FDD Morning Brief

Headlines:

• The U.S. and Israel have agreed to establish two Gaza working groups: one related to Hamas disarmament and the other to public health in the Strip. 
• Russia is reportedly replenishing Iran’s munition stockpiles by shipping drone parts, ammo, and even ballistic missile components to the regime via the Caspian Sea.
• President Trump threatened to bomb Oman if it obstructs the administration’s efforts to clinch a deal with Iran.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Shira Efron, distinguished Israel policy chair at the RAND Corporation.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• The rump regime in Iran claims that the government of Qatar is holding three of its pilots that were shot down in the open stages of the most recent war.
• The Houthis are still at it in Yemen. The port city of Mocha, controlled by the good guys in southern Yemen, continues to get hammered with Houthi missiles. 
• A Hamas delegation led by chief psychoKhalil al-Hayya began meeting with the Egyptian intelligence chief on Sunday.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Emily Schrader of Israel's ILTV News.

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

Headlines:

• A tense situation is playing out in the West Bank village of Qusra. Israeli settlers, or perhaps not settlers but anarchists, depending upon who you talk to,have been besieging two Palestinian homes since Sunday, cutting their water and electricity. 
• The IDF killed Hamas commander Jamal Mahmoud Abu Kamil in a targeted strike in Gaza City on Thursday. 
• The Navy's swapping out its Middle East carrier — the USS George Washington will replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been enforcing the blockade of Iranian ports and has now been at sea over 250 days, and without a port call in 200. 
• The Qatari propaganda outlet Al Jazeera quietly ended contracts for at least 24 of its Gaza-based staff. 

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with President Daniel Chamovitz of Israel Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

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

Headlines:

• U.S. forces fired on a Panama-flagged ship early Tuesday for running Washington's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, hitting its rudder after the crew ignored warnings.
• Last Thursday the leaders of India and Israel had a phone call. Some called it "out-of-the-blue." But the conversation between Modi and Netanyahu was decidedly not random.
• Former Hamas hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen took the stage to perform nine songs he wrote entirely in his head during 498 days in captivity.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Laura Kelly, foreign policy reporter for The Hill.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• The IDF and the Shin Bet have acknowledged that a special unit has been established to hunt down and kill every single Palestinian terrorist involved in the October 7 attacks.
• The Houthis are attacking south Yemen.
• Russian and Syrian officials met this weekend to iron out the fate of several Russian bases that were once bustling during the Bashar al-Assad era. 
• The Weekend at Bernie’s shtick is still going, with Iran’s impotent president Masoud Pezeshkian claiming to have talked with absentee supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Steven A. Cook, Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

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

Headlines:

• Mossad chief Roman Gofman has removed two of the agency's top officials over their role in a failed plan to topple Iran's regime. 
• Speaking of the regime: Iran's execution campaign against January's protesters isn't winding down — it's expanding. 
• A seventh round of Israel-Lebanon talks wrapped up yesterday in Rome, and the two sides are still claiming that progress is being made. But it’s far from perfect. 
• America's missile stockpile is a problem. But turns out, this munitions problem is now Israel's problem too.

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

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

Headlines:

• Syria reportedly agreed to decrease its Russian oil imports. 
• The International Monetary Fund, or “IMF,” announced a new technical assistance program for the country after wrapping up a visit there late last month. 
• A seventh round of talks between Israel and Lebanon kicked off yesterday in Rome. 
• An Indian-flagged ship was struck by a projectile off the coast of Yemen yesterday. 

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Nadav Eyal, columnist for the Israeli outlet Yedioth Ahronoth.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• Two more Iranian nationals have been executed by the regime for allegedly spying on behalf of Israel.
• Reports are swirling in the region that the Saudis may need to go back to military operations against the Houthis in Yemen. 
• If the Strait of Hormuz doesn’t open, the Brits could experience a serious recession in 2027.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP).

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

Headlines:

• Last night President Trump announced that Hamas had agreed to give up its weapons and hand over power in Gaza to the newly established National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (or NCAG).
• U.S. officials say multiple U.N. relief agencies continue to stonewall a U.S. probe into their ties to Hamas, withholding key documents and other information that could reveal their employees as affiliates of the terror group.

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FDD Senior Advisor Richard Goldberg fills in for Jonathan Schanzer, providing timely situational updates and analysis ahead of a conversation with Norman Roule, former national intelligence manager for Iran at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and current non-resident senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP), fills in for Jonathan Schanzer, providing timely situational updates and analysis ahead of a conversation with CMPP Chairman LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster.

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