“I would like us to annex at least as far as the yellow line in Gaza and as far as the Litani River in Lebanon… because if a war ends along the same lines where it began, what will deter the enemy from going to war again?” Smotrich said in a podcast for Israeli news site Ynet.

The “yellow line” demarcates the area of Gaza already under Israeli military control after the recent conflict triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

“I think we need to go to war in Judea and Samaria, to dismantle the Palestinian Authority that supports terror,” he added, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

Smotrich is the leader of a far-right party that advocates the annexation of the entire West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

Various Israeli political leaders, both in the ruling right-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and in the opposition, have come out against the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The country is heading for elections on Oct 27, with Netanyahu locked in a tight contest as he seeks to stay in power.

The Palestinian Authority condemned Smotrich’s call for war in the West Bank on Sunday.

“His statements are an explicit call for escalation, annexation and displacement, aimed at undermining the prospects of an independent Palestinian state,” the Ramallah-based authority said in a statement.

The West Bank has already seen a surge in violence since the outbreak of the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

At least 1,110 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian official figures.

Israeli figures show at least 49 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations during the same period.

Settler attacks against Palestinians have soared in recent months, often with little or no legal consequence.

Netanyahu has dismissed settlers’ violence against Palestinians, saying it is perpetrated by a “handful of rioters”.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, which are illegal under international law, in the Palestinian territory among some three million Palestinians.

A close contest was expected between PML-N’s Malik Munir Iqbal Channar and independent candidate Wali Dad Cheema. The seat fell vacant after the death of Malik Muhammad Iqbal Channar in August, whose son was now the ruling party’s candidate.

Polling began at 8am and concluded at 5pm. Voters present within the boundaries of the polling station were to be allowed to cast their vote past 5pm as well, according to Election Commission of Pakistan spokesperson Huda Gohar.

The polling process remained largely peaceful across the constituency, a statement by the provincial election commissioner said, noting that “routine complaints” were received.

In an earlier statement, the election commissioner said balloting was briefly disrupted at a polling station in Akhtarabad due to a brawl between voters after alleged harassment of election staff by political workers.

The Provincial Election Commissioner Control Room took immediate action, while the relevant district returning officer (DRO) and returning officer (RO) brought the situation under control with the help of police.

“The issue has since been resolved and polling is continuing as usual,” the statement added.

According to data from the provincial election commissioner’s office, a total of 483,143 people were registered in the constituency, including 248,259 men and 234,614 women across 292 polling stations. At the polling stations, 307 presiding officers and 941 polling officers and assistant presiding officers were deployed.

A day earlier, the Punjab Home Department requested the federal interior ministry that troops of army and Rangers (Punjab) be deployed in the constituency for smooth, peaceful and secure conduct of the by-election.

Leading up to the by-poll, three persons were injured on Sept 12 in an armed clash at Baqirpur in connection with the election campaign of Cheema, the son of former PML-Q federal minister Tariq Bashir Cheema.

As per Rescue 1122 sources, the clash occurred during Cheema’s election rally between supporters of the rival candidates, and some of them resorted to firing, resulting in injuries to three people.

“Counter Terrorism Policing can now confirm they are leading an investigation into an incident which took place overnight near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire,” the Met said in a statement.

The police earlier said they had arrested several men on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act and the army was examining a number of vehicles, after security was stepped up at the airbase in southwest England.

The British government gave authorisation to the US to use RAF Fairford to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites that are attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

A Reuters eyewitness said armed police were blocking access to the main gate of the base. Around 30 emergency vehicles, including police cars, ambulances and fire engines, were stationed in the village of Fairford near the base.

“A number of properties are currently being evacuated in the Whelford area following the declaration of a major incident. It follows the arrest of several men on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act,” Gloucestershire police said in a statement, referring to a village near the airbase.

“The Army’s specialist explosive ordnance disposal team are currently examining a number of vehicles.”

A spokesperson for the US Air Force said they would not discuss specific force protection measures.

“The 501st Combat Support Wing and our fellow UK-based Wings remain vigilant and will take appropriate actions to ensure the safety and security of our US service members, civilians, contractors, and their families,” the spokesperson said.

“We constantly assess a variety of factors that determine what measures we institute or modify to protect our installations, our people and their families.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham was being kept updated on the incident, a government spokesperson said.

