The IDF continued its regular strikes on Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza today. In Lebanon, pictures surfaced of a flame-engulfed vehicle in Maaroub near Tyre, hit by an Israeli airstrike. Syrian state media reported several Israeli aircraft bombed the western port city of Latakia. Hamas confirmed that its spokesman, Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua, was killed in an Israeli strike on Gaza today. According to an Al Jazeera correspondent, civilians, including children, were also injured by the strike.

Lebanese Finance Minister Jaber has submitted a shortlist of three recommended candidates to President Aoun to appoint as head of the national central bank, the Banque du Liban, under the new government. Karim Souaid had been the Cabinet's most likely choice before the scheduled session to make the appointment this Thursday, though the decision has now been postponed. The two other candidates named are Eddy Gemayel and Jamil Baz. There was some discontent after Jihad Azour, former Finance Minister and former IMF director for the Middle East and Central Asia, was not listed. However, reports indicate that Azour told officials that he was not seeking the nomination.

Despite American efforts towards the ascension of Lebanon to the Abraham Accords following the decline in power held by Hezbollah on national politics, PM Salam today asserted that “No one in Lebanon wants normalization with Israel, and it is rejected by all Lebanese.” Although Hezbollah and its allies have a stronger focus on resistance to Israel than do more moderate parties in the country, Lebanon still generally sees Israel as its greatest threat, or at least the most significant external threat, to its security. This has been the case for years, but the near-constant aerial bombardment, ground invasion, and ongoing occupation since October 8th, 2023, have only strengthened this perception for many in Lebanon, even as their support for Hezbollah has waned. He also claimed that the remaining five sites along the Blue Line retained by the IDF following their partial withdrawal from southern Lebanon provided “no military or security value” to Israel “other than maintaining its pressure on Lebanon.”

The meeting between the Lebanese and Syrian defense ministers this week was delayed at the last minute. Reportedly, it was not due to any new developments in border tensions between the two countries but instead, according to one Lebanese security source, because “new security appointments in Syria are expected to be announced soon.”

French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian is in Beirut for talks with Lebanese officials, including PM Salam. Salam’s government is tenuously trying to navigate to the end of the Israeli occupation of the remaining strategic sites in the south, asking guarantors of the ceasefire agreement, and France in particular, to place pressure on Israel for this purpose.

Irish Tánaiste Harris, during his visit to Lebanon for talks with governmental officials and UNIFIL’s 125th Infantry Battalion, announced that Ireland would be doubling its aid given to local communities in Lebanon to help in the country’s reconstruction.

Israel has announced new evacuation orders for Gaza City today as the renewed hostilities in Gaza continue.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that former Syrian Grand Mufti Ahmad Badr al-Din Hassoun was arrested in Damascus while on his way to the airport for surgery in Jordan. He was then taken to an unknown location by state security forces, and shortly after, a photo of him blindfolded circulated on social media. Beyond that, his status is currently unclear. Although he is from the Sunni sect of Islam, as is HTS, he was a strong supporter of the Assad regime and has been evading arrest by the new interim government since the fall of the Syrian Arab Republic at the end of last year.

Thousands appeared in protest in Beit Lahia for the past two days, expressing frustration with both Israel and Hamas over the resumption of hostilities. It is perhaps the most explicit show of opposition to Hamas within Gaza in the past several months, with demonstrators shouting chants such as “We refuse to die” or telling Hamas to “get out” and end the war.

The Knesset managed to pass a national budget today in a contentious vote that could have triggered early elections had it not received a majority vote: an event Netanyahu wishes to avoid in the face of a poll this month indicating 73% of Israeli adults want Netanyahu to resign. Many analysts see its passage as a clearing test for Netanyahu’s strained far-right coalition, which managed to hold in large part due to the inclusion of significant concessions given to governing parties’ constituencies. However, opposition parties found that the budget lacked significant secular education, health, and welfare funding.

Following mass protests across the country, mainly relating to frustration with the government’s handling of the war in Gaza, Netanyahu claimed the opposition is “recycl[ing] the same worn-out and ridiculous slogans about ‘the end of democracy’. Well, once and for all: Democracy is not in danger; it is the power of the bureaucrats that is in danger,” further accusing them of fuelling “anarchy.”

The Istanbul municipal government elected CHP politician Nuri Aslan as its mayor following the arrest of Imamoglu. The voting took three rounds where Aslan won 173, 177, and 177 votes, respectively, while his main competitor, Zeynel Abidin Okul from Erdogan’s AKP, won 123, 125, and 125 votes, respectively. According to the rules, the first two rounds could only be resolved with a two-thirds supermajority. In contrast, the third could be resolved with a simple majority, allowing for Aslan’s victory.