Evening Brief: US Special Operations to Field New Wearable Tech for Health Monitoring, Zelenskyy Warns Against Concessions to Russia Ahead of Trump-Putin Summit

· Guy D. McCardle

President Zelenskyy. Image Credit: CNN via Reuters

Tonight’s brief covers Rep. Hamadeh’s push in Syria to recover Kayla Mueller’s remains, California’s court fight over Trump’s federalization of its National Guard, and US Special Ops rolling out new wearable hazard tech. We’re also tracking Nigeria’s massive raid on armed gangs, Armenia-Azerbaijan’s US-brokered peace deal, Zelenskyy’s warning ahead of the Trump-Putin summit, Finland’s charges over undersea cable sabotage, and North Korea’s threat over upcoming US-South Korea military drills.

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US Congressman Visits Syria to Discuss Return of American Aid Worker’s Remains

US Congressman Abraham Hamadeh made a six-hour visit to Syria to meet interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and discuss recovering the remains of Kayla Mueller, the American aid worker kidnapped by ISIS in 2013 and confirmed dead in 2015.

Mueller’s body has never been found.

Hamadeh, an Arizona Republican, has vowed to bring her remains home to her family.

The talks also addressed creating a secure humanitarian corridor for delivering medical and relief aid to Sweida province, recently hit by deadly clashes between pro-government forces and Druze gunmen.

A Syrian official did not comment on the meeting.

Mueller was abducted in Aleppo after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital with her boyfriend, Omar Alkhani, who was later released. ISIS claimed she was killed in a Jordanian airstrike, but the Pentagon said she died at the hands of her captors. She is among several foreign journalists and aid workers murdered by ISIS whose remains have not been recovered.

The visit comes amid ongoing searches in remote parts of Syria for ISIS mass grave sites, as the militant group’s territorial defeat in 2019 revealed numerous burial locations containing victims abducted during its reign.

 

Judge to Hear Case on Trump’s Federalization of California National Guard During Immigration Protests

A federal judge will hear arguments on whether the Trump administration violated federal law by deploying National Guard troops and US Marines to Los Angeles after June 7 protests over immigration raids.

US President Donald Trump federalized roughly 4,000 California National Guard members and sent 700 Marines to the city over objections from Governor Gavin Newsom and local officials. About 250 Guard troops remain at a base in Los Alamitos.

California seeks to regain control of the Guard and block federal use of troops for law enforcement under the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits military involvement in civilian policing.

Judge Charles Breyer previously ruled the administration violated the 10th Amendment and exceeded its authority but allowed federal control to continue pending appeal.

The Guard supported federal immigration officers during raids in Los Angeles and on marijuana farms in Ventura County, while Marines guarded a downtown federal building. The Trump administration says the deployments were needed to protect federal property and personnel, citing slow local police response during the protests.

Trump invoked Section 12406 of Title 10, which permits federalization during invasion, rebellion, or when federal laws cannot otherwise be enforced.

Breyer found the protests “fall far short of ‘rebellion,’” and ordered a three-day bench trial to proceed next week, rejecting government arguments to cancel the case.

The trial could set precedent for presidential authority to deploy National Guard forces in states without governor consent.

 

US Special Operations to Field New Wearable Tech for Health and Hazard Monitoring

By year’s end, some US Special Operations Forces (SOF) will begin deploying a new wearable device that tracks vital signs in real time and integrates with chemical and environmental hazard sensors.

Developed by LifeLens Technologies under the Army’s Wearable All-hazard Remote-monitoring Program (WARP) and led by the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND), the system is the first Pentagon-led physiological monitoring device to be fielded to the joint force.

The small, adhesive chest-mounted node contains 25 sensors and connects to a fob-sized gateway, which processes data and fuses it with environmental monitoring streams. Information is fed into MRI Global’s tactical awareness kit, allowing commanders and subject matter experts to monitor health indicators like heart rate, heat stress, and fatigue alongside hazard alerts.

Special Operations Command identified the need for such a device after the Department of Defense (DoD) wearables testing and the COVID-19 pandemic revealed gaps in tracking operator health in hazardous environments.

The SOF office tested multiple form factors, from rings and watches to electrocardiogram (ECG) shirts, but selected the LifeLens unit for comfort, unobtrusiveness, and consistent data quality.

Fielding is scheduled to start in late 2025 under a rapid acquisition approach designed to quickly refine the technology based on operator feedback.

While deployment scale remains undisclosed, officials say the device will enhance both health monitoring and hazard detection capabilities for operators in complex, high-risk missions.

 

Nigerian Military Kills Over 100 Bandits in Zamfara State Raid

Nigerian forces killed more than 100 members of an armed criminal gang in a coordinated air and ground assault Sunday in Zamfara state, according to a UN-commissioned conflict monitoring report.

The operation targeted a gathering of over 400 “bandits” in Makakkari forest, Bukkuyum local government area, after recent waves of kidnappings and attacks, including a raid on Adabka village last Friday that left 13 security personnel dead.

The assault, launched in the early morning, involved fighter jets and ground troops and appears to have disrupted plans for an imminent attack on a farming community.

