Name: Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis launch missile at Israel for first time since war began | BBC News
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The Houthi movement in Yemen has attacked Israel for the first time since the start of the war on Iran.

Past perfect

The Israeli military said that the missile had triggered sirens in and around the southern city of Beersheba, but

Basic passive voice

there were no reports of casualties after the missile was intercepted.

The group, which is backed by Tehran, had said that it would enter the conflict if attacks against Iran continued.

Our correspondent James Waterhouse has the latest from Jerusalem.

Well, the Israelis are saying they've detected, uh, the first missile launched by Houthi rebels south of here from Yemen.

they have threatened to get involved in this war if Israel, alongside the US, keep hitting sites, uh, in Iran.

Now, typically I mean, this missile detected, we understand, was intercepted.

Typically, missiles launched from Yemen don't cause the Israelis too many problems, but

what they have done in the past, uh, is target commercial ships in the Red Sea, uh, which is also a vital shipping lane where, uh, oil and gas is transported, among other things.

And so if, uh, that was to happen, that would worsen all an already pretty desperate situation when it comes to global trade.

Professor Lina Khatib is an associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.

She explains the significance of Israel saying it's intercepted a missile fired from Yemen.

This is pretty much the last proxy that, uh, Iran had not activated and now has finally activated.

Uh, Hezbollah, which is the main one, uh, has been involved, uh, in this war.

Uh, some of the militias backed by Iran in Iraq have been involved in this war.

The Houthis, uh, were, uh, waiting for Iran, uh, to tell them when to intervene.

And their intervention, in my view, shows that Iran is basically running out of pressure tools, uh, vis-à-vis the US and, uh, Israel's attacks.

Pakistan also saying that it's going to host talks on Monday with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

How important is that group of countries in this process?

The countries involved, Pakistan, Egypt, and

Turkey, all have very good communication channels with, uh, the, uh, Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which, uh, obviously is, uh, the decision-maker in the war, uh, on the Iranian side.

So they, uh, can play a very important interlocutor and, uh, negotiating, uh, role.

And let's not forget that, uh, most likely this war is not gonna, uh, be settled through negotiations at this stage.

However, it is important to always have a negotiation channel open because most wars basically end, uh, that way further down the line.

Uh, so it is, uh, good for those countries to be publicly, uh, announcing this and also having Saudi Arabia there is important, uh, because Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, uh, have also, uh, uh, agreed on a security, uh, uh, arrangement between the two countries.

So this places Pakistan well, uh, to be, uh, able to play this role.

W-what are you seeing in terms of potential new alignments that are not, uh, solely centered on the US relationship with the Middle East?

But I'm thinking particularly about this, uh, deal of, uh, um, defense deal between Saudi Arabia and Ukraine.

Uh, what we have is, uh, a technology, uh, uh, exchange, if we can call it that, between Ukraine and Saudi Arabia that has been chaperoned by the United States.

Uh, this is the most direct link between, uh, the two theaters, uh, Ukraine and, uh, the Middle East because Ukraine has the, uh, capacity to intercept drones, uh, that it gained through, uh, its war, uh, uh, you know, with, uh, Russia.

With Russia's, uh, attacks on Ukraine, Ukraine, uh, uh, had to develop, uh, its technology.

And, uh, with Ukraine entering this conflict, we can, uh, look forward to, hopefully, uh, a broader, uh, settlement, uh, which involves Russia as well.

Uh, I think we are seeing more and more countries come to be more aligned with the United States.

And Russia, although, uh, many had expected it to perhaps jump to the rescue of Iran, has not actually done so because it does not want to antagonize the US.

And the US is now bringing Ukraine into the picture, and the next move will be Russia's.

And I expect that there's likely going to be an accommodation on part of Russia vis-à-vis the Ukrainian conflict.

Professor Lina Khatib from Chatham House.

Fighting has continued across the region overnight.

People in the Iranian capital, Tehran, say there have been more heavy airstrikes after Israel announced it was carrying out fresh attacks.

At the same time, Iranian media say a US or Israeli attack hit a residential building in the northwestern city of Zanjan, killing five civilians.

In a separate development, an Iranian missile has reportedly hit a military base in Saudi Arabia, injuring 12 American soldiers.

Officials told the BBC's US news partner, CBS, that some troops were seriously hurt at the Prince Sultan Airbase.

More than 300 service members have been wounded in the war with Iran so far, according to US Central Command.

Most of them have reportedly re-na-now returned to duty.

13 US service members have been killed in the conflict.

Our correspondent Katie Watson is in Doha with more on the strike on the base in Saudi Arabia.

Well, we know that at least 12 US, uh, soldiers were injured.

Uh, we haven't got confirmation from, uh, the Pentagon, but

it was an attack on an airbase, as well as the Saudi Ministry of Defense confirming that there was a ballistic missile intercepted.

But that was just one of several attacks in the region overnight.

Um, in Abu Dhabi, they've confirmed six have been injured, uh, by a, uh by debris falling near Khalifa Port after a missile, uh, that was intercepted.

Um, in Kuwait, there was a drone attack on the airport, and

that led to significant damage for the radar, uh, systems in Bahrain as well.

There were several alerts for people to stay in place and stay safe, um, overnight.

So clearly, um, across the Gulf, there are still significant, uh, concerns about the, the, the, the conti-continuation, um, of the war.

But of course, we've also heard from Yemen that the Houthis have, uh, confirmed, um, that there was a barrage of missiles that they launched, um, and

they have said that the operations will continue until aggression on all fronts ends.

And that, of course, is the first time, um, that we've seen that since the war began.

And that, of course, means that it raises the prospects of an even wider conflict than we're already seeing.

I mean, the concern is the concern on the risks of that, what will that mean for the, uh, uh, the Red Sea shipping route, of course.

There's lo-lo-lots of discussion about the Strait of Hormuz, where what, a fifth of the oil gets, um, moved through that particular waterway.

Uh, what this now means in terms of a-an escalation: will we see more, um, coming from Yemen?

Will there be, um, you know, will we see any repercussions coming from the US?

It's, uh, it's still, you know, I guess, trying to process exactly, um, what, uh, this barrage of missile-missiles will mean, um, and

But certainly here, I mean, it's been very quiet.

People here, it's a very I mean, here in Qatar, it's a very a lot of people have already gone.

People are trying to get back to some kind of, uh, normality, if that's even a word.

seeing these attacks across the Gulf every morning and learning exactly, you know, w-where's been attacked and what that might mean, um, certainly is showing that this optimism coming from the US about a, a war ending in a matter of weeks, um, is something that I think people would like to share, that optimism, but

I'm not sure that realism, um, you know, translates as, as the war ending anytime soon.