Fdd's overnight brief

Israel

Israeli forces intercepted a sailboat carrying a group of activists, including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, who planned to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade on the enclave. – Wall Street Journal

She is among a growing number of women serving on the front lines of Israel’s military. Before the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that spurred the war, women were trained for combat, but left mostly to guard within Israel’s borders or run checkpoints in the West Bank, considered less dangerous tasks. – Wall Street Journal

The remains of a Thai citizen who was kidnapped by Hamas-led fighters in the attack of Oct. 7, 2023, has been returned to Israel from Gaza after a military operation, Israeli authorities said Saturday. – Washington Post

The traditional United Nations-run system for delivering aid has faltered as looters and fighting have cut off safe routes for aid trucks, and a new, Israeli-backed aid distribution system has descended into controversy, chaos and violence. – New York Times

The Israeli army said on Sunday it had retrieved the body of Hamas’ military chief Mohammed Sinwar in an underground tunnel beneath a hospital in southern Gaza, following a targeted operation last month. – Reuters

Four people were killed and others injured by Israeli forces on Sunday as Palestinians making their way towards an aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip came under fire, according to Palestinian paramedics. – Reuters

A controversial humanitarian organization backed by the United States and Israel did not distribute any food aid on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that “made it impossible” to operate in the enclave, which the Palestinian militants denied. – Reuters

French anti-terror prosecutors have opened two probes into “complicity in genocide” and “incitement to genocide” over French-Israelis suspected of having blocked aid intended for the Gaza Strip and the Israeli Defense Forces’ wartime conduct. – Agence France Presse

“Since I got my freedom back, a year has passed, but it feels like nothing has changed,” former hostage Noa Argamani said in a Sunday post on X/Twitter, marking the anniversary of her rescue from the Gaza Strip. – Jerusalem Post

Documents seized in Gaza over the course of the war against Hamas and published by an Israeli TV channel Sunday night purport to shine a light on Qatar’s intensive collaboration with the terror group spanning a number of years, including attempts to thwart regional peace efforts by the US, marginalize Egyptian influence on Gaza, and bolster the roles of Turkey and Iran. – Times of Israel

Editorial: And yes, there is deep and undeniable suffering. But any honest accounting must include Hamas’s theft of aid, its exploitation of civilians as human shields, and its brutal repression of its own people. Ignoring that truth is complicity and ignorance of the highest order. Thunberg’s narrative of the Israel-Hamas war leaves no room for the messy, devastating reality that Palestinians can also be victims of their own rulers. And that Hamas’s authoritarian grip is not the liberation that Thunberg stands for. – Jerusalem Post

Editorial: That concern is valid. But so is the argument that sometimes unsavory actors may still serve useful purposes – if only temporarily. Defense officials have argued that even criminal elements can help stabilize a zone if they perceive it as being in their interest to do so. In this light, Liberman’s leak appears to be motivated more by the political opportunity to embarrass Netanyahu than by concerns about national security. The real damage may not be to the prime minister’s reputation but to ongoing operational efforts to find effective ways to further weaken Hamas and undermine its control of Gaza from within. – Jerusalem Post

John Spencer writes: Victory over Hamas won’t come from airstrikes alone. It will take local ground knowledge, legitimacy within communities, and the ability to fill power vacuums before Hamas does. Empowering clans that oppose Hamas, regardless of past affiliations, is a tactical necessity. You don’t beat a shadowy, embedded enemy like Hamas without taking advantage of the internal fractures in the society it dominates. Israel isn’t arming Gaza clans to build a new government. It’s arming them to destroy the government Hamas built through terror. That isn’t recklessness, it’s fighting a war. And it’s working. – Wall Street Journal

Russia and Ukraine

In public, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia says his country’s growing friendship with China is unshakable — a strategic military and economic collaboration that has entered a golden era. – New York Times

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a new naval strategy which aims to fully restore Russia’s position as one of the world’s leading maritime powers, Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview published on Monday. – Reuters

Production was temporarily suspended at an electronics company in Russia’s Volga river region of Chuvashia, some 1,300 km (800 miles) from the border with Ukraine, after two drones fell on the plant’s territory, the head of the region said on Monday. – Reuters

