keys

US strikes Houthi positions again with ship and submarine strikes in retaliation for attack on US ship

The U.S. conducted its fourth round of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen in less than a week on Wednesday “after the Houthis continued to target merchant ships,” a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News. The strikes targeted several locations that were prepared to launch attacks, according to the official.

The Houthis struck a U.S.-owned and operated merchant ship on Wednesday, according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command. Some damage was reported but no injuries.

The attacks against the Houthis were carried out by ships and submarines

It was the latest in a series of attacks by the Houthis on merchant ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 19. At the same time, they listed the Houthis again as terrorist organizations.

Today, in response to these continuing threats and attacks, the United States announced the designation of Ansarallah, also known as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist – Jake Sullivan, U.S. National Security Advisor pic.twitter.com/pSFUzCR7qk

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 17, 2024

The US responded unilaterally and not with the cooperation of its allied forces in the region

Wednesday’s attack and another on Monday targeted US-owned ships, apparently in defiance of attacks carried out last Thursday and two additional rounds of attacks carried out by the US since then. The U.S. and U.K., backed by other nations, conducted the initial strikes last week, targeting just under 30 locations and using more than 150 different types of munitions, CBS reports.

The U.S. unilaterally launched two more rounds of strikes — one early Saturday morning in Yemen against a Houthi radar site and another on Tuesday destroying four anti-ship ballistic missiles that were “ready to launch,” according to a statement from the United States’ Central Command. USA.

Despite these blows, the Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks on the vital sea route. The Houthis have said the attacks are being carried out to protest Israel’s war on Gaza, but “many of the ships they have targeted have nothing to do with Israel or its war,” US officials said.

“They clearly retained some capability and we anticipated that after any action, there would probably be some retaliation,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Gen. Patrick Ryder said when asked if the Houthis’ ability to carry out attacks had been dramatically reduced.

Source: in.gr

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview released Monday that there were times when he felt the urge to “punch” his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, especially during talks at the initial stage of the invasion. of the Russian army on Ukrainian territory.

He made this admission in an excerpt of an hour-long interview he gave to bloggers, during which he talked about everything from cooking to hobbies to Ukrainian football.

“I can say it happened to me two or three times”

When asked, during a barrage of questions during a part of the interview, what the most difficult negotiations he has ever had to do, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy replied: “The most difficult talks are those in which you feel like what you want is to go and punch the person in front of you, but you can’t.”

“I can say that it happened to me two or three times. One case was with Lavrov, in Antalya, in the spring of 2022,” he added. Ukrainian and Russian officials held several rounds of talks in the first weeks after the invasion in late February 2022. Initially the meetings took place near the Ukraine/Belarus border, then in Turkey.

What Putin and Zelensky say

Mr. Kuleba stated at the time that the talks in Turkey were difficult. They mainly concerned the possibility of a ceasefire and the creation of humanitarian corridors. No agreement was reached and essentially the negotiations were not repeated.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he rejects any negotiations with Moscow before Russian troops withdraw from his country’s territories they have seized, roughly 20% of Ukrainian territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is willing to hold talks, but says that what the Kremlin has dubbed a “special military operation” will continue.

How did the Kremlin react to the Kouleba statement?

Finally, the reaction of the Kremlin was immediate, with the representative of Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, stating that Mr. Kuleba’s statements show that the Ukrainian leadership is completely unsuitable for the role.

“This is the problem: uneducated, aggressive people were allegedly recruited to serve as ministers in order to destroy Ukraine with American money,” Ms Zakharova told the Russian newspaper Izvestia. The spokeswoman sarcastically wondered if Mr. Kuleba would be better off in a “freestyle wrestling” ring instead of the Foreign Office.

Source: in.gr

The Israeli military announced today that it has discovered hundreds of above-ground tunnel entrances and more than 300 underground tunnels in the Khan Yunis area of ​​the southern Gaza Strip, and will continue to search and destroy the tunnel network.

“Terrorists were also killed” during the operations, the Israeli armed forces said on their Telegram channel.

Israeli hostages were held in a tunnel under Khan Yunis, which appears to have been expensive to build, according to the Israeli military.

“Millions of shekels are estimated to have been invested in digging the tunnel and equipping it with ventilation, electrical and plumbing systems,” added the same source.

An entire network of tunnels stretches for many kilometers under the Gaza Strip. To withstand Israeli bombs, some of them are tens of meters deep. Terrorists also use the tunnels to appear out of nowhere and attack soldiers, the Israeli military said.

Brigadier General Dan Goldfuss said yesterday, Wednesday, that the army has now adjusted its strategy, according to the Times of Israel.

Initially only tunnel entrances were detected and destroyed, but now soldiers enter them. “There we will defeat the core of Hamas,” said the Israeli brigadier general.

The leadership of the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas, led by Yahya al-Shinwar, is believed to be inside the network of tunnels in the Khan Younis area.

Israeli media recently reported that Israel knows where al-Sinwar is hiding, but has refrained from attacking because the Hamas leader in Gaza is surrounded by Israeli hostages, whom he is using as human shields.

The German Agency notes that this information could not be confirmed by an independent source and that a military representative did not want to comment on it.

Source: protothema.gr

The scenario of taking additional and stricter measures to limit the spread of the COVID 19 virus is remote, the Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Virology of the School of Medicine of the University of Nicosia, Dr. Petros Karagiannis, told KYPE, who clarified that Cyprus is currently not it’s about an epidemic wave, but it’s about an outbreak.

Asked by KYPE if we are in danger of an epidemic breaking out again in Cyprus, Dr. Karagiannis stated that “we are not dealing with an epidemic wave, but we are dealing with an outbreak”.

He explained that at the end of last week Cyprus counted 4 thousand known cases, to note that when the Omicron variant invaded the community “we counted almost 4 thousand cases a day, with the highest number recorded daily reaching 7 thousand”.

Therefore now, he emphasized, “we are not talking about a wave, but about an outbreak which will complete its cycle and begin to recede”.

Fall in one to two weeks

Dr. Karagiannis estimates that in one to two weeks “we will start to see a decline”, however, he advises the public to be very careful, especially with the return of children to school, where there may be an outbreak.

When asked if a larger number of cases will be recorded in the coming days, on the occasion of the gatherings that took place during the Christmas holidays, Dr. Karagiannis said that “we will see an increase in the numbers, but not to the extent that we should be worried.”

In relation to the low attendance of vaccinations, Dr. Karagiannis does not express concern, since as he explained “there is a high level of immunity in the community, which mitigates the symptoms”.

“Where vaccinations need to be intensified is among the elderly, who are mainly hospitalized at the moment,” he said.

Besides, when asked if a new meeting has been scheduled at the Ministry of Health with the members of the Scientific Monitoring Committee of the COVID-19 disease, Dr. Karagianni said that the standard meeting with the Ministry of Health will take place at the end of the month or at the beginning of February, however, he clarified that the adoption of additional, stricter measures is a “remote scenario”.