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.
