The Levant Files

The reported fall of Mokha is not just another battlefield reversal in Yemen's long war. It is a move on a global chessboard. If Houthi control is confirmed, the strategic geometry of the US-Iran war shifts fundamentally. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed to routine commercial shipping since early July, Mokha would hand Tehran's most effective proxy the lever over the world's only other major Gulf energy corridor — the Bab el-Mandeb. Iran would then hold effective veto power over both chokepoints simultaneously, tightening an economic stranglehold already battering Gulf exporters and driving up global fuel costs. For Washington, the math is stark: ignoring Mokha risks losing the war's maritime logic; striking it opens a second front. Analysts expect renewed US-Saudi air operations over Yemen within weeks, transforming a contained Gulf conflict into a two-front maritime war. All eyes, meanwhile, turn to Mecca — the city, and the agreement. Last month's tri...

Yemen's Houthi movement, known as Ansarallah, reportedly claimed on Thursday to have captured the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha after Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) forces withdrew from the city. Open-source intelligence accounts circulating on social media cited video footage purportedly showing PLC forces pulling out of Mokha and Houthi fighters inside the city's port. One intelligence aggregator noted the reports "remain unverified from the tweets alone." A separate online post claimed Houthi forces had seized some 2,600 square kilometers of territory along the western coast, including Mokha, within 24 hours. The reported capture caps weeks of escalating pressure on the city. Since mid-August, the Houthis have pounded Mokha with ballistic missiles and drones, forcing the port to suspend operations after more than 25 strikes that killed at least seven people and caused an estimated $16 million in damage. Port director Abdulmalik al-Sharabi...

  In a major milestone for global wildlife conservation, Attica Zoological Park near Athens has welcomed three critically endangered Sumatran tiger cubs, providing a crucial reinforcement for global efforts to save the subspecies from extinction. The related YouTube video from the Reuters The two-month-old triplets—two males and one female—were born in early July to mother Toba. The birth carries a bitter-sweet resonance for park staff: their father, Argos, succumbed to cancer just weeks after the litter arrived. In tribute to his memory and Greek heritage, park officials confirmed the cubs will receive names inspired by characters from Homer’s The Odyssey . Veterinary staff recently concluded the cubs’ first comprehensive health check. Led by wildlife veterinarian Dr. Arsenoi Psaroudaki, the team weighed the animals, administered core feline vaccinations protecting against three major infectious diseases, and implanted electronic identification microchips. Staff noted that despite...

  Israel's Maariv newspaper reported Wednesday that Pakistan has delivered an unusually sharp warning to Tehran, demanding it rein in its Houthi allies after a heavy missile and drone attack on Saudi Arabia left 73 people wounded — a move that risks drawing new powers into direct confrontation over the widening Yemen conflict. According to the Maariv report, by correspondent Eli Leon, Houthi rebels fired a large barrage at the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait and nearby oil infrastructure. The Saudi-led coalition confirmed strikes on Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran, with women and children among the wounded. Al Jazeera reported that Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry acknowledged fires and a "temporary halt in some operations" at energy facilities; the 400,000-barrel-per-day Jazan refinery, damaged in an earlier strike cycle in late July, was again caught in the escalation. Riyadh's response was swift. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed Saudi j...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Wednesday that Israeli forces hold "unprecedented" control over territory stretching from the summit of Mount Hermon in southwestern Syria to the Yarmouk River and the Mediterranean Sea, remarks delivered during a visit to troops stationed on the strategic peak. "Damascus is here, Lebanon is there, and the Syrian Golan Heights are there," Netanyahu said, vowing Israel would never allow a "terrorist army" on its borders and calling the control one of the greatest achievements of what he termed the "War of Redemption." He was accompanied by Defense Minister Israel Katz and senior commanders. Katz had earlier warned Israeli forces "will not move from here" and accused Turkey of seeking a threatening foothold in Syria — tensions underscored by Israel's August 18 strike on Abu al-Duhur airbase in Idlib, which Netanyahu's office linked to a planned Turkish deployment near Aleppo. Even...

