English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News &
Editorials
For August 22/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2026/english.August
22.26.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
‘Salt is good; but if salt has lost its
taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is fit neither for the soil nor for
the manure heap; they throw it away.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke
14/25-35/:”Large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to
them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and
children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my
disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and
estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when
he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to
ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.”Or
what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first
and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes
against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still
far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore,
none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
‘Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be
restored? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure heap; they throw it
away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’
Titles For The English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published on August 21-22/2026
Erdogan, detached from reality, is hallucinating about an Ottoman empire
buried in the dustbin of history./Elias Bejjani/August 21 August/2026
General Labor Confederation President Bechara Al-Asmar Appointed Chairman of the
Social Security Fund Board… What a Choice/Elias Bejjani/August 18/2026
A Political Class Hatched by the Incubators of Occupations/Elias Bejjani/August
18/2026
Salam visits army's South Litani headquarters in Tyre
Hezbollah doesn't intend to cede Ali al-Taher but open to 'compromise'
Ali al-Taher escalation: Israel weighs airstrikes and ground operations
Drone flies at low altitude over Beirut’s southern suburbs: Report
US Embassy welcomes Lebanon’s updated Media Law, urges further reforms
New US Sanctions Tighten Grip on Hezbollah, Test Lebanon
US Hits Hezbollah with Fresh Sanctions, Says Iran Controls it
World Bank Projects Lebanon Economy to Contract by 6.4% Due to War
State Return to South Lebanon Extends Beyond Security to Services, Recovery
Arab League Chief Condemns Israeli Violations in Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese
Territories
Hezbollah says doesn't need validation of its 'patriotism' after US sanctions
Inside One of Lebanon’s Pilot Zones, Hezbollah Has Returned/Claudia Groeling &
Ralph Atrach/This Is Beirut/August 21/2026
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 21-22/2026
Trump Warns of 'Economic D-Day' against Iran, but Tehran is Well
Acquainted with Sanctions
Iran President Says Time to End War while in Position of Strength
Iran's Qalibaf Says Tehran Must Plan to Overcome 'Unjust Sanctions', Following
US Threats
Economic pressure ‘most effective tool’ against Iran: US VP Vance
NATO members discuss Strait of Hormuz options without alliance involvement
Israel PM calls Turkey's Erdogan 'antisemitic dictator'
Türkiye to Seek Interpol Notice for Netanyahu in Gaza Flotilla Case
Iran Vows 'Devastating' Response to US Threat to Cut off its Economic Lifelines
UN Warns 94% of Gaza's Population Urgently Needs Shelter and Basic Aid
UK, Canada, Australia Slam Israel Ending Probe into Aid Worker Killings
Baghdad Implicitly Backtracks on Deadline to Confine Weapons to the State
Iran President Says Time to End War while in Position of Strength
US, Kuwait agree to deepen military cooperation and integration, Pentagon says
Abdi Announces Completion of SDF’s Civil, Military Integration with Damascus
Ukraine allies to meet Monday co-chaired by France, UK, Germany leaders: French
presidency
Zelensky slams 'cynical' Russian attack on shopping centre
Saudi Crown Prince departs for France on official visit
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials
from miscellaneous sources published
on August 21-22/2026
Where geopolitics meets the global economy/Cornelia Meyer/Al-Arabiyia
English/21 August ,2026
The UN on the Way to the Unknown/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 21/2026
Qalibaf and the Confining of Two States to the Hands of the Weapons/Mustafa
Fahs/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 21/2026
I Have a Dream/Dr. Abdelhak Azzouzi/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 21/2026
Ankara occupies Syria and then lectures Israel about sovereignty/A NATO member
that refuses to designate Hamas, hosts its leadership does not get to lecture a
state which has legitimate terrorism concerns/Sinan Ciddi/The Jerusalem
Post/August 21/2026
Beware Iran’s most devious weapon — another ‘October surprise’/Mark Dubowitz/New
York Post/August 21/2026
Israel strikes military airbase in Syria while warning Turkey/Seth J.
Frantzman/FDD's Long War Journal/August 21/2026
Washington Should Not Reduce Military Exercises With South Korea/Logan Rolleigh
and Ryan Brobst/FDD- Policy Brief/August 21/2026
Resistance to Taliban rule persists in Afghanistan/Will Selber/FDD's Long War
Journal/August 20, 2026
Democratic Socialists of America: The Secret Stooges/Peter Huessy/Gatestone
Institute/August 21, 2026
Question:What did Jesus mean by “upon this rock I will build my church” in
Matthew 16:18/GotQuestions.org/August 21/2026
Selected Face Book & X tweets on August 21/2026
Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published oon August 21-22/2026
Erdogan, detached from reality, is
hallucinating about an Ottoman empire buried in the dustbin of history.
Elias Bejjani/August 21 August/2026
Erdogan is a despicable Muslim Brotherhood sick
creature, obsessed with delusions and hallucinations of a bygone Ottoman Empire,
which history has buried in its dustbin. A monstrous creature, more dangerous
than Satan himself.
Israel will expose and dismantle Erdogan's
Ottoman illusions and ambitions, just as it exposed and defeated the
hallucinations of the Iranian axis of evil.
Elias Bejjani/August 20/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/08/156826/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqIzZHNWY4I
The state of Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has proven its
exceptional ability to completely alter the face of the region, thereby exposing
the ugly reality of jihadist political Islam and the Iranian axis of evil, which
was long built upon illusions, hallucinations, populist daydreams, and wishful
thinking. By delivering precise intelligence and military strikes, Israel
succeeded in eliminating the core of the mullahs' axis of evil. The
assassination of Hassan Nasrallah and all Hezbollah leaders from the first,
second, and third tiers proved beyond a doubt that Israeli intelligence knows
the inner workings of this Iranian terrorist organization better than its own
leaders, masters, and patrons among the mullahs of Iran. The exact same firm
policy was applied to the jihadist Hamas, culminating in forcing it to accept in
principle to surrender power in Gaza and lay down its arms, regardless of its
ongoing attempts to hide behind taqiyya (dissimulation) or temporary political
maneuvering.
This visionary and leading Israeli approach did not stop at shattering the myth
of the mullahs' regime and dismantling its false slogans through the
assassination of its political, military, and nuclear scientific leaders—carried
out in cooperation with the United States under President Trump. Rather, it
dragged the jihadist mullahs' regime in Iran into a state of absolute strategic
weakness. This weakness will inevitably open the door soon for the oppressed and
persecuted Iranian people to overthrow the criminal mullahs' regime, which is
obsolete, rooted in the darkness of eras of raids and ignorance, and utterly
disconnected from the demands of the modern age.
In the same context, Israel is firmly moving today to expose and dismantle the
dreams, schemes, incursions, and illusions of Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, who seeks to revive Ottoman ambitions and acts as the prominent patron
of Islamist jihadists. Just as the Iranian illusion collapsed, the failure of
Erdogan's Turkish gambits will come as a shock to several regional
capitals—foremost among them Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and Pakistan—that were
fooled by the deception that Erdogan is a strong, effective leader capable of
ending Israel's regional role or casting it into the sea.
As part of containing these expansive, delusional, deceitful, and populist
Ottoman plots, Israeli warplanes carried out precise strikes deep inside Syrian
territory on August 18, targeting the "Abu Duhur airbase" in the Idlib
governorate, roughly 70 kilometers south of the Turkish border. Eight strikes
hit the base's runway and storage facilities.
This decisive military action came after intelligence and satellite surveillance
detected the entry of a high-level, highly experienced Turkish military and
intelligence delegation into the "Abu Duhur airbase" in Syria's Idlib
governorate, in preparation for the Turkish military to seize control of it and
threaten the freedom of Israeli aerial navigation. The Israeli forces waited
until the Turkish delegation departed before striking the base, thereby drawing
a definitive red line against Erdogan and his evil ambitions. While the Israeli
Prime Minister's Office indicated that a previous security understanding existed
with Damascus to prevent breaches of the status quo by allowing Turkish forces
to deploy, Syrian jihadist officials rushed—to save face regionally, nationally,
and islamically—to deny the existence of any such understanding, condemning the
strikes as a violation of sovereignty. Meanwhile the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey,
Thomas Barrack—who is a personal supporter of Erdogan's project and entirely
ignorant of the region's history—expressed his concern over this escalation.
Israel, which has always been clear regarding its red lines, has maintained a
secure buffer zone inside Syria since the collapse of "Bashar al-Assad's regime"
in December 2024, and has executed preemptive strikes against bases slated for
Turkish occupation, such as the T4 airbase in February 2025.
There is no doubt that the current Syrian leadership, led by al-Golani (Ahmed
al-Sharaa), falls under direct Turkish hegemony and control; Ankara occupies a
third of Syrian territory via 12 military bases, and its overt objective is to
reach the Israeli border through terrorist jihadist organizations, mirroring the
role played by the Jihadist-Iranian terrorist Hezbollah along the
Lebanese-Israeli border.
In conclusion, Erdogan—with his jihadist, Islamist, and expansionist Ottoman
illusions and schemes—represents the real and operational threat looming over
the Middle East. This rancorous Islamist, dreaming of reviving an empire buried
in the depths of time, poses a grave strategic threat that dwarfs the danger of
Iran's mullahs and their criminal regime. He openly flaunts his blatant
hostility toward the state of Israel while exploiting regional alliances to
advance his agenda. His expansionist, Ottoman-minded Muslim Brotherhood project
threatens Arab nations collectively, not just Israel, especially given that
Israel's objective is to forge peace and cooperative agreements with regional
states through the civilized, peaceful, and economic Abraham Accords, rather
than threatening them, occupying their lands, and spreading jihadist
organizations as Erdogan and the Iranian mullahs' regime do.
Consequently, a strong, visionary Israel dedicated to peace, stability,
openness, freedom, and a dignified life will unquestionably not allow Erdogan to
execute his expansionist and radical Islamist project. It will not hesitate to
apply the exact same rigorous military rules used to subdue the mullahs' regime
and its evil proxies—Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis—to shatter Erdogan's
illusions and expose the reality of his power and capabilities.
General Labor Confederation President
Bechara Al-Asmar Appointed Chairman of the Social Security Fund Board… What a
Choice!
Elias Bejjani/August 18/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/08/156755/
With each passing day, enlightened, free, and sovereignty-minded
Lebanese become increasingly convinced that the tenure of Joseph Aoun and the
government of Nawaf Salam, along with most of those who revolve within the orbit
of power, the owners of the country’s political parties enterprises and
political parties agencies, and their networks of vested interests, is nothing
more than a blatant and transparent continuation of the approach that ruled
Lebanon throughout the years of Syrian and Iranian occupations.
From this perspective, the election of Bechara Al-Asmar, President of the
General Labor Confederation, as Chairman of the Board of the National Social
Security Fund can only be understood within the context of the continuation of
the same ruling establishment that brought the country to collapse and whose
real levers of power remain firmly in the hands of Nabih Berri and Hezbollah.
It is well known that the General Labor Confederation, which was supposed to
serve as the umbrella defending the rights of Lebanese workers, has for many
years been transformed into an instrument subordinate to the political
establishment and its apparatuses, losing both its independence and its genuine
trade-union role. In the eyes of large numbers of Lebanese workers, the
Confederation no longer represents their interests or aspirations. Instead, it
has become part of a system of political patronage and dependency that has
stripped national institutions of their true purpose and national character.
The experience of past decades confirms that the majority of labor and
professional unions that fell under the domination of the traditional political
parties—the poisonous legacy of successive occupations—have been transformed
into tools of political and electoral mobilization rather than institutions
dedicated to defending the rights of their members.
In this context, the names of Bechara Al-Asmar and Bassam Tlais stand out as
prominent figures within a union structure that has become closely associated
with the projects and interests of the forces dominating Lebanon’s political
decision-making, foremost among them the Amal Movement and Hezbollah.
If the National Social Security Fund constitutes the last social safety net for
hundreds of thousands of Lebanese citizens, then placing it under the management
of figures affiliated with the same political establishment raises legitimate
concerns among citizens who have suffered from corruption, waste, and political
patronage throughout the past decades. Genuine reform begins by removing public
institutions from the influence of political parties and occupation forces and
restoring them to competent, experienced, and independent leadership.
In recent years, the Lebanese people have endured an unprecedented financial and
economic collapse, while the official union leadership remained largely absent
from any serious and effective defense of workers, retirees, and low-income
citizens. It also failed to prevent the erosion of wages, protect social
security and mutual assistance funds, or confront policies that pushed hundreds
of thousands of Lebanese into poverty and forced many into emigration.
Accordingly, what is required is not merely opposition to the appointment of
this individual, Rather, it is a fundamental reassessment of Lebanon’s labor
movement, its liberation from partisan and political tutelage and from
subservience to occupation forces, and the enactment of modern laws that
guarantee its independence and transparency, thereby restoring its natural role
as the foremost defender of workers’ rights and interests.
In conclusion, the heresy of installing Bechara Al-Asmar at the head of the
National Social Security Fund Board under the false pretense and deception of an
“election” constitutes yet another indication that the mentality of political
quotas and patronage still controls the state and its institutions, and that the
presidency tenure of Joseph Aoun and the government of Nawaf Salam serves merely
as a façade for Iranian domination as represented by Nabih Berri and Hezbollah.
Real reform will begin only when Lebanon frees itself from occupation and when
competence, integrity, and independence become the sole criteria for assuming
public office, free from partisan loyalties and regional agendas.
The author, Elias Bejjani, is a Lebanese expatriate activist
Author’s Email: Phoenicia@hotmail.com
Author’s Website:
https://eliasbejjaninews.com
A Political Class Hatched by the Incubators
of Occupations
Elias Bejjani/August 18/2026
The entire political class, from top to bottom, from the middle to the
seventies, is a scumbag, hatched by the incubators of occupations...
emasculated, with fabricated files, opportunists, corrupt, narcissistic, with no
vision or cause. And there are no exceptions... politicians, party-owning
companies, religious figures, and rulers who are themselves ruled. And of
course, the flocks of sheep belonging to the party-owning companies.
Aoun reportedly seeking military cooperation agreement
with EU
Naharnet/August 21/2026
President Joseph Aoun is leading an effort, in cooperation with Prime Minister
Nawaf Salam, to pursue a military cooperation agreement between Lebanon and the
European Union with the aim of bringing in a European military force to replace
UNIFIL, whose mandate expires at the end of this year, al-Akhbar newspaper
reported.“Aoun appears to be operating on the premise that such an agreement
requires neither a Cabinet decision nor a law passed by Parliament ... and he is
relying on strong support from the United States, which still prefers that
European participation be limited to specific countries, with a particular focus
on Italy,” the daily said. According to the report, Aoun's latest visit to Rome
aims to discuss this matter with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, within
the context of the role the United States and Israel envision for Italy, which
is led by a right-wing government supported by the Trump administration. “Aoun
is seeking to convince the Italians to provide the necessary European funding to
lead the European force, which is supposed to be formed from countries such as
Germany and Scandinavian nations, with an American-Israeli desire to exclude
France and Spain in particular, and leave a special role for Germany,” al-Akhbar
added.
Salam visits army's South Litani headquarters in Tyre
Naharnet/August 21/2026
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Defense Minister Michel Menassa visited Friday
the Lebanese Army's South Litani headquarters in the southern city of Tyre.
Salam urged the army to maintain its unity, assuring the soldiers that his
government is mobilizing all available Arab and international support to enhance
human capabilities, modernize equipment, and improve living conditions for
military personnel. He said the army's presence in the south represents the
state itself and with every new military position, the state restores its
sovereignty. "We want the South, as with all of Lebanon, to fall under the
authority of one unified state," Salam said, adding that strengthening the army
is "a strategic choice" at the heart of the government's mission to rebuild the
state. The visit comes after a violent night of strikes and demolitions in the
border villages of Mayfadoun, Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh, Ali al-Taher, Taybeh, Mays
al-Jabal, al-Mansouri, Hadatha, Teereh, and al-Khiam. While Salam was delivering
his speech, explosions from detonations in nearby al-Mansouri were heard, and
Israeli artillery was shelling al-Mansouri and Majdalzoun. A strike also
targeted a house on the outskirts of Baraashit. Later
in the day, detonations were carried out in Arnoun-Kfartebnit. Defense Minister
Menassa reaffirmed Lebanon's commitment to full sovereignty over every inch of
its territory, adding that negotiations with Israel remain the best path out of
the current crisis. "We will not rest until the South returns to Lebanon," he
said.
