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Arabia
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim cargo ship they attacked Sunday has sunk; anti-Houthi Yemeni govt official says Houthis attacked 2nd ship in Red Sea Monday night, leaving 4 casualties
2025-07-08
[IsraelTimes] Assault on Greek-owned ship and subsequent Israeli strikes raise fears of regional escalation, with hostage deal hanging in balance and Iran weighing continued talks with US

A fat merchantman attacked by Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
rebels sank in the Red Sea, the group said Monday, raising new concerns over safety in a waterway that is crucial to global shipping, as Israel targeted the rebels with Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s.

The Houthis attacked the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas with drones, missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire on Sunday, forcing its crew of 22 to abandon the vessel.

The Magic Seas attack and subsequent Israeli airstrikes early Monday targeting the rebels raised fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that could again draw in US and Western forces to the area, particularly after US President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
’s administration targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign.

The ship attack comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas
..always the voice of sweet reason...
war hangs in the balance, and as Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program, following American airstrikes targeting its most sensitive atomic sites during Israel’s war against the Islamic Theocratic RepublicPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington Sunday to meet with Trump.

SHIP ATTACK FORCES CREW TO ABANDON VESSEL
The attack on Magic Seas, a bulk carrier heading north to Egypt’s Suez Canal, happened about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the Houthis.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, or UKMTO, first said that an armed security team on the vessel had returned fire against an initial attack of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, though the vessel later was struck by projectiles.

Ambrey, a private maritime security firm, said that Magic Seas also had been attacked by bomb-carrying drone boats, which could be a major escalation. It said that two drone boats struck the ship, while another two were destroyed by the armed guards on board.

UKMTO said the ship was taking on water and its crew had abandoned the vessel. They were rescued by a passing ship, it added.

A European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
anti-piracy patrol in the region, called Operation Atalanta, said that 22 mariners had been on board Magic Seas.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military front man, later claimed the attack and said the rebels used missiles and bomb-carrying drone boats to attack the ship.

"Our operations continue in targeting the depths of the Israeli entity in occupied Paleostine, as well as preventing Israeli maritime navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas... until the aggression on Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
stops and the siege on it is lifted," Saree said.

The Magic Seas owners did not respond to a request for comment. Saree later said the vessel sank in the Red Sea.

FRESH HOUTHI ATTACKS AFTER ISRAELI STRIKES
Separately, on Monday afternoon, a drone launched by the Houthis in Yemen at Israel was shot down by the Israeli Air Force, the Israel Defense Forces said.

No sirens sounded, "according to protocol," the military added.

Hours later, a ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Houthis fell short outside the country’s borders, according to a military official.

The IDF identified the launch, but no sirens sounded in Israel because the missile did not pose a threat.

The two attacks came after the IDF overnight said it struck Houthi-held ports at Hodeida, Ras Isa, and Salif, as well as the Ras Kanatib power plant.

The IDF also said it struck Galaxy Leader, a vehicle-carrying vessel that the Houthis seized back in November 2023 when they began their attacks in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war.

"Houthi forces installed a radar system on the ship and have been using it to track vessels in the international maritime arena to facilitate further terrorist activities," the IDF said.

On Monday evening, the IDF released footage showing the strike on the hijacked ship. The Bahamas-flagged Galaxy Leader was affiliated with an Israeli billionaire and had been operated by a Japanese firm, NYK Line.

The Houthis acknowledged the strikes, but offered no damage assessment from the attack. Saree, the Houthi front man, claimed the rebels’ air defense forces "effectively confronted" the Israelis, without offering evidence.

[X]

Yemeni official says Houthis behind second attack on Red Sea ship
[IsraelTimes] Moammar al-Eryani, the information minister for Yemen’s internationally recognized government that opposes the Houthis, says the rebel group is behind Monday night’s attack on maritime shipping in the Red Sea.

According to the private security firm Ambrey, the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned Eternity C had been heading north toward the Suez Canal when it came under fire by men in small boats and by bomb-carrying drones. The security guards on board opened fire in the attack.

“The vessel’s engines had reportedly been disabled and Ambrey observed that the vessel had started to drift,” the firm says.

There were no other immediate details on the attack, which is also acknowledged by the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, or UKMTO, center. The Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel notes the attack, but the rebels have not claimed the assault.

The US military’s Central Command says it is aware of reports of the attack, but declines to comment further.

The attack occurs in the same area as Sunday’s assault on Magic Seas, another bulk carrier heading north to Egypt’s Suez Canal, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of the port of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the Houthis.

Two hurt, two more missing in second Houthi attack on Red Sea shipping
[IsraelTimes] Two crew members of a Greek-managed vessel have been wounded and two more are missing in a drone attack off Yemen, hours after the Iran-aligned Houthis claim an assault on another bulk carrier in the Red Sea that it claimed to have sunk.

The Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C was attacked with sea drones and skiffs off the port of Hodeidah, its manager, Cosmoship Management, tells Reuters.

Two crew members are seriously wounded and two are missing, the company says, adding that armed security guards were on board.

The vessel’s bridge was hit, an official at Cosmoship says, adding that telecommunications are impacted and contacting the crew is hard.
Link


Arabia
Houthis claim hypersonic missile strike on Ben Gurion airport; early Monday a.m. 20 IDF fighter jets bounce Houthi rubble at 3 ports, power station in response
2025-07-07
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Houthis from the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement attacked Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv using a hypersonic ballistic missile. This statement was made on July 6 by Houthi spokesman Yahya Saria.

