English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News &
Editorials
For October 11/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Blessed is that slave whom his master will find
at work when he arrives
Matthew 24/45-51: "‘Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom
his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their
allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will
find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge
of all his possessions. But if that wicked slave says to himself, "My master is
delayed", and he begins to beat his fellow-slaves, and eats and drinks with
drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect
him and at an hour that he does not know. He will cut him in pieces and put him
with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Titles For The English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related
News & Editorials published on October 10-11/2026
The Anniversary of the Canonization of Saint Charbel – Which Took Place
on 9 October 1977 / Who is this Saint and What is His Biography/Elias Bejjani/09
October/2026
A Critical Reading of Naim Qassem’s Speech: Between the Myth of Steadfastness,
the Doctrine of the Unity of Arenas, and the Futility of Dialogue/Elias
Bejjani/October 07, 2026
We Will Not Be Bitten Twice/Abu Arz/October 10/2026
Video Interview with Elisa Al-Hashem, Writer and Former Adviser at the U.S.
Department of State’s Regional Media Hub
Israel says targeted pro-Iran operative in Lebanon town near Syria border
Vatican decision that includes Lebanon...
Pope Leo to cover school and university tuition for needy families
Reports: Iranian plot to target Aoun and Salam with Dahr al-Baidar explosives
Suspected Hezbollah members caught transporting 500 kg of explosives in car
Inside Lebanon’s human smuggling routes along the Syrian border
At Hodeidah Airport... An airstrike ends the life of a Hezbollah leader!
Dangerous information revealed.. Was Hezbollah planning an assassination
operation?
New details about Hezbollah's explosives.. How was the shipment transported and
how was the disaster averted?
The explosives car at the time of European warnings: A possible Iranian plot to
assassinate Aoun and Salam?
Nassar: The investigation related to the seized explosives will be completed to
the end
Aoun hails Trump move to officially lift ban on direct US flights
Aoun welcomes Trump’s decision to lift restrictions on air travel with Lebanon
Airstrikes, artillery shelling, and huge explosions shake the South.. and Khiam
"burns"
Tampa negotiations on the verge of postponement: American ambiguity and
electoral calculations freeze the file of southern Lebanon
Kallas proposes disarming the party.. and the two Khalils in a meeting to assess
the stage
Israeli drone targets Al-Harik neighborhood between Nabatieh al-Fawqa and
Kfartibnit and artillery shelling hits valleys of the South
Explosion or technical malfunction?.. Fire engulfs a UNIFIL patrol in the South
Have Hezbollah’s campaigns against its critics begun to backfire?
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on October 10-11/2026
Trump ‘not happy’ about Houthis targeting civilians in Saudi Arabia
Trump says aware of Riyadh airport attacks, will decide on joining strikes
against Houthis
Trump hails Russia deal to release diesel as midterms loom
US sanctions on ICC, hours after Nobel award to former judge
Kremlin says Putin relayed Iran’s position on resolving conflict to Trump
Zelenskyy says Russian strikes on Ukraine are ‘thanks’ for US diesel deal
Trump says Ukraine needs new president who will agree to end war
UAE rescues 22 crew members after oil tanker catches fire in Gulf
Operations at Riyadh airport suspended after attack: Saudi civil aviation
authority
Western diplomat to AFP: Several embassies advising staff against using Riyadh
airport for a week
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in London
Abbas postpones legislative elections, sets presidential poll for September 2027
Eight killed in shooting at Pennsylvania home: Local media
Nobel peace laureate Pillay calls ICC sanctions ‘unacceptable’
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on October 10-11/2026
Facts That the Media and Many Politicians Will Not Admit/Majid
Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/October 10, 2026
US G20 diplomacy gears up amid global concerns/Andrew Hammond/Arab News/October
10, 2026
Question: Would the discovery of Noah’s Ark be
important?/GotQuestions.org/October 10, 2026
Global financial reform that centers African women/Crystal Simeoni/Arab
News/October 10, 2026
The Houthis and Yemen’s Vulnerable Children/Mishary Dhayidi/Asharq
Al-Awsat/October 10/2026
The Mother of All Causes in the Middle East/Mohammed al-Rumaihi/Asharq
Al-Awsat/October 10/2026
The Constitution at 100: A Question of the Community or the State?/Mustafa
Fahs/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 10/2026
Selected Face Book & X tweets on October 10/2026
Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on October 10-11/2026
The Anniversary of the Canonization
of Saint Charbel – Which Took Place on 9 October 1977 / Who is this Saint and
What is His Biography
Elias Bejjani/09 October/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/10/158184/
The Saint of Lebanon Who Made the Silence of the Hermitage a Pulpit for the
World
On the 9th of October 1977, Pope Saint Paul VI raised to the altars of the
Universal Church a son of Lebanon, a humble hermit from Bekaa Kafra, to be a
saint for the whole world. The canonization of Charbel was not merely a Vatican
event; it was a heavenly proclamation that holiness is still possible in our
time, and that Lebanon, the land of saints, offers to the Church a living model
of prayer, silence and labor.
Biography – From Bekaa Kafra to Heaven
Birth and Early Life
Youssef Antoun Makhlouf was born on 8 May 1828 in the village of Bekaa Kafra,
the highest inhabited village in Lebanon (in the district of Bcharre, on the
slopes of the Cedars). He was born into a poor yet pious farming family. His
father, Antoun Zaarour Makhlouf, died when Youssef was only three years old, and
he was raised by his mother Brigitta. From his childhood he was called “the
Saint” because of his love for prayer and solitude in a grotto near the village
which he called “the Grotto of the Saints.”
The Monastic Vocation
On a morning in the year 1851, at the age of 23, he left Bekaa Kafra without
bidding farewell to anyone, walking on foot to the Monastery of Our Lady of
Mayfouq to seek entry into the Lebanese Maronite Order. He was later transferred
to the Monastery of Saint Maron – Annaya for his novitiate.
Date of entry into monastic life: 1851 at Mayfouq
Transfer to Annaya: 1853
First monastic vows: 1 November 1853, taking the name Charbel, after the
second-century Antiochene Martyr, Saint Charbel
Theological Studies: At the Monastery of Saints Cyprian and Justina – Kfifan,
where he was discipled by Saint Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini, who was his
professor and spiritual director
Priestly Ordination: He was ordained a priest on 23 July 1859 in Bkerke by the
laying on of hands of Bishop Youssef Al-Mourad (El-Marid), the Patriarchal
Vicar, during the pontificate of Patriarch Paul Peter Massaad.
He spent 16 years as an exemplary monk in the Monastery of Annaya, a model of
obedience, humility and manual labor in the fields.
The Eremitic Life
His greatest longing was to revive the life of the ancient hermits. After long
insistence, he was permitted to withdraw to the Hermitage of Saints Peter and
Paul, belonging to the Monastery of Annaya, overlooking the Holy Valley.
Date of entry into the hermitage: 13 February 1875
Place: The Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul – Annaya
Date of Death: 24 December 1898
There he spent 23 years, never leaving except by order of his superior, praying,
fasting, keeping silence, working in the field, and spending the night kneeling
before the Blessed Sacrament.
He died on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1898, while reciting the Christmas Mass.
His last words were: “O Father of Truth.” He was buried in the monastery
cemetery at the age of 70.
His Most Notable Miracles
The miracles began at the moment of his death. Eyewitnesses saw a dazzling light
emanating from his grave for several months, and his body continued to exude
blood, water and sweat after his death, remaining intact and supple for many
years without any embalming.
The Church cannot number the miracles, but we mention those adopted in the cause
for canonization:
A- During his lifetime
The Miracle of the Lamp: Once the servant asked him to fill the lamp with oil,
and out of holy obedience he filled it with water, and the lamp burned with
water.
He healed the sick and wounded by his prayers and the blessing of his hand, and
cast out evil spirits.
B- After his death – The miracles that opened the door to beatification and
canonization:
The healing of Sister Mary Abel Kamou of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts: She
had suffered from severe, incurable intestinal ulcers for 14 years. She visited
his grave and prayed, and was suddenly and completely cured in 1950. This is the
miracle adopted for his beatification.
The healing of Mr. Alexandre Obeid from Baabdat: He had lost sight in one eye as
a result of an accident. After praying to Saint Charbel and placing soil from
his grave upon his eye, he fully regained his sight in 1950. This is the second
miracle for beatification.
The healing of Mrs. Mariam Awad from Hammana: She was paralyzed and suffering
from cancer of the larynx. She was miraculously healed in 1952. This is the
miracle adopted for his canonization.
Thousands of miracles are documented today in the records of the Monastery of
Annaya from all over the world, from healings of cancer, paralysis and blindness
to countless other wonders. The faithful have called him “the Doctor of Heaven”
and “the Wonder-Worker.”
Beatification – Date and Place
Because of the abundance of graces and miracles, the cause for his beatification
was opened in 1925.
Date of Beatification: 5 December 1965
Place: The Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican
Pope of Beatification: Pope Saint Paul VI
Occasion: He concluded the Second Vatican Council with it. In his homily, Pope
Paul VI said: “A hermit from the mountain of Lebanon may teach us, in a
materialistic world, what poverty and humility mean… a Maronite monk may teach
us what silence and prayer mean.” This was the first beatification of a Maronite
in modern history.
Canonization – Full Details
Date of Canonization: Sunday, 9 October 1977
Place: Saint Peter’s Square – Vatican
Pope of Canonization: Pope Saint Paul VI, and this was the last saint he
canonized months before his death
Attendance: More than 30,000 Lebanese pilgrims came from Lebanon and the
diaspora, led by Maronite Patriarch Antonios Khreich and a delegation of the
Lebanese Maronite Order. Saint Peter’s Square resounded with Maronite and
Lebanese hymns.
Decree of Canonization: The Pope proclaimed Charbel a saint of the Universal
Church, and established his official feast on 24 July each year (in Lebanon it
is celebrated on the third Sunday of July according to the Maronite calendar).
The Historic Homily: Paul VI said: “Charbel Makhlouf is the saint of difficult
times. He made the hermitage a school of prayer. He calls you, O Christians of
Lebanon and the East, to be faithful to your faith, and martyrs of love in a
divided world.”
Immediately after the canonization, his relics spread to all continents, and the
shrine of Annaya became the second most important Christian pilgrimage site in
the Middle East after Jerusalem.
Conclusion – What Does Saint Charbel Say to Us Today?
1-The Holiness of Silence: In an age of noise and social media, Charbel teaches
us that silence is not emptiness, but fullness with God. Lebanon today needs not
only political solutions, but a return to the silence of the heart.
2. The Holiness of Belonging: Charbel never left Lebanon; he did not seek glory
in Rome or Paris. His holiness sprouted from the soil of Bekaa Kafra and the
rock of Annaya. He tells every Lebanese in the diaspora that your holiness
begins where you are, but your roots remain in the land of the cedars.
3. The Holiness of Unity: Charbel is Maronite, but he became a saint for all
Lebanese: Christians and Muslims, beloved by all faiths. His body has gathered
Lebanese around him more than politics ever has. He is proof that holiness
unites and politics divides. Saint Charbel is heaven’s answer to Lebanon’s
despair. If a simple peasant from the poorest village could become a light for
the world, then Lebanon is capable of rising again.
A Prayer for the Intercession of Saint Charbel for Peace in Lebanon
O Wonder-Worker Saint Charbel, O son of Bekaa Kafra and hermit of Annaya, O you
who carried Lebanon in your heart and prayed for it for 23 years in your
hermitage, we beseech you today while our Lebanon is wounded, divided,
suffering, groaning under the weight of wars, divisions and emigration.
You who poured oil as light, pour upon our land the oil of peace. You who healed
the blind, open the eyes of our leaders to see the pain of the people. You who
kept long silence to hear the voice of God, teach us to be silent from hatred
and insult, that we may hear the voice of our brother.
O Saint Charbel, intercede for us before the Lord Jesus, whom you loved unto
death, that He may grant Lebanon a peace that cannot be bought with weapons, a
unity not built upon interests, and a hope that never dies despite all
hardships. Protect our cedars, protect our families in the homeland and in the
diaspora, and bring the children of Lebanon back to love one another, so that
Lebanon may remain as God willed it: a message of peace and light for the East
and for the world. Amen.
May the intercession of Saint Charbel be with us and with Lebanon.
Note: The information contained in this study is compiled from numerous
authenticated ecclesiastical, theological, research and media sources.
The author, Elias Bejjani, is a Lebanese expatriate activist
Author’s Email: Phoenicia@hotmail.com
Author’s Website:
https://eliasbejjaninews.com
A Critical Reading of Naim Qassem’s Speech: Between
the Myth of Steadfastness, the Doctrine of the Unity of Arenas, and the Futility
of Dialogue
Elias Bejjani/October 07, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/10/158112/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaAtQY_qzzY
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem’s speech on October was not Speaking
About Lebanon, But About a Battlefield: Deconstructing the Doctrine of Wilayat
al-Faqih and the Myth of Steadfastness.
The speech was not the address of a Lebanese leader speaking to the Lebanese
people, nor was it a political speech aimed at addressing the crises of a
country suffering from collapse, occupation, poverty, and isolation. Rather, it
was, quite plainly, a declaration of ideological and political allegiance to the
Iranian project and a comprehensive defense of the doctrine of Wilayat al-Faqih,
an ideology that does not recognize Lebanon as a sovereign and independent
state, but instead views it as merely one “arena” within a broader transnational
project.
Anyone who listens carefully to the speech will quickly realize that it revolves
around two dangerous narratives: the myth of “steadfastness” and the doctrine of
the “Unity of Arenas.” These two concepts explain everything Hezbollah has done
since its founding and reveal its true position toward Lebanon, its identity,
and its future.
First: The Myth of “Steadfastness” and the Illusion that “Wars Come in Rounds”
Qassem repeatedly spoke about “legendary steadfastness” and insisted that “wars
unfold in rounds,” as though simply continuing a conflict constitutes victory.
In the normal national sense, steadfastness is a means to protect a people,
defend territory, preserve sovereignty, and achieve specific national
objectives. In the ideology of Wilayat al-Faqih, however, steadfastness is not a
means but an end in itself, even if it results in the destruction of cities and
villages, the displacement of populations, economic collapse, and the deaths of
thousands. Under this ideological framework, wars are not measured by their
tangible outcomes but by the continuation of what is deemed a “religious
obligation.” Defeat is never acknowledged as defeat, devastation is never
considered a loss, and human lives are treated as expendable fuel for an endless
project that recognizes neither borders nor national sovereignty.
This explains how Qassem can speak of a “legend of steadfastness” while southern
Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut’s southern suburbs have suffered immense
destruction. It explains how he can proclaim that “liberation is before our
eyes” while realities on the ground tell a very different story. This is not
national steadfastness. It is the denial of reality and the marketing of an
ideological illusion designed to keep Hezbollah’s support base captive to
slogans disconnected from Lebanon’s national interests.
