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Gaza War Extends into Beirut with Killing of Hamas Leader 

Smoke billows from a destroyed building at the site of an explosion in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, 02 January 2024. (EPA)
Smoke billows from a destroyed building at the site of an explosion in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, 02 January 2024. (EPA)
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Gaza War Extends into Beirut with Killing of Hamas Leader 

Smoke billows from a destroyed building at the site of an explosion in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, 02 January 2024. (EPA)
Smoke billows from a destroyed building at the site of an explosion in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, 02 January 2024. (EPA)

Israeli forces intensified their bombing of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and told civilians to leave a refugee camp in the north of the Palestinian enclave after the war stretched into Lebanon with the killing in Beirut of the Hamas deputy leader. 

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it killed Saleh al-Arouri in a drone strike in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. But military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces were in a high state of readiness and prepared for any scenario. 

The assassination was a further sign that the nearly three-month war between Israel and Hamas was spreading across the region, drawing in the occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border, and even Red Sea shipping lanes. 

Arouri, 57, who lived in Beirut, was the first senior Hamas political leader to be assassinated since Israel began its offensive against the militant group in response to its deadly rampage into Israeli towns on Oct. 7. 

Hamas politburo member Hossam Badran said in a eulogy for Arouri: "We say to the criminal occupation (Israel) that the battle between us is open." 

Israel had long accused him of orchestrating attacks on its citizens. But a Hamas official said he was also "at the heart of negotiations" conducted by Qatar and Egypt over the outcome of the Gaza war and the release of Hamas-held Israeli hostages. 

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was due to make a speech in Beirut on Wednesday afternoon. Previously he had warned Israel against carrying out assassinations on Lebanese soil, vowing a "severe reaction". 

The heavily armed Iran-backed Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israel across Lebanon's southern border since the Gaza war began. More than 100 Hezbollah fighters and two dozen civilians have been killed on Lebanese territory, as well as at least nine Israeli soldiers in Israel. 

Following Arouri's killing, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said it was deeply concerned about the possibility of an escalation "that could have devastating consequences for people on both sides of the border". 

Refugee camp under fire 

In Gaza itself, Israeli forces bombed Al-Nusseirat refugee camp in the northern part of the Hamas-ruled enclave overnight and into Wednesday, destroying several multi-floor buildings, residents and Palestinian media said. 

Israeli planes also dropped leaflets on Al-Nusseirat ordering people to leave seven districts. 

"You are in a dangerous combat area. The IDF is operating heavily in your area of residence. For your safety the IDF urge you to immediately evacuate this area and leave towards the known shelters in Deir Al-Balah (west)," the leaflets said. 

Israeli war planes and tanks also stepped up attacks on the Al-Bureij refugee camp. 

Hamas' armed wing said it had killed 10 Israeli soldiers in fighting in Al-Bureij and hit five tanks and troop carriers. The Israeli military said the number of its soldiers killed since its first incursion into Gaza on Oct. 20 had reached 177. 

In the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, health officials said at least four people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house. They said three people were also killed in an air strike on a house in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. 

Israel says it tries to avoid harm to civilians. But the total recorded Palestinian death toll has now reached 22,185, according to the Gaza health ministry. 

The war was triggered by a cross-border Hamas assault on Israeli towns on Oct. 7 in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and some 240 hostages taken back to Gaza. 

Since then, Israeli bombardments have laid waste to much of the enclave. Its 2.3 million residents are engulfed in a humanitarian disaster in which thousands have been left destitute, crammed into shrinking areas in the hope they are safe and threatened by famine due to a lack of food supplies. 

'Veins of resistance' 

Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of Ramallah and other towns in the West Bank to condemn Arouri's killing, chanting, "Revenge, revenge". 

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Arouri's killing would "ignite another surge in the veins of resistance and the motivation to fight against the Zionist occupiers..." 

Shortly before Arouri's killing, Hamas' paramount leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is also based outside Gaza, said the movement had delivered its response to an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal. 

He reiterated that Hamas' conditions entailed "a complete cessation" of Israel's offensive in exchange for further releases of hostages. 

Israel believes 129 hostages remain in Gaza after some were released during a brief truce in late November and others were killed during air strikes and rescue or escape attempts. 

Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it has wiped out Hamas, but it is unclear what it plans to do with the enclave should it succeed, and where that leaves the prospect of an independent Palestinian state. 

