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
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
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.
Pressure on Blinken to get Gaza truce breakthrough
Antony Blinken has visited Saudi Arabia at the start of a four-day trip to the Middle East, as pressure mounts on Washington to deliver a truce – and bring the region back from the brink – before Israel’s threatened assault on the last refuge for civilians in Gaza.
The US secretary of state is set to travel to the Gulf, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the occupied West Bank, in his fifth attempt at furious shuttle diplomacy in the region since October. The 7 October attack by Hamas that killed around 1,200 people in Israel and saw another 250 taken hostage, and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in response, has sparked clashes across the region. Gaza’s authorities say Israel’s air and ground assault has killed more than 27,400 Palestinians.
US officials have warned the situation in the Middle East is the most dangerous it has been in decades, as Iran-backed militias in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen have entered the fray, attacking US positions and global shipping routes, in retaliation for support of Israel’s offensive.
UN envoy warns more attacks on Iraq threaten its hard-won stability
Iraq’s government is focused on avoiding a domestic or regional spillover of the Israel-Hamas war but continuing attacks on the country threaten its hard-won stability, the UN envoy for Iraq has warned.
With the war raging in Gaza, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert told the UN Security Council that “the Middle East is at a critical juncture” and “the same is true for Iraq”.
Attacks originating from inside and outside Iraq will not only undo the country’s stability but “other achievements made in the past 18 months,” she said, adding that “messaging by strikes only serves to recklessly heighten tensions, to kill or injure people and to destroy property”.
More here.
UN envoy warns more attacks on Iraq threaten its hard-won stability
Iraq’s government is focused on avoiding a domestic or regional spillover of the Israel-Hamas war but continuing attacks on the country threaten its hard-won stability, the U.N. envoy for Iraq is warning
31 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza are dead, Israeli military says
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.
Matt Mathers has more.
31 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza are dead, Israeli military says
That accounts for a fifth of the hostages still believed to be held by Hamas and other Palestinian militants in the territory
Israeli strikes killed civilians in Syria, says military
The Syrian military on Wednesday said Israeli airstrikes over the central city of Homs and its countryside have killed and wounded civilians.
Syrian state news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official saying Tuesday’s strikes damaged both private and public property.
The Israeli jets reportedly struck the Syrian city and countryside from near the Lebanese coastal city of Tripoli. State television showed ambulances rushing to the scene of a strike, where wreckage and debris lay from a building that was hit.
The strikes come just days after the US launched retaliatory airstrikes in Syria targeting Iran-backed militants amid flaring tensions across the Middle East flare with the Israeli-Hamas war.
Diapers and baby formula are hard to find in Gaza, leaving parents desperate
The war between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers has sparked a humanitarian catastrophe that has brought shortages of the most basic necessities.
Some of the hardest-hit are babies, young children and their parents, with diapers and formula either hard to find or spiking to unaffordable prices, leading parents to look to inadequate or even unsafe alternatives.
Their plight is further complicated due to sporadic aid deliveries that have been hobbled by Israeli restrictions and the relentless fighting.
More here.
Diapers and baby formula are hard to find in Gaza, leaving parents desperate
The war in Gaza has sparked a humanitarian catastrophe that has prompted shortages of the most basic necessities
Hundreds of thousands of lives at risk in Gaza after Biden pauses UNRWA funding
Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are starving as a result of Israel’s war against Hamas, according to aid agencies on the ground. But an even greater number of Palestinian lives may soon be at risk due to a decision by the US and its allies to freeze funding to the primary aid agency operating in the territory, following reports that a small number of employees were involved in the October 7 attacks.
Now, the agency has warned it may run out of money as early as this month, a worst-case scenario that aid groups have warned could cause widespread famine and death.
“They will die of hunger, they will die because they don’t have the insulin that UNRWA brings in, or they will die because a woman had a complicated childbirth and there was no UNRWA midwife to help her,” said Juliette Touma, director of communications at the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.
Richard Hall and Andrew Feinberg report.
Hundreds of thousands of lives hang in balance in Gaza after Biden pauses UN funding
Israel says 12 of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in deadly Hamas attack on 7 October
Stay up to date with The Independent's web notifications
Want the latest updates on the conflict in the Middle East and other breaking news straight to your phone or laptop?
Stay on top of the latest big breaking news with The Independent’s web notifications.
We’ll also share our must-read articles, agenda-setting exclusives and Premium features to keep you expertly informed.
To sign up, head here: https://www.independent.co.uk/web-push
Blinken to meet Israeli leaders
US secretary of state Antony Blinken is set to meet Israeli leaders as Hamas suggested it was open to a new ceasefire and hostage release deal.
But both sides remain dug in on thus far elusive goals as the war enters its fifth month.
The deadliest round of fighting in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, levelled entire neighbourhoods, driven the vast majority of Gaza’s population from their homes, and pushed a quarter of the population to starvation.
Iran-backed militant groups across the region have conducted attacks, mostly on US and Israeli targets, in solidarity with the Palestinians, drawing reprisals as the risk of a wider conflict grows.
Israel remains deeply shaken by Hamas’s 7 October attack, in which militants burst through the country’s vaunted defences and rampaged across southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting some 250, around half of whom remain in captivity in Gaza.
The US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt have proposed a ceasefire of several weeks in return for a phased release of the hostages.
Hamas responded to the offer late on Tuesday in what it said was a “positive spirit” while reiterating its core demands for an end to the Israeli offensive and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, which president Joe Biden said were “a little over the top”.
Houthi soldiers patrol streets of sana’a in Yemen
Building costs jump as Red Sea disruption pushes up shipping prices
Construction firms have seen the first jump in building costs since last autumn as Red Sea disruption sent shipping prices higher, according to a report.
The latest S&P Global/CIPS construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) revealed that overall input costs rose last month for the first time since September and at the fastest pace since May last year.
Some firms flagged higher costs for imported building materials due to the Red Sea attacks on ships, according to S&P Global.
More here.
Building costs jump as Red Sea disruption pushes up shipping prices
The S&P Global/CIPS construction purchasing managers’ index revealed that input costs rose in January for the first time since September.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies