 U.S. strikes have stopped Iran proxies in Iraq, Syria but not Houthi attacks on ships. As attacks by Iran backed Houthis continue in the Red Sea, the commander in charge of U.S. military operations in the Middle East says the U.S. needs to stop Iran from providing the militants with weapons. The most important thing is to deny their ability to resupply from Iran. The Houthis are not building, they're putting it all together and assembling but they don't create inertial navigation systems. They don't create medium-range ballistic missiles, missile engines. General Eric Kurilla, the chief of U.S. Central Command, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He credited the retaliatory strikes on some 85 targets in Iraq and Syria, including a drone strike on a top Qataib Hezbollah commander with restoring and informal ceasefire in those countries. Iran has to understand there are consequences to their actions, said Kurilla. But I will tell you, deterrence is always temporary. The unofficial detent has come after a period that saw the Iranian-linked groups launch some 175 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria after the October 7th attack by Hamas militants on Israel. The surprise attack by Hamas militants raised tensions across the region as Israel launched a retaliatory war against Gaza, a Palestinian enclave. Kurilla described the Hamas attack as having permanently changed the region. It created the conditions for malign actors to sow instability throughout the region and beyond, he said. Iran exploited what they saw as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape the Middle East to their advantage, blaming Iran for the uptick in violence throughout the region. Kurilla said the country should face more consequences for its actions. Neither the United States nor Iran, he added, wants to fight the other directly. While violence has dropped in Iraq and Syria, it has increased off Yemen's coast. Repeated U.S. strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are also backed by Iran, have not deterred the group from its attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, Kurilla said. The Houthis claim the attacks are in retaliation against those supporting Israel's war in Gaza. The Ukrainian Armed Forces ousted the invaders from the village of Tonank, west of Avdiivka. Bill Tabloid reported this. According to the publication's analyst Julian Repke, Ukrainian troops have regained full control over the village, but the occupiers are firing at it with artillery. Earlier, Repke wrote that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are having difficulty holding the defense on the line Berdikai, Semyonovka, Orlovka, Tonankoy. The founder of the conflict intelligence team, Ruslan Leviev, also reported about heavy fighting in this direction. Our military is heroically resisting and trying to repel the enemy from the occupied lines, said Captain Ilya Yevlash, a spokesperson for the defenders in the area. A spokesperson for the Tavria group of forces fighting there said they were managing to build tank trenches, ramparts and bunkers but these were isolated, not contiguous. It may not have been a coincidence that Ukraine's military announced record spending on fortifications in the Zaporizhia region on the southern front. Russian troops claim to have advanced marginally at many points along the battlefront in Donetsk. Another advance was confirmed in the village of Novomykilivka. Geolocated footage published showed Russian forces in the field south of the settlement.