Mass displacement in Lebanon war revives spectre of sectarian strife

Mass displacement in Lebanon war revives spectre of sectarian strife
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Displaced people sit in a school which was turned into a temporary shelter for them amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, Lebanon, Oct. 9, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 15 October 2024
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Mass displacement in Lebanon war revives spectre of sectarian strife

Mass displacement in Lebanon war revives spectre of sectarian strife
  • Some residents were uneasy, worried that those seeking refuge could include people linked to Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim militia and political party at war with Israel
  • Marjayoun had been spared the brunt of Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah during the past year. But residents soon felt that war had arrived

BEIRUT: Marjayoun, a majority Christian town in southern Lebanon, opened its schools and a church last month to house scores of people fleeing Israel’s bombardment of Muslim villages, extending a hand across the country’s sectarian divide.

Some residents were uneasy, worried that those seeking refuge could include people linked to Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim militia and political party at war with Israel, seven of them told Reuters. But they wanted to uphold local customs of good neighborliness and they knew that those fleeing the widening Israeli offensive had nowhere to go.

Marjayoun had been spared the brunt of Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah during the past year. But residents soon felt that war had arrived.

On Oct. 6, two locals — a teacher and a police officer — were killed on Marjayoun’s outskirts by Israeli drone strikes targeting a Shiite man on a motorbike, according to two security sources and local residents. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment. Later that day, a displaced man who sought to shelter in Marjayoun’s bishopric fired a gun in the air and threatened staff after he was asked to move to a different location, according to three residents and Philip Okla, the priest of Marjayoun’s Orthodox Church.

Marjayoun’s welcoming spirit swiftly evaporated.

“You can’t invite fire to your home,” Okla told Reuters, speaking via phone from the town, expressing the fears of some residents that the displaced people would attract violence.

Following calls from locals for them to leave, dozens of displaced people departed the village, along with many of the town’s terrified inhabitants, according to Okla and six residents, who asked not to be identified.

Lebanon’s population is a mosaic of more than a dozen religious sects, with political representation divided along sectarian lines. Religious divisions fueled the ferocity of a brutal 1975-1990 civil war, which left some 150,000 people dead and drew in neighboring states.

Reuters spoke to more than a dozen lawmakers, politicians, residents and analysts who said that Israel’s military offensive across Shiite-majority areas of Lebanon, which has displaced more than a million people into Sunni and Christian areas, has brought sectarian tensions to the fore, posing a threat to Lebanon’s stability. The antipathy is being fueled by repeated Israeli attacks on buildings housing displaced families, giving rise to concerns that hosting them can make you a target, the sources said.

“Now, barriers are going up and fears are rising because no-one knows where we are going,” said Okla, who expressed regret for the increasing hostility.

A FRAGILE FABRIC

Lebanese militias linked to religious groups fought a 15-year civil war. The conflict ended with the disarmament of all save Hezbollah, which kept its weapons to resist Israel’s ongoing occupation of the south.

Israel withdrew in 2000 but Hezbollah retained its arms. It fought a border war against Israel in 2006 and turned its weapons on political opponents inside Lebanon in 2008 in street battles that cemented its ascendency.

A UN-backed court convicted Hezbollah members for the 2005 assassination of Sunni Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and opponents blame it for a string of other assassinations of mostly Christian and Sunni politicians. It has always denied responsibility for any of them.

With support from Iran, Hezbollah grew into a regional force, fighting in Syria to help quash an uprising against President Bashar Assad, while maintaining effective veto power over decision-making inside Lebanon, including over the presidency, which is reserved for a Maronite Christian by convention.

The position has been vacant since 2022.

With Hezbollah’s Shiite support base reeling from Israel’s blows, Lebanon’s leaders — including caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni Muslim businessman — have stressed the importance of maintaining “civil peace.”

Even Hezbollah’s rivals, including the Christian Lebanese Forces party, have largely complied by moderating their political rhetoric and urging supporters not to stoke tensions.

But on the ground, those tensions are real, including around schools that have welcomed displaced people in Beirut. Members of Hezbollah-allied parties have seized control of who comes and goes and what enters some of those institutions, according to several residents.

Main thoroughfares clogged only during rush hour are now lined day and night with cars belonging to people who fled Israeli bombing, straining the city’s already-crumbling infrastructure.

