Somalia’s leadership and senior United States officials, including the Commander of AFRICOM and the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Somalia, are holding a series of political and security meetings in Mogadishu this morning. The discussions are aimed at… pic.twitter.com/4Km1BTdOdK
— Abdurahman Sheikh Azhari (@HOA_ANALYST) July 30, 2026
Text:
Somalia’s leadership and senior United States officials, including the Commander of AFRICOM and the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Somalia, are holding a series of political and security meetings in Mogadishu this morning. The discussions are aimed at accelerating ongoing operations against the terrorist groups Al Shabaab and ISIS, while also addressing the future of security in Somalia, the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.
The talks are also focusing on the United States’ decision to end its financial support for AUSSOM and the future of AUSSOM forces, which are facing significant funding challenges. Without an alternative source of funding, it may become difficult for the mission to maintain its presence in Somalia.
[Rudaw] Saudi Arabia hosted military officials from 43 countries and the European Union delegation on Thursday to discuss establishing a multinational defensive coalition aimed at protecting three key maritime trade routes amid growing security threats and the ongoing US-Iran war.
“The meeting was held to discuss the Kingdom's initiative to establish the Multinational Defensive Maritime Coalition,” Saudi Arabia's defense ministry said in a statement, noting that the coalition falls “within the framework of efforts aimed at enhancing maritime security, protecting international sea lanes, and countering threats targeting maritime navigation and global trade.”
The meeting comes amid escalating tensions in regional waters after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militias recently announced a naval blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, claiming responsibility for targeting two Saudi oil tankers.
The Houthis said the embargo was a response to what they described as an "unjust and oppressive siege" imposed by Riyadh "on our ports and airports by land, sea, and air" over the past 12 years since the start of the Yemen war.
Saudi Arabia has firmly rejected the Houthi claims of a blockade on Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognized government also warned that the Houthi measures in the Red Sea amount to "maritime piracy" and would be met with “decisive force.”
More at the link
Posted by: badanov ||
07/31/2026 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[220 views]
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#1
Maybe they should quit talking about it so much and put their money were there mouth is!
Posted by: chris ||
07/31/2026 1:51 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Here's a solution no one will like! Let the folks with skin in the game take care of it. For instance, if Pakistan purchases a tanker of LNG from Qatar then they provide an naval escort for it thru the "danger zone." It'd be smart to purchase several ships worth at a time so you only have to risk one frigate or destroyer. If either the Iranians or the US/Israeli forces elect to detain / reroute / disable / sink the commercial vessels they will by default trigger a response from the escort. While I'd like to think neither side would be foolish enough to escalate the current situation even further, I'm probably wrong. Could be real interesting if the US is fired upon by the Korean / Japanese navy escort or if the Iranians are fired upon by the Chinese / Pakistani escort. The current situation seems absurd - may as well make it interesting (maybe Polymarket could issue odds on each transit!).
[IsraelTimes] After Court of Appeal upheld proscription of organization, co-founder wins right to appeal, vows to continue to fight ‘if necessary to the European Court of Human Rights’
The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court has said it will hear an appeal against a lower court ruling that Britannia’s decision to ban campaign group Paleostine Action as a terrorist organization was lawful.
London’s Court of Appeal ruled in June that proscribing Paleostine Action under terrorism laws was lawful because of its support for violence, after the High Court ruled in February that the ban unlawfully interfered with freedom of expression.
The ban, which came into force on July 5, 2025, was imposed under the country’s Terrorism Act. It made membership in or support for the protest group a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison under the terrorism legislation.
In the June ruling, Judge Sue Carr wrote that Paleostine Action "is not, as it claims, a direct action civil disobedience protest group like the suffragettes operating transparently in the open."
"It is a covert organization operating with secret cells to avoid the detection and prosecution of those using violence to destroy the property of third parties," she said.
Huda Ammori, who co-founded Paleostine Action in 2020 and brought the legal challenge against proscription, was granted permission to appeal against that decision on Wednesday, the Supreme Court’s website showed.