Hezbollah doesn't intend to cede Ali al-Taher but open to 'compromise'
Naharnet/August 21/2026
Amid conflicting reports about the situation in the Ali al-Taher area, which
continues to come under Israeli airstrikes, a prominent Hezbollah source
confirmed that the group "has no intention of surrendering the Ali al-Taher hill
to the Lebanese Army, the enemy, or any other party.”
“Such a surrender carries significant risks, the most important being that it
would embolden the enemy to seize other positions at any cost. Furthermore, this
area lies north of the Litani River, and the exclusive right to bear arms is
governed by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which addresses only the area
south of the Litani," the source told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks
published Friday.The source added: "Ultimately, the enemy could take the hill,
but only through a battle, because the culture of surrender and capitulation is
not part of the resistance's culture. Moreover, our young men are not expected
to commit suicide. Therefore, the matter could be subject to a compromise, the
terms of which Lebanon has set, beginning with the most crucial point: a
cessation of hostilities and withdrawal."
Ali al-Taher escalation: Israel weighs airstrikes and
ground operations
LBCI/August 21/2026
Israeli security officials have decided to expand attacks on Ali al-Taher hill
in southern Lebanon, including airstrikes by warplanes and drones, as well as
special ground operations by Israeli army units surrounding the area. The
decision comes amid Israeli reports that a number of Hezbollah fighters have
managed to emerge from tunnels surrounded on the hill, while others have entered
the tunnels to reinforce fighters who remain trapped inside. According to
Israeli security assessments, fewer than 30 Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps fighters are believed to be inside the tunnels on the hill. If
accurate, the reports would present the Israeli army with growing challenges in
an area it has heavily targeted with airstrikes in recent hours. Entering the
fortified tunnel network could pose significant risks to Israeli troops. The
army is therefore operating under what it calls a strategy of “gradual pressure”
on those trapped inside. The reported presence of Iranian personnel, according
to the Israeli narrative, also adds regional and political sensitivity to the
situation. Despite the challenges, the Israeli army says it is prepared to
address the situation and is awaiting political approval.
The escalation in Ali al-Taher also followed a security assessment claiming that
Hezbollah was planning to target Israeli forces by planting explosives and
carrying out large-scale attacks. With Israel’s
elections about two months away, Tel Aviv is using the Ali al-Taher issue as a
potential lever that could reshape the situation on the ground — and possibly
the political landscape — amid Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s need to
project an achievement on the northern border.
Drone flies at low altitude over Beirut’s southern suburbs: Report
LBCI/August 21/2026
A drone was seen flying at low altitude over Beirut’s southern suburbs on
Friday, according to local reports.
US Embassy welcomes Lebanon’s updated Media Law, urges further reforms
LBCI/August 21/2026
The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon welcomed Parliament’s approval of the updated Media
Law, describing it as an opportunity to advance Lebanon’s media landscape. The
embassy said effective implementation and further reforms, including ending the
criminal prosecution of journalists simply for carrying out legitimate
professional duties, are essential to protecting journalists, safeguarding press
freedom and promoting a pluralistic and independent media environment. It
reaffirmed that the United States remains firmly committed to supporting
Lebanon’s efforts to protect freedom of expression, shield journalists from
political pressure and maintain a vibrant and independent media sector.
New US Sanctions Tighten Grip on Hezbollah, Test Lebanon
Beirut: Youssef Diab/Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/2026
New US sanctions on Hezbollah go beyond targeting money-transfer networks,
signaling a broader shift in Washington’s approach to the group and its
relationship with the Lebanese state. By relisting
Hezbollah on its sanctions list and targeting a network accused of moving
millions of dollars to the group, Washington is stepping up pressure on
Hezbollah while putting Lebanese institutions to a sensitive test: whether they
can tighten oversight of money flows and transfers and meet their obligations
without worsening the country’s internal crisis. The US Treasury Department’s
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on 10 people “that
are part of a network responsible for transferring cash to Hezbollah.”“The
network utilizes couriers travelling on commercial airline flights between
Lebanon, Türkiye, the UAE, and Iran to move up to hundreds of millions of
dollars between jurisdictions, providing an avenue outside the formal financial
system for Hezbollah to obtain foreign currency and evade sanctions,” it said.
OFAC also re-designated Hezbollah “for service to the Iranian regime under the
command of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF).”
Lebanese institutions under scrutiny
The US move is unlikely to stop with the targeted individuals and entities. It
puts Lebanese banks, financial institutions, and regulatory bodies under closer
US scrutiny, testing their ability to detect financial activity that could be
linked to Hezbollah, its institutions, or its networks. An official Lebanese
source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the sanctions “pose challenges for the Lebanese
state and its security, judicial and financial institutions.”The source said the
“tough US measures require tighter oversight of any assets linked to Hezbollah
and its institutions, because any delay in doing so could leave the state facing
consequences it can ill afford.”OFAC said that “Hezbollah and its allies exploit
financing schemes including oil smuggling, illicit shipping, commodities sales,
and bulk cash smuggling to generate and move funds across the region.”The US
Treasury linked the targeted network to Behnam Shahriyari, a former Quds Force
finance official, saying it was “one example of the methods used to funnel
support to terrorist proxy groups throughout the region.”
Beyond Lebanese framework
But the strongest message in the sanctions, according to one Lebanese political
reading, is directed at Lebanon itself. Sami Nader, director of the Levant
Institute for Strategic Affairs, said the latest measures differ from previous
sanctions because Washington is “dealing with Hezbollah under a new
classification that places it outside the traditional Lebanese framework and
presents it as an Iranian faction and part of the broader US confrontation with
Iran.” Nader told Asharq Al-Awsat that the shift “will have repercussions inside
Lebanon and for the authorities and official institutions, particularly in light
of the political and even financial relationship linking the group to some
Lebanese factions.”Under the new US approach, he said, Hezbollah “is no longer
viewed as a representative of the Shiite community, but as an Iranian faction
occupying Lebanon.”He said the implications could extend well beyond financial
sanctions.“Any party dealing with Hezbollah could be viewed by the United States
as being involved in dealings with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards,” Nader said,
adding that this could trigger “political and legal repercussions that go beyond
direct financial sanctions.”The effects of the new approach also extend into the
political and diplomatic sphere, particularly Lebanese-Israeli
negotiations.Nader said tougher sanctions “could give Washington greater room to
manage negotiations with Israel, allowing it to pressure Hezbollah” and “keeping
the issue of ending Hezbollah’s influence part of the broader US confrontation
with Iran.”
Europe’s response in focus
Attention is also turning to Europe and whether it will follow Washington’s
lead. Nader pointed to what he called “the recent hardening of the French and
British positions toward Iran.”“If the US approach extends to Europe, Lebanon
could find itself entering a more complicated phase,” he said.
In that case, compliance with international sanctions would become “not merely a
political choice, but an additional test of the state’s ability to protect its
financial system and institutions from the repercussions of a regional and
international conflict that extends beyond its borders,” he explained.
Hezbollah rejects US designation
Hezbollah rejected the US position, saying the claim that it is under the
control of the Quds Force was merely a pretext for relisting it under sanctions.
The party described the move as “part of the continued policies of US
administrations to target the resistance, its community, its support base and to
besiege them and exert political, financial and security pressure on
them.”Hezbollah said Washington “continues to deal with Lebanon from a position
of tutelage.” It accused the US of choosing, instead of pressuring Israel to
withdraw from southern Lebanon and halt its attacks, to “besiege the Lebanese
and work to strip Lebanon of all sources of strength.”On its relationship with
Iran, Hezbollah said: “Our close and brotherly relationship with Iran is one we
cherish and take pride in.”But it stressed that it “does not await anyone’s
certification of its Lebanese identity or patriotism.” The party said sanctions
and designations “will not deter us from adhering to the option of resistance
and to the right of Lebanon and the Lebanese people to defend their land,
sovereignty, and resources.”
US Hits Hezbollah with Fresh Sanctions, Says Iran Controls it
Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/2026
The United States announced new sanctions Thursday against a Hezbollah financing
network, while highlighting the Lebanese armed group's close ties to Iran's
Revolutionary Guards. Hezbollah's legal designation as
a terrorist organization has been amended to note that it operates in "service
to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps," particularly the elite Quds Force, the Treasury Department said in a
statement. The new redesignation "specifies that Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy,
not a stand-alone operation as implied by the previous designation," a State
Department official said. "This underscores that Hezbollah operates with little
to no regard for Lebanese sovereignty, the Lebanese people, or the Lebanese
state." Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the broader Middle East war in March with
rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.Israel responded with a
heavy air campaign and ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed
more than 4,300 people. "This action builds on years of US designations that
have repeatedly documented the operational, financial, and logistical
integration between Hezbollah and the IRGC-QF," the State Department official
said, calling Hezbollah "an extension" of the latter. "It is not a Lebanese
resistance movement," as Hezbollah describes itself, the official said. The new
sanctions target 10 people who are allegedly part of a network that transfers
cash to Hezbollah, which has already been punished with US sanctions many times,
the Treasury statement said. The network utilizes couriers travelling on
commercial airline flights “to move up to hundreds of millions of dollars
between jurisdictions, providing an avenue outside the formal financial system
for Hezbollah to obtain foreign currency and evade sanctions," the statement
said. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier on Thursday that he would
hold a press conference on Monday about "the toughest sanctions in history" that
Washington plans to impose on Iran. He said that a plan to sharply increase pain
from economic sanctions on Iran aims to "collapse" the country's government. "It
is going to work in Iran and we are going to collapse this regime," he told
CNBC. "This is going to be the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the
history of the world."
World Bank Projects Lebanon Economy to Contract by 6.4% Due to War
Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/2026
The World Bank on Friday projected that Lebanon's economy would contract by 6.4
percent this year, as the latest Israel-Hezbollah war derailed the country's
efforts at recovery. Lebanon has been dealing with an
unprecedented financial crisis since 2019 and was still reeling from the 2024
Israel-Hezbollah war when the Iran-backed group drew it into the Middle East
conflict by attacking Israel in March. Israel responded with a heavy air
campaign and ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than
4,300 people. Due to the war, "real GDP is projected to contract by 6.4 percent
in 2026, reflecting the collapse in tourism, weaker consumption, disrupted
supply chains, heightened insecurity, and prolonged displacement," the World
Bank said in a report. Inflation is also expected to rise to 17.5 percent this
year, according to the report.The World Bank said Lebanon's economy had
strengthened before the latest conflict, with an estimated real GDP growth of
4.2 percent in 2025, "the fastest since the onset of the 2019 financial crisis".
"Advancing reforms -- particularly on banking sector restructuring and fiscal
management -- will be critical to restoring confidence, protecting stability,
and mobilizing the financing needed for reconstruction and recovery," Dahlia
Khalifa, the World Bank's Middle East director, said.
The international community has been demanding that Lebanese authorities enact
financial reforms in order to secure much-needed economic aid. Last week,
parliament passed amendments to a bank resolution law aimed at restructuring
troubled banks and addressing the country's banking crisis.The International
Monetary Fund welcomed the law, describing it as "a very good step that reflects
Lebanon's commitment to aligning its legislation with the best international
practices".
Lebanon has been in discussions with the IMF, which said it would resume its
meetings in Beirut next month.
State Return to South Lebanon Extends Beyond Security to
Services, Recovery
Beirut: Soubhi Amhaz/Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/2026
Lebanon’s push to reassert the state’s presence in the south is moving beyond
security deployments to a harder test: restoring schools, services, and
livelihoods in communities battered by war. Recovery
programs are beginning to take shape, but a wide funding gap threatens efforts
to keep residents in their towns and revive areas where infrastructure,
agriculture, and education have sustained extensive damage.
A framework for return, but funding lags
In 2026, the government launched the “National Framework for Return, Early
Recovery and Restoration of Basic Services,” covering the return of residents,
social protection, the restoration of services and livelihoods, and preparations
for reconstruction. No consolidated budget has been announced yet.One of its
main financing tools is the Lebanon Emergency Assistance Project (LEAP),
implemented by the Council for Development and Reconstruction. The project was
designed to scale up to $1 billion. So far, only $250 million has been secured,
leaving a $750 million funding gap. Of the available financing, $50 million is
earmarked for immediate response measures, including debris removal, securing
buildings, and reopening roads. Another $175 million is allocated to restoring
water, energy, transport, health, and education services, while $15 million is
set aside for studies and designs, and $10 million for project management. Under
the full framework, $455 million is allocated for reconstruction, most of it
still unfunded. In a parallel effort, the government launched a program in May
worth about 32 million euros for southern Lebanon and the Bekaa, running through
2029. The European Union is providing 24.8 million euros, Denmark 5.35 million
euros, and the French Development Agency 2 million euros. The program targets
local authorities, small businesses, and the agricultural sector, while seeking
to create jobs. Lebanese ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the new
response framework provides a basis for attracting funding, but it is still not
fully financed.” They said the Ministry of Social Affairs was “continuing to
work intensively to secure additional funding to help respond to the needs of
affected groups.”
A safety net for more than one million people
Social protection is a central part of efforts to keep residents in their
communities and support their return. The sources said one of the main response
measures was cash assistance provided by the Ministry of Social Affairs,
covering about 230,000 families through the ministry’s shock-responsive social
safety net.Based on the average household size, more than 1 million people
receive support. The assistance is particularly
significant in areas where returning home still depends on families' ability to
repair their homes, restore access to services, and find work. That makes social
support part of the effort to re-establish communities, rather than simply an
emergency measure.
Agriculture: getting farmers back to their land
The Ministry of Agriculture has divided its response plan into five tracks:
emergency support for farmers; protection of food supply chains and markets;
protection of livestock production and assets; continuity of programs and
services; and coordination and needs assessment. Measures include monitoring
food supply chains, accelerating imports of plant products, extending import
deadlines for some essential goods, and monitoring markets and prices in
coordination with the Ministry of Economy. The plan
also provides emergency assistance to farmers in high-risk areas and steps up
operations at ports, border crossings, quarantine centers, and laboratories to
speed the entry of goods.The report does not set an overall budget for the
agricultural response.Instead, it says the ministry is working with partners and
donors to identify priorities, assess possible interventions, and secure
resources. Resources reported by the ministry’s network of agricultural partners
that are being mobilized include $1,650,150 in cash assistance targeting 4,840
farmers. In-kind assistance is expected to reach 1,850 farmers and includes
solar-powered irrigation pump kits, agricultural inputs, animal feed, treatment
support, and infrastructure.The ministry has also launched a platform with the
food security sector to identify and track available resources.
Schools face a September test
Education is emerging as one of the clearest tests of whether state institutions
can resume normal operations in the South and Nabatieh governorates. Sources at
the Ministry of Education and Higher Education told Asharq Al-Awsat that the
ministry aims to start the 2026-2027 academic year with in-person classes at
schools that meet safety and readiness requirements, starting Sept. 15. Schools
in the affected areas of the South and Nabatieh will temporarily rely on remote
learning until technical and operational assessments are completed.
The scale of the challenge is substantial. Of
267 schools in the two governorates, 198 have been damaged. Eighty-nine
sustained very minor damage, 64 moderate damage, and 15 severe damage. Another
30 were completely destroyed. The ministry is using a
“school cluster” model for planning, grouping schools and alternative learning
spaces within the same geographical area. Each cluster will have a file
detailing student and teacher numbers, building conditions, capacity, and the
locations of displaced students.Students whose schools cannot reopen will remain
enrolled in their original schools while temporarily attending a host school or
alternative learning space.Schools being used as shelters will operate under
conditions designed to ensure the safe separation of their educational and
shelter functions. The ministry is also building an operational database to
track schools and students and setting up a hotline. Each school will receive an
official operational decision specifying how classes will resume. The ministry
has also expanded its use of “Teaching Hubs,” or teaching and learning centers,
aimed at restoring teachers’ roles in affected areas while providing students
with places to receive support and continue their education. The sources said
the objective went beyond repairing damaged buildings. “The goal is not limited
to rehabilitating damaged school buildings, but also includes preserving the
school as an existing institution even if its building has been destroyed, by
maintaining its administration, teachers, and students,” they said. That, they
added, would ensure that each school retains its identity and educational role
until it can be rehabilitated or rebuilt.
