English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  January 09/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
No one who believes in him will be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.
Letter to the Romans 10/01-13/:"Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that ‘the person who does these things will live by them.’ But the righteousness that comes from faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?" ’ (that is, to bring Christ down) ‘or "Who will descend into the abyss?" ’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’"

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 08-09/2026
The Imperative of Toppling the Mullahs’ Regime, Dismantling Its Terrorist Arms, and Liberating the Iranian People from the Nightmare of Wilayat al-Faqih/Elias Bejjani/January 08/2026
Biblical and Historical Reflections on the Feast of the Epiphany/Elias Bejjani/January 06/2026
Video -Link from theThe Dr. Phil Podcast Youtube Platform/A highly important and comprehensive interview with Israeli PM Netanyahu
Israel says Lebanon is not doing enough to disarm Hezbollah
Hezbollah should know it has been defeated/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/January 08, 2026
What next for Lebanon after army completes first phase of Hezbollah disarmament?
Lebanon central bank seeks to recuperate embezzled funds to bolster liquidity, governor says
Israeli drone strike targets car in Sidon district
Israel's Maariv says Haykal 'clown', army statement 'fairy tale'
Army says completed first phase of disarming Hezbollah
Israel responds to Lebanese army with map of alleged Hezbollah sites south of Litani
Netanyahu: Lebanon's efforts to disarm Hezbollah 'encouraging but far from sufficient'
Iran FM arrives in Beirut to discuss 'challenges' with leaders, 'brother' Rajji
Aoun backs army statement, asks friendly countries not to send arms to Hezbollah
Army moves to north Litani after completing first phase of Hezbollah disarmament
Judge Rizkallah dismisses Oueidat's lawsuit against Bitar
Berri says south wants army presence, calls on Israel to leave Lebanon
Report: Iran protests may be delaying Israeli attack on Hezbollah

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 08-09/2026
Watchdog reports ‘nationwide internet blackout’ in Iran as protests mount
Iran forces accused of firing on protesters as death toll mounts
Iran's new wave of protests prompts hospital raids, internet access cut
Iran ‘does not desire a war but we are ready for it,’ Araghchi says
Chinese, Iranian warships in South Africa for exercises
Israeli PM meets diplomat expected to serve on Trump’s Gaza peace board
Israeli soldier sentenced to 20 days after firing at Gazans celebrating New Year’s Eve
3 Palestinians injured, vehicles torched during attack by Israeli settlers in West Bank
Shelling rocks Syria’s Aleppo as clashes intensify between government, Kurdish fighters
US envoy Barrack calls for immediate halt to Syria clashes, warns of external actors
Syrian army orders evacuations as heavy fighting continues in Aleppo
US Senate rebukes Trump on Venezuela in war powers vote
Venezuela begins ‘large’ prisoner release amid US pressure
Trump wants to own Venezuela’s oil, but its largest oil customer is speeding toward clean energy
Aidarous al-Zubaidi fled to Abu Dhabi under UAE supervision: Coalition
Yemen’s defense minister relieved of his post: Presidential decree
Saudi-backed forces move to capture key Yemeni city as crisis with UAE deepens
Russia bombards Kyiv as Ukraine issues countrywide alert
Zelenskyy says US security guarantees document set to be finalized with Trump
Macron accuses US of ‘turning away’ from allies

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 08-09/2026
Recurring protest movements in Iran and their roots/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya English/08 January/2026
Is this a paradigm shift?/Charles Elias Chartouni/This Is Beirut/January 08/2026
S’agit-il d’un changement de paradigme?/S’agit-il d’un changement de paradigme?
Charles Elias Chartouni/This Is Beirut/January 08/2026
The Iranian People Will Not Be Silenced/Ahmed Charai/Jerusalem Strategic Tribute/January 2026
Prospects for Syria-Israel Relations/David Schenker/Jerusalem Strategic Tribute/January 2026
Lebanese military moves to new phase of disarming non-state groups like Hezbollah/Kareem Chehayeb/AP/January 8, 2026
Prospects for Syria-Israel Relations/David Schenker/The Washington Institute/January 8, 2026
Egyptian and Israeli flags along the Sinai border/David Schenker and Simon Henderson/The Washington Institute/January 8, 2026
Selected Face Book & X tweets/ January 05/2026

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 08-09/2026
The Imperative of Toppling the Mullahs’ Regime, Dismantling Its Terrorist Arms, and Liberating the Iranian People from the Nightmare of Wilayat al-Faqih
Elias Bejjani/January 08/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/01/150884/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3kbnJVaYOs
From the very moment Ayatollah Khomeini set foot in Tehran in February 1979—arriving from Paris aboard an Air France flight—the Middle East entered a dark tunnel from which it has yet to emerge. The so-called Iranian “revolution,” driven by an alliance of mullahs and leftist forces against the Shah’s rule, was not merely a domestic popular uprising. Rather, it was the product of strange ideological alliances, international complicity, and covert operations, later exposed in intelligence documents revealing significant U.S. involvement. These dynamics led to the removal of the Shah and the handover of power to an extremist sectarian current bearing a dictatorial, expansionist, imperial, and transnational terrorist project.
The Expansionist Project: An Empire of Militias
From its first day, the mullahs’ regime adopted the doctrine of “exporting the sectarian revolution” under the guise of Wilayat al-Faqih—a concept that recognizes neither national sovereignty nor international borders. This ideology gave rise to armed terrorist proxies fully subordinate to Tehran’s command, transforming Lebanon and several Arab states into arenas of influence and de facto Iranian provinces.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah confiscated the state’s sovereign decision-making, turning the country into a missile platform and a large open-air prison.
In Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, Iranian-backed militias destroyed the social fabric and national institutions, spreading chaos, poverty, devastation, and civil wars.
Contradictory Alliances
The mullahs’ regime did not limit its support to Shiite proxies. It also entered into pragmatic alliances with Sunni political-Islam groups, most notably the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots—such as Hamas, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and others—in order to destabilize Arab states and undermine moderate regimes.
A Black Record: Domestic Repression and External Terror
Internally, the mullahs transformed Iran—from a promising nation with a great civilizational heritage—into a vast prison. Since 1979, the regime’s criminal record has been endless:
Mass executions, including the liquidation of thousands of political opponents, most notoriously during the 1988 massacres.
Assassinations, targeting intellectuals and dissidents both inside Iran and abroad.
The Collapse of the State
Today, the Iranian people suffer from water and electricity shortages, collapsing education, the absence of an independent judiciary, and the repression of personal freedoms—while the country’s wealth is squandered on financing foreign wars and missile and nuclear programs.
The Nuclear Threat: A Sword Hanging Over the World
The regime’s pursuit of nuclear capabilities is not peaceful, as it claims, but rather a protective shield for its terrorist project. Granting a regime driven by apocalyptic and destructive messianic ideologies access to nuclear weapons would place the entire world under the threat of nuclear blackmail and constitute a direct danger to global peace.
The Moment of Truth: The Third Revolution and the National Alternative
Today, for the third time, the Iranian people—across all components of society—are rising up, openly rejecting this regime.
Their demands are clear: the return of Iran to the international community and the restoration of its national identity, embodied by Prince Reza Pahlavi as a symbol of historical legitimacy and stability. Accordingly, the international community—Arab and Western alike—must abandon the failed policy of “containment” and move decisively to support the liberation of the Iranian people. A free Iran is a strategic regional and global interest, as it would mean a safer Middle East, the end of political Islam in both its Shiite and Sunni forms, and the cessation of global terrorism financing.
Hezbollah: Iran’s Tool for the Destruction of Lebanon and the Exhaustion of the Region
No assessment of Iranian subversion is complete without confronting the demonic functional role played by Hezbollah in Lebanon. This organization has never been a national project; it is merely a faction of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, speaking with a Lebanese accent and operating as mercenaries in every sense of the word. Hezbollah has dragged Lebanon into futile and devastating wars in service of Tehran’s agenda—starting with the 2006 war that destroyed infrastructure and displaced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to improve Iran’s negotiating position, and culminating in the 2023 war against Israel under the pretext of “supporting Gaza,” a war in which the Lebanese people had no stake. Southern Lebanon was turned into scorched earth, sacrificed on the altar of the mullahs’ nuclear ambitions.
Hezbollah’s terrorism has not been confined to Lebanon. It has functioned as a transnational mercenary army in the service of Tehran:
In Syria, it participated in the slaughter of the Syrian people and supported the collapsing Assad regime, contributing to one of the largest demographic-engineering and forced-displacement operations in modern history. In Yemen and the Gulf, it provided military and technical support to the Houthi militia targeting the security of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, while operating espionage and sabotage cells and carrying out assassinations, kidnappings, bombings, and acts of chaos in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The Greatest Crime: Against Lebanese Shiites
Hezbollah’s gravest crime has been committed against the Shiite community in Lebanon itself. The party hijacked its free political will, turning it into a hostage of its project through extremist sectarian indoctrination, brainwashing young people and throwing them into endless wars. It isolated Lebanese Shiites from their national and Arab environment and transformed their towns and villages into weapons depots and missile platforms, sacrificing entire generations for the survival of the Wilayat al-Faqih regime in Tehran.
Liberating Lebanese Shiites from this terrorist ideological grip is the essential gateway to restoring the kidnapped Lebanese state.
Conclusion
All free nations must cooperate to topple the mullahs’ regime and dismantle its terrorist arms. A fundamental structural truth must be acknowledged: Lebanon will not regain its sovereignty and independence, nor will Gaza, Damascus, or Baghdad emerge from chaos and collapse, unless the head of the snake in Tehran is severed.
Hezbollah is nothing more than a sectarian functional tool of the Iranian regime. When the root falls, the branches inevitably collapse. Lebanon’s true liberation and independence begin with the fall of the Wilayat al-Faqih regime—so that the Middle East may once again become a region of construction rather than militias and death.
Elias Bejjani is a Lebanese expatriate activist
Email: phoenicia@hotmail.com
Website: https://eliasbejjaninews.com

Biblical and Historical Reflections on the Feast of the Epiphany
Elias Bejjani/January 06/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/01/150792/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaJeWqVGGJU
On the sixth of January, the Church commemorates the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ at the hands of John the Baptist in the River Jordan. As recorded in the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke (03:15-22): " And as the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he was the Christ, John answered them all, “I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”Then with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people, but Herod the tetrarch,† being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s‡ wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done, added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized and was praying. The sky was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”
The Mystery of Baptism: Death to the Old Man and Resurrection in Christ
In ecclesiastical and theological understanding, the Sacrament of Baptism is considered the "Gateway to the Mysteries" and the bridge from darkness to light. It is not merely a ritual of purification by water, but an act of total liberation from the dominion of the Old Man—the man of original sin inherited by humanity. By immersion in the waters of Baptism, the "Old Adam," with all his worldly desires and separation from God, is buried, so that a "New Man" may be born from the womb of water and the Spirit—reconciled with the Creator and clothed in the robe of righteousness and holiness. The Baptism of our Lord in the Jordan was not due to a need for repentance, for He is the All-Holy and sinless One; rather, it was the inauguration of this salvific path. His descent into the water was a washing of our human nature, and His ascent was a proclamation of our victory over spiritual death, that all who are baptized in His Name may become partakers of His Divine Sonship and heirs of eternal life.
The Site of Christ’s Baptism
Since the third century, continuous Christian tradition places the site of Christ’s Baptism near the "Lower Ford," five miles from the Dead Sea. Upon this site, the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. John the Baptist was built. The Syriacs call this feast "Denho," which means "The Dawning" or "The Manifestation." Its Greek equivalent is "Epiphany," the name by which the feast is known across European languages. The Arabic term "Ghattas" (Immersion) refers to Christ being immersed in the Jordan River for His Baptism.
John the Baptist Baptizes and Prepares the Way
The Gospel according to St. Mark (1:1-11) "The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in the prophets, “Behold,† I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you:* the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!’ ” John came baptizing‡ in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins. John was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. He preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and loosen. I baptized you in§ water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The Site of "Al-Maghtas"
Recently, significant information has been uncovered regarding the area of "Bethany Beyond the Jordan." Archaeological excavations along Wadi Al-Kharrar since 1996, supported by biblical texts and Byzantine historians, confirm that the site where John preached and baptized—including the Baptism of Christ—is located on the East Bank of the Jordan River. During the 1997 excavations, a series of ancient sites were found along the valley, including a Byzantine monastery at Tell Al-Kharrar. The site features natural springs forming pools that flow into the Jordan, creating a pastoral oasis.
Elijah’s Hill (Tell Mar Elias)
Wadi Al-Kharrar is the modern name for "Saphsaphas," which appears on the Madaba Mosaic Map. Near the monastery complex lies a hill known as Tell Mar Elias, the site from which the Prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Pilgrims have flocked here for centuries; the Russian Abbot Daniel wrote in 1106 AD about the cave where John the Baptist lived and the "beautiful stream of water" that still flows there.
The Baptismal Pools and the Church of St. John
Three pools dating from the Roman and Byzantine periods (3rd to 6th centuries AD) were discovered at Tell Al-Kharrar, designed for pilgrims to descend and be baptized. Archaeologists also uncovered the remains of a Byzantine church built during the reign of Emperor Anastasius, located 300 meters east of the river, marking the traditional spot of the Epiphany.
St. Mary of Egypt
The region is also tied to the legend of St. Mary of Egypt, who left a life of sin in Alexandria to find repentance in Jerusalem. After hearing a voice telling her, "Cross the Jordan and you shall find rest," she spent 47 years in the Jordanian desert in prayer and fasting. She was discovered by the monk Zosimas, who gave her Holy Communion before her passing.
Epiphany Traditions in Lebanon
Epiphany (known as Al-Ghattas) holds a prestigious place in Lebanese customs, traditions, and folkloric practices, as documented extensively in Fuad Afram al-Bustani’s book, The Meaning of Days (Volume I).
The Passing of Christ: "Dayem Dayem"
One of the oldest Lebanese beliefs regarding Epiphany is that Christ passes by at midnight. He blesses the families waiting for Him—those who stay awake until midnight in joy and celebration. As He passes, He says: "Dayem! Dayem!" (meaning: "May your joy and delight be everlasting!").
Families who sleep, lock their doors, or extinguish their lamps do not receive this blessing. Because of this, some Lebanese refer to the Eve of Epiphany as the "Night of Destiny" (Laylat al-Qadr), spending it in continuous supplication and prayer.
Folklore and Nature
In their evening tales, people say that all trees bow to Christ as He passes that night, except for the mulberry tree. For this reason, it is associated with pride and arrogance; people "punish" it by breaking its wood and burning it specifically on that night.
The Blessing of the "Mouneh" (Pantry)
Christ’s blessing also extends to the family’s provisions and stores, ensuring their supplies remain abundant—"Dayem Dayem."
As midnight approaches, mothers rush to the "Beit al-Mouneh" (the pantry). They go to the wheat containers, various grains, jars of oil and olives, vats of wine or Arak, jars of ghee, pots of Qawarma (preserved meat), and baskets of raisins. They stir these contents while repeating "Dayem Dayem," so that blessing overflows and the provisions last throughout the year.
Theological and Historical Aspects of the Baptism
Why was the Sinless Christ Baptized? The Church affirms He was baptized "to fulfill all righteousness." By His baptism, He sanctified the waters of the Jordan, making them capable of granting "New Birth" to humanity. He was not cleansed by the water; rather, the water was cleansed by His touch.
The Manifestation of the Holy Trinity: It is called Theophany because the three Persons were manifested together: the Son in the water, the Holy Spirit as a dove, and the Father’s Voice from the heavens.
The Symbolism of the Jordan: Just as Joshua led Israel across the Jordan to the Promised Land, Jesus (the New Joshua) crosses the water to lead humanity into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Note: The information in this article is compiled from various documented ecclesiastical, theological, research, and media references/The Above Editorial & Video are from the 2015 Archive

Video -Link from theThe Dr. Phil Podcast Youtube Platform/A highly important and comprehensive interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu focuses on the significant achievements Israel has reached during the two years of war.
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/01/150915/
رابط فيديو مقابلة مع رئيس وزراء إسرائيل بنجامين نيتنياهو من موقع د. فيل/ مقابلة شاملة يشرح من خلالها نيتنياهو الأخطار التي واجهتها إسرائيل وانتصرت على أعدائها.. تحليل للإنجازات والتحديات
Overview: The interview covers the intense geopolitical and social pressures facing Israel. Netanyahu outlines three main pillars: the moral necessity of the war, the military progress against Hamas, and the vision for a "Day After" that ensures long-term security.
January 08/2026
In a candid conversation with Dr. Phil, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the surge in antisemitism, Israel's mission to destroy Hamas and what the future holds for the Middle East.
Key Achievements & Points:
Dismantling Hamas: The systematic destruction of Hamas's organized military battalions in Gaza.
Combating Antisemitism: Addressing the "moral confusion" on global campuses and the rise of anti-Israel sentiment.
Regional Strategy: The goal of a "demilitarized and deradicalized" Gaza to pave the way for broader Middle East peace.
Netanyahu emphasizes in this interview that the war is not just a physical battle, but a "civilizational" one, arguing that Israel's victory is essential for Western security.
Summary of Key Achievements & Goals
Dismantling Hamas's Military: Netanyahu states that Israel has successfully destroyed 20 out of 24 of Hamas's organized terrorist battalions [30:26]. He emphasizes that the remaining four battalions are located in Rafah and must be eliminated to prevent the group from regrouping.
Hostage Recovery: Through military and diplomatic efforts, Israel has successfully released more than half of the original hostages [31:13]. The Prime Minister reaffirmed his absolute commitment to bringing home every remaining captive.
High Conduct Standards: Despite intense media criticism, Netanyahu argues that the IDF has achieved one of the lowest civilian-to-terrorist casualty ratios in the history of urban warfare [08:29]. He attributes this to unprecedented measures like millions of leaflets, text messages, and phone calls used to warn civilians to leave battle zones [29:32].
Regional Strategy: He notes that several moderate Arab neighbors (including members of the Abraham Accords) privately support the defeat of Hamas to ensure regional stability against the Iranian "axis of terror" [21:06].
Future Administration: For the "Day After," the plan involves a Gaza that is demilitarized and deradicalized [38:55]. This would likely include a civilian administration run by Gazans who are not committed to Israel's destruction, potentially supported by regional partners like Saudi Arabia and the UAE [39:16].

