The Lebanese-Emirati Economic Forum wrapped up in Beirut this⁠ week with something more concrete than handshakes: a new joint business council, five signed memoranda of understanding, and a delegation that grew since we last reported it, with more than 80 Emirati figures on the ground.

• B2B meetings paired 50 Emirati businesspeople with roughly 120 Lebanese counterparts across sectors including trade, agriculture, energy, tourism, IT, oil, gas, banking, and infrastructure, per Lebanon 24.
• Non-oil trade between the two countries reached $4.2 billion in 2025, a jump of 35.6%, and the UAE has comprehensive economic partnership agreements giving access to more than 3.5 billion people globally.
• Emirati investors are reportedly most interested in sovereign infrastructure — Beirut's airport, the port of Beirut, and the port of Tripoli — with some appetite for digital identity and passport-management services, according to Lebanon 24.
• One UAE investor put it plainly: "The first-mover advantage is now," per The National.

Why it matters: Emirati capital returning to Lebanese sovereign infrastructure would be the clearest signal yet that the Gulf's most influential economy sees Lebanon's recovery as a serious bet, not a charity project.

President Joseph Aoun made his clearest public case yet for Lebanon's decision to negotiate with Israel, telling a delegation at Baabda Palace that talks — however slow and obstacle-laden — are "by far preferable to war." An eighth round is expected in Rome in Sep⁠tember, though no date has been set.

• Aoun said Lebanon's goals — liberating the south, deploying the army to the border, recovering prisoners, allowing residents to return, and rebuilding — "cannot be achieved through war," according to L'Orient To⁠day.
• The Jun⁠e framework agreement, reached under US sponsorship, covers Hezbollah's disarmament, a phased Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, and Lebanese Army deployment in the area; Israel has since occupied a buffer zone of more than 600 square kilometers.
• The war, which Lebanon was drawn into in early Mar⁠ch after Hezbollah launched attacks in support of Tehran, has killed more than 4,300 people, according to L'Orient To⁠day.
• Hezbollah opposes direct Lebanon-Israel negotiations — a fault line that continues to shape the pace and scope of every round.

Zooming out: With Rome Round 8 still undated and both sides showing hesitation, the gap between Aoun's public confidence in the process and the negotiations' actual momentum remains the central tension to track.

Lebanese officials are now using a specific word for what's happening to the country's southern land: ecocide. New data from the National Council for Scientific Research puts the scale of destruction in stark terms.

• Israeli military activity has burned 160 square kilometers of Lebanese land since Oct⁠ober 2023, half of it agricultural, according to CNRS satellite imagery — including 7,500 hectares burned this⁠ year alone, with 350 hectares scorched after the Jun⁠e deal.
• Environment Minister Tamara Elzein called it "ecocide," accusing Israel's army of "deliberately" burning Lebanese land; Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has used the phrase "scorched-earth policy."
• Israeli forces uprooted 600 olive trees in a single southern village this⁠ month, per Lebanon's state-run National News Agency; residents in Kfar Shouba say they're afraid even to clear undergrowth near Israeli positions.
• Civil defense teams had to wait until "the following day when the fire had burnt everything" to receive Israeli army clearance to fight one blaze in Kfar Shouba, the head of Nabatieh's civil defense told AFP.

What to watch: Whether Lebanon's "ecocide" framing gains traction in international legal and diplomatic forums — and whether it accelerates pressure on Israel to complete its phased withdrawal — will determine if the accusation becomes more than a headline.

The biggest tech settlement in US history just landed: Meta will pay at least $12.1 billion over ten years — potentially rising to $17 billion — and fundamentally reshape how teenagers use Instagram and Facebook, after 29 US state attorneys general accused the company of knowingly harming young people's mental health.

• Under the deal, children's daily use of Instagram and Facebook will be capped at two hours, with mandatory 15-minute pause breaks and a full overnight ban from midnight to 6am.
• Kids will lose access to like counts, beauty filters, and push notifications during school hours (8am–3pm); an independent auditor will verify compliance.
• The settlement was hailed as the largest consumer protection agreement of its kind in history outside the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s — Meta admitted no wrongdoing.
• The cap drops to 60 minutes daily for ten years if Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube adopt similar rules.

What to watch: Whether Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube follow with comparable restrictions will determine if this settlement reshapes the entire social media industry's approach to underage users, or remains Meta-specific.

The Trump administration declared an "economic onslaught" on Iran this⁠ week, but analysts say the campaign has one enormous blind spot: China buys more than 80 percent of Iranian oil shipments and has shown no intention of stopping, especially with a Xi Jinping state visit to Washington just weeks away.

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's announcement pointedly avoided specific measures against China, and the US sanctioned a China-owned tanker and a Hong Kong-based firm but stopped well short of targeting major Chinese banks or businesses tied to the American financial system, according to Naharnet.
• Beijing responded that its cooperation with Iran has always been "within the framework of international law" and warned it would "take all necessary measures" to safeguard its interests.
• China shipped no dysprosium or terbium oxide to Japan between Nov⁠ember 2025 and May⁠ 2026 — a reminder of Beijing's willingness to use trade as leverage when its interests are challenged.
• Analysts say Beijing will likely do the minimum required to avoid open confrontation, without meaningfully severing Iran ties.

Zooming out: Washington's ability to financially isolate Iran hinges heavily on Chinese cooperation — and that cooperation is now entangled with the timeline and stakes of a US-China summit.

Canada revoked the travel authorization of Arieh King, Deputy Mayor of West Jerusalem, preventing his planned fundraising tour of Toronto and Montreal after human rights organizations filed a criminal complaint with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police over alleged crimes against humanity.

• King founded the Israel Land Fund, an organization that campaigns to displace Palestinian families from occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and replace them with Jewish-only settlements, according to Middle East Eye.
• The Legal Centre for Palestine, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, and the Hind Rajab Foundation all pushed Canadian authorities to block the visit.
• King has a documented public record of statements calling for violence against Palestinians and UN staff; Israel has killed at least 393 UNRWA staff in Gaza.
• His visit was organized by the Israel Land Fund and framed publicly as an "investment" opportunity around Jerusalem.

The bigger picture: Canada's decision reflects growing scrutiny in Western countries of officials with documented records of statements that may cross into incitement, as international legal pressure on Israeli officials intensifies.