Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Arabia

Israeli enemy ~~warplanes~~ drones conduct series of airstrikes on Yemen's Hodeidah port

2025-07-22

[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Israeli enemy warplanes on Monday carried out a series of ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
<del>Arclight</del> airstrike

...KABOOM!...
s on Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
's Hodeidah port on the Red Sea.

According to the Yemen Press Agency (YPA), there were no immediate reports of casualties or significant damage after the airstrikes.

The Israeli occupation army said the targets included ''engineering vehicles, fuel containers and naval vessels.''

The strikes came in response to recent Yemeni missile and drone attacks on Israeli targets.

The Times of Israel adds:

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the ~~Arclight~~ airstrikes destroyed "military infrastructure of the Houthi terror regime" at the western Yemen port, after attempts were made by the Houthis to repair areas previously targeted by Israel in response to missile and drone attacks.

Monday’s sortie marked the thirteenth time that Israel has attacked Yemen, located some 1,800 kilometers away.

Unlike previous attacks, Monday’s airstrikes did not involve dozens of fighter jets, refuelers, and spy planes. Rather, it was carried out by IAF drones, military officials told The Times of Israel.

Drones? Fascinating.

It marked the first Israeli strikes on Yemen since July 7. In the interim, the Houthis have launched six ballistic missiles and at least two drones at Israel, attacks that caused no damage or injuries.

The targets in Monday’s bombardment included "engineering equipment working to restore port infrastructure, fuel tanks, and vessels used for military activity and [attacks] against the State of Israel and ships in the maritime area near the port," the military said.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the IDF was "forcefully enforcing any attempt to restore the previously attacked terror infrastructure."

"The IDF identified continued activity and attempts by the Houthi terror regime’s forces to restore the terror infrastructure at the port; therefore, components used to advance this activity were targeted," the military said.

Hours after the strike, a drone launched at Israel from "the east" was intercepted by the IAF, the military said, adding that no sirens sounded, "according to protocol."

The drone was likely launched from Yemen, according to preliminary IDF assessments.

The Houthis last attacked Israel on Friday night with a ballistic missile that was intercepted.

Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas
Hamas

..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 62 ballistic missiles and at least 15 drones at Israel. Several of the missiles have fallen short.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has declared that Iran will maintain its support for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis

2025-07-22

[X]

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has declared that Iran will maintain its support for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

Contributed by @vanguardintel pic.twitter.com/1YlHo8vhWF
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 22, 2025

Link

Arabia

'Golden Port': Houthis Destroy Israeli Eilat and Closer to Haifa

2025-07-22

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov

[REGNUM] The protracted conflict between Israel and Yemen's Houthis has seen its first significant turning point. The pro-Iranian rebels have managed to deal a significant blow to their opponent's economy.

Tel Aviv has effectively lost its key logistics hub on the Red Sea coast and will now be forced to completely change its approach to managing the port of Eilat, which will require both time and additional costs. However, this does not guarantee the full restoration of Israeli trade and logistics chains.

SOUTH GATE
The port of Eilat has been in operation since the second half of the 1950s and is the Jewish state’s only major maritime hub in the Red Sea. Relying on its infrastructure, Israeli merchant ships could freely enter the Indian Ocean. And, more importantly, stay away from the Suez Canal, which was closed to them due to the conflict with Egypt and other Arab countries.

However, even after the normalization of relations with Egypt, Eilat made Tel Aviv less dependent on its moods and excluded Cairo from using the Suez Canal to put pressure on the Israeli economy.

Having its own gateway to the Indian Ocean worked to Israel’s advantage in 2021, when the container ship Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal, causing major disruptions to global logistics. While other countries looked for ways around it, the Jewish state simply rerouted some of its supply chains south.

It is noteworthy that the Port of Eilat, despite its strategic importance, is a private asset. It has been managed through the shipping company Papo Shipping since 2012 by the Israeli Naqash business dynasty, which received the use of the harbor in exchange for a commitment to turn it into a major combined air-rail-sea logistics center and a key element of the Southern Gate transportation project.

