With a President elected, focus shifts to the Prime Minister and a functional government, North Gaza under ongoing siege, The Israeli Defence Minister threatens to cut humanitarian aid’s delivery into the Strip “until Hamas is completely crushed”, Negotiation talks resume in Qatar for a ceasefire in Gaza, The occupied West Bank under the attack of the Palestinian National Authority, Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon reveals horror of the war, Ceasefire terms keep on being violated by the Israeli Army, with two deadly drone strikes in the province of Tyre, Mikati and Sharaa meet in Damascus, with border demarcation top of the agenda, In Syria, passport issuance resumes via diplomatic missions, 37 killed in SDF-National Army clashes in rural Manbij, Biden administration leaves HTS terror listing decision to Trump, Italian FM visits Damascus after US-EU talks on Syria in Rome, UN Syria Inquiry Commission completes first visit since 2011, US, UK and Israel’s bombings on Yemen’s capital Sanaa, Sudan army advances in Khartoum amid US sanctions on RSF leader, Italy releases Iranian wanted in deadly drone strike on US troops
Lebanon elects a new President, but America does not yet. Syria has a new government in place, but America does not yet. The Israeli Defense Minister threatens to cut the already-scarce humanitarian aid to Gaza, but America does not yet: and while the Mossad leaders meet those of Hamas in Doha to refine the lines of a ceasefire which is hopefully imminent and definitive, and sources express themselves in encouraging terms, America – does not yet.
The new deadline for the entire region – from Lebanon, to Palestine, to Syria, to Yemen under new coordinated bombardment by the Israeli-American-British bloc – appears to be Donald Trump’s next inauguration, scheduled for exactly one week from now, on January 20: six days before the expiration of the temporary truce in southern Lebanon, from which Israel is supposed to complete its withdrawal, while it continues to violate its terms, leaving behind its troops nothing but death and further destruction. Syria’s future, from lifting sanctions to suspending the terrorist label on the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) movement, now largely perceived in terms of liberation and not anymore in those of oppression, is also among the items noted on the busy agenda that current President Joe Biden will hand down to his successor.
As for the end of the war in Gaza, the inputs are contradictory: threats of cutting humanitarian aid to the Strip “until Hamas is completely crushed” are accompanied by the resumption of negotiations in Qatar, which this time could be decisive – while Israel does not stop bombing the exhausted survivors, not unlike what it tried in the last hours before the truce with Hezbollah took effect. As if in the last moments of war, lives are worth less, and people are killed at random, just for the sake of it: a kind of ace-takes-all. As if Israeli genocidal strategy in Gaza had ever proved to be anything but that.
Meanwhile, in this sort of US officials race to reach a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, US President Joe Biden will likely talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon, as confirmed by his national security adviser. Jake Sullivan told CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ program that the parties were “very, very close” to reaching a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining 98 hostages held there, but still had to get it across the finish line; at the same time, vice President-elect JD Vance told ‘Fox News Sunday’ that he expects a deal for the release of US hostages in the Middle East to be announced in the final days of the Biden administration, maybe in the last day or two.
And as diplomacies do somersaults to ensure the fulfillment of their key politicians’ electoral promises by the appointed deadline, thoughts can only turn to the next day: the potential January 21, the consequent withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip, and with it the unraveling of the true extent of the Israeli campaign on Gaza civilians, where casualties – well over the claimed 50,000 – could triple.
Not differently, albeit in far lesser terms, the Lebanese Civil Defense has been conducting search and rescue operations across southern Lebanon in coordination with the Lebanese Army for a month now, following the wake of the Israeli Army’s withdrawal as dictated in the ceasefire agreement. From Khiam, where the bodies of five more victims have been exhumed, adding to the thirty others, to Tayr Harfa and Alma al-Shaab, where the remains of at least five others still unrecognizable are added to the eleven identified victims – all the way to Taybeh and all the areas yet to be liberated, where the horror can only be imagined.
