AL-MUKALLA: A ship in the Red Sea was damaged after being hit by missiles suspected to have been launched by Yemen’s Houthi militia on Tuesday, two British maritime agencies said.
A shipmaster reported to the UK Maritime Trade Operations that the ship was damaged after being struck by missiles at 9:30 a.m. (UTC) 31 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah and that the ship’s crew members were safe.
“At 1040UTC the Master of the MV reports an impact in the water in close proximity to the vessel. The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” UKMTO said in its notice about the incident.
Ambrey, another UK marine security agency, said three ballistic missiles hit a ship in the Red Sea, forcing it to tilt to one side roughly 54 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah Port.
The incident occurred less than a day after the Iran-backed Houthis claimed to have fired a volley of drones and ballistic missiles against warships and commercial ships in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said on Monday night that their military forces carried out two “successful” drone attacks against two US warships in the Red Sea, as well as fired missiles at Largo Desert and MSC Michela in the Indian Ocean, and Minerva Lisa in the Red Sea.
Sarea said that the first ship was targeted because it was American, the second because it was owned by Israel, and the third for violating the ban on ships going to Israel through the Red Sea. He did not provide an exact date for the attacks.
According to www.marinetraffic.com, which monitors ships, Largo Desert is an oil and chemical ship that was flying the Marshall Islands flag and that arrived at the Omani Duqm port on the Arabian Sea four days ago. The Liberian-flagged Minerva Lisa is a crude oil tanker that stopped at the Egyptian Ain Sokhna on the Suez Canal on Tuesday, according to the same source, while the container ship MSC Michela is operating under the Portuguese flag and left Valencia Port in Spain on Saturday for Brazil.
At the same time, the US Central Command said that its forces shot down a drone over the Red Sea launched by the Houthis from regions under their control in Yemen on Monday morning.
The Houthis claimed to have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at over 100 commercial and navy ships in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait, Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean, and, most recently, the Mediterranean since November. They say that they only target Israel-linked ships and those traveling to Israel to push the latter to cease its assault in Gaza, and that they attacked US and UK ships after the two countries began attacks on Yemeni territory under their control.
On Monday, the UK Royal Navy announced that its HMS Duncan destroyer had been sent to the Red Sea to engage in international naval operations to defend ships from Houthi attacks, replacing sister ship HMS Diamond.
“HMS Duncan will be ready to deliver on operations around the clock as we join efforts to protect trade routes from Houthi attacks, continuing the excellent work of HMS Diamond and HMS Richmond in the region.”
UK Navy Commanding Officer Cmdr. Dan Lee said in a statement that the HMS Diamond had destroyed nine drones and one missile that the Houthis in Yemen had launched at ships since the commencement of its Red Sea mission before Christmas.
Meanwhile, the national carrier of Yemen, Yemenia, resumed direct flights between the Houthi-controlled Sanaa airport and Jeddah airport on Tuesday to facilitate the transportation of thousands of Yemeni pilgrims.
Four Yemeni planes carrying 600 pilgrims left Sanaa on Tuesday, the first of 44 identical flights that would transport 8,200 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. Yemenia has been flying from Sanaa to Amman since April 2022, when the UN-brokered ceasefire was implemented.
Possible Houthi missiles damage ship in Red Sea
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Possible Houthi missiles damage ship in Red Sea
- “The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” UKMTO said in its notice about the incident
- Ambrey, another UK marine security agency, said three ballistic missiles hit a ship in the Red Sea
Syrian Druze cross armistice line for pilgrimage to Israel
- Followers of the esoteric monotheistic faith are mainly divided between Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
- The Druze account for about three percent of Syria’s population and are heavily concentrated in the southern province of Sweida
On board three buses escorted by Israeli military vehicles, the clerics crossed at Majdal Shams in the Golan, and headed to northern Israel.
According to a source close to the group, the delegation of around 60 clerics is due to meet the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, in northern Israel.
