The Morning Count — Gregg Roman

Entry №2 — Friday, July 10, 2026 · kept since Thursday, July 9, 2026

Washington still says diplomacy while the strikes widen — the official line holds by a thread — Jerusalem Post

Antiquities France is returning to Damascus after fifteen years of severed ties — normalization, itemized in crates. — Times of Israel

Iran

Khamenei's body crosses into Iraq for the Najaf and Karbala rites — the procession as statecraft — Long War Journal
Jerusalem warned Washington of a fresh Iranian plan on Trump's life, reports say — Times of Israel

Washington

The Syria delisting is signed — the paperwork of a new alignment — Long War Journal
Rome holds its line against joining the Iran fight, Trump notwithstanding — Breaking Defense

The Long Column

How Hizballah's appetite for risk made Lebanon impossible to ignore — the strategy, examined — War on the Rocks
Israel's former national security adviser on what comes next in the war against Iran — Times of Israel

How the count is kept

Drafted each morning from the sources of record below, then read, cut, and rewritten by me before it publishes. Selection is mine alone; so are the mistakes. The wire counts — it does not campaign. Corrections run in the next edition.

Sources of record

Times of Israel
Jerusalem Post
Ynet
RFE/RL
Amwaj
Al-Monitor
The National
The Media Line
Atlantic Council
War on the Rocks
Jewish Insider
Long War Journal
Breaking Defense