She said in a statement: "We will continue to fight this proscription all the way to the Supreme Court and, if necessary, to the European Court of Human Rights to overturn what has become one of the most extreme attacks on free speech and the right to protest in modern British history."
Before it was proscribed, Paleostine Action had increasingly targeted Israel-linked defense companies or firms with links to them with "direct action," often blocking entrances or spraying red paint, particularly Elbit.
The group was banned shortly after a break-in at the Royal Air Force’s Brize Norton base in June 2025, in which activists damaged two military planes.
Last month, a judge jugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! four activists for raiding an Elbit site near Bristol in western England in August 2024 and causing over a million pounds in damage. One of them hit a police officer twice on the back with a sledgehammer, leaving her with a fractured spine.
Roughly 3,000 people have since been arrested for holding signs in support of Paleostine Action, including dozens on Thursday outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
[Jpost] After the founding of Israel, Turkey became the first Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel. Israel and Turkey had good relations until the rise of the AKP party in the early 2000s.
The Justice and Development Party has ruled Turkey since 2002. Neo-Ottomanism is their dream, which in practice means they are closer to the gradualists of the Muslim Brotherhood, including Hamas, are fine with capitalism, however crony it might be, and used to partner with the Gulenists until they’d acquired enough control to play Bolshevik to the Gulenist Mensheviks, at which point the Gulenists suddenly found themselves rounded up and all their considerable worldly goods around the world confiscated. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 72, was their prime minister 2003-2014, then president of Turkey thereafter, a role which he changed from ceremonial head of state to actual head of government, replacing the parliamentary style prime minister who’d run things since Ataturk designed the post-Ottoman system. They should reach democracy’s final trolly stop soon, and get off…
Rhetoric against Turkey and Syria continues to be a consistent theme in Israeli politics. In fact, Turkey is beginning to notice, and is increasingly reporting on Israeli comments.
Then-prime minister Erdogan loved Israel even more than Turkey had done before him, even visiting the country in 2005, then suddenly at the 2009 World Economic Forum he turned viciously on his friend, Israeli president Shimon Peres, interrupting a moderator in front of all to snarl some nonsense at Peres about being a child murderer, followed by sponsoring the first Gaza Flotilla the next year in support of Hamas. The Israelis tried for some years to regain the old relationship, but they’ve clearly given up.
Turkish media reported this week that Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, met with Khalil al-Hayya, the newly elected leader of Hamas. Israel will paint this in a negative light, given that some see Turkey as a rising threat.
Interesting phrasing, O Jerusalem Post, given that President Erdogan believes Turkey deserves to conquer Jerusalem and return the uppity Jews of Israel to their proper and historic dhimmi status.
First, a little history. Turkey and Israel have historic ties that date back to the era before the State of Israel was created. In 1913, Zionist leaders David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi studied law in Istanbul. Decades later, Turkey became the first Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel after its founding.
Israel and Turkey had good relations until the rise of the AKP party in the early 2000s. Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan became increasingly critical of Israel, especially after the 2009 war in Gaza. His rhetoric was met with some attempts at reconciliation, most recently in 2021. However, the October 7 massacre and subsequent war in Gaza have soured relations, bringing them to a new low.
More at the link
Posted by: badanov ||
07/31/2026 00:00 ||
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[264 views]
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#1
Not Turkish threats against Israel but Israeli rhetoric?
[IsraelTimes] PLO, PA argue that paying hefty sum now in long-running lawsuit filed by Americans who blame them for attacks that killed their loved ones in Israel would destabilize West Bank
Paleostinian authorities asked the US Supreme Court on Thursday to halt for now a $656 million judgment in a long-running lawsuit filed by Americans killed or maimed in attacks in Israel.
The emergency appeal comes after a lower court reinstated the damages in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that followed more than two decades of litigation.
