Ship barely avoids Houthi missile in Gulf of Aden

Special Ship barely avoids Houthi missile in Gulf of Aden
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Houthi supporters commemorate Eid Al-Ghadir in Sanaa on June 24, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 26 June 2024
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Ship barely avoids Houthi missile in Gulf of Aden

Ship barely avoids Houthi missile in Gulf of Aden
  • Incident in the Gulf of Aden came after the Houthis claimed on Tuesday night to have attacked the “Israeli” MSC Sarah ship in the Arabian Sea
  • Houthis have increased assaults on ships in international seas off Yemen, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, issuing almost daily announcements claiming fresh strikes

AL-MUKALLA: A missile apparently launched by Yemen’s Houthi militia landed near a ship south of Yemen’s southern port city of Aden on Wednesday, hours after the Houthis claimed to be deploying a new long-range missile in their anti-ship campaign.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations said it received an alarm from a ship’s master regarding a missile impacting waters near the vessel, 52 miles south of Aden, adding that the ship and its crew were safe.

“The vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” the UKMTO said in its alert, advising ships navigating the Gulf of Aden to take vigilance and notify the authority of any suspicious activities.

The incident in the Gulf of Aden came after the Houthis claimed on Tuesday night to have attacked the “Israeli” MSC Sarah ship in the Arabian Sea using a newly deployed long-range missile.

The MSC Sarah is a Liberian-flagged container ship heading from Panama to the UAE and was seen in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday morning, according to ship monitoring website marinetraffic.com.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces maintained that this qualitative operation was carried out with a new ballistic missile that went into service after the successful conclusion of testing operations. The missile is distinguished by its ability to attack targets precisely and across vast distances,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised statement.

The Houthis were referring to an incident reported by the UKMTO on Monday, in which the master of a ship reported a nearby explosion 246 nautical miles southeast of Nishtun, a coastal town in the government-controlled Yemeni province of Mahra.

This month, the Houthis have increased assaults on ships in international seas off Yemen, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, issuing almost daily announcements claiming fresh strikes, as opposed to the weekly claims of the past.

The US Central Command and the UK maritime agencies provide comparable daily statements regarding Houthi attacks on ships using drones, ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drone boats, as well as the shooting down of such weapons before they reach their intended targets.

The Houthis maintain that their actions are purely aimed at Israeli-linked ships and those traveling to Israeli ports to put pressure on Israel to end its war in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

Separately, the Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of holding four Yemenia Airways planes in Sanaa, preventing hundreds of Yemeni pilgrims from returning home.

In a post on X, Yemeni Minister of Endowments and Guidance Mohammed Shabebah said that the Houthis had prevented four Yemenia aircraft from departing Sanaa airport for Jeddah to bring back Yemeni pilgrims, and that he has requested pilgrims to wait in their Makkah hotels until the planes are released.

“The Houthis are holding four aircraft at Sanaa International Airport, preventing them from returning to Jeddah Airport to take pilgrims to Sanaa,” the minister said. Yemenia said a few days ago that the Houthis are holding one of its planes at Sanaa airport and preventing maintenance, as well as refusing to allow the airline to access the more than $100 million in bank accounts held by the Houthis in Sanaa.

At the same time, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that the Houthis have abducted and forcibly disappeared over 60 Yemeni staffers from UN agencies, international missions and organizations since May 31, denying them access to lawyers, contacting their families or receiving life-saving drugs.

Citing relatives and experts, the international rights group asserted that the most recent Houthi crackdown is intended to divert attention from the militia’s failure to provide basic services, exert pressure on the central bank in Aden to revoke sanctions on Sanaa-based banks, and seize complete control over critical financial streams from the health, education and corporate sectors, as well as humanitarian aid agencies.

“The Houthis should immediately release all of these people, many of whom have spent their careers working to improve their country,” Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch said in a statement, urging the international community to intervene and exert pressure on the Houthis to secure the release of the abducted Yemenis.

“The international community should be doing everything in their power to ensure that these people are immediately released.”


UAE mediates deal for release of further 410 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war

UAE mediates deal for release of further 410 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war
Updated 06 May 2025
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UAE mediates deal for release of further 410 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war

UAE mediates deal for release of further 410 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war
  • It is the 15th in a series of UAE-mediated prisoner-swap agreements that have resulted in the release of 4,181 captives in total

LONDON: The UAE has mediated the 15th in a series of agreements between Russia and Ukraine for the release of prisoners of war, as part of its ongoing diplomatic efforts to help resolve the conflict.

Under the latest prisoner-swap deal, 205 Ukrainians and 205 Russians were freed on Tuesday, the Emirates News Agency reported. The Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a total of 4,181 Russian and Ukrainian captives have now been released as a result of its mediation efforts, the continuing success of which reflects the level of trust Kyiv and Moscow have in the UAE.

The UAE remains determined to find a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, and to help ease the humanitarian suffering it has caused, the ministry added.


Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike on south

Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike on south
Updated 06 May 2025
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Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike on south

Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike on south
  • The ministry said in a statement that the “Israeli enemy” strike on Kfar Rumman killed one person and wounded three others
  • Israel has continued to launch regular strikes in Lebanon despite the November 27 truce

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike Tuesday on a car in the country’s south killed one person, the latest attack despite a fragile ceasefire between Hezbollah militants and Israel.
The ministry said in a statement that the “Israeli enemy” strike on Kfar Rumman killed one person and wounded three others.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the car was hit with a “guided missile” on the road linking the town of Kfar Rumman with the nearby city of Nabatieh.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel has continued to launch regular strikes in Lebanon despite the November 27 truce which sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah including two months of all-out war, with a heavy Israeli bombing campaign and ground incursion.
Under the deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.
Israel was to withdraw all its forces from south Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five positions that it deems “strategic.”
A Lebanese security source told AFP that Hezbollah had withdrawn fighters from south of the Litani and dismantled most of its military infrastructure in that area.
Lebanon says it has respected its commitments and has called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its attacks and withdraw from the five border positions.


