S2 Underground

//The Wire//2300Z May 04, 2026//
 //ROUTINE//
 //BLUF: VBIED ATTACK CONDUCTED IN OREGON. NAVCENT PUBLISHES TRANSIT PLAN FOR VESSELS IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ, WITH MIXED SUCCESS. IRAN CLAIMS TO TARGET US NAVY "PATROL BOAT" IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ, CENTCOM CLAIMS TO SINK 6X IRANIAN GUNBOATS IN GULF. VEHICLE RAMMING ATTACK REPORTED IN GERMANY.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

 
 -International Events-

Strait of Hormuz: Major developments have taken place in the Strait over the weekend. Last night, President Trump announced the creation of "Project Freedom", a plan to allegedly "guide" third-party commercial ships out of the Persian Gulf, so as to at least get non-affiliated ships out of the combat zone for humanitarian reasons. Today, the details of the plan became more clear, and it also became clear that the Iranians did not agree with this plan, nor were they notified ahead of time. Early this morning, the United States revealed that the plan was actually the publishing of an alternate traffic scheme for merchant vessels to transit the Strait using Omani territorial waters. Immediately after this plan was published, two merchant vessels made the crossing attempt, both of which were either struck with Iranian cruise missiles or drones. Later on, a third vessel was reportedly on fire in the Strait, though the cause of the fire is not yet known. Following this incident, the IRGCN released a new map of the Strait, with two no-go barriers depicted to the east and west, further stressing that the Strait is closed. At some point throughout the day, the United States has claimed that two unidentified vessels were able to make it out of the Gulf, though the names of these vessels have not been released yet.

Separately, kinetic targeting between the United States and Iran appears to have resumed on the high seas. After the United States announced the implementation of Project Freedom, US Forces conducted kinetic strikes on 6x Iranian gunboats patrolling either the Strait of Hormuz, or the Persian Gulf itself.

On the Iranian side, the IRGCN have claimed to have targeted what they describe as an American Patrol Boat with two cruise missiles during the earlier strikes on merchant vessels. The Iranians claim that these missiles were not targeting the vessel, but were serving as warning shots to prevent the US vessel from proceeding further.

Analyst Comment: Due to the linguistic and cultural barrier, all Middle Eastern nations tend to use doctrinally incorrect terminology when referring to American warships. In this case, "patrol boat" might not refer to an actual Riverine Command Boat (RCB), but might refer to a Destroyer (DDG) or maybe a Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). CENTCOM issued a carefully worded statement confirming that a ship had not been hit, but did not address the claims directly. On the other hand, the Iranians have been known to make outlandish claims regarding the targeting of American warships, so it's equally possible that the Iranians tried to sink the vessel, then claimed that the missiles were "warning shots", so as to save face from successful interceptions. However, last night the sky over Hormuz was filled with munitions, and multiple hulls are burning in the Strait as of this morning, so out of all of the prior claims made by the Iranians, this one is the most plausible situation where the Iranians might have actually come close to hitting an American vessel.

United Arab Emirates: After this morning's scuffle in the Strait, four Iranian drones/cruise missiles were reported in Fujairah, as Iranian forces targeted the large oil refinery complex which has been used to circumvent the need for merchant tankers to transit the Strait. The UAE indicated that three of these munitions were intercepted, but one made it through to it's target, with several large fires being reported at the refinery this afternoon. In response to these attacks, the UAE has begun to re

Research Notes/Bibliography can be found here: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground 

Common Intelligence Picture: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=204a59b01f4443cd96718796fd102c00 

Border Crisis Map: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=7f13eda1f301431e98a7ac0393b0e6b0 

TOC Dashboard: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/ebe374c40c1a4231a06075155b0e8cb9/ 

00:00 - Global Strategic Concerns 

00:51 - Mali 

02:21 - The Homefront 

05:48 - The YooKay 

09:55 - Tactical Limbo 

16:56 - GhostNet Reports 

Download the GhostNet plan here! https://github.com/s2underground/GhostNet 

The text version of the Wire can be found on Twitter: https://twitter.com/s2_underground 

And on our Wire Telegram page here: https://t.me/S2undergroundWire 

If you would like to support us, we're on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=30479515 

Disclaimer: No company sponsored this video. In fact, we have ZERO sponsors. We are funded 100% by you, the viewer. All of our funding comes from direct support from platforms like Patreon, or from ad revenue on YouTube. Without your support, I simply could not do this work at all, so to those of you who chose to support my efforts, I am eternally thankful.

