The government's retreat from the Bab el-Mandeb area hands the Houthis greater leverage over the maritime chokepoint, creating a potent pressure point on global shipping.
Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, urged citizens and residents to remain calm and proceed to the nearest safe location, its interior ministry said.
"The opening of the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary, St. Paul, and St. Anthony for the Copts in Baghdad holds great symbolic significance, as it is the first of its kind in Iraq," Hammadi said.
This is a potential turning point in Iraq. Iraq has sent troops to the Jurf al-Sakhar area over the weekend.
To minimize risk of being caught off guard, the IDF is strengthening coordination with the US military and raising its level of alert across intelligence monitoring, early warning, and air defenses.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said it intercepted two drones launched by the Iran-aligned group towards the Saudi capital Riyadh and the kingdom's southern region.
Trump has alternated between threats of escalating the war with new strikes and winding down hostilities, and current and former officials say he does not appear to have made up his mind.
Iran has claimed a string of mine strikes on tankers in recent weeks, none independently verified, as it seeks to pressure the US over its blockade.
BEHIND THE LINES: The United States seems to be looking for short-term quiet in return for a tacit acknowledgment of Iran’s ascendant position in Iraq.
A weekly selection of opinions and analyses from the Arab media around the world.
"This is an extraordinary historic danger and one that cannot be ignored because I know we think it's half a world away, but nothing is half a world away anymore. Nothing is," Rubio said.
