Senior Houthi official taunts UK leaders on sunk ship, politics
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a senior member of the Yemeni group’s political council, was addressing UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the UK-owned Rubymar cargo vessel that sunk in the Red Sea earlier today.
“You and your government bear responsibility” and are also “responsible” for genocide in Gaza, he said on X.
Al-Houthi said the group could “salvage” the vessel, which was on the water for days after being hit with Houthi antiship missiles, if Sunak sent “a letter of guarantee, signed by George Galloway, that the relief trucks agreed upon at that time would enter Gaza”.
In a fractious week for UK politics, Galloway won the Rochdale by-election after a campaign centred on supporting Gaza, rattling the Labour Party and starting a war of words among top politicians. Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, weighed in on Saturday by criticising Sunak and calling out “a concerted and growing attempt by some to degrade and humiliate minorities for political and electoral gain”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard pledges ‘revenge’ for slain navy man in Syria
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has promised “revenge” for the assassination of its senior navy soldier in Syria in an Israeli air strike.
The force said in a short statement that it “reserves the right for revenge on the agents and perpetrators of this crime” and that the funeral for Colonel Reza Zarei will be held on Sunday in Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. The statement identified the 40-year-old Zarei as having 20 years of experience in the IRGC Navy and as a “military advisor” in Syria who was killed on Friday.
The two other people killed in the air strike were members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iranian media reported.
Israel has been intensifying its attempted assassinations of Iranian and Lebanese forces in Syria and Lebanon in the past few weeks.
Iran’s Raisi, Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim discuss Gaza in Algeria
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani have discussed Gaza in Algeria, where they convened for the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. The Iranian president’s official website said Raisi once more criticised “inaction” by Islamic countries and said any economic relations with Israel now would amount to “financial support” for the state.
“This is happening in the world of Islam at a time when the US and the Zionist regime are continuing their crimes and genocide in Gaza and are looking to kill time to continue their crimes,” he said.
A video circulating online shows Sheikh Tamim telling Raisi that Qatar has emphasised the necessity of delivering aid to the US, with the Iranian president telling him, “if the US doesn’t prevent help from going into Gaza it would be enough, we have no need for its aid.”
Lebanon’s Hezbollah claims attacks on Israeli sites
The Lebanese group Hezbollah has claimed several attacks on Israeli targets as it continues to engage in cross-border fire. In a statement, it said it targeted the Al-Raheb military site off Lebanon’s southern town of Aita Al-Shaab. Earlier, it announced attacks on a gathering of Israeli soldiers in proximity of the Jal al-Alam site, opposite the Lebanese town of Naqoura.
Al Jazeera correspondents also reported that missiles were fired at an Israeli site in the occupied Kfar Shuba hills and at another site in the occupied Shebaa Farms, southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has confirmed the deaths of seven fighters in the past 24 hours, as the Israeli army continues a campaign of targeted attacks against members of the group.
PIJ calls on Arab, Muslim countries to take up arms against Israel
The Quds Brigades armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) says Arab and Muslim countries should take up arms against Israel in a defiant statement carried by its spokesperson Abu Hamza.
“Is it not time for you to mobilise your weapons, following in the footsteps of the free people of Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq?” he said to countries that “possess armies, planes, and artillery” but have not intervened to stop the war on Gaza.
Abu Hamza also called on Arab and Muslim nations to make the first day of Ramadan – which is in about a week – a day of international support for Gaza.
“Just as you turn to God in prayer and fasting, turn to the land of Israel with weapons,” he told Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
