#UPDATE: One Soldier Killed in Al-Shabaab Attack on Government Checkpoint Near Baidoa
One Somali government soldier was killed after suspected Al-Shabaab militants attacked a government security checkpouint in Goof-Gaduud Buurey, an area on the outskirts of Baidoa in the Bay… pic.twitter.com/HkH2MRDv8l
#UPDATE: One Soldier Killed in Al-Shabaab Attack on Government Checkpoint Near Baidoa
One Somali government soldier was killed after suspected Al-Shabaab militants attacked a government security checkpoint in Goof-Gaduud Buurey, an area on the outskirts of Baidoa in the Bay region, according to local sources.
The attack targeted a security position manned by Somali government forces in Goof-Gaduud Buurey, a strategic area located southwest of Baidoa. Initial reports indicate that one government soldier was killed during the assault.
[IsraelTimes] Explosion sparks fire aboard oil storage ship in Damietta, no injuries caused; no immediate claim of responsibility for what would be first strike on Egypt in current war
A drone hit a US-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta, British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Wednesday, citing an initial assessment of the incident.
The strike raised fears that the war with Iran, which has seen strikes across the region, could expand further. A statement from Egypt’s petroleum ministry confirmed a fire at the port but made no mention of a drone attack.
Port services firm Inchcape said in a separate message that two gas tankers had caught fire at Damietta.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident.
Two security sources said the likely cause of the blast was assessed as a dronezap, in what could signal a further spread of the conflict.
The drone hit floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that then spread to another vessel, Gaslog Salem, three other sources familiar with the incident said.
Egypt’s petroleum ministry said in a statement a fire broke out on a gasification vessel and a storage vessel at Damietta port and was dealt with immediately under approved emergency response plans by firefighting and security teams.
A US owned LNG floating storage facility registered under the Marshall Islands flag was reportedly hit by at least one drone in Damietta, Egypt. pic.twitter.com/iOJljj9AYt
Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi went to the site to oversee response efforts, it said.
"The situation was handled immediately in accordance with emergency and rapid response plans," the ministry said, without identifying the cause of the blaze.
The fire caused no injuries or fatalities, and emergency and technical teams were continuing to work on the response and assess the impact of the incident, the statement added.
The explosion occurred while the Middle East is on high alert, as Iranian missiles and drones have targeted a number of Arab countries as the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes in late February, continues with no clear resolution in view. Iran’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... allies in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... have also recently hit Saudi energy facilities.
Egypt has until now not been hit by Iranian dronezaps.
The Energos Winter is a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) with a storage capacity of 138,250 cubic meters. It is owned by US-based firm Energos Infrastructure. Its technical, safety, and commercial operations are managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management, also a US company.
Two unnamed Iranian sources, however, were quoted by The New York Times heavily implying that Tehran was behind the drone attack on Egypt.
The attack was “designed to show that global shipping and energy supplies could be more deeply disrupted if Iran chose to escalate,” the report quoted the Iranians as saying, without explicitly stating if Iran or its terror proxies launched the attack.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/31/2026 00:00 ||
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#5
The moment I heard this I thought in the fog of war Qui Bon? who just broadened involvement beyond the ME into E EU may also have broadened it into the Med.
Feb 2025”But you have nice ocean and don't feel now. But you will feel it in the future.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-trump-and-zelenskyy-said-during-their-heated-argument-in-the-oval-office
Again. They do this every few months, as the collection of wannabe invaders reaches a critical number on the Moroccan side of the border fence and their hosts push them on from behind. And Spain accepts them and sends them on to the European mainland instead of either returning them to Morocco or shooting them out of hand as the violent invaders that they are and dumping the corpses in the sea for the sharks.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Furious Spaniards have been forced to chase migrants down the streets of their home after thousands of migrants flooded the enclave this afternoon.
Extraordinary footage showed huge numbers of people sprinting up beaches, swimming ashore and dispersing into the streets of the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta, which borders Morocco, with some shouting 'Long live Spain'.
Crowds, which officials estimated to have been made up of 20,000 people, were seen swimming out to bypass a long border fence that juts out into the Mediterranean on the Moroccan side, before swimming back on the Spanish side.
Upon their arrival, the migrants, largely made up of people from Morocco and Algeria, went into the city of around 84,000.
In response, enraged Spanish citizens took to the streets to push them back. Many were seen waving Spanish flags and screaming at them.
As a group of migrants were seen running away, a loud police siren was heard in the background.
The president of the territory, Juan Jesus Vivas, has declared a 'total humanitarian and social emergency', with at least 60 migrants washing up dead in the last few months and camps completely overwhelmed. Spain's government said that nine people died today while trying to reach Ceuta.