Huge dust storm sweeps into Iran, affecting millions

Huge dust storm sweeps into Iran, affecting millions
Updated 06 May 2025
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Huge dust storm sweeps into Iran, affecting millions

Huge dust storm sweeps into Iran, affecting millions
  • State television urged people to remain inside and wear face masks if they had to go out

TEHRAN: Iranian authorities ordered schools and offices closed in seven western provinces Tuesday as a dust storm swept in from neighboring Iraq, with around 13 million people told to stay indoors.

Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Ilam and Kurdistan provinces were all affected, and state television cited local officials as blaming the closures on high levels of accumulated dust.

Government and private offices also shut in several provinces including Kermanshah and Ilam, as well as Khuzestan in the southwest.

Zanjan in the northeast and Bushehr in the south were also hit.

Bushehr, nearly 1,100 km south of Tehran, was given an Air Quality Index of 108 on Tuesday, rated “poor for sensitive groups.”

That figure is more than four times higher than the concentration of air microparticles deemed acceptable by the World Health Organization.

Iran’s meteorological authorities said the conditions were caused by “the movement of a large mass of dust from Iraq toward western Iran.”

State television reported low visibility in some areas and urged people to remain inside and wear face masks if they had to go out.

Last month, a similar dust storm in Iraq grounded flights and sent thousands of people to hospital with breathing problems.

On Monday, Iran’s IRNA state news agency said more than 240 people in Khuzestan province had been treated for respiratory issues because of the dust.

A spokesperson for the emergency services also told Tasnim news agency on Tuesday that nine people had died as a result of storms in Iran over the past seven days, ending on Monday.

“Four of the deaths were caused by strong winds and falling objects, and five were caused by lightning strikes,” it added.


Tunisia puts more opposition figures on mass trial

Tunisia puts more opposition figures on mass trial
Updated 06 May 2025
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Tunisia puts more opposition figures on mass trial

Tunisia puts more opposition figures on mass trial
  • The 'conspiracy against state security II' involved 22 defendants, including 83-year-old Ennahdha party leader Rached Ghannouch
  • The majority of the defendants are being tried in absentia, having fled the country

TUNIS: A new trial of nearly two dozen Tunisian opposition figures accused of plotting against the state opened on Tuesday, weeks after a separate mass trial jailed nearly 40 defendants on similar charges.
The latest trial — known as the “conspiracy against state security II” — involved 22 defendants, including 83-year-old Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party leader Rached Ghannouchi, currently jailed in another case.
Youssef Chahed, a former prime minister, and Nadia Akacha, once the head of the presidential office, were also among the defendants, according to court documents.
The defendants were accused of terror-related charges, incitement to murder, and “plotting against state internal security,” among other charges, according to a court document.
The majority of the defendants are being tried in absentia, having fled the country, lawyer Samir Dilou said.
Ghannouchi was already sentenced in early February to 22 years in prison — also for plotting against state security in a different case.
He had been the speaker of parliament when President Kais Saied staged a sweeping power grab in 2021.
In this case, Ghannouchi as well as other Ennahdha officials stand accused of setting up a “secret security apparatus” in service of the party, which had dominated Tunisia’s post-revolution politics.
Tunisia had emerged as the Arab world’s only democracy following the ouster of longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, after it kicked off the Arab Spring uprisings.
Tuesday’s hearing was conducted remotely with only four defendants attending virtually, according to lawyers.
Last month’s similar trial had drawn criticism from the United Nations, which said it was “marred by violations of fair trial and due process rights.”
But Saied dismissed the “comments and statements by foreign parties” as “blatant interference in Tunisia’s internal affairs.”
In a statement on Monday, Tunisia’s main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front (FSN), called for “an end to sham and unfair trials,” demanding “the release of all political prisoners.”


Oman announces US-Houthi ceasefire deal

A US F/A-18 Super Hornet attack fighter jet takes off from the US Navy’s Nimitz-class USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.
A US F/A-18 Super Hornet attack fighter jet takes off from the US Navy’s Nimitz-class USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.
Updated 06 May 2025
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Oman announces US-Houthi ceasefire deal

A US F/A-18 Super Hornet attack fighter jet takes off from the US Navy’s Nimitz-class USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.
  • “They said please don’t bomb us any more and we’re not going to attack your ships,” Trump said
  • There was no immediate response from the Houthis

WASHINGTON: The United States and Yemen’s Houthis have reached a ceasefire agreement, mediator Oman announced Tuesday, saying the deal would ensure “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea where the militia has attacked shipping.
“Following recent discussions and contacts... with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides,” said Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi in a statement posted online, adding that “neither side will target the other... ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping” in the Red Sea.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said that the US will stop bombing the Houthis in Yemen after the Iran-aligned group agreed to stop interrupting important shipping lanes in the Middle East.
In an Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump announced the Houthis have said that they no longer want to fight but did not elaborate on the message.
“They said please don’t bomb us any more and we’re not going to attack your ships,” Trump said.
The Houthis have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea since Israel began its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza after the Palestinian militant group’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The US president said Washington will take the Houthis’ word that they would not be blowing up ships any longer.
Tensions have been high since the Gaza war began, but have risen further since a Houthi missile landed near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, prompting Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah port on Monday.
The Israeli military carried out an airstrike on Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa on Tuesday, its second attack in two days on the Houthis after a surge in tensions between the group and Israel.