Iran-backed Houthis target Greek and British cargo ships in Red Sea
Houthis lauch fresh attack in Red Sea after joint airstrikes by the US and the UK in Yemen
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Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen fired six ballistic missiles at two ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with one ship reporting minor damage.
A Greek-owned bulked carrier was struck by three of the projectiles fired by the Houthis on Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, the militants struck a British-owned cargo ship in the Red Sea.
The USS Laboon operating near the Greek ship “intercepted and shot down a third anti-ship ballistic missile fired” by the Houthis, the US Central Command said.
The Greek-owned Star Nasia was damaged by an explosion at 11.15am GMT, a Greek shipping ministry official said.
The fresh attacks come just two days after the US and the UK conducted joint airstrikes targeting Houthi bases in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the US has walked back its previous claims that it informed the Iraqi government it would be conducting airstrikes, saying that information was relayed incorrectly.
Vedant Patel, the state department spokesperson, clarified there “was not a pre-notification” but that they notified the Iraqi government “immediately after the strikes occurred”.
The US conducted retaliatory strikes on more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria on Friday, resulting in at least 39 casualties.
Following the strikes, the White House refused to rule out US action inside Iran.
On Sunday, president Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told US news networks that further military action was likely, and would not rule out the possibility of strikes inside Iran’s borders.
“I’m not going to get into what’s on the table and off the table when it comes to the American response,” he told CBS.
Mr Sullivan called the airstrikes “the beginning, not the end of our response”. However, the US has insisted that it does not want a wider conflict across the Middle East.
Voices: A humanitarian disaster waits if Israeli troops push into Gaza’s Rafah: ‘Ceasefire is our only hope’
“Families and medics in Rafah – the last refuge for Palestinians within Gaza – have warned of catastrophe if Israel fulfils its promise to advance into the border town.
Rafah, which lies along the border Egypt, is now sheltering more than a million people, most of them those who fled other parts of Gaza after Israel unleashed its heaviest ever bombardment of the strip in retaliation for the bloody 7 October attack by Hamas.
Many are sleeping in makeshift tents in schools, hospital courtyards, on the streets, and abandoned buildings, as families described cooking on campfires and washing in the sea.”
Bel Trew writes:
A humanitarian disaster waits if Israeli troops push into Gaza’s Rafah
More than a million Palestinians have nowhere to turn if there is an assault on the border town that was supposed to be their last refuge. Bel Trew hears their call for a truce to come quickly
Israeli military says 31 hostages in Gaza are dead
Israel’s military says 31 of the hostages in Gaza are dead – a fifth of the 136 people still being held captive by Hamas.
It comes after a document compiled by Israeli intelligence officers reported by the New York Times, suggested 32 have died since the Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October and the Israeli bombardment of Gaza in response.
Four military sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel was also assessing unconfirmed intelligence indicating that at least 20 other hostages may have also been killed, the paper reported.
The circumstances of the hostage deaths remain unclear with the Israeli authorities suggesting that many of those deaths had occurred during Hamas’s deadly attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and at least another 240 taken hostage.
The Israeli military told the New York Times that it was “deploying all available resources to locate and retrieve as much information as possible regarding the hostages currently held by Hamas.”
Blinken seeks progress on Gaza cease-fire-for-hostages deal
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Cairo on Tuesday for a meeting with Egyptian leaders that U.S. officials said would concentrate mainly on the task of negotiating a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in exchange for the release of hostages held by the militants.
Blinken’s visit also comes amid growing concerns in Egypt about Israel‘s stated intentions to expand the combat in Gaza to areas on the Egyptian border that are crammed with displaced Palestinians.
Israel’s defense minister has said Israel’s offensive will eventually reach the town of Rafah, on the Egyptian border, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge and live in increasingly miserable conditions.
UN humanitarian monitors said Tuesday that Israeli evacuation orders now cover two-thirds of Gaza’s territory, driving thousands more people every day toward the border areas.
Houthis strike Greek cargo ship
Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen fired six ballistic missiles at two ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with one ship reporting minor damage.
