English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News &
Editorials
For September 29/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2026/english.september29.26.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
Jesus reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done,
because they did not repent
Matthew 11/20-24/:”Then Jesus began to reproach the cities in which
most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. ‘Woe to
you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had
been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and
ashes.But I tell you, on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre
and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No,
you will be brought down to Hades. For if the deeds of power done in you had
been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that
on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for
you.’”
Titles For The English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published on September 28-29/2026
A Cheap and Fake Theatrical War of Words Between Hezbollah and Gebran
Bassil/Elias Bejjani/September 28, 2026
The Theatrical Walkout of Cowards: 77 Hypocritical Nations Applaud Terrorism,
Flee the Truth, and Boycott Netanyahu’s Speech/Elias Bejjani/September 26, 2026
President Aoun Frequently Attends Masses
Naim Qassem’s Hallucinations: A Quintessential Trojan Delusion
Deputy Director of State Security Attends Nasrallah Commemoration and Comments
Hezbollah Chief Says Israel Unable to ‘Break’ Group on Anniversary of
Nasrallah’s Killing
Attention Shifts to Lebanon’s Iqlim al-Tuffah amid Israeli Military Moves
Lebanon Says Israeli Army Set off Large Explosion in South
Lebanon Hopes for New Staff-Level Agreement with IMF
Lebanon PM Pushes for Further Implementation of Israel Deal in Rubio Meeting
Israeli army claims it destroyed over 600 infrastructure sites in southern
Lebanon operation
How Hezbollah marked second anniversary of Nasrallah's killing
Report: Israel knew when Nasrallah 'went to sleep' and what he 'liked to eat'
Israeli report: Two years after Nasrallah's death, Hezbollah still trying to
rebuild
Khamenei says Nasrallah 'heroic prince of Arabs' who follows prophets in
greatness
UNESCO Beirut marks International Day for Universal Access to Information 2026
Lebanon boosts transport and family allowances as labor tensions persist
‘What state are you talking about?’ Gemayel hits back at Qassem
Bassil to Hezbollah: Weapons are not greater than homeland
Geagea accuses Hezbollah of enabling Israeli occupation of south Lebanon
French prosecutors seek four-year jail term for Carlos Ghosn in graft case link
Relief, Recovery, and the Art of Waiting...Sovereignty is not a speech./Cathryn
PapadopouloNow Lebanon/September 28/2026
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on September
28-29/2026
Netanyahu meets Emirati leader in
secret weekend trip to Abu Dhabi
Prince Khalid invites UAE vice president to visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday
From October 7 to Iran: What was behind Netanyahu’s Abu Dhabi visit?
US, Iran Separately Talk with Mediators in Latest Bid to End War
Iran Says Filed Complaint to UN Aviation Watchdog over US Flight Restrictions
Iran Has No Plans to Negotiate with US, Says State Media
Iran denies involvement in bomb scare near UK air base used by US
Air Base at the Center of a UK Terror Probe Has Been Used by the US Air Force
during the Iran War
Saudi FM, Rubio Discuss Regional Developments, Yemen
Iraqi Airways resumes flights between Najaf and Iranian airports
Israeli Strikes Kill at Least Two People in Gaza, Officials Say
Yemen: Taiz Fronts Drain Houthis, Target Reinforcements
Dutch FM Regrets Israel's Decision to Revoke Diplomats' Accreditation
Israel Revokes Diplomatic Status of Dutch Diplomats in Ramallah
Hamas Members Struggle to Spend Cash Salaries
Syrian Security Forces Arrest Official Responsible for Torture of Child Hamza
al-Khatib in Daraa
Syria Detains 16 Former Air Force Pilots in Less Than a Month
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says North Korea Prepares to Deploy Another 10,000 Troops to
Russia
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials
from miscellaneous sources published
on September 28-29/2026
Autumn, Martyrs and the ‘Final
Garden’/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ 28 September 2026
What Does the Houthi Expansion Mean for Lebanon?/Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat
newspaper/ 28 September 2026
Trump: But in the End… We’re All Going to Die Anyway/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat
newspaper/ 28 September 2026
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Tells the UN: Reforms Are
Complete. The Evidence Says Otherwise/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone
Institute/September 28, 2026
Variations sur un monde en effritement et ses dépassements/Charles Chartouni/Ici
Beyrouth/September 28/2026
Variations on a crumbling world and how to transcend it/Dr. Charles Chartouni/Ici
Beyrouth/September 28/2026
Shiites in Lebanon – 5/Colonel Charbel Barakat/September 29/2026
America’s Progressives Demand a Multi-Ethnic Israel, Tolerate an Arab Muslim
Palestine/
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/MID.EAST JOURNAL -FROM MIDDLE EAST 24/September 28/2026
Stalemate in the Iran-US conflict: Hardliners, demands, and fragile pause/Dr.
Majid RafizadehAl Arabiya English/28 September ,2026
Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on September 28-29/2026
A Cheap and Fake Theatrical War of Words Between Hezbollah
and Gebran Bassil
Elias Bejjani/September 28, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157883/
Gebran Bassil, who is listed under U.S. OFAC sanctions, and Nawaf
Moussaoui, a member of Hezbollah, exchanged insults and verbal attacks on social
media through a series of accusations, disparaging remarks, and personal
attacks. We note here that this media campaign is a coordinated theatrical
performance between the two sides aimed at boosting Gebran Bassil’s Christian
popularity, which has fallen to very low levels., Bassil is a hypocrite, a
charlatan, an opportunist, and a corrupt politician. He is a product of
Hezbollah, just like the rest of the MPs in his Trojan-style political party.
This type of media deception is well known among party leaders who come to each
other’s aid in order to raise their popularity through verbal campaigns that, in
practical terms, mean nothing, since they are all corrupt and cut from the same
narcissistic cloth.
The Theatrical Walkout of Cowards: 77
Hypocritical Nations Applaud Terrorism, Flee the Truth, and Boycott Netanyahu’s
Speech
Elias Bejjani/September 26, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157859/
What took place in the United Nations General Assembly hall during the speech of
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not so much a political position
as it was a moral and political scandal in every sense of the word.
Seventy-seven countries chose to walk out of the hall in a cheap, submissive,
theatrical, and foolish display. It was a walkout with no value, no weight, and
no impact whatsoever on a single word Netanyahu said. They walked out—but what
changed? Nothing. The speech remained, the facts remained, and Israel continued
fighting in defense of the free world against barbarians, jihadists, and the
foolish left, while these countries continued playing the role of heroes before
their oppressed populations.
These 77 countries are the great hypocrites. They are the very same countries
that deal with Israel both secretly and openly in the fields of science,
military affairs, intelligence, medicine, technology, and security. Most of them
maintain diplomatic, commercial, and security relations with Israel at the
highest levels, including Turkey, which fills the world with anti-Israel
rhetoric while its intelligence services remain closely coordinated with Israel.
In the media, however, they transform into revolutionaries. Like parrots, they
repeat stale and rotten slogans that mean nothing: criminality, killing
children, Zionism, expansionism, occupation, racism. It is an entire dictionary
of falsehoods that they have memorized in order to deceive and anesthetize their
peoples.
The overwhelming majority of these countries are underdeveloped and failed
states. They exploit their peoples, impoverish them, and deprive them of
electricity, water, education, healthcare, freedom, and dignity. Their citizens
dream of enjoying even a quarter of the level of services and per-capita income
available to Israeli citizens. If the gross national product of two-thirds of
the countries that walked out were combined, it would still not equal that of
Israel alone. Yet they walk out in order to lecture the world on morality.
The Arab States That Walked Out: Cheap Populism and Exposed Hypocrisy
Among the 77 countries that walked out were 18 Arab states that participated in
this cheap spectacle: Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania,
Somalia, and the Comoros. What is particularly revolting is that most of these
states either recognize Israel or deal with it behind the scenes, while publicly
delivering hollow populist speeches about Palestine and Palestinian rights. As
for the Lebanese government, its walkout represented the height of populism,
cowardice, and hypocrisy. It claims to seek Lebanon’s liberation and sovereignty
while simultaneously protecting the Iranian jihadist occupation and remaining
silent regarding its illegal weapons that have destroyed the Lebanese state.
What kind of hypocrisy is this? O rulers of Lebanon, practitioners of hypocrisy
and submissiveness, you walk out of the United Nations in protest against
Netanyahu, who is fighting the terrorism that occupies your country, while
remaining silent about the crimes and terrorism of Hezbollah, which occupies
your country and drowns it in destruction, corruption, and bloody jihadism. Your
walkout was not a patriotic position. It was a submissive, sectarian, and
unmistakably Iranian position. It sent a clear message that your government and
your president are nothing more than followers of Hezbollah, obedient to its
orders and directives. Had you been genuine statesmen, you would have remained
in the hall and confronted Netanyahu with arguments and logic. Had you truly
respected Lebanon’s national interest, you would not have boycotted the man who
struck and destroyed the arsenal of your enemy, Israel’s enemy, and humanity’s
enemy—the organization falsely and hypocritically called “Hezbollah.” Instead,
you chose to become part of the herd—the herd of cowards whom Netanyahu
accurately described.
The walkout of these countries did not affect Netanyahu in any way. On the
contrary, it confirmed the accuracy of his description of them as cowards. He
said: “If there is another coward who has not yet left, I advise him to leave
now.” A coward does not confront; he withdraws. And he was right.
From the bottom of my heart, I salute the countries that respected themselves. A
salute to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, which did not walk out. They did
not behave like sheep following the herd. Rather, they respected themselves,
their peoples, and the intelligence of their citizens, while other countries
that recognize Israel and maintain various forms of relations with it preferred
deception, demagoguery, and cheap populism.
Let me say this clearly: Netanyahu is a historic Israeli national hero—a hero in
every sense of the word. Through his determination, strategic vision, and
resolve, Israel and the United States struck Iran’s nuclear reactor and
destroyed the terrorist project of the mullahs that threatened the entire world.
In my view, he is the man who defeated the barbaric and savage forces of
political Islam represented by Hamas, ISIS, and Hezbollah. He worked to
eliminate Hezbollah’s leaders—from Nasrallah to Safieddine and the rest of the
symbols of murder and terrorism—and targeted much of the first and second tiers
of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership.
As a Lebanese Christian, the son of a six-thousand-year-old civilization, I can
do nothing but salute Netanyahu and thank the State of Israel for what it has
done—and continues to do—to help liberate Lebanon from the terrorism,
criminality, Persian domination, and jihadist ideology of Hezbollah. Hezbollah
occupies Lebanon and has transformed it from a civilized country, once known as
the Switzerland of the East, into a destitute, dark, and hungry nation without
electricity, water, or medicine—a failed state on every level. Had it not been
for Israel’s military strikes, Lebanon today would have become a full Iranian
province.
As for Lebanon’s current rulers and much of its political and religious
establishment, they are products of occupation. They are agents and
beneficiaries of successive occupations. They continue promoting the
perpetuation of Hezbollah’s domination, weapons, and mini-state because
Hezbollah’s disappearance would mean their own disappearance as well. They
survive on Iran’s leftovers and on dubious funds, while selling Lebanon’s
sovereignty every day in the marketplace of political servitude. The walkout of
77 countries will not liberate the Palestine they exploit for political gain. It
will not restore electricity to Lebanon, nor will it build a hospital in Yemen,
Sudan, or Syria—countries whose destruction was aided by the very Iran they
applaud.
From a Lebanese perspective, there can be no salvation for Lebanon and no
restoration of its independence and sovereignty without ending the state of war
with Israel, completely dismantling Hezbollah, prosecuting its leaders,
dismantling all of its structures, recognizing Israel, and living in peace.
The author, Elias Bejjani, is a Lebanese expatriate activist
Author’s Email: Phoenicia@hotmail.com
Author’s Website:
https://eliasbejjaninews.com
President Aoun Frequently Attends Masses
LCCC/September 27/2026
President Aoun attended the Mass presided over by Patriarch Al-Rahi at
St. George’s Church in Beirut—an event attended by both officials and the
public—to mark the consecration of the altar dedicated to the Blessed Patriarchs
Estephan Douaihy and Elias Howayek. Al-Rahi’s sermon was typical of this
Patriarch, who lacks true pastoral aptitude.
Naim Qassem’s Hallucinations: A Quintessential Trojan
Delusion
LCCC/September 27/2026
Yes, Qassem delivered a speech marking the second anniversary of Hassan
Nasrallah’s assassination. As usual, it was a bundle of hallucinations,
delusions, and empty bravado, claiming that Lebanon would cease to exist without
the "Resistance."
Deputy Director of State Security Attends Nasrallah
Commemoration and Comments
Janoubia/September 27, 2026 (Translated from Arabic by AI)
Brigadier General Morshed Suleiman, Deputy Director General of State Security,
sparked a reaction after posting a comment on his WhatsApp "Status" feature.
This occurred hours after he attended the commemoration of the late
Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, amidst unofficial reports of a
directive prohibiting military and security agency leaders from participating in
the event. Suleiman wrote: "When one of us strips off his clothes, he is left
naked. That is how we were raised, that is who we are, and that is how we will
die." The comment came hours after his attendance, without making direct
reference to the event or the circular, while the timing of its publication
sparked debate regarding its implications. Conversely, on Sunday evening,
security sources denied to the MTV and LBCI channels that any circular had been
issued instructing heads of security agencies not to participate in the event or
send representatives.
Hezbollah Chief Says Israel Unable to ‘Break’ Group on
Anniversary of Nasrallah’s Killing
Asharq Al Awsat/28 September 2026
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem told supporters gathered in Lebanon on Sunday to
mark two years since the killing of longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah that Israel
had been unable to break his Iran-backed group. The party was weakened after
all-out war with Israel in 2024, but regrouped and drew Lebanon into the Middle
East conflict in March this year by attacking Israel, which responded with
massive airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than
4,300 people. Hezbollah has demonstrated that Israel and its soldiers "were
unable to achieve their goals to break the resistance, end its existence,
consolidate the Israeli occupation and establish settlements in Lebanon", Qassem
said in a televised speech broadcast at the gathering. AFP correspondents saw
tens of thousands of people, some carrying Hezbollah, Lebanese and Iranian flags
or pictures of Nasrallah, rallying for the commemorative event near the slain
leader's tomb in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold that Israel
bombed during conflicts this year and in 2024.Some in the crowd chanted "death
to America, death to Israel". Nasrallah, a leader revered by his supporters but
who headed a group whose armed wing is blacklisted by many Western capitals, was
killed in a massive Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on September
27, 2024. The assassination came during more than two months of all-out war that
pummeled Hezbollah and decimated its top leadership. Nasrallah's chosen
successor Hashem Safieddine, who was also being commemorated on Sunday, was
killed in another strike days after his predecessor.
The latest hostilities have further weakened the group.
- 'Liberate the south' -
Ali Nasser, 30, from Haddatha in south Lebanon, said "this is a historic day.
Every year we commemorate it to renew our pledge" to Nasrallah "that we are
walking along his path".
The former chief "illuminated the path for us and God willing, we'll carry on...
these crowds are proof of our continuation and our loyalty to this pledge", he
added. After a November 2024 ceasefire, Lebanese authorities committed to
disarming Hezbollah and banned the group's military activities after it drew
Lebanon into this year's Middle East war. Violence in Lebanon has decreased
since a fragile ceasefire announced in June after the signing of a US-Iran
understanding on the broader conflict. Lebanon and Israel reached a framework
agreement later that month, under which Hezbollah is supposed to disarm and the
Lebanese military to deploy in so-called pilot zones in south Lebanon as Israel
withdraws. But progress has largely stalled, with Israel warning it will stay
put as long as Hezbollah remains a threat.
"We are ready for dialogue and discussion, but first, liberate the south, and
let the people return," Qassem said. He said that with the framework agreement,
"the authorities are helping the Israeli-US project instead of confronting it".
"All the pressure on Lebanon today aims to accomplish what Israel was unable to
achieve over two years," he said, adding that the Lebanese national army should
not be used as "a tool" against the group.
Israel has kept up its attacks and maintains troops in a self-declared "security
zone" running around 10 kilometers (six miles) inside south Lebanon. Israel's
far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Sunday for the annexation
of areas of south Lebanon under Israeli military control "as far as the Litani
River", which runs about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.
Qassem said holding onto positions "is not the main objective" for his group,
after Israel carried out massive detonations this month to destroy Hezbollah
infrastructure on the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge. "With the great sacrifices
that we have made up until now, we can only keep going, and we cannot be
defeated," Qassem vowed.
Attention Shifts to Lebanon’s Iqlim al-Tuffah amid Israeli
Military Moves
Beirut: Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al Awsat/28 September 2026
Military operations have escalated over the past few hours amid Israeli
discussions regarding a transition to a "new phase" of occupation in southern
Lebanon. Attack helicopters and tanks have been redeployed alongside airstrikes,
artillery fire, and heavy weaponry sweeps.
Amid ongoing airstrikes, demolition operations, and movements on the ground, a
critical question is being raised in Lebanon: Is the Israeli escalation limited
to intensifying military pressure, or is it paving the way for a shift in the
nature of operations and occupation in the South? While the new date for the
Lebanese-Israeli negotiations has not yet been set, the head of the Lebanese
negotiating delegation, Simon Karam, is expected to visit the Vatican, where he
will meet with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Foreign Minister
Paul Richard Gallagher to discuss the negotiation file and the role the Vatican
could play in supporting this path, informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun was in Rome recently where he discussed the
negotiations. On the ground, Israeli attacks continued in the South on Sunday
where an Apache helicopter struck a commercial center on the Shokin-Mayfadoun
road in the Nabatieh region, while heavy machine-gun sweeps targeted the towns
of Beit Yahoun, Serbine, and Wadi Zibqeen. An ambulance crew survived an
airstrike that targeted a building while personnel were in the area conducting a
field inspection following a previous raid, resulting in damage to shops and
residential apartments in the targeted building. An
Israeli Merkava tank also targeted the town of Hadatha with four shells, before
Israeli forces advanced toward a center in the town and set fire to the
location. The Israeli army also demolished a number of houses in the town of
al-Mansouri on Sunday.
