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On Thursday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will travel to Ankara for a high-stakes one-day meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a diplomatic mission focused on bringing long-overdue clarity to a relationship that has remained formally intact but strategically undefined amid sweeping shifts in Middle Eastern geopolitics. Unlike traditional state visits packed with cabinet delegations and formal treaty signings, Aoun will be accompanied only by a small group of senior presidential advisors, with no binding bilateral agreements scheduled to be finalized during the talks.

Multiple Lebanese and Turkish sources confirmed to Middle East Eye that the discussions will center on mapping out the broader strategic contours of the relationship between Beirut and Ankara. Key topics on the agenda include Turkey’s long-held concerns about Lebanon’s regional alignment, as well as new opportunities to expand bilateral military and diplomatic cooperation. A senior Lebanese insider described the meeting as a critical starting point for a more transparent bilateral dialogue, noting that Lebanon’s fragile domestic politics and exposed geographic position require it to balance relationships across competing regional blocs without alienating any major power.

While diplomatic ties between the two countries have never been severed, both sides have acknowledged a persistent gap in clear communication around their respective core political priorities. The senior Lebanese source emphasized that this lack of regular open dialogue has not risen to the level of public Turkish discontent with Lebanon’s policy direction, but the upcoming meeting is designed to address that gap head-on. “This will be a full, open and honest exchange between the two heads of state,” the source added.

Far from a reconciliation effort to repair broken relations, the visit is an attempt to add explicit political definition to a partnership that has already operated through quiet diplomatic, economic and security channels, but has never been anchored by a shared strategic framework. For Lebanon, the meeting comes as the country walks a careful diplomatic tightrope, managing relationships with Turkey, Gulf Cooperation Council states, the United States, Europe and other regional actors while avoiding any permanent, exclusive alignment with a single bloc.

For Turkey, the summit offers a rare opportunity to lay out its clear expectations for Lebanon’s positioning in a region increasingly defined by cutthroat competition over energy transit routes, maritime boundary claims, defense pacts and relationships with Israel. Ahead of his departure, Aoun told Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu Agency that Lebanon welcomes a meaningful Turkish role in any future international governance arrangement for southern Lebanon, particularly as global powers negotiate the future mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Turkey has a long history of contributing to UNIFIL’s maritime task force and has maintained steady military and security cooperation with the Lebanese state for decades, and Aoun’s remarks were crafted to signal that Beirut views Ankara as a contributor to Lebanese stability, not just an outside power pursuing its own regional interests.

Aoun is also expected to use the meeting to update Turkey on efforts to implement existing agreements governing southern Lebanon, including calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from contested territory and continued international backing for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). However, Turkish officials plan to use the summit to press Aoun for clear answers on the future direction of Lebanese foreign policy, sparked by Beirut’s 2023 unilateral maritime border agreement with Cyprus.

A senior Turkish official told Middle East Eye that Ankara was caught off guard by Lebanon’s decision to move forward with the deal without any prior consultation with Turkey. The concern extends far beyond Ankara’s exclusion from negotiations: Turkish policymakers argue the agreement carries sweeping regional implications because of Cyprus’s close strategic and energy ties to Greece and Israel. The eastern Mediterranean has emerged as one of the most contested regions in the Middle East, with two competing blocs vying for control of energy and trade infrastructure. One bloc, linking Israel, Cyprus and Greece, is developing cross-border gas infrastructure, electricity interconnectors and shipping routes designed to connect the eastern Mediterranean directly to European markets. Turkey, by contrast, has championed alternative energy and trade corridors that position it as the central hub connecting Asia, the Middle East and European markets.

While Lebanon’s agreement with Cyprus does not formally bring Beirut into an alliance with Israel, Ankara fears the deal could gradually draw Lebanon into the regional framework built around Cyprus, Greece and Israel – a shift that would directly undermine Turkey’s own core strategic ambitions in the region. A senior diplomatic source confirmed that Erdogan will raise the maritime agreement directly with Aoun during their talks, making clear that Turkey cannot accept Lebanon aligning with Israel, a path that some figures close to the Lebanese presidency are rumored to favor. “At a minimum, Ankara expects Lebanon to maintain strict neutrality in regional geopolitical conflicts,” the source stated.

