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

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2026/english.september13.26.htm

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

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

Elias Bejjani/Click on the below link to subscribe to my youtube channel
الياس بجاني/اضغط على الرابط في أسفل للإشتراك في موقعي ع اليوتيوب
https://www.youtube.com/@eliasbejjani8036

Bible Quotations For today
The Parable of the Samaritan who helped  a wounded man who was attacked by thieves while a Priest & a Levite ignored him
Luke 10/25-37: "Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, "Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend." Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’"

Titles For The English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 12-13/2026
Emasculated, powerles and puppets/Elias Bejjani/September 12/2026
Exposing MP Melhem Riachi’s Fallacies Regarding Whether Hezbollah Should Be Tried, and Affirming That the Iranian, Terrorist, and Jihadist Hezbollah Is Not the Shiites, but Rather Their Enemy… Falling into the Trap of “Forgive and Forget”/Elias Bejjani/September 12/2026
In Memory of Abbot Paul Naaman: A Monk of the Nation and the Conscience of Free Maronites/Elias Bejjani/September 11/2026
Abbot Boulous Naaman (1931-2026)/Dr. Charles Chartouni/September 12, 2026
Aoun from Nabatieh: No New Negotiations with Israel at Present
Ali al-Taher Demolition Leaves Nabatieh Residents Wondering What Comes Next
Lebanese Army Detains Bashar Assad’s Relative on Weapons and Drugs Charges
Lebanon Moves to Protect Land Ownership in Occupied South
Aoun condemns attack on Saudi oil pipeline
Axios: Next round of Lebanon-Israel talks postponed
Lebanon Foreign Ministry condemns attack on Saudi East-West oil pipeline
Abbot Boulos Naaman... A homeland in a monk's habit/Tony Attieh/Nidaa Al-Watan September 12, 2026 (
On the 44th Anniversary of the Assassination of Bachir Gemayel: The Case of the Lost "Caesar" of the Christians/Elias Nicolas Zoghbi / Nidaa Al-Watan/September 12, 2026

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 12-13/2026
Trump Says Iran War Will End after US Midterm Elections
Pezeshkian Says Middle East Has No Need for US 'Policeman'
US Links Chinese Satellite Imagery to Iranian Strike that Killed 3 Troops
Iraq Closes Three Iran Crossings, Pursues Those Behind Attacks on Saudi Arabia
Attacks from Iraq on East-West Pipeline Draw Strong Condemnations
At least 76,000 flee fighting in Yemen since July: UN
Al-Halbousi Condemns Attacks on Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia Strongly Condemns Drone Attack on East-West Pipeline
Houthi Expansion in Western Yemen Brings Arrests and Crackdowns
How Israel Abducted a Senior Hamas Security Official from the Heart of Gaza
Israeli Support for Ethiopia’s Maritime Access Bid Fuels Tensions With Egypt

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 12-13/2026
The Islamist Regime of Iran Is Wounded — Here Is How to Finish It/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/September 12, 2026
How Can the Houthis be Challenged?/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Bonn, Berlin and Beirut/Samir Atallah/Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Sudan... The Antidote from Abroad/Mohammed al-Rumaihi/Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
The War in Yemen Is Not Over/Mishary Dhayidi/Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Seven Years Later: Honoring Amer, Continuing His Mission/The Amer Foundation/September 12, 2026
Selected Face Book & X tweets on September 12/2026

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 12-13/2026
Emasculated, powerles and puppets
Elias Bejjani/September 12/2026
Berri, Qassem, Aoun, Haykal, Salam, Mteri and the mouthpieces of Iran's deception are parrot-fashion regurgitating the narrative of Israel's withdrawal, reconstruction and the release of prisoners, while they are powerless, emasculated, fawn over Hezbollah and grovel to appease it with humiliation and servility.

Exposing MP Melhem Riachi’s Fallacies Regarding Whether Hezbollah Should Be Tried, and Affirming That the Iranian, Terrorist, and Jihadist Hezbollah Is Not the Shiites, but Rather Their Enemy… Falling into the Trap of “Forgive and Forget”
Elias Bejjani/September 12/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157401/
Below is the link to the full clip containing the question and answer from MP Melhem Riachi’s interview (the subject of this commentary), running from 16:30 to approximately 18:45–19:00, and covering the question and answer in full. The link to the full interview, along with the texts of the question and answer, are also at the bottom of the page.
Beginning of the question: 16:30 — Direct link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NuHBg673UM&t=990s
Beginning of the answer: 17:16 — Direct link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NuHBg673UM&t=1036s
At a time when the Lebanese people, particularly sovereignists and free citizens, are waiting for a courageous and frank national speech that puts matters plainly after decades of criminality, assassinations, occupation, invasions, terrorism in all its forms, and the destruction of the state, MP Melhem Riachi’s performance in a Youtube-TV interview on “Voice of Lebanon” on September 10, 2026, constitutes a major disappointment and a resounding political fall, exposing the deep-seated malicious intentions in his personal approaches and, most likely, those of whoever employs him and speaks through him.
When Riachi was directly asked whether the Lebanese Forces would demand that Hezbollah be held accountable for the entire previous period of assassinations and looting, extending to the scandals of tunnels crossing sovereignty and existence (“Lebanon above and Lebanon below”), his answer was shameful and filled with blatant fallacies promoting the heresy of “forgive and forget,” disguised in false legalistic language.
The following text dismantles and refutes this dangerous fall through a direct confrontation between the interviewer’s question and Riachi’s answer:
Journalist Jimmy Francis’s question:
“Regarding the points that Dr. Samir Geagea addressed, he spoke about dismantling Hezbollah. But many people, after the phrase ‘dismantling Hezbollah’ and holding its responsible figures accountable, wondered: Will the Lebanese Forces not demand that Hezbollah be held accountable for the entire previous period in which it is said to have assassinated, stolen, looted, and done all of this? Even today, the issue of the tunnels in the South—does it not warrant prosecution, questioning, and accountability? We know: Lebanon above and Lebanon below. Are you prepared to say ‘forgive and forget’ with Hezbollah, or will you demand that Hezbollah’s officials be held accountable, as well as any official connected to a particular assassination that occurred in Lebanon, especially from 2005 until today?”
MP Melhem Riachi’s answer:
“Any official who has anything to do with a particular assassination that occurred in Lebanon from 2005 until today, of course, we are in favor of putting him on trial. But we are against general, mass trials. These general trials—just as in the old days, during the Middle Ages, when priests would grant general amnesties—this is not how it works! These are all heresies. You cannot come and put an entire people on trial and remove them from their environment and from their people. What Samir Geagea said on Martyrs’ Day was very clear in addressing the Shia environment, in the relationship with the Shiites, and in the relationship with all of Lebanon’s founding components, and the Shiites are part of them. He told them: ‘My sect is my mother.’ But is this holding the Shiites accountable? What is it… pay attention, this is a precise point; because you are asking me and saying to me, ‘Putting Hezbollah on trial’: putting certain officials and leaders on trial, who have been proven to have been exposed and to have had a hand in it—as happened with the International Tribunal—we have no objection to that. But putting the Shiites environment on trial? Certainly, we categorically reject that. And we, the Shiites, are part of our people, and we want to protect them.”
Refuting the Fall: Why Riachi’s Statement Is a Free Service to the Terrorist System and the Iranian Axis
What Riachi’s answer contains amounts to three fatal errors—political, legal, and moral—revealing a desire to evade the issue and exonerate the real perpetrators:
The Great Lie: Inventing a “Trial of the Environment” to Evade the Trial of the Killers
Riachi maliciously and Rasputin-like jumps from the charge of putting “Hezbollah” on trial as an armed terrorist and military organization to an imaginary charge called “putting the Shiites environment on trial.”
The glaring truth is that no one in Lebanon is calling for putting a sect or an environment on trial. The demand is clear and specific: to put an armed militia on trial that possesses a missile arsenal, its own security apparatus, a parallel economy, and the decision to make war and peace outside the institutions of the state.
Turning the discussion from holding a criminal organization accountable into targeting a sect is precisely the malicious, fraudulent, and diabolical narrative that Hezbollah promoted for two decades in order to shield itself behind innocent civilians. For a Christian MP, who is supposedly representing a sovereignist political stances, to adopt this narrative means that he is providing the criminals with free Christian cover. The Shiites in Lebanon are Hezbollah’s first victims, and holding its system accountable is an essential step toward liberating them, not targeting them.
The Ridiculous Appeal to the International Tribunal to Justify Impunity
Riachi relied on the example of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which tried individuals in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, to claim that accountability should be limited only to individuals who actually “pressed the button.”
The fall here is twofold.
First, the International Tribunal limited its jurisdiction to a single crime and was not mandated to investigate Hezbollah’s accumulated criminal record.
Second, the crimes of the party are not merely individual mistakes; they constitute a systematic policy and an integrated organizational doctrine that has extended over 35 years: assassinations targeting sovereignists and free citizens, including, but not limited to, Bassel Fleihan, Gebran Tueni, Samir Kassir, George Hawi, Pierre Gemayel, Walid Eido, Antoine Ghanem, Wissam al-Hassan, Wissam Eid, Mohammad Chatah, Lokman Slim, Joe Bejjani, Elias Hasrouni, and hundreds of others; the May 7, 2008 coup and the forcible occupation of Beirut; the futile wars in Syria and the region; the criminal “war of support” in 2023–2024, which destroyed the South and left its people out in the open, only for Israel afterward to uncover a vast network of tunnels (“Lebanon above and Lebanon below”); as well as the Captagon, money-laundering, smuggling, and mafia-like practices network.
Riachi’s sophistry and his blatantly fraudulent cleverness in reducing Hezbollah’s bloody terrorist record to “a person who pulled the trigger,” while exonerating the leadership and the system, is a disregard for the blood of the martyrs and a legitimization of crimes.
Ignoring the International Reality: Hezbollah Is Not a Lebanese Party but a Military Brigade Directly Affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The attempt to portray Hezbollah as a local party with which one can negotiate and engage in dialogue, or to apply “forgive and forget” to its criminal record and its treacherous, Iranianized, and jihadist leadership, is a collection of errors and sins and an act of political delusion. The United States and countries around the world have officially come to deal with Hezbollah as an organization wholly affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
When Hezbollah is a military arm of a foreign state, trying its members as individuals and within naïve traditional frameworks amounts to denying the reality of “disguised occupation.” History tells us that terrorist organizations such as ISIS or the Nazi Party were tried as “organizations” and criminal entities, not merely through pursuing some of their field operatives.
Conclusion: A Disguised General Amnesty or Genuine Justice?
What MP Melhem Riachi is proposing, through his openly diabolical rejection of “general trials” and his use of vague references to the Middle Ages and priests, is in reality a disguised general amnesty aimed at turning the page on crime without accountability or punishment.
The Lebanese people, and all those who were displaced, whose homes were destroyed, and whose decision-making was hijacked, do not want revenge against their neighbors. They want a sovereign state that enforces the law, dismantles this parallel entity, and brings its political and military leadership before Lebanese and international courts for all their crimes against the homeland. Exonerating the system under the slogan of “protecting the environment” is the greatest crime, one that destroys whatever hope remains for the establishment of the state.

