Yemen

SANAA: US forces struck an anti-ship missile in Houthi-held Yemen that they said was ready to fire Saturday, hours after the Iran-backed rebels caused a fire on a British tanker in the Gulf of Aden with a similar munition.
US and British forces have launched joint strikes aimed at reducing the Houthis’ ability to target vessels transiting the key Red Sea trade route — attacks the rebels say are in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is at war with Hamas.
Washington has also carried out a series of unilateral air raids, but the Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks.
The US military’s Central Command, CENTCOM, said it had carried out another strike early Saturday on a Houthi “anti-ship missile aimed into the Red Sea and which was prepared to launch.
“Forces subsequently struck and destroyed the missile in self-defense,” it said on social media platform X.
The Houthis’ Al-Masirah television said the United States and Britain had launched two air strikes on the port of Ras Issa in Yemen’s Hodeida province, which hosts the country’s main oil export terminal.
There was no immediate confirmation from Washington or London, and the Houthis did not provide details on the attack or the extent of the damage.
The previous evening, the Houthis’ military spokesman Yahya Saree said missiles fired by the rebels had hit the Marlin Luanda, an oil tanker operated by a British firm on behalf of trading giant Trafigura Group.

SAANA: Yemen’s Houthis claimed Friday a missile strike on a British oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden that set the vessel on fire, the latest attack on international shipping by the Iran-backed militia.

It came the same day the US military said one of its warships shot down a missile fired at it by the group, which is acting in support of Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.

US and British forces have launched two rounds of joint strikes aimed at reducing the Houthis’ ability to target vessels transiting the key Red Sea maritime trade route.

Washington has also carried out a series of unilateral air raids, but the Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks.

The British oil tanker was hit by missiles fired by Yemeni naval forces, said the group’s military spokesman Yahya Saree. “The strike was direct, and resulted (in) the burning of the vessel,” he added.

The Houthis began targeting Red Sea shipping in November, saying they were hitting Israeli-linked vessels to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

They have since declared US and British interests to be legitimate targets as well.

WNAM Monitoring: Yemen’s internationally recognized Presidential Leadership Council asked the world on Sunday to follow the US lead in labeling the Iran-backed Houthis as terrorists and impose stiffer penalties on the militia for jeopardizing international marine trade and perpetrating crimes in Yemen.

At a meeting in Riyadh, the council praised Washington’s decision to designate the Houthis as international terrorists, encouraged the rest of the world to follow suit, and praised the international community’s joint response to the Houthi Red Sea raids.

The council said in a statement it “welcomed the decision to designate the Houthi militias as a global terrorist organization and looks forward to additional sanctions against the rogue militias.”

It reiterated a request to the international community to strengthen the military capabilities of Yemen’s coast guard and offer protection from the Houthis and other terrorist groups, according to the statement carried by the official news agency.

The council warned that Houthi attacks in the Red Sea would result in the militarization of the crucial maritime route, raising shipping and insurance prices, and impeding the flow of critical supplies to the nation.

Yemen’s Information Minister, Muammar Al-Eryani, said that since the beginning of the Houthi military takeover, the government has pushed for the militia to be labeled as terrorists, both internally and globally, because of its human rights violations, as well as actions that undermine regional and international security.

The minister reiterated his plea to the world to declare the Houthis terrorists.

“We urge international allies and nations throughout the globe to follow the US government’s lead and engage in a concerted response to combat the operations of the Houthi militia.

“We also urge them to put further pressure on it to quit its terrorist tactics and conform to peace obligations in line with local, regional, and international standards,” Al-Eryani said on X.

The country’s National Defense Council, chaired by Rashad Al-Alimi, designated the Houthis as a terrorist group in October 2022, shortly after the militia launched missile and drone attacks on oil terminals in the southern provinces of Hadramout and Shabwa, bringing the country’s oil exports to a halt.

SANAA: Yemeni Houthi rebels claimed early Friday they had carried out a missile attack on a US ship in the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis said in a statement posted on their social media that their “naval” forces had attacked the Chem Ranger “with several appropriate naval missiles, resulting in direct hits.”
It did not give a time or other details for the latest attack in international shipping lanes.
The specialist website Marine Traffic identified the Chem Ranger as a Marshall Islands-flagged chemical tanker sailing from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Kuwait.
British maritime risk management company Ambrey said a Marshallese chemical tanker sailing along the same route had reported a “suspicious” approach by drones.
One fell in the sea approximately 30 meters from the tanker, it added. “An Indian warship responded to the event.”
“There were no crew casualties or damage reported,” the monitor said.On Thursday, the US launched new strikes against Houthi anti-ship missiles aimed at the Red Sea, as growing tensions in the region’s sea lanes disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply bottlenecks that could reignite inflation.
The two Houthi anti-ship missiles targeted in the strikes were being prepared for firing into the Red Sea and deemed “an imminent threat” to shipping and US Navy vessels in the region, the US military said.
Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in and around the Red Sea since November have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers in an escalation of the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have threatened a “strong and effective response” after the US carried out another strike in the country, ratcheting up tensions as Washington vows to protect shipping from attacks by the group.

The latest strike, which the US said hit a radar site, came a day after dozens of American and British attacks on Houthi facilities in Yemen.

“This new strike will have a firm, strong and effective response,” Houthi spokesperson Nasruldeen Amer said, adding there had been no injuries nor “material damage.”

