Israel's far-right National Security Minister proposed seizing Lebanese "women and youth" as leverage against Hezbollah during a security cabinet meeting — a suggestion that landed as Israeli forces have already been holding Lebanese civilians under indefinite detention law.

• Ben-Gvir made the proposal in a security cabinet meeting Tues⁠day, saying: "Conquering territory and killing many terrorists, but also detaining their women and youth and taking them to terrorist prisons. That's what hurts them most."
• Since the 2024 war, Israeli forces have abducted several Lebanese civilians; they are among 1,316 people currently held under Israel's "unlawful combatant" law — a 2002 statute rights groups call a flagrant violation of international law.
• Lebanon's Defence Minister said Israel carried out approximately 3,500 attacks since the Apr⁠il 17 ceasefire announcement; Israeli forces have killed at least 3,637 people since Mar⁠ch, including over 800 since that ceasefire.
• Other cabinet ministers backed escalation: Defence Minister Israel Katz endorsed expanding armaments, while Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf called on the finance minister to "open his pockets" for the military.

What to watch: Whether Ben-Gvir's proposal moves from cabinet rhetoric to policy — and how the Lebanese state and its international backers respond — will signal how far Israel is willing to push civilian detention as a war instrument.

Lebanon's president publicly accused Iran of using his country as a bargaining chip in US negotiations — and Lebanon's army commander flew to Islamabad as Hezbollah insisted the Lebanese file belong in those same Iranian-American talks.

• President Joseph Aoun openly slammed Iran last⁠ week for interfering in Lebanese internal affairs, while Hezbollah has been adamant that Lebanon be included in the Pakistan-based US-Iran negotiations.
• Lebanese army commander Rodolphe Haykal visited Islamabad at the invitation of Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir; an informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat the trip was coordinated with President Aoun.
• Pakistan indicated readiness to assist Lebanese army deployment in the South after any Israeli withdrawal, given Islamabad's reported trust with American, Iranian, and Israeli parties simultaneously.
• Former MP Fares Souaid argued the Lebanese state has "reclaimed the initiative for the first time since 1969" — citing US support for separating the Lebanese file from Iran's regional chess game.

Zooming out: Whether Lebanon can sustain an independent negotiating track while Iran and Hezbollah pull in the opposite direction depends heavily on how — and whether — US-Iran talks in Islamabad eventually conclude.

A Chinese company just agreed to fund Lebanon's first public research laboratory for therapeutic cannabis — no strings attached — in a sector long seen as one of Lebanon's few untapped revenue plays.

• Lebanon and Zhonghua Lianchuang International Holding Co., Ltd. signed a $10 million investment agreement at the Grand Serail on Mon⁠day, with the Chinese firm financing the lab without direct compensation or conditions.
• The lab will be located at the Lebanese University's faculty of agronomy in Dekwaneh and will operate under the Cannabis Regulatory Authority, testing and cataloguing Lebanese cannabis strains to meet international export standards.
• Of the total, $4 million covers laboratory equipment; the remainder funds training, technical assistance, and publication of test results on a new authority website, with the lab targeting ISO/IEC 17025 certification.

Why it matters: The deal brings Lebanon's first internationally certified public cannabis testing infrastructure — but the regulatory framework that would let the sector fully operate has been stalled at Central Inspection since last Dec⁠ember.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is expected to visit Washington in the coming period, according to Al Modon sources, in what would be a significant milestone in accelerating Syrian-American diplomatic and economic ties.

• The visit is expected around Jun⁠e 14, according to a private source cited by Al Modon, and follows weeks of consultations between officials from both sides on bilateral relations and regional stability.
• Key files on the agenda include easing restrictions imposed on Syria, and opening new horizons for economic and investment cooperation to support reconstruction efforts.
• The source said the visit may see announcements of new political and economic understandings, though no official confirmation has been issued from Damascus or Washington on the date or agenda.

What to watch: How far Washington is willing to move on sanctions relief — and what Damascus offers in return — will shape whether this visit becomes a diplomatic turning point or a well-photographed lunch.

DAMAC Properties chairman Hussain Sajwani — UAE real estate billionaire, Trump inauguration guest, and second on Forbes' Arab rich list — is pivoting from luxury towers to data centers, betting the AI boom will make him the world's biggest player in the space.

• Sajwani has earmarked sites in 13 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East; if all completed, total capacity would reach 6,000 megawatts at a cost of roughly $66 billion, according to Al-Monitor.
• DAMAC Digital, launched in 2021, has already completed sites in Thailand and Saudi Arabia, with eight sites in total expected to be operational by year's end; the footprint spans Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy, Finland, and Sweden.
• Five major hyperscalers — large-scale cloud and AI service providers — have signed on as clients, though DAMAC cannot disclose their names; Sajwani said the goal is to eventually surpass Equinix, the world's largest data center provider with more than 280 sites.

The bigger picture: The Gulf's pivot from oil wealth to digital infrastructure is accelerating — and Sajwani's scale of ambition signals how seriously the region's private sector is betting that AI demand won't slow down anytime soon.

With conflict continuing to rattle the Gulf, the world's two most critical maritime chokepoints — the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab — face simultaneous pressure for the first time, raising the stakes far beyond oil prices alone.

• Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz reached about 20.9 million barrels per day in the first half of 2025, representing more than a quarter of global maritime oil trade, according to US Energy Information Administration data cited by An-Nahar.
• Bab al-Mandab oil flows dropped from 9.3 million barrels per day in 2023 to 4.2 million in the first half of 2025, as companies rerouted ships around the Cape of Good Hope following Houthi attacks.
• The Red Sea–Suez–Bab al-Mandab route carried roughly 30 percent of global container trade before the crisis; a simultaneous closure of both straits would create a dual energy and shipping shock with no straightforward maritime alternative.

Zooming out: Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline — restored to roughly 7 million barrels per day in 2026 — offers partial relief if Hormuz closes, but that buffer disappears entirely if Bab al-Mandab is also disrupted.