Houthis confirm second strike against Israel and vow to continue military operations in coming days
The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, confirms that the group carried out a second wave of strikes against Israel with a “barrage of cruise missiles and drones” targeting key military sites.
In a a televised speech, Saree vowed to continue military operations in the coming days until Israel “ceases its attacks and aggression”.
Multiple outlets reported that the Houthis, the Iran-aligned militant group in Yemen, had attacked Israel for a second time in less than 24 hours, after joining the war on Saturday.
Earlier, Israel said it had intercepted a missile coming from Yemen.
A view of missile traces launched from Yemen at Israel sighted in the sky over Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on 28 March. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 17.02 EDT
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Yemen’s Houthis confirmed a second wave of attacks on Israel since they joined the war less than 24 hours ago and vowed to continue striking in the coming days. In a a televised speech, the group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the Iran-backed group had launched a “barrage of cruise missiles and drones” in a second attack on Israel, targeting key military sites. He vowed the Houthis would continue military operations in the coming days until Israel “ceases its attacks and aggression”. ian suffering for seven years before a 2022 truce.
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Israeli attacks killed three journalists in a targeted strike on their car in southern Lebanon, which the Lebanese president condemned as a “blatant war crime”. The strike killed Ali Shoeib, from Hezbollah-owned al-Manar TV, Fatima Ftouni and her brother and camerman Mohammed Ftouni from pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen. International law says that regardless of political affiliation, journalists are considered civilians and targeting them is a war crime. Lebanon’s president Joseph Aoun condemned the strike in a statement: “Once again, the Israeli aggression violates the most basic rules of international law, international humanitarian law and the laws of war, by targeting journalists, who are ultimately civilians performing a professional duty.”
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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, called for an end to attacks on medical staff after nine paramedics were killed in southern Lebanon on Saturday. They were killed while working in the field in five separate attacks on Lebanese villages, Tedros said, bringing the number of health workers killed this month to 51. Seven medics were also reportedly wounded. The WHO chief said in a statement: “Health workers are protected under international humanitarian law and should never be targeted. The only way to end these tragedies is to end attacks on health care, NOW!”
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Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei has condemned the US and Israel for “deliberately” attacking “many universities and research centres” in Iran, including the Isfahan University of Technology in central Iran and the University of Science and Technology in Tehran. In a post on X, Baghaei accused the US and Israel of attempting to demolish the “country’s scientific foundation and cultural heritage by systematically targeting universities, research centers, historical monuments, and prominent scientists”.
ShareIran’s foreign ministry condemns ‘deliberate’ attacks on universities
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei has condemned the US and Israel for “deliberately” attacking “many universities and research centres” in Iran, including the Isfahan University of Technology in central Iran and the University of Science and Technology in Tehran.
In a post on X, Baghaei accused the US and Israel of attempting to demolish the “country’s scientific foundation and cultural heritage by systematically targeting universities, research centers, historical monuments, and prominent scientists”.
He also said that US and Israel claims of countering Iran’s nuclear programme and threats by Tehran were “nothing but vicious pretexts” and “mere fabrications designed to conceal their real intention”.
Updated at 17.56 EDT
Houthis confirm second strike against Israel and vow to continue military operations in coming days
The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, confirms that the group carried out a second wave of strikes against Israel with a “barrage of cruise missiles and drones” targeting key military sites.
In a a televised speech, Saree vowed to continue military operations in the coming days until Israel “ceases its attacks and aggression”.
Multiple outlets reported that the Houthis, the Iran-aligned militant group in Yemen, had attacked Israel for a second time in less than 24 hours, after joining the war on Saturday.
Earlier, Israel said it had intercepted a missile coming from Yemen.
A view of missile traces launched from Yemen at Israel sighted in the sky over Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on 28 March. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 17.02 EDT
Police in Tel Aviv have dispersed a large number of people who gathered earlier to protest against the US-Israeli war on Iran, in what is believed to be the largest demonstration against the war in Israel since it began on 28 February.
Haaretz reported that rallies took place in around 20 cities across Israel, including Jerusalem and Haifa.
Police later dispersed the demonstrators, with officers claiming they were violating the country’s home front command guidelines.
“The police violently dispersed 1,500 protesters against the war and against the government,” Alon-Lee Green, co-director of the Jewish-Palestinian activist group Standing Together, said in a post on X.
The police’s actions “won’t stop us,” he said. “We will continue to fight to stop the eternal war and to bring down the government of death.”
Here are some pictures from the protest.
Demonstrators hold banners at an anti-war protest in Tel Aviv on 28 March. Photograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty ImagesA demonstrator holds a placard demanding, ‘Disarm Israel first,’ while gathering for the weekly anti-war protest. Photograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty ImagesIsraeli security forces look on as a demonstrator holds a placard in protest against the US-Israeli war on Iran. Photograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty ImagesA demonstrator wears a mask depicting Donald Trump while holding a torn Israeli flag and an effigy of Benjamin Netanyahu as a baby. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/ReutersDemonstrators calling for an end to the conflict, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/ReutersShare
Updated at 16.47 EDT
Pakistan’s foreign minister says Iran to allow 20 Pakistani ships through strait of Hormuz
The Pakistani foreign minister said that Iran has agreed to allow 20 ships from Pakistan to traverse the strait of Hormuz.
Two ships are permitted to cross daily under the arrangement, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, said.
