New blast off Yemen after US strikes Houthis ---AFP kuwait times

DUBAI: A new explosion was reported off Yemen on Thursday after overnight US strikes targeted 10 attack drones and a ground control station belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The explosion, reported by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency, happened near a vessel west of the port city of Hodeida. No damage to the ship or injuries to the crew was reported. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which followed a flurry of missile strikes by the Houthis who have harassed Red Sea shipping for months, triggering reprisal attacks by the United States and Britain. Early Thursday in Yemen, US forces targeted a “Houthi UAV ground control station and 10 Houthi one-way UAVs” that “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the US Navy ships in the region”, a CENTCOM statement said, using an abbreviation for unmanned aerial vehicles or drones. CENTCOM earlier announced that the USS Carney had shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis towards the Gulf of Aden, and that three Iranian drones were downed less than an hour later. It did not specify if the drones shot down by the destroyer were designed for attack or surveillance. Maritime security firm Ambrey said a commercial vessel was reportedly targeted by a missile southwest of Aden after the Houthis claimed a missile attack on an American ship in the area that they say was heading towards the Zionist entity. Ambrey did not name the ship or mention its ownership, but Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree identified the ship as “KOI”. US forces also destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile on Wednesday that CENTCOM said posed an imminent threat to “US aircraft” — a deviation from past raids that focused on reducing the rebels’ ability to threaten international shipping. It did not identify the type of aircraft that had been threatened or the location of the strike, saying only that it took place in “Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen”. While the United States has recently launched strikes on the Houthis and other Iran-supported groups in the region, both Washington and Tehran have sought to avoid a direct confrontation, and the downing of three Iranian drones could heighten tensions. The Houthis began targeting Red Sea shipping in November, saying they were hitting Zionist-linked vessels as a way to support Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the Zionist-Hamas war. US and British forces have responded with strikes against the Houthis, who have since declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets as well. Some of the US strikes have focused on missiles that CENTCOM said posed an imminent threat to ships, indicating robust surveillance of Houthi-controlled territory likely to include military aircraft. The United States also set up a multinational naval task force to help protect Red Sea shipping from repeated Houthi attacks in the transit route, which carries up to 12 percent of global trade. In addition to military action, Washington has sought to put diplomatic and financial pressure on the Houthis, redesignating them as a “terrorist” organization in January after previously having dropped that label soon after President Joe Biden took office. On Wednesday, the Houthis said they fired missiles at destroyer the USS Gravely — a claim that came after CENTCOM said the warship downed an anti-ship cruise missile launched “from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the Red Sea”. Anger over the Zionist entity’s devastating campaign in Gaza has grown across the Middle East, stoking violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. – AFP

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more