United News of Bangladesh

Britain will deploy Royal Air Force jets to protect Saudi Arabia from Houthi attacks, as violence across the Middle East continues to claim lives, including in Yemen and Gaza. British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said RAF Typhoon jets would conduct defensive air patrols over Saudi Arabia to protect cities, civilians and critical infrastructure. The UK will also send a military transport aircraft and an unspecified number of military advisers, while extending its aerial refuelling support for Saudi aircraft by 90 days. British jets will intercept incoming missiles and drones but will not attack Houthi positions on the ground. In southern Yemen, the death toll from a Houthi missile strike on a government military training camp in Shabwa province has risen to 73, according to Governor Awad Ibn al-Wazir. The recruits, aged 18 to 20, were targeted at the al-Alam camp, with some still missing a day after Monday’s attack. In the besieged city of Taiz, a Houthi missile struck a residential area on Tuesday, killing two teenage girls and injuring six others, local authorities said. The UN warned that the siege has left civilians at grave risk, with soaring prices and shortages of food and other necessities. UN human rights chief Volker Türk called for humanitarian aid to enter the city and for civilians wishing to leave to be allowed to do so safely. Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an apartment in Gaza before dawn killed a husband and wife and wounded others, according to Shifa Hospital. The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas militant. Gaza’s health ministry said more than 1,500 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces since the ceasefire agreed last year. Separately, a senior Qatari official said Israel’s political leaders were not committed to a negotiated end to the Gaza war. Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press that there was currently no Israeli partner for peace. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also suggested possible further joint action against Iran in a video call with US President Donald Trump, saying the two leaders had a job to finish together. Meanwhile, Turkey has submitted to parliament a mutual defence agreement signed with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan for ratification. The pact stipulates that an armed attack against one signatory would be treated as an attack against all three and provides for closer military cooperation and intelligence sharing.

The death toll from a Houthi missile strike on a government military camp in southern Yemen rose to 60 people, primarily new recruits, making it the deadliest strike since fighting in the country began escalating three months ago, Yemeni officials said Tuesday. At least a dozen people were still missing a day after the Iranian-backed rebels hit the al-Alam training camp in the southern province of Shabwa with ballistic missiles, three officials said. Monday's strike was part of a recent surge of fighting in Yemen, which started when forces from the internationally-recognized government and Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport in July, shattering a 2022 ceasefire deal that largely stopped fighting in the country's civil war. The Houthis have also fired missiles and drones on Saudi Arabia, which has struggled to counter the Houthi attacks, even with far superior U.S.-supplied arms. The strike on the al-Alam camp hit while recruits were lining up in formation for a training session. Videos from the area circulated online and analyzed by The Associated Press showed many motionless bodies lying on the sandy ground of the camp. More than 200 other recruits were also wounded, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. One of the officials, from the local government, said several suffered serious injuries and were transferred to hospitals in other provinces in life-threatening condition. He said at least 15 of the recruits killed were from a single Yemeni tribe. In televised comments aired by the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite news television, Shabwa governor Awad Ibn al-Wazir said the dead were new recruits from across Shabwa being trained to provide security in the province and not combat operations. “These recruits have never before participated in any mobilization or on any front,” he said. “They have no connection to the front lines … they were (part of) a non-offensive security force.” The Shabwa provincial government said in a statement Monday that the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles on the camp. The Houthis claimed the attack, saying they had killed and wounded dozens but did not provide further details. The camp, which was previously used by a militia backed by the United Arab Emirates, is located in the Jardan district, north of the provincial capital of Ataq. It sits on a crucial supply line connecting to the government-controlled province of Marib. Shabwa and Marib, along with neighboring Hadramawt province, contain what has been dubbed the Yemeni government’s “triangle of power,” a strategic area in which the country’s oil and gas production is located. On Tuesday, authorities in Saudi Arabia issued an attack warning for the capital area in the late morning followed by the sound of an explosion in northern Riyadh where the King Khalid International Airport is located. The airport has come under repeated Houthi attacks this month, forcing the facility to suspend its operations. The all-clear was given a short time later and Saudi Arabia said a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis had been intercepted. Yemen first plunged into civil war in 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year in an attempt to restore the government to power. The conflict created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, and killed more than 150,000 people.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for re-election, nine days ahead of Israel's parliamentary elections. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump announced his “Complete and Total Endorsement” of Netanyahu in the upcoming vote. Describing Netanyahu as a “Great Warrior Prime Minister” and a key US partner in confronting Iran, Trump said Washington might have to handle the task itself if the Israeli leader failed to win re-election. “If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so,” Trump wrote. Netanyahu thanked Trump for his backing in a post on X. In a phone interview with US news outlet Axios on Sunday, Trump said he had started planning the endorsement earlier in the week. Asked whether he could work with another Israeli leader, Trump said, “Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Who wants to take the chance?” Israel is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on October 27, marking the country's first national vote since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. Trump's endorsement comes as Netanyahu faces a closely contested election, with most opinion polls indicating that his coalition is likely to fall short of the 61 seats required to form a government, according to Axios.