Ukraine denied Russian allegations on Saturday that it had indefinitely postponed prisoner swaps, accusing Moscow of “playing dirty games” after overnight Russian missile and bomb strikes on Kharkiv left three people dead and 22 injured. – Reuters

Russia said on Sunday its forces had advanced to the edge of the east-central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk amid a public row between Moscow and Kyiv over peace negotiations and the return of thousands of bodies of soldiers who fell in the war. – Reuters

The United States believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threatened retaliation against Ukraine over its drone attack last weekend has not happened yet in earnest and is likely to be a significant, multi-pronged strike, U.S. officials told Reuters. – Reuters

Ukraine sent dozens of its own citizens to Russia last month, releasing them from prisons in an attempt to secure the release of dozens of Ukrainian civilians held illegally in Russian jails – a move described by human rights activists as desperate and worrying. – CNN

Syria

An investigation by The Wall Street Journal, based on secret documents from the Assad regime and conversations with former detainees and corroborated by Syria’s current government, found that at least 300 children like Ahmed were forcibly separated from their families and placed in orphanages after being detained during the country’s civil war. – Wall Street Journal

In the eyes of Syria’s new leaders, the foreign fighters who battled alongside their rebel groups to oust the Assad dictatorship are loyal allies “who have stuck beside the revolution.” For the United States, many of these fighters conjure images of terrorist groups like the Islamic State. – New York Times

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month. – Reuters

Lebanon

Now, after last year’s bruising war with Israel, Hezbollah is much weaker and Lebanon’s new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors. They aim to disarm Hezbollah and rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which in recent years have prohibited their citizens from visiting Lebanon or importing its products. – Associated Press

The United States and Israel agreed that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon must cease its operations in southern Lebanon, The Jerusalem Post confirmed Sunday, following reports. – Jerusalem Post

Beirut did not respond to Israel’s forewarning that it planned to strike terror targets from Hezbollah’s Aerial Unit in Dahiyeh, Israeli officials said on Saturday, according to a report from KAN. – Jerusalem Post

China

A U.S.-China trade truce wasn’t enough to stem a sharp drop in shipments from China to America last month, a sign of the havoc that President Trump’s tariffs have wrought on trade between the world’s two largest economies. – Wall Street Journal

Taiwan has embarked on a mission to purge any allies of Beijing from its civil service in an escalating battle against China’s influence—vetting hundreds of thousands of workers and threatening to revoke the citizenship of those found to be Chinese citizens. – Wall Street Journal

Export controls—a major concern for industries worldwide—are moving to the top of the agenda of trade talks between the U.S. and China on Monday. The trade war between Washington and Beijing has in recent weeks veered away from tariffs, focusing instead on each country’s restrictions on material or products the other side desperately needs. – Wall Street Journal

China is racing toward economic self-sufficiency by weaning itself off American technology. But it has made a critical exception for another national priority: public health. – Wall Street Journal

A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-occupied island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said Sunday. – Associated Press

Shares of Chinese defense companies rallied Monday, after Pakistan said it intends to buy one of the Asian power’s most-advanced fighter jets as a part of major arms purchase. – Bloomberg

Asia

The ship-slaying missiles of the Japanese army’s Seventh Regiment are mounted aboard dark green trucks that are easy to move and conceal, but for now, the soldiers are making no effort to hide them. Created a year ago, the fledgling regiment and its roving missile batteries occupy a hilltop base on the island of Okinawa that can be seen for miles. – New York Times

Several Japanese Self-Defense Force members were injured on Monday in an explosion at an ammunition storage area inside the U.S. military’s Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, southern Japan, defence ministry officials said. – Reuters

Taiwan’s coast guard held drills with the military on Sunday to better practice joint operations in the face of what the government in Taipei says is a growing “grey zone” threat from China, which claims the island as its own territory. – Reuters

Cambodia’s Defence Ministry confirmed on Sunday that Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to return their troops to previous border positions after a clash in which a Cambodian soldier was killed prompted both to reinforce their military presence. – Reuters

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Sunday replaced two ministers in his government, including the transport minister, who he had previously criticized for delays in infrastructure modernisation. – Reuters

The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning sailed through waters east of the island of Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean for the first time, Japan’s top government spokesperson said on Monday. – Reuters

Africa

When students in Africa pine for an education overseas, the United States is often not top of mind.

