Houthis say US will ‘pay the price’ for airstrikes on Yemen

The US on October 16, 2024 conducted multiple B-2 bomber strikes on weapon storage facilities in areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthis. (File/AFP)
The US on October 16, 2024 conducted multiple B-2 bomber strikes on weapon storage facilities in areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthis. (File/AFP)
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Updated 17 October 2024
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Houthis say US will ‘pay the price’ for airstrikes on Yemen

US on Oct. 16, 2024 conducted multiple B-2 bomber strikes on weapon storage facilities in areas of Yemen controlled by Houthis.
  • Houthi media official said the US would “pay the price” for attacking their areas in Yemen and that the US was trying to put pressure on them to stop attacks on ships

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia on Thursday threatened to punish the US for launching a series of airstrikes on areas under their control in Yemen and vowed to continue attacking ships in international shipping lanes in support of the Palestinian people.

Nasruddin Amer, a Houthi media official, said that the US would “pay the price” for attacking their areas in Yemen and that the US was trying to put pressure on them to stop their attacks on ships as well as lift their ban on US ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas.

“We confirm that our position on Gaza and Lebanon will remain unchanged and that they will pay the price for their continued aggression against our country,” Amer said in a post on X. 

The threat came as US Central Command said on Thursday that its forces carried out a series of airstrikes on hardened underground storage facilities in Yemen where the Houthis conceal missiles and other weapons that are used to strike ships in international shipping lanes.

The US military said the airstrikes, which used the B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers for the first time, were intended to weaken Houthi military power and push them to stop threatening US and international naval forces as well as commercial vessels.

“These actions were taken to degrade the Houthis’ capability to continue their reckless and unlawful attacks on international commercial shipping and on US, coalition, and merchant personnel and vessels in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden, and to degrade their ability to threaten regional partners,” the US Central Command said, adding there had been no reported human casualties as a result of their airstrikes.

Residents in Sanaa reported large explosions in various areas on Thursday morning, with amateur videos showing large fireballs and thick smoke billowing from the targeted locations.

The Houthis’ Political Bureau strongly condemned the US airstrikes in their areas, describing them as “cowardly aggression” that would not “go unpunished.”

Since November, the Houthis have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles, drones and drone boats at international naval and commercial ships in the Red Sea and other seas off Yemen, sinking two ships and forcing international shipping companies to avoid the Red Sea in favor of the longer and more expensive route round South Africa.

The Houthis claim that they target only ships with links to Israel and those sailing to Israel as a means to pressure Israel to end its war in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

The US responded to the Houthi ship attacks by designating the Yemeni militia a terrorist organization, forming marine task forces to protect ships and launching waves of strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

At the same time, Abdulrahman Barman, a Yemeni human rights advocate and director of the American Center for Justice, told Arab News on Thursday that the Houthis are preparing to try six abducted Yemenis who work for the US and US-funded organizations after their investigations are completed.

The Houthis have referred to the criminal prosecution of Abdul Kader Al-Saqqaf, a retired Yemeni worker, as well as five other current and former Yemeni employees of the US Embassy in Sanaa, the US Agency for International Development, and an American English language institute who were abducted by the Houthis in 2021, Barman said.

The abducted individuals appeared in a video released by the Houthis in which they confessed to spying for the US, confessions Yemeni activists say were taken at gunpoint.

“After years in prison, the Houthis turned them over to the prosecution to legalize their arrest, torture and violation of the law,” Barman said.


North Gaza hospital director says Israeli strikes hit facility

North Gaza hospital director says Israeli strikes hit facility
Updated 6 sec ago
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North Gaza hospital director says Israeli strikes hit facility

North Gaza hospital director says Israeli strikes hit facility
  • Kamal Adwan hospital is one of the last functioning health centers in the area
  • Four staff were killed and no surgeons were left at the site
BEIT LAHIA, Palestinian Territories: The director of north Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital said Israel conducted several strikes on Friday that hit the facility, one of the last functioning health centers in the area.
“There was a series of air strikes on the northern and western sides of the hospital, accompanied by intense and direct fire,” Hossam Abu Safieh said, adding that four staff were killed and no surgeons were left at the site.

