Live: Israel shells towns and razes homes in southern Lebanon

Footage of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei "among the people and out in streets, as well in meetings with the commanders of armed forces" will be released in the future, Basij Organisation deputy Qasem Qoraishi reportedly said on Sunday.

Khamenei, who was appointed supreme leader in March, has not been seen in public since his appointment.

The report on the Iranian judiciary's news outlet Mizan appeared to be aimed at addressing speculation about his health.

Senior Iranian sources have said he suffered facial disfigurement and other injuries in the US-Israeli strike that killed his father on 28 February.

Yemen's Houthi said they had targeted "Saudi enemy" troops and equipment on Yemen's Red Sea coast city of Mokha after residents there said they heard blasts.

The group's military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Houthis had "carried out a large-scale and precise military operation targeting Saudi enemy troop concentrations and weapons depots in the Mokha area," using "a large number of ballistic missiles and drones".

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have said they will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the US accepts all of Tehran's demands.

"Our current strategy is to maintain this strait until the enemy accepts all our conditions," said IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebi on Sunday, as quoted by state television, adding that "the strait is now actually a theatre of war for us and not just a waterway".

Iran and the US are not engaged in talks and Tehran will not start them as long as Washington breaches the interim deal signed in June, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday, adding that messages are being exchanged via intermediaries.

Araghchi repeated Iran's position that an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz between Tehran and Muscat was in the "final stages" but would not reopen the strategic waterway.

In comments reported by Mehr news agency, he said the agreement would set out the new shipping lanes to be used once the US fulfils other conditions and the strait is reopened to traffic.

Yemen's Houthis have claimed a drone attack on Saudi Aramco's refinery in Jizan, saying the attack was in response to Saudi drone attacks on Yemen’s Saada and Hajjah provinces, according to Al Masirah TV.

Saudi Arabia's ministry of energy earlier said firefighters have “extinguished a fire that broke out at dawn” in a facility belonging to the refinery in Jizan, without specifying what caused the fire.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Iran has asked the US to “correct its behaviour” and set six conditions for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, including permanently halting military action against Iran and its regional allies.

US vice president JD Vance said the US has made progress in negotiations with Iran, but Washington remains focused on determining whether Tehran “is willing to make longer-term changes that could lead to an improved relationship with Washington”.

Israeli settler attacks continue in the West Bank, with Palestinian media outlets reporting that Palestinian property was torched in an overnight attack. 

Here are the latest developments:
•    Firefighters have “extinguished a fire that broke out at dawn” in a facility belonging to the Saudi Aramco Refinery in Jizan.

•    Israeli troops infiltrated a Lebanese village placed under the control of Lebanon's army as part of a June agreement, building an earthen barrier there overnight.

•    A girl and her father were wounded when an Israeli drone crashed in the town of Kfar Rumman in southern Lebanon.

•    Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz quietly authorised rehabilitation work in southern Gaza two weeks ago, Israeli Army Radio has reported.

•    Hamas has said it remained ready to proceed with a US-backed Gaza peace plan and urged pressure on Israel, which insists it did not agree to the latest part of the deal.

•    Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s internationally recognised government join a chorus of countries that have condemned the attack on an oil tanker operated by the UAE’s ADNOC.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz quietly authorised rehabilitation work in southern Gaza two weeks ago, Israeli Army Radio has reported.

Netanyahu’s green flag to the work, which involves laying infrastructure for future residential housing, comes despite his repeated vows that reconstruction would not begin until Hamas is disarmed.

The report said the work is under way in eastern Rafah, inside Israeli military-controlled territory near the so-called Yellow Line separating Israeli forces from Hamas-held areas. 

Netanyahu’s office, however, insists the project began months ago, describing it as a UAE-backed scheme for temporary housing "free of Hamas rule", according to the report.

Israeli settlers have set fire to Palestinian property overnight in Wadi Rahim in the southern West Bank, according to Palestinian media outlets.

Footage posted on X by these outlets shows settlers entering homes in the Hebron Hills village and setting fire to furniture.

#متابعة | مستوطنون يُضرمون النيران في ممتلكات الأهالي خلال هجومهم على منطقة "واد الرخيم" بمسافر يطا، جنوب #الخليل pic.twitter.com/ojG8EtIKGq

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) August 9, 2026

Lebanon’s Central Criminal Investigations Bureau has arrested former Syrian army officer Major General Adel Issa, who is wanted by Syria for “crimes against humanity”.

An arrest warrant in absentia had been issued by the Syrian judiciary against Issa, who served as commander of the 17th Division of the Syrian Army during Bashar Al-Assad’s rule, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

Lebanese judge Ahmad Rami Al-Hajj has notified the Syrian Public Prosecutor of Issa’s arrest and requested that the judicial file be submitted for review to determine whether he can be handed over to the Syrian authorities, NNA reported.