Second: The “Unity of Arenas” and the Denial of Lebanon.
If the myth of steadfastness explains the continuity of Hezbollah’s project, the
doctrine of the “Unity of Arenas” reveals its true nature. The speech was not
about Lebanon. It was about Iraq and the Popular Mobilization Forces, Gaza and
the West Bank, Jerusalem, the United States, and the so-called struggle against
global arrogance. Lebanon was largely absent. This is the fundamental problem.
Hezbollah does not view Lebanon as the final homeland of its citizens but as one
battlefield among many within Iran’s regional project. Consequently, national
sovereignty occupies no meaningful place within its ideological framework.
In the worldview of Wilayat al-Faqih, nation-states are not the ultimate
reference point. The constitution, state institutions, and national interests
are subordinate to a transnational ideological mission. Lebanon thus becomes
merely a jihadist arena within a wider network stretching from Tehran to
Baghdad, Damascus, Sana’a, and Gaza. This explains why Hezbollah does not treat
Lebanon as a sovereign state with independent interests, but rather as one front
in a broader regional struggle. Today the arena may be Lebanon; tomorrow it may
be Iraq, Yemen, or any other location that serves the objectives of the project.
Third: The Six Pillars of Nasrallah’s Legacy
A Declaration of Separation from Lebanon
The true significance of Qassem’s speech lies not in his discussion of current
events, but in his summary of what he described as Hassan Nasrallah’s “legacy”
through six foundational themes.
These six themes effectively constitute an ideological charter proving that
Hezbollah’s ultimate reference point is not the Lebanese state.
1. “Authentic Muhammadan Islam”
Qassem spoke not about Lebanon, the constitution, citizenship, or statehood, but
about a religious-ideological project that presents itself as a comprehensive
authority over political, social, and cultural life.
2. Education Through Jihad and the Karbala Paradigm
Here the intention becomes unmistakable: transforming society into one of
permanent mobilization and perpetual martyrdom. Instead of building a state
based on knowledge, economic development, and prosperity, Hezbollah promotes a
culture of endless warfare and continuous sacrifice, tying Lebanon’s future to
the narratives of Karbala and Ashura.
3. Wilayat al-Faqih
This is the heart of the matter.
Qassem openly declared that authority extends from God to the Prophet, to the
Imams, and ultimately to the Supreme Jurist — the Iranian Supreme Leader. In
other words, Hezbollah’s highest authority is neither the Lebanese Constitution
nor the Lebanese State, but the Supreme Leader in Tehran. This is a direct
admission that Hezbollah’s ideological, political, and military decision-making
is linked to an authority outside Lebanon’s borders, rendering talk of
sovereignty and independence meaningless.
4. The Connection to the Mahdi
Hezbollah ties its political and military project to messianic expectations and
eschatological beliefs that transcend the logic of the modern state. The future
of an entire nation is thus linked not to constitutional institutions or
democratic choices but to a theological vision centered on the awaited Mahdi.
5. Islamic Unity
Although Qassem spoke of Islamic and national unity, experience has demonstrated
that such unity is conditional upon acceptance of Hezbollah’s project and
ideology. Those who oppose it are frequently branded as traitors, agents, or
enemies of the resistance.
6. Defense and Resistance
Even when discussing resistance, Qassem directly linked it to Ayatollah
Khomeini, Ayatollah Khamenei, and Qassem Soleimani. At no point did he identify
the Lebanese state as the source of legitimacy for this resistance. Instead, the
state appears secondary to, or dependent upon, Hezbollah’s armed project.
Fourth: Why Dialogue with Hezbollah Is a Political Illusion
After all of this, Qassem concludes by claiming that Hezbollah is prepared to
cooperate domestically within constitutional frameworks. But which constitution
is he referring to? How can one reconcile declared allegiance to Wilayat al-Faqih
with loyalty to a sovereign national state? How can meaningful national dialogue
take place with an organization whose ultimate authority lies outside Lebanon?
Dialogue presupposes common ground, shared national principles, and a collective
belief in the legitimacy of the state, its constitution, and its sovereignty.
The problem is that the project outlined by Qassem is built upon entirely
different foundations. It is a transnational ideological project that views
Lebanon as an arena rather than a homeland, weapons as a creed rather than a
defensive necessity, and external allegiance as a religious duty rather than a
political choice. For this reason, the repeated calls for “dialogue” and a
“defense strategy” have become little more than recycled slogans that have
produced no results over decades. The issue is neither technical nor
administrative; it is a clash between two fundamentally incompatible visions:
the vision of a free, sovereign, and independent Lebanese state, and the vision
of Lebanon as an Iranian-controlled arena governed by the doctrine of Wilayat
al-Faqih.
Conclusion
Naim Qassem’s speech was not a Lebanese national address. It was a renewed
declaration of the ideological identity of Hezbollah’s project — a project that
does not genuinely recognize Lebanon’s borders as final, the state as the sole
legitimate authority, or citizenship as the unifying identity of the people. The
“steadfastness” celebrated by Hezbollah is, in reality, the continued sacrifice
of Lebanese lives — particularly those of the Shiite community — in service of a
project that has little to do with Lebanon’s interests. States are not built on
the concept of battlefields and arenas. They are not built through perpetual
wars or loyalties that transcend national borders. History consistently
demonstrates that armed ideological organizations that place themselves above
the state and answer to external authorities do not build nations; they
undermine them.
Therefore, addressing the Hezbollah problem cannot be achieved by granting new
legitimacy to its weapons or by endlessly recycling failed dialogue initiatives.
It can only begin with a return to the Constitution, the rule of law, and the
exclusive right of the Lebanese state to bear arms and defend the nation, as the
sole legitimate authority entrusted with protecting Lebanon and its citizens.
The author, Elias Bejjani, is a Lebanese expatriate activist
Author’s Email: Phoenicia@hotmail.com
Author’s Website:
https://eliasbejjaninews.com
We Will Not Be Bitten Twice
Abu Arz/October 10/2026 (Translated by AI from Arabic)
Those in power are strongly demanding an alternative force to UNIFIL under the
UN banner...
Words of truth intended for falsehood, i.e., they are trying to repeat the
previous UNIFIL experience that allowed "Hezbollah" to build its tunnels and
military arsenal under its watch, not to say under its supervision! While what
is required is a striking international force to support the army in the matter
of disarming illegal weapons, destroying the party's infrastructure, both
underground and above ground, and the state taking control of all Lebanese
territory...
The bottom line: No, gentlemen, for a believer is not bitten from the same hole
twice... so how about us, when we have been bitten from the same hole again and
again, thanks to our brave rulers?
Labbayk Lebanon
Video Interview with Elisa Al-Hashem, Writer and Former
Adviser at the U.S. Department of State’s Regional Media Hub
A Realistic, Visionary, and Informative Analysis of the Most Important Lebanese,
Arab, and Iranian Issues Beyond Illusions, Populist Narratives, and Outdated
Concepts That Have Long Outlived Their Relevance
Interview conducted by Youssef Abdelnabi for Al-Kalima Online / October 10, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/10/158194/
Interview Topics and Headlines
How has U.S. foreign policy changed between Biden and Trump?
Does Israel dictate U.S. policy? What is the real nature of the relationship
between Trump and Netanyahu?
Are Washington and Tehran heading toward a new confrontation or an agreement?
Why did Trump announce that he would not launch a strike against Iran?
Is the Iranian regime facing the threat of collapse from within?
Yemen and the Houthis: Why has the Bab al-Mandab Strait not been closed so far?
What does Washington want from the Lebanese state in terms of security and the
economy?
Israel was present during the excavation of Hezbollah’s tunnels beginning in
2006.
Will any future U.S.-Iranian agreement include the Lebanese file?
What is required of Hezbollah, and what is the American message to the Shiite
community?
What do the latest U.S. diplomatic moves in Lebanon reveal?
Are we heading toward another decisive round of confrontation in the region?
Israel says targeted pro-Iran operative in Lebanon town
near Syria border
Agence France Presse/10 October ,2026
Lebanon said an Israeli attack wounded six people as Israel said it targeted a
"Syrian terrorist" who planned anti-Israel attacks under Iranian instructions.
"The Israeli attack near the town of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali in the Hermel district
led to six wounded, including five Syrian nationals, two of them women, and one
Lebanese," Lebanon's health ministry said. Lebanon's state-run National News
Agency (NNA) reported that "an enemy military drone targeted a car" in the town,
located close to the Syrian border, an area largely been spared such attacks
since an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire was agreed in June. Israel's military said
that it "struck a Syrian terrorist," identified as Youssef Ali al-Hassoun, who
it said "operated under the direction of the Iranian regime and advanced
terrorist attacks targeting Israeli civilians and IDF (Israeli army) soldiers
operating in southern Syria." It did not say whether the suspect was operating
as part of a particular militant group. Hassoun allegedly "planned and advanced
attacks" against soldiers "that were thwarted, including the launching of
explosive drones and rockets toward IDF (Israeli) soldiers in southern
Syria."The Israeli military "will continue to operate to eliminate immediate
threats on all fronts," it said. Since the December 2024 ouster of longtime
Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in
Syria and sent troops into a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone that had separated
Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan since 1974.
It has also carried out repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory,
sometimes seizing residents, and has vowed to keep troops in a so-called
"security zone" in southern Syria, where it seeks a broader demilitarised area.
On Monday, the Israeli military said it had killed an assailant at an army
outpost in the area it occupies in southern Syria. Syria's former ruler Assad
was an ally of Iran and Tehran-backed Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the
Middle East war this year by attacking Israel.
Vatican decision that includes Lebanon... Pope Leo to
cover school and university tuition for needy families
Nidaa Al-Watan/October 11, 2026 (Translated by AI from
Arabic)
The Vatican announced today, Saturday, that Pope Leo XIV has decided to allocate
funds to provide scholarships for the children of the neediest Christian
families in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, with the aim of supporting the education
of children and youth and assisting families affected by conflicts and
instability in these countries. The Dicastery for the Eastern Churches
explained, in a statement, that the Pope announced the initiative during a
reception for members of the Synod of Bishops of the Melkite Greek Catholic
Church of Antioch, noting that the scholarships will be provided through the
Dicastery, and will cover the annual costs of school and university tuition for
the children of the beneficiary families.
The statement added that the initiative reflects the Pope's paternal care for
children, adolescents, youth and their families, and embodies his personal
closeness and the closeness of the entire Catholic Church to the faithful who
have long suffered the consequences of conflicts, crises and instability in
their countries.
Reports: Iranian plot to target Aoun and Salam with Dahr
al-Baidar explosives
Nidaa Al-Watan//October11, 2026 (Translated by AI from
Arabic)
The seizure of a car loaded with large quantities of explosives at an Internal
Security Forces checkpoint in Dahr al-Baidar has raised questions about a
possible link between the shipment and European intelligence warnings of a
potential Iranian plot targeting pillars of the Lebanese authority, foremost
among them President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, according to
the NewsAList website.
This development comes 48 hours after the website revealed, quoting a diplomatic
source, that European intelligence agencies had conveyed to Lebanese officials
information about a possible plot led by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to
target prominent figures in the Lebanese state.
With information circulating about the arrest of two individuals suspected of
belonging to Hezbollah, and the seizure of the car while it was heading from the
Bekaa to Beirut, NewsAList contacted the same diplomatic source again, who
simply said: "I told you that the warnings we received are serious."According to
circulating information, the seized car is a grey Dodge Caravan, and was
traveling on the Bekaa – Beirut road. Reports spoke of the arrest of two
persons, one from Baalbek and the other from the central Bekaa, while sources
gave the names Ali al-Kurdi and Haitham Amhaz. Regarding the size and nature of
the shipment, reports stated that the car was carrying about 500 kilograms of
explosives, including TNT and C4, while an initial security account indicated
that the weight of the shipment is about 800 kilograms, including 250 kilograms
of TNT and a larger quantity of C4. Until now, no official announced information
has been issued to resolve the discrepancy regarding the actual weight of the
explosives, or to reveal its final destination and the purpose of transporting
it.
Is there a link to the intelligence warnings?
According to NewsAList, the timing between the seizure of the explosives and the
European intelligence warnings previously revealed by the site raises questions
about the possibility of a link between the two cases, especially since those
warnings spoke of a potential plot targeting the President of the Republic, the
Prime Minister, and other figures in the Lebanese state. However, the
coincidence between the two developments does not constitute evidence of a
direct link between the seized shipment and the European warnings, nor does it
prove that the explosives were prepared to carry out an assassination. The
official investigations remain the authorized party to determine the source of
the explosives and the party responsible for transporting them and their
intended destination, as well as to reveal whether the case is linked to a
smuggling operation or to a security plot targeting Lebanese figures or
institutions.
While awaiting the results of the investigations, the seizure of the shipment
highlights the sensitivity of the security situation, amid anticipation of what
the competent authorities will reveal about the truth of the explosives that
were being transported toward Beirut, and the extent of the case's connection,
if any, to the circulating intelligence warnings.
Suspected Hezbollah members caught transporting 500 kg of
explosives in car
Naharnet/October 10, 2026
The Military Police is interrogating two individuals who were arrested last
Sunday at the Internal Security Forces checkpoint in Dahr al-Baydar after a
quantity of explosives was found inside their car, An-Nahar newspaper has
reported. Security sources told the daily that the
detainees are members of Hezbollah and that the amount of explosives they were
transporting reached approximately half a ton.
According to the same report, there are suspicions that the detainees may have
intended to use the explosives in an assassination operation, given the large
quantity being transported across a vital route like Dahr al-Baydar.
An-Nahar said that one of the detainees hails from Baalbek, while the other
hails from a town in Central Bekaa. Sources meanwhile told MTV that the
detainees' car contained hundreds of kilograms of highly explosive C4 material.
"The Military Police is handling the investigation with the two Hezbollah
members to verify if others are involved in the explosives shipment," the
sources added. Al-Jadeed television meanwhile quoted security sources as saying
that the car was stopped on Monday and that more than 250 kilograms of TNT and
several other kilograms of materials used in detonation operations were found in
it. The sources stated that according to the security agencies' investigations,
the detainees are H.A., born in 1981, and A.K., born in 2001, who were aboard a
gray Dodge car driven by the first, and there are suspicions regarding their
affiliation with Hezbollah. The detainees have not yet disclosed the intended
destination to which these materials were being transported, knowing that the
car was heading from the Bekaa toward Beirut.
