US officials confirmed attacks amid footage of explosions around the capital city of Sana’a
The US and the UK have conducted a further round of strikes against the Houthis in an attempt to stop the rebel group targeting shipping in the southern Red Sea.
A joint statement from both countries said that they had conducted “an additional round of proportionate and necessary strikes” against eight Houthi targets, with the support of Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands.
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The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip “could not be worse”, the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said on Monday.
“From now on I will not talk about the peace process, but I want a two-state-solution process”, Borell was quoted by Reuters as saying ahead of an EU foreign ministers’ meeting.
Continue reading...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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A total of 25,105 Palestinians have been killed and 62,681 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
An estimated 178 Palestinians were killed and 293 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
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The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza “remains dire”, with people returning to “primitive methods for food preparation and general hygiene”. It also said the situation had been “exacerbated by the continuous Israeli blockade hindering aid delivery”.
In a post on X, the PRCS quoted Mohammed Abu Msbeh, its director of ambulances and emergency centres in the Gaza Strip, as saying:
People have returned to primitive methods for food preparation and general hygiene, to make bread.
The daily struggle for water is a daily torment for Gaza residents to secure life-sustaining droplets, who stand in large crowds for hours with containers.
Continue reading...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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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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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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.
Continue reading...As tensions in the Middle East continue to rise, this week John Harris speaks to Niku Jafarnia of Human Rights Watch about the regional conflicts. The Rwanda bill passed its third reading and Pippa Crerar, the Guardian’s political editor, reveals what happened behind the scenes. And the former No 10 adviser Gavin Barwell talks about the increasingly vicious struggles within the Conservative party
Archive: GB News
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea by the Houthi rebel group in Yemen have been met with airstrikes from the UK and US. Patrick Wintour reports
Since the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October and Israel’s military response in Gaza, there has been an effort by western leaders led by the US to avoid the conflict spreading to the wider region. That attempt looks increasingly tenuous now. US and UK airstrikes have targeted the Houthi rebel group in Yemen after a series of attacks by the group on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
As Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, tells Michael Safi, the Houthis say they are targeting Israeli-linked ships in an attempt to force a ceasefire. In doing so they are are positioning themselves as the foremost champions of Palestinians in the region. In reality, they have struck shipping interests beyond Israel and ignored warnings from the US to desist. Now, with Washington promising further strikes if necessary, the threat of a wider regional escalation is growing and with it the danger of a far more deadly conflict.
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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...US military says anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Houthi militants hit container ship; police describe incident in Raanana, north of Tel Aviv, as terrorist attack
A video journalist from the Cairo-based television channel Al Ghad was killed in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in a strike that the channel blamed on the Israeli army.
In a post on X, the station said it was announcing “with a heavy heart” that Yazan al-Zwaidi was “murdered by Israeli fire”, Agence France-Presse reports.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: As David Cameron warns of “flashing red” security risks since 7 October, the Guardian’s Jason Burke explains the dangers of regional escalation involving Iran’s proxies
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Good morning. “It is hard to think of a time when there has been so much danger and insecurity and instability in the world,” the UK’s foreign secretary David Cameron said yesterday. “The lights are absolutely flashing red, as it were, on the global dashboard.”
Cameron was referring, above all, to the regional instability unleashed by the war in Gaza. On Thursday, the UK and US launched strikes on more than 60 targets in Yemen, with the aim of degrading the Houthi militia’s ability to hit cargo ships in the Red Sea. Rishi Sunak will address MPs about the strikes today; Joe Biden has previously been cautious of any step that might trigger an unpredictable military response, and his secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Thursday, “I don’t think the conflict is escalating.” But like Cameron, he acknowledged that “there are lots of danger points”.
Health | An unprecedented medicines shortage in the NHS is endangering lives, pharmacists have said, as unpublished figures reveal that the number of products in short supply has doubled in two years. Causes of the crisis are thought to include the falling purchasing value of the pound and a government policy of taxing manufacturers. Read Daniel Boffey’s analysis.
Channel crossings | Five people have died and a sixth is in a critical condition after getting into difficulty in icy waters trying to reach the UK from northern France, the French maritime authority has said. The victims were part of a group of more than 70 people attempting to board boats off the seaside resort of Wimereux.
Iceland | Houses have caught fire in the fishing town of Grindavík in south-west Iceland after a volcano erupted for the second time in less than a month. Two fissures formed near the town on Sunday after an increase in seismic activity that prompted authorities to evacuate the community the day before.
Davos | The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes to £681.5bn since 2020, while the world’s poorest 60% have lost money. The details from Oxfam come as the world’s richest people gather for the annual World Economic Forum meeting of political leaders, corporate executives and the super-rich.
Monarchy | The only rehearsal for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral had a band at the wrong start point, a Gentleman at Arms nearly crushed at Marble Arch and “everything that could go wrong … go wrong”, a new biography on King Charles has said. One official called the rehearsal “a comedy of errors”.
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