The source, who is familiar with the discussions, told Israel Hayom that the meeting was badly coordinated and failed to deliver any concrete results.

The source said France has been floating the idea of an international conference on the Lebanese Armed Forces for months, but has yet to determine either a date or a host ciry. While French officials say the event will take place in February, the same assurance has been repeated every month since September, prompting skepticism about whether the plan can actually be implemented.

Commenting on Saudi Arabia's involvement, the source said Riyadh is not part of the mechanism at all and has no real role in the process.

The source also addressed the US position, particularly with regard to Lebanon, saying Washington would not be nothing more than an observer at any French-organized conference. They stressed that the US is the largest international contributor to the Lebanese Armed Forces and that its assistance is provided through standard appropriations, not through conferences.

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Iran has endured a punishing year marked by drought, an energy crisis and soaring inflation. But if Iranians were hoping their president might offer solutions, Pezeshkian suggested they should not bother. In a string of remarkably candid public speeches in recent weeks, he said the country was facing insurmountable problems and that he had run out of ideas for how to solve them.

"If anyone can do something, please go ahead and do it," Pezeshkian told students and academics in early December. "I can't do anything. Don't curse me."

In meetings with officials, he admitted the government was "stuck, badly stuck," adding: "From the first day we came in, disasters have been coming down on us, and it hasn't stopped."

He went further, saying Iran's woes were the result of corruption, internal factional infighting and decades of government spending that he described as "what crazy people do," rather than the fault of the US or Israel.

Referring to the fighting during Operation With a Lion, Pezeshkian said that although Iran had launched missiles, Israel's arsenal had proven superior both in quantity and in capability.

"It's true that we had missiles, but theirs were more numerous, more powerful, more accurate and easier to deploy," he said. He added, without elaborating, that in the end it was "the people" who thwarted Israel.

At the same time, Pezeshkian rejected calls for Iran to scale back its missile program, describing it as essential to national defense. "They tell us not to have missiles, while they arm Israel to the teeth so it can come here whenever it wants, destroy everything and leave," he said. "I won't accept that."

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Erdogan allegedly made the request during a 90-minute meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at an international forum in Turkmenistan last weekend. The Turkish Presidency and Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report, while the Kremlin denied that any such request had been made. According to the report, Turkey hopes its role as a mediator between Moscow and Kyiv will encourage the Kremlin to agree to the move.

US Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake said earlier this week that Washington is engaged in ongoing discussions with Ankara about its desire to rejoin the F-35 program. He said the positive relationship between US President Donald Trump and Erdogan had created a new atmosphere of cooperation, leading to "the most productive talks we've had on the issue in a decade."

Flake emphasized that Turkey would have to not only cease operating the S-400 system, but also relinquish possession of it in order to be readmitted to the F-35 project. "Our hope is that these discussions will yield a breakthrough in the coming months," he added. Last week, at a conference in Abu Dhabi, Flake expressed optimism that the hurdles preventing US approval of an F-35 sale to Turkey could be resolved "within four to six months."

Turkey signed a $2.5 billion deal with Russia for the S-400 systems in September 2017, with the first shipment arriving in July 2019. Just one week later, the US expelled Turkey from the F-35 program, citing concerns that Russia could use the S-400 systems on Turkish soil to gain sensitive information about the advanced American jet.

Bloomberg also reported that Ankara may seek financial compensation for the returned system, possibly by offsetting the cost against the price of natural gas and oil imported from Russia. The matter would be subject to further negotiation between the two governments, according to the sources.

Since returning to the White House, President Trump has shown warmth toward Erdogan. During the Turkish leader's visit to Washington in September, Trump expressed willingness to move forward with the sale of F-35 jets, but made clear that "he will have to do something for us" to make the deal happen.

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Before being summoned back to Syria from Britain in the 1990s to prepare for succession after his father, Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad had trained as an ophthalmologist in London.

