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Israel Shoots Down Missile Fired From Yemen After Striking Houthis
Hodeidah, Yemen, July 20, 2024. Photo: Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
Israel said it shot down a missile launched from Yemen on Sunday and the Yemeni Houthi movement said it had fired several missiles at the Israeli city of Eilat after Israel’s first public strike against the Iran-aligned group a day earlier.
The Houthis have launched missiles and drones at Israel and disrupted global trade through the Red Sea in response to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, further destabilizing the Middle East as war in the Palestinian enclave rages on after nine months.
Israel says the Houthis have launched 200 attacks against it since the Gaza war began, many of them intercepted and most of them not deadly.
But a rare Houthi drone strike on Friday hit Tel Aviv and killed one person, prompting Israel to announce its first strikes against the group on Saturday. The strikes by warplanes hit near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah and killed six people, local medics said.
The Houthi movement, known formally as Ansar Allah, said on Sunday it would continue to attack Israel in response.
Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam told Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV there would be “no red lines … all sensitive institutions … will be a target for us.”
The Israeli military said its Arrow 3 missile defense system had shot down a surface-to-surface missile projectile launched from Yemen on Sunday before it crossed into Israeli territory.
Before the interception, air raid sirens sounded in the Red Sea port city of Eilat, sending residents running for shelter.
Sunday’s attack prolonged an escalation of violence between Israel and the Houthis that began with the Houthi drone strike that hit the center of Tel Aviv on Friday. One man was killed and four other people were wounded, officials said.
The Israeli warplanes’ air raid on Hodeidah on Saturday killed six people and wounded more than 80, medical sources in Yemen told Reuters.
Images from the scene showed a fiery blaze and dense smoke rising from the site of the strike. A Houthi-run TV channel said the strikes had hit an oil facility and power station. The slogan of the Houthis, an internationally designated terrorist organization, is “death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam.”
Israeli officials say Hodeidah port has been used by the Houthis to receive weapons shipments from Iran.
PROXY BATTLE
The exchanges are part of a spillover from the Gaza war that has drawn in regional and world powers.
Iran-aligned groups including the Houthis have fired rockets and missiles at Israel saying they are doing so in support of Palestinians and the Islamist terrorist group Hamas that governs Gaza. The United States and its allies back Israel and provide weapons to it.
The war began on Oct. 7 after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel has since bombed and invaded Gaza as part of what it says is a campaign to eliminate Hamas.
The Houthis, who control much of the north of Yemen and other large population centers, have previously claimed targeting Eilat and other attacks directed at Israel, saying they are acting in retaliation for Israel’s war on Gaza.
The group has also attacked Red Sea shipping routes for months.
Hamas’ allies include Iran-backed groups such as the Houthis, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraqi paramilitaries.
The Houthi movement consists primarily of members a minority Shi’ite Muslim group in Yemen and has controlled the country’s capital, Sanaa, for years.
The post Israel Shoots Down Missile Fired From Yemen After Striking Houthis first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy
Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
The post Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
The post Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
The post Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.