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US lawmaker blocks $2.8 billion weapons sale to Israel: Report
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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Israeli forces carrying weapons, raid Nablus city of West Bank, Palestine on April 23, 2026. [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]
A top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, has placed a hold on a $2.8 billion weapons sale to Israel, The Hill reported on Friday.
Shaheen has voiced frustration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not addressed concerns raised by Democratic lawmakers over civilian deaths in Gaza, Israeli strikes in Syria, and growing violence against Palestinians by extremist Israeli occupiers in the West Bank.
The proposed weapons package includes 40,000 one-ton bombs. The Biden administration had previously withheld similar munitions due to concerns over their use in Gaza and the resulting civilian casualties.
Palestinian health officials estimate that around 70,000 Palestinians have been killed during the three-year war between Israel and Hamas since October 2023, though the figures do not distinguish between civilians and militants.
As the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, Shaheen can place a hold on major arms sales while the State Department addresses lawmakers’ concerns. Semafor first reported that she imposed the hold in July.
READ: Israel seeks ‘compensation’ from US following Saudi F-35 deal: Report
Her House of Representatives counterpart, Rep. Gregory Meeks, also announced Wednesday that he had placed a hold on the sale, citing concerns about whether Netanyahu’s government would use US-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law and US law.
Asked by CNN about Meeks’ decision, Shaheen said: “All of us share concern about what Israel is doing … what they’re doing in Gaza, their bombing in places like Syria, and what that means for any peaceful solution in the Middle East.”
“Netanyahu needs to hear from America that we don’t like what he’s doing. We don’t like what’s happening in the West Bank where settler violence is killing Palestinians, sending them out of their homes, disrupting basic infrastructure. And the Netanyahu administration has basically done nothing to address that,” she added.
READ: Israeli army faces severe troop shortage, prepares to halt leave: Israeli media
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
19 September 2026
Yemen’s Houthis claim missile, drone attacks on Saudi capital
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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
In this handout photo provided by the Houthi media center, fighters participate in a military exercise on March 12, 2024, in Sana’a, Yemen. [Photo by Houthi Movement via Getty Images]
Yemen’s Houthi group has claimed it launched missile and drone attacks on “sensitive targets” in the Saudi capital Riyadh alongside a separate attack on facilities of oil firm Saudi Aramco in coastal Yanbu, Anadolu reports.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on US social media company X on Friday that the group carried out two operations using “a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones.”
He said the first operation targeted “sensitive targets” in Riyadh, while the second targeted Saudi Aramco in the western coastal city of Yanbu.
There has been as yet no Saudi comment on the Houthi claims.
Earlier Saturday, Saudi Civil Defense alerts reached Riyadh for the first time in the latest wave of warnings, with two alerts issued in the capital and two others in the Al-Kharj province. Authorities did not specify the nature of the threat or report casualties or damage linked to the warnings.
READ: Saudi Aramco cancels October crude allocations to European refiners: Report
The warnings came a day after Saudi Civil Defense announced that the danger had passed in seven cities and provinces stretching from the southwest to the northwest of the kingdom following a broader series of alerts.
On Thursday, Saudi authorities said one person was killed and two others injured by falling debris from a Houthi drone that was intercepted and destroyed over the western city of Taif. Several buildings and vehicles were also damaged.
Saudi authorities have issued similar warnings in several cities and regions in recent days before later announcing that the danger had passed.
On July 20, the Houthis announced what they called a “maritime blockade” on Saudi Arabia before later claiming missile and drone attacks on Saudi-linked vessels and sites.
Saudi Arabia has led a coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government since March 2015 against the Houthis, who have controlled the capital Sanaa and several provinces since September 2014.
OPINION: The Makkah Pact’s first test: Can Pakistan defend Saudi Arabia without entering Yemen’s war?
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
19 September 2026
7 Houthis killed in clashes near Bab el-Mandeb Strait: Yemeni official
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The Bab al-Mandeb Strait. [Photo/AA
Seven Houthi members, including a senior commander, were killed in clashes near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in southwestern Yemen, the Yemeni government said on Saturday, Anadolu reports.
In a post on US social media company X, Deputy Information Minister Abdulbasit al-Qaedi said Houthi commander Firaq Mohsen al-Assar and six of his aides were killed on the Kahboub front.
The Houthis did not immediately comment on the statement, but activists close to the group mourned al-Assar, without providing details about the circumstances of his death.
READ: Bab al-Mandeb Strait’s shipping traffic comes to halt amid conflict in Yemen
In recent days, the Kahboub front, which includes mountains overlooking Bab el-Mandeb, is said to have seen fierce clashes between government forces and the Houthis.
Yemen has been locked in a civil war since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and several provinces in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
Since early July, fighting has intensified between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis on several fronts in Marib, Al-Jawf, Taiz, Lahj and Al-Bayda provinces, after years of relative calm. The group has claimed making advances in recent days and has also targeted Saudi energy infrastructure.
OPINION: How the Houthis outmaneuvered Washington and Riyadh
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
19 September 2026
In Gaza City, 500,000 students turn to tent classrooms to resume education amid devastating war damage
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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, around 700 tents have been set up across the Gaza Strip to serve more than 500,000 students whose regular schools were damaged, destroyed, or converted into shelters.

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
19 September 2026
New Israeli airstrikes hit southern Lebanon despite US deal
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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Smoke rises over the town of Kfar Shouba in the Nabatieh Governorate of southern Lebanon following an incursion and subsequent withdrawal by Israeli forces, on September 10, 2026. [Ramiz Dallah – Anadolu Agency]
Israeli warplanes launched fresh airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday amid ongoing violations of a US-mediated framework agreement, state news agency NNA reported.
Two airstrikes hit the Old Square neighborhood in the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
A third strike targeted an ambulance team as it was heading to the site of the attacks in the town.
Information on injuries was not immediately available.
READ: Israeli wars may cost Lebanon over $27B, prime minister says
The strikes came despite the US-sponsored framework agreement signed on June 26, which provides for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory in exchange for the deployment of the Lebanese army.
Israel has carried out attacks on Lebanon since early March, killing nearly 4,400 people and injuring over 12,300 others, while displacing more than 1 million people, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israel continues to occupy areas of southern Lebanon, including territory it has held for decades and other areas occupied during the 2023-2024 conflict, while its forces have advanced more than 10 kilometers into Lebanese territory during the current conflict.
READ: Israeli army sets fire to government hospital in southern Lebanon
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
19 September 2026

… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

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