They are then set to head to the tomb of Nabi Shuaib in the Galilee — the most important religious site for the Druze.
Followers of the esoteric monotheistic faith are mainly divided between Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
A source close to the delegation said that the visit followed an invitation from the Druze community in Israel, but that it had been met with “strong opposition” from other Druze in Syria.
The Druze account for about three percent of Syria’s population and are heavily concentrated in the southern province of Sweida.
In Israel and the occupied Golan Heights, there are around 150,000 Druze, with most of those living in Israel holding Israeli citizenship and serving in the army.
However, of the some 23,000 living in the occupied Golan Heights, most do not hold Israeli citizenship and still see themselves as Syrian nationals.
Israel seized much of the strategic Golan Heights from Syria in a war in 1967, later annexing the area in 1981 in a move largely unrecognized by the international community.
The pilgrimage comes as Israel has voiced support for Syria’s Druze and mistrust of the country’s new leaders.
Following the ouster of longtime Syrian president Bashar Assad in December, Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syria and sent troops into the demilitarised buffer zone of the Golan in southwest Syria.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said on Thursday that 10,000 humanitarian aid packages had been sent to “the Druze community in battle areas of Syria” over the past few weeks.
“Israel has a bold alliance with our Druze brothers and sisters,” he told journalists.
During a visit to military outposts in the UN-patrolled buffer zone between Israel and Syria on Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel would remain in the area and ensure the protection of the Druze.
In early March, following a deadly clash between government-linked forces and Druze fighters in the suburbs of Damascus, Katz said his country would not allow Syria’s new rulers “to harm the Druze.”
Druze leaders immediately rejected Katz’s warning and declared their loyalty to a united Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised, warning that his government would not accept the presence of the forces of the new Islamist-led government near its territory.
Hamas says ready to free Israeli-US hostage, remains of four other dual nationals
- Hamas also said that it agreed to release Edan Alexander, an Israeli American hostage
- Militant group will also release the bodies of four other hostages
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Hamas on Friday said it is ready to free an Israeli-American hostage and the remains of four other dual nationals, after the Palestinian militants and Israel gathered for indirect Gaza ceasefire talks.
The first phase of a truce between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip ended on March 1, without agreement on the next stages. A senior Hamas official on Tuesday said a fresh round of talks had begun in the Qatari capital Doha. Israel had also sent a team of negotiators.
“Yesterday, a Hamas leadership delegation received a proposal from the brotherly mediators to resume negotiations,” the Islamist movement said in a statement.
It added that its reply “included its agreement to release the Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, who holds American citizenship, along with the remains of four others holding dual citizenship.”
During the initial six-week phase of the ceasefire, militants released 33 hostages, including eight who were deceased, in exchange for about 1,800 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons.
Sudan paramilitary shelling kills six in key city: medic
- El-Obeid has been under relentless bombardment for eight consecutive days by the paramilitary forces
- The war has torn Sudan apart, with the RSF tightening its grip on Darfur and parts of the south
PORT SUDAN, Sudan: Sudanese paramilitary shelling of El-Obeid on Friday killed six people, including a child, a doctor said, just weeks after the army broke a prolonged siege of the key southern city.
El-Obeid, the state capital of North Kordofan, has been under relentless bombardment for eight consecutive days by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been locked in a devastating conflict with the army since April 2023.
A doctor at the city’s main hospital, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said shelling also wounded eight civilians on Thursday evening and early Friday morning.
On Sunday, nine civilians were killed and 21 others were wounded.
For more than a week, residents have endured heavy bombardment from the RSF, which has been trying to reclaim ground lost to the army with attacks from the north and east.
Last month, Sudan’s military managed to end a nearly two-year RSF siege on El-Obeid, a key crossroads linking Khartoum to Darfur in the west.
The war has torn Sudan apart, with the RSF tightening its grip on Darfur and parts of the south, while the army controls the north and east.
In recent weeks, the army has clawed back large swathes of Khartoum and central Sudan.
