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US, Britain Launch Raids on Yemen Capital Sanaa, Elsewhere

File photo: Flames rise as people stand near an object that the Houthi military media says is an American MQ9 Reaper drone they have shot down, in a location given as Al Jawf Governorate, in Yemen, in this screengrab from a video released on November 8, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
File photo: Flames rise as people stand near an object that the Houthi military media says is an American MQ9 Reaper drone they have shot down, in a location given as Al Jawf Governorate, in Yemen, in this screengrab from a video released on November 8, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
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US, Britain Launch Raids on Yemen Capital Sanaa, Elsewhere

File photo: Flames rise as people stand near an object that the Houthi military media says is an American MQ9 Reaper drone they have shot down, in a location given as Al Jawf Governorate, in Yemen, in this screengrab from a video released on November 8, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
File photo: Flames rise as people stand near an object that the Houthi military media says is an American MQ9 Reaper drone they have shot down, in a location given as Al Jawf Governorate, in Yemen, in this screengrab from a video released on November 8, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS

The United States and Britain launched raids on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the Amran governorate and other areas, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement, reported on Sunday.
Houthi media and residents said about nine raids had targeted the Sanaa, its suburbs and Amran governorate, reported Reuters.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November last year, in solidarity with the Palestinians in Israel's war with Hamas.
The attacks have drawn US and British retaliatory strikes and disrupted global trade as ship owners reroute vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.

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Israeli Leaders Applaud Trump Pledge on Hostages, Gazans Fear the Worst

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem on September 2, 2024. (AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem on September 2, 2024. (AFP)
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Israeli Leaders Applaud Trump Pledge on Hostages, Gazans Fear the Worst

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem on September 2, 2024. (AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem on September 2, 2024. (AFP)

Israeli leaders hailed on Tuesday a pledge by US President-elect Donald Trump that there would be "hell to pay" in the Middle East unless hostages held in the Gaza Strip were released ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration.

The reaction in Gaza was less enthusiastic.

Writing on Truth Social, and without naming any group, Trump said the hostages had to be freed by the time he was sworn in.

If his demand was not met, he said: "Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America."

During their deadly 2023 attack on Israel, Hamas-led fighters captured more than 250 people. Some have been released or freed but around half of them are still in Gaza, although at least a third of these are believed to be dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and many of his ministers publicly thanked Trump for his hard-hitting words.

"President Trump put the emphasis in the right place, on Hamas, and not on the Israeli government, as is customary (elsewhere)," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Trump's statement had made clear to everyone who was in the right, and who was wrong.

"This is the way to bring back the hostages: by increasing the pressure and the costs for Hamas and its supporters, and defeating them, rather than giving in to their absurd demands."

Families of the missing hostages also expressed their gratitude. "It is now evident to all: the time has come. We must bring them home NOW," the families forum said.

NEGOTIATIONS STALLED

Israel and Hamas have held on-off negotiations since October 2023, but after an initial hostage release in November, little progress has been made with both sides blaming each other.

Responding to Trump's post, senior Hamas official Basem Naim said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sabotaged all efforts to secure a deal that involved exchanging the hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

"Therefore, we understand (Trump's) message is directed first at Netanyahu and his government to end this evil game," he told Reuters.

Gaza political analyst Ramiz Moghani said Trump's threat was directed at both Hamas and its backer Iran, and warned that it would embolden Israel to not expel Palestinians from swathes of Gaza but also annex the nearby, Israeli-occupied West Bank.

"These statements have serious implications for the Israeli war in Gaza and the West Bank," he told Reuters.

Mohammed Dahlan, like hundreds of thousands of Gazans, has had to flee his house because of the fighting and is desperate for the war to end. But he said he was shocked by Trump.

"We were hoping that the new administration would bring with it a breakthrough .... but it seems (Trump) is in complete agreement with the Israeli administration and that there are apparently more punitive measures ahead," he said.