Odysee: https://odysee.com/@S2Underground:7 

Gab: https://gab.com/S2underground Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/

S2Underground BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/P2NMGFdt3gf3/ 

Just a few reminders for everyone who's just become aware of us, in order to keep these briefings from being several hours long, I can't cover everything. I'm probably covering 1% of the world events when we conduct these briefings, so please remember that if I left it out, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's unimportant. Also, remember that I do these briefings quite often, so I might have covered an issue previously that you might not see if you are only watching our most recent videos. I'm also doing this in my spare time, so again I fully admit that these briefings aren't even close to being perfect; I'm going for a healthy blend of speed and quality. If I were to wait and only post a brief when it's "perfect" I would never post anything at all. So expect some minor errors here and there. If there is a major error or correction that needs to be made, I will post it here in the description, and verbally address it in the next briefing. Also, thanks for reading this far. It is always surprising the number of people that don't actually read the description box to find more information. This content is purely educational and does not advocate for violating any laws. Do not violate any laws or regulations. This is not legal advice. Consult with your attorney. 

Our Reading List! https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/133747963-s2-actual 

The War Kitchen Channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmtpjXT22tAWGIlg_xDDPA 

//The Wire//2300Z May 01, 2026//
 //ROUTINE//
 //BLUF: MASS STABBING REPORTED AT SCHOOL IN TACOMA. FUEL CRISIS DEEPENS AS WAR IN PERSIAN GULF CONTINUES. PIRACY ACTIVITY CONTINUES IN MIDDLE EAST. MAY DAY PROTESTS CAUSE DISRUPTIONS THROUGHOUT UNITED STATES.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

 
 -International Events-

Red Sea/HOA: This morning piracy activity continued, with one containership reporting a suspicious approach in the Gulf of Aden. No successful boarding was reported, however this is the first reported piracy attempt to take place in the Gulf of Aden since the war in the Persian Gulf started.

-HomeFront-

Washington: Yesterday afternoon a mass stabbing was reported at Foss High School in Tacoma. 6x individuals were wounded after one student conducted a stabbing attack at the school.

Analyst Comment: Local authorities have been extremely tight-lipped regarding the cause of this attack. It's not clear as to if this is a standard gang-fight-turned-stabbing, or if this was a more deliberate terror attack.

Washington D.C. - This afternoon the White House sent a letter to Congress stating that hostilities against Iran have "terminated" and therefore the obligations of the War Powers Resolution are not relevant to the current conflict.

Analyst Comment: Regarding this Resolution, under most common interpretations of the law, a President has 60 days to either ask Congress to declare war, or request an extension of an overseas conflict. This 60-day deadline came into effect yesterday, and this afternoon the White House has taken the official position that due to the ceasefire, no Congressional action is required, even if the Strait of Hormuz is closed and no peace agreement is signed. This doesn't mean much, as hostilities can recommence at any moment, and this is mostly a way of the White House skirting Congress by arguing that if the war is paused for a period of time, the clock restarts.

USA: Around the nation, various May Day protests were carried out in most major cities with varying levels of attendance. Most of the demonstrations were fairly low intensity, with the most kinetic events taking place at the New York Stock Exchange as activists attempted to rush the entrance and chain themselves to something. They did not succeed and most of the more active riots/demonstrations throughout the country resolved after a few sporadic scuffles.

