AS IT HAPPENED: Trump poised to strike as ground troops arrive; Iran threatens American students in the Middle East; war expands after Houthi attacks on Israel; 'No Kings' protesters rally against US president

Thanks for reading our coverage of the war in the Middle East.

Here's a summary of today's key developments:

The Pentagon is preparing for "weeks of ground operations in Iran".

This came as 3500 Marines and 1000 sailors arrived in the region.

Victoria and Tasmania have pledged to make public transport free, but NSW has knocked back a similar move.

Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon have killed three journalists covering the war.

And massive protests have taken over the streets globally at "No Kings" rallies in opposition to the Trump administration's Middle East actions.

Late yesterday, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis they fired missiles at Israel as they entered the widening conflict in the Middle East. The Israeli military had earlier said it detected a missile from Yemen.

Who they are

The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah (Supporters of God), is one side of the Yemeni civil war. It emerged in the 1990s, when its leader, Hussein al-Houthi, launched "Believing Youth," a religious revival movement for a centuries-old subsect of Shia Islam called Zaidism.

The Zaidis ruled Yemen for centuries but were marginalised under the Sunni regime that came to power after the 1962 civil war. Al-Houthi's movement was founded to represent Zaidis and resist radical Sunnism, particularly Wahhabi ideas from neighbouring Saudi Arabia. His closest followers became known as Houthis.

Yemen's civil war began in 2014, when Houthi forces stormed the capital Sanaa and toppled the internationally recognised and Saudi-backed government. The conflict spiraled into a wider war in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in an attempt to beat back the Houthis.

A ceasefire was signed in 2022, but it lapsed just after six months. Warring parties have not, however, returned to full-scale conflict.

Houthis' allies

The Houthis are backed by Iran, which began increasing its aid to the group in 2014 as the civil war escalated and as its rivalry with Saudi Arabia intensified. Iran has provided the group with weapons and technology for, among other things, sea mines, ballistic and cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a 2021 report from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

The Houthis form part of Iran's so-called "Axis of Resistance" - an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias backed by the Islamic Republic.

How powerful is the group?

American officials have been tracking iterative improvements in the range, accuracy and lethality of the Houthis' domestically produced missiles. Initially, home-grown Houthi weapons were largely assembled with Iranian components smuggled into Yemen in pieces, an official familiar with US intelligence told CNN previously.

They have previously used drones and anti-ship missiles to target commercial ships – some of which aren't believed to be linked to Israel – prompting the USS Carney, a warship in the Red Sea, to respond to distress calls.

Pakistan said Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt have sent top diplomats to Islamabad for talks aimed at ending the war as part of a two-day visit.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (pictured below) said he and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held "extensive discussions" on regional hostilities.

But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Turkish counterpart by phone that Tehran was sceptical about recent diplomatic efforts.

Iranian state-run media said Araghchi accused the US of making "unreasonable demands" and exhibiting "contradictory actions".

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar later spoke with Araghchi and urged "an end to all attacks and hostilities.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington delivered a 15-point "action list" to Iran for a possible ceasefire, with a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restrict Iran's nuclear program, which is the issue at the heart of tensions with the US and Israel.

Tehran rejected the list and presented a five-point proposal that included reparations and recognition of its sovereignty over the waterway.

US ships with around 2500 Marines trained in amphibious landings have arrived, adding to the largest American force in the region in more than two decades.

At least 1000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, trained to land in hostile territory to secure key positions and airfields, have been ordered to the Middle East.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington "can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops".

Houthi Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on the rebels' Al-Masirah satellite television station that they launched missiles toward "sensitive Israeli military sites" in the south.

If the Houthis increase attacks on commercial shipping, as they have in the past, it would further push up oil prices and destabilise "all of maritime security," said Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group.

"The impact would not be limited to the energy market."

The Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is crucial for vessels heading to the Suez Canal through the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through it because the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed.

Houthi rebels attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels, between November 2023 and January 2025. The group said it acted in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.

The Houthis' latest involvement would complicate the deployment of the USS Gerald R Ford, the aircraft carrier that arrived in Croatia on Saturday for maintenance.

Sending the ship to the Red Sea could draw attacks similar to those on the USS Dwight D Eisenhower in 2024 and the USS Harry S Truman in 2025.

The Houthis have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014. Saudi Arabia launched a war against the Houthis on behalf of Yemen's exiled government in 2015 and they now have an uneasy ceasefire.