Officials in Ceuta begged the national government in Madrid to declare a national emergency, which was rebuffed.
Central government officials claimed that migration crises were not a good enough reason to call a national emergency, but promised additional resources after police unions decried the lack of personnel and equipment in Ceuta.
Madrid announced today that it would be sending troops to the enclave. Though it did not specify how many soldiers would be sent to the territory, it said the Civil Guard's strength there would be nearly doubled from the current level of 80. It will also send diving teams and coastguard ships.
If official estimates of the number of people who illegally entered are confirmed, the migratory incident will be the largest irregular entry of people into Spain in its history.
It comes after the country's socialist government approved plans to give around 500,000 undocumented migrants legal status earlier this year.
'In the past few days more than 1,500 migrants, both adults and minors, have come to Ceuta by sea,' said Vivas in televised comments earlier on Wednesday.
'The reception centres are saturated - there is no more room for anyone in them and according to yesterday's figures the number of people entering is more than 200 a day.'
According to EFE, hundreds of youths could be seen scaling the security fencing – which was not being guarded by police at the time – and entered Ceuta, while members of the Moroccan auxiliary force responsible for security on the ground withdrew as the young people passed.
Spain's interior ministry said in a statement that several ministries were 'acting in coordination to respond with the utmost speed and efficiency to the situation in Ceuta'.
Several of the country's largest police unions blasted the government for not giving local cops enough resources to deal with the influx.
Jupol, which represents the National Police in Spain, said: 'The National Police officers stationed in Ceuta continue to work at the limit of their capabilities, with a clear lack of personnel and material resources to cope with a situation of this magnitude.'
Jucil, which represents members of Spain's Civil Guard, meanwhile denounced 'the lack of personnel and resources', adding: 'Why haven't more human and material resources been deployed?'
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska would travel to Ceuta on Friday 'to monitor the situation' and meet officials, it said.
The ministry said the government had increased its resources 'to guarantee security and control of migration as well as the necessary humanitarian aid, so that no lives are put in danger at sea'.
It said the Moroccan government was working 'faithfully and permanently with Spain and collaborating closely to deal with the situation'.
The ministry added: 'Moroccan security forces are preventing the arrival of numerous people who are trying to reach Ceuta from Morocco.'
But many in the country accused Morocco of being behind the influx of migrants.
Jupol, the police union, said: 'Morocco has seized an opportunity within its hybrid warfare strategy, once again using migratory pressure on Ceuta as a tool for political blackmail.'
Santiago Abascal, the leader of the hard-right Vox party, said in a post to X: 'They're not coming fleeing from any war or poverty. It's an invasion. They are men of military age called by Pedro Sánchez's corrupt government to storm our borders.
He added: 'For every rape, every stabbing, and every slash to the pockets of Spaniards to keep them afloat... there is a direct culprit: the mafia boss desperately calling in more hitmen to stay in power.'
Spanish president Pedro Sanchez added on X that Spain is 'fully committed to providing an immediate response to the situation in Ceuta.'
'This is the moment to build solutions, with responsibility and cooperation,' he said.
Vivas said facilities for unaccompanied minors were operating at 2,400 per cent of capacity.
In comments to Onda Cero, he described the situation as a national emergency and called for a 'decisive, forceful, immediate and coordinated' response under a single command structure.
Ceuta, together with Melilla - another Spanish autonomous city located in North Africa - represents the European Union's only land border with Africa.
Ceuta, which is perched on a historical isthmus, has been a Spanish possession since 1580. Its mixed population of Christians and Muslims, Spanish and Moroccan residents and day workers, live in relative harmony behind a border fence that many desperate migrants from across Africa attempt to cross for a better life in Europe.
Both cities periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe.
Arrivals were currently averaging about 300 people a day, according to Vivas.
At that pace, he warned, Ceuta could face a situation comparable to the May 2021 migration crisis, when more than 8,000 people entered the enclave in just two days.
Vivas also pointed to the human cost of the crossings, saying 60 bodies had been recovered at sea in recent months, and argued that stronger migration controls would help prevent further deaths.
Spain's Interior Ministry, which tracks irregular migration, would not confirm the number of migrants who had made it to Ceuta in the last few days but said it would publish its next migration report on August 3.
As of July 15, nearly 3,000 migrants had entered Ceuta by land or sea this year, according to ministry figures.
The interior ministry said Moroccan security forces were helping to curb arrivals from its territory.
