English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News
& Editorials
For February 18/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2026/english.february18.26.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
But when you give to the needy, do not let
your left hand know what your right hand is doing
Matthew 06/01-04: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness
in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from
your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with
trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be
honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right
hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees
what is done in secret, will reward you.
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on February
17-18/2026
Elias Bejjani/Text and Video
(Arabic & English): Hezbollah is an army of mercenaries entirely subordinate to
the Iranian Mullahs; therefore, negotiations regarding its weapons and the means
to uproot it from Lebanon must be conducted with Iran under international &
Arabic sponsorship.
Fasting is prayer, contemplation, repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation
with God/Elias Bejjani
Ash Monday: A Holy Day For Repentance Prayers & Forgiveness/Elias Bejjani
IDF slays Hezbollah terrorists in Southern Lebanon
Lebanon sets 4-month window for next Hezbollah disarmament phase
Hezbollah rejects disarmament plan and government's four-month timeline
Germany will keep supporting Lebanon after UN peacekeepers leave, the German
president says
Katz says Israel won't withdraw as long as Hezbollah has arms
Govt. decision to hike fuel prices and VAT sparks road-blocking protests
Report: US, regional actors seeking deal with Lebanon that would freeze
Hezbollah arms
Lebanon’s President Moves to Unveil Defense Strategy as Weapons Debate Reaches
Critical Stage
Israeli Drone Strike Hits Aita al-Shaab in South Lebanon
Salam inspects bereaved city of Tripoli
Germany's President visits Lebanese Navy school in Jounieh
Lebanon’s gas station owners' syndicate say gasoline hike caught them by
surprise, warn of wider impact
US Senator Slotkin to LBCI: I'm in support of more money for the LAF
UNIFIL and Lebanese Army remove unexploded shells from homes in Odaisseh
Finance Minister Jaber defends gasoline tax and VAT hike
FIFA President Infantino celebrates in Beirut after receiving a Lebanese
passport
Govt. says army to take at least 4 months for N. Litani disarmament
Lebanon's election uncertainty grows: Cabinet avoids decision on expat voting
For a Better Druze Future, Jumblatt Needs New Ideas/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/This
Is Beirut
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous
Reports And News published
on February
17-18/2026
US
official: Iran to return within two weeks with proposals to bridge gaps
Iran president says open to 'verification' Tehran not seeking nuclear weapon
Khamenei says Iran can sink US warship as Geneva talks conclude
Iran FM says agreed with US 'on guiding principles' for deal
Iran says it temporarily closed the Strait of Hormuz as it held more indirect
talks with the US
Iranian oil exports dipping amid heightened tensions with U.S.
Israel accused of move expanding Jerusalem borders for first time since 1967
IAF strikes terrorists across Gaza in response to truce violations
Israeli military says more than 1,500 Canadians were serving in its ranks last
year
Al-Aqsa imam says Israel barring him from entering mosque ahead of Ramadan
Ukraine is ramping up its counteroffensive regaining territories from Russian
troops
Oil in spotlight as Trump's Iran warning rattles sleepy markets
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published
on February
17-18/2026
The
greatest threat to the West is immigration, not Moscow/Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS/February
17/2026
Trump to be ‘indirectly’ involved in Iran nuclear negotiations/Joshua Marks/JNS/February
17/2026
Trump could be missing the opportunity to rebuild the Navy efficiently and
quickly/RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery/New York Post/February 17/2026
Europe Looks to Israeli Tech to Defend Tanks/Justin Leopold-Cohen & Bradley
Bowman/Real Clear Defense/February 17/ 2026
Gaza’s disarmament headache/Ben Cohen/Jewish News Syndicate/February 17/2026
Germany: Have Certain Terrorists Been Getting a Pass?/Robert Williams/Gatestone
Institute/February 17/2026
X Platform Selected twittes for 17/2026
The Latest
English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on February
17-18/2026
Elias Bejjani/Text and Video
(Arabic & English): Hezbollah is an army of mercenaries entirely subordinate to
the Iranian Mullahs; therefore, negotiations regarding its weapons and the means
to uproot it from Lebanon must be conducted with Iran under international &
Arabic sponsorship.
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/02/152238/
February 17/2026
Emphasis on Hezbollah’s Iranian Alignment
In a statement issued byHezbollah on February 16, 1985, it declared that it is
“committed to the commands of a wise and just leadership embodied in the ولاية
الفقيه (Guardianship of the Jurist), represented by Ruhollah Khomeini, the
Ayatollah al-Mousawi, the instigator of the Muslims’ revolution and the reviver
of their glorious renaissance.”
In an interview published in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir in February 1988,
Hassan Nasrallah stated:“Our project, which we have no choice but to adopt as
ideological believers, is the project of an Islamic state and the rule of Islam,
and that Lebanon should not be a single Islamic republic but rather part of the
greater Islamic Republic, ruled by the Awaited Imam and his rightful نائب
(deputy), the Jurist-Guardian, Imam Khomeini.”
Elias Bejjani: Key Points In my Video Commentary
*Legal Necessity: Legally, Lebanon is required to negotiate with Iran—under
Arab, International, and American supervision—regarding the weaponry, existence,
and institutions of Hezbollah, which are subordinate to Iran and act upon its
orders.
*The “Army, People, Resistance” Heresy: This formula is unconstitutional and was
forcibly inserted into ministerial statements. Legislation originates from the
Parliament, not from a ministerial statement, which is merely a proposed action
plan.
*Eternal Enmity: The concept of “eternal enmity” is a sick sectarian ideology
promoted by both Sunni and Shia political Islam to trade in conflict and justify
their continued existence.
*Iranian Command: Hezbollah’s decision-making lies in Iran and is governed by ”
Sharia mandates” (Taklif Shari).
*A Captive Community: The Shia community has been kidnapped and held hostage
since 1982.
*Foreign Identity: Hezbollah is an Iranian army composed of Lebanese
mercenaries.
*Lack of Legitimacy: Hezbollah has never been legitimate, Lebanese, or a
“resistance”; it is a terrorist organization by virtue of its “Mullah-inspired”
composition.
*The Lebanese Army: The Lebanese Army is capable of disarming Hezbollah if the
State officially tasks it with this mission.
*Israeli Actions: Israel has never once committed aggression against Lebanon;
rather, it has always reacted to attacks launched against it from Lebanese
territory by Syrian, Arab, Iranian, Jihadist, and Leftist factions.
*The Liberation Myth: Hezbollah did not liberate the South; it is not part of
the Lebanese social fabric, and it does not represent the Shia. It is a
fully-fledged Iranian army made up of Lebanese mercenaries.
*Ending the “Arena” Status: It is required today, not tomorrow, to close the
“Lebanese Arena,” which has been open since the Cairo Agreement to all those who
trade—with obscenity, hypocrisy, and lies—in the name of “Resistance and the
Liberation of Palestine.”
*The Only Solution: The sole solution is full peace with the State of Israel.
Whoever wishes to fight Israel should do so from their own country.
*Defense vs. Offense: The Lebanese Army is a defensive, not an offensive force.
The majority of Lebanese do not view Israel as an enemy but as a neighbor,
noting that there are no inherent problems between Lebanon and Israel, and
Israel has no ambitions within Lebanese territory.
Fasting is prayer, contemplation, repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation
with God
Elias Bejjani/February 16/2025
The Lenten (Fasting) period begins with the Holy Miracle at the Wedding of Cana
and culminates in the glorious celebration of Easter. In the Maronite Church,
Lent starts on Ash Monday, with the preceding Sunday known as Al-Marfah Sunday (أحد
المرفع) or Forgiveness Sunday (أحد الغفران).
Lent is a sacred season meant to be dedicated to deep contemplation,
self-humility, repentance, penance, forgiveness, prayer, and reconciliation with
oneself and others. It is a privileged time of interior pilgrimage toward Jesus,
the fountain of all love, mercy, and salvation. During this spiritual journey,
Christ Himself accompanies us through the desert of our human frailty,
sustaining us as we move toward the profound joy of Easter.
Lent is a spiritual battle, a conscious choice to resist bodily desires and
earthly temptations, striving instead for purity in thought and deed. It is a
time to fortify our faith and hope, resisting the snares of Satan and keeping
far from the despair and corruption of sin. Through prayer and contemplation, we
affirm that Almighty God is our protector, guiding our steps throughout this
sacred period.
By fasting and praying, we carve out time for God, embracing His eternal truth:
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." (Mark
13:31). In this sacred practice, we enter into profound communion with Jesus,
ensuring that no force can shake our faith and hope.
Fasting is a spiritual discipline through which we seek to emulate Christ, who,
during His time of fasting in the wilderness, overcame Satan’s temptations.
Inspired by His victory, we endeavor to purify our hearts, minds, and souls,
striving for holiness and unwavering devotion.
With trust in the Lord as our Shepherd, we hold firm to the words of Psalm
23:4:"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil: for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff comfort me."
Reading the Holy Bible and engaging in deep prayer immerse us in the divine Word
of God, strengthening our souls and minds with His truth. By meditating on His
teachings and listening attentively to His voice, we nourish the faith that was
instilled in us at Baptism.
Through fasting and prayer, we gain a renewed understanding of time, redirecting
our steps toward boundless hope, divine joy, and eternal salvation.
Ash Monday: A Holy Day For
Repentance Prayers & Forgiveness
Elias Bejjani/February 16/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/02/72716/
Before Christianity, The Jews used to scatter ashes on their heads and bodies
while weeping and wailing over their sins, in order to purify their bodies from
sins, and to remind themselves that they came from dust and to dust they will
return.
The Jews used to practice this ritual before starting any fasting, in a bid to
atone for their sins. Christians kept on performing this ritual, but the ashes
used were taken from the olive branches burned on the Palm Sunday.
These ashes were used the next year on the first lent Monday to wipe the
foreheads of the repentant fasting believers, with a cross symbol so that they
begin the lent forty period with true repentance befitting their Christian faith
..."Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return (genesis03/19)".
Ash Monday is the first day of Lent ,and It is a moveable feast, falling on a
different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter. It
derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of
adherents as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. On The Ash Monday the
priest ceremonially marks with wet ashes on the worshippers' foreheads a visible
cross while saying: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return
(genesis03/19)".
Worshippers are reminded of their sinfulness and mortality and thus, implicitly,
of their need to repent in time.
Ash Monday (Greek: Καθαρά Δευτέρα), is also known as Clean and Pure Monday. The
common term for this day, refers to the leaving behind of sinful attitudes and
non-fasting foods.
Our Maronite Catholic Church is notable amongst the Eastern rites employing the
use of ashes on this day.
(In the Western Catholic Churches this day falls on Wednesday and accordingly it
is called the "Ash Wednesday").
Ash Monday is a Christian holy day of prayer, fasting, contemplating of
transgressions and repentance. It is a reminder that we should begin Lent with
good intentions, and a desire to clean our spiritual house. It is a day of
strict fasting including abstinence, not only from meat, but from eggs and dairy
products as well.Liturgically, Ash Monday—and thus Lent itself—begins on the
preceding (Sunday) night, at a special service called Forgiveness Vespers, which
culminates with the Ceremony of Mutual Forgiveness, at which all present will
bow down before one another and ask forgiveness. In this way, the faithful begin
Lent with a clean conscience, with forgiveness, and with renewed Christian love.
The entire first week of Great Lent is often referred to as "Clean Week", and it
is customary to go to Confession during this week, and to clean the house
thoroughly. The Holy Bible stresses the conduct of humility and not bragging for
not only during the fasting period, but every day and around the clock.
It is worth mentioning that Ashes were used in ancient times to express grief.
When Tamar was raped by her half-brother, "she sprinkled ashes on her head, tore
her robe, and with her face buried in her hands went away crying" (2 Samuel
13:19).
Examples of the Ash practices among Jews are found in several other books of the
Bible, including Numbers 19:9, 19:17, Jonah 3:6, Book of Esther 4:1, and Hebrews
9:13.
Jesus is quoted as speaking of the Ash practice in Matthew 11:21 and Luke 10:13:
"If the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
NB: This piece was first published in 2000, Republished today with numerous
changes
IDF slays
Hezbollah terrorists in Southern Lebanon
JNS/February 17/2026
The IDF separately attacked several Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists
gathered in the Majdal Anjar area, about 25 miles east of Beirut.
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday killed two Hezbollah operatives in
southeastern Lebanon in response to the Iranian-backed terrorist army’s
“repeated violations” of the truce, the military said. The first strike in Hanin,
in the Bint Jbeil District, targeted “a terrorist who took part in attempts to
rebuild Hezbollah terror infrastructure. “The terrorist’s activities constituted
a violation of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the IDF
said in the Monday morning statement. In a separate statement on Monday evening,
the IDF said it “struck and eliminated a terrorist who operated to rehabilitate
Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area of Tallouseh in Southern Lebanon.
“The terrorist operated as a local representative of the Hezbollah terrorist
organization,” according to the military, which said the operative “was
responsible for the connection between the terror organization and the civilians
in the area on military and financial matters, and operated to seize private
assets for terrorist purposes. The military statement noted that over the past
week, Israeli soldiers operating under the 91st “Galilee” Division killed four
terrorists who attempted to reestablish Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure. On
Sunday evening, the IDF struck several Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists
gathered in the Majdal Anjar area, about 25 miles east of Beirut near the Syrian
border. A Lebanese security source told Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hadath broadcaster
that four people were killed in the IDF strike on a vehicle near Majdal Anjar.