Arab League Chief Condemns Israeli Violations in Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese
Territories
Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/2026
Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil Fahmy denounced Israel’s violations
against Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese territories saying they cannot be
viewed as isolated incidents or justified by fabricated security claims. He said
these actions reflect a persistent approach marked by the use of force, the
imposition of a fait accompli, and violations of states' sovereignty and
territorial integrity, the Saudi Press Agency said on Thursday. In a statement,
Fahmy asserted that Israel continues to act as a state that disregards
international law. He called on the UN Security Council and the international
community to take responsibility and implement practical measures to stop these
violations and end the policy of impunity. Fahmy underscored that Israel's
actions not only threaten countries in the region but also undermine the
credibility of the international legal order. He said they reinforce the notion
that force can serve as an alternative to international legitimacy.
Hezbollah says doesn't need validation of its 'patriotism' after US sanctions
Naharnet/August 21/2026
Hezbollah on Friday hit back at the U.S. administration over its announcement
that the group is under the control of Iran’s Quds Force, the expeditionary arm
of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. "The U.S.
administration, through the Treasury Department and the State Department,
claimed yesterday that the party is under the control of the Quds Force, using
this as justification for its re-inclusion on the sanctions list. This decision
is nothing more than another link in the chain of U.S. administrations' ongoing
policies to target the resistance, its community, its environment, and its
supporters,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
It emphasized that it "does not need anyone to validate its Lebanese identity
and patriotism,” noting that “the sacrifices of thousands of martyrs who gave
their lives for Lebanon and its people, and the long history of resistance,
confronting occupation, and defending the land and sovereignty, are the true
testament to its Lebanese identity."As for the relation with Iran, Hezbollah
added: "Our close and fraternal relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran
is one we cherish and are proud of, because it stood with Lebanon, supported it,
and assisted it in liberating its land and restoring its sovereignty and
rights.”“It remained by Lebanon's side through every stage and crisis, and was
among the first countries to contribute to the reconstruction of what was
destroyed by the Zionist aggression during the July 2006 war," Hezbollah pointed
out. It stressed that "all these unjust sanctions and designations will not
deter us from adhering to the option of resistance and the right of Lebanon and
the Lebanese people to defend their land, sovereignty and resources.”“The
resistance has been, is, and will remain an integral part of Lebanon's history,
present and future," Hezbollah emphasized. The United States announced new
sanctions Thursday against an alleged Hezbollah financing network, while
highlighting the Lebanese armed group's close ties to Iran's Revolutionary
Guards. Hezbollah's legal designation as a “terrorist” organization has been
amended to note that it operates in "service to the Iranian regime under the
command of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," particularly the elite
Quds Force, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. Washington
designated Hezbollah as a "foreign terrorist organization" in 1997, and in 2001
updated its label to a "specially designated global terrorist" group.
The new redesignation "specifies that Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy, not a
stand-alone operation as implied by the previous designation," a State
Department official said. "This underscores that Hezbollah operates with little
to no regard for Lebanese sovereignty, the Lebanese people, or the Lebanese
state," the official added."It is not a Lebanese resistance movement," as
Hezbollah describes itself, the official said.
Inside One of Lebanon’s Pilot Zones, Hezbollah Has
Returned
Claudia Groeling & Ralph Atrach/This Is Beirut/August 21/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/08/156842/
As the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) deployed to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh following
Israel’s withdrawal, Hezbollah-affiliated personnel and organizations returned
to the town, one of the pilot zones aimed at dismantling the militia’s security
infrastructure. During a July 23 visit as the LAF began the pilot zone program,
This is Beirut observed ambulances affiliated with Hezbollah’s Islamic Health
Organization being allowed into Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh on the stated grounds that
they were providing humanitarian aid.
By contrast, ambulances from the Red Cross and the Amal Movement-affiliated
Risala Scouts were refused entry. A security source confirmed to This is Beirut
that only emergency vehicles from the Hezbollah-run group were being allowed
into the pilot zone. Later that day, an Israeli drone carried out a
guided-missile strike on an Islamic Health Organization ambulance on the main
road through Nabatieh al-Fawqa, near Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh.
Hezbollah’s presence in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh reflects a broader nationwide
pattern in which personnel from the Iran-backed militia are granted access to
sensitive areas before Lebanon’s official security forces. Whenever a security
incident occurs, Hezbollah typically arrives on the scene first, followed by the
LAF, other security services, and humanitarian actors, according to a Lebanese
intelligence official, who described the sequence as standard procedure.
The account is consistent with a publicly reported incident during the 2026
Israel-Hezbollah war. After an Israeli strike on the Comfort Hotel in Beirut’s
Hazmieh suburb on March 4, local officials said that Hezbollah’s Islamic Health
Organization established a security cordon around the site, restricting access
by municipal personnel. The Lebanese army subsequently deployed to the scene.
All the Hezbollah members he knows from the town have returned. Among them was
Hezbollah’s “rabet,” a local representative responsible for military affairs.
Local source familiar with Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh to TIB
Hezbollah’s Return to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh
The pilot zone project, which so far includes Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, Frown and
Ghandouriyeh, is intended to launch a gradual process under which Israel
withdraws its troops as the LAF dismantles Hezbollah’s military infrastructure.
The June 26 Trilateral Framework between Lebanon, Israel, and the U.S. has
stalled over disagreements on how to independently verify Hezbollah’s
disarmament. So far, the LAF has been unable to prevent Hezbollah personnel from
returning to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, the first pilot zone from which Israel has
withdrawn. A local source familiar with Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh said that all the
Hezbollah members he knows from the town have returned. Among them was
Hezbollah’s “rabet,” a local representative responsible for military affairs,
the source said.
The Israeli military considers Hezbollah’s “rabet” officers to be central
pillars of the group’s dispersed security architecture, carrying out tasks such
as smuggling weapons and preparing private property for military use.
Hezbollah’s “rabet” in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh continues to move openly around the
town, the source said.Hezbollah personnel are entering Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh under
the cover of their affiliation with the Islamic Health Organization and the “Wa
Taawanou” NGO, according to the source. Fewer than 10 percent of residents have
returned, the source added, amid fears that Hezbollah combatants remain widely
present in the area. The Lebanese army has been ordered to establish checkpoints
on the main roads leading to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh and control access to the town
while monitoring movements to ensure that residents do not bring weapons or
military equipment into the pilot zone, an LAF officer told This is Beirut.
However, the local source said the LAF was not enforcing these security
measures. Residents seeking to enter the pilot zone are generally asked only
whether they are from Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh. Those who confirm they are residents
are allowed to proceed without being inspected further.
So far, the LAF has not conducted inspections of homes or other private property
in the pilot zone, the source said. Private property inspections have become
another point of contention in Lebanon-Israel talks over the pilot zone program,
with the LAF opposing such searches. A Framework Without Enforcement
The LAF officer told This is Beirut that the Lebanese army lacks the mandate to
confront Hezbollah. “The army does not operate independently from the Lebanese
political authorities,” he said. “We receive our mandate from the Lebanese
state.”
If Hezbollah obstructed an LAF disarmament operation, the officer explained,
Lebanese army troops on site could not decide independently to challenge the
militia. Instead, the LAF unit would report the situation through the chain of
command, leaving the government to determine how to respond. “If we can remove
weapons and military infrastructure without a confrontation, that is
preferable,” the LAF source said. “Nobody wants to turn a southern village into
another battlefield.”
Retired LAF Brig. Gen. Maroun Hitti told This is Beirut that the army needs a
clear mandate, including rules of engagement and the authority to enforce them,
warning that without these, the Trilateral Framework could fail “by design.”
If the LAF discovers Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, it should destroy,
dismantle and confiscate it in accordance with its mandate and Lebanese law,
Hitti said. Such infrastructure, the LAF general explained, directly violates
Lebanese sovereignty and the state’s monopoly on the use of force.
Lebanon has fallen short in implementing its disarmament decisions, with the
LAF’s claimed progress south of the Litani in January 2026 disputed by Israel.
Lebanon’s cabinet on March 2, 2026, banned Hezbollah’s military activities and
tasked the LAF with disarming the militia nationwide. LAF commander Rodolphe
Haykal, however, balked at implementing the decision, citing concerns over civil
peace.
For Khaled Hamadeh, a retired LAF general, the Trilateral Framework’s
disarmament goals have not been pursued, with the Lebanese army neither
searching for Hezbollah’s military infrastructure nor confiscating its weapons.
“The Lebanese army’s deployment in these areas amounts to little more than a
routine security operation of the kind the army conducts elsewhere in Lebanon,”
he said. “For the Americans, this has effectively turned the mission into a
traditional security operation that does not correspond to the substance of the
[Trilateral] Framework agreement.”
The Lebanese army can effectively confront Hezbollah only if it operates under
unified political authority and receives clear government orders to confiscate
weapons, arrest those disrupting security and dismantle Hezbollah’s
infrastructure, the former LAF general said.
The army has the capability to act against Hezbollah in the pilot zones, Hamadeh
said. “What it lacks, however, is the political will to carry out this mission
and the political space required for the military to act effectively.”
https://thisisbeirut.com.lb/features/reports/inside-one-of-lebanons-pilot-zones-hezbollah-has-returned
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on August 21-22/2026
Trump Warns of 'Economic D-Day' against Iran, but Tehran is Well Acquainted with
Sanctions
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2026
Nearing the six-month mark of the Iran war and facing diminishing stockpiles of
key weapons, the Trump administration is touting a crushing financial campaign
against Tehran, promising an “economic D-Day” against a country that has so far
withstood nearly five decades of punishing American sanctions.
With sparse details, President Donald Trump announced this week that the US
would be imposing an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare and isolation on
Iran, aiming to force its leadership to cave to demands to end its nuclear
program and fully reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz to oil and natural gas
tankers, The Associated Press said. It reflects the dire reality Trump faces
with an increasingly unpopular war he can't seem to end just months before
pivotal midterm elections that will decide whether his Republican Party keeps
control of Congress. Whether out of desperation or strategy, the president is
refocusing America's might on bringing Iran to its knees through an accelerated
sanctions campaign against one of the most economically penalized countries in
the world. The immediate response from Iran hawks has
been praise and a call for patience as it plays out, while other analysts warn
that Trump is refusing to learn the lessons of his predecessors.In an interview
Thursday on CNBC, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered a small glimpse of
what may be ahead, threatening secondary sanctions on nations and companies that
conduct business with Iran.He did not say exactly whom would be targeted as part
of this next phase of the administration’s “ Operation Economic Fury, ” which
earlier had focused on entities and individuals that buy oil from or bank with
Iran. China and India, however, are major buyers of Iranian oil. “If you insist
on doing business with them, then the US Treasury and US government will put its
full might and force against you,” Bessent said. “It’s time for our allies and
the rest of the world to make a decision."
Some experts see ‘uncharted waters’ that could force Iran's hand
Despite decades of US sanctions against Iran, the Trump administration is
arguing that it’s only a matter of time and that striking the right economic
target would get Tehran to its breaking point.Richard Goldberg, who coordinated
efforts to put diplomatic pressure on Iran in Trump's first term, said the
consequences of US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites last year, the war this year
and the American naval blockade on Iranian ports have created the perfect storm
for capitulation — one that didn't previously exist. “I think we’re watching a
strategy, whether it takes a short time or a long time, that is very much about
fundamentally changing the future of the world by seeing the end of this
regime," said Goldberg, who is now at the hawkish Washington think tank
Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “I caution
everyone — including myself, who has worked on sanctions, who’s worked on
financial warfare — to have the humility to admit that we are in uncharted
waters,” he said.He said the decision this week by the United Arab Emirates —
once one of Tehran's most important trading partners — to suspend trade with
Iran over a missile attack will only further isolate the government.
Targeting allies and partners comes at a price
With nearly all of Iran's energy, financial and transportation sectors already
covered by US sanctions, Trump’s aim appears to be to apply secondary sanctions
on countries, including allies and partners, that have not cut all ties with
Iran to starve the country of any remaining income it may still be receiving.
In many ways, it is a redux of Trump’s first-term “maximum pressure” campaign,
which he has ramped up during his second term to include military action. But as
Trump and his allies discovered during his first administration, it can be
difficult to enforce secondary sanctions without harming US interests and
provoking reciprocal measures. There were numerous instances of the
administration granting sanctions waivers to countries, particularly those that
rely on Iranian oil for their energy needs. “Trump’s strategy now rests on
targeting Tehran directly by impeding its touch points and access to the formal
financial system and international economy,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior
director of FDD’s Iran program. “This will require making the Iran issue more
important in US bilateral relations with countries in Europe and Asia.”Iran
doesn't see an ‘open door’ at the end of the sanctions campaign Iranian
officials and analysts have accused the Republican president of flip-flopping
with his latest pivot to economic pressure against Iran. Trump has long derided
past leaders who used sanctions to limit Iran’s ability to pay for its military
and nuclear development.In a post last week on X, Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for
Iran’s Foreign Ministry, wrote that Washington's pattern of retreating to
sanctions when it doesn't want to pursue diplomacy has proven to be futile.
“Iran has demonstrated over decades that it will not be strangled by these
exhausted refrains,” he said. “The real risk is that American politicians,
clinging to this bad habit, will instead strangle their own remaining chances of
a less humiliating exit from a crisis of their own making.”Ali Vaez, Iran
director at the International Crisis Group, said the Trump administration's
decision to take its own “maximum pressure” policy to new heights with military
action seems to ignore years of US foreign policy lessons that show Iran does
not respond well to pressure. If anything, he says, the latest economic campaign
has only “hardened Iran's position.”“I think (Trump's) blind spot is the fact
that the only thing that the Iranian regime views as more dangerous than
suffering from US sanctions is surrendering to US terms," Vaez said. Plus, the
past year of start-stop diplomacy has only worsened the already fragile dynamic
between the longtime adversaries, Vaez says, adding that Iranian officials' lack
of trust in Trump and his mediators has created an untenable foundation. “They
believe that even if they capitulate to US terms under economic duress, Trump
would move the goalposts and ask for more,” he said. “And this is really the
fundamental problem: Pressure without an open door is an exercise in futility.”
Iran President Says Time to End War while in Position of
Strength
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2026
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday it was time to end the
months-long Middle East war with the United States because Tehran appeared to be
in a stronger position than Washington. Tehran is
keeping the key Strait of Hormuz partially shut and Washington is persisting
with a naval counter-blockade of Iran. "It is better that we bring the war to an
end now as we are in a position of power and dignity," Pezeshkian said in a
meeting with doctors. "The whole world acknowledges our victory and emphasises
that America has attacked our schools, hospitals and infrastructure in violation
of all regulations and is hated around the world."Pezeshkian also defended a
memorandum of understanding agreed with the US in June aimed at ending the war,
claiming it did not signal a defeat for Tehran."They cannot find even a single
clause in this agreement that indicates capitulation. All the commitments
concern the other side," he said.His remarks come weeks after Iran's Supreme
Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said he had approved the deal to end the war despite
having "different views". Hardline lawmakers in Iran's parliament have also
criticized the government over the deal, accusing it of giving concessions to
the US, mostly over the re-opening of the strategic Hormuz Strait. According to
reports in US media, the American navy has been organizing and protecting secret
convoys of tankers through the southern sector of the Strait of Hormuz enabling
between five and 10 million barrels a day of oil to be exported. As Tehran
claimed to be in the stronger position, the US has said it would ramp up
sanctions to heap pressure on Tehran. The American
plan drew condemnation from Iran's foreign ministry, which accused the US of
"economic terrorism" and "crimes against humanity". "The perpetrators and
instigators of these sanctions are deserving of trial and punishment for
committing such heinous crimes," it said in a statement carried by state media.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday vowed Washington would
"collapse" the Iranian regime with its threatened campaign nearly six months
since their war began.
The comments underscored how the Trump administration is shifting to economic
rather than military pressure on Tehran as the US president's unpopular war
drags on. China also criticized Washington's economic plan, saying that US
"sanctions and pressure" would not resolve the Middle East conflict.
Iran's Qalibaf Says Tehran Must Plan to Overcome 'Unjust
Sanctions', Following US Threats
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2026
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said Iran must plan to
overcome the "unjust sanctions", after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
announced what he described as the toughest sanctions ever imposed on Iran,
according to Qalibaf's channel on Telegram.
Bessent said the United States will impose "the toughest sanctions in history"
on Iran, a move he suggested would lessen the need for new major military
operations, reported Reuters. Bessent's comments on
Thursday followed President Donald Trump's threat a day earlier of "Economic
Warfare" and warning of economic consequences against any country that provided
"any type of lifeline to Iran." Bessent promised details next week.Iran has
weathered near-continuous, punishing economic sanctions for nearly 50 years,
since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Before Bessent spoke, Iran's foreign
ministry said it condemned US economic and trade sanctions, calling them
"economic terrorism" that would not "create even the slightest hesitation in
Iranians’ determination to safeguard Iran’s independence, dignity and national
sovereignty."Bessent told CNBC he would share more details on the latest package
and "talk about exactly what we're going to do" on Iran at a press conference on
Monday.
