English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News &
Editorials
For September 26/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2026/english.september26.26.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with
what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?' So the last will be
first, and the first last."
Matthew 20/01-16/"For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a
house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After
agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the
marketplace, and to them he said, 'You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is
right I will give you.' So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and
the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and
found others standing. And he said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all
day?' They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You go
into the vineyard too.' And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to
his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the
last, up to the first.' And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each
of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they
would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving
it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, 'These last worked only one
hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day
and the scorching heat.' But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you
no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and
go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to
do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? 'So
the last will be first, and the first last."
Titles For The English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published on September 25-26/2026
An Attack on Peace: Praying for the Recovery of the Son of Israel’s
Ambassador to Washington, Mr. Yechiel Leiter/Elias Bejjani/September 24, 2026
Saint Takla (Thecla) the Martyr: Bride of Christ, First of the Women Martyrs,
and Equal-to-the-Apostles/Elias Bejjani/September 24, 2026
The Riachi Incense Burner and Patriarch Al-Rai Who Boasts of Ignoring Criticism
While Adoring Food and Sleep/Elias Bejjani/September 22/ 2026
Iran proposes reopening Hormuz in 7 days, conditions include Lebanon ceasefire
Aoun praises army for protecting all Lebanese 'even those against the state'
Lebanon PM stresses need to ‘avert vacuum’ if UN force leaves
Lebanon’s moment has come,’ US envoy to Beirut says
Beirut’s ambassador to Washington said her country was making its own choices
for the first time in 40 years
South Lebanon: Latest developments
Salam tells Pezeshkian Lebanon cannot be arena for regional wars
South Lebanon children return to school destroyed by Israel strike
Fadlallah says Hezbollah and Amal not against 'political solution' in south
Fadlallah hits back at Bassil, says he lacks 'loyalty'
The Hollowing Out Of Lebanon Will Have Fateful Consequences/Amb. Alberto M.
Fernandez/MEMRI/September 25/2026
Italy did not come to change the identity of the South, nor did it impose a
project on anyone/Peter Choueiri/Facebook/September 25/2026
The Shia Nakba and the Expanding Cemeteries/Mohammad Al-Amin/Face Book/September
25 / 2026
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on September 25-26/2026
Pope Leo warns in France that UN risks becoming ‘charade’
Iran will make no nuclear concessions, Iranian official says
UN Security Council condemns Houthis’ attacks on Saudi Arabia
EU warns of energy ‘price crisis,’ asks countries to consider curbing demand,
letter shows
Iraq’s Shia holy city of Najaf suspends Iranian airlines, enforcing US sanctions
Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia to hold talks after Houthi attacks
Yemen’s president calls on Yemenis to mobilize
Mecca Defense Alliance holds urgent meeting, reaffirms commitment to defend
Saudi Arabia
Putin says all Ukraine peace proposals on table, but Russia must weigh its
interests
Trump confirms Xi meetings in China, US later this year
Zelenskyy Proposes an ‘Energy Ceasefire,’ Hoping To Secure Patriot Interceptors
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials
from miscellaneous sources published
on September 25-26/2026
Question: Can a Christian lose
salvation?/GotQuestions.org?/September 25/2026
New Greenland Agreement Adds Sites, Not Strategy. NATO and NORAD Must Now
Connect the Arctic/Emmerson Overell/FDD- Policy Brief/September 25/2026
Is Turkey Turning on Tehran or Just Dodging the Treasury Department?/Behnam Ben
Taleblu & Sinan Ciddi/FDD- Policy Brief/September 25/2026
Put Turkey on notice: The Eastern Mediterranean’s reliable alliance deserves US
teeth/Sinan Ciddi & Isabella Bournas/Kathimerini/September 25/2026
Why France is sending troops to protect Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu oil port/Jonathan
Gornall/Arab News/September 25, 2026
The Christmas of politics is here again/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/September 25,
2026
US allies should watch its European forces review closely/Luke Coffey/Arab
News/September 25, 2026
Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on September 25-26/2026
An Attack on Peace: Praying for the
Recovery of the Son of Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, Mr. Yechiel Leiter
Elias Bejjani/September 24, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157770/
I share the deep pain of Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, Mr. Yechiel Leiter,
following the serious injuries sustained by his son in a vehicle-ramming attack
in Israel yesterday. Ambassador Leiter had previously lost another son during
the war in Gaza.
I pray for his son’s full and speedy recovery and for his safe return to his
family.
Ambassador Leiter is known for his commitment to peace and currently leads his
country’s delegation in the peace talks with Lebanon. What occurred was not only
an attack on an individual, but also an attack on the very spirit of peace and
on those who strive to advance it.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew
5:9)
Saint Takla (Thecla) the Martyr: Bride of
Christ, First of the Women Martyrs, and Equal-to-the-Apostles
Elias Bejjani/September 24, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157776/
Note: The information contained in this study is compiled from numerous
documented ecclesiastical, theological, academic, and media sources.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution?” (Romans 8:35)
Saint Takla’s Annual Feast – September 24 in the Eastern Churches
The Eastern Church in all its families – Orthodox, Syriac, Coptic, Maronite, and
Melkite – commemorates Saint Thecla on the twenty-fourth of September each year.
This date is fixed in the Byzantine and Maronite Synaxaria, where she is
recorded under her official title: “The Great Holy Martyr Thecla, First of the
Women Martyrs and Equal-to-the-Apostles.” On this day, festive Divine Liturgies
are celebrated and her famous Troparion is chanted: “O holy God-bearer Thecla,
thou wast taught the Word by Paul, the God-inspired Apostle, and wast
established in the faith, O glorious one. Wherefore we celebrate thee and
venerate the divine and venerable memory.”
The Riachi Incense Burner and Patriarch Al-Rai Who Boasts
of Ignoring Criticism While Adoring Food and Sleep
Elias Bejjani/September 22/ 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157715/
https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gbhq3RVhcTI6Zg00aK8lOF
Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to
come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to
be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one
of these little ones to stumble. (Luke 17:01-06)
On the fifteenth of this current month (September 2026) the website of the
Municipality of Hamalaya published a report on Facebook covering the proceedings
of a ceremony held in the town, apparently related to Saint Rafqa, the daughter
of the town, attended by MP Melhem Riachi and Patriarch al-Rai.
Attached is the Video link and text of the video which is the subject of the
commentary… and it seems it was deleted from the municipality’s website after
the criticism it received.
Literal text of Melhem Riachi’s praise for the Patriarch and the Patriarch’s
reply:
Melhem Riachi: “Anyone who thinks or dreams of thinking that we want to change
Sayyidna Bshara and bring another Patriarch, must know that Sayyidna Bshara is
the Patriarch of the Catholics before the Maronites. We are with Sayyidna Bshara
at the bottom of the river and at the top of Mount Sannine. Long live you, long
live Sayyidna Bshara, and long live Lebanon”.
Patriarch al-Rai: “I want to thank you for your love. I want to thank you for
everything in which you express your love for the Church, for Saint Rafqa, for
me personally. And especially I want to thank His Excellency the MP, you made it
very precious. Thank you, thank you for your love. I know your love is great and
I know this talk comes from your heart. In any case, there is nothing new.
People write whatever they want to write. Today the media and means of
communication write whatever they want. I will tell you something, a secret: I
don’t read anything. I don’t know, I don’t know what they are writing.”
I know they tell me someone wrote, they tell me they wrote. What did they write?
I don’t know, I don’t read. I tell them I want to keep eating with a clear
conscience. I want to keep sleeping soundly seven hours, eight hours, and I want
to wake up to my work and keep my mind at ease.
I know my job, I know when I have to submit my resignation.
Personally, I was not at all surprised by the theatrical performance of both
Riachi and Sayyidna, but certainly, certainly many of the sons of our flock did
not know that the new standard of holiness announced in Hamalaya, the birthplace
of Saint Rafqa who lived in pain, fasting and prayer, is “the ability and
appetite to eat with a clear conscience no matter how harsh and painful the
circumstances are, and to sleep seven and eight hours” soundly without caring
about what befalls the flock and the nation.
And as shown in the video and its text, MP Melhem Riachi, known for his
Rasputin-like style and specialized in incense-burning, boot-licking, and vulgar
praise, presented us with one of his usual acts of flattery and sycophancy: “at
the bottom of the river and at the top of Sannine.” Words that no politician who
respects himself and his position as an MP for Metn would say, but rather a
doorkeeper at the palace gate would say. An MP of the Lebanese Forces, who is
supposed to represent the project of a state of law and institutions, announces
to us that the Patriarch is the Patriarch of the Catholics before the Maronites,
as if the Patriarchate has become a Vatican province and not an Antiochian See.
As for the major calamity, it came from the mouth of His Beatitude Sayyidna
himself. The Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Beshara al-Rai, informs and
announces to his people and flock with all pride and without shame or fear that
he does not read, does not know, and does not want to know what is written. And
he tells us about his open appetite for eating and his deep sleep soundly.
O Your Beatitude the Patriarch, O Sayyidna al-Rai who does not read, does not
hear, and does not want to know what the flock says, he is not a shepherd, he is
merely a hired hand who sleeps while the wolf devours the sheep.
The Patriarch who boasts of his isolation from people, that is from his flock,
and boasts of his appetite for eating, indifferent to their concerns and their
opinions about his role and practices and that he does not read, insults first
and foremost his own position before insulting the flock. And it seems that due
to lack of faith and despair, it escaped Sayyidna’s mind that the position of
Patriarch is not a restaurant where he fills his stomach with delicious foods,
nor a hotel where he sleeps soundly seven-eight hours, but rather a position of
prayer, fasting, holiness, serious faithful work, preaching, staying awake,
anxiety and responsibility.
From the Holy Bible we borrow the following verses that narrate the concept and
culture of irresponsibility and isolation from the flock and selfishness and
death of conscience as is unfortunately the condition of Sayyidna.
Iran proposes reopening Hormuz in 7 days, conditions
include Lebanon ceasefire
Agence France Presse/25 September ,2026
Iran has submitted a proposal to the United States to end their war and reopen
the Strait of Hormuz within seven days, its foreign minister told media outlets
in New York. "If certain conditions are met, the strait will be open within
seven days and talks will start," Abbas Araghchi, who is in the U.S. for the
U.N. General Assembly, told media outlets including the New York Times and The
Guardian. Japanese news agency Kyodo was the first to report the proposal,
citing a senior Iranian official on Tuesday. Iranian media, however, denied the
Kyodo report, while authorities in Tehran have not clarified their position.
Araghchi also met for talks on Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy
Steve Witkoff. Iran has previously set out seven conditions for ending the war
and reopening the strait. According to Araghchi, as quoted by the New York
Times, the latest plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle
East for seven days, including in Lebanon. It also calls for the release of
frozen Iranian assets estimated to be worth at least $12 billion, as well as the
lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the U.S. naval blockade of
Iran. On the seventh day of the truce, Iran would reopen Hormuz. Araghchi said
he was waiting for a U.S. response to the plan and maintained that China
supported the proposal. Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting the United
States this week where he is meeting with Trump for talks. Hossein Mohebi, a
spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran's military,
told AFP in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that ending hostilities in Yemen
was also among Tehran's demands. The U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of
understanding in June that aimed to end the war, reopen the strait and launch
talks on Iran's nuclear program. But the deal broke down shortly afterwards when
Iran fired on commercial ships in Hormuz that it accused of deviating from its
approved route through the waterway. Iran requires ships to obtain authorization
before passage, citing security and sovereignty reasons. Ships that refuse to
comply are regularly targeted, while the United States sporadically bombs
Iranian coastal areas in retaliation.
