Houthi drones, missiles strike 2 ships in Red Sea, maritime agencies report

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Explosions take place on the deck of the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, Red Sea, Aug. 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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A satellite image shows the Sounion oil tanker, following attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, Aug. 26, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 02 September 2024
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Houthi drones, missiles strike 2 ships in Red Sea, maritime agencies report

  • Panama-flagged oil tanker hit by ballistic missiles but escapes with only minor damage
  • Second vessel struck by drone but no casualties reported

A tanker carrying Russian oil and a second vessel were attacked by Houthi militia in the Red Sea on Monday, according to reports from three maritime agencies.

The news came as tugboats were trying to rescue a burning oil tanker that was attacked by the Iran-backed militia late last month.

UK Maritime Trade Operations said it received a report from the master of a ship traveling 70 nautical miles northwest of Saleef on Yemen’s Red Sea coast that it had been hit by two unknown projectiles and that a third explosion happened near the ship at 1:30 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time.

“There are no casualties on board and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call. Authorities are investigating,” the agency said.

A second UK-based maritime service, Ambrey, identified the vessel as a Panama-flagged oil tanker that might have been targeted as other ships owned by its parent company had visited Israeli ports — which is one of the Houthis’ grounds for staging such attacks.

Also on Monday, UKMTO reported that a drone struck a commercial ship at 6:30 a.m. GMT as it was traveling 58 nautical miles from the Yemeni city of Hodeidah. It said there were no reports of any casualties or damage to the ship and that it was “proceeding to its next port of call.”

Ambrey issued similar information about the incident.

The Joint Maritime Information Center identified the Panama-flagged tanker as the M/T Blue Lagoon I and said it was targeted by three ballistic missiles.

Two of the missiles struck the ship’s port side causing minor damage, while the third fell 50 meters to its stern, it said.

“The JMIC has confirmed that M/T Blue Lagoon I was subject to three ballistic missile attacks. All crew on board are safe (no injury reported). The vessel sustained minimal damage but did not require assistance,” it said.

According to Marinetraffic.com, the 278-meter-long Blue Lagoon I is a Panama-flagged shuttle tanker and was traveling from Russia through the Red Sea to an unnamed destination.

Since November, the Houthis have attacked multiple commercial and naval vessels in the Red Sea and other shipping lanes off Yemen with missiles, drones and drone boats. The militia has said it targets only vessels that are bound for or have links to Israel in a bid to pressure the country into ending its war of aggression in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis have yet to take credit for the two attacks on Monday but such acknowledgments often come several hours or even days later.

The agencies’ reports came as two tugboats were en route to try and rescue the Sounion oil tanker, which has been engulfed in flames since being attacked in the Red Sea on Aug. 21, according to a Yemeni government official.

“We don’t know for certain if the two tugboats arrived at the site of the ship and started the operation but we are certain that they have left waters off Djibouti,” said the Aden-based official, who asked not to be named.

The Houthis attacked the Sounion, which was carrying nearly 1 million barrels of oil, first with small arms, projectiles and a drone boat before boarding it and detonating explosives. The incident, which poses a major threat to Red Sea ecology and shipping, was condemned around the world.

The militia said that tugboats and other vessels would begin trying to rescue the ship on Sunday, raising concerns that they may later seek to disrupt the operation and use it as a negotiating tool to win concessions from the international community. The group used similar tactics during the rescue operation for the Safter oil tanker off the coast of Yemen last year.


US defense chief holds first call with new Israeli counterpart

Updated 6 sec ago
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US defense chief holds first call with new Israeli counterpart

Katz was sworn in before parliament the previous day
The US defense chief also discussed “the need to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza“

WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed Lebanon and Gaza on Friday in his first call with his new Israeli counterpart Israel Katz, the Pentagon said.
Katz was sworn in before parliament the previous day, after his predecessor’s shock dismissal by the prime minister over a breakdown in trust during the war in Gaza — a conflict that began with a devastating Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
Austin “held an introductory call today with the new Israeli minister of defense, Israel Katz, and congratulated him on his recent appointment,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said in a statement.
He told Katz that Washington is committed to a deal that allows Lebanese and Israeli citizens displaced by more than a year of cross-border violence to return to their homes, as well as to the return of hostages seized by Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ryder said.
The US defense chief also discussed “the need to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza,” after he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israel in a letter earlier this month that it needed to allow more aid into the small war-wracked coastal territory.

Palestinian leader tells Trump ready to work for Gaza peace

Updated 1 min 24 sec ago
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Palestinian leader tells Trump ready to work for Gaza peace

RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas expressed readiness to work toward a “just and comprehensive peace” in Gaza during a phone call with US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday, his office said.
Trump’s victory came with the Middle East in turmoil after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, triggered by the unprecedented attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Congratulating Trump on his victory, Abbas expressed “readiness to work with President Trump to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on international legitimacy,” his office said in a statement.
It said that Trump also assured Abbas that he will work to end the war.
“President Trump stressed that he will work to stop the war, and his readiness to work with president Abbas and the concerned parties in the region and the world to make peace in the region.”
While Trump struck a note of peace during his campaign, he also touted his status as Israel’s strongest ally, even going so far as to promise Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he would “finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.

Lebanon says three dead in Israel strikes on Tyre

Updated 51 min 11 sec ago
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Lebanon says three dead in Israel strikes on Tyre

  • The strikes targeted three buildings in the city
  • Israel had issued no evacuation warning ahead of the strikes

BEIRUT: The Lebanese health ministry said at least three people were killed and 30 others wounded on Friday in Israeli strikes on the southern city of Tyre.
The official National News Agency said the strikes targeted three buildings in the city and caused heavy damage to neighboring apartment blocks.
It said Israel had issued no evacuation warning ahead of the strikes.
Israel has been at war with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah since late September, when it broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border, even as the Gaza war continues.
Hezbollah began low intensity strikes on Israel in support of Hamas following its Palestinian ally’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war.


