Category: 2. World

HANOI, Vietnam — Typhoon Ragasa weakened into a tropical depression early Thursday as it entered northeastern Vietnam, but it is still expected to bring heavy rains across the country’s northern provinces.

By Thursday afternoon, the typhoon’s sustained winds had weakened to a maximum 55 kph (34 mph) and Ragasa was forecast to dissipate eventually while remaining a rain threat for Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia.

Officials in Vietnam warned of possible flash floods, landslides and flooding in low-lying areas.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính ordered government ministries and local authorities to protect infrastructure like dams and hospitals, secure fishing vessels and coastal assets, and ready evacuation and search and rescue operations. Some flights were canceled or rescheduled, and workers trimmed trees to avoid wind hazards in northern parts of the country.

The Southeast Asian country is also bracing for another storm, which is currently approaching the Philippines from the Pacific. The storm Bualoi, which was named Opong in the Philippines, was forecast to hit eastern and central Philippines on Friday. It had sustained winds of up to 110 kph (68 mph) and higher gusts, government forecasters said.

Vietnam expects it to intensify afterward and officials said it could make landfall near central Vietnam or veer toward the northeast coast.

Ragasa entered Vietnam after flooding streets and homes in the economic hub of Guangdong province and causing deaths in Taiwan and the Philippines earlier in the week.

It quickly weakened Thursday because dry, cold air from the north and its contact with land in China cut off the warm, moist air from the sea that fuels such storms.

In the Guangdong city of Yangjiang, over 10,000 trees were damaged and branches floated in submerged streets. Crews used excavators to clear toppled trees and worked to clear blocked roads, Yangjiang Daily reported.

Nearly half a million households suffered power outages and more than a third of those homes remained without electricity Thursday morning, the newspaper reported.

Streets in the city of Zhuhai turned into rivers and rescuers used inflatable boats to rescue stranded residents. Water inundated the ground floors of homes in older neighborhoods, Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

Communication with people on some islands in Jiangmen city were cut off, Southern Weekly newspaper said.

To the west in Guangxi region, schools and businesses were closed and tourism activities halted in some cities.

More than 2 million people were relocated across Guangdong ahead of Ragasa, which peaked at supertyphoon strength Monday with maximum sustained winds of 265 kph (165 mph) and the world’s strongest cyclone of the year.

For Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, activities halted earlier in the week were gradually returning to normal.

Flights in Hong Kong resumed after some 1,000 had been disrupted, affecting about 140,000 passengers. Businesses reopened Thursday. But some big fallen branches remained scattered on the streets after more than 1,200 trees across the city were topped by the fierce winds. Some 100 injured people were sent to the hospital.

In Taiwan, authorities on Thursday revised the death toll from 17 to 14, citing double-counting. The victims were in eastern Hualien County, where heavy rain caused a barrier lake to overflow, sending water gushing into nearby Guangfu township. Muddy torrents destroyed a bridge, turning the roads in the township into churning rivers that carried vehicles and furniture away. Some people remained out of contact in Hualien, and dozens were injured across the island.

During a visit to the county, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te expressed condolences over the loss of lives, saying the government would do its utmost to help Hualien return to normal life.

In the Philippines, Ragasa left at least 11 dead, including seven fishermen who drowned Monday when their boat overturned in northern Cagayan province. Two fishermen remained missing Thursday.

___

Leung reported from Hong Kong. Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines and Johnson Lai in Taipei, Taiwan contributed to this report.

Ladakh, a high-altitude cold desert region in the Himalayas that has been at the heart of recent India-China tensions, was rocked on Wednesday by violent Gen Z-led protests as youth torched the regional office of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

As protesters, including school students, clashed with the police in Leh, the regional capital, at least four of them were killed and dozens were injured, protest coordinators told Al Jazeera, following additional deployment of the armed forces. Authorities said dozens of security forces were also injured in the clashes.

For the past six years, thousands of people in Ladakh, led by local civic bodies, have taken out peaceful marches and gone on hunger strikes demanding greater constitutional safeguards and statehood from India, which has governed the region federally since 2019. They want the power to elect a local government.

On Wednesday, however, groups of disillusioned youth broke with those peaceful protests, said Sonam Wangchuk, an educator who has been spearheading a series of hunger strikes.

“It was an outburst of youth, a kind of Gen-Z revolution, that brought them on streets,” Wangchuk said in a video statement, referring to recent uprisings in South Asian countries, including in Nepal earlier this month, that led to the overthrow of the government of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

So, what’s happening in Ladakh? What are their demands? How did the Himalayan region get to this point? And why does the crisis in Ladakh matter so much?

What triggered clashes in Ladakh?

On Wednesday morning, a hunger strike by local Ladakhi activists, led by the Ladakh Apex Body, an amalgam of socio-religious and political organisations, entered its 15th day.

Two activists, aged 62 and 71, had been hospitalised the previous evening after two weeks of hunger strike, leading to a call by organisers for a local shutdown. The protesters were also angry with the Modi government for delaying talks with them.

These issues led the youth to believe that “peace is not working”, Wangchuk said on Wednesday evening in a virtual press meeting, during which he appeared frail.

Then the youth-led groups broke away from the protest site in Leh at the Martyrs’ Memorial Park and moved towards local official buildings and a BJP office, raising slogans, leading to clashes with the police. Four were killed and another remains critical, while dozens were injured.

“This is the bloodiest day in the history of Ladakh. They martyred our young people – the general public who were on the streets to support the demands of the strike,” said Jigmat Paljor, the coordinator of the apex body behind the hunger strikes.

“The people were tired of fake promises for five years by the government, and people were filled with anger,” Paljor told Al Jazeera. Amid the violence, he said, his organisation withdrew the hunger strike, calling for peace.

In a statement, India’s home ministry said that clashes “unruly mob” had left over 30 forces personnel injured — and that “police had to resort to firing” in self defence, leading to “some casualties”.

The government said that “it was clear that the mob was incited by [Wangchuk]”, adding that the educator was “misleading the people through his provocative mention of Arab Spring-style protest and references to Gen Z protests in Nepal.” Wangchuk has been warning that youth sentiments could turn to violence if the government does not pay heed to the demands of peaceful protesters — but insists he has never advocated violence himself.

What do protesters want?

In 2019, the Modi government unilaterally stripped the semi-autonomous status and statehood that Indian-administered Kashmir had previously enjoyed under the Indian constitution.

The state had three regions – the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley, the Hindu-majority Jammu, and Ladakh, where Muslims and Buddhists each form about 40 percent of the population.

Then, the Modi government bifurcated the erstwhile state into two territories: Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature, and Ladakh without one. While both are federally governed and neither has the powers of other states in India, Jammu and Kashmir’s legislature at least allows its population to elect local leaders who can represent their concerns and voice them to New Delhi. Ladakh, locals argue, doesn’t even have that.

Kashmir is a disputed region between India, Pakistan and China – the three nuclear-armed neighbours each control a part. India claims all of it, and Pakistan claims all except the part held by China, its ally. Indian-administered Kashmir borders Pakistan on the west, and Ladakh shares a 1,600km (994-mile) border with China on the east.

Since the end of statehood, Ladakhis have found themselves under the rule of bureaucrats. More than 90 percent of the region’s population is listed as Scheduled Tribes. That status has prompted a demand for Ladakh to be included under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which provides autonomous administrative and governance structures to regions where recognised Indigenous communities dominate the population. There are currently 10 regions in India’s northeastern states that are listed under the schedule.

However, the Modi government has so far resisted both statehood and the protections of the Sixth Schedule for Ladakh.

The separation of Jammu and Kashmir from Ladakh has meant that it is harder for Ladakhis to find work in Jammu and Kashmir, where most jobs in the previously unified region were. Since 2019, locals have also accused the Indian government of not putting in place clear policies for hirings to public sector jobs.

“[The young protesters] are unemployed for five years, and Ladakh is not being granted [constitutional] protections,” Wangchuk said on Wednesday. “This is the recipe of social unrest in society: keep youth unemployed and then snatch their democratic rights.”

Ladakh has a 97 percent literacy rate, well above India’s national average of about 80 percent. But a 2023 survey found that 26.5 percent of Ladakh’s graduates are unemployed – double the national average.

On Wednesday, the anger tipped over.

“What’s happening in Ladakh is horrific,” said Siddiq Wahid, an academic and political analyst from Leh. “It is scary to see Ladakh sort of pushed to this edge.”

