English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News &
Editorials
For July 30/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their
hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret
that will not become known.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12/01-05/:”Meanwhile, when
the crowd gathered in thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began
to speak first to his disciples, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is,
their hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing
secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark
will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will
be proclaimed from the housetops.‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who
kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to
fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I
tell you, fear him!”
Titles For Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials
published on 29-30 July/2026
Antoine Sehnaoui Breaks the Taboo by Hosting Netanyahu: Courage Lacking
in Joseph Aoun/Elias Bejjani/July 29/2026
He Who Rolls a Stone, It Will Roll Back on Him … A Faith Reflection on God’s
Justice and the Harvest of Human Deeds/Elias Bejjani/July 27/2026
Etienne Saqr-Abu Arz: Either UN forces operating under Chapter VII, or a
powerful international force led by the United States, otherwise a vacuum is
preferable to a merely symbolic force.
Arrest Warrant Issued for Anton Sehnaoui: Prosecution Begins
On charges of “treason and communication with Israel”: A lawsuit filed against
Anton Sahnaoui after his meeting with Netanyahu
Sahnaoui and Netanyahu Dinner: A People Living in Fantasy, Hating Success and
Wealth.
Israel to 'respond' after 'drone' hits bulldozer in south Lebanon
Israeli troops continue to detonate, demolish and burn occupied villages
Berri 'relieved' after meeting Aoun in Baabda
Aoun says wars only bring destruction and poverty
Geagea warns no lasting peace without Hezbollah disarmament
Few Families Return to Southern Lebanese Village as Part of Israel ‘Pilot Zones’
Deal
First Test of US-Backed ‘Pilot Zones’ in South Lebanon Lays Bare Difficulties
Israel Army Accuses Hezbollah of Truce Violation, Launching Drone in South
Lebanon
Lebanon Probes Prominent Businessman’s Meeting with Netanyahu
Boulos says US won't allow Iran to keep Hezbollah active in Lebanon
Is the army's success in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh replicable in broader areas?
UN peacekeepers find ammonium nitrate explosives likely used for demolitions in
Houla
Lebanon arrests man suspected of transferring money to IS in Syria
Defendant in Salman Rushdie stabbing declines to testify in terrorism trial
A letter from the shadows: Iran’s promise to ‘protect’ Hezbollah/Makram Rabah/Al
Arabiya English/29 July/2026
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on 29-30 July/2026
Trump and Netanyahu explored all Iran options including attack, Israeli official
says
US and Saudi Arabia launch strikes against Iraq militias, killing at least 20
Trump says US to hit Iran 'hard' after attack on bases in Jordan
Jordan Intercepts Iranian Missiles
Western Sources Say Six Iranian Advisers Killed in Iraq Strikes
Iraqi Govt: Security Plan in Place to Prevent Threats against Neighboring
Countries
Drone hits gas storage tanker at Egypt’s Mediterranean port, Ambrey reports
Iran to get Chinese shoulder-launched missile systems in weeks, sources say
US issues new Iran-related sanctions targeting insurers, more tankers
US commander warns troops their videos help Iran, sources say
Yemeni minister says Houthis seek to impose transit fees on Red Sea shipping
UN: West Bank Violence, Annexation 'Only Getting Worse'
Israel Police Arrest Suspect Seen Attacking Palestinians While in Military
Uniform
Egyptian Source Denies New Gas Deal with Israel
Palestinian Authority Floats Launching Petrol Company to Tackle Fuel Crisis
Boeings Identified in Carrying Weapons for Sudan’s RSF, UN Experts Find
Houthi Ties with Iraqi Factions Deepen into Operational Alliance
Canada Condemns West Bank Violence, Demands End to Israeli Settlement Growth
Investigators find apparent claim of responsibility after Berlin Pride attack
Turkey’s Erdogan says PKK-related bill to be sent to parliament within days
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials
from miscellaneous sources published
on 29-30 July/2026
Countering Hezbollah Could Bring Syria and Israel Closer/Ahmad Sharawi/FDD-Policy
Brief/July 29/2026
The Curse of the Militias/Dr. Abdel Monem Said/Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Who Is Shaping the Next International Order?/Jumah Boukleb/Asharq Al Awsat/July
29/2026
Syria Poised for a Major Role/Fayez Sara/Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Israel: The World's Heroic Scapegoat/Nils A. Haug/Gatestone Institute/July
29/2026
Selected Face Book & X tweets on 29 July/2026
Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published on 29-30 July/2026
Antoine Sehnaoui Breaks the Taboo by Hosting
Netanyahu: Courage Lacking in Joseph Aoun
Elias Bejjani/July 29/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/07/156317/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp5pithqgrk
Bravo, and a thousand bravos to Antoine Sehnaoui, who shattered one of the
heretical and terrorist taboos imposed on the Lebanese by the merchants of the
"resistance" lie, ignorant pan-Arabists, demonic nationalists, and criminal,
jihadi political Islam.
Sehnaoui broke the taboo of meeting Israeli leaders openly and before the eyes
of the entire world by hosting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at his table in
the presence of dozens of political and media figures.
This courageous act was required of president Joseph Aoun; instead, Aoun
continues to polish the history and image of the terrorist-jihadist Hezbollah,
still justifying its existence under the pretext of the "Israeli occupation,"
despite his absolute knowledge—and that of his advisory deposits—that Hezbollah
is an Iranian military corps affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps, having no connection whatsoever, near or far, to Palestine, Jerusalem, or
any other matter concerning Arabs, liberation, or resistance.
A genuine pursuit of peace and openness to realistic solutions within a changing
regional and global environment is the only way out to save Lebanon from
collapse. This stands in total contrast to the ideologies of absurd wars that
undermine the concept of national sovereignty whenever an armed faction
monopolizes the decision of war and peace.
The scum of the Party of Satan, Hezbollah utilizing lawyers such as Wassef
Harakeh, filed a lawsuit against Sehnaoui, driven by malice, hatred, stupidity,
and blind allegiance to their masters, the mullahs of Iran.
To this day, the judiciary of the Land of Cedars remains hostage to Iranian
agents and their militia intimidation, rendering worthless any ruling issued by
it—especially by the Military Tribunal, which serves as a tool in the hands of
successive occupying forces (from the Palestinian to the Syrian to the Iranian).
The free people of Lebanon are called upon to congratulate Antoine Sehnaoui on
his courage and distinguished initiative, for he defied demonic taboos and took
a bold step toward breaking the deadlock.
As for real accountability, it must target all those who cling to stupid,
backward taboos that serve neither Lebanon, nor peace, nor any principle of
freedom and openness.
Author’s Email: Phoenicia@hotmail.com
Author’s Website:
https://eliasbejjaninews.com
He Who Rolls a Stone, It Will Roll Back on Him … A
Faith Reflection on God’s Justice and the Harvest of Human Deeds
Elias Bejjani/July 27/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/07/148087/
The Holy Bible teaches us that God is love, but He is also a God of justice and
holiness. Throughout life’s journey, many people believe they can hurt others,
wrong them, or slander them without facing the consequences of their actions.
Yet God’s Word clearly teaches that a person reaps what he sows, and that evil
can never be a path to true peace or happiness. This reflection is a call to
examine ourselves, choose the path of love and goodness, and remember that
whatever we do to others will return to us in one way or another, because God’s
justice neither fails nor disappears.
There is no doubt that human life follows one of two paths: the path of good or
the path of evil, each carrying deep spiritual, human, and practical meaning.
Every person, regardless of social status, education, or wealth, must choose
which path to follow and accept full responsibility for that choice, remembering
that no one can escape the consequences of his deeds, whether good or evil,
because God’s justice is perfect and never makes mistakes.
If you are a righteous and wise person who fears God in your words and actions
and believes in the Day of Judgment, then you must understand that evil brings
only destruction to its owner. True wisdom is found in fearing God, controlling
oneself, and avoiding injustice and harm. Every word you speak and every deed
you do will leave a mark that will return to you sooner or later.
But if you harden your heart, blind your spiritual sight, kill the grace of
shame within you, close your ears to the truth, and silence your
conscience—which is God’s voice within you—remember that the pain you plant in
the lives of others will one day knock on the door of your own life. God’s
judgment may seem delayed, but it never expires and never escapes the watchful
eyes of God.
The Bible confirms this truth in the Book of Proverbs: “Whoever digs a pit will
fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will roll back on him” (Proverbs
26:27).
The Apostle Paul also says: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever
a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
As a Lebanese proverb says: “You will surely drink from the same cup that you
made others drink from.”
How many proud and foolish people ignore this obvious truth! They plot evil,
rejoice in harming others, and imagine that cruelty gives them power or
prestige. Yet in the end, they reap nothing but the ruin of their own lives, the
loss of inner peace, and the destruction of their souls.
In contrast, Christ calls us to a completely different path—the path of love,
forgiveness, and mercy. He says: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you,
do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and
persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). A true believer does not seek revenge or return
evil for evil. Instead, he leaves judgment to God, who knows the secrets of
every heart and rewards each person according to his deeds.
All of us encounter people who make hurting others their goal, hatred their
method, and gossip and slander their way of life. They hurt even those closest
to them because they have lost the grace of conscience and exchanged mercy for
hatred and love for envy.
Let us pray that God grants those who walk in the paths of evil, hatred, and
blind jealousy the grace of repentance and a return to the truth before it is
too late. May they come to understand that whoever digs a pit for another will
fall into it himself, whoever rolls a stone against another will have it roll
back upon him, and whoever gives others a cup of bitterness will one day taste
its bitterness himself.
As for those who reject repentance and persist in evil and injustice, caring
neither for God nor for His commandments, let them remember that divine judgment
is real and that every person will one day stand before the Lord to give an
account for every word, every deed, and every intention.
Let us always remember that life is governed by God’s perfect justice. What you
sow today, you will reap tomorrow. What you do to others will return to you in
one way or another. Therefore, as believers, let us sow love so that we may reap
peace, sow mercy so that we may receive mercy, and turn away from evil so that
we may walk in the light of God.
In conclusion, whoever rolls a stone to harm others will one day have that stone
roll back upon him. But whoever sows goodness and love will receive God’s
blessing, joy in the heart, and peace of conscience.
The author, Elias Bejjani, is a Lebanese expatriate activist
Author’s Email: Phoenicia@hotmail.com
Author’s Website:
https://eliasbejjaninews.com
Etienne Saqr-Abu Arz: Either UN forces operating under
Chapter VII, or a powerful international force led by the United States,
otherwise a vacuum is preferable to a merely symbolic force.
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/07/156315/
July 29, 2026
President of the Guardians of the Cedars Party – Lebanese National Movement
Issued the statement
UNIFIL/A number of Lebanese MPs submitted a letter to the United Nations
requesting an extension of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in
Lebanon (UNIFIL) for an additional period. However, the undeniable truth is that
these forces have been present on Lebanese soil since 1978, for over forty-eight
years, and have thus far failed to achieve any of the fundamental tasks for
which they were established. Sufficient proof of this is that Hezbollah has been
able, over many years, to build a massive military arsenal, both above and below
ground, throughout southern Lebanon and beyond, in full view of these forces,
without any objection or effective action whatsoever.
Lebanon therefore does not need toothless, powerless international forces, but
rather an international force with full executive powers, operating under
Chapter VII of the UN Charter, and capable of deterring anyone who violates
Lebanon's sovereignty, no matter how powerful.
In short: either UN forces operating under Chapter VII, or a powerful
international force led by the United States; otherwise, a power vacuum is
preferable to a merely symbolic force.
At your service, Lebanon
Etienne Saqr-Abu Arz
Arrest Warrant Issued for Anton Sehnaoui: Prosecution
Begins
Al-Modon/July 29, 2026 (Google translation from Arabic)
The controversy surrounding banker Anton Sehnaoui's participation in a dinner in
Washington, D.C., attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his
wife Sara, has escalated beyond political and media debate, officially entering
the halls of justice in Beirut. This follows a judicial decision placing the
prominent banker under legal prosecution. Public Prosecutor Ahmad Rami al-Hajj
issued an arrest warrant for Sehnaoui. This strict decision came after the
Internal Security Forces' Information Branch confirmed the authenticity of the
photograph showing Sehnaoui and Morgan Ortagus with Netanyahu and his wife,
responding to Judge al-Hajj's request after the image circulated. The Public
Prosecutor based his decision on provisions of the Lebanese Penal Code and the
Law on Boycotting Israel, both of which absolutely prohibit any Lebanese citizen
from having any contact or communication with Israeli officials. The crisis
erupted after a photograph surfaced of a dinner held at a Washington, D.C.,
hotel, organized by Sahnaoui and Ortagus. The dinner, which honored the late
Senator Lindsey Graham, was attended by prominent figures including Netanyahu,
his wife, and members of the U.S. Congress. The photograph showed Sahnaoui
seated at the same table as Netanyahu, sparking outrage in Lebanese public,
political, and legal circles, especially as it coincided with Israel's
insistence on not withdrawing from the occupied villages and towns in southern
Lebanon. According to a statement issued by Judge Hajj, security forces were
instructed to take all necessary legal measures, including summoning and
arresting Sahnaoui for questioning upon his arrival in Lebanon, or pursuing
legal proceedings through established channels if he remains abroad. This move
comes at a time when Lebanon is closely watching the unfolding events. A
judicial source told Al-Modon that the issuance of the search and investigation
warrant reaffirms the strictness of Lebanese legislation prohibiting
communication and dealings with Israel, and presents the judiciary with a true
test of its ability to enforce the law without exception. The source confirmed
that if Sahnaoui is not found within the thirty-day period, the Public
Prosecutor's Office will close the investigation file and refer it to the
Military Court to take the necessary legal action. Sahnaoui will be charged with
collaborating with Israel and tried in absentia if he insists on remaining
outside Lebanese territory. An arrest warrant will be issued against him and
circulated to the security services.
On charges of “treason and communication with Israel”: A lawsuit filed against
Anton Sahnaoui after his meeting with Netanyahu
Janoubia/July 29, 2026 (Google translation from Arabic)
Lawyer Wassef Harakeh filed a formal legal complaint today with the Public
Prosecutor's Office in Beirut against prominent Lebanese businessman Anton
Sahnaoui, following his controversial meeting with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu during their visit to the United States. The complaint
includes a number of serious legal charges under Lebanese law, accusing Sahnaoui
of “communicating and communicating with the Israeli enemy, suspected high
treason, and a clear violation of the provisions of the law boycotting Israel.”
The complainant demanded that the case be resolved legally through the necessary
judicial procedures and that an immediate investigation be launched into the
documented facts to determine the dimensions and context of the meeting.