Other reports said the car had been traveling toward Syria. Late on Saturday,
the Israeli military struck Hezbollah arms storage facilities and rocket
launchers as the Iranian terror proxy is continuing to rebuild “military”
infrastructure in Lebanon to target the Jewish state. The terrorist sites that
were hit “constituted a violation of the ceasefire understandings between Israel
and Lebanon,” the IDF stated, adding that it would “continue to operate to
remove any threat” to Israelis. Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8,
2023, a day after the Hamas-led terrorist assault on southern Israel, opening a
second front along the northern border that lasted until a truce took effect on
Nov. 27, 2024. Under the U.S.-brokered deal, Hezbollah was required to
demilitarize, beginning in areas adjacent to the border, with the Lebanese Armed
Forces tasked with establishing a monopoly on arms in the country.The Israeli
Prime Minister’s Office in a Jan. 8 statement said that while Beirut’s efforts
were “an encouraging beginning,” they were “far from sufficient” given
Hezbollah’s ongoing Iran-aided rearmament efforts. “The ceasefire agreement
brokered by the United States between Israel and Lebanon states clearly,
Hezbollah must be fully disarmed. This is imperative for Israel’s security and
Lebanon’s future,” Jerusalem said.
Lebanon sets 4-month window for next Hezbollah disarmament
phase
JNS/February 17/2026
The Lebanese army needs at least four months for the next stage of Hezbollah
disarmament between the Litani and Awali rivers in Southern Lebanon, according
to the country’s government. The Lebanese military will need at least four
months to carry out the second phase of its plan to disarm the Hezbollah
terrorist group and other non-state actors in the country’s south, Beirut said
on Monday, according to AFP. Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos made the
announcement following a Cabinet session, saying the government had reviewed the
army’s presentation on the next stage of disarmament operations. “There is a
timeframe of four months, extendable depending on available capabilities,
Israeli attacks and hindrances on the ground,” he said. The second phase covers
the area between the Litani and Awali rivers, roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles)
south of Beirut, following completion last month of the first phase along the
southern strip between the Litani River and the Israeli border. Lebanon’s
government last year committed to disarming Hezbollah after a war with Israel in
which the Iran-backed terrorist group suffered significant losses. Hezbollah
joined the fighting on Oct. 8, 2023—one day after Hamas led a terrorist invasion
of southern Israel, killing, injuring and kidnapping thousands. Despite a
November 2024 ceasefire, Israel has retained a presence and carried out limited
strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon to prevent the terror army from rebuilding
its military capabilities. Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem pushed back
against the disarmament effort on Monday, calling the government’s focus on the
issue “a grave sin” and urging officials to halt what he described as successive
concessions to Jerusalem’s demands. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office in a
Jan. 8 statement said that while Beirut’s efforts were “an encouraging
beginning,” they were “far from sufficient” given Hezbollah’s ongoing Iran-aided
rearmament efforts. “The ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States
between Israel and Lebanon states clearly, Hezbollah must be fully disarmed.
This is imperative for Israel’s security and Lebanon’s future,” Jerusalem said.
Hezbollah rejects disarmament plan and government's
four-month timeline
Laila Bassam and Tala Ramadan/Reuters/February 17/2026
Armed group Hezbollah rejected on Tuesday the Lebanese government's decision to
grant the army at least four months to advance the second phase of a nationwide
disarmament plan, saying it would not accept what it sees as a move serving
Israel. Lebanon's cabinet tasked the army in August 2025 with drawing up and
beginning to implement a plan to bring all armed groups' weapons under state
control, a bid aimed primarily at disarming Hezbollah after its devastating war
with Israel in 2024. In September 2025 the cabinet formally welcomed the army's
plan to disarm the Iran-backed Shi'ite militia, although it did not set a clear
timeframe and cautioned that the military's limited capabilities and ongoing
Israeli strikes could hinder progress. Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim
Qassem said in a speech on Monday that "what the Lebanese government is doing
by focusing on disarmament is a major mistake because this issue serves the
goals of Israeli aggression". Lebanon's Information Minister Paul Morcos said
during a press conference late on Monday after a cabinet meeting that the
government had taken note of the army's monthly report on its arms control plan
that includes restricting weapons in areas north of the Litani River up to the
Awali River in Sidon, and granted it four months. "The required time frame is
four months, renewable depending on available capabilities, Israeli attacks and
field obstacles,” he said. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said, "we cannot
be lenient," signalling the group's rejection of the timeline and the broader
approach to the issue of its weapons. Hezbollah has rejected the disarmament
effort as a misstep while Israel continues to target Lebanon, and Shi'ite
ministers walked out of the cabinet session in protest. Israel has said
Hezbollah's disarmament is a security priority, arguing that the group's
weapons outside Lebanese state control pose a direct threat to its security.
Israeli officials say any disarmament plan must be fully and effectively
implemented, especially in areas close to the border, and that continued
Hezbollah military activity constitutes a violation of relevant international
resolutions. Israel has also said it will continue what it describes as action
to prevent the entrenchment or arming of hostile actors in Lebanon until
cross-border threats are eliminated.
Germany will keep supporting Lebanon after UN peacekeepers
leave, the German president says
BASSEM MROUE/AP/February 17/2026
Germany moved to assure Lebanon on Monday that it will support the Lebanese
government even after pulling out German troops deployed as part of U.N.
peacekeepers along the Lebanon-Israel border when their mission ends later this
year. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier made the announcement during a
news conference at the presidential palace near Beirut. Germany’s navy, he said,
is already training Lebanese troops as they boost their presence in the
country’s south following the 14-month war between Israel and the Lebanese
militant Hezbollah group. The mission of the multinational U.N. peacekeeping
force in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, concludes at the end of 2026, nearly
five decades after it was deployed. The force has played a significant role in
monitoring the security situation in the region, including during the
Israel-Hezbollah war last year. Over the past months, Beirut has said that
Lebanon will need a follow-up force to fill the vacuum in southern Lebanon once
the U.N. peacekeepers leave. “After the end of UNIFIL’s mission, Germany will
stay by the side of your country to boost state authority,” Steinmeier said,
without elaborating. It remains unlikely German troops — tasked with preventing
arms smuggling by sea and helping the Lebanese army monitor the country’s sea
border — would remain in Lebanon.
UNIFIL currently numbers about 7,500 peacekeepers, including 179 Germans.
“The Lebanese armed Forces are, of course, the backbone of stability in Lebanon
and this means that after UNIFIL’s mission we have to think how to strengthen”
the army, Steinmeier said. Steinmeier added that the process of disarming
Hezbollah — which was part of a November 2024 U.S.-brokered ceasefire that
halted the fighting — should move ahead and that Israel should fully withdraw
from Lebanese territory. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Lebanon paid a high
price for the Hezbollah-Israel war, which Hezbollah started by firing rockets
into Israel a day after the militant Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern
Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggering the war in Gaza. Israel expanded its attacks
that included bombardment and a ground operation in September 2024, severely
weakening Hezbollah. The Israel-Hezbollah conflict killed more than 4,000 people
in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion
in damage and destruction, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people
died, including 80 soldiers. “We were forced to live through violent conflicts
we did not choose and we bore their burdens. We are no longer able to do so,”
Aoun said of the Israel-Hezbollah war. Aoun also said he had asked Steinmeier to
have Germany assume a “main role” after UNIFL, without elaborating what that
would entail, and to also ask Israel to abide by the ceasefire and withdraw from
Lebanon. He made no mention of Hezbollah's withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Katz says Israel won't
withdraw as long as Hezbollah has arms
Naharnet/February 17/2026
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stressed Tuesday that Israel will not
withdraw its forces from south Lebanon as long as Hezbollah has weapons. “Our
presence at five points in southern Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire
agreement, but we imposed it, and the United States accepted it," Katz added.
Lebanon's government said Monday that the army would need at least four months
to implement the second phase of the military's plan to disarm Hezbollah in the
country's south. Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the
army's progress as insufficient, and has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon
despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of
hostilities with the Iran-backed group. Israel has also kept troops in five
south Lebanon areas it deems strategic, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to
surrender its weapons north of the Litani.
Govt. decision to hike fuel prices and VAT sparks road-blocking protests
Naharnet/February 17/2026
The key Ring highway in Beirut and the vital Khalde road just outside the
capital were blocked on Tuesday in protest at the government’s overnight
decision to hike gasoline prices by 25% and the Valued Added Tax (VAT) from 11%
to 12%. The government said it made the move in order
to fund a wage increase for the public sector and the armed forces equivalent to
six times their wages in Lebanese pound in 2019. Calls were meanwhile
circulating on social media for a demonstration in Riad al-Solh Square in
downtown Beirut at 6:00 PM. In a statement, Beshara al-Asmar, head of the
General Confederation of Lebanese Workers, declared his "absolute rejection of
the fees and taxes imposed yesterday on the people to finance the increases for
the public sector, retirees and military personnel."He said "the government
should have sought other sources of funding, rather than granting an increase
that is insufficient,” warning that it hits “the working class and the military
with further tax burdens that negatively impact all segments of the
population."Al-Asmar also called for "an emergency meeting of the GCLW to
discuss the necessary steps to halt the systematic destruction of the working
class, given the detrimental effects these increases will have on prices, goods,
heating and transportation." Several other unions also
voiced dismay over the government’s decision.Prime Minister Nawaf Salam,
speaking from the port of Tripoli, meanwhile defended the move, saying the
government is working to improve the collection of taxes and customs duties,
issue collection orders for quarries, and review maritime properties."The
application of the VAT affects the wealthy," he said: "We were forced to
increase the price of gasoline, but we canceled the increase on diesel fuel that
affects the poor," Salam added.
Report: US, regional actors seeking deal with Lebanon that would freeze
Hezbollah arms
Naharnet/February 17/2026
Political negotiations are underway, led by regional actors, with the aim of
reaching a "security agreement with Lebanon," the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar
newspaper quoted informed sources as saying.The Americans are saying that they
are interested in arranging this agreement and Hezbollah is not showing
opposition, the daily said. The sources explained that
the discussion centers on a preliminary idea: the American side seeks guarantees
that Hezbollah will not carry out any act against Israeli settlements, along
with a mechanism to ensure its inability to use its weapons in the future. The
proposal also includes a Lebanese agreement with Hezbollah on a transitional
phase for managing the issue. This phase would partially involve an Israeli
commitment, guaranteed by the U.S., to cease hostilities, withdraw from some
occupied points, and release a number of Lebanese captives. According to the
sources, the discussion stems from an idea previously put forward by Egypt: that
disarmament by force is impossible, and that any clash between the Lebanese Army
and Hezbollah could escalate into civil war and chaos in Lebanon. The proposed
alternative is an understanding with Hezbollah on its commitment not to carry
out any military action against Israel, and an understanding with the Lebanese
Army on the management of its weapons depots and stockpiles in the area north of
the Litani River, with the United States guaranteeing Israel's adherence to the
ceasefire. The sources confirmed that the Americans are demanding that the
discussions between Lebanon and Israel move to a new level, including direct
talks on security agreements that go beyond the current armistice agreement and
ceasefire deal, provided that Hezbollah does not oppose or obstruct these
negotiations. This would be in return for President Joseph Aoun and PM Nawaf
Salam agreeing to amending the composition of the Lebanese delegation, while
Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri is saying that he does not support abandoning
the ‘Mechanism’ committee, the sources added.
Lebanon’s President Moves
to Unveil Defense Strategy as Weapons Debate Reaches Critical Stage
This is Beirutt/February 17/2026
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is preparing to present a long-anticipated
national defense strategy next month, a move that could reshape the country’s
approach to sovereignty, military authority, and the future of weapons outside
state control. According to information obtained by
Al-Modon, the plan is now in its final drafting phase after months of work by a
specialized committee that includes serving and retired military officers with
expertise in strategic studies, supported by legal and technical advisers. The
Lebanese Armed Forces has also contributed to parts of the framework through
designated officers. The draft is expected to be submitted to the Cabinet in the
coming weeks.
A State-Led Framework for Defense
At its core, the strategy seeks to formalize a state-approved defense doctrine,
defining how Lebanon deters aggression, responds militarily and diplomatically,
and organizes national security responsibilities. Crucially, it addresses the
sensitive issue of heavy weaponry held by Hezbollah, particularly arms stored
north of the Litani River. The document reportedly explores mechanisms for
bringing such capabilities under Lebanese state authority or regulating their
use within an official national framework. The timing is significant. The
government is moving ahead with plans to extend weapons control beyond southern
Lebanon, marking what officials describe as the next phase of state
consolidation north of the Litani, a step fraught with political and security
risks. Presidential advisers believe embedding this process within a broader
defense strategy could reduce tensions by reframing disarmament as part of a
comprehensive national policy rather than a unilateral demand.
Building Political Consensus Before Cabinet Approval
Once the draft reaches Baabda Palace, President Aoun is expected to begin
consultations with major political forces, likely inviting parliamentary blocs
for direct talks aimed at securing broad-based support. Only after these
discussions would the strategy formally go to the Cabinet, where ministers may
revise key provisions before adopting it as a binding framework for Lebanon’s
defense and security posture. Officials close to the
presidency say Aoun has become convinced that delaying the north-of-Litani phase
carries political costs and that presenting a written, structured proposal
offers a path toward serious dialogue, particularly with Hezbollah, which has
repeatedly said the state should lead any defense strategy and has signaled
readiness to engage. That opening has been reinforced by recent remarks from
Hezbollah’s secretary-general Naim Qassem, who publicly emphasized a defensive
posture, suggesting the group is stepping back from offensive planning, a shift
that may create space for negotiations.
