Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis launch a missile strike on Israel for first time since the war began
The group says it fired a barrage of ballistic missiles "targeting sensitive Israeli military sites", after Israel says it intercepted a missile from Yemen - who are the Houthis?
The intervention of the Houthis now raises the prospect of an expanded war, writes our Middle East bureau chief
Elsewhere, at least 12 American soldiers are injured in an Iranian strike on Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Airbase, US media reports - as several Gulf nations report fresh strikes and interceptions
Missile strikes have been launched at the Iranian capital overnight, as the country's foreign minister says Israel hit Iranian nuclear sites on Friday
As the war enters its second month, Donald Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff says that the US is hopeful of having meetings with Iran "this week"
Several drone attacks were launched against Kuwait International Airport, a spokesperson for the country's Civil Aviation Authority says, in comments reported by KUNA state news agency.
They added damage was limited and there were no casualties.
It's not the first attack on the site. Wednesday saw the targeting of a fuel depot at the airport by an Iranian drone.
Image source, ReutersHouthi fighters boarded a ship in Red Sea in November 2023
The Houthi intervention in the US-Israel war with Iran risks expanding the conflict to a new front near the Red Sea.
The Houthis began attacking shipping in the Red Sea in November 2023 and regularly launched missiles at Israel in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, saying they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
The Houthis targeted commercial shipping with drone and missile attacks as well as more brazen assaults by boat and helicopter, leading to companies redirecting their ships away from the Red Sea and choosing the much longer journey around Africa's Cape of Good Hope.
The Houthis also carried out attacks against British and US warships in January 2024.
The UK and US carried out a series of attacks against Houthi targets in Yemen in response and deployed a Royal Navy destroyerto protect shipping from attacks by the Houthi rebels.
The Houthi intervention in the war in the Middle East could raise further concerns for shipping after the Strait of Hormuz, where a number of tankers have been attacked, was effectively closed by Iran.
The Houthis have controlled much of north-western Yemen since 2014, when they ousted the internationally-recognised government from the capital, Sanaa, and sparked a devastating civil war.
Chatham House research fellow Farea Al-Muslimi says the Houthis' new involvement in the conflict is of "huge significance" as they "sit on another important international trade route” - the Red Sea.
The Houthis haven't yet said they will attack the Red Sea, he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme. In his view, they could be "trying to spare themselves another American attack".
In 2025, Donald Trump launched a bombing campaign (alongside the UK), to prevent Houthi attacks in the region.
But asked how disruptive another effective blockade would be, in addition to existing threats in the Strait of Hormuz, Al-Muslimi says: “It’s a nightmare. We already have a nightmare, and this would make it worse of a nightmare”.
Lebanon's state-run news agency is reporting a series of Israeli strikes on several towns in the south of the country.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which operates in Lebanon says it has been targeting Israeli military positions in the north of Israel.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesFirst aid responders inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese town of Saksakiyeh
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesMembers of the Nabatieh Civil Defence distribute food to residents who have remained in in Nabatieh, Lebanon amid Israeli warnings to evacuate
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesA bulldozer clears rubble from a street at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesIsraeli army vehicles move at a position in southern Lebanon by the border with northern Israel
The Iranian backed Houthis in Yemen have confirmed they have attacked Israel for the first time since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran.
The group says it fired a barrage of ballistic missiles "targeting sensitive Israeli military sites" in response to the targeting of Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestinian territories. It adds that its operations will continue until the "aggression" on all fronts ends.
It comes after the Israel Defense Forces said it intercepted a missile from Yemen.
TheIsrael Defence Forces (IDF) says that two soldiers have been seriously injured in clashes in southern Lebanon.
The IDF says in a post on X that a combat officer was seriously injured and six other soldiers were moderately injured in rocket fire on Friday.
It adds that another officer was seriously injured and a second officer was moderately injured by anti-tank missile fire in another clash.
Missile strikes have been taking place overnight in the Iranian capital of Tehran while Iran has continued to fire at Israel and countries across the Gulf region.
Here is a round up of the latest strikes:
Jo Floto
Middle East bureau chief in Jerusalem
For weeks now the Houthi movement in Yemen has been voicing support for Iran - its greatest provider of military, financial and political support - saying that Houthi participation in the war was only a matter of time.
A further threat came last night in a televised address by the Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree.
“We confirm that our fingers are on the trigger for direct military intervention,” he said, adding that the group would enter the war if any new alliances join Washington and Israel against Iran and its allies, or if the Red Sea is used for “hostile operations” against Iran.
This morning the trigger appears to have been pulled - with Israel’s military saying it had identified a launch of a missile from Yemen, triggering sirens in and around the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
The intervention of the Houthis now raises the prospect of an expanded war, with a new front in the Arabian peninsula.
Of most concern will be the threat to attack shipping in the Red Sea, something the Houthis did in the aftermath of the October 7th attacks.
In 2025 Donald Trump launched a bombing campaign (alongside the UK), to prevent these attacks.
The weeks-long mission struck thousands of targets, and killed a number of high ranking Houthi officials, but ultimately ended in a negotiated ceasefire.
Five people have been injured after a ballistic missile was intercepted by air defences in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emeriates.
The Abu Dhabi Media Office reports that five Indian nationals were injured by falling debris near the Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD).
The media office had said in a post on X it was responding to two fires in the area.
Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter
Until recently, investors in the US had appeared relatively sanguine about the economic risks tied to the war, shielding the US stock market from the big hits seen in many overseas markets.
But the losses are starting to build up - and accelerate. Shares in all three major US indexes sank again on Friday, capping the fourth week of losses since the war began.
