U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Finance, Trade Facilitators of Yemen's Houthis
The United States on Tuesday imposed counter-terrorism sanctions on what it described as finance and trade facilitators for Yemen's Houthis, Iran's Quds Force, and the Lebanese group Hezbollah. The sanctions target six entities, one individual and two tankers based or registered in Liberia, India, Vietnam, Lebanon, and Kuwait, and have engaged in facilitating commodity shipments and financial transactions, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. "We will continue to use the tools at our disposal to target those who ship illicit cargo to benefit terrorist groups," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on commercial vessels and warships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel killed over 30000 people since October last year.
Despite Elon Musk's repeated remarks on SpaceX's Starlink service being worldwide, the company declared that it disables terminals when a sanctioned or unlicensed party utilizes them. However, a new report by Bloomberg sheds light on the black market sales of Starlink's terminals, revealing illegal reach to suffering zones like Sudan, Yemen and Venezuela with a claimed systematic worldwide issue, questioning the company's oversight of a framework with significant national security elements. A source told Bloomberg that Starlink is widely used in Yemen, with many individuals willing to disobey rival fighting groups, notably Houthis, to obtain terminals for professional and private connectivity and dodge the sluggish, frequently filtered internet connection that is more offered.
Nine years into the conflict in Yemen, almost 10 million children urgently need humanitarian assistance, UNICEF said today. While the reduction in active conflict since April 2022 has led to a decrease in civilian casualties and distress across communities, the situation remains fragile without a sustainable political settlement - especially critical at a time when more than half of the population - 18.2 million people, including 9.8 million children – remain in need of lifesaving support. The fragility is most clearly demonstrated by persistent malnutrition in the country, where more than 2.7 million children are acutely malnourished, and 49 percent of children under the age of five suffer from stunting or chronic malnutrition. This condition hinders children from growing to their full potential, damaging long-term physical and cognitive development, according to UNICEF.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his cancellation of a planned visit to Washington by top aides this week was meant to show Hamas that Israel would not bend to growing international pressure to halt the war in Gaza. "It was a message first and foremost to Hamas: 'Don't bet on this pressure, it's not going to work,'" he said in comments at a meeting with visiting U.S. Senator Rick Scott.