According to the agreement, the Southern Gate was to link together Timna International Airport, the port of Eilat and the Nahal Tzin railway hub, thereby providing a comprehensive connection between the Red Sea port and the central part of the country. The main work on the project was planned to be completed by 2027.

A PUNCH TO THE GUT
Before the Gaza conflict began in 2023, the port was one of Israel's three key seaports. It accounted for up to half of the country's automobile imports, as well as about 40% of the country's petrochemical supplies. In addition, the port received a significant portion of its income from operations related to container shipping, unloading and storing cargo from Japan, China and Thailand.

According to estimates by the Israeli Ministry of Transport, on average more than 130 ships docked there per year, bringing in up to $63 million in profits for their owners.

Interest in the Southern Gate grew rapidly, leading the Israeli establishment to call Eilat the “golden port” and make plans to turn it into the main trade hub of the Red Sea region.

True, the conflict in Gaza has made adjustments to these plans.

After the Houthis imposed a naval blockade on Eilat in the fall of 2023 and the start of a "privateer hunt" for merchant ships heading to Israel, the port's revenues fell almost twentyfold. And by the beginning of 2025, they approached zero. In the first seven months of 2025, only 6 foreign ships visited Eilat, which put the management company on the brink of bankruptcy.

The last straw for Israel's foreign trade partners was the sinking of two foreign ships by the Houthis at the beginning of July 2025, which were heading to Eilat. The dry cargo ships "Magic Seas" and "Eternity C" sank within two days of each other, although shortly before that, official Tel Aviv had guaranteed the brave shippers "harbor safety."

After that, the few remaining Eilat counterparties chose not to risk their cargo and sent their ships along alternative routes, without stopping at Israeli ports. No new ships are currently expected to call at Eilat.

VICIOUS CIRCLE
In addition to the fact that the port provided jobs for several tens of thousands of people, it also supplied goods to residents of nearby settlements. The closure spurred the already significant growth of prices in the Southern District. The Nakash dynasty was left alone with millions in debt and was forced to seriously reduce the staff of the Papo Shipping company, which services the port. And at the same time, to seek help from the central authorities.

In late June, the Israeli government approved an emergency loan equivalent to $4.5 million for the company to cover its principal debts and pay salaries to employees, but due to bureaucratic complications, the funds never arrived.

In less than a month since the loan was approved, Eilat's external debt has grown by about 35%, and the funds allocated by the authorities are no longer enough to cover it. And Papo Shipping cannot request a new loan until the first government tranche is transferred.

Businessmen and the Israeli government are passing the buck for delays, further complicating the lending process and increasing Eilat's overall debt.

The only way out of the current situation that the authorities see is the urgent nationalization of the port.

Moreover, there are grounds for this: naval facilities are located near Eilat, and it is impossible to leave the "Southern Gate" in limbo for too long. In addition, the increased activity of the Houthis in the Red Sea requires the Israeli authorities to manually control the port and the adjacent territories.

At the same time, the possible nationalization of Eilat will not be a violation of obligations to the Naqash dynasty, since the port authorities have disrupted the rhythm of tax payments to the budget and thereby “damaged the economic stability of the region.”

This formulation, voiced by the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Transport, Moshe Ben-Zaken, frees official Tel Aviv from its previous obligations and excludes the payment of penalties.

NEW THREATS
The failure of the Israeli authorities to save one of the country's largest ports, which has also seen considerable investment from private contractors in the past, is causing murmurs among the local population.

And along the way - distrust from big business, which was one of the pillars of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's electorate. Especially since it will not be possible to quickly return Eilat to its former greatness even after nationalization.

Moreover, the sad experience of the "Southern Gate" is hardly unique. The country's largest port, located in Haifa, has recently found itself in the crosshairs of Tel Aviv's opponents.

