Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Israel and Hamas agree to resolve cease-fire dispute US bars entry to ICC chief over arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant JPost Editorial: Extend the ceasefire in the North and protect Israel from Hezbollah Iran says it can build new nuclear facilities if enemies strike Iran forges deeper ties with Sudan in boost to wider influence Putin gets what he has long wanted: direct talks with U.S. WSJ Editorial: Peace Through Weakness in Ukraine? Hezbollah supporters converge on Beirut airport over Iran flight Yemen's Houthis say they will attack if US, Israel try to displace Gazans North Korea may be poised to move ICBMs into production, US says AEI’s Michael Rubin: Modi must talk Canada, UN reform, Khalistan, and Pakistan with Trump Vance wields threat of sanctions, military action to push Putin into Ukraine dealIn The News
Israel
Israel and Hamas have agreed to resolve a dispute that threatened to derail their fragile cease-fire after humanitarian equipment began entering Gaza on Thursday and Hamas backed off on a threat that it wouldn’t release any more Israeli hostages. – Wall Street Journal
For decades, the Palestinian Authority has paid a monthly stipend to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails or their families, including those who have killed Israelis. Longer jail sentences mean far higher monthly payments: A prisoner sentenced to 30 years or more can get some $4,000 a month. – Wall Street Journal
The signs of extreme malnutrition evinced by some of the recently released Israeli hostages were only the most visible evidence of the torture they recall enduring in Hamas captivity. – Washington Post
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza posed a major threat to world peace. – Reuters
A top Vatican official on Thursday rejected US President Donald Trump’s proposal to move Palestinians from Gaza, saying “the Palestinian population must remain on its land.” – Agence France Presse
Dozens of bulldozers, construction vehicles and trucks carrying mobile homes lined up on Egypt’s side of the Rafah border crossing on Thursday, awaiting to enter Gaza, state-linked Egyptian media reported. – Agence France Presse
An indictment was filed at the Lod District Court against two Israelis from the Triangle area after they planned to carry out a terror attack against IDF soldiers, Israeli media reported on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
The US-India trade route will operate through Israel, US President Donald Trump stated during a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
US President Donald Trump’s administration will support Israel in maintaining a buffer zone in Syria for years to come, The Jerusalem Post has learned. – Jerusalem Post
Over the last week, the Israeli security forces apprehended over 90 terrorists during operations in the West Bank over the last week, the military announced on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
Israel has obtained a series of internal documents exchanged between Hamas operatives in Gaza and producers at the Qatari news network Al Jazeera. The documents reveal Hamas’ attempt to alter its narrative surrounding the October 7 attack and the mass killings committed by its terrorists against Israeli civilians. – Jerusalem Post
The US on Thursday slapped sanctions on International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan, following US President Donald Trump’s order last week to penalize the court over its decision in November to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant. – Times of Israel
Editorial: The residents of Israel’s north deserve to live in peace without the constant threat – and sight – of Hezbollah on their doorsteps and the continuous barrage of rockets that have been launched since October 7, 2023. So be it if it takes longer than planned to achieve that goal. Otherwise, Hezbollah could quickly return to the south, and all of the achievements of the past year to neutralize them would have been for naught. – Jerusalem Post
David Ignatius writes: Trump’s sledgehammer approach to negotiations — disrupt and then deal — has been the central feature of these first weeks of his second term. But threatening kinetic action against Iran is a reach, even for Trump. He clearly doesn’t want a war. But the final decision-maker here may be Netanyahu, not Trump. – Washington Post
Herb Keinon writes: But one thing is certain: Israel is conveying to the Americans what it plans to do on Saturday, so there are no misunderstandings and no disappointments. The Trump-Netanyahu relationship has gotten off to a strong start this presidential term. It would be ironic – and a shame – if it hit turbulence now because Trump is outflanking Netanyahu from the Right. – Jerusalem Post
Seth Mandel writes: During active conflict, Hamas is the biggest threat to Gazans: Israel creates safe zones and gives advance notice of attacks in the hot zones, and Hamas’s use of those humanitarian sectors puts civilians in the line of fire. And when there’s not active conflict, Hamas is still the biggest threat to Gazans: It just goes around executing them at will.Any plan, therefore, that aims to improve life for Palestinians requires a realistic way to rid Gaza of Hamas. Without that, there is no “Riviera on the Med,” no two-state solution, no peace—no change at all. – Commentary Magazine
Iran
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that Tehran’s enemies may be able to strike the country’s nuclear centres but they cannot deprive it of its ability to build new ones. – Reuters
Iran and Sudan agreed to cooperate in the fields of mining, banking and livestock production, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said, stoking concerns the Islamic Republic is widening its influence on the fringes of the Middle East. – Bloomberg
Europe must reinstate harsh United Nations sanctions on Iran, U.S. lawmakers insisted in a new resolution that accused Tehran of repeated violations of the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration. – Fox News