The president has teased the prospect of putting boots on the ground, but new information could shed light on Trump's next big move in the Middle East.

The Washington Post has reported that the Pentagon is preparing for "weeks of ground operations in Iran", just hours after 2500 US Marines arrived in the region.

Citing top military figures, the Post said "any potential ground operation would fall short of a full-scale invasion and could instead involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops".

Trump has threatened to "unleash hell" on Iran but stopped short of committing ground troops to the cause. It is understood he is still yet to make a final decision.

Two options include a possible seizure of Kharg Island and raids into other coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz, to find and destroy weapons that could target commercial and military vessels.

Transport Minister John Graham said NSW will not follow Victoria and Tasmania in implementing free public transport in the state, as more people use it during the fuel crisis.

"The NSW government isn't going down the path of free public transport for a couple of days, or a month," he said.

"I have to be really clear about this. This situation will last more than a month, we need to keep our powder dry to be able to assist the broader economy, that's the responsibility of the NSW government."

He insisted the fares were cheap enough to be a relief on the hip pockets of people in NSW, and said train patronage in Sydney was up around 4 per cent and that the new Sydney Metro had seen some of its highest days of patronage during the fuel crisis.

He said a fare free period would cost the government millions of dollars a day, but insisted any money saved by not going down this route would be invested straight back into the public transport network.

NSW Transport Minister John Graham has revealed 66 petrol stations are out of fuel across the state.

Speaking to media in Sydney, he added that 371 are out of at least one type of petrol, with 229 out of diesel.

However, he claimed the numbers in regional areas of the state had improved.

He said there had been a slight issue with supply as demand rose sharply, and called on the population to only take what they needed.

"We're asking people to make sure they're thinking about their neighbours and not taking more than they need," he said.

A Coalition frontbencher has blasted Donald Trump over his moves in the Middle East, describing them as a "huge miscalculation".

In an appearance on ABC's Insiders program, opposition industry spokesman Andrew Hastie said the US president's moves meant Iran "has been able to pretty much hold the whole world economy to ransom".

"The economic pain is going to be more acute, and (the Australian public) are going to question the judgement of the president," Hastie said.

The former SAS soldier, who served in Afghanistan, said although he was "pro-American, he could still be "critical of bad strategic decisions".

"There wasn't consultation with allies because had we had a bit more lead time we wouldn't be in the current crisis we are now."

Hastie said as a "close friend" of the US, Australia had a right to ask "hard questions" of the administration.

But he also said given the choice he ultimately sided with the US and Israel.

"If I have to choose between the United States and Israel, and Iran, I'm going to choose democracies rather than a murderous regime which has ambitions to build a nuclear weapon and potentially use it against Israel and the US and allies", he said.

Australian business leaders have urged the federal government to adopt a four-point plan to ease the fuel crisis.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has drafted a plan for the nation's leaders to consider during tomorrow's national cabinet meeting, the ABC reports.

The plan calls on the government to secure extra supply "beyond normal quotas" and implement tougher distribution measures to ensure sufficient stock for regional communities.

It also asks the government to consider measures to effectively manage the surge in demand and panic-buying.

The federal government previously ruled out enforcing fuel rationing.

Nine.com.au has contacted ACCI for more details on this plan.

An Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon has killed three journalists who were covering the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, their TV stations said.

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said its longtime correspondent Ali Shoeib was killed in southern Lebanon. Israel's military said it had targeted Shoeib, accusing him of being a Hezbollah intelligence operative, without providing evidence.

A well-known Lebanese war correspondent, Shoeib had covered southern Lebanon for al-Manar TV for nearly three decades.

Meanwhile, Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV said reporter Fatima Ftouni was killed in the same airstrike in the southern district of Jezzine along with her brother Mohammed, a video journalist. She had just been on air with a live report before the strike.

Top officials in Lebanon condemned the strike, with President Joseph Aoun calling it a "flagrant crime that violates all laws and agreements that protect journalists."

The Israeli army claimed that Shoeib was "operating systematically to expose the locations of (Israeli) soldiers operating in southern Lebanon." It also accused him of maintaining contact with Hezbollah militants and inciting against Israeli troops and civilians, without elaborating.

Al-Manar TV did not respond to the Israeli allegations but described its correspondent as "distinguished by his professional and credible reporting of events."