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Israel Escalates Gaza Strikes after Medicine-for-Aid Deal

Destruction in Gaza caused by Israeli airstrikes (AP)
Destruction in Gaza caused by Israeli airstrikes (AP)
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Israel Escalates Gaza Strikes after Medicine-for-Aid Deal

Destruction in Gaza caused by Israeli airstrikes (AP)
Destruction in Gaza caused by Israeli airstrikes (AP)

Israel stepped up strikes Wednesday on war-torn Gaza's south, where medicines were expected to be delivered for hostages in exchange for humanitarian aid under a newly brokered deal.

But nearly 24 hours after the deal was announced, a top Hamas official set new conditions for providing the drugs, insisting Israel must not inspect the trucks carrying them.

Air strikes and artillery fire targeted Khan Younis throughout the night, said an AFP correspondent in the southern Gaza Strip's biggest city.

"It was the most difficult and intense night in Khan Younis since the start of the war," said Gaza's Hamas government, whose health ministry reported 81 deaths across the Palestinian territory.

Fighting has ravaged Gaza since Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel that resulted in the death of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

At least 24,448 Palestinians, about 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents, have been killed in Israeli bombardments and ground assaults, according to the Gaza health ministry's latest figures.  

Hamas and other militants seized about 250 hostages during the October 7 attacks, and around 132 remain in Gaza, including at least 27 believed to have been killed.  

The fate of those still in captivity has gripped Israeli society, while a broader humanitarian crisis in Gaza marked by the threat of famine and disease has fueled international calls for a ceasefire.

Medicine for hostages

The agreement announced by Qatar on Tuesday following French and Qatari mediation will allow medicines to reach the hostages and aid to enter the besieged Palestinian territory.

The International Committee of the Red Cross welcomed the deal, under which 45 hostages are expected to receive medication, as "a much-needed moment of relief".

A security source in Egypt said a Qatari plane carrying medicines had arrived on Wednesday at El-Arish near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.  

France said the drugs would be sent to a hospital in Rafah, given to the Red Cross and divided into batches before being transferred to the hostages.  

A top Hamas official announced new conditions for the deal on Wednesday, however.  

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Musa Abu Marzuk demanded 1,000 boxes of aid for Gaza for every one going to the hostages and that a country Hamas trusts, not France, supply the medicine.  

'Why are they doing this?'  

At the Abu Yussef Al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, Palestinians stood in front of bodies wrapped in shrouds, mourning the loss of loved ones killed in an overnight Israeli strike.

"Why are they doing this? They are destroying us," Umm Muhammad Abu Odeh, a woman displaced from the north Gaza town of Beit Hanun, told AFP.  

The Israelis "told us to go south, and we came here... but there is no safe place in Gaza".  

The United Nations says the war has displaced roughly 85 percent of Gaza's 2.4 million people, many of whom have been forced to crowd into shelters and struggle to get food, water, fuel and medical care.  

In Rafah, Safa Fethi Hamad has been anxiously waiting for more than a month to cross the border to Egypt.  

"We are all going to die. Food is very limited, we have no protection," she told AFP.  

The Israeli public has kept up intense pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to return the hostages, with officials insisting military pressure is necessary to strike any deal.  

At Nir Oz kibbutz, where about one in four residents was killed or kidnapped, Yossi Schneider is clinging to hope for his baby relative Kfir Bibas despite Hamas announcing his death.  

The youngest hostage kidnapped by Hamas was less than nine months old on October 7 and would be celebrating his birthday this week.  

"We are thinking about them every day, every second, every minute," Schneider said of Bibas and his missing brother and mother.

West Bank violence  

Violence has also surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since October 7 to a level not seen since the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, between 2000 and 2005.  

Israeli army raids and attacks by settlers have killed around 350 people in the territory, according to an AFP tally based on sources from both sides.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said an Israeli strike on Wednesday killed four people in Tulkarem refugee camp, in the north of the Palestinian territory.  