"The Rocket Forces (...) carried out a military operation in which they struck the airport (...) using a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile, " Saria said in an interview with Al Masirah TV.
According to the IDF, the thing was headed for the Judean desert at 3:00 Sunday morning when the IDF shot it down. But at least this time the Houthis had it aimed at the right country. They don’t always…
He said the operation was successful
…it was successful for the IDF, yes. Not for the Houthis. Sorry.
and the airport's operations were temporarily suspended.
Also a no. Maybe next time…
The Israeli army, in turn, earlier reported the interception of a missile launched from Yemeni territory. Air raid sirens were sounded in several areas of the country.

Israel carries out strikes on Houthi-controlled power station, ports across Yemen
[IsraelTimes] IDF confirms that targets include ‘Galaxy Leader’ ship which was hijacked by Houthis in November 2023; Katz threatens that Iran-backed group will ‘continue to pay a heavy price’

Israel carried out extensive strikes on Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
targets in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
overnight between Sunday and Monday, shortly after it issued evacuation orders for several areas of the country.

The IDF confirmed early Monday morning that its Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s had targeted multiple Houthi terror targets in Yemen, including the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif, and the Ras Khatib power station.

The airstrikes also hit the "Galaxy Leader" vessel, which was hijacked by the Houthis in November 2023 and used for maritime surveillance and operational planning, the IDF said. The Houthis took the ship and its crew of 25 people — who hailed from from the Philippines, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Mexico — captive in November 2023, only freeing them in January 2025 after more than a year of holding them hostage. The IDF said that the Houthis "installed a radar system on the ship, and are using it to track vessels in international maritime space, in order to promote the Houthi terrorist regime’s activities."

According to the military, all the targets hit in the overnight strikes were used by the Iran-backed Houthi regime to transfer weapons and conduct terror activity against Israel and global shipping.

The IDF said the strikes come in response to repeated Houthi missile and drone attacks on Israeli territory and highlight the group’s ongoing use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes.

In a statement early Monday morning, Defense Minister Israel Katz repeated the threat he made following that missile attack, that "Yemen will be treated like Tehran," referencing the intensive Israeli strikes across Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
during the recent 12-day conflict.

"Anyone who tries to harm Israel will be harmed, anyone who raises a hands against Israel will have it cut off," Katz added, saying that the IDF was "forcefully" striking a number of terror targets in Yemen. "The Houthis will continue to pay a heavy price for their actions."

The strikes came about half an hour after the IDF’s Arabic-language front man issued an "urgent" evacuation warning for the three Houthi-controlled ports and the power plant in Yemen.

The Houthi military spokesperson claimed following the attacks that Houthis’ air defenses confronted the Israeli attack "by using a large number of domestically produced surface-to-air missiles."
I believe them. But shooting off and hitting are two very different skills, and Allah clearly doesn’t want the Houthis to hit anything Israeli.
Residents told Rooters that the Israeli strikes on the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah put the main power station out of service, leaving the city in darkness. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that Israel launched a series of strikes on Hodeidah. The campaign came hours after a ship was attacked off the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and the ship’s crew abandoned it as it took on water. No one immediately grabbed credit for the attack, but security firm Ambrey said the vessel fits the typical profile of a Houthi target.
More from the Times of Israel:
The IDF says its strikes overnight on Houthi targets in Yemen were carried out by around 20 fighter jets, who dropped more than 50 munitions in the attack.
Practicing for the next thunder run over Iran?
Courtesy of Fred, a useful map:
[X]
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Weakened Hamas faces rebel clans, doubts over Tehran’s backing after Israel-Iran war
2025-06-28
[IsraelTimes] Hamas needs a truce so it can address humanitarian crisis, quash growing dissent and regain control of Strip amid rise of Israeli-backed clan, sources close to the terror group say
Hamas misunderstands: the future of Gaza does not include them. Their choice is to be dead or to be gone — they need to decide which. The description of current conditions is useful, though.
Short of commanders, deprived of much of its tunnel network and unsure of support from its ally Iran, Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
is battling to survive in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
in the face of rebellious local clans and relentless Israeli military pressure.

Hamas button men are operating autonomously under orders to hold out as long as possible, but the terror group is struggling to maintain its grip as Israel openly backs tribes opposing it, three sources close to Hamas said.

With a humanitarian crisis in Gaza intensifying international pressure for a ceasefire, Hamas badly needs a pause in the fighting, one of the people said.

Not only would a ceasefire offer respite to weary Gazooks, who are growing increasingly critical of Hamas, but it would also allow the terror group to crush rogue elements, including some clans and looters who have been stealing aid, the person said.

To counter the immediate threat, Hamas has sent some of its top operatives to kill one rebellious leader, Yasser Abu Shabaab, but so far he has remained beyond their reach in the Rafah area held by Israeli troops, according to two Hamas sources and two other sources familiar with the situation.

Rooters spoke to 16 sources, including people close to Hamas, Israeli security sources and diplomats who painted a picture of a severely weakened group, retaining some sway and operational capacity in Gaza despite its setbacks, but facing stiff challenges.

Hamas is still capable of landing blows: it killed seven Israeli soldiers in an attack in southern Gaza on Tuesday. But three diplomats in the Middle East said intelligence assessments showed it had lost its centralized command and control and was reduced to limited, surprise attacks.

Israel estimates that it has killed 20,000 button men in Gaza since the war there was sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led Lions of Islam stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages. Another 1,600 Lions of Islam are thought to have been killed inside Israel during the onslaught.

Israeli security sources say Hamas is recruiting tens of thousands of thousands of impoverished, unemployed, displaced young men. One Israeli security source said the average age of Hamas button men was "getting lower by the day."

Hamas does not disclose how many of its operatives have been killed. According to the terror group’s health ministry, Israel has killed more than 56,000 Gazooks in the war, but the figure cannot be verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The war has turned much of Gaza into rubble, and destroyed or rendered unusable hundreds of miles of tunnels that Hamas dug underneath the Strip to hold hostages, smuggle arms and hide from Israeli forces.