Beyond the Military: A Whole-of-State Approach
While the initiative is being driven from the presidency, sources note that a
true defense strategy would normally fall under government ministries, including
defense, interior, foreign affairs, health, public works, and even information,
reflecting the need for military readiness, diplomatic outreach, emergency
preparedness, and strategic communications. Diplomatic marketing of the strategy
abroad is also expected to fall to the foreign ministry, as Lebanon seeks
international backing for any new security framework.
High Stakes and Open Questions
President Aoun hopes the strategy will provide structured rules of engagement
for both deterrence and response. But major uncertainties remain: whether
domestic factions and foreign actors will accept any formula that preserves a
military role for Hezbollah, and whether Lebanon has the resources to implement
the strategy meaningfully. International pressure
continues to favor full weapons centralization under the state, while Hezbollah
has indicated it views itself as a partner in any national defense architecture,
a position likely to clash with both local rivals and external stakeholders.
Parallel regional developments are also influencing Beirut’s
calculations, including evolving Iranian-American diplomacy and quieter signals
from Tehran suggesting a possible recalibration of its regional posture.
A Narrow Window
Hezbollah has recently shown notable political flexibility, including internal
organizational changes that elevate figures with civilian backgrounds, hinting
at a broader strategic adjustment. Whether that flexibility translates into
concrete compromises remains unclear. What is certain is that President Aoun is
attempting to seize a narrow political window: using a formal defense strategy
to bridge Lebanon’s deepest fault line, the question of arms and sovereignty,
before regional dynamics shift again.For Lebanon, the coming weeks may determine
whether this initiative becomes a foundation for state authority or another
missed opportunity in a long history of unfinished reforms.
Israeli Drone Strike Hits Aita al-Shaab in South Lebanon
This is Beirut/February 17/2026
An Israeli drone struck the town of Aita al-Shaab in the Bint Jbeil district of
southern Lebanon on Tuesday, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.
Salam inspects bereaved city of Tripoli
Naharnet/February 17/2026
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Tuesday inspected the impoverished northern city
of Tripoli, accompanied by Minister of Social Affairs Hanin El Sayed, kicking
off his visit by meeting with families temporarily residing in building of the
Lebanese University’s Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management. Dozens of
unsafe buildings were evacuated in Tripoli after the recent collapse of two
buildings that killed at least 15 people.Salam later inspected the Bab al-Tabbaneh
neighborhood where the two buildings collapsed. At the Tripoli Special Economic
Zone building, Salam chaired a meeting with Minister of Social Affairs Hanin El
Sayed, Zone Chairman Hassan Dannawi, Mayor of Tripoli Abdel Hamid Karimeh, and
members of the Zone Authority. In a statement to
reporters, Salam emphasized his commitment to checking on families affected by
the unsafe buildings crisis, noting that work is underway to secure housing for
families who have left dilapidated buildings. He emphasized an initiative to
repair buildings that can be restored and to demolish those that cannot be
repaired, noting that "what is happening is the result of years of neglect, but
we do not absolve ourselves of responsibility."In response to questions
regarding the recent tax increase, he explained that "the government has taken
binding decisions to prevent any inflation or rise in the dollar exchange rate,"
affirming that "the increases approved for military personnel and public sector
employees are well-deserved."
Germany's President visits Lebanese Navy school in Jounieh
LBCI/February 17/2026
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the Naval School at the Jounieh
naval base, where Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolph Haykal received him.
A welcoming ceremony was held for Steinmeier in the presence of German
ministers, Germany's ambassador to Lebanon, Kurt Stoeckl-Stillfried, and senior
Lebanese Army and naval officers. In remarks during the visit, Haykal said
Steinmeier's presence reflects the depth of relations between Lebanon and
Germany. He said cooperation with German authorities has helped improve the
Lebanese military's capabilities to protect the country's land and maritime
borders. Haykal expressed appreciation for Germany's continued support for the
Lebanese Army, saying it strengthens the institution's ability to carry out its
missions, safeguard national sovereignty, and contribute to regional security
and stability, particularly amid growing security challenges in the region.
Steinmeier later toured the naval school building and its training
facilities at the base.
Lebanon’s gas station owners' syndicate say gasoline hike caught them by
surprise, warn of wider impact
LBCI/February 17/2026
The head of Lebanon’s gas station owners' syndicate Georges Brax, said the union
was taken by surprise, like the rest of the Lebanese public, by the Cabinet’s
decision to raise the price of gasoline by 300,000 Lebanese pounds per tank. In
a statement, Brax said the increase consists of customs fees that go entirely to
the state treasury, stressing that fuel station owners have no connection to the
hike. He added that no prior consultation was held with the syndicate by any
government or official authority. He warned that the decision, issued in its
current form, deepens the hardship faced by fuel station owners, noting that it
will have negative repercussions across all goods and will increase operating
costs for stations.The statement said the syndicate stands alongside citizens,
who will suffer from a further erosion of purchasing power, and urged the
relevant authorities to stop repeatedly resorting to direct tax increases on
fuel at every critical juncture.
US Senator Slotkin to LBCI: I'm in support of more money for the LAF
LBCI/February 17/2026
U.S. Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin said she supports providing additional
American assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces, describing the army's request
for support as urgent and reasonable. Slotkin said she
met Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolph Haykal in Washington about 10 days
ago. She said Haykal emphasized the need for U.S. backing to help the army carry
out the growing number of missions assigned to it. "He
has a very strong request for American support for the Lebanese Armed Forces,
and it's a very reasonable request," Slotkin said, noting the needs include
equipment, trucks, spare parts, and other supplies.
Slotkin said she is interested in helping secure the assistance, stressing her
role on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which helps shape the U.S. Defense
Department budget and determines funding levels for partner forces worldwide.
"I'm in support of more money for the LAF, because they're stretched, and
they're being asked to do more than their equipment can bear," she said, adding
that Haykal has provided a full list of needs.Asked by LBCI whether the Lebanese
Army will receive additional assistance soon, Slotkin said efforts are underway
to increase funding and support this year. She noted the army received an
increase last year compared with previous years, and said she hopes for another
increase so it can meet all its responsibilities.
Slotkin did not definitively confirm any new aid package, but said the request
is likely to be included in the coming summer. Commenting on what took place
between U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and the Lebanese Army Commander in
Washington, Slotkin said she did not believe it was appropriate for Graham to
stage what she described as a stunt during the meeting. She said she met Haykal
only hours before Graham and described her own meeting as reasonable and
constructive. "Even if there are disagreements, we can always remain
respectful," Slotkin said. "We need the Lebanese Armed Forces to succeed, and we
need Lebanon to succeed for a more peaceful region."
UNIFIL and Lebanese Army remove unexploded shells from
homes in Odaisseh
LBCI/February 17/2026
UNIFIL announced that the Lebanese army last week reported the presence of two
unexploded ordnance (UXOs) inside two homes in the town of Odaisseh, one
weighing about 150 kilograms and the other around 200 kilograms.
In a statement, UNIFIL said the army immediately requested the support of
the U.N. force to help remove the danger posed by the shells. Following a
detailed field assessment and in close coordination with the Lebanese army, a
specialized Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) engineering team from the Spanish
battalion serving with UNIFIL carried out reconnaissance and technical detection
to identify the nature of the two shells, in preparation for safely disabling
and extracting them from the site. The operation required the use of specialized
engineering machinery and equipment, as the shells were embedded at a depth of
nearly three meters beneath residential buildings. After two days of intensive,
continuous work, the disabling and extraction process was successfully
completed, and the two munitions were handed over to the Lebanese army in
accordance with established procedures. The statement noted that the owners of
the two homes attended the extraction, neutralization and transport stages,
expressing their appreciation for the support provided by UNIFIL. Assistant EOD
team leader said the mission required extremely precise excavation work, as the
shells were buried underground inside the homes after penetrating walls and
floors.UNIFIL stressed that neutralizing unexploded ordnance of this size and
type is a highly complex and high-risk operation, particularly when the
munitions are embedded within inhabited residential structures. It added that
such operations not only enhance civilian safety but also provide direct and
tangible support to the Lebanese community, as removing unexploded ordnance is a
key step in restoring stability to affected areas and enabling the safe return
of displaced residents to their homes. The statement
added that since the understanding on the cessation of hostilities in November
2024, UNIFIL personnel have found around 400 unexploded munitions within their
area of operations in southern Lebanon, all of which were referred to the
Lebanese army for handling in line with approved procedures.
Finance Minister Jaber defends gasoline tax and VAT hike
Naharnet/February 17/2026
Finance Minister Yassine Jaber on Tuesday held a press conference to defend the
controversial taxes that were imposed by the government overnight.
"We have reached a critical juncture with a paralyzed and struggling
public sector. A decision was necessary. Negotiations took place with the
military, and a meeting was held at the Ministry of Defense. The consensus was
to approve the salary increase, and those present understood that approving it
without revenues would expose the country to a crisis, Jaber said. Roads were
blocked across the country on Tuesday in protest at the new taxes. They were
eventually reopened by the army. Jaber pointed out
that "granting the increase without revenues would expose the country to a
crisis, and this was the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund,”
adding that the government is “very keen on maintaining fiscal balance."He
explained that "the treasury cannot pay $800 million, and the decisions taken do
not cover the full amount, but we will strive to secure it.”“More than 50% of
the budget today is allocated to salaries, and steps had to be taken to secure
the funds," Jaber said. He clarified that "public
sector employees receive gasoline coupons and the state pays for it from the
treasury,” adding that “30% of imported goods are exempt from VAT.""We decided
to implement the gasoline price increase immediately to prevent a black market.
However, implementing the VAT increase requires legislation and will not be done
immediately. Everything related to low-income earners is tax-exempt," Jaber
said. He emphasized "working on all fronts to recover
treasury funds, and for the first time, orders have been issued to collect money
from quarries." He also affirmed the commitment to "tax compliance and the
implementation of Law 44 concerning money laundering.”“Customs revenues have
increased, and we have achieved a qualitative leap,” Jaber added. "For the first
time, we referred 200 companies to the Public Prosecutor's Office for tax
evasion, and we increased customs revenues. We are working on many things to
improve collection," Jaber went on to say.
FIFA President Infantino celebrates in Beirut after receiving a Lebanese
passport
Associated Press/February 17/2026
FIFA President Gianni Infantino received a Lebanese passport at the Interior
Ministry in Beirut on Monday, months after he was granted citizenship by
President Joseph Aoun. Infantino, who is married to
Lebanese citizen Lina al-Ashkar, thanked Aoun at a meeting at the Interior
Ministry where Infantino filed documents and had a photograph and fingerprints
taken before being handed his new blue Lebanese passport.
Infantino also has citizenship in Italy and Switzerland. "I'm very proud
and very happy to be here in Beirut at the Ministry of Interior to finally get
my Lebanese passport," Infantino said in a video carried by local TV stations.
"I love Lebanon."Lebanese women normally cannot pass their citizenship to their
foreign husbands and children under Lebanese law. But Aoun made and exception
for Infantino and granted him and his family members citizenship.Lebanese men
married to foreign women automatically pass their nationality to their children,
while their wives become eligible for citizenship after being married for a
certain period of time.FIFA is the international football governing body.
Govt. says army to take at least 4 months for N. Litani
disarmament
Agence France Presse/February 17/2026
Lebanon's government said Monday that the army would need at least four months
to implement the second phase of the military's plan to disarm Hezbollah in the
country's south.Lebanon's government last year committed to disarming Hezbollah,
which was badly weakened in a recent war with Israel, and tasked the army with
drawing up a plan to do so. The military said last month said it had completed
the first phase of the plan, covering the area between the Litani River and the
Israeli border about 30 kilometers (20 miles) farther south. The second phase
concerns the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, around 40 kilometers
south of Beirut. Information Minister Paul Morcos told a news conference after a
cabinet session that the government "took note of the army leadership's
presentation" on the second stage of the plan. "There
is a timeframe of four months, extendable depending on available capabilities,
Israeli attacks and hindrances on the ground," he said. Israel, which accuses
Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army's progress as insufficient, and
has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that
sought to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed group. Israel
has also kept troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic, while
Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons north of the Litani.
Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes on Monday on the country's south
killed two people, while the Israeli army said it struck Hezbollah operatives.
Also Monday, before the cabinet session, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said
that "what the Lebanese government is doing in focusing on disarmament is a
grave sin, because this issue serves the goals of the Israeli aggression.""Stop
all action to restrict weapons," he added in a televised address, saying the
government's "successive concessions" were partly to blame for Israel's
persistent attacks.
Lebanon's election uncertainty grows: Cabinet avoids decision on expat voting
LBCI/February 17/2026
Lebanon's parliamentary elections have become a political "fireball" tossed
between the government and parliament, as uncertainty deepens over whether the
vote will take place on schedule. Following a political clash between the
Cabinet and the legislature, the government turned to the Justice Ministry's
Legislation and Consultations Commission for an advisory opinion. The opinion
allows Lebanese voters registered abroad to cast ballots from their countries of
residence for all 128 parliamentary seats. However,
the Cabinet on Monday did not address the opinion directly and did not take a
final decision on whether to adopt it or ignore it, particularly since the
opinion is non-binding. With the government's position still unclear, doubts are
growing over whether elections will be held on time, as constitutional deadlines
are approaching and candidates remain uncertain about the steps they are
expected to take.