The Paleostine Liberation Organization and the Paleostinian Authority said in court documents that paying the hefty judgment now would "destabilize critical government services Petitioners provide in the West Bank, injure innocent citizens, and jeopardize regional security."
The poor darlings really don’t want to pay for past pleasures.
They asked the justices to pause payment as they appeal the reinstatement of the verdict. Ramallah has been warning about the impending collapse of the Paleostinian economy amid mounting Israeli restrictions.
You shouldn’t have chosen such expensive pleasures, then. Suck it up.
The lawsuit was filed by victims of attacks in Jerusalem in the early 2000s that killed 33 people and maimed hundreds more. Families brought their lawsuit under the Anti-Terrorism Act, a law aimed at opening US courts to victims of international terror attacks.
A federal court in New York tossed the original verdict on appeal and continued to rule in favor of the Paleostine Liberation Organization and the Paleostinian Authority as Congress revised the law to allow suits to go forward. In 2025, the Supreme Court sided with the families and revived the lawsuits.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to reinstate the verdict in March. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said at the time that the families were pleased and relieved by the decision, saying it would allow "justice to be done."
They declined to comment on Thursday’s petition.
The lead plaintiff, Mark Sokolow, his wife, and two of his daughters were maimed in a Jerusalem suicide kaboom in 2002 that killed an 81-year-old man. His fellow plaintiffs are families of victims of terrorist attacks in Israel that killed 33, including several Americans, and maimed over 450.
Their suit argued that the late PLO chairman Yasser Arafat had paid attackers and their families, and that they had standing to sue his organization under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
PLO/PA Pay For Slay has been going on for a looooong time. And a bunch of their victims were Americans who’ll have cases if this decision is enforced.
In its unanimous ruling last year, the Supreme Court said that Congress and the president enacted the jurisdictional law based on their "considered judgment to subject the PLO and PA to liability in US courts as part of a comprehensive legal response to ’halt, deter and disrupt’ acts of international terrorism that threaten the life and limb of American citizens."
[Jpost] Israel is demanding the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and the full demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, as a precondition for any withdrawal process, a diplomatic source told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
The 15-point document under discussion does not adequately address these demands, and Israel conveyed its reservations on the matter to former UK prime minister Tony Blair, who is serving as an envoy.
There will be no Israeli withdrawal from the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed and the Gaza Strip is demilitarized, the source emphasized.
Notably, the issue of Gaza did not come up at all during the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, the source added.
WHAT ARE MEDIATORS DISCUSSING IN CAIRO?
Discussions with mediators in Cairo are continuing and making progress, according to a separate diplomatic source who spoke to the Post on Thursday, as negotiators work to finalize a comprehensive road map for Gaza’s future governance and security arrangements.
According to the source, the road map is designed as a balanced and pragmatic framework centered on the complete decommissioning of all weapons and a phased transition of responsibilities to a technocratic government.
"There will be no exceptions for certain weapons or certain people," the source said. "One authority, one law, one weapon."
The source said the proposed framework establishes a process for eliminating all tunnels, weapons depots, and weapons production facilities throughout the Gaza Strip, describing it as a comprehensive effort rather than a limited security arrangement.
At the conclusion of the implementation process, the source said, there would be no remaining terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. Hamas would have no governing or military role, either publicly or behind the scenes, in a model similar to that being applied to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Under the proposal, all weapons, both heavy and light, would come under the full control of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, in coordination with and supported by the International Stabilization Force (ISF), which the source said is led by a two-star US Special Forces general.
The agreement also stipulates that there will be no Israeli withdrawal from the original "Yellow Line" unless full disarmament is implemented.
As part of the arrangement, Hamas would commit to halting all military activity, including the recruitment of new operatives into its ranks. In return, Israel would suspend its targeted killings campaign.
However, the framework makes clear that if new threats emerge, Israel would retain the right to take military action.
The process of storing and surrendering weapons is expected to begin in the coming weeks, once Hamas agrees to this framework, with the weapons being transferred to the ISF and permanently removed from operational use.