"They’re hiding because they are being instantly hit by planes but they appear here and there, organizing queues in front of bakeries, protecting aid trucks, or punishing criminals," said Essam, 57 a construction worker in Gaza City. "They’re not like before the war, but they exist."

Asked for comment for this story, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri
...a senior spokesman for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gaza. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest...
said the group was working for an agreement to end the war with Israel, but "surrender is not an option."

Hamas remained committed to negotiations and was "ready to release all prisoners at once," he said, referring to the hostages, but it wanted a permanent ceasefire and for Israel to withdraw from the Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rejected those conditions and vowed to keep fighting until Hamas is vanquished.

’IT DOESN’T LOOK GOOD’
With a US-brokered truce in the Iran-Israel war holding, attention has switched back to the possibility of a Gaza deal that might end the conflict and release the 50 remaining hostages.

One of the people close to Hamas told Rooters it would welcome a truce, even for a couple of months, to confront the local clans that are gaining influence.

But he said Netanyahu’s terms for ending the war — including Hamas leaders leaving Gaza — would amount to total defeat, and Hamas would never surrender. "We keep the faith, but in reality, it doesn’t look good," the source said.

Founded in 1987, Hamas has ruled Gaza with an iron fist since it violent mostly peacefully ousted forces loyal to Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
, head of the secularist Fatah faction, the Islamist Hamas’s main rival.

Israel has inflicted unprecedented damage on Hamas since the October 7 onslaught, killing most of the terror group’s top commanders, including its leader, Yahya Sinwar, in October.

Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said he believed Hamas was simply trying to survive. That was not just a physical challenge of holding out militarily, he said, but above all a political one.

"They face being eliminated on the ground in Gaza if the war doesn’t stop, but they also face being erased from any governing formula that ends the war in Gaza [if such a thing can be found]," he wrote in response to Rooters’ questions.

Paleostinian tribes have emerged as part of Israel’s strategy to counter Hamas. Netanyahu has said publicly that Israel has been arming clans that oppose Hamas, but has not said which.

One of the most prominent challenges has come from Abu Shabaab, a Paleostinian Bedouin based in the Rafah area, which is under IDF control. Hamas wants Abu Shabaab captured, dead or alive, accusing him of collaboration with Israel and planning attacks on the terror group, three Hamas sources told Rooters.

Abu Shabaab controls eastern Rafah and his group is believed to have freedom of movement in the wider Rafah area.

Images on Abu Shabaab’s Facebook page show the group’s button men organizing the entry of aid trucks from the Kerem Shalom crossing. Israel has accused Hamas of hijacking aid deliveries, hoarding supplies and selling them at exorbitant prices.

Announcements by Abu Shabaab’s group indicate that it is trying to build an independent administration in the area, though the group denies trying to become a governing authority. The group has called on people from Rafah who are now in other areas of Gaza to return, promising food and shelter.

In response to Rooters’ questions, Abu Shabaab’s group denied getting support from Israel or contacts with the Israeli army, describing itself as a popular force protecting humanitarian aid from looting by escorting aid trucks. It accused Hamas of violence and muzzling dissent.

A Hamas security official said the Paleostinian security services would "strike with an iron fist to uproot the gangs of the collaborator Yasser Abu Shabaab," saying Hamas would show no mercy or hesitation and accusing Abu Shabaab of being part of "an effort to create chaos and lawlessness."

Not all of Gaza’s clans are at odds with Hamas, however.

On Thursday, a tribal alliance said its men had protected aid trucks from looters in northern Gaza. Sources close to Hamas said the group had approved of the alliance’s involvement.

Israel said Hamas button men had in fact commandeered the trucks, which both the clans and the terror group denied.

IRAN UNCERTAINTY
Paleostinian analyst Akram Attallah said the emergence of Abu Shabaab was a result of the weakness of Hamas, though he expected him to fail ultimately because Paleostinians broadly reject any hint of collaboration with Israel.

Nevertheless, regardless of how small Abu Shabaab’s group is, the fact that Hamas has an enemy from the same culture was dangerous, he said. "It remains a threat until it is dealt with."

The IDF’s 12-day bombing campaign against Iran, which began early on June 13, has added to the uncertainties facing Hamas. Tehran’s backing for Hamas played a big part in the terror group’s ability to shoot missiles deep into Israel.

According to Israel, the sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Theocratic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.

Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
retaliated by firing drones and deadly ballistic missile attacks at Israel, causing heavy damage.

While both Iran and Israel have claimed victory, Netanyahu on Sunday indicated the Israeli campaign against Tehran had further strengthened his hand in Gaza, saying it would "help us expedite our victory and the release of all our hostages."

US President Donald Trump
...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!...
said on Wednesday that great progress was being made on Gaza, adding that the strike on Iran would help get the hostages released.

A Paleostinian official close to Hamas said the group was weighing the risk of diminished Iranian backing, anticipating "the impact will be on the shape of funding and the expertise Iran used to give to the resistance and Hamas."

One target of Israel’s campaign in Iran was a Revolutionary Guards officer who oversaw coordination with Hamas, which is part of the so-called Axis of Resistance®, a regional network of Iran-backed terror proxies that also includes Leb
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
’s Hamas and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
rebels.

Israel announced the death of the general, Saeed Izadi, on Saturday, saying he had been the driving force behind the Iran-Hamas axis and instrumental in planning the October 7 onslaught.

Hamas extended condolences to Iran on Thursday, calling Izadi a friend who was directly responsible for ties with "the leadership of the Paleostinian resistance."

A source from an Iran-backed group in the region said Izadi helped develop Hamas capabilities, including how to carry out complex attacks, including rocket launches, infiltration operations, and drones.