“In the last six years, Ladakhis have realised the dangers that their identity faces,” he said, adding that the people have been “adamant about the need to retrieve their rights since they were snatched away six years ago”.

“The youth anger is a particularly worrisome angle because they’re impatient. They’ve been waiting for a resolution for years,” said Wahid. “Now, they are frustrated because they don’t see a future for themselves.”

Have there been protests earlier in Ladakh?

Yes. Since the abrogation of the region’s semi-autonomous status and the removal of statehood, several local civic groups have staged protest marches and at times gone on hunger strikes.

Wangchuk, the educator, has led five hunger strikes in the last three years, demanding constitutional protections for Ladakh. He is also the most well-known face of the protests in Ladakh – having a wider reach due to his past sustainability innovations. Wangchuk’s life has also inspired a Bollywood blockbuster movie that has also gained legions of fans in China.

The site of the hunger strike, the Martyrs’ Memorial Park, is also dedicated to three Ladakhis who were killed in August 1989 in a firing incident during protests. At the time, the protests were over anger about perceived Kashmiri dominance in the unified state that Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir belonged to.

The site also honours two other protesters who were killed in January 1981 during an agitation demanding Scheduled Tribe status for Ladakhis.

But Wednesday’s protest marked the deadliest day in Ladakh’s political history.

Sajad Kargili, a civil member of a committee constituted by the Modi government to speak with the protesting activists, said that the violence in Ladakh “highlights the frustration of our youth”.

“The government needs to understand that there are young people here who are angry and not opting to sit on a hunger strike,” Kargili said. “The Modi government should not turn its back on these calls.”

Why Ladakh is so significant

Ladakh sits at India’s Himalayan frontier, bordering China.

The region also connects to vital mountain passes, airfields, and supply routes that are critical for India’s military in the event of a conflict with China. In 2020, the Indian and Chinese forces clashed in eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), following a Chinese incursion.

At least 20 Indian forces personnel were killed alongside four Chinese. The confrontation triggered the mobilisation of tens of thousands of troops on both sides, with heavy weaponry and infrastructure being rushed to high-altitude posts.

Since then, Ladakh has remained the nerve centre of India-China border tensions. Multiple rounds of military and diplomatic talks have led to a thaw since late last year.

Now, Wahid, the political analyst, said that the Modi government’s actions in 2019 are returning to haunt India with a new threat in Ladakh – an internal one. Indian authorities, he pointed out, have long had to deal with Kashmir as a “centre of discontent”. Now, they have Ladakh to contend with, too.

There was very little the Gulf state of Qatar could have done against the ballistic missiles Israel fired at it around two weeks ago.

According to media reports, around 10 Israeli fighter planes flew over the Red Sea on September 9 — making sure they were not in any other country’s airspace — before firing missiles in what’s known as an “over the horizon” attack.

This way, ballistic missiles travel into the earth’s upper atmosphere or even outer space before coming back down again. The eventual target of the Israeli missiles were members of the militant Hamas group, meeting to discuss a possible Gaza ceasefire , in an upscale neighborhood in Qatar’s capital, Doha. Six people were killed, although apparently not Israel’s targets.  

Because the missiles flew in unexpectedly, from over the horizon, Qatar could do little to defend itself. As it is, one of Qatar’s most important safeguards against Israel has nothing to do with sophisticated missile defense systems. Israel’s biggest ally, the US, has its largest regional base in the country and recently granted Qatar the status of a “major non-NATO ally.” 

But this doesn’t appear to have been enough to stop Israel from carrying out its first known attack on a Gulf Arab state. And it’s also a move the US would potentially have had to have known about.

US seen as unreliable

“The Israeli strike … shakes Gulf assumptions about their ties to the US and will bring them closer together,” Kristin Diwan, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, wrote shortly after the attack. “These oil monarchies are too much alike … such a direct strike on their sovereignty and perceived safety is anathema to them all.”

As a result, “Gulf rulers are pressing ahead with the pursuit of greater strategic autonomy and are increasingly determined to hedge against the risks of depending on the US,” Sanam Vakil, director of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program, confirmed in an op-ed in UK newspaper, The Guardian, this month. 