Egypt’s top security body has agreed to provide support to Saudi Arabia to help it defend itself against escalating attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, marking another front in the ongoing Iran war. Saudi Arabia has been seeking military assistance from its allies as the Houthis continue to target airports and oil infrastructure across the kingdom with drones and missiles capable of changing direction mid-flight, making interception difficult. The attacks have killed at least 19 people, disrupted thousands of flights and shaken global markets. Also on Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s defence minister met with the president of the United Arab Emirates to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation, according to the UAE’s state news agency WAM. Relations between the two countries have been strained in recent years as they supported different factions within the Yemeni coalition fighting the Houthis. Egypt’s announcement came a month after a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The National Defence Council, chaired by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, decided to provide “all possible forms of support” to help Saudi Arabia defend its security, according to a presidential statement. The statement did not specify the nature of the assistance. On Saturday, el-Sissi called on parliament to authorise him to deploy troops and military equipment abroad. Civilians killed in Yemen and Saudi Arabia The escalation has threatened civilians in both countries, while Yemen has seen a return to civil war. Aden, the interim capital of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, has come under attack in recent days, with its airport and a government-used palace targeted. On Sunday, an airstrike killed at least nine people, including five children and two women, in the Houthi-controlled northern province of Saada, according to the rebels’ Health Ministry. Ministry spokesperson Anees al-Asbahi said the strike hit a house in Sahar district, wounding 19 others, including 11 children. Some of the injured were in critical condition. Al-Asbahi blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack, but there was no immediate comment from the kingdom. Houthi-run Al-Masirah television broadcast footage showing people clearing debris by hand and pulling two young people from the rubble. The Houthis said Saudi-led attacks had killed or wounded more than 30 people over the past 24 hours. Their military spokesperson, Brig Gen Yahya Saree, claimed that 110 missiles or airstrikes had targeted civilian sites in Sanaa and other cities. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim. Meanwhile, a Saudi helicopter gunship crashed near the southwestern city of Najran, killing its two crew members, a Saudi military spokesperson said, attributing the incident to a technical malfunction. The Houthis had earlier claimed responsibility for shooting it down. Saudi Civil Defence authorities later said a projectile fired by the Houthis landed in a residential area of Najran province, injuring six people. Both sides trade accusations as mediation efforts emerge The Houthis have resumed attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent weeks over the kingdom’s support for Yemen’s internationally recognised government in the civil war. The rebels have also recently seized more territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key alternative shipping route to the Strait of Hormuz. Houthi chief negotiator Mohamed Abdulsalam on Sunday blamed Saudi Arabia for the escalation, saying the rebels had warned the kingdom against attacking Sanaa airport in mid-July. The strike prevented an Iranian aircraft carrying a Houthi delegation from landing after the group returned from the funeral of Iran’s supreme leader, who was killed in the opening strikes of the war in February. Angered by Saudi Arabia’s longstanding blockade, the Houthis subsequently announced their own blockade against the kingdom. Abdulsalam said Oman had proposed a five-day truce during which the two sides would meet to resolve their differences. He said the Houthis had agreed to halt attacks if Saudi Arabia met their “humanitarian demands”, without elaborating. He accused Riyadh of showing no “indication that it is ready to deal positively” with the demands, adding that the rebels launched their offensive along the Red Sea coast shortly afterwards. A Saudi diplomat said last week that the kingdom had invited the Houthis to a meeting in Oman in July “to resolve outstanding differences and bring an end to this escalation”, but the rebels declined to participate. On Sunday, Al-Azhar, Egypt’s leading Sunni Muslim religious institution, called for the formation of an “urgent mediation committee” to help end conflicts across the Arab region.

Israeli police on Saturday launched an investigation into an alleged attack on diplomats visiting the occupied West Bank village of Taybeh, after footage circulated online appeared to show several diplomats being assaulted. Public broadcaster Kan reported that representatives from France, Belgium and Poland were among them. Israel’s military said the visit had not been coordinated with it and no soldiers were present. Meanwhile, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out airstrikes in Yemen’s southwestern Dhamar province that killed three children and wounded more than a dozen people. The strikes reportedly hit homes in al-Ar village in Dawran Aness district. Saudi Arabia did not immediately comment. Separately, Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine was undergoing surgery after being beaten by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Her daughter said Levine suffered a nearly severed finger, a broken rib, multiple fractured vertebrae and lacerations. Levine said her press-marked helmet and protective vest likely prevented more serious injuries.

Two oil supertankers carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude oil each caught fire after hitting naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Saturday. In a statement published on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC Navy said the second incident occurred on Saturday morning, triggering a massive fire aboard the vessel and leaving it unable to move. The navy claimed that the tanker had switched off its GPS and radar systems and was attempting to cross the strategic waterway through an unauthorised route. The explosion occurred in the vessel’s engine room, it added. Earlier on Saturday, the IRGC Navy reported a similar explosion involving another supertanker that was allegedly attempting to transit the strait through an unauthorised route. The vessel also caught fire after reportedly hitting a naval mine, according to the statement. Iran tightened restrictions on passage through the Strait of Hormuz on February 28, barring safe passage for vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States following their joint strikes on Iranian territory.

At least six explosions were heard on Thursday near a palace used by Yemen’s internationally recognised government in the southern port city of Aden, triggering panic among residents, witnesses said. Iran-backed Houthi rebels based in northern Yemen quickly claimed responsibility for the attack. A security official said at least two explosions occurred on a hill near Maashiq Palace, while two others were heard near its security gate. The blasts prompted residents to flee the area. A government official said members of the country's leadership who were in Aden were safe, while many senior officials were living in exile. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to comment publicly. The attack came as fighting between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition intensified amid the wider Iran war. It was a rare attack targeting the area around the palace. The Houthis said they had struck a military operations headquarters associated with what they called the “Saudi enemy”, as part of their campaign against Saudi targets, including airports and oil infrastructure. Earlier on Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it had intercepted a cruise missile over Saudi Arabia’s Medina province. Flight-tracking platform Flightradar24 reported that dozens of flights were cancelled or delayed at Jeddah airport following the incident. The coalition did not identify those responsible for the missile attack. Houthi military spokesperson Brig Gen Yahya Saree denied that the rebels had carried it out. The group had previously pledged not to target airports in the Saudi holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia also announced that it had destroyed a drone over its Eastern Province, a major oil-producing region.