Israeli officials have made it clear in recent months that the IDF has the capacity to attack Iran’s nuclear sites. Still, for now, Israel is waiting on US President Donald Trump’s diplomatic opening with Tehran, top sources said on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
Russia & Ukraine
President Trump’s announcement of peace talks with Russia has handed Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin what he has long demanded: direct talks with the U.S. over Ukraine. – Wall Street Journal
President Donald Trump’s phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin has deeply rattled Kyiv and its European partners, intensifying long-held fears that Ukraine could be excluded from peace talks determining its own future and security — as well as that of the rest of the continent. – Washington Post
President Trump on Thursday offered reassurances that Ukraine would be involved in negotiations to end the war with Russia, a day after his remarks left that prospect in doubt and alarmed officials in Kyiv and Ukraine’s European allies with the possibility that they would be left out of peace talks. – New York Times
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that U.S. and Russian officials would meet in Munich on Friday and that Ukraine was also invited, however Kyiv responded that it did not expect to hold talks with Russia in the German city. – Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron said only Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy could negotiate on behalf of his country with Russia to end the war, warning a “peace that is a capitulation” would be “bad news for everyone”, including the U.S., the Financial Times reported on Thursday. – Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed “the need for bold diplomacy” to end the Russia-Ukraine war in a call on Thursday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, the State Department said. – Reuters
A Russian citizen will be returned within days from the United States as part of an exchange deal with the U.S. administration, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday without specifying the name. – Reuters
A Ukrainian drone attack struck Russia’s Andreapol oil pumping station overnight, causing oil products to spill and starting a fire, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine said on Thursday. – Reuters
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday Ukraine would not accept any bilateral agreement on its fate reached by Moscow and Washington without Kyiv’s involvement, and called for Europe to have a seat at the table in negotiations to end the war. – Reuters
Russia said on Thursday that Ukraine would “of course” be involved in talks to end the war, but there would be a separate U.S.-Russian strand to the negotiations. – Reuters
Europe is jealous and angry over the phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump because it shows that its power on the global stage has been weakened, Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday. – Reuters
Editorial: If Mr. Trump wants to end the war on honorable terms, he may have to demonstrate he can raise the pressure on Mr. Putin. The U.S. can increase military support to Ukraine, remove limits on the use of weapons, and intensify pressure on Russia elsewhere around the world. Why does the Wagner Group still have a free ride in Africa? Mr. Trump has to decide if he wants an honorable peace in Ukraine, or risk his own Afghanistan or Vietnam. – Wall Street Journal
Lee Hockstader writes: But without Western forces deployed to guarantee Ukraine’s security, Kyiv will rightly regard any peace pledges from Putin as a worthless prelude to future Russian aggression. The paradox for peace talks in Ukraine is that Europe is simultaneously weak and indispensable. It will be Trump’s task to square that circle. – Washington Post
Syria
Twenty regional and Western powers agreed in a joint statement on Thursday to do their utmost to help Syria’s new authorities and shield the country during its fragile transition amid ongoing instability across the Middle East. – Reuters
Groups that refuse to lay down their arms and submit to the defence ministry’s authority will play no part in a national dialogue on Syria’s future, a committee set up to prepare for a national conference said on Thursday. – Reuters
The conference to chart Syria’s political future will include all segments of Syrian society except for the Kurdish-led administration in the northeast and loyalists of the repressive former government of Bashar Assad, organizers said Thursday. – Associated Press
In the town of Sarmada in northern Syria, Dr. Mohammad Fares unlocked a clinic that once bustled with patients. Now it’s empty, and shelves of medicine reduced to a few boxes of bandages and expired drugs. – Associated Press
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Thursday that the EU was working toward swiftly easing Syria sanctions as Paris hosted a conference on the transition in the war-torn country after President Bashar Assad’s fall. – Agence France Presse
Mohamed Farid writes: Syria’s current situation presents a rare opportunity to rebuild the state on democratic foundations. However, engaging with HTS demands extreme caution to avoid legitimizing terrorism. If the transitional phase is managed wisely, Syria has the potential to emerge as a model for political and social reconstruction, setting an example for regional recovery instead of descending into a breeding ground for extremism and terrorism. – The National Interest
Lebanon
France has put together a proposal for United Nations peacekeepers, including French troops, replace Israeli forces at key points to ensure those forces leave Lebanon by a February 18 deadline, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Thursday. – Reuters
