Fdd's overnight brief

Israel

Israel’s military targeted Hamas’s top leader in Gaza on Tuesday in an airstrike, which if successful would mark an important military victory at a time when the country is under pressure to wrap up its 18-month-long war in the enclave. – Wall Street Journal

An Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday killed a well-known Palestinian journalist whom it accused of working with Hamas and was recovering in hospital from an earlier strike, the territory’s health ministry said. – Reuters

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen towards its territory. – Reuters

U.S. officials told families of hostages still held in Gaza they see a better chance of a deal for their release after Washington reached an accord with militant group Hamas for an American hostage’s freedom that largely bypassed the Israeli government. – Reuters

The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile that was launched from Yemen towards Israel on Tuesday evening, and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility. Sirens were heard in several places in Israel. – Reuters

Israel’s Eurovision contestant Yuval Raphael says she had been frightened by pro-Palestinian protests and security concerns surrounding Israel’s participation in the competition, but was “focusing on the love” shown by global fans. – Reuters

Britain’s decision to allow the export of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel, despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, was unlawful, a Palestinian rights group told London’s High Court on Tuesday. – Reuters

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he’s days away from ordering an all-out escalation of Israel’s war against Hamas, and even the release of more hostages would only pause the campaign to destroy the Iran-backed group. – Bloomberg

A British tourist is facing deportation from Israel after allegedly entering a closed military area and threatening security forces, Israeli authorities say. – BBC

A senior Hamas official tells Newsweek that the Palestinian militant group saw “positive” potential in signs of a growing rift between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after offering the U.S. leader a political win in the form of an American hostage release ahead of his Middle East trip. – Newsweek

A Palestinian resident of Rafah in the Gaza Strip was apprehended while transporting another Palestinian from Hebron in a town near Jerusalem, the Israel Police said in a statement on Tuesday. – Jerusalem Post

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said the current United Nations humanitarian aid system enables Hamas to benefit from international assistance and must be stopped. – Jerusalem Post

The Israeli Air Force intercepted two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip that caused sirens to sound in Sderot and the surrounding Gaza border area, as well as in Ashkelon, on Tuesday evening, the IDF said. – Jerusalem Post

If Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar has indeed been assassinated, it would make it easier to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday evening. – Jerusalem Post

Suha Arafat, the widow of Yasser Arafat, reportedly played a role in opening a channel between Hamas and the US to negotiate the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, Hezbollah-affiliated network Al Mayadeen reported on Tuesday. – Jerusalem Post

Palestinian-American political activist Bishara Bahbah was the third-party mediator between US President Donald Trump’s administration and Hamas who succeeded in convincing the terror group to release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander on Monday, four officials familiar with the matter confirmed to The Times of Israel – Times of Israel

During the week, IDF soldiers conducting counterterrorism activity in the area of Tulkarm located an explosives lab containing over 200 explosives of various kinds, as well as approximately 150 kilograms of materials used to manufacture explosives. – Arutz Sheva

Dr. Dan Diker writes: While not completely reflective of across-the-board Israeli interests, President Trump’s Middle East visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates is not a snub of Israel. The Iranian regime and its Hamas terror proxy should take note. The US IS committed to regional security, Israeli-Saudi normalization, and the end of Islamic extremist terror. – Jerusalem Post

Russia and Ukraine

Russia and Ukraine are poised to sit down this week in Istanbul for their first high-level face-to-face talks since 2022 — a proposal presented by President Vladimir Putin to counter increasingly loud Western demands for Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire as a pledge toward a lasting peace. – Washington Post

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine appealed to President Trump on Tuesday to meet him this week for peace talks, saying it would put pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to attend, but he cast doubt on Mr. Putin’s desire for either talks or peace. – New York Times

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he would attend talks with Russia on the war in Ukraine this week only if Vladimir Putin is also there, and goaded him by saying the Russian leader was scared to meet him face-to-face. – Reuters

The Kremlin on Tuesday rejected as biased a ruling by the U.N. aviation council that Russia was responsible for the downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine in 2014 that killed all 298 passengers and crew. – Reuters

A series of Ukraine drone attacks on the region of Belgorod injured at least 16 people on Tuesday, the governor of the region in Russia’s southwest that borders Ukraine said on Wednesday. – Reuters