In the Christian Beirut suburb of Boutchay, aggravated residents on Friday stopped a truck from unloading a container into a depot rented to someone from outside the area, suspecting it might contain Hezbollah weapons, mayor Michel Khoury said.

“There is tension. Everyone is scared today,” Khoury said, adding that the vehicle was turned away without being searched

Druze lawmaker Wael Abu Faour said politicians from all sides needed to work to preserve national unity.

“Beirut could explode because of the displaced, because of the friction, because of the disputes over properties — because the South, the Bekaa and the suburbs are all in Beirut,” he said.

Lebanon was already reeling from the August 2020 Beirut port blast and a half-decade economic crisis — which has impoverished hundreds of thousands — when Hezbollah opened a second front against Israel the day after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

Asked about the risks of sectarian tensions, United Nations refugee chief Filippo Grandi told Reuters that Lebanon is a “fragile country.”

“Any shock, and this is a major shock, can really make the country backtrack... and can cause big problems,” Grandi said

RISKS FOR HEZBOLLAH

The displacement crisis also presents a challenge for Hezbollah, which has long prided itself on providing for its community but now faces escalating needs and a lacklustre response from a near-bankrupt state.

A Lebanese official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, told Reuters Hezbollah’s softening stance on a Lebanon ceasefire was in part driven by the pressure created by the mass displacement.

Hezbollah did not respond to a request for comment.

During a visit to a school hosting displaced people last week, Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Moqdad insisted the group’s supporters “are ready for the harshest conditions and most difficult circumstances.”

“This calamity brought us closer together,” he said, adding Lebanon had withstood a “test.”

But Neamat Harb, a Shiite woman who fled the southern town of Harouf with her extended family, said living in a school was tiring and people there required more support from Hezbollah and the government.

“They should be very mindful of their support base,” she said. “They should negotiate as much as possible (for a ceasefire) so people can go home sooner,” she said.

Most displaced people who can afford rent have found apartments to stay in, though landlords are often demanding a minimum three-month payment on the spot, according to landlords and prospective tenants.

But some residences refuse to house displaced, according to four landlords or prospective tenants.

Others sent their tenants notices urging them to “KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOURS” and limit visits “to preserve everyone’s safety,” according to a notice seen by Reuters.

MEMORIES OF CIVIL WAR

For some, the mass displacement and demographic tensions have brought back unwelcome memories of state breakdown and mass squatting that took place during Lebanon’s civil war.

At least half a dozen apartment blocks and hotels in Beirut’s Hamra district were broken into and turned into shelters by the Hezbollah-allied Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party, members of the group and local residents said. The SSNP mobilized dozens of its members in the effort, according to the party officials.

A Reuters reporter saw members of the SSNP, identified by party armbands, standing guard at two buildings.

One of them, a 14-story hotel put out of commission by Lebanon’s half-decade economic crisis, now hosts 800 people, according to the SSNP member in charge there, Wassim Chantaf.

“There is no state. Zero. We are taking the place of the state,” he said, as party members directed traffic and unloaded a truck of donated bottled water.

Another Saudi-owned building nearby had only a few years ago managed to relocate squatters dating back to Lebanon’s civil war.

Then last month, more than 200 people fleeing Israel’s escalating strikes broke in, said Rebecca Habib, a lawyer who filed a suit to get them out. She succeeded after authorities secured a different place for them to stay.

“We’re scared history is repeating itself,” she said.


UN teams deploy to Syrian coast as wildfires force hundreds to flee

UN teams deploy to Syrian coast as wildfires force hundreds to flee
Updated 59 min 5 sec ago
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UN teams deploy to Syrian coast as wildfires force hundreds to flee

UN teams deploy to Syrian coast as wildfires force hundreds to flee
  • UN teams are ‘conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the disaster and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs’
  • Firefighting teams from Turkiye and Jordan have joined Syrian civil defense teams, providing support from the air with helicopters

LATAKIA, Syria: United Nations teams have deployed Sunday to the Syrian coast, where firefighters are battling wildfires for a fourth day.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria Adam Abdelmoula said in a statement that the fast-spreading blazes in the northwestern province of Latakia “have forced hundreds of families to flee their homes, while vast tracts of agricultural land and vital infrastructure have been destroyed.”

UN teams are “conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the disaster and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs,” he said.

Firefighting teams from Turkiye and Jordan have joined Syrian civil defense teams, providing support from the air with helicopters. Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported that emergency crews are attempting to prevent the blazes from reaching the Al-Frunloq natural reserve, with its “large, interconnected forests.”

Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed Al-Saleh called the situation “extremely tragic.”

In a statement posted on X, he said the fires had destroyed “hundreds of thousands of trees” covering an area estimated at 10,000 hectares (38.6 square miles).

“We regret and mourn every tree that burned, which was a source of fresh air for us,” Al-Saleh said.

The Syrian Civil Defense had expressed concerns over the presence of unexploded ordnance left over from the country’s nearly 14-year civil war in some of the wildfire areas.

Summer fires are common in the eastern Mediterranean region, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying conditions.

Below-average rainfalls over the winter have also left Syrians struggling with water shortages this summer, as the springs and rivers that normally supply much of the population with drinking water have gone dry.


Crew abandons Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned ship attacked in the Red Sea, UK military says

Crew abandons Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned ship attacked in the Red Sea, UK military says
Updated 07 July 2025
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Crew abandons Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned ship attacked in the Red Sea, UK military says

Crew abandons Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned ship attacked in the Red Sea, UK military says
  • The ship was first targeted by gunfire and self-propelled grenades launched from eight small boats, with armed security on the ship returning fire, UKMTO said

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Crew members aboard a Liberian-flagged ship set ablaze by a series of attacks in the Red Sea abandoned the vessel Sunday night as it took on water, marking the first serious assault in the vital corridor for trade after a monthslong campaign by Yemen’s Houthi rebels there.

Suspicion for the attack on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas immediately fell on the Houthis, particularly as a security firm said it appeared bomb-carrying drone boats hit the ship after it was targeted by small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The rebels’ media reported on the attack but did not claim it. It can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge an assault.

A renewed Houthi campaign against shipping could again draw in US and Western forces to the area, particularly after President Donald Trump targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign.

Shortly before midnight in Yemen, Israel’s military issued a warning for three Houthi-held ports and said airstrikes would begin shortly in Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif along with at the Ras Al-Khatib power station.

Attack comes at a delicate time

The ship attack comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program following American airstrikes targeting its most-sensitive atomic sites amid an Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.

“It likely serves as a message that the Houthis continue to possess the capability and willingness to strike at strategic maritime targets regardless of diplomatic developments,” wrote Mohammad Al-Basha, a Yemen analyst at the Basha Report risk advisory firm.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center first said that an armed security team on the unidentified vessel had returned fire against an initial attack and that the “situation is ongoing.” It described the attack as happening some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the country’s Houthi rebels.

“Authorities are investigating,” it said. It later said the ship was on fire after being “struck by unknown projectiles.”

Possibly a major escalation

Ambrey, a private maritime security firm, issued an alert saying that a merchant ship had been “attacked by eight skiffs while transiting northbound in the Red Sea.”

Ambrey later said the ship also had been attacked by bomb-carrying drone boats, which could mark a major escalation. It said two drone boats struck the ship, while another two had been destroyed by the armed guards on board.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship was taking on water and its crew had abandoned the vessel.

The US Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet referred questions to the military’s Central Command, which said it was aware of the incident without elaborating.

Moammar Al-Eryani, the information minister for Yemen’s exiled government opposing the Houthis, identified the vessel attacked as the Magic Seas and blamed the rebels for the attack. The ship had been broadcasting it had an armed security team on board in the vicinity the attack took place and had been heading north.

“The attack also proves once again that the Houthis are merely a front for an Iranian scheme using Yemen as a platform to undermine regional and global stability, at a time when Tehran continues to arm the militia and provide it with military technology, including missiles, aircraft, drones, and sea mines,” Al-Eryani wrote on the social platform X.

The Magic Seas’ owners did not respond to a request for comment.

Houthi attacks came over Israel-Hamas war

The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The group’s Al-Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged the attack occurred, but offered no other comment on it as it aired a speech by its secretive leader, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi. However, Ambrey said the vessel targeted met “the established Houthi target profile,” without elaborating.

Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.

The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. That ended weeks later and the Houthis haven’t attacked a vessel, though they have continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel. On Sunday, the group claimed launching a missile at Israel which the Israeli military said it intercepted. Shipping through the Red Sea, while still lower than normal, has increased in recent weeks.

The Yemeni Coast Guard, which is loyal to the exiled government, has engaged in a firefight with at least one vessel in the Red Sea in the past as well.