The Israeli army announced that it attacked Hezbollah targets in southern
Lebanon, stating that the strikes came in response to the launch of an
explosive-laden drone toward its forces during the past night. Retired general
and military expert Hassan Jouni said the recent Israeli operations could either
be part of routine maneuvers or aimed at finalizing operations in the
al-Mansouri area. This comes as the Israeli army announced it is nearing the
completion of its phase focused on destroying Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the
region.
Consequently, the central question following the conclusion of this phase
focuses on what Israel's next move will be, Jouni told Asharq Al-Awsat.
"According to Israeli sources and official positions, discussions are underway
regarding a redeployment of the army into positions currently under
preparation,” he added. This would consolidate the Israeli military presence and
its defensive positions in the buffer zone and along the borders of the Yellow
Line, he said.
However, Israeli operations, particularly Saturday's targeting of the Jabal
al-Rihan region and its surroundings, Jabal Safi, and Sejod, are troubling
indicators regarding the potential launch of a military offensive in the Iqlim
al-Tuffah region, which lies geographically north of Ali al-Taher, added Jouni.
He explained that "Iqlim al-Tuffah is historically considered one of the last
areas in southern Lebanon to house Hezbollah logistics bases. This raises the
question of whether Israel has decided to continue operations and expand into
this area, and whether Saturday’s actions will pave the way for an escalation or
if the army was consolidating its defensive positions.”
Lebanon Says Israeli Army Set off Large Explosion in
South
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ 28 September 2026
The Israeli military set off a significant explosion in the southern Lebanese
village of al-Mansouri on Monday, Lebanese state media and AFP correspondents
said as Israel said it had completed an operation in the area. "A massive
explosion rocked the town of al-Mansouri in the Tyre district a short while ago.
The explosion was carried out by Israeli occupation forces," Lebanon's state-run
National News Agency reported. "The sound of the explosions was heard in the
city of Tyre and several surrounding villages," the NNA added. AFP
correspondents saw large clouds of smoke emerge from the largely destroyed town
after the loud explosion was heard. The Israeli military said in a statement
that it had completed an operation in al-Mansouri where it dismantled "more than
600 terrorist infrastructure sites" and "eight underground routes". Lebanese
authorities accuse Israel of systematically destroying villages in the south,
including homes, schools, places of worship and water and electricity
infrastructure. The town of al-Mansouri, located around nine kilometers (six
miles) south of Tyre and 10 kilometers north of Israel, and its surroundings
were subjected to several Israeli strikes and to artillery shelling in recent
weeks despite a ceasefire that took hold in June.During the truce, al-Mansouri's
municipality had told residents they could return home but that they should
avoid the parts that came under Israel's self-proclaimed occupied "security
zone". But last month, the Israeli military had ordered al-Mansouri's residents
to evacuate the town before fully occupying it. It has since regularly carried
out demolitions and detonations in the town, which residents in the Tyre region
can clearly see, according to correspondents. Tehran-backed Hezbollah drew
Lebanon into the Middle East war in March this year by attacking Israel to
avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. Israel
responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have
killed more than 4,300 people. Violence has decreased since a fragile ceasefire
announced in June after a US-Iran understanding on the broader war, while
Lebanon and Israel reached a framework agreement later that month. But Israel
has kept up attacks and maintains troops in the occupied "security zone" running
around 10 kilometers (six miles) inside south Lebanon, where it has carried out
widespread demolitions in villages it occupies.
Lebanon Hopes for New Staff-Level Agreement with IMF
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ 28 September 2026
Lebanon hopes for a new staff-level agreement with the International Monetary
Fund, Finance Minister Yassine Jaber has said, adding that a full IMF program
still required Beirut to pass a final law to address losses from its financial
crisis. Lebanon first signed a staff-level agreement with the IMF in April 2022,
more than two years after its financial system imploded following decades of
profligate spending and corruption in the ruling elite. But it was slow to
implement the promised changes. The current government has fast-tracked
reforms, including a bank restructuring law that was welcomed by the IMF in
August.
Jaber was in Washington on Monday to meet with IMF Managing Director Kristalina
Georgieva. In comments published late on Sunday, Jaber said he would tell her it
was imperative to start work on a full IMF program, which would be expected to
involve loans, as Lebanon had worked seriously on financial reforms over the
last 18 months. "Lebanon has accomplished a phase; it passed the banking
restructuring law, which was of course a very important message to the Fund
and to the world that the parliament and the Lebanese government are serious
about reforms," Jaber said in a video released by his ministry.
He said a full-scale agreement with the IMF would have to wait for the passing
of the "financial gap law", legislation intended to distribute the losses from
the 2019 crash. In 2022, the government put the losses at about $70 billion, a
figure that is likely to be higher now. Those losses need to be distributed
between the state, the central bank, commercial banks and depositors, to allow
depositors who have been frozen out of their savings to gradually recover their
money. A source familiar with the process said a staff-level agreement could be
signed as soon as Monday. A second source said it was likely by the end of the
year. A full IMF program in any case takes longer as it requires approval by the
IMF board. The government put forward a financial gap bill last year but it has
yet to be passed. Financial reforms have been repeatedly derailed by political
and private interests over the last seven years.
Lebanon PM Pushes for Further Implementation of Israel Deal
in Rubio Meeting
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ 28 September 2026/September 28/02026
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Monday called for the further
implementation of a framework agreement with Israel in his meeting with US
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington. Tehran-backed Hezbollah drew
Lebanon into the broader Middle East war in March this year by attacking Israel,
which responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says
has killed more than 4,300 people. 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. In a statement, Salam's office said that in his meeting with Rubio, he
"stressed the need to move to the stage of implementation of the tripartite
framework and translation of the principles of reciprocity and phased
implementation into practical steps and tangible results on the ground, leading
to the restoration of Lebanon's full sovereignty, the achievement of a complete
Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, and the confinement of weapons to
the state throughout its territory."In a post on X, Rubio said he reaffirmed
"strong US support as Lebanon implements the Trilateral Framework - the only
path to a durable peace with Israel." "The United States stands with a sovereign
Lebanon, free from Hezbollah and Iranian influence," he added. The agreement
also involves the deployment of the Lebanese army to the south, starting in test
areas known as "pilot zones."Earlier this month, US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel
Issa visited one of the "pilot zones" that recently came under Lebanese military
control "to assess conditions on the ground and see firsthand the progress and
challenges" there. Salam "called for the establishment of a credible
verification mechanism to monitor implementation and ensure compliance with the
commitments" and stressed the importance of continued US support to the Lebanese
military, tasked with the difficult mission of disarming Hezbollah. The group
refuses to lay down its weapons, and Israel still carries out strikes on Lebanon
and occupies a swath of its south despite the agreement. On Monday, Lebanon
reported a large explosion set off by the Israeli army in the southern town of
Mansouri, with the military saying it had completed an operation there and
dismantled "terrorist" infrastructure.
Israeli army claims it destroyed over 600 infrastructure
sites in southern Lebanon operation
LBCI/September 28/02026
Israeli army spokesperson Ella Waweya claimed in a post on X that troops from
the 55th Brigade Combat Team, operating under the 91st Division, had completed
an operation near the village of Mansouri in southern Lebanon. According to
Waweya, the forces operated in what Israel describes as ''its security zone to
eliminate threats to Israel'', destroying more than 600 sites it identified as
''militant infrastructure'' and, in cooperation with the Yahalom unit, eight
underground routes. The troops also discovered dozens of launchers that Waweya
said had been left in the area before the ceasefire agreement took effect.
She said the brigade-level operation near Mansouri was aimed at ''preventing
Hezbollah from reestablishing its presence in the area. During the operation,
Israeli troops discovered and destroyed what the military described as a
Hezbollah underground passage inside a civilian home in the village.'' Waweya
said the Israeli army ''would continue operating to eliminate threats to Israeli
civilians and troops while maintaining its commitment to the ceasefire
agreement.''
How Hezbollah marked second anniversary of Nasrallah's
killing
Agence France Presse/September 28/02026
Hezbollah supporters gathered near the tomb of their late former chief Sayyed
Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday to mark the second anniversary of his killing by
Israel, defiant even as two wars have left the Iran-backed group weakened. AFP
correspondents saw thousands of people, many carrying Hezbollah flags, rallying
for the commemorative event in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold
that Israel bombed during conflicts this year and in 2024. Ali Nasser, 30, from
Hadatha in south Lebanon, said that "this is a historic day. Every year we
commemorate it to renew our pledge" to Nasrallah "that we are walking along his
path". The former chief "illuminated the path for us and God willing, we'll
carry on... these crowds are proof of our continuation and our loyalty to this
pledge", he added. Nasrallah, a charismatic leader revered by his supporters and
condemned abroad as the leader of a group whose armed wing was blacklisted by
many western capitals, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern
suburbs on September 27, 2024 during more than two months of war that pummeled
the group and decimated its top leadership. His chosen successor Hashem
Safieddine, who is also being commemorated on Sunday, was killed in another
strike days later. "This is a sacred occasion for us," said Ibrahim Hijazi, 56,
from Blida in south Lebanon, a border town currently occupied by Israel."We lost
someone dear to us, but thank God, others are here," he said."We are continuing
this path... we will carry on even if we are all to become martyrs," he vowed.At
a commemoration in Baghdad, participants carried portraits of Nasrallah, waved
Iraqi and Iranian flags and raised burning torches. After a November 2024
ceasefire, and with Hezbollah weakened, Lebanese authorities committed to
disarming the militants. Hezbollah has repeatedly refused to disarm. Violence
has decreased since a fragile ceasefire announced in June after a U.S.-Iran
understanding on the broader war, while Lebanon and Israel reached a framework
agreement later that month.Israel has kept up attacks and maintains troops in a
self-declared "security zone" running around 10 kilometers inside south
Lebanon.Under the framework deal, Hezbollah is supposed to disarm and the
Lebanese military to deploy in so-called pilot zones in south Lebanon as Israel
withdraws. Progress has largely stalled, with Israel warning it will stay put as
long as Hezbollah remains a threat.
Report: Israel knew when Nasrallah 'went to sleep' and what
he 'liked to eat'
Naharnet/September 28/02026
Two years after the dramatic assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed
Hassan Nasrallah, new details have emerged from the closed-door deliberations of
the Israeli army’s Intelligence Directorate and the Israeli Air Force. “In the
two years before the strike, this team studied the man to understand his
lifestyle and what he was doing at all times. The investigation went down to the
most intimate and precise details of his daily routine: when he went to sleep,
what he liked to eat, who he usually traveled with. Once you have that amount of
knowledge, there is nothing more powerful,” an Israeli intelligence commander
told Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. “We knew where he was even before Oct.
7, (2023),” the commander said. “This was not a small compound. Eighty-three
tons of bombs were dropped there, primarily because of the challenging
underground layout. It was professional, precise work,” another Israeli
intelligence officer said. “On Oct. 8, Nasrallah felt comfortable because he
understood that Israel’s attention was focused on Gaza. He operated relatively
routinely. He was careful to move covertly, but not as though he were in a
full-scale war,” the officer added. “From the pager operation onward, the
organization understood that it had control over nothing,” the officer said. “It
shook their confidence in everything, from communications devices to people.
They had to relearn everything they had been doing up to that point.”
Despite the severe blow, Nasrallah did not flee. “He had difficulty grasping the
scale of the events and obtaining a complete picture of the situation,” the
Israeli commander explains. “We expected him to move to a new location, but he
remained at the site we knew. We assess that this happened because he misjudged
what was happening on the ground. The location was comfortable and familiar to
him, and he failed to properly analyze the sequence of events. He did not
understand that he needed to leave,” he says. “He froze, perhaps because of a
mistaken assumption. He did not think Israel would go all the way. I think he
categorized the pager attack and the assassinations of senior figures as an
exchange of blows. He did not see that we were escalating it into a war. As a
team, our mission was to push the assassination up through the senior ranks so
they would approve it before he moved, before he realized what was happening,”
the Israeli commander added.The degree of intelligence control in those days was
comprehensive. “We had no blind spots when it came to him. We knew where he was
every minute,” the commander says.When new intelligence emerged that could have
prompted Nasrallah to flee, the team approached decision-makers and pressed hard
for the strike to be carried out. The Israeli commander recalls the critical
hours at the Kirya, the Israeli army’s Tel Aviv headquarters: “The main thing we
felt was that we were in the best possible situation. Both in terms of the
nature of the collateral damage and the target location, it was optimal. Any
change could have worked against us because we did not know where his next
location would be.”“We were very aggressive with the senior officers. We made
sure it reached the prime minister so that the right decision could be made,” he
added. When it came to collateral damage, decision-makers allegedly demanded
maximum precision even during the planning approval stages. “I’ll say candidly
that the question of collateral damage was always part of the plan-approval
process, even though Nasrallah was such a senior figure,” the Israeli commander
claimed. “For an intelligence assessment of collateral damage, you are required
to provide substantiated information on how many people are in every room, in
every home in the building,” he said. “We provided the answer, and in the end
the damage was far lower than we had estimated. In practice, the collateral
damage from the entire strike was 30 uninvolved civilians. If you compare the
collateral damage with the number of Hezbollah operatives killed alongside
Nasrallah, it comes out to one-to-one,” the commander said. “There was nothing
disproportionate about it. It is important to note that one of the things that
helped was that once we began striking Beirut, many families left,” he added.
According to the other intelligence officer, the assassination of the Hezbollah
leader marked the decisive turning point in the war on the Lebanese front. “The
organization — and this is already well known and clear — is not the same
without Nasrallah,” he says. “Hezbollah is not even close to the capabilities it
had on Oct. 8. Its force-building capabilities no longer exist and its ability
to exert influence has been dramatically damaged. It is an ostracized
organization,” he claims. He added: “Any leader who sets out to destroy the
State of Israel — we will come after him. Naim Qassem, Nasrallah’s successor,
understood that nothing is safe. You can see it in him. You can see it in
Khamenei’s son as well. His turn will come too.”
Israeli report: Two years after Nasrallah's death, Hezbollah still trying to
rebuild
Naharnet/September 28/02026
Two years after Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,
the group he shaped for decades is “still struggling to rebuild its command
structure, military capabilities, and strategic standing following a campaign
that systematically dismantled the network around him,” an Israeli media report
said. “On September 27, 2024, Nasrallah made one final choice. According to
people intimately familiar with his routine and the security arrangements around
him, he had safer places he could have gone that day. Nevertheless, he descended
into an underground compound in Beirut's Dahiyeh neighborhood, beneath a
multi-story residential building,” Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post
reported. “Two years later, the organization is still trying to fill the vacuum
he left behind … But to understand why Hezbollah is still struggling to regain
its footing two years after Nasrallah's assassination, it is necessary to return
not only to the bunker where his life ended, but also to the months during which
Israel dismantled, almost layer by layer, the system on which he relied,” the
daily added. In an extensive investigation published by the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat,
Lebanese sources and Shiite clerics described how Israeli assassinations began
isolating Nasrallah long before Israel reached him personally. One cleric put it
in simple terms: Every time Israel assassinated a field commander, Nasrallah
"lost an eye that helped him see clearly." “Sami Taleb Abdullah, Ibrahim Aqil,
Wissam al-Tawil, and other commanders were more than names on an organizational
chart. Each held an entire world of knowledge: weapons depots, connections on
the ground, methods of operation, movement routes, operational plans, and
personal relationships built over years,” The Jerusalem Post said. The
compartmentalization that had been one of Hezbollah's primary defensive
mechanisms became a weakness during the war. According to the Lebanese sources
who spoke to Asharq al-Awsat, when a commander was assassinated, his replacement
did not necessarily receive all the information the commander had possessed.
Sometimes, the network he had built disappeared along with him. At one point,
one cleric said, Israeli drones circling above Hezbollah units knew more about
those units than the newly appointed commanders responsible for leading them.
The cumulative losses also penetrated Hezbollah's operations rooms. Lebanese
sources described chaos, improvised decision-making, and a sense that the
organization was operating out of panic and suspicion rather than through an
orderly chain of command. “Nasrallah nevertheless continued to believe in the
old rules of the game,” The Jerusalem Post said. Lebanese journalist Ali al-Amin
told Asharq al-Awsat that the Hezbollah leader remained convinced that the
organization possessed enough deterrent power to prevent Israel from launching a
broad war. Even when field commanders urged him to move to all-out war after
watching Israel hunt their colleagues one by one, Nasrallah refused.
He chose defense. But that defensive perimeter was steadily closing in around
him.
According to the accounts, Nasrallah first began to suspect that Israeli
penetration was far deeper than he had believed in January 2024, following the
assassination of Saleh al-Arouri and, later, Tawil. He had not expected either
assassination. Afterward, Lebanese sources said, Nasrallah fell silent.
