English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News
& Editorials
For June 07/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Those who love
me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and
make our home with them
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John
14/21-27/:”They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me;
and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and
reveal myself to them.’Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that
you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’Jesus answered him, ‘Those
who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to
them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my
words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent
me. ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the
Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you
everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with
you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let
your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
Titles For Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related
News & Editorials published on 06-07 June/2026
Rudolf Heikal's visit to Pakistan: A huge bundle of questions and
doubts/Elias Bejjani/June 06/2026
Aoun's anti Hezbollah stances: it's all just talk/Elias Bejjani/June 05/2026
Elias Bejjani/My audio personal analysis with the Hebrew "Makan" radio station
addressed peace between Lebanon and Israel and Hezbollah's occupation/June
02/2026
The statement of the summit, which was falsely labeled as "spiritual," is
disgraceful, Mullah-like, and cowardly/Elias Bejjani/03 June 2026
A link to a highly important scientific, cultural, and historical interview with
Professor Roula Talhouk, Director of the Institute for Islamic-Christian
Relations at Saint Joseph University.
Pope Leo: The Holy See Continues to Monitor Developments in Lebanon
Courage Speaks./Etienne Saqr - Abu Arz / June 6, 2026
Israel military says struck 150 Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon in 48h
'Analysis: What happens next in Lebanon as Hezbollah rejects ceasefire with
Israel?
Netanyahu Threatens to Destroy Beaufort Castle and Affirms: No Withdrawal from
Southern Lebanon Soon
Israel Denies Halting Infrastructure Destruction in Southern Lebanon… Israeli
Commander: Disarming Hezbollah Requires Occupation of Lebanon!
Israeli Military Commander: Disarming Hezbollah Requires Full Occupation of
Lebanon
Iranian Impudence Without Limits: Araqchi Teaches Aoun How to Protect His
People!
Israeli Targeting of the Army in the South: Presidential Condemnation and Tel
Aviv: The Incident is Under Investigation
Salam Insists on the Monopoly of Weapons... Geagea Calls for Implementation...
and the Process of Operating Quleiat Airport Begins
Aoun Condemns Attack on Army Patrol in Khardali: A Serious Violation of
Sovereignty!
Iranian Foreign Minister Responds to President Aoun: Save Your Country from Your
Real Enemy, Mr. President
Officially by Name: The Army Reveals the Identities of its Three Martyrs After
Israel Targeted Their Vehicle in Khardali!
Israeli Army Justifies Targeting of Lebanese Army Vehicle: Field Suspicion,
Investigation Ongoing
Berri Rejects Occupation Justifications and Offers Condolences to General Haykal:
Targeting Army Vehicle in Khardali Was a Deliberate Crime, Not an Error in
Judgment
European Union: Ceasefire Between Lebanon and Israel an Opportunity for Peace
Moussawi: The Agreement is a Shame and a Surrender
Saudi Arabia condemns ‘Israeli aggression’ against Lebanon
Lebanon to Resolve Single Airport Crisis by Upgrading René Moawad Airport...
Plans to Launch Routes to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Greece in Later Phases
Lebanese Army Commander Visits Pakistan at the Invitation of Asim Munir
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous
Reports And News published
on 06-07 June/2026
In new Gulf flare-up, US attacks Iranian sites after Tehran drone launch
US to make Iranian assets available to Gulf allies to repair damage caused by
Iran, source says
US eyes Iranian assets to help Gulf allies rebuild after months of attacks
Trump says Iran has ‘22 percent’ of missiles left
Hegseth, at D-Day event, says Europe faces ‘invasion’ of dangerous ideologies
Iran accuses US of ‘vindictive behavior’ with visa denials
US denies visas to 15 world cup delegation members: Iran state TV
Kuwait, Bahrain defenses respond to second attack in days amid fragile US-Iran
truce
Kuwait says new Iran attack ‘dangerous escalation’
France, allies eye national measures to pressure Israel over West Bank,
diplomats say
Israeli strike in Gaza kills seven people, including two women, medics say
Titles For The Latest
English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on 06-07 June/2026
Renewing Military Strikes Against Iran Is
the Only Way to End Its Nuclear Ambitions/Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/June
06/2026
Iran's $25 Billion Nuclear Deal with Russia: Iran's IRGC Regime Must be
Removed/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/June 06/2026
More oil escapes Hormuz but market will never return to normal/Ron Bousso/The
Arab Weekly/June 06/2026
A strange War and its Bizarre Coverage/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat /June 06/2026
Can the AI Bomb Be Controlled?/Mishary Dhayidi/Asharq Al-Awsat /June 06/2026
St. Petersburg Forum and the Search for a Stable Future/Emile Ameen/Asharq Al-Awsat
/June 06/2026
Why I Won’t Debate Critics of Israel ...A note to the Making Sense Community/Sam
Harris/Jun 05, 2026
on 06-07 June/2026
Rudolf Heikal's visit to Pakistan: A
huge bundle of questions and doubts
Elias Bejjani/June 06/2026
Rudolf Heikal's surprise visit to
Pakistan to appease Iran and its Hezbollah terrorist gang undermines Aoun's
statements with CNN and raises many doubts and questions.
Aoun's anti Hezbollah stances:
it's all just talk
Elias Bejjani/June 05/2026
Aoun's stances are excellent, but they haven't
translated into action yet. He needs to move from words to deeds, fire his
Hezbollah advisors, purge the army of agents, issue arrest warrants for
Hezbollah leaders, and dismiss the duo's ministers... otherwise, it's all just
talk.
Elias Bejjani/My audio personal analysis
with the Hebrew "Makan" radio station addressed peace between Lebanon and Israel
and Hezbollah's occupation
June 02/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/06/155042/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAyK3MmY45U
Elias Bejjani/My audio intervention
by phone on June 01 with the Hebrew "Makan" radio station, as part of the
"Morning Tour" program, addressed the latest military developments in southern
Lebanon following the Israeli army's liberation of the Beaufort Citadel (Castle
of the High Rocks) from the terrorist and Persian Hezbollah. It also covered my
stance regarding the State of Israel, the aspirations of the majority of
Lebanese for peace with it, ending the state of absurd conflict, closing the
Lebanese arena to the impostors, hypocrites, and merchants of the so-called
"resistance," and achieving salvation from the Iranian occupation.
The statement of the summit,
which was falsely labeled as "spiritual," is disgraceful, Mullah-like, and
cowardly.
This is because it completely ignored the Iranian occupation and
chanted tunes of condemnation solely against the Israeli aggression, while
failing to address the absolute necessity of peace with Israel and putting an
end to the ongoing crime of the so-called “Resistance”. The owners of the robes
and clerical hoods have expired nationally, in faith, and in credibility.
Elias Bejjani/03 June 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/06/155013/
At the bottom of the text of the
spiritual summit's statement, it becomes clearly evident that the owners of the
robes and clerical hoods are deeply mired in the pathology of denial, acting as
driven puppets rather than independent choice-makers. They assembled by a decree
issued by Jumblatt and Berri, and with the blessings of all the owners of local
and proxy partisan corporations—entities entirely devoid of honesty,
credibility, patriotism, and respect.
The primary instigator and convener of this theatrical and farcical summit was
the cunning, flagrant, and adversarial duo (Jumblatt and Berri), who stand as
enemies to Lebanon, the State, and the Constitution. This corrupt and corrupting
duo grew terrified of the humiliatingly low level of popular support they have
reached. Consequently, they sought to resuscitate their popularity by playing on
sectarian strings that no longer resonate with anyone except their own herds,
and the herds of the remaining owners of commercial and dictatorial political
party corporations that have grown addicted to practicing politics under the
umbrellas of various occupations.
Attached to this commentary are the text, video, Arabic, and English versions,
which I had published regarding this summit two days ago.
A link to a highly important
scientific, cultural, and historical interview with Professor Roula Talhouk,
Director of the Institute for Islamic-Christian Relations at Saint Joseph
University.
A detailed discussion with Rami Al-Amin from Al-Hurra TV website about the
Shiites of Lebanon, their history, their relationship with the state, and the
role of Iran and Hezbollah in holding this ancient community hostage to regional
power struggles. June 5, 2026
Interview Summary
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/06/155101/
Transcription, summarization, and editing by Elias Bejjani with extensive use of
artificial intelligence.
The interview revolves around an attempt to understand the evolution of the
political and social identity of the Shiites in Lebanon and their relationship
with the Lebanese state throughout history. It draws on the guest's research
experience, which led her from studying engineering and theology to specializing
in anthropology and the study of Shiite society since 2005. The guest explains
how she entered this field with preconceived notions about a significant
similarity between Shiites and Maronites in terms of their connection to the
land and religious traditions. However, she discovered over time that reality
was far more complex than she had imagined.
From there, she moves on to discuss Shiite history in Lebanon, reviewing some
common narratives about the roots of the Shiite presence and the development of
Shiite communities in Jabal Amel. She argues that many of the prevailing
narratives require historical and academic re-examination, free from sectarian
rhetoric. The interview explores the relationship between the Shia community and
the Lebanese state since its inception. The guest argues that this relationship
was shaped by complex historical circumstances, stemming from the geographical
distance of Shia areas from centers of power and administration, and from the
nature of their traditional society, which was not fully integrated into the
modern concept of the state at the time of the establishment of Greater Lebanon.
From this perspective, she discusses the concept of victimhood in Shia
consciousness, asserting that the tragedy of Karbala has transformed over the
centuries from a religious commemoration into an influential element in shaping
the political identity of many Shia Muslims. She contends that its constant
invocation has played a role in constructing a political discourse based on a
historical sense of persecution.
The interview then shifts to the figure of Imam Musa al-Sadr, whom she considers
a pivotal figure in the history of Lebanese Shia Muslims. She believes he
succeeded in integrating the community into state institutions and granting it
an unprecedented political and organizational presence through the establishment
of the Supreme Islamic Shia Council and the promotion of political
participation. She connects his project to the historical relationship between
Lebanon and Iran, noting that this relationship predates the Iranian Islamic
Revolution by a considerable period. She considers Musa al-Sadr's disappearance
during the civil war a major turning point that paved the way for the rise of
other forces with agendas different from his. In this context, the interview
addresses the emergence of Hezbollah during the Lebanese Civil War and the 1982
Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It argues that regional and domestic circumstances
contributed to the party's rise as a growing military and political force. The
interview also examines the conflict between the Amal Movement and Hezbollah in
the 1980s, noting that this period has faded from public memory despite its
importance in understanding the transformations within the Shia community. The
interview further discusses the Taif Agreement and its resulting strengthening
of the Shia political presence within state institutions. However, it argues
that Hezbollah's continued possession of arms after the civil war created a
political reality distinct from that of other Lebanese forces.
The interview devotes considerable time to the period following 2006. The guest
believes that the July War and its aftermath further solidified Hezbollah's
position within the Shia community and in Lebanese political life in general.
She also discusses the Mar Mikhael Agreement between Hezbollah and the Free
Patriotic Movement, considering it a political alliance that allowed the party
to expand its influence within state institutions. At the same time, she
emphasizes that the Lebanese Shia community cannot be reduced to Hezbollah, and
that within this community there is a great diversity of opinions and political
and intellectual orientations. She notes that there are Shia figures and groups
who oppose or disagree with the party's policies, but they do not always enjoy
the same space in the media and public life. At the end of the interview, the
guest turns to the future of Lebanon and the Shia community within it. She
believes that the fundamental challenge lies in rebuilding the relationship
between citizens and the state on the basis of citizenship and institutions, not
on the basis of armed affiliations or regional axes. She believes that Lebanese
Shia have achieved a broad political and social presence within Lebanon, but the
next phase, in her view, requires strengthening integration within the state and
reducing reliance on the logic of military force. The interview concludes by
stressing the importance of dialogue among the various components of Lebanese
society, and that Lebanon's stability and future are linked to the ability of
all sects to build a shared state that transcends historical and sectarian
divisions.
Key Topics and Themes Covered in the Interview
A comprehensive summary of the interview, separating the guest's opinion from a
description of the topics discussed. The interview is not just a discussion
about Shiites or Hezbollah, but rather an attempt to read the history of
Lebanese Shiites and their relationship with the Lebanese state from an
anthropological and political perspective.
Pope Leo: The Holy See Continues to Monitor Developments in
Lebanon
Al-Markazia/June 6, 2026
His Holiness Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed his closeness to Lebanon and the Holy See's
concern for its situation during a meeting with journalists accompanying him on
the papal plane en route to Madrid, at the start of his apostolic visit to
Spain. In response to journalists' questions, the Pontiff referred to Lebanon,
emphasizing the Holy See's continued monitoring of developments in the country
through ongoing communication with religious and ecclesiastical authorities.
This statement aligns with the Pope's calls for promoting peace and dialogue in
regions suffering from crises and tensions, at a time when the Vatican continues
to closely follow Lebanese affairs and support efforts aimed at consolidating
stability and preserving Lebanon's message of coexistence and dialogue. The
Pope's remarks came during his flight to Madrid, where he met with more than
eighty journalists accompanying him on his fourth apostolic visit, reaffirming
the Church's concern for the issues and suffering of peoples and the necessity
of working for peace and building bridges of dialogue between nations.
Courage Speaks.
Etienne Saqr - Abu Arz / June 6, 2026
The following statement was issued by the Guardians of the Cedars Party, the
Lebanese National Movement: President Aoun's remarks on CNN were characterized
by unprecedented courage. He called things by their names, rejecting Iranian
interference in Lebanese affairs and holding it responsible for the country's
destruction and collapse. The Lebanese people have long awaited such a statement
from the head of state, because speaking the truth is the beginning of
salvation, and courageous stances are the beginning of deliverance. We also note
with satisfaction His Excellency the President's remarks on the necessity of
ending the artificial state of hostility with Israel, a position we have long
advocated, because senseless wars and a culture of hatred have brought nothing
but ruin and disaster to Lebanon. Therefore, we extend our support to President
Joseph Aoun and stand by his side, hoping that he will not back down in the face
of the pressures and challenges that await him, and that he will continue on
this path of sovereignty until the state's sovereignty is fully restored and
weapons are exclusively in the hands of the legitimate Lebanese authorities.
We are at your service, Lebanon.
Israel military says struck 150 Hezbollah targets in south
Lebanon in 48h
AFP/06 June ,2026
Israel’s military on Saturday said it had struck around 150 Hezbollah targets in
southern Lebanon over the past two days. “Over the weekend, the IDF struck
weapons storage facilities, command centers, rocket launchers, and additional
Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites,” the military said in a statement,
adding the sites had been used “to advance and execute terror attacks against
IDF soldiers.”
'Analysis:
What happens next in Lebanon as Hezbollah rejects ceasefire with Israel?
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/June 06, 2026
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Presidential Palace was awaiting the response of Parliament
Speaker Nabih Berri, a close Hezbollah ally, to the ceasefire framework outlined
in Thursday’s joint Lebanese-Israeli declaration issued after a new round of
US-mediated negotiations.
Berri’s reaction was mixed, backing some elements while rejecting others.
In an official statement, he said: “It might have been positive had it included
a comprehensive, unconditional ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from
occupied territories.”
He added: “The agreement is a trap as it was laden with additional conditions,
most notably the requirement of a Hezbollah ceasefire and the evacuation of all
its members from south of the Litani River.”