Supporters of the militant group Hezbollah blocked the entrance to Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport and surrounding roads after Lebanese authorities prohibited an Iranian plane from landing. – Bloomberg
Israeli military presence in five points across southern Lebanon is directly dependant on the actions of the Lebanese government, an official in the Trump administration told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
Middle East & North Africa
A United States Navy aircraft carrier collided with a merchant vessel in the Mediterranean Sea shortly before midnight on Wednesday near a port in Egypt, Navy officials said. – New York Times
The United Arab Emirates has told the United States it wants to host talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine that could eventually include a peace summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, several people familiar with the matter told Reuters. – Reuters
Yemen’s Houthis will immediately take military action if the U.S. and Israel try to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza, the Iran-backed group’s leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech on Thursday. – Reuters
Libyan security authorities have recovered at least 11 more bodies of migrants a mass grave in the southeast of the country, a security official told Reuters on Thursday. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia is spearheading urgent Arab efforts to develop a plan for Gaza’s future as a counter to U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambition for a Middle East Riviera cleared of its Palestinian inhabitants, 10 sources said. – Reuters
A European naval force in the Middle East helped free a Yemeni fishing boat seized by suspected Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa, authorities said. – Associated Press
Korean Peninsula
Six people have died in a fire in a resort construction site in South Korea’s port city of Busan, the Yonhap News Agency reported on Friday. – Reuters
South Korea will thoroughly review non-tariff barriers and other vulnerabilities to respond to a U.S. plan to introduce reciprocal tariffs, the country’s acting president said on Friday. – Reuters
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is putting up a desperate fight for his political life at Seoul’s Constitutional Court after being impeached and arrested for his short-lived imposition of martial law last year. After weeks of hearings, the court is nearing a decision on whether to formally remove him from office. – Associated Press
North Korea may be poised to move into production its intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the US, the Pentagon’s commander of continental defenses told a Senate panel. – Bloomberg
China
China is ready to work with the United Kingdom towards stable and improving bilateral ties, and to further cooperate in infrastructure, trade and investment, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday, citing its minister. – Reuters
Jeremy Fang, a sales officer at a Chinese aluminium products maker, is trying to export more to markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America to offset the U.S. tariffs’ impact. The problem, he says, is that his competitors have the same idea. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would like to have conversations with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping about imposing limits on their nuclear arsenals. – Reuters
China has urged the Philippines to withdraw the United States’ “Typhon” intermediate range missile, the defence ministry said on Friday, accusing the Southeast Asian nation of breaking its “promises” by introducing the missile system. – Reuters
China accused Australia on Friday of deliberately provoking it with a maritime patrol in the disputed South China Sea this week, saying the latter was spreading “false narratives”, though Australia maintained its action adhered to international law. – Reuters
South Asia
The United States and India are working toward a deal that aims to cut America’s sizable trade gap with India as New Delhi pledges to buy more U.S. energy, weapons and civil nuclear power, President Donald Trump said Thursday during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington. – Washington Post
Jaskaran Singh was wading through rivers in the Panamanian jungle when he learned that Donald Trump had been elected president. “But I couldn’t turn back,” said Singh, 34. “I had come too far.” – Washington Post
Pakistan is hoping that hosting its first major multi-country cricket tournament in nearly 30 years will help erase worries of instability in the country and restore confidence in it as a tourism and investment destination. – Reuters
Sri Lanka extended power cuts for a third day on Thursday as it scrambled to restore its national grid to full capacity after a monkey triggered a widespread blackout over the weekend that disrupted supply to the island’s 22 million people. – Reuters
Mihir Sharma writes: These truths might be irrelevant to Trump and Modi, who are just looking for a quick win when they direct their officials to negotiate a new trade agreement. But that doesn’t make them less true. The populists have got us talking about trade again, and that’s a good thing. – Bloomberg
Michael Rubin writes: If the FBI would not allow Hamas or Hezbollah cells to operate in America, it should not tolerate Khalistani groups either. And if it prosecutes those funding Palestinian or Iranian terrorism on American soil, it should do the same with American citizens who embrace terror against India. Conventional wisdom and diplomatic norms do not constrain Trump. Modi should seize full advantage to cement a partnership that could well define the 21st century. – Firstpost
Asia
At least four people were killed and 30 others injured in a suspected gas explosion in the food court of a Taiwan shopping mall on Thursday morning, according to Taiwan’s state-owned news outlet. – New York Times