The Nigerian military has not publicly commented.

Armed bandit groups, originally rooted in herder-farmer disputes over land and water, have evolved into organized criminal networks in northwest and central Nigeria, profiting from cattle rustling, ransom kidnappings, and extortion of farmers and miners.

Violence has displaced communities, deepened food insecurity, and contributed to a worsening malnutrition crisis.

Despite years of military campaigns and the creation of state-backed militias, attacks persist and are spreading into central Nigeria.

Bandits have also increased cooperation with jihadist insurgents in the northeast, further straining an overstretched military.

In July, Nigerian troops killed at least 95 gang members in a similar joint operation in Niger state.

 

Armenia and Azerbaijan Publish US-Brokered Peace Agreement Text

Armenia and Azerbaijan released the text of a US-mediated peace deal Monday, pledging to respect each other’s territorial integrity and end nearly four decades of conflict.

The agreement, initialed by both foreign ministers in Washington on Friday during a White House meeting with President Donald Trump, commits both sides to drop all territorial claims, refrain from the use of force, and adhere to international law.

The deal follows Azerbaijan’s 2023 recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh, which triggered the mass exodus of the region’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians. It also bans the deployment of third-party forces along the shared border — a likely reference to Russia, which has previously stationed peacekeepers in the region and retains military interests in Armenia.

The European Union, Turkey, and Russia have all welcomed the accord, though Moscow warned against foreign interference.

A major obstacle remains: Azerbaijan demands Armenia amend its constitution to remove language Baku views as implying territorial claims.

President Ilham Aliyev said peace could be signed “at any time” after constitutional changes are made.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has called for a referendum on the issue but has not set a date.

The agreement also grants the US exclusive development rights to a strategic transit corridor running through southern Armenia, connecting mainland Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave bordering Turkey. Control of this corridor had previously stalled peace talks.

If finalized, the deal could reshape the geopolitics of the South Caucasus, a critical energy transit region between Russia, Europe, Turkey, and Iran.

 

Zelenskyy Warns Against Concessions to Russia Ahead of Trump-Putin Summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautioned Monday against yielding to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands ahead of Friday’s planned US-Russia summit, which will be the first meeting between a sitting US and Russian leader since 2021.

Zelenskyy is not scheduled to attend and fears the talks could result in a deal forcing Ukraine to surrender territory.

“Russia refuses to stop the killings, and therefore must not receive any rewards or benefits,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

He stressed that “concessions do not persuade a killer,” calling his position both moral and rational.

European Union foreign ministers are meeting to discuss the summit, with many warning that any agreement excluding Ukraine risks unacceptable compromises.

Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion in early 2022, continues to make incremental gains and claims to have captured Fedorivka in the Donetsk region.

Both sides have escalated aerial strikes, with Ukraine claiming an attack on a missile component facility in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region. Russian officials said the strike killed one person and wounded two others.

 

Finland Charges Crew of Russia-Linked Tanker for Undersea Cable Sabotage

Finnish prosecutors have charged the captain and two senior officers of the Eagle S oil tanker with aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications for allegedly damaging critical undersea cables between Finland and Estonia in December 2024.

Authorities accuse the crew of dragging the ship’s anchor for 90 kilometers (56 miles) in the Gulf of Finland, severing five submarine cables, including the Estlink-2 power link and key telecom lines. The crew denies the charges, and their identities have not been released.

The Eagle S, flagged in the Cook Islands, is identified by Finnish and European Union officials as part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers used to evade Western sanctions. The vessel departed Russia’s Ust-Luga port with oil products before the alleged sabotage. Damage costs are estimated at over 60 million euros ($69.7 million), and prosecutors say the incident posed a serious risk to Finland’s energy and communications security, though services were maintained via alternate connections.

The Estlink-2 cable, which can supply half of Estonia’s winter electricity needs, was not taken offline but contributed to higher energy prices in the Baltic region.

The defense argues Finland lacks jurisdiction because the cables were damaged outside its territorial waters.

Western officials suspect the attack is part of broader sabotage operations in Europe linked to Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.

 

North Korea Warns of ‘Counteraction’ Over Upcoming US-South Korea Military Drills

North Korea’s defense minister on Monday denounced an upcoming 11-day joint exercise between South Korea and the United States as a “direct military provocation” and vowed to respond.

No Kwang Chol said the drills, set to start August 18, posed a “real and dangerous threat” and that Pyongyang’s forces would adopt a “resolute counteraction posture” to defend national security.

The annual exercise will test command control and troop mobilization under an updated strategy addressing North Korea’s growing nuclear capabilities. While the core drills will proceed, some field training was postponed to next month, a move seen as part of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s effort to ease tensions since taking office in June.

Ties between the Koreas have been strained by Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons development and closer military cooperation with Russia. However, recent actions — including both sides dismantling propaganda loudspeakers at the border and a more measured tone from Pyongyang’s statements — suggest tentative steps toward de-escalation.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry noted that North Korea’s response to the drills has so far focused on stating its position rather than issuing direct military threats, though Pyongyang continues to reject dialogue offers from Seoul and Washington.

 

Sources: News Agencies