Turkey’s concerns do not stem from a belief that Lebanon has already joined an Israeli-led bloc, but rather from deep uncertainty about how Beirut will position itself as new maritime, energy and security arrangements take shape across the eastern Mediterranean. The summit will give Aoun a platform to reassure Erdogan that Lebanon’s expanding engagement with Cyprus and other regional actors is not intended to counter or isolate Turkey. Aoun will also explain that Lebanon’s negotiations with Israel are focused on securing an Israeli withdrawal from contested territory, strengthening Lebanese state sovereignty and ending cross-border hostilities, not forging a strategic alliance with Israel.

In exchange for greater clarity on Lebanon’s regional posture, Ankara is prepared to expand its security and military support to the Lebanese state, with a particular focus on bolstering the Lebanese Armed Forces. The senior diplomatic source revealed that Ankara plans to invite the LAF commander to tour Turkish defense manufacturing and industry facilities, and Ankara is ready to provide significant military hardware to the LAF if Lebanon formally outlines its equipment requirements and expresses interest in a partnership. Turkey’s domestic defense industry produces a wide range of military technology, including combat drones, armored vehicles, communications systems, and naval platforms, and Ankara has increasingly used defense cooperation as a key tool of regional diplomacy in recent years.

The source also pushed back against any interpretation of Turkey’s engagement with Lebanon through the lens of the Ottoman Empire’s historical rule over the territory, noting “Turkey is a NATO member and approaches Lebanon from a modern strategic perspective, rather than through any Ottoman historical framework.” For Lebanon, additional Turkish military assistance would offer a much-needed supplementary source of support for the LAF, which has taken on expanded security responsibilities across the country and along its volatile borders. But Beirut will need to manage any expanded cooperation carefully to avoid creating the perception that it is moving away from its longstanding military partnerships with the United States, France and other Western powers.

The true significance of Aoun’s visit lies not in the prospect of immediate, headline-grabbing agreements, but in the effort to finally map out the clear political boundaries of the Lebanon-Turkey relationship. The two countries already maintain active diplomatic ties, steady commercial trade and ongoing security cooperation, and Turkey holds meaningful political, cultural and humanitarian influence in multiple parts of Lebanon. But the relationship has remained strategically ambiguous for years, as neither side has fully articulated its expectations of the other amid rapid regional change.

Aoun’s one-day trip is not expected to resolve all outstanding questions in a single meeting. But it is likely to establish a new, direct communication channel between the two presidents, reducing the risk that future Lebanese policy decisions will be misinterpreted in Ankara without prior consultation. As the senior Lebanese source put it: the visit will not mark the start of a new relationship between the two countries, but rather the start of a far more candid conversation about where that relationship is headed in an increasingly divided region.

Deep in the cramped, overcrowded space beneath a school staircase in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, 33-year-old Palestinian university professor Kholoud Abu Sahmoud waits helplessly as her late-stage liver cancer progresses out of control. Nine months after her diagnosis, what should have been a treatable condition has become a death sentence, cut short by a catastrophic shortage of life-saving medicine and a months-long bureaucratic blockade that has kept her trapped in the war-ravaged enclave.

Abu Sahmoud received her devastating diagnosis just days after giving birth to her second child nine months ago. She completed 15 rounds of chemotherapy using the limited drugs available inside Gaza, but her condition has only continued to worsen. Unlike the targeted therapies she needs, the available medications have failed to shrink her tumor, only leaving her grappling with brutal side effects. “The chemotherapy never treated my cancer. It only caused my hair and nails to fall out,” she told reporters from Middle East Eye. “Almost every day, parts of my nails come off.”

Nearly 10 months after a ceasefire halted large-scale active fighting in October 2025, Israeli authorities continue to enforce tight restrictions on the entry of all essential medical supplies into Gaza, including specialized oncology drugs, chemotherapy agents, antibiotics, anesthetics, diagnostic tools and surgical equipment. UN data from earlier this year shows that by March, 46 percent of all essential medications and 66 percent of critical medical consumables across the enclave were completely out of stock.

This month, Gaza’s Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that most chemotherapy programs for common high-mortality cancers—including breast, colorectal, gastrointestinal, head and neck tumors, and sarcomas—have already been forced to stop entirely, as stockpiles of specialized cancer drugs dropped to critically low levels. Out of Gaza’s nearly 11,000 registered cancer patients, at least 4,000 have received formal medical referrals for urgent treatment outside the enclave, but remain stuck waiting for exit approval from Israeli or Egyptian authorities.

