State Department's top Mideast diplomat Barbara Leaf who was in Damascus described today's meeting with HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa as "very productive", saying he came across as "pragmatic". Washington as a result has decided to remove the $10 million bounty on his head. In their first in-person meeting with HTS, since the former al-Qaeda affiliate overthrew Assad, U.S. officials pressed that Syria's new government should ensure terrorist groups can't pose a threat. Al-Sharaa committed to this, Leaf said.

SCOOP: I reviewed three sets of internal email exchanges between senior Biden administration officials who were warned just DAYS after Oct. 7 that Israel was risking committing war crimes by ordering more than a million Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate. There’s more: 1/X The email exchanges, which take place between Oct. 11-14 and involve senior White House, State Dept & Pentagon officials, including Biden’s top Mideast aide Brett McGurk, provide rare insight into the thinking of the U.S. government in the early days of the Gaza war 2/X

SCOOP: I reviewed an internal State Dept memo, parts of which was classified, that included the most extensive and serious to date warnings to Secretary Blinken over Israel’s possible non-compliance with international humanitarian law. Here’s what I learned 1/X A joint submission from four bureaus - Democracy Human Rights&Labor; Population, Refugees & Migration; Global Criminal Justice & International Organization Affairs – raised "serious concern over non-compliance" w/international humanitarian law in Israel's conduct of the Gaza war.

NOW: Dozens of Biden administration staffers hold a vigil outside the White House, calling for a ceasefire.

“The temporary ceasefire ended 13 days ago, and we are horrified to see the full resumption of killings, displacement and bombardment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.” “A temporary pause to this violence was never enough. We must move with urgency to save as many lives as possible & achieve an immediate permanent ceasefire agreement and the return of all hostages,” they say, in a statement read by Josh Paul, ex-State Dept official who resigned.

SCOOP: The Biden administration has asked Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells for Israel's Merkava tanks for use in its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, sources tell me, amid concerns over the use of U.S. weapons in a conflict that has killed thousands of civilians. The potential sale, worth more than $500 million, is not part of Biden's supplemental request. It is under informal review by the SFRC and HFAC committees, which allows members the privilege to stall the sale, or have informal discussions with the administration about concerns.

NEW: An Israeli tank crew killed a Reuters journalist and wounded six reporters in Lebanon on Oct. 13 by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling, a Reuters investigation has now found. reuters.com/graphics/ISRAE… The two strikes killed Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah, 37, and severely wounded Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer Christina Assi, 28, just over a kilometre from the Israeli border near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Chaab.

SCOOP: The Biden administration is set to impose sanctions on five Turkish companies and a Turkish national on Thursday, accusing them of helping Russia evade sanctions and supporting Moscow in its war against Ukraine, a senior Treasury official tells me & @DPsaledakis 1/x The designations - which include shipping and trade companies accused of helping repair sanctioned vessels tied to Russia's defense ministry and helping the transfer of "dual-use goods" - will be part of a bigger package targeting Russia with sanctions on more than 150 entities.

NEW: Turkey’s third presidential candidate Sinan Ogan tells @Reuters in interview he could only support Kilicdaroglu in runoff if no concessions are made to HDP. He says fight against terrorism, repatriating refugees are his “red lines” for backing Erdogan or Kilicdaroglu. "We will consult with our voter base for our decision in the runoff. But we already made clear that the fight against terrorism and sending refugees back are our red lines," Ogan, who took 5.2% of the initial vote, told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

“A choice between democracy and dictatorship” — Millions of Turks poured out to vote on Sunday in the most consequential election of modern Turkey’s 100-year history, which could either unseat President Erdogan or usher in a third decade of his rule. reuters.com/world/middle-e… What is at stake? Everything.

The vote will decide not only who leads Turkey, a NATO-member country of 85 million, but also how it is governed, where its economy is headed amid a deep cost of living crisis, and the shape of its foreign policy.

NEW: Biden administration believes the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey would be in line with U.S. national security interests and would also serve NATO’s long-term unity, State Dept said in letter to Congress seen by Reuters — story on the @Reuters terminal The letter, dated March 17 and signed by State Department’s top legislative official Naz Durakoglu, stops short of expressing any explicit support for the sale & provides neither an assurance nor a timeline for when the potential sale may (or may not) be finalised.

SCOOP: The Biden administration has formally determined that violence committed against the Rohingya minority by #Myanmar's military amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity, U.S. officials tell me & @Simondlewis .@SecBlinken will announce the formal declaration -- which comes 14 months after he took office and pledged to conduct a new review of the violence -- tomorrow morning at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington

The partnership between #Russia and #China is a “fundamental alignment” and it is growing more closely together — a major source of concern for Washington, senior administration official tells reporters on Secretary Blinken’s plane, adding that it is time for US to up its game. Official says Beijing and Moscow are working together to undermine Washington and the fact that Xi and Putin met at the Olympics in the middle of a major escalation and declared a deeper partnership show that #China views #Russia’s actions in #Ukraine as legitimate

ABD Başkanı Joe #Biden, seçim kampanyasında yapmayı taahhüt ettiği Demokrasi Zirvesi’ni 9-10 Aralık’ta gerçekleştirecek. Bütün dünyada otoriterleşmenin giderek arttığı bir dönemde yapılacak olan ve 100’den fazla ülkenin katılacağı ve bu zirveye #Türkiye davet edilmedi. 1/X Rusya ve Çin’in etki alanlarını genişletmeye, ABD’nin de yeniden dünya liderliğine geri döndüğünü kanıtlamaya çalıştığı bir döneme denk gelen zirvenin amacı, demokrasileri güçlendirmek için bir forum başlatmak ve katılımcı ülkeleri bu konuda somut reform yapmaya teşvik etmek 2/X

THREAD/President #Biden is getting ready to deliver on a campaign promise — to hold a Summit for #Democracy. But rights groups are worried if the event will go beyond being a talk fest, fearing the inclusion of some countries w/problematic human rights track record casts a shadow An invite list, first reported by Politico & confirmed by a source familiar, shows that the event will bring together mature democracies such as #France and #Sweden but also countries including #Philippines and #Poland, where activists say democracy is under threat.