Yemen’s Houthis vows revenge for US, UK airstrikes

Yemen’s Houthis vows revenge for US, UK airstrikes
Houthi movement supporters rally to denounce air strikes launched by the U.S. and Britain on Houthi targets, in Sanaa, Yemen January 12, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 13 January 2024
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Yemen’s Houthis vows revenge for US, UK airstrikes

Yemen’s Houthis vows revenge for US, UK airstrikes
  • US and allies carried out attacks on more than 60 targets in Houthi-controlled regions on Friday

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen's Houthi militias on Friday vowed vengeance against US and UK airstrikes on regions under their control in reaction to their Red Sea raids.

This comes as hundreds of Houthi sympathizers took to the streets of Sanaa and other northern Yemeni provinces to condemn the attacks and show solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the UK and US carried out 73 airstrikes on different locations in Sanaa, Hodeidah, Taiz, Hajjah, and Saada on Friday morning, killing five of their troops and injuring six more.

He vowed to strike back at US and UK targets in the Red Sea or on land.

“The American and British enemies hold full responsibility for their illegal attack on our Yemeni people, and it will not go unanswered or unpunished. Yemen's military forces will not hesitate to attack danger sources and hostile targets on land and at sea in defense of Yemen, its sovereignty, and its independence,” Sarea said in a broadcast statement.

The US Central Command said on Friday that it has carried out attacks on more than 60 targets in Houthi-controlled regions, including command centers, munition depots, launching systems, industrial facilities, and air defense radar systems.

People in Sanaa, Hodeidah, and Taiz reported hearing massive explosions and enormous balls of flames billowing from Houthi military installations when the US and UK started hitting them at about 2.45 a.m. (local time).

The operations were carried out in reprisal for more than 20 Houthi missile and drone assaults on commercial and naval ships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis claim to be targeting only Israeli-linked vessels sailing to Israel in order to push Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza.

Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, head of the group’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, called the airstrikes "barbaric and terrorist," and said that the militia will react against the two nations and continue to block the Red Sea in front of all Israel-bound ships in support of Palestine.

“The American-British attacks are barbaric, terrorist, and unjustifiable action that reveals a cruel psyche,” Al-Houthi said in a post on X.

Mohammed Abdul Sallam, the top Houthi negotiator, reiterated condemnation of the UK and US bombings, reaffirming the militia's assertions that they were solely targeting Israeli ships and not endangering Red Sea security.

“They committed foolishness with this treacherous aggression, and they were mistaken if they believed it would prevent Yemen from backing Palestine and Gaza. Yemen maintains its religious and humanitarian position and will do all possible to support Gaza,” Abdul Sallam said on X.

At the same time, the airstrikes sparked bitter debate in Yemen, primarily among Houthi opponents, with some Yemenis strongly supporting the airstrikes and calling for the Houthi to be expelled from areas under their control in Yemen, while others saw the airstrikes as an aggression that would fuel instability in Yemen.

Kamel Al-Khodani, a Houthi critic, backed the bombings and advocated for more ground military actions to drive the Houthis out of Hodeidah and the other Yemeni provinces under their control.

“In the same way that you seek to eliminate the Houthi threat and its threat to international navigation, we seek to eliminate its dangers and crimes against us, and just as you seek to liberate the sea and protect your interests, we seek to liberate the land and protect our regions,” Al-Khodani said on x, that irritated Houthi sympathizers.

Despite being sentenced to death in absentia by a Houthi court for backing the Yemeni government, Yemeni MP Mohammed Nasser Al-Hazmi condemned the airstrikes, calling them an act of aggression against Yemen.

“Attacking any part of Yemen is deemed a clear and condemnable enmity, and no sensible person would support it,” Al-Hazmi said.

Yemen's government blamed Houthi assaults on ships in the Red Sea for prompting the US and UK to strike Yemen, accusing them of using the Gaza crisis for propaganda purposes.

Yemeni political experts say that the airstrikes were intended to convey a message of deterrence to the Houthis and would not eliminate Houthi threats to Red Sea international navigation traffic.

Maged Al-Madhaji, chairman of the Sanaa Center For Strategic Studies, said on X that airstrikes had already destroyed expectations of attaining peace in Yemen, and the trajectory of the situation in Yemen was dependent on "imminent" Houthi reprisal assaults.

“The US-UK strikes will not undermine the Houthis' ability to pose a threat in the Red Sea. Nonetheless, it's a calculated message of deterrence. The scale and scope of any subsequent strikes will expand depending on the Houthi response, which seems imminent,” Al-Madhaji said.


