English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News &
Editorials
For August 14/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2026/english.August
14.26.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like
yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of
it was leavened
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 13/18-21/:"He
said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare
it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew
and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’ And
again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was
leavened.’
Titles For Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related
News & Editorials published on August 13-14/2026
The Lebanese Army is an institution subordinate to the state, executing
its orders and not the other way around./Elias Bejjani/August 12, 2026
The only treatment for the cancerous Hezbollah is strictly Israeli/Elias Bejjani/ِAugust11/2026
A jihadist alliance built on hatred, enmity, and contradictions: its fate is
certain failure/Elias Bejjani/ِAugust 09/2026
Amnesty – A Farce/Abu Arz/Facebook/August 13, 2026
Israeli Army Announces Discovery of Weapons and a Booby-Trapped Building in
Southern Lebanon
Washington: Israeli Military Presence in Southern Lebanon Violates Agreement
New Tactic in Ali al-Taher: Is Israel Preparing for a Ground Operation in
Lebanon?
The Green Light Given… Israel Prepares to Bomb Ali Taher Heights!
US and Arab Pressure to Make Khiam a Model Area; Discussion Expands to Include
Borders
Iran Warns Against Syrian Intervention in Lebanon and Threatens a Broad Regional
Confrontation
Lebanon: Committed to Negotiations with Israel
US official criticizes Katz's remarks on staying in Lebanon
Israeli, US officials deny deal reached on deploying foreign troops to Lebanon
A new force for Lebanon's south? The debate over who will monitor the next phase
after UNIFIL
Lebanon has not agreed to shortlist of countries that could verify Hezbollah's
disarmament: Reuters
Ali al-Taher hills: Between military confrontation and surrender scenario
Haykal visits Menassa in solidarity, says no sectarianism in army
Families of Lebanese seized by Israel ask for news of loved ones
Salam condemns 'systematic' Israeli destruction in south
Dispute between Lebanon’s prime minister and defense minister under discussion,
sources say
Defense minister apologizes to families of fallen soldiers over controversial
amnesty law
Lebanon announces dates for 2026 vocational education exams for private
candidates
Lebanon Cabinet approves fees on waste-generating products despite ministerial
objections
Iran's Party and the Destruction of Lebanon for the Sake of the Khomeinist
Empire/Colonel Charbel Barakat/August 14/2026
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 13-14/2026
Trump Returns to Economically Strangling Iran: “Maximum Pressure” as an
Alternative to War / Waltz: Iranians May Endure Bombing, But They Fear Bessent
More Than Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
US can keep naval blockade on Iranian ports indefinitely, Pentagon chief says
Iran rejects Trump claims of US control over Strait of Hormuz as ‘lies’
New aircraft carrier heads toward Mideast to replace long-deployed USS Lincoln
US military has lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones during Iran war: Report
Iran says manages Hormuz Strait after Trump claims US control
CENTCOM launches first-ever multinational drone task force
Breaking:MBS meets top US general for Middle East to discuss defense
cooperation, reducing tensions
Prince Khalid meets Iraq’s top general to discuss Saudi-Iraqi defense ties
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill two including senior policeman: Officials
Israel sends troops to settler siege as US ambassador slams 'act of terror'
Houthis claim drone strike on Saudi refinery: Affiliated media
US-indicted Raul Castro reappears after months out of public view
Japan protests Putin's first visit to disputed islands
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials
from miscellaneous sources published
on August 13-14/2026
Islamism 101...America’s leaders refuse to do their homework/Clifford D.
May/The Washington Times/August 12, 2026
The Mecca Defense Pact Looks Toothless. That Doesn’t Mean It’s Harmless.....The
emerging Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan alliance threatens to trigger regional
realignment./Sinan Ciddi & Ahmad Sharawi/ The Dispatch/ August 13, 2026
Hamas's Secret Weapon to Continue Ruling Gaza/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone
Institute/August 13, 2026
Erdogan on the AK Party’s quarter-century transformation: Exclusive to Al
Arabiya English/Recep Tayyip Erdogan/Al Arabiya English/13 August ,2026
How I read the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement/Zaid AlKami/Al Arabiya English/13
August ,2026
Selected Face Book & X tweets on August 13/2026
Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese
Related News & Editorials published on August 13-14/2026
The Lebanese Army is an institution subordinate to the
state, executing its orders and not the other way around.
Elias Bejjani/August 12, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/08/156604/
The theatrical performance by the Minister of Defense in the Parliament
yesterday, and his sullenness after being prevented from delivering his speech,
is merely a heresy, a brazen tool, and illegal, aimed at sowing discord and
serving the Iranian occupier and its army of local mercenaries—blasphemously and
sacrilegiously named “Hezbollah”—while in reality and operational terms, it is
the Iranian-Jihadist army of devastation.
The Lebanese Army is an institution just like all other state institutions
subordinate to the Council of Ministers, the “executive authority,” and not a
state within a state that decides, accepts, and rejects as it pleases. Hence,
everything termed as the army’s opinion on the general amnesty law file is a
violation of the constitution, a heresy, and an encroachment on the authority of
the Council of Ministers.
This crude, theatrical deviation from the law is written, produced, and directed
by Nabih Berri, the king of corruption, the corrupt, and 100% sectarian, who has
worked for decades to expel Christians from all state institutions and entrench
the Persian mullahs’ state.
As for the positions of the one who failed in all of Satan’s trials, Michel Aoun,
and his son-in-law—who is listed on international corruption lists—along with
all remaining MPs and stooges who are with him, in addition to the Syrian
nationalist Elie Bou Saab and all the rest of the mercenaries funded by
Hezbollah, they are bundles of stupidity, treason, subservience, and dhimmitude.
In our lived reality, the Lebanese Army has not been a national army after
Commander Ibrahim Tannous; rather, it has transformed into a repressive force
affiliated with occupying powers and their local tools—Palestinian, leftist,
Syrian nationalist, jihadist, Syrian Baathist, Iranian etc.
The current role of the army, under the mullah-aligned leadership of Rudolph
Haykal who acts on his own accord, lies outside the framework of the executive
authority regarding all its positions and practices—specifically concerning
negotiations with the State of Israel, as well as what is termed the army’s
opinion on the general amnesty law… and the list of heresies goes on and on.
In conclusion, Lebanon’s army is not an independent state, but an institution
like the rest of the state institutions, and everything outside this legal and
constitutional framework is merely theatrical plays and heresies backed by the
corrupt Nabih Berri, the Party of Satan, and the rest of the hired extras such
as the contemptible Gebran Bassil.
Note: The attached image is AI-generated and not real.
The only treatment for the cancerous
Hezbollah is strictly Israeli.
Elias Bejjani/ِAugust11/2026
The only treatment for cancerous, terrorist, Iran-jihadist Hezbollah is strictly
Israeli. The solution is letting Israel uproot and eliminate it as soon as
possible; everything else is a waste of time and a consolidation of Iran’s
occupation and its barbaric jihadism.
A jihadist alliance built on hatred, enmity, and contradictions: its fate is
certain failure.
Elias Bejjani/ِAugust 09/2026
Peace between Israel and Lebanon and Saudi Arabia's accession to the Abraham
Accords are the first casualties of this failed sectarian
Turkish-Saudi-Pakistani alliance.
Amnesty – A Farce
Abu Arz/Facebook/August 13, 2026 (Google translation from Arabic)
A crippled state issues an amnesty law—an amnesty it desperately needs, and will
never receive, as it is accused of murdering a nation that was once a beacon of
the world. A state controlled for decades by a gang of thieves, the most corrupt
in the world.
The day of reckoning is inevitable, so watch your necks, you thieves.
At your service, Lebanon
Abu Arz
Israeli Army Announces Discovery of Weapons and a
Booby-Trapped Building in Southern Lebanon
South Lebanon/August 13, 2026 (Google translation from Arabic)
The Israeli army announced the discovery of weapons and military equipment,
including RPGs, and a building it described as booby-trapped and belonging to
Hezbollah, in southern Lebanon. Israeli army spokesperson Ella Wawiya stated on
her X-rated account that army forces found "numerous weapons" in the security
zone in southern Lebanon. She added that the 91st Division continues its
operations in the area, noting that during an operation on Wednesday in the
Marah al-Aqaba area, the 55th Brigade found a building it described as
booby-trapped and belonging to Hezbollah, before destroying it. Wawiya indicated
that the forces also found RPGs and other weapons. She concluded by saying that
the Israeli army "will not allow Hezbollah to harm Israeli citizens and its
forces," emphasizing the continuation of operations to eliminate what she
described as threats, "in coordination with the ceasefire agreement."
Washington: Israeli Military Presence in Southern Lebanon
Violates Agreement
Al-Markazia/August 13, 2026 (Google translation from Arabic)
The administration of US President Donald Trump issued an unprecedented rebuke
to Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz after he announced that the Israeli
army would remain in southern Lebanon within "security zones," according to
Russia Today. A US State Department official stated in an official statement:
"Washington expects all parties to adhere to the framework they agreed to,"
noting that "Israel has previously clarified that it does not intend to occupy
Lebanese territory, and that any permanent military presence in southern Lebanon
is inconsistent with the framework's commitments and with the long-term peace
and security of both countries." The official stressed that "these statements
contradict Israel's previous assurances that it has no territorial ambitions in
Lebanon and undermine diplomatic efforts aimed at stabilizing the region." The
statement affirmed "the United States' full support for the territorial
integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon," pointing out that "the framework
agreement brokered by Washington includes a conditions-based path for phased
redeployment, linked to the verified disarmament of Hezbollah and the
dismantling of its infrastructure, while commending the Lebanese army's
implementation of the first pilot zone and reaffirming continued US support for
this process." During a visit to the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, Katz
stated that Israel would not withdraw from the security zone there, indicating
that he had instructed the Israeli army to take all necessary steps for a
long-term presence in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. Israeli
Channel 12 added that the Trump administration criticized the Israeli defense
minister's statements regarding the continued presence in southern Lebanon.
New Tactic in Ali al-Taher: Is Israel Preparing for a
Ground Operation in Lebanon?
South Lebanon/August 13, 2026 (Google translation from Arabic)
The situation on Lebanon's southern border is escalating, with the Israeli army
intensifying its military and reconnaissance movements. Reports indicate the
adoption of new tactics in the Ali al-Taher hill area, raising concerns about a
potential expansion into a large-scale ground and air operation. The Emirati
news site "Eram News" reported that the Israeli army has intensified its
tactical operations in the area, noting the use of what it described as a tactic
of pumping yellow gas into tunnels believed to belong to Hezbollah in Ali al-Taher
hill. According to the report, security and Western sources described these
movements as a prelude to a broader military operation targeting areas in the
Iqlim al-Tuffah region and the Western Bekaa Valley. However, there has been no
official confirmation regarding the launch of a ground operation of this scale.
The data presented in the report suggests that the Ali al-Taher hill axis and
the surrounding highlands, extending to the areas of Rihan, Jarmaq, and the
outskirts of the Western Bekaa Valley, may fall within the scope of potential
Israeli operations.
According to Eram News, these moves are part of an Israeli effort to strike
Hezbollah's military, logistical, and missile infrastructure in those areas,
after years of building its capabilities there. The report also quoted Western
diplomatic sources as saying that the likelihood of the Israeli political
leadership giving the army the green light to carry out a large-scale operation
in Lebanon has increased, given that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has linked the military situation in Lebanon to his domestic political
calculations. According to these sources, continuing the war against Hezbollah
and destroying its offensive capabilities constitutes a fundamental part of the
political discourse of the ruling coalition in Israel, particularly with regard
to securing the northern border. In the same context, Lebanese sources,
according to the report, stated that recent days have witnessed a noticeable
intensification of Israeli aerial reconnaissance over the Iqlim al-Tuffah and
Western Bekaa regions, using drones and spy platforms. The sources added that
Israel is currently employing what it described as a strategy of "siege and
aerial encirclement," along with tactics that it said included pumping gases
into tunnels in the Ali al-Taher hill. Sources believe these movements could be
a prelude to an escalation involving airstrikes and ground advances through the
mountainous regions. Given these developments, the possibility of this
escalation leading to a large-scale Israeli ground operation in southern Lebanon
remains uncertain, pending decisions by the Israeli political and military
leadership in the coming period.
The Green Light Given… Israel Prepares to Bomb Ali Taher
Heights!
South Lebanon/August 13, 2026 (Google translation from Arabic)
All eyes are on the Ali Taher Heights, amid reports of an Israeli decision to
escalate the situation on the ground before moving to a ceasefire, coinciding
with intensive political and diplomatic activity.
MTV reported that the Lebanese government has been informed that the Israeli
political leadership has given the army the green light to bomb Ali Taher
Heights, indicating that a series of bombings will precede any acceptance of a
ceasefire. This information comes at a time when the region is witnessing a
significant Israeli escalation, with intensified military operations and aerial
reconnaissance, amid talk of targeting Hezbollah sites and tunnels. Eram News
had previously reported that the situation on the southern Lebanese border is
heading towards a highly dangerous phase, with the Israeli army intensifying its
tactical operations in the area. According to the website, security and Western
sources spoke of the use of new tactics in the Ali al-Taher hill, including the
injection of gases into tunnels believed to belong to Hezbollah. These sources
considered this move to be part of field preparations for a larger operation.
