Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Middle East crisis live: US plans more strikes in Middle East against Iran-backed groups, says national security adviser – as it happened

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Jake Sullivan says there will be more steps in American response to Jordan drone attack that killed three soldiers

David Cameron, the UK’s foreign secretary, said the Houthi attacks on international shipping “must stop” after the UK joined the US for a third time in conducting a wave of airstrikes on Iran-linked Houthi targets in Yemen.

The former Conservative prime minister said the third wave of joint UK and US airstrikes on Saturday took place after “repeated warnings” for the rebel militant group to cease.

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‘No one can bring back what we lost’: fears rise among poor in Turkish city ravaged by earthquakes

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Less well-off residents in the southern city of Antakya feel left out of the city’s rebuilding efforts

• Read more: A year in the aftermath of Turkey’s earthquake – a photo essay

Rows of bright white marble gravestones dot a hillside on the outskirts of Antakya, some bearing the words “martyr of the earthquake”. The final resting place for the city’s dead will soon be overshadowed by tower blocks for those who survived. Bright yellow cranes jut into the skyline on the next hillside, slowly birthing a cluster of concrete skeletons, new government housing for some of the hundreds of thousands who lost their homes when deadly earthquakes struck southern Turkey and northern Syria last February.

“No one can bring back what was lost, as we lost everything,” said İsa Akbaba, who lost seven members of his extended family along with his home.

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US and UK hit 30 Houthi targets to further weaken Iran-backed groups

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Joint operation to further disable militias follows attacks on US and international interests amid war in Gaza

The United States and Britain struck at least 30 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday in another wave of assaults meant to further disable Iran-backed groups that have attacked US and international interests in response to the Israel-Hamas war.

Ships and fighter jets on Saturday launched strikes against the Houthis. It followed an air assault in Iraq and Syria on Friday targeting other Iran-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US troops – William Jerome Rivers, Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Breonna Alexsondria Moffett – in Jordan last weekend.

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UK action against Houthis ‘not an escalation’, says Grant Shapps

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Defence secretary says third joint UK-US assault on Iran-backed group is to protect lives and ‘preserve freedom of navigation’

The UK has joined the US for a third time in conducting a wave of airstrikes on Iran-linked Houthi targets in Yemen.

The defence secretary, Grant Shapps, said the fresh assaults were “not an escalation”, but instead were designed to “protect innocent lives and preserve freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea amid Houthi attacks on boats.

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US House to vote next week on standalone $17.6bn bill for aid to Israel

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Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing for the package without addressing aid to Ukraine or security for the US-Mexico border

The US House of Representatives plans to vote next week to advance $17.6bn in military aid to Israel without any accompanying spending cuts or assistance for Ukraine, according to Mike Johnson, the chamber’s speaker.

Johnson announced to his fellow House Republicans on Saturday that the vote would take place, while also criticizing a parallel move in the US Senate to pair funding for Israel in its military strikes in Gaza with aid for Ukraine as it fends off Russia’s invasion. The Senate measure also aims to attach a raft of tough border and asylum measures favored by rightwingers to aid for Israel.

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Fresh strikes in southern Gaza as talks on two-month pause in fighting continue

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Hundreds killed and injured in central Gaza Strip while Palestinians crowd into camps and the city of Rafah
• Middle East crisis – live updates

Israeli forces struck densely populated areas across the middle and southern Gaza Strip in a midnight attack on Friday and early Saturday, killing at least 25 people amid fears of an impending push south by ground troops as pressure builds for a ceasefire deal.

Israeli fighter jets struck Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, as well as the city of Rafah in the south. The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said at least 107 people had been killed and 165 injured overnight.

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US strikes will have disastrous consequences for region, warns Iraq

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Attacks on Friday also described as ‘a strategic mistake’ by Iran, which insisted no Revolutionary Guards were present in areas hit

The US reprisal strikes in Syria and Iraq will have disastrous consequences for the region, the military spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, has warned. Maj Gen Yahya Rasool’s response was one of many from inside the Iraqi government that furiously condemned a violation of its sovereignty.

The US military launched airstrikes on Friday against more than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the militias it backs, in retaliation for last weekend’s drone attack in Jordan that killed three US troops. Iraq’s Anbar Operations Command reported 16 fatalities and 25 injuries, but no official death toll has been issued.

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Houthis face ‘further consequences’, Austin says after latest strikes – as it happened

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At least 13 Iranian-backed fighters have been killed in strikes in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said.

The airstrikes destroyed 17 positions sheltering Iranian militias in Al-Mayadeen and Al-Bokamal near the border between Syria and Iraq, in addition to airstrikes targeting positions near Deir ez-Zor city, it said.

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US retaliatory airstrikes on targets in Iraq and Syria will not be the last

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The carefully planned raids were the largest yet against Iran’s proxies and are likely to continue until threats to US personnel are neutralised

US retaliation, when it came, was broad and deep, and telegraphed five days in advance.

The White House, the Pentagon and state department had spent the best part of a week talking about the response to Sunday’s drone attack on a US base in northern Jordan, which killed three Americans and wounded more than 30.

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US launches airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for deadly drone attack

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President says ‘If you harm an American, we will respond’ as US forces strike in what is expected to be first of multiple attacks

Joe Biden has warned “if you harm an American, we will respond” as US forces attacked more than 80 targets in Iraq and Syria in a wide-ranging air assault on sites belonging to Iran-linked militias and Tehran’s Revolutionary Guard.

The US president said the strikes had been launched in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan, adding: “Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing.”