Political Controversy and Absence of Official Comment
This legal step comes in the wake of a storm of widespread political and media
controversy sparked by the news of the meeting in Lebanese circles. Reactions
were divided between firm popular and political demands for clarification of the
circumstances and details of the meeting, and for defining its legal dimensions
and implications, and analyses that examined its repercussions on the local
scene. To date, no official comment or statement has been issued by businessman
Anton Sehnaoui or his media office to refute the accusations in the complaint or
clarify his position. The Public Prosecutor's Office has also not yet set an
official date to begin reviewing the case and summoning the parties involved.
Sahnaoui and Netanyahu Dinner: A People Living in Fantasy,
Hating Success and Wealth.
Hussein Abdel Hussein/Facebook/July 29, 2026 (Google translation
from Arabic)
Just by observing the reactions of some Lebanese to Sahnaoui and Netanyahu's
dinner, one understands the reason for Lebanon's decline and collapse. A people
living in fantasy, hating success and wealth. This is what they did (and I was
one of them) to Rafik Hariri until they killed him. I regretted it and became
aware. The national interest isn't achieved by angels. As the people of Beirut
say: "A decent person is worth my daughter." Politics doesn't need tests of
character, but rather the reaping of the efforts of everyone who can contribute
to the national interest, whether they are decent or not. In this case,
Sahnaoui's push for peace (and I am one of his friends who benefited from this
push because he hosted me at two events to promote my book advocating for peace)
serves the Lebanese interest (for those who believe that peace is in the
interest). For those unaware, when Sahnaoui acquired the Lebanese Canadian Bank,
he handed over Hezbollah's accounts to the US Treasury Department, thus doing a
great service to the American government, which seized the opportunity to impose
sanctions on the group. As for personalizing matters, reducing Israel to
Netanyahu, Netanyahu to the children of Gaza, and Sahnaoui to depositors' money,
this is nothing but gossip and petty salon chatter. The individual is
irrelevant. What matters are the policies, and anyone who supports them is our
ally. Before I met Sahnaoui, I opposed demonizing banks and their owners because
the Lebanese people as a whole benefited from the funds, thanks to the
stabilization of the currency without economic growth, followed by rulers like
Berri, Jumblatt, and Bassil, who plundered public funds. Sahnaoui and the bank
owners are in the private sector, and they multiplied their wealth due to
government policies that would have proceeded with or without them, just as arms
manufacturers can profit during times of war. Don't tell me that the loan law
prohibits risk-taking, because the loans were for the state itself to finance
its own operations, pay salaries, and subsidize certain imported goods (flour,
gasoline, and fuel oil for electricity). Long before I met Sahnaoui, I was a
vocal advocate for immediate and unconditional normalization with Israel.
Furthermore, he isn't owned, directed, or funded by a lobby, but rather by
individuals in Washington who share the same goal. And they aren't just peace
advocates; the resistance movement has a group of Lebanese Americans that rivals
the peace movement in Washington. Please, let's tone down the personal attacks
and focus on the objective: everyone who supports peace between Lebanon and
Israel stands on one side, and everyone who opposes peace and seeks to end
Israel and liberate Palestine stands on the other. This is how political
competition should be, not through personal attacks, gossip, and discussions
about the individual and their character. Those who enjoy discussion are
welcome, but with one special request: discuss ideas, not feelings or
personalities.
Israel to 'respond' after 'drone' hits bulldozer in south
Lebanon
Agence France Presse/July 29/2026
The Israeli army is considering a military response to the damage inflicted on
an engineering vehicle by a “Hezbollah drone” in the Ali al-Taher heights in
southern Lebanon, Israel’s Channel 14 said on Wednesday. “Beirut's southern
suburbs will not be a target in the response,” the channel added. Israel’s
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper meanwhile said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has ordered the air force to prepare to respond to “Hezbollah's
violation of the ceasefire,” adding that airstrikes on south Lebanon are
expected later today. The daily later removed this report from its social media
accounts. The Israeli army meanwhile announced in a statement that Hezbollah
launched a suicide drone overnight at an Israeli army engineering vehicle in the
Ali Taher Hill area and that no injuries were recorded, while calling the
incident a "serious violation of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon." Israeli
forces "continue their operations in the hill area and will not allow terrorist
elements in the area to strengthen or carry out terrorist plots against IDF
(Israeli army) forces," the statement said. The reported incident marks the
first such attack since the framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon in
late June. Hezbollah has a massive underground complex under the ridge, near
Nabatieh, and the Israeli army estimates that dozens of operatives are holed up
in the area. However, because of the ceasefire agreement, the Israeli army is
prevented from capturing the underground passages beneath the ridge. Under a
U.S.-sponsored agreement signed last month, Lebanon's army is to disarm
Hezbollah and the Israeli military is to withdraw from "pilot zones" where
Lebanese forces will subsequently deploy. The deal came more than three months
after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war with rocket fire at
Israel in support of Tehran on March 2, triggering major Israeli airstrikes and
a ground invasion. While violence has declined since the signing of a
preliminary U.S.-Iran deal last month and the Lebanon-Israel agreement, Lebanon
continues to report intermittent Israeli strikes and artillery shelling on the
south. Lebanon's army on Sunday condemned ongoing Israeli military activities
that it said were preventing its full deployment under the framework deal.
Hezbollah has not claimed any attacks since June 20.
Israeli troops continue to detonate, demolish and burn occupied villages
Naharnet/July 29/2026
Israeli troops continue to detonate, demolish and burn southern villages they
still occupy. On Wednesday, forces were bulldozing roads and buildings in
Kfarshouba, burning homes in al-Qantara and detonating others in Tallousa, while
artillery shelled Ali al-Taher, a strategic hill on the Israeli-declared Yellow
Line.The National News Agency said military vehicles made an incursion into the
outskirts of Aita al-Jabal and reported overnight shelling and violent
detonations in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh, Kfartebnit, al-Mansouri
and Majdalzoun, causing earth tremors felt in nearby villages.
Berri 'relieved' after meeting Aoun in Baabda
Naharnet/July 29/2026
President Joseph Aoun met Wednesday with Speaker Nabih Berri at the Baabda
Palace, where they discussed “the general situation both locally and regionally,
as well as the situation in southern Lebanon in light of the ongoing Israeli
attacks on villages and towns, particularly the bombing and bulldozing of homes,
and the need to halt these hostile practices,” the Presidency said. Aoun briefed
Berri on the results of his visit to the United States and the talks he held
with U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump and Secretary of State
Marco Rubio.
Upon leaving the palace, Berri stated that the discussions covered the
president's visit to Washington and the situation in southern Lebanon, and that,
“as always, he was relieved after the meeting.”
Aoun says wars only bring destruction and poverty
Naharnet/July 29/2026
President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday stressed that wars lead to no positive
outcome and only bring “destruction to countries and poverty to their
people.”"Hence our emphasis on the necessity of adopting diplomacy. Wars end in
only two ways: either both sides realize their inability to end the conflict and
sit down to negotiate, or one side prevails over the other," Aoun said.He added:
"The path is not easy and is fraught with difficulties, but it is not
impossible. We must exert the necessary efforts, having witnessed the
consequences of wars and the mistakes made by some after the year 2000." He
concluded by emphasizing that “the Lebanese do not need aid to revive their
country, but rather all they ask for is political and security stability.”“This
was revealed by the figures last year, as it (Lebanon) recorded economic growth
of 4% and a budget surplus of around 1.3 billion dollars, in addition to an
increase in the central bank's foreign currency reserves by 2 billion dollars,”
the president pointed out.
Geagea warns no lasting peace without Hezbollah disarmament
Naharnet/July 29/2026
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has cautioned against reducing Lebanon's
crisis solely to calls for a ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal, urging
politicians to couple any demand for an Israeli withdrawal with Hezbollah's
disarmament. While acknowledging both as non-negotiable priorities, he argued
that the core problem remains the existence of a statelet alongside the state
that unilaterally dictates war and peace. Geagea noted that previous ceasefires
failed to deliver long-term stability because Hezbollah's arms were never
addressed. He warned that "the five occupied border points, now expanded to
fifty, could eventually grow to five hundred" if the underlying cause is
ignored.Geagea said southerners who have lost their homes and livelihoods have
suffered the most, but millions of other Lebanese across the country are also
paying a heavy price for decisions and wars they never chose.
Few Families Return to Southern Lebanese Village as Part of Israel ‘Pilot Zones’
Deal
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Mahasen Faqih and her husband returned this week to their village in southern
Lebanon, digging through the debris of their home in search of their belongings,
as part of the US-brokered “pilot zones” agreement in which Israel agreed to
withdraw in exchange for the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant
group. The couple fled north shortly after the start of the latest
Israel-Hezbollah war, in early March. Now, their home in Zawtar al-Gharbieh —
one of three zones where Israel agreed to turn over control to the Lebanese army
— is among homes so damaged that they're unlivable. But Faqih said they've vowed
to stay, settling inside the large grocery shop that they own in the village as
they wait to have their home demolished and rebuilt. “Zawtar is our small
homeland, and we are very happy,” Faqih, 58, said. “We will sleep here to tell
the Israelis that we will stay in our land and will not leave it, no matter what
happens.”A week after the Lebanese army took control, only about 15 families
have returned, according to Mayor Abed Ezzeldine, who says nearly half the
village’s 500 homes have been destroyed and many others damaged. Hezbollah is
strongly opposed to the initial deal reached between Israel and Lebanon, which
remain technically in a state of war since Israel’s establishment in 1948, and
to the direct talks between the nations, ongoing for nearly three months. The
latest Israel-Hezbollah war began March 2, when the Lebanese Iran-backed group
fired rockets into Israel two days after Israel and the US launched their war on
Iran. Israel has since invaded Lebanon and occupied dozens of villages in the
south along its border. Under the deal, Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw
from some occupied areas of southern Lebanon. But the location of the initial
pilot zones generated some controversy in Lebanon. Israeli troops weren't
present in most of the areas, raising questions about how a withdrawal could
happen. In Zawtar al-Gharbieh, it's unclear whether troops were on the ground.
But they were in adjacent areas, and the village was under heavy fire,
preventing civilian residents and the Lebanese army from entering until last
week.The Israeli military has destroyed 24 centuries-old villages and 15,000 to
20,000 houses in Lebanon, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told a TV station
Tuesday. He said Israeli troops control 700 square kilometers (270 square miles)
of southern Lebanon and “are preventing raids on the communities.”
Residents return to damaged or destroyed homes
On Tuesday, as Faqih sifted through debris, she was able to recover only nine
plates from the kitchen. That room and the main sitting room were knocked out,
with the ceiling partially collapsed. On the home's other side, an Israeli
strike left a hole in the main bedroom's ceiling.
“We are gathering what remains of what we have collected over 45 years,” Faqih
said, noting that she'd already sold $20,000 in jewelry to repair the home from
damage in the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war — something she can no longer afford.
She hopes the government will help them rebuild. Mayor Ezzeldine said Zawtar al-Gharbieh
is "disaster-stricken.”“You can see some homes standing, but they are not
suitable for living and cannot be renovated,” he said. The municipality is doing
its best to bring water by tanker trucks to residents who return, he said, and
he hopes about 100 families will be in the village by week's end. Lebanese army
bulldozers were clearing debris from the village's streets. In the main square,
trucks with mounted machine guns were parked near a partially destroyed
blue-domed mosque. About 100 meters (109 yards) away, an armored personnel
carrier blocked a road leading to the adjacent village of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah,
which is fully occupied by Israeli troops. During The Associated Press team's
visit Tuesday to Zawtar al-Gharbieh, three strong explosions occurred in
occupied areas, and brown smoke billowed. Mohammed Sobeih clears debris inside
his home after returning to it following the Israeli military operation in
Zawtar al-Gharbieh, Lebanon, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (AP)
More Lebanon-Israel talks are scheduled next month
In his comments Tuesday to Channel 14, an ultranationalist station in Israel,
Defense Minister Katz said that in the 24 villages destroyed in Lebanon, “there
were Shiites who acted as enemies on behalf of Hezbollah and threatened our
borders, our residents, and constantly carried out provocations.”“Not house by
house, not incrimination — all these villages, their destruction has been
completed,” he said. His comments and the return of some residents to the pilot
zone come as technical teams from Lebanon and Israel are scheduled to hold
another round of talks in Rome over three days starting August 4. In Beirut, a
Lebanese foreign ministry official said the talks will focus on finding other
pilot zones to be handed over by Israel's military to the Lebanese side. The
official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.But in Zawtar
al-Gharbieh, Mayor Ezzeldine said he wouldn't call the pilot zone successful so
far. Israeli troops are still stationed nearby, with drones continuously flying
over the village, he said, adding that only the Lebanese army's presence is
reassuring residents.
Faqih said that her family does not feel secure and that if Israel expands the
pilot zones by a village every couple of months, it will take years “for it to
withdraw and for the south to be liberated.”“We don’t have safety, not even 1%,”
she said. “I am not happy with the situation at all.”
First Test of US-Backed ‘Pilot Zones’ in South Lebanon Lays
Bare Difficulties
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
A US-brokered plan for Israel to withdraw gradually from occupied areas of
southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah
group is off to a painfully slow start. To the US, the "pilot zone program" is
the centerpiece of a June 26 framework deal intended to end the war between
Israel and Hezbollah, and establish peaceful ties between Israel and Lebanon.
But Hezbollah itself still refuses to give up its weapons. And on the ground,
the rollout of the first zone in the south Lebanese village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh
last week offered a glimpse of a strained and complex process that will be no
easier to repeat elsewhere. A senior Lebanese military official, who requested
anonymity in order to speak freely, said it had taken weeks of US-brokered
negotiations with Israel and days of military operations to establish the first
zone in a single village. The agreement links Israel's progressive withdrawal to
the "verified disarmament" of Hezbollah, which is not a party to the deal, has
refused to give up its arsenal, and has raised the prospect of internal strife
if the state tries to disarm it by force.With such operational and political
challenges ahead, the Lebanese military official and two foreign security
officials said they expected it to take more than a year to secure Israel's
full withdrawal from Lebanon. Residents inspect the rubble of their house in
Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh on July 28, 2026, after the Lebanese army deployed to the
southern village as part of a framework deal reached with Israel. (AFP)
HEZBOLLAH DREW LEBANON INTO MIDDLE EAST WAR
Two days after the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, Hezbollah pulled
Lebanon into the war by firing at Israel. Israeli forces responded with aerial
bombardments reaching as far as Beirut, and by occupying a strip of land
extending about 10 km (6 miles) deep into southern Lebanon. Even after a
ceasefire last month, Israeli troops remained in the zone, razing villages and
ordering residents who had fled not to return. The US began mediating talks
between Lebanon and Israel in mid-April, and setting out the pilot zone program
in early June.