Lebanese military moves to new phase of disarming non-state groups like Hezbollah
Kareem Chehayeb/AP/January 8, 2026
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's military said Thursday it had concluded the first phase of a plan to fully deploy across southern Lebanon and disarm non-state groups, notably Hezbollah. Israel said the development was encouraging but “far from sufficient," and its Foreign Ministry said the group still has dozens of compounds and other infrastructure. The effort to disarm Hezbollah comes after a Washington-brokered ceasefire ended a war between the group and Israel in 2024. The military's statement, which did not name Hezbollah or any other armed groups, came before President Joseph Aoun met with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and his government to discuss the deployment and disarmament plans. Both said disarming non-state groups was a priority upon beginning their terms not long after the ceasefire went into effect. Lebanon's top officials have endorsed the military announcement. A statement by Aoun’s office ahead of the Cabinet meeting called on Israel to stop its attacks, withdraw from areas it occupies, and release Lebanese prisoners. He called on friendly countries not to send weapons to Lebanon unless it's to state institutions — an apparent reference to Iran which for decades has sent weapons and munitions to Hezbollah. Speaker Nabih Berri, a key ally of Hezbollah who played a leading role in ceasefire talks, issued a statement saying the people of southern Lebanon are “thirsty for the army's presence and protection." Israel maintains that despite Lebanon’s efforts, Hezbollah is still attempting to rearm itself in southern Lebanon. “The ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States between Israel and Lebanon states clearly, Hezbollah must be fully disarmed," a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office read. “This is imperative for Israel’s security and Lebanon’s future.”
Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a later statement that the group is “rearming faster than it is being disarmed," and showed a map of alleged Hezbollah compounds, launch sites, and underground networks south of the Litani River. The text of the ceasefire agreement is vague as to how Hezbollah’s weapons and military facilities north of the Litani River should be treated, saying Lebanese authorities should dismantle unauthorized facilities starting with the area south of the river. Hezbollah insists that the agreement only applies south of the Litani, while Israel maintains that it applies to the whole country. The Lebanese government has said it will eventually remove non-state weapons throughout the country. The agreement is seen as a procedure to implement prior United Nations Security Council agreements that call for disarmament of non-state groups and the withdrawal of all occupying forces, and for the Lebanese state to have full control of its territory.Information Minister Paul Morcos said after the Cabinet meeting that the army will start working on a plan for disarmament north of the Litani river that will be discussed by the government in February. He added that the army will also continue the process of weapons “containment” in other parts of Lebanon, meaning that they will not be allowed to be used or moved. The Lebanese military has been clearing tunnels, rocket-launching positions, and other structures since its disarmament proposal was approved by the government and went into effect in September. The government had set a deadline of the end of 2025 to clear the area south of the Litani River of non-state weapons. “The army confirms that its plan to restrict weapons has entered an advanced stage, after achieving the goals of the first phase effectively and tangibly on the ground,” the military statement read. “Work in the sector is ongoing until the unexploded ordnance and tunnels are cleared ... with the aim of preventing armed groups from irreversibly rebuilding their capabilities.”Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the Lebanese announcement. Officials have said the next stage of the disarmament plan is in segments of southern Lebanon between the Litani and the Awali rivers, which include Lebanon’s port city of Sidon, but they have not set a timeline for that phase.
Fears of a new escalation
Israel continues to strike Lebanon near daily and occupies five strategic hilltop points along the border, the only areas south of the Litani where the military said it has yet to control. Regular meetings have taken place between the Lebanese and the Israelis alongside the United States, France, and the U.N. peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, to monitor developments after the ceasefire. Lebanon’s cash-strapped military has since been gradually dispersing across wide areas of southern Lebanon between the Litani and the U.N.-demarcated “Blue Line” that separates the tiny country from Israel. The military has also been slowly confiscating weapons from armed Palestinian factions in refugee camps. Israel accuses Hezbollah of trying to rebuild its battered military capacity and has said that the Lebanese military’s efforts are not sufficient, raising fears of a new escalation. Lebanon, meanwhile, said Israel's strikes and control of the hilltops were an obstacle to the efforts. Lebanon also hopes that disarming Hezbollah and other non-state groups will help to bring in money needed for reconstruction after the 2024 war.
Hezbollah says it has been cooperative with the army in the south but will not discuss disarming elsewhere before Israel stops its strikes and withdraws from Lebanese territory. The latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict began the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza. The militant group Hezbollah, largely based in southern Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians. Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling. The low-level conflict escalated into full-scale war in September 2024. Israeli strikes killed much of Hezbollah's senior leadership and left the group severely weakened.Hezbollah still has political clout, holding a large number of seats in parliament representing the Shiite Muslim community and two cabinet ministers.
*Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press

Israel says Lebanon is not doing enough to disarm Hezbollah
Reuters/08 January/2026
Israel said Lebanon’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah are far from sufficient after the Lebanese army declared that it had established operational control in the south, ‍raising pressure on Lebanese leaders who fear Israel could escalate strikes. In line with US demands, the Lebanese government has been seeking to restrict the possession of arms to state control since the Iran-backed Lebanese Shia Muslim group Hezbollah emerged badly weakened from a war with Israel in 2024. The Lebanese army said on Thursday that the goals of the first phase of its plan had been achieved in an “effective and tangible way”, and that it had secured areas under its authority south of the Litani river - excluding positions ⁠still occupied by Israeli forces.
Israel says Hezbollah trying to rearm
Following the army’s statement, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hezbollah must be fully disarmed, citing a US-brokered ceasefire with Lebanon in November, 2024. While efforts toward this end by Lebanon’s government and army were “an encouraging beginning ... they are far from sufficient, as evidenced by Hezbollah’s efforts to rearm and rebuild its terror infrastructure with Iranian support.”Hezbollah’s disarmament was “imperative for Israel’s security and Lebanon’s future,” it said. Israel has been conducting near daily strikes in the south and sometimes more widely in Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of trying to reestablish infrastructure and Beirut of failing to uphold the 2024 ceasefire agreement. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, which says it has respected the ceasefire in the south and that the agreement does not apply to the rest of Lebanon. The Lebanese army had set a ‍year-end deadline to clear non-state weaponry from the south, before moving on to other areas of the country. In its statement, the army said there was more work to be done to ‍clear unexploded ordnance and tunnels. Lebanon aims to control ‘decisions of ‍war and peace’Lebanese President Joseph Aoun ⁠said that the army deployment in the south aimed to affirm the principle that “decisions ‌of war and peace” belonged to the state alone, ⁠and “to prevent the use of Lebanese territory as a starting point ‍for any hostile acts.”But he added that lasting stability remained contingent upon addressing key issues, chief among them “the continued Israeli occupation of parts of Lebanese territory and the establishment of buffer zones ⁠within it.”Hezbollah has fought numerous conflicts with Israel since it was founded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1982. It kept its arms after the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, using them against Israeli ‌troops who occupied the south until 2000. The Lebanese military, which receives US support, has stayed out of conflicts between Hezbollah and Israel.
Seeking international support
Aoun and the Lebanese army said that international support must be expedited so that the army could continue making progress in establishing a state monopoly on arms. UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said it was “great to see” the army had “assumed operational control south of the Litani.”“This is undeniable progress. Hard work lies ahead,” she wrote on X. A Lebanese security ‍source told Reuters that the army’s statement signaled that no group would be able to launch attacks from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah opened fire in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in 2023, and traded fire across the border until Israel went on the offensive in 2024, killing the group’s leaders and destroying much of its arsenal. In a statement, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, affirmed support for the army and “its achievements which would have been nearly complete were it not for Israel’s occupation of numerous locations and its daily violations.”

Hezbollah should know it has been defeated
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/January 08, 2026
Hezbollah is on a losing streak. Not only did it lose most of its military might in the 2024 war with Israel, but now — finally — its global criminal activities have been indirectly hit by Nicolas Maduro’s removal as president of Venezuela. As many reports have highlighted, Venezuela was a key base for Hezbollah’s global operations. Last week’s developments were good news, but it puts the group in an even more desperate situation. And it remains powerful enough to threaten the Lebanese people. Despite this week’s declaration by the Lebanese foreign minister that the country’s army is capable of facing Hezbollah if necessary, the reality is that the militia is capable of inflicting pain on Lebanon, even if ultimately, like every similar group in history, it is bound to disappear. As Hezbollah relies greatly on its illegal operations for its finances, the fact that Maduro has been removed will have an impact. Hezbollah’s operations in Venezuela now face major disruption. It has been widely reported that the group operates a network of illicit financial and logistical activities with the complicity of the state. This includes money laundering, narcotics trafficking and the exploitation of informal and illegal economies. Recent reports also suggest that Hezbollah received Venezuelan government-issued passports and identity documents that permitted its members to travel and operate undercover. US officials have previously described Venezuela as a strategic foothold for Hezbollah in South America. It represented a key hub in the group’s Latin American funding and an important operational node. While its financing from Iran remains, regime change in Venezuela represents a significant setback — estimated by analysts in the tens of millions of dollars — to its regional networks.
It is nevertheless in Lebanon that the last chapter will be written if the disarmament plan is fully implemented.
Today, when Tehran is facing problems of its own due to massive protests, Hezbollah should seize the opportunity to surrender its weapons. It has been receiving advice from the region’s countries to do so. Yet, the pro-Hezbollah crowd on social media has chosen a tone of defiance, showing that the organization still believes in its domination not only of its own community in Lebanon, but the entire country. Throughout this month, pro-Hezbollah voices and its aligned media have continued to reject the government’s disarmament efforts, always positioning it as executing Israel’s and the US’ wishes. Stuck in a Jurassic geopolitical age, they are blinded by their illusions of the so-called resistance axis. Moreover, while not stating it directly, they are issuing veiled threats to all in Lebanon by repeatedly stating that they would revert to fierce defense if needed. The use of terms such as “by any means” is enough to tell us what Hezbollah is getting at. But there is no doubt that even the Shiite community has had enough of this circle of death and wants the country to be rebuilt once and for all. It is the never-ending cycle of destruction that Hezbollah and its allies have brought upon Lebanon for decades that needs to stop. How many times has this group led the entire country to war for absolutely no reason? And how much harm has it caused to Lebanon? How many lives have been destroyed? And, beyond that, how much infrastructure was destroyed and rebuilt, only to be destroyed again?
As Hezbollah relies greatly on its illegal operations for its finances, the fact that Maduro has been removed will have an impact.
There is no deterrence in this arsenal, only death and isolation. The phrasing the group uses no longer works. Only the indoctrinated believe. This will also need to be disarmed or disabled. The next battle for the Lebanese state is to bring an end to indoctrination from all sides. As a result of what we noticed in Venezuela, with how Hezbollah’s finances and organization are intertwined with criminal activities, the Lebanese government’s plan to disarm it must also include the targeting and crippling of all its commercial and financial activities. It is through its own parallel activities that it keeps its base hostage. Last year, the Lebanese central bank issued a circular banning licensed banks and financial institutions from any direct or indirect dealings with unlicensed entities linked to Hezbollah. This is not enough. There needs to be direct action to shut down these operations. In a social media post ahead of the US action in Venezuela, the White House used a scene from the Ridley Scott movie “Gladiator.” I would refer to a phrase in this same film, when Russell Crowe’s Maximus Decimus Meridius, knowing the military superiority of his army, states: “People should know when they are being conquered.” This phrase applies in all meanings to Hezbollah by stating that it should know it has been defeated. We cannot let Hezbollah drag Lebanon with it by continuing to deny this reality.
**Khaled Abou Zahr is the founder of SpaceQuest Ventures, a space-focused investment platform. He is CEO of EurabiaMedia and editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.

What next for Lebanon after army completes first phase of Hezbollah disarmament?
NAJIA HOUSSARI & TAREK ALI AHMAD/Arab News/January 09, 2026
BEIRUT: The Lebanese army declared on Thursday that progress on the second phase of a plan to place all weapons under state authority depends on external factors, highlighting constraints facing the state. These include continued Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory, the occupation of several Lebanese sites, the establishment of buffer zones, repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement, and delays in the delivery of promised military capabilities to the army. The statements were made during a cabinet session on Thursday, where the army announced the successful completion of the first phase of Hezbollah disarmament south of the Litani River. Army Commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal briefed ministers on the progress and confirmed that preparations are underway to assess conditions for launching the second phase, which will extend northward to the area between the Litani and Awali rivers. The Lebanese army’s stance comes at a time of mounting Israeli and US pressure on Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah across all Lebanese territory, alongside Israeli skepticism about the army’s ability to carry out such a task. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has refused to surrender its weapons north of the Litani River, despite the Lebanese state’s commitment to restoring “security and stability to the southern border and preventing its use as a launch pad for any military operations, in accordance with its decision to extend its authority exclusively through its own forces over all Lebanese territory.”
A Lebanese official told Arab News that the army’s position is based on the fact that Lebanon has fulfilled all its obligations within the limits of the army’s available resources in implementing what is required under the ceasefire agreement south of the Litani River. The Lebanese Army, the source said, is leaning toward adopting a “weapons containment” strategy north of the Litani River.
“Talking about north of the Litani River means all of Lebanon, and therefore it is impossible to set a timeframe for implementation, given the army’s limited logistical capabilities,” the source said. The weapons containment option ensures that no weapons are moved, imported, smuggled, or used within Lebanon. “This should concern no one,” the source added. The mechanism committee, tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Israel-Hezbollah 2024 ceasefire agreement, receives regular updates on the disarmament. Regarding whether Lebanon fears an Israeli military escalation in light of the army leadership’s stance, the source said that Lebanon is subjected to daily Israeli attacks despite fulfilling all its obligations. “South of the Litani River, the only positions that could be confiscated are those held by the Israeli army,” the source added. Michael Young, senior editor at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said the likelihood of Lebanon entering a full-blown war with Israel remains minimal. “If the Israelis and the Americans are pushing and the Lebanese are conceding, then the imperative to immediately escalate to a much larger conflict, which may not actually lead to any kind of decisive results, is going to be lessened,” he told Arab News. However, Young warned that if the implementation of disarmament is delayed or obstructed for too long, Israel may eventually decide to escalate militarily. Cabinet spokesman and Minister of Information Paul Morcos announced that the army will present a plan in February to begin the second phase of its deployment, aimed at withdrawing weapons from areas north of the Litani River. Meanwhile, the cabinet commended the army’s achievements and called for the swift implementation of all phases of the disarmament plan. The army command reiterated its ongoing coordination with UNIFIL and the ceasefire monitoring mechanism, which it said would contribute to greater stability south of the Litani River. In a statement, the army thanked the countries participating in UNIFIL, highlighting the work of the US and French teams supporting the mechanism’s work.
It also commended “the awareness and constructive cooperation of southern citizens, whose commitment to security and stability was crucial to the successful implementation of the first phase.”The army added that the achievement reflects “deep mutual trust between the people and the military institution.”The command further commended the dedication and sacrifices of its soldiers, noting they carried out their duties under harsh conditions and constant danger, from landmines and unexploded ordnance to direct Israeli strikes targeting their deployment zones.
Following the army’s announcement on completing the first phase of its disarmament plan, President Joseph Aoun said the state “stands firmly behind the Lebanese Armed Forces in their mission to extend authority and restore sovereignty, particularly in the south.”Aoun emphasized that the army’s deployment south of the Litani River stems from a unified national decision rooted in the constitution and international commitments. He reiterated his call for a full Israeli withdrawal, release of prisoners, and respect for the cessation of hostilities as key to restoring state control, ensuring the safe return of displaced civilians to the southern regions, and enabling reconstruction. Aoun also urged international backing to strengthen the army’s capabilities and prevent the transfer of arms to non-state actors. Praising the resilience of southern communities, he reaffirmed their trust in the army as Lebanon’s sole legitimate protector. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri voiced support for the army’s statement but stressed that “the mission remains incomplete due to Israel’s ongoing occupation of Lebanese territory, daily violations, and obstruction of the army’s work despite unfulfilled promises of military support.”
Berri warned that Israel’s actions, including the targeting of UNIFIL and calls to end their mandate, threaten the implementation of UN Resolution 1701.
He added that “the south longs for the presence and protection of its army,” and demanded Israel’s full withdrawal from Lebanese land and airspace.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also praised “the Lebanese command, officers and soldiers” for completing the first phase of disarmament, and paid tribute to the soldiers killed on that mission. He stressed the urgent need for logistical and financial support to advance to the next phase and said securing the return of displaced residents and launching reconstruction in the south are top priorities over the coming weeks, pending parliament’s approval of a World Bank loan. Salam also reaffirmed the state’s push for Arab and international support to pressure Israel to withdraw from occupied areas, end its attacks, and release Lebanese detainees — key steps to restoring full sovereignty. UN Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert praised the progress of the Lebanese army in a post on X, saying: “Great to see the Lebanese army confirm it has assumed operational control south of the Litani. “This is undeniable progress. Hard work lies ahead. But today’s milestone shows commitment and reinforces the role of the mechanism established by the November 2024 arrangement.” For his part, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, concluding his visit to Lebanon before heading to Syria, emphasized the role of UNIFIL in maintaining stability and advancing the implementation of Resolution 1701 until the end of the mission’s mandate in December 2026, despite recent budget cuts. In recent months, UNIFIL troops have come under Israeli fire amid tensions over their reports documenting Israeli violations south of the Litani River, particularly breaches of the Blue Line, including the construction of installations on Lebanese territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office described Lebanon’s disarmament efforts as “encouraging but insufficient,” stressing that the ceasefire agreement requires Hezbollah’s full disarmament, which it called vital for both Israeli security and Lebanon’s future. The statement also accused Iran of aiding Hezbollah’s rearmament. Meanwhile, the Israeli army claimed Hezbollah remains active south of the Litani River and said the Lebanese army’s declaration does not reflect “the reality on the ground.”Young said Israel overstates the threat posed by Hezbollah to gain leverage in Washington, adding that Hezbollah has been significantly weakened despite its presence in the country. He noted the party’s political isolation, lack of broader support, and growing internal pressure, particularly due to the displacement of “hundreds of thousands of Shiites whose villages are destroyed.”“There is a terrible burden on the party,” he said. “It cannot indefinitely ignore the fate of these people.”Young argued that Hezbollah is “not in a position to mount any kind of military operation across the border,” pointing to the fact that “both the Lebanese army, the Lebanese society and the Lebanese state — all of them oppose this.”
Israeli newspapers hinted that Israel is preparing for a large-scale operation in Lebanon. One paper, Maariv, accused Lebanese army commanders of presenting an “inaccurate narrative.” It said the Israeli military plans to present photos and videos gathered by military intelligence and the Northern Command, allegedly showing Hezbollah weapons and missile storage sites, including buildings north of the Litani River. It added that offensive plans are finalized and awaiting political approval. Amid these developments, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Beirut for meetings with Lebanon’s president, parliament speaker, prime minister, and foreign minister to discuss regional developments and bilateral relations. His visit comes after a year of strained Lebanese-Iranian ties, marked by Iran’s pro-Hezbollah stance in its conflict with Israel — positions viewed by Beirut as interference in Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Facing pressure from both Israel and the US, Araghchi said: “Iran does not seek war, but it is ready for it.” He added that Tehran remains open to negotiations “based on mutual respect and shared interests,” asserting that US-Israeli strategies against Iran have “failed miserably.” While Hezbollah did not issue an immediate response to the positions taken by the army and state officials, MP Kassem Hachem described the army’s statement as “expressing the will of the Lebanese people and the army’s commitment to Lebanon’s interests, free from any dictates or pressure.”
He told Arab News that Israel’s reaction to the army’s statement “only confirms the hostile intentions it has long harbored toward Lebanon,” stressing that the international community, particularly ceasefire sponsors, must recognize the risks of allowing Israel to evade accountability. Hachem added that such impunity would undermine international norms and resolutions, especially as the Mechanism Committee continues to observe the “positive role” played by the Lebanese army and its actions on the ground.

