Yemen

• Ansarallah advances toward Marib, captures strategic Red Sea islands: Ansarallah forces are advancing toward Saudi-backed government-held areas in Yemen, with fierce clashes reported on the outskirts of Marib, the government’s strategic oil- and gas-rich stronghold, according to Al Jazeera.
  • The group is also advancing in Taiz, where government forces are relying heavily on Saudi airstrikes to prevent the city’s capture.
  • Separately, Ansarallah captured the Greater and Lesser Hanish islands after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew, AP reported. The islands lie about 160 kilometers north of Bab Al-Mandab in the southern Red Sea.
  • The advances strengthen Ansarallah’s position around Bab Al-Mandab—a key route for Saudi oil shipments amid the war with Iran and blockades in the Strait of Hormuz.
• Ansarallah launches attacks at Saudi air base: Ansarallah launched dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait in response to more than 300 Saudi airstrikes across Yemen over the past five days, military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Monday.
  • Saree said the operation targeted fighter jet hangars, radars, runways, ammunition depots, and other military infrastructure, claiming “direct and precise” hits and significant damage.
  • He warned that “any new aggression will be met with broader and more severe operations.”
  • Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense issued and lifted public warnings of potential danger in Khamis Mushait and nearby Abha three times early Monday.
• WHO: Nearly 3,000 casualties, over 77,000 displaced in Yemen in one week: At least 504 people were killed and 2,379 wounded across Yemen from September 6 to 12, according to the World Health Organization. As of September 12, at least 77,789 people had also been displaced across Taiz, Marib, al-Jawf, Lahj, Hodeidah, Abyan, and Shabwa.
  • Nearly half the casualties occurred in Marib, strategic Saudi-backed government-held governorate east of Sana’a.
  • Separately, Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces said more than 500 of their soldiers were killed and around 1,500 wounded in fighting with Ansarallah along the western coast from August 9 to September 10, while claiming more than 1,000 Ansarallah fighters were killed. The figures could not be independently verified.
• Over 2,000 Yemenis flee to Djibouti as clashes intensify: More than 2,000 Yemenis fleeing the fighting reached Djibouti, according to figures released Sunday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The number rose from around 1,400 arrivals reported a day earlier by Djibouti’s Economy and Finance Minister.
• Islamic Resistance in Iraq denies role in attack on Saudi pipeline: The Islamic Resistance in Iraq denied responsibility for a drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline on Saturday, after the Iraqi government said the drones were launched from Iraqi territory.
  • The group called responsibility for the attack “an honor we do not claim,” criticized the Iraqi government for responding before completing an investigation, and offered to join an official inquiry.
  • Iraqi security forces located and seized a drone-launching platform allegedly used in the attack on the pipeline, according to the head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi reshuffled military commanders in the country’s border regions following the attack, dismissing the Maysan operations commander and provincial police chief.
  • Iraq also temporarily closed three border crossings with Iran—Shalamcheh, al-Shib, and Mandali—after discovering drone launch sites.
  • No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
• Iran denies interference in Yemen, involvement in attack on Saudi pipeline: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei denied that Tehran interferes in Yemeni decision-making, saying Ansarallah is “an independent Yemeni party that takes decisions based on what it considers to be its own interests and priorities.”
  • Baghaei also rejected claims that Iran was involved in an attack on a Saudi oil pipeline from Iraqi territory, calling them “sheer lies” intended to deepen divisions among regional countries.
• Reuters: Saudi Arabia has just seven days’ worth of oil stored at Yanbu: Saudi Arabia has between five and seven days’ worth of oil stored in its Red Sea port city of Yanbu, three unnamed sources told Reuters on Sunday, adding that Riyadh also has a smaller amount of oil stored in Egypt.
  • Saudi Arabia said it suspended its East-West pipeline after the attack as a “precautionary measure.”
  • The shutdown of the pipeline, which allows exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, could threaten up to 4% of global oil supply.
• Oil prices top $107 a barrel: Oil prices rose more than 3% on Monday, with Brent crude futures gaining $3.21, or 3.1% percent, to reach $107.82 a barrel.
• U.S. officials meet with MBS, Trump claims talks with Ansarallah: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) met U.S. Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper and discussed the latest developments in the Gulf, Saudi state television reported on Monday.
  • Trump, who spoke with MBS on Thursday and reportedly declined to intervene directly against Ansarallah, called MBS “a good friend of mine” when asked about their relationship on Saturday, and told reporters that “everything’s going to work out fine and dandy.”
  • In the same remarks, he claimed that he had received a call from Ansarallah, who he said “don’t want to fight” the U.S., and that they were “letting most ships go through” the Bab Al-Mandab strait. “There’s one country they’re not too happy with,” he said, likely referring to Israel or Saudi Arabia, before promising to get the matter “straightened out.”

