Stay ConnectedThe Middle East never stops moving. Neither does the FDD Morning Brief.
Three mornings a week, FDD Executive Director Jonathan Schanzer cuts through the noise with the experts who have spent their careers studying, shaping, and living the region’s most consequential moments. All before your morning coffee gets cold.
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FDD Senior Research Analyst Natalie Ecanow timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a pre-recorded conversation between Jonathan Schanzer and Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum.
For all episodes: https://bit.ly/4qHfzNp
IS VENEZUELA CHINA'S REALITY CHECK?
HEADLINE 1: Israel banned 29 Turkish individuals from entering the country.
HEADLINE 2: Iran is reportedly turning to cryptocurrency to resuscitate its economy.
HEADLINE 3: The Treasury Department slapped sanctions on a network of nonprofits tied to Hamas.
HEADLINE 4: Israel is still schwacking Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Craig Singleton, senior director of FDD’s China Program.
Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Over the Barrel of a Gun: Syria’s Deal With the SDF" - Ahmad Sharawi, Real Clear World
"The mission behind Trump’s Board of Peace is simple — and critics keep getting it wrong" - Jonathan Schanzer, New York Post
"Assessing the China-Russia Threat Nexus in Technology and Information Warfare" - Craig Singleton, David Shedd, Ivana Stradner, and William Evanina, FDD Event
HEADLINE 1: Israel began demolishing UNRWA’s headquarters in East Jerusalem.
HEADLINE 2: U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as Trump’s Syria envoy, thinks that things are going well in Damascus.
HEADLINE 3: The IDF began a sweeping counterterrorism operation in the West Bank city of Hebron.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Israeli American journalist Emily Schrader.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief/
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Persian Puzzles" - FDD's Foreign Podicy
"As Iran’s uprising intensifies, Israel cannot afford to sit this one out" - Saeed Ghasseminejad and Navid Mohebbi, Ynetnews
"Canada’s Bet on Beijing Puts USMCA at Risk" - Elaine Dezenski and Susan Soh
FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for MENA at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief/
THE NEW SYRIA AND ISRAEL'S SECURITY
HEADLINE 1: Argentina is going after the Muslim Brotherhood.
HEADLINE 2: The U.S. Treasury Department rolled out a new sanctions package in support of the Iranian people.
HEADLINE 3: It’s official. Phase two of the Gaza ceasefire has begun.
HEADLINE 4: Things are still going boom in Lebanon.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD Senior Advisor Jonathan Hessen.
Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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FDD Featured Pieces:
"The quiet way AI normalizes foreign influence" - Leah Siskind, Cyberscoop
"Egypt Sentences Christian Researcher Under Blasphemy Law, Underscoring a Recurrent Breach in U.S.-Egypt Relations" - Mariam Wahba, FDD
"Made in China, Paid by Seniors: Stopping the Surge of International Scams" - Nathan Picarsic, U.S. Senate Testimony
HEADLINE 1: The Trump administration designated three branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations yesterday.
HEADLINE 2: More than a year has passed since the assassination of Hamas mastermind Yahya Sinwar. You’ll recall he was the man primarily responsible for the 10/7 slaughter.
HEADLINE 3: The Kurdish National Army — which is the military wing of the Kurdistan Freedom Party — captured the IRGC headquarters in the western Iranian town of Kermanshah.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD Founder and President Cliff May.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief/
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Trump Administration Foreign Policy Tracker: January" - FDD Experts
"Southern Exposure: Trump’s Arrest of Maduro Brings Opportunities and Dangers" - Cliff May feat. Carrie Filipetti, Foreign Podicy
"Mark Dubowitz: The regime clings to its ninth life" - Bill Roggio and Mark Dubowitz, Generation Jihad
"Don’t make the mistake Obama did, Mr. President, enforce your Iran ‘red line’" - Ahmad Sharawi, New York Post
FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of FDD's Iran Program.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
HOW ARE DOMESTIC POLITICS SHAPING ISRAEL'S NATIONAL SECURITY?
HEADLINE 1: A big Gaza announcement is expected.
HEADLINE 2: The Lebanese Armed Forces said it completed the first phase of its plan to deploy across south Lebanon and disarm non-state groups.
HEADLINE 3: An Iranian hacking group claimed it identified an Israeli agent coordinating Mossad operations inside Iran.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Gadeer Kamal Mreeh, former member of Knesset (Israel's parliament) and founder and CEO of GKM Global Consulting LLC.
Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Lebanon Must Become Independent of Saudi Arabia Too" - Hussain Abdul-Hussain, This is Beirut
"Can Iran Hold the Line Against Its Protesters?" - Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh, The Wall Street Journal
"How the UK Is Undermining US Indo-Pacific Security" - Alexander Gray and Cleo Paskal
HEADLINE 1: Five years after the Abraham Accords, Israel and Morocco are still going strong.
HEADLINE 2: Over in Paris, Syria and Israel resumed security talks. And it looks like they might have made a breakthrough.
HEADLINE 3: Gidon Saar has landed in Somaliland.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Carine Hajjar, an opinion journalist for The Washington Post.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Why These Iranian Protests Are Different" - Behnam Ben Taleblu, The Free Press
"Recognizing Somaliland" - FDD's Foreign Podicy
"Why Trump bared his teeth and nabbed Venezuela’s Maduro — and it’s not just drugs" - Jonathan Schanzer, New York Post
FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI).
Learn more at: https://fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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