The report also mentioned the possibility of operations expanding to include the
heights surrounding Ali al-Taher, reaching as far as the areas of Rihan and
Jarmaq and the outskirts of the Western Bekaa Valley.
The available information suggests that the escalation in Ali al-Taher may be
linked to Israel's attempt to complete the destruction of Hezbollah's military
and logistical infrastructure in the region before moving to a new phase. In
this context, reports indicate that the past few days have witnessed an
intensification of Israeli aerial reconnaissance over the Iqlim al-Tuffah region
and the Western Bekaa Valley, using drones and surveillance platforms.
Information regarding the nature and scale of future operations remains
contingent on decisions made by the Israeli political and military leadership,
at a time when diplomatic pressure is mounting to reach a ceasefire. In parallel
with the escalation on the ground, Al-Jadeed reported that the Lebanese
government is insisting in its demands to Washington on a definitive ceasefire
and the expansion of the pilot zones before proceeding to the next round of
negotiations. Al-Jadeed also reported that Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's visit to
Baabda Palace focused primarily on the dispute with Defense Minister Michel
Mansour, with the President of the Republic intervening to address the
disagreement. Al-Jadeed quoted political sources as saying that the solution to
the dispute between Salam and Mansour lies with the Prime Minister, emphasizing
that there will be no resignation or boycott of the government, and that the
issue will be resolved by September. In the same vein, Al-Jadeed reported that
Clarfield's mission is more military than political in nature, and that he is
working to convey field observations between the military commands in Lebanon
and Israel. For its part, the US State Department told MTV that Washington
considers any permanent Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon
inconsistent with the agreed framework, while reaffirming its full support for
Lebanese sovereignty. A diplomatic source told MTV that there is American and
Arab pressure to designate the Khiam area as a model zone, whereby private
property would be subject to inspection only with a judicial warrant, based on
intelligence information, or in cases of flagrant offenses. Amid the escalation,
a Red Cross team from the Nabatieh center carried out a humanitarian operation
to evacuate 68-year-old Jamal Bitar from his home near the Ali Taher area on the
outskirts of Nabatieh. Bitar had been trapped alone inside his home while the
surrounding area was subjected to two airstrikes and artillery shelling. He
suffered from shortages of water and food before being transported out of
Nabatieh and handed over to his family. Between the military escalation in Ali
Taher and the ongoing political negotiations, the southern region awaits the
next phase, amid reports of a series of explosions that may precede the
acceptance of a ceasefire.
US and Arab Pressure to Make Khiam a Model Area; Discussion
Expands to Include Borders
Al-Markazia/August 13, 2026 (Google translation from Arabic)
A diplomatic source reported US and Arab pressure to make Khiam a model area,
where private properties would be searched only with a judicial warrant, based
on intelligence information, or in flagrante delicto. Meanwhile, US sources
clarified that the discussion is no longer limited to pilot areas but has
expanded to include the land border, reservations regarding the Blue Line, and
outstanding issues between Lebanon and Israel.
Iran Warns Against Syrian Intervention in Lebanon and
Threatens a Broad Regional Confrontation
Al-Markazia/August 13, 2026 (Google translation from Arabic)
The Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that Tehran informed regional
capitals—Ankara, Baghdad, Doha, and Riyadh—that it would treat any Syrian
military intervention in Lebanon as a development that would expand the scope of
the confrontation to Syrian territory. According to the agency, Iran warned that
any Syrian “military adventure” in Lebanon would lead to a broad regional
confrontation, indicating that the potential Iranian response would be
missile-based and would target more than 100 strategic targets inside Syria,
including the Syrian presidential palace. This comes amid escalating warnings
and threats related to the Lebanese and regional situation. The content of the
messages that Tasnim claimed Tehran conveyed to the four capitals could not be
independently verified. Media outlets, citing Iranian sources, are also
reporting that the warning included a threat to target hundreds of sites across
Syria should Damascus intervene militarily in Lebanon. However, this information
remains within the realm of media reports that have not been officially
confirmed.
Lebanon: Committed to Negotiations with Israel
Riyadh - Al-Arabiya.net/August 13, 2026 (Google translation from Arabic)
Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos affirmed on Thursday that the Lebanese
state is committed to the negotiation process with Israel, stressing the
importance of continuing negotiations within the framework of existing
understandings. In an interview with Al-Arabiya, the minister stated that the
Israeli Defense Minister's remarks regarding his intention to maintain Israeli
forces in occupied areas in the south contradict the commitment to the
"Framework Agreement," at a time when southern Lebanon is witnessing Israeli
escalation and military operations. He added that the Israeli attacks are
focused on bulldozing towns and villages under the pretext of destroying
tunnels. This came after Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz visited Lebanon
on Wednesday and announced that the Israeli army would remain in the security
zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. Katz added, "I have instructed the IDF to
take all necessary steps to prepare for a long-term presence in the region," as
reported by Yediot Aharonot. Meanwhile, his remarks were not well received in
the United States. A State Department official later said that Washington
"expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the framework they
agreed upon, and Israel has made it clear that it does not seek any territorial
ambitions in Lebanon." For his part, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stated
on Thursday that Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz's statement was
"completely unacceptable," emphasizing that it contradicted the framework
agreement between the two countries. Salam also praised the American response to
the statement, which he considered "inconsistent with the tripartite framework
between Lebanon, Israel, and the United States." Lebanon and Israel signed a
framework agreement on June 26, following five rounds of negotiations under
American auspices. The agreement stipulates, in particular, the disarmament of
Hezbollah, Israel's gradual withdrawal from the occupied territories in southern
Lebanon, and the deployment of the Lebanese army, beginning with "pilot" zones.
Hezbollah, backed by Tehran, categorically refuses direct negotiations with
Israel and the relinquishment of its weapons.
US official criticizes Katz's remarks on staying in
Lebanon
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/August 13/2026
The Trump administration has said that Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s
comments that Israel will not withdraw from certain south Lebanon areas are
inconsistent with a framework deal agreed to by Israel and Lebanon. A U.S. State
Department official reaffirmed that the U.S. “expects all parties to act in a
manner consistent with the framework they agreed to,” which does not include a
long-term or permanent Israeli presence in south Lebanon. The official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said a
permanent Israeli “military presence in South Lebanon is not consistent with the
commitments made in the framework or the long-term peace and security of both
states.”Earlier Wednesday Katz said Israel would not withdraw from a number of
its current positions: “Under no circumstances do we retreat.”The U.S. official
reminded that Israel had clearly stated that it had no territorial ambitions in
Lebanon, stressing that the United States "fully supports Lebanon's territorial
integrity and sovereignty.""The Framework clearly includes a conditions-based
path for progressive redeployment tied to verified disarmament of Hezbollah and
the dismantlement of their infrastructure. The Lebanese Armed Forces are
implementing the first pilot zones, and the United States will continue to
support full implementation of that process," the official said.
Katz said that the Israeli army “is here to stay in the security zones in
Lebanon, Syria and Gaza to protect the entire State of Israel.”“I have
instructed the IDF (Israeli army) to take all the necessary steps to prepare for
a long-term presence in the area. As the Prime Minister and I have made
unequivocally clear, we are not withdrawing from this security zone," Katz
added.
Israeli, US officials deny deal reached on deploying
foreign troops to Lebanon
Naharnet/August 13/2026
Israeli news portal Walla on Thursday quoted Israeli and U.S. officials as
saying that "there is no agreement between Lebanon and Israel on forming a body
to oversee the Lebanese Army's operations in the designated pilot zones."The
news portal added that "Israeli and American officials denied a Reuters report
regarding an agreement on a future international mechanism to oversee
Hezbollah's disarmament."Walla News also quoted Israeli and U.S. officials as
saying that "negotiations are ongoing regarding the mechanism that will be
implemented after the UNIFIL mission ends."Reuters had reported that Israel and
Lebanon had agreed on Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Indonesia as potential
contributors to a proposed mechanism that could see foreign troops deployed to
Lebanon to verify Hezbollah's disarmament. A spokesperson for Israel's Embassy
to the United States said in a statement that negotiations over the composition
of the body that would oversee and verify Hezbollah's disarmament were ongoing
and that no agreement had yet been reached. Switzerland's foreign ministry told
Reuters it was exploring ways to support "various stabilization processes," but
declined to provide details. A British foreign ministry spokesperson said
Britain was ready to support efforts to de-escalate tensions and long-term
security, particularly in southern Lebanon, without elaborating.The Lebanese
presidency and the Indonesian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to
requests for comment. Israel's military occupies what it describes as a security
zone extending 10 km into southern Lebanon and has said it will not withdraw
unilaterally until Hezbollah is disarmed.
A new force for Lebanon's south? The debate over who will
monitor the next phase after UNIFIL
LBCI/August 13/2026
Currently, 46 countries are contributing troops to the United Nations Interim
Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), with a total force strength of 7,494 personnel.
UNIFIL was deployed to southern Lebanon under United Nations Security Council
Resolution 425 in 1978 and was later reinforced under Resolution 1701 in 2006.
The question is: How do countries participate in this force?The United Nations
does not force any country to participate. Countries willing to take part
volunteer based on their political readiness to deploy troops to the concerned
region. In this context, France’s presence in UNIFIL stands out, based on
historical interests, while the European presence is also significant.
Participation also depends on the military and logistical capabilities of
contributing countries and the suitability of their units for the required
mission. The process of forming, managing and financing the force falls under
the responsibility of the United Nations. The host country, such as Lebanon,
must approve the presence of the force and its mandate and is informed of the
countries participating.When Lebanon and Israel signed the framework agreement
under U.S. sponsorship, a committee was expected to be established to monitor
the implementation mechanism on the ground, particularly regarding the pilot
zones. More than a month and a half has passed since the agreement was signed,
and the committee has yet to be formed.The dispute centers on which countries
will take part in the monitoring mission. Several reports have circulated
regarding the countries being considered. The latest, according to Reuters,
mentioned a list of four countries: Italy, which is part of UNIFIL; Indonesia,
which is part of UNIFIL; Britain, which assists the Lebanese army, most notably
through border observation towers; and Switzerland, which has members in the
truce monitoring mission with Israel. Official Lebanese sources denied the
existence of such a list. However, Italy is reportedly among the countries that
neither Lebanon nor Israel objects to, and Azerbaijan has also been mentioned as
a possible participant.
Information indicates that Lebanon has not yet officially contacted any country,
as it has not decided on the nature of the force it wants: whether it would
operate within the framework of the United Nations and the preservation of
Security Council Resolution 1701, under U.S. sponsorship, or as a new European
force.So far, Tel Aviv has rejected any role for the United Nations and does not
want to assign the monitoring mission to any country. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu may be waiting until after the Israeli elections in October
to make his decision, based on the belief that taking a tougher stance toward
Lebanon could help him gain support among residents of northern Israel. This
comes despite Washington’s efforts to find a solution that satisfies both
sides.As part of this hardline approach, Tel Aviv has rejected any discussion of
a French role in any force. Meanwhile, Paris believes its presence in southern
Lebanon will remain, either through the United Nations Security Council or the
European Union. Between a committee whose structure and mandate remain unclear
and an international force operating under the United Nations umbrella, the
picture is still uncertain. What is clear, however, is that any country
participating would do so based on its own decision and willingness.Therefore,
before asking which country will come to southern Lebanon, there is a more
important question that still has no answer: Under which framework will it come,
and what exactly will its mission be? The answer currently lies with the
Lebanese state, which is expected to define its requests through an official
government decision.
Lebanon has not agreed to shortlist of countries that could
verify Hezbollah's disarmament: Reuters
LBCI/August 13/2026
A Lebanese official denied on Thursday a Reuters report that Beirut had agreed
with Israel to a shortlist of countries that could send troops to Lebanon to
verify the disarmament of Hezbollah, and said it was following up on the issue
with Washington. A June 26 deal brokered by the U.S. linked the progressive
withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon to the "verified disarmament"
of all non-state armed groups by the Lebanese government. Hezbollah, which is
not a party to the agreement, has rejected disarming. Reuters reported last week
that Lebanon and Israel had agreed to a shortlist and reported on Wednesday,
citing three sources, that the list included Britain, Italy, Switzerland and
Indonesia as potential contributors to the verification mechanism.A Lebanese
official on Thursday said there was no such agreement and that Beirut was still
in discussions with the United States on the matter.A State Department official
said on Tuesday that a round of U.S.-brokered meetings between Lebanon and
Israel in Rome last week discussed the "third-party verification" of the
Lebanese army's "clearance operations" but did not mention the shortlist or the
countries involved. Reuters
Ali al-Taher hills: Between military confrontation and
surrender scenario
LBCI/August 13/2026
The Ali al-Taher hill range, which contains tunnels that Israel says are being
used by Hezbollah and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel, is nearing a
potential confrontation. According to the Israeli outlet Walla, Defense Minister
Israel Katz and Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir are pushing to launch an operation
there targeting the hill area and its tunnels.The decision to carry out the
operation was made despite Washington’s warnings about its potential impact on
direct negotiations with Lebanon, as well as similar messages from Lebanon. This
comes as reports revealed that Iran has also conveyed threats of retaliation to
the United States, in an attempt to establish a new equation similar to the
“Dahieh-for-northern settlements” equation. Eyal Zamir introduced precise
adjustments to the operational plans prepared by the Northern Command for the
Ali al-Taher operation, taking into account the area’s complex terrain and the
regional political pressures facing Israel. While Israeli security sources claim
that Hezbollah members have been killed inside the Ali al-Taher tunnels due to
the siege imposed on them and shortages of food and supplies, intelligence and
security officials say there is no indication that the Hezbollah and Iranian
Revolutionary Guard personnel who have held out intend to surrender. Despite
this, Israel has prepared a scenario in which these individuals would emerge
from the tunnels carrying white flags, in which case they would not be killed
but instead transferred to Israel for interrogation. As it has become clear that
the Ali al-Taher area is facing either a military confrontation or surrender,
reports about Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Indonesia participating in a
committee to monitor the framework agreement signed between Lebanon and Israel
appear to be inaccurate. According to Tel Aviv, the dispute remains over which
party will be responsible for verifying the Lebanese army’s activities and
overseeing efforts to ensure Hezbollah’s disarmament in areas from which the
Israeli army withdraws.
