Houthis claim attacks on UK destroyer, two commercial ships
British military source denied Houthi claims about attacking its warship in the Red Sea
Updated 09 June 2024
Saeed Al-Batati
AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia claimed on Sunday they launched an attack on a UK warship in the Red Sea and strikes on two commercial ships in the Arabian Sea, setting one of them on fire.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a television statement that their forces “precisely” targeted HMS Diamond with ballistic missiles in the Red Sea, and fired anti-ship ballistic missiles and drones at the Norderney and MSC Tavvishi ships in the Arabian Sea.
The UK warship was targeted in response to the bombing of Yemen, while the two commercial ships were assaulted for defying the militia’s embargo on traveling to Israeli ports, the Houthi official said.
According to marinetraffic.com, which provides information on ships and their positions, the Norderney is a general cargo ship flying the flag of Antigua and Barbuda. It was traveling from India to Lebanon and was in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday.
The Liberian-flagged cargo ship MSC Tavvishi was in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday morning.
Reuters reported that a British military source denied the Houthi claims about attacking a British warship in the Red Sea.
In May, the Royal Navy announced that HMS Duncan had been sent to the Red Sea to replace HMS Diamond. It would participate in international efforts to protect international navigation in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks.
The Houthi spokesperson’s statement came hours after the UK Maritime Trade Operations, which monitors attacks on shipping, said that two ships in the Gulf of Aden caught fire after being hit by suspected Houthi missiles.
The agency sent a notice on Sunday morning regarding a shipmaster who said his vessel was hit by an “unknown projectile” that ignited a fire 70 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s southern city of Aden, adding that the ship’s crew were unharmed.
“Damage control is underway; the Master reports no casualties, and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call. Authorities continue to monitor the situation,” UKMTO said.
Hours earlier, the same agency issued another notice about an attack on a ship 80 nautical miles southeast of Aden, which ignited a minor fire in the mooring station and was doused, encouraging ships operating in the area to take precautions and notify it of any hostile activity.
During their campaign against ships in international waters off Yemen, which began in November, the Houthis have seized one commercial ship, sunk another, and fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at warships and commercial vessels, claiming that their actions are intended to force Israel to allow humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip.
In reaction to the Houthi attacks, the US and UK launched attacks on Houthi targets in Sanaa, Hodeidah, Saada, and the other areas held by the Houthis.
Houthi media reported that the US and UK carried out three attacks on Al-Jabanah in the western province of Hodeidah on Sunday.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they downed another US-made MQ-9 Reaper drone
The Houthis have exaggerated claims in the past in their ongoing campaign targeting shipping in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip
Updated 20 sec ago
AP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed Monday that they shot down another American-made MQ-9 Reaper drone, with video circulating online showing what appeared to be a surface-to-air missile strike and flaming wreckage strewn across the ground. The US military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Houthis’ claimed downing of a drone over the country’s southwestern Dhamar province. The Houthis have exaggerated claims in the past in their ongoing campaign targeting shipping in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. However, the online video bolstered the claim, particularly after two recent claims by the Houthis included no evidence. Other videos showed armed rebels gathered around the flaming wreckage, a propeller similar to those used by the armed drone visible in the flames. One attempted to pick up a piece of the metal before dropping it due to the heat. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, identified the drone as an MQ-9, without elaborating on how he came to the determination. He said it was the third downed by the group in a week, though the other two claims did not include similar video or other evidence. The US military similarly has not acknowledged losing any aircraft. Saree said the Houthis used a locally produced missile. However, Iran has armed the rebels with a surface-to-air missile known as the 358 for years. Iran denies arming the rebels, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in seaborne shipments heading to Yemen despite a United Nations arms embargo. Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The aircraft have been flown by both the US military and the CIA over Yemen for years. The Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well. The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran. Those attacks include a barrage that struck the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea. Salvagers have begun towing away the burning oil tanker, hoping to avoid a catastrophic leak of its 1 million barrels of oil on board.
Gaza rescuers say at least 18 killed in Israeli strikes
The deaths include five women and four children
Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling have continued relentlessly amid an impasse over a ceasefire deal
Updated 16 September 2024
AFP AP
GAZA STRIP: Gaza rescuers and medics said Israeli air strikes killed at least 18 people across the Palestinian territory overnight, including five women and four children on Monday morning.
One of the Israeli strikes killed 10 in one house.
The 10 were killed and 15 others were injured when an air strike hit the home of the Al-Qassas family in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, a medic at Al-Awda hospital, where the bodies were brought, told AFP.
Gaza’s civil defense agency confirmed the death toll, with its spokesman Mahmud Bassal saying the strike took place on Monday morning.
