🌳 Aoun holds the line

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Aoun Refuses Netanyahu Call as Israel Bombs Last Bridge to the South

• President Joseph Aoun will not speak with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in the near future, a senior Lebanese official told Middle East Eye, with Beirut informing Washington of this position ahead of Aoun's calls with Rubio and Trump.
• The announcement came as Israeli aircraft carried out two consecutive strikes on the Qasmiyeh bridge Thursday morning, destroying the last road link between the Tyre and Sidon regions and severing southern Lebanon from the rest of the country.
• Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,190 people in Lebanon since 2 March, including 91 healthcare workers in six weeks; on Wednesday, four rescue workers were killed in three back-to-back targeted strikes in the village of Mayfadoun.
• The Lebanese official warned that a historic Aoun-Netanyahu call—the first ever between the two countries' leaders—would have "major internal implications" and could trigger "an explosion in the country."

The backstory: Lebanon and Israel have been in a formal state of war since 1948 and have no diplomatic relations. Any direct leader-to-leader contact would be politically explosive domestically, particularly given Hezbollah's presence in Lebanese politics and its stated opposition to the Washington talks.

What to watch: Whether the ceasefire holds beyond its initial period—and whether Aoun's refusal to call Netanyahu becomes a sticking point in US-brokered negotiations toward a permanent agreement.

Ceasefire Described as a "Major Breakthrough" as Israel and Lebanon Near Deal

• Former US Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale called the reported Israel-Lebanon agreement on a 10-day ceasefire a "major breakthrough," speaking on Bloomberg's Balance of Power.
• Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that senior Israeli military commanders received instructions to prepare forces in southern Lebanon for a ceasefire expected to begin between 7pm and midnight Thursday, according to Middle East Eye.
• Aoun held his first call with President Trump on Thursday afternoon, thanking him for "efforts" to secure the ceasefire; Trump reaffirmed his support for Aoun and Lebanon, and his "commitment to responding to the Lebanese request for a ceasefire as quickly as possible."

Zooming out: The US hosted ambassadors from Israel and Lebanon in Washington last week in the first such talks between the two countries since 1993, making this ceasefire the culmination of a diplomatic push with no modern precedent, according to Bloomberg.

Satellite Images Reveal Over 1,400 Buildings Demolished in Southern Lebanon

• BBC Verify analysis found more than 1,400 buildings destroyed since 2 March based on verified visual evidence alone—a figure described as "just a snapshot" of actual damage given limited ground access.
• In the town of Taybeh alone, 11 verified videos show entire sections blown up simultaneously, with satellite imagery confirming more than 400 buildings levelled, including a mosque; Aita al-Shaab lost more than 460 buildings.
• Multiple international law experts told BBC Verify the demolitions may amount to a war crime, with Oxford professor Janina Dill stating the military necessity bar "certainly does not cover levelling entire villages as a predicate to long-term national security."
• More than 1.2 million people are estimated to have been displaced across Lebanon, including 820,000 from the south, according to UN OCHA figures; separately, the Lebanese health ministry says more than 2,196 people have been killed since the war began.

The bigger picture: Israel's stated plan for a security zone extending from the border to the Litani River would encompass roughly 10% of Lebanon's territory—a precedent that international law experts say cannot be justified even under a self-defence framework.

QUICK HITS

• It's official—read the fine print: The US State Department published the full Lebanon-Israel memorandum of understanding, confirming a 10-day ceasefire starting April 16 at 5:00 PM ET, with both countries committing to US-facilitated direct negotiations toward a permanent peace agreement and exclusive Lebanese army authority over arms.
• Interior ministry on high alert: Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar convened an emergency remote meeting with regional governors and the Internal Security Forces chief, ordering maximum readiness to preserve security and manage traffic across all Lebanese regions as the ceasefire takes hold.
• Starlink still stuck in limbo: Lebanon's Communications Ministry expanded Starlink access to embassies and NGOs on March 5, but the service still hasn't launched for the public—ministry sources hint at "well-known obstacles," widely understood as political opposition from certain parties blocking its rollout.
• A $6 billion wartime budget: Lebanon's 2026 state budget totals roughly 538,415 billion Lebanese liras (approximately $6 billion), up 21% from 2025, with 88% of spending on current expenses and only 12% on investment—the Basil Fuleihan Institute published a citizen-friendly breakdown to boost transparency.
• Karantina's old wounds reopen: Plans for a displacement centre in Beirut's Karantina neighbourhood were cancelled after sectarian protests, with some Christian residents invoking civil-war-era demographic fears against sheltering predominantly Shia displaced people—a stark reminder of how war is straining Lebanon's fragile social fabric.

