The long-awaited moment has arrived: the one that many have been longing for since the early seventies – and that many, ever since, have been fearing. Yet neither the former nor the latter could have imagined such a poorly-staged performance. On Thursday, August 21, Lebanese authorities began receiving weapons from Palestinian camps, starting with that of Burj el-Barajneh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, marking the first phase of a plan agreed three months ago to confine the monopoly of arms to the state. The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee head, Ramez Dimashkiye, told the press the initial handover to the Lebanese Army would be followed by additional deliveries in the coming weeks from Burj el-Barajneh and other camps, likely al-Bass and Rashidieh, both located in the southern city of Tyre.

But Palestinian leaders and analysts stress the move was largely symbolic. A senior Palestinian National Security official in the camp, known as Abu Arab, told Al-Jadeed TV that the weapons being handed over – including machine guns, RPG rockets, and ammo – are not the factions’ own, but rather arms that entered the camp illegally within the previous 24 hours, as confirmed by a Fatah official interviewed by Reuters. According to Al-Mahatta, the televised handover resembled a ‘theatrical performance’ following an understanding between Yasser Abbas – son of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas – and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to deliver a portion of weapons from inside certain camps. 

Moreover, most groups inside the camps – like Hamas and the Islamic Jihad – have rejected the move, and even within Fatah itself many wings opposed it, reflecting internal power struggles within the Palestinian Authority, with Yasser Abbas reportedly using the issue to settle scores with former ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour, who was recently removed from his position, while figures loyal to him face pressure in Lebanon.

But the Palestinian resistance factions – detaining control inside Lebanon’s twelve official camps, largely operating outside state jurisdiction – are not the only actors holding weapons: and surely, at least in the camps of Beirut, they are not the ones to use them most – unlike drug dealers, who have been capitalizing on the Palestinian invisibility and the ungovernability of the camps to benefit from illegal trafficking, and more and more often clash with each other over the domination of the camps’ streets. Only in May 2024, the Lebanese army carried out a huge wave of arrests – 37 people, including one dead – in Shatila, leading to the seizure of large quantities of cocaine, cannabis, salvia pills, as well as arms and ammunition.

Today, just like back then, while the Lebanese government frames the initiative as an organized step to place weapons under state control, the reality inside the camps remains hard to regulate or frame – take, for example, the fact that no one knows the exact number and type of weapons that Palestinian factions dispose of in each camp. The very same fighters photographed while handing over confiscated weapons in Burj el-Barajneh were themselves armed, suggesting that this is more a symbolic maneuver than a dismantling of Palestinian arms.

At the same time, Palestinian factions in Lebanon declared in a joint statement that the handover of some weapons Beirut’s southern camp does not mark an official disarmament of Palestinian factions in Lebanon, and that they will not give up their weapons as long as Palestine remains occupied. “What occurred was merely internal organizational arrangements specific to Fatah, and not reflective of any broader action concerning Palestinian weapons within the camps. All reports suggesting intentions to hand over weapons from within those camps – particularly Burj el-Barajneh – are completely false and have no bearing on reality,” the statement said. 

The statement affirmed the factions’ “refusal to surrender weapons as long as the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands continues,” emphasizing that “these arms would only be used in the context of resisting the Zionist enemy until the Palestinian people’s rights to return, freedom, and independence are realized.” “We, the Palestinian factions in Lebanon,” it continues, “while stressing our constant commitment to the security and stability of our camps and their surroundings, reiterate our full respect for Lebanese law and sovereignty, and our keenness to strengthen fraternal relations between our Palestinian people and our Lebanese hosts,” the joint statement concluded. 

Other Palestinian sources confirmed that what occurred in Burj el-Barajneh was not a comprehensive process, but the transfer of arms previously seized from a warehouse belonging to a dismissed official from the National Security apparatus. On Wednesday night, in fact – one day before the staged disarmament took place – the Lebanese Army Intelligence carried out a security operation inside the Phoenicia Hotel in Beirut, during which they arrested Palestinian Shadi Mahmoud Mustafa al-Far, a former official in the Fatah Movement from Burj el-Barajneh, expelled from the movement several months ago and wanted under several judicial warrants. Al-Far allegedly possessed extensive information on the matter of weapons, hence his arrest could have facilitated their confiscation in the camp.

