreal-based asset manager Fiera Capital “to boost foreign and local investment” in Qatar’s stock market. QIA then joined a $250 million financing round in July for Vancouver-based medical solution company Kardium to support the launch of “an innovative treatment for atrial fibrillation.”
Qatar also partners with major Canadian universities. During a visit to McGill University in 2012, Qatar’s ambassador to Canada announced a $1.25 million gift to McGill’s Islamic Studies Institute “to fund a series of conferences.” McGill’s website likewise notes that Qatar established a fellowship in Islamic Studies in honor of Qatar’s former prime minister. Additionally, McGill’s Institute of Air and Space Law has collaborated with Qatar Airways on an Air Law Moot Court Competition and Rising Scholars in Air and Space Law Conference.
Ottawa Should Put Transparency Legislation on the Books
Qatar operates in Islamist, anti-Western circles despite maintaining a close bilateral relationship with the Canadian government. As such, Canadian companies should proceed with caution when accepting investments or considering partnerships with Qatari entities.
Simultaneously, Ottawa should work on strengthening transparency legislation. Last year, Canada’s parliament passed the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act (FITAA), which “provides for the appointment” of a “Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner” and “requires the Commissioner to establish” a public Foreign Influence Transparency Registry (FITR). However, as of writing, Ottawa has not appointed a commissioner, nor is the FITR up and running.
Additionally, Canada does not require colleges and universities to disclose foreign funding, so the depth of Qatar’s reach into Canada’s higher education system is unknown. If Qatar has sunk even a fraction of what it has spent in the American higher education system into Canadian institutions, the total could be in the hundreds of millions. Ottawa can refer to Section 117 of the U.S. Higher Education Act as model legislation.
**Natalie Ecanow is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from Natalie and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Natalie on X @NatalieEcanow. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on foreign policy and national security.

Syrian integration in focus as Syrian President Sharaa speaks at UN
Seth J. Frantzman/FDD's Long War Journal/September 29/2025
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2025/09/26/syrian-integration-in-focus-as-syrian-president-sharaa-speaks-at-un/
On September 24, Syrian interim President Ahmed al Sharaa addressed the UN General Assembly and spoke about the country’s attempt to rebuild itself after years of conflict. “Syria has transformed from a country that exported crises into a historic opportunity to establish stability, peace, and prosperity for Syria and for the entire region,” Sharaa said.
The Syrian leader’s speech comes amid increasing pressure to integrate eastern Syria, which is controlled by the largely Kurdish-run Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, its military component, into the Syrian transitional government. It also comes as the SDF continues to clash with transitional government forces and as the Islamic State (IS) threatens both entities. The US is increasingly involved in mediating between the central government and authorities in eastern Syria, having appointed a special envoy to Damascus in the wake of US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper’s visit to Damascus on September 12.
Nevertheless, clashes between the SDF and Syrian transitional government security forces continue weekly. On September 25, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that two Syrian transitional government security personnel were killed by the SDF in clashes near Aleppo. Subsequently, Iraq’s Shafaq News noted that “an SDF military source” said “that government forces launched two simultaneous drone attacks targeting SDF positions, injuring three fighters amid intermittent confrontations in the area.”
On September 20, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that “armed clashes erupted with drones and heavy weapons between members of SDF and [members] of the Syrian army, after members of the latter attacked military positions of ‘SDF’ in Deir Hafer area in Aleppo countryside with drones. However, no casualties were reported.”
The clashes between Damascus and the SDF are the latest round in several cycles of low-level violence that have occurred in recent months. These conflicts persist as the SDF also continues confronting the Islamic State, further contributing to possible instability. For example, on September 25, reports in eastern Syria indicated that five SDF members were killed in an Islamic State attack.
In Washington, UN Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said on September 25 that Syria would move toward “a centralized government that doesn’t become a federation” by the end of the year. In March, SDF leader General Mazloum Abdi met with Sharaa to agree on a road map to integrate eastern Syria with Damascus. Barrack’s comments appear to be in contrast with calls by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria to have a decentralized government.
However, Barrack also discussed the possibility of some decentralization in an interview with the Kurdish Rudaw Media Network. “How do you design a centralized government that doesn’t become a federation that gives all of those factions […] an opportunity?” Barrack stated. A Rudaw analyst argued that in the wake of Sharaa’s UN speech, where the Syrian leader was well received, he could pressure eastern Syria’s Kurds to integrate further into the new government.
The Syrian North Press Agency noted on September 26 that Yasser al Suleiman, the spokesperson for the AANES’s negotiating delegation with Damascus, said on September 26 that “there are significant pressures on all Syrian parties to reach understandings that lead to solutions.” The AANES is waiting for a date from Damascus to “begin discussions on these files through their committees and the corresponding ones on the other side, whether civilian, military, security, or even constitutional, if possible.” Suleiman added, “We still hope that dialogue will lead to tangible, positive results if it begins soon, despite all challenges and difficulties. Syrians have always been and remain worthy of national solutions that unite rather than divide.”
While Kurdish media outlets continue to closely cover developments with the US and Damascus, Syrian state and national media outlets in Damascus appear to have downplayed or ignored tensions and issues with eastern Syria over the last week. For instance, Al Ikhbariah focused its coverage on the electric grid in Deir Ezzor, which neighbors areas controlled by the SDF. In addition, SANA reported on September 18 that Syria’s minister of culture visited Afrin, a largely Kurdish area of northwestern Syria, and brought a “message of unity and solidarity for the people of Afrin—both Arabs and Kurds—highlighting that a unified national culture is the foundation for Syria’s future.”
Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).

