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Iranian backed militia took credit for attack that injured 34 troops and killed first US soldiers since start of Gaza conflictThe spectre of a direct US-Iranian military conflict drew closer on Sunday when the US president Joe Biden announced three US servicemen had been killed and more than 34 injured following a drone attack on a US service base on the border of Jordan...

US navy shoots down two missiles and a third lands in sea as Iran-aligned group continues strikes against Red Sea shippingTwo ships sailing close to the Gulf of Aden were forced to seek the support of the US navy after explosions were heard nearby, as the Houthi group kept up their assault on commercial shipping off the coast of Yemen.The Houthis have said their...

Pentagon calls attacks ‘necessary and proportionate’, after US personnel were injured in a weekend attack in IraqSee all our Middle East crisis coverageThe US has carried out strikes in Iraq against three facilities linked to Iran-backed militia, the Pentagon has said, after a weekend attack on an Iraqi airbase that wounded US forces.“US military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used...

Seals from USS Lewis Puller went overboard during mission off coast of Somalia to seize Iranian weapons, according to US militarySee all our Middle East coverageTwo US Navy Seals who went missing during an operation to seize Iranian weapons bound for Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been declared dead after a 10-day search failed to locate them, the US military has said.US Central Command (Centcom)...

Officials say search will continue after as many as 121 unmarked graves were located at MacDill air force base in TampaAs many as 121 unmarked graves in a former Black cemetery have been discovered at a US air force base in Florida, military officials confirmed.A nonintrusive archaeological survey performed over the past two years at the MacDill air force base in Tampa identified 58...

Attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea by the Houthi rebel group in Yemen have been met with airstrikes from the UK and US. Patrick Wintour reportsSince the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October and Israel’s military response in Gaza, there has been an effort by western leaders led by the US to avoid the conflict spreading to the wider region. That...

Navy searches Gulf of Aden for Seals who fell into the water when trying to board vessel carrying Iranian missile parts to SomaliaUS Navy ships and aircraft combed areas of the Gulf of Aden for two missing US Navy Seals on Monday as details emerged about their mission to board and take over a vessel carrying components for medium-range Iranian ballistic missiles headed for...

US and UK warships shoot down barrage of rockets, drones and cruise missiles fired at ships by Yemeni groupMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe US and the UK have warned “there will be consequences” after warships from both countries repelled a barrage of 21 Houthi rockets, drones and cruise missiles apparently fired at western warships in the Red Sea.Antony Blinken, the US secretary of...

Barrage apparently targeting western warships suggest Hamas’s Yemeni allies are keen to test warnings from US, UK and other nationsMiddle East crisis – live updatesA week ago, the US, the UK and 10 other mostly western nations told Yemen’s Houthi rebels that they would “bear the consequences” if they launched further attacks on merchant shipping in the southern Red Sea. For a brief period...

Hospital stay that Joe Biden did not know about was for prostate cancer surgery and to treat urinary tract infection, doctors sayJoe Biden did not learn that his defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, had prostate cancer until Tuesday, the White House has said, minutes after it was disclosed to the public along with news of an infection that had also been kept under wraps.Austin prompted...

Wenheng Zhao, 26, pleaded guilty in October to passing sensitive military information to Chinese intelligence officerA US navy petty officer who pleaded guilty to providing sensitive military information to a Chinese intelligence officer was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Monday, the US justice department said.Wenheng Zhao, 26, and another US sailor, Jinchao Wei, were arrested in August on suspicion of...

Lloyd Austin apologises for lack of disclosure but questions about medical procedure and the secrecy surrounding it remain unansweredUS defence secretary Lloyd Austin has said he takes “full responsibility” for secrecy surrounding an ongoing, week-long hospitalisation for a still-unspecified medical condition.Austin, who is 70, was admitted on New Year’s Day to Walter Reed national military medical center for what the Pentagon has said were...

Two killed and five wounded, militia officials say, before US secretary of state’s tour of Middle EastMiddle East crisis – live updatesA US airstrike in Baghdad on Thursday killed the commander of an Iranian-backed Shia militia that Washington blames for attacks on American forces in the region, according to US officials.One official said that a leader of Harakat al-Nujaba, later named by the Pentagon...

Defence secretary says UK would not hesitate to take ‘direct action’ after US sank boats targeting a container shipBritain is reportedly considering airstrikes on Houthi rebels after the US said its navy sank three boats that had been targeting a container ship in the Red Sea.Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, said the government would not hesitate to take “direct action” to prevent further attacks...

Warships responded to call from Maersk Hangzhou when they came under fire from Houthi rebel-held part of Yemen, says US Central CommandAn American destroyer shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from Yemen on Saturday as it responded to a call for help from a container ship that was hit separately, the US Central Command (Centcom) said.Centcom said the US destroyers Gravely and Laboon...

Three US soldiers were injured in a drone attack in northern Iraq, which Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah group claimed credit forJoe Biden ordered the US military to carry out retaliatory airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia groups after three US service members were injured in a drone attack in northern Iraq.A national security council spokesperson, Adrienne Watson, said one of the troops suffered critical injuries in the...