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Moscow Rejects Merz’ Plan For Ukraine Security Guarantees
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that security guarantees for Ukraine will be determined by Kiev and its allies, not by Moscow. Berlin’s stance serves only to prolong the conflict rather than resolve it, since lasting peace cannot be achieved without addressing the conflict’s underlying issues.
After the meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing in Paris, Merz stated that security guarantees “will be decided by Ukraine and its partners, not Moscow.” He added that Germany, the largest sponsor of Ukraine, is consistently bolstering Ukraine’s air defenses and highlighted increased efforts by Western allies to put pressure on Moscow.
Evidently, European leaders are disconnected from reality and are conjuring scenarios in which the European Union dictates terms to all other countries and expects them to be accepted without question. However, Western policy, based on sanctions, pressure on Moscow, and continued military aid to Kiev, will not force Russia to accept the terms set by European countries.
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Saudi Arabia Warns Houthis Over Blockade As Its Allies Vow To Go To War
The Saudi-led coalition said on July 20 it would respond “firmly and forcefully” to recent threats by the Houthis (Ansar Allah), in its first reaction after the Yemeni group announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said the coalition had begun measures to protect its vessels transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait, adding that any Houthi threats would be met “firmly and forcefully.”
The coalition spokesman said the measures were in line with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
A day earlier, the Houthis announced a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia in response to the kingdom’s blockade on Yemen. Since then, the group has begun warning vessels.
In an email to shipowners, the group made clear that its blockade would not be limited to Saudi vessels, but would apply to all ships coming to and from Saudi ports, according to Bloomberg.
Read more HER
Zaporozhye Meltdown: Russian Army Reaches Volchya River
In the Sumy direction, Russian assault groups advanced up to 400 meters in 21 sectors and repelled Ukrainian attacks in the Khoten and Pisarevka areas. They are continuing to form an encirclement of the Sumy defensive node.
In the Kharkiv direction, Russian troops advanced 700 meters in the Volchansk sector and between Baksheevka and Zakharovka.
In the Zaporozhye area, units of the "East" military grouping captured Volnoye and advanced beyond the Volchya River. This threatens the Novonikolayevka logistics hub and encircles Dolinka.
In the Slavyansk direction, troops are conducting clearance operations in Krasny Liman. Fighting continues near Aleksandrovka and Kaleniki, and crossings over the Oskol River are being destroyed.
In the diplomatic sphere, six EU countries, including Germany, France, and Italy, either demanded exemptions or fully blocked the proposed measures in the 21st sanctions package against Russia.
Read more HERE
Gulf States Shift To Chinese Air Defenses Amid Confrontation With Iran
Bahrain has apparently acquired FK-2000 self-propelled, short-to-medium-range air defense systems from China to reinforce its air defenses in the face of repeated Iranian attacks.
Photos showing at least three such systems deployed on a beach east of Bahrain International Airport, in the north of the Gulf state, surfaced online on July 20. At least one of the systems appears to be operational in the photos.
The FK-2000 was developed by defense giant China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, better known by its acronym, CASIC.
Bahrain's acquisition of the FK-2000 signals a wider shift by Gulf states away from Western air defenses toward systems made by other countries. The shift is likely motivated by the high cost, low availability, and poor performance of Western systems alike.
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Iranian Strikes Set Two Tankers On Fire In Hormuz (Video)
Greek shipping company Dynacom Tankers said on July 20 that two of its managed vessels were hit by projectiles of unknown origin while sailing off the coast of Oman a day earlier.
In a statement, the company said the Kavomaleas, a Malta-flagged Panamax-sized tanker, was struck by two projectiles, causing a fire in its engine room and forcing its evacuation.
Dynacom Tankers later said in a second statement that the Liberian-flagged Acheloos, a very large crude carrier, was also struck by a projectile.
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Report, Satellite Images Reveals Dozens of American Troops, Warplanes Were Hit In Jordan
Iran carried out three strikes against U.S. forces in the week before its July 17 attack that killed two American soldiers and left one service member missing in Jordan, The New York Times reported on July 20.
U.S. officials told the Times that those earlier strikes wounded dozens of American service members and damaged several helicopters.
The Pentagon did not disclose these earlier Iranian strikes or the casualties and damage caused by them, according to the report.
The Times did not clarify where these losses took place. However, Iranian media released satellite images showing heavy damage at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base.
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U.S. Acknowledge Another Soldiers Was Killed Amid Fighting With Iran
A U.S. service member was killed and another was injured in northern Iraq on July 18 while disposing of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone, Central Command announced.
“A US service member in northern Iraq was killed in action July 18 during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone,” CENTCOM said in a post on the US social media platform X on July 19.
Toxic Skies: Kiev's Drones Bring Chemical Terror To The Russian Rear
On the night of July 18, 2026, Kiev's drones ignored the airfields and the ammunition dumps. They went for parcel racks and grocery shelves instead. In Kotovsk and Elektrostal, night-shift packers burned with the cardboard; in Energodar, a supermarket was reduced to ash. Then the smoke rolled 250 kilometers across the Moscow region. This was no military strike - it was a message written in fire against the civilian rear.
The Night the Warehouses Burned
The heaviest blow fell on Kotovsk, in the Tambov region, where drones tore into a colossal Wildberries (Russia’s largest e-commerce marketplace) distribution center sprawling across 108,000 square meters. Seven workers of the night shift never made it home, and 25 more were carried out wounded - most cut down by shrapnel, the striking element deliberately packed into the drones to maximize harm to people rather than to machinery. Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov refused the comfort of euphemism: “One can say with confidence that this was a planned terrorist act against civilians.” Coming from a regional official surveying his own dead, the words carried none of the usual bureaucratic distance.
The same wave lit up Elektrostal, on Moscow’s very doorstep, where a second Wildberries complex and a neighboring oil depot in Noginsk were struck - one man dead of his wounds, 37 injured, eight of them gravely. Falling debris set a kindergarten alight.
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Iranian Drones Devastated U.S. Bases In Kuwait Overnight (Videos)
Iran's Army announced on July 19 that it had launched a large-scale drone attack on the United States' ammunition depot at al-Adiri Camp, along with a MIM-104 Patriot air defense system and air surveillance radars at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.
The Army's public relations department said al-Adiri Camp, located roughly 104 kilometers from Iran's borders, serves as a major logistics and force-reconstitution center for American troops, adding that disruptions there would significantly affect American logistical operations across the region.
It described Ali Al Salem Air Base as the main airlift hub and a primary entry point for the deployment of American forces into the region, calling it central to what it termed the "aggressor regime's" military and logistical strategy there.
The Army also condemned strikes attributed to the U.S. on bridges, infrastructure, and civilian facilities.
Read more HERE
Zaporozhye Disaster: Russian Army Cuts Orekhov's Lifeline
In the Kharkiv area, assault groups advanced up to three kilometers in Kazachya Lopan and reached the outskirts of Shevyakovka.
In the Zaporozhye direction, Russian forces are increasing pressure on Orekhov from three sides. They have captured two fortifications in Novoselovka and are cutting an important supply route.
In the Sumy direction, "North" units advanced 2.5 kilometers along the Kyiv-Moscow highway in the Bachevsk area.
In the Slaviansk area, the clearance of Krasny Liman continues. Fighting is ongoing in Chasov Yar and Nikolaevka.
Meanwhile, counterattacks near Dolgaya Balka are being repelled on the western flank.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for negotiations and a ceasefire while simultaneously urging increased pressure on Moscow.
Read more HERE
Houthis Strike Airport In Southern Saudi Arabia With Missiles And Drones (Videos)
The Houthis (Ansar Allah) attacked an airport in southern Saudi Arabia late on July 13 after holding the kingdom responsible for a series of strikes that hit Sanaa International Airport in the Yemeni capital earlier in the day, preventing an Iranian plane from landing.
In a statement, Houthi spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said that a number of missiles and drones were launched at Abha International Airport in Asir.
Saree further warned all airlines against flying through Saudi Arabian airspace, stressing that they should take the warnings seriously until the blockade on Sana'a International Airport is lifted.
Saudi Arabia acknowledged the attack. Operations at Abha International Airport were suspended following reports of blasts. Later, Saudi-led coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki announced the interception of ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis from Yemen.
Read more HERE
U.S. Attacked Iranian Submarine Facility With Drone Boats (Video)
United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on July 13 that its forces used multiple one-way attack surface drones to successfully strike a submarine and ship maintenance facility in Iran a day earlier.
“Three Corsair unmanned surface vessels hit the port at Bandar Abbas Naval Base, marking the first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations,” the command said in a statement.
Trump Reinstated Iran Blockade, Claims New Supreme Leader Is ‘90% Gone’
President Donald Trump announced on July 13 that the United States is reinstating its blockade of Iranian ports and will be managing the Strait of Hormuz going forward, charging fees from vessels that transit the waterway in the process.
"The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
"We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran's ships or customers from entering or leaving. All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait," he continued.
Escalating further against Iran, Trump said later in the day that the Islamic Republic's top military commanders have been killed, and claimed that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his successor, was "90% gone."
Read more HERE
The Web That Caught the Spider
Kiev tried to smuggle a swarm of killer drones across the width of Russia - from the Bryansk borderlands to the Urals and the Pacific coast. Ambitious on paper, it was dead on arrival: Russian counterintelligence had the shipment under watch from the start.
A Copy of “Spiderweb,” Down to the Playbook
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) says it has broken up a plot by Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) to strike military airfields in the Amur and Chelyabinsk Regions, together with a defense-industry plant and Defense Ministry personnel. The method was familiar to the point of predictability: drones and their control stations were moved into the Bryansk Region in advance - carried in by fixed-wing UAVs and balloons - then hauled thousands of kilometers east and assembled in rented garages near the target airfields.
The scheme closely echoed the SBU's June 2025 “Spiderweb” raid, when Ukraine slipped cheap drones deep into Russia disguised as ordinary freight, then launched them at strategic aviation from inside the country. But that raid was the exception, not the rule. In the year since, Kiev has returned to it again and again - from Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar to the Saratov and Moscow Regions - and time after time the plots have been rolled up before they could fire. This was simply the latest thread cut before it could tighten.
The Cache That Betrayed Its Owners
By the FSB's account, its officers followed the operation from the moment the containers crossed into Bryansk, tracing the chain all the way to the garages where the drones were being armed. When the arrests came, the suspects and their accomplices were detained and the arsenal laid out as evidence.
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Locations Of US Carrier Strike Groups – July 21, 2026
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Iran Suppresses U.S. Air Defenses In Overnight Attack (Videos)
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it has destroyed multiple radar and communications facilities belonging to the United States in the region, while the Islamic Republic’s Army reported drone strikes on three U.S. bases in Kuwait, in what both describe as ongoing retaliation for American violations.
The announcements came in a series of statements issued early on July 21, covering the latest phases of the IRGC's “Operation Nasr-2” and the Army's “Operation Sa'eqeh.
In its first statement, the IRGC said the second phase of wave 24 of Operation Nasr-2 targeted infrastructure supporting U.S. air defense operations in Kuwait, describing the strike as an effort to clear the way for larger air and missile operations.
According to the statement, missiles and drones struck and destroyed a long-range radar site, a communications center, satellite reception systems and a missile defense radar.
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Trump Vows Iran Will Pay For Killing U.S. Soldiers, Israel Prepares To Join Fighting
United States President Donald Trump said on July 20 that he has directed the Pentagon to kill “many times” the number of Iranians for every American soldier killed.
“Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over! This directive has been passed on to Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Daniel Caine, and every Leader in the Military,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
FACTORIES IN FLAMES, FRONT LINES IN FLUX: RUSSIA TIGHTENS THE VISE ON MULTIPLE FRONTS
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Military Situation In Iran On July 20, 2026 (Map Update)
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Yemen’s Houthis Declare Maritime Blockade On Saudi Ports
The Houthis (Ansar Allah) announced on July 20 that they will be imposing a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, in retaliation for the Kingdom’s blockade of Yemen.
In a statement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the measure would take effect immediately upon the announcement's release.
Saree accused Saudi Arabia of waging an "unjust and brutal siege" on Yemen for close to twelve years, saying it has "plundered resources" and imposed a "comprehensive blockade on ports and airports by land, sea, and air."
He further alleged that the blockade began alongside an attack on Sanaa International Airport, which it called an "unjust and treacherous act of aggression."
Read more HERE
Iranian Strikes Hit U.S. Warplanes In Jordan, Kuwait (Videos)
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on July 20 that it had carried out another wave of strikes against strategic targets belonging to the United States in Jordan and Kuwait, describing the operations as the 21st and 22nd waves of "Operation Nasr-2."
In the 21st wave, the IRGC said precision strikes destroyed 20 hangars housing troops of what it called the "child-killing" U.S. military in the al-Azraq area of Jordan, killing dozens of American personnel it referred to as "terrorist forces."
The Guards thanked members of the Jordanian public and the country's armed forces for intelligence it said helped enable the operation.
The same wave also included ballistic missile strikes by the IRGC's Aerospace Force on U.S. C-17 transport aircraft and P-8 command-and-control aircraft at Aqaba Airport in Jordan, which the Corps said caused "heavy damage" to a number of the aircraft.
Read more HERE
Military Situation In Ukraine On July 19, 2026 (Maps Update)
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Military Situation In Iran On July 19, 2026 (Map Update)
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Iran Sets Two UAE Tankers Ablaze as U.S. Resumes Strikes (Videos)
The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defence announced early on July 14 that two national oil tankers, Mombasa and Al Bahiyah, were targeted by two Iranian cruise missiles in the southern passage of the Strait of Hormuz, within Omani territorial waters.
The announcement came as another round of United States strikes hit the Islamic Republic.
The attack resulted in the death of one crew member aboard the Mombasa, an Indian national, and injuries to eight others, including four who sustained serious injuries, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the injured comprise six Indian nationals and two Ukrainian nationals.
The attack also caused material damage to both tankers due to fires that broke out on board. The fires have since been brought under control.
The ministry condemned the attack as a serious breach of international law and said the UAE retains its full right to respond.
Read more HERE
Military Situation In Iran On July 13, 2026 (Map Update)
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Turkish Warships Visit Latakia Port As Ankara Expands Presence On Syria Coast
Turkey's National Defense Ministry announced on July 13 that warships belonging to the Turkish Naval Forces Command visited Syria's Latakia Port.
In a statement, the ministry said the visit marked the first by Turkish naval vessels to Latakia Port since the start of Syria's civil war. Turkish Naval Forces Commander Adm. Ercüment Tatlıoğlu was aboard the TCG Istanbul frigate, one of the warships that took part in the visit, the ministry added.
Following the fall of the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad, Turkey emerged as the main ally of the Syrian Transitional Government, which was formed by the Islamist rebels it had backed for years. Ankara is now playing a leading role in rebuilding the country's armed forces.
Reports from last year revealed Turkish plans to build a number of bases in Syria, including a naval base in Latakia.
Read more HERE
Suspected Saudi Strikes Hit Houthi Airport Ahead of Iranian Flight (Videos)
A strike hit the runway of the Houthi-controlled Sanaa International Airport on July 13, preventing an Iranian plane from landing.
Despite Yemeni media reports attributing the strike to the Royal Saudi Air Force, the Yemeni Defense Ministry claimed responsibility.
In a statement, the ministry—a part of the internationally-recognized government loyal to the Riyadh-based Presidential Leadership Council—warned that its "patience has run out," saying that it would respond to any Iranian and Houthi violations of Yemen’s airspace.
The Houthis, for their part, held Saudi Arabia responsible for the strike. "Response will be decisive," Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement following the strikes, according to the Houthi-aligned Al-Masirah.
Read more HERE