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Bipartisan Senate bill ties LAF funding to Hezbollah disarmament

Al Mayadeen | August 8, 2026

US Senators Jeanne Shaheen and James Lankford introduced legislation late on Thursday authorizing $1.2 billion in security assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces over five years, with the funding structured around a condition that the Lebanese state actively disarms Hezbollah and enforces a state monopoly on weapons.

The bill sets an annual allocation of $240 million, including $200 million through Foreign Military Financing. Up to half of that amount would be withheld until the US Secretary of State certifies that Lebanon has met the disarmament and weapons monopoly conditions, though LAF special operations units and associated enabling forces are exempted from the freeze.

The legislation also authorizes sanctions, including asset blocks, financial restrictions and visa bans, against foreign persons who support Iran’s financing of Hezbollah or who obstruct the Lebanese state’s disarmament efforts.

A separate reconstruction fund under the bill, administered by the State Department, would rebuild government services, municipal institutions and civilian infrastructure. It explicitly bars funds from reaching the Council for South Lebanon, the state body with the most experience in building and rebuilding infrastructure in the South.

Sovereignty conditioned on US certification

Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement that Lebanon has “a real chance to reclaim its sovereignty, disarm Hezbollah and break free from Iran’s malign influence” with US support. Lankford said a “sovereign Lebanon protects Lebanese, Israeli, and American citizens living in the region.”

Despite its alleged aim of restoring Lebanese sovereignty, the bill gives the US Secretary of State, rather than the Lebanese government or LAF command, the authority to assess the Lebanese Armed Forces’ performance. It also leaves the definition of who qualifies as “obstructing” disarmament, and therefore subject to sanctions, to the same US determination.

Both sponsors have received financial support from pro-“Israel” PACs over their careers. OpenSecrets records $574,295 in career contributions to Shaheen and $365,560 to Lankford from PACs and individuals in its broad pro-“Israel” donor category, which spans AIPAC alongside J Street, NORPAC, Pro-Israel America and other groups; a separate tracker counts $284,002 in pro-“Israel” PAC contributions to Shaheen since 2016, more than three-quarters of it from J Street PAC.

Not a marginal movement

The bill, like the broader US disarmament push it builds on, treats Hezbollah as a foreign-directed militia to be dismantled rather than as an outgrowth of Lebanon’s own political and social fabric.

Hezbollah holds seats in parliament and remains one of Lebanon’s largest political and social organizations, with a base that extends well beyond an armed wing.

Its financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hassan, continued paying out depositors through Lebanon’s 2019 banking collapse, when commercial banks froze accounts and locked account holders out of their own savings. The group also runs hospitals, clinics and schools concentrated in the South and Bekaa, areas that have received limited investment from the Lebanese state for decades.

Hezbollah is a symptom of both an expansionist settler-colonial project on Lebanon’s southern border and a Lebanese state that has never built a national defense strategy capable of securing the South on its own. It emerged directly from “Israel’s” 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the nearly two-decade occupation of the South that followed, and the group has framed its arsenal since as a deterrent against a state that has invaded Lebanon repeatedly and continues to occupy Lebanese territory and attack areas of the South under the current ceasefire.

A fraction of what ‘Israel’ receives

US funding to the LAF has fluctuated between roughly $200 million and $285 million annually in recent years, following a $230 million package approved in late 2025.

The pending FY2027 defense authorization draft in the Senate would cut that to $36 million, tied to a stricter recertification process every 90 days. A separate House bill, the PAGER Act, would cut off all LAF funding entirely pending eight conditions, including the delegitimization of Hezbollah, Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc and Amal as political parties; it remains stalled without a floor vote.

By comparison, the Israeli regime receives $3.8 billion annually in US military financing under its current ten-year agreement, plus $21.7 billion in supplemental funding since October 2023, with none of the equipment restrictions applied to Lebanon.

Egypt and Jordan each receive over $1 billion a year under multi-year agreements that provide budget predictability the LAF has never had.

The gap traces to the Qualitative Military Edge doctrine, codified into US law in 2008, which requires that any US arms sale to a regional state other than “Israel” include a formal determination that the sale will not erode “Israel’s” military superiority over its neighbors.

In practice, the LAF has never received air defense systems, advanced anti-tank weapons, or offensive strike platforms, regardless of the threat Lebanon faces on its southern border. The new bill does not alter that restriction.

August 8, 2026 Posted by | Corruption, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Comments Off on Bipartisan Senate bill ties LAF funding to Hezbollah disarmament

Rome talks fail as Israeli artillery rains death on Lebanon

Press TV – August 7, 2026 

The seventh round of US-brokered negotiations between Lebanon and Israel have concluded in Rome without any breakthrough, marked by Israeli forces unleashing their most intense artillery barrage on southern Lebanon since the signing of a controversial framework agreement in June.

As diplomats met at the US Embassy in Rome, Israeli artillery and warplanes pounded Lebanese villages with increasing ferocity.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) recorded 120 projectiles fired by Israeli forces between midnight and 4 p.m. on Thursday alone—surpassing the previous day’s total of 113 and marking the highest single-day figure observed since June 21.

UNIFIL described the escalation as the “sharpest” surge in Israeli military aggression since the announcement of the US-mediated trilateral framework in late June.

Crucially, UNIFIL reported that it did not detect any projectile launches by Hezbollah during the period, underscoring the one-sided nature of the ongoing Israeli violence.

The framework agreement signed in Washington on June 26, which the talks in Rome were ostensibly meant to implement, has been condemned by broad swathes of Lebanon’s political class as a national catastrophe that compromises Lebanese sovereignty while extracting no binding commitments from Israel.

Critics point to the agreement’s fundamental imbalance: Lebanon is required to deploy its army to “pilot zones,” dismantle resistance infrastructure, and verify disarmament—all before Israeli forces begin their gradual redeployment.