Ukraine has concluded procedures for implementation of a deal with the United States on exploiting minerals, including the operation of an investment fund, the country’s first deputy prime minister said on Tuesday. – Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he was in favour of imposing new sanctions on Russia in coming days if Moscow failed to agree to a ceasefire, mentioning financial services and oil and gas as possible targets. – Reuters

“Massive” sanctions European leaders threatened to impose on Russia if Vladimir Putin does not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine face formidable political obstacles and would need U.S. support to succeed, officials and diplomats said. – Reuters

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday she does not think Russia is truly interested in establishing peace in Ukraine. – Reuters

The Russian economy is in an increasingly precarious state as a result of a shift to a war mode and of Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, a report by the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) said on Tuesday. – Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the recruitment of volunteers to fight in his war in Ukraine, suggesting the pace of efforts to replenish the ranks has significantly increased since last year. – Bloomberg

Tom Rogan writes: Mr. Putin had his oligarchs buy up assets in London and use this financial power to influence the media, intimidate and silence British journalists, and provide political cover for Mr. Putin’s nerve-agent-wielding assassination squads—who have poisoned several Russian dissidents in Britain. Mr. Trump should consider Mr. Putin’s history. The American president may like deals, but Mr. Putin is more cutthroat even than the New York real-estate market. – Wall Street Journal

Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan write: As it happens, the most sensitive elements of the Soviet banking system — including the sovzagranbanki — survived the 1990s and 2000s, albeit under changed names and ownership structures. And they came in handy when Russia was deluged by an avalanche of Western sanctions following the annexation of Crimea and then the full-scale invasion of Ukraine […]The mentality the KGB  brought into the banking system seems to have endured as well. Russian financiers, accustomed to aligning with the regime and its repressive agencies, chose to support the regime at war — not necessarily out of loyalty, but because they knew no different. – Center for European Policy Analysis

Turkey

Turkish police detained 97 students on Tuesday in Istanbul’s Bogazici University over a protest against an Islamic preacher’s conference on the campus, the city’s governor said. – Reuters

Turkey is embarking on a hazardous path to ensure the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group implements its decision to disband after 40 years of conflict, facing obstacles that need to be overcome in neighbouring Iraq and Syria. – Reuters

Senior Israeli officials confirmed Tuesday that Israel has conveyed messages to the Trump administration opposing the potential sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey, citing concerns over a possible erosion of Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region. – Ynet

Saudi Arabia

Cisco will enter a multi-year artificial intelligence partnership with Saudi Arabia, joining its HUMAIN initiative to accelerate the country’s AI development. – Wall Street Journal

In perhaps the largest single assemblage of America’s tech leaders since they prominently graced the stage at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Silicon Valley’s powerful decamped to the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Tuesday to join Trump and a coterie of top advisers to solicit investment from the oil-rich kingdom. – Washington Post

The White House on Tuesday said that President Trump, while in Saudi Arabia, had secured $600 billion in deals with the Saudi government and firms. But the details the White House provided were vague and totaled less than half that number. – New York Times

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump lavished effusive praise on Saudi’s de facto ruler, calling him “an incredible man” and a “great guy,” and made no mention of human rights concerns in the country. – Reuters

The United States agreed on Tuesday to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, according to a White House fact sheet that called it “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done. – Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States was adding over $1 trillion in investments with his trip to Saudi Arabia, citing multibillion-dollar commercial deals expected with large companies including Amazon, Oracle and others. – Reuters

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday said abuses were being committed on giant construction sites in Saudi Arabia and warned of the risks to migrant workers building stadiums for the 2034 soccer World Cup. – Agence France-Presse

U.S. President Donald Trump told Saudi Arabian officials that they ought to recognize Israel formally, and by doing so, “you’ll be greatly honoring me.” – JNS

Middle East & North Africa

The French Development Agency (AFD) said it would invest 150 million euros ($167 million) in Western Sahara in 2025-2026, following Paris’ recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed desert territory. – Reuters

The killing of a powerful militia leader in the Libyan capital on Monday night sparked hours of intense clashes that drove his group from its main stronghold and may prompt a consolidation of power among armed factions aligned with the Tripoli government. – Reuters

More than 19,000 prisoners have been released in Iraq so far this year under a broad new amnesty law that eases prison crowding and frees some people convicted of terrorism-related crimes, judicial authorities said Tuesday. – Associated Press

