//The Wire//2100Z October 22, 2024//

//ROUTINE//

//BLUF: BRICS SUMMIT BEGINS IN RUSSIA. 911 OUTAGE STRIKES CONNECTICUT//

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-International Events-

Middle East: Israeli strikes in Lebanon continue, along with routine sporadic targeting by Hamas and Hezbollah. All belligerents in this conflict have intensified operations wherever each respective party has a perceived advantage. Hamas continues to target Israeli armor with good effect in Gaza, while Hezbollah continues rocket attacks as before. Israeli strikes in the more urbanized areas of Beirut have continued to increase in size and scope as well, alongside increasing combat operations in the West Bank and in Gaza.

Russia: The 16th annual BRICS summit began today in Kazan, with economic concerns taking a front seat among delegates. AC: So far, nothing groundbreaking has emerged from this year’s summit, however most are awaiting the latest atmospherics regarding how close BRICS is to establishing a universal currency. Previous summits have highlighted discrepancies among nations to abandon their own national currency in favor of a BRICS currency, so this year’s summit could provide some insight on how serious each nation is treating this shared-currency endeavor.

United Kingdom: Controversy continues regarding the release of criminals into British society under the guise of prison overcrowding. Yesterday, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood admitted that most of the people who have been released have been re-arrested, stating “The rates of recall are very high. We have seen a huge increase in the recall population”. Despite this admission, another 1,100 prisoners have been earmarked for early release.

-HomeFront-

Connecticut: This afternoon a state-wide 911 outage was reported. No cause for this outage has been provided, however locals have been requested to text 911 in the event of an emergency while the outage continues.

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Analyst Comments: Despite the significant (and successful) targeting of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leadership over the past few weeks, the war is unlikely to end anytime soon. On the contrary, indications and warnings are growing with regards to a potential Israeli strike on targets in Iran. This has been most strongly indicated by recent unauthorized leaks of highly classified documents that allegedly detail Israeli plans to target Iranian nuclear sites. Normally, the unauthorized disclosure of classified information is not commented on by Pentagon officials, however in this case the White House more-or-less confirmed the document’s authenticity by stating that they are “deeply concerned” about the security breach. In any case, these documents have been cause for extreme concern as most people have largely been unaware of how close this war is to becoming vastly more kinetic than just the trading of missile/drone strikes between two old enemies.

Analyst: S2A1

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