Elon Musk's Starlink Nears Yemen License, a government source says
Yemen is nearing a licensing agreement with Elon Musk's Starlink to provide satellite internet service to the war-torn country, a Yemeni government official has said. Yemen's internationally recognized government approached Starlink for satellite internet to potentially improve connectivity in the country. The Yemeni official indicated that the government is finalizing the license, a process anticipated to conclude within a month. If approved, Yemen would join a limited group of Middle Eastern nations like Israel and Jordan in embracing Starlink technology. Under the agreement, Starlink's terminals would bypass the need for approval from the Houthi group, which governs much of Yemen. Houthis toppled the Yemeni government in 2015, taking over all state institutions, including the telecommunications sector.
Yemen's Houthis reported fresh US-British airstrikes in the country Tuesday amid growing tensions over the group's attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. Houthi-run Al-Masirah television said airstrikes targeted the Ras Issa area of As Salif District in Al Hudaydah province. No details were provided on casualties or damage. The group fired anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs) and launched unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the Red Sea, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said Monday. Yemen's Houthi group has been targeting cargo ships in the Red Sea owned or operated by Israeli companies or transporting goods to and from Israel in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli onslaught since Oct. 7 last year.
On Wednesday, Amnesty International called on the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) to quickly release Yemeni journalist Ahmed Maher, who has been in prison for a year and nine months. The organization said in a statement on Amnesty International said in a statement that the arbitrarily detained journalist, Maher, was scheduled to appear before the Specialized Criminal Court in Aden yesterday, but the session, which had been postponed repeatedly, was postponed again. The STC kidnapped Maher in August 2022 and accused him of spreading false and misleading news and forging documents.
At least 34,568 Palestinians have been killed and 77,765 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Israel says it is determined to wipe out Hamas from Gaza. About 1,200 people in southern Israel were killed in the Oct. 7 attack, but the Israeli retaliatory assault has obliterated much of the enclave's infrastructure and created a humanitarian crisis verging on famine.
