Israel Strikes Syrian Govt Forces in Druze-Majority Sweida + France to Spend $74.8 Billion on Defense in 2027 + US-Australian Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 + Tropic Lightning Division Now Equipped with HIMARS + More
For review:
1. No progress on Israel - Hamas Hostage and Ceasefire negotiations.
2. In a meeting in Amman on Sunday with British former prime minister Tony Blair, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas urged Hamas to release the hostages it is holding and hand over its weapons to the PA, stressing that the terror group “will not rule the Gaza Strip” after the war there ends.
3. Israeli jets carried out a wave of airstrikes deep inside Lebanon aimed at stopping an elite Hezbollah unit from regrouping and rebuilding its strength, authorities said Tuesday.
The strikes in Lebanon’s northeastern Beqaa Valley were aimed at military facilities belonging to the Hezbollah terror group’s Radwan force.
4. Israel Strikes Syrian Govt Forces in Druze-Majority Sweida- in what Israeli PM Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz said was meant to protect “the Druze in Syria due to the deep brotherly alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel.”
5. Ukraine could secure victory over Russia if international partners supply Kyiv with additional air defense systems and end resistance to long-range strikes inside Russian territory, according to a Major Oleh Shyriaiev, Commander of Ukraine’s 225th Separate Assault Battalion.
6. France to Spend $74.8 Billion on Defense in 2027. The move would represent a full doubling of the nation’s defense spending since 2017.
7. US-Australian Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025.
Countries participating in the drills alongside the US and Australia are Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom with Malaysia and Vietnam as observers.
China is expected, as has been the case in past iterations of Talisman Sabre, to deploy a surveillance ship to spy on the sea phases of the exercise.
8. Tropic Lightning Division Now Equipped with HIMARS.
This week the US Army's 25th Infantry Division (Schofield Barracks, Hawaii) began the six-week process of replacing eight 105mm and six 155mm howitzers with 16 HIMARS launchers.
The Division is not completely shedding towed artillery, as it will retain a single cannon battalion with two batteries of 105mm howitzers and one battery of M777 155mm howitzers.
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