Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati addressing a press conference, in Beirut, Lebanon, 20 May 2022. (Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanon will soon embark on a mission to designate a new prime minister, who will be tasked with forming a new government.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati's government is now operating in a caretaker capacity after parliamentary elections were staged last month.
President Michel Aoun is tasked with calling parliamentary blocs to hold consultations with him (Aoun) to name a new premier.
He will likely set the date for the consultations after the formation of the parliamentary committees by next Tuesday.
The president is not bound by a constitutional deadline to call for the consultations, an issue that had previously sparked disputes in the country when Aoun was accused of violating the constitution when he held talks ahead of the consultations to agree on a new PM before scheduling the meetings with parliamentary blocs.
Sources close to the president said Aoun will set the date for the consultations after the election of the parliamentary committees.
Mikati is likely to retain his post, but talks between the blocs over the name of the new PM will intensify when the date of the consultations is announced.
Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) MP Bilal Abdullah told Asharq Al-Awsat that it was "necessary to select a premier who is sovereign and who leans towards reforms so he can complete demanded reforms and the agreement with the International Monetary Fund."
The PSP will discuss this issue with its allies, such as the Lebanese Forces and "sovereign" MPs, he added.
LF press official Charles Jabbour confirmed Abdullah's remarks, adding that Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal movement, will likely name Mikati as PM.
This means they want to revive the caretaker government, but make some changes to some ministers, he added.
"We will wait and see what head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil, will say about this," he said.
Sources from Hezbollah and Amal said they have received signals from Mikati that he is willing to retain his post.
Abdullah, meanwhile, warned of attempts to impede the formation of a new government.
He did not rule out the possibility that Hezbollah and its allies, which include the FPM, would impose conditions and take advantage of the fragmentation of the other camp.
He stressed it was imperative to form a new government and for the caretaker one to be replaced.
While Bassil has yet to comment on the name of a new PM, his movement already appears to be setting conditions.
FPM MP Jimmy Jabbour said the Strong Lebanon (FPM) bloc has not discussed the possibility of re-designating Mikati.
He remarked that the technocrat government - meaning the caretaker cabinet - has proven its failure because not all parties named a technocratic minister.
"We have several reservations against Mikati and we have major conditions that should be agreed upon before naming a premier," he told local radio.
"The new government should reflect the results of the parliamentary elections," he suggested. "Everyone should join in proposing solutions to the crisis."
"The situation in Lebanon cannot tolerate the formation of a weak majority government and it cannot be held hostage to one political camp."
Charles Jabbour said the opposition must be united and agree on a single candidate as prime minister. This figure should have a clear vision of how to manage the state, especially the decision of war and peace that should be in the hands of the government. He must also prioritize mending Lebanon's relations with Arab countries.
He underscored the importance of the opposition cooperating with the LF so that their candidate will enjoy the majority of votes and be named PM.
Lebanon Central Bank Governor Expresses Reservations Over Draft Law on Deposit Recoveryhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5222697-lebanon-central-bank-governor-expresses-reservations-over-draft-law-deposit
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam heads a cabinet meeting in Beirut, Lebanon December 23, 2025. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Central Bank Governor Expresses Reservations Over Draft Law on Deposit Recovery
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam heads a cabinet meeting in Beirut, Lebanon December 23, 2025. (Reuters)
Lebanon’s Central Bank governor has expressed some reservations over a draft law allowing depositors to gradually recover funds frozen in the banking system since a financial collapse in 2019, a move critical to reviving the economy.
Karim Souaid described the proposed timetable for the cash component of deposit repayments as "somewhat ambitious" in a statement on Tuesday.
He suggested it may be adjusted without hindering the depositors' rights guarantee "regular, uninterrupted, and complete payments over time".
He also urged the cabinet to conduct a careful review of the draft law , calling for clarifications to ensure fairness and credibility before it is submitted to parliament.
