US strikes Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen

The United States has said it does not want to see entire villages destroyed in Lebanon after footage emerged of?Israeli forces apparently blowing up a historic town in the south of the country.

A video released by the Israeli military on Wednesday shows multiple blasts near at least two dozen buildings, followed by plumes of smoke. CNN geolocated the video to the town of Mhaibib in the Nabatiyeh governate, roughly 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the border with Israel.

In a separate video, shared on social media and geolocated by CNN, the shrine of Prophet Benjamin — a site of religious, historic and touristic significance believed to be more than 2,000 years old — can be seen shrouded in smoke. CNN cannot verify the state of the shrine.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the video it released?showed the “dismantling of [a] Hezbollah terrorist tunnel network.” It also said it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in the Nabatiyeh area?to dismantle what it claimed was “underground infrastructure” used by the Lebanese militant group’s elite?Radwan Forces.

In a later statement, the IDF said it struck several towns in southern Lebanon, including Mhaibib.?The IDF declined to comment further after being contacted by CNN.

The mayor of a neighboring village?told the Associated Press that families had already left the village.

This post has been updated after the IDF declined comment.

A man helps his children to walk through a crater while crossing from Lebanon into Syria, at the Maasna border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, October 14, 2024.

A “new humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Syria,” the Norwegian Refugee Council warned Thursday, as the Israel-Hezbollah war forces tens of thousands of people to flee Lebanon, many to its war-torn neighbor.

More than 276,000 Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon have fled to Syria, the NRC said, including children who have been sent on their own. Many refugees who once left Syria seeking safety have now been forced to return home, where an existing humanitarian crisis is likely to escalate.

Prior to the war in Lebanon, poverty and suffering were rampant in Syria, a country roiled by civil war since 2011. More than 90% of the population was living below the poverty line, according to the UN.

Three in every four people in Syria needed life-saving aid in May 2024 — the highest number since the civil war began, the head of the UN said.

“Thousands of families crossing into Syria will struggle to find a safe place to stay or the basics their children need. This is a crisis within multiple crises.”

The US has carried out?a round of?strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, targeting five underground weapons storage facilities using B-2 stealth bombers.

Here’s what you need to know about the attack:

Who are the Houthis and why is the US attacking them? The Houthis are part of an Iran-backed alliance of militant groups in the Middle East.

The alliance, which spans Yemen, Syria, Gaza and Iraq, has been attacking Israel since the Israel-Hamas war began. The Houthis say they won’t stop striking Israel and its allies until a ceasefire is reached in the Palestinian enclave.

While they do not pose as much of a threat to Israel and the US as other Iranian proxies, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis have for months targeted ships in the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest waterways, in response to the war in Gaza.

Austin said he authorized the US strikes at the direction of President Joe Biden to “further degrade” the Houthis’ abilities after more than a year of attacks by the Houthis on US and international vessels in the region. The facilities were holding “various weapons components” used to target vessels in the Middle East, the defense secretary said.

Why did the US use B-2 bombers? Thursday’s attack was the first time the US used the B-2 stealth bomber to attack the Houthis in Yemen since the beginning of the war in Gaza. The B-2 is a much larger platform than the fighter jets that have been used so far to target Houthi facilities and weapons, capable of carrying a far heavier load of bombs.

Austin said US forces used the B-2 bomber to show the US can target facilities that “our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified.”

How have the Houthis responded? A Houthi spokesperson said “America will pay the price for its aggression on Yemen, and as we have said before, its aggression will not deter Yemen from its stance in support of Gaza.”

Israel’s defense minister has called France’s ban on Israeli firms holding displays at an upcoming naval show “a disgrace to the French nation,” as the diplomatic divide between the two countries deepens.

Barring the country’s companies from having a stand at the Euronaval expo in Paris “aids Israel’s enemies during war,” Yoav Gallant said Wednesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for the complete suspension of the sale of arms used in Israel’s war in Gaza, while pushing for a ceasefire in the enclave as well as in Lebanon. Israel has said it opposes the ceasefire proposal.

The French government told organizers that Israeli delegations could attend “without any stand or exhibition of equipment,” ?Euronaval said, noting that seven Israeli companies were affected by the decision.

Israeli companies and citizens who wish to attend the show, which will be held in Paris between November 4 and 7, are welcome, according to a statement on Euronaval’s website,

Some context: This is not the first time France has banned Israeli companies from displaying at an arms fair.

France banned Israeli companies from participating in the Eurosatory weapons exhibition in June, due to Israel’s incursion in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

Later this month, France is set to hold an international meeting to rally support for the Lebanese people and strengthen the country’s security situation.

A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber taxis to the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, in 2022.

The United States’ use of one of its most important and costly weapon systems, the B-2 stealth bomber, against Houthi underground munitions facilities in Yemen sends a wider message that will be heard in Tehran amid Iran’s confrontation with US ally Israel.

Sending its rare $2 billion B-2 bombers — the US Air Force has only 19 of them — to hit a group that has nothing near that level of sophisticated military hardware seems at first glance like overkill.

Washington has been content to use run-of-the-line weapons fired from aircraft and warships in the region to strike Houthi targets over the past year while suffering minimal if any damage to its platforms.

But US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s words in announcing the strike were telling:

He also said Washington will “not hesitate to take action … to deter attacks against civilians and our regional partners.”

Those words point to Iran in two ways.

Much of Tehran’s nuclear and military command facilities are thought to be in hardened, underground facilities. And there is no more important US “regional partner” in the Middle East than Israel.

As the world awaits Israel’s retaliation for Iran’s October 1 ballistic missile strikes, Washington is sending a signal to Tehran it will only tolerate limited further action against Israel.

The last reported combat mission by a B-2 bomber was in January 2017. It would be hard to believe the US waited more than seven years — and a year into the confrontation with the Houthis — to send a costly message to the group alone.

Yemen’s Houthis have vowed that the United States will “pay the price” after Washington launched airstrikes against the Iran-backed group targeting five underground weapons storage facilities using B-2 stealth bombers.

The Houthis have for months targeted ships in the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest waterways, which they have said are in response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are all part of an Iran-led alliance spanning Yemen, Syria, Gaza and Iraq that has attacked Israel and its allies since the war began. They say they won’t stop striking Israel and its allies until a ceasefire is reached in the Palestinian enclave.

The strikes on Yemen come at a time of great tension across the region. Israel is expected to retaliate for Iran’s?recent missile barrage?before the November 5 US election,?and its conflicts with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza are deepening.

A displaced young woman sits by makeshift shelters on a beach in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 16, 2024. More than a million people have been displaced amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, according to UNICEF.

The US carried out?a round of?strikes in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthis on Thursday morning, targeting five underground weapons storage facilities using B-2 stealth bombers.

Austin said he authorized the strikes at the direction of President Joe Biden to “further degrade” the Houthis’ ability after more than a year of the Iran-backed group’s attacks on US and international vessels in the region.

The attacks come as hostilities continue to escalate in the region, with Israel’s retaliation against Iran’s recent missile attack now expected before the November 5 US election and its wars in Lebanon and Gaza ramping up.

Here are the latest developments in the region: