US launches new round of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen

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Yemen's Houthis have claimed to have staged a second attack on the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier.

The group's military said it launched “a number of drones and ballistic and cruise missiles” at the ship in an attack that lasted for "several hours".

The attack “succeeded in thwarting a hostile attack the enemy was preparing to launch against our country”, it said.

The Houthis earlier claimed to have launched more than a dozen cruise and ballistic missiles at the carrier in an initial attack, without providing evidence.

The US military has posted a video of jets taking off an aircraft carrier, writing that its forces "continue operations against Iran-backed Houthi terrorists".

This comes a few hours after Yemeni media reported fresh strikes in Hodeidah province.

CENTCOM forces continue operations against Iran-backed Houthi terrorists... pic.twitter.com/zEWykoDKQR

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 17, 2025

Syria's interim government will take part on Monday in an annual international conference to gather aid pledges for the country, facing dire humanitarian problems and an uncertain political transition after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

The conference has been hosted by the European Union in Brussels since 2017 - but took place without the government of Assad, who was shunned for his brutal actions in a civil war that began in 2011.

After Assad's overthrow in December, EU officials hope to use the conference as a fresh start, despite concerns about deadly violence this month that pitted the new, Islamist rulers against Assad loyalists.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani is expected to take part in the event, along with dozens of European and Arab ministers and representatives of international organisations.

(Reuters)

Israel has claimed to have targeted the headquarters of Hezbollah's special ops unit in its airstrikes on southern Lebanon earlier today.

"The existence of these terrorist infrastructures constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon," the Israeli military wrote on X earlier today.

Four people were killed on Sunday in Israeli airstrikes in several locations in southern Lebanon.

Houthi media has reported in the past few minutes a new round of US airstrikes in Yemen.

Al-Masirah TV reports that two raids took place on the town of Zabid in Hodeidah governorate.

The channel's correspondent said that the strikes hit a cotton gin in the town.

We'll bring you more as we get it.

Oman's Foreign Ministry expressed "great concern" at the US' military attacks against the Houthis on Sunday, and warned that the escalation will only increase instability in the region.

It called on both sides to avoid further escalation and search for peaceful solutions to the conflict.

The head of Israel's Internal Security Agency said Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to dismiss him was unrelated to Hamas's 7 October, 2023 attack, suggesting instead the motive was largely political.

"I took responsibility for the agency's part [in failing to prevent the attack] ... it is clear that the intent behind my dismissal is not related to 7 October," Ronen Bar wrote in a statement.

"The prime minister's expectation of a personal loyalty that contradicts the public interest is an entirely improper expectation."

(AFP)

US fighter jets shot down 11 drones on Sunday fired by Yemen's Houthis, a US official told Reuters, following Houthi claims of an attempt to attack a US aircraft carrier off Yemen's coast.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the drones did not come close to the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, which has played a key role in US President Donald Trump's strikes on Yemen.

The US official added the US military also tracked a Houthi missile that failed in flight and splashed down in the waters off Yemen. The US military took no action because it was not deemed a threat, the official said.

(Reuters)

Yemen's Health Ministry has raised the death toll from today's US strikes to 53, including 5 children and 2 women.

Ninety-eight people were injured in the bombings, including 18 children and one woman, it said.

Hezbollah has "categorically rejected" claims by the Syrian Defence Ministry that its fighters were responsible for the abduction of three Syrian soldiers earlier today.

The ministry said earlier that Hezbollah fighters had executed three members of the Syrian security forces in Lebanon after abducting them in a cross-border ambush in Homs province.

Local media has more on the cross-border attack in Syria we reported earlier.

"A group from the Hezbollah militia... kidnapped three members of the Syrian army on the Syrian-Lebanese border... before taking them to Lebanese territory and eliminating them," Syria's state news agency SANA quoted the Defence Ministry as saying.

(AFP)

The leader of Yemen's Houthi rebels has called for a "million-strong" march in defiance of Sundy's deadly US strikes across the country.

"I call on our dear people to go out [on Monday] on the anniversary of the Battle of Badr in a million-strong march in Sanaa and the rest of the governorates," Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a televised address, referring to a celebrated military victory by the Prophet Mohammed.

(AFP)

The UN called on the US military and Yemen's Houthi rebels to cease "all military activity" on Sunday after a new round of deadly strikes and threats of reprisal.

"We note with concern the launching of multiple strikes on Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen by the United States overnight, which reportedly resulted in death and injuries," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"We are also concerned about the continued threats by the Houthis to resume their attacks targeting vessels in the Red Sea."

(AFP)

Two people were killed in an Israeli strike in a town in south Lebanon this evening, according to health authorities.

The strike took place in the town of Ainatha.

The Israeli military is yet to comment on the strike.

Three members of Syria's security forces have been killed in an attack on the Lebanon border, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting.

The Defence Ministry said the ambush was carried out by Hezbollah fighters, which crossed the border into Homs province.

Israel's far right has lauded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's move to oust the head of the country's domestic intelligence agency Ronen Bar.

"This is something I have been demanding for a long time," the far-right former national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on X.