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Arab World

Yemen Interior Minister to Asharq Al-Awsat: Iran Seeking to Militarize Bab al-Mandeb Through the Houthis

Yemen’s interior minister warned that Iran was seeking to “militarize Bab al-Mandeb” through the Houthis. (Turky Al-Agili)
Yemen’s interior minister warned that Iran was seeking to “militarize Bab al-Mandeb” through the Houthis. (Turky Al-Agili)
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Yemen Interior Minister to Asharq Al-Awsat: Iran Seeking to Militarize Bab al-Mandeb Through the Houthis

Yemen’s interior minister warned that Iran was seeking to “militarize Bab al-Mandeb” through the Houthis. (Turky Al-Agili)
Yemen’s interior minister warned that Iran was seeking to “militarize Bab al-Mandeb” through the Houthis. (Turky Al-Agili)

Yemen’s Interior Minister Major General Ibrahim Haidan warned that Iran is seeking to establish long-term military influence over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and its surrounding islands and coastlines by exporting to the Red Sea the model it developed to “militarize maritime corridors” in the Strait of Hormuz.

Haidan said experts from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were helping the Houthis strengthen their capabilities and build fortifications, operations rooms and facilities for missiles, drones and remotely guided boats.

“The danger is not limited to the threats that exist today, but extends to what is being built for the future,” Haidan told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He warned that continued Houthi control of strategic areas could give Iran leverage over one of the world’s most important shipping lanes and help it connect Yemen with the Horn of Africa through smuggling networks and armed groups.

His remarks followed sweeping government losses along Yemen’s western coast. In an offensive from Sept. 3 to 11, the Houthis seized Hays, Al-Khokha, Mokha and its port before advancing to Bab al-Mandeb, Mayyun Island and the remaining Yemeni islands in the southern Red Sea.

Haidan said security readiness had been raised in Aden, Lahj and areas behind the frontlines following the developments in Mokha and along the western coast.

The defense and interior ministries were coordinating through a joint operations room to prevent operatives and cells from infiltrating those areas or exploiting waves of displacement to carry out security breaches, he added.

‘Militarizing’ Bab al-Mandeb

Haidan placed the latest developments in a broader context, saying Yemen was “part of a regional and international security system” and that events there quickly reverberated around the world because of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

The gravest danger, he said, was the military infrastructure being built in the area for future use.

Experts linked to the IRGC were providing the Houthis with expertise and guidance to conduct operations and develop their military capabilities, he said.

Those efforts included building “capabilities, fortifications, bases, operations rooms and caves used to manufacture drones and remotely guided boats and to develop missiles” across Bab al-Mandeb and the surrounding islands, coastlines and highlands.

Haidan said Iran aimed to replicate in Bab al-Mandeb its experience of “militarizing maritime corridors” in the Strait of Hormuz.

That could turn an open international waterway into a source of influence and pressure for future use, he warned.

Iranian and Houthi assurances about the safety of navigation should not be treated as sufficient guarantees, he said, arguing that such messages merely gave the Houthis more time to expand their military systems and fortifications.

Houthi leaders at Mokha port after its capture (Houthi media)

Could Mayyun become another Larak?

Haidan outlined a more specific threat to the Red Sea islands, warning that additional time could allow the Houthis to build bases, hideouts and fortified caves, backed by advanced surveillance, tracking and jamming systems.

Mayyun Island, at the heart of Bab al-Mandeb, could take on a military role similar to that of Iran’s Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, he said.

Zuqar and the Hanish Islands, as well as the highlands and coastlines along the Red Sea, could also become part of an “integrated military system” if the Houthis consolidated their presence in the strait, he added.

From the Red Sea to the Horn of Africa

The danger extends beyond Bab al-Mandeb, according to Haidan.

Houthi control of the strait could give the Revolutionary Guards greater scope to connect Yemen with the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa, he said.

Smuggling networks and maritime routes could be used to move weapons, equipment and expertise, strengthen Houthi military and logistical capabilities and expand communication with armed groups and terrorist organizations operating in the Horn of Africa, particularly Somalia’s al Shabaab.

Haidan warned that those groups’ capabilities could merge with those of the Houthis and IRGC networks.

Such coordination could turn Bab al-Mandeb into “a foothold for multifaceted Iranian influence across several arenas” and give Tehran a strategic tool to deploy during any regional escalation, he said.

Destruction in Mokha after being attacked by the Houthis. (Getty Images)

Coastguard needs urgent support

Government forces continue to confront the Houthis and work to regain and secure lost territory, Haidan stressed.

He singled out smuggling as one of the main arteries for financing and supplying the Houthis.

Yemen’s coastguard was carrying out its duties despite limited resources, but needed “urgent, specialized support” from allied and friendly countries, he remarked.

That support should include maritime surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, tracking and monitoring systems, patrol boats and modern equipment. Intelligence capabilities must also be strengthened to uncover smuggling networks, track their routes and intercept their shipments, he added.

Protecting Bab al-Mandeb and combating smuggling were no longer purely domestic Yemeni concerns, Haidan declared.

“The security of navigation and international trade routes begins with the state exercising sovereignty over its territory and waters,” he said.