For a Better Druze Future,
Jumblatt Needs New Ideas
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/This Is Beirut/February 17/2026
Walid Jumblatt, Lebanon’s most seasoned and cunning political operator, has
navigated every twist of the country’s turmoil since taking the reins of the
Druze community in 1977. Convinced that his father Kamal’s assassination stemmed
from political overreach, Jumblatt has pursued relentlessly cautious and
conservative policies, always hedging his bets and aligning with the likely
winner at home and abroad. Jumblatt’s one bold deviation came in 2005, when his
Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) supported the pro-Western March 14 alliance
that emerged from the mass protests that forced an end to Syria’s hegemony over
Lebanon. But Hezbollah’s May 2008 military attack on its political opponents in
Lebanon, which threatened Jumblatt’s ancestral stronghold in the Chouf, pushed
the Druze leader back into a defensive minority mindset. While Jumblatt’s
risk-averse stance has spared the Druze from bloodshed, it has condemned the
community to a marginal existence in Lebanon. The once prosperous and
politically commanding Druze are now impoverished and sidelined in their
historic mountain stronghold. In 1932, Lebanon's last census pegged the Druze at
roughly seven percent of the population. Recent voter rolls, updated through
2026, put them at approximately five percent. Like nearly every non-Muslim
minority in Lebanon and the broader Levant—with the exception of those in
Israel—the Druze are dwindling.
Without reversing this trend, extinction looms for the Druze and similar groups.
Jumblatt himself acknowledges the decline. He likens his community and the
Maronites to Native Americans, doomed to lose their ancestral lands.
Jumblatt recognizes the threat, but has taken no decisive action to counter it.
What distinguishes Jews from other regional non-Muslim minorities is their
refusal to accept demographic erasure—they have fought relentlessly for
survival. Jumblatt, by contrast, appears resigned to his sect's purportedly
inevitable fate.
It need not end this way. Perhaps genuine retirement is overdue, passing real
power—not just a figurehead role as head of the PSP—to his son Taymour. Some
observers claim Taymour may break sharply from his father, seeing peace with
Israel as vital for Lebanon and especially its Druze. However, his intentions
remain uncertain. Historically, the Druze have depended on self-reliance and
geographic isolation, using rugged mountain terrain to deter potential invaders,
particularly Islamist militants. At their peak between the 16th and 18th
centuries, they wielded enough power to rule Mount Lebanon and territories
beyond.Globalization and the knowledge economy have flipped the script on Druze
survival, which now requires openness and engagement. The Druze still hold
territorial control over their mountain home in Lebanon, which needs to become a
hub for tourism, education, and skilled services to reverse stagnation and
population decline. They can insulate their enclave from Lebanon’s Palestinian
entanglements and leverage their political influence to champion normalization
with Israel. Ultimately, minorities flourish in peace and wither in war.
In this time and age, the Druze of Lebanon and Syria should be free to openly
express their views, like their brethren in Israel. Policies rooted in the
historic survival tactic of Taqiyya, or protective concealment of their faith,
will not cut it anymore.
Jumblatt lacks any vision for the future. His strategy clings to the status quo
while preserving his personal dominance. It shields the Druze from regional
firestorms but blocks access to resources, investment, and growth.
He must wean his community off dependence on foreign patrons. Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait face fiscal constraints; their aid to sustain Jumblatt's patronage
machine is outdated. Qatar may fund him, but only with heavy Muslim Brotherhood
conditions that are incompatible with Druze beliefs and traditions.
To reverse Druze decline and prosper, Jumblatt—or his successor—must embrace the
community’s potential and modernize the mountain’s economy following Dubai’s
model. This can be achieved by attracting diaspora seed capital, inviting
genuine market capitalism—not political cronyism—and building economic momentum.
He should abandon pro-Palestine rhetoric, which no longer yields tangible
benefits. When Israel recently announced new West Bank measures, only five Arab
League members signed on the statement that condemned them, while most stayed
silent. Among Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) states, condemnation was
even thinner. Shouting about Palestine is a hollow relic, useful only for
performative politics. Real Druze growth demands fresh policies, and
normalization with Israel would facilitate their progress. Jumblatt must either
reinvent his approach or step aside. Let his son Taymour—or another Druze
leader—seize the moment and push forward the necessary change. Lebanese voters
are expected to go to the polls in May to elect a new parliament. Reviving
Lebanon and its economy requires candidates to champion normalization with
Israel. If Jumblatt joins such a campaign, the fate of the Druze—and the
prospects of his successors—will be much brighter.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports
And News published
on February
17-18/2026
US
official: Iran to return within two weeks with proposals to bridge gaps
LBCI/February 17/2026
A U.S. official said Tuesday that Iran has indicated it will present detailed
proposals within the next two weeks to address gaps in nuclear talks with the
United States.
Speaking on condition of anonymity about discussions held in Geneva, the
official said, “Progress has been made, but many details still need to be
addressed. The Iranian side has confirmed it will return within the next two
weeks with detailed proposals to resolve some of the existing gaps in our
positions.”Reuters
Iran president says open to 'verification' Tehran not
seeking nuclear weapon
LBCI/February 17/2026
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was open to "verification" that
it is not seeking an atomic weapon, as the Islamic republic resumed nuclear
talks with the United States on Tuesday. "We are absolutely not seeking nuclear
weapons," Pezeshkian said in an interview published on Tuesday. "If anyone wants
to verify this, we are open to such verification to take place."AFP
Khamenei says Iran can sink
US warship as Geneva talks conclude
Agence France Presse/February 17/2026
Iran's supreme leader warned on Tuesday that the country had the ability to sink
a U.S. warship deployed to the Gulf, as fresh talks between the two sides
concluded in Switzerland. The threat by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei follows a
military build-up by the United States in the region as President Donald Trump
piles pressure on Iran to make a deal over its nuclear program. The
Omani-mediated talks were aimed at averting the possibility of U.S. military
action, while Tehran is demanding the lifting of US sanctions that are crippling
its economy. An AFP journalist saw the delegations of both countries leave the
location of the talks at the residence of the Omani ambassador on Tuesday
afternoon. Trump had warned of consequences ahead of the talks should Tehran
fail to strike a deal. He has repeatedly threatened to intervene militarily,
first over Iran's deadly crackdown on protesters last month and then more
recently over its nuclear program.Washington has ordered two aircraft carriers
to the region, with the first, the USS Abraham Lincoln with nearly 80 aircraft,
positioned about 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Iranian coast as of Sunday,
satellite images showed. Its location puts at least a dozen US F‑35s and F‑18
fighter jets within striking distance. A second carrier was dispatched at the
weekend as Trump ratcheted up pressure. "I don't think they want the
consequences of not making a deal," he told reporters ahead of the talks.But
Khamenei followed up with tough rhetoric of his own after the talks began,
saying Iran possessed weapons able to sink an American warship. "We constantly
hear that they have sent a warship towards Iran. A warship is certainly a
dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it,"
he said in a speech.He added that Trump would not succeed in destroying the
Islamic republic. Iran has insisted the talks be
limited to the nuclear issue, though Washington has previously pushed for other
topics to be discussed, including Tehran's ballistic missiles program and
support for armed groups in the region. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei
on Tuesday said the lifting of sanctions must be an integral part of any deal.
War games
Iran has also sought to display its military might, with its Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps beginning a series of war games on Monday in the
Strait of Hormuz to prepare for "potential security and military threats",
Iranian state TV said. Iranian politicians have repeatedly threatened to block
the strait, a strategic route for oil and gas.On Tuesday state TV reported that
Tehran would close parts of the waterway for "safety" measures during the
drills. A previous attempt at diplomacy collapsed last year when Israel launched
surprise strikes on Iran in June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly
joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told
reporters on Monday: "We're hopeful there's a deal.""The president always
prefers peaceful outcomes and negotiated outcomes to things," he added.
Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, said on X that he too had
come to "Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal", but added
there would be no "submission before threats". The foreign minister met in
Geneva on Monday with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael
Grossi, "for deep technical discussion". The West fears Iran's nuclear program
is aimed at making a bomb, which Tehran denies. Washington has dispatched Middle
East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner to Geneva, the
White House confirmed on Sunday. On Friday, Trump said
a change of government in Iran would be the "best thing that could happen".Ali
Fathollah-Nejad, director of the Berlin-based Centre for Middle East and Global
Order, said Iran was faced with an "existential dilemma"."Giving in to U.S.
demands could bring sanctions relief that it would desperately need to stabilize
the regime and fund its repressive apparatus," he told AFP."However, any
significant concessions on the nuclear, ballistic missile and regional proxies
issues would sensitively undermine its ideological and military standing."
Iran FM says agreed with US 'on guiding principles' for deal
Agence France Presse/February 17/2026
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday the latest talks with the
United States saw them agree on "a set of guiding principles" that would pave
the way for a deal. "Ultimately, we were able to reach broad agreement on a set
of guiding principles, based on which we will move forward and begin working on
the text of a potential agreement," Araghchi told state TV after the talks in
Geneva, which he described as "more constructive" than the previous round
earlier this month. Araghchi added that "no specific time has been set" for the
third round of talks and that "it was agreed that both sides would work further
on draft texts for a potential agreement, after which the drafts would be
exchanged and a date for a third round would be set."
Iran says it temporarily
closed the Strait of Hormuz as it held more indirect talks with the US
Jamey Keaten And Stephanie Liechtenstein/AP/February 17/2026
Iran announced the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday for live
fire drills in a rare show of force as its negotiators held another round of
indirect talks with the United States over the Islamic Republic's disputed
nuclear program. It was the first time Iran has announced the closure of the key
international waterway, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes, since the
U.S. began threatening Iran and rushing military assets to the region. It was
not immediately clear if the strait had been closed, but such a rare and perhaps
unprecedented move could further escalate tensions that threaten to ignite
another war in the Middle East. As the talks began, Iran’s state media announced
that Iranian forces had fired live missiles toward the strait and would close it
for several hours for “safety and maritime concerns.” Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei meanwhile warned that “the strongest army in the world might
sometimes receive such a slap that it cannot get back on its feet."
Iranian diplomat sees ‘new window’ in talks
Iran's foreign minister later adopted a different tone, expressing optimism
about the talks and saying “a new window has opened" for reaching an agreement.
“We are hopeful that negotiations will lead to a sustainable and negotiated
solution which can serve the interests of relevant parties and the broader
region,” Abbas Araghchi told a U.N. disarmament conference after leading the
Iranian delegation at the talks held in Geneva. He added that Iran "remains
fully prepared to defend itself against any threat or act of aggression,” and
that the consequences of any attack on Iran would not be confined to its
borders. He made no specific mention of the military drills or the closure of
the Strait of Hormuz.U.S. President Donald Trump, who scrapped an earlier
nuclear agreement with Iran during his first term, has repeatedly threatened to
use force to compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear program. Iran has
said it would respond with an attack of its own. Trump has also threatened Iran
over the killing of protesters.
Negotiators say talks made progress
Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, led the U.S. delegation at the
latest indirect talks, held inside the residence of the Omani envoy to Geneva.
Oman, a longtime regional mediator, had hosted an earlier round on Feb. 6. There
was progress in the talks but many details remained to be discussed, according
to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on
condition of anonymity. The Iranian delegation said they would present more
detailed proposals in the next two weeks to narrow gaps, the official said.
Araghchi, who led the Iranian side, also said he met with Director-General
Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday in Geneva. The
Iranian minister said they discussed the agency's role in helping to achieve an
agreement. Trump said Monday he planned to be involved in the talks, at least
indirectly. “I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the
consequences of not making a deal," he told reporters. The U.S. is also hosting
talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday,
days ahead of the fourth anniversary of the all-out Russian invasion of its
neighbor.
A live fire drill
Iran said its Revolutionary Guard started a drill early Monday in the Strait of
Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, which are crucial international
shipping routes. It was the second time in recent weeks that Iran has held a
live fire drill in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran often carries out military drills
in the strait that can impede maritime traffic, but the announced closure went a
step further. Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for
National Security Studies, said Iran last closed the strait during the war with
Iraq in the 1980s, when it mined the waterway. He said the latest announcement
was a message to the international community that any strike on Iran would have
global impact. Oil prices fell after the talks concluded. US oil was down 1.3%
at $62.06 per barrel while international benchmark Brent crude was off fully
2.3% at $67.03 per barrel. Oil prices had risen several dollars per barrel after
Trump began bolstering the U.S. military presence in the Middle East, but remain
subdued on expectation that an eventual deal would send prices lower. Khamenei
meanwhile stepped up his warnings to the U.S. over its military buildup. “Of
course a warship is a dangerous apparatus, but more dangerous than the warship
is the weapon that can sink the warship,” Khamenei said, according to Iranian
state TV. He also warned the U.S. against “forcing the result of talks in
advance."
US increases military presence
Last week, Trump said the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft
carrier, was being sent to the Mideast. It will join the USS Abraham Lincoln and
its accompanying guided-missile destroyers, which have been in the region for
three weeks. U.S. forces shot down an Iranian drone that approached the Lincoln
on the same day last week that Iran tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the
Strait of Hormuz. Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into
another regional conflict in a Mideast still reeling from the Israel-Hamas war.
