DUBAI: Maritime security agencies reported two explosions on Monday near a ship in the Red Sea off Yemen, where Iran-backed Houthis have attacked shipping in what they call support for Gaza’s Palestinians.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), run by the British navy, said a captain reported “an explosion in close proximity” to his merchant ship.
A second explosion followed, and the captain reported no damage and that “all crew are reported to be safe.”
It was the first attack on shipping reported by the UKMTO since US B-2 heavy bombers hit multiple Houthi targets including weapons storage facilities on October 17.
At the time, the Houthis said the attack would “not pass without a response.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which took place 25 nautical miles south of the Yemeni city of Mokha.
Maritime security firm Ambrey also reported two blasts near a merchant ship, adding that the vessel had “a private armed security team” on board.
The Houthis, part of the “axis of resistance” of Iran-aligned groups, have targeted ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since last November in what they describe as support for Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war.
The attacks have seriously disrupted the Red Sea route which carries 12 percent of global trade, triggering reprisal strikes by the United States and Britain against Houthi targets in Yemen.
In more than 100 Houthi attacks over nearly a year, four sailors have been killed and two ships have sunk, while one vessel and its crew remain detained since being hijacked last November.
Blasts reported near ship in Red Sea off Yemen
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Blasts reported near ship in Red Sea off Yemen
- It was the first attack on shipping reported by the UKMTO since US B-2 heavy bombers hit multiple Houthi targets on October 17
US warns humanitarian assistance not getting to people who need it in north Gaza
- The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies
WASHINGTON: The US State Department warned on Monday that humanitarian assistance was not getting to people that need it in Jabalia in northern Gaza, which spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US does not accept.
“That’s one of our assessments, is that the food and water and medicine that needs to get to people in Jabalia, they aren’t getting it right now. And we want to see that change,” Miller said.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies. Reuters could not verify the number independently.
The emergency service said its operations had come to a halt because of the three-week Israeli assault into the north, an area where the military said it had wiped out Hamas combat forces earlier in the year-long war.
Israeli forces began the recent operation in the north with the declared aim of preventing Hamas from regrouping. The operation has intensified since the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar over a week ago.
Miller said Washington would clearly reject any effort to create a siege, starve civilians or wall northern Gaza off from the rest of the enclave.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised with Israel a so-called “generals plan,” published by retired military commanders and floated by some parliament members this month, suggesting Palestinian civilians would be instructed to evacuate northern Gaza, which would then be declared a closed military zone.
Israel told the US they are not carrying out the plan, Miller said.
But he warned that Israel was not meeting all of the conditions laid out in a letter the US sent to Israel earlier this month urging it to take steps in 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid, according to US officials.
“They have not fully implemented all of the changes that we called for in that letter,” he said, adding that the US would wait until the expiration of the 30 days before offering a final assessment.
The Israeli parliament passed a law on Monday to ban UN relief agency UNRWA from operating inside the country. Miller, before the passage of the law, said the US has made it clear to Israel it is deeply concerned by the legislation, as UNRWA has an irreplaceable role in delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
Germany ‘sharply’ criticizes Israeli bill to ban UN Palestinian refugee agency
- Amtsberg said the implementation of the law as it currently stands “would be a fateful step” and that “our efforts to bring peace to the Middle East would be hindered”
BERLIN: The German government on Monday said it “sharply” criticized a bill passed by Israel’s parliament to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from working in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem.
Germany’s Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Assistance, Luise Amtsberg, also warned the move would “effectively make UNRWA’s work in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem impossible... jeopardizing vital humanitarian aid for millions of people.”
The vote in Israel’s parliament followed years of harsh Israeli criticism of UNRWA, which has only increased since the start of the war in Gaza following Hamas’s deadly October 7 attacks last year.
Amtsberg said the implementation of the law as it currently stands “would be a fateful step” and that “our efforts to bring peace to the Middle East would be hindered.”
“The Israeli action against a UN-mandated organization that has been doing vital work since 1950 is a dangerous signal of disrespect for the United Nations and for international cooperation,” she said.
In January, Israel accused a dozen of UNRWA’s Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7 attack by Hamas, which sparked the deadliest war in the Palestinian territory.
A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA, and determined that nine employees “may have been involved” in the October 7 attack, but found no evidence for Israel’s main allegations.
Amtsberg acknowledged that “UNRWA has taken measures to address allegations of support for terrorist organizations by individual staff members and to reform internal procedures.”
She said the UN agency “must continue to implement these reforms as a high priority and further strengthen its neutrality.”
Israel to pursue new talks on Gaza hostage deal
- Netanyahu’s office said Mossad intelligence chief David Barnea had met US and Qatari officials in Doha and agreed they should talk to Hamas about a deal to free Israelis
JERUSALEM: Israel said Monday it had discussed with international mediators the outline of proposed talks with Hamas on a deal to release Israeli hostages held in Gaza, as its forces pounded both Lebanon and the Palestinian territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Mossad intelligence chief David Barnea had met US and Qatari officials in Doha and agreed they should talk to Hamas about a deal to free Israelis seized in last year’s October 7 attack.