Hezbollah began examining its communications networks and searching for the
breach. As the assassinations continued, suspicion grew, and the organization
increasingly turned inward, The Jerusalem Post said. An Israeli colonel told the
daily that Israeli intelligence agencies "followed Nasrallah for a very long
time.""We knew his apartments, his wife's home, his emergency locations, and the
places where he hid." According to the officer, there were periods when
Nasrallah did not live underground at all. At times, he stayed in a penthouse on
the eighth floor of a residential building in Dahiyeh, where a special elevator
let him quickly reach a protected space.For those planning his assassination,
the officer said, that did not make much difference. "In every bunker he
entered, we would have killed him. We had relevant attack plans for every
building and every bunker."On the day he was killed, the officer said, Nasrallah
had more heavily protected options available to him. Nevertheless, he chose to
go to the compound where he was assassinated, the officer added. As for
Nasrallah’s succession, the Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli defense as saying that
"Nasrallah's shoes are several sizes too big for (current leader Sheikh) Naim
Qassem's feet." According to them, he has been unable to restore Hezbollah to
the strength it possessed on the eve of the 2024 war. Hezbollah lost almost all
of its senior security and political leadership during the war. Among the
prominent figures were Fouad Shukur and Haytham Ali Tabatabaei. “The
organization's command-and-control systems were damaged from the highest
leadership levels down to the tactical ranks, and Israeli assessments hold that
between one-third and one-half of Hezbollah's operational manpower was hit and
put out of action,” The Jerusalem Post said. “Qassem remains a senior target in
his own right, but he now leads an organization forced to rebuild far more than
its chain of command,” it added. “The damage Hezbollah faces is no longer only
military. The organization is also going through a period when the political
framework around it is weakening,” the newspaper said. It added that Hezbollah
“finds itself militarily weaker, more exposed to intelligence penetration, under
greater political pressure, and less certain of the Iranian backing it had taken
almost for granted for years.”
That is also why Israeli officials assess that Hezbollah currently has no
interest in risking an all-out war.
Khamenei says Nasrallah 'heroic prince of Arabs' who
follows prophets in greatness
Naharnet/September 28/02026
Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has described slain Hezbollah chief
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as the "heroic prince of the Arabs and the great symbol
of the Resistance Front," in a letter marking two years since his killing at
Israel’s hand. “His speeches and initiatives strengthened the hearts of his
people and the free people of the world," Khamenei said. "Nasrallah was,
throughout the history of the Levant up until today, and after the prophets and
their successors, a man unmatched in greatness in that ancient land," the
Iranian leader added. He emphasized that Nasrallah's "banner" is today held
safely in the hands of Hezbollah's current Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem,
who he said continues to follow his path with courage at the forefront of what
he described as the "firm and Ashoura-inspired ranks of Hezbollah."Khamenei
considered that "the phase Lebanon is currently going through will be recorded
in the balance of history as 'prominent and glorious' days for Lebanon and the
resistance fighters,” contrasting with days that he said will bring humiliation
and end in disgrace for those who pin their hopes on what he described as the
“false promises of the hegemons.”"The leaders and fighters of the resistance
will continue to shine through time like bright stars, serving as guides for
those who are lost, searching for the way, and caught in confusion," Khamenei
suggested. Conversely, he said that Hezbollah’s domestic rivals will be “quickly
buried and forgotten from the very first pages turned by history,” and that
their memory in the future will be, in his words, associated with "evil,
mismanagement, and perhaps treason as well."
UNESCO Beirut marks International Day for Universal
Access to Information 2026
Naharnet/September 28/02026
On the occasion of the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI)
2026, UNESCO Regional Office in Beirut convened stakeholders from government,
civil society, academia, media, youth and the technology sector to explore the
role of access to information in strengthening information integrity in
Lebanon’s increasingly digital information environment. Held under the patronage
and presence of H.E. Dr. Paul Morcos, Minister of Information of Lebanon, the
event explored this year’s global theme, “Upholding Information Integrity in the
Digital Age: The Role of Access to Information in Addressing Information
Disorder.”Minister of Information H.E. Dr. Paul Morcos said: “The real challenge
lies not only in legal provisions, but in turning the right to access
information into a daily practice and a tangible reality. This is where the role
of the Ministry of Information, in partnership with UNESCO, and the role of the
National Anti-Corruption Commission come in: to translate this right into
practice, not limited to making information available, but also contributing to
building bridges between the State and citizens, between media institutions and
the public, and between people and the knowledge that enables them to form
informed views and make informed decisions.”He added: “This includes ensuring
timely access to information, facilitating journalists’ access to information,
promoting fact-checking and addressing hate speech, contributing to a more
transparent and responsible media environment and to a society better able to
access and benefit from reliable knowledge.”George Awad, Communication and
Information Programme officer in his word on behalf of Mr. Paolo Fontani,
Director of UNESCO Regional office in Beirut said “Access to information is not
merely an administrative matter. It is closely linked to freedom of expression,
transparency, accountability, participation and the right to know. When public
information is available, timely, understandable and verifiable, citizens are
better able to participate in public life and hold institutions to account. When
access to information is difficult, delayed, fragmented or absent, an
information gap emerges. And because information gaps do not remain empty for
long, they are quickly filled by rumours, speculation, misleading and
manipulated content. During the first session, “Access to Information as the
Foundation of Information Integrity,” experts shared their experiences and
perspectives on the challenges of accessing, producing and verifying information
in the Lebanese context, particularly in times of crisis. They also discussed
the importance of transparency, proactive disclosure and access to public
information in strengthening public trust and addressing the spread of
misinformation and disinformation. The second session, “Building Information
Resilience through Media and Information Literacy,” focused on the role of Media
and Information Literacy and digital literacy in enabling people, particularly
young people, to access, verify and critically assess information. Speakers also
reflected on the changing information environment shaped by social media,
digital platforms and artificial intelligence, and the importance of developing
the skills needed to navigate information responsibly, particularly during times
of crisis. The discussions underscored that strengthening information integrity
requires collaboration across sectors and shared responsibility. By bringing
different voices and experiences together around a shared commitment to
accurate, credible and verified information, UNESCO continues to work with the
Ministry of Information and partners in Lebanon to strengthen access to
information, Media and Information Literacy and Freedom of Expression, and
foster more informed, resilient and inclusive information ecosystems.
Lebanon boosts transport and family allowances as labor
tensions persist
LBCI/September 28/02026
Indications are positive, but no decision has yet been issued to postpone a
planned street protest by transport unions on Wednesday, as talks continue over
workers' demands and measures to address rising living costs. The Index
Committee approved an increase in the transportation allowance for
private-sector workers based on the cost of five liters of gasoline per day,
equivalent to one 20-liter can every four days. Under the new proposal, the
daily transportation allowance would range between a maximum of LBP 800,000 and
a minimum of LBP 500,000. A second positive step was an increase in family
allowances paid by Lebanon’s Social Security Fund. With the latest increase, the
value of the allowances would reach 86% of their pre-crisis level in October
2019. An agreement has not yet been reached on raising the minimum wage;
however, discussions are expected to continue. While employers and workers
remain divided over the issue, both sides have agreed on one question: the role
of the state in addressing the situation. The Index Committee meeting also
failed to resolve the demand of taxi drivers for financial compensation to
offset rising fuel prices while maintaining a fixed transportation fare.
Discussions on the issue are expected to continue in the coming hours with the
Finance Ministry to determine how the funds can be secured. The Cabinet approved
the compensation in February, and the ministerial emergency committee reaffirmed
it Friday at LBP 12 million per month for each eligible driver. The positive
measures and immediate solutions being discussed come against the backdrop of
efforts to prevent street protests while addressing some of workers’ demands.
But they do not necessarily signal an end to the broader dispute, instead
potentially postponing the underlying problem and the tensions surrounding it.
‘What state are you talking about?’ Gemayel hits back at
Qassem
LBCI/September 28/02026
Kataeb Party leader Samy Gemayel said Lebanese people are once again feeling
that the Lebanese state has returned to taking responsibility for them after 35
years, describing this as a new development and saying the party supports
President Joseph Aoun and the government amid difficult circumstances. Speaking
at Baabda Palace after meeting with Aoun, Gemayel said the president has “a
tremendous capacity to endure,” adding that he had shared his views on the
current situation with Aoun and was confident that the president “knows what he
is doing.”
Responding to Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem, Gemayel said: “What state are
you talking about? We regained the state yesterday.”He added that those now
criticizing the state had been the ones in control of it for 35 years. “We want
Israel to withdraw, and the Lebanese people and the state should decide whether
they want confrontation or not. Sheikh Naim Qassem is not the one who decides
that,” he added.
Bassil to Hezbollah: Weapons are not greater than homeland
Naharnet/September 28/02026
Free Patriotic Movement chief Gebran Bassil has noted that the Lebanese people
had “embraced” Hezbollah’s armed struggle against Israel because it “liberated
the land and defended the nation against those who aggressed upon it.”“However,
they will not embrace Hezbollah if it forces political choices upon the State
and its citizens that they do not want. It is of no use to win a military or
political battle only to lose the idea of Lebanon -- the idea of equal
partnership within it,” said Bassil in an op-ed commemorating slain Hezbollah
chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that he published in al-Akhbar newspaper. “There
is a huge difference between Lebanon supporting the Resistance, and the
Resistance becoming a substitute for Lebanon,” Bassil pointed out. “They want
the Resistance and its weapons first, second, and third, and only after that
comes the State,” Bassil lamented. He warned that “weapons alone cannot protect
a sect forever, especially in the face of an entity like Israel.”“What protects
us all is the State,” he emphasized. Bassil added: “If these weapons come to be
seen by the Lebanese as a tool of domination over them to impose unwanted
choices, they transform into a project against the State and become a source of
internal fear before being a deterrent to external foes. And if these weapons
become a source of danger to the homeland -- without being able to protect it or
deter enemies from attacking it --they become the very root of panic for the
Lebanese, rather than reassuring them and providing their security.”Addressing
Nasrallah’s “comrades” in Hezbollah, Bassil said: “Do not lose your compass or
your objective. The game of regional axes may cost you yourselves and the
internal front. Do not allow Lebanon to be an arena for others; leave it as a
space for its own people.”“Weapons are not greater than the homeland. Take care
not to lose both. Lebanon needs you and all of us; there is no national unity
without you, and Lebanon has no meaning in the absence of your component,”
Bassil added, addressing Hezbollah’s officials.
Geagea accuses Hezbollah of enabling Israeli occupation of south Lebanon
Agence France Presse/September 28/02026
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea lashed out Monday at Hezbollah chief Sheikh
Naim Qassem, accusing him of bringing about the Israeli occupation of south
Lebanon, after Qassem criticized the framework agreement with Israel. Qassem on
Sunday told supporters gathered in Dahieh to mark two years since the killing of
longtime leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that with the framework agreement, "the
authorities are helping the Israeli-U.S. project instead of confronting it".
"The Lebanese state is the one supposed to confront Israel — provided you step
out of the way and give it the chance to," Geagea said. "However, it will not be
able to do anything if you keep obstructing and undermining its efforts to
reclaim the land. In reality, the very party helping the Israeli project is
yours."Geagea said Hezbollah has for decades violated the Constitution and the
Taif Agreement — "by hijacking the state’s decision-making power and
manipulating it according to your own whims, contrary to the interests of the
Lebanese people and the Lebanese state".After a November 2024 ceasefire,
Lebanese authorities committed to disarming Hezbollah, and later banned the
group's military activities. "All the pressure on Lebanon today aims to
accomplish what Israel was unable to achieve over two years," Qassem said,
adding that the Lebanese national army should not be used as "a tool" against
the group. Violence in Lebanon has decreased since a fragile ceasefire announced
in June after the signing of a U.S.-Iran understanding on the broader conflict.
Lebanon and Israel reached the framework agreement later that month, under which
Hezbollah is supposed to disarm and the Lebanese military to deploy in so-called
pilot zones in south Lebanon as Israel withdraws. But progress has largely
stalled, with Israel warning it will stay put as long as Hezbollah remains a
threat. Israel has kept up its attacks and maintains troops in a self-declared
"security zone" running around 10 kilometers inside south Lebanon. Israel's
far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Sunday for the annexation
of areas of south Lebanon under Israeli military control "as far as the Litani
River", which runs about 30 kilometers from the Israeli border. Qassem said
holding onto positions "is not the main objective" for his group, after Israel
carried out massive detonations this month to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure
on the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge. "We are ready for dialogue and discussion,
but first, liberate the south, and let the people return," Qassem said. Geagea
responded that it will not be possible to liberate the land and let the people
return before Hezbollah is disarmed. He argued that Lebanon on its own cannot
expel Israel and undertake reconstruction; it needs its friends, including Saudi
Arabia, the Gulf states, European countries, and the United States. "Yet those
countries are not willing to help" unless Hezbollah is disarmed, he said. "Your
resistance achieved the exact opposite of what you claim. You brought about the
Israeli occupation of the South. Refusing to surrender is not achieved by
handing Israel, the international community, and Lebanon’s friends every
possible excuse to keep Israel inside Lebanon. True resistance lies in uniting
Lebanon’s allies around it and building a real state that works to expel Israel
from its land". Qassem said Israel had been unable to break Hezbollah. "With the
great sacrifices that we have made up until now, we can only keep going, and we
cannot be defeated," he vowed.
French prosecutors seek four-year jail term for Carlos Ghosn in graft case link
Agence France Presse/September 28/02026
France prosecutors on Monday sought two years with an electronic tag and a
five-year ban on public office for ex-culture minister Rachida Dati in a trial
on corruption charges linked to dealings with the Renault-Nissan group. They
sought a four-year jail term for Carlos Ghosn, the fugitive former
Renault-Nissan chief now living in Lebanon, who is being tried in absentia as
part of the same trial in Paris. The decision is expected to be announced in
several months’ time. One of the most prominent figures on the French right,
Dati, 60, resigned as culture minister in February to concentrate on the Paris
mayoral race in March but suffered a bruising defeat. Socialist Emmanuel
Gregoire won city hall but Dati remains mayor of the capital’s wealthy seventh
district. She stands charged with corruption and influence peddling over alleged
lobbying for Renault-Nissan between October 2009 and February 2013 while she was
a member of the European Parliament. She became an MEP after serving as justice
minister between 2007 and 2009 under right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy. She
has been accused of accepting 900,000 euros (around $1.0 million) in lawyers’
fees from a Netherlands-based subsidiary of Renault-Nissan.
Relief, Recovery, and the Art of Waiting...Sovereignty is not a speech.
Cathryn PapadopouloNow Lebanon/September 28/2026
Is sovereignty a speech at the United Nations, or a calendar, a budget and a
monopoly on arms? This week, at the 81st General Assembly in New York, Prime
Minister Nawaf Salam said, “The Lebanon that stands before you today does not
evade its responsibilities and does not ask others to do what it has to do.” He
met Secretary-General Guterres and the heads of the UN’s humanitarian agencies,
while Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi joined a ministerial meeting on
safeguarding UNRWA. As Salam spoke, an Israeli explosion shook Taybeh and Deir
Siryan. Earlier this month, Hezbollah’s Naim Qassem set out another Lebanon when
he said, “There is no military parity at all with the enemy, but we must resist
whatever the price.” And a bus left Chtaura carrying about 100 Syrians home. Is
sovereignty a speech at the United Nations, or a calendar, a budget and a
monopoly on arms?Salam then set out a bargain. “We shoulder our responsibility
for reform and for extending state authority over all our territory. But we have
the right to ask the international community to shoulder, in turn, its
responsibilities.” It is a fair bargain, and one that can be measured on both
sides in money, buses and weapons.
Donors have paid about half of what the UN asked for. The UN’s Flash Appeal for
the war sought $639.9 million. By mid-August it was roughly 48 percent funded,
and that money was stretched across 1.4 million people, vulnerable Lebanese,
Syrians, Palestinians and migrants, across sectors for food, health, shelter and
schooling. Nearly half a million people received general cash assistance by late
April, but by mid-June shelter partners had given just 652 families $250 each
for housing. Meanwhile, 134,800 displaced people crowded into 642 collective
shelters, most of them schools. Alongside the appeal runs the regular $1.62
billion response plan for 1.5 million people, plus a $385.9 million addendum
through December. How much of all this reaches the south? The published figures
track donors, agencies and sectors, not governorates. So who is meeting their
commitments? And who is tracking them?
The return of Syrians is the one file the state fully owns, with its own
committee and its own cabinet decision. By January, UNHCR counted some 552,000
Syrians who had gone home from Lebanon since the fall of Assad. Nine in ten went
on their own. The official program is another story. Led by Deputy Prime
Minister Tarek Mitri’s committee, it is run by General Security, UNHCR and the
International Organization for Migration. Its first convoy, in July 2025, was
three buses carrying 71 people, against a target of 200,000 to 400,000. Fourteen
months later, the convoy from Chtaura was three buses and about 100 people. No
one has yet published a return calendar, and the state and the UN cannot agree
on how many Syrians remain. The UN said about one million in December, while the
government says about 1.5 million. Half a million people unaccounted for is a
scandal in itself. A state that cannot count who lives on its territory, or run
its own buses, is not yet exercising sovereignty.
No weapons handed over, no serious money to rebuild the south. The state must
disarm. That is the job Salam told the world Lebanon will not hand to others.
The war may explain the delay, but nothing explains the silence on where phase
two stands.
UNIFIL’s mandate ends on December 31, and no one can move that date. Lebanon
asked for six more months, but New York has not granted them. Salam asked the
Assembly to “avert the vacuum” that a withdrawal without a successor would
leave. The request comes with barely three months left, and Lebanon’s answer for
the south is still to ask others to do its job. And the weapons. On August 5,
2025, cabinet ordered a state monopoly on arms, starting south of the Litani by
the end of the year. On January 8, the army declared that phase complete, except
where Israel still occupies. Less than two months later, Hezbollah took Lebanon
to war, again, anyway. A monopoly declared in a statement is not a monopoly. In
February, cabinet gave phase two, between the Litani and the Awali, four months,
extendable to eight. The outer limit falls in October. In June, Beirut signed a
US-brokered framework tying Israeli withdrawal to Hezbollah’s disarmament. Its
implementation has stalled, and Qassem wants it scrapped. The donors’ deal is
unwritten, but everyone knows it. No weapons handed over, no serious money to
rebuild the south. The state must disarm. That is the job Salam told the world
Lebanon will not hand to others. The war may explain the delay, but nothing
explains the silence on where phase two stands. The deadlines are piling up.
Disarming the Palestinian camps started two months late, an appeal closed
half-funded in August, 2026 was supposed to close the Syrian file, phase two’s
outer limit falls in October, and the UN force leaves on December 31. The
bargain Salam offered in New York can still be kept, but only if both sides come
clean on the numbers. The government should publish where every file and every
phase stands, and keep publishing. The Ministry of Social Affairs and OCHA
should show what was received and spent, governorate by governorate. Mitri’s
committee, with UNHCR and IOM, should publish a return calendar and one agreed
count. Donors should fund what was asked before convening another conference.
And the Security Council should name a successor to UNIFIL, or say clearly that
there will be none.Until then, the measure of Lebanon’s sovereignty is three
buses leaving Chtaura, and families still sleeping in schools.
*Cathryn Papadopoulo is the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and The Diaspora, in
Lebanon’s National Liberal Party, called Ahrar.
The views in this story reflect those of the author alone and do not necessarily
reflect the beliefs of NOW.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on September 28-29/2026
Netanyahu meets Emirati leader in secret weekend trip to
Abu Dhabi
Associated Press/28 September 2026
Benjamin Netanyahu traveled secretly to the United Arab Emirates over the
weekend to ask its leader to deny reports he'd warned the Israeli prime minister
about a looming Hamas threat ahead of the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7,
2023 attack on southern Israel. The meeting between Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohamed
bin Zayed Al Nahyan took place on Sunday, two people who were briefed on the
Israeli leader's trip confirmed on Monday. Meanwhile, the European Union's top
diplomat Kaja Kallas said the bloc is applying for observer status in a
Saudi-led maritime defense coalition formed to protect the kingdom's energy
exports. The EU already has six vessels deployed to the Red Sea to protect
shipping. The Israeli prime minister held an hourlong meeting with the UAE’s
president on Sunday, according to two people briefed on Netanyahu's trip, which
was first reported by Israel’s Channel 12 TV station. One of them said the talks
focused on a report published by the Israeli daily Haaretz earlier this month
that said the Emirati leader warned Netanyahu about a looming attack by Hamas
just ahead of Oct. 7, 2023. Netanyahu asked Sheikh Mohamed to deny the report,
according to a person said to have firsthand information about the meeting.
Netanyahu’s office had previously denied the Haaretz report. The person, along
with a regional official briefed on the meeting, spoke on condition of anonymity
to discuss the secret trip. The UAE’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on
reports about the meeting but stressed it maintains “open and direct lines of
communication” with Israel and shares “all relevant intelligence.”There was no
immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.
Prince Khalid invites UAE vice president to visit Saudi
Arabia on Tuesday
Al Arabiya English/28 September ,2026
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman has invited UAE Vice President
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed to visit the Kingdom on Tuesday.The Emirates News
Agency (WAM) said Sheikh Mansour would travel to Saudi Arabia in a “fraternal
visit” upon the extended invitation.
Over the weekend, the Saudi and Emirati media ministers posted similar messages
to X, speaking of Gulf unity. “Visions and positions may vary, but our ties
remain deeper, our Gulf cohesion stronger, our destiny one, and our
responsibility in the media is to preserve these ties,” Saudi Media Minister
Salman al-Dosary said.
From October 7 to Iran: What was behind Netanyahu’s Abu
Dhabi visit?
LBCI/28 September 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent four hours meeting with UAE
President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, reportedly seeking to persuade
Abu Dhabi to issue a statement denying or downplaying reports that the UAE
leader had personally warned him of a major Hamas operation against Israel
before the October 7 attack. According to reports from Israel, Netanyahu exerted
considerable pressure to secure the meeting, including proposing future security
cooperation between the two countries. Shortly before Netanyahu's plane was due
to depart the United States for the UAE, he reportedly received a call informing
him that the visit had been canceled because the UAE president was out of the
country. However, the meeting eventually went ahead following further pressure
from Netanyahu. The UAE's response to his request remains pending. Any decision
could have implications for Netanyahu ahead of Israel's elections, as his
polling numbers have declined sharply since reports emerged alleging that he had
prior knowledge of the October 7 attack. Beyond the controversy, the Abu Dhabi
talks addressed the situation in Gaza and the UAE's efforts to secure a
resolution, as well as developments involving Iran. According to sources
familiar with the discussions, the UAE told Israel it wanted to avoid further
escalation and another war involving Iran. Sources familiar with the
negotiations said it remains unclear whether Abu Dhabi will agree to Netanyahu's
request, as the UAE president does not want to become involved in Israel's
election campaign.
US, Iran Separately Talk with Mediators in Latest Bid to End War
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/28 September 2026
US and Iranian officials spoke separately with mediators on Monday as part of a
renewed effort to end seven months of war, according to officials of both
countries. Any further talks are expected to focus on an amended version of a
seven-day proposal that Iran presented last week on the sidelines of the United
Nations General Assembly, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.
The war began in late February with US and Israeli attacks on Iran, killing
thousands of people over seven months and shocking global markets as vital
waterways for oil remained choked. The US and Iran have twice previously agreed
to ceasefires in mediated peace talks, in April and June. Those agreements
quickly unraveled. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who remained in New
York after attending the General Assembly, said Iran expected to receive the US
response to its latest ceasefire proposals and its conditions for restoring
passage of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, according to state news
agency IRNA. "If the Americans claim they are seeking an agreement or a
peaceful solution, we have presented that solution," Araqchi said. US officials
separately spoke with mediators on Monday, US President Donald Trump told
reporters at the White House, without giving further details.
TRUMP HAS FLAGGED FURTHER TALKS THIS WEEK
Iran's seven-day plan envisages an end to all hostilities in Iran and Lebanon,
the unfreezing of billions of dollars' worth of Iranian assets, an end to
sanctions on Iranian oil and the lifting of the US blockade on Iranian ports.
Iran would then allow the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit for
oil tankers, and the two sides would also resume talks on Iran's nuclear
program and Trump's wish to seize or eliminate its highly enriched uranium.Trump
said on Saturday he had rejected Iran's proposal, saying Iran wanted a swift
agreement because of the crippling economic pressure it is under. However, he
also told Axios on Sunday that he expected US negotiators to engage in further
talks this week. Araghchi said on Sunday that mediators had not formally
conveyed a US rejection, and that Iran was awaiting Washington's definitive
position before deciding its next steps.
"Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is
contingent on these conditions being met," he said on Sunday, adding that only a
negotiated solution could resolve the impasse.
Iran Says Filed Complaint to UN Aviation Watchdog over US Flight
Restrictions
Asharq Al Awsat/28 September 2026
The head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization on Monday said the body has filed
a complaint to the United Nations aviation agency against the United States for
imposing restrictions targeting the country's airlines. "To defend the
legitimate rights of the aviation industry and counter illegal restrictions
imposed by America, Iran has drafted and submitted a formal protest to the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)," said Iran's civil aviation
chief Abouzar Shiroudi, according to state news agency IRNA.
Iran Has No Plans to Negotiate with US, Says State Media
Asharq Al Awsat/28 September 2026
State media in Iran on Monday reported that Iran's delegation to the UN General
Assembly had no talks planned with the United States, after US President Donald
Trump said he expected more negotiations. "Iran's delegation in New York has no
plans for negotiations with the United States," said the official IRNA news
agency, citing an unnamed source close to the group. Trump told media outlet
Axios on Sunday that he expected talks to resume soon, a day after he rejected a
proposal by Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days, said AFP.
"Iran's views and positions were conveyed clearly and explicitly to the US
side... via a Qatari mediator," IRNA said, adding that the Iranian delegation
would return to Tehran on Tuesday. Iran says it presented seven conditions for
ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through
which roughly 20 percent of the world's oil and gas flowed before the war. The
strait lies at the heart of the conflict that began with US-Israeli strikes on
Iran in February. Following that attack, Tehran placed a chokehold on the
waterway, and Washington responded with a blockade of Iranian ports. Axios said
indirect talks mediated by Qatar could take place as early as Monday, less than
a week after similar discussions between US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared
Kushner and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Iran demands a seven-day
ceasefire across the Middle East, including in Lebanon, where its ally Hezbollah
is regularly bombarded by Israel. It also demands the unfreezing of its foreign
assets, lifting sanctions on its oil sector, and an end to the US naval
blockade. Trump rejected their demands on Saturday.
But fighting has once again slowed as the US has not struck Iran since September
1, although vessels have regularly been struck in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran will have ‘nothing left to trade’ within two weeks as oil lifeline dries
up: Bessent
Ghinwa Obeid - Al Arabiya English/28 September ,2026
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expected Iran to complete its
remaining oil shipments to China within two weeks, leaving Tehran with “nothing
left to trade for anything” amid an intense economic pressure campaign against
the country. Speaking in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Bessent said only
about 15 million barrels of Iranian oil remain out for delivery with the ongoing
blockade. He said that this was evidence that Operation Economic Outcast has
left Tehran economically isolated.“They will have nothing to trade for anything,
probably within the next two weeks. They are going to make their final
deliveries of oil to China, and then they will have nothing,” Bessent said. He
said he believed Iran was “feeling the pressure,” leading to its renewed
interest in striking a deal while also noting that Strait of Hormuz was already
open. “We’re averaging now 15 to 22 million barrels a day. It was at about 20
pre-conflict . . . So think of it this way, Larry,” he said. “The score is the
United States, one billion — more than one billion barrels have gotten out —
Iran, zero.”
The point of Operation Economic Outcast is to ensure that Iran adheres to the
terms of a potential future deal, Bessent added. “They are isolated from the
world. They’re a pariah state. And my job is to make sure that, when they come
with a deal, that they want to stick to it,” Bessent underscored. “They did not
stick to the MOU [Memorandum of Understanding]. And, next time, if there is a
deal — that’s at President Trump’s discretion — that they will stick to it,
because they are on their knees
Iran denies involvement in bomb scare near UK air base used
by US
Al Arabiya English/28 September ,2026
Iran’s embassy in London said Monday it “categorically rejects and strongly
condemns” speculation that Tehran was involved in a bomb scare near a UK
military air base used by the United States.In an X post, the embassy criticized
“the recent unfounded and malicious speculations published by some British
individuals and media outlets attempting to link Iran” to the incident early
Sunday near the Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford base.Five men, all British
nationals in their mid-20s, were arrested on suspicion of explosives and
terrorism offenses after police were alerted to three white vans traveling
toward the air base. UK counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation.
Bomb disposal specialists were called to examine the vehicles and authorities
evacuated around 85 nearby households as a precaution. RAF Fairford, in
Gloucestershire in southwest England, hosts US military aircraft and has been
used by US bombers to carry out strikes against Iran during the ongoing
war.British authorities have not publicly established a motive or identified any
connection between the suspects and Iran. Officials said the investigation
remained at an early stage.US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the
suspects had been seeking to cause “big damage” and that British and US
authorities had been investigating them.
Air Base at the Center of a UK Terror Probe Has Been Used by the US Air Force
during the Iran War
Asharq Al Awsat/28 September 2026
British police arrested five men on Sunday on suspicion of preparing an act of
terrorism and explosives offenses outside RAF Fairford, a military base in
western England that’s operated by the US Air Force. Three suspicious vehicles
are being searched, and counterterror officers are leading the investigation.
Here’s what to know about the base. Fairford is a base
for US bombers RAF Fairford, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, is
one of several bases in Britain that has been used by the US Air Force under an
agreement dating from the 1950s. It is home to the headquarters of the US Air
Force’s 501st Combat Support Wing and is a forward operating location for US Air
Force Global Strike Command. There are about 11,000 American military personnel
stationed at various sites in Britain, according to the House of Commons
Library. The number of US personnel at RAF Fairford is not publicly available.
Fairford's long runway makes it suitable for heavy bombers, and it has been used
in conflicts including the 2003 Iraq war and the US-Israeli war on Iran this
year.
It has been used for strikes on Iran
Britain did not join the US-Israeli war on Iran that began Feb. 28 and initially
denied President Donald Trump’s request to use bases in the UK to strike Iran.
But then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced days later that he had agreed to
let the US use bases in Britain for “defensive” operations against Iran’s
missiles and their launch sites following Iranian attacks on UK interests and
Britain’s allies in the Gulf. American B-1 and B-52 bombers have taken off from
Fairford for operations during the Iran conflict.
Security is tight at US bases in Britain
Anti-war campaigners have protested outside the perimeter fence of the base
several times since the start of the Iran war. It’s unclear whether the arrests
are linked to the Iran war. British security officials say proxies linked to
Iran are behind a string of arson and sabotage attempts in the UK and other
countries, many of them targeting the Jewish community. They have previously
warned that Tehran could expand its targets in the UK if conflicts in the Middle
East continue. Some local residents said security appeared to have been
heightened around RAF Fairford in recent days, with heavy vehicles parked across
entrance gates. Another American base, RAF Lakenheath
in eastern England, confirmed that it is on Charlie alert, the second-highest
threat level that can be issued by the US Department of Defense. According to US
military websites, Force Protection Condition Charlie “applies when an incident
occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action
targeting personnel or facilities is likely.” There was no immediate
confirmation of the threat level at RAF Fairford. US European Command said it
would not discuss "specific force protection measures."
Saudi FM, Rubio Discuss Regional Developments, Yemen
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ 28 September 2026
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah held talks in
Washington on Monday with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on regional and
international developments. They tackled the security and political developments
in the region and the situation in Yemen. They underlined the importance of
protecting the safety and freedom of navigation in international waterways,
especially the Straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb, which will consolidate
regional stability and the flow of commercial vessels and global supply chains.
They stressed the importance of continuing coordination and consultations
between Riyadh and Washington over issues of common interest, and backing
diplomatic efforts aimed at addressing regional crises and bolstering security,
peace and stability. Prince Faisal and Rubio discussed the strategic relations
between Saudi Arabia and the US and means to consolidate and develop them in
various fields to benefit the peoples of both nations. The meeting was attended
by Saudi Ambassador to Washington Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin
Abdulaziz, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Lebanese Affairs Prince Yazid bin
Mohammed bin Fahd Al-Farhan, Special Envoy and Advisor of the Minister of
Foreign Affairs for Negotiations and Peace Efforts Manal Radwan and Advisor to
the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs Prince Musab bin Mohammed
Al-Farhan.
Iraqi Airways resumes flights between Najaf and Iranian
airports
Reuters/28 September ,2026
Iraqi Airways has resumed flights between Iraq’s holy city of Najaf and Iranian
airports, Iraq’s state news agency reported on Monday.Iraq had halted flights to
and from Iran on Friday, in line with US sanctions.
Israeli Strikes Kill at Least Two People in Gaza, Officials
Say
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ 28 September 2026
Israeli strikes killed at least two Palestinians and wounded several others on
Monday in two separate attacks in the Gaza Strip, health officials in the
enclave said. A woman was killed and her husband and others were wounded in one
Israeli strike on the rooftop of their building in Gaza City, medics said.
Another strike killed a woman and wounded others in central Gaza's Nuseirat
refugee camp, they added. The Israeli military said it struck a militant in
Nuseirat, without giving further details. It did not immediately comment on the
reported strike in Gaza City. Palestinian authorities say more than 73,000
people have been killed in Israel's assault on Gaza, launched after Hamas-led
fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel in October 2023. A
US-brokered ceasefire agreed last year calls for the eventual reconstruction of
the territory, but little progress has been made as negotiators have failed to
agree terms for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its troops. Israeli
airstrikes have continued. At least 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have
been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the
territory's health officials, while the Israeli military says four Israeli
soldiers have been killed. Israel and Hamas trade blame over responsibility for
violations of the ceasefire agreement.
Yemen: Taiz Fronts Drain Houthis, Target Reinforcements
Aden: Asharq Al Awsat/28 September 2026
Yemeni government forces have intensified air and artillery strikes against the
Houthis in Taiz governorate as fighting continues along the province’s western,
southern and eastern fronts, with no major change in territorial control
reported in recent hours, according to military sources and government media.
Government warplanes on Sunday targeted Houthi positions, gatherings and
reinforcements across Taiz. Forces involved in the fighting said they had
thwarted Houthi infiltration attempts on several fronts, while strikes extended
to other positions in Lahj near Bab al-Mandab. Military and local sources
reported that airstrikes hit Houthi positions and gatherings east of Taiz city
after the group brought in personnel and military reinforcements. The raids also
targeted a Houthi camp and vehicles at Mawiyah Junction, positions on the
Al-Akboush front to the southeast, and a reinforcement convoy on 60th Street
north of Taiz. Government forces had earlier announced strikes on a supply
convoy on 60th Street, reinforcements in the Hanna area of Al-Wazi’iyah district
west of the governorate, and positions and weapons, ammunition and missile
depots at the Mawiyah and Al-Dhikra junctions to the east. A Houthi gathering in
Al-Suwayda in Hayfan district to the south was also targeted.
Military sources said the raids destroyed vehicles and killed and wounded
Houthi fighters, including field commanders, but provided no independently
verifiable figures for the losses.
Government forces also used drones to target Houthi positions, vehicles and
gatherings on several fronts, indicating an intensified use of airstrikes to
counter the group’s military movements and reinforcements.
Infiltration Attempts
On the ground, the Taiz Military Axis command reported that government forces
thwarted a Houthi infiltration attempt on the Al-Ahtoub front in Jabal Habashi
district west of Taiz and targeted Houthi fighters as they tried to approach
government positions in the Hazran area.
Government forces also struck a Houthi vehicle with a mortar round on the
Al-Kaddahah front and targeted gatherings on the Al-Aqroudh front southeast of
the city. The developments came as the Taiz, Lahj and Bab al-Mandab fronts
remained on high alert, with attacks and counterattacks continuing around high
ground and forward positions, particularly along the Jabal Numan, Kahbub,
Al-Alaqma and Rasin axes. Available battlefield information showed no signs of a
new Houthi advance. Fighting remained concentrated in forward areas and on the
high ground surrounding Jabal Numan, while the Houthis continued attempts to
retake parts of positions they had lost along that axis. At Kahbub, on the road
leading to Bab al-Mandab, the Southern Giants Brigades said they targeted Houthi
gatherings and vehicles and destroyed an armored vehicle, killing those aboard.
Fighting continued on the Al-Wazi’iyah and Al-Mudaraba fronts.
Fighting Expands
The pattern of strikes over the past two days shows the fighting extending from
front lines to supply positions, gathering points, camps and weapons depots as
Yemeni government forces seek to limit the Houthis’ ability to send fresh
reinforcements to the Taiz and Lahj fronts.
Targets have included Mawiyah and Al-Dhikra junctions east of Taiz, Al-Hawban,
60th Street north of the city, Hayfan to the south and Al-Wazi’iyah to the west,
as well as positions in neighboring Ibb governorate. The fighting is therefore
no longer confined to direct clashes over high ground, with Houthi supply lines
and military movements repeatedly targeted by airstrikes.
The Houthis, meanwhile, continued attempts to pressure several fronts,
particularly the western axes, which are important because of their proximity to
the road leading to coastal areas and Bab al-Mandab, where they are seeking to
secure their gains. The intensified military operations come amid indications of
rising Houthi casualties. The group acknowledged the death of Majd al-Din Hamid
al-Hamzi, whom military sources said was head of operations for the Third
Missile Brigade, along with several of his escorts following fighting on the
western coast fronts.
Yemeni monitoring data indicated that Houthi media outlets and affiliated
platforms announced funerals for 422 members of the group in September,
including officers and military commanders. Sources that compiled the figures
said the number did not represent the Houthis’ total losses because the group
does not regularly announce all its dead. Some funerals are delayed, while
others are buried without media coverage, and bodies remaining in hospitals or
combat zones are not included in the tally. The sources reported that 60 Houthi
fighters were buried last Friday alone after being killed on various fronts.
Losses were particularly concentrated on the Taiz and Lahj fronts, according to
local reports. The fighting was also accompanied by reports of fighters’ bodies
remaining in some combat areas, prompting local appeals for the Red Cross and
Red Crescent to retrieve them amid fears of humanitarian and environmental
consequences.
Dutch FM Regrets Israel's Decision to Revoke Diplomats'
Accreditation
Asharq Al Awsat/28 September 2026
The Netherlands said Monday it regretted Israel's decision to revoke the
diplomatic accreditation of Dutch officials based in the West Bank over the
country's sanctions on goods from Israeli settlements. "I deeply regret this
unnecessary decision," Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen said, adding that the
decision by The Hague to suspend imports from the occupied territories in the
West Bank was "not directed against Israel.”Israel earlier this month ordered
the closure of the British Consulate in East Jerusalem, which is Britain's
representative with the Palestinian Authority, after London announced similar
sanctions banning the import of goods from settlements. Israeli Foreign Minister
Gideon Saar said on X that Dutch diplomats operating in Ramallah must return
their Israeli-issued diplomatic documentation within seven days, when their
diplomatic privileges and immunities are due to expire."Any country that acts in
a hostile and unilateral manner against Israel will lose influence and relevance
in the region," Saar said.
Israel Revokes Diplomatic Status of Dutch Diplomats in
Ramallah
Asharq Al Awsat/28 September 2026
Israel said on Sunday it was revoking the diplomatic status of Dutch diplomats
who represent the Netherlands at the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, in
response to Dutch sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West
Bank.
Israel earlier this month ordered the closure of the British Consulate in East
Jerusalem, which is Britain's representative with the Palestinian Authority,
after London announced similar sanctions banning the import of goods from
settlements. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X that Dutch
diplomats operating in Ramallah must return their Israeli-issued diplomatic
documentation within seven days, when their diplomatic privileges and immunities
are due to expire. "Any country that acts in a hostile and unilateral manner
against Israel will lose influence and relevance in the region," Saar said.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry declined to comment. The Netherlands' ban on imports
of goods produced in settlements came into effect last week. Israel in August
banned Dutch diplomats from a US-led coordination center for Gaza that is based
in Israel, over what the foreign minister described as "anti-Israel
measures."Many countries, including the Netherlands, have long had diplomats who
represent their governments with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah while
living in East Jerusalem.Israel has traditionally accredited those diplomats
and granted them certain privileges under the Vienna Convention on treatment
of diplomatic missions. France and Canada joined
Britain this month in announcing a ban on goods from settlements, but Israel has
not taken any action against those two countries. Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's right-wing government has found itself diplomatically isolated from
many of its allies over its conduct in recent years in Gaza and the West Bank.
Two prominent Israeli cabinet ministers have been sanctioned by several
countries, while Spain, Ireland and others have also announced a ban on goods
originating from settlements.
Hamas Members Struggle to Spend Cash Salaries
Gaza/Asharq Al Awsat/28 September 2026
Until three weeks ago, merchants in the Gaza Strip were still accepting cash
from residents, even though much of it consisted of worn-out banknotes. But they
began gradually refusing cash more than 10 days ago, hardening their stance over
the past four days and turning instead to banking apps and electronic wallets.
The shift has coincided with intensified Israeli targeting and killing of
Hamas financial officials in recent weeks, including some involved in delivering
salaries to the group’s members. Hamas employees told
Asharq Al-Awsat that most government workers and members of its military wing,
the Al-Qassam Brigades, receive their salaries in cash.
Several Hamas sources said government employees receive part of their
salaries roughly every 100 days, amounting to only about 1,000 shekels ($328),
often in worn banknotes. Al-Qassam members, meanwhile, are paid every 40 to 50
days, receiving up to around 60 percent of their salaries and no less than
approximately 1,200 shekels, generally in banknotes in good condition. People
dealing with Gaza’s markets told Asharq Al-Awsat that some merchants had
recently begun accepting cash from individuals and transferring the equivalent
electronically through apps and e-wallets in exchange for commissions of up to
10 percent. The crisis marks a reversal from the peak
years of the war that began in October 2023, when Gazans struggled to convert
money held in electronic wallets into cash. Commissions started at 10 percent
and at times reached 60 percent before electronic transactions became more
widespread. In August, an Israeli military spokeswoman warned Palestinians in
Gaza against using a category of old shekel banknotes marked with the letter
“B,” in a move aimed at economically squeezing Hamas.
What Do We Do With Worn Banknotes?
Ahmed al-Najjar, 39, an employee of the Hamas-run government in Gaza, angrily
questioned what employees were supposed to do with the worn banknotes they
received.
“How long will things remain this way?” he told Asharq Al-Awsat. “We are the
ones paying the price with our lives, and we find no one standing with us —
neither officials nor merchants — while others fight us in different ways to
make huge profits and gains.”Israel has barred cash from entering Gaza since
Oct. 7, 2023, while banks suffered major thefts during the war. Israeli security
authorities also sought to impose conditions on Gaza merchants after
periodically allowing goods into the enclave, requiring payments through
electronic applications in a move aimed at restricting Hamas. Under the new
circumstances, Hamas appears to be facing a serious cash shortage affecting its
members and employees, coinciding with repeated Israeli killings of funding
sources, money changers and prominent figures in its financial apparatus.
Hamas Warns Merchants
The Hamas-run police in Gaza issued a general directive warning shopkeepers and
others against refusing cash. It stressed that they must accept different types
of banknotes, old and new, provided they are not damaged, and threatened
violators with strict legal measures.A Hamas police official told Asharq
Al-Awsat that the issue did not affect only government employees or Hamas
members, but also families of orphans, war victims, wounded Palestinians and
prisoners who receive financial assistance from various relief organizations but
cannot find merchants willing to accept their cash.
Hamas-affiliated media in Gaza have also launched a campaign against banks
operating under the Palestinian Monetary Authority in Ramallah, accusing them of
encouraging merchants to switch exclusively to electronic payments and of
closing hundreds of residents’ bank accounts. Some banks have repeatedly denied
the allegations, reiterating days ago that no decisions had been made to close
accounts. The dispute has fueled an unprecedented social media campaign warning
people against giving up cash in favor of banking apps and other electronic
wallets. The campaign has included warnings that a new war between Iran and the
United States could soon engulf the entire region again, potentially causing
people to lose money held electronically. An official
banking source rejected those claims, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that funds held in
banks would remain secure and that a shift toward electronic transactions was
underway. The source said banks were routinely
updating customer information and identifying account holders’ activities amid
concerns that some funds could be linked to money laundering. Banks, the source
added, had instructions to facilitate Palestinians’ access to accounts as part
of financial inclusion efforts taking place in both Gaza and the West Bank.
Israel recently killed Jabr Moqbel, the owner of a currency-exchange shop
and a prominent Al-Qassam Brigades member in Gaza City, in a strike on a vehicle
in Deir al-Balah. Mohammed Abu Alwan, a Hamas financial official, was killed in
a strike in Khan Younis. A Palestinian Islamic Jihad financial official was
seriously wounded Sunday in an attempted assassination west of Gaza City. The
Israeli military said in a recent statement that throughout the war it had
killed 16 prominent financial operatives involved in transferring funds and
financing Hamas’ military activities. It said the operatives had managed
transfers worth more than $1 billion through a network of dozens of money
changers in Türkiye and Gaza. The military said it and
the Shin Bet were focusing their efforts on damaging Hamas’ financing
capabilities and preventing the rebuilding of its infrastructure and military
capabilities.
Syrian Security Forces Arrest Official Responsible for Torture of Child Hamza
al-Khatib in Daraa
Asharq Al Awsat/28 September 2026
Syrian Internal Security Forces arrested Brig. Gen. Jaber Mehrez Ibrahim, who
served as commander of the 138th Air Defense Brigade in the town of Saida during
the era of the deposed regime, following a precise surveillance and tracking
operation, reported Syria’s state news agency SANA on Sunday. Records and
preliminary investigations showed that Ibrahim was involved in issuing orders to
kill and arrest people and suppress protesters, as well as participating in
military campaigns targeting villages and towns in eastern Daraa countryside,
pursuing civilians and targeting their homes. Investigations also indicate that
he was directly responsible for the Saida Housing massacre, in which nearly 120
people were killed, and that his name was linked to systematic arrests and
torture involving a large number of people from the province, including child
martyr Hamza al-Khatib. The ousted regime arrested al-Khatib, 13, in the early
days of the Syrian uprising that erupted in the city of Daraa on March 18, 2011.
He died under torture in detention. On May 21, 2011, al-Khatib’s tortured and
mutilated body was returned to his family, weeks after his arrest during an
anti-government demonstration. His death, alongside the torture of other
children and teenagers arrested for writing anti-Assad graffiti, triggered
widespread protests and a brutal crackdown by government forces. Following the
ouster of the regime in December 2024, the new authorities launched a crackdown
against former officials and military personnel. Ibrahim’s arrest is part of
these ongoing prosecutions over allegations of abuses committed during the
former regime's years in power.
Syria Detains 16 Former Air Force Pilots in Less Than a Month
Damascus: Souad Jarous/Asharq Al Awsat/28 September 2026
Syrian security authorities have detained 16 former air force officers,
including senior commanders, in less than a month as part of a widening campaign
targeting personnel accused of involvement in airstrikes on populated areas
during the country’s war.
The arrests were carried out mainly in the coastal provinces of Latakia and
Tartous, as well as in Aleppo province in northern Syria. State-run Alikhbariah
TV reported that the Counterterrorism Directorate arrested former pilot Khaldoun
Hussein Mubarak in the countryside of Jableh in Latakia province. Local media
reported that he was detained Friday at his home in the village of Ain Qaita.
Mubarak survived the downing of his aircraft near Saraqeb in Idlib
province in 2020. State media under the former government reported at the time
that his plane had been hit by Turkish aircraft. Activists have since
recirculated an interview in which Mubarak vowed after surviving the incident to
continue flying military missions even if he were targeted again.
His detention brought to 16 the number of former air force pilots and
officers arrested in less than a month. On Sept. 18, Tartous Internal Security
chief Col. Abdul Aal Mohammed Abdul Aal announced the arrest of five senior
former air force officers in operations conducted with the Counterterrorism
Directorate. Abdul Aal said the five were suspected of involvement, according to
their respective positions and responsibilities, in planning, directing and
carrying out airstrikes on populated areas during the war. Investigations were
continuing to determine their alleged criminal responsibility before referring
them to the judiciary, he added. Latakia security authorities had announced on
Sept. 10 the detention of nine former pilots and officers, who were accused of
participating in attacks and violations in several Syrian provinces through
their roles in fixed-wing and helicopter aviation. A
Syrian Interior Ministry source said the nine had logged more than 3,200 flight
hours and sorties during the uprising and war, including missions over Eastern
Ghouta, Aleppo and its countryside, Deir Ezzor and its countryside, and rural
Hama, according to state news agency SANA. Earlier, on Sept. 5, security forces
in Aleppo detained Brig. Gen. pilot Hamidi Ali Murad, a former senior air force
commander who had overseen several military air bases, including Mezzeh in
Damascus, T4 in eastern Homs province and Kuweires east of Aleppo, and had also
headed the air force academy. Syrian authorities accuse the detained officers,
according to their respective roles, of helping plan, direct or carry out air
operations that struck populated areas, causing deaths, destruction and
displacement. The allegations remain under investigation ahead of possible
referral to the courts.
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says North Korea Prepares to Deploy
Another 10,000 Troops to Russia
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ 28 September 2026
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday there are more than 8,000
North Korean troops on Russian territory and preparations are underway to deploy
another 10,000 troops. Citing "new data" on the deployment of North Korean
troops to Russia, Zelenskiy said they were "being selected for training and
subsequent deployment to Russia."The Ukrainian president said in August that
up to 50,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to fight for Russia, and
called on South Korea to provide support for Ukraine's air defense. South Korea
announced in July a $100 million aid package for Ukraine, although it excluded
lethal weapons. Zelenskiy's comments on Monday came after Seoul and Kyiv were
at odds over his announcement last week that Ukraine had transferred two
captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea. Seoul expressed regret over his
announcement, citing an agreement to keep the transfer confidential. South Korea
also protested against what it called a false statement from the Ukrainian
presidential office denying that such a confidentiality agreement existed.
North Korea has sent an estimated 14,000 to 15,000 troops to support Russia's
war in Ukraine since 2024, according to Ukrainian and South Korean estimates,
with most deployed in the Kursk region to help repel a Ukrainian incursion.
Pyongyang has also supplied Russia with millions of artillery and mortar rounds,
as well as ballistic missiles, long-range artillery systems and multiple-launch
rocket systems, according to Ukrainian and independent assessments.
The Latest LCCC analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on September 28-29/2026
Autumn, Martyrs and the ‘Final Garden’
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ 28 September 2026
The harshest punishment is for the world to forget you or to view you as a
patient with no hope of recovery. This is compounded by your lack of leverage.
You have no straits to threaten with closure, nor a nuclear program to brandish
by raising its enrichment levels.
Amid the world's preoccupation with straits and arsenals, Netanyahu's army
completes its major crime, executing a death sentence upon dozens of villages in
southern Lebanon. Their guilt, as it claims, is that they were used to launch
attacks against Israel. It has destroyed houses, killed their inhabitants, and
shown no mercy to the trees - as if intending to prevent any witness from
testifying before the court of history, should it ever convene.
This agitated army uses the pretext that Hezbollah initiated the war: first to
support Gaza in the wake of "Sinwar's Flood," and second in retaliation for
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whom Israel assassinated. It states explicitly that
Lebanon must pay the price for losing the war.
On the road to Sidon, the gateway to southern Lebanon, I recalled old memories.
On a distant day, while heading to the newspaper's headquarters, I watched the
autumn rains violently lash Beirut. I saw them tear down the portraits of
martyrs from the city walls and rip away words from the enthusiastic slogans
penned by fighters, who had falsely imagined they would stand forever. Since
those days, the portraits of martyrs have been linked in my mind with the autumn
rains that erased their images, which will now hang only on the walls of their
homes and with the grief of their mothers.
It is as though this land is afflicted with an unquenchable thirst, consuming
the blood of one generation only to renew its longing for the blood of another.
While it is true that nations sometimes require martyrs to reclaim their land,
sovereignty, and independent decision-making, it is equally true that the role
of nations cannot be confined to giving birth to martyrs and bidding them
farewell. A homeland is an opportunity for life and progress; it is not a
factory for martyrs and funerals.
When I say martyrs, I mean all those who gave their lives in numerous wars - be
it a battle on a mountain hill or along a demarcation line in Beirut. In that
once-divided city, autumn would assault the portraits of all martyrs, regardless
of their varying affiliations and conflicting slogans. It was the city's habit
to forget its martyrs, distancing itself from their deeds as if they had acted
too hastily when throwing their young lives into a fire that would smolder, go
on truce, and then return to ignite once more.
Leaders of parties and militias would pledge never to forget the martyrs, but
nations possess a forgetful memory. Nothing remains of the martyrs except the
grief that consumes the bereaved mothers, widows, and orphans.
War fascinated the Lebanese. They rushed into their own conflicts and the
conflicts of others. They dreamed of a resounding victory and a knockout blow,
only to return disappointed. Lebanon's composition does not permit this type of
victory; it allows only for a pseudo-victory that opens the door to a future
war.
