Saudi-led coalition says it has destroyed Yemeni rebels’ missile facilities, and other Mideast news

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 defense 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. Read our full coverage here.

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.

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 Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the claims.

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 defense minister denies clash with the army over Iran

Israeli Defense 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 US pressure on the next government

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said on Monday 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 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 will meet with Iran’s political and military leaders

Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was expected in Tehran for talks with Iran’s top political and military leaders on Monday, along with Saudi and Turkish officials in a bid to ease regional tensions, according to two senior officials.

Munir also visited Tehran last week as part of efforts to revive U.S.-Iran talks and discuss ongoing attacks on Saudi Arabia by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the visit publicly, gave no further information.

Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, said on Saturday that Tehran remains willing to negotiate with the United States under an interim agreement brokered by Pakistan in June to end the conflict. He accused Washington of obstructing diplomacy and prolonging the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz.

Moghadam said in Islamabad that during Munir’s previous visit to Tehran, Iranian officials conveyed to him their offer to reopen the strait if the U.S. lifted its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Moghadam said Trump rejected the offer by insisting the blockade would remain in place.

— By Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan.

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