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Israel Bombs Power Station and Two Ports Controlled by Houthis in Yemen

Black smoke raises following airstrikes on Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
Black smoke raises following airstrikes on Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Bombs Power Station and Two Ports Controlled by Houthis in Yemen

Black smoke raises following airstrikes on Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
Black smoke raises following airstrikes on Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)

Israeli warplanes bombed a power station and two ports in Houthi-controlled Yemen on Friday in retaliation for Houthi drone and missile strikes against Israel, and pro-Houthi media said at least one person had been killed and nine wounded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Iran-backed Houthi militias were "paying and will continue to pay a heavy price for their aggression against us".

A series of airstrikes targeted the Red Sea port of Ras Issa and six others the major port of Hodeidah, said Al Masirah TV, the main news outlet run by the Houthis, while Harf Sufyan District in Amran province also came under air attack.

An employee at the Ras Issa port was killed and six others were injured, the outlet said.

Earlier, British security firm Ambrey said airstrikes on the Ras Issa port targeted oil storage facilities in the vicinity of shipping berths, though no merchant vessels were reported to have been damaged.

The supply of petroleum derivatives is stable, the Houthi government spokesperson Hashem Sharaf Eddine said after the attack.

Thirteen airstrikes also targeted the Hezyaz central power station in Yemen's capital Sanaa, Al Masirah TV reported. It said three citizens had been injured, including a worker at Hezyaz, and a number of homes had been damaged.

An Israeli military statement confirmed the targets, saying the power station served as a "central source of energy for the Houthi terrorist regime in its military activities". It added that the targets struck were examples of the "Houthis' exploitation of civilian infrastructure".

Within the past 48 hours, the Houthis have fired three drones at Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv and more drones and missiles at the US aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said.

The Houthis have targeted Israel, hundreds of kilometers to the north as well as international shipping in waters near Yemen since November 2023 in support of Palestinians at war with Israel in Gaza.

Israel has responded with airstrikes in Houthi-held areas of Yemen, as have British and US forces in the region.

Netanyahu said last month Israel was only at the beginning of its campaign against the Houthis.

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Arab World

Iraqi PM Tells Iranian President Attacks Targeting Iraq Are Unacceptable as Shrapnel Kills One

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (AFP file)
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (AFP file)
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Iraqi PM Tells Iranian President Attacks Targeting Iraq Are Unacceptable as Shrapnel Kills One

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (AFP file)
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (AFP file)

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday that attacks ‌targeting Iraq ‌were unacceptable.

He ‌told ⁠Pezeshkian that the ⁠attacks undermined efforts to end the war and ⁠return to dialogue, ‌according ‌to a ‌statement by the ‌prime minister's office.

Iraq has been among a ‌number of countries in ⁠the region targeted ⁠by Iran in response to US and Israeli strikes.

Shrapnel killed a woman following a strike on an arms depot belonging to an Iran-backed armed group in Iraq, health and security officials told AFP.

A security source said "a bombing targeted an arms depot at a military base", which mainly hosts the Asaib Ahl al-Haq group, near the town of Al-Suwaira, southeast of Baghdad.

He added that "a woman was martyred when shrapnel from a rocket fell near her after the strike" in the town in Wasit province.

A local health official confirmed her death and said another person was seriously wounded.

The military base belongs to the Popular Mobilization Forces, a former paramilitary coalition now integrated into Iraq's regular army.

It also encompasses brigades from Iran-backed groups, including the US-blacklisted Asaib Ahl al-Haq.

Since the start of the Middle East war, bases belonging to the PMF have been hit several times by strikes blamed on the US and Israel.

At least 20 fighters have been killed so far, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the armed groups.

Iraq, long a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, had said it did not want to be dragged into the war, but it has not been spared.

The US designates several Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups as terrorist organizations.

Some of these groups hold seats in parliament and have seen their political and financial clout increase, such as Asaib Ahl al-Haq.

Arab World

Palestinian Presidency Condemns Continued Israeli Closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque

20 February 2026, Palestinian Territories, Jerusalem: Palestinians perform the Taraweeh prayers in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the third day of Ramadan. Photo: Department Of Islamic Awqaf In J/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
20 February 2026, Palestinian Territories, Jerusalem: Palestinians perform the Taraweeh prayers in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the third day of Ramadan. Photo: Department Of Islamic Awqaf In J/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Palestinian Presidency Condemns Continued Israeli Closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque

20 February 2026, Palestinian Territories, Jerusalem: Palestinians perform the Taraweeh prayers in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the third day of Ramadan. Photo: Department Of Islamic Awqaf In J/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
20 February 2026, Palestinian Territories, Jerusalem: Palestinians perform the Taraweeh prayers in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the third day of Ramadan. Photo: Department Of Islamic Awqaf In J/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

The Palestinian Presidency condemned the continued Israeli closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem, which has prevented worshippers from performing their religious rites during the holy month of Ramadan.

In a statement, the presidency said the measures constitute a serious violation of the historical and legal status of Al-Aqsa Mosque and other religious sites, SPA reported.

The Palestinian presidency also warned against attempts by the Israeli occupation to exploit the current atmosphere of regional tension and escalation to target religious sites in Jerusalem, reaffirming that Al-Aqsa Mosque, with its entire area of 144 dunams, is an Islamic place of worship exclusively for Muslims.

The statement further stressed the importance of preserving the existing historical and legal status quo at the Al-Haram Al-Sharif.

Arab World

UN Warns Global Aid at Risk as Middle East War Spreads

A Sudanese refugee girl from al-Fashir rests next to a burnt tree in the middle of the Tine transit camp, amid the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
A Sudanese refugee girl from al-Fashir rests next to a burnt tree in the middle of the Tine transit camp, amid the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
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UN Warns Global Aid at Risk as Middle East War Spreads

A Sudanese refugee girl from al-Fashir rests next to a burnt tree in the middle of the Tine transit camp, amid the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
A Sudanese refugee girl from al-Fashir rests next to a burnt tree in the middle of the Tine transit camp, amid the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo

The United Nations aid chief warned on Wednesday that the conflict in the Middle East is straining humanitarian operations worldwide, disrupting supply chains and slowing the delivery of life-saving assistance to numerous crisis zones.

“We are in a moment of grave peril for the Middle East and, actually I believe, for the wider world,” Tom Fletcher, the UN aid chief, told Reuters.

The US-Israeli war with Iran, which has expanded to Lebanon and dragged in Gulf countries, has convulsed global markets and disrupted supply chains, with airspace closures and the halt of shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz.

Fletcher said aid supplies to Gaza and sub-Saharan Africa are being affected by the conflict, as humanitarian relief that needs to travel through the Strait of Hormuz or through airspace in the Gulf has been largely blocked or constrained.

Conflict-ridden Somalia, which is facing a major drought, and Sudan are among a number of countries facing dire humanitarian crises.

"These (constraints) will damage our humanitarian supply chains, reduce the humanitarian supplies we can get to people who need them, but they'll also drive up energy costs and food costs across the region," Fletcher said.

"This really is a perfect storm of factors right now, and I'm seriously worried," he stated.

There is particular concern for aid supplies to sub-Saharan Africa, Flether said, which are being impacted by restricted movement through the Strait of Hormuz, with alternative routes slapped with rising freight costs.

Higher oil prices are making the UN's aid deliveries by air more expensive, at a time when UN agencies and NGOs budgets are already facing major donor cuts, Fletcher explained.

"We've just about put some money together to keep more of our UN humanitarian flights in the air, but they've suddenly, almost overnight, become much more expensive," Fletcher said.