🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 560, 2023 - April 18, 2025 🎗️
- PM holds meeting on hostage talks as Hamas gets, studies Israeli proposal, rejects disarmament
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a situational assessment this evening regarding the 59 hostages being held in Gaza, together with his hostage negotiating team and senior defense officials, the Prime Minister’s Office announces.
The premier “instructed the continuation of measures to advance the release of [the] hostages,” says the PMO in a statement.
Hebrew media reports that the consultation was held via phone, and included Shin Bet head Ronen Bar despite an escalating feud between him and the government, which has fired Bar but remains in his role due to an interim High Court order.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official tells AFP that the group is still preparing its response to an Israeli proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
“The movement’s response is still in preparation, and we affirm that there is no room for any partial deal,” says Mahmoud Mardawi, insisting that the group’s “weapons will not be subject to any negotiations.”
The Israeli military said earlier today that the ongoing campaign in the Gaza Strip is aimed at continuing to ramp up pressure on Hamas to bring the terror group to agree to a hostage deal, while also preparing the ground for a potential major offensive, though such an operation has not yet begun.
The current operation is being carried out slowly, both to ensure the safety of troops and guarantee that hostage talks can continue, said the IDF.
The military has set no deadline for when the major offensive would begin, and it would be decided upon by the political echelon. link It doesn't matter if Netanyahu has situational assessments regarding the 59 hostages all day and all night, nothing matters except Netanayahu's refusal to end the war. Hamas will not agree to any agreement that does not include a definitive end to the war with guarantees from the international negotiator partners, as well as pulling out all IDF troops and the release of many Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. Netanyahu knows this very well.
Hamas rejects Israel hostage deal proposal, dismisses Netanyahu’s ‘partial deals’Hamas’s leader in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya, currently outside the enclave, says in a speech that the proposal sent to them for a ceasefire-hostage release agreement in Gaza does not bring about an end to the war or the withdrawal of IDF forces from the Strip.
Hayya stresses that Hamas will not be “part of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s policy of partial deals.”
He adds that Israel has gone back on the ceasefire agreement it signed in January, and that Netanyahu has set “impossible” conditions.
He further states that the mediators must contact Hamas to resolve the crisis that he says was created by Israel.
He says that the terror group is ready to immediately negotiate a deal to swap all hostages with an agreed number of Palestinians jailed by Israel within a deal that would end the war.
- One-third of Israeli civilian pilots join call for hostage deal even at risk of ending war, report says
Around one-third of civilian Israeli pilots sign a letter, joining a wave of calls for the return of hostages held in Gaza, even at the expense of ending the war against Hamas, Channel 12 reports.
Around 300 pilots from Arkia, Israir, Challenge Airlines, Air Haifa, and other firms declare their support for the “immediate and important” goal, adding that “each passing day endangers their lives.”
The letter comes a week after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar announced their intention to dismiss reservists who signed a similar petition from the Israeli Air Force. In recent days, similar calls to end the war for the sake of the hostages have emerged from other parts of the military, artists, and various civilian sectors.
- Freed hostage’s relative calls for ‘end to Netanyahu’s war,’ hostage deal, at Jerusalem protest
Noam Dan, a relative of freed hostage Ofer Calderon, calls for “an end to Netanyahu’s war” during a protest outside the premier’s private residence in Jerusalem.
The hostages are “destroyed in body and spirit… they are meeting their fate [in Gaza],” she laments.
She demands that the government sign a deal for the return of the remaining hostages in Gaza and a permanent end to the war.
“They call us refusers… but he [Netanyahu] is the only refuser,” she says, charging the premier with refusing to strike a hostage deal, establish a state commission of inquiry into October 7, or take responsibility for the government’s failure to prevent Hamas’s massacre.
As she gives her speech, a sole counterprotester from beyond the police-erected barricades attempts to drown out her speech with loud music.
- ‘Angry, humiliated’ hostage parents fume at top negotiator: He offered no action plan
The father of hostage Eitan Mor and mother of captive Avinatan Or send a letter to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a top confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s chief negotiator in ceasefire talks with Hamas, saying they feel “angry, humiliated, confused and exhausted” after meeting with him to discuss the efforts to return their loved ones from Gaza.
According to Tzvika Mor and Ditza Or, who are both affiliated with the hawkish Tikva Forum, Dermer did not ask why they sought the meeting, a request they say they made some time ago.
