Five Things to Know, Feb. 5, 2024

1.   The U.S. military has carried out additional self-defense strikes against Houthi missiles, according to U.S. Central Command. At about 5:30 a.m. Sunday, CENTCOM forces targeted a land-attack cruise missile, said a command statement that did not provide further details on that strike. Beginning at 10:30 a.m., U.S. forces struck four anti-ship cruise missiles before they launched against ships in the Rea Sea, the statement said.

2.   A drone attack on a base housing U.S. troops in eastern Syria killed six allied Kurdish fighters late Sunday, in the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the U.S. launched retaliatory strikes over the weekend against Iran-backed militias that have been targeting its forces in the region. The U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Monday the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where the forces’ commando units are trained. No casualties were reported among U.S. troops.

3.   Iran issued a warning Sunday to the U.S. over potentially targeting two cargo ships in the Mideast long suspected of serving as forwarding operating base for Iranian commandos, just after America and the United Kingdom launched a massive airstrike campaign against Yemen's Houthi rebels. The statement from Iran on the Behshad and Saviz ships appeared to signal Tehran's growing unease over the U.S. strikes in recent days in Iraq, Syria and Yemen targeting militias backed by the Islamic Republic.

4.   Congress has only four weeks until its next partial government shutdown deadline, but this week is the only time both chambers are scheduled to be in session simultaneously for the rest of February. The latest federal budget extension runs out on March 1. If lawmakers can’t negotiate another short-term spending deal or a full-year budget agreement by then, parts of the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture and Energy would be forced to halt operations due to a lack of funding.

5.   Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is thinking about dismissing the country’s top military officer as part of a broader leadership shakeup, a possibility that has shocked the nation fighting a war to end Russia’s invasion and also worried Ukraine’s Western allies. Meanwhile, four people were killed and at least one was injured in a Monday afternoon strike over the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, the head of the local military administration said.