The US launched two separate strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen and intercepted a missile fired by the Iran-backed group, as the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war continues to roil the Middle East.
US forces destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile they said was being prepared for launch at about 3:30pm Yemen time on Wednesday. Five hours later, the USS Carney, a destroyer, intercepted a Houthi anti-ship missile fired toward the Gulf of Aden and also shot down three drones in the area, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.
Later, at 1:30am, the US struck what it said was a drone-control station and 10 one-way drones in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
Photo: Reuters
“They presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the US Navy ships in the region,” CENTCOM, which is in charge of US forces in the Middle East and parts of Asia, said of the later incident.
The frantic few hours for the US military came as the White House prepares its response to a deadly drone attack on an American base in Jordan over the weekend, which killed three soldiers and wounded dozens.
The US blamed Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria for the assault and US President Joe Biden is under pressure to retaliate fiercely against the Islamic Republic.
Some Republicans, including US Senator Lindsey Graham, are urging Biden to hit Iranian territory. A less escalatory response might be to hit Iranian targets or proxies abroad, in countries such as Iraq and Syria.
The US has determined that Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group aligned with Iran, was responsible for the assault in Jordan, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said late on Tuesday.
Biden said earlier this week he has decided on his response, but did not give any details on the timing or extent of it.
He said he does not want to escalate tensions with Iran to the point of causing a wider war in the Middle East.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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