Houthi | Pakistan

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has strongly condemned Houthi attacks on civilian and economic targets in Saudi Arabia, calling for immediate de-escalation and the restoration of a credible political process to resolve the conflict in Yemen.

• Tankers in Red Sea switch off tracking to evade attacks; conflicting data clouds scale of export disruption • Tehran says no major progress in talks with Washington • Trump claims US has total control over Hormuz DUBAI: Saudi crude exports from the Red Sea are increasingly vanishing from view as tankers switch off tracking signals to avoid attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, with analysts saying all recent Yanbu loadings have been conducted “dark”. The Houthis declared a maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia on July 20, targeting the US and allies in the Iran conflict. They’ve since claimed attacks on Saudi-linked tankers, Yanbu oil facilities, and Jazan refinery, leading vessels to turn off tracking signals. The increase in “dark voyages” is complicating the assessment of Houthi threat impacts on Saudi crude flows. Ship-tracking firms have produced widely differing export estimates — data used by the International Energy Agency, OPEC and traders to forecast market trends. In the week beginning Aug 3, data analytics fir...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday condemned the attack by Yemen’s Houthis on a commercial vessel in the Red Sea that claimed the lives of three Pakistanis and said Islamabad was in contact with the relevant authorities to ascertain further details. The attack targeted a Tanzania-flagged vessel Tihamah, causing deaths and injuries among its crew. Apart from three Pakistanis, an Indonesian was also killed in the attack. Dar said in a post on X that he had also received reports of a Pakistani being injured in the attack. “We extend our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families,” he said, adding: “Pakistan strongly condemns the Houthi attack on a non-combatant commercial vessel.” “Such attacks endanger innocent lives, constitute a violation of international law, and pose a serious threat to freedom of navigation, maritime security, and the safety of commercial shipping in the Red Sea,” he said. “We are in contact with the relevant Saudi authorities, as well as the internationa...

Strikes by Houthi rebels on Sunday killed at least 11 people, a medical source in the Yemeni port city of Mokha told AFP, after an earlier drone salvo targeted a Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea coast. A years-long truce in Yemen’s civil war between the Houthis and the internationally recognised government appeared to collapse last month as fighting between regional allies of the United States and Iran flared. The breakdown of the UN-backed 2022 accord came as the rebels announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, hitting Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and the kingdom’s oil infrastructure, in parallel with Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. A medical source in Mokha, held by Yemen’s internationally recognised, Aden-based government, said three civilians and eight military personnel had been killed in the Houthi attacks. A further 32 individuals were wounded, six of them civilians, the source added, explaining all the civilian casualties had been a result of strikes on Mokha’s port. Two military source...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday held a telephone conversation with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, wherein he expressed Pakistan’s condemnation, in the strongest possible terms, of the dastardly attacks carried out by the Houthi militia against Saudi oil.

• Says armed forces vigilant about situation in Bab el-Mandab; will give swift response if Islamabad’s assets come under attack • PM reassures Saudi crown prince of full support, condemns Yemeni rebels’ attacks on oil tankers • Dar meets Omani FM on sidelines of Asean moot; FO says efforts on to secure de-escalation ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday doubled down on its warning to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, describing any attack on its maritime interests as a “red line” and declaring that such a strike would be treated as an attack on the country, while simultaneously reassuring Saudi Arabia of its support and pledging to work with Riyadh to ensure the uninterrupted flow of ships through the Bab el-Mandab chokepoint. At his weekly media briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi left little room for ambiguity about Islamabad’s position. “I do not think that there is a thin line when it comes to defending our national security and our assets. This is not a thin line; this is a red line. This red line is stri...

PM slams Houthi attacks on Saudi tankers

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea in a telephone conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “Such actions are unacceptable, violate international law, threaten freedom of navigation and undermine regional peace and security,” PM Shehbaz said in a post on the social media platform X. Hostilities in the Middle East flared on Thursday as Yemen’s Houthis said that they attacked two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in a military operation. A Saudi news agency confirmed one of the two vessels was ablaze after an assault while sailing in the Red Sea. In his post on X, PM Shehbaz said that he reaffirmed Pakistan’s solidarity with Saudi Arabia during the call with the crown prince. The premier said he conveyed that he, Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir and the nation “stand firmly and resolutely with the Saudi leadership and the brotherly people of the kingdom at this critical time”. PM Shehbaz said ...

Video is old, shows March 2022 Houthi attack on Saudi Aramco facility

WASHINGTON: Pakistan on Monday backed Saudi Arabia at an emergency UN Security Council briefing on Yemen, reaffirming Islamabad’s support for the kingdom’s security and territorial integrity and calling for all parties concerned to resolve differences through dialogue and diplomacy. Yemen has been gripped by conflict since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, triggering a Saudi-led military intervention in support of the beleaguered government the following year. The UN Security Council briefing came after an attack by the Yemeni government on an international airport in Sanaa on Monday. The Yemeni government said it wanted to prevent an Iranian plane from landing in Sanaa after it failed to convince a Houthi delegation, which went to Tehran for assassinated Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral, to board a Yemen flag carrier’s flight instead. Hours after the airport attack, Saudi Arabia said it intercepted ballistic missiles fired at the country’s south by Houthis. Monday’s flare-up ...

Post from multiple Indian users on social media platform X on Friday shared a video clip of a Houthi official, claiming that it showed him threatening Pakistan for allegedly sending troops to the Saudi–Yemen border amid the signing of a mutual defence deal with the kingdom. However, the video is old and does not show the Houthi official talking about Pakistan. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a “Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement” in Riyadh on Sept 16, pledging that any attack on either nation would be treated as an act of aggression against both. A statement from the PM’s office announcing the signing of the pact read: “This agreement, which reflects the shared commitment of both nations to enhance their security and to achieve security and peace in the region and the world, aims to develop aspects of defence cooperation between the two countries and strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression.” A known Indian propaganda account shared the picture of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with Saudi Crown Prin...

The prime minister of Yemen’s Houthi government and several other ministers were killed in an Israeli strike on the capital Sanaa, the news agency run by the group said on Saturday, citing a statement by the head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat. A number of others were wounded in the strike, carried out on Thursday, it said without providing details. Israel said on Friday that the airstrike had targeted the Iran-aligned group’s chief of staff, defence minister and other senior officials and that it was verifying the outcome. The Houthi-run news agency ran a statement from the defence minister shortly after it confirmed the prime minister’s death and quoted him as saying the group was ready to confront Israel. The statement did not mention Thursday’s airstrike and it was unclear if it was made before or after the attack. Ahmad Ghaleb al-Rahwi became prime minister nearly a year ago, but the de facto leader of the government was his deputy, Mohamed Moftah, who was assigned on Saturday t...