In Memory of Abbot Paul Naaman: A Monk of the Nation and the Conscience of Free Maronites
Elias Bejjani/September 11/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157412/
With the passing of Abbot Paul Naaman, the Lebanese Maronite Order loses not only a former Superior General, historian, and scholar, but Lebanon itself loses one of its great men—one who carried the cause of the nation in his mind, heart, and conscience, and defended it with the courage of monks, the faith of believers, and the steadfastness of free men.
Abbot Paul Naaman was a school of authentic Lebanese patriotism and a free Maronite voice that knew no compromise when it came to Lebanon, its identity, its mission, its freedom, and its sovereignty. He lived as a monk devoted to his ecclesiastical calling, yet at the same time he was an intellectual, cultural, and national struggler who carried Lebanon’s concerns in all his writings, research, and public positions. He refused to bow to the culture of fear or to appease those whose projects targeted the Lebanese entity and its historical identity.
He belonged to the generation that believed in Lebanon the Message—free, sovereign, and independent Lebanon; the Lebanon envisioned by Patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek, whose philosophy was articulated by Charles Malik and for which Bashir Gemayel and his righteous companions gave their lives. It is therefore no surprise that MP Nadim Gemayel described him today as “Bashir’s companion and a man of firm convictions,” for Abbot Naaman remained throughout his life faithful to the values of freedom, dignity, and sovereignty that Bashir Gemayel embraced and ultimately sacrificed his life to defend.
He wrote history rather than merely witnessing it. He preserved the Maronite and Lebanese memory from distortion and documented the pivotal chapters of our nation’s history, fully aware that nations which lose their memory also lose their future. In an era marked by compromise and surrender, Abbot Paul Naaman remained steadfast like one of the Cedars of the Lord—unchanging in his convictions, unwavering in principle, and uncompromising regarding the truth of Lebanon.
Today, as we bid him farewell, we feel that a great cedar of Lebanon has fallen. Yet its roots will remain deeply planted in the soil of the homeland, and his ideas, writings, and positions will continue to serve as guiding lights for future generations along the path of truth and freedom.
Yet our Christian faith knows no despair in the face of death, for death, to the believer, is not an end but a passage into eternal life.
The Holy Scriptures proclaim:“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”(Job 1:21)
And our Lord Jesus Christ says: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”(John 11:25)
And He adds: “Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
(John 11:26)
The Apostle Paul further comforts us with these words: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”(2 Timothy 4:7)
Indeed, Abbot Paul Naaman fought the good fight, completed his mission faithfully, and remained steadfast in his faith, his Lebanon, and his Church until his final breath.
May his soul rest in peace in the embrace of the Heavenly Father. May his memory remain eternal among the righteous, and may his national and spiritual legacy continue to inspire every Lebanese who believes in a free, sovereign, and independent Lebanon—a homeland of mission, holiness, and witness.
Glory to his soul, eternal rest to his pure spirit, and heartfelt condolences to his family—especially his nephew, Dr. Charles Chartouni—to his relatives, to the Lebanese Maronite Order, and to all Lebanese who, with his passing, have lost a great monk, an exceptional thinker, and one of the guardians of Lebanon’s historical identity.

Abbot Boulous Naaman (1931-2026)
Dr. Charles Chartouni/September 12, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157456/
The life of Abbot Boulous Naaman encapsulates the historic journey of the Maronite Church and the monastic spirituality to which he dedicated his life, his many talents, and all that God bestowed upon him of a spirit ever ready for service, love, and tireless apostolic zeal. He spent 82 years of his life in the Lebanese Maronite Order, bearing every day and in every work the spirit of the Evangelical Beatitudes as a path and a cherished aspiration, which imprinted his face with meekness and a fervent apostolic spirit that knew no bounds. This is the true entry point for understanding his life and the work he accomplished. He studied philosophy, theology, civil law, and French literature at the Holy Spirit University and at Saint Joseph University (Jesuit) in Beirut. He then pursued his studies in Church history, archaeology, and the history of early Christianity (Histoire Paléochrétienne) at the Gregorian University in Rome. The Maronite Church has lost an exceptional ecclesiastical figure who left his mark on every aspect of our ecclesial and national life. We miss him today especially in these difficult times and amidst the affliction that surrounds our condition. His passing is a call to revive the apostolic spirit that characterized him and to resume work starting from the prayer of the Psalmist which he recited every day of his life: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from before Your face, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me" – Psalm 51.

Aoun from Nabatieh: No New Negotiations with Israel at Present
Beirut: Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun visited the country's south on Saturday, in a surprise trip to Nabatieh, a city close to the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge captured from Hezbollah and blown up by Israel. Official Lebanese media said he arrived in Nabatieh unannounced and accompanied by security officials.
The National News Agency (NNA) quoted Aoun as saying that there would be no new negotiations with Israel at present, stressing that the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the return of prisoners and displaced people, and reconstruction remain national principles that Lebanon is committed to upholding. Aoun expressed solidarity with locals who greeted him, according to footage broadcast by Lebanese media. He praised staff at Nabatieh Governmental Hospital, saying they were risking their lives to provide medical services in the area, which most people have fled. He spoke a day after a senior US diplomatic official said a new round of US-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon, initially scheduled for next week, had been pushed back to October. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had eased off between late June and last week, thanks to a US-sponsored framework agreement between the two countries as well as a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran in the wider Middle East war. But the Israeli army has in recent days stepped up attacks again, particularly in the Nabatieh region. On Thursday it blew up underground fortifications on Ali al-Taher ridge after seizing the site, which lies a few kilometers from Nabatieh city. The explosion was large enough to trigger a tremor detected by seismic monitoring agencies. Israeli strikes in the area have killed at least 29 people in the last few days, including 12 members of the same family. The Lebanese army, which has deployed in Nabatieh city, warned on Wednesday that Israel's actions threatened the implementation of the framework agreement. The agreement involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon's south and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in test areas known as "pilot zones.”

Ali al-Taher Demolition Leaves Nabatieh Residents Wondering What Comes Next
Beirut: Nazir Rida/Asharq Al Awsat/September 12/2026
Israel’s demolition of two tunnels extending two kilometers through Ali al-Taher ridge brought movement in south Lebanon’s Nabatieh city to a standstill and deepened fears over what comes next. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel was ready to press ahead with its campaign and continue striking Hezbollah and other sites. The Israeli military carried out a powerful explosion on Ali al-Taher ridge, on the outskirts of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, causing tremors and a loud blast that echoed strongly across Nabatieh and the surrounding area, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. The US Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 4.1 seismic event in southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s National Center for Geophysics, which is affiliated with the National Council for Scientific Research, said ground waves were detected at 9:08 p.m. on Thursday by all its monitoring stations. The center said the waves “resulted from the explosion carried out by the Israeli enemy in the Ali al-Taher area and could be compared to a magnitude 4.2 earthquake on the Richter scale.”
A difficult night
Residents of southern Lebanon endured “a difficult night.”“The ground shook beneath us for about five seconds,” said one resident living 20 kilometers from Ali al-Taher. “The sound of the explosions was faint, but the doors shook around us,” the resident told Asharq Al-Awsat. “It felt like an earthquake that ended after five seconds.”A resident of the town of Marjeyoun said the ground “shook beneath us, and we saw the houses shaking,” underscoring the force of the blast, “before columns of flames rose into the air.” “I began seeing the explosions. There were between seven and eight, with columns of flames rising to varying heights,” the resident told Asharq Al-Awsat. “The sky glowed red. The scene was terrifying and frightening. The children panicked, and within minutes, dust began reaching us, covering the trees, cars and rooftops.”“The smell of gunpowder choked us, forcing us to close the windows again,” the resident said, adding that sunrise revealed a thick layer of dust covering the town.. Residents of Qlayaa and Marjeyoun said windows and doors were shattered by the blast in homes on the western edges of the two towns overlooking Ali al-Taher. The tremors and sounds of the explosions carried over long distances. Residents living 20 kilometers from Ali al-Taher said they saw flashes and flames and felt the ground shake, although the sound was not loud. Residents of Marjeyoun, by contrast, reported hearing powerful explosions. NNA said the Khardali road was completely blocked after the overnight blast caused rocks and stones to tumble onto the roadway.
Residents’ fears
Daylight revealed a changed landscape. The explosion and Israel’s threats to continue its bombardment and demolitions deepened residents’ fears as they wondered what would come next. Local sources in Nabatieh said many residents who had returned to the city “left again for fear that the war would resume or the fighting would expand.” People are asking about “the next phase,” which remains unclear even to the Lebanese state. Beirut is continuing contacts with the United States aimed at de-escalation and resuming negotiations through an eighth session with Israel expected to be held this month. The Lebanese presidency has not yet been informed of the date. Residents fear the fighting could spread toward Nabatieh following the demolition of Ali al-Taher. “No one can guarantee what will happen,” one resident said. “The Israeli statements are alarming.”Hezbollah issued no official statement on the Ali al-Taher demolition, while the fate of its fighters suspected of having been inside the tunnels remained unknown. An Israeli military official told AFP that some fighters who had been operating in the highlands had left the area, while others were eliminated by airstrikes and artillery fire. The Israeli military said last week that it had taken control of the highlands, located north of the Litani River on the edge of the Israeli-occupied area in southern Lebanon.
Supporting returning residents
Meanwhile, the Lebanese government is seeking to help returning residents remain in areas where the fighting has subsided. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam received a delegation from the municipality of Kfar Rumman, which borders Ali al-Taher and was subjected to continuous bombardment for three months. The delegation presented a series of demands related to residents’ return and the area’s recovery. Salam said the Council for Development and Reconstruction would soon begin implementing projects in the area after completing the necessary preparatory procedures. He said he was also following up with the Council of the South on projects concerning the town. Salam asked the municipality to prepare a list of its most urgent priorities and needs and to survey families in need of help with shelter or prefabricated homes. Priority would be given to the neediest families with no alternative housing, given the limited resources and capabilities available. Salam said the Israeli attacks on Kfar Rumman, which killed and wounded civilians, including children, were being documented by the National Committee for International Humanitarian Law, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri. The delegation called for a stronger deployment of the Lebanese army, particularly along roads leading to Khardali and Dawhet Kfar Rumman, as well as a greater security presence in the town, especially by the Internal Security Forces. Salam said efforts were continuing to reinforce the presence of the army and security forces to reassure residents and strengthen stability.

Lebanese Army Detains Bashar Assad’s Relative on Weapons and Drugs Charges
Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Lebanese authorities have detained a relative of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad along with the son of a notorious drug dealer in northeast Lebanon on charges of carrying weapons and drugs, officials and the Lebanese army said Saturday. Suleiman Assad and Ali Zeiter, son of Noah Zeiter, the suspected drug trafficker arrested last year, were detained Friday near the northeastern city of Baalbek, said the two judicial officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Suleiman Assad is the son of Hilal Assad, a cousin of the ousted president, The AP news reported. A number of Syrian officials and relatives of Assad have fled from Syria to other countries including Lebanon, after the five-decade Assad family rule came to an end in December 2024, when the opposition seized power. Bashar Assad and his younger brother, Maher, have been living in Russia. The Lebanese army said in a statement that it detained three people, including a Syrian citizen who did not have documents proving that he is staying legally in Lebanon. The army said they had weapons with them along with hashish, a drug that is processed from cannabis that are widely planted in northeast Lebanon. The army did not release the names but the initials of their first and family names matched those of Assad and Zeiter. The army said they were questioned under the supervision of judicial officials.The arrest of Suleiman Assad comes weeks after Lebanon handed over to Syrian authorities a retired major general who commanded a division in Bashar Assad’s army.

