🇾🇪❌🇾🇪 — Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces are carrying out attacks against Houthi positions on the Marib and Taiz fronts, according to Saudi Al Hadath.

Government forces are using drones to strike Houthi positions, vehicles, and fortifications in Taiz, while artillery has targeted Houthi sites along the Marib front.

🇲🇲⚡️ — The PDF and the KIA anti-Junta rebels released a compilation of joint FPV attacks against the Tatmadaw in the Kachin region.

🇺🇸⚡️ — Four major U.S. human rights organizations have sued the Trump administration over its campaign against the International Criminal Court, arguing that sanctions targeting the court are unconstitutional.

Human Rights Watch, the Open Society Institute, the American Friends Service Committee and the Center for Constitutional Rights say the sanctions prevent them from cooperating with the ICC on cases involving genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

The lawsuit seeks to overturn the sanctions regime, which was imposed against ICC judges, prosecutors, and others involved in investigations concerning U.S. and Israeli officials.

🇱🇻🇧🇾⚡️ — Latvia says it discovered a migrant-smuggling tunnel under the border with Belarus and announced "Operation ⁠Werewolf" that aims to combat networks that are helping a growing number of migrants cross the frontier illegally.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — President Trump is shifting toward a wait-and-see strategy on Iran, relying increasingly on economic sanctions and the U.S. naval blockade to pressure Tehran into negotiations after military threats and strikes failed to bring the war to an end, according to The Atlantic.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has argued that tightening sanctions could eventually force Iran to concede, while depleted U.S. missile-defense stockpiles have further limited Trump’s military options.

Bessent has also told Trump that the Strait of Hormuz could become largely irrelevant within two years, claiming as much as 70% of the energy currently passing through the waterway could eventually be redirected through underground pipelines.

For now, the administration is betting that sustained economic pressure can accomplish what military action and diplomacy have so far failed to achieve.

🇮🇷⚡️ — The Iranian-Kurdish PJAK militant group ambushed and killed an IRGC officer in Sanandaj, Iranian Kurdistan, on August 5.

🇮🇩🇨🇳🇹🇼⚡️ — Indonesia says the joint naval drills with China set to take place east of Taiwan in mid-August is a routine "passing exercise" and not a war-fighting drill.

🇮🇶🇸🇦⚡️ — An Iraqi delegation will be visiting Saudi Arabia tomorrow to take part in talks regarding common security matters.

🇮🇷🇮🇶⚡️ — IRGC Quds forces commander Qaani, during his recent visit to Iraq, asked the Iraqi government to postpone the disarmament process of the pro-Iran armed factions by the state, according to Al Arabiya.

Qaani reportedly said that enforcing a state monopoly on weapons now will be viewed “as a stab in the back” to Iran.

🇮🇱❌🇱🇧 — Israeli artillery shelling against Al-Mansouri, southern Lebanon.

🇺🇸🇹🇷🇮🇷⚡️ — Three of President Trump’s closest longtime aides, Dan Scavino, Natalie Harp, and Walt Nauta, accompanied him during his secret departure from Air Force One in Ankara last month following a potential Iranian assassination threat.

Trump and the aides were covertly moved from Air Force One aboard a catering truck before transferring to a smaller Air Force C-32A and flying separately to Britain.

No Cabinet officials accompanied Trump, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior officials remaining aboard the original aircraft alongside journalists and other personnel as it served as a decoy.

🇺🇸⚡️ — The Trump administration plans to spend at least $900 million on construction and modernization projects across the White House grounds, according to records reviewed by WaPo.

Rather than obtaining the funding directly from Congress, the administration has assembled hundreds of millions of dollars from the Secret Service, the White House Military Office, and private donors and redirected the money through a little-known White House maintenance account.

The planned projects include Trump’s East Wing ballroom, upgrades to Lafayette Square, a new helipad, and a visitor screening center, bringing the projected total to at least $927 million.

The plans face a legal challenge after a federal appeals court ruled that the administration needs congressional approval to continue construction of the East Wing ballroom. Trump has vowed to appeal the decision.