logo
War erupts in Middle-East again? Israel launches strikes Houthi targets at Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif in Yemen

War erupts in Middle-East again? Israel launches strikes Houthi targets at Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif in Yemen

Economic Times11 hours ago
Live Events
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
Israel launched a series of strikes on Hodeidah, shortly after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for people at three Yemeni ports, Yemen's Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported early on Monday. The Israeli military said it attacked Houthi targets in the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif, and Ras Qantib power plant in Yemen on Monday. This was in response to repeated attacks by the Iran-aligned group on Israel, the Israeli military said.Earlier, the Israeli military's Arabic spokesperson said that Israel will strike those areas due to military activities being conducted there.In a statement, the military's Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee identified those places as the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif, as well as the Hodeidah power station.Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem reiterated on Sunday the militant group's refusal to lay down its weapons before Israel withdraws from all of southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes. He spoke in a video address, as thousands gathered in Beirut's southern suburbs to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashoura.Since the ceasefire, Israel has continued to occupy five strategic border points in southern Lebanon and to carry out near-daily airstrikes that it says aim to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its capabilities. Those strikes have killed some 250 people since November, in addition to more than 4,000 killed during the war, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. There has been increasing international and domestic pressure for Hezbollah to give up its remaining arsenal.A1. Houthi group is based of Yemen.A2. Hezbollah group is based of Lebanon.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

With sanctions lifted, Syria looks to solar power as more than a patchwork fix to its energy crisis
With sanctions lifted, Syria looks to solar power as more than a patchwork fix to its energy crisis

Mint

time26 minutes ago

  • Mint

With sanctions lifted, Syria looks to solar power as more than a patchwork fix to its energy crisis

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Abdulrazak al-Jenan swept the dust off his solar panel on his apartment roof overlooking Damascus. Syria's largest city was mostly pitch-black, the few speckles of light coming from the other households able to afford solar panels, batteries, or private generators. Al-Jenan went thousands of dollars in debt to buy his solar panel in 2019. It was an expensive coping mechanism at the time, but without it, he couldn't charge his phone and run the refrigerator. Syria has not had more than four hours of state electricity per day for years, as a result of the nearly 14-year civil war that ended with the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in December. Syria's new leaders are hoping renewable energy will now become more than a patchwork solution. Investment is beginning to return to the country with the lifting of U.S. sanctions, and major energy projects are planned, including an industrial-scale solar farm that would secure about a tenth of the country's energy needs. 'The solution to the problem isn't putting solar panels on roofs,' Syria's interim Energy Minister Mohammad al-Bashir told The Associated Press. 'It's securing enough power for the families through our networks in Syria. This is what we're trying to do.' Some of the efforts focus on simply repairing infrastructure destroyed in the war. The World Bank recently announced a $146 million grant to help Syria repair damaged transmission lines and transformer substations. Al-Bashir said Syria's infrastructure that has been repaired can provide 5,000 megawatts, about half the country's needs, but fuel and gas shortages have hampered generation. With the sanctions lifted, that supply could come in soon. More significantly, Syria recently signed a $7 billion energy deal with a consortium of Qatari, Turkish, and American companies. The program over the next three and a half years would develop four combined-cycle gas turbines with a total generating capacity estimated at approximately 4,000 megawatts and a 1,000-megawatt solar farm. This would 'broadly secure the needs' of Syrians, said Al-Bashir. While Syria is initially focusing on fixing its existing fossil fuel infrastructure to improve quality of life, help make businesses functional again, and entice investors, the U.N. Development Program said in May that a renewable energy plan will be developed in the next year for the country. The plan will look at Syria's projected energy demand and determine how much of it can come from renewable sources. 'Given the critical role of energy in Syria's recovery, we have to rapidly address energy poverty and progressively accelerate the access to renewable energy,' Sudipto Mukerjee, UNDP's resident representative in Syria, said in a statement announcing the plan. While the war caused significant damage to Syria's infrastructure, crippling Washington-led sanctions imposed during the Assad dynasty's decades of draconian rule made it impossible for Syria to secure fuel and spare parts to generate power. 'Many companies over the past period would tell us the sanctions impact matters like imports, implementing projects, transferring funds and so on,' al-Bashir said. During a visit to Turkey in May, the minister said Syria could only secure about 1700 megawatts, a little less than 20%, of its energy needs. A series of executive orders by U.S. President Donald Trump lifted many sanctions on Syria, aiming to end the country's isolation from the global banking system so that it can become viable again and rebuild itself. The United Nations estimates the civil war caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damages and economic losses across the country. Some 90% of Syrians live in poverty. Buying solar panels, private generators or other means of producing their own energy has been out of reach for most of the population. 'Any kind of economic recovery needs a functional energy sector,' said Joseph Daher, Syrian-Swiss economist and researcher, who said that stop-gap measures like solar panels and private generators were luxuries only available to a few who could afford it. 'There is also a need to diminish the cost of electricity in Syria, which is one of the most expensive in the region.' Prices for electricity in recent years surged as the country under its former rulers struggled with currency inflation and rolling back on subsidies. The new officials who inherited the situation say that lifting sanctions will help them rectify the country's financial and economic woes, and provide sufficient and affordable electricity as soon as they can. 'The executive order lifts most of the obstacles for political and economic investment with Syria," said Qutaiba Idlibi, who leads the Americas section of the Foreign Ministry. Syria has been under Washington-led sanctions for decades, but designations intensified during the war that started in 2011. Even with some waivers for humanitarian programs, it was difficult to bring in resources and materials to fix Syria's critical infrastructure — especially electricity — further compounding the woes of the vast majority of Syrians, who live in poverty. The removal of sanctions signals to U.S. businesses that Trump is serious in his support for Syria's recovery, Idlibi said. 'Right now, we have a partnership with the United States as any normal country would do," he said. Meanwhile, Al-Jenan is able to turn on both his fans on a hot summer day while he watches the afternoon news on TV, as the temperature rises to 35 degrees Celsius (95 F). He doesn't want to let go of his solar panel but hopes the lifting of sanctions will eventually bring sustainable state electricity across the country. 'We can at least know what's going on in the country and watch on TV,' he said. 'We really were cut off from the entire world.' Chehayeb reported from Beirut.

