AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia claimed responsibility for six drone and missile attacks against Israel, as well as US and UK military and commercial ships, in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Tuesday that their naval and missile forces fired missiles at the Maersk Saratoga, APL Detroit, Huang Pu, and Pretty Lady ships while cruising in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden over the last 72 hours, claiming that the first and second ships were American and the third and fourth British.
Sarea also claimed to have launched drones at two US Navy warships in the Red Sea and ballistic missiles at targets in the Israeli city of Eilat, promising to continue their assaults on ships until Israel breaks its blockade on the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
Despite the Houthis’ assertions that the merchant vessel Huang Pu is British, the US Central Command said it is a Chinese-owned and operated oil tanker sailing under the Panamanian flag, and the Houthis launched five ballistic missiles at it when it was in the Red Sea.
During the last five months, the Houthis have launched hundreds of missiles and drones against international commercial and navy ships in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait, and Gulf of Aden, claiming that their operations are in support of the Palestinian people.
On Sunday, the Houthis claimed that they informed Russia and China that their ships would not be targeted while traveling the Red Sea, and that they would only target Israeli-linked and Israel-bound ships, as well as UK and US ships.
Elisabeth Kendall, a Middle East expert and mistress of Cambridge University’s Girton College, told Arab News that the Houthi assault on the Chinese ships might be the result of outdated or incorrect information, or that they believe the US and UK move commodities via a third party.
“It is also likely that the Houthis believe some UK or US companies are transferring their shipping assets to third parties as a cover strategy to avoid being targeted,” she said.
Kendall added that the Houthis assured Russia and China to send a message that they do not constitute a danger to global maritime navigation and are exclusively targeting Israel and its allies.
“The Houthis wish to demonstrate that their attacks are not a global problem but are targeted to those deemed to be Israel’s major allies,” she said.
Meanwhile, dozens of Yemeni human rights advocates, journalists, members of parliament, and others have signed a petition urging the Iran-backed Houthis to launch an inquiry into the death of a teacher within their Sanaa prison facility.
Yemenis said that Sabri Al-Hakimi, a prominent educationalist at the Ministry of Education, died on Monday in a notorious jail for Houthi Security and Intelligence authorities, six months after his kidnapping.
“We demand that the Sanaa authorities conduct a transparent inquiry into the circumstances of Sabri Al-Hakimi’s death at the Security and Intelligence jail in Sanaa, as well as to have his body examined by a coroner to assist in ascertaining the causes of death,” the petition said.
The Houthis have not formally confirmed Al-Hakimi’s death or explained why he was taken, and he has not been tried.
Al-Hakimi is one of scores of Yemenis who have perished in Houthi prison facilities, mostly in Sanaa.
Last month, Zaydoun Zaid Jahaf died in Sanaa’s Houthi Political Security jail.
In October, Save the Children halted operations in a Houthi-controlled territory after one of its employees died in Houthi custody.
Ten days later, the organization resumed operations after the Houthis refused its request for an inquiry into the worker’s death.
Houthis claim 6 attacks on Israel, US and UK ships
https://arab.news/zjsmq
Houthis claim 6 attacks on Israel, US and UK ships
- Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Tuesday that their naval and missile forces fired missiles at the Maersk Saratoga, APL Detroit, Huang Pu, and Pretty Lady ships
- Sarea also claimed to have launched drones at two US Navy warships in the Red Sea and ballistic missiles at targets in the Israeli city of Eilat
Iran says ‘no grounds’ for indirect talks with US
In June, Tehran said it had engaged in indirect talks with Washington via Muscat, despite the two countries having no diplomatic relations.
US news website Axios reported at the time that officials from Iran and the United States held indirect talks in Oman “on how to avoid escalating regional attacks.”
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited the Gulf sultanate as part of a regional tour in which he met allies and Middle East powers after Israel vowed to retaliate against Tehran’s recent missile attack.
“Currently, we don’t see any grounds for these talks, until we can get past the current crisis,” Araghchi told reporters in Muscat.
The talks, he said, had been halted “due to the specific conditions of the region.”
Iran fired 200 missiles at Israel on October 1 in what it said was retaliation for the killing of Tehran-aligned militant leaders in the region and a general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Israel has vowed to respond.