China

In Beijing, Washington’s steep reduction in tariffs on China starting Wednesday, much sharper than analysts expected, is being trumpeted as proof that Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s hard-line stance over the past five weeks was the correct approach: a victory in round one of President Donald Trump’s trade war. – Washington Post

Even as the United States and China take steps to rein in their trade war, Beijing is preparing for broader rivalry with Washington to continue. For China, that means its search for economic and diplomatic opportunities across Asia is unlikely to soften its tough line on its regional territorial claims and military competition. – New York Times

Two Chinas inhabit the American imagination: One is a technology and manufacturing superpower poised to lead the world. The other is an economy that’s on the verge of collapse. Each reflects a real aspect of China. – New York Times

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is trying to show that he is listening. He told a gathering of Latin American leaders and officials in Beijing on Tuesday that he wanted to expand cooperation in “emerging areas,” including clean energy, telecommunications and artificial intelligence.. – New York Times

China and Colombia have signed a joint cooperation plan on the Belt and Road Initiative, state media said on Wednesday after their leaders met in Beijing. Burgeoning commerce in recent years has helped grow Beijing’s influence in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region of strategic significance for the United States. – Reuters

U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them, two people familiar with the matter said. – Reuters

China and Brazil pledged on Tuesday to defend free trade and multilateralism, signing a string of agreements in Beijing to strengthen their ties amid global uncertainty triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s import tariffs. – Reuters

China will put forward new peacekeeping commitments, and support the reform and transformation of the United Nations’ peacekeeping efforts, state news agency Xinhua said on Wednesday, citing the Chinese defence chief. – Reuters

President Xi Jinping vowed on Tuesday to boost China’s footprint in Latin America and the Caribbean with a new $9 billion credit line and fresh infrastructure investment, although Brazil warned the region not to become overly reliant on foreign funding. – Reuters

The easing of trade tensions between the United States and China is a step in the right direction and helps reduce European fears of being flooded with Chinese goods redirected from the U.S. market, European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said. – Reuters

China will lower its tariffs on U.S. goods to 10% for an initial 90 days starting from 12:01 pm (0401 GMT) on Wednesday, Chinese finance ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. – Reuters

China’s surprisingly quick agreement with the US to wind back punitive tariff rates put a spotlight on a Chinese negotiating team that features decades worth of technical trade experience alongside a top aide of President Xi Jinping. – Bloomberg

Hong Kong fast-tracked new national security rules that further consolidate Beijing’s control over the financial hub, with the changes taking effect immediately. – Bloomberg

China is expected to commission a new large naval vessel, which is designed for amphibious warfare in island-landing operations across the contested Taiwan Strait and South China Sea. – Newsweek

Valbona Zeneli and Zoltán Fehér write: Washington and Brussels should find a modus vivendi on trade and security, join forces in countering China’s influence, and reform and strengthen the rules-based international order that their nations had jointly created eighty years ago. The country benefiting most from a transatlantic rift and the decline of the liberal international order is Communist China. Europe and the world need America’s engagement more than ever if we wish to prevent China from further harming EU and U.S. economic competitiveness and from transforming the world order in its own authoritarian image. – National Interest

Asia

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Wednesday urged the country’s anti-counterfeit task force to devise new ways to fight fake goods, trade frauds and smuggling, the government said in a statement. – Reuters

Haiti’s foreign minister was one of Taiwan’s two diplomatic allies attending a forum on Tuesday in Beijing between China and Latin American and Caribbean countries, as China steps up its pressure campaign against the diplomatically isolated island. – Reuters

British police charged Myanmar’s former ambassador to the United Kingdom with trespassing on a diplomatic residence in London that he has refused to leave since being ousted for opposing Myanmar’s 2021 military coup. – Reuters

A Philippine midterm election may have leaned in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s favour but the stronger-than-expected showing for estranged vice president and bitter rival Sara Duterte may have given him a jolt, with the possibility of a shift in the balance of power in the rest of his term. – Reuters

The recent conflict between India and Pakistan is prompting a reassessment of Chinese weapons, challenging long-held perceptions of their inferiority to Western arms and sparking concern in places wary of Beijing. – Bloomberg

The United States conducted a drill with Japan, involving supersonic bombers and stealth fighter jets, to strengthen their deterrence amid an “increasingly severe security environment.” – Newsweek