“You opened with an uncontrolled attack of talking, which none of us got nearly anything out of. The three of us are not stupid. The few words we managed to get in were by an impolite outburst, in your words. If we were not impolite, we would not have even gotten to express that little,” Mor and Or write to Dermer.
“The choice of this strategy (and you are not the first to take it) expresses deep disrespect toward us as people, as heartbroken parents.”
They continue: “For nearly two hours, you told us in great and irritating detail about the stages of the fighting and the agreements since the start of the war. Occasionally we asked you that we focus on the current time period and how we are dealing with the challenges before us now, but it did not help. You insisted on continuing the historical summary. Ultimately, after two irrelevant hours, there was little time left to discuss possible current courses of action, and we were already completely worn out.”
Mor and Or say that in the hours after the meeting, “we understood the enormity of the disaster.”
“Whoever does not come out [of Gaza] in the current small group is abandoned to their fate in the depths of hell. We did not understand from you any operative proposal that will succeed in returning [the hostages] home, or when. At our request, you gave an estimated time frame of 3-6 months, but without a plan of action.”
“Our loved ones are abandoned in hell and will patiently and politely wait until their bitter end. We again warn you not to dare discriminate between blood, to prioritize the lives of selected hostages at the price of others’ lives. You have no right to surrender or give up on our loved ones’ lives. Only everyone [all the captives] together.” link When Netanyahu replaced the heads of the negotiating team with Dermer, everyone understood Netanyahu's motivation and what it probably would mean for future negotiations. Dermer has proven all of these negative assessments. He was put in charge to make sure that, not only is there no deviation from what Netanyahu wants, there also won't be any discussions that Netanyahu doesn't want on the table. In other words, Israel's moves in negotiations are all non starters to get the hostages home. Dermer is Netanyahu's lapdog and doesn't care one bit about the fate of the hostages. He is a traitor to the nation and should go back to Florida and sip martinis with Netanyahu's derelict son instead of making sure the hostages never come home alive.
- Reports in Gaza say man killed by gunmen affiliated with Hamas.
Saeed al-Jamasi, a resident of Gaza City, announced yesterday on his Facebook account that his brother, Zakariya al-Jamasi, was shot by gunmen.
The brother writes that the family was staying in a school in Gaza City that serves as a shelter for displaced people. According to him, gunmen entered the school and tried to abduct him, but his brother tried to stop them.
They then shot him, and he was killed.
Media outlets opposed to Hamas report that the gunmen are affiliated with Hamas.
The victim’s brother posts footage of his brother’s body, showing that he was shot dead in the chest. Video - IDF and Shin Bet kill Hamas head of weapons smuggling, additional PIJ terrorist
IDF operating in Gaza, April 17, 2025.. (photo credit:IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)The IDF and Shin Bet also struck and killed a key member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Khan Yunis last week.The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Tuesday struck and killed Yahya Fathi Abd al-Qader Abu Shaar, the head of Hamas's weapons smuggling network, the military announced on Thursday.Shaar smuggled weapons and military equipment used by Hamas into the Gaza Strip for several years, including weapons used during the October 7 massacre.The IDF and Shin Bet also struck and killed Mazen Ibrahim Mahfouz Farra, a key member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in Khan Yunis last week.Additional military operations in Gaza this weekIDF troops in Rafah and the 'Morag' Corridor in southern Gaza located and dismantled rocket launchers and terrorist infrastructure sites, as well as tunnel shafts and mortars.Additionally, over the past few days, the Israel Air Force struck over 110 targets from different terror organizations throughout the Gaza Strip, including terrorist cells and infrastructure sites, the military said.Among the targets struck were terrorist cells, military structures from which Hamas terrorists operated, additional terrorist infrastructure sites, and a Hamas command and control center in Jabalya."The Hamas terrorist organization systematically violates international law while taking over civilian infrastructure, and while brutally exploiting the civilian population as a human shield for its terror attacks. The IDF and ISA will continue to operate against Hamas to protect the State of Israel," the military's statement read.IDF destroys Hamas training camp in Gaza, kills head of group’s smuggling unitChief smuggler procured equipment used in Oct. 7 attack, IDF says, adding prominent Islamic Jihad operative was killed last week; strike on school-turned-shelter targets Hamas command centerThe chief of Hamas’s smuggling unit was killed in an airstrike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis earlier this week, the IDF and Shin Bet said Thursday, while also announcing the killing of a prominent Palestinian Islamic Jihad member last week.Yahya Fathi Abd al-Qader Abu Shaar, who worked in recent years to smuggle weapons and other military equipment for Hamas, including equipment used during