Houthis attack Ashkelon, ships off Yemeni coast

1 / 2
A Houthi-made mock drone on display in front of a billboard featuring a portrait of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Sana'a, Yemen, Oct. 22, 2024. (EPA)
Short Url
Updated 30 October 2024
Follow

Houthis attack Ashkelon, ships off Yemeni coast

  • Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said drones were launched at an industrial zone in Ashkelon
  • Three vessels targeted by the militia in Red and Arabian seas, Bab Al-Mandab Strait

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia said on Tuesday it launched drones at the Israeli city of Ashkelon a day after claiming to have attacked several ships in international waters off Yemen.

In a statement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said drones were launched at an industrial zone in Ashkelon, claiming they “successfully” struck their target, and vowing to carry out more attacks until Israel ends its military operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Israeli media reported explosions in Ashkelon and in Nahariya caused by another drone fired from Lebanon. The Israeli military said the drone launched from Yemen landed in a “open area” in Ashkelon.

“Following an initial examination regarding the UAV that fell in an open area in Ashkelon in southern Israel earlier today, it was determined that the UAV was launched from Yemen,” it said in a statement.

Previous Houthi missile and drone attacks on Israel triggered two waves of retaliatory airstrikes by Israeli warplanes, which struck power stations, ports, and fuel storage facilities in the western city of Hodeidah, which the Houthis control, in July and September.

Sarea said in a broadcast on Monday night the Houthis also attacked three ships in the Arabian Sea, Red Sea and Bab Al-Mandab Strait, the latest in a series of attacks on maritime trade in a campaign the group claims is in support of the people of Palestine and Lebanon. 

He identified the ships as the SC Montreal, which was attacked with two drones while sailing in the southern Arabian Sea, the Maersk Kowloon, which was attacked with a cruise missile while sailing in the Red Sea, and the Motaro, which was attacked in the Red Sea and Bab Al-Mandab Strait with multiple ballistic missiles.

The three ships were targeted because their parent companies violated a ban on sailing to Israeli ports, Sarea said.

All three ships are Liberian-flagged vessels. The SC Montreal is sailing from the Seychelles to Oman. The Maersk Kowloon is sailing from Oman to an unknown destination, and the Motaro from Russia to China.

The Houthi statement came hours after the UK Maritime Trade Operations, an agency that documents ship attacks, reported on Monday that the master of the Motaro, sailing 25 nautical miles south of Yemen’s Mocha town on the Red Sea, reported three explosions at various intervals near the ship, but that the vessel and its crew were safe.

The Joint Maritime Information Center identified the attacked ship as the M/V Motaro, “on transit” from Ust Luga in Russia to Shanghai, adding that the ship had no connection to Israel, the US, or the UK, and it could have been attacked because another ship owned by the same company visited Israel.

“Indirectly (through multiple layers), within the ownership structure, JMIC has discovered a subsidiary linkage to a vessel visiting an Israeli port in the recent past,” the JMIC said.

Since November, the Houthis have seized a commercial ship — the Galaxy Leader — and its crew, sunk two others, and set fire to several more, firing hundreds of ballistic missiles, drones, and drone boats at civilian and naval ships in the group’s campaign.

Critics dispute the Houthi claims of support for the Palestinians or Lebanon, arguing that the beleaguered militia used the conflict to recruit new fighters, increase public support, deploy forces in contested areas, and silence voices calling on the Houthis to repair crumbling services and pay public employees.


Israeli strike kills one in south Lebanon: ministry

Updated 12 sec ago
Follow

Israeli strike kills one in south Lebanon: ministry

The ministry said an “Israeli enemy strike” hit a forested area in Nabatiyeh Al-Fawqa
The Israeli army said it stuck “a Hezbollah terrorist” in southern Lebanon

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike on the country’s south killed one man on Thursday, with Israel saying it struck a member of the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The attack came despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group.

The ministry said an “Israeli enemy strike” hit a forested area in Nabatiyeh Al-Fawqa, killing one man.

The Israeli army said it stuck “a Hezbollah terrorist” in southern Lebanon, alleging he was working to restore a site used to manage the group’s “fire and defense array.”

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the man was a “municipal employee” who had been rehabilitating wells when his motorcycle was struck.

Israel has continued to bomb Lebanon despite the November truce that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of open war.

Under the deal, only UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army are meant to operate in the south, though Israel maintains a presence in five areas it deems strategic.

Lebanon has urged the international community to pressure Israel to halt its attacks and withdraw its forces.

Netanyahu says Israel accepts Witkoff’s new Gaza truce proposal, media report

This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows destroyed buildings in territory.
Updated 13 min 9 sec ago
Follow

Netanyahu says Israel accepts Witkoff’s new Gaza truce proposal, media report

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel has accepted a new ceasefire proposal presented by US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
Hamas said earlier that it had received the new proposal from mediators and was studying it.


Tunisian minister expects grain harvest rising 64 percent to 1.8 million metric tons this season

Updated 29 May 2025
Follow

Tunisian minister expects grain harvest rising 64 percent to 1.8 million metric tons this season

  • The sharp increase is attributed to improved rainfall in key agricultural regions
  • Last year’s grain crop was around 1.1 million metric tons

TUNIS: Tunisia’s grain harvest to rise to 1.8 million metric tons this season, Agriculture Minister Ezzedine Ben Cheikh said on Wednesday, up more than 64 percent from last year’s harvest, marking the country’s strong season in five years after consecutive drought seasons.

