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US Military Says it Destroyed Three Houthi Vessels in Red Sea

A Sea Viper missile is launched from HMS Diamond targeting a projectile fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis from Yemen, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo)
A Sea Viper missile is launched from HMS Diamond targeting a projectile fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis from Yemen, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo)
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US Military Says it Destroyed Three Houthi Vessels in Red Sea

A Sea Viper missile is launched from HMS Diamond targeting a projectile fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis from Yemen, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo)
A Sea Viper missile is launched from HMS Diamond targeting a projectile fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis from Yemen, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo)

US forces destroyed three Iranian-backed Houthi uncrewed surface vessels in the Red Sea in the past 24 hours, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Saturday.
Separately, the Houthis launched three anti-ship ballistic missiles into the Gulf of Aden but there were no injuries or significant damage reported by US, coalition, or merchant vessels, CENTCOM added.
The US military's Central Command also dismissed as "categorically false" recent claims about a successful attack by Houthi forces on the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, reported Reuters.

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Relatives of Bashar Assad Arrested as They Tried to Fly Out of Lebanon, Officials Say

A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)
A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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Relatives of Bashar Assad Arrested as They Tried to Fly Out of Lebanon, Officials Say

A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)
A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)

The wife and daughter of one of deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad ’s cousins were arrested Friday at the Beirut airport, where they attempted to fly out with allegedly forged passports, Lebanese judicial and security officials said. Assad’s uncle departed the day before.

Rasha Khazem, the wife of Duraid Assad — the son of former Syrian Vice President Rifaat Assad, the uncle of Bashar Assad — and their daughter, Shams, were smuggled illegally into Lebanon and were trying to fly to Egypt when they were arrested, according to five Lebanese officials familiar with the case.

They were being detained by Lebanese General Security. Rifaat had flown out the day before on his real passport and was not stopped, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Swiss federal prosecutors in March indicted Rifaat on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering murder and torture more than four decades ago.

Rifaat Assad, the brother of Bashar Assad's father Hafez Assad, Syria's former ruler, led the artillery unit that shelled the city of Hama and killed thousands, earning him the nickname the “Butcher of Hama.”

Earlier this year, Rifaat Assad was indicted in Switzerland for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Hama.

Tens of thousands of Syrians are believed to have entered Lebanon illegally on the night of Assad’s fall earlier this month, when insurgent forces entered Damascus.

The Lebanese security and judicial officials said that more than 20 members of the former Syrian Army’s notorious 4th Division, military intelligence officers and others affiliated with Assad’s security forces were arrested earlier in Lebanon. Some of them were arrested when they attempted to sell their weapons.

Lebanon’s public prosecution office also received an Interpol notice requesting the arrest of Jamil al-Hassan, the former director of Syrian intelligence under Assad. Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati previously told Reuters that Lebanon would cooperate with the Interpol request to arrest al-Hassan.