Houthis claim firing ‘new’ ballistic missile at Israel’s Eilat city

Houthis claim firing ‘new’ ballistic missile at Israel’s Eilat city
Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted a military site on Israel’s port city of Eilat with a new ballistic missile. (AFP/File)
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Updated 04 June 2024
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Houthis claim firing ‘new’ ballistic missile at Israel’s Eilat city

Houthis claim firing ‘new’ ballistic missile at Israel’s Eilat city
  • Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military triggered sirens in Eilat, sending inhabitants to shelters before intercepting a surface-to-surface missile from the Red Sea

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia claims to have launched a ballistic missile, which Israel intercepted on Monday as it approached its southern port city of Eilat, the latest in a string of missile and drone strikes on Israel and ships that the Houthis claim are in support of Palestine.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised statement on Monday night that their missile forces launched a “new” ballistic missile called Palestine at a military site in Eilat in retaliation for Israel’s attacks on civilians in Rafah, claiming that the missile hit its target.

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military triggered sirens in Eilat, sending inhabitants to shelters before intercepting a surface-to-surface missile from the Red Sea.

Since November, the Houthis have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones against Israel, as well as ships tied to Israel or en route to Israel, in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean, and, most recently the Mediterranean.

They also seized a commercial ship named Galaxy Leader at the start of their campaign and sank another, threatening to expand their operations to other waters if Israel did not cease its war in Gaza.

This comes as local and international organizations have increased pressure on the Houthis as well as sent appeals to the international community to put pressure on the Yemeni militia to stop the executions of scores of Yemenis. 

On Saturday, a Houthi-run court in Sanaa condemned 44 individuals to death for “collaborating” with the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, sparking local and international condemnation of the group.

Adnan Ali Al-Harazi, a Yemeni businessman who runs a firm that assists aid groups in Yemen in authenticating the identities of aid recipients, was one of the Yemenis sentenced to death after being kidnapped by the Houthis in March of last year. 

According to Yemeni lawyer Abdul Majeed Sabra, the 44 people were cruelly abused by the Houthis and held in separate cells for nine months, with no access to their relatives or medical treatment.

Yemen’s Human Rights Ministry accused the Houthis of torturing those kidnapped, as well as jeopardizing peace talks to end the war in Yemen and a new prisoner exchange deal.

“The terrorist Houthi militia continues to issue execution warrants for abducted citizens, which demonstrates to the world that it does not desire peace and an end to the conflict,” the ministry said. 

The Mothers of Abductees Association, an umbrella organization for thousands of female relatives of civilian prisoners, also strongly condemned the death sentences imposed by the “illegitimate” Houthis in Sanaa, noting that those charged were abducted from their workplaces and homes and were tried with “false and fabricated” charges. 

“We urge local and international authorities to act quickly to prevent these unjust rulings against the abducted people and spare them from imminent death,” the Yemeni organization said. 

Similarly, the Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties accused the Houthis of using the courts in regions under their control to exact retribution on opponents, saying the Houthis abducted Al-Harazi and condemned him to death for exposing corruption cases involving Houthi officials.

“The Houthis must cease using the court system to settle scores and persecute their political opponents,” SAM said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, Al-Masdar Online, a Yemeni news site, reported on Monday that a former Yemeni diplomat was killed while fighting alongside Russia in Ukraine, increasing the total number of Yemenis killed in the war in Ukraine to three.

The wife of Ahmed Al-Sahami, a former member of the Yemeni diplomatic mission in Russia until 2017, received a call alerting them of his death on the battlefield.

In May, the Yemeni Students Association in Moscow lamented the loss of Asaad Tareq Al-Kenani, a Yemeni student slain in Ukraine while fighting with the Russians.


Yemeni minister calls for arrest of Houthi officials attending Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s funeral

Yemeni minister calls for arrest of Houthi officials attending Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s funeral
Updated 20 February 2025
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Yemeni minister calls for arrest of Houthi officials attending Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s funeral

Yemeni minister calls for arrest of Houthi officials attending Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s funeral
  • The Houthis did not officially announce a delegation was attending the funeral, but the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported a delegation from Yemen would participate

CAIRO: Yemeni Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani called on Wednesday for the arrest of a group of leaders from Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis who he said will attend Lebanese Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral in Beirut.
Nasrallah, who had served as Hezbollah’s secretary general for more than 30 years, was killed on September 27 as Israel ramped up its attacks on southern Lebanon. His funeral is scheduled for February 23.
Eryani demanded that the Lebanese government arrest the Houthi leaders and hand them over to the rival internationally recognized government in a post on X.
He did not name the Houthi officials.
Neither the Lebanese government nor Houthi leaders was immediately available for comment.
The Houthis did not officially announce a delegation was attending the funeral, but the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported a delegation from Yemen would participate. “We affirm that the movement of these terrorist leaders... in this timing is not a mere participation in the funeral, which is being used as a cover, to gather all the leaders of the Iranian axis and assess the situation after the blows they received,” he added.
The Yemeni minister was referring to the recent Israeli attacks against Iran-backed groups in the region including Hezbollah and the Houthis.
Both groups launched parallel attacks against Israel during its war in Gaza to show support for Palestinians.
The Houthis, who control northern Yemen, also carried out more than 100 attacks on ships off the shores of Yemen since November 2023, disrupting global shipping and causing route changes and losses.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023 killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive on Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, laid waste to much of the enclave, and displaced hundreds of thousands.