A source close to the Assad family said the former Syrian president is currently studying Russian and relearning the field of ophthalmology. "It's his passion," the source said. "Obviously, he doesn't need the money. Even before the war began, he practiced in Damascus." The sources estimated that members of Moscow's "elite" could become his clients in the future.

A year after the collapse of his rule in Syria, following a long civil war in which he massacred his own people, Assad and his family are living lives of luxury in Moscow and the United Arab Emirates.

Two sources estimated that the Assad family is residing in Rublyovka, one of Moscow's most exclusive neighborhoods.

"These are quiet lives," a family friend told The Guardian. "He barely has any contact with the outside world." According to the source, Assad is in touch only with a small number of figures from the former regime, including Mansour Azzam, a former minister, and businessman Yasser Ibrahim.

A source close to the Kremlin said Assad has largely become irrelevant to Putin and to Russia's elite.

"Putin has little patience for leaders who lose their grip on power, and Assad is no longer seen as an influential figure or even as an interesting guest to invite to dinner," the source said.

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Jebelli made the remarks after a female student, from an audience of conservative students supporting the regime, held up a sign stating that Iranian citizens learned what was happening in the war through the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera and not through the local broadcasting authority. The act prompted the senior official to address the loss of credibility by his organization.

"One thing damaged our credibility, and I wish this issue hadn't come up now so I wouldn't have to mention it," Jebelli said. He added, "One thing damaged our credibility, and that was the shooting down of the F-35 aircraft. Were we in the sky to witness the crash of the fighter jet? Were we behind the defense system? Someone from military sources informed us, and then in the end they understood for some reason that the information was not reliable and gave us another update. Media sources should not stake their credibility on the reliability of other institutions and organizations," Jebelli said.

The reports about shooting down Israeli fighter jets over Iranian skies repeated themselves in Iranian media and were accompanied by bizarre images of crashed aircraft that were distributed on social networks. The images themselves were quickly revealed to be particularly sloppy fakes and the reports about shooting down the stealth aircraft were usually shelved and deleted just hours after they appeared.

Despite the admission of damage to broadcasting credibility, Jebelli continued to claim during his speech that his country succeeded in striking Israel's "computer system" and essentially caused it to cease functioning. Jebelli claimed that "we stunned the world through resistance" and continued to hold the regime's accepted line that the confrontation with Israel in June, which had devastating results for the Iranian leadership, was actually a victory for the Tehran regime.

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Al-Shibl was an adviser who accompanied Assad in footage published in recent days on the Saudi channel Al Arabiya, in which he mocked Syria, Syrians and even Russian President Vladimir Putin's plastic surgeries. The magazine also reported on the circumstances of the disappearance of al-Shibl's brother and his wife at the end of April 2024. An event that occurred after the Israeli strike on a building near the Iranian embassy in Damascus, in which Zahedi was killed – the Quds Force commander in Lebanon and Syria.

The documents include a transcript of a conversation between Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated in 2020, and Ali Mamlouk, head of the national security apparatus in Assad's regime. According to the documents, the two held a brief conversation about al-Shibl, during which Soleimani explained why he believed she was a spy.

Al-Shibl, born in Damascus in 1974, came from a Druze family. Her mother raised her alone and worked in the Ba'ath Party (the ruling party in Syria). Al-Shibl later became active in the party's youth organization and integrated into the regime's media. Subsequently, al-Shibl moved to work for Al Jazeera and married a Lebanese journalist, through whom she obtained Lebanese citizenship. She later divorced him and married a Syrian citizen.

In 2008, al-Shibl met Syrian President Assad for the first time. According to various testimonies, the media figure developed a "special relationship" with him. Within two years, she moved to work for him. Initially, she worked in the office of the security apparatus headed by senior Syrian official Ali Mamlouk. In the previous decade, she was appointed head of Assad's media office.

