Levant in September 2026: the most important developments in politics
In the Levant in September 2026 politics was shaped mainly by Israeli military action in Lebanon and Syria and by diplomacy around both. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged the United States to halt Israeli strikes after fatal attacks and accused Israel of undermining a US-brokered agreement; on 9 September Lebanon said Israel had violated the framework agreement about 7,700 times. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Israel had turned southern Lebanon into a "bloody ballot box". Israel-Lebanon talks planned for Rome were delayed as blasts hit the south. On 16 September the US ambassador visited southern Lebanon, the first such trip by a US ambassador in 20 years. On 17 September Emmanuel Macron hosted military leaders in Paris for talks on security in Lebanon as the UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL nears its end, with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Aoun taking part and France and Jordan signing a defence agreement. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told the UN General Assembly on 25 September that no one speaks on behalf of Lebanon and that state authority must be asserted, and later discussed Israel's withdrawal from the south with Marco Rubio. A Lebanese judge sought charges against Michel Aoun over the 2020 Beirut port explosion.
On Syria, a UN commission of inquiry said on 8 September that Israeli military operations there may amount to war crimes, and Syria demanded on 13 September that Israel withdraw after an attack on Abu al-Duhur airport. At the UN General Assembly on 23 September President Ahmed al-Sharaa said the Golan Heights will remain Syrian, that Syria had begun a new phase of revival, and that talks with Israel had reached nearly 90 percent agreement before Israel pulled back. The IAEA board lifted its non-compliance complaint against Syria, and the IAEA and the UN reported that a secret reactor built under Assad had been nearly complete. Syria abolished its Assad-era terrorism court, Turkey's foreign minister visited Damascus, and Erdogan was said to be due to visit Syria. Tensions flared in the Kurdish northeast as a government integration deal moved forward.
Elsewhere, the Arab League adopted a resolution rejecting Hezbollah's military activities in Lebanon, and Iran proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz as part of a deal that would include a ceasefire in Lebanon.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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