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Israel Strikes Hodeidah Port, Threatens Naval, Air Blockade in Latest Moves Against Yemen’s Houthis
A bridge crane damaged by Israeli air strikes is pictured in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen, July 31, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Israel stepped up pressure on Yemen’s Houthis on Tuesday, deploying its navy to hit targets in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah and threatening the Iran-backed movement with a naval and air blockade if attacks on Israel persist.
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said Israel carried out two strikes on the docks of Al Hodeidah port. The Israeli army said in a statement that the navy struck Houthi targets, adding the port is used by the internationally designated terrorist group to transfer weapons.
There were no immediate reports of casualties. Israel has been hitting Houthi targets with air strikes in a military campaign launched after the country severely weakened Iran’s other Middle East partners.
The Israeli military on Monday urged the evacuation of the Houthi-controlled ports of Ras Isa, Hodeidah, and Salif.
“We warned the Houthi terror organization that if they continue to fire toward Israel, they will face a powerful response and will be subjected to a naval and aerial blockade,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on X.
An Israeli military official told Reuters the operation was a unique long-range strike conducted from hundreds of kilometers away and that the navy had been preparing for it for an extended period of time.
The navy was chosen based on operational considerations, the official added.
British maritime security firm Ambrey said there was no reported damage to merchant vessels in the port following the Israeli strikes.
Ambrey also advised vessels to minimize crew movements on deck and bridge manning to a minimum while operating in the vicinity.
Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, the Iran-backed Houthis have fired at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade, in what it says are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones fired towards Israel have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
The US also launched intensified strikes against the Houthis this year, before President Donald Trump halted the campaign after the Houthis agreed to stop attacks on American ships.
The Houthis are a resilient force that survived years of Saudi-led bombing in Yemen’s civil war.
Israel has severely hurt other allies of Iran in the region – Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas, both internationally designated terrorist organizations.
The Tehran-backed Houthis and pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq are still standing.
The group’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, created the defiant force challenging world powers from a group of ragtag mountain fighters in sandals.
Under the direction of al-Houthi, the group has grown into an army of tens of thousands of fighters and acquired a huge arsenal of armed drones and ballistic missiles. Saudi Arabia and the West say the arms come from Iran, though Tehran denies this.
The post Israel Strikes Hodeidah Port, Threatens Naval, Air Blockade in Latest Moves Against Yemen’s Houthis first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Vows ‘Hurricane’ of Strikes on Gaza to Force Hamas to Accept Surrender Demand
A missile falls towards a building during an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Israel said it would step up airstrikes on Gaza on Monday in a “mighty hurricane,” to serve as a last warning to Hamas that it will destroy the enclave unless the terrorist group accepts a demand to free all hostages and surrender.
Residents said Israeli forces had bombed Gaza City from the air and blown up old, armored vehicles in its streets. Hamas said it was studying the latest US ceasefire proposal, delivered on Sunday with a warning from President Donald Trump that it was the Islamist group’s “last chance.”
“A mighty hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City today, and the roofs of the terror towers will shake,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X.
“This is a final warning to the murderers and rapists of Hamas in Gaza and in the luxury hotels abroad: Release the hostages and lay down your weapons – or Gaza will be destroyed, and you will be annihilated.”
Katz’s post appeared before reports of a shooting at a bus stop in Jerusalem that killed six people including one Spanish citizen. Hamas praised the attackers.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombed a 12-floor block in the middle of Gaza City where dozens of displaced families had been housed, three hours after urging those inside and in hundreds of tents in the surrounding area to leave.
In a statement, the IDF said Hamas terrorists who had “planted intelligence gathering means” and explosive devices had been operating near the building and “have used it throughout the war to plan and advance terror attacks against IDF forces.”
According to a senior Israeli official, the latest US proposal calls for Hamas to return all 48 remaining living and dead hostages on the first day of a ceasefire, during which negotiations would be held to end the war.
Hamas has long said it intends to hold onto at least some hostages until negotiations are complete. It said in a statement it was committed to releasing them all with a “clear announcement of an end to the war” and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
OFFENSIVE IN GAZA CITY
Israel launched a major offensive last month on Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of residents are living in the ruins having returned after the city experienced the most intense fighting of the war’s early weeks nearly two years ago.
