The US continues to work w Egypt & Qatar on a hostage/ceasefire deal says LTG, adding: "as hard as we are going to work on texts and creative formulas, this is ultimately a Q of political will. Whether or not leaders on both sides are prepared to recognize that enough is enough."

Notably multiple other Americans remain wrongfully detained by China, cnn.com/2023/02/03/pol…

State Spox Matt Miller says that the US welcomes David Lin’s release from prison in China over the weekend, it is something US officials had been “working on for some time," but won't give further detail. "I am not going to say anything else about this process,” Miller says.

Meta bans Russian state media outlet RT over ‘foreign interference activity’ cnn.com/2024/09/16/med…

Israel expands war objectives, eyeing northern front as tensions with Hezbollah continue unabated. It’s long been a goal but now it’s officially an objective of the war. cnn.com/2024/09/17/mid…

Today Blinken heads to Egypt but his visit to the region will notably omit a stop in Israel, amid rising doubts that a ceasefire and hostage deal can be agreed to before Biden leaves office. cnn.com/2024/09/16/pol…

While Blinken is heading to Egypt, Biden’s national security advisers have no imminent plans to present the president w/ an updated proposal in the Israel-Hamas war ceasefire negotiations, sr admin officials tell MJ Lee, latest indication that talks have seriously stalled.

US "not aware" and "not involved" in series of pager explosions in Lebanon, State Department says cnn.com/world/live-new…

Harris called Trump this afternoon to speak with him directly to express that she is grateful he is safe after his second apparent assassination attempt, a WH official told Ebony Davis "It was a cordial and brief conversation," the official said

Hezbollah pledges to retaliate against Israel after hundreds of the militant group’s pagers explode in an attack that Israel was behind, sources tell CNN. The Lebanese government condemned the attack as “criminal Israeli aggression.” cnn.com/webview/world/…

The Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, whose trademark was on the Hezbollah pagers that exploded, has now given the name of the European company that it says produces and sells the pager under license: BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary. cnn.com/webview/world/…

In Cairo Sec Blinken seeks to place blame for the failed efforts reach a ceasefire and hostage deal to date on the two negotiating parties -- Israel and Hamas -- saying that the major impediment now is political will on both sides & that it is “less a question of substance."

Blinken urges all parties to avoid "any steps that could escalate the conflict" in Gaza, after Hezbollah pager explosions in Lebanon. "We're still gathering the information and gathering the facts," he says of the attack.

Israeli officials notified the US on Tuesday that they were planning a Lebanon operation but gave no details of what was planned or when, sources say. The news broke for Blinken when he was on his way to Cairo. W/ ⁦Oren Liebermann⁩ cnn.com/2024/09/18/pol…

Very noteworthy:

Iranian hackers sent stolen Trump campaign information to people associated with Biden campaign cnn.com/2024/09/18/pol…

NYT: The Japanese manufacturer whose name was on handheld radios that exploded in Lebanon said Thursday that it had discontinued the device a decade ago and was investigating what happened. The company warned of a surge of counterfeit radios. nytimes.com/2024/09/19/bus…

Scoop: Harris expected to meet with Zelensky next week, sources tell me, ⁦Priscilla Alvarez⁩ & ⁦Kevin Liptak⁩. Trump says he will probably meet Zelensky next wk. cnn.com/2024/09/18/pol…

Sec Blinken - again - calls for deescalation in the Middle East alongside his French counterpart. And today he specifically calls for restraint when it comes to Lebanon. But he doesn’t respond tho when asked about the current Israeli strikes against targets in Lebanon.

Blinken does note: “there is a real problem that needs to be resolved when it comes to northern Israel and southern Lebanon.” But says it needs a diplomatic solution.