Ansarallah threatens to strike Aramco; Elon Musk pours $276 million into midterms; Russia violated Trump’s “energy ceasefire,” Zelenskyy says

Saudi-led coalition threatens Sana’a oil site strikes; Ansarallah warns it will hit Aramco in retaliation:

• Sana’a: Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Turki Al-Maliki announced plans for a “special operation” in the Ansarallah-held capital, and issued a displacement order near the Yemen Petroleum Company’s central Al-Sabaha station.

  • Any Saudi-led strikes on the capital would be met with a “harsh and painful response” in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Ansarallah military spokesperson Yahya Saree warned. Saree specifically listed the retaliatory targets as: the Dammam headquarters of Aramco, the national petroleum and natural gas company of Saudi Arabia; Khalid Airport in Riyadh; and Aramco’s refinery in Riyadh.

• Taiz: Ansarallah attacks on Taiz reportedly killed five and wounded 17, according to the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms. The attacks reportedly damaged several homes, Al-Safwa Hospital, and Al-Saeed Mosque. Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces reported nine airstrikes targeting Ansarallah positions—five in Dhubab district and four in Al-Misrakh.

  • Shortages of medicine, fuel, and medical supplies threaten approximately 1,110 kidney failure patients and more than 190 intensive care patients, Taiz’s local health office warned.

• Hodeidah: Three airstrikes, including two on Kamaran Island and one in Al-Qanawis district were reported by Ansarallah-run Al Masirah TV, without immediate reports of casualties.

• Saada: Saree claimed the group shot down a Saudi Wing Loong II armed reconnaissance drone while it was conducting “hostile missions.”

Riyadh airport still closed after Ansarallah attacks: Operations are still suspended at Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid International Airport following a series of Ansarallah attacks over the weekend that killed 14 people and injured at least 320. The closure was extended until October 17, affecting nearly 700 flights per day, according to Flightradar24.

• On Saturday, an Ansarallah attack struck a passenger terminal, killing 13 and injuring 309, while a separate projectile hit Terminal 4 on Sunday, killing one and injuring 11 others.

• Qatar Airways, Etihad, IndiGo, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, and Air India have all cancelled flights to Riyadh. Cathay Pacific and Delta have postponed planned Riyadh services until 2027.

Iran offers to mediate Saudi-Ansarallah talks: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi offered to broker talks between Saudi Arabia and Ansarallah, in a call Sunday with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

• Iran was ready to help start a dialogue and reach a political solution, Araghchi reportedly said. He warned that “insisting on a military approach and disregarding a political solution would only further complicate the situation.”

• Riyadh hasn’t publicly responded to the offer. The Saudi Foreign Ministry said the two discussed “the recent escalation in the region and the efforts being made to address it,” and that Araghchi initiated the call.

Netanyahu is reportedly seeking Saudi approval to join war against Ansarallah; Riyadh opposes move: Netanyahu is seeking Saudi approval, through U.S. mediation, for Israel to join the fight against Ansarallah, Haaretz reported, but Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman opposes the move.

• The crown prince fears a domestic backlash if Israel enters the fight, according to Haaretz, while Netanyahu is hoping to strengthen ties with Riyadh and advance normalization. Saudi officials have said normalization depends on a path to a Palestinian state.

• Last month, Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar reported that he had offered “Israel’s services” in a “comprehensive war” against Ansarallah.

Israeli forces storm medical complex in Ramallah, raid prominent rights groups: Israeli forces raided the offices of prominent Palestinian rights groups—the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees—in central Ramallah on Tuesday, and stormed the courtyard of the Palestine Medical Complex.

• Israeli forces confiscated equipment and files and arrested at least one employee from Addameer. Video obtained by Drop Site News shows the employee, who is seen on video being made to kneel outside the building with his hands behind his head in front of an Israeli army vehicle.

• Troops stormed the Palestine Medical Complex, the largest government medical facility in the West Bank, deploying snipers at its entrances and preventing entry or exit.

• Israeli forces shot and critically wounded a Palestinian man and injured a 14-year-old boy during the raids, and injured two journalists covering the raids.

Israeli strike kills Palestinian in Gaza City as four-year-old dies of earlier injuries: One Palestinian was killed and several others wounded Tuesday when an Israeli drone struck a vehicle in the Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City, according to WAFA. Two Palestinians were also wounded by Israeli gunfire in the Al-Amal neighborhood and near Hamad City, north of Khan Younis.

Killed and wounded in Gaza: Over the past 24 hours, six Palestinians were killed—three in new Israeli attacks and three due to wounds sustained in earlier attacks—and seven injured across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. One body was recovered from beneath the rubble.

