Middle East crisis live: US stealth bombers strike Houthi targets in Yemen

Pentagon says US air force used long-range B-2 stealth bombers to target ‘five hardened underground weapons storage locations’ of Iran-backed Houthis

The US military has mobilised its long-range B-2 stealth bombers to conduct strikes against “five hardened underground weapons storage locations” in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The Pentagon said the facilities house various weapons components the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels, roiling commercial shipping in the Red Sea. “This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified,” defence secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

The US Central Command said its battle damage assessments from the strikes were under way and did not indicate civilian casualties. The early morning strikes marked the first the US has used the B-2 bomber to attack Houthis in Yemen, and according to Bloomberg, the first time since January 2017 the wing-shaped bomber has flown in a combat mission.

The mayor of one of the largest cities in Lebanon’s south has been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit the city’s municipal headquarters during a meeting to coordinate aid deliveries to residents and those displaced by war. The strike, one of a series on Nabatieh on Wednesday morning, killed 16 people and wounded 52, the Lebanese health ministry said. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of “intentionally targeting” the meeting.

UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon said an Israeli army tank fired at a Unifil watchtower in Kafer Kela, a village in south Lebanon, in what it described as a “direct and apparently deliberate” act. The incident is the latest in a string of violations that Unifil has blamed on the IDF, prompting international condemnation. The IDF denied it was targeting Unifil forces.

Syrian news agency SANA reported an Israeli airstrike hitting the coastal city of Latakia. The state media outlet reported “fires were triggered by the Israeli aggression” at the entrance to Latakia, a stronghold of president Bashar al-Assad. It also reported two injuries and damage to private properties.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken with Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, the Pentagon says, after Austin and secretary of state Antony Blinken jointly penned a letter earlier this week calling on Israel to improve Gaza’s humanitarian situation.

The US has demanded proof on the ground that Israel does not have a policy of starvation in northern Gaza as it turned up the pressure on the Netanyahu government to allow more aid into the territory. The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the security council on Wednesday at a meeting convened by France, UK and Algeria that such a policy “would not just be horrific and unacceptable” but also had “implications under international and US law”.

The risk of cholera spreading in Lebanon is “very high”, the World Health Organization has warned, after a case of the acute and potentially deadly infection was detected in the conflict-hit country. The WHO highlighted the risk of cholera spreading among hundreds of thousands of people displaced since Israel escalated its campaign against Hezbollah.

More than 500 Filipino migrant workers are expected to soon be repatriated from Lebanon, according to the Philippine government, amid warnings that workers who want to leave are facing resistance from their employers.

More than 500 Filipino migrant workers are expected to soon be repatriated from Lebanon, according to the Philippine government, amid warnings that workers who want to leave are facing resistance from their employers.

Migrante International, which represents Filipinos working abroad, warned last month that many workers wanted to leave Lebanon but were struggling with a slow repatriation process and problems with employers. Employers, who have paid large agency fees to hire workers, have been reluctant to support repatriation applications or hand over workers’ passports, the group warned. Filipino workers in Lebanon are mainly employed as domestic workers in Beirut.