The Houthis announced their blockade at the end of May 2025. Although Ansar Allah has not yet managed to cause significant damage to ships sailing through the Mediterranean, the frequency of shelling of Haifa's port infrastructure is gradually increasing.

Like Eilat, Haifa is under private capital management – the controlling stake since 2023 belongs to a consortium led by the Indian company Adani Ports and the Israeli logistics holding company Gadot.

None of the businessmen want to follow the same path as Papo Shipping, and so the consortium is putting pressure on the government in advance, demanding that it take “comprehensive measures” and guarantee stable traffic.

However, Tel Aviv still does not fully understand how to satisfy the request of Haifa’s managers.

Link

Arabia

IDF downs Houthi missile that triggered sirens in central Israel, Jerusalem area

2025-07-19

[IsraelTimes] No injuries or damage reported in attack that the Iran-backed rebels in Yemen claim targeted Ben Gurion Airport

A ballistic missile launched Friday night at Israel by Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
rebels was intercepted by air defenses, the military said.

There were no reports of injuries or damage from the attack, which set off warning sirens in central Israel and the Jerusalem area.

The Iran-backed Houthis later issued a statement claiming responsibility for firing the missile, saying it targeted Ben Gurion Airport.

The Houthis began attacking Israel and shipping lanes in November 2023, claiming solidarity with Paleostinians in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
amid the war there between its ally Hamas
Hamas

..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
and the IDF.

Traffic through the Red Sea, a critical waterway for the world’s oil and commodities, has markedly dropped due to the targeting of ships, which the Houthis claim are linked to Israel.

In response to the attacks, Israel has carried out several strikes on Houthi-linked targets in Yemen, including the port city of Hodeida earlier this month.

Link

Arabia

Belmont Club: The Red Sea Sharks

2025-07-18

I didn’t realize it was this bad.

[PJMedia] Recent attacks by Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s on non-American-flagged shipping in the Red Sea have once again raised questions about the security of shipping in a so-called "global world."

For more than 48 hours, two merchant ships in the Red Sea tried to fight off repeated attacks by Houthi fighters who used rocket-propelled grenades, missiles, and drones to sink them both, kill at least three crew members, and take others hostage. No U.S. or allied warship was around to help.

What navies were supposed to come to their aid? While Biden-era and EU policy was ostensibly to keep the Red Sea open to everyone, the new Trump rules of engagement are only to respond to the Houthis if American ships are attacked. That left only the European task force Aspides to ride to the rescue.

But the EU task force Aspides needs a minimum of 10 naval ships plus land bases to cover the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, and northwest Indian Ocean. Only La Belle France, Germany, Italia, Greece, and Belgium actually provided a handful of ships to the freedom of navigation mission — and no land bases — while the rest provided only "support staff." With Aspides’ limited capability, it had no chance of covering its AO and could not sail to the rescue of the two ships, both of which were Greek-owned.

While the U.S. is expected to keep the Red Sea open to everyone for free, others took a narrower view. China escorts "unilateral convoys" of Chinese ships past the danger area. "Chinese state media and a shipping company have reported that China’s navy has begun escorting Chinese cargo ships across the Red Sea." Chinese ships often broadcast identifiers like "All Chinese" or "Chinese Ship" on their Automatic Identification System (AIS) in the same way some ships broadcast "All Moslem" to avoid Houthi attack.

This has historical precedent. After the American Revolution, the U.S. lost the protection of the Royal Navy, and in the face of attacks by the Barbary states, which attacked Christian nations, including the newly independent country, the U.S. protected its own ships. Hence, the origin of the Marine Corps hymn line, "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
The naval hegemon of the day, Britannia, did not provide free passage for all. Only after the Napoleonic Wars did Britannia take a stronger stance against Barbary piracy, with the 1816 Bombardment of Algiers (led by Admiral Edward Pellew) weakening the Barbary states. This was driven by British abolitionist pressure to end the slave trade, which included the Barbary enslavement of Europeans, not by a desire to aid the U.S.

Piracy in the Persian Gulf, Barbary Coast, and Red Sea gradually diminished thanks to a combination of diplomacy and naval technology. British and French colonial control over Egypt, Sudan
Sudan

...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
, and Aden (Yemen) from the late 19th century stabilized the Red Sea. The Suez Canal’s opening (1869) increased European naval presence, with Britannia’s Aden Protectorate serving as a base to patrol against piracy. For a time, governance expanded, and the writ of "international law" held increasing sway.

Perhaps most importantly, commercial maritime technology outpaced what was available to pirates — temporarily. Shipping adopted faster, larger vessels equipped with radar and communication systems, making them harder targets for small-scale pirates. For a time, these factors produced relative security.

Then, in the early 21st century, the pendulum swung again. State collapse in the Middle East and North Africa region created power vacuums and rogue regional powers willing to support corsairs. Today, great powers Russia and China support regional power Iran, which in turn supports the Houthis. Technology has also shifted in the Houthis' favor. Satellite tracking enables the targeting of distant ships with ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones. These are advantages that Western navies have yet to completely overcome.

The combination of chaos and new technology, plus its proximity to Europe, has made the region a dangerous place again. Italia and Greece are sounding the alarm: Libya is as great a threat to Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
as Ukraine:

Migrant flows from Libya are spiking again, at a time Rome is increasingly concerned about Russia’s growing influence in the unstable North African nation, wielded through arms supplies and a potential new naval base in the northeastern port of Tobruk.

Right on cue, riots in Spain have broken out over an attack on an elderly Spaniard by Moroccan ~~migrants~~ colonists. Yet it appears that, like Aspides, Europe is constrained by weakness. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez recently said that he:

...has recently announced plans to make it easier for im~~migrants~~ colonists to settle in Spain, arguing that Spanish society would suffer if immigration was to be halted: "Almost half of our municipalities are at risk of depopulation. We have elderly people who need a caregiver and can’t find one. Companies that are looking for programmers, technicians, bricklayers and cannot find them. Rural schools that need children so that they don’t have to close their doors."

But so great is Western complacency that the public is surprised and outraged that history is back. The simple reason the pirates sail the seas is that the relative weakness of Europe has returned. It will not go away until the West regains its confidence.

Link

The Grand Turk

Israeli strikes on Damascus force Erdogan to react

2025-07-18

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Kamran Gasanov

[REGNUM] The change of power in Damascus almost coincided with the return of Donald Trump to the US presidency. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could personally boast of the armed opposition’s rise to power as his greatest foreign policy triumph. Since then, from the perspective of Turkish interests, any developments in Syria must be viewed in light of two key variables: Erdogan’s victory and the Trump factor.

Turkey's dominance in Syria and its closest ties to Ahmed al-Sharaa also gave it the greatest responsibility for the future of the new country.

Of course, the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (an organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) has been playing multi-vector since the first days of his presidency. He received ministers from EU countries and Great Britain and a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, made his first visit to the KSA, shook hands with all the leaders of the League of Arab States (LAS) and even Donald Trump.

However, many experts, like Trump, consider Erdogan to be the main "culprit" of the coup d'etat in Damascus in December 2024. Accordingly, he is responsible for those he has tamed. Al-Sharaa's reputation affects Erdogan's reputation, and the Syrian president is not doing well with that right now.

With the West Bank massacre and the killing of Alawites still fresh in the memory, the recent Druze incidents in April, and no progress in the negotiations with the Kurds. The integrity of the country, as well as the regime, is under constant pressure.

All this time, Syria has also lived under pressure from Israel, which, as a preventive measure after Assad's overthrow, sent troops to the Golan Heights and demanded that the new authorities fully demilitarize south of Damascus. In April, the IDF carried out airstrikes on Turkish military bases in Syria.

