Israel kills a top Hamas commander as Jordan sentences 3 in church attack, and other Mideast news

Israeli forces killed a top commander of the militant Hamas group in an overnight airstrike on southern Gaza, Israel said Sunday.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed that it struck a radar system at an American helicopter base in Bahrain. The U.S. military command did not immediately comment on the claim.

Jordan sentenced three men to death for a deadly shooting at a Greek Orthodox Church in the city of Karak last month, state-run Al Mamlaka TV said. And in Yemen, health authorities with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels said an airstrike on Sanaa wounded two women and two children, and blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack, without offering evidence.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Sunday. Read our full coverage here.

Iran says it hit an American radar system in Bahrain

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed early on Sunday that it struck a radar system at an American helicopter base in Bahrain, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, did not immediately comment. The development comes after CENTCOM said on Friday that it intercepted two Iranian drones headed toward Bahrain and denied Iran’s claim at the time that it had struck a U.S. early-warning radar system there.

Bahrain's military said Sunday that its air defense systems had intercepted a number of Iranian projectiles before they reached their targets.

Earlier Sunday, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry issued two nationwide alerts warning of a threat, the first such alerts since September. It did not specify the nature of the threat or say whether anything had been hit.

“Iran continues its systematic hostile approach through its sinful attacks targeting the Kingdom of Bahrain,” the statement added.

Israel says it killed a top Hamas commander in Gaza

Israel said it killed a top Hamas commander in an airstrike on southern Gaza. A Hamas statement confirmed the killing of Samir Mahmoud Hassan Abu Younis, commander of the group's Rafah Brigade, and said a funeral would be held for him later in the day.

The Israeli military said Abu Younis was killed in a strike just after midnight Saturday. It said he had been working to build up Hamas and directing plans “to advance and carry out terror attacks.” Two months earlier, his predecessor was also killed in an Israeli strike.

The military said it targeted other Hamas militants in Sunday’s strike but provided no additional details.

Jordan sentences 3 men to death over deadly church attack

Jordan’s State Security Court on Sunday sentenced three men to death for a deadly shooting at a Greek Orthodox Church in the city of Karak last month, state-run Al Mamlaka TV said. The men were charged with “carrying out terrorist acts.” The Oct. 23 attack was one of the deadliest on Jordan’s Christian minority in decades, with nine people killed and dozens more wounded. The attackers targeted mourners attending a funeral at St. George’s Church in Karak, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the capital, Amman. The three defendants, identified by authorities as two brothers and their brother-in-law, were arrested three days after the attack following a shootout with security forces in Karak. All three were wounded.

Jordanian authorities described the men as followers of an extremist ideology but said they were not affiliated with an organized group. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Days later, Jordan launched airstrikes in southern Syria, saying they targeted militant groups linked to the attack. Syrian authorities disputed Jordan’s account and reported civilian deaths.

Yemen's Houthis say an airstrike wounds 4 as Saudi Arabia intercepts missiles and drones

Houthi health officials say an airstrike on Sanaa, Yemen's capital, wounded two women and two children.

The strike hit a residential neighborhood in northeastern Sanaa early Sunday, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said in a statement, without providing further details or saying what was hit in the strike. It said the wounded were taken to the Muayyad Hospital for treatment.

Ministry spokesman Anees al-Asbahi blamed Saudi Arabia for the strike. There was no immediate comment from the kingdom.

A Saudi military spokesman, meanwhile, said air defense systems intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis early on Sunday toward Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

Two drones were also shot down over the Saudi oil-rich Eastern Region, said the spokesman, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki.

The airstrike in Sanaa and the missile and drone attacks in Saudi Arabia were the latest in a monthslong escalation between the Houthis and the kingdom that has seen a return of fighting in Yemen’s civil war after more than four years of ceasefire.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.