Far was expelled from Fatah at the beginning of July after rebelling against the decisions of the Palestinian Authority (PA), rejecting the directives of Mahmoud Abbas, and opposing the new appointments made by the PA in its embassy and Fatah offices in Lebanon. Following this rebellion, his office in the camp was raided and he was expelled from it after refusing to hand it over, until his arrest inside the hotel. Reports indicate that the arrest was carried out in a highly calculated manner, as part of a series of measures by Army Intelligence to ‘reinforce security’ and pursue individuals wanted by the judiciary and those involved in sensitive security cases.

 

In Lebanon

The US plan: The administration of US President Donald Trump has asked Israel to reduce ‘non-urgent’ strikes against Lebanon in order to bolster Beirut’s decision to start the process of disarming Hezbollah, according to sources cited by Axios on Friday, August 22. The report noted that the cabinet decision taken in early August to disarm the Lebanese group “came at the urging of the US,” but added that there are doubts over its ability to implement it. According to Axios, the Trump government believes “reciprocal steps” would give the Lebanese state more room to follow through with the cabinet decision. 

Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes inside Lebanon in violation of the ceasefire reached in November last year. Failing to gain a significant foothold during ground battles against Hezbollah in late 2024, the Israeli army moved to occupy five locations along the border once the ceasefire came into effect. It has since refused to withdraw from these five outposts despite the deal requiring it to do so. Axios reported that Washington has now “asked Israel to consider withdrawing from one outpost and significantly reducing air strikes for a few weeks as an initial step to show willingness to cooperate with the Lebanese effort.”

US envoy Tom Barrack has recently met with Israeli officials and discussed some of the steps that Israel could take, with the most recent discussions having taken place on Sunday with Netanyahu himself, only two days before the envoy’s expected visit to Beirut. Barrack also met with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Saar and Minister of Defense Israel Katz.

The US plan also includes a ‘Trump economic zone’ in parts of the south near the border, with Saudi and Qatari investments that would reconstruct the areas after Israel’s withdrawal is complete. The idea is that such a zone would make it harder for Hezbollah to re-establish itself along the border, remedying Israel’s security concerns without the ‘excuse’ for an occupation. “There was progress, but no final decisions. The Israelis didn’t say no and they are willing to give it a chance. They understand that what the Lebanese Cabinet did was historic and that they need to give something back,” one of the sources told Axios. 

 

Ongoing strikes: At the same time, Israel’s strikes against south Lebanon have continued. On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes carried out several attacks in Ansar, Nabatieh Governorate, and Al-Housh in Tyre. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, “seven people were injured in an airstrike by the Israeli enemy on the town of Al-Housh, Tyre district, southern Lebanon.”

Later on Thursday, an Israeli drone targeted a vehicle in the southern Lebanese village of Aitaroun, with local sources reporting no injuries. On Friday, then, another Israeli drone bombed a prefabricated home in Maroun al-Ras, and an excavator near Aitaroun, south Lebanon. The town of Deir Kifa was also hit, while another drone assassinated Mohammad Qassem in the southern town of Aita al-Shaab. Local sources say he was one of the first residents to return to the town after the Lebanese Israeli ceasefire was announced, where he built a house and opened a shop.

 

Expecting Barrack: Contact between Hezbollah officials and President Joseph Aoun have resumed. On Friday – four days ahead of a planned visit by US envoy Tom Barrack, expected on Tuesday, August 26 – Hezbollah parliamentary bloc chief Mohammad Raad received General Andre Rahal, adviser to President Aoun. According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), the two discussed “the current political situation, the latest developments, as well as the positions of the parties concerned regarding these matters.”

Two days earlier, Rahal visited Ain al-Tineh to meet Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, also the head of Amal Movement. These meetings come as the government awaits an army plan by the end of August for the disarmament of militias in Lebanon, including Hezbollah, following a two-stage Cabinet decision earlier this month.

The move triggered pushback from Hezbollah and Amal and strained relations between Hezbollah and President Aoun, and even more so with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Behind the scenes, the President and Hezbollah have been negotiating the party’s disarmament in recent months, reflecting the new administration’s commitment to exclusive state control of arms.