More than six weeks later, Lebanese soldiers deployed to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh to
implement the first zone after Israeli forces pulled back. Within hours, Israeli
units still stationed hundreds of meters away in an adjacent village accused
Lebanese troops of deploying too close, and fired warning shots to keep them
back. An Israeli military official said troops were adjusting their "force
posture" in the first pilot zone, without saying whether those who had withdrawn
from Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh had left Lebanon altogether or redeployed to other
parts of the south. The Lebanese troops spent two days clearing rubble and
accompanying paramedics into the village to recover the bodies of Hezbollah
fighters. On July 24, they finally allowed displaced residents to return, in
carefully managed convoys. Most homes were too badly damaged from bombing for
anyone to stay. Mayor Abed Ezzedin told Reuters around half of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh
was in ruins, and reconstruction seemed far away. "What kind of pilot zone are
we talking about? And what kind of security and safety? There are still 70 or 80
occupied villages," he said. "If they (Israeli troops) are going to withdraw
from one village while remaining on the edge of the next -- we can't do that. It
won't work. And what about the reconstruction we keep talking about? Without
security and peace of mind, we can't rebuild. We cannot lay a single stone on
top of another in Zawtar."Spent military cartridges are seen inside a house in
Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh on July 28, 2026, as residents return to inspect their homes
after the Lebanese army deployed to the southern village as part of a framework
deal reached with Israel. (AFP)
HEZBOLLAH DISARMAMENT REMAINS KEY
Israeli troops remain stationed in a semicircle of towns to the north and east
of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, the strategic Beaufort Castle on a commanding ridge just
6 km (4 miles) to the east, and dozens of villages further south. A key test of
Lebanon's willingness to disarm Hezbollah in exchange for more Israeli
withdrawals could lie a few kilometers away, along a mountain ridge known as Ali
Taher. Hezbollah is suspected of operating a command center and weapons stores
there, Lebanese security sources told Reuters. Hassan Jouni, a Lebanese analyst
and retired general, said it was unlikely Israeli troops would withdraw from any
more nearby positions "until the problem of Ali Taher is resolved" -- either
with Israel capturing the ridge or Lebanese troops clearing out Hezbollah
weapons stores. Jouni noted that the June 26 deal does not set a timeline for
either withdrawal or disarmament — and said disarming Hezbollah by force could,
at worst, trigger civil war. Under the deal, disarmament must be verified by a
third party to enable the Israeli military to "progressively redeploy out of
Lebanese territory". Neither a third party nor a mechanism for verification has
been established, Jouni said.
"The timeline for the Israeli occupation, based on this formula, will take a
long time."Paramedics and Lebanese soldiers stand in the outskirts of the
southern village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, Lebanon, July 23, 2026. (Reuters)
LEBANON TO PROPOSE BIGGER PILOT ZONES
To speed the process, Lebanon intends to propose in talks with Israel next week
that the occupied zone be divided into two or three large pilot zones
encompassing dozens of towns, instead of Israel withdrawing village by village,
the Lebanese military official said. But Israeli officials have said troops will
remain in southern Lebanon as long as necessary, and residents of
Israeli-occupied land doubt they will ever see their hometowns again. "How is
Israel going to withdraw? It’s not that simple. They did the impossible to get
in here; they aren't just going to leave overnight," said Zeinab Loubani, a
54-year-old mother displaced from a town near Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh. "I’m telling
you, I don’t believe it for a second. It’s all just talk ... There’s nothing
left to hope for."
Israel Army Accuses Hezbollah of Truce Violation, Launching
Drone in South Lebanon
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
The Israeli military accused Hezbollah of a "blatant violation of the ceasefire"
in Lebanon on Wednesday, saying the Iran-backed group had fired a drone at an
Israeli vehicle there. The army said the incident took place in a strip of
territory where Israeli forces are occupying that runs around 10 kilometers (six
miles) deep inside southern Lebanon along its border with Israel. "Overnight
(Wednesday), Hezbollah launched an explosive drone toward a military engineering
vehicle in the area of Ali al-Taher Ridge within the Security Zone," the
military said in a statement, calling the incident "a blatant violation of the
ceasefire". It added that no injuries were reported among Israeli soldiers.The
military said its troops "continue to operate in the ridge area and will not
allow terrorists in the area to advance or execute attacks against Israeli
soldiers". Under a US-sponsored agreement signed last month, Lebanon's army is
to disarm Hezbollah and the Israeli military is to withdraw from "pilot zones"
where Lebanese forces will subsequently deploy. The deal came more than three
months after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war with rocket
fire at Israel in support of Tehran on March 2, triggering major Israeli
airstrikes and a ground invasion. While violence has declined since the signing
of a preliminary US-Iran deal last month and the Lebanon-Israel agreement,
Lebanon continues to report intermittent Israeli strikes and artillery shelling
on the south. Lebanon's army on Sunday condemned ongoing Israeli military
activities that it said were preventing its full deployment under the framework
deal. Hezbollah has not claimed any attacks since June 20.
Lebanon Probes Prominent Businessman’s Meeting with
Netanyahu
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Lebanon tasked the security forces on Wednesday with investigating a meeting
between influential Lebanese Christian businessman Antoun Sehnaoui and Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a judicial official told AFP. Lebanese law
criminalizes contact with Israel. The countries began direct talks under US
sponsorship in April, a month after the latest fighting erupted between Israel
and Iran-backed Hezbollah. Axios journalist Barak Ravid said on X that on Monday
night in Washington, Sehnaoui and former US envoy Morgan Ortagus hosted a dinner
attended by high-profile officials including Netanyahu. The dinner was in memory
of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who died this month. An accompanying photo
showing Sehnaoui and Netanyahu at the same table sparked uproar on social media
in Lebanon across the political spectrum. The judicial official, requesting
anonymity, told AFP that the public prosecutor had tasked the security forces
"with opening an investigation into the photo" to establish "whether it is
authentic". The "appropriate legal procedures" will be taken based on the
outcome of the investigation, the official added. In another image posted on
Netanyahu's X account, Sehnaoui is visible behind the Israeli premier. The
judicial official said that several lawyers had also submitted a report
demanding "the prosecution of Sehnaoui for crimes related to dealing with Israel
and communicating with Netanyahu". The prosecutor is to examine the matter and
decide whether to refer it to the military court. Sehnaoui, who is in favor of
normalizing ties with Israel, is chairman of Lebanon's SGBL bank and involved
with Lebanese media outlets. He is also a movie producer and philanthropist.
Lebanese lawyer Wassef El-Harakeh said he had lodged a personal complaint
against Sehnaoui for "dealing with the enemy", saying the matter required a
"serious, transparent judicial investigation, free of any political, financial
or clientelist immunity". In April, at an event at the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum in which Sehnaoui was recognized as a donor, Ortagus said
Sehnaoui and his family "come from generations of committed Lebanese Christian
Zionists", according to footage of the event. "I'm going to brag on him because
I love him... What Antoun is doing today is technically illegal in Lebanon," she
said, in reference to Lebanese laws banning contact with Israel. The move
stirred controversy in Lebanon at a time when Israel was pummeling the country
during its war with Hezbollah.
Boulos says US won't allow Iran to keep Hezbollah active in
Lebanon
Naharnet/July 29/2026
U.S. President Donald Trump’s advisor on Arab affairs, Massad Boulos, has said
that “Iran wants Hezbollah to remain active in Lebanon.”“We will not allow
that,” he added. “Sustainable peace requires sovereign governments, not
terrorist proxies, to practice full control over their territories,” Boulos went
on to say. "The historic talks between the governments of Israel and Lebanon,
made possible by the leadership of U.S. President Donald Trump, will contribute
to achieving this goal," Boulos said.He noted that "based on the historic
'tripartite framework' signed on June 26, we look forward to continuing
negotiations as we strive to restore peace and stability to the region."
Is the army's success in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh replicable in broader areas?
Agence France Presse/July 29/2026
As Lebanon's army deploys in the southern village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, Hassan
Sbeih is among those reassured by the troops and hoping the move will soon
extend to areas still occupied by Israel. Last week, the Lebanese military began
deploying to the devastated village, one of the first "pilot zones" under a
framework agreement reached between Israel and Lebanon in June. "I think the
army has proved its success because people have started to return and they are
comfortable with its presence in the village," Sbeih, 62, said as he waited at a
bakery there. "There's been no friction with the locals. On the contrary,
they've been relaxed," said Sbeih, who is from Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh but whose
home is in the neighboring village where Israeli soldiers are still present. "We
can't reach our homes... We come here, breathe in the air of our village, then
leave," he told AFP. Israeli troops had not been stationed inside Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh
but had been carrying out incursions from its outskirts, before withdrawing from
that area last week. A Lebanese soldier in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, speaking on
condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to brief the media, said the
army had seized weapons and dismantled explosive devices and other military
equipment since deploying there.
'Safe'
Under the U.S.-sponsored framework agreement, Lebanon's army is to disarm
Hezbollah in "pilot zones" after Israeli troops withdraw, a test intended to
pave the way for the gradual Israeli withdrawal from other parts of south
Lebanon. Destruction was everywhere in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, where mayor Abed
Ezzeddine said three quarters of the buildings had been destroyed and there was
no electricity or running water. An AFP team in the village saw Israeli military
vehicles operating on a nearby hill. In the main square, Lebanese soldiers used
heavy machinery to remove rubble as drones buzzed overhead. Explosions rang out
from nearby villages where smoke rose, as Lebanon says Israeli troops continue
to detonate or otherwise demolish buildings in areas under their control. "We
feel safe with the army presence... the important thing is that it stays here,"
said Ayad Shoucair, 65, who was in the square with friends. Local residents
arrived in the village to inspect their homes, while others cleaned up the dust
and debris from their damaged properties. After deploying last week, the
Lebanese army initially prevented residents from entering Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh
while it carried out search and sweep operations, before allowing locals to
check their homes in recent days. Israeli tank tracks were still visible on the
ground, while Hebrew writing was seen on the wall of one home.
'Relative calm'
The deployment is a major test for the Lebanese state, with experts expressing
doubt over authorities' ability to disarm Hezbollah, which opposes the deal with
Israel and refuses to surrender its weapons. Military expert Fadi Daoud told AFP
that the Lebanese army's success in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh was based on a
"particular equation: a small area, relative calm, strong political symbolism
and direct U.S. pressure". But the retired Lebanese army general said it would
be tough to replicate "in broader and more complex areas", particularly if
Hezbollah sticks to its stance. The biggest challenge will be when the army
receives "information on tunnels or weapons depots" belonging to the group and
will have to decide to go in even if Hezbollah objects, he added, noting the
military lacks clear legal authorization to inspect private properties.After
months away from Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, Mahmoud Turkiye, 70, was also skeptical.
"May God help the army, it doesn't have the authority to do anything," he told
AFP. However, its presence "boosts people's morale", he added, leaning on a
cane.
UN peacekeepers find ammonium nitrate explosives likely used for demolitions in
Houla
Agence France Presse/July 29/2026
U.N. peacekeepers have found around four tons of mainly ammonium nitrate
explosives this month in a south Lebanon border village under Israeli
occupation. On July 2 during a "routine route check" near Houla, "peacekeepers
found 385 containers abandoned inside a building, containing approximately 4,000
kilograms of explosive material, consisting mainly of ammonium nitrate
compounds", the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said Tuesday in
a statement. UNIFIL specialists "later carried out on-site procedures to render
the material inert, making it safe and removing the risk it posed". A source
with knowledge of the matter told AFP on condition of anonymity that the
containers had Hebrew writing on them and were "likely used for
demolitions".Houla is part of a strip of territory running around 10 kilometers
deep inside Lebanon along the border where Israeli forces, who invaded during
the latest war with Hezbollah, have been operating and have warned residents not
to return. While violence has declined since last month's U.S.-Iran memorandum
on the regional conflict, and a separate framework deal between Lebanon and
Israel, Lebanon has reported ongoing Israeli demolitions and detonations of
buildings in border villages and towns. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency
has reported Israeli detonations in Houla on four occasions this month. On July
8, the Houla municipality condemned "in the strongest terms the crimes the
Israeli enemy is carrying out of burning, blowing up and destroying homes,
public buildings and private property".Ammonium nitrate, used in fertilizers as
well as in explosives, triggers grim memories in Lebanon. On August 4, 2020, a
stockpile of the chemical exploded at Beirut's port, after being stored
haphazardly for years. The blast killed more than 220 people, injured over 6,500
others and laid waste to swathes of the capital.
Lebanon arrests man suspected of transferring money to IS in Syria
Agence France Presse/July 29/2026
Lebanese security forces have arrested a man accused of transferring nearly half
a million dollars to the Islamic State group in neighboring Syria, a judicial
official told AFP on Tuesday. Forces "arrested a man who had stolen $400,000
from his father's safe, and investigations showed that he had transferred the
money to Syria" for IS, the official said on condition of anonymity. The inquiry
also showed that the individual was "part of a cell active between Lebanon and
Syria" that included three members who are in prison in the Lebanese city of
Tripoli and "handled coordination with IS in Syria", the official added. Two
other suspected cell members are believed to have crossed Lebanon's porous
border into Syria after the matter was uncovered. The group "was responsible for
funding IS with the aim of carrying out terror acts, whether inside Syrian
territory or in Lebanon", the official added. Lebanese authorities previously
said they had detained a Syrian IS commander in late June, accusing him of being
the group's leader in central and southern Syria. Last year, Lebanon's military
said it arrested the suspected leader of IS in the country, implicating him in
planning several operations.
Once in control of swathes of Syria and Iraq, IS was territorially defeated in
Syria in 2019, but remnants of the group are still there, particularly in the
country's vast desert. The group occasionally claims attacks mainly targeting
Syrian security forces.Syria's new authorities last year joined the U.S.-led
coalition against IS. In Lebanon, Sunni extremist groups that pledged allegiance
to IS fought several battles with the army in the 2010s and carried out a series
of deadly bombings targeting Hezbollah and its supporters. But they were largely
defeated militarily in 2017. Hezbollah fought in support of now-ousted Syrian
ruler Bashar al-Assad during the country's civil war. Also on Tuesday,
authorities in Syria announced the arrest of an unspecified number of
individuals accused of belonging to IS in the northern province of Aleppo.
Earlier this month, Syrian authorities said they captured an IS-linked cell
responsible for two bomb blasts during French President Emmanuel Macron's recent
visit to Damascus.
Defendant in Salman Rushdie stabbing declines to testify in terrorism trial
Associated Press/July 29/2026
The man on trial in the stabbing of Salman Rushdie chose Tuesday not to testify
or call any witnesses in the federal terrorism case, which is expected to head
to the jury as soon as Wednesday. Hadi Matar's lawyer told the court that the
28-year-old — who already has been convicted of state-level attempted murder
charges — wouldn't take the stand at his trial on charges that include engaging
in an act of transnational terrorism. "At this time, the defense rests,"
attorney Nathaniel Barone said. Matar has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors also
rested their case Tuesday, and closing arguments are expected Wednesday morning.