Lebanon central bank seeks to recuperate embezzled funds to bolster liquidity, governor says
Reuters/January 08, 2026
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s central bank will seek the repayment of public funds embezzled by at least one former central bank official and by lawyers and commercial bankers, to help guarantee its liquidity, Central Bank Governor Karim Souaid said on Thursday.Souaid did not name Riad Salameh, the former central bank governor whose 30-year term ended in disgrace amid investigations into whether he embezzled more than $300 million between 2002 and 2015. Instead Souaid told reporters that the central bank had filed a criminal complaint against an unnamed former official of the central bank, a former banker and a lawyer over alleged illicit enrichment through misuse of public funds. He ⁠said the operations were carried out through four offshore shell companies in the Cayman Islands that he did not name.
COORDINATING WITH FRENCH INVESTIGATORS
Souaid said the bank would become a primary plaintiff in the state’s investigation against Forry Associates, suspected of receiving commissions from commercial banks and transferring them out of the country. Forry is controlled by Salameh’s brother, Raja. Both ⁠Raja and Riad Salameh deny wrongdoing.
The pair are under investigation in France, Germany, Switzerland and other countries over the alleged embezzlement. Souaid said he would travel to France to meet with the investigators this month “to exchange highly sensitive information held by the French authorities.”Souaid would not say how many people in total were suspected of involvement in the scheme or the full sum now thought to have been embezzled. “Our mission is to pursue these individuals and entities, seek their conviction, and seize their movable and immovable assets and the proceeds of ⁠their illicit activities to ensure liquidity for the rightful owners, first and foremost the depositors,” he said. A Lebanese source familiar with the central bank’s new measures said they were prompted by lots of evidence — both new material uncovered in the central bank’s records and other evidence made available from external investigators. The source said the bank’s leadership suspected Salameh was aided in his scheme by other members of the institution. Salameh was detained for nearly 13 months over the alleged financial crimes committed during his tenure, and was released last September after posting a record bail of more than $14 million.
He remains in Lebanon under a travel ban.

Israeli drone strike targets car in Sidon district
Naharnet/January 08, 2026
An Israeli drone strike on Thursday targeted a car between Zaita and Bnaafoul in the Sidon district, killing one person, with Israel claiming that it hit a Hezbollah member. Israel has intensified its strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon in recent days.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel's army has carried out frequent strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is bombing Hezbollah sites and operatives.

Israel's Maariv says Haykal 'clown', army statement 'fairy tale'
Naharnet/January 08, 2026
As the Lebanese army announced it had completed the first phase of Hezbollah's disarmament, a report in Israeli Maariv newspaper claimed that the army's statement was "far from the truth", describing army chief Rodolphe Haykal as "a clown" who would tell his government "fairy tales". The report, published Thursday, said the Israeli army will have to act to disarm Hezbollah itself. "The plan (to step in to disarm Hezbollah) has already been prepared, but it has not yet been decided when it will happen," the daily said, adding that Israel's army spokesperson will respond to the Lebanese army statement with photos and videos showing Hezbollah's weapons in south Lebanon. The report said Israel had intensified diplomacy especially with France and Saudi Arabia, "which have influence and interests in Lebanon and have the ability to influence Hezbollah's disarmament", in order to prevent Israel from having to intervene itself to disarm Hezbollah by force.

Army says completed first phase of disarming Hezbollah
Agence France Presse/January 08, 2026
The army announced Thursday that it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area between the Israeli border and the Litani River. In a statement, the army said it had "achieved the objectives of the first phase" of its plan, with an intention to extend it to the rest of Lebanon.
Hezbollah, weakened after a deadly war with Israel in November 2024, refuses to surrender its weapons in the rest of Lebanon. The army said it now controls the area in Lebanon south of the Litani River "with the exception of territory and positions still occupied by Israel" near the border. Despite a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in place for over a year, which stipulates that Israel must withdraw from Lebanese territory, Israel continues to occupy five "strategic" points near the border. The Israeli army is still conducting operations in Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of seeking to rearm, and is questioning the effectiveness of the Lebanese army's disarmament efforts. Under the ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah must withdraw its forces north of the Litani River and have its military infrastructure dismantled in the evacuated areas. The Lebanese army said its operations will continue south of the Litani to "complete the disposal of unexploded ordnance" and search for tunnels dug by Hezbollah. It added that it will take measures to "permanently prevent armed groups from rebuilding their capabilities". "The army confirms that its plan to restrict weapons has entered an advanced stage, after achieving the goals of the first phase effectively and tangibly on the ground. Work in the sector is ongoing until the unexploded ordnance and tunnels are cleared ... with the aim of preventing armed groups from irreversibly rebuilding their capabilities," the statement read, adding that it will soon announce the next stages of the plan. Army Commander Rodolphe Haykal is scheduled to brief the government Thursday afternoon on the progress made. The Lebanese government is under intense pressure from the United States to disarm the Iran-backed Hezbollah, amid fears of an escalation in Israeli attacks. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar praised the Lebanese government and army's efforts on Sunday, but added that they were "far from sufficient".

Israel responds to Lebanese army with map of alleged Hezbollah sites south of Litani
Associated Press/January 08, 2026
Israel's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Hezbollah is "rearming faster than it is being disarmed," showing a map of alleged Hezbollah compounds, launch sites, and underground networks south of the Litani River. Lebanon's military had said it had concluded the first phase of a plan to fully deploy across southern Lebanon and disarm non-state groups, notably Hezbollah. Lebanon's leaders -- President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri -- endorsed the military announcement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the development was encouraging but "far from sufficient."Israel maintains that despite Lebanon’s efforts, Hezbollah is still attempting to rearm itself in southern Lebanon.
Fears of a new escalation -
Israel continues to strike Lebanon near daily and occupies five "strategic" hilltop points along the border, the only areas south of the Litani where the military said it has yet to control. Israel accuses Hezbollah of trying to rebuild its battered military capacity and has said that the Lebanese military’s efforts are not sufficient, raising fears of a new escalation. Lebanon, meanwhile, said Israel's strikes and control of the hilltops were an obstacle to the efforts. Lebanon also hopes that disarming Hezbollah and other non-state groups will help to bring in money needed for reconstruction after the 2024 war. Hezbollah says it has been cooperative with the army in the south but will not discuss disarming elsewhere before Israel stops its strikes and withdraws from Lebanese territory.

Netanyahu: Lebanon's efforts to disarm Hezbollah 'encouraging but far from sufficient'
Agence France Presse/January 08, 2026
Israel said Thursday that Lebanon's efforts to disarm Hezbollah were encouraging but "far from sufficient", after the Lebanese army announced it had completed the first phase of the process. "The ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States between Israel and Lebanon states clearly, Hezbollah must be fully disarmed," the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. "Efforts made toward this end by the Lebanese government and the Lebanese armed forces are an encouraging beginning, but they are far from sufficient, as evidenced by Hezbollah's efforts to rearm and rebuild its terror infrastructure with Iranian support," it added.

Iran FM arrives in Beirut to discuss 'challenges' with leaders, 'brother' Rajji
Naharnet/January 08, 2026
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived Thursday in Beirut at a crucial time, as the government convened in Baadba to discuss its plan to disarm Hezbollah. Araghshi said the main aim of his visit is to discuss "challenges" that Lebanon is facing amid ongoing Israeli occupation and attacks. He said he will meet with President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and his "brother and counterpart" Youssef Rajji. Rajji had refused last month Araghshi's invitation to visit Iran, and said he'd rather meet with him in a "neutral" third country but that Araghchi is "always welcome to visit Lebanon". He said that Lebanon is willing to establish a "new era" of constructive relations with Iran, "based exclusively on mutual and absolute respect for the independence and sovereignty of each country and non-interference in domestic affairs in any way and under any pretext."Araghchi responded that "the foreign ministers of countries with brotherly diplomatic ties do not need a neutral place to meet," adding that he gladly accepts Rajji's invitation to visit Beirut. "We also want to open a new chapter based on the values that Rajji mentioned," Araghchi said. Araghshi condemned Thursday, from Beirut's airport, Israel's attacks on Lebanon and on six other countries, and its violations of a ceasefire deal reached last year with Lebanon.

Aoun backs army statement, asks friendly countries not to send arms to Hezbollah
Associated Press/January 08, 2026
President Joseph Aoun voiced Thursday his support to the army, as cabinet convened at the Baabda palace to discuss the army's plan to disarm Hezbollah. The army had announced, in a statement, earlier on Thursday, that it had concluded the first phase of their plan to fully deploy across southern Lebanon and disarm non-state groups, notably Hezbollah. The president's office said that Aoun strongly backs the army's statement, calling on Israel to stop its attacks, withdraw from areas it occupies, and release Lebanese prisoners. Aoun also called on friendly countries not to send weapons to Lebanon unless it's to state institutions, an apparent reference to Iran which for decades has sent weapons and munitions to Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Beirut to discuss with Lebanese officials "challenges" that Lebanon is facing, including Israeli occupation and violations of the ceasefire agreement.

Army moves to north Litani after completing first phase of Hezbollah disarmament
Associated Press/January 08, 2026
The Lebanese army will present in February an evaluation of the second phase of a plan to disarm Hezbollah in its monthly report to the government, Information Minister Paul Morcos said, after a cabinet session that discussed the matter. Morcos said the army will start working on a plan for disarmament north of the Litani river that will be discussed by the government in February. He added that the army will also continue the process of weapons "containment" in other parts of Lebanon, meaning that they will not be allowed to be used or moved. President Joseph Aoun attended the cabinet session that took place at the Baabda Palace, and during which Army Commander Rodolphe Haykal briefed the government on the progress made in its disarmament plan. Before the session, the army said, in a statement, it had concluded the first phase of their plan to fully deploy across southern Lebanon and disarm non-state groups, notably Hezbollah. The second phase will be in south Lebanon north of the Litani river, reportedly between the Litani and the Awwali rivers. Lebanese President, Prime Minister and Parliament Speaker all supported the army's statement, while Israel called the efforts are encouraging but far from sufficient. The effort to disarm Hezbollah comes after a Washington-brokered ceasefire ended a war between the group and Israel in 2024. The government had set a deadline of the end of 2025 to clear the area south of the Litani River of non-state weapons. The Lebanese military has been clearing tunnels, rocket-launching positions, and other structures since its disarmament proposal was approved by the government and went into effect in September. Israel still strikes Lebanon near daily and occupies five "strategic" hilltop points along the border, the only areas south of the Litani where the military said it has yet to control. Officials have said the next stage of the disarmament plan is in segments of southern Lebanon between the Litani and the Awali River, which include Lebanon's port city of Sidon, but they have not set a timeline for that phase. Regular meetings have taken place between the Lebanese and the Israelis alongside the United States, France, and the U.N. peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon, to monitor developments after the ceasefire.
Lebanon's cash-strapped military has since been gradually dispersing across wide areas of southern Lebanon between the Litani River and the U.N.-demarcated "Blue Line" that separates the tiny country from Israel. The military has also been slowly confiscating weapons from armed Palestinian factions in refugee camps. Israel accuses Hezbollah of trying to rebuild its battered military capacity and has said that the Lebanese military's efforts are not sufficient, raising fears of a new escalation. Lebanon, meanwhile, said Israel's strikes and control of the hilltops were an obstacle to the efforts. Lebanon also hopes that disarming Hezbollah and other non-state groups will help to bring in money needed for reconstruction after the 2024 war. Hezbollah says it has been cooperative with the army in the south but will not discuss disarming elsewhere before Israel stops its strikes and withdraws from Lebanese territory. The latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict began the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza. The militant group Hezbollah, largely based in southern Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians. Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling. The low-level conflict escalated into full-scale war in September 2024. Israeli strikes killed much of Hezbollah's senior leadership and left the group severely weakened. Hezbollah still has political clout, holding a large number of seats in parliament representing the Shiite Muslim community and two cabinet ministers.

Judge Rizkallah dismisses Oueidat's lawsuit against Bitar
Naharnet/January 08, 2026
Judge Habib Rizkallah issued an indictment Thursday in the case filed by former state prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat against Judge Tarek Bitar, the investigative judge in the Beirut port explosion case, on charges of "impersonating an investigative judge and usurping authority."Rizkallah decided to dismiss the case against Bitar because “Oueidat had recused himself from the case as state prosecutor and therefore lacked the legal standing to prosecute Bitar.”Oueidat had in charged Bitar with "rebelling against the judiciary" and slapped him with a travel ban. He said that he charged Bitar in order to "prevent sedition." Bitar had charged several high-level officials, including Oueidat, over the blast. Authorities in Lebanon say the August 4, 2020 explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been stored haphazardly for years, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.
The blast was one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions, destroying swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring more than 6,500. Bitar resumed his investigation last year as Lebanon's balance of power shifted following a war between Israel and Hezbollah that weakened the militant group, which had spearheaded a campaign against him. President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who both took office last year, have vowed to uphold the independence of the judiciary in a country plagued by official impunity. Officials named in the port explosion investigation had filed a flurry of lawsuits seeking to hamper its progress.

