HEADLINE 1: Yesterday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing will provide $100 million to help with reconstruction and ease the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

HEADLINE 2: The Pentagon deployed a new type of drone to the Middle East.

HEADLINE 3: Iraq added Hezbollah and the Houthis to its asset freeze list.

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FDD Senior Research Analyst Natalie Ecanow analyzes the latest headlines, followed by a pre-recorded conversation between Jon Schanzer and FDD Director of Impact and AI Research Fellow Leah Siskind.

Learn more at: https://fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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Featured FDD Pieces:

"America needs to stop being naive in Gaza" - Bonnie Glick, Washington Reporter

"China’s Influence Operation in US Education Was Supposed To Be Shut Down, But Did Closing the Confucius Institutes Only Make It Stronger?" - Jennifer Richmond, The Washington Free Beacon

"Is Qatari Money Corrupting American Education?" - Natalie Ecanow, Townhall

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN SOUTHERN YEMEN?

HEADLINE 1: Saudi Arabia is providing the Palestinian Authority with a $90 million grant.

HEADLINE 2: Three Israeli soldiers were wounded in two separate attacks yesterday.

HEADLINE 3: The IDF raided the offices in Ramallah and Hebron of an organization called the Union of Agricultural Work Committees.

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FDD Senior Research Analyst Natalie Ecanow, filling in for Jonathan Schanzer, provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Southern Transition Council Special Representative Amr Al-Bidh.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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Featured FDD Pieces:

"Trump is right to crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood" - Edmund Fitton-Brown, The Spectator

"Japan Has Changed How the World Must Think About Taiwan" - Craig Singleton, The New York Times

"Africa 2025: Things Fall Apart" - Clifford D. May, Foreign Podicy

Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power, provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Dana Stroul, who serves as Director of Research and Shelly and Michael Kassen Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

HEADLINE 1: Anyone heard of Binance? It's the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange — and it may well have facilitated $1 billion in transactions for Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations — that’s billion with a “b.”

HEADLINE 2: The Palestinian economy is on the brink of collapse.

HEADLINE 3: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or “GHF,” is wrapping up its operations in Gaza.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL).

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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Featured FDD Pieces:

"Iran Drops the Façade of Tolerance Toward Persian Jews" - Janatan Sayeh, National Review

"Reconstructing Gaza: The devil is in the detail" - Ben Cohen, JNS

"Oy, There's Too Much News" - The Commentary Magazine Podcast feat. Jonathan Schanzer

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with former UK Ambassador to Yemen and current FDD Senior Fellow Edmund Fitton-Brown.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

WHAT CAN ISRAEL EXPECT FROM ITS NEIGHBORS?

HEADLINE 1: The IDF carried out strikes against several Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in south Lebanon.

HEADLINE 2: Israeli prosecutors charged seven men suspected of smuggling arms from Syria into Israel.

HEADLINE 3: Israeli prosecutors charged seven men suspected of smuggling arms from Syria into Israel.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with former Israeli acting National Security Advisor BG (Res.) Prof. Jacob Nagel. 

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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Featured FDD Pieces:

"New York, New York, it’s a socialist town" - Clifford D. May, The Washington Times

"Trump’s Gaza peace plan is doomed — unless he shuts down terror-boosting UNRWA" - Enia Krivine and Richard Goldberg, New York Post

"Is Iran Unraveling?" - Mark Dubowitz, The Iran Breakdown

HEADLINE 1: The U.N. Security Council blessed Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.

HEADLINE 2: Syria opened its first trial over the mass killings of Alawite minorities last spring.

HEADLINE 3: Yee Haw! The State of Texas designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Eran Lahav, the head of the Middle East Department at the David Institute for Policy & Research of IDSF.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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Featured FDD Pieces:

"Maritime Protection of Taiwan’s Energy Vulnerability" - FDD Memo

"US Military Dominance Is the Backbone of Prosperity" - Saeed Ghasseminejad, The National Interest

"What Washington Should Demand From Riyadh Before Providing the F-35" - Bradley Bowman and Justin Leopold-Cohen, Real Clear Defense

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza native who serves as the founder and director of the Realign for Palestine project at the Atlantic Council.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MBS COMES TO TOWN?

HEADLINE 1: The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on over two dozen targets that support Iran’s ballistic missile and drone production networks.

HEADLINE 2: U.S. Central Command provided an update on operational activity in Syria.

HEADLINE 3: Israeli forces dismantled a Hamas network in the West Bank.

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FDD Senior Research Analyst Natalie Ecanow, filling in for Jonathan Schanzer, provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Atlantic Council Nonresident Senior Fellow Sarah Zaaimi.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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Featured FDD Pieces:

"Previewing the Trump-MBS Meeting" - Jonathan Schanzer, Edmund Fitton-Brown, and Bradley Bowman, FDD

"With voting in Iraq complete, government formation begins" - Bridget Toomey, FDD's Long War Journal

"The war against Christians" - Clifford D. May, The Washington Times

HEADLINE 1: French President Emmanuel Macron hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

HEADLINE 2: The Houthis might be hitting pause on their attacks against Israel and Red Sea shipping.

HEADLINE 3: Iran said it dismantled a spy network linked to Israel and the United States.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD Adjunct Fellow Seth Frantzman, who serves as senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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Featured FDD Pieces

"Tehran’s Crisis is Iran’s Reckoning" - Janatan Sayeh, Real Clear World

"Fifty Years of Gaslighting Israel at the U.N." - David May and Ben Cohen, National Review

"Erhurman’s election a step towards peace, but beware of Ankara’s appetite" - Sinan Ciddi and William Doran, Kathimerini