No binding timetable exists for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly presented the agreement as an achievement for Israel, a framing that has intensified the backlash in Beirut and reinforced the view that Lebanon has made outrageous concessions without securing even an immediate ceasefire.

Lebanon’s prominent Mufti, Ahmad Qabalan, declared the agreement the “worst national catastrophe” in Lebanon’s history, asserting that it effectively grants the Israeli military a form of guardianship over the Lebanese army and implicitly recognizes Israeli sovereignty over occupied areas.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem has described it as “a humiliation, a disgrace and a surrender of sovereignty”.

Even the Free Patriotic Movement, one of the largest Christian parties and not traditionally aligned with Hezbollah, has warned against “surrendering to Israeli demands”.

The Rome negotiations, held over three days including two days of intensive meetings at the US Embassy, failed to produce any tangible progress.

Sources close to the negotiations said the sessions, the seventh round overall, were divided into three tracks—military, political, and legal-border—but yielded no clear results.

While negotiators talked, Israeli forces intensified their assault on southern Lebanon with devastating effect.

On Wednesday alone, Israeli forces fired 113 projectiles into southern Lebanon, with 77 of them striking the town of al-Mansuri and surrounding areas. On Thursday, the bombardment increased to 120 projectiles in just 16 hours.

The Israeli military issued urgent evacuation warnings to residents of al-Mansuri, forcing families to flee their homes.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed and several injured in an explosion in the al-Mansuri area on Wednesday, reportedly after forces entered a facility ahead of a planned demolition.

UNIFIL confirmed it did not directly observe the explosion but noted the subsequent Israeli evacuation order.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that eight civilians were injured in Israeli airstrikes on the town of Burj al-Shamali near Tyre on Thursday.

Israeli warplanes also flew at low altitude over the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, and the northern region of Akkar, with drones maintaining continuous flights over the capital.

Since March 2, when Israel escalated its military aggressions in Lebanon, the attacks have killed 4,333 people, injured 12,250 others, and displaced more than 1 million Lebanese citizens, according to Lebanese Health Ministry figures.

Israel’s negotiating position, as reported by sources familiar with the humiliating talks, is to preserve its military’s freedom of action as long as Hezbollah “continues to pose a threat”—a determination Israel makes unilaterally.

Israel has refused to agree to any operational restrictions until Lebanon fully implements its commitments under the framework agreement.

This position effectively grants Israel a perpetual veto over Lebanese sovereignty, with the Israeli military retaining the right to strike Lebanese territory at will, even as Lebanese forces are expected to disarm and dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure.

The Lebanese government, led by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, has defended the negotiations as an assertion of independence. But critics argue that in practice, the agreement has only deepened Lebanon’s subjugation to Washington’s agenda while providing Israel with diplomatic cover for continued aggression.

The next round of talks is tentatively scheduled for September 1.

August 7, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , | Comments Off on Rome talks fail as Israeli artillery rains death on Lebanon

IOF obstruct Lebanese Army entry into al-Mansouri, wound soldier

Al Mayadeen | August 7, 2026

A Lebanese Army soldier was wounded on Friday as Israeli forces escalated efforts to block the army’s entry into the town of al-Mansouri in the Tyre district, attacking personnel and equipment with artillery and drone strikes, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported.

The soldier was wounded when a stun grenade was dropped by an Israeli drone onto an army bulldozer as it worked to clear roads and remove rubble in the town. Israeli artillery also shelled the town on more than one occasion throughout the day.

Lebanon’s National News Agency had reported that overnight into Friday, Lebanese Army units entered al-Mansouri and began reopening roads blocked by the latest Israeli attacks, working to facilitate the return of residents displaced by the aggression.

Attacks on Tyre, Bint Jbeil districts

Elsewhere in the Tyre district, Israeli forces set fire to the Wadi al-Salouqi water station near the Shaqra junction, while IOF artillery shelled the Zibqin valley at dawn.

In the Bint Jbeil district, Israeli occupation forces carried out a controlled demolition in the town of Hadatha, continuing a pattern from the overnight hours, when occupation forces had already carried out a controlled demolition in the same town at around 3 am.

Israeli forces additionally carried out a sweep from Hadatha toward the outskirts of Aita al-Jabal, advancing military vehicles near the area before withdrawing back toward Hadatha, according to local sources.

Israeli forces separately carried out a controlled demolition in the town of Kounine, also in Bint Jbeil district.

Along the border with occupied Palestine, Israeli artillery shelled the town of Mays al-Jabal, and Israeli forces opened machine-gun fire toward the town of Beit Yahoun. Al Mayadeen’s correspondent further reported that the IOF set ablaze several houses in Houla.

“Israel” also continues to violate Lebanese airspace, whereby an Israeli drone was also seen flying over Beirut and its southern suburb.

Israeli media: Hezbollah acted independently of Iran

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, citing a senior security source, reported that Hezbollah made its own decision to rejoin the fighting, without direction from Iran, seeing it as a chance to break the pattern of Israeli assassinations and attacks against the party.

Israeli military officials told the paper that the Lebanese Resistance had been preparing to return to war, viewing the prospect of a broader war on Iran as an opening to do so.

According to the senior security official, Iran gave Hezbollah no such order; if anything, Tehran simply understood the precarious position Hezbollah found itself in. The official revealed that Hezbollah had reached its own conclusion that it could no longer keep absorbing Israeli attacks without striking back, as it had done for the 15 months since the ceasefire took effect.

Al-Mansouri under repeated attack

Friday’s events mark the latest chapter in a mounting Israeli campaign against al-Mansouri specifically.

On Wednesday, Israeli warships had targeted the town, with the sound of explosions reaching Tyre, while Israeli warplanes separately struck it in airstrikes. That escalation followed an Israeli “evacuation” order instructing al-Mansouri’s residents to move at least 1,000 meters north of the town, the first such warning issued since the ceasefire took effect in April.

