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Lebanon Pushes Back Internationally as Journalists and Paramedics Are Killed

The backstory: Since Hezbollah entered the regional war in March, Israel has carried out repeated strikes across Lebanon—including on media crews and medical responders. International law explicitly protects both groups during armed conflict, but accountability has been elusive.

• Lebanon's Health Minister Rochan Nassar al-Din confirmed that 51 paramedics and journalists have been killed, 18 emergency centers attacked, 9 hospitals struck, and 5 hospitals forced to close entirely since the conflict escalated.
• Information Minister Paul Morcos told Al Modon his ministry has submitted a detailed dossier of attacks on media and medical crews to UN Special Coordinator Jeanine Plasschaert, the EU ambassador, and Lebanon's Foreign Ministry for formal international complaint.
• The Israeli military claimed one of the latest journalists killed—Al-Manar correspondent Ali Shoeib—was a Hezbollah operative, a charge Lebanon's government and legal experts flatly reject as a pretext for targeting press.
• Lebanese-American law professor Jad Taameh told Al Modon that deliberately striking a vehicle carrying journalists constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Conventions, and that Lebanon's failure to join the Rome Statute remains a critical obstacle to ICC prosecution.

What to watch: Whether Lebanon's international dossier translates into concrete Security Council action—or stalls against familiar veto politics—will determine if this diplomatic push is substance or symbolism.

Hezbollah Gas Station Near Beirut Airport Loses Lease After Israeli Warning Strike

• The property owner of an al-Amana gas station in Tahwitat al-Ghadir—a southern Beirut neighborhood directly adjacent to Rafic Hariri International Airport—terminated the lease with the Hezbollah-affiliated fuel company on Saturday, one day after an Israeli air force warning strike on the site Friday night.
• The municipality of Mreijeh, Tahwitat al-Ghadir, and Laylaki confirmed all al-Amana equipment has been removed and the station is now under the property owner's direct control, with no remaining connection to the company.
• Al-Amana has been under US sanctions since February 2020 and made headlines in 2021 for selling discounted Iranian fuel supplied by Hezbollah during Lebanon's crippling fuel shortage; the Israeli military says it is deliberately targeting these stations to undermine Hezbollah's "income and mobility."

Zooming out: The airport-adjacent location makes this strike politically charged—it signals Israel is willing to operate within meters of a civilian hub that dozens of airlines still fly into, raising serious questions about where the escalation ceiling actually is.

The Kirkuk–Tripoli Pipeline Could Be Lebanon's Surprise $275M Lifeline

• A joint analysis by economists from Lebanon's Basil Fuleihan Institute argues that the Kirkuk–Tripoli oil pipeline—dormant since the 1970s—has become a strategic necessity for Iraq after the Strait of Hormuz crisis slashed Iraq's southern oil output by an estimated 82%, dropping production from 4.4 million barrels per day to just 800,000.
• Lebanon's Tripoli Oil Installations (TOI) were originally engineered to receive Kirkuk crude via three legacy pipelines with a historic capacity of 900,000 barrels per day—infrastructure that needs rehabilitation, not reconstruction from scratch.
• At transit fees of $0.75–$1.50 per barrel and a flow scenario of 300,000–500,000 barrels per day, Lebanon could generate between $80 million and $275 million annually—without building a single new refinery.
• The authors recommend a 90-day trilateral initiative between Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria to fast-track Phase 1 transit operations, noting that post-2025 Damascus sanctions relief has removed the legal barrier that previously made the Syrian corridor impossible.

The bigger picture: For a country that's spent five years watching every economic lifeline collapse, a pipeline deal that positions Lebanon as a Mediterranean energy hub—rather than a basket case—would be one of the most consequential strategic pivots in a generation.

QUICK HITS

• Three journalists, one strike: An Israeli airstrike in Jezzine killed 3 journalists on Saturday—Al Manar's Ali Shoeib and Al Mayadeen's Fatima and Mohamed Ftouni. The Committee to Protect Journalists called Lebanon an "increasingly deadly zone," while Lebanon's president condemned it as a "brazen crime."
• Paper bombs over Jnah: The Israeli army dropped leaflets Saturday over Jnah in Beirut's southern suburbs, with one reading "Hezbollah is turning your homes into terrorist hideouts." The drop caused damage to an apartment when a missile exploded on impact—psychological warfare with a very literal punch.
• Hezbollah's clock game: Sources close to Hezbollah tell Asharq Al-Awsat the group is pursuing a "steadfastness" strategy—holding the line militarily to buy time for diplomacy. Iran has conditioned any ceasefire on it covering Lebanon too, putting Parliament Speaker Berri in an increasingly awkward position.
• Sovereignty's impossible math: A new analysis from The Public Source argues the Lebanese army was never structurally designed to confront Israel—built instead as an internal security force, with US military aid of over $3 billion between 2006 and 2024 explicitly conditioned on never being used against Israel.
• Yemen enters the chat: The Houthis launched their first missile and drone attacks on Israel Saturday, two separate volleys in under 24 hours, both intercepted. The Iran-aligned group pledged to keep fighting in support of resistance fronts across Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran.

