For review:

1. Joint US-Syrian Patrol Ambushed; Two US Soldiers Killed; President Trump Vows Serious Retaliation.

2. WSJ Report: A US special operations team in the Indian Ocean raided a ship headed to Iran from China last month and seized military-related articles.

3. The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday issued a warning to residents of the southern Lebanon town of Yanouh ahead of planned airstrikes against Hezbollah infrastructure, but postponed the strike after Lebanese troops went to search the site.

4. On Friday, Lebanese Officials received warnings from Arab and international parties that Israel is preparing for a wide-scale military operation against Hezbollah.

5. Top Hamas commander Raad Saad was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces said.

6. International troops could be deployed in the Gaza Strip as early as next month to form a UN-authorized stabilization force, two US officials told Reuters, but it remains unclear how the Palestinian terror group Hamas will be disarmed.

7. US and Ukrainian negotiators are set to meet for high-stakes peace talks in Berlin on December 14 as disagreements persist over territorial control and security guarantees.

8. Switzerland has decided to cut an order of 36 Lockheed Martin F-35A fifth-generation fighter jets due to a price increase of roughly $610 million enforced by the US government.

For review:

1. US President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly planning to appoint an American two-star general to command the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza.

2. Taiwan’s high-profile Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu made a previously unpublicized visit to Israel recently, three sources familiar with the trip told Reuters, at a time when Taiwan is looking to Jerusalem for defense cooperation.

3. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Thursday that he would travel to Beirut for talks after his Lebanese counterpart had declined a day earlier to visit Tehran.

4. The United States has suggested creating a “free economic zone” in parts of the eastern Donbas region from which Ukraine would withdraw under a negotiated peace with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday.

5. The Croatian Ministry of Defense has placed an order for 44 Leopard 2A8 tanks, a deal valued at almost €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion).

6. Russian and Chinese bombers conducted a joint patrol Tuesday, flying over the East China Sea and Western Pacific, prompting Seoul and Tokyo to scramble fighter aircraft to monitor the flights.

7. — South Korea’s Hanwha is set to invest in a new $1 billion plant in the United States to produce Modular Charge Systems (MCS) for 155mm howitzer ammunition.

8. The House passed the fiscal 2026 defense policy authorization bill, setting up passage in the Senate before Congress goes on holiday break.

Lawmakers voted 312-112 to advance the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorizes $900.6 billion in defense funds, or about $8 billion more than the White House’s request.

For review:

1. Latest in Ukraine/US/European negotiations to end war.

2. A Hamas source told The Times of Israel on Sunday that the group will only agree to give up its weapons through negotiations that result in the establishment of a Palestinian state.

3. Armor Not Dead: Australian Army's 3d Brigade (Armored) Transformation.

The first tranche of the new AS9 Huntsman SP 155mm howitzers is set to reach the 3d Brigade by the end of 2027,.

Other new kit heading the brigade’s way includes M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks, AS21 Redback infantry fighting vehicles, several types of Abrams-based combat engineering vehicles, and Boxer 8x8 combat reconnaissance vehicles.

For review:

1. Ukrainian President to Meet with E3 Leaders in London to discuss last week's US Negotiations (Miami).

2. US Envoy Kellogg Says Deal Close; Sticking Points include Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant.

3. The Russian and Chinese militaries conducted joint anti-missile drills in on Russian territory in early December as part of scheduled military exercises, China's Defense Ministry said on Dec. 6.

These drills followed joint artillery and anti-submarine exercises that were conducted in the Sea of Japan in August.

4. Hamas is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons as part of its ceasefire with Israel, a senior official says, offering a possible formula to resolve one of the thorniest issues in the US-brokered agreement.

5. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza is “almost” complete, and that he expects to move on to its second phase soon.

6. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani suggested Sunday that his country will not foot the bill for rebuilding Gaza, despite speculation that it would be the main backer of reconstruction.

“We are not the ones who are going to write the check to rebuild what others destroyed,” Al Thani said during an onstage interview at the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference.

7. During a visit to the Gaza Strip on Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said that the Yellow Line, demarcating where the Israeli military withdrew to under the terms of the ongoing ceasefire, is “a new border line.”

“We will not allow Hamas to reestablish itself. We control large parts of the Gaza Strip and stand along [strategic] lines. The Yellow Line is a new border line, a forward defensive line for the communities and an offensive line.”

8. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has called for stepped-up military recruitment after the United States deployed a fleet of warships and the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean.

9. President Javier Milei on Saturday hailed the arrival of Argentina’s first six F-16 jets purchased from Denmark, describing them as “guardian angels” that will strengthen the South American country’s armed forces.

The US-built aircraft are among the 24 fighters bought last year from Copenhagen for roughly $300 million.

For review:

1. Remains of Thai Hostage Sudthisak Rinthalak Returned From Gaza Strip.

2. Israel has told mediators in Cairo that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad know how to reach the remains of Master Sergeant Ran Gvili, the last hostage held in the Gaza Strip, Israeli television reported Friday.

