English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News &
Editorials
For September 10/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2026/english.september10.26.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
Your rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you
Letter of James 05/01-06/:”Come now, you rich people, weep and
wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your
clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be
evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up
treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the labourers who mowed your
fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in
luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts on a day of slaughter. You
have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.”
Titles For The English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published on September 09-10/2026
Inside Every Human Being There Is a Beast …The true struggle within every
human being is between the image of God within them and the distortion of that
image/Elias Bejjani/September 9, 2026
To the journalist George Akoury, in regards to the background of his joining the
inciters in their street campaign against Alfred Madi/Elias Bejjani/September
08/2026
Elias Bejjani/Charles Chartouni the Bashirist is definitively the polar opposite
of Melhem Riachy. Hezbollah must be put on trial, not engaged in
dialogue/September 7, 2026
Etienne Saqr (Abu Arz): Nabatieh is the Beginning/September 09/2026
Video Link and Transcript of an Interview with Counter-Terrorism and Anti-Money
Laundering Activist Nadine Barakat
Lebanese Army Says Rescued 22 Migrants after Boat Sinks
Lebanese Contacts with Washington Curb Israeli Escalation in South
Lebanon Says One Dead in Israeli Drone Strike
Aoun: Ending hostility with Israel means ending wars
Geagea demands removal of 'illegal arms' from Nabatieh to secure ceasefire
Geagea: Duty of Lebanese to stand with KSA in face of heinous attacks
Shiites need guarantees to disarm, al-Khatib reportedly told Issa
Report: Hezbollah won't give Netanyahu what he wants for elections
From an October 7 warning to Lebanon tensions: Pressure mounts on Netanyahu
Nabatieh on edge as Lebanese army steps up presence amid fears of Israeli
strikes
Retired soldiers turn up the heat as Lebanon debates 2027 budget
Lebanese Army: Continued Israeli attacks threaten stability, hinder military
efforts
Joint Saudi-American diplomacy reduced Lebanon escalation, report says
What Options Does Hezbollah Have in Dealing with Israeli Escalation?/Beirut:
Paula Astih/Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
Falsified History and Its Consequences/Colonel Charbel Barakat/September 09/2026
Lebanon: Interlocking Crises Postpone Stability/Rami al-Rayes/Asharq
AlAwsat/September 09/2026
Geagea’s Three Silences: Taef, Peace, Federalism/Elissa El Hachem/Now
Lebanon/September 09/2026
Israel claims control of Ali al Taher after weeks of Hezbollah attacks and
failed handover efforts /David Daoud/FDD's Long War Journal/September 09/2026
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on September 09-10/2026
Netanyahu on Syria Visit Says ‘Very
Close’ to Toppling Iran Regime
Iran and US Hit Tankers in Biggest Wave of Attacks on Shipping Since War Began
Hate Speech and Attacks: What Is Happening to Iraqis in Iran?
Iran condemns US attacks on tankers as threat to regional security
Jordan Says Air Defenses Intercepted 18 out of 20 Missiles Launched from Iran
Iraq Weighs Moving Factions’ Weapons to Iran for Storage
Israeli Foreign Minister Says No Plans to Deport Palestinians from Gaza
UK Govt Defends Decision to Ban Trade with Israeli Settlements
Warehouse Explosion in Northwestern Syria Kills at Least 14
Yemen rebels report fresh Saudi strikes as conflict deepens
UN Nuclear Watchdog Board Wraps up Probe into Syria’s Past Secret Nuclear
Activities
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials
from miscellaneous sources published
on September 09-10/2026
The New Islamic Empire: Will Turkey Inherit Iran’s Mantle?/Hussain
Abdul-Hussain/The Algemeiner/September 09/2026
Sept. 11’s Legacy Endures a Quarter-Century Later/Riyadh: Ghassan Charbel/Asharq
AlAwsat/September 09/2026
Islamic state plots disrupted and operatives arrested in 4 countries/Will
Selber/ FDD's Long War Journal/September 09/2026
Iran continues attacks on Kurdish opposition group in northern Iraq/Seth J.
Frantzman/DD's Long War Journal/September 09/2026
What Cannot Be Understood About the Middle East's Wars/Dr. Abdel Monem
Said/Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on September 09-10/2026
Inside Every Human Being There Is a
Beast …The true struggle within every human being is between the image of God
within them and the distortion of that image
Elias Bejjani/September 9, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/151757/
Christian faith teaches us a fundamental truth: the human being was created in
the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26) and was called to live in communion
with Him, in love and holiness. Yet, because of the Fall, every person carries
within himself a wounded nature. In this wounded nature lies what can be
described, in spiritual terms, as an inner “beast”—a force of uncontrolled
instincts and desires that emerges when the human person separates himself from
God’s grace.
This beast is not an independent power. It is not stronger than the human person
by nature. It remains dormant as long as the person lives in humility,
generosity, and love, and remains faithful to the gifts and responsibilities
entrusted to him by his Heavenly Father.
The beast sleeps when the human being lives according to love, because love is
not merely a moral value; love is God Himself:
“God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him”
(1 John 4:16).
As long as a person is conscious of his holiness, of his identity as a child of
God by grace, and remains faithful to God’s commandments, the inner beast
remains restrained. The awareness of standing one day before God’s judgment is
essential to Christian life, for Scripture tells us:
“For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Romans 14:10).
On the last day, when God reclaims from the human being the gift of life, the
soul will stand alone before Him. At that moment, wealth, power, and earthly
achievements lose all value. They remain behind, because:
“For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing
out” (1 Timothy 6:7).
The only thing a person carries with him is his spiritual provision—his faith
expressed through works of love. As Christ says:
“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one
according to his work” (Revelation 22:12).
According to what this spiritual provision contains, the Lord will either say:
“Well done, good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew
25:21), or the soul will face separation from God if it is empty of love, mercy,
and good works, and filled only with greed, pride, and unrepented sin, where:
“Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48).
The inner beast awakens when faith weakens, hope fades, and the human being
falls into temptation. At that point, the person returns to the “old self” and
abandons the new life given through baptism by water and the Holy Spirit,
forgetting the words of Scripture:
“Put off the old man… and put on the new man, which was created according to
God” (Ephesians 4:22–24).
When a person distances himself from God, disobeys His commandments, and lives
as if God does not exist, the beast within rises and dominates. Sin then becomes
not an isolated act, but a way of life, because:
“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
In this light, Jesus presents to us the parable of the rich fool (Luke
12:16–21). This man was not condemned for being rich, but for believing that his
life depended on his possessions. He spoke only to himself and not to God. He
trusted his barns, not his Creator. Therefore God said to him:
“Fool! This night your soul will be required of you.”
This parable reveals a deep spiritual truth: the true beast within the human
person is the illusion of self-sufficiency and independence from God. When God
is removed from the center of life, the human being becomes a slave to money,
power, and pleasure. As Jesus teaches:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
This truth applies not only to individuals, but also to societies and political
systems. The crisis of our world—and of Lebanon in particular—is not only
political or economic, but spiritual. It is the crisis of humanity that has
forgotten God. Therefore Christ’s warning remains timeless:
“What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
(Mark 8:36).
In conclusion, the true struggle within every human being is between the image
of God and its distortion. Salvation does not come by suppressing the beast
through human effort alone, but by returning to God through repentance, grace,
and a life rooted in faith and love. For in God alone there is true life:
“But now having been set free from sin… you have your fruit to holiness, and the
end, everlasting life” (Romans 6:22).
To the journalist George Akoury, in regards to the background of his
joining the inciters in their street campaign against Alfred Madi
Elias Bejjani/September 08/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157310/
Strange is your stance, my brother George.. I used to believe
that you are a journalist in earnest and not one of those who move according to
the edicts and instructions of someone, whoever he may be.. Most certainly, your
professional, elite, and high-standard journalistic level should have not let
you sink into the ranks of the , inciters, and panegyrists. Return to where you
must be and let the mouthpieces execute the boss’s edicts.
As for Alfred Madi, the man has his merits and demerits like anyone working in
social, political, and public affairs, but in short, he was one of the closest
confidants to Sheikh Bashir and one of those who effectively struggled to build
his historical legacy of which we are proud.
The fact remains that Madi’s history, present, and the achievements of Alfred
Madi are not going to be diminished by a campaign of defamation, childish and
street-style insults that do not befit the position of the one who stands behind
them, stirs them up, and ordered them…
It is a shame, my dear George, this conduct is a condemned deviation. Regarding
it, I say: ‘You lick the rasp and relish in your own blood, because Madi is of
you the LF and in you, while the national cause we all struggle for is the same,
no matter how distant the current positions became.’
Best regards to you.”.
Elias Bejjani/Charles Chartouni the Bashirist is definitively the
polar opposite of Melhem Riachy. Hezbollah must be put on trial, not engaged in
dialogue
September 7, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157277/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqgXXYCXIbU&t=386s
Introduction
This commentary addresses the sharp political dispute that recently erupted
between writer and thinker Dr. Charles Chartouni and former minister and current
parliament member Melhem Riachy. This disagreement reflects a profound clash of
viewpoints regarding how to approach Hezbollah: this terrorist, criminal,
Iranian, and mafia-like organization that constitutes a total occupation of the
Lebanese state’s decisions and resources, and has no ties to Lebanon other than
being a tool to implement the agendas of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and
Velayat-e Faqih. Complacency in floating the idea of dialogue with this armed
and criminal entity, or attempting to launder its dark history by integrating it
into the political arena on its own terms, represents a betrayal of sovereign
principles, normalization with terrorism and murder, and a denial of the
sacrifices of free martyrs such as Dr. Charles Chartouni, who stands as a model
of steadfastness and dignity.
Summary Table of Commentary Headings
Introduction of the Dispute
• Reference to Minister Melhem Riachy’s interview and his readiness for dialogue
with Hezbollah after disarming.
• Dr. Charles Chartouni’s sharp criticism of this proposal via the “X” platform.
• Riachy’s harsh and inappropriate response (“Shame on you”).
Dr. Charles Chartouni’s Journey
• A historical fighter, one of the founders of the “Lebanese Forces” and a
companion of Sheikh Bashir Gemayel, who worked with him holding ministerial
rank.
• A thinker, intellectual, and author in three languages, living in exile in
America out of fear for his life due to harassment by Hezbollah, which dominates
the judiciary in Lebanon.
• A model of integrity and steadfastness, who never received a salary nor
compromised his sovereign principles or his rejection of occupation.
Melhem Riachy’s Journey
• Review of his previous political and professional transitions (Albert
Mokheiber, El-Murr House, Michel Samaha, and Cedrus Bank).
• Critical questions regarding his background and his current and former
political positions compared to the authentic Lebanese Forces line.
Hezbollah’s Nature and Criminal Reality
• A non-Lebanese organization established by Iranian-Syrian will to serve as the
Supreme Leader’s army on the Mediterranean.
• A terrorist and criminal organization involved in the assassination of
leaders, politicians, deputies, thinkers, and journalists (foremost among them
Rafik Hariri), engaging globally in drug manufacturing, drug trade, and mafia
networks.
• A terrorist, Iranian, jihadist party that kidnaps the Shiite community, takes
them hostage, and enslaves them to serve the “Velayat-e Faqih” project.
Political Errors and Sins
• Considering calls for dialogue with Hezbollah or attempts to integrate it into
politics as a major national sin and cover-up for terrorism.
• Rejecting the flawed narrative that equates national martyrs with the martyrs
of the Iranian militia.
• Emphasizing that true sovereignty requires prosecuting the party as a
terrorist entity rather than holding dialogue with it.
Conclusion
• A tribute of appreciation and pride to Dr. Charles Chartouni for his
steadfastness along Bashir Gemayel’s path.
• An explicit call to Riachy to change his political rhetoric and apologize to
Dr. Chartouni for the offensive remarks directed at him.
It remains essential to emphasize that a true sovereign approach to Lebanon does
not recognize any negotiation or settlement with a terrorist Iranian militia
that caused the destruction of Lebanon and the displacement of its people, and
that symbols of thought and freedom like Dr. Charles Chartouni remain the living
conscience of the cause of free people.
Etienne Saqr (Abu Arz): Nabatieh is the Beginning
September 09/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157346/
The following statement was issued by the leader of the Guardians of the Cedars
Party – Lebanese Nationalist Movement:
We have followed with great interest and satisfaction the deployment of the
Lebanese Army in the city of Nabatieh and the warm welcome it received from the
residents. This scene confirms that the State and its army constitute the true
bulwark for the city’s people, protecting them from the threat of destruction
that loomed over them had the city remained under the control of Hezbollah.
We have said it before, and we say it again: The Shiite community is one thing,
and Hezbollah is another.
The community is Lebanese, while Hezbollah is Iranian;
The community embraces the State and the Army, whereas Hezbollah is their enemy;
The community yearns for peace and coexistence, while Hezbollah rejects them,
opting instead for losing wars and destructive bravado.
Lebanon’s tragedy will end the day this community frees itself from the clutches
of the destructive Hezbollah, and the State alone returns to being the ultimate
authority for all Lebanese.
Nabatieh is the beginning… and the rest will follow.
At your service, Lebanon.
Video Link and Transcript of an Interview with
Counter-Terrorism and Anti-Money Laundering Activist Nadine Barakat
An Exposure, Debunking, and Condemnation of Lebanon’s Ruling Class, Revealing
Hezbollah’s Conspiracies, Smuggling, Corruption, Criminality, Terrorism, and
Mafia-Like Practices / U.S. Treasury Reports and the One Billion Dollars: Who
Facilitates Suspicious Funds? Nadine Barakat Blows the Whistle
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157351/
Interview conducted by journalist Wassim Janbien on the Transparency youtube
platform/ September 09, 2026
Note
Transcript, editing, summarization, headings, and English translation by Elias
Bejjani, with complete editorial freedom.
Main Title
Nadine Barakat: There Can Be No State with Weapons Outside Legitimacy, and No
Sovereignty with a Corrupt System that Protects Them
Subtitle
The counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering activist exposes the links
between illegal weapons, smuggling, and financial corruption, and calls for
holding all those involved accountable without exception.
