According to UNHCR, in just under nine months, over 200,000 have chosen to return. Some for the first time since 2011. For the authorities in Beirut, the departures “lighten” the Land of the Cedars from a “substantial demographic burden”. But there is also a counter-exodus: from Alawites fleeing the coast to Christians who dream of leaving after the attack on the church in Damascus.
Prime Minister Salam inaugurated a street in the capital named after the ‘victims of August 4’. The Lebanese Church has promoted a prayer vigil and blessed 253 young olive trees dedicated to the victims. In a message from the Vatican Secretary of State, Pope Leo XIV expressed his “closeness.” New calls for ‘justice’ and the emergence of a “network” of responsibility.
The Lebanese-American envoy is in Beirut for the third time to relaunch the ceasefire agreement. Hezbollah's disarmament in Lebanon is at impasse. For the diplomat, the weapons issue is a "purely internal" issue and no guarantees can be obtained from Israel. He told the Lebanese and the Maronite Patriarch that the United States will not abandon Lebanon. The diplomat is now expected to travel to Israel.
The fighting is over thanks largely to the intervention of US Secretary of State Rubio. The interim Syrian president has "transferred" responsibility for maintaining security to the Druze. He reiterated his desire to avoid "open war" with Israel. The provisional toll from the fighting stands at 350 dead. For Jumblatt, “Israel has no protégés, only instruments”.
Syrian forces were deployed in Al-Suwayda yesterday while the city was placed under a curfew. Clashes sparked by an isolated incident have left about a hundred people dead, 60 of them Druze. At stake are the province's new phase of "integration" with Ahmed al-Sharaa's Islamist Syria, as well as its relations with Israel. An attack on a church in Tartus was foiled.
President Trump's envoy Tom Barrack, of Lebanese origin, is in Beirut seeking an answer to the request for dismantling Hezbollah’s military wing, a process that is closely linked with consolidating the country's political institutions. Some of the unresolved issues are the departure of Israeli forces, end of attacks, and the release of Lebanese prisoners.
