The presence of the 6th Fleet flagship and the service’s second-highest-ranking officer in Europe and Africa is a notable message to competitors that the U.S. remains interested and involved in North Africa, an analyst said.

U.S. airstrikes targeting Yemen’s capital killed 12 people and wounded 30 others, the Houthi rebels said early Monday.

Though the nearly 14-year Syrian civil war came to an end with the fall of Bashar Assad on Dec. 8, war remnants continue to kill and maim. Contamination from land mines and explosive remnants has killed at least 249 people, including 60 children, and injured another 379 since Dec. 8.

The army said the arrests were linked to other detentions announced earlier this week. It added that as military intelligence was investigating that case they got information that a new rocket attack was being planned.

Israel at first claimed that the medics’ vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire but later backtracked. Cellphone video recovered from one of the medics contradicted Israel’s initial account.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Saturday that the U.S. military launched a series of airstrikes on the capital, Sanaa, and the Houthi-held coastal city of Hodeida, less than two days after a U.S. strike wrecked a Red Sea port and killed more than 70 people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said again Saturday that Israel has “no choice” but to continue fighting in Gaza and will not end the war before destroying Hamas, freeing the hostages and ensuring that the territory won’t present a threat to Israel.

Iran and the United States plan to meet over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program again next week, after both sides said they made progress in their talks Saturday in Rome.

Republican Reps. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana and Cory Mills of Florida were in the Syrian capital Friday on an unofficial visit organized by a Syrian-American nonprofit, the first by U.S. legislators since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.

U.S. troops in Syria will begin to consolidate their operations in the country, shutting down some bases in the coming months and leaving less than 1,000 service members there, the Pentagon announced Friday.