English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  March 13/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2026/english.march13.26.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006 

Click On The Below Link To Join Elias Bejjaninews whatsapp group
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FPF0N7lE5S484LNaSm0MjW
اضغط على الرابط في أعلى للإنضمام لكروب Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group

Elias Bejjani/Click on the below link to subscribe to my youtube channel
الياس بجاني/اضغط على الرابط في أسفل للإشتراك في موقعي ع اليوتيوب
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAOOSioLh1GE3C1hp63Camw

Bible Quotations For today
Jesus touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you & their eyes were opened
Matthew 09/27-35: "As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying loudly, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’ When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you.’And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly ordered them, ‘See that no one knows of this.’But they went away and spread the news about him throughout that district. After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, ‘Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.’But the Pharisees said, ‘By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.’Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 12-13/2026
Elias Jradi: An Enemy of Lebanon and its People/Elias Bejjani/March 12/2026
Lebanon summons Iran envoy after joint IRGC-Hezbollah attack on Israel
Israel strikes Beirut after threatening to expand Lebanon operations
Israeli army chief: Battle in Lebanon won't be short
Netanyahu says warned Lebanon to stop Hezbollah, or Israel will
Israel says began wave of strikes 'across Beirut', warns Zokak al-Blat residents
Israel warns Lebanon to stop Hezbollah rockets or 'we will take territory'
Israeli strikes on Lebanon: Latest developments
Israeli strike kills two academics at Lebanese university
Israel army expands evacuation area in south Lebanon to north of Zahrani
Five killed, seven wounded in Aramoun strike
Hezbollah targets Israel, Tel Aviv suburbs with advanced missiles and attack drones
Israel army targets building in Beirut's Bashoura with three strikes
Hezbollah fires biggest barrage of war, Israel threatens to take territory, and latest strikes
Report: US to inform Haykal of its dissatisfaction with his performance
Rajji summons Iran envoy after govt. slams joint Guards-Hezbollah operation
Iran supreme leader thanks 'resistance front', Hezbollah
'One war too many': Lebanese angry with Hezbollah for attacking Israel
Turkey urges end to Israeli attacks 'before Lebanon collapses'
Guterres to visit Lebanon for three days
Qlayaa village wants army protection after Israeli shelling killed priest
Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon toward collapse/Khaled Abou Zahr/arab news/March 12, 2026
Hezbollah Tests Israel’s Patience as Northern Front Escalates/Mark Dubowitz/FDD- Policy Brief/March 12, 2026
Hezbollah Tests Israel’s Patience as Northern Front Escalates
Mark Dubowitz/FDD- Policy Brief/March 12, 2026

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 12-13/2026
links to several television channels and newspapers and TV satations
Trump says stopping a nuclear Iran more important than oil prices
US military hit over 6,000 targets in Iran, including 30 minelayers: CENTCOM
White House denies Iranian drone threat to California after media report
Fire breaks out aboard USS Gerald Ford in Red Sea: US Navy
Trump says Iran shouldn’t come to World Cup for ‘own life and safety’
Iran’s new supreme leader calls for keeping Strait of Hormuz closed
Saudi defense ministry says intercepted drones headed to Shaybah oil field
Pakistan PM Sharif arrives in Saudi Arabia
Active shooter at Michigan synagogue, authorities say
International maritime body calls emergency talks on Hormuz
US condemns Iranian and militia attacks in Iraq amid unclaimed airstrikes on Tehran-backed militias
Oil Price Whiplash Highlights America’s Enduring Preparedness Gap

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 12-13/2026
Washington Intensifies Pressure on Muslim Brotherhood Networks/Mariam Wahba/FDD-Policy Brief/March 12/2026
A new Middle East/Zaid AlKami/Al Arabiya English/12 March/2026
Tucker Carlson ‘has lost his way’...President Trump now sees that clearly/Clifford D. May/The Washington Times/March 12/2026
Why is Washington going soft on the Turkish banks enabling Iran’s terrorism?/Sinan Ciddi, Tyler Stapleton and Max Meizlish/The Hill/March 12/2026
Russia the Arsonist Wants to Play Firefighter/Jason Jay Smart and Ivana Stradner/Kyiv Post/March 12/2026
Trump Points to Iran’s Resumption of Nuclear Activities at a New, Deeper Site/Andrea Stricker/FDD-Plicy Brief/March 12/2026
Before Pouring Billions into Gaza, Trump's 'Board of Peace' Needs To Ask A Few Hard Questions/Khaled Abu Toameh Gatestone Institute/March 12, 2026
The rise of Khamenei II/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/March 12/2026
X Platform Selected twittes for March 12/2026

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 12-13/2026
Elias Jradi: An Enemy of Lebanon and its People
Elias Bejjani/March 12/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/03/152694/
Elias Jradi, who holds his seat in the Lebanese Parliament through fraud and intimidation, is a long-standing leftist who believes neither in sovereignty nor in faith. He stands against everything the “Land of the Cedars” represents—its values, its message, its civilization, and its deep-rooted history of faith and sacrifice.This individual was raised on the ideologies of Marx and Nasser; he is blinded by a deep-seated hatred toward the West and its culture. Despite being registered as a Christian, his political identity is entirely shaped by the culture of political Islam—both Sunni and Shia—which traces its roots back to Ottoman influence.Plainly speaking, there is no difference between him and the likes of Arafat, Michel Aflaq, or the leaders of Hezbollah. He is a remnant of a global leftist movement that is hateful toward everyone, and most dangerously, toward itself. It is well known that the people of the Souther Lebanon did not truly elect him. Instead, he was appointed by Hezbollah, utilizing an electoral law tailored to serve their Iranian expansionist and terrorist agenda. He is a “Trojan Horse” and a modern-day “Iscariot.” There is no credibility in any justification for his actions, as his hostility toward Lebanon and its people is undeniable. Though a physician by trade—an eye doctor, no less—he is spiritually and politically blind. He has spent his career supporting the “militia” culture and the lie of the “Resistance,” never showing a hint of remorse or professional integrity. Characters like this Trojan Iscariot should be expelled from every place they visit. His expulsion today from the heroic town of Qliaa was not a random act; it was the rejection of a “devil” who came with arrogance to desecrate a land that sanctifies freedom and remains loyal to its Lebanese identity and Christian faith. Let evey patriotic Lebanese pray for mercy for the soul of Father Pierre Al-Rai, a man who carried his cross with honor. He refused to compromise, surrender, or kneel. He has ascended with his cross to the heavenly dwellings that God has prepared for the righteous and the brave.

Lebanon summons Iran envoy after joint IRGC-Hezbollah attack on Israel
Al Arabiya English/12 March/2026
Lebanon has summoned Iran’s chief of mission, the foreign minister said Thursday, a day after Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a joint attack on Israel. “Rejecting any interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs, I have summoned the Iranian Chargé d’Affaires to the Ministry tomorrow and instructed the Secretary-General to convey Lebanon’s firm objection to a series of incidents and statements that constitute a clear violation of our national sovereignty and a breach of our government’s decisions,” Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said in a statement on X. Raggi, an outspoken critic of Hezbollah, has previously hit out at Tehran for intervening in Lebanon’s domestic affairs as well as its support for Hezbollah.

Israel strikes Beirut after threatening to expand Lebanon operations
AFP/12 March/2026
Israel renewed its strikes on Beirut on Thursday, as it threatened to expand operations and seize territory in Lebanon if Hezbollah did not stop its attacks. The Israeli military issued a call to evacuate ahead of the Beirut attack, after having also widened its evacuation warning for residents in southern Lebanon to include areas below the Zahrani river, around 40 kilometers north of Israel. After Hezbollah announced a new operation against Israel on Wednesday night, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the following day that he had ordered troops to “prepare for expanding” attacks in Lebanon. “I warned the President of Lebanon that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern communities and firing toward Israel – we will take the territory and do it ourselves,” Katz said. The Israeli military later announced “a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure across Beirut,” with AFPTV footage showing dark smoke rising into the sky above Bashoura, in the heart of the Lebanese capital. Bashoura is generally a busy part of town, adjacent to Beirut’s commercial center, where many large companies and government institutions are based.
The strike there was the fourth in central Beirut since the beginning of the latest round of fighting on March 2. Both Israel and Iran said Hezbollah on Wednesday launched a coordinated attack with the Iranian military. Hezbollah had declared it was staging a new operation. The Israeli military said the attack saw the Iran-backed group launch around 200 rockets and about 20 drones in its biggest barrage since the start of the war. An Israeli strike hours later in Ramlet al-Bayda, on Beirut’s seaside, killed 12 people and wounded 28, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. An AFP correspondent at the scene saw a damaged motorcycle and two damaged cars, with the area, usually bustling with crowds, now sealed off by security forces. Blood stains were on the pavement, and there was a small hole in the ground.
‘We won’t leave’
“We saw dead people on the ground,” said Aseel Habbaj, a displaced woman who had been sheltering in a nearby tent after fleeing Israeli bombings in other areas of Lebanon. “We were all asleep in my tent, when suddenly we heard a noise,” Habbaj told AFP. “We jumped up and went to see what was happening,” before a second strike wounded her husband. Her 40-year-old neighbor Dalal al-Sayed said she had opted to pitch her tent at the seaside after fleeing attacks in southern Lebanon “because the last thing we expected was Israel to hit Beirut.”Her family could not afford to rent apartments, she said.
“We won’t leave, we will stay here even if we die,” she added. The seaside attack was the third in the heart of the capital since the Middle East war began. Displaced people have been sleeping rough or in tents on the streets of Beirut, including in Ramlet al-Bayda, where some shelters were hit by shrapnel from Thursday’s strike, according to an AFP correspondent. Israel has also repeatedly hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. A strike on a nearby branch of Lebanese University branch, the country’s only public institution of higher learning, killed the head of the faculty of sciences and another professor, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA). Strikes on Aramoun, a residential area south of Beirut, also killed five people and wounded a child, according to the health ministry. The NNA reported several Israeli strikes on the south of the country, where Hezbollah has long held sway.
Hezbollah operation
Hezbollah said on Thursday that it targeted Israel’s air defense systems near the town of Caesarea in the country’s center, home to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence. It announced earlier in separate statements that it had fired missiles at an Israeli military intelligence base in the suburbs of Tel Aviv and another base south of Haifa, among other attacks. Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes. Israel, which had kept up its strikes in Lebanon even before the war despite a 2024 ceasefire, has since launched air raids and sent ground troops into border areas. The violence has killed more than 687 people, according to Lebanese authorities, while more than 800,000 people have registered as displaced. After Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced their joint missile operation with Hezbollah, the Israeli military said it had launched “a wide-scale wave of strikes” targeting Hezbollah infrastructure across Lebanon.It also said it hit “dozens of launchers” as well as Hezbollah intelligence and command sites in south Beirut.

Israeli army chief: Battle in Lebanon won't be short
Naharnet/March 12, 2026
Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir noted Thursday that "the Lebanese government is not imposing its authority" against Hezbollah and that his army "will do so.' "The battle in Lebanon will not be short," he said. "The war against Hezbollah is an additional main front," he added.

Netanyahu says warned Lebanon to stop Hezbollah, or Israel will
Agence France Presse/March 12, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he had warned Lebanon's government that Israel would act to disarm Hezbollah "on the ground" if Beirut failed to do so. "I told the Lebanese government a few days ago: you are playing with fire if you continue allowing Hezbollah to operate, in violation of your commitment to disarm it," Netanyahu told a press conference. "The time has come for you to do so. Now, if you do not do so, it is clear that we will do so," he continued.

Israel says began wave of strikes 'across Beirut', warns Zokak al-Blat residents
Agence France Presse/March 12, 2026
The Israeli military said it had begun a wave of strikes across Beirut on Thursday, after it warned residents of a central neighborhood of the Lebanese capital it would target a building there."The IDF has begun a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure across Beirut," a military statement said, as AFPTV footage showed a strike hitting the central Beirut building in Bashoura. The Israeli army later issued an evacuation order for a building in Beirut's Zokak al-Blat.