Lebanon Moves to Protect Land Ownership in Occupied South
Beirut: Soubhi Amhaz/Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Lebanon’s government has approved a draft law banning property sales in Israeli-occupied parts of the south, seeking to prevent wartime displacement and destruction from being exploited to transfer land through intermediaries, front companies, or fictitious buyers. The cabinet approved on Thursday, at the Finance Ministry’s request, “a ban on real estate sales in areas occupied by the Israeli army.”Lebanese Finance Minister Yassine Jaber told Asharq Al-Awsat that the government’s decision to ban land sales in occupied southern areas was intended to protect property rights and prevent any attempt to transfer ownership to parties linked to the occupation. He said the preventive measure would protect the land from sales conducted through indirect or deceptive means. “The government was keen to take a clear measure in light of the concerns raised about this issue, preventing any sales that could effectively lead to land ownership being transferred indirectly to undisclosed parties,” Jaber said. The aim, he added, was to prevent sales “to fictitious individuals or companies,” referring to the potential use of names or corporate entities as fronts for indirect purchases.Jaber linked the decision to efforts to preserve and protect land ownership in the south, saying it was part of “strengthening the resilience of southern communities, preserving and protecting the land in every respect, and safeguarding coexistence.”The draft law comes as southern areas face widespread destruction, while residents remain displaced and some are unable to return to their towns. The situation has raised concerns extending beyond physical damage to the future of property ownership and residents’ ability to return. Lebanese MP Abdel Rahman al-Bizri said the protection of property ownership was part of an effort to prevent the destruction and displacement from becoming permanent. “It is clear that the Israeli occupier is pursuing a scorched-earth policy and working to eliminate every possibility for people and communities to return to the occupied territories in southern Lebanon,” al-Bizri told Asharq Al-Awsat. “The systematic destruction it is carrying out — whether of homes, infrastructure, crops, schools, clinics, shelters or hospitals — targets every element people need to live and build a functioning community.” “This indicates a deliberate plan to ensure that these lands remain unfit for the residents’ return, even if the Israeli occupier withdraws from them,” he added, pointing to “repeated visits and tours of Lebanese territory by extremist groups from within Israeli society.”“This recalls similar scenes in the Syrian Golan Heights and the West Bank,” al-Bizri said. “Despite the Israeli government’s denials, it raises concerns about possible parallel activity by the Israeli authorities and extremist movements.”Al-Bizri said the Lebanese government had prohibited land sales as a pre-emptive and preventive measure, barring the sale of property in occupied areas to Lebanese and non-Lebanese buyers alike. The measure was intended to prevent such transactions from becoming “an entry point for a broader process that could later be exploited,” he said, recalling “what happened historically in Palestine before the Nakba.” “Sovereignty does not mean only the deployment of the Lebanese army and security forces. It also means the return of the state, with all its services, to those areas — from municipalities and schools to healthcare and social protection,” al-Bizri said, adding that a substantial part of the responsibility rested with the government itself. “Preventing land sales is part of the confrontation and part of our insistence that this land is Lebanese and that we want to keep it Lebanese,” he said. “This must go hand in hand with the state’s return and presence across all Lebanese regions.”Ayoub Hmayed, an MP from the Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the government’s decision was a “precautionary measure” aimed at protecting the land and closing any loophole that Israel could exploit. The measure “reinforces Lebanese sovereignty over Lebanese territory,” he said. Hmayed said the decision’s importance stemmed, “as a matter of principle,” from the need to prevent sales or transfers of ownership that could be exploited under occupation. On the demographic implications, Hmayed said the problem extended beyond land sales to the conditions created by the war and occupation, including residents’ displacement and the inability of some to return to their towns. If the situation persisted, he warned, it would “certainly produce a different reality” on the ground. He said the ban provided additional protection to landowners even when their homes had been destroyed and they were unable to return. “Preventing land sales protects these people, just as it reinforces Lebanese sovereignty over Lebanese territory,” Hmayed said.

Aoun condemns attack on Saudi oil pipeline
LBCI/12 September 2026
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the targeting of an oil pipeline stretching from eastern Saudi Arabia to the kingdom’s west, calling the attack a blatant assault on the resources and national security of Lebanon’s “sister country” and a desperate attempt to undermine regional stability and threaten the interests of its people. Aoun said Lebanon stands with Saudi Arabia, its leadership and its people in confronting anything that could threaten the kingdom’s security, stability or vital infrastructure. He reiterated Lebanon’s full and steadfast solidarity with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as with all measures the kingdom has taken to protect its sovereignty and resources. Aoun stressed that the deep-rooted historical ties between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia require the two countries to stand together against attempts to destabilize regional security. He also called on the international community to assume its responsibilities in confronting such attacks, warning that they threaten global energy security and the stability of the region as a whole.

Axios: Next round of Lebanon-Israel talks postponed
LBCI/12 September 2026
Talks between Israel and Lebanon that were scheduled to take place in Rome next week have been postponed, Axios reported on Friday, citing a U.S. official.The talks will instead be held in October, Axios said, citing a source.
The outlet said Jewish holidays, the Paris conference and preparations for the United Nations General Assembly prevented participants from meeting in Rome. According to Axios, the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in Washington are expected to meet.

Lebanon Foreign Ministry condemns attack on Saudi East-West oil pipeline
LBCI/12 September 2026
Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attack targeting Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline in the Riyadh and Medina regions, which resulted in injuries and material damage. The ministry expressed its full solidarity with Saudi Arabia, its leadership and people, and reaffirmed its commitment to the kingdom’s security, stability and territorial integrity, while wishing the injured a speedy recovery. The ministry stressed that targeting vital facilities and civilian infrastructure constitutes a serious violation of the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter, international law and international humanitarian law, particularly rules requiring the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure from hostilities. The Foreign Ministry also welcomed Iraq’s announcement that it had opened an urgent investigation into the attack and would hold those involved accountable.

Abbot Boulos Naaman... A homeland in a monk's habit
Tony Attieh/Nidaa Al-Watan September 12, 2026 (Artificial Intelligence translation from Arabic)
The monk, the resistance fighter, and the historian... That is Abbot Boulos Naaman. He carried in his habit many talents which he invested in the service of man, the Church and Lebanon, until the monastery seemed his homeland, and the homeland his monastery. From the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik to the "Lebanese Front," from researching the roots of the Maronites to leading the Lebanese Maronite Order in the midst of war and destiny-defining moments, he kept moving on one single line: Man, Entity and Freedom. He belonged to a generation that found itself facing a question that still echoes today: What Lebanon do we want? And what is the role of Christians and Maronites in it? And what meaning does the State have if it loses its decision and its freedom? Hence his involvement in public affairs came from his understanding of the monk's responsibility toward his community and his homeland. And today, after he has finished his course and kept the faith, he departs to the joy of his Master. He passed away on the eve of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross and the anniversary of the martyrdom of Bachir Gemayel, in a coincidence that can be considered a summary of his journey: The Cross that he carried as faith and mission, Bachir who constituted a fundamental station in his national experience, and Lebanon which remained present in his books and positions until the last chapter.
And in his books and memoirs, Boulos Naaman did not leave only the biography of a man, but a testimony of an entire Lebanese era. He was the historian of that era and one of its witnesses, and in many stations, one of its makers.
From Chartoun to the Monastic Order
Boulos Naaman was born in Chartoun in 1932, in the home of Assaad Naaman and Lamia Abi Nahed. He spent his early childhood in his village, then the family moved in winter to Ras Beirut, where he continued his studies at the Capuchin Fathers School on Hamra Street. And from home began his story with faith. He later recounted that the image of his mother praying left a deep impression on him, and that as a child, he used to build small altars under the trees and pray before them.
And when one of the monks of the Lebanese Maronite Order asked him if he wanted to go to the monastery, he simply answered: "Yes." That was the beginning of the road: the Monastery of Our Lady of Victory in Ghosta, then the novitiate monastery in Kfifan, then the monastic vows, before the journey extended to Rome and to science, research and history. There he chose to delve into the roots of the Maronites and the genesis of their Church, and spent years among books, documents and libraries. He returned to Lebanon in the autumn of 1967 carrying a doctorate, and became involved in the academic renaissance that the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik was witnessing. He contributed to establishing the History Department and headed it for about ten years, in addition to his work as a professor and Dean of the Faculty of Arts.
When history came out of books
Lebanon did not give him long to stay in the university halls. Since the late sixties, security and political transformations began to hit the country, especially after the 1967 war and the Cairo Agreement, and Naaman found himself facing a generation of young people anxious about Lebanon's future. According to what he narrated in his memoirs, he was tasked with guiding these young men and accompanying them, so meetings, studies and readings of the Lebanese scene began. And little by little he found himself inside its events.
He participated in the intellectual meetings that started in Kaslik since 1969, from which later emerged the "Lebanese Research Committee" that brought together thinkers, academics and activists. And with the outbreak of the war, his role expanded further, and he was a member of the "Lebanese Front," alongside his academic and monastic responsibilities.
And Naaman never disavowed that role. He saw that his responsibility is indivisible between the Church and society, and that defending man, homeland and freedom is not a matter separate from his mission. Therefore he spoke about that phase clearly in his memoirs, as a monk, an academic and an actor in Lebanese society at one and the same time.
The Order in the field
In 1980, Boulos Naaman was elected Superior General of the Lebanese Maronite Order succeeding Abbot Charbel Kassis. The timing was not ordinary. Lebanon was drowning in war, and the Order, with its monasteries and institutions, was in the heart of a society afflicted by displacement, fear and collapse.
He remained in his position until 1986, in one of the most delicate phases that both Lebanon and the Order went through together. And he did not deal with monasteries as places isolated from the tragedy, but opened them to the displaced and the afflicted, to become in more than one region a refuge for people and a place for help and steadfastness.
Bachir Gemayel: A station that never fades
In those years, the name of Boulos Naaman was also present in the heart of political life, especially during the rise of Sheikh Bachir Gemayel and his election as President of the Republic in 1982. He saw in Bachir a project to restore the State, the decision and the entity, and he accompanied that phase closely. And when the President-elect was assassinated on September 14, 1982, the moment of assassination turned into one of the defining marks in Naaman's personal and national memory.
The station was not fleeting to the extent that he made Bachir's martyrdom the time limit at which the first part of his memoirs "Man, Homeland, Freedom" ends. As if an entire era ended for him on that day, and after it another era began.
To memory and preservation of identity
After the end of his term at the head of the Order, Boulos Naaman returned to the university, to research and authorship. He later assumed university responsibilities, including the Vice-Presidency of the Holy Spirit University, and devoted himself again to history, especially the history of the Maronites and Lebanon.
But his return to books was not a return to the past only. He was trying to understand the present through it, and to preserve the memory of a phase he himself lived and participated in making some of its events.
He left a vast intellectual and historical production focused especially on the Maronites and their history and Lebanon and the war. Among his most prominent works are Théodoret de Cyr et le monastère de Saint Maroun: les origines des Maronites in 1971, and "Maronitism, Theology and Life: From the Mountains of Cyrus to the Plains of Apamea" in 1992, and his participation in preparing "Research on the Maronites: Their Origin, Their Name and Their Religion" in 2006, then his memoirs "Man, Homeland, Freedom" in 2009, and "Lebanon, the Maronites, Whither?" in 2014.
The Maronites... For Lebanon
The history of the Maronites formed an intellectual obsession that accompanied Abbot Boulos Naaman from his first academic study until his last years. But he did not deal with Maronitism as a closed identity or a call for sectarian privilege, but linked it to freedom, land and openness to the other.
And one of the clearest expressions of this view was his saying that "The Maronites are for Lebanon and for the East," and in his last years he warned against the Maronites distancing themselves from their history and their role and losing their connection to the land, and saw that their existence does not derive its meaning from numbers as much as it derives it from mission.
For him, Maronitism is a historical experience based on the search for freedom and its protection. Hence his insistence that it remain linked to Lebanon, not as the property of a sect, but as a space for coexistence, freedom and plurality.
Man, Land and Freedom
In the introduction to his memoirs, Abbot Boulos Naaman himself summarized the reason that took him out of the tranquility of the monastery to the clamor of the homeland. He wrote that defending man, homeland, land and freedom "imposed itself," because it is a defense of the entity and of the values he believed in. And perhaps there is no phrase that summarizes his biography more than that. He saw no contradiction between the monk and the struggler, nor between the historian and the man of stance, nor between faith and defending a free homeland. He lived monasticism engaged in the land and the people, and he read history to guard memory, and he entered politics from the door of what he considered responsibility towards the entity and freedom. And thus, from the small altars of childhood under the trees of Chartoun to the monasteries and the university and the Lebanese Front and history books, Boulos Naaman remained faithful to a triad that summed up a large part of his journey: Man, Homeland, Freedom

