Fdd's overnight brief

Syria

A U.S. envoy asked Germany to consider sending ground troops to Syria, putting Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government on the spot. – Bloomberg

Qusayr, a once bustling commercial hub in western Syria, has not seen any fighting since government troops, with the help of Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group, drove out Sunni Muslim rebels six years ago. – Reuters

At least 544 civilians have been killed and over 2,000 people injured since a Russian-led assault on the last rebel bastion in northwestern Syria began two months ago, rights groups and rescuers said on Saturday. – Reuters

Kanj is among thousands of Syrian refugees who will be left stranded by a government decision to dismantle “semi-permanent structures” in eastern Lebanon, aid agencies say. – Reuters

Julian Lee writes: The noose strangling the flow of oil to Syria tightened a notch last week, when British Royal Marines boarded a tanker carrying Iranian crude into the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar. With Syria’s Iranian supplies halted, the flow will have to come from somewhere else, and the alternative is troubling. – Bloomberg

Israel

As the Trump administration lays the groundwork for an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, neighboring Jordan has been thrust into the awkward position of opposing many of Washington’s policies while depending on its support. – Wall Street Journal

MK Yousef Jabareen (Hadash) publicly called for a boycott of Israel in remarks he gave at the anti-Israel Palestine Expo event taking place in London, Kan 11 News reported Sunday. – Arutz Sheva

Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday morning to hold a special Knesset meeting on the subject of a Palestinian takeover of Area C, an area controlled by the Israeli government and housing many Israeli settlements. – Jerusalem Post

Some 7,500 Palestinians violently demonstrated along the Gaza border on Friday. At least 41 protesters were injured by IDF troops, who used riot dispersal means including live fire. Palestinian media reported that 22 protesters were injured by live bullets and another 19 by rubber-coated rounds. – Jerusalem Post

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz voiced frustration on Friday with what he called Lebanon’s failure to agree to US-mediated talks on setting their maritime border, suggesting Iran-backed Hezbollah was applying pressure on Beirut. – Reuters

About five years ago, Israeli government lawyers imagined that their greatest fear was finally going to come to pass.  Yes, Israel had succeeded at fending off the 2009 UN Human Rights Council Goldstone Report and an initial attempt by the Palestinian Authority to join the International Criminal Court so it could go after Israelis for alleged war crimes. – Jerusalem Post

Five years after Operation Protective Edge, Hamas remains as defiant as ever, and there are no signs that its rule over the Gaza Strip is facing any real challenges. – Jerusalem Post

It’s been five years since the last IDF soldier left the Gaza Strip after the end of Operation Protective Edge. There hasn’t been any fullblown military confrontation between Israel and Hamas since. […] But five years later, the situation on the southern front is anything but peaceful. – Jerusalem Post

Israeli soldiers shot down a drone they identified crossing over from the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to a statement by the Israeli army. – Haaretz

Security forces arrested a suspect overnight Saturday after five Israeli soldiers were wounded by a car at the Hizma checkpoint in northern Jerusalem in what the military says was a deliberate attack.  – Haaretz

Yemen

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they have new types of locally made ballistic missiles that they will use in the conflict with the Saudi-led coalition. – Bloomberg

A Saudi-led military coalition said on Saturday it had intercepted and destroyed drones launched by Yemen’s Houthi group at targets in the kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported. – Reuters

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Saturday that it carried out drone attacks on military sites at Abha airport in southern Saudi Arabia, the group’s Al-Masirah TV reported. – Reuters

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Saturday that it carried out drone attacks on warplane hangars and other military sites in Jizan airport in southern Saudi Arabia, the group’s Al-Masirah TV reported. – Reuters

Middle East & North Africa

Tunisia has banned the niqab in public institutions after two suicide bombings rocked the capital last week, becoming the latest country to outlaw the orthodox religious garment in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. – Washington Post

Iraq’s security and paramilitary forces began Sunday a military operation along the border with Syria aimed at clearing the area of Islamic State group militants, the military said in a statement. – Associated Press

A senior commander in the Iraqi army disclosed information on military bases along the Iraq-Syria border to a CIA agent, according to audio files and WhatsApp chats released by the Iraqi Hezbollah terror group, the Iranian Fars news agency reported. – Jerusalem Post

China

In recent months, a wave of Islamic countries stood up to China over its oppression of the Muslim Uighur ethnic minority before backing down again, largely due to fear of Beijing’s economic vengeance. – Business Insider