The S&P 500 slid 1.67%, bringing it to its biggest weekly loss since the start of the war.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1.7%. That left it down 10% from its most recent high, a milestone known as a correction.
The Nasdaq which had entered correction territory on Thursday, fell a further 2.1%. All three are now down more than 7% over the last month.
State-of-the-art US missiles were likely used in a deadly strike on a residential area of Iran last month, according to an analysis of footage by weapons experts.
The analysts said a projectile visible in footage of the strike on residential buildings in the southern town of Lamerd was likely a Precision Strike Missile (PrSM). The munition is a new long-range weapon operated by the US military.
According to Iranian state media at least 21 people were killed in at least two strikes on the town that day that hit residential buildings and a sports hall about 300 metres apart.
Centcom - which oversees US military operations in the Middle East - declined to comment.
Read more on this story from BBC Verify here.
The USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier, a floating airbase that can carry over 80 aircraft, will be deploying to US Central Command in the Middle East, multiple sources tell the BBC's US partner CBS News.
The massive carrier and its strike group completed pre-deployment training earlier this month, and now could be joining US operations in Iran, US officials tell CBS.
Two guided missile destroyers - the USS Donald Cook and the USS Mason - also departed the US this week en route to join US operations in Iran. And another, the USS Ross, has also left the US this week, though its destination is not yet public.
The Houthis are an armed political and religious group which champions Yemen's Shia Muslim minority, the Zaidis.
They declare themselves to be part of the Iranian-led "axis of resistance" against Israel, the US and the wider West - along with armed groups such as Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.
Formally known as the Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), the group emerged in the 1990s and takes its name from the movement's late founder, Hussein al-Houthi. The current leader is his brother, Abdul Malik al-Houthi.
As we just reported, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has identified a missile launched from Yemen, in what Reuters and Agence France-Presse report is the first fired from Yemen since the war began.
It comes after a spokesperson for Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said they would enter the war in the Middle East if attacks continue in Iran.
Image source, ShutterstockThe US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says that 1,464 civilians including at least 217 children have been killed in Iran in the first month of the conflict, which began on 28 February.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) says it has dropped more than 12,000 bombs across Iran and 3,600 bombs on Tehran alone, while US Central Command says it has struck more than 9,000 targets across Iran.
Many of these US and Israeli strikes have targeted police stations, Basij militia buildings, police headquarters, military and police universities, safe houses, IRGC homes, as well as potential ammunition stores and checkpoints.
Often, these targets are located within busy civilian neighbourhoods.
Residents told BBC Eye that strikes hitting residential areas risk deepening resentment, even among those who had previously been critical of the Iranian regime.
The BBC asked the IDF about the incidents in this report. It confirmed the strikes but made no further comment. The US Department of Defense did not respond.
Iran has also struck civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in nearby countries during the war, such as airports and hotels, notably in Gulf nations allied with Washington.
In Tehran, residents criticised the Iranian authorities for their response to the war, telling the BBC there had been little visible provision of basic safety measures, including public shelters, evacuation support or temporary accommodation for those displaced.
In the absence of clear communication, and amid an ongoing internet blackout, many described feeling exposed and uncertain, unsure when or where the next strike might hit.
The Iranian government has not publicly detailed any nationwide civil defence protocols in response to the attacks.
You can read more from inside Tehran here.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says it has identified a missile launched from Yemen, in what Reuters and Agence France-Presse report is the first fired from Yemen since the war began.
"The IDF has identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward Israeli territory, aerial defense systems are operating to intercept the threat," the Israeli military wrote on Telegram. Less than 15 minutes later, the IDF announced it was safe for people to leave protective spaces across the country.
It comes after a spokesperson for Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said they would enter the war in the Middle East if attacks continue in Iran.
In a statement on Telegram, Yahya Saree, the spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces – the Houthi faction of Yemen's military – says "our fingers are on the trigger for direct military intervention" in the following cases:
The statement says this is in response to the "continued aggression by the American and Israeli enemy against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Palestine and Gaza, Iraq and Lebanon".
President Donald Trump, speaking at the Future Investment Initiative forum in Miami, claimed that the US's military operation against Iran was going successfully.
Trump claimed that the US was "crushing Iran". He claimed that Iran was "begging to make a deal" amid conflicting account about negotiations between the two countries to end the conflict.
The FII event, which is run by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, comes as Iran has targeted missiles and drones at the country, as well as other Middle Eastern countries as the region continues to be engulfed by the war.
Trump praised the support of Saudi Arabia while criticizing Nato countries for what he viewed as inadequate support for his operation against Iran.
“I was very disappointed with Nato but I was not disappointed with our allies in the Middle East," Trump said.
US media is now reporting that at least 12 American soldiers were injured in the Iranian strike on Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Airbase, an increase on the 10 we reported earlier, according to the BBC's news partner CBS.
At least two of the soldiers have been "very seriously injured", with the Wall Street Journal reporting that they were inside a building at the base when it was struck.
The attack included at least one missile and several drones, and several aerial refuelling planes have also suffered damage, unnamed sources told the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
The Pentagon and US Central Command had not responded to media outlets' requests for comment at the time of reporting.
The United Arab Emirates is using air defences to respond to a drone and missile attack from Iran, according to a statement from the ministry of defence.
It says it is "intercepting cruise missiles and [unmanned aerial vehicles]" from Iran.
Overnight in Tehran, sources told the BBC of "heavy strikes" across the city, with Iranian outlets reporting that the capital city's air defences had been activated and explosions were being heard.
It is currently just after 05:30 local time in Tehran (01:30 GMT).
Image source, Anadolu via Getty Images
Image source, Anadolu via Getty Images