For many, it is China. For many, it is China. The Trump administration’s recent tightening of visas for international students has raised fears that the United States could lose its status as a top destination for higher education. But for tens of thousands of students in Africa, that shift was already happening. – New York Times

Rwanda has said it would withdraw from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), underscoring diplomatic tensions in the region over an offensive this year by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo. – Reuters

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has suspended its operations in Niger after the West African nation’s government ordered the closure of its offices, citing alleged collusion with armed groups. – Reuters

The Africa Corps, a Kremlin-controlled paramilitary force, said on Friday it will stay in Mali after Russia’s Wagner mercenary group leaves following a 3-1/2 year fight against Islamist militants. – Reuters

Fridolin Ambongo writes: As a Catholic cardinal, I spend time with bishops, priests and ordinary families across Africa. I see their needs. I hear their hopes. On behalf of those people, I ask President Trump and his administration to reconsider aid to his friends in Africa, who have been and will continue to be important partners of the U.S. We are eager to work closely with Washington to ensure that all such aid is used well, free of the fraud and mismanagement that has occurred in the past. There is too much at stake—for Africans, for Americans and for the world. – Wall Street Journal

North America

Canada introduced legislation on Friday that aims to accelerate approval of resource and infrastructure projects, and knock down internal trade barriers that analysts estimate cost the domestic economy tens of billions of dollars in growth. – Wall Street Journal

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney invited his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to the upcoming Group of Seven summit in a phone call on Friday, as the two sides look to mend ties after relations soured in the past two years. – Reuters

Karishma Vaswani writes: Regardless of the underlying motivations, Canada’s decision to include India in this gathering is eminently sensible. In an era marked by fractures in the global order, sustaining engagement should be a priority. Modi can seize this opportunity to strengthen bilateral ties, while remembering that influence extends beyond economic size. It hinges on relationships, credibility, and trust — in short supply in today’s volatile political arena. Setting aside differences to collaborate is not just a positive step, it’s essential. – Bloomberg

Will Freeman writes: The Trump administration, however, should not overestimate Sheinbaum’s control over Morena. It’s unlikely she will move as quickly and aggressively against politicians and state officials with crime ties as Washington might like. Curbing impunity for colluding with crime will be a long, incremental process, extending beyond any one six-year term. If Trump and Sheinbaum miss this opportunity, and the penalties for official collusion with crime remain as low as they are today, the outcome is all but certain: more drug overdose deaths in the United States, and more tragic cases like Teuchitlán in Mexico. – Foreign Affairs

Cybersecurity

U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM.O) on Monday agreed to acquire British semiconductor company Alphawave (AWE.L) for about $2.4 billion as part of efforts to strengthen its artificial intelligence technology. – Reuters

Financial firms in Britain will be able to test artificial intelligence tools later this year in a regulatory “sandbox” launched on Monday by the country’s financial watchdog, part of a broader government strategy to support innovation and economic growth. – Reuters

Getty Images’ landmark copyright lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Stability AI begins at London’s High Court on Monday, with the photo provider’s case likely to set a key precedent for the law on AI. – Reuters

China’s Rednote, one of the country’s most popular social media platforms, has released an open-source large language model, joining a wave of Chinese tech firms making their artificial intelligence models freely available. – Reuters

The Department of Justice has filed a civil forfeiture complaint in federal court in connection with more than $7.74 million that was previously frozen and seized from North Koreans who allegedly obtained the money through the regime’s illicit IT worker scheme. – The Record

State-backed threat actors from a handful of countries are now using ChatGPT for illicit purposes ranging from malware refinement to employment scams and social media disinformation campaigns, OpenAI said this week. – The Record

A stubborn malware campaign has now infected millions of connected devices worldwide, and the resulting botnet is being exploited for criminal activity, according to the FBI. – The Record