Aoun praises army for protecting all Lebanese 'even
those against the state'
Naharnet/September 25/2026
President Joseph Aoun praised the army on Monday for defending all Lebanese,
including those standing against it. "You defend all our people, even the very
few who stand against our homeland and our state," he told army personnel. "Your
weapons are the only legitimate weapons — not by force, nor under anyone's
guardianship, but by the trust of all the Lebanese in you and you alone," Aoun
added, emphasizing that the people's trust "is the most important and powerful
weapon."He went on to say, "No army whose people stood with it was ever
defeated, and no army whose people stood against it ever succeeded."President
Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have vowed to disarm Hezbollah and
confine all weapons strictly to the state.In June, the Lebanese and Israeli
governments signed a U.S.-mediated framework agreement under which Israel would
withdraw gradually from southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army would assume
control, while Hezbollah would be disarmed. Hezbollah refuses to disarm and
opposes both the framework agreement and direct negotiations with Israel.
Lebanon PM stresses need to ‘avert vacuum’ if UN force
leaves
AFP/25 September ,2026
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam insisted at the UN Friday on the need to
“avert the vacuum” that would be caused by withdrawing the peacekeeping mission
deployed in the country’s south without a viable replacement. Under US pressure,
the UN Security Council decided last month to fix December as the end of the
mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has been
deployed since 1978. “What we wish to stress here and today is the need to avert
the vacuum that UNIFIL’s withdrawal could create, were it to take place without
agreement on a new international force to replace it,” Salam said in a speech to
the UN General Assembly. UNIFIL currently has 7,500 peacekeepers from around 50
countries. They are deployed in southern Lebanon along the Blue Line, which
stretches for 120 kilometers (75 miles), marking a de facto border between
Lebanon and Israel.
Salam also stressed the need for Israel to fully withdraw from Lebanese
territory and for Beirut to move forward in extending state authority over its
entire territory, ensuring “weapons (are) held by the state alone.”Hezbollah,
backed by Tehran, has so far opposed disarmament.
Lebanon and Israel concluded a framework agreement in June under US auspices,
providing for the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces and the disarmament of
Hezbollah, but its implementation has stalled. It is intended to end a conflict
that has lasted for decades.
The UN force reported extensive Israeli military ground activities in its area
of operation and repeated violations of Lebanese airspace and territorial
waters, between Monday and Thursday. The peacekeepers recorded 195 airspace
violations involving Israeli drones, fighter aircrafts and helicopters,
according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Lebanon’s moment has come,’ US envoy to Beirut says
Beirut’s ambassador to Washington said her country was making its own choices
for the first time in 40 years
Al Arabiya English/25 September ,2026
Lebanon is facing a rare opportunity for “genuine change” and must seize it by
restoring full state sovereignty, including ensuring that Hezbollah and other
armed groups can no longer make decisions of war and peace outside government
authority, the top US diplomat in Beirut said.
US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and Lebanese Ambassador to Washington Nada
Hamadeh Moawad offered parallel visions of a country seeking to emerge from
decades of conflict and foreign influence, while stressing that stronger state
institutions would be essential to lasting change. “Lebanon’s moment has come,
and this time we must not let it pass,” Issa said. Speaking at an event hosted
by the American Task Force on Lebanon, a nonprofit organization focused on
strengthening US-Lebanon ties, Issa was explicit about Hezbollah, saying Lebanon
could not be sovereign “in theory while remaining divided in practice.”“No
political party or armed organization can be permitted to make decisions of war
or peace outside the authority of the Lebanese state,” he said, adding that the
Lebanese Armed Forces and legitimate state institutions must become the sole
guarantors of security across the country.
Issa said Iranian influence and Hezbollah’s weapons had weakened the Lebanese
state, paralyzed its institutions and contributed to the country’s isolation and
economic collapse. Moving Lebanon away from Iranian influence, he stressed, was
not directed against any Lebanese community but was necessary to establish “one
country under one flag,” protected by one national army. Moawad echoed the
broader theme of sovereignty, saying Lebanon was beginning to reclaim control
over its own decisions after decades in which foreign powers played an outsized
role in determining the country’s fate.‘Everything will stop’ if Hezbollah gives
up weapons, US envoy to Beirut says
Middle East
‘Everything will stop’ if Hezbollah gives up weapons, US envoy to Beirut says
She also acknowledged the enormous human cost of the ongoing conflict, including
death, destruction and displacement, saying Lebanon had too often become a
battlefield for the ambitions and rivalries of others. “It is hard to stand
before you today as the ambassador of a country enduring war,” Moawad said. “It
is hard to wake up every morning to images of death and destruction, and it’s
hard to carry the voices of the innocent lives we’ve lost into the corridors of
Washington, DC.”She also spoke of the difficulty of “sitting at a negotiating
table and fighting for what is ours,” while often being the only woman at
negotiating tables. Despite the toll of the conflict, Moawad said something
fundamental had changed. “For the first time in 40 years, Lebanon is making its
own choices,” she said. “We are shaping our own policies. We are determining our
own future, free from foreign domination.”
Both ambassadors pointed to negotiations between Lebanon and Israel as evidence
of a changing political landscape. Issa said talks had advanced further in
recent months than many had expected, although a final agreement remained
elusive. “Our objective is clear: a sovereign Lebanon, secure within its
borders, and an Israel that is secure from attack across its borders,” Issa
said. “These are not competing goals.”For Moawad, the opportunity facing Lebanon
also comes with a responsibility to rebuild trust in state institutions and
ensure the country does not fall back into the same cycle of conflict. “Freedom
comes with responsibility,” she said. “We know that sovereignty is not simply
something we declare. It’s something we must build, protect and practice every
day,” she said, warning that the alternative was “to condemn another generation
of Lebanese to the same cycle of conflict, displacement and loss.”
“We cannot build [Lebanon] divided,” Moawad said. “That is why, especially now,
we must stand together, one people in all our diversity, behind one state, one
government, one army and one Lebanon.”
South Lebanon: Latest developments
Naharnet/September 25/2026
Israeli strikes targeted Friday Bani Hayyan, a region between Kfartebnit and
Nabatieh al-Fawqa, the outskirts of Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh and a valley between
Froun and Ghandourieh, while artillery shelled Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh, Mayfadoun,
Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Wadi al-Hujeir, Majdalzoun and the outskirts of Kfartebnit.
Later in the day, Israeli forces set several homes on fire in the southern
border town of al-Khiam and carried out a massive detonation in Deir Seryan.
Salam tells Pezeshkian Lebanon cannot be arena for regional
wars
Agence France Presse/September 25/2026
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday
that his country did not want to be an arena for regional wars. Lebanon has
repeatedly accused Iran of interfering in its affairs, especially since the
start of the latest war, alleging that Tehran was using it as a "bargaining
chip" in talks with the United States. Salam's office said in a statement that
he met with Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly
in New York. Salam "stressed that Lebanon has paid a heavy price in terms of its
security, stability and economy, and that it does not want to become an arena
for regional conflicts or a venue for the exchange of messages between others",
it said. Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of Iran on March 2 but also in
retaliation for 15 months of Israeli attacks on Lebanon despite a nominal
ceasefire. Israel responded with major airstrikes and a ground invasion that
killed more than 4,300 people. The war followed a 2023-2024 conflict between
Hezbollah and Israel, which started when the group attacked Israel in support of
Hamas and Gaza.Violence declined following a June framework agreement between
Lebanon and Israel and a wider U.S.-Iran deal, but Israel has continued to carry
out attacks on its northern neighbor. Salam said his country looked forward "to
turning a new page" in its ties with Iran. He called for "building a sound
state-to-state relationship based on mutual respect for each country's
sovereignty and independence, non-interference in each other's affairs and
shared interests". Salam said the priority was for "Israel to fully withdraw
from Lebanese territory and cease its attacks, and for Lebanon to move forward
with extending the authority of the Lebanese state over all of its territory".
He said Lebanon needed to ensure "that weapons are held exclusively by the
state", in a jab at Hezbollah, which has so far refused to lay down its arms. In
an interview with AFP last week, President Joseph Aoun said bilateral relations
"must be based on mutual respect and non-interference".
South Lebanon children return to school destroyed by Israel strike
Agence France Presse/September 25/2026
In southern Lebanon, eight-year-old Yara Ajami started the academic year this
week in a doorless, windowless classroom after her school was destroyed by an
Israeli strike. Well known in the area for its excellence, Ajami's elementary
school in Burj Qalaway was struck by Israel in May. "We are happy to be back (to
school), but we were happier before. We used to draw, play, but now there are no
desks or chairs," the young girl with braided hair said as she climbed a bare
concrete staircase. Rather than go to their old school building, Ajami and the
other students returning to classes after the summer break on Monday were
diverted to a nearby structure still under construction that was being built to
house preschoolers.The sun shone through unglazed windows into unfinished
classrooms as children followed their lessons, while outside clumps of twisted
rebar jutted from the ground like dead bushes where walls used to stand. The
students come from areas heavily hit by Israeli attacks and most were displaced
during the war, with some -- like Ajami -- returning to find their homes damaged
or destroyed.
'Sadness in their eyes' -
"There is sadness in their eyes, each one of them has a story," school principal
May Mehdi told AFP from the courtyard. "But I am happy they are here," she said,
showing on her phone what the school, her pride, once looked like. Mehdi does
not have an office in the current building, which does not even have a teacher's
lounge. Around 250 students are registered in the 24-classroom school, which
used to have at least 600 school-goers before the start of the latest war in
March, when Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of Tehran, following
U.S.-Israeli attacks on the Islamic republic. Israel responded with major
airstrikes and a ground invasion that killed more than 4,300 people, including
261 children. More than a million people were displaced, but more than 800,000
returned since June, when a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and a
Lebanon-Israel framework agreement significantly reduced the violence. In some
schools in the south that have been converted into shelters, displaced people
and students now share the space, with floors reserved for each group. The
Israeli army has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using civilian buildings,
including schools, to launch attacks or hide weapons.
Rights groups, however, have accused Israel of possible war crimes in its war
with Hezbollah. Lebanese authorities accuse Israel of systematically destroying
villages in the south, including homes, schools, places of worship and water and
electricity infrastructure.
'Destruction, insecurity, displacement' -
Many of Burj Qalaway's children were unable to start the school year, being
still displaced or fearing to return to the town, less than a kilometer away
from Israeli troops occupying a swathe of the south. On Thursday, an Israeli
strike hit Qantara, a nearby village.
Earlier this month, UNICEF said that nearly 100,000 students in Lebanon were
unable to return to their schools for the academic year due to "damage,
destruction, insecurity, or displacement". The UNICEF report also stated that
436 schools were damaged by the war, while 37 were completely destroyed. The
Burj Qalaway school previously boasted a laboratory, a computer room, and an
interactive room. Government-funded prefabricated units are being installed on
the school premises where rubble has not yet been cleared.
'Make my father proud'
Teacher Hoda Najdi gave her class while emphasizing to her students the
importance of continuing their education and achieving good results despite the
difficult circumstances. "My home was destroyed and so was my school... (but)
the students give us the strength and will to continue," the 42-year-old told
AFP. Student Mohammad Mozannar, who was displaced from one place to another in
Beirut during the war, said he was "very happy to be back to make up for" the
lost year. "I had no books, no phone and no internet" to follow lessons online,
he said. "I now want to make my father proud."But the return to school also
brought back painful memories for some, like 14-year-old Rawan Fakih."I
remembered the activities we used to do, I remembered how stressful exams
were... and I remembered my friend who was killed" by an Israeli strike, she
said.
