A Houthi official said Tuesday that Saudi warplanes struck Yemen, killing three people, including two children, while Human Rights Watch accused the Houthi rebels of possible war crimes with its attacks on commercial vessels.
The renewed fighting in Yemen is endangering civilians and threatening shipping through the Red Sea, a route that has become more important due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. launched its war against Iran.
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Displaced Yemenis are seen at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
Displaced Yemenis sit at their tent at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
A displaced Yemeni carries a carpet at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
Displaced Yemenis chat at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
A doctor examines a displaced child at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
The Associated Press could not independently verify the Houthi official's claim. The official did not say what the Saudi warplanes had targeted.
Here’s a look at the latest news in the Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.
Anees al Asbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, said in a post on X on Tuesday that Saudi airstrikes killed three people, including two children, in Yemen's Taiz province. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify that claim.
Al-Asbahi said another two other people were injured in the strikes.
The escalation comes as the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have seized the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, bolstering their ability to control a key maritime shipping route.
Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas transits in peacetime — in the opening days of the war. The Saudis have since used the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which leads out of the Red Sea, for crude oil exports.
The Houthis’ latest seizures, which follow their capture of the Red Sea port of Mokha and a strategic island last week, puts more pressure on Saudi shipments and, in turn, global oil supplies and prices.
This could give Iran additional leverage in its war with the United States.
Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that at least three attacks by Houthi rebels against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden between Jul. 20 and Aug. 24 could amount to war crimes.
The Houthi attacks against Saudi-linked shipping started in mid-July in the latest flare-up of violence in the Yemen civil war.
Niku Jafarnia, a Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that irrespective of any politics involved, “attacks on civilian crews carried out deliberately or recklessly are war crimes.”
The Houthis say their attacks on Saudi-linked shipping are retaliation for the Saudi-led coalition blockade on the Houthi-held areas in Yemen, a measure related to Yemen's decade-old civil war.
The human rights organization said the Houthis claimed to have attacked at least nine vessels over the span of a month, including two Saudi-flagged vessels, a Tanzania-flagged vessel, and a Dominica-flagged vessel.
The rights group urged the Houthis to “immediately and unconditionally end all unlawful attacks on civilian ships.”
China's Foreign Ministry said Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will visit the country on Wednesday and meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Displaced Yemenis are seen at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
Displaced Yemenis sit at their tent at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
A displaced Yemeni carries a carpet at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
Displaced Yemenis chat at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
A doctor examines a displaced child at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace overnight, officials said Tuesday, less than a day after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that strikes close to the alliance's territory would drive the trans-Atlantic organization to increase its support for Kyiv.
The drone was downed near the village of Pratkūnai in the Kaišiadorys district, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of the country's capital, Vilnius, and near the Kaunas Reservoir, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center said Tuesday.
Lithuania’s military said that the incident marked the first time that a drone had been shot down in the country’s airspace. Authorities didn’t comment on the drone’s origin or purpose, saying the incident needed further investigation.
The incursion follows a speech by Rutte on Monday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where he said that strikes “close to NATO territory” showed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror.”
“Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine,” Rutte said. He also pledged to bolster the 32-nation alliance's own defenses along its long eastern border with Russia.
The menace of drones has repeatedly loomed over the skies of Lithuania, which shares borders with Belarus, a key ally of Moscow, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Antanas Matutis, commander of the Lithuanian air force, said that the wreckage had been found, and the drone was “likely” carrying explosives.
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the crisis center, told Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT that the drone most likely entered from Belarus. It remained in Lithuanian airspace for about 30 minutes and flew along the outskirts of populated areas before being intercepted, he said.
In a separate encounter between Russian and NATO forces Tuesday, Denmark’s Foreign Ministry said that a Danish air force helicopter had been fired upon with flares in connection with “routine photographic coverage” of a Russian frigate in waters off the port of Gedser in the Baltic Sea.
“This is completely unacceptable,” the ministry wrote on X, saying that the Russian ambassador was summoned over the incident.
Meanwhile, Russian drone strikes continued across Ukraine following a social media post from U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed “not to hit” each other’s energy infrastructure.
Trump didn't offer further details on the purported agreement, and Russia didn't immediately comment on Trump’s post. Previous efforts to broker even a partial ceasefire have repeatedly fallen apart within hours, with both sides accusing each other of violations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday that Kyiv was “ready to support de-escalation” if the United States could ensure “Russia is genuinely ready to stop this war.”
But Zelenskyy said in a statement on Tuesday that Moscow had continued to attack Ukraine's energy sector, logistics and critical infrastructure, and that Kyiv had responded by striking an oil refinery in Syzran, a city in western Russia.
“There is no alternative to ending this war. And all forms of pressure on Russia must create the right diplomatic conditions,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Tuesday that Russian strikes on Kyiv had killed one person and wounded seven other people since the start of the day, with attacks carried out on the capital's gas stations.
Another two people were killed in separate Russian strikes in the Ukrainian cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
Elsewhere, Russian forces shot down 222 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
A “massive” Ukrainian drone attack sparked several fires in the Russian city of Taganrog, regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said. He said on Telegram that two apartment buildings and three private homes had been damaged, as well as an educational institution, agricultural warehouses and a site belonging to Russian e-retailer Ozon.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Kyiv's forces had targeted a drone production facility in the city.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo) CAPTION CORRECTION: corrects removes byline attribution
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo) corrects and removes byline attribution
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo) CAPTION CORRECTION: corrects removes byline attribution
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Monaco's Foreign Minister Isabelle Berro-Amadei walks past the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