“Better late than never," extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on his Telegram channel.

The US conducted around 47 air strikes against targets across Yemen, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in his statement.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree has issued a statement in the past hour offering more details on the claimed attack on the USS Harry Truman.

The group launched 18 ballistic and cruise missiles at the vessel, Saree said, without elaborating on the result of the attack.

The US is yet to comment on the Houthis claims.

The Houthis will continue to take action to defend Palestinians in Gaza despite US threats to intensify airstrikes in Yemen, the deputy head of the group's media office said today,

“Sanaa will remain Gaza’s shield and support and will not abandon it no matter the challenges,” Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the office, wrote on social media.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday informed the head of the Shin Bet, the country's internal security agency, that he will ask the government to dismiss him.

"Due to ongoing lack of trust, I have decided to bring a proposal to the government to end the tenure of the Shin Bet chief" Ronen Bar, the prime minister said in a statement.

Yemen's Houthi rebels claim they have targeted a US aircraft carrier with ballistic missiles and drones in the Red Sea, but have shown no proof of it, according to Reuters.

An Israeli negotiating team is currently discussing the captives issue with Egyptian mediators in Cairo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Sunday.

"Under the directive of Prime Minister Netanyahu, representatives of the negotiation team are currently meeting in Egypt with senior Egyptian officials to discuss the issue of the hostages," the statement said, a day after announcing that a team would continue indirect ceasefire negotiations with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Israel has heightened its air defence readiness amid concerns that Yemen’s Houthi group may retaliate following recent US airstrikes.

According to Channel 13, the Israeli army increased its aerial defence preparedness in anticipation of missile attacks from Yemen.

The military is investigating whether a missile that landed in Sharm El-Sheikh was intended for Israel or nearby US military assets.

The US strikes targeted Houthi positions in several Yemeni provinces following threats from Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi to disrupt shipping bound for Israel in support of Gaza.

President Donald Trump warned the Houthis and Iran that the US would respond with "overwhelming lethal force" if attacks continued.

The Houthis vowed to retaliate, rejecting Trump's accusations of threatening global navigation and maintaining their blockade targets only Israeli-linked vessels. 

US strikes on Yemen will continue until the Houthis no longer have the capability to attack global shipping and the US Navy, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the CBS News "Face the Nation" program on Sunday.

He said there was no talk of US ground raids in Yemen, adding: "I don't think there's a necessity for it right now."

Rubio also said that there was "no way" the Houthis would have the ability to attack global shipping without support from Iran.

The United States will keep attacking Yemen's Houthis until they end attacks on shipping, the US defence secretary said on Sunday, as the Iran-aligned group signalled it could escalate in response to deadly US strikes the day before.

"The minute the Houthis say we'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones, this campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News.

"This is about stopping the shooting at assets ... in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States, and Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long," he said. "They better back off."

Turkey on Sunday called on the European Union to unconditionally lift sanctions on Syria, ahead of an international aid conference in Brussels to which the war-torn country's new authorities have been invited.

Ankara views such a step as necessary for a "peaceful transition" in the country, Turkey's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The European Union on Monday will host the ninth international conference in support of Syria. For the first time, representatives of Syria's government - the new interim authorities - have been invited to attend.

The event aims to raise international support for Syria's transition and recovery after more than 13 years of civil war.

EU foreign ministers have warned that the sanctions they already eased could be reimposed if Syria's new leaders break promises to respect the rights of minorities and move towards democracy.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has spoken by phone with US President Donald Trump and discussed efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and to restore stability in Syria, Erdogan's office said on Sunday.

It said Erdogan told Trump that the United States needed to end CAATSA sanctions, finalise the F-16 procurement process and Turkey's re-participation in the F-35 programme in order to develop defence industry cooperation between the two countries.

Iraqi security forces have seized more than a tonne of captagon tablets smuggled from Syria via Turkey, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

Ministry spokesman General Moqdad Miri said the Narcotics Directorate "seized a truck from Syria, bound for Iraq, via Turkey, transporting 1.1 tonnes" of the powerful synthetic stimulant.

The drugs were transferred from a Turkish truck to an Iraqi truck near a border crossing between the two countries, according to video footage released by the interior ministry.

General Miri said there had been arrests, but did not elaborate on the number or nationality of those detained.

US strikes killed "multiple" Houthi leaders in Yemen, the White House said Sunday, adding Iran was "put on notice" to stop backing the rebel group and its attacks on Red Sea shipping.

The airstrikes Saturday "actually targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out," National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News.

"We just hit them with overwhelming force and put Iran on notice that enough is enough," he said in a separate appearance on Fox News.

Israeli military strikes have killed at least 14 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Sunday.

Israel's military claims its forces have intervened to thwart threats by "terrorists" approaching its troops or planting bombs since the ceasefire took effect.

Gaza's Health Ministry said most of the latest deaths took place on Saturday when an Israeli airstrike killed nine Palestinians including four journalists in the town of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed over 48,572 Palestinians since 7 October 2023. An additional 112,032 have been injured.