Caption
At the same time, Berri endorsed “only two fundamental points: First, a complete
and comprehensive ceasefire, without restriction or condition, on land, sea and
air, without bulldozing or demolition.
“And second, a parallel withdrawal of Hezbollah from south of the Litani River
alongside Israel’s withdrawal from the areas it has occupied. “As for the rest
of the text, it is unjust.”
His position echoed that of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who commented publicly
for the first time after Hezbollah rejected the declaration. Salam said: “The
path of negotiation is the least costly option for Lebanon and the shortest
route to securing Israel’s withdrawal and the return of people to their
homes.”He also urged Iran to spare southern Lebanon from becoming a
battleground, saying: “We are the owners of this homeland, and Lebanon is not a
bargaining chip, nor is the south a backup battlefield for anyone.”
FASTFACTS
• Israel and Lebanon agreed during US-mediated June 2-3 talks on a conditional
ceasefire tied to Hezbollah stopping attacks and Israel withdrawing from south
Lebanon.
• A joint statement said both sides would meet again during the week of June 22
for a comprehensive agreement
• Hezbollah dismissed the declaration as a US-backed Lebanese-Israeli
understanding aimed at dismantling its combat capabilities.
Just hours after the declaration was announced, Iran appeared to distance itself
from the initiative.
Esmail Qaani, commander of the country’ Quds Force, spoke before Hezbollah
Secretary-General Naim Qassem’s scheduled address, declaring that “the minimum
demand of the resistance in Lebanon is the withdrawal of the occupying entity to
the pre-war status quo.”
Hezbollah interpreted the declaration as a US-backed Lebanese-Israeli
understanding aimed at dismantling its combat capabilities. Its political
rejection was accompanied by military action, prompting Israel to retaliate and
triggering renewed clashes. The following day, Israel intensified operations in
towns deep inside southern Lebanon. Residents of several villages were ordered
to evacuate ahead of airstrikes that killed and wounded several people,
including a doctor.
The Israeli military said the escalation was a response to “Hezbollah’s
violation of the ceasefire agreement and its targeting of Israel’s home front.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose not to bring the contents of the
declaration before the security cabinet on Thursday evening and did not seek a
vote on a ceasefire.
People carrying belongings flee after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
ordered the military to attack targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut on June
1, 2026. (Reuters)
According to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, Netanyahu said there was currently
no agreement because Hezbollah opposed it, adding that he would present a
proposal for approval only if circumstances changed. The declaration tied a
comprehensive ceasefire to a series of steps by Hezbollah, including its
withdrawal from south of the Litani River, the creation of pilot zones to
establish the state’s exclusive authority, the disarmament of all armed factions
and progress toward a non-aggression agreement. Its language closely mirrors
recent Lebanese government decisions affirming the state’s monopoly on arms and
treating Hezbollah’s military wing as operating outside state authority. Much of
the declaration’s political significance stemmed from its insistence that any
arrangement to end hostilities should be negotiated directly between the
Lebanese and Israeli governments under US sponsorship, rather than through
separate channels. The text also signaled the absence of hostile intent between
the two sides, the continuation of direct talks and movement toward a broader
political settlement. “The Lebanon-Israel declaration is historic — a pathway to
ending 80 years of official enmity. It was also deliberately designed for
Hezbollah to refuse. And its leader obliged on cue,” Firas Maksad, managing
director for the Middle East and North Africa at Eurasia Group, told CNN.
“But de-escalation leading to a ceasefire remains possible. Hezbollah is weak.
Israel has established escalation dominance — seizing strategic territory and
threatening to resume bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs. “The real
watch-point isn’t the rhetoric. It’s whether Hezbollah limits attacks to Israeli
forces inside Lebanon rather than continuing to strike northern Israel.
“Such restraint eases Netanyahu’s domestic pressure — and clears a major
stumbling block in US-Iran negotiations.”
A Lebanese official told Arab News that the presidency had been awaiting Berri’s
position, given his role as the principal channel for communicating Hezbollah’s
views. Neither the presidency nor Berri’s office would confirm whether his
statement represented the party’s official position.
Days earlier, Berri told The New York Times that Hezbollah was open to a genuine
ceasefire and that only US President Donald Trump could compel Israel to honor
one.
Through the US ambassador to Lebanon, Berri reportedly told Washington: “Give me
a ceasefire, and I will handle the rest.” Bilal Abdullah, an MP from the
Progressive Socialist Party bloc, told Arab News that Lebanon was trying to
preserve the US-backed negotiating track and prevent it from becoming entangled
with broader US-Iran talks — leverage that Tehran preferred to retain.
Abdullah described the framework as “the deal that is possible.”
He asked: “What is Hezbollah’s alternative if it rejects the agreement? It is
war.”
“Hezbollah must understand that Lebanon’s capabilities are limited. We hope
reason prevails, that the suffering of the people of the south and the Bekaa is
eased, and that a diplomatic and political solution is reached in the end — for
Lebanon’s sake alone.”
President Joseph Aoun said the declaration, with its provisions favorable to
Lebanon, represented the last opportunity to secure a final and comprehensive
ceasefire. He warned that all parties would bear responsibility if they failed
to respond. “The US will set the timetable and framework for implementing the
ceasefire, which could come into effect within 24 hours of the parties’ approval
and the provision of the necessary guarantees,” Aoun said.“President Donald
Trump will personally guarantee its implementation,” he added.
In an interview with CNN on Friday, Aoun accused Iran of using Lebanon as a
“bargaining chip” in its negotiations with the US and Israel. Pledging to do
“whatever it takes” to save his country, Aoun said the Lebanese people were “fed
up” with the ongoing conflict. Addressing Iran, he said: “You are not trying to
help us… the people of Lebanon are paying the price… for the sake of your own
interest.”
He also stressed that Lebanon’s interests “do not coincide” with Iran’s. For his
part, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem described the outcome of what he
called “the futile and humiliating direct negotiations for Lebanon” as
“completely unacceptable.” “The resistance has made no commitment to cease
responding to attacks. As long as our villages remain under threat, the
settlements will remain under threat as well. If the aggression continues, we
will confront it with all available means and strike wherever we choose and are
capable of reaching,” he warned. Asked about Berri’s position, Lebanese Forces
MP Fadi Karam told Arab News: “He is holding the stick from the middle. He
understands that the negotiations have produced the best deal Lebanon is likely
to get, but he prefers to accommodate Hezbollah and keep his options open.
Lebanon, however, will pay a heavy price for that. “Hezbollah and Speaker
Berri’s belief that the US president will continue to pressure Netanyahu to
prevent him from escalating the war in Lebanon is mistaken. At some point,
Netanyahu will take action, and Lebanon will pay the price.
“The state’s responsibility is not limited to issuing statements but requires
taking practical measures against anyone who obstructs the establishment of the
state or opposes its sovereign path and demonstrating its ability to impose its
authority over all Lebanese territory.”
Political analyst Wajih Qanso described reactions to the declaration as “largely
rhetorical and intended to persuade. The real issue lies elsewhere.”“The
agreement carries significant implications, chief among them Iran’s exclusion
from the process,” he said. “That means Hezbollah has lost its political cover
and finds itself increasingly cornered following the Lebanese government’s
recent decisions regarding its weapons. “It now needs legitimacy, which is why
it has sought to link the issue of its arms to the US-Iran negotiations in an
effort to secure international recognition and establish a rationale for its
position within any future agreement with Iran. “Iran, for its part, considers
Lebanon a winning card in every respect. However, the statement rejected any
external interference, thus removing Iran from the game and from Lebanon. “The
surprising aspect of the joint statement was its mention of ‘no hostile
intentions between the two countries.’ This implies that any outstanding issues
between Lebanon and Israel will be resolved diplomatically.
“The statement also included an affirmation that Hezbollah’s weapons are
undesirable, meaning that the price of a ceasefire agreement is the party’s
weapons. Consequently, Hezbollah rejected the statement because it discovered
that all its bets were wrong and losing, and its fate is now uncertain.
“The ‘pilot zones’ mentioned in the joint statement effectively mean, in light
of the statement, that neither weapons nor Hezbollah members will be present
south of the Litani River.”
Qanso said he believed Berri broadly supported the initiative and wanted to
avoid further escalation, with his objections focused more on wording than
substance. By contrast, Yossi Mekelberg, professor of international relations
and associate fellow at Chatham House’s MENA Programme, argued that Washington
had moved too quickly in pursuing a conditional ceasefire before addressing the
wider issue of Iran, Hezbollah’s principal backer. He told Arab News: “If you
have negotiations that are not by nature bilateral, but you have quite a few
partners — it’s Israel, Hezbollah, the Lebanese government, Iran, the US — you
need to deal with the complexity of the issue in terms of actors and challenges.
“And again, a ceasefire is a ceasefire, as long as everyone agrees. The question
is, is this administration capable of dealing with the root causes? Is it
capable of moving beyond the ceasefire?
“A ceasefire is an interim and should never remain the final objective. The end
of the day is whether Hezbollah can move from being a militia into a political
party only.”Mekelberg added: “Can the Lebanese government take control all the
way to the border? When and how is Israel going to withdraw as they are deeper
with the forces that are even beyond the Litani? So, all of this needs to be
negotiated. “Beyond the ceasefire that, for now, Hezbollah hasn’t accepted, you
need to see what’s the timeline to resolve all this issue, basically going to UN
Security Resolution 1701 and everything that follows.”He said: “The Israeli
government and the Lebanese government have the same interest. But the Israeli
government behaves in the way it always behaves, using force and no strategy and
looking for the allies.“And in this sense, the Lebanese army needs to be
supported, to reinforce, and also with international forces. But it’s about
making sure that the border is secure. There are no rockets or missiles and
drones from either side at the end of the occupation.”Mekelberg stressed the
need for the Lebanese army to control the border: “It needs all the help it can
get. The main issue for Lebanon is that Hezbollah serves the Lebanese interest,
not the Iranian interest. As long as this is the situation, we’ll see more of
these hostilities.”Asked whether military force would ultimately determine the
outcome, he said: “At the end of the day, there is no real beef between Israel
and Lebanon. The issue is Hezbollah. It is ensuring that there is a border in
the sea, a land border which both sides respect.
“It’s a Lebanese interest as much as an Israeli interest. And it’s the interest
of the region, and it has to be part of the overall agreements or understanding.
“It’s an abnormal situation to have a militia which is stronger than the army
itself and completely sponsored by a foreign country that doesn’t have the
interest of Lebanon, and obviously of Israel, at heart, but its own interest. So
as long as this is not resolved, Israel will probably continue to use force, and
Hezbollah will use it as an excuse.”
A Lebanese political source said recent developments in Washington had
reinforced the view that the Lebanese state was achieving results through
diplomacy, while the latest conflict had highlighted Hezbollah’s inability to
halt Israeli advances or impose new realities on the ground.
The source said that through Arab and international diplomacy, as well as direct
negotiations, Beirut had helped contain threats against the capital and its
southern suburbs, while securing US pressure on Israel not to target those
areas. The international community now sees the Lebanese state as the principal
interlocutor for any future security arrangements or understandings. As a
result, attention has shifted from battlefield developments to negotiations,
with the Lebanese state emerging as an indispensable party to any future
settlement.
Netanyahu Threatens to Destroy Beaufort Castle and Affirms:
No Withdrawal from Southern Lebanon Soon
Janoubia/June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by Google)
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu informed mayors in northern Israel that the Israeli army intends to
destroy a fortified site inside Lebanon, referring to the historic Beaufort
Castle (Qalaat al-Shaqif). He simultaneously affirmed that Israel does not
intend to withdraw from the areas it controls in southern Lebanon in the near
future. The newspaper quoted Netanyahu as saying during a meeting with local
authority heads in the north that the Israeli army controls a site he described
as a “multi-story and unique fortress,” adding that this site “will be
eliminated soon.” Haaretz indicated that Netanyahu’s remarks referred to
Beaufort Castle, located in southern Lebanon, which is on UNESCO’s Tentative
List of Enhanced Protection under the Hague Convention for the Protection of
Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. On the political front,
Netanyahu affirmed that Israel does not intend to withdraw from the areas it
controls in southern Lebanon in the “foreseeable future,” considering any change
to this reality to be contingent upon what he termed the “dismantling of
Hezbollah.” He also claimed that Iran continues to support offensive plans
against Israel through Hezbollah, considering this a fundamental part of Iran's
regional strategy. He noted that since the events of October 7, Israel has
adopted a new security concept based on proactive offensive action and the
establishment of buffer zones and security zones beyond its borders, describing
this approach as a fundamental shift in Israeli security doctrine. Beaufort
Castle (Qalaat al-Shaqif) is one of the most prominent historical landmarks in
southern Lebanon, given its strategic location overlooking vast areas of
southern Lebanon and the Upper Galilee. Its name is also associated with
significant military events, particularly during the 1982 Israeli invasion of
Lebanon. These statements come amidst the ongoing escalation on the Lebanese
front and the stalled efforts to establish a ceasefire, raising further concerns
about the fate of one of Lebanon's most important heritage and historical sites.
Israel Denies Halting Infrastructure Destruction in
Southern Lebanon… Israeli Commander: Disarming Hezbollah Requires Occupation of
Lebanon!
Al-Markazia/June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by Google)
The Israeli army confirmed to the Haaretz newspaper that it is continuing to
destroy infrastructure in southern Lebanon, denying receiving any instructions
to halt the operation. The army also indicated that it attacked approximately
150 Hezbollah infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon over the weekend.
According to Israeli media, the army occupied three additional villages in
southern Lebanon. An Israeli military commander asserted that "Hezbollah cannot
be disarmed without a complete occupation of Lebanon." Conversely, an Israeli
source informed the newspaper that the cessation of village demolitions was
included in the understandings reached between the Lebanese and Israeli sides.
The Israeli army's statements came after a UNIFIL source confirmed to Haaretz
that the Israeli army had halted village demolitions in southern Lebanon two
days after the ceasefire was announced. The source stated that the last time
Israeli forces were observed carrying out demolition operations in southern
villages was on Wednesday, prior to the joint statement issued by the United
States, Israel, and Lebanon regarding the ceasefire. According to the source, no
similar demolitions have been recorded since then, indicating a relative
adherence to the recently announced arrangements, despite continued tension and
violations in some border areas. Conversely, on Saturday, Israeli forces carried
out bombings in the towns of Al-Tayri and Qounin in southern Lebanon, coinciding
with continued overflights and airstrikes on several southern areas. Meanwhile,
reports indicated that the Israeli army launched a new ground operation and
advanced towards Mayfadoun and Kfar Tebnit in an attempt to capture the Ali
Taher hills.
Israeli Military Commander: Disarming Hezbollah Requires
Full Occupation of Lebanon
Riyadh - Al-Arabiya.net/June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by Google)
As the Israeli army continues its military operations in southern Lebanon, the
commander of the Israeli army's Northern Command, Rafi Milo, stated on Saturday
that Hezbollah cannot be disarmed without a full occupation of Lebanon,
according to Channel 13. Milo also mentioned that the Israeli army had occupied
three additional villages in southern Lebanon: Arnoun, Yahmar, and Zawtar. The
Northern Command commander's statements came after the Israeli army revealed on
Thursday that his personal vehicle had been attacked by a Hezbollah drone during
a field visit he made to southern Lebanon in recent weeks. According to the
Israeli army, Milo escaped the attack unharmed after leaving his vehicle shortly
before it was targeted, heading to meet with several field commanders in the
area. The army clarified that the attack occurred within the past two weeks, but
its details were not disclosed to the public until Thursday morning, according
to The Jerusalem Post. Earlier today, the Israeli army ordered the immediate
evacuation of all residents from five towns and villages in southern Lebanon.