The central bank governor said the draft required further refinement, including clearer provisions to guarantee equitable treatment of depositors and to reinforce the state’s commitments under the law.
The 2019 financial collapse - the result of decades of unsustainable financial policies, waste and corruption - led the state to default on its sovereign debt and sank the Lebanese pound.
The draft law marks the first time Beirut has put forward legislation aimed at addressing a vast funding shortfall - estimated at $70 billion in 2022 but now believed to be higher.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Monday urged ministers to swiftly approve the draft legislation.
The cabinet discussed the law on Monday and Tuesday and is set to continue discussions on Friday.
Libya Army Chief of Staff Killed in Jet Crash Near Ankara After Fault Reported, Turkish Official Sayshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5222685-libya-army-chief-staff-killed-jet-crash-near-ankara-after-fault-reported-turkish
Search and rescue team members and emergency services try to reach the wreckage after a plane crash as five people including Libyan Chief of General Staff Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad were killed at Haymana District in Ankara, Türkiye, early 24 December 2025. (EPA)
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Libya Army Chief of Staff Killed in Jet Crash Near Ankara After Fault Reported, Turkish Official Says
Search and rescue team members and emergency services try to reach the wreckage after a plane crash as five people including Libyan Chief of General Staff Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad were killed at Haymana District in Ankara, Türkiye, early 24 December 2025. (EPA)
A private jet that crashed overnight, killing Libya's army chief of staff and seven others on board, had reported an electrical fault and requested an emergency landing shortly before contact was lost, a Turkish official said on Wednesday.
The Dassault Falcon 50 jet, which took off from Ankara Esenboga Airport at 1717 GMT on Tuesday for Tripoli, informed air traffic control at 1733 GMT of an emergency caused by an electrical malfunction, said communications directorate head Burhanettin Duran.
Search teams found the black box of the plane early on Wednesday, Türkiye’s interior minister said.
'A GREAT LOSS FOR THE NATION'
Libya's Government of National Unity (GNU) said the dead included army chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, and four members of his entourage. Head of the GNU Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah called it a "great loss for the nation."
Three crew members were also killed, Turkish officials said.
In Libya, divided between administrations in the west and east, authorities on both sides announced a three-day period of mourning and lowered flags to half mast.
Mohammed Al-Menfi, head of the Tripoli-based Presidential Council, said the deputy chief of staff would assume Haddad's duties until a new chief is appointed.
"We want to emphasize the continuity of operations as a military institution," Menfi told Istanbul-based TV channel Libya Alahrar.
Haddad, from the coastal city of Misrata some 200 km (124 miles) east of Tripoli, was appointed chief of staff in 2020.
JET VANISHED FROM RADAR WHILE DESCENDING FOR LANDING
Air traffic control had redirected the aircraft back toward Esenboga Airport and emergency measures were initiated, but the jet disappeared from radar at 1736 GMT while descending for landing and contact was lost, Duran said.
"The aircraft's voice recorder was found at 0245 and the flight data recorder at 0320. Examination and analysis of these devices have begun," Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at the crash site near Ankara’s Haymana district.
Yerlikaya earlier said the aircraft had requested an emergency landing while flying over Haymana, adding that its wreckage was found near Kesikkavak village.
Duran said investigations into the cause of the crash were continuing by all relevant authorities.
Libyan officials have said the jet was leased and registered in Malta, and that its ownership and technical history would be examined as part of the investigation.
How Israel’s Hilltop Settlers Coordinate Attacks to Expel Palestinianshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5222679-how-israel%E2%80%99s-hilltop-settlers-coordinate-attacks-expel-palestinians
An Israeli settler strikes an olive tree near the Palestinian village of Beita, following a rise in violent settler attacks in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 12, 2025. (Reuters)
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How Israel’s Hilltop Settlers Coordinate Attacks to Expel Palestinians
An Israeli settler strikes an olive tree near the Palestinian village of Beita, following a rise in violent settler attacks in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 12, 2025. (Reuters)
The Jewish settler outpost of Or Meir is small. A handful of prefabricated white shelters, it sits at the end of a short dirt track on a hill leading up from Road 60, a major route that dissects the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Over time, similar modest dwellings have turned into sprawling Israeli housing developments, part of a plan that members of Israel's cabinet acknowledge they have implemented to prevent the birth of a Palestinian state.