Confronting the threats required regional and international support for the Yemeni state and stronger state capabilities, he added.

Securing Aden and Lahj

Security deployments have been reinforced at the entrances to Lahj province, the interim capital Aden and surrounding areas as displacement increased following the developments along the western coast, Haidan said.

The Interior Ministry treated the crisis as extending beyond the military frontlines. It acted simultaneously to protect displaced civilians and raise security readiness under plans prepared in advance for different scenarios.

The measures sought to balance the protection of displaced people with the need to stop the Houthis from exploiting their movement “for security purposes or to carry out infiltration and penetration operations,” he said.

Authorities have stepped up coordination and information-sharing among security agencies, local authorities and military units. They have also intensified preemptive intelligence efforts to prevent operatives from entering government-held areas or carrying out acts of sabotage.

A view of a village on the coast of Bab al-Mandeb, Yemen April 2, 2026. (Reuters)

Joint operations room

The defense and interior ministries were coordinating through a “joint operations room,” Haidan said.

Its work included producing a unified assessment of the situation, assigning responsibilities and speeding up responses to developments on the ground.

Security and military services had also strengthened communication and information-sharing, focusing on frontlines, roads and areas that could be used to infiltrate operatives and cells or transport weapons and explosive devices.

Displacement remained “primarily a humanitarian issue,” Haidan said, but it also required careful security management to prevent it from being used as cover to infiltrate operatives or cells into government-held areas.

Sleeper cells and smuggling

Asked about the threats facing the security services, Haidan cited infiltration attempts and the potential use of displacement movements to conceal operatives or transport information and materials for acts of sabotage.

Sleeper cells, smuggling networks and organized crime also posed risks, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The heightened security measures in Aden and Lahj were largely “preventive and preemptive,” Haidan explained. They aimed to stop military pressure on the frontlines from spilling into cities while preserving a humanitarian approach toward displaced people.

People fleeing clashes between Houthi militants and Yemeni government forces gather at the Markazi refugee camp after arriving in Djibouti, September 15, 2026. (Mylaèle Negga/International Organization for Migration/Handout via Reuters)

Mokha a ‘practical test’

Haidan described the events in Mokha as a “direct and practical test” of the security establishment’s readiness and the Interior Ministry’s contingency plans.

From the outset, those plans accounted for advances and retreats, shifting frontlines, widening displacement and mounting pressure on provinces behind the fronts, he said.

Protecting the home front was not a temporary task tied to a particular military development, but an “integral and permanent” part of the Interior Ministry’s work.

Resources and security deployments had been adjusted to battlefield developments, while information-sharing among security agencies, local authorities and military forces had been strengthened, he added.

‘Collusion’ with terrorist groups

Beyond the Houthi threat, Haidan warned that terrorist organizations, smuggling networks and organized crime groups could exploit the widening war, shifting frontlines and troop redeployments to create security vacuums.

He said there was “collusion” between the Houthis and those groups and networks. The relationship predated the latest developments and included links with Somalia’s al Shabaab.

Security agencies did not treat the Houthi threat, terrorism, organized crime and smuggling as separate files, but as “a single security system,” Haidan said.

That required heightened readiness, stronger deployments in sensitive areas and tighter monitoring of entry points, roads and smuggling routes to prevent the military developments from triggering a broader security crisis.

Arab World

US Warns Houthis Through Security Channels: We Are Not Negotiating with You

A soldier from the Yemeni armed forces in Taiz province. (AFP)
A soldier from the Yemeni armed forces in Taiz province. (AFP)
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US Warns Houthis Through Security Channels: We Are Not Negotiating with You

A soldier from the Yemeni armed forces in Taiz province. (AFP)
A soldier from the Yemeni armed forces in Taiz province. (AFP)

US correspondence reviewed by Asharq Al-Awsat revealed that Washington had issued a warning to the Houthis in Yemen through “security channels.”

The substance of the warning was not disclosed in the messages, but it was followed by a US assertion that Washington was not negotiating with the group.

The Houthis’ outreach suggests that the group is seeking to consolidate its position after weeks of military operations culminated in advances along Yemen’s western coast overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The gains pose a fresh threat to international shipping through the strategic waterway, which carries 12% of global trade.

The clarification in the US diplomatic correspondence came after President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance said there had been contact with the group, although neither explained the nature of the communication.

Meanwhile, during a UN Security Council session on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, Washington stated: “The US supports Yemen’s legitimate government in confronting the Iran-backed Houthi militia. We call on the Houthis to halt their advance, withdraw from the territory they have seized and stop launching attacks.”

On the ground, Yemen’s government is raising its level of military readiness as it seeks to regain the initiative following recent setbacks on the Taiz and western coastal fronts. Government forces have made slow but seemingly more sustained progress on other fronts, including in al-Jawf and al-Bayda, while continuing to repel Houthi attacks and military buildups near Marib.

