Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
It isn’t just Israel and Hamas. Israel and Egypt have to agree, too. Israeli military says recovered hostages’ bodies had gunshot wounds Hamas said to decide to target Israelis abroad in bid to avenge Haniyeh killing WSJ Editorial: Biden’s show of force and Iran Qatar prime minister to visit Iran in coming days, Tasnim report says Ukrainian drones hit Russian military air base as Kyiv escalates long-range strikes Russian attitudes about Putin might be shifting WaPo’s Charles Lane: Biden’s embarrassed silence on Afghanistan North Korea slams US sale of Apache helicopters to South Korea as 'provocative' Political shift casts uncertainty over Thai economy Maduro’s hand-picked supreme court calls him Venezuela’s election winner Bloomberg’s James Stavridis: How the US can avoid war in the South China seaIn The News
Israel
Palestinians in Gaza have long lived in one of the most crowded places on the planet. Since the war broke out there over 10 months ago, the designated space in which they can hope to exist safely has dramatically diminished. – Wall Street Journal
The Biden administration has been racing to close what it calls the last remaining gaps holding up a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. Now, it is also wrestling with a growing dispute between Israel and Egypt. – Wall Street Journal
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed Thursday that gunshot wounds were found on the bodies of six Israeli hostages held by Hamas that were retrieved from southern Gaza in a military operation this week. – Washington Post
The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, forcing more Palestinians to flee their homes and shelters, as the United States and others tried to salvage sputtering talks that could ease regional tensions and stop the 10-month war. – New York Times
Israel’s military court has extended the house arrest of soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee until Sept. 4 but will allow the defence to hold a hearing on Sunday to request an alternative to detention, the military said on Thursday. – Reuters
A Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal “now is in sight,” the U.S. envoy to the United Nations told the Security Council on Thursday, urging members to press Palestinian militant group Hamas to accept a bridging proposal agreed to by Israel. – Reuters
Israeli police arrested four people suspected of taking part in a violent attack by Jewish settlers on the Palestinian village of Jit in the occupied West Bank, during which one Palestinian was killed, authorities said on Thursday. – Reuters
U.S. and Israeli delegations started a new round of meetings in Cairo on Thursday aimed at resolving differences over a truce proposal to end more than 10 months of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, two Egyptian security sources said. – Reuters
The Palestinians said Thursday they are planning to introduce a U.N. General Assembly resolution in September enshrining the recent sweeping ruling by the U.N.’s top court that declared Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories unlawful — and setting a time frame for it to end. – Associated Press
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon called the Palestinian Authority envoy “a terrorist in a suit” at a Security Council debate in New York on Thursday. – Times of Israel
The Hamas terror group has taken a strategic decision to carry out attacks against Israelis abroad in a bid to avenge the recent killing of group leader Ismail Haniyeh, Channel 12 reported Thursday, citing Palestinian sources. – Times of Israel
An Israeli soldier was killed during fighting in southern Gaza on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces announced, as troops pressed on with operations across the Strip. – Times of Israel
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other ministers that Jewish terror carried out by violent settlers and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s actions on Temple Mount are doing “indescribable damage” to Israel in a letter published by Channel 12 News on Thursday. – Times of Israel
The IDF said Thursday that it carried out “extensive” airstrikes against Hezbollah terror group sites in southern Lebanon overnight, as the spiraling violence between the two sides showed no sign of losing momentum. – Times of Israel
An Israeli legal advocacy group told the International Criminal Court (ICC) it did not have the authority to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as requested by the tribunal’s chief prosecutor Kharim Khan last May. – Ynet
Editorial: Israeli military pressure has already forced Hamas to give up its demand that Israel agree to the end of the war in phase one of a hostage deal. It might do the job on this impasse too, as long as it isn’t undermined by Mr. Biden’s political pressure. More is possible when the U.S. and Israel work in tandem rather than at cross-purposes. – Wall Street Journal
