Aerial footage shows moment RAF Typhoon strikes Yemen military target
Iran-backed Houthi rebels have struck a US-owned cargo vessel with an anti-ship ballistic missile off the coast of Yemen.
The attack involved three missiles, one of which struck the Gibraltar Eagle and caused a fire. There were no reports of injuries, US Central Command said.
The ship’s operator Eagle Bulk said that “as a result of the impact, the vessel suffered limited damage to a cargo hold but is stable and is heading out of the area”.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed the attack in a recorded television address, vowing to target all American and British ships.
Authorities have issued a warning to other boats in the Red Sea region.
It came after US fighter aircraft intercepted and destroyed an anti-ship cruise missile launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen towards the USS Laboon destroyer in the Red Sea.
The incident occurred off the coast of Hodeidah, a port city in the west of Yemen whose international airport was targeted in joint US-UK airstrikes last week.
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ICYMI: John Rentoul: Will war in the Middle East cast a shadow over a Starmer government?
The shadow cabinet is more deeply divided than it appears. Labour is still subject to less media scrutiny than the Conservatives, despite the widespread assumption that Keir Starmer will become prime minister this year.
Most Labour MPs are also more disciplined than most Tory MPs because they can feel election victory within their grasp, whereas the Tories are either fed up or have given up, and so are happier to be rude about each other in private and in public.
As ever in politics, Labour’s divisions are a mixture of the personal and the ideological, and foreign policy is one of the hidden fractures threatening the foundations of an incoming government.
Barney Davis16 January 2024 03:27
US-led strike on houthis ‘one more terrible consequence’ of Gaza war, UN aid chief says
United Nations’ aid chief Martin Griffiths said that US-led strikes in Yemen are a “serious consequence” of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Mr Griffths said he is not blaming any side but it is disappointing to see the prospect of peace in Yemen “snatched away” from people, according to CNN.
“But it’s one more terrible consequence. And it is a really serious consequence of the war in Gaza,” he said.
Shweta Sharma16 January 2024 03:25
Iran says Revolutionary Guards attack Israel’s ‘spy HQ’ in Iraq
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards fired a number of ballistic missiles at the “spy headquarters” of Israel in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, according to Iranian state media.
“In response to the recent atrocities of the Zionist regime, causing the killing of commanders of the Guards and the Axis of Resistance … one of the main Mossad espionage headquarters in Iraq’s Kurdistan region was destroyed with ballistic missiles,” the guards said in a statement.
The elite force vowed to avenge the “last drops of martyrs’ blood”, referring to the killing of three members of the Guards in Syria last month, including a senior Guards commander, who had served as military advisers there.
The forces also “fired a number of ballistic missiles in Syria and destroyed the perpetrators of terrorist operations” in Iran, including the Islamic State.
The US State Department condemned the attacks near Erbil, calling them “reckless”.
But officials said no US facilities were targeted and there were no US casualties.
Shweta Sharma16 January 2024 03:01
Why are Britain and US attacking Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels?
The attacks came after the Houthis launched their largest attack on Red Sea shipping, one of 27 such assaults since 19 November.
Officials said that 21 missiles and drones were fired at warships and commercial vessels near the Bab al-Mandab Strait earlier this week, the southern bottleneck of the Red Sea, with US and UK warships blowing them out of the sky.
Here is what we know so far:
Barney Davis16 January 2024 02:27
Houthi site damage before and after US-led airstrikes captured by satellite
New satellite images show the before and after of the Houthi sites hit by US-led airstrikes, which come as the group continually disrupt cargo in the Red Sea.
The Houthis claim to be targeting Red Sea vessels which are either owned by or heading to Israel, in support for Hamas in Gaza.
The group have already promised both the UK and US will face ‘retaliation’ for this week’s strikes, which they say has killed five and injured at least six.
Houthi site damage before and after US-led airstrikes captured by satellite
New satellite images show the before and after of the Houthi sites hit by US-led airstrikes, which come as the group continually disrupt cargo in the Red Sea. The Houthis claim to be targeting Red Sea vessels which are either owned by or heading to Israel, in support for Hamas in Gaza. The group have already promised both the UK and US will face ‘retaliation’ for this week’s strikes, which they say has killed five and injured at least six. Joe Biden has already said the US would “not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”
Barney Davis16 January 2024 01:43
PM accused of using ‘Islamophobic trope’ on Labour MP
Rishi Sunak has been accused of using an “Islamophobic trope” after he asked Labour’s Zarah Sultana to “call on Hamas and the Houthis to de-escalate the situation”.
Ms Zultana posted on X: “This is an Islamophobic trope – as if by being Muslim, I am responsible for Hamas and the Houthis – and then Tory MP Andrew Percy says: ‘Too many people give a free pass to the terrorists who perpetrated the worst murder of Jews *and we’ve just seen an example of that’
“Implying I had just “given a free pass to the terrorists”, which is categorically untrue – I’ve repeatedly condemned the October 7 attack – and again is an Islamophobic trope: without any grounds, suggesting I am supportive of Hamas.
“I then made a Point of Order, highlighting what he had said. Percy replied saying he hadn’t said that – you can see for yourself in the video – and that he “wouldn’t engage in this silliness”. So that’s x2 Islamophobic tropes + 1 gaslighting?
“Just another day as a Muslim MP.”
Barney Davis16 January 2024 00:27
A timeline of the Houthi attacks that led to US and UK airstrikes
US and British forces launched airstrikes against dozens of targets across Yemen on Thursday in retaliation for months of attacks by the country’s Houthi movement on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea.
Those attacks, launched by the Iran-backed group in response to Israel’s war in Gaza, have wrought havoc on international shipping and drawn the US and its allies into a regional conflict.
The Pentagon said 60 targets were hit using more than 150 precision-guided munitions.
Barney Davis16 January 2024 00:01
US ‘warned about Houthi danger’ – Yemen official claims
The US was warned about the dangers Houthi rebels posed to the Middle East before Israel’s war with Hamas but “they didn’t do anything”.
Vice president of Yemen’s UN-recognised government Aidarus al-Zubaidi said he met with American and British officials in September and told them that the Iran-backed militant group was rearming during a pause in fighting in its war with a coalition led by Saudi Arabia.
“They wrote everything down,” he said. “They didn’t do anything.
Barney Davis15 January 2024 23:27
Iran strike not on US Consulate in Erbil – US official
US officials told Reuters that no American facilities have been impacted by missile strikes in Erbil, two U.S. officials said as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards took credit for a strike near Iraq’s northern city of Erbil.
There were no US injuries in the strike and officials declined further comment.
Explosions were heard in an area some 40km northeast of Erbil in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, local sources said, in an area near the U.S. consulate as well as civilian residences.
Barney Davis15 January 2024 22:35
Iran Revolutionary Guard claim to have destroyed ‘espionage headquarters of Israel’s Mossad’
They have now claimed it destroyed with ballistic missiles the “espionage headquarters of Israel’s Mossad in Iraq’s Kurdistan”, Fars news agency reports.
Iranian sources are also reporting the attack in the City of Erbil.
The revolutionary guards also said they had launched missile attacks against the “perpetrators of terrorist operations in the Islamic Republic – particularly the Islamic State” in Syria, state media reports.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted the Islamic State in Syria in response to a deadly attack carried out by ISIS near the grave of former IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani, Iranian state media reports.
The strikes in Aleppo, Syria take place around the same time as reported IRGC strikes in Iraqi Kurdistan. The targets of those strikes have not yet been confirmed.
Barney Davis15 January 2024 22:26