Not so long ago, Taiwan basked in seemingly boundless, bipartisan support in Washington, where the island has long been regarded as a valiant democratic partner against China. – New York Times
Japan has already initiated communication with the United States following President Donald Trump’s order on formulating plans for tariff proposal, a government spokesperson said on Friday. – Reuters
Vietnam is ready to open its market and import more agricultural products from the United States, its trade minister Nguyen Hong Dien said. – Reuters
Singapore’s government is expected to focus on cost of living issues, housing and employment in next week’s budget, as it heads towards an election buoyed by strong growth and low inflation but facing uncertainties over U.S. trade policies. – Reuters
A court in Tajikistan has sentenced three men to prison sentences ranging from two to 26 years for attempting to kill the Central Asian republic’s chief mufti last year, the head of the Supreme Court said on Thursday. – Reuters
Thailand has received 260 human trafficking victims, more than half of them Ethiopians, from Myanmar, its army said on Thursday, in a massive repatriation that comes amid a mounting crackdown on scam centres operating along a porous border. – Reuters
Vietnam is ready to engage with the United States to discuss the new tariffs on steel imposed by Washington and to avoid risks of additional duties, a spokesperson for its foreign ministry said on Thursday. – Reuters
China acknowledged a visit by the Cook Islands leader for the first time on Thursday, amid exasperation in New Zealand that it was not consulted about expected agreements involving the South Pacific nation, with which Wellington has constitutional ties. – Reuters
Vietnam plans to take loans from the Chinese government to partly fund a $8.3 billion project to build a new railway linking the two countries, the transport minister said on Thursday. – Reuters
Europe
German police detained an Afghan refugee after a car slammed into a crowd in Munich, wounding more than two dozen people in what authorities said was a suspected attack. – Wall Street Journal
The man likely to become Germany’s next leader warned that Elon Musk would face consequences for boosting the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, through his X social-media platform. – Wall Street Journal
Even as Europeans sought to display a united front in their support of Ukraine at a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday, concerns are mounting that they could be left out in the cold by a Trump administration push to work with Russia to end the war. – New York Times
Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators filled the streets of Brussels on Thursday during a nationwide strike to protest proposed cuts to public services, halting air traffic and causing other travel delays. – New York Times
Estonia’s navy is prepared to act against vessels that pose a danger to Baltic Sea infrastructure even if they are in international waters, a senior official patrolling the busy Gulf of Finland shipping lane said on Thursday. – Reuters
Austria’s president sought on Thursday to find a path towards a centrist ruling coalition without the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) after the FPO’s bid to lead a government for the first time failed. – Reuters
An Afghan man with suspected Islamist sympathies went on trial in Germany on Thursday on charges of murder and attempted murder after a stabbing attack targeting a political rally in the western city of Mannheim. – Reuters
There must be no imposed peace in Ukraine and any solution to the conflict must involve the United States, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview with Politico released on Thursday but conducted a day earlier. – Reuters
The European Parliament urged the European Union on Thursday to freeze direct budget support for Rwanda until it breaks links with Tutsi-led M23 rebels and allows humanitarian access to areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo where they advanced. – Reuters
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he’s counting on undecided voters to help him close a big gap to the poll-leading conservatives before next week’s German election and is still optimistic he can win. – Bloomberg
Joseph C. Sternberg writes: This party has achieved that level of support despite worrying fascist tendencies because it’s been a consistent skeptic of an open immigration policy voters once accepted but now dislike. A dispiriting conclusion from this year’s election campaign is that mainstream parties are handing AfD a similar opportunity on energy and the economy as politicians’ squeamishness about frank climate talk persists. – Wall Street Journal
Africa
The United Nations’ children’s agency has accused armed men in eastern Congo of raping hundreds of women and children during a single week of fighting as Rwandan-backed rebels cemented control over the city of Goma, a vital humanitarian hub they seized from government forces last month. – Wall Street Journal
The advance of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels into Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province threatens to trigger a humanitarian catastrophe in an area already housing thousands of displaced people, the provincial governor said. – Reuters
Senegal hopes for a new International Monetary Fund programme by June, Finance Minister Cheikh Diba said on Thursday, as the government vowed to investigate alleged malfeasance after an audit found that former authorities misreported key data. – Reuters
Ethiopia’s national elections body on Thursday imposed a three-month suspension on a party that administers the war-scarred Tigray region, saying it had breached laws governing its internal affairs. – Reuters
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for national unity after the country’s new land-expropriation laws and foreign policy came under attack from US leader Donald Trump. – Bloomberg
The Americas