Since mid-April, Syria has again been under threat of a new civil war and external invasion.

Domestic disputes between a few Druze and Bedouins in As-Suwayda led to large-scale clashes between Druze and Syrian security forces, in which Israel intervened. After events spread beyond the region and the Israeli Air Force bombed the General Staff and the presidential palace in Damascus, Erdogan is obliged to take the side of his ally.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry, which is counting on al-Sharaa's ability to reach an agreement with the Druze, sees the IDF strikes as "an act of sabotage against the efforts of the Syrian authorities to ensure peace, stability and security."

On the day of the ceasefire in Suwayda, Erdogan called al-Sharaa and welcomed the ceasefire. He lashed out at Israel, considering its attacks a threat not only to Syria but to the entire region, and Damascus assured of its support.

The Turkish Grand National Assembly took a long swipe at Israel, calling its airstrikes "cowardly" and recalling Tel Aviv's "genocide in Gaza" as well as attacks on Lebanon and Iran.

Critical notes from the Turkish government and parliament are important from a diplomatic point of view.

Erdogan and his colleagues in the ruling coalition are demonstrating solidarity and showing that they will not abandon their brainchild to its fate. The need for a reaction is stimulated by the Israel factor.

Now, in any conflict involving Benjamin Netanyahu, sympathies are given to his opponents - even Iran, the Houthis and Hezbollah, although the latter are clearly not Turkey's allies.

Israel and Türkiye have become real geopolitical opponents in recent years.

After Assad was overthrown, Türkiye began to project its geopolitics across Syria, not just the north. The likelihood of a head-on clash with Israel increased. The April incidents proved the seriousness of the situation.

Will Türkiye go beyond diplomatic support?

To a certain extent, yes.

Ankara, according to the newspaper Sabah, has already sent signals to Damascus about its readiness to help strengthen the Syrian army. " If we are asked, we will provide all possible support in strengthening Syria's defense capability and supporting its fight against terrorism," the Turkish Foreign Ministry noted.

In fact, the Turks are already building the Syrian army and constructing their bases. The talk is probably about strengthening and accelerating both processes.

There are limits to support for Syria, however. Despite all the hatred for Netanyahu, who, according to Erdogan, “has surpassed Hitler,” no one wants a direct military clash.

It’s not that Turkey is afraid. Unlike Iran, the Turkish military can threaten Israel right across the border. The difficulty is that, unlike Iran, the Turkish economy is tied to European markets and American banks.

The US Treasury periodically shows its teeth, blocking companies engaged in parallel import-export with Russia or participating in the Akkuyu project. Israel's conflicts with Iran have shown that, despite all the criticism of Netanyahu, at the "hour X", both Europeans and Americans forget about justice and express solidarity with the Jewish state.

The Trump factor is a separate layer among the restraining variables.

It is dangerous to anger a Republican. In 2018, he did not bring down the Turkish economy, but he did hurt the falling lira. At the same time, the “current version” of President Trump is more loyal to Erdogan.

It was at Erdogan's instigation that Trump recognized Al-Sharaa and blessed his Turkish counterpart to hold the Istanbul talks between Russia and Ukraine. Turkey believes in the possibility of reviving the F-35 deal and therefore will dose its anti-Israeli actions, even if Trump himself is good at scolding Netanyahu and calling on him to be reasonable.

The head of the White House is capable of acting as a peacemaker between Erdogan and Netanyahu.

Incidentally, just a couple of days after the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to the Oval Office in mid-April, negotiations between Turkish and Israeli representatives on de-escalation in Syria began in Baku.

In the current conflict over the Druze, Ankara is clearly counting on Trump's mediation. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on July 16 that Turkish intelligence had conveyed its opinion on the IDF strikes to regional powers and the United States. Ankara is in close contact with U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack, he added.

