Yemen’s Houthis reported to have a hypersonic missile, possibly raising stakes in Red Sea crisis

Iran long has denied arming the Houthis, likely because of a yearslong United Nations arms embargo on the rebels. (AFP)
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Updated 15 March 2024
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Yemen’s Houthis reported to have a hypersonic missile, possibly raising stakes in Red Sea crisis

  • Abdul Malik Al-Houthi said the militia will start hitting ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope in Africa’s southern tip

DUBAI, UAE: Yemen’s Houthis claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine.
However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the United States and its allies, which have so far been able to down any missile or bomb-carrying drone that comes near their warships in Mideast waters.
On Thursday, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, the Houthis’ secretive supreme leader, said the militia will start hitting ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope in Africa’s southern tip. Until now, the militia has largely struck ships heading into the Red Sea toward the Suez Canal, and such an escalation would target the longer, alternative route used by some vessels. It remains unclear how they would carry any possible assault out.
Meanwhile, Iran and the US reportedly held indirect talks in Oman, the first in months amid their long-simmering tensions over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program and attacks by its proxies.
Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, claims to have a hypersonic missile and has widely armed the militia with the missiles it now uses. Adding a hypersonic missile to their arsenal could pose a more formidable challenge to the air defense systems employed by America and its allies, including Israel.
“The group’s missile forces have successfully tested a missile that is capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 8 and runs on solid fuel,” a military official close to the Houthis said, according to the RIA report. The Houthis “intend to begin manufacturing it for use during attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as well as against targets in Israel.”
Mach 8 is eight times the speed of sound.
Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds higher than Mach 5, could pose crucial challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability.
Ballistic missiles fly on a trajectory in which anti-missile systems like the US-made Patriot can anticipate their path and intercept them. The more irregular the missile’s flight path, such as a hypersonic missile with the ability to change directions, the more difficult it becomes to intercept.
China is believed to be pursuing the weapons, as is America. Russia claims it has already used them.
In Yemen, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi boasted that his fighters “continue to expand the effectiveness and scope of our operations to areas and locations the enemy never expects.” He said they would prevent ships “connected to the Israeli enemy even crossing the Indian Ocean ... heading toward the Cape of Good Hope.”
The Houthis have attacked ships since November, saying they want to force Israel to end its offensive in Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. The ships targeted by the Houthis, however, have increasingly had little or no connection to Israel, the US or other nations involved in the war. The militia has also fired missiles toward Israel, though they have largely fallen short or been intercepted.
The Houthis don’t have a navy, nor weapons reaching into the far distances of the Indian Ocean, making their Cape of Good Hope threat difficult. However, Iran is suspected of targeting Israeli-linked vessels previously in the Indian Ocean. The Houthis have claimed attacks assessed to have been carried out by Iran in the past, such as the 2019 attack on Saudi Arabia that temporarily halved its oil production.
After seizing Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, the Houthis ransacked government arsenals, which held Soviet-era Scud missiles and other arms.
As the Saudi-led coalition entered Yemen’s conflict on behalf of its exiled government in 2015, the Houthis’ arsenal was increasingly targeted. Soon — and despite Yemen having no indigenous missile manufacturing infrastructure — newer missiles made their way into militia’s hands.
Iran long has denied arming the Houthis, likely because of a yearslong United Nations arms embargo on the militia. However, the US and its allies have seized multiple arms shipments bound for the rebels in Mideast waters. Weapons experts as well have tied Houthi arms seized on the battlefield back to Iran.
Iran also now claims to have a hypersonic weapon. In June, Iran unveiled its Fattah, or “Conqueror” in Farsi, missile, which it described as being a hypersonic. It described another as being in development.
Iran’s mission to the UN did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. Asked about the hypersonic claim, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said: “We have no indication that they even have that capability.”
Israel’s military declined to comment.
Also Thursday, The Financial Times reported that the US and Iran held indirect talks in Oman in January that America hoped would curtail the Red Sea attacks. The last known round of such talks had come last May.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency indirectly acknowledged the talks but insisted they were “merely limited to negotiations on lifting anti-Iran sanctions.”
The US State Department did not deny the January talks took place in a statement to The Associated Press, saying: “We have many channels for passing messages to Iran.”
“Since Oct. 7, all of (the communications) have been focused on raising the full range of threats emanating from Iran and the need for Iran to cease its across-the-board escalation,” it added.
The assaults on shipping have raised the profile of the Houthis, whose Zaydi people ruled a 1,000-year kingdom in Yemen up until 1962. Adding a new weapon increases that cachet and puts more pressure on Israel after a ceasefire deal failed to take hold in Gaza before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Earlier in March, a Houthi missile struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden, killing three of its crew members and forcing survivors to abandon the vessel. It marked the first fatal attack by the Houthis on shipping.
Other recent Houthi actions include an attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertilizer, the Rubymar, which later sank after drifting for several days.
A new suspected Houthi attack targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, but missed the vessel and caused no damage, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. A later attack similarly missed a vessel in the Red Sea off Yemen’s port city of Hodeida, the center said early Friday.
Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said he wouldn’t be surprised if Iran transferred a new, hypersonic weapon to the Houthis. However, the question is how maneuverable such a weapon would be at hypersonic speeds and whether it could hit moving targets, like ships in the Red Sea.
“I wouldn’t exclude the possibility that the Houthis have some system that has some maneuvering capability to some extent,” Hinz said. “It is also possible for the Iranians to transfer new stuff for the Houthis to test it.”


