‘No military or political logic’ to US attacks on Houthis

Nabeel Khoury, a former US diplomat, says Trump’s decision to launch attacks against the Houthis is misguided, and will not subdue them.

“For our president who came in wanting to avoid war and wanting to be a man of peace, he’s going about it the wrong way. There are many paths that can be used before you resort to war,” Khoury told Al Jazeera.

The danger to shipping in the Red Sea is “a justifiable reason for concern”, the former diplomat said, but added that it is a problem that could be resolved through diplomacy.

The Houthis, who have been “bombed severely all over their territory” in the past, are not likely to be subdued through “a few weeks of bombing”, Khoury said.

“If you think that Hamas, living and fighting on a very small piece of land, totally surrounded by land, air and sea, and yet, 17 months of bombardment by the Israelis did not get rid of them. The Houthis lived in a much more rugged space, mountainous regions – it would be virtually impossible to eradicate them,” he said.

“So there is no military logic to what’s happening, and there is no political logic either.”


More US raids on Yemen

Yemen’s Al Masirah TV is reporting renewed Israeli raids on the country’s capital, Sanaa, as well as the city of Saada.

The Houthi-affiliated channel says the strike on Saada targeted a key power station there, causing a power outage.

Israel steps up attacks on Gaza as water crisis worsens

We understand that there has been a very staggering water crisis that has started to emerge in all battered areas in the territory, including the north.

People there, every single morning, they battle to afford and secure enough water to be used for different purposes.

Here in the central area, we can see that people are securing and trying to store forward because they believe that the incoming days might be very difficult and products might completely disappear from local markets.

Meanwhile, community kitchens have been giving some window of relief for many displaced families who have lost their homes.

But civilians who are trying to rely on these community kitchens believe that it’s only a matter of time before they suspend their operations due to the scarcity of food products, even canned foods, from local markets.

As well, civilians have started to believe that Israel has started to adopt more escalating steps, militarily.

During the past 48 hours, they have intensified attacks on all border towns and villages, including more than 15 Palestinians have been confirmed killed during the past 24 hours.

Absolutely, they believe that this has been a clear tool of the pressure to gain more political leverage on the table of negotiations.

Eight of the 9 victims of Israel’s attack on Beit Lahiya were aid workers

Shuaib Yusaf, the CEO of the Al Khair Foundation, has issued a statement on the Israeli attack that killed its aid workers in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.

“It is with great sadness and regret that we announce the demise in Gaza of eight of our team’s dedicated humanitarian aid workers. They were killed in violation of the agreed ceasefire in a drone airstrike,” Yusaf said.

“The exact circumstances are still being established but we refute utterly any suggestion that those who were killed were militant or in any way connected with Hamas,” he added.

Al Khair Foundation is an international aid organisation based in the United Kingdom.

As we’ve been reporting, at least nine people, including three photographers, were killed in the drone strike on Saturday.

Trump will have the last word over ceasefire deal: Israeli analyst

Israeli analyst Akiva Eldar says Netanyahu has different priorities from Trump regarding the ceasefire deal.

“President Trump wants to have it both ways,” he said, adding that he wanted to “satisfy both the Saudis and the Arab League”.

Netanyahu may end up missing the former US administration, which he used to often “ignore”, Eldar said, adding that, under Trump, “it’s a different ball game.”

He said he understands Trump’s administration would “follow the money”, which is with Saudi Arabia and the Arab League and not Israel.

He added that the far right in Israel has also put the Israeli PM under pressure at home and has managed to “demonise” phase two of the ceasefire deal, which has become a “red line” for Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Netanyahu’s former minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

So now the Israel-Gaza genocide becomes a ceasefire deal between USA and Saudi Arabia....

Witkoff says Hamas response to ceasefire proposal ‘unacceptable’

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was on CNN earlier on Sunday giving his opinion on how the ceasefire negotiations are going – and based on what he said, he’s not happy with Hamas’s position.

Witkoff said that he had presented a “bridge proposal” involving the release of five living Israeli captives for a “substantial” number of Palestinian prisoners.

“I thought the proposal was compelling,” Witkoff said.

“The Israelis were informed about it and advised about it beforehand and after waiting for two or three days for Hamas … we got an unacceptable response,” he added. “It was totally unacceptable for them, but the opportunity is closing fast.”

For their part, a Hamas official said that the group was willing to release an Israeli-American, and the bodies of four other Israeli-Americans. Hamas has also insisted that the initial ceasefire deal agreed upon by both sides be adhered to, which would see a move to phase two with more captive and prisoner releases, and a move towards a permanent ceasefire in phase three.

The Israeli government, however, has indicated that it does not wish to have a permanent ceasefire without the total defeat of Hamas.