Berri says south wants army presence, calls on Israel to leave Lebanon
Naharnet/January 08, 2026
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri supported Thursday the army statement about completing the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, south of the Litani river. Berri said the South has proven that it's "thirsty for the army's presence" and called on Israel to "leave our land and sky".He said the army's achievements are only incomplete because of Israel’s occupation and its daily violations. The army had said it now controls the area in Lebanon south of the Litani River "with the exception of territory and positions still occupied by Israel" near the border. Despite a ceasefire reached last year, stipulating that Israel must withdraw from Lebanese territory, Israel continues to occupy five "strategic" points near the border and to carry out almost daily attacks on Lebanon. President Joseph Aoun also backed Thursday the army's statement, calling on Israel to stop its attacks, withdraw from areas it occupies, and release Lebanese prisoners.

Report: Iran protests may be delaying Israeli attack on Hezbollah
Naharnet/January 08, 2026
After talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened senior security chiefs to “present the understandings reached in Washington and review intelligence efforts, attack planning, and readiness for a possible strike in Lebanon,” Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper has reported. Netanyahu presented “the understandings and agreements reached in Washington regarding the continued freedom of action for Israel across all arenas: Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Yemen and the West Bank,” it said. However, the protests in Iran “are at this stage the central factor shaping decision-making in Jerusalem,” Yedioth Ahronoth said. “Senior officials note that toppling a regime in a country such as Iran requires multiple components coming together, and that the situation has not yet reached that point. Still, the evolving reality forces Israel to remain prepared for unexpected developments and extreme scenarios,” the newspaper added.“Were it not for the latest developments in Iran, there might have been little hesitation in executing the attack plan against Hezbollah, which has already been prepared and is considered operationally ready. Netanyahu has effectively received a green light from President Trump on the matter, and the IDF (Israeli army) has made clear that from its perspective, the preparations are complete, leaving the decision largely one of timing,” Yedioth Ahronoth said. It added: “As a result, the central question facing decision-makers in Jerusalem is no longer whether to act, but when: whether to wait for further developments in Iran, Hezbollah’s strategic ally, or to exploit the current window of opportunity, potentially continuing a policy of sustained strikes in Lebanon as the organization refrains from responding even to the killing of senior figures in its military leadership.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 08-09/2026
Watchdog reports ‘nationwide internet blackout’ in Iran as protests mount
AFP/Published: 08 January/2026
A nationwide internet blackout was reported in Iran on Thursday, online watchdog Netblocks said, as the death toll mounts from a crackdown by authorities after 12 days of economic protests. “Live metrics show Iran is now in the midst of a nationwide internet blackout. The incident follows a series of escalating digital censorship measures targeting protests across the country and hinders the public’s right to communicate at a critical moment,” the group said in a statement on social media.

Iran forces accused of firing on protesters as death toll mounts
AFP/January 08, 2026
PARIS: Rights groups accused Iranian security forces of shooting at demonstrators as the death toll mounted on Thursday from a crackdown on economic protests and a watchdog reported an Internet blackout across the Islamic republic. Twelve days of protests have troubled the clerical authorities under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei already battling an economic crisis after years of sanctions and recovering from the June war against Israel. US President Donald Trump meanwhile threatened on Thursday to take severe action against Iran if its authorities “start killing people,” warning Washington would “hit them very hard.”The movement, which originated with a shutdown on the Tehran bazaar on December 28 after the rial plunged to record lows, has spread nationwide and is now being marked by larger-scale demonstrations. Videos on social media showed that protests were again taking place Thursday. A large crowd was seen gathering on the vast Ayatollah Kashani Boulevard in the northwest of capital Tehran, according to social media images verified by AFP, while other images showed a crowd demonstrating in the western city of Abadan. Local media and official statements have reported at least 21 people, including security forces, killed since the unrest began, according to an AFP tally. On Wednesday, an Iranian police officer was stabbed to death west of Tehran “during efforts to control unrest,” the Iranian Fars news agency said. But raising its own toll based on verified deaths, the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said security forces had killed at least 45 protesters, including eight minors. The NGO said Wednesday was the bloodiest day since the demonstrations began, with 13 protesters confirmed to have been killed. “The evidence shows that the scope of the crackdown is becoming more violent and more extensive every day,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, adding hundreds more have been wounded and more than 2,000 arrested. Online watchdog Netblocks said on Thursday that “live metrics show Iran is now in the midst of a nationwide Internet blackout.”
‘Utmost restraint’
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian called for “utmost restraint” in handling demonstrations, saying “any violent or coercive behavior should be avoided.”German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, meanwhile, condemned the “excessive use of force” against protesters. With the protests now spreading across Iran, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said rallies had taken place in 348 locations in all of Iran’s 31 provinces. Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah ousted by the 1979 Islamic revolution and a key exiled opposition figure, urged major new protests on Thursday. Before the blackout, he warned that the “frightened” authorities could cut Internet access to prevent information filtering out.
Iraq-based Iranian Kurdish opposition parties called for a general strike on Thursday in Kurdish-populated areas in western Iran. The Hengaw rights group said the call had been widely followed in some 30 towns and cities, posting footage of shuttered shops in the western provinces of Ilam, Kermanshah and Lorestan. It accused authorities of firing on demonstrators in Kermanshah and the nearby town of Kamyaran to the north, injuring several protesters, as well as cutting the Internet in the region.HRANA also posted footage it said showed security forces firing on protesters with handguns in Kermanshah. IHR said a woman protester was shot directly in the eye during a protest late Wednesday in Abadan. Protesters in Kuhchenar in the southern Fars province cheered overnight as they pulled down a statue of the former foreign operations commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike in January 2020, in a video verified by AFP.
‘Unlawful force’
Demonstrators are repeating slogans against the clerical leadership, including “Pahlavi will return” and “Seyyed Ali will be toppled,” in reference to Khamenei. The movement has also spread to universities and final exams at a major university in Tehran, the Amir Kabir university, have been postponed for a week, according to ISNA news agency. The protests are the biggest in Iran since the last major protest wave in 2022-2023 which was sparked by the custody death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women. Rights groups have also accused authorities of resorting to tactics including raiding hospitals to detain wounded protesters. “Iran’s security forces have injured and killed both protesters and bystanders,” said Amnesty International, accusing authorities of using “unlawful force.”

Iran's new wave of protests prompts hospital raids, internet access cut
SOMAYEH MALEKIAN and NADINE EL-BAWAB/ABC News/Thu, January 8, 2026
At least 36 protestors have been killed in Iran and over 2,000 others have been detained by regime forces as widespread demonstrations continue for the twelfth day in a row, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.Iranians in over 100 cities and towns across the country have taken to the streets, shouting slogans against the regime and demanding greater rights in the largest protests challenging the regime since the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement in 2022 and 2023, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Demonstrators have been calling for the Iranian regime's downfall and systemic change as a first step to reclaiming freedom and dignity. Escalating the current protests is a call from Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the exiled, U.S.-based son of the former shah of Iran, himself deposed and exiled during the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution, to "start chanting slogans" Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m. local time. "Based on your response, I will announce the next calls to action," Pahlavi said. As protestors answered Pahlavi's call Thursday night, internet and telephone access across Iran was cut, according to the Associated Press. Galloping inflation appeared to be the initial trigger of this round of protests in Tehran that started on Dec. 28. However, the focus soon expanded beyond economic grievances, with protestors employing slogans like "death to dictator" and "death to Khamenei," referring to Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran's Islamic Republic regime. Groups of protestors made up of university students, women and ethnic minorities, including people from Kurdish and Turkish ethnicities, have gradually joined the protests from across the country since then. Iran protests continue with at least 29 killed, 1,200 detained, activists sayز Most Iranians struggle to keep up with the constantly rising prices in the country due to the rapid fall of the rial, which declined in value from 34,000 rials against the U.S. dollar in July 2016 to 165,000 rials against the dollar in May 2020. Its value has plummeted more than 800% since then and stands around 1,500,000 rials against the dollar as of this week. The Islamic Republic security forces raided a hospital in Ilam, a western city of the country and one of the epicenters of protests, according to HRANA. Several of the people injured in protests had been taken to the hospital, according to the agency. An eyewitness who was in the Ilam hospital during the raid told ABC News that he saw security forces taking away at least one of the injured protestors. He added that security forces also wanted to remove the bodies of victims who were killed in the protests, which had been taken to the hospital. Amnesty Iran, the Iranian arm of Amnesty International, condemned the attack on the hospital and said the regime must “immediately stop the use of unlawful force against protesters." Iranian protests expand beyond the economy as students demand freedom, end to regime rule. The U.S. State Department also criticized the hospital attack, posting on X that "the brutal attack by the Islamic Republic regime on a hospital in Ilam is a crime." "The raid on wards, the beating of medical staff, and the assault on the injured with tear gas and live ammunition is a blatant crime against humanity. Hospitals are not battlefields,” the post further said. In an attempt to appease the protestors, the Iranian Minister of Labor and Social Welfare announced that all Iranian residents inside the country will receive a cash handout of 10 million rials, which is just under $7 U.S. dollars at current exchange rates. Iranians were told that they can use the allowance to purchase basic food items -- a declaration that was widely mocked by protestors.

Iran ‘does not desire a war but we are ready for it,’ Araghchi says
The Associated Press/08 January/2026
Iran does not want war with Israel or the United States, but is ready to fight back if attacked again, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday. Speaking in Beirut, Araghchi told reporters that Iran is also ready for negotiations with the US over its nuclear program as long as the talks are based on mutual respect rather than “dictation” by Washington. The minister’s comments came as many fear that close US ally Israel will target Iran again as it did during the 12-day war in June, during which Israel killed senior military officials and nuclear scientists and the US bombed Iranian nuclear enrichment sites. “America and Israel have tested their attack on Iran and this attack and strategy faced extreme failure,” Araghchi said at the start of a two-day visit to Lebanon. “If they repeat it, they will face the same results.” “We are ready for any choice. We don’t desire a war but we are ready for it,” Araghchi said. US President Donald Trump reimposed a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran in February in an effort to block its development of nuclear weapons. The campaign included US led strikes on three critical Iranian enrichment facilities in June. Araghchi said Tehran is ready for negotiations, adding: “But I say that the negotiations should be based on mutual respect and mutual interests.” “We believe that once the Americans reach the outcome that constructive and positive negotiations rather than ordering dictation are the framework, then at that time the results of the these negotiations become fruitful,” he said. Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels — after Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Tehran long has maintained its atomic program is peaceful, though the West and the IAEA, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, say Iran had an organized nuclear weapons program until 2003. Trump last month warned Iran that the US could carry out further military strikes if the country attempts to reconstitute its nuclear program as he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida. Araghchi’s visit to Beirut came as the Lebanese military said it had concluded the first phase of a plan to disarm factions, such as Iran-backed Hezbollah. Iran’s foreign minister is heading an economic delegation for talks with Lebanese officials on regional and international affairs. “Iran desires having comprehensive relations with Lebanon, including economic partnerships,” Araghchi said. The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas.

Chinese, Iranian warships in South Africa for exercises
AFP/January 08, 2026
SIMON’S TOWN, South Africa: Chinese and Iranian warships were docked off South Africa’s main navy base Thursday ahead of exercises that officials said were also meant to involve Russia. The January 9-16 “Will for Peace” drill hosted by South Africa risks further straining its ties with the United States, which is in dispute with many of the countries taking part. AFP journalists saw two Chinese ships in Cape Town’s False Bay harbor on Wednesday, joined by an Iranian vessel on Thursday. South African navy officials said warships from Russia were also expected to take part in the China-led exercises. The drill was focused on the “safety of shipping and maritime economic activities,” the South African defense force said in December when it announced the maneuvers. It was intended to “deepen cooperation in support of peaceful maritime security initiatives,” it said. The statement said the exercise would involve navies from BRICS countries. BRICS, originally made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and, more recently, Indonesia. The joint drills — previously known as Exercise Mosi — were initially scheduled for November 2025 but were postponed due to a clash with the G20 summit in Johannesburg. South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA), a member of the ruling unity government, said parliament had not been “properly briefed” on the drills, including cost, command structure and diplomatic consequences. “South Africa’s defense and foreign policy must be transparent, constitutional, and principled and certainly not being quietly reshaped through military exercises that contradict our stated neutrality and damage our standing in the world,” DA spokesperson on defense, Chris Hattingh, said in a statement. The center-right party — which joined government after the African National Congress lost its majority in 2024 due to voter disillusionment with corruption and mismanagement — vowed to demand full transparency in parliament. President Donald Trump has accused countries in the BRICS group of emerging nations of “anti-American” policies. South Africa has drawn US criticism for its close ties with Russia and a range of other policies, including its decision to bring a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice over the Gaza war. South Africa’s military was criticized for hosting naval exercises with Russia and China in 2023 that coincided with the one-year anniversary of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. The three countries first conducted joint naval drills in 2019.

Israeli PM meets diplomat expected to serve on Trump’s Gaza peace board
AFP/08 January/2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday met with former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov, whom media reports say is expected to represent the US backed Board of Peace in Gaza. Bulgarian diplomat Mladenov served as the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process from early 2015 until the end of 2020. Media reports say he is expected to serve as the representative on the ground in Gaza for the Board of Peace -- a transitional body for the war-battered Palestinian territory which US President Donald Trump would theoretically chair. Netanyahu met with Mladenov in Jerusalem on Thursday and “reiterated and clarified that Hamas must disarm and that the Gaza Strip should be demilitarized in accordance with President Trump’s 20-point plan,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement. It added that Mladenov “is slated to serve as Director General of the ‘Peace Council’ in the Gaza Strip.”Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also met with Mladenov on Thursday, a spokesman from his office said, without providing further details. Under Trump’s plan for Gaza, the territory will be governed by a temporary transitional technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, under the oversight and supervision of the Board of Peace. Citing US officials and sources familiar with the matter, US media outlet Axios reported that Trump is expected to announce the board next week as part of the second stage of the fragile ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that came into effect in October. It added that the board would include around 15 world leaders. “Among the countries expected to join the board are the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey,” Axios reported. Since October 10, a truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but some White House officials fear both are slow-walking the second stage of the ceasefire. Under the second stage, Israel is supposed to gradually withdraw from its positions in Gaza, while Hamas is supposed to lay down its weapons. An international stabilisation force (ISF) is also to be deployed.
Both sides, however, have alleged frequent ceasefire violations.

Israeli soldier sentenced to 20 days after firing at Gazans celebrating New Year’s Eve
Al Arabiya English/08 January/2026
An Israeli soldier has been sentenced to 20 days in military prison after videos circulated online showing him firing a weapon toward Palestinians in Gaza during New Year’s Eve celebrations. The footage shows the unnamed member of the Israel army discharging what appears to be a machine gun in the direction of Gaza, where Palestinians were marking the start of the new year. An Israeli military spokesman claimed the soldier was “firing towards an open area and not at civilian homes in Gaza.”In a post on X, the spokesman added: “Still unprofessional and not in accordance with our orders.”The incident comes amid Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, launched following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, which killed more than 1,000 people in Israel. Since the start of the conflict, Israeli soldiers have repeatedly been documented in incidents involving the killing of Palestinian civilians. The Israeli military has consistently denied allegations of wrongdoing. Human rights organizations and the United Nations have accused Israel of committing possible war crimes in Gaza, with some critics going further to describe the campaign as genocide, claims Israel strongly rejects.

3 Palestinians injured, vehicles torched during attack by Israeli settlers in West Bank
Arab News/January 09, 2026
LONDON: Three Palestinians were injured and several vehicles were set on fire during an attack on Thursday by a group of Israeli settlers on a plant nursery in the town of Deir Sharaf, about 5 miles west of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. The settlers stormed Al-Junaidi nursery and assaulted people inside. A 65-year-old man’s hand was broken, and two other people were left with bruises and other injuries. All three were taken to hospital for treatment, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported. The attackers also set fire to several vehicles at the nursery, resulting in significant damage, the agency said. The West Bank is home to nearly 3.3 million Palestinians and 700,000 settlers. The Israeli settlements there are considered illegal under international law, and widely viewed as an obstacle to hopes for the future establishment of a Palestinian state. Attacks by settlers on Palestinian villages and properties in the West Bank have increased since the Gaza war began in October 2023. Palestinians have been killed in some incidents.

