This is a follow-up to last⁠ week's coverage of regional tensions and the Lebanon-Israel talks, which have stalled since the Mar⁠ch war, Apr⁠il ceasefire and Jun⁠e framework agreement. Democrats just won both houses of Congress and Israel's election produced no clear majority. A Lebanese column argues the weeks before power actually changes hands are the riskiest, because weakened leaders keep full military authority.

• In the US midterms, Democrats took both the House and the Senate, ending a Republican edge of 53 Senate seats and 218 House seats.
• In Israel, Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats, Gadi Eisenkot's opposition 48 and the Arab parties 19. No one reached the 61 needed.
• The new Congress is sworn in Jan⁠uary 3, 2027. Israel's caretaker government stays until a coalition wins the Knesset's confidence, and a deadlock could mean fresh elections.
• UNIFIL's mandate is set to end Dec⁠ember 31, 2026, in the middle of this very window.

What to watch: The column flags a renewed US-Iran confrontation as the sharpest risk, since the author says a strike on Iran could pull Lebanon in through Hezbollah, Israeli preemption and Gulf disruption.

The Aug⁠ust 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion, caused by hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored for years under poor safety conditions, killed at least 235 people and gutted much of the capital. On Wednes⁠day, Investigating Judge Tarek Bitar questioned four former senior army officers as suspects, a step that shows the long-stalled case moving again.

• The four are Georges Moussa, Munir Abou Zeid, Manuel Karjian and Walid Salman, the army's former chief of staff, according to a judicial source.
• Prosecutor General Mohammad Saab brought the charges over suspicions they knew ammonium nitrate was at the port. He sat in on the hearing.
• Questioning ran from 10:⁠30 a.m. to 4:⁠30 p.m. Bitar made no decision on release or detention.
• Bitar's own indictment is still expected before year's end. Before then he must summon dozens of people to notify them of decisions against them.

Why it matters: Naming senior ex-army officers as suspects is a notable step in a probe long hampered by political and judicial obstruction.

Since Israel launched its latest offensive in southern Lebanon in Mar⁠ch, mosques, shrines, churches and husseiniyas (Shia communal gathering halls) have been flattened. The Public Source, an independent investigative outlet, reports that residents say the destruction goes beyond buildings to erasing memory, and that rebuilding stone won't automatically bring back the lives it housed.

• Bint Jbeil's Grand Mosque, with an inscription dating its Ottoman-era renovation to 1721-22, was reduced to rubble in mid-Apr⁠il, residents say.
• The Shrine of Sham'oun al-Safa, sacred to Shia Muslims and Christians and dated by an inscription to 1096-97, was destroyed by explosives.
• Occupation of Bint Jbeil's Grand Serail, which held land records for more than 20 villages, leaves the fate of those archives unknown. The digital registry only goes back to 2020.
• As of Oct⁠ober 29, about 960,000 displaced people have returned, while just over 304,500 have not.

The bigger picture: Local voices argue that without residents' return, even faithfully rebuilt landmarks risk becoming shells, a view Lebanon's environment minister echoes in calling the destruction ecocide and domicide.

Turkey built dozens of military bases and observation points in northern Syria after its 2016-17 Operation Euphrates Shield against ISIS, a drive backed by Syrian opposition factions it allied with. An investigation by the independent outlets Daraj and Siraj documents 37 such sites across four governorates. Many sit on farmland, homes or schools, and owners say they were never compensated.

• The sites span rural Aleppo, Idlib, Hama and Latakia. Researchers used satellite imagery, owner interviews, documents and legal review to verify them.
• In Kaljibrin, a base cost the Sheikhho family about 960 trees, including 860 pistachio trees over 40 years old. The father reportedly died of grief over the loss.
• At Jabal Sheikh Aqil, about 400 homes were bulldozed around the third observation point. It remains in place.
• A landowner in Morek says a lease at $700 per dunam never paid out, roughly $20,000 a year. Turkish forces withdrew in Oct⁠ober 2020.
• Syria's transitional justice commission says it is documenting complaints. Judge Riyad Ali calls litigation "legally possible but practically impossible."

Why it matters: Owners of properties used for Turkish bases still wait for compensation, and the Syrian Defense Ministry did not respond to the investigation's questions.

Democrats won control of Congress in Tues⁠day's midterms, which hands them subpoena and hearing powers over the Trump administration. The New Yorker reports that law firms and lobbyists are fielding calls from companies bracing for that scrutiny, though the White House has tools to slow things down.

• Representative Robert Garcia, set to chair the House Oversight Committee, posted "LAWYER UP" in all caps on election night.
• Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is set to chair Senate Judiciary and wants answers on cash reportedly handed to border czar Tom Homan in an FBI sting. Homan denies criminal conduct.
• Two Supreme Court rulings, Trump v. Mazars in 2020 and Trump v. United States in 2024, give the White House room to stall.
• A Justice Department opinion from Aug⁠ust argues executive privilege can cover Trump's chats with outside advisers.
• Companies, especially publicly traded ones, tend to comply faster, which makes private firms the likelier early targets.

What to watch: Investigators may start with private-sector witnesses, while the administration weighs how hard to resist.

Nearly all of Gaza's power grid is gone. The World Bank says over 90% of generation and distribution capacity was destroyed in Apr⁠il 2026, and solar panels now cost more than most families can afford. In Khan Yunis, a former engineering student is building turbines from scrap, giving tent camps a trickle of electricity.

• Kamal Al-Dabary, 60, builds turbines from scooter motors and water tanks cut into blades.
• Power runs through circuits made from parts salvaged from destroyed homes into batteries. It charges phones and runs lights and fans.
• A single solar panel now costs at least 15,000 shekels, nearly $5,000.
• For neighbors, the output is modest but vital. One says a child's nebuliser at night depends on it.

Zooming out: Three years into the war, with Israel controlling over 60% of Gaza's territory, improvised fixes like these are how many displaced families keep devices and medical equipment running.