Pirates from Somalia also have operated in the region, though typically they’ve sought to capture vessels either to rob or ransom their crews. But neither the Yemeni Coast Guard nor the pirates have been known to use drone boats in their attacks.

 


Turkiye says methane exposure kills 5 troops in north Iraq

Turkiye says methane exposure kills 5 troops in north Iraq
Updated 07 July 2025
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Turkiye says methane exposure kills 5 troops in north Iraq

Turkiye says methane exposure kills 5 troops in north Iraq
  • The incident occurred as they were searching for the remains of a soldier who was shot dead by Kurdish fighters in the area in May 2022, whose body was never recovered, it said

ISTANBUL: Five Turkish soldiers died after being exposed to methane gas during a search operation in caves in northern Iraq on Sunday, the defense ministry said.

The incident comes at a sensitive time with Turkiye in talks to end the conflict with the Kurds after the PKK militant group agreed to end its decades-long armed struggle.

The conflict, which began in 1984, has cost more than 40,000 lives.

The incident occurred as they were searching for the remains of a soldier who was shot dead by Kurdish fighters in the area in May 2022, whose body was never recovered, it said.

At the time, Turkiye was waging Operation Claw Lock, with its troops seeking to eradicate Kurdish PKK militants holed up in caves along the border.

“During a search operation in a cave... previously known to have been used as a hospital... 19 of our personnel were exposed to methane gas.” it said.

They were immediately taken to hospital for treatment, but five of them died, it said.

News of the deaths emerged as a delegation from the pro-Kurdish DEM party was visiting jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan as part of the ongoing negotiations with the Turkish government.

“During the meeting, we were informed that there were soldiers who lost their lives due to methane gas poisoning in the territory of the Kurdistan Regional Government,” the delegation said.

“This incident caused Mr. Ocalan and all of us deep sadness. We wish Allah’s mercy to those who lost their lives and offer our condolences to their families and relatives.”

 

 


Trump says there’s a good chance for Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal this week

Trump says there’s a good chance for Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal this week
Updated 07 July 2025
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Trump says there’s a good chance for Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal this week

Trump says there’s a good chance for Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal this week
  • Netanyahu earlier said he hoped his meeting with Trump could ‘advance’ Gaza deal ahead of Doha talks
  • Hamas seeking guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations and of UN-led aid distribution system

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump on Sunday said there was a good chance a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal could be reached with the Palestinian militant group Hamas this week.

Trump told reporters before departing for Washington that such a deal meant “quite a few hostages” could be released.

Netanyahu said earlier in the day that he hoped his upcoming meeting with Trump could “help advance” a Gaza ceasefire deal, after sending negotiators to Doha for indirect talks with Hamas.

A Palestinian official familiar with the talks on Sunday said that indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas toward a ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip had started in Qatar.

“Negotiations are about implementation mechanisms and hostage exchange, and positions are being exchanged through mediators,” the official said.

Under mounting pressure to end the war, now approaching its 22nd month, the Israeli premier is scheduled to sit down on Monday with Trump, who has recently made a renewed push to end the fighting.

Speaking before boarding Israel’s state jet bound for Washington, Netanyahu said: “We are working to achieve this deal that we have discussed, under the conditions that we have agreed to.”

He said he had dispatched the team to Doha “with clear instructions,” and thought the meeting with Trump “can definitely help advance this (deal), which we are all hoping for.”

“We’ve gotten a lot of the hostages out, but pertaining to the remaining hostages, quite a few of them will be coming out,” Trump added.

He said the United States was “working on a lot of things” with Israel, including “probably a permanent deal with Iran.”

Netanyahu had previously said Hamas’s response to a draft US-backed ceasefire proposal contained “unacceptable” demands.

Since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, mediators have brokered pauses in fighting during which hostages were freed in exchange for Israel-held Palestinian prisoners.

Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s military campaign, lack of food and dire humanitarian conditions for more than 2 million people in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 57,418 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Earlier Sunday, a Palestinian official told AFP that Hamas would also seek the reopening of Gaza’s Rafah crossing to evacuate the wounded. Hamas’s top negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya was leading the delegation in Doha, the official told AFP.

Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions told AFP the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.