Shelling rocks Syria’s Aleppo as clashes intensify between government, Kurdish fighters
Reuters/January 08, 2026
ALEPPO: Fighting intensified on Thursday between Syrian government troops and Kurdish fighters in the northern city of Aleppo, with a fierce exchange of ​fire extending into the night and rescue workers scrambling to put out fires ignited by the shelling.Plumes of smoke rose above the city skyline at dusk and the boom of artillery could be heard across Aleppo as the Kurdish fighters tried to repel the troops’ advance and cling on to neighborhoods under their control. The fighting, which erupted on Tuesday, has driven more than 140,000 people from their homes and left at least seven civilians dead, according to Syrian authorities. The deadly stand-off between Damascus and Kurdish authorities who have resisted integrating into the central government is a major challenge for Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who has pledged to unite the country after 14 years of civil war.
STALLED TALKS ON CEASEFIRE
Syria’s army gave a window on Thursday ‌for residents to evacuate ‌the neighborhoods held by Kurdish forces in Aleppo before launching new strikes there. ‌It ⁠released ​more than ‌seven maps identifying areas it said would be targeted and announced a curfew in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh from 3 p.m. (1200 GMT). The United States on Thursday called for an end to clashes between government troops and Kurdish fighters in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, saying it was gravely concerned by the situation. Tom Barrack, Trump’s special envoy for Syria, said the United States and its allies were ready to help efforts to de-escalate tensions between government troops and Kurdish forces, which include the Syrian Democratic Forces group. SDF ⁠head Mazloum Abdi said the government forces’ strikes and deployment of tanks had undermined “the chances of reaching understandings, create conditions for dangerous demographic changes, and expose civilians trapped in ‌the two neighborhoods to the risk of massacres.”Two government officials told Reuters ‍that negotiations were underway over the withdrawal of Kurdish forces ‍from the city. In a statement, the Syrian government said stability could not be achieved with weapons outside the authority ‍of the state, adding the only solution was return of government control to “preserve the unity of Syria.”Turkiye said it stood ready to help Syria if asked.“The attacks carried out against civilians in Aleppo have unfortunately exacerbated concerns about the true intentions of the SDF and ​created a pessimistic picture regarding peace efforts,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a joint press conference with his Omani counterpart on Thursday. “The SDF’s insistence on protecting what it has at all costs is the ⁠biggest obstacle to achieving peace and stability in Syria,” Fidan added. Turkiye views the US-backed SDF, which controls swathes of northeastern Syria, as a terrorist organization and has warned of military action if the group does not honor the integration agreement.

US envoy Barrack calls for immediate halt to Syria clashes, warns of external actors
Al Arabiya English/08 January/2026
US President Donald Trump’s envoy for Syria on Friday called on the Syrian government and Kurdish forces to immediately de-escalate tensions and return to dialogue after days of intense fighting. The clashes, which erupted Tuesday, have displaced thousands of civilians and left several people killed or wounded. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) held talks this week with Damascus on integrating its forces into the Syrian state, something it has so far resisted. Washington has been pushing for a negotiated deal to resolve the dispute. But following armed clashes this week, the Trump administration has made its first public comments. “We therefore issue an urgent appeal to the leadership of the Syrian government, SDF, local authorities in Kurdish-administered areas, and all armed actors on the ground: pause hostilities, reduce tensions immediately, and commit to de-escalation,” US envoy Tom Barrack said. “Let us prioritize the exchange of ideas and constructive proposals over the exchange of fire. The future of Aleppo, and of Syria as a whole, belongs to its people and must be shaped through peaceful means, not violence,” he said in a lengthy post on X. Barrack went on to say that the US and its allies, including regional partners, are ready to facilitate efforts for deescalation in Syria. The latest clashes in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh led the Syrian army on Thursday to order residents to evacuate after accusing the SDF of using these areas to launch attacks.Barrack urged all sides not to squander the momentum following the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024, citing national reconciliation efforts, reconstruction plans, and recent talks with Israel. He acknowledged that healing from Syria’s civil war would take time. “Nonetheless, we remain steadfast in the vision of a Syria that ensures full inclusion and equal rights for every citizen—Sunni, Kurd, Druze, Christian, Alawite, and all other communities—without exception.”The US envoy also warned against “disruptive external forces and their proxies” seeking to undermine progress, without naming specific actors. “Their aim is renewed instability; ours is lasting peace grounded in mutual respect and shared prosperity.”Barrack concluded his post saying, “Syria’s new chapter is one of cooperation, not confrontation. We will reach it together.”

Syrian army orders evacuations as heavy fighting continues in Aleppo
Reuters/08 January/2026
The Syrian army clashed with fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in parts of Aleppo on Thursday and ‍ordered residents to evacuate, accusing the SDF of using Kurdish-majority areas to launch attacks, according to Syrian state media. The army released more than seven maps identifying areas it said would be targeted in strikes, urging residents to leave immediately for their safety. Its operations command announced a curfew in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh from 3 p.m. (1200 ⁠GMT). The fighting, which erupted on Tuesday, has driven thousands of civilians from their homes and killed and wounded several people, state media reported. SDF said their fighters were engaged in intense clashes with Damascus-aligned factions and auxiliaries near Aleppo’s Syriac neighborhood, adding that they had inflicted what they described as heavy losses. The violence and competing claims over responsibility highlight a deepening and increasingly deadly standoff between Damascus and Kurdish authorities who have resisted integrating into the central government.
Accusations of ethnic cleansing
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said he was deeply concerned by attacks on ‍Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo, warning that targeting civilians and attempts to alter the area’s demography amounted to what he described as ethnic cleansing. Barzani called ‍on all sides to exercise ‍restraint, protect civilians and pursue dialogue. The ⁠SDF accused Damascus-aligned factions of threatening unlawful attacks on ‌civilian areas, saying public warnings of shelling ⁠could amount to forced displacement and war ‍crimes under international humanitarian law. More residents were seen leaving Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh through designated safe corridors. The SDF are a US-backed ⁠alliance that controls much of northeastern Syria and has been Washington’s main local partner in the fight against ISIS. Kurdish-led authorities established ‌a semi-autonomous administration in those areas and parts of Aleppo during Syria’s 14-year war and have resisted fully integrating into the new government that took power after former President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in late 2024. Damascus reached a deal with the SDF last year that envisaged full integration by the end of 2025, but progress has been limited, ‍with both sides accusing the other of stalling. The United States has sought to mediate, holding meetings as recently as Sunday, though those talks ended without tangible results. Diplomats warn that failure to integrate the SDF into Syria’s army risks further violence and could draw in Turkey, which has threatened military action against Kurdish fighters it regards as terrorists. Turkey said on Thursday it is ready to help Syria if asked after ‌the Syrian army independently launched what it called a “counter-terrorism” operation in Aleppo.

US Senate rebukes Trump on Venezuela in war powers vote
AFP/08 January/2026
The US Senate took a major step Thursday toward passing a resolution to rein in President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela - a rare bipartisan rebuke following alarm over the secretive capture of leader Nicolas Maduro. The Democratic-led legislation, which bars further US hostilities against Venezuela without explicit congressional authorization, got through a key procedural vote with support from five Republicans. The vote on final passage, expected next week, is now seen as little more than a formality, and would mark one of Congress’s most forceful assertions of its war-making authority in decades. The effort is seen as largely symbolic however, as the resolution faces a steep climb in the US House and almost no prospect of surviving a likely veto by Trump. It followed a dramatic escalation in US action - including air and naval strikes and the nighttime seizure of Maduro in Caracas - that lawmakers from both parties said went beyond a limited law-enforcement operation and crossed unmistakably into war. “Less than courageous members of Congress fall all over themselves to avoid taking responsibility, to avoid the momentous vote of declaring war,” said Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican who broke with much of his party to co-sponsored the measure. “But make no mistake, bombing another nation’s capital and removing their leader is an act of war, plain and simple. No provision in the Constitution provides such power to the presidency.”Trump said in an interview published Thursday the United States could run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, telling The New York Times “only time will tell” how long Washington would demand direct oversight of the South American nation. Democrats are framing the resolution as a constitutional line in the sand after what they described as months of misleading briefings, including assurances from the administration as recently as November that it had no plans for strikes on Venezuelan soil. The administration has argued the Maduro operation was legally justified as part of a broader campaign against transnational drug trafficking, characterizing it as a battle with cartels designated as terrorist organizations. Republican leaders largely defended the president, touting his authority to conduct limited military actions in defense of US national security. “This is something that should have taken place, probably in a previous administration,” Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma told reporters Wednesday. “Only President Trump had the backbone to pull it off, to pull out an indicted, illegitimate president that was holding Venezuela hostage.” Since Trump returned to office, war powers resolutions on Venezuela have been rejected twice in the Senate and twice in the House. Over the last century, only one congressional resolution has successfully imposed a broad, lasting limit on unilateral presidential military action abroad: the War Powers Resolution of 1973, passed over then-president Richard Nixon’s veto.

Venezuela begins ‘large’ prisoner release amid US pressure
AFP/January 08, 2026
CARACAS: Venezuela on Thursday began releasing a “large number” of political prisoners, including several foreigners, in an apparent concession to the United States after its ouster of ruler Nicolas Maduro. The releases are the first since Maduro’s former deputy Delcy Rodriguez took over, with the backing of President Donald Trump, who says he is content to let her govern as long as she gives Washington access to oil. The White House credited Trump with securing the prisoners’ freedom. “This is one example of how the president is using maximum leverage to do right by the American and Venezuelan people,” Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to AFP. The releases were announced by Rodriguez’s brother, parliament speaker Jorge Rodriguez, a key figure in “chavismo,” the anti-US socialist movement founded by Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez. He said “a large number of Venezuelan and foreign nationals” were being immediately freed for the sake of “peaceful coexistence.”He did not say which prisoners would be released, nor how many or from where. Renowned Spanish-Venezuelan activist Rocio San Miguel, imprisoned since February 2024 over a purported plot to assassinate Maduro, was among five Spanish citizens freed, according to Spain’s foreign ministry. Security was stepped up Thursday afternoon outside the notorious El Helicoide detention center in Caracas, used by the intelligence services to jail political and other prisoners.
Miguel was held in El Helicoide after her arrest.
Leading opposition figure Alfredo Diaz, who died in December in custody, was also held at the facility. Families gathered outside on Thursday for news of their loved ones. “I’m nervous. Please God may it be reality,” the mother of a detained activist from the party of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told AFP. On Tuesday, Trump had told Republican lawmakers that Rodriguez’s administration was closing a torture chamber “in the middle of Caracas” but gave no further details.His remarks had sparked speculation that Venezuelan authorities had agreed to close El Helicoide. Venezuelan rights NGO Foro Penal estimates over 800 political prisoners are languishing in the country’s jails. It welcomed the government’s plans to liberate some of them but was still verifying releases. As tensions with Washington climaxed in the past month Venezuela had already released dozens of dissenters in two phases.
- Trump rebuked by Senate -
Thursday’s move by Caracas came as Trump suggested the United States could run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years. Shortly after Maduro’s seizure in US airstrikes and a special forces raid that left 100 people dead, according to Caracas, Trump announced that the US would “run” the Caribbean country for a transitional period. “Only time will tell” how long Washington will demand direct oversight of the country, he told The New York Times in an interview published Thursday. When asked whether that meant three months, six months or a year, he replied: “I would say much longer.”Meanwhile, the US Senate on Thursday took a major step toward passing a resolution to rein in military actions against Venezuela. The Democratic-led legislation, expected to pass a vote next week, reflects widespread disquiet among lawmakers over Saturday’s secretive capture of Maduro, conducted without their express approval.
It is expected to face resistance in the Republican-dominated House, however.
- Millions of barrels of crude -
Oil has emerged as the key to US control over Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven reserves. Trump announced a plan earlier this week for the United States to sell between 30 million and 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, with Caracas then using the money to buy US-made products. Delcy Rodriguez on Wednesday called the US attack to depose Maduro, who was taken to New York with his wife to face trial on drugs charges, a “stain” on relations with the United States.But she also defended the planned oil sales to Washington. On the streets of Caracas, opinions remain mixed about the plan. “I feel we’ll have more opportunities if the oil is in the hands of the United States than in the hands of the government,” said Jose Antonio Blanco, 26. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump, who will meet oil executives on Friday, is also considering a plan for the US to exert control over Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA. Trump has warned Rodriguez she will pay “a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she does not comply with his agenda.“Her power comes from Washington, not from the internal structure. If Trump decides she’s no longer useful, she’ll go like Maduro,” Venezuela’s former information minister Andres Izarra told AFP in an email.

Trump wants to own Venezuela’s oil, but its largest oil customer is speeding toward clean energy
Ella Nilsen, CNN/January 8, 2026
President Donald Trump wants the US to sell Venezuela’s oil. But who would buy it? China has long been one of Venezuela’s biggest customers for oil. But its hunger for that oil is waning, as the country pulls off a stunningly fast transition to electric vehicles. That transition means China’s oil imports likely won’t be seriously disrupted by the recent US military operation in Venezuela and Trump’s push for American companies to revitalize the oil infrastructure there, experts told CNN. China will probably be able to procure the oil it needs from Russia or Iran. But there’s little doubt on the long-term trajectory of China’s oil demand: Analysts say it will trend downward. Many have projected the country has either already reached ‘peak oil’ or will very soon. As CNN has reported, the Trump administration has told Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez the country must cut ties with China, Iran, Russia and Cuba, and agree to partner exclusively with the US on oil production. On Wednesday, Trump administration officials said the US would sell Venezuela’s oil. In a statement to CNN, the Chinese foreign ministry called the business relationship between China and Venezuela “legitimate and in line with the interests of both sides.” The two countries’ cooperation “is unrelated to any third party, nor is it subject to third-party interference,” China’s foreign ministry added. China’s oil diet matters. As the world’s biggest oil importer, what happens here has ripple effects across the global oil market.
Energy experts say this trend shows how sharply the US and China are diverging on the energy transition, with China sprinting far ahead on renewables and EVs, while the US doubles down on drilling oil at home and abroad. Much of this has been driven by the transformation of China’s transportation sector from gas-powered vehicles to electric. China owns the EV market; of the 18.5 million electric vehicles sold globally last year, more than 11 million were sold in China, according to UK research firm Rho Motion. “This is just very decisive; it’s not going to go back,” said Li Shuo, director of the China climate hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Compared to the start and stop rollout of electric vehicle policy in the US, EVs have become firmly entrenched in China. And with the domestic market increasingly saturated with EVs, Chinese companies are looking to sell their cars elsewhere around the globe. Chinese company BYD — which recently upended Tesla as the world’s largest seller of EVs — exported a record number around the world this year, Rho Motion data shows. “We are now seeing the China EV story being replicated in other parts of the world, and very interestingly, more so in the global south than the US and European countries,” Shuo said. While oil demand from the country’s transportation sector has already peaked, other sectors including petrochemicals and jet fuel are projected to keep rising. About 400,000-500,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan oil flow to China, according to Janiv Shah, a vice president of commodity market research at Norwegian energy firm Rystad. Venezuela accounts for a small percentage of China’s overall oil imports.
“Any US intervention could force this number to drop dramatically as we see this move as a symbolic strike against China on the world scale,” Shah wrote in an email. But Shah added China will still have access to oil supplies from other countries. “Chinese refiners would likely pivot to other discounted sanctioned barrels from Iran and Russia.”In other words, Venezuela needs China’s business more than China needs Venezuela, Shuo said. “Venezuela is very much reliant on China as a market, there is no question about that,” he said.And in the long-term, the US intervention in Venezuela could only reinforce China’s pursuit of energy independence — attempting to produce more of its own energy at home and break reliance on foreign sources of energy that can be disrupted. As CNN reported last year, China was building 510 gigawatts of utility-scale solar and wind capacity, according to Global Energy Monitor, an addition to the eye-popping 1,400 gigawatts already online. China committed to building even more in September, vowing to increase deployed wind and solar to 3,600 gigawatts — six times as much as it had in 2020. The country is also building nuclear power plants and pursuing an aggressive program to get fusion energy up and running — a near-limitless source of clean energy. China is racing toward the energy of the future, while the US incursion into Venezuela to pursue its oil demonstrates it is stuck in the energy of the past, Shuo said. “The largest economy in the world is embracing a petrostate approach,” Shuo said. “It just reinforces this notion that the United States is increasingly going backward on the energy transition and on top of that, is very willing and able to deploy military forces to achieve that goal.”This story has been updated with additional information.

Aidarous al-Zubaidi fled to Abu Dhabi under UAE supervision: Coalition
Al Arabiya English/08 January/2026
The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally-recognized government said that Aidarus al-Zubaidi, head of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), fled Aden for Somaliland. In a statement obtained by Al Arabiya, the coalition said al-Zubaidi fled by sea after midnight on January 7 before traveling onward to Abu Dhabi under Emirati supervision. Al-Zubaidi departed from the port of Aden aboard a maritime vessel that sailed toward Somaliland in Somalia, according to the coalition. The vessel disabled its identification system during the journey and arrived at the port of Berbera at around midday, the coalition added. Upon arrival in Somaliland, al-Zubaidi contacted an officer known as Abu Saeed, who was later identified as Major General Awad Saeed al-Ahbabi, commander of the UAE Joint Operations. The coalition added that an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft was already positioned to receive al-Zubaidi and those accompanying him. According to the coalition, the aircraft departed without declaring its destination after al-Zubaidi boarded, under the supervision of Emirati officers. Al Arabiya said it obtained an audio recording attributed to al-Zubaidi following his arrival in Somalia, in which he is heard communicating with Major General al-Ahbabi. Based on the information available, the coalition said al-Zubaidi later traveled from Somaliland to Mogadishu before continuing to Abu Dhabi. The coalition said intelligence findings showed that the vessel used in the escape, identified as BAMEDHAF, departed Aden shortly after midnight on January 7 and sailed toward Somaliland. The ship reportedly turned off its transponder before reaching Berbera in Somaliland. According to the coalition, the aircraft later landed at Mogadishu International Airport at approximately 3:15 p.m., remained on the ground for about an hour, and then departed toward the Arabian Gulf. The coalition said the aircraft’s transponder was switched off over the Gulf of Oman and reactivated shortly before landing at al-Rif Air Base in Abu Dhabi at 8:47 p.m. Saudi time. The coalition said the aircraft involved is typically used on routes linked to conflict zones, including Libya, Ethiopia and Somalia. It also said a review of the BAMEDHAF vessel’s registration showed it was flying the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis, which the same flag used by another vessel previously cited by the coalition as having transported combat vehicles and weapons from the port of Fujairah to Mukalla. The coalition said investigations are ongoing into the fate of several individuals believed to have been among the last to meet al-Zubaidi before his departure from Aden, including former Aden governor Ahmed Hamed Lamlas and Mohsen al-Wali, commander of the Security Belt Forces in Aden, with whom contact has reportedly been lost.