Asked about how the Israeli campaign against Iran might affect its support for Hamas, Abu Zuhri said Iran was a large and powerful country that would not be defeated.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Cost of damages from Iran war forecast at double October 7 and ensuing attacks
2025-06-26
[IsraelTimes] In numbers released ahead of ceasefire announcement, Tax Authority official predicts claims will likely reach NIS 5 billion as Israel picks up pieces from powerful missile strikes

The cost of property damages from Iranian missile and drone attacks on Israel over the past 12 days is estimated to be around double the sum of claims stemming from the October 7 attack and all 615 days since, the head of the Tax Authority’s compensation department said Monday.

The likely NIS 5 billion ($1.47 billion) price tag calculated by Amir Dahan underlined the destructive power of the few Iranian missiles to make it through Israel’s air defense shield, carrying massive warheads that reduced whole apartment buildings to rubble and sent out blast waves that shattered windows and caused other damage over a wide area.

"These are figures we have never seen for direct property damage," Dahan told the Knesset Finance Committee on Monday.

According to Dahan, damage claims resulting from ballistic missile attacks from Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
had already reached NIS 4.5 billion ($1.32 billion) as of Monday and were expected to climb by another NIS 500 million. By comparison, Israeli property owners had incurred some NIS 2.5 billion ($735 million) in damage resulting from the October 7 attack and since, including months of heavy fighting in the north.

Some 40,000 property claims over the war have already been filed, a figure that Dahan predicted would likely reach 50,000 or more, including claims from factories still assessing the extent of damage. It was not clear if the forecast was based on a longer timeline for the war, which appeared to end abruptly Tuesday morning following a US-brokered ceasefire.

Despite the higher cost, the number was less than the 70,000 claims filed for damages between October 7, 2023, and June 12, 2025, including by those harmed by attacks from Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, Hezbollah in Leb
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
and the Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
According to Israeli figures, Iran fired over 550 ballistic missiles at Israel during the war, though only 31 ballistic missile impacts were reported in populated areas. A single drone also hit a home in Beit She’an, out of around 1,000 launched by Tehran. Shrapnel from missiles and interceptors also caused scattered damage.

Direct hits from Iran on the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and the Bazan oil refinery in Haifa were particularly destructive, Dahan said, without providing specific values.

Of 38,700 claims filed before the rocket barrage Tuesday morning, which destroyed a building in Beersheba and killed four people, some 31,000 claims were made for damage to buildings, 3,700 for vehicle damage, and 4,000 for other property, including furniture and appliances, according to the Tax Authority.

These included some 25,000 claims made in Tel Aviv, 10,800 in Ashkelon, 2,600 in Haifa and Acre, and 94 in Jerusalem, among other districts, according to incomplete Tax Authority data.

For those evacuated from homes damaged by rockets, about 11,000 people have been placed in hotels, and an estimated 4,000 have gone to live with friends and relatives, according to the Federation of Local Authorities.

Owners of properties rendered unusable due to damage from the war will not be liable for property taxes, the Interior Ministry ruled last week.

Israel’s funds for property reparations stood at NIS 9 billion ($2.64 billion) before the start of Israel’s preemptive attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 13, Dahan said. It currently has claims on the table of NIS 6 billion ($1.76 billion) from the Iran attack, including NIS 1.5 billion ($440 million) in outstanding claims from October 7 and ensuing fighting.

The Tax Authority has 130 teams of appraisers charged with visiting every site filing a claim, ideally on the day the claim is filed, Dahan said. A new computerized system will allow claimants to upload photos of their damages to receive up to NIS 30,000 ($8,815) within 72 hours, he noted.

Regarding damages to the contents of a home, Israeli law provides that owners can be compensated up to a certain value for different objects. For example, families can be compensated up to NIS 25,187 ($7,400) for damaged furniture and up to NIS 30,914 ($9,084) for electronics and appliances. The Tax Authority offers insurance for higher payouts, at a premium of 0.3 percent of the additional value.

While only 600 Israelis had signed up for this additional coverage before the war, more than 50,000 have joined since the beginning of the Rising Lion operation, according to a report in the Hebrew daily Calcalist.

COMPENSATION FOR BUSINESSES
Economic damage from the war has extended far beyond missile damage, with businesses and schools closed due to restrictions on gatherings.

On Monday, Israel’s Finance Ministry revealed a plan to compensate those affected financially, including grants for businesses and furloughed workers.

Businesses bringing in less than NIS 300,000 ($86,000) a year will be eligible for a fixed business continuity grant "depending on the level of damage to the business," while businesses earning NIS 300,000 to NIS 400 million will be eligible for the reimbursement of 7%-22% of their expenses, "depending on the rate of damage to business turnover, as well as a refund of 75% of salary expenses in relation to the level of damage."

Businesses with an annual turnover of NIS 300,000 to NIS 100 million ($28 million) will have compensation capped at NIS 600,000 ($172,000).

Employees placed on unpaid leave due to the cessation of economic activity during the war will receive payments from the National Insurance Institute and will not be forced to use any of their accrued vacation days.
Link


Arabia
Israel strikes Hodeidah port, threatens naval, air blockade
2025-06-12
More on this story from yesterday.
[GEO.TV] Israel stepped up pressure on Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
's Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s on Tuesday, deploying its navy to hit targets in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah and threatening the Iran-aligned movement with a naval and air blockade if attacks on Israel persist.

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said Israel carried out two strikes on the docks of Al Hodeidah port. The Israeli army said in a statement that the navy struck Houthi targets, adding that the port is used by the group to transfer weapons.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. Israel has been hitting Houthi targets with air strikes in a military campaign launched after the country severely weakened Iran's other Middle East partners.

The Israeli military on Monday urged the evacuation of the Houthi-controlled ports of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and Salif.

