Al Jazeera

By Marthe van der Wolf and Fiona Kelliher

    Heavy fighting is underway between advancing Houthi rebels and troops supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government at its two major strongholds.

    An Iranian commercial vessel has been attacked near Qeshm Island, killing one person and wounding four others, with an official blaming the “US terrorist enemy”.

    Houthi forces and Yemen’s internationally recognised government trade strikes as fighting over the critical Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint on the Red Sea coast of Yemen intensifies.

    The fighting has forced tens of thousands of Yemenis from their homes, intensifying one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

    Iran is expected to meet with Gulf states in Oman on Monday to discuss the Strait of Hormuz in an effort to promote regional security.

Government-aligned forces acknowledge deaths of more than 500 Yemeni troops

    More than 500 Yemeni troops have been killed, and about 1,500 have been injured, during clashes with the Houthis, the government-aligned National Resistance Forces has said in reports carried on local media in Yemen.

    The numbers are from battles fought along the Yemeni west coast, from August 9 until September 10.

    The National Resistance Forces claimed that Houthi losses during the fighting were far higher.

Saudi pipeline outage risks disrupting 4 percent of global oil supply

    Saudi oil buyers and traders say the Saudi pipeline outage could affect 4 percent of global oil supply if pumping isn’t resumed within days, the Reuters news agency reports.

    Oil stocks for exports could run out, according to the oil traders, further hammering the global oil supply affected by the ongoing US war on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

    Saudi Arabia was forced to shut its East-West oil pipeline on Friday after a drone attack launched from Iraqi territory. It’s unclear how much time is needed to repair the damage and resume pumping.

Iran’s president says Abu Dhabi crown prince agreed to ‘put aside the past’ during talks at BRICS summit

    Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian says that he held a good conversation with Abu ⁠Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al ‌Nahyan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.

    “It was agreed that we would put aside the past and build a good future,” Pezeshkian said in remarks reported by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

At least 1,500 soldiers killed in month of Yemen fighting

    More than 1,500 combatants from both sides have been killed over the past month during clashes between Yemeni government forces and the Houthi group along the country’s western coast.

    Aljoumhouriya TV, citing a statement by the government-aligned National Resistance Forces, said fighting between August 9 to September 10 left more than 500 of its forces dead and 1,500 wounded.

    More than 1,000 Houthi fighters were also killed and thousands more wounded during the same period, it said. The casualty figures could not be independently verified by Al Jazeera.

    Fierce fighting continues with the Houthis attempting to advance on the internationally recognised government’s two major strongholds in the south and north of Yemen.

Prolonged conflict likely in Yemen due to ‘deeply complicated set of set of dynamics’

    It’s unlikely tranquillity will return to Yemen anytime soon, and it’s unclear who can put the brakes on the ongoing violence, Adam Baron, a fellow with the Future Security programme at the New America think tank. tells Al Jazeera.

“We’re dealing with a deeply complicated set of dynamics that could really drag the conflict on for some time,” says Baron,

    “While some of the reports that Marib is about to fall are a bit overheated, there is absolutely a huge Houthi mobilisation towards Marib and other government-held areas in the centre of the country,” he added.

    Baron added that Yemen “was managing to hold on in terms of a relatively steady ceasefire”, referring to a UN-brokered truce between the Yemeni government and the Houthis in 2022.

Turkiye sees ‘vital role’ for Syria over regional energy amid Hormuz tensions

    Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan has said Damascus could play a vital role in regional energy.

    “After the recent events in the Strait of Hormuz, we believe that Syria will play a vital role in this regard,” he said from the Syrian capital.

    “There is a Syria that connects to the Gulf through Jordan and Saudi Arabia, to Iraq and the East, and to Europe through Turkiye,” the foreign minister continued, saying Turkiye wants these connections “to be built not only on the map but also practically through railways, highways, and pipelines”.

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World economy in ‘crisis’ amid Strait of Hormuz closure, Turkish FM warns

    Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is giving a news conference now in Damascus with his Syrian counterpart, Asaad al-Shaibani, where he has addressed the economic impact of the US-Israel war on Iran.

    “The region’s and world’s economy has entered a crisis following the events in the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.

