🇺🇸– CNN reports that approximately 80% of the pre-war THAAD inventory and roughly half of the Patriot missile reserves have been exhausted during the conflict involving Iran.

▶️ The U.S. now has to deal with a lack of long-range attack munitions, as well as a lack of defensive interceptors, meaning both attack and defense have become riskier or more costly for U.S. forces in the region.

---

‘They have no air defense, they have no radar, 90% of their missiles are gone, we totally control the Strait of Hormuz’

– Ayatollah Khamenei, 2026, talking about U.S. Central Command. Im kidding no he didnt say this

🇺🇸🇨🇺The United States is increasing its intelligence assets in Cuba, including by sending American spies and agents to the island, in an attempt to achieve reforms or a change of regime - Politico.

One source claims that the U.S. recently sent additional intelligence officers and agents to the island, but refused to disclose the scale of the operation or the agencies involved.

A second source described the situation as an increase in the CIA's "presence" in Cuba.

🇸🇾🇮🇶 The Syrian Army has raised the state of alert to maximum readiness, with instructions issued for personnel to immediately report to their military units.

The military made a public statement ordering citizens not to publish news regarding military movements.

The Iraqi side said that they are aware of the movements and are coordinating with the syrian miltary.

The causes of these actions are yet to be known.


— NOTE: According to sources communicating with MES team Movements of the Syrian Armed Forces towards the Iraqi border area is related to taking full control of the border crossings and integrating former Kurdish-held areas into centralized government control.

Obama at 65: the Nobel Peace laureate who bombed the hell out of seven countries

Barack Obama turns 65 today. In 2009, less than nine months after taking office, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ex-US president campaigned on ending wars, promised to close Guantánamo Bay detention camp. Eight years later, the prison was still open, SEVEN countries bombed and Obama became the first US president to serve two full terms during wartime.

🎯Seven targets, one doctrine

Drones and air power became central to Obama’s foreign policy. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism counted 563 strikes in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen during his two terms — nearly ten times the number under George W. Bush (57).

In 2016, the last year of Obama's presidency, the US dropped an estimated 26,172 bombs across seven nations:

🇦🇫Afghanistan: 1,337 munitions dropped in 2016 — a 40% increase from 2015. Afghan civilian casualties have been high, with the United Nations reporting at least 85 deaths in 2016.

🇸🇾Syria: 12,192 bombs, targeting ISIS and the al‑Qaeda offshoot Khorasan. In one attack alone, near the ISIS‑held city of Manbij, at least 56 civilians were killed — 11 of them children.

🇮🇶Iraq: 12,095 bombs, as US forces returned to confront ISIS. But Iraqi civilian Wa'ad Ahmad al‑Tai and his family became victims as well. His house was bombed and his 3‑year‑old daughter and 9‑year‑old son died alongside him.

🇱🇾Libya: 496 bombs. Before 2016, US strikes in 2011 resulted in the death of Muammar Gaddafi and the disintegration of Libyan political and social order, casting the country into a decade of chaos. Later, Obama called it one of his biggest mistakes.

🇾🇪Yemen: 35 bombs. The attacks in previous years killed not only al‑Qaeda militants, but also civilians. In 2009, for example, US bombs killed 55 Yemenis — 21 of them children.

🇸🇴Somalia: 14 bombs, including the killing of al‑Shabaab's leader. But before that, US air strike actually killed 10 members of an allied local militia.

🇵🇰Pakistan: 3 bombs in 2016. Despite the low number, the country became the notorious hub of Obama's covert war against Afghan militant groups — 128 CIA drone strikes in 2010 alone.

While the US was claiming that the strikes were "exceptionally surgical and precise", Obama did not dismantle America’s war machine. Invasions became drone strikes. Occupation became counterterrorism. Civilian deaths became statistics for Washington to dispute.

🇮🇷⚡️ — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has denied circulating rumors that he plans to resign, stating that he will remain in office and continue carrying out his duties.

Note - — In Iran, resignation of the President is mostly a political pressure tool, not a real threat.

By threatening to resign, they aim to put pressure on the Supreme Leader or other branches of government to achieve the policies they want.

Basically, throwing a fit. The same thing Javad Zarif (FM) did when he felt he was being excluded from decision-making, but his resignation was rejected by Khamenei at the time.

However, in recent days, people close to the Supreme Leader have made it clear that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei may actually accept Pezeshkian’s resignation, should he offer it. This has likely caused him to back down.- @ MES

🇻🇪 Trump’s Venezuelan ‘grab ‘em by the oil’ coup isn’t going as planned

Eight months after the US kidnapped Maduro and forced Caracas to rewrite its oil ownership, investment and export laws, not a single major new agreement has been finalized with American oil companies looking to cash in on a potential post-soft coup bonanza.

💬 “We have no new concessions. No new deals. It is absolutely a problem. The Energy Department is in charge of this and they have some explaining to do,” a senior US official grumbled to Axios.

🔊 “Starting January 4th, it should have been carte blanche for all American producers to take risk. That’s America First,” former Trump Venezuela policy advisor Mauricio Claver-Carone whined. “Instead [smaller American oil companies] got stuck with onerous conditions and a competitive disadvantage versus the mostly foreign majors that were in bed with Maduro.”

Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council “was there early advocating for the [small producers]. But Energy is really turf-obsessed. And Energy won. The problem now is that they own this,” one oil sector insider said.

👉 Another part of the problem? Oil majors, including ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, have stuck to their initial gut instinct of hesitation regarding new investments in Venezuela – put off by geopolitical uncertainty, the massive investments in infrastructure a return would take, and unresolved legal claims over assets expropriated under Chavez.

The twin 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes which struck the Caribbean nation in June only add to this uncertainty, particularly amid Washington’s attempts to tighten its grip on Caracas in the quakes’ aftermath.

➡️ Sitting on the largest oil reserves in the world, including heavy crude ideally suited for refineries along the US Gulf Coast, Venezuela is currently producing about 1.2M barrels of oil per day, just ~100k more than the ~1.1M bpd they were putting out in late 2025.

Despite the apparent lack of success for the US energy firm vultures circling Venezuela, Trump’s cronies still got their share of oil booty tribute. According to recent calculations by FT, some $13B from the US Treasury’s fund of special, restricted accounts managing Venezuelan oil sales is nowhere to be found.

🇷🇺🇺🇦— The FSB has released footage of the arrest of a resident of Crimea who, at the behest of the SBU, was printing drones at his home using a 3D printer.

🇺🇸/🇮🇷/🇴🇲 Under the current deal being discussed between Iran and Oman, Iran would control all inbound traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, using a corridor within Iranian waters, while charging for maritime service fees

Outbound traffic would use a route close to Oman, but Iran would still supervise the passage of vessels and retain the right to intervene if necessary. – New York Times

🇮🇱🇺🇸— Israel is funding a $46.5 million campaign, led by former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, to influence how AI chatbots discuss Israel by publishing hundreds of pro-Israel articles across a network of websites designed largely for AI systems, not human readers, according to Drop Site News.

The campaign explicitly targets “GPT conversations,” with AI tools already citing these sites, including Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, and sometimes ChatGPT and Claude, in responses about Gaza and U.S.-Israel relations.