🇸🇾⚡- Court of Damascus has sentenced former Assad's regime officer Atef Najib to death. He has been convicted of crimes against humanity, including the torture of children.

Atef Najib, the cousin of Bashar al-assad, was abandoned in Syria after the Assad brothers fled to hide in Moscow. Najib is currently being held in a prison in the Syrian capital.

The court has also sentenced the former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his brother, Maher al-Assad, to death in absentia.

🇨🇴⚡️- At least 162 deaths reported from the earthquake in Colombia.

🇨🇩⚡️- At least 2000 deaths reported from the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the DRC.

Health officials indicate the spread is not contained.

🇺🇸🇦🇪🇷🇺⚡- The U.S. has sold two Russian ghost tankers it had seized in January to UAE's Global Marketing Systems, GMS. GMS will dismantle and scrap the two Russian vessels, ERA and LILEO, at its scrapyards in India.

🇺🇸🇸🇾🇮🇱⚡- The United States, Syria, and the IAEA have reached an agreement to remove the remaining yellowcake uranium from Syria's former al-Kibar nuclear site. The facility was destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in 2007, and its entrances were attacked again in December 2024 to prevent the new Syrian government from accessing the site.

The leftover nuclear material will be removed under IAEA supervision in a deal brokered by Washington to reduce the risk of an Israel-Syria confrontation that could potentially draw in Turkey.

🇾🇪🇸🇦🇵🇰 - UKMTO confirms the Ansarullah attack on a Saudi-managed commercial vessel in the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, which killed two Pakistani crew members, and a single Indonesian.

🇸🇩🇪🇹⚡- The Rapid Support Forces, RSF, have launched another offensive from Ethiopian territory, this time advancing toward the Geisan area, Ad Damazin direction, southeast Sudan.

Fighting has been ongoing since early this morning, with RSF forces attempting to breach the Sudan-Ethiopia border at multiple points.

The assault follows a similar RSF operation two months ago in areas under the influence of the al-Hilu's forces, also in the Ad Damazin direction, briefly capturing Kurmuk before being driven out by a Sudanese Armed Forces counteroffensive.

🇸🇦🇾🇪⚡- Saudi Arabia launched two drone strikes targeting the same al-Houthi positions as two days ago in Wadi al-Mashawwat in the Ghumar district of the Sa'da region - Ansarullah stronghold of northern Yemen.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡- A Panama-flagged Iranian shadow vessel was fired upon by a U.S. military helicopter in the Gulf of Oman after attempting to breach the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and ignoring repeated warnings. No casualties were reported.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡- Mediators Qatar and Pakistan have both stated talks between Washington and Tehran are at an advanced stage and a deal is near.

🇪🇬⚡- Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's schizophrenic foreign policy continues to face questions over its strategic direction. Egypt had been expected to become the fourth signatory to the historic Mecca Agreement defense pact over the weekend, but ultimately withdrew at the last minute, highlighting yet again an inconsistent and often contradictory approach to regional affairs.

One of the main obstacles to Cairo becoming a founding member was its full diplomatic and strong relationship with Israel. Egypt has also sought to avoid taking sides in the growing rivalry between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, maintaining close ties with both capitals, particularly the UAE.

During the recent U.S.-Iran war, Egypt played an active military role in support of Emirati airspace security. Cairo and Abu Dhabi have also formed a non-official alliance to combat Muslim Brotherhood influence in the wider region, an alliance that has been at odds with its own self interests at times. For instance, whether that's Egypt's backing of UAE-supported, anti-Islamist commander Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya, while also backing Sudan's Islamist-leaning and Qatari-backed Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. A few months ago, Riyadh asked el-Sisi to close the al-Kufrah supply route for the Rapid Support Forces in southeast Libya–Egypt did, but for a week only.

🇸🇩🇪🇹⚡- BREAKING: The Rapid Support Forces, RSF, have captured Geisan, Ad Damazin direction, southeast Sudan. RSF are continuing their push northwards along Khawr Baba, where heavy fighting remains ongoing.

Note, the announcement of Geisan's capture by RSF media is particularly significant as it effectively reinforces allegations that Ethiopian territory is being used as a staging ground for RSF operations. Unlike the earlier offensive in the Kurmuk area, which also borders South Sudan, Geisan shares a border exclusively with Ethiopia.

Geisan is 60km away from Kurmuk.

🇾🇪⚡- Anti-Ansarullah Yemeni media reports Presidential Leadership Council forces captured a number of Ansarullah soldiers while they attempt to infiltrate Ta'izz, southern Yemen, from the northeast of the city.

🇾🇪⚡- Large-scale Ansarullah drone attack across much of eastern Yemen.

Hostile drones have been spotted over Seiyun and the Wadi Dawan area of the Hadhramaut region. Drones are also operating over the al-Jawf desert (likely to target tribal positions), Shabwah, Ma'rib, and Bayhan al-Qisab.

🇾🇪⚡- Ansarullah has issued evacuation orders for residents in western Ta'izz city, Presidential Leadership Council controlled southern Yemen, to evacuate their homes immediately.

🇾🇪⚡- Presidential Leadership Council forces (the Tihamah Brigades) report shooting down an Ansarullah drone that was attempting to double-tap the Saudi-managed commercial vessel that had been struck in the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb earlier today, killing 3-5 crew members, including at least two Pakistanis.

🇾🇪⚡- An unsuccessful assassination attempt on a senior commander of the Shabwah Emergency Forces, pro Presidential Leadership Council forces, in Shabwah, central Yemen.

🇱🇾⚡- For the third time in less than 24 hours, unidentified one-way drones have struck the Zawiya oil refinery, west of Tripoli, northwest Libya.

Much of the Zawiya area is controlled by the local and anti-Dbeibeh al-Far militia, which recently clashed with GNU's al-Silaa (103rd) Battalion.

🇮🇷🇮🇱⚡- Former Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen revealed that Israeli intelligence operatives had visited Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility on multiple occasions to gain a detailed understanding of the site.

🇩🇪⚡- Drone sightings over Hannover International Airport causing a temporary suspension of air traffic at the German airport.

🇩🇪🇺🇦⚡- ZEIT reports that video footage shows the first drone at Leipzig/Halle Airport striking the wing of the parked Ukrainian Antonov cargo aircraft at Leipzig Airport before failing to detonate and falling to the ground.

Investigators are treating the incident as a "deliberate attack" rather than a "warning or intimidation attempt."