Rushdie, the prize-winning author of novels including "Midnight's Children" and
the controversial "The Satanic Verses," testified last week about the 2022
attack that nearly killed him and left him blind in one eye. Rushdie was about
to give a talk — about writers' safety, no less — when his attacker climbed on
stage behind him and stabbed him 15 times in front of a stunned audience at the
Chautauqua Institution, an arts and intellectual retreat. Spectators and another
speaker, Henry Reese, scrambled to aid Rushdie and restrain the assailant, who
was arrested by law enforcement officers assigned to the event. He initially
gave authorities a fake driver's license, but Matar soon disclosed his real name
to a state trooper, according the trooper's testimony and body camera video.
Prosecutors contend that Matar was acting upon a former Iranian leader's 1989
call for Rushdie's death because of "The Satanic Verses," which ignited protests
across the Muslim world. Some believers considered it blasphemous because of a
dream sequence featuring Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Rushdie, who was born in
India into a Muslim family and is now a U.S. citizen, went into hiding for
years. He gradually emerged after Iran's government distanced itself in 1998
from the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini 's fatwa, or religious
order, about the writer. Khomenei died in 1989. Prosecutors say Matar, a
U.S.-born American-Lebanese citizen, acted out of loyalty to Iran and to the
Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group. The late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah said in 2006 that if someone had carried out the fatwa, European
newspapers wouldn't have dared publish a caricature of Muhammad that was causing
an uproar in Muslim communities.Iran's government denied involvement in the 2022
stabbing, though its Foreign Ministry's then-spokesperson suggested Rushdie
courted trouble by insulting Islam. Nasrallah did not comment on the attack. The
U.S. government designates Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization. Matar,
too, described the group in a 2016 paper as a terrorist organization, Assistant
U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch said Tuesday during legal arguments when jurors were
out of the room. Matar started researching Rushdie's whereabouts in 2020,
eventually writing in private notes that "we need to kill him ASAP" and "become
a warrior and just get it over with," prosecutors have said. Matar didn't
testify at his 2025 state court trial, either. His lawyer has said federal
prosecutors are making implications but don't have proof about the man's
intentions. "There's no facts. There's no hard evidence," Barone said in an
interview outside the courthouse last week. "There could be a number of
reasonable, plausible explanations as to what he was thinking." Barone
unsuccessfully argued Tuesday that prosecutors hadn't presented enough evidence
for the trial to continue. A judge declined Barone's request to dismiss the
case. Matar is currently serving a 25-year state prison sentence. If convicted
in the federal case, he faces a potential life sentence.
A letter from the shadows: Iran’s promise to ‘protect’
Hezbollah
Makram Rabah/Al Arabiya English/29 July/2026
A written message attributed to Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was
sent to Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, reaffirming Tehran’s commitment
to defending the Lebanese group. The message praised Hezbollah’s steadfastness
and insisted that protecting it, preserving Lebanon’s territorial integrity and
ending Israeli attacks were essential conditions for any broader understanding
between Iran and the United States. At first glance, this may sound like another
ceremonial exchange between old allies. In reality, it is something more
revealing: Another confirmation of how Iran views Lebanon, and particularly its
Shia population. It does not see them primarily as citizens of a sovereign Arab
country. It sees them as strategic assets in a regional confrontation – people
whose homes, livelihoods and children may be placed at the service of a project
formulated elsewhere.
The letter speaks of defending Hezbollah as though Iran were offering Lebanon
protection. There is a certain dark comedy in this claim. The new supreme leader
has not appeared publicly since his appointment in March. He was reportedly
wounded in the attack that killed his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, and
has communicated through written statements rather than public appearances,
recordings or even photographs. Iran’s own foreign minister has said that he has
never met him in person and that only a small number of people have. Yet from
somewhere behind the walls of the Islamic Republic, a leader who cannot safely
show his face promises to protect Lebanon. One does not need to mock physical
injury or personal fear to recognize the political absurdity. A regime that
failed to protect its own supreme leader, senior commanders and security
establishment now presents itself as the guardian of Lebanese families living
hundreds of kilometers away.
Protection, in the Iranian lexicon, has acquired a peculiar meaning.
It means encouraging Hezbollah to open a front, then leaving Lebanese villages
to absorb the consequences. It means praising sacrifice from Tehran while
families in southern Lebanon search for shelter. It means transforming Lebanese
Shias into the human infrastructure of an Iranian regional strategy, then
calling their suffering “steadfastness.”Iran does not protect the Lebanese Shias.
It repeatedly exposes them. This is perhaps the greatest moral deception of the
so-called axis. It persuades communities that their destruction is evidence of
their dignity, that their isolation is proof of their purity and that every new
funeral confirms the righteousness of the cause.But suffering is not a political
program. Nor is permanent war a form of social protection. Lebanese Shia need
functioning schools, hospitals, businesses, farms and state institutions. They
need secure villages and economic access to the Arab world. They do not need
another letter from Tehran congratulating them on their capacity to endure
disasters Tehran helped create. The letter is also a reminder that Hezbollah’s
relationship with Iran is not a conventional alliance between two autonomous
actors. Hezbollah’s entry into the latest conflict deepened its isolation inside
Lebanon after it launched attacks in support of Iran, provoking a devastating
Israeli response and anger even among parts of its traditional constituency. The
Lebanese government subsequently banned the group’s unauthorized military
activities and insisted that decisions of war and peace belong to the state.
That distinction matters. Hezbollah presents itself as a Lebanese resistance
movement supported by Iran. The reality increasingly appears to be an Iranian
military project operating through a Lebanese organization. Reuters reported
that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps rebuilt much of Hezbollah’s command after
its losses in 2024, filled gaps with Iranian officers, restructured the
organization and helped plan the war it later fought in support of Tehran.
So, who is actually directing the battlefield in southern Lebanon?
Is it a Lebanese leadership making independent judgments according to Lebanon’s
interests? Or is it the Revolutionary Guard, supported by Iran-linked networks
and fighters whose connection to Lebanese society begins and ends with the
territory they use?
This is not resistance in any meaningful national sense. It is the outsourcing
of Iranian deterrence to Lebanese land and Lebanese blood. Mojtaba Khamenei may
be the formal head of the Islamic Republic, but the system speaking through his
letter is larger than him. It is a deep security state built around the
Revolutionary Guard, ideological institutions and a political theology that
treats continuous confrontation as proof of revolutionary legitimacy.
The individual leader may be absent, wounded or hidden. The machine continues.
And that machine has shown little concern for the Iranian people themselves. It
has answered domestic dissent with repression, imposed political and economic
hardship in the name of confrontation and placed the country at the center of an
expanding war. It would be naïve to imagine that the same system will show
greater concern for Arabs in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria or Yemen.The Gulf states have
also experienced the consequences of Iran’s regional behavior, from threats to
shipping and energy routes to attacks by Tehran and its aligned groups. For
Lebanon, continued alienation from the Arab world – especially the Gulf – is not
an abstract diplomatic disagreement. It carries economic, political and social
consequences that ordinary Lebanese have already paid for. Lebanon cannot afford
to remain a forward operating base in Iran’s wars while expecting Arab countries
to finance its reconstruction, welcome its workers and rescue its economy.Hassan
Nasrallah and those around him repeatedly claimed that their weapons reflected
superior judgment and strategic foresight. Yet the Lebanese, particularly the
Shias, were asked to pay the price whenever that judgment failed. Their
neighborhoods were destroyed, their children displaced and their economic future
tied to decisions they did not make. Now Mojtaba Khamenei appears to be
attempting to revive Hezbollah’s exhausted body by repeating the same sacred
vocabulary: loyalty, steadfastness, sacrifice and victory.
But repeating the language cannot restore the reality. Hezbollah does not need
another Iranian blessing. Lebanon does not need another Iranian promise of
protection. Lebanese Shias do not need to be congratulated for surviving yet
another war fought in someone else’s name. They need release from a project that
has confused their wellbeing with Iran’s influence for far too long. The most
honest response to Khamenei’s letter is therefore not gratitude but a question:
If Iran cannot protect its own leadership, on what basis does it claim the right
to endanger ours?
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on 29-30 July/2026
Trump and Netanyahu explored all Iran
options including attack, Israeli official says
Reuters/29 July ,2026
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explored
all possible paths to curb Iran’s nuclear program in their meeting, including
diplomacy, economic pressure and force, a senior Israeli official said on
Wednesday. Netanyahu did not tell Trump that Israel’s preference now was for
further attacks on Iran, the official said in briefings with reporters after the
two men met in the White House on Tuesday. “In the end, it’s his decision,” the
official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of Trump. The US president
has three options and all were discussed at length, said the official, listing
them as “a (negotiated) deal, continuing the blockade and economic pressures,
and a massive strike.” Netanyahu also added unspecified new ideas to the mix,
the official added. Trump had voiced irritation with Netanyahu ahead of their
meeting, complaining that details had surfaced publicly about the Israeli
leader’s plans to talk about new intelligence on Pickaxe Mountain, a
deep-underground, nuclear-linked facility that Trump has threatened to bomb.
Pushing back against any notion of tensions over the issue, the official said
the two allies readily share intelligence, denied that Netanyahu had pushed
Trump to escalate militarily against Iran and left open the possibility of a
diplomatic solution. At the same time, the Israeli official acknowledged that
Trump is the “senior partner” while Netanyahu is the “junior partner” in the
allies’ conflict with Iran. The official said that there were signs Iran’s
clerical rulers have been rattled by rising inflation and public frustration,
but that the impact on the global economy and oil markets was also a
consideration. Oil prices shot up on Wednesday in one of the sharpest spikes
since the war began on February 28, with a joint Israeli-US aerial bombing
campaign in Iran. Tehran responded with strikes on Israel and Gulf states.
Israel had not taken part in the latest two-week US bombing campaign this month
that provoked Tehran to fire on US bases in response, but it has warned Tehran
that it would respond forcefully if attacked. Israel sees its biggest threat
from Iran’s nuclear program and wants to be sure it can never get a nuclear
weapon, the official said. Tehran has insisted it is not seeking a bomb. On
Wednesday, the United States and Saudi Arabia struck Iran-backed militias in
Iraq, and Trump vowed to “beat the f***ing sh**” out of Iran for firing on US
troops days after he halted air strikes.Iran confirmed overnight that it had
fired on US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also
spurned an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait.
US and Saudi Arabia launch strikes against Iraq militias,
killing at least 20
Associated Press/July 29/2026
Jordan's air defenses intercepted five missiles launched from Iran early
Wednesday, the country's military said, hours after the U.S. military said it
had knocked down an Iranian missile barrage launched against American forces in
the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting. In a statement, the
Jordanian military said the missiles had been "intercepted and destroyed."
Earlier, U.S. Central Command said they "remain vigilant and at a high state of
readiness," and that it worked with Saudi Arabia's forces to strike sites in
Iraq that Tehran-backed militias have used to launch attacks in recent days. In
announcing the strikes in Iraq, the U.S. warned that further attacks on American
troops or Saudi Arabia's energy infrastructure risked additional action. The
United States and Iran had experienced a period of calm, during which neither
announced attacks for about three days following weeks of escalation over the
strategic Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway and narrow chokepoint
through which 20% of the world's traded oil normally flows. The fighting flared
at the end of a month packed with multiple pressure points on U.S. President
Donald Trump. In recent weeks, four U.S. troops died during the fighting, while
the Pentagon asked an increasingly skeptical Congress for money to cover the
conflict's ballooning costs. Iran launched its ballistic missile attack before
American and Saudi forces carried out strikes in Iraq, according to a U.S.
official, who stressed that the two attacks were not connected. The official
spoke on condition of anonymity to detail sensitive military operations. "U.S.
and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites
across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone
attacks in the last 72 hours," U.S. Central Command said, using an acronym for
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.It said the Revolutionary Guard "and its
terrorist proxies must cease these attacks to avoid further U.S. military
response." The Saudi Defense Ministry acknowledged the strikes in a post on
social media, warning that "the Kingdom emphasizes that it does not seek
escalation but will respond to any aggression it faces." The strikes killed at
least 20 members of a former paramilitary alliance that includes pro-Iran
groups. The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), now integrated into the Iraqi
armed forces, said at least 20 fighters "were martyred and another 32 wounded
according to a preliminary toll" following the U.S.-Saudi strikes on its bases
in seven provinces.
Trump says US to hit Iran 'hard' after attack on bases in
Jordan
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/July 29/2026
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the U.S. military will be hitting Iran
"hard" after a missile attack against U.S. bases in Jordan, Fox News reported.
"We'll be hitting them hard. They're going to get a beating," Fox's
correspondent quoted Trump as saying, adding that the U.S. president used swear
words to emphasize his point: "We are going to beat the 'effing s' out of them."
Iran launched a barrage of missiles at American forces in the Middle East early
Wednesday as the U.S. partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Tehran-backed
militias in neighboring Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters. Trump said the
US-Saudi bombing of pro-Iranian militias overnight inside Iraq had been
coordinated with the authorities in Baghdad, Fox News reported. Trump's reported
assertion came as Iraq's presidency denounced the U.S.-Saudi attacks as a
"blatant violation of Iraq's sovereignty." The flare-up on multiple fronts,
after several days of relative calm, raised the risk of a return to all-out war.
It also underscored the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict that
has jolted the world economy and is unpopular among Americans. It was also
likely to add to concerns that the U.S. is further drawing down already
diminished stockpiles of sophisticated munitions needed to defend its bases and
allies.
Jordan Intercepts Iranian Missiles
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Jordan's air defenses intercepted five missiles launched from Iran early
Wednesday, the country's military said. In a statement, the Jordanian military
said the missiles had been “intercepted and destroyed.” Earlier, US Central
Command said they “remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness,” and that
it worked with Saudi Arabia’s forces to strike sites in Iraq that Tehran-backed
militias have used to launch attacks in recent days. In announcing the strikes
in Iraq, the US warned that further attacks on American troops or Saudi Arabia’s
energy infrastructure risked additional action.