Inside Lebanon’s human smuggling routes along the Syrian
border
LBCI/10 October ,2026
On the road toward the northern Lebanese-Syrian border, groups of young Syrian
men can be seen walking separately after passing the Lebanese army checkpoint in
Deir Ammar, before quickly leaving the area.Shop owners in the area say human
smuggling operations take place along this road every day. How do these
individuals bypass the army checkpoint? Coming from
Aabdeh, before reaching the Deir Ammar checkpoint, those attempting to pass take
a side road leading to higher ground. They then descend through wooded areas to
rejoin the main road, bypassing the checkpoint. Food scraps, water bottles and
shoes lie among the trees, suggesting that people have crossed the difficult
terrain. At the end of the route stands a metal barrier installed by the
Lebanese army just days ago. But this is not the only option. Some people
entering Lebanon illegally are transported to the entrance of Terbol in northern
Lebanon, away from military checkpoints, as was the case with a man just a few
months ago. From Terbol, the journey is far from over. Smuggling routes branch
out in several directions and can take hours to traverse. LBCI tested one such
route from Terbol toward Danniyeh, passing through the rugged heights of
Batroun. From there, the route continues to the heights of Byblos, along rough
mountain roads whose numerous access points are difficult to cover with security
checkpoints. Smuggling journeys begin at unofficial crossings from Syria into
Lebanon, which operate day and night. Various modes of transportation are used,
including public and private vehicles, while motorcycles facilitate travel
across rough terrain. LBCI obtained the names of some of the main crossings,
several of which are located in Wadi Khaled, while others are in the area around
Aabboudiye. Some crossings are known by the names of the areas where they are
located, while others bear the names of individuals who control them. These are
interconnected border areas with known gaps. But closing them requires more than
securing and monitoring the border. It also means addressing the consequences of
illegal entry, including the security and social challenges it poses, and
preventing these crossings from becoming an additional source of problems for
Lebanon.
At Hodeidah Airport... An airstrike ends the life of a
Hezbollah leader!
Al-Kalima Online/October 10/2026 (Translated by
AI from Arabic)
Information reported today, Saturday, that the Lebanese "Hajj Khalil," a
Hezbollah leader and the official in charge of the air defense unit at Hodeidah
Airport in Yemen, along with a number of members of his unit, was killed in the
airstrike that targeted the airport today.
Dangerous information revealed.. Was Hezbollah planning an assassination
operation?
Al-Kalima Online/October 10/2026 (Translated by AI from
Arabic)
A serious event dominated the domestic scene, represented by a Lebanese security
source revealing to "An-Nahar" the seizure of 800 kilograms of explosives in a
car at an Internal Security Forces checkpoint in Dahr al-Baidar, indicating that
the Internal Security Forces seized the explosives with two members belonging to
"Hezbollah," namely "A-Sh-K" and "H-A-A". The source explained that the seized
explosives consist of 250 kg of TNT and more than that of C4, noting that the
Internal Security Forces handed over the detainees from "Hezbollah" to the
Army's Military Police, which began investigating them.
Some media outlets suggested that a planned assassination was behind this
incident. For its part, a security source confirmed to "Al-Modon" that members
of the Internal Security Forces stopped a car a few days ago in the Dahr
al-Baidar area, on the Bekaa road, and upon searching it, it was found to
contain about half a ton of explosives of the type "C4" and "TNT". In the
investigations, it became clear that the two young men in the car are members of
Hezbollah. The source confirmed that the two members are (A.K.) and (H.A.), and
they were handed over to the Military Police to complete investigations with
them, to find out the destination of these explosives and the purpose of
transporting and using them, especially since the seized quantity is considered
extremely large. The sources of "Al-Modon" also indicate that the investigations
will focus on how these explosives entered Lebanese territory, especially after
the Lebanese Army stopped more than one shipment of TNT material in recent days
that some smugglers were trying to bring into Lebanese territory on the northern
and northeastern borders with Syria. "Al-Modon" also learned that the
investigations are being conducted under the supervision of the military
judiciary, and that the Government Commissioner at the Military Court, Judge
Claude Ghanem, will take the necessary legal action in terms of indicting the
detainees and anyone shown by the investigation to be involved as soon as the
review of the investigations is completed.
New details about Hezbollah's explosives.. How was the
shipment transported and how was the disaster averted?
Janoubia/October 10/2026 (Translated by AI from Arabic)
The seizure of 780 kilograms of explosives at the Dahr al-Baidar checkpoint
opens the door to questions about the shipment's path and the party that was to
receive it, amid new details about its transport from the outskirts of Baalbek
towards the southern suburb of Beirut, while investigations continue to uncover
the circumstances of the case.According to what was reported by the Lebanese
channel "MTV", the shipment included 216 kilograms of "C4" and 281 kilograms of
"Tetryl", in addition to other materials, including nails and small containers.
The channel quoted from the investigations that the detainees, whom it referred
to by their initials, stated that a Honda car transported the explosives to a
location in the outskirts of Baalbek. "MTV" added that a person known as "Sajed"
asked them to transport the shipment in a cart to the southern suburb of Beirut,
to deliver it to a person called "Dhu al-Fiqar". These details remain within the
framework of what the channel reported about the investigations, while
procedures continue to uncover the circumstances of the case and determine
responsibilities.
The explosives car at the time of European warnings: A
possible Iranian plot to assassinate Aoun and Salam?
Al-Markazia/October 10/2026 (Translated by AI from
Arabic)
48 hours after a diplomatic source revealed to "Newsalist" that European
intelligence agencies had conveyed to Lebanese officials information about a
possible Iranian plot, led by the "Revolutionary Guards," to target pillars of
the Lebanese authority, especially President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister
Nawaf Salam, a highly dangerous security development emerged with the seizure of
a car loaded with explosives at an Internal Security Forces checkpoint in Dahr
al-Baidar. As soon as news of the arrest of two people suspected of belonging to
"Hezbollah" and the seizure of the car spread, "Newsalist" contacted the same
diplomatic source, who merely said: "I told you that the warnings we received
are serious."In detail, it was reported that the seized car was a gray "Dodge
Caravan" type, and was heading from the Bekaa to Beirut. Reports spoke of the
arrest of two people, one from Baalbek and the other from central Bekaa, while
sources gave the names Ali al-Kurdi and Haitham Amhaz.
As for the nature of the seized items and their quantity, reports spoke of about
500 kilograms of explosives, distributed between "TNT" and "C4", while an
initial security account indicated about 800 kilograms, including 250 kilograms
of "TNT" and a larger quantity of "C4". This discrepancy could not be resolved
through officially announced information.In light of these facts, several
parties suggested the possibility that the explosives were linked to an
assassination plot. The results of the official investigation remain the
decisive factor in determining the nature of the case, the possible
responsibilities, and whether the country is facing an explosives smuggling
operation or a security plot that goes beyond that to targeting Lebanese figures
or institutions.
Nassar: The investigation related to the seized explosives
will be completed to the end
Al-Markazia/October 10/2026 (Translated by AI from
Arabic)
Minister of Justice Adel Nassar stressed that disarming illegal weapons,
combating terrorism, and pursuing all outlaws is an irreversible path, and will
accelerate. He affirmed that the investigation relate
Aoun hails Trump move to officially lift ban on direct
US flights
Naharnet/10 October ,2026
U.S. President Donald Trump has officially revoked a decades-old U.S. aviation
ban on Lebanon, paving the way for direct flights between the two
countries.President Joseph Aoun welcomed the move in a statement, considering
that "this decision is an indicator of confidence in the measures taken by the
Lebanese state to ensure civil aviation safety, protect air traffic to and from
Beirut, and enhance the security of flights connecting Lebanon to countries
around the world." Aoun thanked Trump and said he had shown responsiveness
toward the request during their meeting at the White House last July. Aoun also
thanked U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his close follow-up on this
file. He emphasized that Lebanon attaches "utmost importance" to civil aviation
safety, the security of Beirut International Airport, and air navigation, and
that Lebanon "continues to take the necessary measures in accordance with
approved international standards to safeguard passenger safety and strengthen
confidence in Lebanon and its institutions." Aoun also hoped that it will
contribute to boosting air traffic, facilitating communication between Lebanon
and the world, and serving as an entry point for further cooperation between
Lebanon and the United States across various fields.
Aoun welcomes Trump’s decision to lift restrictions on
air travel with Lebanon
LBCI/10 October ,2026
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision
to rescind presidential directives imposing restrictions on air travel to and
from Lebanon, describing the move as a sign of confidence in the Lebanese
state’s measures to ensure civil aviation safety and protect air traffic to and
from Beirut. Aoun said the decision would help strengthen the security of
flights connecting Lebanon with countries around the world. He thanked Trump for
the decision and the implementing measures expected to follow, recalling that
Trump had responded to his request to lift restrictions on air travel between
Lebanon and the United States during their meeting at the White House in July.
At the time, Trump instructed U.S. officials to work toward restoring air
traffic between the two countries and promptly issued a statement to U.S.
airlines calling for the resumption of flights to Beirut. Aoun also thanked U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his close follow-up on the matter, as well as
everyone who contributed to securing the decision. The Lebanese president
stressed that Lebanon places the utmost importance on civil aviation safety,
security at Beirut’s airport and air navigation, adding that the country
continues to implement the necessary measures in line with internationally
recognized standards to protect passengers and strengthen confidence in Lebanon
and its institutions. Aoun expressed hope that the move would boost air traffic,
facilitate travel and communication between Lebanon and the rest of the world,
and pave the way for further cooperation between Lebanon and the United States
across various fields.
Airstrikes, artillery shelling, and huge explosions shake the South.. and Khiam
"burns"
Al-Markazia/October 10/2026 (Translated by AI from
Arabic)
In the latest field developments, the area located between the towns of
Mayfadoun and Zoutar al-Sharqiya was subjected this evening to violent and
concentrated artillery shelling. The Israeli army
dropped flares over the Marjayoun plain towards Metula (airport area) and
conducted combing with machine guns. The Israeli army carried out a huge
detonation operation in the town of Haddatha in the Bint Jbeil district,
resulting in tremors and loud sounds in the surrounding villages. Israeli
artillery shelled the outskirts of the town of Aita al-Jabal this evening with a
number of heavy shells. The Israeli army carried out two consecutive detonations
in the town of Khiam. It also targeted the outskirts of the town of Baraachit in
the Bint Jbeil district with artillery shelling. Huge explosions carried out by
the Israeli army in southern Lebanon this evening were reported, with their
echoes reaching the city of Sidon and its east.
Earlier, Israeli forces set fire to the Mabarrat school in the town of Khiam in
the Marjayoun district. They also carried out combing with machine guns towards
the Ain Arab area. In addition, the Israeli army set
fires in several areas of the town of Khiam, where fires broke out in separate
locations, affecting many olive trees. The fires were recorded in the Dardara
area, the Tell area, and at the entrance to Khiam from the Hammam side, in
addition to other areas, where columns of smoke are rising heavily. Israeli
warplanes launched a raid targeting the town of Kfartibnit. And raided the town
of Talloussa in the Marjayoun district. The towns of Mansouri and Wadi Zibqin
were subjected to intermittent artillery shelling, with 155 mm caliber.
An Israeli drone carried out a raid with a guided missile on the Jarmaq
area, coinciding with artillery shelling on the stream of Zoutar al-Gharbiya and
the area between the towns of Zoutar al-Sharqiya and Deir Siryan. The Jarmaq
area was also targeted by artillery shelling. Israeli forces uprooted trees in
the Khazzan area in the town of Zoutar al-Gharbiya near a Lebanese Army post.
Earlier, an Israeli drone had carried out a raid with two guided missiles on the
Harik neighborhood between the towns of Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfartibnit in the
Nabatieh district. The vicinity of the towns of Haddatha and Baraachit was
subjected to artillery shelling this morning, and the shelling also affected the
valleys of Salouqi and Hujeir. Since dawn today,
sounds of violent explosions have been heard in the south, with their echoes
reaching the city of Sidon and its east. In addition, drones are flying at low
altitude over Bnaafoul, Maghdouche, Zita, Anqoun, Ghazieh and vicinity. An
Israeli drone is also flying over Baalbek and neighboring towns at low altitude.
Tampa negotiations on the verge of postponement: American ambiguity and
electoral calculations freeze the file of southern Lebanon
Janoubia/October 10/2026 (Translated by AI from Arabic)
The military and political situation in southern Lebanon is heading towards
being framed within a state of the existing status quo and complex waiting, amid
growing doubts and foggy diplomacy about the holding of the anticipated round of
military negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, which was supposed to be
hosted by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) in the city of Tampa, Florida,
between October 20-22. Despite Lebanese military and
logistical preparations, complete ambiguity dominates the official American
position, as Lebanon has not yet received any invitation or firm confirmation of
the meeting date, amid widespread speculation linking this track to the upcoming
electoral entitlements in both Israel and the United States.
Diplomatic sources told "Al-Joumhouria" that the most dangerous thing
facing the Lebanese arena today is the state of ambiguity and doubt surrounding
the Tampa session, noting that Tel Aviv is threatening to postpone this round to
get past its internal electoral entitlements, under the pretext of its desire to
continue what it calls "dismantling Hezbollah's infrastructure."
In the same context, the newspaper "Asharq Al-Awsat" quoted a political
source directly concerned with the negotiations, that the American Ambassador in
Beirut, Michel Issa, did not bring anything new regarding fixing the date.
Lebanese sources confirmed that Beirut has no interest in postponing
negotiations to after the Israeli Knesset elections (scheduled for October 27)
and the US midterm elections (on November 3), noting that no official
notification was received either through the American Ambassador in Beirut or
through Lebanon's Ambassador in Washington, Nada Hamadeh Mouaawad.
For its part, the newspaper "Al-Liwaa" revealed that Washington sent
indirect messages to the concerned parties stating that "maintaining the current
reality is the best solution to prevent the expansion of war," pointing to
Israeli approval to brake the field advance towards the hills in exchange for
the party not moving. Despite the ambiguity, the US
Central Command continues to prepare the three main files supposed to be
discussed at the negotiating table as the only applicable track, and they
include:
A new verification mechanism: Setting an operational schedule that obligates
both parties to simultaneous implementation of the "framework formula" and the
confinement of weapons.
Withdrawals and field expansion: Completing Israeli withdrawals from new
"experimental areas" and dismantling weapons south of the Litani.
Army deployment: Linking the extension of the Lebanese Army's authority to the
comprehensive Israeli withdrawal and addressing the file of prisoners.
According to data in "Al-Liwaa" newspaper, Lebanon has prepared a military
negotiating delegation comprising senior officers concerned with the file of the
South and international law, and they are:
Brigadier General Rizkallah: Director of Operations in the Lebanese Army.
Brigadier General Ziad Rizkallah: From the Directorate of International and
Humanitarian Law.
Brigadier General Engineer Wael Abbas: From the Intelligence Directorate in the
Army Staff for Operations.
Colonel Rashad Bou Karroum: From the operations of the South Litani sector.
Colonel Wadih Raffoul: From the Intelligence Directorate (Strategic Security
Branch).
Colonel Mazen Al-Hajj: From the Directorate of Operations.
The American condition for reconstruction
On the sidelines of the initiatives, US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott
explained that Washington is holding talks with Gulf and European partners to
discuss the possibility of providing billions of dollars for the reconstruction
of southern Lebanon. However, Pigott stressed that this financial and
developmental support is primarily conditioned on disarming "Hezbollah" and
consolidating permanent stability. Diplomatic and field estimates agree that the
situation in southern Lebanon is governed by anticipation and the stagnation of
the current "status quo." While Beirut tries to fix dates to prevent Netanyahu's
electoral calculations from controlling the field track, the holding of the
Florida negotiations remains dependent on the decision of the American sponsor
and the extent of its ability to obligate Tel Aviv to sit early at the
negotiating table.
Kallas proposes disarming the party.. and the two Khalils in a meeting to assess
the stage
Al-Modon/October 10/2026 (Translated by AI from
Arabic)
To the rhythm of continuous Israeli aggression, and military negotiations whose
resumption date is shrouded in mystery, Lebanon enters a phase in which the gap
widens between diplomatic tracks and field realities. Israel continues to
consolidate its occupation and impose its security equations in the South, while
Washington links reconstruction to disarming "Hezbollah," and European efforts
advance to form a security and training mission whose nature of tasks raises
political questions. Domestically, deadlock continues awaiting regional and
international entitlements, amid divergences in the approach to negotiation with
Israel, and the party approaching the disbursement of aid to the displaced. In a
striking paradox, the US administration opened a positive window in its
relations with Beirut, by lifting legal restrictions on direct flights, at a
time when the political and security settlement remains out of reach.
Suspended negotiations
The fate of the anticipated round of military negotiations between Lebanon and
Israel in Florida has not yet been decided, while the US Ambassador to Lebanon,
Michel Issa, did not bring anything new regarding its date. In this context,
official sources told "Al-Modon" that Lebanon has not been notified of the
cancellation of the round, but on the other hand has not received final
confirmation of its date. While political sources concerned told "Al-Modon" that
the session is supposed to remain standing on October 20, based on the fact that
the Lebanese Army, which was notified of the need to prepare for it, did not
receive any notice of its cancellation, and still treats it as if it will be
held on time. According to the sources, the session, if held, will be technical
in the first degree, and dedicated to discussing the experimental areas and
reviewing developments witnessed in the southern arena since the last
negotiation round, without expectations of achieving a fundamental breakthrough
in the files of stopping aggression and scheduling the Israeli withdrawal. This
ambiguity comes amid regional and international anticipation linked to
developments in the situation in Yemen, the Israeli legislative elections on Oct
27, and the US midterm elections on Nov 3, which are entitlements that cast
shadows on political calculations and diplomatic action dates. The negotiation
track becomes more complex with Tel Aviv's insistence on linking its withdrawal
to disarming "Hezbollah," in parallel with strengthening its military presence
in the South, consolidating its positions, and opening roads that facilitate the
movement of its tanks and its incursion into Lebanese territory. These are steps
that raise questions about whether the negotiations will lead to an actual
withdrawal, or will give Israel additional time to consolidate the security zone
it is working to impose.
Kallas reveals the tasks of the European mission
In parallel with the American movement, the visit of the High Representative of
the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, to
Lebanon remained a subject of political interest, given what was reported about
her unannounced meetings with influential political and parliamentary parties.
In information for "Al-Modon," Kallas discussed with these parties the nature of
the European mission to be sent to Lebanon next month, and put them in the
details of its advisory and training tasks for the benefit of the Lebanese Army
and security forces. She did not hesitate to say explicitly that among the goals
of the mission is training the army to withdraw "Hezbollah's" weapons, a
proposal that shocked the political party that received her, given the
sensitivity of the file and its internal complexities.
What is striking is that Kallas came to this party requesting political and
security guarantees that allow mission members to work in Lebanon, which
indicates a European effort to secure broader political cover for the mission,
beyond official approvals. These moves precede the
meeting scheduled for EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg next Monday, which is
expected to witness approval for the creation of the mission, whose declared
mission is to provide advice, expertise and training to the army and internal
security forces, to enhance the state's capabilities in controlling borders and
internal security and extending its authority over its territory. The draft
resolution had been included in the preparatory track of the Council of the
European Union on October 8 and 9, after the Lebanese Council of Ministers gave
its initial approval to create the mission based on a letter from Foreign
Minister Youssef Rajji. However, information related to Kallas's meetings opens
a debate about the limits of the anticipated European role, especially the
difference between the declared technical mission and involvement, even through
training and advice, in the weapons file, which constitutes one of the most
prominent titles of Lebanese political division.
Political deadlock and rapprochement between Berri and Salam
At the level of domestic politics, deadlock remained master of the situation,
although a rapprochement between the second and third presidencies is recorded,
and coordination between Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf
Salam on various political and national files. On the other hand, political
circles convey dissatisfaction among the Shiite duo towards President of the
Republic Joseph Aoun, against the backdrop of his insistence on his position on
negotiations, despite the continuation of Israeli attacks and Tel Aviv's refusal
to implement the framework agreement signed with it. In this climate, the
general situation and developments in the South were the focus of extensive
discussion during a meeting that brought together the political aide to the
Secretary-General of "Hezbollah," Hajj Hussein Khalil, and MP Ali Hassan Khalil,
at a time when political and security calculations overlap with financial and
social challenges resulting from the war and its repercussions.
Washington links reconstruction to resolving the weapons file
In parallel with the faltering negotiations, international funding for
reconstruction emerges as one of the tools of political pressure on Lebanon. The
US State Department had announced, yesterday Friday, holding talks with Gulf and
European partners to mobilize billions of dollars for the reconstruction of the
South, stipulating progress in disarming "Hezbollah." This position shows that
Washington deals with reconstruction as part of the security arrangements it
seeks to establish, not as an independent humanitarian entitlement. In this
equation, the Lebanese state faces a double test, represented in restoring the
decision of war and peace on the one hand, and securing the resources necessary
to address the destruction and return the displaced on the other hand.
Imminent payment and secrecy on details
Domestically, the file of the displaced advances to the forefront of political
and financial concerns, with "Hezbollah" approaching the announcement of a
mechanism for disbursing housing aid and repairing damages, according to
information previously published by "Al-Modon." The information indicates that
the party confirms the availability of the necessary amounts to cover housing
allowances, in addition to providing aid to restore partially damaged homes. In
additional data obtained by "Al-Modon," the party will start paying soon,
without announcing the number of beneficiaries or the size of the amounts that
will be disbursed to families, while keeping details related to the distribution
mechanism away from public circulation. The move comes amid continued American
pressure on the party's funding sources, and increasing challenges imposed by
the losses left by the war, making compensations a test of its ability to
fulfill its obligations towards its social environment and maintain its support
network. But providing aid, whatever its value, will not address the dilemma of
the impossibility of returning to villages under occupation or that are still
being attacked. Rebuilding homes remains conditional on providing security and
political conditions that allow life to resume in border areas.
American aerial openness amid political deadlock
In a parallel development, Lebanese-American relations carried a striking
positive step, after US President Donald Trump canceled four presidential
decisions issued between 1985 and 2007, which constituted the legal basis for
restrictions imposed on air transport with Lebanon. The decision represents a
preliminary step towards resuming direct flights between Beirut and the United
States, after an interruption that lasted more than three decades, without
meaning that they will start immediately, as security and operational approvals
and airline schedules remain decisive factors in determining the implementation
date.
President Joseph Aoun welcomed the decision, considering it an indicator of
confidence in Lebanese measures related to civil aviation safety and airport
security. Politically, the step reflects American readiness to expand
cooperation with Lebanese state institutions, within an approach that combines
economic openness and security pressure. But its actual importance will remain
linked to the extent of its reflection on the relationship between the two
countries, and its ability to move from limited sectoral measures to broader
support for Lebanese stability.
In sum, American and European moves intersect at reordering the security
equation in Lebanon, while Israel continues to impose its military facts on the
ground in the South. Between the ambiguity surrounding negotiations, the
conditions linked to reconstruction, and internal political divergences, the
question remains whether these tracks will produce a settlement that restores
the state's sovereignty, or will lead to a long management of the crisis,
keeping Lebanon suspended between external pressures and internal complexities.
Israeli drone targets Al-Harik neighborhood between Nabatieh al-Fawqa and
Kfartibnit and artillery shelling hits valleys of the South
Janoubia/October 10/2026 (Translated by AI from Arabic)
The field area in southern Lebanon continues to flare up in conjunction with
Washington's strict positions on besieging Iranian funding and calling for
disarmament.Raids on Nabatieh district and shelling heard as far as Sidon. On
the ground, an Israeli drone carried out an air raid this morning, Saturday Oct
10, 2026, targeting with two guided missiles the Al-Harik neighborhood located
between the towns of Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfartibnit in the Nabatieh district.
This coincided with intensive artillery escalation that included:
Vicinity of the towns of Haddatha and Baraachit: subjected to
intermittent artillery shelling since early morning hours. Wadi al-Salouqi and
Wadi al-Hujeir: hit by direct artillery shelling.
Echoes of explosions: Since dawn today, sounds of successive violent explosions
have been heard, whose echo is clearly heard reaching the city of Sidon and its
eastern villages.
Washington denies $200 million funding and calls for disarmament
On the political track and financial siege, the US State Department
spokesman in statements to "Al-Jazeera" channel revealed details of the American
position on current developments, pointing to the following points:
Denial of Iranian funding: The spokesman denied that "Hezbollah" recently
received $200 million from Iran, affirming that the US administration has cut a
wide artery of Tehran's funding sources and continues to dry up what remains of
its financial resources to isolate it from its allies in the region. Accusation
of incitement and holding responsible: Washington accused "Hezbollah" of pushing
the Lebanese people again and again into the furnace of conflict with direct
pressure and incitement from Iran, urging the party to take a serious decision
to disarm and disengage from the Iranian regime. Condition for reconstruction
and stopping "lies": The spokesman explained that the United States is working
in cooperation with its regional and international partners to mobilize billions
of dollars to reconstruct Lebanon and support the Lebanese government and draw a
path towards stability through the "framework agreement," calling on the party
to stop spreading lies as a basic condition to prepare conditions and facilitate
the return and assistance of the displaced. Between the continuous roar of
explosions in the Nabatieh district and the valleys of the South, and the strict
financial and political tightening by Washington, the Lebanese arena appears to
be facing an open confrontation between field escalation and the conditions of
an international settlement conditional on disarmament and the extension of
legitimate authority.
Explosion or technical malfunction?.. Fire engulfs a UNIFIL
patrol in the South
Janoubia/October 10/2026 (Translated by AI from Arabic)
A fire broke out in a vehicle belonging to the Spanish battalion operating
within UNIFIL forces, on the Shanouh road near Kfarshouba, as a result of an
electrical short circuit, without any security incident occurring. Immediately,
Lebanese Civil Defense teams from the Rashaya al-Foukhar center headed to the
place, and worked to extinguish the fire, but the fire consumed the vehicle
completely. Earlier, MPs Kassem Hashem, Faisal al-Sayegh, Adnan Traboulsi, Hagop
Terzian, Ibrahim Mneimneh, Firas Hamdan, Melhem Khalaf and Najat Aoun Saliba, in
continuation of the memorandum signed by 86 Lebanese MPs, met with the Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-General Jean Arnaud, and handed him a legal
memorandum addressed to the Secretary-General and members of the Security
Council, including a request to reconsider Resolution 2790 (2025), in light of
developments witnessed in southern Lebanon since its issuance. The delegation
stated that "the importance of the memorandum emerges in its legal approach
based on the UN Charter and rules of international law, and in its confirmation
that the field and legal facts that accompanied the issuance of the resolution
have changed substantially, which requires reconsidering its implementation
mechanism and its repercussions on international security and peace, in a way
that preserves Lebanon's sovereignty and the unity of its territories and
prevents the emergence of any security vacuum. This initiative, which brings
together MPs from different political trends and regions, reflects a
comprehensive national will to adhere to international legitimacy and the role
played by UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon, based on the importance of
continuing the presence of the United Nations in supporting the Lebanese state,
to enable it to extend its authority over all its territories relying
exclusively on its legitimate institutions, foremost the Lebanese Army, and
ensuring stability in the South."And stressed that "this step constitutes a
continuation of the parliamentary move aimed at placing the United Nations and
the Security Council before their responsibilities in light of emerging
variables, and reconsidering the future of UNIFIL and the mechanism for
implementing Resolution 2790, in a way that preserves Lebanon's sovereignty,
protects its stability, and prevents any security vacuum with the end of the
mandate of the international force."
Have Hezbollah’s campaigns against its critics begun to
backfire?
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/October 10/2026
BEIRUT: Hezbollah’s tolerance for dissent appears to be narrowing as criticism
of the group grows in the aftermath of its latest devastating war with Israel —
increasingly from within the very communities that have traditionally formed its
support base. That intolerance recently turned 37-year-old activist Abeer Mroueh
from a southern Lebanese woman who spent a few minutes speaking to Prime
Minister Nawaf Salam during his visit to Nabatieh into the target of an intense
online campaign. Mroueh had appealed to Salam for the restoration of state
authority, an end to the war and the recovery of occupied land through
negotiations. Within days, however, she was subjected to insults, accusations
and personal attacks across social media by Hezbollah supporters. Mroueh,
originally from Ain Qana and a resident of Deir Al-Zahrani, quickly became the
center of a wider political and social debate: Has disagreement among
southerners reached the point where expressing a different opinion is enough for
someone to be accused of no longer belonging to the south? “What happened to me
did not shake me,” Mroueh told Arab News.
“The campaign was difficult, but once it went viral, I decided to confront it,
respond and continue speaking openly.” “My crime was that I called on the
(Lebanese) state, for an Israeli withdrawal and for peace through negotiations,”
she said. “The insults became personal. One woman even prayed that my daughter
would be killed, just as the children of Hezbollah supporters had been killed. I
was accused of treason, and someone I do not know issued a statement in the
family’s name claiming that the family disowned me. “They also attacked my
private life because I am married to a Christian and my daughter was baptized in
a church.”
Mroueh had a brother who died in a road accident in southern Lebanon. He had
joined Hezbollah’s Radwan Force as a teenager at the age of 14 and died four
years later. She accused those attacking her of
displaying “a complete absence of morality in the name of the resistance.”“The
first reason I was targeted is that I am a southern woman who broke the
stereotype Hezbollah has imposed on women — that they should not speak or
express their opinions, and that when their sons die they should not even cry,”
she said. “I am a woman who does not resemble Hezbollah’s image of women.”
Mroueh comes from a well-known southern family with a reputation for education
and intellectual engagement. She was part of the generation that became
politically active during Lebanon’s 2019 uprising and remains involved with the
Lebanese National Alliance.
