DUBAI: An attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels Friday set off explosions ahead of a Singapore-flagged vessel in the Gulf of Aden, authorities said.
The attack targeted the bulk carrier Propel Fortune, which continued on its way, according to the United States military’s Central Command.
“The missiles did not impact the vessel,” Central Command said. “There were no injuries or damages reported.”
The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack. A statement from Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree was delayed Friday night over “urgent military developments in the theater of military operations,” according to the rebel-controlled SABA news agency. He was scheduled to speak Saturday.
Friday’s explosions came after a Houthi missile struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, killing three of its crew members and forcing survivors to abandon the vessel.
It was the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Iranian-backed group over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis describe the attacks as trying to pressure Israel into stopping the war, but their targets increasingly have little or nothing to do with the conflict.
Other recent Houthi actions include an attack in February on a fertilizer-carrying cargo ship, the Rubymar, which sank on Saturday after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.
The US also conducted airstrikes Friday that it said destroyed two Houthi truck-mounted anti-ship missiles in Yemen. The rebels similarly did not directly acknowledge any destruction from those strikes.
The Houthis have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014. They’ve battled a Saudi-led coalition since 2015 in a long-stalemated war there. Since the US began its airstrike campaign in January, the Houthis have acknowledged the killing of at least 22 of its fighters. One civilian has also been reported killed.
Attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sees explosions ahead of Singapore-flagged ship in the Gulf of Aden
https://arab.news/9a6qj
Attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sees explosions ahead of Singapore-flagged ship in the Gulf of Aden
- UKMTO said that the authorities are investigating the incident
Take back and prosecute your jailed Daesh militants, Iraq tells Europe
RAQQA: Baghdad on Friday urged European states to repatriate and prosecute their citizens who fought for Daesh, and who are now being moved to Iraq from detention camps in Syria.
Europeans were among 150 Daesh prisoners transferred so far by the US military from Kurdish custody in Syria. They were among an estimated 7,000 militants due to be moved across the border to Iraq as the Kurdish-led force that has held them for years relinquishes swaths of territory to the advancing Syrian army.
In a telephone call on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said European countries should take back and prosecute their nationals.
An Iraqi security official said the 150 so far transferred to Iraq were “all leaders of the Daesh group, and some of the most notorious criminals.” They included “Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Iraqis,” he said.
Another Iraqi security source said the group comprised “85 Iraqis and 65 others of various nationalities, including Europeans, Sudanese, Somalis, and people from the Caucasus region.”
They all took part in Daesh operations in Iraq, he said, and were now being held at a prison in Baghdad.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that “non-Iraqi terrorists will be in Iraq temporarily.”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces jailed thousands of militant fighters and detained tens of thousands of their relatives in camps as it pushed out Daesh in 2019 after five years of fighting.