• The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 is now 74,389 killed, with 175,423 injured. Since October 11, 2025, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,498 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 5,306, while 838 bodies have been recovered.

Israeli forces and settlers attack olive harvesters across the occupied West Bank:

• Ramallah: Dozens of Israeli settlers blocked Palestinians farmers from reaching their olive groves in Turmus Ayya, Ramallah, on Tuesday, WAFA reported, while settlers stole olives in Atara.

• Tulkarm: Armed settlers attacked olive harvesters in Beit Lid, beating and injuring two women, including an elderly woman struck in the head. Settlers also forced farmers from their olive groves in Wadi Al-Jameh and the Ramin plain at gunpoint.

• Nablus: Settlers disguised in Israeli military uniforms assaulted a Palestinian family inside their home in Talfit, leaving several injured. In Beit Imrin, armed settlers forced olive harvesters from their land in the Al-Naqab area.

• Salfit: Israeli forces detained a farmer harvesting olives north of Salfit, fired tear gas toward other farmers, and forced them to leave.

• Hebron: Settlers assaulted olive harvesters in Masafer Yatta, stole crops, damaged farmland and fences, and smashed the windows of a vehicle transporting students to Al-Fakhit school.

  • Israeli forces demolished an agricultural room and water tank and uprooted fruit trees in Khirbet Soba. In Idhna, Israeli forces detained four journalists covering settler attacks on olive harvesters.

Israel demolishes Palestinian homes inside of Israel a day after displacing 300 residents: Israeli authorities demolished homes and agricultural structures made of metal sheeting in the southern part of Rahat in the Naqab on Tuesday, according to Arab48. The homes housed dozens of people. On Monday, Israeli authorities destroyed all homes in the village of Al-Dahiya, north of Rahat, displacing approximately 300 Palestinians of the Abu Wadi family.

Netanyahu orders prosecution of soldiers interviewed in NAZA: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the country’s authorities to uncover the identities of the Israeli soldiers and officers interviewed in the documentary “NAZA” and prosecute them.

• Netanyahu demanded the Israeli attorney general, the military chief of staff, and the head of Shin Bet “act urgently to uncover the identity of all those who are involved or appear in the libel film” and called for “the opening of a criminal investigation and prosecution.”

• The documentary by filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor details Israel’s mass killing of civilians in Gaza. Netanyahu has also said he would seek new laws allowing Israel to strip citizenship from people who “smear” Israeli soldiers as part of a campaign targeting Abraham and Szor.

Trump dismisses reports of Chinese and Russian assistance to Iran: President Donald Trump said Monday he does not believe China or Russia are helping Iran in its war with the United States, dismissing reports they have provided intelligence and military assistance.

• “If they are, it’s at a very low level, but I don’t believe they are at all,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They have too much to lose, and we would know about it, and know about it very fast!”

• CNN reported that Chinese entities supplied satellite imagery of a U.S. base in Jordan before an Iranian attack that killed three American troops in July, as well as allegations that Russia shared intelligence on U.S. warships and aircraft. Moscow and Beijing have denied the reports.

• At a campaign rally, Trump suggested the U.S. may have gone too far in targeting Iran’s leadership, saying Washington is struggling to identify officials with whom to negotiate.

  • “We might have gone too far with the leaders because we don’t know who the hell we’re dealing with any more,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio. “Nobody wants to be the president of Iran,” he claimed.

IMF forecasts economic contraction in Middle East and Central Asia: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected Tuesday that the Middle East and Central Asia economy will shrink by 0.3% in 2026, a sharp downgrade from the 1.9% growth forecast in April, citing prolonged disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

• Kuwait is expected to suffer the steepest contraction at 16.7%, followed by Iraq (16%), Qatar (15.6%), Bahrain (11.3%), Iran (7.6%) and Saudi Arabia (3.3%).

• The region is the only one globally projected to experience contraction this year; global GDP is forecast to expand by 3.1%.

UK PM blames Iran for alleged plot targeting U.S.-used airbase: A suspected plot targeting RAF Fairford, a British airbase used by the U.S. military in its war against Iran, was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday.

• The UK announced sanctions on two Iranian nationals over alleged “hostile activity,” with Burnham pledging further measures.

• Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected the allegations, calling them an “ugly conspiracy” aimed at advancing an anti-Iran campaign and deflecting responsibility for Britain’s role in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. The ministry accused Britain of relying on vague language without presenting evidence.

