3 dead in Saudi airport attacks, olive harvesters shot dead in West Bank and other Mideast developments

Three people were killed at two Saudi airports in attacks claimed by Houthi rebels in neighboring countries. Yemen as the war between the kingdom and the Iranian-backed rebels has degenerated.

Israeli settlers opened fire on olive harvesters in the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that the aim of the war in Iran is to prevent Iran from one day developing nuclear weapons.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East this Wednesday. Read our full coverage here.

Houthis claim more attacks in Saudi Arabia

Attacks on King Khalid International Airports in Abha and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have threatened to push the kingdom deeper into the latest front of the conflict. Iranian War.

The attack on Abha airport killed Moroccan and Algerian residents and injured 28 others, while the attack on King Khalid Airport killed a Sudanese national and injured eight others, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said.

The Saudis have not blamed any party for the attacks, but Houthi rebels earlier took credit for the airport strikes.

The spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, Major General Turki al-Malki, said forces had intercepted a ballistic missile north of Riyadh and destroyed a platform in Yemen’s capital that had been used to launch attacks on the Saudi capital. The AP could not independently verify these claims.

The Houthis also said they launched a missile strike on Wednesday against Yemen’s port city of Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government.

1 dead, 16 injured as Israeli settlers shoot olive harvesters

Israeli settlers opened fire on olive harvesters in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, killing a Palestinian officer who responded to the attack and wounding 16 others, Palestinian officials said, the latest in a series of operations. series of violent attacks since the start of the harvest this month.

Ali Hassan Yasser al-Bazzari, 44, was a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces and visited the Palestinian village of Burka When news of the attack surfaced, said his cousin Abdul Latif al-Bazzari, who was also injured at the scene.

Sami Daghlas, a member of the Burqa village council, said that after the attack, the Israeli army prevented emergency medical aid from reaching the injured for more than an hour.

The army rushed to the scene after receiving reports of an Israeli civilian injured by a stone. Several Palestinians suspected of throwing stones were apprehended for questioning, the army said in a statement.

The Israeli army and police did not respond to questions about whether the person who shot and killed al-Bazzari had been arrested. Arrests following settler violence in the West Bank are rare, and convictions are even rarer.

In a second attack on Wednesday, dozens of settlers chased olive pickers from the orchards, forcing them to take refuge in a house near the village of Marda in the northern occupied West Bank, said Bassam Abdah, former head of the village council.

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at residents near the house and arrested three people, Abdah said.

Five Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 injured this week in such attacks, according to Palestinian officials. They claim the Israelis damaged thousands of trees, costing farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

‘Iran Cannot Have Nuclear Weapons,’ Rubio Says

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there should be no confusion about the Trump administration’s ultimate goal in the Iran war: to prevent the Islamic Republic from one day developing nuclear weapons.

Rubio made the comments on Wednesday after Vice President JD Vance told Reuters the administration may be able to agree to a deal calling on Iran to “significantly” reduce its nuclear enrichment capacity.

“I don’t understand where the confusion about the nuclear program is coming from,” Rubio said. “Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. It’s simple, period, it’s the end of the story.”

Strikes in Gaza kill 3

Israeli strikes in northern and southern Gaza have killed three Palestinians and injured at least a dozen others, according to health officials at Gaza hospitals.

An Israeli strike near the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza killed a civil defense officer overnight, according to health officials from the territory’s Ministry of Health and Civil Defense. The Israeli military said Wednesday of the strike that “a terrorist from Hamas’s military wing, presented to the world as a ‘civil defense agent,’ was eliminated in the strike.”

Two other strikes each killed one person and injured at least a dozen others in southern Gaza, according to officials at Nasser Hospital. The Israeli military said one strike targeted a service member, without further details, and said it was unaware of the second strike.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 1,467 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire was reached with Hamas almost a year ago, according to the territory’s health ministry. Its figures are considered generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. This does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

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