Representative Taymour Jumblatt (left) won the presidency of the Progressive Socialist Party, as the only candidate.

Taymour will lead the party as a heir to his father Walid, who also took control of the party as heir to his father Kamal.

An Israeli, on a business trip to Iraq, landed in Lebanon as a transit station and was arrested for 48 hours.

Based on investigations, he was born in Israel and served in the IDF but carries a European passport.

He was deported back.

The Lebanese Information Branch arrested Haitham Muzahim, an employee at Al-Mayadeen TV, for operating on behalf of the Mossad in Lebanon for the past 5 years.

He was apprehended last month, and his case was kept secret under the guise of a drug dealing investigation.

⋯ Muzahim admitted that he established a relationship five years ago with a Dutch researcher of Palestinian origin, and that their relationship developed rapidly.

She asked him for research and studies on Hezbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

⋯ He was asked to prepare studies on the intellectual, ideological and organizational foundations of each of Hezbullah, Hamas, and PIJ.

He also worked for a Gulf-based think tank.

He was paid through a bank account in a European country but was closed due to "suspicious money".

⋯ And so, he was paid through a bank account in Lebanon in exchange for his research and studies submitted to the Mossad.

He met/established contact with the Mossad in the US and EU.

⋯ It turned out that Muzahim had previously prepared, in the 1990's, a study on the organizational structure of Hezbullah, which he tried to publish in specialized periodicals, but was barred.

Since that day, Hezbollah dealt with him with caution, and kept him away.

⋯ It's unclear if the Mossad was the one who tasked him with joining Al-Mayadeen.

It is noteworthy that the channel’s management cut off all ties with Muzahim after his arrest, refused to appoint a lawyer for him, and deleted all materials he wrote or published on their platform.

⋯ In the past 18 months, the Lebanese government and Hezbullah arrested more than 320 locals recruited by the Mossad.

The majority was released because they were unaware they were recruited, while others are still under arrest.

Hundreds/thousands more are still operating.

Russian Mufti Krganov completed his tour in Lebanon and was received (23 June) by Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Speaker Nabih Berri, Minister of Culture Mohammad Mortada, and presidential candidate Suleiman Frangieh.

⋯ Al-Akhbar reported today that Lebanese officials & religious figures have expressed dissatisfaction, because the trip organizers presented Mufti Krganov as the overall Mufti of Russia and an official, while knowing that he has “no official status, neither political nor spiritual”.

Islam in Russia is made of 100s of associations and 4 main federations. Mufti Albir Krganov leads the Spiritual Assembly of the Muslims of Russia (established in 2016). Mufti Rawil Ğaynetdin leads the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Russian Federation (est. 1994), and its offshoot the Council of Muftis (est. 1996). Mufti Ismail Berdiev leads the Coordination Center of the Muslims from North Caucasus (est. 1998). Supreme Mufti Talgat Tadjuddin leads the Central Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Russia (est. 1788).

The explosion that took place a few days ago in Herzliya,Israel was caused by the inappropriate disposal of 3 tons of explosives at a decommissioned weapon-manufacturing company.

🔴 Hezbullah shot down an Israeli UAV that entered into Zibqin valley in south Lebanon.

⋯ Alleged footage of an Israeli jet over Lebanon firing flares due to possible threat alerts.

Hezbullah's Military media publishes footage of how it downed the IDF drone over Zibqine Valley in South Lebanon earlier today.

The IDF initially claimed that the drone "fell" during routine surveillance.

U.S. and Israel mount pressure on Hezbullah's tents in Shebaa Farms

The U.S. is pressing the Lebanese government and army to take steps to dismantle a Hezbullah outpost that was established several weeks ago in the Israeli-occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms, annexed by Israel in 1981. The U.S. and Israel were concerned that the outpost was the result of a miscalculation by Hezbullah that could lead to an escalation, Israeli officials said.

At Israel's request, State Department and Pentagon officials stressed to the Lebanese government, UNIFIL officials and the Lebanese armed forces that the Hezbullah outpost needed to be evacuated. “Our goal is to move the outpost out of there. We prefer Hezbollah will do it themselves than to bomb it. We made that clear to the U.S. and they made that clear to people in Lebanon”, said an Israeli official.

Details • More pictures • Earlier

⋯ According to a senior Israeli official, Hezbullah set up a tent on 8 April in an area that is north of the border fence between Israel and Lebanon, but 30 meters south of the internationally recognized Blue Line in an area considered by the UN to be Israeli territory.

⋯ The Israeli military realized the tent was in Israeli territory only several weeks later when Hezbollah added another tent, a water tank and a generator to the outpost.

For several weeks, the IDF had quiet conversations with the UNIFIL, but the issue leaked to the Israeli press

Israel expect Russia to occupy Kiev, Ukraine.

PM Netanyahu expressed concern with providing Iron Dome's to Ukraine emphasizing the risk of it falling into Iranian hands.

"Western systems did exactly that journey and we now find them on our borders with Hezbullah."

The Jewish U.S. ambassador to Israel visited the Lebanese border today to voice the state's unwavering support to any action taken by Tel Aviv in the North.

Report: Israel deferring attacks on Hezbullah's air defences since 2019

According to revelations by Israeli media Maariv yesterday (30 June), the IDF pushed twice for an air attack against Hezbullah's air-defence weapons in Lebanon, but was stopped by PM Benjamin Netanyahu, in fear of escalation and war.

It first happened in 2019: after an Israeli suicide drone attack in Beirut, Hezbullah activated a limited array of its air defence and endangered Israeli MALE UAVs on several occasions. Hezbullah attempted to shoot down a Hermes-450 by firing a SA-8 missile but marginally missed the UAV. The Israeli Air Force identified the 9K33 Osa vehicle that fired the missile, but was not allowed to destroy it.

Maariv writes that, after 3+ more incidents, “the IDF identified the disturbing trend, and more than a year later [since the 2019 incident], the possibility of [attacking] was raised”, but it was “eventually dropped”.