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Saudi-Led Coalition Thwarts Houthi Terror Plot in Red Sea

The USS Mason (DDG 87), a guided missile destroyer, arrives at Port Canaveral, Florida REUTERS/Karl Ronstrom/File photo
The USS Mason (DDG 87), a guided missile destroyer, arrives at Port Canaveral, Florida REUTERS/Karl Ronstrom/File photo
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Saudi-Led Coalition Thwarts Houthi Terror Plot in Red Sea

The USS Mason (DDG 87), a guided missile destroyer, arrives at Port Canaveral, Florida REUTERS/Karl Ronstrom/File photo
The USS Mason (DDG 87), a guided missile destroyer, arrives at Port Canaveral, Florida REUTERS/Karl Ronstrom/File photo

Houthis are training divers on planting mines, according to a coalition source, who added that mines were only introduced into Yemen after Houthis and Saleh militias

Saudi-led Coalition forces foiled a Houthi plot on the Yemeni island of Bawadi against international maritime lines, according to Coalition Spokesman Turki al-Malki.

“The impending attack included plans to use booby-trapped boats and a group of divers to plant naval mines,” Malki said.

Houthi members on Bawadi island were attacked, as they planned violent operations targeting international shipping routes and international trade, reported alarabiya.net which quoted Malki.

The source, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, stated that the plan was that the island will be the starting point for the attack.

Earlier on November 07, Houthis militias' spokesperson Mohammed Abdul Salam threatened to target international shipping in the Red Sea, while head of the Supreme Political Council, Saleh al-Samad, showcased "Bab al-Mandeb" missiles.

Such weapons indicate that Iran regime continue to support Houthis, according to the source, who added that the mines are planted on 70 cm below sea level which is dangerous since the mines could be washed away with the sea movement causing an environmental crisis if they hit oil carriers.

The strategic Bawadi island is 24 kilometers away from western coast of Yemen and 9 kilometers northwest of Kimran island. The source explained that the island is not inhabited and thus it could be used as a launching point for attacks against international maritime.

According to Asharq Al-Awsat information, the coalition is taking a huge responsibility on behalf of the international society. The coalition exerts efforts to uncover mines and destroying it, as well as ensuring the stability and security of the international shipping routes and international trade.

Earlier, Houthis targeted US destroyer USS Mason, al-Madinah class frigate of the Saudi Royal Navy, and UAE Swift transport vessel. They also targeted vital locations in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, in addition to attacks on Mocha port, west of Yemen.

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Arab World

US Senator Accuses Hamas and Hezbollah of Rearming

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to reporters after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend closed door meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on December 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to reporters after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend closed door meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on December 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)
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US Senator Accuses Hamas and Hezbollah of Rearming

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to reporters after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend closed door meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on December 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to reporters after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend closed door meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on December 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)

US Senator Lindsey Graham accused Hamas and Hezbollah of rearming during a visit to Israel on Sunday, and charged that the Palestinian group was also consolidating power in Gaza.

After two years of war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory, a fragile ceasefire has held since October, despite both sides trading accusations of violations.

A separate ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese movement Hezbollah came into effect in November 2024 after more than a year of hostilities, though Israel continues to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory.

Israel has made dismantling the arsenals of both groups, allies of its arch-foe Iran, a key condition for any lasting peace.

"My impression is that Hamas is not disarming, they are rearming," Graham said in a video statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

"It's my impression that they are trying to consolidate power (and) not give it up in Gaza."

The South Carolina Republican -- a staunch ally of US President Donald Trump, who helped broker the Gaza ceasefire -- added that he believed Hezbollah was likewise seeking to rearm itself.

"My impression is that Hezbollah is trying to make more weapons... That's not an acceptable outcome," he said.

"On both counts you are right," responded Netanyahu, praising the senator as a "great friend of Israel".

Graham's remarks came a day after mediators the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Türkiye urged both sides in the Gaza war to uphold the ceasefire.

The mediators are pressing for the implementation of the second phase of the truce, which would involve an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the establishment of an interim authority to govern the territory in place of Hamas and the deployment of an international stabilization force.

The second phase also envisages the demilitarization of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas.

Hamas has called on the mediators and Washington to stop Israeli "violations" of the ceasefire.

On Friday, six people, including two children, were killed in an Israeli bombing of a school serving as a shelter for displaced people, according to the civil defense agency in Gaza, which operates under the authority of Hamas.

The Lebanese government, meanwhile, has committed to disarming Hezbollah, starting in the country's south.

