Yemen's Houthis threaten to target ships linked to firms dealing with Israeli ports
In a televised statement, the Houthis' military spokesperson warned that ships would be attacked if companies ignored their warnings, regardless of their destination.
'The Yemeni Armed Forces call on all countries, if they want to avoid this escalation, to pressure the enemy to halt its aggression and lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip,' he added.
Since Israel's war in Gaza began in October 2023, the Iran-aligned Houthis have been attacking ships they deem as bound or linked to Israel in what they say are acts of solidarity with Palestinians.
In May, the US announced a surprise deal with the Houthis where it agreed to stop a bombing campaign against them in return for an end to shipping attacks, though the Houthis said the deal did not include sparing Israel.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
27 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
US envoy Witkoff to enter Gaza, inspect aid distribution: White House
US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will enter Gaza on Friday to inspect aid distribution and meet with residents of the war-wracked territory. 'Tomorrow, Special Envoy Witkoff and Ambassador Huckabee will be traveling into Gaza to inspect the current (aid) distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists.
Arab News
27 minutes ago
- Arab News
Sectarianism is in the eye of the beholder
I know it is never easy, but if we are about to have a reset then we should do the same with our perceptions of the region. Analysis of the Middle East has been dominated by two widely held beliefs: one is that conflicts are our fault because we are sectarian, and the other is that our problems are the West's fault because we have been divided into artificial states by colonialism. Both these myths belong to an era dominated by secular nationalist ideas that academia largely favored. For positive change to happen, we have to believe in ourselves and remind ourselves that, in our region, it is coexistence between sects that has been the norm and sectarian conflict the exception. We must also note that the Arab state system has been rather stable, especially if compared to that of Europe. Let me explain. First of all, sectarianism is often in the eye of the beholder. Some see it everywhere because they believe it is there. They look for it in situations that we consider mostly as normal politics. Of course, there are politicians who use sectarian speech and sometimes it works in their favor: they create the problems that they then offer to resolve. Some academics even study 'de-sectarianization' (my spellcheck insists that the word does not exist). It is as if there is a disease called sectarianism that can be treated by de-sectarianization. This blurred vision happens to people who expect complete homogeneity and do not understand coexistence. The Arab proverb that says 'me and my brother against my cousin and me and my cousin against the stranger' may be a source of confusion. This is often used to explain family and tribal solidarity, but in reality it is prescriptive rather than descriptive: it means you should stand by your brother against your cousin and stand by your cousin against a stranger, because it is often not the case. We all know that the most intense conflicts, since Cain and Abel, are between brothers. Family feuds or internal fights are driven by what Freud described as the narcissism of small differences. You do not really have to stand by your kin — in fact, this is how alliances and coalitions can develop across religious, tribal or ethnic boundaries. The debate over that proverb is also that, morally, you should stand by what is right, even if it is against your own kin. Moral sentiments, or what is culturally acceptable as a norm, are the product of numerous interactions between people. A feel for what is considered right in a society develops over time and through millions of daily exchanges. That is why societies differ — what is considered normal in one is an anomaly in the other. There are also traditional ways of resolving conflicts; sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. In a society where they do work, you will find a diverse population living together despite their sectarian, ethnic or tribal differences. They also share norms developed through long-term coexistence. In Europe, after centuries of conflict, it was resolved that people should adopt the religion of their prince, resulting in largely homogeneous divisions. In former Ottoman lands, it is diversity rather than homogeneity that is the norm — we are children of an empire that ruled over many nations. Someone coming from a society where homogeneity is the norm will find diversity abnormal and confusing; for them, everything becomes sectarian. We have to believe that diverse populations can coexist in states that cooperate, while respecting each other's sovereignty. Another misconception about the region is that the state system is artificial and therefore not viable — that we are not real nation states. This is based on the absurd notion that real states do exist and that there is a natural nation state. The whole idea of nationalism is in fact barely 150 years old and has been the cause of conflicts, rather than their solution. It is true that our borders were artificially drawn, mainly by Europeans, in the aftermath of the First World War. This was a messy affair and they did a bad job following a disastrous war and the collapse of three empires: Ottoman, Russian and Austro-Hungarian. The idea that the European state system is stable is even more of a myth than the one we are questioning about the Middle East. Nadim Shehadi The idea that three politicians, David Lloyd George of Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France and Woodrow Wilson of the US, could get it right was absurd to start with. But they did a worse job in Europe and the result was another devastating war where the boundaries of Europe were again redrawn. They came to their senses after that and worked on creating what later became the EU, which now has 27 members. The idea that the European state system is a stable one is even more of a myth than the one we are questioning about the states of the Middle East being unstable. Since the rise of nation states in the 1870s, Europe has destroyed itself twice, while borders kept changing well into the end of the 20th century. By contrast, the borders of the Arab states have been far more stable. The League of Arab States was also created post-Second World War and it has now expanded to 22 members from the original seven signatories. The Alexandria Protocol of 1944 promised cooperation in economic and cultural matters, as well as respect for each other's sovereignty. The fall of the Assad regime promises that we can go back to that. A new beginning is possible thanks to the end of an era where Arab nationalist parties sought to suppress local identities, exploit tensions between them and claim an agenda of regional domination, while deriving legitimacy from their claim of leading the Arabs in the conflict with Israel.