Government forces are engaged in fierce battles with the Houthis, which began escalating their operations in August.

The group’s opponents accuse it of violating de-escalation arrangements under orders intended to ease pressure on Iran and enable Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to use the Houthis as leverage against the United States in the war Washington launched in February 2026, which intensified after Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Why security channels?

Observers who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat said the mere use of security channels did not indicate that negotiations or a deal were underway, or even that Washington had accepted the Houthis’ assurances.

Assessing the Houthi move and the US response, Baraa Shiban, an associate fellow at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, said the group was trying to compensate for its lack of regional and international recognition by exaggerating claims that it had opened channels of communication with the US administration.

Asked about the “security channels,” Shiban said Western governments commonly maintained this type of contact with militias and terrorist groups. Such communication, however, remained limited, took place outside diplomatic or political frameworks and dealt only with sensitive or urgent security matters.

Iranian tactics

News that the Houthis had contacted the United States was not treated as a passing development. Yemenis sought to understand the group’s sudden move, particularly because its slogan calls for “death to America”, raising the question of how it could communicate with Washington.

Mahmoud Shehrah, an associate fellow at Britain’s Chatham House, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the development was “part of a Houthi strategy that represents an extension of Iran’s and the Revolutionary Guards’ conduct and negotiating tactics.”

Shehrah, a former Yemeni diplomat, said the Houthis’ approach was based on gradually escalating tensions, launching a swift offensive and then offering assurances if they made gains, in an effort to avoid becoming embroiled in an all-out war.

That, he said, was what had happened in Bab al-Mandeb. The Houthis had now “taken a big bite” and were trying to digest it. The group was therefore seeking to consolidate its gains and, in the meantime, needed to offer assurances to prevent a swift response. It consequently sought to reassure the US and the international community.

The group also consistently sought to isolate its opponents, a tactic it had repeatedly employed in the past.

Shehrah recalled that when the Houthis captured Sanaa, they began by reassuring all political forces. Once they had consolidated their presence, they met each party separately and told it that the other side was the enemy, until they had eliminated them all.

He said the group now wanted to employ the same approach internationally, regardless of whether it could succeed.

Arab World

Syria Parliament Votes to Abolish Assad-Era Terrorism Court, Nullify Rulings

Members of Syria's newly formed People's Assembly attend the body's inaugural session, the first parliament session since the end of the rule of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, July 12, 2026. (Reuters)
Members of Syria's newly formed People's Assembly attend the body's inaugural session, the first parliament session since the end of the rule of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, July 12, 2026. (Reuters)
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Syria Parliament Votes to Abolish Assad-Era Terrorism Court, Nullify Rulings

Members of Syria's newly formed People's Assembly attend the body's inaugural session, the first parliament session since the end of the rule of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, July 12, 2026. (Reuters)
Members of Syria's newly formed People's Assembly attend the body's inaugural session, the first parliament session since the end of the rule of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, July 12, 2026. (Reuters)

Syria's parliament voted on Wednesday ‌to abolish an Assad-era terrorism court and nullify the legal effects of its rulings, state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported, in one of the first significant legislative moves by the country's new assembly.

The Counter-Terrorism Court was established in 2012 as then-President Bashar al-Assad sought to suppress an uprising against his rule, and it was used to prosecute thousands of Syrians for terrorism-related offences.

The move formalizes the court's abolition after Syria's new authorities had already treated it as defunct. ‌In June 2025, President ‌Ahmad al-Sharaa issued a decree dismissing ‌67 ⁠judges who had served ⁠in what he described at the time as the "abolished Counter-Terrorism Court".

Syria's March 2025 constitutional declaration had also called for abolishing the effects of what it described as unjust rulings issued by the court, including returning confiscated property.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee said in 2024 that the ⁠2012 law establishing the court failed to ‌adequately provide key judicial guarantees ‌and raised concerns over arbitrary detention, torture or ill-treatment, and the ‌court's independence. It also noted that the court was ‌permitted to depart from ordinary procedures during prosecution and trial.

The UN's International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism said in a 2024 report that the Counter-Terrorism Court formed part of the judicial system through ‌which detainees held by Assad-era security agencies could be prosecuted. The report documented widespread and ⁠systematic torture ⁠and ill-treatment across the government's detention system.

Wednesday's vote came during the opening weeks of the first parliament formed since Assad was toppled in December 2024. The chamber convened for the first time in July.

The vote is among the assembly's first major legislative decisions after it spent its initial sessions establishing its internal rules and committees. It held a hearing this week with Education Minister Mohammad Abdul Rahman Tarkou over the state of the country's schools and is due to question the energy minister on Thursday over a sharp rise in fuel prices.