Houthis say US ship hit in Gulf of Aden attack

The Galaxy Leader cargo ship is escorted by Houthi boats in the Red Sea in this photo released November 20, 2023. (File/Reuters)
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Updated 19 January 2024
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Houthis say US ship hit in Gulf of Aden attack

  • US conducts new strikes against Houthi anti-ship missiles that were being prepared to fire into the Red Sea
  • Biden says strikes against Houthi positions to continue

SANAA/NEW DELHI: Yemeni Houthi rebels claimed early Friday they had carried out a missile attack on a US ship in the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis said in a statement posted on their social media that their “naval” forces had attacked the Chem Ranger “with several appropriate naval missiles, resulting in direct hits.”
It did not give a time or other details for the latest attack in international shipping lanes.
The specialist website Marine Traffic identified the Chem Ranger as a Marshall Islands-flagged chemical tanker sailing from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Kuwait.
British maritime risk management company Ambrey said a Marshallese chemical tanker sailing along the same route had reported a “suspicious” approach by drones.
One fell in the sea approximately 30 meters from the tanker, it added. “An Indian warship responded to the event.”
“There were no crew casualties or damage reported,” the monitor said.On Thursday, the US launched new strikes against Houthi anti-ship missiles aimed at the Red Sea, as growing tensions in the region’s sea lanes disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply bottlenecks that could reignite inflation.
The two Houthi anti-ship missiles targeted in the strikes were being prepared for firing into the Red Sea and deemed “an imminent threat” to shipping and US Navy vessels in the region, the US military said.
Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in and around the Red Sea since November have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers in an escalation of the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.
After the second attack this week on a US-operated vessel in the region, the Indian Navy said it had rescued the crew of the Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden. The vessel came under attack late on Wednesday, sparking a fire onboard.
The Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and have threatened to target US ships in response to American and British strikes on the group’s positions.
The strategy pursued by US President Joe Biden — a blend of limited military strikes and sanctions — appears aimed at preventing a wider Middle East conflict even as Washington seeks to punish the Houthis, security and military experts say.
Biden on Thursday acknowledged that the strikes had not halted attacks by the militants but said the US military response would continue.
“Are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they gonna continue? Yes,” Biden told reporters aboard Air Force One.
In the latest sign that Houthi attempts to attack ships continue unabated, British maritime security firm Ambrey said a Marshall Islands-flagged, US-owned tanker reported four unmanned aerial vehicles approached and circled the vessel, approximately 87 miles southeast of Yemen’s Mukalla.
“One of the UAVs reportedly fell into the water. No damage or injuries were reported. The tanker was not impacted and continued its voyage,” Ambrey said in an advisory note.
Following the attack on the Genco Picardy, the US military said its forces had conducted strikes on 14 Houthi missiles on Wednesday that “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region.” Thursday’s strikes were similar to those on Wednesday, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One.
After the latest attack, India diverted a warship deployed in the region to rescue the 22 crew on board the Genco Picardy, including nine Indians. The crew were all safe and a fire on the vessel had been extinguished.
The Houthi movement said its missiles had made a “direct hit” on the bulk carrier. Shipping operator Genco confirmed the attack, and said its vessel was hit by a projectile while it was passing through the Gulf of Aden with a cargo of phosphate rock.

Suez Canal suffers
The attacks target a route that accounts for about 15 percent of the world’s shipping traffic and acts as a vital conduit between Europe and Asia.
The alternative shipping route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope can add 10-14 days to a journey compared to passage via the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
A sharp downturn in revenue from the Suez Canal has struck a painful new blow to Egypt’s already deteriorating economy. The chairman of the Suez Canal Authority said last week that revenue had fallen by 40 percent in the first 11 days of January.
Wheat shipments via the Suez Canal tumbled almost 40 percent in the first half of January to 0.5 million metric tons, the World Trade Organization said on Thursday.
The Red Sea crisis was rippling through the business world and reviving concerns about stretched supply chains that emerged when activity picked up after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The re-routing of a growing number of vessels is altering refueling patterns and boosting demand for bunker fuel used by ships at far-flung ports, from Mauritius to South Africa to the Canary Islands. Denmark’s Maersk and other large shipping lines have instructed hundreds of commercial vessels to stay clear of the Red Sea. The attacks, as well as weather-related closures and stoppages in Europe, risked causing congestion at several container terminals, Maersk told its customers on Thursday.
Officials at Rotterdam Port, Europe’s largest, expect traffic to become busier from the end of January as delayed ships start to arrive but they do not expect any serious logistical issues.
Ports in Italy and France are worried about being bypassed as ships steer away from the main Mediterranean route.
“We are not observing a significant impact as of today but it’s a concern,” Christophe Castaner, chairman of Marseille port, told a press conference on Thursday.
If the crisis persists, one scenario could be that vessels traveling around Africa call in at Morocco and transfer goods to other ships to serve the Mediterranean, he added.