Army spokesman Avichai Adraee stated in a post on the social media platform X
that residents of Aramti, Mashghara, Kfar Houna, Sajd (Jezzine), and Ansariyeh
must leave their homes immediately for their safety and head north of the
Zahrani River. He added that anyone remaining near Hezbollah fighters, their
facilities, or their ammunition depots is putting their life at risk, justifying
the evacuation orders by citing ceasefire violations by the Lebanese Hezbollah
militia. This comes as Israeli airstrikes continue to target large areas of
southern Lebanon since the initial ceasefire declaration on April 16, which has
since been extended twice. Following the fourth round of US-brokered
negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, held last Tuesday and Wednesday, a
joint statement issued by Lebanon, the United States, and Israel announced an
agreement "to implement a ceasefire." However, it stipulated that the ceasefire
is contingent upon Hezbollah's complete cessation of fire and the withdrawal of
all its members from the area south of the Litani River. This prompted Hezbollah
to criticize the agreement, describing it as shameful and humiliating.
Meanwhile, both the President and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam affirmed that
"negotiation" is the best option at present for the Lebanese in general and the
southerners in particular.
Iranian Impudence Without Limits: Araqchi Teaches Aoun How
to Protect His People!
Israeli Targeting of the Army in the South: Presidential Condemnation and Tel
Aviv: The Incident is Under Investigation
Salam Insists on the Monopoly of Weapons... Geagea Calls for Implementation...
and the Process of Operating Quleiat Airport Begins
Al-Markazia/June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by Google)
Despite the strong presidential stances that clearly called on Tehran to cease
its meddling and malevolence in Lebanon, Iran has not been deterred. With utter
impudence, it responded today directly to President Joseph Aoun, in statements
that confirm its insistence on continuing its policy of viewing Lebanon as a
lawless arena under its control, devoid of state authority and legitimacy. If
this insolence indicates anything, it is the necessity for the Lebanese state to
raise the stakes in its confrontation with Iran and its influence in Lebanon,
represented by Hezbollah, and to begin taking serious practical steps to curb
it—on-the-ground steps targeting Hezbollah's weapons, and diplomatic measures
that could extend to severing diplomatic relations with Iran. Araghchi's
audacity: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi today disregarded all
diplomatic decorum expected of a diplomat to respond to the President of Lebanon
and lecture him on how to protect his people. He wrote via X: "Based on Mr.
Aoun's statements, one might think that Iran has occupied a fifth of Lebanon,
displaced a quarter of the Lebanese population, and is bombing his country
daily. If Lebanon were a bargaining chip in Iran's hands, an agreement would
have been reached long ago. Save Lebanon from your real enemy, Mr. President."
...And my continued presence: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei
was no less brazen, writing on X: "He sells out those who stand with him, buys
those who stand against him, abandons those who supported him, and follows those
who are strangling him." Leave us alone: In response, Kataeb Party leader MP
Sami Gemayel wrote on his X account: "To the Iranian officials: Leave Lebanon
alone! Lebanon is not an Iranian province, and our president doesn't ask
anyone's permission to defend our sovereignty. The era of tutelage is over, and
our decisions are made in Beirut, not Tehran. Lebanon first and foremost." For
his part, MP Ghayath Yazbek, a member of the "Strong Republic" bloc, responded
to Araqchi, saying, "Thank you, Mr. Araqchi. We have freed you from your
jealousy over Lebanon. Go and sign an agreement with Washington and leave us
alone." He added on X: "We know the story of the firefighter obsessed with
starting fires, and your country has made it the hallmark of its foreign policy,
which is based on bad neighborliness, sabotage, exporting chaos, and offering
services." We have experienced its deadly effects on our country time and again,
so spare us your evil and let our people live.
Geagea calls for action: Not far removed from the Lebanese-Iranian
confrontation, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea called on the Lebanese state
to take executive steps. In a statement, he said, "The President's words
reaffirm that the presence of weapons outside the framework of the state
constitutes a clear violation of the constitution and the law. President Aoun
previously emphasized in his inaugural address the necessity of the state's
monopoly on weapons, the same principle enshrined in the ministerial statement
and confirmed by Cabinet decisions of August 5 and 7, 2025, and March 2, 2026,
demonstrating a presidential determination to move forward with this course. His
latest stance was decisive: Lebanon can no longer tolerate the current deadly
stalemate. Therefore, the first requirement is for Iran to completely cease
interfering in Lebanese affairs and respect the sovereignty of the Lebanese
state and its independent decision-making." Secondly, Hezbollah is required to
immediately comply with the will of the Lebanese state, surrender its weapons,
end its armed project, and dissolve its military and security apparatus. Should
Iran persist in this policy, the government is obligated to implement its
decisions, beginning with the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador from Lebanese
territory and extending to the enforcement of its resolutions regarding the
monopoly of arms and the extension of state authority. Lebanon cannot be
extricated from the cycle of wars and chaos except by putting President Aoun's
words and the Lebanese government's decisions into actual implementation. The
price of blood: Meanwhile, due to Iran and Hezbollah's rejection of the
ceasefire agreement, which was a boon to Israel, the battlefield remained
ablaze, with airstrikes, shelling, and evacuation warnings. Today, this resulted
in the martyrdom of Lebanese Army soldiers: Brigadier General Wissam Sabra,
Captain Elie Khoury, and Private Hussein Abdel Ali Ghazal. In a statement issued
by the Army Command - Directorate of Guidance, it was announced that "on June 6,
2026, a barbaric Israeli aggression targeted a military vehicle on the Kfar
Tebnit-Khardali road (Nabatieh), resulting in the martyrdom of two officers, a
brigadier general and a captain, and a private." The continued, deliberate, and
repeated brutal Israeli aggression against Lebanon, its people, and its army
only strengthens our resolve, faith, and determination to confront these
aggressive attempts, which aim to thwart all efforts to reach a solution that
would allow for the restoration of stability, a comprehensive ceasefire, and the
Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories.
Under Investigation: Later, the Israeli army stated: "The incident targeting a
Lebanese army vehicle is under investigation. We are operating against
Hezbollah, not the Lebanese army." It added: "We received indications that
Hezbollah would fire on our soldiers from the same area where the Lebanese
military vehicle was located."
Aoun Condemns: President Aoun strongly condemned the Israeli attack. He
considered it a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and international laws
and norms, and part of the ongoing escalation that threatens stability and
security in the south, despite Lebanon's efforts in the Washington negotiations
to put an end to the continuous, unchecked Israeli attacks. The President
offered his deepest condolences to the army command and the families of the
martyrs, praising the sacrifices of the two officers, the soldier, and all the
other martyred military personnel who give their lives in defense of the
homeland and its sovereignty. He affirmed that Lebanon will not compromise in
protecting its land and people, and that these attacks will not deter it from
upholding its full national rights. President Aoun called on the international
community to assume its responsibilities and put an end to these repeated
attacks, ensuring respect for relevant international resolutions to preserve
Lebanon's security and stability.
Not a mistake: Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri contacted Army Commander
Rudolph Haykal to offer his condolences and affirm that "today's crime is by no
means a mistake or a suspicion, as Israel is trying to justify its crime." Prime
Minister Nawaf Salam considered the targeting "by Israel a heinous crime and an
attack on Lebanon and all Lebanese."
Hezbollah exploits the incident: Hezbollah exploited the incident to target the
Lebanese state. It stated that "this cowardly and criminal attack is a natural
consequence of the authorities' disregard for the country's sovereignty and the
blood of its people, and their gratuitous concessions, the latest of which was
their complete surrender to the enemy's conditions in Washington, which
encouraged them to shed the blood of our people and our army." In a statement,
they continued, "We condemn this heinous aggression and reiterate our support
for our national army." The party continued its criticism of the negotiations,
with MP Ibrahim Mousawi, a member of the "Loyalty to the Resistance" bloc,
stating that "the agreement concluded by the Lebanese authorities with the
Israeli enemy a few days ago is a disgrace, a shame, and a surrender. These same
people swore to protect the country and preserve it, but by taking this path,
they are certainly not preserving the country; rather, they are compromising its
sovereignty. Those who will preserve it are true men like Speaker Nabih Berri
and our trusted leader, Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, who is also
upholding the pledge of those who came before him. Many of us will follow in his
footsteps, and we will offer our blood and our lives rather than accept a life
of humiliation and shame."
Haikal's trip to Pakistan: The Israeli targeting of the army came on the eve of
Army Commander General Haikal's departure for Islamabad today at the invitation
of his Pakistani counterpart, Asim Munir. While it was reported that "the
Lebanese Army Commander's visit to Pakistan is of a military nature," it was
learned that "the visit is not directly related to the negotiations, but they
will not be absent from them." Quleiat Airport: Amidst this gloomy atmosphere, a
glimmer of hope emerged from northern Lebanon, where the redevelopment and
operation of President René Moawad Airport in Quleiat was launched today.
Politics was not absent from the ceremony, as President Salam, speaking from the
airport where his plane landed, said, "We meet from the north of the country,
but our eyes remain on the south. We are not here at a runway, but rather at a
political and developmental decision par excellence: that the Akkar region will
not remain outside the state's development priorities." He continued, "Despite
what Akkar has given to the nation, it has suffered for decades from deprivation
and marginalization, and this is not mere rhetoric, but a reality confirmed by
the numbers. This project is at the heart of balanced development. The airport
is no longer a postponed idea, but a project that has begun to materialize. Our
hope is that the operation of this airport will open new opportunities in
employment, transportation, and trade. It is not an alternative to Beirut
Airport." Flights from this airport will soon be underway.” He added, “It was
here that the National Reconciliation Document was adopted, and here that René
Moawad was elected President of the Republic. Therefore, reviving this airport
is also a restoration of the meaning of the state and a reaffirmation of the
Taif Agreement. We are transforming balanced development into a working
document. But completing the Taif Agreement is not achieved through development
alone and other reforms. Completing the Taif Agreement also requires the state
to extend its authority over all its territory using its own forces, as
stipulated in the agreement, and to confine weapons to the state alone.” He
concluded, “There will be no more forgotten areas.” Lebanon decides its own
fate: For his part, the US Ambassador to Lebanon, Michael Issa, said: “A new
airport means new hope for Lebanon and a stronger economy.” He continued, “This
is the first time that Lebanon has decided its own fate without anyone’s
interference. The negotiations in Washington were very important, and Naim
Qassem decides as he wishes, and we decide as well.”
Aoun Condemns Attack on Army Patrol in Khardali: A Serious
Violation of Sovereignty!
South Lebanon/June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by Google)
President Joseph Aoun strongly condemned the Israeli airstrike that targeted a
Lebanese army patrol on the Khardali-Nabatieh road, resulting in the martyrdom
of two officers and a soldier. He considered the attack a blatant violation of
Lebanese sovereignty and international laws and norms. Aoun affirmed that the
martyred soldiers joined a long line of civilians, military personnel,
paramedics, rescue workers, and journalists who have fallen victim to the
ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon. He emphasized that targeting the army is
part of the continued Israeli escalation that threatens security and stability
in the south. The President noted that the attack occurred while Lebanon
continues its political and diplomatic efforts, particularly through the ongoing
negotiations in Washington, to put an end to the repeated Israeli attacks and
consolidate stability. He stressed that Israel continues to violate Lebanese
sovereignty and disregard international law and relevant resolutions, despite
Lebanese efforts to prevent further deterioration and contain the escalation.
President Aoun offered his deepest condolences to the Lebanese Army command and
the families of the martyrs, praising the sacrifices of the soldiers who give
their lives in defense of the nation, its sovereignty, and the security of the
Lebanese people. He affirmed that Lebanon will not compromise in defending its
land, its people, and its national rights, calling on the international
community to shoulder its responsibilities and take action to stop Israeli
aggression and ensure respect for international resolutions in order to preserve
Lebanon's security and stability. This statement comes in the wake of an Israeli
airstrike that targeted a Lebanese Army vehicle on the Khardali-Nabatieh road,
one of the most serious attacks against the military establishment in recent
times, amidst ongoing escalation in the South and the Bekaa Valley, coinciding
with political and diplomatic efforts to contain the crisis and prevent its
expansion.
Iranian Foreign Minister Responds to President Aoun: Save
Your Country from Your Real Enemy, Mr. President
Janoubia/June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by Google)
A sharp and direct diplomatic exchange erupted between Baabda and Tehran,
reflecting the depth of political disagreements regarding Lebanese sovereignty
and the management of the negotiations. This followed a scathing response from
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Saturday to the prominent statements
made by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun concerning the war and Iran's role in the
country. President Aoun had launched an unprecedented public attack on Iranian
policies during an interview with CNN, asserting that "Iran is using Lebanon as
a bargaining chip in its talks with America." Aoun addressed a decisive and
direct message to the Iranian leadership, stating: "Our interests do not align
with yours, and you are not trying to help us; rather, the Lebanese people are
paying the price for your own interests." He emphasized that "the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard must understand that Lebanon is our country, not theirs."
The Lebanese president also addressed the internal situation and negotiations,
emphasizing that “there is no alternative to negotiation, and Hezbollah must
understand this,” adding categorically that “the party’s Secretary-General, Naim
Qassem, does not represent the Lebanese people.” This direct attack prompted a
fierce counter-response from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who quickly
posted on his official Twitter account, refuting the Lebanese president’s
accusations with a sarcastic and sharp tone.
Araqchi wrote: “Based on Mr. Aoun’s statements, one might think that Iran has
occupied a fifth of Lebanon, displaced a quarter of the Lebanese population, and
is bombing his country daily.” The Iranian minister continued, defending his
country’s policies in the region, saying: “If Lebanon were a bargaining chip in
Iran’s hands, an agreement would have been reached long ago.” Araqchi concluded
his post with a scathing and direct message to the Lebanese president: “Save
Lebanon from your real enemy, Mr. President.”
Officially by Name: The Army Reveals the Identities of its
Three Martyrs After Israel Targeted Their Vehicle in Khardali!
South Lebanon/June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by
Google)
The Lebanese Army Command – Directorate of Orientation – mourned Brigadier
General Wissam Sabra, Captain Elie Khoury, and Private Hussein Abdel Ali Ghazal,
who were martyred in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a military vehicle on
the Khardali-Kfar Tebnit road in the Nabatieh district. The Command issued a
brief biography of the three martyrs, confirming that they fell while performing
their military duty. Brigadier General Wissam Sabra was born in Beirut in 1972.
He volunteered for the army as an officer cadet in 1993 and rose through the
ranks to the rank of Brigadier General in 2024. He received numerous
commendations and congratulations from the Army Command and participated in
training courses both inside and outside Lebanon. He was married and had three
children. As for the martyred Captain Elie Khoury, he was born in Kfarjarra,
Jezzine, in 1994. He volunteered for the army as an officer cadet in 2012 and
rose through the ranks to the rank of captain in 2023. He participated in
several specialized courses both inside and outside Lebanon. He was married and
had one son. In contrast, the martyred soldier Hussein Abdel Ali Ghazal, from
the southern town of Arnoun, was born in 2003. He volunteered for the army in
2022 and was at the beginning of his military career. He was unmarried. The army
command indicated that the funeral dates would be announced later. The
announcement of the martyrs' deaths came hours after an Israeli airstrike
targeted a Lebanese army vehicle, an incident that sparked widespread political
and official condemnation, amidst assurances that the military institution would
continue to perform its national duties despite the ongoing challenges and
attacks.
