Yemen's Houthis Report Western Strike against Southern Hodeidah

Smoke rises from a Houthi site in Sanaa following a Western raid. (Reuters)
Smoke rises from a Houthi site in Sanaa following a Western raid. (Reuters)
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Yemen's Houthis Report Western Strike against Southern Hodeidah

Smoke rises from a Houthi site in Sanaa following a Western raid. (Reuters)
Smoke rises from a Houthi site in Sanaa following a Western raid. (Reuters)

After days of relative calm and a decline in the frequency of Houthi attacks against ships in the Red Sea, the group acknowledged receiving a “US-British” strike on Monday, on a site in the Taif area of the Al-Durayhimi District, south of the coastal city of Hodeidah.
While the Houthi group did not provide any details regarding the effects of the strike, the US army did not immediately claim responsibility for carrying out the raid, which is an extension of hundreds of pre-emptive strikes carried out by Washington and London, to curb the group’s capabilities.
Last Friday, the US Army announced that it had intercepted four Houthi drones and destroyed them over the Red Sea, while the group’s leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, confirmed the continuation of the attacks, which he said were in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.
The leader of the pro-Iranian group claimed responsibility for attacking 86 ships since the beginning of the escalation, noting that the Houthis carried out 10 attacks against 9 ships during the week using 37 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone.
Washington launched an international coalition in December to protect navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, before initiating strikes on land.
The European Union, for its part, is participating in confronting the attacks, through the Aspides mission naval mission that it launched in mid-February, with the participation of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Greece.
In a separate development, economic circles in Yemen are awaiting government reactions to the Houthi move of minting a 100 Yemeni riyal coin in Sanaa and putting it into circulation, despite warnings from the Central Bank in Aden.
The Central Bank of Yemen described the Houthi move as “illegal” and “escalatory” and urged residents and financial institutions in Houthi-controlled areas to avoid using the new “fake” currency.

 



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”