A Houthi official said Tuesday that Saudi warplanes struck Yemen, killing three people, including two children, while Human Rights Watch accused the Houthi rebels of possible war crimes with their attacks on commercial vessels.
The renewed fighting in Yemen is endangering civilians and threatening shipping through the Red Sea, a route that has become more important due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, sparking the war.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it destroyed two Iranian boats. And a new appeal went out from the Iranian government seeking volunteers to learn how to handle assault rifles.
Here’s a look at the latest news in the Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.
3 killed in Saudi airstrikes in Yemen's southwest, Houthis say
Anees al Asbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, said in an X post on Tuesday that Saudi airstrikes killed three people, including two children, in Yemen's Taiz province. Two more people were wounded.
The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the claim, and al-Asbahi didn’t say what the Saudi warplanes had targeted.
The escalation comes as the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have seized the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, bolstering their ability to control a key maritime shipping route.
Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas transited in peacetime. The Saudis have since used the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which leads out of the Red Sea, for crude oil exports.
The Houthis’ latest seizures, which follow their capture of the Red Sea port of Mokha and a strategic island last week, put more pressure on Saudi shipments and, in turn, global oil supplies and prices.
US says 2 Iranian boats destroyed
The U.S. military says it "forcefully responded" against two Iranian boats that were trying to steal a drone ship in the waters off Iran.
The drone involved is a “Saildrone,” a small craft that can operate by itself, Capt. Tim Hawkins, U.S. Central Command spokesman, said Tuesday. CENTCOM has been using them to surveil maritime traffic.
Iranian state media reported Monday that a pair of fishing boats came under attack in Hormozgan province and that several fishermen were missing, citing a provincial official.
Hawkins said all of the command’s surface drones “remain fully accounted for.”
Human Rights Watch says Houthi attacks on vessels could be war crimes
Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that at least three attacks by Houthi rebels against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden between July 20 and Aug. 24 could amount to war crimes.
The Houthi attacks against Saudi-linked shipping started in mid-July.
Niku Jafarnia, a Yemen and Bahrain researcher at the New York-based organization, said that irrespective of any politics involved, “attacks on civilian crews carried out deliberately or recklessly are war crimes.”
The Houthis say their attacks on Saudi-linked shipping are retaliation for the Saudi-led coalition blockade on Houthi-held areas in Yemen, a measure related to the decade-old civil war.
The rights organization said Houthis claimed attacks on at least nine vessels over a month, including two Saudi-flagged vessels, a Tanzania-flagged vessel and a Dominica-flagged vessel.
Save the Children says 19 kids killed and 49 wounded in Yemen’s recent clashes
Save the Children said Tuesday that kids accounted for more than a fifth of all people killed or wounded between Aug. 1 and Sept. 9. The full civilian casualty toll is estimated at some 117 killed and 206 wounded.
Between Sept. 3 and 9 alone, 43 children were killed or wounded, the highest weekly casualty toll recorded by the relief agency in a year.
“Children are once again paying the highest price for some of the most severe violence the country has seen in years,” said the agency’s Yemen director Rishana Haniffa.
The organization warned that the Arab world’s poorest country might be on the verge of a “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” given the displacement of thousands of Yemenis and the anticipated surge in infectious and water-borne diseases.
Iran seeks volunteers to ‘sacrifice their lives’
Iran’s state TV reported that civilians are being recruited to learn how to use assault rifles, the second such recruitment effort since the U.S. and Israel began an air war against Tehran.
The move is seen as a show of defiance as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to restart the war with Iran as months of negotiations break down and the Islamic Republic keeps its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
The volunteers are known as “Janfada” or the “ones who sacrifice their lives.” The appeal suggests more armed hard-liners could also help suppress any demonstrations against Iran’s theocracy. Activists say more than 7,000 people were killed and thousands more were detained in January.
Oman tows ‘targeted’ oil tanker to port
Oman’s Maritime Security Center said Tuesday that a Panama-flagged oil tanker was towed to port in Oman after it was “targeted.”
The center said a fire had broken out in the El Gaia tanker's engine room and 23 crew members were evacuated. The search for two missing crew members was ongoing.
The vessel was targeted 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of the Musandam governorate.
U.S. Central Command said Monday on X that Iran had struck the tanker with a drone as the ship sat off the coast of Oman. The tanker was rendered inoperable last month after being struck by an Iranian missile.
UK condemns Houthi attacks in Yemen and Saudi Arabia
The U.K. prime minister’s spokesman, Tom Wells, told reporters Tuesday that the Houthi rebels “must cease their attacks immediately" and said Saudi Arabia and Yemen "have the right to defend themselves.”
Wells said the U.K. would continue to work with "partners to support regional stability, protect civilians and support humanitarian access.”
He would not confirm that Saudi Arabia has asked for military assistance, or say whether British troops are in the country.
Oman official calls for alternative energy routes to Strait of Hormuz
Oman’s Minister of Energy and Minerals Salim Al-Aufi called for alternative routes for liquefied natural gas (LNG) to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, either through Oman or through Yemen.
"Diversify your options to get the resources out of the area,” he told the world's largest natural gas conference, Gastech, in Bangkok.
Abdul Rahman Al Yahyaei, CEO of Oman’s state-owned Integrated Gas Company (IGC), said the closure of Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline “means more stress in the market, high prices for both gas and oil, and it means more disruption to global supplies.”
Alternatives through Oman would require the construction of new pipelines that could be targeted by drones and missiles. Despite these risks, Al Yahyaei told The Associated Press that these options are being weighed more seriously than ever.
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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