In this context, President Aoun met on Friday with Army Commander-in-Chief Rodolphe Haykal to discuss the security situation and matters concerning the military institution. The president also received General Edgard Lawandos, director general of State Security.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea visited the Grand Serail in Beirut on Friday for a symbolic meeting with Prime Minister Salam. Accompanied by most of his party’s MPs, Geagea emphasized that “everyone must comply” with the government’s decisions regarding the state’s monopoly on arms. He criticized those targeting Aoun and Salam following the government’s initiative to disarm militias. “Everyone must comply with the decision of the Lebanese government regarding the monopoly of arms. However, this decision is being implemented only partially,” said Geagea, signaling his full support for the Prime Minister.

 

Israeli prisoner released: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Thursday that Beirut has handed over an Israeli prisoner to Tel Aviv. The premier’s office said Netanyahu “welcomed the return of the Israeli citizen who was repatriated from Lebanon.” “This is a positive step and a sign of things to come,” the Prime Minister’s office added. The news came as a shock to many in Lebanon, who had no idea of the existence of this prisoner. 

According to Israeli news site i24, Saleh Abu Hussein was returned to Israel on August 21 after “secret negotiations” in the last few months, while other reports said he was released in exchange for nothing, and that there was no exchange deal with Israel. 

The Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing in the Prime Minister’s Office, Gal Hirsch, said Abu Hussein had been jailed in Lebanon for over a year. He was transferred by Lebanese authorities via the Ras al-Naqoura crossing and handed over to Hirsch. After being interrogated and undergoing an initial medical examination, the Israeli military transferred him to the hospital for checkups, after which he was due to meet his family. Israeli security forces are investigating the circumstances of the event. The prisoner is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and a resident of Rumana, near Nazareth. It is unclear what he was doing in Lebanon.

Over a dozen Lebanese prisoners remain imprisoned in Israel after they were abducted by Israeli troops during ground operations in south Lebanon – which began in October 2024. In March, five of these prisoners were released by Israel and handed over to the Red Cross. Netanyahu called it a “gesture of goodwill” at the time. Israel is supposed to release all the Lebanese prisoners it holds as part of the ceasefire deal. 

 

A new training facility: British Ambassador to Lebanon Hamish Cowell has inaugurated a newly upgraded Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) training facility in Zahrani, south Lebanon, the embassy said Thursday. The project, funded through the UK Government’s Integrated Security Fund, will serve as a key center to prepare LAF troops for deployment in the south. As part of the support, London is also providing 1,000 sets of personal protection equipment.

The embassy said the facility builds on more than a decade of UK backing for the LAF, including £17 million – or $22.8 million – committed since 2024 to reinforce its role as the “sole legitimate military force” of the Lebanese state. 

UK officials highlighted past cooperation with the LAF’s Land Border Regiments since 2013 to bolster state authority along the Syrian frontier, counter smuggling, and protect local communities. Cowell described the facility as “a testament to our enduring partnership and shared vision for a safer Lebanon,” stressing that the UK remains committed to sustaining the LAF’s permanent presence in south Lebanon.

 

In The Region 

Striking Yemen: On Sunday, August 24, the Israeli military bombed the Yemeni capital Sanaa, as tensions in the region continue to escalate amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. The Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah TV said the attack on Sunday targeted an oil facility and a power plant in Sanaa. Israel said it also targeted a presidential palace in the Yemeni capital, which it claimed is located on a “military complex.” At least six people were killed and 86 others were injured in the attacks, according to Al Masirah.

The Israeli strikes came two days after the Houthis claimed a missile launch against Israel – part of a campaign that the Yemeni group says aims to pressure Israel to end its atrocities and siege in Gaza. “The attacks were carried out in response to repeated attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the state of Israel and its citizens, including the launch of surface-to-surface missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles towards the country’s territory,” the Israeli military said.

Al Masirah cited a Houthi military official as saying that the group’s air defences were able to “neutralise most of the Israeli enemy aircraft participating in the aggression and forced them to leave.” The Houthis were quick to reiterate on Sunday that the Israeli attacks will not deter the group’s military operations in support of Palestinians. “The Israeli aggression against Yemen will not discourage us from continuing our support for Gaza, no matter the sacrifices,” Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said in a statement. “The issue is settled for us: either eternity in heaven or eternity in hell.”

