Category Archives: Houthis

Two US Navy Seals declared dead after raid to seize Iranian weapons bound for Houthis

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Seals from USS Lewis Puller went overboard during mission off coast of Somalia to seize Iranian weapons, according to US military

Two US Navy Seals who went missing during an operation to seize Iranian weapons bound for Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been declared dead after a 10-day search failed to locate them, the US military has said.

US Central Command (Centcom) had previously said that two Seals who were reported as lost at sea were involved in the 11 January operation, in which the elite special operations personnel boarded a dhow off the coast of Somalia and seized missile components made in Iran.

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Iran accuses Israel of killing Revolutionary Guards spy chief in Damascus

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Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it has lost four members in strike on Syrian capital

A suspected Israeli strike killed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ espionage chief for Syria and three other guard members on Saturday, Iran has said, in an attack that destroyed much of a multistorey residential building in Damascus.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said six people were killed in the Israeli strike on the upmarket Mazzeh neighbourhood in the Syrian capital.

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Seemingly disparate Middle East conflicts show collective erosion of self-restraint

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As pockets of war multiply across region so does the risk that conflict becomes more contagious and intractable

On Thursday morning the Iranian news website Entekhab ran, without irony, the headline: “Taliban call on Pakistan and Iran to show restraint and urge both sides to settle differences through diplomatic means”.

If proof were needed that a new, more dangerous world order may be upon us, the Taliban cast in the role of advocates for restraint seems conclusive.

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US says it conducted strikes against three Houthi missiles – as it happened

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There can be “no security and stability in the region” without a Palestinian state, said the spokesperson for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, reports Associated Press.

The remarks come in response to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection on Thursday of calls by the US to take steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state after the war.

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Houthi-US fight may be imbalanced but that doesn’t mean it will be brief

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US has military might but rebels can still shut down shipping, spelling prolonged suffering for Yemeni civilians

The latest round of US bombing against Houthi targets in Yemen comes as little surprise, and raises with it the prospect of an extended military campaign affecting a nation already impoverished by years of war.

The assault implies an effective recognition by Washington that any effort to try to completely halt the attacks on western shipping in the southern Red Sea will require repeated intervention because of the Yemeni group’s capacity and determination to resist.

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US carries out fifth strike against Houthis as Biden admits bombing isn’t stopping attacks

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Defiant Houthi leader mocks US president and calls for boycott of Israeli goods as Biden tells reporters attacks are ‘going to continue’

The US has carried out a fifth strike against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, even as Joe Biden acknowledged that bombing the rebels has yet to stop their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Late on Thursday US warplanes targeted anti-ship missiles that “were aimed into the southern Red Sea and prepared to launch,” according to US Central Command.

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Gaza conditions go from catastrophe ‘to near collapse’, says Unicef – as it happened

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While Iran has taken low-level action against Balochistan in the past, Tuesday’s strikes were unusually heavy-handed and Thursday’s retaliatory bombings were the first time that Pakistan has responded with comprehensive military action against its neighbour.

Sources in Islamabad said the decision was taken after heavy political and military pressure on the top army leadership to show strength against Tehran.

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Red Sea crisis: US launches fourth round of strikes on Houthis in Yemen

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US missile strikes came after a bulk carrier was hit by Houthi drones in the Gulf of Aden

The US military has fired another wave of missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites, marking the fourth time in a week that it has directly targeted the group in Yemen.

The strikes were launched from the Red Sea, hitting more than a dozen sites – the officials told the AP news agency – and came after a drone launched from areas controlled by the Houthis hit a US-owned vessel in the Gulf of Aden.

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US military says it seized Iranian weapons bound for Houthis

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Search still under way for the two Seals involved in mission targeting supply of arms to Yemeni rebels

US Navy Seals boarded a boat heading for Yemen and seized Iranian-made missile components and other weaponry bound for Houthi forces, in an operation in which two Seal commandos went missing, the US military has said.

US Central Command (Centcom) posted pictures of the missile parts on X, including what appeared to be the components of a complete small missile, rocket motors and guidance systems, as well as a photograph of the small cargo vessel that was allegedly carrying the arms.

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US-UK airstrikes force aid agencies to suspend operations in Yemen

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Charities warns of ‘dire’ outcome for the impoverished country, where two-thirds of the population already relies on aid to survive

Aid agencies have begun suspending vital operations in Yemen after the recent US and UK strikes on Houthi targets, amid warnings that further military intervention risks deepening one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

A coalition of 23 aid organisations operating within the Gulf state issued a joint statement on Tuesday, warning that military escalation will further compromise their ability to deliver critical services while worsening living conditions for millions of people in Yemen.

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Houthi attacks continue as US cargo ship hit in defiance of strikes on Yemen

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Gibraltar Eagle vessel not seriously damaged in assault that raises some doubts over efficacy of UK-US action

The Iran-backed Houthi militia group has continued to attack commercial shipping, hitting an American-owned container ship with a ballistic missile in defiance of a wave of US and UK strikes on Yemen.

The strike against the Marshall Islands-flagged Gibraltar Eagle container ship represented a widening of the theatre of war beyond the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The strike hit the cargo hold of the ship and while it was thought to have caused no major damage, will add to fears that the US and UK strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen have not degraded the militia group’s ability to threaten commercial shipping.