All of this is why, over the past week or so, there’s been growing talk of the formation of an “Islamic NATO,” a defense alliance of Islamic and Arab states that could work similarly to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.

At an emergency summit organized by the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation last week, Egyptian officials suggested a NATO-style, joint task force for Arab nations. In a speech at the summit, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani also called for a collective approach to regional security. And the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — said they would activate a provision in a joint defense agreement, first signed in 2000, that said an attack on one member state was an attack on all.

The phrasing is similar to that used in Article 5 of the NATO pact. 

After the initial emergency summit, Gulf states’ defense ministers held another meeting in Doha and agreed to enhance intelligence-sharing and aerial situation reports, and to fast track a new regional system for ballistic missile warnings. Plans were also announced for joint military exercises.

The same week, Saudi Arabia announced it was entering into a “strategic mutual defense agreement” with Pakistan. The two countries declared “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.” 

Is this the start of ‘Islamic NATO’?

It may sound like some kind of “Islamic NATO” is forming to counter Israel, but the reality is a little different, observers told DW.

“A NATO-style alliance is unrealistic because it would tie Gulf states to wars they do not consider vital to their own interests. No ruler in the Gulf wants to be pulled into a confrontation with Israel on Egypt’s behalf, for example,” Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, said.

However things are changing after the Doha attack, observers say.

“Security in the Gulf has long been based on a tributary logic, [where] basically you pay someone else to take care of your protection,” Krieg continued. “That mentality is beginning to shift after the attack on Doha,” he acknowledges, “but only slowly.”

What the world may see instead of an “Islamic NATO” is the so-called “6+2 format,” explains Cinzia Bianco, an expert on the Gulf states at the European Council on Foreign Relations, or ECFR. The phrase, “6+2,” refers to the six GCC states and Turkey and Egypt.

Bianco believes that such a format is likely being discussed on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this week.

“It’s not really about an Article 5 kind of arrangement though,” she told DW — Gulf states’ commitment to one another’s defense isn’t as solid as that of NATO members. “It’s more likely to be about collectivizing security and defense postures and, perhaps most importantly, sends a message of deterrence to Israel,” she told DW.

Military help from elsewhere

The “6+2” makes more sense than an “Islamic NATO,” Krieg continues. Turkey is actually “the most credible non-Western partner for the Gulf, with troops already stationed in Qatar since 2017 and real capability to move quickly in crises,” Krieg argues. “Egypt is more complicated though. It has military mass but its reliability is questioned in some Gulf capitals.”

And even if a “6+2” format is on the cards, it will happen slowly and quietly, both Krieg and Bianco note.

“Most of the serious changes will happen behind the scenes,” Krieg predicts. “We will see public communiques, summits and joint exercises. But the important work like sharing radar data, integrating early-warning systems, or granting basing rights will remain discreet.”

It’s also possible that the Gulf states, who have largely been dependent on the US, could try to expand defense ties with other countries. 

“Certainly there are other actors, like Russia and China, who are willing to replace the US,” Sinem Cengiz, a researcher at Qatar University’s Gulf Studies Center, told DW. “But it is unlikely that any external actor will replace the US overnight.”

There’s no way the Gulf states would want that anyway, Bianco adds. They remain reliant on US military technology. For example, after the Doha attack, Qatar sought reassurances from the US that they were still their partners.

“An important side note here is also that the US actually has never been openly against this kind of regionalization of defense,” Bianco points out. “They’ve actually always encouraged a single ballistic missile defense architecture for Gulf countries.”

In fact, more military integration in the Gulf could mean more US, because American systems are the backbone of regional defense, Krieg explains.

“But the political meaning has shifted,” he concludes. “Washington is no longer seen as the ultimate guarantor of security, but as a partner whose support is conditional and transactional. Gulf leaders are adjusting to the idea that the US has interests, rather than allies and are seeking a Gulf-led security pole, a middle ground between Iran and Israel.”

Patience of Arab states is ‘running out’: Fawaz Gerges

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Edited by: M. Sass

DONALD Trump’s address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday was part comical theatre, part chilling warning to the world that the old international order — which the US itself helped build — is dying.

