Five Yemenis and 15 foreign workers held as Iran-backed group steps up its campaign against international agencies
Houthi rebels have detained 20 employees at a UN facility in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen.
They are holding five Yemenis and 15 international workers but released another 11 after questioning them on Sunday. It was the second raid on a UN building in Sana’a in 24 hours.
Continue reading...Aidarous al-Zubaidi says Houthis will not be dislodged by bombing and path to political settlement is blocked
Yemen needs its own two-state solution, the president of its Southern Transitional Council (STC) has said, warning that there is currently no prospect of dislodging the Iran-backed Houthis from power in the north.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, Aidarous al-Zubaidi told the Guardian: “The best solution for Yemen and the best path to stability is the two-state solution, whether by referendum or agreement. The reality on the ground is that there are two states militarily and economically.”
Continue reading...Press freedom group says ‘brutal and unjustified attack’ is deadliest since 2009 Maguindanao massacre in Philippines
Thirty one journalists and media staff were killed by Israeli strikes on newspaper offices in Yemen last week in what the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Friday was the deadliest attack on journalists in the last 16 years.
Israel struck a newspaper complex in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, which housed three Houthi-connected media outlets on 10 September. At the time, members of the Yemeni army’s press arm were finishing the weekly print edition, according to the publication’s editor-in-chief, which increased the number of journalists present during the strike.
Continue reading...UN condemns ‘arbitrary detentions’ by Iran-backed group at World Food Programme and Unicef offices in Yemen
The Iranian-backed Houthis raided offices of the UN’s food, health and children’s agencies in Yemen’s capital, detaining at least 11 employees, as the rebels tightened security across Sana’a after the Israeli killing of their prime minister and several cabinet members.
The UN envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said on Sunday evening: “I strongly condemn the new wave of arbitrary detentions of UN personnel today in Sana’a and Hodeidah … as well as the forced entry into UN premises and seizure of UN property. At least 11 UN personnel were detained.”
Continue reading...Traders affiliated to Iran-backed rebel group found to have been running weapon stores on social media for years
Arms dealers affiliated with Houthi militants in Yemen are using X and Meta platforms to traffic weapons – some US-made – in apparent violation of the social media firms’ policies, a report has revealed.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed group of rebels who have controlled swathes of Yemen since 2014, are designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, Canada and other countries.
Continue reading...Four more people rescued, with 11 still missing and six believed kidnapped, after Eternity C sank in Red Sea
Four seafarers have been rescued after spending more than 48 hours in the waters of the Red Sea, as the search continued for the remaining crew of the Greek ship Eternity C, which was sunk by Houthi militants in an attack that killed at least four people.
Thursday’s rescue brought the number of those saved to 10 – eight Filipino crew, one Indian security guard and a Greek guard.
Continue reading...Search goes on for 14 people missing from Eternity C after assault in which at least four were killed
Seven crew members of a cargo ship that sank in the Red Sea after an attack by Houthi forces have been rescued but at least four were killed and 14 others are still missing.
The seven seafarers from the cargo ship Eternity C spent more than 24 hours in the water before being rescued, according to security firms involved in the operation. Rescuers are still searching for missing crew members.
Continue reading...Greek-owned carrier Eternity C attacked by rebels who claim to have sunk another vessel
Two seafarers on a bulk carrier have been killed in a drone and speedboat attack in the Red Sea blamed on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the second incident in a day after months of calm.
The Red Sea, which passes Yemen’s coast, is a critical waterway for oil and commodities but traffic has dropped since the Iran-aligned Houthi militia began targeting ships in November 2023 in what they said was solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Continue reading...Iran claims attacks in Yemen are attempt to disrupt negotiations with US over Tehran’s nuclear programme
Iran has urged the US to end its support for Israel’s continuing strikes on Yemen, claiming Israel is trying to use its conflict with the Houthi-led government to drive a wedge between Iran and the US in the negotiations over the future of Tehran’s civil nuclear programme.
The strikes have been criticised by the UN-recognised Yemen government based in Aden , which said it had not been consulted and airstrikes alone were not an integrated plan to remove the Houthis from power. Yemen has been divided between the Houthis and the official government since the Houthis captured the capital, Sana’a, in 2015.
Continue reading...Rebels’ media office say at least six strikes hit the crucial Hodeida port on Monday afternoon
Israel’s military has carried out a fresh round of airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen’s Red Sea city of Hodeida, a day after the Iranian-backed rebels launched a missile that hit Israel’s main airport.
The rebels’ media office said at least six strikes hit the crucial Hodeida port on Monday afternoon. Other strikes hit a cement factory in the Bajil district in Hodeida province, the rebels said. Israeli media reported that dozens of Israeli aircraft took part in the operation.
Continue reading...Strike by Yemen rebel group came hours before security cabinet was due to vote on plans to expand Gaza offensive
Benjamin Netanyahu has promised Israel will strike back against Yemen’s Houthis and “their Iranian terror masters” after a missile launched by the militia movement hit the perimeter of Israel’s main airport.
On X, the Israeli prime minister said on Sunday that Israel would respond to the Houthi attack “at a time and place of our choosing”. On Telegram, Netanyahu said Israel had acted against the Houthis in the past and would act again in the future.
