Gaza and Israel

• Presidents Biden and Netanyahu spoke by phone yesterday, and Biden warned Netanyahu that continued U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza "will be determined by" what steps Israel takes to avoid killing civilians and alleviate humanitarian suffering.
• Soon after their call - and probably encouraged by it - Israel agreed to open new direct aid routes and increase aid deliveries from Jordan.
• Biden also assured Netanyahu during their call that Israel has America's support in the face of Iran's threats to retaliate for Israeli strikes that killed three generals in Damascus last week.
• The Israeli public is worried about direct Iranian reprisals, but Israeli officials are reassuring them that there's no need to stock up on wartime supplies like generators, food, and cash: "people can relax."
• That's probably correct, because Iran's retaliation would likely be as calculated as Israel's strike was: Tehran has little interest in open war with Israel.

• Jaish al-Adl - a Baloch separatist terrorist group alternately known as Jundullah - claimed responsibility for two separate attacks in the Sistan and Baluchestan Provinces of Iran.
• Militants reportedly tried to take hostages and capture Iranian military bases in both fights, and several suicide bombers detonated during the nearly 17-hour gun battle that killed at least 10 security personnel and 18 militants.
• Jundallah said its goal in the attacks was to stop Iran's government from further developing the Sunni-heavy part of the Persian Gulf coast known as Makan into a more Shia-dominated area like the rest of the country.

• The Irish Times reported that an Irish company called Irish Training Solutions (ITS) is using former Irish soldiers to train Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army's (LNA's) 166 Infantry Brigade in the east of the country.
• The Times called ITS's arrangement with the LNA "an apparent breach of a UN arms embargo," but it's not clear that it is actually is: the UN rules are complicated, and ITS doesn't seem to be flagrantly breaking them by sending weapons - just uniforms, equipment, and assistance.

• The U.S. denied Pres. Maduro's allegations that it runs - or has future plans to run - "secret military bases" in the Guyanese region Venezuela disputes and calls Essequibo.
• The claim Maduro made about secret U.S. bases on Wednesday was probably intended to rile up his supporters: that's the same day he signed off on results of the December referendum he organized to "officially" lay claim to Essequibo.