Tens of thousands of Lebanese began returning to the south after the US-Iran ceasefire announcement, only to find that in many areas, the destruction is so total they can't identify where their homes once stood — while Finance Minister Jaber says the state has cash ready to act.

• Minister of Finance Yassine Jaber says Lebanon has between $500 and $600 million in loans and grants ready for emergency "rapid intervention" — covering transitional housing, water, electricity, roads, and rubble removal, per an interview with Al-Akhbar.
• The Lebanese Army Command urged residents to delay returns to southern border villages, while the coastal highway south saw heavy traffic of returnees ignoring the call.
• Israeli forces attempted advances near Kfar Tibnit and targeted outskirts of occupied villages with artillery and phosphorus shells; Resistance sources described the rocket response as a message that "there is no return to before Mar⁠ch 2."
• Jaber says his ministry plans a ministerial delegation visit to southern villages up to Nabatieh to assess damage and build a rapid response plan based on "field reality, not theoretical estimates."

What to watch: Whether the $500–$600 million emergency envelope translates into visible reconstruction before political complications — Israeli violations chief among them — derail the fragile ceasefire on the ground.

Lebanon's most important annual exam just got pushed back, and the government still hasn't decided whether it will happen at all — leaving thousands of students who survived a war now unsure whether their year of studying counts for anything.

• P⁠M Nawaf Salam announced Mon⁠day that the official baccalaureate exams, originally set for Jun⁠e 29, will be postponed "at least until early Jul⁠y" — with the alternative being school-issued certificates rather than official state diplomas.
• Salam said he is waiting to confirm the ceasefire "will indeed be implemented" before making a final call; Education Minister Rima Karami is holding an expanded educational meeting Tues⁠day to discuss the implications of any decision.
• Thousands of students were displaced or trapped in combat zones during the school year; the deaths of two students from Qlayaa and their father while returning from university added urgency to calls for a definitive government decision.

Why it matters: For a generation of Lebanese students who studied through bombardment and displacement, the answer isn't just logistical — it's whether the state treats their year as a real academic one or quietly writes it off.

French financial sources close to the Lebanon file say the country faces three consecutive reform obstacles, and failing even one of them would be enough to shut the door on an IMF agreement worth billions.

• The first hurdle is Parliament passing the banking settlement law — already revised under IMF pressure after an initial version approved in late Jul⁠y 2025 drew significant objections — with some MPs still contesting the composition of the Higher Banking Commission.
• The second is amending the "financial gap" law: the Central Bank holds roughly $6 billion in foreign currency assets available for mobilization, while commercial banks are expected to contribute between $3 billion and $4 billion, according to An-Nahar.
• The third and most complex hurdle is redrawing Lebanon's entire medium-term fiscal framework — French sources say all prior IMF projections are now obsolete because 2026 growth is confirmed negative and revenue forecasts have not materialized.
• If all three hurdles are cleared, an IMF deal could unlock between $3 billion and $5 billion, potentially triggering a donor conference generating an additional $7 billion to $12 billion.

Iraqi hackers leaked thousands of Free Syrian Army internal files onto Telegram, and investigative outlet Daraj spent days downloading and verifying them — exposing the precise weapons pipelines that fed Syria's opposition, and the jihadist pressure that ultimately hollowed it out.

• Saudi Arabia was the largest weapons donor, with the "Red Arrow" anti-tank missile its most significant contribution: between Jun⁠e and Oct⁠ober 2013, 206 of a total 273 delivered Red Arrow missiles were distributed to military rooms across Syria.
• Qatar hosted an air-defense training trip in mid-2013, where FSA officers were flown via Turkey under American supervision and trained on the Chinese FN-6XL anti-aircraft missile using simulators.
• The documents also show the FSA General Staff tracked Jabhat al-Nusra's deployment across Syria in 2013, estimating approximately 1,500 fighters in the Damascus countryside alone, and declared a "state of war" with Nusra and ISIS the following month.
• The FSA's General Staff received about $1.5 million and 83,000 euros from its establishment through Jun⁠e 2013, with the source of funds not named in the documents.

The bigger picture: The files offer a rare granular view of how external backing shaped — and ultimately failed to save — a moderate opposition force squeezed between Assad's army and the jihadist groups that now govern Syria.

Three members of Britain's House of Lords hold paid roles at FGS Global, a consultancy registered since Oct⁠ober as a lobbyist for the UAE — a government that UN investigators have accused of funneling weapons to Sudan's Rapid Support Forces.

• FGS Global contacted UK members of parliament, their staff, and senior civil servants as part of a campaign to "promote awareness of the UAE-UK bilateral relationship," according to the UK's Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.
• The firm donated over £27,000 to the Labour Party in 2024; one staff member was seconded as an election campaign adviser to Rachel Reeves, now chancellor of the Exchequer.
• UN Security Council investigators have accused the UAE of funneling weapons to the RSF throughout Sudan's civil war, which has displaced an estimated 13 million people; the UAE denies supporting the paramilitary group.

What to watch: Whether UK parliamentary transparency rules, which critics say currently allow peers to hold senior lobbying roles without choosing between that work and their legislative seats, come under formal review as a result of this disclosure.

An investigation by Middle East Eye found that companies at a real estate event held in London on Sun⁠day advertised properties in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem — days after London's mayor said police would assess any allegations of criminality.

• Jerusalem Real Estate advertised projects in French Hill and Ramat Eshkol, both illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, while Harey Zahav promoted Kfar Eldad, an illegal West Bank settlement south of Bethlehem, and Teneh Omarim, another illegal settlement near Hebron.
• Shapir, another company present at the event, appears on the United Nations Human Rights Office's list of business enterprises active in illegal Israeli settlements.
• More than 100 UK MPs had urged cancellation of the event in a letter to the foreign secretary, arguing it was "inconsistent with current UK government guidance on settlement-related economic activity."

Zooming out: The event crystallizes a growing tension between Western governments' stated positions on settlement illegality and the legal tools — or lack of them — available to act on those positions domestically.