Yemen fighters allied to exiled government claim seizure of tonnes of Iranian-supplied Houthi weapons
For years, the U.S. Navy and other Western naval forces have seized Iranian arms being sent to the Houthis, who have held Yemen's capital since 2014 and have been attacking ships in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war.
The seizure announced on Wednesday (July 16, 2025), however, marked the first major interdiction conducted by the National Resistance Force, a group of fighters allied to Tariq Saleh, a nephew of Yemen's late strongman leader Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Houthis and Iran did not immediately acknowledge the seizure, which the National Resistance Force said happened in late June.
A short video package released by the force appeared to show anti-ship missiles, the same kinds used in the Houthis' recent attacks that sank two ships in the Red Sea, killing at least four people as others remain missing.
The footage also appeared to show Iranian-made Type 358 anti-aircraft missiles. The Houthis claim that they downed 26 U.S. MQ-9 drones over the past decade of the Yemen war, likely with those missiles. The majority of those losses having been acknowledged by the U.S. military.
Search ends for missing crew after Yemen's Houthi rebels sink ship in Red Sea
The footage also appeared to show drone components, warheads and other weapons. The force said it would release a detailed statement in the coming hours.
Iran denies arming the rebels, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi rebels despite a United Nations arms embargo.
The Houthis seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 and forced the internationally recognised government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S. weaponry and intelligence entered the war on the side of Yemen's exiled government in March 2015. Years of inconclusive fighting has pushed the Arab world's poorest nation to the brink of famine.
The war has killed more than 1,50,000 people, including fighters and civilians and created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
US to burn $10 million contraceptives after aid freeze, rejects UN help
US-funded contraceptives worth nearly USD 10 million are being sent to France from Belgium to be incinerated, after Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organisations to buy or ship the supplies to poor supplies have been stuck for months in a warehouse in Geel, a city in the Belgian province of Antwerp, following President Donald Trump's decision to freeze US foreign aid in comprise contraceptive implants and pills as well as intrauterine devices to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, according to seven sources and a screengrab shared by an eighth source confirming the planned destruction. The US government will spend $160,000 to incinerate the stocks at a facility in France that handles medical waste, according to four of the sources with knowledge of the matter, following Trump's decision to shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID).The US State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the negotiations to save the contraceptives from destruction or the plans to incinerate lawmakers have introduced two bills this month to prevent the destruction of the supplies but aid groups say the bills are unlikely to be passed in time to stop the Belgian foreign ministry said Brussels had held talks with US authorities and "explored all possible options to prevent the destruction, including temporary relocation.""Despite these efforts, and with full respect for our partners, no viable alternative could be secured. Nevertheless, Belgium continues to actively seek solutions to avoid this regrettable outcome," it said in a statement shared with Reuters on Tuesday."Sexual and reproductive health must not be subject to ideological constraints," it supplies, worth $9.7 million, are due to expire between April 2027 and September 2031, according to an internal document listing the warehouse stocks and verified by three Shaw, Associate Director of Advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices, told Reuters the non-profit organisation had volunteered to pay for the supplies to be repackaged without USAID branding and shipped to countries in need, but the offer was declined by the US government."MSI offered to pay for repackaging, shipping and import duties but they were not open to that... We were told that the US government would only sell the supplies at the full market value," said did not elaborate on how much the NGO was prepared to pay, but said she felt the rejection was based on the Trump's administration's more restrictive stance on abortion and family is clearly not about saving money. It feels more like an ideological assault on reproductive rights, and one that is already harming women."She added that many countries in sub-Saharan Africa had relied on USAID for access to contraception and that the aid cuts would lead to a rise in unsafe United Nations' sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, also offered to buy the contraceptives outright, three sources told Reuters, without disclosing the financial terms of the negotiations broke down, a source with knowledge of the talks said, in part due to a lack of response from the U.S. government. UNFPA declined to of the sources with knowledge of the issue said that the Trump administration was acting in accordance with the Mexico City policy, an anti-abortion pact in which Trump reinstated US participation in January. The pact forbids the US government from contributing to or working with organisations providing funding or supplies that offer access to source said there was no way for the US government to ensure that UNFPA would not share the contraceptives with groups offering abortions, violating the Mexico City source also said the matter was complicated by the fact that the contraceptives in Belgium were embossed with the USAID trademark and Washington did not want any USAID-branded supplies to be rerouted did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the concerns raised by the which says on its website that it fights for a future where everyone can access contraception and abortion, accused the State Department earlier this month of being "hellbent on destroying life-saving medical supplies, incurring additional costs for the US taxpayer in the process." The State Department declined to is a divisive issue in US politics and was a major issue in the 2024 election won by Trump. In 2022, the US Supreme Court ruled to eliminate a nationwide right to abortion, leaving abortion laws to each of the 50 states.'DOZENS OF TRUCKLOADS'One of the two sources who told Reuters the stocks of contraceptives were being trucked to France said it would likely take dozens of truckloads and at least two weeks to move the supplies out of the Geel warehouse, with a third source also confirming the scale of the operation. The French government did not immediately respond to requests for the contractor managing the supply chain for USAID's family planning programme, declined to comment on the plans to destroy the internal USAID memo, sent in April, said a large quantity of contraceptives was being kept in warehouses and they should be "immediately transferred to another entity to prevent waste or additional costs".- EndsTune InMust Watch


The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Iranian Navy helicopter confronts U.S. destroyer in Gulf of Oman
An Iranian Navy helicopter confronted a U.S. warship attempting to approach Iranian territorial waters in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday (July 23, 2025), Iranian state TV reported. The incident was the first direct encounter reported between Iranian and U.S. forces since the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, during which U.S. B-52 bombers targeted Iranian nuclear facilities. The report said Iranian forces dispatched the helicopter to confront a U.S. Navy destroyer identified as the USS Fitzgerald that approached the waters at around 10 a.m. local time. The report said the helicopter flew directly over the U.S. ship and issued a warning to maintain distance. In what the report described as a tense exchange, the U.S. warship reportedly responded by threatening to target the Iranian aircraft if it did not leave the area. The Navy referred requests for comment to the US Central Command, which said it would provide a response later Wednesday or early Thursday (July 24, 2025). The Iranian state TV report said that in response to the threats from the U.S. vessel, Iranian air defence forces announced that the helicopter was under the full protection of Iran's integrated air defence system. Eventually the USS Fitzgerald 'retreated southward,' the report said. It was not immediately clear how close the U.S. warship was to Iranian territorial waters.

Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
FULL: Tulsi Gabbard 'BUSTS' Obama 'Russia Hoax; Declassifies ‘Evidence' On Putin's 2016 Role
Houthi 'Revenge Hits Israel Hard'; 5 Drones Target Tel Aviv, Eilat, Ashdod & 2 Airports | Watch The Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for attack on three Israel cities on Monday. The Yemeni rebels said that they launched five drones and targeted Ben Gurion and Ramon International airports successfully. They said their drone launches were in retaliation to Israel's attack on Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Monday. Watch for more details. 46.5K views | 1 day ago