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06-02-2024
RIYADH: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has landed in Saudi Arabia on his fifth trip to the Middle East since 7 October.
His visit comes after the US said it carried out more strikes against Houthi missiles in Yemen on Sunday.
The military said it had struck a land-attack cruise missile and four anti-ship missiles that “were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea.”
That development followed joint US-UK strikes on Houthi targets which the UK says were intended to stop the Houthis’ attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea.
It follows continued attacks by the Iran-backed group in the Red Sea on military and commercial ships which it says are linked to Israel.
The US also says it is planning more strikes on Iran-linked targets, in response to the drone attack in Jordan which killed three US troops more than a week ago but Iran says the accusations it was involved are “baseless”. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iran-backed militia, claimed responsibility.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has landed in Saudi Arabia for his fifth visit to the Middle East since the conflict between Israel and Hamas started on 7 October.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest from his trip to the region.
Blinken will press for ceasefire and release of hostages.
There are serious discussions under way for another possible truce in the Gaza conflict, with the parties currently waiting for a response from Hamas to the draft proposal.
The framework was agreed by the intelligence chiefs of the United States, Qatar, Israel and Egypt.
Reports say it is structured in at least three phases. Each would involve the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held in Israel but it doesn’t yet commit Israel to end its war with Hamas. That’s a key sticking point because the Palestinian militant group is demanding that the truce lead to a permanent ceasefire.
Crucially, the cessation of hostilities would allow for a dramatic increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza, which the UN says is at risk of famine.
If Hamas agrees to start building on the framework, there would still be many details to work out and it would also have to be approved by Israel’s security cabinet, where members on the extreme right have opposed the terms.
The Houthis continue to confound some of the world’s most powerful militaries, still firing missiles at any international shipping they consider linked to the US, UK or Israel, as well as some that isn’t.
They are a minority group of Yemenis from the mountainous north-west of the country, who take their name from their movement’s founder, Hussein al-Houthi.
The Houthis fought several wars against Yemen’s strongman ruler in the early 2000s and then, after he was deposed by the Arab Spring protests, they marched down to the capital, Sana’a, and seized power in 2014. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
