Houthis fire barrage of drones, missiles at ships, including US destroyer 

The US military said Yemen’s Houthi militia has fired a new wave of drones and missiles into international shipping lanes off Yemen, including two missiles aimed at a US warship in the Red Sea. (X/@CENTCOM)
The US military said Yemen’s Houthi militia has fired a new wave of drones and missiles into international shipping lanes off Yemen, including two missiles aimed at a US warship in the Red Sea. (X/@CENTCOM)
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Updated 02 June 2024
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Houthis fire barrage of drones, missiles at ships, including US destroyer 

Houthis fire barrage of drones, missiles at ships, including US destroyer 
  • Comes as Houthis claim to have made another reprisal hit on US ship in Red Sea

AL-MUKALLA: The US military said Yemen’s Houthi militia has fired a new wave of drones and missiles into international shipping lanes off Yemen, including two missiles aimed at a US warship in the Red Sea.

This comes as the Houthis claim to have made another reprisal hit on a US ship in the Red Sea.

The US Central Command said on Sunday that the Houthis launched three drones over the Red Sea on Saturday, one of which was destroyed by its forces, while the other two fell into the water, failing to strike any ship in the important commercial corridor.

The US military said in a statement on Sunday morning, Yemen time, that no injuries or damage was reported by the US coalition or commercial ships.

Also on Saturday, CENTCOM forces intercepted two anti-ship ballistic missiles in the southern Red Sea before they reached their target, the destroyer USS Gravely.

“The ASBM were fired in the direction of USS Gravely and were destroyed in self-defense, with no damage or injuries reported by US, coalition, or commercial ships,” the US military said in the same statement.  

On Friday, the Houthis launched five drones and two ballistic missiles into the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, but did not hit any ships on the two commercial routes, CENTCOM said.

In Sanaa, the Houthis claimed on Saturday night to have carried out six strikes on commercial and navy ships, including one on the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

In a videotaped statement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said that their troops launched several ballistic missiles and drones at the US aircraft carrier and a US destroyer in the Red Sea.

The other four attacks targeted three ships: Maina in the Red Sea, the Al-Oraiq in the Indian Ocean, and the Abliani in the Red Sea, alleging that they had breached a ban on visiting Israeli ports.

Ship-tracking app Marine Traffic identified the Maina as a bulk carrier flying the Malta flag that left Russia’s Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga early last month for Krishnapatnam Port in India.

The Marshall Island-flagged Al-Oraiq is an LNG tanker sailing from Ras Laffan in Qatar to Italy, while the Malta-flagged Abliani is a crude oil tanker sailing to the Suez Canal in Egypt, according to the app.

Since November, the Houthis have sunk one commercial ship, captured another, and claimed to have shot hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at more than 100 ships in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait, Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean, and most recently the Mediterranean. 

The Houthis claim that their actions are aimed solely at ships with links to Israel in an atempt to put pressure on Israel to end its war in Gaza, a claim challenged by the Houthis’ opponents in Yemen, who accuse the militia of exploiting the nationwide outrage of civilian deaths in Gaza to shore up their public support at home.

The US reacted to the Houthi assaults by labeling them as a terrorist organization, organizing a marine alliance to protect the seas, and launching airstrikes on Houthi sites in Yemen.

Despite US assertions that its strikes have weakened the Houthis, analysts say the increasing number of Houthi attacks on ships demonstrate that the strikes are ineffectual and that the Houthis continue to feel that their attacks have increased their popularity.

“It (the surge in Houthi attacks] suggests that US-UK airstrikes against Houthi targets are not working, at least not yet and not as effectively as intended,” Elisabeth Kendall, a Middle East expert and head of Girton College at the University of Cambridge, told Arab News. “It suggests that the Houthis believe their attacks continue to work for them in terms of gaining broad popularity, international notoriety and greater leverage in ongoing efforts to end the Yemen war. They see no reason to stop,” she added.

Kendall said that maintaining strikes on ships, even with less accurate weaponry, is a win for the Houthis.

“The Houthis are resilient and the asymmetric nature of the Red Sea conflict plays to their advantage. The sophistication of their weaponry may diminish, but all they need to do is to keep going.”


Middle East conflicts to leave ‘lasting scars’: IMF

Middle East conflicts to leave ‘lasting scars’: IMF
Updated 31 October 2024
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Middle East conflicts to leave ‘lasting scars’: IMF

Middle East conflicts to leave ‘lasting scars’: IMF
  • IMF lowers its predicted growth for the Middle East and Central Asia to 2.1 percent for 2024
  • IMF forecasts for Lebanon, where conflict with Israel has sharply escalated this month, have been suspended

DUBAI: Gaza, Lebanon and Sudan will take decades to recover from the conflicts raging on their soil, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday after downgrading the region’s growth forecast.
Israel’s military actions against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Sudan’s civil war would have enduring impacts, the IMF said.
“The damage caused by these conflicts will leave lasting scars at their epicenters for decades,” the global lender said in a statement.
The IMF has lowered its predicted growth for the Middle East and Central Asia to 2.1 percent for 2024, a drop of 0.6 percent due to the wars and lower oil production.
Depending on the conflicts, growth should rise to 4.0 percent next year, according to the IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook which was compiled in September.
“This year has been challenging with conflicts causing devastating human suffering and lasting economic damage,” Jihad Azour, the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department director, told reporters in Dubai.
“The recent escalation in Lebanon has greatly increased the uncertainty in the whole MENA region.”
IMF forecasts for Lebanon, where conflict with Israel has sharply escalated this month, have been suspended. But “conservative” estimates show a 9.0-10 percent contraction this year, Azour said.
“The impact (on Lebanon) will be severe and it will depend how long this conflict will last,” said the former Lebanese finance minister.
Saudi-led oil cuts through the OPEC+ group, aimed at propping up prices, “are contributing to sluggish near-term growth in many economies,” the IMF said.
For the region’s oil exporters, “medium-term growth is projected to moderate, as economic diversification reforms will take time to yield results,” it added.
Downside risks continue to dominate, the lender said, including fluctuating commodity prices, conflicts and climate shocks.


Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border

Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border
Updated 31 October 2024
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Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border

Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border

DAMASCUS: Syrian state media said Israeli strikes hit the town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border on Thursday, the latest in a series of raids in the area.
“An Israeli aggression targeted the Qusayr area in the southern Homs countryside,” causing “material damage to the industrial city and some residential neighborhoods,” the official SANA news agency said.


Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid

Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid
Updated 31 October 2024
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Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid

Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid
  • Mohammed Obeid, an MSF orthopaedic surgeon working at Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza, was detained during an Israeli military raid on the site on Oct. 26, MSF said

GENEVA: Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday that one of its doctors working in a north Gaza hospital has been detained by Israeli forces.
Mohammed Obeid, an MSF orthopaedic surgeon working at Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza, was detained during an Israeli military raid on the site on Oct. 26, MSF said.
“We are extremely alarmed by the detention of our colleague,” it said.
“We call for the safety and the protection of our colleague, and for all medical staff in Gaza who work under impossible conditions and are facing horrific violence as they try to provide care.”


Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel

Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel
Updated 31 October 2024
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Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel

Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel
  • Egypt says it destroyed tunnel networks leading to Gaza years ago and created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling

DUBAI: Israel’s military said on Thursday it shot down a drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel on Wednesday.
Israeli officials have said during the war in Gaza that Palestinian armed group Hamas used tunnels running under the border into Egypt’s Sinai region to smuggle arms.
Egypt says it destroyed tunnel networks leading to Gaza years ago and created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling.
Earlier in October, the Israeli military also said it foiled a weapon smuggling attempt from Egypt after downing a drone carrying guns and bullets.


Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police

Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police
Updated 31 October 2024
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Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police

Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police
  • Israeli police charge Goliev couple carried out surveillance of sensitive Israeli sites

JERUSALEM: Israeli police said Thursday they had arrested an Israeli couple on suspicion of spying for Iran, barely a week after two groups allegedly working for Tehran were detained.
“The thwarting of Iran’s efforts to recruit Israelis continues,” said a statement from the police and Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet.
The two Israelis, a couple from the central city of Lod, had been involved in gathering intelligence on “national infrastructures, security sites and tracking a female academic,” the statement alleged.
“Rafael and Lala Goliev... residents of Lod, were arrested after they carried out tasks on behalf of an Iranian cell that recruits Israelis from the Caucasus countries in Israel.”
Police charged that the couple were recruited by Elshan (Elhan) Agayev, an Azerbaijani national acting on behalf of Iranian officials. It was unclear if Agayev is based in Israel.
They alleged that the Golievs carried out surveillance of sensitive Israeli sites, including the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, and collected intelligence on an academic working at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
Thursday’s announcement comes little more than a week after Israeli security services said they had uncovered two other suspected spy rings.
On October 22, Israeli police said they had arrested a group of seven Palestinians from Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem they suspected of planning attacks for Iran.
A day earlier, police said they had arrested seven Israeli citizens from the city of Haifa on suspicion of carrying out hundreds of spy missions on Iran’s orders.
The previous week, two other Israelis were charged with various offenses after they were allegedly approached by Iranian agents and asked to carry out spy missions.
In September, an Israeli identified as Mordechai Maman from the coastal city of Ashkelon, was arrested on suspicion of being recruited by Iran to plot the assassination of top officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel is currently engaged in a multi-front conflict with Iran-backed groups including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.