Africa

Suspected insurgents killed five Nigerian soldiers in assaults on two army bases in northeastern Borno state early on Tuesday, security sources and a district official said, less than 24 hours after another deadly attack on troops in the region. – Reuters

The Ugandan government introduced a bill in parliament on Tuesday that would allow military tribunals to prosecute civilians, months after the country’s Supreme Court ruled the practice unconstitutional. – Reuters

French uranium miner Orano said on Tuesday it had filed a lawsuit with the Niger courts over the “arbitrary arrest, illegal detention and unjust confiscation of property” involving its staff and assets in the country. – Reuters

Tanzanian authorities arrested a senior opposition official as he was departing for a political conference in Belgium, his party said on Tuesday, as fears grow of an escalating crackdown ahead of an October election. – Reuters

An escalation of fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has strained the Central African nation’s public finances, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. – Reuters

The president of Mali’s transitional government signed a decree Tuesday dissolving political parties amid a backdrop of pro-democracy opposition, a minister in the government announced. – Associated Press

As news emerged this week about hundreds of Burkina Faso citizens killed separately by both jihadi groups and government forces, images of Burkina Faso’s junta leader Capt. Ibrahim Traore were plastered over Russian state media speaking about pan-Africanism and liberating the minds of the continent’s youths. – Associated Press

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called a group of 59 white South Africans who have moved to the US to resettle “cowards”, saying “they’ll be back soon”. – BBC

Zambia’s foreign minister has warned diplomats against interfering in the country’s affairs, days after the US ambassador raised concerns about the “systematic theft” of drugs donated to the southern African state. – BBC

North America

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday he’s willing to amend federal rules that may pose headwinds toward getting energy projects built and capitalize on the country’s abundance of natural resources. – Wall Street Journal

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who won an election last month vowing to stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump, unveiled a new cabinet on Tuesday that he said would help urgently define a new relationship with Washington. – Reuters

Several family members of Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán have entered the United States as part of negotiations in a case against one of his sons, Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch told the Mexican network Radio Fórmula on Tuesday. – CNN

Wilson Beaver and Robert Peters write: Canadian defense spending is not some favor Ottawa should feel compelled to do for the United States or for NATO. To the contrary, Canadian defense spending is first and foremost about the interests of the Canadian people […]The United States and Canada share the North American continent and have a joint interest in preventing adversarial powers from encroaching on Canadian and American sovereignty in North America and the Arctic. Moving forward, it will be critical for the United States and Canada to work together to establish their joint security interests and identify the best ways to cooperate on securing North America and the Arctic. – Heritage Foundation

Cybersecurity

A struggling technology company that has ties to China and relies on TikTok made an unusual announcement this week. It had secured funding to buy as much as $300 million of $TRUMP, the so-called memecoin marketed by President Trump. – New York Times

A number of U.S. technology firms on Tuesday announced artificial intelligence deals in the Middle East as U.S. President Donald Trump secured $600 billion in commitments from Saudi Arabia to U.S. companies during a tour of Gulf stat – Reuters

British retailer Marks and Spencer said on Tuesday some personal customer information was taken in the cyber attack that has crippled its online operation for more than three weeks. – Reuters

The United Nations’ technology envoy Amandeep Singh Gill today warned that using autonomous weapons can lead to mounting losses in wars and conflicts. – Politico

The European Commission is open to amending the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act following an upcoming review, a top Commission official told POLITICO’s AI and Tech Summit Tuesday. – Politico

North Korean state-backed hackers have targeted Ukrainian government entities in a new espionage campaign, likely aimed at gathering intelligence on Russia’s war efforts, researchers have found. – The Record

A hacker group known as APT37 has launched a new espionage campaign against organizations in South Korea with interests in national security, researchers have found. – The Record

The European Union launched on Tuesday its new vulnerability database to provide aggregated information regarding cybersecurity issues affecting various products and services. – The Record

Nitansha Bansal and Jen Roberts write: The influx of investment into spyware capabilities is fueling an already significant threat to national security interests, lending legitimacy to and ultimately sustaining a murky marketplace. This only exacerbates a concerning trend in cyberspace—the use of these offensive cyber capabilities by rogue actors against U.S. strategic interests and domestic targets. However, through its economic heft, the Trump administration can stem the flow of dollars working against American interests, and shape the global spyware market for good. – National Interest