Haykal visits Menassa in solidarity, says no sectarianism
in army
Naharnet/August 13/2026
Defense Minister Michel Menassa met Thursday at his office in Yarze with Army
Commander General Rodolphe Haykal, who led a delegation comprising members of
the Military Council and senior officers of the Army Command. The visit was to
thank the defense minister for his "supportive stances towards the military
institution and to express appreciation for his positions regarding the martyrs
of the army and their families," following the latest dispute between Menassa
and PM Nawaf Salam over whether or not the minister had the right to deliver a
speech in parliament regarding the general amnesty bill.
Haykal addressed Mansour, saying: "You have not and will not let down the
families of the martyrs; you have made us proud and you have made the army
proud." He explained that "the goals of the military institution are national,
and that it is based on protecting Lebanon and preserving its security and
stability," emphasizing that "there is no sectarianism among those who wear the
camouflage uniform."For his part, Menassa affirmed that "the army is the
backbone of the state," stressing that "the military institution is steadfast in
its position and will not back down from fulfilling its duty or from making
sacrifices for the sake of the nation." He added: "God willing, we will remain
united, and through our steadfastness, we will achieve much," calling for
"strengthening the unity of the military institution and preserving its national
role."He also commended "the efforts of the army's leadership, officers, and
soldiers, headed by General Haykal," emphasizing that "the current stage
requires greater cohesion and cooperation within the military institution,
enabling it to continue performing its national duties and protecting
Lebanon."Menassa expressed earlier on Thursday profound regret to the families
of fallen soldiers, saying in a poignant statement that he felt he had failed
them after he was prevented from addressing parliament.Parliament on Wednesday
passed a sweeping amnesty law that replaces death sentences with long prison
terms, reduces life sentences, and frees some convicted militants and drug
dealers. It largely benefits Sunni Islamist prisoners, including firebrand
cleric Ahmad al-Assir, by reducing sentences for killing Lebanese troops.
Lebanese lawmaker Waddah Sadek, a Sunni Muslim and supporter of the law, told
The Associated Press al-Assir could be released within "between a year and a
half and two years."Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah MPs left the
parliamentary session on Wednesday after Menassa was not allowed, for a second
day in a row, to deliver a speech on the bill. A heated argument was reported on
Tuesday between Salam and Menassa, after the premier reportedly insisted on
preventing the minister from delivering his speech. Menassa’s speech was
intended to voice the Lebanese Army's position regarding the general amnesty
bill, but Salam reportedly warned Menassa that he was putting the Lebanese Army
in confrontation with the Sunni community. Family members of Lebanese soldiers
and servicemen killed or attacked by Islamist militant groups have repeatedly
protested against the law, some saying they had hoped to see the perpetrators
who killed their family members executed rather than be issued reduced prison
sentences.
Families of Lebanese seized by Israel ask for news of loved
ones
Agence France Presse/August 13/2026
Relatives of Lebanese seized by Israel during its last two wars with Hezbollah
held a rally in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Beirut
on Wednesday to demand information. Israel is estimated to have seized dozens of
people in Lebanon since 2024, including Hezbollah fighters but also numerous
civilians. Its military occasionally reports capturing Hezbollah fighters. In
its last round of negotiations with Israel, Lebanon demanded the release of a
first batch of people seized from Lebanese territory, a Lebanese official told
AFP. "We want (the ICRC) to go in and just reassure us on his health," said
Ibtissam Hussein a 54-year-old mother of three holding a picture of her husband
Waddah Younes. Younes, a Hezbollah member, was captured while fighting Israeli
troops in Blida, southern Lebanon in October 2024, she said. The Israeli
military released a video of Younes at the time being interrogated and said he
was arrested inside a tunnel in the town. Hussein received no news of him until
Israel released four Lebanese in March last year, who confirmed he was alive but
in poor health."We will not abandon our prisoners. We will keep on standing
(with them) and raising our voices," Hussein said.
- 'We need to know' -
Authorities do not have a full list of those seized, the official said.Hezbollah
lawmaker Hussein al-Haj Hassan said before the start of this year's war that
Lebanon had "20 prisoners at the hands of the enemy", at least nine of them
"captured during the war on the battlefield," indicating that they were fighters
from the group.Anwar Yassine, founder of the Committee of Representatives of
Prisoners and Released Detainees, estimated that at least 32 people were seized,
including 22 civilians.Yassine himself was jailed for nearly two decades by
Israel during its occupation of southern Lebanon in the 1980s and 90s. Hezbollah
and its supporters reject the talks and the agreement, with the group refusing
to lay down its arms. Zainab Bahja, a mother of two whose husband Hassan Hammoud
was seized after returning to his southern hometown during a 2024 ceasefire,
asked the government to treat the issue "as a priority".
Bahja, her daughter next to her holding her father's picture, said the Israeli
military burned their home after seizing him. "We need to know if they are still
alive," she said, asking her government to secure their release quickly.
Salam condemns 'systematic' Israeli destruction in south
Agence France Presse/August 13/2026
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Wednesday condemned Israel's "systematic
destruction" in the country's south as a violation of international law, as
Israel's defense minister said its military was "destroying all the houses"
there. Salam said Israeli "attacks, incursions, demolitions and the systematic
destruction of homes", infrastructure, government buildings and places of
worship "represent a serious violation of the principles and rules of
international law and international humanitarian law". Claiming that villages
and towns "are entirely 'military facilities' does not stand up to any logic and
cannot be used as an excuse for destroying them, displacing their inhabitants
and preventing them from returning", he said in a statement. Israel's Defense
Minister Israel Katz visited southern Lebanon on Wednesday, vowing to keep
troops in a so-called "security zone" there and saying the Israeli military was
"destroying the underground infrastructure" in the area and "destroying all the
houses". A framework deal reached in late June between Lebanon and Israel
involves the disarmament of the Iran-backed group, a gradual withdrawal of
Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the
region, starting in "pilot zones". When asked about Katz's remarks, a U.S. State
Department official responded that the United States "expects all parties to act
in a manner consistent with the Framework they agreed to, and Israel clearly
stated that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. "A permanent military
presence in South Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the
Framework, or the long-term peace and security of both states," he said in an
email to AFP.
Intermittent strikes -
While violence has significantly decreased since the signing of a U.S.-Iran
memorandum of understanding in June and the Lebanon-Israel deal, Lebanon still
reports intermittent Israeli strikes and ongoing demolitions. Lebanon's
state-run National News Agency (NNA) on Wednesday said Israeli troops carried
out detonations in southern villages, including Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh, which abuts
one of the "pilot zones".Lebanon's army said Israel had blown up "the municipal
building in Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh" as well as "a public school, a health clinic, a
children's nursery and a number of homes".Also on Wednesday, Lebanon's army
chief Rodolphe Haykal met visiting U.S. General Joseph Clearfield, who heads a
coordination group involved with the June agreement. The pair discussed
"developments in the south and security arrangements" relating to the deal, the
Lebanese military said, as well as "the difficulties the army faces in carrying
out its missions, primarily due to the continuing attacks, bulldozing and
destruction by the Israeli occupation". President Joseph Aoun also met
Clearfield, his office said, and discussed the implementation of the framework
deal. Israel and Lebanon are to hold an eighth round of U.S.-sponsored
negotiations next month, in Rome.
Dispute between Lebanon’s prime minister and defense
minister under discussion, sources say
LBCI/August 13/2026
Lebanon’s interior minister said Thursday, ahead of a Cabinet session, that the
relationship between Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Defense Minister Michel
Menassa remains direct, stressing that government solidarity is intact amid
reports of tensions between the two officials. LBCI sources following the matter
said the dispute between Salam and Menassa was discussed during a meeting in
Baabda between President Joseph Aoun and the prime minister. The sources added
that the issue is currently being addressed, with hopes of reaching a resolution
during the government recess and announcing it publicly.
Defense minister apologizes to families of fallen soldiers
over controversial amnesty law
Associated Press/August 13/2026
Defense Minister Michel Menassa expressed Thursday profound regret to the
families of fallen military officers, saying in a poignant statement that he
felt he had failed them amidst growing political pressures on the armed forces.
"I apologize to the families of our martyrs; today, I feel I have let you down.
"I apologize because I witnessed how political voices united to drown out the
voice of the Army, and how positions aligned precisely when the military needed
protection rather than siege. I saw those who turned against the institution
that bore the nation’s heaviest burdens, and I saw them collaborate against it
when the goal was to silence it," the minister said. Parliament on Wednesday
passed a sweeping amnesty law that replaces death sentences with long prison
terms, reduces life sentences, and frees some convicted militants and drug
dealers. It largely benefits Sunni Islamist prisoners, including firebrand
cleric Ahmad al-Assir, by reducing sentences for killing Lebanese troops. Al-Assir
gained support in southern Lebanon for his vocal criticism of the powerful
Shiite militant Hezbollah group’s involvement in Syria’s uprising that turned
into civil war. In 2013, clashes between his supporters and opponents killed 18
Lebanese soldiers. He was sentenced to death in 2017. Lebanese lawmaker Waddah
Sadek, a Sunni Muslim and supporter of the law, told The Associated Press al-Assir
could be released "between a year and a half and two years." Free Patriotic
Movement and Hezbollah MPs left the parliamentary session on Wednesday after
Defense Minister Michel Menassa was not allowed, for a second day in a row, to
deliver a speech on the bill. A heated argument was reported on Tuesday between
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Menassa, after the premier reportedly insisted on
preventing the minister from delivering his speech. Menassa’s speech was
intended to voice the Lebanese Army's position regarding the general amnesty
bill, but Salam reportedly warned Menassa that he was putting the Lebanese Army
in confrontation with the Sunni community. Family members of Lebanese soldiers
and servicemen killed or attacked by Islamist militant groups have repeatedly
protested against the law, some saying they had hoped to see the perpetrators
who killed their family members executed rather than be issued reduced prison
sentences.
- Some celebrate while others feel wronged -
Sunni legislators largely celebrated the law passing.
Bilal Abdallah, who represents the Druze-led Progressive Socialist Party, said
the amnesty law is not intended to benefit just one sect."We are turning a
political page where (Sunnis were) targeted, justly and unjustly," Abdallah told
reporters in parliament. "Targeted by a regime, security agencies, and
unfortunately the military tribunal with some of its unjust convictions."
Supporters of detained Islamists claim their sentencings came at a time when
Hezbollah had greater political power in the country and larger sway over its
security institutions and judicial system, directly targeting the country’s
Sunni Muslims.
They also said the detainees weren’t allowed a fair trial and some were held for
too long in pretrial detention due to Lebanon’s swamped courts. Videos
circulating on social media showed Islamist prisoners in the notorious Roumieh
prison chanting "God is great" in celebration once the law was approved.
Lebanon announces dates for 2026 vocational education exams for private
candidates
LBCI/August 13/2026
The Director-General of Vocational and Technical Education announced the dates
for the 2026 official exams for private candidates across all vocational and
technical education certificates. According to a circular, the exams for all
vocational and technical education certificates for private candidates will be
held on Aug. 20, 22 and 24, 2026.Students who submitted private candidate
applications and paid the registration fees are required to visit the
Directorate-General of Vocational and Technical Education’s Monitoring and
Examinations Department starting Friday, Aug. 14, 2026, to collect their
candidate cards. Students must present their payment receipt when collecting
their cards. The department will receive students from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Lebanon Cabinet approves fees on waste-generating products
despite ministerial objections
LBCI/August 13/2026
Lebanon’s Cabinet approved, on Thursday, fees on products that generate waste,
despite objections from the ministers of health, labor, telecommunications and
industry.
