CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's top security body said Sunday it has agreed to support close ally Saudi Arabia in the major escalation of fighting between the kingdom and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, which has marked the latest front in the Iran war.
Saudi Arabia has been pressing allies for military assistance. The Houthis have repeatedly attacked airports and oil infrastructure across the kingdom with drones and missiles that can change direction during flight, posing a challenge to interceptors. At least 19 people have been killed, thousands of flights have been affected and global markets have been rattled.
Also on Sunday, the Saudi defense minister was meeting with the United Arab Emirates president about ways to strengthen cooperation, according to the UAE’s news agency WAM. The countries have had tense relations in the recent past as they backed different factions in the Yemeni coalition fighting the rebels.
The Egyptian announcement on military assistance came a month after a visit by the Saudi crown prince. Chaired by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the National Defense Council decided to provide “all possible forms of support” to enable Saudi Arabia to defend its security, according to a presidential statement.
It didn’t provide details. El-Sissi on Saturday called for parliament to grant him the authorization to deploy troops and military equipment abroad.
Later Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty spoke by phone about “the latest regional developments.”
The surge in fighting has threatened civilians in both Saudi Arabia and Yemen, which has seen a return to civil war. The interim capital of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, Aden, has seen its airport and a palace used by the government attacked in the past week.
On Sunday, an airstrike killed at least nine people, including five children and two women, in Yemen’s rebel-held northern province of Saada, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said.
Spokesperson Anees al-Asbahi said the strike hit a house in Sahar district and wounded 19 others, including 11 children. Some were in critical condition, he said.
Al-Asbahi blamed Saudi Arabia. There was no immediate comment from the kingdom. The Houthi-run al-Masirah satellite channel aired footage of people clearing debris with their hands and pulling two young people out of the rubble.
The rebels said attacks by Saudi-led forces had killed or wounded over 30 people in the past 24 hours. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthis' military spokesperson, said 110 missiles or airstrikes were carried out against civilian sites in Sanaa and other cities. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim.
Across the border in Saudi Arabia, a Saudi helicopter gunship crashed near the city of Najran in the southwest, killing its two-member crew, a Saudi military spokesperson said, citing a technical malfunction. The Houthis earlier claimed to have downed it.
Later, Saudi Civil Defense authorities said a projectile fired by the Houthis landed in a residential area of Najran province, wounding six people.
The Houthis have resumed attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent weeks because the kingdom has supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government in the civil war. The rebels recently seized more territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
The Houthis’ chief negotiator on Sunday blamed Saudi Arabia for the escalation. Mohamed Abdulsalam said on social media that the rebels had warned the kingdom against striking the rebel-held Sanaa airport in mid-July.
That strike prevented the landing of an Iranian flight carrying a Houthi delegation returning from the funeral of Iran’s supreme leader, who had been killed in the opening strikes of the war in February.
The Houthis, angry over the longstanding Saudi blockade on them, declared their own blockade on the kingdom.
Oman had offered a five-day truce during which the two sides would meet and settle their dispute, Abdulsalam said. He said the Houthis agreed to stop attacks if Saudi Arabia agreed to “humanitarian demands.” He didn’t elaborate.
He said Saudi Arabia didn’t show “any indication that it is ready to deal positively” with the demands. The rebels shortly after that launched their offensive down the Red Sea coast.
A Saudi diplomat last week in a rare briefing said the kingdom had called for a meeting in Oman with the Houthis in July “to resolve outstanding differences and bring an end to this escalation,” but the rebels refused to participate.
On Sunday, the Sunni Muslim world’s foremost religious institution, Al-Azhar in Egypt, called for the formation of an “urgent mediation committee” to end conflicts across the Arab region.
People ride in a pickup truck during a funeral procession for a Houthi officer in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. The Arabic banner reads, "Martyr Mazen Abdallah." (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday announced plans to close a historic public golf course in the nation's capital for 15 months and redevelop it despite an ongoing court challenge to his long-sought renovation.
Trump posted on social media about his intent to shutter the East Potomac Golf Course, not far from the White House, starting Nov. 15 to make it “one of the Best and Most Spectacular Golf Courses anywhere in the World.”
A judge last week, however, ordered a halt to his redevelopment plans until at least Oct. 26 after scolding the government for starting a large-scale tree removal at the course over a holiday weekend while providing little notice to the court or the plaintiffs trying to stop the makeover.
Trump did not acknowledge the legal fight in his post, which included an artist's rendering for the course redesign.
“When completed, it will be open to the Public while, at the same time, designed to the Highest Level of Golf and able to hold World Class Tournaments such as the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup, and the Presidents Cup,” Trump wrote.
Democracy Forward, which is representing the plaintiffs challenging his renovation plans, responded by saying that the course is part of a national park and recreation facility that is meant for everyone to enjoy.
“Our litigation is intended to protect this community jewel for the people and communities it serves and we will continue to work with our plaintiffs to defend it from unlawful and harmful intrusion,” Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of the group, said in a statement.
The judge in the case took notice of Trump's online message and ordered the government to notify her by 8 p.m. EDT Sunday whether its position had changed from a court filing Friday that said “at most” Trump has given “preliminary thought” to the rebuilding plan and “there is no final agency action.”
Trump, a golf aficionado who plays often, had already announced plans to makeover the links as part of his broader push to renovate and refurbish places around Washington, including the White House and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Many of his projects, including plans for a huge ballroom at the White House, the installation of his own name on the Kennedy Center and construction of a massive arch, have been challenged in courts.
The 106-year-old park and course has been the subject of many emergency hearings as the president has sought to renovate it. While it has been open to Washingtonians of all income levels, opponents of Trump's plans to turn it into a high-end course have argued it will alter the character of the space and make it less affordable to people.
Trump in his post echoed arguments he has made to justify his plans to remake the Kennedy Center, arguing it is in such dangerous condition that it needs to close.
“The current Course is old, broken, dilapidated, and of no further use or effect. It is in very poor condition, with falling, dangerous, and disease infested trees and, importantly, a collapsing and hazardous seawall,” Trump wrote.
Debris from the demolition of the White House East Wing to make way for his ballroom project has also been dumped on the grounds. The National Park Service has said the debris tested positive for lead, chromium and other toxic metals.
Trump also sought to justify the National Park Service's removal of hundreds of trees that the judge paused, writing in his announcement that when the gold course was originally built, “it was famous for no trees, with views of Washington, D.C., for all to see, but now, it is completely overgrown, dysfunctional, and unsafe.”
Trump’s post outlining a clear plan for construction complicates a federal court hearing scheduled for Monday in a lawsuit filed by the DC Preservation League and two golfers opposing the construction.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes has ordered key members of the Republican administration to testify on the recent tree-cutting and whether those actions are tied to the president’s plans for the historical public links.
The administration on Friday asked for Reyes to be replaced on the case, questioning her impartiality and citing what it called “egregious” behavior from the bench in response to an emergency hearing Oct. 12. Her frustration boiled over in a three-hour hearing when she lambasted the government’s attorney for the lack of notification she and the plaintiffs received before the trees were chopped down.
At the upcoming hearing, the judge is expected to address the request that she step aside. Meanwhile, over the weekend the plaintiffs asked that she grant them a more long-standing preliminary injunction in the case and/or a stay.
Associated Press writer Gary Fields in Washington contributed to this report.
Golfers tee off near log sections cut from trees at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Golfers walk near log sections cut from trees at the East Potomac Golf Links, in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
A golfer walks past cut down trees and piles of wood chips at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Golfers tee off near log sections cut and tree stumps at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A golfer walks near log sections cut from trees at the East Potomac Golf Links, in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
