5 Missiles Land Near Ship in Red Sea

Houthi militiamen ride a motorcycle in Sanaa, Yemen, 24 June 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Houthi militiamen ride a motorcycle in Sanaa, Yemen, 24 June 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
TT

5 Missiles Land Near Ship in Red Sea

Houthi militiamen ride a motorcycle in Sanaa, Yemen, 24 June 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Houthi militiamen ride a motorcycle in Sanaa, Yemen, 24 June 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

A ship traveling through the Red Sea came under repeated missile fire Friday in a likely attack launched by Yemen's Houthi militias.

Five missiles landed near the vessel as it traveled off the coast of Hodeidah in Yemen, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.

The missiles landed near the vessel, but caused no damage, the UKTMO added.

The Houthis have targeted more than 60 vessels by firing missiles and drones in their campaign that has killed a total of four sailors. They seized one vessel and sank two since November. A US-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January.

Late on Tuesday, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for an attack Monday on the Liberian-flagged, Greek-managed container ship MSC Sarah V. On Wednesday, the Houthis claimed they used a new hypersonic ballistic missile in the assault, which targeted a ship farther away than nearly all of the previous assaults they’ve launched in the Gulf of Aden.

The US military’s Central Command also said it destroyed a Houthi radar site. Another attack Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden was suspected to have been carried out by the Houthis.

A Houthi attack also happened Thursday in the Red Sea.



France's Top Court to Examine Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters
TT

France's Top Court to Examine Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters

Prosecutors said Tuesday they had asked France's highest court to review the legality of a French arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over deadly chemical attacks on Syrian soil in 2013.

Syrian opposition say one of those attacks in August 2013 on the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus killed around 1,400 people, including more than 400 children, in one of the many horrors of the 13-year civil war.

Prosecutors said they had made the request to the Court of Cassation on Friday on judicial grounds, two days after an appeals court upheld the arrest order.

"This decision is by no means political. It is about having a legal question resolved," the prosecutors told AFP.

France is believed to have been the first country to issue an arrest warrant for a sitting foreign head of state in November.

Investigative magistrates specialized in so-called crimes against humanity, issued the warrant after several rights groups filed a complaint against Assad for his role in the chain of command for the alleged chemical attacks in the capital's suburbs on August 4, 5 and 21, 2013.

But prosecutors from a unit specialized in investigating "terrorist" attacks have sought to annul it, although they do not question the grounds for such an arrest.

They argue that immunity for foreign heads of state should only be lifted for international prosecutions, such as at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), lawyers' association Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and the Syrian Archive, an organization documenting human rights violations in Syria, filed the initial complaint.