The same day, Israeli drones bombed the nearby Burj al-Shamali area three times in succession, wounding eight people, and Israeli forces carried out a controlled demolition in Hadatha as artillery shelled the vicinity of the Ali al-Taher hill, Majdal Zoun, and the outskirts of al-Mansouri and Hanniyeh.

Talks continue in Rome while ‘Israel’ offers no concessions

The attacks continue as Lebanese and Israeli officials held a seventh round of direct talks in Rome, described by Al Mayadeen’s correspondent as the “most difficult round” yet.

While the US State Department called the talks “fruitful” at the technical level, the Lebanese presidency has said no response has been received from the Israeli political level on committing to the ceasefire, and has ruled out the likelihood that “Israel” will approve a proposed new “pilot zone” in the south.

The Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc condemned the continued negotiations with the Israeli regime as a policy of “submission, surrender, and humiliating negotiations,” calling for the talks to end amid the ongoing aggression.

The bloc highlighted that Lebanese officials were meeting with Israeli representatives in Rome even as occupation forces continued to “kill, shell, bulldoze, and destroy” across the south, pointing to the threats and forced evacuation of al-Mansouri’s residents as further evidence of what it called the authorities’ “miserable choices.”

August 7, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , | Comments Off on IOF obstruct Lebanese Army entry into al-Mansouri, wound soldier

Israeli army detonates 700 tons of explosives near Lebanon’s historic Beaufort Castle

The Cradle | July 31, 2026

Israel carried out massive detonations involving around 700 tons of explosives around Lebanon’s historic Beaufort Castle – a UNESCO World Heritage site – with the huge blasts being heard across large parts of the country’s south late on 30 July.

The violent detonations were carried out under the pretext of alleged Hezbollah infrastructure under the Crusader-era fortress. This has been denied by Lebanese authorities.

“Israeli forces carried out unprecedented bombardment in southern Lebanon, triggering a series of powerful explosions that residents said were unlike anything heard in recent years,” Al Manar TV reported on Friday.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) also reported the blasts, calling them “massive” and “unprecedented,” while confirming that they were heard across the whole south.

“The blasts echoed across all of south Lebanon with unprecedented intensity, and their shockwaves reached the Iqlim al-Kharroub and Khaldeh regions,” the report said, adding that “violent explosions in the Beaufort Castle area shattered the glass of several windows in homes in the town of Qlayaa.”

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri condemned the violent detonations.

“The shockwaves from these terrorist explosions, caused by 700 tons of explosives, registered 3.8 on seismic monitoring scales and were felt by Lebanese citizens from the South and Mount Lebanon all the way to the outskirts of Beirut,” he said.

Lebanon’s Culture Ministry released a statement saying Beaufort Castle was unharmed.

However, it stressed that because the area remains under Israeli occupation, specialized technical teams have been prevented from accessing the site in order to conduct a proper assessment of any potential damage.

Earlier in July, the castle had been placed on UNESCO’s list of sites “in danger.”

The massive detonations were announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s War Ministry late on Thursday evening.

In a joint statement, Netanyahu and War Minister Israel Katz claimed a Hezbollah tunnel network under the castle was destroyed.

They also confirmed the unprecedented amounts of explosives used in their “operation.”

Israeli occupation forces will “remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon and will continue to destroy all terror infrastructure to prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to restore its capabilities,” they added.

Lebanon’s Directorate General of Antiquities has previously rejected Israeli claims that the site contained Hezbollah infrastructure.

Israeli maps and videos detailing “terrorist infrastructure” are fabricated, and the fortress has been under Lebanese state administration since 2000, placing under enhanced protection in line with the 1954 Hague Convention.

Lebanese geologists have warned that demolitions of this scale near major fault lines could potentially trigger human-induced seismic activity.

Israeli forces occupied the castle in May 2026 and framed the move as a major strategic victory. Hebrew media challenged this narrative at the time.

Israeli forces were unable to maintain a consistent presence in the historic site due to constant resistance operations – namely Hezbollah’s FPV drone strikes that have inflicted heavy casualties and losses on the Israeli occupation forces since March.

Since the violent detonations near the castle on Thursday night, Israel has continued destroying civilian infrastructure across south Lebanon.

Heavy explosions were recorded in Deir Siryan on Friday, while Israeli shelling continued to target the Ali al-Taher Hill.

Over 4,300 have been killed and more than a million displaced by Israel in Lebanon since 2 March.

Tens of thousands of civilian homes and buildings – amounting to practically all of south Lebanon’s border villages – have been eradicated.

Israeli occupation forces refuse to withdraw, and the Lebanese government has signed a US-brokered deal allowing Tel Aviv to maintain its illegal presence in the country.

July 31, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , | Comments Off on Israeli army detonates 700 tons of explosives near Lebanon’s historic Beaufort Castle

Israel rules out withdrawal from occupied Lebanon, wants ‘freedom of action’

Press TV – July 29, 2026

Israel has declared it will not agree to any “additional withdrawals” from Lebanon in the next round of negotiations with the Beirut government, while insisting on retaining “freedom of action” in areas transferred to the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Wednesday that Israeli officials conveyed the position to mediators involved in the Beirut-Tel Aviv talks ahead of the next round of negotiations, scheduled to take place in Rome on August 4.

There will be no withdrawal from the “security zone” Israel has established in south Lebanon, which includes dozens of occupied villages, the report said.

“The additional areas will not be on our side, in the defense lines that we have stabilized,” an Israeli official told the channel, claiming, “If the current pilot is successful and additional pilot areas are decided upon later, they will be beyond the Yellow Line. We will not allow further withdrawals of the area on our side. Until Hezbollah is disarmed in Lebanon – that is what was agreed upon.”

According to the report, the Israeli regime will instead insist on retaining “freedom of action” to re-enter areas recently handed over to the Lebanese Armed Forces.

The report came hours after heavy Israeli artillery shelling targeted Ali al-Taher Hill in southern Lebanon, where Israel’s Channel 12 reported that an Israeli D9 bulldozer was seen burning after it was “hit by an explosive Hezbollah drone.”

On June 26, Lebanon and Israel signed a controversial US-mediated framework agreement outlining a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from all occupied Lebanese territories, beginning with a pilot model in two undisclosed zones.

The agreement sets no timetable for the withdrawal, making its completion contingent on the Lebanese Armed Forces assuming full security responsibility in evacuated areas and the disarmament of resistance groups, specifically Hezbollah.

Hezbollah rejected the agreement, saying the framework effectively legalizes the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Amal Movement also rejected the deal, arguing that most of its provisions undermine Lebanon’s national interests while serving those of the Israeli regime.

During a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House earlier this month, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reiterated Beirut’s demand for the complete withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Lebanese territory, saying the ceasefire agreement cannot be fully implemented as long as Israeli violations continue.

According to official Lebanese figures, Israeli aggression has killed at least 4,330 people, wounded 12,236 others, and displaced more than one million people across Lebanon since March 2.

Israel continues to occupy areas in southern Lebanon, including territories it has held for years as well as others it seized during the 2023-24 onslaught.

July 29, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Comments Off on Israel rules out withdrawal from occupied Lebanon, wants ‘freedom of action’

Netanyahu will reject US demands for withdrawal from Lebanon, Gaza, Syria if asked: Report

The Cradle | July 28, 2026

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told cabinet ministers that Washington wants Israeli soldiers to pull back from positions in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza, and that he does not intend to comply with US demands, Channel 13 reported on 27 July.

The report, which cites unnamed security sources familiar with the matter, states that US officials want the Israeli army to carry out a “series of withdrawals” across the three fronts.

Channel 13 does not state whether Washington is seeking full or partial pullbacks; however, Netanyahu told the ministers that he “intends to stand on my own two feet and resist.”

“I will strongly oppose this and tell them no,” he reportedly said.

The comments come as Netanyahu has set off for Washington for a meeting set for Tuesday with US President Donald Trump, after which he is scheduled to attend the funeral services for Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Washington’s most persistent warmongers and an unwavering backer of Israel, who died on 11 July.

Israeli forces are currently occupying major stretches of land in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza.

Israel maintains positions in border and hilltop areas in southern Syria, especially near the Golan frontier, where the military has established footholds inside Syrian territory, and regularly conducts raids against locals.

What began as a pretext to aid Druze communities battling Damascus’s extremist troops and Syrian government-backed Bedouin tribes after the ousting of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has become a so-called “buffer zone.” Israel has since used it to launch incursions into Lebanon.

In Lebanon, Israel maintains its so-called “Yellow Line” in the south that runs from the Mediterranean coast in the west to the Mount Hermon area in the east, extending around 10 kilometers inland and, in some parts, passing the Litani River.

Israel’s occupation of Lebanon has been marked by repeated ceasefire violations, including near-daily strikes, demolitions, and incursions. Beirut cited more than 2,000 violations in late 2025 alone, while hundreds of thousands of Lebanese remain displaced.

Many dozens of Lebanese villages within the Yellow Line have been completely demolished, with the intent of ethnically cleansing the area and creating a dead zone to which residents cannot return.

According to comments from February by Israeli Minister of War Israel Katz, Israeli troops will be staying in Lebanon and Syria “indefinitely.”

In Gaza, following almost three years of genocide and near-daily ceasefire violations since last October, Israel continued to slowly edge its Yellow Line in the strip further under the cover of night.

The most recent reporting says the controlled area has expanded to about 65 percent of Gaza and that the line has been shifted westward in places by hundreds of meters and, in some areas, by more than a kilometer.

Netanyahu has publicly said he wants to expand Israeli control over the strip further up to 70 percent.

Satellite imagery released on 21 July and reviewed by AP and Haaretz shows that the Israeli military has dug a 23-kilometer earthen trench along its new positions, cutting the devastated enclave in two.

In one stretch of southern Gaza, the trench sits more than a kilometer past the Yellow Line.

 

July 28, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , , | Comments Off on Netanyahu will reject US demands for withdrawal from Lebanon, Gaza, Syria if asked: Report

‘Israel is not giving anything up’: Residents head to US-backed pilot zones in south Lebanon

The Cradle | July 21, 2026

Scores of displaced Lebanese civilians made their way back to southern towns designated by Washington as “pilot zones” early on 21 July, as the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) deployed in the town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya – one day after the US officially launched its plan.

An Israeli journalist had previously claimed that Tel Aviv would begin a limited withdrawal on Tuesday as part of the US plan, but local residents returning to the south cast further doubt on Israel’s intention to pull out.

The zones, or at least most of them, “were never occupied by Israeli forces” to begin with, locals told Al-Jazeera on 21 July.

“The inclusion of [these] villages is evidence that Israel is in fact not giving anything up, despite the framework agreement, and is instead able to remain in the [other] areas it has occupied,” the villagers said.

Two Lebanese security sources told Al-Jazeera the same thing, while stressing that two of the “pilot zones” are “not occupied.”

The pilot zone plan is a key aspect of the US-brokered agreement reached between Lebanon and Israel in violation of Lebanese law.

Washington officially launched the project on Monday.

“Pilot zone operations began in the villages of Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar al-Gharbiya in accordance with the Trilateral Framework and under the auspices of the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon,” the US State Department said in a statement on 20 July.

Reports over recent weeks indicated that three pilot zones had initially been declared as part of the plan: Froun, Al-Ghandourieh, and Zawtar al-Gharbiya.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had publicly named Froun and Zawtar al-Gharbieh as two initial pilot zones weeks ago.

