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Israeli strikes in Yemen’s capital kill four, Huthis say

Israeli strikes in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Sunday killed at least four people, according to the country’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who have repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Israel throughout the Gaza war.AFP images showed a large fireball lighting up the skies over the rebel-held capital, leaving behind a column of thick, black smoke.A spokesperson for the Huthis’ health ministry reported four people dead and 67 wounded in the Israeli raid, raising an earlier toll.A Huthi security source told AFP the strikes had targeted a building in central Sanaa. The group’s Al-Masirah TV reported they had also hit an oil company facility and a power station in Sanaa’s south already struck last Sunday.The Israeli army said it had hit a military compound where the presidential palace is located, along with two power stations and a fuel depot. The strikes were “in response to repeated attacks by the Huthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel and its civilians”, including “in recent days”, it said.Late Friday, the Huthis fired a missile that Israeli authorities said had “most likely fragmented in mid-air”.Media outlets the Times of Israel and Ynet, citing the Israeli military, reported the missile had carried a cluster warhead, the first of its kind known to have been fired from Yemen.- ‘Heart of the capital’ -The Israeli defence ministry released a photo on Sunday showing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and army chief Eyal Zamir following the strikes in Yemen from a command bunker. In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu said the air force had struck “the presidential palace in the heart of the capital Sanaa, the city’s power plant and the fuel tanks that supply it”.”The terrorist Huthi regime is learning the hard way that it will pay — and has paid already — a very high price for its aggression against the State of Israel,” he said, adding “the whole region” was also learning a lesson in Israeli power.In a statement from their political bureau, the Huthis vowed to respond, saying they would “not deviate from the fight” against Israel and its ally the United States “until the aggression stops and the (Israeli) blockade on Gaza is lifted”.Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday condemned the Israeli strikes.- ‘Compound interest’ -Since the October 2023 start of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, the Huthis have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel, claiming to be acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.Most of the Huthi attacks have been intercepted, but they have prompted retaliatory Israeli air strikes on rebel targets in Yemen.On August 17, Israel said it targeted an energy infrastructure site in Sanaa linked to the Huthis, with Al-Masirah reporting at the time the capital’s Haziz power station was hit.The Israeli army said the Haziz facility was also struck on Sunday.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said earlier this month that the Huthis would “pay with compound interest for every attempt to fire at Israel”.Beyond attacks on Israel itself, the Huthis have also targeted ships they say are linked to the country in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Israeli strikes in Yemen’s capital kill two, Huthis say

Israeli strikes in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Sunday killed at least two people, according to the country’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who have repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Israel throughout the Gaza war.AFP images showed a large fireball lighting up the skies over the rebel-held capital, leaving behind a column of thick, black smoke.The Huthis’ health ministry reported “two martyrs and 35 wounded” in the Israeli raid.A Huthi security source told AFP the air raid targeted a building in central Sanaa, while the group’s Al-Masirah TV reported that the two dead were killed in a strike on an oil company facility in the city.The channel said the targets also included a power station in Sanaa’s south that was previously hit last Sunday.The Israeli army said it had struck a military compound where the presidential palace is located, along with two power stations and a fuel depot. The strikes were “in response to repeated attacks by the Huthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel and its civilians”, including “in recent days”, it said.Late Friday, the Huthis fired a missile that Israeli authorities said had “most likely fragmented in mid-air”.-‘Heart of the capital’-Local Israeli media outlets the Times of Israel and Ynet, citing the military, reported the missile carried a cluster warhead, the first of its kind known to have been fired from Yemen.The Israeli defence ministry released a photo on Sunday showing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and army chief Eyal Zamir following the strikes in Yemen from a command bunker. In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu said the air force had struck “the presidential palace in the heart of the capital Sanaa, the city’s power plant and the fuel tanks that supply it”.”The terrorist Huthi regime is learning the hard way that it will pay — and has paid already — a very high price for its aggression against the State of Israel,” he said, adding “the whole region” was also learning a lesson in Israeli power.In a statement from their political bureau, the Huthis vowed to respond, saying they would “not deviate from the fight” against Israel and its ally the United States “until the aggression stops and the (Israeli) blockade on Gaza is lifted”.Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday condemned the Israeli strikes.Since the October 2023 start of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, the Huthis have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel, claiming to be acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.- ‘Compound interest’ -Most of the Huthi attacks have been intercepted, but they have prompted retaliatory Israeli air strikes on rebel targets in Yemen.On August 17, Israel said it targeted an energy infrastructure site in Sanaa linked to the Huthis, with Al-Masirah reporting at the time the capital’s Haziz power station was hit.The latest Israeli statement said the Haziz facility was targeted again on Sunday.A photographer working with AFP reported significant damage after the August 17 strike.Beyond attacks on Israel itself, the Huthis have also targeted ships they say are linked to the country in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden off Yemen.The group broadened its campaign to target ships tied to the United States and Britain after the two countries began military strikes aimed at securing the waterway in January 2024.In May, the rebels cemented a ceasefire with the United States that ended weeks of intense US strikes, but vowed to continue targeting Israeli ships.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said earlier this month that the Huthis would “pay with compound interest for every attempt to fire at Israel”.