Brigadier General (res.) Amir Avivi writes: It is clear that toppling the Hamas regime will only be made possible after completely overrunning the city of Rafah. There is no doubt that Israel has many challenges in store for them, and it will take years until we see peace and stability in Gaza; however, in the meantime, our goal is united: the complete conquest of the city of Rafah – Hamas’ last administrative symbol, and the arena in which the entire war will be won. – Ynet
Iran
Qatar’s prime minister will visit Iran in the coming days, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday. – Reuters
There is a fire that burns behind Sazegara’s eyes when he talks about a homeland he has not seen for over 20 years; a place he cannot return to while the current regime holds power, for fear of death. – Jerusalem Post
Iran’s plan to attack Israel in retaliation for the recent killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran should be harsh enough to force the Jewish state to “fall to its knees,” according to Turkey’s ambassador to Iran. – Algemeiner
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, a film by exiled Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, has been chosen to represent Germany in the competition for Best International Feature Film at the 2025 Academy Awards, German Films announced on August 22. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
In a move seemingly to deter any future unrest, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic has sentenced 89 residents of Likak, a town in the southwest, for their participation in the November 2019 protests. – Iran International
Russia & Ukraine
Ukraine used aerial drones to attack an air base in Russia’s Volgograd region early Thursday in an escalating campaign of long-range strikes seeking to damage Moscow’s war machine. – Wall Street Journal
Russia’s security service, the FSB, launched criminal cases against several foreign journalists on Thursday, accusing them of illegally entering Russia to report on the Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region. – Washington Post
Ukrainian officials are claiming that their military incursion into Russia this month coincides with a flurry of diplomatic overtures that could strengthen Kyiv’s push for wider international backing for its negotiating position in any potential peace talks. – New York Times
Negative feelings about President Vladimir V. Putin have appeared to increase across Russia since Ukrainian troops pushed into Russian territory two weeks ago, according to a firm that tracks attitudes in the country by analyzing social media and other internet postings. – New York Times
Ukraine’s border guard service said on Thursday that Kyiv had seen no signs of Belarusian troop or military hardware movements near their shared border since Minsk announced it was sending additional forces to the area. – Reuters
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused Ukraine of trying to strike Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant in an overnight attack and said Moscow had informed the U.N. nuclear safety watchdog about the situation. – Reuters
A Russian guided bomb attack in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region bordering Russia’s region of Kursk killed two people, prosecutors said on Thursday. – Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his first visit Thursday to the border area where his forces launched their surprise offensive into Russia, saying that Kyiv’s military had taken control of another Russian village and captured more prisoners of war. – Associated Press
Alexander J. Motyl writes: Zakrevsky is important, not because he portends a nicer, gentler Russia, but because he portends chaos among Russia’s ruling elites. And chaos means less interest by Moscow in Ukraine and other neighboring states, growing instability at home and the possibility — however small — of a turn away from fascism. That may not sound like much, but, given the horror of Putin’s regime, it would be remarkable. – The Hill
Sergiy Makogon writes: Given these considerations, it is likely Gazprom will continue to operate under the current circumstances for as long as possible. However the military and commercial threats of transit interruption remain significant. Neither Ukraine nor Europe faces substantial risks if the transit were to be interrupted. In fact, it may be more prudent to end it during the summer rather than in January when the demand for gas is at its peak. – Center for European Policy Analysis
Afghanistan
The United Arab Emirates has accepted the credentials of a Taliban-appointed diplomat as the ambassador of Afghanistan, a UAE official said on Thursday, making the Gulf state the second country after China to accept a Taliban envoy at that level. – Reuters
Singapore Airlines, British Airways and Lufthansa have increased their flights over Afghanistan after years of largely avoiding it now the Middle East conflict has made it seem a relatively safe option. – Reuters
