{"id":853315,"date":"2026-09-19T14:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T14:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/853315\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T14:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T14:20:12","slug":"saudi-arabia-issues-air-raid-alerts-across-the-country-and-other-mideast-developments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/853315\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia issues air raid alerts across the country, and other Mideast developments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabia warned of a \u201chostile aerial threat\u201d and issued a string of emergency alerts across the kingdom, including in its capital, late Friday and early Saturday. <\/p>\n

Also Saturday, Iran\u2019s state TV reported that a man was executed after being convicted on charges of spying for Israel\u2019s intelligence agency Mossad.<\/p>\n

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Saturday. Full coverage is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia warned of a \u201chostile aerial threat\u201d after issuing emergency alerts, and at least one explosion was heard in Riyadh.<\/p>\n

The alert in Riyadh was the first for the Saudi capital since the latest escalation with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No casualties or damage were reported after the alerts were lifted. Saudi authorities didn’t say what prompted the alerts or the cause of the audible explosions, but they previously reported intercepting incoming Houthi missiles and drones.<\/p>\n

The U.N.\u2019s most powerful body said late Friday that the Houthis’ military escalation, attacks and threats \u201crisk further expanding the conflict, threatening maritime security and international trade,\u201d while undermining regional and international efforts to secure peace in Yemen.<\/p>\n

It warned that continued escalation would exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation in the country.<\/p>\n

The council’s 15 members called for \u201cpractical cooperation\u201d to prevent the Iran-backed Houthis from acquiring arms, military training, financing and other military-related assistance needed to carry out their attacks. They stressed that all countries must enforce the U.N. arms embargo against the rebel group.<\/p>\n

Iran’s state TV reported on Saturday that a man identified as Hossein Pedram was executed after being convicted on charges of spying for Israel\u2019s intelligence agency Mossad.<\/p>\n

The report said Pedram passed on to Israel classified information on \u201csensitive military sites\u201d in Iran’s Isfahan province. It didn’t say how he accessed the classified information.<\/p>\n

Pedram was reportedly arrested after those sites, which included missile bases, were targeted in the 12-day air war by the U.S. and Israel against Iran in June last year. <\/p>\n

A recent surge of executions in Iran prompted an international outcry by human rights groups. <\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry and Shifa Hospital officials said one man was killed in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City. Another man, identified as the son of the ministry’s director general, was killed as he walked in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes.<\/p>\n

The heaviest fighting between Israel and Hamas has subsided since a ceasefire took effect last October, but Israeli fire has killed more than 13,780 Palestinians in Gaza since then, according to health officials in the territory.<\/p>\n

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar discussed uninterrupted energy supplies and safe passage for commercial ships during a telephone call Saturday with his Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Dar underscored the importance of ensuring that ships pass safely and quickly, citing the potential effects of disruptions on developing countries and global supply chains. The statement did not provide details of Araghchi\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

Pakistan has faced rising energy prices as the tensions spiked, increasing pressure on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s government. An Islamist party has threatened to march on the capital, Islamabad, unless the government lowers fuel prices.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s state TV reported Saturday that the Tehran prosecutor\u2019s office filed charges against race organizers after women participated without covering their hair because \u201clegal and Islamic Sharia\u201d wasn\u2019t observed.<\/p>\n

The country’s ruling theocracy<\/a> requires women to wear scarves that cover their hair and loose-fitting clothes that hide their entire bodies. <\/p>\n

Footage circulated online showing many women running the 10-kilometer (6-mile) race without the mandatory hair covering. Habib Sotoudehnejad, head of Tehran\u2019s sports department, said Saturday that about 5% of participants violated race rules.<\/p>\n

The race was run separately for men and women.<\/p>\n

Hard liners in Iran seek harsh penalties against women who appear in public without covering their hair.<\/p>\n

Turkey’s banking watchdog, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, revoked the operating license for the Istanbul branch of Iran’s Bank Mellat.<\/p>\n

The agency said Saturday that it made the decision to protect depositors or the stability of the Turkey’s financial system. <\/p>\n

The announcement comes as the United States is demanding other countries tighten economic measures against Iran.<\/p>\n

Bank Mellat has been subject to Western sanctions for years and was named in 2019 as having links to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps. The U.S. Treasury Department earlier this month imposed sanctions on a Turkish investment bank and two subsidiaries over alleged ties to Iran.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia warned of a \u201chostile aerial threat\u201d and issued a string of emergency alerts across the kingdom,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[232237,4,450,19040,793,451,3073,228242,1576,3,2229,3776,452,453,800,965],"class_list":["post-853315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-espionage","tag-general-news","tag-headlines","tag-indictments","tag-iran-war","tag-military-and-defense","tag-news","tag-religion","tag-sanctions-and-embargoes","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}