Civilians killed in fresh 'heavy wave' of US strikes on Iran

Palestinian American businessman Abdulsamad Abdulaziz, 54, has resumed operations in the occupied West Bank at his industrial facility, a stone quarry, after settlers attacked it in the early hours of Sunday and burnt its contents, including heavy machinery, despite losses estimated at $700,000.

The quarry targeted in the violent attack is near the Ein Samia area between the villages of Kafr Malik and al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah. Although located in "Area B" under the Oslo Accords, meaning it falls under Palestinian Authority civil jurisdiction, including licensing, it has constantly been attacked by Israeli settlers.

Abdulaziz warned in comments to The New Arab that abandoning the site would result in the loss of more than 1,500 dunums of land belonging to the villages of Kafr Malik and al-Mughayyir.

He remains determined to stay at the site and restart operations using machinery from other industrial facilities that he owns.

The sign reads: Umm al-Khair, but the Israeli flags closing in around it tell another story. Surrounded by stars of David, the small Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair appears to have been swallowed up by the Carmel Israeli settlement.

One life after another, one piece of land after another; this is how the landscape of the West Bank is being transformed by Israeli settler colonialism. 

Today in Umm al-Khair, around 200 people live in a state of constant uncertainty, suspended between staying and being violently forced to leave. Every day here carries the possibility that it could be their last.

Read more below:

Yemen's Houthi rebels declared on Thursday that they were not behind a drone strike the day before that hit a US-owned-and-operated gas storage ship in the Egyptian port of Damietta.

According to the Houthi-affiliated news agency Saba, an official in the movement's foreign affairs office said "rumours claiming Yemen targeted a ship in Damietta Port in the Arab Republic of Egypt are unfounded".

Elected by a narrow margin, Khalil al-Hayya faces the challenge of rebuilding a weakened Hamas while navigating internal debates over its future, writes Aseel Mafarjeh.

Read more below:

The IRGC has claimed responsibility for an attack on the US Ali al-Salem military base in Kuwait this morning, a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency stated.

It added that two drone hangars and a fuel tank for aircraft and military helicopters were set on fire and destroyed at the military base.

Earlier, the IRGC said it Azraq base in Jordan.

The United States saw lower-than-expected growth in the second quarter of this year, the Commerce Department said Thursday, with the gross domestic product of the world's largest economy expanding at a sluggish annualized rate of 1.5 percent.

The data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed growth had slowed from 2.1 percent in the previous quarter, missing analyst expectations that had ranged between 1.8 and 2.0 percent.

"Compared to the first quarter, the deceleration in real GDP in the second quarter reflected a downturn in government spending and decelerations in investment and exports that were partly offset by an acceleration in consumer spending," the BEA said in a statement.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it shot down a hostile drone over the southwestern port city of Bandar Imam Khomeini in the early hours of Thursday, according to a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.

The IRGC's local unit said the unmanned aircraft was intercepted and destroyed in the city’s airspace.

Debris from the downed drone crashed into a home in Bandar Imam Khomeini, but the incident resulted in no loss of life, the statement said.

About 100 Israeli soldiers from the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion left the Sde Teiman base in the Negev Desert and abandoned their weapons following a protest regarding their commanders, Israeli media reported.

An Israeli army spokesperson claimed the dispute stemmed from the battalion commander ordering the removal of symbols related to "irregular incidents involving the battalion’s veteran-junior tradition".

“According to soldiers in the battalion, the removed symbols had accompanied them during fighting in Gaza and Lebanon and were passed down from one recruitment class to the next,” Israeli media said.

Apparently, footage from Sde Teiman base shows the weapons left behind by Givati fighters scattered around the camp when they abandoned it in protest.

Iraq's new Prime Minster Ali al-Zaidi took his first foreign visit to the US, followed shortly after with a trip to Tehran. 

A political outsider and a surprise winner of the race to be prime minster, Ali al-Zaidi has a considerable inbox. And at the top is how to guide the country through the ongoing war between Iran and the US, its two closest allies. 

On top of this, al-Zaidi has launched a crackdown on corruption and his seeking to disarm the myriad of armed groups in the country. 

This week, we look at the new prime minster and how he came to office, his personal crusades, and the challenges he will face during this time of war. 

Listen in here:

Iraq's military spokesperson says there is no evidence that recent attacks in the region were launched from Iraqi territory.

Brigadier General Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, told the state-run Iraqi News Agency on Thursday that the government would not allow any unilateral actions from within its borders, nor would it accept any violations originating from outside.

"There is no evidence that attacks were launched from Iraqi territory," al-Numan said. "The government will not allow any individual actions from the inside, and at the same time will not accept any violation coming from outside the borders."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that three of its members were killed in an attack by the United States on the northwestern province of Zanjan.

"In the brutal attack carried out by the terrorist regime of the criminal United States on 30 July 2026, three brave and devoted members of the Ansar al-Mahdi IRGC in Zanjan province... attained martyrdom," the Guards' provinicial branch said in a statement, according to Tasnim news agency.

London's marine insurance market has widened the area in the Red Sea it deems as ​high risk after attacks on ships by Yemen's Houthi movement but Egyptian waters were excluded, according to a 29 July advisory.

Guidance from the Joint War Committee, which comprises syndicate members from the Lloyd's Market Association ​and representatives from the London insurance company market, is​watched closely and influences underwriters' considerations over insurance premiums.

The extended high-risk zone takes in more of the Red Sea coast adjacent to Saudi Arabian ports and reaches close to the Saudi port of Jizan, the advisory showed.

The Iran-aligned Houthis on 20 July declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, opening a new front against the US and its allies in the Iran war and expanding attacks on tankers carrying global energy and other supplies to waters beyond the Gulf.