Oman has long mediated between Iran and the United States, which cut ties after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
In Muscat, Araghchi met Mohammed Abdel Salam, a senior official of the Tehran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
The Houthis, alongside Hezbollah, Hamas and others, are part of the so-called axis of resistance of Iran-backed, anti-Israel armed groups.
The United States is Israel’s close ally and by far its largest provider of military assistance.
Araghchi also held talks with his Omani counterpart Badr Albusaidi over the developments in Lebanon and Gaza, and called for an “immediate end” to the conflict, said Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei.
Oman’s foreign ministry said the two officials agreed on “harnessing diplomacy as an essential tool for resolving disputes and conflicts” in the region.
While in Oman, Araghchi spoke on the phone with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
Araghchi slammed what he called US obstruction of the United Nations Security Council in relation to the wars in Lebanon and Gaza as “a disaster” during the call.
China is a permanent member of the council.
Before arriving in Oman, Araghchi was in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi officials.
Last week, he visited Qatar and Saudi Arabia where talks mainly revolved around establishing a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza as well as ways to contain the conflict.
UN experts alarmed by treatment of migrants in Tunisia
- They said human rights violations were taking place during rescue operations at sea
- Reports have been received of arbitrary forcible transfers to Tunisia’s borders, with excessive use of force
GENEVA: Migrants, refugees and human trafficking victims face alarming treatment in Tunisia, United Nations experts warned Monday.
They said human rights violations were taking place during rescue operations at sea, as people try to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, and in transfers to border areas with neighboring Algeria and Libya.
“We have received shocking reports detailing dangerous maneuvers when intercepting migrants, refugees and asylum seekers at sea; physical violence, including beatings, threats of use of firearms; removal of engines and fuel; and capsizing of boats,” the experts said in a statement.
The experts said that between January and July, 189 people were reported to have lost their lives during attempted Mediterranean crossings and 265 during interception operations at sea; a further 95 are reported missing.
“For those who are ‘rescued’ by the coast guards, including victims of trafficking, their situation reportedly only worsens on disembarkation at ports,” the experts said.
They said they had received reports of arbitrary forcible transfers to Tunisia’s borders, with excessive use of force and no access to humanitarian assistance.
“Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, including children and pregnant women, are allegedly brought to the desert areas bordering with Algeria and Libya, and fired at by border guards if they attempt to return,” the experts said.
The signatories included the special rapporteurs on human trafficking, contemporary racism, migrants’ rights and human rights defenders.
UN special rapporteurs are independent experts mandated by the Human Rights Council, but do not speak for the United Nations itself.
Tunisia and Libya have become key departure points for migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan African countries, seeking better lives in Europe by risking perilous Mediterranean crossings, often in makeshift boats.
Each year, tens of thousands of people attempt to make the crossing from Tunisia, with Italy — whose island of Lampedusa is only 150 kilometers (90 miles) away — often their first port of call.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration has said more than 30,309 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in the past decade, including more than 3,000 last year.
The UN experts voiced concern at a reported increase of criminal gangs involved in human trafficking, and at reports of sexual abuse, violence and exploitation, including the rape of girls as young as 10.
Tunisia’s immigration management is partly financed by European funds under a July 2023 agreement.
“We are concerned that, despite these serious allegations, Tunisia continues to be considered a place of safety following search and rescue at sea,” the experts said.
Lebanese Red Cross says 18 killed in strike in north
- “Eighteen dead and four wounded in the strike on Aito,” the Red Cross said, referring to a village in the Christian-majority Zgharta district
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Red Cross said 18 people died in a strike on north Lebanon on Monday, with the health ministry and official media reporting an Israeli raid on the Christian-majority area far from Hezbollah strongholds.
“Eighteen dead and four wounded in the strike on Aito,” the Red Cross said, referring to a village in the Christian-majority Zgharta district.
The health ministry earlier said an Israeli strike there killed nine people, with the official National News Agency also saying Israel targeted a “residential apartment” in the village.
So far, Israeli strikes have mainly been concentrated in predominantly Shia areas, where Hezbollah built its power base in a state wracked by sectarianism.
An AFP photographer at the site of the strike said it had levelled a residential building at the entrance to the village.
Body parts were scattered in the rubble, with Red Cross volunteers searching for survivors in the wreckage while ambulances evacuated wounded people.
The Lebanese army imposed a security cordon in the area, where the strike had also sparked a fire, he said.
