AL-MUKALLA: A burning tanker in the Red Sea carrying almost a million barrels of oil has been successfully moved to a safe location without leaking, the EU naval mission said, raising hopes of defusing an environmental disaster in the shipping artery.

In a post on X, the EU mission, known as EUNAVFOR Aspides, said on Monday that rescuers had completed the first phase of salvaging the burning Sounion oil tanker in the Red Sea after towing it to a safe area under the protection of its naval ships, bringing worldwide relief, primarily from marine experts who had warned of a disaster to the Red Sea ecology and shipping if the ship leaked oil or exploded.

“Under protection of EUNAVFOR Aspides, MV Sounion has been successfully towed to a safe area without any oil spill. While private stakeholders complete the salvage operation, ASPIDES will continue to monitor the situation,” the EU mission said.

It added: “The completion of this phase of the salvage operation is the result of a comprehensive approach and close cooperation between all stakeholders committed to prevent an environmental disaster affecting the whole region.”

The Greek-flagged oil tanker has been abandoned and burning in the Red Sea since late August when the Houthis attacked it several times over claims that ships owned by the Sounion parent company visited Israel ports. 

Wim Zwijnenburg of the Humanitarian Disarmament Project at the Dutch peace organization PAX said on Tuesday that satellite images showed the burning ship and warships escorting it sailing near the coast of Eritrea.

“The MV #Sounion has been towed to safer waters for a salvage operation. Satellite radar imagery of today, Sept 17, shows the ship with its escort close to the coast of Eritrea, where they are likely to work on putting out the fires and making the ship ready for further towing,” Zwijnenburg said on X.

Since November, the Houthis have seized a commercial ship, sunk two, and burned several others while launching hundreds of ballistic missiles, drones and drone boats at ships in shipping lanes off Yemen in a campaign that the Yemeni militia claims is intended to put pressure on Israel to end its war in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

Despite widespread condemnation for their attacks on ships and threats to the environment and navigation freedom, the Houthis threatened to continue to attack ships as well as fire drones and missiles at Israel.

Meanwhile, the Houthis held a military funeral procession in Sanaa on Tuesday for three of their officers who were killed in fighting with the Yemeni government.

Despite the significant drop in hostilities in Yemen since April 2022, when a UN-brokered truce went into effect, the Houthis have organized dozens of similar funerals for hundreds of their fighters killed on the battlefields in Sanaa, Hodeidah, Saada, Amran, and other Yemeni provinces under their control.

Dozens of Yemeni government soldiers have also been killed in clashes with the Houthis over the past two years.

A Yemeni government field commander was killed on Sunday when the Houthis attacked government troops in the southern province of Dhale, the latest in a series of deadly Houthi attacks on government forces.

BEIRUT: More than 1,000 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, security sources told Reuters.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel.

Iran’s Mehr news agency said the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was injured by one of the blasts. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza war erupted last October, the worst such escalation in years.

The Israeli military declined to comment on Reuters enquiries about the detonations.

A Reuters journalist saw ambulances rushing through the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, amid widespread panic. A security source said that devices were also exploding in the south of Lebanon.

At Mt. Lebanon hospital, a Reuters reporter saw motorcycles rushing to the emergency room, where people with their hands bloodied were screaming in pain.

The head of the Nabatieh public hospital in the south of the country, Hassan Wazni, told Reuters that around 40 wounded people were being treated at his facility. The wounds included injuries to the face, eyes and limbs.

The wave of explosions lasted around an hour after the initial detonations, which took place about 3:45 p.m. local time (1345 GMT). It was not immediately clear how the devices were detonated.

Lebanese internal security forces said a number of wireless communication devices were detonated across Lebanon, especially in Beirut’s southern suburbs, leading to injuries.

Groups of people huddled at the entrance of buildings to check on people they knew who may have been wounded, the Reuters journalist said.

Regional broadcasters carrying CCTV footage which showed what appeared to be a small handheld device placed next to a grocery store cashier where an individual was paying spontaneously exploding. In other footage, an explosion appeared to knock out someone standing at a fruit stand at a market area.

Lebanon’s crisis operations center, which is run by the health ministry, asked all medical workers to head to their respective hospitals to help cope with the massive numbers of wounded coming into for urgent care. It said health care workers should not use pagers.

The Lebanese Red Cross said more than 50 ambulances and 300 emergency medical staff were dispatched to assist in the evacuation of victims.

Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel immediately after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas gunmen on Israel. Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire constantly ever since, while avoiding a major escalation as war rages in Gaza to the south.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced from towns and villages on both sides of the border by the hostilities.