Some time ago, security forces stopped a car at Dahr al-Baydar loaded with roughly half a ton of C4 and TNT, and Hezbollah later acknowledged the cargo. Now the First Military Investigative Judge, Ghada Abu Alwan, has issued arrest warrants for the two detained Hezbollah members, Haitham Amhaz and Ali al-Kurdi. It's the first formal judicial step in a case charged against 13 people.

• The two men told the judge they belong to Hezbollah and are war wounded, according to Al Modon, a Lebanese outlet.
• They say their only task was driving the shipment from the Bekaa to Beirut's Musharafieh area. No idea who would receive it, no idea what was inside.
• Abu Alwan issued no warrants for the other 11 defendants. She asked their lawyer, Maan al-Assaad, to tell them a hearing is set in about two weeks; skip it, and warrants follow.
• She is also waiting on the Information Branch's investigation file before deciding whether to summon anyone new.

What to watch: The hearing in two weeks, and whether the 11 other defendants show up or face warrants of their own.

The Dahr al-Baydar case has now drawn in foreign capitals. The US, UK, Australia, Canada and Japan issued a joint statement calling for a swift, independent judicial process, hours after the warrants dropped. Military Court Government Commissioner Claude Ghanem had referred the file to the investigative judge on Oct⁠ober 30, charging 11 others.

• The five embassies described themselves as "friends of Lebanon" and reaffirmed support for the state's monopoly on arms, saying only the state should decide on war and peace.
• They urged every MP and party to back President Joseph Aoun's and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's statements on that point, "publicly and unambiguously."
• Amal MP Qassem Hashem called the statement a violation of the Vienna Convention. "As though we have entered a period of mandate and tutelage," he said.
• Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, Loyalty to the Resistance, called for an end to the accusations and media controversy.

Why it matters: A criminal file about explosives has become a test of who decides war and peace in Lebanon, with foreign embassies and Amal now trading statements over it.

The Lebanese army says it fired warning shots at a vehicle that tried to run over soldiers at a border post in Arsal, a town on the Syrian border. The incident, on Nov⁠ember 4, ended with one woman dead.

• The car had tinted windows, no plates, and crossed from Syria through illegal routes, the army said.
• Inside were 12 Syrians being smuggled into Lebanon.
• One woman was hit by a bullet and later died. Three others were hurt by shattered glass.
• The driver fled. An investigation is underway under the competent judiciary.

The bigger picture: The border is porous, the smuggling is organized, and now there's a death for the investigation to account for.

The US and Israel attacked Iran in late Feb⁠ruary, and the war has dragged on since, with a US naval blockade of Iranian ports and Iran's nuclear program the main obstacle to ending it. Now Iran is reviewing a fresh set of mediator proposals, according to the New York Times. That would be a possible opening after weeks of refusing concessions. Qatar is running the talks, and Vice President J.D. Vance has emerged as a key backer, even as Washington and Israel weigh a major strike.

• Five officials told the Times the provisions are "tangible proposals" but gave no details, per Annahar.
• Vance sent a letter last⁠ month to Mohsen Rezaee, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, proposing direct talks. He blames the war for the Republicans' midterm losses, and before it began he was a leading opponent of full-scale war inside Trump's circle.
• Rezaee publicly demands unfrozen assets, lifted oil sanctions and an end to the blockade before nuclear talks. Officials say he has been more open in private.
• The sticking point is Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpile, estimated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (the UN nuclear watchdog) at about 440 kg as of Jun⁠e 2025. Trump wants it gone; Tehran says it can't leave the country.

What to watch: Whether the mediators narrow the gap on the uranium stockpile, since that's the point where both sides have so far refused to move.

Leaked Russian defense-industry documents show Moscow agreed to supply Iran with 90 launchers for the LMUR, a guided missile fired from attack helicopters that Russia has used extensively against Ukrainian targets since 2022. The files were obtained by Dallas Analytics, a Ukrainian private intelligence firm, and shared with the Guardian. They surface as Washington weighs its next move in its war against Iran, and as Russia is widely seen as one of that war's winners.

• A May⁠ 2024 production schedule from Vympel, a leading Russian missile designer, lists the launchers under export contract "K-10", with deliveries planned between late 2024 and Dec⁠ember 2025. Separate paperwork identifies K-10 as Iran, the Guardian reports.
• The records don't show whether the launchers were actually delivered.
• Moscow denies supplying Iran with military equipment for the current conflict. The two countries signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2025, though it stops short of mutual defense commitments.
• Trump wrote last⁠ month that Russia was doing "very little, if anything" for Tehran. European intelligence findings say otherwise, citing shared satellite images and key data that could help target US forces.

Zooming out: Higher energy prices from Hormuz disruptions give Moscow extra oil revenue, so the Iran war carries side effects well beyond the Gulf, including for Ukraine's access to Patriot interceptors.

Iraq's Kurdistan Region has run since 2005 as a federal entity, governed by two historic rivals: the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by the Barzani family, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), led by the Talabanis. The PUK, the junior partner, has now pulled out of the coalition. PUK leader Bafel Talabani announced the withdrawal on Thurs⁠day, calling it a "failed government." The rivals have been stuck over a new cabinet for over two years, since the Oct⁠ober 2024 elections.

• The trigger: the KDP reconvened the Kurdistan parliament on Nov⁠ember 4 and elected a speaker, Vala Fareed, over a PUK boycott. Three PUK defectors supplied the quorum, Al-Monitor reports.
• Talabani threatened that if the KDP appoints a regional president and prime minister, "we will appoint our own." He stopped short of declaring a separate administration.
• The core dispute is the interior ministry, held by KDP man Rebar Ahmed, a close ally of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. The PUK wants it, since the KDP already holds the presidency and premiership.
• The KDP took 1,101,357 votes in Iraq's Nov⁠ember 2025 national election, nearly double the PUK's 548,866.

The bigger picture: The two parties fought a war in 1994, and analysts quoted by Al-Monitor say a prolonged standoff could leave Erbil and Sulaymaniyah running as largely separate governments.