Western Sources Say Six Iranian Advisers Killed in Iraq
Strikes
Amman: Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Informed western sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday that initial reports
from Iraq indicated six Iranian military advisers and 20 members of the Popular
Mobilization Forces were killed in an airstrike on the Amerli area of Salahuddin
province. About 30 people were wounded. The sources declined to confirm whether
Iranian adviser Haj Ali Iqbalpour was among the dead. They said Iraqi groups
that launched missiles and drones toward Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates,
Kuwait, and Jordan were operating under the direct command of Quds Force
officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The officers, described as
“advisers,” carry diplomatic passports, the sources said. They identified the
most prominent Iranian advisers directing Iraqi groups linked to what are
described as “rogue factions” as:
Haj Hamed, also known as Abdollahi: Head of the Quds Force Esmail Qaani’s deputy
for Iraqi affairs, who plays a leading role in that capacity. Javad Ghaffari: A
Quds Force official previously responsible for Syria and Palestine who was
transferred to Iraq after recent developments. Many regard him as the most
dangerous of the advisers because of his past experience and connections. Haj
Ali Iqbalpour: The official responsible for northern operations, including
attacks targeting the Kurdistan region, oil and gas fields and US forces. He
oversees groups from several factions, including Iraq’s Harakat al-Nujaba and
Kataib Hezbollah, particularly units experienced in launching drones. Dr. Amir:
An economic expert considered one of the senior officials behind attempts to
smuggle weapons from Iraq to Lebanon through Syria. He controls several
Revolutionary Guards-linked companies tasked with evading US and international
sanctions. He is also responsible for transferring cash to Iran and previously
oversaw oil-smuggling operations. The Iranian advisers are deployed across
Iraq’s southern and central provinces and maintain key bases near Karbala,
Najaf, and Kadhimiya. They also operate a command center that manages attacks
once targets have been selected. Haj Hamed is the most senior among them,
alongside Ghaffari. Citing reports from informed Iraqi sources, the western
sources said the advisers use the Iranian Embassy’s cultural attaché building in
Baghdad and other bases in neighborhoods around the Green Zone. The reports said
Tehran decided, after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government and developments
in southern Lebanon, to place allied groups in Iraq and Lebanon under “reliable
management.”It sent Quds Force officers to have the final say on any escalation
or on decisions to activate the fronts. The reports said Iran was unwilling to
make even symbolic concessions or take steps suggesting its control over its
allies in Iraq and Lebanon had weakened because of US strikes. They said
Hezbollah’s sharper rhetoric against Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime
Minister Nawaf Salam came at Iran’s prompting. The same applied to the tougher
position taken by Iraqi factions toward the government of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi,
although some of those groups had spoken of restricting weapons to the state and
preventing arms from remaining outside the control of the legitimate
authorities. On Wednesday afternoon, Iran’s Hamshahri newspaper said four
Revolutionary Guards military advisers were killed in overnight strikes on Iraq.
Iraqi Govt: Security Plan in Place to Prevent Threats
against Neighboring Countries
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
The Iraqi government has developed an integrated security plan to hold ground
and “prevent threats to neighboring countries,” announced Sabah al-Numan,
spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces. The National
Security Council held on Wednesday an emergency meeting, chaired by Prime
Minister Ali al-Zaidi, to discuss the latest security developments. The council
decided to establish an integrated security plan to hold territory, counter any
violation of Iraq's sovereignty, and prevent any party from threatening
neighboring countries. The meeting reaffirmed the government's firm stance
rejecting all hostile acts, regardless of the perpetrator or the justifications,
stressing that handling and countering such attacks is an exclusive
responsibility of the Iraqi government and state constitutional institutions
alone. The council renewed the government's commitment to consolidating
stability in the region, actively contributing to the preservation of
international peace and security, and adopting a foreign policy based on
dialogue, cooperation, respect for international law, and the principles of good
neighborliness. It underscored diplomatic means to resolve conflicts, in line
with a strategic approach to distance Iraq from regional conflicts, thereby
safeguarding its national interests and protecting the security of its people
and sovereignty. The government calls on all parties not to be drawn into action
that fuel instability in the region and undermine the law enforcement plan
adopted by the government since assuming office, said the council. It added that
it was proceeding with the implementation of the security agreement for the
withdrawal of the international coalition by the end of September and completing
the procedures of the plan to confine weapons to the state.
Drone hits gas storage tanker at Egypt’s Mediterranean
port, Ambrey reports
Reuters/29 July ,2026
A drone hit a US-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of
Damietta, British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Wednesday, citing an
initial assessment of the incident. A statement from Egypt’s petroleum ministry
confirmed a fire at the port but made no mention of a drone attack. Port
services firm Inchcape said in a separate message two gas tankers had caught
fire at Damietta. The drone hit floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing
a fire that then spread to another vessel, Gaslog Salem, three trading sources
familiar with the incident said. Two separate security sources said the likely
cause of the blast was assessed as a drone strike, in what could signal a
further spread of conflict across the Middle East. There was no immediate claim
of responsibility for the incident. The Energos Winter is a floating storage and
regasification unit (FSRU) with storage capacity of 138,250 cubic meters. It is
owned by US-based firm Energos Infrastructure. Its technical, safety and
commercial operations are managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management, also a US
company. Egypt’s petroleum ministry said in a statement a fire broke out on a
gasification vessel and a storage vessel at Damietta port and was dealt with
immediately under approved emergency response plans by firefighting and security
teams. Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi went to the site to oversee response
efforts, it said. The fire caused no injuries or fatalities and emergency and
technical teams were continuing to work on the response and assess the impact of
the incident, the statement added.
Iran to get Chinese shoulder-launched missile systems in
weeks, sources say
Reuters/29 July ,2026
Iran is expected to receive within weeks a first shipment out of up to 400
Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers, three sources
familiar with the deal told Reuters, as it rebuilds its defenses amid war with
the United States. The purchase, valued at $60-70 million, is one of Tehran’s
largest-known efforts to strengthen its short-range air defenses since the
outbreak of its war with the Us and Israel, which exposed gaps in Iran’s ability
to protect military sites and strategic infrastructure. The contract covers the
purchase of between 300 and 400 man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS),
including Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 missiles, the sources said. The deal was
signed with Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, a Hong Kong-based
company that the sources said was acting as an intermediary between the Iranian
side and the Chinese supplier. Iran needs to rearm after months of war
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the
matter. Iran’s foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for
comment. China’s Foreign Ministry said: “The relevant reports are completely
groundless. China has consistently played a role in promoting peace and ending
the conflict.”Beijing-based Zhong Qing Bao Shang Group, the parent company of
Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, did not immediately respond to an
email request for comment on Tuesday. Iran needs to rearm after months of
fighting in which the US and Israel have struck facilities linked to its
missile, drone and air-defense programs, and Tehran responded with barrages of
ballistic missiles and drones. The conflict has highlighted the challenge of
defending fixed military and strategic sites against advanced aircraft and
precision-guided weapons. Washington abruptly suspended two weeks of bombardment
on Saturday, but President Donald Trump said strikes would resume if
negotiations failed to end the five-month-old conflict, which has in theory been
in a state of ceasefire since April.
The delivery of hundreds of MANPADS would significantly expand Iran’s inventory
of short-range air-defense weapons and underscore how military ties with China
are deepening.The sources cautioned that, although the agreement had been
signed, delivery schedules, quantities and other implementation details could
still change. Under a plan agreed by the parties, deliveries will initially be
by air from Urumqi in western China, then transiting through Pakistan to Iran,
according to the sources, who did not clarify whether the transfers would take
place by air or by road. Pakistan’s military public relations wing ISPR said:
“Speculations of Pakistan being involved in supply of Air Defense weapons to
Iran from China are absolutely concocted and false.” A spokesperson for the
Pakistani Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. China and
Iran explore land routes for delivery, sources say While Iran has invested
heavily in the past two decades in missiles, drones and radar, military experts
say portable air-defense systems are important because they can be dispersed
quickly, operated by small teams and relocated frequently, making them less
vulnerable than fixed air-defense batteries. A European security source said
authorities in his country were aware of several contracts under discussion
involving the possible sale of QW-series MANPADS to Iran, including QW-12, QW-18
and QW-19 systems. A second security source, in the Middle East, said Iran had
been seeking to purchase QW-12 and QW-18 missiles, but they were unaware that a
deal had already been concluded. The QW-12 and FN-16 are shoulder-fired,
infrared-guided surface-to-air missile systems designed to engage low-flying
aircraft, helicopters and drones. Their mobility allows them to be deployed
rapidly around military installations, energy infrastructure and other sensitive
sites. Defense analysts regard the QW-12 as less capable than newer QW variants,
including the QW-18 and QW-19, but say the systems can still provide an
effective layer of short-range protection against drones and low-flying targets.
Two Western intelligence sources and an Iranian official said Tehran had also
explored the use of overland routes to move Chinese military supplies and
dual-use components more discreetly and reduce the risk of disruption. The
procurement highlights Iran’s continuing reliance on a combination of domestic
weapons production and foreign suppliers despite years of sanctions and
restrictions on defense-related imports. Reuters previously reported that Iran
was close to securing a separate agreement with China to acquire anti-ship
cruise missiles, according to people familiar with those negotiations. Reuters
could not determine whether the agreement went through.
US issues new Iran-related sanctions targeting insurers,
more tankers
Al Arabiya English/29 July ,2026
The United States on Wednesday issued another round of Iran-related sanctions,
taking aim at Iran’s efforts to “monetize the Strait of Hormuz” with
designations of 10 entities and eight more tankers, the US Treasury Department
said. Six of the entities targeted for sanctions were based in China, it said.
The sanctions followed a vow by US President Donald Trump earlier on Wednesday
to hit Iran hard, according to an interview with Fox News, after the US military
said it had intercepted multiple ballistic missiles launched by Iran toward
American forces in the Middle East. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control
designated two firms, the [Arabian] Gulf Marine Insurance Co and HormuzSafe
Marine Services Authority, which it said were integral to an Iranian scheme to
extract digital assets and other revenue from ships transiting the Strait of
Hormuz through various insurance policies. “With its economy in freefall and
inflation in the triple digits, the regime is desperate for cash,” said
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “The United States will not allow Iran
to hold global commerce hostage or use international shipping to finance the
IRGC’s terrorism, aggression, and repression,” Bessent said, referring to Iran’s
Revolutionary Guard Corps. The new sanctions are part of a broader push by the
Trump administration to leverage both economic tools and military strikes to
intensify pressure on Iran and end a deeply unpopular war that has dragged
Trump’s approval ratings lower. “The Iran war demonstrates that this
administration will use US economic and military power in concert,” said Jess
Hoversen, a former OFAC official who is now chief economist at Column, a digital
platform bank. OFAC has moved quickly to designate maritime logistics, currency
exchange infrastructure, and procurement networks, even as the US military has
increased its strikes, she said. “Treasury is moving at an operational tempo,
and combining military strikes with targeted sanctions could be a template for
future conflicts,” Hoversen said. Since the start of 2026, OFAC has sanctioned
over 100 vessels linked to Iran’s shadow fleet, which has been used to keep oil
revenue flowing despite international sanctions.With Reuters
US commander warns troops their videos help Iran, sources
say
Reuters/29 July ,2026
The top US commander for the Middle East has warned troops that cellphone videos
shared online can help Iran target American bases, and sources told Reuters some
deployed personnel could soon be ordered to surrender their phones. Any
crackdown on mobile communications would add a new dimension to the conflict for
the thousands of US troops in the region, many of whom still rely on phones to
periodically message loved ones and assure them they are well. Admiral Brad
Cooper, in a previously unreported letter, said Iran was benefiting from being
able to see the success or failure of its strikes in near real-time by searching
news reports or online posts by journalists referencing “reactions, photos, and
footage from the cellphones of our troops.”“The direct, unavoidable cost of this
open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of American service
members and civilian residents in targeted Gulf countries,” Cooper, head of US
Central Command, wrote in his July 28 letter, a copy of which was obtained by
Reuters.He called on troops to “redouble our focus on operational security,”
without prescribing specific steps in the memo. The warning underscored the
mounting tensions between real-time news reporting on the war, often aided by
satellite imagery and first-person accounts, and the desire by the US military
to restrict any information that could aid Iran as it tries to kill and wound US
troops. In Jordan, which has been a frequent target of Iranian strikes, some
troops have been told their phones will be confiscated in the coming days, two
sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. A third source said such a move
was being considered in the region due to operational security concerns but did
not present the confiscation as a certainty. Asked for comment, US Central
Command spokesperson Captain Timothy Hawkins said: “The message is a general
reminder to our service members on the importance of maintaining operational
security. This is one of many opportunities Admiral Cooper has used to convey
operational priorities.”
Running for shelter during Iran attack
In a video posted online this month, a US service member recorded a video as
soldiers ran for shelter during a deadly Iranian attack on the Muwaffaq Salti
Air Base in Jordan on July 17. Cooper appeared to reference the footage in his
letter, saying it had been recorded on Meta smart glasses with a built-in
camera. “Video captured from a service member’s Meta glasses was posted on
Instagram showing where and how the individual had evacuated to a bunker during
an Iranian missile and drone attack,” Cooper wrote. Iran would normally have a
tough time determining the success or failure of its strikes, were it not for
such accounts, Cooper said, thanks to the US military’s electronic jamming or
other tactics used in war zones. “Iran knows the weapons were fired; however,
their forces do not know if they missed by 50 meters, hit an empty tarmac, or
successfully struck a crowded facility,” he wrote.
“Detailed lists, descriptions, and analyses of what was hit, openly published by
news outlets are essentially performing Iran’s Battle Damage Assessment (BDA)
for them, free of charge,” Cooper said. Some 18 US troops have died in the
conflict with Iran that started on February 28 and more than 600 have been
wounded in the fighting, casualties that have deepened Americans’ concerns about
a war that just one in three Americans support. Democratic lawmakers have called
for more information about the war, including details about damage to US
infrastructure on bases including radar towers, barracks and aircraft hangars.
They have also called for the release of a US military investigation into a
likely US strike on a girls’ school in Iran, first reported by Reuters, on the
opening day of the war on February 28.
Cell phones being taken?
Rules surrounding cell phone use for deployed troops can vary widely across the
military, officials say. Many troops have to lock them away and cell phones can
be banned on particularly sensitive missions by special operations forces, for
example. But the possible seizure of phones has stoked anxiety among some family
members, already on edge in recent months as they read Iranian claims of deadly
strikes on bases throughout the Middle East, two of the sources said. US
officials have cautioned for years that certain applications on mobile devices,
like fitness applications, can be exploited by adversaries to aid adversary
targeting because of location data. Reuters reported in May that commercially
available location data harvested from smartphones or other devices has been
used to target or surveil US forces. At the same time, the Pentagon has sought
to carefully control the release of information due to what it says are
operational security concerns, often declining to comment on Iran’s attack
claims or detail individual incidents that led to injuries of US troops. Cooper
said details on strikes can help Iran mount follow-up attacks. “Detailed public
disclosures can become an immediate green light for Iranian forces to launch a
secondary, much more devastating wave of attacks,” he said.