Attacks on ships near Strait of Hormuz reach highest intensity since war began: Missile and drone attacks on shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz reached their highest intensity since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began seven months ago, according to the Financial Times. Six vessels were attacked on Sunday alone, while 24 ships were hit in the two weeks ending October 11.

• Oil shipments through Hormuz fell to just 2.9 million barrels on October 11, the lowest daily volume this month, according to Kpler.

• The escalation comes amid increased Iranian attacks on vessels transiting through the southern route, as well as U.S. military operations to enforce its naval blockade of Iran.

• On Saturday, a U.S. fighter jet disabled the cargo ship Ocean Molica in the Gulf of Oman for trying to break the U.S. naval blockade of Iran, CENTCOM said.

Israeli warplanes launch airstrikes across southern Lebanon despite ceasefire: Israeli warplanes struck in Wadi Al-Salouqi near the town of Shaqra in Bint Jbeil district on Tuesday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

EU to establish mission to train Lebanese military and security forces: More than ten European Union foreign ministers agreed Monday to establish a new mission in Lebanon to advise and train the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces, with an initial three-year mandate.

• The EU is making an effort to strengthen Lebanese security forces and free up the army to focus on disarming Hezbollah, as part of the framework agreement signed between the Lebanese government and Israel.

13-year-old killed, 24 wounded by unexploded munition: A 13-year-old Israeli student was killed and 24 others wounded Monday when an unexploded cluster submunition detonated during a school hiking trip in the Ramim Ridge area of northern Israel, near the Lebanese border, The Times of Israel reported. Students had found the munition, authorities said, picking it up and potentially placing it in a bag before the explosion.

Ken Paxton celebrated New Year’s in Dubai with two indicted fugitives: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for Senate, rang in 2025 on a Dubai balcony with girlfriend Tracy Duhon and two Americans who left the United States after being indicted on federal health care fraud charges, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

• Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail are accused of embezzling $15 million from a Chicago hospital where Ahmed was the CFO; Ahmed is also implicated in a separate $195 million scheme involving fraudulent COVID-19 tests. He donated $190,000 to Paxton, including $25,000 days after his indictment. Both men have since returned to the U.S. to face charges.

• Paxton also received campaign money from staff or political arms of five organizations with interests in matters his office weighed in on, the Washington Post reported.

• Executives at slot-machine-style game maker Pace-O-Matic, for example, gave more than $100,000 while his office reviewed what counts as gambling. Texas Tech regents chair Cody Campbell gave $247,300 to Paxton’s fundraising committee the day before Paxton threatened the Big 12 with a lawsuit over a disciplined Texas Tech player.

Zohran Mamdani orders first NYPD use-of-force review in a decade: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered the first review of the New York Police Department’s use of force in a decade, alongside reforms including $2.6 million in new funding for the Office of the Inspector General and a system to ensure disciplinary hearings finish before accused officers retire.

• Reported use-of-force incidents tripled from 4,087 in 2016 to 12,348 in 2025 even as shootings and murders hit record lows.

• Mamdani-endorsed congressional candidates Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier have called for disbanding the department’s Strategic Response Group. The group was controversially deployed at protests last week, following ICE’s October 8 shooting of Oscar Belgal in Marble Hill. City Hall said the review was planned before the Marble Hill shooting.

Federal agents raid Ilhan Omar’s D.C. home in immigration probe: Homeland Security Investigations agents searched the Washington home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) before dawn on Monday under a judge-signed warrant tied to an ongoing criminal investigation, the Justice Department said.

• Omar is being targeted based on immigration paperwork filed in 1995 when Omar entered the United States as a 12-year-old refugee from Somalia in 1995. Omar became a U.S. citizen in 2000 when she was 17 years old.

• President Donald Trump told reporters he had “nothing to do with” the search, after weeks of attacks in which he urged her deportation.

• Omar called the raid an attempt to “weaponize law enforcement” against political enemies, and House Democrats condemned the incursion as “deeply disturbing.”

ICE agents ran over fleeing man in Texas, surveillance video shows: An unmarked SUV carrying ICE agents struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez in a west Harris County, Texas, shopping center parking lot on Saturday, as agents pursued another man they were trying to arrest, according to video footage obtained by the local ABC affiliate.

• ICE claimed Parra-Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle, but the footage appears to show the SUV veering through empty parking spaces before hitting him. Parra-Hernandez was hospitalized and was reportedly in stable condition as of Sunday.