Washington’s new announcement on Monday listed Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar al-Gharbiya as the initial pilot zones.

Just like Froun, Srifa is outside the so-called Israeli security zone and is not occupied. Zawtar al-Gharbiya is the only one of the three zones where Israeli forces are present.

Fierce resistance from Hezbollah prevented occupation forces from pushing into both Froun and Al-Ghandourieh during the initial weeks of heavy fighting.

This was recently confirmed by reports from RT and the New Arab, which cited local officials and correspondents on the ground.

The unconstitutional Lebanon-Israel deal would see the establishment of future pilot zones under “mutual consent” between Tel Aviv and Beirut.

The plan is meant to see the LAF replace Israeli occupation troops in the designated “zones” and dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure, in tandem with a “phased” Israeli withdrawal.

However, Lebanese military sources told local media earlier this month that the LAF refuses and rejects direct cooperation with Israel.

“The army will not operate under anyone’s command [including Israel]. Its mission is not to clear the ground for the enemy in order to facilitate its entry into areas it failed to reach because of fierce resistance. The army will not be the reason for the occupation of additional Lebanese territory,” the sources said.

Israel publicly vows that it will not withdraw from south Lebanon. Israeli media says occupation forces have not received any political directive to withdraw from the area. There are still no clear timelines for the US plan.

As residents made their way to the areas on Tuesday morning, Israeli occupation forces continued to carry out major demolition operations, destroying civilian infrastructure on the border.

July 21, 2026 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Comments Off on ‘Israel is not giving anything up’: Residents head to US-backed pilot zones in south Lebanon

Israeli war chief praises devastation of Gaza as ‘deliberate policy’

The Cradle | July 17, 2026

A report aired on Channel 14 on 12 July shows Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and other senior officials openly celebrating the apocalyptic destruction of Gaza and the mass killing of Palestinians and their forced displacement to tent cities near the beach.

“The important thing: those neighborhoods like Jabaliya, Shujaiyya, which we only controlled a part of – are destroyed. In ruins,” stated Katz while touring the strip with military officials and journalists.

“When you see Gaza destroyed like this, how do you feel?” a journalist asked him.

“What do I feel? Feel good. What, this is all the result of a deliberate policy that [was designed] to remove threats,” Katz responded.

“Instead of the method of raids – enter, exit, and Hamas returns – the IDF is inside, the residents are outside, and the houses are destroyed.”

Since the start of the genocide in 2023, Israel has destroyed most of Gaza through airstrikes and demolitions, making at least half of Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians homeless and forcing them to live in makeshift tent cities near the sea.

Israel has publicly tried to justify its mass killing of Palestinians and occupation of Gaza by saying it is fighting Hamas. However, Katz stressed that even if Hamas is disarmed, Israel will not end its occupation of Gaza.

“We are not retreating from the Yellow Line, unequivocally, as long as Hamas does not truly disarm. And even after that, we will remain in Gaza!”

One senior officer described all 70,000 Palestinians killed by Israel as “terrorists.”

“I don’t know how to describe this [situation] other than victory … When you control 65 percent of the territory [of the Gaza Strip], when 70,000 terrorists have been killed here, when the majority of the population is on the beach since,” stated Tamir Yadai, deputy chief of staff of the Israeli military

Israel acknowledges the tally of the dead kept by Gaza’s Health Ministry, which has now reached over 73,000, the majority women and children. However, independent estimates suggest the real toll of Palestinians killed by Israel since the start of the genocide is likely much higher, reaching into the hundreds of thousands.

Yadai celebrated the Israeli military’s occupation of Gaza for a “second summer,” saying its troops enjoy “full freedom of operation.”

Yaniv Assor, commander of the Israeli military’s southern command, celebrated Israel’s ongoing killing of Palestinians.

He boasted that since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran in late February, Israel had carried out 300 targeted assassinations in the strip.

Since a so-called ceasefire was reached in Gaza in October, Israel has killed over 1,100 Palestinians in the strip in near-daily strikes, including on tent encampments housing displaced Palestinians.

Katz has also celebrated Israel’s ongoing destruction of villages in southern Lebanon, saying Israel is now doing to Lebanon what it had previously done in Gaza.

In March, Katz announced that Israel intended to demolish the Lebanese border villages in its newly occupied zone.

“All the houses in the villages adjacent to the border in Lebanon will be destroyed, in accordance with the model of Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza,” he declared.

July 18, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Comments Off on Israeli war chief praises devastation of Gaza as ‘deliberate policy’

State Department Offering Quarter-Million Dollar Grants to Groups in Lebanon that Promote US Image

By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | July 15, 2026

The US Embassy in Lebanon announced that the State Department is offering grants of up to $250,000 to groups that help promote American propaganda.

“The US Embassy in Beirut is opening a new Notice of Funding Opportunity for 2026,” a statement published on Tuesday explained. “We’re looking for partners to implement programs that strengthen ties between the US and Lebanon, with a focus on highlighting US-led peace and stabilization efforts, and advancing digital literacy to help people identify and push back on false, adversarial narratives.”

The State Department website says the program is expected to award $500,000 to at least two groups to promote US propaganda in Lebanon. It adds that the program’s goal is to “strengthen local public understanding of US-led peace and stabilization efforts, and its role as a partner committed to security, economic opportunity, and responsible regional leadership.”

Washington is attempting to broker a peace agreement between Tel Aviv and Beirut. However, Israel is at war with Hezbollah, a non-state military that operates outside of the control of the Lebanese government.

While Beirut and Tel Aviv inked a deal last month, Hezbollah rejected the agreement because it allowed the IDF to occupy Lebanon until the militia is dismantled.

The attempt to negotiate a peace agreement between Tel Aviv and Beirut is making it more difficult for President Donald Trump to end the war against Iran. Iran has linked any ceasefire and peace agreement with Israel ending its war against Lebanon.

July 18, 2026 Posted by | Corruption, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Comments Off on State Department Offering Quarter-Million Dollar Grants to Groups in Lebanon that Promote US Image

British Intel’s Covert War On Hezbollah

By Kit Klarenberg | Global Delinquents | July 17, 2026

In recent years, the Palestinian Civil Defence has been presented by Western media and rights groups as a vital volunteer emergency service, operating out of Lebanon’s myriad refugee camps. First on the scene of major disasters, including the officially unsolved August 2020 Beirut blast, the group has provided news outlets with first-person disaster footage, while apparently winning hearts and minds among the country’s diverse population. But behind the PCD’s noble facade lurks a sinister British intelligence project, exploiting local Palestinian resistance to neutralise Hezbollah.

The PCD has invited comparisons with Syria’s notorious White Helmets, and this is no coincidence. ARK, a ubiquitous British intelligence contractor founded by MI6 veteran Alistair Harris, was behind the creation of both groups. An entry on ARK’s website outlining the firm’s experience of creating “search and rescue teams” overseas notes the Syrian White Helmets’ success directly inspired the PCD’s 2014 founding. The Western state-funded “programme” that created the Syrian ‘humanitarian’ group was “expanded” specifically to repeat the exercise, in Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps.

A little-remembered controversy over the White Helmets related to its formal name, Syrian Civil Defence, being indistinguishable from the country’s established civil defence force. On the ground reporting from Vanessa Beeley indicated extremist groups murdered the state’s emergency and medical workers, before stealing their equipment, uniforms and ambulances to found the White Helmets. Beirut’s PCD similarly emulates the long-established Palestinian Civil Defence’s name, a rescue group operating in both Gaza and the West Bank. Is this similarly a malicious attempt to falsely conflate the pair?

Like the White Helmets, Lebanon’s PCD aims to be an alternative, quasi-state structure, advancing regime change objectives. The PCD very visibly provides parallel services to those proffered by Hezbollah. The Resistance group’s Islamic Health Organization, Risala Scout Association and civil defence units are typically responsible for rescuing civilians from rubble, extinguishing fires, and other emergencies. Such provision has significantly bolstered Hezbollah’s support across Lebanon’s multifaith society, problematically for Western powers – including Britain – which desperately want the Resistance faction crippled politically and militarily.

Medics and rescue workers tied to Hezbollah’s healthcare and civil defense wings have been deliberately targeted unrelentingly ever since Tel Aviv’s October 2024 invasion of Lebanon. Much of the country’s south remains cut off from emergency services following Israel’s latest incursion and occupation. The Zionist entity and its Western puppetmasters have made withdrawal from Lebanon contingent on Hezbollah’s neutralisation. While debates about the practicality and plausibility of disarming the Resistance group abound throughout the West, the PCD stands ever-primed to supplant Hezbollah’s frontline duties.

‘Offering Hope’

An October 2020 Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) puff piece reports how when the Beirut blast occurred two months earlier, PCD operatives bolted from their refugee camps to immediately respond to the crisis. They were thereafter supposedly “celebrated as heroes in Lebanon” for their humanitarian efforts. This included rescuing civilians from rubble created by the historically devastating eruption, which killed at least 218 people, injured 7,000, displaced 300,000, and inflicted property damage estimated at $15 billion.

The PCD’s establishment was traced by MERIP to “the international community’s humanitarian response to the Syrian refugee crisis,” which provided a vast budget for civil society projects in affected countries, particularly Lebanon. The PCD was reportedly “the most ambitious” of the efforts resultantly launched. The group not only “[filled] an important gap by offering disaster relief in areas abandoned by the state,” but was also intended to blunt purportedly “rampant factionalism” in Lebanon’s refugee camps, and society more generally.

MERIP hinted at the variety of “factionalism” the PCD was ostensibly set up to counter. The outlet noted the group was active in refugee camps that served as the Palestine Liberation Organization’s “primary base” for “armed struggle against Israel,” and remained dominated by anti-Zionist elements. The Beirut blast serendipitously planted the “non-factional” PCD on the map. Having been outfitted with ambulances and a fire truck by ARK well in advance, the group was perfectly positioned to “pick up wounded in the city center.”

However, the PCD reportedly ran head-first into a “cold reception” from a “hostile bureaucracy”. Their status as refugees and lack of identification papers meant Lebanese authorities on the scene did not welcome their presence, ordering them to leave. Undeterred, the group’s leader Hussein Dimasi made urgent calls to state officials. “A line of contact” between Beirut’s General Directorate of General Security and the PCD was established, “which put Dimasi in charge of the rescue mission.” This connection granted the group state approval ever after.

The Beirut blast

The PCD’s MI6 veteran founder, Alistair Harris, effusively cheered his creation’s practical, political, and propaganda success in a November 2020 article for emergency industry journal Crisis Response. After being praised by the UN for its “pivotal role” tackling Lebanese wildfires the year prior, and the PCD’s ranks having “swelled with Palestinian youths” following the Beirut blast, the group had by then “reset their sights on tackling the Covid-19 public health emergency.” This included producing and distributing free facemasks, with funding from Britain’s Beirut embassy.

Harris fawned how the group’s blast response was “extraordinary and heartening, helping to shatter long-held prejudices with acts of selflessness and offering hope for the future.” The PCD reportedly “grabbed their boots and helmets and ran towards the chaos” without fear. Their recording equipment wasn’t noted, although Harris gushed over how the group’s rescue of “one survivor in particular” was rewarded with “international attention.” In September 2020, the BBC produced a slick package on this rescue, watched by hundreds of thousands on Facebook.

