The US definitely doesn't want to be dragged into full scale wars with Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq
Iraqi group claims it carried out drone raid against Israel’s Haifa
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it launched a drone attack against the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, according to a statement posted on the group’s Telegram channel and confirmed by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit.
There were no immediate reports from Israeli authorities regarding a drone attack, or if one had been repelled.
In the statement, the group also pledged its support for Palestinians in “resisting the occupation”, adding that it is “giving permission to those who fight” against persecution.
US military says Houthi radar sites hit in Yemen, Red Sea drones destroyed
The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces hit seven Houthi radar installations in Yemen over the past 24 hours, and in separate attacks destroyed surface and aerial drones in the Red Sea region.
CENTCOM, which is responsible for US forces operating in the Middle East, said two “uncrewed surface drones” were destroyed in the Red Sea and one aerial drone was shot down in the sky over the sea.
The radar sites hit in Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen had allowed the targeting of vessels in the Red Sea, the US command said in a post on social media.
Houthi fighters say their attacks on Israeli-linked shipping – and ships using Israeli ports – in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are in retaliation for Israel’s war on Gaza and that their campaign will end when fighting in the Palestinian territory ends.
More on the latest Houthi attack on Greek-owned vessel M/V Tutor
The search for a Filipino sailor who went missing after a Greek-owned vessel was hit and left stricken by a Houthi surface drone is continuing, said Hans Leo Cacdac, chief of the Department of Migrant Workers in the Philippines.
Cacdac said 21 of the 22 all-Filipino crew members of the vessel, the M/V Tutor, that was hit by the “uncrewed surface vessel” have been evacuated and the abandoned ship is now drifting in the Red Sea.
“It just boils down to finding our seafarer who is still onboard,” Cacdac told a news conference in Manila.
The missing crew member was believed to be inside the engine room of the ship when it was hit by the drone, resulting in “severe flooding and damage” to the room, the US military said earlier on Saturday.
The attack near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Wednesday also left the Tutor unable to manoeuvre.
It was the third Houthi attack on a ship crewed by Filipino seafarers since last year, with two Philippine sailors killed and 17 still held by the Houthis in Yemen, government data show.
Update on M/V Tutor and M/V Verbena
On June 12, Iranian-backed Houthis struck M/V Tutor, a Liberian flagged,
Greek owned and operated bulk cargo carrier, with an uncrewed surface vessel
(USV) resulting in severe flooding and damage to the engine room. One civilian mariner… pic.twitter.com/kbhbaaWvTM
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) June 15, 2024