Israel warns Lebanon to stop Hezbollah rockets or 'we will take territory'
Agence France Presse/March 12, 2026
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that he had ordered the military to prepare for expanding operations in Lebanon. "The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to prepare for expanding IDF operations in Lebanon and for restoring quiet and security to the northern communities," Katz was quoted as saying in a statement. "I warned the President of Lebanon that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern communities and firing toward Israel -- we will take the territory and do it ourselves," Katz said in a situation assessment, according to the statement from his ministry. Missile launches from Iran and Hezbollah had sent Israelis to shelters in multiple other areas, including Tel Aviv and the northern border with Lebanon.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon: Latest developments
Agence France Presse/March 12, 2026
Israel renewed its strikes on Beirut on Thursday, as it threatened to seize territory in Lebanon if Hezbollah did not stop its attacks. The Israeli military announced "a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure across Beirut", with AFPTV footage showing dark smoke rising into the sky above two districts in the heart of Beirut. One of the strikes hit a building in Bashoura, adjacent to Beirut's commercial center, where many large companies and government institutions are based. An Israeli army spokesperson accused Hezbollah of "hiding... millions of dollars to fund its terrorist activities" under the building.
It was followed afterwards by another attack on a Beirut branch of the Hezbollah-linked financial firm Al Qard Al Hassan, in the downtown neighborhood of Zoukak El-Blat. Other Israeli strikes hit locations in Beirut's southern suburbs and the country's south. "I address you today while Beirut is being bombed, as are its suburbs, our south, and our Bekaa," Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in a speech to the nation. "It is a war we did not want; on the contrary, we are working day and night to bring it to an end." Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that he had ordered troops to "prepare for expanding" attacks in Lebanon, as Israel issued an evacuation warning to all residents south of the Zahrani River, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the border. "If the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from... firing toward Israel -- we will take the territory and do it ourselves," Katz said.
Hezbollah and Iran
Hezbollah said on Thursday it carried out a number of attacks against Israel, including on an air defense system near the town of Caesarea, home to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence. Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes. Israel, which had kept up its strikes in Lebanon even before the war despite a 2024 ceasefire, has since launched air raids and sent ground troops into border areas. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Thursday that they had carried out a joint operation with Hezbollah against targets in Israel. The joint operation drew the Lebanese government's "firm objection" with the foreign minister summoning the Iranian charge d'affaires.
'We won't leave' -
The violence has killed more than 687 people in Lebanon, according to national authorities, while more than 800,000 people have registered as displaced. World Food Program Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau, visiting Beirut, told AFP "the massive displacement we have seen here" in Lebanon "is unique" in the context of the unfolding regional war. "Some 800,000 people in a week. That's massive."An Israeli overnight strike on Ramlet al-Bayda, Beirut's public beachfront, killed 12 people and wounded 28, according to Lebanon's health ministry. An AFP correspondent at the scene saw a damaged motorcycle and two damaged cars, with the area, usually bustling with crowds, sealed off by security forces. Blood stains were on the pavement, and there was a small hole in the ground. "We saw dead people on the ground," said Aseel Habbaj, a displaced woman who had been sheltering in a nearby tent after fleeing Israeli bombings in other areas of Lebanon. Her 40-year-old neighbor Dalal al-Sayed said she had opted to pitch her tent at the seaside after fleeing attacks in southern Lebanon "because the last thing we expected was Israel to hit Beirut". Her family could not afford to rent an apartment, she said. "We won't leave, we will stay here even if we die," she added. Displaced people have been sleeping rough or in tents on the streets of Beirut, including in Ramlet al-Bayda, where some shelters were hit by shrapnel from the overnight strike, according to an AFP correspondent. A strike on a campus of the Lebanese University, the country's only public institution of higher learning, killed the head of the faculty of sciences and another professor, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA).

Israeli strike kills two academics at Lebanese university
Agence France Presse/March 12, 2026
An Israeli strike on a campus of Lebanon's public university killed two academics.
The director of the faculty of sciences at the south Beirut campus of the Lebanese University, Hussein Bazzi, and professor Mortada Srour were killed by an Israeli drone strike on the university, the National News Agency said. The campus is located on the edge of Beirut's southern suburbs, an area that was spared in the last war between the pro-Iran militant group and Israel. President Joseph Aoun condemned the bombing, which he said targeted the campus, as a crime and a “violation of international laws and norms that prohibit attacks on educational institutions and civilians.”

Israel army expands evacuation area in south Lebanon to north of Zahrani
Agence France Presse/March 12, 2026
The Israeli military on Thursday expanded its evacuation warning for residents in southern Lebanon to include an area north of the Litani River, saying it would operate against Hezbollah there. "Urgent warning to residents of southern Lebanon. The terrorist activities of Hezbollah are forcing the IDF to act strongly against it," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X. "Any building used by Hezbollah for military purposes may become a target," he said, adding that "residents of southern Lebanon must move immediately north of the Zahrani River", which is located some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Israeli border.

Five killed, seven wounded in Aramoun strike
Naharnet/March 12, 2026
Five people were killed and seven were wounded, including children, in an Israeli attack in Aramoun, a town about 10 kilometers south of Beirut and outside of Hezbollah's traditional strongholds. The strike hit an apartment in a residential area. At least 634 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest fighting began, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Wednesday. The U.N. refugee agency said at least 759,000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon. Iranian authorities say more than 1,300 people have been killed there, and Israel has reported 12 people dead. The U.S. has lost seven soldiers while another eight have suffered severe injuries.

Hezbollah targets Israel, Tel Aviv suburbs with advanced missiles and attack drones
Agence France Presse/March 12, 2026
Hezbollah said it launched missiles at an Israeli military intelligence base in the suburbs of Tel Aviv early on Thursday, the Iran-backed group's latest claim in a major operation against Israel it announced hours earlier. Hezbollah fighters "targeted the Glilot base (the headquarters of the 8200 Military Intelligence Unit)... in the Tel Aviv suburbs with a barrage of advance missiles," the group said in a statement. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said earlier that they had carried out a joint missile operation with ally Hezbollah against targets in Israel. In a statement carried by the Fars and Tasnim news agencies, the Guards said the "joint and integrated operation" involved a missile attack by Iran carried out in conjunction with missile and drone fire from Hezbollah. The operation focused on "more than 50 targets" on Israeli territory, the statement added, including Israeli military bases in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Beersheba. The Guards also targeted the U.S. bases at Al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia and Al-Azraq in Jordan. Warning messages were issued in Saudi Arabia but no damage was reported, according to AFP correspondents, while Jordan reported there had been no strike on its territory. On Wednesday, Hezbollah said it had launched rockets and advanced missiles at northern Israel as part of a new operation against its foe, as Israel carried out fresh strikes on south Beirut. Hezbollah in a statement said that "in response to the criminal aggression against dozens of Lebanese cities and towns and Beirut's southern suburbs", its fighters targeted sites in northern Israel "with dozens of rockets" as part of a new operation announced a short time earlier. In subsequent statements, the group said its fighters also targeted other locations in northern Israel as part of the operation, including the headquarters of the Israeli military's northern command near Safed and two bases in Haifa "with volleys of advanced missiles". Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X that "we will respond to them", referring to the Hezbollah operation announcement, and vowed a severe response. The severe response came in violent strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and a targeting of Ramlet al-Bayda in the heart of Beirut, a place where hundreds of displaced civilians had been sleeping in tents or in the open after fleeing conflict zones. Hezbollah later said it targeted Nahariya twice with a swarm of explosive drones and a salvo of rockets, and the Beit Lid base with a salvo of advanced missiles. The group also targeted the Ya'ara barracks and the Meron base with a swarm of explosive drones and attacked soldiers in a position in Markaba with artillery shells. Later in the day, Hezbollah targeted Israel's air defense systems in Ma'alot-Tarshiha and near the town of Caesarea in the country's center, home to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence. In a statement, the Iran-backed group said that "in response to the criminal Israeli aggression that struck dozens of Lebanese cities and towns, including Beirut's southern suburbs", it targeted the air defense system near Caesarea with "a salvo of advanced missiles". It said it also targeted with attack drones and salvos of missiles Admit, Shlomi, Even Menachem and Zariit in north Israel.
'Biggest barrage' of war -
The Israeli military said on Thursday that Hezbollah had fired around 200 rockets at Israel the night before, in what it described as the Lebanese armed group's "biggest barrage" since the war began. "Last night, Hezbollah timed a simultaneous attack with Iran, firing rockets and drones at towns and communities across Israel. The numbers (are) about approximately 200 rockets, approximately 20 UAVs (drones) and combine those with ballistic missiles that were being fired from Iran in the same time," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told journalists in a briefing. "This was Hezbollah's biggest barrage" since the start of the war, he said, but added "we had a good aerial defense and rapid response, resulting in minimal casualties, only two or three direct hits... and a few civilians that were lightly injured".

Israel army targets building in Beirut's Bashoura with three strikes
Agence France Presse
Missiles hit a building in the Beirut neighborhood of Bashoura, near the center of the city, on Thursday, after the Israeli military issued a warning of an incoming strike. An AFPTV live broadcast showed dark smoke rising into the sky above the heart of the Lebanese capital, and an apparent fire started by the first missile impact. This is the fourth strike in central Beirut since the beginning of the war between Hezbollah and Israel on March 2. The Israeli military had warned it would strike the building and said it was a Hezbollah facility. "You are located near a facility of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which the Israeli Defense Forces will be targeting," military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X, warning residents of Beirut's Bashoura neighborhood to immediately move at least 300 meters away from the targeted building and those adjacent to it. Bashoura is generally a busy part of town, adjacent to Beirut's commercial center, where many large companies and government institutions are based.

Hezbollah fires biggest barrage of war, Israel threatens to take territory, and latest strikes
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/Associated Press/March 12, 2026
Israeli strikes targeted Thursday several towns in south Lebanon including Haris, Kafra, Alma al-Shaab-Naqoura, Deir Ntar, Barish, Yater, Qantara, Qaaqaiyyet al-Jesser, Teffahta, Qana, al-Sultanieh, Taybeh, Qabrikha and Kfardounin. In east Lebanon, Israeli strikes targeted Qsarnaba and Douris after warning residents to evacuate. The strikes on the south killed four people, raising Thursday's death toll to 21, 4 in south Lebanon, 5 in an earlier strike on Aramoun and 12 in a strike on Ramlet al-Bayda in the heart of Beirut. More than 31 people were injured.
'Biggest barrage' of war
The Israeli military said on Thursday that Hezbollah had fired around 200 rockets at Israel the night before, in what it described as the Lebanese armed group's "biggest barrage" since the war began. "Last night, Hezbollah timed a simultaneous attack with Iran, firing rockets and drones at towns and communities across Israel. The numbers (are) about approximately 200 rockets, approximately 20 UAVs (drones) and combine those with ballistic missiles that were being fired from Iran in the same time," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told journalists in a briefing. "This was Hezbollah's biggest barrage" since the start of the war, he said, but added "we had a good aerial defense and rapid response, resulting in minimal casualties, only two or three direct hits... and a few civilians that were lightly injured". It was a sleepless night for many Israelis as Hezbollah's rockets targeted the country’s north and deeper into Israel. "The noise was extraordinary, it was really scary," said Naama Porat, a resident of the rural community of Klil, some 15 kilometers from the Lebanese border. As the sound of explosions and interceptions rang out, she dashed with her son to a shelter and spent the night there. No serious injuries were reported, but the extent of the fire shook residents of the north, who have repeatedly been told by their leaders that Hezbollah was dealt a devastating blow in 2024 during its last war with Israel.
"They have stocks of weapons and it just doesn’t end. We don’t know how much and what to expect," Porat said.
Israel threatens to take territory -
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that he had ordered the military to prepare for expanding operations in Lebanon. "The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to prepare for expanding IDF operations in Lebanon and for restoring quiet and security to the northern communities," Katz was quoted as saying in a statement. "I warned the President of Lebanon that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern communities and firing toward Israel -- we will take the territory and do it ourselves," Katz said in a situation assessment, according to the statement from his ministry.