Fadlallah says Hezbollah and Amal not against 'political
solution' in south
Naharnet/September 25/2026
MP Hassan Fadlallah on Friday announced that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement are
not opposed to a “political solution” for south Lebanon. "We are not warmongers;
rather, these wars were imposed upon us because our destiny -- especially as the
people of the South -- is to live next to this Zionist entity. Our people have
endured a history rife with aggression, expansionist ambitions, and attempts to
seize our villages and towns,” Fadlallah said. He added: “Our goal in this
phase, after all this Israeli aggression, is the liberation of the south,
returning to it, and rebuilding it. We support diplomacy rooted in our rights
and are open to indirect negotiations if they lead us to this goal.”“However,
this objective cannot be achieved through surrender, submission, or
subservience, as such policies lead only to the continuation of the occupation
--which is precisely what the ruling authority did by entrenching this
occupation through the framework agreement," Fadlallah lamented. Noting that
“Hezbollah and the Amal Movement have not shut the doors and are not against a
political solution” in south Lebanon, the lawmaker pointed out that “since
November 27, 2024, no reasonable political solution has been presented to us
that protects the country, stops the assassinations, and allows people to return
to their homes."Separately, Fadlallah said Hezbollah has kept its ministers in
the government due to “national and political necessities related to
partnership” and due to an understanding with the Amal Movement on staying in
the government at this time. “However, this does not mean that its policy is
successful or that its political weight makes any significant difference,"
Fadlallah added, referring to Nawaf Salam’s government.
Fadlallah hits back at Bassil, says he lacks 'loyalty'
Naharnet/September 25/2026
MP Hassan Fadlallah of Hezbollah on Friday snapped back at Free Patriotic
Movement chief Gebran Bassil over recent remarks criticizing the Iran-backed
group and the recent wars it has fought. “Lebanon is in dire need today of
honesty, loyalty, and words that unite rather than divide -- a national
discourse free from incitement and deception. These qualities have been lost
among many who disowned the most fundamental values of loyalty and allegiance to
a single homeland, bargaining them away for the cheapest price,” Fadlallah said,
apparently referring to Bassil. “They turned insult toward the pain of our
people and the blood of our martyrs into a tool for begging at embassy doors,
seeking satisfaction steeped in humiliation. They believed we had grown weak and
that the time had come to strike at our people, but they fell victim to their
own miscalculations,” Fadlallah added. “Our resistance remains as firmly rooted
as our presence in this land -- as unyielding as Jabal Amel, the Bekaa, our
southern suburbs, our capital, our north, and our mountain. The voice of our
people will remain the voice of dignity, honor and pride,” the MP went on to
say. He added that those who are “morally bankrupt” will find no place “among
the great.”“Though these people may be displaced and their homes destroyed, they
are rich in history, sacrifice, and authentic belonging -- strong in their
resistance and unity of purpose. This is something that those accustomed to
living off the scraps of others will never understand,” Fadlallah added. Bassil
had recently said that Hezbollah and its supporters are still present in the
wake of the latest two wars with Israel but have become “destitute, displaced,
emigrant and bankrupt.”“Unfortunately, a large portion of our people have fallen
into surrender and despair … Is this the outcome? Is this the victory that we
want?” Bassil added. “I’m blaming Hezbollah because it implicated us in a war
that we should not have engaged in, because it is not managing to get out of it
and because it is not helping us to get out of it,” the FPM chief and former
Hezbollah ally added.
The Hollowing Out Of Lebanon Will Have Fateful
Consequences
Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI/September 25/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157819/
Lebanon is an ancient place with a unique history. For over a century, it has
also been a land of migration with thousands leaving for the promised lands of
the Americas, but later also Australia and Europe. The Lebanese Diaspora is by
most accounts at least twice as large as the entire population of Lebanon.[1]
But just because migration has been a Lebanese reality for many decades does not
mean that it does not have very real and consequential effects, especially if it
accelerates.
More overseas Lebanese means to many more money for Lebanon, in the form of
remittances. In 2023 that amount was $6.7 billion, equal to about a third of
Lebanon's GDP.[2] That windfall makes Lebanon the country with the third highest
recipient of remittances percentage-wise, after Tajikistan and Tonga.
But while the hard currency is no doubt welcomed, the flight of Lebanese will
have other consequences. An analysis of Lebanese data reveals a net departure
almost 730,000 Lebanese over the past six years (January 2020 to April 2026).[3]
This is almost four times the net flight of Lebanese during the 2014-2019
timeframe. The turbocharging of Lebanese leaving is connected to the crushing
economic crisis triggered by the 2019 bank collapse followed by the effects of
two wars launched by Hezbollah, in 2023 and 2026, against Israel.[4]
Many of those leaving, as often happens in such situations, are Lebanon's
youngest and best educated, those with the means and opportunities in the West
to do so: doctors, engineers, and other skilled professionals. In Lebanon, that
also means that significant percentages of Lebanese Christians are also
departing, deepening the relative decline in the country's Christian population
which has been going on for decades. Lebanon is not so different from other Arab
countries – say Jordan – where high percentages of the local population,
especially the young, want to emigrate in search of a better future.[5]
Although young people departing, and Christians departing Lebanon is sad, why is
this important? After all, migration has been going on for a long time and there
are still – and likely to continue for the foreseeable future – billions in hard
currency pouring into the country. There are three big reasons.
First of all, removing the youngest productive part of the population, young
adults and professionals with skills, impoverishes the country even if that is
partially offset by cash. An influx of financial capital does not fully
compensate for the loss of human capital. These are the creative,
entrepreneurial, and risk-taking elements of the population. Older populations,
those that remain, are needier, sicker, and less dynamic.
Secondly, while many diaspora Lebanese continue to have strong ties with their
homeland for years and contribute to it with their wealth and passion, over time
citizens living abroad will become more like tourists. For every investor or
returnee to Lebanon there are bound to be ten or more whose emotional or
personal ties will atrophy over time. As one Caribbean citizen of Lebanese
Maronite origin once told me, "the only thing we still preserve is the recipe
for kibbe." His family had emigrated a century ago.
Thirdly, as far as Christians disappearing, their population in steep decline,
this effects Lebanon by making it less distinctive, less unusual, and more like
the rest of the region. Lebanon's Christians (and many Lebanese in general, no
matter what religion) are a remnant – often caricatured or exaggerated – of a
unique Levantine mercantile mindset that once stretched from Constantinople to
Alexandria.[6]
A Lebanon without its Christians (and Druze) becomes more like "North Gaza" or
"Southwestern Syria," overwhelmingly Muslim and more in sync with the
prejudices, passions and enthusiasms of the Arab Muslim world. It will not
happen soon, but one could envision a scenario where Syria flourishes and at
least the Sunni parts of Lebanon would agitate to become part of a more
successful, larger neighboring state.
An overwhelmingly Muslim Lebanon is, by its very nature, of less immediate
interest to the West and more of an ideological and political battlefield
between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Some in the West may care about Christians while
others may care about "diversity" in Lebanon – once that disappears so will the
funding and solidarity. And such a changed Lebanese polity could also
conceivably become even more of a target in the constant wars with Israel. This
is not to say that a Muslim-dominated Lebanon with a small Christian remnant
would automatically be terrible (I think it probably would be) but that it would
be different, with a different ethos and a developing worldview that would
become more pronounced over time.
That the hollowing out of Lebanon would be not only a tragedy but dangerous is
not hard to understand. But it is easier to understand this than to make
consistent policy decisions aimed at reversing these trends.[7]
A Lebanon in peace and security, where the rule of law is respected and where
there is economic freedom is a possibility most Lebanese long for but one which
a ruling political class – not only those beholden to Hezbollah – talks about
but rarely takes concrete efforts to actually deliver.[8] Real leadership and
bold initiatives seem to be in short supply.[9] Little actually changes. Lebanon
today seems caught in a death spiral as various parasites seek to suck out what
little of value remains in the old carcass.[10]
No wonder that anyone who can in the country is trying to engineer an escape
from what looks like an increasingly unendurable situation. The amazing thing is
the quixotic existence of those patriotic Lebanese of good will who still
persevere and try to hold on in hopes for better days that never actually seem
to arrive.
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.
[1] Orientalist.substack.com/p/the-lebanese-diaspora, January 24, 2024.
[2] Today.lorientlejour.com/article/1419163/lebanon-received-67-billion-in-remittances-in-2023-world-bank.html,
July 3, 2024.
[3] Beirutwire.com/nearly-730-000-lebanese-have-left-since-the-2019-collapse,
September 20, 2026.
[4] Independentarabia.com/node/644216/%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A9/%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B2%D9%85%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D9%85-%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AB%D8%A9%D8%9F,
March 10, 2026.
[5] Ardd-jo.org/blogs/illegal-emigration-jordans-hidden-crisis, September 12,
2024.
[6] Levantineheritage.com, accessed September 23, 2026.
[7] Elnashra.com/news/show/1800408/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%91%D9%84-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B2%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%A8%D8%AF%D8%A3-%D8%A8%D8%A5%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B2%D8%AF,
September 17, 2026,
[8] Nidaalwatan.com/article/399010-%D9%85%D8%B4-%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B4%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%84-2,
September 21, 2026.
[9] X.com/beirut_politics/status/2102728025309692297, September 23, 2026.
[10] Imlebanon.org/newspaper/addiyar-1826, September 22, 2026.
Italy did not come to change the identity of the South,
nor did it impose a project on anyone.
Peter Choueiri/Facebook/September 25/2026
(Translated from Arabic by AI)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157822/
Italy did not come to change the identity of the South, nor did it impose a
project on anyone. The Lebanese Foreign Minister himself asked his Italian
counterpart to support the return of the residents and secure the essentials for
the resilience of the southern villages whose people refused to leave their
land. The Italian response came in the form of supporting the Christian villages
facing the threat of emptiness and displacement.
The real question is not: "Why are they helping the Christians?"
The real question is: Why does supporting Christians in their land suddenly
become a crime?
Frankly, you attack the Christians of the front-line villages more than you
attack Israel. Whenever aid to Christian villages is mentioned, it is instantly
turned into a "demographic conspiracy," while all the policies and decisions
that contributed to the destruction of the South and the displacement of its
people are justified under various pretexts.
And speaking of "who is helping the Shia": Where was Iran—which some portray as
the protector of the people of the South—when the people of the Shia villages
were displaced, their homes destroyed, and their lives disrupted? Is the
requirement that we ignore years of influence, weapons, and decisions that
forced the South and the Lebanese in general to pay exorbitant prices, and then
turn a blind eye to all of that while turning aid to a Christian village into a
conspiracy?
If Iran and its allies consider themselves genuinely concerned for the people of
the South, let them also be asked: What have they done to protect the people,
their homes, and their future, instead of using the South as an arena of
conflict?
Instead of sending weapons that did not protect the people from displacement and
destruction, money should be sent to rebuild homes, support the residents, and
secure the essentials for resilience and return. If the intention is truly to
help the people of the South, not stockpile weapons and open new fronts.
The Christians in the South are neither guests nor a foreign diaspora to be
allowed to stay by someone's decision. They are Lebanese, this is their land,
and their presence in it is part of Lebanon's history and diversity.
Whoever truly wants to prevent demographic change must first oppose the
displacement of any Lebanese from their land, regardless of their sect.
The Shia Nakba and the Expanding Cemeteries
Mohammad Al-Amin/Face Book/September 25 / 2026
(Translated from Arabic by AI)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157824/
It is the right of the members of the Shia community to ask the forces of the
"armed duo" that governed them for decades: What was the outcome of your
project? And what did you leave for the people after all these years of slogans,
sacrifices, and promises?