The plan to distribute cups of poison
Ghassan Charbel/Arab News/September 29, 2025
Benjamin Netanyahu certainly wanted to see a different scene. He had hoped to eventually announce an end to the war with the surrender of Israel’s enemies from Jerusalem. That has not happened. In such protracted conflicts, knockout blows are extremely scarce. On Monday, he will make his way to a difficult meeting at the White House with a president who has not been reserved in his support; the man who joined him in punishing Iran and sent his aircraft to strike Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
On his way to the White House, Netanyahu will console himself with the successes he believes he has achieved. He turned the “Sinwar Flood” into an existential war. He fought on seven fronts. He wiped Gaza off the map, leaving only rubble over the tunnels of the Al-Qassam Brigades. He killed many more Palestinians than any of his predecessors. He killed Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. He killed Yahya Sinwar and his brother, as well as Mohammed Deif and others. It must be hard for the man to remember the names of everyone he has killed. He has certainly removed the Gaza Strip from the military equation and a ceasefire is conditioned on the removal of Hamas; every proposal stipulates that there is no future for Hamas in Gaza.
As he worries about his audience with the president, he lists his perceived accomplishments. He expelled the heirs of Qassem Soleimani from Syria after they had entrenched themselves there over decades. He made Bashar Assad pay a heavy price for tying himself to the “Axis of Resistance.” Assad fled to Russia. He smiles as he asks himself: Who would have thought that a Syrian judge would dare issue an arrest warrant in absentia for the son of Hafez Assad, whose statues have been toppled like those of Saddam Hussein?
Netanyahu reminds himself that he made a very dangerous decision: punishing the patron after having dealt with the proxy
He mutters: It is difficult to trust the intentions of Ahmad Al-Sharaa but the balance of power imposed by the war leaves me no choice. Ensuring Syria’s territorial integrity demands walking away from military confrontation with Israel: a security agreement, a buffer zone and US guarantees. Al-Sharaa has chosen to board the global train and everyone knows the price of the ticket.
He continues his internal monologue. The day after the “Sinwar Flood,” Hassan Nasrallah chose to dive into the war. Hezbollah imagined that we would respect the old “rules of engagement.” He failed to realize that nothing would be the same. The Israeli machine wiped out the party’s leaders. The new balance of power is clear: without the Syrian hinterland, Hezbollah cannot wage war on Israel. For the first time, its arsenal has become a domestic question and its relations with the other components of Lebanese society have become toxic. It has lost the veneer of legitimacy that the Lebanese state once provided for its weapons. It is clear Iran will not resign to losing Lebanon after losing Syria, but turning back the clock is not on the table. Strict implementation of the cessation of hostilities means Lebanon abandoning armed conflict with Israel.
He reminds himself that he made a very dangerous decision: punishing the patron after having dealt with the proxy. His aircraft roamed free over Tehran’s skies, eliminating generals and nuclear scientists in seconds. He turned the tables and unleashed his war machine on the land of Soleimani. He put an end to the game it had mastered over decades: war via proxy.
He mutters: Iran is not what it was before the “flood.” Its axis is in shambles, its role has diminished, its aura is gone. Its economy is bleeding, its currency is committing suicide, and sanctions are now reinforced by clear European determination. He remembers the Houthis, their missiles and their drones. The strike on their government did not provide enough catharsis. He dreams of doing more to settle the score despite the distance and the protection geography provides.
Israel has never had a better friend in the White House than Donald Trump. He has provided unlimited support. Time and again, he gave it the space it needed to settle its wars. Netanyahu managed this relationship masterfully. It is best not to anger this man. When he is enraged or when he feels his partner is deceiving him, the consequences can be severe.
The key to the Israeli fortress is the White House. Accordingly, enraging the ‘general’ in the Oval Office is not an option
Netanyahu has no doubt that Israel is a solid military fortress and its technological superiority has been evident during its recent wars. He also knows, however, that sustaining this fortress requires American military and diplomatic support. The key to the Israeli fortress is the White House. Accordingly, enraging the “general” in the Oval Office is not an option.
He feels that Israel is strong. It cannot be threatened: not by Gaza, not by Lebanon, not by Syria and not by Iran. At the same time, he feels a certain bitterness. The mass walkout of delegates at the General Assembly Hall at the UN made him feel that the Israeli fortress is genuinely threatened by isolation and his hard-line partners in government do not understand the grave ramifications of this threat.
A touch of bitterness and lots of anxiety. He has killed many, but the specter of what he considers the most dangerous threat looms. A ceasefire will not only bring back the hostages and the bodies. It will also unleash a torrent of trials in Israel. Who knows, maybe someone who is compelled to acquiesce to the establishment of a Palestinian state will take his seat. He sees the specter of this state lurking behind calls for a ceasefire and peaceful coexistence. The specter hovers over the American plan. Trump’s pledge to prevent him from annexing the West Bank — or parts of it — is highly significant. He worries about Trump’s determination to end the war and his hunger for a Nobel Peace Prize.
The car approaches the White House. A painful thought crosses his mind. He has given out cups of poison to those who launched rockets at Israel. Today’s appointment, however, stirs apprehension: has Trump grown weary of helping Israel and covering for its excesses? Will Trump force him to drink a cup of poison? Has he won his wars on several fronts only to lose the front of the war on the Palestinian state? Is the American plan actually a plan to distribute cups of poison to the combatants?
*Ghassan Charbel is editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. X: @GhasanCharbel

