RSS
Iran Brokering Talks to Send Advanced Russian Missiles to Yemen’s Houthis, Sources Say
Houthi-mobilized fighters ride atop a car in Sanaa, Yemen, Sept. 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Iran has brokered ongoing secret talks between Russia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels to transfer anti-ship missiles to the US-designated terrorist group, three Western and regional sources said, a development that highlights Tehran’s deepening ties to Moscow.
Seven sources said that Russia has yet to decide to transfer the Yakhont missiles — also known as P-800 Oniks — which experts said would allow the Islamist group to more accurately strike commercial vessels in the Red Sea and increase the threat to the US and European warships defending them.
The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Russia was considering sending the missiles. Iran’s role as an intermediary has not been previously reported.
The Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile strikes on ships in the crucial Red Sea shipping channels since November to show support for Palestinians in the Gaza war with Israel.
They have sunk at least two vessels and seized another, disrupting global maritime trade by forcing shipping firms to divert cargoes and, according to industry sources, driven up insurance costs for ships plying the Red Sea.
In response, the United States and Britain have struck Houthi positions but have failed to stop the group’s attacks.
Two regional officials aware of the talks said that the Houthis and Russians met in Tehran at least twice this year and that the talks to provide dozens of the missiles, which have a range of about 300 km (186 miles), were ongoing with further Tehran meetings expected in coming weeks.
Russia has previously supplied the Yakhont missile to the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon.
One of the sources said the talks started under Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.
“Russia is negotiating with the Houthis for the transfer of Yakhont supersonic anti-ship missiles,” said a Western intelligence source. “The Iranians are brokering the talks but do not want to have their signature over it.”
Neither Iran’s UN mission nor the Russian Defense Ministry responded to requests for comment.
“We have no knowledge of what you have mentioned,” said Mohamed Abdel-Salam, the official spokesman for Yemen’s Houthis.
A senior US official declined to name the specific systems that could be transferred but confirmed that Russia has been discussing supplying missiles to the Houthis, calling the development “very worrisome.”
A US Defense Department official said any efforts to bolster the Houthis’ capabilities would “undermine the shared international interest in global freedom of navigation and stability in the Red Sea and broader Middle East.”
CLOSER RUSSIA-IRAN LINKS
Russia and Iran have been nurturing closer military ties amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. Tehran has allegedly transferred ballistic missiles to Moscow for use against Ukraine, the United States said earlier this month.
One motivation for Moscow to arm the Houthis, three sources said, is the possibility that Western states could decide to allow Ukraine to use their weapons to strike farther into Russian territory.
The senior US official said the Russia-Houthi talks “seem to be related to our posture in Ukraine and what we’re willing or not willing to do” regarding Kyiv’s requests for the lifting of restrictions on its use of long-range US-supplied weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in June that Moscow could send advanced long-range weapons — similar to those the United States and its allies give Ukraine — to the West’s adversaries around the world.
The Yakhont is considered one of the world’s most advanced anti-ship missiles, designed to skim the sea’s surface to avoid detection at more than twice the speed of sound, making it difficult to intercept.
‘GAME CHANGER’ FOR REGIONAL SECURITY
Fabian Hinz, an expert on ballistic missiles with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that the transfer of Yakhont missiles by Russia to the Houthis would be a “game changer” for regional security.
“The P-800 is a far more capable system than the anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles the Houthis have used so far,” said Hinz.
Not only could the Houthis fire them at US, British, and other warships that have been protecting commercial vessels in the Red Sea from Houthi drone and missile attacks, but they can be used as land-attack weapons that Saudi Arabia would see as a threat, Hinz said.
The senior US official said that a delegation of US officials discussed the Russia-Houthi negotiations with their Saudi counterparts during a visit to Saudi Arabia this summer, and that Washington has raised the issue with Moscow.
The Saudis have also conveyed their concerns directly to the Russians, three sources told Reuters.
The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment.
Hinz said Russia would need to help with the technical aspects of a missile delivery, including how to transfer and make them operational without the United States detecting and destroying the weapons. The Houthis would also need training on the system.
The senior US official warned of dire consequences if the transfer takes place.
“The Saudis are alarmed. We are alarmed, and other regional partners are alarmed,” the official said. “The Houthis are already creating enough damage in the Red Sea, and this would enable them to do more.”
The post Iran Brokering Talks to Send Advanced Russian Missiles to Yemen’s Houthis, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
IDF Denies Troops Fired on Civilians After Incidents of Settler Violence
Illustrative. Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
i24 News – The IDF released a statement after an incident during which Israeli soldiers opened fire on Israeli civilians in the West Bank on Saturday night, denying that the trooped fired live ammunition.
