US Military Shoots Down Missiles and Drones in Red Sea

The US Navy destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) sets sail in the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, July 14, 2019. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik
The US Navy destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) sets sail in the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, July 14, 2019. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik
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US Military Shoots Down Missiles and Drones in Red Sea

The US Navy destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) sets sail in the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, July 14, 2019. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik
The US Navy destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) sets sail in the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, July 14, 2019. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik

A US Navy warship has shot down missiles appearing to head toward Israel.

The USS Carney, a Navy destroyer in the northern Red Sea, intercepted three land attack cruise missiles and several drones that were launched on Thursday by Houthi militias in Yemen.

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, told reporters the missiles were “potentially” headed toward Israel but said the US hasn't finished its assessment of what they were targeting.

US officials said they don't believe the missiles — which were shot down over the water — were aimed at the US warship. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

But an array of other drone attacks over the past three days did target US bases, including one in southern Syria on Thursday that caused minor injuries.



Germany Expands Border Controls to Curb Irregular Migration and Extremism Risks

09 September 2024, Berlin: Nancy Faeser, Germany's Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, speaks at a press conference on current measures in migration policy and the Federal Government's security package at the Federal Ministry of the Interior. (dpa)
09 September 2024, Berlin: Nancy Faeser, Germany's Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, speaks at a press conference on current measures in migration policy and the Federal Government's security package at the Federal Ministry of the Interior. (dpa)
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Germany Expands Border Controls to Curb Irregular Migration and Extremism Risks

09 September 2024, Berlin: Nancy Faeser, Germany's Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, speaks at a press conference on current measures in migration policy and the Federal Government's security package at the Federal Ministry of the Interior. (dpa)
09 September 2024, Berlin: Nancy Faeser, Germany's Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, speaks at a press conference on current measures in migration policy and the Federal Government's security package at the Federal Ministry of the Interior. (dpa)

Germany's government ordered temporary controls at all land borders Monday, expanding checks it already has in place at some borders, saying that it was responding to irregular migration and to protect the country from extremist threats.

“We are strengthening our internal security through concrete action and we are continuing our tough stance against irregular migration,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said at a news conference.

The ministry said that it notified the European Union on Monday of the order to set up border controls at the land borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark for a period of six months. They will begin next week on Sept. 16.

This adds to restrictions already in place on the land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland.

“Until we achieve strong protection of the EU’s external borders with the new Common European Asylum System, we must increase controls at our national borders even more,” Faeser said.

She noted that Germany already has had more than 30,000 rejections of people seeking to cross its borders since last October.

“This served to further limit irregular migration and to protect against the acute dangers posed by terrorism and serious crime. We are doing everything we can to better protect people in our country against this,” she said.

The order comes as coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing pressure to take a tougher stance on irregular migration.

Last month, a deadly knife attack in Soligen killed three people. The perpetrator was a Syrian asylum-seeker who claimed to be inspired by the ISIS group.

Even more recently, police in Munich exchanged fire with a gunman near the Israeli Consulate last week, fatally wounding him. Authorities said they believe he was planning to attack the consulate on the 52nd anniversary of the attack on the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Germany has accepted large numbers of refugees from the Middle East over the past decade, but now a political backlash is building, with support growing for a far-right party. That party, Alternative for Germany, won its first state election earlier this month in Thuringia and had a strong showing in another state, Saxony.

In June, Scholz vowed that the country would start deporting criminals from Afghanistan and Syria again after a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant left one police officer dead and four other people wounded.

Germany deported Afghan nationals to their homeland on Aug. 30, the first time it did so since August 2021, when the Taliban returned to power. The government described the 28 Afghan nationals as convicted criminals, but didn't clarify what their offenses were.

The number of people applying for asylum in Germany last year rose to more than 350,000, an increase of just over 50% compared with the year before. The largest number of asylum-seekers came from Syria, followed by Turks and Afghans.