IDF Division 162 under the leadership of the 401st Military Police are operating in East #Rafah:

🔶️ About 100 targets were attacked from the air and 30 Palestinians were eliminated

Yemen’s Houthis Announce Attacks On Three American, Israeli Vessels

The #Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen announced on April 24 that they had targeted two United States ships in the Gulf of #Aden and an Israeli ship in the Indian Ocean.

“In support of the Palestinian people in Gaza, and in response to the American-British aggression against our country , our naval forces carried out a military operation targeting the American ship MAERSK YORKTOWN in the Gulf of Aden, with a number of suitable naval missiles, and the hit was accurate,” Houthi military spokesman Brigade General Yahya Sarea said in a statement. “We also carried out other two military operations using bomb-laden drones, one of which targeted an American warship in the Gulf of Aden, with a number of drones, and the other operation targeted the Israeli ship MSC VERACRUZ in the Indian Ocean with a number of drones. Both operations achieved their goals successfully,” he added without specifying the date of those attacks.

The spokesman went on to warn that the Houthis “will continue to prevent Israeli ships or any ship heading to #Israel from transiting the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean until the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people in Gaza is stopped and the siege is lifted,”, vowing that the group would take more actions in the coming days.

Earlier in the day, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a detachment of the Royal Navy, reported an explosion near a ship in the Gulf of Aden, which it said caused no damage or casualties. The U.S. Central Command (#CENTCOM) said on April 25 that an allied vessel successfully engaged one anti-ship ballistic missile that was launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen over the Gulf of Aden a day earlier.

Houthis claim responsibility for attacks on U.S., British vessels in Red Sea, Gulf of Aden

#Houthis from #Yemen's rebel Ansar Allah movement have staged four operations against US and British vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea over the past 72 hours, the movement’s military spokesperson Yahya #Sarea said.

"The naval and missile forces conducted four joint operations against four ships, including the American Maersk Saratoga in the Gulf of Aden and the APL Detroit in the Red Sea, and the British Huang Pu and Pretty Lady in the Red Sea," he said in a statement posted on his Telegram channel.

In all, according to Sarea, "six military operations with the use of a large number of ballistic missiles and drones were conducted in the past 72 hours." In particular, the Houthi missile forces hit a number of targets in the city of Eilat in southern Israel.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a high-ranking Ansar Allah representative, said on Monday that since the beginning of the current escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Houthis have conducted a total of 38 military operations in the Red and Arabian seas, as well as in the Indian Ocean.

Amid US pressure for reform, entire PA government submits its resignation to Abbas

PM Shtayyeh sends letter to Palestinian Authority president, says new ‘political arrangements’ required for postwar Gaza; Hamas: Must be national consensus

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday he was resigning to allow for the formation of a broad consensus among Palestinians about political arrangements after the conclusion of Israel’s war against terror group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The move comes amid growing US pressure on PA President Mahmoud Abbas to shake up the Authority, which would allow it to take a greater role in ruling postwar Gaza.

International efforts have intensified to stop the fighting in Gaza and begin work on a political structure to govern the enclave after the war.
Shtayyeh said he put the resignation to Abbas last Tuesday and was now formalizing it in writing.

His resignation must still be accepted by Abbas, who may ask him to stay on as caretaker until a permanent replacement is appointed.

Shi’i armed groups fire three missiles at U.S. base in Syria

Armed Shi’i militias from the ‘Islamic Resistance of Iraq’ movement have launched a missile attack on the U.S. military base near the Koniko gas field in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province, the Sham FM radio station said, adding that three missiles were fired.

Eyewitnesses reported explosions on its premises. There were no other details so far.

On February 8, the US military base near the Al-Omar oilfield in eastern Syria came under a drone attack.

Since October 17, 2023, US facilities in the region were targeted with 168 attacks. The Shi’i militias informed that they had conducted those operations "in response to the aggression unleashed against the Palestinians by the US-backed occupation regime of Israel.".

[JUST IN] U.S. base in eastern Syria attacked by drones

A US-controlled military base located near the Al-Omar oil field in the eastern Syrian region of Deir ez-Zor, was attacked by drones on Thursday, the Al Mayadeen television reported.

According to the report, the facility was attacked by three UAVs. Sounds of "powerful explosions" were heard. No information about potential damage is available at this point.

After the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, rocket and drone attacks on U.S. military bases in Syria and Iraq have become more frequent. Shiite militias have warned that they will increase the number of armed operations in Syria and Iraq if the U.S. continues to provide military aid to Israel.