Iran

• One killed, four wounded in strike on Iranian vessel near Qeshm Island: One person was killed and four others were wounded, including two Pakistani citizens, after an Iranian cargo vessel came under attack near Qeshm Island early Sunday.
  • Iranian state broadcaster IRIB, citing Qeshm’s governor, said the vessel was attacked by the “U.S. terrorist enemy.”
  • Separately, a fire broke out on a commercial vessel struck in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday evening, forcing its crew to abandon ship, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations monitoring outfit.

• Gulf-Iran meeting on Strait of Hormuz postponed at Saudi Arabia’s request, Iran says: A planned meeting between Iran and Gulf states on the future of the Strait of Hormuz was postponed after Saudi Arabia requested a delay, according to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, a claim Riyadh has yet to confirm.
  • A regional official told AP that Saudi Arabia had proposed amendments over concerns the agreement could have lasting implications for other Gulf states.
  • Baghaei called reported citing of the situation in Yemen a “flimsy pretext” and said an Iran-Oman agreement concerning the Strait had already been finalized. “Had this meeting taken place, it would have been a very suitable opportunity [to discuss the new policy].”
  • Bahrain declined to participate in the meeting beforehand, arguing regional security “cannot be preserved through a policy of appeasement” and ruling out a collective meeting with Iran before their diplomatic ties were restored.
• Iran nuclear chief barred from atomic conference after Austria denies visa: Iranian nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami was unable to attend the International Atomic Energy Agency conference in Vienna after Austria denied him a visa. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Austria claimed it acted under U.S. pressure.
  • Baghaei also dismissed claims about activity at Mount Kolang (Pickaxe Mountain) near Natanz as U.S. “media and psychological warfare.”
  • IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said there were “some indications” of activity at the site but acknowledged the agency had no “concrete information.”
• IRGC claims downing of U.S. MQ-1 drone over Strait of Hormuz: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Monday its Aerospace Force intercepted and downed an advanced U.S. MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz, IRNA reported.
• South Korea, U.S. to discuss possible Korean military deployment to Strait of Hormuz: South Korea and the U.S. will hold senior-level defense talks this week to discuss a possible South Korean military deployment to the Strait of Hormuz, Yonhap reported. South Korea last week sent a team to the UAE to assess the security situation near the strait.
• Iran and UAE sign joint BRICS statement calling for restraint in war: Iran and the United Arab Emirates signed a joint BRICS statement calling for restraint in the war. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian also met with Abu ⁠Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al ‌Nahyan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi—the highest level meeting between the two countries since the start of the war.
  • “We express deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions in Middle East/West Asia [and] call for exercising maximum restraint, as well as avoiding actions that could further aggravate the situation,” the joint BRICS declaration read.
• U.S. authorities claim Iran used Chinese satellite images in attack on Jordan base: Unnamed U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that they believe Iran obtained high-resolution satellite images from Chinese sources before Iran’s July attack on Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti airbase that killed three American soldiers, calling it the “clearest” evidence yet of Chinese support for Tehran during the war.
  • The unnamed officials declined to identify the specific Chinese entity involved and stopped short of directly accusing Beijing.
  • Trump brushed aside the report, telling reporters on Sunday that, “they basically do what we do… when they say China spies on us, I say you’re right, and we spy on them too.”
  • Asked whether he would raise the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping at their planned September 24 meeting, Trump reiterated that he has “a good relationship” with Xi and that “he’s behaved reasonably well, and we behave reasonably well.”
  • A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry rejected the accusations as “groundless.”

