| Highlights from yesterday |
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US Treasury secretary calls for Lebanese action against Iranian financial networks
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged the Lebanese government to take “decisive” action to disrupt Iranian and Hezbollah financial networks.
In a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, Bessent said in a post on X that he highlighted the importance of advancing key financial sector reforms to restore confidence in Lebanon’s banking system.
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US pushes to advance 14-point framework as Lebanon talks continue in Washington
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at the State Department on Monday.
The Lebanese released a readout saying the two sides discussed developments in Lebanon and the path forward.
Washington is trying to advance the 14-point framework that was signed by Israel and Lebanon and brokered by the United States in June. It calls for an end to the fighting, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, and for the Lebanese state to take full control of its territory and disarm non-state armed groups.
But the implementation of it remains a challenge as fighting continues in southern Lebanon, with millions displaced and thousands killed.
After Rubio and Salam met, lower-level discussions continued at the State Department, with further talks between Israel, Lebanon and the United States scheduled for October in Rome.
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Qatar calls Israeli annexation plans ‘flagrant challenge to international law’
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it “completely rejects” Israeli remarks concerning the annexation of territory in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
In a statement on X, the ministry described the Israeli statements as “a flagrant challenge to international law and legitimate international resolutions”. It urged the international community to “assume its responsibilities” and compel Israel to halt what it called “expansionist plans and settlement policy in the occupied Palestinian territories”.
The statement renewed Qatar’s “firm and supportive stance towards the Palestinian cause”, urging an end to the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It also reaffirmed Doha’s backing for Lebanon and its “sovereignty over all its territories”.
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Israel demolishes more homes in southern Lebanon
Israeli forces have blown up a number of houses in the southern Lebanese town of Majdal Zoun, state-run National News Agency reports.
In the villages near the areas Israel occupies, many homes and public infrastructure lie destroyed. Piles of concrete rubble and dust line many of the roads.
Israeli army demolitions are ensuring those whose homes are in Israeli-occupied areas will have difficulty returning, even if the troops eventually withdraw. Israel has been accused of a “scorched earth policy” in southern Lebanon, much like its actions in destroying the Gaza Strip.
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Large explosions reported in Lebanon’s Mansouri, south of Tyre
Large explosions have been heard in the town of Mansouri, south of Tyre, Lebanon’s National News Agency reports.
The blasts were heard and felt in Tyre and surrounding villages, the agency said. It gave no immediate information about casualties or damage but attributed the explosions to the Israeli military.
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Lebanon’s Aoun urges US to press Israel to implement framework agreement
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has urged the United States to press Israel to implement the framework agreement, saying Israel continues to refuse to abide by its provisions despite Lebanon’s full commitment, according to a statement from the Lebanese presidency on X.
Aoun made the remarks to US Congress members Darren Soto and Josh Gottheimer and their delegation. He said Israel must halt bombing, bulldozing and destruction in the southern villages it occupies.
He said activating the agreement requires completing the return of Lebanese prisoners, correcting disputed points along the Blue Line, a gradual Israeli withdrawal and the deployment of the army up to Lebanon’s internationally recognised southern borders.
Any Israeli delay, Aoun said, would keep tensions high and prevent the state from extending its authority, removing “armed manifestations” and returning displaced southerners to their homes.
Aoun also called for the Lebanese army to be given the capabilities it needs to extend state authority, citing its tasks outside the south.
Soto said he appreciated Aoun’s efforts to preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty and extend state authority, and praised his talks with Trump. “Lebanon is facing an opportunity to restore stability to itself and the entire region, and it must not be squandered,” he said.
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Qatar criticizes Israeli ‘breaches of international law’ in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria
Qatar has said the continuation of Israeli violence in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Syria constitutes “grave breaches of international law”.
Dr. Hind Abdulrahman Al-Muftah, the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations Office in Geneva, delivered the country’s renewed condemnation of Israel’s continued attacks on the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank during the UN General Debate on human rights in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.
Israel’s refusal to implement the plan to end violence in Gaza was a deliberate attempt to undermine international efforts aimed at achieving lasting peace, Al-Muftah said, according to a statement published by the Qatari foreign ministry.
In her statement, she called on the international community to “shoulder its responsibilities to end the Israeli occupation, ensure accountability for the crimes committed against the Palestinians, and halt any support that contributes to the expansion and entrenchment of illegal Israeli settlements.”
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Israeli military bombards Hadatha, Barashit, and Bani Hayyan in southern Lebanon
The Israeli military targeted the town of Hadatha, in southern Lebanon, with artillery, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. It also launched a raid on the outskirts of Barashit in the Bint Jbeil district and is carrying out heavy bombing in Bani Hayyan.
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Israeli attacks sever parts of Mansouri water network: Lebanese state media
Lebanon’s National News Agency is reporting that Israeli attacks on the southern Lebanese town of Mansouri have destroyed homes and water wells and severed parts of its water network.
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Israel’s general elections will not change security doctrine in Lebanon
This is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security doctrine in action, but few people living alongside Israel’s occupation in southern Lebanon believe Israel’s general elections next month will bring change.
Life has returned to some areas, but the conflict is not over, even as Netanyahu will be fighting for his political survival.
For the past three years, and under Netanyahu’s leadership, the Israeli military repeatedly targeted Lebanon, particularly the south. It occupied land;
it killed and injured thousands, all in the name of security.
The current Israeli government is not the only political force that supports military operations beyond its borders. Gadi Eisenkot is Netanyahu’s main rival. Once Israel’s army chief of staff, he is known for formulating a military strategy during the 2006 war with Hezbollah.
It calls for the use of massive force, even on civilian infrastructure, as a deterrent – a doctrine that was used in the past two years in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The strikes have stopped, but people remain anxious.
Eisenkot, like Netanyahu, insists on Israel’s freedom of action, but he accuses Netanyahu of bowing to US pressure to halt attacks in Beirut, saying the military should be able to strike Hezbollah anywhere in Lebanon.
Like the current leadership, Eisenkot wants Hezbollah to disarm.
People are also concerned in southern Syria, where the Israeli military has seized several hundred square kilometers of land. The current Israeli leadership says the military is not leaving. Eisenkot, too, appears not to want to rush a withdrawal, but to use the occupation as leverage.
It has left people on both sides of the border concerned that instead of bringing change, Israel’s upcoming elections could make their situation worse.
Netanyahu has already delayed the diplomatic track with the government in Beirut. The Israeli military, which has stepped up attacks, is discussing a new phase in operations. The debate among Israel’s political rivals is not about maintaining dominance, but how.
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US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Lebanese PM discuss ‘disarming Hezbollah’
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has met with US senators from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, DC, and discussed “disarming Hezbollah”, according to a US read-out from the meeting.
Ranking member Senator Jeanne Shaheen “raised her bipartisan legislation to support disarming Hezbollah, banking sector reforms and the importance of strengthening the Lebanese state as the legitimate representative of the Lebanese people”.
Shaheen was pictured alongside Senators Chris Coons of Delaware, James Risch of Idaho and Tim Kaine of Virginia at the meeting with Salam.
The meeting comes just a day after Salam met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, where the two discussed the US-backed Lebanon–Israel framework. Rubio reaffirmed Washington’s support for a “sovereign Lebanese state outside of the pernicious influence of Hezbollah and Iran”.
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