the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, was killed on Tuesday, the IDF said.The military said another strike in Khan Younis last week killed a leading member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, which is allied with Hamas and also participated in the October 7 onslaught.Mazen Ibraheem Mahfouz Farah had directed “significant” terror attacks in Israel over the past two years, and especially in recent months, according to the IDF.In both strikes, the IDF said it took numerous steps to mitigate civilian harm, including the use of a “precision munition, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.”Additionally, a Hamas operative at one of the terror group’s command centers was targeted in an airstrike in northern Gaza’s Jabalia on Thursday, the IDF and Shin Bet said on Thursday.Palestinian media reported that the strike hit a school in Jabalia that served as a shelter for displaced Gazans. The reports said six people were killed and several others were wounded in the attack.The command center had been used by the terror operative “to plan and carry out terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops,” the military said.The IDF said it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including the use of a “precision munition, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.”“The Hamas terrorist organization systematically violates international law while taking over civilian infrastructure, and while brutally exploiting the civilian population as a human shield for its terror attacks,” the military added.Hamas training camp destroyedTroops of the Golani Brigade operating in the newly created Morag Corridor area, between Rafah and Khan Younis, have demolished a Hamas training camp, the military said Thursday.The facility, belonging to Hamas’s Shaboura Battalion, included a mock Israeli tank, photos released by the IDF showed.The IDF said the troops also captured a cache of weapons and destroyed other Hamas infrastructure in the area.The IDF said that a total of some 110 targets were struck by the Israeli Air Force in Gaza over the past two days.The targets included cells of terror operatives and infrastructure used by Hamas and other terror groups, according to the military.Wednesday night, a building belonging to Hamas’s naval force in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, which the IDF said was used to plan attacks on Israel, was struck.Hamas-run agency: IDF strikes on encampments kill 25Gaza’s Hamas-controlled civil defense agency claimed Thursday that Israeli airstrikes hit multiple encampments for displaced Palestinians across the territory, allegedly killing at least 25 people.Agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said an overnight strike Wednesday-Thursday targeted several tents in the al-Mawasi area of the southern city of Khan Younis, resulting in 16 deaths.“At least 16 martyrs, most of them women and children, and 23 others were wounded following a direct strike by two Israeli missiles on several tents housing displaced families in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis,” Bassal told AFP.People inspect the remains of a tent shelter that was reportedly hit by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025.
(Eyad Baba / AFP)According to Bassal, two additional strikes on other encampments of displaced people have killed nine and wounded several more.
Seven were killed in a strike on tents in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, while another attack near the al-Mawasi area killed a father and his child who were living in a tent, Bassal said. Link
🎗️Day 560 that 59 of our hostages in Hamas captivity
**There is nothing more important than getting them home! NOTHING!**
“I’ve never met them,But I miss them. I’ve never met them,but I think of them every second. I’ve never met them,but they are my family. BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!”
We’re waiting for you, all of you.
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!אין נצחון עד שכל החטופים בבית
Yoni Netanyahu sacrificed himself for the hostages.
Bibi Netanyahu sacrifices the hostages for himself!
*6:40am - Jerusalem and Gush Dan areas - ballistic missile launched from Yemen - intercepted
Jerusalem hills blaze sparked by fragments of interceptor missile, police say
Smoke billows from a fire in the Jerusalem Hills, near the city of Beit Shemesh, apparently as a result of interceptor shrapnel following a missile attack by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, April 18, 2025. (Israel Police)
A fire that broke out earlier this morning in the Jerusalem hills was caused by shrapnel from an interceptor missile that downed a ballistic missile from Yemen, the Israel Police says.
The fire broke out near the Stalactite Cave Nature Reserve, close to Bet Shemesh, prompting the Nature and Parks Authority to evacuate the site.
Police sappers were called to the scene once it was determined that the blaze had been caused by shrapnel, the statement says, adding that the cause was only determined once the fire was extinguished.
The Stalactite Cave has since reopened to visitors.
*this is about 10 minutes by car from my house or 2 minutes as the bird flies and even less as the missiles fly. This is at least the 4th time recently that shrapnel from the Houthi missiles or the interception have fallen quite close to our home. We don't play around when the alerts go off. We rush with our dogs into the safe room, the dogs already know the routine, and we stay for the full 10 minutes which is the estimated time for all shrapnel to fall after an interception.
