President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he is dropping his reelection bid against Donald Trump, in a social media post that sent political shockwaves around the country and threw an element of turmoil into the election just months before voters go to the polls.

Biden’s decision came on the heels of a poor debate performance that prompted many rank-and-file Democratic lawmakers to urge him to withdraw from the race. The president said he will address the nation later this week “in more detail about my decision.”

Biden threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democrats’ new candidate, and she vowed to “earn and win” the nomination.

Republican leaders attacked Harris and said she shares responsibility for the policies of the Biden administration. Former President Donald Trump said Biden “was not fit to run for president,” and he also called for the second debate to be moved from ABC to the Fox News Channel, which is seen as friendlier to him.

Democrats hail Biden’s decision to not seek reelection as selfless. Republicans urge him to resign

Democratic lawmakers are hailing President Joe Biden’s historic decision not to seek reelection as putting his country and his party before himself.

Republicans are calling on him to leave office as well, saying that if he is unable to run, then he’s unable to serve as president.

AP

Israel shoots down missile fired from Yemen after striking Houthis

Israel said it shot down a missile launched from Yemen on Sunday and the Yemeni Houthi movement said it had fired several missiles at the Israeli city of Eilat after Israel's first public strike against the Iran-aligned group a day earlier.

The Houthis have launched missiles and drones at Israel and disrupted global trade through the Red Sea in response to Israel's assault on Gaza, further destabilising the Middle East as war in the Palestinian enclave rages on after nine months.

Israel says the Houthis have launched 200 attacks against it since the Gaza war began, many of them intercepted and most of them not deadly.

But a rare Houthi drone strike on Friday hit Tel Aviv and killed one person, prompting Israel to announce its first strikes against the group on Saturday. The strikes by warplanes hit near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah and killed six people, local medics said.

The Houthi movement, known formally as Ansar Allah, said on Sunday it would continue to attack Israel in response.

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam told Qatar's Al Jazeera TV there would be "no red lines ... all sensitive institutions ... will be a target for us."

The Israeli military said its Arrow 3 missile defence system had shot down a surface-to-surface missile projectile launched from Yemen on Sunday before it crossed into Israeli territory.

Before the interception, air raid sirens sounded in the Red Sea port city of Eilat, sending residents running for shelter.

Sunday's attack prolonged an escalation of violence between Israel and the Houthis that began with the Houthi drone strike that hit the centre of Tel Aviv on Friday. One man was killed and four other people were wounded, officials said.

The Israeli warplanes' air raid on Hodeidah on Saturday killed six people and wounded more than 80, medical sources in Yemen told Reuters, describing all as civilians.

Images from the scene showed a fiery blaze and dense smoke rising from the site of the strike. A Houthi-run TV channel said the strikes had hit an oil facility and power station.

Israeli officials say Hodeidah port has been used by the Houthis to receive weapons shipments from Iran.

PROXY BATTLE

The exchanges are part of a spillover from the Gaza war that has drawn in regional and world powers.

Iran-aligned groups including the Houthis have fired rockets and missiles at Israel saying they are doing so in support of Palestinians and the Islamist militant group Hamas that governs Gaza. The United States and its allies back Israel and provide weapons to it.

The war began on Oct. 7 after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel has since bombed and invaded Gaza as part of what it says is a campaign to eliminate Hamas, killing nearly 39,000 people, according to health officials in the enclave.

The Houthis, who control much of the north of Yemen and other large population centres, have previously claimed targeting Eilat and other attacks directed at Israel, saying they are acting in retaliation for Israel's war on Gaza.

The group has also attacked Red Sea shipping routes for months.

Hamas' allies include Iran-backed groups such as the Houthis, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraqi paramilitaries.

The Houthi movement consists primarily of members a minority Shi'ite Muslim group in Yemen and has controlled the country's capital, Sanaa, for years.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Two Ukrainian military trains hit in missile strike

Two Ukrainian military trains, carrying dozens of pieces of hardware, have been destroyed in a ballistic missile strike, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Sunday, sharing drone footage of the attack.

The trains, carrying equipment and personnel of the 41st mechanized brigade, were discovered at a railway station near the town of Barvenkovo, located near the border between Ukraine’s Kharkov Region and Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic. Each train consisted of at least 20 flatbed cars, the ministry said.

Infrared footage captured by a surveillance drone shows a ballistic missile fired by an Iskander-M launcher striking the station, with multiple fires observed on the ground after the hit. The strike was closely followed by another one, with a missile striking the second train, footage shows.

According to the military’s estimates, there were more than 60 pieces of military hardware, including 14 US-made International MaxxPro mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs) and ten Canadian-made Roshel Senator armored personnel carriers (APCs), as well as other armored and soft vehicles. Up to 240 Ukrainian servicemen were killed or injured in the strike.

In recent weeks, the Russian military has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian forces in redeployment, striking military trains and road convoys, inflicting heavy casualties and damage on Kiev’s forces.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Zelenskiy calls for long-range weapons after drone attack on Kyiv

Ukraine needs long-range weapons to protect its cities and troops on the frontline from Russian bombs and drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday after a massive overnight drone and missile attack.

Russia launched its fifth drone attack on Kyiv in two weeks overnight, with Ukraine's air defence systems destroying all the air weapons before they reached the capital, Ukraine's military said.

Ukraine's air force said on Telegram that its air defence systems destroyed 35 of the 39 drones and two cruise missiles that Russia had launched overnight. The weapons, the air force said, targeted 10 of Ukraine's regions.

It was not immediately clear how many drones were launched at Kyiv. There were no casualties and no significant damage reported, Serhiy Popko, head of the Ukrainian capital's military administration, said on the Telegram.

"During last night alone, the Russian army used almost 40 'Shaheds' against Ukraine. Importantly, most of them were shot down by our defenders of the sky," Zelenskiy said on Telegram, referring to the drones.

He said it was necessary to destroy Russian bombers at Russian air bases to protect Ukraine from air raids.

"Our sufficient long-range capabilities should be a fair response to Russian terror. Everyone who supports us in this supports the defence against terror," Zelenskiy said.

Zelenskiy renewed his call for Western allies to allow long-range strikes on Russia on Friday in London, saying Britain should try to convince its partners to remove the limits on their use.

NATO members have taken different approaches to how Ukraine can use weapons they donate. Some have made clear Kyiv can use them to strike targets inside Russia while the United States has taken a narrower approach, allowing its weapons to be used only just inside Russia's border against targets supporting Russian military operations in Ukraine.

Russia launched three Iskander ballistic missiles, Ukraine's air force said, without saying what happened to them.

The military administration of the Sumy region in Ukraine's northeast bordering Russia said on Telegram that a Russian missile damaged critical infrastructure in the Shostkynskyi district of the region.

The administration did not provide detail on what infrastructure was hit.

There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attacks. Moscow says it does not attack civilian targets in Ukraine.

"These systematic attacks ... with drones, once again prove that the invader is actively looking for an opportunity to strike Kyiv," Popko said. "They're testing new tactics, looking for new approach routes to the capital, trying to expose the location of our air defence."

RT/Reuters

At the end of July 2017, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, UNODC, and Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, issued a joint report on the public experience of and response to bribery in Nigeria. Among its findings, the report ranked several institutions with reference to public perceptions or experience of demand for bribes from officials at the point of service delivery. With a score of 46.4%, the report ranked the Nigeria Police Force highest in public perceptions of bribery. The report also noted that “at 33 per cent the prevalence of bribery in relation to prosecutors is the second highest, closely followed by judges and magistrates, at 31.5 per cent.”

It took a little while before the National Judicial Council, NJC, could dignify the report with acknowledgement. When it did, it was not to show institutional contrition for the serious findings contained therein or indicate what it would do to address it. Rather, in a release issued 18 days after the report, the NJC took issue with its content and rankings, complaining that it found the conclusions of the report “not only subjective but speculative”. Tellingly, the Council acknowledged that “there are a few bad eggs in the judiciary, like in every other arm of Government”, but rhetorically asked how many of the 1,059 judges and about 4,000 magistrates had been “caught receiving bribe”. With a touch of institutional insouciance, the NJC thundered: “How many Judges or Magistrates have been arrested and/or prosecuted and convicted of corruption till date?” 

To the extent that it telegraphed the dispositions of the NJC on the question of judicial integrity, the contents of this release were staggering in many respects. First, for an institution lacking in direct electoral legitimacy, the NJC did not appear to be particularly bothered about the foundations of the pedestal on which the judicial institution whose authority it is supposed to guarantee, oversights the elected branches or brings to the resolution of disputes. Instead, it appeared to be entirely comfortable to compete with the average politician or bureaucrat in the grubbiness league tables. 

