WASHINGTON: US and British forces carried out a new round of strikes on Monday in Yemen, targeting a Houthi underground storage site as well as missile and surveillance capabilities used by the Iran-aligned group against Red Sea shipping, the Pentagon said.
The Houthis have said their attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel strikes Gaza.
The Houthi attacks have disrupted global shipping and stoked fears of global inflation. They have also deepened concern that fallout from the Israel-Hamas war could destabilize the Middle East.
In the latest response, US and British forces carried out strikes at eight different locations in Yemen, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, according to a joint statement signed by the six countries.
“Our initial evidence from last night’s strikes is...that all intended targets were destroyed,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told parliament on Tuesday.
A senior US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said roughly 25 to 30 munitions were fired, some of them from warplanes launched from a US aircraft carrier.
Eight rounds of strikes over the past month have failed so far to stop Houthi attacks against shipping.
The Houthis’ military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said on Tuesday that the US-British alliance had carried out 18 air strikes: 12 in the capital Sanaa, three in the port city of Hodeidah, two in Taiz and one in Al-Bayda province.
“These attacks will not go unanswered or unpunished,” he said.
US officials say the strikes have degraded the Houthis’ ability to carry out complex attacks. But they have declined to offer any specific numbers of missiles, radar, drones or other military capabilities destroyed so far.
“We are having the intended effect,” the US military official told Pentagon reporters.
Speaking after the latest strikes, British foreign minister David Cameron said the action had sent a clear message to the Houthis.
“We will continue to degrade their ability to carry out these attacks whilst sending the clearest possible message that we back our words and our warnings with action,” he said.
President Joe Biden said last week that air strikes would continue while acknowledging they might not be halting the Houthi attacks.
Last week, the Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles at a US-owned tanker ship that hit the water near the vessel but caused no injuries or damage.
Biden’s emerging strategy on Yemen aims to weaken the Houthi militants but stops well short of trying to defeat the group or directly address Iran, the Houthis’ main sponsor, experts say.
The strategy — a blend of limited military strikes and sanctions — appears aimed at punishing the Houthis while limiting the danger of a wider Middle East conflict.
Sunak said Britain and the US were working closely on new sanctions measures to be announced in the coming days.
Container vessels have been pausing or diverting from the Red Sea, which leads to the Suez Canal, the fastest freight route from Asia to Europe. Many have taken the longer route around Africa instead.
Latest strikes on Yemen’s Houthis destroyed intended targets, UK says
https://arab.news/gm9m2
Latest strikes on Yemen’s Houthis destroyed intended targets, UK says
- The Houthis have said their attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel strikes Gaza
- “Our initial evidence from last night’s strikes is...that all intended targets were destroyed,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said
WHO alarmed by health workers, civilians ‘forcibly detained’ in Sudan
- The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency
GENEVA: The World Health Organization voiced alarm Tuesday at reports that more than 70 health workers and around 5,000 civilians were being detained in Nyala in southwestern Sudan.
Since April 2023, Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million more and devastated infrastructure.
“We are concerned by reports from Nyala, the capital of Sudan’s South Darfur state, that more than 70 health care workers are being forcibly detained along with about 5,000 civilians,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“According to the Sudan Doctors Network, the detainees are being held in cramped and unhealthy conditions, and there are reports of disease outbreaks,” the UN health agency chief said.
The RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction allied earlier this year, forming a coalition based in Nyala.
“WHO is gathering more information on the detentions and conditions of those being held. The situation is complicated by the ongoing insecurity,” said Tedros.
“The reported detentions of health workers and thousands more people is deeply concerning. Health workers and civilians should be protected at all times and we call for their safe and unconditional release.”
The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency.
In total, the WHO has recorded 65 attacks on health care in Sudan this year, resulting in 1,620 deaths and 276 injuries. Of those attacks, 54 impacted personnel, 46 impacted facilities and 33 impacted patients.
Earlier Tuesday, UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “alarmed by the further intensification in hostilities” in the Kordofan region in southern Sudan.
“I urge all parties to the conflict and states with influence to ensure an immediate ceasefire and to prevent atrocities,” he said.
“Medical facilities and personnel have specific protection against attack under international humanitarian law,” Turk added.
