TEL AVIV: Israel ‘s military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran’s foreign minister warned that US military involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”
The prospect of a wider war threatened, too. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel’s military campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the United States.
The US ambassador to Israel announced the US has begun “assisted departure flights,” the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said it struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in pursuit of its goal to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. Smoke rose near a mountain in Isfahan, where the province’s deputy governor for security affairs, Akbar Salehi, confirmed Israeli strikes damaged the facility.
The target was a centrifuge production site, Israel’s military said. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the attack and said the facility — also targeted in the war’s first day — was “extensively damaged,” but that there was no risk of off-site contamination.
Iran again launched drones and missiles at Israel but there were no reports of significant damage. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines, estimated the military has taken out more than 50 percent of Iran’s launchers.
“We’re making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,” he said.
The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, later said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told the army to prepare for a “prolonged campaign.”
US aerial refueling tankers on the move
US President Donald Trump is weighing active US military involvement in the war, and was set to meet with his national security team Saturday evening. He has said he would put off his decision for up to two weeks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said US military involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.” He spoke on the sidelines of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkiye. Araghchi was open to further dialogue but emphasized that Iran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continues to attack.
Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran’s underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered out of reach to all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs. The US has only configured and programmed its B-2 Spirit stealth bomber to deliver the bomb, according to the Air Force.
On Saturday, multiple US aerial refueling tankers were spotted on commercial flight trackers flying patterns consistent with escorting aircraft from the central US to the Pacific. B-2 bombers are based in Missouri. It was not clear whether the aircraft were a show of force or prepared for an operation. The White House and Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.
The war’s toll
The war erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 722 people, including 285 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,500 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.
One Tehran resident, Nasrin, writhed in her hospital bed as she described how a blast threw her against her apartment wall. “I’ve had five surgeries. I think I have nothing right here that is intact,” she said Saturday. Another patient, Shahram Nourmohammadi, said he had been making deliveries when “something blew up right in front of me.”
Several Iranians have fled the country. “Everyone is leaving Tehran right now,” said one who did not give his name after crossing into Armenia.
For many Iranians, it is difficult to know what’s going on. Internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org said Saturday that limited Internet access had again “collapsed.” A nationwide Internet shutdown has lasted for several days.
Iran has retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Israel’s multitiered air defenses have shot down most of them, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and over 1,000 wounded.
No date has been set for more talks after negotiations in Geneva failed to produce a breakthrough Friday.
Iran’s nuclear program
Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60 percent — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program but has never acknowledged it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s military operation will continue “for as long as it takes” to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile arsenal.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that his country will never renounce its right to nuclear power, which “cannot be taken away from it through war and threats.” Pezeshkian told French President Emmanuel Macron via phone that Iran is ready to provide guarantees and confidence-building measures to demonstrate the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities, according to IRNA, the state-run news agency.
Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the US out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60 percent and restricting access to its nuclear facilities.
Iran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium — at lower levels — in recent talks over its nuclear program. But Trump, like Israel, has demanded Iran end its enrichment program altogether.
Attacks on Iranian military commanders
Israel’s defense minister said the military killed a paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commander who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Iranian officials did not immediately confirm Saeed Izadi’s death, but the Qom governor’s office said a four-story apartment building was hit and local media reported two people had been killed.
Israel also said it killed the commander of the Quds Force’s weapons transfer unit, who it said was responsible for providing weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas. Behnam Shahriyari was killed while traveling in western Iran, the military said.
Iran threatens head of UN nuclear watchdog
Iranian leaders say IAEA chief Rafael Grossi’s statements about the status of Iran’s nuclear program prompted Israel’s attack. On Saturday, a senior adviser for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei, Ali Larijani, said on social media, without elaboration, that Iran would make Grossi “pay” once the war is over.
Grossi on Friday warned against attacks on Iran’s nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. A direct hit “would result in a very high release of radioactivity,” Grossi said, adding: “This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences could be most serious.”
Israel has not targeted Iran’s nuclear reactors, instead focusing on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country’s Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital.
Israel says it’s preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war against Iran
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Israel says it’s preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war against Iran
- Iran FM says Tehran open to further dialogue but no interest in talks with US while Israel continues to attack
- Netanyahu has said Israeli operation will continue until it eliminates the threat of Iran’s nuclear program
Israel’s Bedouin communities use solar energy to stake claim to land
- Bedouin families have for years tried and failed to hold on to their lands, coming up against right-wing groups and hard-line government officials
- For the solar panels to be built, the land must be registered as part of the Bedouin village, strengthening their claim over it
TIRABIN-AL-SANA, Israel: At the end of a dusty road in southern Israel, beyond a Bedouin village of unfinished houses and the shiny dome of a mosque, a field of solar panels gleams in the hot desert sun.
Tirabin Al-Sana in Israel’s Negev desert is the home of the Tirabin (also spelled Tarabin) Bedouin tribe, who signed a contract with an Israeli solar energy company to build the installation.
The deal has helped provide jobs for the community as well as promote cleaner, cheaper energy for the country, as the power produced is pumped into the national grid.
Earlier this month, the Al-Ghanami family in the town of Abu Krinat a little further south inaugurated a similar field of solar panels.
Bedouin families have for years tried and failed to hold on to their lands, coming up against right-wing groups and hard-line government officials.
Demolition orders issued by Israeli authorities plague Bedouin villages, threatening the traditionally semi-nomadic communities with forced eviction.
But Yosef Abramowitz, co-chair of the non-profit organization Shamsuna, said solar field projects help them to stake a more definitive claim.
“It secures their land rights forever,” he told AFP.
“It’s the only way to settle the Bedouin land issue and secure 100 percent renewable energy,” he added, calling it a “win, win.”
For the solar panels to be built, the land must be registered as part of the Bedouin village, strengthening their claim over it.
Rise in home demolitions
Roughly 300,000 Bedouins live in the Negev desert, half of them in places such as Tirabin Al-Sana, including some 110,000 who reside in villages not officially recognized by the government.
Villages that are not formally recognized are fighting the biggest battle to stay on the land.
Far-right groups, some backed by the current government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have stepped up efforts in the past two years to drive these families away.
A sharp increase in home demolitions has left the communities vulnerable and whole families without a roof over their heads.
“Since 2023, more than 8,500 buildings have been demolished in these unrecognized villages,” Marwan Abu Frieh, from the legal aid organization Adalah, told AFP at a recent protest in Beersheva, the largest city in the Negev.
“Within these villages, thousands of families are now living out in the open, an escalation the Negev has not witnessed in perhaps the last two decades.”
Tribes just want to “live in peace and dignity,” following their distinct customs and traditions, he said.
Gil Yasur, who also works with Shamsuna developing critical infrastructure in Bedouin villages, said land claims issues were common among Bedouins across the Negev.
Families who include a solar project on their land, however, stand a better chance of securing it, he added.
“Then everyone will benefit — the landowners, the country, the Negev,” he said. “This is the best way to move forward to a green economy.”
Fully solar-energized
In Um Batin, a recognized village, residents are using solar energy in a different way — to power a local kindergarten all year round.
Until last year, the village relied on power from a diesel generator that polluted the air and the ground where the children played.
Now, a hulking solar panel shields the children from the sun as its surface sucks up the powerful rays, keeping the kindergarten in full working order.
“It was not clean or comfortable here before,” said Nama Abu Kaf, who works in the kindergarten.
“Now we have air conditioning and a projector so the children can watch television.”
Hani Al-Hawashleh, who oversees the project on behalf of Shamsuna, said the solar energy initiative for schools and kindergartens was “very positive.”
“Without power you can’t use all kinds of equipment such as projectors, lights in the classrooms and, on the other hand, it saves costs and uses clean energy,” he said.
The projects are part of a pilot scheme run by Shamsuna.
Asked if there was interest in expanding to other educational institutions that rely on polluting generators, he said there were challenges and bureaucracy but he hoped to see more.