Second, the Council put forward an implausible threshold for judicial accountability, confining it only to when a judge is actively caught in the act of bribery. If this were to be the standard of accountability applicable to judges, it would place them well below the average criminal, in terms of credibility. For the record, the applicable standard at common law is not whether or not a judge has been caught in the act of receiving a bribe but that nothing is “done which creates even a suspicion that there has been an improper interference with the course of justice.” 

Third, in querying how many judges and magistrates had been successfully prosecuted for such issues, the Council clearly diminished the role of judges in bringing about success or failure of accountability for the failure of judicial integrity, placing the burden for that outside the realm of judicial responsibility. 

The month preceding the UNODC-NBS report that drew its ire, at the beginning of June 2017, the NJC had announced the “recall” of six of the eight judges, whom it had previously suspended from judicial duties. The EFCC was also interested the case of one of them(names withheld) until the Appeal and the Supreme Courts cleared him without acquitting him.  

This sequence of complicit jurisprudence effectively killed any fantasies of judicial accountability in Nigeria, all but clothing judges with impunity for acts and crimes that no one would brook if committed by lesser mortals. Despite the clear findings of its own committee of investigation, the NJC allowed the judge and many of his ilk to return to judicial functions. The consequences of this sequence have not been slow to advertise themselves. 

Seven years after their first report of 2017 that roiled the NJC, at the beginning of July 2024, the UNODC and NBS issued the report of their third survey on corruption as experienced by the population of Nigeria. This 170-page report contains 15 references to judges none of which is particularly flattering. Among its many findings, the report deadpans that “among all types of public official for which there was sufficient data, with an average of NGN 31,000, the largest cash bribes were paid to judges and magistrates, followed by Customs or Immigration Service officers (NGN 17,800) and members of the armed forces (NGN 16,600).” 

It is a fitting coda to the tenure of outgoing Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, that the judiciary that he will leave behind has toppled both the Police and Customs services to reach the top of the institutional corruption grease pole in Nigeria. That is not a mean feat. The report finds a close relationship between corruption and nepotism, noting that “around 60 per cent of public sector applicants in Nigeria were hired as a result of nepotism, bribery or both – about 1.2 times the share found in the 2019 survey.”

When he retired as a Justice of the Supreme Court 20 years ago, Samson Odemwingie Uwaifo feared that the appellate courts “may soon be infested if not already contaminated with” the vice of judicial corruption. Today, his fears appear to have come true to an extent that even he would find frightening. That has been made possible with the baleful benediction of the National Judicial Council under its current leadership. In 2017, it took the Council 18 days to finish reading the first UNODC-NBS Corruption Experience Report. We will hopefully find out soon enough how long it will take the Council to digest the 170-page-long successor to that report in 2024. 

A professor of law, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

The summer is a good time to take stock of how your kids are faring. Are they doing something that excites them? Do they wake up every morning eager to get going? Are they happy? 

I did not ask about their grades, because if you answered “yes” to those questions, their GPA truly doesn’t matter. It matters if they are thriving. 

For my book “Raising an Entrepreneur,” I interviewed 70 parents who raised highly successful adults about how they helped their kids achieve their dreams. It was a diverse group, and the cohort included people of different races, religions, incomes, family structures and educational backgrounds.

While many of these young people were not great students, all of them excelled because they found interests and communities that lit a fire in them.

Here are the four things that the parents of the most successful people always did when their kids were young: 

1. They supported their children’s passions

Every successful adult I spoke to had a passion growing up. With the exception of the artists, who maintained their practice into adulthood, many of these leaders pursued careers that have nothing to do with what they loved as kids. 

So why was it so important that the parents encouraged whatever passion their children had?

Since the activity was something they chose for themselves, they were excited to work hard at it. They learned grit and perseverance and became quite skilled. These experiences taught them to believe in their ability to succeed when they put their all into something.

Although many of the parents didn’t understand their kid’s passion, they supported them, because they saw the joy their child got from it. The most successful adults grew up knowing that their parents would always be there for them, no matter what they tackled.

2. They taught their children to embrace failure 

The most successful entrepreneurs I profiled in my book are risk takers. 

In my research, I found that the people who are most willing to take risks are the people who weren’t punished for, or taught to fear, failure when they were young. This approach reminds me of a Billie Jean King quote I love: “We don’t call it failure, we call it feedback.”

Their parents always taught them that while it’s good to compete, to fight to succeed, and to win, it’s also good to lose. Setbacks are a chance to learn, grow and develop a sense of resilience.

The parents I interviewed always cheered on their children’s efforts, rather than only focusing on their achievements. 

3. They encouraged curiosity and autonomy

Children who are invited to be curious learn that if they keep exploring, they will figure out a way to improve, or expand, or reinvent something they love and know a lot about. 

The future entrepreneurs in my book were taught by their parents to ask, “Does it have to be this way? How can I make it better?” These questions are often how the most successful companies get started. 

Many parents told me that they didn’t want their kids to be satisfied with something “because that is the way it is.” 

As their children grew more capable, the parents also resisted the temptation to do or fix things for them. Instead, they give their kids the tools to solve problems themselves.

4. They emphasized empathy and compassion

Most of the entrepreneurs in my book were taught early on to empathize with others, and they grew up wanting to solve the concerns and problems of the people around them and in their communities. 

They were raised with a genuine desire to improve people’s lives. Their parents never told them that the goal was to make the most money, although that was often the result. 

This sense of compassion is what led them to want to create that piece of art, or product, or service that could bring people a sense of ease and joy. In turn, that foundation helped them build successful careers and lives. 

** Margot Machol Bisnow is a writer, wife, and mom from Washington, DC. She spent 20 years in government, including as an FTC Commissioner and Chief of Staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and is the author of “Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dream.”

CNBC

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, has refuted claims that petroleum products from his refinery are substandard.

Dangote rejected the allegations on Saturday when members of the house of representatives visited the refinery in Lagos.

Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representative and Benjamin Kalu, the deputy, led the delegation.

On July 18, Farouk Ahmed, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), said local refineries, including the Dangote refinery, were producing inferior products compared to imports. 

In his defense during the visit on Saturday, Dangote said diesel bought from two filling stations and that from his refinery were tested at the refinery’s laboratories.

Dangote said the test was carried out using an Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF) Spectro Photometer, using the ASTM D4294 method.

ASTM D4294 test method provides rapid and precise measurement of total sulfur in petroleum and petroleum products with a minimum of sample preparation. A typical analysis time is 1 min to 5 min per sample.

He said the diesel was bought in the presence of the lawmakers.

“Our quality is about 600 to 650 ppm and is one of the best in terms of quality at that time when we started.  But as at today, we’re at 87 ppm,” he said

“I want to plead with the regulator to come at any time, whether Sunday or Monday, or take the sample and I guarantee you before he gets here, our PPM will be even below 10. 

“When we’re coming here, the speaker said, can we please wait to pick up samples from two filling stations? And also when we get into our plant, they will pick a sample to check the results.

“The results are actually out and I’m going to share the same results with you.

“The sample from TotalEnergies’s diesel showed 1,829ppm sulphur concentration. The sample from Matrix Retail showed 2,653ppm. Matrix was 61 below 66 and Total is 26 flash point 

“Our flash point showed 96. If you want to do the rest, we can run it at any given time.

“Today I want to announce to Nigerians that our parameters today are extremely, very good parameters.

“By the end of next week, we should be on 50ppm and by August, it should be down to 10ppm.”

The flash point of any liquid is the lowest temperature at which it will produce sufficient vapour to produce a flammable mixture in the air.

Dangote also said the best way to determine the quality of products being imported and sold to Nigerians is by going to the filling stations and buying and testing them.

“The most important thing is to note that the imported one they are encouraging, is the spec in the test, but in certain cases when you check (independently), different results will show,” Dangote added.

‘INVESTIGATION MUST BE DONE’

He further said the result does not only prove the reality of products from his refinery, but it also shows that substandard petroleum products are being imported into the country and sold to unsuspecting Nigerians.

“Abbas said going by the presentation and the contradictory claims, there was a need for an investigation,” Dangote added.

“I don’t know how we have this contradiction of two players representing the public and private sector.

“I think it is something we need to investigate further to find out if there are ulterior motives.”

On June 4, Dangote said some international oil companies (IOCs) werestruggling to supply crude to his refinery.

Speaking on Arise TV on July 15, Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) described the claim as “erroneous” as the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has provisions that guide willing buyer-willing seller transactions.

A few days later, the management of DIL insisted that IOCs were frustrating its request to purchase crude feedstock for the Dangote refinery.

