Israeli strikes on Sanaa; Tom Barrack meets Netanyahu in Israel | Live

We are now closing our LIVE coverage of the region for the night. We will be back tomorrow morning with more news updates.

In a statement relayed by our correspondent, the “Assembly of Residents of Southern Border Villages” has "rejected and condemned any idea of occupation or takeover, even of a single inch under any pretext whatsoever, of the lands of southern Lebanon.

“We will form a bulwark against such conspiracies and call on all citizens of our country and its leaders to stand with us,” the statement read.

At least two people were killed and five wounded in the Israeli strike on the Yemeni capital, according to media outlets affiliated with the Houthis.

Israel dropped around 30 munitions on the Yemeni capital from nearly a dozen fighter jets, supported by refueling planes that participated in the operation, Al-Jazeera reported.

Houthis condemn Israeli strikes on Sanaa and threaten 'military escalation'

Houthi rebels have condemned Israeli strikes on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, claiming that Israel is “trying to compensate for its losses” with these attacks and warning that they still have “additional military options.”

According to Al-Jazeera, citing a Houthi official, the raids targeted “densely populated residential areas,” adding that “the presidential headquarters was neither occupied nor in use.”

“Targeting civilian facilities and residential areas constitutes a war crime,” he said, promising an intensification of Houthi operations “with even more important targets at the heart of the enemy entity.”

The official also assured that the movement's air defenses had “neutralized part of the bombing of Sanaa.” Finally, he warned that “if American involvement in these strikes is confirmed, we will resume targeting its interests.”

Hezbollah MP Raed Berro stated, from Ain al-Ghoweibeh in the district of Jbeil, that the statements made a few days ago by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on “Greater Israel” could only be interpreted as a ‘threat’ to Lebanon and all countries in the region, calling on the Lebanese and the peoples of the region to “confront it.”

The MP was speaking at a ceremony held in honor of a Hezbollah member killed by Israel in southern Lebanon.

The term “Greater Israel” refers to the biblical borders of King Solomon's time, encompassing the occupied West Bank and territories of neighboring countries, which some Israeli ultra-nationalists aspire to.

"To this day, the Zionist enemy continues to violate Lebanese sovereignty, exceeding all known obligations, and I wonder: does the state that the Lebanese dream of offer all its sacrifices and achievements as gifts to the enemy, who has not even responded to the Lebanese government regarding what is known as the 'Barrack document' ," the elected official added.

This is a reference to the decision taken on Aug. 5 by the government to set a timetable for the disarmament of Hezbollah and to implement the various points of an American proposal transmitted by envoy Tom Barrack, aimed at perpetuating the ceasefire concluded at the end of November between the party and Israel.

He likened the proposal to “humiliation” for the Lebanese people and ‘shame’ for the government, calling on “the Lebanese government to meet and withdraw it.”

The Israeli army announced via a message on X from its Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee that its air force had struck several targets in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital, Sanaa, including a military site “where the presidential palace is located,” power plants, and a fuel storage facility.

These targets were used by the Houthis for military operations, the Israeli army claims, without providing any evidence to support this.

“The presidential palace in the Sanaa area is located within a military site from which the armed forces of the Houthi terrorist regime operate,” the army said, adding that the power stations “served as a significant source of electricity for military activities.”

“The use of these power plants is further proof of how the Houthi regime uses civilian infrastructure for military purposes,” the Israeli army added.

Hezbollah MP and former minister Hussein Hajj Hassan said during a ceremony in Baalbeck that Lebanon and the region are “facing a future where there is no place for the weak, nor any place for the law if it is not protected by weapons,” two days before U.S. envoy Tom Barrack's visit to Lebanon to pursue the issue of disarming the party.

"We will not anticipate what will happen ... when the U.S. envoy visits Lebanon with responses from the Israeli enemy regarding the document approved by the Lebanese government, knowing that we know the United States and Israel: The U.S. is the source of terrorism in the world, and Israel is the primary instrument of American terrorism," the MP added, according to the National News Agency.

AFP reported that another target of the Israeli strikes was the Defense Ministry building, adding that an unknown number of people had been injured.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that one of its employees in Gaza had been released more than four weeks after being detained by Israel.