Multiple American military aircraft were damaged during Iranian strikes on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan overnight Tuesday into Wednesday local time, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke to CBS News. Roughly eight F-15 fighter jets sustained light damage in the attack but were reportedly returned to service, the sources said, speaking to CBS News under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. One A-10 Thunderbolt, commonly known as the "Warthog," was also struck and was missing a wing, the people familiar with the matter told CBS News. No U.S. deaths have been reported in the strikes on Jordan, the sources said. The overnight damage marks a significant escalation in the confrontation between Washington and Tehran. It came just hours after the U.S. said Tuesday it had attacked five Iranian tankers in retaliation for Iran targeting a U.S. Navy warship. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded ...

The six-month-old war between the United States, Israel and Iran escalated sharply on Wednesday as US forces destroyed five more Iranian oil tankers, Iran answered with a 20-missile barrage toward an American base in Jordan and claimed fresh attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran-backed Houthis set Saudi oil facilities ablaze — driving Brent crude back above $100 a barrel for the first time since late July. The US military said the tankers were struck after Tehran twice launched ballistic missiles at an American warship in recent days, with crews ordered to abandon ship first; Central Command said it had destroyed ten Iranian tankers in the past week. Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed they hit two US vessels and eight tankers and fired on ten ships trying to cross what Tehran calls a "prohibited and unsafe" zone — a claim CENTCOM dismissed as "completely FALSE," insisting no American warship was struck. The battlefield stretched beyond the Gulf overnight. J...

  A wind-driven wildfire erupted on the evening of Monday, September 7, in the Aksu district of Turkey's Mediterranean coastal province of Antalya, quickly spreading into the neighboring Kepez district and forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes as flames pushed toward urban areas. Authorities evacuated residents from at least 254 homes in Aksu and Kepez, with local reports putting the total number of displaced at 720 people . At least two people were hospitalized with leg injuries, while six others affected by smoke received treatment at the scene. More than 100 dogs were evacuated from an animal shelter in Aksu as heavy smoke blanketed the area. Firefighting efforts escalated through the night, with aircraft, helicopters and hundreds of personnel deployed. The Antalya–Isparta highway was temporarily closed to traffic as a precaution, and more than 2,000 households lost power amid damage to electrical infrastructure . The crisis was not confined to Antalya. Crews were al...

As U.S. warships choke Iran's oil lifeline in the Strait of Hormuz, a stark warning emerges: Israel's offshore energy crown jewels may be the regime's next "soft target." America's military strikes on Iranian oil tankers near Kharg Island and the port of Jask may look like a decisive victory in Washington — but they could be quietly painting a target on Israel's Mediterranean gas fields. That is the urgent warning from Amine Ayoub, a Morocco-based policy analyst and fellow at the Middle East Forum, writing in an analysis published by Ynetnews . A Victory in the Gulf, a Threat in the Mediterranean According to Ayoub, writing in Ynetnews, the U.S. operations have created what he calls a "strategic risk transfer" for Israel. Cornered and outgunned, Tehran has every incentive to avoid a direct, symmetric clash with the American Navy — and instead redirect its retaliation toward high-value, Western-aligned assets where U.S. protection is thinnest. Tha...

Asia's celebrated resilience to Middle East oil shocks is finally cracking. As writing in Asia Times, columnist William Pesek warns that after months of draining reserves and shielding consumers from soaring fuel costs, the region's oil importers have exhausted their buffer — and a crisis once seen as containable is now set to "bite hard." With crude approaching $100 a barrel, policymakers from Tokyo to Jakarta are on high alert. Citing Goldman Sachs, Pesek reports the bank fears oil could hit $120, with economist Daan Struyven pointing to escalating attacks on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea as the likeliest trigger for a fresh spike. The timing could hardly be worse. A conflict President Trump predicted would last weeks is nearing its seventh month, and the Asia Times analysis notes that Asia's toolkit for absorbing another shock is "far more depleted" than before. India, Indonesia and the Philippines have already burned through ...