Vivas called for changes to Spain's immigration framework, saying legal shortcomings exposed by a recent Supreme Court ruling needed to be addressed.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be summarily returned under the enclaves' special border-rejection regime.
The ruling established that migrants who arrive by sea cannot be immediately pushed back across the border without due process, unlike those who cross into Spain by land - by climbing over the border fence, for example.
Police unions said the Supreme Court decision created a 'pull factor' for migrants.
The Unified Police Union said the surge came 'after the Supreme Court rejected border rejections, complicating deportations.'
It added: 'We demand the Government immediately reinforce the National Police and Civil Guard personnel at the border with Morocco.'
Grande-Marlaska, in an interview with Spanish television channel laSexta, acknowledged authorities were facing 'an extraordinary, exceptional situation'.
He asserted that 'we are dealing with it with the means that we already have deployed there permanently'.
Spain's Civil Guard, maritime Rescue Services and even the Red Cross have been using boats to pick up swimmers before taking them to Ceuta. Hundreds of migrants are now sleeping outside a migrant reception centre that is over capacity.
Those attempting the crossing are mainly Moroccans, along with a small number of Algerians who had been living in Morocco while trying to migrate to Europe, according to activists in Morocco and Ceuta.
It was not clear what prompted so many migrants to swim to Ceuta.
Some activists, including Omar Naji, president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights in Eastern Morocco, expressed doubt that the Supreme Court ruling was behind the surge.
The timing of the crossing, occurring after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune last week, reminded Naji of the border crisis of May 2021.
At the time, Morocco was accused of easing border controls and allowing migrants to cross into the enclave after Spain allowed Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali to receive medical treatment at a Spanish hospital, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid.
The pro-independence Polisario Front for decades has claimed to be the legitimate representative of the indigenous Sahrawi people of disputed Western Sahara.
On Wednesday, Spain's interior minister praised Moroccan authorities, saying they were cooperating and that the relationship with the kingdom was 'close and based on loyalty'.
'They are also limiting irregular departures,' he told laSexta.
It comes as four migrants died attempting to cross the Channel overnight.
Three women and a man lost their lives in separate incidents on the French side of the Channel overnight.
The tragedies unfolded shortly after Wednesday witnessed what was thought to have been the largest number of small boat crossings this year.
Unofficial estimates reported by GB News put the total at 730, beating the 710 seen on June 15.
And a small boat overturned in the early hours of Thursday causing the death of a passenger and leading to the ‘near drowning’ of a baby.
The disaster unfolded in the early hours of Thursday morning in the sea off Neufchâtel-Hardelot, south of Boulogne.
Local mayor Paulette Juilien-Peuvion described how more than 100 people, including women and children, were attempting to board a flimsy inflatable designed for around 15 passengers.
‘One man died and six were seriously hurt,’ she said during a visit to the scene later in the day.
Meanwhile, three women were found dead near the port of Dunkirk, French authorities said on Thursday. They are understood to have been on a separate boat to the man who died.
The women were brought to shore as French emergency services rushed to the scene; however, attempts to resuscitate them failed and all three were declared dead.
They were reportedly aged around 20, 30 and 50.
Courtesy of NoMoreBS, Conservative Treehouse adds:
Western media are downplaying the numbers, continually saying a “few thousand.” However, local officials and eyewitnesses are describing the migrant invasion as something substantially more; over 50,000 more.
As night fell, the horde of migrants continue to overwhelm the region of Cueta, a region of Spain in North Africa. The invasion force shows no signs of slowing down and the region is entirely overwhelmed. There are 80,000 Spanish residents trying to retain their safety against the arrival of 50,000 invading north-Africans.
Esto es lo que está bajando ahora mismo de Marruecos para seguir entrando a Ceuta. Ni os imagináis de la invasión que estamos viviendo ahora mismo en las calles de la ciudad:
🚨 BREAKING: EXPLOSIONS heard at the border of Spain’s Melilla as THOUSANDS of African Muslim illegals storm a second Spanish city while screaming “ALLAHU AKBAR”
Smoke is seen rising through the air.
It’s unclear what the explosions were, but could be munitions fired by… https://t.co/DP5WL1YyL9
#12
Your universe has no meaning to them. They will not try to understand. They will be tired, they will be cold, they will make a fire with your beautiful oak door.
[IsraelTimes] Pro-Hezbollah assailant found guilty on all counts relating to 2022 attack that prosecutor says was ‘a chilling reminder of the global reach of Iranian terrorism’
A man was convicted Wednesday of federal terrorism charges in the 2022 stabbing of Salman Rushdie, the author who has faced a decades-old death threat over his novel "The Satanic Verses."
