Houthi leader calls for ‘million-strong’ rally after deadly US strikes

Update Houthi leader calls for ‘million-strong’ rally after deadly US strikes
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This photo taken from video released by Ansar Allah Media Office via Al Masirah TV channel shows a casualty being taken for treatment at a hospital in Saada, Yemen, on March 15, 2025 following US airstrikes over multiple targets in the country. (Al Masirah TV via AP)
Update Houthi leader calls for ‘million-strong’ rally after deadly US strikes
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A US Navy ship fires missiles at an undisclosed target in Yemen in this screen grab obtained from a handout video released on March 15, 2025. (US Central Command/Handout via REUTERS)
Update Houthi leader calls for ‘million-strong’ rally after deadly US strikes
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This image taken from video provided by the US Navy shows an aircraft launching from the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea before airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (US Navy via AP)
Update U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as military strikes are launched against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, at an unspecified location in this handout image released March 15, 2025. (REUTERS)
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U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as military strikes are launched against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, at an unspecified location in this handout image released March 15, 2025. (REUTERS)
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Updated 17 March 2025
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Houthi leader calls for ‘million-strong’ rally after deadly US strikes

Houthi leader calls for ‘million-strong’ rally after deadly US strikes
  • Abdulmalik Al-Houthi defiant in the face of US threat to continue strikes until the Houthis end their attacks on shipping
  • Houthis say Hodeidah was targeted in latest US strikes, claim second attack on US ships in 24 hours
  • claim second attack on US ships in 24 hours

SANAA: The leader of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday called for a “million-strong” march of defiance after deadly US strikes hit the capital, Sanaa, and other areas.
“I call on our dear people to go out tomorrow on the anniversary of the Battle of Badr in a million-strong march in Sanaa and the rest of the governorates,” Abdulmalik Al-Houthi said in a televised address, referring to a celebrated military victory by the Prophet Muhammad.

In the speech aired Sunday night, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, warned: “We will confront escalation with escalation.”

“We will respond to the American enemy in its raids, in its attacks, with missile strikes, by targeting its aircraft carrier, its warships, its ships,the secretive Houthi leader said. “However, we also still have escalation options. If it continues its aggression, we will move to additional escalation options.”
He did not elaborate.

Hours after Al-Houthi's speech, the Yemeni militia claimed responsibility on Monday for a second attack on an American aircraft carrier group in 24 hours, calling it retaliation for US strikes.

A spokesperson for the group said “for the second time in 24 hours” Houthi fighters launched missiles and drones at the USS Harry S. Truman and several of its warships in the northern Red Sea.

The announcement came a few hours after the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV early on Monday reported that the US launched two strikes targeting Hodeidah, a port city in western Yemen controlled by the Houthis.

Hodeidah has served as a launching pad for Houthi attacks on commercial vessels passing through Bab Al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

The US military has yet to make any statement regarding the reported strikes on Hodeidah.

On Sunday, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said the overnight US strikes killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children, and wounded almost 100 in the capital of Sanaa and other provinces, including Saada, the rebels’ stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia.

The overnight airstrikes were one of the most extensive attacks against the Houthis since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.

US President Donald Trump has vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis cease their attacks, and warned that Tehran would be held “fully accountable” for their actions.

“We’re not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday. He said these are not the one-off retaliation strikes the Biden administration carried out after Houthi attacks.

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea, sinking two vessels, in what they call acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally.

Rubio said that over the past 18 months the Houthis had attacked the US Navy “directly” 174 times and targeted commercial shipping 145 times using “guided precision anti-ship weaponry.”

The attacks sparked the most serious combat the US Navy had seen since World War II.

Call for restraint

Amid the bellicose statements from both sides, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement called for “utmost restraint and a cessation of all military activities,” while warning of the “grave risks” to the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation.

On Sunday, the head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, denied his country was involved in the Houthis’ attacks, saying it “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies” of the militant groups it is allied with across the region, according to state-run TV.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing on X, urged the US to halt its airstrikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran’s foreign policy.
The US and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the rebels. The US Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said was bound for the Houthis.
The United States, Israel and Britain previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen, but the new operation was conducted solely by the US It was the first strike on the Houthis under the second Trump administration.
The USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, which includes the carrier, three Navy destroyers and one cruiser, is in the Red Sea and was part of the mission. The USS Georgia cruise missile submarine has also been operating in the region.

– with AFP and AP


Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements

Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements
Updated 10 min 40 sec ago
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Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements

Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements

JERUSALEM: The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned on Sunday an Israeli decision to recognize more than a dozen new settlements in the occupied West Bank, upgrading existing neighborhoods to independent settlement status.
The decision by Israel’s security cabinet was a show of “disregard for international legitimacy and its resolutions,” said a statement from the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry.
The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is home to about three million Palestinians as well as nearly 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right leader and settler who was behind the cabinet’s decision, hailed it as an “important step” for Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Smotrich is a leading voice calling for Israel to formally annex the West Bank — as it did in 1967 after capturing east Jerusalem in a move not recognized by most of the international community.
“The recognition of each (neighborhood) as a separate community... is an important step that would help their development,” Smotrich said in a statement on Telegram, calling it part of a “revolution.”
“Instead of hiding and apologizing, we raise the flag, we build and we settle,” he said.
“This is another important step toward de facto sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” added Smotrich, using the Biblical name for the West Bank.
In its statement, the Palestinian foreign ministry also mentioned an ongoing major Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank, saying it was accompanied by “an unprecedented escalation in the confiscation of Palestinian lands.”
The 13 settlement neighborhoods approved for development by the Israeli cabinet are located across the West Bank. Some of them are effectively part of the bigger settlements they belong to while others are practically separate.
Their recognition as separate communities under Israeli law is not yet final.
Hailing the “normalization” of settlement expansion, the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization for the municipal councils of West Bank settlements, thanked Smotrich for pushing for the cabinet decision.
According to EU figures, 2023 saw a 30-year record in settlement building permits issued by Israel.


Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south

Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south
Updated 31 min 22 sec ago
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Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south

Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south
  • The NNA also reported separate Israeli strikes on Sunday on Naqurah, Shihin and Labbouneh in the south

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed Sunday in an Israeli drone strike, a day after the most intense escalation since a November ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah.
“The Israeli enemy raid with a drone on a car in Aita Al-Shaab led to the death of one citizen,” the health ministry said, after the official National News Agency (NNA) had reported the strike on the southern village.
The NNA also reported separate Israeli strikes on Sunday on Naqurah, Shihin and Labbouneh in the south, near the Israeli border.
Saturday saw the most intense escalation since a November ceasefire halted the war between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The Lebanese health ministry said seven people were killed on Saturday, including in an attack on Tyre which a security source told AFP targeted a Hezbollah official.
Israel said the strikes were “a response to rocket fire toward Israel and a continuation of the first series of strikes carried out” in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah denied any involvement in the rocket attack, and called Israel’s accusations “pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon.”
The November ceasefire brought relative calm after a year of hostilities, including two months of open war, between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel has continued to strike Lebanon after the ceasefire, targeting what it said were Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement.
Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions it deems “strategic.”


Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains

Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains
Updated 17 min 58 sec ago
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Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains

Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains
  • Eyewitnesses in the area reported seven rounds of shelling rocking residential neighborhoods controlled by the army
  • In recent days, the army regained most of central Khartoum’s government district from the RSF

KHARTOUM: Three civilians including two children were killed Sunday in an artillery attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Omdurman, part of the Sudanese capital, a medical source told AFP.
Eyewitnesses in the area reported seven rounds of shelling rocking residential neighborhoods controlled by the army, which in recent days regained most of central Khartoum’s government district from the RSF.
“Two children and a woman were killed and eight others injured in the shelling,” said the medical source at Al-Nao hospital, one of the city’s last functioning health facilities, requesting anonymity for their safety.
Since April 2023, the RSF has battled Sudan’s regular army in a war that has killed tens of thousands, uprooted over 12 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
The army and allied groups on Friday recaptured the country’s presidential palace, launching a clearing operation to push the RSF out of central Khartoum’s administrative and financial district.
On Saturday, they claimed several strategic state institutions that had been overrun by paramilitaries, including the central bank, state intelligence headquarters and the national museum.
RSF fighters remain stationed in parts of central Khartoum including the airport, as well as the capital’s south and west.
From their positions in western Omdurman, they have regularly launched strikes on civilian areas.
In February, over 50 people were killed in a single RSF artillery attack on a busy Omdurman market.
Despite the army’s advances in the capital, Africa’s third largest country remains effectively split in two, with the army holding the east and north while the RSF controls nearly all of the western region of Darfur and parts of the south.


Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial

Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial
Updated 23 March 2025
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Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial

Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial
  • Ruling likely to stoke tensions after four days of protests
  • The court said Imamoglu and at least 20 others were jailed as part of a corruption investigation

ISTANBUL: A Turkish court jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Sunday pending trial, state media and other broadcasters said, in a move likely to stoke the country’s biggest protests in more than decade.
The decision to send Imamoglu — who is President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival — to prison comes after the main opposition party, European leaders and tens of thousands of protesters criticized the actions against him as politicized.
The court said Imamoglu and at least 20 others were jailed as part of a corruption investigation. A separate ruling on a terror-related investigation has yet to be issued.Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said on Sunday that he will not bow down after court ruled to jail him pending trial over corruption related investigation.
"We will, hand in hand, uproot this blow, this black stain on our democracy... I am standing tall, I will not bow down," Imamoglu said in a post on X.


Israel military says it intercepted missile from Yemen

Israel military says it intercepted missile from Yemen
Updated 23 March 2025
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Israel military says it intercepted missile from Yemen

Israel military says it intercepted missile from Yemen
  • The Houthis said early on Saturday they had “targeted Ben Gurion airport” with a ballistic missile
  • United States began launching heavy strikes against Yemen’s Houthis last week

Jerusalem: Israel’s military said early on Sunday it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen after air raid sirens sounded in several areas across the country.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF (Israeli Air Force) prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement.
The latest interception is part of an escalation between Israel and the Houthis after the Iran-backed group claimed a series of missile launches this week.
The Houthis had threatened to escalate attacks in support of Palestinians following Israel’s renewal of attacks against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which began on Tuesday.
The Israeli military also said late on Friday it had intercepted another missile launched from Yemen.
The Houthis said early on Saturday they had “targeted Ben Gurion airport” with a ballistic missile, calling it the third launch in two days.
Israeli airspace would remain unsafe “until the aggression against Gaza stops,” the group said in the statement.
The United States began launching heavy strikes against Yemen’s Houthis last week.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the Houthis “will be completely annihilated” and warned Tehran against continuing aid for the group.