Levant Time
An Eye on the Event
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By Hisham Dibsi - Published Oct 24, 2026 - 03:28 - Updated Oct 24, 2026 - 03:29
Photo ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP
Composed gaze
By Rami Rayess - Published Oct 24, 2026 - 02:43
Political interests often produce the strangest alignments. Some of these are so illogical that they are difficult to understand or even comprehend. Yet they are very real. There is an enormous gulf between how politics is practiced and how it is understood in theory. This perhaps explains many of the phenomena we are witnessing in Lebanon today.
Over nearly two decades, Lebanon has gone from being a country that liberated its territory from one of the region’s most powerful and bloodiest armies, without conditions, a peace treaty, or even an agreement on security arrangements, to a state where five hills were occupied, followed by some 60 villages. Their homes have been completely razed, and more than 200,000 residents have been displaced, leaving these communities almost entirely emptied, with little or no prospect of their return in the foreseeable future.
Analyze
By Sanaa El Jack - Published Oct 22, 2026 - 21:01
The US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, has awakened sleeping demons by proposing the repeal of the law boycotting Israel. Such a proposal is enough for the heavyweights of the Iranian axis to seize upon it, mobilize, and unleash storms of outrage, condemnation, appeals to visceral passions, and accusations of treason, far removed from any rational discussion of the law’s nature, usefulness, and relevance in light of the changes that have occurred since its adoption. As a reminder, the Israel Boycott Law is an Arab-Lebanese piece of legislation enacted on June 23, 1955. It criminalizes any economic, financial, or contractual dealings, as well as any form of communication, with Israel. Violators face prison sentences of three to ten years and fines ranging from 5,000 to 40,000 Lebanese pounds, in addition to the confiscation of goods and means of transportation.
The New World
By Khairallah Khairallah - Published Oct 22, 2026 - 14:28
The political deadlock gripping the region today, at every level, is the product of years of investment in extremism, violence, and terrorism, in which several actors have converged, from the Israeli right to Iran, including the Islamic Republic’s instruments in the region, notably Hamas and Hezbollah. The former Syrian regime was hardly removed from these forces. It was an honorary member of the Tehran-led “resistance front,” having ensured long years of calm and stability along the front in the Golan Heights, occupied since 1967. Against this backdrop, Israel heads into its general elections with several questions looming, including whether Benjamin Netanyahu will have a political future after the vote. The question is particularly pressing given that the man who has served as prime minister for so many years is already on trial for corruption, proceedings whose consequences could weigh even more heavily on his future if he loses power.
Opinion
By Youssef Mouawad - Published Oct 24, 2026 - 14:57
For Iran’s mullahs, Houthi blood is merely Yemeni blood—Arab blood, if you like! In their eyes, it is other people’s blood, just like the blood Hezbollah sheds in Lebanon. They treat it as something expendable or disposable. And indeed, their proxies, whether Lebanese or Yemeni, are always ready to sacrifice themselves for the greater glory of wilayat al-faqih. Always ready, always willing to answer the call to martyrdom—a call that only those masters of ceremonies, the ayatollahs of Tehran or Qom, are entitled to issue! For they are the ones who lit the fuse both at Bab el-Mandeb and along the Lebanese-Israeli border. Ever since Ruhollah Khomeini came to power in Iran, their aggressive policy has been to identify fault lines in neighboring countries, infiltrate them, and sow the discord that breeds civil war.
Decryption
By LevantTime . - Published Oct 24, 2026 - 01:10
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a large-scale military operation in the West Bank on Friday, following an armed attack by two Palestinians on an Israeli army post near Hebron, in the south of the occupied Palestinian territory. Two soldiers were killed and three others wounded. Both attackers were shot dead. Visiting the scene, Benjamin Netanyahu immediately ordered the West Bank sealed off as part of an operation that, he said, would involve evacuating residents, systematically searching homes and destroying infrastructure that Tel Aviv considers linked to armed groups. With Israel's parliamentary elections just four days away, on Tuesday, could Netanyahu be seeking to exploit the Palestinian attack? The question arises in light of its repercussions. Had the attackers wanted to give him an electoral advantage, however small, they could not have chosen a better time.
Today's Essential
By LevantTime . - Published Oct 24, 2026 - 00:59
France is holding its breath on the eve of another day of tightly controlled protests, billed as an “Act II” of the demonstrations. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez accused the ultra-left and the “radical far left” of using social media to encourage “acts of violence,” saying that “rioters” had also called for looting. He announced that 70,000 police officers and gendarmes would be deployed. They will be backed by troops from Operation Sentinelle, elite police and gendarmerie units such as RAID, GIGN and BRI, as well as helicopters and armored vehicles. After more than a month of crisis, Emmanuel Macron took a frontline role in addressing the high school protests on Friday, meeting their representatives for the first time before visiting law enforcement personnel.
Opinion
By Jad Akhawi - Published Oct 20, 2026 - 22:01
Galerie Semaan and Galeries Lafayette are separated by a vast distance that a phone screen can bridge in seconds. Here, an attempt to prevent security forces from carrying out their duties; there, an attempt to storm a department store amid unrest and looting. The countries, circumstances, and people involved are different, yet the same question arises: when did anger become a license to attack, and when did the group become more important than the law that protects its members and everyone else? Placing the word “Islam” between these two scenes, however, requires another kind of courage: the courage to ask questions and, at the same time, to reject ready-made accusations. Religious identity cannot be established from a face appearing in a video, nor can religious motivation be inferred from a name, skin color, or accent. Anyone who wishes to hold those who appropriate religion accountable must first refrain from appropriating it themselves and turning it into a collective indictment.
Politics
By LevantTime . - Published Oct 20, 2026 - 19:52
Sylviane Zehil, New York The first color-coded ballot, held at the Security Council on 16 October, exposed the major powers’ opposition to the three frontrunners in the race to succeed António Guterres. None can now be sure of clearing the veto hurdle. With less than three months remaining before the deadline, diplomatic maneuvering is intensifying as the Trump administration seeks to influence the choice of a secretary-general capable of bringing about far-reaching change at the United Nations. In New York, the race to succeed António Guterres has reached a decisive turning point. The red ballots have spoken but have not revealed everything. For the first time since the selection process began, the five permanent members of the Security Council have made their opposition to the leading contenders for the UN’s top job more apparent.