On Saturday, the health ministry reported two dead and four wounded in an Israeli strike on Deir Billa, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the town of Batroun on Lebanon’s north coast.
DNA tests were being carried out to determine the identity of the remains, the statement added.
After almost a year of cross-border fire over the Gaza war, Israel on September 23 launched an intense air campaign mainly targeting Hezbollah’s south and east Lebanon strongholds, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The escalation has killed more than 1,300 people, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Lebanon aid convoy driver injured after Israeli strike
- Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh told AFP that the convoy was carrying “humanitarian aid from the Lebanese government
Beirut: An Israeli strike hit an east Lebanon town as an aid convoy drove through it Tuesday, injuring one of its drivers, a governor and the state news agency said.
The governor of Baalbek, Bachir Khodr, on X reported “an Israeli strike very close to an aid convoy as it drove through the town of Ain” on its way to Ras Baalbek.
He posted a picture from the back window of the car he was in, showing a huge column of smoke billowing up into the sky dozens of meters (yards) behind it.
“The driver of the truck driving directly behind us was injured,” he added.
Israeli strikes hit Ain during “the passage of a convoy consisting of three trucks” heading toward the town of Ras Baalbek, said the National News Agency (NNA).
“One of the aid trucks heading to Ras Baalbek was damaged as a result of the blowback of the strike in Ain, which led to the injury of the truck driver.”
Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh told AFP that the convoy was carrying “humanitarian aid from the Lebanese government.”
It “was traveling to the area accompanied by the Lebanese Red Cross with agreement from the United Nations,” he said.
The convoy was made up of five trucks, and carried aid from several countries including the United Arab Emirates and Turkiye.
Two had previously unloaded goods in Baalbek, NNA said.
Almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel on September 23 increased its strikes against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in south and east Lebanon, as well as the capital’s southern suburbs.
The escalation has killed more than 1,300 people, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
‘Extremely valuable’ secret tomb uncovered in Jordan’s Petra
- 12 skeletons, hundreds of artifacts recovered as lead archaeologist hails ‘rare’ find
- Discovery may offer new clues about ancient Arab society
LONDON: Archaeologists have uncovered human remains and hundreds of artifacts in a hidden tomb in Petra, Jordan, The Times reported.
The discovery of the 2,000-year-old underground site could help researchers solve long-running questions over the origins of the ancient city and those who built it.
Located underneath Petra’s Treasury, the tomb contained 12 well-preserved skeletons and hundreds of bronze, iron and ceramic artifacts.
The joint US-Jordanian archaeological team that made the discovery worked underneath the famous edifice, which has been featured in films including “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”
Based on the central location of the tomb within the UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is believed to have been commissioned by inhabitants of prominent social standing.
Hundreds more items are expected to be recovered as excavation continues, according to lead archaeologist Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, executive director of the American Center of Research.
Petra’s Treasury was named as such because of an early theory that it held the treasure of a pharaoh, but most researchers today believe that it was a tomb built by Nabataean King Aretas IV, who ruled from about 9 B.C. to 40 A.D.
This has been supported by the latest discovery, as archaeologists believe the uncovered tomb predates the Treasury.
Creasman said his team dated the hidden tomb to the first century B.C. using luminescence dating, which tracks the last exposure of mineral grains to sunlight. The archaeologists first discovered the tomb using ground-penetrating radar.
The recovery of its contents is a rare event. Many other tombs have been discovered across Petra over the years but most were empty, having been used multiple times throughout the centuries.
“It is rare to find a tomb with human remains in Petra,” Creasman said. “So, when you do find one, that becomes extremely valuable.”
The first historical record of the Nabataean civilization was in 312 B.C. They had repelled an invasion launched by Antigonus, the former general and successor of Alexander the Great who inherited large parts of the Macedonian Empire.
“They just appear in the historical record and then it goes over a hundred years before we read about them in text again, by which time they have this fully fledged society and Petra is being built in the sense that we know it today,” Creasman said.
Little is known of early Nabataean society, though ancient recordings suggest that the civilization was remarkably egalitarian, as there is little difference between noble and common Nabataean tombs.
The discovery of the Petra tomb may offer new clues about the ancient Arab society, including diet and nutrition, Creasman said.
“This is going to help us learn more about a shared, regional past,” he added. “The Nabateans were a multicultural trading society who only worked because they united as a people. I hope they might be able to teach us something today.”