Syria state TV says Israel struck bridges near border with Lebanon

Syria state TV says Israel struck bridges near border with Lebanon
Updated 22 sec ago
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Syria state TV says Israel struck bridges near border with Lebanon

Syria state TV says Israel struck bridges near border with Lebanon
  • The defense ministry said “the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of Lebanese territory, targeting crossing points that it had previously hit” between the two countries

DAMASUS: Syrian state television reported Israeli strikes on several bridges in the Qusayr region near the Lebanese border on Monday, with the defense ministry reporting two civilians injured in the attacks.
Israel’s military has intensified its strikes on targets in Syria since its conflict with Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon escalated into full-scale war in late September after almost a year of cross-border hostilities.
“An Israeli aggression targeted the bridges of Al-Jubaniyeh, Al-Daf, Arjoun, and the Al-Nizariyeh Gate in the Qusayr area,” state television said, with official news agency SANA reporting damage in the attacks.
The defense ministry said “the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of Lebanese territory, targeting crossing points that it had previously hit” between the two countries.
The attacks “injured two civilians and caused material losses,” it added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, based in Britain, said the attacks had “killed two Syrians working with Hezbollah and injured five others,” giving a preliminary toll.
Earlier, the monitor with a network of sources in Syria had said the “Israeli strikes targeted” an official land border crossing in the Qusayr area and six bridges on the Orontes River near the border with Lebanon.
Since September, Israel has bombed land crossings between Lebanon and Syria, putting them out of service. It accuses Hezbollah of using the routes, key for people fleeing the war in Lebanon, to transfer weapons from Syria.

 

 


Iraqis sentenced to prison in $2.5bn corruption case

Iraqis sentenced to prison in $2.5bn corruption case
Updated 4 min 13 sec ago
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Iraqis sentenced to prison in $2.5bn corruption case

Iraqis sentenced to prison in $2.5bn corruption case
  • A criminal court in Baghdad specializing in corruption cases issued the prison sentences ranging from three to 10 years, a statement from Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said

BAGHDAD: An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced to prison former senior officials, a businessman and others for involvement in the theft of $2.5 billion in public funds — one of Iraq’s biggest corruption cases.
The three most high-profile individuals sentenced — businessman Nour Zuhair, as well as former prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhemi’s cabinet director Raed Jouhi and a former adviser, Haitham Al-Juburi — are on the run and were tried in absentia.
The scandal, dubbed the “heist of the century,” has sparked widespread anger in Iraq, which is ravaged by rampant corruption, unemployment and decaying infrastructure after decades of conflict.
A criminal court in Baghdad specializing in corruption cases issued the prison sentences ranging from three to 10 years, a statement from Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said.
Thirteen people received sentences on Monday, according to member of Parliament Mostafa Sanad.
Most of them, 10, are from Iraq’s tax authority and include its former director and deputy, he added on his Telegram channel.
Iraq revealed two years ago that at least $2.5 billion was stolen between September 2021 and August 2022 through 247 cheques that were cashed by five companies.
The money was then withdrawn in cash from the accounts of those firms.
A judicial source told AFP that some tax officials charged were in detention, without detailing how many.
Businessman Zuhair was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to the judiciary statement.
He was arrested at Baghdad airport in October 2022 as he was trying to leave the country, but released on bail a month later after giving back more than $125 million and pledging to return the rest in instalments.
The wealthy businessman was back in the news in August after he reportedly had a car crash in Lebanon, following an interview he gave to an Iraqi news channel.
Juburi, the former prime ministerial adviser, received a three-year prison sentence. He also returned $2.6 million before disappearing, a judicial source told AFP.
Kadhemi’s cabinet director Raed Jouhi, also currently outside Iraq, was sentenced to six years in prison — alongside “a number of officials involved in the crime,” according to the judiciary’s statement.
Corruption is rampant across Iraq’s public institutions, but convictions typically target mid-level officials or minor players and rarely those at the top of the power hierarchy.
 

 


11 killed in Kurdish-led attacks in north Syria: war monitor

11 killed in Kurdish-led attacks in north Syria: war monitor
Updated 8 min 58 sec ago
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11 killed in Kurdish-led attacks in north Syria: war monitor

11 killed in Kurdish-led attacks in north Syria: war monitor
  • Seven Turkiye-backed militants were also killed in the attack and in an operation by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that control swathes of northeast Syria.

BEIRUT: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Monday 11 people including civilians were killed in attacks by a Kurdish-led force on positions of Turkiye-backed militants in north Syria.
“A woman, her two children and a man were killed... in the bombing of a military position... used by Ankara-backed factions for human smuggling operations to Turkiye,” the Britain-based monitor said.
It said seven Turkiye-backed militants were also killed in that incident and in an operation by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that control swathes of northeast Syria.
SDF special forces infiltrated a Turkiye-backed group’s military position and killed three militants, said the monitor with a network of sources inside Syria.
The SDF also booby-trapped a military position as they withdrew, in an attack that killed another four pro-Turkiye militants but also four civilians including a woman and her two children, the Observatory said.
On Sunday, 15 Ankara-backed Syrian militants were killed after the SDF infiltrated their territory, the monitor reported earlier.
The SDF is a US-backed force that spearheaded the fighting against the Daesh group in its last Syria strongholds before its territorial defeat in 2019.
It is dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), viewed by Ankara as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Turkish troops and allied armed factions control swathes of northern Syria following successive cross-border offensives since 2016, most of them targeting the SDF.


Sudan women facing ‘epidemic of sexual violence’: UN

Sudan women facing ‘epidemic of sexual violence’: UN
Updated 55 min 36 sec ago
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Sudan women facing ‘epidemic of sexual violence’: UN

Sudan women facing ‘epidemic of sexual violence’: UN

PORT SUDAN: The United Nations humanitarian chief raised the alarm on Monday over an “epidemic of sexual violence” against women in war-torn Sudan, saying the world “must do better.”
“I feel ashamed that we have not been able to protect you, and I feel ashamed for my fellow men for what they have done,” Tom Fletcher, who heads the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said on his first visit to Port Sudan.
The Red Sea city has become Sudan’s de facto capital since April 2023, when Khartoum was engulfed by war between the regular military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced more than 11 million people and created what the UN says is the worst humanitarian crisis in recent memory.
Nearly 26 million people — around half the population — face the threat of mass starvation, as both warring sides have been accused of using hunger as a weapon of war.
During his visit, Fletcher met army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and discussed efforts to “increase the delivery of aid across borders and across conflict lines.”
Aid workers and humanitarian agencies say Burhan’s army-aligned government has enforced severe bureaucratic hurdles to their work.
At an event in a Port Sudan school to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Fletcher said the world “must do better” by the women of Sudan, who have been exposed to systematic sexual violence.
The UN’s independent international fact-finding mission for Sudan last month documented escalating sexual violence, including “rape, sexual exploitation and abduction for sexual purposes as well as allegations of enforced marriages and human trafficking.”
“The sheer scale of sexual violence we have documented in Sudan is staggering,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the fact-finding mission.
“The situation faced by vulnerable civilians, in particular women and girls of all ages, is deeply alarming and needs urgent address,” he added.


EU offers Morocco €200 million in quake reconstruction aid

EU offers Morocco €200 million in quake reconstruction aid
Updated 25 November 2024
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EU offers Morocco €200 million in quake reconstruction aid

EU offers Morocco €200 million in quake reconstruction aid
  • Relations between Morocco and the EU are strained after the European Court of Justice annulled fishing and agricultural deals between the two parties over products from disputed Western Sahara

RABAT: The European Union plans to offer Morocco 200 million euros ($210 million) to help with post-earthquake reconstruction, EU commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement Oliver Varhelyi said on Monday, as the two parties navigate judicial headwinds.
The 6.8 magnitude quake, Morocco’s deadliest since 1960, struck on Sept. 8, 2023, killing more than 2,900 people and damaging vital infrastructure. Morocco said it would invest In a post-earthquake reconstruction plan that includes the upgrade of infrastructure in five years.
The EU will increase its total quake reconstruction aid to Morocco to 1 billion euros, Varhelyi told a press conference in Rabat following talks with foreign minister Nasser Bourita.
Morocco was a “reliable” partner, receiving 5.2 billion euros in EU investments over the last five years, he said.
Relations between Morocco and the EU are strained after the European Court of Justice annulled fishing and agricultural deals between the two parties over products from disputed Western Sahara.
The long-frozen conflict, dating back to 1975, pits Morocco, which considers Western Sahara its own territory, against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front independence movement, which seeks a separate state there.
Following the verdict, the European Council and the Commission said they attached “high value” to relations with Morocco.
The EU’s relationship with Morocco needs to be protected from judicial harassment, Bourita said, adding that “there will be no partnerships at the expense of Morocco’s territorial integrity.”
The challenges facing Morocco-EU relations contrast with the stronger economic and political ties Rabat has forged with Madrid and Paris, after the two former colonial powers backed a Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara. ($1 = 0.9499 euros)