Israel has been bombing Yemeni power plants and ports for a month. But Sunday’s attack came shortly after the Israeli navy struck a power station in Sanaa on August 17. On the 22nd, the Houthis said they launched a hypersonic missile and two drones at Israel, vowing to stand with Palestinians “until the aggression against Gaza stops and the siege is lifted.”

 

Population Relocation Unit: In the coming days, the Israeli army is set to begin one of the largest forced expulsion campaigns of its war on Gaza, focused on the complete occupation of Gaza City, with the help of a special military unit established for the task, the Population Relocation Unit. “Our forces already control the outskirts of the city,” Israeli army spokesman Effie Defrin confirmed on Wednesday. He added that 60,000 conscription letters will be sent this week, and an extra 20,000 later in August: in total, the Israeli army says 130,000 Israeli reserve soldiers will be called up for the assault on Gaza City.

In advance of a major invasion of Gaza City, the army plans to force approximately one million people residing there to evacuate and move south beyond the Netzarim Corridor. “The complex evacuation operation is managed by the Southern Command’s Population Relocation Unit, whose existence is revealed here for the first time,” Israel Hayom reported.

“The unit is responsible for mapping the population, gathering intelligence on it, and coordinating actions to facilitate its movement – distributing leaflets, sending text messages, and, ultimately, firing artillery shells, which send the clearest message to residents that they must evacuate,” the Israeli newspaper wrote. “In the current war, the unit was already prepared for micro-level management of the operation,” said Brig. Gen. Erez Weiner of Israel’s Southern Command. “This includes the process of notifications, who issues them, when, and how, as well as monitoring and verifying that there is a response on the other side and that the population is actually moving,” Weiner said.

The Population Management Unit is tasked with providing limited food, water, and tents to Palestinians to ‘convince’ them to move south. “To convince them to move, you need to use not only a stick but also a carrot,” a former military source speaking with Israel Hayom said. “You can’t start moving a population and then say, ‘Oops, there aren’t enough tents,’” the same source said. “That’s why Israel is already preparing the infrastructure for the evacuation.”

After destroying the UNRWA aid distribution system, providing covert support to Palestinian gangs looting UN trucks, and establishing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), Israel now controls the flow of humanitarian aid reaching south Gaza. International aid agencies said that they have not been able to deliver shelter materials into Gaza, despite Israeli claims last month that restrictions on such supplies had been lifted. By controlling not only how much aid is distributed and when, but also where it is distributed, Israel can control where Palestinians are displaced to, in preparation for their final expulsion.

The army carried out similar mass expulsion campaigns in towns in north Gaza, as well as in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the southern part of the strip. Once evacuated, the towns and cities were flattened by Israeli bombs and bulldozers, making the return of the population impossible.

 

The ethnic cleansing of Gaza: Israel developed plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza to pave the way for building Jewish settlements. A leaked document from Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence issued just days after the war began in 2023 recommended the occupation of Gaza and total transfer of its population to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The document identified a plan to transfer all residents of the Gaza Strip to North Sinai as the preferred option among three alternatives regarding the future of the Palestinians from the enclave.

Though Egypt rejected the proposal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is committed to implementing an expulsion plan announced by US President Donald Trump at the start of the year, claiming it was a “humanitarian” initiative to “relocate” Palestinians to a safer place. Last week, several sources cited by AP said Israel is in talks with South Sudan about the potential relocation of Palestinians from Gaza to the East African country. 

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Israel has identified six countries to negotiate with regarding relocating Gaza residents, including Syria, Libya, Somaliland, and South Sudan. The report says the efforts are not going well, and that previous talks on the matter “didn’t make much progress.”

 

Failure admitted: The Israeli army acknowledged its ‘failure’ following a raid on one of its military sites in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Yunis last Wednesday, August 20. The army said it bore responsibility for not preventing members of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades from breaching its encampment in Khan Yunis. Around 20 members of the Qassam Brigades stormed the Israeli site on Wednesday morning, attacking soldiers with machine guns and RPGs. Several were killed, and at least eight managed to escape back into the tunnel from which they emerged, according to an updated Israeli army probe. 