After just a couple of hours of deliberations, a jury found Hadi Matar guilty of all the charges against him, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism.
Rushdie, who was about to speak on writers’ safety, was slashed 15 times on an amphitheater stage in 2022. He was gravely maimed and lost the sight in his right eye.
Prosecutors asserted that Matar was motivated by the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ’s 1989 call for Rushdie’s death because of "The Satanic Verses."
"His brutal attack on Mr. Rushdie during a peaceful speaking event is a chilling reminder of the global reach of Iranian terrorism," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said in a statement after the verdict, adding that "justice has been done." Iran’s government has denied involvement in the attack.
MATAR’S DEFENSE: NO EVIDENCE OF HIS STATE OF MIND
Messages seeking comment on the verdict were sent to Matar’s attorneys and Rushdie’s assistant. During the trial, defense lawyer Nathaniel Barone said the government had no proof of what was in Matar’s head.
Matar himself declined to testify. Rushdie did, telling jurors: "I can’t say what his ambitions or his aim was, but the wounds were dispersed across my body."
Matar, 28, is already serving a 25-year New York state prison sentence on an attempted murder conviction in the stabbing. His federal sentencing is set for November 3, when he faces a potential life term.
Rushdie won Britannia’s prestigious Booker Prize for his 1981 novel "Midnight’s Children," about his native India. "The Satanic Verses," a novel of magical realism about the lives and dreams of two actors who survive a plane explosion, followed in 1988.
It drew critical acclaim in the United Kingdom but engendered protests around the Moslem world over what some believers saw as blasphemous suggestions about Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, particularly in a dream sequence. Over the ensuing years, at least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, a Japanese translator was stabbed to death, and an Italian translator and Norwegian publisher were attacked.
Rushdie, who was born into a Moslem family, has said the dream sequence was just that. But he went into hiding for years, gradually emerging after Iran’s government distanced itself in 1998 from Khomeini’s fatwa, or religious edict.
"For two decades or more, I led a public life without a hint of trouble," Rushdie testified at the trial in Buffalo, New York.
Yet the fatwa was never rescinded; indeed, Khomenei’s successor, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> , indicated in 2017 that it remained in effect. An Iranian foundation has offered a more than $3 million bounty for killing Rushdie.
PROSECUTORS: MATAR’S MESSAGES SHOWED HIM ZEROING IN ON RUSHDIE
Matar broached the fatwa with contacts in messaging apps in 2021 and 2022, according to exhibits shown in court. The messages showed Matar fuming that he felt Rushdie had attacked Islam and, by surviving, emboldened others to insult the faith. Matar alluded to a 2006 comment along those lines by the late Hezbollah terrorist group leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> , the messages showed.
Born in the US, Matar also holds citizenship in Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... , where Hezbollah is based. Prosecutors said that photos in Matar’s New Jersey bedroom and on his computer indicated his support for Hezbollah.
Matar "spent months planning and preparing to carry out what he hoped would be the execution of Salman Rushdie," US Attorney Michael DiGiacomo said in a statement Wednesday.
The messages showed Matar initially talked about wanting to "expose" Rushdie, then about taking his life. In a private note to himself, he wrote: "We need to kill him ASAP," Assistant US Attorney Timothy Lynch said in an opening statement on July 22. The prosecutor said Matar framed the planned killing as part of what he considered a jihad, or holy war.
By spring 2022, the electronic chats showed, Matar wrote that he had discerned where Rushdie lived and was tracking his public appearances, eventually pointing out his scheduled August 2022 talk at the Chautauqua Institution, a western New York arts and intellectual center.
As Rushdie was being introduced, his attacker climbed on stage behind him, then stabbed him as the audience gasped. Spectators and another speaker, Henry Reese, scrambled to aid Rushdie. Law enforcement officers, assigned to the event, arrested the attacker — soon identified as Matar — after civilians restrained him.
Rushdie published a 2024 memoir about the attack, then returned to fiction with last year’s "The Eleventh Hour." The author, who was knighted by Britannia’s late Queen Elizabeth II, received a Dayton Literary Peace Prize lifetime achievement award in November.
A federal jury found 28-year-old Hadi Matar guilty on all three terrorism-related counts Wednesday stemming from the 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie at Chautauqua Institution. Matar, who is already serving a 25-year state sentence for attempted murder, now faces up to life in federal prison.
The verdict came after roughly three hours of deliberations. Jurors convicted Matar on three federal counts: attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah, providing material support to terrorists and engaging in an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries.
[Jpost] The attack took place late on Wednesday in the Hangu district near the Afghan border, an area that has long served as home to terrorist groups.
