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President Trump Envoy Kushner Meets with Hamas Chief in Egypt + Report: Israel Eyes Strategic Ali Taher Ridge in Lebanon + US CENTCOM & UAE AI Task Force Aug 16, 2026

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For review:

1. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and top aide Jared Kushner met with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya in the Egyptian coastal city of El-Alamein on Sunday, an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel.

2. The White House established a secret backchannel with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a Sunday report, which said that the United States has been informed that the IRGC stands behind the positions of the Iranian negotiators in their talks with Washington.

3. Iranian authorities on Saturday called for the release of three pilots they said were captured in Qatar amid the US-Israel war with Iran.

4. Lebanese media reported Israeli airstrikes in the Ali Taher Ridge in southern Lebanon Saturday overnight, a day after three Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah.

Israel is awaiting US approval for a military operation aimed at taking control of the ridge, Lebanese newspaper Al Joumhouria reported Friday morning, citing a senior security official.

5. US Central Command announced the stand-up of a joint US-UAE task force to advance AI in the two allies’ militaries.

The task force will be “the first bilateral task force focused on accelerating the development of military artificial intelligence,” the CENTCOM statement says, with a particular focus on “AI applications for intelligence support, protecting critical infrastructure, and monitoring the regional security environment.”

6. Department of War Undersecretary for Policy Elbridge Colby pushed back against reports that the U.S. military’s stockpiles and capabilities are strained following Operation Epic Fury.

“There’s been a lot of news about the United States military being stretched. Please don’t be misinformed,” Colby told Manila’s defense and security elites at a closed-door event organized by the Stratbase Institute think tank.

US CENTCOM Commander Meets with Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Salman + Russia Questions US on Alleged Support to Ukraine Strikes + US Army M1E3 & XM30 Prototypes Aug 15, 2026

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For review:

1. Russia believes the United States is deeply involved in Ukrainian attacks against it and has raised the issue with Washington, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in comments broadcast on Friday.

He ‌said that the alleged U.S. support included the supply of intelligence.

2. US President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States will hit Iran hard economically, as Washington and Tehran struggle to reach a deal to end a nearly six month conflict.

His comments to Fox News came a day after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US was going to apply measures that have “never been seen” on Tehran as soon as next week.

3. Iran will soon join the New Development Bank, the development lender established by the BRICS group of nations, central bank governor said in a state media report published on Wednesday ahead of a BRICS finance meeting in India.

4. Surveillance soldiers on the Gaza border were reportedly sounding the alarm on Thursday about armed terrorist activity inside the Gaza Strip, in what they said feels like a repeat of their unheeded warnings before the October 7, 2023, onslaught.

5. Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired missiles at the Yemeni port city of Mokha on Friday, killing eight people, the country’s internationally recognized government said,

A Yemeni government official said the Houthis “fired five missiles at commercial ships unloading at the port” in Mokha, setting two ships on fire.

6. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met the commander of US Central Command, Brad Cooper, and discussed defense cooperation between the kingdom and the United States as well as efforts to reduce regional tensions, the Saudi state news agency says.

7. U.S. Central Command will stand up the inaugural task force focused on multi-domain, multinational attack drones.

Task Force Falcon Strike will utilize one-way attack drones composed of unmanned systems from above, on and below the sea, managed by U.S. military support staff and regional partners.

8. The Pentagon signed two framework agreements Friday with Boeing and RTX to expand production of critical components for the Standard Missile-3, the Navy’s primary ship-launched interceptor against ballistic missiles.

9. US Army M1E3 & XM30 Prototypes.

10. Breaking Defense Opinion Article- concerning US Transits through the Taiwan Strait.

Report: Iranian Assassination Threat Against President Trump at Ankara NATO Summit Forced Plane Transfer + US To Withdraw Forces from Iraq by 30 Sep + Houthis Attack Commercial Vessel in Bab el-Mandeb Aug 12, 2026

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For review:

1.Israel told the United States about the Iranian assassination threat that prompted the US Secret Service to take President Donald Trump off Air Force One and transfer to another military plane as he prepared to fly out of Turkey last month, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed US official.