The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed a criminal complaint with Vietnamese authorities against Israeli reservist Matan Jerafi, who is currently vacationing in Vietnam.

In a statement, HRF said Jerafi is the CEO of the Israeli NGO Im Tirtzu and a member of the 920th Infantry Battalion of the 769th Brigade.

HRF said evidence indicates Jerafi took part in destroying civilian infrastructure in Gaza between December 2023 and January 2024 and in Lebanon between October and November 2024.

In a February 2024 statement, Jerafi said Gaza's civilians were “part of Hamas” and that there should be no “mercy” for them, according to HRF.

Natacha Bracq, HRF's head of litigation, said: “Vietnam, as a signatory to the Geneva Conventions and the Genocide Convention, has a clear legal obligation to investigate HRF’s serious allegations. It is unacceptable that Matan Jerafi is vacationing among the Vietnamese people after having actively participated in and publicly incited the genocide of Palestinians.”

🚨🇻🇳 The #HindRajabFoundation has filed a criminal complaint in Vietnam against Israeli reservist and CEO of the Israeli Zionist NGO Im Tirtzu, Matan Jerafi. Jerafi documented his deployment to Gaza and southern Lebanon, and weaponized his public platform to actively advocate for… pic.twitter.com/GVXS7QBUP3

— The Hind Rajab Foundation (@HindRFoundation) August 8, 2026

Hamas has said it remained ready to proceed with a US-backed Gaza peace plan and urged pressure on Israel, which insists it did not agree to the latest part of the deal.

A Hamas official told AFP that the group had informed US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace that it stood by the latest stage of the plan, under which the militants would hand over weapons to a nascent Palestinian governing committee in the war-battered territory.

Trump last week had hailed as a breakthrough that Hamas had agreed to disarmament under the plan, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel had not agreed to the "draft" presented by the Board of Peace.
 

Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif has called for a “united military front” against Israel, calling it “a threat to the entire Muslim world”.

In an interview with Pakistan’s Geo News, after the country signed a landmark defence agreement with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Asif said: “Given Israel’s current conduct, as well as the historical evidence of what it has been doing, at one stage, in 1948 or 1947, what I consider an illegitimate state came into being. It was, I believe, a product of the Balfour Declaration.”

“During that period as well, fighting continued and the Palestinians continued to resist. So, in my view, this is at the very least a situation that the entire Islamic world will have to come together and confront.”

“In my view, there is no room for disagreement on this. Until the issue of the Palestinian people is resolved according to their aspirations, the issue will remain,” he added.

He said the “anti-Palestinian and anti-Islamic nature” of the Israeli state "would not change, irrespective of who comes to power" and "they will continue to play off one Muslim nation against another".

Saudi Arabia has condemned the attack on an oil tanker operated by the UAE’s ADNOC while transiting the Strait of Hormuz as “an assault on global energy security”.

The UAE had blamed Iran for the attack, condemned also by Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar and Syria.

In a statement, the Saudi ministry of foreign affairs said: “These reprehensible attacks constitute an assault on the security and safety of maritime navigation, as well as on the security of global energy supplies.”

The statement added that the kingdom “holds Iran responsible for the consequences of its continued acts of aggression and calls on Iran to immediately cease these violations”.

Yemen’s ministry of foreign affairs joined the condemnation and called the attack “a serious threat to the security and safety of maritime navigation and commercial vessels”.

Firefighters have “extinguished a fire that broke out at dawn” in a facility belonging to the Saudi Aramco Refinery in Jizan, the kingdom's ministry of energy said, without specifying what caused fire.

No casualties were reported by the ministry. Oil facilities in Jizan have been the target of Yemen's Houthis during the ongoing Iran-US war. 

Israeli troops infiltrated a Lebanese village placed under the control of Lebanon's army as part of a June agreement, building an earthen barrier there overnight.

An AFP correspondent saw the barrier, situated at the village's eastern entrance and blocking the road. The local authorities said it was unclear if any Israeli forces remained in the area.

"An Israeli occupation army force advanced into the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiya shortly after midnight... and erected a new earthen barrier near the town square," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Zawtar al-Gharbiya was one of two designated "pilot zones" where the Lebanese army was to take over as part of a US-sponsored framework agreement signed with Israel.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was "not aware of such an event in this area".

Israeli forces continue to occupy a broad band of territory in the south along the border. Its invasion and widespread bombing campaign have killed more than 4,300 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more. (Reporting by AFP)