Saudi Arabia said three people were injured in the latest attacks on its airports since fighting with Yemen’s Houthi rebels reignited. Meanwhile, Palestinian officials said Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City killed two people, while condemning home demolitions in east Jerusalem and violence in the occupied West Bank.
Israelis are readying to mark the third anniversary of the Palestinian militant Hamas group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack as conflict in the Middle East has spread to include Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
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Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Tuesday. Full coverage is available here.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said airports in the cities of Najran and Jizan were hit on Monday, damaging both facilities and leaving three lightly injured. The statement didn't say who was responsible, but followed an announcement by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels that they fired missiles and drones at the kingdom.
Houthi Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a statement on they had fired toward a third airport on Tuesday. The Associated Press could not confirm whether the Houthis had hit Abha International Airport. Saudi authorities did not immediately comment.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Tuesday it intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis toward Khamis Mushait, a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia that’s home to a major Saudi military base.
The Houthis were fighting Tuesday around Dhubab, a strategic town in Yemen that its internationally recognized government had previously said it had retaken, a senior Yemeni military official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
Saudi Arabia and its allies in Yemen’s government have launched a military campaign to reclaim Houthi-controlled territory near the southern tip of the Red Sea to prevent disruptions to oil being exported out of the region.
___ By Ahmed al Haj in Aden, Yemen.
An outbound tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an “unknown projectile” on Monday, the British military said in a late report Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of casualties or environmental impact.
Even as Iran has lost its near-complete chokehold on the strait, the ongoing risk of Iranian attacks keeps overall ship traffic well below prewar levels.
Two Israeli airstrikes killed two people in Gaza City, health officials at the city’s Shifa Hospital said. Israel's military said it targeted militants in both strikes.
It was the latest deadly attack since a ceasefire nearly a year ago in the Israel-Hamas war triggered by the 2023 attack, when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, most civilians, in southern Israel and abducted 251 others. More than 1,460 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records and is seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll but says women and children make up around half the dead.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that Hamas could attack Israel in a bid to influence the outcome of the country's elections later this month. Netanyahu, who is locked in a tough battle for re-election, did not publicly provide evidence for the claim.
In recent days, Netanyahu's political opponents have pointed to the thwarted FlyDubai cockpit attack as the latest example of his government's failure to manage security threats.
Jaafar Ashtiyeh, a veteran Palestinian photojournalist for Agence France-Presse, said he was filming the olive harvest in the West Bank village of Aqraba when he heard shooting by Israeli settlers. He said they later encircled him, took his camera as he was filming the attack and beat him, causing injuries that required hospitalization.
The Foreign Press Association, which represents international media in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, urged Israel to “investigate why soldiers present in the area did not intervene in this attack against clearly identified journalists.”
The Palestinian Authority said settlers in the area also shot one man in the leg and severely beat two others in the town south of Nablus. Israel’s military did not provide immediate comment.
Israeli authorities tore down a five-story building in east Jerusalem on Tuesday.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attended the demolition and said that Israeli authorities had demolished more than 10,000 structures built without permits over the past year and a half.
Palestinians say procuring construction permits is nearly impossible for them in east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in the 1967 Mideast war and is home to almost 400,000 Palestinians.
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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