Later Tuesday, Trump confirmed that he had indeed been smuggled off Air Force One in Ankara because the Secret Service and US military told him to switch planes.

2. Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed six people aboard a cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday.

3. The Board of Peace on Wednesday denied that there is any “financial agreement” with Hamas, after the Kan public broadcaster reported that the body agreed to cover $400 million of Hamas’s debt to outside parties as part of its roadmap for the terror group’s disarmament.

4. Israel informed the White House recently that it would be willing to negotiate an agreement halting the targeted killings of Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, but that any such deal would exclude those who took part in the October 7, 2023, attack.

5. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday he hoped more countries would join a the defense agreement signed last week between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan that they say is aimed at stabilizing a region wracked by conflict.

6. The US military is on track to pull all of its forces out of Iraq by the end of September, officials said Wednesday, marking the end of a presence that started with the 2003 invasion and beginning of the Iraq War.

7. An Army unit has been picked to begin training and testing out plans for the Pentagon’s Golden Dome air defense mission, according to a three-star general helping with plans.

President Trump: Iran Financially "in Bad Shape" + Board of Peace Mladenov Interview: Plan Not Built on Trust; Everything Will Be Verified + US Secretary of State: More Economic Pressure on Cuba Aug 10, 2026

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For review:

1. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the administration of President Donald Trump is escalating economic pressure on Cuba with an unprecedented sanctions campaign and warned that "there are no escape valves."

2. Yemen's Houthis said they attacked an oil facility Sunday in southwestern Saudi Arabia, the latest attack by the Iranian-backed rebels on the kingdom.

3. Nickolay Mladenov, the Gaza envoy of the US-backed Board of Peace, sought to dispel skepticism in Israel about the board’s roadmap for the disarmament of Hamas in the Strip, arguing that the plan’s full implementation is Israel’s only “guarantee” of preventing a repeat of the October 7, 2023, massacre, and that it will be based on verifiable steps, rather than trust of the terror group.

4. Iran on Monday said that it has no reason to be concerned about the new security pact between Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, arguing that it is “a sign of a change in the perception” of countries in the region toward the United States, and not a threat to Iran.

5. US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Washington was “low-keying” its approach to Iran and only “semi-negotiating” with the Islamic Republic, as it suffers in dire economic straits.

6. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has denied that Russian and German officials held talks in Azerbaijan last month to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine.

“There have been no official contacts with Germany regarding a settlement in Ukraine, nor are there any now.”

7. The US Defense Department has requested that American defense companies quickly boost their production and delivery of weapons amid an acute shortage of arms due to the Iran war, according to a memo reported on by the WP on Saturday.

8. The Army has officially opened up four of its domestic testing ranges and one international range where private industry can blast off interceptor missiles they have developed with their own funds, in hopes of getting promising candidates into the acquisition pipeline faster.

Saudi Arabia - Turkey - Pakistan Sign Joint Defense Agreement in Mecca; Agreement Defensive in Nature; Potential for Egypt to Join + USAF / USN Long-Range JDAM Aug 08, 2026

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For review:

1. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a joint defense agreement in Mecca on Friday.

The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that an armed attack against any of the three would be regarded as an attack on all, they said in a joint statement.

2. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says that the defense pact his country signed yesterday with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is technically the same as NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense agreement.

Egypt could potentially join the pact once certain technical matters are resolved, he adds.

3. A member of Iran's Parliament and National Security and Foreign Policy Commission has criticised the new defence pact between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey and said that even though the agreement has been signed, it would not guarantee Riyadh lasting security.

Ebrahim Rezaei reacted to the defence agreement on X and wrote, "Saudis must know that a paper agreement with Turkey and Pakistan will not bring them security, just as years of one-sided nursing to the Americans did not bring them security."

4. Houthi attacks on a strategic Yemeni province killed at least 10 people Friday, according to a minister and military source, as the rebels escalated strikes on the oil-rich region.

A source close to the Saudi military told AFP that the Saudi-led coalition supporting the Yemeni government since 2015 would not stand “idly by” against the Houthi attacks and that Marib was a “red line.”

5. In an interview with Fox News, US Vice President JD Vance says that Iran has told the US that it has “no plans” to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz.