So that, once again, not so much for the region as such, but for those who make it up – for the orphans, for the widows, for the shattered roads and villages – in order to be able to breathe again, to stop waiting, and to finally begin to mourn their dead, people do still depend on a name that will sit in an office located ten thousand kilometers away – so far is Washington D.C. from the bloody coasts of the Gaza Strip: in a way that everything appears changed, so that nothing will change for real.
In Lebanon
The next steps: Who will lead the first government of President Joseph Aoun’s mandate is one of the most pressing questions in the aftermath of last Thursday’s elections. On the eve of the binding parliamentary consultations set to begin on Monday, January 13, at the Baabda Palace, two politicians, former Interior Minister Ashraf Rifi and Beirut MP Ibrahim Mneimneh, have already announced their candidacies. Meanwhile, a potential reappointment of caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail with the support of a Shiite push is not excluded.
Heading the government since the end of Michel Aoun’s mandate, in October 2022, Mikati, who enjoys the support of the Hezbollah-Amal tandem for a potential reappointment, expressed his readiness on Thursday to continue this mission under Joseph Aoun, with whom he maintains a “very good relationship.” “I need rest. But I am ready to serve Lebanon and the Lebanese,” he stated.
The opposition announced on Saturday its support for Beirut MP Fouad Makhzoumi, a stance that had already been circulating in the press for several days. “After a deep discussion and in view of the necessity to open a new chapter at the presidency of the government, the opposition MPs have decided to support the candidacy of MP Fouad Makhzoumi within the framework of the binding parliamentary consultations,” the opposition announced in a statement. According to reports, Makhzoumi is expected to officially announce his candidacy shortly.
Already on Friday, Rifi officially announced his candidacy during a televised interview on al-Jadeed. “I am a candidate for the premiership. Mikati is part of the old system decried by everyone,” he said. He also explained that forming a government would be an “obstacle” that the new President would have to face. Makhzoumi and Rifi, both members of the Renewal Bloc, reportedly have the approval of several anti-Hezbollah parties, as well as some Western embassies where the name of Ibrahim Mneimneh, a Beirut MP from the 2019 protest movement, is also being mentioned.
Last, Mneimneh officially announced his candidacy on Saturday evening in a long statement published on X. “After consulting with several colleagues and having consulted my popular base, I am ready to assume the responsibilities of prime minister, based on our commitments to implement our political project,” he wrote. In an interview with LBCI on Sunday morning, Mneimneh also said he is open to a candidacy by the President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Nawaf Salam, if adopted by the majority.
Despite the ceasefire: On Thursday, the same day of the presidential elections, an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Tayr Debba, east of Tyre, killed five people, including two Amal movement members: the news was confirmed by the party, which identified the victims as Hussein Suleiman Ezzeddine and Seliman Ghassan Daher.
Following the strike, the municipality of Tayr Debba issued a statement informing the residents that it was forbidden to visit the site of the attack for safety reasons “due to the presence of unexploded ordnance,” which were later removed on Saturday in coordination with the Lebanese Army’s intelligence services. The Israeli Army, on its side, confirmed the strike, claiming that the vehicle was carrying “Hezbollah weapons.”
Later on Sunday, January 12, another Israeli drone carried out a strike on the outskirts of Jbal al-Botm, in Tyre, causing a fire in the town.
Yet, according to French sources quoted by AFP, the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon has entered a “dynamic” phase, enabling the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the deployment of the Lebanese Army in the south of the country to begin “on a large scale.” The joint visit by French Armed Forces and Foreign Affairs Ministers Sébastien Lecornu and Jean-Noël Barrot, followed by that of US envoy Amos Hochstein on January 6, helped “inject a new dynamic,” said one French official, speaking on condition of anonymity. This “gave political backing to the mechanism and enabled a real start to be made on the large-scale withdrawal of Israeli forces and the redeployment of Lebanese forces from south of the Litani,” he said.
Withdrawal begins, horror reveals: The municipality of Bani Hayyan, in Marjayoun, called on its residents to “take no action and wait for instructions from the competent authorities to ensure their safe return, in accordance with the development of the situation in the villages of the border strip, after the withdrawal of the Israeli enemy and the deployment of the Lebanese army.” It specified that it was “in constant and daily communication with the army, which will establish fixed checkpoints at the entrance to some villages.”