Sudan crisis could worsen if paramilitaries declare parallel govt: UN

Sudan crisis could worsen if paramilitaries declare parallel govt: UN
Updated 20 February 2025
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Sudan crisis could worsen if paramilitaries declare parallel govt: UN

Sudan crisis could worsen if paramilitaries declare parallel govt: UN

UNITED NATIONS: The crisis in Sudan could worsen if paramilitary forces fighting the army go ahead with plans to declare a parallel government, the United Nations warned Wednesday.
“For us, preserving the unity of Sudan, the sovereignty and the territorial integrity, remains a key ingredient for a sustainable resolution of the conflict,” the UN secretary-general’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
At a high-profile event in Nairobi this week, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, at war with the Sudanese army for nearly two years, said they would sign a founding charter that would lead to the formation of a “peace and unity government” in Sudan.
Initially scheduled for Tuesday at Nairobi’s state-owned Kenyatta International Convention Center, the signing was postponed to Friday.
“We’re very deeply concerned about any further escalation of the Sudanese conflict, and any steps like this one, which would increase the fragmentation of the country and risk making this crisis even worse,” Dujarric said of the planned proclamation.
Sudan’s foreign ministry, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, criticized Kenya for allowing the event.
Since April 2023, the war between the army and RSF has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted more than 12 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.


Israel says 3 Palestinian militants killed in West Bank

Israel says 3 Palestinian militants killed in West Bank
Updated 20 February 2025
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Israel says 3 Palestinian militants killed in West Bank

Israel says 3 Palestinian militants killed in West Bank
  • A Palestinian official confirmed that three people had been killed by Israeli forces

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it killed three “wanted terrorists” in the occupied West Bank Wednesday, and a Palestinian official reported that Israeli forces were holding the bodies of three people.
Soldiers “eliminated three wanted terrorists in the area of Al Faraa, who sold weapons for terror purposes,” the military said in a statement.
“Two additional wanted individuals were apprehended.”
A Palestinian official confirmed that three people had been killed by Israeli forces.
“Three people were assassinated, and their bodies are being held” by the Israeli forces, Tubas governor Ahmad Al-Asaad told AFP.
Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has escalated since the October 2023 outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip.
At least 897 Palestinians including militants have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, according to an AFP tally based on figures provided by the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.
At least 32 Israelis, including some soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or confrontations during Israeli operations in the West Bank over the same period, according to official Israeli figures.


Two jailed for 18 years over tower block collapse in Turkiye quake

Two jailed for 18 years over tower block collapse in Turkiye quake
Updated 19 February 2025
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Two jailed for 18 years over tower block collapse in Turkiye quake

Two jailed for 18 years over tower block collapse in Turkiye quake
  • There were 22 such blocks in the complex, nearly all of which collapsed when the first 7.8-magnitude tremor struck before dawn on Feb. 6, 2023, killing 1,400 people
  • Wednesday’s verdict related to the collapse of Block B where 115 people died

ISTANBUL: Two senior figures involved in the construction of a part a huge Turkish residential complex that collapsed in the 2023 earthquake have been jailed for more than 18 years, local media reported Wednesday.
The case concerned an eight-story tower block at the Ebrar complex in the southeastern city of Kahramanmaras, Türkiye’s private NTV broadcaster said.
There were 22 such blocks in the complex, nearly all of which collapsed when the first 7.8-magnitude tremor struck before dawn on Feb. 6, 2023, killing 1,400 people.
Wednesday’s verdict related to the collapse of Block B where 115 people died, NTV said, with the judge handing senior contractor Tevfik Tepebasi and Atilla Oz, head of the cooperative that built the block, 18 years and eight months each for “causing death and injury through conscious negligence.”
There were four other defendants in the case, three of whom were acquitted for lack of evidence, while the fourth was being tried in absentia, NTV said.
Tepebasi — who was jailed shortly after the quake and is being prosecuted in several other quake-related cases — caused an uproar at one hearing a year ago when he told the court he should not be charged with a crime because: “I don’t know anything about construction.”
Quoted by NTV, several of the victims’ families said they were not satisfied with the sentences and the fact that three defendants were acquitted, saying they would appeal.
The earthquake killed more than 53,500 people in Turkiye and nearly 6,000 in neighboring Syria. It also razed 39,000 buildings and left another 200,000 severely damaged, leaving nearly two million people homeless.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pointed the finger at negligent building contractors, accusing them of cutting corners by using cheap concrete and ignoring basic construction standards, with more than 200 contractors and developers arrested in the immediate aftermath of the quake.
But there have been few, if any, investigations into the public officials who signed off on building permits and safety inspections, which can only be opened with the interior ministry’s permission.


Israel hostage forum says news of Bibas family deaths ‘heart-shattering’

Israel hostage forum says news of Bibas family deaths ‘heart-shattering’
Updated 19 February 2025
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Israel hostage forum says news of Bibas family deaths ‘heart-shattering’

Israel hostage forum says news of Bibas family deaths ‘heart-shattering’
  • Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned Thursday, though they have not officially identified them

JERUSALEM: An Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages held in Gaza said it had received the “heart-shattering” news of the deaths of three members of the Bibas family whose bodies Hamas said it would hand over on Thursday.
“We received the heart-shattering news that Shiri Bibas, her children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz are no longer with us,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement Wednesday, also naming the fourth hostage declared dead.
“This news cuts like a knife through our hearts, the families’ hearts and the hearts of people all over the world.”
On Tuesday, Hamas said it would hand over the bodies of four hostages, including the three Bibas family members, as part of the ongoing first phase of a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
While their deaths are largely accepted as fact abroad after Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed the claim.
Yarden Bibas, the boys’ father and Shiri’s husband, was abducted separately on October 7, 2023 and was released from Gaza in a previous hostage-prisoner exchange on February 1.
Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned Thursday, though they have not officially identified them.