‘Strong likelihood’ famine imminent in north Gaza, say food security experts

Updated 08 November 2024
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‘Strong likelihood’ famine imminent in north Gaza, say food security experts

  • The warning comes just days ahead of a US deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza

LONDON: There is a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas” of the northern Gaza Strip, a committee of global food security experts warned on Friday, as Israel pursues a military offensive against Palestinian militants Hamas in the area.
“Immediate action, within days not weeks, is required from all actors who are directly taking part in the conflict, or have influence on its conduct, to avert and alleviate this catastrophic situation,” the independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) said in a rare alert.
The warning comes just days ahead of a US deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.


Israeli army claims discovery of ‘Hezbollah training center’ near UNIFIL outpost as raids continue in Lebanon

Updated 30 min 49 sec ago
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Israeli army claims discovery of ‘Hezbollah training center’ near UNIFIL outpost as raids continue in Lebanon

  • Several videos showed residential houses and tourist, social and religious facilities being set with explosives and blown up remotely
  • Adraee also accused Hezbollah of “using ambulances to transport saboteurs and arms” and called on “medical personnel to avoid dealing and cooperating with Hezbollah members”

BEIRUT: The Israeli army on Friday continued to destroy houses in Lebanon’s southern border villages to establish a buffer zone. The latest bombing targeted the areas of Yaroun, Aitaroun and Maroun Al-Ras in Bint Jbeil.
Several videos showed residential houses and tourist, social and religious facilities being set with explosives and blown up remotely.
In parallel with the deliberate destruction, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued “a new urgent warning to the residents of southern Lebanon,” instructing them “to refrain from returning to the south, or to their houses or olive fields,” describing the region as “a dangerous combat zone.”
Adraee also accused Hezbollah of “using ambulances to transport saboteurs and arms” and called on “medical personnel to avoid dealing and cooperating with Hezbollah members.”
The army will take the “necessary measures against any vehicle transporting armed members regardless of its type,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army claimed that “surveillance cameras of the Oded Brigade reservists captured a Hezbollah training center just 200 meters from a UNIFIL outpost.”
The army claimed that “the forces discovered the training facility, which was used by Hezbollah for training, studying, and storing large quantities of weapons.”
It said that “the facility contained missile launchers used for firing at Israeli settlements, as well as documents and instructional books detailing Hezbollah’s operational methods, maps of Israel, explanations of the Israeli army’s equipment, and additional weapons.” The army said “the weapons were confiscated and the compound was dismantled.”
The Israeli army resumed raids on the Baalbek-Hermel area, killing and injuring people and causing further destruction.
The Ministerial Emergency Committee estimated that, as of Thursday evening, Israel had conducted 121 raids, including 56 on Nabatieh, 24 on Baalbek and 23 in the south.
The committee said the number of people killed so far in Israeli attacks on Lebanon exceed 3,100, while 14,000 people have been injured.
More than 1.2 million people have been displaced, with close to 200,000 staying in shelters, it added.
Lebanese observers believe this transitional phase, from now until US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, is the most dangerous period for Lebanon.
Raids on Kfar Tebnit killed two people after a building comprising residential apartments and commercial shops was destroyed.
A raid on Zebdine in Nabatieh killed Mohammed Fayez Mokaddam and his sons, Fayez and Hadi Mokaddem, after their building was destroyed.
Zaher Ibrahim Ataya, a medic with Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Committee from the southern town of Tair Harfa, was killed when Israeli forces struck a newly established medical center.
The strike was part of a broader Israeli aerial campaign that targeted more than 50 towns across the Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts in the past 48 hours.
The Lebanese Red Cross chief Georges Kettaneh announced that rescue teams have returned to Wata Al-Khiyam to complete the recovery of victims from an incident on Oct. 27.
Working alongside UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese Army, teams recovered four bodies and remains, with efforts continuing to ensure the mission’s completion.
Earlier the Red Cross retrieved 17 bodies from the site where civilians, who had been tending to livestock, sought shelter in a building during an Israeli incursion.
The Israeli military initially stalled permission for the Lebanese Red Cross to recover the victims, eventually granting only a four-hour window for the operation.
The Israeli air campaign extended to Lebanon’s Bekaa region, with strikes hitting Hrabta town west of Baalbek and Hosh Al-Sayyed Ali near the Syrian border north of Hermel.
Sirens sounded across northern Israel, including Haifa, Nazareth, Kiryat Shmona and surrounding areas, as well as the Ramat Trump settlement in the Golan Heights and Israeli media reported approximately 30 rockets launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel and Haifa’s suburbs.
The Israeli military confirmed detecting about 20 rockets, with some being intercepted, and reported drone incursions in northern airspace, including one near Caesarea.
The Israeli military announced the death of a soldier from Battalion 8207, Alon Brigade (228), who succumbed to wounds sustained in southern Lebanon on Oct. 26, while Israeli army radio detailed a fierce battle in the border village of Aitaroun that claimed the lives of six Israeli soldiers.
Hezbollah said on Friday it had launched “dozens of rockets reaching as far as Haifa and south of Nazareth.”
The group claimed strikes on several targets, including the Stella Maris naval base and Ramat David air base, northwest and southeast of Haifa, respectively, Kiryat Shmona settlement, and military gatherings in Misgav Am and Margaliot settlements.
In response to Israeli infiltration attempts, Hezbollah reported targeting Israeli forces south of Adaisseh with artillery fire. The group also claimed to have destroyed a military bulldozer and inflicting casualties on accompanying infantry forces trying to advance northwest of Kfarkila.