US hits Iranian oil tankers, and other key Mideast developments

The U.S. military said it hit three Iranian oil tankers, after accusing Iran of targeting its warships. The past week saw the first exchange of fire after a month of relative calm.

Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Israel has again condemned settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels accused Yemen’s government of killing three people in attacks. Israeli strikes killed three people in southern Lebanon.

Here’s a look at the news in the Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

US forces hit Iranian oil tankers

The U.S. military said in a statement said that the three Iranian tankers were part of a shadow network helping to fund Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and its armed proxies in the region.

Iranian state TV said earlier that four U.S. missiles struck a tanker about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Kharg Island, home to a terminal through which the country exports most of its oil. It said there were no casualties.

Kharg Island been repeatedly targeted during the war, including U.S. strikes on military sites there in March. The latest report comes almost a week after the U.S. resumed strikes on Iranian targets following a monthlong pause, as fighting around the Strait of Hormuz has intensified.

The U.S. military said that an American aircraft carrier and a destroyer evaded “multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks” while patrolling in the region and no U.S. personnel were hurt.

US ambassador calls violent Israeli settlers ‘terrorists’

The U.S. ambassador to Israel has again spoken out against Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank, calling their behavior an “act of terror.”

Ambassador Mike Huckabee on Saturday referred to the settlers as “terrorists,” a word U.S. officials usually reserve for Palestinian militants. He was speaking to Palestinian American residents in the village of Turmus Ayya.

“If there are squatters that come in and put up their own flags and take possession of something that does not belong to them, if they burn a car, if they torch a mosque, if they go into someone’s home and vandalize it, paint graffiti on the walls, that’s a criminal act. But it extends beyond a criminal act. It’s an act of terror,” Huckabee said.

The ambassador last month spoke out sharply after weeks of unrest in the town of Qusra, where settlers surrounded several homes including one owned by a Palestinian American. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the actions of a “handful of rioters” and the foreign ministry called the settlers’ actions “a disgrace.”

Netanyahu’s government, the most ultranationalist and religious in Israel’s history, has presided over a surge of settlement construction in the West Bank. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal.

Houthis accuse Yemen’s government of killing three people

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels said government forces in western and southwestern Yemen killed at least three people. The attacks Friday in Hodeida and Taiz provinces came as Yemen’s military said it launched more than 15 airstrikes on the Houthis.

The Houthi authorities in Hodeida said a father and daughter were killed in an attack on their house in southern Jarahi district. In Taiz, shelling killed a man and wounded another, according to the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel.

Fighting has intensified recently along Yemen’s west coast near an important supply route.

The SABA news agency, controlled by Yemen’s internationally recognized government, later reported that the Yemeni military had taken control of Hais district in Hodeida, citing an unidentified military source as saying dozens of rebels were killed or wounded. There was no immediate Houthi comment.

Israeli strikes kill 3 people in Lebanon

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli strikes killed three people and wounded nearly two dozen in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Israel’s army said it struck positions of the Hezbollah militant group late Friday in response to a drone launched toward Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. The drone was intercepted and no soldiers were injured, it said.

In June, Lebanon and Israel signed a U.S.-mediated framework deal under which Israeli forces are to withdraw from areas they occupy in southern Lebanon in exchange for disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, but little progress has been made. Hezbollah has vehemently opposed the direct Lebanon-Israel talks.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel days after Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Israel invaded Lebanon and has since occupied a large swath of its south.

Egypt’s top diplomat discusses regional de-escalation

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Saturday called for the U.S. and Iran to return to the negotiating table. The comments came in separate phone calls with the foreign ministers of Bahrain and of Oman, which sits across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran.

Abdelatty urged prioritizing de-escalation, the Egyptian ministry said, and called for maintaining the safety of shipping through the strait, where traffic remains at reduced levels as Iran continues to assert control over the waterway.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.