As per reports, US and the UK launched a new series of strikes against Iran-linked Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday (03 February) night, in a third round of joint strikes conducted by the two countries. US central Command confirmed that a joint operation was carried out by the militaries of the US and the UK with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
According to US officials, the strikes were launched by US F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier and by American warships firing Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea. The strikes hit at least 36 Houthi targets in 10 different locations in Yemen. The targets included buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems, launchers and other capabilities.
• Earlier on Saturday (03 February), the US Central Command announced that US forces conducted strikes in self-defense against six Houthi anti-ship cruise missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, which presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the Red Sea.
• As per reports, the UN Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting at 1600 hours (local time) on Monday (05 February), on the US strikes in Iraq and Syria, launched in retaliation for the death of three American soldiers.
• European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced that the EU would launch a naval mission in the Red Sea in February to protect international vessels from attacks by Yemen’s Houthis.
• Around 1,000 protesters marched through Jerusalem, from the President’s Residence to Paris Square on Saturday (03 February), to demand that the government reach an immediate deal to free the 132 hostages being held in Hamas captivity for 120 days.
• Thousands of protesters joined the families of the hostages and gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square calling for the immediate release of the hostages in Gaza. The protesters briefly blocked traffic in the Ayalon Highway near Tel Aviv, by lighting candles on the gravel calling on the government to do more to save the hostages.
• Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari stated that the military has deployed three divisions to the northern border amid Hezbollah’s attacks from Lebanon on northern Israel.
• Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it carried out an airstrike on a Hezbollah building in the southern Lebanese village of Taybeh, while the army shelled other areas of Lebanon throughout Saturday (03 February). Rocket sirens were sounded in Mattat, a town near Israel’s border with Lebanon.
• According to reports, Israeli settlers accompanied by Israeli forces raided several homes in the village of Farasin, southwest of Jenin.
