US envoys Tom Barrack and Morgan Ortagus were in Lebanon this week to restate a key demand: Hezbollah must disarm.

The latest push from Washington came with economic incentives as Mr Barrack proposed the US becomes a “substitute” to Iranian influence. The Lebanese government agreed to disarm non-state groups this month but it wants guarantees that Israel will withdraw militarily from the country. Israel says it will not de-escalate until the disarmament process begins.

This puts Lebanon in a difficult position. On the one hand it wants US financial support and for the Israeli attacks to end. On the other, it must convince a defiant Hezbollah and its sponsor Iran to lay down weapons. Without a strategic plan, the consequences could be grave for the country and the wider region.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to The National’s foreign editor, Mohamad Ali Harisi, and Nicholas Blanford, an Atlantic Council analyst in Beirut. They discuss the challenges of disarming Hezbollah and whether the US and Israel would hold up their end of the bargain.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert supported the war in Gaza when it began, but soon changed his mind. He advocated a limited military operation rather than a full-scale offensive.

Now, he says it’s time to end the war. He strongly opposes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to reoccupy Gaza and is on a mission to topple him at next year’s legislative elections.

Almost two years since Israel began its offensive in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed and swathes of the strip have been reduced to rubble.

Mr Olmert says the military campaign in Gaza no longer has any attainable goals, while large numbers of Israelis are calling for a ceasefire and a deal to release the hostages.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to Mr Olmert about the current government’s policies and what needs to happen to achieve a sustainable solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Israel has imposed a strict blockade on Gaza since March leaving 2.2 million Palestinians in the strip with practically nothing. Food, medicine and water are extremely scarce with only trickles of aid entering every now and then. There’s barely anything to buy in the market. 

But in the middle of all this, there’s another crisis: cash. 

Banks have closed because of the war. ATMs have been destroyed. No new notes have been injected into the strip since 2023, with Israel suspending the Palestinian Monetary Authority from making any cash transfers to Gaza. The same old notes have been circulating in the strip, becoming so worn out that even vendors are rejecting them.

Instead, informal cash merchants are selling people physical banknotes in exchange for digital transfers, but with commission fees of about 50 per cent.

Meanwhile, the cost of even the most basic food staples, like flour and sugar, have skyrocketed to extortionate prices, further depleting the value of the currency. 

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at the extreme difficulties of accessing money in the enclave and the compounded suffering caused by cash shortages.

Four years after the Taliban’s return to power, Afghanistan remains in the shadow of that chaotic August day in 2021 when US troops finally withdrew, ending two decades of war.

The images from Kabul’s airport are still etched in global memory, as crowds of desperate Afghans clung to departing planes as the US backed government collapsed and the Taliban took full control.

Since then, the country is going through a deepening economic crisis and the end of an active conflict. All of this has been worsened by US aid cuts ordered by President Trump’s administration.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher explores what Afghanistan looks like today and examines the impact of America’s policies on its people. She speaks to CNN’s International Correspondent Isobel Yeung who was in Afghanistan recently to investigate this, and Sulaiman bin Shah, the former deputy minister of commerce who is currently in Kabul.

Nearly two decades after Israel withdrew from Gaza, dismantling settlements and military posts under Ariel Sharon’s leadership, the Israeli government has now approved a plan to take over the Palestinian enclave again, following 22 months of its war there.

What began as speculation this week quickly became official policy after a 10-hour security cabinet meeting, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gained approval to take full control of northern Gaza.

The plan includes displacing up to a million people and reshaping governance in the strip under an as yet undefined “civilian authority”.

Mr Netanyahu claims this move will restore Israel’s security and free Gazans from Hamas rule. But critics, including top military officials and former security leaders, warn this could destroy prospects for a ceasefire, worsen the humanitarian catastrophe and endanger remaining hostages.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to two Israeli figures on opposite sides of the debate: Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security think tank and former head of the research division in the Israeli military intelligence; and Ami Ayalon, a former commander of the Israeli Navy and former director of the Israel security agency Shin Bet. One defends reoccupation as a necessary strategy, the other calls it a dangerous step that could cost Israel its identity, security and future.

A growing number of countries in the West have said they could soon recognise Palestinian statehood as Israel becomes increasingly isolated over its war in Gaza.

Fifteen countries issued a joint declaration during a UN conference this week led by France and Saudi Arabia, to push for a two-state solution. Nations including Canada and the UK are expected to make their endorsement official at the UN General Assembly in September.

The US - Israel’s strongest ally - remains the exception, and even moved to impose sanctions against Palestinian Authority officials, partly for their role in pursuing legal cases against Israel.

But what does it actually mean to recognise Palestine? The gesture is viewed as largely symbolic but, in practice, could it be the catalyst to end decades of Israeli occupation and illegal settlement expansion?

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to former ICJ lawyer Ardi Imseis, a professor of law at Queen's University in Canada. They discuss why recognition even matters amid the ongoing war in Gaza, and how it can lead to Palestinian self-determination.

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Five years have passed since the Beirut port explosion – and still the families of the more than 220 victims killed in the blast await justice.

Mariana Foudalian is one of them. She lost her sister Gaia in the disaster but says she still has not had the chance to grieve as nobody has been held accountable even after all these years.

The investigation into the blast has faced an uphill battle because of the institutional corruption that has long plagued Lebanon.

Political interference by officials implicated in the explosion has forced the lead investigator to suspend his work more than once. So what has changed since then?

After decades of political turbulence, a new reform-minded government lead by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has brought a ray of hope. The inquiry into the explosion has been reopened and the judge in charge of it has been reinstated.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines host Nada AlTaher follows the developments since the explosion and looks at the climate of corruption and negligence that has delayed justice for so long.

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In the aftermath of the blast, residents took to the streets to sweep the shards of glass and piles of rubble. Meanwhile, politicians bickered and resigned. Judges were appointed to investigate the blast but one year on, had yet to publish their case. In this series finale of our 2020 Beirut port blast investigation we hear how people feel about their politicians, their country and their lives a year later.

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Ghassan Hassrouty was working with his colleagues at the port’s grain silos. Sarah Copland, an Australian UN employee, was feeding her son Isaac, 2. And then, it’s zero hour, the moment the blast tore through the city on August 4, 2020. This episode is the third of a four-part investigation into the 2020 Beirut port explosion. It tells that story through witness accounts of people who were there.

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After the cargo was moved to a warehouse at the port, it sat there for years. This episode connects the dots to understand why the chemical, commonly used in fertilisers and explosives, was neglected for so long. We hear from officials and workers at the port, and we try to establish who knew about the ammonium nitrate all this time, and whose responsibility it was to make sure it was safe.

This episode is the second of a four-part investigation into the 2020 Beirut port explosion that follows events before, during and after the incident.

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