The agency said six Palestinians were killed in a similar air strike during the night on a house belonging to the Bassal family in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighborhood, a regular target of Israeli military raids since the war began in October.
Two people were killed in another overnight air strike in Rafah that targeted a house belonging to the Abu Shaar family, the agency said.
Several people were also wounded in these strikes, medics and rescuers said.
Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling have continued relentlessly amid an impasse over a ceasefire deal to facilitate the release of remaining hostages in Gaza in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
The war in Gaza erupted after the October 7 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has so far killed at least 41,206 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
Nightlife now rules in Iraq’s former Daesh bastion
Mines had to be cleared before homes, infrastructure and roads could be rebuilt to allow hundreds of thousands of people to return to what is now a metropolis of 1.5 million people
Updated 16 September 2024
AFP
MOSUL, Iraq: If they had tried to do this a few years ago, the group of Iraqi women enjoying a night out in Mosul would probably have risked severe punishment.
The northern city was under the harsh rule of the Daesh group until the terrorists were ousted from their last major Iraqi bastion in 2017.
Seven years later, Mosul’s streets truly come alive at nightfall, and residents are rediscovering the art of having a good time.
Amira Taha and her friends have come to a restaurant with their children, to enjoy food and live music — complete with crooners — on a night out that would have been unthinkable under Daesh rule.
“There has been enormous change in Mosul,” Taha tells AFP. “We now have freedom and nights out like this have become common” because of “the very stable security situation.”
The city has new restaurants to go to, pleasure cruises on the river Tigris, and amusement parks that draw families keen to take advantage of the newfound stability.
Dressed in an electric blue suit, the 35-year-old mother says “people wanted to open up (to the world) and enjoy themselves.”
On the stage, three Iraqi singers in suits and slicked-back hair take it in turns to entertain the diners with Iraqi and Arab pop songs.
The orchestra includes an electric organist, a violinist, and a musician playing the darbouka, a goblet-shaped drum.
When the terrorists took Mosul in 2014 they imposed a reign of sheer terror.
Music was banned, as were cigarettes. Churches and museums were ransacked, and Daesh staged public stonings and beheaded perceived wrongdoers.
Even after Mosul was retaken in 2017 in a destructive and lengthy fight by Iraqi and international coalition forces, it took several years for its citizens to emerge from years of trauma.
Entire neighborhoods were devastated, and reconstruction became a lengthy process.
Mines had to be cleared before homes, infrastructure and roads could be rebuilt to allow hundreds of thousands of people to return to what is now a metropolis of 1.5 million people.
In the past, Taha says, “people would go home, shut their doors and then go to bed” because of fears over security.
But now, all around her on the restaurant’s lawns, families are seated at most of the tables.
Sometimes the men and women puff on water pipes as their children clap and dance.
Overlooking the restaurant is a brand new bridge spanning the Tigris, a proud symbol of a Mosul being reborn.
Other cities in Iraq are in a similar situation, enjoying a return to normality after decades marked by war, sectarian violence, kidnappings, political conflict and extremism.
Ahmed — who goes by only his first name — opened a restaurant called “Chef Ahmed the Swede” in June, after spending “half of my life” in Sweden and taking a gamble.
Now he serves between 300 and 400 diners every day, Ahmed tells AFP.
“I’d always dreamt of coming back and starting my own business,” says the proprietor, who is in his forties.
“People want to go out, they want to see something different,” he says.
At Ahmed’s, diners can choose from dishes inspired by Scandinavian and European cuisines, alongside old favorites such as pastas, pizzas and grilled meats.
Khalil Ibrahim runs an amusement park on the banks of the river.
“The city has seen radical changes over the past few years,” he says. “We’ve gone from destruction to reconstruction.”
Friday is the first day of the weekend, and the evening is pierced by the happy shrieks and laughter of children in dodgem cars, the Ferris wheel and other attractions.
“People used to go home early,” Ibrahim tells AFP. “But now they’re still arriving even at midnight.”
His park opened in 2011, but it was “completely destroyed” in the war.
“We started again from scratch” with the help of private funding, he says.
As Mosul was still emerging from its terrorist nightmare, another tragedy befell the city.
In 2019 around 100 people, mostly women and children, died when a ferry taking families across the river to a leisure park capsized.
But today, pleasure boats ply the Tigris by night, their passengers admiring the riverbank lights of the restaurants and their reflection in the dark waters.
In small cafes, clients play dominoes or cards as they have a smoke.
“We’re comfortable here. We can breathe. We have the river, and that’s enough for us,” says day laborer Jamal Abdel Sattar.
