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Aid workers in the Palestinian territories told AFP they are concerned that rules recently floated by Israel could make already difficult humanitarian work “almost impossible”.Since the war in Gaza broke out with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, aid organisations have been contending with a “slippery slope” when it comes to Israeli authorities’ tolerance for their work, said one senior NGO staffer.But after COGAT, the Israeli body responsible for overseeing Palestinian affairs, presented a plan last month for reorganising aid distribution, that slope has gotten “much steeper”, with some NGOs deeming the proposed changes unacceptable, she added.COGAT did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.The staffer and others interviewed requested anonymity for fear of repercussions for their operations in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip, where responding to the acute humanitarian crisis brought on by the war had already been a Herculean undertaking.”The ability to deliver aid and adhere to humanitarian principles in Gaza, the access restrictions we’re facing in the West Bank… All of these things, when you put them together, you just feel like you’re watching the apocalypse,” she said.”We basically have a fire extinguisher trying to put out a nuclear bomb.”- Supply chain control -According to NGOs, COGAT presented a plan at the end of February that aims to reinforce Israeli oversight of aid by establishing logistics centres linked to the army and by enforcing tighter control over the entire humanitarian supply chain.”Logistically, it will be almost impossible,” said one member of a medical NGO, wondering whether such organisations would be forced to declare individual recipients of various medications.COGAT’s stated objective, according to the NGOs, is to combat looting and the misappropriation of aid by militants.But the NGOs say they believe looting is currently marginal, and that the best way of avoiding it is to step up deliveries.Israel, meanwhile, cut off aid deliveries to Gaza entirely early this month over an impasse with Hamas on how to proceed with a fragile ceasefire.”The thinking (of COGAT) was that Hamas would rebuild itself thanks to humanitarian aid,” said a representative of a European NGO, “but that’s false, and humanitarian aid won’t bring them rockets or missiles.”Israel “just wants more control over this territory”, he added.The NGOs said COGAT did not specify when the new rules would take effect.- ‘Lives are at stake’ -A separate government directive that came into force in March established a new, stricter framework for registering NGOs working with Palestinians.It requires organisations to share extensive information on their staff, and gives the government the right to reject employees it deems to be linked to the “delegitimisation” of Israel.NGOs operating in the Palestinian territories already face numerous difficulties, and even outright danger, particularly in Gaza.At least 387 employees have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to a recent UN estimate.Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, which was recently banned from operating in Israel, said the humanitarian community is wondering “how far can we go while remaining principled,” and at what point that would no longer be the case under the new rules.Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO network PNGO, said organisations “need to all work against” the new restrictions, adding that he believed the rules’ actual goal was to “prevent accountability and any kind of criticism on Israel towards what they committed” in Gaza and the West Bank.”Lives are at stake,” he added.The head of an international NGO agreed that a “red line has been crossed and I think we should oppose it”.But one humanitarian in the medical sector said a principled stand would only draw flak from the Israelis, and “given the needs (of the Palestinians), principled positions don’t hold water”.

China’s economy charted an uneven trajectory in the first two months of the year, a slew of key indicators showed Monday, muddying Beijing’s drive to boost flagging consumption.Officials have looked in recent months to revive confidence in the world’s second-largest economy, which has been beset by persistent property sector woes and is now under increasing …

Data shows patchy Chinese economy in first two months of the year Read More »

Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels claimed on Monday to have twice attacked an American aircraft carrier group within 24 hours, calling it retaliation for deadly US strikes.The Huthis initially said they launched 18 missiles and a drone at the “aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships” in the Red Sea, before hours later claiming to have fired a second round.There was no immediate comment from the United States about the Huthis’ claimed attacks.In a statement posted to Telegram on Monday, a Huthi spokesperson said the attacks on the carrier group were “in retaliation to the continued American aggression against our country”.Washington has vowed to keep striking Yemen until the rebels stop attacking Red Sea shipping, with President Donald Trump warning he will use “overwhelming lethal force”.The Huthi health ministry said women and children were among the 53 people killed and 98 wounded in US strikes on Saturday.Huthi media reported more explosions on Sunday night, accusing the Americans of targeting a cotton ginning factory in the western region of Hodeida as well as the Galaxy Leader, an Israeli ship captured more than a year ago.Huthi leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi called on Yemenis to march on Monday in defiance.In response to the latest escalation along the maritime trade route, the United Nations has urged both sides to “cease all military activity”.The Iran-backed Huthis, who control much of the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, claiming to be acting in solidarity with Palestinians.Before this weekend’s targeting of the US carrier group, the Huthis had not claimed attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since January 19, when a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip.The group said it relaunched its attacks over Israel’s halting of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and would “move to additional escalatory options” if “the American aggression against our country continues”.