This comes at the heels of arson incidents by settlers against Palestinian villages, with clashes breaking out. The IDF said that its soldiers had come under attack on Friday as they entered the area of Kafr Malik, the site of the disturbances, by Israeli civilians. “The undermining of the rule of law and the use of violence by a radical minority harm security and stability in the area.”
The IDF later said that “an initial investigation indicates that IDF forces did not fire live ammunition at Israeli civilians in the area. It should be clarified that the battalion commander’s force operating in the Baal Hatzor area of the Binyamin brigade did not fire live ammunition at all.” On the other hand, the civilians claimed this was false, posting a video that showed shell casings on the ground right next to where the troops were deployed.
Meanwhile, the police requested the remand of six individuals, two of whom are minors, to be extended in connection with the incident.
The IDF later said that, “in another area within the sector, stones were thrown at a military vehicle near the site of the clash by masked individuals from an ambush. The force responded with a warning shot of three bullets.” A possible connection “between this incident and the claim that an Israeli civilian was injured by live fire” is being investigated.
After the incidents late last week, the IDF issued an unusual directive for soldiers to exercise special vigilance and also prepare for scenarios involving nationalist incidents perpetrated by Israeli citizens. The directive was issued after a military vehicle was set on fire inside a Jewish settlement, the tires of an armored David vehicle were punctured, and a community policing caravan near the community of Beit El was also set on fire.
“The security establishment system is highly alert,” a security official told i24NEWS. “We are seeing an escalation on the ground – and if you cannot leave a military vehicle in a Jewish community without it being burned in the sector, it is a sign that the situation is dangerous.”
The post IDF Denies Troops Fired on Civilians After Incidents of Settler Violence first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel Orders Evacuations in Northern Gaza as Trump Calls for War to End
US President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, May 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas in northern Gaza on Sunday before intensified fighting against Hamas, as US President Donald Trump called for an end to the war amid renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire.
“Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform early on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks later in the day on the progress of Israel’s offensive. A senior security official said the military will tell him the campaign is close to reaching its objectives, and warn that expanding fighting to new areas in Gaza may endanger the remaining Israeli hostages.
But in a statement posted on X and text messages sent to many residents, the military urged people in northern parts of the enclave to head south towards the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, which Israel designated as a humanitarian area. Palestinian and U.N. officials say nowhere in Gaza is safe.
“The (Israeli) Defense Forces is operating with extreme force in these areas, and these military operations will escalate, intensify, and extend westward to the city center to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organizations,” the military said.
The evacuation order covered the Jabalia area and most Gaza City districts. Medics and residents said the Israeli army’s bombardments escalated in the early hours in Jabalia, destroying several houses and killing at least six people.
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, relatives arrived to pay their respects to white-shrouded bodies before they are buried.
“A month ago, they (Israel) told us to go to Al-Mawasi (in Khan Younis) and we stayed there for a month, it is a safe zone,” said Zeyad Abu Marouf. He said three of his children were killed and a fourth was wounded in the Israeli airstrike.
“We ask God and the Arabs to move and end this occupation and the injustice taking place against us,” Abu Marouf told Reuters.
NEW CEASEFIRE PUSH
The military escalation comes as Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, begin a new ceasefire effort to halt the 20-month-old conflict and secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages still being held by Hamas.
Interest in resolving the Gaza conflict has heightened following US and Israeli bombings of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
There has also been rising concern over how aid is being distributed to Gazans in the ruined enclave. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed over the past month in the vicinity of areas where food was being handed out, local hospitals and officials have said.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group had informed the mediators it was ready to resume ceasefire talks, but reaffirmed the group’s outstanding demands that any deal must end the war and secure an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal territory.
Hamas has said it is willing to free remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive, only in a deal that will end the war. Israel says it can only end the war if Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
The post Israel Orders Evacuations in Northern Gaza as Trump Calls for War to End first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Russia Launches Largest Drone Attack Yet Against Ukraine, Kills F-16 Pilot
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
i24 News – Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia launched 537 drones and missiles against targets throughout Ukraine overnight between Saturday and Sunday, in what what described as the largest attack of the war.
Poland activated aerial defenses and scrambled jets as the six-hour onslaught continued. One Ukrainian F-16 pilot was killed as Kyiv attempted to intercept the missiles and drones, with 475 shot down.
“Tragically, while repelling the attack, our F-16 pilot, Maksym Ustymenko, died. Today, he destroyed seven aerial targets,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“Ustymenko did everything possible, but his jet was damaged and started losing altitude,” the air force said, as quoted in Politico. “He died like a hero!”
The cities of Cherkasy, Lviv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Kyiv were targeted.
The Russia attack came after Ukraine attacked the Kirovske airfield in the Crimean Peninsula, targeting air defenses, drones, and even destroying several helicopters and an air defense system.
The post Russia Launches Largest Drone Attack Yet Against Ukraine, Kills F-16 Pilot first appeared on Algemeiner.com.