Clashes between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and government forces in Yemen raged overnight and into Thursday, raising fears that the country's civil war could reignite and open another front in the Middle East.
Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.
At least one government soldier was killed and another critically wounded in clashes with the Houthis in the mountainous province
of Taiz, Yemeni military officials told The Associated Press.
The fighting came as part of a spate of recent Houthi attacks on government-held areas across the country. Dozens of government troops have been killed since last week, the Yemeni military said.
The Houthis also said they launched another drone attack on an Aramco oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials did not immediately comment on the reported attack in the city of Jazan. Last weekend, the Houthis fired drones at the refinery, where the Saudi Energy Ministry reported a fire but no casualties.
The conflict dates back to 2014, when the Houthis seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa. Saudi Arabia intervened the following year on the side of Yemen's internationally recognized government. Last month, the Houthis announced a blockade of Saudi shipping, threatening another key trade route in the region.
Hans Grundberg, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen, told the U.N. Security Council in a video briefing Thursday that Yemen is at greater risk of returning to large-scale conflict than at any time since a 2022 truce paused the fighting.
Yemen faces “catastrophe” from rising hunger and from health services crumbling amid the fighting, said U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher. He said 6 million people in Yemen face emergency levels of food insecurity bordering on famine, “the highest number globally.”
Oil spills spreading off the coasts of Iran and Oman are raising concerns about environmental damage as oil shipments have come under fire in the Iran war.
Iran said Thursday it's working to clean up an oil spill off Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Images distributed by Iran’s semiofficial news agency ISNA showed oil fouling the island's beaches.
While Iran hasn't said what caused the spill, the firm TankerTrackers.com says it appears to have started with an Iranian attack on a bulk carrier off Oman. Iran has repeatedly attacked shipping in the strait since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.
Oman is responding to another spill in the Arabian Sea, coming from a tanker grounded off its southern coast. The tanker Caroline Bezengi — a sanctioned vessel believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” — has been grounded since reporting an explosion in June. No party has claimed responsibility and the cause is unknown.
A British maritime risk and response company said Thursday it has been hired to salvage the tanker and stop the oil leak off Oman. Oil from the ship has been spreading for weeks, reaching shores hundreds of kilometers (miles) north of the vessel.
Israeli strikes killed at least two people in the Gaza Strip on Thursday and wounded several others, health officials said.
Jamal Abu Kamil, a Gaza governorate police chief, was killed when his vehicle was struck southwest of Gaza City, according to the territory’s interior ministry and Shifa Hospital, where his body was taken along with a person wounded by the same strike.
The Israeli military didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about that strike.
A separate Israeli strike killed a man and injured another person in Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, where both were taken.
The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas company commander in Khan Younis who “planned to execute terror attacks” against troops.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel condemned a siege by Israeli settlers of a Palestinian-American family’s home in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, calling it a “horrific act of terror.”
Mike Huckabee’s remarks on X represented an unusually sharp rebuke from the Trump administration as settler violence against Palestinians has surged in recent years.
Starting Sunday, settlers targeted three homes in the village of Qusra, preventing occupants from leaving despite dwindling supplies.
Qusai Abu Rida was holed up inside with his teenage son when settlers cut the water and electricity, leaving them to drink well water as dozens of Israeli settlers erected tents outside. His Palestinian American brother in Ohio, who owns the house, watched the siege unfold on security cameras and called for updates.
Israeli troops have intervened multiple times, but the settlers keep returning, said Loui Ridi, the homeowner in Ohio.
In the northern West Bank, Israeli settlers and members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet on Thursday celebrated Israel’s return to Ganim with a ceremony in front of new homes.
Ganim was evacuated in 2005 as Israel withdrew from settlements in Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Last year, Netanyahu’s Cabinet approved the return of settlers to Ganim and another former settlement near the Palestinian city of Jenin.
“The era of withdrawals and expulsions has ended,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said. “The era of construction and Zionism begins.”
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Click here for full AP coverage on developments in the West Bank.