Judge orders Trump administration to pull taxpayer-funded promotional ads: U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon in New York on Sunday night ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to cancel any remaining television ads paid for with $20 million in Department of Homeland Security funds. The ads, which began airing in late September, glorify Trump and echo his midterm messaging, with one touting the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Justice Department opens antitrust probe of TV networks over Trump pool blackout: The Justice Department is investigating whether ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News violated antitrust law when they jointly suspended pooled coverage of President Donald Trump last month after he barred CNN from the White House, sending the networks letters on Friday demanding communications about the pool and CNN’s lost access, The New York Times reported.

Trump asks Guilfoyle to resign: The U.S. ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, has been asked to resign from her post amid allegations of improper conduct, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia said Tuesday, according to the AP. President Donald Trump, who appointed Guilfoyle, told reporters on Monday he is “looking at” firing her, saying “we’re not happy,” after businessman Eric Deters alleged she asked him to wire $100,000 to cover her American Express bill in exchange for help with the administration ahead of her 2025 Senate confirmation.

• The Wall Street Journal, which broke the Deters story, also reported that Guilfoyle boasted in audio recordings about Greek businessmen paying for her travel and encouraged foreign governments to do business with one of them.

Shawn Fain wins second term as United Auto Workers president: United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain won reelection with 68% of the vote against five challengers, according to unofficial tallies, with his nearest rival, Vice President Rich Boyer, taking 14%; challenged ballots remain to be counted, and results are not yet certified.

• Fain’s United UAW slate also won the secretary-treasurer and all three vice president posts and will hold every seat on the union’s International Executive Board but one.

• Members interviewed credited the contracts won since the 2023 Stand Up Strike against Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.

• Read more on Fain’s election at Labor Notes, here.

Elon Musk pours $276 million into Republican midterm effort: Elon Musk has given more than $276 million to Republican groups and his own super PAC since July, making him by far the largest known donor of the midterms, according to figures provided to The New York Times ahead of a federal filing deadline on Thursday.

• The total includes $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, one of the largest political donations in American history, which preceded that group’s $149 million ad campaign for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, plus more than $76 million to his America PAC, which has deployed thousands of paid canvassers and spent over a third of its disclosed money on the Texas Senate race.

Pro-AI super PAC network routes millions through Nevada shell companies: Super PACs in the Leading the Future network, which has raised more than $140 million from backers including Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, have paid tens of millions of dollars to four Nevada companies whose listed addresses include a post office box, a mail center and a Staples store, Wired reported on Tuesday, indicating they are shells used to hide strategists and vendors working with the coalition in potential violation of federal law.

Zelenskyy says Russia violated Trump’s “energy ceasefire,” vows to respond if attacks continue: Speaking by video to the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there have already been “Russian violations of the energy ceasefire announced by President Trump” over the weekend, including strikes on several energy facilities, among them a power plant in Kharkiv.

• He said Ukraine was “horribly surprised” and urged the U.S. to “make sure Russians respect it,” adding, “If Russia does not agree to an energy ceasefire, we will respond.”

• Trump announced the truce Sunday, two days after declaring a temporary easing of U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel, which angered European allies and Kyiv. Zelenskyy initially said the announcement was “news to him,” per Axios, and said a ceasefire was needed “in reality, not just on Truth Social.” A day earlier he had said Ukraine would halt attacks on Russian refineries if Moscow stopped hitting Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

• Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said talks on a possible energy ceasefire are ongoing but rejected Zelenskyy’s proposal for a 60-day truce to allow elections, saying “we do not want a ceasefire” but “long-term peace.”

NATO warns of counter-attack if alliance is attacked: U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told the Warsaw Security Forum that “we will block [any] initial attack” on the alliance. He also said NATO’s response would target not only the attacking force but “anything and everything that supports, sustains and controls that force.” The comments come amid Russian threats over access to the Kaliningrad exclave.

At least 139 migrants dead, 84 missing after boat capsizes off Djibouti, IOM says: At least 139 people, including 15 children, died after a boat carrying 305 migrants capsized off Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration said Sunday. The boat was traveling from Djibouti to Yemen when it sank Thursday night or Friday morning. The vessel sank soon after embarking, close to shore, “mainly because it was overcrowded,” said IOM’s chief of mission in Djibouti.

China sanctions Paraguay’s communications minister and Belize’s foreign minister over Taiwan ties: China’s Foreign Ministry announced Monday that it was sanctioning Paraguayan Communications Minister Gustavo Villate and Belizean Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca, citing their participation in “Taiwan separatist activities.” China accused the two officials of “egregious actions and statements” that damage China’s “core interests.”

• Paraguay and Belize are two of Taiwan’s 12 formal diplomatic partners. Chinese sanctions will freeze the ministers’ assets in China, deny their entry visas to Hong Kong and Macau, and bar Chinese organizations and individuals from transactions or cooperation with them.