Israeli Army Justifies Targeting of Lebanese Army Vehicle:
Field Suspicion, Investigation Ongoing
South Lebanon/June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by
Google)
The Israeli army issued its account of the airstrike that targeted a Lebanese
army vehicle on the Kfar Tebnit-Khardali road, resulting in the deaths of two
officers and a soldier, confirming that the incident is still under
investigation. The Israeli army stated that it had earlier today spotted a
vehicle moving in what it described as a “suspicious” manner towards its forces
near the town of Tibnin in southern Lebanon, noting that it had entered an
active combat zone subject to special security measures. It added that the
forces received information about gunfire directed at their positions, along
with intelligence indicating extensive Hezbollah activity in the area, which
prompted them to engage and target the vehicle as a “potential threat.” The army
claimed that the initial investigation revealed that the targeted vehicle was
carrying two officers and a soldier from the Lebanese army, and confirmed that
the review of the incident is still ongoing. The Israeli army indicated that the
area where the attack occurred is a military operations zone, requiring,
according to its account, coordination of movement with Israeli forces. It added
that it would draw the necessary conclusions and lessons after the investigation
is completed. It claimed that its military operations target Hezbollah, not the
Lebanese army. This statement comes after the Lebanese army command announced
the deaths of two officers and a soldier following an Israeli airstrike that
targeted their military vehicle in the Nabatieh district.
Berri Rejects Occupation Justifications and Offers
Condolences to General Haykal: Targeting Army Vehicle in Khardali Was a
Deliberate Crime, Not an Error in Judgment
South Lebanon/June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by
Google)
The recent direct Israeli targeting of a vehicle belonging to the Lebanese
military has sparked widespread anger and political condemnation across the
country, amidst a national consensus rejecting the crime, which was committed
while the military continues its pivotal role in maintaining security and
supporting deployment plans in the south. This atmosphere coincided with
decisive official action to preempt the Israeli narrative, which attempted to
evade responsibility by claiming an “unintentional error.”
Berri Contacts Army Commander: The Crime Was Not a Mistake or Suspicion
In this context, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri made a phone call to the
Commander of the Lebanese Army, General Rudolph Haykal, during which he offered
his heartfelt condolences to the military institution—its leadership, officers,
and soldiers—and to the families of the soldiers who were killed in the
treacherous Israeli raid that targeted their vehicle in the Nabatieh district.
Berri Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri offered his condolences to the families
of Brigadier General Wissam Sabra, Captain Elie Khoury, and Private Hussein
Ghazal. During the call, Berri emphasized in a firm tone that "today's crime is
by no means a mistake or a suspicion, as Israel is trying to justify it," thus
refuting the official narrative issued by the Israeli occupation army, which
claimed that the targeting of the Lebanese military vehicle was the result of a
"miscalculation" and that the incident was still under investigation.
Details of the attack: A direct strike on the Kfar Tebnit-Khardali road.
The Lebanese Army Command had announced in an official statement that an Israeli
fighter jet or drone directly targeted a military vehicle as it traveled on the
Kfar Tebnit-Khardali road in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon,
immediately destroying the vehicle and killing the two officers and the soldier
while they were performing their military and national duty.
The attack resulted in the immediate destruction of the vehicle and the deaths
of the two officers and the soldier. National Consensus and Widespread Political
Condemnation
This bloody attack sparked a wave of condemnation from the heads and
representatives of Lebanese political forces across the spectrum. Official
statements declared that targeting the military institution constitutes a red
line and a blatant attack on Lebanese sovereignty, especially at this critical
juncture when the state is exerting intensive political and diplomatic efforts
to solidify the ceasefire and prevent the situation from deteriorating further.
The condemning forces emphasized that the Lebanese army is the cornerstone of
any future security arrangements in the south, and that targeting it aims to
undermine efforts to achieve stability and control the borders.
European Union: Ceasefire Between Lebanon and Israel an
Opportunity for Peace
Riyadh - Al Arabiya.net / June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by Google)
The European Union stressed on Saturday that the ceasefire agreement between
Lebanon and Israel, brokered by the United States, represents "a renewed
opportunity to end the conflict and achieve lasting peace and security." The
bloc expressed its confidence that Israel and Lebanon will continue direct
negotiations in a constructive spirit. It also urged all parties to fully adhere
to the terms of the agreement and reject any additional conditions imposed by
Hezbollah, according to a statement by the High Representative of the European
Union. The EU emphasized that "all military operations must cease immediately,
and Hezbollah must withdraw from the southern Litani sector," and called on
Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory. The EU also announced that it will
continue to support the Lebanese government and is ready to contribute to the
implementation of any agreement between Israel and Lebanon. It stressed that the
Lebanese people are paying a heavy and unacceptable human, social, and economic
price as a result of the ongoing escalation and airstrikes. The EU added that
its support for the Lebanese Armed Forces remains a crucial tool to support the
government's efforts to ensure the state's monopoly on the use of force
throughout its territory. He explained that "the new assistance measure approved
under the European Peace Facility, amounting to €100 million for the Lebanese
Armed Forces on June 4, will directly contribute to strengthening their
capabilities to carry out this mission."
The bloc also called for the full implementation of UN Security Council
Resolution 1701, which calls on Israel to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and
territorial integrity and to disarm non-state armed groups, including Hezbollah.
It stressed the need for all parties to abide by international law, including
international humanitarian law, and the necessity of protecting civilians and
civilian infrastructure at all times. It reiterated its full support for the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and its mandate, strongly
condemning all attacks targeting its personnel, including the killing of another
UNIFIL peacekeeper in the June 4 attacks—the seventh peacekeeper killed since
March. The EU emphasized that the killing of peacekeepers is a violation of
international law and must be met with full accountability. He emphasized that
the continued presence of the United Nations in Lebanon in the post-UNIFIL phase
remains essential to ensuring the implementation of Security Council Resolution
1701. He noted that, in this context, the bloc looks forward to constructive
discussions regarding the options presented by the UN Secretary-General to the
Security Council. This comes as Israeli airstrikes continue to target large
areas of southern Lebanon since the initial ceasefire declaration on April 16,
which has since been extended twice. Following the conclusion of the fourth
round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, sponsored by the United States
and held last Tuesday and Wednesday, a joint statement issued by Lebanon, the
United States, and Israel announced an agreement "to implement a ceasefire."
However, it indicated that the ceasefire is contingent upon Hezbollah's complete
cessation of fire and the withdrawal of all its members from the area south of
the Litani River. This prompted Hezbollah to criticize the agreement, describing
it as "shameful and humiliating." Meanwhile, both President Joseph Aoun and
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam affirmed that "negotiation" is the best option at
present for the Lebanese people in general and the southerners in particular.
Moussawi: The Agreement is a Shame and a Surrender
Al-Markazia/June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by Google)
MP Ibrahim Moussawi, a member of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, stated that
"the agreement concluded by the Lebanese authorities with the Israeli enemy a
few days ago is a disgrace, a shame, and a surrender. These same people swore to
protect the country and preserve it, but by taking this path, they are certainly
not preserving the country; rather, they are compromising its sovereignty. Those
who will preserve it are true men like Speaker Nabih Berri and our trusted
leader, Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, who is also upholding the pledge
of those who came before him. Many of us will also uphold this pledge, and we
will offer our blood and our lives rather than accept a life of humiliation and
shame." Moussawi's remarks came during a memorial service held by Hezbollah for
the martyr Ali Khalil Fawaz at the Sayyida Khadija Complex in Musaitbeh. The
service was attended by MP Amin Shari, Amal Movement leader Hassan Malak, a
number of activists, prominent figures, scholars, families of martyrs, and a
large crowd of residents. He pointed out that "Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael
Katz describes the agreement reached between Lebanon and his entity as a major
political achievement, one that complements what he called his military
achievement. So, what is the position of some in Lebanon regarding these
statements we heard from the enemy's leaders? Isn't this evidence that this
agreement is a shameful one, a surrender that serves the enemy's interests first
and foremost? Meanwhile, there are those in Lebanon, at the highest levels of
responsibility, who are trying to market this agreement of humiliation and
surrender as a major achievement and breakthrough." Al-Moussawi added that "some
in Lebanon have adopted a strange and peculiar old-new doctrine in the face of
the Israeli enemy, which states that Lebanon's strength lies in its weakness.
This is what was recently exemplified by the so-called Lebanese Foreign
Minister, who said that if we want a solution, we should go to our American
friends and weep before them for a while. But will weeping before the Americans
stop the bloodshed and protect the country?" He affirmed that "in this country
there are people who lack national immunity, indeed, who lack patriotism
altogether. What they are doing today is a true embodiment of this lack of
patriotism, through their professionalization of concessions and their
justification of them. It should be noted that the true patriots in this country
come from all sects and regions. These are the ones with firm and unwavering
stances, and they will undoubtedly prevail, despite the number of martyrs and
the destruction. We will return to our villages, we will rebuild them, and we
will raise the banner of victory, God willing." He emphasized that "when the
enemy fails on the battlefield and is humiliated before the resistance fighters,
as the world witnesses how the resistance fighters inflict heavy losses on the
enemy soldiers, they resort to media mercenaries at home and abroad. These
mercenaries, through their media fleets, then attempt to fan the flames of
internal strife among the people of one nation and one soul. But, with our
collective awareness, they will not be able to achieve this, God willing. This
is further proof of their failure. Therefore, all they will do, quite simply, is
increase the number of our martyrs, because we will continue to resist and
confront them, and we will not retreat or abandon this honorable path of
resistance. It is possible that they will advance further From the villages,
because the doctrine of resistance is not based on preventing the enemy from
advancing, but rather on inflicting more losses on him and making him unable to
settle in the areas he entered. But the result will remain the same, which is
that the resistance, its people, its families, and its supporters will write
victory in letters of glory, as long as its men are steadfast in the field
offering the most precious sacrifices, and its people are patient and steadfast
in their commitment despite all the suffering and pain of displacement.
Saudi Arabia condemns ‘Israeli aggression’ against Lebanon
Al Arabiya English/06 June ,2026
“The Foreign Ministry expresses the condemnation and rejection by the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia of the continuation of the Israeli aggression against the brotherly
Lebanese Republic,” a statement read stressing Riyadh’s rejection of “targeting
Lebanon’s sovereignty” and its army. It further extended Saudi Arabia’s
condolences to those killed in the strikes, including soldiers on duty,
expressing Riyadh’s solidarity with Lebanon “and its brotherly people toward
anyone who threatens its security and stability.” Israel had begun launching
strikes on Lebanon on March 2 in response to militant group Hezbollah entering
the US-Israeli war against Iran on the side of Tehran following the killing of
the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader. Israel and Lebanon repeatedly agreed on
ceasefires that were however at no time observed. In the latest strike, Israel
killed a number of Lebanese soldiers as it was targeting their vehicle in
southern Lebanon.
Lebanon to Resolve Single Airport Crisis by Upgrading René
Moawad Airport... Plans to Launch Routes to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Greece in
Later Phases
AFP/June 6, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by Google)
The airport will be able to accommodate 114,000 passengers in its first year,
with the number expected to rise to over 600,000 by the fourth year. Lebanon
launched the upgrade of a second international airport on Saturday, located in
the far north near the Syrian border, with the aim of opening it within months,
after decades of delays. Currently, Lebanon has only one international airport,
Beirut Airport, which is adjacent to the southern suburbs of Beirut, a
stronghold of Hezbollah. The new airport is located in the town of Quleiat in
the Akkar Governorate in far northern Lebanon, a few kilometers from the Syrian
border and more than 20 kilometers from the port of Tripoli. It served as a
military base for decades.
The airport will be able to accommodate 114,000 passengers in its first year,
with the number expected to rise to over 600,000 by the fourth year. Lebanese
Minister of Transport and Public Works, Fayez Rassamni, said at the inauguration
ceremony for the rehabilitation works, "After more than 50 years of promises,
postponements, and waiting, we stand today in Quleiat to announce that Martyr
René Moawad Airport is no longer a postponed project, but a national
imperative."
The airport is named after René Moawad, the former Lebanese president who was
assassinated in 1989.
[AFP__20260606__B6884WE__v2__MidRes__LebanonIsraelAvaitionAirportHezbollah.jpg]
The construction of the airport's passenger terminal is expected to be completed
within 90 days, pending the necessary approvals and permits (AFP). Rassamni
anticipated that the airport would "become fully operational within a few weeks,
marking the beginning of a new era for air transport in Lebanon, with flights to
Mersin, Istanbul, and Dubai." He also mentioned plans to expand destinations to
Saudi Arabia, Cairo, and Athens in later phases. Lebanese authorities are in
talks with low-cost carriers such as Ryanair and Pegasus Airlines to also
operate at the airport, according to the minister. The renovation work is
expected to take at least three months, with the airport officially opening in
November, according to local media. The renovation is being undertaken by the
Lebanese company Sky Lounge, which posted a video of a test flight between
Beirut Airport and Quleiat Airport on its Instagram page today. The company's
chairman, Ziad Mulla, expects the passenger terminal to be completed "within 90
days after obtaining the necessary approvals and permits." The airport will be
able to accommodate "114,000 passengers in its first year, with the number
rising to more than 600,000 by the fourth year," Mulla stated at the
inauguration ceremony. Quleiat Airport was originally built by the French army
as an airfield in the 1930s. It was used for civilian purposes in the 1960s and
briefly operated domestic flights during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). The
airport was targeted by Israeli airstrikes during a previous war between Israel
and Hezbollah in 2006. Its operation as an international airport is expected to
create job opportunities in Akkar Governorate, one of Lebanon's poorest regions,
which suffers from a high unemployment rate. Lebanon has repeatedly had to
obtain guarantees that Beirut Airport will not be targeted, as Israel has
previously accused Hezbollah of using it to transfer funds and weapons—an
accusation repeatedly denied by Lebanese authorities. The airport continued
operating despite the war between Hezbollah and Israel from 2004 until the most
recent conflict that began on March 2nd of last year. However, it has been
targeted by Israeli airstrikes in other conflicts.
Lebanese Army Commander Visits Pakistan at the Invitation
of Asim Munir
Riyadh - Al-Arabiya.net/June 6, 2026 (Translated from
Arabic by Google)
Lebanese Army Commander General Rudolph Haykal departed for Pakistan on Saturday
at the invitation of General Asim Munir, Chief of Army Staff and Commander of
the Pakistani Defense Forces. The Lebanese Army announced in a statement that
Haykal traveled to Islamabad on an official visit during which he will meet with
senior military officials, including Field Marshal Asim Munir, to discuss
military cooperation and relations between the two armies. The visit comes at a
sensitive regional time, amid the ongoing confrontation between Israel and
Hezbollah on the Lebanese front and increasing diplomatic activity related to
the regional and security situation in the Middle East. According to Lebanese
sources who spoke to Al-Arabiya, General Haykal's visit to Pakistan will focus
on ways to enhance military cooperation between the two countries, in addition
to discussing the Lebanese Army's needs in the coming period, given the security
challenges facing the country. The sources explained that the Lebanese military
has existing cooperative relations with the Pakistani Army, including ongoing
training and development programs, with a number of Lebanese Army officers
undergoing specialized training courses in Pakistan as part of military
cooperation agreements between the two sides. The talks are also expected to
address prospects for expanding this cooperation in the areas of training,
technical support, and the exchange of military expertise. Pakistani Army Chief
Asim Munir is considered one of the most influential military figures in
Pakistan, and his name has emerged in recent months in connection with
communications between the United States and Iran. Western media reports have
indicated his significant role in facilitating communication and mediation
between the two sides during periods of recent tension. Pakistan maintains
balanced relations with both Iran and the United States, which has afforded it
considerable diplomatic leverage on a number of sensitive regional issues.