What began as a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo turned into the world’s largest displacement and huger crisis.
The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives, uprooted more than 12 million and pushed the country to the brink of famine.
Kurdish militant PKK says ‘impossible’ to safely meet on dissolution
- Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), urged his fighters to disarm and disband
ISTANBUL: The outlawed Kurdish PKK said it was currently “impossible” for its leadership to safely meet to formally dissolve the group in line with a demand by its jailed founder, Kurdish media reported Friday.
“Every day (Turkish) reconnaissance planes are flying overhead, they are carrying out daily bombings and every day they are attacking,” the PKK’s co-leader Cemil Bayik told the Kurdish television station, Sterk TV.
“Holding a congress in these conditions is impossible and very dangerous.”
His remarks came two weeks after Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), urged his fighters to disarm and disband, ending a decades-long insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
In his historic call – which took the form of a letter – he urged the PKK to hold a congress to formalize the decision.
Two days later, the PKK announced a ceasefire, saying it was ready to convene a congress but said “for this to happen, a suitable secure environment must be created,” insisting it would only succeed if Ocalan were to “personally direct and lead it.”
Bayik on Thursday said the congress would happen “if the conditions were fulfilled,” according to the PKK-aligned ANF news agency.
The PKK leadership is holed up in mountainous northern Iraq where Turkish forces have staged multiple air strikes in recent years, targeting the group which is also blacklisted by Washington and Brussels.
Despite the negotiations, there has been no indication that Turkish troops have stopped their operations against the PKK, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning against any delaying tactics.
“If the promises given are not kept and an attempt is made to delay... we will continue our ongoing operations... until we eliminate the last terrorist,” Erdogan said on March 1.
On Wednesday, Erdogan said he would be willing to hold a meeting with a delegation from the pro-Kurdish DEM party – who played a key role in relaying messages between Ocalan and Ankara – “if they ask for it.”
The party confirmed requesting a meeting but said no date had been set.
Many are hoping Ocalan’s call will ultimately result in concessions for the Kurds, who make up around 20 percent of Turkiye’s 85 million population.
IMF welcomes new Lebanon government request for help on ailing economy
- The previous caretaker administration did not enact reforms the IMF had demanded to implement a loan package
- Lebanon’s economic crisis has pushed most of the population below the poverty line, according to the UN
BEIRUT: The International Monetary Fund on Thursday welcomed the new Lebanese government’s request for support in addressing severe economic challenges.
Lebanon in January elected a new president after a more than two-year vacuum, and then formed a government led by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. In February the IMF said it was open to a new loan agreement with the country following discussions with its recently-appointed finance minister.
The previous caretaker administration did not enact reforms the IMF had demanded to implement a loan package to save the collapsed economy.
The world lender “welcomed the authorities’ request for a new IMF-supported program to bolster their efforts in addressing Lebanon’s significant economic challenges,” the IMF said in a statement.
“Lebanon’s economy remains severely depressed, and poverty and unemployment are exceptionally high since the 2019 crisis,” said Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, the head of the IMF’s delegation to Lebanon.
Lebanon’s economic crisis has pushed most of the population below the poverty line, according to the United Nations.
International donors including the IMF have called on the Lebanese authorities to implement major reforms, including restructuring the banking sector, in order to unlock funding.
In April 2022, Lebanon and the IMF reached conditional agreement on a $3-billion-dollar loan package but painful reforms that the 46-month financing program would require have not been undertaken.
Ramirez Rigo pointed to positive steps including the stabilization of the dollar exchange rate and reduced inflation.
But he said these were “insufficient to address the ongoing economic, financial, and social challenges.”
“A comprehensive strategy for economic rehabilitation is critical to restore growth, reduce unemployment, and improve social conditions,” he continued.
“The banking sector collapse continues to hamper economic activity and provision of credit, with depositors unable to access their funds,” Ramirez Rigo said.
He moreover pointed to substantial infrastructure and housing needs resulting from the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which ended with a November 27 ceasefire.
