The US military has struck several Houthi weapons storage facilities in Yemen, top US officials said.
"This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement on Thursday.
"The employment of US Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrate US global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere."
"US Central Command forces conducted multiple airstrikes on numerous Iran-backed Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen," a senior US defense official told ABC News.
Israel has carried out dozens of strikes in Lebanon, killing a city mayor, toppling buildings and causing widespread destruction in several southern areas.
The Israeli military said its warplanes struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said 16 people were killed and 52 wounded in strikes on two municipal buildings.
At least six people were killed in other strikes, according to officials and reports.
The Nabatiyeh mayor was among the dead, a local official told the AFP news agency, adding that the strikes "formed a kind of belt of fire".
The top UN humanitarian official accused Israel of blocking the delivery of desperately needed aid to Gaza, and the US ambassador demanded that its government step up efforts to tackle the Palestinian territory's "intolerable and catastrophic humanitarian crisis."
Acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya and US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield stepped up the pressure on Israel at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the escalating humanitarian emergency, especially in northern Gaza.
At the same time, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin urged his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant to step up to improve the humanitarian situation in the blockaded enclave.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted the "terrifying" results of an Israeli attack on the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in besieged Gaza.
Zakharova, responding to Anadolu agency's question at a news conference in Moscow, expressed shock for those who were at the scene.
"This is a terrifying shooting. They can provoke nothing but shock and, of course, sympathy. We wish a speedy recovery to all those injured, and express our deepest condolences to the relatives of the victims, not only in this particular situation, but also over the past year of absolute madness that Western American curators have brought to the already difficult life of the region," she said.
Source: TRT World
BDST: 1045 HRS, OCT 17, 2024
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