“This is a welcome and constructive gesture by Iran and deserves appreciation,” Dar said. “It is a harbinger of peace and will help usher stability in the region. This positive announcement marks a meaningful step toward peace and will strengthen our collective efforts in that direction.”
“Dialogue, diplomacy and such confidence-building measures are the only way forward,” Dar added.
Updated at 16.19 EDT
Thousands of US marines and sailors arrive in Middle East
About 3,500 US marines and sailors arrived in the Middle East on Friday, US Central Command, oversees US military operations in the region, said today.
The marines are from the 31st marine expeditionary unit, Central Command said. Those marines are highly trained in a variety of operations, including storming beaches, parachuting on to islands and boarding ships for seizure operations, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The New York Times reported that the group of marines and sailors may participate in efforts to open the strait of Hormuz, which has been mostly closed by Iran due to the ongoing US-Israel war. Although it is still unclear what the marines and sailors will do in the region, it is speculated they may be tasked with raids of different islands located within the strait.
Updated at 16.10 EDT
US Central Command, the Department of Defense’s command overseeing the US’s war on Iran, said on Saturday that US forces have struck over 11,000 targets since the US began its bombing campaign.
In a post on the social media platform X, US Central Command also included information about the types of US assets participating in the US-Israel war on Iran that began in 28 February. It includes a series of air, sea and land assets, such as fighter jets, bombers, aircraft carriers and missile systems.
The social media post also said that intelligence sites, control centers, missile sites and military support infrastructure have been targeted. However, on the day the bombing campaign began, the US bombed a school in Iran, killing at least 175 people, mostly children.
Updated at 16.11 EDT
‘More tragedy’ as five separate attacks on southern Lebanon kill nine paramedics and wound seven others, WHO chief says
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, has called for an end to attacks on medical staff after nine paramedics were killed in southern Lebanon on Saturday.
They were killed while working in the field in five separate attacks on Lebanese villages, Tedros said, bringing the number of health workers killed this month to 51. Seven medics were also reportedly wounded.
He wrote on X:
double quotation markMore tragedy in southern Lebanon today … March has been the second most deadly month for health workers in Lebanon since [the] WHO started monitoring attacks on health care in the country in October 2023.
More than 120 health workers have also been reportedly wounded since the escalation began in Lebanon on 2 March, overwhelmingly in the country’s south.
In Zoutar al-Sharqiya, five health workers were killed in a strike and two were injured, one critically. Two more health workers were killed and three wounded in Kfar Tibnit; one paramedic died in an attack at a health facility in Ghandouriyeh, while another was killed in a strike in Jezzine. Two were wounded in an attack on Kfar Dajjal.
He added:
double quotation markHealth workers are protected under international humanitarian law and should never be targeted.
The only way to end these tragedies is to end attacks on health care, NOW!
Four hospitals and 51 primary health care centres in Lebanon were currently closed, “significantly limiting access to essential care at a time when it is most needed”, he said.
Mohammed Suleiman, the father of Jaud, a 16-year-old volunteer paramedic killed in an Israeli attack alongside his colleague Ali Hassan Haber, 23, last Tuesday, prays with his colleagues at Jaud’s grave in Nabatieh, Lebanon, on 27 March. Photograph: Manu Brabo/ReutersShare
Updated at 14.40 EDT
IDF says it has hit Iran’s headquarters for naval weapons
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claims to have struck the headquarters of the Iranian regime’s Marine Industries Organization (MIO) in Tehran.
“This headquarters is responsible for the research, development, and production of a wide range of naval weaponry,” the IDF said in a statement, adding that the attack further damages Tehran’s “naval capabilities”, especially “its ability to produce advanced maritime weapons”.
The aerial strike was part of “a wide-scale wave of strikes” targeting infrastructure across Tehran overnight, the statement said, including sites used to produce and develop Iran’s weapons systems and air defence system.
Updated at 14.02 EDT
Lebanon says it is preparing to file complaint to UN security council over Israeli killings of journalists
Lebanon’s information minister, Paul Morcos, has said that his ministry and the foreign ministry are preparing to file a complaint to the UN security council over Israel’s targeting of journalists.
Earlier, we reported that Ali Shoeib, from the Hezbollah-owned al-Manar television station, and Fatima Ftouni and her brother and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, from the pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen, were killed in an Israeli strike targeting their car on a road leading to Jezzine in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese government condemned the killings as a “blatant war crime”.
Morcos told a press conference earlier that “Lebanon will not treat such attacks as normal and is committed to national unity”.
Morcos also “called for reaffirming and enforcing international protections for journalists and warned against any attempt to weaken these safeguards”.
Lebanese journalists hold placards and candles during a protest at Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut after the killing of their colleagues from an Israeli strike that targeted their vehicle. Photograph: Ibrahim Amro/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 13.58 EDT
At least 47 people have been killed in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, the country’s health ministry has said.
Officials in Beirut said 112 had also been wounded as Israel’s bombardment continues.
At least 1,189 people have now been killed and 3,427 wounded since Israel’s renewed offensive began on 2 March.
ShareSecond Houthi missile fired at Israel – report
Houthi forces launched a second missile towards Israel, hours after the first which saw them enter the war on Saturday, an Israeli security source has told CNN.
The close allies of Iran fired a cruise missile at Israel, the source said, adding that both missiles were intercepted and no injuries or damage was caused.
Announcing the initial attack, the Houthis said they had fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at “sensitive Israeli military sites” and that they would continue military operations until the “aggression” came to an end on all fronts.
Updated at 14.09 EDT