A large share of the Syrian provinces of Hasakah, Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa, located in the east and northeast of the country, is currently controlled by the US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces. Since 2015, the US command has established nine military bases in this area. At the end of 2019, then U.S. President Donald Trump approved a plan that would leave several hundred US troops in Syria. One of their main tasks was to ensure control of oil fields in the northeast and east of the country.

#China presses #Iran to rein in #Houthi attacks in #Red_Sea

Chinese officials have asked their Iranian counterparts to help rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis, or risk harming business relations with Beijing, four Iranian sources and a diplomat familiar with the matter said.

The discussions about the attacks and trade between China and Iran took place at several recent meetings in Beijing and Tehran, the Iranian sources said, declining to provide details about when they took place or who attended. "Basically, China says: 'If our interests are harmed in any way, it will impact our business with Tehran. So tell the Houthis to show restraint'," said one Iranian official briefed on the talks, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The attacks, which the Houthis say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, have raised the cost of shipping and insurance by disrupting a key trade route between Asia and Europe used widely by ships from China.

The Chinese officials, however, did not make any specific comments or threats about how Beijing's trading relationship with Iran could be affected if its interests were damaged by Houthi attacks, the four Iranian sources said. While China has been Iran's biggest trading partner for the past decade, their trade relationship is lopsided.

Chinese oil refiners, for example, bought over 90% of Iran's crude exports last year, according to tanker tracking data from trade analytics firm Kepler, as U.S. sanctions kept many other customers away and Chinese firms profited from heavy discounts.

Crisis in Red Sea to end when war in Gaza ends, claims Qatari diplomat

Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea will stop when the conflict in the Gaza Strip is ended, Majed al-Ansari, Qatari foreign ministry spokesman, said.

"We support all regional efforts to reduce escalation," he told a news conference in Doha, commenting on the situation around the safety of navigation in the Red Sea. "We say once again that this problem began after the escalation in the occupied [Palestinian] territories, hence, it will be over when this escalation ends, first of all when the war there ends."

Yemeni Armed Forces target US-owned Genco Picardy in Gulf of Aden

The Yemeni Armed Forces carried out an attack against the American-owned Genco Picardy as it sailed through the Gulf of Aden, the spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced on Wednesday night.

The top official said that the attack came "In support of the plight of the Palestinian people and in solidarity with our brethren in the Gaza Strip, and within the framework of responding to the American-British aggression on our country."

Firing several anti-ship missiles, the Yemeni Armed Forces dealt "precise and direct hits" to the Genco Picardy.

The spokesperson reiterated that the YAF will not hesitate to target "all sources of threat in the Arabian and Red Sea, within the legitimate right of defending [Yemen] and supporting the oppressed Palestinian people."

Moreover, Saree warned the United States and the United Kingdom of an inevitable response to their attacks on Yemen, adding that any renewed aggression "will not go without retaliation and punishment."

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard deployed in Yemen

🔶️ The IRGC has stationed missile and drone trainers and operators in Yemen, as well as personnel providing tactical intelligence support to the Houthis, U.S. and Middle East officials told Semafor. The IRGC, through its overseas Qods Force, has also overseen the transfer to the Houthis of the attack drones, cruise missiles, and medium-range ballistic missiles used in a string of strikes on Red Sea and Israeli targets in recent weeks, these officials said.

🔶️ The Houthis say that its military operations are designed to aid the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, which has been locked in a three-month war with Israel. On Monday, the Pentagon said the Houthis struck a U.S.-owned and -operated container vessel, the M/V Gibraltar Eagle, in the Red Sea, but caused no significant damage. The Houthis fired a second anti-ship ballistic missile into the southern Red Sea, the U.S. Central Command said, but it “failed in flight and impacted on land in Yemen.”

🔶️ The IRGC’s overall presence inside Yemen is overseen by Gen. Abdul Reza Shahlai, a Tehran-based commander whom the Trump administration attempted to assassinate in a 2020 drone strike inside Yemen, U.S. and Mideast officials said. American intelligence believes Shahlai is deeply involved in Tehran’s overseas terrorist operations through his role as the Qods Force’s deputy commander.

🔶️ This includes a role in overseeing an unsuccessful 2011 Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s then-ambassador to the U.S., Adel al-Jubeir, at a Washington, D.C. restaurant. Shahlai, who’s been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department, also helped oversee IRGC attacks against U.S. military personnel in Iraq over the past two decades. The Department of Justice offered $15 million in 2019 for information related to the commander’s operations and networks.

🔶️ Last month, the White House declassified some information related to Iran’s backing of the Houthis, including the intelligence and targeting support. But it didn’t reference the IRGC’s on-ground presence in Yemen, or Shahlai’s role in the Houthis’ operations.