In the Shia context, this question becomes increasingly urgent. For decades, the
project of the Islamic Republic in Iran was presented as a project of
protection, dignity, strength, and victory. But after all these years, what do
people see around them? Do they see a stronger state? Do they see a thriving
economy? Do they see institutions better capable of serving citizens? Do they
see youth clinging to their land and future? Or do they see destroyed villages,
bereaved families, increasing waves of migration, and cemeteries expanding year
after year?
This is the Shia Nakba, which must not be concealed behind the political
narrative: a loss in people, land, and stability, followed by a continuous
demand to consider these losses as proof of victory.
No political discourse can erase the fact that societies are measured by their
ability to produce life. When death becomes a daily occurrence, and when human
losses turn into routine numbers in news bulletins and enthusiastic speeches,
the society has entered a dangerous circle of normalization with tragedy.
The Shia community in Lebanon has paid massive human prices over past decades.
Thousands of young men have lost their lives in successive wars and conflicts,
and tens of families have lived through the experiences of loss, fear, and
displacement. With every new round, people are asked for more patience and more
sacrifices, while the conditions for a decent life decline and economic and
social crises worsen.
The problem does not lie merely in the scale of losses, but in turning these
losses into part of a political rhetoric that considers the continuation of
bleeding as proof of strength, and the multitude of victims as proof of
righteousness. The truth is that any project that constantly needs the blood of
its sons to justify its existence is a project that demands review and
accountability, not more sanctification.
The expansion of Shia cemeteries is not a victory for anyone. It is a painful
testimony to the cost of choices that were forced upon the people or presented
to them as an inevitable destiny. It raises a fundamental moral and political
question: Has the time not come to search for a project that protects people's
lives instead of consuming them?
The Shia Nakba does not lie solely in the fall of victims, but in turning their
downfall into a permanent fate, and asking the living to continue paying the
exact same price without review or questioning.
True loyalty to those who have departed is not found in repeating the reasons
that led to their departure, but in preventing the repetition of the tragedy.
In conclusion, the "armed duo" bears the primary responsibility for this path as
a result of the political, security, and military decisions it took outside the
framework of the state and its institutions, and the grave human and social
repercussions that extensively affected society.
However, responsibility is not limited to decision-makers alone; it also extends
to the general state of popular silence that contributed to entrenching this
reality and accepting it without effective questioning or serious
accountability.
The continuation of this silence, in the absence of an objective and
comprehensive review, keeps the possibility of repeating the experience alive
and delays the opportunities to correct the course and curb ongoing
deterioration.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on September 25-26/2026
Pope Leo warns in France that UN risks becoming ‘charade’
Reuters/25 September ,2026
Pope Leo said on Friday that the United Nations and other multilateral groups
were in crisis, warning in a speech at the Paris headquarters of the UN culture
and education body, UNESCO, that international dialogue risked becoming a
“charade.”
The first US pope, speaking on a visit to France as a tense UN General Assembly
unfolded in New York, also decried world leaders who disrespected the rule of
law, without naming individuals. “Instead of respecting the law, those in power
invoke it when it serves their interests and disregard it when it restrains
them, treating even justice itself as though it were a commodity to be bought
and sold,” said the pontiff.The UN and other multilateral groups “are
experiencing a crisis of effectiveness,” he said. “Dialogue is seen as an
obstacle to action rather than a resource for peace, a charade rather than an
opportunity to seek the common good together.”Leo, who became pope in May 2025,
drew the ire of US President Donald Trump earlier in the year after criticizing
the Iran war.This year’s UN General Assembly, ending on Monday, has been the
scene of heated arguments. In a speech on Tuesday, Trump threatened to
annihilate Iran if it did not agree terms to end the war. On Thursday, dozens of
delegates left the assembly hall as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
spoke. Trump announced in 2025 that the US would withdraw from UNESCO. Leo is on
a whirlwind four-day, three-city visit to France, where he is seeking to repair
the Church’s standing there after abuse scandals sparked nationwide shock.
Pope warns about AI risks
The pope, who has made sounding the alarm about the risks of AI a central part
of his 16-month papacy, put the issue at the heart of his visit to France.
Earlier on Friday, he urged the world to reconsider the development of
artificial intelligence, warning in a speech to French leaders that AI could
create a future where “a paradise of machines” takes control of the Earth. “If
we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a ‘paradise of machines’ invading and
conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for education in ethical
discernment,” he said, speaking under the gilded ceilings of the Elysee Palace.
Notre-Dame
The pope was later greeted by enthusiastic crowds as he arrived at the restored
Notre-Dame cathedral to lead a prayer service, in the first visit by a pope
since a devastating fire nearly destroyed the Gothic masterpiece in 2019. “The
collective effort to rebuild it, and the splendor of the result reveal that the
heart of a people beats here, and that here we stand at the living center of a
civilization, where past and future embrace, where heaven and earth meet,” he
said.
Secular nation
France, a secular nation where the separation of church and state is enshrined
in a 1905 law, has witnessed a steady decline in affiliation to the Catholic
Church during the post-war era, mirroring a trend in other traditionally
Catholic countries. Leo’s visit comes as Catholic leaders in France have been at
odds with the government over the 2024 enshrining of a right to abortion in the
French constitution and the passage of the law legalizing assisted dying for
adults with incurable illnesses. On Friday, the pope strongly reiterated the
Church’s pro-life teachings, criticizing initiatives to allow assisted dying for
those who have incurable illnesses. “I am concerned … by those trends in society
that risk turning science and technology into profit-driven ventures promoting
genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of
arranging one’s own death,” he said.
Pope to meet abuse survivors
Meanwhile, local Church leaders hope the pope’s visit will repair the Church’s
standing after a crushing 2021 report found that some 330,000 French children
had been abused by Catholic clergy and lay leaders over seven decades. French
bishops have since introduced compensation and safeguarding measures, but
survivors have continued to press Church leaders to demonstrate accountability.
“Leo bears the immense responsibility of ‘declaring enough is enough’,” Alain
Esquerre, 66, a spokesperson for victims at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram Catholic
institution, told Reuters. The pope will meet seven French victims of abuse by
Catholic clergy on Sunday in Lourdes.
Iran will make no nuclear concessions, Iranian official says
Reuters/25 September ,2026
Iran will show no flexibility over its nuclear program even if the United States
accepts its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which calls for steps
including the lifting of a US naval blockade on Iranian ports, a senior Iranian
official told Reuters on Friday. The official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said the waterway would remain closed until “all of Iran’s conditions
are met” by the United States. Under Iran’s proposal, Tehran has offered to
reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. Within seven days, hostilities
would end on all fronts, including Lebanon, the United States would lift its
blockade on Iranian ports, release Iran’s frozen funds and waive its oil
sanctions, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday. The proposal
follows a sharp escalation in Middle East tensions after seven months of war
between Iran and the United States, with Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen
launching missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia. The strait has become the central
bargaining chip in efforts to end the US-Iran conflict, with Iran seeking relief
from the US blockade that is choking its economy and Washington seeking free
passage for ships on the global oil supply route now blocked by Tehran. In a
meeting with journalists on Thursday on the sidelines of the United Nations
General Assembly, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he hoped a deal with
Washington to end the hostilities could be reached before the US midterm
elections on November 3. Tehran said it would be prepared to engage in detailed
negotiations over its nuclear program only after its conditions are met by the
US. But the official said Iran would give no concessions over its rights,
including enriching uranium or shipping its highly enriched uranium out of the
country, one of the main US demands.
Israel, the United States and other Western states have long accused Iran of
seeking nuclear weapons, including pointing to its move to enrich uranium to 60
percent, far higher than needed for civilian uses and closer to the 90 percent
needed for a weapon. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons. The International
Atomic Energy Agency estimates that Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to 60
percent when Israel and the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025.
How much of that has survived is unclear. Iranian authorities have said that
Iran could agree to dilute its most highly enriched uranium. In May, Reuters
reported that Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has issued a directive that
the country’s HEU should not be sent abroad, according to two senior Iranian
sources.
UN Security Council condemns Houthis’ attacks on Saudi
Arabia
AFP/25 September ,2026
The United Nations Security Council condemned on Friday escalating attacks on
Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthis. “The members of the Security Council condemned,
in the strongest terms, continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which
have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children,” said
the rotating president of the Council, French UN envoy Jerome Bonnafont,
delivering a joint statement. The Security Council “further stressed the
importance of acting in accordance with international law, in particular the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and of upholding navigation
rights and freedoms.” The body “demanded the Houthis immediately cease their
military escalation and their attacks impacting civilians and civilian objects,”
according to the statement.
EU warns of energy ‘price crisis,’ asks countries to consider curbing demand,
letter shows
Reuters/25 September ,2026
The European Union is facing an energy price crisis as a result of the Iran war
fallout in oil and gas markets, the bloc’s energy chief said on Friday in a
letter seen by Reuters, which urged countries to consider measures to curb
energy demand. “We are facing a price crisis linking to a supply crisis,” EU
energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen said in a letter to EU countries’ energy
ministers. While the EU is better prepared now than it was in winter 2021 when
Russia squeezed Europe’s gas supplies by reducing deliveries, governments must
step up preparations for this winter, he said. “I invite you to consider taking
or continuing to take measures that can sustain [gas storage] injections or
reduce gas and electricity demand for as long as necessary,” Jorgensen said.
Iraq’s Shia holy city of Najaf suspends Iranian airlines, enforcing US sanctions
Al Arabiya English/25 September ,2026
Iraq’s Najaf airport, a top destination for Shia Muslims, suspended all Iranian
flights on Friday, enforcing US sanctions, the airport director told AFP.
Airport director Hussein Muhanna told AFP that “all flights were halted between
Iran and Najaf airport following a directive from the prime minister’s office to
the governor” of Najaf. Airports in Erbil and Sulaimaniyah in Iraq’s Kurdistan
region will also suspend flights to and from Iran starting Friday, two sources
told Reuters. The airport in the Shia holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, is a
major hub for Iranian flights. They mainly carry Iraqi Shia pilgrims to Iran’s
Shia holy cities or Iranians visiting sacred sites in Iraq. The flights also
serve Iraqi students studying in Iran, and patients seeking medical treatment
there. The bond between Iraq and neighboring Iran, both Shia-majority countries,
runs deep and is shaped by both religion and politics. Iranian airlines were
suspended at 02:00 am (2300 GMT Thursday), the airport director said. Several
sources, including a senior government official, told AFP earlier this week that
Iraq will enforce the US ban on Iranian airlines, joining several other
countries including the United Arab Emirates. US Treasury Secretary Scott
Bessent had said that Iranian airlines will “shut down” on Wednesday. Although
land routes are available, Iraq remains one of the top destinations for Iranian
airlines, especially after Iraqi airlines stopped flying to Iran at the start of
the Middle East war in February.With agencies
Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia to hold talks after Houthi attacks
Agence France Presse/25 September ,2026
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan will hold chief of staff talks to support the
kingdom, Riyadh said in a statement on Friday, as Yemen's Houthis ramp up
attacks on the world's top crude exporter.The Iran-backed group has escalated
its attacks on the kingdom since July, ending a years-long truce and declaring a
maritime blockade, hitting Saudi targets and seizing Yemen's entire Red Sea
coast as they seek to stifle Saudi oil exports. Turkey's chief of general staff
will travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday to attend the meeting, the Turkish defence
ministry said in a statement. It was unclear whether the meeting would be held
the same day. The announcement came after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal
bin Farhan, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Turkish Foreign Minister
Hakan Fidan met in New York on Thursday on the sidelines of the United Nations
General Assembly.The meeting "addressed ongoing arrangements for an urgent
meeting of the Chiefs of Staff of the three countries to discuss ways to support
the Kingdom in accordance with the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement," the statement
shared by official Saudi news agency SPA said. Last month, the three countries
signed a joint defence agreement committing them to mutual defence if one is
attacked. Despite the NATO-style clause, Pakistan and Turkey have so far not hit
back against the Houthis. The three ministers also condemned Houthi attacks that
targeted civilian and economic facilities in Saudi Arabia, SPA reported, as well
as attacks on Mecca, Islam's holiest city, which the Yemeni group has denied
carrying out. On Thursday, Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Saleh bin Fawzan bin
Abdullah Al-Fawzan called on soldiers to "be prepared to fulfil your duty" and
prayed for God to "eradicate the Houthi group and those who support it".
