Houthis claim to have attacked Tel Aviv with ‘new hypersonic’ ballistic missile 

Update Houthis claim to have attacked Tel Aviv with ‘new hypersonic’ ballistic missile 
Responders put out a fire in the area of Lod, near Tel Aviv, in central Israel on September 15, 2024. The Israeli military said a missile fired from Yemen crossed into central Israel on September 15 and "fell in an open area". (AFP)
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Updated 15 September 2024
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Houthis claim to have attacked Tel Aviv with ‘new hypersonic’ ballistic missile 

Houthis claim to have attacked Tel Aviv with ‘new hypersonic’ ballistic missile 
  • Air raid sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel, sending residents running for shelters

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia claims to have fired a ballistic missile at the capital of Israel and vowed to continue firing rockets at Israel as well as attacking its ships in support of the Palestinian people.

In a televised statement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Sunday that Houthi forces fired a hypersonic missile at a military location in Tel Aviv, which traveled 2,040 kilometers and evaded US and Israeli air defenses.

“The Israeli enemy should expect more strikes and qualitative operations to come,” Sarea said, adding that the attack on Tel Aviv was also retaliation for Israel’s airstrikes on Yemen’s western city of Hodeidah on July 20.

Thousands of Israelis rushed to shelters in Tel Aviv on Sunday, and large explosions rocked the city as Israeli defenses tried to intercept a Houthi missile that landed in the city center.

After the Houthi rocket attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to launch a new wave of strikes on Yemen, similar to the attacks on Hodeidah.

“The Houthis should have known by now that we are charging a heavy price for any attempt to harm us. Those who need a reminder — are welcome to visit Hodeida port,” Netanyahu said at his Cabinet meeting.

Speaking to large crowds of followers in areas under his control, Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi also vowed on Sunday to continue the campaign against international ships in the Red Sea and other waters, as well as firing missiles at Israel until it ends its war in Gaza.

“Our forces continue their successful and highly effective sea operations against ships linked to the Israeli, American and British adversaries,” Al-Houthi said.

Since November, the Houthis have fired more than 100 ballistic missiles, drones and drone boats at commercial and navy ships in international shipping lanes, as well as rockets and drones at Israel, claiming that they are acting in support of the Palestinian people.

Critics say the Houthis are using Yemen’s widespread outrage over Israel’s devastating operation in Gaza to recruit fighters, boost their dwindling public support, and mobilize forces to attack opponents in Yemen.

Meanwhile, the EU naval mission in the Red Sea, known as EUNAVFOR Aspides, said on Sunday that the salvage operation of the burning oil tanker Sounion is underway, raising hopes of averting a disaster for the Red Sea ecosystem and shipping.

“The salvage of the MV Sounion is a complex operation and consists of various phases. The tugboats have successfully connected to the vessel and the towing of the MV Sounion to a safe location is in progress,” the EU mission said on X, adding that its navy ships are providing protection to rescue vessels.

The Sounion, carrying nearly a million barrels of crude oil, has been burning and deserted in the Red Sea since late last month, after being repeatedly attacked by the Houthis.

The EU mission said earlier this month that the tugboats that arrived at the site of the burning oil tanker discovered that the ship was too dangerous to be moved to another location to neutralise the threat, forcing rescuers to consider other options.

On Sunday, a government official in Aden, the interim capital of Yemen, told Arab News that the rescuers were able to tow the ship after the arrival of a new tugboat sent by the Sounion’s owner.

Marine experts, who had previously warned of a major environmental disaster in the Red Sea if the ship exploded or leaked oil, reacted positively to the news of the towing.

“With naval protection around it, the MV Sounion is now being towed to a safe location for salvaging, that would prevent an environmental disaster in the Red Sea after the ship was rigged with explosives by the Houthis and burning for weeks,” Wim Zwijnenburg of the Humanitarian Disarmament Project at the Dutch peace organization PAX said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, a Yemeni government officer was killed on Sunday in clashes with the Houthis in the southern province of Dhale, the latest in a series of Houthi attacks on government troops in the province.

Mohammed Al-Naqeeb, a military spokesperson for the Southern Transitional Council, told Arab News that the Houthis used drones and thermal missiles to attack their forces in Dhale’s Qatabah district on Sunday, sparking clashes that killed field commander Mohammed Ali Al-Humaidi.

Dozens of Yemeni government troops have been killed in Houthi attacks in Dhale, Marib, Taiz, and other contested areas during the past two years, despite a significant drop in hostilities since a UN-brokered truce went into effect in 2022. 


Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 43,391

Updated 6 sec ago
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Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 43,391

Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 43,391
The toll includes 17 deaths in the previous 24 hours

GAZA STRIP: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Tuesday that at least 43,391 people have been killed in the year-old war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes 17 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 102,347 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Greece says migrant arrivals rising in south-east islands

Greece says migrant arrivals rising in south-east islands
Updated 22 min 46 sec ago
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Greece says migrant arrivals rising in south-east islands

Greece says migrant arrivals rising in south-east islands
  • At the end of October, several hundred migrants set up tents and cardboard houses outside the local government offices of the city of Rhodes, sparking anger among residents
  • Rhodes mayor Alexandros Koliadis told Rodiaki that the island lacks the personnel, police officers and coast guard needed to register the arrivals before transferring them to camps