At the same time, Civil Defense workers recovered the bodies of five more people from the rubble in Khiam, the site of weeks of intense fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli Army. Over 30 bodies have already been retrieved since the Israelis withdrew from the area and the Lebanese Armed Forces deployed there.
Also the municipality of Taybeh, in Marjayoun district, has announced the forthcoming deployment of the Lebanese Army there, announcing that the troops and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon will temporarily prohibit access to the locality, in order to facilitate the search and rescue and demining operations. The municipality told residents that their return to Taybeh “is only a matter of time.” “We will keep you informed of the next steps,” the statement reads, calling on inhabitants not to take any risks and to respect the directives of the Lebanese Army.
A few hours before, on Sunday’s late afternoon, Civil Defense had recovered the remains of sixteen people from the southern villages of Tayr Harfa and Alma al-Shaab, both in Tyre district, from which the Israeli army withdrew last week. While the bodies of eleven people were found in Tayr Harfa and five in Alma al-Shaab, extracted from the rubble of Israeli bombardments there, the remains have been handed over to the authorities for DNA testing in hopes of identifying the victims.
Mikati meets Sharaa: Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati visited Syria on Saturday, with the demarcation of land and maritime borders as one of his top priorities in discussions with Syria’s new leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa. It was his first official visit since a coalition of Syrian opposition forces overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December and marks the first trip by a Lebanese head of government to Syria since the Syrian civil war that broke out with the brutal crackdown against popular uprisings in 2011.
Mikati’s visit, according to his press office, came in response to an invitation from Sharaa, as both countries seek to improve bilateral ties amid the rapidly shifting political landscape in the region. The meeting between the two leaders involved, among other things, “the problems of smuggling, Syrian savings blocked in Lebanese banks and the delineation of borders between the two countries,” Sharaa said following their talks. However, when asked about the issue of the disputed Shebaa farms, internationally recognized as part of the Syrian Golan Heights, currently under Israeli occupation, the two men sidestepped the question: Mikati said that Shebaa was part of the border issue and Sharaa said it was too early to discuss it.
Since the launch of military operations in Syria that led to the fall of Assad’s regime, the border area has witnessed a series of clashes and incidents involving armed groups and the forces of the new government in Damascus. The confrontations initially took place in the coastal province of Tartus, a stronghold of the Alawite minority to which the ousted president belongs. They later intensified around the Syrian town of Tal Kalakh in the Homs province, less than 5 km from the Lebanese border.
No interference: Sharaa made assurances that the new Syrian leadership would no longer engage in “negative interference” in Lebanon. “In Syria, we will remain at equal distance from everyone in Lebanon and solve problems through consultation and dialogue,” Sharaa said. Of the newly elected Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Sharaa said his government has “already declared our support, even though we don’t know him and have had no relations with him up to now.”
“I think there will be long-term strategic relations,” Sharaa continued, “and we have very great common interests with Lebanon. We hope for a stable situation in Lebanon with the presence of President Joseph Aoun or Najib Mikati if he is reappointed.”
On the other hand, Mikati praised the “good neighborly and close relations between our countries,” as quoted by the National News Agency (NNA). “We must ensure that our relations operate on the basis of the national sovereignty of both countries and prevent anything that could harm this relationship,” the caretaker Prime Minister said. “This visit is a pioneering one, and what I saw from Mr. Sharaa regarding the relationship between our two countries reassures me,” Mikati concluded.
In Syria
Lifting sanctions: Meanwhile, one month after the fall of the Assad regime, diplomatic activity around the new Syria continues, the central issues being the potential lifting of sanctions and terrorism designations. US efforts aim to gain time and leverage ahead of the Trump administration’s inauguration on January 20: in exactly one week.
Biden has in fact left the HTS terror listing decision to Trump, after the US canceled the bounty on Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, now referred to as Ahmed al-Sharaa, and partially suspended sanctions on Syrian institutions. The new US administration will have many tools with which to influence the Syrian issue, chief among them sanctions, but also the US military presence in the Syrian Jazira.
