Houthis cut vital Aden-Taiz road in Yemen

The live blog has now closed and will be back tomorrow. You can read more of The New Arab's coverage of the war in the Middle East here.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a security review of international flights to Israel on Sunday, after an attempt by an Omani co-pilot to crash an Israel-bound flight from Dubai.

Netanyahu "has instructed the Head of the National Security Council, Shmuel Ben Ezra, to appoint an examiner to conduct a thorough review of all security aspects of foreign civil aviation to Israel", a statement from the premier's office said.

A committee of the Mecca defence pact between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will hold talks in Riyadh on Monday, with Turkish ministers among those attending, the Turkish foreign ministry said on Sunday.

The leader of Yemen's Saudi-backed government announced on Sunday the beginning of a major military operation against the Iran-backed Houthis earlier on Sunday, aimed at seizing the territory under their control.

Pakistan's foreign minister said on Friday that Iran had suggested engaging Yemen's Houthis politically after attacks by the group, an idea that the Mecca defence pact committee would discuss at a meeting in Riyadh this week.

"The meeting will address recent developments in the region and the stage reached in the Alliance’s institutionalisation efforts," the Turkish statement said.

It said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler and chief of the general staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu would attend the meeting of the pact's strategic political and defence committee, along with officials from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The Green Party in the UK has passed a motion with 1,022 votes in favour and 813 against defining Zionism as "an ethnonationalist political project." 

"The Green Party is an anti-racist party and has consistently opposed the illegal occupation of both Palestinian and Syrian land, called for an end to arms sales to the Israeli government, and spoken out fearlessly about the devastating situation in Gaza and the West Bank," a spokesperson for the party said, according to Al Jazeera.

You can read more about the motion here:

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for "dialogue, not confrontation" over Africa's cross-border disputes on Sunday, as he prepared to meet three leaders whose countries share increasingly strained relations with Ethiopia.

Sisi was due to hold talks at El Alamein with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, alongside an African Union summit hosted by Egypt.

The Egyptian presidency says the four-way meeting is intended for "consultation and coordination on regional issues of mutual interest".

But the gathering comes amid renewed war in northern Ethiopia and rapidly deteriorating relations between Addis Ababa and several of the countries attending, raising questions over whether an informal anti-Ethiopia alignment is emerging in the Horn of Africa.

Iranian airlines resumed flights to Iraq's Najaf on Sunday after the United States granted Baghdad an exemption allowing sanctioned Iranian carriers to operate to the city holy to Shia Muslims, an AFP correspondent said.

Najaf airport official Hussein Muhanna told AFP that "flights between Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran have resumed via Najaf International Airport."

The first flight was operated by Caspian Airlines with AFP's correspondent at the airport reporting seeing the plane land at 5:15 pm (1415 GMT).

On Friday, the Iraqi government said it had secured an agreement with the US allowing Iranian airlines, except Mahan Air, to operate 40 daily flights to and from Najaf, which is home to one of the most revered shrines in Shia Islam.

Last month, Iraq enforced the US ban on Iranian carriers, leaving travellers scrambling for solutions, especially at Najaf's airport, which is a major hub for Iranian flights and their main destination in Iraq.

The Saudi government is providing $59.7m to Yemen's government, according to the Saudi Press Agency, which quoted a statement saying, "This will stimulate economic and social development towards a more sustainable path, and will positively impact purchasing power, ensure stable incomes for families, and revitalise commercial markets."

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they launched ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco sites in Riyadh and the Khurais area, claiming the attacks caused major fires, in response to what they said were 50 Saudi-led coalition air and missile strikes in Yemen over the past 12 hours.

The leader of Yemen's Saudi-backed government announced the beginning of a major military operation against the Iran-backed Houthis on Sunday, aimed at seizing the territory under their control.

Regional and Western officials had previously told Reuters that Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies were planning to launch an assault on the Houthis, with the Saudis leading aerial combat and Yemeni forces fighting on the ground.

"Today, I announce the start of military operations to retake the remaining territory of the republic and extend the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire national territory," Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi said in a televised address.