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What does Biden’s order against Israeli settlers mean and why did he do it now?

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Some see the US president’s executive order imposing sanctions on settlers who violently attack Palestinians as a bid to win support

Was Joe Biden’s announcement of unprecedented US sanctions against Israeli settlers in occupied Palestine a sign of political weakness at home, or of a newly found willingness to assert American influence over Israel?

The president signed the executive order imposing financial and travel sanctions on settlers who violently attack Palestinians shortly before a campaign rally in the swing state of Michigan, where the largest Arab American population in the country has rounded on Biden over his largely blanket support for Israel’s assault on Gaza.

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Israel and Hamas closer to ceasefire deal amid warning over Gaza children

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Qatar says Hamas ‘received proposal positively’, while Unicef says 17,000 Gaza children left unaccompanied

Israel and Hamas appear to be inching closer towards a deal for a ceasefire and a release of some of the hostages still being held by the militant group in Gaza, while the UN children’s agency has warned that 17,000 children have been left without families or been separated from them by the conflict.

Qatar, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas, indicated that the militant group had given its initial support for a deal after weeks of delicate and secretive negotiations.

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Middle East crisis: UN agency calls Rafah a ‘pressure cooker of despair’ as Israel says offensive will move into city – as it happened

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Defence minister Yoav Gallant’s announcement comes despite presence of more than 1 million civilians in city

Saudi Arabia would be willing to accept a political commitment from Israel to create a Palestinian state, rather than anything more binding, in a bid to get a defence pact with Washington approved before the US presidential election, three sources have told Reuters. The news agency reports:

Months of US-led diplomacy to get Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel and recognise the country for the first time were shelved by Riyadh in October in the face of mounting Arab anger over the war in Gaza.

But Saudi Arabia is increasingly keen to shore up its security and ward off threats from rival Iran so the kingdom can forge ahead with its ambitious plan to transform its economy and attract huge foreign investment, two regional sources said.

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Pro-Palestine march in London will end near Downing Street, say police

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Met had previously refused to allow expected 300,000 demonstrators to hold rally on Whitehall on Saturday

The latest pro-Palestine march of hundreds of thousands of protesters through central London will end with a rally near Downing Street after a climbdown from the Metropolitan police.

Following a meeting late on Thursday afternoon, organisers of the march said they had been given permission for the end stage of Saturday’s demonstration to take place on Whitehall.

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UK could recognise a Palestinian state before a deal with Israel, says Cameron

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Foreign secretary suggests after a ceasefire, UK would not need to wait for end of what could be years of talks on a two-state solution

The UK could officially recognise a Palestinian state after a ceasefire in Gaza without waiting for the outcome of what could be years of talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a two-state solution, David Cameron has said.

Speaking during a visit Thursday to Lebanon intended to tamp down regional tensions, the British foreign secretary said no recognition could come while Hamas remained in Gaza, but that it could take place while Israeli negotiations with Palestinian leaders were continuing.

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Israeli ministers reportedly considering limiting aid entering Gaza

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Two ministers said to have suggested move as part of efforts to free hostages and weaken Hamas, which they claim hijacks supplies

Ministers in Israel’s war cabinet are reportedly considering limiting the amount of aid reaching Gaza, as rightwing protesters disrupt the entry of trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the besieged Palestinian territory.

Benny Gantz, a retired general who joined the emergency wartime government formed by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after 7 October, and Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief of staff and war cabinet observer, suggested temporarily limiting aid to weaken Hamas, Israel’s Channel 12 reported late on Wednesday.

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Joe Biden issues executive order against Israeli settlers in West Bank

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Financial sanctions and visa bans imposed on four individuals as US frustration with Israel grows

Joe Biden has issued an executive order targeting Israeli settlers in the West Bank who have been attacking Palestinians, amid fast-growing frustration in Washington at Israel’s trajectory in the midst of its war in Gaza.

The order initially imposes financial sanctions and visa bans against four individuals, and US officials said they were evaluating whether to punish others involved in attacks that have intensified during the Israel-Hamas war.

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UK manufacturers hit by Red Sea disruption and rising shipping costs

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Supply chain difficulties have led to job losses and cuts in purchasing and stocks, S&P Global poll shows

Britain’s factories have been hit by disruption caused by Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea that led to shipping delays and contributed to rising costs, as the boss of Adidas warned about “exploding” global freight rates.

UK manufacturers have experienced growing supply chain difficulties, as the Red Sea crisis led to the rerouting of deliveries of raw materials, components and other goods away from the Suez Canal, a survey has shown.

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US orders reprisal strikes against Iranian-backed militia

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Strikes expected to take place in Syria and possibly Iraq, after three US soldiers were killed at a base in Jordan

The US has ordered a series of reprisal strikes to be launched over more than one day against an Iranian-backed militia, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has said.

Austin said all drones in the region attacking the US were of Iranian origin. The retaliatory strikes are expected to hit militia in Syria and possibly Iraq, though Austin did not specify the timing or precise location.

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Israel’s campaign in Gaza ‘plausibly’ amounts to genocide, US court finds

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But federal judge in California says lawsuit aimed at stopping US military support for Israel is outside court’s jurisdiction

A federal court in California has ruled that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza “plausibly” amounts to genocide, but dismissed a case aimed at stopping US military support for Israel as being outside the court’s jurisdiction.

“There are rare cases in which the preferred outcome is inaccessible to the court. This is one of those cases,” the US district court in the northern district of California ruled. “The court is bound by precedent and the division of our coordinate branches of government to abstain from exercising jurisdiction in this matter.

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