“Extremely relieved that our colleague, detained since July 21 in Gaza, was released this morning,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.

He reiterated his call for the protection of all health and humanitarian personnel.

In July, the agency said the Israeli military had attacked the residence of its staff and its main warehouse in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza.

Israeli strikes hit the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Sunday, according to the Houthi-affiliated channel, Al-Masirah TV.

The strikes targeted an area near the presidential compound as well as missile bases, residents told Reuters.

A missile launched from Yemen on Friday evening was equipped with a warhead containing cluster munitions, according to an investigation by the Israeli army, cited by Haaretz.

This is the first time that Houthi militants have launched such a missile toward Israel. Iran also used at least three cluster missiles during its 12-day war against Israel. The Israeli army used them in Lebanon in 2006 and was accused of also launching them during its last war against Hezbollah.

The army said that the failure to intercept the missile is currently under review and is not related to the type of missile launched.

Expected in Beirut on Tuesday, U.S. envoy Tom Barrack arrived in Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss the Trump administration's request that Israel moderate its strikes in Lebanon, as well as negotiations with Syria, according to three Israeli and US sources cited by the Axios news site and journalist Barak Ravid.

Ravid added that Barrack also met with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Saar and Minister of Defense Israel Katz.

U.S. officials believe that in light of the ongoing war in Gaza, it is in Israel's interest to calm the situation on its borders with Syria and Lebanon and to reach new agreements with both countries, Barak Ravid wrote on X.

Israel has partially or completely destroyed 97 percent of schools in Gaza, according to a statement by UNRWA on X, explaining that this finding is based on images from the United Nations Satellite Center dated July 8.

According to the report, 518 out of 564 buildings in the Gaza Strip will require either complete reconstruction or major rehabilitation work to become functional again.

According to the assessment, 432 school buildings (76 percent of all school buildings in Gaza) have been directly affected since Oct. 7, 2023.

Iran will firmly resist the United States, which wants to make Tehran “obedient,” the country's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said in remarks carried by state media on Sunday and reported by Reuters.

“Those who threaten us to have direct negotiations with the United States, in my view, only see the surface ... the issue is unsolvable,” Khamenei added.

Gaza's Health Ministry said that 64 people were killed and 278 wounded by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours. This brings the total number of deaths in the enclave since Oct. 7 to 62,686, including 10,842 killed since Israel violated the cease-fire on March 18, the Ministry said.

It added that 19 people were killed while attempting to receive humanitarian aid, bringing the total to 2,095 people killed while attempting to receive humanitarian aid. Finally, eight people are reported to have died of hunger and malnutrition, including one child, bringing the total number of hunger-related deaths to 289 people, including 115 children.

The Israeli army opened fire on a car between the towns of Houla and Markaba, in the Marjayoun district (southern Lebanon), without causing any injuries, according to our correspondent in the region.

(Credit: Muntasser Abdallah)

Gaza War: In Saida, a solidarity rally to denounce the targeting of Palestinian and Lebanese journalists

The “Democratic Gathering of Palestinian Professionals – Mada” organized a solidarity vigil in Saida (southern Lebanon) on Martyrs' Square to denounce the targeting of Palestinian and Lebanese journalists by the Israeli army, following the deaths of several reporters in the Gaza Strip.

The event brought together representatives of the media, Palestinian factions, Lebanese parties and numerous participants holding portraits of journalists who had been killed in Lebanon and Gaza.

Syria: Kurds say appointment of future Parliament is not democratic

Syria's Kurds have criticized the process of appointing members of the future transitional parliament, calling it undemocratic, according to AFP.

“These elections are neither democratic nor representative of the will of the Syrian people,” the Kurdish administration said in a statement, following the announcement that the process would be postponed in the areas it controls in the north and northeast of the country.

After the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December following nearly 14 years of civil war, the new interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former Islamist rebel leader, dissolved Parliament and promulgated a provisional constitutional declaration setting a five-year transition period.

In June, a presidential decree established an electoral commission to oversee the formation of local committees tasked with appointing 140 people, between Sept. 15 and 20, to sit in Parliament (which has 210 members). The remaining 70 members of Parliament are to be appointed directly by the president.