However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,418 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

(With AFP & Reuters)


Israel launches airstrikes targeting Houthis in Yemen, and Houthis hit back with missiles

Israel launches airstrikes targeting Houthis in Yemen, and Houthis hit back with missiles
Updated 07 July 2025
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Israel launches airstrikes targeting Houthis in Yemen, and Houthis hit back with missiles

Israel launches airstrikes targeting Houthis in Yemen, and Houthis hit back with missiles
  • Israel air strikes targetted 3 Houthi-controlled Yemeni ports, power plant and ship
  • Strike came after an attack targeting a Liberian-flagged ship in the Red Sea

DUBAI: Israel’s military launched airstrikes early Monday targeting ports and facilities held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, with the rebels responding with missile fire targeting Israel.

The attacks came after an attack Sunday targeting a Liberian-flagged ship in the Red Sea that caught fire and took on water, later forcing its crew to abandon the vessel.

Suspicion for the attack on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas immediately fell on the Houthis, particularly as a security firm said it appeared bomb-carrying drone boats hit the ship after it was targeted by small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The rebels’ media reported on the attack but did not claim it. It can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge an assault.

A renewed Houthi campaign against shipping could again draw in US and Western forces to the area, particularly after President Donald Trump targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign.

The ship attack comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program following American airstrikes targeting its most-sensitive atomic sites amid an Israeli war against the Islamic Republic. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also was traveling to Washington to meet with Trump.

Israeli strikes target Houthi-held ports

The Israeli military said it struck Houthi-held ports at Hodeida, Ras Isa and Salif, as well as the Ras Kanatib power plant.

“These ports are used by the Houthi terrorist regime to transfer weapons from the Iranian regime, which are employed to carry out terrorist operations against the state of Israel and its allies,” the Israeli military said.

The Israeli military also said it struck the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle-carrying vessel that the Houthis seized back in November 2023 when they began their attacks in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war.

“Houthi forces installed a radar system on the ship and have been using it to track vessels in the international maritime arena to facilitate further terrorist activities,” the Israeli military said.

This photo taken on November 22, 2023, shows the Galaxy Leader cargo ship, seized by Houthi fighters earlier, at a port on the Red Sea in Yemen’s province of Hodeida. (AFP)

The Bahamas-flagged Galaxy Leader was affiliated with an Israeli billionaire. It said no Israelis were on board. The ship had been operated by a Japanese firm NYK Line.

The Houthis acknowledged the strikes, but offered no damage assessment from the attack. Their military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed its air defense forces “effectively confronted” the Israelis without offering evidence.

The Houthis then responded with an apparent missile attack on Israel. The Israeli military said it attempted to intercept the missile, but it appeared to make impact, though there were no immediate reports of injuries from the attack.

Ship attack forces crew to abandon vessel

The attack on the Magic Seas, a bulk carrier heading north to Egypt’s Suez Canal, happened some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the Houthis. The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center first said that an armed security team on the vessel had returned fire against an initial attack, though the vessel later was struck by projectiles.

Ambrey, a private maritime security firm, issued an alert saying that a merchant ship had been “attacked by eight skiffs while transiting northbound in the Red Sea.”

Ambrey later said the ship also had been attacked by bomb-carrying drone boats, which could mark a major escalation. It said two drone boats struck the ship, while another two had been destroyed by the armed guards on board.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship was taking on water and its crew had abandoned the vessel. They were rescued by a passing ship, it added.

The US Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet referred questions to the military’s Central Command, which said it was aware of the incident without elaborating.

Moammar Al-Eryani, the information minister for Yemen’s exiled government opposing the Houthis, identified the vessel attacked as the Magic Seas and blamed the rebels for the attack. The ship had been broadcasting it had an armed security team on board in the vicinity the attack took place and had been heading north.

“The attack also proves once again that the Houthis are merely a front for an Iranian scheme using Yemen as a platform to undermine regional and global stability, at a time when Tehran continues to arm the militia and provide it with military technology, including missiles, aircraft, drones, and sea mines,” Al-Eryani wrote on the social platform X.

The Magic Seas’ owners did not respond to a request for comment.

Houthi attacks came over Israel-Hamas war

The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The group’s Al-Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged the attack occurred, but offered no other comment on it as it aired a speech by its secretive leader, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi. However, Ambrey said the Magic Seas met “the established Houthi target profile,” without elaborating.

Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. Their campaign has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually. Shipping through the Red Sea, while still lower than normal, has increased in recent weeks.

The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. That ended weeks later and the Houthis haven’t attacked a vessel, though they have continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel. On Sunday, the group claimed launching an earlier missile at Israel which the Israeli military said it intercepted.