Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed that they attacked military facilities and airports in Saudi Arabia as the war between the kingdom and the Iran-backed rebels escalated.
Israeli settlers fired on olive harvesters in the occupied West Bank while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated the goal of the Iran war is to prevent the country from ever developing a nuclear weapon.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Full coverage is available
here.
The Houthis used ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones, to attack military facilities and airports in Saudi Arabia, the rebels’ military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said Wednesday on social media. He didn’t provide evidence for the claim.
The attacks targeted King Khalid International Airport in the capital, Riyadh, with missiles, he said.
Flights to and from the airport were disrupted, with planes holding away from the airfield, according to Flightradar24, a tracking platform.
Also attacked were Abha airport, military facilities in Khamis Mushait and other “critical sites” in the cities of Najran and Asir, Saree said.
Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, said they intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the rebels north of Riyadh.
The Houthis also said they launched a missile strike early Wednesday against Yemen’s port city of Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government.
An Associated Press journalist heard explosions that rocked the city around 2 a.m. local time.
Israeli settlers opened fire on olive harvesters in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, killing a Palestinian officer who responded to the attack and wounding 16, Palestinian officials said, the latest in a series of violent attacks since the harvest began this month.
Ali Hassan Yasser al-Bazzari, 44, was a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces who went to the Palestinian village of Burqa when news of the attack surfaced, said his cousin Abdul Latif al-Bazzari, who was also injured on site.
Burqa lies near the newly revived settlement of Homesh. Village residents have contended with settlers for decades. Sami Daghlas, a member of the Burqa village council, said that after the attack the Israeli military prevented emergency medical responders from reaching the injured for more than an hour.
The Israeli military said in a statement that forces were dispatched to the area “following a report of rock hurling toward an Israeli civilian, who was injured.” It added that several Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks were apprehended for questioning.
The Israeli military and police did not respond when asked if the individual who shot and killed al-Bazzari had been arrested. Arrests do not typically follow settler violence in the West Bank, and convictions are even rarer.
Five Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 injured this week in similar attacks, according to Palestinian officials. They say Israelis have damaged thousands of trees, costing farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there should be no confusion over the Trump administration’s ultimate goal in the Iran war: to prevent the Islamic Republic from ever developing a nuclear weapon.
Rubio made the comments Wednesday after Vice President JD Vance told Reuters that the administration might be able to accept an agreement calling for Iran to make a “meaningful” decrease in its capacity for nuclear enrichment.
U.S. President Donald Trump has previously said Iran should not be allowed the capability to enrich.
"I don’t understand where the confusion is about the nuclear program,” Rubio said. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Simple, period, end of story."
Three years after Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the city of Rafah, which used to be home to a quarter million people, lies in ruins.
The Israeli military has razed the southern city and other towns and districts to the ground, satellite imagery shows.
Demolition, using bulldozers and explosives, has continued since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal was reached a year ago.
Local health authorities say over 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli campaign. More than one out of every 10 people from Gaza’s prewar population has been killed or wounded by Israeli fire.
An Israeli drone strike killed one older man and wounded seven other people in southern Gaza on Wednesday, according to health officials.
Dr. Mohamed Saqr, a manager at Nasser Hospital, told The Associated Press that one of the injured was in critical condition.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