Yemeni minister says Houthis seek to impose transit fees on
Red Sea shipping
Al Arabiya English/29 July ,2026
A minister in Yemen’s internationally recognized government told AFP on
Wednesday that the Houthi militia was working with Iran to charge ships to
transit the Red Sea, threatening another waterway after Tehran’s blockade of the
Strait of Hormuz. The Red Sea’s narrow maritime artery has been a critical route
for delivering crude to the international market after Iranian attacks and
threats choked off energy exports via Hormuz. Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani
told AFP that the move was “a dangerous escalation aimed at transforming one of
the world’s most strategic maritime corridors into a permanent source of funding
for the militia’s military and terrorist activities.”Al-Eryani said the
assessment was provided by recently obtained “confirmed intelligence” indicating
that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is helping manage the effort. “The
intelligence indicates that IRGC experts and advisers are directly involved in
designing the technical and administrative framework of the project,” al-Eryani
added. He said this would include “the establishment of a dedicated entity
responsible for collecting payments from shipping companies and commercial
vessels.”The fate of Hormuz continues to be a sticking point between the United
States and Iran. Tehran insists on its right to collect tolls for ships to use
the waterway, which previously carried one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and
liquefied natural gas. Anxieties are growing that the Houthis are hoping to copy
Iran’s playbook in Hormuz by monetizing access to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait at
the mouth of the Red Sea – a move likely to send world energy markets into
further disarray.Houthi attacks on Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf
of Aden caused cargo volumes to plunge during the Gaza war, with ships forced
into a lengthy detour around southern Africa. With AFP
UN: West Bank Violence, Annexation 'Only Getting Worse'
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Two years after the International Court of Justice said Israel's occupation of
the West Bank was unlawful, settler violence and territorial annexation is "only
getting worse,” the UN said Wednesday. "With attacks by Israeli settlers, and
the creation of settlements and outposts, hitting an all-time high, third states
must act urgently and in unison to halt the continuing killing and dispossession
of the Palestinian people, and to bring an end to the Israeli occupation," UN
human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement. A senior
UN official also expressed alarm Tuesday at the "rapidly deteriorating"
situation in the West Bank, denouncing the escalation of violence, particularly
by Israeli settlers against Palestinians. "In the past week, the escalating
violence in the West Bank has resulted in civilian casualties, displacement,
damage to property, and growing insecurity across affected communities," Ramiz
Alakbarov, the UN's deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace
process, told the Security Council. "Israeli settler attacks against Palestinian
communities, homes, places of worship and civilian infrastructure have persisted
at alarming levels," he said.
Israel Police Arrest Suspect Seen Attacking Palestinians
While in Military Uniform
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Israeli police on Wednesday said they arrested an Israeli settler suspected of
violently assaulting Palestinians in the occupied West Bank while wearing
military uniform in June. The attack took place on June 6 in the Palestinian
town of Huwara in the northern West Bank, amid surging settler violence against
Palestinians in the territory. Footage from the scene, published by Israeli
media, shows multiple assailants pushing two Palestinians to the ground and
physically assaulting them. One of the attackers, wearing military uniform, can
be seen repeatedly punching a Palestinian lying on the floor. "The suspect who
was seen in the recordings wearing military uniform during the assault and who
had been on the run over the past month has been arrested," police said in a
statement. It added that during the attack, the suspect was "equipped with
Israeli military gear, including an M16 rifle and a handgun, and apparently
violently assaulted Palestinians, some of whom required medical treatment in
hospital".Police said the suspect was identified as a man in his 20s who is a
resident of an Israeli settlement in the West Bank and a member of a rapid
response squad -- armed civilian units providing security for settlements. In a
second statement, the police clarified that the suspect was not an active-duty
soldier. It said that several suspects had already been arrested as part of the
investigation into the incident and an indictment had been filed against one
person involved in the assault. Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, around three
million Palestinians live in the West Bank alongside more than 500,000 Israelis
residing in settlements that are illegal under international law. Violence in
the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has surged since the Gaza
war began with Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Since then, at least
1,097 Palestinians, including fighters, have been killed by Israeli troops or
settlers, according to Palestinian figures. Official Israeli data shows that at
least 48 Israelis, both civilians and security personnel, have been killed in
attacks by Palestinians or during Israeli military operations.
Egyptian Source Denies New Gas Deal with Israel
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
An Egyptian government source has denied reports that Egypt has signed a new
natural gas deal with Israel, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that recent claims of a
potential $20 billion agreement are “incorrect.”The denial follows a report
published on July 24 by the energy industry newsletter Middle East Economic
Survey (MEES), which said that Israel’s Isramco and the UAE’s Mubadala Energy
had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an Egyptian
importer to export natural gas from Israel’s Tamar field. According to the
report, the proposed agreement could cover exports of up to 80 billion cubic
meters of gas from the Tamar field, with an estimated value of $20 billion. It
also said Chevron, the US operator of the field, is expected to join the
agreement alongside other Israeli companies. The Egyptian official, who spoke to
Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, said the Ministry of Petroleum and
Mineral Resources would issue a detailed statement clarifying reports circulated
by Arab and local media about the alleged deal. MEES said the MoU would
initially cover the period 2031–2038, with an automatic extension through 2043
if the Tamar production license is renewed, a step the publication described as
largely procedural. The newsletter added that the memorandum remains non-binding
and would require a final agreement, approval from the Israeli government, and
export licenses issued under Israeli law before it could take effect. Egypt and
Israel signed their first agreement for the supply of Israeli natural gas in
February 2018, covering 32 billion cubic meters valued at an estimated $7.5
billion. The deal was amended in October 2019, reducing the volume to 25.3
billion cubic meters over 14 and a half years, with deliveries beginning in the
second half of 2020. In December last year, Israel concluded its largest-ever
gas agreement with Egypt, worth up to $35 billion, to export natural gas over a
15-year period. Under the deal, 130 billion cubic meters of gas will be supplied
from the Leviathan field, whose reserves are estimated at around 600 billion
cubic meters. Egypt and Israel have maintained gas cooperation for years. Egypt
first agreed to export gas to Israel through the Arish-Ashkelon pipeline in
2005, but supplies were suspended in 2012 after repeated attacks on the pipeline
in Sinai. Gas flows between the two countries resumed in 2020. The two
countries’ shared border and geographic proximity have given their gas
partnership a competitive advantage. In September last year, Egyptian Petroleum
Minister Karim Badawi said Israeli gas was “cheaper than gas imported from other
regions.”Despite tensions since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023,
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said last August that commercial gas
agreements with Israel would not affect Egypt’s position on the Palestinian
issue. Egypt’s imports of Israeli gas rose 30.5 percent year on year in May
2026, reaching their highest level in more than a year, according to data
published by the Energy Research Unit.
Egypt imported about 1.1 billion cubic feet per day - equivalent to a monthly
total of 933 million cubic meters -compared with 843 million cubic feet per day
(740 million cubic meters) in May 2025. Israeli gas flows to Egypt gradually
returned to normal beginning in April, following the sharp decline recorded in
March as a result of regional tensions stemming from the Iran war.
Palestinian Authority Floats Launching Petrol Company to
Tackle Fuel Crisis
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Palestinian Finance Minister Estaphan Salameh on Wednesday floated a slate of
proposals to deal with a severe fuel crisis in the occupied West Bank, including
the creation of a public petrol company. For nearly two weeks, scenes of cars
lined up at petrol stations have become ubiquitous throughout the West Bank, as
stations struggle to provide the three million liters of fuel that the
Palestinian territory consumes daily. AFP journalists have reported Palestinians
filling up water bottles in order to get stranded, out-of-gas cars moving again.
Shared taxis, which effectively serve as the West Bank's public transportation
system, have threatened to stop operations altogether. "What is being proposed
is a government-owned company that is fully owned by the state," Salameh told
reporters in Ramallah on Wednesday. Salameh said he had met with Palestinian
industry leaders earlier on Wednesday to discuss reforming the Petroleum
Authority, the body currently in charge of regulating the industry as well as
purchasing and transporting fuel. By keeping regulation with the Petroleum
Authority and creating a new public company in charge of purchasing and
transportation, the government could be more agile in future crises, he said.
The West Bank imports all its oil from Israel, sometimes legally, sometimes
smuggled. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. "There is certainly some
smuggling, but we still don't know its exact scale," Salameh said, adding that
the current fuel crisis had also led to stockpiling and a black market for
petrol. Salameh also said he encouraged Palestinians to pay for gas digitally
rather than in cash. The West Bank lacks a sovereign currency and mostly relies
on the Israeli shekel, but in recent months Israel has refused to accept cash
from the West Bank, causing companies including those importing fuel to be short
on digital money for payments. The shekel issue is one facet of the financial
crisis that the West Bank has faced in recent years. Another is that Israel has
not transferred tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority,
which has not been able to fully pay its civil servants in months. Palestinian
businessman Samir Hullileh said the PA's fiscal woes were the true reason for
the ongoing fuel crisis. "The government has spent the money of the authority
that is responsible for purchasing fuel" and used it for its expenditures, he
said. Hullileh told AFP he did not believe a public petrol company would solve
the current fuel crisis or possible future ones. "The private sector rejected
the idea, but there was no public discussion."
Boeings Identified in Carrying Weapons for Sudan’s RSF, UN
Experts Find
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
United Nations experts have found that Boeing 727s linked by Reuters to a US
military contractor's business network transported mercenaries, weapons and
drones for Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, according to a draft UN report due to
be published in September.
The findings provide additional important details about the role the aircraft
played in supporting the RSF, the paramilitary force UN investigators have
accused of committing genocide in Sudan's Darfur region. "The Panel received
reliable information from four sources that the aircraft had transported RSF
fighters and mercenaries, as well as military equipment, including drones and
weapons," the report said. It cited two eyewitnesses in Nyala, the RSF's main
military and logistics hub in Darfur, and communications from two member states
as sources of the information, without giving further details. A Reuters
investigation published on July 15 traced three aging Boeing aircraft operated
by companies linked to Steven Shaulis, a former US Army Special Forces soldier
and longtime US government contractor, from an airport in Chad to logistics hubs
used by the RSF in Sudan, Libya and Somalia. Reuters reported that one of the
planes – a Boeing 737 – had RSF fighters onboard when it was destroyed in May
2025, but much remained a mystery about the planes' cargo.The news agency found
no evidence that Shaulis or his companies had been sanctioned or accused of
wrongdoing by authorities. Shaulis did not respond to questions about the UN
report. He previously declined to answer queries about his companies or the
Boeing planes. The RSF did not respond to comment requests. The UN report
reviewed by Reuters was compiled by the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, a group
mandated by the Security Council to monitor an arms embargo imposed on Darfur in
2004. The draft report has been submitted to the Security Council for review
ahead of publication. Sudan's civil war started in 2023 when leaders of the army
and the RSF fell out over plans to integrate their forces during a failed
transition to civilian government. The death toll since is estimated in the
hundreds of thousands and the fighting has worsened famine and disease, creating
what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
'DELIBERATE STEPS TO AVOID DETECTION'
The planes identified by the UN were among the ones Reuters linked to RSF hubs.
The UN report said three 727s – one sold in Brazil to a Shaulis-linked company
and two acquired from Michigan-based Kalitta Charters II – appeared in Chad from
November 2024 and operated out of the military apron of N'Djamena's airport.
Kalitta's attorney told Reuters the company had carried out extensive due
diligence before the planes were sold and no sanctions violations were flagged.
The UN panel said no movement by any of the three planes had been logged since
they arrived in N'Djamena, adding that it suspected the Boeings were taking
"deliberate steps to avoid detection while in flight", without providing further
details.The report said that between January and July 2026, multiple Boeing
727s and some Ilyushin II-76 transport planes landed in Nyala at night. Reuters
tracked the movement of the Boeings from N'Djamena to RSF hubs in Libya and
Sudan using satellite imagery, cell phone data and an open-source video, but
also found no record of the flights on independent trackers that monitor the
signals aircraft normally broadcast while in the air. A satellite image shows a
Boeing 727 (MSN 21951), which Reuters found to be linked to companies controlled
by a US veteran and part of a network identified by United Nations experts as
transporting mercenaries, weapons and drones for Sudan's Rapid Support Forces,
on the airport runway in Kufrah, Libya, June 10, 2025. (Vantor/Handout via
Reuters)."The RSF utilized the N'Djamena-Nyala air corridor to transport
fighters, foreign mercenaries, and military equipment, including drones and
weapons, into Darfur," the UN report stated. Shaulis and business partner Craig
Munro are joint owners of Contractor Airways, the South African company that
bought two of the 727s from Kalitta, according to records reviewed by Reuters.
Munro told Reuters previously that Contractor Airways had never had any
connection to the RSF. Reuters findings that the aircraft had landed in Nyala
and Kufrah in Libya, he said, were "to the best of our knowledge, false". Chad's
Civil Aviation Authority said none of the Boeings had authorization to operate
from Chad, emphasizing that it did not manage military aviation nor provide
services responsible for tracking flight movements. Foreign Minister Abdoulaye
Sabre Fadoul has said questions about the planes were subject to defense
secrecy, adding that Chad's only involvement in Sudan's war was through
"diplomatic efforts to restore peace".
COLOMBIAN MERCENARIES
The panel's findings are part of a broader investigation into violations of the
22-year-old arms embargo on Darfur. Beyond the findings about the Boeing 727s,
UN investigators also detailed the scale of the support provided to the RSF by
Colombian mercenaries, saying estimates of 1,500-2,000 men were credible. The
Colombian mercenaries – known as the Desert Wolves – set up a base in Nyala in
March 2025 as they fought alongside RSF forces, operating drones and
participating in planning during the siege and ultimate capture of the Darfur
city of al-Fashir in October 2025, the report said. Unarmed men were gunned down
in their hundreds, women raped, and children abducted during the RSF assault on
al-Fashir last year, in violence the UN has previously said amounted to
genocide. Colombia's foreign ministry did not respond to queries. Colombia's
government has previously apologized to Sudan for the presence of Colombian
mercenaries in the country. Reuters was unable to contact representatives for
the Desert Wolves.
Houthi Ties with Iraqi Factions Deepen into Operational
Alliance
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Ties between Yemen’s Houthi militia and Iran-aligned Iraqi armed factions have
steadily deepened in recent years, evolving from political and media
coordination into an operational partnership spanning military, logistical, and
intelligence activities. The cooperation forms part of the Iran-led “Axis of
Resistance”. Observers said the shift has allowed the Houthis to expand their
military network and tap the expertise and capabilities of Iraqi factions. Iraq,
meanwhile, has become a key arena for coordination among members of the Iranian
alliance on missiles, drones, and logistical support. Security information
indicates that Houthi activity in Iraq is no longer confined to political or
media representation. It now includes coordination centers and field operations
conducted in coordination with influential Iraqi factions, indicating a more
advanced level of integration. Field reports show that the Houthi mission has
reorganized its presence in Iraq in recent years, leaving its public offices in
Baghdad and relocating to more secure areas, particularly the Babil province,
which is now a main hub for their activities. Informed sources said the Houthi
group operates from Jurf al-Sakhar in northwestern Babil, one of the most
prominent strongholds of Iran-aligned armed factions. The area offers a
favorable setting for logistical and training activities and lies close to major
supply routes. Houthi personnel move under the protection of powerful Iraqi
factions, the sources said, using their security capabilities and logistical
networks to transfer personnel and equipment between provinces. That support
gives the group greater freedom to manage its activities in Iraq. The
cooperation includes shared facilities, exchanges of field intelligence,
transportation and operational support, strengthening the Houthis’ ability to
operate beyond Yemen.