Dr. Muhammed Abu Nada, director of the Gaza Centre for Cancer, told Middle East Eye that the current shortage is the most severe Gaza has seen in decades. “We have been forced to use some medicines that had already expired because of the severe shortages. Now even those have run out,” he said. “This is clearly increasing the mortality rate.” For existing patients, remaining stockpiles barely cover ongoing care, leaving no options for newly diagnosed cases. Facing empty drug cabinets, doctors have been forced to abandon evidence-based combination treatment protocols in favor of less effective single-drug regimens. “This obviously reduces the effectiveness of treatment, worsens outcomes and can lead to further complications,” Abu Nada explained. “We are also facing shortages of immunotherapy drugs, which further increases the risks for our patients.”

Abu Sahmoud’s case is far from unique. Her medical referral for treatment abroad was approved just after her diagnosis, as clinicians confirmed the therapy she needs is not available anywhere inside Gaza. Doctors recommended she travel to Jordan or Turkey for targeted care, but nine months later, she remains trapped in Gaza, her health declining with each passing day. “Doctors told me the treatment I need is available in Jordan or Turkey, and there was no way to improve my condition here,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for urgent medical evacuation for nine months. My health deteriorates every day with this endless waiting.”

Under longstanding regional medical protocols, Gazan patients who require specialized care unavailable locally receive referrals funded by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health, but final permission to exit through border crossings controlled by Israel or Egypt remains a mandatory prerequisite. Since the start of large-scale military operations in Gaza in October 2023, Israel has drastically limited the number of medical evacuations allowed out of the territory, leaving thousands of critically ill patients stranded without access to care that could save their lives.

Four months after the October 2025 ceasefire, Israel partially reopened the Rafah crossing with Egypt for medical evacuations under a strict, tightly controlled system that caps the number of patients allowed to exit at just 50 per day, all subject to Israeli approval. As of June 30, only 1,655 patients have been evacuated since Rafah reopened in February, while more than 20,000 people—including 4,000 children—remain on the waiting list for urgent exit. Since October 2023, more than 1,570 critically ill patients have died while waiting for permission to leave Gaza for treatment.

For Abu Sahmoud, the waiting game has already left her bedridden, unable to carry out even the most basic daily activities or care for her two young children, a five-year-old son and her nine-month-old daughter. She has lost 20 kilograms as fluid buildup in her abdomen leaves her unable to eat for days at a time, and she has not been able to hold her newborn daughter since she gave birth. “I cannot fulfil any of my responsibilities towards my children. Because of my illness, I have become bedridden,” she said. “I am dying slowly.”

Like most Gazans, Abu Sahmoud has been forcibly displaced dozens of times since the war began, after her home was destroyed in Israeli attacks. She most recently lived in a makeshift tent in Mawasi al-Qarara, but the unsanitary, harsh conditions caused her health to decline even faster. She moved in with her displaced sister, who already occupies the cramped space under the staircase at Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz School, bringing the total number of people sharing the tiny space to 10. “The environment is completely unsuitable for someone in my condition. Even a healthy person would struggle to live here, let alone a cancer patient,” she said.

Next to the thin mattress where Abu Sahmoud spends her days sits a small box of medication, carefully positioned out of reach of the rats that frequent the shelter. Beside it rests a cloth bag holding nearly 50 academic certificates, testaments to a career and academic journey cut short by war and illness. A self-described lifelong bookworm, Abu Sahmoud made history at the Islamic University of Gaza as the first student to complete a two-year master’s degree program in just 16 months, before going on to pursue a PhD and take a position as an assistant professor specializing in curriculum and instruction. “I love learning. My whole life has been devoted to education,” she said. “My dream was to become a professor and continue my academic journey beyond my PhD. I never wanted to stop learning. But the illness has taken all of that away from me. The hardest part is waiting for treatment, with no end in sight.”

In a high-profile diplomatic meeting held in Ankara on Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan welcomed Khalil al-Hayya, the newly appointed chief of Hamas’s political bureau, and a full delegation from the Palestinian militant group, according to Turkish diplomatic sources cited by the semi-official Anadolu Agency. The meeting, which was publicly confirmed by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs via an official Twitter post on July 29, 2026, comes at a period of escalating violence across Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, and amid growing global legal pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During the opening of the talks, Fidan formally congratulated Hayya on his recent elevation to the top leadership role of Hamas. Hayya, who is currently based in Qatar, took over the post on July 20, 2026, making him the third person to lead Hamas’s political wing since the outbreak of the ongoing Israel-Gaza war in October 2023. He succeeds Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces in Rafah just three months after Israeli operatives assassinated previous leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July 2024. Tragically, Hayya has also lost four of his own sons – Osama, Hamza, Hammam and Azzam – to the conflict, marking a deep personal toll alongside his new political responsibilities.