Analyst Comment: As of this report demonstrations are still ongoing, so more active incidents could develop as night falls. This afternoon, at least one activist has climbed the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in Washington D.C. and set up a tent, so other similar encampment operations may be planned for the weekend in various high-profile locations around the country.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: Around the world, the fuel crisis continues to compound, with costs rising substantially for some industries. Due to the rising costs of aviation fuel, Japan Airlines and Japan Transocean Air have instituted a flat-rate $350 surcharge on ALL tickets for flights from Japan to most of the the world. This measure was intended only for the month of June, but has been extended to go into effect today, for the month of May. So far, Europe has been hit the hardest by the fuel crisis, with prices and sheer availability itself being a challenge throughout the continent, which has also manifested itself even more unusually due to the lack of a centralized way to determine how much time is left before fuel runs out. Two days ago, one energy official was quoted in a Politico article, stating that by and large, Europe doesn't actually know how much time they have left, because there's no real way to know how much fuel is being stockpiled by the dozens of nations throughout the continent. Some places may run out within days, other nations and regions might never run out, it's impossible to know

//The Wire//2300Z April 30, 2026//
 //ROUTINE//
 //BLUF: TERRORISM CONCERNS REMAIN IN UNITED KINGDOM. UKRAINIAN TARGETING OF RUSSIAN OIL INFRASTRUCTURE CONTINUES. OIL MARKET REMAINS VOLATILE AS GULF WAR REMAINS STAGNANT.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

 
 -International Events-

Lebanon: The ceasefire has mostly collapsed, with fighting resuming between Hezbollah and the IDF. Several FPV drone strikes have targeted Israeli armor in the border regions of Lebanon over the past few days, and Israeli forces continue to mandate the evacuation of the newly created "buffer zone" south of the Litani River.

United Kingdom: Counterterrorism policing operations have continued in the wake of the Golders Green attack yesterday, with authorities confirming that the suspect who conducted the stabbing is of Somali origin. The individual has been identified as Essa Suleiman, an individual who had previously been arrested for stabbing two police officers back in 2008. After this incident, he was incarcerated and a flagged as a potential terrorist threat under the Prevent program in 2020. At some point he was released and/or escaped the mental institution he was confined to, before conducting the stabbing yesterday. This morning, the national terrorism threat level was raised to SEVERE, meaning that further terror attacks are highly likely.

Russia: Ukrainian targeting efforts throughout the nation have increased over the past few weeks, as Ukrainian forces pivot to targeting Russian oil terminals and refineries. The Lukoil petroleum refinery in Perm was hit overnight, along with the Tuapse Refinery on the Black Sea coast.

Analyst Comment: This pivot to targeting Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricant (POL) facilities began in earnest last October, after a prolonged period of stagnation along the various front lines. As the war has been going on for a long time now, these targeting efforts received little attention outside the various communities observing the war. From Ukraine's perspective, these targeting efforts are perfectly reasonable, but for the rest of the world, the timing of this is going to cause an already tenuous oil market to increasingly be threatened. With the Middle East oil markets severely stifled by the Gulf War, the footnote that Russia is one of the largest producers of energy in the world has become a rather important detail. Russian oil refineries being blown up by the Ukrainians, while President Trump has alluded to the war continuing for some time, is almost certain to have follow-on effects which will (in the short term) drive up costs for nearly everything.

-HomeFront-

New York: This morning an explosion was reported at a residence in Queens. The incident began after one suspect (who has been identified as Anrup Parasram) attempted to break in to the residence, where his wife was living. A domestic disturbance developed, which involved the suspect attempting to conduct a stabbing attack. As authorities arrived on scene, the suspect barricaded himself inside the structure, before setting the house (and himself) on fire. A few moments later, the house exploded, possibly due to the suspect filling the home with natural gas. So far only minor injuries have been reported among responders, and the suspect remains "unaccounted for" per the FDNY.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: Yesterday Brent crude futures briefly jumped to $120/bbl upon the news of the strategic situation regarding the war in the Middle East. In addition to the UAE announcing their departure from OPEC, diplomatic efforts to end the war are stagnant at best and President Trump has indicated that the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will be in place on more of a long-term basis. Yesterday, a post was made on President Trump's Truth Social account referencing a "nonnuclear deal". Though the meaning of this is not perfectly clear (and thus can be interpreted in any numbe

