Houthi rebels say at least 44 killed in airstrike near Yemeni capital, and other Mideast news
The death toll from airstrikes near Yemen’s capital has increased to 44, most of them women and children, health authorities from the Iran-backed Houthi rebels said overnight. Separately, Iran’s foreign ministry on Monday dismissed comments by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Iranian demands for ending the war have been “ridiculous.”
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Monday. Read our full coverage here.
The death toll from Saturday's airstrikes that hit homes near Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, has increased to 44, most of them women and children, Houthi health authorities said late Sunday.
The strikes on the village of al-Shariya, east of Sanaa, wounded 40 others, including eight children and nine women, said Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run Health Ministry. The dead included 21 children and 10 women, he said, making the strikes one of the deadliest attacks in the latest bout of violence in Yemen’s yearlong civil war.
Al-Asbahi said rescue teams were still searching the area for missing people, raising fears that the death toll could rise. He blamed Saudi Arabia for the strikes.
On Monday, the Saudi-led coalition said it destroyed three facilities belonging to the Houthis, including a factory for assembling ballistic missile components, a chemical plant producing solid rocket fuel and an electronics workshop assembling missile systems. It did not specify their locations or provide further details.
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said the attack Monday in the Medina region caused a “limited fire” that was quickly extinguished. Operations were not affected and there were no casualties, the ministry said. It did not identify who was behind the attack.
The Houthis, who have repeatedly targeted Saudi infrastructure and exchanged attacks with the kingdom in recent months, did not immediately comment.
The incident came a day after falling debris from intercepted missiles damaged several floors of a Saudi Aramco office tower in Riyadh’s financial district. The Houthis subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack on the capital.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said Monday that his country has not deployed forces to Yemen to fight the Houthi rebels and has no “immediate plan to do so.”
The Associated Press reported Sunday that Syria is preparing to send an initial group of 600 special forces fighters to Saudi Arabia, where they would be deployed on the country’s border with Yemen.
Speaking at a press conference in Damascus, al-Shibani did not directly address the reports of plans to send fighters to Saudi Arabia but said “any military operation outside our borders would certainly be announced and discussed publicly. It would not be carried out in secret.”
Israeli passengers who were aboard a FlyDubai flight last month when the co-pilot attacked the captain in what prosecutors say was an attempt to crash the plane will be considered victims of a hostile incident, the Israeli Defense Ministry said Monday.
The finding will affect the ability of passengers to seek financial compensation and coverage for psychological treatment.
The FlyDubai passengers described fearing for their lives as the plane plummeted during the attack and a handful of Israelis aboard pulled the co-pilot from the cockpit, pinning him to the ground. Two reserve pilots took control and made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
Iran’s foreign ministry on Monday dismissed remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said Sunday that Iranian demands for ending the war had sometimes been “outrageous and ridiculous.”
At a briefing, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said U.S. strikes during peace talks earlier this year and last year had been “illogical and ridiculous," not Iran's demands, which include an end to the U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports, the lifting of sanctions, the unfreezing of Iranian assets and compensation for war damage.
On Sunday, Rubio said President Donald Trump prefers a diplomatic solution, but “Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable, but in some cases outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic.”
Trump is scheduled to meet Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the White House on Monday, according to his official schedule.
Qatar has helped mediate efforts to end the war between the U.S. and Iran.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told journalists on a return flight from Azerbaijan late Sunday that he had discussed his concerns with Trump.
“We do not want a new wave of attacks to be launched against Iran, nor do we wish to see our region dragged into further instability,” he said. “Unfortunately, we are now seeing a shift in a negative direction. We are doing everything in our power to prevent this."
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi traveled to Iran on Saturday to deliver a message from Trump regarding efforts to contain tensions and prevent the region from sliding into war, two Iraqi officials with knowledge of the trip said.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The Iraqi officials said that Iran remained firm in its position and insisted it would make no concessions in the negotiations.
— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad
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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
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