INTREP360 INTELLIGENCE REPORT
02.11.2026
February 11th, 2026
Greetings! Once again—as we start to write today’s edition of the INTREP360 Intelligence Report—Russian President Vladimir Putin is launching a barrage of drones & ballistic missiles at Ukraine.
Yesterday, three Ukrainian toddlers were killed along with their father in a Russian strike in the northeastern town of Bohodukhiv near Kharkiv. Their mother—who is pregnant—was badly injured.
Photo credit: Kharkiv Regional Military Administration. A children’s stuffed toy is seen amidst the rubble of a Ukrainian home after being hit by a Russian drone––February 11th, 2026.
We are out of words—at least for now—as to how to describe this ongoing nightmare being inflicted upon Ukrainian civilians by Putin day after day. We are also out of words to describe that inexcusable lack of response from Washington, & Brussels.
These were real kids. They just celebrated Christmas. They had everything to live for until Putin murdered them.
Enough is enough. It is time for Europe—on its own, if necessary—to implement a no-fly zone over Western Ukraine. Doing so would allow Kyiv to push up air defense assets to protect frontline cities in the Donbas.
Sadly, this earth will keep spinning without these kids. Given our two back-to-back special editions on Ukraine & Iran, today’s report will focus on catching up on the top stories impacting U.S. national security & that of our allies.
Let’s get started—albeit with heavy hearts for those three kids & many more kids like them across Ukraine.
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NORTH AMERICA
El Paso––briefly––was the center of the U.S. today. Early this morning, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a NOTAM—Notice to Airmen—that the city’s civilian airspace was completely shut down.
That hadn’t happened since 9/11 in the wake of the Osama bin Laden’s attacks on the Pentagon & World Trade Center Towers in New York City. Even medevac flights were prohibited over the city’s airspace.
While it wasn’t quite in the same category as Orson Welles’ 1938 Halloween broadcast of H.G. Wells’ classic “War of the Worlds” that purportedly set off nationwide panic (or not), news of the airspace closure quickly went viral given that no reason was given.
This time, it wasn’t Martians but as it turned out, it was apparently due to testing near Fort Bliss of “high-energy lasers that are designed to protect against drones from drug cartels that could cross over the U.S. border.”
Little Green Men aside, there are legitimate reasons to be careful with the testing of high-energy weapon systems.
Ukraine has been developing a laser air defense system—known as Trident—that is capable of downing aircraft from more than a mile away. Sunray is another Ukrainian laser system designed to literally burn Russian drones out of the sky.
Photo credit: RBC-Ukraine. Ukraine’s Trident—or Tryzub—laser gun in an undated video screenshot capture.
U.S. versions include Helios—built by Lockheed Martin—that has been installed on U.S. Navy destroyers to interdict & destroy drones. While there is no reporting on what type of laser system was being tested by the U.S. Army, clearly an abundance of caution is warranted if the testing was in the proximity of civilian aircraft.
That said—obviously—far better coordination between the Pentagon, the FAA & the city of El Paso was needed.
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SOUTH AMERICA
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright met with Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez while on a fact-finding mission about the status of her nation’s oil industry—and to gauge how much U.S. capital investment would be needed to revitalize it.
Wright is also seeking assurances that Caracas will enact a new law that would grant “private companies control over oil production and sales.” If passed, that would end the monopoly that PDVSA—Venezuela’s state-controlled oil company—currently enjoys.
Thus far, Wright is encouraged but made it clear the proposed reform is “probably not [far-reaching] and clear enough to encourage the kind of large capital flows” Washington will need to see going forward.
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CARIBBEAN
Havana is going dark. Since early January, there have been no new oil imports to Cuba after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured & Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on any country selling energy to the Caribbean island-nation.
Gasoline is scarce. Electricity is sporadic & the country’s universities have been forced to close because of a lack of fuel.
Photo credit: Ernesto Mastrascusa / EPA. Lining up for gasoline in Havana.
Even foreign airlines have had to stop scheduled flights to Cuba after the government of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned Monday that the country was quickly running out of aviation fuel.
Tourism is a major source of hard currency for Havana. Plus, there is no upside. Cuba can only produce roughly 30% of its own energy needs.