Iran’s FM hopes Gulf meeting in Oman will be first of several to discuss regional issues

    Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Monday’s Strait of Hormuz meeting between Tehran and several Gulf states could be the start of ongoing discussions between the countries.

    “It can be hoped that this same dialogue, if there is political will, will provide a basis for subsequent consultations on other issues of interest to the countries of the region,” Araghchi told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

    Although the Strait of Hormuz remains the sole agenda item, Tehran believes that an increase in regional cooperation means that “the scope for interventions and imposed arrangements from outside the region will naturally decrease,” the foreign minister added.

Fierce battles ongoing between advancing Houthis and Yemen government troops

    Heavy fighting is under way between advancing Houthi rebels and troops supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government at two major strongholds in the country.

    Direct clashes erupted in the Kadha area of the Maqbanah district near the southwestern Taiz city.

    “These are the first direct clashes reported since the fall of Mocha. Government forces, backed by air strikes, are engaged in fierce fighting on the Kadha front with reinforcements arriving from both sides,” reported Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry.

    Meanwhile, sources say the Ansar Allah Houthis are advancing towards the strategic northern city of Marib but are being met with “heavy resistance” from Yemeni soldiers.

    “Government forces reportedly thwarted a large-scale Houthi attack in the al-Mashjah and al-Zour areas west of Marib. Clashes are ongoing near the strategic Mas camp with heavy artillery exchanges and air strikes targeting Houthi reinforcements arriving via Sarwah district,” said Mawry.

    Marib and Taiz are the Yemeni government’s two major strongholds. Marib is the last major oil-and-gas hub under government control, hosts key military installations, and serves as the government’s primary logistics base in the north.

    “Its fall would effectively collapse the government’s northern presence and hand the Houthis control of Yemen’s remaining energy resources,” Mawry reported.

Tehran prosecutor’s office files charges against popular Persian podcast

    Prosecutors in Iran’s capital have filed criminal charges against members of the Baziya podcast, state broadcaster IRIB reports.

    The charges – which will hit “members of the production team and guests” – follow the airing of “untrue comments” made on the programme about Iran’s currency problems, IRIB said.

    IRIB did not specify the exact nature of the alleged crimes or who has been charged.

    Baziya is a Persian-language podcast hosted by Ali Ziya, a former state television presenter. It has nearly 300,000 subscribers on YouTube and describes itself as the “microphone of all the people of Iran”.

Healthcare along Yemen’s west coast faces ‘huge gaps’ during power transition

    The Houthi military advance has created “huge gaps” in the healthcare system in the Mocha area and along Yemen’s western coast, says an official with Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF.

    Lou Cormack, MSF’s Yemen country director, told Al Jazeera the flare-up in fighting has created “extremely confusing and complex” circumstances for healthcare providers.

    Even before the latest Houthi takeovers, hospitals along the western coast were under intense stress before being evacuated over the weekend, Cormack said.

    “With the panic of the evacuation in the last period, we’re trying to find where all our staff are,” said the director. “Essentially our team had breakfast with one set of authorities … and then by lunchtime had to go and connect with a whole new set.”

    Although some hospitals are now starting to come back online, “the system still has huge gaps”, she said.

Israeli forces shelling Ali al-Taher forest on outskirts of Lebanon’s Nabatieh

    The Ali al-Taher forest on the outskirts of Nabatieh is being subjected to intermittent artillery shelling from Israeli forces, the Lebanese National News Agency has reported.

    The Ali al-Taher ridge, about 15km (10 miles) from the Israeli border, has become one of the most contested areas of the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Yemen’s government promises to fight back after Houthi seizures

    Sultan al-Arada, a member of the governing presidential council, described the collapse of government forces in the port city of Mocha and elsewhere on Yemen’s west coast as “painful and regrettable”.

    Al-Arada, also governor of central Marib province, said in a TV interview that government fighters “are currently regrouping and will return to the battle in one form or another”.

    The National Resistance – commanded by Tariq Saleh, a nephew of Yemen’s late leader Ali Abdullah Saleh – also pledged to fight back, saying it will “continue its struggle within the ranks of the armed forces … [until] Yemen is liberated from Iran’s proxies”.