The Trump administration is seeking a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program and
ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons. Iran says it is not pursuing weapons
and has so far resisted demands that it halt uranium enrichment on its soil or
hand over its stockpile of highly-enriched uranium. The U.S. and Iran were in
the middle of months of meetings when Israel’s launch of a 12-day war against
Iran back in June halted the talks. The U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites during
that war, likely destroying many of the centrifuges that spun uranium to near
weapons-grade purity. Israel’s attacks decimated Iran’s air defenses and
targeted its ballistic missile arsenal as well. Before the June war, Iran had
been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from
weapons-grade levels.
Iranian oil exports dipping amid heightened tensions with
U.S.
CNN/February 17/2026
Iran’s crude oil exports have declined to their lowest level in two years, as
tensions with the United States continue. Becky Anderson asks Amena Bakr, Head
of Middle East Energy and OPEC+ Insights at Kpler, about the current
geopolitical pressure facing Iran.
Israel accused of move
expanding Jerusalem borders for first time since 1967
Agence France Presse/February
17/2026
Israeli NGOs have raised the alarm over a settlement plan signed by the
government which they say would mark the first expansion of Jerusalem's borders
into the occupied West Bank since 1967. Israel has occupied east Jerusalem since
1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international
community. Palestinians view east Jerusalem as the
capital of their future state. The proposal was
published in early February as international outrage mounts over creeping
measures aimed at strengthening Israeli control over the West Bank, which
critics say amount to de facto annexation of the Palestinian territory.
The planned development, announced by Israel's Ministry of Construction
and Housing, is formally a westward expansion of the Geva Binyamin, or Adam,
settlement situated north-east of Jerusalem in the West Bank. In a statement,
the ministry said the development agreement included the construction of around
2,780 housing units for the Geva Binyamin settlement, with an investment of
roughly 120 million Israeli shekels (around $38.7 million). But the area to be
developed lies on the Israeli side of the separation barrier built by Israel in
the early 2000s, while Geva Binyamin sits on the West Bank side of the barrier
and the two are separated by a road. In a statement,
Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said there would be no "territorial or
functional connection" between the area to be developed and the settlement. "The
new neighborhood will be integral to the city of Jerusalem," Lior Amihai, Peace
Now's executive director, told AFP. "What is unique about that one is that it
will be connected directly to Jerusalem, but it will be beyond the annexed
municipal border. So it will be in complete West Bank territory, but just
adjacent to Jerusalem," he said. Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at Ir Amim, an
Israeli NGO focusing on Jerusalem within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, said the move amounted to a de facto expansion of the city. "If it is
built, and people live there, the people who will live there, they will be
living there as Jerusalemites," he told AFP. "In all practical terms, it's
basically not the settlement that will be expanded, but Jerusalem," he added.
The development agreement was signed by Israel's Construction and Housing
Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Binyamin Regional Council, which
represents settlements north of Ramallah in the central West Bank. It has yet to
be reviewed by the Civil Administration's Higher Planning Committee, in a
process which could take several months or years. Excluding east Jerusalem, more
than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements and outposts, which are
illegal under international law. Around three million Palestinians live in the
territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
IAF strikes terrorists across Gaza in response to truce violations
JNS/February 17/2026
The military said it “views any violation of the ceasefire agreement with utmost
severity.”
The Israeli Air Force carried out strikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday in
response to ceasefire violations, killing terrorists, including one who
infiltrated the Jewish state as part of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. The military
said in a statement on Sunday night that that it “views any violation of the
ceasefire agreement with utmost severity,” and vowed to continue operating
against “any attempt by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to carry out
attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”The latest airstrikes came
after “several armed terrorists took cover under debris east of the Yellow Line
and adjacent to IDF troops, likely after exiting underground infrastructure in
the area,” the army stated. The targeted terrorists were said to have been
attempting “to reestablish the military capabilities of the terror organizations
in the Gaza Strip and to advance terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the
State of Israel.”
In one of the airstrikes, the IDF killed terrorist Ahmad Bayouk, who infiltrated
the Re’im military base during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, the military said,
sharing a photo of Bayouk inside Israeli territory. As part of the Oct. 7
attacks, terrorists stormed the Israel Defense Forces’ Re’im base, headquarters
of the Gaza Division, killing several troops during hours-long firefights before
Israeli soldiers regained control. Sunday night’s IDF statement also confirmed
that Azem Abu Huli, head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Nukhba Array in Gaza’s
Central Camps sector, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Feb. 9. Among his
responsibilities, Abu Huli was responsible for “procuring weapons for the
brigade’s terrorists and advancing and carrying out attacks against IDF troops,”
the army said. He also commanded Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists who
breached the border on Oct. 7, 2023.Throughout the recent war, the
Iranian-backed terrorist commander “oversaw the training of the brigade’s Nukhba
terrorists, including training for scenarios involving the abduction of IDF
soldiers,” the IDF added.
The Yellow Line
On Saturday, the IDF killed at least two terrorists believed to have emerged
from a tunnel in northern Gaza in violation of the ceasefire. The terrorist cell
was said to have taken cover under debris east of the ceasefire-instituted
Yellow Line, posing an imminent threat to Israeli soldiers stationed adjacent to
the rubble. “Following the identification, the IDF struck the armed terrorists
and eliminated two of them, likely eliminating additional terrorists,” stated
the military, adding that soldiers were still carrying out searches in the area
“to locate and eliminate the remaining terrorists” of the cell. Phase 2 of U.S.
President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the Gaza Strip calls for Hamas
terrorists to lay down arms and the deployment of an International Stabilization
Force to the Strip. Trump warned on Jan. 21 that the terrorist group would be
“blown away very quickly” if it fails to lay down weapons during the current
phase. Speaking at a question-and-answer session in Davos, Switzerland, after
his address to the World Economic Forum, Trump said Hamas had “agreed to give up
their weapons” as part of his peace proposal. However, Osama Hamdan, a Hamas
official, on Feb. 11 that the terrorists would not lay down their weapons until
Israel’s “elimination.“We have been very clear with mediators, and in our
messages passed on to the relevant parties, that the matter of Palestinian
weapons is linked to the presence or elimination of the occupation,” stated
Hamdan, referencing Israel in an interview with Al Jazeera. “To this day, the
Palestinian national motto states that the occupation needs to be eliminated,”
he said. “The weapons are legal according to international law, and by virtue of
the will of the Palestinian people, so these weapons will not be laid down until
their goal is achieved.” Hamas’s official charter calls for the destruction of
the State of Israel and references parts of the Quran that call for Muslims to
kill Jews everywhere.
Israeli military says more than 1,500 Canadians were serving in its ranks last
year
Dylan Robertson/The Canadian Press/February 17/2026
OTTAWA — The Israeli military says more than 1,500 people with Canadian
citizenship — soldiers holding dual or multiple citizenships — were serving in
its ranks as of a year ago, according to documents obtained by an Israeli
organization.
The news comes months after the RCMP confirmed it would be collecting reports
from members of the public about possible war crimes by Hamas or the Israeli
military during the Israel-Hamas war. The Israeli consumer advocacy organization
Hatzlacha asked the Israeli military to provide numbers on active service
membership as of March 2025, broken down by citizenship. The Israeli government
published the completed freedom-of-information document online. The Hebrew
document says 1,185 Canadians who also hold Israeli citizenship were serving in
the Israel Defense Forces as of March 2025. Another 339 Canadians serving with
the Israeli military were people with at least three nationalities: Canadian,
Israeli and a third nationality. Elad Man, a lawyer with Hatzlacha, confirmed an
English translation of that document for The Canadian Press. The parliamentary
library service for the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, also issued a report
last year that said 56 Canadians without Israeli citizenship — individuals known
as "lone soldiers" — were serving in the country's military as of August 2024.
Neither document indicates how many Canadians have served in Israel's military
campaign within Gaza. Israel's Defense Service Law requires all Israeli citizens
who are Jewish Druze or Circassian, including those who also hold other
citizenships and those who live abroad, to serve a mandatory period in the
military. The data comes as Jewish groups call for clarity from the RCMP on its
plans to launch an online portal to allow members of the public to report
possible war crimes by Hamas or the Israeli military. The RCMP confirmed last
June that it would "proactively" collect information about possible war crimes
and crimes against humanity related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. The RCMP said
it initiated what it calls a "structural investigation" in "early 2024" of the
conflict that started in October 2023, when Hamas militants brazenly attacked
Israel and took dozens of hostages, prompting Israel to bombard the Gaza Strip
and restrict food deliveries. The RCMP probe is meant to collect evidence of
Canadian residents taking part in war crimes or atrocities, or of being victims
of them, to prepare for future prosecutions. An RCMP assistant commissioner was
set to brief the Jewish organization B'nai Brith on the structural investigation
last July, but the police force cancelled the virtual town hall and hasn't
rescheduled it.
The RCMP still has not launched the promised online portal. The NDP has urged
the Liberals to make it clear to any Canadians serving in the Israeli military
that they may be subject to prosecution for any war crimes. B'nai Brith has
accused the NDP of singling out Zionist Canadians with unfounded insinuations
about serious crimes.The International Court of Justice is years into its probe
of genocide allegations against Israeli authorities. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant
over war crimes, as were Hamas leaders who have since been killed. Last October,
Sen. Yuen Pau Woo tabled a motion asking Ottawa to examine the risk of Canadian
complicity — through exports or through individual military service — in
violations of international humanitarian law. The Senate has repeatedly
adjourned debate on the motion.
Al-Aqsa imam says Israel
barring him from entering mosque ahead of Ramadan
Agence France Presse/February 17/2026
A senior imam of the Al‑Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem said Tuesday that Israeli
authorities have barred him from entering the compound, just days before the
start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. "I have been barred from the mosque
for a week, and the order can be renewed," Sheikh Muhammad al‑Abbasi told AFP.
He said he was not informed of the reason for the ban, which came into
effect from Monday. "I had only returned to Al‑Aqsa a month ago after spending a
year in the hospital following a serious car accident," Abbasi said. "This ban
is a grave matter for us, as our soul is tied to Al‑Aqsa. Al‑Aqsa is our
life."The month of Ramadan, during which Muslims observe a fast from dawn to
dusk, is expected to begin this week. During the holy
month, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians traditionally attend prayers at Al‑Aqsa
-- Islam's third‑holiest site, located in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured
in 1967 and later annexed. On Monday, Israeli police said they had recommended
issuing 10,000 permits for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, who require
special permission to enter Jerusalem. Police did not specify whether age
restrictions would apply. The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate however said it
had been informed that permits would again be limited to men over 55 and women
over 50, mirroring last year's criteria. It added that Israeli authorities had
prevented the Islamic Waqf -- the Jordanian‑run body that administers the site
-- from carrying out routine preparations, including installing shade structures
and setting up temporary medical clinics.A Waqf source said 33 of its employees
had been barred from entering the compound in the week leading up to Ramadan.
Under long‑standing arrangements, Jews may visit the Al‑Aqsa compound -- which
they revere as the site of the first and second Jewish temples -- but they are
not permitted to pray there. Israel says it is committed to upholding this
status quo, though Palestinians fear it is being eroded. In recent years, a
growing number of Jewish ultranationalists have challenged the prayer ban,
including far‑right politician Itamar Ben‑Gvir, who prayed at the site while
serving as national security minister in 2024 and 2025.
Ukraine is ramping up its counteroffensive regaining
territories from Russian troops
Sasha Vakulina/Euronews/February 17/2026
Ukrainian forces are ramping up the pace and the scale of Kyiv’s
counteroffensive, after they have managed to wipe out weeks of Russia’s gains
and liberated multiple small settlements in southeastern Ukraine in the region
of Zaporizhzhia over the past week, reports show. According to the US-based
Institute for the Study of War think tank (ISW), the main Ukrainian advance has
been recorded roughly 80 kilometres east of Zaporizhzhia city, where Russian
forces had been making gains since the summer of 2025. Ukrainian forces have
also regained control of territory in north-eastern and eastern Ukraine, on the
Kharkiv, Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk and Novopavlivka fronts.
Kyiv troops started slowing down Russian troops about a week ago and in
many areas largely stopped their advance.
The Starlink factor
The ISW stated that the Ukrainian counterattacks are likely leveraging the
recent block on Russian forces’ access to Starlink. From the beginning of
February, Ukraine’s defence ministry and Elon Musk’s SpaceX have blocked Russian
troops from using Starlink to operate and control attack drones over Ukraine.
Despite numerous statements from SpaceX that the company does not sell or ship
Starlink to Russia and "does not do business of any kind with the Russian
government or its military," Ukrainian authorities informed the company that
Moscow troops had been mounting Starlink systems on Russian attack drones to
strike deeper into Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said they collected evidence of
“hundred” of attacks by Starlink- equipped drones. This allowed Russian
operators to bypass Ukraine’s electronic defences that disable drones by jamming
GPS and radio signals.While SpaceX took necessary measures from its side,
Ukraine also launched a verification of all Starlink terminals in the country in
response to the unauthorised use of Starlink by Russian forces. Since then,
Russian troops and the Kremlin-affiliated milbloggers complained about
communications and command and control issues on the battlefield. Kyiv officials
stated that the Russian military command is preparing for the summer 2026
offensive in the Slovyansk-Kramatorsk direction or the Orikhiv-Zaporizhzhia city
direction — or both — but Russian forces are now struggling to seize the
necessary starting positions to launch the offensive on the command’s intended
timeline.