A drone attack and ambush by Islamist terrorists at a police post in northwest Pakistan killed at least 10 officers, police said, the second such assault within a week.
The attack took place late on Wednesday in the Hangu district near the Afghan border, an area that has long served as home to terrorist groups.
Terrorism in Pakistan's border areas has risen sharply in recent months, targeting mainly the military and police after an armed conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan killed hundreds.
Islamabad says the terrorists use safe havens in Afghanistan to train and plan attacks in Pakistan. Afghanistan's Taliban government has denied the charge and said terrorism is Pakistan's domestic problem.
Nine cops, including a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), were martyred and 28 others were maimed after Lions of Islam attacked the Khazina Banda checkpost in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu district ... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them... late on Wednesday.
A statement issued by KP Inspector General (IG) Zulfiqar Hameed said that the checkpost was attacked by Fitna al Khawarij, a term the state uses for Lions of Islam belonging to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban ...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan... Pakistain (TTP), while police personnel were present.
He said that the police personnel responded bravely, while additional personnel were also dispatched. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... the Lions of Islam ambushed the contingent, due to which an armoured personnel carrier was damaged.
The IG said that despite these challenges, the personnel fought with bravery and professionalism.
"Fifteen kharji were killed while multiple others were maimed due to the police’s response," he said. The IG added that during the intense and long exchange of fire, nine cops, including DSP Diyar Khan, were martyred while 28 others were maimed.
The IG asserted that KP police’s morale and resolve were strong, adding that the battle to wipe out Lions of Islam from every corner of the province would continue.
Speaking to Dawn, a senior police official also confirmed the number of casualties. He said that an exchange of fire broke out after the Lions of Islam attacked the checkpost.
Separately, a police checkpost in the Adezai area, within the jurisdiction of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire... ’s Mattani cop shoppe, was also attacked by Lions of Islam late on Wednesday night.
"Terrorists fired at the post but cops responded, prompting the former to escape," a senior police official said, adding that all the cops remained unhurt.
[BationalContext] At least nine Iranian Kurdish fighters from the Komala movement were killed today in an Iranian attack in Sulaimani province. The strike caps a violent stretch inside Iran’s majority Kurdish northwest, where at least nine armed incidents were documented in June, killing more than 20 Iranian Kurdish militants. Most of the significant engagements were initiated by the IRGC through ambushes and intelligence-driven operations.
The spike in incidents has coincided with a reported buildup of Iranian forces and special operations units in the same areas where the clashes occurred. On 14 July, Alhurra quoted senior Iranian Kurdish opposition figures describing an Iranian deployment along the frontier of roughly 3,000 Saberin special forces personnel, arriving in waves of approximately 1,000, alongside IRGC Ground Forces units, Aerospace Force elements, artillery, rocket launchers, armour and drones. Ali Khoshnamak, a senior figure in the Komala Revolutionary Organization of the Toilers of Kurdistan, told the channel these were trained and trusted regime forces whose scale and composition indicated preparation for possible ground warfare. The same sources described daily drone reconnaissance over the frontier and approaches to the Kurdistan Region, along with electronic warfare systems for jamming and satellite disruption.
These force figures are opposition intelligence claims, and no outside party has verified the inventory. What Iranian official sources have confirmed independently is the operational reality beneath them: armed Kurdish units moving through the border hinterland, and Iranian forces hunting them with ambushes, patrols and drones. The dispute between the two accounts concerns scale and geography. It no longer concerns whether a low-intensity border war is underway.
[IsraelTimes] Strike on tent encampment in Khan Younis kills 20-year-old man and 8-year-old girl; strike on home in Bureij refugee camp kills 18-month-old and wounding at least 8
At least four people, including an 8-year-old girl and a 18-month old child, were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip Thursday morning, according to Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... -affiliated Paleostinian media outlets in Gaza.
The IDF did not immediately comment on any of the incidents, but an Israeli security official told The Times of Israel that the strikes were directed at terror operatives.
The reports on the latest deaths, citing medical officials, said an Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... on a tent encampment in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave, killed a 20-year-old man and an 8-year-old girl. In the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, an airstrike hit a house killing an 18-month-old baby and wounding at least eight people, medics said.
Another Israeli strike targeted a Paleostinian man on a bike near a tent encampment housing displaced families in Gaza City, killing one person and wounding 10, medics added.
