Armed Militias and Extremist Groups

Debris litters a loading dock a day after Israeli strikes on the port of Yemen's Houthi-held city of Hodeida on July 21, 2024.

Analysis

Israel’s Yemen attack against Houthis warning to nuclear Iran

While concerns grow in Israel over the continued drone and missile attacks by the Houthis in Yemen, the real threat remains that of Iran.

By Ben Caspit

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

A handout picture obtained from Yemen's Huthi Ansarullah Media Center show a huge column of fire erupting following reported strikes in the Yemeni rebel-held port city of Hodeida opn July 20, 2024.

Quick Take

Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen one day after Tel Aviv drone attack

The Israeli military confirmed that it had carried out airstrikes against Houthi-linked targets in Yemen, saying it was in retaliation for some 200 drone and cruise missile attacks towards Israel from Yemen since Oct. 7.

A man looks at a building damaged by a drone explosion that Houthis rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for, Tel Aviv, July 19, 2024.

Analysis

Houthi drone attack exposes Israel’s vulnerability

As the military investigates the episode, an Israeli security official warns that Hamas "has not said its final word" despite receiving the "worst blow" in its history.

By Ben Caspit

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Israeli policemen search the scene where an explosion took place in Tel Aviv, July 19, 2024.

Regional View

Yemen's Houthis claim responsibility for deadly drone attack in Israel

One man was killed and ten injured when a drone exploded Friday morning in the center of Tel Aviv.

Latest News

Quick Take

Hezbollah airs drone footage of Israeli military sites in Golan Heights

A flag bearing portraits of (L-R) slain Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Hezbollah military leader Imad Moghniyeh, and Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, flutters after a raising ceremony by Lebanon's Hezbollah supporters and members on a hill facing the Israeli northern town of Metula by the border with Lebanon, on January 3, 2021, to mark the first anniversary of the killing of Soleimani and al-Muhandis in a US drone strike. (Photo by Ali DIA / AFP) (Photo by ALI DIA/AFP via Get

Regional View

In navigating return of Taliban, will Saudi reopen embassy in Afghanistan?

WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images

After Qatar's $20M aid to army, Saudi relief agency grants $10M to Lebanon

Saudis organize medical aid to be loaded into a plane as Saudi Arabia begins sending field hospitals and medical aid to Lebanon.

Beatrice Farhat

By Beatrice Farhat

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Analysis

Somalia eyes fresh external support amid fears of al-Shabab takeover

Troops from the Ethiopian African Union Mission to Somalia on patrol, in Baidoa, Somalia, Sept. 3, 2022.

Cagatay Cebe

By Cagatay Cebe

In Istanbul, reporting on security and counterterrorism

As Lebanon braces, four scenarios for Hezbollah's confrontation with Israel

Smoke rises from an Israeli strike against a Hezbollah target on June 25, 2024 in Khiam, Lebanon. Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have been trading cross-border fire since the October 7 attacks, with the conflict escalating in May when the group launched a missile-carrying drone against Israel for the first time. The conflict intensified in June when Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israeli military sites following the killing of senior commander Taleb Abdullah. This marked t

Jared Szuba

By Jared Szuba

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Lebanon holds airport tours to dispel weapons report amid Israel-Hezbollah tension

Lebanon has responded to a report that Hezbollah is moving weapons through its international airport with a tour for foreign diplomats and journalists.

Beatrice Farhat

By Beatrice Farhat

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani (C) kisses the Taliban flag as he reviews the newly recruited Afghan security personnel during their graduation ceremony at the police academy in Kabul on October 5, 2023. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)

What's behind Taliban's decision to attend UN conference in Qatar?

The attendance in and of itself signals progress and the possibility that the international community might find better ways to deal with the de facto rulers in Kabul.

Sabena Siddiqui

By Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

JAM STA ROSA/AFP via Getty Images

Quick Take

US Navy rescues 24 crew members after Houthi attack, 1 lost at sea

Two cargo ships are at risk of sinking in the Red Sea, abandoned by their crews after Houthi missile strikes triggered US airstrikes on radar sites controlled by the Yemeni rebels.

Lebanese army forces deploy near the US Embassy after a Syrian man was arrested following a shooting near the embassy, Beirut, Lebanon, June 5, 2024.

Regional View

Do Lebanon's US Embassy attack, border clashes signal rise in extremism?

While armed groups are becoming more active in Lebanon in the wake of regional tensions resulting from the Gaza war, some believe the country is not prone to rise of extremism.

01/18/2024 Nablus, Palestine. Osama Hamdan, chief of Hamas' Foreign relations and member of its political bureau, conducts an interview in a Hamas office in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh in Beirut, Lebanon. (Photo by Oliver Marsden / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by OLIVER MARSDEN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Quick Take

Hamas figure says 'no one has any idea' how many hostages left alive

Hamas criticized US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent remarks on the cease-fire and blamed Israel for the failure to reach a deal, while a senior official said the group wants more clarity on the Biden administration proposal.

Hamas' political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh addresses supporters during a rally in solidarity with the Palestinians outside Qatar's Imam Muhammad Abdel-Wahhab Mosque in the capital Doha on May 15, 2021. - Qatar's Foreign Minister hosted the political chief of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and called for an end to Israel's bombardment of Gaza, state media said. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Quick Take

In Turkey, Qatar defense chief says no plans to expel Hamas

The Qatari minister’s remarks came in response to increasing reports that the Gulf state is considering shuttering Hamas’ political headquarters in Doha.

Palestinians Hamas militants wearing headbands reading in Arabic "the Lion's Den", in reference to the Nablus based Lion's Den armed group, march in support of the group in Gaza City on Dec. 10, 2022.

Quick Take

US sanctions Palestinian Lion's Den armed group in West Bank

The group emerged in 2022 amid an uptick of violence between Palestinians and settlers in Nablus

An ambulance is pictured as Lebanese army deploy near the US embassy in Beirut on June 5, 2024, after a Syrian man was arrested following a shooting near the embassy.

Attack on US Embassy in Lebanon, Syrian gunman wounded

Investigations are ongoing into the shooting incident, which comes amid intensified cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Beatrice Farhat

By Beatrice Farhat

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas waves during a swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed ministers, on March 31, 2024, in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian presidency criticizes Iran's Khamenei publicly: What we know

Iran has long backed Hamas and threw its support behind the group following its assault on southern Israel last October.

Beatrice Farhat

By Beatrice Farhat

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Ghadr

Quick Take

What we know on Houthis' latest Ghadr anti-ship Iranian ballistic missile

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday that the Yemeni militant group has obtained the technology to manufacture anti-ship ballistic missiles.

Passengers getting off a Turkish airline plane after it landed at the Kabul International Airport in Kabul on May 21, 2024.

Quick Take

Turkey's flag carrier resumes flights to Afghanistan after 3-year pause

The Turkish envoy hailed the resumption of flights as a “new era.”

Protesters gather as a man holds up a sign demanding that soldiers from the United States Army leave Niger without negotiation during a demonstration in Niamey, on April 13, 2024.

Quick Take

Pentagon delegation heading to Niger to discuss US withdrawal

Hopes have faded in Washington that the roughly 1,100 American troops based at a remote drone base in central Niger will be allowed to remain in the country.