“Some shops stay open until three in the morning, and some never close,” he adds. “When people got their first taste of security, they began to go out again.”
Will new residency rules rob Syrian children in Lebanon of their futures?
Two governorates require children to have a valid residency permit prior to registering for new academic year
The development come as Lebanon itself remains mired in crisis, with the specter of an all-out war looming
Updated 16 September 2024
Nadia Al-Faour
DUBAI: Authorities in Lebanon are imposing new restrictions that could deny thousands of displaced children access to an education. The measures come against a backdrop of mounting hostility toward war-displaced Syrians who currently reside in Lebanon.
The development comes as hostilities on the Lebanon-Israel border show no sign of abating, deepening sectarian divides and compounding the economic and political crises that have kept the country on hold.
This summer, at least two municipalities in Lebanon have announced that Syrian children wishing to enroll at schools in their districts must have a valid residency permit prior to registering for the new academic year.
In this photo taken in 2016, Syrian refugee children attend class in Lebanon's town of Bar Elias in the Bekaa Valley. (AFP/File)
Al-Qaa municipality in the Baalbek-Hermel governorate issued a statement declaring Syrian students were not eligible to register unless they and their families had legal residency permits issued by the Lebanese General Security.
In a recent interview with Alhurra news agency, Nabil Kahala, the mayor of Sin El-Fil, a suburb east of Beirut, said the measures prohibit Syrians from registering in schools unless they have legal residency.
“It is not enough for a displaced Syrian to have a document proving his registration with the UN,” said Kahala. “We require a residency issued by the Lebanese General Security in order to be able to rent a home, work, and enroll his children in schools.”
Any school that violates this decision “will be reported to the relevant authorities,” he said, stressing that “this measure is not racist, but rather is an implementation of Lebanese laws.”
Due to the red tape and stringent criteria for the renewal of Lebanese residency permits, only around 20 percent of displaced Syrians have valid residency status in Lebanon.
As some 80 percent are unable to obtain these documents, the measures have effectively barred Syrian children in these areas from attending school, depriving them of their right to an education.
A stringent Lebanese residency requirement has barred many Syrian children from attending school, depriving them of their right to an education. (AFP)
Under international law, all children have the right to an education, free from discrimination, irrespective of their immigration or refugee status.
In December 2023, foreign donors including the EU gave the Lebanese government 40 million euros to support the education sector and ensure vulnerable children would continue to have access to schools. The conditions of this aid appear to be going unmet.
“The Lebanese government should ensure all children, regardless of nationality or status, can register for school and are not denied the right to an education,” Michelle Randhawa of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Division at Human Rights Watch said in a recent statement.
In an interview with L’Orient-Le Jour on Aug. 13, Lebanese Minister of Education Abbas Halabi said his ministry remained committed to the core principle of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and that all children, regardless of nationality or status, would be registered for school.
A stringent Lebanese residency requirement has barred many Syrian children from attending school, depriving them of their right to an education. (AFP)
The Lebanese government has previously imposed laws making it difficult for Syrians to obtain legal status. The UN refugee agency, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, also ceased its formal registration of Syrians in 2015 after complying with a Lebanese government order.
New laws include rules imposed on Lebanese citizens not to employ, shelter, or provide housing to Syrians residing in the country illegally. Those found breaking these rules can face arrest.
It is not just displaced Syrians who are struggling to access basic services in Lebanon. In the throes of myriad crises and without a functioning government, many Lebanese citizens are unable to obtain a decent education.
Since 2019 Lebanese have suffered from a financial meltdown described by the World Bank as one of the planet’s worst since the 1850s. To make matters worse, cross-border skirmishes between Israel and Lebanon-based militant groups have killed at least 88 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah combatants but also 10 civilians, since the eruption of war in Gaza in October last year.
Only around 20 percent of displaced Syrians have valid residency status in Lebanon, enabling them to attend school. (AFP)
With more than 80 percent of the population pushed below the poverty line, initial sympathy for the thousands of migrants and refugees who fled violence, persecution, and poverty in Syria has since waned.
The forcible deportation of Syrians has now become commonplace, in defiance of aid agencies who say Lebanese authorities have a duty not to endanger the safety of refugees — a principle known as non-refoulement.
Besides the new set of regulations issued by Lebanese authorities, the increasingly hostile rhetoric of some politicians has also fanned the flames of anti-Syrian sentiment, leading to outbreaks of inter-communal violence.
INNUMBERS
• 470,000 School-aged Syrian refugees in Lebanon registered by the UN.
• 20% Proportion of Syrians living in Lebanon with valid residency status.
