🇺🇸⚡️ — Wall Street Journal, citing a statement by a U.S. Army official given to the news agency, reports that the U.S. Army is phasing out a tactical unmanned systems batallion intended to further UAV warfare capabilities among the U.S. Army and integrate lessons learned by the Russia-Ukraine war.

This is part of a "back-to-basics" approach being championed by U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff General Christopher LeNeve, with support from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

🇮🇱⚔️🇹🇷 The Israeli government complains about status-quo broken, but latest attack changes the "status quo" that Israel had already, in some form agreed to, as shown on the map. Israel is naturally unhappy because, for many years, it had complete freedom to fly over Syrian territory and carry out raids without any intervention. It will not give up this freedom easily, especially before Turkey upgrades its air force with F-35s and domestically produced fighter jets.

Israel's earlier raid on Palmyra Air Base drew a kind of status quo line, since the reaction time of the IAF would be problematic if there were a hot conflict. North of this line, however, the IAF would have enough time to respond. That was essentially the "status quo," which Israel violated yesterday by striking a base far beyond that line.

The second point is that Syria will not remain without an army forever. Ultimately, it is a state and will have to rebuild its military. For now, this process is still in its babysteps and Turkey will probably be the main country helping to rebuild it from scratch. This latest attack is a sign that Israel does not want Syria to possess any meaningful military capability. Rather, Israel seems to prefer something comparable to what the Palestinian Authority has, or at most something resembling the military capabilities of the Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region, no real air force apart from basic aircraft and perhaps some light helicopters, no heavy armored formations or tanks and a military capable primarily of maintaining internal security.

🔗 Dünya Başol

🇺🇸🌐 Lithuania has received a questionnaire from the US Defense Department seeking information about NATO allies’ alignment with President Donald Trump’s foreign policy,

The questionnaire is part of a broader US review of its military presence in Europe and is intended to assess allies’ positions on policies pursued by President Trump

The questionnaire was sent to all 31 members of NATO.

According to Bloomberg, the document sent recently to NATO members asks whether each country has publicly voiced support for US foreign policy; what restrictions it has imposed on US forces using its military bases, including during operations in Iran and Venezuela; and whether it spends money with US military contractors.

Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that some allies reacted strongly to the questionnaire, viewing it as an attempt to demand ideological loyalty in exchange for US security guarantees.

The questionnaire comes as Washington reviews its military presence in Europe. The United States is expected to significantly reduce the number of troops and amount of military equipment deployed in the region by December, according to Bloomberg.

🔗 https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/3026279/lithuania-confirms-receiving-donald-trump-s-loyalty-questionnaire

🇺🇸🛢 Axios once again exaggerates to manipulate the market, claiming 15-20 oil tankers are entering and exiting the Strait of Hormuz US-backed southern Omani corridor every single night.

Tonight, however, only 5 are lining up to cross the southern Omani corridor with AIS off, per Sentinel-1 satellite imagery.

Axios's Barak Ravid also claims this "secret operation" resulted in 15–20 million barrels of crude oil exiting the Strait every night. The current rate on both the northern Iranian and Omani southern lane has been ~5 million barrels per day.

The Trump Admin uses Axios and Barak Ravid's stories to manipulate the AI algorithms trading paper oil to artificially maintain the price low. This, of course, has no effect on the real oil market where diesel barrels trade for upwards of $185 each.

@CIG_telegram

🇩🇪⚡️ — Germany’s Bundeswehr is using branded Döner bags as recruitment advertising in Berlin, featuring camouflage designs and QR codes linking to its careers website, Berliner Kurier reports.

Kebab shops receive the bags for free, while the Bundeswehr says the campaign is intended to reach potential recruits in everyday settings, including young people, career changers, and skilled workers.

The military describes the initiative as an “ambient” advertising campaign, although it says the direct impact on recruitment applications is difficult to measure.

🇾🇪⚔️🇾🇪 Latest Updates from the Conflict Fronts in Yemen

🟡 Active engagements and artillery duels persist along the Al-Barah axis between Yemeni Armed Forces and Tareq Saleh's affiliated militias.

🟡 A Rajum hexacopter UAV operated by Yemeni forces struck a target in the Harib district south of Marib, inflicting one fatality among the Shabwa Defense Forces and multiple injuries.

🟡 The Saudi-led coalition has conducted artillery bombardments against the Al-Thabit enclaves in Qatabar, the Ghafirah sub-district in Al-Zahir, and the Al-Ghur locality in Ghamr district, all situated in Saada governorate.

🟡 Separately, the Saudi-backed government has alleged that a Yemeni (Houthi) ballistic missile barrage east of Al-Khokha, in southern Al-Hudaydah province, resulted in the deaths of two civilians described as farmers. This claim appears to be false. Attacks have been carried out against Saudi ships, and the two farmers mentioned were killed either by falling missile fragments or by artillery fire from forces loyal to Tariq Saleh.

🔗 IWN

🇦🇫❌🇦🇫 — Abdul Rahman Mansoor, the Taliban-appointed mayor for the town of Faizabad, the capital of the Badakhshan province, was assassinated by the anti-Taliban National Resistance Front (NRF) via an IED ambush.

🇦🇫❌🇦🇫 — The anti-Taliban Afghan United Front (AUF) killed 10 Taliban fighters and captured 3 others following a raid on their positions in Badakhshan.

🇦🇫❌🇦🇫 — Hasib Qoway Markaz, a key commander of the Anti-Taliban National Resistance Front (NRF), was killed by Taliban special forces today.

🇨🇳🛢 Beijing Bets on Fossil Fuels Even as It Leads the World in Renewables

China's crude output hit a record 216 million metric tonnes in 2025, even as imports fell to their lowest level since 2017.

Beijing's 15th Five-Year Plan targets 440 million tonnes of oil equivalent in domestic output by 2030, plus 20,000 km of new pipelines.

China has cut its reliance on Middle East crude, dropping the region's share of its imports from 55.4% to 44.6% in a single year.

China has become the world’s largest renewable energy producer by accelerating the rollout of solar, wind, and battery storage projects, while in recent years it has also increased its oil and gas output. Efforts to expand its fossil fuel industry are expected to boost China’s energy self-sufficiency over the coming decade, helping to reduce its dependence on other countries for oil and gas imports. The diversification of its energy sources will help ensure China’s energy security at a time when so many other countries are failing to diversify sufficiently.

In 2025, China’s crude output was a record 216 million metric tonnes, according to the National Energy Administration. Meanwhile, China’s natural gas output increased by 10 billion cubic metres last year. Chinese oil and gas firms also expanded the country’s reserves, adding 1.32 billion metric tonnes of oil equivalent of recoverable oil and gas volumes. Between January and July this year, China’s crude output increased by 0.9 per cent, to 4.42 million bpd, according to National Bureau of Statistics data.

The significant increase in China’s oil and gas output is down to government policies aimed at reducing reliance on energy imports. China has filled its strategic oil reserves with discounted Russian and Iranian crude in recent years as it works to increase its own production capacity. This helped isolate it from the price increases of recent months, driven by the ongoing Iran War and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

China plans to further strengthen its national petroleum reserves to shield the country from future global disruptions. The government aims to expand strategic overland import corridors to enhance connectivity. It will also diversify its oil and gas suppliers to reduce the threat of geopolitical disruptions.

China has already increased oil purchases from West Africa, Latin America, and Russia, helping it mitigate the disruption much of the world has faced due to constraints on oil exports from the Middle East. China reduced its crude imports from the Middle East from 55.4 per cent to 44.6 per cent from the first half of 2025 to the same period in 2026, according to calculations by S&P Global Energy.

🔗 https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Beijing-Bets-on-Fossil-Fuels-Even-as-It-Leads-the-World-in-Renewables.html