53 years old IDF reserve soldier Yehezkel Azaria was killed in the Lebanese border today.

Turkish aerospace company Baykar’s CEO Haluk Bayraktar was presented with the Medal of Honor of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on the 88th anniversary of the establishment of the Ethiopian Air Force.

Bayraktar is the first foreigner to receive the Ethiopian Medal of Honor.

Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs, which saved Ethiopia from being torn apart & played a decisive role in ending the civil war with a peace agreement, are actively used by the Ethiopian Army.

Russian Wagner PMC in Libya, Mali, etc., is being rebranded as the “Africa Corps” in a clear reference to Nazi Germany.

German Afrika Korps was Nazi Germany’s expeditionary force in Africa during the North African campaign of World War II.

U.S. to announce next week the formation of “Operation Prosperity Guardian”, a new international effort deal with Houthi threats.

One-sixth of the world's commercial shipping passes through the Bab-al-Mandeb Strait and Red Sea.

While there will be a new task force created next week, whether there will be any direct response against Houthi military targets remains to be seen.

Source: The War Zone

Houthi activity on sea lanes in November-December.

Europe is preparing for the fact that Ukraine may lose U.S. military support and will need to be compensated, German Defense Minister Pistorius says.

"We clearly understand that probably sooner or later we will have to compensate for something that may no longer come from Washington."

Nikki Haley to Biden:

Either you're friend or not. Why are you taking Hamas's side?

Israelis are eliminating Hamas. Let them finish the job. Joe Biden needs to stop telling them what they can and can't do.

French Foreign Ministry agent was killed by Israel in Rafah, Gaza during Israeli bombardment.

France says it “condemns” this Israeli bombing of a “residential building which caused the death of many other civilians”.

The Quai d'Orsay demands "that all light be shed by the Israeli authorities on the circumstances of this bombing, as quickly as possible".

US forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted 115 times since October 17, mostly by groups affiliated with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. (The map doesn't show the most recent attacks.)

Putin on Biden’s remarks that “Russia is going to fight with NATO”:

This is complete nonsense. Russia has no reason, no interest, neither geopolitical, nor economic, nor political, nor military, to fight with NATO countries.

We have no territorial claims against each other with them, and we have no desire to spoil relations with them. We are interested in developing relations.

About 67% of young Americans between the ages of 18-24 believe that "Jews as a class are oppressors and should be treated as oppressors", according to a new poll.

Source: Harris Insights and Analytics and Harvard University's Center for American Political Studies (CAPS).

Israel’s air campaign has been unusually fierce.

It is reported to have dropped 29,000 munitions in total. That is almost exactly as many as America and Britain dropped on the entirety of Iraq in the first month of the war in 2003 and equivalent to just under 500 bombs per day.

Israel also uses unusually high numbers of unguided munitions—from 10% of total in first two weeks after Oct 7th, to 40-45% now.

Israel has bought around $1.9bn-worth of precision-guided munitions (PGMs) from American companies since 2015, including 14,500 JDAM kits and thousands of laser-guided missiles.

Since October 7th America has sent at least 15,000 bombs to Israel, including an estimated 3,000 JDAMs. In November Biden told Congress he planned to send $320m-worth of SPICE munitions, which are like JDAM kits.

Israel is not necessarily running out. Many Israeli officials worry that a bigger war is looming with Hizbullah, a Lebanese militant group.

Israel has also threatened to strike the Houthis in Yemen, another Iran-allied militant group that has been firing ballistic missiles towards Israel. These groups, along with Iran, have access to more sophisticated air-defence systems than those of Hamas, capable of striking targets farther away and higher up.

Israel’s air force probably wants to preserve its stockpile of smart bombs for these better-defended enemies.

Source: The Economist

Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan:

Putin would love to see the war soon. They’re bleeding men, money. They are driving growth, but that growth is entirely the production of more armaments to send to Ukraine to gain no material territory on the battlefield.

The pressures of occupation of a foreign land that does not want you there are real, and they only grow overtime.

Ukrainian Javelin ATGM and mine finish off the remnants of the advancing Russian armored vehicles near Synkivka.

Senator Graham to Biden:

On your watch, the conditions for a 9/11 are greater than I've ever seen since 9/11. According to your own FBI Director the threat level against America is at an all-time high. He sees blinking lights everywhere. The likelihood of another 9/11 grows every day.

In the wake of threats to seamen and attacks on ships in the Red Sea, Hong Kong based shipping company OOCL (Orient Overseas Container Line) announced that "due to operational problems," it will immediately stop transporting cargo to and from Israel until further notice.