US envoy criticises France’s lack of action over antisemitism

The US ambassador to Paris has upped the pressure on President Emmanuel Macron over antisemitism in France with a letter calling the government’s action on anti-Jewish hatred insufficient, days after similar criticism from Israel.US envoy Charles Kushner’s letter to Macron was dated August 25, which he noted was “the 81st anniversary of the Allied Liberation of Paris, which ended the deportation of Jews from French soil” under Nazi German occupation.In the letter, a copy of which has been obtained by AFP, he wrote: “I write out of deep concern over the dramatic rise of antisemitism in France and the lack of sufficient action by your government to confront it…”In France, not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalized,” he added.While “antisemitism has long scarred French life”, the ambassador argued that hatred of Jews “has exploded since Hamas’s barbaric assault on October 7, 2023,” which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.His remarks tally with those made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Tuesday accused Macron of fomenting antisemitism, saying it had “surged” in France following the French president’s announcement last month that he will recognise Palestinian statehood.Macron’s Elysee office was quick to hit back at Netanyahu, calling the Israeli leader’s allegation “abject” and “erroneous”.- ‘Anti-Zionism is antisemitism’ -But like Netanyahu, Kushner denounced Macron’s criticisms of Israel over the war in Gaza and his planned recognition of a State of Palestine. Such moves, he said, “embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France”.”In today’s world, anti-Zionism is antisemitism — plain and simple,” the ambassador added.”Surveys show most French citizens believe another Holocaust could happen in Europe. Nearly half of French youth report never having heard of the Holocaust at all.”What are children being taught in French schools if such ignorance persists?,” the letter read.France is home to Western Europe’s largest Jewish population at around half a million people, as well as a significant Muslim community sensitive to the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza.Both communities have reported a spike in hate crimes since Israel’s retaliatory offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the besieged coastal strip.Macron’s announcement that France would formally recognise a Palestinian state during a UN meeting in September drew a swift rebuke from Israel at the time.With the move, France is set to join a list of nations that has grown since the start of the Gaza war nearly two years ago.France is among at least 145 of the 193 UN members that now recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state, according to an AFP tally.

Kneecap to play Paris concert in defiance of objections

Irish rap group Kneecap, one of whose members faces a British terror charge for allegedly supporting Hezbollah, are to perform outside Paris on Sunday, despite objections from French Jewish groups and government officials.The local authorities have also withdrawn their subsidies for the music festival where the trio will play — the annual Rock en Seine festival, held in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud — after organisers kept the controversial band on the programme for their slot from 1630 GMT.Strongly backing the Palestinian cause and bitterly criticising Israel, the group from Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, have turned concerts into political events.Liam O’Hanna, 27, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged in England in May accused of displaying a flag of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah during a London concert in November.They played a closely scrutinised concert at the Glastonbury Festival in June, where Chara declared: “Israel are war criminals.”The group later missed playing at the Sziget Festival in Budapest after being barred from entering the country by the Hungarian authorities, a close ally of Israel.Kneecap, who also focus on Irish republicanism, are controversial within the UK and Ireland, more than two-and-a-half-decades after the peace agreement that aimed to end the conflict over the status of Northern Ireland.The group takes its name from the deliberate shooting of the limbs, known as “kneecapping”, carried out by Irish Republicans as punishment attacks during the decades of unrest.- ‘Confident’ -“We are confident that the group will perform in the correct manner,” Matthieu Ducos, director of Rock en Seine, told AFP ahead of the festival.The municipality of Saint-Cloud for the first time withdrew its 40,000-euro ($47,000) subsidy from Rock en Seine.The wider Ile-de-France region that includes Paris also cancelled its funding for the 2025 edition.However, such moves do not jeopardise the viability of the festival, whose budget was between 16 million and 17 million euros this year.The group has already played twice in France this summer — at the Eurockeennes festival in Belfort and the Cabaret Vert in Charleville-Mezieres — both times without incident.But the concert comes against a background of concerns about alleged high levels of antisemitism in France in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel and the devastating assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that Israel launched in response.”They are desecrating the memory of the 50 French victims of Hamas on October 7, as well as all the French victims of Hezbollah,” said Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), calling for the concert to be cancelled.Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said vigilance would be required against “any comments of an antisemitic nature, apology for terrorism or incitement to hatred” at the event.