Economic pressure ‘most effective tool’ against Iran: US VP Vance
Joanne Serrieh, Al Arabiya English/August 21/2026
Applying economic pressure is the “most effective tool” the US can use against
Iran, Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday. Speaking on the Clay and Buck
Show podcast, Vance described the move as “a delicate dance” with both sides
applying pressure on each other.However, he said, “what has been true over the
last couple of weeks is they felt a lot more pressure than we have.”On Friday,
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran must plan to
overcome the “unjust sanctions.”The statement came one day after US Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent announced what he described as the toughest sanctions
ever imposed on Iran. Bessent said on Thursday the measures would be detailed on
Monday, suggesting they could lessen the need for further major military
operations.With Reuters
NATO members discuss Strait of Hormuz options without
alliance involvement
LBCI/August 21/2026
NATO's top commander convened a videoconference earlier this week to facilitate
possible contributions to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of
Hormuz, his spokesperson told Reuters, adding that this is not a NATO mission.
“Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe hosted a meeting of interested Allies
at the chief of defence level on Wednesday, 19 Aug 26, in order to facilitate
their possible contributions to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of
Hormuz," a spokesperson for the alliance's top commander U.S. Air Force General
Alexus Grynkewich said on Friday. "To be clear, this is not a NATO mission. But
given NATO’s unique strengths in its ability to bring together Allies and
understand the capabilities they bring to bear, it makes sense for NATO to
facilitate in this way," the spokesperson added. NATO allies have sought to
avoid direct involvement in the Iran conflict, instead focusing on plans
outside the alliance to reopen the strait, which before February carried about a
fifth of all traded oil. France and Britain have led efforts to build a
coalition among roughly a dozen countries to guarantee safe passage through the
strait once tensions ease or the conflict is resolved, though any long-term
arrangement would ultimately require Iranian acquiescence. Reuters
Israel PM calls Turkey's Erdogan 'antisemitic dictator'
LBCI/August 21/2026
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday called Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan an "antisemitic dictator", and vowed Israel would
"continue to act forcefully against Turkey's attempts to destabilise the
region". "Erdogan is an antisemitic dictator who massacred Kurds, supports the
massacre of the Hamas terrorist organisation, and oppresses his own people,"
Netanyahu's office said in a statement. "Israel will continue to act forcefully
against Turkey's attempts to destabilise the region and against any threat to
its security."AFP
Türkiye to Seek Interpol Notice for Netanyahu in Gaza
Flotilla Case
Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/2026
Türkiye said on Friday it would seek an Interpol red notice for the arrest of
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of a domestic criminal case
linked to an attack on activists seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
NATO member Türkiye has been one of the fiercest critics of Israel's assault on
Gaza and has previously issued domestic arrest warrants for Netanyahu over the
war there. It has repeatedly called for international measures against Israel
over what Ankara calls its violations of human rights and international law.
Israel denies those charges. In May, Israeli forces opened fire on at least
two vessels from the Global Sumud Flotilla sailing towards Gaza as it was making
a renewed attempt to deliver aid to the enclave after earlier missions were
intercepted by Israel in international waters. In a post on X, Turkish Justice
Minister Akin Gurlek said arrest warrants had been issued for Netanyahu and
another suspect on charges that included genocide, crimes against humanity and
torture as part of a case against 35 people over the Israeli interception in
international waters. "In line with the arrest warrants issued against Benjamin
Netanyahu ... our justice ministry has requested that the interior ministry
issue (Interpol) red notices for them so that they may be sought
internationally," Gurlek said. Türkiye will use all available legal mechanisms
to ensure Israel is held accountable for its crimes in Gaza, he added. A red
notice is a request to police forces worldwide to locate and provisionally
arrest a person pending extradition. Interpol reviews requests submitted by
member states before deciding whether to issue red notices. Asked about Gurlek's
statement, Netanyahu's office said: "(Turkish President Tayyip) Erdogan's
pathetic attempt to intimidate the leaders and soldiers of Israel, the only true
democracy in the Middle East, will go nowhere."
Türkiye and Israel also traded barbs this week over Syria, where Israel carried
out airstrikes on an air base it said Turkish troops could be deployed to,
drawing condemnation from Ankara and criticism from the United States. Syria has
said there were no plans to deploy Turkish troops to the base.
Ankara has said Israeli rhetoric against Türkiye and its actions in Syria are
fueled by the approach of a parliamentary election in Israel in October.
Iran Vows 'Devastating' Response to US Threat to Cut off its Economic Lifelines
Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/2026
Iran said on Friday that its response to any new US threats would be
"devastating" after Washington pledged to impose the toughest financial
penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership. Washington
prepared for sanctions that US Treasury chief Scott Bessent said he would detail
on Monday. President Donald Trump earlier warned of economic consequences
against any country that provided "any type of lifeline to Iran."The chief of
staff of Iran's Armed Forces, Major General Ali Abdollahi, said the Islamic
Republic's reaction would be broad and decisive. "With
preparedness across land, sea, air, air defense and cyberspace, Iran's armed
forces will respond to the enemy's new threats with crushing, punishing and
devastating responses," Abdollahi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. The US
and Iran have twice announced ceasefire deals, in April and June, aiming to
restore the free flow of ships through Hormuz on a path towards ending the
nearly six-month-old conflict, but both quickly crumbled. Bessent told CNBC he
would "talk about exactly what we're going to do" on Iran at a press conference
on Monday. "We are going to collapse this regime. It is time for our allies and
the rest of the world to make a decision," he said, describing a naval blockade
reimposed on Iran in July and the "toughest sanctions in history" as a "one-two
punch".Iran has weathered near-continuous economic sanctions for nearly 50
years, since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, but its people are suffering high
inflation, a weakening currency and energy shortages along with damaged
infrastructure.Some Iranians interviewed by Reuters have said more economic
punishment could increase hardship, weaken the clerical establishment and prompt
unrest, although there has been no sign of that since a deadly crackdown on
protests in January. Before Bessent spoke, Iran's
foreign ministry said US sanctions would not "create even the slightest
hesitation in Iranians’ determination to safeguard Iran’s independence, dignity
and national sovereignty."
UN Warns 94% of Gaza's Population Urgently Needs Shelter and Basic Aid
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2026
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
warned that civilians in the Gaza Strip continue to face severe risks from
airstrikes, shelling, and gunfire, reporting ongoing casualties, including child
deaths, SPA reported.OCHA stated that the remains of 50 people, including 19
children, were recently recovered and buried after being discovered under rubble
in Gaza City, where they had remained trapped for over two years, SPA reported.
The office highlighted that 94% of Gaza's 2.1 million residents require urgent
shelter and basic household assistance, with nearly two-thirds of families
enduring rapidly deteriorating conditions in tents or temporary shelters.
UK, Canada, Australia Slam Israel Ending Probe into Aid
Worker Killings
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2026
Britain, Canada, and Australia on Friday condemned as "shameful" Israel's
decision to close an investigation into the death of seven aid workers killed in
Gaza in 2024. The World Central Kitchen employees -- three Britons, a dual
US-Canadian national, a Pole, an Australian, and a Palestinian -- died in a
drone strike on their vehicle convoy after overseeing the unloading of a food
aid shipment. Israel's military called the incident a
"tragic mistake". "In the more than two years since, we have been pressing for
Israel to swiftly and thoroughly consider the case and hold those responsible to
account," the three nations said in a joint statement. "The announcement by the
Israeli army on 19 August 2026 that it would not pursue criminal investigations
into this strike, without further explanation, is shameful," it said. The
incident in April 2024 sparked global outrage and renewed calls to ensure the
safety of aid workers in Gaza. "Announcing this decision on World Humanitarian
Day, while the world honored the courage and sacrifice of humanitarians, was
particularly egregious," the joint statement added.
The Israeli military acknowledged a series of errors at various levels of
command, but a preliminary investigation concluded on Wednesday that there was
no "reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct". The
US-based World Central Kitchen condemned the decision calling it "inconsistent
with the full truth and deeply offensive". It demanded an independent commission
to investigate the airstrikes "because the Israeli army cannot credibly
investigate its own conduct". On Thursday, Australia expressed outrage at the
closure of the investigation and summoned Israel's ambassador to the country.
Baghdad Implicitly Backtracks on Deadline to Confine Weapons to the State
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2026
The Iraqi government on Friday showed signs of backpedaling on the previously
scheduled September 30 deadline to restrict weapons to the state. In statements
to local media, government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi said: "September 30 is
the date for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, not the final deadline for
factions to surrender their weapons."Speaking on the sidelines of the Baghdad
Dialogue Conference, which was attended by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi,
al-Aboudi stressed that "dialogue with the factions is proceeding regularly and
has made significant progress because it stems from the fundamentals of state
sovereignty and the interests of the Iraqi people, two pillars that are not
disputed."Al-Aboudi acknowledged "anxiety and disagreement over the mechanisms,"
though he noted that "this file is subject to dialogue that is moving in the
right direction." Al-Zaidi spoke about these
"disagreements" without revealing their details during a panel discussion at the
Baghdad Dialogue. "All political forces completely agree on moving forward with
restricting weapons to the state, and work is underway on the mechanisms for
handing over weapons and ending this situation entirely," the PM said. "There is
an ongoing dialogue, directly with opposing factions and indirectly with
others," he added, pointing out that "most concerned parties have become
convinced of the need to hand over weapons, but the dispute is over the
mechanism.""There is no problem with this (dispute) as long as the goal is
ultimately achieved," he stressed.
Al-Zaidi said the "weapons restriction mechanism" begins with a faction
declaring its cessation of military activity, followed by surrendering its arms
to the government, and concluding with disengagement. When asked what he meant
by disengagement, al-Zaidi replied: "The faction will no longer be able to
mobilize or direct its fighters; instead, the federal government will do so
through the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)."He stressed that authorities had
no intention of becoming embroiled in a military confrontation with any party.
The implicit backpedaling from the September 30 deadline took place amid
significant political pressure by factions and leaders within the ruling Shiite
Coordination Framework and coincided with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad
Bagher Qalibaf’s visit to Iraq. Upon his arrival in
Baghdad on Wednesday, Qalibaf declared that "the resistance in Iraq has become
an essential element of global power," noting that relations between Baghdad and
Tehran are moving toward establishing a "new order" free from foreign
interference. Sources said late last week that Qalibaf
carried Iranian proposals to avoid a direct confrontation between the Iraqi
government and Tehran-aligned factions, including ideas related to "freezing" or
concealing heavy weaponry until a political settlement about the future of the
factions' arms is reached. The details of the
proposals could not be independently verified, and no official announcement
about them has been made by either Tehran or the Iraqi government.
Iran President Says Time to End War while in Position of Strength
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2026
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday it was time to end the
months-long Middle East war with the United States because Tehran appeared to be
in a stronger position than Washington. Tehran is
keeping the key Strait of Hormuz partially shut and Washington is persisting
with a naval counter-blockade of Iran. "It is better that we bring the war to an
end now as we are in a position of power and dignity," Pezeshkian said in a
meeting with doctors. "The whole world acknowledges our victory and emphasises
that America has attacked our schools, hospitals and infrastructure in violation
of all regulations and is hated around the world."Pezeshkian also defended a
memorandum of understanding agreed with the US in June aimed at ending the war,
claiming it did not signal a defeat for Tehran."They cannot find even a single
clause in this agreement that indicates capitulation. All the commitments
concern the other side," he said. His remarks come weeks after Iran's Supreme
Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said he had approved the deal to end the war despite
having "different views".Hardline lawmakers in Iran's parliament have also
criticized the government over the deal, accusing it of giving concessions to
the US, mostly over the re-opening of the strategic Hormuz Strait.
According to reports in US media, the American navy has been organizing
and protecting secret convoys of tankers through the southern sector of the
Strait of Hormuz enabling between five and 10 million barrels a day of oil to be
exported. As Tehran claimed to be in the stronger position, the US has said it
would ramp up sanctions to heap pressure on Tehran. The American plan drew
condemnation from Iran's foreign ministry, which accused the US of "economic
terrorism" and "crimes against humanity". The perpetrators and instigators of
these sanctions are deserving of trial and punishment for committing such
heinous crimes," it said in a statement carried by state media. US Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday vowed Washington would "collapse" the
Iranian regime with its threatened campaign nearly six months since their war
began. The comments underscored how the Trump administration is shifting to
economic rather than military pressure on Tehran as the US president's unpopular
war drags on.China also criticized Washington's economic plan, saying that US
"sanctions and pressure" would not resolve the Middle East conflict.
US, Kuwait agree to deepen military cooperation and
integration, Pentagon says
Al Arabiya English/22 August ,2026
The US and Kuwait have agreed to deepen military cooperation and integration,
with a focus on countering drones, strengthening air and missile defenses and
expanding maritime security cooperation, the Pentagon said on Friday. Senior
officials from both countries met at the Pentagon this week for the 16th
US-Kuwait Joint Military Commission, where they formalized new operational
roadmaps to strengthen Kuwait’s defense capabilities and interoperability with
US forces.The talks were co-chaired by the Pentagon’s top official for the
Middle East, Mike DiMino, and Kuwait’s Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen.
Khaled al-Shriaan. Officials from the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the Joint
Staff, State Department and Maryland National Guard also participated. The
proliferation of drones and unmanned aircraft systems featured prominently in
the discussions, with officials highlighting how the technology has transformed
modern warfare and increased the need for greater military integration. Earlier
this year, Washington announced its approval of a $1.98 billion arms sale to
Kuwait, one of the several Gulf countries hit by Iranian strikes during the
Middle East war. The sale would allow Kuwait to buy
counter-drone technology from defense company Anduril.
During this week’s talks, the US and Kuwait also discussed improving regional
integrated air and missile defenses, expanding maritime security cooperation and
streamlining US arms transfers to Kuwait. Separately,
DiMino announced that Kuwait had formally joined the US State Partnership
Program and will be paired with the Maryland National Guard, providing another
avenue for long-term military-to-military cooperation. Kuwait is a major
non-NATO ally of the United States and hosts thousands of US troops, making the
Gulf country a key component of Washington’s regional military posture.
Abdi Announces Completion of SDF’s Civil, Military Integration with Damascus
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2026
The integration of the Kurdish administration within Syria's state institutions
is now complete, Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said on Thursday. The
announcement follows months of negotiations between the two sides after a
January agreement that called for the full integration of Kurdish civil and
military institutions into the state -- a move Washington deemed "historic.”"I
want to say that the phase of integrating military, security and administrative
institutions into national state institutions is complete and finished," Abdi,
who heads the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said at an event in Qamishli
in northeastern Syria. "From now on, we begin a new phase," he added. "Our
struggle will continue, to cement our people's rights in the constitution."
The January agreement, signed by Abdi and Syrian President Ahmed
al-Sharaa, followed clashes between Syrian Kurdish fighters and the new
authorities' forces that saw the Kurds lose swathes of territory they held in
the oil-rich north and northeast. Amid the violence, al-Sharaa signed on January
16 a decree enshrining the Kurds' national rights and recognizing Kurdish as a
national language.In February, Noureddine Ahmed Eissa, a Kurd from the city of
Qamishli, was appointed governor of Hasakeh. In March, senior Kurdish military
official Sipan Hamo was appointed regional assistant defense minister. As part
of the deal's implementation, government forces entered the cities of Hasakeh
and Qamishli, and Damascus took over the management of Qamishli airport and key
oil fields.US troops also transferred more than 5,700 ISIS detainees in
previously Kurdish-controlled camps to neighboring Iraq.
Ukraine allies to meet Monday co-chaired by France, UK,
Germany leaders: French presidency
LBCI/August 21/2026
Countries allied with Ukraine in its war with Russia will meet on Monday to
reaffirm support for Kyiv, in talks held symbolically on Ukraine's independence
day, the French presidency said Friday.
