Lebanon's Constitutional Council ruled Mon⁠day on the general amnesty law, the one that could free thousands of prisoners. It kept the law alive but partially annulled it and attached binding interpretations that narrow who benefits.

• The decision, issued Oct⁠ober 12, was unanimous. It rejected the request to scrap Law No. 70/2026 entirely, but struck some phrases and added reservations.
• Corruption crimes stay excluded from the amnesty, and not only the ones named in the law. The exclusion now covers every corruption crime in Lebanese law and in the international agreements Lebanon has signed, public or private sector.
• War crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, and enforced disappearance also stay outside the amnesty.
• Crimes that once carried the death penalty now map to 28 years, not the 17 years that applies to commuted life sentences. A Sunni bloc says this keeps cleric Ahmad al-Assir (أحمد الأسير) behind bars.

What to watch: Prisoners ended a 30-day hunger strike, and releases are expected next⁠ week, but lawyers say judicial discretion on Article Five could decide who actually walks out.

It's official: EU governments have approved a three-year mission to advise and train Lebanon's army and Internal Security Forces. Brussels says it is not a UNIFIL replacement, and the timing is hard to miss, with the UN peacekeepers' mandate set to end Dec⁠ember 31.

• The EU Council approved the mission on Mon⁠day for an initial three years, with a military and a civilian arm. The launch needs a separate, later decision.
• The military side covers border surveillance, intelligence, and anti-smuggling work. The civilian side trains the ISF in cybercrime and port security.
• Kaja Kallas hopes it will be operating in Lebanon within two months.
• She also put EU security support through the European Peace Facility at €182 million since 2022, making Lebanon its third-largest beneficiary.

Why it matters: With UNIFIL's mandate expiring at year's end, Beirut and Brussels both fear a security vacuum in the south, and this mission is Europe's answer, though not a stand-in for the UN force.

Pope Leo XIV didn't ask any Eastern patriarch to resign. But a short line to Melkite Greek Catholic bishops, "service before authority," has set off a debate about how much power a patriarch should hold alone.

• He said it while meeting the Melkite Synod, shortly before entering hospital for surgery.
• A commentary in Lebanon 24 argues the phrase points to synods playing a bigger role in major church decisions.
• The same piece cautions that the speech doesn't amend church law or begin any removal process. It's a reading of implications, not an announced reform.

The bigger picture: Whether the call turns into formal rules for patriarchal accountability or stays a moral exhortation will decide if anything changes inside the Eastern Churches.

A Houthi missile strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh has killed at least 13 people and wounded 300. It is the deadliest single attack on any Gulf country since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in Feb⁠ruary.

• A Houthi official said the attack was meant to show that the Saudis target Yemeni civilian infrastructure, per the Guardian's account.
• Yemen's civil war began in 2014 and was largely frozen by a de facto division in 2022. Analysts say the Iran war reopened it.
• The closure of the Strait of Hormuz pushed more traffic past Yemen's coast, and the Houthis moved to control the Bab al-Mandab strait.
• Last⁠ month, Washington declined to extend military help against the Houthis, according to the Guardian column. Meanwhile, at an energy congress in Riyadh, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the East-West Pipeline will be expanded to 10 million barrels per day within two to three years.

Why it matters: Gulf states built their business pitch on calm skies and open airports, and an attack on a capital's main airport tests both at once.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered Israeli officials to identify and prosecute the soldiers and officers who appear in the documentary NAZA, which examines civilian deaths in Gaza. Press-freedom groups call it intimidation, and the filmmakers' outlet calls it a distraction.

• His letter went to the attorney general, the army chief of staff and the Shin Bet head. It demands a criminal investigation into "serious information security offences" and "harming Israel's diplomatic and security interests."
• The military advocate general said prosecution would require evidence of security violations or leaked classified material. Disciplinary measures remain possible.
• NAZA won the special jury prize at Venice last⁠ month.
• The Guardian, which produced the film, says its team interviewed more than 100 sources.

What to watch: Whether the attorney general finds legal grounds to act, given the military's own warning about the evidence needed and the protections journalistic sources enjoy under international standards.

The Palestinian Authority has cancelled elections that were meant to happen, ending talk about a joint list of Hamas, Mohammed Dahlan and Marwan Barghouti. Palestinians haven't voted in roughly 20 years.

• Middle East Eye's Lubna Masarwa reported that the cancellation came two days after a Fatah contact described Cairo talks on a Hamas-Dahlan list.
• Barghouti has spent 24 years in an Israeli prison yet consistently tops polls.
• Israel sealed West Bank checkpoints during the Jewish holidays. The reporter describes a colleague stranded overnight in her car with her family.
• In Bethlehem, a restaurant that seats 1,500 was empty, and 40 hotels have closed.

The bigger picture: With no election, the same question about who speaks for Palestinians stays open, while the economy and daily movement keep shrinking under the closures.