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Tunisian MP Attacks Head of Free Destourian Party

File Photo: Tunisian parliament (Reuters)
File Photo: Tunisian parliament (Reuters)
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Tunisian MP Attacks Head of Free Destourian Party

File Photo: Tunisian parliament (Reuters)
File Photo: Tunisian parliament (Reuters)

Member of the Tunisian Parliament Sahbi Samara repeatedly slapped opposition deputy and head of Free Destourian Party Abir Moussi before lawmakers rushed to her rescue.

It is unclear why Samara attacked Moussi, but a widely circulated video shows the deputy moving from his seat towards Moussi and started beating her.

Tensions grew in the parliament after members of the Free Destourian Party protested an agreement to launch a headquarters for the Qatar Fund for Development in Tunisia. They also disrupted the public sessions several times.

Meanwhile, the defense team of Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, the two politicians assassinated in 2013 by suspected Islamist militants, accused the judiciary of failing to reveal the perpetrators of the two crimes.

The team confirmed that the weapons used to kill Belaid and Brahmi had not been handed over to the court, adding that an investigative judge was being pressured to disregard the case of the terrorist bombing of Habib Bourguiba Street in the Tunisian capital.

The defense threatened to contact international bodies, calling for the formation of a “civilian coalition to defend Tunisians’ right to justice" and an independent judiciary that does not cover up terrorism.

Member of the defense team lawyer Reda Radawi confirmed during a press conference that one of the judges threatened the President of the Judicial Council of Justice, claiming he has corruption documents that would implicate some members of the Council.

This development would negatively affect the investigation in the assassination case, he warned.

Radawi accused the Tunisian judiciary of concealing the report prepared by the General Inspection at the Ministry of Justice in an attempt to appoint one of the accused judges to “keep Tunisia under the control of terrorism.”

He warned that over 20,000 terrorists are in Tunisia under judicial cover, asserting "we will do everything necessary to save Tunisia” from terrorists.

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Israeli Airstrikes Hit Yemen's Capital and Port City after Houthi Attack Targets Israel

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
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Israeli Airstrikes Hit Yemen's Capital and Port City after Houthi Attack Targets Israel

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

A series of intense Israeli airstrikes shook Yemen's Houthi-held capital and a port city early Thursday and killed at least nine people, officials said, shortly after a Houthi missile targeted central Israel.
Thursday’s strikes risk further escalating conflict with the Iranian-backed Houthis, whose attacks on the Red Sea corridor have drastically impacted global shipping. The militants have so far avoided the same level of intense military strikes that have targeted the Palestinian Hamas militant group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, fellow members of Tehran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance.”
The Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah said that some of the strikes targeted power stations in the capital, as well as the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. The channel, citing its correspondent in the port city of Hodeidah, said at least seven people had been killed at the nearby port of Salif, while another two had been killed at the Ras Isa oil terminal.
Others suffered wounds at the Hodeidah port as well, it said.
An Israeli military statement offered no specifics on the targets hit, nor any damage assessment.
“The targets struck by the (Israeli military) were used by the Houthi forces for military purposes,” the statement said. “The strikes degrade the Houthi terrorist regime, preventing it from exploiting the targets for military and terrorist purposes, including the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the region.”
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said the strikes hit energy and port infrastructure, which he alleged the militants “have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military action.”
“Israel will not hesitate to act in order to defend itself and its citizens from the Houthi attacks,” Hagari said.
Houthi-held Hodeidah, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Sanaa, has been key for food shipments into Yemen as its decades long war has gone on. There's also longstanding suspicion that weapons from Iran have been transferred through the port.
The strikes happened just after the Israeli military said its air force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it entered the country’s territory.
“Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling debris from the interception,” the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded near Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas, and a large explosion was heard overhead at the time. The Houthis did not immediately claim the missile attack, but said an important military statement would be issued in the coming hours, following a pattern of how they claim their assaults.
Israel previously struck Hodeidah and its oil infrastructure in July after a Houthi drone attack killed one person and wounded 10 in Tel Aviv. In September, Israel struck Hodeidah again, killing at least four people after a militant missile targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving back to the country.
American forces have also launched a series of strikes on the Houthis over nearly a year due to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor. On Monday, the US military's Central Command said it hit “a key command-and-control facility" operated by the Houthis in Sanaa, later identified as the al-Ardi complex once home to the government's Defense Ministry.
But Israel appears to have carried out Thursday's strikes alone. A US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the attacks, said America had no part in them.
The Houthis have targeted some 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. Israel's grinding offensive in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say.
The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate US- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.
The Houthis maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.