The Israeli military confirmed an air strike that killed "a number of terrorists".  

Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, said five of its fighters died in a strike east of the city of Nablus.  

The Israeli army said it killed a Palestinian militant to avert an "imminent terrorist attack" he had been planning.  

Fears are mounting that the Israel-Hamas conflict will trigger an all-out war across the Middle East, with growing violence involving allies of the Iran-backed Hamas.  

The US military said it carried out fresh strikes in Yemen on Tuesday after the country's Iran-backed Houthi militias claimed another missile attack on a cargo ship in the Red Sea.

It came just days after the United States and Britain bombed scores of targets inside Houthi-controlled Yemen in response to attacks by the militias, who say they are targeting Israeli-linked shipping in solidarity with Gaza.

Israel's army has exchanged regular cross-border fire with Lebanon's Hamas-aligned Hezbollah since the start of the war.

UN chief Antonio Guterres told the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Wednesday that a "full-fledged confrontation" in Lebanon "would be a total disaster" to avoid at all costs.

Meanwhile, Iran -- which backs the Houthis and Hezbollah -- carried out a missile attack in Iraq's Kurdistan region against what its Revolutionary Guards alleged was an Israeli spy headquarters and a "gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups".

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Arab World

Who Are Hezbollah's Remaining Allies in Lebanon?

Hezbollah supporter weeps during a ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the death of party leader Hassan Nasrallah . Nasrallah was killed in a massive Israeli air strike on September 27, 2024. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
Hezbollah supporter weeps during a ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the death of party leader Hassan Nasrallah . Nasrallah was killed in a massive Israeli air strike on September 27, 2024. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
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Who Are Hezbollah's Remaining Allies in Lebanon?

Hezbollah supporter weeps during a ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the death of party leader Hassan Nasrallah . Nasrallah was killed in a massive Israeli air strike on September 27, 2024. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
Hezbollah supporter weeps during a ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the death of party leader Hassan Nasrallah . Nasrallah was killed in a massive Israeli air strike on September 27, 2024. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa

The second anniversary of the assassinations of former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine exposed a grim reality facing Hezbollah inside Lebanon. It showed that the group has lost its network of domestic allies, as evidenced by the absence, for the first time in two decades, of figures who had been allied with the group before the 2024 war.

Two years after the assassinations, observers closely following the group's situation say Hezbollah is facing not only the challenge of rebuilding its capabilities and reorganizing its ranks, but also the erosion of the network of alliances it built over many years. A number of political forces appear to have reconsidered the value of maintaining ties with the group amid shifts in the balance of power domestically and regionally.

Among its most prominent former allies, the only one to attend the commemoration of Nasrallah was Suleiman Frangieh, head of the Marada Movement, who had been the group's candidate for the presidency before President Joseph Aoun was elected, along with leaders representing the Amal Movement, its partner in the Shiite duo.

Political Cover Unravels

Hezbollah succeeded in building a broad network of political alliances spanning most of Lebanon's sects and denominations after signing the 2006 memorandum of understanding with the Free Patriotic Movement. According to its opponents, this enabled the group to secure "political cover" for retaining its weapons and expanding its influence, eventually entrenching a parallel reality alongside state institutions.

But this network began to gradually unravel after the "Gaza Support" war, alongside the major military setback suffered by Hezbollah and the resulting change in its position within Lebanon's political equation. One of the most prominent signs of this unraveling was the distancing of key allies, foremost among them the Free Patriotic Movement on the Christian political scene, along with the declining presence of its allies among Sunni and Druze forces.

The distancing of Hezbollah's allies is not linked solely to the shift in the balance of power after the war, but also to the political and financial risks that have come to accompany close ties with Hezbollah. This comes amid US sanctions that have already targeted individuals and entities linked to the group or accused of supporting it, as well as threats to expand the sanctions to include other allies and political figures. This has prompted some of the group's allies to reassess their calculations, fearing that their relationship with Hezbollah could turn from a source of political influence into a source of costs and sanctions.

