The Israeli Air Force has carried out airstrikes for the second day in a row against military sites belonging to the Syrian Army near al-Kiswah, just to the south of the Syrian capital of Damascus. These strikes come amidst ongoing talks regarding a possible security agreement between Israel and Syria.

FBI Director Kash Patel states that the FBI is investigating today’s mass shooting at the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which resulted in the death of two children and over a dozen injuries, as an “act of domestic terrorism and hate crime” targeting Catholics.

Reports of a large-scale drone attack currently underway against Russian-occupied Crimea and Southwestern Russia, with well over 200 drones believed to have been launched by Ukraine. Explosions and air-defense activity has so far been reported over both Sevastopol and Yevpatoria.

Multiple ballistic missile impacts in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv within the late hour, with a number of fires seen burning across the city, as Russia has launched both missiles and drones in a large-scale attack tonight against Ukraine.

Additional ballistic missile launches by Russia and impacts in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Only months after her confirmation, the Trump Administration move today to oust the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Susan Monarez, after she refused to support several anti-vaccine policies pushed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Monarez, who was confirmed in late July, was pressed for days by Kennedy, administration lawyers and other officials over whether she would support rescinding certain approvals for coronavirus vaccines, according to two people with knowledge of those conversations. Kennedy, who has a long history of anti-vaccine advocacy, and other officials questioned Monarez on Monday on whether she was aligned with the administration’s efforts to change vaccine policy, the people said. Additionally, Kennedy, and one of his top advisers Stefanie Spear, also pushed Monarez to fire her senior staff by Friday.

Monarez, who was a longtime federal government scientist before President Trump nominated her to lead the CDC, declined to commit to support changing coronavirus vaccine policy without consulting her advisers, prompting Kennedy to urge her to resign for “not supporting President Trump’s agenda,” which she also refused.

On Wednesday, HHS announced that Monarez would no longer serve as the Director of the CDC, sparking a flurry of high-level resignations within the agency, which included the CDC’s Chief Medical Officer, the Director of the Infectious Disease Center and several other key officials. Hours after the announcement by HHS, Monarez’s lawyers responded with a fiery statement stating that she had not resigned or been fired, and accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of “weaponizing public health for political gain” and “putting millions of American lives at risk” by purging health officials from government.

“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda,” the lawyers Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell wrote in a statement. “For that reason, she has been targeted.”

Drones are continuing to impact the Kuibyshev Oil Refinery in the Samara Oblast of Southern Russia, with several additional explosions seen as nearly the entire complex appears to now be engulfed in flames.

According to sources within the Syrian Government in Damascus, overnight, the Israeli Air Force carried out two waves of roughly a dozen airstrikes against several positions and sites operated by the Syrian Army near al-Kiswah to the south of the capital, resulted in multiple dead and injuried among the Syrian Forces. During and after the first wave of strikes, Israeli Special Forces conducted a landing operated in the vicinity of Jabal al-Mana, carrying out an unknown operation on the ground, before withdrawing back to Israel. Both the ground operation and strikes have yet to be confirmed by the Israel Defense Force.

Overnight, Russia launched over a dozen ballistic missiles, including several Iskander-Ms and Kinzhals, against the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, targeting a number of residential buildings and causing extensive damage to both the British Council Office and the Mission for the European Union. At least 14 were killed and over 50 were injured in the attack on Kyiv.