3. The Israel Defense Forces carried out a wave of airstrikes against what it said were Hezbollah weapons depots in southern Lebanon on Thursday.

4. The head of the US military’s Central Command congratulated Syria’s security forces on Friday for thwarting several weapons shipments to Lebanon’s Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah.

5. Iran Launches Cruise & Ballistic Missiles During Naval Drill Near Strait of Hormuz.

6. US & Ukraine to Continue Third Day of Talks in Miami on Saturday.

7. The United States has offered to sell Poland 250 used Stryker vehicles for a single ceremonial dollar, and Warsaw is preparing to accept that deal as soon as the logistics can be worked out, according to Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense.

8. UK Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard said today he would order a review into advice he received from top military officials that the Ajax armored vehicle was “demonstrably safe to operate"- just weeks before many soldiers grew sick from riding in the vehicle that the program had to be paused.

For review:

1. President Trump: US is Preparing for Land Operations Against Narcotics Manufacturers in Venezuela.

2. US - Russian Talks in Moscow "Useful & Constructive" - But No Concrete Deal.

3. The Israel Ministry of Defense delivered the first operational Arrow 3 Air Defense System to Germany in a formal ceremony at a German Air Force base near Berlin, Israel’s Ministry of Defense said today.

4. The Red Cross transferred the body of a presumed hostage from Hamas to Israeli security forces in Gaza on Wednesday evening.

5. The family of Sudthisak Rinthalak, one of the two remaining hostages whose bodies are held in the Gaza Strip, spoke Wednesday about the long wait for the return of their son and brother.

Mr. Rinthalak came from the town of Ratnawee in northern Thailand.

6. Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades Wednesday, part of a year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism in the war with Hezbollah.

The meeting was held at the UN peacekeeping force’s headquarters in Naqoura in Lebanon, near the border with Israel.

7. Australia is launching a new independent acquisition system to better cope with increasingly complex weapons systems, one that will report directly to the defense minister and not pass through the secretary of the Defense Department.

“It is the biggest reform to the Defense Organization in 50 years,” Pat Conroy, Minister for the Defense Industry, told reporters on Monday,

For review:

1. President Trump Discusses Venezuela with Key Advisors.

2. Pope Leo XIV arrived Sunday in Lebanon from Turkey, where he opened his first trip as Pope. He is set to wrap up his visit on Tuesday with a prayer at the site of the 2020 Beirut port blast and a Mass on the waterfront.

3. US Cautions Iraq Against Support to Hezbollah.

4. Negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine on Sunday focused on where the de facto border with Russia would be drawn under a peace deal.

Representing the US were Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Ukrainian side was represented by national security adviser Rustem Umerov, military chief of staff Gen. Andrii Hnatov and deputy head of military intelligence Vadym Skibitskyi.

5. Ukraine's former military chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi has called for political change and reform once a peace deal is reached, in an op-ed for the Telegraph published on 29 Nov.

6. Taiwan Funds Island-Wide AD System.

The Taiwan President outlined his administration’s proposal for a $40 billion defense supplemental this week that would fund an island-wide air defense system and the procurement of missiles, drones and other anti-invasion capabilities.

For review:

1. President Trump: Airspace Above Venezuela Considered To Be Closed In Its Entirety.

“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

2. President Zelensky's Chief of Staff Resigns From Corruption Scandal.

Andriy Yermak resigned as chief of staff on Friday after an anti-corruption raid at his home.

3. Ukraine is sending a high-level delegation to the U.S. on Saturday for more talks on the Trump administration's Peace Plan- ahead of White House envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow expected early next week.

The Ukrainian delegation will now be led by the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov, after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff was forced to resign on Friday amid a corruption scandal.

4. German Chancellor Merz said Friday he is pressing the Belgian government to come to an agreement with the EU to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine.

Belgium, which hosts international deposit organization Euroclear, fears such a move could expose it to crippling legal and financial reprisals from Moscow.

5. Hezbollah’s leader (Naim Qassem) on Friday said the terror group had the right to respond to Israel’s killing of its top military chief in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

6. The Lebanese army took dozens of journalists from local and and international media outlets Friday on a tour of the rugged border area between Israel and Lebanon.

Parts of the zone south of the Litani River and north of the border with Israel were formerly a Hezbollah stronghold, off limits to the Lebanese national army and UN peacekeepers deployed in the area.

7. The IDF is considering an expanded operation in southern Syria if it finds that Syrian government forces were involved in gunfire at IDF soldiers during an arrest operation in Syria’s south early Friday morning. The IDF could transition to conducting fewer arrest operations against terror operatives active near the border and instead increase airstrikes to eliminate targets.

8. The US Navy is cancelling its Constellation frigate program following months of cost overruns and delays but plans to keep two vessels that are already being built in Wisconsin.