News Digest — 7/22/26
IDF Says It Fired Warning Shots At Lebanon Troops Who Crossed Pilot Zone Boundary
The IDF opened fire in the vicinity of Lebanese Army troops in Zawtar, an area in the province of Nabatiya, during the implementation of the “Safe Zone” pilot program on Tuesday (21st).
The LAF claimed that this was an attempt to obstruct the implementation of the pilot zones by stopping Lebanese soldiers from entering them. The IDF later stated that the area into which the troops entered was not part of the pilot zone.
According to the IDF, troops identified Lebanese forces crossing about 150 meters beyond the established boundary of the security zone in Zawtar in a military engineering vehicle, in breach of the agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
Israeli forces fired warning shots into the air, the IDF explained, and did not endanger nor intend to endanger Lebanese Army Forces, who retreated without any casualties.
“The IDF demands that the Lebanese army continue to operate in accordance with the understandings and in the agreed areas,” the military warned. “Any deviation without prior coordination could endanger its forces.”
Lebanese army troops deployed at the entrance of the town of Zawtar al-Garbiyeh after Israeli forces withdrew from the area on Jul 21, 2026.
The Lebanese military will be deploying in three ‘pilot program areas,’ securing Hezbollah-free zones.
The pilot program dictates that LAF troops will enter designated areas in southern Lebanon to verify they have been cleared of Hezbollah operatives and weapons, two people familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post on Monday (20th).
Later on Monday (20th), the IDF confirmed that the “Safe Zone” pilot program had begun with cooperation from the US and Lebanese militaries.
“As part of the pilot, teams from the IDF, the US military and the Lebanese Armed Forces are coordinating and planning the continued implementation of the agreement,” the military said.
Israel Is Building a Miles-Long Earthen Barrier Inside Gaza, Entrenching Its Division
The Israeli military is quietly but quickly building a giant earthen barrier separating the over 50% of the Gaza Strip it controls from the rest of the territory, according to satellite imagery.
More than 14 miles have been constructed in recent months.
That is equivalent to more than half the length of the Strip, which is 25 miles long and 7 miles wide.
When presented with the satellite images, Israel’s military confirmed to the Associated Press that it has built a physical barrier in the area of the so-called yellow line, the boundary to which Israeli troops withdrew under the October ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The line was envisioned in the US-backed agreement as a temporary division of the territory pending a fuller Israeli withdrawal.
But as the truce stagnates, it appears Israel is digging in, heightening theories that the line is morphing into a more permanent border.
Neither US Central Command, which is tasked with monitoring the ceasefire, nor the Board of Peace, the body led by US President Donald Trump meant to eventually oversee Gaza, commented on the barrier.
Along with the barrier, the IDF told the AP it has developed a “security zone” around the line, equipped with intelligence and technological assets.
It declined to give details on the route of the barrier when asked how far it would be extended. It said the barrier aimed to prevent infiltration and protect Israeli troops and Israeli communities near Gaza.
A portion of the berm network in southern Gaza was extended by more than 1.2 miles in two weeks this month, according to the satellite images provided by Planet Labs BBC.
The berm was about 0.3 miles long on July 1. By July 15, it was about 1.5 miles, slicing the Israel-controlled city of Rafah from Muwasi.
If construction continues in its current direction, it will join up with the longest stretch of the barrier, which runs nearly unbroken for around 10 miles from the southern city of Khan Younis to near Gaza City in the north.
Construction began on that stretch in February, and it appears work to extend it further south is continuing, according to the satellite images.
More than 0.6 miles was added between June 21 and July 7, running close to an Israeli military base built on the ruins of the town of Bani Suheila, near Khan Younis.
In the far north of Gaza, several unconnected stretches of berms run just outside the largely leveled town of Beit Lahia.
The height of the berms in each place remains unclear. In some places the barriers appear to run outside the yellow line.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas is meant to fully disarm while Israel is eventually supposed to withdraw its troops further to the very edges of Gaza, to be replaced by an international security force.
But due to Hamas’ refusal to lay down its weapons and relinquish control of Gaza, the implementation of the deal has stalled for months.
Sporadic talks to reach a formula for decommissioning Hamas’ weapons appear to have made little progress.
The war began after Hamas-led terrorists attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.
Israel responded with a punishing military offensive that has killed tens of thousands of terrorists.
Iran Avoiding Attack On Israel Over Fear Of IDF Strikes On Regime Leaders, Expert Says
Iran is avoiding a broad, direct attack on Israel because it fears Israeli strikes on senior regime figures and institutions vital to its survival, Iran researcher Beni Sabti told 103FM on Sunday (19th).
Sabti, an Iranian researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, spoke with Ron Kofman and Prof. Aryeh Eldad, following an Al Hadath report citing an Israeli source who said that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was not in the Islamic Republic.
“The strength of the public lies in Tehran, as we saw during the protests, and that is what Iran fears,” Sabti said, explaining Iran’s concern over a possible Israeli attack.
“The Iranian regime fears our involvement because they know that we are going straight to the center. We are targeting the most important part and focusing on senior officials.
“They crossed a threshold on Sunday (19th). There may be elements within the Revolutionary Guards that are beginning to pick at us and provoke us, testing how far they can go in angering Israel, and woe to them. There are always rogue elements within rogue elements. It has become like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Let me be clear:Iran has shifted into terror organization mode.”