"We warned the Houthi terror organization that if they continue to fire toward Israel, they will face a powerful response and will be subjected to a naval and aerial blockade", Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on X.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IDF shoots down Yemen missile; multiple interceptors launched as it breaks up
2025-06-11
[IsraelTimes] Houthis take responsibility for attack, claiming to target Ben Gurion Airport, hours after Israeli Navy bombs Hodeida port

A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
was intercepted by air defenses on Tuesday evening, the Israeli military said, in what has become an almost daily occurrence.

The missile attack came hours after Israeli Navy corvettes struck the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida, in response to the Iran-backed group’s repeated attacks on Israel.

The missile fired at Israel on Tuesday broke up into multiple parts after being hit by an interceptor, leading the Israeli Air Force to launch additional interceptors to shoot down the fragments, a military official told The Times of Israel.

At least seven interceptors were seen launched.

In the past, intact warheads from partially intercepted Houthi missiles have fallen to the ground and caused harm.

The Iran-backed Houthis took responsibility for the attack, claiming to have launched two ballistic missiles at Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel. The second missile apparently fell short or broke up in the air, as several Houthi projectiles have in recent weeks.

The attack triggered sirens shortly before 8 p.m. across central Israel, the Jerusalem area, southern West Bank settlements, and some areas in southern Israel. Preceding the sirens by two minutes, an early warning was issued to residents, alerting civilians of the long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones.

The Israel Defense Forces issued a statement on the incoming attack some five minutes before sirens sounded.

There were no reports of injuries in the attack. Debris from the intercepted missile or the interceptors landed near Jerusalem and in the West Bank, causing no major damage.

On Tuesday morning, in its first-ever strike on Yemen, the Israeli Navy destroyed infrastructure at the port of Hodeida with two guided missiles launched from advanced Sa’ar 6-class corvettes hundreds of kilometers away.

It was the 11th Israeli strike on the Houthis since the start of the conflict, with the previous 10 all having been carried out by the Air Force.
Link


Arabia
Al-Qaeda’s Yemen chief threatens Trump, Musk over Gaza war: ‘There are no red lines’
2025-06-08
[IsraelTimes] Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki, who has $6 million US bounty on head, calls for lone-wolf assassinations of Egyptian, Jordanian, and Gulf leaders due to war

The leader of al-Qaeda’s Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
branch has threatened both US President Donald Trump
...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!...
and billionaire Elon Musk over the Israel-Hamas
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
war in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip, in his first video message since taking over the group last year.

The half-hour video message by Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki, which spread online early Saturday via supporters of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...>
, also included calls for lone-wolf bully boyz to assassinate leaders in Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf Arab states over the war, which has decimated Gaza.
Interesting. They must be particularly upset in Egypt, where they’ve tried so hard to balance their brotherly Moslem duty to Hamas with their dislike of Jewish Israel despite the billions of lovely American dollars the ostensible peace brings in.
The video of al-Awlaki’s speech showed images of Trump and Musk, as well as US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
, and Secretary of State Pete Hegseth. It also included images of logos of Musk’s businesses, including the electric carmaker Tesla.

"There are no red lines after what happened and is happening to our people in Gaza," al-Awlaki said. "Reciprocity is legitimate."

BRANCH LONG THOUGHT MOST DANGEROUS
Though believed to have been weakened in recent years due to infighting and suspected US dronezaps killing its leaders, the group known by the acronym AQAP had been considered the most dangerous branch of al-Qaeda still operating after the 2011 killing by US Navy SEALs of founder the late Osama bin Laden
...... who is now beyond all cares and woe......
, who criminal masterminded the September 11, 2001, attacks.

In 2022, a US dronezap in Afghanistan killed bin Laden’s successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri
...Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area assuming he's not dead like Mullah Omar. He lost major face when he ordered the nascent Islamic State to cease and desist and merge with the orthodox al-Qaeda spring, al-Nusra...>
, who also helped plot 9/11. The September 11 attacks began decades of war by the US in Afghanistan and Iraq, and fomented the rise of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.

Al-Awlaki already has a $6 million US bounty on his head, as Washington says he "has publicly called for attacks against the United States and its allies." He replaced AQAP leader Khalid al-Batarfi, whose death was announced by the group in 2024.

A FOCUS OF THE HOUTHIS AS WELL
AQAP seizing onto the Israel-Hamas war follows the efforts of Yemen’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
rebels to do the same. The Iranian-backed group has launched missile attacks on Israel and targeted commercial vessels moving through the Red Sea corridor, as well as American warships.

The Trump administration launched an intense campaign of strikes on the Houthis, which only ended before the president’s recent trip to the Middle East.

The Houthis’ international profile rose as the group remains mired in Yemen’s long-stalemated war. al-Awlaki may be betting on the same for his group, which UN experts have estimated has between 3,000 and 4,000 active fighters and passive members. The group raises money by robbing banks and money exchange shops, as well as smuggling weapons, counterfeiting currencies, and ransom operations, according to the UN.

The Shiite Zaydi Houthis have previously denied working with AQAP, a Sunni Death Eater group. However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
AQAP targeting of the Houthis has dropped in recent years, while the bully boyz keep attacking Saudi-led coalition forces, who have battled the Houthis.

"As the Houthis gain popularity as leaders of the ’Arab and Moslem world’s resistance’ against Israel, al-Awlaki seeks to challenge their dominance by presenting himself as equally concerned about the situation in Gaza," said Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemeni expert at the Basha Report risk advisory firm.

