FDD Morning Brief

CHINA, RUSSIA, AND THE MIDDLE EAST

HEADLINE 1: The Shin Bet and Israel police foiled a plot to carry out a terrorist attack in Jerusalem.

HEADLINE 2: A former Islamic Revolutionary Guard from Iran gave a rare interview with Israeli media.

HEADLINE 3: Former Israeli hostage Tal Shoham gave an exclusive interview to Fox News.

BONUS HEADLINE 4: A Syrian soldier was killed yesterday by a Hezbollah rocket.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Grant Rumley, who directs The Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East.

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

LEBANON, ISRAEL, AND THE GULF

HEADLINE 1: The IDF carried out a strike in Damascus yesterday.

HEADLINE 2: Qatar is preparing to supply natural gas to Syria.

HEADLINE 3: The United Nations published a report accusing Israel of perpetrating “genocidal acts” in Gaza.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at FDD.

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

Cyber threats are evolving – but U.S. cyber policy coordination is still lagging behind. Four years after the establishment of the Office of the National Cyber Director, the Trump administration has a unique opportunity to establish stronger central coordination and drive meaningful improvements in how the federal government secures and defends cyberspace. How should the administration clarify and reinforce the role of the National Cyber Director? How can the administration create a more structured and accountable interagency cyber community? How can these structures set clearer national priorities and achieve the goals of deterring adversaries and advancing national resilience in cyberspace?

To discuss these issues and more, FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) hosts a virtual conversation with former National Cyber Director Chris Inglis and John Costello, senior advisor to CSC 2.0, an initiative housed at FDD to continue the work of the congressionally mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission. The conversation is moderated by RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director of CCTI and former executive director of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission with introductions by Dr. Samantha Ravich, Chair of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2025/03/12/coaching-thecyberteam-the-future-of-the-office-of-the-national-cyber-director-and-cyber-governance/

A SECURE FUTURE FOR THE MIDDLE EAST

HEADLINE 1: The IDF conducted a series of strikes in Syria.

HEADLINE 2: The IDF has been busy dismantling terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank city of Jenin.

HEADLINE 3: Iran, Russia, and China conducted joint naval exercises.

HEADLINE 4: Israel and Lebanon are launching a series of talks to resolve outstanding issues.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Lianne Pollak-David, founding partner of the newly established Coalition for Regional Security.

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

THE REVERBERATING IMPACT OF THE 1929 HEBRON MASSACRE

HEADLINE 1: Israel will allow Syrian Druze, along with Circassians – another ethnic minority in Syria – to work in the Israeli Golan Heights.

HEADLINE 2: Recent meetings in Qatar between top Hamas terrorists and Adam Boehler, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, are focused the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander.

HEADLINE 3: The Trump administration has followed through on its threat to cancel federal funding to Columbia University, revoking $400 million due to the institution’s failure to respond to campus antisemitism.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with award-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated producer, and bestselling author Yardena Schwartz. 

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

WHO ARE THE KURDS, AND HOW DO THEY FIT INTO THE MIDDLE EAST PUZZLE?

HEADLINE 1: The U.S. Air Force conducted a joint exercise with the Israeli Air Force on Tuesday.

HEADLINE 2: Clashes broke out in Syria between Assad loyalists and the new government’s security forces.

HEADLINE 3: The Trump administration is getting creative with its maximum pressure campaign.

BONUS HEADLINE 4: Syria’s foreign minister made a historic visit to the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or the OPCW.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Giran Ozcan, who serves as the executive director of the Kurdish Peace Institute.

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

CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM POST-OCTOBER 7

HEADLINE 1: The State Department designated the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

HEADLINE 2: Russian missile experts travelled to Iran twice last year.

HEADLINE 3: Turkey and Iran are at loggerheads.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Wendy Sachs, director of "October 8." This documentary offers a powerful examination of the surge in antisemitism across college campuses, social media, and American streets in the wake of Hamas' October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

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

Nations pursue access to reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy that will sustain their national security objectives. While the China-Russia led alliance continues to rely largely on fossil fuels, Western countries increasingly seek to replace these traditional energy sources with renewable offerings, leading to less reliable and more expensive electricity. This has profound national security implications.

International organizations such as the United Nations and the International Energy Agency promote the existence of an “energy transition” to renewable energy, despite no signs that a transition is imminent. This is dangerous. Simultaneously, the United Nations promotes diversion of trillions of dollars from the West to China and the Global South to promote climate policies and renewable energy use.

Future energy policies based on reliable energy supplies must necessarily include a full consideration of the national security implications.

What are the potential dangers of operating and enacting energy policies based on future ideals as opposed to current realities? What is the position of the Trump administration on these matters? What is the role of the United Nations in promoting energy policies that will weaken the West?

To explore these questions and more, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies hosts Dr. Brenda Shaffer, Senior Advisor for Energy at FDD; Michael Ratner, Energy Specialist at Congressional Research Service; and Ken Moriyasu, Washington Correspondent at Nikkei Asia. The conversation is moderated by Clifford D. May, FDD Founder and President.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2025/03/04/powering-national-security-energy-policy-in-the-us-and-beyond/

TURKEY'S TIES TO SYRIA AND ERDOGAN'S DYNAMIC WITH TRUMP

HEADLINE 1: The IDF says it is ready to defend an endangered Druze community in Syria.

HEADLINE 2: Lebanese authorities detained a man at the airport in Beirut on Friday.

HEADLINE 3: The Trump administration is expediting the delivery of some $4 billion in military aid to Israel.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Henri J. Barkey, the Bernard L. and Bertha F. Cohen Chair in International Relations at Lehigh University and adjunct senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

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

THE U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP FROM A DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE

HEADLINE 1: The Iran sanctions keep on coming.

HEADLINE 2: Israeli authorities arrested yet another Israeli citizen accused of spying for Iran.

HEADLINE 3: A car-ramming attack unfolded at a bus stop near the Israeli city of Caesarea yesterday.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis ahead of a conversation between Bradley Bowman, Senior Director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power, and Adam Tarsi of the Department of Defense's Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate.

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