Introduction
In an extensive interview on the program Free Angle, counter-terrorism and
anti-money laundering activist Nadine Barakat addressed a wide range of
sovereignty, security, and financial issues facing Lebanon. She argued that
Lebanon’s crisis goes beyond the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons alone,
encompassing an integrated network of political, financial, administrative, and
security corruption that protects and sustains this reality. She stressed that
restoring the state and its authority requires the enforcement of the law on
everyone, the drying up of illicit funding sources, and the prosecution of
perpetrators regardless of sectarian or political considerations.
Key Points from the Interview
1. The Army’s Entry into Nabatieh Is Not Enough
Barakat argued that the deployment of the Lebanese Army in certain southern
regions does not, by itself, constitute proof of full sovereignty. In her view,
the real test is the state’s ability to monopolize weapons and enforce the law
throughout all Lebanese territory.
2. The Problem Is Not Only the Weapons
She emphasized that public debate often focuses on Hezbollah’s weapons while
ignoring the economic, financial, and political structures that sustain and
protect its influence.
3. Smuggling Is One of the Most Dangerous Challenges
Barakat discussed the ongoing smuggling operations across borders and illegal
crossings, arguing that they deprive the state of substantial revenues while
providing parallel funding sources outside legal frameworks.
4. Money Laundering and Financing Illegal Activities
She pointed to the existence of complex financial networks operating outside
official oversight, referring to international and American reports discussing
activities linked to money laundering and the financing of sanctioned entities.
5. Al-Qard Al-Hassan and the Parallel Economy
Barakat addressed the controversy surrounding the Al-Qard Al-Hassan institution,
arguing that financial institutions operating outside state and Central Bank
supervision contribute to the consolidation of a parallel economy that weakens
legitimate institutions.
6. The Responsibility of Oversight Institutions
She criticized what she described as the poor performance of certain regulatory
and judicial bodies in pursuing financial violations and smuggling operations,
arguing that selective accountability undermines the credibility of the state.
7. The Judiciary Faces a Test of Independence
Barakat stressed the need to shield the judiciary from political interference,
arguing that any genuine reform must begin with an independent judiciary capable
of holding all offenders accountable.
8. Forged Passports and Security Breaches
She discussed cases involving forged passports and networks allegedly linked to
foreign entities, considering such issues a direct threat to Lebanon’s national
security.
9. The Media’s Role in Revealing the Truth
Barakat praised the importance of free and investigative journalism in
uncovering corruption and illicit financing, calling for the protection of
journalists and activists working on these sensitive files.
10. Restoring the State Begins with the Rule of Law
She affirmed that any rescue project for Lebanon must be based on equality
before the law and the rejection of any party, organization, or official being
above accountability.
Key Political Messages from the Interview
There can be no genuine sovereignty while weapons remain outside state
authority.
Corruption, smuggling, and money laundering are the other face of Lebanon’s
crisis.
Reform cannot be achieved through slogans but through accountability.
An independent judiciary is the essential gateway to building a state.
The parallel economy undermines legitimate institutions.
Applying the law equally to all is a prerequisite for restoring citizens’ trust
in the state.
Conclusion
In this interview, Nadine Barakat portrays Lebanon’s crisis as fundamentally a
crisis of statehood and institutions before it is merely a crisis of weapons.
According to her vision, combating smuggling, corruption, and money laundering,
strengthening the judiciary, and subjecting everyone to the rule of law are
interconnected elements that cannot be separated from any serious effort to
restore sovereignty and build a capable and just state.
Transparency Website Introduction
Counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering activist Nadine Barakat launches a
blistering attack in an exceptional and explosive episode of Free Angle with
journalist Wassim Janbeen, exposing some of the most sensitive and rarely
discussed files hidden behind the scenes of Lebanese politics and the judiciary.
The episode openly and thoroughly examines the reality of the Lebanese Army’s
entry into Nabatieh, the truth behind security control on the ground, and U.S.
Treasury reports concerning suspected money laundering and suspicious financing
networks.
The discussion also addresses the scandal of counterfeit cancer medications
allegedly entering Lebanon through border crossings and being distributed
through networks linked to the so-called Security Committee and figures within
the ruling establishment. It further explores the dismantling of financial
networks, black-market money changers, and the alleged involvement of prominent
political figures in smuggling operations and mutual cover-ups.
The interview features a heated debate on the lost prestige of the state,
alleged compensation promises made to Hezbollah’s support base, and the
dangerous scenarios awaiting Lebanon and the region amid accelerating regional
transformations and the future of the Iranian-Syrian axis.
Interview Timeline
00:00 Introduction and welcome to guest Nadine Barakat
02:44 The Army’s entry into Nabatieh: between a sovereignty performance and
on-the-ground reality
05:30 The reality of security checkpoints and inherited influence in southern
regions
10:11 U.S. Treasury reports and the one billion dollars: who facilitates
suspicious funds?
16:16 Passport forgery and Revolutionary Guard networks behind the scenes of
General Security
21:13 The lost prestige of the state and approaches to Hezbollah’s weapons and
the wider system
28:18 The counterfeit Chinese cancer medication scandal and the role of the
Security Committee
33:33 The trade of death and financial support through money-changing networks
in Cola and Hamra
39:33 The involvement of prominent political and judicial figures in covering
corruption and smuggling files
44:16 Future expectations and the fate of the regional alliance in Syria and
Iran
Lebanese Army Says Rescued 22 Migrants after Boat Sinks
Asharq Al Awsat/September 09/2026
The Lebanese military said Tuesday it had rescued over 20 people off the
country's northern coast after a boat trying to smuggle them out broke down.A
military statement said the naval forces, along with the civil defense agency
and the Red Cross, rescued "22 people during an attempt to smuggle them
illegally aboard a boat after it broke down off the coast of Tripoli," the
largest city in the north."Work is ongoing to rescue the remaining passengers,"
it said, without specifying how many people had been aboard. The official
National News Agency had earlier reported that more than 20 passengers were
Syrians and the rest were Lebanese, said AFP. Migrants and asylum seekers
leaving Lebanon by boat seek a better life in Europe, often heading to the
island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean, less than 200 kilometers (125
miles) away. Syria was devastated by 13 years of civil war, between 2011 and
2024, in which more than half a million people were killed and around half the
population displaced. Despite the return of relative
stability following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, around 1.12
million Syrians remain refugees in Lebanon, according to estimates by the UN's
refugee agency. The UNHCR estimates that around 400,000 Syrians returned to
their country from Lebanon in 2025. In Lebanon, the collapse of the economy in
late 2019 and deteriorating living conditions have also driven many Lebanese to
choose irregular migration.In recent years, the Lebanese army has announced that
it foiled several attempts to smuggle irregular migrants by sea.
Lebanese Contacts with Washington Curb Israeli
Escalation in South
Beirut: Nazeer Rida/Asharq Al Awsat/September 09/2026
Intensive contacts between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and US officials
helped curb Israeli attacks that had escalated since Saturday, as Lebanon awaits
Washington’s confirmation of a date for an eighth round of negotiations with
Israel, expected to be set this week and held later this month. Israeli attacks
in South Lebanon subsided on Tuesday after three days of airstrikes and
artillery shelling that killed at least 28 people, wounded dozens and displaced
hundreds from Nabatieh and surrounding villages. Residents began returning on
Tuesday morning. Unlike the heavy strikes on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, no
Israeli airstrikes were reported by Tuesday afternoon, although drones flew over
Beirut, its southern suburbs and other areas in the south. Israeli forces
carried out a demolition in the town of Mansouri, south of Tyre, while an
Israeli unit entered the outskirts of Kfar Shouba overnight and raised an
Israeli flag on a hill.
Intensive contacts
Ministerial sources close to the Lebanese presidency told Asharq Al-Awsat that
Aoun had “conducted intensive contacts with the US side to press Israel to halt
its military campaign,” adding that US officials had, in turn, contacted Israel.
The contacts included US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, while Lebanon’s
ambassador to Washington, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, also held talks with US officials
aimed at containing the escalation in the south. On
Monday, Aoun warned that Israel’s attacks “will not bring security to civilians
along the border” and were targeting the path of the “framework agreement” and
undermining efforts to halt escalation in the south and across the region. “The
question today is: Does Israel want peace or war? If it wants war, let that be
made clear,” he added. Lebanon has little leverage to
halt Israeli attacks other than through Washington, which it sees as the only
available diplomatic channel capable of pressing Israel to cease fire and halt
the growing bulldozing and demolition operations in South Lebanon. Beirut
expects a definitive answer from the US by the end of the week on the eighth
negotiating session with Israel. Lebanon’s demands in the talks include a
ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory and the return of
prisoners.
US ambassador visits Shiite council
Issa visited the Higher Islamic Shiite Council on Tuesday and met its vice
president, Sheikh Ali al-Khatib.Sources following the visit described it as part
of Issa’s protocol meetings with Lebanon’s religious leaders, including Grand
Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian and Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Sami Abi
al-Muna over the past two weeks. Others pointed to its timing following
al-Khatib’s meetings in Iran and Iraq. After the meeting, Issa stressed that the
United States wanted what was best for the Shiite community and for southerners
to return to their land. On Israeli attacks, Issa noted that his understanding
from the Israeli side was that any fire directed at Israel would be met with a
response 10 times greater.Asked about prisoners, he replied that he will keep up
his efforts until they are released, saying it was his responsibility.
Condemnation
Lebanese Minister of State for Administrative Reform Fadi Makki condemned the
Israeli attacks after meeting Aoun, calling for intensified efforts to halt them
and protect Lebanon. He also stressed support for the
Lebanese army and the need for all sides to rally around the state and its
legitimate institutions to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and territorial
integrity. Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people since
Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2, two days after US and Israeli
strikes on Iran began, prompting an Israeli air and ground offensive against
Lebanon. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reports that the dead include more than 250
children, around 400 women and more than 130 paramedics.
A ceasefire sharply reduced the violence, but Israeli forces occupying
large parts of South Lebanon have continued destroying villages inside a
unilaterally declared “security zone.” The Israeli military also continues to
carry out strikes within the zone and north of it, often without issuing
evacuation warnings.
Lebanon Says One Dead in Israeli Drone Strike
Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
An Israeli strike killed one person in Lebanon's south, the Lebanese state news
agency said on Wednesday, in a region where Israel has intensified attacks
despite a ceasefire.An Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle in Zebdine in the
Nabatieh region, killing a man, Lebanon's National News Agency said. Since
announcing last week the capture of the Ali al-Taher ridge, a strategic
Hezbollah position in Nabatieh, the Israeli army has stepped up its strikes in
the area. The attacks have killed at least 29 people since Friday, including 12
members of the same family, according to Lebanese authorities and official
media.
Fighting in Lebanon had calmed since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and a
framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon were reached in June.But Beirut
still reports recurring Israeli strikes, which it says have killed more than
4,300 people in total since March, and Israeli forces continue to occupy a
so-called occupied "security zone" in the south. UN Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres on Tuesday expressed concern about the Israeli "escalation" in southern
Lebanon, according to his spokesperson. In an online
petition posted this week, nearly 400 Lebanese public figures, including legal
experts and human rights advocates, called for Lebanon's army to be deployed in
Nabatieh. They also voiced concern over a possible
"expansion of the Israeli occupation" toward the city, which is about 11
kilometers (seven miles) from the Israeli border.
"This city does not belong to any political group," added the signatories,
referring to Hezbollah, which is well established in Nabatieh. In a statement
released on Tuesday, the Lebanese army said its units were "deployed in all
areas that Israel does not occupy, particularly in the Nabatieh region".
Aoun: Ending hostility with Israel means ending wars
Naharnet/September 09/2026
President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday said that the loyalty of the Lebanese must be
to their country, warning that “anyone who seeks external backing against a
fellow citizen at home is bound to lose, because foreign powers will eventually
abandon them.”“No war in Lebanon has ever produced a winner; rather, everyone
lost, and the nation itself suffered. We chose the path of negotiation because
we are a sovereign state; this decision serves Lebanon’s interests and is not
intended to appease any foreign party,” Aoun said.
“When I call for ending the state of hostility with Israel, I mean ending the
wars that devastated the country and claimed innocent lives -- wars we can no
longer afford to endure. Any other interpretation is erroneous and suspect,” the
president added.
Geagea demands removal of 'illegal arms' from Nabatieh to
secure ceasefire
Naharnet/September 09/2026
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea expressed deep concern Wednesday that
Nabatieh could face the same fate as Ali al-Taher and Beaufort Castle in
southern Lebanon, calling on state authorities to strictly enforce decisions
outlawing Hezbollah’s military and security wings.
Geagea urged the government to act firmly by expelling all illegal gunmen from
Nabatieh and dismantling non-state military infrastructure to help secure a
ceasefire in and around the southern city. "The Lebanese Army must not merely
deploy (in Nabatieh)," Geagea said. "It must dismantle all illegal military and
security structures within its operational zones and enforce its exclusive
authority, in line with decisions taken by the Lebanese government."A total of
27 people were killed and 69 others wounded in the Nabatieh region from the
weekend into Monday.
Geagea: Duty of Lebanese to stand with KSA in face of
heinous attacks
Naharnet/September 09/2026
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday stated that “just as the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has always stood by Lebanon during every crisis it has
faced, it is our duty, as Lebanese people, to stand united with the Kingdom as
it faces heinous and bloody attacks."
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels targeted oil facilities in south Saudi Arabia
in recent days, wounding dozens, as deadly fighting and Saudi airstrikes renewed
in Yemen after a Houthi offensive towards the Red Sea's Bab al-Mandab
chokepoint.
"We have been closely monitoring events in the Gulf since day one. The last
thing we expected was for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be subjected to such
attacks; it has never been a military party to the ongoing conflict, even though
it holds clear political stances and alliances -- a natural right for any
sovereign, free, and independent state," Geagea said.
He emphasized that "the Kingdom has spared no effort, at various stages, to
de-escalate tensions in the region, only to be 'rewarded' with extremely
dangerous attacks that defy all logic and reason."He concluded: "In any case, it
is a source of pride for the Kingdom that nearly all nations of the world --
including countries close to Iran -- have condemned the attacks against it and
expressed their solidarity."
Shiites need guarantees to disarm, al-Khatib reportedly
told Issa
Naharnet/September 09/2026
The Head of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council, Sheikh Ali al-Khatib, told U.S.
