Three suspected Houthi attacks target a ship off Yemen, authorities say

Three suspected Houthi attacks target a ship off Yemen, authorities say
In the first attack, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded close to the ship Thursday, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. (X: @UK_MTO)
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Updated 09 August 2024
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Three suspected Houthi attacks target a ship off Yemen, authorities say

Three suspected Houthi attacks target a ship off Yemen, authorities say
  • The Houthis did not immediately claim the assaults, though they follow a monthslong campaign by the rebels targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor

DUBAI: Three suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militants targeted a ship in the strategic Bab El-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, including one that saw private security guards shoot and destroy a bomb-loaded drone boat, authorities said Friday.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the assaults, though they follow a monthslong campaign by the militants targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
After a recent two-week pause, their attacks resumed following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, amid concerns of a wider regional war. Iran backs the Houthis as part of what it calls a regional “Axis of Resistance.”
“The operations are ongoing — our operations toward occupied Palestine to target the Israeli enemy, our operations at sea, the inevitable forthcoming response, as well as coordination with the axis in any joint operations,” warned the Houthi’s secretive leader, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, in a speech Thursday. “The decision to respond is a collective decision, at the level of the entire axis and at the level of each front individually.”
In the first attack, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded close to the ship Thursday, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. Two smaller craft, with men aboard wearing white and yellow raincoats, launched the RPG, the UKMTO said.
The second attack came early Friday, with a missile “exploding in close proximity to the vessel,” the UKMTO said. “The vessel and crew are reported to be safe.”
The private security firm Ambrey reported that the ship was hit by a drone that caused no injuries or physical damage.
“The vessel was assessed to be aligned with the Houthi target profile,” Ambrey said. “The vessel was assessed to have been targeted earlier in the day.”
Then came the third attack with the drone boat, where private security guards on board “opened fire and (were) able to successfully destroy the vehicle,” Ambrey said.
Though the Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, it sometimes can take hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults. They’ve also claimed others that apparently haven’t happened.
The Houthis have targeted more than 70 vessels with missiles and drones in a campaign that has killed four sailors since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. They have seized one vessel and sunk two in the time since. Other missiles and drones have been either intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or splashed down before reaching their targets.
The militants maintain that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain as part of a campaign they say seeks to force an end to the war. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the war, including some bound for Iran.
Since November, Houthi attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion of goods that flow annually through the region, while also sparking the most intense combat the US Navy has seen since World War II.
The Houthis also have launched drones and missiles toward Israel, including an attack on July 19 that killed one person and wounded 10 others in Tel Aviv. Israel responded the next day with airstrikes on the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida that hit fuel depots and electrical stations, killing and wounding a number of people, the militants say.
After the strikes, the Houthis paused their attacks until Saturday, when they hit a Liberian-flagged container ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden.
Meanwhile on Thursday, US Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jets arrived in the Mideast from a base in the United Kingdom, authorities said Thursday.
US Central Command posted images online of the fighters, saying their presence in the region was “to address threats posed by Iran and Iranian-backed groups.”
The US has declined to say where the aircraft landed due to host nation sensitivities.
Central Command later said it destroyed two Houthi anti-ship cruise missiles and one Houthi ground control station, as well as a drone boat in the Red Sea.


Tunisia jails critic of president for eight months: lawyer

Tunisia jails critic of president for eight months: lawyer
Updated 11 September 2024
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Tunisia jails critic of president for eight months: lawyer

Tunisia jails critic of president for eight months: lawyer
  • Sonia Dahmani, 56, was arrested on May 11 when masked police raided Tunisia’s bar association, where she had sought refuge

TUNIS: A Tunisian appeals court sentenced a lawyer and media figure to eight months in prison, her lawyer said Wednesday, over comments deemed critical of President Kais Saied.
Sonia Dahmani, 56, was arrested on May 11 when masked police raided Tunisia’s bar association, where she had sought refuge, following her remarks made on television.
Initially sentenced to one year in prison on July 6, she appealed.
Her lawyer, Pierre-Francois Feltesse, said the eight-month sentence was issued late Tuesday without her legal representatives being able to enter a plea, after the hearing was suspended.
The defense team said in a statement to AFP that Dahmani had been “subjected a disgraceful body search” in custody and forced to wear a “long white veil” usually reserved for women prosecuted for sexual offenses, despite no legal basis for it.
Feltesse said her case would be referred to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
The charges stemmed from comments Dahmani made on TV, sarcastically questioning Tunisia’s state of affairs in response to claims sub-Saharan migrants were settling in the country.
“What extraordinary country are we talking about?” she said at the time.
A judicial report said her comments referenced a speech by Saied, who said Tunisia would not become a resettlement zone for migrants blocked from going to Europe.
Saied, democratically elected in 2019, has ruled Tunisia by decree since a 2021 power grab.
He leads the race for an October 6 presidential election, after several hopefuls were barred. One of his two challengers, Ayachi Zammel, is in prison.
Decree 54, enacted by Saied in 2022, criminalizes “spreading false news.”
The National Union of Tunisian Journalists says it has been used to prosecute more than 60 journalists, lawyers and opposition figures.
Human Rights Watch has said at least eight prospective candidates had been prosecuted, convicted or imprisoned in the run-up to the election.
“Holding elections amid such repression makes a mockery of Tunisians’ right to participate in free and fair elections,” said the New York-based advocacy group.