In July, Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces political party, called on the Ministry of Education to make schools ask students to provide the appropriate identification papers to register for the new academic year.
Geagea said all foreign students, especially Syrians, should have valid residency permits in order to register.
Dubbing the Syrian children an “existential threat,” the Free Patriotic Movement also issued a statement, saying: “We call on the Ministry of Education and owners of private schools and institutes to immediately stop the registration of any Syrian student in the country illegally.”
Faisal, a Syrian living in Lebanon without a residency permit, has been trying to find a way to enroll his 8-year-old son at school. Back in 2014, when he first arrived in Lebanon, he said services were readily available and the atmosphere more welcoming.
Syrian children run amidst snow in the Syrian refugees camp of al-Hilal in the village of al-Taybeh near Baalbek in Lebanon's Bekaa valley on January 20, 2022. (AFP)
“It was a little easier back then,” Faisal, who did not give his full name to avoid legal repercussions, told Arab News. “There was no hostility as you encounter nowadays. It’s a struggle and I am under constant stress of being found out, then getting deported.”
Faisal says he is able to scrape a meager living by working multiple jobs with Lebanese employers who are willing to defy the law and pay cheap Syrian laborers “under the table.”
He added: “I don’t want my son to grow up without an education and have to end up living like me. I want him to speak languages; I want him to know how to read and write properly; I want him to be able to have a chance at a good life.”
There are around 1.5 million Syrians in Lebanon, according to Lebanese government figures. Of these, the UNHCR has registered just 800,000.
Every year, local and international humanitarian organizations attempt to put pressure on the Ministry of Education to pass some laws to allow more undocumented Syrian children to obtain an education.
Lebanese law, however, is not the only barrier.
According to the 2023 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, conducted by the UNHCR, the UN Children’s Fund, and the World Food Programme, some of the biggest obstacles to Syrian children gaining an education in Lebanon include the cost of transport, fees and entry requirements, and the impact of poverty on school attendance.
Syrian refugee children play while helping tend to their family's sheep at a camp in the agricultural plain of the village of Miniara, in Lebanon's northern Akkar region, near the border with Syria, on May 20, 2024. (AFP)
Indeed, many Syrian children are forced to drop out of school in order to work to support their families, while daughters are frequently married off at a young age so that households have fewer mouths to feed.
Those lucky enough to find a school place and who have the means to attend can face discrimination, taunting and bullying from their classmates.
“My son was a joyful, bubbly child growing up, but I noticed he started becoming withdrawn after attending the private school I scrounged to get him enrolled in,” said Faisal. His son was being bullied by his classmates who called him a “lowly Syrian,” he said.
US not putting enough pressure on Israel to stop the war, Hamas official says
Updated 15 September 2024
AFP
ISTANBUL: A senior Hamas official said on Sunday that the group wants “joint Palestinian rule” in Gaza once war ends in the besieged territory.
“Clearly, we said that the next day must be Palestinian ... the day after the battle is a Palestinian day,” Osama Hamdan said during an interview in Istanbul.
He said that the Palestinian movement had ample resources to continue fighting Israel despite losses sustained over more than 11 months of war in Gaza.
“The resistance has a high ability to continue,” Hamdan said.
Hamas official Osama Hamdan speaks during an interview with AFP in Istanbul on September 15, 2024. (AFP)
“There were martyrs and sacrifices ... but in return, there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations into the resistance.”
His comments came less than a week after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists that Hamas, whose Oct. 7 attack triggered the war, “no longer exists” as a military formation in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched retaliatory military operations to destroy Hamas after the group’s surprise attack on southern Israel.
The Israeli military campaign has killed at least 41,206 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not provide breakdowns of civilian and militant deaths.
Netanyahu is facing mounting domestic pressure to seal a deal in which hostages would be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Israel’s announcement this month that the bodies of six hostages had been recovered from a tunnel in Gaza after they were “executed’ by Hamas spurred an outpouring of grief and anger, leading to a brief general strike and large-scale demonstrations that continued in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Saturday night.
But months of negotiations aimed at securing a truce have apparently stalled.
In the interview on Sunday, Hamdan said the US, Israel’s most crucial military backer, was not doing enough to force concessions from Netanyahu that would end the bloodshed.
“The American administration does not exert sufficient or appropriate pressure on the Israeli side,” Hamdan said.
“Rather, it is trying to justify the Israeli side’s evasion of any commitment.”
During two press conferences after officials announced the deaths of the six hostages earlier this month, Netanyahu said it was Hamas who refused to compromise and vowed “not to give in to pressure” on remaining sticking points.
He also said Israel’s military campaign had killed “no less than 17,000” Hamas militants.