“In Khan Yunis there still remains a Hamas infrastructure of elite forces that continue to challenge the Israeli army. The fighting to hunt them down is complex and difficult, but this morning’s incident is extremely serious and highlights a weakness of Shin Bet and Military Intelligence in the area,” said Avi Ashkenazi, military correspondent for Maariv newspaper. Ashkenazi said the “fact that such a large wave of militants carried out a raid on a military outpost should deeply trouble the army’s top brass regarding the very readiness of the Israeli military to manage the coming operation to seize Gaza City.”

“The militants used a tunnel network that Division 36 had not yet identified, and this is already a problematic matter, since the area was supposed to have been cleared and mapped for tunnels,” he added, contradicting what the army assessment said about forces being aware of the tunnel from which the resistance fighters emerged.  

“The Israeli army is about to enter Gaza City. The complexity there is many times greater. The military must understand it is not setting out on a stroll in Gaza City, but to fight against two Hamas brigades comprising several hundred fighters, some of them well-trained and fully armed. Hamas will challenge the forces, try to harass, kidnap, and embarrass the army with attacks similar to what took place this morning,” Ashkenazi went on to say. 

 

Killing journalists: Seventeen US senators, including 16 Democrats and independent Bernie Sanders, have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to press Israel to protect journalists in Gaza and allow international media access to the territory. In a joint letter, the lawmakers condemned Israel’s censorship and targeting of journalists, calling such actions “unacceptable and must stop.” Their appeal followed Israel’s recent airstrike that killed six journalists, including Al Jazeera’s Anas Al-Sharif, which they said may constitute a violation of international law.

During the night between last Monday and Tuesday, journalist Islam al-Koumi and his son were killed in an Israeli bombing on the Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City. In his final post, he issued a desperate appeal for help, describing how the war, blockade, and bombardment left him unable to provide food, medicine, or safe shelter for his children. He begged for urgent assistance, saying he could not evacuate or secure basic necessities, and pleaded for his children to be saved.

On Saturday, then, Palestinian journalist Khaled al-Madhoun was killed by direct Israeli fire while reporting in northern Gaza. His death brings the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel in Gaza since October 2023 to 240.

 

Against the E1: Britain and France were among 21 countries that on Thursday issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s approval of a major occupied West Bank settlement project as “unacceptable and a violation of international law.” “We condemn this decision and call for its immediate reversal in the strongest terms,” said the statement from the foreign ministers, with signatories also including Australia, Canada, and Italy.

The plans for 3,401 housing units in E1 – an area which covers about 12 sq km between East Jerusalem and the settlement of Maale Adumim – were approved by the Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Council. The Defence Ministry body also approved 342 units in the new settlement of Asael, a former outpost in the southern West Bank that was built without government authorisation but was made legal under Israeli law in May.

Other countries that signed the statement include Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden, along with the European Commission’s foreign affairs chief.

The approval of the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, was announced two weeks ago by Smotrich and received the final go-ahead from a Defence Ministry planning commission on Wednesday, he said. “With E1, we are delivering finally on what has been promised for years,” Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist in the ruling right-wing coalition, said in a statement. “The Palestinian state is being erased from the table, not with slogans but with actions.”

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also condemned the announcement, saying the E1 settlement would isolate Palestinian communities living in the area and undermine the possibility of a two-state solution. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not commented on the E1 announcement. However last Sunday, during a visit to Ofra, another West Bank settlement established a quarter of a century ago, he made broader comments, saying: “I said 25 years ago that we will do everything to secure our grip on the Land of Israel, to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, to prevent the attempts to uproot us from here. Thank God, what I promised, we have delivered.”

 

In al-Mughayyir: Israeli occupation forces have been raiding and besieging the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, for over four days. Ghassan Abu Alia, head of the village cooperative, told Ultra Palestine that a large army force stormed the area Thursday morning under the pretext of a settler shooting incident, calling the claims “false allegations” used as justification for the assault. He explained that troops violently raided dozens of homes, beat residents, and seized several houses to turn them into military posts. 

At the same time, around 15 bulldozers uprooted thousands of centuries-old olive trees, devastating al-Mughayyir’s farmland and historic landscape. According to eyewitnesses, large sums of money and gold jewelry belonging to its residents went missing after their homes were raided in the village. Illegal settlement outposts have seized thousands of dunams of land from the village of al-Mughayyir and neighboring villages in recent months. No journalists were allowed in the occupied village throughout the raid.

