Yemeni, Egyptian Foreign Ministers Warn Against Risks of Expanding Tensions in Red Sea
Today, Wednesday, the Yemeni and Egyptian foreign ministers began a round of strategic dialogue in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesman and Director of the Public Diplomacy Department at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the dialogue began with a bilateral meeting between Sameh Shukri, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Shaye Mohsen Al-Zindani, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs of the Republic of Yemen. Abu Zaid indicated that the discussions focused on the increasing risks of the ongoing Red Sea tensions, their consequences on the security of navigation and trade in the Suez Canal, and its impact on international transport and trade. The two ministers warned against the repercussions of the ongoing escalation, which threatens to increase the risks of expanding the conflict and undermining the security and stability of the region.
A suspected Houthi attack targeted a ship near Aden in Yemen, a UK maritime agency said on Wednesday, while Iraqi militants allied to the Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Israel's port city of Eilat. On Wednesday morning, the captain of a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden reported a missile had hit the water nearby, 96km south of Aden. The attack came several hours after the Houthis claimed they had targeted the Liberian-flagged MSC Sarah V in the Arabian Sea with a new ballistic missile, describing the ship as "Israeli".
A ship operated by Russian shipping group Sovcomflot rescued the crew of a tanker taking in water off Yemen's coast this week, the state-owned company, which is under Western sanctions, said on Wednesday. Sovcomflot tanker NS Africa was sailing southeast of the port of Nishtun in southern Yemen on June 23 when it responded to a distress call by the Lavant tanker, whose crew had abandoned ship and were in a life raft in the open sea. "At 1410 local time, the crew of the tanker NS Africa ... carried out an operation to rescue 19 sailors, among whom were citizens of India, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Indonesia," SCF said in a statement.
Israeli forces pounded several areas across Gaza on Wednesday, and residents reported fierce fighting overnight in Rafah in the south of the Palestinian enclave. Residents said fighting intensified in the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah, where tanks were also trying to force their way north amid heavy clashes. The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs. Since early May, ground fighting has focused on Rafah, abutting Egypt on Gaza's southern edge, where around half of the enclave's 2.3 million people had been sheltering after fleeing other areas.