General Rudolph Haykal has served as Commander of the Lebanese Army since last
March, while Field Marshal Asim Munir has led the Pakistani Armed Forces since
2022 and is considered one of the most influential figures in the Pakistani
political and security landscape.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on 06-07 June/2026
In new Gulf flare-up, US attacks
Iranian sites after Tehran drone launch
The Arab Weekly/June
06, 2026
Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said a peace deal hinged on
the US unfreezing $24 billion in Iranian assets.
WASHINGTON/ TEHRAN
US forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites on Saturday after shooting down
drones launched by Iran toward the Strait of Hormuz, the US military said, in
the latest escalation complicating efforts to end the war between the two
countries.The US military believes the four Iranian drones were targeting
regional maritime traffic, a US official told Reuters. US Central Command said
on X that the US then struck Iran’s surveillance sites in Goruk and Qeshm
Island, which are both on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps
said it had targeted US bases in the region with missiles in retaliation for US
strikes and fired on four tankers attempting to cross the strait without its
permission. Kuwaiti air defences were intercepting missile and drone attacks of
undisclosed origin, state media reported, while in Bahrain sirens sounded and
residents were urged to seek shelter. Iran said it had hit US bases in both
countries with ballistic missiles but the US military said six missiles were
intercepted and a seventh did not reach its target.
The US and Iran have been engaged in largely indirect negotiations to secure an
interim deal to halt the three-month-old war that would leave issues including
Iran’s nuclear programme to further negotiations. But amid periodic skirmishes a
deal has remained elusive.
As part of any agreement, Tehran wants access to billions of dollars in oil
revenue, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, the lifting of a US blockade on
its ports and leverage over the strait. Iran has effectively blocked the strait,
where about a fifth of the world’s oil transited before the war. US President
Donald Trump is facing mounting domestic political pressure due to rising gas
prices to bring the unpopular war to an end. He told NBC that while most of
Iran’s drone and missile manufacturing facilities had been destroyed, the
Iranians still have access to about a fifth of their missiles.“They have some
missiles, they have some drones. I would say percentage wise, maybe 21%-22% of
their missiles. It’s a lot of missiles, but it’s not what it was when we first
attacked,” Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” program, according to excerpts
released by the network on Friday. When asked why Iran’s leaders –if as
desperate as he has portrayed them– were not more inclined to strike a deal,
Trump said:
“Because they are strong. They’re proud. There are things they never thought
they’d be doing that they’re going to have to do, they’ve got no choice, and it
takes a little while.”
But Trump vowed to end the Iran war quickly and remove a source of high prices
as he campaigned in rural central Wisconsin in a bid to help Republicans keep
control of Congress in midterm elections.
“We’re going to come out of Iran very quickly and it’s going to be strong one
way or the other,” Trump said at a roundtable event in Chippewa Falls. “Your
fertiliser prices are going to go way down, just like they were four months
ago.” After the US and Israel launched the war against Iran on February 28,
Tehran fired missiles and drones against Gulf states hosting US bases and
largely stopped shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. In so doing, Iran has
also targeted civilian infrastructure and energy installations in neighbouring
countries. The conflict has driven up oil prices and disrupted supply chains for
other products. The UN World Food Programme said on Friday that it was pushing
millions of people closer to hunger due to rising fuel and transport costs.
Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, told CNN on Friday that a
peace deal hinged on the Trump administration unfreezing $24 billion in Iranian
assets, and warned that the US would “enter into a dark corridor” if it resumed
attacks.
Along with Lebanon, residents of Gaza, northern Israel and Kuwait have all been
under fire this week, despite US-arranged ceasefires that Trump said involved
“shooting in a more moderate manner”, rather than a total halt to fighting. The
latest flare-up came despite the United States moving ahead with allowing Iran’s
national football team to travel to the FIFA World Cup it is co-hosting with
Canada and Mexico. US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack confirmed the visa
issuances, saying that “sports transcends borders, and we look forward to
welcoming competitors and fans from around the world.”However, Iran’s Fars news
agency reported that visas had yet to be issued for some members of the team’s
“technical and executive staff.”
An unnamed US administration official said in a statement: “We will not allow
the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States
under false pretenses.”
US to make Iranian assets available to Gulf allies to repair damage caused by
Iran, source says
US eyes Iranian assets to help Gulf allies rebuild after months of attacks
Agencies/June 06, 2026
WASHINGTON: The United States will make Iranian assets available to Gulf allies
to support rebuilding and repairs for future damage caused by Iran, a source
familiar with the matter said on Saturday, as Washington assesses the enormous
toll inflicted by months of missile and drone attacks across the Gulf. The US
will also consider using those assets to help cover repairs for past damage, the
source said, adding that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has directed a team to
evaluate costs associated with damage already sustained by regional partners.
The move comes after a regional escalation that began on Feb. 28 and saw
unprecedented waves of Iranian missile and drone strikes targeting military
facilities, energy infrastructure, airports, ports and economic centers across
Gulf states.
Regional assessments indicated that Iran launched more than 6,400 missiles and
drones against Arab states between late February and mid-April. Although Gulf
and allied air-defense systems intercepted the vast majority of the projectiles,
the scale of the attacks caused significant infrastructure damage, industrial
disruptions and casualties across the region. Among the most serious incidents
was a May 17 drone strike on the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant, which the
head of the International Atomic Energy Agency described as a “serious
compromise of nuclear safety.”IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the
attack struck an electrical facility at the site, triggering a fire in a
generator outside the plant’s inner perimeter and forcing emergency systems to
provide power. While no radiation leak occurred, Grossi warned that attacks on
civilian nuclear facilities were unacceptable and could have resulted in severe
consequences.
The UAE blamed pro-Iran militias in Iraq for the attack.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Kuwait repeatedly came under fire during the conflict.
Kuwaiti authorities said Iranian attacks damaged civilian infrastructure,
including Kuwait International Airport, and caused casualties. On Wednesday,
Kuwait said Iranian strikes had killed one person, wounded several others and
damaged diplomatic missions, while forcing temporary disruptions to airport
operations. The US military rejected Iranian claims that a US Patriot
interceptor had caused damage at the airport, saying Iranian drones had
deliberately targeted the civilian facility.
Since February, Kuwait has suffered some of the most extensive damage in the
region. Military installations including Camp Buehring and Ali Al Salem Air Base
were hit, resulting in US military casualties and damage to allied aircraft.
Kuwait International Airport sustained repeated attacks, while strikes and
falling debris damaged power lines, refinery facilities, desalination
infrastructure and maritime assets. The UAE also absorbed significant economic
losses. Drone attacks and falling debris damaged facilities at Fujairah’s energy
hub and shipping infrastructure, while fires were reported at oil storage
facilities. Dubai International Airport, Jebel Ali Port and commercial
properties in Dubai sustained varying degrees of damage. Military facilities
including Al Dhafra Air Base and the French-operated Camp de la Paix were also
targeted.
Qatar’s energy sector suffered one of the most strategced sustained missile and
drone barrages aimed at exhausting its air-defense network. Saudi authorities
reported that debris from intercepted projectiles and some direct strikes
affected civilian areas, airports, hotels and energy-related sites. Between Feb.
28 and March 18 alone, Saudi defenses tracked and engaged at least 38 ballistic
missiles and 435 drones. Bahrain also came under repeated attack. A drone strike
in March triggered a major fire at the Bapco refinery complex, while authorities
reported dozens of civilian injuries from attacks during the early stages of the
conflict. Military analysts have estimated that by the time a ceasefire took
hold in April, the UAE and Kuwait had expended roughly three-quarters of their
Patriot interceptor inventories, highlighting the financial and strategic burden
imposed by the prolonged campaign. The source did not specify which Iranian
assets could be used or how compensation would be distributed. However, the
review marks one of the clearest indications yet that Washington is exploring
ways to help Gulf partners recover from the economic and infrastructure costs of
the conflict while increasing pressure on Tehran over the regional
campaign.(With Reuters)
Trump says Iran has ‘22 percent’ of missiles left
AFP/06 June ,2026
Iran still has “21, 22 percent” of its missiles left, US President Donald Trump
said Friday, in a week in which Tehran fired dozens of them toward regional
neighbors, despite a sputtering ceasefire. “They still have capacity. They have
some missiles, they have some drones. I would say, percentage wise, maybe 21, 22
percent of their missiles,” Trump told NBC News in an interview. That figure for
Iran’s missile stockpile is higher than one of 18 percent Trump gave in May. He
has often claimed to have completely destroyed Iran’s war-fighting capacity.
Iran’s military said Friday it had fired “warning missiles” at two US destroyers
in the Gulf of Oman - a claim promptly denied by the US military. Two days
earlier, Kuwait said it had intercepted 30 ballistic missiles fired as part of
“heinous Iranian aggression.”
Hegseth, at D-Day event, says Europe faces ‘invasion’ of
dangerous ideologies
Reuters/06 June ,2026
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Saturday that Europe faced what he
called an invasion of dangerous ideologies arriving by sea, linking immigration
to the legacy of the D-Day landings in remarks in Normandy. His remarks echo
criticisms often made by the administration of President Donald Trump about
Europe, a region Washington argues is hampered by weak defenses, inability to
tackle immigration, needless red tape and “censorship” of far right and
nationalist voices to keep them from power. “Sadly, today, different European
beaches are stormed by different, dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain, Italy,
Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive,” Hegseth said in a speech at the
Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. “When will European capitals
do something about that invasion or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe
not,” he said. Hegseth was speaking durically significant blows of the conflict.
A strike on the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas complex forced a temporary
reduction of about 17 percent in the country’s LNG output, with analysts warning
that full restoration of production capacity could take years. Saudi Arabia,
meanwhile, faing commemorations for the 82nd anniversary of the Allied landings
in Normandy, when US and Allied forces crossed the English Channel to launch the
liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation. US officials, including Trump
– and Vice President JD Vance as recently as Friday –have often criticized
European countries for failing to control immigration. A US National Security
Strategy document issued last year warned Europe faced “civilizational erasure”
and must course-correct if it is to remain a reliable US ally.
That document - and other comments by senior Trump officials – have upended
postwar assumptions about Europe’s close relationship with its strongest ally,
and concentrated minds across European capitals on the urgent need to diversify
away from reliance on US technology and defense.
Iran accuses US of ‘vindictive behavior’ with visa denials
Reuters/June 07, 2026
TEHRAN: The Iran Football Federation is accusing the United States of
“vindictive behavior” regarding the refusal of visas for managerial and
administrative members of its World Cup traveling party. IFF said 14 officials
and staffers have been refused visas prior to upcoming matches in Inglewood,
California, and Seattle. The list includes the federation’s vice president Mehdi
Mohammad Nabi and secretary-general Hedayat Mombeini. It wasn’t immediately
known whether federation president Mehdi Taj was issued a visa. Tensions have
been high between the United States and Iran since the war in Iran broke out in
February. The feud led to Iran moving its training camp from Tucson,
Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico. The latter city is just across the US border from
San Diego. According to the IFF, the visa denials have “effectively denied the
Iranian national team the opportunity for a level playing field and a
competition free from discrimination.”The Iran squad has been preparing for the
World Cup in Antalya, Turkiye, and was set to fly to Mexico on Saturday. The
team said it has received its visas from the Mexico Embassy in Antalya. US
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this week that the Iranian
traveling party would be watched closely for people with ties to the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps. “We have no problem with the athletes, as we stated
earlier, or their support staff,” Rubio said. “But what we’re not going to allow
is for them to embed in their delegation a bunch of people that we know have
nothing to do with athletics and have ties to the IRGC or things of that
nature.“So we were going to watch that very closely, and we’ll continue to watch
that very closely.”Iran plays World Cup games against New Zealand on June 15 and
Belgium on June 21 in Inglewood. The team finishes group play five days later in
Seattle. The United States and Iran could face each other on July 3 in
Arlington, Texas, if the two clubs both finish second in their respective
groups.
US denies visas to 15 world cup delegation members: Iran
state TV
AFP/06 June ,2026
The United States, one of the three host countries of the 2026 World Cup, has
refused to grant visas to 15 members of Iran’s delegation, state television
reported on Saturday. “Visas have been issued for the national team and the
technical staff, and there are 15 members of the administration and management
whose visas are problematic and have not been issued by the US,” a state
television reporter said from the Turkish city of Antalya, where the team is
holding a training camp.
Kuwait, Bahrain defenses respond to second attack in days amid fragile US-Iran
truce
Al Arabiya English/06 June ,2026
Kuwait and Bahrain activated their air defenses early on Saturday to respond to
aerial threats, the second attack in less than a week amid a fragile truce
between the US and Iran. “Kuwaiti air defenses are currently responding to
hostile missile and drone attacks,” Kuwait’s military said in a statement, later
clarifying that explosions heard across the country were due to interceptions.
Bahraini authorities issued an air raid alert and asked residents to seek
shelter. US forces intercepted multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones
launched toward the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf, Central Command said on
Friday. Iran fired seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain hours
after CENTCOM shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that were launched
toward the Strait of Hormuz, the statement said, adding that the attack drones
posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic.US forces subsequently
struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island to
defend against further maritime attacks, it said. CENTCOM said that initial
assessments indicate six of the missiles launched by Iran were intercepted and a
seventh did not reach its intended target. With Reuters
Kuwait says new Iran attack ‘dangerous escalation’
AFP/06 June ,2026
The Gulf state of Kuwait on Saturday condemned fresh attacks from Iran which it
said were a “direct threat” to the “lives of citizens and residents.” Kuwait
“affirms that these attacks constitute a flagrant violation of the sovereignty
of the state,” its foreign ministry said, adding “they represent a dangerous
escalation.”Neighboring Bahrain also said it was targeted by Iranian missile
barrages.
France, allies eye national measures to pressure Israel over West Bank,
diplomats say
Reuters/June 07, 2026
French officials have said they want to keep the issue on the international
agenda as wars in Iran and Lebanon draw attention away from the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while talks over Gaza’s future remain deadlocked
despite a fragile ceasefire
PARIS: France is working with several countries to step up pressure on Israel by
pressing ahead with coordinated national sanctions targeting individuals linked
to violence in the West Bank, three European diplomats said on Saturday. The
measures, which would include asset freezes and travel bans, have yet to be
finalized and countries may adopt different lists of individuals, the diplomats
said. The move comes amid escalating violence by Israeli settlers in the
occupied West Bank and underscores anger in many Western countries toward Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which has expanded settlements.
Diplomats say that expansion is aimed at undermining prospects for a Palestinian
state.