A multi-role leadership structure
Yemeni and Iraqi sources said the Houthis run their activities in Iraq through a
structured network with clearly divided roles covering relations with armed
factions and military, financial and ideological affairs. Abu Idris al-Sharafi
heads the Houthi mission in Iraq. He manages relations with Iraqi faction
leaders, coordinates with the Popular Mobilization Forces and oversees the
group’s broader activities in the country. Abu Ali al-Ezzi is among the group’s
most prominent military experts. He has been tasked with developing and managing
drone programs, overseeing training and the transfer of technical expertise, and
helping coordinate drone-related operations. Fadl al-Sharafi manages the
mission’s finances and oversees fundraising through charitable fronts, according
to the sources. These include the Al-Muwatin Charitable Foundation in Najaf.
Abdulmalik Murtada, also known as Abu Talib, previously represented the group to
the Syrian regime. He now manages supply routes and coordinates logistics
between different arenas. The sources also identified a security official known
as Abu Hiba, who handles intelligence and security files. His identity and
movements remain tightly guarded. Observers said the division of
responsibilities shows how the Houthi presence in Iraq has evolved from a
limited operation into a more cohesive structure. Its political, military,
financial and security roles are clearly defined, making it easier to coordinate
with Iraqi armed factions and expand cooperation. Iraqi sources also said
figures linked to the Houthis have for years been involved in suspicious
financial and commercial activities widely believed to serve as fronts for money
laundering and financing the group’s operations in Yemen and the wider
region.The businesses include restaurants, currency exchange offices, transport
companies and shipping firms, according to the sources.
Military expertise moves both ways
Experts said the exchange of military expertise is one of the most important
pillars of cooperation between the Houthis and Iraqi factions, particularly in
drones and long-range missiles, now key weapons in regional conflicts. Years of
war in Yemen have given the Houthis extensive experience in operating drones and
refining how they are used. The Iraqi factions, in turn, provide logistical
infrastructure, deployment bases, weapons depots and support networks that help
sustain and expand such activity. Assessments also indicate continued
coordination in training and operational planning, enabling both sides to
exchange technical expertise and develop attack tactics. That cooperation has
strengthened coordination among alliance members across several arenas.
Observers noted that the military integration is one of the clearest signs of
the alliance between the Houthis and Iraqi factions. Their relationship has
moved beyond mutual support towards an operational system built around shared
objectives, they added.The widening cooperation between the Houthis and Iraqi
armed militias has raised growing concern among regional countries, particularly
amid repeated accusations that Iraqi territory is being used for activities
linked to regional conflicts. The relationship poses a difficult challenge for
the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi as it seeks to bring weapons
under state control and prevent Iraq from being drawn into foreign conflicts.
Canada Condemns West Bank Violence, Demands End to Israeli
Settlement Growth
Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Canada on Wednesday condemned worsening violence by Israeli settlers in the
occupied West Bank and demanded a halt to the expansion of Israeli settlements
there. According to United Nations figures, 18 Palestinians have been killed
in incidents linked to settler attacks so far this year, compared with 17 in
the whole of 2025. "Canada condemns the ongoing violence in the West Bank.
The expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank must stop. These
settlements are illegal under international law," the foreign ministry said in a
post on X.
Investigators find apparent claim of responsibility
after Berlin Pride attack
Associated Press/July 29/2026
Investigators have found what appears to be a claim of responsibility by the
suspect in the fatal attack near Berlin's Pride festival, German authorities
said Tuesday. The 21-year-old suspect, Abdul Rahman Ballout, was killed in a
confrontation with police on Sunday, the day after investigators say he drove a
van into a crowd near the festival's closing party before apparently cutting
others with a machete. A Polish woman was killed and 31 other people injured.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said investigators were evaluating a
cellphone that was found in the van. He said they have found a possible video
claim of responsibility and that the person in the video, who is disguised, is
believed to be the suspect. The German federal prosecutor's office confirmed the
existence of the video announcing the intention to carry out an attack and
pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group. The Bild daily first reported on
the video. Dobrindt said other evidence was found at an apartment, and there
were "references" to IS. He didn't elaborate. Berlin prosecutors have said
Ballout, who was born in Germany and has Lebanese roots, traveled to Lebanon in
2025 with the goal of going to Syria to join IS. He made contact with several
people who were presumed members. Questions have mounted over how the suspect
was able to move freely despite a conviction for actions including his attempted
links to IS. Dobrindt said people who have been identified as dangerous
shouldn't be released on suspended sentences and it's "dubious" to use juvenile
law in their cases, as it was in Ballout's. He said ankle bracelets should be
used to limit their movement, but he emphasized that there is no such thing as
"absolute security."
Turkey’s Erdogan says PKK-related bill to be sent to
parliament within days
Reuters/29 July ,2026
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that legislation related to the
disbandment of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group would
be submitted to parliament “in the coming days.”The PKK, which waged a
decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is designated a terrorist
group by Ankara and its Western allies, decided in May 2025 to disarm and
disband, after an appeal from its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan. Erdogan was
speaking after a cabinet meeting.
The Latest LCCC analysis & editorials from
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Countering Hezbollah Could Bring Syria and Israel Closer
Ahmad Sharawi/FDD-Policy Brief/July 29/2026
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/07/28/countering-hezbollah-could-bring-syria-and-israel-closer/
“Syria is seeking a security agreement with Israel,” Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa
said in an interview with the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera on July 26. A successful
agreement, he added, could “pave the way for comprehensive peace without
compromising Syria’s right to the Golan Heights.”
Such an agreement could help break the stalemate between the two countries,
which have held several rounds of negotiations over the past year. The most
notable produced a deconfliction mechanism in January. Still, a more formal
security framework could enable both sides to confront shared threats,
particularly Iran and its proxies, which have long used Syrian territory to
rearm and plan attacks against Israel. Effective implementation could also
provide a measurable test of cooperation and serve as a confidence-building step
toward eventual normalization. Yet serious obstacles remain to both a security
agreement and normalization.
Syria and Israel’s Interest in Countering Hezbollah
The Iran-backed group Hezbollah helped sustain former dictator Bashar al-Assad’s
regime during the civil war and used Syrian territory as a corridor to move
weapons into Lebanon. Most of Hezbollah’s forces withdrew after Assad’s fall,
but its smuggling networks and ambitions remain.
To date, Damascus has shown that it is willing to confront Hezbollah’s presence
in Syria. Authorities have intercepted thousands of weapons and rockets bound
for Hezbollah. These operations have earned Damascus the support of both
Washington and Jerusalem. Syria has also disrupted attacks against Israel. In
April, the Interior Ministry announced that it had foiled a Hezbollah plot in
Quneitra near the Israeli-Syrian border. This was an example of convergence
between Israeli and Syrian interests. The Syrians do not want their territory
being used as a launchpad for attacks against neighboring states, and Israel
wants to secure its border.
Obstacles to a Closer Syria-Israel Relationship
The shared interest in countering Hezbollah has not been enough to bring Israel
and Syria into an agreement. Since Assad’s fall, Washington has pushed the two
countries toward closer cooperation, but those efforts “have stalled,” according
to Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.
For Syria, the main obstacle is Israel’s continued military presence in southern
Syria. Sharaa has raised the issue directly with U.S. President Donald Trump,
who has urged Israel to withdraw. Damascus also objects to Israel’s support for
Druze factions in the southern province of Suwayda, where these factions have
intensified their calls for autonomy since the July 2025 massacre. The fighting,
involving government forces and pro-Damascus Bedouin tribes, killed roughly
1,700 people, most of them Druze. Damascus views Israel’s backing of Druze
groups as support for fracturing the Syrian state.
Israel, meanwhile, remains deeply suspicious of Sharaa and his government. His
militant past as a leader in Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, his ties to Turkey,
which Israel views as a rival, and the integration of Turkish-backed factions
into the Syrian army have reinforced concerns about his government’s intentions.
Senior Israeli politicians have also described the leadership in Damascus as
“jihadists in a suit.”
These disputes have produced a stalemate. Yet Sharaa’s July 26 remarks are more
conciliatory than Damascus’s recent rhetoric and may signal an opening.
Washington Should Bring Syria and Israel Into a Formal Security Framework
U.S.-mediated mechanisms have helped manage friction and prevent escalation
between Israel and Syria. As Washington searches for solutions to dealing with
Hezbollah, it should work to build trust and cooperation between the two
countries. Damascus has a clear interest in weakening Hezbollah. Cutting the
group’s supply corridor through Syria would strengthen Israel’s long-term
security by closing a critical lifeline for Hezbollah’s survival.
Comprehensive normalization may remain distant, but joint efforts against a
shared adversary offer a realistic starting point. Such cooperation could build
confidence and lay the groundwork for peace negotiations between Damascus and
Jerusalem.
**Ahmad Sharawi is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from Ahmad and FDD, please subscribe HERE.
Follow FDD on X @FDD. Follow Ahmad on X @AhmadA_Sharawi. FDD is a Washington,
DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and
foreign policy.
The Curse of the Militias
Dr. Abdel Monem Said/Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
In searching for the roots of the tragedies Arabs are now enduring amid the
region's overlapping wars, attention turns again and again to the militias
ravaging the area. Their leaders share distinctive traits that betray
considerable brutality, cloaked in conduct whose religious basis is
questionable. These militias usually emerge from within sects and groups that
believe they have been denied the national share they deserve, whether they form
a majority or a minority. In every case, they have resolved to seize that share
of power by force of arms.
The present examples — Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Popular Mobilization Forces in
Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen — show groups that have appointed themselves to
represent their countries, the Arab nation, and the Islamic community in waging
war on colonialism and "resisting" Israel, without a mandate from the people or
any legitimate authority — save the self-granted license of those determined to
exploit every sacred slogan in order to plunge into destructive wars.
Hamas has carved out a special status of its own, claiming the right to maintain
relations with Israel through which it obtains the assistance that lets it split
the Gaza Strip off from the Palestinian National Authority even before a
Palestinian state has been established in the first place. The founding
principle of every militia is to divide both the land and legitimate authority.
Lebanon's Hezbollah relished its role as the "blocking third," which stops the
government from taking decisions, including those needed to meet its
constitutional obligations. All these groups pursue a scorched-earth policy that
leaves the people of their countries no choice but to surrender everything bound
up with power, decisions of war and peace included.
A permanent divide separates the militias from the nation-state, with its
sovereignty and its legitimate right to a monopoly over arms. The matter has
turned into a bargaining process dressed up as a way out of a tragic reality:
the militias' surrender of their weapons is treated as demanding an arduous,
drawn-out negotiation that only adds to the toll of dead and displaced. At times
it reaches the point where the intervention of major powers is needed merely to
free a single prisoner, much as with organized criminal gangs.
The present configuration in the Arab region — the state, its authority, and its
army on one side, the militias on the other — has made the Arab world hostage to
forces that know nothing of the "national project" the Arab states are pursuing
in their bid to catch up with the modern world. Ideologically, these forces are
a blend of religion, sectarianism, and doctrines of left and right, adopting
whatever serves a militia's capacity to subjugate the rest of the population, so
long as it is left free to wage its endless wars.
The leading, mature Arab states — those with comprehensive national projects for
advancement and growth — must, in these complex times, build into their strategy
for confronting the turmoil a recognition that the militias are a significant
component of the ongoing war. Like Israel and Iran, they play a part in
reshaping the region through vast chaos, destruction, and bloodshed. Arab states
that have known neither militias nor civil war must strip such groups of any
legitimacy outside the framework of the nation-state. The threats the militias
pose to the legitimate authorities in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, and Palestine
rest on mutual "support." On many occasions these groups have carried out
support strikes on Iran's behalf during its running confrontation with the Arab
Gulf states.
More recently, the Houthis have grown reckless enough to threaten ships
belonging to Saudi Arabia and to try to control the Bab el-Mandeb Strait,
following Iran's example in the Strait of Hormuz, while disrupting international
trade across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
It is no coincidence that these militias keep close ties with organizations of
political and religious extremism, from al-Qaeda and ISIS to the Muslim
Brotherhood and its affiliates. The destabilization of the Arab states named
above makes it essential to give full backing to the nation-states working to
protect themselves and to contribute to regional stability. The legitimate
authorities in Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon that are defending the nation-state need
not only political, economic, and military support, but also help in the current
intellectual struggle against the groups and militias that exploit, blackmail,
and threaten them by word and by weapon alike.
Who Is Shaping the Next International Order?
Jumah Boukleb/Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Imagine walking into a job interview and finding that the person sizing you up
is not a person at all, but an artificial intelligence system. Or picture a taxi
driver in Beijing or Shanghai who wakes each morning fearing for his livelihood
because, by media accounts, the authorities have licensed several companies to
run self-driving cabs — one worry now shared by tens of thousands of drivers. In
South Korea, some shops and cafes are reportedly staffed by robots. Ukraine has
sent armed ground robots to the front against Russian forces. And the Financial
Times recently reported that US technology firms have shed close to 140,000 jobs
since the start of the year. These are not scenes from a science fiction movie.
They are happening now, and at a pace fast enough to leave many people deeply
uneasy. Some call them, half-joking, "signs of the end times"; they are better
understood as the markers of a new historical phase. Humanity is being propelled
forward at a speed that unsettles many and saddens others, who fear being pushed
aside and stripped of their livelihoods. At the heart of it is a rapid transfer
of both earning power and control from human hands to algorithms. And this shift
has a second, more dangerous face: most of the global technology giants driving
the revolution are clustered in a handful of powerful states, chiefly the United
States and China. These companies are unlikely to stay penned for long inside
their offices and laboratories, absorbed in their projects and their profits. As
they grow more conscious of their own power, they will grow hungrier to extend
their political and economic reach across the world to guard their interests —
and, through that reach, to claim a hand in writing the rules of whatever
international order comes next, on terms that serve them.
To some observers, though, none of this threatens the existence of the state or
signals the end of its role. States still hold powers that are theirs by nature:
to legislate, to tax, to restrict exports. One of the clearest recent instances
is Washington's curb on exporting certain sensitive technologies to China. It
confirms that, for all the talk of the corporations' rise, the state can still
assert its authority the moment it judges its national security at stake.
What is taking shape, then, is not the swapping of one authority for another. It
is better described as a new and intricate balance of power between the state
and the widening grip of the technology companies across nearly every domain of
life.
The crisis works on two linked levels. The first is individual: the risk that a
person may be sidelined and lose his livelihood overnight. The second is
international: a fierce contest among the major powers to command technology in
the pursuit of influence and dominance. The two are tightly bound, because the
well-being of stable societies rests directly on the availability of work and on
holding unemployment down, with all the social dangers a rise would bring.
