Foreign News
US launches fourth round of strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen
The US has carried out a fourth round of strikes on Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, Pentagon officials confirmed on Wednesday night.
Some 14 Houthi missiles, which the US says may have been intended for attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, were targeted by American forces.
Centcom – the US Middle East command – said the sites were struck by Tomahawk missiles fired from US Navy vessels. The strikes come as the US designated the Houthis as “global terrorists”.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the move, which reversed a decision to remove the designation in the early days of the Biden administration, was in response to the militants’ ongoing attacks on commercial shipping in the region.
The Houthis began attacking merchant vessels in November, saying they were responding to Israel’s military operation in Gaza. Since then, the group has launched dozens of attacks on commercial tankers passing through the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
In response, the US and UK launched a wave of air strikes against dozens of Houthi targets on 11 January. The strikes – supported by Australia, Bahrain, the Netherlands and Canada – began after Houthi forces ignored an ultimatum to cease their attacks in the region.
Wednesday’s strikes on Houthi targets followed further attacks on commercial shipping. Hours earlier, the group struck a US owned and operated vessel for the second time this week. The rebels used a one-way drone to target the M/V Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden, Centcom said. The ship suffered some damage, but no crew members were injured in the attack.
On Monday, the Houthis hit another US vessel with a ballistic missile, in what appeared to be the group’s first successful attack on an American ship since their campaign began.
US officials said Wednesday’s strikes were pre-emptive, and destroyed weapons which were due to be fired imminently by the militants. “These missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region and could have been fired at any time, prompting US forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves,” Centcom said in a statement. “These strikes, along with other actions we have taken, will degrade the Houthi’s capabilities to continue their reckless attacks on international and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden,” the statement added.
The UK’s ministry of defence told the BBC that it was not involved in the latest wave of strikes.
Centcom’s commander, Gen Micheal Kurilla, said the US would continue to take action against the Houthis as long as its fighters “continue to endanger international mariners and disrupt the commercial shipping lanes in the Southern Red Sea and adjacent waterways”.
Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that escalated in 2015, when the Houthis seized control of large parts of the west of the country from the internationally recognised government and a Saudi-led coalition intervened in an effort to restore its rule.
The fighting has reportedly left more than 160,000 people dead and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with two thirds of the population – 21 million people – in need of some form of aid.
(BBC)
At least three suspected rebel fighters and one Indian soldier have been killed in separate firefights in Indian administered Kashmir less than a week after Interior Minister Amit Shah visited the disputed territory.
The Indian army said on Saturday that Indian soldiers killed three fighters in a gun battle that began on Wednesday in a remote forest in Kishtwar in southern Kashmir.
Senior Indian army official Brigadier JBS Rathi said troops had displayed “great tactical acumen”.
“In the gun battle, three terrorists were neutralised,” he told reporters on Saturday in a commonly used term for rebels opposed to Indian rule in Kashmir.
Weapons and “war-like stores” were recovered from the site, the army’s White Knight Corps posted on social media platform X.
A soldier was killed in a separate incident late on Friday night in Sunderbani district along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border that cuts Indian-administered Kashmir into two.
The White Knight Corps said on X troops had “foiled an infiltration attempt” there.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the territory in full but governing only part of it.
India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers deployed in the territory after an armed uprising against Indian rule in the late 1980s.
Thousands of people, most of them Kashmir civilians, have been killed as rebel groups have fought Indian forces, seeking independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.
In 2019, a report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights accused India of human rights violations in Kashmir and called for a commission of inquiry into the allegations. The report came nearly a year after the then UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Husseincalled for an international investigation into abuses in the Muslim-majority region.
Last month, four police officers and two suspected rebels were killed in the region in a clash that also wounded several police officers.
The territory has simmered in anger since 2019 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended the region’s semi-autonomy and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms while intensifying military operations.
Thousands of additional troops, including special forces, were deployed across southern mountainous areas last year following a series of deadly rebel attacks that killed more than 50 soldiers over three years.
India regularly blames Pakistan for pushing rebels across the LoC to launch attacks on Indian forces.
[Aljazeera]
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled and trains suspended as gales hit Beijing and northern China today [Saturday].
By 11:30 local time (03:30 GMT) today, 838 flights had been cancelled at the capital’s two major airports, according to the news agency Reuters.
Wind gusts of up to 93mph (150kph) – the strongest in the Chinese capital for more than half a century – are set to continue through the weekend, forcing the closure of attractions and historic sites.
Millions were urged to stay indoors on Friday, with some state media outlets warning that people weighing less than 50kg may be “easily blown away”.
Train services, including the airport’s express subway line and some high-speed rail lines, have been suspended.
Parks were also shut, with some old trees reinforced or trimmed in preparation – but almost 300 trees have already fallen over in the capital.
A number of vehicles were damaged, but no injuries were reported. In Beijing, most residents followed authorities’ advice to stay indoors after the city warned 22 million residents to avoid non-essential travel.
“Everyone in Beijing was really nervous about it. Today there are hardly any people out on the streets. However, it wasn’t as severe as I had imagined,” a local resident told Reuters.
Meanwhile, a businessman from the Zhejiang province, near Shanghai, had his flight home cancelled.
“Because of the severe winds, all flights scheduled for last night and today were cancelled. So I will probably rebook my flight in a couple of days. I’m now basically stranded in Beijing,” he said.
The strong winds are from a cold vortex system over Mongolia and are expected to last through the weekend.
Winds bringing sand and dust from Mongolia are routine in spring, but climate change can make storms stronger and more severe.
Beijing issued its first orange alert for strong winds in a decade, with the strongest winds expected to arrive on Saturday.
China measures wind speed on a scale that goes from one to 17. A level 11 wind, according to the China Meteorological Administration, can cause “serious damage”, while a level 12 wind brings “extreme destruction”.
The winds this weekend are expected to range from level 11 to 13, with conditions expected to ease by Sunday.
[BBC]
The US Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a Maryland man, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador’s notorious mega-jail.
The Trump administration had conceded that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported by accident, but appealed against a federal court’s order to return him to the US.
On Thursday, in a 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court declined to block the lower court’s order.
The judge’s order “requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent”, the justices ruled.
(BBC)
-
Business6 days agoColombo Coffee wins coveted management awards
-
Features7 days agoStarlink in the Global South
-
Features2 days agoRobbers and Wreckers
-
Features4 days agoSri Lanka’s Foreign Policy amid Geopolitical Transformations: 1990-2024 – Part III
-
Features7 days agoModi’s Sri Lanka Sojourn
-
Midweek Review4 days agoInequality is killing the Middle Class
-
Features6 days agoSri Lanka’s Foreign Policy amid Geopolitical Transformations: 1990-2024 – Part I
-
Features5 days agoA brighter future …