Yemen’s defense minister relieved of his post: Presidential decree
Al Arabiya English/08 January/2026
Yemen’s Minister of Defense Mohsen Mohammed al-Daari, has been relieved of his post and referred to retirement, according to a presidential decree issued on Thursday.

Saudi-backed forces move to capture key Yemeni city as crisis with UAE deepens
Mostafa Salem, CNN/January 8, 2026
Saudi-backed forces moved to capture a key southern Yemeni city on Thursday after Riyadh accused the UAE of helping a separatist leader flee.Citing “reliable intelligence,” the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said the leader of Yemen’s UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), Aidarous al-Zubaidi, left the country by boat “in the dead of night” for Somaliland, before boarding an aircraft to Mogadishu, which later transported him to a military airport in Abu Dhabi. The interior ministry of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government said in a statement that government-allied National Shield Forces (NSF) had “secured” the southern city of Aden and its security situation was “under control.” The NSF posted a video on social media showing a large convoy of military vehicles mobilizing to “secure several provinces” in the south that had been captured by the STC and allied militias. CNN cannot independently verify the claims.
Aden had been the seat of Yemen’s government since the Iran-backed Houthi movement took over the capital Sana’a in 2014, prompting a military intervention by Saudi Arabia and the UAE a year later. Last month, government officials stationed there fled to Riyadh when the southern forces, led by Al Zubaidi, launched a military offensive to take over the area last month. Over the past decade, UAE and Saudi agendas in the country diverged, leading them to support rival factions. In particular, the UAE’s backing of southern separatists was at odds with Saudi Arabia’s support for a unified and stable Yemen at its border. The UAE pulled most of its troops from Yemen in 2019, but a small contingent of what it called counter terrorism forces remained. The advance of STC forces across key southern Yemeni provinces early December infuriated Riyadh and triggered an unprecedented public dispute with its Emirati neighbor, culminating in Saudi airstrikes on UAE shipments and a call by the Yemeni government for the remaining UAE forces to leave the country in 24 hours, which Saudi Arabia endorsed. Following the UAE’s withdrawal, Yemeni government forces, with Saudi air support, launched a counteroffensive that pushed the separatists to their former stronghold in Aden. Under intense military pressure, the STC’s leadership agreed to hold talks in Riyadh aimed at de-escalating the conflict. The Saudi-led coalition said Wednesday that al-Zubaidi was expected to accompany the STC delegation, but instead mobilized “a large military force” to create “chaos and unrest”.Following the statement, Yemen’s internationally recognized government accused al-Zubaidi of “high treason” for “inciting internal strife”. An STC foreign affairs official, Amr Al-Bidh, said in a briefing on Tuesday that the delegation of more than fifty STC officials had been incommunicado since arriving in Riyadh. A photo posted on X by the Saudi ambassador to Yemen on Wednesday showed him meeting with the officials in the capital. “The message (from Saudi Arabia) was either you come, or you are an enemy, and that is your last chance,” Al-Bidh said.

Russia bombards Kyiv as Ukraine issues countrywide alert
AFP/January 09, 2026
KYIV, Ukraine: Russian strikes on Ukraine’s capital and its suburbs killed at least three people, Kyiv’s mayor said Friday as the air force issued a countrywide missile warning. “Three people died in the capital. Six people were wounded. Three of them were hospitalized,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on Telegram.Regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk urged people to stay in shelters until the air raid sirens lifted. Ukraine’s air force warned “all of Ukraine is under a missile threat” after confirming Russian bombers were airborne. In the western city of Lviv, the mayor said “critical infrastructure” was hit. “All relevant services are working on the site, the fire is being extinguished,” Mayor Andriy Sadovy said. The latest barrage comes after the US Embassy in Kyiv warned Thursday that a “potentially significant air attack” could occur at any time within the next several days. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had echoed the rare warning in his evening address. Hours before the attack, Moscow had slammed a post-war plan for European peacekeepers to be deployed to Ukraine and branded Kyiv and its allies an “axis of war.”European leaders and US envoys have been engaged in a flurry of diplomacy seeking to finalize a plan to end the almost four-year-long conflict. In its latest iteration, the proposal’s post-war guarantees for Ukraine include a US-led monitoring mechanism and a European multinational force to be deployed once the fighting stops.Zelensky said Thursday that an agreement was “essentially ready for finalization at the highest level with the President of the United States” following talks between envoys in Paris this week.Specific details, including about the size of the force and how it would engage, have not been made public.

Zelenskyy says US security guarantees document set to be finalized with Trump
Reuters, Kyiv/08 January/2026
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday the text of ‍a bilateral security guarantee between Kyiv and Washington was “essentially ready” to be finalized with US President Donald Trump. As a ‍cornerstone of any post-war settlement, Ukraine has sought strong guarantees which commit the US and other Western allies to come to Ukraine’s aid if Russia invades again. Ukrainian and US envoys, joined by a coalition of Ukraine’s allies, have been negotiating in Paris this week to iron out remaining disagreements in a ⁠peace framework Washington is seeking to thrash out with Kyiv before presenting it to Russia. On Tuesday, the US endorsed the idea of providing security guarantees for Ukraine for the first time. “The bilateral document on security guarantees for Ukraine is now essentially ready for finalization at the highest level with the president (Trump),” Zelenskyy said in a post on X. He said Wednesday’s meetings of Ukrainian and US representatives in Paris addressed “complex issues” from the framework under discussion to end the nearly four-year war, and that Kyiv had ‍presented its solutions for these. The Ukrainian president called for more pressure on Russia after further Russian missile attacks on energy ‍infrastructure on Wednesday, arguing that ‍the credibility of future security guarantees ⁠must be demonstrated by a response at this ‌stage. Under Trump, Washington has shifted ⁠its position from an outright supporter ‍of Kyiv to a broker leaning on both sides to agree a peace, and will try to get Moscow ⁠to sign up to the deal it negotiates with Ukraine. Zelenskyy has said that while the framework is 90 percent agreed, thorny ‌issues remain around control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as well as Russian demands on Kyiv to cede a strategically significant slice of territory in eastern Ukraine that Moscow has been unable to capture in almost four years of war. “We understand that the American side will engage with Russia, and we ‍expect feedback on whether the aggressor is genuinely willing to end the war,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. He said the teams also discussed documents dealing with Ukraine’s post-war recovery and economic development. The World Bank last year estimated the cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery at $524 billion, while the Trump administration has sought to leverage economic benefits and privileged post-war access for ‌the US in Ukraine.

Macron accuses US of ‘turning away’ from allies
AFP/08 January/2026
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the United States was “breaking free from international rules” and “gradually turning away” from some of its allies. “Multilateral institutions are functioning less and less effectively,” Macron said in his annual speech to French ambassadors. “We are living in a world of great powers with a real temptation to divide up the world.”

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 08-09/2026
Recurring protest movements in Iran and their roots
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya English/08 January/2026
Once again, protests have erupted across Iran, reminding both the government and the outside world that the country’s underlying problems have never been resolved – only postponed, suppressed, and allowed to deepen. Over the past decade, Iran has experienced repeated waves of unrest, each triggered by different immediate causes but rooted in the same structural failures. Some of these protests were explicitly political, such as the 2009 Green Movement that followed disputed presidential election results and questioned the legitimacy of the system itself. Others were driven primarily by rights – based grievances, most notably the protests following the killing of Mahsa Amini, which centered on women’s rights, personal freedoms, and state violence. The current round of protests, however, is distinct in one important way: It is primarily economic in origin, even though it inevitably intersects with political and social issues. Economic distress has reached such an acute level that it now affects nearly every household, every shopkeeper, and every worker, regardless of ideology. While demands for rights and political change are present – as they always are in Iran – this wave began with something far more basic: People can no longer afford to live.
A decade of recurrent unrest
Iran’s protests do not appear suddenly or randomly. They arrive in cycles, each one appear more intense than the last, reflecting accumulated grievances rather than isolated incidents. Over the past ten years, Iranians have repeatedly taken to the streets in response to worsening living conditions, corruption, repression, and economic mismanagement. Each cycle reveals the same pattern: temporary crackdowns, short – lived promises of reform, and then a return to the status quo. What distinguishes today’s protests is the breadth of participation. Economic pain cuts across social classes. It is not limited to students, activists, or political dissidents; it includes shopkeepers, truck drivers, factory workers, teachers, pensioners, and even segments of the traditional merchant class that historically formed a pillar of government stability. When protests reach this level of social penetration, they signal something deeper than episodic anger – they signal a system under strain.
The currency collapse: The rial’s long decline
At the heart of Iran’s economic crisis lies the steady collapse of its national currency. The Iranian rial has been weakening for years, but the pace of decline in recent years has been devastating. A currency is not merely a medium of exchange; it represents trust – trust in a government’s economic management, fiscal discipline, and political stability. When a currency collapses, it reflects a collapse of confidence. Over the past few years, the rial has lost a staggering portion of its value against the US dollar. What once required a few hundred thousand rials now requires well over a million. This is not a technical issue confined to financial markets – it is a daily reality that affects every purchase, every salary, and every business decision. The collapse of the rial means that imported goods, raw materials, spare parts, medicine, and even basic food items become prohibitively expensive.
For shopkeepers and small business owners, this is catastrophic. Many depend on imported goods or imported components. Each drop in the rial’s value raises their costs overnight. Prices must be changed constantly, sometimes daily, making normal business planning impossible. Profit margins evaporate, debts accumulate, and closures become inevitable. It is no coincidence that shopkeepers were among the first to protest; they are often the first to feel economic collapse in real time.
The human meaning of currency devaluation
Currency collapse translates directly into the erosion of purchasing power – the ability of ordinary people to buy the goods they need to survive. Purchasing power is not an abstract economic concept; it determines whether a family can afford bread, rice, meat, medicine, heating fuel, or school supplies for their children. As the rial loses value, wages fail to keep pace. Salaries are paid in rials, but prices increasingly reflect dollar – based costs. This gap widens relentlessly. A paycheck that once covered a month’s expenses now lasts a week or less. Families cut back on protein, delay medical treatment, and reduce heating or cooling to save money. Over time, these coping mechanisms become normalized, creating a sense of permanent scarcity. This is why images and slogans about empty refrigerators resonate so deeply. They symbolize not only hunger, but dignity lost. When people can no longer provide basic necessities for their families despite working full – time, frustration turns into anger, and anger eventually spills into the streets.
Inflation: A daily shock to survival
Closely linked to currency collapse is Iran’s chronic and extreme inflation. In stable economies, inflation is gradual and predictable. In Iran, inflation is sudden, volatile, and relentless. Prices rise not annually, but monthly, weekly, and sometimes daily. People wake up to find that the cost of food, transportation, or rent has increased overnight. Inflation at levels exceeding 40 or 50 percent fundamentally alters social behavior. Long – term planning becomes meaningless. Saving money makes no sense when its value evaporates. People rush to convert cash into goods, foreign currency, or anything tangible, further fueling price increases. This creates a vicious cycle in which inflation feeds on itself. Ordinary people describe a sense of permanent anxiety: nothing is stable, nothing is reliable. Even basic budgeting becomes impossible. This psychological toll is as significant as the economic one. When people feel constantly ambushed by price hikes, trust in institutions collapses, and social cohesion erodes.
Unemployment and a lost generation
Iran’s economic crisis is especially devastating because it coincides with a large and relatively young population. Youth unemployment remains persistently high, and even those who find work often face insecure, low – paying jobs with no prospects for advancement. Unlike some regional states that invested heavily in infrastructure, construction, and diversification to absorb young workers, Iran has failed to create sufficient employment opportunities. There is no clear national economic vision capable of mobilizing society around growth and opportunity. Instead, young Iranians face years of education followed by underemployment or joblessness. This gap between expectations and reality breeds resentment and disillusionment. The consequences are profound. Young adults delay marriage, postpone having children, and abandon hopes of home ownership. Many see emigration as the only viable path forward. Those who remain feel trapped in a system that offers sacrifice without reward.
Housing, wages, and the collapse of the middle class
One of the clearest indicators of Iran’s economic breakdown is the relationship between wages and housing costs. For many Iranians, owning a home is no longer a realistic goal. Even renting consumes an overwhelming portion of monthly income. In some cases, rent alone absorbs half or more of a worker’s salary, leaving little for food, transportation, or healthcare. This imbalance destroys the middle class – the backbone of any stable society. When educated professionals cannot afford housing or savings, downward mobility becomes the norm. The sense of decline is deeply destabilizing, especially in a society where education was once seen as a pathway to security.
Why the bazaar matters
Historically, Iran’s bazaar merchants played a crucial role in social stability and even in the 1979 revolution. When the bazaar shuts down in protest, it signals a severe crisis. Shop closures are not merely economic actions; they are political statements born of desperation. The participation of merchants in protests underscores how far the crisis has spread. These are not radical activists by nature. They protest when the economic system itself becomes unworkable – when survival is threatened.
Beyond economics: Rights and political discontent
While economics lit the fuse, broader grievances quickly followed. Protesters demanding relief from inflation and unemployment often find themselves confronting deeper questions about governance, accountability, and freedom. Economic collapse exposes political failure. When people see resources diverted, corruption unpunished, and repression prioritized over reform, economic anger becomes political anger. Thus, alongside economic slogans, calls for greater rights and systemic change emerge. This convergence makes each protest wave more dangerous for the government than the last. In conclusion, Iran’s protests are not anomalies. They are symptoms of unresolved structural crises. As long as the currency continues to collapse, inflation erodes livelihoods, unemployment remains high, and political grievances go unaddressed, unrest will keep resurfacing. Force and repression may silence the streets temporarily, but it cannot refill empty refrigerators, create jobs, or restore purchasing power. Without meaningful economic reform and political accountability, Iran’s cycles of protest will not end – they will only return with greater intensity, broader participation, and deeper consequences.

Is this a paradigm shift?
Charles Elias Chartouni/This Is Beirut/January 08/2026
Is the police operation that took place in Venezuela a historic contingency or is it a paradigm shift challenging the rules of the international game? Are we facing a groundbreaking event or an episode among so many in international life? We are far from the assumption of a mutation to an unprecedented character; on the other hand, we are at a turning point likely to change the course of the international scene, with unforeseen consequences. We are undoubtedly at the dawn of geostrategic reconfigurations, a redefinition of transatlantic and pan-American relations, and a return of a form of cold war on new fronts and with new actors.The cryptopolice nature of the operation is a continuum where strategic considerations are closely intertwined with the issues of organized crime and their implications on the restructuring of political and security spheres. Thus, the evocation of a violation of international law against Venezuela is a caricature of the rule of law and international civility that should result. Now we are facing a predatory state that ticks, without turning, all the boxes of illegality.
This is a drug-trafficking, terrorist state and resolutely engaged in a policy of subversion to variable geometry, which inevitably puts us in front of scenarios of openly assumed belligerence. We are facing a casus belli susceptible to multiple modulations: endemic civil war, organized crime, state terrorism and networks of partnerships woven throughout the two decades of Chavism and its avatars.
How to evoke national sovereignty in a country deliberately delivered to drug cartels, starting with the Los Soles cartel, established and led by the Venezuelan army and its partners? This is illustrated by the case of the "Aragua Train", the partnerships with Colombian FARC, the cross-country networks of Pan-American crime piloted by former vice president Tarek El Aissami and his family clan, as well as the particularly complex case of Hezbollah and its Latin American web. In addition to this, there are proven violations of national sovereignty for the benefit of Chinese economic imperialism, the power policy of a looming Russia and an Iran on the verge of disintegration.
On the other hand, the Venezuelan people suffer all the actions of a murderous dictatorship built on the basis of a policy of systematic expropriation, barbaric repression, looting of resources and a disastrous governance that led to the destruction of the systemic balances of a modern country, once with a dynamic middle class and entrepreneurship well structured. In addition to this, a policy of terror embodied by paramilitary squads (colectivos).
Talking about the violation of national sovereignty is not only an abuse of language specific to a certain ideological left, but above all a distortion of realities in the service of doctrinal constructions and mystification companies seeking to justify murderous dystopias. María Corina Machado spoke widely on these issues, summarized the day after the spectacular operation that led to the abduction of the mafia dictator in place. It is imperative to dispel equivocies, both conceptual and linguistic, if we want to hope for a happy epilogue allowing the Venezuelan people to put an end to miseries that have only lasted too long. It’s not a coincidence that nearly eight million Venezuelans have left their country after a decade of suffering and despair, marked by famine and terror.
On his part, the American approach has a double perspective: that of a large-scale police operation reminiscent of Manuel Noriega's 1989 scenario, and that of a new geostrategic horizon in which it is entering. The criminal scheme characteristic of the Venezuelan regime refers to the unimaginable strategies on which these cryptocommunist left regimes rely on in their quest for survival, even though their ideological narrative and governance are totally discredited: nothing remains.
The American intervention, with all its alias, is based on a double premise: that of the strategic imperatives formulated in 1823 by the Monroe Doctrine, in which the United States cannot, under any report, tolerate incursions that endanger its strategic security; and that of the Venezuelan case, where the The convergence of a triple threat between Sino-Russian and Iran, associated with organized crime, constitutes a border situation in which security thresholds have been severely subverted. The incursion is thus imposed as a major strategic and security imperative, doubled by humanitarian considerations dictated by the disasters inherited by the Chavist regime. The change of regime appears then as a prelude to any strategic sanctification strategy.
Searching for accommodation with the diet in place involves feasibility calculations in view of a successful transition. The regime's response is, in its part, the dilatory maneuver and the policy of dodging, in order to avoid the blows of an American administration engaged in action and in anticipation of possible changes that could change the game in its favor. The American administration is thus obliged to renew with the way of an internal regulation ending the regime in place and opening, de facto, the way to structural reforms made indispensable by the state of widespread collapse.
Governance exercised through a proconsular authority would have a strong chance of success, provided it remains short-term. In this case, this approach could be highly beneficial and have a regional training effect. The spectacular reversals of a supposedly isolationist and folded American policy on its borders herald premonitory geopolitical mutations, already unfolding in the Northern Hemisphere, Greenland and across Europe, where transatlantic security issues are being subjected to profoundly redefinitions that premices do not what to begin with.