Gaza and the South
- Senior Israeli security officials believe food, aid in Gaza will last only another month
Senior officials in Israel’s security establishment believe that the humanitarian supplies and food in the Gaza Strip will only last another month or so, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
The report says this was the reason for Defense Minister Israel Katz’s announcement this morning — which he quickly walked back amid political backlash — that the government would soon reallow aid flow into the territory.
Jerusalem argues that withholding aid is a central measure in pressuring Hamas to agree to a hostage deal.
Kan says top IDF brass are discussing how to let aid in without it reaching Hamas. It says the security apparatus is contacting civilian groups that could potentially hand out humanitarian aid as part of a future deal.
Video shows Hamas supporters being removed from anti-Hamas protest in Gaza
Videos from Gaza show several Hamas supporters being kicked out of a protest in the northern Gaza Strip’s Beit Lahiya against the terror group and in favor of ending the war.
In the videos, they are seen carrying signs saying, “Beit Lahiya is with the resistance,” a term referring to the terror organizations in the Strip.
Shortly afterward, a dispute breaks out between them and other participants in the protest, and they leave the scene.
video 1. video 2. multiple videosCash-strapped Hamas can’t pay fighters as Israeli offensive hits funding sources — report
Sources tell Wall Street Journal terror group used seized goods from humanitarian aid supplies to raise money, but with deliveries cut off, it is running out of resources
Palestinian terror group Hamas does not have enough cash to pay its fighters, with resources drying up as a result of Israel renewing its offensive in the Gaza Strip last month and halting humanitarian aid deliveries, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing Israeli, Arab and Western officials.
According to Arab intelligence officials, salaries to many Hamas government workers have stopped, and since last month, many senior operatives and political figures have only gotten about half their usual pay. Rank-and-file Hamas operatives have been getting only about $200-$300 a month.
Moumen Al-Natour, a Palestinian lawyer from the Al-Shati camp in central Gaza, told the Journal that Hamas has “a big crisis” on its hands.
“They were mainly dependent on humanitarian aid sold in black markets for cash,” explained Al-Natour, who has opposed the Hamas regime.
Throughout the war, Hamas had been taking aid supplies and selling them to raise money, according to Israeli, Arab, and Western officials, none of whom were named in the report.
The group charged taxes from merchants, collected customs at checkpoints, and seized goods that it then resold.
By the time a January ceasefire started, Hamas was in a crisis, but the truce brought in more aid, reviving its finances, officials said. But when the ceasefire collapsed in March, Israel halted aid deliveries and resumed its attacks on Hamas, deepening the group’s plight.
The Israeli offensive has targeted Hamas officials who were involved in distributing cash to members, while others have gone into hiding, Arab intelligence officials told the newspaper.
In addition to not being able to pay its operatives, Hamas is also struggling to get new recruits and maintain a united front among the population against Israel, with Gazans occasionally demonstrating against the group for not ending the war, the report noted.
Hamas did not respond when asked by The Journal for comment.
Palestinians watch a truck loaded with aid drive by in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on January 20, 2025, as residents return following a ceasefire deal a day earlier between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Israeli officials said the financial value of aid has become so important to Hamas that Israel is considering more stringent limitations on what it permits into Gaza when aid resumes. In the past, a blockade was aimed at catching goods that posed a security risk, but now Israel is mulling stopping anything that has a significant financial value to Hamas, an official told The Journal.
Western and Arab officials say Hamas has stashed away some $500 million over the years, some of it from the $15 million a month that arrived from Qatar in coordination with Israel. Much of the money is sitting in Turkey, the report said.
After the war started with Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Israel’s central bank stopped refreshing the Strip with new shekel bills, which are legal tender in the territory. Many banks and ATMs in Gaza have been destroyed. Those developments have placed further stress on Gaza civilians.
As a result, money repair shops have sprung up where Palestinians work to mend worn-out bills, the report said.
While it is not known how much cash remains in circulation in Gaza, one analyst estimated to the paper that there may be $3 billion.
Defense Minister Israel Katz is seen in the Morag Corridor area of the southern Gaza Strip, between Rafah and Khan Younis, April 9, 2025. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said humanitarian aid supplies would eventually resume, but only through “civilian companies,” to keep food and equipment from falling into the hands of Hamas.
He said Israel’s policy in Gaza includes “stopping humanitarian aid, which undermines Hamas’s control over the population, and creating an infrastructure for the distribution [of aid] through civilian companies later on.”
Efforts to reach another ceasefire that, like two previous truces, would include the release of hostages have so far failed to make progress. A key sticking point is Israel’s demand that it be able to continue fighting until Hamas is destroyed, while the terror group is demanding an end to the war.