Ukrainian cyber forces’ operation
As Russian troops lost their unauthorised access to Starlink and as Kyiv
introduced a mandatory registration and Starlink "whitelist system,” Moscow
forces have been trying to find a solution and possibly a loophole in the
regulations. In turn, Ukrainian cyber forces posed as a Russian-linked
activation service offering to help restore terminals that had been disconnected
under the new registration rules. Russian soldiers and operators were instructed
to submit identifying information and the coordinates of their terminals under
the guise that the devices would be reactivated through Ukrainian administrative
service centres. Ukrainian group later said it collected 2,420 data packets
related to Russian-used terminals and transferred them to Ukrainian law
enforcement and defence agencies. The data was then provided to authorities "for
final transfer into brick mode," meaning the disabling of the terminals.
Ukrainian cyber forces claim the terminals were subsequently deactivated. The
group also said it received €5,000 from Russian soldiers seeking to restore
connectivity. The money was donated to Ukrainian drone fundraising efforts. The
operation also helped identify 31 Ukrainian "traitors" who were allegedly
willing to assist Russian forces by registering terminals. According to the
statement, that information has been forwarded to Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU).
Oil in spotlight as Trump's
Iran warning rattles sleepy markets
Naharnet/February 17/2026
Oil prices were in focus Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up
threats towards Iran, shaking up markets subdued by holidays in Asia and the
United States. West Texas Intermediate was up more
than one percent, nearing $64 per barrel, while Brent eased slightly to just
under $69.
Trump warned Iran of the "consequences of not making a deal" ahead of talks
between Washington and Tehran in Geneva. The U.S. president has repeatedly
threatened military action against the Islamic republic -- first over its deadly
crackdown on anti-government protests, and then more recently over the country's
nuclear program. The warning rippled through markets
in an otherwise quiet start to the week, as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul
and Singapore remained closed for the extended Lunar New Year holiday. US
markets were set to reopen Tuesday after Monday's break for Presidents' Day.
Gold slid below $5,000 per ounce, while silver dropped four percent.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei was down 0.8 percent after the world's
fourth-biggest economy reported weak growth in the fourth quarter on Monday.
"With the U.S. market closed, the Japanese market is expected to start
today with little movement due to a lack of material," brokerage house Monex
said in note. "In the foreign exchange market, the
dollar/yen exchange rate was trading in the mid-153 yen range, a weaker yen than
the previous day, which is likely to support export-related stocks."Investors
will also turn to Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama's appearance at the
Digital Space Conference, Monex added, although "this is likely to have a
limited impact on the stock market, and a sense of stalemate is expected
throughout the day". Sydney jumped 0.5 percent after Australian giant BHP, the
world's largest copper producer, reported a hike in half-year net profit,
boosted by demand for copper to meet the global need for electrical
power.Bangkok shrugged off limp economic growth reported on Monday to rise 0.5
percent, riding a post-election high after the conservative Bhumjaithai Party's
stunning victory in February 8 polls.Mumbai, Jakarta and Manila were also in the
green, while Wellington slid 0.5 percent and Kuala Lumpur was little
changed.Traders will also be keeping an eye on artificial intelligence this
week, as tech CEOs and global leaders rub shoulders at the AI Impact Summit in
New Delhi. Touted as the biggest edition yet, the
five-day summit aims to declare a "shared roadmap for global AI governance and
collaboration". U.S. Fed Governor Michael Barr and San Francisco Fed President
Mary Daly are also scheduled to speak on AI on Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported.
While frenzied demand for generative AI has turbocharged profits for many tech
companies, anxiety is growing over the risks that it poses to society and the
environment.
The Latest
LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published
on February
17-18/2026
The greatest threat to the West is
immigration, not Moscow
Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS/February
17/2026
https://www.jns.org/the-greatest-threat-to-the-west-is-immigration-not-moscow/
Europeans were relieved by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Munich speech,
as it reaffirmed the Atlantic alliance. But were they really listening to what
he was saying? The initial reaction from Europeans who were in attendance at
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech at the recent Munich Security
Conference was relief. The mere fact that Rubio had reaffirmed Washington’s
commitment to the Atlantic alliance calmed the nerves of NATO nations. They have
been rattled by President Donald Trump’s demands for America’s acquisition of
Greenland from Denmark, as well as by the general tone of the administration’s
attitude toward its European allies. It was also considered to be not as
confrontational as the address given to the same gathering a year ago by Vice
President JD Vance. Vance frightened the Europeans because he bluntly called
them out for hypocrisy about democracy. The liberal elites who run most of
Western Europe like to talk about defending democratic values, especially in
contrast to Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. Yet by seeking to suppress
right-wing parties that have protested unfettered immigration from Africa and
the Middle East, it’s clear that they don’t really believe in such values. Just
look at the ensuing impact this has had on their own countries, especially with
respect to the growing influence of Islamists. This particular issue wasn’t
mentioned in the secretary of state’s speech, and that gratified the
cross-Atlantic foreign-policy establishment that despises the administration
both men serve. While they were pleased by Rubio’s emphasis on Europe and the
United States needing one another, they also chose to downplay the substance of
the address. In many respects, it was similar in purpose to Vance’s more
controversial speech.
Rubio’s purpose
Rubio’s main purpose was not so much to mollify the Europeans, who remain up in
arms about Trump’s demands for Greenland, despite the fact that they are still
unwilling to pay their fair share of the defense of a continent that relies
primarily on American military might to preserve its independence. Rather, it
was an eloquent reminder that the real threat to Europe is the one posed by the
same issue raised by Vance—namely, that the erasure of borders and consequent
unfettered mass immigration by those who don’t believe in the values of Western
civilization, who are undermining the national identities of those countries.
Equally important, he was again sounding the alarm about the way
environmentalist extremism and globalist economics—promoted by the same liberal
elites who advocate open-border policies on both sides of the Atlantic—aren’t
just undermining Western economies and the futures of their citizens. They’re
also hamstringing the ability of these nations to defend themselves. As he
rightly asserted, the rational way forward for the United States and its allies
is to again embrace the specific civilizational legacy of the West, rooted in
democratic systems of government, culture and faith that the toxic neo-Marxist
doctrines of the left are trying to destroy. At the same time, Europe should
follow America’s lead in attempting to re-industrialize and to stop outsourcing
its ability to manufacture goods and defense materials to a Chinese communist
state that cares little for its environmentalist pieties and that poses a
genuine geostrategic threat.
Above all, Rubio made it clear that their faith in multilateralism and the
United Nations is not only letting them down. An unwillingness to acknowledge
that the world body has been a dismal failure—not to mention a destructive force
that is enabling antisemitism—is a far more crucial difference between Trump and
the Europeans than the president’s critics understand. That didn’t escape the
notice of The New York Times. The so-called newspaper of record devoted no less
than four separate articles to the job of pointing out that Rubio’s somewhat
more diplomatic enunciation of American principles was at odds with the
positions held by most NATO member nations, in addition to the Trump-hating
foreign-policy establishment in the United States. They were right about that.
But far from this being proof that Rubio is just a more pleasant facade to what
they see as Trump’s mindless destruction of the post-World War II order, his
speech pointed out some basic truths that needed to be reiterated. What he said
also explained why the administration’s approach is not only a justified defense
of the interests of the United States and the West, but also in the best
interests of the State of Israel and the defense of Jews everywhere.
Obsessing about Russia
The analyses by the Times were correct in pointing out that nowhere in Rubio’s
speech did he mention Russia or the claim, so often asserted in Munich by many
Europeans, that Moscow is the primary threat to the West. The reason Rubio
omitted mentioning Russia is not because the administration approves of Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine or his ill-advised
decision to reject American efforts to broker an end to that destructive war.
Trump opposes the war and wants it to end on terms that will preserve Ukrainian
independence, even if that means that it won’t get back all of the territory it
had back in 2014, when the land war really started (a reasonable compromise
rooted in what is possible rather than fantasies). Washington also understands
that the nightmare scenarios about the Russian army overrunning Europe after a
conquest of Ukraine that were echoed in the Times’s stories are equally
unrealistic. In its current state, Russia isn’t capable of posing such a threat.
Its failure to defeat Ukraine testifies to that. While still a dangerous rogue
nuclear state allied with China and Iran, it is but a shadow of the once mighty
Soviet empire that, before its defeat in the Cold War, did pose such a threat to
Europe.
The Europeans—and the Americans who agree with them—seem to think it is still
1987, and the forces of the since-disbanded Soviet-led Warsaw Pact face them in
the middle of Germany. But they are equally wrong to be so angry about Trump’s
demands for Greenland and his more transactional approach to the alliance. If
they want to step up and pay for their own defense—a frequent theme echoed by
many at the Munich conference this year—they can certainly do so. The only
problem is that no one seriously believes that they can or will accomplish that.
These countries have grown prosperous while being sheltered by the umbrella of
the U.S. defense establishment, with few signs that they are willing to make the
sacrifices to pay for the kind of armed force that will ensure their security
against Russia or anyone else. The most crucial issue facing Europe today isn’t
the war in Ukraine or Putin. It’s the way so many in the West have abandoned a
defense of their own values and civilization. Contrary to the conventional
wisdom peddled by the liberal media, it wasn’t Trump that broke the Western
alliance. Rather, it was the European elites who abandoned their own heritage
and belief in its eternal truth and put in its place a failing neo-Marxist
mindset that rendered them vulnerable to subversion from within long before
Russia invaded Ukraine.
Immigration and antisemitism
Rubio’s message that this civilization is rooted in part in the Christian faith
unsettled many people. That shouldn’t frighten Jews, who should understand that
it is the Judeo-Christian tradition that is the guarantee of their freedom and
security in Europe, as well as in the United States. The efforts of Islamists
and secular Europeans to discard that tradition are directly linked to the
red-green alliance of Marxists and Islamists that has been the engine of a surge
in antisemitism around the globe since the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terror
attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Pointing this out isn’t xenophobic or
Islamophobic; it is simply recognition of an unfortunate reality. As the Times
wrote, the Europe that exists now doesn’t really resemble the one that created
and cherished the Western canon that Rubio exalted as being as integral to
American identity as it is to that of the old world from which it emerged. Mass
immigration from Muslim countries in the past decade and longer has transformed
many of these nations for the worse, where belief in their own political,
cultural and faith traditions has declined precipitately. Rubio didn’t
specifically mention it, but a natural consequence of these trends has been
growing hostility toward Israel and Jews that is present everywhere in
Europe—except, that is, in those nations, like the Czech Republic and Hungary,
which agree with Trump about defending borders and national traditions. Rubio
also didn’t mention Israel, which most Europeans have largely betrayed since
Oct. 7. Nevertheless, the foreign-policy principles he enunciated in
Munich—opposition to mass immigration from Africa and the Middle East,
preservation of borders and Western civilization—are essential to the security
of the Jewish state and its war of self-defense against genocidal Islamists.
Many Americans, like the Europeans, have gotten caught up in Trump’s trolling of
his critics and his efforts to push allies to start acting as if they are as
invested in their own defense as the United States has been. Some, especially in
the Jewish community, are also stuck in an outdated mindset that wrongly
identifies today’s immigration of antisemitic populations to Western nations as
somehow analogous to past chapters of history, in which Jews fled persecution
and sought a safe haven in America and elsewhere. They should realize that the
policies stated by Rubio in his Munich speech are not just correct, but
inextricably linked to any effort to roll back the tide of Jew-hatred, and the
support for Jewish genocide and Israel’s destruction that has gained so much
support on the political left. If they are serious about supporting Israel’s
continued existence, then they should stop sniping at Trump and obsessing about
Russia, and get behind the administration’s efforts to wake up the Europeans to
what is really threatening the West.
*Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow
him: @jonathans_tobin.
Trump to be ‘indirectly’ involved in Iran nuclear
negotiations
Joshua Marks/JNS/February 17/2026
https://www.jns.org/trump-to-be-indirectly-involved-in-iran-nuclear-negotiations/
U.S. President Donald Trump will “indirectly” take part in U.S.-Iran nuclear
negotiations set to begin on Tuesday in Geneva, he said on Monday, expressing
optimism that Tehran wants an agreement despite recent tensions. Speaking with
reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said, “I’ll be involved in those talks
indirectly and they’ll be very important. We’ll see what can happen.” “Iran’s a
very tough negotiator—they’re good negotiators, or bad negotiators,” he added.
“I would say they’re bad negotiators because we could have had a deal instead of
sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. I hope they’re going
to be more reasonable. They want to make a deal.”Asked whether he had been told
a deal was nearly impossible, Trump responded, “No, no. I think they want to
make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal. They
want to make a deal.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has already arrived in Geneva for what
will be a second round of indirect, Oman-mediated talks after an initial meeting
in Muscat, with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner expected to
lead the American delegation, according to Iranian state media and previous
White House statements.
Araghchi met with International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael
Grossi in Geneva on Monday in what both men described in X posts as “in-depth
technical discussions,” with Araghchi saying that “nuclear experts” would join
the talks. Araghchi also said on Monday that he was meeting with Omani Foreign
Minister Badr al-Busaidi ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. talks. “I am in Geneva with
real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal. What is not on the table:
submission before threats,” Iran’s top diplomat wrote. Iran’s Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also weighed in ahead of the talks, using a series of X
posts to warn that U.S. warships deployed near Iran could be sent by a weapon
“to the bottom of the sea” and that even “the strongest military force in the
world” can be struck so hard it “cannot get up again.”The Islamist clerical
ruler also seized on Trump’s own rhetoric, saying he had effectively admitted
that Washington had failed for “47 years” to eliminate the Islamic Republic and
vowing that the president “will not be able to do this” either.