“We are grateful to the emergency services, who have acted quickly to detain several suspects and put measures in place to keep the community safe,” the spokesperson said.

“It would be inappropriate to comment further whilst investigations are ongoing.”

Defence Minister Wes Streeting thanked “emergency and specialist teams” deployed to the scene.

“We can be reassured that this is being dealt with,” he said on X.

Fairford is the UK base of the 501st Combat Support Wing, a US air force administrative support wing.

Personnel there would “remain vigilant and will take appropriate actions to ensure the safety and security of our US service members, civilians, contractors, and their families” a statement said.

The MP for the area, Roz Savage, described the situation as “worrying”.

“I have contacted the police for further updates and I’ve been told that it is believed the incident is contained,” she said on X.

Britain said in July its armed forces were ready to protect the country from any attack after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards issued a warning not to allow US bombers to fly from Fairford.

British ministers have also briefed providers of critical infrastructure of the threat posed by Russia, with the government increasingly concerned about possible sabotage operations and cyberattacks. Russia denies mounting hybrid attacks on Western nations.

A fact-check indicates that Iran had kept its civil nuclear programme under IAEA safeguards. It had also willingly agreed to a nuclear deal in 2015. It was President Donald Trump who pulled the US out of the deal in 2018 and re-engaged with Iran in his second term under a “maximum pressure” campaign.

While talks were still underway, Israel attacked Iran in June 2025, resulting in a 12-day war. Having failed to subdue Iran, the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on Feb 28, this year, killing much of the Iranian leadership and relentlessly bombing Iranian facilities and installations for 40 days.

All this while Iran remained in the NPT and maintained that it was not building a nuclear bomb, thanks in large measure to a directive from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to not pursue a nuclear weapon programme.

This means that Tehran’s nuclear programme was only a pretext to attack Iran this year. Arguably, the real objective of the February strike was to change the ruling regime in Iran.

It would be recalled that by 2020, many Arab countries had joined the Abraham Accords and normalised relations with Israel. Lest the Palestinian cause be forgotten, Hamas mounted a resistance attack on Israel in October 2023, which was used by the Benjamin Netanyahu government to bomb Gaza to rubble, committing horrific genocide.

Having weakened Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel began to entertain the idea of establishing a ‘Greater Israel’ and found the Iranian regime to be a major roadblock to its ambitions.

Since his efforts to dislodge Iran’s government had failed in June 2025, Netanyahu persuaded Trump to undertake a joint attack against Iran on Feb 28. Two factors seem to have encouraged Trump to accept this gamble. He had successfully dislodged the government of president Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in January, and Iran had witnessed massive protests against the government on account of inflation. The US and Israeli leadership wrongly assessed that they would be able to wipe out the Iranian regime within days.

They also failed to destroy Iran’s long-range missile programme, though they did succeed in weakening Iran’s Axis of Resistance.

The conflict has been nothing short of a disaster for the US itself.

While Iran has survived the American and Israeli onslaught, the war has been nothing less than a disaster for the US itself. For the first time, there is a fracture in America’s relations with the Jewish state. The Gulf states are increasingly becoming disillusioned with America’s capacity or will to provide them with security. The US bases in the region have been practically destroyed. The myth of invincibility of the US military machine has been shattered.

The Strait of Hormuz, which was open before the war, is now being contested. The war is expanding horizontally, with Iraqi militias targeting Saudi Arabia’s east-west pipeline and Yemen’s Houthis attacking Saudi cities and oil installations. Bab al-Mandeb also runs the risk of closure as the Houthis have captured all key positions and islands along the Red Sea. With oil prices soaring, most countries have run into serious economic difficulties. The Gulf countries, whose economies largely depended on energy flows, tourism, and services, have been shaken to the core.

Meanwhile, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye have entered into a regional arrangement for joint defence, predicated on the principle of collective security.

With Israeli pa­­rliamentary elections due on Oct 27 and mid-term Congressional elections in Ame­rica on Nov 3, the US is contemplating how best to handle the war with Iran.

One way is to revert to the MoU that was mediated by Pakistan and signed in June by the presidents of the US and Iran. However, the MoU had received severe criticism within the US and was largely interpreted as capitulation by the US. Ever since, Trump has pulled back from any peace attempts.

