Houthi military says US ship in Red Sea also targeted after Israeli strikes on oil facilities and power station in Yemen
Israeli forces have said they intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Houthi militants in Yemen targeting the southern city of Eilat, in retaliation for a series of Israeli strikes on the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah.
Meanwhile, forest fires engulfed parts of northern Israel after a barrage of rocket fire from Lebanon.
Continue reading...Attack comes after Israeli fighter jets hit Houthi military targets in Yemen’s Hodeidah, killing three people and wounding 87
Three people were killed and 87 were wounded in Israel’s airstrikes in Hodeidah in Yemen, according to Almasirah TV.
Israel’s military said on Saturday there was no indication of a security incident in the Red Sea port city of Eilat after reports of explosions were heard there, Reuters reports.
Continue reading...As a terrorist attack, a harsh response and an ensuing invasion strike familiar chords, analysts look for lessons from the war of 42 years ago
It started with a terrorist attack, which triggered massive military retaliation, the siege of a city, the deaths of thousands of civilians and devastation and global outrage. If the military operation was a success in tactical terms, it led to strategic failures that scarred the nation and the region for decades to come.
Sounds familiar? Forty-two years later, as a new conflict looms on Israel’s northern borders, historians, analysts and veterans of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon are looking to that now-distant war for lessons and warnings.
Continue reading...Evacuation order follows deadly airstrikes on locations including schools and shelters in past few days
The Israeli military told all Palestinian civilians to leave Gaza City and head south on Wednesday as it stepped up a military offensive in the territory that has killed dozens of people over the past 48 hours.
The evacuation order, carried out by dropping leaflets urging “all those in Gaza City” to take two “safe routes” south to the area around the central town of Deir al-Balah, came after a series of deadly strikes over the past two days in other parts of Gaza.
Continue reading...Mossad chief gave mediators list of new demands and it was not clear whether Hamas would accede to them, reports say
The Israeli government has been accused of attempting to sabotage a US-backed ceasefire proposal, according to Israeli media, by introducing new demands despite previously accepting the plan.
Hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza had risen in recent days following reports that Hamas had given initial approval for a new proposal for a phased deal, after ninth months of war since the attack on 7 October.
Continue reading...Netanyahu sends intelligence chief to Qatar to study Hamas proposal, while Hezbollah says it would also stop attacks if hostilities paused
Hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza and de-escalation on the boundary between Israel and Lebanon were raised on Friday, as Israel’s intelligence chief was dispatched by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to Qatar to resume stalled negotiations as Hamas reportedly told its Lebanese ally Hezbollah it had accepted a ceasefire proposal.
An official for the Lebanese group, which said on Thursday that it had fired 200 rockets into Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed one of its top commanders, also told Reuters that the group would cease fire as soon as any Gaza ceasefire agreement takes effect, echoing previous statements.
Continue reading...Barrage from Lebanon one of group’s largest yet, as Israel discusses Hamas proposals for possible Gaza ceasefire
Lebanon’s Hezbollah says it has fired 200 rockets into Israel in one of its largest barrages yet, as Benjamin Netanyahu told the US that Israel will send a delegation to resume stalled negotiations with Hamas on a possible hostage release deal.
Israel confirmed the Iran-backed militant group had fired “numerous projectiles and suspicious aerial targets” from Lebanon on Thursday towards the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and more than 15 drones into Israeli territory, many of which it said were intercepted. An Israeli military spokesperson said there were no casualties reported.
Continue reading...Harrison Mann, military expert who quit over Gaza, says ruinous war in Lebanon would pull US into regional conflict
Israel risks going to war against Hezbollah to ensure Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival, but it would be a miscalculation that could lead to mass civilian deaths in both Lebanon and Israel, a former US military intelligence analyst has warned.
Harrison Mann, a major in the Defence Intelligence Agency who left the military last month over US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, also told the Guardian that such a disastrous new war would pull the US into a regional conflict.
Continue reading...Israel’s military says ‘large number’ of militants dead in Shujaiya area near Gaza City amid reports of bodies in streets
In an update to the earlier news about Israeli forces advancing further into Shujaiya, residents said Israeli tanks, which moved back into Shujaiya four days ago, fired shells towards several houses, leaving families trapped inside and unable to leave.
Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his position that there was no substitute for achieving victory in the war against Hamas.
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Continue reading...Israeli PM says he hopes for diplomatic solution to conflict but will solve it in ‘a different way’ if necessary
Israel’s prime minister has said the most intense phase of the assault against Hamas in Gaza is coming to an end, freeing up forces to move to the Lebanese border, where escalating exchanges of fire with the militant group Hezbollah have increased fears of a wider war.