On the 44th Anniversary of the Assassination of Bachir Gemayel: The Case of the Lost "Caesar" of the Christians
Elias Nicolas Zoghbi / Nidaa Al-Watan/September 12, 2026  (Artificial Intelligence translation from Arabic)
In his book "On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History", Thomas Carlyle saw that history is, in its essence, the record of exceptional individuals, men whose courage and strength of character gave them the ability to give their era a direction when its institutions are unable to do so. Carlyle did not mean that these men conjure history out of nothing. They emerge from a chaos they did not create, but they take its reins in hand, and by doing so they transform it. The crisis provides the opportunity, and the great man gives it direction.
Caesar is a typical example, and it is easy to understand why. Rome had been eroding for decades before his appearance, the Senate was paralyzed, leaders were building their own private armies, and no one was able to agree on who actually holds the reins. Caesar did not fix any of that in a clean or noble way. But he refused to be swallowed by the crisis, and by resisting it, he turned into the political force that everyone had to rally around. And Bachir Gemayel occupied the same position among the Christians of Lebanon. And it is not identical to Caesar's position of course; centuries, wars and dangers were different, and claiming the opposite means laziness on the part of the researcher. But it can be said that he played the same role: he appeared when the old system had already fallen due to chaos and war, imposed unity, and assumed power in the face of odds that were supposed to defeat him, then was killed before anyone knew what he would have done victorious. In September 1982, the Christians did not lose only a leader, but they lost a Caesar.
A Republic in Collapse
Rome before Caesar was not so much a republic as it was the memory of a republic. And Lebanon in the late seventies was in a similar state, and for Christians specifically, the danger was not a vague "strange war", but it had a specific form, and that form was multifaceted. The Palestine Liberation Organization emerged, which had effectively, after the Cairo Agreement in 1969, established a state within a state in southern Lebanon and parts of Beirut and Mount Lebanon; lands that the Lebanese Army was not able to enter, let alone govern. And added to that was the Lebanese National Movement, Kamal Jumblatt's leftist alliance with the communists which wanted to tear apart the sectarian arrangement with the Christians and eliminate them. And on top of that, Islamic and Arab nationalist militias active using large numbers of mercenaries from different Arab countries. And last but not least, the Baathist Syrian Army came to the forefront, which entered in 1976 under the pretext of restoring order, and within a few years was besieging Zahle and East Beirut in an attempt to overrun Mount Lebanon. Combined, and in the eyes of the majority of Lebanese Christians, these forces formed what resembled a slow-moving siege. This is the world that Bachir entered: a world that was not calm nor stable, but crowded with forces determined to marginalize his community or subjugate it.
Making a Unifier
What Bachir actually did, before anything else, is that he forced the Christian military organizations to come under one leadership. It seems simple when written like that, but his own father, Pierre Gemayel, head of the Kataeb Party, and former President Camille Chamoun, were not agreeable, or at least not enthusiastic about the idea of creating or establishing the Lebanese Forces as were most of the old guard in the Lebanese Front. They did not see a centralized unified army as necessary or wise. But Bachir did it anyway. He was not just reorganizing forces, but he was betting, well aware that a divided community is defeated, and that only a united community has the possibility of survival.
That bet had a price. For unifying the military organizations required, however harsh it may seem, subduing the Christian rivals who stood in his way. And Caesar dealt with Pompey in the same way through a bloody and harsh internal war. Roman tradition likes to say that he respected his memory after the matter was over, whether that is true or not. As for whether Bachir's record towards the Christian parties he broke stands the same test, that is a controversial matter. But both men realized that unity is not achieved without confronting divisions within his own camp, and when necessary, breaking the power of those who stood in its way.
Crossing the Rubicon
Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon River is remembered as the moment when retreat became impossible, the point where hesitation was no longer an available option. And Bachir had his own version of that moment, as he built a Christian armed and disciplined force in open defiance of an occupation army and of the doubts of the pillars of his previous generation. Great men, according to Carlyle's narrative, do not spend their time weighing pros and cons endlessly. At a certain point, the decision itself becomes the full argument. And from there Bachir's story actually begins, from the moment when he decided that hesitation was no longer an option.
Power Against the Odds
On August 23, 1982, Bachir was elected President of Lebanon under both a Syrian and Israeli military occupation, amid the boycott of a large part of his opponents, Syrian opposition, and international opposition from the Soviet Union and most of the influential countries on the Lebanese interior. No one gave him that election. He was not supposed to win it. And Caesar's own rise faced similar entrenched resistance and came out of it victorious nonetheless. And in both cases, the moment rewarded the one who was ready to act while others were still busy arguing about procedures.
The Price of Tolerance
It will remain unknown what Bachir's presidency would have actually looked like, for he was martyred on September 14, 1982, three weeks after his election, before he assumed his duties. But the intention, the discourse and the vision he expressed in that short period remain significant. Bachir spoke of a governance that goes beyond narrow sectarian logic, and of extending his hand toward a broader national reconciliation instead of being content with a purely Christian victory. And to say that he forgave every opponent he ever faced would be an exaggeration, but the intention seems sincere, and that intention or ambition, which was cut short before being tested, is perhaps what most resembles Caesar in his death. For Caesar too was not killed in the midst of conquest, but was killed exactly when he began to transform military power into a permanent system. Both deaths, each in its own way, seem the price of attempting reconciliation instead of being content with purging.
A Life Cut Short Early
Bachir was thirty-four years old when he was killed, an age that puts him in a small group of men whose death in their thirties, before their projects matured, contributed to building their myth as much as their lives did. Alexander the Great died at thirty-two, Henry V King of England at thirty-five, and Bachir's death falls into the same historical pattern: he did not end the question of what he represented, but doubled its intensity.
Reading Bachir through Carlyle
No serious historical narrative says that a single individual explains historical outcomes in isolation from others, not in Caesar's Rome, nor in Bachir's Lebanon. For the soldiers, and the political allies, and every apparatus behind the Lebanese Forces, are the ones who actually did the work of salvation during those years, and a theory that erases them is not a serious theory. What Carlyle gets right is narrower than the idea of "one man makes history": some crises produce only chaos, and from time to time they produce a person who gives that chaos a face and a direction. Bachir was that person for Christians in wartime. And being historically important is not equal to being above criticism. Bachir was not infallible, but he was exceptional and important in a way that most people in that era were not.
The rise and death of Bachir Gemayel followed the same path that history grants to its "great men"; he appeared when his community's institutions had already fallen, imposed unity on a torn Christian camp, and assumed power in the face of odds designed to stop him. And his assassination three weeks after that victory did not close the question of what he could have built, but left it open, and this incomplete character is what has kept his name alive for forty-four years. And in Carlyle's reading, Bachir's historical importance was not because he was flawless, but because he was, in a violent and obscure phase of Lebanon's history, the only personality his community could point to as a way out.
After Bachir: What was lost, and what remains due
The comparison with Caesar leads to a difficult question: Do the Christians of Lebanon, fragmented and exhausted, need another Bachir? His short period of leadership produced what approximates real executive cohesion, one Christian authority instead of several competing authorities, and one voice capable of negotiating with regional and international powers instead of multiple competing voices. But that cohesion did not last after him. And Rome learned the same lesson within one generation: the death of Caesar did not restore the Republic, but gave birth to the Empire with Augustus, built around a person at the center of the system, who inaugurated the "Pax Romana," a period that lasted nearly two centuries distinguished by relative stability, prosperity and imperial peace. As for the Taif Agreement in 1989, it stripped the Maronite presidency of most of its executive powers, transferring them to the Sunni premiership and the Shiite speakership of parliament. And in the following decades, Lebanese Christians lost the initiative, instead of imposing conditions and defending their interests from a position of strength, their acceptance of arrangements imposed by others became increasingly a matter of course.
Whatever cohesion was achieved in his period, it was real, but it was personal not structural, linked to the presence of one man, and no civilization can build its survival on that for long. And this is exactly what makes the "Caesar" issue worthy of being raised seriously: for what Christians have lacked since 1982 is not emotion or memory, but a solid framework for their presence in this land, a framework built to remain after any leader however exceptional he may be. And "Caesar" may not be a solution in itself as much as it is the necessary shock capable of forcing that framework into existence: a personality decisive enough to secure guaranteed independence and continuity, capable of securing a future not for one political era, but for at least another century.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 12-13/2026
Trump Says Iran War Will End after US Midterm Elections
Asharq Al Awsat/September 12/2026
President Donald Trump repeated on Saturday that he believed the war with Iran will end after US midterm elections in November and that oil ⁠prices will tumble once ⁠it does. "I think very soon. I think it'll be probably ⁠right after the mid-terms. They're trying to hold out as long as they can to complicate the election. But I think people are wise to ⁠it," Trump ⁠told reporters in Dublin."When that happens, oil prices will come tumbling down."Earlier, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said that the Middle East does not need the United States to be a "regional policeman.” Iran has been at war since February 28, when US-Israeli strikes killed its supreme leader.Tehran retaliated with attacks across the region and blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil previously flowed. Iran and the US have since been vying for control of the strategic waterway.

Pezeshkian Says Middle East Has No Need for US 'Policeman'
Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that the Middle East does not need the United States to be a "regional policeman,” with the two countries at war and vying for control of the Strait of Hormuz. "We do not need a regional policeman," he said on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in India during a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. "The territorial integrity and security of the region can only be guaranteed by its main players and the countries that comprise it," he added, according to the Iranian presidency.Iran has been at war since February 28, when US-Israeli strikes killed its supreme leader. Tehran retaliated with attacks across the region and blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil previously flowed. Iran and the US have since been vying for control of the strategic waterway. The strait was free to transit before the war, but Iran now requires vessels to obtain permission and is considering a mechanism to impose service fees. Ships that do not comply are regularly targeted by Iranian strikes, while the US periodically bombs the Iranian coastline to challenge the country's control of the strait.More than six months into the Middle East war, the blockade continues to drive up oil prices, which soared past $100 a barrel this week. "Despite all the injustices suffered by our people, we neither desire war nor its continuation. Peace remains our priority," Pezeshkian added.

US Links Chinese Satellite Imagery to Iranian Strike that Killed 3 Troops
Washington : Asharq Al Awsat/September 12/2026
Before Iran carried out its attack that killed three US troops in July, Tehran acquired high-resolution satellite images of the base in Jordan from Chinese entities, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday citing US officials familiar with details of the incident. It is the clearest evidence so far that Chinese support for Iran during the war has had lethal consequences for US forces, according to the officials, who say the US has connected the imagery to the attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in northeastern Jordan. The officials did not identify the Chinese entities that supplied the imagery and stopped short of accusing the Chinese government of directly assisting the attack.Last July, Iranian ballistic missiles struck a housing area where US troops were sleeping, killing three soldiers and wounding four others. The attack was one of three missile strikes against the base within 24 hours and marked the first US deaths since an April ceasefire. US officials also told the Journal that Iran targeted manned and unmanned aircraft stationed at the base. Senior US officials raised the satellite imagery linked to the July 17 attack directly with Chinese counterparts, according to the Journal, but Beijing rejected the allegations and demanded evidence.
Chinese officials have repeatedly dismissed Washington's concerns and refused to acknowledge that Chinese companies were engaged in such activity, the report said. The findings could add friction to US-China relations ahead of a planned Sept. 24 summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to the Journal report, Iranian access to high-resolution imagery was particularly significant because US strikes earlier in the war had damaged Iranian radar, satellites and other surveillance equipment, limiting Tehran’s ability to monitor US military positions.

Iraq Closes Three Iran Crossings, Pursues Those Behind Attacks on Saudi Arabia
Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Iraq closed three border crossings with Iran on Saturday, officials told AFP, after a drone attack on a Saudi Arabian pipeline that both Riyadh and Baghdad said was launched from Iraq. An Iraqi security source and a government official told AFP that authorities ordered the closing of three border crossings with Iran. The security source said the decision was "part of an intelligence effort to track down the perpetrators and prevent their escape... and to hinder the smuggling of drones through these crossings". Both sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media, could not specify when the crossings would reopen. The closed crossings are Shalamsheh in Basra province, al-Shib in Missan and al-Mandali in the central province of Diyala. Other border crossings with Iran are still open. A security official said that "security forces found drone launchers near the Iraq-Iran border in the al-Tib" region, a remote part of Missan, close to the al-Shib crossing. A second security source gave the same account. Military spokesperson Sabah al-Numan said the prime minister had approved "Iran's request to conduct a joint investigation into finding drone launch platforms near the Iraq-Iran border". The government's security media cell said earlier that authorities "have started administrative and security reorganization operations at several border crossings". It added that they had stepped up "intelligence activities" to determine "the breaches and violations that took place at these crossings". It later announced that passengers stranded for hours at two crossings were permitted to pass.

Attacks from Iraq on East-West Pipeline Draw Strong Condemnations
London: Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Attacks on a key Saudi oil pipeline launched from Iraqi territory drew on Saturday strong condemnations from many countries and organizations. The Saudi Foreign Ministry blamed the attacks on the East-West pipeline in the Riyadh and Madinah regions on several drones that came from Iraq and, in a statement, said the Kingdom would not retaliate to give the Iraqi government “an opportunity to take the necessary measures.”For its part, the Iraqi government strongly condemned the attacks, reiterating its categorical rejection of any aggression that threatens the Kingdom's security, stability, or bilateral relations. Iraqi Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ali Al-Zaidi ordered an immediate investigation to determine the circumstances of the strikes and identify the perpetrators. In a statement carried by the Iraqi News Agency, Spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Sabah Al-Numan emphasized that Baghdad will take strict legal action against anyone implicated in the assault, stressing that the state will not tolerate activities that jeopardize Iraq's national security or its ties with brotherly nations. Al-Numan voiced appreciation for Saudi Arabia's measured response and constructive engagement with Baghdad's efforts to de-escalate tensions, noting that this stance underscores Riyadh's commitment to regional stability and bilateral cooperation. He reaffirmed that Iraq's territory and airspace will not serve as a launchpad for hostile actions against any state. He reiterated Baghdad's dedication to upholding state sovereignty, good neighborliness, and regional diplomacy, ensuring relations with neighboring nations foster mutual stability rather than conflict. Also, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, OIC, the Arab Parliament, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Muslim World League (MWL) were quick to condemn the attacks. The separate statements all stressed full solidarity with Saudi Arabia and backed all measures taken by the Kingdom to safeguard its territory.

At least 76,000 flee fighting in Yemen since July: UN
LBCI/12 September 2026
At least 76,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since July, with the number quadrupling in the past week as fighting flared between government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the United Nations said Saturday.
"The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is warning of a rapidly worsening displacement crisis in Yemen unfolding by the hour," the U.N. agency said in a statement, pointing out that "at least 76,000 people have fled their homes since July... four times last week's total, as fighting intensifies."AFP

Al-Halbousi Condemns Attacks on Saudi Arabia
Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives Haibat Al-Halbousi strongly condemned the attacks targeting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that originated from within Iraqi territory. In a statement issued on Saturday, Al-Halbousi rejected the use of Iraq's territory or airspace to threaten Saudi Arabia's security or that of any neighboring state, describing such actions as unacceptable violations that contradict Iraq's national interests, stated foreign policy, and regional relations. Al-Halbousi emphasized the critical need to restrict weapons exclusively to the state and its constitutional institutions under the authority of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. He stressed that enforcing state control over arms is vital to reinforcing national sovereignty, preserving domestic stability, and preventing Iraq from being drawn into wider regional conflicts.

Saudi Arabia Strongly Condemns Drone Attack on East-West Pipeline
Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned "the targeting of the East-West pipeline in the Riyadh and Madinah regions by several drones coming from Iraq, which caused human injuries and damage.”"The pipeline was stopped as a precaution, and the attacks resulted in some injuries," an Energy Ministry official told the SPA news agency earlier. "At the request of the Iraqi Prime Minister... (Riyadh) has chosen not to respond at this stage and to support the efforts of the Iraqi government ... to prevent attacks launched from Iraq against the Kingdom and neighboring countries," the Foreign Ministry said. Saudi Arabia further affirmed that it reserves the right to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, security, facilities, citizens, and residents.

Houthi Expansion in Western Yemen Brings Arrests and Crackdowns
Aden: Mohammed Nasser/Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
With little time to think, thousands of civilians in western Taiz province and southern Hodeidah found themselves facing a choice between staying or leaving after the Houthis carried out raids and arrests in the villages and population centers they entered, amid fears of reprisals and looting targeting residents and their property.Residents recorded distressing scenes of thousands of families fleeing villages and areas in western Taiz and southern Hodeidah. Some fled on foot, while others traveled in cars and on motorcycles, with some taking whatever livestock and belongings they could save. Residents told Asharq Al-Awsat that for many families, displacement was not a planned decision but an urgent escape from fear, leaving behind their homes, land, and livelihoods. Those unable to leave found themselves trapped in a state of panic and anxiety as raids and arrests continued, alongside reports of residents' property being looted and stolen. According to accounts from local residents, areas including Al-Wazi'iyah, Hays, Al-Khokha, Al-Zuhari, Al-Haymah, Yakhtul, and Mokha, as well as the areas stretching along the coast between Al-Haymah and Mokha, have been experiencing turmoil and displacement since the Houthis entered them.
The accounts said Houthi fighters carried out raids and arrested a number of residents, while property was also looted and stolen. Other accounts reported that families were being held hostage and pressured to force relatives who were fighters to return and surrender themselves and their weapons.
According to the sources, the Houthis have carried out reprisals against residents in Mokha district in Taiz province and the city of Al-Khokha in Hodeidah province, accusing them of supporting the internationally recognized government. Others were targeted based on allegations made by Houthi operatives seeking to settle old scores with some of those targeted in the campaign. The sources said Abdullah Al-Fadhli and Alaa Al-Omaisi, two Houthi security and intelligence officials in the area, are leading part of these campaigns.
Fleeing into the Unknown
In Al-Wazi'iyah district, residents said thousands of people were displaced as the Houthis entered the district, fleeing what they described as the group's brutality and arrests in difficult humanitarian conditions. Displacement from the district and other areas is still continuing. Abdul Jabbar Ali Hadi, a resident of the area, said the events unfolded suddenly, leaving residents with little time to absorb what was happening. "No one understood what had happened. Within moments, it was as if the whole district had erupted, and everyone wanted to leave," he told Asharq Al-Awsat. Abdul Jabbar described a scene in which fear and chaos became intertwined. While some residents tried to save their children, others attempted to take their livestock with them. Women were crying as everyone searched for a way out. He added that those who could not find a vehicle had to leave on foot, wearing nothing but the clothes they had on. Abdul Jabbar was among those who left the area in search of a safe place, but he was initially unable to take his family with him. He said he reached safety in the clothes he was wearing after his mother insisted on not leaving without her sheep.
His mother was forced to walk on foot with her sheep until evening, when she reached the Al-Sabriyah area, where she spent the night. At 10 p.m., Abdul Jabbar took a motorcycle to look for her. After finding her, he returned to his location, and the family continued their journey the following morning. The man described those moments as filled with sorrow, saying the departure left behind "pain, memories, a life, land whose soil we loved, homes, belongings, love and loyalty."Along the way, he saw vehicles carrying displaced families moving without pause, motorcycles, and hundreds of displaced people walking on foot, alongside sheep, cows, camels, and donkeys, in a scene reflecting the scale of the chaos and suffering accompanying the flight.
Lost Children and Displaced People Without Shelter
After Abdul Jabbar contacted his family, he was told that fuel had become scarce in Al-Wazi'iyah, raising fears about their ability to continue the journey. He was forced to rent a motorcycle from a distant area and send a fuel container to his family. Once it arrived, the family was able to set out on a journey lasting several hours along rough roads before reaching a safe place. The risks accompanying the displacement went beyond the loss of property. Abdul Jabbar recalled that a girl no older than five became separated from her family during the journey. After her disappearance was reported through social media groups, her family spent hours anxiously searching for her before she was reunited with them the following day. The girl's story was one of many manifestations of the fear experienced by families, at a time when keeping family members together and getting them to safety had become a priority above everything else.
Abdul Jabbar summed up the experience of displacement in words reflecting the scale of what displaced families lost within a matter of hours. He said they left without money, provisions, or extra clothes, carrying nothing but what he described as "a person's determination, resilience, patience, and dignity."
He added that they were prepared to endure anything, even if they had to live under trees. But what hurt him most, he said, was seeing the tears of the elderly and "the humiliation of men."The displacement journey is not simply a move from one place to another. For families forced to leave, it is a sudden uprooting from an entire way of life, including homes, memories, livelihoods, and possessions, and replacing it with an unknown road marked by fear and hardship.
Urgent Need
As displacement continues, families who have fled their areas remain in urgent need of safety, shelter, food, water, and fuel, as well as protection and the reunification of families separated during their flight, particularly children and elderly people. Against the backdrop of this suffering, the harshest reality is that many civilians did not leave in search of a better life. They left because staying was no longer a safe option. In a related development, local authorities in the interim capital Aden and the provinces of Abyan and Lahj issued a joint statement saying that the armed forces had overcome the state of shock and confusion, regained their balance, and were fully prepared to confront any challenges, amid what they described as popular support and social momentum to confront the Houthis and thwart the ambitions of "Iran's project in the region." The statement said authorities would continue to monitor security and public services, ensure state institutions continued to perform their duties, confront terrorist threats, protect citizens and property, and maintain security and stability in coordination with the relevant government, security, and military authorities.The authorities called on residents to remain calm and vigilant, ignore rumors, obtain information from official sources, cooperate with the relevant authorities, and report any suspicious movements or activities. They pledged to make the security and stability of citizens their highest priority, affirming that they would continue to fulfill their duties and responsibilities to safeguard security in Aden, Abyan, and Lahj and ensure that state institutions continued to carry out their functions.