Dozens of gold miners killed in airstrike near Sudan-Egypt border: Warplanes bombed an open-air gold mine in Sudan’s Red Sea State, about 25 miles from the Egyptian border, on Saturday, killing dozens of workers, according to Sudanese rights groups, graphic video footage and eyewitnesses interviewed by The New York Times. The strikes killed an estimated 72 people, according to the rights group Emergency Lawyers. Two eyewitnesses told the Times that at least 65 were killed and 120 were wounded. The strike hit an area controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces largely untouched by the war.

• Sudanese media and several rights groups blamed Egypt, a staunch ally of Sudan’s army, for the attacks. Video footage appeared to show an unexploded Egyptian NASR 400 bomb, former U.S. Army ordnance technician Trevor Ball told the Times. Egypt’s military spokesman said its forces were fighting the third phase of “a major campaign to combat illegal gold prospecting in the Eastern Desert,” but insisted they acted inside Egypt’s borders.

• Two Egyptian citizens were killed and a third wounded Monday when a gunman opened fire on them south of Khartoum, Egypt’s foreign ministry said. The shooter reportedly belonged to the Joint Force allied with the Sudanese army and opened fire in retaliation.

Cuba denies connection to biodiesel shipments seized in U.S. blockade: Following the U.S.’s seizure of almost $3 million of biodiesel bound for Cuba, a senior Cuban official denied that the state had any links to the shipments. “There was no contract of any kind” with the sanctioned Cuban state energy trader ENETEC, Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy told Reuters on Monday. He added, “No Cuban state-owned company has managed to secure a fuel contract, whether for small or large quantities.”

• As part of its blockade on Cuba, the U.S. has seized 90 shipments of what it calls “illegal” oil bound for the island nation. The U.S. has allowed Cuban companies to import fuel since early this year, but it bars oil shipments to the communist government. “The amount entering the country doesn’t even cover 3% of its fuel needs,” De la O Levy said.

Spanish PM acknowledges Moroccan naval incursion, calls it an “isolated” incident: Moroccan naval vessels entered Spanish waters near Ceuta without permission after the mass-migrant crossing in July, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Monday. “Between ​two neighboring countries, such isolated incidents do occur,” he added. “Those were intense days, but cooperation between the navies remains smooth, regardless of that incident.”

• Sánchez did not mention details reported earlier by El País. At least one frigate and several patrol boats of the Royal Moroccan Navy sailed through Spanish waters without seeking authorization, the Spanish newspaper reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources. A Spanish frigate had to intercept and repel them.

• More than 72,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into Ceuta at the end of July. Most, but not all, of the migrants who crossed into Ceuta were expelled or voluntarily returned to Morocco weeks afterward.

Eritrea and Ethiopia trade accusations of aggression, both appeal to UN for assistance: Eritrea asked UN Security Council for “deterrent measures” against Ethiopia on Saturday, accusing the state of making a “declaration of war” He asked the council to “forcefully condemn Ethiopia’s deplorable declaration of war against Eritrea.” On Friday, Ethiopia told the UN Security Council that Eritrean troops advanced up to 37 miles into Tigray, and that it was prepared to defend itself.

Gunmen kill at least 20 in Nigeria convoy ambush: Gunmen ambushed a convoy of traders traveling under military escort in Zamfara state on Saturday, killing at least 20 people. A local resident who helped retrieve the bodies told Reuters the dead included four soldiers, three policemen, a civil defense corps officer and 12 civilians. A military source also confirmed the attack, saying that 19 people were wounded.

• On Saturday, Nigerian airstrikes in the northeastern state of Borno killed over 40 militants of the Islamic State West Africa Province. A military spokesperson claimed that the group was planning an attack on the military.

Rahul Gandhi leads march to India’s Supreme Court demanding election chief’s resignation; 30,000+ police block the route: Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi led thousands of protesters on a truck-led march toward the Supreme Court in New Delhi on Monday, demanding the resignation of Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

• Drop Site News contributors Biplob Kumar Das and Fatima Khan reported on the Indian government’s crackdown on protesters. “In almost 50 years of being in India, I have never seen such use of force to quell protests,” one demonstrator said. Read the story here.

North Korea test-fires multiple ballistic missiles, one flies over 900 km: South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles Monday, and that one flew more than 900 km.

• The launch comes days after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung oversaw South Korea’s first test-firing of a hypersonic missile on Thursday. Earlier this month, North Korea tested its own hypersonic, intermediate-range missiles.