Local sources told Wafa that its hospitals reported 14 new deaths, while 15 bodies or remains pulled from the rubble had been retrieved. 

The toll does not include the 14,000 civilians missing or trapped under the rubble that the ministry has presumed dead.

Military sources in Israel expect the government to approve military operations in the Gaza Strip if there is no last-minute breakthrough in the ceasefire talks with Hamas, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Citing these sources, the newspaper said that the Israeli army’s Intelligence Directorate, Shin Bet, and the Southern Command have expanded their list of potential Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip.

"The targets will enable the government to escalate operations in stages to exert pressure on the Hamas leadership if negotiations for the release of the hostages falter," the sources said.

One other option being discussed is reoccupying areas in the northern Gaza Strip, the sources added.

Hamas has refused to extend the initial phase of the ceasefire deal as per the agreement and wants to begin discussing the second stage, announcing its readiness to release a US-Israeli captive as a gesture of good will.

Israel’s Army Radio broadcast recordings Sunday morning of the former chief of staff Herzi Halevi in which he admitted his army’s failure to repel the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack, acknowledging that the Palestinian group had "deceived" the Israeli army.

Hezbollah condemned on Sunday large-scale military strikes by the US against Yemen, according to a statement.

The strikes on Saturday targeting Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have killed at least 31 people, according to the health ministry.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Sunday threatened a "decisive" response to any attack, after US President Donald Trump ordered a wave of air strikes against Yemen's Houthi rebels and warned Tehran to stop backing the group.

Iranian Guards chief Hossein Salami denounced Trump's threats in a televised speech on Sunday, adding that "Iran will not wage war, but if anyone threatens, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses".

Iran on Sunday once again denied aiding Yemen's Houthi rebels after the United States launched a wave of airstrikes against them and President Donald Trump warned that Tehran would be held "fully accountable" for their actions.

The US and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the Houthis and the US Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said were bound for the militant group, which controls Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and the country's north.

Gen. Hossein Salami, head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, denied his country was involved in the Houthis' attacks, saying it "plays no role in setting the national or operational policies" of the militant groups it is allied with across the region, according to state-run TV.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a post on X, urged the US to halt the strikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran's foreign policy.

Iran's foreign ministry on Sunday condemned deadly US strikes against Yemen's Tehran-backed Houthi rebels, saying they violated international law.

Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei "strongly condemned the brutal air strikes by the US" in a statement, denouncing them a "gross violation of the principles of the UN Charter".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his US counterpart Marco Rubio in a phone call Saturday that all sides should refrain from the "use of force" in Yemen and enter a "political dialogue", Moscow said on Sunday.

Moscow said Rubio informed Lavrov about Washington's decision to launch strikes against Yemen's Houthis, in a call that came after the two countries have relaunched dialogue since Donald Trump took office.

"In response to argumentation put forward by American representatives, Sergei Lavrov stressed the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue so as to find a solution that would prevent further bloodshed," Russia's foreign ministry said.

Russia last year condemned US and British strikes on Yemen and has held talks with the Houthis, who are backed by Moscow's ally Iran.

A massive explosion believed to have been triggered by a scrap dealer handling an old bomb killed at least 16 people in Syria, civil defence officials said Sunday.

The blast on Saturday in the Mediterranean city of Latakia demolished a four-storey building, ripping down slabs of concrete and crushing residents underneath chunks of their flattened homes.

Rescue officials pulled out the bodies through the night - including five children - as they searched for survivors.

Syria's civil defence team said 16 people had been killed "as a result of an explosion in a hardware store" in the apartment block.

جهود متواصلة لفرق البحث البحث والإنقاذ في الدفاع المدني السوري لإنقاذ العالقين والبحث عن مفقودين تحت الأنقاض بعد انفجار بمركز خرداوات أسفل مبنى مكوّن من أربعة طوابق في حي الرمل الجنوبي بمدينة اللاذقية، يوم السبت 15 آذار، والذي أدى لفاجعة راح ضحيتها 15 قتيلاً بينهم 4 نساء و5… pic.twitter.com/FWAuAi9KAT

— الدفاع المدني السوري (@SyriaCivilDefe) March 16, 2025

Israel's military said it killed two Hezbollah militants Sunday in two separate strikes on south Lebanon.

The Lebanese health ministry confirmed one person was killed in an Israeli strike and state media reported the other fatality.

"Earlier today, the IDF struck and eliminated two Hezbollah terrorists who were surveillance operatives and took part in directing terror attacks in the area of Yater and Meiss El Jabal in southern Lebanon," the military said in a statement.

The National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone carried out "a strike on a vehicle in the town of Meiss El Jabal, resulting in one fatality".

مراسل #ميسيّات: ارتقاء شهيد جراء الاستهداف المعادي الذي نفّذه الطيران المسير الاسرائيلي مستهدفاً بصاروخين منطقة عبد النبي شمال شرق مدينة ميس الجبل عند الساعة 8:40 من صباح اليوم pic.twitter.com/SdjEmo0QDf

— Mhd Zahreddine (@mhd_zahreddine) March 16, 2025