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Israeli Fighter Jets Strike Houthi Terror Assets in Yemen
A coast guard walks past a ship docked at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen January 5, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad
JNS.org – Israeli Air Force fighter jets carried out dozens of airstrikes on Houthi terrorist targets in the area of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah on Sunday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed in a statement.
“In a large-scale operation, dozens of Air Force aircraft, including fighter jets, refueling and intelligence planes, under the direction of the Military Intelligence Directorate, attacked military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the areas of Ras Issa and Hodeidah in Yemen,” the IDF said.
“The targets included power plants and a seaport, which were used by the Houthis to transfer Iranian weapons to the region, in addition to military supplies and oil,” according to the military statement.
“The attack was carried out in response to the latest attacks carried out by the Houthi regime against the State of Israel,” it added. “the Houthis have been operating under the direction and funding of Iran, and in cooperation with Iraqi militias, in order to attack the State of Israel, undermine regional stability and disrupt global freedom of navigation.”
Unnamed senior officials in Jerusalem told Israel’s Channel 12 that the damage following the airstrikes was “enormous,” adding that it will take the Houthis “a long time” to recover from the unprecedented attack.
“The purpose of the attack is to exact a heavy price for the attacks by the Houthis. If they continue to attack Israel, the attacks will increase,” an Israeli official told the country’s Ynet outlet. “The message to Iran is that Israel can attack with tremendous power even at a distance of 2,000 kilometers [≈1,200 miles]. It can do it simultaneously in several arenas.
“Today, we attacked in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen,” the official said.
The leader of the Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, on Saturday night claimed that a surface-to-surface missile it had launched at central Israel hours earlier was timed to coincide with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to the Jewish state from the United States.
The IDF announced that the military’s aerial defense array had downed the Houthi terrorist missile “outside of the country’s borders.”
In a televised speech, the Houthi leader also vowed that the targeted killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday would “not be in vain.”
Yemen’s Houthi militia, an Iranian proxy force, has launched numerous attacks on the Jewish state in support of Hamas in the wake of the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel.
Israel’s “Arrow” defense system intercepted a surface-to-surface ballistic missile fired at the Jewish state from Yemen on Friday, the IDF said.
On Sept. 15, Israeli air defenses intercepted fragments of a surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen that exploded over central Israel.
In July, a Houthi suicide drone killed an Israeli civilian in central Tel Aviv, in response to which Israel struck Hodeidah port in a major attack.
The strikes, which Jerusalem said hit “dual-use infrastructure used for terrorist activities, including energy infrastructures,” appeared to be the first on Yemeni soil since the Houthis joined the war against Israel.
Netanyahu said the strikes were a “direct response to the drone attack that killed an Israeli citizen and wounded several others. It also followed the Houthi’s aggression against the State of Israel since the start of the war. Over the past eight months, the Houthis have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones towards Israel.”
The post Israeli Fighter Jets Strike Houthi Terror Assets in Yemen 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.”
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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.
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