Iran's Party and the Destruction of Lebanon for the Sake
of the Khomeinist Empire
Colonel Charbel Barakat/August 14/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/08/156617/
Iran’s party—driven by Tehran's desire to dissolve the states of the Middle
East—has struck at Lebanon's stability, transforming it into an arena to settle
scores regarding the expansion of a new imperial influence. This follows the
model of the empire of Cyrus the Great or Darius the Great, which reached the
northern shores of the Black Sea in today’s Balkans, occupying large parts of
Greece down through Egypt and Libya, and stretching into Yemen and the Gulf. To
the east, it annexed what is now known as Afghanistan and other Central Asian
states toward the borders of China and Russia—at a time when opposing forces
were not organized enough to prevent Persian armies from expanding over this
region, which is strategically considered the global transportation hub and
energy center.
The Iranian party seized control of the Shia community in Lebanon,
indoctrinating and mobilizing its youth into the army of the Wilayat al-Faqih
(Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist), using them as fuel in the process of
subjugating the region's peoples. Their homes were burned, their children
killed, and their villages destroyed to ensure the success of this imperial
master plan—one built on historical grievances nurtured by the Persians, the
Shia of Iraq, and the remnants of the "Al-Abna" group in Yemen.
Today, following the siege of the first serious headquarters of the Iranian
command on the southern front—specifically the "Ali al-Tahir" height—and with
the resolution drawing near after the party refused to hand it over to the army,
the end approaches, and the awaited battle is right around the corner. Entering
this stronghold, which undoubtedly contains a treasure trove of military
intelligence regarding the front, including details on entry and exit points of
bunkers and defense posts set up by the Iranians and their proxies for the
ultimate battle, will not be difficult for the Israeli Defense Forces. During
the prolonged siege, they conducted extensive studies on attack vectors and
engagement zones, making it certain that all plans are ready for that hour.
However, what do the Iranians truly want from Lebanon? Why all these
fortifications and excavations? Why digging in areas far removed from the South,
particularly those reportedly located in the Mount Lebanon range, in regions
like Byblos (Jbeil) and Keserwan? Is it to confront the Lebanese state, or the
local populations who differ sectarian-wise from the Wilayat al-Faqih followers?
What did General Aoun and his party gain from their alliance with the "Party of
Arms" if preparations were actually being made for a battle against the local
residents in Byblos, Keserwan, or Batroun? Are these not the very areas of his
constituency whose rights he claimed to champion? Or does the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) view itself as descendants of the fighters who
fought the Maronites in the 13th and 14th centuries and failed to subdue them,
trying to do so today? Does Mufti Qabalan's assertion that Keserwan and Byblos
are "Shia lands" fall under this same trajectory—a preparation to occupy these
regions? Aoun's camp claimed that the Israelis were behind the theory of
emptying the Middle East of Christians, and that ISIS—an "American creation" in
their view—executed it in Iraq and Syria. Are the Iranians, who are leading the
theory of preparing to empty Christian areas of their population in
Lebanon today, also an "Israeli creation"? Is the displacement of the Shia from
the South practically intended to resettle them in place of the Christians
slated for displacement from Mount Lebanon?
Absurd theories abound and contradict one another, but the reality is that those
who repudiated all the assistance and protection Israel extended to the Shia
community—most recently delivering the entire South to them on a silver platter
in the year 2000—failed to understand that Israel's goal is not to displace the
Shia, Christians, Druze, or Sunnis, but to live in peace with them all. The
stance of the Israeli Druze after the withdrawal of the Arab Liberation Army
from the Acre and Safed regions in 1948, and their negotiations with the
Israelis to remain in their homeland, serves as the ultimate proof. What Iran's
party is doing—brainwashing, spreading hatred, and provoking hostility toward
others—is the sole cause of all the ruin and destruction Lebanon and the region
are enduring. It is true that Israel seeks to preserve its security, respects
agreements, and wishes for peace to prevail, whereas its neighbors are the ones
who have yet to accept its existence, survival, and the peaceful co-existence of
its people alongside the region's inhabitants. We witnessed this firsthand when
Sayyid Hassan stated that it is "weaker than a spider's web" and that he
intended to throw it into the sea, and everyone knows how that ended. Then came
Hamas's "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation, after which almost every Arab from the Ocean
to the Gulf called for the demise of Israel and sending the Jews back to where
they came from—leading to what transpired in Gaza and its people. Didn't all
Arabs originate from the Arabian Peninsula as they claim? Why don't they return
to where they came from? Why don't the inhabitants of Syria, Lebanon, Israel,
Egypt, and the lands of the Assyrians and Chaldeans demand the return of the
Arabs to their homelands in the Peninsula where the oil and gas are, or the
return of the "Palestinians"(Philists) resettled by the Egyptians in northern
Sinai back to their lands in the Mediterranean islands?
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which encroaches upon Lebanon under the
pretext of fighting Israel—having corrupted a portion of its populace and
commandered them to carry out the orders of the Supreme Leader—is preparing not
merely to control the Middle East, but to confront global fleets and assert
itself as a major geopolitical power. Hence its drive to acquire a nuclear bomb
and its control over Lebanon's mountains to reach the shores of the
Mediterranean, aiming to block the intervention of the United States and its
allies in the region. Whoever controls the mountains of Lebanon can dominate the
eastern half of the Mediterranean, including the island of Cyprus and several
Greek islands. This explains the network of tunnels and positions it occupies
and digs in the Western Mountain Range under the banner of confronting Israel
across the Lebanese map. In reality, it seeks something far broader: securing
leverage to support its upcoming confrontations with the West should it manage
to control the Gulf when the US eventually withdraws under Islamic pressure
exerted on Arab states—as seen in the alignment between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan,
and Turkey. It effectively controls the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab
Strait via the Houthis, and works with the Polisario and others to gain leverage
over the Strait of Gibraltar, with last week's attempt on Ceuta being a case in
point. Furthermore, it seized influence in Venezuela—a key oil-producing nation
near the US coast—enabling it to play hand cards in South American politics.
From this, we understand the global scope of the IRGC's imperial ambitions, and
why the United States must anticipate and contain this danger before it
escalates further.
Lebanon must realize that playing at the wrong time and place will destroy its
role and existence. If the opportunity is ripe today to eliminate the party and
its threat, it is imperative to dismantle it so that the Shia retain a place on
the land they have inhabited since the 13th century BC, living as honored
citizens among diverse populations—a land referred to in the Holy Bible as
"Galilee of the Nations" due to the multiplicity of coexisting communities and
traditions.
The IRGC poses a global threat; the Iranian people must be liberated from its
evils, and regional states helped to lift its hegemony from their shoulders.
What the United States is doing in this regard is commendable and crucial for
the future of international relations, but prolonging the crisis serves no one's
interest. This evil, which must be brought to an end, will attempt to turn the
tables if given room, and its fallout on the surrounding region will be
severe—especially on Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen, where its tentacles have reached
and subdued a segment of the citizenry.
The coming days are critical, as they will witness the downfall of one of the
hubs of Khomeinist hatred, though it will not be the last. The clearing
operations and the dismantling of remaining strongholds will continue,
particularly in Jebel el-Reihan, Berket Jbour, and Jebel Safi overlooking Iqlim
al-Toffah. Will we witness a new wave of displacement to achieve a thorough
cleanup? Or will the Shia rise up against the Revolutionary Guard and its
proxies, uniting to resist the destruction of their homes, apprehending
collaborators, surrendering their arms, and demanding that the state and its
security forces assist them in preventing ruin and restoring normality?
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on August 13-14/2026
Trump Returns to Economically
Strangling Iran: “Maximum Pressure” as an Alternative to War / Waltz: Iranians
May Endure Bombing, But They Fear Bessent More Than Defense Secretary Pete
Hegseth
Riyadh - Al Arabiya / August 13, 2026 (Google translation from
Arabic)
The administration of US President Donald Trump has returned to its preferred
weapon against the Iranian regime: economic sanctions and a naval blockade, in
an attempt to strangle Iranian oil exports and undermine Tehran’s ability to
resist. The US administration is betting on the “maximum pressure” strategy it
used during Trump’s first term, even though it failed before 2020 to achieve its
goal of forcing Iran to abandon its nuclear program or change its regional
behavior, according to a report published by Bloomberg and reviewed by Al
Arabiya Business. With dwindling US ammunition stockpiles needed to sustain
military operations and growing caution about continuing an unpopular war, Trump
and his team decided to return to an approach based on gradually tightening
economic sanctions and imposing a naval blockade that limits Iranian oil
exports. This shift represents a clear reversal in US policy, which just days
earlier had been threatening to expand its military campaign against Tehran
after nearly six months of confrontations. The US administration describes the
new campaign as "Operation Economic Rage," led by Treasury Secretary Scott
Bisent. US Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, said in an interview with Fox News
on August 10 that the operation is "destroying the Iranian economy," adding that
the Iranians "might be able to withstand the bombing, but they fear Bisent more
than Secretary of Defense Pete Higseth." Trump also told Axios that he is
handling the Iranian issue more calmly now, adding, "We're just watching Iran
amid massive inflation and a severe shortage of money." For his part, Bisent has
previously stated that "the Iranian government is the one causing the people's
suffering, and we will continue to increase the pressure on them."
Some analysts believe that the Iranian economy has become more fragile than
before, and that Tehran's ability to circumvent sanctions through intermediary
countries has diminished compared to previous years. Mayad Maleki, a former U.S.
Treasury Department sanctions official and current fellow at the Foundation for
Defense of Democracies, said that countries previously used to circumvent
sanctions have become less receptive to illicit financial and commercial
activities linked to Iran, thus increasing the effectiveness of current U.S.
sanctions. However, this view is challenged by the reality that the United
States has been imposing sanctions on Iran for decades without achieving any
fundamental political change. The same is true for other countries subjected to
long-term sanctions, such as North Korea and Cuba. According to Jeremy Banner, a
partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, the United States has imposed approximately
2,200 sanctions on Iran since 2018, including some 350 added under the “economic
fury” campaign led by Bessent. Despite this, the sanctions have not yet altered
Tehran’s stance on its nuclear program or compelled it to relinquish control of
the Strait of Hormuz. David Tannenbaum, director of Blackstone Compliance
Services, a firm specializing in sanctions issues, said the Iranian regime is
"deeply entrenched." He added that sanctions are helpful because they deprive
the regime of financial resources, but cautioned, "I don't think they will
change the regime or force it to abandon its nuclear program."
The US administration maintains that it still has additional tools to pressure
Tehran, including making it more difficult to sell Iranian oil and preventing
the revenues from reaching the country. Among the options under consideration
are imposing stricter measures on China and India, the largest importers of
Iranian oil, with China alone accounting for more than 90% of Iranian oil
exports. Targeting institutions and companies that facilitate the purchase of
Iranian oil or finance its deals could also deal a direct blow to Tehran's
revenues. However, Washington has so far avoided targeting major Chinese banks
involved in financing this trade, fearing it would open a new front with Beijing
before the anticipated meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in
September. Another option is to tighten controls on exchange bureaus and
financial intermediaries in other countries, as these companies help Iran
repatriate its funds and convert payments, often made in Chinese yuan, into
currencies Tehran can use. However, experts believe these measures alone may not
be enough to achieve the US objective. Jeremy Banner said, "Will this force Iran
to capitulate? Probably not, if Washington relies on this step alone."
US can keep naval blockade on Iranian ports
indefinitely, Pentagon chief says
Reuters/13 August ,2026
The US military has enough assets to maintain a naval blockade of Iran
indefinitely, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, adding ships
could be rotated in and out of the region as needed. Hegseth’s comments suggest
he is advising US President Donald Trump that the US military can keep applying
economic pressure on Iran for as long as needed to help so-far failed
negotiations to end the conflict, begun in February. “Indefinitely the United
States Navy can maintain a blockade like that because we’ll rotate ships in and
out, as we have, and we’ll continue to,” Hegseth told reporters. He spoke in
Panama after addressing the crew aboard the USS Gridley, a guided-missile
destroyer, which had previously deployed to the Middle East. Trump on Wednesday
said the United States is in control of the Strait of Hormuz. “The USA. has
total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT! Our Naval
Blockade is being called, by everyone, “A WALL OF STEEL,” and there is nothing
Iran can do about it,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.After the start of
the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, Tehran
effectively shut the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and
liquefied natural gas was previously shipped. The US subsequently imposed a
naval blockade on Iranian shipping and ports, while saying it would protect
freedom of navigation for vessels traveling to and from non-Iranian ports.
Washington has poured tens of thousands of troops into the Middle East since the
war started, including more than 20 warships. Since the blockade started, the US
military has redirected more than 55 commercial vessels that were attempting to
run the blockade, including disabling three ships and boarding two. Earlier this
week, a US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into a
Panama-flagged ship’s engine room after it ignored warnings from US forces, the
military said.