• Iran seizes property from 240 people accused of ties to Israel: Iranian authorities seized property belonging to 240 people accused of affiliations with Israel and other hostile countries, according to Iran Wire. The judiciary accused them of carrying out “propaganda or practical actions against the country” that caused extensive infrastructure damage. Under an expanded espionage law passed last year, assisting the U.S., Israel, or other hostile states can carry the death penalty.

Palestine

• Killed and wounded in Gaza: Over the past 24 hours, two Palestinians were killed and 25 injured in attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
  • The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,786 killed, with 174,771 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,372 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,659, while 831 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.
• Israeli attacks kill one Palestinian, wound more than a dozen across Gaza: Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian in the Al-Mawasi area west of Rafah on Monday, according to WAFA.
  • In Gaza City, an Israeli drone struck a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians, wounding more than 10 people, several seriously.
  • In central Gaza, an Israeli drone struck a group of Palestinians near the Egyptian Committee headquarters in Al-Zawayda, leaving several wounded, some seriously.
  • Another Israeli drone strike west of Khan Younis wounded several Palestinians, including one seriously.
• Israel continues to kill in Gaza throughout the weekend:
  • Sunday: An Israeli strike targeted a vehicle in Gaza City’s Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood, killing two Palestinians and wounding 13, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Drop Site contributor Abdel Qader Sabbah spoke to witnesses at the scene of the attack; one Palestinian man at the site held up household items in the car and asked, “Are these rockets? Are these guns?” Sabbah’s dispatch is available here.
  • Saturday: Israeli warplanes injured 13 Palestinians, including children, in two strikes near Khan Younis on Saturday, according to WAFA. Separately on Saturday, a pregnant woman and her unborn baby died from wounds sustained three days earlier from Israeli gunfire south of Khan Younis. Drop Site’s Mohamed Ahmed spoke to the victim’s family. “We sit in fear. We sleep in fear. We walk in fear. Everything is fear,” her mother-in-law told him. His video report is available here.
• Israeli soldiers and settlers continue to terrorize the occupied West Bank:
  • Ramallah: Israeli settlers with three bulldozers began carving a road through olive-planted land west of Ni’lin on Monday for a new settlement outpost, WAFA reported.
  • Hebron: Israeli forces shot and wounded a Palestinian after pursuing his vehicle in Beit Ula, then deliberately set the vehicle on fire.
  • Tulkarm: Israeli special forces opened fire at the vehicle of Mohammed Shahada, 46, secretary of Fatah in Tulkarm refugee camp, before detaining him. On Sunday, medics received a 27-year-old Palestinian who had been shot in the foot by Israeli forces.
  • Bethlehem: Israeli forces detained two children, aged 14 and 15, during a raid on Bethlehem on Sunday, WAFA reported. Separately, Israeli forces opened fire in the Kremzan area of Beit Jala, wounding two Palestinian workers en route to their workplace in Jerusalem.
  • Jenin: Israeli forces shot and wounded two Palestinian farmers in the village of Fuqqu’a, according to Al Jazeera. Israeli soldiers reportedly opened fire after settlers let livestock loose on the Palestinian farmers’ property and a group of Palestinians tried to stop them.
  • Salfit: Israeli settlers beat two Palestinian men on agricultural land in Salfit on Sunday, severely injuring them.
  • Tubas: Israeli forces detained five members of the Bani Odeh family from Tammun, south of Tubas, early Sunday, according to the Prisoners’ Society in Tubas. The family members were detained as a means of pressuring another son to turn himself in to Israeli authorities, the Society reported.
  • East Jerusalem: Israeli forces opened fire in the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem on Saturday, moderately injuring a Palestinian man near the Al-Aqsa mosque.
• Electricity generators failing at Gaza hospitals, Health Ministry says: Several electricity generators at hospitals in the Gaza Strip are no longer working due to shortages of spare parts and fuel, the Strip’s Health Ministry told Al Jazeera, noting the small quantities of fuel that Israel allows into Gaza were sufficient only for emergency needs. Read Mohanad El-Hemrwawi’s report for Drop Site on the collapse of Gaza’s strained network of generators here.
