Middle East crisis live: US stealth bombers strike Houthi targets in Yemen | Israel-Gaza war

Iran-linked militias in Iraq have launched about 40 attacks involving missiles, drones or rockets on Israel in the past two and a half weeks, the latest escalation in a largely clandestine proxy battle fought across a swath of the Middle East.

The attacks began in October last year when the war in Gaza started, but data compiled by the Washington Institute, a US-based thinktank, shows a sharp increase in their pace after Israel killed the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in an airstrike on 27 September.

Hezbollah, which was founded with Iranian sponsorship in Lebanon more than 40 years ago, is the keystone of the loose coalition of militant groups created by Iran over recent decades.

With Hamas significantly weakened after a year of war in Gaza, and Hezbollah now reeling under a continuing Israeli air and ground offensive in Lebanon, Tehran has looked to more junior members of the rough coalition of factions it has supported across the Middle East to strike its arch-enemy.

“The number of missiles and drones being fired from Iraq [at Israel] has gone through the roof. They’ve moved into a higher gear to demonstrate their support for Hezbollah,” said Michael Knights, an analyst at the Washington Institute who follows the activities of militias based in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

The missile launches from Iraq underline Iran’s strategy of using members of its “axis of resistance” to support one another against Israel, as well as competition between the factions.

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• The US military has mobilised its long-range B-2 stealth bombers to conduct strikes against “five hardened underground weapons storage locations” in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The Pentagon said the facilities house various weapons components the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels, roiling commercial shipping in the Red Sea. “This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified,” defence secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

• The US Central Command said its battle damage assessments from the strikes were under way and did not indicate civilian casualties. The early morning strikes marked the first the US has used the B-2 bomber to attack Houthis in Yemen, and according to Bloomberg, the first time since January 2017 the wing-shaped bomber has flown in a combat mission.

• The mayor of one of the largest cities in Lebanon’s south has been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit the city’s municipal headquarters during a meeting to coordinate aid deliveries to residents and those displaced by war. The strike, one of a series on Nabatieh on Wednesday morning, killed 16 people and wounded 52, the Lebanese health ministry said. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of “intentionally targeting” the meeting.

• UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon said an Israeli army tank fired at a Unifil watchtower in Kafer Kela, a village in south Lebanon, in what it described as a “direct and apparently deliberate” act. The incident is the latest in a string of violations that Unifil has blamed on the IDF, prompting international condemnation. The IDF denied it was targeting Unifil forces.

• Syrian news agency SANA reported an Israeli airstrike hitting the coastal city of Latakia. The state media outlet reported “fires were triggered by the Israeli aggression” at the entrance to Latakia, a stronghold of president Bashar al-Assad. It also reported two injuries and damage to private properties.

• US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken with Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, the Pentagon says, after Austin and secretary of state Antony Blinken jointly penned a letter earlier this week calling on Israel to improve Gaza’s humanitarian situation.

• The US has demanded proof on the ground that Israel does not have a policy of starvation in northern Gaza as it turned up the pressure on the Netanyahu government to allow more aid into the territory. The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the security council on Wednesday at a meeting convened by France, UK and Algeria that such a policy “would not just be horrific and unacceptable” but also had “implications under international and US law”.

• The risk of cholera spreading in Lebanon is “very high”, the World Health Organization has warned, after a case of the acute and potentially deadly infection was detected in the conflict-hit country. The WHO highlighted the risk of cholera spreading among hundreds of thousands of people displaced since Israel escalated its campaign against Hezbollah.

• More than 500 Filipino migrant workers are expected to soon be repatriated from Lebanon, according to the Philippine government, amid warnings that workers who want to leave are facing resistance from their employers.

Rebecca Ratcliffe

More than 500 Filipino migrant workers are expected to soon be repatriated from Lebanon, according to the Philippine government, amid warnings that workers who want to leave are facing resistance from their employers.

Migrante International, which represents Filipinos working abroad, warned last month that many workers wanted to leave Lebanon but were struggling with a slow repatriation process and problems with employers. Employers, who have paid large agency fees to hire workers, have been reluctant to support repatriation applications or hand over workers’ passports, the group warned. Filipino workers in Lebanon are mainly employed as domestic workers in Beirut.

Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said most of the 11,000 Filipino workers in Lebanon were choosing to stay for financial reasons and emotional ties, according to a report by the Philippine Inquirer.

Since October 2023, 488 Filipino migrant workers and their dependents have returned home.

Of the 514 workers who are preparing to leave, 250 are awaiting exit clearances from Lebanon’s immigration authorities while the remaining 264 have booked commercial flights.

Cacdac said that while some employers are reluctant to allow workers to return, “generally speaking, they have been cooperative”.

Some 192 Filipinos are staying at three Philippine government-provided shelters in Beirut, where they are receiving support from social workers and medical staff.

Syrian state media has reported an Israeli airstrike hitting the coastal city of Latakia, targeting a weapons depot, AFP reports.

“Anti-aircraft defence intercepted hostile targets above Latakia,” SANA said without mentioning casualties or damage.

The Syrian news agency reported “fires were triggered by the Israeli aggression” at the entrance to Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad.

The government is allied to Hezbollah, which is at war with Israel in neighbouring Lebanon.