The American president used the august international platform to recycle conspiracy theories and highlight far-right talking points, along with taking a verbal sledgehammer to the UN itself. He blasted mass migration, saying that the UN was creating problems and “funding an assault on Western countries” by supporting migrants. Mr Trump referred to climate change as the “greatest con job ever” and warned nations to stay away from “this green scam”. As for the UN’s peacemaking role, or lack of it, Mr Trump asked “what is the purpose of the United Nations”, adding that the forum only offered “empty words”. He was also critical of states recognising Palestinian statehood, terming it a “reward” for Hamas.

Refuting each of Mr Trump’s ill-considered assertions at the UNGA requires far more space than is available in these columns. Briefly, it should be shocking that the leader of the world’s foremost economic and military power should turn MAGA talking points critical of the ‘globalist elite’ into key arguments of his address.

However, little is shocking when it comes to Mr Trump. His climate denialism is dangerous, especially for countries like Pakistan, which are lurching from one climate crisis to another. It is also disturbing that he chooses to scapegoat migrants for destroying Western civilisation. He should remember that many Western countries, led by his own, have helped destroy states in the Middle East and Africa through regime change, which has fuelled the migration crisis.

His criticism of the UN for failing to prevent conflict may not be off the mark, but again, the global body is only the sum of its parts. When powerful member states, such as the US, paralyse the UN through the Security Council, is the global institution alone to be blamed for inaction? Moreover, it is the unilateralism of the Western bloc that contributed to the weakening of the UN.

Speaking later with leaders of Muslim states, including Pakistan, Mr Trump suggested that these countries could help end the Gaza war. However, the American leader’s emphasis seemed to be on getting the Israeli hostages back, not on ending the genocide of Palestinians.

While the Arab and Muslim states should be leading an economic and diplomatic boycott of Israel for its crimes in Gaza, arguably, only one state has the key to halting the Zionist aggression: the US. If America, as well as its Western allies, stopped funding Tel Aviv and shipping deadly weapons to it, and refrained from defending Israel at every international forum, the Zionist regime could be forced to rethink its bloody and criminal strategy.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2025

Any attempt by Israel to annex parts of the West Bank would be a red line for the US – and would represent the end of Arab-Israeli diplomatic normalisation, Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday, claiming that he had been given that assurance by Donald Trump.

Macron also revealed that he had presented the US leader with a three-page plan on the future of Palestine, based on the New York Declaration, the document endorsed by more than 143 states that proposes to exclude Hamas from future rule in Gaza and the West Bank.

Speaking on France 24, Macron said the aim of his meeting with Trump on Tuesday had been to get America, Europe and the Arab states on the same page.

Asked about Israeli plans to extend settlement in the West Bank – including the E1 corridor that would involve the construction of 3,400 new homes – he said: “On that topic in very clear terms the Europeans and the Americans are on the same page.”

British officials have expressed concerns that Donald Trump could recognise Israeli sovereignty over illegal settlements in the West Bank in retaliation for the UK, Australia, France and others deciding to recognise Palestine. Such a move would be a serious blow to any two-state solution.

But Macron said that any attempt to annex the West Bank “would be the end of the Abraham accords, which was one of the success stories from Trump’s first administration. The United Arab Emirates were very clear on it.”

He added: “I think it is a red line for the USA.”

Macron’s comments provided the clearest insight yet on the behind-the-scenes diplomacy on plans for a “day after” the Gaza conflict.

The signing of the 2020 Abraham accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a group of Arab states including the UAE, is prized by Trump as one of the crowning diplomatic achievements of his first term in office.

If Trump does indeed insist that annexation must not happen, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will be put in serious political difficulty, as parts of his extreme-right governmental coalition have demanded that Israel seize the West Bank either partly or completely.

On the other hand, if Netanyahu went ahead with annexation – with US endorsement or quiescence – the plan for a two-state solution in which a Palestinian state sits alongside Israel would be in serious jeopardy. Netanyahu is due to meet Trump at the White House on Monday and will address the UN general assembly on Friday.

Macron said the initial goal in his “brand new” multi-stage plan was to secure a ceasefire and the release of all the hostages.

He said he had appealed directly to Trump at their meeting, saying: “You have a major role to play and you want to see peace in the world.”

