by Brian Shilhavy
Health Impact News
As I reported earlier this week, the Yemen takeover of the Red Sea has changed everything in the Middle East, and things are moving fast now.
CBS News published photos of destroyed U.S. bases in the Middle East yesterday for the first time since the Iran War started, claiming that the photos were sent to them by “active service members on condition of anonymity.”
New photos obtained exclusively by CBS News reveal for the first time the widespread damage and destruction of buildings and vehicles at multiple U.S. positions across the Middle East, as a result of Iranian missile and drone attacks.
The images were sent to CBS News by active service members on condition of anonymity because of rigid media restrictions within the military.
“This is major damage to our bases that hasn’t been communicated to the American public,” one deployed service member told CBS News.
“We’re standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face.”
One photo, taken at Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia, shows a direct hit on the back half of a Boeing E-3 Sentry four-engine aircraft, its tail severed from the charred fuselage that also supported a rotating radar that is essential for collecting midair intelligence.
Similarly grim pictures were captured at Camp Buehring in Kuwait, a major staging area for U.S. Army ground troops, armored vehicles and some aircraft; the post is located in a remote desert region far northwest of Kuwait City.
The Defense Department’s inspector general this week released a fresh report on the war in Iran that revealed “equipment losses” worth up to $3.7 billion — including nearly 60 aircraft.
In a first-of-its-kind mandatory report to Congress, the inspector general added that U.S. Central Command reported Iranian strikes at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.
“These are not ‘squirters’ getting through,” the service member added, referencing language used by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the deadly March 1 attack on Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait that killed six U.S. troops.
“We’re not defending these bases. We’re just watching them get destroyed.”
Full article.
As I write this on September 16, 2026, Saudi Arabia is currently exporting ZERO oil. This is the country with the largest oil company in the world, Aramco, which was started by the United States and today employs tens of thousands of Americans in Saudi Arabia.
There were reports earlier this week that Saudi Arabia’s leader, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), was under house arrest, but he appeared in public yesterday in a state visit to Egypt, dispelling those rumors.
But that doesn’t mean that there is not currently chaos in the Royal Al-Saud family, and even the possibility that the Al-Saud family could be in danger of being able to hold on to its power in Saudi Arabia. The original name of this area was just “Arabia”, and included what is today called “Yemen.”
Here is a short interview with international journalist Pepe Escobar that was published just before MBS appeared in public in Egypt yesterday, explaining how damaging the Yemen takeover of the Red Sea has been to Saudi Arabia.
Here is another good 20-minute interview with Professor Mohammad Marandi from inside Iran, discussing the question: Is Saudi Arabia Heading for Collapse?
Pepe Escobar has also published a couple of articles on the Yemen situation, but as of this writing I have only found one in German, and one in Spanish, but nothing in English yet.
Here are some excerpts from the Spanish and German articles that were translated online.
Yemen Shakes the Gate of Tears
by Pepe Escobar
geoestrategia.eu
Excerpts:
Ansarallah now has the luxury of installing a tollbooth — possibly multi – layered — at Bab al -Mandeb, if they so wish.
No less than 25 years after 9/11, the Angel of History strikes another powerful blow. Five years ago, we witnessed the stunning imperial humiliation in Afghanistan , accomplished in a matter of days.
Now, we are witnessing the stunning humiliation of Saudi Arabia—a vassal of Epstein’s Syndicate—in Yemen, also accomplished in a matter of days. Series of humiliations now follow the Empire like a plague.
The widespread collapse of Saudi mercenary groups in Yemen is happening so rapidly that even Epstein’s Syndicate’s mainstream media has been forced to acknowledge it.
Ansarallah’s “Rolling Storm” is taking cities and islands; capturing thousands of thugs; freeing all prisoners—and granting them amnesty; seizing control of countless American tanks and weapons—a “reissued Afghanistan”; and being hailed as liberators of Yemeni land across the tribal spectrum.
And, of course, Ansarallah has now officially assumed full control of the mega-strategic Bab al-Mandeb, or “Gate of Tears”.
The intelligence that underpinned Ansarallah’s Operation Rolling Thunder—described as the largest mass capture operation in modern warfare—was carefully coordinated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Axis of Resistance was fully aware that, following the devastating Iranian attacks on bases in Jordan, the United States was limited in its ability to assist the Saudis in preventing a Yemeni offensive.
The US Navy had already been effectively driven out of the Red Sea by Yemen’s advanced military capabilities, including hypersonic missiles manufactured entirely domestically.
It seems Riyadh hasn’t learned its lesson.
At the Asian level, Iran’s dual control of the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (through its allies in Ansar Allah) is being staged one day before the opening of the momentous BRICS summit in New Delhi—which is geopolitically linked to the previous Shanghai Group summit (12 days earlier) and the trip of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Egypt (11 days earlier).
During the BRICS summit, the reverberations of the dual control of the Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb straits were felt with the special treatment given by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who also received deferential treatment from Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
In my opinion, Ansar Allah’s hold on the Red Sea will depend, to a large extent, on the results of the BRICS summit in New Delhi —which could play an optimal mediating role between two of its members (Iran and Saudi Arabia)—and on the crucial APEC summit in Shenzhen 67 days later, where the three leaders of China, Russia, and the US are highly likely to meet.
In Shenzhen, quite possibly, a New World Order could be established , following the pattern of a Vienna Congress 2.0, where the US would attend as the ‘loser’ in its two wars, in Ukraine and Iran—more so than a Yalta 2.0, which was about ‘three winners’.
Source.
Pepe Escobar: History in Motion: BRICS, Yemen, Hormuz, China
by Pepe Escobar
Uncut News
Excerpts:
In less than 72 hours, the course of history accelerated due to a confluence of events that would normally unfold over several years.
Following a lightning offensive, the Yemeni Ansarallah movement now controls the entire Red Sea coast from the port of Hodeidah to Bab al-Mandab, including Mayyun Island, a volcanic rock outcrop in the middle of the “Gate of Tears”.
Saudi Arabia’s east-west pipeline –the only bypass around the Strait of Hormuz– has been shut down for at least a month following a combined attack with drones and ballistic missiles.
It remains unclear where the attack actually came from: from Iraq, from Yemen, from both countries, or was it a “false flag” operation?
Diplomatic sources in Moscow and Tehran confirmed that Russia and Iran acted as a coordinated duo in New Delhi and were in complete agreement in their rejection of Washington’s war against Iran and the sanctions architecture.
The now viral photo of Lavrov, Wang Yi and Araghchi standing together like old friends only tells part of the story.
Yemen’s advance on the Red Sea is the maritime half of the same story.
Russia and Iran agreed on three points: condemning the US war, rejecting the sanctions regime as a whole, and resolutely opposing the secondary sanctions associated with US Treasury Secretary Bessent, that despicable former henchman of Soros.
In New Delhi, there were indications that the original RIC (Russia–India–China), as conceived by the late, great Yevgeny Primakov, might be revived – now as RIIC, supplemented by Iran.
Full article.
US set to approve 60,000 heavy bombs for Israel
In spite of the success of Yemen forces to take over the Red Sea and bomb Saudi Arabia’s oil production offline, there is no sign that the U.S. or Israel are close to admitting defeat.
On the contrary, it has been reported this week that the U.S. is preparing to sell 60,000 highly destructive, 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs to Israel in a multibillion-dollar package which will be funded by American taxpayers, a move that is almost unprecedented in modern history.
US set to approve 60,000 heavy bombs for Israel: What that means
by Yashraj Sharma
Aljazeera
Excerpts:
United States President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to sell 60,000 highly destructive, 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs to Israel in a multibillion-dollar package which will be funded by American taxpayers.
US media has reported that the Trump administration has approved the sale, which features some of the most destructive munitions in Western arsenals, and has informally notified Congress.
This is one of the biggest US munition packages to Israel and comes after nearly three years of genocidal war on Gaza, ongoing pogroms by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and a mighty assault on southern Lebanon – which together have killed tens of thousands and displaced millions in the region.