Iran rejects Trump claims of US control over Strait of
Hormuz as ‘lies’
AFP/13 August ,2026
Iran’s military on Thursday rejected as “lies” remarks by US President Donald
Trump claiming control of the Strait of Hormuz, saying the strategic waterway
was fully under Iranian control. “The false claims of the United States that
ships are passing through the Strait of Hormuz normally ... are nothing more
than lies and fabrications,” said Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for
Iran’s central military command, Khatam-al Anbiya.“The Strait of Hormuz is, as
in the past, under the complete management and control of the Islamic Republic
of Iran, and no commercial ship or tanker without the permission and supervision
of the powerful Iranian armed forces has had and will have the possibility of
safe passage through this strait,” he said in a video carried by state
television.Iran has kept control of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit, since the
outbreak of the war in the Middle East on February 28, requiring vessels to
obtain permission and pay transit fees before using the waterway. In a Wednesday
Truth Social post, Trump claimed that the US “has total control over the Strait
of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!”“Our Naval Blockade is being called, by
everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it,” he
added. On Thursday, the head of Iran’s paramilitary Basij forces under the
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also said that the strait was under Iranian
control.“Today, you see that the Strait of Hormuz is under the management and
control of the Islamic Republic, and our country continues on its path in
complete security,” said Hossein Taeb according to state television. Iran’s top
diplomat Abbas Araghchi on Thursday said the US makes miscalculations in regard
to the waterway. “The U.S. has long miscalculated due to intelligence failures.
Case in point: The war on Iran. Now, an even bigger miscalculation on the Strait
of Hormuz,” he said on X. Iranian parliamentarian and member of the national
security commission Behnam Saeedi said the strait is closed to US and Israeli
ships.“Ships belonging to the Zionist regime will not have the right to pass
through the Strait of Hormuz under any circumstances, whether in war or
peacetime,” he told state TV, adding that “US military ships will also be barred
from passing through the strait.”Iran and Oman have been in talks to establish a
new route through the strait, but negotiations have not yet been finalized.
Tehran, however, says even if the talks produce a new route, that would not on
its own open the waterway unless the US meets Iran’s demands.
New aircraft carrier heads toward Mideast to replace long-deployed USS Lincoln
The Associated Press/August 13/2026
The Pacific-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington has begun heading
toward the Middle East, according to Navy statements and open-source information
on the ship's movements. This comes as reports have emerged of mental health and
supply issues aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose long deployment to the
Middle East in support of the Iran war includes a record-setting uninterrupted
time at sea of more than 240 days.The USS George Washington left port in Da
Nang, Vietnam, last week, according to a Navy statement. The carrier, along with
a cruiser and a destroyer, have since been spotted crossing the Singapore
Strait. A Navy official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail
sensitive ship movements, confirmed that the USS George Washington was in the
Strait of Malacca, which links the Pacific and Indian oceans. That puts the ship
on a course to head into the Indian Ocean. The Wall Street Journal reported
earlier that the Washington would replace the Lincoln. The Lincoln is one of two
aircraft carriers now stationed in the Middle East as the conflict simmers and
the Navy imposes a blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical
waterway for the global oil and natural gas trade.
The carrier originally deployed Nov. 21 from San Diego, and it arrived in the
region in January, ahead of the launch of the Iran war on Feb. 28.The Navy
conceded that the conflict created a “highly contested environment where
traditional supply hubs in the Middle East were disrupted by combat actions."
That, in turn, led to shortages and loss of mail aboard the aircraft carrier,
the Navy said in a statement.“Leadership prioritized mission-critical supplies:
first food, then hygiene items, then mail,” the statement said, before assuring
that sailors aboard the ship now have access to clean water and “healthy meal
options.”Several Democratic lawmakers have released statements calling for
investigations, more information and greater visibility into conditions aboard
the USS Lincoln. “The Lincoln’s prolonged deployment is especially significant
because it is occurring in the context of continuing military operations against
Iran and the possibility that substantial US naval forces will be required in
the region for an extended period,” Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal wrote in
his letter to Navy leadership.Navy leaders, including acting Secretary Hung Cao,
last week held a tense town hall for families of the USS Lincoln at which the
commanders of the Navy’s air and surface forces promised to do everything they
could to relieve the aircraft carrier. MS Now reported earlier on the meeting.
When reports of food shortages aboard the ship surfaced in April, the Navy
pushed back, calling those reports “false.”Other carriers also have had long
runs that have raised concerns about morale. The USS Gerald R. Ford returned
home in mid-May after an 11-month deployment , the longest since the Vietnam
War, that had it support the US war with Iran and the capture of Venezuelan
leader Nicolás Maduro.
US military has lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones during
Iran war: Report
Al Arabiya English/13 August ,2026
The US military lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones during the Iran war, US
officials were recently quoted as saying. The drones, each costing between $30
million to $50 million, were either shot down or crashed, US officials told The
Washington Post.
Iran says manages Hormuz Strait after Trump claims US control
Agence France Presse/August 13/2026
A senior Iranian official said on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz remains
under the control of the Islamic republic after President Donald Trump claimed
U.S. control over the strategic waterway. "Today, you see that the Strait of
Hormuz is under the management and control of the Islamic republic, and our
country continues on its path in complete security," said Hossein Taeb, head of
the paramilitary Basij forces affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guards,
according to state television. The comments came a day after Trump said his
country is controlling the strait, vital for the flow of global energy.
"The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP
IT!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday."Our Naval Blockade
is being called, by everyone, 'A WALL OF STEEL,' and there is nothing Iran can
do about it," he added. The U.S. has repeatedly claimed control over the strait,
with Iran rejecting the claims saying it effectively controls the waterway and
intends to impose a toll system.Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi on Thursday
said the U.S. makes miscalculations in regard to the waterway. "The U.S. has
long miscalculated due to intelligence failures. Case in point: The war on Iran.
Now, an even bigger miscalculation on the Strait of Hormuz," he said on X.Also
on Thursday, Iranian parliamentarian and member of the National Security
Commission Behnam Saeedi said the strait is closed to U.S. and Israeli
ships."Ships belonging to the Zionist regime will not have the right to pass
through the Strait of Hormuz under any circumstances, whether in war or
peacetime," he told state TV, adding that "U.S. military ships will also be
barred from passing through the Strait".Iran and Oman have been in talks to
establish a new route through the strait, but negotiations have not yet been
finalized. Tehran, however, says even if the talks produce a new route, that
would not on its own open the waterway unless the U.S. meets Iran's demands.
CENTCOM launches first-ever multinational drone task force
Al Arabiya English/13 August ,2026
The US military on Tuesday announced plans to establish Task Force Falcon
Strike, the first-ever multi-domain, multinational attack drone task force, as
the United States expands its use of unmanned systems across the Middle East.
The new task force will employ one-way attack drones and other unmanned systems
operating “from above, on, and below the sea,” according to a statement from the
US Central Command (CENTCOM). The systems will be operated by US personnel and
military support staff from regional partners, with the goal of integrating
allied capabilities into a unified regional force. CENTCOM said it has begun
consulting with and formally inviting regional partners to join the
initiative.Falcon Strike builds on the experience of Task Force Scorpion Strike,
which CENTCOM established in December 2025 as the US military’s first dedicated
one-way attack drone squadron in the Middle East. Scorpion Strike quickly
demonstrated the potential of relatively low-cost unmanned systems. In December,
a Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) was deployed against Iran, the
first time the US Navy had launched a one-way attack drone from a ship at sea.
The development comes as the United States remains deeply engaged in the war
with Iran. The conflict began with US and Israeli strikes against Iran on Feb.
28 under Operation Epic Fury and has since expanded into a broader regional
confrontation. The US has deployed tens of thousands of troops and more than 20
warships to the region, while maintaining a naval blockade of Iranian ports amid
the ongoing conflict. Unmanned systems have become an increasingly important
part of that campaign. The US has used drones for surveillance and strike
missions while also facing Iranian air defenses and other threats to its
unmanned aircraft. The war has underscored the value of systems that can be
produced and deployed at lower cost than traditional aircraft and can be used
without putting pilots directly at risk. CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper said
Falcon Strike will build on Scorpion Strike’s success and capitalize on
innovation among regional allies and partners. Personnel from US Special
Operations Command Central, which helped establish Scorpion Strike, will lead
Falcon Strike’s US and regional representatives. The broader objective is to
turn drone warfare into a multinational capability spanning the air, surface and
undersea domains, giving CENTCOM and its partners a more flexible and
potentially scalable tool for deterrence and combat operations across the
region.
Breaking:MBS meets top US general for Middle East to discuss defense
cooperation, reducing tensions
Al Arabiya English/14 August ,2026
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met the top US military general for the
Middle East on Thursday, the Saudi Press Agency reported. United States Central
Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Brad Cooper and MBS discussed defense cooperation
and efforts to reduce regional tensions, according to the SPA.The two also spoke
about developments in the region.
Prince Khalid meets Iraq’s top general to discuss
Saudi-Iraqi defense ties
Al Arabiya English/13 August ,2026
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman said Tuesday that he had met
Iraq’s Armed Forces Commander General Abdul Amir al-Shammari to discuss
bilateral ties.The two reviewed military and defense relations and regional
developments, while stressing the importance of continued coordination and
cooperation to advance shared interests and enhance regional security and
stability, according to Prince Khalid’s post on X. “Iraq will remain a dear
neighbor to us… and the Kingdom will always support its security, stability,
development and prosperity, for the benefit of Iraq and its people,” Prince
Khalid added.Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief, Khalid al-Hmeidan, visited
Baghdad last week to discuss regional security developments with Iraq’s prime
minister and conveyed a renewed invitation for him to visit Riyadh after an
earlier trip was scrapped over attacks on the Kingdom emanating from Iraq. Last
Thursday, a senior Saudi source said there were “multiple credible intelligence
reports” indicating coordination between Yemen’s Houthis, Iraqi militias, and
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to prepare attacks against Saudi
Arabia. Saudi Arabia has said Iran-backed militias in Iraq attacked the Kingdom
multiple times. It also carried out joint strikes with the United States last
month in response to militia attacks emanating from Iraq.
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill two including senior policeman: Officials
AFP/13 August ,2026
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed two people including a senior police officer on
Thursday, health officials said, the second straight day of bombardment after a
lull due to a US peace push.The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas
commander in the Khan Yunis area who it said had been planning attacks against
troops, in the second such targeting in as many days.“The terrorist was struck
in an aerial strike in order to remove the threat to IDF troops,” the military
said, adding that “steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians.”Gaza’s civil
defense agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas, said an
airstrike west of Khan Yunis killed one person, with the city’s Nasser Hospital
confirming the arrival of a body following the attack. In a separate incident in
Gaza City, the civil defense said one person was killed and several others
injured in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the Sheikh Ajlin neighborhood.
Al-Shifa Hospital said it had received the body of Gaza City’s police governor
Jamal Abu Kamil. Gaza’s interior ministry confirmed Abu Kamil “was assassinated
in an Israeli airstrike targeting his vehicle on Al-Rashid Street, southwest of
Gaza City.”When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was checking the
reports. Israel on Wednesday carried out its first airstrike in Gaza since
August 3. The hiatus in airstrikes came after US President Donald Trump’s
announcement of a “major milestone” in his plan to end the war.Hamas had
announced that it would disarm by giving its weapons to a nascent Palestinian
governing committee. Trump’s “Board of Peace.” in charge of implementing the
ceasefire deal, had initially announced that Israel in turn would start a phased
withdrawal from much of the Gaza Strip.But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on
Sunday publicly rejected the deal and vowed no Israeli pullout, even after the
Board of Peace reassured him that Israel would not have to withdraw until
complete Hamas disarmament.Israeli operations in Gaza have killed 1,260
Palestinians since the ceasefire, according to the territory’s health ministry,
which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable
by the United Nations.The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks
during the same period.