Nations must find ways to unite on ‘issues that affect planet’: UAE adviser

Updated 5 sec ago
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Nations must find ways to unite on ‘issues that affect planet’: UAE adviser

  • Tech, climate are key, says Anwar Gargash at World Economic Forum
  • Norway FM highlights credibility ‘crisis’ of global, Western institutions

RIYADH: Nations must look for ways to unite on issues that “affect the planet” for the prosperity and stability of the global community, a senior UAE official told a World Economic Forum session here on Monday.

“We have to find a way that non-geostrategic issues should bring us together, rather than take us apart. I think technology, climate should bring us together because we have a vested interest,” said Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, during a panel discussion titled “Rising Powers for a Multipolar World.”

“We might all argue about who pays what, how fast it should go … but ultimately we should recognize that these issues that affect the planet are issues that we will all suffer from,” he added.

Gargash said that “to some certain extent we have a knack for politicizing these issues rather than making these issues an adhesive that brings us together.”

Another panelist, Croatia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Gordan Grlic Radman emphasized the importance of multilateral relationships, “not replacing them … and not watering down rules-based order. Rules are there to respect them.”

Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s foreign affairs minister, added that the global community was experiencing a crisis of credibility. This has been exacerbated by the situation in Gaza and by “the inability of many Western countries who have hesitated to use the same type of language … they used against Russia.”

“When it comes to Gaza, we have not been able to see the same type of response … the way that Israel has conducted the war has also been very problematic in light of global norms. If we do not call out that it comes back and haunt even the arguments on Ukraine,” Eide said.

“To be frank it is a crisis of Western-initiated values, but they also have turned into a crisis of institutions. The response to that is to be very clear on our own practice, as Norway, with friends. If we believe certain things are right or wrong, we should apply them consequentially across the board.”

Gargash said that building bridges and making friends has been the UAE’s strategy. “We see ourselves more on the geo-economic phase of our foreign policy. That in itself reflects what are our priorities with regards to BRICS or any other international organization we seek to join.

“We are increasing and concretizing the sort of bridges that we have. We are looking at it more on the geo-economic perspective. We have no interest in creating further schisms within the international system. We have an interest in being able to reach out on all our friends, and create more opportunities.

“Countries like us cannot afford to be fatalistic, and see this things are happening anyway. I think we need to work, whether in smaller or larger groups, it depends really on the situation … whether we will be more effective working with an Arab consensus, then we will do it.

“We are interested in joining many other organizations, we are looking at it from the perspective of having more friends, more bridges, more economic opportunities rather than a rejection of something and an adoption of something else.”

Citing the China-US relationship in the past, the UAE official said that “we should remember that this is not 1945, it is our duty as other countries to emphasize always that we are not at that moment and we do not want to recreate that bipolarity of the past.”

Gargash added: “The important thing is it is our job, whenever the China-US relationship is on the table, not to think in (a) 1945 framework but to say this is a different world. India today is not the India of 1945, Europe is not the Europe of 1945. There are many other players, we cannot ease the other players out and think of just the two major parties.”


Red Cross has no mandate to replace UNRWA in Gaza, chief says

Updated 5 min 10 sec ago
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Red Cross has no mandate to replace UNRWA in Gaza, chief says

  • Earlier report concluded that Israel had failed to furnish proof that some UNRWA employees had links to “terrorist organizations” such as Hamas

GENEVA: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) does not have a mandate to replace the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, its director general said in comments published on Monday.
UNRWA was swept into controversy in January when Israel accused 12 of its 30,000 employees of being involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks which led to the deaths of around 1,160 people — mostly civilians — according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed nearly 35,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.
The UN immediately fired the implicated staff members and launched an internal investigation to assess the agency’s neutrality.
“We have completely different mandates,” ICRC director general Pierre Krahenbuhl told Swiss daily Le Temps in an interview.
UNWRA’s mandate “comes from the UN General Assembly, the ICRC’s from the Geneva Convention. The ICRC cannot take over UNRWA’s mandate,” he said.
“We already have enough to do without replacing other organizations,” said Krahenbuhl, who himself had headed UNRWA between 2014 and 2019.
Last week, a report by an independent group led by French former foreign minister Catherine Colonna concluded that Israel had failed to furnish proof that some UNRWA employees had links to “terrorist organizations” such as Hamas.
UNWRA is a crucial provider of food to Palestinian refugees, defined as Palestinians who fled or were expelled around the time of Israel’s 1948 creation, or their descendants.
In March, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said UNRWA had “reached a breaking point,” with israel calling for its dismantling, major donors freezing their funding due to the Israeli accusations, and the people of Gaza facing a desperate humanitarian crisis.