According to Al-Majalla, as part of her role at the time, al-Shibl worked to push out the previous office head, Bouthaina Shaaban. A bitter rivalry developed between the two. Over the years, al-Shibl consolidated her influence and simultaneously developed a close relationship with the dictator's wife, Asma al-Assad.

Al-Shibl's power grew until she became a mediator on various issues. For example, she conducted lengthy meetings with the Hamas terror organization's political bureau chief at the time, Khaled Mashaal, before he left Damascus. Despite this, it was reported that Maher al-Assad, Bashar's brother and a Syrian general, never trusted her.

According to information obtained by Al-Majalla and sources who spoke with the magazine, Maher al-Assad warned Bashar against al-Shibl, as did Qasem Soleimani, who believed she was a spy. In a document revealed in the magazine, an exchange appeared between Soleimani and Mamlouk at the end of 2019. The conversation took place a few moments after al-Shibl left Mamlouk's office, when Soleimani had just arrived.

"Who is that?" Soleimani asked, according to the transcript. "Luna al-Shibl, the president's adviser," Mamlouk replied. "I know," Soleimani said, "but who is he really? Where does he work?" Mamlouk replied that at the Qatari network, Al Jazeera. According to Al-Majalla, the Quds Force commander at the time used masculine pronouns, as is customary in such contexts.

Soleimani then asked about al-Shibl's salary, and Mamlouk did not know how to respond. The Iranian official answered him himself, "I'll tell you – $10,000. And what is his salary today?"

Mamlouk again did not know how to respond, and Soleimani replied to him once more, "I'll tell you – half a million Syrian pounds. Does it make sense that he would give up $10,000 for half a million Syrian pounds? He's a spy." It should be noted that even today, the value of the Syrian currency is almost zero compared to the dollar.

Despite the warnings, Syrian President Assad only brought al-Shibl closer into his inner circle, appointing her as a special adviser. His wife, Asma, supported her and appointed her as a trustee of a private university.

However, in 2023, Asma began to distance herself from al-Shibl because of the earthquake in northwestern Syria, after which the wife requested that she serve as her adviser, instead of her husband's – a request that al-Shibl did not comply with. According to the publication, from that moment on, the adviser's influence waned. Her associates said she frequently expressed an aspiration, even obsessively, "to become Syria's first lady." When she learned that Asma al-Assad had fallen ill again with cancer, it was reported that she responded, "Inshallah, she will die."

At the beginning of 2024, additional signs emerged raising suspicion about her activities. For example, she purchased real estate in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, worth eight million dollars. Two years earlier, she opened a Russian "luxury restaurant" in the al-Mazzeh neighborhood in Damascus, called Nash Krai. According to rumors, the restaurant was a gift from Assad himself.

Al-Shibl's assets abroad were registered under her sister-in-law, Nasrin Mohammad (she and her husband, Mulham, "disappeared" last year). Following these matters, Asma al-Assad began to suspect al-Shibl's unusual enrichment.

According to the Al-Majalla publication, Luna and her brother expressed great hostility toward Iran, Hezbollah, and members of the pro-Iranian axis. These statements raised accusations among Assad regime circles and Tehran's allies that al-Shibl was an "Israeli agent." Against the backdrop of the series of assassinations of senior Iranian and Lebanese officials in Damascus, these suspicions grew.

In July 2024, Luna al-Shibl was injured in a car accident while driving to her home in Syria. She was hospitalized, but died there. According to photos of the armored BMW in which she was traveling, only minor damage was caused to the vehicle.

Eyewitnesses told Al-Majalla that another vehicle hit her after the accident. According to testimonies, after her bodyguard exited, an unknown person approached the vehicle, struck al-Shibl on the head, and paralyzed her. This strengthened the magazine's suspicions that this was a political assassination.

The Syrian presidential office announced al-Shibl's death in a brief statement. A modest funeral was subsequently held, attended by several Syrian officials. Bashar Assad was absent. Before al-Shibl's death, her brother Mulham and his wife were arrested on April 26, several weeks after the assassination of senior Quds Force official Zahedi in Damascus.

