🇸🇾 A court in Damascus sentenced former Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad and his brother, Maher, to death in absentia for committing crimes against humanity during the Syrian Civil War.

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🇺🇦🇷🇺 Ukraine has stopped reporting how many missiles Russia fired during attacks as it has run out of interceptors

While the Air Defense Forces said 98 of 120 Russian drones were downed overnight, it omitted data on the number of missiles fired. That came days after it ceased reporting interceptions of ballistic missiles, following an attack last week in which Ukraine failed to stop any of 28 projectiles.

The Air Defense Forces has changed its reporting format as a security measure in response to Russian strikes, according to a person familiar with the matter, asking not to be identified because the matter is sensitive.

Ukraine is scrambling to obtain more interceptors from allies as it struggles to defend against intensified Russian air attacks in recent weeks. It’s particularly seeking more supplies for the US-made Patriot system that’s most able to knock out Russian ballistic missiles, amid a surge in global demand sparked by the Middle East conflict.

Shipments of air defense missiles to Ukraine from its allies have dropped threefold in the first half of the year compared with 2025, Zelensky said Aug. 5, after at least 17 people had been killed and dozens injured in Russian strikes that Kiev’s forces were unable to knock out. The city of Zaporozhye was struck by North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles as well as Russian Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles, he said.

Ukraine intercepted 29 out of 195 Russian ballistic missiles fired in July while another 40 failed to reach their targets, according to data compiled by the Defense Ministry in Kiev.

🔗 https://unwall.app/www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-11/ukraine-stops-reporting-russia-missile-data-as-defenses-struggle

🇺🇦🌾🇲🇩🇷🇴 Ukraine demanded Moldova lower its freight rail tariffs for Ukrainian grain shipments as Kiev shifts from its own ports to Romanian ones.

Sources in Ukraine and Moldova have said that Kiev would like to transport ​its grain via Moldova to the Romanian port of Constanța with a 50% discount of the ⁠nominal rate.

A source with Moldovan Railways said Ukraine had sought the 50% discount during ​discussions. Moldova, he said, had countered with a proposal for Ukraine to provide guarantees of volumes of Ukrainian grain to be transported.

"At this time, the two sides are discussing a time frame and volumes of transit of Ukrainian grain through Moldova to the (Romanian) port of Constanta," the ​source said.

The former head of Moldovan Railways, Oleg Tofilat, told Reuters that a transit rail corridor through Moldova could ​carry 4.5 million metric tons annually.

Ukrainian estimates say that a working corridor could provide for 10% of the country's exports. Moldova had already ‌provided ⁠rail transport for Ukrainian grain in 2022-2023.

Moldova's Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister, Vladimir Bolea, visited Ukraine's adjacent Odessa Region on Monday and discussed improved rail links and expanded transit with his Ukrainian counterpart, Mykola Kalashnyk.

The need for a rail route through Moldova to Romania has arisen in connection with Russian attacks on the Odessa port hub and a historic drought on the Danube rendering Ukraine's ports on the river unusable for large, heavy ships.

Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan said on Monday that his country should not lose ⁠the ​opportunity to earn millions of euros in transit revenue from Ukrainian grain ​cargos. He dismissed suggestions by Moldovan farm groups that the price of Ukrainian grain would undercut their own produce.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/business/ukraine-moldova-consider-shipping-grain-by-rail-through-moldova-sources-say-2026-08-10/

🇦🇪🤝🇮🇷 An Emirati Boeing 737-700 Business Jet (BBJ) operated by charter airline RoyalJet, designed for VIP passengers took off from Abu Dhabi and landed in Tehran earlier today.

🔗 EGYOSINT

🇺🇸🛢🇬🇱🇩🇰 The Trump Admin is desperate to find new sources of oil to offset the loss of Middle Eastern barrels.

Greenland Energy, a US oil company established last year with ties to President Donald Trump, recently unloaded drilling equipment on Greenland's eastern coast without securing permission from local authorities, The Guardian reported on 8 August.

Greenland's Department of Industry and Minerals issued a “strong warning” that it had authorized neither the shipment nor its arrival on shore, stating that every logistical step tied to the project must be cleared in advance by the mineral resources authority.

Residents of the thinly populated Jameson Land region had watched a tug haul a barge toward the coast and offload roughly a dozen containers. The equipment was brought in for planned oil exploration drilling at Nunap Qeqqa, according to the government statement. 

Executives at the firm have claimed that as much as $1 trillion worth of crude lies beneath Jameson Land, with the site chosen partly because it is isolated.

The head of the shipping company confirmed to Danish investigative outlet Danwatch that Greenland Energy was the recipient.

Greenland Energy had already acknowledged that its representatives told residents, falsely, that permission to bring the equipment ashore was in hand, which chairman Larry Swets attributed to confusion.

Nuuk concluded that ordering the containers removed “would not be proportionate,” leaving the government to choose between licensing drilling in an area that may fall under wetlands protection or refusing and risking handing Trump an opening to press his claim harder.

Two days after the government warning, Trump published a post on Truth Social depicting himself looming over a Greenlandic village amid renewed threats to seize the island.

📝: The Trump Admin seized Venezuela's oil revenues and took control of its oil industry to maximize its output with plans to increase production but U.S. oil companies are hesitant to invest in the country.

Although the British government banned the issue of new drilling licenses for oil in the North Sea, the White House is pressing for a complete reversal of this policy and increase exploration and production and as of July 18th, the new British prime-minister, Andy Burnham, announced that new oil & gas projects will be licensed in the future.

Lastly, among US-backed Colombian president, Abelardo de la Espriella's first moves after inauguration was to revive the Colombian oil industry which had been neglected by the previous president, Gustavo Petro.

🔗 https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39320

🇷🇴🤝🇳🇪 Romania wants to buy 300 tons of yellowcake seized by the Nigerien Junta from France

Classified information revealed today by Nigerien media and reposted in Romanian medias show that in April this year, the Romanian government through its state owned Nuclearelectrica S.A. which operates the country's sole nuclear power plant, sent a letter of intent to asking to buy 1/3 of Niger's 1000 ton stockpile of enriched uranium which the junta seized from France's Orane SA after the 2023 coup d'état.

The Nigerien junta was reportedly happy to sell the yellowcake to the Romanian government as the government is struggling with a liquidity crisis and is in dire need of cash. A delegation from Romania traveled to Niamey to work out the details and the price they reached was $40 million for 300 tons of yellowcake.

There is a significant roadblock which can derail the sale: France's nuclear energy operator, Orane, has won the right to forbid Niamey from removing the enriched uranium from Nigerien territory without its permission from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

It is expected the EU and the U.S. will pressure France to not block the sale as they are worried that the Nigerien Junta would try to sell the yellowcake to Iran or Russia if it fails to strike a deal with Romania.

🔗 https://www.g4media.ro/romania-negociaza-achizitia-unei-treimi-din-stocul-de-uraniu-blocat-in-niger-pe-fondul-blocajelor-juridice-si-al-tensiunilor-geopolitice-cancelariile-europene-nu-vor-ca-minereul-sa-ajunga-in-rusia-s.html

🇱🇾 A 5th drone struck the Zawiya oil refinery.

The refinery was attacked for three days in a row.

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🇮🇷⚔️🇺🇸 Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, in a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador:

"The Strait of Hormuz will not open until the United States changes its behavior and accepts Iran's conditions.

The United States must end the war, release Iran's blocked funds, and in general, the war must end throughout the region, including Lebanon and Gaza, and other conditions that have been conveyed through intermediaries.

If an agreement is reached between Iran and Oman regarding the passage route in the Strait of Hormuz, this agreement will be separate from the issue of closing the Strait of Hormuz." - Tasnim

🔗 MenchOSINT

🐣 🇬🇷 🚷 Along with a rising share of births to Greek mothers, (90.5%, Q1 2026) Greece is also tightening immigration controls.

New rules are driving down irregular arrivals and boosting returns.

According to news reports, Migration Minister Thanos Plevris points to the broader European shift toward stricter policies.

Migration Minister Thanos Plevris detailed the impact of the country’s new strict rules (detention for most economic migrants, 2–5 year prison alternative to voluntary return, fast-track processing).

Key results so far (according to the reports):

• Arrivals from the Egypt-Libya route fell from 3,200 in H1 2025 to 802 in H1 2026
• Returns on that route jumped from 69 to 330
• Overall returns up 40%
• Aegean arrivals down 65% in early 2026

Plevris credits the broader European shift toward tougher policies partly to the change in U.S. direction after 2024

📎 James

🐣 🇺🇸 🕯Democrats clapped and cheered as Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy signed a bill legalizing abortion up to birth.

📎 AF Post

🇱🇾📝 Jalel Harchaoui, an analyst affiliated with the Royal United Services Institute in London, said warlord Mohamed Bahroun has been cornered by the GNU/Dbeibeh government and his forces “are likely to resort to desperate measures.

Amid the chaos, militias grew in wealth and power, particularly in Tripoli and the western part of the country.

Mohamed Bahroun's militia clashed with rivals in the city of Surman last week as the warlord seeks to consolidate his power amidst a threat of pacification from the GNU.

Bahroun who also goes by the nickname "Al-Far" or "the Mouse" was an ally of another Libyan warlord, Salah Badi, one of the key anti-Gaddafi warlords who made a name for himself in 2011 when his militiamen captured the city of Misrata from the Gaddafi loyalists. Badi fought to keep Gaddafi loyalists out of politics which triggered the 2nd phase of the Civil War in 2014, with Badi siding with the Government of National Accord (GNA) which later became the GNU in 2022.

Badi had many enemies inside the GNA as well whom he viewed as too lenient towards Gaddafi's loyalists and the LNA Commander-in-Chief, Khalifa Haftar. The GNA is notoriously weak and has relied for years on warlords like Salah Badi for security. This led to constant strife amongst warlords in a fight for favoritism from the central authority in Tripoli.

When the United Nations installed the current Government of National Accord in 2016, Badi was against it. That year, he led militias “in repeated attempts to remove power from the GNA” and restore a separate government unrecognized by the international community, the U.N. Security Council said when it placed sanctions on Badi in 2018. Badi again attacked the capital in 2017 with tanks and heavy artillery.

The GNA, led by Prime Minister Fayez Serraj, has relied heavily on militias for its security. Today, some of those armed factions control key ministries, banks and businesses. At least 115 people were killed during a month of attacks, mostly civilians. The U.S. Treasury Department, in imposing sanctions on Badi, said his forces fired Grad rockets into heavily populated areas. Badi denied the allegations.

In 2019, Badi's militia joined forces with the other GNA warlords to repel an LNA offensive on Tripoli however, as soon as the LNA was repelled, the alliance between the warlords broke down and since 2020, the GNA was marked by short bursts of violence between warlords over territory.

Mohamed Bahroun is picking up from where Badi left off. He is wanted by the Tripoli government for the 2024 assassination of Abdulrahman Salem Milad "Al-Bidja", the chief of the GNU Coast Guard based in Zawiya and there are rumours going on of the GNU preparing a major operation to subdue Bahroun's troublesome militia.

@CIG_telegram