UN: Migrants who Tried to Cross Mediterranean Brought Back to Libya

FILE - Migrants are brought to shore after being intercepted by the Libyan coast guard on the Mediterranean Sea, in Garaboli Libya, on Oct. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad, File)
FILE - Migrants are brought to shore after being intercepted by the Libyan coast guard on the Mediterranean Sea, in Garaboli Libya, on Oct. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad, File)
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UN: Migrants who Tried to Cross Mediterranean Brought Back to Libya

FILE - Migrants are brought to shore after being intercepted by the Libyan coast guard on the Mediterranean Sea, in Garaboli Libya, on Oct. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad, File)
FILE - Migrants are brought to shore after being intercepted by the Libyan coast guard on the Mediterranean Sea, in Garaboli Libya, on Oct. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad, File)

Nearly 500 migrants who tried to cross the central Mediterranean have been brought back to Libya, a spokesman for the UN migration agency said on Friday, two days after charity groups lost contact with the boat carrying them.

"Libya is an unsafe port where migrants should never be brought back," Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) wrote on Twitter.

He told Reuters there were 485 migrants and they docked in the Libyan port of Benghazi on Friday. No further details were provided to IOM at this stage.

Alarm Phone, a group that picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, had no signs from the boat since Wednesday morning.

At the time, the boat was adrift, with no working engine, in high seas about 320 km (200 miles) north of Libya and more than 400 km away from Malta or Italy's southern island of Sicily.

The Italian Coast Guard reported on Thursday the rescue of 423 and 671 migrants in two separate operations in Italian search and rescue waters, and Alarm Phone said they were unrelated to the missing boat.



Israel Bombs Power Station and Two Ports Controlled by Houthis in Yemen

 Black smoke raises following airstrikes on Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
Black smoke raises following airstrikes on Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Bombs Power Station and Two Ports Controlled by Houthis in Yemen

 Black smoke raises following airstrikes on Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
Black smoke raises following airstrikes on Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)

Israeli warplanes bombed a power station and two ports in Houthi-controlled Yemen on Friday in retaliation for Houthi drone and missile strikes against Israel, and pro-Houthi media said at least one person had been killed and nine wounded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Iran-backed Houthi militias were "paying and will continue to pay a heavy price for their aggression against us".

A series of airstrikes targeted the Red Sea port of Ras Issa and six others the major port of Hodeidah, said Al Masirah TV, the main news outlet run by the Houthis, while Harf Sufyan District in Amran province also came under air attack.

An employee at the Ras Issa port was killed and six others were injured, the outlet said.

Earlier, British security firm Ambrey said airstrikes on the Ras Issa port targeted oil storage facilities in the vicinity of shipping berths, though no merchant vessels were reported to have been damaged.

The supply of petroleum derivatives is stable, the Houthi government spokesperson Hashem Sharaf Eddine said after the attack.

Thirteen airstrikes also targeted the Hezyaz central power station in Yemen's capital Sanaa, Al Masirah TV reported. It said three citizens had been injured, including a worker at Hezyaz, and a number of homes had been damaged.

An Israeli military statement confirmed the targets, saying the power station served as a "central source of energy for the Houthi terrorist regime in its military activities". It added that the targets struck were examples of the "Houthis' exploitation of civilian infrastructure".

Within the past 48 hours, the Houthis have fired three drones at Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv and more drones and missiles at the US aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said.

The Houthis have targeted Israel, hundreds of kilometers to the north as well as international shipping in waters near Yemen since November 2023 in support of Palestinians at war with Israel in Gaza.

Israel has responded with airstrikes in Houthi-held areas of Yemen, as have British and US forces in the region.

Netanyahu said last month Israel was only at the beginning of its campaign against the Houthis.