A protester holds a sign in tribute to Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, who was recently killed in an Israeli raid in Gaza, during a demonstration in Melbourne on Aug. 24, 2025. (Credit: William West/AFP)

In Israel and around the world, people continue to mobilize and protest against Israel's war on Gaza.

On Saturday, hundreds of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv in the afternoon, calling for an end to the war and to prevent growing hunger in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media.

On Saturday night, thousands of Australians took part in pro-Palestinian rallies, organizers said, amid tense relations between Israel and Australia following the center-left government's decision to recognize a Palestinian state, according to Reuters.

More than 40 demonstrations took place across Australia on Sunday, the Palestine Action Group said, with strong turnout in the state capitals of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

The group said about 350,000 people attended rallies nationwide, including about 50,000 in Brisbane, although police estimated the number at around 10,000. Police did not have estimates for the rallies in Sydney and Melbourne.

In Sydney, organizer Josh Lees said Australians had turned out in force to “demand an end to this genocide in Gaza and to call on our government to sanction Israel,” while participants, many carrying Palestinian flags, chanted “Free Palestine, Free Palestine.”

These protests come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up his personal attacks this week against his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, over his government's decision to recognize a Palestinian state this month.

Israeli fighter jets are flying over the Bekaa Valley, according to our correspondent in the region.

An Israeli drone dropped a grenade this morning on a person working in the town of Dhaira (Sour district), without causing any casualties, according to our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

No other incidents were reported during the night, either by him or by our correspondent in the Bekaa Valley.

The Trump administration has reportedly asked Israel to reduce “non-urgent” military actions in Lebanon in order to support the Lebanese government's decision to launch the process of disarming Hezbollah, according to sources contacted by the Axios website.

Another important piece of news this morning was reported by Haaretz.

According to the Israeli daily, the Israeli army has warned that implementing the government's orders to completely raze Gaza City, both above and below ground, similar to the operations carried out in Beit Hanoun and Rafah, could take many months, or even more than a year.

This follows the threat by Defense Minister Israel Katz, who said on Friday that if Hamas did not accept Israel's conditions for ending the war, Gaza City would become like Rafah and Beit Hanoun.

In such a scenario, according to the army, it would face an even more serious crisis with reserve units, which are already struggling with declining participation rates and low morale, Haaretz reports.

Israeli army chief of staff Eyal Zamir also told government leaders that the Israeli military will not launch a major assault on Gaza City until a “humanitarian zone” is established to accommodate the city's residents. He also specified that military operations will only begin once the necessary operational and legal preparations have been completed. This is despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to speed up the operation.

The main news this Sunday concerns the war in Gaza.

In a rather unusual move, Turkey's First Lady, Emine Erdogan, called on U.S. First Lady Melania Trump on Saturday to write to the Israeli Prime Minister in support of Palestinian children in Gaza, as she had done for Ukrainian children, AFP reported on Saturday evening.

When he welcomed Vladimir Putin to Alaska last week, U.S. President Donald Trump gave him a “message of peace” for Ukraine, reportedly written by his wife, the First Lady.

In a letter addressed to the latter and made public by the Turkish presidency, Emine Erdogan invites her to show the same “sensitivity” towards the people of Gaza, who have been under siege for nearly two years by the Israeli army in retaliation for the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, carried out by Hamas.

"I am confident that the sensitivity you have shown towards the 648 Ukrainian children who lost their lives in the war can be extended to Gaza, where 62,000 civilians, including 18,000 children, have lost their lives in less than two years," Mrs. Erdogan wrote, citing a report by Gaza's Health Ministry.

She suggested that he “send a letter to Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu calling for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

“Your appeal on behalf of Gaza would be a historic act of responsibility toward the Palestinian people.”

"As a mother, a woman and a human being, I sincerely share the feelings you expressed in your letter, and I hope you will be able to give the same hope to the children of Gaza, who also long for peace and tranquility. "

The United Nations officially declared a famine in Gaza on Friday — despite aggressive denials by the Israeli government and its supporters in Israel and around the world.

Good morning! We are now launching our live coverage of events in the Middle East: in Gaza, where the Israeli army continues its bloody war and prepares to occupy the main city; in Lebanon, where Israel continues its bombings and targeted strikes, as well as in Iran and Syria.