Latest news with #MahdiAlMashat
Al Bawaba
4 days ago
- Politics
- Al Bawaba
Flights halted at Ben Gurion as Yemen missile triggers sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
Published June 2nd, 2025 - 06:14 GMT This marks the second missile fired from Yemen within 24 hours that has forced a halt to flights at Ben Gurion Airport, causing significant disruption to air travel and raising alarm across central Israel. ALBAWABA- Air raid sirens sounded across Jerusalem and the greater Tel Aviv area following a missile launch from Yemen, according to the Israeli military. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that they detected the missile and activated their air defense systems in response. This marks the second missile fired from Yemen within 24 hours that has forced a halt to flights at Ben Gurion Airport, causing significant disruption to air travel and raising alarm across central Israel. — משה موشي جرادي 🆇 Moshi (@mosha3324) June 2, 2025 The launch follows a direct warning from the Houthi-run Supreme Political Council Head in Yemen. In a recent statement, the council's president, Mahdi Al-Mashat, urged all foreign companies operating in Israel to leave immediately, threatening that damage would not be limited and vowing to escalate strikes against Israeli targets. The Houthis have pledged to continue air and maritime operations against what they called 'the invading entity' unless Israel lifts its blockade on Gaza and allows humanitarian aid to reach its people. In response to earlier Houthi strikes, Israel has carried out multiple attacks on key infrastructure in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, targeting airports, ports, and other strategic sites, many of which serve as critical lifelines for millions of Yemenis. © 2000 - 2025 Al Bawaba (
Al Arabiya
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Is there really a growing rift between the US and Israel?
There was shock in Israel on May 4 when a missile, launched by the Houthis from Yemen, managed to evade the country's air defences and hit Ben Gurion airport. The attack injured several civilians and caused considerable economic damage, with several foreign airlines suspending flights to Israel indefinitely. Two days later, US President Trump dropped a bombshell of his own, announcing that the US would stop attacking the Houthis, after they had agreed not to 'blow up ships anymore.' The deal was brokered by Oman and the country's foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, confirmed the agreement, saying it ensured 'freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping.' For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. US air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen began under the Biden administration with the aim of keeping the Red Sea open for global shipping. When Trump became president in January, he intensified air strikes on the Houthis, after they threatened to resume attacks on Israeli ships. The Houthis, however, were quick to say the agreement with the US did not cover Israeli shipping. The head of their ruling Supreme Political Council in Yemen, Mahdi al-Mashat, said the group would continue its maritime as well as missile attacks 'in support of Gaza.' When this was pointed out to Trump, he gave a verbal shrug of the shoulders, saying 'I don't know about that, but I know one thing: They want nothing to do with us.' Israeli officials told the press that they had received no prior notice of the US-Houthi agreement. To many in Israel, this was the latest in a series of surprise and unwelcome decisions by the US taken without consultation with its main regional ally. President Trump's decision not to visit Israel during his upcoming trip to the Gulf only boosted to speculation of a rift between the US and Israel. In March, Israeli leaders were taken aback when Trump decided to send his special envoy Adam Boehler to talk directly to Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya in a bid to win the release of American hostages held in Gaza. The talks with Hamas in the end got nowhere. But the Israeli government, which has put the destruction of Hamas as the main of its war in Gaza, were surprised to find out about these direct US contacts with its enemy. But a bigger shock for the Israelis was President Trump's volte face last month on talks with Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was blindsided by the announcement. After flying to Washington to discuss trade tariffs, he had to sit silently in the Oval Office and hear the US president announce to the world's press that he was restarting indirect talks with Iran on its nuclear programme. Netanyahu had no warning that Trump had decided to go down the diplomatic path in dealing with Iran. The main reason he had welcomed Trump's re-election in 2024 was the policy of 'maximum pressure' on Iran Trump had pursued in his first term as president, and because Trump had withdrawn from the nuclear deal with Iran negotiated in 2015 by the Obama administration. Now, the Israeli leadership feared, Trump was letting himself be tricked by a wily Iran into open-ended talks, while the regime would continue its uranium enrichment to the point where it could rapidly acquire a nuclear device. The Netanyahu government, by contrast, has been pressuring Washington into participating in, or at the very least giving the go ahead for the Israeli military to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. Their reasoning is that these sites have never been so vulnerable, following Israeli air strikes last October, which destroyed much of Iran's air-defence systems. But Israel knows it cannot attack Iran while the US is engaged in diplomacy with it, hence its frustration