Russia's Kosmos 2558 carried out a secretaive and dangerous military operation in space when US was busy bombing Iran
Russia's Kosmos 2558 carried out a secretaive and dangerous military operation in space when US was busy bombing Iran

Time of India

timean hour ago

  • Time of India

Russia's Kosmos 2558 carried out a secretaive and dangerous military operation in space when US was busy bombing Iran

In the last week of June 2025, the United States of America was dealing with the aftermath of bombing Iran's nuclear sites while several hundreds of kilometers up in the space, Russia was busy targeting spy satellites of its adversaries. As the Israel-Iran conflict took a dangerous turn on June 22 with US President Donald Trump sending in B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to drop the GBU-57 Massive Ordinance Penetrator bunker busters, Russian President Vladimir Putin was playing a diffent ball game, and probably testing an anti-satellite weapon. A small mysterious object, probably a spy satellite with the capability to knock down other satellites, lauched by Russia's Kosmos (Cosmos) 2558 was detected on June 26, just four days after the American bombers dropped bunker busters on Iran. The smaller satellite deployed by Russia's Kosmos 2558 is being called "2025-089C" or "Object C". It is believed to be capable of anti-satellite (ASAT) warfare. The Russians can use it to destroy other satellites and render their enemy blind in space. Launched on August 1, 2002, on a Soyuz-2-1v Volga rocket from Plesetsk cosmodrome, the Kosmos 2558 satellite's mission is unknown. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Indonesia: New Container Houses (Prices May Surprise You) Container House | Search ads Search Now Undo But defence experts claim it is "satellite inspector", meaning it has been sent to spy on other satellites. Since its launch almost three years back, the Russian satellite has been tracked as closely following the US spy satellite USA 326. Also Read: JNIM: How an al-Qaeda ally became Africa's most dangerous jihadist group and why the US should worry Live Events Russia vs USA in space The Russian Kosmos 2558 satellite is not an ordinary spay satellite but has a much bigger role. Such space spying maneuvering satellites have new names - "nesting satellites" or "space stalkers". These nesting satellites like Kosmos 2558 carry smaller and armed satellites inside them and can deploy them as per a pre-programed schedule or when they are signalled to do so from ground control. With space becoming increasingly militarized, the US, Russia and China along with a few other countries have been deplying spy satellites at a rapid pace. Some of the satellites are also likley to have offensive capabilities and can be used to either "kill" other space-based assets or even those on the ground. Even the USA 326, launched of February 2, 2022, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, has a classified mission designed to help the US military carry out its operations. The satellite is likley a KH-11 Advanced Enhanced Crystal optical reconnaissance satellite, which can capture and deliver real-time, high-resolution imagery directly to US intelligence agencies. Also Read: Epstein died by suicide, had no secret client list, once called Trump his closest friend: FBI & DOJ With another Russian spy satellite following the USA 326 closely, and now releasing a space asset with potential ASAT capability, the threat perception to America has risen manifolds. Russia has a well-oiled program to trail and hunt enemy satellites. The secretive operation of known in the western world as Project Nivelir. Under this Project Nivelir, Russian nesting satellites have launched smaller space assets at least thrice in the last five years. Such a maneuvre bring to forte the advanced capabilities of Russian space and military capabilities which have not been dented even with the ongoing war with Ukraine and the massive western sanctions in force against it since February 2022.

China Responds To Trump's Tariff Threat, Says BRICS Not Seeking Confrontation
China Responds To Trump's Tariff Threat, Says BRICS Not Seeking Confrontation

India.com

timean hour ago

  • India.com

China Responds To Trump's Tariff Threat, Says BRICS Not Seeking Confrontation

New Delhi: China on Monday responded to US President Donald Trump's threat to impose an additional 10% tariff on countries aligning with what he described as 'anti-American' policies promoted by the BRICS grouping. China emphasized that the BRICS alliance is not seeking 'confrontation' and reiterated its stance against trade wars. According to media reports, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, 'Trade and tariff wars have no winners, and protectionism is not a solution.' Beijing's statement came after Trump warned of punitive tariffs against countries adopting what he called "anti-American" BRICS policies. His latest threat follows the BRICS 2025 Summit in Brazil, where member states condemned the US-Israeli strikes on Iranian military and nuclear facilities as 'illegal.' In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump warned that 'any country aligning themselves with the anti-American policies of BRICS will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy.' However, Trump did not elaborate on what constituted 'anti-American policies,' nor did he specify which countries might be targeted under the proposed tariff rule. The BRICS summit, which brought together leaders from Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates, condemned recent US-Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites, labeling the attacks 'illegal.' This joint statement appeared to provoke Trump's tariff warning. Beyond Iran, the BRICS nations also voiced concern over the escalating conflict in Gaza, urging for peaceful resolutions and criticizing unilateral military actions. The bloc's stance reflects the broader concerns of the Global South regarding rising violence and the need for diplomatic solutions. Trump's threat signals growing tensions between the US and the BRICS coalition, as the bloc continues to assert its influence on global geopolitics, often challenging Western policies and interests.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store