Middle East, explosions heard in Riyadh: Civil Protection alert. LIVE

Two explosions were heard in Riyadh in the early hours of the morning, according to an AFP journalist in the Saudi capital, as Yemen's Houthis continue to launch attacks on the kingdom. Saudi Civil Defense said an early warning system had been activated to warn residents of a potential threat. Netanyahu closes the West Bank and announces a maxi military operation for Israel, which began yesterday evening, after the attack on a checkpoint near Hebron, with two Israeli soldiers killed and two others injured. The two Palestinian attackers were also shot down. Four days before the elections, the prime minister went to the site of the attack and ordered the IDF to completely isolate the area and evacuate the residents: "We are planning an operation the likes of which have not been seen since the Six Day War of 1967." IDF vehicles enter Hebron, residents forced to evacuate. Ultra-right minister Smotrich evokes "a Gaza-style campaign" to dismantle the PNA. Tajani: "We are against it, it is not by attacking the Palestinian population that Israel will have security." The five Italian activists arrested in the West Bank facing expulsion. The return to Italy is scheduled for this morning. The specter of ISIS returns: armed attack against a church in Jordan during a funeral, six dead.

In the last few hours, Israeli forces "have raided at least 15 locations in the northern West Bank, arresting dozens of Palestinians": Al Jazeera reports, citing information from its correspondents in the area. These IDF raids were reported after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced yesterday the total blockade of the territory following an attack in Hebron in which two Israeli soldiers were killed. According to the Arab broadcaster, the military raided at least 15 locations in the northern West Bank, including Nablus and Jenin. According to the Palestinian agency Wafa, 15 people were arrested in the governorate of Nablus, of which nine in the city of Nablus itself and another six in the village of Burin. Two further arrests were made in the governorate of Bethlehem, Wafa adds. While in an area of ​​Hebron, where the attack occurred yesterday in which two Israeli soldiers were killed, "hundreds of Palestinian families have received orders to forcibly leave their homes", adds Al Jazeera.

Tehran has drawn up detailed plans to strike undersea communications cables in the Gulf if the United States and Israel attack Iran again. The Haaretz website reports this, citing information provided by two senior Iranian security officials on condition of anonymity to Reuters. One of them said that after the attacks, Iran would try to prevent repairs, in order to prolong disruptions to communications, including Internet connections. “If Iran is attacked, there will be no more red lines, from undersea cables to military bases, including secret ones,” one of the officials said. The official warned Washington not to "play with fire" and said Iran has full access to the undersea cables and could easily destroy them.

The United States is evacuating some of its diplomatic personnel and their families from missions in the Middle East, fearing regional escalation. CNN reports it, citing well-informed sources. According to these, in addition to the official evacuation order for non-essential personnel and their families from Saudi Arabia, Washington is quietly reducing staff at embassies in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. The decision comes amid growing Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the possibility that US President Donald Trump will resume attacks on Iran after the midterm elections. Furthermore, Israel is reportedly pressuring Washington to take military action more quickly, but so far without success.

“The glorious armed forces of Islamic Iran have been able to incapacitate the US Navy, which Trump and that country's leaders consider the pinnacle of American power and with which they threaten the region and the world, to the point that they are no longer able to approach the seas around the Persian Gulf and Iran's territorial waters.” This was stated, reported by the Irib agency, by the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces and commander of the Central Command Khatam al-Anbia, General Ali Abdollahi "The American president can only dream that the military and the army of his country will return to the Persian Gulf - he added - They will take this desire with them to the grave. We will not allow, under any circumstances and at any time, American military ships to enter the Persian Gulf". "Trump - says the general - has repeatedly claimed to have destroyed Iranian nuclear facilities, but at the same time and repeatedly declares that Iran should not have nuclear weapons, and this contradiction has no end. If you have destroyed everything, then what meaning does repeating this absurdity have?".

“Reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency must be professional, fact-based and free from any political influence.” Iran's ambassador to the UN said this, as reported by the Mehr agency on Telegram. "Iran has been a member of the NPT treaty since 1970 and has always respected its international commitments, but our country's peaceful nuclear facilities have been the subject of military attacks," the diplomat said, as can also be read on the Iranian Tasnim agency. “The Israeli regime, the sole possessor of nuclear weapons in the region, enjoys immunity for facilities outside the NPT; these double standards undermine the credibility of the NPT system. Iran has not abandoned or suspended its NPT commitments, but military aggression has altered the security conditions for their implementation. The Agency also confirmed that the inspectors were removed for security reasons; these concerns cannot be ignored when calling for their return.”

Two supertankers were rendered completely unserviceable and abandoned by their crews after hitting naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, while attempting to navigate an unauthorized route; This was announced by the Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to Iranian PressTV. The episode occurred today. "Following the collision with naval mines, the engine rooms of both supertankers were devastated by violent explosions and intense fires, which rendered the ships completely unusable and forced them to stop," reads the note. The Pasdaran Navy specified that the two tankers were carrying a total load of over 4.5 million barrels of crude oil. After the explosion of mines near the southern coast of the strait, the situation on board the burning ships became untenable, prompting the crews to abandon their boats completely and flee to safety.

Two explosions were heard in Riyadh in the early hours of the morning, according to an AFP journalist in the Saudi capital, as Yemen's Houthis continue to launch attacks on the kingdom. Saudi Civil Defense said an early warning system had been activated to warn residents of a potential threat. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The announcement, released via a post on X, followed emergency alerts issued by the Saudi Civil Defense in Riyadh, Najran and Wadi al-Dawasir. The authorities subsequently announced that the danger has returned to all three areas. Previously, the coalition had also announced the interception and destruction of a drone in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

According to a memo sent yesterday to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by Israel's Channel 12, US intelligence warns that Iran has "significantly intensified" its efforts to harm American diplomats and senior officials in the Middle East and other regions of the world, and that plans to assassinate them have reached "advanced stages". According to US officials, intelligence information is one reason the State Department is reducing staff at several American embassies in the Middle East. Another factor increasing security tensions is the possibility that the United States and Israel will resume military operations against Iran, possibly after the US midterm elections. In a one-page unclassified memo, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned Rubio that information about Iranian assassination plans needed to be shared with more U.S. personnel beyond those currently authorized to receive it.