Charles Lane writes: Yet as the Taliban entrenches its rule, the question of whether Biden could have done anything differently haunts his presidential legacy. “You’ve heard me say it before, we’re facing an inflection point, one of those rare moments in history when the decisions we make now will determine the fate of our nation and the world for decades to come,” Biden said on Monday night. That includes his decision to leave Afghanistan. – Washington Post
Middle East & North Africa
For weeks, the Middle East has been on edge, waiting for a retaliatory Iranian attack on Israel that many fear could trigger an all-out war. While a nervous calm prevails, and Tehran has signaled it will bide its time, daily violence continues to rage along the Israel-Lebanon border. – Washington Post
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will attend a meeting of European Union ministers in Brussels next week that Ankara hopes will pave the way for improved ties with the bloc, the ministry’s spokesperson said on Thursday. – Reuters
A vessel reported an explosion close to it that caused minor damage after an encounter with an uncrewed vessel 57 nautical miles south of Yemen’s port of Aden, The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Thursday. – Reuters
An Algerian oil tanker set sail Thursday for power-hungry Lebanon, Algeria’s official news agency said, with 30,000 tons of fuel destined to restart turbines in the country grappling with years of economic meltdown. – Agence France-Presse
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will make his first official visit to Turkey as president on September 4, reciprocating a visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Cairo earlier this year, as the countries are on a course of normalizing their years-long strained relations, the Haber Türk online newspaper reported. – Turkish Minute
Izat Noah writes: Religious minorities feel that human rights issues, including minority rights, are no longer of great importance to the dominant forces in the region, excluding regional powers that do not care about these issues in the first place. Perhaps this is because the Middle East no longer holds the same significance, or that priorities have shifted due to risks and the interests of the countries that control the international scene. – Washington Institute
Korean Peninsula
North Korea’s foreign ministry denounced a U.S. planned sale of Apache helicopters to South Korea, state media KCNA said on Friday, vowing to take additional steps to bolster its self-defence. – Reuters
A fire that killed seven people in a South Korean hotel was possibly made worse by the lack of sprinklers, fire officials said Friday, as they investigated the cause of the blaze. – Associated Press
South Korean prosecutors looking into a luxury bag given to first lady Kim Keon Hee under questionable circumstances cleared the wife of President Yoon Suk Yeol of any criminal charge, Yonhap News said. – Bloomberg
The number of people from North Korea’s “elite” who have defected to the South on Kim Jong Un’s watch is more than double the amount who defected under his father, former Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il. – Newsweek
China
The breakup of a Chinese rocket following a satellite launch generated a fresh field of debris—and new concern over Beijing’s attitude toward space junk. – Wall Street Journal
China is cranking up its massive export machine again, and this time there’s nowhere for competitors to hide. – Wall Street Journal
China and Belarus have agreed to strengthen cooperation in a range of sectors including trade, security, energy and finance, according to a joint statement, after Chinese Premier Li Qiang met Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko in Minsk. – Reuters
China has recently launched what could be its most advanced diesel-electric submarine, according to a report, as it continues to expand its undersea fleet. – Newsweek
South Asia
The new prime minister of Nepal, K.P. Sharma Oli, on Thursday overturned a ban on TikTok that his predecessor imposed in November, an apparent sign that the veteran politician intended to strengthen the country’s relations with China, its northern neighbor. – New York Times
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, senior lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said on Friday. – Reuters
A court in Pakistan on Thursday allowed investigators to question a man in their custody for four more days about his role in spreading misinformation that sparked widespread rioting in the U.K. earlier this month, officials said. – Associated Press
A court in Bangladesh’s capital Thursday allowed police to interrogate two journalists in their custody for four days in connection with the murder of a garment worker, who joined recent student protests against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that forced her to step down and flee to India earlier this month. – Associated Press
Gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades ambushed a police convoy in eastern Punjab province on Thursday, killing at least 11 officers and wounding seven others, authorities said. – Associated Press