The statement came two days after Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi proposed a two-day truce and limited hostage-prisoner exchange that, he said, could lead to a permanent ceasefire.
“During the meeting, the parties discussed a new unified framework that combines previous proposals and also takes into account key issues and recent developments in the region,” Netanyahu’s office said.
“In the coming days, discussions will continue between the mediators and Hamas to assess the feasibility of talks and to further efforts to promote a deal.”
US President Joe Biden, asked about the possibility of a ceasefire just over a year after Hamas’s cross-border attack triggered the Gaza war which has spread to Lebanon and threatened to draw in Iran, said he would talk to Israel immediately to push for a ceasefire.
“My staff is talking to them right now,” Biden said, after casting an early ballot in the race for his successor. “We need a ceasefire. We should end this war. It should end, it should end, it should end.”
The United States is Israel’s top military supplier and a mediator in the Doha talks. Biden has stood by the country’s right to defend itself despite international outrage at the mounting death toll in both Gaza and Lebanon, where for the past month it has engaged in a ground and air war against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
Israel strike on Lebanon-Syria crossing hampers key escape route
- Land crossing on Lebanon’s northeastern border, known as Jousieh on the Syrian side, connects to Qusayr in Syria’s Homs province
- It was put out of service last Friday when the Israeli strike created a large crater that blocked vehicle traffic
AL-QUSAYR: The flow of displaced families crossing from Lebanon into Syria via a secondary crossing has slowed to a trickle after an Israeli strike there last week, a local official told AFP on Monday.
The land crossing on Lebanon’s northeastern border, known as Jousieh on the Syrian side, connects to Qusayr in Syria’s Homs province.
It was put out of service last Friday when the Israeli strike created a large crater that blocked vehicle traffic.
The raid came after the main land border with Syria, known as Masnaa on the Lebanese side and which lies between Beirut and Damascus, was forced to close by an Israel strike on October 4.
The attacks have heavily constrained the ability of people to flee Lebanon overland at a time when all airlines except the national carrier have suspended flights.
“The movement of displaced people has dropped by 90 percent since the (Jousieh) crossing was targeted,” said Dabbah Al-Mashaal, a Syrian official who oversees the crossing.
“We used to receive about 1,500 people a day, but today the number does not exceed 150,” he told AFP.
Lebanese authorities said on Friday that more than half a million people, mostly Syrians, had crossed into Syrian territory since Israel began heavily striking Lebanon late last month at the start of its all-out war with Hezbollah.
Six official land crossings connect the two countries, although there are many unofficial routes along the porous border.
Four connect Lebanon to Homs province to the northeast. The province is home to the city of Qusayr, which became a major hub for Hezbollah when it intervened in the Syrian civil war in support of President Bashar Assad.
At the Jousieh crossing on Monday, people were seen crossing into Syria on foot, carrying their belongings in plastic bags and pushing buggies, according to an AFP correspondent.
The Israeli army said on Friday that it had destroyed Hezbollah infrastructure at the crossing.
Israel has repeatedly accused the Iran-backed group of transferring weapons into Lebanon from Syria.
Since September 23, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed at least 1,672 people, according to an AFP tally of nationwide health ministry figures though the real number is likely to be higher due to data gaps.
Iran executes Iranian-German national after terrorism conviction
- Jamshid Sharmahd, who holds US residency, was sentenced to death in 2023 on charges of corruption on earth
- CDU leader Friedrich Merz: The execution of the death sentence against our fellow citizen Jamshid Sharmahd is a heinous crime
Iran executed Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd after he was convicted of carrying out terrorist attacks, Iranian state media said on Monday.
Sharmahd, who also holds US residency, was sentenced to death in 2023 on charges of “corruption on earth,” a capital offense under Iran’s Islamic laws.
He was accused by Iran of heading a pro-monarchist group accused of a deadly 2008 bombing and planning other attacks in the country.
Sharmahd’s arrest was announced in 2020 in an intelligence ministry statement that described him as “the ringleader of the terrorist Tondar group, who directed armed and terrorist acts in Iran from America.”
Based in Los Angeles, the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran, or Tondar, says it seeks to restore the Iranian monarchy that was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic revolution. It runs pro-Iranian opposition radio and television stations abroad.
“The execution of the death sentence against our fellow citizen Jamshid Sharmahd is a heinous crime,” the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Germany, Friedrich Merz, told Reuters on Monday.
The opposition leader asked the German government to respond decisively, saying that the approach of “quiet diplomacy” had failed.
“Relations with Iran should be put to the test in view of the state-sponsored killing of a German citizen,” Merz said. “The Iranian ambassador must be expelled.”
