Free Republic

For quite some time now we’ve been keeping a close eye on the border region between Pakistan and India. The two nuclear powers have never gotten along well, with frequent skirmishes breaking out over disputed territory. But as of yesterday, Pakistan has experienced a flare-up with a different neighbor. Iran has launched attacks on what it claims are terrorist centers in Pakistan and now Pakistan has fired back, launching airstrikes into Iranian territory and killing at least seven people. So if there wasn’t already enough warfare in that region (both declared and undeclared), there’s one more conflict to toss on...

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi on Thursday denied claims that Yemeni forces had targeted Mecca, calling the allegation "the lie of the age" and "a great slander," and claimed that the "Zionist enemy" represented the true threat to Mecca and other Islamic holy sites. "The real threat is the Zionist enemy, which seeks to target all Islamic holy sites, including Mecca, Medina, and Al-Aqsa Mosque," al-Houthi said. "We are ready to confront it as an Islamic alliance." Addressing the allegations against Yemeni forces, al-Houthi said: "This is an exposed lie intended to conceal failure on the battlefield and to incite others."...

These days one reads fewer stories proclaiming the turning of the tide in the Russia-Ukraine war. There are also fewer tweets from Donald Trump threatening Iran with imminent destruction. Now that the noise has receded, it is a good time to listen. I am not hearing of a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive. What I am hearing instead is the thud of Russian jackboots marching deeper into the parts of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine that Vladimir Putin does not yet control. Meanwhile, in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula, the Houthis have taken control of the strategic port city of...

Anthropic says Claude users in northern Yemen, territory controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, tried to use the AI model to develop advanced missiles. AI is already transforming warfare from Ukraine to Gaza, and its use on a rugged and remote battlefield is likely to increase concerns about its rapid spread. Anthropic said the users of the accounts, which it blocked after identifying them, did not succeed in “fielding an operational device” but did carry out a failed test of a guided rocket. It said it knows that because the users returned to its Claude chatbot to find out why it...

My, what a difference a few days makes.On Wednesday, it looked like a surprise offensive by Yemeni government forces had knocked Iran's proxies, the Houthis, back on their heels. In just a day of hard fighting, the Houthis had been routed from several strongholds and Yemeni Deputy Defense Minister Samir al-Sabri declared that “the decision has been made to retake Sanaa.”🇾🇪⚡- In the past hour, Presidential Leadership Council forces have launched a major offensive in the al-Bayda' Governorate, southern Yemen.The fighting is no longer confined to a few directions, Yemen is once again engaged in a full-scale civil war, with...

Iraq's government was racing Saturday to contain the fallout after local Iran-backed militias were accused of attacking and shuttering a key Saudi pipeline. Though an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias in Iraq denied their involvement, Iraq's government confirmed the attacks had originated from its territory. The government pledged to investigate and dismissed a military commander. The country is under mounting pressure to prevent local militias from aiding other Iran proxy groups across the region. The Iraqi government has set a Sept. 30 deadline for non-state groups to disarm, but several of the most powerful militias have said they will not...

Saudi Arabia’s critical East-West oil pipeline system was struck on Thursday, with multiple pumping stations hit in an attack that could threaten one of the kingdom’s most important crude export routes, according to CNN, citing two U.S. officials familiar with the matter... ...OilPrice.com reported that NASA FIRMS had detected multiple large fires near the East-West pipeline, while Sentinel-3 imagery appeared to show a massive plume of black smoke stretching across western Saudi Arabia. One U.S. official said the attack involved drones originating from Iraq, although responsibility for the strikes has not yet been established... ...It also remains unclear whether the...

Houthis HUMILIATE Saudi Arabia, Massive BREAKTHROUGH To Bab el-Mandab! - video at link

In one of the most underreported happenings in the Persian Gulf conflict, Yemen’s internationally recognized government and allied militias have inflicted a series of ground setbacks on Iran-backed Houthi forces over the past month. These defeats are reversing parts of a late-summer Houthi push toward the Red Sea undertaken as part of the Iranian strategy of widening its conflict with the U.S. The Yemeni government is sufficiently confident in the new fronts that they now describe this as the start of a campaign to take the Houthi capital of Sanaa. The Iranian-backed Houthis have been Iran's key ace-in-the-hole for years....

WASHINGTON — Oman has quietly rejected Iran’s request to jointly charge service fees on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, The Post has learned — averting a clash with President Trump, who has threatened to rain down bombs on the US ally. A high-ranking regional official said that Muscat declined to consent to charging fees — even on a voluntary basis — for environmental and security services, contrary to a statement last week from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The terms of a proposed revenue-sharing deal had not been finalized, even by Tehran, a US official told The Post...