Mohammed Abdulsalam, another Houthi spokesperson, said the strikes, including the one that hit a military base in Sanaa, had had no significant impact on the group’s ability to prevent Israel-affiliated vessels from passing through the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

Grundberg said that the UN-brokered peace effort that resulted in Yemeni parties agreeing to support a road map for peace was at risk of being undermined due to the latest escalation in tension in the Red Sea.

Further actions might aggravate Yemen’s already difficult situation, undermine maritime trade route security, and lead to increased tension in the region, he warned.

His office said that Grundberg “notes with serious concern the increasingly precarious regional context and its adverse impact on peace efforts in Yemen and stability and security in the region.”

International mediators are concerned that the US attacks on Houthi-held regions will prompt the Yemeni militia to abandon UN-brokered peace talks and begin armed operations throughout the country.

The US Central Command said on Saturday that the USS Carney navy destroyer fired Tomahawk land attack missiles at a Houthi radar location in Yemen at 3:45 a.m. on Jan. 13, without naming the targeted site, adding that the latest and previous strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen were intended to impact on the militia’s military power and prevent it from threatening maritime navigation traffic.

The Houthis said that Saturday’s strikes hit Al-Dailami airbase north of Sanaa.

The Houthis said the attacks on Yemen would not “go unpunished,” branding the attacks as a “blatant aggression” designed to force the group to abandon its support for the Palestinian people.

The US and UK militaries launched dozens of strikes on more than 60 targets in Sanaa, Hodeidah, Taiz, Saada, Hajjah, and Dhamar on Friday, striking “command-and-control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities and air defense radar systems” in retaliation for the Houthi missile and drone attacks on commercial and navy ships in the Red Sea.

(WNAM Monitoring): Yemen has warned the United States against military activities in the Red Sea, pledging a severe blow in case that crimes against Palestinians continue or Yemen’s security is harmed.

DUBAI: Yemen’s warring parties have committed to a new ceasefire and agreed to engage in a UN-led peace process to end the war, the UN envoy for Yemen said Saturday.
The announcement by UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, marks the latest step to end the deadly nine-year war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
It follows recent meetings by Grundberg in Saudi Arabia and Oman with Rashad Al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Presidential Council and Mohammed Abdul Salam, the chief negotiator of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Grundberg said he “welcomes the parties’ commitment to a set of measures to implement a nation-wide ceasefire… and (to) engage in preparations for the resumption of an inclusive political process,” according to a statement by his office.
The envoy “will now engage with the parties to establish a road map under UN auspices that includes these commitments and supports their implementation,” the statement added.
A UN-brokered ceasefire that took effect in April 2022 brought a sharp reduction in hostilities. The truce expired in October last year, though fighting largely remains on hold.
Grundberg will now “engage with the parties to establish a roadmap under UN auspices” that includes these commitments.
It includes commitments to pay civil servants’ salaries, open routes into the rebel-blockaded city of Taiz and other parts of Yemen and resume oil exports, according to the statement.

WNAM Monitoring: Yemen’s Houthi movement said on Saturday they would target all ships heading to Israel, regardless of their nationality, and warned all international shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports.

The Iran-aligned group is escalating the risks of a regional conflict amid a brutal war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.

The Houthis have attacked and seized several Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea and its Bab al-Mandab strait, a sea lane through which much of the world’s oil is shipped, and fired ballistic missiles and armed drones at Israel.

Houthi officials say their actions are a show of support for the Palestinians.

A Houthi military spokesperson said all ships sailing to Israeli ports are banned from the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

“If Gaza does not receive the food and medicine it needs, all ships in the Red Sea bound for Israeli ports, regardless of their nationality, will become a target for our armed forces,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The threat has an immediate effect, the statement added.

The Houthis are one of several groups in the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance” which have been hitting Israeli and US targets since Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel.

In one of the latest incidents, three commercial vessels came under attack in international waters last week, prompting a US Navy destroyer to intervene.

The Houthis, which rule much of Yemen and its Red Sea coast, also seized last month a British-owned cargo ship that had links with an Israeli company.

The United States and Britain have condemned the attacks on shipping, blaming Iran for its role in supporting the Houthis. Tehran says its allies make their decisions independently.

Saudi Arabia has asked the United States to show restraint in responding to the attacks.

TOKYO ( WNAM Monitoring): G7 foreign ministers called Wednesday on Iran-backed Houthi rebels to cease threats to international shipping and to release a vessel they seized earlier this month.
“Emphasizing the importance of maritime security, we call on all parties not to threaten or interfere with lawful exercise of navigational rights and freedoms by all vessels,” a statement released by G7 chair Japan read.
“We especially call on the Houthis to immediately cease attacks on civilians and threats to international shipping lanes and commercial vessels and release the M/V Galaxy Leader and its crew, illegally seized from international waters on November 19,” it added.
The Houthis have launched a series of drone and missile strikes targeting Israel since Hamas militants poured over the border into Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 240.
On November 17, Houthis seized Israeli-linked cargo vessel the Galaxy Leader and its 25 international crew at the entrance to the Red Sea.

On Sunday, two ballistic missiles were launched from an area controlled by Houthi rebels in Yemen, landing around 10 nautical miles from US destroyer the USS Mason, according to the Pentagon.

The USS Mason and other allied ships were responding to the boarding of a tanker ship off the Yemeni port city of Aden by five armed people — believed to be Somalis — who fled in a small boat and were detained, the Pentagon said.