More than 17 million people in Yemen are going hungry, including over 1 million children, UN says
- Number of children with acute malnutrition could surge to 1.2 million early next year, says humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher
- Plummeting global funding for humanitarian aid in Yemen has resulted in drastic reductions or cuts in food, he said
UNITED NATIONS: More than 17 million people in conflict-torn Yemen are going hungry, including over a million children under the age of 5 who are suffering from “life-threatening acute malnutrition,” the United Nations humanitarian chief said Wednesday.
Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council that the food security crisis in the Arab world’s poorest country, which is beset by civil war, has been accelerating since late 2023.
The number of people going hungry could climb to over 18 million by September, he warned, and the number of children with acute malnutrition could surge to 1.2 million early next year, “leaving many at risk of permanent physical and cognitive damage.”
According to experts who produce the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority that ranks the severity of hunger, more than 17,000 Yemenis are in the three worst categories of food insecurity — crisis stage or worse.
Fletcher said the UN hasn’t seen the current level of deprivation since before a UN-brokered truce in early 2022. He noted that it is unfolding as global funding for humanitarian aid is plummeting, which means reductions or cuts in food. According to the UN, as of mid-May, the UN’s $2.5 billion humanitarian appeal for Yemen this year had received just $222 million, just 9 percent.
Yemen has been embroiled in civil war since 2014, when Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition intervened months later and has been battling the rebels since 2015 to try and restore the government.
The war has devastated Yemen, created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, and turned into a stalemated proxy conflict. More than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, have been killed.
Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, told the council in a video briefing that two Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea this week – the first in over seven months – and Israeli airstrikes on the capital and key ports are escalating the conflict.
The Houthis have vowed to keep targeting vessels in the key waterway until the war in Gaza ends.
Grundberg said freedom of navigation in the Red Sea must be safeguarded and stressed that “Yemen must not be drawn deeper into regional crises that threaten to unravel the already extremely fragile situation in the country.”
“The stakes for Yemen are simply too high,” he said. “Yemen’s future depends on our collective resolve to shield it from further suffering and to give its people the hope and dignity they so deeply deserve.”
Grundberg warned that a military solution to the civil war “remains a dangerous illusion that risks deepening Yemen’s suffering.”
Negotiations offer the best hope to address the complex conflict, he said, and the longer it is drawn out “there is a risk that divisions could deepen further.”
Grundberg said both sides must signal a willingness to explore peaceful avenues — and an important signal would be the release of all conflict-related detainees. The parties have agreed to an all-for-all release, he said, but the process has stagnated for over a year.
Israel insists on keeping troops in Gaza. That complicates truce talks with Hamas
- Keeping a foothold in the Morag corridor is a key element in Israel’s plan to drive hundreds of thousands of Palestinians south toward a narrow swath of land along the border with Egypt
JERUSALEM: As Israel and Hamas move closer to a ceasefire agreement, Israel says it wants to maintain troops in a southern corridor of the Gaza Strip — a condition that could derail the talks.
An Israeli official said an outstanding issue in the negotiations was Israel’s desire to keep forces in the territory during a 60-day truce, including in the east-west axis that Israel calls the Morag corridor. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk with the media about the negotiations.
Keeping a foothold in the Morag corridor is a key element in Israel’s plan to drive hundreds of thousands of Palestinians south toward a narrow swath of land along the border with Egypt, into what it has termed a “humanitarian city.”
Critics fear the move is a precursor to the coerced relocation of much of Gaza’s population of some 2 million people, and part of the Israeli government’s plans to maintain lasting control over the territory.
Hamas, which still holds dozens of hostages and refuses calls by Israel to surrender, wants Israel to withdraw all of its troops as part of any permanent truce. It is adamantly opposed to any lasting Israeli presence inside Gaza.
As part of the proposed truce, Israel and Hamas would hold fire for 60 days, during which time some hostages would be freed and more aid would enter Gaza.
Previous demands by Israel to maintain troops in a separate corridor stalled progress on a ceasefire deal for months.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment on how the Morag corridor was playing into ceasefire talks. Netanyahu was in Washington this week to discuss the ceasefire and other matters with US President Donald Trump, who has pushed both sides to bring an end to the war in Gaza.
