US military destroys 5 Houthi drones amid escalating ship attacks

Special US military destroys 5 Houthi drones amid escalating ship attacks
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Houthi fighters gather in a show defiance after US and UK airstrikes on militia positions, near Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 4, 2024. (Reuters)
Special US military destroys 5 Houthi drones amid escalating ship attacks
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Smoke rises after an attack on the Greek-owned MV Tutor in the Red Sea, June 12, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 16 July 2024
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US military destroys 5 Houthi drones amid escalating ship attacks

US military destroys 5 Houthi drones amid escalating ship attacks
  • Centcom: It was determined these UAVs presented an imminent threat to US, coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region
  • Houthis also fired an explosive and remotely controlled boat at the MT Chios Lion, a Greek-operated, Marshall Islands-owned, crude oil tanker

AL-MUKALLA: US naval forces in the Red Sea destroyed a barrage of drones launched by Yemen’s Houthis as the militia increased drone, boat and missile strikes on ships in international commercial channels.

The US military said in a statement on Tuesday that its forces intercepted three Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles over the Red Sea and two more over Houthi-held areas of war-torn Yemen during the past 24 hours, all of which were aimed against international commercial and navy ships.

“It was determined these UAVs presented an imminent threat to US, coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region. These actions were taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure,” US Central Command said on X.

During the last 24 hours, the Houthis targeted a Panama-flagged, Israel-owned, Monaco-operated tanker vessel, MT Bentley I, which was transporting vegetable oil from Russia to China. The militia deployed three surface ships, one explosive-laden drone boat and two small boats, causing no damage to the ship or casualties, according to the US military.

The Houthis subsequently launched a ballistic missile from Yemeni territory toward the same ship in the Red Sea.

The Houthis also fired an explosive and remotely controlled boat at the MT Chios Lion, a Greek-operated, Marshall Islands-owned crude oil tanker operating under the Liberian flag in the Red Sea, inflicting damage to the ship but no reported casualties.

The US statement came hours after Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea claimed in a televised statement that the militia’s naval, drone and missile forces launched a joint attack against MT Bentley I in the Red Sea, and struck the Chios Lion oil tanker ship with a drone boat.

The two ships were targeted because their owners defied the militia’s warnings against traveling to Israeli ports.

Sarea said that a third operation was carried out with the assistance of the Iraqi Islamic Resistance, targeting the Olvia ship in the Mediterranean.

Olvia was recognized by ship monitoring apps as a crude oil tanker flying the Cyprus flag when it left the Israeli port of Haifa on Saturday.

Since November, the Houthis have fired hundreds of ballistic missiles, drones and drone boats at more than 100 ships on international trade routes near Yemen, forcing major commercial firms to divert ships away from the Red Sea and on to longer and more costly routes via Africa.

The Houthis maintain that they solely strike Israeli-linked and Israeli-bound ships to put pressure on Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza. Critics say that the Houthis are using Yemenis’ fury over Israel’s war in Gaza to silence vocal voices calling for salary payments and public service improvements, as well as to recruit fighters.

On Tuesday, Houthi militia leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi promised to keep striking ships until Israel stops its war in Gaza.

“Our missile and naval operations will continue and expand until the aggression ends and the Israeli embargo on Gaza is removed,” he said.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s internationally recognized government reiterated on Tuesday its request for international groups to shift their offices from Houthi-held Sanaa to the southern city of Aden, Yemen’s temporary capital.

Rashad Al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, demanded during a meeting with US Ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin that international donors fulfill their commitments to the humanitarian response plan in Yemen and that international organizations relocate their main offices to Aden after the Houthis kidnapped dozens of aid workers in Sanaa.

Yemeni Minister of Interior Ibrahim Haidan reiterated the same request during a meeting with Mahmoud Salah, head of the Foreign Committee of the Red Cross mission in Aden on Tuesday.


‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking

‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking
Updated 11 sec ago
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‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking

‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s anti-corruption agency on Monday announced an investigation into a prime ministerial aide over an alleged audio recording in which he referred to a bribe as being too small.
Corruption is endemic in the state institutions of oil-rich Iraq, but the top echelons of power often evade accountability.
The aide, Abdel Karim Al-Faisal, denied the accusation and has denounced on Facebook the “fabricated” audio clip.
In the recording obtained by Iraqi media, a man alleged to be Faisal criticized his interlocutor, during a phone call, for the bribe being “only $1 million.”
The Commission of Integrity anti-graft body said in a statement it was acting under a directive from Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani in opening “an investigation into an audio recording attributed to the head of the Commission of Advisers to the Prime Minister’s Office.”
It added that it was acting “in coordination with a criminal court judge handling anti-corruption cases.”
AFP was not able to authenticate the recording.
In the past few weeks several leaks of alleged recordings have shaken Iraq.
Last month, the chief of the tax bureau, Ali Alawi, was suspended for 60 days after an investigation opened following such a leak. An audio recording attributed to him led to accusations that he had granted tax reductions.
He was also placed in detention, a source with the Commission of Integrity told AFP, under cover of anonymity.
The former head of the integrity commission himself was fired, only to be given an advisory post at the justice ministry.
This came after judicial authorities in September had announced a probe into the integrity commission chief over alleged audio recordings attributed to him and related to suspected bribery.
It is not unknown in Iraq for public officials to try to settle scores by trading accusations.
One of the country’s biggest-ever corruption cases involved the theft of $2.5 billion in public funds from 2021 to 2022.
At the end of August, the judiciary issued arrest warrants for a businessman alleged to be the main suspect in that case, and for a former government official.

Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears

Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears
Updated 10 min 51 sec ago
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Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears

Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears
  • The meeting will come amid hopes of a truce in Israel’s war in Gaza suffering a setback with Qatar suspending its mediation role in the negotiations

WASHINGTON: Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday in Washington, the State Department said, as a deadline set by Washington to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza nears.
The meeting will take place at 5 p.m. ET (2200 GMT), according to the department’s public schedule, which did not offer further details.
Hopes for a truce in Israel’s war in Gaza suffered a setback, with Qatar suspending its role as a mediator in negotiations. Israel separately said on Monday there was progress in talks about a ceasefire in its war in Lebanon.
The US government said in an Oct. 13 letter that Israel had 30 days to take specific steps to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israel’s military assault in the last 13 months has displaced nearly the entire population, caused a hunger crisis and led to allegations of genocide at the World Court, which Israel denies.
Since that letter, Blinken has urged Israel to substantially increase humanitarian aid. Earlier this month, he spoke to Dermer and discussed a diplomatic solution in Lebanon as well as ending the war in Gaza, according to the State Department.
Some analysts say Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration may no longer have enough leverage after Republican Donald Trump won the US presidential election. He is set to take office on Jan. 20.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 43,000, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel’s separate military operations in Lebanon have killed over 3,000 and displaced over a million. Israel says it is targeting Lebanese Hezbollah militants. 


Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years

Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years
Updated 11 November 2024
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Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years

Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years
  • Zammel, a former lawmaker, businessman and head of a small liberal party, received around seven percent of the presidential vote

TUNIS: Former Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel was sentenced on Monday to two years and eight months in prison, raising his cumulative jail time to 35 years following previous trials.
Zammel, one of only two candidates allowed to stand against President Kais Saied last month, was arrested in early September, on the same day that the electoral authorities had approved his candidacy.
A court in Marouba, near the capital Tunis, “increased by two years and eight months” his sentence, after he was convicted of falsifying endorsements to stand in the election, his lawyer Abdessatar Messaoudi said.
Zammel, 47, has now been handed down cumulative sentences of 35 years in jail, Messaoudi said, adding that the former candidate was being prosecuted in 37 different cases.
Each endorsement alleged to have been falsified is grounds for opening a new case, he added.
Zammel, a former lawmaker, businessman and head of a small liberal party, received around seven percent of the presidential vote, whereas Saied won more than 90 percent, according to the Tunisian election board, ISIE.
Saied was democratically elected president in 2019 but two years later staged a sweeping power grab, dissolved parliament and revised the constitution.


Lebanon PM urges global support for state, not factions

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) upon his arrival in Riyadh. (AFP)
Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) upon his arrival in Riyadh. (AFP)
Updated 11 November 2024
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Lebanon PM urges global support for state, not factions

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) upon his arrival in Riyadh. (AFP)
  • “Lebanon is going through an unprecedented historical and existential crisis that threatens its present and future,” Mikati said

RIYADH: Lebanon’s prime minister on Monday urged the international community to support the state, not factions operating in the country, and in a thinly veiled swipe at Iran, urged countries to stop interfering in its affairs.
At a summit of Arab and Islamic countries, Prime Minister Najib Mikati demanded that countries stop “interfering in its internal affairs by supporting this or that group, but rather support Lebanon as a state and entity.”

He warned that his country was suffering an “unprecedented” crisis that threatens its existence, as Israel wages war on Hezbollah.
“Lebanon is going through an unprecedented historical and existential crisis that threatens its present and future,” he told the summit in Riyadh.


Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria

Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria
Updated 11 November 2024
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Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria

Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria

ANKARA: Turkiye is pressing the United States to reconsider its support for Kurdish militants in Syria, according to comments by its leaders including President Tayyip Erdogan, who has again floated the possibility of a new cross-border offensive.
“We are constantly reminding our American counterparts that they need to stop the cooperation they have with the terrorist organization in Syria,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was quoted on Monday as telling the Milliyet newspaper.
“Our contacts on this issue have increased. We see that the US side is keen on more talks and negotiations too,” he added.
On Sunday, Erdogan said Turkiye could mount a new offensive into northern Syria to create new safe zones along its border, after saying on Friday that he would discuss a possible US troop withdrawal from Syria with President-elect Donald Trump.
Strains in US-Turkiye ties include US support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Washington’s main ally against Islamic State in Syria. Ankara calls it a terrorist organization and extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the United States also deems a terror group.
NATO member Turkiye has carried out several cross-border operations against the YPG in recent years and has since threatened more.
Erdogan said on Sunday these moves established safe zones in Syria that had “thwarted attempts to surround” it from the southern borders, and Turkiye was determined to “completely cut off contact between terrorist organizations.”
“God willing, we will complete the missing links of the safe zone we have established along our borders in coming period,” he said.
In recent months Erdogan has also made overtures to repair severed ties with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government after a decade of animosity.
Ankara has complained that Damascus has not reciprocated its attempts at rapprochement, after Erdogan said in July he wanted to invite Assad for talks. Assad said those attempts have yielded no results and Damascus wants Turkish troops to withdraw from Syrian territories.