Iran targets Kuwait in retaliation for US bombardments

Iran fired at Kuwait on Thursday as part of its retaliation for US bombardments earlier in the week. Meanwhile, Israeli police said they arrested a settler allegedly involved in an attack on Palestinians last week.

Sirens sounded in Kuwait early Thursday, where air defences intercepted missiles and drones during a “blatant Iranian aggression,” the Ministry of Defence said on X.

It came after US allies Bahrain and Jordan said their air defence systems also intercepted several Iranian air attacks on Wednesday. Fighting between the US and Iran has increased this week after the US hit Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, saying Iran was planning to use them to shoot mines into the waterway.  Authorities in Israel arrested an Israeli settler for his suspected role in an attack on a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank, according to a police statement Thursday. The statement did not identify the suspect but said he was being held for questioning and that police would request to extend his detention.

The 19-year-old man is believed to have participated in a violent riot in the Palestinian village of Qusra on Saturday, in which settlers threw stones and barricaded themselves inside the home of one of the villagers. Police said they were working with Israel’s domestic security agency to investigate the incident and locate and detain more suspects.

The arrest followed weeks of incursions by Israeli settlers into Qusra, which is located south of the Palestinian city of Nablus.

The settlers staged a siege of several Palestinian homes, including one owned by a Palestinian American man from Ohio. Their actions drew condemnations from US Ambassador Mike Huckabee and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mourners attended the funeral on Thursday of two Palestinians, aged 16 and 19, who were killed by Israeli forces the night before in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli troops fired on them while accompanying settlers into the village of Al-Mughayyir. Amin Abu Aliya, a local official, told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that settlers and Israeli soldiers entered the village, attacked two homes and stole sheep. Residents confronted the settlers and the military responded by firing on them.

The army said that locals had thrown rocks but that no troops were injured. It said the incident was under review but declined to comment on the decision to use lethal force.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health says that close to 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers so far this year.

With his legacy on the line, Netanyahu is imploring his erstwhile allies to unite into larger parties that have a better chance of entering parliament.