World’s largest warship heading to Mideast waters
The president’s warning of the potential consequences of a deal not being struck
comes amid a continued U.S. military buildup in the Middle East, with Trump
redeploying the USS Gerald R. Ford—the world’s largest aircraft carrier and the
largest warship ever constructed—from the Caribbean to Middle East waters. It
joins the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group, which has been operating in the
Arabian Sea since late January as part of a broader U.S. naval presence aimed at
applying pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program and regional activities.
The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), F/A-18E/F Super Hornets from
Carrier Air Wing Eight, and a U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress operate
together as a joint force on Nov. 13, 2025. The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike
Group supports U.S. Southern Command missions. Photo by Paige Brown/U.S. Navy
via Getty Images.
A previous Iranian drill, announced in late January, drew a sharp response from
U.S. Central Command, which said it acknowledged Iran’s right to operate in
international airspace and waters but warned against any interference with
American warships or commercial vessels.
Tensions escalated Feb. 4 when a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian
drone approaching the Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. The U.S. military also
reported that Iran had harassed a U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed merchant vessel
sailing through the strait.
The Iranian regime is seeking a nuclear agreement in exchange for sanctions
relief. Jerusalem has expressed skepticism over a deal being struck and has
insisted that the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program and support for
regional terror proxies be on the table, which the Iranians have refused to
discuss.
Netanyahu: Iran ‘lies and cheats’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated his doubts
regarding the possibility of any deal with Iran, which he said must include the
dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and not just stopping uranium
enrichment.
“I will not hide from you that I express my skepticism of any deal with Iran,
because, frankly, Iran is reliable on one thing: they lie, and they cheat,”
Netanyahu said in a keynote speech to the annual gathering of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem.
In his first public address after meeting with Trump in Washington last week,
the Israeli leader said that any agreement must remove all enriched nuclear
material from Iran, dismantle its enrichment infrastructure, curb its
ballistic-missile program and dismantle the axis of terror that Tehran has built
across the region.
“There shall be no enrichment capability—not stopping the enrichment process,
but dismantling the equipment and the infrastructure that allows you to enrich
in the first place,” he said. Huckabee: U.S. and Israel ‘absolutely aligned on
Iran’
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, also addressing the Conference of
Presidents in Jerusalem on Monday, said Washington and Jerusalem are “absolutely
aligned on Iran,” calling the Islamic Republic “a global problem” and warning
that at some point the United States will have to say “enough is enough” if
Tehran does not curb its nuclear and ballistic programs or support for terror
proxies. “Talks are taking place. But can anything come from the talks this week
that will bring peace? I honestly don’t know. There is significant doubt as to
whether the Iranian nuclear threat, ballistic program and funding of terror will
be removed. But if they were willing to do that, because they realize the
consequences of not doing so, I’d be delighted,” said the former Republican
governor of Arkansas. “As I told the president, I hope that, miraculously,
something can happen to thwart a military confrontation. But I also told him,
Mr. president, if it has to happen I’m willing to be in the middle of it,
because for the future of my children [it is necessary] to remove this threat,”
Huckabee continued. “At some time the United States has to say enough is enough.
Either they make a radical change or they experience ‘the second kick of a
mule,'” the envoy asserted. “I think the president has made it clear that a
military action is not his first choice, but it is his desire to make sure they
can’t wreak havoc in the world.”
Trump could be missing the opportunity to rebuild the Navy efficiently and
quickly
RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery/New York Post/February 17/2026
On Friday the White House released its new Maritime Access Plan, laying out a
comprehensive strategy for addressing shortfalls in the maritime-industrial
base. The plan highlights a number of innovative programs for rebuilding
America’s commercial fleet and could lead to partnerships with cost-effective,
reliable partners like Korea and Japan.It could also bolster President Donald
Trump’s development of a “Golden Fleet” to restore American naval supremacy.
Trump’s instincts are right: America needs to invest in its Navy, its
ship-building capacity and its maritime industrial base and supply chain. His
prioritization of the Navy’s surface fleet, which has been ignored for far too
long, is also spot on. Unfortunately, the Navy’s existing plans for the Golden
Fleet rely on a tired, over-extended US shipbuilding base that won’t deliver
needed results. Start with the construction of the next generation of small
surface combatants, or frigates. After wisely canceling work on the
Constellation-class frigate, Navy Secretary John Phelan hastily announced a new
frigate, sourced without competition, built from the existing US Coast Guard
“National Security Cutter” design. Without time-consuming and price-busting
alterations, this new frigate won’t have the anti-submarine warfare capability,
local air-defense suites or the survivability features such ships demand. The
Constellation-class frigates met many of the warfighting requirements but sank
under the challenges of excessive government changes and a shipyard too small to
adapt to them. Yet the proposed new frigate won’t even get the warfighting
capabilities right. If the president wants to revive the Navy’s surface fleet,
he could look to Asian partners to assist in building a reasonably priced and
proven multi-mission frigate, such as the South Korean FFX Batch IV class or the
Japanese upgraded Mogami class frigates.
Both of these ship designs meet the Navy’s warfighting-capability needs in a
cost-effective manner. This sort of partnership can be modeled on the
president’s icebreaker deal with Finland: Build the first few warships in Asia,
while training US workers there, then build the remaining 20-plus ships at an
existing US military or commercial shipyard modernized with Korean or Japanese
technology and processes. Another opportunity for Asian partnership is in
building support vessels — ammunition ships, refueling ships, hydrographic
ships, etc. When the Navy had 600 ships, 200 were support vessels —
historically, they’ve been about 30% of the fleet. As the Navy tries to grow
back to 350 or 400 ships, it’ll need 100 to 125 support vessels to meet this
ratio. Today, it has only 65. Yet existing US military shipyards are not scaled
to build these, and when they try, they tend to deliver them at double the cost
of Korean or Japanese shipyards. The most expensive element in the Golden Fleet
plans is the Navy’s next generation of “large surface combatant,” and this
design has also veered off course. With unprecedented input from the president,
the design morphed from a 15,000-ton destroyer to a supersized 35,000-ton
“battleship,” likely costing $20 billion for the first ship and $13 billion per
follow-on.For the lower of those prices, you could buy five Aegis-equipped
destroyers (DDGs). And with the “battleship,” the Navy would get only 140
missile cells (as opposed to 480 cells with those DDGs) and one AEGIS
air-defense system (as opposed to five with the DDGs). At a time when the Navy
needs to boost capabilities, an oversized ship like the battleship is tactically
regressive, and consolidates more eggs in one basket.
A more effective way to maintain America’s dominance in large surface combatants
is a three-pronged strategy.
1) Build more of the latest Aegis DDGs in Maine and Mississippi.
2) Extend the life of Flight 1 DDG-51s, ships that are 25 to 30 years old today
but that could be upgraded with the latest AEGIS weapon system and refreshed to
last another 10 years — at just 5% of the battleship’s cost.
3) Again, turn to Asia and consider purchasing the new 14,000-ton Japanese AEGIS
super destroyer.
The president knows he needs to invest in a Navy, but if he wants to get the
Golden Fleet right, he should reject much of what he’s hearing from the Pentagon
and look to his Asian allies for help.
**Rear Adm. (ret.) Mark Montgomery is a senior fellow at the Foundation for
Defense of Democracies.
https://nypost.com/2026/02/15/opinion/trump-could-be-missing-the-opportunity-to-rebuild-the-navy-efficiently-and-quickly/
Read in New York Post
Europe Looks to Israeli Tech to Defend Tanks
Justin Leopold-Cohen & Bradley Bowman/Real Clear Defense/February 17/ 2026
Drones and ground-launched munitions have decimated Russian and Ukrainian tank
fleets, and U.S. allies are looking to Israeli technology to ensure their tanks
aren’t next. EuroTrophy GmbH signed a contract in January for approximately $380
million to outfit Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks ordered by Lithuania, the
Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Croatia with the Trophy Active Protection
System (APS). EuroTrophy GmbH is the German subsidiary of Israeli defense
manufacturer Rafael and a joint venture of General Dynamics European Land
Systems and KNDS Deutschland.
This purchase is just the latest example in which Israeli technology is helping
increase European defense capabilities and advance U.S. and transatlantic
interests. In December 2025, Germany deployed the Arrow 3 ballistic missile
defense system, Israel’s largest single defense export to date.
The Trophy configuration is mounted on a vehicle exterior and includes radars,
launchers, and countermeasures to detect and intercept incoming projectiles,
such as anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. In Israel, Trophy has
been officially in operation on Merkava tanks and Namer armored vehicles for at
least 10 years. Trophy has been deployed on American M1 Abrams tanks since 2019.
Trophy proved itself in the 2014 war, where Hamas fighters repeatedly, and with
a variety of anti-tank weapons, fired on Israeli tanks with little success. More
recently, following the October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Trophy
reportedly intercepted thousands of Kornet missiles and other anti-armor
munitions launched by Hamas and Hezbollah. The Israeli military reportedly says
that Trophy systems have had an estimated 85 percent interception rate during
the most recent war. In 2024, Rafael announced an upgrade to Trophy that enables
increased defense against top attacks from drones, instead of just ground
attacks. That is a vital improvement. Thousands of tanks have been damaged or
destroyed in the Russia-Ukraine war. Estimates from the Oryx military tracker
show that Ukraine has lost more than 1,000 tanks since the start of the war in
February 2022, many to Russian drones. Russia has reportedly lost more than
3,000 tanks since then, with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stating that
drones are used in more than 80 percent of its total targeting.
Recognizing the trend, Germany and Norway began operating Leopard 2A8 tanks with
Trophy in November 2025, and South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem signed a contract to
install Trophy on South Korean K2 tanks in September 2025.
The new multinational contract follows Leopard 2A8 tank procurement orders from
KNDS by the Czech Republic for 44 tanks, the Netherlands for 46, and Lithuania
and Croatia for 44 each. The tanks will be delivered with Trophy over several
years, with Lithuania’s order to be completed by 2034, according to Lithuanian
news. That is not a quick delivery. A primary reason for that timeline is tank
production capacity, underscoring the fact that European allies need time to
translate increased defense spending into increased production capacity. Adding
a sense of urgency, the threat environment is hardly improving. After Putin’s
unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Iran began sending hundreds of
drones to Russia and also helped Russia build a domestic Shahed drone production
facility. The proliferation of Iranian drones should be a concern for NATO
members, as it has helped make Russia’s recent violations of NATO airspace
possible. As then Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Mingus stated in July
2025, “the vast majority of the things that are going to kill our troopers in
the future are going to come from the air.” That is true for Americans and
Europeans. If Washington and its allies and partners are going to respond
appropriately, they need to collaborate more closely and quickly when it comes
to defense modernization.
Echoing longstanding bipartisan concerns, Secretary Pete Hegseth has bemoaned
the fact that Pentagon processes have “moved at the speed of paperwork, not
war.” In a speech on November 7, he called to ensure “speed replaces process,
money follows need, joint problems drive action, experimentation accelerates
delivery and the services move faster and smarter.” The U.S.-Israel
Operations-Technology Working Group (OTWG) can help. It was authorized in
Section 1299M of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 and
established in November 2021. The OTWG’s purpose is for Washington and Jerusalem
to systematically share and identify common intelligence-informed military
capability requirements; assess industry recommendations to meet those
requirements; and create combined plans to research, develop, procure, and field
weapon systems and military capabilities as quickly and economically as
possible, according to reports from the Senate and House Armed Services
committees. OTWG has included artificial intelligence/autonomy, directed energy,
counter-unmanned aerial systems, biotechnology, integrated networks, and
hypersonic capabilities. This model could be expanded to include other American
partners and allies. That would help ensure that U.S. warfighters never confront
a fair fight and that America’s partners are stronger and able to carry a larger
share of the security burden, consistent with America’s 2026 National Defense
Strategy. That strategy called Israel a “model ally,” citing its will and
ability to defend itself and its defense of shared interests. As the Trophy
contract demonstrates, one of the reasons for this status is Israel’s advanced
military technologies, which continue to help America’s allies carry more of the
security burden.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2026/02/16/europe_looks_to_israeli_tech_to_defend_tanks_1165088.html
**Justin Leopold-Cohen is a senior research analyst at the Center on Military
and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Bradley
Bowman is senior director.
Gaza’s disarmament headache
Ben Cohen/Jewish News Syndicate/February 17/2026
The coastal enclave does not exist in a vacuum; it is one node, albeit a vital
one, in a network of extremism and terrorism that runs across the region. Amid
the blood-drenched madness of Hamas’s pogrom in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023,
there was yet method. The abduction of more than 250 Israelis and foreign
residents—seized as houses were set on fire and women were subjected to brutal
rape—was a criminal masterstroke. The presence of the hostages in Gaza, the long
weeks and months of uncertainty over their fates, the periodic release of videos
of emaciated Hamas captives pleading to be released—all played havoc with the
Israeli psyche. On the ground in the Strip, fear that the hostages might be
executed meant that the Israel Defense Forces, for all their successes, was not
able to inflict the irreversible defeat on Hamas that was warranted. Hamas is
now reaping the benefits of that strategy. Having come out of the war badly
damaged but still intact, the Islamist terror organization deftly grasped the
key aspects of the immediate post-war situation that crystallized following the
U.S.-brokered ceasefire in October. Hamas understood that it was still the
unrivaled government in the Strip. And Hamas understood that its fighters still
had their weapons. On both those points, it would not concede, for doing so
would amount to bowing down to the “occupation.”This week’s meeting at the White
House between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu was thin on publicly released details on both subjects—the enduring
threat posed by Iran and the next phases of securing peace in Gaza—the two
leaders discussed. Nevertheless, the tight-lipped atmosphere around their talks
suggested that they were not on the same page on either issue. Gaza and Iran
are, of course, closely intertwined, not least because the Islamic Republic has
been Hamas’s main backer and because the regime in Tehran is pledged to Israel’s
destruction. Even if Iran were not a factor, the current direction of the peace
and reconstruction process in Gaza would still be a source of deep anxiety for
Israel.