Asked why Iran was refraining from launching a broad, direct attack on Israel,Sabti said: “They know that, first and foremost, we focus on individuals, and from our familiarity with them, we truly know how to reach them, as we saw on previous occasions”
“If there are no American restrictions, we know how to do the job. We focus on facilities and institutions that are important to the regime’s survival, such as the Revolutionary Guards’ internal security headquarters.”
“There are people who do not respect the rule of law and who are truly anarchists, and the Revolutionary Guards are like that,” Sabti said. “There are people who do not respect the law and even enjoy doing so.”
“A group of far-left activists, without informing Khomeini at the time, climbed the fences in 1979, seized the US Embassy in Tehran and presented the leadership with a fait accompli. They later became the nucleus of the Revolutionary Guards. That is who we are dealing with. They act, and afterward they come and say, ‘This is what happened.’”
“Mojtaba, given his physical limitations and while inside the tunnel, what can he really do?”
Sabti later addressed the impact of US strikes in the region.
“The public does not count, neither on this side nor for the Revolutionary Guards,” he said. “The strikes are having an impact and they were severe. Those bridges are not functioning. They took down 116 communications towers, which is a great deal”
In southern Iran, where everything is failing and everyone is poor, do you think they built a communications tower for the public? They built it for the Iranian Navy’s headquarters. In Iran’s periphery, no one cares about the public, and, incidentally, they do not care about the public in Tehran either.”
Sabti concluded by addressing Khamenei’s condition and motivations.
“Revenge has become a strategic issue,” he said. “When you connect that to the missiles, the nuclear program and the terrorism program, then of course, reviving Hezbollah is perhaps the most important objective.”
“Iranian blindness could still cost them dearly. Revenge has become a strategic event, something fundamental for him (Kojtaba), because he saw his father evaporate into thin air. Therefore, we may be able to exploit precisely that blindness and extremism to our advantage,” Sabti added.
Iran’s War On The Arabs – Khaled Abu Toameh
Over the past week, the Iranian regime has demonstrated once again that its ambitions extend far beyond destroying Israel. Tehran has launched an unprecedented campaign of missile and drone attacks against several Arab states, targeting critical infrastructure, ships, airports, oil facilities, power stations, desalination plants, ports and even residential neighborhoods. These attacks should remove any doubt: Iran’s war is against the entire Middle East and, ultimately, against the US and the West.
The Iranian regime has never demonstrated any willingness to abide by agreements if they conflict with its revolutionary ideology or strategic objectives. In reality, the negotiations gave the regime time to retrieve missiles it had hidden and to resume firing on US forces and allies in the Gulf. Iran’s terrorist proxies – Hamas and Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthis – also have repeatedly violated ceasefire agreements.
Over the past few months, Iran has carried out sustained missile and drone attacks against at least seven Arab countries, including the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman. Tehran claims that it targets only American military facilities. Reality tells a different story. Civilians have been killed and civilian infrastructure has suffered significant damage.
Iran’s aggression is steadily ending whatever sympathy it once enjoyed among many Arabs. Iran’s missiles threaten Gulf capitals. Its proxies destabilize Arab governments. Its attacks endanger Arab economies. Arab states therefore have every reason to openly align themselves with the US and Israel in confronting the Iranian threat. This is about defending their own sovereignty, their own interests, their own citizens, and their own future.
Until the Iranian regime abandons its expansionist ambitions or loses the capacity to pursue them, the Middle East will remain trapped in recurring cycles of violence. Until then, the Arab states would be wise to recognize that this is their fight as much as Israel’s (Gatestone Institute)
It Is Not “Islamophobic” To Stand Up For Jews And Western Civilization – Brendan O’Neill
I never imagined I’d be condemned for expressing horror at the parading of an emaciated Jew through the streets by a mob of antisemites. I never thought I would get it in the neck for using the word “medieval” to describe a swarm of men who surrounded and jeered at a terrified half-starved Jewish woman.
The Centre For Media Monitoring (CFMM) of the Muslim Council of Britain published another “report” about the British media’s coverage of Islam and Muslims. A column of mine that really seems to have gotten their goat was published in January last year in the Spectator.
It was about the vile spectacle of Hamas’ handover of Arbel Yehoud, a young woman seized from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the invasion of Israel on October 7 2023. She was held for 482 days, entirely alone, and deprived of food. Her gaunt, ashen face was a testament to the maltreatment she suffered under the cruel yoke of her racist captors.
I wrote angrily about the barbaric theater of the handover to the Red Cross. Yet the CFMM seems angrier with me than with the gun-toting scum who humiliated a Jew before the eyes of the world. It reprimands me for calling the handover a “medieval spectacle.” It rebukes me for saying that this Jew-taunting was “sport for radical Islamists.” What is going on here? Why is a media think-tank attacking a journalist for feeling revolted by the sight of a terror-stricken Jew being jostled through a howling crowd?
It takes ethno-narcissism to dizzying new heights for someone to read an article about the racist subjugation of a Jew and turn it into a discussion about the wounded feelings of Muslims. Turning a story about the largest act of anti-Jewish persecution since the Holocaust into a screed on hurting words about Muslims is repulsive.
That my piece on Arbbel Yehoud has been included in a report on “anti-Muslim hostility” is all the proof we need that the “Islamophobia” industry is a scam whose mission is not to defend Muslims from discrimination but to police and punish political opinion. Under the guise of “defending Muslims,” the CFMM is chilling legitimate discussion, seeking to limit what we can say about Islam, Israel, Gaza, religion and a whole host of other things, (Spiked-UK)