In his first public interview with a Hebrew-language network outlet in more than eight months of conflict, broadcast on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu also walked back on his commitment to a US-backed ceasefire proposal with Hamas, instead suggesting a more limited offer.
Continue reading...Yoav Gallant to meet top officials as Benjamin Netanyahu repeats claim of ‘dramatic drop’ in US arms shipments
Israel’s defence minister has flown to meet senior Biden administration officials in Washington for what he has described as “critical” talks over the twin conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Yoav Gallant, accompanied by the Israel Defense Forces’ deputy chief of staff, will meet the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, as well as the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Joe Biden’s special envoy, Amos Hochstein.
Continue reading...Militants in Lebanon can fire 3,000 missiles a day, US officials warn as fears grow that the conflict will escalate
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile batteries risk being overwhelmed in the opening strikes of any significantly escalated conflict with Hezbollah.
The assessment delivered by US officials late last week, echoing recent analysis by experts in Israel and the United States, comes amid fears that a war with Hezbollah could be a far more dangerous undertaking than the devastating 2006 second Lebanon war, when Israeli bombing caused huge destruction in Lebanon.
Continue reading...Doctors prepare underground hospital units, people flee their homes and in rural kibbutz tension hangs in the air
Beneath the 800-bed Galilee medical centre in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya, treatment is being conducted in an underground complex beneath the hospital.
About 7km from the border with Lebanon, a frontier visible from the hospital’s car park and already under threat from Hezbollah’s missiles and explosive drones, the doctors are aware that in the event of an escalating war their facility will be on the frontline.
Continue reading...Officials say Cyprus is ‘pillar of peace’ amid shock at warning it could become a target for Lebanese group
Cypriots have reacted with shock after threats from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that Cyprus could become a target if it allows Israel to use its territory in any conflict between the two sides, who diplomats fear are on the brink of a fully fledged war.
Despite the EU expressing unreserved support for its easternmost member, it was clear on Thursday that the Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s warning had set off alarm bells in Nicosia where officials insisted the island republic remained a “pillar of peace” in an otherwise volatile region.
Continue reading...Risk is that miscalculation leads to sudden conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which is far more powerful than Hamas
A warning from Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, that a decision on “all-out war” with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is coming soon is almost certainly a fresh attempt at deterrence on his part – not least because both sides well understand how devastating full hostilities would be.
The reality is that Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, is a more powerful adversary than Hamas in Gaza. It is estimated to have between 30,000 and 50,000 fighters available and a similar number in reserve – plus between 120,000 and 200,000 unguided missiles and rockets, plus attack and reconnaissance drones.
Continue reading...Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warns of ‘war without rules’ if Israel launches full-scale invasion against Lebanese militia
The leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned of a war “without rules or ceilings” in the event of a full-scale Israeli offensive against the Lebanese militia, as he threatened that Cyprus could become a target if it allowed Israel to use its territory in any conflict.
Cyprus and Israel have a bilateral defence cooperation agreement which has seen the countries conduct joint exercises.
Continue reading...Signoff on planning for a Lebanon offensive follows release of Hezbollah drone footage of Haifa in northern Israel
The Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, has said a decision on an all-out war with Hezbollah was coming soon, as Israel generals announced late on Tuesday that they had signed off planning for an offensive into Lebanon.
The escalating rhetoric came after the release of video footage from a Hezbollah surveillance drone’s overflight of the northern city of Haifa, which included images of sensitive sites and civilian neighbourhoods.
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Hostilities continue in Rafah and southern Gaza despite the Israeli military’s announcement on Sunday of tactical pauses in operations to allow humanitarian aid to enter, Reuters reports Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini, told the media in Oslo on Monday.
In its latest operational update, Israel’s military has claimed it is still operating in the Rafah area of Gaza, where it says “IDF troops located numerous weapons and struck a number of structures rigged with explosives that posed a threat to the forces.”
Continue reading...Move is apparent rebuff to far right and attempt to tighten grip on decision-making over Hamas and Hezbollah
Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the Israeli war cabinet that had been overseeing the conflict in Gaza, rebuffing his far-right allies who had been seeking seats, and apparently moving to solidify his grasp on decision-making over the fighting with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah across the Lebanese border.
The prime minister announced the move to ministers, saying the war cabinet had been established as part of an agreement in which the moderate politician Benny Gantz and his National Unity party joined an emergency coalition last year.
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