Category Archives: Houthis

Netanyahu tells Houthis they will pay ‘heavy price’ as missile hits Israel

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Rebel group claims what would be first missile to have landed in Israel from Yemen, but no reports of casualties

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels will pay a “heavy price” after the group claimed its first ballistic missile strike on Israel and its leader warned of bigger attacks to come.

The missile – claimed by the Houthis as an advanced surface-to-surface hypersonic missile – triggered air sirens across the country at about 6.30am, and local media aired footage of people racing to shelters at Ben Gurion international airport south-east of Tel Aviv. According to reports, it hit an open area in the Ben Shemen forest, causing a fire near Kfar Daniel. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

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Houthis to allow access to stricken Red Sea tanker amid fears of huge oil spill

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The Yemen-based militants have denied an Iranian claim that they agreed to a temporary truce but will allow a tugboat to access the Sounion tanker

Yemen’s Houthi group has agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to access a damaged crude oil tanker in the Red Sea, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said, after the Iranian-aligned militants attacked the Greek-flagged vessel last week.

The Sounion tanker is carrying 150,000 tonnes, or 1m barrels, of crude oil and poses an environmental hazard, shipping officials said. Any spill has the potential to be among the largest from a ship in recorded history.

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Red Sea tanker attack: hopes rise that major oil spill can be averted

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Waters around vessel attacked by Houthi rebels last week appear to be free of oil, EU mission Red Sea says

The area around a Greek-flagged tanker attacked last week by Yemen’s Houthi rebels appears to be free of oil, the EU mission in the Red Sea has said.

The tanker came under fire last week off Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah. The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous regions, said they were behind the attack.

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‘Smoking gun’ evidence points to UAE involvement in Sudan civil war

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Exclusive: Discovery of Emirati passports in wreckage suggest covert boots on the ground, despite Gulf state’s denials

Passports recovered from battlefields in Sudan suggest the United Arab Emirates is covertly putting boots on the ground in the country’s devastating civil war, according to leaked documents.

A 41-page document, sent to the UN security council and seen by the Guardian, contains images of Emirati passports allegedly found in Sudan and linked to soldiers of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the African nation’s notorious paramilitary.

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Middle East crisis: Yemen’s Houthis will not abide by any rules of engagement in continued attacks on Israel, group says – as it happened

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Houthi military spokesperson says there will be ‘no red lines’ in response to Israel after airstrikes hit Hodeidah on Saturday, killing at least six people

In the months before the Israeli invasion, Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah was a lifeline, a place where thousands sought shelter or scrabbled to raise funds to cross into neighbouring Egypt.

Now satellite images and social media video uploaded by Israeli soldiers stationed around the city show roads widened for armoured vehicles surrounded by total destruction, including buildings razed to the ground in the once bustling city.

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Israel says it intercepted missile fired by Houthis at port city of Eilat

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Houthi military says US ship in Red Sea also targeted after Israeli strikes on oil facilities and power station in Yemen

Israeli forces have said they intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Houthi militants in Yemen targeting the southern city of Eilat, in retaliation for a series of Israeli strikes on the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah.

Meanwhile, forest fires engulfed parts of northern Israel after a barrage of rocket fire from Lebanon.

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Israel strikes Yemen port after Houthi rebels attack Tel Aviv

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Three reported killed and 87 wounded after oil depot and electrical installations hit

Powerful airstrikes rocked the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah a day after Israeli officials vowed revenge for a drone that struck Tel Aviv.

Airstrikes hit a refinery and electricity infrastructure, sparking a huge blaze. The Almasirah television channel, run by Yemen’s Houthi movement, reported late on Saturday that three people had been killed and 87 wounded in the strikes on the oil facilities.

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Israel shaken as fatal Houthi drone hits Tel Aviv after interception failure

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One dead and at least 10 injured, with human error blamed for allowing drone to escape multilayered air defences

An Iranian-made drone sent by Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday, killing one person and wounding at least 10.

The hit in Israel’s biggest city was startling, because the drone appeared to have crossed much of the country through the multilayered air defences that have intercepted almost all Houthi drones and rockets since the Gaza war began.

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Houthi attack forces crew to abandon coal carrier in Red Sea

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The strike on Tutor from Yemeni militants left the vessel unable to manoeuvre, while one crew member remains missing

The crew of a Greek-owned vessel damaged in an attack by Yemen’s Houthi militants has been evacuated, and the abandoned ship is drifting in the Red Sea, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

One crew member from Tutor, the Liberia-flagged coal carrier, remains missing, officials in the Philippines said, after an attack near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Wednesday caused severe flooding and damage to the engine room, leaving the vessel unable to manoeuvre.

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Yemen’s Houthis detain 11 UN employees in unclear circumstances

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Aid group workers also taken as UN says it is trying to secure access to its personnel and clarify the situation around the detentions

Yemen’s Houthis have detained 11 Yemeni employees of UN agencies under unclear circumstances, authorities say, as the militia group faces increasing financial pressure and airstrikes from a US-led coalition.