I recall now an interview with George Hawi, who participated in launching the
"Lebanese National Resistance Front" against Israel in 1982. He sent young men
to resist the occupation, but he also sent them to internal wars. In the end,
Hawi regretted engaging in the wars between the Lebanese, and I was surprised to
hear him say: "If only we had not fired a single bullet." The Communist leader's
dreams stretched from Beirut to Moscow. After costly experiences, he concluded
that the ultimate mission is to preserve a "final garden" called Lebanon.
No Lebanese person possesses a final garden other than Lebanon, no matter how
fragile and chaotic this garden may be, and regardless of how little room it
leaves for pursuing grand dreams. The Maronite has no other garden, nor does the
Sunni have any other; the same applies to the Shiites and the Druze. Over the
decades, Lebanese factions have alternately placed bets that far exceed
Lebanon's capacity to endure.
Experience shows that whenever a Lebanese party relies on a regional or
international ally to weaken the position of its domestic partner, conflicts
break out, Lebanon becomes more fragmented, and the combatants grow weaker
despite feeding on stimulants and illusions. Lebanon currently lies beneath its
own rubble, after various Lebanese groups pinned their stakes on Palestinian
organizations, Israel, Syria, and Iran.
For half a century, Lebanon has been plunged into a violent, permanent autumn.
The leaves of the tree of coexistence have fallen, along with those of Lebanon’s
distinct advantages and its political, banking, educational, and tourism roles.
The branches of the state apparatus have calcified, giving way to the notorious
aroma of the "Lebanese arena". The leaves of hope have withered, and Lebanese
youth have taken the path of emigration. The Lebanese squandered the opportunity
presented by the Taif Agreement and resumed their journey toward the abyss.
Lebanon currently finds itself in an unprecedented dilemma. Having lost the war,
parts of its land are occupied by Israel, which has turned them into scorched
earth and vows to do more. The US Ambassador to Lebanon explicitly stated that
Israel is not considering a withdrawal from the occupied territories unless
Hezbollah is disarmed. Any calm assessment of the international stance in
general leads to the belief that there is a global will for Lebanon to exit the
military aspect of the conflict with Israel.
The Syrian president understood the dimensions of the new international climate,
the reality of the balance of power, Israel’s aggression, and its new military
doctrine. Consequently, he chose the slogan "Syria First," which resembles
saving the "final garden."
The Lebanese state possesses no magical solution to escape this dilemma. It has
no choice but to bet on Trump's ability to exert pressure on Netanyahu, provided
that Lebanon can fulfill the conditions to return to a state that monopolizes
weaponry and the decisions of war and peace.
In contrast, Hezbollah reads the situation differently, continuing its gamble on
Iran and the settlement it might broker with the US. Hezbollah refuses to dwell
on the magnitude of the change that has affected its power and regional role
after Syria departed the Axis of Resistance. Two years after the loss of its
historic Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, the party refuses to acknowledge
that a Lebanese majority does not support keeping Lebanon suspended over the
fires of regional wars.
Lebanon either embarks on the journey of returning to a state that accommodates
everyone, or its wounds will deepen in the autumn. Continued fragmentation and
loss warn of autumn winds blowing against the Lebanese structure itself,
squandering the blood of all martyrs without exception. Only a state worthy of
the name can preserve the blood of martyrs from being wasted. The Lebanese have
no right to slaughter their final garden.
What Does the Houthi Expansion Mean for Lebanon?
Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ 28 September 2026
Mocha is not on Lebanon’s border, nor does Mayun Island overlook the eastern
Mediterranean. Yet Houthi control over both could have direct repercussions for
Lebanon.
The transformation of the Houthis from an illegitimate armed group controlling
key parts of Yemen into a more entrenched regional actor does not merely alter
the balance of the Yemeni war; it also reshapes roles within Iran’s regional
axis and raises questions about Hezbollah’s place within it after its recent
losses.
Has Iran found in the Houthis a new primary proxy, or is it simply
redistributing functions among its various arms, compensating for the decline of
one through the rise of another?
Exhausted by its confrontation with the United States, Iran has nevertheless
seized the opportunity to expand the military and strategic influence of its
Houthi ally. The Houthis have targeted Saudi Arabia and even challenged sites of
religious significance, at a time when the Kingdom seeks to balance national
security requirements, the need to contain cross-border threats, and the desire
to achieve an honorable political settlement that would end the Yemen war and
restore state institutions.
Houthi advances along the Red Sea coast and around the Bab al-Mandab Strait have
added a regional dimension to the conflict because of their impact on the
security of the waterway and on global trade and energy flows.
The Houthi position at Bab al-Mandab complements Iran’s ability to exert
pressure in the Strait of Hormuz, placing two of the world’s most important
energy and trade chokepoints under threat from the same axis.
Control of strategic positions around these waterways does not necessarily
enable a complete shutdown, but it does allow for raising the risks and costs of
navigation and using them as bargaining chips in negotiations.
The importance of this leverage grows amid Washington’s reluctance to open a new
front, with reports suggesting that US options range from non-intervention to an
understanding that would protect American, and remarkably, Israeli vessels from
attack. In this way, the Houthis not only expand Iran’s geopolitical reach but
also elevate their own standing within Tehran’s network of proxies, prompting a
reassessment of Hezbollah’s role.
This does not mean, however, that the Houthis have replaced Hezbollah. Each
serves a distinct function. Hezbollah plays a role the Houthis cannot perform
because of its presence on Israel’s border and its influence within Lebanon’s
political system.
The Houthis, meanwhile, possess a different card: the ability to threaten an
international maritime corridor whose security is vital to major powers. The
more likely scenario is that Iran has moved away from relying on Hezbollah as
its principal regional arm and toward a distribution of roles among various
proxies, each possessing unique geographic and military value. The differences
between the two extend beyond function to the environments in which they
operate. The Houthis control vast territory, governing institutions, ports, and
strategic maritime locations. Hezbollah, by contrast, operates within a
pluralistic state and faces government decisions that have stripped it of
legitimacy, significant domestic opposition to its weapons, and sustained
Israeli pressure on its support base.
Houthi gains may provide Hezbollah with political and psychological
encouragement, but they do not solve its Lebanese predicament, rebuild its
capabilities or militia legitimacy, or allow it to replicate the Yemeni model in
Lebanon.
Nonetheless, Hezbollah may draw a lesson from the Houthi experience that
encourages greater rigidity. If Washington’s reluctance to confront the Houthis
ultimately leads to an arrangement that protects American shipping without
dismantling Houthi weapons or control, Hezbollah could interpret this as
evidence that the capacity to impose costs compels recognition and negotiation.
Houthi advances could then become an additional argument for maintaining its
arsenal and hardening its positions regarding the Lebanese army and negotiations
with Israel, betting that sustained pressure may eventually force others to
treat it as an indispensable partner. Conversely, the rise of the Houthis may
reduce Iran’s dependence on Hezbollah and its willingness to bear the costs of
protecting or rebuilding the group under previous conditions. The proxy that
once spearheaded Iran’s regional project has become one arm among many, while
the Houthis now possess the capacity to threaten both regional states and
international shipping.This development does not protect Lebanon. Rather, it
increases the likelihood that the country will be used as a bargaining chip in
broader negotiations or left under Israeli pressure as long as Tehran retains
more effective leverage elsewhere. Developments in
Yemen also expose the limits of Lebanese hopes for decisive American support. If
Washington is unwilling to deter Houthi expansion despite attacks reaching
sensitive and strategically significant areas, and instead prefers accommodation
or negotiation to avoid another war, there is no guarantee it will intervene
decisively to resolve Lebanon’s weapons issue or restrain Israel. Lebanese
citizens may find themselves caught between Iranian and Hezbollah intransigence
on one side and Israeli pressure on the other, while the United States confines
itself to crisis management so long as its direct interests remain unaffected.
Lebanon cannot afford to wait for the outcome of US-Iranian
confrontations or negotiations, nor for electoral results in either the United
States or Israel. The rise of the Houthis will not reduce the cost of keeping
Lebanon as a pressure point open to regional bargaining.
This reality requires the Lebanese authorities to move beyond the familiar
pattern of hesitation and stalemate by implementing government decisions,
strengthening state institutions, and building a network of Arab and
international support. A state that fails to reclaim sovereign decision-making
risks having its future determined in negotiations in which it has no seat at
the table.
Trump: But in the End… We’re All Going to Die Anyway
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ 28 September 2026
American political commentator Tucker Carlson was traditionally regarded as part
of the far right, at least until 2023. More recently, however, he has moved away
from his former position during a period of significant ideological and
self-interested shifts at the heart of some of America’s major pressure groups.
Today, Carlson, along with several figures who were once part of the far-right
camp, stands at the forefront of critics of President Donald Trump’s
administration, particularly regarding the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
Historically, the “Israeli question” in American politics long predates the
establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. As previously noted in this
column, America’s “Founding Fathers”- the vanguard of migration to North
America- emigrated for a number of reasons, including fleeing religious
persecution. Most belonged to the various Protestant denominations that arose in
“protest” against the Catholic Church, which had dominated much of central and
western Europe for centuries. This Protestant longing to return to religious
roots helped bring about the idea of a “Judeo-Christian culture.”
There were, however, three important and fundamental stages through which
religious legitimacy came to play influential political roles in the history of
the United States, particularly after the end of the Cold War. The first stage
was the success of conservative pastors and evangelists in establishing
politically oriented movements aimed at settling the struggle for supremacy
against the communist giant during the final years of the Cold War. Indeed,
under the leadership of figures such as the Reverend Jerry Falwell and Billy
Graham, forces such as the “Moral Majority” established a major political
presence as the Soviet Union staggered through its final years. These forces
subsequently helped secure Ronald Reagan’s victory and contributed to the end of
the Soviet experiment.
The second stage began with the rise of the neoconservatives, which emerged as a
genuine force of political power during the presidency of George W. Bush. Its
prominent figures included Bill Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas
Feith, Elliott Abrams, and David Wurmser. Whereas the driving forces and
instruments of the “Moral Majority” were Christian, the most active figures
among the neoconservatives were a group of strategists associated with the
Jewish right. In their “advice” to the Israeli right, they emphasized rejecting
the principle of “land for peace” and rejecting a two-state solution in
Palestine.
The influence of the neoconservatives then expanded dramatically after the
September 2001 attacks. They began reshaping the map of the Middle East through
the 2003 invasion of Iraq and by exacerbating Sunni-Shiite tensions. The third
stage emerged following the election of Barack Obama- the first US president of
African descent- in November 2008. The event stirred up fears and resentments
that, according to the author, had remained concealed after the victory of the
Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.
At the same time, the relatively rapid growth of immigrant populations-
especially those from Latin America and the Muslim world- contributed to rising
racial resentment toward immigration. Some thinkers on the white far right then
exploited this sentiment and made it a central element of the MAGA movement,
which became the electoral base of President Donald Trump. Through these stages,
an alliance between the Christian and Jewish right took shape, supported by a
class of extremely wealthy individuals, leading figures in future-oriented
technology, and new media. But any rise of such scale and momentum was bound to
carry internal contradictions and the seeds of fragmentation. Indeed, amid
Washington’s overwhelming global dominance, the agendas of the different parties
within this powerful alliance began to diverge. Questions previously rarely
raised in the United States started being asked about sensitive issues,
including: The Russia-Ukraine war and how the
relationship with Russia should be defined.
The massacres in Gaza and Israel’s “plans” for the Middle East.
How to deal with China.
How Washington should define its relations with its Atlantic and European
allies. On the Middle Eastern front, one question
emerged: Who influences- or dictates to- whom: America or Israel? Some voices on
the American Christian right have always believed that the final word should
remain with Washington. But this was not the position of the Israeli right and
its supporters in Washington. As a result, American
right-wing voices such as Tucker Carlson, former Representative Marjorie Taylor
Greene, and commentators Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens began, for the first
time, openly attacking Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.Still, none went as
far as Carlson, who accused Israel not only of dragging Washington into its own
wars, but also of making the removal of the United States from the Middle East a
central part of its regional strategy. Carlson recently said that, after meeting
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, he became convinced of the following:
First, that the war against Iran is aimed not only at ending Iran’s
nuclear program, but also at eliminating Iran as a regional power capable of
challenging Israeli dominance.
Second, that it seeks to weaken the Gulf states in order to prevent them from
becoming prosperous, stable countries attractive to investment. Third, that it
seeks to push the United States itself out of the Middle East. Carlson continued
by saying that when he asked President Trump what he thought of this, Trump
replied: “Yes, that’s right... but in the end, we’re all going to die anyway!”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Tells the UN:
Reforms Are Complete. The Evidence Says Otherwise
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/September 28, 2026
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22886/palestinian-authority-reforms
In a pre-recorded speech played at the United Nations General Assembly on
September 24, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas presented an
extraordinarily positive picture of the reforms he claims his government has
carried out. According to Abbas, the PA has fulfilled the commitments it made to
the international community.
Last year alone, the United States determined that these payments
["Pay-for-Slay" rewards to the families of terrorists and "martyrs"] had
amounted to $156 million — including to 5,000 families in Lebanon — much of
which was enabled, fungibly, from the European Union.
The US State Department, however, had reached a very different conclusion from
that of Abbas. In a September 16, 2026 statement, the State Department said that
the Palestinian Authority was "continuing to pay stipends to terrorists and to
glorify acts of terrorism and terrorists in public pronouncements and school
textbooks." The Palestinian Authority, the State Department added, had once
again failed to live up to its commitments to the US, including its commitment
concerning terrorism and reform.
Last April, the State Department had already been even more explicit in a report
to Congress. The report noted that despite changing the mechanism and ostensibly
replacing the old system of paying prisoners with a new system supposedly based
on welfare needs, "the Palestinian Authority continues to provide a system of
compensation in support of terrorism through new mechanisms and under a
different name." The report concluded that changing the mechanism did not amount
to ending the payments.
In November 2025, the European Commission also acknowledged its assessment that
payments and benefits to terrorists and their families were continuing.
If accountability and rule of law have been strengthened to the degree Abbas
claims, why are Palestinian human rights organizations still documenting such
cases?
The contradiction becomes even more disturbing when it comes to education. Abbas
told the UN that the Palestinian Authority has continued reforming its education
system in accordance with international standards and in cooperation with
UNESCO.
The findings of IMPACT-se's report on the PA curriculum tell a very different
story: "Our comprehensive review of the Palestinian Authority's 2025–26 national
school curriculum, analyzes 290 textbooks and 71 teacher guides used in West
Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem schools (including UNRWA). The study finds the
materials substantively unchanged from prior editions and documented recurring
patterns across subjects: promotion of jihad and martyrdom, glorification of
terrorism, incitement of antisemitism, rejection of peacemaking and the
two-state solution, and erasure of Israel from maps."
IMPACT-se also found textbooks and teacher guides that continue to present armed
struggle and violent figures in a positive light.
If the international community is serious about bringing democracy and
accountability to the Palestinians, it should demand verifiable reforms rather
than accept declarations of success.
In a pre-recorded speech played at the United Nations General Assembly on
September 24, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas presented an
extraordinarily positive picture of the reforms he claims his government has
carried out. According to Abbas, the PA has fulfilled the commitments it made to
the international community.
"We have completed the national reform program to which we committed ourselves
before our people and the international community," Abbas announced. He went on
to say that the Palestinian leadership had "strengthened institutional
governance, public financial management, transparency, accountability, the fight
against corruption, and the rule of law."
Abbas also claimed that his government had established a "unified national
system of social protection and welfare based on need," continued reforming the
education system "in accordance with international standards," and was advancing
"democratic renewal and the empowerment of women and young people."
He further told the international community that the Palestinians reject
terrorism and extremism, combat antisemitism and hatred, and seek a democratic
Palestinian state based on the rule of law and human rights.
Abbas's reference to a new, needs-based welfare system is directly connected to
his claim that the old system known as "Pay-for-Slay," of paying millions of
dollars annually to the families of prisoners and "martyrs" who have killed Jews
— had been replaced. Last year alone, the United States determined that these
payments had amounted to $156 million — including to 5,000 families in Lebanon —
much of which was enabled, fungibly, from the European Union.
The US State Department, however, had reached a very different conclusion from
that of Abbas. In a September 16, 2026 statement, the State Department said that
the Palestinian Authority was "continuing to pay stipends to terrorists and to
glorify acts of terrorism and terrorists in public pronouncements and school
textbooks." The Palestinian Authority, the State Department added, had once
again failed to live up to its commitments to the US, including its commitment
concerning terrorism and reform.
Last April, the State Department had already been even more explicit in a report
to Congress. The report noted that despite changing the mechanism and ostensibly
replacing the old system of paying prisoners with a new system supposedly based
on welfare needs, "the Palestinian Authority continues to provide a system of
compensation in support of terrorism through new mechanisms and under a
different name." The report concluded that changing the mechanism did not amount
to ending the payments.
In November 2025, the European Commission also acknowledged its assessment that
payments and benefits to terrorists and their families were continuing:
"We understand that a recent payment has been made to the families of prisoners,
based on a previous scheme. We profoundly regret this decision, as this seems to
go against prior announcements."
Other reports published by Palestinian and international organizations also
paint a substantially different picture than the one Abbas presented in his
speech.
What did the international community demand from the Palestinian Authority?
The New York Declaration, adopted in 2025, did not merely call for Palestinian
statehood. It explicitly linked international support for a future Palestinian
state to reforms in Palestinian governance. The declaration called for the PA to
continue implementing a "credible reform agenda," with emphasis on good
governance, transparency, fiscal sustainability, combating incitement and hate
speech, public services and economic development.
A report by the Palestinian human rights organization Lawyers for Justice, which
examined the PA from within Palestinian society, also provided powerful
information.
Such organizations are not able to operate without grim consequences. Mohannad
Karajah, the director of Lawyers for Justice, has himself been repeatedly
targeted and harassed by the Palestinian Authority. In October 2025, the Council
of Bars and Law Societies (CCBE) expressed concern over Karajah's arrest by the
PA security forces. The CCBE said the arrest came amid an incitement campaign
based on fabricated social media posts attributed to Karajah and his
organization. Karajah was arrested on October 26, 2025 and released several
hours later after interrogation.
The CCBE wrote in a letter to Mahmoud Abbas:
"The CCBE is concerned that such a pattern of harassment, defamation, and
threats against Lawyers for Justice and lawyer Mohannad Karajah appears aimed at
silencing a human rights legal organization and intimidating itself which would
undermine the exercise of the legal profession and the protection of fundamental
rights,"
Key findings of the Lawyers for Justice report regarding human rights violations
and structural governance issues inside the Palestinian Authority include:
Inaction of the Public Prosecutor and Lack of Accountability: The primary thesis
of the report highlights how formal complaints detailing arbitrary detention,
torture, and ill-treatment filed with the Attorney General and Public
Prosecutor's Office remain systematically unaddressed, entrenching a culture of
impunity.
Arbitrary Arrests and Fabricated Charges: In 2025, the organization documented
219 cases in total, with 146 cases referred to and prosecuted by courts in the
West Bank. Detainees – primarily journalists, teachers, union workers, human
rights defenders, and university students – were routinely subjected to
arbitrary arrests without judicial warrants or explanation of charges. PA
security forces consistently leveled generalized, politically motivated charges
such as "inciting sectarian strife," "defaming authorities," "possessing
weapons," and "collecting illicit funds" without sufficient legal or factual
evidence.
Widespread Ill-Treatment and Torture: The report documented 26 cases of physical
torture in detention centers and 146 cases of ill-treatment, including severe
beatings, forced stress positions, verbal abuse, humiliating searches, and
denial of medical care.
Suppression of Public Freedoms and Civic Activism: Journalists covering events
that diverged from official narratives were threatened, harassed, and had their
equipment confiscated. Peaceful rallies and protests were forcibly dispersed
using disproportionate physical force that included severe beatings with batons.
Institutional Failure and Lack of Reforms: Despite the "State of Palestine"
acceding to the International Convention Against Torture, the report emphasizes
a severe gap between legal commitments on paper and real-world executive and
security practices. Executive authorities, presidential decrees and security
apparatuses routinely bypass constitutional guarantees outlined in the
Palestinian Basic Law, undermining judicial oversight and fair trial guarantees.
This raises the obvious question: If accountability and rule of law have been
strengthened to the degree Abbas claims, why are Palestinian human rights
organizations still documenting such cases?
The contradiction becomes even more disturbing when it comes to education. Abbas
told the UN that the Palestinian Authority has continued reforming its education
system in accordance with international standards and in cooperation with
UNESCO.
The findings of IMPACT-se's report on the PA curriculum tell a very different
story:
"Our comprehensive review of the Palestinian Authority's 2025–26 national school
curriculum, analyzes 290 textbooks and 71 teacher guides used in West Bank,
Gaza, and East Jerusalem schools (including UNRWA). The study finds the
materials substantively unchanged from prior editions and documented recurring
patterns across subjects: promotion of jihad and martyrdom, glorification of
terrorism, incitement of antisemitism, rejection of peacemaking and the
two-state solution, and erasure of Israel from maps."
IMPACT-se found textbooks and teacher guides that continue to present armed
struggle and violent figures in a positive light. For example, it documented a
fifth-grade Arabic-language textbook presenting Dalal al-Mughrabi, who
participated in the 1978 Coastal Road terrorist attack in which Israeli
civilians were killed, as a heroic figure. The report also identified a
twelfth-grade Islamic Education textbook that portrays Jews as "liars and
manipulators" in a historical narrative and warns of the danger of their
supposed "seduction."
Abbas's September 24 speech raises a fundamental question for the international
community: Should Palestinian Authority reforms be judged by what Abbas says
from the podium at the UN, or by what is actually happening on the ground? The
evidence presented by the US State Department, the European Union, Lawyers for
Justice, and IMPACT-se points to a substantial gap between the PA's promises and
its record.
If the international community is serious about bringing democracy and
accountability to the Palestinians, it should demand verifiable reforms rather
than accept declarations of success.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
*Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Variations sur un monde en effritement et ses
dépassements
Charles Chartouni/Ici Beyrouth/September 28/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157904/
La scène mondiale offre le spectacle d’un ordre qui s’effrite et qui peine à se
fédérer autour d’institutions ou de points de convergence. Javier Milei a tout à
fait raison de dénoncer l’ONU qui s’est muée en caricature du projet de paix
perpétuelle de l’abbé Charles-Irénée de St. Pierre (1658-1743) et d’Emmanuel
Kant (1724-1804). Cette dénonciation a été préfigurée par la Charte universelle
des droits de l’homme (1948) au lendemain de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale.
L’ordre mondial démocratique et libéral et ses institutions créés et mis en
œuvre par les États-Unis se sont transformés en contre-modèle que des dictatures
et des régimes totalitaires utilisent pour se donner une légitimité pseudo-démocratique
dont ils sont dépourvus par définition. Le degré d’instrumentalisation de ces
conglomérats institutionnels atteint des proportions qui les discréditent. On ne
voit pas au juste à quoi servent les Nations Unies à un moment de leur histoire
où leur fondement philosophique et l’universalisme dont elles se recommandent
devient lettre morte et ne renvoie à rien.
Ceci questionne leur légitimité et remet en cause leur aptitude à gérer les
conflits internationaux en l’absence d’un consensus normatif et politico-institutionnel
qui éviterait la rupture inévitable. La réflexion à frais nouveau à cet égard
est impérative et pourrait s’inspirer des travaux de Bruce Kent (prêtre
catholique, politique et philosophe, (1929-2022) qui a repensé l’ordre mondial
fédérateur autour des acteurs de la société civile. Quoi qu'il en soit, il est
impossible d’adhérer à une imposture qui sert de couverture à des dictatures
génocidaires et à des projets de domination à déclinaisons multiples. Ce n’est
pas un hasard que des idéologues s’en emparent afin de promouvoir des régimes
totalitaires ou des choix géopolitiques qui correspondent à leurs projets de
domination. L’islamisme, toutes variantes comprises, et ses émules
néo-gauchistes en sont les principaux bénéficiaires.
La visite du pape Léon XIV en France revêt une importance sans commune mesure et
dont l’impact dépasse les frontières de l’Hexagone. Le pouvoir fédérateur de
l’Église catholique s’affirme sans ambages en dépit et malgré les crises qu’elle
a traversées tout le long de la dernière décennie. La crise des grandes
institutions (famille, école, hôpital, université, religions institutionnelles…)
qui ont fourni les cadres de socialisation des sociétés modernes fait référence
à des modèles alternatifs en état d’élaboration continue.
L’engouement suscité par la visite du pape Léon évoque indirectement la
dynamique impulsée par la papauté contemporaine. Cette dynamique se manifeste à
travers les vastes chantiers propulsés par le concile Vatican II, les débats
synodaux, et les travaux de réflexion menés dans les universités catholiques à
travers le monde. Elle se manifeste également à travers l'œcuménisme chrétien et
interreligieux, le dialogue avec la modernité, ainsi que dans la diversité des
ministères dans les secteurs du développement, de l’éducation, de la santé et de
l’écologie intégrale.
Autrement, la papauté contemporaine avec Angelo Roncalli (1881-1963),
l’aggiornamento de Vatican II ; Giovanni Battista Montini (1897-1978), le
parachèvement de Vatican II, l’œcuménisme, la bioéthique, paix et justice dans
le monde ; le pontificat historique de Karol Wojtyla (1920-2005) et son apport
pastoral, ecclésiologique, théologique, philosophique, politique, dialogue
interreligieux ; le ministère de Joseph Ratzinger qui s’est distingué par son
envergure intellectuelle, ecclésiale et liturgique, et finalement le ministère
de l’Église hors les murs de Jorge Bergoglio, rendent largement compte de
l’accès de Léon XIV à la succession apostolique, celle du missionnaire au
caractère forgé dans les marges de l’humanité contemporaine et au cœur de ses
problèmes.
Léon XIV a été formé à la tâche tout au long d’une trajectoire de missionnaire
qui a tout éprouvé. Son approche dialectique des rapports entre l’Église et
l’État, de l’humanisme contemporain et des questions centrales de la justice
sociale, de l’éducation et du développement, des enjeux bioéthiques (génétique,
avortement, euthanasie et fin de vie…) et de la paix mondiale s’inscrit dans la
continuité de ses prédécesseurs. Elle porte également l'empreinte du
missionnaire, du pasteur, du mathématicien et du juriste rompu à la médiation et
à la résolution des conflits. Sa sérénité, son humilité et sa réserve naturelle
sont typiques d’un moine formé à la spiritualité augustinienne.
Il n’est pas étonnant que cet élan exprimé par la jeunesse française soit en
phase avec une génération en quête de sens dans un monde éclaté où les
subjectivités désaxées se recoupent avec la crise de l’objectivité et de ses
registres. Autrement, l’irruption de l’islam au sein des démocraties
occidentales a remis en question les fondements philosophiques de l’ordre
politique et sa sécularité, les repères culturels et civilisationnels, les
bornes du public et du privé, les enjeux de la réflexion morale et les questions
de sécurité stratégique. Les nihilismes qui se ressourcent dans le
désenchantement du monde moderne et dans les dérives meurtrières d'un islam
obscurantiste et totalitaire remettent le débat public en selle et font appel au
débat philosophique et à la conversation publique.
La “proposition chrétienne”, comme l’a si bien exprimé Pierre Manent, est
interpellante à plus d’un titre, celui des béatitudes évangéliques, de
l’anthropologie biblique, du droit naturel, des spiritualités chrétiennes, des
catégories du droit canon, des riches traditions monastiques, et de l’histoire
bimillénaire de l’Église. Les grands moments de cette visite sont autant de
ponctuations qui nous réfèrent aux racines chrétiennes de l’Europe et à ses
sources scripturaires et traditions historiques. Les JMJ et les veillées de
prière et de méditation sont des instances de médiation entre une jeunesse
tourmentée par les promesses de la modernité et ses dilemmes et leurs multiples
incidences.
L’importance du travail pastoral, artistique et liturgique témoigne de
l’importance de ces “lieux théologiques” (theologoumenon) et de leur rôle dans
l’émergence d’une nouvelle conscience de soi et du monde. Ces manifestations
sont des réponses à des défis qui ne sont pas des moindres. Ces problématiques
concernent le sens dans un univers désenchanté, la mémoire que l'on essaie
d’enrayer, et l'ordre social et politique où l’État de droit et la Charte
universelle des droits de l’homme en définissent les contours. C’est cette
lecture plurielle qui va nous permettre de saisir la singularité de l’événement.
La conférence des évêques français a réussi une remarquable gageure tant sur le
plan pastoral que sociétal en replaçant la matrice christique au cœur de
l'événement.
Variations on a crumbling world and how to transcend it
Dr. Charles Chartouni/Ici Beyrouth/September 28/2026
(Translated from french by AI)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157904/
The world stage offers the spectacle of an order that is crumbling and
struggling to unite around institutions or points of convergence. Javier Milei
is quite right to denounce the UN, which has turned into a caricature of Abbé
Charles-Irénée de Saint-Pierre's (1658-1743) project for perpetual peace and
that of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). This denunciation was prefigured by the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) in the aftermath of the Second
World War.
The democratic and liberal world order and its institutions, created and
implemented by the United States, have been transformed into a counter-model
that dictatorships and totalitarian regimes use to give themselves a
pseudo-democratic legitimacy which, by definition, they lack. The degree of
instrumentalization of these institutional conglomerates reaches proportions
that discredit them. One does not really see what purpose the United Nations
serves at a moment in its history when its philosophical foundation and the
universalism it claims to uphold have become a dead letter and refer to nothing.
This calls into question their legitimacy and challenges their ability to manage
international conflicts in the absence of a normative and politico-institutional
consensus that would prevent the inevitable rupture. A fresh reflection in this
regard is imperative and could draw inspiration from the work of Bruce Kent
(Catholic priest, politician and philosopher, 1929-2022) who rethought the
federating world order around the actors of civil society. In any case, it is
impossible to adhere to an imposture that serves as a cover for genocidal
dictatorships and projects of domination in multiple forms. It is no coincidence
that ideologues seize upon it in order to promote totalitarian regimes or
geopolitical choices that correspond to their projects of domination. Islamism,
in all its variants, and its neo-leftist emulators are its main beneficiaries.
The visit of Pope Leo XIV to France is of incomparable importance and its impact
goes beyond the borders of France. The unifying power of the Catholic Church
asserts itself unequivocally despite and in spite of the crises it has gone
through throughout the last decade. The crisis of the great institutions
(family, school, hospital, university, institutional religions...) that provided
the frameworks of socialization for modern societies points to alternative
models in a state of continuous development.
The enthusiasm generated by the visit of Pope Leo evokes indirectly the dynamic
driven by the contemporary papacy. This dynamic manifests itself through the
vast projects launched by the Second Vatican Council, the synodal debates, and
the reflective work carried out in Catholic universities around the world. It
also manifests itself through Christian and interreligious ecumenism, dialogue
with modernity, as well as in the diversity of ministries in the sectors of
development, education, health and integral ecology.
Otherwise, the contemporary papacy with Angelo Roncalli (1881-1963), the
aggiornamento of Vatican II; Giovanni Battista Montini (1897-1978), the
completion of Vatican II, ecumenism, bioethics, peace and justice in the world;
the historic pontificate of Karol Wojtyla (1920-2005) and his pastoral,
ecclesiological, theological, philosophical, political, and interreligious
dialogue contribution; the ministry of Joseph Ratzinger which distinguished
itself by its intellectual, ecclesial and liturgical scope, and finally the
ministry of the Church outside the walls of Jorge Bergoglio, largely account for
Leo XIV's accession to the apostolic succession, that of the missionary whose
character was forged in the margins of contemporary humanity and at the heart of
its problems.
Leo XIV was trained for the task throughout a missionary trajectory that has
experienced everything. His dialectical approach to the relations between Church
and State, to contemporary humanism and the central questions of social justice,
education and development, bioethical issues (genetics, abortion, euthanasia and
end of life...) and world peace is in continuity with his predecessors. It also
bears the imprint of the missionary, the pastor, the mathematician and the
jurist skilled in mediation and conflict resolution. His serenity, his humility
and his natural reserve are typical of a monk formed in Augustinian
spirituality.
It is not surprising that this momentum expressed by French youth is in tune
with a generation in search of meaning in a shattered world where decentered
subjectivities intersect with the crisis of objectivity and its registers.
Moreover, the irruption of Islam within Western democracies has called into
question the philosophical foundations of the political order and its
secularity, the cultural and civilizational benchmarks, the boundaries between
public and private, the stakes of moral reflection and the questions of
strategic security. The nihilisms that draw their sustenance from the
disenchantment of the modern world and from the murderous excesses of an
obscurantist and totalitarian Islam put public debate back in the saddle and
call for philosophical debate and public conversation.
The "Christian proposition", as Pierre Manent so well expressed it, is
challenging in more than one respect, that of the evangelical beatitudes,
biblical anthropology, natural law, Christian spiritualities, the categories of
canon law, the rich monastic traditions, and the two-thousand-year history of
the Church. The great moments of this visit are so many punctuations that refer
us to the Christian roots of Europe and to its scriptural sources and historical
traditions. The World Youth Days and the vigils of prayer and meditation are
instances of mediation between a youth tormented by the promises of modernity
and its dilemmas and their multiple implications.
The importance of pastoral, artistic and liturgical work testifies to the
importance of these "theological loci" (theologoumenon) and their role in the
emergence of a new consciousness of self and of the world. These manifestations
are responses to challenges that are not insignificant. These issues concern
meaning in a disenchanted universe, memory that one tries to erase, and the
social and political order where the rule of law and the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights define its contours. It is this plural reading that will allow
us to grasp the singularity of the event. The French Bishops' Conference has
achieved a remarkable feat both pastorally and societally by placing the
Christic matrix back at the heart of the event.
Shiites in Lebanon – 5
Colonel Charbel Barakat/September 29/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/09/157924/
Following the victory of the Ottoman Sultanate’s forces over Prince Fakhr al-Din
II and his departure for Istanbul, Prince Melhem (the son of his brother Younis)
assumed the Emirate and sought to restore the Ma‘an family’s control over the
country. In an attempt to curtail the influence of the Ma‘an emirs, the Wali
(Governor) of Damascus, Ali Alam al-Din, was tasked with collecting taxes in the
Chouf, Matn, and Jurd regions. However, Prince Melhem reorganized his forces and
attacked Alam al-Din with the aid of his Druze allies and Maronite supporters
led by the Khazen family in the Battle of Majd al-Ma‘oush. He expelled Alam
al-Din from the country and reasserted his authority over the primary regions of
Mount Lebanon. It is said that this operation hastened the execution of Prince
Fakhr al-Din.
The Wali subsequently dispatched a force to support Alam al-Din, which managed
to defeat Prince Melhem and his allies at the Battle of Qab Elias. Yet, Prince
Melhem soon drove Alam al-Din out of the Chouf, pursued him all the way to
Tripoli, and forced him to relinquish tax collection rights. These
confrontations demonstrated that Melhem and his Maronite allies constituted the
dominant power in Mount Lebanon.