Israel sends troops to settler siege as US ambassador slams 'act of terror'
LBCI/August 13/2026
Israeli forces moved against rogue settlers laying siege to Palestinians on
Thursday, after unusually strong U.S. criticism, even as Israel reopened an
emblematic settlement elsewhere in the West Bank. Settlers at Qusra near Nablus
have since Sunday been blockading Palestinian homes, including one owned by a
U.S. citizen, with residents saying they have been cut off from food and other
supplies. The Israeli military said it sent forces to the area overnight and
dismantled two outposts, detaining one Israeli. Troops remained in place, the
military said, to "protect the residents and maintain security."Witnesses said
the settlers remained on rocks on a nearby hill, even after troops removed their
tent and blankets. "So far, no one has been able to get food and supplies to us
because the area is completely sealed off by the army," said Aisha Hassan,
trapped in one of the besieged houses. Qusra mayor Abdul Azim Wadi told AFP that
the army had withdrawn from eight homes it had seized on Thursday morning, and
that "all residents who had been evacuated returned to their homes."On Thursday
evening, settlers were still in the area, including near houses that they had
previously besieged, the mayor said. Israeli troops also remained in the town,
and told residents they would stay until Sunday, he said.The U.S. ambassador to
Israel, Mike Huckabee, for years a staunch supporter of settlers, said there was
"no excuse for such thuggish behaviour.""Actions by those who carried out this
horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are
disgusting," Huckabee wrote on X. Huckabee said Israel had intervened at the
request of the United States, its crucial ally. Video footage published over the
weekend appeared to show Israeli forces praying alongside the settlers, leading
the army to say it would take action. The U.N. Human Rights Office in the
occupied Palestinian territory on Thursday called on the Israeli authorities to
"immediately" act against the settlers."These criminal actions by the settlers,
supported or acquiesced to by Israel, the occupying power, are making life
unbearable for these Palestinian families, and are clearly aimed at forcing them
to leave their homes and land," it said in a statement. EU foreign policy
spokesperson Anitta Hipper called on Israel to take "concrete action to prevent
settler violence."AFP
Houthis claim drone strike on Saudi refinery: Affiliated
media
LBCI/August 13/2026
Yemen's Houthi rebels on Thursday claimed a drone attack on an Aramco refinery
in southern Saudi Arabia, the group's affiliated news agency Saba reported. "A
military source confirmed that the Yemeni Armed Forces targeted an Aramco
refinery in the Jizan region using two drones, achieving a precise hit by the
grace of God," Saba reported, referring to Houthi forces. The agency reported
that the source said the strike was a response to a Saudi "violation of Yemeni
airspace and the country's sovereignty in the Saada and Hajjah governorates."The
source said the Houthis would "respond decisively to any violation of the
country's sovereignty or any act of aggression targeting the nation," according
to Saba. AFP
US-indicted Raul Castro reappears after months out of public view
LBCI/August 13/2026
Veteran Cuban leader Raul Castro appeared in public for the first time in months
Thursday, attending an event to mark the centenary celebration of his brother
Fidel's birth.The 95-year-old head of the Cuban armed forces and former
president -- who was recently indicted by the United States -- appeared at the
event dressed in military uniform, AFP reporters witnessed. AFP
Japan protests Putin's first visit to disputed islands
Associated Press/August 13/2026
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday for the first time visited the
Kuril Islands, a Russian-controlled Pacific island chain also claimed by Japan,
in a move that drew a protest from Tokyo. Putin visited a fish plant, a hospital
and a school on Iturup, one of the chain's southernmost islands. He also briefly
spoke to local residents and met with the governor of Russia's Sakhalin region,
Valery Limarenko. Japan asserts territorial rights to the four southernmost
islands of the chain, which it calls the Northern Territories. The Soviet Union
took them from Japan in the final days of World War II, and the dispute kept the
countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities. Decades
of diplomatic efforts to negotiate a settlement haven't produced any visible
results. Moscow over the years has also beefed up its military presence on the
Kuril Islands in moves that appeared to underscore its firm stance in the
dispute. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said his country "strongly
protests" against Putin's visit to Iturup, which Japan calls Etorofu. "The
Northern Territories, including Etorofu (Iturup) Island, are Japan's inherent
territory both historically and from the perspective of international law,"
Motegi said in a statement. Japan also protested in 2021 when Russia's Prime
Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iturup.Putin in recent days has visited
several regions in Russia's Siberia and the Far East. Before coming to Iturup,
the Russian president stopped on Sakhalin Island to attend the final part of the
drills by Russia's Pacific Fleet.
The Latest LCCC analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources published
on August 13-14/2026
Islamism 101...America’s leaders refuse to do their homework
Clifford D. May/The Washington Times/August 12, 2026
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/aug/11/us-policy-islamism-cannot-rest-ignorance/
During the Cold War, Americans took communism seriously. We knew it was vital to
study the ideology of our enemies.
In 1946, Columbia University established the Russian Institute to train what its
founders called “American specialists” in Soviet affairs. I was a student there
in the 1970s.
Harvard followed with its Russian Research Center in 1948. The federal
government itself published a journal, “Problems of Communism,” from 1952 to
1992 — sophisticated, well-documented analyses written by scholars and diplomats
and read by policymakers in both parties.
Sovietologists didn’t just track Kremlin decrees. They studied Marxism-Leninism,
tracing its splits: Soviet vs. Chinese vs. Yugoslav vs. Eurocommunist. For
decades, there were debates about what Marx and Lenin meant and how their heirs
were bending their doctrines.
The ideology we call Islamism – or radical Islam or jihadism – has been
responsible for killing far more Americans on American soil than communism ever
was.
Islamism’s intellectual genealogy runs from a 1920s Egyptian schoolteacher,
straight through to al-Qaeda’s attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and on to the current
conflict with Iran’s rulers who for decades have declared that they are leading
an “Islamic revolution” against America.
This is as complex as anything Sovietologists ever mapped, yet there is no
Islamism Institute at Columbia or Harvard. On the contrary, many of those
teaching in Middle East studies departments at elite universities are themselves
Islamists – or at least Islamist-adjacent. Extravagant funding over many years
by Qatar is a major reason why.
Nor is there a U.S. government journal called “Problems of Islamism.” And last
week, Sen. Ted Cruz, chairman of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, convened a
fact-finding hearing titled “Hidden in Plain Sight: Confronting the Muslim
Brotherhood Network in America.”
All five Democrats on the subcommittee announced in advance they would boycott,
dismissing it in a joint statement as a “political creepshow,” designed to
scapegoat all Muslims. Not one Senate Republican showed up either, likely
because they feared being called “Islamophobic.”
I’ll concede a civil-liberties concern. But Sovietologists managed to study
Kremlin policies without treating every American with a Russian last name as a
suspect.
Perhaps these senators are unaware that the Muslim Brotherhood has been banned
or designated as a terrorist organization in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain,
Egypt, Jordan, and several other Muslim countries.
I should note that serious operational counterterrorism work on Islamism is
being conducted. RAND, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank that conducts
research under federal government contracts, has produced solid analysis of
jihadi networks for many years.
West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center and some Hoover Institution fellows do
careful research about groups, tactics, financing, radicalization – the
equivalent of Cold War threat assessment. But most of this is threat-tracking,
not sustained idea-tracking — not the study of what jihadists believe and why,
the gap Sovietology existed to fill for communism.
Every member of Congress should at least be familiar with Islamism’s
intellectual history. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna,
four years after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a highly decorated former Ottoman
military commander, abolished the Ottoman Caliphate, one of the final steps in
building what was – back then though no longer – a secular Republic of Turkey.
Al-Banna set out to revive the caliphate and restore the power Muslims had
wielded over the Middle East and slices of Europe for more than a millennium.
According to credible academic sources, the Brotherhood received financial
support from the German legation in Cairo during the late 1930s and into the
1940s – a relationship Jeffrey Herf and other scholars trace beyond funding to a
fusion of Nazi antisemitism with Islamist thought.
The Brotherhood today is estimated to have affiliates in more than 70 countries
with no single recognized leader or international headquarters. It often works
through groups that don’t acknowledge their links with the Brotherhood.
A British government review of the Brotherhood released in 2015 concluded that
it is “deliberately opaque and habitually secretive,” and parts have a “highly
ambiguous relationship with violent extremism.”
In January of this year, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
designated the Egyptian and Jordanian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as
Specially Designated Global Terrorists for their material support to Hamas.
Separately, the State Department designated the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood as a
foreign terrorist organization.
A bit more history: Sayyid Qutb, among the Brotherhood’s most influential
theorists, spent time in the U.S. circa 1950 where he was shocked and appalled
to see men and women dancing at church socials in Greeley, Colorado.
As a teenager, Ayman al-Zawahiri — later Osama bin Laden’s deputy and, after bin
Laden’s death, the head of al-Qaeda — joined the Brotherhood as a teenager and
would spend his life trying, as he put it, to realize Qutb’s vision.
Decades before the 1979 Iranian revolution, a young Shia cleric named Ali
Khamenei translated several of Qutb’s books into Persian. After Khamenei became
the second supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1989, Qutb’s texts
were reportedly taught in training schools of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC). In 1984, the Islamic Republic even issued a postage stamp honoring
him.
In other words, the Brotherhood inspired both the Sunni jihadis of al-Qaeda and
the Shia revolutionaries that have ruled Iran for nearly half a century.
Averell Harriman, a distinguished American diplomat who in 1982 endowed
Columbia’s Russian Institute – later renamed in his honor – said that policy
based on ignorance and illusion is dangerous; policy should rest on knowledge
and deep understanding.
The difference is that today, when a senator tries to pursue such inquiry
regarding one of America’s oldest enemies, his colleagues don’t even show up.
*Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies (FDD), a columnist for the Washington Times, and host of the
“Foreign Podicy” podcast.
The Mecca Defense Pact Looks Toothless. That Doesn’t Mean
It’s Harmless.....The emerging Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan alliance threatens to
trigger regional realignment.
Sinan Ciddi & Ahmad Sharawi/ The Dispatch/ August 13, 2026
https://thedispatch.com/article/mecca-defense-pact-saudi-pakistan-turkey/
On Friday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Mecca
Joint Defense Agreement, committing each state to treating an armed attack on
one as an attack on all. Two days later, Iranian-backed Houthi forces struck an
Aramco refinery in southwest Saudi Arabia with a drone, the latest in a long run
of strikes on the kingdom.
There was no collective response and no visible sign that anything had changed.
Can these three states actually operate a NATO-style guarantee?
Probably not. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has described the pact as
technically equivalent to NATO’s Article 5, promised a ministerial committee and
a secretariat based in Saudi Arabia to oversee its implementation, and claimed
it took two years and eight months to finalize—though earlier reports had dated
the negotiations closer to a year. But deterrence rests on precedent, and the
precedents are pretty poor.
Riyadh has held mutual defense commitments with Pakistan since September 2025
and with its Gulf Cooperation Council partners since 2000; neither has produced
anything resembling an Article 5 response, despite attacks on Saudi Arabia by
Iran and its proxy militias in Iraq and Yemen. Pakistan’s wartime deployment to
the kingdom—approximately 8,000 troops, a JF-17 squadron, and an HQ-9 battery—in
March was financed by Riyadh and described by officials as primarily advisory.
The signatories have no plans for the integrated command and interoperability
that make NATO’s guarantee credible, and the text of the agreement has not been
published. What each party wants is more modest than common defense. For Saudi
Arabia, the pact hedges against a U.S. guarantee that failed to stop Iranian and
Houthi strikes and signals that Riyadh has abandoned its pursuit of an Article
5-style commitment from Washington. For Pakistan, it buys prestige, protects a
region that supplies most of its hydrocarbons, and gives Islamabad something to
show to an administration demanding more burden-sharing from its global
partners. For Turkey, it adds deterrent weight against an Israel that
increasingly perceives Ankara as an adversary and creates a larger market for
Turkish defense firms.Egypt’s absence is a testament that the pact’s
mutual-defense commitment could carry complications that Cairo is not yet
prepared to accept. Egypt joined months of consultations with the three
signatories yet did not sign the final pact, and Fidan’s claim that Egypt is a
“natural partner” awaiting technical fixes has drawn no public commitment from
Egyptian officials. Those technical issues may themselves reflect Cairo’s
political reservations. After all, Egypt may want to ensure that membership does
not create an automatic obligation to take military action, particularly against
Israel, even if that pact is unlikely to be activated in practice. The Turkish
position is harder still to square. In April, months after Greece, Cyprus, and
Israel penned a defense cooperation agreement, Fidan accused the three countries
of allying “against Muslim countries” and warned that Athens was pursuing
dangerous policies that threatened to destabilize the region. Four months later,
Ankara signed a collective defense treaty with a nuclear-armed state and the
Gulf’s wealthiest nation. Greek officials are reassessing their relationship
with the Gulf states, and Israeli commentators are anticipating deeper Israeli
ties with Greece, Cyprus, and India. The United Arab Emirates, an Abraham
Accords signatory whose positions have long diverged from those of Riyadh and
Ankara, remains outside the Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan partnership.
A pact with this little security substance is doing other work. The commercial
and industrial logic under which the agreement becomes genuinely consequential
is far more relevant. As geopolitical rivalries deepen, from Pakistan’s
competition with India and Saudi Arabia’s growing rivalry with the United Arab
Emirates to Turkey’s tensions with Israel and Greece, the Mecca Accords could
arguably be more of an economic integration project than a defense pact.
In June, Turkey and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement aimed at reviving the
Ottoman-era Hejaz Railway to establish a trade route linking the Gulf to Europe
through Jordan, Syria, and Turkey. The corridor would notably bypass Israel, the
United Arab Emirates, and Greece—three countries that, only a few years ago,
stood at the center of plans for greater Arab-Israeli economic integration
through the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
# Alt Text A map displaying the new modern Hejaz Railway route spanning from
Istanbul, Turkey through Syria and Jordan to the Port of Aqaba, with an
additional connection extending through Saudi Arabia to Oman and Sohar.
A Turkish government infographic showing plans for the new Hejaz Railway. (Photo
by Mehmet Yaren Bozgun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ankara wants to position itself as a central transit hub in the region and has
promoted projects such as the Middle Corridor and the Iraq Development Road
toward that end. And Turkish officials have not hidden the true intention behind
all these investments: Trade Minister Ömer Bolat argued in June that “the
reduction of Israel’s influence in the region, together with increased political
and economic solidarity among us, will bring economic prosperity.”
Riyadh remains committed to IMEC, but it is also investing in alternative
networks that give it greater flexibility and reduce its dependence on a single
corridor. Saudi Arabia has also signaled that it’s interested in routes that do
not rely on Israel. The Financial Times reported that Riyadh is “pursuing
alternative routes that bypass Israel,” including the proposed Moses Bridge
linking the kingdom with Egypt, as well as a fiber-optic connection from Saudi
Arabia to Greece through Jordan and Syria rather than Israel.
