Saudi Arabia said it intercepted incoming missiles targeting the kingdom's capital and other regions on Sunday, with falling debris damaging a building belonging to the state-owned oil giant Aramco in Riyadh's financial district.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates said it rescued 22 crew members after a fire broke out aboard a cargo ship in the Sea of Oman, as risks to commercial shipping in the region remain high. And in Israel, opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot formally got the first chance to form a new government.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Sunday. Read our full coverage here.
Aramco building in Riyadh damaged after missile interceptions
Witnesses in Riyadh said they heard a loud explosion Sunday morning and described damage across multiple floors of an Aramco building in the King Abdullah Financial District. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
The Saudi-led coalition said its air defenses intercepted two ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles targeting Riyadh and other regions early Sunday, accusing the Iran-backed Houthis of launching the weapons.
The Saudi Energy Ministry said there were no casualties at the Aramco facility. The coalition also said it intercepted a ballistic missile overnight targeting Saudi Arabia's southern region, which borders Yemen and has repeatedly come under Houthi attacks.
The Houthis' military spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed in a statement Sunday that they had hit Riyadh's financial district and other targets in response to attacks in recent days on a village and a market in Yemen, which he said left dozens dead or wounded and blamed on Saudi Arabia.
— By Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut
The UAE rescues 22 crew members after a cargo ship fire
The UAE National Guard said the crew members — all of Arab nationalities — were in stable condition after receiving first aid following a rescue when their cargo ship caught fire in the Sea of Oman.
The National Guard did not identify the vessel nor specify the cause of the fire.
The British military organization that monitors maritime security incidents said Sunday that a tanker caught fire on Saturday northwest of Khasab, Oman, prompting the evacuation of its crew. It was unclear whether it was the same incident.
Israel’s president gives Eisenkot first chance at forming the next government
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Sunday evening formally gave opposition politician Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form the next government.
While complex coalition negotiations still lie ahead, this is a significant step in the former military chief's effort to oust Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after elections held in a deeply divided country scarred by the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, and the multifront wars they triggered.
The announcement doesn’t guarantee that Eisenkot will become the next prime minister. He has up to six weeks to form a coalition government. The Oct. 27 election gave neither his bloc nor Netanyahu’s a clear majority in parliament.
Trump says US is ready to resume striking Iran, but it’s ‘highly unlikely’
The president told CNN in a phone interview on Sunday that as long as the U.S. continues to see progress in negotiations with Tehran and they sign a “strong agreement,” it’s “highly unlikely it’s going to be necessary” to resume strikes.
The president said, however, that the U.S. had identified infrastructure targets, including 38 bridges, that it would strike if military action resumes.
The region has been on edge over the possibility of a renewed all-out war.
Iran hangs three men convicted in anti-government protests
Iran hanged three men Sunday in Karaj who were convicted of armed riot, damage to public properties and cooperation with Israel and the United States during nationwide anti-government protests in January, state TV reported.
Iran has hanged more than two dozen people on similar charges in various cities. International rights groups say political prisoners in Iran are tried in secretive courts without due process.
The protests, some of the largest ever held against the Islamic Republic's government, were largely stamped out when the United States and Israel went to war with Iran on Feb. 28.
Israeli strike kills two Palestinians in southern Gaza, health officials say
An Israeli strike on Sunday killed two Palestinians, a man and woman, in Muwasi, a tent camp area on Gaza’s coast, said health officials at Nasser hospital.
Israel’s military said it had struck a “Hamas terrorist” in the area.
Sunday’s strikes came more than a year after a ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Hamas, yet Israel still launches near-daily strikes on the enclave.
Sudan's military authorities detain former senior Islamist official
Ahmed Haroun, a senior security official during the rule of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, was detained in Sudan's eastern province of Kassala, according to two lawyers on his defense team. Haroun is wanted by the International Criminal Court over atrocities related to the Darfur conflict in the early 2000s.
The lawyers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the media, said Haroun’s precise whereabouts were unknown.
__By Samy Magdy in Washington.
US expels Lebanese diplomat for praising attacks against Americans
The State Department said Sunday that it had declared Ibrahim Charara, Lebanon’s consul general in Detroit, “persona non grata” after reviewing posts from up to five years ago celebrating the 1983 Hezbollah attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut. The posts were first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
“Anyone in the United States who celebrates or justifies terrorist attacks has no place in our country,” the department said.
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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.