Report: US to inform Haykal of its dissatisfaction with his performance
Naharnet/March 12, 2026
U.S. officials believe that Lebanon is currently required to take steps to curb Hezbollah's influence and the U.S. administration will inform Lebanese Army chief Rodolphe Haykal tomorrow of its dissatisfaction with his performance, a U.S. source told Al-Arabiya on Thursday night. "The U.S. administration believes that the Lebanese Army commander lacks the courage to stand up to Hezbollah," the source said. "U.S. officials believe that Lebanon's request for negotiations with Israel is not a path to a solution," the source added. "U.S intelligence indicates that Hezbollah's presence south of the Litani River remains as strong as, or even stronger than, its previous strength," the source said. "The U.S. administration considers negotiations between Lebanon and Israel currently futile," the source said, adding that "the U.S. administration will demand that Lebanon take serious action against Hezbollah before any negotiations."

Rajji summons Iran envoy after govt. slams joint Guards-Hezbollah operation
Naharnet/March 12, 2026
Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji on Thursday summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires in Lebanon, after the Lebanese government decided to protest a declaration by Iran's Revolutionary Guard about a joint operation with Hezbollah against Israel.
A statement said Rajji tasked the Ministry's secretary-general, Abdel Sattar Issa, to meet with the envoy on Friday morning to inform him of "the Lebanese stance that rejects any Iranian interference in the country's internal affairs."

Iran supreme leader thanks 'resistance front', Hezbollah
Agence France Presse/March 12, 2026
Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei thanked Tehran's allied armed groups across the region including in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen on Thursday. "I also express my sincere gratitude to the fighters of the 'Resistance Front'," Khamenei said in a statement read by a news anchor on state television, referring to the Houthis in Yemen, Lebanon's Hezbollah as well as allied groups in Iraq. He said "sacrificing Hezbollah" has "assisted the Islamic republic despite all obstacles".

'One war too many': Lebanese angry with Hezbollah for attacking Israel
Agence France Presse/March 12, 2026
When an air strike hit their Beirut neighborhood, people were angry with Israel, but they reserved their deepest rage for Hezbollah, for dragging Lebanon into the Middle East war. Israel and the United States launched huge strikes on Iran on February 28, killing its supreme leader and sparking a massive retaliatory campaign. Iran-backed Hezbollah, already weakened by war, attacked Israel in support of its sponsors, pulling Lebanon into a new cycle of strikes, death and mass displacement. "Hezbollah must surrender its weapons to the state, period," Randa Harb, an elderly woman who runs a fruit and vegetable stall in the neighborhood of Aisha Bakkar, told AFP. The densely populated area was struck on Wednesday morning, wounding four people according to the health ministry, and sparking shock across the capital. Another woman, who refused to give her name, told AFP a relative was wounded, and she accused Hezbollah of forcing "one war too many" on the Lebanese.
'Killing each other' -
For decades, Hezbollah was believed to have an arsenal more powerful than the military's, and it fought multiple wars with Israel that each took a devastating toll. The most recent hostilities should have ended in a ceasefire in 2024, but that too proved fragile, with Israel keeping up its strikes even as the Lebanese military sought to disarm Hezbollah under the terms of the truce. Inspecting the damage in her cousin's apartment, 46-year-old Amal Hisham screamed: "I do not care about Hezbollah!" The windows were shattered, and the gold-colored sofas left in tatters. Hisham was also enraged with Israel, saying she couldn't just blame one side. "They are all just killing each other," she said. "Do you think they are happy about their areas being destroyed? They're not happy. Their families have been displaced," she said, referring to Hezbollah members and their wider support base. "Who will compensate these people?"
'Pointless battles'
As soon as the injured had been evacuated, residents began to wonder who the target had been. A shop owner, also requesting anonymity, believed Hezbollah operatives were hiding there, while others imagined it was Hamas, the group's Palestinian ally. "No matter," said Mohammad Ahmad, 42. "The presence of Hezbollah or Hamas poses a great danger to us." "If one wants to be martyred, let him stay where he is... let him be martyred alone, why come to people who are already tired?" Lebanon is deeply divided along sectarian lines, with Hezbollah rooted in the Shia Muslim community, that was long sidelined by authorities.Aisha Bakkar is one of several Beirut neighborhoods that are majority Sunni Muslim, while Lebanon is also home to Christians, Druze and others.
'They shot my son' -
Aziza, who sheltered families fleeing the 2024 war, worries about the massive influx of displaced people from Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, and which have come under Israeli bombardment. "We came to welcome them... they shot my son in the leg" after he complained that they had raised Hezbollah's flag, she said. In majority-Christian Mar Mikhael on the other side of Beirut, a 68-year-old grocery store owner also deplored the group's decision to enter the war. "Hezbollah makes decisions without concerning itself with the country or even its support base, it is waging pointless battles... what good will it do? You fire a missile, they fire a hundred back at you," he said. Hezbollah was at the height of its popularity following the 2006 war with Israel, which it claimed to have won. That changed. "We never hated the Sayyed," said Ghada, a municipal worker, referring to late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by Israel in 2024. "He is the one who stopped Israel," she said. Bolstering the belief that Hezbollah was operating solely as an Iranian proxy, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that Hezbollah had "officially entered the war" around three hours before the Lebanese group had issued its own statement. Some Lebanese Shia have also grown impatient. "No one wanted this war," Lina Hamdan, a Shia lawyer, told AFP, adding that her community "are the first victims". A longtime critic, she believes this war may be a "turning point" for Hezbollah, whose military activities were outlawed by the government last week.While many displaced stranded in the capital refrained from criticizing Hezbollah, some voiced frustration. "What was the point of this war? Nothing about this makes sense," said Hiam, a 53-year-old mother sheltering in a school. Hezbollah runs schools and hospitals, and long provided Shia Lebanese with assistance. "This time, we are left to fend for ourselves," Hiam added.

Turkey urges end to Israeli attacks 'before Lebanon collapses'
Agence France Presse
Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called Thursday for an end to Israel's bombardment of neighboring Lebanon "before it collapses". "Israel, pursuing expansionist policies, is bringing its dirty war into Lebanon.. Israeli attacks must end before the Lebanese state collapses," he said at a joint news conference in Ankara with his visiting German counterpart Johann Wadephul.

Guterres to visit Lebanon for three days
Naharnet/March 12, 2026
Lebanon has been informed that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres will visit the country next Friday for a three-day visit, a media report said. He is scheduled to meet with President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, PM Nawaf Salam and Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal, al-Akhbar newspaper said. He will also visit the headquarters of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and its positions in the south. Guterres is also expected to meet with the heads of U.N. agencies operating in Lebanon to discuss their role in addressing the aftermath of the war.
Guterres is expected to hold a press conference on Saturday to announce the U.N.'s position on the developments. According to informed sources, the Secretary-General may have on his agenda a proposal to revive Resolution 1701 by issuing a new Security Council resolution stipulating the presence of an international force in southern Lebanon. This would be a countermeasure to a recent resolution that ends UNIFIL's mandate at the end of this year. The U.N. is relying on contacts being made by countries contributing troops to UNIFIL with Lebanese and Israeli authorities to secure their agreement to maintain the force. A proposal prepared by the U.N. Special Coordinator, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, for a European force to remain under international auspices is unlikely to be considered.

Qlayaa village wants army protection after Israeli shelling killed priest
Agence France Presse/March 12, 2026
After narrowly escaping death in her border village, Myriam Nohra is among the people in south Lebanon imploring the army for protection from the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
In Christian-majority Qlayaa, which overlooks a vast green plain separating Lebanon and Israel, hundreds of people buried their parish priest Father Pierre Rai on Wednesday, two days after he was killed by Israeli shelling while inspecting the site of an attack. Army commander Rodolphe Haykal, who came to the church, faced angry residents who called on the military to bolster its presence in the border area, stop Hezbollah fighters from launching rockets near their village, and to ensure locals can remain. Dressed in black, 34-year-old teacher Nohra told AFP that just hours after Rai's death "a Hezbollah rocket fell over our heads after going off course towards Israel" as her family slept. She, her husband and two children "survived by a miracle". "I ran like crazy looking for (the children) in their room. I couldn't believe they were alive," she said, her voice trembling. "I can't describe the destruction to the house or the trauma they went through." Until days ago, Qlayaa had been spared the regional war that Lebanon was drawn into last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes. Israel, which had kept up strikes in Lebanon even before the war despite a 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah, has since launched air raids across the country and sent ground troops into border areas.
'We'll stay'
Rai's death and the rocket that hit Nohra's home have heightened fears in Qlayaa, where like in some other Christian villages near the border, residents are refusing to leave despite sweeping Israeli army evacuation warnings. "What price have we paid today and for who? We've never harmed anyone in our lives. We only want to live in our village in peace and safety," said Nohra as the sound of prayers mixed with aircraft noise overhead. Following the ceasefire that sought to end the previous hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese army had bolstered its presence near the Israeli border and dismantled Hezbollah infrastructure there. But the army withdrew from several border positions last week as Israel launched its new strikes and incursions. South Lebanon has long been a stronghold of Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim movement backed by Iran, and which gained much of its legitimacy from providing protection and services to a community that had long been sidelined. And while the majority of south Lebanon's residents are Shia, not all of them support Hezbollah, and side by side with Muslim villages are communities of other faiths, including Christians. For many years, Hezbollah was believed to have an arsenal bigger than the army's but Nohra, like many in the south, blamed the military for failing to protect residents. If the military were carrying out its duty, she said, "nobody would be able to launch rockets around us". Resident Manal Khairallah said she told Haykal that "we want no more blood." "I asked the army commander to do his job," she said. "Our ancestors lived here. We grew up here and we'll stay here," she said.
'Enough'
"We blame the state in its entirety," she said angrily. "We are peaceful and we don't want war."Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon Paolo Borgia, who attended the funeral, said he "shared the worries" of the residents and was trying "to find solutions". Israel has issued warnings to all residents south of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, to evacuate, and has said it wants to create a buffer zone in Lebanon to protect residents of north Israel. Khairallah said defiantly that "we will not leave our homes, no matter what happens." "This war has nothing to do with us," said retired soldier Jihad Toubia, 73.
"Even if Israel sets up a buffer zone, we won't leave. Let them bury us here," he said. Local official Habib al-Hage, 78, said that "the army and security forces are the only guarantee." "We won't leave, even if they want to kill us," he said. Teacher Doris Farah, 55, broke down describing her anxiety and sadness since the new war erupted. "We are attached to our land... we want the army to protect us," she said."The south has sacrificed so much -- for us, it's enough. We just want to live with our children in peace."

Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon toward collapse
Khaled Abou Zahr/arab news/March 12, 2026
The military escalation in Lebanon is causing a massive civilian exodus. One like never seen before. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 100,000 people fled their homes in a single day this week, bringing the total number of displaced to 667,000 since Israeli strikes intensified following Hezbollah’s decision to join Iran’s attacks. This has put the country in another horrific humanitarian situation, as if we keep on finding ways to worsen the situation. The government has, for the first time, condemned Hezbollah’s actions. But it is always striking to observe how a certain category of intellectuals and thought leaders — often those connected with international centers of influence such as major media outlets and charitable organizations — rightly highlight the gravity of this tragic situation, while frequently falling short of acknowledging the role played by Hezbollah in bringing it about.
The current crisis is part of the broader regional escalation following the offensive launched on Feb. 28 by Israel and the US against Iran. A weakened Hezbollah is playing, with great difficulty, the role the regime in Tehran has designed for it. As a result, it is making the entire country pay in blood.A weakened Hezbollah is playing, with great difficulty, the role the regime in Tehran has designed for it. What surprises me is that, when discussing this point with any of these intellectuals or “self-righteous thinkers,” they will cut you short, insisting that we can focus on nothing other than the current humanitarian situation. They add that it is not the time to point fingers but rather to show solidarity and compassion. This playbook serves Hezbollah. Indeed, by doing so, they give Hezbollah a free pass and absolve it of any responsibility. This fascination or being under the spell of Hezbollah is something that puzzles me. 
There have been 570 Lebanese killed in Israeli strikes in the last two weeks. Surely it is justified to ask if this would have happened if Hezbollah had not attacked Israel and that we should blame Hezbollah’s actions for this reaction. Is it not time to bring Hezbollah to justice for flouting the law? Why can’t these intellectuals feel solidarity with the affected Lebanese and their families, while still using their platforms to push for the end of the instrument of this destruction? The reality is that they have never condemned Hezbollah. They never say that Hezbollah’s unnecessary actions created the expected Israeli response and, in turn, the humanitarian crisis. It is not the first time this has happened. Warnings had been issued but, despite this, Lebanon is thrown into the abyss. I expected that, this time, as the Lebanese government has actively taken a position against Hezbollah’s actions, their position would have changed. It hasn’t. Their speech today echoes the position of left-leaning centers of thought in Europe that designate the Israeli and US aggression as being unlawful in regard to international law, yet fail to condemn Iran’s attacks on the Gulf countries. Needless to say, the Gulf countries have not participated in the attacks on Iran and have even refused to allow their territory to be used as a launch pad. Yet, Iran has still chosen to attack them.
This is still not enough for them. In the same way, Lebanon is caught between Hezbollah and Israel. These self-righteous leftist thought leaders continue to avoid the tough questions and the right stance. They stood silent during the Syrian revolution and did not once mention the protests in Iran. These self-righteous leftist thought leaders continue to avoid the tough questions and the right stance
It is too easy. Indeed, we all feel helpless and heartbroken seeing children suffer. We all have difficulties watching the recurrent images of forced displacement, death and hunger. What these intellectuals do is take control of a monopoly of compassion. By staying silent about Hezbollah’s actions, they do not make the story about the real victims but about themselves. It is about their compassion and their own agenda, not the disaster the Lebanese people are living through. It is hiding their lack of courage behind the broken lives of the Lebanese and using them to serve their group’s own political interests. Without meaning to sound too extreme, this is the same method used by Stalinism to silence its opponents.
It is time to break free of this situation. Today, no one can or should give lessons to Lebanon, as the country has paid one of the heaviest tolls in the region. This is why we should stand with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s recent stance and plan for negotiations with Israel. He directly accused Hezbollah of pushing Lebanon toward state collapse. Aoun said the attack served Iranian interests and risked dragging Lebanon into chaos. It is time to end the conflict and allow Lebanon to exit the cycle of destruction. Aoun proposed a four-point plan, including a full truce with Israel, international support for the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah and direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel under international supervision. There is no doubt that the toughest part is Hezbollah’s disarmament, which so far has been mostly achieved by Israel. Beyond this, there needs to be a healing dialogue with the Shiite community. If the main thought centers of the country do not engage with a different narrative, this dialogue will never take place. It will keep conveying the message of the oppressor and the oppressed, not of citizens. Nothing can be built with this mindset, not even a new country. We need to break this narrative and this can only happen if Hezbollah is destroyed. It is time for self-righteous Lebanese intellectuals to acknowledge the reality: the only source of oppression in this crisis is coming from the regime in Tehran and its proxy, Hezbollah.
**Khaled Abou Zahr is the founder of SpaceQuest Ventures, a space-focused investment platform. He is CEO of EurabiaMedia and editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.

Hezbollah Tests Israel’s Patience as Northern Front Escalates
Mark Dubowitz/FDD- Policy Brief/March 12, 2026
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/03/11/hezbollah-tests-israels-patience-as-northern-front-escalates/
Hezbollah sharply escalated its attacks on March 11, launching scores of rockets into northern Israel in one of its largest barrages since joining the war on Iran’s side on March 1. The salvo was timed to coincide with renewed long-range Iranian missile fire toward the Tel Aviv area — underscoring growing operational coordination between Tehran and its most powerful proxy.Hezbollah branded the barrage “Operation Eaten Straw,” invoking a Quranic reference to the destruction of an invading army. The symbolism matters: Hezbollah is framing its attacks not as limited retaliation but rather as part of a broader ideological war tied directly to Iran’s regional campaign. While the barrage caused no major casualties, it significantly increased pressure on an Israeli government that until now has exercised relative restraint on the Lebanese front.
That restraint may be nearing its end.
If Lebanon Doesn’t Act, Israel Will
Israel has so far limited itself to targeted airstrikes, selective ground deployments in southern Lebanon, and repeated warnings that Beirut must enforce its obligations under existing ceasefire frameworks and prevent Hezbollah from operating south of the Litani River. But Israeli officials are now signaling that the window for Lebanon to act is closing. At the United Nations, Israel’s ambassador, Danny Danon, made the choice explicit: either the Lebanese state dismantles Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in southern Lebanon, or Israel will do so itself. That message reflects growing frustration in Jerusalem that Lebanon’s government continues to tolerate a parallel military force that can drag the country into war at Tehran’s command. The military response is already intensifying. The IDF issued new evacuation warnings to residents in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district — Hezbollah’s longstanding urban stronghold — ahead of additional strikes. Israeli officials have also floated the possibility of an “all-out campaign,” including, for the first time this round, potential strikes on Lebanese state infrastructure if Hezbollah continues escalating.
On the ground, Israel is reinforcing operations in southern Lebanon with additional infantry units, including forces redeployed from Gaza. What began as limited border security deployments aimed at preventing anti-tank missile attacks has evolved into proactive operations to identify and destroy Hezbollah launch teams, weapons caches, and command nodes. Israeli military estimates indicate more than 200 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since fighting began on this front.
Growing Lebanese Frustration With Hezbollah
Equally important is the political mood inside Lebanon. A growing number of Lebanese openly blame Hezbollah for once again exposing the country to destruction at a time of deep economic collapse. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled areas south of the Litani River following Israeli evacuation notices, reinforcing domestic anger at Hezbollah’s decision to subordinate Lebanese interests to Iran’s war. Israel’s escalation calculus is also shaped by civilian vulnerability. Unlike Iranian ballistic missile attacks, which often provide Israelis with several minutes of warning, Hezbollah rocket and anti-tank fire can leave northern communities with only seconds to react. That constant exposure makes prolonged restraint politically and militarily difficult. Unless Beirut moves decisively against Hezbollah, Israel is increasingly likely to widen the campaign — potentially creating a de facto buffer zone in southern Lebanon and imposing a new strategic reality by force.
*Mark Dubowitz is the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from Mark and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Mark on X @mdubowitz. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

The War on Hezbollah-The Iranian Terrorist Proxy Continues/LCCC website
The just war being waged by the United States and Israel against Iran and its proxies—devils, terrorists, drug traffickers, and mafia networks—continues relentlessly and will not stop before their complete defeat.
To follow the news, below are- links to several important news websites:
National News Agency (Lebanon)
https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar
Nidaa Al Watan
https://www.nidaalwatan.com/
MTV Lebanon
https://www.mtv.com.lb/
Voice of Lebanon
https://www.vdl.me/
Asas Media
https://asasmedia.com/
Naharnet
https://www.naharnet.com/
Al Markazia News Agency
https://almarkazia.com/ar
LBCI (English)
https://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/en
LBCI (Arabic)
https://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/ar
Janoubia Website
https://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/ar
Kataeb Party Official Website
https://www.kataeb.org

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 12-13/2026
News of the ongoing war between Iran on one side and the US and Israel on the other. The news is abundant, fragmented, and difficult to keep track of as it evolves constantly. For those wishing to follow the course of the war, the following are links to several television channels and newspapers:
Asharq Al-Awsat Newspaper
https://aawsat.com/
National News Agency
https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar
Al Arabiya/Arabic
https://www.alarabiya.net/
Sky News
https://www.youtube.com/@SkyNewsArabia
Nidaa Al Watan
https://www.nidaalwatan.com/
Al Markazia
https://www.nidaalwatan.com/
Al Hadath
https://www.youtube.com/@AlHadath
Independent Arabia
https://www.independentarabia.com/

Trump says stopping a nuclear Iran more important than oil prices
Agence France Presse/12 March/2026
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said that stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons was more important to him than controlling oil prices. "The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money. BUT, of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stoping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World," said Trump in a post on his Truth Social platform.

US military hit over 6,000 targets in Iran, including 30 minelayers: CENTCOM
Al Arabiya English/12 March/2026
The US military said Thursday it has struck about 6,000 targets in Iran since the start of the joint US-Israeli war, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM). The campaign has also damaged or destroyed more than 90 vessels, including over 30 minelayers and 60 naval ships, the command said.

White House denies Iranian drone threat to California after media report
Al Arabiya English/12 March/2026
The White House on Thursday accused ABC News of spreading false information after the network reported that the FBI had warned California police departments about a potential Iranian drone threat to the US West Coast. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report should be retracted, arguing that it was based on unverified information and had unnecessarily alarmed the public. “This post and story should be immediately retracted by ABC News for providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people,” Leavitt wrote on X. She said the report relied on a single email sent to local law enforcement in California about what she described as “a single, unverified tip.”“The email even states the tip was based on unverified intelligence. Yet ABC News left out this critical fact in their story! WHY?” she wrote. “TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did,” Leavitt added. ABC News reported on Wednesday that the FBI had warned police departments in California in recent days that Iran could retaliate for US attacks by launching drones toward the West Coast, citing an alert it said it had reviewed.

Fire breaks out aboard USS Gerald Ford in Red Sea: US Navy
Al Arabiya English/12 March/2026
A fire broke out on one of the two US aircraft carriers in the Middle East on Thursday, the US Navy said, adding that the cause of the fire was not combat-related.“There is no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational,” according to a statement from the US Naval  Forces Central Command (NAVCENT). Two sailors were injured and are receiving treatment for non-life-threatening injuries due to the fire onboard the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier. Both are in stable condition, NAVCENT said. The Ford Carrier Strike Group is currently operating in the Red Sea in support of Operation Epic Fury, the joint US-Israeli operations against Iran.

Trump says Iran shouldn’t come to World Cup for ‘own life and safety’
AFP/12 March/2026
US President Donald Trump warned Iran’s football team Thursday their “life and safety” would be at risk if they took part in the upcoming World Cup in North America. Trump’s comments came just two days after he told FIFA chief Gianni Infantino the Iranian players would be welcome despite the Middle East war.“The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. The war, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has thrown into doubt Iran’s participation at this summer’s men’s football World Cup, jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. Infantino, the head of world football’s governing body, said earlier this week that during a meeting with Trump at the White House they had discussed the “current situation in Iran.”“President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” he wrote after the meeting on Tuesday. Infantino in December created a FIFA peace prize and awarded it to Trump. His comments were the first time the football chief has acknowledged the ongoing war in the Middle East. Trump this week weighed in on the case of Iran’s visiting women footballers in Australia, calling for them to get asylum. The players feared they could face retaliation back home for not singing the national anthem before an Asian Cup match.
Australia later agreed to grant asylum to the five players who decided to stay.

