Lebanon ’s Health Ministry says Israeli airstrikes on a southern village have killed nine people, including a child.
Meanwhile, Iran-backed Houthi rebels claim to have shot down a Saudi reconnaissance plane. A senior official from the United Arab Emirates says “no single state” should control the Strait of Hormuz. Palestinians are mourning a man killed in the occupied West Bank.
Here’s a look at the latest news in the Middle East. Full coverage can
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Israel carried out two airstrikes early Monday on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Rumman, killing at least nine people, including women and children, the Health Ministry said.
The strikes came during a new round of escalation between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah. Israel's military said it struck several Hezbollah militants it accused of transferring weapons to Kfar Rumman.
The ministry said one strike hit a building and killed eight people, including a child and two women. It said 11 others were wounded, including four children and two women.
The ministry said another strike on a car in the village killed a paramedic with the Lebanese Islamic Risala Scout Association and wounded two others.
Israel's military said it was reviewing the claim that “several uninvolved civilians were harmed” in overnight strikes across southern Lebanon, which it said were in response to Hezbollah militants launching explosive drones against soldiers in the area of the Ali Taher ridge.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels downed a Saudi armed reconnaissance aircraft on Monday in the northern part of Yemen, Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a statement.
The aircraft was detected in Jawf province’s airspace, according to Saree, who said the aircraft belonged to neighboring Saudi Arabia and was seeking to carry out “hostile actions.”
The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify that claim. There was no immediate Saudi comment.
Saree added that over the past 24 hours, a total of three reconnaissance drones belonging to Saudi Arabia were downed, including one that was spotted Monday morning in Bayda province.
The Yemeni government armed forces said in a post on X that they targeted Houthi gatherings in Dahle province and launched 13 airstrikes targeting Houthi positions and a missile launch base in Bayda province. Other airstrikes targeted Houthi fronts in Marib province. The Houthi military didn’t address those claims.
A senior official with the United Arab Emirates says “no single state” should control the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran said it plans to announce a new “exclusion zone” near the waterway aimed at vessels intending to transit.
“Our energy exports will not be held hostage, nor will our trade and economic activity,” Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said at a forum of world leaders in Abu Dhabi.
Gargash said Iran should face consequences for threatening oil tankers and commercial vessels in the strait with mines, drones or missiles. “Using an international waterway as an instrument of coercion is unacceptable,” he added.
The UAE, a close U.S. ally, has repeatedly come under Iranian missile and drone fire throughout the war. Rebuilding trust between Iran and the Gulf countries could take decades, Gargash warned, because by targeting its neighbors, Tehran has “demolished” any presumption of good faith.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank community of Hajja mourned the death of Omar al-Toubasi, who was killed in a confrontation with Israeli settlers.
Israel’s military in a statement said soldiers were sent to Hajja on Sunday to disperse a confrontation and fired toward Palestinians allegedly throwing stones at soldiers after warning shots. “Hits were identified,” the military said.
“The army came and made matters worse,” witness Mohammed al-Batta said, adding that settlers had started the confrontation by beating a local man. He said soldiers “started using tear gas and sound bombs at the residents. Gunfire broke out from the two sides.” He said several others were injured.
Attacks on settlers in the West Bank have surged since the war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the United Nations humanitarian office.
The top diplomat overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, called for the implementation of President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war there, including the withdrawal of Israel’s military and the disarming of Hamas.
He also warned that rising violence in the occupied West Bank could obstruct a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Because with everything that is happening in the West Bank — and with more than 50% of Gaza now under the control of the Israeli army and less than 50% under the control of Hamas — there is no credible pathway forward to a political resolution of the conflict,” Mladenov said at the Hili Forum, a gathering of world leaders in the United Arab Emirates.
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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