On Sunday, also Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, called for the lifting of international sanctions imposed on Syria following a meeting of European and Middle Eastern foreign ministers on the future of the war-ravaged country. The Saudi Minister called for “lifting the unilateral and international sanctions imposed on Syria” to allow its “development and reconstruction,” he told reporters after talks in Riyad on Syria.
Diplomatic reopening: The Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani visited Damascus after Syria consultations with US, EU, and UK officials, held in Rome, concluding with a consensus on supporting a “unified and stable Syria.” The Italian Minister will convey Western concerns to Syria’s new administration as Italy seeks an independent role in Syria, following its lead in EU efforts to normalize ties, which included reopening its Damascus embassy before the fall of the regime.
At the same time, the UN Syria Inquiry Commission completed its first visit since 2011. Hanny Megally led the UN delegation, meeting new administration officials and visiting protest sites and mass graves. Established in 2011, the Commission faced years of non-cooperation from Assad. Improved ties with Syria’s new administration and human rights bodies could help preserve evidence and form teams to address mass graves and the disappeared.
Rebuilding trust with expatriates: On the internal side, then, Syria’s Foreign Ministry announced on its official social media pages the resumption of passport issuance at consulates “according to the appointment system in effect at each diplomatic mission.” In recent years, Syrians abroad have faced major challenges obtaining passports, with lengthy delays, restrictions, exorbitant renewal fees, and shortened validity periods tied to security status or military service.
The news was published on Thursday, stating that passport issuance services for Syrian nationals living abroad will resume through diplomatic missions and consulates starting Sunday. The process will follow the appointment-based system currently used by each diplomatic mission.
The announcement follows remarks by Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani earlier this month about plans to improve services for Syrians abroad, including potentially extending passport validity and reducing associated fees. In a previous statement on X, Shaibani directed consular offices to enhance services, waive document authentication fees temporarily and address expatriate concerns. “We are also evaluating measures such as extending passport validity and lowering fees to ease the burden on our citizens abroad,” he wrote.
The future of the north: Meanwhile, escalating tensions in western Syria threaten political efforts to integrate the region – and northern Syria as a whole – into the new Syrian framework. 37 people were killed in clashes between the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by Kurdish forces, and the National Army, supported by Turkey, in rural Manbij, north-east of Aleppo. Five civilians were among the dead, raising the ‘Dawn of Freedom’ toll in the area to 322, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The escalation threatens northern Syria’s future as the new administration’s integration efforts face the prospect of a broad Turkish offensive, unless PKK fighters withdraw from the Syrian Jazira.
In The Region
In the hell of Gaza: During the weekend, Israel bombed Gaza’s Zainab al-Wazir school, which had become a refuge for dozens of families in Jabalia, in the north of the Strip, under siege for more than three months. The attack killed eight people, including two children and two women. It was not the first time the army had struck the building. The Israeli Army has admitted responsibility, however, stating that it hit a Hamas “command and control center.”
In northern Gaza, anyone who walks down the street is a target, who can find death at the hands of snipers, under the blows of Israeli military vehicles or drones. But it is not certain that those who try to take refuge and survive in some shelter despite the shortage of water and food are safe. At the Al-Awda hospital, the situation is increasingly desperate: doctors have been sending distressing messages telling of bombs and gunfire against the wards of the hospital. In 100 days of siege, 5,000 people have been killed or missing in northern Gaza, and at least 9,500 injured.
The Israeli bombs do not spare the south and center of the Strip either. The funerals of journalist Saed Abu Nabhan, killed on Friday by an Israeli sniper in Nuseirat, were held on Saturday, January 11. A mobile phone recorded the assassination: while some people were rescuing an elderly man by carrying him on a makeshift stretcher, a sniper opened fire; in his escape, the reporter wearing a Press waistcoat fell wounded, and all attempts to save his life proved to be futile.