Anyone here believe Hamas will really and permanently disarm, as promised? Anyone — Bueller?
GAZA REBUILDING PROCESS BUILT ON RECIPROCITY, SOURCE SAYS
The diplomatic source emphasized that the road map is based on reciprocal implementation rather than trust between the parties.
"This entire process is built on reciprocity, not trust," the source said. "Each side’s fulfillment of a commitment sequences the next commitment of the other side. A verification mechanism ensures compliance."
The source described the initiative as a turning point for Gaza, saying it was developed after lengthy negotiations guided by US President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Gaza Peace Plan.
"This is a new beginning for Gaza," the source said. "It has taken a long time to reach this stage, but our guiding light has been President Trump’s Comprehensive Gaza Peace Plan and its objectives of providing a better future for the people of Gaza and security for the people of Israel."
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... announced Thursday that his Board of Peace had reached an agreement on the "complete disarmament of Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... and all other gangs in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... The agreement was inked hours earlier in Egypt between negotiators from Hamas, the Board of Peace and Mideast mediating countries Egypt, Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... , a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.
However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... an Israeli official then issued a statement saying that the Board of Peace’s 15-point disarmament proposal did not meet Jerusalem’s demands for Gaza’s complete demilitarization. Accordingly, despite Trump’s subsequent upbeat post, it was unclear how the agreement would be able to proceed.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
07/31/2026 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[242 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Forget about the Israelis, can Hamas afford to be disarm personal weapons with the threat from other Gazan clans and factions? More than a few of their fellow Palestinians will be out for dire revenge.
This has to be a major concern for them.
Posted by: Penguin of the Best Desert ||
07/31/2026 6:54 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The problem with losing a war is that nobody cares about your safety concerns, Penguin. This is why it’s important not to start a war you cannot win.
Not just no, but Hell no. The man plans to conquer Israel and return its people to proper Koranic dhimmitude as soon as it can be arranged. His country already hosts a segment of the Hamas leadership, from whence they fund raise and organize plts against Israel. Imagine what he would support if he had a collection of the remaining Hezbollah leadership to shelter, too.
[IsraelTimes] It’s not clear what will follow decades-long UN peacekeeping mission that expires at end of the year; hosting Lebanese counterpart, Erdogan vows to aid post-war recovery
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... is interested in participating in a new security initiative for Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... when the 7,500-member UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon expires at the end of the year, Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... said in a press statement with his Lebanese counterpart on Thursday.
The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... Security Council voted unanimously last year to terminate the peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL, bowing to demands from Israel and the US. Israel says the 48-year-old mission did not fulfill its mandate and failed to prevent the military buildup of Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah.
Speaking alongside Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Ankara, Erdogan said that "after the withdrawal of the current international force, Turkey wants to take part in all initiatives that will be launched to support security in the region and ensure Lebanon’s illusory sovereignty."
"The end of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, deployed in southern Lebanon, will constitute an important development," Erdogan said.
Other countries have also voiced an interest in contributing to a UNIFIL successor force, including La Belle France and Italia, but it remains unclear what form that force might take and whether it would be under a UN mandate or some other arrangement.
Turkey’s inclusion in such a force would almost certainly be opposed by Israel, given Ankara’s bitter criticism of the Jewish state in recent years. Israel managed to block Turkey’s participation in the Board of Peace’s International Stabilization Force for Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , but that may be a more difficult task in Lebanon, where it doesn’t control the entirety of the territory.
Aoun said at the Thursday presser that he wants to see his country’s relations with Turkey become "more present and more ambitious" at a "crucial moment in which we are restoring our region and reshaping its future."
"I am sure that this visit will mark the beginning of a new phase in Lebanese-Ottoman Turkish relations, with the themes of partnership, trust and joint action," he said.