Selected X tweets For September 29/2024
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
This list of speakers is a guide to those who have supported, and still do, brutal tyrants like Saddam Hussein, the Assad dynasty, the Islamist Iran regime, Hezbollah, and Hamas, while promoting antisemitism, anti-Americanism, and anti-capitalism. They continue to back the world’s dictators, from Putin to Xi, yet claim moral superiority over issues like Gaza.
For over two decades, I’ve clashed with many of these figures on fundamental principles: Liberty, equality, and democracy—European concepts that have produced the most effective systems of governance and society, and which should be universally embraced. They reject these principles, foundational to America, in favor of cultural relativism, insisting every society should follow its own political and social code. They vilify capitalism as greed incarnate, advocating for government-engineered economies to enforce "fairness"—a failed experiment traceable back to at least 600 BCE, when the socialist-designed Phoenician civilization fell to the Greeks, who leveraged the coin, a capitalist innovation that propelled them and later the Romans to dominate their rivals. Don’t expect these activists to grasp such historical lessons or political concepts. They parrot talking points borrowed from their peers and their favorite tyranny's propaganda machines and driven by social praise and shaming, which fuels their collective delusion. I’ll leave you to explore the speakers and their misinformation-laden panels that you might come across and that they and their audiences mistake for ideas.

Shadi khalloul שאדי ח'לול
A reminder to Turkish president: your ottoman empire committed a genocide against our Christian Aramaic people in 1915 "Sayfo" and against our Aramaic Christian Maronites in Lebanon, you guys committed a starvation policy, famine, as we call it in Aramaic "Kafno". You ethnic cleansed Christians for being Christians and still occupying Hagia Sophia basilica, which you turned it to Mosk. You are the last leader to speak about genocide. Recognize the Aramaic Genocide and compensate our people for all atrocities and stealing our lands.

Dr Walid Phares
Jihadists in Jedrin, Syria, execute four construction workers from the Alawite community.

RadioGenoa
https://x.com/i/status/1972504045081534837
The mayor of Rotherham, UK, claims that Islam is peace and love. This is same town where his Pakistani Muslim friends abused countless British women. She lies and knows she's lying. Ban Islam everywhere.

wassim Godfrey
totally agree people lost trust in those useless useful idiots leaders in Lebanon failed on all aspects i wish just for once a party leader declare or admit mistakes be honest& hv the guts to say I'm wrong to his audience,no shame lawless failed state no justice no accountability

wassim Godfrey
Do we christians v to live with this mental illness?mafiocrat system corruption=Guns
A disease destroyed Lebanon,minds,terrorism, Culture,obedience 2 fear, & loss of identity.The result is clear:35 yrs graduating billionaires,chaos,failed state,maniacs driven like prairie sheds

Prime Minister of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his delegation have departed for Washington. The Prime Minister will meet with President Trump at the White House at 11:00 (EDT). Following the meeting, the two leaders are expected to issue statements to the media at 13:15 (EDT).

Hussain Abdul-Hussain
The problem is that these Hamas partisans in America do not keep their opinion restricted to Gaza. They have a world view that sees America, its existence and all its principles, as evil. And they also speak on behalf of Iraq and Iraqis and defend Saddam, in retrospect. They think they are on the right side of history. I can promise them that they are not.

wassim Godfrey
For the first time, Senator Graham,& now for the 2nd time, Pr Trump, is presenting a historic plan for Lebanon,the Abraham Accords,a defense plan with Lebanon.The mafiocrat system is lost by the Raouche projector, speeches & folklore of the elections, fighting corruption slogans