China’s military said its recent “live-fire drill” in the South China Sea didn’t target any country and wasn’t held to achieve specific objectives, after the U.S. denounced the missile tests as “coercive acts.” – Bloomberg

China and the rest of the world must co-exist, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan said on Monday, in an indirect jab at the United States with which Beijing is currently trying to resolve a bitter trade war. – Reuters

Australian defense officials said on Monday they were tracking a Chinese surveillance ship that is expected to position itself just outside of its territorial waters to monitor military exercises between Australia and the United States. – Reuters

The wife of the former head of Interpol, who was detained in his native China, said on Sunday she had sued the global police cooperation agency for failing to protect his family and complicity in what she called China’s “wrongful acts”. – Reuters

Children of parents detained in China’s vast system of “re-education camps” in the far west region of Xinjiang are being separated from their families and placed in huge, purpose-built boarding schools as part of a “coordinated state campaign” to provide “full-time or near full-time care for all children from a very young age,” new research has found. – CNN

Susan Thornton writes: China’s rise does pose serious challenges to the U.S. and the global order, which need to be addressed. And many of these complaints are longstanding, so naturally it feels good to hit back. […]The U.S. must band together with partners, double down on coaxing China into the global community and strengthen international structures against new pressures. It’s called diplomacy and the U.S. used to be darn good at it. – Bloomberg

Asia

In the wake of the devastating April attacks — carried out by local Islamist extremists — the entire community braced itself for retaliation. Now those reprisals have arrived. Muslim-owned businesses are facing informal boycotts. ­Anti-Muslim riots broke out in two provinces in May, damaging hundreds of businesses, homes and mosques and leaving one person dead. Nine Muslim ministers resigned in June, partly because they feared that if they did not, more violence was imminent. – Washington Post

Another massive march in Hong Kong, this time held in an enclave frequented by Chinese tourists and connected by high-speed railway to the mainland, turned chaotic Sunday night after a smaller group of protesters occupied a major shopping road and was forcibly cleared by police. – Washington Post

Fresh political violence broke out in Hong Kong on Sunday night as riot police baton-charged anti-government protesters seeking to keep the pressure up on the city’s pro-Beijing leaders, after a mass rally outside a train station linking the finance hub to mainland China. – Agence France–Presse

Amnesty International urgently called for international pressure and an immediate U.N. investigation to help end what it says are possible crimes against humanity in the Philippine president’s bloody anti-drug crackdown. – Associated Press

Police arrested six people during a demonstration in one of Hong Kong’s most popular tourist areas on Sunday, where thousands of protesters sought to raise awareness among mainland Chinese visitors about the political crisis that has rocked the city. – ReutersA wave of mostly peaceful protests against the bill garnered massive public support in Hong Kong. But as young protesters adopted ever more radical tactics — including a sit-in that shut down Hong Kong’s tax department on June 24 followed by the brief occupation and vandalisation of the territory’s legislature last week — Mr Lim says they went too far. – Financial Times

Chris Horton writes: As Taiwan prepares for presidential and legislative elections in January—amid concerns over an intense Chinese influence campaign—expect members of Congress and Trump administration officials who see Tsai as a safe pair of hands and view the China-friendly Kuomintang warily to pursue a relationship with Taiwan that is more like one between official diplomatic allies. Tsai’s two “transit” stops in the US in the coming days will last two nights—previous protocol had limited Taiwanese presidents to one-night stopovers. – The Atlantic

Ben Bland writes: Despite Beijing’s standard complaints about biased international press coverage and interference by “foreign forces,” the gaze of the world’s media and the interest of foreign governments will inevitably wane in the coming weeks and months. But the commitment of young Hong Kongers to protect their city and their identity will not. The Communist Party will no doubt try to deter opposition by hitting back harder, demanding a tougher stance from Lam’s government. That will only guarantee that last week’s protests, both peaceful and not, will not be the last. – Bloomberg

Europe

The U.K. Foreign Office defended its ambassador to the U.S. after a British newspaper published what it said were leaked diplomatic cables to London critical of President Trump. – Wall Street Journal

Investigations surrounding Deutsche Bank’s more than decade-long relationship with President Trump and his business have created a crisis for the German financial giant. – Washington Post