at the Trump announcement. Iran knows this, and the US-Houthi truce agreement is clearly a move by Iran to keep open the diplomatic channels with the US and forestall any possible Israeli attack. The foreign minister of Oman, the broker for the Iran-US talks, hinted at this when he said he hoped the US-Houthi deal would lead to 'further progress on many regional issues.' And Iranian officials were quoted by The New York Times saying that Iran had persuaded the Houthis to stop their attacks on US shipping and linked this to the nuclear talks. Despite these apparent differences between the US and Israel, however, it is a mistake to assume that President Trump's often unpredictable decision making, conducted without consultation with close allies, necessarily denotes division on substantive policy. For example, the UK, which partners the US in air strikes on the Houthis, was also surprised by Trump's announcement of this truce with the Houthis. Moreover, there is agreement between the US and Israel on basic regional policy – whether this is stopping Hamas ruling Gaza in the future or preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Even while the US administration talks to Iran, it has not withdrawn the threat of military action. Trump himself warned he would strike Iran if it did not permanently disable the centrifuges that are enriching uranium to a level approaching that needed for a nuclear device. 'There are only two alternatives there, blow them up nicely or blow them up viciously.' Trump's interlocutor with Iran, Steve Witkoff, was quick to deny that the US was seeking another Obama-style nuclear deal that would allow Iran to simply delay work on making a bomb. He declared in an interview that stopping Iran having any enrichment programme was a US red line. 'They cannot have centrifuges; they cannot have anything that allows them to build a weapon.' Witkoff also made clear he would not sit in endless talks while Iran forged ahead with its nuclear programme. 'If the Iranians make the mistake of thinking they can procrastinate at the table, then they won't see that much of me.' All allies of the US have occasionally felt blindsided by statements from President Trump, who clearly enjoys pulling surprises on America's friends and foes alike. In his second term, he shows a willingness to experiment with policy initiatives and make changes if he feels they are not working, for example in setting US import tariffs. In this context it is rash to conclude that the US is fundamentally altering alliances with its long-standing allies like Israel.
News.com.au
08-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
US, Yemen's Huthis agree ceasefire: mediator Oman
The United States and Yemen's Huthis have agreed a ceasefire, mediators announced, saying the deal would ensure "freedom of navigation" in the Red Sea where the Iran-backed rebels have attacked shipping for months. The agreement comes after President Donald Trump announced that the United States would end attacks against the Huthis after the rebels agreed to stop harassing ships, though he made no direct mention of recent attacks on ally Israel. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi on Tuesday said that "following recent discussions and contacts... with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides". "Neither side will target the other... ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping" in the Red Sea, he added in a statement. At the White House, Trump said the rebels had "capitulated" after a seven-week US bombing campaign that left 300 dead, according to an AFP tally of Huthi figures. The rebels' political leader Mahdi al-Mashat did not comment on the accord but promised a "painful" response to deadly Israeli strikes in retaliation for missile fire at Israel's main airport. Huthi spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam told the rebels' Al-Masirah television channel that any US action would garner a response. "If the American enemy resumes its attacks, we will resume our strikes," he said. "The real guarantee for the accord is the dark experience that the United States has had in Yemen," he added. Mashat said attacks on Israel, the United States' main ally in the region, "will continue" and go "beyond what the Israeli enemy can withstand". Huthi rebels have been attacking Israel and merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since late 2023, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. The Yemeni rebels had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war. But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on shipping over Israel's aid blockade on the Gaza Strip, triggering a response from the US military, which began hammering the rebels with near-daily air strikes. "The Huthis have announced... that they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight," Trump said. "And we will honour that, and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated," he added. "They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that's... the purpose of what we were doing." The Pentagon said last week that US strikes had hit more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since mid-March. - 'Completely destroyed' - Trump's comments came hours after Israeli warplanes knocked the airport in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa out of action in raids that killed three people, according to the Huthis. The Sanaa airport suspended all flights until further notice, its director said on Wednesday, after it sustained "severe damage" in the Israeli strikes. "Around $500 million in losses were caused by the Israeli aggression on Sanaa airport," its general director Khaled al-Shaief told Al-Masirah