 

Half a million starving: The UN-backed global hunger monitor, Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC), has officially declared a famine in Gaza for the first time in a report issued on August 22.  “This report marks the fifth time the Famine Review Committee (FRC) has been called to review an analysis on the acute food security and nutrition situation in the Gaza Strip. Never before has the Committee had to return so many times to the same crisis, a stark reflection of how suffering has not only persisted but intensified and spread until famine has begun to emerge,” IPC said on Friday. 

The report notes that the famine is taking place in Gaza City and surrounding towns, home to around 500,000 Palestinians. It added that the famine would spread to Deir al-Balah in the center of Gaza and the southern city of Khan Yunis by the end of September. By then, a total of over 640,000 people will face “catastrophic levels” of food insecurity – classified as IPC Phase 5 – across the strip. The UN says the entire population of Gaza under the age of five – over 300,000 children – is at risk of acute malnutrition. 

Since being established in 2004, IPC has declared five famines, the most recent being in Sudan last year. 

Dozens have died of starvation in recent weeks, including at least two in the last 24 hours. The total number of starvation deaths in Gaza since the start of the war has risen to 271, including 112 children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Despite this, Israel continues to deny that famine has overtaken the strip. Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) “categorically rejects” the IPC report and said the body’s assessments have been “inaccurate.”

 

Syrian elections postponed: On August 23, Syria’s Supreme Election Committee announced the decision to postpone the voting process to elect members to the People’s Assembly in three of the country’s 14 governorates, citing “security challenges.” Elections have been suspended in the governorates of Suwayda, Hasakah, and Raqqa, “given the security challenges these governorates are facing,” until “suitable conditions and a safe environment are available for conducting it,” read a statement from the committee. All three governorates are effectively outside the control of Damascus. “Their allocated seats will remain reserved until elections can be held in them as soon as possible,” the statement added.

Suwayda, a Druze-majority governorate in southern Syria, is currently under siege by government forces following their attack on the governorate in July. According to the UN, forces loyal to the self-proclaimed President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former ISIS commander, killed at least 1,000 people in Suwayda, including at least 539 identified Druze civilians – among them 39 women and 21 children. At least 196 people, including eight children and 30 women, were reportedly extrajudicially executed, and over 33 villages were burned.

Hasaka and Raqqa governorates are under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their civilian wing, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).

The Supreme Election Committee is supervising the establishment of local electoral bodies tasked with selecting two-thirds of the assembly’s 210 seats – 140 members – while the remaining third, 70 seats, will be filled through a presidential decree issued by Sharaa. Decree 143, which governs the electoral process, relies on vague classifications of who may be barred from political participation, such as “supporters of the former regime” or “promoters of division.” These ambiguous terms give the authorities leeway to exclude opponents without clear legal grounds or fair trials.

 

The Syrian-Israeli talks: Last week’s meeting between Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer focused on “preventing” Hezbollah or Iran from establishing a presence in southern Syria, Haaretz newspaper reported. A “key aim” of the meeting was “preventing Hezbollah, Iranian forces, or any hostile entity from establishing itself in southern Syria,” sources told the Israeli newspaper. “One proposal under discussion would limit the border zone to Syrian security forces without heavy weaponry, whose role would be restricted to maintaining order,” they added. 

The sources also said a main topic of discussion was “establishing a humanitarian crossing between Syria and Israel to allow international aid to reach the Druze” in Suwayda, adding that a “preliminary proposal has been drawn up, and the meeting focused on its implementation under US supervision.”

Last month, Israel intervened in violent clashes between Syrian government-linked forces and Druze armed factions in the southern Suwayda governorate, carrying out heavy strikes on Damascus’s troops and sites in the country’s capital. Tel Aviv framed the attacks as an effort to “protect” the Druze minority in Syria. Negotiations between Israel and Syria, which had been ongoing before the July clashes, resumed quickly following the Israeli strikes on the country.

As Shaibani met Dermer, US envoy Tom Barrack held simultaneous talks in Paris with Muwaffaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze – during which the crossing was discussed. “If realized, the plan will test Syria’s ability to cooperate with Israel,” Haaretz wrote. 