• Israeli forces raid Palestinian journalist home, beat son, order him to surrender: Israeli forces raided the Jenin home of prominent Palestinian journalist Ali Al-Samoudi, beat his son Majd, and gave Al-Samoudi one hour to turn himself in. He was not home at the time.
  • The raid comes months after Al-Samoudi was released in April 2026 after a year in Israeli detention without charge. He emerged having lost half his body weight—from 120 kg to 60.
  • When Israeli forces arrested him, they broke down his door and beat him and his wife. He was held for 80 hours handcuffed and blindfolded and severely beaten on his way to Megiddo prison.
  • Al-Samoudi was also shot while reporting alongside Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during an Israeli raid on Jenin refugee camp in May 2022. Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces during that raid.
• B’Tselem report documents Israel’s “eliminationist project” in the occupied West Bank: The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem released a lengthy new report entitled “The Elimination Project” on Monday, detailing Israel’s “systematic effort to dismantle Palestinian collective existence in the West Bank.”
  • The report says this effort has accelerated since the current government took office in December 2022 and especially since October 7, 2023, identifying five interconnected mechanisms used by Israeli forces in the territory: violence and intimidation, movement restrictions, economic strangulation, social and political destruction, and ethnic cleansing and territorial takeover.
  • Israel has established 200 new checkpoints since October 7, 2023, the report finds, seized about 18% of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank through settlements and illegal outposts, and depopulated 64 Palestinian shepherding communities.
  • B’Tselem’s full report is available here.
• 37 Palestinian journalists currently in Israeli detention, more than half without charge or trial: The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) reported on Sunday that 37 Palestinian journalists arrested since October 2023 remain in Israeli detention, more than half of them—19—held without charge or trial under administrative detention.
  • Among them is Drop Site contributor Mohamed Awad, detained by the Israeli military from his home in Beitunia, near Ramallah, on August 12 and ordered to be held for four months without charge.
  • The group also noted the case of female journalist Bushra al-Taweel, who was recently transferred to solitary confinement in Ramleh Prison, amid escalating repressive measures against female Palestinian prisoners.
• Palestinian prisoners’ rights group reports deteriorating health conditions at Ofer, Janot prisons: The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs reported Sunday a deterioration in the health and humanitarian conditions at Israel’s Ofer and Janot prisons.
  • The group highlighted the case of 60-year-old Maher Naasan from Al-Mughayyir village, who was detained on July 6 and, according to testimonies from released prisoners, was severely beaten, had cigarettes extinguished on his body, and was held for hours under the sun.
  • Palestinian prisoners at Ofer described outbreaks of scabies, insufficient cleaning supplies and clothing, cell raids, confiscation of belongings, and deliberate prevention of communal prayers by prison authorities.
  • In Janot prison, the commission noted the case of Osama Fatahallah Al-Shenni, detained since 2024, who suffers from a herniated disc and has been denied painkillers despite severe pain, and has lost 35 kilograms since his detention.
• Trump defends Witkoff, Kushner work in Gaza, says Hamas ready to disarm: Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump lauded the success of his Middle East envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, saying, “look at the fact that we got all of the hostages back.”
  • He also claimed that “there’s not a lot of fighting in Gaza,” and that Hamas “is now willing to give up their weapons.”
  • Israel has killed more than 1,370 Palestinians since the so-called ceasefire and has continued to push further into Gaza, occupying more of the Strip’s land.
  • Trump made similar comments during his visit to Ireland on Saturday, saying that his administration had “put out the fire in Gaza” and calling their world “quite amazing.”
• Israeli minister vows to revoke citizenship of filmmakers behind Gaza documentary: Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar said on Sunday that he would move “immediately” to revoke the citizenship of filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor after their documentary “NAZA,” about “Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
  • Zohar called the film “vile” and accused the pair of “treason against the state” in a post on X.