Also in central Gaza, in Deir el-Balah, a girl along with her grandfather and another elderly man were killed on Saturday in the shelling of a tent for displaced persons. The municipality of Gaza City reported that 75 percent of the water wells and about 100,000 metres of water pipes were destroyed or damaged by Israeli attacks, appealing to the international community to provide the materials needed to restore the facilities that could save several lives.
Until Hamas is crushed: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has instructed the military to present a plan for a “decisive victory” over Hamas in Gaza if the group does not release Israeli hostages before the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry. “We must make the necessary decisions to avoid being dragged into a war of attrition in Gaza,” Katz stated. He directed the military to address issues that could complicate “the eradication of Hamas,” specifically citing “humanitarian aid:” threatening to cut the already scarce aid entering the besieged enclave.
In this regard, the Palestinian authorities have stated that, thanks to the efforts of international organizations, a certain amount of fuel has been delivered to hospitals that are still functioning, after fuel shortages had caused life-saving medical equipment to shut down and entire wards to close. But the arrival of humanitarian aid remains extremely limited: in one of the last attempts at entry, out of 21 trucks organized by the UN, only ten were allowed to be delivered by the Israeli authorities.
The Israeli Defense Minister stressed that a political solution for Gaza is not viable because “no Arab nation or other authority will assume responsibility for managing civilian life in Gaza until Hamas is completely crushed,” the statement concluded.
Even US Vice President-elect JD Vance told Fox News that Donald Trump would “enable the Israelis to eliminate the last remnant of Hamas and its leadership” if a ceasefire deal in Gaza is not reached, Middle East Eye reported. He also suggested that the incoming Trump administration may impose “tough sanctions on those who support terrorist organizations in the Middle East.”
Negotiations resumed: At the same time, though, diplomatic sources stated that negotiations in Qatar for an agreement on the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza are continuing “intensively,” adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had assessed the situation with security officials.
Netanyahu has in fact sent a delegation to Doha, led by the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, and composed of important members of the army and intelligence. Talks for a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas have therefore resumed in the Qatari capital, for an agreement that could be, this time, really close.
News of Tel Aviv’s dismantling of military facilities along the Netzarim corridor is confirmed by indiscretions published by the Israeli daily Haaretz, according to which the army has recently approved a plan for the speedy evacuation of the military from Gaza to be used, probably, in the event that a beneficial agreement is reached with Hamas.
West Bank under attack: The situation in the West Bank is also becoming increasingly difficult. In Jenin, witnesses told Al Jazeera that Palestinian National Authority (PNA) forces blocked journalists intending to enter the refugee camp and prevented them from reporting on the clashes with fighters. One journalist was arrested. The city is completely besieged by the PNA, water and electricity supplies have been cut off in the camp, food and medicine are not even available.
In a statement, the Jenin Press Commission said that Abu Mazen’s men have “crossed all limits,” not even sparing the hospitals, which have been turned into military barracks where the wounded are dragged out of operating theatres to be arrested. The Israeli army, meanwhile, attacked Palestinian villages in the Nablus area on Saturday and blocked access routes to the city. Raids also took place in several areas of Ramallah: settlers attacked villages, damaging Palestinian cars and property.
In Yemen: The Yemeni news agency (SABA) reported that Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom targeted a major power plant near the capital, Sanaa, in a series of airstrikes on multiple regions across the country. Earlier, the Houthi-affiliated television channel al-Masirah stated that the US-British coalition launched twelve airstrikes on the Harf Sufyan district in Yemen’s northern Amran province, while six airstrikes hit the port of Hodeidah on the country’s west coast and the Ras Issa oil export terminal. The channel provided no further details on casualties or damage caused by these attacks, nor US and British authorities have yet commented on the airstrikes.
At the same time, the Israeli army has confirmed that its air force has hit targets along Yemen’s western coast and deeper into the country. These targets included the Hizyaz power plant, which the army said was a key infrastructure site for the Houthis in Yemen, as well as infrastructure at the ports of Ras Isa and Hodeida.