ATHENS: Some islands in the southeast of the Aegean sea, including Rhodes, are seeing an increase in migrants arriving by boat from Turkiye, Greek migration and asylum minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos said Tuesday.
“The southeast of the Aegean and the island of Rhodes are experiencing migratory pressure right now,” he said on public television station ERT, though he said the increase does not appear to be linked to rising tensions in the Middle East.
At the end of October, several hundred migrants set up tents and cardboard houses outside the local government offices of the city of Rhodes, sparking anger among residents and local authorities.
According to local media Rodiaki, more than 700 migrants arrived during the last week of October.
Rhodes mayor Alexandros Koliadis told Rodiaki that the island lacks the personnel, police officers and coast guard needed to register the arrivals before transferring them to camps on the mainland or in other islands.
Previously, Aegean islands further north such as Lesbos and Samos had received the brunt of migrants crossing from Turkish shores.
Crete, which has likewise seen an increase in arrivals from Libya, also needs to build facilities to process migrants.
Greece has seen a 25 percent increase this year in the number of people fleeing war and poverty, with a 30 percent increase alone to Rhodes and the south-east Aegean, according to the Migration Ministry.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says 48,158 arrivals have been recorded so far in 2024, of which around 42,000 arrived by boat and 6,000 by crossing the land frontier with Turkiye.
“The camps on the islands have an occupancy rate of 100 percent. But on the mainland they are only 55 percent full, which provides a margin in the event of an increase in arrivals on the islands,” Panagiotopoulos said.


Sudan files AU complaint against Chad over arms: minister

Sudan files AU complaint against Chad over arms: minister
Updated 35 min 23 sec ago
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Sudan files AU complaint against Chad over arms: minister

Sudan files AU complaint against Chad over arms: minister
  • Chad last month denied accusations that it was “amplifying the war in Sudan” by arming the RSF

PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s army-backed government on Tuesday accused neighboring Chad of supplying arms to rebel militias, likely referring to the paramilitary forces it is battling.
The northeast African country has been engulfed by war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the regular army, led by de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Justice minister Muawiya Osman said Burhan’s administration had lodged the complaint against Chad at the African Union.
Speaking to reporters, including AFP, Osman said the government demanded compensation and accused Chad of “supplying arms to rebel militias” and causing “harm to Sudanese citizens.”
“We will present evidence to the relevant authorities,” he added from Port Sudan, where Burhan relocated after fighting spread to the capital, Khartoum.
Chad last month denied accusations that it was “amplifying the war in Sudan” by arming the RSF.
“We do not support any of the factions that are fighting on Sudanese territory — we are in favor of peace,” foreign minister and government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said at the time.
The United Nations has been using the Adre border crossing between the two countries to deliver humanitarian aid.
Sudan had initially agreed to keep the crossing open for three months, a period set to expire on November 15. Authorities in Khartoum have yet to decide whether to extend the arrangement.
The Sudanese war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million, including 3.1 million who are now sheltering beyond the country’s borders.


Explosion at Turkish oil refinery injures 12

Explosion at Turkish oil refinery injures 12
Updated 53 min 33 sec ago
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Explosion at Turkish oil refinery injures 12

Explosion at Turkish oil refinery injures 12
  • The 12 employees sustained slight injuries and were taken to a hospital for examinations

ANKARA: An explosion at an oil refinery in northwestern Turkiye on Tuesday left at least 12 employees slightly injured, the company said. A fire at the facility was quickly brought under control.
The Turkish Petroleum Refineries company, TUPRAS, said a fire broke out at its facilities in Izmit, in Kocaeli province, during maintenance work on a compressor. The company’s emergency teams responded immediately to the incident, it said in a statement.
The 12 employees sustained slight injuries and were taken to a hospital for examinations, the company said.
The company said the unit where the incident occurred “was deactivated in a controlled manner” and that other operations at the refinery were “continuing as normal.”
Earlier, Tahir Buyukakin, the mayor for Kocaeli told private NTV television that the blast occurred during a drill. The fire was quickly brought under control by the company’s own crews and no request for help was made, he said.
Video footage from the site showed smoke rising from the refinery, which is one of Turkiye’s largest. Izmit is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Istanbul.
The Borsa Istanbul stock exchange temporarily halted trading of TUPRAS shares, until the company provides a detailed explanation of the incident.


Israeli strikes hit south of Beirut and Lebanon’s Bekaa region

Israeli strikes hit south of Beirut and Lebanon’s Bekaa region
Updated 05 November 2024
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Israeli strikes hit south of Beirut and Lebanon’s Bekaa region

Israeli strikes hit south of Beirut and Lebanon’s Bekaa region

BEIRUT: At least one Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in a beach town south of Beirut on Tuesday, Lebanese state media said, as other deadly strikes hit scattered locations across the country and armed group Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel.
The attack on the beach town of Jiyyeh left a massive smoke column billowing out of an apartment building. It was not immediately clear if the strike was an assassination attempt, and no evacuation warning was given before it was carried out.
The Israeli military and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war, but hostilities have escalated over the last six weeks. More than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, most of them since late September, according to health authorities.
Israeli strikes on Tuesday also killed five people near the city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, including two killed in a strike on a car, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Lebanon’s state news agency said on Tuesday that it estimated Israeli air strikes and widespread detonation of homes had destroyed more than 40,000 housing units in the country’s border region.