US vows to keep hitting Houthis until shipping attacks stop

US vows to keep hitting Houthis until shipping attacks stop
A ship fires missiles at an undisclosed location, after US President Donald Trump launched military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping. (Reuters via US Central Command)
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Updated 17 March 2025
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US vows to keep hitting Houthis until shipping attacks stop

US vows to keep hitting Houthis until shipping attacks stop
  • US defense secretary’s statement comes a day after America’s air strikes against Yemen’s Houthis on Sunday 
  • Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi vows to continue attacks against US ships “if they continue their aggression“

WASHINGTON/ADEN: The United States will keep attacking Yemen’s Houthis until they end attacks on shipping, the US defense secretary said on Sunday, as the Iran-aligned group signaled it could escalate in response to deadly US strikes the day before.
The airstrikes are the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One US official told Reuters the campaign might continue for weeks.

A spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry said the death toll of the US attacks has risen to 53. Five children and two women were among the victims while the number of injuries rose to 98, Anees Alsbahi, the spokesperson, added on X.

Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi said on Sunday that his militants would target US ships in the Red Sea as long as the US continues its attacks on Yemen. “If they continue their aggression, we will continue the escalation,” he said in a televised speech.
The Houthi movement’s political bureau described the attacks as a “war crime,” while Moscow urged Washington to cease the strikes.
The Houthis’ military spokesperson on Sunday said, without offering evidence, that the group had targeted US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and its warships in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles and drones in response to the US attacks.
A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to Reuters, dismissed the claims, saying they were not aware of any Houthi attack on the Truman.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures“: “The minute the Houthis say we’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones. This campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting.”
“This is about stopping the shooting at assets ... in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States, and Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long,” he said. “They better back off.”

 

The Houthis, who have taken control of most of Yemen over the past decade, said last week they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea if Israel did not lift a block on aid entering Gaza.
They had launched scores of attacks on shipping after Israel’s war with Hamas began in late 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians.
Trump also told Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, to stop supporting the group immediately. He said if Iran threatened the United States, “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!“

Iran warns US not to escalate
In response, Hossein Salami, the top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said the Houthis made their own decisions.
“We warn our enemies that Iran will respond decisively and destructively if they carry out their threats,” he told state media.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for “utmost restraint and a cessation of all military activities” in Yemen and warned new escalation could “fuel cycles of retaliation that may further destabilize Yemen and the region, and pose grave risks to the already dire humanitarian situation in the country,” his spokesperson said in a statement.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” program: “There’s no way the ... Houthis would have the ability to do this kind of thing unless they had support from Iran. And so this was a message to Iran: don’t keep supporting them, because then you will also be responsible for what they are doing in attacking Navy ships and attacking global shipping.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Rubio to urge an “immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue,” Moscow said.
Most of the 31 people confirmed killed in the US strikes were women and children, said Anees Al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry. More than 100 were injured.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the claims of civilian casualties. Reuters could not independently verify the claims.
Residents in Sanaa said the strikes hit a neighborhood known to host several members of the Houthi leadership.
“The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children,” said one of the residents, who gave his name as Abdullah Yahia.
In Sanaa, a crane and bulldozer were used to remove debris at one site and people used their bare hands to pick through the rubble. At a hospital, medics treated the injured, including children, and the bodies of several casualties were placed in a yard, wrapped in plastic sheets, Reuters footage showed.
Strikes also targeted Houthi military sites in the city of Taiz, two witnesses said on Sunday.

Houthis’ Red Sea attacks disrupt global trade route 
Another strike, on a power station in the town of Dahyan, led to a power cut, Al-Masirah TV reported early on Sunday. Dahyan is where Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, the enigmatic leader of the Houthis, often meets visitors.
The Houthi attacks on shipping have disrupted global commerce and set the US military off on a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones.
The group suspended its campaign when Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza in January.
But on March 12, the Houthis said their threat to attack Israeli ships would remain in effect until Israel reapproved the delivery of aid and food into Gaza.


Tunisia mass conspiracy trial ‘marred by violations’: UN rights chief

Updated 13 sec ago
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Tunisia mass conspiracy trial ‘marred by violations’: UN rights chief

Tunisia mass conspiracy trial ‘marred by violations’: UN rights chief
“The process was marred by violations of fair trial and due process rights,” Turk said

GENEVA: The United Nations human rights chief on Thursday condemned the conviction of around 40 Tunisian opposition figures, saying their right to a fair trial was violated.
“The process was marred by violations of fair trial and due process rights, raising serious concerns about political motivations,” the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.

Iraqi PM, Jordanian speaker call for unified global action on Gaza

Iraqi PM, Jordanian speaker call for unified global action on Gaza
Updated 24 April 2025
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Iraqi PM, Jordanian speaker call for unified global action on Gaza

Iraqi PM, Jordanian speaker call for unified global action on Gaza
  • During a meeting at the prime minister’s offices in Baghdad, the pair emphasized the importance of aligning global positions to end the violation of the Palestinian people

AMMAN: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani and Jordan’s Lower House Speaker Ahmad Al-Safadi on Thursday called for increased international efforts to halt Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip.

During a meeting at the prime minister’s offices in Baghdad, the pair emphasized the importance of aligning global positions to end the violation of the Palestinian people, the Jordan News Agency reported.

They called for a concerted international response and unified regional efforts to restore stability and bolster security.

