A still from the MintPress News video “The Target” showing a map of the Middle East with arrows and markers indicating military strikes and blockades. Photo: MintPress News.
By Robert Inlakesh – Aug 17, 2026
Yemen’s Ansarallah launches deadly precision strikes on Saudi Arabia’s proxy forces as the blockade on Saudi Ports tightens the noose on an already suffering global oil market. In the latest episode of The Target stream, Mint Press News’ Robert Inlakesh presents the evidence that is being hidden from the public of the damages inflicted on US strategic targets by Iran and how the wider war is rapidly spinning out of control.
US President Donald Trump has been adamant that the Strait of Hormuz is open, issuing statements that run contrary to the reality imposed over the strategic waterway. Iranian missiles and drones have continued to take out tankers that seek to break the blockade with US naval coordination, as the American armed forces have responded by striking a vessel themselves.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has continued to fire ballistic missiles and drones at targets affiliated with US-backed forces in Iraq’s northern Erbil province. Weapons depots, training camps and headquarters for Kurdish-Iranian opposition groups based in Iraqi territory are being subjected to relentless precision strikes.
US Central Command has chosen to ignore many of the strikes altogether, choosing silence over responding to a series of Iranian assaults, as Washington’s promises of opening the Strait of Hormuz as early as last Monday have passed without any result.
Israel, the driving force behind the war of aggression against Iran that began on February 28, has for its part continued its aggression against Gaza and Lebanon, drawing retaliatory fire from Hezbollah. The Israeli media recently covered up an incident in which an Israeli military vehicle was subjected to a drone attack, choosing to escalate their bombing campaign and detonate the remaining civilian homes in the south of the country.
Satellite imagery has also been leaked, revealing the extent of the damage inflicted by Iranian strikes carried out against US military facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Syria during the first 40-days of the war, exposing a series of clear cut cover ups.
Iran Rejects Reports of ‘Ceasefire Extension’ With Washington
In Yemen, the Ansarallah led government’s forces have continued their offensive actions in an attempt to retake strategic areas occupied by Saudi-proxy forces, resulting in clashes that have been erupting near Taiz, Marib and other fronts. In the latest stream we look at how important the developments in Yemen are to the wider regional war and the implications that extend beyond just West Asia.
Newly released footage from the Islamic Resistance Front in Syria, featuring their forces firing unguided rockets towards an Israeli military post in occupied southern Syrian territory. Robert Inlakesh also looks at the rising sectarian tensions in the country and how this could potentially boil over. Where is this all heading and what is the corporate media hiding? These questions and more are addressed in our latest edition of The Target.
Robert Inlakesh
Documentary Filmmaker, Journalist, Writer and Political Analyst. Inlakesh regularly contributes to Al Mayadeen.
