The Syrian government on Wednesday denied reports that it is considering a request from Saudi Arabia to send ground forces into Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents. Damascus did, however, condemn the latest Houthi attacks against Saudi airports in strong terms.
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen claimed responsibility on Thursday for attacking King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh with a ballistic missile.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly the head of the retired al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), made a brief visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discuss their bilateral relationship.
The Interior Ministry of Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it will begin legalizing the residency of migrants from Yemen, in response to a request from the internationally recognized and Saudi-supported government of Yemen, known as the Presidential Leadership Council.
The internationally-recognized government of Yemen said on Monday that its forces staged a successful counterattack against the Iran-backed Houthi insurgency and recaptured key positions around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital chokepoint along the Red Sea shipping route.
State media in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) confirmed on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a secret trip to Abu Dhabi on Sunday afternoon and met with Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, commonly known by his initials MBZ.
Schools in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, have implemented “remote learning” policies similar to those of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, apparently due to the threat of drone and missile attacks from the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen.
Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif used much of his address to the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday to criticize Pakistan’s regional rival India, while touting his own government’s efforts at diplomacy, including mediation of the conflict between the United States and Iran.
Grand Mufti Sheikh Saleh al-Fawzan, the normally apolitical top Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia, issued a rare statement on Thursday urging Saudi troops to fight back against the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted the fall of Iran’s “evil regime” in a fiery address to the United Nations on Thursday, declaring that the Iranian people will ultimately rise against their rulers as he vowed Israel will continue to prevail against enemies seeking its destruction.
On Monday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) argued that the Houthis are “basically using Iraq as a base to declare war on the United States and create a second front.” And he hopes, “in time,
The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said Monday the E.U.’s ongoing naval security mission across the Red Sea needs to boost its numbers and include more warships, deeming the current size of the deployment insufficient amid intensified attacks from the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists.
The Houthi offensive in Yemen has displaced over 82,000 people since the beginning of September, over 3,000 of whom have fled to Djibouti.
U.S. forces have supported the passage of more than one billion barrels of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz in recent months while Iran has exported none under Washington’s “ironclad blockade,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Brad Cooper announced Saturday.
After Iran struck out with BRICS and China this week in its search for international support, China reportedly privately told the Iranians to rein in their proxies in Yemen, the Houthi insurgents, who have repeatedly attacked Saudi Arabia and sought to block Saudi shipping through the Bab el Mandeb Strait.
Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen exchanged more cross-border drone, missile, and aircraft strikes on Thursday.
Italy will not wait for Brussels’ notoriously slow bureaucracy to react and is preparing to deploy navy ships at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on its own to protect Italian merchant vessels in the area, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday.
Israel and Morocco agreed to exchange ambassadors and open full embassies at a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz in New York on Wednesday.
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen scrambled to deny on Wednesday that they launched a drone at the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia the day before amid growing condemnation from Muslim nations and organizations.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and return to the June memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States when he met with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Beijing on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia said its air defenses intercepted a Houthi drone south of the Islamic holy city of Mecca on Tuesday, thwarting an attack that crossed a major “red line” in the conflict.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is scheduled for another visit to Beijing on Wednesday after an unsuccessful effort to garner support for Tehran’s cause at the BRICS summit in New Delhi over the weekend.
Israel has begun providing intelligence to Saudi Arabia through the United States as Riyadh battles an escalating Houthi offensive that has struck deep inside the kingdom and threatened the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to multiple Israeli reports Tuesday.
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen continued attacking targets in Saudi Arabia on Monday, prompting Saudi authorities to issue civil defense alerts in several southern cities — including, for the first time, the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
Iran’s top security official warned President Donald Trump on Monday that the strategic balance around the region’s critical waterways has changed, ruling out negotiations until Tehran’s sweeping conditions are met and declaring that American “damage control won’t stop what’s coming.”
A planned conference with Iran and the Gulf Arab states over the future of the Strait of Hormuz was postponed by Saudi Arabia.
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen on Friday declared they have taken control of Perim, a small volcanic island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital shipping chokepoint that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The capture came one day after the Houthis took control of the port city of Mokha with assistance from Iran.
Pakistan delivered a warning to Iran on Wednesday that if Tehran’s terrorist proxies in Yemen, the Houthis, continue attacking cities and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan may be obliged to intervene under its defense pact with the Saudis.
Intense fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents and the internationally recognized government of Yemen continued on Wednesday.
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen launched drone and missile attacks against four cities in southern Saudi Arabia.
The leader of the Shiite jihadist terror group Ansar Allah, known commonly as the Houthis, marked the Islamic holiday celebrating the birthday of Mohammed on Tuesday with an accusatory screed claiming the government of Saudi Arabia was “serving Zionism” and threatening more attacks on the neighboring countries.
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen on Thursday claimed they “successfully carried out two military operations using drones,” including attacks on the airport and an oil facility in the Saudi Arabian city of Najran.
Trade industry sources said on Tuesday that Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia, has resumed loading tankers with product at its Juaymah and Ras Tanura oil terminals, which lie within the contested waters of the Strait of Hormuz.
A massive international salvage operation is underway to contain the oil spill from a tanker that ran aground off Oman.
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen claimed responsibility for a murderous “double tap” strike on a ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, using three ballistic missiles to set the ship on fire — and then launching another missile in a deliberate attack on rescue teams, killing at least six people.
President Donald Trump declared Monday that the U.S. Navy now “controls the Strait 100%” behind an “infallible” American blockade, while leaving the prospect of a major escalation against Iran firmly on the table as Tehran refuses to back down from sweeping demands for ending the standoff.
A Chinese shipping company called Sea Legend is reportedly opening an “Ice Silk Road” shipping lane through the Arctic to avoid the volatile Middle East and chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry attempted to respond positively to the news this weekend that Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey had signed a joint defense pact apparently intended to protect each other from Iran, claiming instead that it conveyed the countries no longer trust the United States.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met in the Saudi city of Mecca on Friday to sign a pact called the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement.
The Houthi Iranian proxy terror organization in Yemen proudly announced on Thursday the alleged killing or injuring of hundreds of “Saudi enemy mercenaries” in a large attack on military assets associated with the legitimate government of Yemen.
