For review:

1. Ceasefire in S. Syrian City of Sweida Between Druze & Bedouin.

2. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said elections will be held before the end of the year for the Palestinian National Council, for the first time since 2006.

3. Ukraine proposes new round of peace talks with Russia next week.

4. New Round of EU Sanctions Against Russian Energy.

5. UK & Germany Sign New Defense Pact.

The new bilateral agreement, referred to as the “Kensington Treaty,” was signed on Thursday in London. It includes a broad range of promises, ranging from joint military-industrial exports to facilitating school exchanges between the two countries. It additionally commits the NATO allies to “assist one another, including through military means, in the event of an armed attack on the other.”

6. Marine Corps LTG Greg Masiello has taken the reins of the Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO) F-35, from its outgoing leader Air Force LTG Mike Schmidt.

JPEO F-35 is a global enterprise that has grown to 19 customers internationally. LTG Masiello was nominated for the F-35 post in June and subsequently confirmed by the US Senate.

7. Breaking Defense Opinion Article: Why selling F-35s to Turkey is smart business for US and NATO.

In a response to an op-ed previously published on Breaking Defense, Barın Kayaoğlu and Özgür Ekşi argue that Turkey can and should be trusted with F-35s.

For review:

1. US Army Mid Range Capability Live-Fire During Talisman Sabre '25. The U.S. Army hit an at-sea target with a Standard Missile 6 fired from its Typhon missile system as part of the Talisman Sabre 2025 exercise in Australia.

The live-fire test is the first time the Army has tested the containerized missile launcher derived from the Navy MK 41 launchers used on warships outside the US.

2. IDF Strikes Damascus in Support of Druze Community.

3. The U.S. State Department has informed Switzerland of delays in the delivery of Patriot air defense systems due to a decision to prioritize shipments to Ukraine, the Swiss Defense Ministry said on 17 July.

4. France and Italy have declined to participate in a new NATO initiative to supply US-made weapons for Ukraine, including air defense systems, financed by European allies.

5. France Departs Last Senegal Posts. France returned Camp Gélie, its largest base in the West African country, and its airfield at Dakar Airport.

6. Singapore participates in Australian Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025. More than 100 personnel from Singapore will be taking part in the exercise, including from the Special Operations Task Force of the Singaporean army and Republic of Singapore Air Force Special Operations Aviation Task Group crew.

7. US to build a fast boat facility on the western coast of Palawan in the Philippines.

The new fast boat facility is slated to be operational in the first quarter of fiscal 2026.

8. Shipbuilder Austal USA delivered the final Independence-class littoral combat ship to the US Navy on Friday, marking the end of a construction phase that’s lasted 15 years.

The final ship will be christened as the Pierre, named after the capital of South Dakota.

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.