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2 days ago | 
fdd.org | Reagan Easter |Hussain Abdul-Hussain
Hezbollah is thumbing its nose at President Joseph Aoun. In response to the Lebanese President saying that he was in talks with the militia over surrendering its arms, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said, “We will confront whoever assaults the resistance and tries to disarm it the same way we faced Israel.” Now what? While Aoun remained silent, America’s witty Deputy Envoy to the Middle East trolled Qassem, quote-tweeting his statement with one word: Yawn.
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1 week ago | 
fdd.org | Reagan Easter |Seth J. Frantzman
US forces in Tanf continue to train with Syrian partner forces and support their work securing an area of southern Syria near the Iraqi and Jordanian borders.
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1 week ago | 
fdd.org | Reagan Easter |Ivana Stradner
Since retaking office, President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed concern that Russia’s war on Ukraine could spiral into World War III. The U.S. intelligence community’s Annual Threat Assessment recently warned about the “catastrophic damage” Russia’s nuclear forces could inflict on America.
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1 week ago | 
fdd.org | Reagan Easter |Joe Truzman |Bill Roggio
The Trump administration has targeted Houthi military and political leaders since it initiated its campaign against the Iranian-backed militia in Yemen in mid-March. This effort is a departure from the Biden administration’s policy, which focused on striking Houthi military hardware instead of personnel in an attempt to get the militia to cease its attacks on international shipping and Western warships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
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1 week ago | 
fdd.org | Reagan Easter |Orde F. Kittrie |Andrea Stricker |Behnam Ben Taleblu
The United States and Iran are set to hold landmark talks on April 12, President Donald Trump announced earlier in the week, just weeks after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei refused the idea. The watershed event follows the president’s letter to Khamenei in early March in which he posed a stark ultimatum to Tehran: negotiate a deal within two months that removes the nuclear threat, or face punishing U.S. sanctions and possibly strikes on the regime’s nuclear facilities.
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1 week ago | 
fdd.org | Reagan Easter |Ryan Brobst |Bradley Bowman
The Trump administration is moving quickly to reform foreign defense sales through an executive order issued on April 9. The order reiterates the value of capable allies to Americans and directs important reforms related to the prioritization of partners, adjustment of congressional reporting thresholds, and review of the foreign military sales-only (FMS-Only) list.
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2 weeks ago | 
fdd.org | Reagan Easter |Seth J. Frantzman
Kataib Hezbollah has denied a recent Reuters report that stated it was considering disarming, according to numerous reports quoting the group’s statement. Kataib Hezbollah is one of the Iranian-backed militias that largely comprise Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The militia has been involved in attacks on Americans in the past and is sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury.
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2 weeks ago | 
fdd.org | Reagan Easter |Hussain Abdul-Hussain
When President Joseph Aoun took his oath of office before Parliament, he pledged to uphold the Constitution of Lebanon. Had the President and his Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, declared from the outset that restoring state sovereignty depended on Hezbollah’s willingness to disarm, their oath would have been unnecessary. It is in cases like these, when “national dialogue” politics replace the Constitution, that states fail.
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2 weeks ago | 
fdd.org | Reagan Easter |Dylan Baker |Richard Thomas |Susan Misner
Iran Fears U.S. Strikes: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei placed his country’s military on its highest alert level, fearing potential strikes by the United States, according to an Iranian official cited by Reuters on April 6.
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2 weeks ago | 
fdd.org | Reagan Easter |Cleo Paskal
In the last three months, the Pacific island country of Palau has executed a master-class in how to quietly, professionally and effectively rid itself of serious national security threats—including striking a powerful blow against some major Chinese bad guys (and gals). Given Palau’s location, and who it has as allies, this is having an outsized effect on Indo-Pacific security.