Jordan’s Islamists bounce back in election clouded by Gaza war

Jordan’s Islamists bounce back in election clouded by Gaza war
Updated 11 September 2024
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Jordan’s Islamists bounce back in election clouded by Gaza war

Jordan’s Islamists bounce back in election clouded by Gaza war
  • The Islamist Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, won up to a fifth of the seats under the revamped electoral law
  • Under Jordan’s constitution, most powers still rest with the king who appoints governments and can dissolve parliament

AMMAN: Jordan’s moderate Islamist opposition made significant gains in Tuesday’s parliamentary election, initial official results showed on Wednesday, boosted by anger over Israel’s war in Gaza.
The Islamist Action Front (IAF) also benefited from a new electoral law that encourages a bigger role for political parties in the 138-seat parliament, though tribal and pro-government factions will continue to dominate the assembly.
The IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, won up to a fifth of the seats under the revamped electoral law, which for the first time allocated 41 seats for parties, according to preliminary figures seen by Reuters and confirmed by independent and official sources.
“The Jordanian people have given us their trust by voting for us. This new phase will increase the burden of responsibility for the party toward the nation and our citizens,” Wael al Saqqa, head of the IAF, told Reuters.
The election represents a modest step in a democratization process launched by King Abdullah as he seeks to insulate Jordan from the conflicts at its borders, and speed up the slow pace of political reforms.
Under Jordan’s constitution, most powers still rest with the king who appoints governments and can dissolve parliament. The assembly can force a cabinet to resign by a vote of no confidence.
Turnout among Jordan’s 5.1 million eligible voters in Tuesday’s poll was low at 32.25 percent, initial official figures showed, up slightly from 29 percent at the last election in 2020.
Jordanian officials say the fact that elections are being held at all while the war in Gaza and other regional conflicts are raging demonstrates their country’s relative stability.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been allowed to operate in Jordan since 1946.
 


Biden seeks ‘full accountability’ after death of US citizen in West Bank

Biden seeks ‘full accountability’ after death of US citizen in West Bank
Updated 11 September 2024
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Biden seeks ‘full accountability’ after death of US citizen in West Bank

Biden seeks ‘full accountability’ after death of US citizen in West Bank
  • Turkish and Palestinian officials say Israeli troops shot 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who had been taking part in a protest against settlement expansion

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like the fatal shooting of an American protester against settlement expansion never happen again, calling her death “totally unacceptable.”
In a statement, Biden said while Israel has taken responsibility for her death, the US government expects continued access as the investigation continues over the circumstances of the shooting. Israel has said her death was accidental.
Turkish and Palestinian officials said on Friday that Israeli troops shot 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who had been taking part in a protest against settlement expansion.
Palestinian news agency WAFA said the incident took place during a regular protest march by activists in Beita, a village near Nablus that has seen repeated attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers.
Israel’s military said it was looking into reports that a female foreign national “was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review.”
A rise in violent attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank has stirred anger among Western allies of Israel, including the United States, which has imposed sanctions on some Israelis involved in the settler movement.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state.
Israel has built settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes that assertion, citing historical and biblical ties to the land.


US diplomatic facility attacked in Baghdad, no casualties, embassy says

US diplomatic facility attacked in Baghdad, no casualties, embassy says
Updated 11 September 2024
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US diplomatic facility attacked in Baghdad, no casualties, embassy says

US diplomatic facility attacked in Baghdad, no casualties, embassy says
  • Two rockets had fallen at around 11 p.m. on Tuesday near US forces stationed near Baghdad airport

BAGHDAD: A United States diplomatic facility in Baghdad came under attack late on Tuesday but there are no reports of casualties and a damage assessment is underway, a US embassy spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.
Security sources told Reuters two rockets had fallen at around 11 p.m. on Tuesday near US forces stationed near Baghdad airport at the Camp Victory base.
“At approximately 23:00 on Tuesday, September 10, there was an attack at the Baghdad Diplomatic Services Compound, a US diplomatic facility,” the US embassy statement said.
“Fortunately, there are no reported casualties, and we are assessing the damage and its cause. Our assessment is ongoing,” it said.
Kataib Hezbollah, one of Iraq’s Iran-backed armed factions, said the timing of the attack was clearly designed to disrupt a visit to Iraq by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that began on Wednesday.
The group called on Iraqi security forces in a statement issued early on Wednesday to investigate the attack and to determine who was responsible.
Pezeshkian, on his first foreign trip since being elected in July, is expected to sign a number of bilateral agreements with Baghdad and to discuss the Gaza war and the wider situation in the Middle East with Iraqi leaders.
Iraq, a rare regional partner of both the United States and Iran, hosts 2,500 US troops and also has Iran-backed armed factions linked to its security forces.
Iran-aligned armed groups in Iraq have repeatedly attacked US troops in the Middle East since the Gaza war began.


Israel army says two soldiers killed in Gaza helicopter crash

Israel army says two soldiers killed in Gaza helicopter crash
Updated 11 September 2024
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Israel army says two soldiers killed in Gaza helicopter crash

Israel army says two soldiers killed in Gaza helicopter crash
  • The military said it was investigating the cause of the crash
  • The seven injured had been evacuated to hospital for treatment

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Wednesday that an army helicopter crashed in the south of war-ravaged Gaza overnight, killing two soldiers and injuring seven.
“An initial inquiry... indicates that the crash was not caused by enemy fire... Two IDF (Israeli) soldiers were killed as a result of the crash,” the military said in a statement, adding that the seven injured had been evacuated to hospital for treatment.
The military said it was investigating the cause of the crash, which occurred when the helicopter was landing near the southern city of Rafah.
The latest deaths bring the military’s losses in the Gaza campaign to 344 since the start of the ground offensive on October 27.
The war erupted after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which also include hostages killed in captivity.
During the attack militants abducted 251 people, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,020 people, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide details of civilian and militant deaths.
The United Nations human rights office says most of the dead in Gaza are women and children.