Algeria severs ties with UAE as Houthi war widens
Algeria's diplomatic break with the UAE reshapes Arab alignments while Yemeni government forces launch a counteroffensive against the Houthis.
Algeria severs ties with UAE as Houthi war widens — Algeria announced the severance of diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, a rupture that reshuffles alignments in a region already strained by the expanding Houthi war and the Gaza conflict.[^1] The move comes as Yemeni government forces launched a counteroffensive against the Houthi terror group on several fronts — in Al-Jawf, Al-Bayda, Taiz, and Al-Hudaydah — aiming to retake territory as the Houthis advance toward the Bab el-Mandeb strait.[^2][^3] Saudi authorities reported that Houthi attacks on Sept. 8 struck sites in Abha, Jazan, Najran, and Khamis Mushait, injuring 73 people.[^4] Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, speaking on the sidelines of the MEAD conference, said his country is willing to contribute up to 2,000 soldiers to the International Stabilization Force planned for Gaza — a US-led force intended eventually to deploy some 20,000 troops.[^5] Abdullahi noted Somaliland has an army of approximately 25,000 soldiers and a coast guard of some 1,500 personnel.[^5] In December, Israel became the first country to formally recognize Somaliland as an independent state, and Somaliland opened an embassy in Jerusalem in June.[^5] Former senior US official Elliott Abrams stated that Israel's retaliatory measures against Britain — which followed the British government's September 8 announcement banning imports from Judea and Samaria — were designed to make London "wince."[^6] Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. (res.) Eliezer Cheney Marom estimated in an interview with 103FM radio that American economic pressure could lead to the collapse of the Iranian regime within weeks. The question is whether Algeria's diplomatic break signals a broader realignment or remains an isolated protest. New IDF autonomous weapons, Iran missile barrages, and a Gaza Division intelligence officer's identity battle — Last night, FUSE, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, unveiled new autonomous weapon systems already in use by the IDF, including drones with a flight range of over one hundred kilometers. [^1] The timing coincides with an intensifying multi-front threat picture: Iranian forces have launched ballistic missi