"For a national security and foreign policy community increasingly disengaged from Yemen, this video is a clear reminder: Yemen still matters."
Related:
Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki 03/11/2024 AQAP announces the death of its emir Khalid Batarfi
Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki 08/18/2016 Air Strikes Target al Qaeda in Yemen, Troops Capture Aden District
Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki 04/01/2016 Air Strikes Target al Qaeda in Yemen, Troops Capture Aden District

Related:
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula: 2025-04-16 Former al-Qaeda commander and HTS associate launches new movement in Hadhramaut Valley
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula: 2025-02-16 Two prominent Al-Qaeda figures killed in Saudi-occupied Yemen
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula: 2025-01-15 New study reveals million dollar business in human trafficking of African refugees to Yemen
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Rockets fired from Syria for first time in a year, Israel blames Sharaa; another Houthi missile downed without effect
2025-06-04
[IsraelTimes] IDF carries out airstrikes across southern Syria after two projected fired from 12 km inside Syria; Houthi missile triggers sirens across central Israel; no injuries reported

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Jerusalem would mount a "full response" against the regime of Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa after two rockets were fired from Syria at the Golan Heights for the first time in over a year, minutes before a Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
missile triggered sirens across central Israel.

No injuries were reported from either attack. The IDF said it had responded to the attack from Syria with artillery fire on the source of the rockets, some 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from the border with Israel.
That was fast.
The IDF said the rockets had been launched from the area of Tasil in south Syria, near an area where button men had fired at Israeli troops in April.

The IDF also carried out a series of Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s throughout southern Syria that it said targeted weapons belonging to the regime.

"The Syrian regime is responsible for what is happening in Syria and will continue to bear the consequences as long as hostile activity continues from its territory," the IDF said in a statement.

Katz issued his own statement asserting that Israel views Sharaa himself as "directly responsible for every threat and [rocket] fire toward the State of Israel."

"The full response will come soon," said Katz, adding that Israel "will not allow a return to a pre-October 7 reality."

The rockets from Syria had triggered sirens in the Golan Heights communities of Hispin and Ramat Magshimim. Police later said officers had located the site of the two rocket impacts in an open area near Ramat Magshimim.

The Syrian foreign ministry asserted that it "has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region" and is working to rein in armed, non-state actors in southern Syria.

The Syrian government claimed it had yet to confirm the rocket launches that targeted Israel, but it did condemn the Israeli counter-attack, saying it resulted in "heavy human and material losses" and violated Syria’s illusory sovereignty "at a time when we are most in need of calm and peaceful solutions."

"We call on the international community to assume its responsibilities in stopping these attacks, and to support efforts aimed at restoring security and stability to Syria and the region," the Syrian foreign ministry statement said.

It was the first alert in the Golan since a drone alarm from Iraq sounded there in November, and the first the first rocket fire from Syria since May 5, 2024, seven months before a jihadi group led by Sharaa toppled the country’s Iran-backed President Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
The United States, which previously placed a bounty on Sharaa’s head, has since embraced him and removed Assad-era sanctions on Syria. On Tuesday, Sky News Arabic reported Sharaa will speak at the coming UN General Assembly in September, which would make him the first Syrian leader to travel to the US in almost 60 years.

Israel has remained publicly leery despite reportedly seeking warmer ties with Sharaa’s administration. Following Assad’s ouster, Israel moved troops into the Syrian side of the two countries’ demilitarized buffer zone, and has carried out numerous strikes across Syria.

ISRAEL DOWNS 3RD HOUTHI MISSILE IN AS MANY DAYS
Additionally on Tuesday evening, the IDF said it downed a missile fired by Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran-backed Houthis that had triggered sirens in central Israel roughly 20 minutes after the attack from Syria. The sirens were preceded by an early warning to residents via a push notification on their phones. It was the third Houthi attack in as many days.

Sirens also sounded some three minutes later in the northern towns of in the northern town of Nof HaGalil and other communities near Nazareth. The IDF said those sirens had been caused by "fears of interceptor fragments" but were later confirmed to have been a "false identification," meaning not a threat.

Possible fragments from either the Houthi or interceptor missiles landed in the central city of Modiin, police said, adding that officers were at the scene to remove the debris.

The Houthi missile stopped air traffic at Ben Gurion International Airport for some 25 minutes, in accordance with standard procedure.
Link


Arabia
IDF downed Houthi missile Sunday that triggered sirens in Jerusalem area, central Israel
2025-06-02
[IsraelTimes] A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
was successfully intercepted by air defenses, the military said Sunday, in what has recently become an almost daily occurrence.

The missile set off sirens shortly after 4:50 p.m. across central Israel, the Jerusalem area and several West Bank settlements, sending millions to bomb shelters a few hours before the start of the Shavuot holiday.

Preceding the sirens by about four minutes, an early warning was issued by the Home Front Command to residents, alerting them of the long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones.

There were no reports of injuries or damage in the attack.

The Houthis took responsibility for the missile fire, claiming to have targeted Ben Gurion Airport. Earlier this month, a Houthi missile slipped through air defenses and hit the grounds of the airport, injuring six people, none of them seriously.
Link


Arabia
Houthis Reportedly Train Al-Shabaab Members in Yemen, Raising Threat to Red Sea Shipping
2025-05-31
[Garowe] Growing evidence suggests a strengthening alliance between Somalia-based al-Shabaab
... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
snuffies and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
rebels, significantly escalating threats to maritime traffic and regional stability in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and western Indian Ocean.

A detailed report published by the Africa Center stated that the collaboration has enhanced both groups' capacity to disrupt international shipping and challenge security across critical waterways.

The United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
has confirmed that al-Shabaab received advanced weapons and technical training from the Houthis between June and September 2024. The arms were reportedly used in attacks on African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
forces in Somalia during September and November last year.

According to U.N. intelligence, more than a dozen al-Shabaab operatives were also sent to Yemen for drone warfare training by members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...>
(AQAP), further expanding the group’s tactical capabilities.

"This growing collaboration in weapons, technology, and training poses a serious concern for the security of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait," the report stated. Analysts also warned that the alliance complicates surveillance along a vulnerable 1,800-mile stretch of coastline spanning the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and western Indian Ocean.

A former U.S. State Department official cautioned that continued American disengagement from Somalia could create opportunities for al-Shabaab to expand its operations into neighboring Kenya and Æthiopia, while further solidifying its ties with the Houthis.