Yemen’s president calls on Yemenis to mobilize
Reuters/25 September ,2026
Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi called on
Yemenis on Friday to mobilize and join the armed forces against the Houthis. He
also offered a future general amnesty to Houthi fighters and affiliates who
leave the group starting September 26.
Mecca Defense Alliance holds urgent meeting, reaffirms commitment to defend
Saudi Arabia
Al Arabiya English/25 September ,2026
The top military chiefs of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey reaffirmed their
commitment to defend the Kingdom's security, sovereignty and territorial
integrity on Friday. An urgent meeting was held in Riyadh, bringing together the
three countries as Saudi Arabia has come under repeated attacks from Iran-backed
militias in Iraq and Yemen. Friday’s meeting was to review the Mecca Defense
Alliance, according to a readout of the meeting. The alliance stipulates that
“an attack against any of the countries constitutes an attack against all
parties.”The military chiefs on Friday discussed ways to “immediately begin”
translating their commitments into effective military cooperation. They also
commended the vigilance and professionalism of the Saudi Armed Forces in
ensuring the safety of citizens and residents and the Kingdom's security.
Putin says all Ukraine peace proposals on table, but Russia must weigh its
interests
Reuters/25 September ,2026
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that all proposals for a
settlement in the 4-1/2-year-old war with Ukraine remained on the table, but
Moscow still needed to assess what was in its best interest, Russian news
agencies reported. Putin, addressing Russian journalists, also said that Moscow
had been ready to resume negotiations with Kyiv after last week’s Russian
parliamentary elections, but Ukraine had launched attacks on Moscow and hit
polling stations. The Russian president said it was Ukraine that had launched
provocative attacks and would now have to pay the price of a sustained response.
“They are the ones who started it. Everywhere, on every front. Are these
playthings, child’s play?” Putin told reporters. “They should therefore be made
to feel Russia’s retaliatory strikes and understand that no provocative actions,
no stirring up the situation to secure a result will work. They’re only making
things worse for themselves.”He said these actions stood behind Ukraine’s calls
for a ceasefire and a resumption of talks.“They are all on the table. It’s all
possible,” he said. “But after everything they have done, we will still have to
think carefully about what we need to do in response.”
Trump confirms Xi meetings in China, US later this year
AFP, Washington/25 September ,2026
President Donald Trump confirmed Friday he will meet twice more this year with
Xi Jinping, saying they would have their third and fourth meetings of 2026 in
China and the United States.“We will be meeting again in November, in China, and
then at the G20 in December, in Miami, Florida,” Trump said on Truth Social as
Xi wrapped up a state visit to Washington.Trump said this week’s meeting “was
one of Friendship, Strength, and Success, for both China and the U.S.A.,”
adding: “I look forward to our next meeting!”
Zelenskyy Proposes an ‘Energy Ceasefire,’ Hoping To
Secure Patriot Interceptors
Peter Doran/FDD- Policy Brief/September 25/2026
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed a reciprocal “energy ceasefire”
with Russia during his meeting with President Donald Trump at the UN General
Assembly. The move suggested a calculated pivot from Kyiv’s drone and missile
campaign against Russian refineries. By demonstrating his openness to deescalate
with Vladimir Putin, Zelenskyy sought to lay the groundwork for a U.S. agreement
to provide Kyiv with more Patriot interceptors (and the license to produce
them).
Kyiv’s War on Russian Diesel
Zelenskyy needed to thread a needle in New York. On September 13, Trump publicly
demanded that Ukraine halt strikes on Russian diesel production. The White House
applied similar pressure behind the scenes, stressing the need to stop attacks
on “diesel, diesel, diesel” with Kyiv. Disregarding the pressure, Ukraine’s
Unmanned Systems Forces hit the colossal Kapotnya oil refinery on the outskirts
of Moscow seven days later. Producing 3.2 million tons of diesel per year (among
other products), it is the largest refinery in the Moscow region.
Ukraine’s President Deflects Potential U.S. Criticism
Zelenskyy’s proposal for an energy ceasefire looked calculated to redirect any
closed-door criticism of Ukraine’s refinery attacks back at Moscow during his
meeting with Trump. “We are ready for any kind of format of energy ceasefire,”
Zelenskyy said. He later added, “Our lives are more important than the price of
energy. If everyone wants to help with the price of diesel, help us to stop
Putin with blackouts on the territory of Ukraine.”
The move appeared to work. Trump showered Zelenskyy with praise and maintained
his optimism that peace talks can stop the fighting. “He’d like to see the war
end,” Trump said of Putin. To date, Putin has given no indication this is the
case. Russian missiles and upgraded Geran-5 jet-powered drones continue to
target Ukrainian cities, infrastructure, and gas stations. Civilian casualties
from January 2026 to August 2026 totaled 2,222 killed and 13,058 injured — a 55
percent increase over the same period last year, according to the UN.
Patriot Negotiations
Importantly, Ukraine’s need to defend itself from Russian missiles with Patriot
interceptors was also on the table during the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting. This
marked a continuation of bilateral negotiations to greenlight Ukraine’s domestic
production of Patriot missiles. This is an exceptionally sensitive issue,
however. As seen during Poland’s negotiations to acquire the Patriot system, the
details of a licensing agreement for domestic production of the interceptors is
exceedingly complicated. Even if authorized immediately, it could be years
before Ukraine produces its first interceptor. Meanwhile, Russia is
manufacturing over 100 ballistic missiles per month. One option for Washington
is to allow Ukraine to produce select components for the interceptors to help
ramp up production capacity, with final assembly remaining in the United States.
In the meantime, winter is approaching and Ukraine is bracing for renewed
bombardments of its energy infrastructure. While Trump clings to his optimism,
Ukrainians are preparing to survive the cold in the dark.
*Peter Doran is adjunct senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from the authors and FDD, subscribe HERE.
Follow FDD on X @FDD. Follow Peter on X @PeterBDoran. FDD is a Washington,
DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and
foreign policy.
The Latest LCCC analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on September 24-25/2026
Question: Can a Christian lose salvation?
GotQuestions.org?/September 25/2026
Answer: First, the term Christian must be defined. A “Christian” is not a person
who has said a prayer or walked down an aisle or been raised in a Christian
family. While each of these things can be a part of the Christian experience,
they are not what makes a Christian. A Christian is a person who has fully
trusted in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and therefore possesses the Holy
Spirit (John 3:16; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8–9).
So, with this definition in mind, can a Christian lose salvation? It’s a
crucially important question. Perhaps the best way to answer it is to examine
what the Bible says occurs at salvation and to study what losing salvation would
entail:
A Christian is a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new
creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). A
Christian is not simply an “improved” version of a person; a Christian is an
entirely new creature. He is “in Christ.” For a Christian to lose salvation, the
new creation would have to be destroyed.
A Christian is redeemed. “For you know that it was not with perishable things
such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed
down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb
without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18–19). The word redeemed refers to a
purchase being made, a price being paid. We were purchased at the cost of
Christ’s death. For a Christian to lose salvation, God Himself would have to
revoke His purchase of the individual for whom He paid with the precious blood
of Christ.
A Christian is justified. “Therefore, since we have been justified through
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). To
justify is to declare righteous. All those who receive Jesus as Savior are
“declared righteous” by God. For a Christian to lose salvation, God would have
to go back on His Word and “un-declare” what He had previously declared. Those
absolved of guilt would have to be tried again and found guilty. God would have
to reverse the sentence handed down from the divine bench.
A Christian is promised eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave
his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life” (John 3:16). Eternal life is the promise of spending forever in
heaven with God. God promises that if you believe, you will have eternal life.
For a Christian to lose salvation, eternal life would have to be redefined. The
Christian is promised to live forever. Does eternal not mean “eternal”?
A Christian is marked by God and sealed by the Spirit. “You also were included
in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who
are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13–14). At the
moment of faith, the new Christian is marked and sealed with the Spirit, who was
promised to act as a deposit to guarantee the heavenly inheritance. The end
result is that God’s glory is praised. For a Christian to lose salvation, God
would have to erase the mark, withdraw the Spirit, cancel the deposit, break His
promise, revoke the guarantee, keep the inheritance, forego the praise, and
lessen His glory.
A Christian is guaranteed glorification. “Those he predestined, he also called;
those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified”
(Romans 8:30). According to Romans 5:1, justification is ours at the moment of
faith. According to Romans 8:30, glorification comes with justification. All
those whom God justifies are promised to be glorified. This promise will be
fulfilled when Christians receive their perfect resurrection bodies in heaven.
If a Christian can lose salvation, then Romans 8:30 is in error, because God
could not guarantee glorification for all those whom He predestines, calls, and
justifies.
A Christian cannot lose salvation. Most, if not all, of what the Bible says
happens to us when we receive Christ would be invalidated if salvation could be
lost. Salvation is the gift of God, and God’s gifts are “irrevocable” (Romans
11:29). A Christian cannot be un-newly created. The redeemed cannot be
unpurchased. Eternal life cannot be temporary. God cannot renege on His Word.
Scripture says that God does not lie (Titus 1:2).
Two common objections to the belief that a Christian cannot lose salvation
concern these experiential issues: 1) What about Christians who live in a
sinful, unrepentant lifestyle? 2) What about Christians who reject the faith and
deny Christ? The problem with these objections is the assumption that everyone
who calls himself a “Christian” has actually been born again. The Bible declares
that a true Christian will not live a state of continual, unrepentant sin (1
John 3:6). The Bible also says that anyone who departs the faith is
demonstrating that he was never truly a Christian (1 John 2:19). He may have
been religious, he may have put on a good show, but he was never born again by
the power of God. “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:16). The
redeemed of God belong “to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we
might bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4).
Nothing can separate a child of God from the Father’s love (Romans 8:38–39).
Nothing can remove a Christian from God’s hand (John 10:28–29). God guarantees
eternal life and maintains the salvation He has given us. The Good Shepherd
searches for the lost sheep, and, “when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his
shoulders and goes home” (Luke 15:5–6). The lamb is found, and the Shepherd
gladly bears the burden; our Lord takes full responsibility for bringing the
lost one safely home.
Jude 1:24–25 further emphasizes the goodness and faithfulness of our Savior: “To
him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his
glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be
glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all
ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
New Greenland Agreement Adds Sites, Not Strategy. NATO and
NORAD Must Now Connect the Arctic.
Emmerson Overell/FDD- Policy Brief/September 25/2026
Greenland is warming to the idea of an increased American military presence on
the enormous Island, removing a source of transatlantic friction and bolstering
NATO defenses.
