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Suspected attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targets ship in the Red Sea

A suspected attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a commercial ship late Sunday night traveling through the southern reaches of the Red Sea, though it caused no damage nor injuries, authorities said.

The attack comes as the rebels continue their monthslong assault targeting shipping through a waterway that typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it a year over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel's ground offensive in Lebanon.

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With Trump, already small US distance with Israel to vanish

For more than a year, the United States has steadfastly backed Israel in its Gaza war while quietly counseling restraint. With Donald Trump's return, the nuance will vanish, although his hunger for deal-making makes him less predictable.

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Mushroom houses for Gaza? Arab designers offer home-grown innovations

As winter descends on Gaza's tent cities, emergency housing made from mushrooms could keep out the cold -- just one of several sustainable, home-grown innovations put forward by Arab designers at an expo in Dubai.

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Report: Israel destroyed Iranian nuclear arms research facility in October attack

The Israeli attack on Iran in late October destroyed an active top secret nuclear weapons research facility in Parchin, three U.S. officials, a current Israeli official and a former Israeli official have told U.S. news portal Axios.

The strike — which targeted a site previously reported to be inactive — significantly damaged Iran's effort over the past year to resume nuclear weapons research, Israeli and U.S. officials said.

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Second Israeli strike in two days hits Damascus

Syrian state-run media said Israel struck the upscale Mazzeh district of Damascus on Friday, the second such attack in as many days to hit the neighborhood home to embassies, security headquarters and United Nations offices.

"Israeli aggression targets Mazzeh area in Damascus," the official SANA news agency said, after reporting a deadly Israeli strike on the district a day earlier.

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UN Security Council draft resolution demands “unconditional cease-fire” in Gaza

The U.N. Security Council’s 10 elected members have circulated a draft resolution demanding “an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire” in Gaza.

The draft resolution, which was sent to the council’s five permanent members Thursday, reiterates the council’s demand “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” seized during Hamas’ surprise attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel says about 100 are still being held, though not all are believed to be alive.

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4 killed in Israeli strike on Damascus

A war monitor said an Israeli strike on an apartment killed four people in the upscale Mazzeh district of Damascus Thursday, also reporting a similar attack on the capital's outskirts.

"Four people were killed in the Israeli strike on on apartment in Mazzeh, Damascus, with another Israeli strike hitting Qudsaya," Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights, told AFP. Syrian state media said an unspecified number of victims were killed in the strikes on the apartments.

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EU top diplomat wants Israel dialogue suspended over Gaza war

The EU's outgoing foreign policy chief has urged the bloc to suspend a political dialogue with Israel over human rights concerns in Gaza but it is likely to be vetoed, diplomats said Thursday.

Josep Borrell raised his proposal during a meeting of ambassadors on Wednesday, according to four diplomats involved, and is expected to formalize it when European Union foreign ministers gather in Brussels early next week.

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US military says it conducted strikes against Houthi rebels

The U.S. military says it has conducted several days of strikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The strikes included U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy aircraft, including the Navy’s F-35C stealth fighter jet, it said Thursday.

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Israeli air force bombs Syria-Lebanon border

Several Israeli airstrikes have targeted a city in western Syria near the border with Lebanon, Syrian state media said.

Israel's warplanes hit Wednesday bridges and military checkpoints in the area around al-Qusayr and led to the activation of air defenses, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor.

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