In the closed-door briefing, Hayya updated Fidan on the ongoing military operations carried out by Israeli forces across the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. He highlighted that overnight attacks carried out by Israeli air forces between Thursday and Friday alone left at least six Palestinian civilians dead and 25 more injured. Beyond Gaza, Hayya accused Netanyahu’s government of accelerating the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory and ramping up provocative attacks on religious holy sites located in East Jerusalem, a territory claimed by Palestinians as the capital of their future state. He added that Hamas remains fully committed to playing a constructive part in future peace negotiations aimed at ending the conflict, and outlined ongoing efforts by the group to secure national reconciliation between competing Palestinian political factions.

The meeting also comes against the backdrop of a major international legal development: the International Criminal Court has recently issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, charging him with alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the military campaign in Gaza.

Responding to Hayya’s briefing, Fidan reaffirmed that Turkey will maintain its unwavering support for what Ankara describes as the Palestinian people’s just cause, both in multilateral diplomatic forums and across global international institutions. The foreign minister stressed that Turkey will continue working to focus global public and political attention on Israeli military actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including targeted attacks on religious holy sites. Fidan also added that Turkey plans to expand the flow of humanitarian aid into the blockaded and besieged Gaza Strip, and will continue backing regional and international efforts to advance a lasting peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. He also publicly praised Hamas’s ongoing engagement in negotiation efforts aimed at bringing an end to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

As military clashes between Iran and the United States stretch across neighboring Iraq and Yemen, new developments are shedding light on internal Iranian divides over the conflict, Tehran’s key asymmetric military strategy in the Persian Gulf, and allegations of transnational repression targeting Iranian dissident students abroad.

A prominent Iranian daily with deep official ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has centered its latest front-page coverage on the IRGC’s fleet of small speedboats operating in the Persian Gulf, framing the force as a decisive asymmetric advantage for Tehran amid escalating hostilities. In Wednesday’s coverage, Hamshahri labeled the speedboat fleet Iran’s “winning card” in the Persian Gulf, noting it forms a core component of the country’s deterrence architecture designed to discourage further expansion of U.S. military attacks.

For more than 20 years, the outlet explained, the fleet has posed one of the most persistent and complex threats to U.S. naval forces deployed in the region, built around the effective use of “swarm attack” tactics. Over the past five months, it has also evolved into a key strategic asset for controlling movement through the critical Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which roughly 20% of the world’s global oil supplies pass annually.

Tehran’s naval strategy prioritizes mass production of small, high-velocity, low-cost craft rather than pursuing direct military competition with larger, far more expensive U.S. naval vessels. This approach is intentionally designed to raise the operational and human cost of any confrontation for adversarial forces while restricting their ability to maneuver freely in the Gulf. On the topic of controlling the Strait of Hormuz, Hamshahri added that the speedboat fleet complements other Iranian military assets including naval mines, cruise and ballistic missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles to complete Tehran’s strategic ability to block access to the waterway if needed.

Amid rising hardline pressure to continue military clashes, a senior former IRGC commander has broken ranks to join growing calls for a cessation of hostilities with the U.S., arguing that genuine national victory for Iran only comes through the restoration of regional peace and stability. Brigadier General Hossein Alaei, the inaugural commander of the IRGC Navy and a former senior Iranian defense official who led IRGC naval forces during the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, shared his perspective on the ongoing conflicts that have pitted Iran against the U.S. and Israel since 2025.

“While Iran has every right to defend itself, maintain its position, and respond to enemy attacks, the simple reality is that ongoing war causes irreversible harm to the Iranian people,” Alaei stated. The former commander also criticized the collapse of the earlier bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Tehran and Washington, describing the now-defunct agreement as a clear strategic win for Iran and a major setback for Israel.

Alaei emphasized that Iran conceded virtually no critical ground under the terms of the deal: “The U.S. claims it has degraded, damaged, and effectively dismantled Iran’s nuclear program. The maximum concession Iran made was agreeing to open discussions on the nuclear issue in the future, which aligns with Iran’s long-stated public position that it has no intention to develop nuclear weapons.” He added that the agreement also successfully pressured Israel to pause its frequent military strikes on Lebanon, a major win for regional stability: “Israel was launching strikes on Lebanon daily before the MoU; through that agreement, we halted those daily attacks. That is a very significant victory.”

Since large-scale military clashes resumed between Iran and the U.S. on July 7, hardline political and military factions within Iran have pushed to cut off all diplomatic negotiations with Washington and continue offensive operations. But Alaei is among a cohort of older-generation IRGC leaders who are publicly advocating for an end to the fighting.

