An injured child is transferred to a Yemeni hospital after a Saudi strike in Saada province on 18 October (Photo: Houthi Media Center/Alamy)
Wes Streeting once called for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia. Now he’s helping its air force bomb Yemen.
Britain is expanding its aerial refuelling of Saudi fighter jets to include bombing raids on Yemen, despite a major spike in civilians being killed in these airstrikes.
Wes Streeting initially said the UK would only provide air-to-air refuelling for Saudi jets patrolling the kingdom’s skies to ward off drone and missile attacks on airports and oil infrastructure by Yemen’s Houthi movement.
The defence secretary is now letting British fighter jets join those patrols, as well as providing refuelling for Saudi airstrikes on “Houthi military targets in Yemen”.
It comes as last month saw more civilian casualties resulting from Saudi airstrikes on Yemen than any other since 2022, according to the Yemen Data Project.
At least 66 civilians were killed and a further 90 injured, with eight children among the dead.
One of the deadliest strikes came on 22 September, when six civilians including a woman and two children were killed in the bombing of a residential home in the city of Mokha.
That same day, Britain agreed to provide air-to-air refuelling support to the Saudi air force, supplementing the deployment of air defence equipment and UK personnel already in the region.
Saudi forces struck a market in the Al-Taiziyah district of Taiz governorate five days later, killing seven civilians and injuring 40 others, including five children.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.Ed Miliband says that he and the Labour Party are full of shit criminalising people holding signs as terrorists despite anything he says.
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Wounded Yemeni civilians receive treatment under dire conditions at Al-Thawra Hospital, the city’s largest public hospital, in Taiz, Yemen, on October 21, 2026. [Hamza Mustafa – Anadolu Agency]
At least 1,574 people have been killed and 6,939 others injured in Yemen since the latest military escalation began in August, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.
In a report seen by Anadolu Agency, the UN health agency said it had recorded 8,513 casualties since the beginning of August.
The figure included 1,574 deaths and 6,939 injuries as of Oct. 19, the WHO said, without specifying whether the casualties were civilians, military personnel or both.
The agency said 292 people were killed and 1,048 others injured during the latest eight-day reporting period.
Last Thursday, the WHO said it had recorded 1,282 deaths and 5,891 injuries since the escalation began on Aug. 6, 2026, before the toll rose to the latest figures.
Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since the Houthis seized Sanaa and several other provinces in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government.
The Houthis control much of northern and western Yemen, while government forces and their allies hold Aden and large parts of the country’s southern and eastern provinces.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.Ed Miliband says that he and the Labour Party are full of shit criminalising people holding signs as terrorists despite anything he says.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
In this photo illustration, US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are seen behind the Iranian flag, with all of them displayed on screens, in Ankara, Turkiye on June 24, 2025. [Dilara İrem Sancar – Anadolu Agency]
A reported strike plan, paused only until after the midterms, exposes the limits of American strategic independence.
On October 21, the Financial Times reported that Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed his military to prepare a multi-day bombing campaign against Iran for the weekend of October 10—only for Donald Trump to block it until after the November 3 midterms. The operation would have targeted electricity plants, nuclear facilities, and regime sites, surpassing the intensity of the joint offensive launched in February. Trump’s opposition did not end the war. It rescheduled it.
That distinction is the entire story. The veto is being presented as proof that Washington can restrain Jerusalem. In reality, it is a demonstration of an alliance leash—a tether that permits tactical friction while leaving the strategic architecture of the war untouched. Trump can pull the leash to protect Republican seats. Netanyahu can pull it to protect Likud seats. Neither pull ends the war. Both manage the calendar.
The FT report is clear that the operation was not cancelled, only deferred. “There will either be a deal or an attack,” one person familiar with the matter said. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to Israel on Monday to meet Netanyahu, and Israeli officials presented an updated target bank that included civilian infrastructure not struck earlier in the year. The machinery of escalation remains fully assembled. The only variable that changed was the date.
The strongest defense of the White House is that Trump’s veto proves American primacy. If Washington can tell Jerusalem no, the argument goes, the leash is in American hands. But this confuses a pause with a strategy. The veto covered only the period before November 3. It did not define war aims, set an end date, or require congressional authorization. It was a tactical deferral, not a strategic reversal.
The midterms themselves are a powerless-ballot exercise in war governance. Voters are being told the election is about affordability. They are not wrong. Gasoline has reached $4.28 a gallon, $1.20 higher than a year ago, and half of registered voters name the cost of living as their top concern . Trump’s approval sits at a record-low 31%. But neither party is offering a vote on whether the war should continue, expand, or end. The ballot ratifies a choice between managers of a war that was never put to a vote.
Congress has tried to assert itself. The House has passed war powers resolutions three times, and the Senate approved one on its tenth attempt—only for Republican senators to reverse course the next day after Trump berated them.
The cost of the conflict has reached at least $38 billion, with the Congressional Budget Office estimating an additional $3 billion for every month it continues. The stockpile of interceptor missiles is so depleted that rebuilding it could take five years. None of this has produced a binding vote to end the war. The legislature has rendered itself a spectator.
Netanyahu’s own calendar is just as cynical. Israel votes on October 27. Netanyahu has said a preemptive strike before the election would be “inconvenient”. Israeli commentators have reported that he fears a military campaign in the final stretch could cost Likud power. The alliance leash runs in both directions. Washington pulls it to protect Republican seats. Jerusalem pulls it to protect Likud seats. The war is paused not because either capital has decided it should end, but because both leaders have decided the timing is wrong for their own electoral survival.