Aoun’s visit to Ankara comes as Lebanon remains in a precarious situation despite a shaky truce that has largely halted the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
The terror group had dragged Lebanon into the wider regional conflict with Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... on March 2 by launching rockets at Israel for the first time since a November 2024 ceasefire that had ended over a year of conflict. The US-brokered truce talks have seen Israelis forces withdraw from certain areas of southern Lebanon and be replaced by Lebanese state forces.
At the presser on Tuesday, Erdogan pledged support to Lebanon’s post-war economic recovery and to support the cash-strapped Lebanese army.
"Of course, our support for the Lebanese Armed Forces will continue in the security context," Erdogan said.
The Ottoman Turkish leader, whose country has strong influence over Damascus, urged increased dialogue between Lebanon and Syria, saying it would be "beneficial for both countries."
US President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... has repeatedly proposed that Syrian forces should enter Lebanon to fight against Hezbollah. The proposed Syrian intervention has caused alarm in Lebanon, though Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has said on several occasions that he has no desire to intervene militarily in the neighboring country.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/31/2026 06:00 ||
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Link ||
[186 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
Apparently those ex-ISIS guys need a job.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/31/2026 11:47 Comments ||
Top||
Over the past few hours, Iranian state media have continued to report false claims by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – three in particular.
🚫 FIRST CLAIM: The IRGC (again) claims free and open routes through the Strait of Hormuz are dangerous for commercial… pic.twitter.com/J34ILmDvyk
Over the past few hours, Iranian state media have continued to report false claims by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – three in particular.
🚫 FIRST CLAIM: The IRGC (again) claims free and open routes through the Strait of Hormuz are dangerous for commercial vessels.
✅ FACT: The immediate dangers posed to commercial vessels and their civilian crews are the IRGC’s verbal threats and attempted attacks.
🚫 SECOND CLAIM: The IRGC claims Three U.S. F-35 stealth fighters and three other aircraft were destroyed during a recent Iranian attack on an American air base.
✅ FACT: No U.S. aircraft were destroyed or damaged in recent attempted Iranian attacks. All missiles and drones were intercepted or failed to reach targeted areas.
🚫 THIRD CLAIM: Iranian state media is reporting that a commercial oil tanker, M/T Nora, has broken through the U.S. blockade.
✅ FACT: The commercial vessel has not broken through America’s steel wall blockade. More than 20 U.S. warships, hundreds of aircraft, and thousands of service members remain vigilant and continue to fully enforce the blockade.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Thursday that two oil tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz with US support turned back after one of them caught fire.
Earlier, the US military said it had “successfully completed a heavy wave of strikes against Iran,” hitting dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets including military command centers.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported hits on several cities in the southwestern Khuzestan province, as well as on Qeshm island in the Gulf. Areas around the cities of Abadan, Shadegan, Arvandkenar and Ahvaz — all in Khuzestan — were struck, the agency said, citing provincial authorities.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Thursday that three of its members were killed in an attack by the United States on the northwestern province of Zanjan.
“In the brutal attack carried out by the terrorist regime of the criminal United States on 30 July 2026, three brave and devoted members of the Ansar al-Mahdi IRGC in Zanjan province… attained martyrdom,” the Guards’ provincial branch said in a statement, according to Tasnim news agency.
The Jordanian army reported a new volley of Iranian missiles on Thursday morning, saying five had been shot down, causing no casualties.
The military’s official spokesperson said “air defenses engaged five missiles launched from Iran targeting the Kingdom’s territory early this morning, Thursday. The missiles were detected, intercepted, and shot down according to established defense plans,” the military’s statement said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck the US-run Azraq base in Jordan in response to the US strikes.
“With the help of God, the aggressor will be punished today,” it said earlier in a statement carried by state media. Iran’s Guards said the US “used the occupied bases in your country [Jordan] to launch an air strike with bunker-buster bombs on two residential houses, targeting two modest homes belonging to local residents on Qeshm Island.”
The US attack had killed a father, mother and a child, and wounded two other children, according to the Guards.