Ambassador Michel Issa that Lebanon's Shiite community did not take up arms by
choice, but out of necessity to confront Israeli occupation, Al-Liwaa newspaper
reported Wednesday.
During their Tuesday meeting, Khatib rejected designations labeling the Shiite
community as "terrorists." He emphasized that Shiites are open to resolving the
thorny issue of disarmament, "provided they are given security guarantees and
protection to safeguard their future and survival in Lebanon", the daily added.
Issa had said Tuesday after the meeting that the U.S. wants "the interest of the
Shiite community" and the return of residents to their homes in southern
Lebanon.
Report: Hezbollah won't give Netanyahu what he wants for
elections
Naharnet/September 09/2026
Hezbollah has conveyed to relevant parties that it will not grant Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “what he wants, at the timing he desires, merely to
serve his electoral calculations,” a prominent political source said. “The
military silence it is maintaining is not without reason,” the source told
al-Joumhouria newspaper. The source added that Netanyahu seeks escalation to
improve his standing, particularly after opinion polls began to favor his rival,
Gadi Eizenkot. The source also expressed concern that the outbreak of war “could
become a strong possibility later this month if the limited escalation Netanyahu
is currently pursuing fails to close the (electoral) gap.”
From an October 7 warning to Lebanon tensions: Pressure
mounts on Netanyahu
LBCI/September 09/2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to dismiss as a “false
accusation” a report that could deal him a major political blow ahead of
parliamentary elections on October 27. The report, published by Israeli
newspaper Haaretz, said Netanyahu received a secret phone call from UAE
President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan just days before October 7,
warning him that Hamas was preparing a major attack against Israel.
According to the newspaper’s investigation, a UAE representative provided
Netanyahu with an encrypted phone that was used for the call and destroyed
immediately afterward. Haaretz reported that Netanyahu ignored the warning and
did not pass the information on to Israeli security agencies. The report could
have significant electoral implications, prompting Netanyahu to file a
defamation lawsuit against Haaretz. The controversy comes as Israel’s election
campaign officially gets underway with the submission of candidate lists. It has
also heightened concerns among Israeli security and military officials that
Netanyahu could seek to escalate tensions, particularly on the Lebanon and West
Bank fronts. The developments come as the Israeli military continues large-scale
exercises involving all of its units, simulating infiltration scenarios
targeting Israel by air, land and sea. Meanwhile, orders have been issued to
reinforce Israeli forces along the Lebanon front and reduce military leave. An
Israeli security report also indicated that Hezbollah is preparing for what it
described as guerrilla warfare. Military intelligence assessments suggest such
tactics could include planting explosive devices, using explosive drones, and
potentially carrying out attacks against Israeli military positions.
Nabatieh on edge as Lebanese army steps up presence amid
fears of Israeli strikes
LBCI/September 09/2026
A cautious calm has prevailed for nearly 48 hours, accompanied by an increased
deployment of the Lebanese army through mobile and fixed patrols. One patrol was
stationed in Nabatieh’s market as part of the army’s duties in areas not
occupied by Israel.
The increased army presence came after President Joseph Aoun contacted the mayor
of Nabatieh, who told LBCI that he stressed to the president the importance of
the army’s presence to encourage residents to return and provide reassurance.
That reassurance was expressed by one woman in her own way, as she distributed
maamoul pastries to welcome the army. Military sources said the increased
deployment came in response to residents’ demands. LBCI information indicates
that it coincided with political efforts to support the move. After Israel
announced that it had taken control of Ali al-Taher Hill, concerns grew that
Nabatieh could be targeted, prompting intensified political contacts with
Washington and Gulf countries to help keep the city out of the conflict.
According to LBCI information, a decision was made to strengthen the army’s role
in Nabatieh following an agreement between President Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf
Salam, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. The move aims to protect the city and
remove any Israeli pretext for targeting it on the grounds that activities
outside state control were taking place there. Diplomatic sources welcomed the
move, stressing that protecting the city requires an effective and intensified
army presence on the ground. In this context, more than 600 figures from
Nabatieh signed an appeal holding Israel responsible for the crimes committed
and holding anyone who made such choices or remained silent about them
accountable for their decisions. They called for strengthening the Lebanese
army’s presence in the city to prevent Israeli forces from entering it.
However, according to the sources, there are still no guarantees that
Nabatieh will be spared from being targeted.
Retired soldiers turn up the heat as Lebanon debates 2027
budget
LBCI/September 09/2026
Retired military personnel waited in the square while their representatives, led
by Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz and Brig. Gen. Bassam Yassine, discussed their
demands with the deputy prime minister and the ministers of finance, defense and
interior. But the wait in the square was far from calm. Tires were set on fire
and smoke billowed near the Grand Serail. Voices grew louder as protesters moved
toward the gate leading to the government headquarters, where army personnel
were deployed. The distance to the entrance narrowed, and tensions mounted,
while there was still no answer from the meeting.
The protesters came after deciding to escalate their action as discussions on
the 2027 budget began. They fear the budget could be approved while their
demands remain outside its allocations. They are seeking to include salary and
wage reforms and their cost in the budget, restoring the real value of their
salaries to what they were before 2019. To press this demand, they announced
plans to prevent the Cabinet from convening. Roukoz
and Yassine returned to the square, where protesters gathered around them to
hear the outcome. But the positive tone still needed to be backed by figures.
Roukoz said the cost was still being determined with the Finance Ministry and
that the next steps would depend on the outcome, while calling for de-escalation
at this stage.Tensions eased in Riad al-Solh Square, but attention remained
focused on what comes next. Those who waited today for their representatives to
return are now waiting for the negotiations to translate into changes to their
pensions, hoping that their years of service will no longer mean fighting a new
battle every month just to make a living.
Lebanese Army: Continued Israeli attacks threaten
stability, hinder military efforts
LBCI/September 09/2026
The Lebanese Army said continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon are threatening
stability and hindering its efforts to carry out commitments under the framework
agreement. In a statement, the Army Command said
Israel had intensified strikes on residential areas and institutions in recent
days, killing and wounding a large number of people. It said at least 12 people,
including women and children, were killed in the latest attack in Kfar Roummane,
Nabatieh.The army said the strikes, along with continued demolitions and
explosions in southern Lebanon, violate Lebanese sovereignty and international
law and threaten existing agreements. It said it has been ready to fulfill its
commitments since the framework agreement was signed and has taken measures to
establish operational control in designated areas in coordination with the
Military Coordination Group for Lebanon, although the stages of the plan and
subsequent steps have not yet been fully agreed upon.The army said it
established six permanent checkpoints and 13 observation posts around Zawtar
al-Gharbiyeh, Froun and Srifa and has been conducting round-the-clock patrols.
Military units have also seized about 1,818 weapons and munitions,
including 10 rocket launchers, seven rockets, six drones, 51 projectiles, 10
aerial bombs and 1,560 pieces of light ammunition, as well as mines and
explosive devices. Troops also cleared around 12 kilometers of roads and
searched several homes with the consent of their owners.
The army said these measures allowed it to establish operational control
and manage movement into and out of the area. In Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, about 70%
of residents have been able to return to inspect their property, but only 16% —
around 60 of 450 families — have been able to resettle. The army said 85% of
homes were completely destroyed and the remaining 15% were partially damaged by
Israel. The army said Israel, in contrast, has committed around 7,700 violations
since the framework agreement was signed on June 26, 2026, including firing near
Lebanese troops and patrols. It said the latest attacks have triggered renewed
displacement from areas previously considered safe and argued that ending
Israeli attacks and violations is essential for the army to complete its
deployment and carry out its responsibilities under the framework agreement.
Joint Saudi-American diplomacy reduced Lebanon escalation, report says
Naharnet/September 09/2026
Joint Saudi-American diplomatic efforts over the past 24 hours have succeeded in
de-escalating tensions in southern Lebanon following direct U.S. engagement with
Israel, local media reported. U.S. sources told al-Jadeed that meetings between
American and Saudi officials focused on the Lebanese file, with Riyadh backing
the Lebanese government's demands to secure a permanent solution. A separate
report published Wednesday in Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said that President
Joseph Aoun had intensively urged U.S. officials to press Israel into halting
its military campaign. According to ministerial sources close to the president,
Washington responded by contacting Israeli officials to contain the escalation
in southern Lebanon. The diplomatic outreach involved U.S. Ambassador to Beirut
Michel Issa, alongside Lebanese Ambassador to Washington Nada Hamadeh Moawad,
the daily said.
What Options Does Hezbollah Have in Dealing with Israeli
Escalation?
Beirut: Paula Astih/Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
Hezbollah finds itself facing an increasingly difficult equation as Israeli
escalation in South Lebanon has widened in recent days. How will the party
respond to mounting Israeli strikes without being drawn into a broader
confrontation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be seeking
either to postpone Israel’s elections or improve his prospects in them. At the
same time, Hezbollah is facing growing pressure from its support base, which is
bearing the brunt of the strikes and demanding a response capable of deterring
Tel Aviv. Yet the group’s options appear largely constrained by regional
developments, particularly the course of US-Iran negotiations, as well as
domestic political calculations in Lebanon.
A response could benefit Netanyahu
Sources familiar with Hezbollah’s position said the Iran-backed party has
largely avoided signaling whether it intends to retaliate or continue exercising
restraint and adhering unilaterally to the ceasefire agreement. They told Asharq
Al-Awsat that Hezbollah is currently focusing on holding the Lebanese
authorities responsible for addressing the situation, noting that the group had
previously called on the government to engage in dialogue over the expanding
Israeli offensive and the failure of negotiations. The sources see no indication
so far that Hezbollah may make a military response. They argue that one
objective of Israel’s widening offensive is to provoke Hezbollah and Iran into
retaliating and trigger a broader war, which could benefit Netanyahu electorally
or help him postpone the polls.
Limited ability to confront Israel
Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of
Beirut, took a different view, saying Hezbollah has no options left because its
military power has collapsed, particularly after its decision to hand over Ali
al-Taher — “a symbol of its pride” — to Israel rather than surrender it to the
Lebanese army. “Hezbollah lacks the ability not only to fight Israel, but even
to provoke it,” Khashan told Asharq Al-Awsat. “It sent two drones, and we saw
the results.”The academic believes the party’s current priority is to retain its
weapons domestically after its military role in confronting Israel has
effectively ended, although Hezbollah “insists on living in denial.” He expects
Israeli escalation to continue ahead of the heated elections, saying it will not
be confined to Lebanon but could extend to the West Bank, Gaza and southern
Syria, amid continued threats of strikes against Iran.
“As for America’s ability to pressure Israel, it appears limited,” Khashan
noted, saying this means an expansion of Israeli operations into Lebanon's Bekaa
Valley cannot be ruled out.
Three options for Hezbollah
Retired Lebanese army Brig. Gen. Mounir Shehadeh offered a different assessment,
identifying three options available to Hezbollah. “The first is a broad, direct
military response,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat. “This is the option that could give
Israel the pretext it is seeking to expand its target list, take the escalation
deeper into Lebanon and perhaps strike Lebanese infrastructure. It is therefore
a high-cost option.”The second is to refrain entirely from responding. That also
carries a price because Israel could interpret it as evidence that it can impose
new realities without paying a cost, particularly following the escalation over
Ali al-Taher and the continuing strikes, he explained. The third option is a
calibrated, limited response. “In my view, this is the most logical option if
the group decides to respond,” Shehadeh said. Such action would seek to
establish the principle that “aggression carries a cost” without triggering an
all-out confrontation, he went on to say. Hezbollah could simultaneously
maintain a policy of ambiguity by declining to claim every operation,
particularly if it wanted to preserve room for political maneuver. Shehadeh said
Hezbollah may be facing a more complicated calculation: whether to respond to
Israel now or wait until the direction of US-Iran negotiations becomes clearer.
Waiting for the outcome of those talks would not necessarily mean surrendering
or remaining passive, he noted. Instead, Hezbollah could defer a major response
while keeping the option of limited retaliation open, since a broad
confrontation at this stage could benefit Israel more than the party and give it
an opportunity to widen the war before the regional picture becomes clearer.
Shehadeh expects Hezbollah to avoid, in the near term, initiating a major
response that could trigger an all-out war. At the same time, the group cannot
indefinitely tolerate continued Israeli escalation without responding. He
stressed that the most realistic scenario is to contain the escalation, monitor
developments on the ground, take into account the US-Iran diplomatic track and
keep open the option of a limited, carefully calibrated response if Israel
crosses certain lines.
Falsified History and Its Consequences
Colonel Charbel Barakat/September 09/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157359/
When discussing the changes that took place in our region during the nineteenth
century—which led to the absence of the Emirate's role in managing Lebanese
affairs—we find that the Ottoman Empire's attempt to eliminate the Druze Ma'nid
Emirate after Fakhr al-Din II the Great (who laid the groundwork for Lebanon's
independence, even as he continued paying taxes to the Empire) gradually reduced
the role of local authority in favor of greater power for the governors.
However, despite shifts in their spheres of control, these governors could
neither secure complete mastery over Lebanese geography, nor pay the required
dues to the Empire, nor establish security. This was true even after they ousted
the Druze Ma'nids and replaced them in power with their Sunni Chehab relatives,
believing the conflict was specifically with the Druze rather than with the
Lebanese as a whole.
Over the course of a century—during which the Ottoman administrative machine
tried to impose its dominance by engineering obstacles for the Chehab Emir to
prevent him from establishing control—Emir Bashir II came to power. He managed,
in one way or another, to unify the regions, master the situation, and restore
independence across the entire Mount Lebanon. He imposed his authority by force
and barred the governors from interfering; in fact, he attempted to break free
from Istanbul’s authority by allying with Egypt’s Ibrahim Pasha during his
campaign against the Sublime Porte. As a result, the Emirate's army entered
Damascus for the first time and contributed to maintaining security and
stability throughout the Egyptian campaign.
However, British fears of the Russian Tsar intervening to support the Sultan led
to pressure on Muhammad Ali Pasha to halt the Egyptian offensive. He was forced
to accept the Sultan’s offer: recognition as the hereditary, permanent ruler of
Egypt in exchange for stopping the advance. The chief incentive offered by the
Great Powers was that Egypt would open itself to European civilization, enter it
through the front door, and begin collaborating on modern state administration,
the opening of the Suez Canal, and other development projects—far removed from
the chaos and widespread bribery that plagued the Empire. Part of the Ottoman
conditions was that Europe abandon Emir Bashir Chehab and replace him with one
of his relatives; yet the Empire's primary goal remained the elimination of an
independent Lebanon and its return to the Ottoman fold.