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday removed a controversial part of its recent verdict concerning minority Ahmadis, apparently yielding to criticism from religious groups and clerics who had threatened nationwide protests. – Associated Press
Asia
The Thai prime minister’s ouster last week rekindled jitters about the country’s nascent economic recovery. While the new leader’s quick appointment soothed nerves, politics still cloud the economy’s outlook. – Wall Street Journal
Taiwan wants to continue its free way of life and rejects being ruled by China’s Communist Party, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Friday, visiting a frontline island between the two sides to mark a key battle with Chinese forces. – Reuters
The Philippines could “stir up trouble” at yet another “Chinese” island in the South China Sea, China’s state-backed Global Times reported, after what it said were Manila’s “provocative intrusions” into waters at two other reefs in the region. – Reuters
Australia will take command of the maritime task force in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden from October, the defence ministry said on Friday. – Reuters
The government of Kiribati is suspending all diplomatic visits to the tiny Pacific Island nation until next year and has cancelled some already planned, because it is in the midst of an election process that could run for several more months, an official said Thursday. – Associated Press
Europe
The German government has come under increasing pressure at home to roll back its support for Ukraine and push harder for negotiations to try to end its war with Russia. – New York Times
The NATO air base in the German town of Geilenkirchen has raised its security level “based on intelligence information indicating a potential threat,” it said late on Thursday. – Reuters
Belgian politician Bart De Wever, appointed by King Philippe to lead coalition talks following the country’s June election, resigned on Thursday, the palace said. – Reuters
Poland wants to deepen its cooperation with India in the defence industry, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday, as Warsaw seeks to benefit from New Delhi’s drive to modernise its armed forces and diversify away from Russian suppliers. – Reuters
Austrian advocacy group NOYB has filed two complaints with the EU privacy watchdog against the European Parliament, accusing it of inadequately protecting employees’ personal data, the group said on Thursday. – Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron will hold talks with key political players in a bid to form a new government, after surprise legislative elections last month resulted in no party winning the majority at the National Assembly, France’s powerful lower house of parliament. – Associated Press
For almost two decades, the European Commission has been locked in a legal tug-of-war with Italy over its beach concession practices, accusing the peninsular nation of lacking transparency and breaching competition rules. – Associated Press
John Kampfner writes: These issues have entrenched a deep-seated loss of trust in politicians and their ability to bring about change. Across Europe and beyond, it has become axiomatic to compare populists, who throw caution to the wind, with mainstream leaders who are wary of taking risks and of being bold. Starmer has already shown determination and ruthlessness. His first weeks in office suggest he might buck the trend. – Foreign Policy
Africa
A fraction of available aid has passed through the Adre border crossing from Chad into Sudan’s hunger-ravaged Darfur region this week following a move by the Sudanese army to temporarily lift a ban on deliveries. – Reuters
Wearing a bulky protective suit and helmet, Mohamed Ahmed inches towards the truck where explosives wired to a mobile phone have been planted in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. Fortunately for Ahmed, a police officer, this is a training exercise and the device is a dummy. – Reuters
The death toll from a river boat accident in western Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to at least 29 with at least 128 survivors identified and an unknown number still missing, local authorities said on Thursday. – Reuters
Armed men killed at least 13 farmers during an attack in north-central Nigeria, a local official said Thursday. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the killings that took place on Wednesday in the state of Niger. – Associated Press
The Americas
Venezuela’s Supreme Court on Thursday declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner of last month’s disputed elections and tried to discredit opposition evidence that the strongman lost in a landslide, deepening the country’s political crisis. – Wall Street Journal
Officials in Guatemala have arrested a man who investigators in the United States say played a pivotal role in the smuggling of dozens of migrants who died in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas. – Washington Post
Panama’s government announced on Thursday additional deportation flights for migrants apprehended in the Central American nation to Ecuador, India and China, in a bid to reduce of flow of mostly U.S.-bound migration. – Reuters