Having despaired of Druze assistance, Alam al-Din turned to the Shiites of Jabal
Amil, convincing them that he could grant them a role in governing the country
if he managed to assert his control. However, in 1638, Prince Melhem trapped him
in an ambush in the southern town of Ansar, where Alam al-Din lost around 1,600
of his supporters, mostly Shiites. In 1641, Prince Melhem secured the right to
collect taxes directly from Istanbul, bypassing the Wali of Damascus. This
tax-collection mandate was granted for a renewable one-year term and continued
to be renewed until his death.
In 1650, the Wali of Tripoli assigned the tax collection of Batroun to Prince
Melhem, who in turn delegated it to his aide, Abu Nawfal al-Khazen (son of Abu
Nader al-Khazen, who had been an assistant to Prince Fakhr al-Din). In 1651, the
Wali of Tripoli granted him the tax collection of Akkar, followed in 1657 by the
Sanjak of Safed and Jabal Amil. Through these appointments, he restored most of
the territories that had been under Lebanese administration during the time of
Prince Fakhr al-Din II.
However, following the death of Prince Melhem in 1658, the Ottomans detached
Mount Lebanon from the Eyalet of Damascus and established the Eyalet of Sidon,
incorporating into it the regions of Mount Lebanon alongside the cities of
Beirut and Sidon to place them under direct Ottoman administration. This
administrative shift was backed by enemies of the Ma‘an family, such as Alam
al-Din, who sought to challenge the emirs with the support of the new Wali. This
forced Prince Qarandaz (son of Prince Melhem) and his brother Ali to flee and
seek refuge in the Hammadi territories of the upper Byblos region. Qarandaz was
subsequently killed in 1662 during a clash with Ottoman forces.
Later, Prince Ahmad fought his enemies and managed to restore control over the
Emirate until his death in 1697. With his passing, no direct heir from the Ma‘an
family remained, and the Emirate passed to the Sunni Prince Bashir Shihab I (the
grandson of Prince Melhem through his daughter). Thus ended the Ma‘an era, which
had—to varying degrees—reunified Lebanon, at least in terms of administering
provinces that preserved their diversity and internal relations while remaining
linked to the Emirate for defense, taxation, and major projects.
It is notable here that the Shiites of Bilad al-Bishara (known as Jabal Amil)
retained their particularism and the independence of their decision-making.
Meanwhile, the Shiites of the upper Byblos region, belonging to the Hammadi clan
(mentioned previously), also maintained a degree of independence—even from the
Beqaa—alongside a solid understanding with other Lebanese groups, particularly
the Maronites of Kesrouan, Batroun, or Bsharri, and the Druze of the mountain.
This granted them the capacity to undertake the collection of princely revenues
in specific regions when the authority of the Emirate receded during the Shihabi
period.
This highlights the crucial importance of centralized governance within the
Emirate: when the state is capable of handling external affairs in a manner that
safeguards the rights of all regions, the need for these regions to deal with
foreign powers individually disappears. Conversely, when central authority
weakens, foreign intervention in local affairs begins, giving rise to partition
projects that breed hostility and armed conflict. As we will witness under the
Shihabi emirs during periods of weakness, regional divisions surfaced—much like
the period following the departure of Prince Fakhr al-Din and before authority
was firmly secured by Prince Melhem.
Similarly, during the Shihabi era, when Prince Bashir II imposed state
authority, he unified the collective will and decision-making, successfully
forging political alliances and engaging in military campaigns. However, he
administered a heavily centralized state rather than the semi-federal model
organized by the Ma‘an emirs before him.
Here as well, we observe how the traditional leadership (Sayyids) among the
Shiites remained distant from governance and refrained from meddling in its
details. This granted the community a practical, national outlook, shielding it
from the metaphysical ideologies that dictate its fate when led by figures who
attribute everything to religious or sectarian affiliation. In contrast, during
periods governed by local leaders, the ordinary citizen feels empowered to
pursue their own interests, resolve daily problems, and secure a livelihood
without requiring heavenly intervention and its dire consequences.
America’s Progressives Demand a Multi-Ethnic Israel,
Tolerate an Arab Muslim Palestine
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/MID.EAST JOURNAL -FROM MIDDLE EAST
24/September 28/2026
From Adam Brody’s “Free Palestine” declaration to Peter Beinart and Jon Stewart,
one question remains remarkably neglected: What kind of Palestine are
progressives actually advocating?
This week, Adam Brody became the latest prominent American celebrity to board
the “Free Palestine” train. In a September 25 interview with GQ, the actor
offered a blunt assessment of the war in Gaza: “Put me down as thinking it's a
genocide. Put me down as wanting a free Palestine.” Read Brody’s GQ interview
He is hardly alone. A day earlier, actors Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder
were among demonstrators detained outside the United Nations during a protest
against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, another sign of how
thoroughly the Palestinian cause has moved into the center of progressive
American culture.
But beneath the increasingly fashionable slogan lies a question that is almost
never asked: Free Palestine to become what?
An enormous blind spot has come to dominate the discourse of certain progressive
Jewish-American commentators, most notably figures like Peter Beinart and Jon
Stewart. Beinart has gone considerably further than Stewart, explicitly
abandoning the two-state model in favor of a single political framework based on
equal citizenship for Jews and Palestinians, while Stewart has provided one of
America’s most influential platforms for a broader progressive critique of
Israel. The two sat together on The Daily Show in 2025 for an extended
discussion of Gaza, Judaism, Israel and Palestinian rights.
While their arguments are presented as an unyielding defense of liberal
democratic values, their prescriptions for the Middle East contain a profound
structural contradiction. The explicitly Jewish character of Israel is subjected
to relentless scrutiny, and in Beinart’s case rejected as incompatible with
genuine equality. Yet far less attention is paid to a Palestinian national
movement that openly envisions its future state as Arab in national identity and
Muslim in important elements of its constitutional character.
This inexplicable bias mirrors a broader cultural phenomenon in the West: a
performative eagerness to replace traditional Western or Judeo-Christian
cultural markers with secular, bland alternatives while going out of the way to
loudly celebrate non-Western traditions. On Christmas and Hanukkah, the
politically correct greeting is a generic “happy holidays.” On Islamic holidays,
the politically correct greeting is the Arabic “Eid Mubarak.”
While these commentators believe their positions are steeped in fairness, ethics
and universal humanity, their advocacy is frequently driven by an uncritical
romanticization of the global non-West. By viewing what they perceive as
“indigenous” or “native” cultures through a lens of unalloyed sentimentality,
they treat Western institutional traditions as uniquely flawed while remaining
strikingly incurious about the illiberal realities governing the societies they
seek to empower.
On the domestic front, the progressive blueprint is exhaustive. The likes of
Beinart and Stewart present a long list of injustices they demand to see fixed
in America, championing gender equality, LGBTQ rights, the rule of law and
robust social safety nets. These demands apply to Israel too. Yet when attention
shifts to the Arab world, a different instinct frequently emerges: authoritarian
governments, sectarian social structures and illiberal institutions become
matters that outsiders are warned not to impose themselves upon.
America’s progressives rarely discuss Palestinians as a society that itself
requires structural transformation regarding the rights of women, the protection
of sexual minorities or the establishment of independent democratic
institutions. The Palestinian struggle is instead reduced primarily to the
mechanical concession of land and power. What happens to the Palestinian
population after the borders are drawn is too often treated as an afterthought.
Geopolitical vacuums, however, are never filled by abstract liberal ideals. They
are filled by the most organized, heavily armed and illiberal factions
available. When a Palestinian is the tragic victim of an Israeli bullet, it can
become an international crisis. Yet when Palestinians are imprisoned, silenced
or killed by Hamas or other Palestinian factions, comparable international
attention is often much harder to find.
It is easy to champion vogue, contrarian ideas when one has grown up in the
security and prosperity of American suburbs. It is quite another to understand
the harrowing reality of living inside a failing state.
My perspective on this matter does not come from academic theory, but from lived
experience. I grew up in a dual-national, Iraqi-Lebanese household. In that
environment, national identity was never engraved in stone; it was a fluid asset
negotiable for survival. My family moved between Baghdad and Beirut to escape
endless sectarian conflicts, constantly seeking whichever nation could offer a
temporary semblance of stability.
In my adulthood, I continued this search for a better life and migrated to the
United States, where I was naturalized and fully assimilated. Today, I consider
myself a patriotic American. I carry the rich heritage of my ancestral homelands
proudly, but my political allegiance belongs exclusively to the American
republic.
Living as a national in both Iraq and Lebanon meant living within states that
conceptualized public space through a singular, majoritarian lens. As a
Muslim-born Arab, my cultural identity naturally aligned with much of the
dominant apparatus of the state. Moving to America changed that dynamic
completely. Unlike the traditional nation-states of the Old World, America
largely decouples cultural identity from national belonging.
What determines an individual’s Americanism is not blood, faith or ancestral
lineage, but a shared commitment to the Constitution and the founding principles
of the republic.
While American identity was undeniably shaped by the Judeo-Christian traditions
of its founders, the structural separation of church and state remains one of
its cornerstones. English acts as the de facto language of governance, yet it
seamlessly coexists with Spanish and dozens of other languages depending on the
region.
This multi-ethnic civic model is historically unusual. Many nations around the
world, including mature Western democracies such as France or Denmark, retain
strong cultural, linguistic and historical identities tied to a majority nation.
This majoritarian structure becomes significantly more pronounced in the Middle
East, where public space in many countries is explicitly Arab and Islamic. Iraq
features Allahu Akbar on its national flag. Syria’s official designation remains
the Syrian Arab Republic, despite the presence of Kurds, Assyrians and other
minorities.
And this is where the debate over Palestine becomes particularly revealing.
The February 2026 draft constitution for the State of Palestine leaves little
ambiguity about the national character being envisioned. It declares that
Palestine is part of the Arab homeland and that the Palestinian Arab people are
part of the Arab nation. Islam is the official religion, the principles of
Islamic Sharia are designated a primary source of legislation, and Arabic is the
official language.
To be accurate, the same constitution also declares Palestine a representative
parliamentary democracy, promises equality among citizens and explicitly states
that the rights of Christians are respected. The issue is therefore not that
Palestinian constitutional texts formally deny non-Muslims citizenship. It is
that Palestine is emphatically not being envisioned as the culturally neutral,
post-national state that some Western progressives increasingly demand Israel
become.
Palestinians are being encouraged to exercise Arab national self-determination.
Jews are increasingly told that exercising Jewish national self-determination is
itself the problem.
That contradiction becomes even more striking when examining Israel as it
actually exists. Israel defines itself as a Jewish state, but more than two
million Arab citizens participate in its political system, form parties, serve
in the Knesset and debate how best to influence the direction of the country. As
a recent Mid.East Journal analysis of Arab voters in Israel’s 2026 election
showed, Arab citizens can maintain Palestinian, Arab, religious and Israeli
components of identity simultaneously while participating directly in Israeli
politics.
The question, then, is not whether Palestinians are entitled to national
identity. Of course they are. The question is why Palestinian Arab nationalism
is treated as the legitimate fulfillment of self-determination while Jewish
nationalism is increasingly portrayed by the same intellectual circles as an
obstacle to equality.
The history of minorities in the region makes this question more than
theoretical. Once-flourishing Jewish communities across Iraq, Egypt, Yemen and
Libya virtually disappeared during the twentieth century, while Christian
communities in countries such as Iraq and Syria have suffered dramatic
demographic decline through combinations of persecution, war, instability and
emigration. The history of the region’s ancient Jewish communities is worth
remembering precisely because Jews were not foreign arrivals to the Middle East;
communities existed across the region for centuries before their near
disappearance in the modern era. Mid.East Journal: Where Are Jews From?
That history does not prove that a future Palestinian state must repeat the
failures of Iraq, Syria or Yemen. But it should explain why Israelis might be
skeptical of arguments that national sovereignty can simply be surrendered on
the assumption that liberal pluralism will inevitably emerge afterward.
There is a profound irony in the geopolitical debate I am engaging in here: a
Muslim-born Arab immigrant like me finds himself defending the necessity of a
secure, sovereign Jewish state against the destabilizing idealism of Western
commentators who demand that Jewish national identity meet a standard they
rarely impose on the surrounding region.
True introspection requires looking inward to address the historic failures of
Arab and Islamic governance regarding pluralism, institutional stability and
minority rights.
Palestinian self-determination cannot be evaluated only by asking how much
territory Palestinians should control. We should also ask what institutions will
govern that territory, what protections its minorities will enjoy and whether
the political culture being constructed can sustain the liberal values its
Western advocates claim to champion.
Progressive advocacy must confront the Middle East as it actually is, rather
than as it appears from the safety of the West.
If liberalism requires Israel to transcend Jewish nationalism, its advocates
should at least explain why Palestinian Arab nationalism is asked to make no
comparable journey.
*Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the author of The Arab Case for Israel. He is a
research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). He is a
frequent contributor to Mideast.Journal.
Stalemate in the Iran-US conflict: Hardliners, demands,
and fragile pause
Dr. Majid RafizadehAl Arabiya English/28 September ,2026
US President Donald Trump on Saturday rejected Iran’s latest cease-fire
proposal, a seven-day roadmap that would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz and
restarted nuclear talks in exchange for significant US concessions. Speaking to
reporters outside the White House, Trump confirmed the rebuff: “They made a
proposal, but I rejected it.” He added that Iran wants a deal to open the strait
immediately “because they’re losing so badly,” while noting that dialogue could
continue. “They want to make a deal, and I think that’s fine, I like making a
deal too,” he said, though the terms on offer were unacceptable.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had presented the plan through Qatari
mediators during indirect talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. It
called for an end to fighting across the region (including Lebanon), the release
of an estimated $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, a waiver of sanctions on
Iranian oil sales, and the lifting of the US naval blockade. Once those steps
were taken – potentially within four or five days – the Strait of Hormuz would
reopen by day seven, with nuclear negotiations resuming thereafter. Tehran
insisted the conditions mirrored a June memorandum of understanding that had
quickly collapsed. On Sunday, Araghchi reiterated that Iran’s conditions remain
firm and that only a negotiated solution can break the deadlock.
Fragile stalemate after nearly seven months of war
Nearly seven months after the war began in late February 2026 with US and
Israeli strikes, the confrontation between Iran and the United States has
settled into a tense stalemate. The intense phase of major military operations
has largely subsided. Both sides appear reluctant to return to full-scale
fighting. Yet the situation remains fragile. A single miscalculation – Iran
firing on a commercial ship or US vessel, for example – could trigger a rapid
American response and spiral the conflict back into open warfare. For now, the
dominant dynamic is diplomatic: both capitals signal a desire for a deal, yet
they cannot close one.
Several structural issues keep the gap wide. On the Iranian side, hardliners
have consolidated influence. After the early phases of the war and the
succession following the death of the previous supreme leader, harder-line
figures have tightened their grip on key institutions, including significant
portions of the state media.The current supreme leader has elevated veteran
hardliners who prioritize projecting strength to their domestic base. For these
factions, any agreement must demonstrably show that Iran “won” the war. They
seek not merely relief but a political victory narrative – proof that the United
States was forced into substantial concessions. This imperative drives
maximalist demands: the unfreezing of billions in assets, the removal of oil
sanctions, the end of the naval blockade, and a broader regional ceasefire that
would constrain Israeli operations against Iranian-aligned groups. Selling oil
and generating revenue matter, but scoring political points for the base often
takes precedence. As a result, Tehran’s negotiating position remains rigid.
Washington’s constraints and the persistent gap
Washington faces its own constraints. After months of military pressure,
economic isolation of Iranian ports, and sustained sanctions, the Trump
administration cannot accept terms that appear to grant Iran major wins.
Conceding large asset releases, broad sanctions relief, and an immediate end to
the blockade without reciprocal, verifiable limits on Iran’s nuclear program and
regional behavior would be politically costly. It would project weakness rather
than the decisive leverage the administration holds over the strait and Iran’s
economy. US officials continue to emphasize that nuclear concessions remain
non-negotiable and that economic pressure is delivering results. The result is a
classic mismatch: Iranian demands are calibrated to declare victory, while
American red lines are calibrated to deny Tehran that declaration.
As long as this gap persists, the stalemate is likely to endure. Indirect talks
through mediators continue, and both sides occasionally describe discussions as
“positive and constructive.” Yet the core issues – control and access in the
Strait of Hormuz, the scale of sanctions relief, and the future of Iran’s
nuclear program – remain unresolved. The risk of renewed escalation hangs over
every rhetorical exchange.
Economic pressure mounts on Tehran
For Iran, the costs of prolonged stalemate are mounting. The naval blockade and
oil sanctions have severely constrained export revenues. The national currency
has come under intense pressure, inflation is biting ordinary citizens, and the
broader economy is under strain.
Hardliners must eventually confront a difficult choice: whether they are
prepared to let economic hardship deepen and public discontent grow in order to
maintain maximalist positions, or whether they will moderate demands to secure
tangible relief. The longer the deadlock continues, the greater the domestic
price Tehran pays.
Hardliner demands as the central obstacle
In conclusion, the Iran-US confrontation has entered a dangerous plateau.
Neither side appears eager to restart full-scale military operations, yet
neither can bridge the divide that separates them. The most significant obstacle
remains the elevated demands of Iran’s hardliners, who seek a deal that allows
them to claim victory and satisfy their political base. Those demands, centered
on substantial US concessions including the release of frozen funds and
sanctions relief, have so far proven unacceptable in Washington. The result is
continued paralysis that prolongs damage to Iran’s economy while leaving the
region vulnerable to renewed escalation. Whether economic pressure will
eventually force a recalculation in Tehran – or whether political imperatives
will keep the hard line intact – will determine if the current stalemate becomes
a path to a workable agreement or merely a pause before the next round of
conflict.
Selected Face Book & X tweets
on September 28/2026