Recent talk about a humanitarian crossing has prompted speculation on whether Israel’s real goal is to implement its long-desired plan of establishing the ‘David’s Corridor’. The idea is rooted in Tel Aviv’s expansionist vision of a Greater Israel, and would link Kurdish-controlled northern Syria – backed by the US – to Israel via a continuous land route also including Iraq. In early July, Israel’s Channel 12 said that any Syrian–Israeli agreement would likely involve intelligence sharing and cooperation against Iran and Hezbollah. 

 

Famine in Sudan: A drone attack has hit a convoy of 16 trucks carrying desperately needed food to Sudan’s famine-hit North Darfur region, the United Nations said, as warring parties trade blame for the attack. UN spokesperson Daniela Gross told reporters on Thursday that all drivers and personnel travelling with the World Food Programme (WFP) convoy were safe. At least three of the trucks caught fire, according to a WFP statement quoted by the Reuters news agency. Gross said all trucks had caught fire, according to The Associated Press. It was not yet clear who was responsible for Wednesday’s attack, the second in the past three months to prevent a UN convoy from delivering to North Darfur.

In early June, a convoy from the WFP and the UN agency for children, UNICEF, was attacked while awaiting clearance to proceed to North Darfur’s besieged capital, el-Fasher, killing five people and injuring several others. Edem Wosornu, of UN humanitarian agency OCHA, said some 70 trucks of supplies were waiting in the RSF-controlled city of Nyala to get to el-Fashir, but security guarantees were needed as humanitarian workers were coming under attack.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) accused the Sudanese army of hitting the convoys as part of a drone attack on Mellit market and other areas. The army later said in a statement that this was a fabrication to distract from what it termed the RSF’s crimes. The attack came as several countries, including the United States, Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Egypt, voiced alarm at the worsening hunger situation in war-torn Sudan, calling for pauses in fighting to let in more aid.

The Sudanese war began in April 2023, when violence caused by long-simmering tensions between its military and the paramilitary RSF erupted in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including western Darfur. Some 40,000 people have been killed and nearly 13 million displaced, UN agencies say. Nearly 25 million people are experiencing acute hunger.

In December 2024, global hunger monitor the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared a famine in Zamzam and Abu Shouk – two camps housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people in North Darfur – and warned that it could spread to el-Fasher by May. The risk of famine has since spread to 17 areas in Darfur and the Kordofan region, which is adjacent to North Darfur and west of Khartoum, according to the UN.

 

What We’re Reading

Two sides of different coins: The issue of disarmament has once again risen to the forefront of Lebanon’s political landscape, intensifying divisions among the country’s already polarized camps. What some see as a path toward stability and integration into the international community, others view as an existential threat to Lebanon’s defense posture and sovereignty. The article of Dana Hourany.

 

Enlightenment in the crypt: The Lebanese government’s decision to strip Hezbollah of its arms shattered once and for all the political illusion that the state could continue shielding the so-called “golden equation” – an illusion that has devastated Lebanon, ruined its people, and cursed its neighbors. The comment of Makram Rabah.

 

Two words, one future: According to Ramzi Abu Ismail’s opinion, disarmament is not merely about removing rockets and rifles from Hezbollah’s hands. It is about the political choice Hezbollah makes in the aftermath. If Hezbollah loses its arsenal but clings to the same old narrative, then Lebanon will remain paralyzed. Because reconciliation requires two parties willing to meet each other halfway. “You cannot drag a dying patient who refuses treatment into a hospital, at best, you step aside and let him meet his end in peace, or at a safe distance,” he wrote.

 

Rejecting Tehran: Lebanon’s government openly rejected foreign interference, reflecting a wider shift as foreign influence is under scrutiny, Rodayna Raydan reported. President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam issued blunt remarks, firmly dismissing outside interference in Lebanon’s affairs and openly criticizing Iran’s recent objections to Beirut’s disarmament plan for Hezbollah.

 

The art of Wafa Nazer: In A Journey of Grace and Grit, Rima Nazer wrote about her mother’s artistic awakening at the age of 70.

Searching Tel el-Zaatar: August 12 marked the 49th anniversary of the massacre of Tel el-Zaatar, which followed almost two months of siege during which 3,000 Palestinians and Lebanese were killed by Phalangist militias. Valeria Rando’s article, analysing lost and rediscovered documents, is an attempt to prevent that massacre from being forgotten.