Turkey's hopes are being fulfilled so far.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US administration expects de-escalation between Syria and Israel. Al-Sharaa's willingness to end the fighting, coupled with Washington's pressure on Israel, offers a chance to stabilize the situation.

Objectively, the situation in Suwayda is not as explosive and dramatic as in Latakia and especially in Gaza. If Erdogan did not move with his "Islamic army" to Israel in Palestine, then now the probability of such a scenario is even less.

It is in Erdogan's interests for the conflict between Syria and Israel to subside. A resumption of the conflict will force the Turkish army to react. After all, unlike Gaza, there are Turkish troops in Syria, and defense against the IDF is a matter of image and geopolitical influence.

The escalation of the conflict in Syria is dangerous not only because of the confrontation with Israel, but also because of the destabilization of the Arab country itself. Against the backdrop of clashes in Suwayda, Kurdish leader Saleh Muslim has questioned the legitimacy of al-Sharaa. If the Druze, and perhaps even the Alawites, intensify their struggle against Damascus, Kurdish separatism, which Erdogan and Turkey have been fighting for half a century, will receive a new lease of life.

That is why Erdogan is sending a soft but unambiguous signal to both the Kurds themselves and Israel that he will not sit idly by in this situation. “Both the Kurds within our country’s borders and the Kurds in Syria are our brothers. We will not allow them to become an object in the hands of the Zionists, ” the Turkish leader said. He added: “ We did not give consent to the disintegration of Syria yesterday and we certainly will not give it today or tomorrow.”

Link

Arabia

IDF intercepts ballistic missile launched by Yemen’s Houthis

2025-07-17

[IsraelTimes] No reports of injuries from attack by Iran-backed rebels, which set off sirens in several communities near the Dead Sea

A ballistic missile launched Wednesday evening by the Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
at southern Israel was intercepted by air defenses, the military said.

There were no reports of impacts or injuries. Sirens had sounded in several communities near the Dead Sea.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas
Hamas

..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 61 ballistic missiles and at least 15 drones at Israel. Several of the missiles have fallen short.

The rebel group has also repeatedly fired projectiles at maritime traffic through the Gulf of Aden, targeting ships they accuse of having links to Israel, claiming solidarity with Paleostinians in Gaza.

In response, Israel has carried out several strikes on Houthi-linked targets in Yemen, including attacks on the port city of Hodeida earlier in July.

Link

Britain

'Russian spy' caught in England turns out to be alcoholic who sold out to Israel

2025-07-17

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov

[REGNUM] The trial of local pensioner Howard Phillips, accused of working for Russian secret services, continues in the UK. At a hearing held recently at Winchester Crown Court, he shocked his accusers with a sensational statement.

It turns out that all this time he was allegedly working for Israel, helping Tel Aviv to identify “Russian spies.” And he acted solely out of a sense of solidarity with the Jewish state.

Despite the fact that Phillips' statement looked like an attempt to shift the focus to another topic and to pity from the jury, the "Israeli trace" in the story is still present - albeit not in the foreground. Tel Aviv had enough reasons to look for sore points of the British Conservatives.

SPY HUNTER
Howard Phillips, a 65-year-old British man of Jewish descent, did not have a distinguished career. He spent most of his life working in his family's fur factory in the East End and handling bankruptcy cases.

He never managed to develop the family business - the enterprise quickly went bankrupt. And his career as an auditor did not work out because of his addiction to alcohol.

Phillips began to experience increasingly frequent money problems and made ends meet with odd jobs. And in 2022, the start of Russia's SVO in Ukraine, according to his family, left the impressionable Briton "mentally traumatized."

He allegedly became suspicious and obsessed with ideas of revenge, constantly looking for traces of "Russian agents" and writing letters to all authorities calling for the arrest of this or that suspicious person. For this, neighbors even nicknamed Phillips "spy hunter".

But by a cruel irony, he himself came to the attention of counterintelligence.