Transactional Alliances

Dr. Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said the "cross-sectarian network" the group sought to build after entering politics was essentially "marginal." He noted that "the group long benefited from its military strength to build broad political influence and from presenting itself as a force capable of establishing a balance with Israel."

According to Khashan, the group spent years "entrenching a narrative based on taking the battle to the Galilee and portraying the existence of a military balance with Israel," a narrative that "a large part of the Shiite community believed." But the military strength Hezbollah had amassed, which was considered one of its main sources of influence in the region, "suffered an unprecedented blow during the war, which inevitably affected its political position."

Khashan told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hezbollah had, throughout the past period, "provided political cover for parties and forces in exchange for obtaining cover for its policies and weapons, making many of the alliances closer to transactional alliances and exchanges of interests than to firmly established political or ideological partnerships."

Khashan believes that "the collapse of the balance of power that allowed the group to manage these relationships will make rebuilding its previous network of alliances extremely difficult, particularly as political forces that once saw benefits and political protection in an alliance with it now face a different reality." He expects the Amal Movement, through new figures, to assume leadership of the Shiite community in the coming phase.

Alienation Likely to Increase

Political writer and editor-in-chief of the Janoubia website Ali Al-Amin, for his part, said Hezbollah, which had been "a center of attraction for allies and political patronage for many years, is no longer so today, three years after the start of the Support War. It currently lacks allies and is facing an internal and external siege, a reality that can be readily observed." Al-Amin added: "This was clearly evident at the commemoration of the assassinations of its two former secretaries-general, as most of those who had once competed to sit in the front row were absent."

Al-Amin told Asharq Al-Awsat that "this alienation is likely to increase," noting that "the issue of weapons is another matter related to Hezbollah's role and position, which does not appear to have understood what befell it, the Shiites, and Lebanon as a result of a major catastrophe. It remains committed to its role as an Iranian tool subject to the calculations set by the Supreme Leader from inside Iran."

Al-Amin concluded: "In light of the current political and security circumstances, and with the group continuing to use rhetoric that is at odds with reality and its new facts, it will find no resonance beyond its supporters. Its visits to some political forces have not produced anything that could be described as a restoration of its alliances or friendships. In practical terms, it is trying to climb out of the hole it fell into by falling into more holes, which will deepen its predicament and expose its inability to redefine its existence on the foundations of the state."

He added: "In view of all this, it cannot be expected that the group will repair its fractured alliances. Rather, they will continue to collapse and disappear."

Arab World

Al-Alimi Announces Start of Full-Scale Military Campaign Against Houthis

Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi (Saba)
Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi (Saba)
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Al-Alimi Announces Start of Full-Scale Military Campaign Against Houthis

Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi (Saba)
Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi (Saba)

Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi on Sunday announced the start of military operations to reclaim the remaining territory of the republic and extend the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire country, marking an official transition from a phase of preparation and mobilization to open military action.

In an address to the Yemeni people, Al-Alimi said the decision to begin the operations was taken after the necessary procedures and measures had been completed and based on decisions by the National Defense Council. He said he had instructed the armed forces, security forces, and all military formations to carry out their duties according to approved plans "until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia."

Al-Alimi justified the decision by saying that opportunities for de-escalation had been exhausted. He said the state had given peace sufficient time and opportunities, while the Houthi group had responded with further mobilization, escalation, attacks, and threats against civilians, national facilities, neighboring countries, and international waterways.

He stressed that the announced battle is not a war against residents of areas under Houthi control, nor against any sect or tribe, but rather "a battle for the state and its citizens and to restore its institutions." He said its objective is to end the seizure of Yemenis' will and political future through the use of force.

Al-Alimi delivered a direct message to residents in Houthi-controlled areas, calling on them to stay away from military positions, gatherings, and supply routes, and to protect their children from being drawn into the fighting. At the same time, he reiterated the state's commitment to the safe return and declared amnesty for those who lay down their weapons and stop fighting alongside the group.

