Lebanon Business Resilience: A new Lebanon-focused piece argues SMEs are increasingly forced to build their own continuity plans as electricity, banking, supply chains, and administration keep failing—highlighting energy, payments, procurement, documentation, workforce coordination, and client trust as the core “don’t let it fail” functions. Regional Energy Shift (Syria): Syria’s solar boom is accelerating as the grid struggles, with off-grid capacity rising fast and households increasingly turning to panels to cover outages—an energy model that could matter for Lebanon’s own power and cost pressures. Agriculture Finance (Egypt/Lebanon-linked): Egypt’s Agricultural Development Programme plans to double financing to EGP 10bn and expand local and foreign-currency lending to back agricultural investment and exports, with the announcement tied to an Egyptian Lebanese business gathering. Cross-border Security (Jordan): Jordan says it stopped two drug smuggling attempts using electronically guided balloons along the Syrian border, underscoring how Lebanon-Syria supply routes keep adapting. EU Trade/Research Pressure: Europe’s Horizon Europe research funding to Israel reportedly fell by half in 2025, reflecting growing political backlash tied to the region’s wars. Politics & Representation (Syria): Syrian women activists protest what they call inadequate real political power in the newly formed People’s Assembly, even as authorities complete the first post-Assad assembly.