Iran war: 3 tankers on fire in Hormuz; Saudi intercepts Houthi missile

• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says three oil tankers and a tugboat have caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz after trying to pass through using an “unauthorised route” while its electronic warfare units claim to have captured two US drones intact.
• The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government says it has intercepted a Houthi missile launched towards Medina.
• Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has dismissed the idea that the outcome of the US midterm elections changes anything with Tehran, saying US hostility towards Iran will persist.
• A tanker has been struck by two unidentified projectiles in waters north of Qatar’s Madinat ash Shamal, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency says.

• 15m ago

  (11:15 GMT)

  Oil prices edge up following large falls as investors weigh uncertainties around Iran war

  Brent crude futures edged up as investors weighed the future course of the US-Israeli war with Iran ⁠after Trump’s Republican Party ⁠suffered heavy losses in midterm elections this week.

  Brent futures were up 78 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $95.40 a barrel as of 09:00 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 11 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $88.23.

  Oil prices had fallen dramatically on Wednesday as election results rolled in.

  “The situation ⁠in the Middle East is still unresolved and that’s why there is some modest recovery in prices at the moment,” Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS, told the Reuters news agency.

  Brent is more affected by geopolitical factors, while WTI is a domestic US benchmark, Staunovo added.
• 30m ago

  (11:00 GMT)

  

  Yemeni government forces say they repelled major Houthi attack in Taiz

  Yemen’s internationally recognised government forces say they have repelled a large-scale attack by Houthi fighters on the al-Aqrud front in Taiz governorate.

  Government forces said the fighting spread across several areas, including Hamah, al-Kuraif, Ras al-Naqil and al-Qahfah, claiming that dozens of Houthi fighters were killed or wounded.

  They also reported making advances on the ground in the Kahlan and Sabr fronts in Taiz.

  There was no immediate comment from the Houthis.
• 35m ago

  (10:55 GMT)

  

  Woman killed by Israeli gunfire in al-Mawasi area of Gaza’s Khan Younis

  A woman has been killed by Israeli gunfire in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, the Nasser Medical Complex has told our colleagues on the ground.

• 45m ago

  (10:45 GMT)

  A month after Yemen government offensive began, war of attrition takes hold

  Sanaa, Yemen – When news broke on October 5 that Yemen’s internationally recognised government was launching a major new offensive to take control of territories held by Houthi fighters, Mohammed Ahmed began to prepare for the worst.

  Sanaa has been under Houthi control since late 2014 after the Houthis seized the capital city in the initial phase of a civil war that has ebbed and flowed for more than a decade.

  But when it announced Operation Dawn of Yemen, the new offensive, last month, Yemeni government forces, backed by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition, declared they would aim to retake control of all parts of the country held by the Houthis, including Sanaa.

  “A state of worry and uncertainty overwhelmed my family and me,” Ahmed, a 40-year-old resident of Sanaa, said.

  Read the full story here.
• 1h ago

  (10:30 GMT)

  Fierce battles erupt on Yemen’s al-Maqatra front

  We are getting reports that fierce battles have broken out on the al-Maqatra front in Yemen’s Lahij governorate between government forces and the Houthis.

  Al Jazeera’s Hadeel al-Yamani, reporting from Taiz, said government forces claim to have “neutralised” military vehicles and personnel in the clashes.

  In Taiz itself, al-Yamani reported a deteriorating humanitarian crisis and the deaths of civilians, including women and children, due to shelling and an ongoing Houthi siege.
• 1h ago

  (10:26 GMT)

  

  Tanker on fire in Strait of Hormuz after hitting naval mine, says Iranian navy

  The Iranian navy has said that a tanker has caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz after hitting a naval mine, halting its journey.

  “An offending oil tanker that was travelling in an unsafe area east of the Strait of Hormuz caught fire” after hitting a naval mine, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported a navy statement as saying.

  The Iranian authorities said that the tanker had “turned off its detection and navigation systems”.

  The statement added that Tehran is “announcing to ship owners for the umpteenth time that the Strait of Hormuz is unsafe and closed to illegal vessels that intend to transit without coordination”.
• 1h ago

  (10:15 GMT)

  

  Israeli forces kill Palestinian child in Gaza’s Bureij camp

  Israeli military gunfire has killed a Palestinian child in Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, medical sources tell Al Jazeera.
• 1h ago

  (10:07 GMT)

  

  Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted Houthi missile launched towards Medina

  Colonel Turki al-Malki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, has said that his forces’ air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards the Medina region.

  Earlier, we reported that Saudi Arabia’s civil defence had briefly issued a warning alert for the Yanbu Governorate near the Red Sea in Medina province.

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