Violence across two of the world’s most important shipping corridors escalated sharply this week after an attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed six people near the Red Sea and U.S. forces separately fired missiles at a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman. The incidents mark another dangerous turn in a conflict that is increasingly threatening global shipping and energy supplies. They also come as oil prices climb and negotiations aimed at restoring normal traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remain stalled. For investors and consumers, the stakes extend well beyond the Middle East. Continued disruption across the Red Sea,...

A drone struck the U.S.-owned gas tanker Energos Winter at Egypt’s Damietta port on Wednesday evening, setting it ablaze before the flames spread to a second tanker, Gaslog Salem, according to Reuters and maritime security firm Ambrey. Two security sources told Reuters that the tankers were hit by a drone, while three shipping industry sources identified Energos Winter as the vessel struck. Ambrey said the crews were evacuated and the fire was brought under control. No casualties were reported, and no country or organization has claimed responsibility. Damietta, located in the northern Nile Delta, had been named by Iranian television...

An explosion hit a liquefied natural gas terminal at Egypt's Damietta Port on Wednesday evening during cargo discharge operations, with maritime security officials suspecting an unmanned aerial vehicle attack. Maritime security firm Ambrey reported that a drone struck the American owned, Marshall Islands flagged floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that subsequently spread to a second vessel, Gaslog Salem. Shipping agent Inchcape Shipping Services stated that affected vessels were moved outside the port area while emergency crews contained the flames, allowing other berths to resume operations. The incident follows a target map published by Iranian state television identifying...

Riyadh strikes Yemeni airport (Sana’a) after Trump backs military action against Houthis The strike on Monday (13 July) damaged the runway and prevented an Iranian airliner from landing in the Yemeni capital, which is controlled by the Houthis, a pro-Tehran proxy militia... ...Two US officials told Axios that Donald Trump gave Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia his support for the military action... ...The incident breaks a four-year truce between Riyadh and the Shia militia, which followed a decade-long war that killed approximately 377,000 people, according to United Nations estimates, most of which were caused by starvation and...

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen targeted Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil company on Saturday with missiles and drones, marking a significant escalation in the second front of the ongoing Iran conflict. President Trump issued new warnings against Iran this week, threatening to hit one power plant or bridge for every ship they hit in the Strait of Hormuz after Iran attacked another tanker near the coast of Oman on Tuesday. The President has further said that he is weighing a “massive” attack on Iran, which would be “bigger than ever before,” he said. “They haven’t received enough pain yet,” Trump said...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran on Wednesday of flying members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps into Yemen, saying Tehran’s actions helped ignite a renewed confrontation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. "They decided to send direct flights from Tehran into Yemen, carrying IRGC elements and others into the country," Rubio told reporters. "And the Saudis responded to it." Rubio did not identify the flights, specify how many IRGC personnel were allegedly transported or provide evidence supporting the allegation. He made the remarks while attending an annual gathering of Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers...

Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes on Houthi targets in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida and a nearby island on Friday, after the Iran-backed group announced a maritime blockade and attacked Saudi ships. Saudi authorities later issued emergency alerts for the province of Jizan as the Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile attack on the city of Jizan. Early on Saturday, the Houthis' Ansarollah media said on Telegram that a "Yemeni missile strike" had caused fires in the Saudi city of Jizan.

Pro-Israel research group Canary Mission said Monday that a video shows several Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-aligned politicians joined an online rally where a speaker lamented that neutralizing Iran would strip Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis of their funding. The group shared the clip in an “exclusive” thread on X. It came from a March fundraiser called “Choose Your Fighter,” hosted by Progressive Victory to rally support for progressives opposed to the Iran conflict. The speaker was left-wing podcaster Kyle Kulinski. Kulinski argued the United States and Israel were building a “fourth Reich” before turning to Tehran’s regional proxies. “If...

The Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen announced today that they were closing the Red Sea to ships from Saudi Arabia.The Houthis have repeatedly threatened to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait during the U.S.-Iran war. The strait is a choke point for commercial ship traffic that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and global markets.The militants, in a statement carried by state news, accused the Saudis of laying an “aggressive siege” against them. Tensions escalated last week after they claimed that Riyadh had bombed Sanaa International Airport.It's actually a bit confusing why the Houthis took this action today....

US-Saudi relations have significantly deteriorated in recent months amid anger in Riyadh over Washington’s decision to launch a war against Iran that has caused massive blowback for the rest of the region, a Middle Eastern intelligence official tells The Times of Israel, confirming a Wall Street Journal report. Saudi Arabia refused to allow the US to use its bases in order to conduct Project Freedom, which was aimed at breaking Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz by escorting stuck ships out of the channel. Saudi bases and airspace were critical to the operation and Riyadh’s refusal to cooperate forced...