The United Arab Emirates has blamed Iran for firing drones at two tankers operated by a state-owned oil company in the Strait of Hormuz. The attacks, described as acts of piracy, caused no casualties but highlighted the dangers in this critical waterway. The UAE's Foreign Ministry called on Friday the attacks a violation of the United Nations' principles of freedom of navigation. Meanwhile, activists marched through the occupied West Bank to bring food and water to Palestinians under siege by Israeli settlers. In Yemen, the military claimed to have thwarted Houthi attacks amid ongoing fighting. A drone was intercepted over Irbil in Iraq, with no casualties reported.

Ukrainian drones have struck a major refinery deep inside Russia, marking the fourth attack in three days. This is part of Kyiv’s ongoing campaign to disrupt Moscow’s vital oil sector more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The targeted refinery is one of Russia's largest, military officials said Thursday. Ukrainian forces hit the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat complex, causing a fire. The attack follows a blitz on a Russian naval base on the Black Sea coast. A Russian official says another refinery hit by Ukraine earlier this week could take six months to bring back online. Meanwhile, Russia has responded with missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, killing at least four people.

Authorities in Yemen say at least six people were killed when Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired missiles on a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The Transportation Ministry of Yemen’s internationally recognized government said Tuesday the dead included four crew members and two members of the government-allied National Resistance Forces. The deadly vessel strike came amid renewed attacks on government-controlled areas in Yemen, raising concerns that the violence could reignite civil war and further threaten regional shipping routes. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed by Iran, there has been renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait at Yemen’s southern tip.

Officials in Ukraine say Russian aerial attacks killed at least 10 civilians. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Moscow is receiving military help from North Korea, using its ballistic missiles in an attack on Zaporizhzhia that killed seven people. Three more people, including a teenager, died in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Zelenskyy claims Russia is scaling up missile production and recruitment for a new offensive. The Institute for the Study of War says Ukraine's missile defense shortages give Russia an advantage. Meanwhile, Russia intercepted nearly 400 Ukrainian drones overnight. Ukraine says it hit an oil refinery in the city of Orsk in Russia’s Orenburg region near the border with Kazakhstan.

Authorities in Russia's Tatarstan region say a Ukrainian drone strike on the petroleum hub of Nizhnekamsk killed 13 people and wounded 78 others in one of the deadliest attacks of the 4-year-old war. The Ukrainian military said it hit an oil refinery. Ukraine has targeted Russian oil facilities with long-range drones almost daily. The barrage has caused fuel shortages in Russia and unsettled the Russian public. The local press office said the “massive” drone attack Monday morning targeted industrial and civilian facilities in Nizhnekamsk, about 750 miles east of the Ukrainian border. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the drone campaign aims to force Russia to the negotiating table and stop its full-scale invasion.

Ukraine's drone forces could strike seven times more targets in Crimea if Western funding came faster, according to the commander leading Ukraine's drone war. Maj. Robert “Magyar” Brovdi tells The Associated Press that despite the funding delays, Ukraine's summer campaign in Crimea has already damaged rail bridges, oil depots and power infrastructure. The effort aims to make Crimea unusable as a Russian military staging ground for attacks on Ukraine, he says.

Authorities say a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk killed 12 people and wounded 39.