television. Israel's military said "fighter jets struck and dismantled Huthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport". The strikes came after a Huthi missile gouged a crater near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Sunday. - 'Fear and terror' - Residents reported power cuts after the Israelis also struck three electricity stations in and around the capital. "Our children are terrified," said Umm Abdallah, a 35-year-old Sanaa resident. "They are afraid to go to the bathroom or eat because of the strikes." Just before Tuesday's attacks, Israel's military called on Yemeni civilians to "immediately" evacuate the airport and its surroundings. Tensions have soared this week over Israel's plan to expand military operations in Gaza and displace much of the besieged territory's population. The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, called the attacks in Yemen and Israel "a grave escalation". Israel says it has targeted Yemen five times since July 2024. Huthi authorities have reported a total of 29 people killed. Israel's army regularly intercepts missiles launched from Yemen. Sanaa airport reopened to international flights in 2022 after a six-year blockade by a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Huthis. It offers a regular service to Jordan on the national airline Yemenia.
News24
07-05-2025
- Politics
- News24
US, Yemen Houthis agree to truce after they ‘capitulated' says Trump
The US and Yemen's Houthis have agreed to a ceasefire. The Houthis agreed to stop targeting ships in the Red Sea, said mediator Oman. The Houthis vowed to continue attacking Israel. The US and Yemen's Houthis have agreed a ceasefire, mediators announced on Tuesday, saying the deal would ensure 'freedom of navigation' in the Red Sea where the Iran-backed rebels have attacked shipping for months. The agreement comes after US President Donald Trump announced that the US would end attacks against the Houthis after the rebels agreed to stop harassing ships, though he made no direct mention of recent attacks on ally Israel. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said that 'following recent discussions and contacts... with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides'. 'Neither side will target the other... ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping' in the Red Sea, he added in a statement. At the White House, Trump said the rebels had 'capitulated' after a seven-week US bombing campaign that left 300 dead, according to an AFP tally of Houthi figures. The rebels' political leader Mahdi al-Mashat did not comment on the accord but promised a 'painful' response to deadly Israeli strikes in retaliation for missile fire at Israel's main airport. Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdelsalam told the rebels' Al-Masirah television channel that any US action would garner a response. If the American enemy resumes its attacks, we will resume our strikes. Mohammed Abdelsalam 'The real guarantee for the accord is the dark experience that the United States has had in Yemen,' he added. Mashat said attacks on Israel 'will continue' and go 'beyond what the Israeli enemy can withstand'. Houthi rebels have been attacking Israel and merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since late 2023, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians as the Gaza war rages. The Yemeni rebels had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war. But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on shipping over Israel's aid blockade on the Gaza Strip, triggering a response from the US military, which began hammering the rebels with near-daily air strikes. 'The Houthis have announced... that they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight,' Trump said. 'And we will honour that, and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated,' he added. 'They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that's... the purpose of what we were doing.' The Pentagon said last week that US strikes had hit more than 1 000 targets in Yemen since mid-March. Trump's comments came hours after Israeli warplanes knocked the airport in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa out of action in raids that killed three people, according to the Houthis. The Sanaa airport suspended all flights until further notice, its director said on Wednesday, after it sustained 'severe damage' in the Israeli strikes. Israel's military said 'fighter jets struck and dismantled Houthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport.' The strikes came after a Houthi missile gouged a crater near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Sunday. Residents reported power cuts after the Israelis also struck three electricity stations in and around the capital. 'Our children are terrified,' said Umm Abdallah, a 35-year-old Sanaa resident. 'They are afraid to go to the bathroom or eat because of the strikes.' Just before Tuesday's attacks, Israel's military called on Yemeni civilians to 'immediately' evacuate the airport and its surroundings. Tensions have soared this week over Israel's plan to expand military operations in Gaza and displace much of the besieged territory's population. The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, called the attacks in Yemen and Israel 'a grave escalation'. Israel says it has targeted Yemen five times since July 2024. Houthi authorities have reported a total of 29 people killed. Israel's army regularly intercepts missiles launched from Yemen. Sanaa airport reopened to international flights in 2022 after a six-year blockade by a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis. It offers a regular service to Jordan on the national airline Yemenia.
