Iran

• Iranian officials warned that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered a direct attack on Israel in retribution for Israel's assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran (Israel neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for that strike, which is consistent with its policy of staying quiet about military and intelligence operations abroad).
• Israel doesn't mind claiming responsibility for domestic operations, though, and today it confirmed that its July 13 strike on Khan Younis killed the main target, Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif.

• Sudan's Rapid Support Forces tried to assassinate Gen. Abdel Fattah Al Burhan - the head of the government forces it's fighting against - in a drone strike on an army base Al Burhan was visiting in Gebeit, east Sudan.
• At least five people died in the attack, but Al Burhan survived it.

• Pres. Maduro asked his top court - which he has stacked with loyalists - to validate the official election results that show him winning reelection with 51% of the vote.
• Independent tallies suggest he actually lost by more than 30% - even after bullying the opposition with arbitrary arrests and blocking their best candidate, Maria Corina Machado, from running against him.

• Guinea's junta sentenced former military leader Moussa Dadis Camara to 20 years imprisonment for crimes against humanity in connection with his orders to suppress riots at a stadium in the suburbs of Conakry on Sep. 28, 2009.
• His security forces killed at least 156 people and raped at least 109 women that day.
• Some victims' families decried the sentence as too lenient.

• Russia launched a massive wave of drone attacks on Kyiv and across Ukraine yesterday. Ukraine claimed it shot down at least 89 drones.
• Meanwhile, new opinion polls showed that Ukrainians are warming to the idea of negotiating peace with Russia - though a majority still oppose ceding territory to Russia (and Russia will likely oppose any deal requiring it to return occupied territory to Ukraine).

• DRC and Rwanda agreed to a ceasefire in eastern Congo, where Rwanda has been funding and fighting alongside M23 rebels. The truce will take effect at midnight on Aug. 4 - just after the current humanitarian ceasefire ends.

• Sep. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two of his accomplices reached an agreement to plead guilty for 2,796 murders in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
• The news elicited mixed reactions from victims' families: some were pleased to finally have closure, while others would have preferred to see the perpetrators executed.
• In an interesting twist, the men agreed to answer questions from victims' families. Family members have until Sep. 14 to submit their questions to the murderers who killed their relatives, and the addressees will respond to them by the end of the year.