I'm grateful to my colleague Sarah Hamid for writing a post and editing others, to @aaronmackey.bsky.social and @davidgreene.bsky.social for helping with edits, and to @reemalma.bsky.social @monajem.bsky.social and Jalal Abukhater for their insights.

Apple’s detailed map is not only limited in South of Lebanon, it is limited in all the country. Their justification to Wired MENA is missing especially that the last question wasn’t answered. Anyone works with Apple here can help plz?

Proud of SMEX team work on this!

SMEX@smex.org · 4mo ago

A high-profile Lebanese journalist was targeted with advanced phone hacking in May 2025. The investigation identifies the involvement of BITTER, a known threat actor prominent in South Asia whose operations may now extend into West Asia and North Africa. Full findings: smex.org/smex-may2025/

Media sources claiming that 100 fighters from Hizb were tracked by tracing their IP addresses after they used Zoom platform on a call in #Beirut couple of days ago. Now, aside from the fact that Zoom is an American platform and they will most likely not use it.

On March 20th we will have @juanof9.bsky.social @nighatdad.bsky.social @monajem.bsky.social @socialtic.bsky.social @esraa.bsky.social and others to talk about some trends to re-imagine a better future in the horizon in the global majority. Join us! 👇 digitalresilience.network/20-mar-repor...

With the uprising against the use of big tech softwares in our region, there has been some push for softwares from Gulf states, using “Arabic culture” as away to lure people from our region to adopt it. 1/2

Biometric data, discrimination against Kurdish people, current refugees issue, and many full on surveillance could happen because of this. Some protection of personal data needs to be in place. www.dailysabah.com/politics/new...

New Syrian IDs, passports to be printed in Türkiye

Türkiye will be printing the new identity cards, passports and driving licenses of Syrian citizens as part of its support to the new era in its neighbor...

dailysabah.com

60 Minutes interviewed couple of retired Mossad agents who knew about the Pagers and Walkie talkie. Nothing new other than confirming what we already knew. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLUU...

How Israel's Mossad tricked Hezbollah into buying explosive pagers | 60 Minutes

YouTube video by 60 Minutes

youtube.com

Biden can help Syrians right now by removing their country from the OFAC list, this will boost the digital rights space by allowing the use of US tech companies product legally, reduce the potential threats online, and allow Starlink to operate in the country with an ambiguous telecom infrastructure

What you said happened ya Bassel, after 13 years (-8 days). God bless your soul as one of the heroes to he remembered during this time.

I can’t believe seeing these thousands of prisoners walking out free now from Sidnaya notorious jail in Syria. We celebrate this freedom tonight!

A good piece by Reuters about the Pagers and Hizballah. I am not sure how they didn't suspect a battery that last only 25-30% of its original capacity. Israel plan is smart and devilish but what made it work is the mediocracy of Hizballah. www.reuters.com/graphics/ISR...

It's essential to build our strength in the halls of power to work to stop harmful, short-sighted & destabilizing policies impacting the MENA region Invest in our power to press for policies that center durable sustainable solutions which reflect our region's aspirations & potential. #GivingTuesday

The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy@timep.bsky.social · 2y ago

Feeling consumed by the news across MENA? You’re not alone. We at TIMEP are working to ensure that expertise from and in the region drives the policy conversation and brings about better policy outcomes. This #GivingTuesday, support us in this mission: givebutter.com/supportTIMEP

What is waiting for us in the tech space. Adding to this the layer of authoritarian regimes around global South, they are building partnerships with these tech companies & the US gov www.techpolicy.press/on-the-comin...

On the Coming Merger of Tech and State Power | TechPolicy.Press

Taylor Owen writes that the merger of state and tech power is a fundamental challenge to democratic governance in the digital age.

techpolicy.press

Bluesky users: Follow the robot @ap.brid.gy to let friends in the Fediverse (Masodon et al.) follow you. Or allow the reception of messages from "everyone" in your account's settings.

With no warning, an Israeli strike hits a buildijg in Beirut killing 4 people with 23 injuries so far as per Minisrry of health in #Lebanon.

Colombia used the Israeli spyware "Pegasus," developed by NSO, with $11M U.S. funding in 2021-2022 to target drug lords. Reports question if it also spied on political opponents under ex-president Duque—the deal, marked by cash transfers. www.dropsitenews.com/p/colombia-p...

The U.S. Bought Pegasus for Colombia With $11 Million in Cash. Now Colombians Are Asking Why

The White House has refused to disclose how much data it gathered in partnership with the country's intelligence agencies

dropsitenews.com

With a ceasefire coming into action in the coming days or weeks we hope, accompanied by an Israeli soldiers withdrawal from Lebanon, we need to advocate for “digital withdrawal”. There are many requests but the first one is to stop GPS jamming (screenshot of Beirut weather but it shows Amman).

Today, Alaa Abdelfattah should have been celebrating his 42nd birthday with his friends and family. Instead, Alaa remains unjustly imprisoned in Wadi al-Natroun Prison.

Today is the Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah’s birthday. It also marks the fiftieth day of his mother Dr. Laila Soueif’s hunger strike asking for Alaa’s release. #freealaa

Since the war started, the minister of Telecom in Lebanon has been telling us there will be plan A and B, and a year later, we're discovering there is no plan at all. He should have spend more time on fixing the problems rather than scaremongering live on television. www.newarab.com/news/will-le...

Will Lebanon face internet blackout as war damages telecoms?

Lebanon's telecoms minister has warned about the 'dangerous' scenario that could unravel amid a telecoms blackout as Israel's bombards infrastructure.

newarab.com

Egypt is considering its first-ever law to govern asylum and refugees. Yet the draft set to be voted on by parliament creates a problematic legal vacuum, fails to extend basic rights for those pending status, and could result in non-refoulement on vague, discretionary national security pretenses.

ما يجعل هذه القضية أكثر حساسية هو أن “إن إس أو” لم تكن مجرد مزود للتكنولوجيا. كشفت الوثائق أنها أدارت العمليات بشكل مباشر، حيث كان العملاء يُدخلون أرقام الهواتف المستهدفة فقط، بينما كانت “إن إس أو” تتولى بقية العملية، بما في ذلك تثبيت البرنامج واستخراج البيانات. eltaher.xyz?p=3665

THREAD: The UN Special Committee investigating Israel’s practices published its report yesterday concluding that Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide. Most notably, it captures some of Israel’s digital warfare and the conduct of social media companies.

This is how close Israel bombed today to #Beirut airport. All these are civilian areas

This doesn’t really mean anything. Peace comes with justice to Palestine, and without it, Lebanon and other countries will not be at peace with Israel.

Trusted fundraiser for Lebanon: www.gofundme.com/f/fundraisin...

Donate to Riwaq Beirut: Fundraising & Donations Drive for Lebanon, organized by Alessia Bergmeijer

Dear friends! After a year of genocidal warfare against… Alessia Bergmeijer needs your support for Riwaq Beirut: Fundraising & Donations Drive for Lebanon

gofundme.com

These numbers from the Ministry of Health covers also yesterday attacks by Israel that results with 53 dead and 99 injuries.