NO EU UNANIMITY FOR TOUGHER MEASURES ON ISRAEL
The diplomats said that with efforts blocked at the European Union to advance
tougher measures against Israel, several countries had concluded that
coordinated national sanctions were the best option for now. “There is no
unanimity at the EU level, so we have moved to discussions at the national
level,” one diplomat said. Two of the diplomats said the announcement would be
in the coming days. Another diplomat said Britain and Norway were among the
countries France was coordinating with, although it remained unclear who else
could join. Most countries avoid publicly discussing national sanctions for fear
that potential targets could shift assets in advance.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said after some new EU sanctions on May 11
that the bloc had “chosen, in an arbitrary and political manner, to impose
sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views and
without any basis.” Seven Western nations, including France, Britain, Australia
and Canada, accused the Israeli government on May 22 of aggravating tensions in
the West Bank. A key concern is Israel’s plan to build a settlement east of
Jerusalem, known as the E1 project, which would bisect the West Bank and cut it
off from East Jerusalem, fragmenting territory Palestinians seek for an
independent state. “In the face of settlement expansion and violence in the
West Bank, we have already taken measures. More could follow,” a French
diplomatic source said, declining to elaborate.Britain’s Foreign Office
declined to comment. The Norwegian foreign ministry did not immediately reply to
a request for comment.
FRANCE HOSTS MEETING TO KEEP ISSUE ON THE TABLE
The push to increase pressure on Israel at the national level comes just days
before France hosts a meeting on June 12 in Paris, bringing together Israeli and
Palestinian civil society groups and about a dozen foreign ministers. The
meeting will mark one year since the adoption of the New York Declaration, a
non-binding United Nations resolution endorsed by the General Assembly that set
out a roadmap toward a Palestinian state and led to about a dozen countries,
including France, recognizing a Palestinian state in September. French officials
have said they want to keep the issue on the international agenda as wars in
Iran and Lebanon draw attention away from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
while talks over Gaza’s future remain deadlocked despite a fragile ceasefire.
Israeli strike in Gaza kills seven people, including two
women, medics say
Reuters/06 June ,2026
An Israeli strike killed at least seven Palestinians including two women in Gaza
on Saturday, health officials said, as mediators restarted talks in Cairo with
Hamas and other factions over safeguarding a strained ceasefire agreement.
Medics said seven people were killed and 15 others, including children, were
wounded when an Israeli airstrike targeted a large tent encampment in the heart
of Gaza City. An Israeli military spokesperson told Reuters the military had
carried out a strike targeting “terrorists,” but provided no further details. A
ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump has failed to halt Israeli
attacks and left Israel in control of more than half the enclave after the war
began with Palestinian group Hamas’ attacks on southern Israel in October 2023.
Indirect talks on a second phase of the deal – including Hamas disarmament and
Israeli troop withdrawals – have stalled. On Saturday, Egypt began hosting a new
round of truce talks with leaders from Hamas and other Palestinian factions
expected to last for a few days, Hamas and other sources close to the
negotiation said. Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, said the talks
would focus on Israel’s implementation of the first phase, and reaching common
ground on proceeding toward the second phase. Hamas told mediators, Egypt,
Qatar, Turkey and envoys of Trump’s Board of Peace that ending Israeli attacks
in Gaza was essential for any progress, sources from the group and officials
close to the talks said. Hamas wants Israel to end attacks, allow more aid into
Gaza and withdraw to ceasefire lines.Some 950 Palestinians have been killed in
Israeli strikes since the truce began, according to figures from Gaza health
officials. Hamas rarely provides detail on deaths among its fighters. Four
Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants over the same period, Israel’s
military has said. Israel says its strikes aim to thwart imminent attacks and
that it allows aid and goods into Gaza.
Nearly 73,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the war started, most of
them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities. Hamas-led militants killed
1,200 people and took 251 Israeli and foreign hostages in its October 7, 2023,
attacks, Israel has said.
on 06-07 June/2026
Renewing Military Strikes Against Iran Is the Only Way to End Its Nuclear
Ambitions
Con Coughlin/Gatestone
Institute/June 06/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/06/155112/
American military historian Victor Davis Hanson... suggested that Iran's excuses
might actually be an ever-extending "good cop-bad cop" routine, whereby the good
cops, the negotiators, make acceptable proposals -- to be shot down immediately
by the bad cops, General Ahmad Vahidi and other members of Iran's ruling Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Above all, Hanson stressed, the current rulers appear determined to remain in
power at any "level" to be able to claim victory over Trump and the American
"Great Satan."
[T]he intransigence of Iranian leaders could ultimately persuade him that, in
order to ensure the Iranians have no chance of resuming their nuclear and
ballistic missile programme, he has no alternative but to resume military action
against the regime.
American military historian Victor Davis Hanson... suggested that Iran's excuses
might actually be an ever-extending "good cop-bad cop" routine, whereby the good
cops, the negotiators, make acceptable proposals -- to be shot down immediately
by the bad cops, General Ahmad Vahidi and other members of Iran's ruling Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Pictured: Vahidi on October 27, 2020. (Photo
by Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran)
In the seemingly endless to and fro over the Trump administration's attempts to
negotiate a peace deal with Tehran, the one red line upon which there can be no
hint of compromise is US President Donald J. Trump's insistence that the
ayatollahs will never be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.While speculation continues to mount that a deal to end the three-month conflict
between Iran and the US is in the offing, it is clear that Iran is still
resisting demands that it surrender the estimated 970 pounds of enriched uranium
-- whose main utility is for the production of nuclear warheads.
Trump's insistence that he would not sign any deal that enabled Tehran to
continue work on its nuclear programme was very much in evidence following a
meeting of senior administration officials in the Situation Room last week to
discuss the draft Memorandum of Understanding that has been drawn up between
Washington and Tehran.
Claims that the final stages of a deal are being negotiated have already
prompted the price of oil to fall below $100 a barrel in recent days, amid hopes
that the months-long closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has adversely
impacted the global economy, is coming to an end.
Despite the mounting optimism a deal could soon be concluded, it is clear that
Trump still remains sceptical about the deal, and remains concerned that the
Iranians are indulging in their long-established custom of playing for time in
the hope that they can secure a better deal.
In a sign of Trump's deepening frustration with the process to sign a deal,
whereby the two sides would observe a 60-day ceasefire while other issues, such
as the nuclear programme, are finalised, the president took to social media to
reaffirm his key red lines.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump had said Iran "must" open the Strait of Hormuz,
agree they will never have a nuclear weapon and that Tehran's stockpile of
highly enriched uranium should be "DESTROYED".
A White House official confirmed the president's determination to hold for a
deal that ends Iran's nuclear ambitions once and for all, commenting that Trump
"will only make a deal that is good for America, satisfies his red lines, and
makes sure Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also insisted that Trump would not agree to any
deal unless Iran reopens the Strait of Hormuz, gives up highly enriched uranium
and agrees not to pursue a nuclear weapon.
As he considers his next steps, Trump will also need to take into account the
recent warning made by General Jack Keane (ret.) during a recent interview with
Fox News that Iran has a history of making deals and then not abiding by them,
as happened after Tehran signed then US President Barack Obama's flawed JCPOA
"nuclear deal" in 2015.
Despite agreeing to freeze its nuclear programme, the regime continued to
conduct research on producing weapons-grade enriched uranium.
To ensure Iran cannot engage in similar tactics in the event of a new deal being
signed with the Trump administration, the president has asked his negotiating
team to make a number of important changes to the clauses regarding Iran's
nuclear programme.
In its current form, the Memorandum of Understanding merely includes a vague
commitment from Iran that it will not pursue a nuclear weapon, an undertaking
that hardly inspires confidence that Iran is serious about ending its nuclear
ambitions for good.
A senior Trump administration official told Axios that Trump had asked his team
to amend the timetable of the nuclear talks, in which the US seeks to remove
about 10 warheads' worth of highly enriched uranium that Iran has amassed. Trump
wants "more specifics about how the US gets the material and the timing," the
official was quoted as saying.
The material is thought to have been buried after the US hit key Iranian nuclear
sites during the June 2025 Israel-Iran war.
According to the official, the Iranians would need about three days to get back
to Trump because "they're literally in caves and they're not using email."
Washington is "willing to wait so the president gets what he asks for," the
official said. "It could be a week. It could be less. It could be more. At the
turn of the week, we hope to have something."
American military historian Victor Davis Hanson, however, regretting that the US
has already lost two months, suggested that Iran's excuses might actually be an
ever-extending "good cop-bad cop" routine, whereby the good cops, the
negotiators, make acceptable proposals -- to be shot down immediately by the bad
cops, General Ahmad Vahidi and other members of Iran's ruling Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Above all, Hanson stressed, the current rulers appear determined to remain in
power at any "level" to be able to claim victory over Trump and the American
"Great Satan."
Other issues that are said to be holding up the negotiations are disputes over
Iranian attempts to control shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as
Tehran's insistence that a ceasefire in Lebanon be included in any deal to end
the Iran war.
The prospects of any deal being concluded quickly, though, remain open to
question in view of statements made by Iranian officials, who insist that the
Memorandum of Understanding contains no demands for Tehran to make nuclear
concessions, nor a commitment for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
With the American president continuing to insist he is under no pressure to
reach a deal with Tehran, the intransigence of Iranian leaders could ultimately
persuade him that, in order to ensure the Iranians have no chance of resuming
their nuclear and ballistic missile programme, he has no alternative but to
resume military action against the regime.
**Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a
Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22578/renewing-military-strikes-against-iran
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute.
Iran's $25 Billion Nuclear Deal with Russia: Iran's IRGC
Regime Must be Removed
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/June 06/2026
In the midst of ongoing diplomatic efforts and an ostensible truce, Iran
launched missile and drone strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain — countries not even
remotely involved in its conflict with Israel and the US — and then revealed
that it signed a $25 billion nuclear deal with Russia.
Striking them deliberately during a ceasefire appears just part of Iran's
blackmail plan to have its neighbors press US President Trump to permanently end
military action against Iran, so that Iran will not attack their oilfields.
The Iranian regime has repeatedly shown that when it comes to achieving its
goals, it has no red lines. In 2026 -- not even half over -- Iran has targeted
multiple Gulf states, Israel, and US bases with countless missiles and drones,
causing civilian casualties across the region. This is in addition to reportedly
murdering more than 40,000 of its own citizens just in January, as well as
decades of murderous terrorist attacks against Americans.
Deals, to Iran's regime, are about getting money to rebuild its military and its
nuclear weapons program.
Iran's regime views attacks and expansion as a way to keep on inflicting more
attacks and expansion.
Even if a new deal were reached, with temporary halts on uranium enrichment for
sanctions relief, what happens after? Iran's regime can buy time. It plays the
long game. Just wait out US administrations. A future US leadership could be
weaker. In addition to Iran's $25 billion nuclear deal with Russia, it could
receive additional help from its other allies, China, North Korea and Pakistan.
Should the IRGC be allowed to "save face" or be removed entirely? Did the Allied
forces in World War II allow Germany's Nazi regime to save face? Hardly. There
were consequences for criminal behavior, the Nuremberg Trials, as well as
searches for war criminals for decades.
The latest attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain clearly show that trusting the Iranian
regime with any deal is playing Russian roulette with regional and global
stability. The US administration cannot afford to fool its people or itself.
Even if a new deal were reached, with temporary halts on uranium enrichment for
sanctions relief, what happens after? Iran's regime can buy time. It plays the
long game. Just wait out US administrations. A future US leadership could be
weaker. In addition to Iran's $25 billion nuclear deal with Russia, it could
receive additional help from its other allies, China, North Korea and Pakistan.
In the midst of ongoing diplomatic efforts and an ostensible truce, Iran
launched missile and drone strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain — countries not even
remotely involved in its conflict with Israel and the US — and then revealed
that it signed a $25 billion nuclear deal with Russia.
Iran's regime, controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which
is headed by General Ahmad Vahidi, appears not to have the slightest intention
of decreasing its hostilities.
Kuwait and Bahrain have historically played constructive roles in regional
de-escalation, including efforts to mediate or support deals involving Iran and
the West. Striking them deliberately during a ceasefire appears just part of
Iran's blackmail plan to have its neighbors press US President Trump to
permanently end military action against Iran, so that Iran will not attack their
oilfields.
Even during a supposed pause in hostilities, Iran has no problem striking
neutral and mediating parties. This is not the behavior of an actor seeking
peaceful coexistence through deals.
Deals, to Iran's regime, are about getting money to rebuild its military and its
nuclear weapons program. Iran's regime views attacks and expansion as a way to
keep on inflicting more attacks and expansion. The Iranian regime has repeatedly
shown that when it comes to achieving its goals, it has no red lines. In 2026 --
not even half over -- Iran has targeted multiple Gulf states, Israel, and US
bases with countless missiles and drones, causing civilian casualties across the
region. This is in addition to reportedly murdering more than 40,000 of its own
citizens just in January, as well as decades of murderous terrorist attacks
(such as here and here) against Americans.
Imagine this same jihadist regime armed with nuclear weapons mounted on its
ballistic missiles. It would not hesitate to use them.
A regime that casually wounds and kills civilians in non-belligerent states
during a ceasefire would likely view nuclear arms as divine permission to wipe
out any perceived "adversaries" – meaning anyone who stands in its way, from
Israel to neighbors in the Gulf.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian leaders have repeatedly promised no
pursuit of nuclear weapons -- claiming enriched uranium is for "civilian
purposes," which they do not even need -- while advancing their nuclear weapons
program in secret. They came perilously close to breakout capacity in recent
years. Promises and "deals" mean little when the underlying ideology remains
unchanged.
Even if a new deal were reached, with temporary halts on uranium enrichment for
sanctions relief, what happens after? Iran's regime can buy time. It plays the
long game. Just wait out US administrations. A future US leadership could be
weaker. In addition to Iran's $25 billion nuclear deal with Russia, it could
receive additional help from its other allies, China, North Korea and Pakistan.
The core issue is not uranium enrichment limits or nuclear site inspections. It
is the regime itself. As long as the Islamic Republic's regime exists
—prioritizing revolutionary ideology, anti-Western confrontation and regional
dominance — no agreement will endure. Sanctions relief buys time; it does not
change the ruling IRGC. It is to be hoped that Trump, even with the best
intentions for the US and its allies in the Middle East, is not setting up the
US, its allies in the Gulf, and Israel for more missile and drone attacks, proxy
wars, and eventually nuclear weapons.
Should the IRGC be allowed to "save face" or be removed entirely? Did the Allied
forces in World War II allow Germany's Nazi regime to save face? Hardly. There
were consequences for criminal behavior, the Nuremberg Trials, as well as
searches for war criminals for decades.
In the meantime, one of the best sustainable paths to ending the threat posed by
the Islamic Republic lies in arming and supporting the Iranian people
themselves, who represent the most powerful force for change from within. There
are millions of Iranians — young people, women, ethnic minorities, and ordinary
citizens — who are deeply disillusioned with the regime's oppressive rule and
are willing to rise up against it. Every time they have taken to the streets in
protest, as seen in waves of demonstrations over the past decade, they have been
brutally suppressed, with many imprisoned and tens of thousands murdered by the
IRGC and security forces. Unarmed civilians have confronted a heavily armed
totalitarian apparatus backed by massive resources.
By providing targeted support for opposition networks, secure communications,
defensive capabilities, and other forms of assistance, the balance of power
inside Iran can be shifted. Without changing this fundamental imbalance, the
revolutionary ideology will persist, and the cycle of threats will continue
indefinitely.
Continuing pressure while avoiding concessions that legitimize or fund its
ideology offers the best chance for genuine transformation. Only regime change,
or a fundamental shift away from revolutionary zealotry, removes the recurring
threat of nuclear weapons breakout, proxy terrorism, and unprovoked strikes on
neighbors, Israel, Europe and ultimately the US.
The latest attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain clearly show that trusting the Iranian
regime with any deal is playing Russian roulette with regional and global
stability. The US administration cannot afford to fool its people or itself.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and
board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on
the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
*Follow Majid Rafizadeh on X (formerly Twitter)
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute.
More oil escapes Hormuz but market will never return to normal
Ron Bousso/The Arab Weekly/June 06/2026
The trickle of tanklers previews the opaque, fragmented energy market the Iran
war is set to leave in its wake.
The trickle of tankers exiting the Strait of Hormuz has gathered pace in recent
weeks, as traders adopt stealth measures to make the crossing. While this is
freeing some of the vast oil inventories trapped in the Gulf, it does not signal
a slow return to normalcy. Instead, it previews the opaque, fragmented energy
market the Iran war is set to leave in its wake.
More than four months into the conflict, the US and Iran are still struggling to
hammer out an agreement to formally end the war and fully reopen the narrow
waterway.
The near-total closure of Hormuz stranded more than 13 million barrels of oil
per day within the Gulf, forcing producers to shut down oilfields and
refineries, triggering supply shortfalls and economic strain across major
importing nations.
Traffic through the strait remains a fraction of pre-war levels. On the face of
it, an average of just three tankers a day has crossed in and out of Hormuz
since the conflict began – roughly one-tenth of normal volumes – according to
shipping monitors including LSEG and Kpler.
But a closer look at oil stocks tells a more nuanced story.
An analysis of the huge volumes stored on tankers inside the Gulf suggests
transit activity has quietly accelerated. It points to a growing number of ships
leaving the region “under the radar” of satellite tracking systems. More vessels
appear to be switching off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) before
and after transiting the strait, adopting tactics long used by Iran to evade
Western sanctions.
In practice, tankers can “go dark” for days around the crossing, only to
reappear weeks later near their destination.Shipping analytics firm Vortexa
estimates that around 65% of outbound laden tankers transited in “dark” mode in
May, showing how widespread the practice has become.
That opacity is distorting the market’s line of sight. Reduced visibility into
cargo movements and destinations makes it harder to gauge the flows underpinning
benchmark pricing.
That makes alternative indicators increasingly important.
One key gauge of the pace of outflows is “oil on water” in the Gulf, or the
volume of oil stored on tankers trapped behind the strait. Levels have dropped
from a peak of 184 million barrels on March 22 to around 148 million barrels
this week, according to Kpler data, implying an average drawdown rate of roughly
500,000 bpd.
Crucially, that pace has accelerated over the past month. Since the start of
May, depletion has increased to around 710,000 bpd, according to ROI analysis.
That offers further evidence that flows out of the Gulf, while still
constrained, are inching higher.
Exactly which routes these dark tankers are taking remains unclear as the term
“dark” suggests. Many are likely using corridors designated by Iran, which has
allowed limited volumes through the strait under bilateral arrangements with
Asian governments including Pakistan, India, China and Japan. This underscores
the region’s heavy dependence on Gulf supply. Some vessels may be paying Iran a
fee for safe passage. Other vessels may be taking routes closer to Oman’s
coastline, potentially with the tacit or active support of the US Navy, which
continues to play a stabilising role in regional maritime security. The
situation remains fluid and could shift quickly. Iran could tighten its grip on
shipping at any moment, particularly if negotiations with the US continue to
stall.
After more than three months of severe economic disruption, every barrel
exported offers a lifeline to revenue-starved Gulf producers such as Iraq and
Kuwait, and desperate buyers in Asia.
But a sustained recovery will require far greater clarity and stability around
Hormuz. Producers are unlikely to restart the roughly 11 million bpd of
oilfields shut in during the conflict without confidence that exports can flow
reliably. One key constraint is logistical: the return of empty tankers to the
Gulf. Without a steady inflow of vessels to load cargoes, onshore storage tanks
will remain near capacity, preventing the restart of shut-in production.
That crucial rebalancing – laden ships leaving and empty ships returning – has
yet to materialise at scale.Shipowners and charterers remain wary of sending
vessels into a region where the risk of becoming stranded remains high.
Insurance premiums continue to reflect that elevated risk, reinforcing a
cautious approach to redeploying fleets. Ultimately, the market may never return
to normal, even if a political breakthrough officially “reopens” the strait.
Tehran is seeking to retain control over traffic in the waterway and introduce a
tolling system, potentially reshaping how one of the world’s most critical oil
chokepoints operates. That would represent an untenable situation for Gulf
producers, forcing them to find alternate routes. And if they can’t erode Iran’s
position strategically, they may seek to do so militarily.
The shift toward a more opaque trading environment in the Middle East may be
providing some marginal relief. But the fragmented, dangerous reality it
reflects means any respite may be short-lived.
A strange War and its Bizarre Coverage
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat /June 06/2026
In decades of journalism, part of it as reporter covering a dozen or so wars in
the Indian Subcontinent, Indochina, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, I have
never been as puzzled by media coverage of a conflict as I am today with how the
Iran-US-Israel war is depicted in much of the mainstream media.The first curious
feature of this war is the absence of clearly identifiable battlefronts. This is
partly because it is a war almost exclusively waged through the skies. Even the
war in Ukraine has some battlefields on the ground. In Lebanon, which is an
offshoot of the current war, the Israeli army and Hezbollah fighters seldom come
face to face. Then there is the bizarre situation in which we see Iran sending
more missile and drones against its neighbors across the pond than against
Israeli and American targets. For the past three weeks, Iran has made no attacks
on Israel, focusing on targeting Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations. And
that is not to mention Iran’s attacks on ringside spectators such as Jordan,
Azerbaijan, Türkiye and even Cyprus.Another peculiar feature of this war is the
targeting of civilian and/or double-use infrastructure rather than purely
military ones. Iranian drones hit hotels in Dubai with the excuse that they may
be hosting some US troops. The civilian terminal in Kuwait Airport was hit with
the excuse that US military personnel on leave may pass through it. Israel razes
Beirut apartment blocks, housing hundreds of families, to the ground on
suspicion that a single Hezbollah operative may be hiding there. Then there is
the fact that civilians account for the overwhelming majority of victims in
Iran, Israel and the GCC countries. Another interesting feature is the absence
of non-partisan journalists covering this war.In Iran, even local reporters are
not allowed to report anything outside official handouts.
On the US side, President Donald Trump’s Social Truth account sets the agenda as
a 24/7 news agency. In Vietnam, there were times when the White House would hear
the news of the war first from reporters on the ground. In the two US wars
against Iraq, lone-ranger reporters from more than 20 countries were present
alongside dozens more embedded with US and British fighting units.In Ukraine,
both Kiev and Moscow arrange occasional tours for foreign reporters, at times
allowing some leeway to depict a credible picture of the war. But the most
curious feature of this war rarely seen in most previous conflicts is its
depiction by Mainstream Media (MSM) through a prism of ideological and/or
partisan prejudices. Because President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu do not enjoy widespread popularity across the globe, MSM covers the
war with a clear bias in favor of Iran. The subtext is a desire to see Trump and
Netanyahu humiliated and if possible chased out of office. The MSM doesn’t
necessarily want Iran to emerge as winner but clearly hopes that Trump and
Netanyahu get a bloody nose. To achieve that goal, some depict Iran as an
innocent though a bit naughty country given to boasting and bragging but
certainly not deserving a thrashing.
Others depict Iran is a re-emerging “empire” to form a triangle with Russia and
China as the other two angles of re-emerging empires to challenge the fading
American empire.
Paris walls are plastered with posters shrieking “Trump, Netanyahu! Stop the
War!” as if ran was not involved except as a victim. Moreover, European and
American MSM try to portray Iran in rosy shades that make many Iranians uneasy
to say the least. We read that Iran is world number two in terms of people with
the highest IQ.
I don’t know whether that is true or not. But I know that the top echelon of
those ruling Iran since 1979 were certainly not luminaries. I also know no other
country where the ruling elite is so different, in a negative way, than the mass
of people it dominates.
In any case, a high IQ is no guarantee from having common sense, compassion,
wisdom and humanity without which no city can be run in a decent manner. It is
reported that Josef Mengele had one of the highest IQs in Hitler’s Reich. The
MSM beats the drums about Iran having more engineers per head of population than
the US, Britain and France.
This may be true but no one asks why.
The reason is that in Iran many academic disciplines are in dicey positions. Few
students are keen on going for humanities and/or literature where many
philosophers, sociologists, writers and poets from more than 50 countries are
blacklisted. Even if you wish to study economics, the key texts offered are from
the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on “resistance economy”, a set of speeches by
“Imam” Ruhollah Khomeini and a pamphlet by the late Iraqi cleric Mohammad-Baqer
al-Sadr called “Our Economics” plus old Soviet pamphlets against “capitalism”
and “neoliberal economy.”
To many young Iranians the best option is to steer clear of such subjects and go
for medicine or engineering in which you can get on without pseudo-theological
mumbo-jumbo.
Engineering as a career is also attractive because the regime has spent huge
resources on developing the military industries launched in Iran in the 1970s
while expanding the nuclear project that started in 1959. The Khomeinist
leadership also needed thousands of engineers to build scores of dams and canal
to boost agricultural production and make Iran self-sufficient in food. This was
done by drying up many rivers, lakes and wetland while damaging the traditional
qanat system dating back to 3,000 years ago. Engineers managed to boost farm
production but led Iran to the edge of desertification.
All ideology-based systems of government favor subjects such as engineering.
Hitler’s Germany had more engineers than the Western democracies combined. They
built beautiful motorways, cars and tanks and developed the first missile
systems. The first man in space was sent by the Soviet Union. Today, the whole
world admires what Chinese engineers have achieved. What the MSM chooses to
ignore is the war within this war, one that the regime is waging against Iranian
people. Since the war began last February, hundreds of Iranians have been
executed on spurious charges while over 2,000 have been arrested across the
country. To shed Lachrimae Amoris for such a regime and depict it as an innocent
victim because of partisan prejudices is a betrayal of both the Iranian people
and the tragedy of this war. More importantly it is a betrayal of the first
victim of war: truth.
Can the AI Bomb Be Controlled?
Mishary Dhayidi/Asharq Al-Awsat /June 06/2026
Are the artificial intelligence models available to the public really the most
advanced versions that exist? The versions available to ordinary users are
astonishing in both their capabilities and their rapid development. Yet there
are elite versions that the public has not seen.
The White House reportedly approved Anthropic's "Mythos" model, a system that
has not yet been released to the public because of its capabilities in
cybersecurity and its ability to penetrate some of the most sophisticated
electronic systems. It is currently being used only by a limited number of
institutions. Anthropic itself, a company specializing in artificial
intelligence, has warned about the accelerating pace of AI development and has
proposed a temporary halt to the advancement of the most powerful AI systems,
amid signs that the latest models could potentially move beyond human
control.The company behind the Claude model argued, according to an AFP report,
that a global slowdown in the development of advanced artificial intelligence
would "most likely be a positive thing."
Researchers describe a mechanism known as "recursive self-improvement," whereby
an AI system becomes capable of teaching and improving itself with little human
assistance. This is precisely the phenomenon that the leading US company has
warned against.
Anthropic has even called for an international treaty similar to the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty, aimed at limiting the spread of AI capabilities and
ensuring that they remain under control. But who, for example, could persuade
China to agree to such an arrangement? And how could such efforts be enforced
when programmers working behind closed doors continue to develop this powerful
technology? Elon Musk, Anthropic, and others have focused on the military,
intelligence, and security applications of these alarming technologies at a time
when the world's operating systems and data storage have become increasingly
dependent on the digital realm. It is difficult to see how these systems and
databases can be guaranteed protection from attack, regardless of how advanced
any country's cybersecurity capabilities may be.
Do backup copies exist outside this interconnected digital world, disconnected
from it entirely? Are there even backups in traditional forms such as paper and
other physical records?
That is one side of the issue. The other is how to preserve the minds and
well-being of future generations in a healthy and natural state. How can
humanity's cognitive abilities, including analysis, synthesis, and critical
thinking, be preserved? Will people eventually switch off their own minds in
favor of artificial intelligence, just as mental calculation declined with the
advent of the calculator? And is the comparison even valid, given the
potentially far greater impact of AI on the human mind?
For this reason, global governance, a genuinely international oversight body,
and a binding ethical framework for this new arrival, artificial intelligence,
have become an urgent necessity to safeguard humanity's future, if the leaders
of these companies and the heads of the world's major powers still possess
enough reason and moral responsibility to act.
St. Petersburg Forum and the Search for a Stable Future
Emile Ameen/Asharq Al-Awsat /June 06/2026
The 29th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2026) concluded on
Saturday in the historic Russian city of St. Petersburg. The forum, which has
been held since its establishment in 1997, brought together participants from
130 countries and territories, led by China and the United States, alongside a
notably strong and, this time, striking European presence. At the heart of it
all was Saudi Arabia, the Forum's Guest of Honor.
The world views this event as one of considerable importance. Some describe it
as "Russia's Davos." Because it brings together a spectrum of sovereign nations
that are capable, willing, and ready to move forward immediately on the basis of
partnership to develop their economies and work together toward a shared
globalized economy, many regard it as distinct from the Western-oriented Davos
forum, which critics argue has fallen short of implementing the very ideology it
promotes.
This year's forum served, first and foremost, to demonstrate the strength and
resilience of relations between Moscow and Riyadh. More precisely, it
highlighted the effectiveness of Saudi diplomacy in maintaining balanced
relations with the world's major powers and capitals, as well as the Kingdom's
significant standing and influence in international forums.
This distinguished participation comes as relations between the two countries
enter their centennial year and as productive partnerships continue to deepen
across the energy, industrial, and agricultural sectors, alongside the digital
economy and tourism.
Moscow has come to recognize with certainty Riyadh's active and vital role in
the Ukrainian crisis. Saudi Arabia has pursued a balanced, rational, and
constructive approach, opening its doors to both sides and welcoming all parties
in multiple efforts aimed at ending a war that has dragged on for far too long,
yielding little beyond death and destruction for everyone involved.
Saudi Arabia's presence at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum
reinforced the Arab and Gulf role in the discussions that took place throughout
the forum's sessions, many of which Russian President Vladimir Putin took care
to attend. This comes at a critical moment as the global order undergoes rapid
transformation in search of new avenues of cooperation on a host of divisive
issues, foremost among them the state of the global economy and concerns over a
possible worldwide recession or the emergence of severe financial crises
reminiscent of, and perhaps even worse than, the 2008 financial crisis in the
United States.
It has become clear from the participation of representatives of major
international corporations, government officials, and leading technology figures
that artificial intelligence has come to occupy a prominent place in virtually
every international gathering, whether political, economic, social, or even
religious. The reason lies not only in the immense opportunities it offers
humanity, in ways that seem to surpass the wonders of myth and legend, but also
in the profound risks it poses, from the threat of deepfakes to the prospect of
a world shaped by cyborgs and brain-implant technologies.