6. As the US-backed Board of Peace pushed ahead with its roadmap for postwar Gaza, Hamas asserted Saturday it remained ready to proceed with the plan and urged Washington to pressure Israel to implement it, as Israeli officials warned that the terror organization was exploiting the process to prevent renewed military action.

7. The US Senate overwhelmingly approves a punishing Russian sanctions package, the result of a year-long campaign by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.

The bipartisan legislation, which passes the Senate 86-11, would penalize countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas and other exports.

8. The U.S. Air Force has committed $75 million to an initial production run of a jet-powered guided bomb that can fly more than 300 nautical miles.

Boeing’s Payload Delivery Unit is a wing-and-turbojet engine kit that converts a 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) into a long-range JDAM (JDAM LR) dubbed the GBU-75. The result is a gravity bomb with the reach of a cruise missile.

No Deal Yet on Hormuz Strait + US Triples Patriot and Quadruples THAAD Interceptor Production Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. Report: Mossad chief removes 2 senior officials behind aborted Iran regime-change plan

2. Iran’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that Iran and Oman have agreed on a route for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and are putting the final touches on arrangements for jointly managing the waterway.

3. Lebanon and Israel held a fresh round of US-sponsored talks in Rome on Tuesday. This week’s negotiations mark the seventh round of Washington-mediated talks.

4. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have killed at least 30 government soldiers and injured 15 in missile attacks on Yemeni military, government sources

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the attacks, using missiles and drones, led to “hundreds” of casualties.

The Yemeni military confirmed the attacks, framing them as a response to their own attacks on the Houthis.

5. A Ukrainian cargo plane targeted by a drone carrying explosives at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport was loaded with ammunition at the time of the incident, German media reported on Aug. 6.

6. US Triples Patriot and Quadruples THAAD Interceptor Production.

Iran / Oman Strait of Hormuz Plan + Gaza Board of Peace Head Meets with Israeli PM; No IDF Withdrawal Until Full Disarmament + Former AFU Chief: Ukraine Will Never Join NATO Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. US President Donald Trump held a phone call earlier today with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during which the pair discussed “efforts to deescalate tensions between the US and Iran,” the latter’s office says.

2. Iran and the Gulf Arab state of Oman have made progress toward a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a potential breakthrough that could help wind down the war in the Middle East, regional officials say.

Under the emerging agreement, ships would enter the Persian Gulf through an Iranian-controlled route and exit through a route controlled by Oman, with service fees charged for providing security and preserving the maritime environment, two regional officials tell The Associated Press.

3. In his first public comments on the matter, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel has not agreed to the Board of Peace’s Hamas disarmament plan, which was accepted by the terror group last week.

4. The US-backed Board of Peace appeared to change its conditions for the IDF to withdraw from Gaza after its top officials held a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday, shortly before a fresh Israeli airstrike was reported in the enclave.

5. Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's former ambassador to the U.S., has been charged with illicit enrichment, an anti-corruption prosecutor said at a hearing of the High Anti-Corruption Court on Aug. 5.

6. Ukraine will never become a member of NATO despite years of pursuing accession, Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.K. and former Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said on Aug. 3.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said Zaluzhnyi's remarks had been "taken out of context and caused a stir," noting that the ambassador's full answer referred primarily to the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), not NATO.

President Trump On Iran's Denial of Talks: "Iranian Leadership is Duplicitous" + Ukraine Armed Forces New Commander in Chief Aug 03, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that Washington and Tehran were currently engaged in talks, pushing back on Iranian claims to the contrary and accusing the Islamic Republic of being “unbelievably duplicitous.”

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump lashed out at Iran and insisted that negotiations over reopening the Strait of Hormuz had already begun and that more were scheduled imminently.

2. As Israel faced growing criticism from the Board of Peace for its continued strikes on Gaza, despite Hamas’s recent signing of a US-backed disarmament plan, a senior Israeli spokesman said Monday that the roadmap “does not reflect Israel’s positions,” and “stands in direct contrast to the current reality” in the Strip.

3. Former Mossad chief David Barnea is joining Ondas Defense Ltd. as its global president and chairman, the NASDAQ-traded company announced on Monday.

