US claims to have carried out strikes on Houthi military targets | Live

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Enjoy the New Year!

(Credit: Iva Kovic)

At a barber shop on al-Qomariyyeh Street, men are getting ready for New Year's Eve.

"We didn't think this New Year would ever come. We expect the best," one of them told L'Orient Today.

(Credit: Iva Kovic)

Ziad, Baraa and Mazen, all in their twenties, take pictures of passers-by near the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus to earn some pocket money.

Mazen, a journalism student, hopes to one day work at the Ministry of Information. “Before the fall of the regime, I was preparing to travel. Now I have plans and I am very optimistic,” he said. “People will come here for a walk in the evening, for New Year’s Eve. I will offer them my services as a photographer.”

Baraa cannot believe the fall of the regime. “I am very positive about what will come next,” he stated.

The United States claimed to have carried out strikes on Houthi military targets, according to the U.S. military, quoted by AFP.

Emirates Airlines announced the extension of the suspension of its services to Beirut and Baghdad until Jan. 31 inclusive, while it had planned to resume its flights in mid-January, more than a month after the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

According to Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, airstrikes targeted Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. The origin of these strikes remains unclear.

Israeli Army Radio reported that it was not an Israeli attack.

The Israeli army said it intercepted a rocket fired from the southern Gaza Strip after sirens sounded in border towns in the Palestinian enclave.

An Israeli artillery shell landed on the outskirts of Shebaa (Hasbaya), according to L'Orient Today's correspondent.

Syrian lawyers, subjected for decades to repression by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, have launched an online petition to demand free elections for the Bar.

One of the signatories, lawyer Abdulhay Sayed, told AFP that the new authorities had "appointed a new council of the Bar Association," which he said "has no visibility for the future."

"Today, with the collapse of the regime, the Bar must no longer be subordinated to the arbitrary will of a political leader," states the petition sent to AFP on Tuesday.

"It is imperative that the Bar regains its legitimate role in public life and gives its members the means to defend the rights of individuals and preserve society, even in the face of the most powerful authorities," the statement added.

The correspondent for the Saudi news channel al-Hadath reported that there were no strikes or shootings in the residential area of ​​Mazzeh 86 in Damascus, adding that the situation was currently normal.

Cited by Al-Arabiya, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported earlier in the day that Syrian military operations, loyal to the country's new administration, had carried out strikes in the neighborhood and that heavy gunfire had been heard in the area.

Gaza's health system is "on the brink of total collapse" due to relentless Israeli attacks since the start of the war in October 2023, the U.N. Human Rights Office said in a report released on Tuesday.

Stressing that Gaza hospitals have become "death traps," it also noted the "vague" Israeli claims that Palestinian armed groups are using these buildings justifying these attacks.

"French air assets carried out targeted strikes against Islamic State sites on Syrian soil," French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu said on X.

"Our armies remain engaged in the fight against terrorism in the Levant. They have contributed to the international coalition Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), since 2014 in Iraq and 2015 in Syria," he added.

A Lebanese army force repositioned itself today in one of its military posts in the village of Shamaa, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The troops left this post at the start of the Israeli ground incursion into south Lebanon.

The new Syrian administration has confirmed the appointment of Marhaf Abu Qusra as defense minister in the transitional government, according to regional media reports.

According to Al-Jazeera, Abu Qusra is the general commander of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham's military wing.

Strikes were carried out in the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus, Al Arabiya reported, citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Heavy gunfire was also reported in the area.

Palestinian health officials said 45 patients and wounded were evacuated for treatment outside the Gaza Strip, the Associated Press reported.

The latter left the European hospital in Khan Younis, in the south of the city, early in the day, crossed the Kerem Shalom crossing into Israel and headed to the United Arab Emirates for treatment.

The patients are accompanied by more than 100 family members, according to the hospital.

The Israeli military announced that the commander of the Islamic Jihad rocket unit in the northern Gaza Strip, Anas Mohammad Saadi Masri, was killed earlier this month.

According to the army statement, Masri was involved in numerous "terrorist acts and, since Oct. 7, commanded rocket fire from the northern Gaza Strip towards the border settlements of the Palestinian enclave."

