AFP

Senior Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti to AFP: U.S. military involvement in Yemen will bring a "swift and painful response" against American interests across the region.

AFP journalists report explosions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. An emergency alert warning of a potential threat was issued shortly before the blasts, according to Arab media.

Riyadh will refuse any truce with the Houthis until the Saudi-backed Yemeni government recovers every area lost over the past weeks, a regional source told AFP. The same source said Saudi Arabia will not yield to Houthi "military blackmail."

Falling debris from interceptions over Riyadh damaged a kindergarten and a medical complex, Saudi civil defence said.

AFP

Russia has again urged diplomats and foreigners to leave Kyiv, warning of "massive" air attacks on the Ukrainian capital. The warning came hours after a Russian strike hit another major bridge in the city.

AFP

Ethiopian government forces launched a counterattack in the Afar region, and Tigray forces have since withdrawn from the area.

AFP

Sunday's incident at RAF Fairford airbase in southwest England has produced an arrest. UK Counter Terrorism Policing announced Thursday that a 27-year-old dual UK/Iranian national was detained in central London on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. A second man was also questioned as part of the investigation.

AFP

IDF: 170 Gazans killed during the war and presented as journalists were in fact terror operatives.

118 served in Hamas's military wing, 49 in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, two in the Popular Resistance Committees, one in the Mujahideen Brigades. 17 took part in the October 7 invasion of Israel.

Some had worked for Reuters, CNN, BBC, AFP, AP, ABC Australia and Le Monde.

625 people were arrested across France yesterday in violent protests, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said. His Tuesday figure was 440 arrests over Monday and Tuesday.

Students have been demonstrating outside schools since last week over timetable structure, class sizes, teacher shortages and classrooms that overheated during this year's heat waves, per AFP.

Ethiopian army forces blocked an overnight Tigrayan rebel attempt to take Abela, a city near the Afar region border, according to AFP.

Phone and internet went dark across Tigray on Friday. The TPLF ordered private operator Safaricom and state-owned Ethio telecom to cut access, four people with knowledge of the matter, including a diplomatic source, told Reuters. Netblocks recorded disruptions across northern Ethiopia.

Most serious escalation since the 2020-2022 war.

Beijing opposes unilateral sanctions not authorized by the UN Security Council, it said yesterday.

Today an Iranian flight landed in China as the new U.S. sanctions on Iranian airlines took effect.

AFP

Fighting has resumed in Ethiopia. TPLF separatist forces from the Tigray region captured the airport in the provincial capital Mekelle, and all flights there were halted.

AFP

The F-35 components that ended up in Hong Kong during a shipment from Australia to the United States were not sensitive, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said. Canberra is assisting the U.S. and Lockheed Martin with the investigation.

AFP

A draft memorandum to halt attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea has been handed to Russia and Ukraine by Turkey.

AFP.

U.S. denies Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas entry visa to attend UN General Assembly in New York, source says. - AFP

Sweden expelled an Iranian embassy employee Wednesday and summoned Tehran's ambassador, citing threats against Jewish and Israeli interests in the country.

Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer: "We know that Iran, over a long period of time, has conducted activities that threaten security in and against Sweden, targeting both individuals who oppose the Iranian regime and various Jewish and Israeli interests in our country."

AFP.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to AFP: Lebanon wants an agreement with Israel that paves the way for peace.

He wants all weapons under army control only, disarming Hezbollah, without internal conflict. Lebanon is also seeking a new force in the south to fill the gap when UNIFIL leaves.

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday vowed to respond "decisively" to attacks by Yemen's Houthis, AFP reports. The pledge followed a strike by the Tehran-backed group using ballistic missiles and drones that wounded 13 people inside the kingdom.

The Houthis have seized Mayon Island, giving them effective control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, AFP reports. Reuters says Houthi forces also reached the coastal city of Dubab.

Houthi political bureau member Hazam al-Assad: "Freedom of navigation and commercial traffic in the Red Sea and the Strait of Bab al-Mandab are safe. There is no intention to collect transit fees in the strait after taking it over."

Report: The Houthis have taken Zuqar Island in the southern Red Sea following rocket fire and a boat-borne ground assault.

Via AFP

This still needs further confirmation.

The Houthis have taken Zuqar Island in the southern Red Sea after rocket fire and a boat-borne ground assault, a military source told AFP. It lies near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Iraqi PM Ali al-Zaidi has set a September 30 deadline for Iran-aligned militias to disarm, threatening military confrontation if they refuse. Two Iraqi political sources told AFP he is prepared to "clash" with any faction that resists past the deadline.

At least 58 Yemeni government forces killed in Houthi attacks, per AFP. Deadliest escalation in the civil war in over three years.

Greece is rolling out a 4.2-billion-euro defense plan that includes an anti-drone shield.

- AFP.