US News

• Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said Sunday that a stand-alone bill to provide Israel with billions more in military aid will be brought to the House floor this week instead of President Biden’s $105 billion request that also includes spending for Ukraine, Taiwan, and the border. AWC
• Representative Mike Johnson vowed to support the wars in Ukraine and Israel in an interview after becoming House Speaker. The Congressman told Sean Hannity that China, Russia, and Iran make up an “axis of evil” that poses a huge threat to the US. AWC

Russia

• Russia is set to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a treaty that prohibits all nuclear weapons tests and explosions, which the US has never ratified. AWC
• Russian forces are pushing to encircle Avdiivka, a city in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast that’s about three miles north of the provincial capital, as fighting continues to rage along the entire front. AWC
• The US has started training Ukrainian pilots in Arizona on how to fly F-16 fighter jets this week, marking another step toward arming Kyiv with US-made warplanes. AWC
• The Biden administration on Thursday announced a new weapons package for Ukraine worth $150 million that includes ammunition for HIMARS rockets, air defenses, artillery rounds, and other equipment. AWC
• One of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s closest aides has told Time Magazine that the Ukrainian leader has deluded himself into thinking Ukraine can win an ultimate victory against Russia after the failed counteroffensive and amid waning support for the conflict in the West. AWC

China

• The US military has accused a Chinese fighter jet of making an “unsafe intercept” of a US B-52 bomber that was flying over the South China Sea on October 24. AWC

Israel

• The House on Wednesday approved a resolution that expressed strong support for Israel, the first bill brought to the floor after Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) was elected as the chamber’s new speaker. AWC
•  The Israeli military said Thursday that Israeli tanks and troops briefly entered the Gaza Strip overnight in a limited raid to “prepare the battlefield” as Israel is expected to launch a full-scale invasion soon. AWC
• Israel has agreed to a request from the US to delay its ground invasion of Gaza so the US can send more missile defense systems to the region to prepare for an expected escalation of attacks on US troops, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. AWC
• President Biden on Wednesday accused Palestinians in Gaza of lying about the civilian casualty rate when confronted about the massive number of child casualties in Israel’s bombardment. AWC
• The international charity group Oxfam has said Israel is using starvation as a “weapon of war” against Palestinian civilians living in Gaza, as barely any food is being delivered to the besieged enclave. AWC
• The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced an expansion of its ground operations into the Gaza Strip. Israeli air strikes on the besieged enclave have knocked out communications for the two million plus Palestinians living there. AWC
• Israel’s current ground operation in Gaza is in line with the advice the US has been giving, a US official told The Times of Israel. AWC
• House Republicans on Monday unveiled a piece of legislation that would provide Israel with $14.3 billion in military aid, a strong show of support for Israel’s onslaught in Gaza. AWC
• A leaked document drafted by Israel’s Intelligence Ministry proposes the ethnic cleansing of the approximately 2.3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip as a potential solution to Israel’s war against Hamas. AWC

Middle East

• Israeli airstrikes targeted southern Syria early Wednesday morning, killing eight soldiers and wounding seven more, Syria’s SANA news agency reported. AWC
• The Pentagon said Thursday night that it launched airstrikes in eastern Syria that targeted two facilities “used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups,” a significant escalation that makes a regional war more likely amid Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. AWC
• Israeli warplanes launched strikes in Syria early on Monday, targeting military positions in the southwest Daraa province. The Israeli military also reported strikes in Lebanon as the risk of Israel’s Gaza war turning into a full-blown regional war continues to rise. AWC
• Attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria have continued through the weekend after the US launched airstrikes in eastern Syria early Friday. AWC
• A Pentagon official said on Monday that US forces in Iraq and Syria have come under attack at least 13 times since October 17 due to President Biden’s support for Israel’s onslaught in Gaza. AWC
• At least 26 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since Israel unleashed its bombing campaign on the besieged enclave in response to the October 7 Hamas attack, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Monday. AWC
• The Pentagon said on Thursday that about 900 troops are in the process of deploying to the Middle East as the US is bolstering its defenses in the region amid a spate of attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria over President Biden’s support for Israel’s Gaza war. AWC

Niger

• The Senate on Thursday rejected a bill that would have directed President Biden to withdraw all US troops from Niger, where a military government has been in power since a July 26 coup that removed former President Mohamed Bazoum. AWC