//The Wire//2300Z April 29, 2026//
 //ROUTINE//
 //BLUF: CONFLICT INTENSIFIES IN MALI. STABBING ATTACK STRIKES LONDON. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DECIDE TO LEAVE OPEC.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

 
 -International Events-

Middle East: Yesterday the United Arab Emirates announced their intention to withdraw from OPEC, the organization of Oil Producing and Exporting Countries which are responsible for the coordination of oil production throughout the region.

Analyst Comment: This is an important development that might be an early indicator of much more serious changes within the petroleum sector. Most of the major oil refineries in the UAE getting smoked by the Iranians was probably the driving factor behind this decision, or rather the last straw for the Emirates, who has been increasingly annoyed with OPEC's quota system over the years. However, since many other nations also saw catastrophic damage to their main source of national income, it is possible that a free-for-all situation might develop over time, whereby OPEC's stability is called into question. In short, the already volatile oil market is likely to stay insane for quite a while.

Africa: The situation remains tense in Mali, as multiple different conflicts begin to come to a head. A few days ago, several separate attacks throughout the nation morphed into becoming a larger-scale uprising. Two groups, JNIM and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) coordinated to launch major attacks throughout the country, mostly focusing on the capital of Bamako, as well as major military bases in Kati and other major cities. During the attacks, Mali's Defense Minister was killed during an alleged Vehicle-Borne IED attack on his home. Due to the deteriorating security situation, most European nations and the U.S. have recommended either leaving the country as soon as possible or sheltering in place if it's too late to leave.

United Kingdom: Two incidents have taken place in Golders Green over the past 24 hours. Yesterday a suspected arson incident was reported at a memorial wall set up for Iranians killed during the war. Separately, a stabbing attack was reported this morning in the same area, which involved a man approaching a bus stop and stabbing people on the street. The man was detained by a Shomrim foot patrol in the area, and a total of two people were wounded during this attack. Hours after the incident, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI) claimed credit for the attack.

Separately, a large-scale police raid was conducted at Webb House in Crewe. This former orphanage had been turned into a migrant hotel, before eventually serving as the headquarters for a new religion, the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light. Over 500 police officers raided the compound this morning, in conjunction with investigations which indicated that this facility was serving as a large-scale human trafficking center, as well as clearing house for slaves, who were reportedly being bought and sold at the facility.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: The source material for what's going on in Mali is nearly entirely Russian, as this is Russia's expeditionary fight to protect their interests in the region. However, quite significant events are underway in the Sahel, and the fighting has been widespread over the past few days. For context, after the French and Americans began leaving Mali (or reducing their roles) Russia and China stepped in to control the power vacuum. Nevertheless, the security situation deteriorated anyway, and now al-Qaeda is roaring back to power via splinter groups which have attracted tens of thousands of fighters. The Russian Africa Corp is saying that 12,000 fighters took part in the various attacks throughout the country, but this figure cannot be verified for obvious reasons. Either way, the situation is very hot throughout Mali, and the conflict is likely to intensify if one side gets the upp

//The Wire//2300Z April 28, 2026//
 //ROUTINE//
 //BLUF: WAR IN LEBANON CONTINUES DESPITE CEASEFIRE. PIRACY ACTIVITY COMPLICATES MERCHANT TRAFFIC IN THE GULF OF ADEN, THREAT LEVEL ELEVATED. SOMALI DAYCARES RAIDED IN MINNEAPOLIS.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

 
 -International Events-

Lebanon: The war continues as before, with Hezbollah conducting FPV drone strikes on Israeli armor, which are continuing their clearance operations in southern Lebanon.

Analyst Comment: The ceasefire between these two belligerents being such a sticking point with the Iranian talks has not really resulted in a cessation of the war. At best, the Israelis have slowed down the bombing within downtown Beirut, but otherwise this war continues on.

