Early Edition: July 7, 2026

Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news: NATO SUMMIT “We will announce tens of billions in new contracts that will provide the crucial kit we need to deter and defend,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters yesterday ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. “We are now creating an alliance which is sustainable, where the U.S. knows it is a fair deal,” Rutte added. At an event today, dubbed the “big reveal,” several leaders are due to announce these new deals with defense companies, many of them in the United States. The announcements are intended to reassure President Trump that allies are sharing more of the defense burden, sources said. Lorne Cook, Suzan Fraser, and Abby Sewell report for AP News; Andrew Gray reports for Reuters. Trump is scheduled to arrive in Ankara today and will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan before having dinner with fellow NATO leaders, according to White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. The summit’s substantive meeting will be held tomorrow morning. Trump then plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. While NATO leaders hope to avoid confrontation and reaffirm support for Ukraine, they remain concerned that Trump’s unpredictable approach could overshadow the summit, according to several sources. Michael Birnbaum and Ellen Francis report for the Washington Post. Trump is expected to tell Erdoğan that he is prepared to restore Turkey to a program that would allow it to purchase F-35 fighter jets, according to four senior administration officials. Trump said last week he was preparing to bring a gift to the NATO summit in Ankara that would make Erdoğan “very happy.” The move would reverse a ban that Trump imposed seven years ago, though it could still face opposition in Congress. Tyler Pager and David E. Sanger report for the New York Times. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Trump on Friday to refrain from selling weapons systems to Turkey that would help it modernize its air force, according to Israeli and U.S. officials. Netanyahu also complained to Trump about Erdoğan’s escalating anti-Israel rhetoric. “Netanyahu made an ask, and the president heard him. So the president might pass on the message like, ‘Hey, can you go just a little easy on this?’ But it is what it is,” a U.S. official said. Barak Ravid and Marc Caputo report for Axios. RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR Zelenskyy plans to use the NATO meeting this week to urge Kyiv’s allies to deliver the air defense systems it urgently needs to protect it from escalating Russian attacks, he said yesterday. “It is simply absurd that, in today’s world, production [of Patriot defense missiles] has still not been scaled up to the level actually required to protect people from ballistic terror,” Zelenskyy said. Ukraine was unable to stop a single ballistic missile during Russia’s attack yesterday, which killed at least 28 people. Sarah Rainsford reports for BBC News; Valentyn Ogirenko and Vladyslav Smilianets report for Reuters. Ukrainian drones yesterday struck Russia’s largest oil refinery in Omsk, Siberia, in what was one of Ukraine’s longest-range attacks of the war, Ukraine’s military said in a statement. Local Russian authorities confirmed the strike. Reuters reports. Russia risks an “explosive” banking crisis because lenders are shouldering much of the burden of Russia’s war economy, a European state intelligence report seen by Reuters warned. The intelligence report said banks have been pushed to give subsidised loans to defence companies, homebuyers and others. It noted that state-backed credit programmes, loan restructurings and government support masked the banks’ vulnerability. “The situation creates the illusion of a dynamic economy that, in reality, conceals an explosive situation which an economic shock, such as an ambitious package of sanctions against banks… could trigger,” said the report. John Irish and John O’Donnell report. IRAN WAR – STRAIT OF HORMUZ A tanker travelling off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz caught fire this morning after being struck by a projectile, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations center said. Iranian state television said the tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings, but Iranian officials have not directly claimed the assault. Two U.S. officials told Axios that Iran’s military fired at least two missiles at commercial ships transiting the strait last night. Iran warned last week that all oil tankers must use its approved routes. However, the Joint Maritime Information Center, a body overseen by the U.S. Navy, told shippers yesterday that the route around Oman “has been expanded and remains available for traffic.” John Gambrell reports for AP News; Barak Ravid reports. IRAN WAR – LEBANON An Israeli strike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon yesterday killed at least four people, Lebanon’s health ministry said. The Israeli military said it had struck a vehicle carrying four people it said were approaching what it calls a “security zone” in southern Lebanon and posing a threat to its forces. The health ministry identified the victims as school principal Esperanza Ghandour, her mother, a female domestic worker, and a male foreign labourer. Ghandour had been checking on repairs at her war-damaged home in Nabatieh and was on her way back when the vehicle was struck, a local source and Lebanon’s state news agency said. Jana Choukeir and Tala Ramadan report for Reuters. ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR Hamas said yesterday that it had dissolved its government in Gaza and is preparing to transfer power to a technical committee as part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal. It was unclear if the move, announced by a lower-level official, would lead to any significant change in Gaza. Hamas did not say whether it planned to disarm or hand over security to an international force. Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy report for AP News. WEST BANK VIOLENCE Israeli police have opened an investigation after CCTV footage emerged yesterday of an Israeli Border Police officer throwing a stun grenade into a car in Qalandia in the occupied West Bank. The two passengers escaped from the car and survived, according to the B’Tselem rights group. Police told Israeli media that the officer had not acted “in accordance with procedure.” Caroline Davies reports for BBC News. In a separate incident in Qalandia on Sunday, Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old boy, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Two other children suffered gunshot wounds to their lower limbs. Israeli authorities told BBC News that Israeli forces perceived an imminent threat to their lives after “a riot erupted during which [they] came under a massive barrage of stones.” Caroline Davies reports. OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Syria yesterday, in the first visit to Damascus by an EU head of state since Bashar al-Assad was ousted in 2024. “I am here to affirm France’s commitment to the Syrian people. For a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbours,” Macron said on social media. The French presidential official said that Macron had made it very clear to Sharaa that Syria should under no circumstances send forces into Lebanon, and that Sharaa had said he would not do so, regardless of any requests or pressure. Clotaire Achi and John Irish report for Reuters. A court in Vienna yesterday found two former Syrian officials guilty of charges related to their roles in a brutal crackdown against the Arab Spring uprising and sentenced them to eight years in prison. This case is one of the first that Austria has brought under the principle of universal jurisdiction and one of the first dealing with extreme and systematic torture. Carlotta Gall and Hussam Hammoud report for the New York Times. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced yesterday that the Canadian government had chosen the German defense company, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (“TKMS”), to build its navy’s new submarine fleet. This is the largest procurement deal in Canadian history. TKMS has said its bid, a joint partnership with Norway, offered “Canada a low-risk, NATO-aligned, and economically transformative solution.” Madeline Halpert reports for BBC News. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS A White House report published on Saturday accused the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History of “extreme political activism” and blamed museum leaders for erasing America’s heritage. The report, titled “Saving America’s Story,” is the result of Trump’s March 2025 executive order demanding that “improper ideology” be eliminated from the Smithsonian’s museums. Amy B. Wang and Ethan Beck report for the Washington Post. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is using Anthropic’s AI model Mythos to audit government software, three sources said yesterday, despite Anthropic’s ongoing standoff with the White House. CISA is using Mythos to scan government code repositories for bugs that could leave the door open for foreign spies and cybercriminals, the sources said. Two of the sources said the audits had already uncovered a large number of vulnerabilities, but did not elaborate. Raphael Satter reports for Reuters. Trump said yesterday that Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary that builds Marine One helicopters, would spend about $5 to $6 million on a granite landing pad on the White House South Lawn, saying their most powerful helicopters have damaged the lawn during landings. “They didn’t tell us how powerful these helicopters were, and they felt a little bit guilty,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Bo Erickson and Jarrett Renshaw report for Reuters. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION David Streever yesterday filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security after ICE agents visited his home and tracked him to a hotel because he sent a strongly worded email criticizing former acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons. Streever argues that the department’s actions violate the First Amendment, while DHS says it was investigating what it considered to be a credible threat. Joanna Slater reports for the Washington Post. Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions. If you enjoy listening, Just Security’s analytic articles are also available in audio form on the justsecurity.org website. ICYMI: Yesterday on Just Security Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Historical Commissions Are Crucial for Syria By Noha Aboueldahab