GAZA RESOLUTION PASSED: The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution today to ramp up international humanitarian aid to Gaza, after days of negotiations amid a push from the U.S. to tone down the language, our own MONA ZHANG reports. Both the U.S. and Russia ultimately abstained from the vote, allowing the resolution to pass with unanimous support from the rest of the Security Council, which includes the United Kingdom, China and France as permanent members. The vote on the resolution was delayed for four days in hopes of avoiding a U.S. veto. In the end, a week of tense negotiations yielded text that the U.S. had said Thursday night it would not vote down. In a statement after the vote, Amnesty International’s Secretary-General AGNÈS CALLAMARD applauded the resolution’s passage but called it “woefully insufficient. … Nothing short of an immediate ceasefire is enough to alleviate the mass civilian suffering we are witnessing.” The White House has resisted pressure to call for a cease-fire, arguing Hamas could use that to regroup and again attack Israel. Meanwhile, senior White House adviser AMOS HOCHSTEIN has been leading talks with Israel, Lebanon and intermediaries for Hezbollah with the goal of reducing tensions on the border between the two countries, Lebanese and Israeli officials and other participants in the talks, told The New York Times. IRAN SUPPORT TO HOUTHIS: Newly declassified intelligence shows that Iran was “deeply involved” in planning the Houthis’ attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, according to NSC spokesperson ADRIENNE WATSON, as our own LARA SELIGMAN writes in. Without Iranian support — including the provision of advanced weapons, tactical intelligence, monitoring systems and financial aid — the Houthis would “struggle to effectively track and strike commercial vessels navigating” those waters, Watson said. Iran has sent arms to the Houthis since 2015, including drones, cruise and ballistic missiles that U.S. intelligence analysis has linked to the recent attacks, Watson said. For example, on Oct. 19 the Houthis launched a complex, long-range attack against Israel using at least 29 KAS-04 drones and three land attack cruise missiles similar to Iranian systems. “We have no reason to believe that Iran is trying to dissuade the Houthis from this reckless behavior,” Watson said. PRIGOZHIN ‘HAD TO BE REMOVED’: Russia today dismissed a report that Moscow ordered the killing of Wagner Group chief YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, who died in a plane crash this summer. The Wall Street Journal’s THOMAS GROVE, ALAN CULLISON and BOJAN PANCEVSKI reported that before what would be his final flight got off the ground, Prigozhin waited for a safety check to finish. An explosive was slipped under the wing — a plot two months in the making that the WSJ claims was approved by Putin and his confidant, an ex-spy named NIKOLAI PATRUSHEV. “He had to be removed,” a Kremlin official told a European involved in intelligence gathering after the crash, per WSJ. Kremlin spokesperson DMITRY PESKOV today dismissed the report as “pulp fiction,” per Reuters’ MARK TREVELYAN. Prigozhin’s death followed his failed rebellion against the Kremlin, which he mounted because of frustrations over how the war in Ukraine was being handled. SENIOR SOMALI MILITANT KILLED: A U.S. drone strike today killed MAALIM AYMAN, a senior Somali militant accused of planning an attack on a military base in Kenya that killed three Americans in 2020, a top Somali official told The Washington Post’s KATHARINE HOURELD. REDUCING CIVILIAN HARM: The Pentagon released official guidance providing sweeping changes to reduce harm to civilians from U.S. military operations, a year after Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN ordered the overhaul, our own LARA SELIGMAN reported Thursday evening. Among other changes, it directs senior DOD civilian and military leaders to each identify a senior official or flag officer to lead their organization’s efforts related to mitigating civilian harm, with the aim of embedding the new ethos across the department and geographic combatant commands. But the guidance also comes at an awkward time for DOD, amid international uproar over Israel’s use of U.S.-provided weapons to bombard Gaza. DRINKS WITH NATSEC DAILY: At the end of every long, hard week, we like to highlight how a prominent member of Washington’s national security scene prefers to unwind with a drink. Today, we’re featuring Maj. Gen. PAT RYDER, the Defense Department press secretary who fields so many of our team’s requests. After he’s done being pestered by us, Ryder likes to keep it classy with a Negroni: “When made well, it’s the perfect Friday afternoon cocktail in my view.” Catch him sipping spirits in the Daiquiri Lounge at the Army & Navy Club near Farragut Square, which he calls a “great little bar with a ton of history — and a fantastic place to meet up with friends to relax.” Cheers, sir! IT’S FRIDAY. WELCOME TO VACATION: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily. This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at award@politico.com and mberg@politico.com, and follow us on X at @alexbward and @mattberg33. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @nahaltoosi, @PhelimKine, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130, @ErinBanco, @reporterjoe, and @JGedeon1. Editor’s note: Another POLITICO newsletter was mistakenly sent out in the format of NatSec Daily last night. We apologize for any confusion.
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