Latest news with #NationalResistanceForce
Mint
3 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Iran is moving to rearm its militia allies
Iran suffered a significant setback when Israel killed top military leaders and the U.S. struck its nuclear facilities, but a pattern of high-value weapons seizures shows Tehran is making new efforts to arm its militia allies across the Middle East. Forces allied with Yemen's internationally recognized government this week intercepted a major shipment of missiles, drone parts and other military gear sent to Houthi rebels on the Red Sea coast. Syria's new government says it has seized a number of weapons cargoes, including Grad rockets—for use in multiple-launch systems mounted on trucks—along its borders with Iraq and Lebanon. The Lebanese army, meanwhile, has seized shipments brought in across its border with Syria that include Russian antitank missiles favored by Hezbollah. 'Iran is rebuilding its presence in the Levant by sending missiles to Hezbollah and weapons from Iraq to Syria," said Michael Knights, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Washington Institute for Near East Policy with expertise in Iran's militia allies. Yemeni forces said Wednesday they had seized a record number of Iranian missiles destined for the Houthis. The shipment was intercepted by the National Resistance Force, a military coalition aligned with the Yemeni government. The U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for America's military operations in the Middle East, said it was the National Resistance Force's largest seizure of advanced Iranian conventional weapons—750 tons of cruise missiles, antiship and antiaircraft missiles, warheads, targeting components and drone engines. The shipments were hidden aboard a ship called a dhow, beneath declared cargoes of air conditioners. They included Iranian-developed Qader antiship missiles and components for the Saqr air-defense system, which the Houthis have used to bring down U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones. Previous seizures by the Yemeni and U.S. governments generally yielded small arms or spare parts rather than fully assembled missiles. The seizure comes just weeks after a cease-fire stopped Israel's 12-day air campaign against Iran—a series of attacks that demonstrated Iran's vulnerability despite the arsenal of missiles and militia allies it had built up to protect itself. The U.S. joined in the attack by bombing key Iranian nuclear facilities. This spring, the U.S. pounded Houthi positions for nearly two months in an effort that ended with a cease-fire and left the Houthis looking for more high-end hardware. 'The timing and scale of this shipment strongly suggest Iran is moving quickly to replenish Houthi stockpiles depleted by U.S. airstrikes," said Mohammed al-Basha, founder of U.S.-based Middle East security advisory Basha Report. It shows Tehran wants to 'sustain their high operational tempo targeting Israel and commercial maritime traffic," he said. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei on Thursday said any claim Tehran had sent weapons to Yemen was baseless. The resupply effort might already be yielding results. Last week, Houthi fighters used rocket-propelled grenades, missiles and drones to sink two merchant ships in the Red Sea, killing at least three crew members and taking others hostage. The militant group has also been lobbing ballistic missiles at Israel for weeks, though most are intercepted. While the seized cargoes transited through the East African country of Djibouti, which sits across the mouth of the Red Sea from Yemen, the National Resistance Force found multiple documents in Farsi indicating their origin was Iran. The documents included a manual for cameras used to guide antiaircraft missiles and a quality certificate attached to a missile fin manufactured by an Iranian company. Iran's efforts to move weapons to Hezbollah have been extensive as well. The militant group was forced into a cease-fire last fall after an Israeli campaign of covert operations, airstrikes and a ground incursion wiped out most of its arsenal and leadership. There has been 'an intensifying trend in recent months of smuggling attempts via or originating from Syria" to Lebanon's Hezbollah, said Michael Cardash, the former deputy head of the bomb disposal division at Israel's national police. The arms pipeline has been crimped by the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, which was aligned with Iran, and its replacement by a hostile government. Traffickers now have to bring in arms in small shipments after previously sending truckloads, said Cardash, who is now in charge of explosives research at Israeli security consulting firm Terrogence. In one example in June, the Interior Ministry of the new Syrian government announced it had seized Russian-made Kornet antitank missiles en route to Lebanon in a truck transporting cucumbers. In May, the General Security branch intercepted Iranian-made air-defense missiles near the Lebanese border, according to media outlets affiliated with the new Syrian government. Despite extensive efforts to keep Hezbollah from restocking its battered arsenal, the militant group, like the Houthis, has had some success. It manufactures its own drones and medium-range rockets, and has managed to restructure its smuggling networks to a degree and smuggle in some Kornets and other sophisticated weaponry, a person familiar with the group's operations said. Write to Benoit Faucon at
New Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Yemen fighters allied to exiled government claim seizure of tons of Iranian-supplied Houthi weapons
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Fighters allied to Yemen's exiled government claimed Wednesday they had seized 750 tons of Iranian-supplied missiles and weaponry bound for the country's Houthi rebels, the latest interdiction of arms in the country's decade-long war allegedly tied to Tehran. For years, the US 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 Wednesday, 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.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Yemen fighters allied to exiled government claim seizure of tons of Iranian-supplied Houthi weapons
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Fighters allied to Yemen's exiled government claimed Wednesday they had seized 750 tons of Iranian-supplied missiles and weaponry bound for the country's Houthi rebels, the latest interdiction of arms in the country's decadelong war allegedly tied to Tehran. 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 Wednesday, 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 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. 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 recognized 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 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Yemen fighters allied to exiled government claim seizure of tonnes of Iranian-supplied Houthi weapons
Fighters allied to Yemen's exiled government claimed on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) that they had seized 750 tonnes of Iranian-supplied missiles and weaponry bound for the country's Houthi rebels, the latest interdiction of arms in the country's decade-long war allegedly tied to Tehran. 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.
San Francisco Chronicle
5 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Yemen fighters allied to exiled government claim seizure of tons of Iranian-supplied Houthi weapons
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Fighters allied to Yemen's exiled government claimed Wednesday they had seized 750 tons of Iranian-supplied missiles and weaponry bound for the country's Houthi rebels, the latest interdiction of arms in the country's decadelong war allegedly tied to Tehran. 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 Wednesday, 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 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. 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 recognized 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 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.
