Israel Deploys Missile Boats in Red Sea as Houthis Attack from Yemen 

This picture taken on November 1, 2023 from a position along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel shows a flare fired by Israeli forces falling above the Palestinian enclave amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
This picture taken on November 1, 2023 from a position along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel shows a flare fired by Israeli forces falling above the Palestinian enclave amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Deploys Missile Boats in Red Sea as Houthis Attack from Yemen 

This picture taken on November 1, 2023 from a position along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel shows a flare fired by Israeli forces falling above the Palestinian enclave amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
This picture taken on November 1, 2023 from a position along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel shows a flare fired by Israeli forces falling above the Palestinian enclave amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

The Israeli military said it had deployed missile boats in the Red Sea on Wednesday as reinforcements, a day after the Iran-aligned Houthi militias said they had launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and vowed to carry out more.

Images disseminated by the military showed Saar-class corvettes patrolling near Eilat port in the Red Sea, which Israel sees as a new front as its war in Gaza draws retaliation from Iran-aligned pro-Hamas forces elsewhere in the region.

The Houthis said on Tuesday they had launched three drone and missile attacks towards Israel since the start of the Hamas-Israel war on Oct. 7. It vowed there would be more such attacks to come "to help the Palestinians to victory".

In what appeared to be a new attack overnight, the Israeli military said it had intercepted an "aerial threat" over the Red Sea.

Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said on Tuesday the Houthi attacks were intolerable, but declined to elaborate when asked how Israel might respond.

The Houthis are part of the Iran-aligned regional alliance hostile to Israel and the United States which includes Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

The Houthis govern swathes of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, more than a thousand miles from Israel.

Missiles and drones fired at Israel from the Red Sea area since Oct. 7 have so far either been shot down or fallen short.

In an Oct. 27 incident, Israel said the Houthis were behind a drone attack that caused explosions in two Egyptian towns on the Red Sea, saying they had been intended to hit Israel.



Death Toll in Pakistan Building Collapse Rises to 27

Rescue workers recover a victim's body during a search operation amidst the debris of a collapsed building in Karachi on July 5, 2025. (Photo by Rizwan TABASSUM / AFP)
Rescue workers recover a victim's body during a search operation amidst the debris of a collapsed building in Karachi on July 5, 2025. (Photo by Rizwan TABASSUM / AFP)
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Death Toll in Pakistan Building Collapse Rises to 27

Rescue workers recover a victim's body during a search operation amidst the debris of a collapsed building in Karachi on July 5, 2025. (Photo by Rizwan TABASSUM / AFP)
Rescue workers recover a victim's body during a search operation amidst the debris of a collapsed building in Karachi on July 5, 2025. (Photo by Rizwan TABASSUM / AFP)

Rescue teams were in the final stages of clearing the wreckage of a five-story building that collapsed in Pakistan's mega city of Karachi killing 27 people, officials said Sunday.

Residents reported hearing cracking sounds shortly before the apartment block crumbled around 10:00 am on Friday in Karachi's impoverished Lyari neighborhood, which was once plagued by gang violence and considered one of the most dangerous areas in Pakistan.

"Most of the debris has been removed," Hassaan Khan, a spokesman for government rescue service 1122 told AFP, adding that the death toll stood at 27 on Sunday morning.

He expected the operation to finish by the afternoon.

Authorities said the building had been declared unsafe and eviction notices were sent to occupants between 2022 and 2024, but landlords and some residents told AFP they had not received them.

"My daughter is under the rubble," 54-year-old Dev Raj told AFP at the scene on Saturday.

"She was my beloved daughter. She was so sensitive but is under the burden of debris. She got married just six months ago."

Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan, mainly because of poor safety standards and shoddy construction materials in the South Asian country of more than 240 million people.

But Karachi, home to more than 20 million, is especially notorious for poor construction, illegal extensions, ageing infrastructure, overcrowding, and lax enforcement of building regulations.