Ryan Grim

🇮🇷 Iran is heading into winter short nearly a third of the gas it needs, and about 40% of that gap comes from US-Israeli strikes on its energy facilities, based on figures from state news agency IRNA. Iran faces a daily shortfall of more than 330 million cubic meters. Last winter, the national grid delivered a record 882 million a day and still fell about 200 million short. Strikes on South Pars, Asaluyeh and Mahshahr have since knocked 130 million offline, President Masoud Pezeshkian said. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Iranians to start "stocking up on heating fuel," warning of "a big heating fuel shortage." Acting Oil Minister Hamid Bovard replied that "Bessent's audience for fuel stockpiling should be the American people."

🇾🇪 Ansarallah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi claimed his forces are not besieging Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, in a televised speech Thursday, dismissing it as a Saudi lie. The speech comes as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International blame Ansarallah for cutting off roads into the city and the UN World Food Programme warns it cannot reach more than 600,000 people there who depend on aid. Al-Houthi spoke for the group's annual Martyrs' Day. Here are the main highlights: 🔸 Taiz "We confirm that the Saudi enemy's claims that the city of Taiz is besieged are false and fabricated," he said. "There is no siege on the city of Taiz, and the way is open for food and humanitarian supplies to enter." He added, "The Saudi is lying." Human Rights Watch said Thursday that Ansarallah, which has surrounded Taiz since 2015, "fully encircled the city" this month and "blocked and attacked the remaining major supply route," the road to the southern port city of Aden, causing severe shortages of fuel, food, water, medicine and cooking gas. An Ansarallah spokesperson told HRW that government forces were the ones blocking roads, but HRW said 15 residents, civil society workers and UN officials put responsibility for the shortages on Ansarallah. HRW Yemen researcher Niku Jafarnia said the group's "renewed efforts" to cut off supplies "show their utter disregard for civilian lives." 🔸 Southern Yemen He told southerners they "are not targeted by the Yemeni Armed Forces," Ansarallah's name for its military, adding that "the only target is the Saudi mobilizations, led by Saudi officers who move them to kill the sons of this people." 🔸 Demands on Saudi Arabia "Our people's demand is clear: that the Saudi stop its aggression and siege, and lift its hand from the sovereign resources it controls," he said. Continuing the war "will only increase its losses, burdens, and sin, and its bearing of serious consequences in this world and the next," he warned. 🔸 Holy sites He accused Riyadh of lying when it says Yemen is targeting Islamic holy sites, said Yemenis would never attack sanctities that are their own, and urged Arab and Muslim publics not to believe Saudi propaganda. 🔸 Saudi backers "Whoever supports the Saudi aggression is a partner even in the crimes committed by the Saudi aggressor, including in the killing of children and women," he said. Arabic outlets read the remark as a thinly veiled reference to Egypt. 🔸 US and Israel "The Saudi regime works within the framework of American and Western policies and their directions," he said, adding that "America has employed all its capabilities to oppress human societies across vast areas of the world." He discussed Israel's destruction of people and agriculture in Gaza and Lebanon.

⚡️ NEW at @DropSiteNews: Bolivian Attorney General Was Arrested After Investigating Trump-Aligned Operative The arrest highlights the selective use of drug-trafficking accusations to advance U.S. interests in Latin America. Story by @GranadosCeja dropsitenews.com/p/bolivia-a…

🇾🇪 Saudi airstrikes on homes belonging to one family in Yemen's Taiz province killed at least 12 people Thursday, most of them women and children, according to Yemeni media. The Health Ministry said that strike and one in al-Jawf province killed 27 people, mostly women and children, and wounded 18 in less than 24 hours. The strikes hit the al-Qawz family in the al-Barh area of Maqbanah district, in western Taiz. Ansarallah's Al-Masirah TV reported three homes were destroyed "on the heads of their occupants." The AP, citing the ministry, reported at least 13 dead. Saudi aircraft also struck the central prison of the Western Coast Security Sector in Mocha district, on Taiz's Red Sea coast, wounding two inmates, one critically, according to Al-Masirah. The Sanaa-based National Human Rights Authority noted a Saudi strike on a paint factory near the city of Taiz, calling it a war crime, and warning that the large fire it caused could release toxic gases and contaminate nearby soil and groundwater. Ansarallah military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Saudi forces carried out 116 airstrikes and missile strikes over the past 24 hours, hitting Saada, Hajjah, al-Bayda, al-Jawf, Taiz and Lahj provinces, after reporting 101 the day before. He said the jets were F-15s and Typhoons flying from Saudi bases at Khamis Mushait and Taif, with missiles fired from Najran, and put the total since the escalation began at 3,596. The al-Jawf strike hit a crowded market and a nearby gas station in al-Hazm, the province's capital, on Wednesday, killing 14 people, including three children and two women, and wounding 15, according to ministry spokesperson Anees al-Asbahi. The Saudi-led coalition has not commented on the strike, the AP reported. At least 1,677 people have been killed and 7,395 injured in Yemen since August as fighting has escalated, according to the World Health Organization. 🎥 Children and other al-Qawz family members killed in Taiz via Al-Masirah