Continue reading...RAF jets target buildings used to make drones, officials say, in Britain’s first involvement since Trump took office
British fighter jets joined their US counterparts in airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels overnight, the first military action authorised by the Labour government and the first UK participation in an aggressive American bombing campaign against the group.
RAF Typhoons, refuelled by Voyager air tankers, targeted a cluster of buildings 15 miles south of the capital, Sana’a, which the UK said were used by the Houthis to manufacture drones that had targeted shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Continue reading...Crew members jump out of Super Hornet before jet and towing tractor fall into the Red Sea
US sailors had to leap for their lives when a fighter jet fell off a navy aircraft carrier that was reportedly making evasive maneuvers to avoid Houthi militant fire in the Red Sea on Monday.
The F/A-18 fighter Super Hornet jet, along with the vehicle towing it into place on the deck of the USS Harry S Truman, rolled right out of the hangar and into the water, the navy said.
Continue reading...Escalation from US military suggests previous restraints on causing civilian casualties have been relaxed
“I am the candidate of peace,” Donald Trump declared on the campaign trail last November. Three months into his presidency, not only is the war in Ukraine continuing and the war in Gaza restarted, but in Yemen, the number of civilian casualties caused by US bombing is rapidly and deliberately escalating.
Sixty-eight were killed overnight, the Houthis said, when the US military bombed a detention centre holding African migrants in Saada, north-west Yemen, as part of a campaign against the rebel group. In the words of the US Central Command (Centcom), its purpose is to “restore freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea and, most significantly, “American deterrence”.
Continue reading...Death toll reportedly hits 80 with 150 wounded in deadliest attack since Washington launched its campaign
US military strikes on Yemen’s Ras Isa fuel port have killed at least 80 people including civilians and rescue workers, according to the Houthi-run health ministry, in the deadliest attack since Washington launched its campaign against the Iran-backed militants.
The rebels’ Al-Masirah TV, citing local officials, said the toll from the strike had “risen to 80 dead and 150 wounded”.
Continue reading...Death toll, if confirmed, would make strikes on Ras Isa port one of the deadliest in month-long US campaign
US airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed 33 people and wounded 80 others, Houthi-run media said early on Friday, which if confirmed would mark one of the deadliest days of a campaign launched under US President Trump that has involved hundreds of strikes since 15 March.
The strikes hit the Ras Isa oil port and were intended to deprive the rebels of “illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for over 10 years”, the US military’s Central Command said.
Continue reading...Anti-Houthi air campaign, details of which were revealed in Signal scandal, has brought further destruction to country
A ramped-up US bombing campaign on Yemen has killed civilians and brought further destruction and uncertainty to the poorest country in the Middle East, compounding an already dire situation after Donald Trump cut aid, according to local people, humanitarian workers and rights groups.
“Now the rampant bombing has started, you never know which way things will go,” said Siddiq Khan, who works as a country director in Yemen for the aid charity Islamic Relief.
Continue reading...US president says consequences of any future attacks by Yemen’s Tehran-backed rebels will be ‘dire’
The US president, Donald Trump, has declared he will hold Iran directly responsible for any future attacks by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi rebels, who have targeted US and other foreign ships in the Red Sea.
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Monday.
Continue reading...Huge demonstrations in Houthi-controlled areas come as more than 50 people die in strikes responding to Red Sea attacks
More than 200 people, including women and children, have been killed in Syria in incidents involving war remnants in the three months since the fall of the Assad regime, as bomb disposal experts warn that “no area in Syria is safe”.
The number of casualties has risen as approximately 1.2 million people return to their former homes and lands after being displaced by the country’s brutal civil war.
The US and Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the US launched a wave of deadly airstrikes on Saturday with the stated aim of deterring the rebel group from attacking Red Sea shipping. Updating an earlier death toll, Houthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi said 53 people had been killed including “five children and two women”, and that 98 people had been injured.
Iran will respond to US president Donald Trump’s invitation to talks after proper scrutiny, the foreign ministry said on Monday, accusing Washington of not matching actions with words. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and president Masoud Pezeshkian have rejected Trump’s letter and public exhortations for nuclear talks as deceptive and bullying.
A civilian was killed in an Israeli airstrike south of Gaza City yesterday evening, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. An Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, medics said on Monday. There have been many more reports of Palestinians being killed by Israeli forces since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, came into effect on 19 January.
Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles continue to be positioned around the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. Wafa correspondents are reporting that Israeli bulldozers are levelling streets and widening others to allow for the entry of more military vehicles.
Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will seek to dismiss the director of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, through a cabinet vote later this week, in a move that will prompt further accusations of authoritarianism. The Israeli prime minister said in a video statement on Sunday that “ongoing distrust” made it impossible for him to continue to work with Ronen Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021.
Germany is pledging a further €300m ($326m; £252m) in aid for Syrians through the UN and select organisations, the country’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said this morning ahead of an EU-led donor conference in Brussels. More than half of the funds, which will go towards providing food, healthcare and emergency shelters, among other relief, will be allocated without the transitional government in the country, she said.
Continue reading...Strikes began on Saturday with the aim of punishing Iran-backed armed group for attacks on Red Sea shipping
US officials have said airstrikes launched against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis will continue indefinitely, after a first round on Saturday killed at least 31 people and injured up to 100 more.
The strikes, which aim to punish the Houthis for their attacks against Red Sea shipping, are Donald Trump’s first such use of US military might in the region since he took power in January.
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