Houthis attack Red Sea shipping, US and Britain retaliate; ceasefire talks for Gaza amid intense fighting
\nWASHINGTON
\nThe US administration has approved plans for multi-day strikes in Iraq and Syria on targets including \u201cIranian personnel and facilities\u201d, CBS News reported on Thursday, citing American officials.
\nThe report follows days of conjecture about how Washington will retaliate after three US service members were killed on Saturday by a drone strike in Jordan, the first US deaths in an escalation of violence across Middle East flashpoints since Israel\u2019s war in Gaza began in October.
\nUS Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters the United States would work to avoid a wider conflict.
\nPresident Joe Biden, under pressure to take firm action without igniting a wider war with Iran, has said he has decided how to respond, without giving details. Tehran has said it will respond to attacks on its territory or its citizens and interests abroad.
\nThe CBS report quoted US officials as saying weather would be a factor in the timing of the strikes, as Washington preferred good visibility to guard against the risk of hitting civilians.
\nWashington has said the attack on its troops on Saturday in Jordan near the Syrian border bore the \u201cfootprints\u201d of Ketaib Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian militia based in neighbouring Iraq.
\nThat group said on Wednesday it was suspending military action against US forces to avoid embarrassing Baghdad.
\nViolence has erupted in several Middle East countries where Iran\u2019s allied \u201caxis of resistance\u201d armed groups operate since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to attacks by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7.
\nThe United States has 900 troops in Syria and around 2,500 in Iraq.
\nIranian advisers assist armed groups in both countries.
\nBut Iran\u2019s elite Revolutionary Guards are pulling senior officers out of Syria after Israeli strikes killed more than half a dozen of their members since December, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
\nFurther afield, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which controls most populous parts of Yemen, has attacked shipping in the Red Sea in what it says is solidarity with Gaza, drawing retaliatory strikes from the United States and Britain.
\nOvernight, the US military said it had hit up to 10 drones in Yemen being prepared for launch. A US Navy ship also downed three Iranian-made drones and a Houthi anti-ship missile.
\nHamas \u2018insisting Israel must pull out\u2019
\nThis week has seen an acceleration of diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, even as fighting has intensified. Qatari and Egyptian mediators presented Hamas this week with the first concrete proposal for an extended halt to fighting, agreed with Israel and the US at talks in Paris last week.
\nHamas says it is studying the text. A Palestinian official close to the negotiations told Reuters Hamas was unlikely to reject it outright, but would demand further guarantees that fighting would not resume.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the agreement to be signed,\u201d the official said on condition of anonymity, \u201cit must ensure Israel will commit to ending the war in Gaza and pull out from the enclave completely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Palestinian official said the Paris text envisages a first phase lasting 40 days, during which fighting would cease while Hamas freed remaining civilians among the more than 100 hostages it still holds. Further phases would see the handover of Israeli soldiers and bodies of dead hostages.<\/p>\n
Read: Hamas head due in Cairo for truce talks<\/p>\n
The head of the Hamas political unit in exile, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters that the group had nothing to add after announcing two days ago that it was studying the truce offer.<\/p>\n
Such a long pause would be a first since Oct. 7, when Hamas fighters attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, precipitating an Israeli offensive that has laid waste to much of Gaza. Health officials in the enclave said on Thursday the confirmed death toll had risen above 27,000, with thousands more dead still lying under the rubble.<\/p>\n
The only pause in the fighting so far, at the end of November, lasted only a week. Aid agencies have pleaded for an extended respite to alleviate a humanitarian catastrophe.<\/p>\n
The main disagreement appears to be over what would follow any truce. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to pull troops out until \u201ctotal victory\u201d, defined as eradicating Hamas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Houthis attack Red Sea shipping, US and Britain retaliate; ceasefire talks for Gaza amid intense fighting WASHINGTON The US administration has approved plans for multi-day strikes in Iraq and Syria on targets including \u201cIranian personnel and facilities\u201d, CBS News reported on Thursday, citing American officials. The report follows days of conjecture about how Washington will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-384901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n