4. President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Olha Stefanishyna from her post as Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., according to a decree published on the presidential website on Aug. 3.

5. Ukraine President Zelensky on Tuesday (21 July) fired Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and named his replacement, following days of mass protests in Kyiv, the country’s capital, and other cities across the nation demanding his removal.

President Zelenskyy appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new commander according to a statement on social media.

6. President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov as head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service, according to a decree published on the presidential website on Aug. 3.

7. Poland is preparing to host the first military drills for the so-called Coalition of the Willing with British and French forces.

A spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of National Defence told Defense News that the military exercise, which is scheduled to be held this fall, is part of the group’s preparations for the post-war reality in Ukraine.

8. Anduril’s first Ohio-made unmanned, semi-autonomous aircraft rolled off the production line Monday, just four months after its beginning.

In January 2026, Anduril declared that its first product would be the YFQ-44A, a missionized variant of the company’s FQ-44, or “Fury,” autonomous fighter jet, for the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.

The $1 billion, 5 million-square-foot facility is located near Rickenbacker International Airport.

President Trump Halts Combined US-Israel Strikes; Deal with Iran Under Mediation + Secretary of State Rubio: Diplomatic Efforts in the Coming Weeks to Restart Moscow - Kiev Negotiations + US to Transfer SAG-U Leadership Aug 02, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. US Sec of State Rubio raised concerns about Cuba’s ability to infiltrate and influence top-level U.S. institutions, detailing what he described as a dangerous Cuban spy network that is undermining American interests.

2. Secretary of State Rubio: Diplomatic Efforts in the Coming Weeks to Restart Moscow - Kiev Negotiations.

3. The Pentagon is giving up leadership of a U.S.-led NATO command in Germany that coordinates military aid to Ukraine. Another NATO member will eventually take over running the Security Assistance Group, according to a U.S official.

4. A deal is being mediated to return the United States and Iran to the memorandum of understanding the two countries signed last month, sources aware of the details told Israeli-outlet Channel 12 on Sunday.

The deal would ensure that the Strait of Hormuz remains open for 60 days without fees and renew a ceasefire between the two sides, according to the report.

5. Israeli airstrikes overnight Saturday and into Sunday killed at least 17 people, according to local health officials, and a senior Israeli minister vowed that strikes in the territory will not stop despite Hamas signing a US-backed disarmament plan and earlier reports that Israel agreed to halt attacks.

The strikes followed similar heavy attacks on Saturday, which the IDF said targeted several Hamas weapon depots.

6. The U.S. Air Force’s F-47 program has begun its engineering and manufacturing development phase and will fly in the coming years, a service official said.

The first Boeing F-47 is on track for its first flight in 2028. The Air Force plans to buy at least 185 F-47s, matching the size of the F-22 Raptor fleet it intends to replace.

7. US Navy announced that it is awarding contracts for another round of ballistic missile and fast-attack submarines.

The Defense Department is granting a collective $76.6 billion to General Dynamics Electric Boat for five Columbia-class submarines and to both General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding for nine Virginia-class submarines to be built in the coming years.

Report: US & Israel Preparing for Combined Strikes Against Iran + Hamas and Armed Groups Reach Disarmament Agreement in Gaza + Report: Saudi Arabia Preparing for Combat with Houthis Jul 31, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. Saudi Arabia is gearing up for a major offensive against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, by sea and possibly including a ground operation, The Guardian reported Thursday.

2. The United States and Israel are planning what would be one of the harshest bombing campaigns to date against energy infrastructure in Iran, multiple sources told CBS News, with strikes possible throughout the weekend.

3. The Israeli military blew up a Hezbollah tunnel system beneath the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced late Thursday night in a joint statement.

They said the Israel Defense Forces used 700 tons of explosives to demolish the subterranean facility.

4. US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his Board of Peace had reached an agreement on the “complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza.”

5. USMC F-35B crasheded today in California, according to the service.

The pilot ejected and is in stable condition at a local medical facility, the service said in a statement. The pilot is being treated and evaluated for non-life-threatening injuries, the statement added.

No additional details were immediately available.

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