Image caption, Yemen's government said the missile strike killed recruits to its internal security forces (file photo) More than 50 security personnel have been killed and 200 injured in a Houthi missile strike on a camp in Yemen's central province of Shabwa, local authorities say. A spokesman for the Saudi-backed Yemeni armed forces said the Iran-backed group launched three ballistic missiles at al-Alam camp near Ataq city, which was being used as a training centre for recruits to the security forces and police. The head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, condemned what he called the criminal attack and promised a firm response. The Houthis' military spokesman said they had targeted Saudi enemy concentrations. Yemen's devastating civil war has flared up in recent months.

Pakistan says it has carried out air strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan used to store and launch drones, some of which were used in cross-border attacks. The air strikes on Thursday were carried out as tensions grow between the former allies over attacks by armed groups in Pakistan, which triggered their worst fighting in years in February. The air strikes were "deliberate, precise, calibrated, and proportionate, and strictly limited to identified military objectives directly linked to the attempted attacks against Pakistan", Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X. He condemned a "deliberate and unlawful incursion into Pakistan by drones" on Wednesday. "This constitutes a blatant violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity and is a grave and unacceptable act of aggression," he said.

Yemen's Houthi fighters claim to have attacked shipping in the Red Sea - a move that threatens to further escalate the already volatile situation in the Middle East. By forcing ships to turn back from the narrow Bab El Mandeb strait, they have threatened to choke off the main maritime route from Europe to Asia. It comes as US-Iran strikes continue and while a deal to develop Saudi Arabia's nuclear industry prompts fears of an arms race. So is the Middle East becoming more dangerous? So far, 2026 is sadly proving to be one of the more violent years for parts of the Middle East. For 12 consecutive nights, US Central Command (Centcom) has carried out air strikes on Iranian coastal radar, drone and missile bases.

Israel has carried out strikes across southern Lebanon, despite a warning from Iran not to continue attacks in the country. The Lebanese health ministry said eight people were killed in Tyre, where the Israeli military issued a new order for residents to leave the southern city, including its Christian quarter for the first time. Israel and Iran paused hostilities on Monday, after an Israeli strike on Beirut targeting the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah triggered their first exchange of fire since a truce in April. Iran warned that it could hit Israel again if it did not stop attacks in Lebanon. But Israel vowed to continue its campaign against Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has increased its use of small first-person view (FPV) drones to attack Israel, including systems controlled by fibre-optic cables to evade sophisticated defences. BBC Verify has geolocated 35 videos shared by the Lebanese armed group since 26 March which show strikes on Israeli soldiers, armoured vehicles and air defence systems in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. Experts told BBC Verify the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has so far been unable to develop any effective countermeasures, as the small drones can easily bypass detection systems. The drones can also be made from commercially available and 3D-printed components - and are cheap compared to the high-value targets they can destroy, experts also said. The use of cheap FPV drones became widespread during the Russia-Ukraine war and has changed modern warfare.

Pakistan and Afghanistan agree to temporary Eid al-Fitr'pause' in conflict Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to a temporary "pause" in hostilities during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr this week, officials said, amid weeks of deadly violence between the neighbouring countries. Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday that the pause - set to run from midnight on Thursday (19:00 GMT on Wednesday) until midnight on Tuesday (19:00 GMT on Monday) - had been requested by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye. However, he warned that "in case of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident inside Pakistan, [operations] shall immediately resume with renewed intensity". Shortly after the announcement, a spokesperson for Afghanistan's Taliban government also said it would temporarily suspend military operations against Pakistan. The pause in fighting is set to begin just days after Afghanistan accused the Pakistani military of killing hundreds of people in an air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in the country's capital, Kabul.

The BBC has obtained footage and interviews from the Iranian capital Tehran which evoke a city of strained nerves, of constant waiting for the next air strike and relentless fear of the state security apparatus. The identities of the people in this report have been protected. While independent journalists still try to gather testimony that offers a credible alternative view, they run the risk of arrest, torture and possibly worse. Displaced Palestinians were told to secure their tents to prevent them being blown away as a storm swept through the enclave. Video filmed by a witness and verified by the BBC shows a drone crashing close to the airport.

Why have Spain, Italy sent ships to assist the Gaza flotilla? Israel's mass surveillance: Microsoft blocks the army from using its software United States tech giant Microsoft has cancelled some services it provides to the Israeli military over concerns it is violating its terms of service by using the firm's cloud computing software to spy on millions of Palestinians, the company's vice chair and president Brad Smith confirmed. Smith wrote in a Thursday blog post that the company had "ceased and disabled a set of services" to a unit within the Israeli Ministry of Defence in response to an August 6 joint investigation by The Guardian newspaper, +972 Magazine, and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call. Unit 8200 is the Israeli military's elite cyber warfare unit responsible for clandestine operations, including collecting signal intelligence and surveillance. The investigation by journalists revealed that following a 2021 meeting between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Unit 8200's leader Yossi Sariel, an agreement was reached to collaborate on moving large volumes of sensitive intelligence material into the company's Azure platform.

More than 20 people have been killed in a Russian air strike on a village in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymr Zelensky has said, citing initial reports. The victims were ordinary people collecting their pensions in the Donetsk settlement of Yarova, he said. Yarova, to the north of Sloviansk, is one of the big cities in the region and not far from the front line as Russian forces advance slowly in the east. If confirmed, the death toll would be among the heaviest attacks on Ukrainian civilians in recent weeks, 42 months into Russia's full-scale invasion. At least 23 people were killed in overnight air strikes on Ukraine's capital Kyiv at the end of August.

Ukraine intends to strike deep into Russia following a large Russian drone attack that left 60,000 Ukrainians without electricity, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Speaking on Sunday after a meeting with his top general, Oleksandr Syrskii, the Ukrainian president confirmed the new planned strikes on X. Both sides have intensified their air strikes in recent weeks, with Moscow attacking Ukraine's energy and transport systems as well as launching deadly strikes in recent days on civilian areas in Kyiv and Zaporizhia, and Ukraine targeting Russian oil refineries and pipelines. Overnight, Russian drones hit four energy facilities in Ukraine's Odesa region, according to the private energy company DTEK. The strikes left 29,000 people without electricity, local authorities reported.