By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent
DUBAI/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – A U.S. fighter jet shot down an anti-ship cruise missile that was fired from the Iran-backed Houthis towards an American warship in the Red Sea, the United States Central Command said late Sunday.
The Houthis targeted the USS Laboon in the southern Red Sea, but there were no injuries or damage reported, it added.
The attack marked the first U.S.-acknowledged targeting by the Houthis since America and allied nations began strikes Friday on the rebels after weeks of assaults on shipping in the Red Sea.
During the first day of U.S.-led strikes on Friday, it hit 28 locations and more than 60 targets with cruise missiles and bombs launched by fighter jets, warships, and a submarine, military sources said.
U.S. forces reputedly followed up with a strike Saturday on a Houthi radar site. Houthis had threatened to retaliate, underscoring concerns that the world is rapidly moving towards a more extensive global armed conflict.
Houthis have demanded an end to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and view the Jewish nation’s allies as legitimate targets.
However, the targeting of the crucial corridor linking Asian and Mideast energy and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe over the Israel-Hamas war has raised fear of worldwide shortages and trade problems.
ISRAEL ATTACKED FROM LEBANON
The confrontation came as another anti-Israel group backed by Iran also attacked Israel from Lebanon. At least two Israelis were killed in clashes and a strike along the frontier between suspected Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters and Israel’s military, the army and medics said.
Five soldiers were wounded in the firefight with the gunmen, according to the Israeli military.
Earlier, an Israeli man was pronounced dead, and a woman, who the local municipality said was his mother, died later after a missile strike in the Israeli border community of Kfar Yuval that reportedly wounded multiple Israelis.
Hezbollah and Houthis say their actions are in response to Israel’s actions in Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry claims some 24,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 60,000 injured in Israeli attacks over the last 100 days.
Over the past 24 hours, 125 Palestinians were killed, and 265 were injured, the ministry added. These figures have been complex to verify in a territory with virtually no press freedom
Arab-Israeli legislator Ahmad Tibi said on social media that three of his relatives, including a 10-year-old boy, had been killed in a strike on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. There was no immediate response about the incident from Israel.
However, Israel’s military has denied deliberately targeting civilians, saying Hamas is using them as human shields. Israel said Hamas sparked the war after killing some 1,200 people in Israel and taking about 240 others as hostages on October 7, a date now referred to as the “Black Sabbath.”
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS REPORTED
As fighting continued, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) called the ongoing “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza “caused by Israeli attacks” and the related displacing of nearly 2 million Palestinians, one of the world’s “most complex and challenging” operations.
“The massive destruction, displacement, hunger, and loss of the last 100 days are staining our shared humanity,” the UNRWA said. Israel has accused the UNRWA of covering up for Hamas’ alleged hijacking of aid in Gaza, describing the U.N.‘s aid mechanism as “woefully unsuccessful” charges denied by the organization as “baseless.”
The tensions over the humanitarian impact of the war came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners were able to visit the al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza and the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis in the south, officials said.
WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said that both hospitals require “sustained support and protection to remain operational” as they were “vital lifelines for patients and thousands of displaced people in Gaza”
Israel has accused Hamas of having placed its fighters and weapons near or in these and other medical facilities.
Despite the difficulties, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said it set up shelter tents for 315 displaced Palestinian families in the Mawasi Rafah area near the Egyptian border.
Egypt has been reluctant to accept Palestinians fleeing the Gaza Strip, though small groups, including injured people and freed hostages, could enter the country.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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