He said: “We have to convince the Americans to put pressure on Israel” as the US is “the country with real leverage”.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff also said the US president had presented regional Arab and Muslim leaders with a 21-point plan for peace in the Middle East at a meeting on Tuesday. Speaking at an event on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, he said: “We’re hopeful – and I might say even confident – that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough.”

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Macron said that French recognition of the state of Palestine had been intended to open up a peace process, which he said was the best route to isolating Hamas. The goal was to demilitarise and break up the militant group, he said.

But he suggested that some rightwing members of the Israeli cabinet were more intent on spoiling any political settlement. “The objective of some is not to fight Hamas but rather to undermine the possibility of a path to peace,” he said. He added: “There is no Hamas in the West Bank.”

He stressed that Netanyahu’s strategy of total war was a failure since it only endangered the hostages and has failed to reduce the size of the Hamas military. “There are just as many Hamas fighters as before. Total war from a practical point of view is not working. This war is a failure.”

Macron said the fate of hostages and Gaza’s civilian population should not be “left in the hands of those for whom the release of hostages is not a priority”. He added: “Netanyahu’s first priority is not the release of hostages – otherwise he would not have launched the latest offensive on Gaza City, nor would he have struck negotiators in Qatar.”

He insisted that as part of the plan for the future governance of Gaza and the West Bank, Hamas would be removed and a Palestinian Authority with new commitments to reform would eventually take charge. He gave no timescale.

He warned if there was a failure to bring an end to the fighting in the coming days, Europe would have to consider what other steps it would take; asked if that meant sanctions, he replied: “Obviously.”

Asked if there was ever going to be a majority for sanctions in the European Union, he said he was trying to change that, adding each country had its own history and sensitivity – a reference to Germany, which along with Italy has resisted sanctions.

Arguing that Palestinians had to be offered a political perspective for their future, Macron said the core of his argument was that “if you don’t give a group of people a political way out for their own legitimate existence when the international community recognised that 78 years ago, you are going to lead them to a complete loss of hope – or even worse violence.”

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said a drone launched from Yemen struck the southern resort town of Eilat on Wednesday, with rescuers reporting nearly two dozen wounded.

A military statement said the drone “fell in the area of Eilat” on the Red Sea coast after air defences had failed to intercept it, in the second such incident within days.

Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service said its teams had treated 22 casualties, including two men, aged 26 and 60, who were in serious condition with shrapnel wounds.

One person was moderately injured with a shrapnel wound to the back, and 19 others were in light condition suffering “from shrapnel and other injuries”, the medical service said.

Police said the drone fell in Eilat’s city centre, causing damage in the area frequented by tourists.

Footage shared on social media, which this news agency could not independently verify, showed a drone flying above the resort town before crashing with smoke rising from the impact area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which occurred on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Yemen’s Houthis have claimed similar attacks throughout the Gaza conflict since late 2023.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, Eilat mayor Eli Lankri called on the government to “strike the Houthis hard” in retaliation for the drone attack. Lankri added that repeated Houthi attacks have disrupted operations at the Eilat port.

The army earlier said air raid sirens rang throughout Eilat, a popular resort town at Israel’s southern tip near the Egyptian and Jordanian borders where Israeli authorities had reported a drone strike on Thursday.

Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened retaliation, saying that the Houthis “will learn the hard way” not to attack his country.

Israel has already carried out multiple air raids on rebel-held areas of Yemen, and last month assassinated the head of the Houthi government together with 11 other senior officials.

Houthis have repeatedly lau­nched missiles and drone at Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza, with the rebel group saying it was acting in support of Palestinians.

The Israeli military said a drone launched from Yemen fell in Eilat, adding only that interception attempts were made.

The newspaper Israel Hayom said citing an initial investigation that air defence systems failed to intercept the drone. The drone attack on Wednesday comes days after Houthis fired a drone that crashed in Eilat’s hotel zone, resulting in material damage but no casualties.

The Houthis have been launching missiles and drones thousands of kilometres north towards Israel, in what the group says are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians. Most of the dozens of missiles and drones launched have been intercepted or fallen short of Israeli territory.

Israel has retaliated by bombing Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, including the vital Hodeidah port. The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have also been attacking vessels in the Red Sea since the start of the conflict in Gaza in October 2023.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2025

Karen Brady

Abhishek Singh

Reuters

‘A great solution’