Al Arabiya
27 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Trump officials told Congress Israel agreed to match $30 million for GHF: Sources
Senior Trump administration officials told Congress this month that Israel agreed to match a US award of $30 million to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, a previously unreported contribution to the controversial armed private aid operation. Aside from the US contribution, which the US State Department announced in June, the sources of the foundation's funding have been opaque - GHF does not disclose its donors. Israel faces intensifying international pressure over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and its promotion of GHF's aid operation, which has distribution sites only in southern Gaza and has been called dangerous and ineffective by aid groups and the United Nations - claims the group denies. Aryeh Lightstone and Charles Leith, aides to Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, briefed US Senate and House of Representatives committees on July 8 and 9 about the GHF operation, according to the two sources. They told the congressional committees that Israel had agreed to match the $30 million that the US awarded to GHF in June, enough to fund the organization through the end of July, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Lightstone and Leith did not respond to a request for an interview and the White House referred questions to the State Department. The State Department and Israeli government did not respond to requests for comment. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US had dispensed $60 million for Gaza humanitarian aid. The State Department, however, has made no other announcements beyond the $30 million approved for the GHF in June. A third source familiar with the matter said some US officials believe Trump likely was conflating the US and Israeli funds. Lightstone and Leith told Congress the hope was that by August, other donors would see GHF's success and contribute to its operation, allowing the foundation to double its distribution sites from four to eight, according to the sources. Reuters could not verify whether Israel had disbursed the $30 million to GHF, which uses private for-profit US military and logistics firms to transport aid into the Palestinian enclave for distribution to its sites. Speaking on Wednesday to the Hudson Institute think tank, GHF Executive Chairman Rev. Dr. Johnnie Moore, a former evangelical adviser to the White House during Trump's first term, said that as a private US charity, the foundation did not have to disclose its donors. He indicated that GHF required more money. 'The biggest problem is just we need more of it, and $30 million is not going to get it done,' he said, in an apparent reference to the US contribution. GHF said in an email to Reuters that it was focused on distributing as much food as was safely possible and was continuing to press the Israeli government to allow it to open additional distribution sites, including in northern Gaza. It declined to comment on its donors or funding. Starvation in Gaza GHF has been criticized by the United Nations, aid groups and others over what they say is an unsafe aid distribution model and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards, allegations that GHF denies. Israel alleges that the UN-led aid system that has traditionally served the residents of Gaza has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the accusation. A recent US government internal analysis found no evidence of systematic theft of US-funded aid by Hamas. Starvation has been spreading in Gaza, and a hunger monitor on Tuesday said a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death. In his Wednesday remarks, Moore denied that famine is developing. 'That's made up. There's not a famine. There's acute hunger. There's not enough food in the Gaza Strip,' he said. Gaza health authorities have been reporting increasing deaths from hunger-related causes and images of emaciated Palestinian children have drawn international condemnation. Trump this week declared that many people were starving, contradicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said there was no starvation in the densely populated coastal enclave, largely destroyed by Israel's military offensive that has killed over 60,000 people according to Gaza health officials. Trump promised to set up new food centers and said the top priority in Gaza was feeding people. Gaza's food stocks have been running out since Israel, at war with Palestinian militant group Hamas since its fighters killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages back to Gaza in October 2023 according to Israeli tallies, cut off all supplies to the territory in March. That blockade was lifted in May but with restrictions that Israel says are needed to prevent aid being diverted to militant groups. Israel says it has no aim to starve Gaza. This week it announced steps to allow more aid in, including pausing fighting in some locations, air-dropping food and offering more secure routes.