The meeting of the Coalition of the Willing will be co-chaired by French
President Emmanuel Macron -- joining via video link -- German Chancellor
Friedrich Merz and, for the first time, the new British Prime Minister Andy
Burnham, the Elysee Palace said. Around 10 participants will be in Kyiv for the
independence day celebrations, an EU official said. AFP
Zelensky slams 'cynical' Russian attack on shopping centre
LBCI/August 21/2026
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday blasted Russia for a "cynical
and despicable" attack on a shopping centre in his home town that killed at
least five people and wounded more than 50. "An
absolutely cynical and despicable strike was carried out by the Russians against
an ordinary shopping center in Kryvyi Rig," he said on X, adding: "Five deaths
have been reported".AFP
Saudi Crown Prince departs for France on official visit
Al Arabiya English/21 August ,2026
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman departed for France on an
official visit, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Friday.French President
Emmanuel Macron will host the Crown Prince to discuss current tensions in the
Middle East, the French president’s office announced on Thursday.The visit,
scheduled for Aug. 23-Aug. 24, will be an opportunity for MBS and Macron to
discuss regional issues within the framework of close collaboration between
France and its Gulf partners, Macron’s office said.The Crown Prince’s visit also
comes at a time when Western and Gulf leaders try to mediate an end to the
US-Iran war, which started in February when joint US-Israeli airstrikes
bombarded Iran.Western and Gulf leaders are also working to resolve the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict. During his trip to Paris, MBS is expected to
attend the E-Sports World Cup on Aug. 23.
MBS last visited France in December 2024.The first Franco-Saudi Strategic
Partnership Council meeting is scheduled to be held during the visit as well.
Read more: MBS meets top US general for Middle East to discuss defense
cooperation, reducing tensions
The Latest LCCC analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources published on August 21-22/2026
Where geopolitics meets the global economy
Cornelia Meyer/Al-Arabiyia English/21 August ,2026
The US-Iran MoU officially expired on Monday, August 17. It had set the
framework under which Iran and the US were supposed to negotiate peace, or at
least a more lasting absence of hostilities. In reality, both sides had vastly
different understandings of what the document stood for, which did not bode well
for negotiations. As the agreement gradually unravelled, the US took aim at
Iranian infrastructure targets, while Iran retaliated by attacking US
installations in the Gulf and other targets in the territories of Washington’s
GCC allies. What has emerged since the start of the war is that Iran’s real
leverage over the global economy lies in its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
The waterway is not only critical to oil and LNG flows, but also carries around
30 percent of nitrogen-based fertilizer, large quantities of sulphuric acid
required to produce fertilizer from phosphate, and eight percent of aluminium,
to name just a few commodities vital to maintaining global supply chains.
Oil markets
How many barrels actually reached the market over the last two months remains
widely debated. Oil continued to flow through Hormuz,
but at sharply reduced levels compared with before the war. Saudi Arabia’s
East-West pipeline can theoretically transport 5 million barrels of crude per
day from the Eastern Province for export through the port of Yanbu. That option
was constrained when the Houthis effectively closed off the Bab al-Mandeb.
Exports from the Arabian Sea then had to be rerouted through the SUMED pipeline
and the Suez Canal. Volumes were smaller, while the detour added around 40 days
before crude could reach Asian markets. The UAE also has its 1.8
million-barrel-per-day Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, which bypasses the Strait of
Hormuz. Over the past month, there has also been an
increase in ships transiting Hormuz with their transponders switched off. Some
passed through the strait before transferring cargo ship-to-ship onto global
tankers in the relatively safer waters of the Gulf of Oman.
It remains unclear exactly how many barrels were transported this way.
Some analysts put the volume at more than 4 million barrels per day. US Energy
Secretary Chris Wright put the figure at 9 million barrels per day, according to
Bloomberg. That may be an optimistic estimate. What is clear, however, is that
the volume remains nowhere near the roughly 20 million barrels per day of crude
and petroleum products that passed through the strait before the Iran war. Saudi
Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser put the amount of oil “lost” to the market
since the beginning of the war at 2.6 billion barrels.
Many newspapers and publications have devoted extensive coverage to crude flows.
However, the war has also severely affected global petroleum product flows.
Refiners have received less crude from the Gulf, while global markets have also
been cut off from efficient refineries on the other side of Hormuz. In that
respect, strikes on Russian oil infrastructure during the war in Ukraine have
also been unhelpful from a global supply perspective.
Rising tensions and sanctions
Tensions rose markedly over the weekend after Iranian projectiles targeted a UAE
ship and two Chinese tankers made U-turns. What brought matters to a head was
not the threat of further US sanctions, but renewed Iranian targeting of assets
in the UAE.Over the past three decades, the UAE and other GCC countries have
worked diligently to project themselves as havens of stability in a sea of
instability and as attractive places to do business. When Dubai came under
repeated Iranian rocket and drone attacks at the start of the conflict, some
businesspeople and tourists chose to leave the city.
International financiers later returned, and a sense of normalcy came back to
Dubai, the DIFC and Abu Dhabi. There are now fears that renewed Iranian attacks
could undermine the UAE’s broader business model. Against this backdrop, it is
understandable that the UAE government reacted strongly, announcing that it
would cut all economic and financial ties with Iran.
This is a blow to the Iranian economy because, until now, the UAE had been
Tehran’s largest trading partner, followed by China. China matters. Before the
war, 90 percent of Iranian crude exports were bound for China, even though Iran
was not among the country’s top 10 oil suppliers in 2025, according to China’s
General Administration of Customs. Chinese state-owned companies generally
tended to stay away from sanctioned Iranian oil, while smaller so-called teapot
refineries bought the crude. These refineries operate largely outside the
dollarized economy, giving them greater leeway. According to Bloomberg, the
Chinese government also ordered Chinese companies to ignore US sanctions on five
refiners. nAs tensions continue to rise, China’s foreign ministry has expressed
concern over whether sanctions can effectively resolve the conflict in the
Middle East. In the medium term, sanctions may, if anything, strengthen China’s
ties with Iran. In that context, it is important that US President Donald Trump
is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20
summit. Both countries will most likely try to avoid outright confrontation
until then.
In the meantime, while tensions among the various players, including Iran, the
US, GCC countries and China, may become more pronounced, it is important not to
lose sight of the central issue: respect for maritime law is pivotal. Saudi
Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan pointed out during a meeting with
Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi that maritime security is at the
forefront of shared priorities.That is true not only for Saudi Arabia and Japan,
but for all countries bordering the Arabian Gulf and for the wider global
economy. Ignoring these principles carries a high cost, not only for GCC
countries but for the world as a whole. In that context, the possibility of
regional and international cooperation, and the creation of frameworks that
could help defuse the situation, should not be overlooked.
The UN on the Way to the Unknown
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 21/2026
As Antonio Guterres, the United Nation’ Secretary-General, will soon start
clearing his desk and prepare for retirement, assessments of his tenure vary
between “passable” and “mediocre”. There are those who appreciate his passionate
defense of the Palestinians and critical stance on the Israel-US war against
Iran. Then there are those who castigate him for precisely those controversial
positions. The real issue, however, is the decline in
the status and authority of what was once seen as the world’s highest diplomatic
position. The post was created when the post-World War order was edging towards
the Cold War with the idea that a diplomatic buffer between the two emerging
blocs could absorb shocks and prevent another armed conflict.
One key idea was to make war unless specially sanctioned by the United
Nation’s Security Council practically impossible. The US-led intervention in the
Korean Peninsula was the first war sanctioned by the UNSC.But even then UN
Secretary-General Trygve Li, a Norwegian trade union leader turned diplomat, was
openly critical of Washington’s position, a stance chosen to show that the
secretary-general wasn’t a mere rubber stamp for the Security Council. Li also
adopted an independent stance during the Iran oil nationalization crisis when
Great Britain threatened to invade Iran.
Interestingly, neither the US nor Britain took umbrage at Li’s stance. The
unwritten rule was that the UN Secretary-General must be seen as an institution
above the interests of member states. That unwritten rule was more or less
observed when Dag Hammarskjold, a Swedish diplomat succeeded Li. That enabled
Hammarskjold to take an active role in encouraging the decolonization process,
especially in black Africa, a special interest that may have caused his death in
a mysterious plane crash blamed on the CIA and/or Belgian mercenaries.
Hammarskjold attracted criticism for his equivocal stance on a series of tragic
events, including popular uprisings in Soviet-dominated Poland and Hungary and
the British-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956.
The Burmese diplomat U Thant, who succeeded Hammarskjold, reinterpreted the
position as a basically bureaucratic one. He presided over the UN’s expansion
into new domains, recruited more staff and helped organize more conferences.
Of those who succeeded Thant, only the Peruvian diplomat Javier Peres de Cuellar
managed to end his tenure without controversy - not to say scandal. The Austrian
Kurt Waldheim, an early supporter of the Khomeinist evolution in Iran, was
exposed as a former Nazi officer involved in rounding up Jews in Greece. The
Egyptian Butros Butros Ghali managed to turn almost everyone against himself by
rattling some cupboard hiding skeletons and ended up with a single term. The
Ghanaian Kofi Annan put up a good show at a very difficult time, but ended up
sullied with the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq.
Under an understanding by member states, the secretary-general must be chosen
from states other than the five that have a veto in the Security Council. Last
year, the General Assembly tightened the rules and established a greater measure
of transparency in the process of selecting the secretary-general.
By tradition the next secretary-general should come from outside Europe and
Asia, which leaves Latin America and Africa as the two main fishing fields.
Latin American nations have fielded several candidates, only two of them with
the profile needed for such a post.
One is Rafael, the Argentinian director-general of the International Atomic
Energy Agency. His problem is that Javier Milei the current ultra-right
President of Argentina isn’t a fan. And Milei being a favorite of US President
Donald Trump that could also mean hostility by Washington.
Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet Jeria faces a similar problem. The
new Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast is from the opposite side of the
political spectrum and also close to Trump, who regards Bachelet as a rabid
leftie.
Africa has two key candidates.
The first is former Senegal President Macky Sall and a champion of the so-called
“global south”. European nations regard Sall with misgiving if only because of
his courting of Vladimir Putin in the midst of the war in Ukraine. Worse still,
Sall faces the Senegalese justice on a range of allegations related to his
controversial presidency. Until last month, Dakar was reluctant to back his
candidacy.The second heavy-weight African candidate is Olara Otunnu, a Ugandan
economist whose resume includes service at international agencies. The cherry on
top of that resume is a brief friendship with former US President Bill Clinton
in bygone days. The question is whether Uganda is able to mobilize support for
Otunnu beyond its own borders. Some members are
canvassing for the selection of a woman as secretary-general. The idea was first
raised with former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto as the favorite. But she
scripted herself out by insisting she would try to regain the premiership of
Pakistan. She was assassinated on her way to reaching her goal in Islamabad.
But what about a dark horse emerging before the General Assembly meets in New
York next month?
Two women are talked about.
One putative candidate could be Audrey Azoulay, the Moroccan-French former
Director-General of UNESCO who also served as France’s Minister of Culture. She
could win support from both the African Union and the European Union, not to
mention the Arab League. However, her dual nationality may pose a problem. In
any case, she needs to be nominated by Rabat or Paris or both.
Rebecca Grynspan Mayufis is the other possibility talked about. As a
diplomat from Costa Rica - the least controversial nation in the New World and a
woman - she could benefit from broad consensus.
Even then a rabbit may be brought out of the magician’s hat at the last minute.
That has happened before. Regardless of who gets the job, the real issue is what
the job is for? Whatever his shortcomings, Guterres wasn’t even consulted about
any of the big events during his tenure, let alone offered a tripod at the high
table. Targeting him for personal attacks is unfair to say the least.
What can the secretary-general do when veto-holding nations, such as
Russia and US, start wars, or like China, threaten to do so?
If the job is to be part of the décor, as was the case with Kofi Annan, any
photogenic multilingual man or woman would do. And if managerial skills are
needed to run a sprawling and costly gravy train, one must look beyond diplomats
to a new younger generation of business leaders.
On the eve of the General Assembly, the world and the UN with it are still
moving toward the unknown.
Qalibaf and the Confining of Two States to the Hands of the Weapons
Mustafa Fahs/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 21/2026
Tehran shows intense concern for the geography of its influence — the near
geography that abuts it in Iraq, and the far, which abuts Israel from Lebanon,
in the south. Inside the national borders of the two countries, Iraq and
Lebanon, Tehran sets its own frontier: one that overrides the idea of the near
or distant neighborhood, of shared interests and social and spiritual
commonalities, and even overrides those countries' own internal national
interests — all in the service of its regional system of interests.
In Baghdad, once again, the speaker of the Iranian parliament and its
chief negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, reminded the ruling Iraqi political
elite of the constants of the relationship between Iraq and Iran — of the nature
of what Iran requires of a Baghdad it entered through the gate of weapons, under
the loose banner of "resistance." At the outset of a visit that is his most
important to Iraq in both its domestic and its external timing, he said that the
resistance in Iraq had become an essential component of global power, holding
that the Iraqi experience had exceeded the bounds of the two countries to become
an influential force at the regional and global levels.
This announcement — of the birth of a new regional order, which Qalibaf
proclaimed to the world from Baghdad — had been preceded days earlier by a
statement matching his Iraqi remarks in geographic and strategic sensitivity,
when he declared, roughly a week ago, that he was in direct contact with
Hezbollah fighters on the front lines. And the front lines are, in practice, the
operational boundary between Tehran and Tel Aviv, where the two engage directly
inside Lebanese territory, far from the will of Lebanon as a state and a people
— the people of the south in particular — since October 8, 2023.
From Baghdad to Beirut; from the weapons of the Iraqi armed factions that raise
the banner of "resistance" to the weapons of a party that raises the same
banner, Tehran persists — through Qalibaf, or Esmail Qaani, or other commanders
versed in the geography of Iranian interests — in confining the decision of the
two states to the hands of the weapons, rather than the reverse. What it is
trying to impose on the Iraqi government is what the Lebanese government already
confronts and what Lebanon has been unable to carry out, Iraq will find it
impossible to carry out.
For by the substance of Qalibaf's regional order — new and old at once — the
priority in Iraq and Lebanon is not the state, nor helping Iraq's political
system past its crises, nor easing the catastrophe borne by the people of
southern Lebanon, but the continuation of confrontation by invoking the idea of
a permanent "resistance."
Iraq is entering the challenge of the coming September 30: the date for the
complete withdrawal of American forces and for the factions to surrender their
weapons, amid a sharp split within the ruling Iraqi Shiite political house over
the utility of those weapons, their slogans, and their role once the last
American soldier has left. At that point, a real test begins between the state
and what lies beneath it — between weapons that protect the state and weapons
that protect the nature of the system.
The scene repeats itself in Lebanon, though its heading now is the anticipated
confrontation at the Ali al-Taher position in the Nabatieh governorate, and the
Israeli plan to occupy it, which would mean occupying the city of Nabatieh and
its surroundings, or destroying them outright. The Lebanese state stands
powerless to spare the south and Nabatieh the catastrophe. The Israeli enemy is
determined to seize the position, and the Iranians are determined on
confrontation, which has led to the failure, or the deliberate frustration, of
attempts to hand it over to the Lebanese army.
For the Israeli enemy, this approach failed before, in clearing the areas south
of the Litani river of weapons; on the other side there is total Iranian
rejection of any withdrawal from Ali al-Taher, and impossible conditions
attached to surrendering Hezbollah's weapons.
Meanwhile the authorities in Lebanon try to impose their sovereignty over their
own territory while avoiding an internal confrontation — the more so since
Israel is not prepared to honor its commitments and withdraw in stages, and Iran
is not disposed to accept the party's retreat or any partial relinquishing of
its weapons. All of which, once again, confines the decision on the security and
stability of the south to the hands of the Iranian negotiator.
Between Qalibaf and the two governments in Baghdad and Beirut lie commitments,
deadlines, and borders abutting confrontation, from the Strait of Hormuz to the
hill of Ali al-Taher — confrontations in which it is hard to give up weapons,
whatever the consequences of holding on to them. In Iraq, where the divisions
run through a single house of power and the government carries external
commitments, matters may lead to crises of extreme gravity, ones that threaten
the edifice of the 2003 system and end in strife and chaos. Lebanon, meanwhile,
lies between two risks: the confrontation at Ali al-Taher and what follows it,
and an internal confrontation with its own aftermath.
Accordingly, the two governments are convinced of the need to avoid a
confrontation that could lead to internal fighting and chaos. And since those
holding on to the weapons, and their backer, are not disposed even to maneuver —
since Tehran prefers a confrontation at Ali al-Taher to handing the position to
the Lebanese army, while the Iraqi factions prefer to conceal their weapons
rather than fold them into the state — it is clear that confining weapons to the
hands of the state is difficult, while the truth is that the weapons are
besieging the decision of the two states.
