🇹🇷🇮🇱⚡- "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.

🇪🇺🇷🇺⚡- "Russia has launched a fresh wave of attacks on European armaments factories under the guise of plausible deniability.

The Kremlin is recruiting local gang members to sabotage defence manufacturers to test NATO's resolve.

The attacks appear carefully calculated to fall just short of triggering Article 5, Nato’s mutual defence clause," - Western intelligence sources tell The Telegraph.

🇸🇴⚡️ BREAKING: Merca, the capital of Somalia's Lower Shabelle province, has fallen to a newly emerged and previously unidentified militia calling itself the 'Rapid Support Forces'.

Local reports state all Somali federal and South West State flags have been removed from government and administrative buildings and replaced with the group's own banners.

🇹🇷🇸🇴⚡- Following the Turkish airstrike on Eyl yesterday, Turkey's air force attacked the coast of Jiifle, Nugaal province in Puntland, today, killing nine.

🇸🇩🇪🇹⚡- Sudan says it has shot down a drone that entered its airspace from Ethiopia, an incident that comes just one day before the UN Security Council is set to discuss the possible imposition of a no-fly zone over Sudan, a proposal strongly opposed by Port Sudan.

🇸🇴🇹🇷🇦🇪 - Prominent independent Somali journalist Bashir Hashi Yussuf has claimed that the recent strikes off the coast of Puntland were carried out by the United Arab Emirates, not Turkey, and are intended to create the impression that Ankara is responsible for the deaths of civilians fishermen (as per the authorities in Somaliland).

🇷🇺 - Three years ago today, Russia's Putin killed the heads of the Wagner Group, Dmitri Utkin and Yevgeny Prigozhin. Since then, Russia's ability to project influence abroad has spiraled downwards with setbacks across several key theatres, including Syria, the Sahel, and the Caucasus.

🇺🇸⚡️- Around 18,700 customers in Gary, Indiana, have been without power for twelve days after a storm knocked out most of the power in the city.

When the state utility company NIPSCO was sent out to make repairs on Aug. 15th, unknown residents of the 76% Black city fired upon the marked company vehicle.

The Gary PD is now acting as a security force for the NIPSCO workers as they attempt to repair the electrical infrastructure.

🇺🇸 - 30 years ago, Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington founded Valve. Their corporation would go on to revolutionize gaming on several occasions. They gave gamers the Source engines and the game series of Half-Life, Portal, Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress as well as the Steam platform. They have given countless small developers a chance to create and live off their work, feeding passions for three decades now. Valve stands as a unique giant among gaming corporations, showing us that greed will never replace passion when it comes comes to quality.

"It used to be that you needed a $500-million-a-year company in order to reach a worldwide audience of consumers. Now all you need is a Steam account." - Gabe "GabeN" Newell.

🇾🇪🇸🇦⚡- Ansarullah struck a tanker in the Red Sea off the coast of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.