The British ambassador to the United States described the White House as “uniquely dysfunctional,” told his counterparts back home that President Trump was “inept” and “insecure,” and warned that his administration could collapse in “disgrace.” – Washington Post

Nearly half of young Jewish Europeans have considered moving away from their home countries out of fear for their safety amid a rise in anti-Semitic incidents on the continent, according to a new report issued by the European Union. – Washington Post

President Trump criticized the U.K. Ambassador to the U.S. Sir Kim Darroch after Darroch called the president “inept” and “incompetent” in leaked messages. – Washington Examiner

Britain is having a political nervous breakdown and is taking a huge risk as it prepares to leave the European Union after a divisive referendum, a former senior UK intelligence official said on Saturday. – Reuters

It is rare for any leader to emerge jubilant from a gruelling three-day international summit. But French president Emmanuel Macron could not hide his satisfaction after this week’s marathon meeting of EU leaders in Brussels. – Financial Times

The 160,000 Conservative party members who are about to pick the United Kingdom’s next next prime minister, would back US President Donald Trump for the job, according to a new poll. – Business Insider

A London court on Friday ordered a man to be hospitalized indefinitely after he attempted to burn down the 18th-century Exeter Synagogue on the Jewish mourning day of Tisha B’Av last year. – Times of Israel

Former prime minister and Labour leader Gordon Brown said on Sunday evening that “the Labour party owes the Jewish community an unqualified apology,” and “that is only a starting point in rebuilding trust.” – Arutz Sheva

Chairman of the Labour party John Cryer said while he feels there has been improvements within the political party, not all antisemites have been kicked out, The Standard reported on Monday.  – Jerusalem Post

Asa Kasher writes: I can understand Israelis defending the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) against Germany’s decision to define it as anti-Semitic. They remind me of Palestinians in Gaza, defending the terrorists of Hamas in the face of Israeli aggression. Though the two cases differ, there is also much in common. […]They are not trying to discriminate against Jews in Europe or in the United States. They are merely expressing their complete support of an organization plagued by anti-Semitism, that uses despicable anti-Semitic means, and by standing by it, and interfering in the fight against it, enhance it and become complicit in the dangers it presents to Jews in every aspect of their lives. – Ynet

The Americas

D.C.’s newest foreign policy think tank, funded by libertarian Charles Koch and left-wing George Soros, was co-founded by a nonprofit leader who was integral to the passage of the controversial Iran nuclear deal. – Washington Examiner

Ecuador will likely become a member of the market-friendly regional trade bloc the Pacific Alliance next year, the president of Peru said on Saturday, the latest sign of the South American country’s rightward shift under President Lenin Moreno. – Reuters

Negotiations are set to resume Monday between the Venezuelan government and the opposition group calling for its ouster in a bid to end months of political instability, the two sides announced. – CNN

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo writes: Oppressive regimes like Iran and Cuba have taken advantage of this cacophonous call for “rights,” even pretending to be avatars of freedom. No one believed the Soviet call for collective economic and civil rights was really about freedom. But after the Cold War ended, many human-rights advocates adopted the same approach, appealing to contrived rights for political advantage. […]My hope is that the Commission on Unalienable Rights will ground our understanding of human rights in a manner that will both inform and better protect essential freedoms—and underscore how central these ideas are not only to Americans, but to all of humanity. – Wall Street Journal

Defense

A four-star admiral due to take over as the Navy’s top officer on Aug. 1 will instead retire, the service announced Sunday night, citing his interactions with a subordinate accused of acting inappropriately toward female officers. – Washington Post

Conceding not all Advanced Weapons Elevators will be operational before USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) leaves an extended post-shakedown availability, the Navy is pressing to fix as many of the systems as possible. – USNI News

The Columbia (SSBN-826) class program is a program to design and build a class of 12 new ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) to replace the Navy’s current force of 14 aging Ohio-class SSBNs. – USNI News

Two Norwegian satellites will host the core components of the U.S. Air Force’s next generation satellite communications system for the arctic, Northrop Grumman announced July 3. – C4ISRNET

Daniel S. Morgan writes: Just over halfway through the Trump administration’s first term, the military is getting its third secretary of Defense in Mark Esper. […]Fortunately, the Department of Defense (DOD) is receiving a great leader in Esper. He is superbly qualified, by experience and temperament — a family man, combat veteran infantry officer, West Point graduate, defense industry and policy expert, and an intellectual with high-level Pentagon civilian leadership experience. – The Hill