I Have a Dream
Dr. Abdelhak Azzouzi/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 21/2026
The American writer Simon Sinek has a valuable book titled Start with Why: How
Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Among the telling stories Sinek
recalls is that of the famous American leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with
all the lessons it carries about leadership, inspiration, and building trust.
On August 28, 1963, some 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., to hear
Martin Luther King's historic speech, "I Have a Dream." There were no social
networks, no internet, and no digital means capable of mobilizing crowds within
a few hours. Nor did the organizers send out a quarter of a million invitations.
Yet people came from across the United States, on the same day and at the same
time, because the man was not merely an accomplished orator. He was the bearer
of a message, he enjoyed people's trust and credibility, and above all, he knew
why he was struggling, why he was speaking, and why he was calling people to
change. The United States at that stage was living
through acute racial and social tensions, and racial discrimination and
inequality affected broad segments of society. King was not the only person who
believed in equality, nor the only one who knew where the failures lay in the
system of civil, political, and social rights. There were many who shared his
convictions and called for a society that brings people together rather than
divides them, and treats them equally rather than discriminates against them.
But the essential difference was that King possessed clarity of purpose and a
deep sense of mission, and that clarity gave him enormous energy and the ability
to persist despite difficulties and setbacks.
In the midst of that struggle, debate raged over the means: How could civil
rights be guaranteed? What should be done? Groups emerged with different
strategies. Some saw violence as a means of change, while others preferred
compromise, gradualism, and the search for conciliatory solutions.
Martin Luther King chose another path, founded on belief in a just cause and on
the ability to make others feel that they were part of it.
He would repeat, in the spirit of a man who believed in his message: "I
believe... I believe... I believe." His words were not confined to legal demands
or narrow political arrangements. They addressed human dignity itself. He
distinguished between just laws and unjust laws, holding that a just law is one
that accords with moral law and elevates the human being, while an unjust law
degrades his dignity. From this standpoint, segregation was considered an
injustice because it distorts the human soul and harms a person's character and
dignity.
For this reason, King's message went beyond the bounds of the civil rights
movement. It became a discourse about the human being and about the way people
ought to treat one another. His words reached deep into people because they did
not hear ideas that were foreign to them. Instead, they found in them a truthful
expression of what they already believed. They passed those words among
themselves, from friend to friend, until the cause was transformed from the
demand of one group into the cause of an entire nation.
Herein lies the power of his immortal phrase, "I Have a Dream." He did not say,
"I Have a Plan." He did not offer his audience a technical document or a
detailed administrative program. He offered them a purpose, a meaning, and an
image of the future that everyone could believe in. Plans matter, but a plan
without belief does not inspire, and means without a clear end do not move
hearts. From this story, we draw a lesson of great
importance in leadership, whether in leading states, institutions, or companies:
the greatest thing a leader can offer people is not orders alone, nor figures,
tables, and plans, but clarity about what he believes in, sincerity in what he
calls for, and the ability to make others share with him in the meaning and
purpose.
In a time when transformations are accelerating and challenges are becoming more
complex, societies need even more those who possess clarity of vision, sincerity
of purpose, and the courage of commitment. An inspiring leader does not content
himself with managing the present. He gives people meaning for the future, and
turns shared values into energy for action, trust into collective strength, and
the dream into a path capable of producing real and lasting change.
People do not rally around positions for long. They rally around values. And
trust is not built by polished rhetoric alone, but by sincerity, credibility,
and steadfastness in principle. On that day in 1963, people who differed in
color, affiliation, class, and age came together around a single dream and a
shared faith. That faith was the water that nourished the roots of a movement
that helped change the face of America. True
leadership, therefore, always begins with the simplest and, at the same time,
deepest question: why? We believe... we believe... we believe.
Ankara occupies Syria and then lectures Israel about sovereignty/A NATO member
that refuses to designate Hamas, hosts its leadership does not get to lecture a
state which has legitimate terrorism concerns.
Sinan Ciddi/The Jerusalem Post/August 21/2026
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-906129
Before dawn on August 18, Israeli aircraft cratered the runway and storage
facilities at the Abu al-Duhur airbase in eastern Idlib, approximately 70
kilometers from the Turkish border, resulting in eight strikes, significant
material damage, but no casualties.
Condemnations arrived faster than the damage assessment after Damascus declared
the operation a flagrant violation of its sovereignty. Ankara accused Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pursuing “expansionist and destabilizing”
policies ahead of Israel’s October 27 election. Washington’s own ambassador, Tom
Barrack, in Ankara pronounced it an “unnecessary escalation” that does nothing
for regional peace. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s office confirmed that Jerusalem and Damascus had agreed to a
security status quo, but that Syria was “on the verge of breaching” it by
permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo. Israel had warned
Damascus repeatedly, but Damascus chose to proceed anyway.
No one should take Turkey or Barrack’s protestations seriously.
In March 2025, Turkish military teams surveyed runways and hangars at the T4 and
Palmyra airbases in Homs province and the main airfield in Hama, as Ankara
negotiated a joint defense arrangement with Syria’s new rulers. A follow-up
inspection scheduled for March 25 never happened, because Israeli jets had
struck both sites hours earlier. Israel then struck T4 again in early April,
leaving it, by one regional intelligence assessment, unusable. The message was
identical then and now: Israel will not permit another air force, particularly
one belonging to a government that has threatened it with invasion, to erode its
freedom of action over Syria. Israel’s perception that Ankara’s military
footprint in Syria endangers Israeli security is not a novel proposition in
Jerusalem. The Israeli government has argued this for well over a year.
Israel’s red lines in Syria are not a mystery, and they are not about Ahmad
al-Sharaa’s rhetoric. They are about capability and trust. Sharaa is a former
al-Qaeda commander who has been received warmly in Western capitals on the hope
that he has changed. Perhaps he has. But his army still houses foreign jihadist
formations, including units drawn from the Turkistan Islamic Party, whose
leadership has been linked to al-Qaeda’s Shura Council. Islamic State is
meanwhile reconstituting as the American footprint shrinks. Israel does not have
the luxury of assuming that a state built on those foundations, armed and
air-covered by Ankara, will remain permanently non-belligerent. Sober analysts
have remarked that a functional Syria-Israel security understanding is
achievable — which is precisely why a Turkish garrison inside the deal’s
perimeter is so corrosive.
Ankara’s rebuttal is that its presence in Syria is lawful because Damascus
consents, while Israel’s is not. Turkey has also flatly denied that any
deployment to Abu al-Duhur was underway, calling the Israeli claim a
manufactured pretext, though Israeli officials say highly sensitive intelligence
on that deployment was shared with Washington beforehand. The consent argument
still deserves scrutiny on its own terms, because it is a remarkable piece of
retroactive legalism.
Turkey has seldom waited for permission when it entered Syria. It launched three
major cross-border operations — Euphrates Shield in 2016, Olive Branch against
Afrin in 2018, and Peace Spring across Ras al-Ain and Tell Abyad in 2019 — each
justified by Ankara as self-defense against terrorism, each conducted over
Damascus’s explicit objection. It armed and paid Islamist and jihadist militias
throughout the war. It still effectively controls swaths of the north and
continues paying the salaries of former Syrian National Army factions now folded
into the new Syrian military — factions documented as detaining, extorting, and
abusing civilians.
So the operative Turkish doctrine is this: Ankara may cross borders and occupy
foreign territory when it perceives a national security threat, and everyone
else must accept it, however, Israel may not. Turkey spent a decade dismantling
Syrian sovereignty and has spent the past twenty months invoking Syria’s
“territorial integrity” as though it were a founding principle. This is not law,
but regional positioning dressed as law.
We do not know precisely what specific asset or activity the IDF destroyed at
Abu al-Duhur. Israel has stated its rationale without exposing its intelligence,
which is standard practice when sources and methods are at stake. But the
Turkish general staff almost certainly knows exactly what was there, knows
Israel would not tolerate it, and has strong reasons to prefer the conversation
stay at the level of Netanyahu’s electoral motives. The election argument,
notably, is Ankara’s centerpiece, and it conveniently substitutes a claim about
Israeli intent for any account of Turkish conduct.
Ankara also prefers not to discuss a Syrian constituency. In July 2024,
anti-Turkish riots swept the Turkish-controlled north; protesters burned Turkish
facilities and five people were killed. That resentment has not evaporated.
Ordinary Syrians increasingly grasp that Turkish expansion inside their country
reliably invites Israeli bombs onto Syrian runways, and that they absorb the
costs of a rivalry they did not choose.Consent from Damascus, in any case,
settles nothing regarding Israel. A NATO member that refuses to designate Hamas,
hosts its leadership, and on whose soil Israeli intelligence recently exposed an
Iranian-directed Hamas finance network moving hundreds of millions of dollars,
does not get to lecture a state which has legitimate terrorism concerns. Nor is
Erdogan’s escalatory rhetoric a product of October 7. It runs from the “one
minute” confrontation with Shimon Peres at Davos in 2009, through the Mavi
Marmara, to his 2024 boast that Turkey might enter Israel “just as we entered
Karabakh, just as we entered Libya” — a line he repeated in April 2026.
Washington’s instinct to de-escalate is sound, and a trilateral
deconfliction mechanism is worth building; however, earlier attempts produced
little. But reflexively blaming Jerusalem, before the intelligence picture is
public, tells Ankara that escalation is cost-free and that American pressure
flows in one direction. Erdogan has spent years being told his threats are mere
rhetoric. Israel declined to make that assumption at T4, and declined again at
Abu al-Duhur. Tom Barrack should ask why a base near Aleppo mattered enough to
strike before concluding it should not have been struck.
**Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
and director of the Turkey program.
Beware Iran’s most devious weapon — another ‘October surprise’
Mark Dubowitz/New York Post/August 21/2026
The October surprise was born in Iran — and 46 years later, the Islamic Republic
may be preparing to launch another one. In 1980, the
hostage crisis — 52 Americans seized at the US embassy in Tehran the year before
during Iran’s Islamic Revolution — dominated the presidential race between
incumbent Jimmy Carter and challenger Ronald Reagan.
Reagan’s campaign manager Bill Casey, assuming Iran would dread his hawkish
boss’ victory, worried that Iran might release the hostages right before
Election Day — and hand Carter a last-minute win.
Seeking to short-circuit what he dubbed an “October surprise,” Casey told the
press of his concern, and the phrase stuck.
Today it’s used for any late-breaking event timed to swing an election.
But Casey was wrong: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had his
own reasons to want Carter defeated. Carter had
admitted the hated Shah to the United States, making him the face of
Washington’s decades-long support for the monarchy; Carter had frozen Iranian
assets, imposed sanctions and broken diplomatic relations with Tehran.
In Khomeini’s eyes, humiliating Carter and denying him the political
triumph of the hostages’ homecoming served the Islamic Revolution’s interests.
He held the hostages through Election Day and beyond, releasing them within
minutes of Reagan’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 1981 — extraordinary timing that
fueled allegations of a secret Reagan-Iran deal, which exhaustive congressional
investigations eventually debunked.
By letting the hostages dangle, Khomeini successfully manipulated American
politics. We may soon face another Iranian ploy aimed
at leveraging foreign elections to weaken the regime’s enemies. Israel’s
election is scheduled for Oct. 27; the US midterms are Nov. 3, exactly one week
later.
That makes the end of October a potentially dangerous window for regime
mischief. Tehran could attack Israel directly or
engineer a serious escalation through one of its terror proxies — calculating
that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, days before an election, would
have little choice but to respond forcefully.Imagine a ballistic missile
barrage, massive enough to overwhelm Israeli defenses, killing scores of
civilians in Tel Aviv or Haifa. Or an Iranian terrorist proxy carrying out a
mass-casualty attack against an Israeli population center. The precise scenario
is unknowable, but the calculation is not: Inflict enough carnage that no
Israeli prime minister could allow it to go unanswered.
But Tehran would be counting on that response.
A powerful Israeli retaliation could trigger a broader regional escalation,
drive the Iran war to the top of the news, spike oil and gasoline prices, and
create serious political and economic complications for President Donald Trump
and Republicans fighting to retain the House and Senate just days later.
In the regime’s ideal scenario, Tehran would absorb the Israeli blow, play the
victim, and wait to see if Republicans lose. If they do, Iran gets exactly the
narrative it wants: Israel helped cost Republicans Congress. Tehran could then
exploit the ensuing recriminations to deepen divisions between Washington and
Jerusalem, counting on American critics of Israel, on both the right and the
left, to hammer home that message. That makes the days immediately preceding the
Israeli election a particularly attractive window for an Iranian provocation.
We should be thinking about this now — because there’s little doubt Tehran is
already doing so.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps knows our political system well; it
studies our divisions and looks for opportunities to exploit them.
The Treasury Department sanctioned IRGC-linked entities in 2020 and again
in 2024 for using disinformation and hacked material to interfere in US
elections.
Countering an October surprise — whether this scenario or others — requires
close US-Israel coordination over the next two months to war-game the
possibilities. American and Israeli political,
military and intelligence officials should agree on potential responses before
missiles are flying, emotions are high, oil prices are spiking, poll numbers are
dropping and both governments are working at cross-purposes — straight into the
Islamic Republic’s trap .
One option should at least be considered: Revenge may be a dish better served
cold.
If Iran launches an attack deliberately designed to provoke Israel before the
elections, Israel could defend itself, absorb what it can, establish Iranian
responsibility, and wait — until after both elections — to retaliate at a time
of its choosing.
But Trump would need to give Netanyahu the political cover necessary not to
respond immediately, and a commitment that the IDF could act after the midterms.
Trump could also make clear publicly, well before October, that
Washington is aware of the potential regime trick, saying that an
election-season provocation will fail to divide the United States and Israel,
and retaliation will inevitably follow. Forty-six
years ago, an ayatollah exploited an American election and helped hobble a
sitting American president. The current ayatollah should not be allowed to run
the same playbook on this one.
**Mark Dubowitz is chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
https://nypost.com/2026/08/20/opinion/beware-irans-most-devious-weapon-a-new-october-surprise/
Read in New York Post
Israel strikes military airbase in Syria while warning
Turkey
Seth J. Frantzman/FDD's Long War Journal/August 21/2026
Israel conducted airstrikes on the Abu al Duhur military airport in northern
Syria during the evening of August 17–18. Syria condemned the strikes as a
violation of its sovereignty, while Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office said that
“Israel and Syria agreed to a status quo in security matters, which Syria was on
the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near
Aleppo.” The strikes come amid increasing tensions between Israel and Turkey.
The US has worked to reduce tensions and broker trilateral talks between Syria,
Israel, and the US.
On August 19, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Turkey against
increasing its military role in Syria. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
asserted on Wednesday that Israel had already warned Turkey against any military
activity in Syria before Israel bombed an airbase that Ankara had been eyeing,”
The Times of Israel reported. “The message was conveyed, but apparently they
didn’t hear it, so we made sure they understood it more clearly,” Netanyahu
said.
“Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to
Israel’s security. Syria chose to ignore these warnings. Israel will not
tolerate threats to its security, and would welcome a return to the status quo,”
Netanyahu’s office added. The Israeli prime minister has indicated that Israel
views a Turkish presence south of current Turkish positions in northern Syria as
a threat.
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF), visited Israeli troops on the Golan on August 19 in the wake of the
strikes. “We see what is happening and are monitoring the changes on the Syrian
front; we will not allow hostile forces to establish themselves on our borders,
and we will know how to use our operational capabilities precisely where and
when needed,” Zamir said, according to a statement distributed by the IDF.
“Syria condemned Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase in Idlib as
a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, the [Syrian] Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said Tuesday,” the state-run Syrian Arab News
Agency (SANA) reported on August 18. Abu al Duhur is in Idlib Governorate, south
of the city of Aleppo. Syria views the strikes as an unjustified act of
aggression.
“[The Syrian foreign ministry] said continued Israeli attacks since December 8,
2024, while Syria exercises restraint and works to consolidate stability and
avoid escalation, reveal attempts by the Israeli occupation to undermine those
efforts and push the region toward further tension and instability,” SANA added.
US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who is also the US envoy to Iraq and Syria,
wrote that the US was deeply concerned by the strikes. “The Al-Sharra [sic]
government has neither adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces.
It has, in fact, repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with
Israel. The United States has in the past, and will continue in the future, to
host discussions to encourage diplomatic cadence over kinetic frustration for
both nations,” Barrack stated.