A Greek-owned bulked carrier was struck by three of the projectiles fired by the Houthis on Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, the militants struck a British-owned cargo ship in the Red Sea.
The USS Laboon operating near the Greek ship “intercepted and shot down a third anti-ship ballistic missile fired” by the Houthis, the US Central Command said.
Saudi Arabia says no relations with Israel without independent Palestinian state
Saudi Arabia has told the US that that nation will hold no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem.
The Saudi foreign ministry in a statement on Wednesday said the Israeli “aggression” on the Gaza Strip needed to stop and all Israeli occupation forces should withdraw from the Gaza Strip.T
he statement comes a day after US secretary of state Antony Blinken held talks with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Monday.
It was Mr Blinken’s fifth visit to the Middle East since the onset of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
ICYMI: Yemen’s presidential council sacks prime minister
Yemen’s internationally recognised presidential council sacked the prime minister in an unexpected move that comes at a time when a US-led coalition has been striking targets of the government’s rivals, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. A decree from the council appointed foreign minister Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak the new prime minister.
Mr Bin Mubarak, who is close to Saudi Arabia, replaced Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, who was Yemen’s premier since 2018. The council didn’t give a reason behind the reshuffle. Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since 2014, when the Houthis overran the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north.
Houthis’ ability to attack in Red Sea not fully degraded, says Shapps
The Houthis’ ability to carry out attacks in the Red Sea has been reduced – but not “fully degraded”, Grant Shapps has said.
The defence secretary told the Commons the UK will, if necessary, not hesitate to respond again “in self-defence”.
He was updating MPs after the UK and the US took part in joint airstrikes against Houthi rebel sites in Yemen on Saturday.
Mr Shapps said the attacks were in line with international law and in self-defence, and had targeted “three military facilities” hitting “11 separate targets”, identified following “very careful analysis”.
He said: “We do not believe that there were any civilian casualties on Saturday night.”
More here.
Shapps: Houthis’ ability to attack in Red Sea reduced but not fully degraded
The Defence Secretary gave a statement in the House of Commons to update MPs on the latest strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Iran issues a warning about suspected spy ships in the Middle East
Iran issued a warning to the US over potentially targeting two cargo ships in the Mideast long suspected of serving as forwarding operating base for Iranian commandos, just after America and the United Kingdom launched a massive airstrike campaign against Yemen‘s Houthi rebels.
The statement from Iran on the Behshad and Saviz ships appeared to signal Tehran’s growing unease over the U.S. strikes in recent days in Iraq, Syria and Yemen targeting militias backed by the Islamic Republic.
Those attacks, themselves a retaliatory campaign for the killing of three US soldiers and wounding of dozens of others in Jordan, all stem back to Israel‘s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has escalated tensions across the wider Middle East and raised fears about a regional conflict breaking out.
More here.
After new US strikes hitting Yemen, Iran issues a warning about suspected spy ships in the Mideast
Iran has issued a warning to the U.S. over potentially targeting two cargo ships in the Mideast long suspected of serving as forwarding operating base for Iranian commandos
Hamas responds to new hostage deal in ‘positive spirit’
Hamas in Gaza on Tuesday said it replied to a framework drawn up more than a week ago by US and Israeli spy chiefs at a meeting in Paris with the Egyptians and Qataris.
Hamas said it responded “in a positive spirit, ensuring a comprehensive and complete ceasefire, ending the aggression against our people, ensuring relief, shelter, and reconstruction, lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip, and achieving a prisoner swap”.
American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators prepared a diplomatic push to bridge differences between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire plan for Gaza after the Palestinian group responded to a proposal for an extended pause in fighting and hostage releases.
Qatar described the Hamas response as “positive” overall while Egyptian security sources told Reuters that Hamas showed flexibility.
“We will discuss all the details of the proposed framework with the concerned parties to reach an agreement on the final formula as soon as possible,” Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s state information service, was quoted as saying.
The truce would last at least 40 days, during which the militants would free civilians among the remaining hostages they hold, Reuters reported, citing sources.
In Pics: Houthis mark 20th anniversary of Hussein al-Houthi’s assassination
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