She said Hezbollah was now trying to bring the campaign against her to an end
because it had damaged the group more than it had helped it. “The people
defending me came from the heart of the south,” she said. “Hezbollah activists
themselves have started asking people on social media to stop talking about me
or using my name simply to gain more engagement. “They were foolish in the way
they handled it. They still have not rid themselves of their sense of
overwhelming power, despite everything that has happened to the people of the
south.” Mroueh said she understood the pain within Hezbollah’s support base
because she was herself part of southern public opinion.
“People want to live,” she said.
“Instead of facing the truth, Hezbollah shifts the problem onto the state. As
long as weapons remain the source of that confidence, nobody is allowed to
object. The state, meanwhile, has taken decisions, but it has not been firm in
implementing them.”
Mroueh’s experience is not unique. Writer and activist
Nabil Mamlouk was assaulted in his home city of Tyre during Hezbollah’s war in
support of Gaza after publicly opposing a conflict that he believed was costing
southerners their lives and property. Mamlouk, 30, told Arab News: “I was in my
father’s pharmacy when men came in, opened fire and beat me severely because
they were angered by my journalism and by the opinions I expressed criticizing
rocket launches from the south. “I wrote the article after the targeting of
former Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah.”
He said those responsible were members of Saraya Al-Muqawama, or the Resistance
Brigades, a Hezbollah-linked auxiliary network. “They include unemployed men and
people with criminal records who are known in the area,” Mamlouk said. “The
incident forced me to leave Tyre and move to Beirut. I did not see my family
during that period, except for one secret visit.”Mamlouk said the physical
assault was followed by a campaign against him. “They found someone from the
family and gave him $50 to issue a statement in the family’s name claiming that
they disowned me,” he said. “They fabricated allegations of harassment and rape
against me. I was innocent of them, and women activists volunteered to defend me
until the accusations were dropped.” Mamlouk said the assault forced him to
reassess his political activity.
“Hezbollah sent threats to my father that I would be killed if I returned to
Tyre,” he said. “But the situation is different now.”
He described growing frustration among residents of the south. “There are
different kinds of dissatisfied people,” he said. “Some whisper their complaints
about Hezbollah and tell my father, ‘Your son was right, but we cannot confront
the party because there are criminals and monsters among them.’ “Others remain
silent and go along with things because they are waiting for compensation to
rebuild their homes or shops. And there are those who continue to support
Hezbollah without question.” Mamlouk said criticism was becoming noticeably
louder among members and supporters of the Amal Movement, many of whom
increasingly objected to Hezbollah’s conduct and its decisions during the war.
“Hezbollah is now spreading reports that compensation will be paid to people,”
he said. “It is an attempt to silence their objections and frustration. People
are genuinely devastated and depressed, and there is fear of another war.”
Samer, a resident of Nabatieh who asked for his surname to be withheld,
described a city gripped by anxiety. “People in Nabatieh are deeply depressed,”
he told Arab News.
“They have covered their windows with plastic instead of replacing the glass
because they fear another war will destroy what is left.”He said he was still
paying $600 a month to rent an alternative home in the Iqlim Al-Kharroub area
because he feared his family could be displaced again without warning. “The
voices speaking against Hezbollah have become louder because people cannot take
any more,” Samer said. “Israeli drones fly over Nabatieh in their dozens
throughout the day, suffocating people psychologically to the point where
residents now watch the weather hoping it will keep the drones away.”
He said the war had consumed people’s savings.
“During the war I paid $3,000 a month for a single room for my family near
Jezzine,” he said.
“Now I do not know whether to repair my home with winter approaching or simply
leave plastic covering the windows.”“People are genuinely living through a
tragedy, and the anger has reached deep into Hezbollah’s own environment,” Samer
added.“Nobody listens to Naim Qassem’s speeches anymore or believes Hezbollah’s
promises. “The exhaustion has reached Hezbollah itself — its people and its
young men — while they watch Israeli soldiers moving around their villages in
the occupied zone on open ATVs, when in the past they would have stayed inside
armored vehicles.”Samer said appeals by Hezbollah’s opponents appeared to have
little immediate effect because they were not preventing Israel from continuing
its occupation. “Hezbollah also appears no longer
capable of changing the equation,” he said. “It is much weaker than it
claims.”Hezbollah’s political rhetoric, meanwhile, continues to deepen its
dispute with the state over how Lebanon should confront Israel, often portraying
the government as acting against the interests of southern residents. Ali
Al-Amin, editor-in-chief of the Janoubia news website, told Arab News that
Hezbollah was now facing a different political reality.
“There is another opinion emerging from inside the very community that was
supposed to constitute Hezbollah’s support base,” he said. “The scale of
objections is growing and taking different forms.”Al-Amin said many residents
felt abandoned.
“Their homes have been destroyed, there has been no compensation and
reconstruction has not begun,” he said. “That anger is now expressing itself.”He
pointed to the example of pro-Hezbollah activist Sahar Ghaddar, whose recent
comments on social media provoked criticism even from within Hezbollah’s own
constituency. Ghaddar had dismissed concerns over the destruction of dozens of
villages, saying that even if 100 villages were destroyed, this was less
important than Hezbollah’s survival. “The people who had remained silent found
in her comments an opportunity to express their anger,” Al-Amin said. “That
reflects the level of tension inside Hezbollah’s own environment.” Al-Amin also
referred to reports, attributed to Hezbollah-linked sources, that the group
recently received $200 million from Iran to distribute as compensation. “Even if
that figure is accurate, between 60,000 and 70,000 homes have been destroyed,”
he said. “That would amount to no more than around $3,000 per household. Is that
enough to satisfy people or silence them?”He said Hezbollah’s support base
contained several different circles. “There is the closed inner circle that does
not express its views, and there is the circle that depends economically on
Hezbollah and therefore provides it with a degree of protection,” he said.
“But even that group is beginning to see Hezbollah’s illusions collapse
one after another: there is no protection for the people of the south, no return
to the occupied land and no compensation that comes close to matching the scale
of the losses.”Hezbollah, Al-Amin said, was trying to contain the growth of
dissent through threats, intimidation and, at times, blackmail.
“But none of that will end the frustration and anger among the people,” he said.
Al-Amin said he had himself been the target of lengthy campaigns by Hezbollah in
the past. Those attacks, he said, had now diminished.
“When I read reactions to my positions on social media today, I see more people
supporting me than attacking me,” he said.
“In Abeer Mroueh’s case, the campaign against her was supposed to destroy her.
Instead, it increased her prominence and the whole thing backfired.” Mamlouk
said Hezbollah had historically succeeded in creating an economic safety net for
some of its supporters.
Someone who once worked for a private electricity-generator owner might be
helped to open an electrical repair shop, he said. An unemployed supporter might
be assisted in opening a roadside coffee kiosk, while another might end up
running a motorcycle dealership.
“But does that mean Hezbollah can satisfy everyone who has now been devastated
by the war?” he asked. “What is needed, in my view, is a genuine opposition
representing all sects and offering an alternative message to the people of the
south, the southern suburbs and the Bekaa.
“It needs to build a new political project, reach the younger generation and
involve them in it.”
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
October 10-11/2026
Trump ‘not happy’ about Houthis
targeting civilians in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia/Al Arabiya English/10 October ,2026
US President Donald Trump Friday voiced unease about Yemen’s Houthis targeting
civilians and civilian infrastructure in neighboring Saudi Arabia. “Not good.
It’s not a good thing. I’m not happy about it,” he said while speaking to
journalists on the South Lawn at the White House.
Trump on Monday praised the military campaign “Dawn of Yemen” launched by Yemeni
government forces against the Iran-backed group, saying that it would go “very
well.”The Houthi militants have in recent weeks stepped up attacks on civilian
targets in the Kingdom. An attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh
on Thursday left three people dead, according to Saudi Arabia’s General
Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). One of the victims
is a captain of national carrier Saudia.In addition, debris from a missile that
was intercepted by Saudi armed forces damaged a kindergarten and a medical
clinic complex in the capital Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has retaliated by striking
over a hundred Houthi targets on Friday in territory controlled by the group in
Yemen. Meanwhile, Yemen’s armed forces announced Friday that they had carried
out over 2750 precision strike operations against the group in 24 hours.
Trump says aware of Riyadh airport attacks, will decide on
joining strikes against Houthis
Al Arabiya English/10 October ,2026
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he would soon decide whether to join
strikes against Houthis after an attack on Riyadh’s international airport. “We
may. We're going to look at it. We just found out about the recent attack, so
we’ll make a decision,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We move very
quickly.” Trump on Friday voiced unease about Yemen’s Houthis targeting
civilians and civilian infrastructure in neighboring Saudi Arabia. “Not good.
It’s not a good thing. I’m not happy about it,” he said while speaking to
journalists on the South Lawn at the White House.
Trump hails Russia deal to release diesel as midterms loom
Agence France Presse/10 October ,2026
U.S President Donald Trump said that he has secured Russia's agreement for a
major release of diesel, as he eased war sanctions on Moscow in a push to lower
energy costs ahead of midterm elections. Moscow has been hit with waves of
sanctions by the United States and partners since its 2022 invasion of
neighboring Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Trump for an
"unworthy" and "weak" move. The deal comes weeks before key U.S. elections where
Trump's Republican Party risks losing its grip on Congress as voters express
frustration over the mounting cost of living. Prices at U.S. gasoline and diesel
pumps have surged since late February, when U.S.-Israel strikes targeting Iran
triggered Tehran's blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for
energy transit. "Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel
to the American and Global Marketplace," Trump said on social media after talks
with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The Kremin said Russia "reaffirmed its
readiness to supply oil and oil products to the American and world markets."
Trump added Moscow would supply 500,000 tons in November, followed by one
million tons, with further larger releases promised. Zelensky told reporters:
"It is certainly not honest, it is certainly unworthy of our partners, and it
is, in my view, a weak decision." The U.S. Treasury issued a temporary license
Friday to enable Russian diesel to flow to global markets through April 2027.
"Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and
Truckers, is my Greatest Priority," Trump posted on social media.
Conflict stalemate
The average cost of regular U.S. gasoline has jumped more than 46 percent since
late February to $4.37 per gallon, while that of diesel rocketed 67 percent over
the same period to $6.28 per gallon. Trump has blamed Ukrainian strikes on
Russian refineries for surging fuel prices, although the U.S.-Israeli war with
Iran has been the principal disruptor of global energy supplies.
News of the deal came as Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators met on Friday in
Miami in a fresh attempt to break the conflict's stalemate. The sides "held
constructive discussions on potential avenues to de-escalate and conclude the
war with Russia ahead of winter," said US envoy Steve Witkoff. The Miami meeting
follows visits to Moscow and Kyiv last month by Witkoff, a longtime Trump
confidant, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, as Washington seeks to
revive negotiations that have yielded little progress. With winter approaching,
the prospect of continued fighting and attacks on vital infrastructure has added
urgency to the search for a settlement against a backdrop of deadly Russian
attacks. On Thursday a Russian strike on buses in the frontline Ukrainian city
of Kramatorsk killed 30 people. Trump's repeated attempts to broker an end to
the war have foundered over Moscow's sweeping territorial demands, particularly
its insistence on controlling all of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, including
areas still held by Kyiv. Zelensky has rejected surrendering Ukrainian-held
territory, warning that Russia could use it as a springboard for another attack.
Russia now occupies roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory. The Miami
discussions covered "security guarantees, as well as longer-term arrangements
for Ukraine's and Europe's security to prevent future conflicts, and support
Ukraine's post-war reconstruction," Witkoff said. Officials from Britain, France
and Germany were at the talks, along with representatives of NATO and the
European Union.
US sanctions on ICC, hours after Nobel award to former
judge
Agence France Presse/10 October ,2026
The United States on Friday announced sanctions on the International Criminal
Court, vowing to cripple the tribunal's operations just hours after the Nobel
Peace Prize went to a former ICC judge who warned of mounting political attacks
on the court. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would ban
transactions with what he called a "rogue court," escalating a long-running
campaign by President Donald Trump's administration against the Hague-based
tribunal. "Either the ICC will end its threats, or we
will end the ICC," Rubio said in a statement. But the
immediate impact of the sanctions was softened by a series of exemptions that
offer a de facto six-month grace period. The State Department said that was
meant to give the court's member states time to show "meaningful progress"
toward addressing U.S. concerns. The grace period
could be adjusted depending on the "success or failure" of those efforts, the
department added. The court rejected the U.S. sanctions as an attack on
international law and warned in a statement that "history will judge this
moment." Countries including Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United
Kingdom said in a joint statement that they "strongly disagree" with the
announcement. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the US decision "a
serious blow to our collective pursuit of international criminal justice, of
which the ICC is a key pillar." The European Union called the sanctions "deeply
regrettable" and said it was "ready to take any necessary measures to enable the
court to carry out its work." The European Commission, the EU's executive arm,
said it hoped the six-month delay meant "there is room for dialogue."Rights
group Amnesty International urged countries to "resist" the move, saying the
sanctions were "designed to isolate and ultimately destroy" the court. Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an ICC arrest warrant over alleged
crimes in Gaza, praised the U.S. action. "The ICC is not a court. It is a
political body that poses a mortal threat to law-abiding democracies worldwide
and to the very idea of national sovereignty," his office posted on X.
'Never allow' -
The move came on the same day the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the peace
prize to South Africa’s Navi Pillay, an 85-year-old jurist who headed the Rwanda
genocide tribunal, served on the ICC and later led a U.N. commission that
accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Rubio's statement did not mention Pillay or the Nobel award. He said the
sanctions were needed to protect security personnel and elected officials from
prosecution by a court the United States has never joined. "President Trump will
never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans," Rubio
said, adding that the measures would cut off the court's resources and cripple
"its ability to operate." The top U.S. diplomat said Washington had for more
than a year spelled out "basic gestures of good faith" it expected from the
court, and had held off on the designation in hopes that the ICC or its member
states would change course. He said no "meaningful steps" had been taken to
address U.S. concerns. Rubio also called on US allies that belong to the court
and "rely on American service members for their defense" to rein it in, warning
that otherwise Washington would keep working to dismantle the ICC "brick by
brick."The Trump administration had already sanctioned 17 people linked to the
court, including its prosecutor and several judges, over the ICC's
investigations involving the United States and Israel, which is also not a
member. Trump last month called on all ICC member states to quit the body,
denouncing it as "out of control" and a "rogue institution."
Kremlin says Putin relayed Iran’s position on resolving conflict to Trump
Reuters/10 October ,2026
The Kremlin said on Saturday that President Vladimir Putin relayed to US
President Donald Trump Iran’s position on a possible resolution to the US-Iran
war, with the backing of the Iranian president, Russia’s Interfax news agency
reported. “In coordination with the president of Iran, Putin conveyed to Trump
the Iranian side’s view on a possible resolution of the conflict,” Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying.
