Houthis call for mass protests after US attacks as Gaza blockade persists

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A series of explosions was heard across the Gaza Strip early on Tuesday as residents reported several Israeli airstrikes, witnesses told Reuters, in the largest strikes since the January 19 ceasefire began.

Lebanon’s Defence Ministry announced that a ceasefire agreement has been reached between Lebanon and Syria following deadly clashes along their shared border. In a post on X, the ministry confirmed that Lebanese Defence Minister Michel Menassa spoke with his Syrian counterpart, Murhaf Abu Qasra, to discuss the situation.

The clashes, which led to the deployment of the Lebanese army, resulted in the deaths of at least seven people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Syria reported that three of its soldiers were killed in the fighting. 

Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team has filed a motion seeking his immediate release after his arrest for participating in pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University. The arrest has faced widespread condemnation from civil liberties organizations, and independent UN experts have condemned the "arbitrary detention" of the US permanent resident.

The motion argues that Khalil should be released to be with his wife, who is eight months pregnant. It also challenges the Trump administration’s use of a provision from the 1953 Immigration and Nationality Act to justify Khalil's potential deportation.

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, described Khalil’s continued detention as "unconscionable" and that he has not been accused of any crime.

"The Trump administration has no right to incarcerate Mr. Khalil – this is an extreme, retaliatory, and targeted attack on the First Amendment and his right to due process," Lieberman said.

The Palestinian news agency, Wafa, has reported that Israeli forces have sent additional reinforcements to several neighbourhoods in Tulkarem, located in the occupied West Bank. 

Israeli operations in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps over recent weeks have resulted in the displacement of thousands of residents. Israeli military bulldozers destroyed parts of the Nur Shams camp, and more Palestinians were displaced from the Tulkarem camp.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has verified that at least two children, aged six and eight, were killed in US airstrikes in Saada, Yemen, on Saturday.

The announcement came shortly after US Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, insisted there were "no credible indications of civilian casualties" amid the ongoing attacks, which, according to him, have targeted roughly 30 sites.

UNICEF also reported that a third child was injured in the strikes, and the condition of a fourth child remains unverified. 

The UN verified that at least 2 boys aged 6 & 8 were among those killed by the airstrikes that targeted northern Saada 2 nights ago. A 3rd child was injured & the condition of a 4th child is yet to be confirmed. UNICEF calls for the protection of children & civilians at all times

— UNICEF Yemen (@UNICEF_Yemen) March 17, 2025

Israel's military said on Monday it was striking military sites in southern Syria, as Syrian state media reported two killed in an Israeli strike near the southern city of Daraa.

"The Israeli forces are currently striking military targets in southern Syria, including command centres and military sites containing weapons and military vehicles belonging to the old Syrian regime," an army statement said.

"The presence of military assets in southern Syria poses a threat to the State of Israel," it said, adding the military "will not allow the presence of military threats in southern Syria and will operate against it."

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that "two civilians died and 19 others were injured in Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of Daraa city".

Israel spent 112 billion shekels ($31 billion) on its military offensives in Gaza and Lebanon in 2024, Israel's finance ministry said in a report on Monday.

Total spending on defence in 2024 was 168.5 billion shekels, or 8.4 percent of gross domestic product, up from 98.1 billion in 2023, when defence costs were 5.2 percent of GDP, the report showed.

The increase in war spending pushed the budget deficit to 6.8 percent of GDP in 2024, a revision from a preliminary estimate of 6.9 percent. Israel's economy grew 0.9 percent in 2024.

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Israeli on Monday struck near the southern Syrian city of Daraa, the state news agency SANA reported, with a war monitor saying a military site was targeted.

"Israeli occupation jets launch air strikes targeting the surroundings of Daraa city," SANA reported. At the same time, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Israel targeted a military site hosting forces from Syria's new army.

UN-appointed experts on Monday branded US authorities' arrests of foreign students for pro-Palestinian protests on campus "disproportionate" and called for their rights to be respected.

"These actions are disproportionate, unnecessary, and discriminatory and will only lead to more trauma and polarisation negatively impacting the learning environment within university campuses," the experts said in a statement.

Lebanon’s Public Health Emergency Operations Centre has confirmed two people died in the strike. Two others were also wounded, it said.

It comes after Israel's military had said it launched an air strike on Yohmor in southern Lebanon, striking two Hezbollah fighters.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned that Iran "better take the president seriously" after he made threats in a post on his Truth Social media platform that he would hold Iran responsible for any strikes the Houthis conduct against the US.

"The Houthis learned that the hard way this past weekend," she said, adding that "there's a new sheriff in town."

Israeli MK Avigdor Liberman, who chairs the party Yisrael Beytenu, has said suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may cancel elections set for 2026 in comments made on Israel's Army Radio.

"In 2026, they'll tell us, 'Who says we need elections? we're in the middle of a war'", Liberman was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel.

He further said that "because there's no intention of ending the war, the election date can be postponed", adding: "It's not a nightmare scenario I dreamed up at night, it's a real scenario". 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday that he had proposed at a European Union meeting for sanctions to be placed on those behind attacks against Syria's Alawites.

Syria has been hit with widespread violence over the last few weeks, after Syria's Sunni Islamist-led authorities said their security forces came under attack by militants loyal to the ousted president, Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite family come from the coastal region.

