For the first time, Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors will meet on Italian soil — a symbolic shift in where the fragile post-war diplomacy is being written, as the two countries technically remain in a state of war.

• Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that ambassador-level talks will take place on Jul⁠y 15 and 16 in Rome, the sixth round of negotiations since spring.
• The talks follow a framework agreement signed last⁠ month in Washington — brokered after a ceasefire that took effect Mar⁠ch 2 — which calls for Lebanese army authority in the South and Hezbollah disarmament, beginning with "pilot zones" from which Israeli forces would withdraw.
• Israel's attacks on Lebanon have killed nearly 4,300 people, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry, a figure that hangs over every negotiating table.
• Lebanon and Israel have no diplomatic relations; each round of talks is conducted through U.S. mediation, making Rome's role as host a notable, if largely symbolic, European entry into the process.

What to watch: Whether the Jul⁠y 15–16 session moves beyond the framework's principles toward concrete timelines for Israeli withdrawal from the "pilot zones" will signal how serious both sides are about implementation.

A decade of legal back-and-forth over Lebanon's 2014 rental law just got its clearest resolution yet: courts have settled on 2017 as the start date for calculating lease extensions, meaning some tenants now have until 2029 — but only if they cleared a strict procedural hurdle most didn't know existed.

• The Civil Court of Appeal in Mount Lebanon ruled that the nine-year transitional period began on Feb⁠ruary 28, 2017 — the date of the law's amended republication — not its original 2014 issuance.
• Tenants who qualify for a three-year extension (those with limited income who met all conditions) may remain until Feb⁠ruary 27, 2029; those who missed any condition lose the right entirely.
• Two conditions must both be met: annual applications to the specialized committee submitted within a strict deadline each year, and a notarized letter to the landlord sent at least three months before the nine-year period ended — meaning before Nov⁠ember 28, 2025.
• Tenants' groups still object, citing the aid fund's non-activation and committees that never fully functioned, leaving the law's protections largely theoretical for many low-income renters.

Why it matters: With many Lebanese in old-law rental contracts, the court's interpretation draws a hard line between those who navigated the paperwork and those who now face eviction.

As Lebanese families feel every lira of post-war fuel costs, Energy Minister Joe Saddi went public with a detailed pricing breakdown, arguing that Lebanon's pump prices rose significantly less than global benchmarks during the war — and that the formula, not politics, is driving the numbers.

• Saddi showed that at the peak of war-related price spikes, Lebanon's diesel pricing rose 87% while the global Platts index surged 111% — a difference of 24 percentage points shielded from consumers.
• For gasoline, Lebanon's canister price rose a maximum of 42% versus a global Platts increase of 71%, with the current canister priced at 2,207,000 LBP as of Jul⁠y 7.
• The minister noted that war-related costs — insurance, shipping, and the War Risk Premium — remain embedded in the pricing formula and will ease only as security conditions stabilize.
• Saddi highlighted that despite the Strait of Hormuz closure, Lebanon recorded no fuel shortages, no gas station queues, and no black market — which he described as a first during wartime conditions in years.

Zooming out: Saddi also flagged active talks with Iraq about reviving the Kirkuk-to-Tripoli oil pipeline through Syria, and near-complete contract negotiations to import electricity from Damascus — moves that, if realized, could reshape Lebanon's long-broken energy landscape.

Three tankers were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz in a matter of hours on Tues⁠day — including a Qatari LNG vessel and a Saudi-flagged crude tanker — and Washington responded by pulling the main economic incentive that had brought Iran to the negotiating table.

• The Trump administration revoked a licence that had allowed Iran to produce, sell, and deliver crude oil and related products through Aug⁠ust 21, tying its removal directly to the Gulf attacks.
• Brent crude jumped nearly 5% on the news, as Qatar summoned Iran's deputy ambassador and demanded an explanation, while Saudi Arabia also blamed Tehran in a formal foreign ministry statement.
• Iran has not claimed responsibility for the attacks but has been in a standoff over vessels bypassing its territorial waters through a southern route via Oman's waters in recent days.
• The waiver had been a major sticking point in US-Iran negotiations; its removal erases the principal economic incentive that drew Tehran into talks over a permanent end to the war.

What to watch: Whether the revocation collapses ongoing US-Iran talks entirely — or becomes a pressure lever in the next round of negotiations — will shape the trajectory of the broader Middle East ceasefire architecture.

Bombs went off near the hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron was staying in Damascus on Tues⁠day, during his visit to meet with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa — the first visit by an EU head of state since Bashar al-Assad fell in late 2024.

• At least 18 people were wounded in the blasts, with witnesses reporting smoke rising near the hotel; the Elysée said Macron did not hear the explosions from his motorcade.
• Macron framed his visit as a commitment to "a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbours," according to a post on X, and pledged to engage directly with diverse Syrian communities beyond the presidential palace.
• Al-Sharaa, Syria's new president, has built close ties with Western and regional powers and is expected to meet US President Donald Trump at the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara.

The bigger picture: The Damascus explosions underscore that Syria's security situation remains volatile even as its new government pursues diplomatic normalization.

Germany's draft 2027 budget, announced Mon⁠day, marks one of the starkest peacetime military buildups in the country's postwar history: defense spending jumps by a third in a single year, even as social programs face cuts to help foot the bill.

• Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil's plan sets total 2027 spending at €555.4 billion, with €109.7 billion earmarked for defense — a third more than in 2026 — funded partly by €119 billion in new borrowing.
• Germany's national debt stood at €2.78 trillion as of Jul⁠y 6, and additional debt-financed special funds — including a €500 billion infrastructure fund spread over 12 years — push the real borrowing figure toward €203 billion in 2027 alone.
• Development aid takes a €500 million cut, bringing its total to €9.5 billion, while pension and health insurance subsidies are also being reduced to free up funds for military expenditure.

Zooming out: Germany's pivot — aiming to reach 3.5% of GDP on defense by 2029 and the new NATO target of 5% by 2035 — reflects a broad European recalibration of security spending that is quietly reshaping the continent's fiscal priorities.