🇾🇪 At least 1,677 people have been killed and 7,395 injured in Yemen since August amid escalating fighting, according to the World Health Organization. Between October 20 and 25 alone, the WHO recorded 559 casualties, averaging approximately 93 killed or injured per day. More than 281,000 people have been displaced by fighting in Yemen since the beginning of August, with over half sheltering in Taiz governorate, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Humanitarian access has deteriorated over the past three weeks after damage to a key road connecting Taiz to southern governorates forced aid deliveries onto narrow mountain routes. Three-quarters of displaced Yemenis are sheltering in sites with inadequate water, sanitation, and shelter, while more than 35,000 families lack shelter assistance and over 230,000 people need emergency water and sanitation support. In Marib, only six of 31 mobile medical teams remain operational, and 15 health facilities have shut down entirely.

🇺🇦 President Zelenskyy said the US has sent Ukraine an average of just 12 Patriot interceptors a month this year. The news was shared ahead of expected US-mediated Ukrainian talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi in early November.

🇦🇲 A half-hour brawl broke out in Armenia's parliament on Thursday, set off by a dig about a proposed "Ministry of Sex." The backstory: Before June's election, Sargis Karapetyan, son of Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, went on a podcast where the host floated a ministry to address women's sexual dissatisfaction. Sargis agreed, said it should be called "the Ministry of Sex" and asked: "Can we now actually say that in a strong Armenia there will be no unsatisfied women?" according to OC Media. The line was a play on Strong Armenia, his father's party, now the largest opposition faction. On Thursday, during a debate on corruption, ruling party MP Taron Chakhoyan reminded Sargis's cousin, Strong Armenia leader Narek Karapetyan, that his family had never apologized to women for the remark. Karapetyan heckled from his seat, and Chakhoyan shot back that he was "the lout, from head to toe," according to PANam. Opposition MPs charged the podium, and the session dissolved into punches and kicks. Deputy Speaker Vahagn Aleksanyan hoisted a chair over his head and hurled it toward the opposition benches. The fighting spilled into the corridors, RFE/RL's Armenian service reported, and opposition MP Andranik Gevorgyan was left with a bloody nose. An ambulance was eventually called to parliament. At first, Speaker Ruben Rubinyan let the fight play out on camera. “I am deliberately not announcing a recess so that everyone can see this. The session will continue like this. Let everyone see,” he said. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan later defended the fighting, saying "whether with a chair, with a table, or with something else, it was proportionate and right.” He also commented on the opposition's fighting skills: "I assumed they were at least physically strong. Apparently, they're not." It was the chamber's second brawl this month. Another broke out on Oct. 6 after Strong Armenia MP Edgar Ghazaryan accused Rubinyan of misusing public funds on bonuses for lawmakers. nitter.cf/Aeternum7/status/21157… nitter.cf/Aeternum7/status/21157…

🇦🇱 Meanwhile in Albania, opposition lawmakers set off red flares and blue smoke bombs in parliament on Thursday, trying to block a vote on a new law governing the country's central bank. Opposition MPs banged on desks, threw objects at Prime Minister Edi Rama and chanted "Resign, Rama!" They held up photos they said showed police beating protesters, according to Sweden Herald. Albanians have been protesting for over a week over education funding and the cost of living. The law passed anyway with 84 votes, the bare minimum needed. Rama voted and walked out, and Speaker Niko Peleshi expelled four opposition MPs, according to Albanian outlet Koha Jonë. It's not the first time this month. On Oct. 9, Rama was pelted with eggs and bottles as parliament passed a municipal reform plan.

🇭🇹 🇸🇻 Salvadoran troops have been flown into Haiti over the past week on two private charter planes, one operated by a Honduran company and the other by an Ecuador-based firm, according to Haiti researcher Jake Johnston, who shared video of soldiers disembarking. Who is paying for the flights remains unclear. El Salvador now has "more than two thousand soldiers" deployed in Haiti, its Foreign Ministry said Wednesday after President Nayib Bukele spoke with Haiti’s appointed Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. It called the search for four missing air force technicians "a large-scale operation backed by various countries and international organizations," without naming them. It also said Bukele had discussed "the permanence of the mission" and pledged to keep helping fight Haiti's gangs. The two governments framed the deployment differently. Haiti's statement places it "within the framework" of the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force and stresses "respect for the authority of the Haitian state." El Salvador's doesn't mention the force at all. Johnston says the deployment is "clearly" a longer-term one "well beyond 'search and rescue.'"

🔴 Dozens of sick and wounded Palestinians have died waiting for medical treatment abroad as Israel repeatedly closes crossings and delays evacuations from Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday. More than 21,000 patients remain stranded. ➤ The ministry reported that 21,468 patients remain on waiting lists, including 6,430 priority cases, while just 3,056 have been evacuated since February when Israel began allowing some patients to leave Gaza. 2,614 have left through Rafah and 442 through the Kerem Shalom crossing. ➤ The ministry said Israel is deliberately slowing evacuation procedures and repeatedly closing crossings, causing severe deterioration in the health of thousands of patients and leaving dozens to die while awaiting permission to leave. ➤ It called for the immediate reopening of Rafah for medical evacuations, the removal of administrative restrictions and a substantial increase in the number of patients permitted to leave each day.