Unacceptable to stick to the contract... That's the US nowadays. Trade agreements, ceasefire agreements, international law, all the same. Rip them up, do what I tell you and don't forget to say thank you.


Hamas says its senior officials met Russia’s Middle East envoy

Hamas’s delegation included Muhammad Ismail Darwish, the head of its political bureau, and Khaled Meshaal, the head of the group abroad, according to a statement on Telegram.

Officials discussed developments in the ceasefire negotiations with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, as well as Israel’s ongoing violations of the agreement and practices that hinder its implementation.

Darwish affirmed in the meeting the movement’s commitment to implementing the ceasefire agreement and its full readiness to complete it, Hamas said.

According to the statement, Bogdanov reiterated Russia’s position in supporting the rights of the Palestinian people, and Moscow’s backing for implementing all provisions of the ceasefire deal, as well as the need for unrestricted humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.

The US is intent on giving Russia and China more power.

Israel conducts reported air strike on southern Lebanon

The attack took place near Ainata, according to an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent.

The Israeli military earlier said it was combing the Avivim area in northern Israel after shots were apparently fired from the Lebanese side of the border.

“Gunfire on Israel from Lebanese territory constitutes a breach of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military said.

Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire – which began on November 27 – carrying out more than 330 shelling and aerial strike incidents, and destroying property, according to the monitoring website the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).

And on Saturday, an Israeli drone strike killed one person in southern Lebanon.

Syrians mark revolution anniversary with roses, songs and tight security


_{People demonstrate in Idlib in northwestern Syria to mark the 14th anniversary of the start of the Syrian war}

Roses have filled the Syrian capital, Damascus, as people openly celebrated the anniversary of the revolution for the first time in 14 years after the toppling of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year.

Civilians on Saturday were seen waving the Syrian flag and singing revolutionary songs amid tight security measures.

“People say these roses symbolise peace,” Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar said, reporting from Damascus. “Imagine that for 14 years, helicopters in this country have been throwing barrel bombs on people, and now that is the time for peace and reconciliation, they are symbolically throwing roses.”

On March 15, 2011, unrest erupted across Deraa, Damascus and Aleppo as protesters demanded democratic reforms and the release of political prisoners as the Arab Spring reached Syria. Demonstrations were triggered by the arrest and torture of a group of teenage boys a few days earlier in the southwestern city of Deraa over graffiti denouncing al-Assad.

A violent crackdown and repression by the government followed. In July 2011, defectors from the military announced the formation of the Free Syrian Army, an opposition group aiming to overthrow the government, turning the revolt into a ruinous war. After some 14 years of fighting, al-Assad’s rule came to an end in December last year following a lightning offensive by opposition groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

HTS’s leader and interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is now leading the country with the difficult task of organising elections in five years while tackling sectarian violence, Israeli bombing and land grabs, and an economic crisis.

As people were celebrating on Saturday, an explosion in the coastal city of Latakia killed at least five people and injured 12, the state news agency SANA reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group later said the blast was an accident resulting from a resident’s attempt to dismantle unexploded ordnance in a building.

Latakia and Tartous governorates recently saw the heaviest fighting since the fall of al-Assad. The Syrian government said it ended an operation in those coastal areas after four days of fighting between security forces and pro-al-Assad fighters. Hundreds of people were killed.

No humanitarian or commercial supplies entered Gaza since March 2: UNRWA

UNRWA has released an update on the current situation in the occupied West Bank and Gaza:

Palestinian killed in central Gaza drone attack

Gaza health officials said an Israeli drone attack killed a 62-year-old Palestinian in Juhor al-Deek, central Gaza on Sunday. The attack injured several others, the officials said, according to Reuters.

Earlier, the Israeli military said in a statement that it had conducted a drone attack against what it claimed was a fighter operating near troops in the Netzarim Corridor. It’s unclear if the attack is referring to the same incident in which the 62-year-old was killed, but Juhor al-Deek is near Netzarim.

Israeli forces formed the Netzarim Corridor, a militarised zone that splits northern Gaza from the rest of the enclave, at the beginning of the war in late 2023.

Gaza health officials also said on Sunday that an Israeli drone attack had injured several Palestinians in Rafah, in southern Gaza.

Palestinians succumb to injuries after Israeli attacks

Two Palestinians have died from wounds following Israeli bombardment in Gaza. According to Wafa news agency, Nada Issa, 22, died from injuries sustained during a recent Israeli attack on her home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Ahmad Abu Rawa, 25, also died from wounds inflicted by an Israeli air strike on Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, on Saturday.

Meanwhile, medical teams recovered the body of a third Palestinian killed in an Israeli drone strike on the town of Juhor ad-Dik, central Gaza, also on Saturday.

Israeli military continues to clear Palestinian land near Salfit: Report

Wafa, citing local sources, reports that for the fourth consecutive day, Israeli forces continue to clear swaths of Palestinian land in Wadi al-Matwi in Salfit town in the occupied West Bank.