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said 11 UN staffers had been taken.

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Houthis say at least 16 killed in UK and US strikes in Yemen

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Rebel group says strikes, aimed at underground facilities and missile launchers, killed and wounded civilians

A joint US and UK air raid on Houthi missile launchers in Yemen has killed 16 people and injured more than 40, according to the Houthi health ministry.

There is no independent way of confirming the death toll, but if accurate it would represent the single largest loss of life since the US and UK started their campaign to degrade the Houthi military in January.

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US gives Saudis green light to try to revive peace deal with Houthis

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Saudis are keen to end their engagement in Yemen and US needs Saudi support to end Gaza conflict

US determination to keep Saudi Arabia engaged in a peace process with Israel has led Washington to give Riyadh an informal green light to try to revive a peace deal with the Houthis, the Yemen-based rebels who have been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea since November.

The proposed Yemen UN roadmap for peace was agreed in outline in early December but progress was immediately frozen as the Houthis escalated their campaign of attacks in the Red Sea in what they billed as an act of solidarity with Palestine.

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Middle East crisis: Hamas ‘reviewing new Israeli ceasefire proposal’ – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our coverage of the Middle East crisis here

Three people have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, including two members of Hezbollah, AFP reports, citing statements from the militant group and official media.

Hezbollah released statements mourning the deaths of two fighters from the villages of Kafr Kila and Khiam, saying they had been “martyred on the road to Jerusalem”.

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UN must block Iranian missile supply to Houthis in Yemen, UK and US say

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Calls during Yemen briefing come as missile believed to have been launched by Houthis strikes a vessel off Aden

The US and UK have called for a UN maritime inspectorate to do more to prevent Iranian missiles reaching Houthi-controlled ports in the west of Yemen.

The calls during a UN security council briefing on the crisis in Yemen came as a missile believed to have been launched by Yemen’s Houthi militia struck a vessel off the southern city of Aden – but caused no damage – and US forces fired missiles on to Hodeidah international airport.

Guardian Newsroom: The unfolding crisis in the Middle East

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Middle East crisis: Israel and Hamas ‘not near a truce’, says Qatar; Biden ‘devastated’ US-Israeli citizen killed in 7 October attack – as it happened

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All parties ‘continuing to work in negotiations’, says Qatar; US president says he has heavy heart after learning of death of Itay Chen. This live blog is closed

A spokesperson for Yemen’s internationally recognised government told Reuters earlier that airstrikes that hit port cities and small towns in western Yemen were carried out by the UK and the US.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said that earlier reports that Britain was involved in carrying out the airstrikes were incorrect.

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Red Sea crisis: US carries out six ‘self-defence’ strikes against Houthi targets

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Yemeni group earlier warned it would escalate operations during Ramadan in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza

The US said it carried out six strikes in self-defence against Houthi targets on Monday afternoon and evening, hours after the rebel group warned it would escalate attacks during Ramadan in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

US Central Command (Centcom) said it destroyed an unmanned underwater vessel and 18 anti-ship missiles belonging to the Houthis – but on Tuesday reports emerged of drones being shot down by an Italian warship in the Red Sea.

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West won’t stop Houthi attacks unless it works with Yemeni authorities, say experts

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Calls for closer collaboration made after multiple Houthi drone strikes on ships in Red Sea over weekend

Western efforts to stop Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea will fail unless the US and its allies build stronger intelligence and military relations with the UN-recognised government in Yemen, politicians and experts are warning.

Yemen’s ambassador to the UK has warned the Houthis have to be confronted and driven away from Red Sea ports such as Hodeidah. Similar calls were made by members of the Yemeni government coalition when they visited London last month.

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Royal Navy shoots down Houthi drones after US and allies attacked in Red Sea

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HMS Richmond destroyed two targets with Sea Ceptor missiles, defence secretary Grant Shapps said

A Royal Navy frigate used its missiles to shoot down two attack drones as the US and its allies came under sustained Houthi attack in the Red Sea in the early hours of Saturday.

The UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, announced HMS Richmond’s role in destroying the targets in a post on X.

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Houthi forces step up Red Sea attacks as US and Denmark shoot down drones

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Iran-backed group is attempting to strike ships it claims have links to Israel, in solidarity with Gaza

Houthi forces in Yemen claim to have launched one of their largest attacks on US shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, saying they sent 37 drones to hit US navy war ships and a commercial ship.

The US Central Command said it had stopped the attack, which it attributed to Iranian-backed Houthi forces. The US spoke of only shooting down 15, not 37, drones.

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Three sailors dead after Houthis strike ship in Gulf of Aden, US says

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Incident marks first fatalities of commercial shipping crew since militants began launching strikes off Yemen last year

Three sailors have died and others have been injured after a Houthi missile attack on a ship in the Gulf of Aden, US officials have said – the first fatalities of crew of commercial shipping since the Houthis began launching strikes at ships in waters off Yemen last year.

The officials told US news agencies that the crew of the MV True Confidence had abandoned ship after the attack, which was claimed by the Houthis.

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