🇹🇷🇮🇱⚡- "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 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.

🇦🇲⚡- "It's possible for a country to be removed from the CSTO. I would be delighted if the alliance removed Armenia from the collective treaty agreement. It would free us from the dilemma of leaving or not," - Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia.

Note, the CSTO's collective defense clause closely resembles NATO's Article 5, stipulating that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. However, the alliance did not support Armenia during the 2020 war or the subsequent border clashes with Azerbaijan between 2021, 2022, and 2023, a failure that has fueled growing frustration in Yerevan. Pashinyan in 2021 and 2022 directly requested support, citing the CSTO mutual defense clause, but fell on deaf ears in Moscow, and has even gone as far as accusing Belarus (a CSTO member) of supporting Azerbaijan (a non-CSTO member) against Armenia.

🇦🇲🇷🇺⚡- "For two hundred years Armenia's relations with Russia were built on the idea that Russia will be the guarantor of security of the Armenian people.

The events of 2020-2023 have shown that Russia, because of its own security problems, had significant limitations in fulfilling its role as guarantor," - Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia.

🇸🇩🇪🇹⚡- A second drone in less than 24 hours has been downed by the Sudanese Armed Forces. The drone also originated from Ethiopia.

🇬🇧🇺🇦⚡️- UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, during his first foreign visit to Ukraine to attend the country's Independence Day parade, announced that Britain has agreed to share Storm Shadow missile technology with Kiev, paving the way for Ukraine to manufacture the long-range cruise missiles domestically.

🇩🇿🇲🇱⚡️- In a significant thaw in relations between Algeria and Mali, Malian Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maiga has arrived in Algiers for high-level talks.

🇰🇪🇸🇴⚡- For the second time in just two days, al-Shabaab launched a cross-border attack on a Kenyan military base near the town of Konton, northeast Kenya (the base is located at 2.0361126, 40.9083649).

Kenyan military sources report repelling the attack and pushing al-Shabaab back towards the Somalian border. The number of casualties on either side currently remains unknown.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️- BREAKING: President Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have announced the start of "Operation Economic Outcast" against Iran.

"We are launching an economic onslaught against Iran's financial connections around the globe. Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone." - Scott Bessent, US Secretary of the Treasury.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡- The State Department is issuing a reward of up to $10 million for information on key Iranian IRGC figures.

They include:
- Ahmad Vahidi, Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC.
- Ali Abdollahi, Chief of Iran's Central Military Command.
- Sa’id Aghajani, IRGC Aerospace Force Commander.
- Hamidreza Lashgarian, Chief of IRGC's Cyber-Electronic Command.
- Majid Khademi, IRGC Intelligence Chief.

🇺🇸⚡️- BREAKING: The Supreme Court lifted a judicial order blocking President Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting, clearing the way for its use ahead of November's midterm elections.

The decision does leave room for additional lawsuits, which some states are likely to file with the first mail-in ballots set to be sent out in a few weeks.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️- The U.S. State Department announced part of the measures in Operation Economic Outcast will target an Iranian cyber group "responsible for extensive intrusions into U.S. critical infrastructure."