IRGC Preparing Hezbollah for War with Israel + IDF Strikes Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley + France-Germany-Spain FCAS 6th Generation Fighter Dead

For review:

1. Iran and the United States continued to slide rapidly toward military conflict at the weekend, as hopes faded for a diplomatic solution. Israel and Iran’s Gulf neighbors now consider a conflict to be more likely than a settlement.

2. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it struck three Hezbollah command centers belonging to the terror group’s missile force in the Baalbek area, in eastern Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley.

3. Officers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have effectively taken charge of Hezbollah in anticipation of a war with the US and Israel, Saudi outlet Al-Arabiya reported Saturday, as Lebanese officials were said to assail the possibility of their country getting dragged into battle.

The IRGC officers, some of whom recently arrived in Lebanon from Iran, are tasked with rebuilding Hezbollah’s military capabilities.

4. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Friday that his terror organization is open to international peacekeeping forces in Gaza, but rejected any interference in the territory’s “internal affairs.”

5. Estonia has started public procurement of 600 modular bunkers as part of a joint push by the Baltic states to secure their border with Russia and Belarus.

6. Germany does not want to pursue nuclear weapons of its own, but is interested in incorporating French and British atomic bombs in a deterrence arrangement reminiscent of NATO’s U.S.-based nuclear umbrella, according to Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

7. France-Germany-Spain FCAS 6th Generation Fighter Dead.

8. Shipbuilder Austal Defence Australia has been selected to build 8 x Landing Craft Heavy (LCH) vessels for the Australian military under an approximately $4 billion Australian dollar ($2.82 billion) contract, the company announced today.