- Lebanon detains several suspects for March rocket attacks on Israel
Lebanese army says Palestinians among those detained over incidents that Hezbollah denied responsibility for; Hamas acknowledges detentions, but denies those arrested were involvedMourners carry the caskets of slain Hamas terror group commander Hassan Farhat (C), his son Hamza (R) and daughter Jenan (L), who were killed in an Israeli drone strike that targeted their apartment in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, during their funeral procession on April 4, 2025. (Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Lebanese military said Wednesday it has detained a group of people linked to firing rockets into Israel last month.
The army said in a statement that those detained included a number of Palestinians who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks toward Israel in late March, to which Israel responded with airstrikes in Beirut and southern Lebanon.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group denied at the time that it was behind the firing of rockets.
Since the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire in late November ended their 14-month conflict, Israel has withdrawn all its troops from Lebanon, except five strategic posts, but has continued, as is permitted by the deal, to strike Hezbollah targets it deems imminent threats.
The Lebanese army said that a vehicle and other equipment used in the rocket attacks were confiscated, and the detainees were referred to judicial authorities. The army said it had carried out raids in different parts of Lebanon to detain the suspects without giving further details.
On Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported that Gen. Rodolph Haikal briefed a weekly cabinet meeting about the security situation along the border and the implementation of the ceasefire deal.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, center foreground, and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, right, head a cabinet meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 17, 2025. The Arabic on the screen reads, “Summary of the situation and security measures taken.” (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)Three security officials and one judicial official told The Associated Press that four Palestinians linked to the Hamas terror group are being questioned.
A Hamas official told the AP that several members of the group were detained in Lebanon recently and released shortly afterward, adding that they were not involved in firing rockets into Israel. He said in one case, authorities detained a Hamas member who was carrying an unlicensed pistol.
- Lebanon's president spurs controversy by saying he doesn't want Iraqi-style militiasMembers of an Iraqi Shi'ite armed group sit in a vehicle after an attack by a drone strike on an Iran-backed militia headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq January 4, 2024.. (photo credit:REUTERS/AHMED SAAD)
Aoun's comments 'caused discomfort among Iraqis, particularly since Iraq has consistently stood by Lebanon during times of hardship."
Lebanon’s president is apparently in hot water in Iraq after he said he didn’t want Lebanon to have an Iraqi model for integrating Iranian-backed militias into the state. Baghdad summoned Lebanon’s ambassador on April 16 after reading comments that Lebanese President Joseph Aounmade to the New Arab publication.
The complaint in Baghdad is a bit complicated, so it’s worth trying to understand what Aoun said that so angered the Iraqis.
On April 15, the New Arab ran an interview with Aoun. In the interview, he had said he didn’t see Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces as a model for Lebanon. The PMF is a group of Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. There are dozens of brigades within the PMF, which may have up to 100,000 men. The brigades include some militias that are closely linked to Iran’s IRGC, such as Kataib Hezbollah. Lebanon also has Hezbollah, and it is backed by Iran as well.
The PMF emerged after 2014 and relied on some existing Iranian-backed armed groups in Iraq. It expanded in the war on ISIS.
Between 2017 and 2019, it was integrated as an official paramilitary force in Iraq, receiving state salaries and backing from Iraq’s Interior Ministry. The Interior Ministry in Iraq has been dominated by men linked to Badr, a pro-Iranian militia within the PMF. As such, Iran was basically trying to create a kind of IRGC for Iraq. The IRGC is the ideological armed forces within Iran, which are separate from the army.
Aoun has said that the PMF model is not what Lebanon wants. Hezbollah may be weakened, but it won’t become part of the Lebanese armed forces.
“Responding to speculation about future arrangements, Aoun ruled out the possibility of replicating Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) model,” the New Arab noted.
Aoun's response
"We will not replicate the Popular Mobilization Forces' experience in integrating Hezbollah into the army, nor will it be allowed to form an independent unit within the military…But Hezbollah members who meet military criteria can join the armed forces, as various [militias] did at the end of the [Lebanese] civil war,” Aoun said.
Aoun said that recent changes "facilitate the possibility of dialogue with Hezbollah…direct communication between the Lebanese presidency and Hezbollah [...] was evident on the ground." In essence, Aoun wants a state monopoly on weapons in Lebanon. This means not having Hezbollah have a parallel armed state within a state. Lebanon is trying to boost its forces in southern Lebanon to around 10,000 soldiers.