According to Al-Majalla, in circles close to Iran in Damascus, they claimed they "worked for Israel," and were in contact with the Iranian delegation that was attacked as part of that assassination. Luna al-Shibl's brother did not appear again, and there is an assessment that the Assad regime operatives murdered him.

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Moscow enforces stringent limitations on Bashar al-Assad nearly 12 months following his Syrian departure, with curtailed mobility and prohibited public visibility, multiple outlets indicated to Euronews.

Moscow placed severe requirements on Assad's residence when providing refuge in April 2025, Russian Ambassador to Iraq Elbrus Kutrashev revealed to Euronews. Assad must avoid all media visibility and political involvement, Kutrashev informed the Islamic Republic News Agency, according to Euronews.

Russian intelligence agencies maintain Assad under exceptionally severe protection, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated to Euronews. His mobility remains highly constrained, and he has ceased to give public addresses, Euronews reported.

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The Authority's commitment to reforms didn't stem from goodwill, but from financial distress. Unlike the past, the Europeans decided to stop serving as an "open wallet" and conditioned continued aid – hundreds of millions of euros – on meeting commitments.

The Palestinian representatives, unaccustomed to such criticism, committed to establishing a transparent fund that would reflect the transfer of money and to stop payments to terrorists. But they also understand that supervision over them has grown – not only from Israel, but also from the Europeans, whose credibility toward the Authority now lies on the table.

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Iran had functioned as one of Damascus's most essential supporters throughout the civil war that ignited in 2011 after the regime's brutal response to pro-democracy demonstrations, sending military advisers and Revolutionary Guards forces to Syria, AFP reported.

Revolutionary Guards units and regional allies – chiefly Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon, plus combatants from Iraq and Afghanistan – had occupied strategic locations and propped up Assad's regime, only to vanish as Islamist-led forces charged toward the capital, according to AFP.

Syrian military officers and troops operated under Revolutionary Guards command, whose influence grew during the conflict while Assad's authority weakened, AFP reported.

A former Syrian officer posted at a Guards security facility in Damascus said that on December 5, 2024, his Iranian commander ordered him to an operations center in Mazzeh district the next day to address an "important matter," according to AFP. The ex-officer, requesting anonymity over safety concerns, said his commander – identified as Hajj Abu Ibrahim – delivered a bombshell announcement to about 20 Syrian officers and soldiers assembled for the briefing, AFP reported.

"From today, there will be no more Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria. We're leaving," those present were informed, according to AFP. "It's all over. From today, we are no longer responsible for you."

They were instructed to destroy or burn classified documents and extract hard drives from computers, AFP reported. The declaration came as Islamist forces secured massive gains, yet it still caught Syrian soldiers by surprise, he said, according to AFP.

"We knew things hadn't been going well, but not to that extent." They received advance payment covering one month and departed for home, AFP reported.

Within two days, Islamist forces captured Damascus without fighting after Assad escaped to Russia, according to AFP. Two Syrian staff members at Iran's Damascus consulate, requesting anonymity for security purposes, also recounted a hurried Iranian departure, AFP reported. The consulate stood empty by December 5 evening as Iranian diplomats scrambled across the border into Beirut, they informed AFP.

Multiple Syrian employees "who held Iranian nationality left with them, accompanied by senior Revolutionary Guards officers," one former employee stated, according to AFP. At Jdeidet Yabus – Syria's primary Lebanese border crossing – taxi operators and former staff documented enormous congestion on December 5 and 6, with eight-hour delays to cross the frontier, AFP reported.

Both ex-consulate workers said Iranians instructed Syrian personnel to remain home and compensated them three months' wages, according to AFP.

The embassy, consulate and all Iranian security installations were abandoned by December 6 morning, they said, AFP reported.