Argentina’s Senate defied President Javier Milei on Thursday to push through an increase to pension spending that would cost at least 0.4% of the country’s gross domestic product, dealing a blow to his tough austerity program. – Associated Press
Nicaragua’s government closed another 151 nongovernmental organizations Thursday, among them some of the most important trade organizations, including the American Chamber of Commerce, coming just days after the government shuttered some 1,500 nongovernmental organizations, many of them religious in nature. – Associated Press
U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said Thursday a judicial overhaul proposed by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador poses a “risk” to Mexico’s democracy and “threatens the historic commercial relationship” between Mexico and the U.S. – Associated Press
Police in Haiti have arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of a U.S. missionary couple and a Haitian man who headed a nonprofit in an attack by gunmen earlier this year that stunned many in the troubled Caribbean country. – Associated Press
United States
Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday with a rousing call to end the war in Gaza and to fight tyranny around the world, drawing a sharp contrast with Republican Donald Trump. – Reuters
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said in her Democratic National Convention speech on Thursday that she will stand with NATO allies and with Ukraine if she became president. – Reuters
The Biden administration will send about $125 million in new military aid to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Thursday, even as Washington works to get a better understanding of Kyiv’s incursion into Russia and how it advances the broader battlefield goals more than two years into the war. – Associated Press
Kamala Harris’ campaign strategy for confronting the politically charged issue of the war in Gaza at the Democratic National Convention has been mostly to avoid confronting it at all. – Bloomberg
Authorities in Arizona on Thursday arrested a man in connection with an alleged social media threat to kill former US President Donald Trump. The man, Ronald Lee Syvrud, 66, was taken into custody in Arizona, according the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office. – Arutz Sheva
Elliot Kaufman writes: What can one say to the naïf who looks at that sequence and sees moral progress in the avoidance of religious discrimination? An old-new politics is being organized against the Jews, and its thuggish tactics more often than not are met with cowardice or sympathy from responsible parties. In need of another spine transfusion, Jews can turn again to Zionism. To what will everyone else turn? – Wall Street Journal
James Stavridis writes: Such cruises can be integrated with larger exercises, such as the annual Balikatan war game involving more than 15,000 personnel from the US and Philippines. Pushing back against China is a team sport. There is going to be an increasing number of flashpoints like the recent collisions in the Spratly Islands and Thomas Shoal. Let’s hope we don’t unleash a 21st century War of Jenkins’ Ear over something like the severed thumb of a Filipino sailor. – Bloomberg
Cybersecurity
A company that manages registered shareholders for stock-issuing companies agreed to pay $850,000 under a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over breaches in 2022 and 2023 that the commission said led to the loss of $6.6 million in client funds. – CyberScoop
Russian authorities are warning residents in regions at risk of Ukrainian offensives to stop using surveillance cameras and dating apps out of fear that they could be used for intelligence gathering. – The Record
A member of a Russian cybercrime group has been charged in a U.S. court this week with money laundering, financial fraud and extortion, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). – The Record
A strain of malware built for Android devices was used by cybercriminals to rob three Czech banks in a campaign uncovered over the last nine months. – The Record
Defense
A U.S. nuclear-powered submarine will undergo maintenance in Australia for the first time on Friday, a key step by AUKUS partners to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific, the defence ministers of Australia, Britain and the United States said. – Reuters
Sierra Nevada Corporation has won a U.S. Army contract to serve as the lead system integrator for the service’s future long-range spy plane. – Defense News
An Army pilot program testing a new acquisition strategy to purchase radios as a service has seen “mixed results,” according to one official. – Defense News
The Italian Navy Cavour Carrier Strike Group (CSG) carried out a four-day drill in the Philippine Sea with a U.S. destroyer as it made its way to Japan. – USNI News
The Marine Corps is looking for commercially available technologies that can detect, identify and track a variety of uncrewed platforms and other targets that troops might need to engage. – DefenseScoop