Residents said Israeli forces pounded several districts from the air and ground, and detonated decommissioned armored vehicles laden with explosives, destroying clusters of homes in the Sheikh Radwan, Zeitoun, and Tuffah neighborhoods.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump suggested a deal could come soon to secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas. An Israeli official said Israel was “seriously considering” Trump’s proposal but did not elaborate.
The war began with an assault by Hamas-led fighters on southern Israel in 2023. The attackers killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages to Gaza. Most of the hostages were released in ceasefires in November 2023 and January-March 2025, but the group has kept others as a bargaining chip.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities and political rule in Gaza.
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Turkey Opposition Uses Tables, Chairs to Block Police Besieging Headquarters
Riot police walk outside the Istanbul provincial office of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), as CHP supporters gather near the office, after a recent court ruling that ousted the CHP’s Istanbul provincial leadership, in Istanbul, Turkey, Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dilara Acikgoz
Turkish opposition lawmakers piled tables and chairs at the entrance of an office at their party’s Istanbul headquarters on Monday to block police and prevent the replacement of a senior official whom a court ordered out last week.
The dramatic footage of the barricade standoff marked the latest chapter in a nearly year-long crackdown on the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), during which hundreds of party members have been arrested and jailed.
Outside the building, hundreds of riot police detained protesters, used pepper spray, and scuffled with leaders of the CHP, which is the main rival of President Tayyip Erdogan.
Last week, an Istanbul court ruled to oust the CHP’s Istanbul provincial head, Ozgur Celik, over alleged irregularities. It ordered that Gursel Tekin, a former CHP deputy chair, should replace Celik on an interim basis.
The CHP rejected the ruling as “null and void,” said Tekin had been expelled from the party, and vowed not to relinquish Celik’s post to anyone.
Nonetheless, Tekin arrived at the CHP headquarters amid the protests on Monday to take up the post. He entered the building with police support after a standoff with party members inside, and told reporters he was not working for the state and pledged to help solve the CHP’s problems.
A few floors above, CHP lawmakers piled the furniture nearly to the top of the door to prevent the entry of the police and Tekin. In a stairwell outside the office, police officers evacuated CHP supporters, after having used some pepper spray to force them out, witnesses said.
“Today, they are not only trying to evacuate the building from CHP (supporters) here, but they are actually attempting to dismantle democracy,” Gokhan Gunaydin, a CHP MP standing behind the barricade, said on a live X broadcast from inside the room.
More than 50 CHP MPs were in the CHP headquarters to dissuade police. Istanbul’s main stock index fell 3 percent on Monday, partly over rising political risk, analysts said.
CRACKDOWN
The crackdown on the CHP is centered mainly on corruption allegations the party denies. It says the legal steps aim to eliminate electoral threats to Erdogan and weaken the opposition – charges the government denies, saying courts are independent.
Istanbul’s CHP Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested in March as part of the sprawling investigation, setting off Turkey‘s largest street protests in a decade and hitting Turkish assets.
Share and bond markets fell again last week after the latest court ruling in Istanbul, which could have implications for a separate ruling expected next week on whether CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel will be stripped of his title.
On Sunday, police barricaded the CHP offices, prompting the party to call on supporters to gather there to oppose the “siege,” after which authorities announced a ban on protests.
Access to major social media websites was restricted in Turkey on Monday, a step taken in the past by the authorities at times of political volatility. Netblocks, a global internet monitor, said access to platforms including X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and WhatsApp had been curbed.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said disregarding the court ruling amounted to obstruction of justice and that “the state will do what is necessary against any illegal initiative.”
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A Foundation Led by a Terror Sympathizer Is Waging Lawfare Against Israel
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) — a Belgium-based advocacy organization — is hunting IDF soldiers and government officials all over the world, attempting to manipulate the international legal system to arrest and prosecute Israelis for alleged crimes.
Today, the HRF is primarily targeting Israelis, but it is also establishing a dangerous precedent, whereby organizations with a radical agenda could use the same legal playbook to persecute US and NATO troops in the future.