The other option being considered is to resort to another large-scale military attack. Given what had happened in the earlier military campaigns, it can be safely assumed that another confrontation is unlikely to yield a different result.

The only feasible solution is diplomacy. Pakistan, Qatar, and others must continue their efforts for peace. Secondly, it is time for China to step in as a mediator as it depends heavily on oil flows from the Gulf and had successfully brokered normalisation between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023. China should also impress upon the US leadership the futility of finding a military solution to the crisis in the Gulf region.

The writer is chairman Sanober Institute and a former foreign secretary of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2026

A close contest was expected between PML-N’s Malik Munir Iqbal Channar and independent candidate Wali Dad Cheema. The seat fell vacant after the death of Malik Muhammad Iqbal Channar in August, whose son was now the ruling party’s candidate.

Polling began at 8am and concluded at 5pm. Voters present within the boundaries of the polling station were to be allowed to cast their vote past 5pm as well, according to Election Commission of Pakistan spokesperson Huda Gohar.

The polling process remained largely peaceful across the constituency, a statement by the provincial election commissioner said, noting that “routine complaints” were received.

In an earlier statement, the election commissioner said balloting was briefly disrupted at a polling station in Akhtarabad due to a brawl between voters after alleged harassment of election staff by political workers.

The Provincial Election Commissioner Control Room took immediate action, while the relevant district returning officer (DRO) and returning officer (RO) brought the situation under control with the help of police.

“The issue has since been resolved and polling is continuing as usual,” the statement added.

According to data from the provincial election commissioner’s office, a total of 483,143 people were registered in the constituency, including 248,259 men and 234,614 women across 292 polling stations. At the polling stations, 307 presiding officers and 941 polling officers and assistant presiding officers were deployed.

A day earlier, the Punjab Home Department requested the federal interior ministry that troops of army and Rangers (Punjab) be deployed in the constituency for smooth, peaceful and secure conduct of the by-election.

Leading up to the by-poll, three persons were injured on Sept 12 in an armed clash at Baqirpur in connection with the election campaign of Cheema, the son of former PML-Q federal minister Tariq Bashir Cheema.

As per Rescue 1122 sources, the clash occurred during Cheema’s election rally between supporters of the rival candidates, and some of them resorted to firing, resulting in injuries to three people.

“The allegations by the Afghan Taliban regime linking Pakistan with the alleged violence in Nuristan are frivolous, baseless and devoid of any truth,” the information ministry’s “fact-check” account on X said.

It added: “Pakistan categorically rejects the fabricated claims of involvement by its security forces or intelligence agencies in any internal clashes in Nuristan or elsewhere in Afghanistan, including allegations of recruiting or training former Afghan security personnel or facilitating Daesh or any other terrorist group operating in Afghanistan.”

The information ministry’s statement came after Afghanistan’s defence ministry alleged that Pakistan-backed individuals had crossed the border and were involved in the reported violence.

The information ministry pointed out that “not a shred of evidence has been produced to substantiate Pakistan’s involvement; no identities, documents, communications, forensic evidence or independent verification”.

It further noted that an alleged video “being peddled on social media to support this false claim only shows a few unarmed individuals who are not even properly dressed or equipped were arrested in what seems to be a pre-planned video shoot by Afghan Taliban regime, well known for lies and fabricated claims”.

“Instead of externalising responsibility for its internal security challenges through fanciful allegations, the Afghan Taliban regime should take credible and verifiable action against terrorist organisations operating from its territory and fulfil its commitments that Afghan soil will not be used for terrorism against Pakistan or any other country.”

The statement further said it was “particularly ironic for the Afghan Taliban regime to accuse Pakistan of supporting terrorism while terrorist organisations operating from Afghanistan continue to pose a direct threat to Pakistan and regional security”.

The ministry highlighted that the presence and activities of “terrorist groups of all types inside Afghanistan are well documented”, including in successive reports of the United Nations and other neutral international organisations.

“Attempts to manufacture a Pakistani connection cannot obscure the reality that these terrorist groups continue to find sanctuary and [a] permissive environment for growth in Afghan territory,” it asserted.

“Such claims by this non-inclusive, non-representative Taliban regime are also reflective of lies to externalise internal dissent and oppression of women, children and minorities,” the ministry said.

Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration in Kabul to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), that are used for attacks in Pakistan. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.

According to a UN Security Council-mandated monitoring report — covering the period from Dec 16, 2025 to June 9, 2026 — Afg­han Taliban’s continued support for TTP has contributed to a rise in the frequency and lethality of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, even as Kabul has taken some initial steps to rein in the group.

The report also pointed to growing operational and facilitation linkages among the TTP, Al Qaeda, Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIL-K) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).

Pak-Afghan tensions

Ties between the two neighbours have been strained in the past few years as Islamabad continues to voice its concern over cross-border terrorism. Meanwhile, September witnessed another bout of conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

On Sept 21, in response to recent major terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan conducted “calibrated” airstrikes in the border region with Afghanistan against terrorist hideouts, with the government saying more than 28 terrorists were killed.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar described the action as part of Operation Ghazab lil Haq, which was launched on the night of Feb 26 in response to unprovoked cross-border firing by the Afghan Taliban.

Days later, Pakistan shot down eight drones launched from across the border that had entered Pakistani airspace near the Torkham border and Kohat. It was also reported that the Afghan Taliban engaged in unprovoked firing the night before near Kurram as security forces foiled an attempt by terrorists to cross into Pakistan.

In retaliation to the drone incursion, Pakistan conducted “precision aerial and drone strikes” in 10 locations across Afghanistan.

On Friday, the information ministry dismissed claims by the Afghan defence ministry of a Pakistani post having been destroyed near the Spin Boldak border — the frontier between Balochistan and Kandahar.

Polling stations opened on Sunday morning for in-person voting on those and other topics as part of Switzerland’s direct democracy system, although most people vote in advance by post.

The Swiss widely embrace their neutrality, but an initiative to enshrine a strict definition into the constitution has exposed deep disagreement over what that neutrality entails.

Switzerland’s traditional position is one of armed neutrality, but Russia’s war in Ukraine reopened questions over its non-engagement in foreign conflicts.

Concerned over Bern’s decision to back the European Union’s economic pressure on Russia, the pro-sovereignty Pro Switzerland organisation collected enough signatures to trigger a referendum under the country’s direct democracy system on better anchoring neutrality in its constitution.

The proposal has been roundly rejected by nearly the entire political establishment, with opinion polls indicating most voters will do the same.

Moscow, which has slammed Switzerland for joining the EU sanctions and accused Bern of abandoning its neutrality, has meanwhile praised the initiative — dubbed “pro-Russian” by some opponents.

The proposal calls for the constitution to guarantee that Swiss neutrality is “armed and perpetual”.

It would prevent Switzerland, whose neutrality dates back to 1516 and has been internationally recognised since 1815, from establishing closer ties with NATO and would rule out any military alliance except if the country were attacked.

And it would prohibit imposing sanctions unless called for by the United Nations.

‘Perpetual armed neutrality’

All sides in the debate argue that they want to maintain Switzerland’s neutrality.

Both the Swiss government and parliament have rejected the proposal, arguing it is too dogmatic and would limit the country’s room for manoeuvre at a time of soaring geopolitical tensions.

“Neutrality has always been applied with a degree of flexibility,” Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said during a recent televised debate.

While Switzerland had no plans to lift a ban on selling arms to countries in conflict, including to Ukraine, he stressed that “neutrality does not mean indifference”.

The country, he said, would “not look away when we see violations of the very international rules that allow us to live in peace”.

Nearly all major political parties have also turned their nose up at the initiative, with the exception of the hard-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP), the country’s largest party.

“Our goal is to foster peace, diplomacy and dialogue,” SVP vice president Celine Amaudruz said during a televised debate.

“To achieve that, we must maintain credibility through perpetual armed neutrality,” she insisted.

While initial opinion polls had indicated that the vote might be tight, the final two surveys suggested a clear majority of voters — well above 60 per cent — would reject the initiative.

Polls also suggested voters would reject the other national initiative on Sunday’s ballot, put forward by a non-partisan citizens’ movement and calling for the country to raise its food self-sufficiency rate to 70pc, up from 42pc in 2024.

The government has warned that the target would be difficult, if not impossible, to reach, while most major parties also reject it as unrealistic.

Polling stations will close at 12:00pm (3:00pm PKT) at the latest.