Nazmi al-Salman, an activist, told Wafa that the land clearing is part of a planned road for settlers to access an outpost.

The report added that Israeli settlers raised the Israeli flag along the road as bulldozers continued to uproot olive trees and destroy the land.

Palestinians detained in Negev prison subjected to beatings, bullets

Palestinians detained in the Israeli Negev prison have been subjected to repression, beatings, and rubber bullets fired at them multiple times over the past week, Palestinian authorities said.

Detained Palestinians infected with scabies were deliberately mixed with those who were not infected, in order to spread the infection, authorities added.

Settlers march through Hebron, injure elderly Palestinian man: Reports

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli settlers are marching from Hebron’s Tel Rumeida neighbourhood to the Ibrahimi Mosque under the protection of Israeli forces.

Wafa reports that Israeli settlers assaulted and injured an elderly Palestinian man.

Aref Jaber, a local activist, told Wafa that settlers had carried out a provocative tour in the Jaber neighbourhood and attacked 64-year-old Abdul Aziz al-Shantir after entering his shop near the Ibrahimi Mosque, leaving him with head injuries.


_{A boy stands by a closed shop as Israeli army soldiers stand guard while settlers tour the old market in the city of Hebron on December 28}

Palestinian boys stripped, detained and interrogated by Israeli army

Two Palestinian boys, aged 7 and 13, were assaulted and stripped to their underwear while detained by the Israeli military.

“Anytime any of us spoke, they would kick us,” said Ibrahim Abu Ghali, 7, who was detained along with his male relatives after Israeli forces shot and killed his grandmother in Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

“They undressed us in the street and we got very cold,” the boy told Al Jazeera.

Can you even imagine what would happen if this happened in LA?


Palestinian man shot by Israeli forces near occupied East Jerusalem

A 33-year-old Palestinian man has been seriously wounded after being shot by Israeli forces near the Qalandiya checkpoint, north of occupied East Jerusalem.

According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, the man was struck by live rounds in the abdomen and thigh while near the Israeli checkpoint.

The circumstances of the shooting are not immediately clear. He was transferred to a nearby hospital for treatment, the official Wafa news agency reported.

David vs Goliath...

Houthis pledge new attacks on Israel-linked ships after US attacks

_{A man holds a fragment of a US missile}

Yemen’s Houthi rebels say US attacks on the country pose the real threat to international shipping in the Red Sea.

The group said its “naval operations” will continue until Israel lifts its blockade on Gaza and lets desperately needed aid into the war-battered enclave.

US President Donald Trump announced the start of attacks on Yemen on Saturday, warning that Houthi attacks against Red Sea shipping needed to stop or “hell will rain down upon you.”

The Houthis said last week they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through Red Sea shipping lanes off Yemen if Israel did not lift the Gaza aid block. The Houthi authorities say at least 31 people have been killed in US attacks and most are women and children.

Houthis claim attack on US aircraft carrier in Red Sea

The Houthi military spokesperson said that the group has responded to the US bombing of Yemen by attacking the USS Harry S Truman with ballistic missiles and a drone.

US strikes on Yemen part of ‘maximum pressure on Iran’

There has been a greater “appetite” to push back against the Houthis by the West, says Farea Al-Muslimi, an analyst at Chatham House.

The Houthis are associated with Iran in Trump’s mind, Al-Muslimi said. “So in a way, it’s a part of his maximum pressure on Iran.”

When Trump in 2020 ordered a drone strike to kill General Qassem Soleimani – head of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – that same hour he ordered an attack against Abdul Reza Shala’i, the IRGC commander in Yemen, said al-Muslimi.

“So in his mind, it’s a part of a larger pressure against Iran,” he said, adding that US policy on this is consistent whether a Republican or Democrat is in the White House.

More details on Houthi claimed attack on USS Harry S Truman

The group’s military spokesman Yahya Saree says Houthi forces carried out “a qualitative operation” on the US aircraft carrier Harry S Truman.

“Our forces targeted the Truman aircraft carrier with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone,” he said.

The US launched more than 170 air raids on various areas in Yemen, Saree added. He stressed that the group’s naval blockade on Israel-linked ships will continue in the Red Sea until Israel lifts its aid block on Gaza.

US President Donald Trump announced the start of attacks on Yemen on Saturday.

‘Sanaa will remain Gaza’s shield’: Houthi spokesman

Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, said the deadly US air strikes won’t deter the armed group and they will retaliate against the United States.

“Sanaa will remain Gaza’s shield and support and will not abandon it no matter the challenges,” Amer said on social media.

The US air strikes come days after the Houthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli vessels sailing off Yemen in response to Israel’s latest blockade on Gaza. There have been no Houthi attacks reported since then.