Iran said Wednesday that a cargo ship sank after striking a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, as tensions continued to rise across the Middle East amid reports of attacks on shipping, Saudi oil facilities and Gaza. Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official said the country must remain prepared for war even as it negotiates with the United States. In Gaza, an Israeli strike killed a woman, according to hospital officials. Iran says cargo ship sank after hitting naval mine A cargo ship sank after striking a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps navy said, marking the first time Iran has reported a ship sinking after hitting a mine during the war. Meanwhile, shipping officials said two Singapore-registered cargo vessels were hit by “unknown projectiles” while passing through the strait on Tuesday and Wednesday. One vessel sank, while the other reached safety. All crew members were evacuated from the first vessel, and no injuries were reported in either incident, Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority said. “Such attacks are unprovoked, unjustifiable, and a breach of international law,” the authority said. However, it remained unclear whether the Singapore-registered vessel that sank was the same ship Iran said had struck a mine. Iranian officials provided few details, including about the fate of the crew. State television quoted a statement from the Revolutionary Guard saying the ship was travelling along what it described as an illegal and dangerous route when it struck the mine on Wednesday morning. The broadcast showed an unidentified ship tilted in the water and emitting a thick plume of smoke. It said the vessel was carrying 2,500 containers. The Associated Press could not independently verify the images. Iran has repeatedly warned ships against passing through the strait without its approval. The US military has been guiding vessels through the waterway along a route closer to Oman’s coast. Houthi strike hits Saudi oil giant Aramco’s headquarters The headquarters of Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco was hit in an overnight Houthi strike, damaging the offices of its chief executive and other senior officials, two regional officials said. The attack highlighted the Iran-backed rebels’ continued ability to strike high-profile targets. There were no casualties in the attack, which targeted the top three floors of a building used by senior executives in Dhahran, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly. Earlier on Wednesday, residents reported fresh explosions in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, with suspicion again quickly falling on Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen. Smoke rising in recent days from some of Saudi Arabia’s most sensitive facilities has unsettled the region and global oil markets, while raising further questions about US President Donald Trump’s position. Trump has said he is assessing whether the United States should join Saudi strikes against the Houthis. Iran must prepare for war despite US talks: Qalibaf Iran must remain prepared for war even as it negotiates with the United States, the country’s parliament speaker said Wednesday. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said in a televised speech that Iran’s main concern was preventing another US attack. However, he said, signing an agreement with Washington would not guarantee that the United States would honour its commitments. “They break their promises,” Qalibaf said. He said Iran must therefore be ready to fight “against a bullying enemy” and added that the country must “truly fight courageously on the battlefield.” “That is when we will have achieved sustainable deterrence,” he said. “America must be punished. America must change its behavior. It must understand that it has to come to terms with the Iranian people,” he added. Israeli strike kills woman in Gaza City An Israeli strike on an apartment in Gaza City killed a woman early Wednesday, officials at Shifa Hospital said. Israel’s military said it had targeted a Hamas militant but was still assessing the outcome of the strike. It provided no further details. More than a year after a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, Israel continues to launch near-daily deadly strikes on the Palestinian enclave. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 1,490 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war began. The ministry’s figures are generally considered reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. Although it does not distinguish between civilians and militants among those killed, it says women and children account for nearly half of the deaths.

Residents in Saudi Arabia’s capital reported new explosions on Wednesday as the Saudi-led military coalition said it had intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards Riyadh amid escalating attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The Houthis claimed attacks on King Khalid International Airport, oil facilities in Dhahran and an Aramco refinery in Riyadh, describing them as retaliation for Saudi strikes on rebel-held areas of Yemen. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the latest explosions. Saudi civil defence authorities issued air raid alerts for Riyadh and Kharj province. The escalation has raised concerns over Saudi Arabia’s ability to intercept the rebels’ missiles and drones. Regional officials say the kingdom, the world’s largest purchaser of American weapons, is running low on missile interceptors. Saudi Civil Defense said debris from two intercepted Houthi ballistic missiles fell on residential areas in Riyadh overnight, injuring four people, including a child, and damaging 15 homes. Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi-run Health Ministry said two people were killed and two others injured in a Saudi airstrike on a state oil company facility in the Ras Isa port area of Hodeida province on Tuesday. It also reported an attack on an oil facility in Sanaa. Saudi Arabia has intensified airstrikes against rebel-held areas in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, while the Houthis continue targeting critical Saudi infrastructure. The fighting has raised questions about possible US intervention. President Donald Trump has said he is evaluating whether Washington should join the Saudi-led strikes against the Houthis. Ahmed Nagi, senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group, said attacks on fuel storage facilities in Houthi-controlled areas marked a new phase in the Saudi-led campaign, warning that a prolonged war of attrition could weaken the rebels’ military capabilities.

Iran appears to be targeting commercial vessels involved in ship-to-ship oil transfers around the Strait of Hormuz, while the Saudi-led coalition launched fresh airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa, on Tuesday, according to reports. The Institute for the Study of War said Iran may be seeking to disrupt energy shipments through the strategic waterway and could be developing its anti-ship missile capabilities. The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre reported that at least three vessels were attacked by unidentified projectiles in the strait on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition urged residents to evacuate parts of Sanaa before launching airstrikes. Houthi military spokesman Gen Yahya Saree warned that attacks on the capital would trigger a “harsh and painful” response against Riyadh. The Houthis also warned international airlines against flying to Saudi airports, except those serving Mecca and Medina, and declared Saudi oil giant Aramco’s facilities legitimate targets. Houthi-run media reported airstrikes on rebel-held areas, including Kamaran Island, while Yemen’s Interior Ministry said Houthi attacks on Taiz killed six people and wounded 18. The developments came as Saudi Arabia investigated how its air defences failed to intercept recent Houthi missile and drone attacks, including a strike on Riyadh’s international airport on Saturday that killed at least 13 people and injured more than 300.