In a message to government forces and the resistance, the chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council stressed that the mission is "not only to reclaim the land, but to restore the state to it." He called for the protection of civilians and property and adherence to the law, stressing that there would be no room for revenge, retaliation, or attacks on innocent people.

Directives to the Government

On the civilian front, Al-Alimi said he had instructed the government to prepare a program of action to run in parallel with the military operations, so that state institutions would begin assuming their responsibilities in areas reclaimed by government forces as they are recovered.

The priorities he outlined include resuming the payment of state employees' salaries and addressing outstanding dues retroactively, launching an urgent recovery and reconstruction program, repairing damaged roads, electricity and water networks, and facilities, and creating conditions for the return of displaced people and the resumption of economic activity.

Al-Alimi said the success of the battle would not be measured by the number of cities reclaimed, but by the number of citizens who regain security, families that return to their homes, and measures that prevent a return to practices of killing, oppression, and depriving the people of their will.

He also reiterated the commitment of the Presidential Leadership Council and the government to the outcome of the Saudi-sponsored south-south dialogue, in a manner that ensures a fair and comprehensive solution to the southern issue. He called on brothers and friends, as well as the international community, to support Yemen, its armed forces, and national institutions, and to support humanitarian and economic efforts and recovery and reconstruction programs.

Al-Alimi concluded by announcing that the state's military, security, and civilian institutions had entered a "state of full mobilization" until the mission was accomplished, stressing that the new phase seeks to restore the state to its territory and institutions and return weapons to their "natural place under the authority of the law."

Arab World

Houthi Pressure Isolates Taiz from Its Southern Countryside Amid Fierce Resistance

Yemen government soldiers gather near the Jabal Han front, west of the city of Taiz, (Photo by AHMAD AL-BASHA / AFP)
Yemen government soldiers gather near the Jabal Han front, west of the city of Taiz, (Photo by AHMAD AL-BASHA / AFP)
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Houthi Pressure Isolates Taiz from Its Southern Countryside Amid Fierce Resistance

Yemen government soldiers gather near the Jabal Han front, west of the city of Taiz, (Photo by AHMAD AL-BASHA / AFP)
Yemen government soldiers gather near the Jabal Han front, west of the city of Taiz, (Photo by AHMAD AL-BASHA / AFP)

The Iran-aligned Houthi group has deployed its full weight in the southwestern countryside of Taiz to seize the main roads linking the city with its southern rural areas and cut lines of communication toward Lahj province and the city of Aden. Government forces, backed by popular resistance, are meanwhile engaged in fierce fighting to halt the advance, alongside airstrikes targeting the group's reinforcements and military capabilities.

The front has gained particular importance as the Houthis continue to push forces into new areas in southern Taiz. Reports said the group took control on Sunday of the areas of Al-Safiya and Al-Barkani and cut the road linking Al-Turbah, the administrative center of Al-Shamayatayn district in the south, with Taiz city to the north. This would isolate the latter from the liberated areas of Lahj and Aden.

The front nevertheless remains open to intense fighting, amid indications that the Houthis are determined to maintain pressure along this axis. Field sources warned of the risks posed by continued attacks and the need for immediate reinforcements for government forces in the area.

Alongside the fighting in the southwestern countryside, government forces and popular resistance had made gains on several Taiz fronts, regaining control of the areas of Al-Maqarm and Al-Zakira in Al-Shamayatayn district, south of the province, following fierce clashes with the Houthis. The Houthis subsequently regained control of the areas.

Government forces on the southeastern front, with support from fighters from Sama district, also took control of Sama Fort before advancing toward the strategic Jabal Al-Jaasha after securing Jabal Sama Fort.

Sources said the operations resulted in significant human and material losses among the Houthis, including dozens killed or wounded, while a number of the group's militants fled the areas of confrontation. Fighting also continued, according to the same sources, on the Jabal Habashi and Al-Kadaha fronts.

On the Jabal Han and Hadhran front, west of Taiz city, fierce clashes broke out and ended, according to the Taiz Military Axis, with the defeat of the attacking forces and the killing of the Houthi commander who led the attack on government positions at Jabal Han.

257 Operations in One Day

At the same time as the ground fighting, government forces intensified operations against Houthi positions and movements across several fronts.

Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman Colonel Majid Al-Nazili said the forces carried out 257 precision strikes against Houthi positions, movements, and military capabilities using fighter aircraft, drones, artillery, missiles, and rocket launchers.

He said the operations covered Sanaa, Midi in Hajjah, Baqim in Saada, and fronts in Al-Jawf, Marib, Al-Bayda, and Lahj, with the operational focus on the Taiz fronts. He said the targets included command and control centers, gatherings, mobilization sites, combat reserves, as well as weapons and ammunition depots and military supply lines and means of transport.

According to Al-Nazili, the operations resulted, based on preliminary field estimates, in at least 700 Houthi militants being put out of action and the destruction of 170 combat vehicles and military assets. He said this had a direct impact on the group's combat capabilities and limited its ability to continue attacks against civilians in their homes and villages.

The Yemeni Armed Forces had also announced, in a separate development, that they had carried out 97 precision strikes against Houthi military reinforcements on the Tor Al-Baha front and the Taiz axis.

Al-Nazili said the operations involved fighter aircraft, drones, artillery, missiles, and snipers, resulting in 260 group members being put out of action and 44 military vehicles and means of transport and supply being destroyed or disabled.

The air force also announced strikes against Houthi targets in Sanaa and Saada, while the armed forces had earlier announced an attack against Houthi military targets in the capital, Sanaa.

These figures bring Houthi losses to nearly 6,000 killed or wounded over the course of a week, according to successive statements by the Yemeni Armed Forces.

Mobilization and State of Alert

The developments on the ground in Taiz coincided with the government and armed forces moving to a higher level of military mobilization and preparedness.

The Ministry of Defense and the General Staff launched a general mobilization and public call to arms, in implementation of directives from Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi.

The announcement came during an expanded meeting chaired by Defense Minister Lieutenant General Taher Al-Aqili in Aden. General Staff Chief and Joint Operations Commander Lieutenant General Sagheer bin Aziz participated by video link from Marib, alongside the deputy defense minister, the deputy chief of staff, and heads of military departments and directorates.

Al-Aqili said the ministry had taken practical measures to implement the general mobilization and public call to arms, activate human resources and reserve mobilization channels, organize reception centers, and task the relevant authorities with beginning their assigned duties.

The Yemeni defense minister affirmed that the armed forces were carrying out their duty to defend the country and its sovereignty, defeat the Houthis, and restore state institutions, stressing military discipline and command, the mobilization of resources, and the integration of efforts.

For his part, bin Aziz said the declaration of general mobilization represented a national decision requiring an organized transition to the highest levels of preparedness, the unification of efforts and capabilities, improving the efficiency of the armed forces, and strengthening their ability to carry out their duties.

He stressed the need to complete the inventory of personnel, equipment, and requirements, organize call-up and reinforcement operations, raise levels of discipline and readiness, strengthen training and qualification, and work to build an integrated military and community effort.

Amid the intensifying fighting, the chief of staff held calls with military and field commanders in Taiz, including Major General Yousef Al-Sharaji, a member of the Supreme Military Committee and commander of the Taiz front; Major General Khaled Fadel, commander of the Taiz Military Axis; Major General Abdulaziz Al-Majidi, chief of staff of the axis; and Taiz Resistance Commander Rashid Shamsan.

Bin Aziz received briefings on the course of operations and the field situation across the province's various fronts. He praised the people of Taiz for their support for the armed forces and their initiative to participate in the fighting.

He affirmed that the armed forces across the various fronts and sectors stood alongside the forces fighting in Taiz, praising what he described as the fighters' efficiency and combat capabilities, as well as the performance of the fighter aircraft and drones.