It also comes as the US’s own munitions stockpile has been depleted due to its war on Iran, with the crisis worsened by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Washington is reported to be on track to deliver a munitions package to Israel that is believed to include 60,000 warheads, including 20,000 MK-84s, 20,000 BLU-117s and 20,000 I-2000 Penetrator.
The sale is worth $2.8bn, the majority of which will be paid for by the US’s Foreign Military Financing scheme, wherein Washington pays Israel from its own taxpayers’ funds to buy American-made weapons and military equipment.
Together, 60,000 2,000-pound-class bombs weigh 54,400 tonnes.
That is about the weight of the entire steel skeleton of New York’s Empire State Building. Or seven times the weight of the iron structure of the Eiffel Tower.
Its mass also far exceeds the most infamous single conventional air raid of the 20th century. The March 1945 Tokyo firebombing, which killed more than 80,000 people in one night, used roughly 1,600 tonnes of bombs.
On a broader scale, 54,400 tonnes is nearly the total weight of bombs dropped on Berlin throughout World War II, and also roughly one-third of all bombs that fell on Japan’s home islands.
Full article.
Here are a couple of other stories I am monitoring that were posted on our Telegram Channel.
Drone Strikes Cripple Half of Russia’s Top Diesel Refineries
From OilPrice.com
Excerpts:
Three of Russia’s six largest diesel-producing refineries are now either shut or operating at roughly one-quarter capacity after Ukrainian drone attacks damaged plants that together form the backbone of the country’s fuel system.
The six refineries—Omsk, Kirishi, Taneco, Volgograd, NORSI and Perm—account for roughly half of Russia’s diesel production, according to Reuters calculations based on market data. Kirishi is completely offline. Volgograd and NORSI are running at about 25% of nameplate capacity.
Taneco was struck Sunday. The extent of the damage there was still being assessed Monday.
The attacks have become routine. The International Energy Agency estimates a Russian refinery was successfully struck by a drone once every three days during the first eight months of 2026.
Russia has already restricted exports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to preserve domestic supply. Diesel exports fell below 1 million metric tons in June, according to trader estimates cited by Reuters. Combined diesel and gasoil exports totaled about 1.8 million tons.
A year earlier, Russian refineries were shipping roughly 2.5 million tons of diesel each month, or 3.3 million to 3.4 million tons including lower-quality gasoil. Turkey and Brazil had been taking at least half of available Russian diesel cargoes before Moscow imposed the restrictions.
Those missing barrels are landing in a global diesel market already short on fuel from the Middle East. U.S. diesel prices crossed $6 per gallon last week for the first time, while refining margins have climbed as product inventories shrink.
Full article.
Saudi Pipeline Outage Hits an Oil Market Running Out of Buffers
From OilPrice.com
Excerpts:
The war in Iran that had to be over and won by the United States in about six weeks is now in its seventh month and the oil markets are starting to crack.
Gone are most of the cushions the market had in the early weeks and months of the Middle East conflict.
The oversupply from early this year has disappeared as oil on water was drawn down quickly when the Strait of Hormuz was closed to tanker traffic in March.
Record stock releases led by the International Energy Agency (IEA) depleted strategic inventories in developed economies, including in the United States, where the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) now holds the lowest level of crude oil since the early 1980s.
China, which strategically slashed its crude oil imports by about 4-5 million barrels per day (bpd) in May and June, has started to gradually ramp up purchases, removing a significant demand-side balancing mechanism that had prevented oil prices from spiking to record highs in the spring.
With few buffers left to absorb the six-month-long disruption of oil flows at the Strait of Hormuz, the last thing the market needed was an escalation that put a key non-Hormuz flow valve at risk.
But here we are: the vital East-West oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia, which helped the Kingdom bypass the Strait of Hormuz and export most of its crude oil from the Yanbu port on the Red Sea, is now out of service – possibly for weeks – following drone attacks at the end of last week.
Full article.
This article was written by Human Superior Intelligence (HSI)
See Also:
Understand the Times We are Currently Living Through
The post Saudi Arabia is Exporting ZERO Oil as U.S. Sends Unprecedented Amount of 2,000-pound Bombs to Israel first appeared on Health Impact News.
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