The new Syrian authorities appointed a central bank official, Maysaa Sabrine, to "manage the affairs" of the institution, an unprecedented appointment for a woman to this position, an internal source told AFP on Tuesday.

The financial specialist, who served as first deputy governor of the Syrian central bank since 2018, began her work today as "governor of the bank in charge of managing day-to-day affairs," said a central bank official who requested anonymity.

The Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraae called on residents of southern Lebanon to avoid traveling south of the villages of Shebaa, Hebbariyeh, Arnoun, Yohmor, Zantara, Shaqra, Barasheet, Yater and Mansouri, and also banned access to more than 60 Lebanese villages.

"We remind the residents of South Lebanon that they are prohibited, until further notice, from moving south to the outskirts of these villages and their surroundings," he said on X. "The Israeli army forces have no intention of targeting you. You are therefore prohibited, until further notice, from returning to your homes," he added.

Adraee also prohibited access to the villages of Dhaira, Taybeh, Tiri, Naqoura, Abou Shash, Ibl al-Saqi, Bayada, Jibbein, Khiam, Khreibeh, Khirbeh, Matmoura, Mari, Odaisseh, Qlaia, Um al-Touteh, Sleib, Arnoun, Bint Jbeil, Beit Lif, Blida, Bani Hayan, Boustan, Ain Arab Marjeyoun, Dibbein, Debaal, Deir Mimas, Deir Seriane, Houla, Halta, Hanine, Tyr Harfa, Yohmor, Yaroun, Yarine, Kfar Hamam, Kfar Shouba, Zaloutieh, Mhaibib, Meis al-Jabal, Maysiat, Marjayoun, Marwahin, Maroun al-Ras, Markaba, Adsheet, Qousseir, Ain Ebel, Ainata, Aita al-Shaab, Aitaroun, Alma al-Shaab, Arab al-Louaizeh, Rab al-Thalathine, Qouzah, Ramieh, Rashaya al-Foukhar, Rmeish, Shebaa, Shihin, Shamaa, Tallousseh.

A "new resistance" against Israel will emerge in Syria despite the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad, said a senior Iranian official close to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all strategic decisions in Iran.

"Not only has the resistance [against Israel] not weakened, but with the occupation of Syrian territories by the Zionist regime, a new resistance has been born and will manifest itself in the years to come," said the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, quoted Monday evening by the state-run IRNA. 

Good morning.

Thank you for joining us for our live coverage.

Two people were killed Sunday in the Gaza Strip during the armed looting of a World Food Program convoy, the U.N. body announced yesterday, which the Palestinian movement Hamas holds responsible for the tragedy.

“A coordinated effort to bring in 40 trucks on behalf of humanitarian partners was met with armed and violent looting, resulting in the death of two people and the injury of several others,” WFP said in a statement. “For more than two weeks, almost all humanitarian aid deliveries entering through southern and central Gaza have been met with violence, looting and tragic deaths due to attacks and lack of law enforcement along convoy routes,” it added.

The Hamas government's press service in Gaza claimed that a "catastrophic error" by the WFP was responsible for the two deaths and "dozens of gunshot wounds."

The Israeli army said yesterday that it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen before it entered its territory.

"A missile fired from Yemen was intercepted by the air force before entering Israeli territory," it said in a statement after warning sirens were sounded in the center of the country.

Israel carried out several strikes on Yemen on Thursday, including at Sanaa International Airport, saying it had targeted Houthi military infrastructure.

US officials met with the new authorities in Damascus and stressed "the need to protect American citizens and ensure the fate of missing American citizens," the U.S. embassy in Syria said on X.

It also said it was necessary to "continue the fight against the Islamic State, prevent Iran from re-emerging in Syria, fully represent all Syrians and ensure an inclusive political process."

A shepherd was shot in the shoulder from an Israeli position opposite Rmeish (Bint Jbeil), while he was on his farm, on the outskirts of the village, residents told L'Orient Today's correspondent.

Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for two attacks on Israel today, where the army said it intercepted a missile fired from that country before it entered Israeli territory.

The Houthis launched two missiles, the first targeting Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv and the second a power plant south of Jerusalem, their military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said.

The Israeli army said yesterday evening that a missile coming from Yemen had been intercepted by the air force before entering its territory while warning sirens sounded in the center of the country.