S’agit-il d’un changement de paradigme ?
Charles Elias Chartouni/This Is Beirut/January 08/2026
L’opération policière qui s’est déroulée au Venezuela relève-t-elle de la contingence historique ou s’agit-il d’un changement de paradigme remettant en cause les règles du jeu international ? Sommes-nous face à un événement novateur ou à un épisode parmi tant d’autres de la vie internationale ? Nous sommes loin de l’hypothèse d’une mutation au caractère inédit ; en revanche, nous nous trouvons à un tournant susceptible d’infléchir le cours de la scène internationale, avec des conséquences imprévisibles. Nous sommes sans doute à l’aube de reconfigurations géostratégiques, d’une redéfinition des relations transatlantiques et panaméricaines, ainsi que du retour d’une forme de guerre froide sur de nouveaux fronts et avec de nouveaux acteurs.
Le caractère cryptopolicier de l’opération s’inscrit dans un continuum où les considérations stratégiques sont étroitement imbriquées avec les enjeux du crime organisé et leurs incidences sur la restructuration des champs politiques et sécuritaires. Dès lors, l’évocation d’une violation du droit international à l’endroit du Venezuela relève de la caricature de l’État de droit et de la civilité internationale qui devraient en découler. Or nous sommes face à un État prédateur qui coche, sans détour, toutes les cases de l’illégalité.
Il s’agit d’un État narcotrafiquant, terroriste et résolument engagé dans une politique de subversion à géométrie variable, ce qui nous place inévitablement devant des scénarios de belligérance ouvertement assumée. Nous sommes confrontés à un casus belli susceptible de multiples modulations : guerre civile endémique, criminalité organisée, terrorisme d’État et réseaux de partenariats tissés tout au long des deux décennies du chavisme et de ses avatars.
Comment évoquer une souveraineté nationale dans un pays délibérément livré aux cartels de la drogue, à commencer par le cartel des Los Soles, mis en place et dirigé par l’armée vénézuélienne et ses partenaires ? Cela est illustré par le cas du « Tren de Aragua », les partenariats avec les FARC colombiennes, les réseaux transversaux de la criminalité panaméricaine pilotés par l’ancien vice-président Tarek El Aissami et son clan familial, ainsi que par le cas particulièrement complexe du Hezbollah et de sa toile latino-américaine. À cela s’ajoutent des violations avérées de la souveraineté nationale au profit de l’impérialisme économique chinois, de la politique de puissance d’une Russie aux abois et d’un Iran en voie de désintégration.
Par ailleurs, le peuple vénézuélien subit l’ensemble des exactions d’une dictature meurtrière édifiée au gré d’une politique d’expropriation systématique, de répression sauvage, de pillage des ressources et d’une gouvernance désastreuse ayant conduit à la destruction des équilibres systémiques d’un pays moderne, autrefois doté d’une classe moyenne dynamique et d’un entrepreneuriat solidement structuré. À cela s’ajoute une politique de terreur incarnée par les escadrons paramilitaires (colectivos).
Parler de violation de la souveraineté nationale relève non seulement d’un abus de langage propre à une certaine gauche idéologique, mais surtout d’une distorsion des réalités au service de constructions doctrinales et d’entreprises de mystification cherchant à justifier des dystopies meurtrières. María Corina Machado s’est largement exprimée sur ces enjeux, récapitulés au lendemain de l’opération spectaculaire ayant conduit à l’enlèvement du dictateur mafieux en place. Il est impératif de dissiper les équivoques, tant conceptuelles que linguistiques, si l’on veut espérer un épilogue heureux permettant au peuple vénézuélien de mettre fin à des malheurs qui n’ont que trop duré. Ce n’est pas un hasard si près de huit millions de Vénézuéliens ont quitté leur pays au terme d’une décennie de souffrances et de désespoir, marquée par la famine et la terreur.
De son côté, la démarche américaine s’inscrit dans une double perspective : celle d’une opération policière de grande envergure rappelant le scénario Manuel Noriega de 1989, et celle d’un nouvel horizon géostratégique dans lequel elle s’insère. Le schéma criminel caractéristique du régime vénézuélien renvoie aux impondérables stratégiques sur lesquels s’appuient ces régimes de la gauche cryptocommuniste dans leur quête de survie, alors même que leur récit idéologique et leur gouvernance sont totalement discrédités : plus rien ne subsiste.
L’intervention américaine, avec l’ensemble de ses aléas, repose sur une double prémisse : celle des impératifs stratégiques formulés dès 1823 par la doctrine Monroe, selon laquelle les États-Unis ne peuvent, sous aucun rapport, tolérer des incursions mettant en péril leur sécurité stratégique ; et celle du cas vénézuélien, où la convergence d’une triple menace sino-russe et iranienne, associée à la criminalité organisée, constitue une situation-limite dans laquelle les seuils sécuritaires ont été gravement subvertis. L’incursion s’impose ainsi comme un impératif stratégique et sécuritaire majeur, doublé de considérations humanitaires dictées par les désastres hérités du régime chaviste. Le changement de régime apparaît dès lors comme le prélude à toute stratégie de sanctuarisation stratégique.
La recherche d’un accommodement avec le régime en place procède de calculs de faisabilité en vue d’une transition réussie. La réponse du régime relève, quant à elle, de la manœuvre dilatoire et de la politique d’esquive, dans le but d’éviter les coups de boutoir d’une administration américaine engagée dans l’action et dans l’attente d’éventuels changements susceptibles de modifier la donne en sa faveur. L’administration américaine est ainsi sommée de renouer avec la voie d’un règlement interne mettant fin au régime en place et ouvrant, de facto, la voie aux réformes structurelles rendues indispensables par l’état d’effondrement généralisé.
Une gouvernance exercée par le biais d’une autorité proconsulaire aurait de fortes chances de réussir, pourvu qu’elle demeure de courte durée. Dans ce cas, cette démarche pourrait s’avérer hautement bénéfique et produire des effets d’entraînement à l’échelle régionale. Les retournements spectaculaires d’une politique américaine prétendument isolationniste et repliée sur ses frontières annoncent des mutations géopolitiques prémonitoires, qui se déploient déjà dans l’hémisphère nord, au Groenland et à travers l’ensemble de l’Europe, où les enjeux de la sécurité transatlantique font l’objet de redéfinitions profondes dont les prémices ne font que commencer.

The Iranian People Will Not Be Silenced
Ahmed Charai/Jerusalem Strategic Tribute/January 2026
What is happening today in Iran demands support.
As publisher of The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, I place this platform at the disposal of Iranian voices, safely and anonymously. Those who wish to speak will be protected. No names. No faces. No identifiable voices. Only truth, presented with care and seriousness. The world must hear what daily life has become for ordinary Iranians, through lived reality. The men and women filling the streets do not appear to be driven by ideology, factional struggle, or abstract political ambition. They are reacting to a collapse of daily life, when wages lose meaning, food and rent consume everything, and illness can become a financial death sentence. Then protest ceases to be a political act and becomes survival. The regime responds with bullets, mass arrests, and executions. Authoritarian systems fear social and economic protest more than organized opposition. Such movements have no leaders to imprison, no ideology to discredit, no structure to dismantle. They spread across families, hospitals, universities, and neighborhoods. They expose failure. A government that kills citizens demanding bread and medicine is not strong. It is afraid. The collapse of Iran’s healthcare system illustrates this fear with brutal clarity. Hospitals lack essential medicines. Doctors are leaving the country. Families are forced to choose between treatment and poverty. When a state can no longer protect its people in moments of vulnerability, it forfeits its claim to legitimacy. The Iranian authorities understand this. That is why they repress and kill.
The Iranian people are not asking the world to fight their battles. They are asking whether the international community still recognizes the difference between a regime and its society; they hope for accountability. President Donald Trump, for one, has responded and publicly warned the continued killing of civilians carries consequences. Such statements matter. To the men and women protesting inside Iran, I say this: your courage is not invisible. You are demanding dignity. You are asking to live. Tyranny survives on silence and isolation. Your insistence on being seen, even at great personal risk, is already an act of resistance. Your voices will not disappear into indifference. They will reach policymakers and decision-makers in the United States and beyond. They will be heard not as provocation, but as documentation. Not as accusation, but as testimony.
Iran’s future will be shaped by Iranians themselves. But the world will be judged by how it responds. History does not ask whether speaking out was comfortable. It asks whether silence was convenient.
*Ahmed Charai
Publisher
Ahmed Charai is the Chairman and CEO of World Herald Tribune, Inc., and the publisher of the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, TV Abraham, and Radio Abraham. He serves on the boards of several prominent institutions, including the Atlantic Council, the Center for the National Interest, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and the International Crisis Group. He is also an International Councilor and a member of the Advisory Board at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Prospects for Syria-Israel Relations
David Schenker/Jerusalem Strategic Tribute/January 2026
https://jstribune.com/prospects-for-syria-israel-relations/
Prospects for more normal if not formally peaceful relations between Syria and Israel were diminishing in recent months. Thus it was positive that Syrian and Israeli officials met in Paris on January 5-6 to discuss security arrangements.
These talks were mediated by US officials. President Trump says he wants Israel to “get along” with Syria. But reconciling Israel’s security requirements post-October 7 with Syria’s sovereignty post-Asad regime remains a challenge.
President Trump prides himself on his closeness with Israel. But in early December, he criticized Israeli military operations in southern Syria. After an Israeli raid on November 28 killed 13 Syrians, the President warned Israel in a Truth Social post to refrain from activities that could “interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State.” This wasn’t the first time President Trump and his administration have critiqued Israel’s military operations in Syria. In July, after the Israeli Air Force bombed Syria’s Ministry of Defense and a target next to the presidential palace, senior administration officials accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of having an “itchy” trigger finger. “He bombs everything all the time,” one White House official complained. “This could undermine what Trump is trying to do.”
In Syria, Rhetorical Change Towards Israel
Trump isn’t the only one frustrated with Israel’s attacks inside Syria. Lately, Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Shara’a, has also made his displeasure public. During an early December interview at the Doha Forum, he accused Israel of engaging “in a fight against ghosts.” Since taking power, al-Shara’a claimed, he had sent Israel messages of peace and stability. But instead of embracing the new Syria, “Israel has met us with extreme violence” conducting more than 1,000 airstrikes, staging some 400 incursions, and occupying swaths of Syrian territory adjacent to the Golan border.
To be sure, the Doha Forum often inspires shrill language toward Israel. But al-Shara’a’s broadside represented a departure from his largely conciliatory posture toward Israel during his first year in power.
Syrian government agencies are increasingly echoing his harsher tone. In November, the Syrian Foreign Ministry publicly condemned Netanyahu’s visit to Israeli troops deployed in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria, formerly patrolled by UN peacekeeping units, as a “serious violation” of sovereignty, and an attempt to impose a “fait accompli” on the frontier. Meanwhile, Syrian state media now refer to Israel, as they used to do, as “the Zionist enemy.” This trajectory is not encouraging. For much of the past year, al-Shara’a and his regime sought to verbally reassure Israel that Damascus wasn’t interested in conflict. Weeks after coming to power, he stated that he had “no intention of confronting Israel” and pledged not to “let Syria be used as a launchpad for attacks” against neighboring states. The governor of Damascus offered a similar talking point: “Our problem is not with Israel,” he said, “We don’t want to meddle in anything that will threaten Israel’s security.” When asked about prospects for normalization with Israel, al-Shara’a was negative but not entirely dismissive. “We want peace with all parties,” he explained, but he highlighted “a great sensitivity regarding the Israeli matter” since the Israelis “have been occupying” the Golan Heights. So “it is too early to discuss.” Instead of normalization, al-Shara’a has been advocating an Israeli withdrawal from the buffer zone established by the 1974 UN-monitored Disengagement Agreement and other adjacent areas along with the Golan Heights border.
The new government in Damascus had engaged in regular exchanges with Israel. This past summer and fall, al-Shara’a repeatedly dispatched his foreign minister, Asad al-Shabiani, to conduct direct negotiations on security arrangements with Ron Dermer, Israel’s Strategic Affairs minister. More recently, Shaibani met in Paris with Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter as well as the designee to lead the Mossad.
Israeli Military Actions in Syria
At least some of Israel’s military operations in Syria since Asad’s fall in December 2024 seem justified. Israel’s decision to destroy Syrian weapons prevented these assets from falling into the hands of jihadists or other nonstate malefactors. Israel’s initial cross-border deployment prevented a security vacuum along the Golan frontier in the chaotic days following al-Shara’a’s rebellion,.
Israel’s most justified ongoing military operations in Syria aim to contain Turkey’s increasing influence in Syria. Israel is targeting Turkish anti-aircraft systems and missiles either deployed in, or provided to, Damascus.
Perhaps understandably, in the aftermath of October 7, Israel has adopted a more forward-leaning military posture. This approach appears to be working in Lebanon, where Israel smashed Hizbullah, continues to target its personnel and assets, and seems to be pressuring Beirut to disarm that dangerous, Iran-backed militia. The Israeli military intervention to protect Syria’s Druze community in summer 2025 appears to matter less for Israeli national security. Back in 2018, Netanyahu chose not to intercede when ISIS assaulted the Syrian Druze town of Suwayda, killing nearly 250 civilians. Last summer, however, Israel launched airstrikes against Syrian government forces after the same town once again came under attack by Sunni Arab militias affiliated with the Syrian regime. Israel is reportedly now arming Druze in the Suwayda province.
Israel’s Strategy is Unclear
Israel’s long-term strategy is hard to ascertain. Skepticism may be warranted about al-Shara’a, a former member of al-Qa’ida. But it’s not clear what Israel hopes to achieve with its kinetic approach. Israel has drawn a red line barring advanced Turkish systems in Syria. But efforts to forge a new border-security regime with Damascus haven’t yet borne fruit. Syria is a key element in a regional alliance to contain Iranian influence. The al-Shara’a regime routinely interdicts arms shipments sent by Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias intended for Hizbullah in Lebanon. Most recently, on December 17, Syria ambushed smugglers attempting to resupply Hizbullah with dozens of rocket-propelled grenades.
Israel may believe the tense status quo in Syria is sustainable. The Trump administration seems to disagree. US hopes for Israel-Syria normalization, and having Syria join the Abraham Accords, are premature, but Israel’s current posture also seems to preclude even a non-belligerency agreement.
Netanyahu may not realize it yet, but Trump, and his Arab partners in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, are invested in Syria’s success. Israel may have a free hand in Lebanon, but not indefinitely in Syria. Jerusalem’s approach is having an impact on regional perceptions. Arab states see Israel’s robust kinetic activity in Syria as destabilizing. This perception will not help advance Israel’s regional integration.
For Washington, the most pressing issue is the rising tensions between Israel and Turkey. US mediation will be required to negotiate ground rules to prevent Syria from becoming an arena of Turkish-Israeli conflict. The United States should also continue to increase engagement between Damascus and Jerusalem, to reach a modus vivendi along the Golan frontier. The short-term goal is to return Syria from being a hostile neighbor to Israel to becoming a more neutral one.
For Jerusalem, in the absence of Damascus’ agreement to Israeli demands for a demilitarized zone in south Syria, compromise may be required to reach an agreement with the new Syria.
*David Schenker/Mr. Schenker, the Taube Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, served as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, 2019-21.

