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Rebel group’s involvement risks broadening and prolonging a war that has entered its fifth week
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Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have launched missiles at Israel in their first attack since the current Middle East conflict broke out.
The Houthis, whose involvement on Saturday risks broadening and prolonging a war that has entered its fifth week, warned their operations would continue until the “aggression” on all fronts ended. Israel said it had intercepted a missile from Yemen.
Experts have warned the rebel group may attempt to block the Bab al-Mandab Strait south of Yemen, further disrupting shipping lanes around the Red Sea.
The escalation comes after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s latest update on the war suggested the conflict would last “weeks, not months” and Iran had indicated a willingness to talk about “certain things”.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has closed the Strait of Hormuz,adding that any transit through the waterway will face “harsh measures”, according to state media.
Rubio raised concerns that Iran could operate the strait using a tolling system if their control over the waterway persisted.
He also said that he believed the US could achieve its goals in Iran without ground troops, despite reports from theDonald Trump is considering sending another 10,000 troops to the Middle East.
Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant is posing a threat to nuclear safety after being hit by strikes amid the ongoing war, said the head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom on Saturday after another strike near the facility.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Friday that Iran had informed it of another strike in the vicinity of Bushehr, the third such incident in 10 days, with no damage to the operating reactor and no release of radiation reported.
The U.S.–Israeli war with Iran has thrown the region into chaos, killing thousands of people, costing billions of dollars, and sending energy prices to their highest levels since the invasion of Ukraine.
As the conflict enters its second month, more than 4,500 people have lost their lives, according to reports from more than a dozen countries dragged into the war since February 28.
Still, there are no signs of the war winding down, as Tehran continues to choke global trade with its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. reportedly prepares to send an additional 10,000 troops to the region.
Kuwait International Airport was targeted by multiple drone attacks that caused significant damage to its radar system but resulted in no casualties, state news agency KUNA said on Saturday, citing the country’s Civil Aviation Authority.
The authority’s spokesperson later said the attacks were carried out by Iran, its proxies, and the armed factions it supports.
An Israeli strike on a media car in southern Lebanon has reportedly killed two broadcast journalists, according to Al Manar TV as reported by Reuters.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment on the reports.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has denied reports that Iran has “destroyed” an air defence depot in Dubai.
Earlier, we reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had destroyed a Ukrainian air defence depot in Dubai on Saturday, according to the Fars news agency.
Camille Chorley reports:
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Israel in a statement broadcast on their media on Saturday (28 March).
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the group’s military spokesman, said the barrage targeted “sensitive Israeli military sites” in southern Israel and was coordinated with operations by Iran-backed fighters in Lebanon.
“Our operations will continue until the aggression across all fronts ends,” Saree said. Israel said it intercepted the missile.
The video statement marks the Houthis’ first public confirmation of involvement in the ongoing Israeli-US war against Iran.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has told Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that trust is needed to facilitate talks and mediation on the conflict in the Middle East, the prime minister’s office said on Saturday.
It said Pezeshkian had praised Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts and that the two leaders had discussed hostilities in the region and efforts to end the conflict during a call that lasted over an hour. Sharif briefed Pezeshkian on Pakistan’s diplomatic contacts with the United States and Gulf states, it said.
Pakistan has been leading negotiations between the warring nations as the Gulf countries who had originally been mediating discussions found themselves embroiled in rebuffing Iranian attacks on sites within their borders.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has destroyed a Ukrainian air defence depot in Dubai on Saturday, according to the Fars news agency.
As president Donald Trump insists talks with Iran to end the ongoing war are progressing “very well”, after sending a “15-point action list” of demands via mediators.
But the United States has been unusually coy about the contents of the proposal and has yet to say who it is supposedly negotiating with, while Iran disputes that discussions are even taking place.
Rubbishing the plan this week, Iranian officials described the conditions as “excessive”, “maximalist” and “unreasonable”. Senior officials who reviewed the proposal felt it only served US and Israeli interests, a source told Reuters, though adding that diplomacy is still on the table.
Analysts have told The Independent that despite US boasts of success, the war will not be ended militarily and one month since the conflict began Iran feels it has the upper hand.
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Iran-US war live: Twelve US service members injured after strike on Saudi air base – The Independent
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