Lebanon's Électricité du Liban contracted a company to dissolve expired chemical materials from the Zouk and Jiyeh power plants and spread them across a protected plain near Bisri — without the Ministry of Agriculture's sign-off, and on land that turned out to be public state property. The result: an ongoing environmental crime with no one willing to claim responsibility.

• The contents of about 300 barrels were dissolved and distributed in Marj Bisri land before the Ministry of Agriculture weighed in — which it then did, declaring the material unacceptable for agricultural use.
• About 7.5 tons of additional materials remain untreated at the Zahle landfill, after the municipality withdrew its approval and demanded their removal since Oct⁠ober 2025.
• The Environment Ministry says it only approved the treatment methodology; EDL says it had all required approvals; Agriculture found out after the fact. Classic Lebanese administrative pass-the-parcel.
• Environment Minister Tamara Al-Zein visited facilities in Joub Jannine, Zahle, and Baalbek on Aug⁠ust 22, delivering new equipment and confirming she has asked EDL to retrieve the Zahle chemical materials pending an alternative solution.

Why it matters: Marj Bisri is a protected plain that survived a dam project — and now finds itself absorbing chemical waste through the same institutional dysfunction that nearly buried it under concrete.

We've reported that Ali al-Taher has been the sticking point in stalled Lebanon-Israel negotiations. Now there's a concrete proposal on the table: US General Joseph Clearfield is mediating a swap — Lebanon's army takes control of the Ali al-Taher facility in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from Khiam or a comparable site.

• Israeli bombardment of the Ali al-Taher elevation has intensified, and Lebanese officials say Israeli political calculations around Oct⁠ober elections could push toward a major offensive on the hill — and potentially beyond into Iqlim al-Tuffah — at any moment.
• President Aoun met Italian P⁠M Giorgia Meloni in Rome, pressing her to push Israel to implement the framework agreement and discussing the post-UNIFIL stage and Italy's stabilization role in the south.
• P⁠M Nawaf Salam visited Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre and was received by Defense Minister Michel Menassah in a public reconciliation after a cabinet-session rift — Salam told troops that "sovereignty is neither taken nor given, but built."

What to watch: Whether the Clearfield-mediated swap proposal gains traction before Israeli domestic electoral pressure turns a diplomatic standoff into a ground operation.

Lebanon passed a general amnesty law on Aug⁠ust 12 — the first in 35 years — and one of its most politically charged applications is the file of "Islamist detainees": hundreds of Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians held across more than two decades of clashes, from the 1999–2000 Dhinniyeh battles through Nahr al-Bared, the Syrian war, Abra, and Arsal.

• About 152 Islamist detainees remain in Roumieh Prison to⁠day, down from a peak of more than 2,000 during the Syrian war years; their lawyer expects roughly 57 unconvicted detainees — including about 20 Palestinians from the Fatah al-Islam file — to benefit from the law's first phase.
• Prison overcrowding stood at roughly 300 percent, according to the National Human Rights Commission's 2025 annual report, with about a third of inmates held without any judgment issued against them.
• The law reduces all death sentences to 28 years and life sentences to 17 years, and allows release of unconvicted detainees held longer than 12 years — but explicitly excludes figures like Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir from full release, though sentence reductions still apply to him.
• Lebanon transferred two batches of convicted Syrian prisoners to Damascus — 132 on Mar⁠ch 17 and 128 on Jun⁠e 24 — under a bilateral judicial cooperation agreement signed in Feb⁠ruary 2026, pre-dating the amnesty law.

The bigger picture: The amnesty closes a large part of the file numerically, but the two-decade buildup of detentions without trial — and the sectarian framing that surrounded the issue throughout — remains unexamined by the law itself.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in France on Sun⁠day for a two-day official visit with President Emmanuel Macron — his third trip to Paris — with Lebanon's future, the UNIFIL mandate, and the Strait of Hormuz all expected to feature prominently in the talks.

• Macron and MBS will co-chair the first-ever French-Saudi Strategic Partnership Council on Mon⁠day, expected to conclude with the signing of several bilateral agreements across economic, cultural, and strategic domains.
• Lebanon figures prominently: France is organizing a preparatory military meeting on Sep⁠tember 17 to support the Lebanese Armed Forces, and French and Italian officials are working on a formula to prevent a vacuum when the UNIFIL mandate expires.
• The two leaders will also attend the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup — held outside Saudi Arabia for the first time — where 2,000 players from 100 countries competed for $75 million in prize money.
• Syria, Gaza, Red Sea maritime security, and the Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani defense pact signed on Aug⁠ust 8 are all on the agenda.

What to watch: Whether the France-Saudi coordination produces concrete movement on the UNIFIL renewal formula and Lebanese army support — two files where the clock is visibly running.

A joint open letter signed by 52 French and 50 British former ambassadors and senior diplomats — many with decades of Middle East postings — called on their governments to move beyond recognition of Palestine and impose specific penalties on Israel, including arms and trade suspensions.

• The letter, addressed to Macron and British P⁠M Andy Burnham, was published two days after the UK, France, and nine other countries condemned Israel's publication of construction tenders for the E1 settlement project in the West Bank, which they said would undermine a two-state solution.
• The signatories include two former British envoys to the UN and a former French Middle East director; they describe conditions in Gaza — where they say over 1,200 Palestinians have been killed since the so-called ceasefire — as a policy of systematic destruction, while labeling house demolitions and settler violence in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as ethnic cleansing.
• Their seven demands include suspending the EU-Israel association agreement, halting arms transfers, banning trade with settlements, and making it a criminal offense for British or French citizens to buy property on Palestinian land.
• The letter explicitly mentions Lebanon, stating that Israel's "policy of occupation and destruction extends to Lebanon — where many villages have been razed."

Zooming out: The joint Franco-British format is unusual, and the diplomatic seniority of the signatories adds institutional weight to a call that goes considerably further than either government's current policy.

The US military's own newspaper — Stars and Stripes, which has published continuously since World War II — lost its editor-in-chief, publisher, and a Middle East reporter on Fri⁠day after all three publicly said they would not accept political interference in their coverage.

• Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin said he received a notice of separation for insubordination after stating in a CBS interview that editorial censorship of news for service members would be a personal "red line"; reporter Lara Korte was fired for saying she worked for Stars and Stripes, "not the Pentagon, not any administration."
• Publisher Max Lederer, who had served in the role since 2007, had already announced his intention to retire in Sep⁠tember after the Pentagon installed an active-duty Navy captain as deputy editor without his knowledge.
• The National Press Club called the firing "another brazen attempt by the Pentagon to dictate coverage of the military" and demanded it be immediately reversed.

The bigger picture: The firings mark the sharpest public confrontation yet between the Pentagon's press operation under Secretary Pete Hegseth and the principle of independent reporting for US troops stationed around the world.