Iran’s new supreme leader calls for keeping Strait of Hormuz closed
Al Arabiya English/12 March/2026
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who is yet to appear in public, said on Thursday that his country’s forces must keep the strategic Strait of Hormuz closed, in a statement read out by a presenter on state TV. “The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely be used,” Khamenei said of the strategic waterway through which a fifth of global oil passes. It was his first statement since he was proclaimed as Iran’s new supreme leader on Sunday and after the killing of his father and predecessor in US and Israeli strikes. Khamenei called on regional countries to shut down any US bases that they host. “I recommend that they close those bases as soon as possible, because they must have realized by now that the claim of establishing security and peace by America was nothing more than a lie,” he said. Khamenei vowed to avenge the deaths since the start of the war with the US and Israel. “A limited amount of this revenge has so far taken concrete form, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain among our priorities,” he said. “We will seek compensation from the enemy, and if they refuse, we will take as much of their property as we determine, and if that is not possible, we will destroy the same amount of his property,” Khamenei added. Iran’s health ministry said on March 8 that more than 1,200 people had been killed, and over 10,000 civilians injured. On February 28, the US and Israel killed late supreme leader Ali Khamenei in initial strikes which triggered a war that has since spread across the Middle East. Iran has responded with drone and missile strikes on Israel and across the region and effectively closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The 56-year-old Khamenei has yet to make a public appearance since his appointment and state television had reported he had been wounded during the ongoing war. The new leader thanked Iran’s allies in the region including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and armed groups in Iraq. “We consider the countries of the Resistance Front our best friends, and the cause of resistance and the Resistance Front are an inseparable part of the values of the Islamic Revolution,” he said. With AFP

Saudi defense ministry says intercepted drones headed to Shaybah oil field
Al Arabiya English/12 March/2026
Saudi Arabia intercepted three drones headed toward the Shaybah oil field on Thursday.
The Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense said an “unmanned aerial vehicle heading toward the Shaybah field... was intercepted and destroyed.”Earlier the ministry said two drones heading towards the same field were similarly destroyed, announcing the interception in a separate post on X. audi Arabia confirmed on Wednesday that it had prevented several drone attacks against the facility. il prices have surged since the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran at the end of last month, killing its supreme leader and plunging the Middle East into war. he International Energy Agency said on Wednesday that its members had agreed to unlock 400 million barrels of oil from their reserves – their largest release ever – in a bid to stabilize prices. ut oil surged more than nine percent on Thursday to break back above $100 a barrel after fresh Iranian strikes on supplies and infrastructure overshadowed the record release.The Shaybah oil field sits near the border with the United Arab Emirates and is operated by Saudi giant Aramco, one of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization. ith AFP

Pakistan PM Sharif arrives in Saudi Arabia
Al Arabiya English/12 March/2026
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, the Kingdom’s state news agency reported. e Deputy Governor of Mecca region, Prince Saud bin Mishaal bin Abdulaziz, received the Pakistani leader at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). Saudi Arabia and Pakistan maintain a strong partnership. In September 2025, both countries signed the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA) which says that an attack against either is an attack on both. Last week, the Kingdom’s defense minister met Pakistan’s chief of defense in Riyadh. The two held talks on the “Iranian attacks on the Kingdom within the framework of the Saudi-Pakistani Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement, focusing on mechanisms to halt these aggressions which undermine regional security and stability,” SPA reported.

Active shooter at Michigan synagogue, authorities say
The Associated Press/12 March/2026
Police are responding to reports of an “active shooter” at a synagogue outside Detroit, where smoke is billowing from the roof. WDIV-TV reports that a truck crashed into the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, on Thursday. FBI Director Kash Patel said agents are on scene of an “apparent vehicle ramming and active shooter situation” at the synagogue. The Oakland County Sheriff’s office said authorities are clearing the building. About a dozen parents sprinted to get their children from an early childhood learning center inside the building after getting approval from police. West Bloomfield School District went on lockdown. Temple Israel calls itself the nation’s largest Reform synagogue, with 12,000 members. according to its website. It has an early childhood education center and offers educational programs for families and adults. The website says the synagogue is “passionate about helping Jewish communities across the globe” and that its mission is to “create a community building through the lens of Reform Judaism.”The Jewish Federation of Detroit advised all Jewish organizations in the area “to go into lockout protocol — nobody in or out of your building.”

International maritime body calls emergency talks on Hormuz
AFP/12 March/2026
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will convene an “extraordinary session” next week to discuss threats to shipping in the Middle East and particularly in the Strait of Hormuz, the agency said Thursday. The meeting, scheduled for March 18-19 at the IMO headquarters in London, was requested by six of IMO’s 40 members: Britain, Egypt, France, Morocco, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. It comes amidst fears about the choking off of global energy supplies triggering rocketing energy prices. The Strait of Hormuz -- through which a fifth of global crude passes -- has effectively shut down by Iranian retaliatory attacks against ships and its Gulf neighbours.On Thursday, an attack on two oil tankers off Iraq killed at least one crew member, while a cargo ship caught fire after being hit by shrapnel. Iran’s new supreme leader ordered the Strait of Hormuz to remain closed on Thursday, while US President Donald Trump said stopping the Islamic republic’s “evil empire” was more important than crude prices. Oil prices soared Thursday to above $100 and stock markets extended losses.

US condemns Iranian and militia attacks in Iraq amid unclaimed airstrikes on Tehran-backed militias
Seth J. Frantzman/FDD's Long War Journal/March 12/2026
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned terrorist attacks by Iran and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq in a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani on March 9. The call took place as attacks in Iraq have continued to threaten the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and other sites in the country. At the same time, Iranian-backed militias have been hit by airstrikes that remain unclaimed.
Iranian-backed militias in Iraq began targeting US forces and other sites in the country after the commencement of the US and Israeli campaign against Iran on February 28. Iran has also conducted strikes in Iraq, part of its regional campaign of drone and missile attacks across the Middle East.
Most of the attacks in Iraq, around 200 according to local estimates, have focused on the Kurdistan Region in the country’s north. It is where most US forces in Iraq are now concentrated after troops left the Ain al Asad Air Base and other facilities in recent years. The Iranian-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of Shiite militias, claimed in a March 11 statement that it had carried out 291 total attacks, including 31 new operations on March 10 and 11.
On the evening of March 9-10, a drone targeted the United Arab Emirates consulate in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region. “The United Arab Emirates has strongly condemned and denounced the unprovoked terrorist drone attack that targeted the UAE Consulate General in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which resulted in material damage with no injuries reported,” the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on March 10. Saudi Arabia also condemned the drone attack.
The Kurdistan Region’s Department of Foreign Relations called on Iraq’s central government in Baghdad to protect the country’s sovereignty and prevent further attacks. A French Foreign Ministry deputy spokesperson also denounced the strikes by Iran and its proxies in an interview with the Rudaw Media Network on March 10.
Despite Rubio’s condemnation of the attacks by Iran and Iranian-backed militias in his March 9 call with Sudani, Iraq’s Prime Minister’s Office did not specifically mention The Tehran regime or the Iraqi militias in its statement about the call. “During the call, the Prime Minister affirmed Iraq’s commitment to protecting diplomatic missions, embassies, and consulates represented on its territory, noting that this is among the core duties and responsibilities of the Iraqi armed forces across all branches,” the statement said.
Attacks have continued across Iraq in the past two days. According to a Reuters report, Iran took responsibility on March 10 for a missile attack on a “U.S. base in northern Iraq.” Rudaw reported several attacks in the Kurdistan Region overnight between March 10 and 11. One drone strike in the evening of March 10 in the Kurdistan Region killed one Kurdish fighter from Komala, a Kurdish Iranian opposition group.
In Baghdad, a drone struck the US Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center on the same evening. In addition, Iraq’s Ministry of Defense said that two of its air bases had been attacked. The ministry claimed that the Martyr Muhammad Alaa Air Base, located next to Baghdad International Airport and Martyr Ali Faleh Air Base, previously known as Balad Air Base, had been attacked. The ministry said the sites had been targeted by drones and missiles.
Airstrikes also hitting Iran-backed Iraqi militias
Iranian-backed militias have also been targeted in several airstrikes that remain unclaimed but may have been conducted by US forces. “Six people were killed in two separate strikes targeting positions of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi, in Kirkuk’s northwestern Dibis district early Tuesday,” Rudaw reported on March 10. The PMF is a paramilitary group in Iraq that officially reports to the prime minister and includes numerous Iranian-backed militias.
Four of the fighters killed near Kirkuk were from the Kataib Imam Ali militia, according to The New Region, a website that focuses on the Middle East. Video posted on X showed a funeral for the fighters. Iraq’s Joint Operations Command Security Media Cell put out a statement mourning those who were killed.
Several unclaimed strikes have also targeted the PMF in and around Mosul. A strike on March 9 hit a PMF base near the city, while another was reported by Al Jazeera in the Nineveh Plains in the evening of March 10. A social media post said this strike targeted the PMF’s 30th Brigade near Bartella. The same brigade may have been the target of the March 9 Mosul strike and an incident on March 2. The 30th Brigade of the PMF is composed of members of the Shabak minority group and has long been stationed in the Nineveh Plains, where many Shabak live. No country has taken responsibility for the airstrikes, but a source told Alhurra that the US has been behind some airstrikes in the days after February 28.
**porting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).

Oil Price Whiplash Highlights America’s Enduring Preparedness Gap
Daniel Swift//FDD- Policy Brief/March 12, 2026
Amid the uncertainty caused by the ongoing war with Iran’s clerical regime, the price of oil jumped to $120 on March 9 before crashing back to $95 in a matter of hours.
The price swings reflect global unease over the war’s potential impact on Gulf energy flows. Traders are struggling to price both near-term disruption risks and the war’s potential outcome — including who will control Iran and what infrastructure will survive the fighting. Politicians and pundits in the United States and abroad are pointing to rising fuel prices as evidence of the war’s cost.
The volatility also exposes a deeper problem. Despite successive wars in and around the Gulf for decades, Washington still has limited tools to calm energy markets when geopolitical shocks ripple through the region.
Washington’s Emergency Tools Are Limited
The administration’s primary economic response has been a tanker insurance backstop through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). But the scale is woefully inadequate. JPMorgan analysts estimate that roughly $352 billion in additional insurance coverage is needed to stabilize maritime energy transport. DFC announced that it will insure losses for maritime insurance companies up to approximately $20 billion.
In normal circumstances, a $20 billion reinsurance loss facility could leverage considerable additional insurance coverage by backstopping private primary insurers. But this is not a normal market. Private capacity has largely exited because underwriters will not cover crews sailing into an active war zone. Without an affordable private layer, DFC cannot leverage a market — it must effectively become one, capped at $20 billion. And that assumes that crews can be convinced to set sail.
To complement the insurance backstop, the administration has offered naval escorts for tankers. Despite conflicting official statements, as of March 10, no commercial vessels have taken up the offer.
U.S. Never Built Economic War Planning Capability
From the 1973 oil embargo to the Gulf War, Middle East conflicts have repeatedly triggered energy market shocks — and Washington has repeatedly been caught without adequate economic tools to respond. The Pentagon has war-gamed Gulf conflict scenarios for decades, with pre-positioned assets, contingency plans, and doctrine. Yet no economic equivalent — no standing body, no pre-built financial stabilization plans, no budget for economic crisis readiness — presently exists.
Although U.S. Gulf oil imports have fallen sharply, oil is globally traded. Supply shocks in the Middle East quickly translate into higher gasoline, transportation, and grocery costs for American consumers. The current crisis underscores that economic statecraft must extend beyond sanctions, export controls, and tariffs to include tools that stabilize critical markets during geopolitical shocks.
Washington Must Work With What It Has While Preparing for Future Conflicts
Washington cannot control oil prices, but it can take steps to reduce the most extreme swings. irst, the United States should continue to coordinate with allies on the release of oil reserves. On Wednesday morning, March 11, International Energy Agency member countries announced a historic-sized release to stabilize markets. While only about half full, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) still has over 400 million barrels, or about 20 days of U.S. consumption. Over the long term, Washington should commit to refilling the SPR when oil prices are low so that future administrations have more to work with.
Second, the United States can suspend the federal gasoline tax. This would save Americans roughly 18 cents per gallon, though at a cost to the federal treasury in foregone tax revenue.
Finally, policymakers should begin building a more robust economic crisis toolkit for future conflicts. Larger and multinational insurance backstops, deeper coordination with private energy traders and shipping firms, and standing plans for financial stabilization of critical commodity markets would leave the United States better prepared for the next geopolitical energy shock.
*Dan Swift is a senior research analyst for economics, finance, and trade for the Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Dan is a retired U.S. diplomat who served in Burma from January 2015 to August 2019. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

