Yemen conflict escalates with Houthi capture of Red Sea city and Saudi airstrikes

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Saudi authorities on Thursday issued brief alerts warning of potential danger in two areas near the border with Yemen, after the Iran-backed Houthis said Riyadh launched dozens of airstrikes on Yemen.

The warning alerts were issued for the city of Abha and the Khamis Mushait area -- both of which were targeted by the Houthis earlier this week -- before being lifted very shortly afterwards, the Saudi civil defence said.

The U.S. government announced new sanctions on Thursday against firms and individuals that it says are aiding Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies in the Middle East as it intensified its campaign to isolate Iran economically.

The latest sanctions are part of the Treasury Department's "Operation Economic Outcast," first announced August 24, which aim to cut off the revenues that Tehran is using to fund the war, build missiles, conduct cyberattacks and support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.

Thursday's actions by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control hit entities and individuals in Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey that Washington said supported Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iraqi Shia paramilitary group under the command of the IRGC, and Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia party, Treasury said in a statement.

Treasury also announced a settlement with a U.S. citizen who agreed to pay $1.43 million to settle their potential civil liability for 39 apparent violations of sanctions on Iran, and issued a broad whistleblower appeal for tips on any sanctions evasion or money laundering by Iran.

OFAC also issued a bulletin making clear that it would deny most Iran-related licensing requests, except in exceptional circumstances, and said its licensing division had immediately begun denying "the vast majority" of outstanding Iran-related specific license requests.

The Israeli military said it used 1,100 tonnes of explosives to detonate the two kilometre-long tunnels beneath the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon.

Footage shared on social media shows the moment of the explosion which could be seen as far as Metula in northern Israel. The massive blast resulted in a 4.1 magnitude earthquake which was felt across South Lebanon.

علي الطاهر pic.twitter.com/43xqPgyiPu

— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) September 10, 2026

The Israeli military is preparing to blow up tunnels beneath the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, Israel's public broadcaster, Kan, said Thursday evening.

Israel announced that it had captured the highly strategic hill earlier this month after weeks of fighting with Hezbollah. Israel claims one of Hezbollah's largest complexes lies beneath the ridge.

A new round of negotiations will take place between Israel and Lebanon on 15 and 16 September in Rome, reported the Israeli public broadcaster, Kan.

Algeria has decided to close its airspace to all UAE-registered civilian and military aircraft from September 11, according to Ennahar TV.

Algeria will however exempt UAE commercial flights to and from Algiers from the airspace ban until the end of 2026.

The lightning Houthi advance down Yemen's Red Sea coast this week came with direct guidance from Iran's Revolutionary Guards seeking to open a new front in Iran's war with the U.S., according to Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources.

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