The Israeli military, which has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria in recent years, would not comment on the Latakia bombardment when contacted by AFP.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the Israeli raid “targeted a weapons depot in Latakia city”.

Strikes have been rare on the port city, which is near the Russian airbase in Hmeimim.

The Israeli military has intensified its raids on Syria in parallel with its escalation in Lebanon, where for more than three weeks it has heavily bombarded Hezbollah bastions.

Israel accuses the Lebanese group of transferring weapons through Syria.

The US Central Command has issued its own statement on the strikes on weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

It said the actions were taken “to degrade the Houthis’ capability to continue their reckless and unlawful attacks on international commercial shipping”, reiterating that it targeted underground facilities that housed “missiles, weapon components and other munitions used to target military and civilian vessels throughout the region”.

It added that its battle damage assessments were ongoing and did not indicate civilian casualties.

The US military has struck Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the Pentagon says.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said the US military, including air force B-2 bombers, conducted precision strikes against five hardened underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

“This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified,” Austin said in a statement.

The Houthis are an Iran-backed group that swept to power in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, a decade ago, driving Saudi-backed forces south towards Aden where they set up their headquarters. They began aerial drone and missile strikes on the Red Sea in November in what they said was solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

It marks the first time the US has used the strategic B-2 stealth bomber to attack the Houthis in Yemen since the beginning of the US campaign, CNN reported. The B-2 is a much larger platform than the fighter jets that have been used so far to target Houthi facilities and weapons, capable of carrying a far heavier load of bombs.

The Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel reported airstrikes around Sana’a, and around the Houthi stronghold of Saada. They offered no immediate information on damage or casualties.

The strikes are the latest in a saga of back-and-forth attacks by the Houthis and the US, as the Houthis have been carrying out constant attacks on commercial shipping and Navy assets in the region for months.

It also comes as US service members have begun arriving in Israel after the US announced the deployment of an advanced anti-missile system to help protect Israel following Iran’s missile barrage

US forces last carried out strikes in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on 4 October, targeting weapons systems, bases and other equipment belonging to the Iran-backed group.

More from Austin’s statement, released by the Pentagon:

Today, U.S. military forces, including US air force B-2 bombers, conducted precision strikes against five hardened underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

US forces targeted several of the Houthis’ underground facilities housing various weapons components of types that the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region.

This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified.

The employment of US air force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrate U.S. global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere.

The US military has struck Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, according to the Pentagon.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said the US military, including air force B-2 bombers, conducted precision strikes against five hardened underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

“This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified,” Austin said in a statement.

In Lebanon, the mayor of one of the largest cities in the country’s south has been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit the city’s municipal headquarters during a meeting to coordinate aid deliveries to residents and those displaced by war.

The strike, one of a series on Nabatieh on Wednesday morning, killed 16 people and wounded 52, the Lebanese health ministry said. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of “intentionally targeting” the meeting.

Israel said it hit dozens of Hezbollah targets in the Nabatieh area and that its navy had also hit Hezbollah “launchers, military positions and weapons caches” in south-west Lebanon.

Meanwhile, UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon said an Israeli army tank fired at a Unifil watchtower in Kafer Kela, a village in south Lebanon, in what it described as a “direct and apparently deliberate” act. The IDF denied it was targeting Unifil forces.

The incident is the latest in a string of violations that Unifil has blamed on the IDF, prompting international condemnation. Several peacekeepers have been injured since Friday as Israeli ground troops have begun to advance farther north in Lebanon after weeks of intense fighting and airstrikes.

• The US has demanded proof on the ground that Israel does not have a policy of starvation in northern Gaza as it turned up the pressure on the Netanyahu government to allow more aid into the territory. The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the security council on Wednesday at a meeting convened by France, UK and Algeria that such a policy “would not just be horrific and unacceptable” but also had “implications under international and US law”.

• The risk of cholera spreading in Lebanon is “very high”, the World Health Organization has warned, after a case of the acute and potentially deadly infection was detected in the conflict-hit country. The WHO highlighted the risk of cholera spreading among hundreds of thousands of people displaced since Israel escalated its campaign against Hezbollah.

• Israeli forces have stormed the Jazalone refugee camp in the West Bank and deployed teargas, Al Jazeera reports. A young girl was reportedly treated for breathing issues.

• Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said that there have been no conversations with any parties on a Gaza ceasefire for the last three to four weeks. “On the prospects of the negotiation … basically in the last three to four weeks, there is no conversation or engagement at all, and we are just moving in the same circle with the silence from all parties,” he said.

• Shaban al-Dalou, the 19-year-old Palestinian who was burned to death in his makeshift tent when Israel bombed the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital complex in Deir el-Balah on Monday, would have turned 20 today. “Losing him is an incredibly massive loss,” al-Dalou’s uncle, Mohammed al-Dalou said, adding: “He left a mountain of pain and memories.”

• Hezbollah said it targeted “at 6.50pm (1550 GMT) … the occupied town of Safed with a salvo of rockets” in “defence of Lebanon and its people”. The reported attack marks the third attack in 24 hours which Hezbollah said was a response to Israeli raids across Lebanon which have killed more than 2,300 people in recent weeks.

• US defence secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday, the Pentagon says, after Austin and secretary of state Antony Blinken jointly penned a letter earlier this week urging Israel to improve Gaza’s humanitarian situation.