The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Monday it has degraded their ability to strike targets inside the kingdom after destroying tunnels used to store ballistic missiles and missile launchers. In Israel, the country’s defence minister strongly denied that the military has clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his reported instructions for an “action” against Iran ahead of national elections on Tuesday. Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Monday. Saudi-led coalition says it destroyed Houthi missile launchers, storage facilities The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthis said an operation in Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen destroyed five tunnels used for storing ballistic missiles, four ballistic missile launchers and another missile storage facility. Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said in a post on X that the operation also aimed at cutting off the Houthis’ supply lines between areas under their control and targeted rebel fortifications and military equipment along the front lines inside Yemen. Al-Malki said the coalition would continue to use “deterrent operational measures” to protect against the Houthis’ “brutal attacks” inside the kingdom and in Yemen. Explosions heard in Yemen’s capital and on its Red Sea coast Explosions were heard Monday in Yemen’s Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, and along the country’s Red Sea coast. Houthi-controlled media said airstrikes hit a solar power system and a water well in the Sanaa district but provided no evidence. Residents in western Sanaa reported hearing at least four explosions, but it was not immediately clear what had been hit. A woman living near a Houthi base said a loud explosion shattered windows in her home and nearby houses. She spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. In the port city of Mokha, recently seized by the Houthis, resident Khaled Adib said a rocket struck a four-story residential building. At least 10 other houses and Mokha General Hospital were damaged, according to Adib and another resident, Ahmed Omran. The Houthi-run al-Masirah channel also reported strikes in northern Yemen’s Saada province and southwestern Taiz province, where Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have been fighting for weeks. — By Ahmed al-Haj in Aden, Yemen Houthis say they fired missiles at Yemeni government forces Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed Monday that they struck military gatherings and weapons depots belonging to Saudi-backed government forces in Aden and Lahj provinces. The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement that the rebels fired ballistic missiles at the sites, inflicting losses. The claims could not be independently verified. The Houthis continue to target government forces and their allies inside Yemen. The Yemeni government accused the rebels late on Sunday of targeting displacement camps in the outskirts of the southern port city of Aden. The government didn’t provide evidence to back this claim. Israel’s defence minister denies clash with the army over Iran Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Monday dismissed reports regarding rifts between the political leadership and the Israeli military over Iran as “completely baseless and false.” In a post on X, Katz also said Israel had no intention to strike Iran before Tuesday’s national elections. Israeli Channel 12 reported Sunday evening that Netanyahu and Israel’s military chief of staff clashed over the Israeli prime minister’s instruction to carry out an “action” that the army believes could quickly reignite the conflict with Iran. The report did not specify the nature of the action. Netanyahu’s office later described the report as “fake news.” “There has been no intention by Israel of initiating an attack on Iran before the elections in Israel,” Katz said. “We made it clear that should Iran attack Israel, we would respond with great force.” Israeli president says he won’t bow to U.S. pressure on the next government Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said he won’t bend to pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump on which party he will select first to form a government after Tuesday’s national elections. Herzog’s role is largely ceremonial. No single party is expected to outright win control of the country’s parliament, or Knesset. The president is expected to tap the leader of the party with the most support to try to build a governing coalition, a process that could drag out for days or weeks, or fail entirely and force Israelis to return to the polls to vote again. Herzog’s remarks came after Trump reiterated his endorsement for Netanyahu, who is in a tight race to remain in power. Herzog told the MS NOW cable news network on Sunday that neither Trump nor anyone else “can intervene” and that it was up to him to see “what the facts are.” Pakistan’s military chief meets with Iran’s political and military leaders Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın are meeting with Iran’s top military official, Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, in Tehran, a Pakistani senator said Monday. Senator Sehar Kamran said in a post on X that the meeting “underscores a shared recognition that lasting stability must be shaped by the region’s own powers through dialogue, not external imposition.” She said constructive engagement by Iran could help address threats to Saudi security and reduce risks to vital energy chokepoints, from Bab al-Mandab to the Strait of Hormuz, as oil prices continue to rise. Munir returned to Tehran for talks with Iran’s top political and military leaders after visiting the capital last week as part of efforts to revive U.S.-Iran talks and discuss ongoing attacks on Saudi Arabia by Iran-backed Houthi rebels. ___ This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge. The Associated Press