Red Sea/HOA: As the tenuous situation continues in the Persian Gulf, the Somalis have begun to increase hijacking attempts targeting commercial vessels in the vicinity of the Gulf of Aden. Last week, Somali pirates boarded and hijacked an unidentified tanker vessel, directing the vessel to Somalia's territorial waters. Overnight, another hijacking was reported as the M/V SWARD was hijacked in a similar manner, with the vessel being taken to the pirate strongholds along the eastern coast of the country. After these two hijacking incidents, another piracy attempt was reported today, to the east, farther off the coast. Separately, a local Somali fishing boat was hijacked by Somali pirates last week, and an attempted boarding was reported in the same area.

Analyst Comment: Piracy activity in the Gulf of Aden has been a mainstay for decades. However, now that many shipping routes are skewed due to the Gulf War, piracy activity has increased over the past few weeks. Two successful hijackings and several other attempted hijacking operations taking place within just a few days is noteworthy, especially for the companies attempting to adjust to the radical changes to maritime shipping brought on by the war. As a result the UKMTO has elevated the threat to SUBSTANTIAL for the Somali Basin and the Somali Coast.

-HomeFront-

Minnesota: This morning the FBI conducted raids at several Somali daycare facilities in Minneapolis, many of which were at the center of previous fraud scandals. The Quality Learing Center was among the list of sites where evidence was collected, and around a dozen facilities in total were the target of the raids. The city of Minneapolis was not a part of the raid, and went out of their way to distance themselves from the federal investigations into these facilities.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: Not many details have emerged regarding the Washington Hilton assassination attempt, beyond what was immediately published the day of the shooting. The shooter's home in Torrance, California was raided on Sunday, but no disclosures have been made regarding whether or not anything was found. One of the major intelligence gaps (at least in the public sphere) is whether or not the suspect was communicating with anyone else before the attack. Some indications are present that he was talking to family members (who knew he possessed violent intent), but it is not known if the suspect was coordinating or communicating with anyone online, specifically to plan the attack. Most of the high-profile targeting efforts observed over the past few years (not just the Trump assassination attempts, but the Kirk assassination and the sniper attacks on ICE facilities) have involved the shooters having an extensive online presence, which in most cases indicated some level of communication with others. In this case, Allen survived the attack, so his testimony is at least available, and more time will be needed to determine if anyone else was involved in the planning phases of the attack.

Analyst: S2A1
 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground

//The Wire//2300Z April 27, 2026//
 //ROUTINE//
 //BLUF: MORE DETAILS COME TO LIGHT REGARDING LATEST PRESIDENTIAL ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN WASHINGTON. IRANIAN DIPLOMATS MEET WITH RUSSIA REGARDING GULF WAR. IED ATTACKS CONTINUE IN NORTHERN IRELAND.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

 
 -International Events-

Russia: This morning Foreign Minister Araghchi arrived in Moscow for talks with President Putin, which are aimed at strengthening the ties between Iran and Russia during the war. This follows the United States calling off the latest round of negotiations, with no firm date for the resumption of talks with Iran.

Analyst Comment: This meeting, at this moment, is a big deal. Up until this point, Russia has not actively participated in the war, beyond the fairly standard statements made urging a settlement to the conflict. Most of Russia's comments have focused on the economics of the war, and how this conflict can help them in the long term. Putin directly meeting with Araghchi is a strong diplomatic move that will both strengthen Iran's standing internationally, but also make it much harder for the United States to retain power-projection. The United States calling off negotiations, and Iranian diplomats showing up in Moscow is not an insignificant development in the world of international diplomacy.

Northern Ireland: As civil unrest has been brewing for the past few months (being compounded by fuel shortages over the past few weeks), another carbombing was reported overnight outside the police station in Dunmurry, just south of Belfast. No one was injured during the attack, however a police officer was almost killed when the IED was detonated.

Analyst Comment: This was a no-kidding carbomb, of the type traditional to the region. Local police state that this is possibly the work of a group calling themselves the "New IRA", which is attempting to utilize the tactics of the PIRA from the era of The Troubles. Some warning was given in advance of the detonation, as police officers were attempting to evacuate the area when the blast occurred, and the official press release by authorities stated that a delivery driver was carjacked and forced to deliver the IED to the police station. This is the second similar incident in as many months, with a nearly identical carbombing taking place in Lurgan last month.

-HomeFront-

Washington D.C. - More details have come to light regarding the shooting at the Washington Hilton Hotel on Saturday. The shooter has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, who had released a manifesto regarding the attack, which was intended to be an assassination attempt targeting President Trump. His main attack vector took the form of rushing through a Secret Service checkpoint with a shotgun and handgun, before he was engaged. Despite initial reports, the suspect was not killed at the scene, and photos of the aftermath indicate that he might not have been hit at all. A total of 5-8 rounds were fired during the entire engagement, though who fired which rounds remains unclear. One Secret Service agent was shot in the vest at some point during the fray, allegedly by the suspect.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: In the wake of the attempted assassination of President Trump, many are questioning how this could have happened again. Not only was this the third attempt on President Trump's life (or the fourth attempt if we count the indictment of Asif Merchant as a proper attempt), but this is the exact same location where Ronald Reagan was also shot during his own assassination attempt in 1981. John Hinkley Jr. shot President Reagan about 30 yards from where Allen conducted his attack.

In our present day, the President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, most of the Cabinet, and many other high-ranking officials were in attendance, despite the palpably high threat posture that has remained constant in the wake of the

//The Wire//0120Z April 26, 2026//
 //PRIORITY//
 //BLUF: SHOOTING REPORTED AT WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT'S DINNER. ONE SHOOTER REPORTEDLY NEUTRALIZED BY SECRET SERVICE.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

-HomeFront-

Washington D.C. - This evening shots were fired at the Washington Hilton Hotel, during the annual White House Correspondent's Dinner. Initial reports by law enforcement on scene indicated one shooter was neutralized by Secret Service agents after attempting to gain entry to the facility through the hotel lobby. President Trump and other high ranking attendees have been evacuated from the facility in accordance with protocol. The hotel remains on lockdown while a sweep of the facility is being carried out.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: As this incident is currently developing, the dynamic nature of the incident results in nothing being confirmed at the moment. The only detail that is confirmed are the many gunshots that were audible on the cameras that were covering the event. No word yet on the shooter's identity. More details to follow as the situation develops.

Analyst: S2A1
 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report.
//END REPORT//

Research Notes/Bibliography can be found here: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground 

Common Intelligence Picture: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=204a59b01f4443cd96718796fd102c00 

Border Crisis Map: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=7f13eda1f301431e98a7ac0393b0e6b0 

TOC Dashboard: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/ebe374c40c1a4231a06075155b0e8cb9/ 

00:00 - The Shadow War 

02:50 - The Surge 

05:56 - Funny Money 

09:06 - Not Going Back 

14:08 - GhostNet Reports 

Download the GhostNet plan here! https://github.com/s2underground/GhostNet 

The text version of the Wire can be found on Twitter: https://twitter.com/s2_underground 

And on our Wire Telegram page here: https://t.me/S2undergroundWire 

If you would like to support us, we're on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=30479515 

Disclaimer: No company sponsored this video. In fact, we have ZERO sponsors. We are funded 100% by you, the viewer. All of our funding comes from direct support from platforms like Patreon, or from ad revenue on YouTube. Without your support, I simply could not do this work at all, so to those of you who chose to support my efforts, I am eternally thankful. 