Syria briefly detains head of Palestinian group: faction officials

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Syria briefly detains head of Palestinian group: faction officials

An official from the Damascus-based PFLP-GC told AFP that “secretary-general Talal Naji was arrested” in the city
A third faction source said “Naji was asked... to report to one of the security branches and has not returned“

DAMASCUS: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command officials said Syrian Arab Republic authorities on Saturday briefly detained the head of the faction, which was close to ousted ruler Bashar Assad’s government.
Talal Naji’s detention came just weeks after Palestinian group Islamic Jihad’s armed wing said the new authorities had held two of its officials on unspecified charges.
The United States, which considers Palestinian factions including the PFLP-GC to be “terrorist” organizations, has said Washington will not ease Assad-era sanctions on Syria until it has verified progress on priorities including acting against “terrorism.”
An official from the Damascus-based PFLP-GC, requesting anonymity as the matter is sensitive, told AFP that “secretary-general Talal Naji was arrested” in the city.
Another official confirmed the arrest, while a third faction source said “Naji was asked... to report to one of the security branches and has not returned. Most likely he was arrested.”
Two PFLP-GC officials later confirmed Naji had been released, with one saying he was held for 10 hours and freed after “local and international mediation.”
The official said it remained unclear why he had been arrested.
The second source confirmed Naji’s release, saying: “He’s at home and in good health.”
Last month, a statement from the Al-Quds Brigades said Islamic Jihad’s Syria official Khaled Khaled and organizing committee member Yasser Al-Zafri had been detained for days “without explanation.”
The Iran-backed group expressed hope “that our brothers in the Syrian government” will free the pair, noting their detention comes as the group is “fighting the Zionist enemy” in the Gaza Strip.
In late March, US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Syria’s new authorities should “fully renounce and suppress terrorism, exclude foreign terrorist fighters from any official roles (and) prevent Iran and its proxies from exploiting Syrian territory.”
The PFLP-GC was founded in 1968 after breaking away from the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
When conflict erupted in Syria in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful pro-democracy protests, the PFLP-GC stood firmly by Assad’s government.
After jihadists and rebels overran parts of the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus in 2012, the PFLP-GC’s armed wing fought alongside Syrian government forces to take it back.
The group is designated as a “terrorist organization” by the United States and European Union and is accused of masterminding the deadly bombing of Swissair Flight SR330 in February 1970, as well as several attacks on Israeli civilians.

Israel intercepts missile, Houthis claim attack

Updated 03 May 2025
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Israel intercepts missile, Houthis claim attack

  • The latest missile fire comes a day after Israel said it had intercepted two missiles in 12 hours — both claimed by the Houthis

The Israeli military said on Saturday it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, the third such attack claimed by the Houthis in two days.
The Houthis, who control swaths of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree, in a video statement on Saturday, said the group had targeted a military installation in central Israel “using a Palestine 2 hypersonic ballistic missile.”
An Israeli military statement earlier said that “a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted” after air raid sirens sounded in several areas of the country.
A journalist in Jerusalem said sirens were heard in the city.
The latest missile fire comes a day after Israel said it had intercepted two missiles in 12 hours — both claimed by the Houthis.
The Houthis had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war.
But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on international shipping over Israel’s aid blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The move triggered a response from the US military, which began hammering the militia with near-daily airstrikes starting March 15 in a bid to keep them from threatening shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
US strikes on the Houthis began under former President Joe Biden, but intensified under his successor, Donald Trump.
Since March, the US says it has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen.
The Houthi-run Saba news agency said that US strikes hit the capital Sanaa and the neighboring districts of Bani Hashish and Khab Al-Shaaf.

 


Jordan, UK explore deepening trade ties under partnership agreement

Updated 03 May 2025
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Jordan, UK explore deepening trade ties under partnership agreement

  • Talks in Amman discuss progress made under 2021 deal and explore further avenues of collaboration
  • Trade envoy Iain McNicol outlines Britain’s 'keenness' to strengthen trade ties

AMMAN: Jordan and the UK have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening economic and trade cooperation under the framework of their 2021 bilateral partnership agreement, the Jordan News Agency reported.

During talks in Amman on Saturday, Minister of Industry, Trade, and Supply Yarub Qudah met with British Trade Envoy to Jordan, Kuwait, and Palestine, Iain McNicol, to discuss progress made under the deal and explore further avenues of collaboration.

Philip Hall, the British ambassador to Jordan, also attended the meeting.

According to a statement from the Jordanian Ministry of Industry, the discussions touched on efforts to streamline rules of origin and the development of mechanisms to monitor the agreement’s implementation; chief among them the launch of a Partnership Council and technical committees.