Tensions between Israel and Syria have grown over the last year and a half since
the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime. Israeli officials have described Syria’s
president, Ahmad al Sharaa, who formerly led Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria before
heading Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), as a “jihadist.”
“They were jihadists and remain jihadists, even if some of their leaders have
donned suits,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in March 2025. In July
2025, Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs, advocated
assassinating Sharaa and warned that war could break out with Syria. Sharaa,
formerly known as Abu Mohammad al Jolani, was a US- and UN-designated terrorist
before the US and UN rescinded his designations in November 2025.
Israel launched a ground incursion into Syria, including seizing the summit of
Mount Hermon, when the Assad regime fell in December 2024. Since the end of that
year, the IDF has maintained a presence in what was previously the buffer zone
of the 1974 ceasefire lines on the Golan Heights.
The IDF has been accused by Turkish media of carrying out raids into Syria along
the buffer zone. Israel’s foreign ministry has responded by highlighting
Turkey’s role in northern Syria. Turkey invaded parts of northern Syria between
2016 and 2019 as part of its support for Syrian rebel groups and its opposition
to the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
Reuters reported on August 19 that days before the recent Israeli strike on Abu
al Duhur military airport, Roman Gofman, the head of Israel’s Mossad
intelligence agency, spoke with Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al Shaibani and
relayed Israel’s concerns about Turkey’s presence. Shaibani also met with US
Envoy Barrack in Turkey on August 17, hours before the strike. Turkish media
reports over the last few weeks had indicated that there were rising tensions
with Israel.
The US has sought to engage Syria and Israel in trilateral talks to ease
tensions. In January, there was a meeting between the three countries. “Both
Sides [sic] have decided to establish a joint fusion mechanism—a dedicated
communication cell—to facilitate immediate and ongoing coordination on their
intelligence sharing, military de-escalation, diplomatic engagement, and
commercial opportunities under the supervision of the United States,” the US
Department of State said at the time. It is unclear how Israel’s recent
airstrike will affect US policy and whether deconfliction in Syria may result.
Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a
contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East
correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7
War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).
Washington Should Not Reduce Military Exercises With South Korea
Logan Rolleigh and Ryan Brobst/FDD- Policy Brief/August 21/2026
President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defense to “substantially
reduce” military exercises between the U.S. and South Korean militaries on
Sunday. These regularly occurring combined exercises enhance the readiness and
interoperability of U.S. and South Korean armed forces and increase their
ability to deter and, if necessary, defeat North Korea. Reducing the scope or
frequency of these exercises, or ending them altogether, will erode the
alliance’s readiness, undermine deterrence, and increase the risk of North
Korean aggression against American and allied troops and civilians on the Korean
Peninsula.
Exercises Bolster U.S. and South Korean Combat Power
American and South Korean combined exercises ensure that the militaries of both
countries can operate together from the command level down to the squad level.
The ability to integrate processes and procedures while overcoming obstacles
that inevitably emerge in combat situations is especially important given the
difficulty of working across language barriers. Combined military operations in
wartime will be less effective if the allies fail to train together in
peacetime. Two large U.S. and South Korean combined
military exercises are held each year. Freedom Shield and Ulchi Freedom Shield
are comprehensive exercises typically beginning in spring and summer,
respectively. The current iteration of Ulchi Freedom Shield began on Monday,
August 17. Other exercises regularly take place as well, but they are generally
smaller and not as comprehensive. U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) states that the two
central exercises are defensive in nature and are intended to, in part, validate
combined readiness levels and improve communication and coordination between
U.S. and South Korean forces. In addition to providing indispensable training
opportunities, the exercises send an important deterrent message to America and
South Korea’s shared enemy — North Korea.
North Korea Is the Aggressor
Despite South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s attempts to bring stability by
proposing peace talks and aiming to secure a nuclear-free peninsula, North Korea
continues to ramp up its aggression. The North has not reciprocated any of the
South’s repeated gestures of reconciliation and peace since Lee took charge in
June 2025. Earlier this year, Pyongyang removed all references to reunification
with Seoul from its constitution. On August 14, the Kim regime denounced the
upcoming Ulchi Freedom Shield. The Trump administration’s echoing of Pyongyang’s
stance on U.S.-South Korea exercises is likely to embolden Kim instead of
deterring him. These developments come amid a North Korean military buildup.
This buildup has included launching two nuclear-armed destroyers, hardening
southern border defenses, updating and expanding military bases, improving
ballistic missile accuracy with Russian help, and modernizing the North Korean
Army’s tactics based on lessons learned by veterans of Russia’s war against
Ukraine. The danger from Pyongyang is growing due to Russian assistance
modernizing North Korea’s military capabilities, which increases the probability
they could be used against the United States and South Korea.
Strong Alliances Are Needed
Instead of reducing the size and frequency of combined exercises with South
Korea, the Trump administration should expand them and work to integrate
Japanese forces into the combined exercises at all levels as well. This will
strengthen combined deterrence against North Korean aggression and make it less
likely that a future conflict breaks out.On Capitol Hill, Congress should oppose
any efforts to reduce U.S. military posture on the peninsula, making clear that
it expects the administration to fully follow Section 1255 of the fiscal year
(FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which is designed to limit
troop reductions on the peninsula. Congress should also require reports on both
Russia-North Korea security cooperation and whether U.S. war plans on the
peninsula account for growing North Korean capabilities.
Trump should also include the South Korean president in any negotiations he
might undertake with Kim Jong Un. He should also convene a summit with Japanese
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Korea’s Lee to reaffirm U.S.-Japan-South
Korea trilateral security cooperation. These steps would signal that Washington
has the political will and military capabilities to punish and defeat any
aggression from North Korea.
*Logan Rolleigh is a research assistant for the Center on Military and Political
Power (CMPP) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Ryan Brobst is
the deputy director of CMPP. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please
subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_CMPP. Follow Logan on X
@L_Rolleigh and Ryan on X @RyanBrobst_. FDD is a Washington, DC-based,
nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
Resistance to Taliban rule persists in Afghanistan
Will Selber/FDD's Long War Journal/August 20, 2026
As the Taliban’s reign over Afghanistan enters its sixth year, the Taliban
remains stronger, more unified, and better equipped than it was before September
11, 2001. Today, its flag flies across all 34 provinces and roughly 400
districts. Yet beneath an appearance of uncontested control, the Taliban faces
its most serious combination of challenges since Kabul fell.
Relations with Pakistan have worsened, producing intermittent
cross-border clashes and military operations. Islamabad accuses the Taliban of
sheltering the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), which is waging an escalating insurgency
inside Pakistan. The Taliban also continues to battle the Islamic State’s
Khorasan Province, which has survived more than a decade of sustained pressure
from the Taliban, the former Afghan government, and the United States.
At the same time, a persistent anti-Taliban resistance has expanded. The
resistance began early, after the fall of Kabul, as forces aligned with the
previous government tried but failed to hold territory in Panjshir province.
After their initial defeat in September 2021, forces that would become the
National Resistance Front (NRF), a major anti-Taliban resistance group, began
guerrilla attacks. Now, dozens of organizations have announced their opposition
to Taliban rule, while a smaller number regularly claim attacks. These groups
have endured despite lacking territorial sanctuary or overt state sponsorship,
two advantages previously enjoyed by the Northern Alliance, the Taliban, and
many of the mujahideen factions that fought the Soviet Union.
“Our greatest achievement is that the resistance survived and expanded,” Ali
Nazary, head of foreign relations for the NRF, told FDD’s Long War Journal. “The
resistance is indigenous. The NRF is not an army sitting somewhere outside the
country waiting to cross the border.”
As the anti-Taliban resistance enters its sixth year, the NRF, led by Ahmad
Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, and former Chief of General Staff Yasin
Zia’s Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) remain the two most active groups on the
battlefield.
“The NRF has conducted more than 2,000 military operations against Taliban
forces since the resistance began in 2021,” Nazary told Long War Journal.
This NRF attack claim is substantially higher than the 300-plus attacks
the group has claimed on X. According to their posts, the NRF has focused most
of its operations in Kabul, Herat province, and northern Afghanistan. In early
August, the group claimed an attack in Herat, killing two Taliban fighters,
followed by a claimed rocket attack on Taliban forces in Kunduz.
“We have increasingly emphasized intelligence, mobility, survivability, and the
ability to strike Taliban security where they believe they are secure,” Nazary
told Long War Journal.
As the NRF’s commander, Massoud is likely the most internationally recognized
face of the anti-Taliban resistance. He travels frequently throughout Europe,
the United States, and the Middle East, most recently attending the Iranian
state funeral for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Massoud’s travels are likely not
only an attempt to garner resources, but also to remind the world that there is
an alternative to the Taliban.
“Much of the world is exhausted by Afghanistan,” Nazary said. “This is an
international political challenge.”
Yasin Zia’s AFF, while not as well-known internationally as the NRF, has
actively fought the Taliban since 2022. It has focused its attacks in Kabul and
the provinces of Baghlan, Parwan, Kapisa, Takhar, Kunduz, and, most recently,
Badakhshan, where it has engaged in sustained fighting with Taliban forces in
Zebak district. “The AFF has now reached a stage where
it is capable of organizing larger, front-line military operations against the
Taliban,” Dawood Naji, head of the AFF’s political committee, told LWJ.
The AFF has also publicly claimed at least 20 operations in Kandahar province
since 2022, underscoring its geographic reach. Kandahar, the spiritual homeland
of the Taliban, is in southern Afghanistan and is majority Pashtun, which is not
a natural base of support for a group led by a Tajik.
“The AFF is active in several parts of the country,” Naji said. “In the coming
weeks and months, you will see our presence expanded into additional areas.”
Although the AFF and NRF have been the most active resistance groups over the
past five years, two former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan officials of the
previous regime have recently entered the battlefield. Former Vice President
Amrullah Saleh’s Afghan Green Trend, which spent much of the past four years
releasing sensitive Afghan government documents, began publicly claiming attacks
against the Taliban this year. It most recently claimed attacks against Taliban
oil tankers in the Salang Valley.
Former 215th Corps commander Lieutenant General Sami Sadat’s Afghan United Front
(AUF) also commenced operations this year, launching its first attack on August
1 in Kandahar province. Since then, the AUF has claimed nearly 20 attacks across
the country, focusing largely on Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
“Our preparation over the past three years has had only one purpose,”
Sadat told LWJ. “So that when we start, we do not stop until Afghanistan is
free.”
Other smaller anti-Taliban resistance groups have also been active across the
battlefield. In mid-July, Sepahiyan-e Mihan, or the Homeland Soldiers Front, led
by former Afghan commando Qayum Malang, commenced operations by briefly
capturing the Yaftali Sufla district center in Badakhshan. Other groups,
including the National Mobilization Front, the Freedom and Justice Movement, and
the Afghan Liberation Movement, have also publicly claimed attacks across
Afghanistan.
“Since beginning operations in September 2022, the ALM has conducted 59
operations,” Naser Waziri, an advisor to the Afghan Liberation Movement, told
LWJ. “Countering the narcotics trade has been one of our principal focuses.”
With new groups claiming attacks more frequently, some analysts have expressed
concern that the resistance could fragment further, leaving the battlefield
crowded with organizations but lacking an overarching political or military
strategy. However, resistance leaders contend that while they are not working
under the same organizations, they are all working for the same goal: the
removal of the Taliban regime. “We regard the
Afghanistan Freedom Front, or any resistance movement seeking to liberate
Afghanistan, as partners in a common struggle rather than competitors,” Nazary
said.
Afghanistan has a grim history of armed factions uniting against a common enemy
but dividing over what should follow. After the collapse of Mohammad
Najibullah’s Soviet-backed government in 1992, rival mujahideen factions fought
for control of Kabul, devastating the capital and helping create the conditions
for the Taliban’s rise. Nevertheless, resistance leaders say that they can
succeed despite Afghanistan’s bloody history.
“We are united by the purpose of freeing Afghanistan from Taliban tyranny,”
Sadat said. “We see no issues operating with different organizations, since we
are all fighting under the tricolor flag and for a united Afghanistan.”
Shared opposition to the Taliban, however, does not by itself constitute a
unified strategy. If the resistance is to become more than a persistent security
challenge, its factions will need to improve operational coordination, expand
the frequency and sophistication of their attacks, develop sustainable
logistical networks, and articulate a credible political order to replace
Taliban rule. The eventual ability to contest and hold territory would represent
a far more consequential stage, but one that remains difficult without
sanctuary, sustained resources, or meaningful outside support.
“Our ultimate objective is not simply the defeat of one group,” Nazary said. “It
is the establishment of a legitimate political order based on the consent of the
people.”
For now, the resistance remains far from an existential threat to Taliban rule.
But its continued survival is significant. Despite lacking territorial sanctuary
and receiving little overt foreign assistance, armed groups continue to strike a
Taliban regime that is pursuing greater international recognition while denying
Afghans meaningful political participation. “People
should know that there is another Afghanistan,” Nazary said. “There are men and
women resisting the Taliban inside the country despite receiving almost no
international assistance.”
*Will Selber is a retired US CENTCOM foreign area officer with over 4 years in
Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the owner of Grumpy Combat Veteran on Substack.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2026/08/afghanistans-resistance-persists-despite-taliban-rule.php
Read in FDD's Long War Journal
Democratic Socialists of America: The Secret Stooges
Peter Huessy/Gatestone Institute/August 21, 2026
Who doesn't like free stuff? Capitalism, however, is not the villain. Without
capital (funding), there would be no economy, free or state-run. The issue,
therefore, is not between capitalism and socialism. It is between free
enterprise and economic liberty on the one hand and a state-run, often
totalitarian, market on the other. North Korea and Cuba also use capital. Both
are, in a way, state capitalisms: the state has all the money; the citizens are
the oppressed serfs. The state provides for them, to an extent, but is careful
to do so as stingily as possible. The socialist or communist state's first
concern will not be delivering services; it will be cutting costs. As the money
that comes in becomes scarcer -- who is making money, the state? The first
casualty invariably ends up being quality. Yes, there is free healthcare -- if
you can wait months for an operation, and if you qualify for it under the
state's cost-cutting rationing. Are you too old or too sick, or too medically
compromised in some other way, and is someone younger and healthier more worthy
of receiving the care than you?
Yes, you receive free housing, but who will guarantee that there will be
sufficient heat in the winter, clean running water, that the garbage will be
collected, that there will be no vermin, or that the elevator will work. Under
communism, land belongs only to the state. The price is immaterial. Ask the
"kulaks," peasant farmers in Ukraine whose land and grain were stolen by
Stalin's Soviet Union during the Holodomor in 1932-33, with the result that five
million people in Ukraine starved to death.
The DSA candidates do not describe themselves as communists. What does that
mean, however, when many of the DSA's official policies are the essence of
communism?
Unlike the DSA, communist leaders from Lenin to Mao to Castro did not aspire to
abolish the police, the military or the border patrol. If anything, these
totalitarian rulers expanded the police, the prisons, and the military. They
were more than happy to put millions in prison or the gulags while widening the
powers of the police and security forces...
What is being overlooked at the moment is that the current communist rulers from
Cuba to China would love the DSA to abolish the police and border patrol in
America, empty the prisons, open the borders, and shut down oil and gas
production. Those moves would thoroughly cripple the United States and
significantly weaken its ability to defend itself -- both internally and
externally. No self-respecting communist government would ever adopt such crazy
policies.
Commentator Ryan Mauro notes that New York City's DSA Mayor Zohran Mamdani and
"chaos" funder George Soros both admire Slavoj Žižek, whose In Defence of Lost
Causes calls for the return of the French Revolution's guillotine and what he
calls "emancipatory terror." The goal, it seems, is the destruction of the West,
to be replaced with Stalinist communism. Pictured: US Senator Bernie Sanders (R)
speaks to the crowd at a rally for Mamdani (L) in New York City on April 12,
2026. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
The country is debating whether the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is
the new face of the Democrat Party. There are two impediments, however, to
accurately discussing what the DSA is all about. The first is that Americans are
learning about DSA through the lens of the dominant media -- what Rush Limbaugh
often called "the drive-by media." Largely missing is a balanced media source
despite the almost universal use of the term "mainstream media" to describe the
current collection of highly partisan and slanted journalists from whom most
Americans get their news. While "mainstream" implies balanced and informative,
most of the dominant media of today are neither.