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Rishi Sunak: UK willing to take further military action against Houthis

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Prime minister addresses MPs hours after Yemen-based group fires on another container ship in Red Sea

Rishi Sunak has said the UK is willing to take military action against Houthi rebels again, hours after the Yemen-based group fired another missile at a container ship in the Red Sea.

The prime minister addressed MPs on Monday for the first time since the UK took part in airstrikes on the Houthis on Friday night, which he said destroyed 13 targets at two sites, including drones, an airfield and a cruise missile launcher.

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UK ‘will wait and see’ before deciding on further Houthi strikes

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Grant Shapps says UK has no interest in wider Yemen conflict as Rishi Sunak prepares to address MPs

The UK has no interest in taking part in any wider conflict in Yemen but is “waiting to see what happens” before deciding whether further military strikes against Houthi forces might be needed, the defence secretary has said.

Discussing the US-led strikes on the Yemen-based rebels in the early hours of Friday, which were aimed at stopping Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, Grant Shapps said the aims of the military operation were always limited.

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Houthi missile targeting US warship intercepted, says US, amid Red Sea tensions

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US Central Command says missile from Houthi-controlled area of Yemen was launched towards USS Laboon before being shot down by fighter jets

US fighter aircraft shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen at one of its warships in the Red Sea, the US military said on Sunday night.

The missile was fired towards the USS Laboon which was operating in the Southern Red Sea, US Central Command said in a statement, in what appears to be the first such attempt on a US destroyer. No injuries or damage were reported, Central Command said.

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Middle East crisis live: Netanyahu says world court cannot stop Israel in Gaza as war enters 100th day

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Israeli PM says it is ‘possible and necessary to continue until victory’ in televised press conference, days after South Africa launches genocide case against Israel in The Hague

Britain could strike Houthi targets in Yemen again if the rebel group continues to attack ships in the Red Sea, the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has indicated.

The former Conservative prime minister warned that the Iran-linked militants could force up prices in Britain if they are allowed to block the passage of container ships in the busy trade route.

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Red Sea crisis could shatter hopes of global economic recovery

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World Bank warns of surging energy prices, slower growth and higher inflation as threat rises of disruption to world trade

A prolonged conflict in the Red Sea and escalating tensions across the Middle East risk having devastating effects on the global economy, reigniting inflation and disrupting energy supplies, some of the world’s leading economists warn this weekend.

Before a statement expected on Monday by Rishi Sunak in the House of Commons about UK and US airstrikes on Houthi sites in Yemen, economists at the World Bank say the crisis now threatens to feed through into higher interest rates, lower growth, persistent inflation and greater geopolitical uncertainty.

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Biden sent private message to Tehran amid airstrikes: ‘We’re well-prepared’

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After second night of US-UK strikes in Yemen against Iran-backed Houthis, fears of wider regional conflict grow

Joe Biden said on Saturday that the United States has sent a private message to Tehran that “we’re confident we’re well-prepared”, following a second night of US and British strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn on Saturday morning, on his way from Washington to Camp David in Maryland, the US president declined to go into further detail and switched to answering questions about the Taiwan election.

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US launches fresh strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, military says

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Bombing comes after Houthis threaten retaliation and anti-ship ballistic missile is fired at vessel in Red Sea

The US has carried out fresh strikes on Yemen, a day after a first raid triggered mass protests in the country’s capital and other Middle Eastern countries voiced concern that the attacks could trigger further unrest in the region.

The strike, carried out by the USS Carney early on Saturday, targeted a Houthi rebel radar site in Yemen and was a “follow-on action” on a target “associated with strikes taken on Jan 12 designed to degrade the Houthi’s ability to attack maritime vessels”, the US military said in a statement on Twitter.

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Rishi Sunak says UK acted in ‘self-defence’ with Yemen airstrikes

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PM defends lawfulness of military action against Houthis as MPs call for parliamentary scrutiny

The prime minister has said the UK acted in “self-defence” with military strikes in Yemen intended to “de-escalate tensions and restore stability to the region”, as he faced calls for greater parliamentary scrutiny.

Speaking from Ukraine, Rishi Sunak said that in the face of this aggression “we will always stand up for the rule of law” after a series of attacks by Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea.

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Houthis show resolve that western strikes will be hard pushed to shake

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With Palestinian plight supercharging movement, restraint may only come with regional pressure on resources

The near-official slogan of the Houthi movement is: “God is the Greatest / Death to America / Death to Israel / A curse upon the Jews.” Crowds of supporters in the group’s northern Yemen strongholds have been chanting it for more than 20 years, ever since the phrase was brought back from Tehran at the turn of the century, when it was first directed at the then Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

So those who claim the Houthis are not serious in attempting to block Israeli-linked trade in the Red Sea underplay the extent to which the defence of Palestine is a foundational principle of the Houthi movement, and highly popular among Yemeni people. The rebel stance over the past two months has afforded this relatively obscure Shia group a status in recent weeks that even Hezbollah in Lebanon cannot claim. They are deeply authoritarian, but skilled mobilisers of popular opinion.

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