The Houthis had attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, during their campaign targeting military and civilian ships between the start of Israel’s war on Gaza and January this year.

US official rubbishes Houthi claim of attack on aircraft carrier

The defence official, who spoke to Reuters anonymously, dismissed the Houthi claim that a missile and drone attack had been launched on the USS Harry S Truman. The official said that they were not aware of any Houthi attack.

Houthi leader says will attack US ships in Red Sea

Abdel-Malik al-Houthi has been speaking on television following the US attack on Yemen overnight.

“If they [the US] continue their aggression, we will continue the escalation,” al-Houthi said.

He added that the Houthis had decided to threaten Israeli shipping to increase pressure on Israel to allow the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.


Ironically all they (The Houthis) want is for international law to be upheld... For Israel and the USA to stick to the agreed upon ceasefire. Nobody else in the world will actually do anything other than 'condemn' or issue rulings that aren't followed up on.

Leaving it up to the people with the least to lose to 'defend' international law and stand up against genocide. Of course they know they're next regardless whether they do something or not. Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Jordan and Egypt better watch out as well.

The Houthis say the death toll from the United States attack on Yemen has now risen to 53.

Five children among dead from US attack on Yemen. That’s according to Yemen’s Houthi-run Health Ministry.

Anees Alsbahi, a spokesperson for the ministry, added that two women were also among the dead, and that the number of injuries had risen to 98.

UN chief urges ‘restraint’ in Yemen

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for “utmost restraint and a cessation of all military activities” in Yemen, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

“Any additional escalation could exacerbate regional tensions, fuel cycles of retaliation that may further destabilize Yemen and the region, and pose grave risks to the already dire humanitarian situation in the country,” said Dujarric.

Oman expresses ‘concern’ over military escalations in neighbouring Yemen

Oman has expressed “great concern” following US strikes in Yemen, its Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is following with great concern the recent military escalation in the brotherly Republic of Yemen and its humanitarian repercussions and civilian casualties, expressing its regret at the continuation of military actions that exacerbate the suffering of the Yemeni people and increase instability in the region,” Muscat said.

The country pushed for “dialogue and negotiation, warning of the repercussions of the continued military approach on the security and stability of the region”.

US shot down 11 Houthi drones: Official

US aircraft shot down 11 drones fired on Sunday by the Houthis, a US official claimed to Reuters. The official said that the drones did not come close to the USS Harry S Truman, an aircraft carrier that the Houthis earlier said they had attacked.

The military also tracked a Houthi missile that the official said had failed in flight and splashed down into the sea. The official added that the US took no action in response to the missile because it was not deemed a threat.

US launches two new strikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah: Houthi TV

The strikes – if confirmed – would mean that the US is bombing Yemen for a second night. We’ll have more on this as soon as we get it.

Israeli police to question ex-spy chief over alleged threats against Netanyahu

Police will summon former Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman, according to the Israeli media.

As we mentioned earlier, Argaman said last week that he had information that would compromise the prime minister and threatened to make it public if Netanyahu breaks the law.

Argaman did not make clear what acts he was speaking of.

After Argaman made the remarks in a TV interview, Netanyahu filed a complaint with police alleging that the former spy chief was “threatening and blackmailing” him.

Israeli politicians react to Netanyahu’s decision to remove Shin Bet chief

Statements from Israeli politicians have been rolling in since the news emerged that Netanyahu would move to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar.

Netanyahu blamed an “ongoing lack of trust” between the two.

Opposition politicians Benny Gantz and Yair Golan both blasted Netanyahu.

Gantz – who served in Netanyahu’s war cabinet until he resigned in June last year – said that the firing of Bar was “a direct violation of the state’s security and the dismantling of unity in Israeli society for political and personal reasons”.

Golan said it was “a desperate attempt by a criminal defendant to get rid of someone who is loyal to Israel and who is investigating Netanyahu and his close circle for serious and dark offences and is not willing to whitewash them”.

And former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that Netanyahu had “gone off the rails” and was “rebelling against the rule of law”.

But Netanyahu did get some backing from his former national security minister, the far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“I congratulate the prime minister on the decision to fire the head of the Shin Bet,” said Ben-Gvir. “This is something I have been demanding for a long time, and better late than never.”

Israeli attorney general says Shin Bet head can’t be fired without legal process

The Times of Israel reports that Gali Baharav-Miara has sent an official letter to the prime minister explaining that “it is not possible to initiate a dismissal process” of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar “until the factual and legal basis underlying your decision is fully examined, as well as your authority to address the matter at this time”.

The newspaper quoted her as saying: “This is due to the extraordinary sensitivity of the issue, its unprecedented nature, the concern that the process may be tainted by illegality and conflict of interest, and considering that the role of the head of the Shin Bet is not a personal trust position serving the prime minister.”