Throughout the conflict, forces under Iranian authority concentrated in critical Damascus zones and suburbs, especially Sayyida Zeinab district – site of a significant Shiite Muslim shrine – and around Damascus airport, plus near Lebanese and Iraqi frontiers, according to AFP.

Sections of northern Aleppo and other provincial sites also functioned as major deployment zones for personnel and combatants, AFP reported.

At a location that formerly operated as a crucial Iranian military base south of Aleppo, Colonel Mohammad Dibo said when the city fell early in the rebel campaign, "Iran stopped fighting," according to AFP.

Iranian forces "had to withdraw suddenly after the quick collapse" of Assad's military, stated Dibo, who participated in the rebel offensive and currently serves in Syria's new armed forces, AFP reported. On severely damaged walls at the deserted base, an AFP journalist observed Iranian and Hezbollah slogans plus a mural showing a sword slicing through an Israeli flag, according to AFP.

Israel – Tehran's foe – had conducted hundreds of airstrikes on Syria during the war, primarily claiming it targeted Assad's forces and Iran-backed organizations, AFP reported. The anonymous former Syrian army officer said that on December 5, a high-ranking Iranian military official known as Hajj Jawad and several Iranian troops and officers were transported to Russia's Hmeimim base on the Mediterranean coast, then airlifted to Tehran, according to AFP.

At the deserted site near Aleppo, Dibo said following the city's collapse, "some 4,000 Iranian military personnel were evacuated via Russia's Hmeimim base" where they had sought refuge, AFP reported. Additional personnel escaped overland through Iraq or Lebanon, he stated, according to AFP.

The departure proved so hurried that "when we entered their bases" in Aleppo province, "we found passports and identity documents belonging to Iranian officers who didn't even have time to retrieve them."

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"They do not want to move ahead and bypass the Saudis", he explains from Washington, where he is a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "Today the Saudi leadership conditions formal ties with Israel on what it calls a credible path to a Palestinian state", meaning substantial progress with Ramallah that appears far from reach. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam made the point himself recently when he said that normalization between Beirut and Jerusalem depends on the Saudi initiative, which includes an agreement to establish a Palestinian state.

Even so, many in Lebanon have expressed optimism about the civilian channel created within the cease-fire oversight committee. "Direct engagement could help prevent escalation, bolster the Lebanese government against Hezbollah and create conditions for future arrangements", former senior officials in the Coalition for Regional Security told Israel Hayom. "Israel should work with the Trump administration to ensure the talks bolster the Lebanese government and encourage it to fulfill its responsibility to disarm Hezbollah. Doing so will pave Lebanon's path to joining the Abraham Accords and breaking away from Iranian influence."

Hussain stresses that although peace still seems distant, there is broad potential for cooperation between Israel and Lebanon even below the threshold of normalization. That includes economic issues but also other areas of mutual interest. "If we can reach understandings on disarming Hezbollah, that would be beneficial", he says.

What are the Lebanese government's main obstacles regarding disarming Hezbollah? Analysts say the organization has weakened, yet the state continues to stall.

"Look, in Lebanon there is a profound lack of trust in the US", he says. "Over the years, two schools of thought emerged in Lebanon about how to deal with Hezbollah. Lebanese politicians are focused on survival and holding on to power. They fear that if they act to dismantle Hezbollah's arsenal, Iran and the US might suddenly reach an agreement and Washington will throw them under the bus, leaving them exposed to Hezbollah's return. As long as they doubt the consistency of American policy toward Lebanon, that remains the central obstacle. Statements made in the past by people like Tom Barrack only deepened Lebanese concerns that the US could change its mind.

"Second, some Lebanese argue that disarming Hezbollah could lead to war, but I disagree, he continues. I do not think the army would fight Hezbollah. My assessment is that Hezbollah would behave toward the Lebanese Armed Forces as it has toward UNIFIL. UNIFIL sent personnel to inspect sites that Israel had identified as suspicious. Hezbollah operatives, disguised as civilians, blocked the roads and confronted them. So UNIFIL, being UNIFIL, withdrew. But the Lebanese army cannot withdraw because it represents a sovereign state. If the army found itself in a situation where it had to open fire and kill a Shiite civilian, that could create momentum for dismantling Hezbollah. That is what the government fears. It is ultimately political."