On the map, IMEC leaves Pakistan on the sidelines. The corridor begins in India
and moves westward without passing through Pakistani territory. Islamabad and
Ankara, however, are sketching out a different route. Last month, Turkey and
Pakistan agreed to revive the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul railway and discussed
plans to connect South Asia with Central Asia and Europe through their own
territories. They have also explored extending the Lapis Lazuli Corridor, which
presently runs from Afghanistan through Central Asia to Turkey, southward into
Pakistan.
Some of these projects may never come to fruition, but these geopolitical
rivalries are shaping the region’s economic geography. If the Mecca Accords
endure, they could become the security framework that ties together economic and
energy projects that would ultimately have adverse consequences for the
countries left outside of it. There should be little reason to fear military
confrontation from the pact, but if Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan leverage
the pact to build alternative corridors, their regional competitors will lose
the value gained as strategic transit hubs.
But even if the Mecca Agreement never functions as a mutual defense pact, its
failure as a military instrument would not make it harmless. Riyadh’s assurance
that the pact carries no link to “nuclear ambitions or arms race” is a
commitment that alliance systems always issue and rarely honor. The pattern is
familiar from 1918 to 1939: a guarantor recedes, exposed states improvise
overlapping commitments, and each pact summons its counter-pact. Greek news
media already frames Mecca as the starting point for a series of compensatory
alignments, and the Benjamin Netanyahu–Narendra Modi call placed days before the
signing looks, in retrospect, like the first of them.
Pacts of this kind seldom deter on their own. They accumulate, harden into
blocs, and raise the general risk of armed conflict among states.
**Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
and director of the Turkey program.
**Ahmad Sharawi is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies.
Hamas's Secret Weapon to Continue Ruling Gaza
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/August 13, 2026
Is Hamas preparing to contest the Palestinian parliamentary election scheduled
for late November? If so, the United States and its European allies need to make
one thing clear immediately: Hamas must not be allowed to participate.
After October 7, Hamas has no right to exist as a military organization. It
should have no right to exist as a political organization either.
Hamas's latest statements suggest that the terrorist group has no intention of
disappearing from the Palestinian political scene.
"Weapons of all the militias shall be decommissioned and stored under NCAG
(National Committee for the Administration of Gaza) authority according to an
agreed upon timetable." — Roadmap presented by US President Donald J. Trump's
Board of Peace for the Gaza Strip.
The lesson could hardly be clearer: allowing terrorists to participate in
elections does not necessarily turn them into nice guys. Usually it just gives
them the legitimacy and institutions they need to consolidate power.
Eighty percent of Palestinians surveyed wanted Mahmoud Abbas, president of the
Palestinian Authority, to resign. Among those who said they would vote in a
presidential contest between Abbas and Khaled Mashaal, a Hamas leader, Mashaal
would crush Abbas.
Even more disturbingly, 69% of the Palestinians oppose disarming Hamas to
permanently end the war. An overwhelming 86% also said they did not believe that
Hamas terrorists committed the atrocities against Israeli civilians depicted in
videos from October 7.
Why, then, should anyone assume that another Palestinian election would produce
moderates committed to peace?
That is precisely why the United States and Europe should act now. There should
be no repeat of 2006. Hamas and its affiliates should be barred from
participating in any elections. Candidates who belong to Hamas, represent it, or
openly advocate its terrorist program should not be allowed to use elections to
legitimize an organization responsible for mass murder.
That would be the message to terrorists throughout the Middle East: commit
atrocities, start wars, sacrifice your own people, survive the military
response, and eventually the international community will rehabilitate you as a
legitimate political actor.
Did the Allies, after World War II, allow the Nazi Party to continue governing
Germany?
The objective after the October 7 massacre should not be to find Hamas a new
role. It should be to ensure that Hamas has no role. No weapons, no militia, no
control of Gaza, no participation in Palestinian government — and no electoral
rehabilitation whatsoever.
Hamas's latest statements suggest that the terrorist group has no intention of
disappearing from the Palestinian political scene. Eighty percent of
Palestinians surveyed wanted Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian
Authority, to resign. Among those who said they would vote in a presidential
contest between Abbas and Khaled Mashaal, a Hamas leader, Mashaal would crush
Abbas.
Is Hamas preparing to contest the Palestinian parliamentary election scheduled
for late November? If so, the United States and its European allies need to make
one thing clear immediately: Hamas must not be allowed to participate.
The Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group that carried out the October 7, 2023
massacre in Israel cannot be permitted to reinvent itself as a legitimate
political party. After October 7, Hamas has no right to exist as a military
organization. It should have no right to exist as a political organization
either.
Hamas's latest statements suggest that the terrorist group has no intention of
disappearing from the Palestinian political scene.
On August 11, Hamas urged Palestinians to register for the upcoming election and
update their details in the electoral registry:
"Out of national responsibility, and in loyalty to the sacrifices of our people,
and in commitment to safeguarding their right to choose their representatives
and renew their national institutions by their free will.... Hamas calls upon
the sons and daughters of our people to hasten in registering and updating their
data in the electoral registry, thereby ensuring their right to participate in
the upcoming Palestinian elections.... Registering in the electoral roll
represents the fundamental gateway to exercising the right to choose and
participate in national decision-making, and electing representatives of our
people in its official institutions, foremost among which are the Legislative
Council and the Palestinian National Council."
This sudden enthusiasm for elections should fool no one.
Hamas has not formally announced that it will contest the election. Why,
however, is an organization supposedly on its way toward disarmament and removal
from power urging Palestinians to prepare for the vote?
Hamas clearly intends to remain relevant to Palestinian politics.
The appeal comes amid reports concerning Hamas's response to the latest roadmap
presented by US President Donald J. Trump's Board of Peace for the Gaza Strip,
including provisions regarding the group's weapons:
"Weapons of all the militias shall be decommissioned and stored under NCAG
[National Committee for the Administration of Gaza] authority according to an
agreed upon timetable."
Hamas, however, has not handed over its weapons or relinquished control over
large parts of the Gaza Strip.
Even if Hamas eventually does surrender or store some of its weapons, allowing
it to survive as a political organization would be a monumental mistake. What
would be the point of disarming Hamas militarily only to rehabilitate it
politically?
Hamas cannot be permitted to exchange its rifles for ballot papers and then
claim it has suddenly become a respectable political movement.
The October 7 massacre should have put an end to that fantasy. The Hamas-led
attack was the worst atrocity committed against Jews since the Holocaust.
Thousands of terrorists invaded Israeli communities, murdered more than 1,200
people, and abducted 251 others to the Gaza Strip.
An organization responsible for such atrocities does not acquire democratic
legitimacy merely by participating in an election.
The West has made this mistake before. In 2006, Hamas was permitted to
participate in the Palestinian parliamentary election through its "Change and
Reform" list without first being required to dismantle its terrorist
infrastructure or abandon its 1988 charter, which calls for the elimination of
Israel. The charter opens with a quote from Imam Hassan al-Banna, founder of the
Muslim Brotherhood organization: "Israel will exist and will continue to exist
until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
The result of the 2006 election was disastrous. Hamas won 74 of the 132 seats in
the Palestinian Legislative Council, compared with 45 for Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah
faction.
One year later, Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip, expelled the
Palestinian Authority and established its own regime.
What followed should be remembered by anyone now contemplating allowing Hamas to
participate, directly or indirectly, in another Palestinian election. Hamas
turned the Gaza Strip into a massive terrorist base. It built tunnels,
accumulated rockets and missiles, recruited, armed and trained tens of thousands
of terrorists, and fought repeated rounds of war against Israel.
Then came the massacre of October 7, 2023.
The lesson could hardly be clearer: allowing terrorists to participate in
elections does not necessarily turn them into nice guys. Usually it just gives
them the legitimacy and institutions they need to consolidate power.
Twenty years later, are the Americans and Europeans about to make the same
mistake again?
Hamas has reason to be optimistic about elections. Despite the catastrophe it
brought upon Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by launching the October 7 attack,
Hamas remains popular among Palestinians.
Polling by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research has shown Hamas
maintaining a substantial advantage over Fatah in party preference and in a
hypothetical parliamentary election. The same polling reveals the depth of the
problem.
Eighty percent of Palestinians surveyed wanted Mahmoud Abbas, president of the
Palestinian Authority, to resign. Among those who said they would vote in a
presidential contest between Abbas and Khaled Mashaal, a Hamas leader, Mashaal
would crush Abbas.
Even more disturbingly, 69% of the Palestinians oppose disarming Hamas to
permanently end the war. An overwhelming 86% also said they did not believe that
Hamas terrorists committed the atrocities against Israeli civilians depicted in
videos from October 7.
This is the political environment in which the November election is supposed to
take place. Why, then, should anyone assume that another Palestinian election
would produce moderates committed to peace?
Hamas's leaders presumably know these numbers. Their enthusiasm about voter
registration is therefore hardly surprising. They know that Abbas and Fatah are
deeply unpopular. They know that many Palestinians continue to support "armed
struggle" against Israel. They also know that a large majority oppose their
disarmament.
Hamas may therefore see elections as its next route back to power and
international legitimacy.
If Hamas cannot retain its control through weapons, perhaps it can retain or
regain influence through the ballot box.
That is precisely why the United States and Europe should act now. There should
be no repeat of 2006. Hamas and its affiliates should be barred from
participating in any elections. Candidates who belong to Hamas, represent it, or
openly advocate its terrorist program should not be allowed to use elections to
legitimize an organization responsible for mass murder.
Hamas's political and military wings are not two separate organizations. They
serve the same movement and the same ideology. The idea that Hamas could be
dismantled militarily while being allowed to continue operating politically is
grotesque.
Another party that would undoubtedly welcome Hamas's political survival is Iran.
For decades, the Iranian regime has armed, financed, and supported Hamas as part
of its network of terrorist proxies targeting Israel and destabilizing the
Middle East. A Hamas victory in a Palestinian election would therefore be a
victory not only for Hamas but also for the Iranian regime and its "Axis of
Resistance."
The Iranian regime would be able to boast that despite October 7, despite the
Gaza war, and despite international demands for Hamas's disarmament, its
Palestinian proxy survived and returned to power through elections. That would
be the message to terrorists throughout the Middle East: commit atrocities,
start wars, sacrifice your own people, survive the military response, and
eventually the international community will rehabilitate you as a legitimate
political actor.
Did the Allies, after World War II, allow the Nazi Party to continue governing
Germany?
The objective after the October 7 massacre should not be to find Hamas a new
role. It should be to ensure that Hamas has no role. No weapons, no militia, no
control of Gaza, no participation in Palestinian government — and no electoral
rehabilitation whatsoever.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
*Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22788/hamas-secret-weapon-elections
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Erdogan on the AK Party’s quarter-century
transformation: Exclusive to Al Arabiya English
Recep Tayyip Erdogan/Al Arabiya English/13 August ,2026
Twenty-five years ago, when we founded the AK Party, we embarked together with
our nation on a long journey that would reshape Türkiye’s future. At the time,
our country was under immense strain from political crises, economic
uncertainty, and a tutelary mindset. Our goal was to put politics back at the
service of the nation, strengthen the bond of trust between the state and its
citizens, and make Türkiye a strong country capable of making its own decisions.
When we declared on 14 August 2001 that “Nothing in Türkiye will ever be the
same again,” our greatest strength was the will of our nation. The AK Party
emerged as the shared hope of millions whose rights had been restricted, who had
shouldered the burden of successive crises, and who aspired to a more prosperous
future for their children.
Looking back today, we see that the AK Party’s quarter-century journey has
marked a historic transformation for Türkiye. Democratic legitimacy has been
strengthened, our state’s capacity to deliver public services has expanded, and
participation in public life has broadened across different segments of society.
Türkiye has evolved into a country that sets its own goals, believes in its
capabilities, and shapes its future through its own will.
Strengthening democratic legitimacy has been at the heart of our efforts
throughout this period. We faced our gravest test in the attempted coup of 15
July. That night, by upholding the elected will and the constitutional order,
our nation demonstrated that no force beyond the ballot box could dictate
Türkiye’s future. This resolute stance marked a historic turning point, helping
us leave the era of tutelage behind, strengthen civilian politics and deepen the
roots of our democracy.
The investments we have made across a wide range of areas, from education and
healthcare to transport and energy, and from social policies to urban
development, have provided the tangible foundations of this transformation. We
have expanded access to public services nationwide and broadened opportunities
for production and development across Anatolia. We have supported greater
participation by women, young people, individuals with disabilities, and all
segments of society in economic and social life.
The steps we have taken in the defense industry and advanced technologies have
significantly reduced our dependence on foreign sources in strategic areas. Our
initiatives, which range from unmanned aerial vehicles and our national combat
aircraft, KAAN, to warships and air defence systems, have bolstered Türkiye’s
production and technological capacities. TOGG, our space programme, our
investments in nuclear energy, and the natural gas we discovered in the Black
Sea have become symbols of this new confidence. In the period ahead, we will
build on this foundation to achieve a new leap forward in artificial
intelligence, semiconductors, energy technologies, and high-value-added
production.
