Satellite imagery shows Houthis have dug roughly 20 km of trenches in the mountains around Bab al-Mandab between Sept 8-16.

Time-lapse comparisons clearly show new earthworks appearing across the hillsides.

The trenches serve a dual purpose: defending against any Saudi-backed counteroffensive to retake the coast, and providing observation posts overlooking the shipping channel.

Houthi Leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi:

We are facing an ongoing aggression and an unjust siege. We are in the 12th year, and the Saudi enemy continues to carry it out with U.S. oversight and Zionist support.

During the period of de-escalation, the Saudi regime did not seriously move toward peace. Instead, it used this period to tighten its measures and build military formations.

We are in a position of necessary defense. We were not the ones who started the aggression against Saudi Arabia.

Houthi Leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi:

The escalation began with the Saudi enemy’s bombing of Sanaa airport. Saudi Arabia has been the initiator of aggression at every stage without any legitimate justification.

The aggression that began in 2015 was an unjust attack against our people, and the aggressors continued this hostile campaign.

The Saudi enemy targeted everything in our country and showed no respect for any sanctity.

It killed thousands of children, women and civilians, and attacked homes, markets, hospitals, schools and mosques.

Houthi Leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi:

The siege remains one of the main problems with the Saudi enemy, which insists on closing airports and imposing unjust restrictions on imported goods.

The Saudi enemy continues the siege and continues to pressure our people.

The false propaganda and terrible accusations were an essential part of the Saudi aggression against our people, aimed at distorting their image.

Houthi Leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi:

The Saudi accusations against our people of targeting Mecca are a major, ugly and extremely shameful lie.

Some countries mourn the holy sites while they are the ones abandoning the sanctities of Muslims and failing the Islamic nation.

Their relations with the Saudi regime are based on material interests and petrodollars.

Houthi Leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi to Saudi Arabia:

What have you actually done for the Palestinian cause? You have provided trillions of dollars from which weapons were supplied to the Israeli enemy.

You provided oil, while its aircraft moved with the fuel you supplied to kill the Palestinian people.

The real threat to the holy sites is the Jewish Zionist enemy, which is clear about its plans.

Yet you try to shift the focus toward those who are more sincere and devoted in defending this nation and its sanctities.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call ahead of an expected meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Trump on September 24.

Wang said China and the U.S. should prepare for “the next stage of high-level interactions in the spirit of equality, respect and reciprocity,” while calling for stronger communication, cooperation and management of differences.

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon:

Israel reached significant agreements with Morocco to enhance diplomatic ties by establishing embassies in both countries to facilitate economic cooperation and mutual investment and to expand direct flights between our countries.

The Jewish people have deep historical roots in Morocco. As our nations grow closer together, these achievements will benefit both countries.

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon:

If someone should be arrested, it is Mayor Mamdani for actually collaborating with the enemies of the United States.

Israel and Greece held a joint naval exercise, including crew exchanges and training for various scenarios such as “emergency situations.”

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

In certain locations on the front line of troops right now, the life expectancy of a new Russian recruit arriving on the front lines is as little as 20 to 30 minutes. Think about that.

This is what happens when low-cost precision is fielded fast, adapted quickly, and scaled across the battlefield.

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

Our adversaries may be geographically distributed and dispersed, but they’re increasingly connected.

They share technology, intelligence, weapons, and economic support.

They’re studying our battlefields of the past and our battlefields currently, and they’re adapting quickly and seeking new ways to challenge our advantages.

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

On June 8th of this year, after a U.S. Army Apache AH-64 went down near the coast of Oman, U.S. CENTCOM launched a rapid, responsive joint search and rescue effort to recover the crew.

That response drew on the totality of the joint force and ultimately was required to use enabled unmanned vessels to participate in the rescue of downed U.S. service members for the first time ever.

Iran's Mahan Air suspended flights to Türkiye (Istanbul, Ankara) and Oman (Muscat) after Turkish and Omani authorities enforced new US sanctions.

Türkiye flights stop Sept 21, Muscat already cancelled today (Sept 17).

Georgia following suit.

Mahan has been sanctioned since 2011 for alleged IRGC support.

Other Iranian carriers still fly these routes.

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

We have to assume from now on that our formations will be hunted by autonomous systems, jammed across the spectrum and tracked in real time.

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

We must continue to ensure that the United States of America can strike anywhere on the globe at the time and place of our choosing and sustain that force.

Russian drones hit Turkish-owned cargo ship M/V Mariam M in Ukraine's Danube Delta canal near the Romanian border.

The ship was heading from Latakia, Syria to Galati, Romania.

Ukrainian sources say the captain was killed and three crew injured.

Turkish sources report both the captain and harbor pilot killed with 13 injured.

The bridge was completely burned out and the accommodation block caught fire.

The Pentagon considered a plan in June 2026 to cut roughly 25,000 U.S. troops from Europe, a move that would have pushed American force levels below a 76,000-troop minimum mandated by Congress.

Before Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels in June, he had planned to announce the reduction, but the proposal faced internal resistance.

Instead, Hegseth announced a six-month review of U.S. forces in Europe, assessing allies’ defense contributions, military capabilities, basing arrangements and support for U.S. priorities.

Source: Reuters

Polish PM Donald Tusk:

As a historian, I know perfectly well that the methods of Russian actions have remained unchanged for centuries. Attacking neighbors under the pretext of liberation.

History, as we know, does not repeat itself, but it rhymes, and today we must read those rhymes of history with the seriousness they deserve.

Polish PM Donald Tusk:

In May 1939, a certain French politician, a future Nazi collaborator, asked in the French press: "Why die for Gdańsk?"

A few months later, all of Europe was dying.

To those who today say that this is not our war, I remind them of this lesson of history.

Polish PM Donald Tusk:

In 1939, our allies existed practically only on paper. We were left alone. Today we are in NATO and the European Union.

We are spending almost 5% of GDP on defense. That is nearly twice as much as Germany and more than twice as much as France. We are building one of the strongest armies in Europe.

From the EU’s SAFE program, we received €44 billion, the most of all EU countries. And Polish borders today are the best-protected borders on the entire continent.