• Netanyahu to visit U.S. from September 23-25: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, arriving in the U.S. on Wednesday, September 23 and leaving on Friday, September 25th, his office told the Times of Israel. He is expected to speak before the body on the 24th. Netanyahu has an outstanding arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity for Israel’s war on Gaza.

Lebanon

• Israel continues to attack southern Lebanon despite “ceasefire” framework:
  • Monday: Israeli forces opened heavy machine-gun fire toward the outskirts of Chaqra and Baraachit in the Bint Jbeil district, intimidating residents who had attempted to return to their homes, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
  • Sunday: Israeli warplanes carried out two strikes on Mansouri in the Tyre district, struck the outskirts of Haris in the Bint Jbeil district, and targeted an area between Mayfadoun and Zawtar Al-Sharqiya in the Nabatieh district.
• Lebanese President visits Nabatieh as talks with Israel postponed: Joseph Aoun, President of Lebanon, visited Nabatieh city on Saturday, surrounded by soldiers providing a military escort. Nearly 30 people have been killed in the southern Lebanese city since early September.
  • The visit follows reports by Axios’s Barak Ravid that talks between Lebanon and Israel scheduled to take place in Rome next week have been postponed to October.

U.S. News

• EPA plans to eliminate greenhouse gas limits on power plants: The Trump administration plans to announce Monday that the U.S. will no longer regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, according to the New York Times.
  • EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is expected to announce the change during a G20 energy ministers meeting in Houston, arguing that greenhouse gases from power plants do not endanger human health or the environment and therefore fall outside the agency’s authority under the Clean Air Act—a legal position that, if upheld by courts, could prevent future administrations from restoring such regulations.
  • The Biden-era rule it replaces had been projected to generate $120 billion in public health benefits by 2047, including preventing up to 1,200 premature deaths and 360,000 asthma attacks annually by 2035.
• Social Security COLA projected at 3.6% for 2027: Government inflation data released Friday points to a 3.6% Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for next year, according to an AARP forecast, which would mark the largest increase since 2023’s 3.2% (this year’s COLA was 2.8%).
  • The official COLA, determined by averaging July, August, and September figures from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, will be announced October 14. The adjustment will apply starting in January to benefits for 75.7 million Americans.
• Trump discusses interest rates ahead of Fed meeting: President Donald Trump reiterated Sunday in Ireland that the U.S. should have the lowest interest rates in the world “regardless of their formulas,” even as data released Friday showed consumer prices rose more than expected in August, pushing traders to price in an 86% chance of a Federal Reserve rate hike this month and two increases by year’s end.
  • When asked whether he expected the central bank to raise rates at its upcoming meeting, Trump said “I don’t know,” while suggesting Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s hands may be tied by what Trump has called a “very political” board of governors.
  • Trump also restated an earlier threat to cut off trade with countries the U.S. has a trade deficit with if the Fed doesn’t lower rates, telling reporters “yeah, I’m going to do that with some nations” and that it “will take place over a period of time,” though it remains unclear how such a move would influence Fed policy.
• AI chiefs call for slowdown in AI developments: The chief executive of artificial intelligence company Anthropic, Dario Amodei, published a 3,800-word open letter on Saturday calling for a slowdown in the development of A.I., with increased guardrails and oversight. The letter prompted the heads of other leading A.I. companies, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and the chair of Google DeepMind Demis Hassabis, to speak out in agreement.
  • In his letter, Amodei pointed to the hack of Hugging Face by hundreds of autonomous AI agents: “Given the accelerating rate of AI capability development, it’s my worry that in 6–12 months such a swarm could be capable of taking over the entire internet with a persistent botnet (potentially causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage), and that the scale of damage would continue to increase from there if AI becomes more powerful without the necessary guardrails,” he wrote.
  • President Donald Trump on Monday posted on Truth Social: “The only control or “guardrails” that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades! The Trump Administration has stopped AI ‘people’ from doing bad, or potentially bad, ‘things,’ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel’ – and we will continue to do so!” He continued: “There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so.”
  • While AI executives call for new regulation, former FTC Chair Lina Khan is arguing that existing laws prohibit these companies from developing “dangerous, unvetted, or defective products” and enable the government to criminally prosecute those who violate them. OpenAI researchers have already produced models that have hacked different companies multiple times. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, by Khan’s argument, could thus be tried for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act under current U.S. code.
• Afghan resident deported after conceding to being an “alien terrorist” in first-of-its-kind case: Nazira Haji Zada, 47, an Afghan permanent resident living in Texas, opted to leave the United States rather than continue fighting her case in the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, the Justice Department announced Friday.
  • The case was the first overseen by the secretive court, which was created in 1996 with the express intention of allowing the government to deport noncitizens using usually classified national security information.
    Its rules bar the accused from reviewing classified evidence against them or legally challenging how it was obtained.
  • Haji Zada, who has never been charged with a crime, “conceded that she is an alien terrorist and waived appeal of the removal order,” according to the department, which had alleged she worked to radicalize her son and son-in-law, both of whom were convicted over a plot to carry out an ISIS-inspired mass shooting on Election Day 2024.
• NSA undergoes historic restructuring under Director Joshua Rudd: The National Security Agency is set to undergo its most extensive internal restructuring since 2016, creating five new organizations at its Fort Meade headquarters focused on artificial intelligence, China, cybersecurity, “warfighting” support, and global intelligence, according to current and former officials briefed on the plan and cited by The Washington Post.
  • The initiative, spearheaded by NSA Director and Army General Joshua M. Rudd, will place each new division under a “mission director” holding effective deputy director-level authority, with candidates potentially drawn from outside the agency—a prospect one former official said has unnerved NSA insiders, noting the agency is “begging people to come back, especially leaders.”
  • The elite hacking unit Tailored Access Operations, reconstituted by Rudd and set for a significant budget increase in the new fiscal year, will fall under the global intelligence mission director.