In foreign policy, Türkiye has become one of the most influential actors in an
evolving, increasingly multipolar international system. While safeguarding our
national interests, we pursued a multifaceted approach centred on diplomacy,
dialogue, and humanitarian responsibility. As we deepened our relations with the
Turkic and Islamic world in a multifaceted manner, we courageously defended the
rights of the oppressed on every platform. As a strong NATO ally, an active
member of the G20, a leading country in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation,
and one of the principal actors in the European security architecture, we
contribute to peace and stability across a vast geography extending from the
Black Sea to the Middle East and from the Caucasus to Africa. We view strategic
autonomy as the basis for establishing more balanced relations founded on mutual
respect and shared interests.
Our call that “The world is bigger than five” lies at the heart of our proposal
for international institutions, particularly the United Nations, to more fairly
reflect the current balance of power and the diversity of societies. The fact
that global peace and security remain dependent on the priorities of a limited
number of countries does not offer lasting solutions to the crises facing
humanity. We believe that a more inclusive, effective, and accountable
international order is essential for our common future.
Throughout our quarter-century journey, we have faced numerous challenges,
ranging from terrorist attacks and regional wars to irregular migration
movements, a global pandemic, and economic fluctuations. These challenging times
once again revealed the importance of strong institutions, effective public
administration, and state–nation solidarity.
We suffered one of the most devastating disasters in our history with the 6
February earthquakes. Affecting 11 provinces and millions of our citizens, this
devastating disaster left a profound scar on the hearts of our people. From the
very first moment, we mobilised all the resources at our state's disposal.
Today, we have made significant progress in the reconstruction of our cities. We
remain equally committed to this effort, from providing safe housing and
rebuilding production infrastructure to restoring social life and preserving our
historic fabric.
The AK Party’s enduring strength over the past quarter-century has been rooted
in the deep bond we have forged with our people. This experience also places a
responsibility on us to continually renew ourselves. We must take an honest look
at the changing expectations of our people, the aspirations of our youth for the
future, the impact of economic challenges on everyday life, and the way politics
is conducted. Our past achievements are an important point of reference, but it
is our will to pursue reform and our ability to lead change that will carry us
into the future.
In the period ahead, we will continue to combat inflation with determination
while expanding production, investment, and employment. We will strive for a
Türkiye where hard work is rewarded, prosperity reaches all segments of society,
and our young people have fairer access to opportunities in education,
employment, entrepreneurship, and housing. The Century of Türkiye represents our
collective will to shape the future in the second century of our Republic. We
envision a Türkiye with a strong democracy, a productive economy, a leading-edge
in technology, an effective foreign policy, and strong social solidarity. By
bringing together the experience of the past and the opportunities of the
future, we will increase the prosperity of our people, strengthen stability
across our region, and contribute to a fairer international order.
The AK Party’s 25th anniversary marks a historic milestone as we reflect on past
experiences and outline a roadmap for the future. On this journey we have
embarked upon together with our beloved nation, we move forward with the same
determination, maintaining our commitment to reform and focusing on the
opportunities of the future.
How I read the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement
Zaid AlKami/Al Arabiya English/13 August ,2026
Since the announcement last Friday of the signing of the Mecca Joint Defense
Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, debate and discussion
around it have not subsided. Some have viewed it as an important historic
alliance, others have approached it with caution, while some have gone so far as
to see it as the beginning of a shift in the region’s alliance map. The truth is
that the agreement merits this level of attention and debate because it is not
merely another passing diplomatic event in the history of regional alliances.
Rather, it represents the foundations of a new security era that could reshape
the balance of power in the Middle East and create a deterrence equation aimed
at reinforcing regional stability.The skeptics’ arguments take several forms.
Some believe the agreement could weaken the deterrence capabilities of Gulf
states, or reduce the relative weight of other Gulf Cooperation Council members
within collective security arrangements, especially given Saudi Arabia’s
position as the leading regional power. Others are uneasy about Turkey’s role,
while some fear the alliance could escalate tensions with Tehran. There are also
those who see it as a shift away from the traditional defense partnership with
Washington. Some have gone even further, arguing that the agreement could meet
the same fate as the 1950 “Joint Arab Defense Treaty.” That final concern may
draw on a real precedent. The Arab treaty was never activated, not because of
flaws in its legal wording, but because four of the seven countries that signed
it in Alexandria experienced persistent instability and repeated internal coups.
The Arab world later split into two opposing camps, one Western-aligned and the
other Eastern-aligned, turning the Arab League into an arena of rivalry rather
than a framework for unified action.
A careful reading of the provisions of the Mecca agreement and the context in
which it was signed, however, shows that it neither cancels nor marginalizes
previous security arrangements, whether those fall under the umbrella of the
Gulf Cooperation Council or the bilateral partnerships maintained by its member
states. On the contrary, the presence of a pivotal state such as Saudi Arabia,
backed by such a strong defensive belt, extends the benefits of that protection
and stability across the Arabian Gulf and the wider region. It also provides a
cross-regional security network without undermining the individual policies of
Gulf states. Although signing such agreements is a sovereign decision for any
state, there is a well-established principle in international politics that
countries able to diversify their security options are generally better placed
to protect their interests. The irony is that some of those criticizing this
agreement today see no problem with Gulf and Arab states maintaining multiple
defense partnerships. Kuwait, for example, has a joint defense agreement with
Washington, alongside agreements with London and Paris. The UAE has a defense
agreement with Washington and a joint defense agreement with Paris, in addition
to subsequent agreements with Israel. Qatar maintains joint defense arrangements
with both Washington and Ankara, while Bahrain and Oman have similar
international arrangements with Washington and London.
The significance of the agreement lies not only in the three countries involved,
but also in the moment in which it emerged. The Middle East no longer operates
within the same security environment that defined previous decades. Threats do
not necessarily begin with armies crossing borders. They may now come in the
form of missiles, drones, armed groups, attacks on critical infrastructure and
threats to maritime routes. Recent years have shown that relying entirely on
external security guarantees is no longer sufficient on its own to protect
national interests.
From this perspective, the Mecca agreement can be understood as a shift from
seeking protection to building deterrence. Saudi Arabia’s political, economic,
geographic and military weight makes its security an integral part of regional
security. Pakistan adds significant military and strategic capabilities to the
equation, while Turkey brings an advanced defense industrial base and extensive
military experience. All three major states have a direct interest in the
security and stability of the region. When these three elements come together,
the result is not simply the combined capabilities of three countries, but a new
deterrence network that is difficult to ignore. Geographically, it stretches
from the Arabian Sea to the Arabian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, all
of which are already closely tied to the security of global energy and trade
routes. Any disruption in these areas quickly affects both the regional and
global economy.More importantly, the agreement should not be viewed through the
question of “who is it against?” but rather through the question of who has the
ability to prevent war before it begins. Genuine deterrence does not start when
missiles are launched. It begins when an adversary understands that the cost of
testing the region’s security would outweigh any potential gain. This is the new
equation embodied by the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement. It is not a declaration
of the end of previous alliances, nor is it a prelude to confrontation with any
particular party. Rather, it reflects a broader shift in regional security
thinking, based on the idea that the region’s stability cannot remain hostage to
changing external calculations, and that the best guarantee of peace is the
ability to protect it. That is how I read the Mecca agreement.
Selected Face Book & X tweets
on August 13/2026
Barak Ravid
The Trump administration criticized Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz's
remarks about maintaining Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, stressing
that his comments contradict commitments the Israeli government made under the
framework agreement with the United States and Lebanon
"The United States expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the
Framework they agreed to, and Israel clearly stated that it has no territorial
ambitions in Lebanon. A permanent military presence in South Lebanon is not
consistent with the commitments made in the Framework, or the long-term peace
and security of both states," a State Department official said
The State Department official stressed that the United States "fully
supports Lebanon's territorial integrity and sovereignty". "The Framework
clearly includes a conditions-based path for progressive redeployment tied to
verified disarmament of Hizballah and the dismantlement of their infrastructure.
The Lebanese Armed Forces are implementing the first pilot zones, and the United
States will continue to support full implementation of that process," the
official said. Earlier Wednesday, Katz said during a visit to southern Lebanon
that Israel's military occupation there would continue indefinitely. "The IDF is
here to stay in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza to protect the
entire State of Israel. I have instructed the IDF to take all the necessary
steps to prepare for a long-term presence in the area. As the Prime Minister and
I have made unequivocally clear, we are not withdrawing from this security
zone," Katz said
Mariam Wahba
Much is being said about Egypt’s absence from the new Mecca Joint Defense
Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan. Was Cairo excluded? If so,
by whom and why? Or did Egypt choose not to join? And if so, why? a brief 🧵1/
Dr Walid Phares
My most pressing warning to the country regarding what @POTUS is now calling the
Jihadi threat to America: the jihadists in the US are penetrating police forces
by controlling city councils. This is how they intend to build their internal
security inside the homeland.
The threat is about jihadists not any religious community.
Robert Satloff
Today is the 74th anniversary of the decision by the #Jordanian parliament to
name #Hussein bin Talal as king of #Jordan, replacing his ill father. Since
Hussein was just 16 years old at the time, the #Hashemite kingdom was managed by
a three-member regency council until he
Ambassador Mike Huckabee
has been VERY involved & the IDF & Israel Police have gone at our request to
remove the Israeli terrorists doing this. The actions of those doing this to
this family’s home is criminal. The WH hasn’t “intervened” because we have kept
DC apprised of the situation already. Actions by those who carried out this
horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are
disgusting. No excuse for such thuggish behavior. But saying @USAmbIsrael or @usembassyjlm
doesn’t care or hasn’t done anything is simply untrue.
Mark Dubowitz
“The better option, then, would be to continue the pressure of the blockade and
sanctions, rather than sign a deal that hands over control of the Strait and
gives economic relief up front, while knowing that Iran will violate its
commitments. Amid all the attacks and demands, it’s easy to forget that the
regime is economically weak, with a damaged nuclear program, leadership and
industrial base.”
Marc Zell - מארק צל
UAE—IRAN—FROZEN ASSETS RELEASED
I just returned to Israel from Dubai and, as always, I am so impressed by what
the Emiratis are doing to build their nation in cooperation with Israel and the
United States. So it was troubling to read this morning unverified news reports
that the UAE has released hundreds of millions of assets (including gold) and
shipped them by air to the fanatical Iranian regime. Does anyone know whether
this is true???
Elliot Kaufman
Brutal: According to a report on n12, earlier this week IDF forces identified a
training session of approximately 50 Hamas Nukhba force terrorists practicing a
raid and seizure of an Israeli community. IDF commanders in the field reportedly
requested to act immediately to eliminate the terrorists, but were refused at
the directive of the political echelon under the instruction of the Board of
Peace.
Mossad Commentary
PRO-PALESTINIAN MOVEMENT SILENT AS HAMAS TORTURE SURGES IN GAZA SINCE THE
CEASEFIRE
Hamas has sharply escalated its interrogation, arbitrary detention and torture
of civilians in Gaza since the October 2025 ceasefire, according to IDF
Arabic-language spokesperson Lt. Col. Ella Waweya. A joint IDF-Shin Bet
intelligence assessment found severe violence targeting women, minors and
civilians across Gaza.Waweya says Hamas continues carrying out these abuses from
hospitals, schools, mosques and government buildings.
Yet from much of the international “pro-Gaza” movement: silence.
Karoline Leavitt
Serving as the White House Press Secretary over the past year and a half has
been the honor and adventure of a lifetime. I am incredibly grateful to
President Trump for granting me so many extraordinary opportunities, such as
working in the West Wing and spending countless hours in the Oval Office, flying
around the world and meeting foreign leaders, and traveling across our beautiful
country and meeting Americans from all walks of life.Most of all, I am thankful
to the President for entrusting me with the distinct privilege of speaking on
his behalf at the White House podium. I have spoken with great pride about the
many historic accomplishments of this Administration, and I have relished
holding the liberal media accountable and ensuring the American people hear the
truth about President Trump’s successes. Being a mother and welcoming a new baby
while working in one of the most demanding jobs in the world has been the most
rewarding yet challenging season of my life, to say the least. The truth is
since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt
in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while
devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House
Press Secretary — and that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet
decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life.
President Trump has asked me to continue serving as a top advisor to him
on the outside, and I will always remain a vocal advocate for MAGA and the
Republican Party. Our country is facing an
existential threat from an increasingly extremist Democrat Party that seeks to
destroy everything great about America, and I believe it is incumbent upon all
of us who care about this country to fight back against that threat. My fight is
entering a new phase, but it is far from over. Thank
you again to the President, the First Lady, and the entire Trump family for your
kindness and generosity over the years. Thank you to our amazing Chief of Staff
Susie Wiles for empowering me since the day she hired me on the campaign, and to
the President’s cabinet, my staff, colleagues, and friends at the White House
who work so hard on behalf of our nation. It has been a privilege to serve
alongside so many accomplished and impressive people, and I look forward to
cheering them on over the next two and a half years. And of course, thank you
most especially to my loving and supportive husband and family for the
sacrifices they made for me to serve in this role.
Gregory Galligan
We welcome the adoption of Lebanon’s new Media Law and encourage continued
efforts to build on this progress and address remaining concerns. Effective
implementation will now be key to ensuring strong protections for freedom of
expression and independent journalism. 🇨🇦🇫🇮🇬🇧