The Latest LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 12-13/2026
Washington Intensifies Pressure on Muslim Brotherhood Networks
Mariam Wahba/FDD-Policy Brief/March 12/2026
It has become clear that the White House intends to sustain pressure on violent islamist networks operating across the Middle East and beyond.
On March 9, the United States Department of State announced the designation of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), making it the fourth regional brotherhood chapter to be targeted. The department further declared its intent to designate the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
In January, U.S. State and Treasury departments designated the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood, also known as the Islamic Group, as both an FTO and a SDGT, while the Egyptian and Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood branches were designated as SDGTs.
These designations decisions follow a November 24, 2025, executive order directing the State Department and the Treasury Department to consider “certain chapters or other subdivisions of the Muslim Brotherhood” for designation.
Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood Operates a Political and an Armed Wing
The Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood (SMB) consists primarily of the Sudanese Islamic Movement (SIM) and its armed wing, the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade (BBMB).
SIM arrived in Khartoum in the 1940s as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood before formally organizing in 1954. Under former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, SIM captured key state institutions and embedded itself throughout the officer corps.
In April 2022, several Islamist factions formed the Broad Islamic Current, with SIM reigning as the dominant ideological and organizational force.The movement’s paramilitary arm, the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade, traces its lineage to earlier Islamist security structures, including a paramilitary group called the  Popular Defense Forces. The brigade emerged as a distinct entity in January 2020, following a 2019 coup that brought down al-Bashir. The United States sanctioned the brigade in September 2025 in an effort to “limit Islamist influence in Sudan and curtail Iran’s regional activities.”
SMB Has Infiltrated the Sudanese Armed Forces
The Sudanese Armed Forces have a long and complicated history with Islamist movements. Under the 30-year rule of al-Bashir, the regime deliberately integrated Islamist networks into the security apparatus, empowering bodies such as the Popular Defense Forces to defend the government and suppress opposition. While technically separate from the SAF, the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade has operated alongside government forces and maintains ties to officers linked to the Sudanese Islamic Movement.When civil war erupted in April 2023 between the SAF and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the military turned to Islamist-aligned fighters to bolster its ranks. In fact, militants connected to al-Bashir’s political party and other Islamist networks helped break RSF sieges around Khartoum in January 2025.
Washington Needs To Pressure the SAF To Purge Its Ranks of the SMB.
The designation of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood marks another step in Washington’s broader effort to confront the movement’s global network. To properly enforce these sanctions, Washington must address the movement’s influence within Sudan’s military. The recent arrest of a Sudanese Armed Forces commander connected to the Muslim Brotherhood is a step in the right direction, but it underscores how deeply these networks remain embedded. The United States should use these designations to press the SAF to continue removing officers and units with documented ties to Islamist movements.
Properly enforced, these designations will help dismantle violent Islamist networks in Sudan and beyond. *Mariam Wahba is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from Mariam and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Mariam on X @themariamwahba. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.

A new Middle East
Zaid AlKami/Al Arabiya English/12 March/2026
https://english.alarabiya.net/views/2026/03/12/a-new-middle-east-
Two days before the outbreak of the war between the United States and Israel on one side and Iran on the other, I wrote an article titled “The Middle East After Thirty Years,” attempting to read the trajectory of a region long accustomed to moving between fragile stability and sudden eruptions. But now that the wheels of war have actually begun to turn, the question has become more urgent and clearer: where is the Middle East headed after this war? But before asking about the end of the war or what may follow it, we must return to a simpler question: Why did the war break out in the first place? Many have linked the confrontation to Iran’s nuclear program or its threat to Israel, especially after the events of October 7, 2023. Yet the reality suggests that the problem is not the nuclear program as much as it is a political mindset that has governed Iran for nearly five decades. It is a mindset that views exporting the revolution as a political project and treats regional influence as a natural extension of the idea of permanent conflict. In my view, this mindset has not changed from Khomeini to the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and it is most likely continuing under the current leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
These ways of thinking have not changed despite years of sanctions, economic isolation, or even the major transformations the world has undergone. While countries in the region have been rearranging their priorities around development and stability, Tehran has continued to operate according to a different equation: deterrence before integration, and conflict before development.
This is why the region has witnessed an unprecedented escalation in recent days. More than three thousand missiles and drones have been launched from Iran, targeting Gulf countries as well as energy infrastructure and vital facilities. This comes despite the fact that Gulf states clearly announced they would not allow their territory or airspace to be used for any military action against Iran. Some of these countries even chose the path of de-escalation and building understandings, as seen in the Beijing agreement that restored relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Some Gulf economies, particularly the UAE, also served for years as an economic lifeline for Iran under sanctions, in addition to Qatar, which maintained a distinctive relationship with Tehran, and Oman, which played a mediating role during negotiations over the nuclear program.
For this reason, targeting Gulf facilities during this war appears unjustified both politically and strategically. The real question remains about the mindset that is managing the situation in Iran. Targeting Gulf countries does not add to Iran’s strength; rather, it opens additional fronts it does not need. This raises another question: does Iran today need a wise statesman more than it needs a supreme leader? Someone who understands that power in the twenty first century is no longer measured by the number of missiles a country launches, but by its ability to build a productive economy, political stability, and balanced relations with its surroundings.
Iran is not a country lacking resources. It possesses the foundations that could make it one of the largest economic powers in the Middle East. It has a strategic geographic location, a vast domestic market, and enormous energy resources. Yet for decades these advantages have remained captive to a political vision that treats regional influence as a substitute for internal development.
Returning to the broader Middle East, what is happening in the region today is not merely a war. It may instead mark the beginning of a reshaping and reordering of the region and its strategic environment. As the American historian John Lewis Gaddis noted, major wars do not simply end conflicts; they reshape the strategic environment within which states operate. In other words, the end of this war may mark the beginning of a regional order different from what existed before it. This helps explain the recurring discussion in Washington about a “new Middle East.” The phrase itself is not new. It has appeared in American political literature for decades, but it returns to the forefront whenever the region undergoes major transformations. At its core, the idea centers on rearranging the balance of power so that the region is built around networks of economic and security alliances rather than open axis-based conflicts. The American researcher Kenneth Pollack has also noted that US strategy in the region is gradually moving toward building a regional system based on economic partnerships and security integration among states, rather than managing endless conflicts.
The region is therefore facing a test between two different models of state governance. The first model is based on the idea that influence is built through open conflicts, networks of armed proxies, and attempts at geographic expansion or political domination. The second model places its bet on development, stability, and the building of regional economic partnerships.
The first model will keep the region inflamed, with conflict continuing and fertile ground remaining for greater extremism and more extremists, along with rising security risks. The second model, however, requires courageous decisions to settle and resolve all conflicts, beginning with the Palestinian Israeli conflict, in order to open the door to normal relations among the countries of the region. Development would then become the primary and most important source of political legitimacy, and the compass by which states measure their ability to advance and achieve stability. Past experience has shown that no regional order can become stable unless it emerges from within the region itself.
This leaves the central question: which Middle East will emerge? Only the coming years will answer it. But what already seems clear is that the region has entered a phase of deep transformation. The states that will sit at the decision making table in the future will not simply be those that mastered the management of conflict, but those that understood at the right moment that development can sometimes be more powerful than war itself.

Tucker Carlson ‘has lost his way’...President Trump now sees that clearly
Clifford D. May/The Washington Times/March 12/2026
Israelis are spending much of their days and nights hunkered down in bomb shelters. But they’re hopeful that the conflict in which they’re now engaged will leave them and their children safer. Iranians are doing their best to get by as the U.S.-Israeli military operation deprives their country’s rulers of their military capabilities. But they’re hopeful that those rulers will soon be replaced by decent leaders.Tucker Carlson watches this great battle against the world’s leading sponsors of jihadi terrorism and calls it “evil and disgusting.” He declared that President Trump’s demand that Iran’s ruler surrender can only be interpreted by Iranians as “foreign troops get to rape your wife and daughter.” Such rhetoric may have stretched President Trump’s patience beyond the breaking point. Last week, he told reporter Jonathan Karl: “Tucker has lost his way. I knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.”This is significant because Mr. Carlson has been an advisor to the president and remains an influencer on the right. Like so many on the “progressive left,” however, he demonstrates a perverse sympathy for America’s sworn enemies, and a venomous antipathy toward the tiny nation the Pentagon calls America’s “model ally.” Full disclosure: My disappointment with Mr. Carlson is partly personal. I’ll tell you more. First, I want to clarify who he has become. nLast July, roughly two weeks after U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear weapons facilities, he conducted an interview with Masoud Pezeshkian, president of the Islamic Republic. He failed to press Mr. Pezeshkian on his regime’s nuclear activities, human rights record, assassination and kidnapping plots – even those conducted on American soil. Instead, Mr. Pezeshkian was allowed to toss off without challenge a series of lies and false allegations. The interview was immediately disseminated by Iranian, Russian and Chinese media.
In February 2024, Mr. Carlson journeyed to Moscow where he took in the Spartacus ballet at the Bolshoi Theater and gushed over the products and prices in a Moscow supermarket.
He was wowed, too, by the Kiyevskaya metro station, built in Soviet times (a portrait of Vladimir Lenin remains on display) to celebrate the “eternal friendship” between Russians and Ukrainians. “How does Russia have a subway station that’s nicer than anything in our country?” he marveled in a video, even as Russian artillery was raining down on Ukrainian men, women, and children. His interview with Vladimir Putin offered no challenging questions about the Russian dictator’s aggression, his misrepresentations of history, or the many opponents and critics he has eliminated.
Days later, in a remote prison colony north of the Arctic Circle, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died. Last month, five European governments confirmed that it was “highly likely” the cause was epibatidine, a toxin found in South African poison dart frogs, but not generally available in even the swankiest Russian supermarkets.
If you’re thinking what I’ve described is simply Mr. Carlson’s laid-back journalistic style, consider that, last month, Mr. Carlson paid a visit to Israel – sort of. He never left the airport’s VIP lounge and later complained that Israeli security officials mistreated him. A U.S. Embassy spokesperson disputed that. Later, leaked security footage showed Mr. Carlson smiling and hugging airport staff. In the airport lounge, Mr. Carlson recorded an almost three-hour interview with the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. According to research by independent analyst Salo Aizenberg, Tucker spoke for 60% of the time, interrupted Mr. Huckabee more than 500 times, and made 36 demonstrably false statements.
Mr. Huckabee commented afterwards: “I was expecting a thoughtful conversation and that he would ask questions and give me the opportunity to actually respond – just like he did with the little Nazi sympathizer Nick Fuentes or the guy who thought Hitler was the good guy and Churchill the bad guy.” He added on X: “Wasn’t aware that Tucker despises me. I do get that a lot from people not familiar with the Bible or history. Somehow, I will survive the animosity.”Now a few words on my personal connection. I was acquainted with Mr. Carlson back when he was a young, bow-tie-wearing conservative commentator.
What’s more, the late Amb. Richard Carlson, his father, was for several years a valued colleague at the think tank I founded shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Journalist Joel Mowbray traveled with Amb. Carlson in Israel for ten days in 2003. He recently recalled: “Dick Carlson didn’t question the patriotism of Jews who supported Israel. Dick Carlson didn’t hate Christians who supported Israel, not least because he was one of them.”Mark Dubowitz, now FDD’s chief executive, recalls that in 2004, “Dick co-authored my first op-ed with me, defending Israel’s security barrier against suicide bombings.” The two went together to The Hague, where they “staged a mock trial highlighting Israeli and American victims of Palestinian terrorism.”
Is Tucker Carlson now rebelling against his father? Is his brand of anti-Americanism coupled with Judeophobia, Zionophobia, and Israelophobia based on sincerely held beliefs or is it a means to make barrels of money? It’s possible that these motivations are mutually reinforcing.
All we can conclude is that Tucker Carlson has become, as President Trump has implied, a lost boy — lost to his father’s legacy, lost to the cause of Israeli survival, lost to the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom, lost to reason and the effort to make America great again by defanging a regime that for 47 years has vowed “Death to America!”
This does not make me hopeful for him.
**Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a columnist for the Washington Times, and host of the “Foreign Podicy” podcast.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/mar/10/tucker-carlson-lost-way/
Read in The Washington Times