In July, HRF submitted its most recent complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC), after the IDF targeted Al Jazeera reporter Anas al Sharif — who Israel says was moonlighting as a Hamas operative.
The complaint accuses IDF members allegedly involved in Sharif’s death of war crimes and genocide. The complaint goes on to urge the ICC to issue arrest warrants for the IDF members.
Since its founding in 2024, HRF has filed several complaints against Israelis with the ICC, including a sweeping complaint in October 2024 that identified 1,000 IDF soldiers purportedly involved in the war in Gaza.
According to HRF, the organization submitted 8,000 pieces of “verifiable evidence … including videos, audio recordings, forensic reports, and social media documentation” that allegedly document the guilt of the named soldiers. Included in the list were 12 unwitting American dual nationals.
While framed as the pursuit of justice under international law, HRF’s campaign is grounded in hatred. The group’s founder, Dyab Abou Jahjah, has been open and on the record for more than two decades regarding his affinity for terrorists, as well as his antisemitic, anti-American, and anti-Israeli beliefs.
Abou Jahjah admitted to joining Hezbollah as a young man, where he claims to have received military training. He has used social media to amplify messages from former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Shortly after 9/11, Abou Jahjah voiced his animosity towards the United States, saying that the attacks elicited feelings of “sweet revenge.” The following year, Belgian authorities arrested Abou Jahjah for his involvement in riots.
In 2005, Abou Jahjah agreed with former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that wiping Israel off the map was the “only possible moral position.” He has repeatedly glorified armed resistance, and was eventually fired in 2017 from his position with a Belgian newspaper for praising the slaying of four Israeli soldiers. In addition to its efforts at the ICC, HRF has attempted to spur the prosecution of Israelis in more than 20 countries.
HRF’s methodology for building cases against IDF soldiers is to comb through the targets’ social media accounts, collecting data to use in complaints. Meanwhile, the group monitors the soldiers’ movements, filing cases in foreign jurisdictions, as the IDF soldiers travel abroad. The organization’s efforts have also included an attempt to extradite Israelis from Nepal, and a request to Interpol to flag an Israeli citizen for apprehension.
This approach has generated some results: authorities in Lima, Peru, opened a criminal case against an IDF soldier, and Belgian authorities questioned two Israeli citizens at a music festival near Antwerp. However, none of HRF’s cases have resulted in a successful prosecution — yet.
HRF’s attempts to trigger a prosecution at the ICC should be of special concern to the United States, which — like Israel — decided not to join the ICC when it was formed, fearing that it would become a venue for lawfare. The US Congress was so concerned with the threat of ICC judicial overreach that in 2001 it passed a law authorizing the president to “use all means necessary” to liberate Americans held by the ICC.
Meanwhile, the ICC has shown it is determined to find ways to prosecute troops from countries that are not parties to the court’s founding treaty.
In 2017, the ICC announced that it would proceed with an investigation of US troops that it said committed war crimes in Afghanistan. The court argued that since Afghanistan was part of the ICC, Americans in Afghanistan were subject to its jurisdiction.
The ICC has extended that argument to Israel, claiming that because the unrecognized “State of Palestine” is an ICC member, IDF troops in Gaza are subject to the court’s jurisdiction. HRF seeks to turn that theory into reality by serving up defendants for the ICC to prosecute.
The Trump administration commendably fought back against the ICC’s overreach with Executive Orders in its first and second administrations, authorizing a series of sanctions against members of the court, with four additional ICC officials sanctioned in August.
Now, the administration should turn its attention to HRF. First, there are grounds to investigate the ties to Hezbollah of HRF and its founder Abou Jahjah, with an eye to imposing sanctions under Executive Order 13224 (as amended), which authorizes sanctions on terrorists and their material supporters, agents, and trainees. Second, HRF could be subject to sanctions if it meets the criteria laid out in Executive Order 14203, which applies to those who have “directly engaged in” or “materially assisted” the ICC pursuit of targets from countries that are not members of the court.
By standing on principle today, when the court is targeting Israelis, the US government can ensure that Americans do not become the court’s targets tomorrow.
Enia Krivine is the senior director of the Israel Program and the National Security Network at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow her on X @EKrivine.