"This isn’t just a regional threat—it could eventually impact global trade and maritime security if left unchecked," the official said.
Shabelle Media adds:
According to a report cited by The Washington Post, the Houthis have dispatched bomb-making experts to Jilib, a stronghold of Al-Shabaab in Somalia’s Middle Juba region, signaling a new and dangerous phase in regional militancy.

The report suggests that the two groups have strengthened their ties, coordinating the movement of weapons and fighters via the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean—routes increasingly monitored by U.S. naval forces deployed to counter Houthi expansionism.

“This kind of cooperation opens the door to the exchange of highly lethal technologies,” a former senior U.S. State Department official told The Washington Post, adding that Washington’s reduced presence in Somalia may have created a security vacuum that the militants are now exploiting.

There are growing fears that Al-Shabaab, emboldened by this new support, could stage attacks beyond Somalia’s borders, particularly in Kenya and Ethiopia, using weapons and explosives supplied by the Houthis.

Intelligence sources have warned that a potential withdrawal of U.S. troops from Somalia could seriously undermine years of progress in stabilizing the country and combating Al-Shabaab, which has waged an insurgency for more than 16 years.
Link


Arabia
Trump’s huge Saudi arms deal may be limited by US pledge to preserve Israel’s military edge
2025-05-29
[IsraelTimes] As Riyadh eyes advanced weaponry, Washington’s commitment to Israel’s defense supremacy means coveted F-35 fighter jets likely won’t be part of $142 billion in potential sales

A landmark $142 billion arms deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
has the potential to reshape the way the Middle East looks from a defense perspective, significantly boosting Riyadh’s military might. But despite its high profile and even higher price tag, the arrangement will likely be limited by a longstanding US defense doctrine safeguarding Israel’s regional defense superiority, experts say.

While details about the deal remain scant, speculation surrounding what it may include has been colored by Saudi Arabian requests to purchase state-of-the-art F-35 fighter jets. But any such sale, analysts point out, would run afoul of a US commitment to Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge, or QME, which has long curtailed the transfer of certain advanced weaponry to the region.

The White House unveiled the deal, described as "the largest defense sales agreement in history," on May 13. According to a White House fact sheet, the US will supply Saudi Arabia with "state-of-the-art war-fighting equipment and services" from more than a dozen American defense contractors.

The Trump administration has not detailed what the agreement entails, beyond sketching out five key areas it says the deal covers: advancing air force and space capabilities; strengthening air and missile defense systems; bolstering maritime and coastal security; modernizing border protection and ground forces; and upgrading information and communications technology.

Two anonymous sources briefed on the matter told Rooters earlier this month that the US and Saudi Arabia have discussed Riyadh’s potential purchase of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter. But it’s unclear how serious any discussions are or if they are progressing to more advanced stages.

The Saudis have long had their eye on the F-35, hoping to become the second country in the Middle East, after Israel, to acquire the world’s most advanced aircraft.

In 2017, Saudi Arabia signaled interest in purchasing the F-35 fighter jet following what was described as a $110 billion arms agreement with the US earlier that same year.

That arms agreement took the form of commitments rather than actual defense deals, and it’s unclear if the Saudis purchased more than a fraction of that promised $110 billion. What is clear is that while Riyadh got its hands on plenty of munitions, it was ultimately unable to purchase any F-35 fighter jets.

JET-SETTERS
Despite repeated interest from regional powers, the US has consistently blocked the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries in order to preserve Israel’s QME.

"The US is committed to Israel’s QME and has taken this into account in its arms sales to the region," Zain Hussain, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s arms transfers program, told The Times of Israel. "Exporting F-35s to other states in the region would present a significant shift in that policy."

Israel today is the only country in the Middle East with F-35 fighter jets in its arsenal, currently operating 45 of the advanced aircraft with additional units on order.

"The export of the F-35 to another state in the region would potentially mean that state acquiring stealth, data fusion, and deep-strike capabilities widely considered superior to other aircraft currently operated in the region," Hussain said.

At the same time, he emphasized that Israel still holds a significant operational advantage: "Israel remains the most experienced operator of the F-35 in the region and has been allowed to modify the aircraft to meet its specific needs."

Indeed, Israel has uniquely customized its fleet of F-35s, rebranding the stealth fighter jet as the "Adir," Hebrew for "mighty." Through close cooperation with Lockheed Martin, Israeli defense firms have integrated proprietary technologies into the aircraft — including advanced electronic warfare systems, enhanced command and control capabilities and locally developed weapons systems.

Washington’s commitment to ensuring Israel maintains a qualitative edge in military capability dates back to Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency. In 2008, it was formally codified into a law requiring that Jerusalem’s position be considered before any weapons sales to the region.

The doctrine is rooted in Israel’s position as a democratic ally surrounded by often-hostile neighbors. Given its geographic and demographic disadvantages, Israel cannot rely on quantity in warfare and instead depends on technological and tactical superiority.

Over the decades, US arms sales to Arab states have repeatedly put Israel’s QME to the test. At times, they have only gone through thanks to US assurances or complementary arms sales to Israel.

In 1981, Jerusalem strongly objected to Washington’s decision to sell AWACS surveillance planes and advanced F-15 enhancement packages to Saudi Arabia, fearing it would erode Israel’s technological superiority. Despite fierce opposition, Congress narrowly approved the deal, with then-president Ronald Reagan offering Israel a set of reassurances, including an additional $600 million in military aid and 15 new F-15s.

More recently, the Trump administration in 2020 agreed to sell 50 F-35s to the UAE following Abu Dhabi’s agreement to normalize relations with Israel, though officials denied any linkage between the two.