The White House singled out Canada’s digital services tax as an unfair trade practice that President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs will target. – Wall Street Journal
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday urged Google (GOOGL.O)to reconsider its decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” for U.S. users, adding the country could file a civil suit against the firm if necessary. – Reuters
Funding worth $70 million for environment and conservation projects from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have been frozen in Colombia after President Donald Trump moved to gut the organization, the Andean country’s environment minister said on Thursday. – Reuters
The U.S. military is increasing its airborne surveillance of Mexican drug cartels to collect intelligence to determine how to best counter their activities, the top U.S. general overseeing troops in North America said on Thursday. – Reuters
The United States and Canada have agreed to strengthen cross-border law enforcement collaboration to counter Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement on Thursday. – Reuters
Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, has named Luis Alberto Jaramillo as the country’s new finance minister and confirmed interim energy and oil minister Ines Manzano in her post, presidential decrees showed. – Reuters
Panama has received the first U.S. flight carrying deportees from other nations as the Trump administration takes Panama up on its offer to act as a stopover for expelled migrants, the Central American nation’s president said Thursday. – Associated Press
Haiti’s main public hospital, which remains shuttered after multiple gang attacks, was set on fire Thursday in the latest blow to one the country’s largest health institutions. – Associated Press
Chrystia Freeland writes: It is easy to see why a superpower might be attracted to splendid isolation. But it is the sometimes tedious, time-consuming work of cooperation with friends that will give Americans the best chance of recapturing the peace and prosperity achieved by the alliance-builders of the “greatest generation.” – New York Times
United States
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the U.S. would hit Moscow with sanctions and potentially military action if Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t agree to a peace deal with Ukraine that guarantees Kyiv’s long-term independence. – Wall Street Journal
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday moderated a key piece of his dramatic remarks here at NATO headquarters a day earlier, leaving open a possibility of Ukraine joining the military alliance after previously saying the United States does not believe membership for Kyiv is a “realistic outcome” in any peace deal with Russia. – Washington Post
The U.S. has approved the extradition of a suspect in the 2008 militant attacks in India’s financial capital Mumbai in which over 160 people were killed, President Donald Trump said on Thursday in a press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. – Reuters
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he visited Ukraine this week to further align the United States with the Ukrainian people and to let Americans know that they will see value created for them in post-war Ukraine. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would love to have Russia return to the Group of Seven nations, saying it was a mistake for Moscow to be expelled. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that BRICS nations could face 100% tariffs from the United States “if they want to play games with the dollar.” – Reuters
President Donald Trump has vowed to destroy Mexican cartels and end the U.S. fentanyl epidemic, but his sweeping freeze on foreign aid has temporarily stopped U.S.-funded anti-narcotics programs in Mexico that for years have been working to curb the flow of the synthetic opioid into the United States. – Reuters
Editorial: Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley this week warned that Mr. Trump’s threatened 25% across-the-board tariffs on Mexico and Canada “would blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we’ve never seen.” Mr. Trump’s response? Tease tariffs on autos to stitch the hole. The better course is to negotiate bilateral trade deals, which is what China is doing. Mr. Trump’s tariff threats encourage other countries to get closer to Beijing. U.S. businesses are huffing and puffing, but Xi Jinping is smiling. – Wall Street Journal
Cybersecurity
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his 75-day delay in enforcing a ban on the popular short-video app TikTok could be extended, but said he doesn’t think that will be necessary. – Reuters
As technology and policy representatives around the world convened in Paris, France this week to find balance between safety and innovation in AI, Vice President JD Vance was blunt about how the Trump administration is planning to position itself. – Cyberscoop
China’s Salt Typhoon campaign to breach telecommunications companies has continued through the new year despite efforts by governments to stop the hackers, researchers said Thursday. – The Record
Defense
The United States will increase military sales to India starting in 2025 and will eventually provide F-35 fighter jets, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday. – Reuters
President Donald Trump’s administration has told allies in the UK and Europe that it wants them to buy American weapons and military equipment in order to maintain the NATO alliance, European officials familiar with the matter said. – Bloomberg
Japan has ordered 17 of the latest variant of the Boeing-manufactured CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter, the company said Thursday. The CH-47 Block II Chinook is an extended-range version of the aircraft that is used by the U.S. Army and U.S. Special Operations Command. Japan is the fourth customer for the new variant. – Defense News