"Two (Saudi linked vessels) were attacked in the first few days after the (Houthi) announcement," the JWC said. "The JWC has adjusted the Red Sea notification line northwards to reflect this development." 

The authority overseeing the Egyptian port of Damietta says its operations are ongoing despite a fire breaking out that authorities have blamed on a drone attack yesterday.

"The Damietta Port Authority confirms the continued full operational efficiency of the port, with all terminals and berths experiencing regular vessel arrivals and departures, along with ongoing loading, unloading and cargo handling of all types," the Damietta Port Authority says in a statement.

Most Americans say the US-Israeli war on Iran has not been worth fighting, and President Donald Trump's approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

The results are a stark repudiation of Trump's approach to the conflict, which has dragged on far longer than he originally predicted.

About two-thirds of US adults say the war with Iran, which the US and Israeli jointly launched on 28 February, has not been worthwhile, according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents, as well as about 37% of Republicans.

The poll was conducted 23-27 July, as the US and Iran paused attacks following a nearly two-week of increased violence . 

Just 28% of US adults now approve of how Trump is handling Iran, a slight decline from 34% last month.

Roughly 61% of Republicans approve of how Trump is handling Iran, an apparent decline from 71% in June. 

Trump's overall approval rating is at 33%, slightly below where he stood at this point in his first term and similar to where former President Joe Biden stood about one and a half years into his presidency, when inflation peaked.

Israeli strikes killed at least four people, including two children, in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, as mediators held new talks with Hamas leaders to work towards full implementation of a US-brokered "peace plan".

Medics said an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave, killed a man and an eight-year-old girl.

In the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, an Israeli airstrike hit a house killing an 18-month-old child and wounding at least eight people, medics said.

Later on Thursday, an Israeli strike targeted a Palestinian man on a bike near a tent encampment housing displaced families in Gaza City, killing one person and wounding 10 others. The Israeli military said the strikes targeted Hamas militants, without providing further details.

The latest deaths add to a toll of more than 1,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by Israeli attacks since the so-called ceasefire took effect last October.

Iran is expected to receive within weeks a first shipment out of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defence missile launchers, three sources familiar with the deal told Reuters, as it rebuilds its defences amid war with the United States and Israel.

The purchase, valued at $60-70 million, is one of Tehran's largest-known efforts to strengthen its short-range air defences since the outbreak the war launched by the US and Israel, which exposed gaps in Iran's ability to protect military sites and strategic infrastructure.

The contract covers the purchase of between 300 and 400 man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS), including Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 missiles, the sources said.

The deal was signed with Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, a Hong Kong-based company that the sources said was acting as an intermediary between the Iranian side and the Chinese supplier.

Mediator Pakistan confirms that negotiations between the United States and Iran are "ongoing" during a flare-up in fighting.

"Negotiations between parties are ongoing, particularly on [the] Strait of Hormuz and to de-escalate," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said in Islamabad.

"We are doing our utmost to bring all parties back to the Islamabad MOU," Andrabi added, noting that Pakistan is encouraging the countries to "fully adhere to their commitments to hold technical talks" under the agreement.

The Egyptian government said Thursday that a fire the day before at the port of Damietta was caused by a drone attack, after authorities reported two gas ships were damaged by the blaze.

The presidency of Egypt's council of ministers said in a statement that after a preliminary investigation into the incident, "it appears that it resulted from a drone attack, with no party claiming responsibility". It added that the inquiry was ongoing.

Kuwait's defence ministry announced that one worker has been killed in an Iranian attack that targeted a building belonging to a Chinese company in the north of the country.

Major General Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi said the attack had caused significant material damage to the building and that authorities had begun taking the necessary measures to deal with the incident.

Egypt is stepping up consultations with fellow Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar, on regional developments, particularly the US-Israeli war on Iran and Houthi threats to the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.

Read more below:

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday that two oil tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz with US support turned back after one of them caught fire.

"Last night, two oil tankers, encouraged by American aircraft, attempted to leave through the unsafe southern route of the Strait of Hormuz," the Guards said in a statement.

"After a major fire broke out on one of them, both vessels quickly turned back."

Iran has kept control of the Hormuz since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East on February 28.

It has since insisted that ships transiting the waterway crucial for energy trade should cross through a route designated by Iran after requesting permission and paying service fees.

On Thursday, the powerful Guards reiterated that the strait was "our territory" and "cannot be reopened as long as the excessive rhetoric and threats of American officials and their interference in maritime movements in the region continue."

Jordan's military in a statement on Thursday said its air defences shot down five missiles coming from Iran that targeted the kingdom's territory, adding that the attack caused no casualties.

The military's official spokesperson said "air defences engaged five missiles launched from Iran targeting the Kingdom's territory early this morning, Thursday. The missiles were detected, intercepted, and shot down according to established defense plans," the statement said.

The US military completed a "heavy wave of strikes" against Iran on Thursday in retaliation against Tehran targeting American bases in Jordan, as fighting intensified in the Middle East war after a nearly week-long pause.

The reignited hostilities have drawn in the Islamic Republic's proxies, and appear to have dashed hopes of a quick return to negotiations between the foes.

US President Donald Trump had vowed to hit Iran "hard" after Tehran launched missiles at Jordan, its first regional strike in days.

American forces "successfully completed a heavy wave of strikes against Iran", and struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard targets, including military command centres, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

Iran's state news agency IRNA reported hits on several cities in the southwestern Khuzestan province, as well as on Qeshm island in the Gulf.

Areas around the cities of Abadan, Shadegan, Arvandkenar and Ahvaz—all in Khuzestan—were struck, the agency said, citing provincial authorities.