The potential F-35 sales raised red flags in Israel, but Jerusalem eventually said it would not oppose the deal, after the US agreed to sign a formal agreement reaffirming Washington’s legally enshrined commitment to maintaining Israel’s regional military advantage.

In the end, the sale was torpedoed by the UAE rather than the QME. In 2021, the Emirates suspended talks with the Biden administration on buying the planes due to various disagreements over the sale, including their price tag, and in 2024, officials in Abu Dhabi said they did not plan to revive the deal.

TRUMP AND THE SAUDIS
Ahead of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, some believed that arms sales would similarly be used as part of a package that would see Riyadh normalize relations with Israel, which would have likely played a role in overcoming any QME-related hurdles.

Instead, Israel was left off to the side as Trump and the Saudis heaped lavish indulgences and effusive praise on each other.

During his visit, Trump addressed the Saudi-US Investment Forum, hailing the "close partnership" between Washington and Riyadh and praising Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

...Crown Prince and modernizer of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists...
for the kingdom’s sweeping transformation since Trump’s last visit as president.

"Exactly eight years ago this month I stood in this very room and looked forward to a future in which the nations of this region would drive [out] the forces of terrorism and extremism... and take your place among the proudest, most prosperous, most successful nations anywhere in the world as leaders of a modern and rising Middle East," Trump said.

"Critics doubted that it was possible," he added, "but over the past eight years, Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally wrong," citing the kingdom’s emergence as a global business leader.

In tandem with its ambitions to become a business hub, Saudi Arabia has dramatically ramped up its military spending, signaling its intent to play a more assertive role on the regional and global stage.

According to a February statement by Ahmad al-Ohali, governor of the Saudi General Authority for Military Industries, the kingdom increased its defense budget from $75.8 billion in 2024 to $78 billion in 2025. al-Ohali also noted a consistent 4.5 percent annual growth in defense spending since 1960, placing Saudi Arabia as the fifth-largest military spender in the world, and the largest in the Arab world.

NO FAIRY GODMOTHER
After his stop in Riyadh, Trump continued to Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
and the UAE, notably skipping over Israel — a move that raised concern in Jerusalem over potential shifts in regional priorities and the optics of Israel being sidelined during a major US diplomatic tour.

"This week there was a party in the Middle East — a grand ball full of colorful costumes, money and gold changing hands — and we found ourselves playing the role of Cinderella before the transformation," columnist Sima Kadmon wrote in Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

"The fairy godmother we thought we had, flew off to Saudi Arabia and Qatar."

The Trump administration has made several moves lately that have left some wondering whether Washington is still committed to taking Israel’s position into account in cases where it is not required by law.

These include nuclear talks with Iran, a ceasefire with Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
rebels that allows them to continue firing ballistic missiles at the Jewish state and a deal with Hamas
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
to free Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander that bypassed Jerusalem.

The agreement to arm the Saudis at record numbers comes amid growing frustration from Trump over Israel’s prolonged war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
— a conflict he reportedly sees as complicating his efforts to broker a landmark regional deal.

Trump has made no secret of his ambition to secure Saudi-Israeli normalization as a cornerstone achievement of his second term. But Riyadh has made it clear that any such agreement is contingent on a ceasefire in Gaza and tangible progress toward Paleostinian statehood.

Although Saudi Arabia was not among the original signatories of the 2020 Abraham Accords, it has cautiously endorsed the initiative from the sidelines. Still, the kingdom has repeatedly stressed that its participation depends on movement toward a two-state solution — a goal that now appears increasingly remote amid the ongoing war.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed that Trump "wants to see this conflict in the region end," but the administration has firmly denied reports that it is threatening to "abandon" Israel over its Gaza campaign.

Dr. H. A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in London, told The Times of Israel that Trump’s visit "was primarily about the [Gulf Cooperation Council], not about the appalling situation in Gaza, and applying ’America First’ transactionalism to foreign policy in [the Middle East and North Africa] more generally."

He added that while "there is frustration in DC with Tel Aviv’s conduct in Gaza... DC is still very much supportive of Tel Aviv."
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Arabia
Putin begins talks with Yemeni leader al-Alimi
2025-05-29
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
and Chairman of the Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
i Presidential Council Rashad Mohammed al-Alimi
…that’s the rump state in southern Yemen, headquartered in Aden. The Presidential Council succeeded the Southern Transitional Council as the government of what now calls itself the Republic of Yemen. It’s backed by Saudi Arabia…
began talks in Moscow. This was reported on May 28 by the Kremlin press service.

The Russian President and the Yemeni leader shook hands and exchanged greetings before the start of the talks.

Putin noted that the Russian side is very pleased with the visit of the Yemeni leader and thanked al-Alimi for finding the time for this.

"Before we begin our conversation, I would like to once again, this time personally, congratulate you on the national holiday — the 35th anniversary of Yemeni unity," the head of state said.

Putin clarified that Russia and Yemen are interacting on the international stage and thanked al-Alimi for this cooperation.

"Our diplomatic and foreign policy departments are in constant contact, which is good news," he added.

As reported by the Regnum news agency, the head of state's press secretary Dmitry Peskov spoke on May 25 about Putin's upcoming talks with al-Alimi in Moscow. Later, the Kremlin reported that the Russian president and the Yemeni leader would discuss bilateral relations, including trade.

On May 23, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met with Deputy Secretary General of Yemen's ruling General National Congress Party Faiqu Baalwi. The parties discussed steps to resolve the military-political crisis in the republic and exchanged views on current issues on the regional agenda.

Al-Alimi came to power in April 2022 in the territories of Yemen not controlled by the Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s, the Shiite movement Ansar Allah. The Presidential Leadership Council, formed in the territories controlled by the internationally recognized authorities, included leading politicians from North and South Yemen.
Related:
Rashad Mohammed al-Alimi 01/02/2010 Firings possible over fumbled case of Undieboomer

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