On September 22, the United States, Denmark, and Greenland signed a security
agreement authorizing two additional U.S. military sites — there is currently a
single base at Pituffik — while preserving Danish sovereignty and Greenlandic
self-determination. The accord does not remake Arctic defense: the 1951
agreement already granted Washington broad operating and transit rights. But the
new locations and support for stronger NATO engagement could reinforce
Greenland’s role linking NORAD’s defense of North America with NATO’s defense of
the European Arctic and North Atlantic.
That link is increasingly urgent. Russian submarines can pass through the
Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) Gap toward vital Atlantic reinforcement
routes, while bombers and Kola Peninsula-based ballistic-missile submarines can
threaten North America through Arctic approaches. Growing Sino-Russian regional
cooperation adds to NATO’s challenge.
More U.S. Access, More NATO Responsibility
The 1951 agreement allows U.S. aircraft, troops, vehicles, and official vessels
to move between military sites within Greenland by air, land, and sea, including
its territorial waters. The deal also permits U.S. aircraft to land anywhere on
the island. The new accord preserves those rights; explicitly covers undersea
access; authorizes defense areas at Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and
Mestersvig on its eastern coast; and permits expanded activity at Pituffik. The
accord also allows for future additional sites by mutual agreement and commits
Denmark and Greenland to accelerated review processes of proposed unmanned
installations. Expanded access also supports the proposed Golden Dome
missile-defense system. The agreement, which awaits Danish and Greenlandic
parliamentary approval, has no end date. Because Copenhagen and Nuuk are highly
unlikely to approve a Russian or Chinese base, the prohibition on non-NATO
installations is largely symbolic. More consequential are limits on investments
from states that are neither NATO members nor partners, nor EU members. The deal
restricts investments from those states to protect against adversarial access,
control or influence over sensitive sectors like critical infrastructure and
resource extraction.
The text also calls for a greater NATO role in Arctic defense planning, military
presence, exercises, and joint intelligence capabilities.
Greenland Bridges European and North American Defenses
Pituffik enables missile warnings and defenses, space surveillance, and
satellite command and control. Farther south, Greenland forms the GIUK Gap’s
western edge, making it important for tracking Russian submarines and protecting
the sea lanes needed to reinforce Europe. Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig could
support U.S. and allied logistics, surveillance, training, and operations across
these missions. That potential was visible days before the signing, when NORAD’s
Operation Arctic Vanguard moved U.S. F-16s from Alaska, through Canada, to
Greenland with Canadian, Danish, and additional NATO support.
Arctic Sentry is a NATO initiative that coordinates allied activities across the
region, while Nordic Bridge seeks to align planning among NORAD, U.S. Northern
Command (NORTHCOM), U.S. European Command, and NATO. Neither effort has publicly
detailed how the agreement will support enhanced allied integration.
Turn Arctic Coordination Into Integration
NATO should remain the organizing framework for European Arctic defense, with
Nordic allies leading regionally, while NORAD and U.S. NORTHCOM continue
coordinating U.S.-Canadian defense of North America. Arctic Sentry and Nordic
Bridge should align these efforts with U.S. Navy and NATO anti-submarine
operations, Denmark’s growing capabilities, and allied surveillance, logistics,
and reinforcement plans. Arctic Vanguard provides a foundation for broader
allied training. NORAD and NORTHCOM should expand NATO participation, with
NORTHCOM and NATO adding land and maritime exercises that build toward
integrated air, land, and sea operations. The new U.S. locations in Greenland
could support this training. Denmark’s commitment to strengthening its space
capabilities is also a positive development. Copenhagen should prioritize
space-based sensors optimized for high-latitude coverage, resilient satellite
communications, and imagery-sharing systems. NATO should integrate Denmark’s
satellite-imagery data into Task Force X Arctic’s planned multidomain awareness
network and move successful systems from its 2027 demonstration into persistent
operations, following the model of Task Force X Baltic.Pooling resources is
essential in the Arctic, where infrastructure and operations are costly and no
ally can possess every capability. The Greenland agreement updates U.S. access
and adds operating locations. NATO-NORAD integration will determine whether
those provisions produce a stronger allied Arctic defense.
*Emmerson Overell is a project coordinator at the Center on Cyber and Technology
Innovation (CCTI) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where she
researches threats to U.S. and allied security in the Arctic, space, and
cyberspace. For more analysis from Emmerson and FDD, please subscribe HERE.
Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_CCTI. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan
research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
Is Turkey Turning on Tehran or Just Dodging the Treasury
Department?
Behnam Ben Taleblu & Sinan Ciddi/FDD- Policy Brief/September 25/2026
Turkey’s top banking regulator withdrew the operating license of the Istanbul
branch of Iran’s Bank Mellat, a major Iranian commercial bank with state ties
that has long been subject to U.S. sanctions.
While the announcement did not reference U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic,
the decision to revoke this license follows the United States designating Golden
Global, a small Turkish investment bank, and two of its subsidiaries earlier
this September over ties to Iran’s sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC). Turkey has since liquidated funds related to that bank and placed it
under state control, demonstrating that American pressure can be effective
against Tehran’s network of foreign enablers.
Increased U.S. Pressure Compels Ankara To Crack Down
These limited financial hygiene measures show Ankara is taking the right steps.
Ankara has followed up on these financial measures by terminating all air
transport services operating between Turkey and Iran, thus cutting off Iranian
elites’ ability to access worldwide travel. On September 21, Turkey’s national
carrier, Turkish Airlines, and budget carriers Ajet and Pegasus Airlines
announced the suspension of all flights between the two countries until March
2027. Turkey also announced its decision to terminate the Iranian carrier Mahan
Air from flying to Turkey, owing to the carrier’s alleged ties to the IRGC.
Although Tehran and Ankara maintain cordial diplomatic ties, Ankara is keen to
avoid being subject to U.S. secondary sanctions.
Bank Mellat Is No Low-Hanging Fruit
Bank Mellat is one of Iran’s largest commercial lenders, holding roughly $34.8
billion in assets and settling Turkish-Iranian trade since 1982. Washington
designated Bank Mellat in 2007, using counterproliferation authorities for
providing services to the sanctioned Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and for
moving millions of dollars on behalf of Iran’s nuclear program. The European
Union followed with its own sanctions against the bank in 2010 but waived
penalties pursuant to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. In 2018, Washington expanded
penalties against Bank Mellat and subjected the entity to counterterrorism
sanctions for financially supporting another Iranian bank funding the Basij
paramilitary in Iran. Following the restoration of UN sanctions on Iran after
“Snapback,” the European Union and the United Kingdom reinstated their nuclear
sanctions on Bank Mellat.
Bank Mellat’s foreign branches have traditionally provided the Islamic Republic
with a lifeline to the international economy despite Iran’s increasing financial
isolation in the past decade and a half. Older annual reports prior to the
intensification of U.S. banking and financial sanctions against Iran reveal that
Bank Mellat had offices in Armenia, South Korea, and Turkey, with branches not
just in Istanbul but in Izmir and Ankara as well. Bank Mellat has also held
ownership stakes in other banks in the United Kingdom, Germany, the United Arab
Emirates, and Malaysia. Curbing the foreign footprint and activity of these
branches is key to any effort to deny the regime access to hard-currency
settlement and will force Tehran to move its trade and bilateral commerce to
less efficient, costlier, and informal channels.
To Enforce Iran Sanctions, Keep the Pressure up on Turkey
As the Trump administration continues to escalate and enforce maximum pressure
sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s network of foreign enablers, Turkey
should be kept in mind. Despite the overfocus in the media and policy community
on China or the United Arab Emirates’ role in sanctions busting, Turkey too has
been a critical jurisdiction for Iran to generate revenue and outlast U.S.
sanctions in the past. In 2019, Turkey’s second-biggest public lender, Halkbank,
was indicted for conducting between $13 billion and $20 billion in financial
transactions for Iran from 2012-2016 in a brazen scheme to purchase Iranian
fossil fuels, paid for in gold, and structured the scheme to appear as
humanitarian trade.
Ankara’s more recent determination to comply with U.S. measures was achieved
only under the shadow of U.S. financial power. Washington should continue to
press Ankara for greater compliance with U.S. sanctions and for more financial
hygiene measures that freeze out Iran’s financial lifeline in Turkey.
*Behnam Ben Taleblu is the senior director of the Iran Program and a senior
fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Sinan Ciddi is
the Turkey program director and a senior fellow. For more analysis from the
authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_Iran.
Follow Behnam @therealBehnamBT and Sinan @SinanCiddi on X. FDD is a Washington,
DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and
foreign policy.
Put Turkey on notice: The Eastern Mediterranean’s reliable
alliance deserves US teeth
Sinan Ciddi & Isabella Bournas/Kathimerini/September 25/2026
The ongoing war with Iran is driving countries in the Middle East and the
Eastern Mediterranean to invest in new security alliances. This is partly driven
by the drubbing Gulf Arab states have taken from Iranian missile attacks and by
regional powers’ estimation that the United States may be less interested in
underwriting the region’s security needs. This partially helps explain why
Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Mecca Pact in August. It is not,
however, the driving factor behind why Greece, Israel and Cyprus are pushing to
forge a closer security framework. Their main reason for investing in collective
security is their growing fear of Turkish expansionism. Turkey has lost no time
capitalizing on Iran’s weakening as a major regional actor, with President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan constantly framing Turkey’s desire to be respected as a “global
actor.” While the news cycle remains fixated on who is winning the Iran war,
Ankara has quietly established footholds in Syria and across Africa through
military basing, training and weapons sales; deepened strategic investments in
Russia spanning energy and trade; adopted an increasingly revisionist posture
across the Mediterranean, exemplified by its maximalist interpretation of its
maritime borders under the “Blue Homeland” doctrine; and built closer ties with
major Arab powers intended to isolate and undermine Israel, mainly through
agreements like the Mecca Pact, while championing terrorist entities like Hamas
and potentially Hezbollah.
Against this backdrop, Greece, Cyprus and Israel’s defense cooperation is an
essential counterbalance, and an initiative the United States needs to
strengthen. None of these states has an interest in threatening Ankara; they
feel compelled to take defensive measures against its escalatory behavior.
The most recent expression is a major defense export deal between Greece and
Israel, the Achilles Shield, which gives Athens new tools in the event of
escalation. The €3 billion agreement entails a multi-layered air defense system
that would modernize Greece’s military with Israeli-manufactured anti-missile,
anti-aircraft and anti-drone systems. It would also give Turkey reason to pause
before violating the sovereign borders of the Greek islands and Cyprus.
Cooperation between Greece, Cyprus and Israel is nothing new, and it precedes
the emerging defense framework. Energy projects between the three countries have
strengthened interconnectivity, regional peace and economic cooperation over the
last decade. Greece, Cyprus, Israel and the United States formed the Eastern
Mediterranean “3+1” Energy Dialogue in 2019 to address the need for greater
energy security.
The partnership has continued to develop. The 3+1 initiative was formalized
further in June 2026 with the establishment of the Eastern Mediterranean Energy
Center (EMEC). In September 2026, the Trilateral Summit between Greece, Cyprus
and Egypt continued talks about the GREGY electricity interconnection project,
natural gas cooperation and commitments to maritime security. Ankara has
answered this thickening web of cooperation with pressure rather than diplomacy.