How Israel Abducted a Senior Hamas Security Official from the Heart of Gaza
Gaza: Asharq Al Awsat/September12/ 2026
On September 1, an Israeli special forces unit abducted Moeen Al-Arabid, a senior security official with Hamas and its security apparatus, from the heart of an area controlled by the group in western Gaza City. The operation caused shock and disbelief within Hamas and among other Palestinian factions.
The area turned into a battlefield at the time of the operation, which was carried out in the morning. Israel used various types of aircraft, including warplanes, helicopters, and drones with different missions, to provide cover for the special forces unit affiliated with the Israeli General Security Service, known as the Shin Bet, ensure the operation's success, and facilitate the unit's withdrawal.
How the Operation Began
Sources familiar with the ongoing investigation into the operation told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israeli forces carried out intensive intelligence and military movements for more than a week before the attack. These movements were clearly visible, but the prevailing belief was that they were part of efforts to locate leaders or operatives from Palestinian factions in order to assassinate them, or part of military movements intended to demonstrate the forces' control inside the Gaza Strip. The sources said that on several separate days over a period of roughly 10 days, military operations were carried out around what is known as the new road at the Netzarim Junction, which separates the northern, central, and southern parts of the Gaza Strip. Israel occupied the area during the war and constructed the road there. Israeli military vehicles made incursions into the area almost daily during that period. Their movements, accompanied by gunfire, resulted in the complete closure of Salah Al-Din Road, the main thoroughfare, while Israeli forces maintained fire control over the area and its surroundings to prevent any movement by Palestinians.The investigation shows that the Israeli special forces unit that carried out the operation entered and exited the Gaza Strip via this road under heavy protection from military vehicles conducting incursions in the area. The unit repeated the entry and exit scenario several times to monitor and reconnoiter the target site in western Gaza City, roughly no more than 4 kilometers away. The special forces unit used the advancing military vehicles as cover to infiltrate through the new road near the Netzarim Corridor. This occurred on the morning before the operation, allowing the unit at times to reach the western side via the central coastal Al-Rashid Road, or through side streets leading to Street 10 and from there into the heart of Gaza City.
Intelligence Cover
The sources revealed that the operation was not limited to military movements on the ground. Israeli forces also intensified their intelligence cover by flying a large number of drones over wide areas. At least eight drones a day were operating for more than a week over the Katibah area where the attack took place, as well as the coastal road and its surroundings. The sources said that the movement and density of the drones were continuously monitored. Those conducting the surveillance, whether members of the "resistance" or government security agencies, would send urgent reports about them. However, all assessments pointed to the possibility of an airstrike assassination, as had usually been the case. No unusual movement by any armed party, such as special forces, armed gangs, or others, was detected on the ground. In the Katibah area, the situation appeared to be completely secure.
A Vital Location
One of the most significant findings to emerge recently came after security cameras, as well as cameras belonging to homes, commercial shops, and other locations installed along some streets and in certain areas, were tracked.
The Israeli special forces unit was identified through its use of a small bus. By tracking footage showing the vehicle, investigators determined that the unit had been present at a vital and strategically important location inside Gaza City on the day before the attack.
According to the findings, as revealed by Asharq Al-Awsat sources, the unit spent the night inside Gaza City before moving in the morning to carry out its security mission. It emerged that other members of the force were also present at the site, posing as vegetable vendors and others around the house where the senior Hamas security official was staying. He had been preparing for his son's wedding ceremony. The investigation shows that the Israeli special forces unit used more than one vehicle during its infiltration, including on the day of the operation and when it withdrew. Those inside the bus were the ones who abducted Al-Arabid. It also emerged that they had been moving around the area alongside other members of the force, indicating that the unit consisted of a large number of personnel, no fewer than 30. They withdrew in vehicles and on motorcycles under heavy aerial fire. Aircraft struck one of the vehicles belonging to the force, which was carrying a Palestinian license plate, while military vehicles moved into the area and closed Salah Al-Din Road toward the new road at the Netzarim Corridor to secure their safe passage and transport them into an Israeli-controlled position.
Earlier Details
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat days earlier that the security operation had begun roughly two months ago, when Shin Bet officers assumed the identity of an international relief organization that would provide assistance to Palestinians by establishing small businesses, including stalls selling vegetables, drinks, and other goods in the area where the operation took place. According to the sources at the time, Shin Bet used Palestinian operatives, including women, to carry out the project and supply them with vegetables every day, presenting them as aid from the organization. The proceeds from the sales were supposedly to benefit those taking part in the project. The operatives later asked them to monitor certain homes and the movements of specific individuals in the area, including Al-Arabid. The sources said at the time that those running the project were later found, following the operation, to have been collaborators working for the Israeli Shin Bet. On the day of the operation specifically, new individuals appeared at some of the stalls, while others had been there since the previous day selling vegetables. They were later found to be Shin Bet operatives who had arrived in the area and concealed their weapons inside the stalls. When the time came to launch the attack, they took part in the operation before disappearing and withdrawing from the area. Following the attack, Hamas security agencies succeeded in arresting collaborators and people who had benefited from the project run by the fictitious relief organization for questioning.
This is not the first time Israel has used the guise of international organizations to conduct operations inside the Gaza Strip. One such case occurred when an Israeli special forces unit infiltrated the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in March 2024, before military reinforcements arrived at the site. The operation subsequently continued for two weeks, during which Hamas operatives and members of its various security apparatuses were killed or captured, including commanders from the Al-Qassam Brigades.

Israeli Support for Ethiopia’s Maritime Access Bid Fuels Tensions With Egypt
Cairo: Mohamed Mahmoud/Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Israeli support for landlocked Ethiopia’s bid for access to the Red Sea is fueling tensions with Egypt, which has repeatedly opposed Addis Ababa’s moves amid a separate dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and its impact on Cairo’s Nile water share. The Israeli backing raises friction with Egypt and gives Tel Aviv another way to pressure Cairo over its positions, despite the legitimacy of Egypt’s stance under international law, experts told Asharq Al-Awsat. They said the international community would ultimately determine the outcome. Ethiopia has been landlocked since 1993, when Eritrea gained independence after a three-decade war. It relies on neighboring countries’ ports, particularly Djibouti’s. The Ethiopian News Agency said Israel had announced diplomatic support for Ethiopia’s efforts to secure access to the sea. It quoted Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia Avraham Neguise as saying that his country firmly backed the East African nation’s push for a Red Sea outlet. Empowering and strengthening Ethiopia and stabilizing the Red Sea are in everyone’s interest, not Ethiopia’s alone, and Israel stands with Ethiopia in this effort, Neguise told the agency on Thursday evening. It was not Neguise’s first intervention on an issue dividing Egypt and Ethiopia. In August, he told reporters that Israel would “continue to strengthen its support for Ethiopia, with the aim of helping it become a leading economic power on the African continent.”
Threat to Egyptian interests
African affairs expert Asmaa al-Husseini said the Israeli statements “increase tensions with Egypt” and point to “a covert Israeli role in Ethiopia’s Red Sea moves aimed at harming Egyptian interests.”The issue may not trigger a direct crisis between Cairo and Tel Aviv, she told Asharq Al-Awsat, but Egypt would closely monitor it. Cairo’s response would depend on the level of escalation and Ethiopia’s actions on the ground. “Egypt has the right to defend its national security,” Husseini said. “If any military arrangements targeting it are pursued in the Red Sea, Egypt will take measures to prevent them. Ethiopia and Israel understand this, but they are trying by every means to impose a fait accompli. Egypt will never accept that.”Neguise’s latest remarks coincided with renewed Egyptian opposition to Ethiopian access to the Red Sea. “There are sovereign states with ports on the Red Sea, and no one has the right to grant any country military maritime access. Otherwise, there would be chaos, particularly as many African countries are landlocked,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told a news conference on Thursday evening. “There is no problem with commercial access,” he added.
Ramadan Qarny, an expert on African affairs, said Egypt’s opposition rested on several established principles. “The first is legal: respect for international law, which affirms the exclusive right of littoral states to maintain a presence on the Red Sea coast,” Qarny told Asharq Al-Awsat. “The second is respect for African Union principles, which uphold the sanctity of borders inherited from the colonial era. Raising this issue could therefore open the door to widespread unrest across African countries.”The third principle, Qarny said, was that “Egypt’s actions and position align with the principles of the African and Arab states bordering the Red Sea.”Qarny said Israel was seeking Ethiopian backing on a similar issue: Israel’s presence in, or recognition of, the breakaway Somaliland region, which took place in December 2025. “There is a political quid pro quo,” he said. “Israel supports Ethiopia in obtaining access to the Red Sea coast in exchange for Ethiopian support for Israel’s recognition of the breakaway Somaliland region.”
Cairo’s position
Cairo has not officially responded to Israel’s continued moves on Ethiopia. Former Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed El-Orabi, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the chairman of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, has downplayed their impact.In earlier remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said they would “neither undermine nor change” Egypt’s positions. Qarny said Israeli support was unlikely to significantly alter the dynamics of the Egyptian-Ethiopian disputes. “Tensions already exist and are likely to increase,” he said, adding that Ethiopian media had in recent months waged what he described as “a coordinated and organized campaign,” led by the Ethiopian News Agency, against Egypt’s positions. The campaign, he said, had targeted Cairo’s stance on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the Nile Basin countries’ Cooperative Framework Agreement and Ethiopia’s bid for maritime access.