The officials also reaffirmed their commitment to closer relations between Iraq and Jordan, as well as advancing pan-Arab interests and confronting regional challenges.

Safadi stressed Jordan’s commitment to enhancing ties with Iraq, particularly in the parliamentary and economic spheres, and highlighted the need to broaden cooperation in other sectors to serve mutual interests.

He expressed his pride in the deep-rooted ties between the two countries and their peoples, and reiterated the shared determination to continue engagement on key issues.


UN Yemen envoy meets Houthi officials in Oman

UN Yemen envoy meets Houthi officials in Oman
Updated 24 April 2025
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UN Yemen envoy meets Houthi officials in Oman

UN Yemen envoy meets Houthi officials in Oman
  • Talks focused on the necessity to stabilize Yemen and 'to allow all Yemenis to live in dignity and prosperity'

MUSCAT: UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg met Houthi militant officials in Oman on Thursday to discuss “the necessity to stabilize the situation” in the Arabian Peninsula country.
The Houthis form part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” against Israel and the United States, and since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, they have repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Israel in what they say is a show of solidarity with the Palestinians.
They have also targeted ships they accuse of having ties to Israel in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, sparking a US-led bombing campaign aimed at securing the key shipping lanes.
In a statement posted on X, Grundberg’s office said he “met today in #Muscat with senior Omani officials, members of Ansar Allah (Houthi) leadership and representatives of the diplomatic community.”
The talks “centered on the necessity to stabilize the situation in #Yemen to allow all Yemenis to live in dignity and prosperity and to address the legitimate concerns of all stakeholders including the region and the international community,” it added.
Grundberg “reiterated his commitment to continue to work toward that goal, as part of his efforts toward sustainable peace in Yemen.”
Since March 15, Israel’s key ally the United States has stepped up its attacks on the Houthis, targeting their positions in Yemen with near-daily air strikes.
The UN envoy’s meetings in Muscat come two days before a third round of indirect talks, mediated by Oman, between top officials from Iran and the United States on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.
Grundberg’s office said he also raised UN demands for “the immediate and unconditional release of detained UN, NGO, civil society and diplomatic personnel” in Yemen.
In June last year, the Houthis detained 13 UN personnel, including six employees of the Human Rights Office, and more than 50 NGO staff, plus an embassy staff member.
They claimed they had arrested “an American-Israeli spy network” operating under the cover of humanitarian organizations — allegations emphatically rejected by the UN Human Rights Office.


Israeli strikes put Gaza’s Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital out of service

Israeli strikes put Gaza’s Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital out of service
Updated 24 April 2025
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Israeli strikes put Gaza’s Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital out of service

Israeli strikes put Gaza’s Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital out of service
  • Bombing damages intensive care unit, energy panels
  • 37 hospitals have been put out of service since Israel began its attacks in late 2023

LONDON: The Martyr Mohammed Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital, east of Gaza City, was put out of service on Thursday, according to Palestinian medical sources.

The facility, which provides health services for children in northern Gaza, sustained severe damage after being targeted by Israeli forces this week, the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported.

Bombing damaged the hospital’s intensive care unit and alternative energy panels, the report said.

Medical sources told Wafa that Israel’s blockade of food and medical supplies since mid-March meant that children in Gaza were facing a catastrophic situation.

Al-Durrah is the 37th hospital to be put out of service since Israel began its attacks on the Palestinian coastal enclave in late 2023.


Jordanian foreign minister chairs Arab meeting to address Israeli actions in Jerusalem

Jordanian foreign minister chairs Arab meeting to address Israeli actions in Jerusalem
Updated 24 April 2025
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Jordanian foreign minister chairs Arab meeting to address Israeli actions in Jerusalem

Jordanian foreign minister chairs Arab meeting to address Israeli actions in Jerusalem
  • Arab ministerial committee condemns the actions of Israel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem
  • Ministers emphasized the significance of the Hashemite custodianship in preserving Jerusalem’s religious identity

LONDON: Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s minister of foreign affairs and expatriates, chaired an Arab ministerial meeting to discuss Israeli policies in the occupied East Jerusalem.

Safadi led the ninth meeting of the Arab Ministerial Committee on Wednesday evening in Cairo, which took place on the sidelines of the 163rd regular session of the Council of the Arab League.

Representatives from Bahrain, Palestine, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, along with the secretary-general of the Arab League, issued a statement regarding Israeli actions in Jerusalem.

Palestinian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Varsen Aghabekian briefed the committee about Israel’s home demolition policy in Jerusalem, attempts to erase Palestinian cultural heritage, and the arbitrary arrests of individuals, including children.

The committee emphasized the need for united Arab and international efforts to end the illegal Israeli occupation and address the human rights offences in Jerusalem, Petra, the Jordan News Agency, reported.

In 2024, Israeli authorities demolished 181 homes belonging to Palestinians in Jerusalem on the pretext of not having a building permit, which Israel rarely grants to residents of the city, according to rights groups.

The committee condemned the actions of Israel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, where Palestinian families face the threat of eviction. It also condemned the regular storming of the Al-Aqsa compound by Israeli settlers and far-right ministers, asserting that these actions threaten the site’s sanctity and integrity.

It said Israeli policies represent “clear violations of international law, escalating tensions and undermining the historical and legal identity of occupied Jerusalem,” Petra reported.

The ministers emphasized the significance of the Hashemite custodianship in preserving Jerusalem’s religious identity and called for the establishment of a Palestinian state to pave the way for peace in the region.