Houthis’ rapid gains in Yemen ‘absolutely a turning point’ in regional war

    Adam Baron, a fellow with the Future Security Program at New America think tank, says the drone attack from Iraq on Saudi Arabia’s pipeline reflects “the broader inflammable nature” of the reality in the Middle East.

    “Since the launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran six months ago, we’re dealing with a situation where we have a multi-front series of interconnected conflicts ebbing and flowing in their inflammation across the region,” Baron said.

    The Houthis’ rapid takeover of key cities along Yemen’s west coast from Saudi-backed forces is “absolutely a turning point”, he told Al Jazeera.

    “This constitutes the loss of some of the most strategically important real estate in all of Yemen. When it comes to Yemen’s strategic location, you can’t beat a military group having access to Bab al-Mandeb.”

    The retreat by the internationally recognised government forces without much of a fight could be a tactic “for the fight to come”, said Baron. But, he added, Saudi-led air raids are unlikely alone to dislodge the Houthis, and a “unified” ground force would be needed for such a task.

Hundreds more Israeli settlers pour into Al-Aqsa compound

    Nearly 500 Israeli settlers have stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem throughout the morning, the Jerusalem governorate has said.

    The settlers performed prayers and rituals – which are not permitted for non-Muslims at the site – as Israeli forces tightened their measures around the mosque and the Old City.

    Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, began on Friday.

    The Jerusalem governorate added that an Israeli media blackout surrounding the settlers’ incursions has raised concerns over attempts to impose new realities on the ground at the site, which is considered the third-holiest in Islam.

More than 2,000 have escaped Yemen fighting to Djibouti, IOM says

    The number of people arriving in Djibouti to escape the fighting in Yemen keeps rising.

    “More than 2,000 people fleeing hostilities in Yemen have arrived on Djibouti’s shores,” the International Organization for Migration said in a social media post.

    The UN’s migration agency added that in Obock, a city only about 20km (12 miles) across the water from the Yemeni coast, it is providing, along with authorities and partners, immediate assistance to those arriving, including water and hot meals.

    “More support is needed,” the IOM said.

‘Ordinary people’ paying the price as global conflicts intensify: India PM

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has warned that rising geopolitical tensions are increasingly affecting people worldwide and called for strengthened support across the Global South.

    “The number of conflicts and tensions in the world is continuously increasing, and this is having an increasingly negative and far-reaching impact on the lives of ordinary people,” Modi said alongside BRICS leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

    The group in a joint declaration on Saturday expressed concern over escalating tensions in the Middle East and Sudan, and called for disputes to be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

    The declaration was a significant breakthrough, as forging consensus among Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – which hold competing positions on key regional and geopolitical issues – posed a complex diplomatic challenge.

Iran’s FM says agreement with Oman would not mean the reopening of Hormuz

    Tehran’s anticipated agreement with Muscat to govern the Strait of Hormuz will not trigger a reopening of the waterway, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned.

    In comments to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Araghchi said Iran will “provide the participating countries with the details of the agreement with Oman and the maps related to the new route” during a meeting with Gulf states in the Omani capital tomorrow.

    But the agreement does not “in any way” signal that the strait will reopen, with Tehran still expecting the US to honour the commitments of the June 60-day Memorandum of Understanding signed in Islamabad, he said.

    “Iran believes that the responsibility for ensuring security and stability in the region lies solely with the countries of the region,” Araghchi added.

    Bahrain said on Saturday it would not attend the meeting in light of recent attacks on the Gulf.

Many Gaza hospital generators no longer working amid fuel shortage

    A number of electricity generators at hospitals in the Gaza Strip are no longer working due to shortages of spare parts and fuel, the enclave’s Health Ministry has said.

    The ministry said the generators had stopped working in recent days and that the small quantities of fuel allowed into Gaza by Israel were sufficient only for emergency needs.

Hundreds of Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque

    Nearly 250 Israeli settlers have entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, where they performed prayers and rituals under the protection of Israeli soldiers, Wafa reports.

    Non-Muslims are permitted to visit the Al-Aqsa compound, but performing prayers is not allowed under a 1967 status quo agreement governing the site.