‘British Inspectors’

At this time, a vicious blame game over responsibility for the Beirut blast had ignited. Numerous sources within Lebanon, including state officials, claimed without evidence the detonated ammonium nitrate belonged to Hezbollah, which the Resistance group failed to securely store over the six years it was impounded in the Port of Beirut. The US made similar allegations, wildly linking the explosion to alleged Iranian-supplied weapons supposedly provided to Hezbollah and secretly stored not just throughout Lebanon, but across Europe.

Israel likewise consistently blamed Hezbollah for the blast, while claiming the group had assassinated Lebanese activists, journalists and customs officials “because they knew more than they should have about the Beirut Port explosion.” By contrast, Hezbollah levelled no charges publicly, and supposedly ruled out Tel Aviv’s involvement, despite the incident being openly celebrated by Zionists. Today, it remains unpunished. We are left to ponder whether British intelligence played any role. Given the White Helmets’ Syrian activities, the PCD’s instant post-blast presence is deeply disquieting.

As White Helmets co-chief Emma Winberg, an admitted MI6 officer, explained in a June 2018 talk convened by the NATO-connected Atlantic Council think tank, the group – like Lebanon’s PCD – was equipped with cameras to capture “rescue footage of the bombing of civilian areas.” This allowed for “distribution of content right at the scene of incidents,” and documentation of “potential” International Humanitarian Law violations. After all, as “first responders” the White Helmets were “naturally at the event,” each and every time.

From 2015 onwards, Winberg revealed, the White Helmets began collecting evidence on behalf of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Footage and physical evidence captured by the group of purported nerve agent and chlorine attacks informed the outcome of OPCW investigations, which invariably convicted the Syrian government. It was a position ripe for abuse. When OPCW investigators personally visited the site of an alleged March 2018 chemical attack in Douma, they found ample evidence the entire event had been staged by opposition elements.

However, the OCPW’s official report concluded the alleged chlorine strike was very real, and Bashar Assad’s forces were responsible. These findings were based exclusively on witnesses, photos, videos, and chemical samples provided to the organisation directly by the White Helmets and their leader, James Le Mesurier, Winberg’s husband and an ARK veteran. Politico has revealed how he once “hand-delivered unexploded chemical weapons ordnance in the trunk of a rental car to British inspectors.” Le Mesurier died in Istanbul in strange circumstances, in November 2019.

The Beirut blast’s aftermath

Markedly, the PCD’s typically highly active, British intelligence-constructed social media channels have remained largely silent since Israel’s avowedly genocidal March invasion. Despite vast numbers of Lebanese civilians killed and injured, over a million displaced, apartment blocks horrifically flattened, and Palestinian refugee camps deliberately targeted, the PCD apparently hasn’t seen fit to run to the rescue this time round. No wonder – despite purportedly being “first responders”, the PCD was not founded by ARK to document, let alone intervene against, the Zionist entity’s unspeakable, manifold crimes.

Syria’s White Helmets now not only comprise the occupied country’s national emergency services, but are being deployed overseas on supposed “international humanitarian operations.” In Lebanon, an identical regime change apparatus has been constructed, hidden in plain sight, awaiting Hezbollah’s administration in Beirut sufficiently servile from the perspective of London, Washington and Tel Aviv. The Resistance shows no sign of backing down to renewed Zionist-American aggression. The PCD and their British intelligence sponsors are surely waiting for a day that will never come.

July 17, 2026 Posted by | Deception | , , , | Comments Off on British Intel’s Covert War On Hezbollah

Preparing for Regional Escalation: Iran Appears to Be Pre-Empting the US’ Attack Strategy

By Robert Inlakesh | Palestine Chronicle | July 15, 2026

The US Trump administration sought to weaponize diplomacy once again against the Islamic Republic of Iran and implement a surprise attack strategy – this time, Tehran appears to have preempted the American-Israeli plot.

The Iran-US Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) officially died this week, but in reality it was terminated on June 26 with the Lebanon-Israel deal that Washington brokered. The reason why was simple: the United States decided to print on paper a new deal that violated the former by granting Israel de facto permission to maintain a belligerent occupation of southern Lebanese lands.

Throughout the month that the MoU technically held, the US committed various violations of a number of clauses of the agreement, including by direct threats from Donald Trump himself to assassinate the entire Iranian negotiating team. But the Lebanon issue was far more indicative of where things were heading than the limited skirmishes in the Persian Gulf and threats to commit war crimes.

Clause 1 of the MoU concerned the ensuring of the war’s termination on all fronts, with Lebanon being explicitly mentioned. Tehran made it clear that this meant a full withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from southern Lebanon and the protection of Lebanese sovereignty.

Instead of implementing the clause, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu coordinated a careful approach to the Lebanon war, one that would not result in a withdrawal or end to the war, while simultaneously being careful not to provoke any Iranian retaliatory strikes. Therefore, the US worked with Israel to develop a new conspiracy. This involved the use of the US-proxy regime in Beirut to stir division within Lebanon, an attempt to force the Lebanese army to clash with Hezbollah, combined with an initiative to pressure neighboring Syria to invade the Bekaa Valley region in order to take on Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, as this plot was developing, the Israelis returned to the pre-March 2 status quo more or less in Lebanon – Hezbollah froze its retaliatory operations, while Israel continued to blow up civilian homes, bomb on a lower scale, while maintaining its presence inside south Lebanon.

A US military advisory force is being deployed to Beirut in order to guide the Lebanese army on its newly agreed-upon mission to clash with Hezbollah, the stated goal of which is to disarm the movement. Speculation also has it that the US may even be considering deploying thousands of combat troops into Lebanon in order to help prop up the regime in Beirut if the situation goes sideways, although this assertion is yet to be fully substantiated.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has been documenting the ongoing mobilization and military buildup along the Lebanese-Syria border, as Trump himself has repeatedly stated in public that he seeks to use Syria’s forces to invade Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s sudden silence and lack of operations indicate that it has been taking these threats very seriously. Fighting Israel alone has been a battle that it has proven capable of managing, but preparations to fight US-proxies inside Lebanon, the possible collapse of the Lebanese Army into warring factions, and combating a Syrian invasion all demand new defensive and even perhaps offensive preparations.