For the Jewish state to enjoy enduring security along its border with Gaza, two
measures are non-negotiable. First, Hamas and the other armed Palestinian
factions must be comprehensively and verifiably disarmed. Second, future
terrorist onslaughts cannot be prevented by security arrangements alone; a
program of deradicalization of the population and government alike is urgent and
necessary. Otherwise, the vision of Gaza outlined in the first of Trump’s
20-point peace plan for Gaza—a “deradicalized, terror-free zone that does not
pose a threat to its neighbors”—will remain a pipe dream.
Reporting of the closely guarded U.S. plans on disarmament has been patchy at
best. The suggestion presently doing the rounds is that Hamas should be allowed
to keep those weapons that do not pose a threat to Israel. It is not clear which
weapons would fall into this category, with the common assumption that it is
small arms that are being referred to. Allowing Hamas to retain its pistols, its
AK-47s and its drones does not only pose a threat to Israel, as has been
demonstrated on numerous occasions before and after Oct. 7. It poses a threat to
those Palestinians inside Gaza opposed to Hamas, who were the first targets of
its “Arrow” internal security force after hostilities ended. That arsenal also
ensures the survival of Hamas as a distinct group that can consolidate and keep
its hold on power over the coming years, despite the various pledges during the
war from Washington, Paris and other capitals that Hamas should not and cannot
be a partner in the post-war governance of Gaza.
If the terror organization continues as the main political and military force
inside Gaza, we may as well forget about deradicalization—a cumbersome word that
essentially means rooting out Islamist ideology, glorification of jihad and the
kind of genocidal antisemitism that drove the Oct. 7 atrocities. Many, if not
most, of the Hamas terrorists who invaded the Jewish state on that black day
were children during the previous two decades. They will have been nurtured on a
diet of hatred throughout that time, indoctrinated with monstrous caricatures of
Jews at home, at school and on television, watching a Hamas version of “Sesame
Street” in Arabic that featured an oversized talking mouse named Farfour who
would denounce Jews and Israelis, and exhort his audience to “Kill! Kill!
Kill!”Some argue that Israel’s most realistic option is to quarantine the
coastal enclave. That can be achieved through the creation of an impenetrable
closed military zone around its borders, as well as by prohibiting the entry of
Palestinian residents of Gaza into Israel. The risk with that approach, however,
is its shortsightedness. Gaza does not exist in a vacuum; it is one node, albeit
a vital one, in a network of extremism and terrorism that runs across the
region. That reality is graphically illustrated by the fact that the war against
Hamas in Gaza was also a war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen,
Iran-aligned militias in Iraq and the Iranian regime itself. As long as Hamas
rules in Gaza, it can be a participant in a future multifront war.
Moreover, the absence of sustained fighting in Gaza has provided Hamas with an
opportunity to solidify its rule during the reconstruction process. One of the
many disappointing features of the U.S.-led Board of Peace’s nascent
transitional government is the prominence it gives to senior representatives of
Qatar and Turkey. Both countries promote antisemitism as effectively a state
doctrine, both lionize Hamas, and both are experiencing a boost in influence in
tandem with Iran’s relative decline as a regional power. With Qatar and Turkey
in the driving seat, Hamas has even less incentive to disarm. As for
deradicalization, how could that process even get off the ground when two of the
Board of Peace’s leading members actively promote the same poisonous doctrines?
The obvious answer here—that the IDF should be permitted to complete the job it
started in the wake of the Hamas massacre—is not the easy one. Trump has hinted
several times that he may give the green light to such an operation if Hamas
fails to comply with the demands of the ceasefire, but his mercurial nature and
transactional approach to diplomacy mean that it would be foolish to invest such
comments with any lasting value. If Israel does launch a final operation against
Hamas because its refusal to disarm left the Jewish state with no choice but to
“dismantle it and all of its capabilities,” as Israeli Defense Minister Israel
Katz put it just last week, it may find itself doing so alone. And that might be
a necessary price to pay.**Ben Cohen is a senior analyst with the Foundation for
the Defense of Democracies (FDD) and director of FDD’s rapid response outreach,
specializing in global antisemitism, anti-Zionism and Middle East/European Union
relations.
https://www.jns.org/gazas-disarmament-headache/
Read in Jewish News Syndicate
Germany: Have Certain Terrorists Been Getting a Pass?
Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute/February 17/2026
It seems almost unbelievable that the German state, which intensely surveils
citizens' every word on the internet, does not have the faintest clue who might
be behind these terrorist attacks. These are the same authorities, after all,
who send law enforcement to raid the homes of ordinary citizens for posting
satirical comments about leading politicians, and for supposedly "inciting
hatred."German authorities, in fact, appear to have been hyper-focused on
eliminating what they seem to see as political threats to their power instead of
catching terrorists from the "left." Even the BfV's former president, Hans-Georg
Maassen, is under surveillance by the agency for being a "right-wing extremist."
He lost that job in 2018 after expressing concern about the obvious Islamist
threat from then Chancellor Angela Merkel's policy of flooding Germany with
Muslim migrants and for, ironically, refusing to put the AfD under surveillance.
He said, "I am not a tool of the governing parties, nor is it the BfV's job to
undermine their political competitors." Perhaps if the German government had
been more concerned with fighting terrorism and less with fighting legitimate
political opposition, it might have been able to locate the actual terrorists?
On January 3, 2026, a reportedly leftist radical network, "Volcano Group",
committed an arson attack against the power grid in Berlin, Germany, causing an
electricity blackout that left 45,000 households and 2,000 businesses without
heat and light during freezing winter temperatures for up to five days.
In the early morning hours of January 3, 2026, a reportedly leftist radical
network, "Volcano Group" (Vulkangruppe), committed an arson attack against the
power grid in Berlin, Germany, causing an electricity blackout that left 45,000
households and 2,000 businesses – approximately 100,000 people – without heat
and light during freezing winter temperatures for up to five days. It was
reportedly the longest blackout in Germany since World War II.
The radicals in Volcano Group claimed responsibility for the attack. In a
statement, they said that the network had aimed to "cut the juice to the ruling
class" and claimed that the attack was about action to protect the climate from
fossil fuels, artificial intelligence and a "greed for energy." Among those
"ruling class" people who suffered the consequences of this terrorist attack
were four hospitals, 74 care homes, and 20 schools. It has been more than a
month since the attack, yet the authorities have arrested no one, seem
bewildered, and are apparently so desperate that they have finally offered a
million-euro reward to anyone with information that leads to the arrest of the
attackers.
Volcano Group, far from being new, has, since 2011, perpetrated several other
terrorist attacks "on critical points of public infrastructure," according to
Germany's domestic intelligence service (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, or BfV).
"In Berlin and Brandenburg, arson attacks have been committed at irregular
intervals on... public infrastructure since 2011. After the crimes, anonymous
authors who describe themselves as 'Volcano groups' publish letters of
responsibility on relevant internet platforms. The attacks often have a
noticeable impact on the population. For example, there have already been
several power and telecommunications failures as well as disruptions to public
transport. It can be assumed that there is a network behind the 'Volcano
groups'... Ideologically, [they] can be assigned to the violence-oriented
anarchist spectrum."
Despite these attacks occurring in Germany at intervals for more than a decade,
including one against the Tesla factory in Brandenburg, curiously, no one has
ever been arrested. It seems almost unbelievable that the German state, which
intensely surveils citizens' every word on the internet, does not have the
faintest clue who might be behind these terrorist attacks. These are the same
authorities, after all, who send law enforcement to raid the homes of ordinary
citizens for posting satirical comments about leading politicians, and for
supposedly "inciting hatred." Approximately every six months, most recently on
June 25, 2025, German police, under the coordination of the Federal Criminal
Police Office (BKA), carried out its "12th Day of Action to Combat Criminal Hate
Postings". On this exalted occasion, it carried out a total of 46 searches, 66
interrogations, and 26 other measures nationwide, targeting suspected authors of
"online hate speech and incitement."
Authorities, however, are unable to find or arrest a single perpetrator from the
Volcano Group, which conducts actual terrorism? In an interview for broadcaster
ZDF, German Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt said:
"We see very clearly that attempts are being made here to carry out attacks
against infrastructure, against our economy, against the population, against
society, which are ultimately intended to massively harm people and could even
cost them their lives."
ZDF summarized Dobrindt's belief that far-left extremism in recent years has not
been taken sufficiently seriously in Germany:
"In recent years, left-wing extremism has not received much attention and has no
longer been seen as the threat of our time. There has also been 'a high degree
of trivialization.' For example, the chairman of the Left Party said that
left-wing crimes serve the common good."That is quite an understatement. German
authorities, in fact, appear to have been hyper-focused on eliminating what they
seem to see as political threats to their power instead of catching terrorists
from the "left." In May 2025, Germany's domestic intelligence agency classified
Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) -- the party with the second-largest number of
seats in parliament -- as a "confirmed right-wing extremist organization" after
an "intense and comprehensive" examination, which included authoring a
staggering 1,100-page report. Imagine if that same sort of dedication had been
expended on arresting terrorists from Volcano Group.
As US Secretary of State Marco Rubio bluntly said at the time, this
classification of AfD gave the BfV intelligence agency "new powers to surveil
the opposition. That's not democracy - it's tyranny in disguise." Since the
classification, the AfD has been under expanded surveillance by authorities.
This new snooping potentially includes the use of wiretaps, monitoring
electronic correspondence and communications, and undercover informants to spy
on party officials and anyone else connected with the AfD.
Even the BfV's former president, Hans-Georg Maassen, is under surveillance by
the agency for being a "right-wing extremist." He lost that job in 2018 after
expressing concern about the obvious Islamist threat from then Chancellor Angela
Merkel's policy of flooding Germany with Muslim migrants and for, ironically,
refusing to put the AfD under surveillance. He said, "I am not a tool of the
governing parties, nor is it the BfV's job to undermine their political
competitors."Perhaps if the German government had been more concerned with
fighting terrorism and less with fighting legitimate political opposition, it
might have been able to locate the actual terrorists?
*Robert Williams is based in the United States.
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute.
X Platform
Selected twittes for 17/2026
Michel Hajji
Georgiou
In Lebanon, there's a potential
micro-Jeffrey Epstein in every neighborhood, every alley. And the fact that he
can operate calmly - as is with most sexually abused people who live happy,
peaceful lives... and multirecidivists, thanks to the shameful silence of some
and the putrid complicity of others - speaks volumes on the overall level of
society. In Lebanon, to enjoy impunity, to eradicate
social classes or community affiliations, partisan and clans, it is enough to
be... pervert.
Au Liban, il y a un micro-Jeffrey Epstein potentiel dans chaque quartier, chaque
ruelle. Et le fait qu’il puisse opérer en toute quiétude - comme c’est le cas
pour la plupart de ceux qui se livrent à des abus sexuels et qui vivent heureux,
tranquilles… et multirécidivistes, grâce au silence honteux des uns et à la
complicité putride des autres - en dit long sur le niveau global de la société.
Au Liban, pour jouir de l’impunité, à gravats les classes sociale ou les
appartenances communautaires, partisanes et claniques, il suffit d’être… pervers.
Rami Nassar
Deeply honoured to be appointed
Ambassador of the Y-IMPACT initiative — a nationwide youth empowerment effort
led by the Business Practice and Policy Initiative at American University of
Beirut’s @osb_aub in strategic collaboration with the Office of the Minister of
State for Administrative Reform @omsar_gov and the @unesco.beirut Regional
Office in Beirut, under the patronage of His Excellency Prime Minister @nawafasalam
. I’m excited to contribute to strengthening youth engagement in policymaking
and community transformation across Lebanon.
David Green
In times of noise and speculation, what stands firm is leadership
grounded in wisdom, stability, and long-term vision. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed
continues to guide UAE with strength, clarity, and an unwavering commitment to
progress. The UAE moves forward united, ambitious.
Khamenei.ir
The fact that nuclear energy is our undeniable right has been also included in
the guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency. That is, all countries
have the right to own nuclear and enrichment installations. This is among a
nation’s rights. Why does the US interfere?!
Selena
https://x.com/i/status/2023447789514985641
I traveled to northern Israel, right along the Lebanese border, to speak with
residents displaced by the war with Hezbollah about their views on peace with
Lebanon. See what they had to say!Stay tuned for Part 2 of this ongoing project
I’m working on in collaboration with @ThisIsBeirut_
This is Beirut
A historic first at the 2026 Munich Security Conference.
In an unprecedented moment, This Is Beirut and MIND Israel co-hosted the
first-ever formal Lebanese–Israeli civil society panel at the conference,
opening a serious conversation on regional integration, post-Gaza realities, and
the path from fragile de-escalation to sustainable peace. Beyond symbolism, this
was a strategic step toward dialogue and long-term regional vision.
Read more: https://f.mtr.cool/xtzjdrywyi