Sunni News

Yemen's Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea since November, in what they say is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, prompting retaliatory U.S. and U.K. strikes against the Iran-aligned group.In the first fatalities reported since the Houthis began their attacks on shipping in one of the world's busiest trade lanes, a Houthi missile on Wednesday killed three seafarers on the Greek-owned, Barbados-flagged ship True Confidence some 50 nautical miles from Yemen's port of Aden.HistoryIn the late 1990s…

Chinese officials have asked their Iranian counterparts to help rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis, or risk harming business relations with Beijing, four Iranian sources and a diplomat familiar with the matter said.The discussions about the attacks and trade between China and Iran took place at several recent meetings in Beijing and Tehran, the Iranian sources said, declining to provide details about when they took place or who attended."Basically, China says: 'If our interests are harmed in any way, it will impact our business with Tehran.

A Lebanese court on Thursday dismissed a judge who had charged top politicians with negligence over last year’s Beirut port explosion, infuriating families of victims who said it showed that the state would never hold powerful men to account.Judge Fadi Sawan had led the investigation into one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history. In December, he charged three ex-ministers and the outgoing prime minister with negligence.Two hundred people died in the August blast when a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate, stored unsafely for years, detonated at the capital’s port.

The first of many warnings about a deadly cargo in Beirut’s port came in February 2014, about three months after its arrival. It was made by Colonel Joseph Skaf, described by his family as a diligent customs official.Skaf, then the head of the anti-narcotics and money laundering division, informed the customs authority that the shipment of ammonium nitrate was “extremely dangerous” and posed a risk to the public.In his handwritten letter, reviewed by Reuters and authenticated by a source familiar with the case…

The ship-to-shore crane paused above the cargo ship just arrived from Dubai, then set its load down on the pier in Israel.One after another, eight containers filled with electronics, cleaning supplies, iron, and firefighting equipment were unloaded off the MSC Paris, one of the first cargo ships to make the voyage between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.Just a few months ago, such a journey from Dubai's Jebel Ali port to the northern Israeli port city of Haifa would have been unthinkable.The countries announced a normalization deal in August which laid the ground for a potentially profitable new trade route.The diplomatic breakthrough stemmed from a strategic realignment of Middle East nations…

A powerful blast in port warehouses near central Beirut storing highly explosive material killed 78 people, injured nearly 4,000 and sent seismic shockwaves that shattered windows, smashed masonry and shook the ground across the Lebanese capital.Officials said they expected the death toll to rise further after Tuesday's blast as emergency workers dug through rubble to rescue people and remove the dead. It was the most powerful explosion in years in Beirut, which is already reeling from an economic crisis and a surge in coronavirus infections.President Michel Aoun said that 2…

Armed pirates attacked a British-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday but were repulsed, the ship's manager Stolt Tankers said.The pirates approached the Stolt Apal in two speedboats some 75 nautical miles off Yemen, it said, in one of the most important trade routes for oil heading from the Middle East to Europe."After multiple warning shots were fired by the armed guard team aboard Stolt Apal, the skiffs opened fire on the ship. The armed guard team returned fire, disabling one skiff and ending the pursuit," a company spokesman told Reuters in emailed comments."A coalition warship (also) responded and Stolt Apal has resumed her voyage…

Naval forces from the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen on Sunday foiled an "imminent terrorist" attack by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in the southern Red Sea, a major commercial shipping channel, the coalition said.The forces destroyed an unmanned boat laden with explosives that was launched from Hodeidah province in western Yemen, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said in a statement on Saudi state news agency SPA, without identifying the targets.There was no immediate confirmation from the Houthi movement…

The Saudi-led coalition intercepted and destroyed an explosives-laden boat launched by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement from Yemen's main port of Hodeidah, Al Arabiya TV said on Thursday.It said the Western-backed, Sunni Muslim coalition foiled "an imminent terrorist act by the Houthi militia south of the Red Sea" but gave no further details.There was no immediate confirmation by the Houthi group which had claimed responsibility for last weekend's attacks on Saudi oil facilities. Riyadh has rejected the claim and said those strikes did not come from Yemen. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli and Ghaida Ghantous Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Iran was to revive maritime security talks on Tuesday with traditional foe the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in an apparent bid to calm tensions in the Gulf, although a Gulf official described the discussions as routine and technical.The talks follow weeks of heightened political friction around the strategic waterway stemming from hostility between between Tehran and Washington, the main Western ally of Gulf Arab states long wary of the Islamic Republic.The discussions had been off since 2013…

The United States is struggling to win its allies' support for an initiative to heighten surveillance of vital Middle East oil shipping lanes because of fears it will increase tension with Iran, six sources familiar with the matter said.Washington proposed on July 9 stepping up efforts to safeguard strategic waters off Iran and Yemen where it blames Iran and its proxies for tanker attacks. Iran denies the charges.But with Washington's allies reluctant to commit new weaponry or fighting forces…

U.S. Central Command chief General Kenneth McKenzie said on Thursday it was talking to other countries about freedom of navigation in the Gulf and would work "aggressively" to find a solution to enable free passage.The United States has beefed up its military presence in the Middle East over a perceived Iranian threat and is asking allies to help protect strategic waters off Iran and Yemen, following attacks on oil tankers in Gulf waters in recent months."We are currently talking…

Yemen's Houthi movement and the United Nations have agreed on a mechanism to inspect ships docking at Hodeidah following the group's withdrawal from three Red Sea ports under a U.N.-sponsored deal, a Houthi official and a U.N. source said.The Houthis' unilateral pullout last month from the ports of Saleef, used for grain, Ras Isa oil terminal and Hodeidah, the main entry point for commercial and aid imports, represented the only progress in implementing the deal reached last December."We agreed with the U.N. on a mechanism to inspect ships docking in the ports of Hodeidah and its implementation will start in the coming days," Houthi…

Two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, leaving one ablaze and both adrift, shipping firms said, driving oil prices as much as 4% higher over worries about Middle East supplies.The Front Altair, carrying petrochemical feedstock, was on fire in waters between Gulf Arab states and Iran after an explosion that a source blamed on a magnetic mine. The Norwegian owner said its crew were safe.A second Japanese-owned tanker was abandoned after being hit by a suspected torpedo, the firm that chartered the ship said.

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that two of its oil tankers were among those attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and said it was an attempt to undermine the security of crude supplies amid tensions between the United States and Iran.The UAE said on Sunday that four commercial vessels were sabotaged near Fujairah emirate, one of the world's largest bunkering hubs lying just outside the Strait of Hormuz, but did not describe the nature of the attack or say who was behind it.The UAE had not given the nationalities or other details about the ownership of the four vessels. Riyadh has identified two of them as Saudi and a Norwegian company has said it owned another.

Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it was suspending oil shipments through a strategic Red Sea lane after Yemen's Iran-aligned rebels attacked two tankers in the waterway, underscoring the risk of an escalation in tensions in the region.Brent crude futures rose 59 cents to $74.52 a barrel by 1008 GMT, extending their rally into a third day but falling from a 10-day high in earlier trading.Saudi Arabia and arch-foe Iran have been locked in a three-year proxy war in Yemen, which lies on one side of the Bab al-Mandeb strait at the southern mouth of the sea, one of the most important trade routes for oil tankers heading from the Middle East to Europe.The Houthis…

Yemen's Houthis attacked a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea, causing slight damage, an Arab coalition said on Wednesday, after the Houthis reported targeting a Saudi warship in the area.Saudi Arabia and its coalition of Sunni Muslim allies have been fighting in Yemen for three years against the Iran-aligned Houthis, who control much of north Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, and drove a Saudi-backed government into exile in 2014.One of the coalition's main justifications for its intervention is to protect shipping routes such as the Red Sea…

Unidentified forces attacked a U.N. aid vessel off the main Yemeni port of Hodeidah at the weekend and started a fire in the engine room, port authorities said on Monday.The United Nations aid chief, Mark Lowcock, confirmed there had been an incident but said it was now over and everyone was safe, without elaborating.The vessel used by the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) was attacked after delivering a shipment at Hodeidah, Yemen's Red Sea Ports Corporation said. The port is held by the Iranian-aligned armed Houthi movement which has taken large parts of the country in a three-year-old war.A WFP spokeswoman said an unidentified armed…

An attack on a Saudi tanker by Yemen's Houthis will not hit oil supplies, Saudi Arabia's energy minister said on Wednesday, after the Iran-allied group said it had targeted a warship in response to an air strike that killed civilians. The Western-backed, Saudi-led coalition which includes other Sunni Muslim states says the Houthis attacked the oil tanker off Yemen's main port of Hodeidah on Tuesday. The Houthis, however, say they targeted a coalition warship in response to an air strike on Hodeidah on Monday that killed at least a dozen civilians, including seven children.

The Saudi navy has captured three members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from a boat seized last week as it approached the kingdom's offshore Marjan oilfield, the Saudi information ministry said on Monday. Relations between the two countries are at their worst in years, with each accusing the other of subverting regional security and support opposite sides in conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. "This was one of three vessels which were intercepted by Saudi forces. It was captured with the three men on board, the other two escaped," a statement from the ministry's center for international communications said. "The three captured members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are now being questioned by Saudi authorities," it said, citing a Saudi official.

Saudi Arabia began naval war games including live fire exercises on Tuesday in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil route, official media reported, a move that coincides with heightened tensions with regional rival Iran. Warships, speedboats, air navy aircraft, Marine Corps and special security naval units took part, state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said. Live ammunition was fired during activities. The manoeuvres are aimed at testing combat readiness "in preparation for the protection of the marine interests of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against any possible aggression," reported SPA quoting commander of the exercises, Rear Admiral Majed bin Hazza'a Al-Qahtani. The drill is also being conducted in the Sea of Oman, SPA reported.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have banned Iranian-flagged vessels from entering their waters and imposed other shipping restrictions, according to ship insurers citing local reports, potentially escalating tensions between Tehran and Riyadh. Iran has been struggling to ramp up oil exports and still faces insurance and financing hurdles despite the lifting of international curbs on its banking, insurance and shipping sectors last month as part of a nuclear deal with world powers. A ban on Iranian ships in those ports is unlikely to affect international trade, although the uncertainty will add to trade hiccups for Iran. Some ship insurers in recent days…

Amid political rivalry between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia, United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) is resuming business with Iran following the lifting of Western sanctions, reports Reuters. Saudi Arabia is one of the shipping line's main shareholders. Other Gulf nations which hold stakes in UASC also have difficult relations with Iran. Commercial considerations for UASC were more important than political difficulties, said a highly placed source. Kuwait-headquartered UASC told Reuters on Wednesday it had "started accepting shipments to and from Iran". "It is important to note that a number of sanctions are still in place…