Author: Human

Dr. Kobi Barda, a historian specializing in American politics, warned on Friday that strains on US military stockpiles could leave Washington vulnerable if another major power, particularly China, were to enter a conflict.

“If I were an American today, I would be very worried if tomorrow morning China decided to enter the conflict,” Barda told 103FM. He added, “There may currently be weakness in the United States.”

Barda pointed to reported shortages in US military stockpiles and the amount of time that could be required to replenish key weapons systems.

"It is possible, it has been done in previous wars, when a large part of production was mobilized for the war effort. At least four years, according to the American media, is the time required to replenish the stockpiles of Tomahawk missiles and all the defensive missiles."

"In principle, the feeling is that there is indeed some kind of shortage in the stockpiles, especially in light of the war, which is extremely intense in the Ukrainian arena, and this paints a fairly bleak picture of what is supposed to happen as the campaign continues at this time."

He also cited Germany as an example of how economic dependence on foreign countries could complicate efforts to expand defense production, particularly as European manufacturers face increasing competition from China.

“An interesting story in Germany reflects the challenge posed by China, where Volkswagen is dealing with Chinese vehicles flooding its market. The company wanted to convert some of its production lines to manufacture heavy trucks intended to carry missiles, but the move was blocked because Qatar holds enough shares in the company, and it is blocking the merger with Israeli technology companies.”

"The question arises as to what it means to be dependent on an Arab country like Qatar, which decides what the factories will produce and what they will not, while the market is flooded with Chinese products."

Barda also criticized Washington's approach to Iran, arguing that the US appears determined to avoid further complications at least until after the midterm elections.

“It appears that there is a desire at any cost to try to get through the coming period, at least until after the midterm elections. In this context, there is no other way to put it except ’embarrassing,’ Iran is demanding to negotiate the division of highway robbery in the Strait of Hormuz with Oman alone, without a third party, and the Americans are willing to swallow it.”

Spain’s leftist government expects to transfer some migrant minors from overcrowded reception centers in the North African enclave of Ceuta to the mainland within weeks, alleviating the migration crisis in the tiny territory after last week’s deadly border rush, Youth Minister Sira Rego said on Friday.

On July 30, as many as 72,000 migrants illegally crossed into Ceuta from Morocco by sea and land, with dozens dying in the rush, according to Spanish authorities, after weeks of smaller arrivals. Most have since returned, but hundreds of unaccompanied minors remained in Ceuta.

Rego said 1,342 minors had been registered so far and more staff would be drafted in to help the effort. She acknowledged the "painful images" of children sleeping rough on Ceuta's streets, and said two schools had been opened and more spaces would be evaluated as potential reception centers.

"I think it might only be a matter of a few weeks before we start seeing (minors) transferred to and welcomed on the mainland," Rego told reporters during a trip to Ceuta.

"We are prioritizing girls, and boys and girls who are under 13," she said, describing the situation in Ceuta as still challenging but "gradually returning to normal."

The far-right opposition has raised objections to transfers to the mainland, where regional authorities are in charge of reception.

Morocco has said it is ready to cooperate with Spain and other European partners on the return of unaccompanied minors who crossed into Ceuta last week.

Spain will evaluate Morocco's offer to repatriate the children on a case-by-case basis, Rego said. Spanish press agency EFE cited a Moroccan diplomatic source as saying Spanish administrative and judicial hurdles complicated the return of children.

"Spain has no hurdles," Rego said. "What Spain will do is safeguard children's rights," she added, explaining that specialized teams would assess each child to determine what was in their best interests and that family reunification would be facilitated whenever possible.

Rego said the profile of child migrants had changed in the past five years since the last major border rush on Ceuta in 2021, when 8,000 people crossed the border.

"More unaccompanied girls have arrived, as well as more very young children," she said.

Ceuta's local government head Juan Jesus Vivas said the modest local facilities could host up to 90 children, and were now saturated by roughly 1,100 unaccompanied minors who arrived before the border rush.

NGOs and resident groups say the total number of minors could be several thousand.

Spain's government threatened to impose countermeasures on travelers from Italy if it did not the lift by this Sunday the border controls it imposed on Spain after last week's influx of migrants into the North African enclave of Ceuta.

Italy’s measures were “unjust, contrary to European Union interests and discriminatory to the population of Spain,” the government argued in its statement on Friday, underscoring that no migrants who reached Ceuta in an irregular manner last week were able to enter freely into Schengen under the enclave’s migration rules.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s confirmed Ebola cases have risen above 4,000 for the first time in the current outbreak, government data showed.

The epidemic, the world’s second-largest, has been described as the fastest-spreading on record.

Experts believe infections started circulating months before the outbreak was declared on May 15 and that the true number of cases could be much higher than the official tally.

The Central African country's public health institute said in its latest report that the total number of infections had reached 4,053, including 1,850 deaths.

Cases have been recorded in five provinces in the country: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele and Tshopo.

A report published in the journal Science last month concluded that Congo’s outbreak had started in January, or even earlier, in Ituri. Researchers identified more than 500 suspected cases between mid-January and May 15.