European powers, whose consuls closely monitored every detail, prevented the
return of direct Ottoman control and interference in Lebanese affairs.
Consequently, a human crisis had to be manufactured to justify Ottoman
intervention. The Ottoman intelligence apparatus engineered a vertical split
among the Lebanese by igniting a conflict between the Maronites and the
Druze—the two main pillars of the Emirate. By buying allegiance, spreading
disinformation, and stoking sectarian strife—tensions that began brewing in 1840
and peaked in 1860—France was forced to send a military expedition to help
restore security and ease public suffering. This led to the creation of the
Mutasarrifate system, which curbed irregular conduct and restrained the hatred
cultivated by Ottoman intelligence. Later, certain prominent Druze figures
emerged among those recruited by Ottoman intelligence (the Special Organization
/ Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa). They maintained control over the Druze leadership to
prevent a reunion between the two factions tha
formed the backbone of an independent Lebanon—a pattern that persisted through
World War I and beyond.
The Special Organization also operated within the Shia community and recruited
collaborators, though they were less prominent than those in Mount Lebanon
because the Empire directly administered the regions outside the Emirate in the
South and the Beqaa. Hence, we see the situation escalate following the defeat
of the Ottoman armies at the end of World War I. Ottoman officers rejected
demobilization orders and allied with the Bolsheviks in exchange for distracting
Allied forces and keeping them from aiding the White Army, which was still
fighting outside Russia's major cities. Lenin poured vast sums of money and
weapons into these factions to spark uprisings and anti-Allied movements across
Cilicia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and ultimately Palestine. Religious slogans
served as the driving force, and Ottoman officers were the commanders: from
Yusuf al-'Azma in Damascus (who aborted King Faisal’s project to rule Syria), to
groups of Iraqi officers, to Haj Amin al-Husseini of Jerusalem, who led the
uprising in Palestine, fled to Lebanon, joined the attempted coup against Faisal
in Iraq, and eventually escaped to Italy. There, al-Husseini allied with
Britain's enemies and accepted a personal mandate from Hitler to recruit Bosnian
Muslims to fight alongside German forces during World War II.
These historical realities were never presented or examined by the leftist
thought that dominated universities, nor by the countries influenced by Gamal
Abdel Nasser's project. Abdel Nasser and his comrades failed to feed the
Egyptian people, choosing instead to exploit the Palestinian plight.
Palestinians were driven from their homes by the obstinacy of the clique that
inherited Amin al-Husseini, wept over Yusuf al-'Azma, and took shelter under
Soviet doctrines. This clique never abandoned Hitlerian rhetoric to control the
masses and suppress productivity, reducing the public to hungry mouths dependent
on the ruler for sustenance. The ruler then marched them toward their doom or
plundered the hard-working, productive members of society, keeping the people
blind to the truth and preventing them from reaching an understanding with their
neighbors to resolve conflicts and focus on productivity—the only true path to
building a stable society.
Falsified history teaches us that imperialism is always the root cause of every
problem—a Soviet narrative dating back to Lenin. It conveniently ignores what
the Soviets themselves did in Eastern Europe and in the countries they
dominated, where they impoverished the populace and extinguished the spirit of
initiative. This distorted history then tries to convince us that Lebanon must
serve as an arena for regional conflicts simply because it belongs to the Arab
world and must fight on its behalf. At the same time, it turns a blind eye to
those claiming to represent the largest Lebanese community while selling
themselves to the malice emanating from Persia—imposing foreign hegemony on our
land by spilling the blood of our children. Then, from beneath the rubble they
brought upon their own devastated community, they appeal to the very Lebanese
they humiliated and whose state they destroyed, begging to be rescued from the
predicament they created. Yet they continue to issue threats, refusing to admit
their grave error or show regret for actions they intend to repeat in new forms.
Falsified history, ignorance, and baseless hatred are what embroiled the
Lebanese in wars that not only destroyed their homes and displaced their
children, but continue to poison minds with
malice and resentment—forces that build nothing, create no jobs, and foster no
productivity. Those who still defend the remnants of the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) and parrot their false narratives pose a greater danger to
Lebanon and the region than the IRGC itself. They will shift their allegiance
the moment power changes hands. Tomorrow, they will defend the Muslim
Brotherhood—who destroyed Gaza and will destroy Damascus—and lecture us, like
traitorous, resentment-driven historians, claiming that the fault lay with
Lebanon's open system of governance and its soft, parental approach among
citizens of a single homeland.
Consider a small example frequently raised by self-styled "Francophiles," who
argue that France killed Algerians and is therefore obligated to host them.
Without defending France or holding any stake in the matter, we ask: why are
Algerians seeking refuge in France today when their own country possesses vast
oil and gas reserves? Their narrative was that France was stealing their wealth,
yet France left over sixty years ago, leaving behind resources that were not
even fully exploited during the colonial era. Why leave and curse France while
simultaneously seeking refuge there? The answer lies in a culture accustomed to
destruction rather than construction—a nomadic mindset that consumes available
resources until they are exhausted, then moves on to exhaust another place.
Finally, regarding the disruptions caused by retired military personnel
demanding higher payouts: it would have been far more appropriate for them to
take to the streets demanding that Hezbollah's weapons be surrendered to the
Lebanese Army, and that the army fulfill its duty to secure state sovereignty
across all territories. Instead, they hesitate behind weak slogans, disrupting
the state today and covering up the failure of an armed militia whose own base
has begun to revolt against it. They are paving the way for the militia to
return to the streets, just as they did during the 2019 uprising that harmed the
country rather than saving it—all under the persistent demand for higher pay and
greater benefits. Regrettably, you are not the ones who understand the country's
best interests; you remain driven by the armed militia's rabble, while its
henchmen hide behind you.
Lebanon: Interlocking Crises Postpone Stability
Rami al-Rayes/Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
The division among the Lebanese is not over matters of detail or marginal
questions in national life. It is over strategic choices. How do we liberate the
land from the Israeli occupation, which some believe we brought upon ourselves
once again? How do we implement the decision to confine weapons to the hands of
the Lebanese state? What is the future of Lebanese-Syrian relations,
particularly after the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024? How are
depositors' savings to be returned, some six years after the largest financial
collapse? And other such fateful, central questions, to which few have been able
to offer any decisive answer. The Lebanese may have
taken heart at the restoration of the constitutional institutions' working order
with the election of General Joseph Aoun to the presidency in January 2025,
after years in which obstruction was the defining feature of the situation,
delaying and stalling a great many decisions. But the nature of Lebanon's
complex composition suggests that even the functioning of institutions requires
a minimum of national understanding- without that meaning, in any way, an
acceptance of the idea of obstruction, or a justification of it.
It is true that the balance of power has changed, and that the mechanism for
taking decisions has become more fluid in one particular place, which is what
running the machinery of government and the state requires. But this does not
mean the capacity to implement those decisions is marked by the same fluidity.
Major decisions have been taken, particularly on confining weapons to the hands
of the state and on making Beirut a city free of weapons. These are sound
decisions in terms of the very concept of a state and of extending its control
over the whole of its territory, as is the practice in every country in the
world. Yet putting them into effect does not look easy in light of an internal
intransigence driven by external backing.
The point here, of course, is not to signal a return to the earlier formulas of
what was called consociational democracy- which is supposed to be among the most
refined forms of democracy, in that it forecloses any group's feeling wronged or
marginalized, on condition that the group does not exploit it to obstruct and
paralyze the work of institutions, as happened in Lebanon during the years
following the Syrian military withdrawal in 2005 and Hezbollah's domination of
Lebanese political decision-making. The political exploitation of this
consociational character effectively disabled Lebanese democratic life and drew
it into conflicts that came close to civil war- the May 2008 assault on the
capital being one example.
The Lebanese have grown weary of practices that scattered any possibility of
real progress in developing their fragile democracy, afflicted as it is by the
sectarian and confessional taint summoned up at every juncture and every turning
point, and that drew them into unending wars- wars that cost them the historic
achievement of 2000, when the Israeli army withdrew from the occupied Lebanese
territories without condition or reservation, without signing a peace treaty or
even an agreement on security arrangements.
Yet with all this, and with the legitimacy of the Lebanese longing for
deliverance, there is no escape from holding firm. Deliverance cannot come at
any price, and however it may be. There are national principles and givens that
cannot be leapt over or looked away from, and they concern the liberation of the
occupied land- which constitutes some 6 percent of Lebanon's area and takes in
more than 60 villages from which some 200,000 Lebanese citizens have been
displaced- as well as the need to halt the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, which
cannot be reduced to the strategic hill of Ali al-Taher.
And with the emergence of the dilemma of "handing over weapons or withdrawal
first," years will pass before Lebanon recovers its full stability. It will go
on walking the edge of an internal explosion fed by the divisions over the
strategic choices noted in the opening lines of this article, and the Lebanese
of the south will pay a doubled price for choices they had no part in framing- a
repeated settling of bills that have been coming due for a very long time.
The most important thing is that the Lebanese should grasp that the
balance of power has changed. If what is required of certain parties is that
they stop denying these changes and stop carrying out foreign agendas
unconnected to the Lebanese national interest, what is equally required of other
parties is that they not draw strength from an external enemy in order to fall
upon a domestic party, however deep their disagreement with it- because doing so
would transfer the conflict into Lebanon itself and prepare the ground for civil
conflicts that are endless and pointless, a tedious and lethal repetition of
earlier experiences whose blood has not yet dried.
Geagea’s Three Silences: Taef, Peace, Federalism
Elissa El Hachem/Now Lebanon/September 09/2026
Samir Geagea’s speech at the fiftieth anniversary of the Lebanese Forces was, in
the truest sense, a patriotic one. He aimed his arrows directly at the
presidency and the government, demanding action rather than decisions and
speeches, and criticizing the army’s inaction in implementing the government’s
own decisions. This was not the language of a man protecting turf. It was the
language of someone holding the state to its own stated commitments.
But patriotism that stops short of naming where the road actually leads is only
half a position. Across a speech covering the war, the Framework Agreement,
sovereignty, and ending “the cycle of wars,” one word never appears, not once,
in reference to Israel, across some twenty-two pages.
But patriotism that stops short of naming where the road actually leads is only
half a position. Across a speech covering the war, the Framework Agreement,
sovereignty, and ending “the cycle of wars,” one word never appears, not once,
in reference to Israel, across some twenty-two pages. He asks what Lebanon will
practically do to stop the war. He insists Lebanon must fall in line with Arab
and international consensus on disarmament. But he never names the actual
endpoint that consensus is built around: normalization, a settlement, Peace.
Nor does he address the Taef Accord, or the growing calls, including from within
his own broader political camp, for constitutional change, federalism among
them, as a response to a war whose costs fell so unevenly across the country. A
speech this detailed on institutions, on the army, on the presidency, had every
opportunity to engage the question of what comes after the war constitutionally.
It didn’t.
Neither silence is an oversight. A speaker this precise, who quotes Iran’s own
parliament against itself, who distinguishes the State from the Statelet from
the deep state, does not accidentally skip the one word that would complete his
own argument, or the one structural question a war like this should have
reopened. The two are related in a way that matters: both are questions the
region’s power brokers, foremost among them Saudi Arabia, have their own settled
answers to, answers that stop well short of an open peace with Israel or a
redrawn Lebanese constitution. A speech this carefully built rarely leaves two
such specific gaps by accident. It leaves them because saying either word out
loud would put Geagea ahead of positions his regional backers have not yet taken
publicly themselves.
That caution sits oddly next to the speech’s boldest material. His deep-state
framing is genuinely sharp — not the usual binary of “state versus Hezbollah,”
but a residue Syrian tutelage left behind: a network of loyalists embedded
inside the judiciary, security services, and state institutions, now repurposed
to serve Iran’s proxy. He backed it with specifics: Hezbollah using Raouche Rock
for a partisan rally days after the Prime Minister restricted use of symbolic
public sites; the Foreign Minister excluded from official visits; a former
Iranian ambassador granted residency by one government body months after being
declared persona non grata by another. His sharpest weapon was borrowed from
Tehran itself: citing Iran’s own parliament speaker, who put Hezbollah’s toll at
over four thousand dead fighting for Iran, against Iran’s own thirty-eight days
in the war. It’s devastating precisely because Geagea didn’t have to argue it,
Iran said it.But the substance is not new, and that raises the harder question:
what follows this criticism? He delivered a comparably forceful version of this
same warning at the 2024 martyrs’ mass, declaring then too that the situation
could not continue as it was. Two years on, the diagnosis is identical, and the
deep state he describes is, by his own account, still fully intact. A warning
repeated on schedule stops being a warning and becomes a ritual. If a year of
unmet demands produces only another year of demands, the question is no longer
whether Geagea is right. It’s whether being right is doing any work at all.
The speech is also almost entirely black-and-white, except once. On Hezbollah
and the deep state, Geagea does not hedge. But on Haykal, as on the presidency
and government, he pairs criticism with reassurance, needling the Army
Commander’s pace of reform while still standing behind the institution and the
man leading it. The speech is also almost entirely
black-and-white, except once. On Hezbollah and the deep state, Geagea does not
hedge. But on Haykal, as on the presidency and government, he pairs criticism
with reassurance, needling the Army Commander’s pace of reform while still
standing behind the institution and the man leading it. It’s the one real seam
in an otherwise uncompromising speech: full bluntness for the adversary he names
outright, a cushioned version for the institutions, and the allies, he still
needs.
None of this makes Geagea wrong. The deep state is real and the criticism of
state inaction is fair. But a diagnosis this precise, paired with silences this
deliberate, is not an oversight to be corrected in next year’s speech. It is a
choice about how far Geagea is willing to go alone, and it is a smaller choice
than it should be. The Lebanese Forces are, by any regional measure, the largest
and most organized Christian political force in the Middle East, a status that
could carry a vision for Christian presence and influence across the region, not
just Lebanon’s cabinet math. A speech this consequential, from a party with that
much regional weight, chose to sound like a local party defending its ministries
rather than a movement speaking to the historic role it claims for itself.
