LONDON/WASHINGTON: Britain and the United States on Thursday said they had sanctioned four senior Houthi officials for their roles in supporting or directing attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
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.
Those sanctioned were Houthi Defense Minister Mohamed Nasser Al-Atifi, Commander of Houthi Naval Forces Muhammad Fadl Abd Al-Nabi, coastal defense forces chief Muhammad Ali Al-Qadiri and Muhammed Ahmad Al-Talibi, who the two governments described as the Houthi forces director of procurement.
“The Houthis’ persistent terrorist attacks on merchant vessels and their civilian crews ... threaten to disrupt international supply chains and the freedom of navigation, which is critical to global security, stability, and prosperity,” the US Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in a statement.
“Today’s joint action with the United Kingdom demonstrates our collective action to leverage all authorities to stop these attacks.”
Britain said the four men were involved in acts which “threaten the peace, security and stability of Yemen.”
The US action freezes any US-based assets of those targeted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.
On Monday, US and British forces carried out a new round of strikes 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.
UK and US sanction senior Houthis over Red Sea shipping attacks
https://arab.news/bafwf
UK and US sanction senior Houthis over Red Sea shipping attacks
- 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
Soleimani warned Al-Assad about ‘spy’ Luna Al-Shibl: Al-Majalla
LONDON: The late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani confronted Syria’s National Security Bureau chief Ali Mamlouk in late 2019 after seeing Luna Al-Shibl leaving his office. Al-Majalla magazine claims its reporters reviewed a document containing the full Arabic transcript of their exchange.
Soleimani reportedly asked, “Who is this?” and Mamlouk replied, “She is Louna Al-Shibl, the president’s adviser.”
The Quds Force commander pressed further: “I know, I know… but who is she really? Where did she work?”
According to Al-Majalla, a sister publication of Arab News, he said her former salary was “ten thousand dollars,” compared with her current salary of “five hundred thousand Syrian pounds,” before asking: “Does it make sense for someone to leave ten thousand dollars for five hundred thousand pounds? She is a spy.”
Both Soleimani and Maher Al-Assad, commander of the Syrian army’s powerful Fourth Division, had warned the ousted president’s inner circle about Al-Shibl, Al-Majalla reported.
‘Suspicious’ car crash
On July 2, 2024, Al-Shibl was involved in what officials described as a traffic accident on the Damascus-Dimas highway. She was hospitalized and died four days later.
But Al-Majalla reported that photos of her armored BMW showed only minor damage, raising immediate questions among those close to the case.
Eyewitnesses told the magazine that the crash was intentional. One said, “a car approached and rammed her vehicle,” and before her bodyguard could exit, “a man attacked her and struck her on the back of the head,” causing paralysis that led to her death.
She was first taken to Al-Saboura clinic, then transferred to Al-Shami Hospital. Several senior regime-linked figures, including businessman Mohammed Hamsho and an aide to Maher Al-Assad, were present when her condition deteriorated. One witness told Al-Majalla that when her bodyguard tried to explain what had happened, “he was arrested immediately in front of the others.”
The presidency later issued a brief statement announcing her death. Her funeral was attended only by a handful of officials. Then president Al-Assad did not attend.