Why is Washington going soft on the Turkish banks enabling Iran’s terrorism?
Sinan Ciddi, Tyler Stapleton and Max Meizlish/The Hill/March 12/2026
The Turkish state-owned lender Halkbank has served as a conduit for illicit Iranian financing networks. It was indicted in the U.S. in 2019 for one of the largest sanctions-evasion schemes in modern history, and at least two of its employees were convicted during the first Trump administration for their involvement.
Yet despite overwhelming evidence that the bank helped Iran bypass U.S. sanctions, the White House has now granted Ankara a lenient settlement that lets the bank itself avoid prosecution. This outcome — now all but a done deal and requiring only a judge’s signature — undermines both sanctions enforcement and American credibility. Between 2012 and 2013, Halkbank played a pivotal role in converting Iranian oil revenues trapped in Turkish accounts into Turkish lira, then gold and ultimately cash, which was in turn smuggled back to Iran.
The operation — engineered by Reza Zarrab, an Iranian Turkish businessman and Mehmet Hakan Atilla, Halkbank’s deputy general manager — allowed Iran to circumvent Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign. Zarrab’s testimony in 2017 revealed the complicity of senior Turkish officials, some of them within President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inner circle. Halkbank’s actions violated multiple U.S. laws, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and anti-money laundering statutes. Yet successive administrations, Republican and Democratic alike, have refrained from pursuing the maximum penalties.
Winston Churchill to be removed from UK currency, replaced with wildlife | RISING
The Trump administration has now reached a deferred prosecution agreement between the U.S. and Halkbank — an extraordinary concession compared to the multibillion-dollar penalties paid by European banks such as BNP Paribas ($8.9 billion) and Standard Chartered (over $1 billion) for similar offenses.
According to U.S. Treasury and Justice Department findings, Halkbank processed at least $13 billion in Iranian transactions between March 2012 and July 2013, with some estimates reaching $20 billion. Those funds likely financed Tehran’s regional proxies, including Hezbollah and the Assad regime.
Congressional reports indicate that between 2012 and 2018, Iran spent roughly $16 billion annually sustaining militant clients across the Middle East. Under standard Treasury guidelines, civil fines could reach twice the value of illicit proceeds — up to $40 billion in Halkbank’s case.
This lenient outcome not only rewards Turkey’s defiance but also erodes the deterrent value of U.S. sanctions. Without an independent compliance monitor, Halkbank can continue to facilitate Tehran’s access to the global financial system under the guise of legitimate trade.
Why would the White House ease pressure on a bank convicted of enabling terrorism financing? The answer lies in geopolitics.
Erdogan has positioned himself as an indispensable broker for Washington’s regional ambitions — offering to mediate ceasefires in Gaza, stabilize northern Syria and even facilitate talks between Russia and Ukraine. Following the October 2025 Israel-Hamas ceasefire, President Trump publicly praised Erdogan’s strong leadership in securing hostages and promoting peace. In return, Ankara appears to have received quiet assurances that Halkbank will be spared. For Erdogan, the issue is personal. A heavy fine or renewed prosecution could expose the direct involvement of his family and confidants in the sanctions-busting operation. Moreover, Halkbank’s collapse would reverberate through Turkey’s fragile economy, already weakened by inflation and capital flight. Shielding the bank thus protects both his domestic political standing and his international reputation.
Halkbank is not alone. Another Turkish institution, Kuveyt Türk Bank, is currently facing litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Plaintiffs accuse the bank of routing dollar transactions for Hamas through correspondent accounts at major U.S. banks — including Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered and BNY Mellon. They allege Kuveyt Türk Bank “knowingly used its U.S. accounts to facilitate funds transfers for Hamas’s benefit,” contributing to terrorist attacks in the West Bank between 2015 and 2018.The court initially dismissed the suit in 2023 for lack of jurisdiction but reinstated it in early 2025 after plaintiffs presented new evidence. The case highlights a recurring problem: Turkish banks with New York correspondent accounts exploit the dollar system to finance militant networks, often with tacit government support.
The Treasury Department and the Justice Department have ample authority to act. Under Section 311 of the Patriot Act, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network have the power to designate Kuveyt Türk Bank or similar institutions as “primary money-laundering concerns,” effectively cutting them off from the U.S. financial system. Such measures would send a clear signal that no bank — Turkish or otherwise — can use American financial channels to fund terror without consequence.In contrast, the offer of political exceptions for Erdogan undermines the credibility of U.S. sanctions, weakens counterterrorism financing efforts and emboldens rogue regimes. Washington’s willingness to look the other way for the sake of transactional diplomacy risks transforming “maximum pressure” into selective indulgence.
The Halkbank case, unfortunately, was the test of whether the U.S. still enforces its own laws when politically inconvenient. And the answer appears to be no.
**Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow and director of the Turkey Program at Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Tyler Stapleton serves as senior director of government relations at FDD Action. Max Meizlish is a research fellow with the Center on Economic and Financial Power at Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Russia the Arsonist Wants to Play Firefighter
Jason Jay Smart and Ivana Stradner/Kyiv Post/March 12/2026
Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to use Moscow’s close ties with Iran to restore calm in the Middle East after the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, which he condemned as “unprovoked aggression.” Now, Putin is pretending to a new role for himself: the world’s peacemaker.
Putin’s strategy is working. President Trump held a call with Putin on Monday, the first such call since the beginning of the war with Iran. According to Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, the Russian president “voiced a few ideas aimed at a quick political and diplomatic settlement,” based on his own conversations with Iranian and Arab Gulf leaders. The irony is hard to miss. At the same time, Moscow is providing intelligence to Iran to abet its targeting of American military installations. It may also be providing weapons, depending on one’s interpretation of the Iranian foreign minister’s statement that Russia was supporting Iran “politically, and otherwise.”
Ahead of the conflict, Washington brushed off Russia, whose senior diplomats believe that America is handling the Iran situation “very poorly.” This is not Putin’s first attempt to mediate. He also offered his mediation service during his call with President Trump in June 2025, when the Kremlin restated its willingness to take uranium from Iran as part of a nuclear deal. Trump wisely rejected that offer, saying: “Vladimir called me up. He said, ‘Can I help you with Iran?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t need help with Iran. I need help with you.’”
So, why is Putin so persistent in his attempt to be the world’s peacemaker? After years of deepening ties with Tehran, seeing Moscow step in to “cool things down” is like watching the arsonist volunteer as a firefighter.
Russia’s offer is less about peace than about power. Putin is, again, seeking to present himself as the Iran whisperer, as he did during the Obama era nuclear talks. By hosting talks and facilitating ceasefires, Moscow would position itself as a necessary diplomatic actor and project the image of a major global decision-maker, reinforcing its claim to great-power status. Participation in negotiations would allow Russia to shape political settlements, ensure that a friendly government remains in power in Iran and secure outcomes favorable to Russia’s interests.
Facing an impasse on Ukraine talks, Moscow might trade away some of its “ally” Iran’s red lines in exchange for better conditions in Ukraine while improving US-Russia relations. That is, Moscow cynically treats both Washington and Tehran as bargaining chips to extract greater concessions in the ongoing negotiations over Ukraine.
Russia has a long history of falsely portraying itself as an impartial mediator in conflicts ranging from civil wars in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Central African Republic to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and even to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Moscow and Tehran’s partnership warmed after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Iran supplying drones and Russia offering defense cooperation, including potential Su-35 sales. But Russia’s reliance on Iran has waned – China and North Korea now play a far bigger role in supporting Moscow’s war effort. Between Dec. 27 and Jan. 1, Russian and Belarusian Il‑76 transport planes flew to Tehran carrying undisclosed cargo, highlighting ongoing but limited military ties. Iran could seek help rebuilding its air defenses, but that would take time, and Moscow remains focused on its own needs in Ukraine.
Moscow lacks both the credibility and the intention to act as an honest broker in the Middle East. Vladimir Putin’s outreach is less about peace than about reshaping US-Russian relations on terms favorable to the Kremlin. No one should be fooled by this diplomatic theater. Russia’s gambit is leverage, not diplomacy. Allowing Moscow to mediate would only reward that strategy amounting to handing the keys to the burglar.
*Jason Jay Smart, also known as Jason Smart and Jason J Smart, is a political adviser who has lived and worked in Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Latin America. Dr. Ivana Stradner serves as a research fellow with the Barish Center for Media Integrity at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
https://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/71677
Read in Kyiv Post

Trump Points to Iran’s Resumption of Nuclear Activities at a New, Deeper Site
Andrea Stricker/FDD-Plicy Brief/March 12/2026
President Donald Trump’s remarks on Iran’s resumption of covert nuclear activities at an underground site highlight lingering concerns over the status of the Tehran regime’s nuclear program as Operation Epic Fury heads into its third week.
Trump said Iran’s rulers had continued their pursuit of a nuclear weapon “even after we obliterated their key nuclear sites” in U.S. airstrikes last June. “They were starting work at another site, a different site … that was protected by granite … they wanted to go a lot deeper and they started the process,” he observed.Coupled with the possibility that Tehran could recover highly enriched uranium (HEU) from previously struck nuclear facilities, these latest activities underscore the challenges ahead on the nuclear front for the combined U.S. and Israeli military campaign against the regime.
New Efforts Spotlight Pickaxe Mountain Facility
The “different site” Trump mentioned was likely the facility at Pickaxe Mountain, which is under construction near the Natanz nuclear complex and buried up to 100 meters below a mountain of granite. The United States and Israel did not target the site during strikes in June 2025, likely because it was not yet nearing completion. Since then, satellite imagery assessments by the Institute for Science and International Security have noted ongoing construction and fortification of entrances and security perimeters.
Iran officially claims it has been building a new centrifuge assembly plant at Pickaxe Mountain since 2021. However, Western intelligence assesses that Iran may intend to establish a new enrichment facility there — deeper than the underground enrichment facility at Fordow, which the United States damaged or destroyed last June, and potentially beyond the reach of aerial strikes. By going deeper, Iran likely hopes to limit the threat posed by the U.S. military’s Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker-busting bombs that can reportedly penetrate 60 meters below ground. These were deployed by the United States in its previous attack on Fordow.
Washington Weighing Options To Secure Tehran’s Highly Enriched Uranium Stocks
Iran’s ability to retrieve its HEU stocks — enough to produce up to 11 nuclear bombs — remains uncertain. The HEU is primarily dispersed between the destroyed Fordow enrichment plant, where Iran was enriching uranium to 60 percent, and the Esfahan tunnel complex, located close to where the United States and Israel struck uranium conversion, metal, and fuel production capabilities during last June’s campaign. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi confirmed on March 9 that roughly half of Iran’s HEU stockpile of 440 kilograms was stored in the Esfahan tunnels, where Tehran was also building a new enrichment plant. The IAEA last verified the stockpile shortly before Israeli strikes on Iran began on June 13, 2025. Nine days later, the United States destroyed the Esfahan tunnel entrances with Tomahawk missiles.
Trump told Fox News on March 10 that Iran has not yet moved the HEU from either Fordow or Esfahan. Media reports suggest Tehran may have created a narrow access point to reach the material but has not proceeded due to the risk of U.S. or Israeli strikes.
Trump is reportedly considering a special forces ground operation to breach the Esfahan tunnels and eliminate or seize the HEU stockpile, though he currently denies that such a decision is near.
Iran’s Remaining Nuclear Threats Must Be Neutralized
Before the United States and Israel end major combat operations against Iran, they must complete two urgent tasks. First, they must neutralize Pickaxe Mountain. Second, they must recover or eliminate HEU stocks to prevent them from falling into the hands of surviving leaders of the Islamic Republic, other adversarial states, or Tehran’s terrorist proxies. If special forces raids or longer-term HEU recovery efforts are more effective than utilizing MOPs, these should occur when the security situation permits and the military is confident it can limit casualties. The United States has long trained teams with expertise in disabling nuclear sites and disposing of nuclear materials safely.
In the meantime, the United States and Israel must continue closely monitoring these sites and preemptively strike anyone attempting to access them.
**Andrea Stricker is a research fellow and deputy director of the Nonproliferation Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from the author and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Andrea on X @StrickerNonpro. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.