In March 2026, Turkey deployed F-16s to the occupied north of Cyprus, the first
time it has based combat aircraft there. In June, Turkish fighters harassed
aircraft carrying the Greek, French and Dutch defense ministers en route to an
EU meeting in the Republic of Cyprus. Ankara is also preparing legislation to
codify Blue Homeland claims into domestic law, overlapping Greece’s and Cyprus’s
exclusive economic zones. Turkish aircraft and drones committed 25 violations of
Greek airspace in a single August day, including a simulated dogfight, and
Erdogan followed the Achilles Shield signing by warning Athens to “abandon the
wrong path” of arming its islands. Ankara has now relocated its 2,000-strong
51st Commando Brigade to Soke, directly opposite Samos. The cumulative effect is
a steady militarization of contested space.
Turkey’s parallel track runs through the Arab and Muslim world, with the Mecca
Pact as its centerpiece. The agreement commits Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan
to treat an armed attack on one as an attack on all, and Ankara’s ambition is to
convert that language into a bloc that encircles Israel diplomatically. That
ambition is unlikely to be realized, because the pact is not built on trust.
Existing analysis has argued that the arrangement looks toothless without being
harmless. Riyadh and Ankara have competed for Sunni leadership for a decade,
split bitterly over the Muslim Brotherhood and the 2017 Qatar blockade, and
Pakistan’s strategic preoccupation remains India, not the Levant. The three also
diverge on Israel: Turkey keeps formal recognition, Saudi normalization remains
plausible and Pakistani recognition is domestically unthinkable. The initial
test was instructive: within 48 hours of signing, Houthi forces struck a Saudi
Aramco refinery at Jazan and Riyadh did not call on its new partners. With no
joint command, no trigger mechanism and no named adversary, the pact is exposed
to chain-ganging and buck-passing. Shared grievance is not shared strategy and
does not form the basis of common defense.
These competing frameworks arguably form a textbook security dilemma, in which
each bloc’s hedging reads to the other as preparation for attack and the risk is
not hypothetical. In August, Israel struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Syria to
preempt a Turkish deployment, prompting Washington’s own envoy to call it an
unnecessary escalation. But the dilemma is asymmetric, as Greece, Cyprus and
Israel are seeking to preserve an existing order: treaty-based sovereignty,
established maritime boundaries and freedom of navigation. Turkey, by contrast,
seeks to revise it. Interceptors and radars do not take territory or redraw an
exclusive economic zone; navtexes, marine park declarations, forward-based
fighters and casus belli do. Deterrence that raises the cost of a fait accompli
reduces escalation risk rather than manufacturing it.
The partnership between Greece, Cyprus and Israel therefore offers a far more
reliable security environment than the Mecca Pact. It stems from over a decade
of energy-security engagement that established the basis for a stronger defense
framework, now including a trilateral joint action plan covering joint
operations and special forces training. Greece has undergone substantial defense
modernization aligned with US targets and is still a key US ally. As one of only
six NATO members spending at least 3 percent of GDP on defense, it focuses on
the capabilities that an increasingly threatening environment demands. In 2024,
Greece joined the F-35 Lightning II Global Alliance, strengthening both its
defense autonomy and interoperability with allies.
Greece’s location at the intersection of the Middle East, North Africa and the
Balkans, along with its strength as a maritime power in the Eastern
Mediterranean, makes it invaluable on NATO’s southeastern flank. Souda Bay on
Crete hosts the NATO Missile Firing Installation and the region’s largest
deep-water port. It has hosted the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in recent
months for maintenance during major combat operations against Iran.
Washington should add teeth to this framework. First, the administration should
expedite review of any Israeli transfer to Greece requiring US approval for
American components and expand the Greek-hosted Iniochos exercise to deepen 3+1
interoperability.
Second, Congress should pass the American-Hellenic-Israeli Eastern Mediterranean
Counterterrorism and Maritime Security Partnership Act, which the Foundation for
Defense of Democracies Action has endorsed, to give 3+1 a standing security
architecture and upgrade US facilities in Greece and Cyprus, alongside the
Eastern Mediterranean Gateway Act. Third, it should revive the 3+1 at
ministerial level with security, not only energy, on the agenda and state
plainly that US-origin equipment will not be tolerated as an instrument of
coercion against allies.
This would also serve Turkish interests. A clearly bounded, defensively postured
bloc with visible American underwriting removes the ambiguity which invites
miscalculation. Ankara’s worst outcome is not a Greek air defense network; it is
an incident in the Aegean or over Cyprus that escalates into a crisis between
two NATO allies. Predictability is cheaper than brinkmanship, for everyone.
**Sinan Ciddi is Turkey Program Director and Senior Fellow and Isabella Bournas
an intern at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Washington DC.
Why France is sending troops to protect Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu oil port
Jonathan Gornall/Arab News/September 25, 2026
LONDON: The news that France is to send troops and equipment to Saudi Arabia to
defend the strategically important oil port of Yanbu followed a little noticed
but, in hindsight, rather important mini-summit that took place this week on the
sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
The occasion was a joint ministerial meeting on Tuesday between the Gulf
Cooperation Council and France, attended by all six GCC foreign ministers,
including Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud.
Inevitably, the meeting, co-chaired by Jean-Noel Barrot, France’s minister for
Europe and foreign affairs, and Kuwait’s foreign minister, Abdullah Ali Al Yahya,
was focused sharply on events in the Gulf and the Red Sea since the outbreak of
the war with Iran.
In July, the Houthi rebels in Yemen declared a naval blockade on Saudi shipping
in the Red Sea, opening up another front in the Iran war and potentially
threatening the flow of oil from the Kingdom to the wider world.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted six ballistic missiles fired
by the Iran-backed Houthis, aimed at Yanbu and the city of Taif, southeast of
Makkah.
Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, the secretary-general of the GCC, began the meeting by
highlighting the relations between France and the Gulf states, which were “built
on a solid strategic partnership, as well as shared interests and visions.”
Then he turned his attention to the Iranian attacks that had targeted vital
installations in and around the Gulf since Feb. 28, and commended France’s
statements rejecting the attacks and its participation in international efforts
aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Two days later, in an interview on Thursday with Fox News, Prince Faisal spoke
of the necessity for the wider international community to engage with the threat
Yemen’s Houthi rebels were posing to global shipping in the Red Sea.“We are, of
course, defending ourselves,” he said, “and we are responding as necessary to
the attacks by the Houthis.
“But we are also, of course, coordinating with all of our international allies,
because this is not just about Saudi Arabia.”Prince Faisal added: “The fact that
the Houthis are threatening the Bab Al-Mandab, threatening international
shipping, is a risk to international security stability. That means that the
responsibility of dealing with this threat is not just on Saudi Arabia, it is
also on the whole international community.”
Then, later that same day, came the announcement that France, one of the
Kingdom’s oldest and most valued partners, was answering the call for
assistance.
The news came during an interview on French TV with French President Emmanuel
Macron.
The conversation began with a discussion about rising fuel prices in France and
Europe. “We must not simply resign ourselves to a situation of supply
shortages,” said Macron.
Oil and petrol prices had already risen by around 20 to 30 percent over the
summer, he said, and had since increased further “because of the tensions.”
He added: “We must give ourselves every possible chance through negotiation.
Then, we have released reserves, and we have our gas storage facilities, meaning
we have stocks that can cover several weeks or months. “What we must continue to
do in the coming days is manage these volumes and continue the diplomatic
effort. Above all, we must maintain discussions with the Iranians and others in
order to reopen the routes.”
But it was then that he revealed that France was preparing to take action beyond
diplomacy.
“Several million barrels pass through the Red Sea and through the Yanbu route in
Saudi Arabia every day,” he said. “That route has been heavily affected by
attacks and we have committed ourselves to helping secure it.”He added: “Today,
this is the discussion we have finalized with the Saudis. We are going to send
military assets — soldiers, radar systems and defense systems — to protect these
sites. We are committed to that effort.“We must protect strategic
infrastructure.”
Yasmine Farouk, director of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Project at the
International Crisis Group, believes that other European nations might follow
France’s lead.
“It’s not that the Europeans in general are against deployment to defend Saudi
Arabia,” she told Arab News. “But it’s been a matter of availability and means
within a context of war in Europe between Russia and Ukraine, where they are
already supporting the Ukrainians, but also a matter of not wanting to get
entangled. “We have seen them being very cautious. But I think the fact that the
French have acted might help operationalize that European will to help the
Kingdom.”
wo days before Macron’s announcement, the UK said it was providing “defensive
military support to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia following renewed Houthi
attacks.”
The Ministry of Defense in London said that “following a request from the Saudi
Arabian Government, the UK has agreed to provide an RAF Voyager air-to-air
refueling aircraft to support Saudi defensive activity in support of the
legitimate government of Yemen.”
The support builds on the UK’s existing military contribution to Saudi Arabia’s
air defense, including the deployment of air defense equipment and UK personnel
who are helping to protect against missile and drone attacks.
In April, the UK deployed a Sky Sabre air defense system to Saudi Arabia’s King
Fahd Air Base, along with operators from the Royal Artillery.
Soldiers march past a lineup of military trucks, some equipped with radar
systems, during an outdoor event. Soldiers march past a lineup of military
trucks, some equipped with radar systems, during an outdoor event. “The Houthis
are a dangerous threat to regional stability in the Middle East,” the UK
government said at the time, “and it is in the UK’s national economic and
security interest that they do not succeed.”
Since March, Italy has also had a detachment of Typhoon jets operating in a
defensive role in the Gulf. On Sept. 17, one of the Italian Typhoons was struck
on the ground by a missile during an attack on King Fahd Air Base outside Taif
in western Saudi Arabia.
On Friday, military chiefs from the Kingdom, Pakistan and Turkiye met in Riyadh
for “technical-level negotiations aimed at institutionalizing cooperation” under
the new Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, which was signed between the three
countries on Aug. 7.
Also on Friday, the UN Security Council affirmed Saudi Arabia’s “inherent right”
to self-defense and condemned “in the strongest terms” continued Houthi attacks
against the Kingdom, demanding that the Iran-backed militia immediately end its
military escalation.
Jerome Bonnafont, France’s permanent representative to the UN, said the 15
members expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia “in the face of attacks impacting
civilians and civilian objects on its territory.”
France is particularly well placed to intervene in and around the Red Sea. It
has a strategically important air and naval base in Djibouti, at the mouth of
the Bab Al-Mandab Strait.
A flight deck officer signals to the pilot of a Dassault Rafale fighter jet as
another aircraft stands by on an aircraft carrier at sea. A flight deck officer
signals to the pilot of a Dassault Rafale fighter jet as another aircraft stands
by on an aircraft carrier at sea.
According to the French Ministry of Defense, France currently has about 30,000
soldiers deployed overseas in various countries, including 1,500 personnel in
Djibouti and 750 in the UAE. The French navy is also a part of the European
Union’s Operation Aspides, a naval mission set up in 2024 to prevent attacks on
merchant shipping in the Red Sea by the Houthis.
The deployment to Yanbu reflects the fact that France is one of Saudi Arabia’s
oldest partners. It established a consulate in Jeddah in 1839 and in 1932 became
one of the first countries in the world to recognize the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, founded on Sept. 23 that year by King Abdulaziz. Since then, the
relationship has only gone from strength to strength, marked over the decades by
a series of two-way state visits and agreements focused on deepening ties in
fields from trade and culture to defense and tourism.
Over the past five years, trade between the two countries has witnessed
significant growth.
The volume of trade between the two countries during the period 2021 to 2025
reached approximately $53.7 billion, with Saudi exports to France accounting for
53.4 percent of the total. Bilateral trade recorded growth of approximately 43.8
percent in 2025 compared to 2021, reaching nearly $12 billion. France has not
been afraid to show its support for the Kingdom. In November 2017, President
Macron made a surprise visit to Riyadh in the wake of an attempt by the Houthis
to hit the capital with a ballistic missile.