Yet the picture is not wholly bleak. The same revolution may also answer a
demographic bind facing much of Europe and Asia: aging populations, falling
birth rates, and the political barriers hastily raised to keep immigration from
filling the resulting labor gap. Seen from that angle, technology is not a pure
threat. It may be exactly what these societies need to keep their economies
running. The real question is not whether the transformation can be stopped.
Stopping it is all but impossible and would do harm besides. The real question
is how to manage the transition smoothly, at the least possible cost. Three
paths, to my mind, deserve pride of place in the attention and priorities of
decision-makers. The first, and most important, is to redefine what work means,
through serious investment in retraining the workers whose jobs are most
exposed.
The second — economists' emphasis — is for states to use their powers of
legislation and taxation not to block technological progress, but to keep its
rewards from pooling in the hands of a few companies, so that some of the gain
flows back to the societies bearing the cost of the change. The third is to
treat digital technology as a partner in development and human progress, and to
recognize what it can do to ease a real crisis: the aging of the workforce in
country after country. Between the individual's fear for his livelihood —
legitimate, and a matter for real concern — the rivalry of states chasing
influence through technological supremacy, and aging societies' hunger for
workers, the equation of the new technological era is coming into focus. Above
all, in the view of those who study it, whoever manages that equation with
awareness and balance will stand the best chance of shaping the features of the
next international order.
Syria Poised for a Major Role
Fayez Sara/Asharq Al Awsat/July 29/2026
Syria's foreign relations may be in better shape today than at any point in
decades. It has shown in its dealings with its neighbors, and in a shared push
by nearly every state in the region, except Israel, toward a future of
cooperation rather than the old inheritance of meddling, plotting, and
grievances that has for so long defined how these countries treat one another.
The Assad family, which ruled Syria from 1970 to 2024, bears the greatest share
of the blame, nowhere more than in three arenas: Lebanon, the Palestinians, and
Iraq.
Israel stands alone in resisting the effort to build something more cooperative.
Its opposition flows first from the nature of the Israeli state itself, and it
has been sharpened by the rise of the hardliners around Benjamin Netanyahu.
Driven by a mix of ideology and political calculations, he has escalated
Israel's longstanding aggression, now invoking the war against Iran and its
militias as fresh justification. The result is a set of policies squarely at
odds with the mood taking shape around Syria and across the region - a mood that
wants to move from an age of conflict toward one of cooperation, or at least to
say so out loud. Under the new government, Syria has begun to chart a different
course. It has turned hostility into friendship with Türkiye - the northern
neighbor the Assad regime treated as an enemy, even as Ankara kept trying to
open a new track with Damascus. It has refused to be baited by the militias; it
has gone further still, declaring that it wants peaceful, mutually beneficial
relations with Iraq. The approach to Lebanon has been much the same. Lebanese
governments once looked the other way while Hezbollah and other groups
intervened and committed crimes in Syria during the years of the uprising. Even
so, Damascus has moved to resolve a number of outstanding issues, among them the
fate of Lebanese detainees held in Syria, while insisting publicly that it will
not interfere in Lebanon's affairs and wants sound official relations built on
common interest. The Syrian foreign minister's recent visit to Beirut, where he
met a wide range of Lebanese leaders and public figures, captured the substance
of that new policy.
Taken together, these are real shifts in how Damascus treats its neighbors, and
they have been reinforced from outside. Regional and international efforts have
brightened the prospects both for Syria's recovery and for a new Syrian role in
the region.
Saudi Arabia has led the way. Its initiatives helped soften Western positions,
above all Washington's, whose backing has been decisive in clearing a path for
Syria to return as an active presence in the eastern Mediterranean. That has
become especially clear since sanctions were lifted and Syria began normalizing
relations with its neighbors and the wider world and considerable ground has
already been covered on both fronts.
All of this - the change in Syrian policy, the practical and administrative
steps that go with it, and the parallel moves made regionally and
internationally - is bound to reshape Syria's standing on two levels.
The first is bilateral: Syria's ties with other states, especially those on its
borders. These relationships matter not only for the two parties to each of
them, but because they knit together countries that share the same neighborhood
- better transport links between Syria and Lebanon, water-sharing arrangements
with Türkiye, comparable understandings with Iraq.
The second level is larger, reaching well beyond the eastern Mediterranean: gas
and oil pipelines, rail connections, supply routes for goods, networks for
moving people. Projects like these have become essential to the region in the
aftermath of the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Between the demands of its immediate neighbors and these wider needs, Syria now
finds itself well placed, with a major role to play today and in the years
ahead.
None of it, though, will come without a serious, practical response from the
Syrian state and Syrian society and, before that, from preparation: building the
right institutions and structures, and cooperating openly in every direction and
at every level. Above all, it will mean readying Syrians themselves to take up a
role this large.
Israel: The World's Heroic Scapegoat
Nils A. Haug/Gatestone Institute/July 29/2026
Israel is continually falsely accused -- often by countries committing enormous
war crimes -- of being a "settler-colonialist" nation, of practicing apartheid,
and of genocide against Palestinians. It is excoriated in the United Nations, in
European parliaments, by the international media, and by so-called human rights
groups. None of the allegations against it are true. They cannot even be
substantiated with facts or evidence. Not that this matters much to those
determined to express their Jew-hate, even if under the guise of "social
justice" or other fatuous constructs.
It was betrayed even before the start by Britain, which, at the 1921 Cairo
Conference, divided the territory of the Mandate for Palestine in two: 22% for
the Jews and 78% for the Hashemite kingdom of King Abdullah (now Jordan).
According to Jonathan Tobin, "[Vance] warned them that they had no recourse but
to accept whatever Trump did..." It is a blessing that we have all had a chance
to see who he is now, along with his disastrous Islamabad Memorandum of
Understanding with Iran, rather than just before a possible run for president in
2028. Israel is a sovereign nation, entitled to defend its borders and people
without permission from anyone.
Yesterday, Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in
Washington, DC. It will be interesting to see what these two undauntable leaders
are cooking up.
In its short history, Israel has shown itself to be beyond heroic in defending
civilization and the West. Netanyahu has duly earned the title "the Churchill of
the Middle East." Israel's cowardly detractors, some of whom refused even to let
the US use their airbases for strikes against Iran, whose ballistic missiles
threaten them, should take the back seat they deserve and pipe down. It is time
for the disparagement to stop.
Why is Israel never allowed to convincingly win wars waged against it? Why is it
that Israel should bleed in self-defense while aggressors can walk away claiming
victory? Why is it that Israel is frequently used by Western nations as a mere
tool for their geopolitical ambitions? And why is it that Israel is blamed when
plans set in motion by allies go awry?
Why is Israel never allowed to convincingly win wars waged against it? Why is it
that Israel should bleed in self-defense while aggressors can walk away claiming
victory? Why is it that Israel is frequently used by Western nations as a mere
tool for their geopolitical ambitions? And why is it that Israel is blamed when
plans set in motion by allies go awry?
The answer, of course, is that Israel is a convenient scapegoat -- one that is
in no position to complain or to sever ties with those claimed allies who
constantly abandon it in pursuit of their own ambitions. Israel is obviously
seen by major Western powers as a rather insignificant nation, one that can be
bullied and manipulated into compliance.
Israel is indeed small, in land area, population and economic power. It does not
have natural resources, except for some gas. In the scheme of things, it is not
viewed as a major player in world events nor of having much political influence.
For the sake of its future, it is seen as desperate to make allies and friends
in an alien world – one that largely despises it for succeeding. Israel is thus
a nation in a world hostile to its existence, and to Jews in general.
Israel is continually falsely accused -- often by countries committing enormous
war crimes -- of being a "settler-colonialist" nation, of practicing apartheid,
and of genocide against Palestinians. It is excoriated in the United Nations, in
European parliaments, by the international media, and by so-called human rights
groups. None of the allegations against it are true. They cannot even be
substantiated with facts or evidence. Not that this matters much to those
determined to express their Jew-hate, even if under the guise of "social
justice" or other fatuous constructs.
History provides the context for this unfair perception. In 1948, as a start-up
nation-state in a largely desert region, with no known oil or gas reserves, low
on money and military power, and with few nations keen to see the Jewish people
re-established in their ancestral homeland, Israel did not have much to bargain
with.
Yet, despite all odds – political, military, economic – and with a few people,
the tiny state survived, albeit facing countless moments of critical danger. It
was betrayed even before the start by Britain, which, at the 1921 Cairo
Conference, divided the territory of the Mandate for Palestine in two: 22% for
the Jews and 78% for the Hashemite kingdom of King Abdullah (now Jordan).
Shortly thereafter, and despite provisions of the Mandate for Palestine, the
British sharply restricted Jewish immigration to the remaining territory before,
during, and even after the horrific events of the Nazi-era, thereby denying them
freedom and safety in their own land.
When Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the nationalization of the
Suez Canal in 1956, Britain and France persuaded Israel to attack Egypt in order
to open the restricted canal, the Straits of Tiran and Gulf of Aqaba. Israel
successfully carried out its operation and, in five days, occupied the Sinai
Peninsula. Under pressure, however, from the US and USSR, the British, without
notifying Israel, declared a cease-fire just as Israel and allied forces were on
their way to achieve total control of all of the Suez Canal and Sinai regions.
Israel had to withdraw without meeting all its objectives -- solely due to
political pressures outside its control. Nasser's Egypt therefore emerged
victorious. This was the last time Israel joined Western powers in battle until
70 years later, when Israel partnered with the US in the still-unfinished Iran
campaign.
Upon suspension of the hostilities with Iran, Israel immediately became target
of the blame, falsely accused of "dragging'' the US into a war with Iran.
Vice-President JD Vance has been quick to criticize Israel repeatedly,
notwithstanding its crucial involvement in the successes of the operation.
According to Jonathan Tobin:
"[Vance] warned them that they had no recourse but to accept whatever Trump did
because 'Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is
sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time, and he happens to be
the head of state of the world's superpower.'"
It is a blessing that we have all had a chance to see who he is now, along with
his disastrous Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, rather than just
before a possible run for president in 2028.
Trump seems desperate to present a successfully concluded diplomatic agreement
to the world and display his mastery of the "art of the deal" – in reality, as
the Iranian regime never complies with agreements, any deal with the current
leaders of the Islamic Republic (the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) will be
a very bad deal for the US, Israel, and the region. Perhaps he hopes for that
elusive Nobel Peace Prize to which he believes he is entitled -- or perhaps he
is genuinely trying to work out his next moves so that Iran, as he repeats,
"cannot have a nuclear weapon."
Now that Iran's negotiators seem to believe they hold the upper hand, given
their attempts to restrict shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, it has become
clear that Iran intends to cause as much chaos as possible.
While Israel was not officially consulted over the negotiations and terms of the
non-binding MOU, the United States, through the superb diplomacy of Secretary of
State Marco Rubio, quietly concluded an exceptional, binding framework deal
between Israel and Lebanon, with the goal of restoring the sovereignty of
Lebanon under its government by ridding the country of Iran's most powerful
terrorist proxy, Hezbollah.
Israel is a sovereign nation, entitled to defend its borders and people without
permission from anyone.Any stalemate that ensues between the US and Iran will
nevertheless likely be falsely blamed on Israel, especially if there is a
failure in any US "peace deal" with Iran.
The question of what may happen to Israel in the future does not seem to be of
major concern to anyone else. After all, Jews have always had to fight their own
battles. This is their destiny, for the people of Israel are to be "a people
dwelling alone, not reckoned among the nations" (Numbers 23:9).
Yesterday, Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in
Washington, DC. It will be interesting to see what these two undauntable leaders
are cooking up.
In its short history, Israel has shown itself to be beyond heroic in defending
civilization and the West. Netanyahu has duly earned the title "the Churchill of
the Middle East." Israel's cowardly detractors, some of whom refused even to let
the US use their airbases for strikes against Iran, whose ballistic missiles
threaten them, should take the back seat they deserve and pipe down. It is time
for the disparagement to stop.
**Nils A. Haug is a lawyer, author and columnist. He is member of the
International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, the Academy
of Philosophy and Letters. Among degrees in Law, Philosophy, and English
Literature, Dr. Haug holds a M.A.in Jewish Studies (cum laude) and Ph.D. in
Apologetical Theology. He is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the
Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life,
Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.' His work has been published by First Things
Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute,
National Association of Scholars, Jewish Journal, James Wilson Institute
(Anchoring Truths), Jewish News Syndicate, Tribune Juive, Document Danmark,
Zwiedzaj Polske, Schlaglicht Israel, and others.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22750/israel-the-world-heroic-scapegoat
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute.
Selected Face Book & X tweets
on 29 July/2026
Tom Harb
The more these taboos are broken, the freer the Lebanese people
become , free from 60 years under Yasser Arafat’s PLO, the Syrian Baathist
regime, and Iran’s Hezbollah terrorist organization. It’s time for Lebanon’s
government to repeal the 1955 law criminalizing contact with Israelis. Lebanon
will be free soon! Thank you, President Trump, and thank you to the brave
Lebanese at home and across the diaspora who never stopped fighting for freedom.
Israel Defense Forces
MOSQUE IN GAZA USED AS A WEAPONS STORAGE FACILITY
The IDF struck & dismantled several Hamas weapons storage facilities in central
and northern Gaza. One of the storage facilities was established inside a
mosque.
The weapons were intended to be used against IDF troops and Israeli civilians,
and were dismantled in order to remove the threat. This is another example of
the systematic exploitation of civilian infrastructure by the terror
organizations in Gaza.
Fox News
https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2082290597147169233/video/1
BREAKING: Netanyahu confirms he's going to New York City.
“First of all I’m going to New York... I'm going to speak the truth in front of
this hate-spewing elected official." Israeli PM Netanyahu's attendance at the
U.N. General Assembly in September was in question after NYC Mayor Zohran
Mamdani threatened to make good on the ICC's arrest warrant on the PM. "He’s
pitting one group of New Yorkers against the others. He’s turning them against
New York Jews. I mean what are we, in the 1930s? So much hate. So many lies”.
ted cruz
Today, at the National Cathedral, we said goodbye to one of my dearest friends.
Lindsey had a way of making everyone around him feel like family. He was
fiercely loyal, endlessly generous, and could always make you laugh, even on the
hardest days.
Some of my favorite memories are the ones away from Washington - in the Middle
East or at conferences in Europe advancing America. He wasn't just a colleague
or mentor. He became part of our family, and we loved every minute spent with
him. We shared a deep love for our country and many of the same convictions, but
what I'll miss most is his friendship. Beyond everything we shared
professionally, I'll miss the friend who always checked in, offered unwavering
support, and treasured the countless conversations on life and family. I'll
spend the rest of my life grateful for his friendship and doing my best to carry
forward the values we believed in together.
Rest easy, my dear friend.