The process can be violent. A Bedouin family told Reuters attackers who descended from Or Meir hurling Molotov cocktails drove them off Palestinian-owned land nearby last year. They fear they won't ever be able to return.
Messages posted on Or Meir's channel on the Telegram social media platform celebrate chasing out Bedouin herders and show the new settlers’ determination to secure lasting control over what they call “strategic” territory.
This year was one of the most violent on record for Israeli civilian attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to United Nations data that shows more than 750 injuries and the rapid spread of outposts throughout land Palestinians hope will form the heart of a future state.
Israeli NGO Peace Now has recorded 80 outposts built in 2025, the most since the organization started its records in 1991. On December 21, Israel's cabinet approved 19 more settlements, including former outposts. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the goal was to block Palestinian statehood.
A new Israeli settler outpost near Deir Dibwan, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank December 13, 2025. (Reuters)
For decades, groups of settlers have built outposts on West Bank land without official authorization from the Israeli state. Israeli authorities in the West Bank sometimes demolish such camps but they often reappear, and in many cases end up being accepted by Israel as formal settlements. Smotrich has pushed efforts to formalize more outposts.
Most of the world considers all Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank illegal under international law relating to military occupations. Israel disputes this view.
"Since establishing our presence on the land, we have driven away nine illegal Bedouin outposts, and returned 6,000 dunams to Jewish hands," the account representing Or Meir's settlers said in a post in September, using the dunam measurement equal to about 1,000 square meters, or a quarter of an acre.
Reuters could not independently confirm all the attacks on the Bedouins or determine who posted on behalf of Or Meir, which was established about two years ago. The settlers there declined to speak to the news agency.
In response to Reuters questions about intensifying settler violence in the West Bank, an Israeli official blamed a "fringe minority" and said Palestinian attacks against Israelis were under-reported by the media. The Palestinian Authority did not respond to requests for comment.
Messages on the Or Meir Telegram channel, which is public, suggest a well-organized plan to take land, a finding supported by Reuters examination of a dozen other Telegram and WhatsApp groups representing similar groups, three interviews with settlers and pro-settler groups and on-the-ground reporting around Or Meir and a new settlement.
"The evidence shows that this is a systematic pattern of violence,” said Milena Ansari, a researcher based in Jerusalem for Human Rights Watch whose work includes research on settlements in the West Bank. The Bedouin Musabah family said they were attacked at night in June from the direction of Or Meir. Charred remains of their home and a barn were still visible to a Reuters team in December.
"We were living here, sitting in God's safety," said Bedouin shepherd Shahada Musabah, 39, now sheltering in the nearby Palestinian village of Deir Dibwan. "They started to set fire and they destroyed everything. They didn't leave us anything at all."
In response to questions about the incident, Israel's military told Reuters dozens of Israeli civilians set fire to property in Deir Dibwan on the night in question. It said all suspects had left by the time security forces arrived. An official in the Deir Dibwan council told Reuters up to 60 settlers were involved, throwing stones and burning the Musabah house and other property, along with cars. Several villagers were injured by stones.
In a telephone call, Or Meir settler Elkanah Nachmani told Reuters reporters not to advance up the track to the outpost from Road 60 and not to make contact again.
Nachmani responded to a Reuters request for comment but did not address the issues raised by the questions. In the Telegram channel, Or Meir settlers accused Palestinians of poisoning their sheep in November 2024, an accusation the Musabah family denies.
Israeli monitoring group Yesh Din said of the hundreds of cases of settler violence it documented since October 7, 2023, only 2% resulted in indictments.