INTERNATIONAL

Solar Power Now Supplies 10% of Global Electricity—And It's Just Getting Started

• Global solar capacity reached an estimated 2,919 gigawatts in 2025, supplying roughly 10% of the world's electricity—surpassing nuclear energy at 9% for the first time, according to Deutsche Welle.
• China leads the world by a wide margin, installing 315 GW of new panels in 2025 alone to reach a total capacity of 1,300 GW, with more than 80% of all solar panels globally manufactured there.
• Solar prices have dropped by roughly 90% over the past decade, making it the cheapest form of electricity in many parts of the world, with large-scale solar parks in sun-rich regions producing power for as little as 1 euro cent per kilowatt-hour.
• If current growth rates hold, global capacity could hit 9,000 GW by 2030, covering more than 20% of world energy demand—a trajectory the International Energy Agency famously failed to predict as recently as 2020.

The bigger picture: Solar's exponential rise is reshaping geopolitics, supply chains, and energy security calculations worldwide at a speed that almost every major forecasting institution has consistently underestimated.

Iran's Regime Organizes 850+ Pro-Government Rallies as Crackdown Intensifies One Month Into War

• Independent conflict monitor ACLED documented more than 850 public demonstrations in Iran since the start of the US-Israeli war, with 99.2% of them pro-regime—a pattern researchers describe as orchestrated rather than spontaneous, according to The Guardian.
• At least 1,465 people have been detained in just 27 days, with charges escalating from "filming damage" to "espionage" and "mercenary" activity as the conflict has progressed and authorities tighten domestic control.
• US and Israeli strikes have remained steady at between 47 and 102 attacks daily, causing what ACLED describes as "significant" civilian casualties; Iran's retaliatory strikes have caused only 70 fatalities compared with 1,157 killed inside Iran.
• The single anti-regime protest recorded—on March 25—was met with lethal force, with 10 people killed, underscoring what researchers call the steep "cost of dissent" inside Iran right now.

What to watch: Whether the regime's combination of orchestrated public loyalty displays and aggressive arrests can hold domestic cohesion together as US-Israeli strikes continue at this pace.

Millions March Across the US and Globe in Third 'No Kings' Protest Against Trump Administration

• Organizers say the third No Kings day of action drew crowds at more than 3,000 events across the United States on Saturday, with the previous October edition attracting an estimated 7 million participants nationwide, according to The Guardian.
• The flagship event in Minnesota's Twin Cities drew an estimated 200,000 people around the state capitol, featuring remarks from Senator Bernie Sanders and a performance by Bruce Springsteen, while simultaneous protests took place in Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Sydney.
• More than two-thirds of registered participants were outside major urban centers, including in Republican-controlled areas and bellwether counties, with crowds also appearing in deep-red cities such as Midland, Texas, and Boise, Idaho.

Zooming out: The breadth of Saturday's turnout—spanning red districts, international capitals, and a wide range of grievances from ICE raids to the Iran war—suggests the anti-Trump coalition is broadening rather than consolidating around a single issue.

GHER HEK

• Teta's recipe, upgraded: Lebanese-Australian food creator Cat from Cat's Vegan Kitchen has transformed her grandmother Matilda's classic mujadara into a vegan soup loaded with 30 grams of protein per bowl—swapping white rice for brown and adding spinach, without losing a drop of that familiar comfort.
• Arendelle lands in Paris: Disneyland Paris officially opened its World of Frozen on Sunday, featuring a walking, talking robotic Olaf built with Walt Disney Imagineering's robotics lab in Zurich, a new Ever After Boat Ride with a surprise backwards drop, and custom music written by the original Oscar-winning songwriting duo.
• Klopp's bold Salah prophecy: Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp told BBC Sport he wouldn't be surprised if Mohamed Salah—who scored 255 goals for the club—plays another six or seven more years, calling him an "all-time great" and "irreplaceable" as the Egyptian winger prepares to leave Anfield this summer.
• Byblos calling, habibi: Lebanon Traveler spotlights the nature gems surrounding Jbeil—from the ancient Jaj Cedars Reserve perched at 1,800 meters above sea level to the 6,500-hectare Jabal Moussa biosphere reserve, offering trails for every level of hiker just a short drive from Beirut.

Thanks for reading—go make it a good Sunday.