**Elissa E Hachem is a journalist and political writer specializing in regional
affairs and governance. Former Regional Media Advisor at the U.S. State
Department’s Arabic Regional Media Hub, with broad experience in strategic
communication across government and private sectors.
Israel claims control of Ali al Taher after weeks of
Hezbollah attacks and failed handover efforts
David Daoud/FDD's Long War Journal/September 09/2026
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on September 3 that its 36th Division
had cleared Hezbollah personnel from two underground routes beneath south
Lebanon’s Ali al Taher Ridge, the site of a strategic underground installation
built by the group, and achieved “operational control” above and below ground.
The reported takeover occurred despite a lull in the fighting between Israel and
Hezbollah that has been in effect since June 19. The
IDF said the Ali al Taher installation had been built over two decades with
Iranian financing and planning. The underground complex was massive — allegedly
containing command and weapons rooms, generators, living quarters, showers, and
a kitchen — and took weeks to clear, with some Hezbollah personnel being killed
and others fleeing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said on September 4 that the ridge no longer threatened Israel.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said that capturing Ali al Taher completed Israel’s
effort to establish control over its self-declared south Lebanon security zone
and that Israeli troops would remain there until Hezbollah was disarmed. An IDF
source later reportedly told Maariv that troops found 15 bodies inside the
tunnels — but neither the report nor the IDF identified them or provided
evidence. Israeli claims remain independently
unconfirmed. A retired Lebanese general told Reuters on September 3 that an
Israeli “ring of fire” prevented the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) or others from
reaching the ridge. On September 4, an Associated Press photographer viewing it
from nearby Kfar Rumman saw no visible Israeli military presence there. An LAF
official then told Reuters that Israel had seized the tunnels’ southern
entrances and monitored their northern approaches with drones but said it was
unclear how deeply Israeli troops had penetrated the installation or whether
Hezbollah fighters remained inside. Hezbollah’s
Islamic Resistance, meanwhile, claimed that the ridge remained free of Israeli
troops and that its fighters were still deployed there. Hezbollah’s Loyalty to
the Resistance bloc MP Ihab Hamadeh questioned Israel’s claim to have taken the
installation, citing the absence of imagery proving entry, while simultaneously
arguing that even Israeli control “is neither a disaster in military terms, nor
the end of the road.” On September 4, the IDF said Hezbollah launched an
explosive drone toward Israeli troops and that Israel responded with strikes
against Hezbollah personnel and infrastructure, including around Ali al
Taher.Control of Ali al Taher is strategically significant. The roughly
600-meter-high ridge overlooks Nabatieh, Iqlim al Tuffah, surrounding valleys,
and routes linking the Israel-Lebanon frontier to Hezbollah positions farther
north. Israeli assessments describe the underground complex as a command hub for
Hezbollah’s Badr Unit, responsible for the area from Nabatieh toward Sidon and
the Awali River.
Israel began focusing heavily on the ridge during fighting with Hezbollah in
June 2026. Operations around Ali al Taher and nearby Kfar Tebnit proved costly.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed on June 19 when their tank was struck, most
likely by an anti-tank missile and/or an explosive drone. Another soldier was
killed, and 13 were wounded the following day in Hezbollah rocket-and-drone
attacks.
The US-mediated June 26 Israel-Lebanon Framework Agreement halted major
IDF-Hezbollah fighting before Israel destroyed the entire underground complex at
Ali al Taher. Israel then sought to isolate the remaining tunnels, striking, it
said, Hezbollah personnel trying to escape or bring reinforcements. On July 29,
the IDF accused Hezbollah of another explosive-drone attack there, which
Hezbollah did not claim and an unnamed Hezbollah source implicitly denied.
Israeli reporting said the incident prompted renewed discussion of storming the
complex.
By mid-August, Hezbollah was publicly declaring that it would hold Ali al Taher
and resist any Israeli attempt to seize it. MP Hassan Ezzedine, dismissing the
June Framework as “stillborn,” called the installation “one of the basic
positions of the resistance” on August 18, said that Hezbollah would not
relinquish it, welcomed possible Iranian assistance, and said that Tehran “may
draw a new equation regarding Ali al Taher.” On August 22, Hezbollah Political
Council deputy chairman Mahmoud Qmati said Hezbollah would give the political
process time and was “studying all options,” while holding the position and
resisting any Israeli advance. Qmati also denied that Iranian fighters were
embedded with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon after claims emerged of Iranian
personnel at Ali al Taher. A senior Israeli official later said no Iranian
advisers or officers were found inside the cleared tunnels.
Iran nevertheless entered the dispute. Three officials briefed on a mid-August
message told Reuters that Tehran warned Washington, through Oman, that a
“full-fledged Israeli offensive” on Ali al Taher would trigger a “large-scale
Iranian attack.” Two regional officials briefed by Tehran said that more than a
dozen Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel, including at least two
senior officers, were with Hezbollah fighters at the ridge. Reuters did not
establish whether they were inside the tunnels or fighting. One source said that
US pressure caused Israel to postpone storming the ridge. A White House official
called the account “not accurate,” and Israeli officials later denied that
outside pressure halted the operation. Washington, however, has previously
pressed Israel for restraint in Lebanon: President Donald Trump intervened on
June 2 to halt planned strikes in Beirut and on June 17 urged Netanyahu to use a
“softer touch” against Hezbollah. Iran had previously
treated attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon as grounds for direct retaliation. After
Israel’s April 8 strikes in Lebanon, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher
Ghalibaf declared Lebanon and the “resistance front” part of the regional
ceasefire demanded by Tehran and warned of “costs and strong responses.”
Following Israel’s June 7 strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Iran fired
missiles at Israel — which the IRGC and Ghalibaf described as a retaliatory
action. Iran also formally justified its October 1, 2024 missile attack partly
as retaliation for Israel’s September 27 killing of Hezbollah Secretary-General
Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan in Beirut. Iran
has yet to retaliate over the latest developments in Ali al Taher.
Lebanon’s handling of Ali al Taher, meanwhile, exposed a gap between Beirut’s
formal obligations to restrain and disarm Hezbollah and its willingness to
enforce them. On March 2, the Council of Ministers of Lebanon banned Hezbollah
military and security activity, ordered the group to surrender its weapons,
instructed security services to arrest violators, and directed the LAF to begin
“immediately and firmly” implementing its disarmament plan north of the Litani
River.
However, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam simultaneously said Beirut was “not
seek[ing] confrontation with Hezbollah.” On March 7, LAF Commander Rodolphe
Haykal effectively refused to disarm Hezbollah coercively. In the LAF’s official
statement, Haykal said LAF command decisions would prioritize preserving
Lebanese national unity, while the solution to Hezbollah’s arms was “not
military only.” President Joseph Aoun likewise insisted that implementing the
state’s exclusive control over arms should proceed through bilateral dialogue
with Hezbollah “away from force,” while civil peace — effectively avoiding
confrontation with Hezbollah — was a red line.
However, the June 26 Trilateral Framework conditions progressive Israeli
withdrawal on demonstrated Lebanese sovereign control, verified disarmament of
non-state armed groups, and dismantlement of these groups’ military
infrastructure across Lebanon. UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended
the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, likewise requires exclusive Lebanese state
authority and disarmament of armed groups throughout Lebanon. The November 27,
2024, ceasefire agreement similarly requires Lebanon to restrain Hezbollah’s
military capabilities as a prelude to its total disarmament.Ali al Taher tested
Lebanon’s commitments, and bargaining had begun well before the August crisis.
In early July, Asharq Al-Awsat reported that Lebanese-US contacts had explored
an LAF entry into Ali al Taher in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal south of
the Litani. Israel reportedly accepted the proposal, but Hezbollah rejected it
after proposing that the Lebanese Army deploy around the site without entering
its underground facility.
By mid-August, Washington and Beirut were again pressing Hezbollah to evacuate
the ridge completely before an LAF deployment. Asharq Al-Awsat reported that
Hezbollah’s complete evacuation was considered necessary to advance the
framework and expand its pilot zones. These bounded areas, such as Froun, Srifa,
and Zawtar Al Gharbiyeh, were intended to test Hezbollah’s disarmament, the
dismantlement of its infrastructure, sole LAF operational control, and
third-party verification. Hezbollah refused. Rather than impose state authority
by force, Beirut pursued a negotiated handover.
On August 19, American Task Force for Lebanon President Ed Gabriel said after
meeting Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri that Berri would
personally press Hezbollah to relinquish Ali al Taher if Israel accepted an LAF
takeover rather than assaulting the ridge. Separately, in the broader
south-of-the-Litani track, Berri demanded that Washington compel Israel to halt
its attacks and withdraw to the international border before he would guarantee
an immediate LAF deployment there.
Hezbollah’s own reported proposal dovetailed with Beirut’s approach. On August
20, a Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International source said that
Hezbollah, as its ability to hold the ridge deteriorated, offered to transfer
the strategic area to the LAF—but only after recovering its personnel and
equipment. Israel rejected the arrangement. Several Hezbollah MPs then denied
that any offer had been made and said the group’s fighters would remain. Two
local sources separately rejected the Western source’s account.
By August 21, the negotiated approach had become broader Lebanese policy. Al
Binaa, citing a “reliable source,” reported that Lebanese authorities were
relaying US messages to Hezbollah and seeking a compromise under which the group
would hand Ali al Taher to the LAF. The same account said that the Lebanese Army
refused to take the ridge by force without a state-Hezbollah agreement and
guarantees that Israeli attacks would stop and Israel would withdraw from the
south.
Lebanon was also bargaining for LAF control of Ali al Taher in exchange for an
Israeli territorial concession. That same day, Al Jadeed reported that US
coordinator Joseph Clearfield was mediating a transfer of the facility to the
LAF in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from Khiam or another position “of
comparable importance.” On August 22, Al-Liwaa reported that the LAF would take
control only with clear guarantees that Israeli forces would not subsequently
enter the ridge.
By August 24, President Aoun himself was pursuing the negotiated handover. The
New Arab reported that Aoun had contacted Washington seeking an arrangement
under which Hezbollah personnel would withdraw before the LAF entered and had
informed Berri of the proposal. The LAF, meanwhile, sought US guarantees that
Israel would halt operations on and around Ali al Taher and withdraw completely
before Lebanese troops deployed there.
If the LBCI account was accurate, Hezbollah was prepared to relinquish Ali al
Taher only after extracting its personnel and materiel. Beirut’s separately
developed approach likewise sought a negotiated Hezbollah withdrawal before the
LAF entered, rather than having state forces assert their authority with or
without Hezbollah’s prior consent — in line with the March 2 decision and June
Framework.
Israel ultimately resolved the impasse militarily.
After Israel announced operational control of Ali al Taher on September 3,
Hezbollah’s Islamic Resistance claimed that its fighters remained in control. Al
Manar’s September 4 evening broadcast insisted, “The battle of Ali Al Taher has
not ended,” citing continued Israeli strikes on the ridge as evidence that
Israel had not secured it.
**David Daoud is Senior Fellow at at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
where he focuses on Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon affairs.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on September 09-10/2026
Netanyahu on Syria Visit Says ‘Very Close’ to Toppling Iran Regime
Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to Israeli troops
in southern Syria on Wednesday that Iran's regime was on the verge of collapse,
as fighting in the six-month Middle East war intensifies. "There is still work
to be done -- the main task is to bring down the terror regime in Iran. We are
very close to that. We know that the entire axis will ultimately collapse," he
said on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon on the Israel-Syria border during a
visit with Defense Minister Israel Katz. In southern Syria, Israeli forces have
been stationed in a "security zone" since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar
al-Assad in December 2024. They occupy what was previously a buffer zone
patrolled by the United Nations that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in
the Israeli-occupied Golan since 1974. "We will not
allow any terrorist army to establish itself on our border," Netanyahu
reiterated on Wednesday. Katz visited Israeli troops stationed in southern Syria
two weeks ago, prompting condemnation from Damascus, which denounced a "flagrant
violation of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity". Israel has
carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the fall of Assad and made
repeated incursions into Syrian territory. Officials
have also repeatedly vowed to keep troops in the security zone, where Israel is
seeking a broader demilitarized area. Netanyahu's threats against Iran come as
Tehran and Washington are locked in a stalemate over the strategic Strait of
Hormuz, with both sides trading attacks in the past week, six months into the
war that the US and Israel launched against Iran at the end of February.
Iran and US Hit Tankers in Biggest Wave of Attacks on
Shipping Since War Began
Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after
the US sank five Iranian oil tankers, in the biggest declared wave of
tit-for-tat attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the
six-month-old war. The attacks sent the price of oil surging, with benchmark
Brent crude futures breaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July. At
least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as
missing. Iran also said it had fired ballistic missiles at a base used by US
forces in Jordan. Attacks by both sides since the end of August have shattered a
month of relative calm, with the US and Iran hitting military, shipping and
energy assets. The Revolutionary Guards said they would sharply escalate their
response to any further attacks, hitting 20 targets if the enemy struck two or
three. Iran would soon release maps of a new, enlarged off-limits zone at sea
that would extend as far as Chabahar on the far reaches of Iran's coast near
Pakistan, the Guards said. Recent days have also seen an escalation in fighting
with the Houthis in Yemen, a second theater of war that threatens global
energy supplies from the Middle East.
VIDEO SHOWS IRANIAN TANKERS ABLAZE
The Americans said they destroyed five Iranian oil tankers overnight, releasing
video of ships ablaze before they sank. The US military's Central Command called
its attacks a response to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting a US Navy
warship twice with ballistic missiles over the previous two days. No Americans
were harmed, the US said. Washington has announced a new policy of attacking
Iranian tankers in retaliation for fire that threatens its warships, and says it
has hit 10 so far over the past week. "Iran continues to try to hit US naval
ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they're going to lose
tankers," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a visit to
Colombia. Iran said it fired on two US ships and eight tankers in response. One
seafarer was killed aboard the oil products tanker Hercules Star while at
anchorage off Dubai and another crew member was missing, the vessel's
charterer, Peninsula, said. Maritime security sources said it may have been hit
by a drone. The British maritime security agency UKMTO described a vessel in
the vicinity that was listing, possibly taking on water after being struck by a
projectile. Reuters could not immediately determine whether this referred to
the same ship. Two Iraqi port officials said a tanker carrying 2 million
barrels of fuel oil, the New Andros, had caught fire after being struck by a
drone in Iraqi waters. There were no reports of casualties among the 22 crew.