The Dangote refinery intends to commence the supply of petrol in August.

The Cable

Borno South senator Ali Ndume has criticised the new N70,000 minimum wage approved by President Bola Tinubu for Nigerian workers.

Ndume, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the president, said the approved minimum wage cannot sustain a household because it can only buy 50kg of rice.

The senator stated this in a viral video posted by Channels Television on Friday.

Tinubu and the leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) met on Wednesday at the State House and agreed on the new minimum wage.

While the government reviewed its offer from N62,000 to N70,000, the labour leaders led by the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and his TUC counterpart, Festus Osifo, brought their demand down from N250,000, which they had earlier proposed at the last meeting of the Tripartite Committee on New Minimum Wage.

The labour leaders have since accepted the new wage.

Ndume, who was removed as Senate chief whip on Wednesday for criticising Tinubu, advised him to review the new minimum wage to show solidarity with Nigerians.

“People are suffering, people are angry, people are not happy. I am happy that yesterday, the president agreed with NLC to increase the salary to N70,000, which is a good move, but it takes more than that because, realistically, that is like a bag of rice, money that will buy a bag of rice or cover the cost of a bag of rice.

“So, I call on the president to still open up and listen to the people,” Ndume said.

The outspoken senator was fired as Senate principal officer following a letter from Abdullahi Ganduje, the APC national chairman and Basiru Ajibola, the party’s national secretary.

In the letter, the APC leaders referenced an interview Ndume granted where he criticised the Tinubu administration and subsequently recommended that the Senate relieve him (Ndume) of his position.

In response to the letter, Ndume reiterated that many Nigerians are angry because of the harsh economy.

Cost of basic foodstuff

Meanwhile, PREMIUM TIMES reviewed Mr Ndume’s comment and discovered that a bag of rice costs over N70,000, the new minimum wage.

In a market survey by this newspaper on Saturday, 50kg of rice was sold between N78,000 and N79,000.

Also, 50kg of white garri is sold between N57,000 and N58,000, while 50kg of brown beans is N130,000. Yam is N8,000 for five pieces while a basket of tomatoes goes for N10,000.

In May, The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the country recordedan increase in the price of five essential food items by 140.4 per cent in April.

According to the NBS, the food items are local rice, garri, tomatoes, beans and yams.

PT

18 residents of Mbache ward in Katsina-Ala LGA of Benue state have reportedly been killed by gunmen.

According to NAN, Justine Shaku, the caretaker chairman of the LGA, said the gunmen also abducted three people — a father and his two children — during the attack.

Shaku said he received a distress call around 11pm on Friday about gunmen forcefully taking people from their homes.

“I quickly notified military officers at Tor Donga, but the gunmen had killed 18 people and kidnapped three others before they arrived,” he said.

“Yesterday night, I was told it was 17, but today, 18 bodies have been confirmed. All of them were assembled in one place and killed.

“This morning, I, the assembly member and adviser on legislative matters held a meeting and we communicated the development to the commissioner of police.

“He is on his way coming. Since he is coming, we asked the villagers to wait and let him join us here in Katsina-Ala town before we visit the scene.

“Yes, some people were kidnapped. One man and his two children were kidnapped. In the recent days, apart from what happened yesterday, we have pockets of kidnappings.

“Kidnapping is also resurfacing in the area.”

Shaku said the gunmen were using guerilla war tactics where “they hit and run away.”

The council chairman lamented the poor state of security in the council, while expressing hope for improvement.

“In June, the security situation was very bad, but this month we have not witnessed such attacks,” Shaku said. 

“Even those they ransacked their houses have moved back to their homes and things appeared to be calm before this attack.

“They are local terrorists. I no longer call them bandits because I’m seeing hands/elements of terrorism in their activities.

“The people should be calm, Gov. Hyacinth Alia is committed to keeping our societies safe from such acts.

“They should be assured that very soon it will be things in the past.”

Sewuese Anene, the police public relations officer (PPRO) in the state, also confirmed the attack and said investigation is ongoing.

Anene assured that security had been reinforced and normalcy restored in the area.

He urged residents to remain calm and maintain restraint in the face of provocation.

The Cable

Bandits have killed two people and abducted some members of the National Youth Services Corps (NYSC), travelling on the Ifon/Owo road in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo state. 

The bandits attacked the passengers transiting en route to the state, on Friday night.