Hamas claims rocket barrage from Lebanon into north Israel

Updated 10 min 25 sec ago
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Hamas claims rocket barrage from Lebanon into north Israel

  • No injuries or damages were reported

BEIRUT: Hamas’s armed wing said its militants in Lebanon’s south launched Monday a slew of rockets at a northern Israeli military position, as fighting has raged on in the Gaza Strip.
After Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, its powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily fire with Israeli forces across the border.
Palestinian factions and other allied groups in Lebanon have also sometimes claimed attacks.
Hamas fighters “have fired a concentrated rocket barrage from south Lebanon toward” an Israeli military position, said the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades in a statement on Telegram.
The armed wing described the action as a “response to the massacres of the Zionist enemy (Israel)” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
the Israeli army told AFP that “approximately 20 launches crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory” but it had intercepted most rockets and struck “the sources of fire.”
“No injuries or damage were reported,” the army said.
The latest rocket barrage came as Hamas negotiators were expected to arrive in Egypt on Monday, where they were due to respond to Israel’s latest proposal for a long-sought truce in Gaza and hostage release.
On April 21, the Qassam Brigades claimed a rocket barrage into northern Israel.
A strike in January, which a US defense official said was carried out by Israel, killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh Al-Aruri and six other militants in Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold.
In Lebanon, at least 385 people have been killed in months of cross-border violence, mostly militants but also 73 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
The tally includes at least 11 Hamas fighters.
Israel says 11 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its side of the border.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.


Top US envoy Blinken addresses special WEF meeting in Riyadh

Updated 9 min 46 sec ago
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Top US envoy Blinken addresses special WEF meeting in Riyadh

  • Senior US official earlier joined the opening of a US-Gulf Cooperation Council meeting

RIYADH: Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, sits down with Borge Brende, the president of World Economic Forum, for a conversation during the last day of the Special Meeting On Global Collaboration, Growth And Energy For Development in Riyadh.
Blinken earlier joined the opening of a US-Gulf Cooperation Council meeting, where he told the region’s foreign ministers that the best way to ease the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza would be to negotiate a ceasefire agreement that would release hostages held by Hamas.


“The most effective way to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to alleviate the suffering of children, women and men, and to create space for a more just and durable solution is to get a cease-fire and the hostages out,” he said.
“But we’re also not waiting on a ceasefire to take the necessary steps to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza.”
Blinken also told the GCC ministers that Iran’s confrontation with Israel showed the need for greater defense integration.
“This attack highlights the acute and growing threat from Iran but also the imperative that we work together on integrated defense.”
The top US diplomat met separately with Saudi Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, where they reviewed ways to strengthen bilateral relations and joint cooperation in various fields, the Saudi Press Agency said.


Israel kills at least 20 Palestinians in Rafah, new Gaza ceasefire talks expected in Cairo

Updated 29 April 2024
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Israel kills at least 20 Palestinians in Rafah, new Gaza ceasefire talks expected in Cairo

  • The strikes came hours before Egypt was expected to host Hamas leaders to discuss prospects for a ceasefire agreement with Israel
  • Mediators from Qatar and Egypt, backed by the US, have stepped up their efforts to conclude a deal as Israel threatened to invade Rafah

CAIRO: Israeli airstrikes on three houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed at least 20 Palestinians and wounded many others, medics said on Monday, as Egyptian and Qatari mediators were expected to hold a new round of ceasefire talks with Hamas leaders in Cairo.
In Gaza City, in the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes struck two houses, killing at least four people and wounding several people, health officials said.
The strikes on Rafah, where more than one million people are seeking refuge from months of Israeli bombardment, took place hours before Egypt was expected to host leaders of the Islamist group Hamas to discuss prospects for a ceasefire agreement with Israel.
The Israeli military said it was checking the report.
Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas, which controls Gaza, in a military operation that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, 66 of them in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza’s health authorities. The war has displaced most of the 2.3 million population and laid much of the enclave to waste.
The conflict was triggered by an attack by Hamas militants on Israel on Oct. 7 in which they killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
An assault on Rafah, which Israel says is the last Hamas stronghold in the Gaza Strip, has been anticipated for weeks but foreign governments and the United Nations have expressed concern that such action could result in a humanitarian disaster given the number of displaced people crammed into the area.
On Sunday, Hamas officials said a delegation led by Khalil Al-Hayya, the group’s deputy Gaza chief, would discuss a ceasefire proposal handed by Hamas to mediators from Qatar and Egypt, as well as Israel’s response. Mediators, backed by the United States, have stepped up their efforts to conclude a deal.
Two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters did not disclose details of the latest proposals, but a source briefed on the talks told Reuters that Hamas is expected to respond to Israel’s latest truce proposal delivered on Saturday.
The source said this included an agreement to accept the release of fewer than 40 hostages in exchange for releasing Palestinians held in Israeli jails, and to a second phase of a truce that includes a “period of sustained calm” — Israel’s compromise response to a Hamas demand for a permanent ceasefire.
After the first phase, Israel would allow free movement between south and north Gaza and a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, the source said.
A senior Hamas official told Reuters the Monday talks in Cairo will take place between the Hamas delegation and the Qatari and the Egyptian mediators to discuss remarks the group has made over the Israeli response to its recent proposal.
“Hamas has some questions and inquires over the Israeli response to its proposal, which the movement received from mediators on Friday,” the official told Reuters.
Those comments suggested Hamas may not hand an instant response to mediators over Israel’s latest proposal.