Iraq was apparently angered by Aoun’s suggestion that he didn’t want Lebanon to end up like Iraq. Iraq's foreign ministry summoned the Lebanese ambassador in Baghdad, Ali Habhab.
Iraq’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Bilateral Relations, Mohammed Bahr Al-Uloom, met Habhab and expressed Baghdad's complaints about the "inappropriate" remarks by Aoun.
The PMF is also non-plussed. "The PMF is an important part of Iraq's official security and military structure…It is a government-sanctioned institution and should not be cited as an example in the context of Lebanon’s internal affairs, which do not concern Iraq,” an Iraqi official told the New Arab.
“The PMF is an essential part of Iraq’s security and military apparatus; it is a legal and governmental institution and an integral component of the Iraqi state,” said the Iraqi foreign ministry undersecretary for bilateral relations Mohammed Bahr al-Uloom, Rudaw news in Erbil reported.
“The comparison made by the Lebanese president was inappropriate,” said Bahr al-Uloom. “It would have been better not to involve Iraq in Lebanon’s internal affairs or to cite an official Iraqi institution in this context.”
Aoun’s comments “caused discomfort among Iraqis, particularly since Iraq has consistently stood by Lebanon during times of hardship.” Iraq wants Aoun to “rectify his statement in a manner that reinforces the fraternal relationship between the two countries and affirms mutual respect for each state’s sovereignty.”
Lebanon is removing Hezbollah flags and posters amid rising calls for disarmament.In recent days, the Lebanese Army has taken down dozens of banners bearing the images of Hezbollah leaders and Iranian figures in Beirut, replacing many of them with posters extoling a “new era” for the war-battered country.
Footage circulating on social media shows uniformed soldiers stripping away Hezbollah flags and banners from various parts of the capital, including posters of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel last year.
In the most prominent instances, along the main road leading to Beirut’s international airport, large billboards featuring Nasrallah and former Hezbollah Military Council Secretary Hashem Safi al-Din – some bearing the slogan “We will continue to strike,” a reference to the hostilities with Israel – have been replaced with new messages reading “A New Era for Lebanon.”
A similar change was made to a billboard that had for the past two years displayed the image of Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of Iran’s Quds Force, who was killed in a 2020 US strike. That sign, too, was replaced with a banner proclaiming a new era.
The Lebanese government has not released an official statement directly addressing the removal of Hezbollah symbols. Nonetheless, Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed reported that the orders came from Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar. Additionally, on Wednesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced the commencement of a project to “rehabilitate the road connecting Beirut’s airport to the city center.”
The removal of Hezbollah banners and symbols from Beirut’s streets has sparked widespread debate across Lebanon. One Lebanese citizen told Saudi news channel Al-Hadath, “The road to the airport is the face of the nation. Foreigners see it too. It’s most important that people arriving from the airport see the beautiful face of the country.”
Lebanese journalist Tarek Abu Zaynab noted he saw the newly installed signs while traveling to the airport and commented on X: “This is a clear sign that Lebanon is embarking on a new path, with a united vision.”
While some reactions have been positive, others have been defiant. On April 13, footage posted online showed several of the new signs being set on fire, reportedly by Hezbollah supporters opposed to the symbolic changes.
A car drives past a burned banner that bore the the image of a Lebanese flag and a statement that read in Arabic “Lebanon a new era”, on the road leading to Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International airport on April 11, 2025. (Photo by Joseph EID / AFP)It was not immediately clear if the project had spread to other areas like Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh district, Hezbollah’s stronghold in the Lebanese capital, where the terror group had its headquarters and which was festooned with posters and flags extolling the group and its leaders.
‘2025 – the Year Weapons Belong Solely to the State’
The highly visible campaign comes amid increasingly assertive declarations from Lebanese officials calling for Hezbollah to be disarmed. Despite being severely weakened by Israeli strikes during the conflict, the US and Israel estimate that Hezbollah still possesses tens of thousands of armed fighters in Lebanon. It remains the most potent military force in Lebanon, outmatching even the official Lebanese Armed Forces.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stated in an interview this week with the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that he is working toward ensuring that “2025 will be the year in which the Lebanese state alone holds weapons.” He emphasized that Hezbollah must be disarmed and warned against allowing the group to be absorbed into the national army as a “militia within the military.”
