Long War Journal

By Bridget Toomey | July 17, 2026 | Abdulmalik al Houthi, the leader of the Iran-backed Yemeni group, delivering a speech on July 16. (Saba) Three sources told Reuters on July 16 that Iran has instructed Yemen’s Houthis to close the Red Sea to shipping if the US attacks Iran’s power network, which President Donald Trump threatened to do in a July 14 interview.

By Samuel Ben-Ur | July 17, 2026 | “Venezuelan citizens search destroyed buildings in La Guaira, Venezuela,” on June 28. (Lance Corporal Allison White, USMC via DVIDS) Twin earthquakes that struck north-central Venezuela on June 24 have killed at least 4,829 people, injured 16,740, and left approximately 18,000 homeless, according to the Venezuelan government’s count. A US Geological Survey calculated a 44 percent probability that the earthquakes had killed between 10,000 and 100,000 people.

By John Hardie | July 17, 2026 | @JohnH105 A Russian Inokhodets drone carrying a Banderol missile. (VGTRK) Moscow officially acknowledged its new S8000 Banderol air-launched cruise missile for the first time in a state media report published this week. This comes as the missile, designed as a low-cost option for long-range strikes, appears to be seeing growing action in Ukraine.

Iran reportedly tells Houthis to close Bab al Mandeb Strait if US strikes power grid | Reuters reported that Iran’s leaders instructed the Houthis in Yemen to close Bab al Mandeb Strait, the maritime chokepoint at the southern end of the Red Sea, if the United States strikes Iran’s power infrastructure. The Houthis are also focused on an escalatory cycle with Saudi Arabia that began after Iran and the Houthis attempted to re-establish direct flights in early July.

By David Daoud & Bridget Toomey | July 16, 2026 | Iraqi Prime Minster Ali al Zaidi meets US President Trump at the White House on July 14. (Iraq Prime Minister’s Media Office on X) On July 15, Iraq’s Ministry of Finance circulated a banking directive instructing ministries, state entities, and financial institutions to implement recent US Treasury Department sanctions against three Hezbollah-linked individuals and five associated companies.

By Seth Frantzman | July 16, 2026 | @sfrantzman Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi meets US President Donald Trump on July 14, 2026. (Iraq Prime Minister’s Office) Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi met with US President Donald Trump on July 14 as part of his multi-day trip to Washington. It is Zaidi’s first trip to the United States after being sworn in in May 2026.

By Ahmad Sharawi | July 16, 2026 | Members of the Syrian security forces pose with weapons confiscated on July 7.

On July 16, Syrian authorities intercepted a weapons shipment concealed in an Iraqi oil tanker and bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The tanker contained a wide range of sophisticated weapons and components, including first-person-view drones, fiber-optic spools, drone warheads, anti-tank missiles, and cruise-missile components.

By The LWJ Editors | July 15, 2026 | The Iran ceasefire is dead. With the Strait of Hormuz closed and US strikes pounding Iranian military and infrastructure targets, President Trump has reinstated a full naval blockade even as peace talks limp on.

By Seth Frantzman | July 15, 2026 | @sfrantzman Members of the new Syrian People’s Assembly attend its first session in Damascus on July 12, 2026. (Syrian Arab News Agency) Syria convened its new parliament on July 12, the first to meet since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime in December 2024. The new parliament, called the People’s Assembly, met after Syrian President Ahmad al Sharaa appointed the final 70 members of the body on July 1.