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Israel Faces Dual Attacks as Houthis and Hamas Target Major Cities, IDF Expands Ground Operations in Gaza
A Houthi fighter mans a machine gun mounted on a truck during a parade for people who attended Houthi military training as part of a mobilization campaign, in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Millions of Israelis scrambled for shelter overnight as Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen launched a ballistic missile at Israel, setting off air-raid sirens across the center of the country and the Jerusalem area, and was followed hours later by a Hamas rocket barrage targeting Tel Aviv on Thursday afternoon.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported intercepting the missile from Yemen before it entered Israeli airspace, while the Iron Dome intercepted a further three missiles from Hamas later on, triggering sirens throughout the metropolitan area. While there were no reported casualties, shrapnel from intercepted rockets was found in Rishon Lezion. The rocket fire came as the IDF expanded its ground operations in Gaza, warning Palestinian civilians to avoid the Netzarim Corridor, a strategic seven-kilometer road that bisects the enclave.
The United States has urged Israel not to respond directly to the Houthi missile strike, according to a Hebrew-language Ynet report citing an Israeli official. US forces already carried out airstrikes against the Houthis — who have targeted American and Israeli ships in the Red Sea and disrupted global shipping through the critical trade route — in recent days and told Israel to “allow them to handle the situation,” the report said.
Eitan Shamir, a security expert, noted that, regardless, it would not be wise — and neither within its capabilities — for Israel to secure the Red Sea without help.
“Achieving this objective cannot be accomplished by Israel alone and will require the involvement of the international community,” he told The Algemeiner. “The Israeli Navy lacks the capabilities to secure Israeli shipping in the southern Red Sea independently. Politically, it is also undesirable for Israel to take on the responsibility of addressing a problem that is internationally recognized, particularly since Israel is often accused of causing it due to its attacks on Gaza.”
Nevertheless, Shamir added, Israel’s “goal for ending the conflict is to ensure complete freedom of navigation to and from its waters.”
Shamir, who is the director of Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, also underscored recent US State Department decisions against the Houthis, including reinstating its foreign terrorist designation and its $15 million reward for information on its financing. Still, he said, “the impact of these actions on the Houthis’ blockade in the southern part of the Red Sea is currently unclear.”
Shamir highlighted reports suggesting that China was providing financial protection to the Houthis to ensure its own ships remain unharmed.
The expansion of Iranian activities into the Mediterranean Sea has raised further concerns. Shamir highlighted the likelihood that Israel’s navy will need to increase its operational presence in both the Red Sea and Mediterranean, potentially requiring additional vessels to secure shipping lanes. Cooperation with the US Fifth Fleet and allied naval forces will remain crucial to maintaining stability in these waterways, he said.
Shamir warned against unilateral action, saying, “It is not in Israel’s best interest to act unilaterally to deter the Houthis.” Instead, he urged Israel to let the US take the lead, including pressuring Iran, which “undoubtedly has influence over the Houthis, to stop the attacks on Israel.”
Meanwhile, the IDF targeted key Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist operatives. Among those eliminated was Rashid Jahjouh, head of Hamas’s General Security Apparatus, who was responsible for maintaining internal security and intelligence operations, identifying and targeting “collaborators” and spreading propaganda. Also killed was Ayman Etsilah, a senior Hamas security official in Khan Yunis, and Ismail Abd al-Aal, a high-ranking figure in Islamic Jihad’s weapons smuggling network.
The IDF and Shin Bet confirmed that these operations were part of broader efforts to dismantle the leadership and infrastructure of terrorist groups in the enclave.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, like the Houthis, are both backed by Iran, which provides the Palestinian terrorist groups with weapons and funding.
Several other Hamas leaders have been killed since Israel resumed strikes earlier this week, including Yasser Muhammad Harb Musa, who managed Hamas’s security portfolio, and Ayssam al-Dalis, the head of Hamas’s Gaza government. Mahmoud Marzouk Ahmed Abu Watfa, responsible for Hamas’s internal security, and Ahmed Abdulla Al-hata, the group’s Minister of Justice, were also among those targeted.
The current escalation follows the collapse of a temporary ceasefire and hostage-release deal that lasted 42 days, during which the terror group released 30 living hostages and the remains of eight slain captives, while Israel freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners.
The post Israel Faces Dual Attacks as Houthis and Hamas Target Major Cities, IDF Expands Ground Operations in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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