Iran, for its part, was clearly also coordinated more heavily with Yemen’s Ansarallah leadership. The Yemen front never fully opened during the war earlier this year. Tehran openly challenged Saudi Arabia’s blockade on Yemen, while Ansarallah was mobilizing its forces and declared that it would fight to break the blockade. When Riyadh took the decision to strike Sana’a International Airport, this reopened the Yemen-Saudi War for the first time since early 2022, collapsing the UN-brokered ceasefire.

Yemen’s role in the renewal of the regional war will add major pressure, especially as it holds the card to shut down the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, imposing a blockade in the Red Sea that will choke the global economy further than it has been under the pressure of the Strait of Hormuz blockade. Ansarallah’s capabilities have also significantly developed since 2022, meaning that they will be able to aid Iran in their war efforts against targets in the Arabian Peninsula.

If the US succeeds in pressuring Damascus to launch an assault on Lebanon, then Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) have already threatened to enter the fight on the ground. The PMU would likely seek to seize areas in eastern Syria, like Deir Ezzor, which would open up new supply lines inside Syrian territory and put enormous pressure on its forces.

A US-Israeli plot to collapse the Lebanese State in order to weaken Hezbollah is a major gamble to say the least, one which will inevitably lead to a rise in regional sectarianism. It is also very likely that Arab Gulf media will also act to portray the conflict as a new Sunni-Shia war, as they begin to take more active roles in support of the US-Israeli war effort.

Ultimately, it appears as if the Iranians are not taking any chances and are being proactive, which has been reflected in the scale of their strikes on US assets in the region, including a surprise attack that took out US ATACMS missiles in Kuwait earlier this week.

A return to full-scale war this time around could trigger a series of conflicts that will spiral out of control and thus make any easy off-ramp impossible. The Global economic repercussions will be horrendous, as the only end to the war is total victory or total defeat. The US will be put in a position where it will be forced to withdraw from the region, while Israel is betting on the idea of Iran being significantly weakened as a result of the conflict’s continuation.

No side appears to be backing down, so unless the US suddenly decides to perform a 180-degree pivot in its approach, West Asia is about to erupt into total chaos.

– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.

July 16, 2026 Posted by | Aletho News | , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Preparing for Regional Escalation: Iran Appears to Be Pre-Empting the US’ Attack Strategy

The monopoly of arms: Why the doctrine is enforced only where resistance exists

By Sondoss Al Asaad | Al Mayadeen | July 15, 2026

For decades, the slogan of “restricting arms to the state” has been presented as a universal principle of sovereignty and state-building. Yet a closer geopolitical examination reveals a striking inconsistency: the doctrine is aggressively promoted in countries like Lebanon and Iraq, while it is largely absent from discussions in surrounding countries such as Syria, Libya, or other fragmented states where multiple armed actors continue to exist.

This selective application raises an uncomfortable question: Is the objective truly the consolidation of state authority, or is the slogan primarily employed where armed movements challenge Israeli military superiority and American hegemony?

Political philosopher Carl Schmitt argues that sovereignty ultimately belongs to whoever decides the exception.

Modern geopolitical practice appears to confirm his observation. The international order invokes legal principles selectively, depending on whether they reinforce or undermine prevailing strategic interests. The debate over arms, therefore, is not merely legal; it is profoundly political.

The Lebanese case illustrates this contradiction with exceptional clarity.

Following the November 2024 ceasefire, “Hezbollah withdrew from the north of the Litani River and ‘accepted’ that decisions regarding war and peace would rest exclusively with the Lebanese state and its armed forces”. The expectation promoted by Western capitals was that this would allegedly strengthen Lebanese sovereignty and reduce tensions.

The reality unfolded differently; the Israeli enemy, unable to establish a lasting foothold inside southern Lebanese villages during sixty-six days of warfare, achieved after the ceasefire what military operations had failed to accomplish. It maintained positions inside Lebanese territory, continued near-daily airstrikes across Lebanon, and expanded targeted assassinations while facing little meaningful deterrence.

The sequence of events inevitably fuelled a renewed domestic debate. If sovereignty means that only the state possesses weapons, what happens when the state itself lacks the capacity to prevent violations of its own borders?

This dilemma reflects what Thomas Hobbes identified centuries ago as the fundamental purpose of political authority: providing security.

The legitimacy of the state rests not merely on possessing legal authority but on its ability to protect those living under its jurisdiction. When that capacity weakens, alternative security arrangements inevitably emerge.

The issue extends beyond Lebanon; In Iraq, international pressure consistently emphasizes integrating or dismantling armed resistance groups under the banner of state monopoly over force. Yet comparable urgency is rarely directed toward states where numerous militias continue to operate without challenging Israeli strategic dominance.

Syria offers another revealing comparison. Multiple foreign militaries, including American, Turkish, and Israeli forces, remain active on Syrian territory alongside various local armed factions.

Libya remains fragmented among competing military authorities and militias. Yet the international discourse seldom revolves around an immediate imperative to monopolize arms before broader political settlements are achieved.

Such inconsistencies have led many observers to conclude that the slogan itself is not universally applied but strategically deployed.

French philosopher Michel Foucault argued that power operates through discourse by defining what becomes accepted as common sense.

The phrase “arms outside the state” has increasingly become one such discourse. It transforms a complex security equation into a simplified legal formula while avoiding a more difficult question: Can sovereignty exist when a state cannot defend its territory?

July 15, 2026 Posted by | Progressive Hypocrite, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Comments Off on The monopoly of arms: Why the doctrine is enforced only where resistance exists

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