The Israeli military says it only targets terror operatives in its strikes, but that these fighters often operate from within the civilian population. "Often", as in "Always" Meanwhile,
...back at the Senate, the partisans of Honorius went for their knives and the partisans of Stilicho went for the doors... the IDF announced that a Hamas sniper commander and a terrorist who invaded Israel during the October 7, 2023, onslaught were killed in separate strikes in Gaza earlier this week. One strike on Monday in southern Gaza killed Ahmad Hisham Mahmoud Louh, commander of a sniper cell in Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion, according to the IDF. The IDF said a separate strike on Monday in northern Gaza killed Mahmoud Ali Mahmoud Taroush, a platoon commander in Hamas’s military wing, who invaded Israel on October 7. The military said the two terror operatives were planning attacks on troops and Israeli civilians.
"The forces of Evil posed a threat to the troops and were eliminated in precise aerial strikes," the IDF said.
Later Thursday, the IDF announced that it bombed another four Hamas weapon depots across the Gaza Strip the previous night. The IDF said the strikes destroyed sites where assault rifles, bombs, anti-tank missile launchers, and other equipment were stored by Hamas. The weapons were intended to be used in attacks on Israeli troops in Gaza and Israeli civilians, and the sites were struck "to remove the threat," the army said.
Another one. And almost none of them seem to have shared anything useful with their handlers.
[IsraelTimes] An Israeli civilian who previously served in the military in a classified unit has been arrested and charged with spying on behalf of Iran, Israeli authorities announced Wednesday.
He is the latest in a string of Israelis arrested for espionage on behalf of the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
In a joint statement, the Israel Police, Defense Ministry, and Shin Bet said the suspect was charged at the Tel Aviv District Court on July 16 with "contact with a foreign agent and attempted delivery of information for the benefit of the enemy."
The investigation found that the man, who served in a classified unit during both his mandatory service and reserve duty, was in contact with "an individual who identified himself as an Iranian intelligence agent."
The statement said the suspect, who has not been named, at one stage was also asked to assist with recruiting a soldier "to establish contact with those [Iranian] agents."
The reservist was asked to carry out small tasks including graffiti and arson to prove he was serious, but he insisted on carrying out more meaningful activities, Channel 12 news reported, citing his indictment.
"I am not here for these small tasks," he responded to his handlers, with whom he communicated over the Telegram app, according to the report. "I know a lot; I am here for the big jobs," he said.
There was a discussion on a significant payment in exchange for information, which was never carried out, sources aware of the details told Channel 12.
No further details were given regarding the information the suspect sent to the Iranian handler, or when he was arrested. The unit the man served in previously was not identified, as its activities are classified.
Israeli security authorities said they "reiterate their warning" to civilians against "maintaining contact with foreign actors from enemy states or with unidentified individuals."
Over the past two years, dozens of Israelis, including several soldiers and reservists, have been charged with espionage on behalf of Iran. In many cases, Iranian agents recruited Israelis via social media, specifically through Telegram, with promises of payment.
Earlier this month, one soldier performing mandatory service was sentenced to five years in prison for carrying out espionage tasks on behalf of Iran, after being convicted of contact with a foreign agent and delivering information liable to benefit the enemy.
Iranian handlers usually start their recruits with relatively mundane tasks such as vandalism or the filming of public locations, which then escalate into more severe, sometimes even violent mostly peaceful offenses.
The growing number of alleged Iranian agents has even prompted Israel to open up a new wing in Haifa’s Damon prison for those indicted on such spying charges. Most of the cases are still making their way through the legal system.
An ambulance driver from the Galilee was charged Thursday morning with espionage for Iran, which included spying on President Isaac Herzog and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as they visited a northern hospital.
Amir Hisham Mohammad Titi, a 34-year-old man from the Arab village of Bi’ina, was arrested last month and indicted Thursday in the Haifa District Court, police announced. His arrest is the latest in a string of cases of Israelis arrested for alleged espionage on behalf of the Islamic Republic.
Titi is accused of exploiting his access to medical centers across Israel to pass sensitive intelligence to his Iranian handler, including information about hospitals’ preparedness in emergency situations.
During a visit by Herzog and Smotrich to Nahariya’s Galilee Medical Center, the accused allegedly reached out to his handler on his own initiative, notifying him of their appearance at the hospital.
He sent a photo of Herzog and his entourage to the Iranian agent, prosecutors said.
The alleged espionage went beyond Titi’s work as an ambulance driver, and the defendant was also sent to protest locations, including Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square and the site of a demonstration in Haifa, prosecutors said.
The accused also traveled to Amikam, the moshav where former defense minister Yoav Gallant resides, and documented houses, streets and a clinic in the area, prosecutors added.
According to the indictment, Titi received tens of thousands of shekels in exchange for his actions, transferred to him in cryptocurrency.
