‘No military or political logic’ to US attacks on Houthis

Nabeel Khoury, a former US diplomat, says Trump’s decision to launch attacks against the Houthis is misguided, and will not subdue them.

“For our president who came in wanting to avoid war and wanting to be a man of peace, he’s going about it the wrong way. There are many paths that can be used before you resort to war,” Khoury told Al Jazeera.

The danger to shipping in the Red Sea is “a justifiable reason for concern”, the former diplomat said, but added that it is a problem that could be resolved through diplomacy.

The Houthis, who have been “bombed severely all over their territory” in the past, are not likely to be subdued through “a few weeks of bombing”, Khoury said.

“If you think that Hamas, living and fighting on a very small piece of land, totally surrounded by land, air and sea, and yet, 17 months of bombardment by the Israelis did not get rid of them. The Houthis lived in a much more rugged space, mountainous regions – it would be virtually impossible to eradicate them,” he said.

“So there is no military logic to what’s happening, and there is no political logic either.”


More US raids on Yemen

Yemen’s Al Masirah TV is reporting renewed Israeli raids on the country’s capital, Sanaa, as well as the city of Saada.

The Houthi-affiliated channel says the strike on Saada targeted a key power station there, causing a power outage.

Israel steps up attacks on Gaza as water crisis worsens

We understand that there has been a very staggering water crisis that has started to emerge in all battered areas in the territory, including the north.

People there, every single morning, they battle to afford and secure enough water to be used for different purposes.

Here in the central area, we can see that people are securing and trying to store forward because they believe that the incoming days might be very difficult and products might completely disappear from local markets.

Meanwhile, community kitchens have been giving some window of relief for many displaced families who have lost their homes.

But civilians who are trying to rely on these community kitchens believe that it’s only a matter of time before they suspend their operations due to the scarcity of food products, even canned foods, from local markets.

As well, civilians have started to believe that Israel has started to adopt more escalating steps, militarily.

During the past 48 hours, they have intensified attacks on all border towns and villages, including more than 15 Palestinians have been confirmed killed during the past 24 hours.

Absolutely, they believe that this has been a clear tool of the pressure to gain more political leverage on the table of negotiations.

Eight of the 9 victims of Israel’s attack on Beit Lahiya were aid workers

Shuaib Yusaf, the CEO of the Al Khair Foundation, has issued a statement on the Israeli attack that killed its aid workers in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.

“It is with great sadness and regret that we announce the demise in Gaza of eight of our team’s dedicated humanitarian aid workers. They were killed in violation of the agreed ceasefire in a drone airstrike,” Yusaf said.

“The exact circumstances are still being established but we refute utterly any suggestion that those who were killed were militant or in any way connected with Hamas,” he added.

Al Khair Foundation is an international aid organisation based in the United Kingdom.

As we’ve been reporting, at least nine people, including three photographers, were killed in the drone strike on Saturday.