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam echoed similar sentiments in a recent interview with Saudi media Al Arabiya, declaring that the oft-repeated Lebanese slogan, “The People, The Army, and The Resistance” – a reference to Hezbollah – is “a thing of the past.” He insisted that only the state would decide on matters of war and peace and be the sole bearer of arms. Both leaders were appointed in recent months, appointments that Hezbollah strongly opposed due to their known opposition to the group’s military role. President Aoun previously served for eight years as the Chief of Staff of the Lebanese Armed Forces, a role often viewed internationally as the institutional counterweight to Hezbollah.
The road leading to Beirut International Airport, before and after the replacement of the signs featuring Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with signs with the Lebanese flag and the saying “a new area for Lebanon”, April 2025. (X used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)Despite the growing pressure, Hezbollah still retains influence through its political allies. Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, who leads the Shiite Amal Movement – closely aligned with Hezbollah – has not publicly addressed the disarmament issue. However, Lebanese media reports suggest that Berri will lead upcoming dialogue efforts with Hezbollah regarding its weapons arsenal.
Meanwhile, according to Lebanese news outlets, the Lebanese Army has already begun dismantling Hezbollah weapons depots and military infrastructure south of the Litani River. In this area, Hezbollah activity is restricted under the ceasefire agreement with Israel. Moreover, in January, it was reported that the Lebanese Army took control of a former underground Hezbollah site believed to have housed missiles.
Additionally, on Tuesday, Al-Hadath reported that approximately 400 Hezbollah field commanders and their families have recently fled Lebanon for South America, reportedly out of fear of surveillance and potential reprisals.
Washington increases pressure on Beirut
Amid the internal momentum in Lebanon toward challenging Hezbollah’s armed status, external pressure, particularly from the United States, has been mounting. Deputy US Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus has made two visits to Lebanon in recent months. During those visits, she delivered some of the strongest American language yet against Hezbollah.
In interviews with Lebanese media outlets during her visits, Ortagus described Hezbollah as “a cancer,” stating, “When you have cancer, you have to cut out the infected parts of the body.” Following her visit, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister told the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that US officials had made it clear to Lebanese leadership: no international aid would be forthcoming unless the Lebanese state gained complete and exclusive control over all weapons within its borders.
Hezbollah’s future: Complex realities on the ground
Despite the pressure, significant uncertainty remains about whether Hezbollah will truly be disarmed.
The organization has been deeply embedded in Lebanese society for over four decades, garnering strong support from a significant portion of the country’s Shia population. Beyond its military capabilities, Hezbollah operates an extensive social infrastructure, including schools, health clinics, and a financial network known as “Hezbollah’s bank,” which has helped solidify its influence among communities across Lebanon.
Politically, Hezbollah still maintains leverage. In addition to having close ties with Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, the group and its allies continue to hold positions in the Lebanese government. Although the number of Hezbollah-aligned ministers has decreased compared to the previous cabinet, they still comprise roughly one-fifth of the current government, allowing them to try and maintain a foothold in policymaking and resist sweeping reforms.
In addition, despite strong rhetoric from both Lebanese and international figures regarding the need to disarm Hezbollah, the Lebanese leadership continues to emphasize that any such process must be conducted through dialogue, out of concern that a more forceful approach could plunge the country into another civil war.
In an interview on April 16 with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Aoun underscored this concern, stating that he has no interest in “blowing up the situation or triggering internal conflict.” His comments reflect a widespread fear in Lebanon of reigniting sectarian violence, following two devastating civil wars in recent decades that left deep scars on the country.
The emphasis on dialogue reflects both a strategic calculation and a sobering acknowledgment of Lebanon’s fragile internal dynamics. While many in the political elite now publicly support reining in Hezbollah’s armed presence, few believe it can – or should- be done by force.
A Lebanese Army soldier removes a sign featuring former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and former Hezbollah Military Council Secretary Hashem Safi al-Din in Beirut, April 14, 2025.(X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)The road ahead for Lebanon remains uncertain. While signs of change are emerging – from symbolic gestures in Beirut to bold declarations from national and international leaders – the challenge of untangling Hezbollah’s deep-rooted presence in the country’s political and social fabric may prove far more difficult than removing its flags from the streets.
- Qatar sends aid, military vehicles to Lebanese army amid fallout from Israel-Hezbollah war
Qatar is sending scores of military vehicles to the Lebanese army and a new, $60 million donation to help it pay salaries to officers as Lebanon recovers from the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group’s latest war with Israel, the two Arab countries announce.
The statement by Qatar and Lebanon says 162 military vehicles will be sent to the Lebanese army to help the military “carry out its national duties to preserve stability and control the border.”