Trump—as he is apt to say—really does hold all of the cards here. Thus far, despite protestations, neither Mexico nor Russia has exported oil to Havana.
For now, at least, Díaz-Canel isn’t capitulating. Last week he was quoted as saying, “surrender is not an option.”
Bear in mind that Díaz-Canel is not the final decision maker. Raúl Castro—the brother & successor of former President Fidel Castro—is still the de facto ruler of Cuba despite being 94 years old. Old revolutionaries die hard & Cuban TV-when it has been on—keeps broadcasting his brother’s speeches.
Photo credit: Japan Times. Raúl Castro, left, with his late brother Fidel Castro, right, in Havana in 1996.
There is no clear end game here save U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio making it clear last week that Washington wants to see regime change in Havana.
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EUROPE
Contrary to earlier reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is adamant that he will not use the upcoming fourth anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine—February 24th—to announce a special presidential election & a referendum to decide whether Ukrainians are willing to cede the Donbas to Russia.
As a presidential spokesman rightly noted, “If Russians are killing people every day, how can we announce or seriously consider elections in the coming weeks?”
Zelensky’s own reaction—rightly, in our opinion—was even more blunt: “It would be stupid to use this date (Feb. 24) to talk about politics.”
Elsewhere, it was reported that U.S. military & humanitarian aid to Ukraine dropped 99% in 2025. Despite Europe making up the gap, that is unacceptable. Team Trump needs to be doing far more than just profiting off the war in Ukraine.
Especially given that Putin continues to intentionally target Ukraine’s energy sector & Ukrainian civilians.
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MIDDLE EAST
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Trump today at the White House. According to Barak Ravid—a well-sourced reporter for Axios—Trump reiterated to Netanyahu that he still wants to give diplomacy a chance before resorting to military action against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Photo credit: Avi Ohayon/GPO. Netanyahu, left, meets Trump, right today at the White House in Washington D.C.
Maybe. Maybe not. Khamenei continues to reject Team Trump’s demands to end Iran’s nuclear enrichment, disband Tehran’s ballistic missile program & to immediately halt support for Hamas, Hezbollah & a dozen other Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed militias fomenting unrest across the Middle East.
We are likely in regime change territory. Tomorrow, in our weekly 7 AM ET national security column at The Hill, we explain why & warn—yet again—that it will not be easy. Iran isn’t Venezuela. It won’t be a one-and-done type operation. Rather, it will be weeks, not days & it will be wide-scale.
Toward that end, Trump has ordered a second carrier strike group to begin preparing to deploy to the Middle East. If deployed, it likely will be the USS George H.W. Bush which is finishing naval training exercises near Virginia.
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There are reports that the Pentagon withdrew U.S. forces from the strategic Al-Tanf military base in eastern Syria located near the borders of Jordan & Iraq. The U.S. had used the base to protect Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and to stage & conduct operations against ISIS terrorists since 2016.
The withdrawal comes on the heels of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa consolidating control over much of Syria.
It was also reported that the U.S. would continue operations against ISIS at military facilities in neighboring Jordan.
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AFRICA
Yesterday, U.S. officials confirmed that the Pentagon will be sending 200 troops to Nigeria to help fight against ISIS & against Boko Haram. The U.S.’ involvement will be to provide “training and technical guidance for Nigerian troops.”
The Trump administration’s commitment comes after a U.S. Navy ship fired a dozen-plus missiles at ISIS camps in Nigeria.
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INDO-PACIFIC
Beijing—most assuredly—is not happy with the election results in Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi scored a huge victory in large part due to her unwavering pushback against Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Photo credit: Kim Kyung-Hoon / AFP. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reviews election results in Tokyo, Japan on February 8th, 2026.
Not only did she achieve a supermajority in the Lower House last Sunday—316 out of 465 seats—but she also won the most seats by any Japanese political party since the end of World War II in August 1945.
As is, her plan to boost Japan’s defense spending & willingness to militarily support Taiwan if needed have angered Xi.
Now, she just received a massive mandate to follow through on it. Japan now has its own Margaret Thatcher-like Iron Lady—and, in our opinion, not a moment too soon from a narrow national security standpoint.
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Jon & Mark
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