|   | Bonjourein. Welcome to your Sunday edition of Sobhiye — a look back at the week's biggest Lebanon stories. It was a week of big stages and unresolved questions. Lebanon's prime minister took the UN General Assembly floor to declare that only Lebanon's constitutional institutions speak for Lebanon — a pointed message directed at Iran and Hezbollah. Meanwhile, UNIFIL formally entered wind-down mode after 48 years, with the same thorny issues that created the mission still very much unsettled. On the home front, 256,000 students remained displaced as the school year opened, and prefab homes began trickling into the devastated south. A lot to unpack — let's get into it. |
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What specific condition did Mohammad Raad say must be met before discussing Hezbollah's defensive strategy? | | A ceasefire must be declared |
| | Iran must approve any deal |
| | A sovereign authority must exist |
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Scroll to the bottom for the answer — or play all 10 at sobhiye.news/games/news-quiz |
| | - Salam at the UN: Prime Minister Nawaf Salam addressed the UN General Assembly on Friday, declaring that "no one speaks in the name of Lebanon" except its constitutional institutions — a direct pushback against Iran and Hezbollah's bid to fold Lebanon into US-Iran nuclear negotiations. He demanded full Israeli withdrawal, a weapons monopoly for the state, and a successor arrangement to UNIFIL.
- Hezbollah's Two-Year Reckoning: On the second anniversary of Hassan Nasrallah's martyrdom, Hezbollah parliament bloc chief Mohammad Raad gave a rare, wide-ranging interview defending the Gaza support war as "historically honorable," dismissing the March cabinet decree on weapons as illegitimate, and conditioning any discussion of disarmament on full Israeli withdrawal and a sovereign Lebanese state.
- Israel's Withdrawal Conditions Grow: Israel continued to expand the conditions it sets for leaving southern Lebanon, with Defense Minister Katz insisting earlier this week that troops would stay "without any time limit" until Hezbollah disarms — and a US envoy adding that Israeli forces would remain until the Lebanese army is strong enough to secure the south alone.
- UNIFIL's 48-Year Mission Ends: With its mandate set to expire December 31, UNIFIL is now formally in wind-down mode — the first time since its 1978 founding that its departure has been declared. Lebanese and international voices have warned against a post-UNIFIL vacuum, calling for a successor international arrangement while the same unresolved questions that created the mission — Israeli withdrawal, army deployment, armed groups — remain open.
- Displaced Students Left Behind: As the 2026–2027 school year launched on September 15, roughly 256,000 students remained affected by displacement, school closures, or conversion of schools into shelters, according to UNICEF. About 80 official schools were still being used as displacement centers, and MP Inaya Ezzeddine warned parliament that 350,000 southern students face an uncertain educational future — a situation Malika Halabi called a "catastrophe."
- Prefab Homes Reach the South: The Council for the South this week began delivering the first batch of prefabricated homes to families in Zawtar al-Gharbiyah, where officials estimated 85 percent of homes were completely destroyed. A High Relief Committee source warned the need is staggering — roughly 300,000 housing units are destroyed or uninhabitable — and that prefabricated housing is only one piece of a much larger puzzle.
- Lebanese Exports Surge in Saudi Arabia: One month after Saudi Arabia lifted its import ban on Lebanese goods, July data showed exports to the Kingdom more than doubled to $2 million — more than 26 times the entire 2025 annual total of roughly $75,000. Paper products led the recovery at 57 percent of exports, though Lebanon still ranks 85th among Saudi trading partners by volume.
- War Crimes Complaint Over Olive Trees: An unnamed French businessman, aged 37, filed a civil lawsuit in France this week accusing the Israeli army of uprooting a 600-year-old olive grove his family had cultivated for more than 250 years in Zawtar al-Sharqiyah. His lawyers called the destruction part of "ethnic cleansing," and the complaint — which also covers the demolition of the family home — accuses Israel of theft and destruction of property constituting war crimes.
- IS Commander Arrested in Lebanon: Lebanese army intelligence arrested a senior Islamic State commander this week — a Syrian national known as Al-Daamish, formerly Aleppo's deputy IS chief — who had allegedly entered Lebanon illegally after the Syrian regime's collapse and was tasked with assassinating Pope Leo XIV during his 2025 Beirut visit. Surveillance he conducted failed when he encountered the dense security deployment accompanying the papal visit.
- Stolen Lamborghinis, Cocaine, Beirut: A drug trafficking case between Dubai and Beirut this week cracked open a suspected stolen luxury car network. Judge Samaranda Nassar's investigation — which started with a cocaine arrest in Dubai — led to raids in Keserwan, the arrest of several suspects, and the discovery that high-end vehicles including Porsches, Ferraris, and Lamborghinis were allegedly stolen in Dubai and resold in Lebanon using falsified chassis numbers.
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That's your week in full. Take a breath, enjoy your Sunday — we'll be back in your inbox tomorrow. |
| ✓D. A sovereign authority must exist |
Raad stated the defensive strategy must be paired with a sovereign authority. Read the full story → |
Lebanon news, every weekday morning. Free, sharp, ~5 minutes. |
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