* Israeli air drill tackled just one dimension of a potential war with Hizballah In a surprise three-day exercise, the Israeli Air Force demonstrated its ability in a full-scale war to target Hizballah’s entire missile arsenal in one day, while also activating an upgraded missile defense system for the home front.
* Hezbollah leader threatens Israel Hassan Nasrallah: If war is imposed on us, the Israeli home front will see things it has not yet seen.
* White House: Netanyahu to be first Middle East leader Biden will call “Israel is a country where we have an important strategic security relationship, and our team is fully engaged—not at the head-of-state level yet but very soon,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
* Saddam’s Iraq Showed Us How North Korea Would Fight a Missile War The failure to destroy the launchers highlights how easy it can be to overestimate damage inflicted upon an enemy, and how difficult it is to hunt down an opponent intent on using hit-and-run tactics.
* How Iraq Is Becoming the Next Theater for Israeli-Iranian War An Israeli strike in Iran would be risky even with F-35s, given distance to the target – about a thousand miles from Tel Aviv to Tehran -- Iranian air defenses (including Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft missiles) and potential Iranian retaliation. But Tel Aviv to Baghdad is less than 600 miles.
* U.N. Palestinian Schools Continue to Glorify Terror Despite Promise Otherwise Palestinian schools run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees — to which the Biden administration has promised to restore funding — still teach inciteful content against Israel.
* Iran's Khamenei demands 'action, not words' from Biden to revive nuclear deal Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded “action, not words” from the United States if it wants to revive Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, the latest challenge to new President Joe Biden to take the first step towards a thaw.
* U.S. and Israeli national security advisers hold call on Iran Israeli national security adviser Meir Ben Shabbat discussed Iran with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on a secure video call on Thursday, according to two Israeli officials.
* China overtakes US as EU's biggest trading partner China is now the EU's biggest trading partner, overtaking the US in 2020.
* The Great Atlantic Schism is here: Between US and China, Europe will choose its own path The US used to hold almost absolute sway over the EU’s global politics. Now, on the issue of China, Europe is slipping from Washington’s grasp as it realizes it’s better off building that relationship on its own terms.