Delayed detection, overwhelmed surveillance, military conflict, and a lack of vaccines and treatments for the species of the virus involved have allowed the disease to outrun containment efforts this time.

So far only West Africa's 2014-16 outbreak has been bigger, with over 28,000 cases recorded across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

US President Donald Trump has privately expressed frustration that information about shrinking US munitions stockpiles has become public, arguing that the disclosures make the United States appear weak as he threatens further military action to pressure Iran into reaching a deal, CNN reported, citing senior US officials.

Trump raised the issue during a cabinet meeting at Camp David last week, according to sources cited by the report, with the president focused on media coverage describing low US munitions stocks.

CNN also reported that Trump had known for months about possible shortages of key US missiles, with his anger instead centered on the timing of the disclosures and the increasingly public debate over the stockpiles while he sought to project US strength.

“The US has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types,” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after midnight on Thursday. “Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the US as needed. Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history.”

Trump nevertheless appeared to confirm that supplies of some weapons were limited. He threatened “long-term jail sentences” for anyone found responsible for releasing the information.

Speaking later in the Oval Office, Trump said certain munitions were in “tighter” supply, while maintaining that the United States had a “virtual unlimited supply” of less advanced weapons.

White House officials said Trump had not directed his anger at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. In a separate Truth Social post on Thursday, the president said he was “extremely happy with the job that Pete Hegseth is doing.”

“He has never blamed Pete. This is all about the leakers,” one official told CNN.

Trump also reportedly instructed the Justice Department to identify individuals inside the administration who disclosed the information, as he described those responsible as “treasonous.”

On Tuesday, several people familiar with the data regarding US missile stockpiles revealed that America had used up much of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during its five-month war with Iran.

The missiles are principally the Army's surface-to-surface weapons, known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). The US has used “virtually all” of these weapons, according to two of the sources.

The degree to which the military is running out of ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles has not been previously reported.

The long-range munitions, which cost more than $1 million each, are an important part of the military's arsenal, allowing accurate strikes from a safe distance. US-supplied ATACMS have played a key role in the war in Ukraine, allowing Ukrainian forces to attack targets inside Russia. The PrSM is a newer, more advanced generation that will replace the ATACMS, which have a shorter range.

The dramatic rundown in precision, long-range missiles means US President Donald Trump may have to rely more on riskier, piloted bombing missions if he relaunches large-scale attacks on Iran.

The sources declined to say how many of each munition the US had left.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Eleven people were wounded in Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Press Agency reported early Friday morning, citing the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Yemeni terrorist group.

One Yemeni, two Egyptians, and one Pakistani were wounded alongside seven Saudis, the coalition said.

Among the wounded Saudis, one woman and a four-year-old child were counted.

On Tuesday, the Houthis claimed to have struck Najran Airport in response to Saudi drone incursions over Yemen. Saudi Arabia did not comment on the claims at the time.

On Thursday, the Houthis claimed to have struck Saudi troops in the border areas of Al Ruwayk, Al Abr and Al Thaniyah using ballistic missiles and drones. The group said hundreds of Saudi-aligned fighters were killed or wounded, and that military camps, weapons depots and vehicles were destroyed.

The Yemeni government sources, however, noted that 30 of its troops had been killed in attacks on military camps in Yemen's Marib and Hadramout provinces, adding that the death toll could rise.

In recent weeks, the Saudi-Houthi conflict has escalated rapidly, and on Friday, morning, a Saudi official said the country is anticipating attacks from Iran-backed militias in Iraq in coordination with the Houthis. The attack, they said, could target civilian and economic sites including energy infrastructure, ports and airports.

This reveal came about as a result of intelligence from Saudi Arabia, the US, and other countries, the official said. Moreover, Saudi Arabia had observed drone and missile movement, the official noted.

The official added that an attack could be meant to derail diplomatic negotiations, and that the Saudi Arabia remains prepared in the event of a strike.

On July 29, Saudi Arabia said it had struck Iran-backed groups in Iraq following alleged attacks on Saudi oil facilities. The militias vowed to respond in turn.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan are also expected to sign a joint defense agreement on Friday.

The former governor of Mexico’s southern Guerrero state has been arrested for allegedly ordering the destruction of evidence that could have helped shed light on the whereabouts of 43 students who disappeared in 2014, authorities said on Thursday.

Angel Aguirre, who has previously denied wrongdoing, was arrested on charges of obstruction of justice and forced disappearance, Attorney General Ernestina Godoy told reporters.

The case, considered one of the country's worst human-rights atrocities, has been marred by missteps and interference.

International probes have determined that the students from Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College were killed by organized crime members in cahoots with police, while on their way to a protest in Mexico City.

The ​remains of three victims have since been positively ​identified, but the others have yet to be found.

Godoy said new testimony from two people in January and May, one a protected witness, helped establish that Aguirre may have ordered the destruction of evidence related to the night of the students' disappearance in a meeting with senior officials in his administration.

She did not specify when the meeting took place or the details of the evidence.

"An analysis, based on new evidence and in accordance with due process, confirmed the possible involvement of Angel 'N,' former governor of Guerrero, in the destruction of evidence that could have revealed the students' whereabouts," Godoy said. The letter "N" is used as a placeholder for a suspect's last name.