Yemen's Houthis on Sunday cut a vital supply route linking Taiz with Aden -- the interim capital of the internationally recognised government -- according to four security sources.

"We were informed that the Houthis had taken control of the al-Safiya area, where they cut the main road and took control of the police station," a police source in the area told AFP.

Three sources with the Yemeni military confirmed Houthi control over the area and supply route, with the group effectively encircling Taiz city.

An Israeli airstrike has killed a Palestinian in the city of Khan Younis in Gaza, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, which added that another person was seriously injured in the strike.

Iran will upgrade the range of its missiles following the war with the US as American forces are now positioned as much as 1,000 km (621 miles) away from the Iranian coast, Army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia told Fars news on Sunday.

"During this war, we concluded that we absolutely must increase the range of our missiles, and we have now moved in that direction," he said.

In late September, Israeli troops raided the Tulkarem area and posted notices on the Banat Yaqub shrine in Irtah, south of the city.

The two-story building, with its Roman-era lower floor and Mamluk-era prayer room above, would now be under the control of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The shrine and its grounds cover no more than 300 square meters, according to Suhail Salman of the Popular Campaign Against the Wall and Settlements, a Palestinian grassroots group, yet the notices claimed more than 10 dunams (about 2.5 acres) of surrounding land, taking in dozens of inhabited homes.

The shrine is the latest site in a campaign that uses heritage protection to seize land and override Palestinian jurisdiction, rights groups and archaeologists say.

From Silwan in East Jerusalem to Shiloh, Tel Rumeida in Hebron, and Sebastia near Nablus, excavations have arrived alongside roads, visitor centres, and restrictions on access that turn Palestinian land into settler-run tourist sites.

Iraq's state-owned Oil Tanker Company transported 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude aboard a very large crude carrier (VLCC) through the Strait of Hormuz, in what its director general described on Saturday as the company's first such operation in decades.

The announcement means the company is transporting the crude through the strait rather than delivering it at the port of Basra, giving state oil marketer SOMO greater flexibility in how and where it sells the crude.

The company's director general, Ali Qais Abdul Jabbar, said in a statement that the move could allow SOMO to take advantage of better sales and pricing opportunities.

Iraq's Oil Tanker Company is also working to buy and own specialised crude oil tankers to expand its fleet and strengthen its ability to compete with regional shipping companies, he added.

Iraq has previously secured Iranian permission for Iraqi oil tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed during its conflict with the US.

 A tanker was hit by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, causing damage to its engine room, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Sunday, without specifying when the incident occurred.

The crew was safe and no environmental impact had been reported at the time the notice was issued, UKMTO added.

UKMTO WARNING 150-26 Click here to view the full product⤵️ https://t.co/cavM9BnZeQ #MaritimeSecurity #MarSec https://t.co/bNxTC8oktw

— UKMTO Operations Centre (@UK_MTO) October 4, 2026

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that there is no military solution to his country's conflict with the United States, with talks on ending the war apparently at an impasse.

"If our enemies again choose the path of military confrontation, our response will be stronger than before, and we will defend ourselves with even more force," Araghchi said at a gathering of foreign ambassadors. "There is no military solution, nor any solution based on new sanctions."

The US aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush arrived in Thailand's resort island of Phuket on Sunday with about 4,800 personnel aboard for a rest-and-recreation break after six months supporting US operations in the Middle East.

For the last six months, the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier and its strike group supported Operation Epic Fury and the US naval blockade in the US Central Command area of responsibility to secure maritime security and stability in the Middle East, according to the US Navy.

Phuket is the first port call for the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group since departing Norfolk, Virginia, and Mayport, Florida, in March, the US Navy said in a statement.

The Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until seven Iranian conditions set out in a June interim agreement with the US are met, Nournews reported Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as saying on Sunday, a few days after Tehran received Washington's reply to its diplomatic proposal.

“The Americans, who say something different in the media, have recently put forward proposals through a mediator. But they must understand that the period of dragging out the process and dictating one-sided demands is over," Ghalibaf was quoted as saying.

"The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is completely clear and firm, and the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until our seven conditions, based on the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, are met."