Under a US-sponsored agreement signed last month, Lebanon’s army is to disarm Hezbollah and the Israeli military is to withdraw from “pilot zones” where Lebanese forces will subsequently deploy.

The deal came more than three months after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East with rocket fire at Israel in support of Tehran, triggering major Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.

US Central Command has said it intercepted missiles during an attempted “surprise attack” from Iran.

American forces “remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness”, CENTCOM wrote on X.

The Yemeni rebel group was formed in the 1990s as a political-religious Shia movement orchestrating a series of guerrilla wars against Yemen’s national army.

They currently control significant parts of northwestern Yemen, including its capital Sana’a, after seizing it following the country’s 2014 civil war when they forced the government to step down.

A Saudi-led, western-backed coalition took over, which the Houthis have spent years fighting with the assistance of Iran, before a UN-brokered deal in 2022. A Saudi and UAE bombing campaign against Houthi targets was launched in 2015 and drew criticism over civilian deaths, leading to calls for the UK to cease arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis are skilled at maritime warfare having disrupted shipping routes before, most recently during Israel’s war on Gaza in 2024.

They launched systematic attacks on commercial ships associated with Israel transiting through Bab el-Mandeb, a key gateway to the Suez Canal, in the Red Sea, forcing the vessels to be rerouted.

At the time, traffic through the Suez Canal dropped sharply, insurance costs surged and global supply chains slowed down.

Yemeni ​Houthis are looking to copy Iran’s Hormuz strategy in the Red Sea by disrupting shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb.

Yemen’s ⁠top diplomat said that the movement has been emboldened by an insufficient international response.

Foreign Minister-designate Afrah Al-Zouba told journalists on Monday: “The Houthis want to copy the Iranian model and this will shut down two main straits, the gateways into the Gulf and Red Sea.”

The Red Sea has become a new front in the Iran war, with the Houthis taking ⁠an escalatory approach against Saudi Arabia by firing missiles and drones ​at ⁠the kingdom and declaring a blockade ‌on Saudi shipping.

Maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has remained diminished as the Iran war drags on.

Just three ships passed through the vital oil waterway in the past 24 hours, according to the Hormuz Strait Monitor.

It comes as the US military announced that it has redirected 18 ships, disabled two and boarded two as part of its blockade of Iranian ports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has detailed what he called an “excellent” meeting with US President Donald Trump.

“A conversation with full partnership, with mutual support, with an understanding of the common goal of ensuring that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, and other goals as well”, Netanyahu said after his White House visit.

President Donald Trump appears to have backtracked on threats to “decimate” Iran, saying that the US was now in a “great position” in negotiations with Tehran.

Six days ago the US leader had threatened to destroy a bridge or power plant every time Iran attacked a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

However, on Tuesday, he told Fox News that he “would like to avoid attacking power plants and bridges”. “I’m not looking to do that,” he added.