Electricite du Liban (EDL), the state power utility, began disconnecting electricity on Mon⁠day to ministries, municipalities and other public bodies that haven't paid their bills. Their unpaid dues add up to roughly a quarter of a billion dollars, money EDL says it needs to buy fuel and keep power plants running.

• An initial list obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat names the Council for Development and Reconstruction, the Public Works Ministry, the customs directorate and the land registries, plus Telecommunications Ministry subscriptions in several regions.
• Beirut's airport dodged the cut. The Civil Aviation Authority agreed to pay part of its roughly $22.8 million debt, reschedule the rest and pay new bills on time.
• An informed source says the aim isn't punishment but "permanent financial regularity."
• The arrears stretch back years and worsened after the tariff increase.

What to watch: The airport deal sets a template of partial payment plus a schedule, and whether other institutions follow it will show if this campaign turns into steady collections.

Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri's delegation, which we previewed last⁠ week as heading to Damascus with a packed agenda, was received Mon⁠day by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani. The two sides came with different priorities: Damascus pressed on border control and security coordination, Beirut on Syrian refugees.

• A Syrian Foreign Ministry statement put security cooperation and border control first, then education, higher education, social affairs and labor.
• Informed sources say the agenda was topped by border management, crossing traffic and anti-smuggling coordination. Refugees came next, including those who entered covertly, plus Syrian students in Lebanese schools.
• The visit follows a Jul⁠y agreement to set up a joint higher committee to coordinate ministries on economic, investment and security cooperation.
• No outcome from the talks has been announced yet.

The bigger picture: Lebanon keeps its refugee file and Syria its border file, and the joint committee is where the two get traded against each other.

Hezbollah began handing out cash on Mon⁠day under its "Promise and Commitment" housing program, which it announced on Oct⁠ober 13 and which offers up to $14,000 per household. Aid goes to families whose homes were destroyed or made uninhabitable since the war with Israel resumed on Mar⁠ch 2.

• Payment centers opened in the Nabatieh area and in Sharqieh, near Nabatieh, handing out payment orders to families with destroyed homes, according to L'Orient To⁠day.
• Beirut and its southern suburbs get up to $14,000, other regions up to $12,000, paid in four installments over a year.
• Hezbollah says it will process 90% of victim files within 40 days, despite paperwork and property-deed problems.
• The party reportedly received nearly $200 million from Iran last⁠ month, despite a US economic blockade on Iran and tighter Lebanese control of its money routes.

Why it matters: Israel has damaged or destroyed over 290,000 homes since Oct⁠ober 2023, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has put reconstruction at more than $27 billion, a bill far larger than any party's payout.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Satur⁠day that Damascus is evaluating entry into the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, a mutual-defense pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. Its core rule: an attack on one member counts as an attack on all three. The talks come as Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia escalate.

• The pact was signed in Mecca on Aug⁠ust 7, and al-Shaibani spoke at the Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain, describing Syria as an "integral" part of regional security.
• Analyst Samy Akil of Syria Report calls it early-stage "sabre-rattling" and doesn't expect Syria to become a fourth member soon.
• Damascus has denied reports that Riyadh asked it to send ground troops to fight the Houthis.
• Al-Shaibani also said Syria has faced more than 1,000 Israeli attacks in under two years. Akil reads the pact interest partly as a bargaining chip for future talks with Israel.

What to watch: Turkey's parliamentary foreign affairs committee has approved a ratification bill, and whether Ankara and Islamabad move beyond pledges of support will show how binding the pact really is.

Americans vote Tues⁠day in midterm elections, with 56 million early ballots already cast, an unprecedented figure for a non-presidential year. Analysts quoted by Middle East Eye expect Democrats to retake the House and possibly the Senate, but say winning wouldn't give them the power to rewrite policy.

• To flip the Senate, Democrats must hold all 47 of their seats and win four Republican ones. Texas, Maine, North Carolina and Alaska are the likeliest, with Iowa and Ohio contested.
• Former Republican adviser Rina Shah says the Senate's tools are refusal, not reversal: blocking nominees, holding oversight hearings, and attaching conditions to must-pass defense and funding bills.
• A veto-proof majority needs 60 seats, which isn't happening this cycle.
• Conditioning US military aid to Israel is expected to come up. Polymarket bettors give a Democratic sweep nearly 75%.

The bigger picture: Political scientist David McCuan argues the 2028 campaign effectively starts Nov⁠ember 4, with cost-of-living issues expected to outweigh investigations in a Democratic Senate's agenda.

Some US midterm candidates are trying to shape what AI chatbots say about them, as a growing share of voters ask ChatGPT and its rivals for information. Reuters reports the practice is already commercial. Consultants are selling strategies to get campaigns recommended in chatbot answers, an approach called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

• A strategy deck for Massachusetts Republican candidate Mike Minogue, reviewed by Reuters, proposed hundreds of AI-optimized pages and paid placements on sites chatbots already cite, including Reddit.
• About 25% of eligible voters have asked a chatbot about a candidate, according to Cameron Hickey of the National Conference on Citizenship.
• Prices run from a few hundred dollars a month to $50,000, with success bonuses up to $200,000.
• A TechCrunch study found Grok 4.7 recommended the Republican in 92% of responses while GPT-6.1 Sol picked the Democrat in 97%.

Why it matters: Chatbots answer with confidence regardless of source quality, which is why monitors like Caucus AI flag disinformation risk as the practice spreads toward 2028.