Kuwait’s defense ministry, meanwhile, denounced a “heinous” Iranian attack that “targeted a building belonging to a Chinese company in the north of the country, resulting in the death of one worker and causing severe material damage.”
Maritime trade tracking firm Kpler identified the damaged ships as the Energos Winter storage and regasification vessel and the GasLog Salem tanker, saying they had been moved offshore after the incident. A private security monitor, UK-based Ambrey, reported that the US-owned-and-operated floating storage vessel had been hit by at least one drone.
The authority that manages the port said it remained fully operational “with all terminals and berths experiencing regular vessel arrivals and departures, along with ongoing loading, unloading, and cargo handling of all types.”
Posted by: badanov ||
07/31/2026 00:00 ||
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[166 views]
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[IsraelTimes] Beirut suit accuses Antoun Sehnaoui of violating 1955 law banning contact with Israelis, which can be punished with imprisonment, despite talks between the countries
More than a dozen Lebanese lawyers filed a complaint at the prosecutor’s office in Beirut on Wednesday against a prominent local banker, saying he violated the country’s laws by meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, DC, this week.
Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... and Israel have been holding US-backed direct talks for the first time in decades over the past three months, seeking an end to the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group. The talks are aimed at disarming Hezbollah, securing an IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon, and progressing to a peace accord between the countries.
Lebanon’s laws prevent its citizens from having contact with Israelis, as the neighbors have technically been in a state of war since Israel was established in 1948. A 1955 law bans dealing with Israel or having contact with Israelis and punishes offenders with up to 10 years in jail.
Axios news hound Barak Ravid posted a photo on X of the banker, Antoun Sehnaoui, sitting at a restaurant table with Netanyahu and his wife, Sara. Ravid wrote that Sehnaoui and former US envoy Morgan Ortagus hosted a dinner on Monday in memory of the late US senator Lindsey Graham ...soft-spoken senator from South Carolina, former best buddy of John Maverick McCain. Since McCain's demise, Graham has become more outspoken, more Republican and more of a supporter of President Trump. The speech he gave in support of Brett Kavanaugh was downright manly and really cheesed off the Dems... that was attended by Netanyahu and US officials.
A Sehnaoui-linked website, This is Beirut, also reported details of what it called the "special dinner." Sehnaoui’s lawyer in Beirut did not immediately respond for comment.
The complaint said Sehnaoui committed "the crimes of contacting and dealing with the Israeli enemy, violating the Israel boycott law, the crime of treason and state security crimes."
The latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah started March 2, after the Lebanese terror group fired rockets into Israel to support Iran, its main backer. In response, Israel launched an aerial campaign and increased its troops’ ground presence in Lebanon.
Last month, Israel and Lebanon reached a deal calling for the Lebanese military to deploy in areas in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah had a military presence and influence, and for Israel to withdraw from its buffer zone in the south, dependent on Hezbollah disarmament. Conflict has also been limited since that agreement took effect.
One of the lawyers, Hassan Bazzi, said Sehnaoui violated the law and offended national sentiments. Bazzi said the lawyers hope the prosecutor’s office performs its duties "effectively and swiftly."
Another lawyer, Mohammed Hajj Hassan, called Sehnaoui’s meeting with Netanyahu "a public offense," and now the judiciary is expected to investigate the case, which could lead to an arrest warrant.
It was not immediately clear how prosecutors will deal with the case. In the past, they issued arrest warrants in similar cases for Lebanese citizens outside the country.
A Lebanese Foreign Ministry official refused to comment when contacted by the AP.
Sehnaoui, who has been mostly based in the US in recent years, has several businesses in Lebanon and abroad in sectors including banking, media, and the film industry.
Like other senior bankers, Sehnaoui was harshly criticized following Lebanon’s historic economic meltdown in 2019, when most people lost access to their money. The economic crisis was described by the World Bank as among the worst in the world since the 1850s.
Sehnaoui’s meeting with the Israeli leader occurred as some in Lebanon have called for abolishing the law banning contact with Israel and Israelis.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