Zelenskyy says Russian strikes on Ukraine are ‘thanks’ for
US diesel deal
Al Arabiya English/10 October ,2026
Ukraine’s capital Kyiv suffered “large-scale power outages” on Saturday because
of Russian strikes, the country's largest private energy provider said. “New
large-scale power outages in the capital due to attacks. Stabilization schedules
are currently not in effect,” DTEK, a private energy firm, said in a statement
on Telegram. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes were Moscow’s
“thanks” for a diesel deal agreed with the United States, deepening his
criticism of the agreement.“Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting
of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential
buildings in Zaporizhzhia,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X. With AFP
Trump says Ukraine needs new president who will agree to
end war
LBCI/10 October ,2026
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Ukraine to replace Volodymyr
Zelensky with a new leader, lashing out at him for strikes on Russian oil
refineries that have contributed to pre-election high diesel prices. Trump told
reporters at the White House that he had told Zelensky to "do what you want"
against Russia, but "don't hit refineries.""He better damn well stop," Trump
said, before adding that he thinks "it's time for Ukraine to get a new
president" who will agree to end the war. AFP
UAE rescues 22 crew members after oil tanker catches fire
in Gulf
Reuters/10 October ,2026
The United Arab Emirates National Guard said on Saturday it had rescued 22 Asian
crew members after a fire broke out aboard an oil tanker in Gulf waters. The
National Guard said its Coast Guard received a distress report from the crew and
dispatched specialist teams, which located the vessel. All of those rescued were
in stable condition, it said. The statement did not identify the tanker.
Operations at Riyadh airport suspended after attack: Saudi
civil aviation authority
LBCI/10 October ,2026
Operations at the Riyadh airport were temporarily suspended after it was
targeted in an attack on Saturday, the Saudi civil aviation authority said,
reporting several people injured in the incident. The Riyadh airport "was
targeted in an attack on Saturday afternoon, October 10, 2026, amid continued
attacks targeting the kingdom's civil aviation facilities," the statement reads.
"The attack left several people injured, with the number still being
assessed."AFP
Western diplomat to AFP: Several embassies advising staff
against using Riyadh airport for a week
LBCI/10 October ,2026
A senior Western diplomat in the Saudi capital told AFP on Saturday that several
embassies were advising their staff against using Riyadh airport for a week
following a spate of attacks. Several Western
embassies "indicated that they had decided to prohibit their staff's travel
to/from Riyadh Airport over the next week as a prudential step," said the
diplomat. AFP
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in London
AFP/10 October ,2026
Several thousand pro-Palestinian protesters marched through central London on
Saturday, calling for an end to Israeli strikes on Gaza, three years after
Hamas’ October 7 attack. Marchers carried placards
reading “End the genocide” and “Free Palestine” as they made their way along the
route near the British parliament. “We are here today to mark three years of the
ongoing genocide in Gaza,” Aimee Shalan, director of the Palestine Solidarity
Campaign, told AFP. She said UK-led Western sanctions over settler violence did
not go far enough, calling for “full sanctions on Israel.” A ceasefire began a
year ago and although Israel has reduced its level of attacks it has kept
striking Gaza on a near-daily basis. Strikes have killed some 1,450 Palestinians
since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Recent graduate Hibo
Hassan, 23, said he wanted to show his solidarity. “Although it is happening in
the Middle East, it affects us here now,” he said. “It’s extremely dystopian and
that is something we should be all scared about,” he added. The “National March
for Palestine” organized by the Palestine Coalition, according to police, came
three days after the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack. The attack
was the deadliest in Israel’s history, resulting in the deaths of 1,221 people,
according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Militants also
dragged 251 hostages into Gaza, 44 of them already dead. In response, Israel
launched a military offensive that has left most of Gaza in ruins and killed
more than 74,200 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry. A small
counterdemonstration was organized by Stop The Hate UK, a Jewish-led, pro-Israel
campaign group. Ahead of the march, London’s Metropolitan police said it would
be using powers under public order legislation to require anyone wearing a face
covering to deliberately hide their identity to remove it. “We will take a
zero-tolerance approach to hate crime and other offending,” said senior Met
officer Carl Galvin.
Abbas postpones legislative elections, sets presidential
poll for September 2027
AFP/10 October ,2026
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday postponed legislative elections
to September next year, official media said, confirming widespread speculation
that the polls would not be held on time. Legislative elections, which the
international community has strongly advocated for, have not been held since
2006.The new polls had originally been scheduled for November 28, with a
presidential election expected in early 2027. But now the elections will be held
alongside the presidential vote on September 11, 2027, Abbas said in a decree,
blaming “obstacles” imposed by Israel, according to the Palestinian official
news agency Wafa.Israel, which will hold its own elections on October 27, had
blasted Abbas’s Palestinian Authority as “corrupt” over the anticipated delay.
Abbas’s office, in a statement published by Wafa, attributed the delay to
“obstacles imposed by Israeli measures that prevent elections from being held on
their previously scheduled date, as well as the need to create appropriate
political, security and on-the-ground conditions to ensure free, fair and
inclusive elections.”This week, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority said
Israel refused to allow Palestinian election officials access to east Jerusalem
or Gaza ahead of the legislative elections. Israeli
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Friday had accused Abbas of “fooling the
international community” by planning to postpone upcoming legislative polls.
Palestinian factions including Abbas’s Fatah party and its longtime
Islamist rival Hamas had agreed to recommend the elections be postponed at a
meeting in Cairo on Wednesday, a source who was present told AFP.
‘Fear of elections’
Esmat Mansour, a journalist and former official for the Democratic Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a leftist party, suggested that Israeli
restrictions had been known at the time the elections were initially scheduled
and were not the only explanation for the delay.
“The only thing that could explain this delay is your fear of elections. You are
afraid of holding elections. You do not want people to have a say,” Mansour said
in a Facebook video addressing other Palestinian factions.But Palestinian
analyst Ghassan al-Khatib disagreed, telling AFP he never expected there to be a
vote because “Israel is making conditions that are not conducive to
elections.”“I don’t think that the internal Palestinian politics are the reason
for the postponement,” the former Palestinian Authority minister said, pointing
to the devastation and ongoing bloodshed in Gaza, as well as Israeli military
operations and settler violence in the West Bank. East
Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967 before annexing it, also hosts a large
Palestinian population that the PA says should vote in elections, but it accuses
Israel of refusing to allow them to organize it. Holding polls is part of the
reforms demanded by the international community for the Palestinian Authority,
including the European Union. The last legislative elections in the Palestinian
territories were held in 2006, when militant movement Hamas won. They defeated
Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority. The ensuing rift set off a
round of factional fighting, with Hamas later seizing power in the Gaza Strip
and creating a territorial divide between Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in
Gaza. As a result, the Palestinian Legislative Council, which is the PA’s
parliament, has not met since 2007.
Abbas won the last Palestinian presidential election in 2005, and his term
should have expired in 2009, but he has since ruled by decree.
Eight killed in shooting at Pennsylvania home: Local media
AFP/10 October ,2026
A man shot and killed eight people, including two children, at a home in the US
state of Pennsylvania before apparently taking his own life, local media
reported. Police in the city of Erie were called Friday around 5:00 pm to
reports of shots fired and discovered two women dead in the street, the Erie
News Now outlet said. The shooter barricaded himself inside the home as police
surrounded the building and ordered him to exit. More gunshots were heard during
the standoff, Erie News Now reported. When police eventually entered the
building they found several more victims around the home, including the two
children. The deceased shooter had an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, the
outlet said, citing police. Erie News Now said that police officers who
responded to the scene were being offered counseling over the horrifying
incident. Contacted by AFP, the Erie Police Department declined to comment or
confirm the details. The mayor was expected to hold a press conference Saturday
afternoon. Mass shootings occur frequently in the
United States, where guns vastly outnumber the population and efforts to
increase firearm restrictions face steep political and legal hurdles.
Nobel peace laureate Pillay calls ICC sanctions
‘unacceptable’
AFP/10 October 2026/
OSLO: The winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, judge and former UN rights
chief Navi Pillay, on Saturday called sanctions announced bythe US on the
International Criminal Court (ICC) “unheard of, unacceptable.” “There is so much
tension and anxiety over the continued existence of international courts, mainly
the International Criminal Court in The Hague,” Pillay said via video link from
Nuremberg during an event at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo.Pillay also lamented
that “there are hundreds of staff who feel they are under threat.”“Most
importantly, sanctions have been announced by one country against the judges,
just for the judicial orders they issue. This is unheard of, unacceptable,” the
85-year-old South African lawyer said. The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday
announced that Pillay, who once sat on the ICC, was this year’s recipient of the
prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.
Both the United States, whose leader Donald Trump has long coveted the award for
himself, and ally Israel condemned her being awarded the honor. Hours after
Pillay was named the laureate, the United States announced new sanctions against
the ICC, provoking swift condemnation from member states and the United Nations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would ban transactions with
what he described as a “rogue court,” escalating a long-running campaign by
Trump’s administration against the Hague-based tribunal.
The court rejected the US sanctions as an attack on international law and
warned in a statement that “history will judge this moment.”In addition to
serving on the ICC, Pillay was the UN human rights high commissioner from 2008
to 2014 and she headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry
(COI), which found last year that genocide was occurring in Gaza. The body does
not speak on behalf of the UN. Israel has rejected the COI’s findings, calling
them “distorted and false.”Israel’s foreign ministry said the award legitimized
“anti-Israel hatred,” adding that it thought that Nazi propagandist Joseph
Goebbels must be “applauding from hell.”Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said the awarding of the prize to Pillay showed the Nobel committee
had “lost its moral compass” by honoring “a bigot.” Trump, who last month called
on ICC member states to quit the court, meanwhile labelled the committee’s
choice as “a disgraceful and embarrassing decision,” telling a rally of his
supporters in Syracuse, New York he had “never heard of” Pillay.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on October 10-11/2026
Facts That the Media and Many
Politicians Will Not Admit
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/October 10, 2026
Trump... rescued the Panama Canal from China, liberated Venezuela, peacefully
secured Greenland to protect the Western Hemisphere, and especially his ongoing
commitment to ensure that the Islamic Republic of Iran will never possess a
nuclear weapon. Think for a minute what it otherwise will be able to do to any
American (or European) city: Boston, Miami, Washington, New York....
For years, Iran's regime has been closing in on having nuclear weapons. Under
then President Barack Obama's 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)
"nuclear deal" and its sunset clauses, Iran's regime could already legitimately
have as many nuclear weapons as it liked – beginning last October.
A nuclear-armed Iran would have faced little pushback in attempting to wipe not
only Israel but also Europe and anyone else off the map. As President Trump put
it, if Iran had a nuclear weapon, it would, "without question," use it.
President Trump, unlike seven other presidents, did not just talk -- he acted.
Through his administration's sustained economic pressure, military operations
and a refusal to accept the regime's usual stalling, Iran's nuclear
infrastructure has been significantly degraded, with the possibility of more on
the way.
If you think gasoline is expensive now, he noted, the other party has been
trying to eliminate fossil fuels, thereby producing a scarcity that raises
prices. – Marc Thiessen, Washington Post columnist, Fox Business Channel,
Kudlow, October 7, 2026.
Those determined to defeat even the most constructive policies of President
Trump -- rather than seeing them as a win for Americans -- appear to see any
victory of his as a defeat for themselves, threatening their chances of being
elected. They have to reframe his achievements as catastrophes to criticize and
oppose. Trump has been neutralizing a potentially nuclear-armed, revolutionary
Iran; trying to strengthen the Israel-Arab alignment; and sidelining Iran's
terrorist proxies. These accomplishments in just two years represent a triumph
in rolling back a nearly half-century threat not only to regional stability but
also -- through oil and geographic realignment -- weakening Russia and China,
reclaiming Western interests, and rescuing the survival of the Free World.
For that, at a minimum, President Trump deserves at least a small, semi-audible
thank you rather than unremitting hostility. So: Thank you, Mr. President.
Ignore the haters. The stakes — American national security, the survival of
Israel and Western civilization, global peace, and the prevention of nuclear
catastrophe in the hands of a messianic regime — are too crucial to be bent into
distractions.
US President Donald Trump has been neutralizing a potentially nuclear-armed,
revolutionary Iran; trying to strengthen the Israel-Arab alignment; and
sidelining Iran's terrorist proxies. These accomplishments in just two years
represent a triumph in rolling back a nearly half-century threat not only to
regional stability but also -- through oil and geographic realignment --
weakening Russia and China, reclaiming Western interests, and rescuing the
survival of the Free World.
Americans, please ignore the media outlets and the politicians scrambling for
votes. Instead, kindly look at a few facts?
President Donald J. Trump has not only been strengthening America; through his
basically unyielding policies in the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific and the
Western Hemisphere, he has been safeguarding Western civilization, the free
world, and ultimately global peace.
First, please consider Trump's having rescued the Panama Canal from China,
liberated Venezuela, peacefully secured Greenland to protect the Western
hemisphere, and especially his ongoing commitment to ensure that the Islamic
Republic of Iran will never possess a nuclear weapon. Think for a minute what it
otherwise will be able to do to any American (or European) city: Boston, Miami,
Washington, New York....
For years, Iran's regime has been closing in on having nuclear weapons. Under
then President Barack Obama's 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)
"nuclear deal" and its sunset clauses, Iran's regime could already legitimately
have as many nuclear weapons as it liked – beginning last October.
Urgent assessments last year appeared that Iran's regime stood less than two
weeks away from completing 11 nuclear bombs. This is the same Iranian regime
that, since its founding in 1979, has openly been chanting "Death to America"
and seeking to "Export the Islamic Revolution," now trying to entrench itself in
the US. This is the same Iran that has been successfully establishing a global
ummah [nation] under its version of Sharia rule, and create conditions in which,
as the Islamic Republic of Iran's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini framed
it:
"We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry 'There is no
god but Allah' resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle."
Iran's regime has already targeted and attacked countries not even parties to
its main conflict. A nuclear-armed Iran would have faced little pushback in
attempting to wipe not only Israel but also Europe and anyone else off the map.
As President Trump put it, if Iran had a nuclear weapon, it would, "without
question," use it. President Trump, unlike seven other presidents, did not just
talk -- he acted. Through his administration's sustained economic pressure,
military operations and a refusal to accept the regime's usual stalling, Iran's
nuclear infrastructure has been significantly degraded, with the possibility of
more on the way. Preventing a revolutionary theocracy that chants "Death to
America" and "Death to Israel" from obtaining nuclear arms is arguably the most
consequential national security achievements of the era. The media that once
treated every Iranian advance as inevitable now looks away and reproaches the
administration for higher consumer prices that were largely put there by his
predecessor. Expecting the opposition party to lower gas prices, according to
Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen, is like expecting the arsonist to put
out the fire he started. If you think gasoline is expensive now, he noted, the
other party has been trying to eliminate fossil fuels, thereby producing a
scarcity that raises prices. [source, Fox Business news, "Kudlow," October 7,
2026]
Second, economic pressure has bitten hard. The Iranian rial has collapsed in
value. On free-market rates, the dollar has traded near 2.6 million to 2.7
million rials—among the most devalued currencies on the planet. Compare that to
the level when Trump returned to office. Inflation since then in Iran has
soared. The regime's response has been: increased internal security measures and
checkpoints, apparently reflecting fear that economic despair might spark more
unrest. Trump's maximum-pressure approach—sanctions, enforcement, and denial of
revenue streams—has starved the regime of the resources it needs to fund its
nuclear and terrorist-proxy ambitions as well as to buy domestic quiet.
Third, Iran's once-touted conventional forces have been decimated. Its air force
has been effectively eliminated. Its naval assets have collapsed—scores of
vessels destroyed or disabled. Air-defense systems have been degraded across
wide areas. What remains functional centers largely on drones and ballistic
missiles. Rebuilding modern air and naval power requires money, time,
technology, and an industrial capacity that a sanctioned, isolated regime does
not possess.
Fourth, no previous American president or world leader engineered the degree of
practical alignment between Israel, America and key Arab states that have so far
continued and expanded under Trump's second term. The Abraham Accords
framework—originally forged in his first term—has shown resilience and renewed
momentum. UAE-Israel ties in particular have deepened, producing security,
economic, and diplomatic cooperation that enrages Tehran. Iranian officials and
clerics have denounced these relationships in the strongest terms, as strategic
threats to the regime's narrative of permanent Arab-Israeli hostility.
Fifth, Trump's support for Israel has contributed to significant degradation of
Hamas and Hezbollah capabilities. Standing with the Israeli people after October
7 and through subsequent campaigns has not been cost-free, but it has
constrained Iran's most important regional proxies. A Middle East in which
Israel and pragmatic Arab states coordinate more closely against Iranian
expansion is a safer region for the United States and its allies. Previous
administrations talked about "rebalancing;" this one has actually altered "facts
on the ground."
Those determined to defeat even the most constructive policies of President
Trump -- rather than seeing them as a win for Americans -- appear to see any
victory of his as a defeat for themselves, threatening their chances of being
elected. They have to reframe his achievements as catastrophes to criticize and
oppose.
In short, Trump has been neutralizing a potentially nuclear-armed, revolutionary
Iran; trying to strengthen the Israel-Arab alignment; and sidelining Iran's
terrorist proxies. These accomplishments in just two years represent a triumph
in rolling back a nearly half-century threat not only to regional stability but
also -- through oil and geographic realignment -- weakening Russia and China,
reclaiming Western interests, and rescuing the survival of the Free World.
For that, at a minimum, President Trump deserves at least a small, semi-audible
thank you rather than unremitting hostility. So: Thank you, Mr. President.
Ignore the haters. The stakes — American national security, the survival of
Israel and Western civilization, global peace, and the prevention of nuclear
catastrophe in the hands of a messianic regime — are too crucial to be bent into
distractions.
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and
board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on
the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
Follow Majid Rafizadeh on X (formerly Twitter)
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22911/facts-media-politicians-will-not-admit
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute.
US G20 diplomacy gears up amid global concerns
Andrew Hammond/Arab News/October 10, 2026
The US’ hosting of this year’s G20 has stepped up a gear, including with last
week’s trade ministers’ meeting. However, this intensification of diplomacy
comes at a time when there is growing concern that the global body may no longer
have the capability to deal with big challenges. In 1999, the US helped create
the G20 in response to a succession of crises, including the 1998 Asian economic
crash. However, almost three decades later, the global group of nations is
increasingly riven with geopolitical splits, with only fragile support from the
Trump team. While multilateralism is much derided, entities such as the G20 have
played key roles in helping defuse major crises like the 2007-09 financial
crash. In London in April 2009, in perhaps the most important G20 summit ever, a
coordinated $1.1 trillion package was agreed to help stimulate demand and
employment after intensive, skillful diplomacy led by then-UK Prime Minister
Gordon Brown. Fast forward to today and US President Donald Trump has rarely
shown a keen interest in multilateralism. He has quite often left key summits
early. Moreover, in 2020, his team hosted a light-touch G7 year of diplomacy,
skipping the final summit during the COVID-19 pandemic and not even holding a
short online session with Western leaders. Last year,
moreover, the Trump administration boycotted the South African-hosted G20. This
was largely over the widely discredited Trump claim that the emerging market’s
white minority population was being subjected to large-scale murders and land
appropriations, which the president described as “genocide.”The disdain of Trump
toward Pretoria continues, with the South African government not invited to this
year’s US-hosted events and Poland given a seat at the table instead. This
diplomatic snub, despite Pretoria continuing to be a full member of the G20, has
led to objections from key European nations, including France, which is the
current G7 chair. While multilateralism is much
derided, entities such as the G20 have played key roles in helping defuse major
crises. In this context, it has long been expected that the US-hosted G20 would
be unconventional. This includes the fact that the leadership summit in Miami in
December will be held at the National Doral Golf Club, which was purchased in
2012 by the Trump Organization.
Yet, beyond accusations of presidential commercial self-interest, concerns are
growing about the Trump team’s wider administration of this year’s G20. Russia
has aired its grievances in public, with Marat Berdyev, ambassador-at-large for
G20 and Asia-Pacific economic cooperation affairs, asserting a major failure by
the Trump team to fulfill its obligations as host state.
Berdyev’s gripes include the rejection of visas and denial of
accreditations, which, it is claimed, prevented Moscow from fully taking part in
financial track meetings organized by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. This
is one reason why the US-hosted G20 finance minister meeting in April concluded
without a joint statement or even the traditional media conference.
Multiple other nations are expressing concerns off-the-record. This includes
worries about what US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called a “new G20”
agenda. This is centered on a slimmer range of topics
than normal and focuses on issues that the Trump administration regularly
espouses, such as energy security, artificial intelligence, and technology
generally, immigration, reducing regulation, and foreign investment.
Correspondingly, there is a US push to make fewer references to issues that the
president finds less palatable, like climate change and the energy transition.
This is reportedly already influencing drafts of December’s joint declaration.
This direction of travel should come as no huge surprise. During last
year’s G20 process, Rubio declared on social media that not only is “South
Africa doing very bad things. Expropriating private property,” he also flagged
his disdain for Pretoria “using (the) G20 to promote solidarity, equality, and
sustainability. In other words: DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and
climate change. My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste
taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.” The Trump
White House’s unusual style of G20 diplomacy is now intensifying the splits
within the bloc that have grown since the pandemic and the outbreak of the
Ukraine war. This is diminishing the effectiveness of the group as a global
actor. Tensions have been high for some time between
China and the West and recent summits have seen significant tensions with Moscow
too. G20 ministers have clashed diplomatically, with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov walking out of some meetings. Amid the
division and uncertainty, what is at stake is more than US international
economic and political leadership in the Trump era. In play too is the very
future of the G20 and other multilateral forums, including the G7, which the US
will host again next year. At a time of growing
geopolitical division, now is the time for Trump and his fellow world leaders to
double down on building multilateral relationships ahead of the next global
emergency. As the COVID-19 pandemic and 2007-09 financial crash showed, global
cooperation and coordination are increasingly key ingredients in defusing, if
not always solving outright, a widening range of global challenges.
*Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.
Question: Would the discovery of Noah’s Ark be important?
GotQuestions.org/October 10, 2026
Answer: There have been numerous claimed discoveries of Noah’s ark in recent
years, such as the Durupinar site in Turkey. The discoveries have been in
various locations at various times, ranging from Mount Ararat in Turkey, to a
mountain range in Iran, to an entirely different location on Mount Ararat (with
a visitors’ center). It is not the purpose of this article to evaluate whether
or not the Noah’s ark discovery claims are legitimate. Rather, the question at
hand is, if Noah’s ark was discovered, would that be significant? Would a Noah’s
ark discovery cause people to turn to God in faith?
The discovery of a boat-like structure in the mountains of the Middle East,
dated to approximately the time of the biblical account of Noah’s ark (2500 BC),
with evidence of animal life once having been aboard, would surely be a
tremendous discovery. For those who believe in God and trust in the Bible as His
inspired Word, it would be powerful confirmation that the Bible is true and that
early human history occurred precisely as the Bible describes it. A verified
Noah’s ark discovery would likely cause many seekers and open-minded skeptics to
at least re-evaluate their beliefs. For the close-minded critic and hardened
atheist, however, the discovery of Noah’s ark would not make one bit of a
difference.
A Noah’s ark discovery, as significant as that would be, would not be enough to
overcome spiritual blindness. Romans 1:19–20 says, “What can be known about God
is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible
attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been
made. So they are without excuse” (ESV). If a person is rejecting the clear
evidence of God in the universe, no biblically related discovery, including a
Noah’s ark discovery, would change his or her mind. Not even a confirmed
resurrection would dint a lack of faith: “If they do not hear Moses and the
Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead”
(Luke 16:31). No discovery, no argument, and no miracle will change the mind of
a person who has been blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4) and who is, with a
hard heart and closed mind, rejecting the light of the gospel.
What if Noah’s ark is never discovered? Would it matter to the believer? No, the
lack of a Noah’s ark discovery makes no difference because the Christian faith
is not dependent on every biblical account being explicitly or conclusively
proven. The events in the Bible were actual, historical events involving real
people and, for the most part, recorded by eyewitnesses, but we don’t expect to
find ancient artifacts tracing back to everything mentioned in Scripture. The
Christian faith is built on faith, after all. “Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
There are two primary reasons why Noah’s ark might never be discovered. First,
the wood of the ark would have been very valuable after the flood. Noah and his
family would have needed wood for any number of projects. It is possible that
Noah and his family or their descendants deconstructed the ark and used its wood
for other purposes. Second, even if Noah and his family left the ark intact,
approximately 4,500 years have passed since that time. A wooden structure
exposed to harsh natural elements for 4,500 years would likely decompose or
decay into virtual nothingness.
While a Noah’s ark discovery would be a tremendous archaeological find, it will
never be something Christians should place their faith in. The discovery of
Noah’s ark or the ark of the covenant or the Holy Grail or any other biblical
artifact will not “prove” the Christian faith, and it will not change the mind
of anyone whom God is not drawing to Himself (John 6:44). “Faith is the
assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews
11:1).
Global financial reform that centers African women
Crystal Simeoni/Arab News/October 10, 2026
Over the past two decades, feminist economists have scored several policy wins
at the national level, ranging from gender-responsive budgets to increased
investment in care infrastructure. But change at the international level remains
stubbornly slow. The global financial architecture continues to generate
policies that depend on women’s labor without accounting for it.
The International Monetary Fund-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok this month
offer an opportunity for policymakers to accelerate that change. More
specifically, the first annual cycle of the newly launched Borrowers’ Platform
will enable developing countries to share knowledge, exchange experiences, and
speak collectively in debt discussions. This forum is
particularly important for African countries, where average spending on interest
payments is $70 per capita, compared with $60 on education and $39 on health.
Every austerity measure prescribed by a sovereign debt restructuring determines
the extent to which public services will be squeezed — and how much women will
have to pick up the slack. In Kenya, a country that remains stuck in a debt
trap, women spend, on average, 3 hours and 37 minutes more than men on unpaid
domestic and care work every day.
The negotiations for a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation
provide a similar opening. This effort to rewrite the global rules so that
profits are taxed where economic activity occurs could help address capital
flight from Africa, estimated at $88.6 billion annually and driven partly by tax
evasion. The outcome of the negotiations will determine how much African
governments have left over for clinics, schools, and water systems, and how much
will be relegated to social reproduction — the unpaid or underpaid work, done
most often by women and girls, that sustains life and makes all economic
activity possible. To be sure, women’s rights are
often overlooked in times of upheaval. Gender equality was first on the chopping
block when donor governments tightened their foreign aid budgets and feminist
foreign policies were quietly shelved when they became inconvenient. Now the UN
is weighing whether to fold UN Women and the UN Population Fund into one entity
in a bid for “efficiency” precisely when those institutions are most needed.
Gender equality was first on the chopping block when donor governments tightened
their foreign aid budgets. But it is possible to rebuild global economic
governance with a feminist approach. Negotiators for the UN Tax Convention
should consider where social reproduction occurs, not just where multinationals
are based, and allocate resources accordingly. As for the IMF, the debt
restructuring process must be overhauled to assess not only whether a government
can service its obligations but also what these payments will cost in public
services and women’s time.
The latter requires measuring and valuing social reproduction. Kenya found that,
in 2021, women accounted for 25.8 billion hours out of a total 30.6 billion
hours of unpaid domestic and care work, which the Kenya National Bureau of
Statistics estimated was equivalent to 23.1 percent of gross domestic product.
Using this data, Kenya has since developed a national care policy aimed at
integrating care planning into national and county budgets.
In 2025, Mauritius showed how to translate this awareness into fiscal
policy by zero-rating VAT on infant food and staple vegetables. The IMF could
make social reproduction visible at the international level by incorporating
national household satellite accounts into Article IV consultations, its regular
economic assessments of member countries.
African countries are leading the way on this front and the multilateral
financial architecture must support, not impede, their efforts. As the late
development economist Thandika Mkandawire spent much of his career arguing,
African governments were never short on policy ideas. But they were denied the
space to do their own theorizing; instead, they were saddled with the theories
underpinning stringent loan conditions. The African
Union’s Common African Position on Debt, adopted in February, is an attempt to
conceptualize a new approach. It calls for a binding UN Framework Convention on
Sovereign Debt — the hoped-for structural overhaul that did not materialize at
last year’s Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development — and
restructuring processes that are transparent, debtor-inclusive, and no longer
driven solely by creditor interests. The Borrowers’ Platform may be a voluntary
coordination mechanism rather than a binding negotiating body, but that is all
the more reason to advocate the Common African Position on Debt at the Annual
Meetings. Members of the Borrowers’ Platform should
propose two concrete policy changes. First, the IMF must reform its debt
sustainability analysis, the framework it uses to determine how much debt a
country can afford to service, to incorporate what repayment costs in social
reproduction. This would allow African governments to shield public services
from cuts. Otherwise, more countries may end up like Kenya: The National
Treasury reports that 51.8 percent of tax revenue in the last fiscal year went
to debt and pension payments, leaving hardly any funds for the social programs
that reduce women’s unpaid work.
Second, when negotiating debt restructuring deals, every IMF program tied to a
debt restructuring must include a binding floor on spending for health, water,
and care infrastructure, replacing the soft, often-missed social spending
targets the fund uses today.
What may seem like technical adjustments are actually the first steps toward
creating a debt architecture that will deliver for the women of Africa. Writing
about the pandemic, the novelist Arundhati Roy argued that rupture offers “a
chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves.” The
multilateral system is undergoing its own rupture now. The task ahead is to
ensure that the women of Africa are not a footnote to the system but are central
to what comes next.