Reuters could not confirm the group's findings. Israel's police and military did not respond to requests for comment.
More than a thousand Palestinians were killed in the West Bank between October 7, 2023 and October 17, 2025, mostly in operations by security forces and some by settler violence, according to the UN. In the same period, 57 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks.
A drone view of part of the Palestinian village of Beita in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 12, 2025. (Reuters)
TURNING OUTPOSTS INTO SETTLEMENTS
The Or Meir group has been open about its goals.
In November 2024, the Or Meir account posted that it aimed to settle "a strategic ridge near the settlement of Ofra" seeking to create "a continuous Jewish settlement presence."
Dror Etkes, an Israeli peace activist, said other outposts served the same purpose, fracturing the West Bank and "limiting the possibility of Palestinians to be in these places."
Despite the government's actions to recognize dozens of previously irregular outposts, Israel’s military told Reuters in a statement Or Meir "is illegal and has been evacuated several times by the security forces." It did not provide specifics about why it considered the outpost illegal or why it was "evacuated" - the military's word to describe closure or demolition of outposts in the West Bank.
After the most recent evacuation in March, Or Meir re-emerged with the help of over 100,000 shekels ($30,000) raised by donations, according to the settlement's website. Reuters couldn't independently confirm the donations.
The former outposts Israel has formalized as settlements over the years include ones previously evacuated by the army. Ofra, also on Road 60 just north of Or Meir, started as an outpost and is now a major housing development.
"Why do we continue?" asked a post by the Or Meir Telegram account in March after the evacuation. The post then answered its own question. "All breakthroughs in settlements were accomplished this way. At first, the state refused to accommodate any activity on the ground and fought it fiercely, but due to the persistence of the citizens, it eventually had to accept it."
In December, Smotrich said 51,370 housing units had been approved for West Bank settlements since he became minister in late 2022, part of what the UN describes as the fastest expansion of settlements since its monitoring began in 2017. Smotrich's office did not respond to a request for comment.
On September 30, the Oir Meir Telegram account published a map showing the location of the outpost. The map highlighted a large area with a blue boundary stretching to the edge of Deir Dibwan. The group said the marked area was under control of their outpost.
At least four attacks on Palestinians have been reported within the blue boundary, according to the Deir Dibwan council, which said Palestinians could no longer access the area, including about 250 dunams belonging to the council itself.
The map also shows eight black markers, mostly within the blue boundary, listed as “abandoned Arab invasion outpost,” indicating places from which Bedouins had allegedly been ejected.
A drone view of the Palestinian village of Deir Dibwan, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank December 13, 2025. (Reuters)
ROAD 505 TO JORDAN VALLEY
Road 60 is flanked by settlements. It is intersected by Road 505, running west-east toward the Jordan Valley and also lined with settlements, including Evyatar near the Palestinian town of Beita.
Evyatar began as a tented outpost in 2019. It was evacuated in 2021 but secured Israeli government recognition in 2024. Malkiel Barhai, Evyatar’s mayor, credited Smotrich for the approval.
Speaking in Evyatar with a pistol tucked into his trousers that he said was for protection, Barhai said the settlement was vital to keep Road 505 open “because we have Arab villages, hostile Arab villages, around.”
A member of the Beita municipality told Reuters settlers from surrounding outposts or settlements, including Evyatar, killed 14 people in the area around Beita between 2021 and 2024. Reuters could not verify the deaths or who was responsible.
On November 8, Reuters witnessed an attack by settlers wielding sticks and clubs and hurling large rocks as Palestinians harvested olives close to Beita. Two Reuters employees - a journalist and a security adviser - were among those injured.
Barhai denied settlers were behind attacks, and blamed Palestinians for violence.
Samer Younes Ali Bani Shamsah, a farmer who lives near Evyatar and whose leg was broken in a settler attack, said he would not leave the land no matter the cost.
"This is my place, my home. Where would I go?" he said. A hill over, another outpost stood, above a hill of olive trees.
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