INTERNATIONAL

US Ends 10-Year Syria Presence as Last Troops Exit Through Jordan

• The final US troops in Syria departed their base in Hasakah on Thursday, ending a decade-long presence that began in 2015 and once counted around 1,000 troops deployed to fight the Islamic State group.
• US forces and equipment exited via Jordan to avoid potential attacks by Iranian-backed paramilitaries in Iraq, according to Middle East Eye; the Syrian military's 60th Division—composed primarily of Kurdish SDF fighters—took over the last base, known as Qasrak, which included an airstrip.
• Syria's foreign ministry welcomed the handover, saying it reflected the SDF's successful integration into national structures and the Syrian state's assumption of full responsibility for combating terrorism on its territory.
• The withdrawal followed President Ahmed al-Sharaa's defeat of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, and earlier US pullouts from the al-Tanf and al-Shaddadi bases earlier this year.

What to watch: Whether the SDF's full integration into Syrian national structures holds—and how Turkey, which long viewed the SDF as a terrorist extension of the PKK, responds to the new security arrangement.

Syria's Stateless Kurds Line Up for Citizenship After Six Decades

• Tens of thousands of "unregistered" Syrian Kurds have been flocking to registration centres across Syria since last week to apply for citizenship, following a January decree by President Ahmed al-Sharaa granting nationality to Kurds stripped of it in a controversial 1962 census.
• Around 20% of Syria's Kurds were stripped of Syrian nationality in that census in Hasakeh province; today, approximately 150,000 unregistered people remain in Syria, according to the Hasakeh Network of Statelessness Victims, out of roughly 2 million Kurds in the country.
• The decree also enshrines cultural and language rights and recognizes Kurdish as a national language; registration centres are expected to remain open for at least one month, with officials indicating the period may be extended for Kurds abroad.

The bigger picture: The citizenship drive is one of the most significant steps toward minority inclusion in Syria's post-Assad transition, with implications for the estimated hundreds of thousands of Syrian Kurds currently living as refugees in Europe and elsewhere.

Ukraine Tries Again to Sell Its Soviet-Era Fertilizer Crown Jewel

• Ukraine's government is preparing a second privatization attempt for the Odesa Portside Plant, one of Europe's largest fertilizer producers, after a $100 million opening-bid auction last fall attracted zero bidders, according to the New York Times.
• The plant, capable of producing more than 2 million metric tons of ammonia and urea annually, is saddled with a $250 million debt to a Ukrainian oligarch, has suffered Russian strike damage, and has been tied to multiple embezzlement cases—including a $3 million plea deal concluded earlier this month.
• Ukraine's State Property Fund head Dmytro Natalukha said four investors—three Western and one Middle Eastern—have signed nondisclosure agreements to explore a bid, with a new auction tentatively planned for summer 2026.

Zooming out: The Odesa plant sale has become a litmus test for Ukraine's broader wartime privatization drive, which aims to modernize a Soviet-era economy and signal readiness for Western integration—but Russian strikes and endemic corruption continue to deter foreign capital.

GHER HEK

• Ziad's classics sell out: Metropolis Cinema in Beirut brought back filmed versions of Ziad Rahbani's legendary plays Bil Nisbi La Bukra Shu (1978) and Film Ameriki Tawil (1980), and tickets for the first screenings sold out immediately—audiences of all ages sang along and applauded mid-show, with generations who never saw Ziad live finally getting their moment.
• Lebanon's gamers mean business: Lebanon's official Electronic Sports and Robotics Federation, founded in 2021, is now representing the country in the Esports National Cup alongside more than 100 nations—and player Mohamed Rida already claimed first place in Tekken at the Red Sea Championship, proving Lebanese talent punches well above its infrastructure weight.
• Ariana's next big role: The first full trailer for Focker-in-Law just dropped, with Ariana Grande starring opposite Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro in the fourth installment of the beloved Meet the Parents franchise—her character is a former FBI negotiator who immediately charms everyone except Greg Focker, and it hits theaters November 25.
• London's boldest new museum: The long-awaited V&A East Museum opens April 18 in Stratford, east London, a five-storey institution built in consultation with over 30,000 local residents, launching with the exhibition The Music Is Black: A British Story and free entry for all—over 500,000 people already visited its Storehouse site since last May.

Yalla, go make it a good Friday—see you Monday.