- ‘Terrified’ -Washington’s weekend strikes against the Huthis were the first since Trump’s return to the White House in January.US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News that Saturday’s strikes “targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out”.Trump meanwhile warned the Huthis that “hell will rain down upon you”. In a social media post addressed to Iran, the US president demanded the Islamic Republic stop supporting “Huthi terrorists”.The US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed a “large scale operation” against the Huthis, which it said on Sunday night was continuing.Witnesses in Sanaa described experiencing a “horrific explosion” that shook houses and shattered windows.Footage on Huthi media showed children, including a dazed girl with blackened legs wrapped in bandages, and a woman being treated in hospital.The Huthis have sealed off areas around the blast sites, however, making it impossible to gauge the true scale of the destruction.One father of two, who gave his name as Ahmed, told AFP: “I’ve been living in Sanaa for 10 years, hearing shelling throughout the war. By God, I’ve never experienced anything like this before”.”My family and I were terrified,” he added.Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the deadly US strikes and said Washington had “no authority” to dictate Tehran’s foreign policy.The Huthis’ political bureau said its “forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation”.- ‘Fully prepared’ -A database set up by ACLED, a non-profit monitor, shows 136 Huthi attacks against warships and commercial vessels, as well as Israeli and other targets since October 19, 2023.While the Red Sea trade route normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, Huthi attacks have forced many companies into costly detours around southern Africa.The Palestinian group Hamas, which has praised Huthi support, branded the US strikes “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said: “Iran will not wage war, but if anyone threatens, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses.”The United States had already launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets.Israel has also struck Yemen, most recently in December, after Huthi missile fire towards Israeli territory.Fighting in Yemen’s own war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of the Huthi attacks on shipping.The war killed hundreds of thousands either directly or indirectly through causes such as disease, plunging Yemen into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.burs-lb/tym

Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen said Sunday they had attacked a US aircraft carrier group in the Red Sea and would target American commercial vessels, a day after US airstrikes the White House said killed senior rebel leaders.The Huthi health ministry said women and children were among those killed in the US strike on Saturday.”In response to this aggression, the armed forces conducted a military operation targeting the US aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships”, the group said in a statement.The Huthis said they had launched 18 missiles and a drone at the American ships.There was no immediate comment from the United States about the claim.Saturday’s American attacks on the rebel-held capital Sanaa as well as Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa killed 53 people and wounded 98, Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi said Sunday, updating an earlier toll.”Final toll from the massacres perpetrated by the American enemy on March 15: 53 martyrs, including five children and two women, as well as 98 wounded, including nine children and nine women,” Asbahi posted on X.US officials on Sunday vowed further strikes until the Huthis stop attacking Red Sea shipping.The United Nations urged both sides to cease “all military activity”.Before their claimed attack on the carrier, the rebels had carried out no attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since January 19, when a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip.On Tuesday, however, the Huthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli shipping over Israel’s halting of humanitarian aid to Gaza.In a televised address late Sunday, rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi added US cargo ships to its targets “as long as it continues its aggression”. He called for a million Yemenis to march on Monday in defiance.”If the American aggression against our country continues, we will move to additional escalatory options,” he said.- ‘Overwhelming force’ -US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News that Saturday’s strikes “targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out”.He told Fox News: “We just hit them with overwhelming force and put Iran on notice that enough is enough.”Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth vowed an “unrelenting” missile campaign until the Huthi attacks stop.”I want to be very clear, this campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence,” Hegseth said in a televised Fox Business interview.”The minute the Huthis say, ‘We’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones,’ this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting.”CENTCOM, the US Central Command, said it had carried out a “large scale operation” against the Huthis.Witnesses in Yemen, a country that has endured years of war, said Sunday they were taken aback by the attack’s intensity.Footage on Huthi media showed children, including a dazed girl with blackened legs wrapped in bandages, and a woman being treated in hospital.One father of two, who gave his name as Ahmed, told AFP: “I’ve been living in Sanaa for 10 years, hearing shelling throughout the war. By God, I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” he said.Trump, posting on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force” to end the Huthi attacks, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.”To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.”To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!” Trump added.The Huthis, who had long complained of marginalisation, seized Sanaa in September 2014, forcing the government to flee south and leaving the rebels controlling large parts of Yemen.A Saudi-led coalition in March 2015 began a military campaign against the Huthis that the Yemen Data Project, an independent tracker, said involved more than 25,000 air raids.Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths in Saturday’s US strikes and said Washington had “no authority” to dictate Tehran’s foreign policy.- ‘Fully prepared’ -The Huthis’ political bureau said its “forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation”.They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the two key waterways, and have previously targeted US warships.The Yemen Conflict Observatory database set up by ACLED, a non-profit monitor, shows 136 Huthi attacks against warships, commercial vessels, Israeli and other targets since October 19, 2023.The vital trade route normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, but the Huthi attacks forced many companies into costly detours around southern Africa.The Palestinian group Hamas, which has praised Huthi support, branded the US strikes “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said: “Iran will not wage war, but if anyone threatens, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses.”The United States had already launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets.Israel has also struck Yemen, most recently in December, after Huthi missile fire towards Israeli territory.Fighting in Yemen’s own war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of the Huthi attacks on shipping.The war killed hundreds of thousands either directly or indirectly through causes such as disease, plunging Yemen into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.burs-jj/gv

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he was seeking to dismiss the head of Israel’s internal security agency, who swiftly called the move political and said the premier expected “personal loyalty”.Netanyahu and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar have been engaged in a public spat in recent weeks over reforms to the agency, which has been accused of failing to prevent the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that triggered war in Gaza.At the same time, the Shin Bet has been conducting an investigation into some of Netanyahu’s aides for allegedly receiving payments from Qatar even as the Gaza war raged, according to Israeli media reports.”Due to ongoing lack of trust, I have decided to bring a proposal to the government to end the tenure of the Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.Attorney general Gali Baharav Miara, a critic of Netanyahu, said the prime minister’s move is “unprecedented” and its legality needs to be assessed.In a letter to Netanyahu she said he cannot initiate the process “until the factual and legal foundation of your decision is fully clarified, and until the possibility of addressing the issue at this time is determined.”Netanyahu, in his statement, said that “there must be complete trust between the prime minister and the head of the Shin Bet,” given that Israel is at war.”I have had a persistent lack of confidence in the head of the Shin Bet, a distrust that has only grown over time,” he said.Netanyahu said Bar’s dismissal “is necessary to restore the organisation, achieve all our war objectives, and prevent the next disaster.”Previously, he has accused Bar of being behind what he called “part of an ongoing campaign of threats and media leaks” aimed at preventing him “from making the necessary decisions to restore the Shin Bet after its devastating failure on October 7″.- ‘Personal loyalty’ -Following Netanyahu’s announcement, Bar said he did not believe Netanyahu’s decision was related to the failures on October 7, suggesting instead that the motive was political.”I took responsibility for the agency’s part (in failing to prevent the attack) … it is clear that the intent behind my dismissal is not related to October 7,” said Bar, whose term is due to expire in October 2026.”The prime minister’s expectation of a personal loyalty that contradicts the public interest is an entirely improper expectation” that goes against the agency’s ethics, he said.Bar has led the Shin Bet since 2021, but his relations with Netanyahu were strained even before the Hamas attack, notably over proposed judicial reforms that had split the country.Relations worsened after the March 4 release of the internal Shin Bet report on the Hamas attack.It acknowledged the agency’s own failure in preventing the attack, but also said “a policy of quiet had enabled Hamas to undergo massive military buildup”.The attack resulted in 1,218 deaths on the Israeli side, mostly civilians. Israel’s retaliatory response in Gaza has killed at least 48,572 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.In his statement on Sunday, Bar repeated previous comments that a broader probe is necessary to understand the failure to stop the attack. Bar emphasised the need to “investigate all parties, including the government’s policy and the prime minister, not just the IDF (military) and the Shin Bet”. Bar’s responsibilities appear to have been curtailed already.Media reports say he was excluded from a recent security cabinet meeting and also the Israeli negotiating delegation for Gaza truce talks in Qatar. The talks are being led by Bar’s deputy, known only as ‘M’.Bar had been involved in previous sessions of indirect negotiations with Hamas, including those that led to the current fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.Israel’s main opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid, who’s government appointed Bar, said his political party, Yesh Atid, would file a legal petition with the Supreme Court to appeal Netanyahu’s decision.Lapid said on X that the move to remove Bar was to “sabotage a serious criminal investigation into the Prime Minister’s Office”.