Sources revealed that the bandits, who were over 20, ambushed the passenger vehicle – a Sienna space bus.

One of the sources, who spoke to our reporter, Oluwaseun Ogunmola, said some of the passengers were heading for Owo from Anambra state when they were waylaid.

Ogunmola revealed that one of the corps members, identified as Adewole Paul Oluwaseun, who was returning from the camp was among the kidnap victims.

“He was returning from NYSC camp in Enugu when he was kidnapped with others by the bandits. The incident has created tension in the family,” he said.

He further revealed that the bandits had contacted the family of a corps member, demanding a ransom of N30 million.

It was gathered that the driver of the vehicle and a young lady sitting at the front were both hit by bullets while attempting to escape the kidnappers.

The corpses of the deceased have been deposited in the morgue of a private hospital in Ifon town.

Confirming the incident in a telephone chat, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, Police Public Relations Officer in Ondo, said security agencies had swung into action to rescue the victims.

Odunlami-Omisanya, who also confirmed the death of the driver and a passenger in the vehicle, could not immediately ascertain the number of kidnapped victims.

“We’re after them. I can assure you that those kidnapped would be rescued unhurt,” the police spokeswoman said.

Daily Trust

Israeli jets strike Houthi targets in Yemen after Tel Aviv attack

Israeli fighter jets struck Houthi military targets near Yemen's Hodeidah port on Saturday, killing at least three people and wounding 87, a day after a drone launched by the Iranian-backed group hit Israeli economic hub Tel Aviv.

Most of the wounded suffered severe burns in air strikes that targeted oil facilities and a power station, Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen's Houthi movement, quoted the health ministry as saying.

Hodeidah residents told Reuters by phone that explosions were heard throughout the city during an intensive bombardment, and Al-Masirah TV said civil defence forces and firefighters were trying to extinguish fires in the port's oil tanks.

Israel's military spokesperson said the port had been used by the Houthis to receive weapons shipments from Iran. The targets, more than 1,700 km (1,056 miles) from Israel, included dual-use sites such as energy infrastructure, he said.

Israel had informed allies before the strike, which the military said was carried out by Israeli F-15 fighters that all returned safely.

The Houthis' Supreme Political Council said there would be an "effective response" to the strikes. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the Houthis "will not hesitate to strike vital targets of the Israeli enemy."

The strike on Yemen, which Israeli officials said came after more than 200 Houthi attacks on Israel, underlined fears that the Gaza war, triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, could spiral into a regional conflict.

"The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement.

"The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required."

On Friday, a long-range Iranian-made drone launched from Yemen hit the centre of Tel Aviv in an attack claimed by the Houthis, killing one man and wounding four others.

That attack followed an escalation in the daily exchange of fire between Israeli forces and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanonand came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to travel to Washington, where he is due to address the U.S. Congress.

Netanyahu called on the international community to step up pressure on Tehran and its proxies - the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah - and in so doing help secure international trade routes.

"Whoever wants to see a stable and safe Middle East needs to stand against Iran's axis of evil, and support Israel's struggle against Iran and its proxies," Netanyahu said.

Meanwhile, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, condemned the Israeli attacks and "warned against the risk of escalation of tension and the spread of war in the region as a result of the dangerous adventurism of the Zionists," Iranian state media reported.

In a statement, Hezbollah also condemned the attack on Hodeidah, describing it as "a foolish step ... that marks a new and dangerous phase of the extremely important ongoing confrontation."

As the war in Gaza has gone on, the Houthis have stepped up attacks against Israel and Western targets, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

They began attacking Western ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Their attacks have upended global trade by forcing ship owners to reroute vessels away from the vital Suez Canal shortcut, and drawn retaliatory U.S. and British strikes since February.

"A brutal Israeli aggression targeted civilian buildings, oil facilities and power station in Hodeidah aiming at pressuring Yemen to stop supporting Gaza," Mohammed Abdulsalam, chief negotiator for Houthi movement, said on X.

He said the attack would "only increase our determination, steadfastness, (and) continuity".

A Saudi ministry of defence spokesperson said that the kingdom was not involved in or participating in the targeting of Hodeidah, adding Saudi Arabia "will not allow its airspace to be infiltrated by any party" whatsoever.

Egypt, which has been trying to help broker a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, said it was following "with great concern" the Israeli strike.

Hamas stormed Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, nearly 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Reuters