Other International News

• RSF drones strike Sudan’s Ed Damazin amid fears of broader offensive: Explosive-laden drones struck multiple areas across Ed Damazin, capital of Sudan’s Blue Nile region, Sunday evening, with witnesses reporting at least 11 detonations near a military hospital and airport as army anti-aircraft guns fired to repel the attack, according to Sudan Tribune.
  • The Sudanese Armed Forces also reported shooting down a drone that intended to strike the town of Balang, though Reuters could not independently verify this claim.
  • The strikes come as the Rapid Support Forces have escalated drone deployment along the Blue Nile axis, which, in conjunction with reported troop mobilization, is believed by many locals to signal a broader ground offensive.
• Scottish, Welsh, and Irish nationalist leaders declare right to self-determination at Cardiff summit: Leaders of the Scottish Nationalist Party, the Welsh Party Plaid Cymru, and Northern Ireland’s Sinn Féin declared their nations’ right to choose whether to remain part of the UK at a rare joint meeting in Cardiff on Monday, signing a memorandum of understanding stating: “Our nations have the right to self-determination. No Westminster government has the right to block democracy or undermine the principle that our people will decide their own future.”
  • The parties diverge on timing and method: the SNP wants a second independence referendum after Scotland’s narrow 2014 vote to remain in the UK; Sinn Féin seeks a vote on Irish reunification; and Plaid Cymru favors independence only in the longer term, with no immediate referendum push.
• Trump calls for a unified Ireland: President Donald Trump said during a Saturday meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin that he would “love to see [Ireland] unified,” adding that he thought it eventually would be.
  • The remarks put him at odds with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and drew criticism across party lines, including from his erstwhile ally Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Burnham’s office reaffirmed his unchanged position and commitment to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
  • Northern Ireland’s Michelle O’Neill said Trump’s comment showed “the unity debate is very much alive.”
• Syrians protest cost of energy, while Turkish FM says Syria will play “vital role” in region’s energy: On Sunday, protests erupted near Idlib, with footage circulating online showing residents blocking the Damascus–Aleppo international highway near Maarrat al-Nu’man, and additional demonstrations reported in Hama and Khan Sheikhoun.
  • The protests center on the cost of energy, with the Syrian government having raised diesel prices by up to 40% and gasoline by 28% on Sunday. It described the increases as temporary and cited higher global fuel costs and an overhaul of its Baniyas refinery.
  • Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sunday that, in light of Hormuz disruptions, Turkey would like Syria’s overland connections “to be built not only on the map but also practically through railways, highways, and pipelines.”
• Seven inmates killed in Kobane prison fire amid Kurdish protests over killing: At least seven inmates were killed and dozens injured, burned, or suffocated after a fire broke out during a prison riot in the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobane in northern Syria, state-run news agency SANA reported on Saturday.
  • The riot, which the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said began overnight after authorities decided to transfer some inmates to a facility in Aleppo, followed Friday protests over the killing of former Kurdish fighter Sami Sheikhmous Hiso, whose body was reportedly returned to Kobane bearing gunshot wounds after he was kidnapped.
  • The Kobane prison remains under Kurdish administration and has not yet been transferred to the central government .
• Israeli military continues moves in southern Syria: The Israeli army expanded its incursion in the southern Syrian governorates of Rural Damascus, Quneitra and Deraa on Sunday, firing artillery rounds near Beit Jin before entering the village, and sending a separate patrol of four vehicles into the northern Quneitra countryside, Al Jazeera reported.
  • Israeli soldiers reportedly set fires in the area before withdrawing.