Qudah highlighted several ongoing challenges, including the complexity of the rules of origin, and the comparatively high costs of compliance and export for Jordanian producers.

He stressed the need to review the terms of the current agreement to ensure Jordanian products are granted preferential access to UK markets— particularly in light of the United Kingdom’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme, which offers more favorable terms to other nations.

McNicol affirmed Britain’s “keenness” to deepen trade ties with Jordan and expressed support for improving the Kingdom’s investment environment.

He also emphasized the UK’s commitment to sustainable trade initiatives, including support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and stimulating British investment in Jordan’s “vital” productive sectors.

Looking ahead, both sides agreed to accelerate preparations for the upcoming Jordanian-British Business Forum, which they said would provide a key platform to strengthen private-sector ties and explore new areas of economic cooperation.


Hamas armed wing releases video of apparently injured Israeli hostage

Updated 03 May 2025
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Hamas armed wing releases video of apparently injured Israeli hostage

  • Media identified the hostage as Russian-Israeli Maxim Herkin, who turns 37 at the end of May
  • He referred to himself only as “Prisoner 24” in the footage and was not identified by Hamas

JERUSALEM: The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, released a video Saturday showing an Israeli-Russian hostage who appeared to have been injured in a strike on the Palestinian territory.
In the undated four-minute video, the hostage, wearing bandages on his head and left arm spoke in Hebrew, implying he had been wounded in a recent Israeli bombardment.
AFP and Israeli media identified the hostage as Russian-Israeli Maxim Herkin, who turns 37 at the end of May. His family urged media not to disseminate the video.
He referred to himself only as “Prisoner 24” in the footage and was not identified by Hamas.
He was shown lying on the ground and referred to Israel’s Independence Day celebrations on Thursday as upcoming, suggesting the video was filmed shortly beforehand.
AFP was unable to determine the health of Herkin, who gave a similar message to other hostages shown in videos released by Hamas, urging pressure on the Israeli government to free the remaining captives.


Militants in the territory still hold 58 hostages seized in Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel. The army says 34 of them are dead. Hamas is also holding the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a previous war in Gaza in 2014.
Herkin also appeared in a previous video released by Hamas in early April, wearing a small bandage on his right wrist and a bandage on his cheek and ear. In that video, he appeared alongside a second hostage Israeli media identified as soldier Bar Kuperstein.
Palestinian militants had abducted the two men from the Nova music festival during the Hamas attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
A truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas came into force on January 19, largely halting more than 15 months of fighting. During the six-week ceasefire militants handed over 33 hostages, eight of them dead.
Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid deadlock over next steps in the ceasefire.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 2,396 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,495.
The Israeli government says its renewed offensive aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives, although critics charge that it puts them in mortal danger.
Since the end of the truce, Hamas has released several videos of hostages. The latest images come as efforts by mediators to broker a new truce have stalled.
Herkin, had emigrated to Israel from Ukraine with his mother.
Before being taken from the Nova festival, Herkin, father of a young girl, had written to his mother: “All is well. I’m coming home.”


UN envoy condemns intense wave of Israeli airstrikes on Syria

Updated 03 May 2025
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UN envoy condemns intense wave of Israeli airstrikes on Syria

  • UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, denounced the strikes
  • “I strongly condemn Israel’s continued and escalating violations of Syria’s sovereignty, including multiple airstrikes in Damascus and other cities,” Pedersen wrote

HARASTA, Syria: The United Nations special envoy for the Syrian Arab Republic condemned Saturday an intense wave of Israeli airstrikes as Israel said its forces were on the ground in Syria to protect the Druze minority sect following days of clashes with Syrian pro-government gunmen.
The late Friday airstrikes were reported in different parts of the capital, Damascus, and its suburbs, as well as southern and central Syria, local Syrian media reported. They came hours after Israel’s air force struck near Syria’s presidential palace after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by Syrian Druze.
Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X the strikes targeted a military post and anti-aircraft units. He also said the Israeli troops in Southern Syria were “to prevent any hostile force from entering the area or Druze villages” and that five Syrian Druze wounded in the fighting were transported for treatment in Israel.
Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported Saturday that four were wounded in central Syria, and that the airstrikes hit the eastern Damascus suburb of Harasta as well as the southern province of Daraa and the central province of Hama.
UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, denounced the strikes on X.


“I strongly condemn Israel’s continued and escalating violations of Syria’s sovereignty, including multiple airstrikes in Damascus and other cities,” Pedersen wrote Saturday, calling for an immediate cease of attacks and for Israel to stop “endangering Syrian civilians and to respect international law and Syria’s sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, and independence.”
Four days of clashes between pro-government gunmen and Druze fighters have left nearly 100 people dead and raised fears of deadly sectarian violence.
The clashes are the worst between forces loyal to the government and Druze fighters since the early December fall of President Bashar Assad, whose family ruled Syria with an iron grip for more than five decades.
Israel has its own Druze community and officials have said they would protect the Druze of Syria and warned Islamic militant groups from entering predominantly Druze areas. Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of airstrikes since Assad’s fall and captured a buffer zone along the Golan Heights.
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria.
Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. In Syria, they largely live in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south.