[IrishTimes] Iran has said it struck two tankers trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz under the escort of the US military as Donald Trump gathered his cabinet to discuss the stalling war and rising prices as midterm elections in the US loom.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Friday the “non-compliant oil tankers ... were struck and brought to a halt, while four other oil tankers quickly changed course and returned to their previous positions”.
The military body said the ships had tried to pass through the strait via an “undeclared route” and under US aerial escort.
Iran and the US have said ships should pass through the strait via two competing routes, with Iran bombing ships that take the southern route, close to the coast of Oman, and the US bombing ships that violate its blockade of Iranian ships and ports.
The strait has been almost completely closed to traffic since Iran and the US returned to fighting two weeks ago, sending energy prices soaring. On Thursday, the price of crude oil pushed past $90 a barrel when the US struck Iran in retaliation for its targeting of US bases in Jordan.
[ US launches heavy wave of strikes on Iran after pause in attacksOpens in new window ]
Fighting continued on Friday, with the Kuwaiti defence ministry reporting that it had shot down Iranian drones targeting “vital and military facilities” without any casualties.
In Lebanon, Israeli military carried out a huge detonation overnight near the ancient Beaufort Castle. It said it was targeting Hizbullah tunnels and infrastructure. The explosion was heard across south Lebanon and covered nearby towns in ash, while photos showed the affected area levelled by the force of the blast.
Lebanese officials accused Israel of violating the ceasefire by carrying out the detonation. The Israeli military said it was ensuring the security of its northern residents.
Trump has tried to open the Strait of Hormuz by force, but increasingly intense US strikes on Iran have yielded few results. The price of gas and groceries remain high in the US as a result of the energy disruption, complicating Republicans’ chances at the ballot box in November’s midterm elections.
Posted by: mossomo ||
07/31/2026 13:59 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[249 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
"The military body said [IRGC] the ships had tried to pass through the strait via an “undeclared route” and under US aerial escort.
#4
this strike was not confirmed by centcom as of a few minutes ago
but centcom didn't have anything at all today
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
07/31/2026 19:04 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Well the US pretty clearly wasn't escorting them using surface vessels. I guess that means they had rotor wing escort a few clicks away or fast movers wandering around in their vicinity. Regardless of the "escort" craft, apparently they were unable to launch any munitions to protect the vessels being escorted. So why trust them to do so next time? If you are claiming to provide protection, ya gotta deliver - or else you lose (more) street cred.
Following the discussion on whether the Lebanese Armed Forces will be willing to conduct searches inside private civilian properties as part of Hezbollah's disarmament, the following case illustrates why this is a fundamental. not merely technical issue.
Following the discussion on whether the Lebanese Armed Forces will be willing to conduct searches inside private civilian properties as part of Hezbollah's disarmament, the following case illustrates why this is a fundamental. not merely technical issue.
In the village of Haddatha in southern Lebanon, the IDF uncovered an underground Hezbollah command center constructed beneath a building materials factory, approximately 300 meters from a UNIFIL facility. The underground structure, approximately 55 meters long, consisted of three rooms. A nearby underground shaft containing dozens of weapons was also discovered.
This case joins a long series of Hezbollah military infrastructures identified since the beginning of the IDF's ground operations in Lebanon inside or beneath private civilian properties.
It further reinforces the understanding that the use of the civilian environment is not an operational necessity but rather an integral component of Hezbollah's method of operation and its systematic use of the human shield tactic.
The Israel Defense Forces used 700 tons of explosives to demolish the subterranean facility.
The demolition was planned for an earlier date but was postponed because of the framework deal reached in June. Netanyahu and Katz said the destruction of the tunnel system was in response to Hezbollah’s "blatant" violation of the ceasefire agreement on Wednesday, when it targeted an unmanned bulldozer with an explosive drone.
The tunnel, which journalists toured earlier this month, served as a "central part of the Hezbollah terror organization’s invasion plan against the Galilee communities," the statement said.
"The State of Israel will not accept any violation of the ceasefire agreement. Any attempt by Hezbollah to harm IDF troops or Israeli civilians will be met with a severe and powerful response that will exact a heavy price from the terrorist organization,". Netanyahu and Katz said, adding that the IDF "will remain in the security zone in southern Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... and will continue to destroy all terror infrastructure in order to prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to restore its capabilities."
The IDF in its own statement said it demolished "several key underground routes in the Beaufort Ridge area."
"Over the past several weeks, IDF troops completed securing the Beaufort Ridge area, while taking control of and clearing the underground infrastructure and preparing it for destruction," the military said.