Godoy said that state authorities had initially claimed that security camera footage of the students traveling by bus near government offices in Guerrero did not exist.

However, a witness who had previously kept quiet due to threats came forward this year, she said.

Angela Buitrago, a member of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts, an independent international rights team that has investigated the case, said her team had opened the line of investigation into Aguirre in 2015.

She said the latest information reinforced the team's conclusion that the state was responsible, and had the footage Aguirre reportedly ordered to be destroyed come to light sooner, it could have helped find the students.

"It is a state crime, regardless of whether it was committed by state or federal authorities," she said.

A spokesperson for Enrique Pena Nieto, who was president from 2012 to 2018, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US President Donald Trump said that he is “extremely happy” with the work of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a post to Truth Social on Thursday, disputing a Washington Post report that the two had clashed at Camp David. 

“In actuality, I really believe their fake ‘reporting’ is treasonous!” Trump wrote, calling Hegseth’s work extraordinary, and pointing to the US operation in Venezuela which took down Nicolas Maduro and the US attacks on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure. 

The report, which cited a source as saying that Trump did not know about the extreme munitions shortage that is threatening to limit US military options in Iran, was also rejected by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a post on X/Twitter shortly after it was published on Wednesday. 

"This literally never happened," she wrote.

He also wrote that long-term jail sentences would be sought for those who had made the statements about the US's diminishing stockpile.

White House officials confirmed to CNN that Trump had been aware of any potential problems for months and was not blindsided, but rather was upset that the information had been released to the public while the US is in negotiations with Iran. 

“He has never blamed Pete. This is all about the leakers,” CNN cited one official as saying.

 A Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked near an explosive-laden drone found at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle airport on Tuesday night was carrying a payload of military ammunition, a group of news outlets including Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday.

Forensic experts found that the explosives attached to the drone were of a high military grade, reported the outlets, which also included broadcasters NDR and WDR, citing a confidential police report.

Newspaper Bild, meanwhile, cited unnamed investigators as saying that a technical defect prevented the drone-mounted device from exploding.

Those findings potentially raise the stakes in a widening counterterrorism investigation of the incident at an airport serving as a major cargo and NATO military logistics hub that the German government has designated as critical infrastructure.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said late on Wednesday that the drone incident constituted a hybrid attack and signaled an elevated level of danger.

Dobrindt is due to host his counterparts from the Baltic states, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, among other nations, for a special summit on anti-drone defense in the northern German town of Flensburg at the end of August.

Police in the state of Saxony, where Leipzig/Halle is located, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the media reports of the aircraft's payload. The state's public prosecutors' office could not immediately be reached for comment.

German authorities, meanwhile, said on Thursday they were continuing the search for debris from an unidentified object that damaged another freight jet mid-air near the airport on the same night.

The drone was found close to several Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo airplanes, among the world’s biggest freighters, according to earlier media reports. A Reuters journalist saw police collecting evidence in the vicinity of one of the planes early on Wednesday.

Leipzig/Halle is the main base for NATO’s Strategic Airlift International Solution, known as SALIS, which is helping to deliver equipment to strengthen the defense pact’s eastern flank using a small fleet of Antonov cargo planes.

The cargo jet that struck the unidentified object, meanwhile, had been performing a go-around due to the closure of one of the airport's runways. It was lightly damaged in the collision and eventually landed in Hanover in northern Germany. Flights were suspended and several aircraft, including some operated by German logistics group DHL DHLn.DE, ​were diverted late on Tuesday. A spokesperson for Leipzig/Halle airport, which is also used by companies like Lufthansa Cargo LHAG.DE and Amazon.com AMZN.O, said on Thursday that operations were back to normal and no additional security measures had been implemented.

While German authorities have said the perpetrators of the incidents at the airport had not yet been identified, Roderich Kiesewetter, a lawmaker and a member of the parliamentary intelligence committee, blamed Russia.

The Russian Embassy in Berlin did not respond to an emailed request for comment from Reuters.

Some 100 people died during the massive border rush last week in Spain's Ceuta, the enclave city's leader Juan Jesus Vivas said on Thursday during an EU parliamentary meeting.

Vivas added that between 3,000 and 5,000 migrants were still in Ceuta.

This is a developing story. 

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, the key maritime chokepoints in the Gulf, reduced significantly on Wednesday from the previous day, shipping data showed.

Just two vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz, including a Panama-flagged coal-laden carrier entering the waterway and another commodity Marshall Islands-flagged vessel exiting, shipping data from Kpler showed, down from eight vessels a day earlier.

Roughly 130 to 140 ships would typically transit the waterway before the US-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28, and Iran responded by closing the strait.

In the Bab el-Mandeb, only one commodity vessel, a Bahamas-flagged dry bulk carrier, crossed the strait on Wednesday, Kpler data showed, down from 20 the previous day.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Wednesday they had launched a missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker off the coast of the kingdom's Red Sea port city of Yanbu and another missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden.

There was no confirmation from Saudi Arabia on either incident.

The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea since last month in response to what they described as a Saudi siege on Yemen, an allegation Riyadh has denied.