The missile, which may have been aimed at Riyadh’s international airport, was
intercepted.
After flying in to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Macron condemned the
attack and added: “I believe it’s important that we work with Saudi Arabia for
the purpose of guaranteeing stability in the region and the fight against
terrorism.”
In April the following year, the Saudi crown prince made his first official
visit to France, where he and Macron secured commercial contracts between Saudi
and French companies valued at $18 billion. During the visit, the two countries
also established a landmark partnership to develop AlUla, the ancient oasis city
centered on the Kingdom’s first UNESCO World Heritage site, into a major
destination for culture, heritage and sustainable tourism.
In December 2024, Macron returned to Saudi Arabia for a state visit during which
the two countries signed a “strategic partnership” agreement, increasing
cooperation in multiple spheres, including defense. In August 2026, the crown
prince and French president met again in Paris, where, in the words of the
Elysee Palace, “they reaffirmed their ambition for the strategic partnership
that now binds the French Republic and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and
“emphasized the historic depth of the relationship” between the two countries.
The two leaders presided over the first meeting of a new French-Saudi Strategic
Partnership Council, set up to strengthen ties in all areas of cooperation.
They also “expressed their shared vision for stability in the Middle East, based
on the sovereignty of States, respect for international law, and the pursuit of
political and diplomatic solutions to conflicts and security threats.”Aside from
concern over the price of oil, France has its own motives for intervening to
defend Saudi Arabia, said Farouk. “This comes within a general French policy
that started even before this war, with France pushing for the development of
more strategic defense relations with the Kingdom and wanting to show that it is
a reliable partner that Gulf countries can count on.
“France already has very developed defense and strategic relations with the UAE,
Kuwait and Qatar, and (the Yanbu deployment) goes with the long-term foreign
policy of France wanting to become a power in the Gulf.”French President
Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stand together,
highlighting the strategic partnership between France and Saudi Arabia.
The Christmas of politics is here again
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/September 25, 2026
I have always called the UN General Assembly the Christmas of politics. Not only
because many politicians assume people still believe in Santa Claus when they
deliver their speeches, but also because of the growing commercial ecosystem
around it. Over recent decades, the nondiplomatic side has become even more
important than the political meetings. UNGA has become a commercial meeting
place for think tanks, corporates looking to lobby and the entourages of these
businesses.
There were perhaps, from the 1960s through to the 1980s, a few breakthrough
moments, seeing the likes of Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro using the
assembly podium to attack US policy and what the latter described as American
imperialism, plus Muammar Qaddafi and, a few years later, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
delivering their speeches in New York. This was the point. It was not simply the
fact that they spoke to political representatives but also that they were in the
US, the leader of the free world, openly criticizing it and freely walking
around the city. There was, in the speeches of Yasser Arafat and the diplomatic
efforts, a real will for change and desire to make use of the possibilities.
Today, it no longer has the same impact and, in fact, no one cares. The comedic
act is over. It is about business.
The 2026 UNGA ecosystem comprises 577 events, expanding to more than 1,800 when
the wider Climate Week and adjacent New York program are included. The money
spent on some of these events by nonprofit institutions could probably be better
spent addressing the causes they are supposed to advance. There is a clear
disconnect between this ecosystem and the broader reality.
This year, a perfect symbol of the irrelevance and disconnect of this ecosystem
was seen at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. Prince Harry, Duke of
Sussex, was speaking about the risks of artificial intelligence and its
potential impact on children when his teleprompter malfunctioned, forcing him to
leave the stage while the technical issue was resolved. The problem this
ecosystem is facing is that it cannot even build awareness around important
causes because its stakeholders are now seen as presenting an inauthentic
display of goodness and care with a pinch of irrelevance.
Speech after speech, meeting after meeting where the most important thing is to
look busy, not to solve major crises
The music goes on because the impact is not measured by solving the crises but
by how their virtue signaling resonates within their own environment. The same
applies to climate, poverty, health and every important cause that has needed
urgent and important solutions for decades and that has been turned into a
festival during the UNGA and beyond.
The real issue is that the sector is mostly nonprofit, so it relies on donations
and subsidies and, as we all know, when it is nobody’s money, no one cares how
it is spent. The reality is that the Christmas of politics serves as a backdrop
to the emptiness that dominates the official UNGA track. Speech after speech,
meeting after meeting where the most important thing is to look busy, not to
solve major crises. If you add social media to it, you have the perfect loop.
The capacity to talk to the other side is no longer there. It is all about
gestures — and perhaps Khrushchev’s 1960 shoe banging was a sign of things to
come. All we hear are speeches without consequence that have become like white
noise to the people. Anti-Israeli or anti-Palestinian, anti-Russia or
pro-Russia, it is about recording a stance and nothing else. There is no will to
find solutions and, moreover, there is no capacity to find a solution.
There is a big divide between what is meant for domestic consumption and what
takes place in reality backstage
How many meetings and speeches have there been since Arafat spoke at the UNGA?
What has changed? Nothing. In fact, it is quite the opposite: the Palestinian
cause has been hijacked by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. How many
speeches and meetings have there been to confront their hegemonic plans in the
region? What has changed? Nothing. So, we can listen to the speech of Iranian
President Masoud Pezeshkian just as we did to Ahmadinejad without seeing any
change. And they can state: we stood in the heart of the so-called enemy and
said our piece. There is a big divide between what is meant for domestic
consumption and what takes place in reality backstage. The circus around the
real objectives and goals of these meetings is convenient and, when it becomes a
commercial activity, it is even better. I know many will leave the UNGA stating
it was successful. Don’t be fooled: this is not because they were able to make
this world better but because their media output looked good or their events
were successfully managed. It starts with politicians and ends with the
nongovernmental organizations and other institutions that gravitate around them.
In a sense, I don’t blame them. New York is a great city with great people and,
if you add in Brooklyn with a few important lunches and dinners at Peter Luger,
I mean, this is a winner week.
There is a need for such side events but when we lose focus on the real issues
and goals — and these events become the main attraction — then something is
definitely wrong. This all seems pointless, except for those benefiting from the
commercial side.
This coincides with the growing debate about the UN’s relevance. Major
geopolitical and economic decisions are increasingly being made outside the UN
system. This is why the UNGA, which brings together a huge number of leaders,
businesses, investors and NGOs, looks more and more disconnected from the
broader reality. It is increasingly an ecosystem talking to itself and looking
after itself rather than carrying out its real mission of positively shaping the
world.
Funnily enough, it is something all politicians from all sides seem to agree on.
We should nevertheless remember that the League of Nations was also seen in this
manner before the Second World War, after which the UN was formed. For now,
Santa will keep visiting New York in September.
*Khaled Abou Zahr is the founder of SpaceQuest Ventures, a space-focused
investment platform. He is the CEO of EurabiaMedia and editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.
US allies should watch its European forces review closely
Luke Coffey/Arab News/September 25, 2026
The Pentagon is currently in the middle of an important review to determine the
future of America’s military presence in Europe. The outcome will have
implications not only for European security but for the broader region as well.
Current US troop levels in Europe are already far below their Cold War levels.
At the height of the Cold War, hundreds of thousands of American troops were
stationed across the continent. Today, only 68,000 US military personnel are
permanently assigned to Europe, with about another 12,000 rotating in and out of
the continent.
In May, the Trump administration announced plans to withdraw about 5,000 US
troops from Germany. The decision prompted significant opposition in Congress,
including from Republicans. The following month, ahead of the NATO Summit,
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a broader six-month review of the US
military presence in Europe. The reasoning behind the decision to reduce
American troop numbers in Europe is twofold. On the one hand, there is a belief
that Europe should defend itself. On the other, there is a growing frustration
with a perceived lack of assistance during Operation Epic Fury.
The review is expected to produce recommendations this fall before the process
concludes by the end of the year
The review is expected to produce recommendations this fall before the process
concludes by the end of the year. This means the Pentagon is now about halfway
through the process.
Unlike many major policy debates in Washington, the details of which often leak
into the media, remarkably little is publicly known about the review. But there
are four broad possibilities that provide a useful framework for thinking about
what might happen if the administration wants to reduce force levels.
The first would be for President Donald Trump to reduce force levels in Europe
while removing the same number of troops from the overall size of the US
military. This would probably be the fastest and cheapest way to reduce
America’s military presence on the continent. President Barack Obama took a
similar approach in 2013, when about 10,000 US troops were removed from Europe.
But considering that Trump is seeking a $1.5 trillion defense budget and the US
is involved in a war against Iran, it seems unlikely that he would shrink the
overall military simply to reduce the American presence in Europe.
The second option would be to reduce the number of rotational forces sent from
the US to Europe. But this would create its own challenges. Trump has publicly
expressed support for establishing a new American base in Poland. Because US
forces in Poland are mostly rotational, substantially cutting rotational forces
while potentially expanding the American footprint there could prove difficult.
The third option would be far more expensive and introduce significant
geopolitical shock into the transatlantic community: removing forces permanently
based in Western Europe and bringing them back to the US or possibly relocating
some to Asia.
As policymakers finalize the review, they should remember why American forces
are stationed in Europe in the first place
This would be hugely expensive and time-consuming. It would involve moving not
only service members and equipment but also families and dependents. Communities
receiving these personnel would need adequate housing, schools, medical
facilities and other infrastructure to accommodate an influx that could
potentially number in the tens of thousands. Moving permanently based forces
from Europe to Asia would be even more complicated and expensive. The fourth
option would be to reduce or end some rotations from the US to Europe and
instead use forces already permanently based in Europe to rotate into Central
and Eastern Europe. Instead of a US-based unit deploying to Estonia, a unit
based in Germany could do so, for example. This approach could reduce the total
number of American forces in Europe while maintaining commitments to countries
such as Poland and avoiding the expensive and time-consuming process of
relocating permanently based forces back to the US.
As policymakers finalize the review, they should remember why American forces
are stationed in Europe in the first place. They are not there simply to protect
Europeans but also to advance US national interests. The defense of Europe is a
consequence of America’s military presence but it is not the reason for it.
Forward-deployed forces give policymakers in Washington more options and allow
the US to respond more quickly to global events, especially in regions
surrounding Europe. Just as importantly, the infrastructure and military
footprint America maintains across the continent enables it to project military
power much farther afield.
The recent war against Iran demonstrated this clearly. NATO Secretary-General
Mark Rutte has said that Europe supported between 4,000 and 5,000 US flight
missions during Operation Epic Fury. That scale of operations would have been
far more difficult without the network of bases, infrastructure and access
agreements the US maintains across Europe.
Finally, it makes little strategic sense to examine America’s force posture in
Europe entirely in isolation. When Trump returned to the Oval Office in January
2025, he and his Pentagon announced plans for a broader review of America’s
global military posture. Yet, more than a year and a half later, that broader
review is rarely discussed, while attention has increasingly focused mainly on
Europe. The US is a global power with global interests. Decisions about force
posture in Europe can affect America’s ability to respond to developments in
other regions such as the Middle East. As the Pentagon approaches the end of its
review, America’s allies and partners should therefore be watching closely. Not
only those in Europe but also in Asia and the Middle East. The administration
has made clear that it prioritizes homeland defense and America’s role in the
Western Hemisphere. The decisions made about Europe could therefore provide an
important indication of how the administration intends to balance those
priorities with America’s military commitments elsewhere.
Today the focus may be Europe. Tomorrow it could be somewhere else.
*Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. X: @LukeDCoffey
Selected Face Book & X tweets on September 25/2026