WASHINGTON: The US military said Thursday that it had destroyed four Houthi nautical drones and two aerial ones over the Red Sea off Yemen.
The Iran-backed Houthis have launched scores of drones and missiles at commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November, describing the attacks as being in support of Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The United States and its allies, particularly Britain, have responded with an increased naval presence to defend shipping in the vital waterway and with retaliatory strikes on Houthi targets.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement Thursday night that its forces had “destroyed four Iranian-backed Houthi uncrewed surface vessels (USV) in the Red Sea and two uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) over the Red Sea” in the past 24 hours.
CENTCOM said the day before that it had destroyed “one ground control station and one command and control node” in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.
This week, a merchant ship whose hull was breached in an earlier Houthi attack, the M/V Tutor, was believed to have sunk in the Red Sea after its crew was evacuated, according to a maritime security agency run by the British navy.
A Filipino sailor aboard the vessel was killed in the attack.
A Sri Lankan crew member on another ship, the M/V Verbena, was seriously injured in a separate attack, and the vessel had to be abandoned.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller condemned those attacks in a statement and said Washington would “continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping.”
He also called on the Houthis “to release all detainees, including the United Nations, diplomatic, and non-governmental organization staff they detained earlier this month.”
The Houthis earlier this month arrested a number of people they claimed were part of a US-Israeli spy network, adding that those held worked under “the cover of international organizations and UN agencies.”
The heads of six United Nations agencies and three international NGOs subsequently issued a joint call for the release of their staff, with UN rights chief Volker Turk dismissing the spying accusations as “outrageous.”
The Houthis are engaged in a long-running civil war that has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. More than half of the population is dependent on aid in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country.
US destroys six Houthi drones in Red Sea
https://arab.news/m737t
US destroys six Houthi drones in Red Sea
- The Houthis are engaged in a long-running civil war that has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises
Kurdish rebels say ready to resist Iran
- Tehran has repeatedly accused the ‘terrorists’ of serving Israeli interests
PENJWEN: From their hideouts in the Iraqi mountains near Iran, leftist Kurdish rebels say they are ready to fight Iran, but hope for an uprising before they intervene, with or without US support.
After saying that he would be “all for” a Kurdish offensive on Iran, US President Donald Trump appeared to backtrack Saturday, saying he did not want such an attack.
Senior commander Roken Nerada of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PJAK, said: “If there is an attack on the Kurdish people ... then with every means ... we are ready to resist as we always have.”
“I think we can achieve our rights without the help of the US or any other country,” said Nerada, 39, who joined the rebels 17 years ago.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Iran has designated Kurdish rebels as terrorists, and many have previously fought its security forces in areas along the border.
• Just before the war, PJAK joined a coalition of Kurdish rebel parties seeking to overthrow the Iranian government and secure self-determination.
Like other Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, PJAK has bases in the mountains of Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdistan region, but it also maintains hideouts in majority-Kurdish areas inside Iran.
Iran has designated Kurdish rebels as terrorist organizations, and many have previously fought its security forces in Kurdish-majority areas along the border.
But in recent years, under political pressure mostly from their Iraqi hosts, they have largely refrained from armed activity — raising questions about their current capacity to lead an armed offensive against Iran.
Since the Middle East war began late last month with a wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran has repeatedly struck Kurdish militants’ positions in Iraq, accusing them of serving Western or Israeli interests.
Just before the war, and after anti-government protests in Iran, PJAK joined a coalition of Kurdish rebel parties seeking to overthrow the Iranian government and secure self-determination.
“We are ready to fight, especially after what they did 50 days ago,” PJAK fighter Shwan said, referring to the crackdown on the protests in Iran that left thousands dead.
Amid reports that rebels might collaborate with the US, Tehran threatened to target “all facilities” in Iraq’s Kurdistan if Kurdish militants cross the border.
But on Saturday, Trump said “we’re not looking to the Kurds going in.”
“We don’t want to make the war any more complex than it already is,” he added.
Amir Karimi, another commander in PJAK, said last week that the “Americans are already in the area, and we have had a dialogue.”
It was “a political exchange ... to get to know each other,” Karimi said, adding that “a ground attack is not on the table at this stage.”
“From a strategic and tactical point of view, we believe it wouldn’t be a good idea,” he added, warning that Iranian forces have reinforced the borders.
“The Kurds will need guarantees to secure a democratic Iran,” he said.