The Latest LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 12-13/2026
The Islamist Regime of Iran Is Wounded — Here Is How to Finish It
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/September 12, 2026
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22854/islamist-iran-is-wounded
One of the most effective methods Israel used to weaken Hezbollah and Hamas was the systematic targeting and removal of leadership. Trump started to use the same tactic, then stopped. Reapplying it would deliver a helpful message that the regime cannot continue on its current path.
If the US is concerned that then there might not be anyone with whom to make a "deal," the US should not be looking for a deal. A "deal" will not be honored by Iran, anyway. The US should be looking for unconditional surrender.
Iran's rulers, who have murdered an estimated 100,000 of their own citizens, clearly could not care less if a million oil tankers are hit or if "ordinary Iranians" cannot buy food or fuel. Whatever happened to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's threat to reclaim for the people of Iran their leaders' secret bank accounts in the British Virgin Islands and $100 million villas?
The United Arab Emirates, after Iran targeted its territory with missiles and drones, once again highlighted the decisive, farsighted leadership of President Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan to cut trade and financial relations with Iran. Severing relations with Iran's regime should become the standard.
It would be a blessing to eliminate this Islamist regime – and as soon as we can. It has spread terrorism, anti-Americanism, antisemitism and the sickening repression of a great people for nearly five decades. The opportunity is here. Let us get it done.
The United Arab Emirates, after Iran targeted its territory with missiles and drones, once again highlighted the decisive, farsighted leadership of President Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan to cut trade and financial relations with Iran. Severing relations with Iran's regime should become the standard. Pictured: Al Nahyan meets with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit, on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
For a start, it is essential not to buy into the Iranian regime's staged display of defiant statements. They all aim to convince the world that nothing has changed and that the regime remains firmly in control. The desired audience is most likely the Iranian people being held hostage and the United States and Israel, to persuade them to abandon a campaign that, in reality, is bringing the country to its knees. Do not buy this act. The regime is fighting for its survival, presumably to outlast either the US midterm elections, or, second best, the term of President Donald J. Trump.
"The main task," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified the situation, "is to bring down the terror regime in Iran. We are very close to that. We know that the entire axis will ultimately collapse."
The Iranian currency, the rial, has spiraled out of control, plunging in a matter of weeks from roughly 1.8 million to more than 2.3 million against the U.S. dollar and repeatedly setting historic lows. It ranks among the world's least valuable currencies. Since Trump returned to office, the rial has lost more than half its value, and the free-market rate continues to drop daily. Inflation compounds the disaster. Official figures hover near 88% year-on-year, while Trump has cited levels as high as 300%. Iranians report that prices of basic food and essentials rise 20 or 30 percent from one day to the next. The Iranian economy appears on the verge of collapse.
Here is what might be done to complete the elimination of this brutal, predatory regime.
One of the most effective methods Israel used to weaken Hezbollah and Hamas was the systematic targeting and removal of leadership. Trump started to use the same tactic, then stopped. Reapplying it would deliver a helpful message that the regime cannot continue on its current path.
If the US is concerned that then there might not be anyone with whom to make a "deal," the US should not be looking for a deal. A "deal" will not be honored by Iran, anyway. The US should be looking for unconditional surrender.
Iran's rulers, who have murdered an estimated 100,000 of their own citizens, clearly could not care less if a million oil tankers are hit or if "ordinary Iranians" cannot buy food or fuel. Whatever happened to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's threat to reclaim for the people of Iran their leaders' secret bank accounts in the British Virgin Islands and $100 million villas?
Secondary sanctions -- actions on any third party still facilitating Iranian revenues – as planned by Bessent, should be tightened and enforced without exception.
Additionally, the military campaign might expand beyond the Strait of Hormuz and other targets. Iran is rapidly restoring its nuclear program at Pickaxe Mountain and rebuilding its ballistic-missile arsenal. There are reports of ongoing activity at deeply buried nuclear-related sites. Every place involved in nuclear weapons development or missile manufacturing should be struck.
Third, European countries, Gulf states, and other Middle Eastern nations need to be pressed to sever all remaining diplomatic and economic ties with Iran — or face unfortunate consequences. The United Arab Emirates, after Iran targeted its territory with missiles and drones, once again highlighted the decisive, farsighted leadership of President Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan to cut trade and financial relations with Iran. Severing relations with Iran's regime should become the standard.
It would be a blessing to eliminate this Islamist regime – and as soon as we can. It has spread terrorism, anti-Americanism, antisemitism and the sickening repression of a great people for nearly five decades. The opportunity is here. Let us get it done.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
*Follow Majid Rafizadeh on X (formerly Twitter)
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

How Can the Houthis be Challenged?
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
The latest developments on the ground in Yemen are so significant that their seriousness cannot be understated. Iran now has an arm on the vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait through its proxy, the Houthi militia, which has seized the port of Mokha and the Yemeni islands in the southern Red Sea.
The Houthis' aggressive military activities leading up to the attack pointed to one of three possibilities: either they were targeting Saudi areas bordering Yemen to the north, oil facilities in Yemen's Marib province, or the port of Mokha, from which they could go on to threaten international shipping.
The battles of the past few days ended with the seizure of the port of Mokha, Perim Island at the mouth of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the islands of Hanish and Zugar. This confirmed that the operation is an extension of Iran's activities in the waters of the Gulf. Iran can now halt oil shipping through both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb. The timing comes in the decisive weeks leading up to the US midterm elections, if the Iranians are seeking to resume negotiations with the Trump administration under conditions that strengthen their demands.
The issue has implications for regional security that extend beyond Yemen's borders. The Houthis now control a port and islands that enable them to threaten shipping and cooperate with Iran-aligned terrorist militias in Somalia.
As for the dynamics of the Yemeni war itself, the Houthis have certainly made significant gains, but they have also expanded the front against themselves by seizing areas around Mokha. This vast area will require further confrontations with the Houthis, in addition to forcing them to devote resources to defending the many fronts that have opened for the first time since their defeats in 2018.
In fact, what happened this week resembles what happened nearly a decade ago. Houthi fighters reached the port of Mokha itself and even pushed beyond it to Dhubab, the last point in southwestern Yemen. It is considered the narrowest point separating Asia from Africa, lying only about 30 kilometers across the sea from Djibouti.After roughly three years of militia control, coalition forces were able to defeat the Houthis and liberate Mokha, Dhubab, and the islands, including Perim and Zugar.
Yemen's government forces are going through a period of rebuilding and consolidating their various national forces. This is a difficult task as they work to liberate areas controlled by the Houthis, which are the country's most densely populated and most rugged regions, amid extremely difficult political and economic conditions. Securing Yemen goes beyond the country's borders. It also serves regional security and the security of global maritime trade. This requires international support for Yemen, not just support from Saudi Arabia and the countries of the region.
The Middle East is going through a dangerous period of turmoil, and its flashpoints are interconnected. We see this in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere, and these challenges require collective cooperation to contain them. Many people underestimate the Yemeni Houthi movement, believing it to be a local problem that can easily be contained militarily or politically. In reality, the Houthis resemble Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan. Stopping or containing the threat posed by such armed groups requires a joint effort. The fall of the Assad regime in Syria had consequences that extended beyond its borders, weakening Hezbollah in Lebanon and dismantling part of the region's network of weapons, drugs, and terrorism. Yemen's forces will not be able to fight the Houthis alone. Regional and international efforts must come together to accomplish the task.

Bonn, Berlin and Beirut
Samir Atallah/Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
Talk of a federal system has once again returned loudly in Lebanon. In other words, an undeclared partition. The campaign is now being led by men of considerable refinement and integrity. But everyone knows that federalism, decentralization, and other such labels are attempts to soften the unpleasant feeling triggered by the idea itself. Those who want to escape from one another are reluctant to admit it. A hundred years have shown that the country's wars far outnumber its periods of unity. Some call it a failed model of coexistence. Others say divorce is better than fighting. A separation with affection is a thousand times better than a marriage built on hatred. As a Lebanese citizen, I am against partition. It will not work. It will not last. Nothing can work in a country of 10,000 square kilometers that has experienced more forms of government than Germany. When I first went to Berlin, it was not a capital but a forbidden city. Its eastern half was an enemy of its western half, and a wall stood between them like the Great Wall of China. The capital of West Germany was a small city called Bonn. Germany was two Germanies, one communist in the East and the other capitalist in the West. On my next trip to Germany, unity had returned, Berlin had once again become the capital, the wall had fallen, and the Germans had revived Konrad Adenauer's famous slogan: No more experiments. We once knew an East Beirut and a West Beirut in Lebanon. We would meet secretly behind the "front lines." And we would fight one another. And celebrate, like the Germans. Why are we looking today for another experiment and another label? Leave it as it is. Less than partition and worse than unity. Welcome, federalism.

Sudan... The Antidote from Abroad
Mohammed al-Rumaihi/Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
For some time now, I have been following discussions about renewed attempts to launch a Sudanese-Sudanese national dialogue. Like every Arab, I hope one of these efforts succeeds in bringing an end to this tragedy, which has dragged on far longer than it should have.
Yet Arab experiences, and Sudanese ones in particular, make optimism difficult. After more than three years of a brutal civil war, in which Sudanese have devastated their own country, millions have been displaced, people have gone hungry, and countless others have lost their homes and livelihoods, a legitimate question arises: Can internal dialogue alone pull Sudan out of this spiral? I doubt it. Sudan’s problem long predates the current war. Since independence, the country has moved from one coup to another uprising, from civilian government to military rule, and from conflict in the periphery to conflict at the center. Names and slogans change, but the crisis remains, only to return years later in a different form. It is as though Sudan is trapped in a closed circle, with each cycle exacting a new and painful price from its people.
The current war may be the most dangerous yet because it has struck at the state itself. The dispute is no longer merely about who governs Sudan. The more pressing question has become: Will there still be a state left to govern once the guns fall silent? That is why I believe that repeated calls for dialogue, important as they are, risk becoming just another platform added to previous platforms. Politicians gather, talk at length, issue statements, and then each side returns to its old position. In my view, Sudan does not lack conferences, nor is it short of documents and declarations. What it lacks is a political decision capable of stopping the war first. Only after that can the discussion move to the remaining details.
Here I am reminded of the Syrian experience.
For more than a decade, the Syrian opposition had multiple slogans and platforms: The Cairo Platform, the Moscow Platform, the Istanbul meetings, and a succession of coalitions, councils, and alliances whose names changed constantly. Each group believed it was best placed to represent Syrians, while the war raged on, the state eroded, and ordinary people paid the price. The divisions were not only between the regime and the opposition. The opposition itself failed to agree on many fundamentals: Priorities, allies, the shape of the future state, and even who was friend and who was foe. Meetings multiplied, yet Syria drew little closer to a solution. What ultimately changed the landscape was not another conference. Rather, a shift occurred on the ground. A force emerged that was able to impose a new reality, aided by regional and international circumstances that had become favorable.
Events then moved with a speed that many did not expect.Sudan, in my opinion, is even more complex in some respects. There are two warring sides, fragmented political forces, economic interests, a social and tribal mosaic of extraordinary diversity, neighboring countries fearful that instability may spread across their borders, and above all, regional and international powers, each with its own calculations and interests. For this reason, I believe the antidote to Sudan’s poison will not come from within alone this time. The idea may sound harsh, because in principle Sudanese should determine their own future. There is no disagreement on that. But what are we to do when the domestic actors are unable to make decisions, when the gun becomes the primary means of negotiation, and when every side believes that a few more months of fighting may improve its position?
This is where the outside world must step in. Arab and African countries with a direct stake in Sudan, together with influential international powers, must first reach an understanding among themselves. In my view, that is the starting point. There is little sense in one capital calling for an end to the war while one side or another continues to receive money, weapons, or political cover from a different capital. Peace cannot be built if every country pursues its own Sudan policy. The answer is not another conference to be added to the long list of conferences, nor another group photograph in which rivals shake hands before the cameras. What is needed is a clear decision agreed upon by the influential states: This war must end. Sudan must remain united. Humanitarian aid must reach the people. State institutions must not be destroyed. Then a political process must begin, with a defined timeline and a defined endpoint.
But any agreement of this kind must show teeth.
Those who refuse to stop the war must know there will be a price to pay. Those who obstruct the delivery of food and medicine to civilians must be held accountable. And those who imagine they can rule all of Sudan through the force of arms must understand that this path is closed.
The problem in Sudan today, as I see it, is that nearly everyone talks about dialogue, but very few are willing to make the difficult decisions. Long civil wars do not always end because the belligerents wake up one morning endowed with wisdom. More often, they end when the circumstances around them change and each side discovers that the cost of continuing the war has become greater than the cost of compromise.
That, in my view, is the role of the international community in Sudan: Not to choose Sudan’s rulers, nor to write its constitution, but to close the doors of war to the warring parties. After that, Sudanese can sit together and debate their state, their constitution, and their desired government as they see fit.
But to ask them to reach an agreement while the guns are still speaking, and while each side waits for a more favorable balance of power, is simply to resign ourselves to further destruction. Sudan certainly needs dialogue. But before dialogue, it needs someone to stop the war. One final thought: Sometimes the antidote does not come from the same place as the poison.