The sharp increase is attributed to improved rainfall in key agricultural regions.

“It is a good season with about 1.8 million metric tons,” Ben Cheikh said.

Last year’s grain crop was around 1.1 million metric tons.

The country, which is suffering a deep financial crisis, was badly affected by the rise in global wheat prices and successive dry seasons.

The anticipated production growth will enable Tunisia to reduce its imports of grain.

Over the last decade, Tunisia has averaged about 1.5 million metric tons in annual grain harvests, while it has consumed around 3.4 million metric tons per year.


Cyprus offers Syrian families money to resettle and work permits for main earners

Updated 29 May 2025
Follow

Cyprus offers Syrian families money to resettle and work permits for main earners

  • Ioannides said that families wishing to voluntarily return will be given a one-off sum of 2,000 euros ($2,255) for one adult and 1,000 euros ($1,128) for each child
  • Family’s main income earner will be granted a special residency and work permit allowing them to stay for a minimum of two years in Cyprus with the option of another year

NICOSIA: Cyprus will offer Syrian families money to help them resettle back in their homeland and allow the main income earners to remain on the island nation for up to three years to work as part of a voluntary repatriation program, a Cypriot minister said Thursday.

Deputy Minister for Migration Nicholas Ioannides said that a prerequisite for families to qualify for the program is that they must drop their claims for asylum or rescind international protection status already granted to them prior to Dec. 31, 2024.

Unveiling the program, Ioannides said that families wishing to voluntarily return will be given a one-off sum of 2,000 euros ($2,255) for one adult and 1,000 euros ($1,128) for each child. Childless couples are also eligible to apply. The application period runs from June 2 to Aug. 31.

Additionally, the family’s main income earner — either the father or mother will be granted a special residency and work permit allowing them to stay for a minimum of two years in Cyprus with the option of another year.

Ioannides said that many Syrians have expressed their willingness to return and help rebuild their country, but are reluctant to do so because of the uncertainty surrounding where they’ll be able to earn a living wage.

According to the head of Cyprus’ Asylum Service Andreas Georgiades, the program’s premise is to help families overcome any such reluctance by affording them a modest nest egg with which to cover their immediate needs while enabling the main income earner to continue working and sending money to his family.

The income earner will be allowed to travel back and forth to Syria while his or her residency and work permit are valid.
Syrian nationals make up the largest group of asylum-seekers in Cyprus by far. According to Asylum Service figures, 4,226 Syrians applied for asylum last year — almost 10 times more than Afghans who are the second-largest group.

“This new program is a targeted, humanitarian and realistic policy that bolsters Syria’s post-war transition to normality,” Ioannides said, adding that European Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner considers the program as a potential example for other European Union member countries to follow.

Meanwhile, Ioannides repeated that a 2009 Search and Rescue agreement that Cyprus has with Syria enables Cypriot authorities to send back boatloads of Syrian migrants trying to reach the island nation after they’re rescued in international waters.

Ioannides said that two inflatable boats each loaded with 30 Syrian migrants were turned back in line with the bilateral agreement after being rescued when they transmitted that they were in danger.

Ioannides again denied Cyprus engages in any pushbacks, despite urgings from both the UN refugee agency and Europe’s top human rights body to stop pushing back migrants trying to reach the island by boat.


Libya’s eastern-based government says it may announce force majeure on oil fields, ports

Updated 29 May 2025
Follow

Libya’s eastern-based government says it may announce force majeure on oil fields, ports

  • The NOC is currently located in Tripoli under the control of the internationally-recongized Government of National Unity
  • Safar said that “what happened was nothing more than a limited personal dispute”

CAIRO: Libya’s eastern-based government said on Wednesday it may announce a force majeure on oil fields and ports citing “repeated assaults on the National Oil Corporation (NOC).”

The government in Benghazi is not internationally recognized, but most oilfields in the major oil producing country are under the control of eastern Libyan military leader Khalifa Haftar.

The government said it may also temporarily relocate the national oil corporation’s headquarters to one of the “safe cities such as Ras Lanuf and Brega, both of which are controlled by the eastern-based government.

The NOC is currently located in Tripoli under the control of the internationally-recongized Government of National Unity (GNU).

The NOC denied in an earlier statement that the corporation’s headquarters was stormed deeming it as “completely false.”

It also emphasized it is operating normally “and continuing to perform its vital duties without interruption.”

The acting head of NOC Hussain Safar said that “what happened was nothing more than a limited personal dispute that occurred in the reception area and was immediately contained by administrative security personnel, without any impact on the corporation’s workflow or the safety of its employees.”

GNU’s media office posted video footage from inside the headquarters of the NOC showing “stable conditions and no signs of a storming or security disturbance.”

Libya’s oil output has been disrupted repeatedly in the chaotic decade since 2014 when the country divided between two rival authorities in the east and west following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

In August, Libya lost more than half of its oil production, about 700,000 bpd, and exports were halted at several ports as a standoff between rival political factions over the central bank threatened to end four years of relative peace.

The shutdowns lasted for over a month with production gradually resuming from early October.

The North African country’s crude oil production reached 1.3 million barrels per day in the last 24 hours, according to the NOC.