Gas-rich Qatar has been a main backer of the Lebanese army since an unprecedented economic crisis engulfed the country in late 2019. Qatar was first sending food aid for the military while cash donations began in 2022.
Hezbollah launched its own attacks on Israel, unprovoked, a day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7, 2023, with the Palestinian terror group’s onslaught in southern Israel.
After 14 months, a US-brokered ceasefire halted the Hezbollah-Israel war, which caused destruction that will take $11 billion to rebuild, according to the World Bank.
Since the November ceasefire, Lebanon has elected a new president and prime minister, who have both promised to carry out reforms.
- IDF razes West Bank home of Hamas member involved in soldier’s killing
During operations in the West Bank town of Burqin today, the IDF says it demolished the home of a Hamas operative involved in the killing of a soldier in the summer.
Hammam Hashash was part of a joint Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell that set off two explosive devices against army vehicles in Jenin on June 27, killing Capt. Alon Sacgiu and wounding 16 other soldiers.
Hashash was killed by IDF troops in July.
As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks.
- IDF troops kill 2 Palestinians suspected of throwing stones at Israeli drivers in West Bank
IDF troops killed two Palestinians who were allegedly hurling stones at Israeli motorists in the West Bank this evening.
The military says soldiers of the 636th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit, who were waiting in an ambush near the town of Usarin, spotted three Palestinians hurling stones at cars on a nearby highway.
The soldiers opened fire on the suspects, killing two and wounding the third, the IDF says.
- PA’s Abbas to make first trip to Syria since fall of Assad regime
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will make his first visit to Syria since the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime.
Abbas is departing tonight for Jordan and from there will travel to Syria, his top aide, Hussein al-Sheikh, tweets.
Sheikh doesn’t mention whether Abbas will meet with interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa.
- Politics and the War and General News
- Houthis report at least 38 killed, over 100 wounded in US strikes on Yemen’s Ras Isa oil port
US strikes on a fuel port in Yemen yesterday have killed at least 38 people, Houthi-controlled media says, revising its earlier toll of 20 deaths, marking one of the deadliest days since the United States began its attacks on the Iran-backed rebel group.
The United States has vowed not to halt the large-scale strikes begun last month in its biggest military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January, unless the Houthis cease attacks on Red Sea shipping.
The Houthis’ al-Masirah TV says 102 people were also wounded in Thursday’s strikes on the western fuel port of Ras Isa, which the US military says aimed to cut off a source of fuel for the Houthis.
Responding to a Reuters query for comment on the Houthis’ casualty figure and its own estimate, the US Central Command says it has none beyond the initial announcement of the attacks.
- The Region and the World
- Yemeni official said to hail US attacks as heralding ground op that will defeat Houthis
An official associated with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which opposes the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who hold much of the country, is quoted by the Kan public broadcaster as saying the recent stepped-up US attacks could pave the way to the Islamists’ defeat.
“The American attacks are wearing them out and laying the groundwork for a bigger move,” the unnamed official is quoted as saying. “There is a unique opportunity to eliminate the Houthi regime via a ground maneuver by local forces. The key is taking over the port city of Hodeidah in Western Yemen. That is their beating heart.”
Kan also cites an unnamed official in the Saudi royal family as urging US cooperation with the Yemeni government regarding a ground offensive.
Houthis say 58 killed in US strikes on Yemen’s Ras Isa fuel port overnight
- Weekly Jordanian anti-Israel protest said canceled by authorities for first time since Oct. 7
Jordanian authorities have banned a weekly anti-Israel protest from taking place today, for the first time since the Gaza war began following the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
According to the report, the protest was canceled in part due to the recent discovery of a Muslim Brotherhood plot to launch a rocket and drone attack on the kingdom.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its close ally Hamas have been accused of fomenting the weekly anti-government street protests in Jordan amid the war in Gaza.
Citing unnamed sources close to Hamas, Kan reports that the decision by Jordanian authorities to cancel today’s protest was also taken in light of the “charged atmosphere” and increasing “incitement against activities in support of Gaza.”
- Personal Stories
Acronyms and Glossary
ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague
IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague
MDA - Magen David Adom - Israel Ambulance Corp
PA - Palestinian Authority - President Mahmud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen
PMO- Prime Minister's Office
UAV - Unmanned Aerial vehicle, Drone. Could be used for surveillance and reconnaissance, or be weaponized with missiles or contain explosives for 'suicide' explosion mission
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