The attack unleashed widespread killings targeting Alawites, marking the worst bloodshed since Assad was toppled in December after 14 years of war.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran will be held responsible and face "dire" consequences for any further attacks by Yemen's Houthis.

"Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!" Trump said on Truth Social.

The EU on Monday vowed around 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in aid for Syria as the bloc seeks to help the country's recovery after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

"Syrians need greater support, whether they are still abroad, or they decide to go home. And this is why today, the European Union is increasing its pledge for Syrians in the country and in the region to almost 2.5 billion euros for 2025 and 2026," European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen told a donor conference in Brussels.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Monday that his country was "committed" to cooperating with the UN's nuclear agency after meeting with its chief, Rafael Grossi.

Gharibabadi said in a post on X that the talks in Vienna with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been "frank and constructive".

"While safeguarding its national security and interests, Iran remains committed to cooperating with the IAEA within the framework of its safeguards' obligation," he said, referring to agency protocols aimed at deterring the spread of nuclear weapons.

In a post of his own, Grossi said cooperation was "indispensable to provide credible guarantees of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program".

Lebanon's President Aoun says he ordered the army to respond to sources of fire from northern and eastern borders with Syria, Reuters reported.

Tens of thousands of people protested in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen on Monday, the Iran-backed rebels' Al-Masirah TV showed, two days after US attacks that left dozens dead.

Demonstrators waved placards and assault rifles, chanting "Death to America, death to Israel", at a huge protest in the capital Sanaa, while rallies were also held in Saada, Dhamar, Hodeida and Amran.

Qatar has urged the international community to confront Israel's "starvation policy" of Gaza in a statement released by the Qatari Foreign Ministry following talks held by the PM and FM with the UN's Under-Secretary-General in the capital Doha.

The Qatari PM "stressed, during the meeting, the need for the international community to shoulder its responsibilities to address the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and to firmly confront the starvation policy pursued by the Israeli occupation in its brutal war against the brotherly Palestinian people", the statement read.

Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs @MBA_AlThani_ Meets UN Under-Secretary General, Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/r77r27ZWfx

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) March 17, 2025

Gaza's MoH has said in the past 24 hours it has received the bodies of 29 people killed, including 15 bodies which were recovered and 14 who were newly killed by Israel in Gaza, raising the registered death toll 48,572 killed. 

The MoH also said that 51 injured were taken to hospital, with the injured figure rising to 112,032 since he beginning of the war.

The Israeli military said it carried out an air strike in southern Lebanon on Monday targeting two Hezbollah militants, in its latest attack despite a ceasefire.

"A short while ago, two Hezbollah terrorists who served as observation operatives and directed terrorist activities were struck by the IDF in the area of Yohmor in southern Lebanon," the military said in a statement.

The Israeli military said it launched air strikes in central and southern Gaza on Monday targeting militants attempting to plant explosives near Israeli forces stationed in the territory.

According to the military, one strike hit three militants in central Gaza as they were planting explosives, while another targeted several militants in Rafah, in southern Gaza.

An Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian men in the Gaza Strip, medics said on Monday, and there was no sign of progress at renewed ceasefire talks.

Medics said the three men were killed near Bureij camp in the centre of the devastated Palestinian enclave by a missile fired from a drone. Israel's military did not immediately comment.

In Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, medics said three people were wounded in another airstrike. Rafah residents have reported frequent fire by Israeli forces deployed in areas adjacent to the border inside the city boundaries.

(Reuters)

The United States carried out new airstrikes on Yemen on Monday, the Houthis' Al Masirah TV said, expanding the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January.

Responding to the Iran-aligned Houthi movement's threats to international shipping following Israel's aid blockade on Gaza, the US launched a new wave of airstrikes on Saturday. On Monday, the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and Al Jawf governorate north of the capital Sanaa were targeted, Al Masirah said.

Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign after he intends to fire the head of Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet.

"If a loss of confidence is a reason for dismissal, then the first person to be dismissed is Netanyahu. Israel has lost confidence in him," he told Israel's broadcasting authority.

His call was joined by opposition politician Yair Golan who said that Israel is "sliding towards dictatorship".

Germany on Monday pledged an additional 300 million euros in aid to support Syrians, ahead of an EU donor drive to raise funds after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

"For this mammoth task, Germany will provide the United Nations and selected organisations with a further 300 million euros for this peaceful process and for the people in Syria and the people in the region," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in Brussels.

Lebanon's National News Agency is reporting that Israel is carrying out an incursion into south Lebanon, with Israeli armoured units advancing in the outskirts of Ayta al-Shaab towards Khallat Wardeh and Hadb Aita areas. 

The agency also said that Apache helicopters have conducted sweeps around Yaroun.

China on Monday called for "dialogue" and a de-escalation of tensions in the Red Sea after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to have twice attacked a US aircraft carrier group within 24 hours.

"China opposes any action that escalates the situation in the Red Sea," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing.

Iran said on Monday that a letter it received from US President Donald Trump, who has called for striking a nuclear deal with the Islamic republic, echoed his public statements.

"The content of the letter is not far removed from Trump's public statements and repeats the same talking points," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a news conference in Tehran.

"Our response will be provided through the appropriate channels once the assessment is complete," he added.