The Iraqi government confirmed the incident and said the tanker had been used
for storage. The UKMTO said it had received reports of several merchant ships
struck by disabling fire in the northern Gulf and Gulf of Oman, on either side
of the strait.
STRAIT CHOKED OFF
In recent weeks Washington had boasted of increasing success guiding tankers
through the strait, which carried a fifth of oil supplies before the war. But
any such gradual reopening appears to have been set back by a resumption of
fighting this month. Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at consultancy Rystad
Energy, said flows through Hormuz had fallen back as low as 2 million barrels
per day, having reached as high as 8 million to 9 million bpd in the week before
fighting resumed on August 30. Even more severe than the rise in crude prices
has been a surge in the cost of the fuels refined from it. The politically
sensitive average retail price of US diesel hit a fresh all-time high on
Wednesday above $5.94 a gallon. Gasoline is also more expensive than ever at
this time of the year.
Hate Speech and Attacks: What Is Happening to Iraqis in
Iran?
Baghdad: Fadhel al-Nashmi/Asharq Al Awsat/September 09/2026
Official assurances that attacks on Iraqi students at Iran’s Semnan University
have been contained have failed to quell questions over what sparked the
violence, and whether growing anti-Iraqi and anti-Arab sentiment in Iran played
a role. The questions center on whether nationalist hostility and anger over
financial and economic hardship caused by sanctions and war drove a group of
Iranians to attack Iraqi students at their residences.
News outlet Shabaka 964 quoted traders and residents in Iran as saying that “an
influential segment of Iranian society can no longer tolerate seeing even the
small numbers of Iraqis passing through Iran.”“An Iranian who supports Supreme
Leader Khamenei sees an Iraqi as being under the Trump administration’s control,
while an Iranian who supports the overthrow of the supreme leader’s regime sees
an Iraqi as a supporter of the Popular Mobilization Forces and the supreme
leader, and perhaps as someone involved in killing dissidents,” they added.
Attack begins
The incident began on Sunday when two heavily intoxicated Iranians tried to
force their way into the students’ residential building. The students confronted
the intruders and removed them from the building to prevent any misconduct and
safeguard the premises and its residents. The
situation then escalated rapidly, with about 150 people gathering around and
inside the building and attacking the Iraqi students. Several students suffered
physical harm and injuries, while their personal property was damaged and the
building’s windows were smashed as they tried to repel the attack and shelter
themselves inside. However, the Iraqi cultural attaché in Tehran denied that any
students had been injured and described the incident as a “personal” dispute
that had not been planned by the Iranian group.
Video testimonies
However, the return of some Iranians to the students’ residence the following
day lends weight to unofficial accounts that describe the attack as deliberate
and linked to resentment among some Iranians over the presence of Iraqis in the
country. Iraqi students appeared in video testimonies urging fellow students not
to leave their residences and to leave Semnan province and its university
because the area had “become dangerous and unsafe” for Iraqis.
They also said some Iranians had carried knives to attack Iraqis as they
went shopping in nearby markets.
Follow-up committee
After Iraq’s Foreign Ministry faced criticism over its delayed response to
appeals posted on social media by some of the students who were attacked, the
ministry said on Monday that it had sent a committee to Iran’s Semnan province
to follow up on the incident.The ministry said in a statement that it had
“followed with great concern the attack by a number of Iranian citizens on
several Iraqi students at their residence in Semnan province in Iran.”It added
that “Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein directed the Iraqi Embassy in Tehran to
ascertain the circumstances of the incident. The embassy sent a committee to
check on the students, liaise with the relevant Iranian authorities and follow
the course of the investigation, stressing the need for legal action against
those responsible.”The statement praised “the measures taken by the Iranian
authorities to protect the students and transport them to their university to
sit for their examinations.”
One-month leave
Following the Foreign Ministry’s statement, the Iraqi Embassy in Tehran said the
crisis involving Iraqi students in Semnan province had been contained and that
they had been granted one month’s leave. The embassy said in a statement that
“with the participation of the Iraqi Embassy and the Iraqi cultural mission, a
delegation traveled to Semnan province to examine on the ground the
circumstances of the crisis involving Iraqi students and directly assess their
situation.”It said the delegation “held meetings with university officials,
Semnan provincial officials and the relevant authorities with the aim of
addressing the aftermath of the incident and ensuring the safety of Iraqi
students.”“The crisis has been fully contained, and the Iraqi students have been
granted one month’s leave to help calm the situation and restore stability to
the university environment,” it added.
Iranian judiciary takes action
Mohammad Sadegh Akbari, head of the judiciary in Iran’s Semnan province, said on
Monday that two people involved in the attack on Iraqi students had been
identified. He said the public prosecutor in the provincial capital had issued
orders summoning them before the relevant security authority. Akbari told Iran’s
state news agency IRNA that “two people involved in the clash outside the
residence of Iraqi students at Semnan University have been identified. Judicial
investigations are continuing to identify all those responsible for the
incident, and those involved will be dealt with in accordance with the
law.”Akbari said the provincial judiciary was examining all aspects of the
incident thoroughly and that, once the investigation was complete, legal and
judicial action would be taken against anyone found to have played a role in the
clash and in the disruption of public order and security.
Attack ‘not a coincidence’
Commenting on the attack, journalist Muntazer Nasser, who spent part of his life
in Iran, said it “was not a mere coincidence” but the result of “a long series
of hate speech on Iranian social media, with no official Iraqi action to counter
it.”Nasser said in a Facebook post that he had been monitoring anti-Iraqi
rhetoric on Iranian social media since October 2025, beginning with “an
unsubstantiated accusation that an Iraqi student at the University of Hamadan
had harassed an Iranian female student, which developed into large
demonstrations across the city.”Nasser said he believed the demonstration was “a
form of protest against the Iranian regime, but fear of confronting it led
people to vent their anger by protesting against the Iraqi student.”“Hate speech
against Iraqis then resurfaced through a series of widely circulated videos
purportedly showing members of the Popular Mobilization Forces entering the
country, according to the many accounts that shared them, to suppress popular
protests.”“The rhetoric then intensified alongside images of luxury Iraqi cars
driving through Iran with Iraqi license plates, which were contrasted with the
poverty endured by Iranian society,” he added. Nasser also pointed to the
kidnapping of a considerable number of Iraqis and, most recently, the beating of
seven tourists in the northern Iranian region of Gilan about two weeks earlier
by some local residents and in full view of Iranian police, according to his
account. Nasser said the Iraqi Embassy in Tehran
“should have monitored the escalation of this rhetoric from an early stage,
drawn up a plan to counter it and warned its citizens. If it was unable to
protect them, it should have informed the Foreign Ministry so that it could
intervene at a higher level.”
Iran condemns US attacks on tankers as threat to
regional security
Agence France Presse/September 09/2026
Iran's foreign ministry on Wednesday strongly condemned U.S. strikes on its oil
tankers, describing the attacks the previous day as a threat to regional
security. "The aggressive actions by the United States
against Iranian commercial vessels not only increase the dangers of tensions in
the region but are also considered an overt threat to regional and international
peace and security," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Iranian
forces had targeted U.S. military facilities in the region in "self-defense".
Jordan Says Air Defenses Intercepted 18 out of 20 Missiles
Launched from Iran
Asharq Al Awsat/September 09/2026
The Jordanian Army said in a statement on Wednesday that its air defenses
intercepted 18 out of 20 ballistic missiles originating from Iran while two
other missiles fell in a remote area confirming that there were no casualties.
The statement quoted the army’s official spokesman as saying that “Jordanian air
defense systems had dealt with 20 ballistic missiles launched toward Jordanian
territory from Iran. Eighteen of the missiles were successfully intercepted and
destroyed, while two fell in areas away from populated areas”, he said, adding
that there were no casualties. Iran's Revolutionary Guard had earlier said that
it fired ballistic missiles at a base in Jordan used by the US military and
attacked 10 ships on Wednesday, after the US said it had destroyed five Iranian
oil tankers, in a sharp escalation of the six-month-old war.
Iran has also threatened oil tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports,
according to a statement carried by state media. IRNA quoted a message by
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as saying: “In light of the hostile
actions being carried out by the terrorist US military, including its targeting
of several oil tankers belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran, we warn all
crews of oil tankers in the vicinity of the ports of Kuwait and Bahrain, which
host these terrorists and participate in their hostile actions, and urge them to
leave their vessels immediately, whether they are in waiting areas or at the
docks, as they will be subject to attack.”US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it
destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers on Sept. 8 after Iran’s Revolutionary
Guards twice targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles. The warship
evaded the attacks and continued its patrols without any US casualties.
Iraq Weighs Moving Factions’ Weapons to Iran for Storage
Baghdad: Fadhel al-Nashmi/Asharq Al Awsat/September 09/2026
Iraq’s ruling Shiite coalition is discussing transferring powerful armed
factions’ weapons to Iran for storage, informed sources said, omitting the
politically sensitive disarmament issue from a statement after its weekly
meeting on Monday. A statement after the meeting, which was attended by Prime
Minister Ali al-Zaidi, said participants had discussed the Popular Mobilization
Forces law and “the importance of completing its enactment in a manner that
regulates its work and strengthens its role within state institutions.”They also
discussed several key pieces of legislation, foremost among them the oil and gas
law. On government formation, the Coordination Framework reviewed the ongoing
talks and stressed the need to resolve the issue of vacant portfolios. It
decided to proceed with naming the remaining ministers “to complete the
formation of the government and enable it to carry out its duties.”Meanwhile,
political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the omission of the weapons issue
from the statement was “linked to the three committees formed by the
Coordination Framework to resolve the issue of bringing all weapons under state
control.” The committees prefer to work away from
public statements and media attention, the sources said, adding that most
political party leaders, both within and outside the Coordination Framework,
agree that weapons should be placed exclusively under state control.
The sources attributed the repeated refusal by the three main factions —
Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada — to disarm to
their desire to secure guarantees that they would not face prosecution or
political exclusion. “The refusal is a negotiating
tactic ahead of subsequent talks over what they may face after September 30,”
the sources said. September 30 is the deadline set for the withdrawal of US-led
international coalition forces from Iraq and for the factions to lay down their
weapons. The sources said political discussions within
the Coordination Framework and its committees had raised the possibility of
transferring the weapons to Iran for storage, on the grounds that most of the
arsenal belongs to Tehran, which supplied the groups with it.This applies
particularly to some long-range missiles that are not available to the Iraqi
armed forces, they added. The sources said Coordination Framework forces were
taking the issue seriously because they feared US sanctions and backlash, with
Washington insisting that the matter be resolved fully and without delay or
stalling. Several factions and Coordination Framework figures had previously set
a series of conditions for disarmament that were widely regarded as impossible
to meet. They included the complete departure of international coalition forces,
the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraqi territory, the Iraqi government’s
assumption of full control over the country’s airspace and the departure from
Iraq of Kurdish opposition parties hostile to Tehran.
Israeli Foreign Minister Says No Plans to Deport
Palestinians from Gaza
Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Wednesday that the government does
not plan to deport Palestinians from Gaza, after two Israeli ministers this
month floated proposals for the mass removal of Palestinians from the coastal
territory. "We are not planning to expel or to deport anyone from (the) Gaza
Strip," Saar told a press conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
"If someone wants to immigrate (on) his own will, and there is a country
which is ready to accept him .... we will not oppose that, but we will (also)
not enforce anyone against (their) will," he said. Saar is in Slovenia to
open the Israeli embassy in Ljubljana.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said on September 2 there was "no real
solution for Gaza in the end without this migration" of Palestinians. Far-right
security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on September 3 outlined a seven-year plan
for removing Gaza's population through what he described as "voluntary
emigration." The US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has said that Israel has
no plans to force Palestinians to leave Gaza. Israel
is to hold a general election on October 27.
UK Govt Defends Decision to Ban Trade with Israeli
Settlements
Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham defended his government's decision to ban
trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, saying
that Britain was being true to its roots by taking a stand for justice. “Britain
has to stand for fairness against injustice where people are being bullied out
of their homes,” Burnham told Parliament. “We will always stand with the
underdog and take what action we can to support them.” The UK announced the ban
on Tuesday, and Israel responded by closing the British consulate in east
Jerusalem and banning 11 lawmakers from the country.
The UK’s tougher stance was followed by France and Canada’s leaders saying they
would take similar action to prevent expanding settlements and growing violence
from making it impossible to establish a future Palestinian state. Foreign
Secretary Ed Miliband said “settler terrorists” were carrying out “ethnic
cleansing” of Palestinians in the UK government’s biggest pushback to Israel
since it recognized Palestinian statehood a year ago. He said there had been
“houses bulldozed, roads and public infrastructure destroyed, families displaced
from their homes.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the “despicable” move and said
Israel would expel UK representatives from a joint military center monitoring
the Gaza ceasefire and end UK training of the Palestinian Authority’s security
forces in the West Bank.
In addition, Israel barred entry to a dozen British lawmakers and other UK
citizens whom Saar said were “involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity.”
Miliband, who is Jewish, said he was disappointed with Israel’s response and
rejected criticism from the UK’s chief rabbi, saying it would not lead to more
anti-semitism in the UK Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi in the UK, accused the
government of “gesture politics” that would bolster “the very extremism they
seek to target.” “We all need to do more to tackle antisemitism, but I believe
we can do that and stand up for British values,” Milband said.
The ban covers imports of all goods from the settlements and bars companies from
providing services for the settlements, including financing, construction,
infrastructure, real estate and advertising. It will take effect in up to nine
months. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden have pledged to
“support further action,” Miliband said. The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium,
Spain and Norway have either banned goods from settlements or are in the process
of doing so, he said. Miliband also tightened Britain’s embargo on weapons sales
to Israel for use in Gaza to include arms “that materially contribute to the
occupation” of Palestinian territories. Conservative lawmaker Bernard Jenkin
said he was concerned that the government's decision could affect counter-terror
cooperation with Israel to keep Britons safe. “We are now embarked, it seems, on
a full diplomatic dispute with Israel and tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats,”
Jenkin said. The economic impact of the ban is likely to be limited, since the
settlements produce only a small amount of largely agricultural exports. But the
move is a symbolic expression of displeasure with Israel by some of its closest
allies, and it offers a new sign of the Israeli government’s growing isolation
as a result of the Gaza war. Under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's
ultranationalist government, settlement construction in the West Bank — seized
by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — has surged. Netanyahu’s government views the
West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and is
opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state. The international community
overwhelmingly considers such construction to be illegal. Britain and other
countries have voiced particular concern about the E1 settlement project
approved by Israel, which would effectively cut the territory in two.
