Attack in Damascus. Syria’s interior ministry said the Islamic State was responsible for a suicide attack Sunday in a Damascus church that killed more than twenty people. It was reportedly the first major Islamic State attack since former President Bashar al-Assad was ousted last December. The group has attempted to rebuild its forces amid the security vacuum in Syria following Assad’s ouster.
NATO spending target. After receiving an exemption in advance of an upcoming summit at The Hague, Spain dropped its opposition to a prospective NATO defense spending target of 5 percent of GDP, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said. The target calls for at least 3.5 percent of GDP to be spent on direct military needs, while 1.5 percent can go to related costs. Spain will instead commit to spending 2.1 percent of its GDP on defense.
Claims on Kursk. Ukraine’s top military commander said yesterday that the country’s troops still control an approximate thirty-five-square-mile area of the Russian region of Kursk, refuting Moscow’s claim in April that it had pushed Ukraine out. Ukraine began its incursion into Kursk last August, but was fought back by both Russian and North Korean troops.
India-Pakistan water treaty. New Delhi will “never” restore a water treaty with Pakistan that was suspended after the countries’ recent cross-border hostilities, India’s home minister Amit Shah told The Times of India. The treaty had allowed water from rivers originating in India to reach Pakistani farms. Shah said New Delhi would divert that water for internal use. Pakistan has called the potential blockage of river water “an act of war.”
U.S.-Belarus talks. Belarus released fourteen people, including the spouse of opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, from prison following the first direct U.S. talks with leader Alexander Lukashenko in five years. White House envoy Keith Kellogg visited Lukashenko in Minsk on Saturday. During the first Trump administration, the United States attempted to peel Belarus away from Russia, but the country remains an ally of Moscow.
South Korea’s new defense chief. President Lee Jae-myung, who took office earlier this month, has nominated longtime lawmaker Ahn Gyu-back to become the country’s first civilian defense minister in over sixty years. Some South Koreans have called for stronger oversight of the military in the wake of last December’s martial law declaration, which led to the former president’s ousting.
U.S. activist released. Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a U.S. green card holder and former Columbia University student, was released on bail Friday after over three months in detention. The State Department claims his presence in the country undermines its foreign policy, while Khalil maintains he was exercising free speech rights. While the Trump administration still seeks to deport Khalil, the judge who ordered his release said that it would be “highly, highly unusual” to keep detaining someone who was unlikely to flee and had not been accused of violence.
Tokyo’s election. Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) incurred its worst-ever result in Tokyo’s metropolitan assembly elections yesterday, a closely watched contest ahead of Japanese upper house elections next month. The LDP slipped to become the second-largest party in the assembly after being projected to secure roughly twenty-two seats. Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru said the party must “analyze what part of our messaging did not reach voters.”