Israel, however, has questioned the effectiveness of the Lebanese military, and Hezbollah itself has repeatedly refused to lay down its weapons.

Arab World

Israel’s Security Cabinet Approves 19 New Settlements in West Bank

A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)
A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)
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Israel’s Security Cabinet Approves 19 New Settlements in West Bank

A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)
A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)

Israel's security cabinet approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move the country's far-right finance minister said on Sunday was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.  

The decision brings the total number of settlements approved over the past three years to 69, according to a statement from the office of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.  

The latest approvals come days after the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank -- all of which are considered illegal under international law -- had reached its highest level since at least 2017.  

"The proposal by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz to declare and formalize 19 new settlements in Judea and Samaria has been approved by the cabinet," the statement said, without specifying when the decision was taken. 

Smotrich is a vocal proponent of settlement expansion and a settler himself.  

"On the ground, we are blocking the establishment of a Palestinian terror state," he said in the statement.  

"We will continue to develop, build, and settle the land of our ancestral heritage, with faith in the justice of our path." 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has recently condemned what he described as Israel's "relentless" expansion of settlements in the occupied territory.  

It "continues to fuel tensions, impede access by Palestinians to their land and threaten the viability of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous and sovereign Palestinian State", he said earlier this month.  

Since the start of the war in Gaza, calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state have proliferated, with several European countries, Canada and Australia recently moving to formally recognize such a state, drawing rebukes from Israel.  

A UN report said the expansion of settlements was at its highest point since 2017, when the United Nations began tracking such data.  

"These figures represent a sharp increase compared to previous years," Guterres said, noting an average of 12,815 housing units were added annually between 2017 and 2022.  

"These developments are further entrenching the unlawful Israeli occupation and violating international law and undermining the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination." 

Excluding east Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with about three million Palestinian residents.  

Smotrich's office said the 19 newly approved settlements are located in what it described as "highly strategic" areas, adding that two of them -- Ganim and Kadim in the northern West Bank -- would be re-established after being dismantled two decades ago.  

Five of the 19 settlements already existed but had not previously been granted legal status under Israeli law, the statement said.  

While all Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law, some wildcat outposts are also illegal in the eyes of the Israeli government.  

Many of these, however, are later legalized by Israeli authorities, fueling fears about the possible annexation of the territory. 

US President Donald Trump has warned Israel about annexing the West Bank.  

"Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened," Trump said in a recent interview to Time magazine.  

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there has soared since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 following Hamas's attack on Israel.  

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,027 Palestinians in the West Bank -- both gunmen and civilians -- since the start of the fighting in Gaza, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.  

At least 44 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations during the same period, according to Israeli data. 

Arab World

Iraq Top Judge Says Armed Factions to Cooperate on Weapons

Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)
Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Iraq Top Judge Says Armed Factions to Cooperate on Weapons

Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)
Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)

The head of Iraq's highest judicial body said Saturday that the leaders of armed factions have agreed to cooperate on the sensitive issue of the state's monopoly on weapons.

However, the powerful Kataib Hezbollah group said that it would only discuss giving up its arms when foreign troops leave the country.

"The resistance is a right, and its weapons will remain in the hands of its fighters," the group said in a statement.

The leaders of three other pro-Iran factions designated by Washington as terrorist groups said that it is time to restrict weapons to state control, although they too have stopped short of committing to disarm -- a long-standing US demand.

Faiq Zidan, the head of Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, in a statement thanked "faction leaders for heeding his advice to coordinate together to enforcing the rule of law, restrict weapons to state control, and transition to political action after the national need for military action has ceased".

After Iraq's general elections in November, the United States demanded that the new government exclude six groups it designates as terrorists and instead move to dismantle them, Iraqi officials and diplomats told AFP.

But some of the groups have increased their presence in the new parliament and are members of the Coordination Framework, a ruling alliance of Shiite parties with varying ties to Iran that holds the majority.

The blacklisted groups are part of the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces, a former paramilitary alliance that has integrated into the armed forces. But they have also developed a reputation for sometimes acting on their own.

They are also part of the Tehran-backed so-called "Axis of Resistance" and have called for the withdrawal of US troops -- deployed in Iraq as part of an anti-ISIS coalition -- and launched attacks against them.

These groups include the powerful Asaib Ahl al-Haq faction, which won 27 seats in the elections.

Earlier this week, the group's leader, Qais al-Khazali, a key figure in the Coordination Framework, said "we believe" in "the slogan to restrict weapons to the state", and "we are now part of the state".

Two other groups, Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya and Kataeb Imam Ali, said on Friday that it is time to "limit weapons to the state".