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The dispute between Nawaf Salam and Michel Menassa over the general amnesty had begun before the sitting of Parliament. The day before, the Minister of Defence provided Elias Bou Saab with written comments from the Lebanese Army on the amendments to the text. On Tuesday, Salam objected to Menassa presenting to the deputies a statement expressing the position of the army. The tone went up, Menassa left the meeting and the military command then intervened to ask him to deliver his speech.

On Tuesday, 11 August 2026, the Lebanese Parliament adopted the law abolishing the death penalty, following a number of amendments, including amendments to replace the death penalty. Pre-reform crimes will be punishable by life imprisonment, while aggravated life is provided for crimes committed after its entry into force. Lebanon had not carried out any executions since 2004. Unlike some early dispatches, however, it is not the first abolitionist Arab country, Djibouti having abolished the death penalty in 1995.

Joseph Aoun states that negotiations between Lebanon and Israel are progressing and remain preferable to a new war. The President assured that Beirut would not accept the retention of any Israeli soldier in its territory and noted a decrease in attacks since the signing of the framework agreement. His statements, however, took place at a time when direct discussions had been suspended since the seventh meeting in Rome, concluded without further Israeli withdrawal and without an agreed date between the parties for the next session.

Lebanese Civil Defence officers were targeted on Tuesday, 11 August 2026 by a drone attributed to Israel as they extinguished a grass fire in the Nabatiyah area. No first aid workers were injured, but the teams had to stop their intervention and get sheltered. The incident occurred in the aftermath of a targeting against a Lebanese Army position and in a context of growing tensions around negotiations between Beirut and Israel.

In an unprecedented initiative, Life for Relief and Development launched a global humanitarian campaign to find sponsors for 60,000 orphans in the Gaza Strip to support children who lost one or both of their parents following the war. The aim is to meet their basic needs [...]

The House of Representatives began its consideration of the bill to abolish the death penalty in Lebanon on Tuesday, 11 August 2026 in Beirut. The country has not carried out any executions since 2004, but the courts can still impose capital sentences. After several months of committee work and a first review prevented in July by the loss of quorum, MPs now have to decide how to remove the penalty and how to replace it.

The eighth round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, planned for early September 2026 under American mediation, is now surrounded by uncertainty. After the failure of the Rome meeting to secure a new Israeli withdrawal and the continued bombing in the South, Beirut demanded three measures before returning to the table: the cessation of military operations, the cessation of destruction and the creation of a new pilot zone in Bint Jbeil or Khiam.

Israel reportedly made a particular request in the ongoing negotiations with Lebanon: the transfer of remains of Jews buried in Lebanon, including Beirut and Saida, to cemeteries in Israel. According to Al-Akhbar, this issue is linked to discussions regarding the release of Lebanese civilians detained by Israel. Prisoners [...]

Walid Jumblatt calls for strengthening relations between Lebanon and Syria, believing that normalization with Damascus can consolidate national unity. The position is particularly significant from a leader who continues to accuse Hafez al-Assad of having murdered his father Kamal Jumblatt in 1977. The fall of the Assad regime now allows him to distinguish the historical dispute with the old dynasty from the need for a state-to-state relationship with the new Syria, particularly on borders, trade, missing persons and regional transit.

Pakistan is no longer content with its historical relationship with Saudi Arabia. In 2026 Islamabad deployed some 8,000 military personnel, as well as fighters, drones and an anti-aircraft system in the kingdom, participated in negotiations between Washington and Tehran and joined the defence alliance formed with Riyadh and Ankara. The only nuclear power in the Muslim world thus becomes a security supplier in the Middle East. For Israel, the issue is less a direct threat than the emergence of a regional counterweight that it does not control.

Lebanese deputies are expected to receive approximately $5,000 a month from September 2026, compared to nearly 3,000 before. The increase came a few months after Parliament extended its own term of office for two years and postponed the elections scheduled for May 2026. It revives criticism of conflicts of interest, the tax advantages of elected officials and the slow pace of reform, while the minimum wage remains close to $312 and depositors are still waiting for a definitive solution to the banking crisis.

Lebanese justice is now jointly pursuing Riad Salamé, former Governor of the Bank of Lebanon, and Samir Hanna, former President of Bank Audi. The case concerns suspicions of misappropriation, illicit enrichment, laundering, corruption and the use of offshore companies in transactions involving Audi Bank shares. The complaint filed by Karim Souaid mainly opens a much wider examination of the financial relations between the BDL of Salamé and one of the country's main commercial banks before the 2019 crisis.

The defence alliance signed in Mecca by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan introduces a new collective player in the Middle East balance. Riyadh brings its resources and diplomatic weight, Ankara its army and its defence industry, Islamabad its conventional forces and ambiguity related to its nuclear deterrence. For Israel, the challenge is mainly political and strategic: Turkey challenges its freedom of action in Syria while Saudi Arabia builds regional security that no longer depends on normalization with Jerusalem.

The seventh round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel ended in Rome without the new Israeli withdrawal expected by Beirut. While the guarantees requested of Lebanon on disarmament and its international verification are being clarified, Israel has not accepted either Bint Jbeil or Khiam as the next pilot zone. As the eighth round approaches, Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam also face the political fragility of the negotiators and the controversy surrounding Antoun Sehnaoui and Nada Hamadé Mouawad.