Israel’s desire to keep troops in Gaza was among the ceasefire sticking points discussed Tuesday by senior officials from the US, Israel and Qatar, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
“We want to have peace. We want to get the hostages back. And I think we’re close to doing it,” Trump said Wednesday in response to a question about the officials’ meeting.
Hamas said in a statement late Wednesday that Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza was one of several remaining sticking points in the talks, without mentioning Morag specifically.
Morag corridor is one of three that carve up Gaza
During their 21-month campaign in Gaza, Israeli forces have seized wide swaths of land, including three east-west corridors that have carved up the Palestinian enclave.
In April, Israel seized the Morag corridor — named after a Jewish settlement that existed in Gaza before Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005.
The corridor, located between Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah and its second-largest city Khan Younis, stretches about 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Israel to the Mediterranean coast and is about 1 kilometer (half a mile) wide.
At the time, Netanyahu said it was part of a strategy of “increasing the pressure step by step” on Hamas.
Netanyahu called Morag a “second Philadelphi,” referring to another corridor that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Israel has repeatedly insisted it must maintain control of Philadelphi to prevent cross-border arms smuggling. Egypt denies arms are moved through its territory.
Since the collapse of the last ceasefire in March, Israel has also reasserted control of the Netzarim corridor, which cuts off Gaza’s northern third from the rest of the territory and which it used to prevent Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza before the last truce.
It was not immediately clear how Israeli troops in the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors factor into the ceasefire negotiations.
Morag allows Israel to set its population movement plan into motion
The foothold in Morag has effectively cut the Rafah area off from the rest of Gaza.
Rafah, once a city of tens of thousands of people, is currently all but flattened and emptied of its population following Israeli evacuation orders.
With those conditions in place, Israel says it seeks to turn the Rafah area into a “sterile zone” free of Hamas militants where it wants to move hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into a “humanitarian city.”
Most of Gaza’s population has already been displaced multiple times throughout the war and squeezed into ever smaller pieces of land. Rights groups see the planned new push to get them to head south as forcible displacement.
Israel’s idea is to use Morag as a screening zone for Palestinians being moved south, to prevent Hamas from infiltrating the area, according to Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at two think tanks, the Institute for National Security Studies and Misgav. That would allow Israeli troops to operate further north without Palestinian civilians getting caught in the crossfire, he said.
A no-go for Hamas
Michael said the move might allow Israel to ramp up the pressure on — and possibly defeat — Hamas in northern Gaza, where guerilla-style fighting continues to dog Israeli troops. And that, he added, could lay the groundwork for an end to the war, which Israel has vowed to continue until Hamas is destroyed.
But critics say the plan to move Palestinians south paves the way for the expulsion of Palestinians from the territory and for Israel to assert control over it, a priority for Netanyahu’s powerful far-right governing partners.
Netanyahu has said that any departures would be “voluntary.” But Palestinians and human rights groups fear that concentrating the population in an area hard-hit by the war with little infrastructure would create catastrophic conditions that leave Palestinians no choice but to leave.
Michael Milshtein, an Israeli expert on Palestinian affairs and former military intelligence officer, called the plan to move Palestinians south through the Morag corridor a “crazy fantasy.” He said the current negotiations could crumble over the Israeli demand because it signaled to Hamas that Israel does not intend to withdraw forces after the ceasefire expires, something Hamas will not accept.
“For Hamas, it’s a no-go,” he said. “If those are the terms, I can’t see Hamas agreeing.”
UN mission in Libya urges immediate de-escalation in Tripoli
- Call follows reports of continued military buildup in and around the capital city
- Libya has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi
TRIPOLI: The UN Mission in Libya urged on Wednesday all Libyan parties to avoid actions or political rhetoric that could trigger escalation or renewed clashes in Tripoli, following reports of continued military buildup in and around the city.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah ordered in May the dismantling of what he called irregular armed groups, which was followed by Tripoli’s fiercest clashes in years between two armed groups that killed at least eight civilians.
