A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Pratik Kanjilal, Sidharth Bhatia, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Seema Chishti, and Tanweer Alam | Contributing writers: Kalrav Joshi, Anirudh SK
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Snapshot of the day
October 22, 2026
Anirudh S.K., Kalrav Joshi
As the risk of further escalation looms over West Asia, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pulling out all the stops to regain control of the narrative ahead of next week’s elections, with his political future hanging in the balance. Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Netanyahu held a telephone conversation earlier today. Netanyahu said his “friend” Modi had told him that “India and Israel are fighting terrorism together”. He also said he invited Modi to light a torch alongside Indian pilot Smit Machchhar on Israel’s Independence Day next May. Modi, in his own account of the conversation, said the two leaders had “underscored the urgent need to restore peace and stability in the region” but did not acknowledge Netanyahu’s invitation.
Their conversation comes amid mounting concerns over the war’s direct economic and strategic fallout for India. The Indian embassy in Riyadh confirmed on Thursday that one Indian national was killed and two others were injured in an attack on the Dammam Airport in eastern Saudi Arabia. Authorities did not say who carried out the attack and the Iran-backed Houthis have not commented. Dammam’s King Fahd Airport has previously been attacked amid a wider wave of Houthi strikes targeting major airports in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier in the day, Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for the Houthis, claimed on X, citing “preliminary information”, that Saudi Arabia had targeted a yacht carrying 14 Indian nationals near Zuqar Island in the Red Sea, close to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Saree, who claimed the Houthis are rescuing the Indian nationals, described the alleged attack as a threat to international navigation; his statement did not mention any casualties. India said it is “ascertaining further details about the incident” and that it will provide all possible help to the 14 Indians.
Amid escalating drone and missile attacks attributed to the Houthis, the US order for non-emergency government personnel and their families to leave its embassy in Riyadh and associated consular posts may reflect its preparations for renewed strikes on Iran and the risk of Iranian retaliation against Saudi Arabia. This comes a day after the Financial Times reported that US President Donald Trump had rejected Netanyahu’s proposal for a “major attack” on Iran before the November 3 US midterm elections earlier this month. Trump, meanwhile, faces mounting domestic pressure over the war’s economic costs, his campaign rhetoric and divisions within his administration.
Back home, an RTI request