In the spring of 2024, Phillips was arrested by Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Unit and handed over to MI5. He was accused of sending a letter to the Russian embassy offering to sell valuable information about the British cabinet.

And then he collected and tried to pass on to London’s opponents (who were posed as British security forces) a dossier on Grant Shapps, the Minister of Defence in Rishi Sunak’s Conservative cabinet.

The flash drive, intended for the “customers,” contained information about the minister’s home address and the location of his private jet, his hobbies, his immediate circle of friends, and his strengths and weaknesses.

The prosecution also notes that during the conversation, Phillips boasted about his personal acquaintance with the minister and his family, thereby hinting at his own value as an operational source, and also promised to obtain new information if he was well paid.

However, when he told the jury at Winchester Crown Court, the defendant gave a different picture.

He admitted that he did send a letter to the Russian diplomatic mission in March 2024, but did not do so for the purpose of criminal gain.

On the contrary, Phillips wanted to personally expose the enemy's agents - since his numerous appeals to the authorities remained unheeded. He sent a similar offer to "buy information" to the Iranian embassy, but there was no response.

Moreover, at the trial, Phillips stated that he hunted for “Russian spies” also out of solidarity with Israel.

When asked by the prosecutor what benefit such work could bring to Tel Aviv, the accused stated that he wanted to give the information he had collected about Russian agents to the Israelis so that they would “notify Great Britain” and thus “receive recognition for this” from London.

Phillips described his attitude towards Russia as “sharply negative.”

ISRAELI TRACE
Despite the fact that the "Phillips case" is "spy" only conditionally, it will most likely be brought to a demonstrative conclusion. And the "Russian trace" will remain the main one in it - as the most advantageous for London in the conditions of confrontation with Moscow.

At the same time, there are other thematic lines in the case that are currently being ignored by the British justice system. In particular, the "spy hunter" clearly downplays the scale of his contacts with the Israeli side.

Back in December 2023 – almost three months before he approached the Russian embassy and came to the attention of counterintelligence – Phillips sent an email to the consular secretary of the Israeli embassy in the UK, asking for a face-to-face meeting with someone from the diplomatic apparatus. His request was granted.

After this, Phillips' behavior changed noticeably.

He gave up drinking and suddenly tried to get a job with the UK Border Force - although, according to family members, he previously hated the agency, calling its employees "useless slackers".

His financial situation also improved.

In particular, he was able to rent a small apartment in the London area of Harlesden (famous for its Middle Eastern restaurants), a few blocks from the Israeli embassy.

True, subsequent searches at this address yielded nothing - the apartment turned out to be uninhabited, although the detainee claimed that he spent a lot of time there. Including preparing "traps for Russian intelligence agents."

The "cleanliness" of the home suggests that Phillips' potential employers learned of his failure and rushed to cover their tracks before the police arrived.

HIDDEN INTEREST
Israel may certainly have had its own motives for seeking the eyes and ears of prominent British Conservatives. And Defence Secretary Shapps seemed a priority target, as he had been the most vocal critic of London's involvement in the Middle East.

He also torpedoed plans for operations against Yemen's Houthis and delayed the transfer of intelligence to Tel Aviv, thereby depriving it of tactical advantages. The confidential information Phillips had could well have become a lever of influence and pressure on the British Defense Minister, if Israel had used it at the right time.

However, by the spring of 2025 it became clear that Sunak's Conservative government would not last long and there was no need to rush to obtain dirt on Shapps.

Moreover, the inexperience of the newly acquired agent and his desire to attract as much public attention to the "spy hunt" as possible created the risk of exposure. That is why, over time, the Israelis distanced themselves from the inconvenient informant.

The discord was indirectly confirmed by Phillips himself, who noted during one of his interrogations that by the beginning of spring 2025 he was “entirely focused on searching for Russian spies” in Great Britain in order to “confirm a sense of solidarity” with the Jewish state.

With the victory of the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer, the cabinet changed. In July 2024, Shapps resigned, and the value of the "Phillips archive" for foreign intelligence dropped to zero.

Moreover, the new head of the Defense Department, John Healey, turned out to be more militant and supported Tel Aviv’s escalatory course, expanding the range of assistance provided to the Israelis.

Israel is unlikely to spoil relations with London. There is no need for the British authorities to promote this version either. Instead of fueling anti-Semitic sentiments, it is much more profitable to maintain fear of the omnipresent Russian intelligence and its “insidious agents.”

This means that Phillips' claims of working for Tel Aviv will most likely be written off as a clouded mind or self-hypnosis, and his case will not affect relations between Israel and Great Britain.

Link

Arabia

Yemen fighters claim seizure of Iranian-supplied Houthi weapons

2025-07-17

Good. The less the Houthis have, the less trouble they can make.

[APNEWS] Fighters allied to Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
's exiled government claimed Wednesday they had seized 750 tons of Iranian-supplied missiles and weaponry bound for the country's Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
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
Hamas

..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
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 former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it. He was eventually tossed from office and the Hadi goverment installed. When the Houthis rebeled he and his multiple son thought he could claw back to power. Then he saw the way the land actually lay and struck out on his own, briefly, until the Houthis caught him at a checkpoint and murdered him. It was all very sad....

The Houthis and Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
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
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
arms embargo.

Link

Arabia

'Owner from the Emirates, don't shoot!'

2025-07-15

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] Message from a vessel in the Red Sea:

"Emirati owner, don't shoot."

The Houthis regularly receive such messages as part of Yemen's notification regime for passage off the country's coast. Many send such messages proactively to avoid attacks from Houthi controllers.

Those who do not respond to the warnings or silently proceed to Israeli ports are legitimate military targets.

….except for the illegitimacy of the entire enterprise, anyway. How is this different from priracy?

How this happens was clearly demonstrated last week by the example of two large dry cargo ships linked to Israel. After that, the flow of people wanting to prove to the Houthis that they have no ties to Israel increased sharply.

Link

Arabia

Search ends for those missing since Yemen’s Houthis sank ship in Red Sea last week

2025-07-14

[IsraelTimes] The search for those missing after Yemen’s Houthi rebels sank a ship in the Red Sea has ended as at least four people are presumed dead and 11 others remain unaccounted for, the private security firms involved say.

The announcement comes as satellite photos show long, trailing oil slicks from where the bulk carrier Eternity C sank, as well as another where the sinking of the bulk carrier Magic Seas by the Iranian-backed Houthis took place.

Both ships were attacked over a week ago by the rebels as part of their campaign targeting vessels over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that’s upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which $1 trillion of goods usually passes a year.

The private security firms Ambrey and Diaplous Group ran the search for those missing from the Eternity C, which had a three-man security team aboard but requested no escort from either the US Navy or a European Union force in the region. The ship came under attack July 7 and faced hours of Houthi assaults by small arms and bomb-carrying drones before ultimately sinking in the Red Sea.

Ten people were recovered alive from the attack, including eight Filipino crew members and a Greek and Indian from the vessel’s security team, the EU’s Operation Aspides said. At least four are presumed to have been killed in the attack, leaving 11 others missing, the EU mission has said.

The Houthis claimed to have taken some mariners after the attack, but have offered no evidence of that. The US Embassy in Yemen said it believed the rebels had “kidnapped” some of the crew.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iranian officials have released an image depicting what appears to be a simulated nuclear strike on Israel

2025-07-14

[X]

🚨#BREAKING: Iranian officials have released an image depicting what appears to be a simulated nuclear strike on Israel pic.twitter.com/ItkdY2RbeQ
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) July 12, 2025

What happens when Israel knocks them down before they reach Israel, as they’ve been doing to most of the missiles Iran and the Houthis have been shooting off the past two years?

Link

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