“The Mission continues its efforts to help de-escalate the situation and calls on all parties to engage in good faith toward this end ... Forces recently deployed in Tripoli must withdraw without delay,” the UN Mission said on social media.
A Tripoli-based Government of National Unity under Al-Dbeibah was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021 but the Benghazi-based House of Representatives no longer recognizes its legitimacy.
Libya has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi. The country split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, though an outbreak of major warfare paused with a truce in 2020.
While eastern Libya has been dominated for a decade by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army, control in Tripoli and western Libya has been splintered among numerous armed factions.
Yemen crisis ‘deeply volatile and unpredictable,’ UN special envoy tells Security Council
- Condemnation of renewed Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, the first for 7 months
- Humanitarian chief warns of 17m people going hungry in the country
NEW YORK CITY: The UN Security Council convened on Wednesday for a briefing on the escalating conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen, amid growing concerns about regional instability and the resumption of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
The UN’s special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, described the present period as “deeply volatile and unpredictable,” while noting that there were some fragile hopes for a deescalation following the recent ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel.
However, he cautioned that the Houthis continue to launch missile attacks against Israel, and recently targeted two commercial vessels in the Red Sea, resulting in civilian casualties and potential environmental damage. They were the first such assaults on international shipping in more than seven months.
“These attacks threaten freedom of navigation and risk dragging Yemen further into regional crises,” Grundberg warned, as he underscored the imperative need to safeguard civilian infrastructure and maintain stability in the country.
He emphasized that while the front lines in the Yemen conflict have largely held, military activity persists across several governorates, with troop movements suggesting an appetite for escalation among some factions.
Grundberg urged all parties involved in the conflict to demonstrate a genuine commitment to peace, including the release of all conflict-related detainees, a process that has been stalled for more than a year.
He also highlighted the dire economic situation in the country, describing it as the “most active front line” of the conflict, with currency devaluation and worsening food insecurity pushing millions toward famine.
In a call for practical cooperation, Grundberg praised recent developments such as the reopening of Al-Dhalea Road, which he said has eased movement and improved economic activity. He urged both sides to build on such progress to restore salaries, services and oil production.
The UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Tom Fletcher, briefed council members on the accelerating food-security crisis in the country.
“More than 17 million people are going hungry in Yemen, with numbers expected to rise to over 18 million by September,” he said, highlighting the threat to more than a million malnourished children under the age of 5.
Despite funding shortfalls, Fletcher said progress had been made in controlling cholera outbreaks and scaling up nutritional treatments, with more than 650,000 children receiving life-saving aid.
He also cited local-level agreements in Taiz governorate for the joint management of water supplies, and the reopening of a key road between Aden and Sanaa that is facilitating civilian and commercial transport for the first time in seven years.
However, he stressed the urgent need for increased funding of relief efforts, and called for the immediate release of detained UN workers and employees of nongovernmental organizations, echoing Grundberg’s demands.
The US Ambassador to the UN, Dorothy Shea, condemned the recent Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, including the sinking of the cargo vessel Magic Seas, describing them as “destabilizing” and a violation of freedom of navigation.
She urged the Security Council to renew calls for transparency regarding Houthi attacks on commercial vessels, and reaffirmed the US position in support of Israel’s right to self-defense against Houthi missile and drone attacks. She also condemned the continuing detention by the Houthis of UN and NGO workers and called for their immediate, unconditional release.
“The United States remains committed to depriving the Houthis of resources that sustain their terrorist actions,” she said, stressing that any assistance provided to the Houthis constituted a violation of US law as a result of the group’s designation by Washington as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
In addition, Shea called for the termination of the UN Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement, which she described as outdated and ineffective. Established following the 2018 Stockholm Agreement between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, the role of the mission has been to monitor the ceasefire agreement in the port city of Hodeidah (the UN uses an alternative spelling of the city’s name), oversee the redeployment of forces, monitor ports to ensure they are used for civilian purposes, and facilitate coordination between stakeholders in Yemen, including UN agencies.