The second impediment is an assumption that advocates of the DSA are simply
against a "capitalist" system they associate with greed, and instead favor of
what they consider a benign, compassionate "socialist" economy where stuff is
largely free. Who doesn't like free stuff? Capitalism, however, is not the
villain. Without capital (funding), there would be no economy, free or
state-run. The alternative is to go back to a barter system: I'll paint your
apartment, you give me wood for heating my house.
The issue, therefore, is not between capitalism and socialism. It is between
free enterprise and economic liberty on the one hand and a state-run, often
totalitarian, market on the other.
Capitalism is not synonymous with free enterprise or economic liberty. The 1776
economic manifesto The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith never used the word. It
was Karl Marx who used "capitalism" as a highly pejorative description of the
economies of the affluent West. North Korea and Cuba also use capital. Both are,
in a way, state capitalisms: the state has all the money; the citizens are the
oppressed serfs. The state provides for them, to an extent, but is careful to do
so as stingily as possible.
The socialist or communist state's first concern will not be delivering
services; it will be cutting costs. As the money that comes in becomes scarcer
-- who is making money, the state? The first casualty invariably ends up being
quality. Yes, there is free healthcare -- if you can wait months for an
operation, and if you qualify for it under the state's cost-cutting rationing.
Are you too old or too sick, or too medically compromised in some other way, and
is someone younger and healthier more worthy of receiving the care than you?
Yes, you receive free housing, but who will guarantee that there will be
sufficient heat in the winter, clean running water, that the garbage will be
collected, that there will be no vermin, or that the elevator will work.
Under communism, land belongs only to the state. The price is immaterial. Ask
the "kulaks," peasant farmers in Ukraine whose land and grain were stolen by
Stalin's Soviet Union during the Holodomor in 1932-33, with the result that five
million people in Ukraine starved to death.
The DSA candidates do not describe themselves as communists. What does that
mean, however, when many of the DSA's official policies are the essence of
communism?:
"[C]ollectively own the key economic drivers that dominate our lives, such as
energy production and transportation..." (source)
"[N]ationalize and socialize (through worker and community ownership and
control) institutions of monetary policy, insurance, real estate, and
finance..." (source)
"Social housing must first be a redistribution of land from landowners to the
landless... Social housing must expropriate property from capitalists and
deliver it to the working class..." (source)
Members of the DSA, while not precisely following what communist enemies of the
USA want to see happen in America, are nevertheless stooges -- dupes -- of our
communist enemies -- what during the Cold War were known as "useful idiots."
Walter Duranty of the New York Times wrote from the Soviet Union in the 1930s
that "no actual starvation or deaths from starvation" in Ukraine and "there is
no famine," and he treated the Moscow Trials as justified and credible. Prior to
this, shamefully, Duranty had won the 1932 Pulitzer Prize, still unrevoked, for
his reporting of fabrications from the Soviet Union.
Unlike the DSA, communist leaders from Lenin to Mao to Castro did not aspire to
abolish the police, the military or the border patrol. If anything, these
totalitarian rulers expanded the police, the prisons, and the military. They
were more than happy to put millions in prison or the gulags while widening the
powers of the police and security forces, whether the KGB, MININT or MMS.
Certainly, they all markedly enlarged their military and security forces. How
else could communist nations have killed some 120 million of their own people,
just to secure and sustain power?
What is being overlooked at the moment is that the current communist rulers from
Cuba to China would love the DSA to abolish the police and border patrol in
America, empty the prisons, open the borders, and shut down oil and gas
production. Those moves would thoroughly cripple the United States and
significantly weaken its ability to defend itself -- both internally and
externally. No self-respecting communist government would ever adopt such crazy
policies.
Supporters of the DSA appear to think that mob violence -- such as was used in
the summer of 2020 and currently characterizes the assault on immigration law
enforcement -- will enable them to seize control of the House of
Representatives, then the Senate, then the presidency itself. If the Supreme
Court is a barrier to the totalitarian plans of the DSA -- whose plans would be
so easy to implement if all that were needed was a simple majority vote in the
House -- the logical plan is to abolish the checks and balances of in the US
constitution to fundamentally transform the US.
The DSA appears impatient with the world. Their utopia cannot wait. A thoughtful
discussion of America's future or reasonable analysis of the DSA's objectives
will not happen. Any such debate would leave these candidates in the ditch. They
argue for abolishing the police on Monday, they deny they said it on Tuesday. No
discussion of ramifications. The drive-by media remain complicit in the rise of
the DSA by ignoring or covering for them.
What can we expect? Commentator Ryan Mauro notes that New York City's DSA Mayor
Zohran Mamdani and "chaos" funder George Soros both admire Slavoj Žižek, whose
In Defence of Lost Causes calls for the return of the French Revolution's
guillotine and what he calls "emancipatory terror." The goal, it seems, is the
destruction of the West, to be replaced with Stalinist communism. Apart from
their projected multiple trillions of dollars in new government spending that
they cannot pay for, the DSA foreign policy agenda is also scary. The DSA seems
to be pushing a global intifada, an embrace of Hamas terrorism, a wholesale
rejection of Israel, and on top of all that, "defunding" the US Department of
Defense.
The goals of the former Soviet Union are still being pursued -- not by the KGB
or the Red Army but by DSA hucksters who sadly are nothing but suckers promising
a false utopia to be built on the ruins of America.
**Peter Huessy is president of Geostrategic Analysis.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22785/democratic-socialists-of-america
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute.
Question:What did Jesus mean by “upon this rock I will
build my church” in Matthew 16:18?
GotQuestions.org/August 21/2026
Answer: Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:18 are the focus of an ongoing debate over
who or what “the rock” is that Jesus mentions. The immediate context contains a
question that Jesus put to His disciples: “Who do you say I am?” (verse 15).
Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (verse 16), to
which Jesus replies, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not
revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you
that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of
Hades will not overcome it” (verses 17–18).
Is “this rock” on which Christ promised to build His church Peter? Is it Peter’s
faith? Is it the truth of Peter’s statement? Or is the rock Jesus Himself? In
all honesty, there is no way for us to be 100 percent sure which view is
correct.
First view: the rock is Peter
One view is that Jesus was declaring that Peter would be the “rock” on which He
would build His church. Jesus appears to be using a play on words. “You are
Peter [petros] and on this rock [petra] I will build my church.” Since Peter’s
name means “rock,” and Jesus is going to build His church on a rock, it appears
that Christ means to link Peter with the founding of the church. It’s true that
God used Peter greatly in the foundation of the church. It was Peter who first
proclaimed the gospel on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14–47). Peter was also the
first to take the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10:1–48). In a sense, Peter was
the rock “foundation” of the church.
Second view: the rock is the truth contained in Peter’s statement
Another popular interpretation is that the rock Jesus was referring to is not
Peter, but Peter’s statement in Matthew 16:16: “You are the Christ, the son of
the living God.” In this view, the “rock” is the truthfulness of that
statement—the church is built on the rock-solid truth that Jesus is God’s Chosen
One and the eternal Son of God. In confessing Jesus as the Christ, Peter, the
“rock,” was demonstrating his own stability as he stood on that truth. He was,
in a way, showing his character and why Jesus nicknamed him “Cephas” or “Peter”
(see John 1:42).
Third view: the rock is Peter’s faith
Jesus had never explicitly taught the disciples the fullness of His identity,
and so it was God who had sovereignly opened Peter’s eyes to that revelation.
Jesus marks the source of that truth in Matthew 16:17. Peter’s confession of
Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God poured forth from him as a heartfelt
declaration of personal faith. Since personal faith in Christ is the hallmark of
the true Christian, those who place their faith in Christ, as Peter did, are the
church. Peter, writing to believers dispersed through the ancient world, likens
them to stones used to build the church: “As you come to him, the living
Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like
living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood,
offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter
2:4–5). The faith of believers is what makes them “living stones” able to be
built into the church.
Fourth view: the rock is Jesus
After Jesus declares that God the Father had revealed the truth to Peter, He
says, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).
The word for “Peter,” Petros, is a masculine noun that means “a detached stone,
a stone that might be thrown or easily moved” (Zodhiates, S., The Complete Word
Study Dictionary: New Testament, AMG Publishers, 1992, p. 1,154). The word for
“rock” next mentioned is a different Greek word, petra, a feminine noun that
means “a mass of rock” or “a cliff” and therefore something foundational (ibid.;
see also Matthew 7:24–25). The difference in the two terms may suggest that
Jesus was contrasting Peter with Himself. That is, Jesus was saying, “You are
the small rock, but I am the foundation of the church.” This view finds support
in other passages that present Christ, not Peter, as the foundation of the
church (1 Corinthians 3:11) and the life-giving rock (1 Corinthians 10:4).
Of course, the apostles played a foundational role in the building of the
church, but the role of primacy is reserved for Christ alone. So, Jesus’ words
in Matthew 16:18 are best interpreted as a simple play on words: a boulder-like,
foundational truth came from the mouth of one who was called a small stone.
Christ Himself is called the “chief cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:6–7; cf. Matthew
21:42). The chief cornerstone of any building was that upon which a building is
anchored. If Christ declared Himself to be the cornerstone, how could Peter be
the rock upon which the church was built? Believers are the stones that make up
the church. They are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (not
just Peter) and anchored to the Cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). “The one who
trusts in [Christ] will never be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6).
The Roman Catholic Church argues that Peter is the rock upon which Jesus built
His church, confers upon Peter the title of pope, and claims to be the one true
church. As we have seen, however, identifying the rock as Peter is not the only
valid interpretation of Matthew 16:18. Even if Peter is the rock upon which
Jesus promised to build His church, it does not give the Roman Catholic Church
any authority. What is clearer is that Scripture never describes Peter as being
supreme over the other apostles. The New Testament does not describe Peter as
being the all-authoritative leader of the early church. The origin of the
Catholic Church is not in the teachings of Peter or any other apostle. If Peter
truly was the founder of the Roman Catholic Church, it would be in full
agreement with what Peter taught (Acts 2, 1 Peter, 2 Peter).
Selected Face Book & X tweets
on August 21/2026
Dr Walid Phares
Hezbollah quicksands
As I projected many weeks ago, the so called "Pilot zones" in south Lebanon are
failing
1. Hezbollah was not removed from the zones
2. Hezbollah is all around the zones
3. Hezbollah has penetrated the regular units that were deployed to replace
Hezbollah in these zones.
The pilot zones are sinking in Hezbollah quicksands. The initial concepts of
such plan were a failure by itself
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
Quick remarks on this episode:
1- Arabs and Muslims find themselves always at liberty of correcting the
collective narrative of others -- Jews, Maronites, etc -- and NEVER accept any
revision to their own history, whose evidence is flimsy and relies on revision
literature (the source of the story of Prophet Muhammad comes from Abbasid
literature compiled 200 years after his death) and is extremely thin on
epigraphic (ancient inscriptions) and numismatic (coins) evidence. Even the name
Al-Quds, for Jerusalem, Muslims invented it like a month ago (Muslim sources
originally called it Iliya -- the Arabization of the name of the Roman colony).
2- On Phoenicians. This was a civilization that shared language, religion,
traditions and social customs was spread along a vast area that extended from
Lisbon in Portugal to Homs in Syria and dominated the Mediterranean basin. The
Phoenician civilization lived for some 1400 years (roughly the age of Islam
today), which means the Phoenician civilization evolved until it mutated beyond
being recognizable in its earliest form. Like the Arabs today who never had a
country called Arabia (Arabs had Islamic empires, but never Arab ones)
Phoenicians were also one civilization that lived in competing states (like
Muslims and Arabs today). For example, the Phoenicians of Tyre colonized
Carthage while the Phoenicians of Sidon colonized Banazert (both are coastal
towns in today's Tunisia). The two Phoenician powers were competitors.
3- It does not matter that they did not call themselves Phoenicians and that
this ethnonym was coined by modern historians. The Byzantines too never called
themselves Byzantine but called themselves Roman (and the Arabs similarly called
them room, and from them we still have today the Room Orthodox sect in Arabic
that is translated into Greek Orthodox in English).
4- The Phoenician story of Lebanon was constructed after Lebanon's independence
to reinforce national identity. Lebanon was not the only one that did it. The
Egyptians revived their ancient Pharaoh-ic history as the basis of their
national identity, and so did the Iraqis and their Mesopotamia and others. Every
nation state invents imaginary history and integrates into its modern identity.
When Lebanon invented Phoenicianism, it did not restrict it to Christians but
was supposed to include all the Lebanese (costal cities were rarely
predominantly Christian, and they were the most Phoenician).
5- My own thinking about the Phoenicians is this: They were a civilization --
not a political entity. Some of their empires established empires whose capital
relocated (Tyre to Carthage). The Phoenicians were polyglots (multilingual) just
as the Lebanese are today because they use such asset to help them expand their
trade and business or advance their careers. As empires rose and fell, the
Phoenicians changed their language and culture, first to Roman (the Severus
dynasty of Roman Empire was Phoenician port-Arab) then to Arab when Arabic
started taking over as the lingua franca of the trade coalition that connected
India to Spain, with the Phoenicians playing a major role in this
intercontinental network.
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister's Office:
Erdoğan is an antisemitic dictator who has massacred Kurds, harbors Hamas
terrorists, occupies half of Cyprus, and jails record numbers of journalists and
politicians who oppose him. He now seeks to extend his aggression against Israel
into Syria. Israel will not tolerate it. Erdoğan’s pathetic attempt to
intimidate the leaders and soldiers of Israel, the only true democracy in the
Middle East, will go nowhere.
Harry Theocharous
BREAKING: ERDOGAN REQUESTS INTERPOL RED NOTICE FOR PM NETANYAHU🚨
The Turkish Justice Ministry just announced that Turkey has formally requested
an Interpol red notice for PM Benjamin Netanyahu for the flopilla interception
and for “crimes against humanity”
Erdogan is not seeking justice, he’s escalating legal and political warfare
against Israel as part of his neo Ottoman ambitions.He’s pushing hard, testing
limits and appearing eager for a wider confrontation but will soon discover this
was a very bad idea. Israel does not play these games the way Erdogan hopes.
Diliman Abdulkader
We gotta admit, Turkey was isolated and sidelined for the most part under the
previous administration—they only acted tough against the Kurds and even then
they were limited in what they could do.
Now thanks to Barrack, Turkey feels emboldened and untouchable. They undermine
U.S. national security every opportunity they get because they know it won’t
impact its ties with the White House and the President. In fact they feel so
emboldened they’re even trying to test the U.S. alliance with Israel. The only
reason it hasn’t gotten to the point of Turkey physically attacking Israel is
because they know Israel won’t tolerate it and will respond immediately. Turkey
wishes it could join Iran in the war, even President Trump admitted this. The
White House has given Turkey a free pass, a total policy change compared to
Trump 1.0 and even the Biden administration. The Turks are itching to ignite
conflicts to destabilize the region so it can expand its territory. Two more
years of a free pass from the White House is exactly what they want.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
Aisha Wahab has been just elected to Congress to finish the term of Eric Swalwel
(D-CA), who resigned over allegations of sexual misconduct. I looked up Aisha,
and, like I argue in my book The Arab Case for Israel, Muslim-Americans and
Arab-Americans are neither Muslim nor Arab (and in her case, not Afghani).
These Muslims in America use their heritage (and add to it Western antisemitism
that aligns with Muslim Palestine) as a winner in identity politics.
Aisha, for example, says as someone "who has traveled to Afghanistan and
witnessed the consequences of decades of conflict," then she goes on to
reiterate the most common Democratic and DSA anti-American foreign policy
platform. She's entitled to run on such a platform, but what's the value added
of her Afghani heritage in this case?
If her lived Afghanistan experience was the issue, then, as an American of
Afghani stock, and as a woman, Aisha's foreign policy would have centered on
helping out the Afghani women (thus, engaging in imperialism at the expense of
cultural relativism). Afghanistan is the worst country, on the planet, for
women. This is how the UN describes it:
---- It is now five years since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan – the second
time they seized power in the country. Since August 2021, the de facto
authorities (DFA) have issued more than 100 decrees affecting women and girls,
stripping them of their rights and institutionalizing discrimination against
them.
In the past year, this organized exclusion of women and girls from education,
health services, and work – and restrictions on their movement and access to
public life – has only intensified.
No other country in modern times has dismantled the rights of half its
population through law, policy, and practice to the same extent. At the same
time, overlapping humanitarian and economic crises and deepening poverty are
also having a disproportionate impact on women and girls.
Half a decade in, the most severe women’s rights crisis in the world is being
normalized. ---