Israel said its negotiating team was discussing the hostage issue with Egyptian mediators Sunday, as deep divisions persist between Israel and Hamas over the terms of a fragile Gaza ceasefire.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, sought to dismiss the head of internal security agency Shin Bet, amid a public spat over proposed reforms to the agency following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.Mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, the initial phase of the ceasefire took effect on January 19, largely halting more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza triggered by the Hamas attack.That phase ended in early March, and though both sides have since refrained from all-out war, they have been unable to agree on the next stage of the ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.Netanyahu’s office said in a statement an Israeli negotiating team was “currently meeting in Egypt with senior Egyptian officials to discuss the issue of hostages”.Late on Saturday, Netanyahu had told Israeli negotiators to continue the indirect talks on the ceasefire.He directed them to base the negotiations on what his office said was a proposal by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff that calls for the “immediate release of 11 living hostages and half of the deceased hostages”.However, Witkoff told CNN on Sunday he had offered a “bridge proposal” that would see five living hostages, including Israeli-American Edan Alexander, released in return for freeing a “substantial amount of Palestinian prisoners” from Israel jails.”I thought the proposal was compelling,” Witkoff said.Hamas said Friday it was ready to free Alexander and the remains of four others, who an official of the movement described as Israeli-Americans.Witkoff said Hamas had provided “an unacceptable response” to the proposal and “the opportunity is closing fast”.A Hamas official, however, said its delegation “held fruitful discussions with our Egyptian brothers, focusing on ways to advance the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in light of Hamas’s acceptance of the updated American proposal”.- Deadlock -During the truce’s first phase, Hamas released 33 hostages, including eight deceased, and Israel freed around 1,800 Palestinian detainees.Since then, Hamas has consistently demanded negotiations for the second phase.Former US president Joe Biden had outlined a second phase involving the release of remaining living hostages, the withdrawal of all Israeli forces left in Gaza and establishment of a lasting ceasefire. Israel, however, wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, insisting that any transition to the second phase must include “the total demilitarisation” of Gaza and the removal of Hamas, which has controlled the territory since 2007.The talks are now at an impasse, with both sides sticking to their positions and accusing each other of obstructing progress.Israel has cut aid and electricity to the territory during the talks deadlock.”It’s so hard for me to think about what they’re (hostages) going through right now because I know that feeling,” freed Israeli captive Omer Shem Tov said in a newly released video.”It’s a terrible feeling and it has to stop as soon as possible.”Gaza resident Mohammad Hallas, 41, said Hamas had no choice but to agree to release the hostages.”The fastest way for Hamas to reach a solution is to free the prisoners,” Hallas told AFP.”The situation in Gaza is catastrophic and worsens every day. Everything is in Israel’s hands, and Hamas only has the prisoners as a bargaining chip.”The October 7 attack resulted in 1,218 deaths on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, while Israel’s retaliatory response in Gaza has killed at least 48,572 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.- Air strikes -In a related development, Netanyahu said he wanted to dismiss Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, accused of failing to prevent the Hamas attack.”I have had a persistent lack of confidence in the head of the Shin Bet, a distrust that has only grown over time,” Netanyahu said in a statement.He said Bar’s dismissal “is necessary to restore the organisation, achieve all our war objectives, and prevent the next disaster.”Bar said his dismissal was “not related” to the Hamas attack, and in a statement said: “The prime minister’s expectation of a personal loyalty that contradicts the public interest is an entirely improper expectation.”Despite the fragile truce still holding, near-daily Israeli air strikes on Gaza continue.On Sunday, an Israeli air strike targeted a “terrorist who was operating near IDF troops and attempting to plant explosive devices” in central Gaza, the military said.It came a day after strikes in north Gaza’s Beit Lahia killed nine people, including four Palestinian journalists, the territory’s civil defence agency said of the deadliest attack on a single site since January 19.Hamas condemned the attack as “a horrible massacre” and “a blatant violation of the ceasefire”.Israel’s military said it hit “a terrorist cell”.

