US and Iran expected to reach Hormuz deal soon

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Colombia’s new right-wing government, led by President Abelardo de la Espriella, has outlined plans to restore diplomatic and economic relations with Israel, marking a significant reversal after the country’s previous administration severed ties two years ago over the genocidal war in Gaza. 

Bogota cut diplomatic relations with Israel in May 2024 following months of escalating tensions.  

Then-president Gustavo Petro said he could not maintain relations with what he described as a “genocidal government”, amid Israel’s nearly three-year war in Gaza. 

Since taking office however, De la Espriella has moved quickly to strengthen Colombia’s ties with Israel and pursue a markedly different foreign policy from his predecessor, including plans to withdraw Colombia’s intervention in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) case concerning Gaza. 

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Israeli troops infiltrated a Lebanese village placed under the control of Lebanon's army as part of a June agreement and built an earthen barrier overnight Friday, Lebanese state media and the local mayor said.

"An Israeli occupation army force advanced into the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiya shortly after midnight... and erected a new earthen barrier near the town square," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported on Saturday.

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Yemen's armed forces spokesperson says it carried out an operation against the Iran-backed Houthi group amd affiliated "militias".

Hamas said on Saturday it remained ready to proceed with a US-backed Gaza peace plan and urged pressure on Israel, which insists it did not agree to the latest part of the deal.

Hamas informed US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace that it stood by the latest stage of the plan, under which the group would hand over weapons to a nascent Palestinian governing committee in the war-battered Palestinian territory.

"Hamas and other factions have confirmed to mediators their readiness to begin implementing the agreement and move to the second phase, provided it receives Israeli approval and that Israel begins implementing the agreement," a Hamas official told AFP.

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Oman said Saturday that negotiations with Iran about the future administration of the Strait of Hormuz were "positive and constructive", but warned against repeated attacks on shipping as Tehran pressed its blockade of the vital waterway.

Oman's foreign ministry condemned "repeated attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz", without naming Iran. It added that "ongoing negotiations regarding navigation arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz are proceeding in a positive and constructive atmosphere", and urged against any actions that might jeopardise the progress.

Lebanese authorities detained a former senior Syrian military officer who commanded an army division under ousted President Bashar Assad and might hand him over to Damascus on alleged crimes that he committed, Lebanese judicial and security officials said Saturday.

After the fall of Assad’s government in December 2024 when Syrian insurgent groups captured his seat of power in Damascus, a number of military and security officers fled to neighboring Lebanon, where some still remain.

If Maj. Gen. Adel Issa is sent to his home country, it will be the first time Beirut has handed back an Assad-era official. Since the ouster, dozens of members of Assad’s security agencies blamed for atrocities have been arrested and put on trial in Syria.

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A ship was hit by a projectile off Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire that was extinguished but no casualties, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

"A verified source has reported that a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile which caused a fire that has been extinguished. There is no reported environmental impact. The vessel and crew are reported as safe," it said.

Yemen government forces launched attacks against Houthi positions across several front lines on Saturday, after days of fighting that have killed dozens and spilled across the border into Saudi Arabia.

Armed forces spokesman Colonel Majid al-Nuzaili said the operation targeted Houthi positions and military capabilities along several axes in response to attacks on government forces and civilians in Marib and Hadramawt.

Al-Nuzaili said the operation demonstrated the "unity of command and control" of government forces, warning that an attack on any single front would be considered an attack on all government-held fronts.

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Eyewitnesses report explosions heard in Marib, Yemen, according to local media, amid unconfirmed reports of Houthi drone activity in the area.

Iran said on Saturday that a deal with Oman on control of the Strait of Hormuz was close but would not be enough to free up the waterway, and the United Arab Emirates said Iran had hit another ship there. A U.S. official, who declined to be identified, said on Friday that Washington anticipated an agreement soon between Iran and Oman, which sit on either side of the strait, so that normal oil traffic could resume.

Agreement between the two countries over control of the strategic waterway is seen as crucial to a wider agreement to end the conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran and Oman were "very close" to agreement on a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz but that reopening the strait depended on other conditions, including U.S. compensation to Iran.

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Yemen government forces launched coordinated attacks against Houthi positions across several front lines on Saturday, as days of missile and drone strikes pushed the country towards its most serious escalation in years.

The exchanges mark one of the sharpest breakdowns in the relative calm that followed Yemen's 2022 UN-brokered truce, which dramatically reduced nationwide fighting and left the country's main front lines largely frozen.

But the renewed violence is unfolding in a very different regional environment, with Yemen's unresolved conflict increasingly intersecting with the wider confrontation involving Iran, the US and their respective allies.

So, is Yemen going back to war after the deadly exchange of fire?

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Iran and Oman are "very close" to reaching an accord on a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday, though he said there would be conditions, including compensation for what Tehran says were US violations of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding.

Iran and Oman were discussing a temporary shipping route while technical and legal issues surrounding a permanent route were resolved, Araqchi added.

Activists have raised concerns over the previous record of a judge set to preside over a post-trial hearing which will decide whether the actions of five Palestine Action protesters had a "terror connection".

The activists will face possible terror convictions in the hearing set for 21 August, ahead of their sentencing on 4 September. The defendants and members of the jury were not made aware of the possible terror convictions during the course of the trial.

The trial, which concluded with the defendants being convicted of criminal damage, relates to the spray painting and splintering of windows of a Barclays bank branch in Lancashire in 2024 over the firm's links to Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems at the time.

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Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said one of its vessels was targeted by a missile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz early on Saturday, adding that no injuries were reported and the situation had been brought under control, the state news agency WAM reported.

WAM gave no details on the vessel, its cargo, possible damage or responsibility for the incident.

Turkey is restricting commercial ship traffic entering the Black Sea after growing concerns over security risks, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Iran's IRGC spokesman says the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz depends on the United States fully accepting Iran's conditions, and not to negotiations between Iran and Oman.

Israeli forces are renewing their shelling of areas in the outskirts of al-Mansouri in southern Lebanon, according to AlAraby TV.

Iraq's oil minister says Baghdad is in talks with Iran to allow Iraqi oil exports, but that the arrangement is not yet active, according to Iraq's state news agency.

The minister added that the country currently produces 2.7 million BPD and exports half of the output.

Lebanese state media NNA says Israeli forces are conducting an incursion near Mays al-Jabal in the country's south, reporting shelling and machine gunfire.

A Libyan oil company confirmed that a refinery in Zawiya sustained a drone attack overnight, causing a crude oil leak which has since been contained. The incident resulted in no injuries or fires, according to Saturday's statement.

Lebanon and Israel have agreed a shortlist of countries that could send troops to verify the disarmament of Hezbollah under a US brokered agreement, a Lebanese official said on Friday, with the United States due to pick countries from the list.

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The Israeli military said it was investigating reports of a suspected "infiltration" near the illegal settlement of Ofarim in the occupied West Bank, after triggering sirens.

Multiple homes were reported damaged early on Saturday morning after Israeli shelling targeted areas near al-Mansouri in southern Lebanon, according to local media.

At least three Palestinians were injured by Israeli gunfire in areas north of Khan Yunis, according to health officials from Gaza's Nasser Medical Complex.