• At least 11 civilians were injured in a Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia's southern Najran province yesterday. Among the wounded were seven Saudis, one Yemeni, two Egyptians and one Pakistani citizen, Saudi military spokesman Maj Gen Turki Al Maliki said.
  • The Houthis have escalated attacks on the Kingdom as well as in Yemen. Dozens of Yemeni government troops were killed yesterday in attacks in Marib and Hadhramaut provinces. The Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group attacked camps belonging to what it described as the Saudi-backed First and Third Emergency Divisions in Yemen, using ballistic missiles and drones.
  • The kingdom recently launched an international maritime alliance aimed at protecting the Red Sea and the Bab Al Mandeb strait, which are key to Saudi exports, from Houthi attacks. The Saudi Defence Ministry has now announced that Maj Gen Abdullah Al Shehri has been appointed commander of the alliance.
  • A senior Saudi official told Reuters that intelligence from the US, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries found that the Houthis and Iraqi militia groups, in co-ordination with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, could soon launch attacks on key civilian sites.
  • Iraq has raised the security level in the country, placing all military and security forces on high alert as a one-week deadline given by militia groups to respond to last week's Saudi strikes expired.
  • Hadi Al Ameri, leader of one of the strongest and most well-organised Iran-aligned groups, the Badr Organisation, issued a video statement urging fighters to delay their response.
  • Iraq's State Administration Coalition issued a stark warning to the militia groups, stating that failure to meet the September 30 deadline for disarmament would result in terrorism charges. Iraqi state media also published the text of the country's counter-terrorism law, stressing that the law would be enforced against those who violate instructions.

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  • The US, Iran and other countries are reportedly in the final stages of discussions over navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran is looking to further exploit the situation by seeking sanctions relief from the US in exchange for agreeing to passage through the waterway free of tolls, sources told us yesterday.
  • Syria's ambulance service said at least two people were killed and 14 injured when an explosive device on a passenger bus detonated in the city of Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus.
  • The UN has expressed alarm over the rise in executions and death sentences in Iran over the past five months. At least 56 people have been executed on national security-related charges, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said.
  • Independent UN experts also urged Tehran to end its crackdown on minorities in the country - mainly the Kurdish and Baluch communities. “Iran's ethnic minorities must be able to live in safety and dignity, free from discrimination,” the experts said in a statement.
  • UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned the world was entering its most dangerous nuclear period in decades amid the Iran war.
  • Israeli forces continued their widespread raid in the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. At least 48 people have been injured, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which accused Israeli forces of denying medical teams access to the area.
  • In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the UAE, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia condemned what they described as ongoing Israeli violations in Gaza.
  • Syrian Foreign Minister Assad Al Shibani met his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Ankara yesterday, with both sides pledging to work together in the defence and counter-terrorism sectors. Their meeting comes amid the process to integrate the Syrian Democratic Forces into state institutions.
  • Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif

This newsletter was compiled by Aveen Karim, Deputy Foreign Editor.

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