🇮🇷🇮🇶⚡- Iran has approved the passage of several Iraqi oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz after Baghdad made repeated requests via multiple diplomatic channels, IRNA reports.

🇹🇷🇮🇱⚡- "Israel must stop Erdogan’s military expansion before Turkey reaches its borders.

Unless Israel draws concrete red lines in Syria and the eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish army and navy will further encroach upon Israel’s northern and maritime borders.

Israel could find itself facing Turkish tanks on the Golan Heights and Turkish frigates off the coast of Caesarea," - A very senior Israeli intelligence official tells The Jerusalem Post.

🇺🇸⚡- Political provocateur Jake Lang was arrested after leading a protest through Minneapolis that quickly turned into a riot. Leftists attempted to attack Lang and his crew, trying to damage his vehicle by slashing his tires and repeatedly climbing into the truck bed to assault Lang and others.

🇰🇪🇸🇴⚡- Al-Shabaab launched a cross-border attack on a Kenyan military base in Mangai, northeast Kenya, at -1.7477909, 41.1778682.

The attack was repelled but left two Kenyan soldiers dead. Al-Shabaab continues to operate almost entirely freely in the Boni forest region.

🇸🇴 - The identities of the two vessels recently hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden have now been confirmed.

On August 17, the Turkish military cargo vessel LUTOF was seized while en route to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia's federal government. Turkey remains as one of Somalia's closest security and political partners, having provided extensive support to Mogadishu in its struggle against separatist and breakaway regions in the north, as well as the Jubaland project.

Three days later, on August 20, pirates boarded the Iranian-linked ghost tanker SEAMULL, now operating under the name SIBU-1, as it attempted to transit the Bab el-Mandeb on its way to Port Sudan, Sudan's wartime capital. Iran has been widely accused of discreetly supplying fuel, weapons, and other forms of assistance to the Sudanese government in its war against the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces, RSF.

As Rerum Novarum has previously reported, Somali pirate groups should not be viewed as isolated criminal actors operating independently. Rather, they function as proxies with ties to elements within the Puntland administration, the semi-autonomous breakaway region that has long enjoyed significant political and financial support from the United Arab Emirates.

🇹🇷🇸🇴⚡- Turkey carried out an airstrike off the coast of Eyl in Puntland's Nugaal region, northern Somalia, killing four people.

The strike came in response to the recent hijacking of the Turkish military cargo vessel LUTOF by Puntland-based pirate groups. Turkey used aircraft based at Mogadishu's airport to carry out the attack. Ironically, authorities in the breakaway region of Somaliland condemned the operation, claiming the victims were four civilian fishermen rather than pirates.

Note, Eyl has long been regarded as one of Somalia's most notorious piracy hubs and is widely associated with forces loyal to Farah Hirsi Kulan (Booyah). Kulan previously held several positions within the Somali government, while Booyah-loyalists continue holding influence within Puntland's governing structures.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲 - President Trump recognizes the disputed Strait of Hormuz in the American Gulf as U.S. territory.

🇸🇩🇹🇩⚡- Chad confirms Sudanese drones and jets launched several airstrikes well inside Chadian territory.

Chad's military "denounced the new violation."

🇹🇷🇮🇱⚡- "Turkey instead of Iran, the new strategic threat to Israel, and we [Israelis] must wake up.

Erdogan operates in the Iranian way, investing in hostility towards Israel to boost his popularity.

Israel is not a military match for Turkey, but it will not tolerate its interests in Syria and has sent a message by fire to define the limits of the Turkish presence and its role in Syria.

We must change our way of thinking and prepare for a long-term conflict with Turkey," - i24.

🇹🇷🇮🇱⚡- "At first, a few commentators and event hosts who cling to the fringes of their definition as journalists, and a few opposition leaders, said that the strike in Syria [on the military base in the north of the country] was unnecessary and carried out for political considerations.

After it was clarified that the IDF recommended the strike based on clear intelligence information, and the political echelon weighed it carefully and made the decision, they [journalists and online influencers] moved to an alternative version:

'The statements by the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister to Erdogan and the warnings that we will not allow Turkey to establish itself in Syria and endanger Israel's security - are unnecessary and dangerous. We must not anger Erdogan, as if we went on some evening stroll with a light breeze in the treetops that has nothing to do with anything - and Erdogan is actually some kind of Zionist enthusiast.'

It's fortunate that they [journalists and online influencers] don't influence anything these days, and we very much hope for Israel's security that they won't reach positions of influence with such stances even in the future," - Israel Katz, Defense Minister of Israel.