There have been marked increases in attacks by settlers on Palestinians,
evictions from Palestinian towns, Israeli military operations and checkpoints
that choke freedom of movement, as well as several Palestinian attacks on
Israelis.
Britain's action was applauded by former Ireland President Mary Robinson and
ex-New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, both former UN officials. The two
said the EU should follow suit. “A coordinated international defense of the
two-state solution is needed now more than ever,” they said. “Palestine must not
be erased.”
Warehouse Explosion in Northwestern Syria Kills at Least 14
Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
An explosion at a weapons warehouse in northwestern Syria killed at least 14
people and injured 11 others, state media reported Wednesday, citing the Health
Ministry. The cause of the blast near the town of
Sarmada, in Idlib province, was not immediately clear. Such incidents are a
relatively common occurrence in the country, which has been battered by over a
decade of war. The warehouse was used to store weapons and munitions left over
from the country's uprising and civil war from 2011 until 2024, the state-run
SANA news agency said, citing the Defense Ministry, without providing further
details. Civil Defense and Syrian Red Crescent first-responders are continuing
to search for survivors trapped under the rubble. A photographer for The
Associated Press at the scene saw bodies being recovered.
Video footage widely circulated after the blast showed a large plume of
black smoke, while the sounds of smaller explosions could be heard.
Yemen rebels report fresh Saudi strikes as conflict
deepens
Associated Press
Yemen's Houthi rebels reported dozens of Saudi airstrikes on Wednesday as daily
attacks continued in a conflict that has reignited during the Middle East war,
with hundreds of people killed in fighting near the Red Sea. More than 40
attacks targeted several regions including the flashpoint areas of Taiz and
Hodeida, the scene of fierce clashes between the Houthis and Saudi-backed
government, the rebels said. "It's a catastrophe, and the attacks are ongoing,"
said Mohammed Khudairi, one of nearly 20,000 who fled the fighting, according to
the International Organization for Migration. "We managed to leave, but others
remain trapped there," he said at a displacement camp of wood-and-straw huts
near Khokha, on the Red Sea coast. The latest salvos in Yemen's previously
dormant conflict come a day after the Iran-backed Houthis set oil sites ablaze
and wounded 73 in their heaviest missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia
in years. The fighting in Yemen is taking place against the backdrop of the
Middle East war, which erupted in late February with U.S.-Israeli strikes on
Iran. On Wednesday, Iran said it attacked 20 American
vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and targeted a U.S. military base in Jordan in
retaliation for U.S. strikes on Iranian oil tankers.The Middle East war has
sucked in Yemen, the energy-rich Gulf and others across the region while roiling
the world economy, as oil prices returned to $100 a barrel on Wednesday.
'Dangerous escalation' -
More than 500 people have died since the Houthis launched a major offensive last
week to seize territory around the Bab al-Mandab strait, gateway to the Red Sea
shipping route. The rebels, who have been attacking
Saudi oil tankers, are trying to tighten their squeeze on the shipments,
analysts say -- a lifeline for exports after Iran's blockade of Hormuz.
Saudi airstrikes targeted "various areas across the governorates of
Marib, Al-Jawf, Taiz and Hodeida", the rebels' Almasirah TV said on Wednesday.
There was no official comment from Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi civil defense later issued a warning for the southern governorate of
Khamis Mushait, near Yemen, but quickly lifted it. On Tuesday, Saudi authorities
vowed to respond to the Houthi attacks, saying they caused fires and temporary
shutdowns at oil sites.
The Houthis triggered the return to hostilities in July, when they let an
Iranian plane land in defiance of Saudi control of Yemeni airspace. The
government retaliated by striking the airport, an attack the rebels blamed on
its sponsor, Saudi Arabia.The ongoing exchanges risk returning Yemen to a
conflict that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and sparked one of the
world's worst humanitarian crises. The Houthis, after seizing Yemen's capital
and forcing out the internationally recognized government, fought a Saudi-led
coalition from 2015 until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in 2022. On
Tuesday, the European Union urged the Houthis to end their attacks, calling them
a "dangerous escalation".
UN Nuclear Watchdog Board Wraps up Probe into Syria’s
Past Secret Nuclear Activities
Reuters/September 09/2026
The board of the UN nuclear watchdog on Wednesday adopted a resolution ending
its investigation into past secret nuclear activities in Syria that revealed a
reactor configured to produce fissile material for possible use in nuclear
weapons.Under ousted former President Bashar Assad, Syria was believed to have
operated an extensive undeclared nuclear program that included a reactor built
by North Korea in eastern Deir Ezzor province. The
35-member board of governors of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy
Agency adopted the resolution unanimously, according to diplomats who spoke on
condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-doors vote.
Delegates could be heard applauding inside the board room as the resolution was
adopted ending the investigation after almost two decades. The resolution was
put forward by Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. In June 2011, the IAEA
Board of Governors found Syria in non-compliance with its nonproliferation
obligations for secretly constructing a nuclear reactor in Deir Ezzor and
reported the matter to the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly to
consider sanctions. Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the
safeguards agreement Syria has with the UN nuclear watchdog, Syria is legally
bound to declare all nuclear material and activities to the agency and allow
IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses.
Following Assad’s ouster in December 2024, the new authorities in Damascus
agreed to give IAEA inspectors access to suspected former nuclear sites.
Wednesday’s draft resolution, which was seen by The Associated Press,
therefore decided to “terminate” the provisions of the 2011 resolution, ending
the IAEA investigation into Syria’s non-compliance. The draft resolution,
however, underlined that Syria “remains bound” by its obligations under the
Nonproliferation Treaty and the safeguards agreement and encourages Syria “to
continue its cooperation with the Agency, including the excavation work” at the
site of the nuclear reactor. It also requested the head of the IAEA, Rafael
Grossi, to continue updating the board on the “outcomes of ongoing activities”
in Syria. The site in Deir Ezzor only became public knowledge after Israel
launched airstrikes in 2007 that destroyed the facility. Syria later leveled the
site and never responded fully to the IAEA’s questions about it.
The draft resolution welcomed “the transparency and cooperation” of Syria’s new
authorities and commended them “for the actions taken in resolving its
non-compliance.”During a visit to Syria in August, Grossi and a team of senior
inspectors observed the ongoing excavation work of the Deir Ezzor reactor. They
also inspected additional locations, including sites for fuel fabrication and
fuel storage and for planned reprocessing activities.
The IAEA chief and a team of senior agency officials also inspected a previously
undeclared site in Syria where they witnessed the unearthing of 73 tons of
natural uranium metal, of which 55 tons were in the form of fuel rods. All of
this material has been placed under IAEA surveillance measures.
The Latest LCCC analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources published
on September 09-10/2026
The New Islamic Empire: Will Turkey Inherit Iran’s Mantle?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/The Algemeiner/September 09/2026
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/op-eds/2026/09/07/the-new-islamic-empire-will-turkey-inherit-irans-mantle/
Despite being 1,000 miles apart and in different time zones, Turkey and the
Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) maintain a military partnership that operates in
direct violation of a standing UN arms embargo. Turkish combat drones initially
helped SAF reverse the tide of the civil war. However, by late summer,
counter-momentum by rival forces erased those gains, forcing Sudanese Chief of
Staff Yasir al-Atta to travel to Ankara to request expanded, urgent military
assistance from his Turkish counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu. But what is
Turkey doing intervening in Africa?
Turkey’s intervention in Sudan is not an isolated incident, but rather a window
into a massive, calculated geopolitical trajectory.
An institutional answer emerged during the anniversary of the Battle of
Manzikert, on Aug. 26. Speaking at the historic battlefield, Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan outlined an uncompromising vision for the future,
introducing concepts like the Century of Turkey. His address signaled an era of
Turkish regional military expansion and absolute dominance, utilizing harsh
warnings directed at global and regional competitors.
Erdogan openly declared that “history is being rewritten in our region” and
argued that Turkey was shaping the region. He threatened “any forces attempting
to block Turkey’s geopolitical momentum,” stating clearly that those who dream
of stopping it “will be destroyed.”To turn this imperial rhetoric into
geographical reality, Ankara has constructed a strategic military corridor
stretching deep across Africa.
In Libya, Turkish forces operate major land and naval facilities in Misrata,
alongside the strategic Al-Watiya Air Base, cementing their presence on the
Mediterranean coast.
In the Sahel, Turkey has deployed regular troops and tactical advisers to
Nigerien airfields to directly oversee drone training.
In Chad, Turkish forces now control the Abeche and Faya-Largeau military
outposts, utilizing these newly acquired installations for critical aerial
reconnaissance near unstable borders.
Further east, Erdogan signed a presidential motion extending Turkey’s armed
forces deployment in Somalia and its strategic maritime zones. His office noted
that Somalia’s security and stability are important for the entire region,
permanently solidifying a Turkish naval and military anchor in the Horn of
Africa.
Yet, Africa is merely one theater in a multi-front Turkish campaign. Syria,
Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza represent an interconnected Eastern Mediterranean front
where Ankara increasingly asserts its political and military dominance.
In Syria and Iraq, Turkey has moved past temporary cross-border incursions,
establishing permanent military bases and a continuous troop presence to
dismantle Kurdish networks and create a deep, irreversible security buffer zone.
Meanwhile, when Lebanese President Aoun visited Ankara, Erdogan offered to
deploy Turkish troops to the Lebanese border with Israel.
Like in Lebanon, Turkey offered to deploy troops to Gaza as part of the
UN’s International Security Force. Israel vetoed such deployment. Yet Ankara
continues to leverage its widespread aid networks in the strip, and firm
alignment with local leadership to position itself as an indispensable regional
broker.
This vast transregional expansion is happening despite severe economic
indicators at home that should theoretically constrain such Turkish ambition.
Turkey’s military and security budget this year spiked over 30 percent to
roughly $27.34 billion, consuming over 2.3 percent of its national GDP. Pumping
larger portions of national revenue into foreign defense means less public
funding is available to tackle domestic productivity and welfare crises. The
Turkish Central Bank forecasted a year-end inflation of 24 percent, which places
serious doubt on Ankara’s long-term ability to sustain conventional military
expansion through state coffers alone. To bypass these
fiscal limitations and avoid deploying massive, costly conventional armies,
Ankara relies heavily on the transnational ideological infrastructure of the
Muslim Brotherhood.
By cultivating tight alliances with Brotherhood-aligned movements, as seen in
Sudan, Libya, Syria, and Gaza, Turkey gains low-cost access to regional proxies,
local governance structures, and strategic territory.
In Libya, Turkey works directly through political factions in Tripoli to anchor
its permanent bases. Across Sudan and Somalia, Ankara taps into established
Islamist networks to build defense capacity and secure vital trade corridors. In
Gaza, close ideological synchronization with Hamas positions Turkey as an
indispensable regional broker, while localized extensions in Lebanon and
loyalist militias in Syria help build cross-border buffer zones.
Such strategy allows Turkey to maintain an expansive military footprint by
converting local ideological loyalty into low-cost operational sustainability.
Given this consistent pattern of behavior, Turkey is clearly working to inherit
the mantle of revolutionary Iran as the premier Islamic Empire in the Middle
East and Africa.
Ankara is replacing Tehran’s destabilized Shiite proxy network with a far more
potent, state-backed Sunni framework. Erdogan even explicitly borrowed the
classic ideological slogan traditionally used by Iran regarding global
revisionism, proclaiming that Turkey will always stand by all the downtrodden
and wronged with all its strength wherever they are in the world.
“We stand by all the downtrodden and wronged with all our strength wherever they
are in the world. We set an example for humanity with this dignified stance of
ours everywhere from Syria to Palestine to Somalia to Arakan,” the Turkish
president said.Turkey’s interventions across Africa and the Middle East are not
disconnected regional maneuvers. They are the foundational pillars of an
emerging Islamic empire.
**Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at The Foundation for the Defense
of Democracies (FDD).
Sept. 11’s Legacy Endures a
Quarter-Century Later
Riyadh: Ghassan Charbel/Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
Rarely does a day deserve to be called “the day that shook the world.” September
11, 2001, claimed that distinction the moment it happened. At first, many could
scarcely believe what they were seeing on their screens. The sight of civilian
aircraft exploding into symbols of American power and success in New York and
Washington was shocking and deadly. A quarter-century later, there is no denying
the mark that day left on the US, the Middle East and the world. The day set in
motion by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden brought down two governments: the
Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq. Afghanistan may
have returned to life under a diluted form of Taliban rule, but the Middle East
is still paying the price for the regional imbalances created when the US
military uprooted Iraq’s Baathist government. The fall of both governments was
an enormous, unintended gift to Iran, now engaged in a military conflict with
the United States.
The world was not accustomed to seeing the US attacked at home. On December 7,
1941, Japan attacked the US base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Washington declared
war on Japan the next day, and the rest is history. On September 11, bin Laden
brought the war onto American soil itself, prompting George W. Bush to launch a
war against what he regarded as strongholds of terrorism. It was no surprise
that a wounded America, led by Bush, decided to topple the government of Mullah
Mohammed Omar, who insisted on sheltering bin Laden and ignored calls to
distance himself from the al-Qaeda leader or hand him over.
But the greater response came in the Middle East. In 2003, the region watched a
US armored vehicle pull Saddam Hussein’s statue from its pedestal in Baghdad’s
Firdos Square. It would later watch the hangman’s noose tighten around Saddam’s
neck, alarming two men: Libya’s Moammar al-Gaddafi and Yemen’s Ali Abdullah
Saleh.