"Pragmatic Dialogue: The Path to a Stable Future" was the theme of this year's
forum. It appears that Europeans in general, and Germans in particular, have
come to recognize, with considerable pragmatism, that it is neither wise nor
beneficial to remain locked in a prolonged confrontation with the Kremlin. There
is no quick resolution to the Ukrainian crisis in sight, while Uncle Sam has
begun reducing his military presence on the Old Continent after eight decades of
partnership dating back to the Second World War. Despite the decline in economic
ties between Berlin and Moscow, some 1,800 German companies continue to operate
in Russia, a market that has long attracted German investment at levels
reportedly ten times greater than those in any other European country.
In the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, many German companies pledged to leave
the Russian market. Yet only 9 percent ultimately departed, while the rest chose
to remain.
The European presence at the St. Petersburg forum highlights a growing
recognition of the substantial damage suffered by the European Union, which
continues to grapple with challenges in its energy sector. These difficulties
have deepened divisions over policy toward Moscow and raised questions about
whether reconciliation with the Russian bear may ultimately prove a more
beneficial and practical choice than continued hostility. This is especially so
given claims that Germany and other European countries have lost nearly €3
trillion as a result of rejecting Russian energy supplies, losses that some
argue have brought the continent's economies close to the brink.
The forum also showcased the scale of the Eurasian awakening, particularly in
the form of expanding Chinese-Russian cooperation. According to available data,
1,400 Chinese companies were established in Russia during the first quarter of
this year alone.
The forum comes ahead of NATO's summit next July. Could it signal the beginning
of a European-Russian rapprochement, easing pressure from the White House on
America's allies and allowing them greater room for maneuver?
Why I Won’t Debate Critics of Israel ...A note to the
Making Sense Community
Sam Harris/Jun 05, 2026
https://samharris.substack.com/p/why-i-wont-debate-critics-of-israel
Many readers and podcast listeners have been dismayed by my enduring support for
Israel and now urge me to debate someone—really anyone—drawn from a growing cast
of scholars, grifters, and moral lunatics who have made that beleaguered country
their professional or psychiatric obsession. The Making Sense Community seems to
have inherited this infatuation, leading to some heated exchanges in recent
days. I’ve explained my position on Israel across several podcasts and in my
public talks, but it might help to summarize it here.
First, my general attitude: I’m not interested in exploring all the ways that
Israel has missed the mark—from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s corrupt alliance with
the far right, to the many crimes committed by settlers in the West Bank, to the
deaths of innocent noncombatants in several wars—because none of these failings,
however grave, will alter my sense that (1) the ethical difference between
Israel and her enemies remains vast, and (2) the global preoccupation with the
Jewish state, as though it were the worst villain among nations, is
contemptible, being the product of perennial lies and delusions.
Next, a simple heuristic: As I suggested in at least one Community thread
already, if my intransigence on these matters mystifies you, it might help to
understand that, for whatever reason, I think militant Islam is ten times worse
than you think it is. When I talk about “jihadists” and their various
groups—Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, the IRGC, etc.—I’m talking
about people who I consider to be worse than Nazis (jihadists being,
essentially, Nazis who are certain of Paradise). My views about the conflict in
the Middle East will not fundamentally change unless my critics produce evidence
that Israel has become as evil as her enemies.
However, you can rest assured that if the IDF morphs into a death cult that uses
its own civilian population as human shields (and yet somehow remains widely
popular), if ordinary Israelis begin to celebrate martyrdom above every earthly
priority, producing generations of bright-eyed, suicidal fanatics, if the
residents of Tel Aviv condone the taking of Palestinian infants, old women, and
other noncombatants as hostages and then gather in crowds of thousands, baying
for their blood—if, in other words, the Israelis begin to resemble the
Palestinians, then I won’t care who wins this war. Short of this, there remains
a world of difference between the two sides, and I believe that we should focus
on how brutalizing it is for any free society to confront enemies that can
sincerely claim to “love death” more than everyone else loves life—for this has
been Israel’s predicament for the better part of a century.
The problem in the Middle East is not, and has never been, the existence of the
state of Israel. The problem is jihadism, Islamism, Islamic extremism,
Islamofascism, militant Islam—or whatever words you want to use to describe the
belligerence and triumphal lunacy of those who take the most pernicious
doctrines of Islam too seriously.
I won’t debate the history of the Middle East because it is irrelevant to
resolving the conflict there. Of course, many people insist that we must
disentangle and reconsider every strand of this history, going back at least a
century. The reason I’m convinced that this is a fool’s errand is simple:
Palestinians and Israelis have discrepant accounts of the past, and no amount of
study or debate will reconcile them.
What’s far more important to understand—and I think it really is the only thing
worth considering—is what the current inhabitants of Israel, the Palestinian
territories, and the surrounding Arab states want out of life now. (Not what
they pretend to want or what a handful of royal families want, while their
populations want something quite different.) What do the Jews and Muslims in the
region really yearn to accomplish? What are they willing to sacrifice for? What
are they willing to die for? And what are they willing to let their children die
for?
When we focus on the present this way, if we’re being honest, we must concede
that there are two very different realities on either side of this conflict:
culturally, psychologically, ethically, spiritually—in every way that matters.
Yes, Israel has its religious fanatics too. But they aren’t the same sort of
fanatics we find in Hamas or Hezbollah, and they’re far less representative of
the surrounding culture. Notwithstanding everything that can be said against
Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Israeli far right, and the settlers in the West
Bank—and there is much to condemn—I believe the following remains true:
If the Palestinians laid down their arms, there would be peace. There could be a
two-state solution; there could even be a one-state solution; it wouldn’t
matter. If the Palestinians simply stopped killing Jews and stopped building a
culture that celebrates pointless murder and martyrdom as its highest values,
there could be a diverse, tolerant, and prosperous society between the Jordan
River and the Mediterranean Sea. There could have been one eighty years ago. But
if the Israelis laid down their weapons, there would be a genocide. This was
obviously true on October 7th, 2023. And for anyone who has been paying
attention, it has been true on every other day since the founding of the state
of Israel.
The truth is, I have never known how Israel should have responded to the events
of October 7th. I only know that they, along with every other free society, must
ultimately defeat militant Islam. How we should do this is genuinely debatable.
But that’s not the point of contention among Israel’s critics, especially on the
left. To them, worrying about militant Islam—even in Israel, even in the
aftermath of the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust—is just more “Islamophobia.”
It’s just more “colonialism” and “racism” (as though that last charge made any
sense in the Middle East).
If you want to understand my view of this conflict, simply ask the one question
that clarifies everything in the present:
What would each side do if it had the power to do whatever it wanted?
Though many pretend otherwise, everyone knows the answer to this question to a
moral certainty.
If Hamas had the power, it would perpetrate a real genocide in Israel. The group
has affirmed its commitment to this project on countless occasions, both before
and after October 7th. And while it is true that Jew-hatred throughout the
Muslim world has been made immensely worse by a century-long fascination with
Nazi propaganda and conspiracy theories, this animus isn’t merely a modern
phenomenon. For instance, there is a famous hadith which predicts that the End
Times will not come until the very stones and trees cry out “Oh Muslim, there is
a Jew behind me, come kill him.” Unsurprisingly, Hamas cited this hadith in its
founding charter.
Most Palestinians know this, and yet Hamas remains popular. For over a decade,
Hamas diverted foreign aid that was meant to improve life in Gaza and used it to
build the largest bomb shelter our species has ever constructed—hundreds of
miles of tunnels—and yet no Palestinian civilians were allowed to shelter there
during the war. Why not? Because Hamas was using these men, women, and children
as human shields. And when Israel made phone calls and sent millions of text
messages urging civilians to evacuate, the loudspeakers in the nearest mosques
warned them to stay in place. And Hamas snipers murdered many who tried to move
to safety. The Palestinians know all this, and yet Hamas remains popular. Even
after all the devastation that Hamas has brought down on its own people, it
remains the most popular Palestinian faction, well ahead of its rival, Fatah.
This is why there is no peace in the Middle East.
The suffering in Gaza is terrible, and I’ve never pretended otherwise. But the
suffering elsewhere—suffering you aren’t thinking about—is just as real. You
should ask yourself why you don’t care more about it. This difference,
emotionally and politically, is what it looks like to lose an information war.
We haven’t seen all the dead children in Yemen, Syria, or Sudan, where the
numbers are far worse than in Gaza, but everyone has witnessed the pornography
of misery and death that has been steadily manufactured by supporters of Hamas.
You might think that your special concern over Israel is due to the fact that we
(Americans) supply many of the weapons the IDF uses to kill Palestinians. But we
supplied arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE for a war in Yemen that has killed an
estimated 377,000 people. Where were those protests? Where was the celebrity
sanctimony over Yemeni dead? Why didn’t Zohran Mamdani trumpet his opposition to
this evil while campaigning to become Mayor of New York? Yemen was the world’s
worst humanitarian crisis for years, with American weaponry and logistical
support fully implicated, and yet it never became the organizing moral obsession
of universities, media institutions, activist networks, or leftwing politics the
way Gaza has.
To point this out isn’t to commit the rhetorical sin of “whataboutism.” Rather,
it exposes a glaring moral disparity: The world simply does not care when
Muslims kill other Muslims—amazingly, it doesn’t much care when they kill
Christians either—but it does care, enormously, when Jews do it. The General
Assembly of the UN and its Human Rights Council have passed more resolutions
against Israel than against all other nations combined, including North Korea,
Iran, Russia, China, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen. A few of these countries have
committed actual genocides. None of this makes sense. But this is the world we
are living in.
Of the world’s 193 nations, two-thirds were created by map makers who merely
imagined their frontiers into being, without much regard for the tribal
interests of the people living within them. In fact, more than half were created
since 1948, the year that Israel was founded. And yet there is only one whose
legitimacy is still debated everywhere. There is only one nation on Earth that
must continually argue for its right to exist, even when the very survival of
its people is threatened by avowedly genocidal enemies.
This obsession with Israel, and the double standards to which its people are
held, now forms the center of mass of that shapeshifting moral affliction widely
known as “antisemitism.”
I’ve lived most of my life believing that dangerous antisemitism was behind us,
at least in the West. Unfortunately, the response to October 7th has put that
assumption very much in doubt. The atrocities committed by Hamas revealed a
level of Jew hatred, globally, that shocked even those of us who have been
students of antisemitism for much of our lives. Crucially, this hatred showed
itself before Israel invaded Gaza. When the corpses of the young people
mutilated and murdered at the Nova Music Festival were still being identified,
we had students at Harvard and professors at Columbia—and demonstrators in New
York, London, Sydney, and Toronto—celebrating their killers.
Why does antisemitism matter? Well, for the Jews, it’s obvious why it matters,
but why should it matter to everyone else? It matters because when you look at
what antisemites also hate, you find they hate everything that makes culturally
rich, diverse, open societies possible. Real antisemites bring with them more
than just their hatred of Jews: they bring censorship, political repression,
conspiracy thinking, and the politics of dehumanization and scapegoating. So
decrying antisemitism is not an act of special pleading. It is a defense of the
moral and institutional architecture that free societies require.
Let me close with another general point to members of the Making Sense
Community: Many of you have written to tell me that you’ve lost respect for me
over this issue (or that you still value my work and are giving me “a pass” on
Israel). I reject this framing, and you should too. No one should be a part of
Community just because they agree with me. I’m not running a political party,
and there is no line for me, or for anyone else, to toe. If I’ve fallen off a
pedestal because I said something you don’t agree with, the pedestal was the
problem, not the disagreement. Of course, if you think I am lying to you, or
that I otherwise lack integrity, you should leave and never look back. But if
you just think I happen to be wrong, even about something important—especially
about something important—I encourage you to keep showing up with better
evidence and arguments. This, after all, is what a real intellectual and moral
community is for.
https://samharris.substack.com/p/why-i-wont-debate-critics-of-israel
on 06 June/2026
Prime Minister of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
“It is with heavy sorrow that we received the news this evening regarding Egoz
commando fighter Captain Shahar Gamla, of blessed memory, who was severely
wounded in battle in Lebanon and passed away this morning from his injuries, and
Givati fighter Sergeant Ohad Yaari, of blessed memory, who fell during
operational activity in southern Lebanon. Shahar and Ohad, of blessed memory,
were among our finest sons. They fought with supreme heroism to protect the
communities of the north and the citizens of Israel, and their sacrifice and
courage will be forever etched in our hearts.My wife and I, together with all
citizens of Israel, send our condolences to the Gamla and Yaari families and
embrace them in this hour of their profound grief.
May their memory be a blessing.”
Dennis Ross
Iran’s leaders act like they have won and are not under pressure. Their
conditions for an MOU: release $24 billion in their frozen assets and impose a
ceasefire in Lebanon without Hezbollah withdrawing from the south or disarming.
They clearly believe time on their side.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
The Arab conflict with Israel is not about October 7. That's true. It's about
the Arabs never, in their history, granting any non-Arabs or non-Muslims equal
rights and then throwing a tantrum whenever these second degree citizens asked
for their own countries.
Forget Israel v Palestinians. Check out the Syrian "Arab Republic," even after
the collapse of the Baath Party. See how the Druze (Arab non-Muslims) and the
Kurds (Muslim non-Arabs) have been treated like unwelcome guests in Syria. See
how the Christians in Iraq vanished while the Kurds are always treated as an
unwanted presence. The problem is not the 1948 Independence of Israel. It is the
inability of the Arabs to treat each other, let alone others, in the ways of
modern states. Blaming imperialism for their failure is not convincing. If Arabs
(minus the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco) want to continue living in Medieval times,
why hold back everyone and drag them to misery too?
Israel Force
BREAKING NEWS:
Confirm by Russia🇷🇺...Sources have revealed that Israel has recently carried
out a violent attack on a safehouse in Tehran, Iran. Ali Khamenei's son, Mojtaba
Khamenei, was killed on the spot in this attack, which has created an atmosphere
of panic in Iran.
This Is Beirut
As Lebanese and Israeli officials continue to engage in historic talks mediated
by the United States, the newly-founded Lebanon-Israel Peace Alliance (LIPA - @LebIsraelPeace)
advocacy organization brought together Lebanese and Israeli figures to extend a
vision of peace beyond
Ted Cruz
Really excellent. Carefully argued. Worth reading: “The problem in the Middle
East is not, and has never been, the existence of the state of Israel. The
problem is jihadism, Islamism, Islamic extremism, Islamofascism, militant
Islam.” https://samharris.substack.com/p/why-i-wont-debate-critics-of-israel
Jonathan Elkhoury- جوناثان الخوري
https://x.com/Jonathan_Elk/status/2063203289823379571/video/1
After 20 years in which Hezbollah prevented the establishment of an additional
airport in northern Lebanon. Today, Rene Mouawad Airport, named after Lebanon's
ninth president, was officially inaugurated when the first flight to land there
took off from Beirut's El- Hariri Airport, carrying Lebanese Prime Minister
Nawaf Salam.
A victory for the Lebanese state against Hezbollah.
Dr Walid Phare
Hezbollah claims they will ceasefire on Israel. That Khomeinist militia is lying
and practicing Taqiya, a jihadi doctrine of deception. They lied many times on
to America since October 1983 when they massacred the US Marines, before they
killed American diplomats and kidnapped US persons for over a decade. Those who
are claiming Hezbollah is seeking a deal are lying. Hezb is seeking the
domination of Lebanon, the destruction of Israel, the fall of Arab moderates and
harming the US.
Let's go to Plan B sir.