• Sweden’s election too close to call as opposition edges ahead: Sweden’s general election remains too close to call as of Sunday evening. The center-left Social Democratic opposition led 176 to 173 seats in the 349-seat parliament, with 94.4% of votes counted, according to the Swedish Election Authority.
  • Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson told supporters “Sweden will get a new government” if results hold, though her party appeared headed for its worst showing in more than a century at 28.1% of the vote, down 2.2 percentage points from 2022.
  • The nationalist Sweden Democrats, whose leader Jimmie Akesson said “we will not know tonight” who forms the next government, fell to third place with 17.6% support, down nearly 3 points from 2022.
• 130 missing after passenger ship capsizes in Indonesia’s Java Sea: At least six people died and 130 remain missing after the passenger ship Virgo Transport 8, carrying 243 passengers and crew, capsized in the Java Sea amid rough weather, according to Indonesia’s search and rescue agency Basarna.
  • The ship lost contact with its operator early Sunday while sailing from Surabaya to Banjarmasin. 107 people have been rescued so far.
• Poland, Ukraine accuse Russia of “escalation” after strike near Boris Johnson: Poland and Ukraine accused Russia of “escalation” after a strike hit a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train just two kilometers from the Polish border on Sunday, while former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and ex-CIA Director David Petraeus were at a nearby station in separate trains. No casualties were reported.
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow “deliberately” struck the locomotive, while Polish President Donald Tusk warned on X that “the escalation of actions by the Russian Federation is becoming a fact” and flagged Russia’s growing use of faster, harder-to-intercept jet-powered drones.
• Ukrainian drones strike two Russian oil refineries as Trump tells Kyiv to stop “causing shortage of diesel fuel”: Ukrainian drones struck two Russian oil refineries with a combined processing capacity of roughly 400,000 barrels per day overnight into Sunday, according to Ukraine’s General Staff and geolocated footage.
  • Ukrainian drones struck the Slavyansk refinery in Krasnodar Krai, near occupied Crimea, and the TANECO refinery in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan, roughly 1,200 kilometers from Ukrainian-held territory.
  • Russian officials said the Nizhnekamsk strike killed two civilians and wounded 14, after a drone hit near a parked car.
  • President Trump publicly urged Kyiv to halt its refinery campaign. “He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” Trump said of Zelenskyy, “because he’s causing a shortage of diesel fuel.”
  • Russia, meanwhile, launched 453 drones at Ukraine overnight, its largest barrage in weeks, striking Odessa for a second straight night, according to Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
• Confirmed Ebola cases in DRC top 7,000: The ‌number of ‌confirmed Ebola cases ​in Democratic Republic of Congo has ‌reached 7,022, ⁠government data released on Friday showed. The government noted that the outbreak had spread to ‌a ​seventh ​province, ​South Ubangi, ‌located in the ​northwest ​of the country.
• Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro faces corruption probe: A Brazilian Supreme Court justice unsealed a corruption investigation into right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro, just weeks ahead of the first-round vote on October 4. Flavio, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, is under investigation for receiving millions from Daniel Vorcaro, a banker arrested in March over fraud allegations, to finance a biopic about his father. Bolsonaro’s main rival is President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with polls showing a tight race.
  • Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) has requested a parallel investigation into possible foreign financing of Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign by the Rockbridge Network, the conservative donor ecosystem co-founded by U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

🎥 WATCH Saudi-Backed Forces ROUTED in Yemen as Oil Surges and War Spirals

📖 READ Democrats Are Urging Trump to Re-Escalate on North Korea

📖 READ How Ansarallah Swept Past Saudi-Backed Forces to Control Yemen’s Red Sea Coast

🛒 SHOP for your Drop News/Not Bombs Hoodie

💬 JOIN our Whatsapp Broadcast Channel for the latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly