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Russia Steps Up Rhetoric In Response to Israeli Raids in Syria

Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria (File photo: Reuters)
Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria (File photo: Reuters)
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Russia Steps Up Rhetoric In Response to Israeli Raids in Syria

Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria (File photo: Reuters)
Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria (File photo: Reuters)

The Russian Defense Ministry issued statements on the recent Israeli raids on Syria, which carried unprecedented indications of a change in Moscow's response to the "continuous attacks on Syrian sovereignty."

The Ministry, which never previously commented on Israeli raids, issued two separate statements over the past few days after Israel targeted a research center in Aleppo and a site for Iranian forces in al-Qusayr.

The statements addressed the success of the Syrian air defenses in confronting the two attacks and the missiles.

The deputy head of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria, Vadim Kolet, said that two Israeli F-16 fighters launched from Lebanese airspace four guided missiles directed at sites in Homs Governorate.

All the missiles were destroyed by systems of the Syrian Air Defense Forces, he announced.

The Russian Center for Reconciliation announced that the Syrian air defenses had shot down 7 of the 8 missiles during the Israeli raid on July 19th.

A well-informed Russian source told Asharq Al-Awsat that this is directly related to the talks launched with the United States following the first summit between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden last month.

Moscow received a confirmation that Washington does not welcome the continuous Israeli raids, according to the source.

He also explained that the rhetoric was escalated against any Israeli military action targeting Syria's sovereignty, and in violation of international resolutions.

The fact that all the launched missiles were destroyed indicates a fundamental change in handling this issue, he believes.

The source added that Israel's air force has not entered the Syrian airspace and carries out its attacks from neighboring lands, but the attacks are no longer effective because the Syrian anti-aircraft systems have been enhanced, and Moscow provided Damascus with air defense equipment.

The recent developments reflect a shift in how Moscow addresses the Israeli attacks and indicate that Moscow has "run out of patience" because Tel Aviv continues to ignore Russian calls to set clear rules.

The Russian source believes there are political developments and opening channels of dialogue with the US removed a significant obstacle, noting that lack of communication had previously complicated the matters with Washington.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli attacks, which targeted some areas in the al-Qusayr region in central Syria.

The Ministry affirmed that the repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian lands, which coincided with terrorist attacks on the countryside of Aleppo, come in the implementation of continued geopolitical conspiracy strategies against Syria.

"Syria will not hesitate to exercise its right in defending territorial integrity and sovereignty."

The statement concluded by saying that Syria is a founding member of the UN and believes in the role of international legitimacy.

It demands the Security Council to assume its responsibilities in the framework of the UN Charter, most importantly is the maintenance of international peace and security.

Syria calls on the UN to hold all parties that support terrorism and launch attacks on its sovereignty accountable for their terrorism and crimes against its people, all of which form flagrant violations of the Charter of the UN and the provisions of international law and Security Council resolutions.

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Arab World

Yemen's Houthis Mobilize Blood Banks as Casualties Mount

Houthis mobilize blood donations for hospitals packed with their wounded fighters (X)
Houthis mobilize blood donations for hospitals packed with their wounded fighters (X)
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Yemen's Houthis Mobilize Blood Banks as Casualties Mount

Houthis mobilize blood donations for hospitals packed with their wounded fighters (X)
Houthis mobilize blood donations for hospitals packed with their wounded fighters (X)

The Houthi group has sent blood donation vehicles into streets, neighborhoods and squares across Sanaa and four Yemeni provinces over the past two days, urgently appealing for donors amid signs of rising numbers of wounded fighters following recent military developments.

Vehicles and trucks belonging to the so-called “National Blood Transfusion and Research Center” were deployed across the seized Yemeni capital and the provinces of Dhamar, Ibb, Al-Mahwit and Hodeidah in an intensive drive to mobilize residents to donate blood.

The vehicles toured densely populated areas, broadcasting appeals through loudspeakers.

Local sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the group had ordered medical workers, neighborhood officials and community leaders in the targeted provinces to mobilize residents and direct them to donation centers as fighting spread across several fronts.

The sources said Houthi-controlled health facilities were on high alert, with demand rising for various blood types. Hospitals were receiving growing numbers of wounded Houthi fighters, according to local accounts.

The Houthi-controlled National Blood Transfusion and Research Center in Sanaa (Facebook)

Residents in Sanaa and elsewhere described the heavy deployment of donation vehicles over the past two days as striking, citing repeated loudspeaker appeals urging people to visit donation points.

They linked the campaigns to recent battlefield developments and questioned the scale of injuries behind the group’s decision to expand the drive to more areas.

High alert, mounting losses

“Houthi appeals this time are more urgent than in previous campaigns,” said Qassem, a Sanaa resident.

“No one refuses to donate blood to save a human life, but the question is: Why do they keep sending people to the front lines, then ask residents to provide blood to treat the consequences of those battles?”

In Ibb, 193 kilometers south of Sanaa, resident Majdi said the intensified appeals “do not come out of nowhere.” The group was using various methods to mobilize residents, he said, without disclosing the scale of losses driving the surge in demand for blood.

“People are struggling with poverty, rising prices and deteriorating services, and now they are also being asked to bear the consequences of war and provide blood for the wounded,” he said.

In Dhamar, 100 kilometers south of Sanaa, sources and residents reported that blood donation vehicles from the center’s local branch were operating in several city neighborhoods, alongside urgent appeals for donors.

They said growing numbers of wounded Houthi fighters continued to arrive at hospitals, particularly Dhamar General Hospital, putting further pressure on health facilities.

In Al-Mahwit and Hodeidah in the west, local sources said turnout was initially very low. The group then expanded the campaigns to government institutions and private establishments, urging employees and workers to donate.

Houthi vehicles used loudspeakers to urge residents to donate blood (Facebook)

The sources described the campaigns as part of a wider state of high alert. Their timing, alongside military developments, reinforced residents’ belief that large numbers of wounded fighters urgently needed blood.

Residents in Houthi-controlled areas, meanwhile, face deteriorating health services and shortages of medicines and medical supplies.

They are calling for treatment services that meet civilians’ needs, rather than further burdens on facilities already stretched by limited resources.

Arab World

26 Women, 4 Children Killed in Sudan RSF Drone Strike

FILE PHOTO: A collapsed mosque wall following a drone strike in Khartoum North, in Bahri city, Sudan, August 12, 2026. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A collapsed mosque wall following a drone strike in Khartoum North, in Bahri city, Sudan, August 12, 2026. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
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26 Women, 4 Children Killed in Sudan RSF Drone Strike

FILE PHOTO: A collapsed mosque wall following a drone strike in Khartoum North, in Bahri city, Sudan, August 12, 2026. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A collapsed mosque wall following a drone strike in Khartoum North, in Bahri city, Sudan, August 12, 2026. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo

A drone strike launched by Sudan's Rapid Support Forces killed 26 women and four children on Friday near the southeastern border with Ethiopia, an official and eyewitnesses told AFP.

The latest front line in Sudan's war between the regular army and the RSF is the border region with Ethiopia, which is facing its own internal conflict that threatens to escalate into a regional war.

Since Sudan's war broke out in April 2023, it has killed more than 200,000 people, aid workers estimate, and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

This year alone, nearly 100,000 people have been displaced across Blue Nile state, according to UN figures.

In a displacement camp in Blue Nile's Abu Shendi, survivors "buried 26 women and four children" from Friday's strike, one person involved in the burial told AFP.

The drone hit just outside the camp, near an informal gold mining site, where women earn a daily wage using chemicals and their bare hands to clear gold nuggets from clumps of earth men have extracted.

The victims included "young girls who work with their families in refining the gold", another eyewitness said.

The country's multi-billion-dollar gold trade, built mostly on makeshift operations like Abu Shendi's, fuels the war efforts of both sides.

Mahgoub al-Sheikh, the governor of Wad al-Mahi where the attack took place, said the drone was launched from "inside Ethiopia".

Sudan has repeatedly accused Ethiopia of harboring RSF fighters and bases within its territory.

Ethiopia has denied the accusations, though local sources say the porous border is a key supply line for the paramilitary and its allies.

Throughout this year, the RSF has pushed an offensive approaching state capital El-Damazin.

The advance could put the army in a bind, forcing it to defend territory on both the Blue Nile front and in the Kordofan region, where a year of deadly drone strikes has left the two sides in a stalemate.

The Sudan war, now in its fourth year, has evolved into an ever more sophisticated conflict using armed drones, enabling both sides to launch far-reaching attacks without sacrificing their fighters.

More than 1,100 people were killed by drone strikes during the first five months of this year alone, according to UN figures.

The conflict, which the UN calls a "war of atrocities", has visited a litany of horrors on civilians including ethnic massacres, famine and indiscriminate attacks on residential areas.

Arab World

Operation ‘Dawn of Yemen’ Clears Bab al-Mandab and its Islands of Remaining Houthi Forces

Members of Yemeni government forces during confrontations with the Houthis (AP)
Members of Yemeni government forces during confrontations with the Houthis (AP)
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Operation ‘Dawn of Yemen’ Clears Bab al-Mandab and its Islands of Remaining Houthi Forces

Members of Yemeni government forces during confrontations with the Houthis (AP)
Members of Yemeni government forces during confrontations with the Houthis (AP)

The military operation “Dawn of Yemen” entered its fifth day on Friday, as government forces completed the clearing of the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the strategic Mayyun Island, while consolidating their positions on the highlands overlooking the international shipping route.

The development strengthens government gains along the western coast, even as fighting continues in the southern and western countryside of Taiz, alongside an expanding aerial campaign targeting Houthi militia positions and movements across several parts of the country.

Military sources said that the Giants Brigades and Nation Shield Forces, backed by air support from the coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally-recognized government, had established full control over Bab al-Mandab, the Al-Ardi military camp, coast guard observation posts, Mayyun Island, and the mountain ranges surrounding the strait, including positions overlooking the vital maritime corridor.

Yemeni government forces advance in Al-Wazi'iyah and push to complete the cleansing of Bab al-Mandab (EPA)

According to the sources, government forces carried out a surprise maneuver that bypassed the Houthis’ frontline defenses and reached their newly established trenches and tunnels. The clashes reportedly resulted in dozens of Houthi fighters being killed, while others surrendered.

If the announced control is maintained, securing the strait and Mayyun Island would mark a significant turning point in operations along the western coast, given the area’s strategic location at the southern entrance to the Red Sea and its importance to international navigation.

The latest developments follow the government forces’ announcement that they had seized the Kahboub Heights, which overlook vast areas surrounding Bab al-Mandab.

A member of Yemeni government forces on the southern Taiz fronts (AFP)

Advance Toward Al-Wazi’iyah

After consolidating their new positions, Yemeni government forces continued operations on the Al-Wazi’iyah front west of Taiz, aiming to secure the district’s eastern highlands and tighten the encirclement of Houthi positions around Dhubab and Al-Omari Camp, paving the way for a broader advance toward Mokha, according to field reports.

The operations were accompanied by airstrikes targeting Houthi military sites and movements in Al-Wazi’iyah, Al-Shamayatayn, and Jabal Habashi, as well as positions in Sharjab, Al-Turbah, and Jabal Qaham, which overlooks the districts of Al-Maqatirah and Al-Ahkoum along the border between Taiz and Lahj.

Field sources reported that Houthi vehicles and reinforcements were targeted in the Al-Haql and Al-Qahaf areas of Jabal Habashi district. Meanwhile, the media center of the government’s Taiz Military Axis stated that one airstrike neutralized or wounded 23 Houthi fighters. Additional strikes hit positions in the Numan Mountains, Al-Saybara, Al-Harthah, and Jardad in Al-Shamayatayn district.

On the other hand, Houthi forces continue to pressure rural areas south and west of Taiz in an effort to retain their positions. Local sources reported that the group had taken control of Al-Mahsha, Al-Adaf, and Al-Armah in Jabal Habashi district on the western front and was advancing toward the Al-Shariq area. A schoolteacher was reportedly killed in Al-Mahsha.

Fighters from the Giants Brigades on the Bab al-Mandab front (EPA)

1,729 Military Strikes

In a sign of the widening scope of military operations, Colonel Majed Al-Nuzaili, spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, announced on Thursday that 1,729 precision strikes had been carried out against Houthi military targets across various fronts as part of Operation Dawn of Yemen.

Al-Nuzaili said the operations resulted in the neutralization of 1,370 Houthi fighters and the destruction or disabling of 300 military vehicles and pieces of equipment, in addition to strikes against military positions, observation posts, command-and-control centers, weapons depots, supply lines, and reinforcements.

At the same time, airstrikes expanded into eight governorates: Taiz, Ibb, Al-Bayda, Abyan, Saada, Sanaa, Raymah, and Al-Hodeidah, according to local reports. Targets included sites in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, a Houthi camp in Yarim in Ibb, positions in Al-Siyani district, sites in Bani Matar west of Sanaa, locations in Kismah district in Raymah governorate, and positions in the Jamil, Jarjarah, and Al-Nasreen mountain areas of Al-Bayda. Other strikes targeted Tharah Pass and locations in Al-Hodeidah and Saada.

In Lahj, government forces announced that they had repelled a Houthi attack targeting the areas of Al-Aghbarah, Al-Muhawalah, and Al-Mashamirah northwest of Al-Mudarabah district, and had regained positions on Jabal Saif with the support of tribal reinforcements. Meanwhile, clashes, reciprocal shelling, and drone operations continued on the fronts south of Marib and in Al-Jawf, while airstrikes targeted Mas Camp and positions in the Al-Labanat area.