The military had already on July 13 demolished a tunnel that was part of the Beaufort Ridge area underground system. With the latest demolition, most of the tunnel network in the area has been destroyed.
The IDF is also still monitoring a massive Hezbollah tunnel system beneath the Ali Taher ridge, near Nabatieh, where dozens of operatives are still believed to be holed up. However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... because of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF has been prevented from capturing the underground passages beneath the ridge, though it has continued to operate in other parts of south Lebanon.
[IsraelTimes] Israel mulling response to attack on unmanned vehicle in buffer zone; IDF decries ‘blatant violation’ as Zamir says army can ‘push deeper’; ahead of Rome talks, Israel said to reject further withdrawals
A Hezbollah dronezap hit an Israeli armored bulldozer stationed in the IDF’s south Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... buffer zone overnight, in violation of the ongoing truce, the military said Wednesday.
The unmanned engineering vehicle was hit in the Ali Taher Ridge area by an explosive drone belonging to the terror group, the army said. The explosion did not result in any injuries.
It marked the first Hezbollah attack since the framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon took effect in late June, and as Israeli and Lebanese negotiators were slated to meet for follow-up talks next week in Rome. The countries have been discussing an Israeli withdrawal from the buffer zone, the disarmament of Hezbollah and an eventual peace agreement.
"This is a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon by the Hezbollah terror organization," the IDF said.
The Iran-backed terror group has a massive underground complex under the ridge, near Nabatieh, and the IDF estimates that dozens of operatives are holed up in the area. However,
the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach... because of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF has been prevented from capturing the underground passages beneath the ridge.
Israel was deliberating a response to the violation of the ceasefire, security officials said Wednesday. The army added that its forces "continue to operate in the ridge area and will not allow holy warriors in the area to advance or carry out terror attacks against IDF troops."
The incident came as IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited troops in southern Lebanon, where he said that "if required, we will push deeper and reach additional areas."
"The campaign across all fronts is not yet over, and you must be prepared for it to continue. We are prepared for any change in the situation and ready for a wide range of scenarios," he said to officers, according to remarks published by the army.
ISRAEL REJECTS FURTHER WITHDRAWALS AHEAD OF ROME TALKS
Israel told mediators that it would not agree to additional withdrawals from territory in southern Lebanon in the Rome talks, Channel 12 reported Wednesday.
The June deal called for the Lebanese military to deploy in areas in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah had previously held a military presence and influence, paving the way for Israel to withdraw from the buffer zone it holds in the south.
Wednesday’s report said, however, that until Hezbollah is disarmed, Israel would halt further pullouts south of the so-called "yellow line" that marks the buffer zone. The terror group has rejected disarmament and opposes the Israel-Lebanon talks.
"If the current pilot is successful and additional pilot areas are decided upon later, they will be beyond the yellow line. We will not allow further withdrawals of the area on our side. Until Hezbollah is disarmed in Lebanon — that is what was agreed upon," the official said.
Technical teams from each side will meet from August 4 to August 6 and focus on advancing the implementation of the framework agreement, meant to lead to an eventual peace deal between Israel and Lebanon.
IDF CONTINUES OPERATIONS IN BUFFER ZONE
The army continued to operate in southern Lebanon in the meantime, announcing Wednesday that it demolished an underground Hezbollah command center that had been built beneath a construction material factory near a peacekeeper post.
During operations in the village of Haddatha, inside the IDF’s south Lebanon buffer zone, troops uncovered a tunnel that was 55 meters (180 feet) long, the military said.
The tunnel featured three rooms, and was used by Hezbollah as a command center. It was built beneath a construction material factory and located some 300 meters (1,000 feet) from a UNIFIL building, according to the army.
Nearby, troops also located a pit with dozens of weapons in it, the IDF added. Combat engineers blew up the tunnel this week.
Earlier this week, Israeli troops fired on a suspect who approached them in southern Lebanon earlier this week, the IDF said Wednesday, confirming earlier reports.
Lebanese media reported on Monday that Shadi Hussayan al-Darwish was rubbed out by Israeli forces between Mansouri and Ras al-Bayada in the Tyre area.
The IDF said a suspect was identified in the Ras al-Bayada area, approaching troops "in a manner that posed a threat."
Troops fired "warning shots in an attempt to distance him," and after he "continued advancing toward the soldiers and failed to comply with their calls, they fired toward him in order to remove the threat," the IDF said.
Soldiers operating in the south Lebanon buffer zone also captured Hezbollah weapons, including assault rifles, RPGs, bombs, and other equipment, the military added.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
/> 
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