🇺🇦 A Russian drone struck a crowded platform at Dnipro's train station on Thursday morning, killing 14 people and wounding 13 in the east-central Ukrainian city, according to regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha. Four are in critical condition, including an 11-year-old boy. The jet-powered drone hit as passengers waited for a train to Zaporizhzhia, according to Ukrainian Railways. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a "horrific Russian strike" and urged allies not to ease sanctions on Moscow. Russian attacks killed at least 21 people across Ukraine over the past day. Other deadly strikes included: 🔸 Chernihiv: an S8000 Banderol cruise missile hit the crowded city center Thursday, killing two 15-year-old girls and wounding at least 15, including three children, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Chaus. 🔸 Kremenchuk: a drone struck a multi-story apartment building, killing three people and wounding 15, including three children, according to Poltava regional governor Vitaliy Diakivnych. 🔸 Kharkiv: a jet-powered drone hit a post office Wednesday, killing a 38-year-old man and wounding four, according to regional prosecutors. 🔸 Rivne region: a strike on a civilian business killed one man, according to Ukraine's emergency service. Overnight, Russia launched 112 drones at Ukraine, 40 of them jet-powered, according to Ukraine's air force. nitter.cf/zelenskyyua/status/211…

🔦A covert ad campaign pushing racist, anti-Muslim, anti-migrant and anti-Qatar propaganda has racked up more than 533 million recorded exposures across Europe, Lebanon and the United States, 30 different countries, since October 2023, according to a new investigation by researchers Marc Owen Jones and Sohan Dsouza. Its funder remains hidden, but several trails lead to Israel. The campaign began with billboards in Lebanon blaming Iran and Hezbollah for the war, with Israel left out entirely. It then blamed Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, with ads pressuring Sheikha Moza, the Emir's mother, over Israeli captives and urging boycotts of Qatari-owned brands. It soon escalated into "Great Replacement" conspiracy content describing Qatar as the hidden force "Islamising" Europe. The operation spent over $1.2 million on Meta ads by mid-2024 alone. It ran dozens of fake front groups across six platforms and reached Times Square and a 2024 CPAC stage shortly before Donald Trump spoke. Among the leads the researchers found: ▪️ A campaign poster traced to Johnnie Moore, the evangelical Trump adviser who later led the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whose PR firm also publicized a campaign protest 
▪️ A Wikipedia sockpuppet network linked to an Israeli IP address 
▪️ Video files with Hebrew labels, made on a Sunday-to-Thursday workweek, pointing to an Israel-based production team 🔗 The report and a detailed thread are below. The operation is still running.

Armenia's opposition and ruling party lawmakers came to blows in parliament Thursday, and the fight spilled into the hallways. Details below ⬇️ nitter.cf/KarinaKarapety8/status…

⭕️ “We have this building that needs to be bailed out.” That was the message Qatar repeatedly received from President Trump son-in-law and Mideast advisor Jared Kushner’s family as it sought Trump’s help ending the 2017 Saudi-UAE-led blockade, investigative journalist Matthew Cole told Ryan Grim on Breaking Points, citing a former US intelligence officer. The building was 666 Fifth Avenue, the Kushners’ debt-strapped Manhattan tower. Cole reports that after Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in 2018, Qatar secretly arranged a bailout through Canadian real estate giant Brookfield, which took a 99-year lease. Kushner denies the allegations. @ryangrim | @BreakingPointsx

⛽️ Gulf oil and petroleum-product exports have plunged in Kpler’s latest tracking data, with the 7-day average falling to under 11 million barrels per day, nearly half the pre-war average of 20.5 million. Confirmed tanker flows through the Strait of Hormuz have dropped sharply in recent days. The figures exclude Iran and Red Sea and other bypass routes, and remain preliminary, with the latest 14 days subject to upward revisions as shipments are confirmed. 📊 Source: Kpler

💢🎥 “Do you think this occupation is going to stop at one house, or ten, or twenty?” Israeli forces demolished two homes belonging to the Dawoud family in Beita, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday, destroying homes the family had spent decades building. Abdul Karim Dawoud told Drop Site that his sons have been imprisoned for nine months after Israeli authorities accused them of detonating an explosive device targeting Israeli soldiers. “It hurts a person even to have a cup smashed, let alone a house. I spent my whole life helping build it, along with my brothers,” Dawoud said. Footage captured by Drop Site contributor Mutasem Sqf Elhait shows the homes draped with Palestinian flags being demolished—one blown up with explosives, the other torn down by a military bulldozer. Israeli forces also fired live ammunition, tear gas, and stun grenades during confrontations with residents. 🎥 Mutasem Sqf Elhait