US officials on Sunday vowed further strikes in Yemen until the Huthi rebels decide to end their attacks on Red Sea shipping, while also threatening action against the group’s backer Iran.In a wave of strikes on Saturday, the first against the rebel group since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January, several Huthi leaders were killed, the White House said.The airstrikes “actually targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out,” National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News.He added that the United States “will hold not only the Huthis accountable, but we’re going to hold Iran, their backers, accountable as well.””And if that means their targeting ships that they have put in to help, their Iranian trainers… other things that they have put in to help the Huthis attack the global economy, those targets will be on the table too.”In a separate appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” he said the strikes “put Iran on notice that enough is enough.”The US strikes killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, the Yemeni rebel group’s health ministry said Sunday.The Tehran-backed group, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, staunchly oppose Israel and the United States and say the shipping attacks are in protest of Israel’s war in Gaza.The Huthis have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since the outbreak of the war, which was spurred by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.US warships have been attacked 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023, according to the Pentagon, putting a major strain on a sea route that normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic.Trump, in a lengthy Truth Social post Saturday announcing the latest attacks, warned Huthi leaders that “YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!”Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth echoed that message Sunday, vowing an “unrelenting” missile campaign until the Huthi attacks stop.”I want to be very clear, this campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence,” Hegseth said on the Fox Business Network’s “Sunday Morning Futures” program.”The minute the Huthis say, ‘We’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones,’ this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting.”Yemen has seen over a decade of civil war, with the Huthis controlling the capital Sanaa since 2014.Hegseth, in blunt terms, said the United States was not seeking to get involved in a long Middle East war.”We don’t care what happens in the Yemeni civil war,” he said.”This is about stopping the shooting at assets in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States.”Trump last month sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing nuclear talks and saying that in the absence of a deal the matter could be handled “militarily.”Tehran chafed at that suggestion, saying it would not negotiate while being “threatened.”Waltz, in his ABC interview, said flatly: “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. All options are on the table to ensure it does not have one.”He added: “They can either hand it over and give it up in a way that is verifiable, or they can face a whole series of other consequences, but either way, we cannot have a world with the ayatollahs with their finger on the nuclear button.”

A White House official on Sunday said a wave of United States air strikes on Yemen killed senior Huthi rebel leaders and sent a message to their Iranian backers.Attacks on the rebel-held capital Sanaa as well as Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women”, Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi said.US President Donald Trump said he had ordered Saturday night’s strikes and threatened more if the rebels kept up their attacks on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping.The rebels have carried out no attacks in the waterways since January 19, when a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip, but on Tuesday said they would resume attacks on Israeli shipping.US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News the strikes “targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out.”He told Fox News: “We just hit them with overwhelming force and put Iran on notice that enough is enough.”The Huthis, who have fought for years in their country, vowed a response.Witnesses to the bombing said on Sunday they were taken aback by its intensity. Footage on Huthi media showed children, including a dazed girl with blackened legs wrapped in bandages, and a woman being treated in hospital.- ‘Terrified’ -One father of two, who gave his name as Ahmed, told AFP his “house shook, the windows shattered, and my family and I were terrified”.”I’ve been living in Sanaa for 10 years, hearing shelling throughout the war. By God, I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” he said.Trump, posting on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force” to end the Huthi attacks, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.”To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.Trump also issued a stern warning to Tehran.”To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!” he said.The Huthis, who had long complained of marginalisation, seized Sanaa in September 2014, forcing the government to flee south and leaving the rebels controlling large parts of the country.A Saudi-led coalition in March 2015 began a military campaign against the Huthis that the Yemen Data Project, an independent tracker, said involved more than 25,000 air raids.Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths in the US strikes and said Washington had “no authority” to dictate Tehran’s foreign policy.US Central Command, which posted videos of warplanes taking off and a bomb demolishing a compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.- ‘Fully prepared’ -The Huthis’ political bureau said its “forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation”.They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the two key waterways.Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”.The Yemen Conflict Observatory database set up by ACLED, a non-profit monitor, shows 136 Huthi attacks against warships, commercial vessels, Israeli and other targets since October 19, 2023.The campaign put a major strain on the vital trade route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies to take a costly detour around southern Africa.The Palestinian group Hamas, which has praised Huthi support, branded the US strikes “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.Iran denounced them as a “gross violation of the principles of the UN Charter”.The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said: “Iran will not wage war, but if anyone threatens, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses.”- ‘Political dialogue’ – The United States had already launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets.Israel has also struck Yemen, most recently in December, after Huthi missile fire towards Israeli territory.Trump’s administration this month reclassified the Huthis as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with the group.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Moscow is close to Tehran.”Continued Huthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,” Rubio told Lavrov, according to the State Department.Russia’s foreign ministry said “Lavrov stressed the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue… (to) prevent further bloodshed”.Fighting in Yemen’s own war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of the Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.The war killed hundreds of thousands either directly or indirectly through causes such as disease. The country plunged into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.burs-smw/srm/it