Bin Laden deliberately chose mostly Saudis for the team that attacked New York
and Washington, hoping to provoke a crisis and rupture relations between
Washington and Riyadh. He did not get what he wanted, but the attacks posed a
test across the Muslim world. Many voices in the US called for terrorism to be
uprooted at its source. The attacks unsettled the US and the West’s relations
with many countries. They also strained relations between Western governments
and Arab and Muslim communities, particularly as waves of migration increased.
Today, the far-right is on the rise in several parts of Europe.
Yasser Arafat was living in Gaza that day. He was troubled by the attention
focused on a few Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who handed out sweets to
celebrate the attacks and express their anger at American bias toward Israel.
Despite his advanced age, Arafat insisted on donating blood for those wounded in
New York and Washington and went to a Gaza hospital. Some say that, in the first
hours, he feared Palestinians might have been involved in carrying out the
attacks.
Al-Gaddafi was also alarmed, although both he and Saddam initially imagined that
the attacks would weaken the US. Al-Gaddafi asked Foreign Minister Abdulrahman
Shalgham to arrange for Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to tell Bush
that Libya was ready to normalize relations and open a new chapter with the US.
Bouteflika conveyed the Libyan position, but the US president told his visitor:
“Tell al-Gaddafi that he must immediately surrender his nuclear program’s
arsenal, or we will go and destroy it ourselves.”
Shalgham, having gauged the tense mood in America, told a meeting in Tripoli
that the United States would occupy Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. The Libyan
leader did not hesitate to bow to Bush’s demands. The US used Iraq’s alleged
possession of weapons of mass destruction as a pretext for attacking the
country. It also claimed that the Iraqi government had ties to al-Qaeda. Many
did not believe the claim, particularly given the stark differences between
Saddam and bin Laden and the vastly different ideologies that guided them.
The prevailing impression was that the allegation had been fabricated. In fact,
no relationship existed. But Saddam made a serious error in the 1990s, while bin
Laden was in Sudan, when he sent a member of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood to meet
him there. The al-Qaeda leader showed no interest in cooperating with what he
called the “infidel Baathist regime.”
The Iraqi government tried again, sending an intelligence official named Farouk
Hijazi. A meeting with bin Laden was arranged through Sudanese Islamist leader
Hassan al-Turabi. After the meeting, which lasted more than three hours, Hijazi
returned to Iraq and advised Saddam to abandon the idea of working with bin
Laden, who reportedly demanded permission to establish independent camps on
Iraqi soil.
The Iraqi government dropped the idea of cooperating with bin Laden. But US
intelligence agencies exploited murky threads of contact between the two sides
and used them to justify the invasion of Iraq. The US toppled the Taliban and
Saddam’s government and launched a prolonged hunt for al-Qaeda leaders. On May
2, 2011, bin Laden, hiding in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was taken by surprise when
US troops stormed his compound. America exacted revenge on the architect of the
attacks on New York and Washington and disposed of his body at sea. Osama bin
Laden was gone, but al-Qaeda’s imprint exacted an enormous price from the
countries of the Middle East.
Islamic state plots disrupted and operatives arrested in
4 countries
Will Selber/ FDD's Long War Journal/September 09/2026
In August and September, Kuwaiti, Israeli, Turkish, and French officials
thwarted several suspected Islamic State attacks and arrested and indicted
alleged Islamic State members and sympathizers, underscoring the organization’s
global reach despite over a decade of counterterrorism pressure.
Kuwait
Kuwaiti security officials made three separate arrests of suspected Islamic
State members in August. In early to mid-August, Kuwaiti authorities arrested
three individuals in the same Islamic State cell who were plotting to attack a
Shiite mosque and other unidentified targets in the country. A day after those
arrests, authorities arrested two minors who they said had received training in
explosives manufacturing and communicated with Islamic State members.In
addition, on August 12, the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry announced that authorities
had thwarted a terrorist plot targeting an unidentified facility and arrested a
Kuwaiti national associated with the Islamic State. The suspect had reportedly
constructed a drone for use in a planned attack after receiving explosive and
drone manufacturing training.
Israel
On August 4, Israeli authorities arrested two young men, one of whom was a
minor, followed by indicting them on August 28 for allegedly planning an Islamic
State-inspired terrorist attack. One of the suspects, Ibrahim Kaabia, 19, a
resident of Haifa, had allegedly sworn allegiance to the Islamic State and was
planning to attack an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) base in northern Israel.
Separately, on August 18, Israeli authorities charged Abdullah Gergawi with
security offenses and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition following
his arrest in Segev Shalom, near Beersheba, on July 19. Gergawi was allegedly
planning to conduct an attack on a Beersheba nightclub with a car bomb. He had
also reportedly been in contact with Islamic State activists and was planning to
travel to Syria to join the organization. In addition,
on September 2, Israeli authorities arrested Yaqoub Shibli in the northern
village of Shibil after he allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State
while watching the organization’s propaganda videos online. Shibli was
subsequently charged with membership in a terrorist organization on September 7.
Also on September 2, the Haifa District Attorney’s office charged a
former Israeli Defense Force soldier, Khamis Sawaed, with training to fight
abroad with the Islamic State. Sawaed, 30, is from the Galilee village of
Husniyya and served in the IDF from 2017 to 2019.
Sawaed was arrested in August. During his subsequent interrogation, Israeli
security officials discovered that he had first become interested in the Islamic
State in 2023. In 2024, he began watching Islamic State training videos before
deciding to fight alongside the organization in Syria or in Africa. Throughout
2026, the former IDF soldier also downloaded instructional manuals and watched
training videos in preparation for joining the jihadist group.
Turkey
On September 4, Turkish authorities killed an alleged Islamic State operative,
Berkan Cil, 21, during a police operation in Istanbul. Turkey’s National
Intelligence Organization and the Istanbul Police Department were conducting a
joint operation to apprehend Cil when a shootout erupted, killing the suspect
and a civilian. Turkish authorities said the operation likely thwarted a
terrorist attack. During a subsequent search of Cil’s residence, authorities
recovered an unlicensed handgun, 200 rounds of ammunition, and digital materials
associated with the Islamic State.
France
In early September, French authorities detained three men on suspicion of
“criminal association with a terrorist organization for the purpose of preparing
acts of terrorism.” French authorities had opened an investigation in July after
detecting suspected terrorist activity inside a WhatsApp group called “Soldiers
of Allah.” The three suspects were allegedly considering attacks against
France’s Jewish community while also preparing to join the Islamic State in
Africa. According to French outlet RTL, one of the suspects had been in contact
with Jessica Bowie, a 35-year-old woman from Albany, New York, whom the FBI
detained in mid-August for allegedly attempting to provide material support to a
designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State. Bowie allegedly
planned to attack the New York State Capitol with an explosive device. No
evidence shows that the incidents or individuals in Kuwait, Israel, Turkey, and
France are operationally connected. However, they collectively demonstrate the
Islamic State’s resilience after more than a decade of sustained
counterterrorism operations and the destruction of its territorial caliphate.
The jihadist group’s online propaganda network, increasingly aided by
artificial intelligence, continues to recruit and radicalize individuals across
national boundaries, inspiring them to plan attacks or travel abroad to join its
affiliates.
**Will Selber is a retired US CENTCOM foreign area officer with over 4 years in
Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the owner of Grumpy Combat Veteran on Substack.
Iran continues attacks on Kurdish opposition group in
northern Iraq
Seth J. Frantzman/DD's Long War Journal/September 09/2026
On September 7, Iran launched a drone targeting the Komala of the Toilers of
Kurdistan party in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, the latest attack on
the region and the latest against Kurdish Iranian opposition groups. Iran and
its militia proxies in Iraq have carried out more than 1,000 drone and missile
attacks on the Kurdistan Region. The attack comes as Iraq continues to discuss
how to disarm Iranian-backed militias in the country.
The September 7 attack occurred at 4:50 am, according to Amjad Hussein Panahi, a
Komala official. Three Iranian drones targeted one of the group’s camps in the
Surdash area of Sulaymaniyah Governorate, around 16 miles from the Iranian
border. Other Kurdish Iranian opposition groups are located in nearby Koya,
about 30 miles from the border. Komala is one of five
Kurdish Iranian opposition parties that formed a coalition in February to oppose
the Iranian regime. Komala has three branches, due to an internal split over
ideology, and two are members of the coalition. The group’s facilities in
northern Iraq have been targeted numerous times since US and Israeli airstrikes
on Iran began in late February.
“According to Komala statistics, since the outbreak of the conflict between Iran
and the United States to date, the number of missiles and drones used to target
Komala’s headquarters and camps has exceeded 108,” Panahi told the local Rudaw
Media Network on September 7. The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, another
opposition group, said on September 2 that it had been targeted a total of 155
times since February. More than 30 people have been killed in the attacks.
The attack on September 7 did not harm anyone, according to the Rudaw
report. However, it did damage the site, and flames were seen rising from one of
the buildings.
The latest Iranian attacks come as the US is withdrawing forces from Iraq, a
shift that includes reports that the US has moved air defenses from the
Kurdistan Region. Qasim al Araji, national security advisor to Iraqi Prime
Minister Ali al Zaidi, said that the US withdrawal will include all defense
systems, Rudaw reported. “On September 30, coalition
[against the Islamic State] forces will completely withdraw from Iraq, and this
is the implementation of the agreement made between the previous government and
the global coalition,” Araji said.
Regional media are spotlighting the US withdrawal. “US air-defence exit from
Iraq risks creating wider regional security gap,” The National in the UAE noted.
The New Arab also reported on Araji’s comments, noting, “He said the withdrawal
would include all coalition air defence systems deployed in the Kurdistan
Region, adding that the phased removal of troops and equipment had already
begun.”
These shifts come as Iraq continues to discuss disarming Iranian-backed
militias. Iraq’s Shiite Coordination Framework, the dominant alliance of Shiite
political parties, has adopted a plan to move forward. “A senior alliance
official told Rudaw that a Coordination Framework committee is in direct talks
with Iran-aligned factions that have so far refused to disarm,” the network
reported. One of the factions that has refused
outright disarmament is Kataib Sayyid al Shuhada, a US-designated terrorist
group, which has placed conditions on placing its weapons under state control.
“Iraqi armed factions view bringing weapons under state control as
inseparable from achieving full national sovereignty, Kazem al-Fartousi,
spokesman for Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, told Shafaq News, describing September
30 as a test of the United States and the US-led international coalition’s
commitment to their obligations to the Iraqi government,” Shafaq News reported
on September 8. Despite US pressure, it does not
appear that Baghdad is ready to confront the militias. “Iraq’s State
Administration Coalition, which brings together Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish
forces, sidestepped the issue of bringing weapons under state control while
warning of the potential repercussions for Iraq from US sanctions on Iran,” the
London-based Asharq al Awsat noted on September 7.
Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a
contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East
correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7
War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).
What Cannot Be Understood About the Middle East's Wars
Dr. Abdel Monem Said/Asharq AlAwsat/September 09/2026
For nearly three years now, precisely since October 7, 2023, earthquakes and
hurricanes have been battering the world, and what matters most to us is what is
happening in the Middle East. It is no longer the site of confounding wars
alone, but of "confounders" no one expected to carry such weight, wrapped in
vast clouds of uncertainty. How can any scholar or analyst discuss a subject
while it is still fermenting and shifting, most likely undergoing what happens
to tectonic plates during an earthquake? We are, in all likelihood, in the
position of a blind man trying to measure an ice cube as it melts between his
fingers.
Wars and revolutions are by definition bloody and full of surprises, astonishing
us at the moment they begin, then surprising us again at the moment of their
sudden end. This most likely happens because we are, in the end, human beings
who have lived through social movements and leaderships with astonishing
qualities of their own. In the not-distant past we were caught off guard by the
revolutions of Eastern Europe, exactly as we were by what came to be called the
"Arab Spring," which was hard to imagine in a Middle East where spring is short,
the sands are hot and gusting, and a brief winter gives way to a long summer.We
are now in another decade, yet the Gaza wars have stretched to five; and despite
a relative calm under the Board of Peace, the surrounding circles are hot - in
Lebanon and Syria, extending into a deteriorating reality in the West Bank under
the unjust tutelage of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The
fourth Gulf war oscillates between hot and cold, between the drive to war and
its escalation; and the truce offers no solution, only room for a crueler
resumption of the fighting, with nothing on the horizon to suggest the
exhaustion usually offered up to halt it.
Innovation in the instruments of violence has become vast and continually
renewed, whether by states, by armies, or by the militias that are now part of
the complicated picture.In earlier columns we pointed to that group of countries
that pursued modernization and modernity, drawing on their patriotism within a
national state that has a project and a time-bound "Vision"; these states hold
fast to achieving regional stability while preserving their own capabilities.
They have worked seriously to prevent war, to blunt its harshness and
aggression, or to delay its outbreak, but the dilemma is the extreme volatility
of the warring parties. Ambiguity, volatility, and
complexity all turn on individuals with the power to make decisions. In
international relations there are three circles around which diagnosis and the
grasping of truth revolve. The first is "the international system and the degree
of its tension and hostility," and here the United States is immersed in the
Iranian war while Russia is immersed in the war in Ukraine. China, meanwhile,
gazes off into the distance, its diplomacy a matter of economics, markets, and
silence in a time of war. It offers a new model of the great power that waits at
length, believing all the while in the familiar saying that the killer's
patience with his victim may be enough to see him dead. The Soviet Union
collapsed at one point; perhaps the time has come for the rival pole to
entertain the same thought. The second circle is the
regional order, out of which ten states have fallen - still fighting civil wars
or hovering at their edge - all of them having shed the garb of the national
state the moment militias took up arms and offered themselves as an alternative
to the national army. The third is the leaderships
that must, in the end, take decisions after identifying national objectives and
devising a strategy capable of reaching goals measurable in capability and in
time. Despite the great distance between the US and Iran, their mental maps are
as far apart as the sky from the earth: one carries the smell of the New York
exchanges, while the other is wrapped entirely in the dreams of Iran's
"Revolutionary Guard," underwritten by verses from heaven. If anything unites
them, it is volatility and reversal, while the strategic objectives befitting
grand projects for the Middle East change by the hour.
The Middle East is crowded with figures of influence, seduced by the urge to
leave their mark on history, while its reality carries it and its world beyond
the realm of stability and prosperity. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has drawn deeply from the books of racism and hatred.
Selected Face Book & X tweets on September 09/2026