CAIRO: Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis said they had launched attacks on three ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea — though shipping giant Maersk dismissed the militants’ report that the targets included one of its vessels.
The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have been attacking shipping in the region for months, in what they say is an act of solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in Gaza.
The movement used missiles and drones against two ships — Roza and Vantage Dream — in the Red Sea, military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised address on Wednesday. He did not say when the attacks took place.
Saree his group also used drones against the US vessel Maersk Seletar in the Arabian Sea, again without giving further details.
Maersk’s Media Relations Manager Kevin Doell said on Thursday no such incident had been reported by Maersk Seletar which was pressing on with its voyage.
Yemen’s Houthis say they attacked three ships in Red Sea, Arabian Sea
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Yemen’s Houthis say they attacked three ships in Red Sea, Arabian Sea
- The millitia used missiles and drones against two ships — Roza and Vantage Dream — in the Red Sea
Syrian leader to meet Putin, Russia seeks deal on military bases
- Russia’s continued sheltering of Assad and his wife since their ouster remains a thorny issue
MOSCOW: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, as the Kremlin seeks to secure the future of its military bases in the country.
Putin and Sharaa struck a conciliatory tone at their previous meeting in October, their first since Sharaa’s rebel forces toppled Moscow-ally Bashar Assad in 2024.
But Russia’s continued sheltering of Assad and his wife since their ouster remains a thorny issue. Sharaa has repeatedly pushed Russia for their extradition.
Sharaa, meanwhile, has embraced US President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday praised the Syrian leader as “highly respected” and said things were “working out very well.”
Putin, whose influence in the Middle East has waned since Assad’s ouster, is seeking to maintain Russia’s military footprint in the region.
Russia withdrew its forces from the Qamishli airport in Kurdish-held northeast Syria earlier this week, leaving it with only the Hmeimim air base and Tartus naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast — its only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union.
“A discussion is planned on the status of bilateral relations and prospects for developing them in various fields, as well as the current situation in the Middle East,” the Kremlin said of the upcoming meeting in a statement on Tuesday.
Russia was a key ally of Assad during the bloody 14-year Syrian civil war, launching air strikes on rebel-held areas of Syria controlled by Sharaa’s Islamist forces.
The toppling of Assad dealt a major blow to Russia’s influence in the region and laid bare the limits of Moscow’s military reach amid the Ukraine war.
The United States, which cheered Assad’s demise, has fostered ever-warmer ties with Sharaa — even as Damascus launched a recent offensive against Kurdish forces long backed by the West.
Despite Trump’s public praise, both the United States and Europe have expressed concern that the offensive in Syria’s northeast could precipitate the return of Islamic State forces held in Kurdish-held jails.