SAF advance in Wad Madani: Sudan’s Army has recaptured Wad Madani, a strategically important city some 200 km south-east of the capital Khartoum, in a major blow to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). “The leadership of the Armed Forces congratulates our people on the entry of our forces into Wad Madani this morning. They are now working to clean up the remaining rebel pockets inside the city,” an army statement read.
This comes as the army advanced into the country’s second-largest city Omdurman last week after making steady gains in recent months. Wad Madani – the crossroads of key supply highways linking several states – had been under RSF control since December 2023. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, however, insisted that the battle was not over. “Today we lost a round, we did not lose the battle,” said Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti.
In the early days of the conflict, before the RSF took over, the city of Wad Madani, capital of the central state of Gezira, was a safe haven for displaced families. Since the RSF’s takeover, it has been one of the sites of the paramilitary force’s bloodiest attacks on civilians, as well as the burning of fields, looting of hospitals and markets, and flooding of irrigation ditches.
The SAF advance represents a significant turn of events in the war and another blow to the RSF, which has had an upper hand against the military in the nearly two-year conflict. The army’s capture will allow it to access other parts of the country that the RSF will now be cut off from, such as the Sennar, Blue Nile, and White Nile states.
Since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the army and the Rapid Support Forces over control of Sudan, more than 12 million people have been displaced, creating one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.
Between Iran and Italy: Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini, who was detained in Italy, will return to Iran in the coming hours, Iran’s judiciary news agency Mizan said, cited in a Reuters report. Italian authorities arrested Mohammad Abedini on December 16 at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a US warrant, him being accused of supplying the technology for a drone strike in Jordan which killed three US service personnel.
His release came days after Iran freed Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist. Sala was arrested in Iran on December 19, three days after Italian authorities seized Abedini at Milan Malpensa Airport on a U.S. warrant. The journalist, who is well known in Italy, was accused of “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” state media reported.
Iran had warned Italy that it risks harming bilateral relations if it bows to the “political and hostile goals” of the United States by detaining an Iranian engineer on a US warrant. However, both countries denied it was a prisoners’ exchange: while Iranian officials insisted Sala was not arrested to secure Abedini’s release, in fact, the Italian government has denied that the sequence was a prisoner exchange.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, under domestic pressure for weeks to secure the journalist’s release, said last week that Sala’s freedom was won through intense diplomatic efforts between Iran, Italy and the United States. She said that 500 Italians are still in Iran and that the government needed to be “very cautious” in its dealings with Tehran.
What We’re Reading
Funding gap: To cover Lebanon’s budget deficit and address its economic challenges, the country will need to make significant adjustments: according to calculations made by Maan Barazy, these would amount to some 15 billion dollars in direct costs and another 10 billion in indirect cost and restructuring scenarios.
Returning home: Over a month after the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire agreement, civilians in southern and eastern Lebanon remain at risk from the lingering threat of unexploded cluster munitions left behind by the Israeli army during the 14-month conflict, Rodayna Raydan reported for NOW.
Victory or dysfunction: One day before the presidential elections, Ramzi Abou Ismail wrote, Lebanon appeared poised to elect General Joseph Aoun as its next President. Analyzing recent developments, including Sleiman Frangieh’s withdrawal, growing support from key factions, and the consolidation of 81 announced votes, he suggested how this year’s election could end over two years of political deadlock, while raising critical questions about the road ahead for Lebanon.
The new Aoun: Lebanon has a President: and it could have been Joseph Aoun, or no one else, Valeria Rando reported. The country has been without a President of the Republic since the end of Michel Aoun’s mandate in 2022. But as Parliament agreed on the election of the former Commander of the Armed Forces, Joseph Aoun, political deadlock in the country might persist.
Lebanon +
After a two-year political stalemate, Lebanon has a president. The election of army chief Joseph Aoun by parliament is welcomed from Washington to Tehran. He takes the helm of a country ravaged by war and economic crises. What are his immediate challenges? In the last episode of Al-Jazeera’s Inside Story podcast, host Imran Khan talked with Joseph Bahout, Director of the Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at American University of Beirut, Ronnie Chatah, Host of The Beirut Banyan podcast, and Ali Rizk, Political and security affairs analyst.