Could another Israeli military operation help?

"I think Israel will likely continue intensifying its strikes against Hezbollah, but it will never fully destroy it", he says. "It is too complicated and too dirty. The Lebanese themselves must make that final mile. It ultimately depends on the Lebanese state. I have heard that Israel may escalate its strikes against Hezbollah. That could persuade the Lebanese that there is no alternative to disarming the group. Lebanon needs these strikes to stop in order to rebuild its economy. As long as they continue, investors from the Gulf will stay away. Unless Lebanon finds a way to halt the attacks, it will remain in distress."

What do you think about the appointment of a civilian representative to the cease-fire oversight committee?

"Simon Karam spent his life opposing the Assad regime and Hezbollah, so his appointment is positive. You can see how furious Hezbollah's media outlets are, which only reinforces that it was a good choice. The fact that the talks are now face to face is also encouraging. Everyone in Lebanon believes that what Karam can achieve through direct negotiations cannot be compared to what was possible until now, in military-level discussions. I hope the talks withstands this, despite Israeli strikes and the criticism that follows."

How does the Lebanese public view Hezbollah today?

"Lebanese society is divided, as you know. Shiites are the ones who support Hezbollah. Among Christians and Sunnis, support is at most 10 percent, which is extremely low. Among Shiites, if you look at the 2022 elections, 13 percent voted against Hezbollah. I believe that percentage has grown given the war and the destruction of the past two years.

"The only reason Shiites cling to Hezbollah is their belief that without it, they would be weaker than Sunnis and Christians. It has nothing to do with Israel. When Hezbollah harms them more than it helps them, that will have an impact. Today countless Shiites cannot return to their villages. These people have been displaced for a long time. We are moving in the right direction."

A recent idea raised in Israel proposes creating a welfare network to compete with Hezbollah in order to weaken it. What is your view?

"We should not think of the Shiites as the only bloc in the country. Lebanon is a big country and its economy must grow. We should not think in terms of alternatives meant to help the Shiites specifically. Before the war, Sunni communities in northern Lebanon were suffering the worst economic conditions. In truth, Shiites received funding from everyone. That is why I believe the focus should be on helping all Lebanese expand their GDP. That is how the issue should be addressed. I oppose approaches based on welfare networks designed as substitutes."

A bleak reality

The Lebanese scholar grew up in Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. He later studied at the American University of Beirut and spent years moving between Lebanon, Iraq and the US. From Washington, he watches with sadness the situation of Lebanon's Christian community.

"Unfortunately, Christian emigration from Lebanon is massive, he says. When I grew up in Baalbek, Catholics made up one third of the city's population. That was in the 1980s. Today if you go to Baalbek, you will find three Catholics. The Christian share fell from about 35 percent. We know the figures for Shiites and Sunnis because they are updated every few years in elections. That is how we track demographics. Based on that, Christians now make up 28 percent of the population, and in reality probably less."

To conclude, I ask Hussain about the renewed tensions with Syria. Until the Cedar Revolution almost two decades ago, Syria maintained military forces inside Lebanon. Now, with Ahmed al-Sharaa's new government in Damascus, old fears have resurfaced among parts of the Lebanese public.

"Lebanon suffered historically from Syrian dominance", says Hussain, "and it is now relieved that Syria is weak. That is the main point. Because Hezbollah fought in the Syrian civil war, the al-Sharaa government opposes Hezbollah and is tense toward Lebanon's Shiite community. Shiites fear Syria and want to distance Lebanon from it. Sunnis, by contrast, welcome the change and want closer ties. Among Christians and within the government, many believe it might be best if each country simply focused on its own affairs."

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