After weeks of US demands and conflicting narratives about what is actually being proposed, the Lebanese cabinet has accepted the US proposal to fully disarm Hezbollah by year’s end. Hezbollah ministers as well as other Shi’ites walked out of the cabinet vote. The US...
Last updated 8/7/25 2:25 PM EST Israel’s heavy airstrikes Wednesday night continued into Thursday, with at least two people confirmed killed in the attacks and multiple others wounded. The casualty figures in some of the latest strikes have yet to be confirmed....
With US envoy Tom Barrack in attendance in Paris, Syrian and Israeli government ministers met in what is being called “de-escalation” talks aimed to reduce the growing tensions amid the ongoing Israeli invasion of southwestern Syria and the sectarian violence in the...
Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack continued throughout the week to make increasingly conflicting demands and pledges to Lebanon. On Wednesday, he brought back the demand for disarmament of Hezbollah, now insisting that not only does this have to happen within 90 days,...
Continuing the increasingly confusing situation centering on the US demands for Lebanon to fully disarm Hezbollah by November, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack was in Lebanon again to meet with officials, and to dismiss the guarantees Lebanese officials were...
In comments in an interview with The National, US Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack warned that Lebanon faces an “existential” crisis if they don’t give in to US demands to fully disarm Hezbollah and all other armed factions by November. “You...
Back in March, the Kurdish SDF agreed on integration into the Syrian Army. The deal was mostly “in principle” with the details to be worked out in later talks. The process seems to have slowed on a number of different points, and the US isn’t happy. The SDF retains...
US envoy Tom Barrack declared himself “unbelievably satisfied” with Lebanon’s reply to his recent demand to fully disarm every single faction within the country. Since Hezbollah already made clear that was going to be a no, Barrack’s delight was somewhat surprising,...
Efforts to try to get Hezbollah to agree to disarm appear to have failed, with Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem announcing Wednesday evening that the group will not agree to give up its weapons, its land, or its right to resist. Lebanon’s government has been in talks with...
Difficult negotiations continue to be ongoing between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah with the question of if and how to potential disarm the organization, in keeping with US and Israeli demands. The matter is important right now because while Israel is...