Before Pouring Billions into Gaza, Trump's 'Board of Peace' Needs To Ask A Few Hard Questions
Khaled Abu Toameh Gatestone Institute/March 12, 2026
[T]he Palestinian Authority... is expected to play a significant role in the future management of the Gaza Strip. Recently, Nickolay Mladenov, High Representative for the "Board of Peace," announced the establishment of a "Liaison Office" by the PA for communication and coordination regarding the board's activities in the Gaza Strip.
The newly established National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, which is supposed to be an independent body of apolitical technocrats, is dominated by officials affiliated with the PA and its ruling Fatah faction.
For the past 33 years, the international community has failed to track the flow and use of aid money donated to the Palestinians, enabling high-level corruption. Tens of billions of dollars in international aid given to the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip have been lost to corruption, siphoned off by terror groups or mismanaged by the PA leadership.
Since October 2023 alone, Hamas has reportedly generated an estimated $500 million by seizing humanitarian aid trucks and selling supplies to Gaza residents at inflated prices.
Corruption, mismanagement and diversion of aid have repeatedly undermined reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip and played a major role in preventing aid from reaching ordinary Palestinians. Cement and construction materials intended for civilian housing have repeatedly ended up being used for Hamas's terror tunnels and military infrastructure. Resources that donors believed were helping build homes and schools were instead strengthening Hamas and other terror groups. Much of the donor money has been swallowed by corruption, political patronage, and the militarization of Palestinian society.
The Gaza Strip has become the only place in the world where a terror group can repeatedly wage war -- funded by the international community -- while that same international community pays to rebuild the battlefield afterward, possibly for the next war.
The people of the Gaza Strip urgently need humanitarian assistance, housing, infrastructure, and economic opportunity. However, pouring money into the territory without strict safeguards will not help those residents.
International aid has empowered a governing system that prioritizes rockets over reconstruction. While donors thought they were funding hospitals and schools, Hamas was appropriating enormous resources and investing them in weapons, military infrastructure, and preparation for the next confrontation with Israel. If the "Board of Peace" truly wants to help the Palestinians, it must abandon the illusion that money alone will solve the problem. Any serious reconstruction effort must begin with extremely uncompromising conditions...
Corruption, mismanagement and diversion of aid have repeatedly undermined reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip and played a major role in preventing aid from reaching ordinary Palestinians. Cement and construction materials intended for civilian housing have repeatedly ended up being used for Hamas's terror tunnels and military infrastructure. Pictured: A school run by UNRWA in Gaza City, photographed on December 1, 2022, the day the agency revealed that there was a terror tunnel under one of its schools in Gaza. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)
As US President Donald J. Trump and members of his "Board of Peace" pledged billions of dollars for "relief and reconstruction" in the Gaza Strip, two recent public opinion polls show that most Palestinians are still concerned about widespread corruption in Palestinian society.
This concern should sound alarm bells for the Trump Administration and donor countries if they are about to invest billions of dollars in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians are loudly warning international donors that Palestinian leaders are not trustworthy in handling money.
According to polls conducted by the Coalition for Integrity and Accountability -- a Palestinian civil society organization that seeks to combat corruption and promote integrity, transparency and accountability in Palestinian society -- 57% of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip expect the level of corruption to remain or increase in the aftermath of the war that Hamas launched on October 7, 2023.
The polls found that 90% of the Palestinians consider so-called anti-corruption efforts (by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas) insufficient. They attributed this failure primarily to weak transparency in state institutions, weak political will to hold corrupt individuals accountable, the weak deterrent effect of applied penalties, and the absence of officials serving as role models in upholding integrity and safeguarding public resources. Sixty-one percent of the Palestinians, in addition, said they believed that the level of corruption increased in 2025, and expected it to rise in 2026.
The results of the latest surveys do not come as a surprise. Other polls conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research have consistently shown that more than 80% of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip believe that there is corruption in institutions of the Palestinian Authority (PA). This disclosure is important: the Palestinian Authority is expected to play a significant role in the future management of the Gaza Strip. Recently, Nickolay Mladenov, High Representative for the "Board of Peace," announced the establishment of a "Liaison Office" by the PA for communication and coordination regarding the board's activities in the Gaza Strip. The newly established National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, which is supposed to be an independent body of apolitical technocrats, is dominated by officials affiliated with the PA and its ruling Fatah faction.
Under PA President Mahmoud Abbas, many Palestinians believe corruption has deepened rather than receded. Common practices include wasta (nepotism/favoritism), misuse of public funds, and the enrichment of a political elite while the general population faces economic hardship. Widespread disenchantment with the PA's corruption was a primary factor in Hamas's victory in the Palestinian Legislative Council election of 2006 (the last election held), as the terror group campaigned on a platform of "clean governance" and "reform."
For the past 33 years, the international community has failed to track the flow and use of aid money donated to the Palestinians, enabling high-level corruption. Tens of billions of dollars in international aid given to the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip have been lost to corruption, siphoned off by terror groups or mismanaged by the PA leadership.
Since October 2023 alone, Hamas has reportedly generated an estimated $500 million by seizing humanitarian aid trucks and selling supplies to Gaza residents at inflated prices.
Corruption, mismanagement and diversion of aid have repeatedly undermined reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip and played a major role in preventing aid from reaching ordinary Palestinians. Cement and construction materials intended for civilian housing have repeatedly ended up being used for Hamas's terror tunnels and military infrastructure. Resources that donors believed were helping build homes and schools were instead strengthening Hamas and other terror groups. Much of the donor money has been swallowed by corruption, political patronage, and the militarization of Palestinian society.
The Gaza Strip has become the only place in the world where a terror group can repeatedly wage war -- funded by the international community -- while that same international community pays to rebuild the battlefield afterward, possibly for the next war.
The people of the Gaza Strip urgently need humanitarian assistance, housing, infrastructure, and economic opportunity. However, pouring money into the territory without strict safeguards will not help those residents.
For decades, the Gaza Strip has been one of the most heavily funded territories in the world in terms of international aid per capita. Yet despite the enormous financial injections, the Gaza Strip remains impoverished, unstable, and dominated by Hamas and other terrorist groups. International aid has empowered a governing system that prioritizes rockets over reconstruction. While donors thought they were funding hospitals and schools, Hamas was appropriating enormous resources and investing them in weapons, military infrastructure, and preparation for the next confrontation with Israel.
If the "Board of Peace" truly wants to help the Palestinians, it must abandon the illusion that money alone will solve the problem. Any serious reconstruction effort must begin with extremely uncompromising conditions: tracking and full transparency over how funds are spent, strict monitoring of construction materials, and a clear demand that Hamas and all other terror groups lay down their weapons and permanently exit the scene. The assumption that writing big checks will somehow produce different results has collapsed in the face of reality.
**Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
**llow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22339/pouring-billions-into-gaza
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

The rise of Khamenei II
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/March 12/2026
Talk of restoring the shah’s monarchy has surged since the start of the current war, more than at any time since the fall of the Pahlavi regime in the late 1970s. Support for the return of Reza Pahlavi, the shah’s son, has been estimated at around one third of Iranians, though such figures are debated. Some believe the real number may be even higher, driven by the failure of the current religious system.
Yet Iran may instead be heading toward a different form of hereditary rule.
The son of the late supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has reportedly been chosen over other religious figures. The rise of “Khamenei II” leads to a similar outcome: it may not be a monarchy, but it is still hereditary rule, one that lacks the traditional legitimacy associated with dynastic succession.Most likely, this is an attempt to resolve the crisis facing Iran’s institutional religious system, which suffers from multiple competing centers of decision-making and overlapping authority. The state is governed by several bodies that emerged during different stages of the regime’s development. These include the Assembly of Experts, the Guardian Council, the Expediency Discernment Council, the Supreme Council of the Religious Seminaries, and the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. Alongside them stand powerful decision-making centers such as the Office of the Supreme Leader and the Supreme National Security Council. Above all is the most influential force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has evolved from merely implementing decisions into a partner in shaping them.
The accumulation of these institutions has marginalized bodies considered “legitimate” under the constitution, such as the presidency and the government. Over time, other countries came to realize that presidents like Khatami, Ahmadinejad, and Rouhani gradually became little more than public faces for other forces that truly govern this large, influential, and potentially dangerous state in the region.
These competing centers of power and internal political struggles had long threatened dangerous divisions that could endanger the republic, posing risks no less serious than the threat posed by war itself to the regime’s survival. Within less than a decade, several key pillars of the system have disappeared or been sidelined. Karroubi and Mousavi remain under house arrest after playing roles in street protests against the late supreme leader. Rafsanjani died, with his family insisting he was poisoned. Ahmadinejad, said to be highly popular among the public, was punished and marginalized, as was Rouhani. Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash, and before him the rising star Qassem Soleimani was killed. In addition, a long list of military leaders has vanished from the scene following last year’s war and the current conflict.
If hereditary leadership within the religious establishment continues and the new supreme leader survives Israeli targeting, Iran may shift the concept of velayat-e faqih toward a different system of rule centered largely on the personality of the leader. Non-monarchical hereditary rule is not unique in the world. North Korea has been ruled by three members of the Kim family for more than seven decades, and Cuba was governed for years by the Castro family.
In Tehran, the ruling religious establishment appears to have reached this conclusion because it has arrived at a dead end and finds itself increasingly pressured by public discontent. The rise of Khamenei II may become the rope that saves the regime from the brink, if it chooses to transform into a peaceful civilian system. At present, however, the system remains both religious and military in nature.
It is widely rumored that Mojtaba is more hardline than his father, and the region may need to prepare for a more turbulent and chaotic era. But this may be little more than speculation. We should not rely solely on the brief biography of a largely unknown figure to judge him. The region itself is also changing compared with the era of his father, especially after the wars fought last year and the current conflict.
In fact, Khamenei himself was more hardline than his predecessor, Ayatollah Khomeini, despite claims to the contrary. It was Khamenei who built Iran’s modern system of extremism. During his rule, the Revolutionary Guard expanded into vast military and economic institutions with extensive external networks. The concept of regional proxy forces emerged, turning groups such as Hezbollah, Iraqi militias, the Fatemiyoun Brigade, and the Houthis into forward military arms of the republic. Iran’s nuclear program also took shape during his tenure.
Khamenei was known for his rigidity. Khomeini, by contrast, agreed to end the war with Saddam Hussein and famously described the decision as “drinking poison,” reflecting his sense of political realism. Khamenei, however, insisted on pressing ahead with all of his projects despite their failure to achieve their intended goals. This continued until the events of October 7, which became the final straw, as he pushed forward with confrontation against the Trump administration despite the massive US military buildup off Iran’s shores.
Does this mean that Khamenei II will follow exactly in his father’s footsteps? Both possibilities remain open, given that he lived and worked at the center of power. But that does not necessarily mean he will simply replicate his father, especially in light of the new conditions created by war and the shifts that preceded it in Iranian public sentiment.
 

X Platform Selected twittes for March 12/2026
Michel Hajji Georgiou
The conflict that is currently opposing Israel with Iran and its proxies far exceeds the military and geopolitical framework in which none refrains from encircling it. The semiology deployed by both sides—the names given to operations, expressions chosen to announce or respond to them—reveals a battle of eminently religious and metaphysical character, where each military act claims to be in the order of scriptual accomplishment. Where the names of military operations are generally used to obey more propaganda logic to impress the enemy, the rhetorical ornamentation here plays an entirely different role, at the very heart of the warrior apparatus. It constitutes the essence of it, helping to understand why this conflict is playing out at a different level than in the purely diachronical, historical time.
At least four expressions have concentrated this logic since fighting has resumed: Al-Aasf al-Ma'koul, the name Hezbollah gave Wednesday for its missile launches; Al-Saa Saaein, the message delivered in Arabic by the Israeli army as a reply; and, before that, Rising Lion and Roaring Lion — the Standing Lion, the Roaring Lion — are names of two Israeli operations against Iran in 2025 and 2026 (... )
My new article on the semiological dimension of the Israeli-Iranian metaphysical conflict.
Link in the comments.