✕CloseAerial footage shows moment RAF Typhoon strikes Yemen military target
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The US military carried out more strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Wednesday, the US Central Command said.
The military said that it “conducted strikes on 14 Iran-backed Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen”.
It added: “These missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region and could have been fired at any time prompting US forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves.”
The US has officially designated Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a terrorist group.
A US official said a new designation to classify Yemen’s Houthi rebels as specially designated global terrorists is aimed at cutting off the group’s funding and weapons.
The official said that Houthi attacks on US military forces and international maritime vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are the “textbook definition of terrorism”.
The designation will be reconsidered if the Houthis cease their Red Sea attacks.
The group were first listed as a terrorist group under Donald Trump and delisted in 2021 by Anthony Blinken.
A spokesperson for the Houthis said: “US designation will not affect our position, attacks on ships heading to Israel will continue.”
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Indian navy rescues commercial crew after vessel hit by Houthi drone
India’s navy rescued nearly two dozen crewers aboard a shipping vessel in the Gulf of Aden after it was struck by a Houthi drone, a spokesperson for the naval force has revealed.
The Marshall Islands-flagged MV Genco Picardy was hit late on Wednesday just hours after the US redesignated the Houthi rebels as a terrorist organisation.
The drone smashed into the side of the bulk carrier, photos posted by the Indian navy have shown, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished.
Tom Watling18 January 2024 09:011705566650
US, British aircraft target several areas in Yemen, Saba news agency
The Houthi-controlled Saba news agency have claimed that US and British aircraft targeted a number of areas in Yemen in overnight strikes.
The governorates that were targeted were Hodeidah, Taiz, Dhamar, al Bayda and Saada, the agency said.
The UK has not declared any involvement in the latest round of strikes on Houthi positions; the claims from Saba likely reflect a prevailing anti-US and UK sentiment among within the militant group.
Tom Watling18 January 2024 08:301705564839
US military conducts fresh strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen
The US military carried out more strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Wednesday, the US Central Command said.
The military said that it “conducted strikes on 14 Iran-backed Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen”.
It added: “These missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region and could have been fired at any time prompting US forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves.”
It said the strikes and “other actions we have taken” would “degrade the Houthi’s capabilities to continue their reckless attacks on international and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden”.
Maroosha Muzaffar18 January 2024 08:001705561239
Mapped: How the US and UK attacks on Houthi rebels took place and what weapons were used?
After two months of continual Iran-backed Houthi attacks on commercial vessels, the US and the UK launched more than 100 strikes against the militant group’s positions across western Yemen.
Huge explosions were seen in Yemeni cities including Sana’a and Hodeidah in the early hours of 12 January, with the US military saying 60 strikes were launched against 16 sites linked to the Houthis’ military operations. On Wednesday, the US military carried out more strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, the US Central Command said.
The military said that it “conducted strikes on 14 Iran-backed Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen”.
Below, The Independent looks at how the attacks unfolded and what weapons were used in the strikes.
How did the US and UK attacks on Houthi rebels happen and what weapons were used?
US and UK forces fired at least 100 guided missiles at Iran-backed Houthi positions across western Yemen
Maroosha Muzaffar18 January 2024 07:001705559280
Italy responds to questions about deployment of EU naval mission to Red Sea against Houthis
Italy wants fellow European Union members to agree next week to create an EU maritime security mission so that it can become operational as soon as possible, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Wednesday.
On January 1, 2024, Italy assumed the Presidency of the G7 and Tajani answered questions about the possible deployment of an EU naval mission to protect ships from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militia in the Red Sea.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani listens to questions during a press conference on G7 at the Foreign Ministry in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024.
(AP)
Maira Butt18 January 2024 06:281705557639
Will the clash with the Houthi rebels lead to global conflict?
Would the US and the UK be prepared to put boots on the ground in Yemen (as Boris Johnson proposed)? Will a prolonged air campaign be enough to paralyse the Iran-backed Houthis? There are many difficult questions left to answer over the Middle East’s latest hotspot, warns Kim Sengupta:
Will the clash with the Houthi rebels lead to global conflict?
Would the US and the UK be prepared to put boots on the ground in Yemen (as Boris Johnson proposed)? Will a prolonged air campaign be enough to paralyse the Iran-backed Houthis? There are many difficult questions left to answer over the Middle East’s latest hotspot, warns Kim Sengupta
Maroosha Muzaffar18 January 2024 06:001705555800
US pledges new sanctions over Houthi attacks will minimize harm to Yemen's hungry millions
The United States on Wednesday put Yemen‘s Houthis rebels back on its list of specially designated global terrorists, piling financial sanctions on top of American military strikes in the Biden administration’s latest attempt to stop the militants’ attacks on global shipping.
Officials said they would design the financial penalties to minimize harm to Yemen’s 32 million people, who are among the world’s poorest and hungriest after years of war between the Iran-backed Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition.
But aid officials expressed concern. The decision would only add “another level of uncertainty and threat for Yemenis still caught in one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises,” Oxfam America associate director Scott Paul said.
US pledges new sanctions over Houthi attacks will minimize harm to Yemen's hungry millions
The United States has put Yemen’s Houthis rebels back on its list of specially designated global terrorists
Maira Butt18 January 2024 05:301705554039
US military launches another barrage of missiles against Houthi sites in Yemen
The US military fired another wave of ship- and submarine-launch missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites Wednesday, US officials said, marking the fourth time in days it has directly targeted the group in Yemen as violence that ignited in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war continues to spill over in the Middle East.
US military launches another barrage of missiles against Houthi sites in Yemen
The U.S. military has launched another wave of missiles against Houthi-controlled sites in Yemen, marking the fourth time in days it has directly targeted the group
Maroosha Muzaffar18 January 2024 05:001705552380
Who are Yemen’s Houthis and why are they attacking ships in the Red Sea?
Tensions in the Middle East have risen after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels began striking at ships passing through the Red Sea in December.
The Islamist group claims it began striking a narrow strip of sea between Yemen and east Africa, which is a key international trade route, in a bid to end Israel’s air and ground offensive against Hamas.
In retaliation, Britain and the US launched air strikes across Yemen against Houthi forces. President Joe Biden called the strikes a “direct response” to an onslaught of attacks on Red Sea ships which “jeopardised trade, and threatened freedom of navigation”.
A Yemeni man watches a broadcast speech of Yemen's Houthi Military spokesperson brigader Yahya Sarea on TV relating to the attack on the Zografia ship in the Red Sea
(Getty Images)
Maira Butt18 January 2024 04:331705550439
US to re-list Houthis as terrorist group amid Red Sea attacks
Nearly three years after removing them from US government rolls of international terrorist groups, the Biden administration is re-adding the Yemen-based Houthis to a list of specially designated global terrorists following a series of attacks by the group on US forces and international shipping in the Red Sea.
A senior Biden administration official told reporters late Tuesday that the Houthi militia will not be re-added to the ranks of groups designated by the State Department as Foreign Terrorist Organisations, but will instead receive the lesser designation, which automatically imposes a range of US sanctions on the group.
By contrast, a designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation makes it a crime for anyone to provide “material support” to the group, a category broad enough to potentially include humanitarian aid meant for the people of Yemen.
US to re-list Houthis as terrorist group amid Red Sea attacks
The group was removed from US rolls of terrorist organisations in 2021
Maroosha Muzaffar18 January 2024 04:00NewerOlder✕
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