UN says Syria fighting has displaced 280,000 so far

UN says Syria fighting has displaced 280,000 so far
Updated 4 min 22 sec ago
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UN says Syria fighting has displaced 280,000 so far

UN says Syria fighting has displaced 280,000 so far
  • UN’s Samer AbdelJaber: ‘The figure we have in front of us is 280,000 people since November 27’
  • ‘That does not include the figure of people who fled from Lebanon during the recent escalations’

GENEVA: The escalation in fighting in Syria has displaced around 280,000 people in just over a week, the United Nations said on Friday, warning that numbers could swell to 1.5 million.
“The figure we have in front of us is 280,000 people since November 27,” Samer AbdelJaber, head of emergency coordination at the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), told reporters in Geneva.
“That does not include the figure of people who fled from Lebanon during the recent escalations” in fighting there, he added.
The mass displacement has happened since militants led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) launched their lightning offensive a little more than a week ago.
That occurred just as a tenuous ceasefire in neighboring Lebanon took hold between Israel and Syrian President Bashar Assad’s ally Hezbollah, following two months of full-blown war that drove hundreds of thousands to flee into Syria.
WFP warned that the fresh mass-displacement inside Syria, more than 13 years after the country’s civil war erupted, was “adding to years of suffering.”
AbdelJaber said the WFP and other humanitarian agencies were “trying to reach the communities wherever their needs are,” and that they were working “to secure safe routes so that we can be able to move the aid and the assistance to the communities that are in need.”
He also stressed the urgent need for more funding to ensure humanitarians are “ready for any scenario basically in terms of displacements that could evolve in the coming days or months.”
AbdelJaber cautioned that “if the situation continues evolving (at the current) pace, we’re expecting collectively around 1.5 million people that will be displaced and will be requiring our support.”


Thousands flee as Syrian militants push on toward Homs

Thousands flee as Syrian militants push on toward Homs
Updated 06 December 2024
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Thousands flee as Syrian militants push on toward Homs

Thousands flee as Syrian militants push on toward Homs
  • Insurgents have already captured the key cities of Aleppo in the north and Hama in the center
  • Militants led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham have pledged to press on southward to Homs

BEIRUT: Thousands of people fled the central Syrian city of Homs overnight and into Friday morning, a war monitoring group and residents said, as militant forces sought to push their lightning offensive against government forces further south.
They have already captured the key cities of Aleppo in the north and Hama in the center, dealing successive blows to President Bashar Assad, nearly 14 years after protests against him erupted across Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said thousands of people had begun fleeing on Thursday night toward western coastal regions, a stronghold of the government.
A resident of the coastal area said thousands of people had begun arriving there from Homs, fearing the militants’ rapid advance.
On Friday morning, Israeli air strikes hit two border crossings between Lebanon and Syria, Lebanese transport minister Ali Hamieh said.
The Syrian state news agency (SANA) said the Arida border crossing with Lebanon was out of service due to the attack.
The Israeli military said it had attacked weapons transfer hubs and infrastructure overnight on the Syrian side of the Lebanese border, saying these routes had been used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah to smuggle weapons.
Russian bombing overnight also destroyed the Rustan bridge along the key M5 highway, the main route to Homs, to prevent militants using it, a Syrian army officer told Reuters.
“There were at least eight strikes on the bridge,” he added. Government forces were bringing reinforcements to positions around the city, he said.
Militants led by the Islamist faction Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham have pledged to press on southward to Homs, a crossroads city that links the capital Damascus to the north and Assad’s heartland along the coast.
A militant operations room urged Homs residents in an online post to rise up, saying: “Your time has come.”


Israeli strikes hit two Syria border crossings with Lebanon

Israeli strikes hit two Syria border crossings with Lebanon
Updated 06 December 2024
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Israeli strikes hit two Syria border crossings with Lebanon

Israeli strikes hit two Syria border crossings with Lebanon
  • Strikes hit the Arida crossing in northern Lebanon and the Jousieh crossing which links to eastern Lebanon

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes early on Friday hit two border crossings linking Lebanon with Syria, Lebanon’s transport minister Ali Hamieh said.
The strikes hit just across the border on the Syrian side of both the Arida crossing in northern Lebanon and the Jousieh crossing which links to eastern Lebanon, Hamieh said.
Both crossings are important access points to Syria’s Homs province, where anti-government rebels are seeking to advance against government forces after sweeping through northern Syria.


Iran says it conducted a successful space launch in program long criticized by West

Iran says it conducted a successful space launch in program long criticized by West
Updated 06 December 2024
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Iran says it conducted a successful space launch in program long criticized by West

Iran says it conducted a successful space launch in program long criticized by West
  • Iran conducted the launch using its Simorgh program, a satellite-carrying rocket that had seen a series of failed launches

MANAMA, Bahrain: Iran said Friday it conducted a successful space launch, the latest for its program the West alleges improves Tehran’s ballistic missile program.
Iran conducted the launch using its Simorgh program, a satellite-carrying rocket that had seen a series of failed launches. The launch took place at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Spaceport in rural Semnan province.
There was no immediate independent confirmation the launch was successful.
The announcement comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and as an uneasy ceasefire holds in Lebanon.