AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia said on Saturday that the US and UK militaries carried out two airstrikes on the Red Sea Ras Isa port in Yemen’s western province of Hodeidah.
This comes as Trafigura, an international trading corporation, said that it had extinguished a fire on one of its ships in the Red Sea caused by a Houthi missile hit.
Houthi-run Al-Masira TV reported that the US and UK struck Ras Isa port on Saturday morning, which has an oil export facility and is close to the decaying floating oil ship Safer that has captured the world’s attention over the past several years.
Without naming the target site, the US Central Command said that its forces conducted an airstrike at about 3:45 a.m. (Sanaa time) on Saturday against an anti-ship missile that the Houthis were about to fire.
Yemen’s oil exports from the central province of Marib pass through Ras Isa in Hodeidah, while oil from the southern provinces of Hadramout and Shabwa pass through Arabian Sea oil terminals.
The 48-year-old FSO Safer tanker and its replacement are both berthed at the new Ras Isa oil facility.
The airstrikes in Hodeidah happened after the Houthis launched a ballistic missile at a Marshall Islands-flagged and UK-linked tanker controlled by Trafigura, causing a fire.
Trafigura stated on Saturday that the tanker’s crew was able to extinguish the fire and that all of the crew members were safe, and thanked the Indian, US and French navy warships for their support.
“We are pleased to confirm that all crew on board the Marlin Luanda are safe and the fire in the cargo tank has been fully extinguished. The vessel is now sailing toward a safe harbor,” the company said in a statement.
In a statement by their military spokesperson Yahya Sarea on Friday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for launching “a number of naval missiles” at the British oil ship, claiming that the action was both in support of the Palestinian people and in retribution for UK and US bombings on regions under their control in Yemen.
The Houthis also launched on Friday an anti-ship ballistic missile from regions under their control toward the Arleigh-Burke class destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) in the Gulf of Aden on Friday, but it was intercepted by the US Navy, according to US Central Command.
In Houthi-controlled Ibb, residents of the Al-Sabrah district reported that the Houthis fired a missile from the Al-Hamza military base in the district on Friday evening but the missile failed to reach its target and exploded shortly after in an area not far from the military base, the latest in a string of botched missile launches by the Houthis.
Experts believe that the Houthis will continue to attack US and UK ships, particularly oil tankers, to remain in the spotlight and build popular support, playing on public outrage over Israel’s war in Gaza, despite the danger of causing a catastrophic environmental disaster off Yemen’s coast.
“They don’t care about the implications for Yemen or the potential of an environmental disaster. The Houthis are trying to project themselves as a power that can defeat the US-led coalition. They are masters of war of attrition and propaganda,” Yemen conflict expert Nadwa Al-Dawsari told Arab News.
He added that the Houthis were infamous for concealing weaponry within civilian infrastructures such as ports to force their enemies to bomb them and then exploit the footage for propaganda.
“Houthis have a history of putting their missile launchers and weapons in civilian facilities. If they are bombed, that is good propaganda material showing that the US is targeting vital civilian infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, Yemen’s internationally recognized Presidential Leadership Council repeated demands on Saturday for foreign relief groups working in Yemen to transfer their headquarters from Houthi-controlled Sanaa to the southern city of Aden, Yemen’s temporary capital.
During a meeting with Sonali Korde, USAID assistant to the administrator for the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance in Riyadh, PLC chairman Rashad Al-Amili said that his government would facilitate international relief organizations that wish to operate in Aden, attacking the Houthis for forcing US and UK citizens working with UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations to leave Yemen within a month.
Houthis accuse US, UK of targeting Ras Isa oil terminal in Hodeidah
https://arab.news/4ap3n
Houthis accuse US, UK of targeting Ras Isa oil terminal in Hodeidah
- Houthi-run Al-Masira TV reported that the US and UK struck Ras Isa port on Saturday
- The Houthis claimed responsibility for launching “a number of naval missiles” at the British oil ship
Amnesty says Algeria unlawfully returned Tunisia asylum seeker
- Amnesty International said Makhlouf was handed over to Tunisian police on January 18 without prior notice to him or his lawyers, in a move the group called “unlawful refoulement”
TUNIS: Global rights group Amnesty accused Algerian authorities on Monday of breaching international law by forcibly returning a political dissident to Tunisia, even though he was a registered asylum seeker.
Seifeddine Makhlouf, a former parliamentarian and critic of Tunisian President Kais Saied, was reportedly sentenced to prison for “plotting against state security” before his return to the North African country.
Makhlouf, who is the leader of the Al Karama party, sought asylum in Algeria in July 2024 after facing detention in Tunisia, and registered as an asylum seeker with the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Amnesty International said Makhlouf was handed over to Tunisian police on January 18 without prior notice to him or his lawyers, in a move the group called “unlawful refoulement.”
“Makhlouf’s forced return is a violation of the principle of non-refoulement,” Amnesty’s MENA deputy chief Sara Hashash said in a statement published by the group.
“By handing him over to Tunisian authorities without allowing him any opportunity to contest the decision or assessing the risks he faces in Tunisia... Algeria has breached its obligations under international human rights law, including the Refugee Convention,” she added.
Saied froze parliament in July 2021 and seized far-reaching executive powers in what critics have called a “coup.”
Since then, local and international NGOs have denounced a regression of rights and freedoms in Tunisia.
Amnesty said Makhlouf was later imprisoned in Algeria for irregular entry and placed in administrative detention, during which he was denied access to the UN refugee agency.
The rights group said Makhlouf was arrested upon his arrival in Tunisia to serve sentences handed down in his absence.
Reports said a Tunisian court sentenced Makhlouf on January 13 to five years in prison for “plotting against state security.”
The Amnesty statement called for “verdicts rendered in absentia to be quashed and for a new and fair trial to be held before an independent and impartial court.”
Hashash warned that Makhlouf’s case reflects wider regional repression, calling his extradition “particularly alarming given the escalating crackdown on dissent in Tunisia, where the judiciary has been increasingly weaponized to silence political opposition.”
She said that Algeria’s actions “set a dangerous precedent,” adding that “bilateral cooperation now takes precedence over the most fundamental principles of international human rights and refugee law.”
