44 People Sentenced to Death on Charges of Collaboration With a Saudi-led Coalition
A court run by Yemen's Houthis on Saturday sentenced 44 people to death, including a businessman working with aid groups, on spying charges, a defense lawyer said. The 44 were among 49 people who were detained by the Houthis and accused of "collaborating with the enemy," a reference to the Saudi-led coalition that has been at war with the Houthis since 2015, lawyer Abdel-Majeed Sabra said. Four were given prison sentences, Sabra said. Sixteen were sentenced to death in absentia, while 28 were brought before the Specialized Criminal Court in the capital Sanaa, Sabra said. Houthis took over power in Yemen in 2015.
Iran's Tasnim News Agency revealed that Iran supplied the Houthi movement in Yemen with a Ghadr-110 ballistic missile. This comes at a time when tensions are escalating in the region due to military operations launched by the Houthis against the occupation's maritime interests in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. The Iranian agency explained that the ballistic missile Tehran supplied to the Houthis is sea-launched, noting that this weapon: "Is capable of presenting serious challenges to the interests of the United States and its main ally in the region, the Zionist regime."
Yemen's Houthis threatened yesterday to escalate attacks on Red Sea shipping after overnight strikes by the United States and Britain that the fighters said killed 16 people. The toll announced by the Houthis, which AFP could not independently verify, would make the strikes some of the deadliest since the US and Britain launched their campaign in January against disruption of the vital trade route. The Houthis have carried out scores of drone and missile attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November, citing solidarity with Palestinians over the Israel-Hamas war.
British security firm Ambrey and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported an incident on Saturday in the Red Sea west of Yemen's Al-Hudaydah. The Houthis have attacked ships off its coast for months, saying it is acting in solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in Gaza. Ambrey said it had received information indicating missile activity 47 nautical miles west of Al-Hudaydah. UKMTO said it had received a report of an incident near the same location. UKMTO said authorities were investigating. The Houthi drone and missile strikes have been hitting shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November last year.
