{"id":277990,"date":"2026-09-04T11:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T11:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/277990\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T11:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T11:54:10","slug":"an-israeli-release-a-shipping-slowdown-and-other-mideast-news-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/277990\/","title":{"rendered":"An Israeli release, a shipping slowdown and other Mideast news"},"content":{"rendered":"

By The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Israel has released<\/a> four more Lebanese civilians who had been detained by its forces in southern Lebanon. Ship traffic remains low on the Strait of Hormuz days after the U.S. and Iran exchanged attacks for the first time in a month. And fighting has intensified in Yemen between Iran-backed rebels and government forces.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war<\/a> and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Israel releases 4 more Lebanese civilians<\/p>\n

Israel released four Lebanese civilians to Lebanese authorities on Friday as part of a deal between the countries, a day after the first was freed.<\/a> All had been detained by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, where troops now occupy a large swath in the wake of new fighting with Hezbollah began two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.<\/p>\n

Israel on Thursday said it had agreed to release them after Lebanon provided assistance in searching for the bodies of Lebanese Jewish leaders who went missing in the 1980s during Lebanon\u2019s civil war.<\/p>\n

Officials said the release comes as a result of U.S. mediation and negotiations between Israel and Lebanon. Another round of talks is expected in Rome later this month.<\/p>\n

\"AA Red Cross convoy passes a Lebanese checkpoint near the border with Israel in the southern village of Mansouri, Lebanon, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Mohammed Zaatari) CORRECTION: A Red Cross convoy, instead of U.N. peacekeeper convoy
\nShip traffic remains low after latest attacks<\/p>\n

Ship traffic on the Strait of Hormuz remained low after the renewed U.S. attacks on targets in Iran earlier this week and Iran\u2019s retaliatory attacks in the region, including firing at U.S. Gulf ally Kuwait<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Fuel prices are again affected. Diesel hit a new record price<\/a> in the U.S. on Friday, soaring to an average of $5.85 a gallon for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

The benchmark U.S. crude price rose above $91 a barrel with the new wave of uncertainty around traffic on the strait, which Iran continues to use as leverage after six months of war with the U.S.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A man, woman and boy ride a motorcycle along the waterfront as commercial vessels lie anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)\n<\/p>\n

\"Commercial<\/p>\n

Commercial vessels lie anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A boy plays with a toy truck on a beach along the Strait of Hormuz in Kuhestak, Iran, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

A man, woman and boy ride a motorcycle along the waterfront as commercial vessels lie anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a>
\nFighting in Yemen has casualties on both sides<\/p>\n

Fighting intensified overnight between Iran-backed Houthi rebels<\/a> and Yemeni government forces along Yemen\u2019s west coast near an important supply route.<\/p>\n

\u0650An official with the internationally recognized government\u2019s health ministry told The Associated Press there were an unspecified number of casualties on both sides in the fighting in mountainous Taiz province. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn\u2019t authorized to speak with the media. A military official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn\u2019t authorized to brief the media, confirmed casualties on both sides.<\/p>\n

Jabal Nu\u2019man overlooks a major supply route for Yemeni government forces between Taiz province and Mokha, a port city heavily targeted by the Houthis in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

The Houthis\u2019 expansion of attacks in these areas appears to indicate an effort to gain full control of the Bab el-Mandeb strait<\/a>, the southern gateway to the Red Sea, according to Moahmed Abdelrahman, a Taiz province spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Ahmed Nagi, a senior analyst on Yemen at the International Crisis Group, told the AP that the Houthis want to take control of the mountains overlooking the coast.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ahmed al-Haj in Aden, Yemen, and Fatma Khaled in Cairo<\/p>\n

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By The Associated Press Israel has released four more Lebanese civilians who had been detained by its forces…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[28],"tags":[102,196,37,9641,93,101],"class_list":["post-277990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-strait-of-hormuz","tag-hormuz","tag-iran-war","tag-israel","tag-israel-hezbollah-war","tag-lebanon","tag-strait-of-hormuz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117212641340550434","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}