Separately, a new investigation by BBC Persian has uncovered allegations that Belarusian security services have carried out a coordinated campaign of interrogation, detention, and deportation against Iranian students studying in Belarus who posted social media content critical of the Islamic Republic. The students have directly accused the Iranian Embassy in Minsk of collaborating with Belarusian security forces to enable this cross-border repression of Iranian government critics.

Khatereh Khodadadi, a dental student who spoke to the outlet, said she was arrested at her home by masked security agents just days after she posted a message expressing joy on Instagram following the killing of former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei by U.S.-Israeli forces. She told reporters that agents interrogated her extensively about her views on Islam and the Iranian government before convicting her of “deliberate disobedience” and sentencing her to 15 days in prison. Khodadadi said she ultimately spent 45 days in detention, held in poor, unsanitary conditions, before being deported to a third country and issued a 30-year ban on reentering Belarus.

Another Iranian student, identified only by the first name Pezhman, alleged that the Iranian ambassador personally provided Belarusian authorities with a target list of Iranian dissident students living in the country, falsely labeling them as plotters to carry out an arson attack on the Iranian Embassy. Similar coordinated repression allegations have also emerged from other regional states: in Armenia, Iranian dissident protesters claim local authorities seized their passports in a coordinated action organized by the Iranian Embassy in Yerevan.

In additional new details on a previously unconfirmed Iranian military operation, local media has named Brigadier General Majid Kazemi as one of two pilots killed when Iranian Su-24 tactical bombers were shot down during an attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar on March 2. The strike was carried out in retaliation for earlier U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iranian targets, but no official details of the operation had been released publicly prior to this disclosure.

Recent independent reports confirm the two Su-24 aircraft were struck down while returning to Iranian airspace after carrying out bombing runs on the large U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The bombers took off from a major IRGC military base outside the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, according to the accounts. Iranian authorities have not yet released any public information identifying the second pilot killed in the downing or shared any official confirmation of the operation. Iranian state television has previously reported on a separate retaliatory strike carried out by Iranian F-5 fighter jets against a U.S. military base located in Kuwait, marking a series of escalating cross-border attacks on U.S. assets in the Persian Gulf region.

On Thursday, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB published aerial and on-the-ground footage showing emergency rescue teams sifting through collapsed concrete and debris in Qeshm Island’s Chah-Tango neighbourhood, located in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province. The destruction was left behind by a newly launched United States military strike that targeted a residential civilian home in the area.

According to local Iranian officials, the attack claimed the lives of three members from a single local family: a 30-something father, his wife, and their two-year-old toddler. Two other children from the family, ages seven and nine, escaped the rubble with non-fatal injuries and were urgently transported to a nearby regional medical center for ongoing care.

This civilian death toll is part of the broader large-scale US assault launched across Iranian territory overnight Thursday, an operation ordered by US leadership in direct retaliation for an earlier Iranian missile strike targeting a joint US-Jordanian military base in Jordan. Prior to launching the assault, former US President Donald Trump issued an aggressive public vow, stating he would “beat the fucking shit out of Iran” following the attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in northern Jordan.

Critics point to a repeated pattern of civilian and child casualties stemming from US military operations in the ongoing conflict that Washington launched alongside Israel on February 28. The very first strike of the coordinated campaign was a double-tap cruise missile attack on a public school in the southern Iranian city of Minab, which killed at least 155 people, a majority of whom were school-aged children.

In direct response to Thursday’s US strikes across Iran, Tehran launched a new round of retaliatory strikes targeting US military assets in Jordan Thursday. Multiple regional media outlets reported loud explosions heard within the perimeter of Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, though independent outlet Middle East Eye has not been able to independently confirm these on-the-ground claims. A official spokesperson for the Jordanian Army released a statement confirming that five missiles launched from Iranian territory were “detected, intercepted, and shot down” before reaching their intended target. This announcement follows multiple past instances where US officials and regional allies claimed to have intercepted Iranian missiles, only for subsequent evidence to confirm the projectiles ultimately hit their intended targets.

Alongside the military response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a formal public warning Thursday that any countries choosing to provide support or assistance to the US military operation will be added to Tehran’s list of legitimate retaliatory targets. “Countries involved in aiding the aggressor will receive a harsh response if they do not correct their behaviour,” the IRGC statement read. Since the conflict began last month, Iran has repeatedly targeted US military and diplomatic interests across Jordan and Gulf Cooperation Council member states in response to joint US-Israeli operations.