Odysee: https://odysee.com/@S2Underground:7 

Gab: https://gab.com/S2underground Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/

S2Underground BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/P2NMGFdt3gf3/ 

Just a few reminders for everyone who's just become aware of us, in order to keep these briefings from being several hours long, I can't cover everything. I'm probably covering 1% of the world events when we conduct these briefings, so please remember that if I left it out, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's unimportant. Also, remember that I do these briefings quite often, so I might have covered an issue previously that you might not see if you are only watching our most recent videos. I'm also doing this in my spare time, so again I fully admit that these briefings aren't even close to being perfect; I'm going for a healthy blend of speed and quality. If I were to wait and only post a brief when it's "perfect" I would never post anything at all. So expect some minor errors here and there. If there is a major error or correction that needs to be made, I will post it here in the description, and verbally address it in the next briefing. Also, thanks for reading this far. It is always surprising the number of people that don't actually read the description box to find more information. This content is purely educational and does not advocate for violating any laws. Do not violate any laws or regulations. This is not legal advice. Consult with your attorney. 

Our Reading List! https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/133747963-s2-actual The War Kitchen Channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmtpjXT22tAWGIlg_xDDPA 

//The Wire//2300Z April 24, 2026//
 //ROUTINE//
 //BLUF: BUILDUP OF AMERICAN FORCES IN MIDDLE EAST REACHES RECORD LEVELS. KUWAITI BORDER CHECKPOINTS HIT BY FPV DRONES. ARREST MADE REGARDING MOLOTOV ATTACK IN LOUISIANA.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

 
 -International Events-

Middle East: Overnight Kuwaiti forces reported two FPV drone strikes on border crossing checkpoints with Iraq. No casualties were reported as a result of the attack.

Analyst Comment: The statement provided by the Kuwaiti Army did not specifically disclose which border crossings were targeted, however there are only two crossing points in total: one main crossing on the northern border, and a smaller outpost on the western border. The interesting detail in the notice is the disclosure that these attacks were conducted by fiber-optically-guided FPV drones, and both of these sites were too far away from each other for these attacks to have been conducted by the same team.

-HomeFront-

Louisiana: This morning one individual was arrested following the firebombing of a Tesla Service Center two weeks ago. John Michael Hinkhouse was arrested for throwing a Molotov device at the entrance to the facility, which resulted in fire damaging the front of the building. Hinkhouse was located after security cameras tracked him back to his residence after the attack.

Washington D.C. - Two incidents involving city busses have taken place over the past 24 hours. Yesterday, a bus caught fire in the 9th Street Tunnel, resulting in the tunnel being shut down for many hours. The cause of the fire remains unknown. This morning, two city busses collided with each other head-on in the Pentagon's south parking lot, resulting in a total of 23x people being injured.

Analyst Comment: Currently there are no indications that either incident was nefarious in any way, however it's worth paying attention to during periods of heightened terrorism risk, just in case other incidents pop up later.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: Concerning strategic movement in the Middle East, American cargo flights continue unabated, along with the forward deployment of even more fighter aircraft. Last night another squadron of F/A-18's arrived at Al Dhafra Airbase in the UAE, and the USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH (CVN 77) arrived in the Indian Ocean following her long journey around Africa. Another Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB), the USS MIGUEL KIETH (ESB 5) is also projected to be approaching the operational area, after having transited the Strait of Malacca and should be arriving on station soon (though it is not clear as to if she is expected to take part in this operation).

This brings a total of 3x aircraft carriers, 2x Expeditionary Sea Bases, and 1x amphibious assault ship (a total of 6 "flat tops") for whatever operations are planned. Of note, CENTCOM has provided press materials that imply that the BUSH is not replacing the LINCOLN or the damaged FORD but will serve independently as a third strike group throughout the region. This buildup has become even more substantial than the 4+ months of lead-up to this war breaking out, with even more naval assets being transferred from the Pacific to supplement the forces already in theater. As a reminder, at least one Brigade Combat Team (BCT) from the 82nd Airborne is still in the region. Considering all of these developments, the grand question remains: Does the US plan to reignite the war? This remains an unknown, and it's impossible to know what secret decisions have been made at the upper echelons of government. What is certain, is that a large-scale rearmament and resupply operation has been ongoing since the ceasefire went into effect, and enough resources are on station to conduct large scale operations if that is the chosen course of action. Not only is the war not over, but there are now vastly more resources i