Lebanese military moves to new phase of disarming non-state groups like Hezbollah
Kareem Chehayeb/AP/January 8, 2026
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's military said Thursday it had concluded the first phase of a plan to fully deploy across southern Lebanon and disarm non-state groups, notably Hezbollah. Israel said the development was encouraging but “far from sufficient," and its Foreign Ministry said the group still has dozens of compounds and other infrastructure. The effort to disarm Hezbollah comes after a Washington-brokered ceasefire ended a war between the group and Israel in 2024.
The military's statement, which did not name Hezbollah or any other armed groups, came before President Joseph Aoun met with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and his government to discuss the deployment and disarmament plans. Both said disarming non-state groups was a priority upon beginning their terms not long after the ceasefire went into effect.
Lebanon's top officials have endorsed the military announcement.
A statement by Aoun’s office ahead of the Cabinet meeting called on Israel to stop its attacks, withdraw from areas it occupies, and release Lebanese prisoners. He called on friendly countries not to send weapons to Lebanon unless it's to state institutions — an apparent reference to Iran which for decades has sent weapons and munitions to Hezbollah. Speaker Nabih Berri, a key ally of Hezbollah who played a leading role in ceasefire talks, issued a statement saying the people of southern Lebanon are “thirsty for the army's presence and protection."
Israel maintains that despite Lebanon’s efforts, Hezbollah is still attempting to rearm itself in southern Lebanon. “The ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States between Israel and Lebanon states clearly, Hezbollah must be fully disarmed," a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office read. “This is imperative for Israel’s security and Lebanon’s future.”
Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a later statement that the group is “rearming faster than it is being disarmed," and showed a map of alleged Hezbollah compounds, launch sites, and underground networks south of the Litani River.
The text of the ceasefire agreement is vague as to how Hezbollah’s weapons and military facilities north of the Litani River should be treated, saying Lebanese authorities should dismantle unauthorized facilities starting with the area south of the river. Hezbollah insists that the agreement only applies south of the Litani, while Israel maintains that it applies to the whole country. The Lebanese government has said it will eventually remove non-state weapons throughout the country.
The agreement is seen as a procedure to implement prior United Nations Security Council agreements that call for disarmament of non-state groups and the withdrawal of all occupying forces, and for the Lebanese state to have full control of its territory.
Information Minister Paul Morcos said after the Cabinet meeting that the army will start working on a plan for disarmament north of the Litani river that will be discussed by the government in February. He added that the army will also continue the process of weapons “containment” in other parts of Lebanon, meaning that they will not be allowed to be used or moved.
The Lebanese military has been clearing tunnels, rocket-launching positions, and other structures since its disarmament proposal was approved by the government and went into effect in September. The government had set a deadline of the end of 2025 to clear the area south of the Litani River of non-state weapons.“The army confirms that its plan to restrict weapons has entered an advanced stage, after achieving the goals of the first phase effectively and tangibly on the ground,” the military statement read. “Work in the sector is ongoing until the unexploded ordnance and tunnels are cleared ... with the aim of preventing armed groups from irreversibly rebuilding their capabilities.”
Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the Lebanese announcement.
Officials have said the next stage of the disarmament plan is in segments of southern Lebanon between the Litani and the Awali rivers, which include Lebanon’s port city of Sidon, but they have not set a timeline for that phase.
Fears of a new escalation
Israel continues to strike Lebanon near daily and occupies five strategic hilltop points along the border, the only areas south of the Litani where the military said it has yet to control. Regular meetings have taken place between the Lebanese and the Israelis alongside the United States, France, and the U.N. peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, to monitor developments after the ceasefire.
Lebanon’s cash-strapped military has since been gradually dispersing across wide areas of southern Lebanon between the Litani and the U.N.-demarcated “Blue Line” that separates the tiny country from Israel. The military has also been slowly confiscating weapons from armed Palestinian factions in refugee camps. Israel accuses Hezbollah of trying to rebuild its battered military capacity and has said that the Lebanese military’s efforts are not sufficient, raising fears of a new escalation. Lebanon, meanwhile, said Israel's strikes and control of the hilltops were an obstacle to the efforts. Lebanon also hopes that disarming Hezbollah and other non-state groups will help to bring in money needed for reconstruction after the 2024 war.
Hezbollah says it has been cooperative with the army in the south but will not discuss disarming elsewhere before Israel stops its strikes and withdraws from Lebanese territory. The latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict began the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza. The militant group Hezbollah, largely based in southern Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians. Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling. The low-level conflict escalated into full-scale war in September 2024. Israeli strikes killed much of Hezbollah's senior leadership and left the group severely weakened.
Hezbollah still has political clout, holding a large number of seats in parliament representing the Shiite Muslim community and two cabinet ministers.
*Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press

Prospects for Syria-Israel Relations
David Schenker/The Washington Institute/January 8, 2026
Prospects for more normal if not formally peaceful relations between Syria and Israel were diminishing in recent months. Thus it was positive that Syrian and Israeli officials met in Paris on January 5-6 to discuss security arrangements.
These talks were mediated by US officials. President Trump says he wants Israel to “get along” with Syria. But reconciling Israel’s security requirements post-October 7 with Syria’s sovereignty post-Asad regime remains a challenge.
President Trump prides himself on his closeness with Israel. But in early December, he criticized Israeli military operations in southern Syria. After an Israeli raid on November 28 killed 13 Syrians, the president warned Israel in a Truth Social post to refrain from activities that could “interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State.” This wasn’t the first time President Trump and his administration have critiqued Israel’s military operations in Syria. In July, after the Israeli Air Force bombed Syria’s Ministry of Defense and a target next to the presidential palace, senior administration officials accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of having an “itchy” trigger finger. “He bombs everything all the time,” one White House official complained. “This could undermine what Trump is trying to do.”
In Syria, Rhetorical Change Toward Israel
Trump isn’t the only one frustrated with Israel’s attacks inside Syria. Lately, Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Shara’a, has also made his displeasure public. During an early December interview at the Doha Forum, he accused Israel of engaging “in a fight against ghosts.” Since taking power, al-Shara’a claimed, he had sent Israel messages of peace and stability. But instead of embracing the new Syria, “Israel has met us with extreme violence,” conducting more than 1,000 airstrikes, staging some 400 incursions, and occupying swaths of Syrian territory adjacent to the Golan border.
To be sure, the Doha Forum often inspires shrill language toward Israel. But al-Shara’a’s broadside represented a departure from his largely conciliatory posture toward Israel during his first year in power.
Syrian government agencies are increasingly echoing his harsher tone. In November, the Syrian Foreign Ministry publicly condemned Netanyahu’s visit to Israeli troops deployed in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria, formerly patrolled by UN peacekeeping units, as a “serious violation” of sovereignty and an attempt to impose a “fait accompli” on the frontier. Meanwhile, Syrian state media now refer to Israel, as they used to do, as “the Zionist enemy.” This trajectory is not encouraging.
For much of the past year, al-Shara’a and his regime sought to verbally reassure Israel that Damascus wasn’t interested in conflict. Weeks after coming to power, he stated that he had “no intention of confronting Israel” and pledged not to “let Syria be used as a launchpad for attacks” against neighboring states. The governor of Damascus offered a similar talking point: “Our problem is not with Israel,” he said, “We don’t want to meddle in anything that will threaten Israel’s security.”
When asked about prospects for normalization with Israel, al-Shara’a was negative but not entirely dismissive. “We want peace with all parties,” he explained, but he highlighted “a great sensitivity regarding the Israeli matter” since the Israelis “have been occupying” the Golan Heights. So “it is too early to discuss.” Instead of normalization, al-Shara’a has been advocating an Israeli withdrawal from the buffer zone established by the 1974 UN-monitored Disengagement Agreement and other adjacent areas along with the Golan Heights border.
The new government in Damascus had engaged in regular exchanges with Israel. This past summer and fall, al-Shara’a repeatedly dispatched his foreign minister, Asad al-Shaibani, to conduct direct negotiations on security arrangements with Ron Dermer, Israel’s strategic affairs minister. More recently, Shaibani met in Paris with Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter as well as the designee to lead the Mossad.
Israeli Military Actions in Syria
At least some of Israel’s military operations in Syria since Asad’s fall in December 2024 seem justified. Israel’s decision to destroy Syrian weapons prevented these assets from falling into the hands of jihadists or other nonstate malefactors. Israel’s initial cross-border deployment prevented a security vacuum along the Golan frontier in the chaotic days following al-Shara’a’s rebellion.
Israel’s most justified ongoing military operations in Syria aim to contain Turkey’s increasing influence in Syria. Israel is targeting Turkish anti-aircraft systems and missiles either deployed in, or provided to, Damascus.
Perhaps understandably, in the aftermath of October 7, Israel has adopted a more forward-leaning military posture. This approach appears to be working in Lebanon, where Israel smashed Hizbullah, continues to target its personnel and assets, and seems to be pressuring Beirut to disarm that dangerous, Iran-backed militia.
The Israeli military intervention to protect Syria’s Druze community in summer 2025 appears to matter less for Israeli national security. Back in 2018, Netanyahu chose not to intercede when ISIS assaulted the Syrian Druze town of Suwayda, killing nearly 250 civilians. Last summer, however, Israel launched airstrikes against Syrian government forces after the same town once again came under attack by Sunni Arab militias affiliated with the Syrian regime. Israel is reportedly now arming Druze in the Suwayda province.
Israel’s Strategy Is Unclear
Israel’s long-term strategy is hard to ascertain. Skepticism may be warranted about al-Shara’a, a former member of al-Qa’ida. But it’s not clear what Israel hopes to achieve with its kinetic approach. Israel has drawn a red line barring advanced Turkish systems in Syria. But efforts to forge a new border-security regime with Damascus haven’t yet borne fruit. Syria is a key element in a regional alliance to contain Iranian influence. The al-Shara’a regime routinely interdicts arms shipments sent by Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias intended for Hizbullah in Lebanon. Most recently, on December 17, Syria ambushed smugglers attempting to resupply Hizbullah with dozens of rocket-propelled grenades. Israel may believe the tense status quo in Syria is sustainable. The Trump administration seems to disagree. US hopes for Israel-Syria normalization and having Syria join the Abraham Accords are premature, but Israel’s current posture also seems to preclude even a non-belligerency agreement.
Netanyahu may not realize it yet, but Trump and his Arab partners in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are invested in Syria’s success. Israel may have a free hand in Lebanon, but not indefinitely in Syria. Jerusalem’s approach is having an impact on regional perceptions. Arab states see Israel’s robust kinetic activity in Syria as destabilizing. This perception will not help advance Israel’s regional integration.
For Washington, the most pressing issue is the rising tensions between Israel and Turkey. US mediation will be required to negotiate ground rules to prevent Syria from becoming an arena of Turkish-Israeli conflict. The United States should also continue to increase engagement between Damascus and Jerusalem to reach a modus vivendi along the Golan frontier. The short-term goal is to return Syria from being a hostile neighbor to Israel to becoming a more neutral one. For Jerusalem, in the absence of Damascus’ agreement to Israeli demands for a demilitarized zone in south Syria, compromise may be required to reach an agreement with the new Syria.
*David Schenker is the Taube Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of its Rubin Program on Arab Politics. This article was originally published on the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune website.

Egyptian and Israeli flags along the Sinai border
David Schenker and Simon Henderson/The Washington Institute/January 8, 2026
On December 17, Israel announced the largest natural gas deal in its history—a $35 billion agreement to expand exports to Egypt from offshore fields run by U.S. energy giant Chevron. Officials in Jerusalem and Washington quickly heralded the deal as a landmark success story, with the Trump administration calling it “a major win for American business and regional cooperation.” They also indicated it would be a topic on the agenda of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s December 29 visit with President Trump in Florida, even suggesting the possibility of a celebratory three-way meeting with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.
No tripartite summit materialized, however, and Cairo publicly downplayed the new deal, with one spokesman stating, “The agreement in question is a purely commercial transaction concluded exclusively on the basis of economic and investment considerations and does not involve any political dimensions or understandings whatsoever.” Moreover, the absence of any mention of Egypt in Trump and Netanyahu’s post-meeting press conference or subsequent reporting suggests that neither the gas contract nor Egypt-Israel relations writ large were discussed at length, if at all. Yet despite the lower urgency of this file amid pressing matters elsewhere in the region, Washington should be concerned about the continued downward trajectory of Cairo and Jerusalem’s interactions since the Gaza war erupted. The gas contract may have delayed further deterioration for now, but the longer-term outlook is not reassuring.
Signing Delay
The deal was originally signed in August, but for reasons discussed below, Israel delayed the final step—granting an export license—for months, much to Washington’s frustration. In October, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright canceled a six-day trip to Israel to signal the administration’s displeasure, which appeared to stem at least in part from commercial concerns. American multinational Chevron owns large shares of Israel’s Leviathan and Tamar offshore fields. It also operates the facilities that extract gas from these fields, as well as the underwater pipe (the East Mediterranean Gas line, or EMG) that transports it to Egypt, the top customer for these supplies. Although Egypt is a bigger gas producer than Israel, it has been unable to meet rising domestic demand on its own for years. Today, Israeli gas accounts for nearly 20 percent of Egypt’s total consumption, and this growing reliance was a sensitive political issue for Cairo even before the Gaza crisis. Much like Jordan—which is even more dependent on Israeli gas for power generation—Egypt has been trying to secure alternative energy partners to replace the supplies from Jerusalem. To wit, Cairo signed a deal with Qatar on January 4 to purchase up to twenty-four cargoes of liquefied natural gas in 2026.
Tensions Spike
The downturn in Egypt-Israel relations is especially glaring because they had reached historic heights in the decade before the Gaza war. Jerusalem not only lent substantial material support to Egypt’s military campaign against Islamic State insurgents in the Sinai, it also allowed Cairo to flood the peninsula with troops and heavy equipment well in excess of the limits laid down by the security annex of their 1979 peace treaty. This approach continued even when certain aspects of these deployments became problematic. Between 2013 and 2023, for example, Egyptian forces in the Sinai built a naval port, aircraft shelters, and a deep underground operations center—all explicitly prohibited in the treaty, and none seemingly required for an internal counterterrorism mission. In response, Israeli officials tended to let these violations pass or, at most, mention them to the U.S.-led international peacekeeping authority without taking them further. During the heyday of their cooperation, an Israeli Air Force commander even paid an in-person visit to Egypt’s Sinai airbase at Meliz—an unreported trip that symbolically blessed the proscribed facility. Yet bilateral relations have steadily deteriorated since 2023 amid the rising death toll in Gaza and Cairo’s concerns about mass Palestinian displacement into Egypt. Last May, for example, an Egyptian soldier was killed during an exchange of fire with Israeli troops near Rafah. That same month, Cairo joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. And at the Arab-Islamic Summit in September, Sisi referred to Israel as “the enemy”—reportedly the first time such language had been heard in Egyptian official remarks for decades. Partly in response to such events, Israel intentionally delayed the new gas deal, thereby threatening Egypt’s energy security—the latest low-water mark in the troubled relationship.
Israel’s Political Calculations
When announcing the gas license last month, Netanyahu stated, “I approved the deal after ensuring our security interests and other vital interests, which I will not detail here in full.” Although it remains unclear exactly what he secured beyond commercial obligations, the prime minister no doubt intends to gain some political concessions in exchange, such as de-escalation of bilateral tensions, reversal of Cairo’s militarization in the Sinai, greater Egyptian cooperation on securing postwar Gaza, and a summit with Sisi, all toward the broader goal of advancing Israel’s integration into the region.
Official Egyptian remarks denying any political aspect to the deal suggest that Sisi has little interest in engaging with the current Israeli government, at least for the time being. Nevertheless, observers continue to speculate that the Trump administration may be able to secure a trilateral summit in the United States. Sisi has a track record of keeping his distance from Netanyahu, but President Trump has proven to be persuasive in similar situations. During his current term, however, the president has only met with Sisi on the sidelines of last fall’s Gaza conference at Sharm al-Sheikh.
The U.S. Role
Although the gas deal has stemmed further deterioration in Egypt-Israel relations for now, all is not well. Netanyahu and Sisi have not met in nearly eight years. As the Trump administration pushes forward with phase 2 of the Gaza peace plan, more active Egypt-Israel cooperation will be increasingly important. Absent an improvement in the working relationship, however, Gaza could escalate their bilateral tensions instead. White House efforts were reportedly decisive in convincing Jerusalem to finally sign off on the gas agreement, and the deal was a win for the administration even without a trilateral summit. President Trump is correct that economic agreements can enhance regional stability, and this gas contract was a necessary first step. Yet it should be the start, not the end, of U.S. efforts to help repair relations between the region’s first two peace partners. Cairo is understandably reticent about publicly embracing Israel after the war, but quiet American diplomacy can do much to improve the situation behind the scenes. With more intensive engagement, the administration can foster productive discussions between Egypt and Israel, transitioning from commercial matters to substantive talks about the political future of Gaza and the Sinai.
**David Schenker is the Taube Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of its Rubin Program on Arab Politics. Simon Henderson is the Institute’s Baker Senior Fellow and director of its Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy.

Selected Face Book & X tweets/ January 05/2026
Michel Hajji Georgiou
This was bound to happen. After tracking statues, words, contemporary works and living authors, the new moral police are now tackling the dead. And not just any: medieval authors, summoned before a contemporary court that judges out of time, out of context, out of historical intelligence (... ) My reaction to the withdrawal of the sales of a work by Ibn Qayyim in France - another victory of stupidity over the Lights...
https://beirutunbound.com/.../quand-la-censure-se-prend...