The War in Yemen Is Not Over
Mishary Dhayidi/Asharq Al Awsat/12 September 2026
On November 5, 2009, Houthi fighters infiltrated the Saudi village of Al-Khoubah in the Jazan region and climbed Jabal al-Dukhan, attempting to seize control of it, during what became known as the "Sixth War" between the Houthis and the Yemeni government led by then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Not long afterward, I remember a comment by a Houthi leader, Dhaifallah Al-Shami, in a BBC film. As he walked along rocky cliffs near the Saudi border, he said that "we do not recognize all borders," because all Muslim lands are available to us. Today, we are hearing that the Houthis, along with their Iranian and other supporters, have seized the port of Mokha and driven out the government forces led by General Tariq Saleh, the nephew of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president killed by the Houthis. Tariq had expelled them from Mokha in 2017, taking control of the port, the city, and the surrounding areas. His forces, along with others, also took control of the vital islands in the waters of Bab el-Mandeb, most importantly Mayyun Island at the entrance to the strait, as well as the Hanish and Zugar island groups. Today, the Houthis have returned to them. There is no need to reiterate that the waters of Bab el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden are a global and international issue, not merely a Yemeni, Saudi, or Eritrean one. Around 7 percent of global oil production passes through Bab el-Mandeb, according to Kpler, a company specializing in tracking global shipping data. There are also numerous international naval military bases along the African shores opposite Yemen's coast. Yet despite this success achieved by the Houthis with Iranian support, it remains certain that this war has not ended with such temporary victories within a protracted conflict.
The causes of the war remain, and the embers of the conflict are still burning. What the Houthis have reclaimed today in Mokha, Mayyun, and Hanish is merely what they had lost there years ago. The picture is larger, and the crisis is deeper. Yemen and the Houthis are part of a larger whole, by which I mean "the Iranian question." Iran itself, as its President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged during a session of the BRICS forum in India, is struggling. Speaking about the US economic war against Iran, and now the European one as well, he said: "These pressures have reached a critical and dangerous stage in recent months... Economic security is inseparable from national and regional security." I will conclude where I began. Saudi Arabia's confrontation with the Houthi threat has been going on for 17 years, from the Jabal al-Dukhan war in 2009 until today, and the story continues. Why?
Because it is one chapter in the confrontation with Iran, just as is the case with Iran's militias in Iraq. It is a larger war and a broader confrontation. Now, prudence and resolve require a review of the military and political situation in Yemen, identifying where the shortcomings lie and correcting them, no matter how difficult, frank, or fundamental that reform may be. This is one round in a much larger war. The most important thing is to learn from the setbacks and take further long-term steps toward the final gate, the gate of victory.

Seven Years Later: Honoring Amer, Continuing His Mission
The Amer Foundation/September 12, 2026
Dear Friends,
Seven years ago today, on September 12, 2019, Amer Fakhoury was kidnapped and unlawfully detained by Lebanese General Security under the direct orders of Hezbollah.
What happened to Amer became the reason we started the Amer Foundation. His experience showed us what can happen when corrupt and oppressive forces are allowed to control a country’s institutions and use them against innocent people.
Since then, we have watched Hezbollah’s influence continue to drag Lebanon into war, instability, and suffering. The Lebanese people have paid the price for far too long. Today, we are encouraged to see change taking place in Lebanon, and we hope the new presidency will continue working to restore the authority of the Lebanese state and protect the country from Hezbollah’s influence.
In honor of Amer, our Foundation remains dedicated to advocating for victims of unlawful detention and those suffering under oppressive and corrupt regimes. We continue to raise awareness and educate others about democracy, human rights, and the importance of holding those in power accountable.
Our work has also grown beyond advocacy. Over the past few years, we have been able to help many families in Lebanon. This past year alone, the Amer Foundation sent more than $20,000 to support families in southern Lebanon struggling with the effects of war.
We are proud of how far the Foundation has come, but we know there is still so much work to be done. We will continue honoring Amer’s legacy by standing with victims, helping families in need, and working toward a freer and more democratic future for Lebanon and the Middle East.
Warm regards,
The Amer Foundation

Selected Face Book & X tweets on September 12/2026
Yann Baly
I am learning about the passing of Father Boulos Naaman.
Superior General of the Maronite Order, with his faith and intelligence, he accompanied the emergence and rise of the one and only true Lebanese resistance.
A monk of deep-rooted faith, he welcomed, listened to, and guided the one whom Providence had given to Lebanon: Bachir Gemayel.
Tonight, I think of all my friends, old and young, from the Lebanese Christian resistance. I think of my dear Father Joseph Mouanès, who knows...
A few days before the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14), he joined Bachir and the martyrs of Christian Lebanon.
In that Peace that never ends, rest and pray for Lebanon, Abouna Boulos, and also for France.
Wa nabka!

Tom Harb
President Trump gave MBS repeated opportunities to become the moderate leader of the Middle East !
* first during the original Trump admin,
* then again at the start of the second term when he was offered the chance to host Ukraine-Russia talks.
MBS largely failed to lead.
1/ He chose to break with the UAE and worked to undermine the Abraham Accords instead of consolidating them.
2/ On Sudan, he never convened a serious conference or respected the self-determination of the four main groups.
3/ In Yemen he bombed the southern Yemenis (STC) ,the very forces that had fought alongside him against the Houthis.
4/ During the Iran war he placed conditions on the Trump administration, then jumped into a deal with Pakistan and Turkey designed to block any future arrangement involving a liberated Iran, India, and Israel.
5/ He informed both Lebanon and Syria against any normalization with Israel.
However, there is clear room for a rethink and a new strategy.

Hassan Tohme
Let me tell you why MBS is trapped right now. A lot of people wonder why he is still resisting the Abraham Accords. Because if he stays out, he is in trouble. If he joins, he is in trouble in a different way. A little bit of context would make it clearer: Before the 1980s, the Palestine conflict was mainly an Arab–Israeli fight over land. It was led by pan-Arab nationalist and secular regimes, and Egypt was the pioneer and the most powerful Arab state of that time. After losing the war to Israel, President Anwar Sadat signed peace in 1978. It was a civilized and humane decision. Yet Egypt’s Arab brothers did not react to it with civility. Egypt was suspended from the Arab League, the headquarters were moved out of Cairo, and ambassadors were withdrawn. Two years later, Sadat was assassinated by the rising jihadi current for what he had done on Palestine. He paid a dear price for wanting peace and prosperity for his people.
After that, the same religious current spread through the region: the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and finally Hamas. A secular Arab conflict was turned into an Islamic cause. That story made non-Arab, and even non-Sunni, regimes relevant. It was also much more effective than old nationalism for mobilizing people and gaining power. The same current reached Saudi Arabia in 1979 too, when militants seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca and accused the kingdom of not being Islamic enough and of getting too close to the West. The Saudi family crushed the revolt, then made a deal with the religious establishment and tightened control at home. Even so, Turkey, Qatar, and the Muslim Brotherhood networks still say a hereditary kingdom is not a legitimate Islamic order. (Do you recall Khashoggi? Turkey used it to disgrace and damage MBS)
After Egypt was isolated, Saudi Arabia tried to present itself as the new leader of the Arab and Muslim world. But in the last two decades, Iran and the so-called Axis of Resistance took over the Palestine banner. The Houthis became one of their most useful pieces, because they sit next to Saudi territory and on the Red Sea route at Bab el-Mandeb. They were rebels against Saudi Arabia first. With the Islamic Republic’s help, they rebranded themselves as fighters for Palestine.
That is why MBS’s problem today is even harder than what Anwar Sadat faced in 1979. This is no longer only an Arab issue. It is an Islamic one as well. The kingdom’s legitimacy is already under pressure.
For years, while this conflict was being turned into a religious duty, Saudi Arabia itself pushed the same story on its own public. Palestine became an existential, non-negotiable Islamic cause. They kept feeding it because it was useful. It gave them legitimacy at home, moved public anger away from the royal family and toward an outside enemy, and gave them power in the region.
Saudis built this monster and fed it for their own benefit.
Now they are fighting a group in Yemen that is Arab and claims to be fighting for Islam and for Palestine. That already looks bad. If they then normalize with Israel and join the Abraham Accords, it becomes much harder to explain. Add to this mess: early this year, two weeks after he said Trump could not use Saudi airspace to strike Iran, photos of him with Epstein suddenly appeared, Oops. I am sure that did not help MBS’s reputation at all. So MBS’s fear is not imaginary, especially with growing anger toward the Saudi family and with an opportunist power like Erdogan waiting to use that anger. I would not be surprised if this spike turns into major change inside Saudi Arabia. MBS is particularly corrupt and not very smart, and he probably will not be able to manage the consequences of his own poor decisions. Trying to play and outsmart
@realDonaldTrump
, while betting on China and London, was betting on the losing horse.
What do you think?

GOLDSTEIN: Why Hamas keeps praising Canada
Hamas gets a pass while Israel gets the blame from Canada and other countries as they make demands of Israel
Author of the article:Lorrie Goldstein
Published Sep 12, 2026 • Last updated 52 minutes ago • 4 minute read
Join the conversation
It’s bad enough Prime Minister Mark Carney handed Hamas a diplomatic victory when Canada became the first G7 nation to recognize a Palestinian state on Sept. 21, 2025.
Hamas promptly thanked Canada and other countries for doing so, calling it “the fruits of ” its Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel.
Apparently Hamas – designated a terrorist organization by Canada in 2002 – didn’t get the memo from Carney insisting that recognizing Palestinian statehood, “in no way legitimizes terrorism, nor is it any reward for it.”
That was the third time Hamas thanked Canada’s Liberal government for its actions since Oct. 7, 2023.
Small wonder Hamas is pleased.
Carney recognized Palestinian statehood prior to achieving the conditions he himself said would be necessary to create, “a sovereign, democratic, and viable State of Palestine building its future in peace and security alongside the State of Israel.”