CNA
07-05-2025
- Politics
- CNA
US, Yemen's Houthis reach ceasefire deal
MUSCAT, Oman: The United States and Yemen's Houthis have agreed to a ceasefire, mediators announced on Tuesday (May 6), saying the deal would ensure "freedom of navigation" in the Red Sea where the Iran-backed rebels have attacked shipping for months. The agreement comes after President Donald Trump announced that the US would end attacks against the Houthis after the rebels agreed to stop harassing ships, though he made no direct mention of recent attacks on ally Israel. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said that "following recent discussions and contacts ... with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides". "Neither side will target the other ... ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping" in the Red Sea, he added in a statement. At the White House, Trump said the rebels had "capitulated" after a seven-week US bombing campaign that left 300 dead, according to an AFP tally of Houthi figures. The rebels' political leader Mahdi al Mashat did not comment on the accord but promised a "painful" response to deadly Israeli strikes in retaliation for missile fire at Israel's main airport. Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam told the rebels' Al-Masirah television channel that any US action would garner a response. "If the American enemy resumes its attacks, we will resume our strikes," he said. "The real guarantee for the accord is the dark experience that the US has had in Yemen," he added. Mashat said attacks on Israel "will continue" and go "beyond what the Israeli enemy can withstand". Houthi rebels have been attacking Israel and merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since late 2023, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians as the Gaza war rages. The Yemeni rebels had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war. But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on shipping over Israel's aid blockade on the Gaza Strip, triggering a response from the US military, which began hammering the rebels with near-daily air strikes. "The Houthis have announced ... that they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight," Trump said. "And we will honour that, and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated," he added. "They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that's ... the purpose of what we were doing." The Pentagon said last week that US strikes had hit more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since mid-March. "COMPLETELY DESTROYED" Trump's comments came hours after Israeli warplanes knocked the airport in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa out of action in raids that killed three people, according to the Houthis. The Sanaa airport suspended all flights until further notice, its director said on Wednesday, after it sustained "severe damage" in the Israeli strikes. Israel's military said "fighter jets struck and dismantled Houthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport". The strikes came after a Houthi missile gouged a crater near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Sunday. "FEAR AND TERROR" Residents reported power cuts after the Israelis also struck three electricity stations in and around the capital. "Our children are terrified," said Umm Abdallah, a 35-year-old Sanaa resident. "They are afraid to go to the bathroom or eat because of the strikes." Just before Tuesday's attacks, Israel's military called on Yemeni civilians to "immediately" evacuate the airport and its surroundings. Tensions have soared this week over Israel's plan to expand military operations in Gaza and displace much of the besieged territory's population. The United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, called the attacks in Yemen and Israel "a grave escalation". Israel says it has targeted Yemen five times since July 2024. Houthi authorities have reported a total of 29 people killed. Israel's army regularly intercepts missiles launched from Yemen. Sanaa airport reopened to international flights in 2022 after a six-year blockade by a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis. It offers a regular service to Jordan on the national airline Yemenia.