**Crystal Simeoni, a pan-African feminist activist, is Director of Nawi — the
Afrifem Collective. ©Project Syndicate
The Houthis and Yemen’s Vulnerable Children
Mishary Dhayidi/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 10/2026
One of the most despicable things militias around the world do is recruit
children at the tender age of 12, after poisoning their minds with their dark
ideology, and I do not mean brainwashing.
Iran engages in this militia-like behavior, despite being expected to act as a
state. This accusation is not based on the US State Department’s latest report
on human trafficking, which accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and
the Houthi militias in Yemen of doing so, but on what has been captured on
camera.Video clips show children carrying weapons, including AK-style assault
rifles, or standing alongside members of the IRGC and other forces at
checkpoints and during patrols, as well as at military gatherings organized by
the state in Tehran, Mashhad, and Kermanshah.
In March of this year, Rahim Nad Ali, an official with the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps in Tehran, announced the launch of a campaign called “Defenders of
the Homeland for Iran.” Through this campaign, he called on volunteers aged 12
and above to register at Basij bases across the capital.
In Yemen, the Houthis do the same with children, or juhhal, as they are
described in some Arabic dialects, including Yemeni. Anyone watching videos
showing captured Houthi fighters will find juhhal approximately 12 to 16 years
old, carrying their weapons and parroting the Houthi slogan. These children grew
up under Houthi rule in areas under the group’s control. For at least 10 years,
the Houthis have maintained a firm ideological and educational grip on their
souls and minds. In other words, they have taken these children from the cradle
into the Houthi fold. They know nothing of Yemen, its people, its history, or
its neighbors except through the eyes of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, Mohammed Ali
al-Houthi, Hamza al-Houthi, al-Hakim, al-Ajri, al-Bukhaiti, and those who follow
in their footsteps.
In 2007, the Fiqh Academy affiliated with the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation issued a summary of its opinion on the age of religious
accountability, while imposing certain restrictions. Among these was the
stipulation that the age of 15 marks the point at which religious obligations
become binding. Nevertheless, it stated: “In financial and criminal matters, the
authority may determine an appropriate age of maturity according to the public
interest and in light of local and environmental circumstances.”This means that
the criteria for mental and psychological maturity can change from one era to
another and from one age group to another. There is no fixed age for this. An
18-year-old today, for example, is not the same as an 18-year-old 40 years ago.
Maturity, psychological capacity, and social skills differ.
But returning to the main point, the danger posed by the Houthis and groups like
them, much as ISIS did during the several years it controlled parts of Syria and
Iraq, lies in shaping the consciousness and culture of an entire generation, one
whose fate has placed it under the influence of these dark groups. This is a
battle for awareness and a struggle over education and upbringing before it
becomes a battle fought with rifles or traditional Yemeni daggers. Frankly, I
find Yemeni educational and media content addressing this front to be weak.
The Mother of All Causes in the Middle East
Mohammed al-Rumaihi/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 10/2026
As the third anniversary of the events of October 7, 2023, passed a few days
ago, the question that disappeared amid the noise of those early days returns:
Where do we go with the Palestinian cause? Since that day, the Middle East has
witnessed some of its most severe political, economic, and humanitarian crises.
I fear that what we have seen may merely be a prelude to something even worse if
the conflict continues to be managed with the same mindset.
In this space, a few months after the event, I wrote an article titled “Gaza:
Judged by Its Outcome” in February 2024, warning of the scale of the disaster to
come. That was not fortune-telling, but rather a reading of the balance of power
and the way the other side thinks. The results have come close to what I feared,
and I find no satisfaction in that.
Palestine is the mother of all causes in the Middle East, and perhaps one of the
most important issues of the modern world. It encompasses the rights of a people
uprooted from their land, a deeply rooted religious and historical memory,
settler colonialism, and international interests that have made a solution
elusive from one generation to the next.
People across the region sympathize with the Palestinian cause for
understandable reasons, and many beyond the region share that sentiment in
rejection of the injustice inflicted upon Palestinians. Yet however broad that
sympathy may be, it requires sound policy to translate it into tangible gains.
It is here that the experience has repeatedly faltered, leaving Palestinians to
pay not only the price of occupation but also the price of mistakes made by
those who claim to speak in their name. Two heavy obstacles stand in the way of
a solution: the rigidity of the Israeli right and the absence of a decisive
American commitment that would make the establishment of a Palestinian state an
enforceable obligation. Important shifts are taking place in Europe, some of
which have gone beyond rhetoric to recognize Palestine.
Saudi Arabia, together with Arab and European partners, is also working to
revive the two-state solution. Yet settlement expansion and the fragmentation of
Palestinian land continue to push its implementation further out of reach. The
closure of the political horizon provides extremists with new opportunities
while also giving regional powers seeking influence a ready-made cause through
which to expand their reach. We have known this pattern of exploitation for
decades. The Palestinian Nakba was one of the factors that paved the way for the
rise of military rule. Later, the Palestinian cause became a source of
legitimacy for regimes that promised liberation and demanded silence from their
peoples while they waited for the decisive battle.
Large segments of the public believed those promises. The wound was real, and
the hope for liberation was immense. Years passed, freedoms shrank, development
receded, and the land remained occupied, with the occupation in fact expanding.
Palestine was not responsible for the failures of those regimes, but its name
was used to shield those failures from accountability and to defer people's
demands for a dignified life and for scientifically grounded approaches to
confronting the crisis. Then came revolutionary Iran with a religious-sectarian
discourse. It found in the Palestinian cause an entry point into Arab societies
and a means of building influence beyond its borders. Its task was made easier
by understandable Palestinian frustration, though that frustration does not
necessarily make the resulting choices correct.
Some Palestinian factions aligned themselves with military and Baathist regimes;
others wagered on the Iranian project and distanced themselves from the Arab
states of moderation. These factions blurred the distinction between those
genuinely seeking a settlement that would restore Palestinian land and those who
needed the conflict to continue in order to preserve their own role. Mistakes
accumulated, and ordinary Palestinians bore a far greater share of the losses
than those making the decisions. The exploitation of Palestinian suffering also
extended to the rhetoric of the Houthis, al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other extremist
groups. It would be inaccurate to reduce the origins of these organizations
solely to Palestine, but the cause featured prominently in their propaganda and
recruitment efforts. What was largely absent, however, was any accounting of the
consequences. At the same time, the Zionist movement built institutions, forged
alliances, invested in knowledge, and organized interests, while also employing
violence and displacement. This does not grant it any right to another people's
land, but it does help explain part of the imbalance in the confrontation.
Palestinians have paid the price through death, displacement, destruction, and
long years behind bars. None of this reassessment absolves Israel of
responsibility for the occupation and its crimes; that responsibility is clear.
The point is rather that the justness of a cause does not render its leaders
immune from error, and that acknowledging mistakes is a prerequisite for
correcting them, especially when the cost is measured in the lives and futures
of entire generations.
I believe the reassessment should begin with a simple question: What did each
political choice add to the Palestinian people's ability to remain on their land
and secure their rights? Palestinian thinkers have raised courageous questions
about strategies, alliances, and the cost of adventurism, only to face
accusations of betrayal and marginalization. No successful political strategy
can be built if criticizing decisions is treated as an attack on the cause
itself.
People who have borne the losses have every right to question their leaders and
to distinguish between sacrifices imposed upon them and risks undertaken without
their participation. Such a reassessment also requires repairing the Palestinian
political house, renewing the legitimacy of its institutions, unifying
decision-making, and presenting a program capable of speaking to the world in
the language of its interests and concerns.
International recognitions of Palestine need sustained legal and diplomatic
follow-up, as well as pressure to halt settlement expansion, protect civilians,
and facilitate reconstruction. These are difficult tasks, but their results are
measurable. It is not enough to win the sympathy of a European street only to
squander its impact through rhetoric that conflates all Jews with the policies
of Israel, or through blind acts that give opponents an opportunity to distort
the Palestinian cause. That is a political and moral responsibility that cannot
be evaded.
Today, two paths lie before us. One is the effort led by Saudi Arabia, together
with Arab and European states, to open a path toward a Palestinian state. The
other prolongs the conflict and benefits powers that expand their influence
under the banner of saving Palestine.
The success of the first path requires unified Palestinian support and pressure
on Washington to assume its responsibility. The alternative, which has been
tried for far too long, leaves Palestinians facing mounting losses while its
patrons negotiate their own interests. Continuing down the same road could make
what lies ahead worse than even the most pessimistic among us expect. The mother
of all causes deserves a discussion free from posturing and grandstanding, and
action that realistically assesses capabilities while safeguarding human lives.
Palestinians deserve both their land and their lives. Final thought: In the
world of politics, opportunities require leadership that combines courage with
wisdom.
The Constitution at 100: A Question of the Community or the
State?
Mustafa Fahs/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 10/2026
On the centenary of the Lebanese Constitution, Lebanon’s Minister of Culture Dr.
Ghassan Salame addressed the Lebanese people, as individuals and communities,
sects and parties, emphasizing that “the Constitution is a supreme text, but it
is not a sacred book.”
He acknowledged the legitimacy of contemplating constitutional amendments,
provided that the objective is national and comprehensive, aimed at
strengthening institutions rather than serving sectarian interests or temporary
political bargains.
Yet, with his characteristic realism, Salame conceded that Lebanon’s reality has
left the country with what might be described as a “composite constitution,” as
its history has been marked by a constant tug-of-war between the logic of
citizenship and loyalties to communal groups.
In practice, this duality has weighed heavily on what could be called the
syndrome of the state and its governing formula, whereby each community has at
some point felt disadvantaged, or sought to preserve particular privileges. The
Shiite community is no exception. At this critical juncture, it is once again
revisiting the question of its relationship with the Lebanese entity, its
political formula, and the constitutional framework that governs them.
To this day, the elites of the ideological Shiite right remain attached to a
narrative of the “injustice” supposedly suffered by the community at the
founding of the Lebanese state in 1920. They hold the traditional Shiite elite
responsible for marginalizing the community’s role and presence in the state
established at independence in 1943, without adequately considering the
community’s own evolution, from traditional political families before
independence, through the rise of leftist, nationalist, and communist movements
afterward, and ultimately to the era of Imam Musa al-Sadr.
Since independence, Shiite elites have participated actively in constitutional
life, seeking to improve representation, participation, and development from
within the state rather than outside it. As social transformations unfolded,
Shiite influence expanded beyond traditional leadership circles to encompass a
new political society whose core grievance centered more on deprivation and
inequality than on opposition to the state itself. Imam Musa al-Sadr later gave
this trajectory a clearer Shiite political and social framework.
The Taif Agreement brought an end to the civil war at a moment when the Shiites
had emerged with far greater social, political, and military strength than they
possessed in 1943. Yet the agreement did not translate this transformation into
equivalent changes in the structure of power.
Consequently, the Shiite relationship with Taif remained a matter of
intra-Shiite debate, particularly among elites who viewed it as a settlement
that neither fully reflected a previous dominance nor adequately accommodated a
new rise in power.
Sheikh Mohammad Mahdi Shamseddine accompanied this transformation by evolving
from viewing Taif as an “agreement of necessity” to considering it an “agreement
of choice.” He called for correcting its shortcomings and implementing it
faithfully, stressing that the Shiites are an essential component of Lebanon as
both homeland and state, not an exceptional community with a special
relationship to the state.
Meanwhile, Hani Fahs focused on the other side of Shiite ascendancy. He
advocated restoring the primacy of the state, preserving Lebanon’s political
formula, and rejecting sectarian domination over it. He posed the more difficult
question: What happens to Lebanese society when a community moves from a
position of perceived weakness and grievance to one of power? Since 2005, a new
question of power has emerged in the literature of the ideological Shiite right:
if weapons constitute surplus power outside the state, can they be transformed
into constitutional power within it? Thus appeared, in some circles, the
equation of “weapons in exchange for the Constitution” - namely, surrendering
arms to the state in return for expanding Shiite representation within its
institutions, thereby compensating for a past imbalance or for a rise in
influence that, in the eyes of proponents of this view, has not been reflected
in the structure of power. Accordingly, from the height of its ascendancy to the
question of retreat, the sectarian and ideological Shiite right now faces the
dilemma of a declining political narrative, while the Shiite community bears the
cost of its adventures. As for the state and the Constitution, they remain texts
and institutions open to amendment and expansion, but only away from the test of
force.
Selected Face Book & X tweets
on October
10/2026
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
News is spreading across Lebanon about the two Hezbollah terrorists arrested
with 800kg of highly explosive material that they use for assassinations.
Years ago, a Hezbollah would-be assassin was caught before he could kill
lawmaker Butros Harb. The assassin was released, no charges. Expect the same
release for these two criminals. Lebanon remains lawless, under the thumb of
"free Palestine resistance" criminals.
Nada Hamadeh
Grateful to President Donald J. Trump for his decision to lift air travel
restrictions, paving the way for the resumption of direct flights between
Lebanon and the United States!
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
https://x.com/hahussain/status/2108566346040561788/video/1
Netflix’s Fauda lead Doron (Lior Raz): “The people of Lebanon and the people of
Israel are ready for peace. When I'm going out of Israel, everywhere in the
world, the people I'm getting connected easily, it's the Lebanese. So we become
friends, we become friends immediately..”
Fauda is the top-watched show in Lebanon. The Lebanese have always been ready
for peace with Israel. That is why Islamist tyrants need the boycott laws. Scrap
them and watch the Lebanese get ahead of their government on peace with Israel.
SammyKattan
Alawites in Israel
About 3,000 Alawites live in Israel.
They live mainly in the village of Ghajar.
Ghajar shares borders with Lebanon and Syria.
In 1981, the Alawites received Israeli citizenship.
The Alawites in Israel speak Hebrew and Arabic.
The small Alawite community is safe only in Israel.
In Syria they are being subjected to genocide.
In Lebanon, Alawites live primarily in Tripoli, the largest Islamist city in the
country.
In Turkey, Alawites are discriminated against by the Turkish state.
Israel is the only country that grants them civil rights.
Many Alawites in Israel are academics and doctors.
Alawites in Israel are very loyal to the Israeli state.
Alawites do not perform military service in Syria but do serve in National
Service.
There is no documented evidence or public record indicating that Alawites in
Israel have spied for Hezbollah,Iran or the Assad Regime.
Unlike the Alawites in Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey, Alawites in Israel have the
right to view themselves as a distinct religion rather than as part of Islam.
Economy
Tourism has existed in Ghajar since 2021. In 2022, 4,000 people visited Ghajar
daily.
There are many nice restaurants and cafés in Ghajar.
King David
“The Jewish people are not a nation because of Auschwitz. Auschwitz was possible
because the Jewish people had no state, no army, no defense. We have learned the
lesson: never again will Jewish blood be shed with impunity. We shall defend our
people and our land.”
- Menachem Begin
Amb. Yacov Livne
1,200 Christian leaders from around the world arrived in ancient Shiloh today to
pray and show their support for the State of Israel in our fight for truth.
Thank you!