For American voters, the question is not whether Trump can overrule Netanyahu on a given weekend. The question is who decides when the war ends, on what terms, and at what cost.
On the current trajectory, those decisions are being made in confidential channels between two executive offices, insulated from legislative oversight and electoral accountability. The ballot is powerless to alter the war’s direction because the war’s direction was never on the ballot.
The real test comes after both elections. If the deferral becomes a pathway to diplomacy, Trump’s veto will have meant something. If it becomes a pause before a new round of strikes—as the updated target bank suggests—then the only thing that changed was the calendar. Independence is not the ability to delay a war. It is the ability to end one on terms you can defend.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.Ed Miliband says that he and the Labour Party are full of shit criminalising people holding signs as terrorists despite anything he says.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
An Israeli F16-fighter jet [US Air Force photo/ Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald/Wikipedia]
Dozens of Israeli fighter jets flew close to Iran’s border earlier this week in a maneuver that may have been intended to provoke an Iranian military response, Israeli media reported Wednesday, citing US sources.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the operation took place overnight Monday into Tuesday and involved dozens of fighter jets accompanied by Israeli Air Force refueling aircraft.
According to the broadcaster, the aircraft flew over Syrian and Iraqi territory before turning back toward Israel after approaching the Iranian border at a very short distance.
US sources told Channel 12 that Israel may have hoped Iranian forces would open fire on the aircraft, potentially providing a justification for launching an attack on Iran.
US and Israeli officials described the operation as a deterrence exercise, but the maneuver carried the risk of an Iranian miscalculation that could trigger a military response and reignite the war, according to Channel 12.
The US sources said Israel had notified Washington of the operation in advance, describing it as a military exercise intended to demonstrate its capabilities and deter Iran.
They added that Israel knew Iranian air defense systems would detect the aircraft.
The operation coincided with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to Israel, during which he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz at Ovda Air Base.
Separately, the Financial Times reported Wednesday that Netanyahu had instructed the Israeli military earlier this month to prepare a major new offensive against Iran.
Citing three people familiar with the plans, the newspaper said the military had prepared a multiday campaign targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, government-linked sites and civilian infrastructure, including power plants.
The strikes, initially planned for 10th October, were called off after US President Donald Trump opposed resuming the war ahead of the 3rd November US midterm elections, according to the report.
The US and Israel launched a war against Iran on 28th February. Tehran responded with missile and drone attacks across the region and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, while Washington later imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.Ed Miliband says that he and the Labour Party are full of shit criminalising people holding signs as terrorists despite anything he says.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Premature babies are seen at neonatal unit of Nasser Hospital as the shutdown of oxygen centers and Israel’s blocking of the entry of spare parts and fuel threaten the lives of babies in incubators in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, where Israel continues its attacks despite the ceasefire, on September 27, 2026. [Adam Bilal – Anadolu Agency]
Gaza’s Health Ministry warned Thursday that hospital electricity generators could stop working after stocks of operating oil were completely exhausted amid Israel’s continued blockade of the enclave, Anadolu reports.
The ministry said in a statement that engineering teams are working under difficult conditions to monitor the generators and keep electricity supply to critical hospital departments.
“Generators have been running for thousands of continuous hours without sufficient oil or maintenance, bringing them to the final point of mechanical danger,” the ministry said.
“If generator engines burn out because of the lack of oil, they could become permanently unusable even if supplies become available later,” it warned.
The ministry renewed its call for urgent intervention, saying the issue was no longer limited to securing operating oil but also involved protecting the remaining generators from complete failure.
On Wednesday, the ministry said stocks of oil needed to operate hospital generators had run out, adding that more than 2,500 liters (660 gallons) are urgently needed each month to prevent the remaining generators from breaking down amid Israeli restrictions on the entry of operating and maintenance supplies.
The ministry warned that the continuing shortage threatens the shutdown of life-saving medical departments.
In September, it said 70% of hospital generators had already gone out of service because of shortages of fuel, oil and spare parts caused by the Israeli blockade.
Separately, Gaza’s Social Development Ministry warned Thursday of “catastrophic humanitarian consequences” threatening displaced Palestinians after most bakeries stopped operating amid Israeli restrictions on flour and essential food supplies entering the enclave.
“Continued restrictions on flour and supplies needed to operate bakeries amounted to an extension of the systematic starvation policy and the use of food as a weapon against civilians,” the ministry said.
“The restrictions are causing the collapse of the last line of food defense for vulnerable families, children and women who depend heavily on humanitarian aid and international relief organizations,” it added.
The ministry attributed the bakery shutdowns to Israel holding up flour shipments and preventing the entry of supplies needed to keep them operating, describing the restrictions as a violation of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Hospitals in Gaza have relied heavily on generators to power operating rooms, intensive care units, neonatal incubators, ventilators, and dialysis machines since Israel cut electricity supplies to the enclave in October 2023.
Gaza’s sole power plant stopped operating on Oct. 11, 2023, after running out of fuel, causing a complete electricity blackout, while power lines, cables, and distribution networks suffered widespread destruction during the war.
Damage to the electricity network has prevented hospitals from reconnecting to the grid, forcing them to depend on generators for prolonged periods.
The electricity crisis has continued despite a ceasefire agreement in effect since Oct. 10, 2025, amid continued Israeli restrictions on supplies needed to rehabilitate Gaza’s health system.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.Ed Miliband says that he and the Labour Party are full of shit criminalising people holding signs as terrorists despite anything he says.
