WASHINGTON: The United States and Britain launched new strikes on Yemen’s Houthis on Monday, saying their second round of joint military action against the Iran-backed rebels was in response to continued attacks on Red Sea shipping.

American and British forces carried out a first wave of strikes against the rebel group earlier this month, and the United States launched further air raids against missiles that Washington said posed imminent threats to both civilian and military vessels.

But the Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks — just one part of a growing crisis in the Middle East linked to the Israel-Hamas war, which has raised tensions across the region as well as fears of a broader war directly involving Iran.

The latest US-UK strikes were against “eight Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the Houthis’ continued attacks against international and commercial shipping as well as naval vessels transiting the Red Sea,” Washington and London said in a joint statement with other countries that supported the military action.

They “specifically targeted a Houthi underground storage site and locations associated with the Houthis’ missile and air surveillance capabilities,” the statement said.

A senior US military official said the strikes were carried out using a combination of precision-guided munitions from American and British aircraft, and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

There were no concerns about civilian casualties at the sites that were hit, while Houthi losses are unknown at this time, the official told journalists.

“The targeting was very specific and… very deliberate to go after the capability that they are using to attack maritime vessels in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and Gulf of Aden. They were not intentionally selected for casualties — they were going after weapons systems,” the official added.

Yemen’s official Saba news agency said strikes hit the capital Sanaa and several other parts of the country, while Houthi TV outlet Al-Masirah said four strikes targeted the Al-Dailami military base north of the capital, which is under rebel control.

Earlier on Monday, Houthis claimed they fired on a US military cargo ship off the coast of Yemen, with their military spokesman Yahya Saree saying they “led a military operation targeting the American military cargo ship Ocean Jazz in the Gulf of Aden,” near the Red Sea, with missiles.

Asked about the claim, a US defense official told AFP: “We’re not seeing that at all on our end and believe that statement to be untrue.”

The Yemeni rebels began striking Red Sea shipping in November, saying they were hitting Israeli-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the Hamas-Israel war.

The Houthis have since declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets as well.

In addition to military action, Washington is seeking to put diplomatic and financial pressure on the Houthis, re-designating them as a “terrorist” entity last week after dropping that label soon after President Joe Biden took office.

The rebels reiterated on Monday that they will “respond to any attack” on Yemen and continue to “prevent Israeli ships” from crossing the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden until the end of the war in Gaza.

The latest round of the Israel-Hamas conflict began after an unprecedented October attack by the Palestinian militant group that resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel responded with relentless bombardment and a ground offensive that has killed at least 25,295 people, around 70 percent of them women, children and adolescents, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Those deaths have sparked widespread anger across the region and stoked violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

MYSURU: Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha faced the ire of the Dalit community when he visited Harohalli-Gujjegowdanapura, where stone blocks to carve Ram Lalla were procured. Dalit ‘Ram bhakts’ who had organised a bhumi puja at the site where the Ram Lalla stone was extracted, had invited MLA G T Devegowda and other JDS leaders of the region, including several leaders from neighbouring villages.

High drama prevailed when Pratap Simha arrived to attend the event and was stopped by a village leader and former taluk panchayat member Suresh, who claimed that Simha was not invited, and alleged that he was anti-Dalit. He demanded that Simha should not be allowed to take part in the event.

While former minister Sa Ra Mahesh and Devegowda took part in the ceremony, many villagers of Harohalli asked Simha to leave, and not play the ‘divide-and-rule’ card in their village.

“You are here for political reasons, and being anti-Dalit, you have come to disturb the peace and harmony of the village where we Dalits and other communities live together. Leaders from all political parties come here but you never visited nor listened to us. We don’t want you to take part in this event,” he said.

Simha was forced to leave as villagers started raising slogans against him, prompting police to surround him and escort him to his car.

Later in the day, Pratap Simha accused the Congress of creating a ruckus in the village.

“Just a few miscreants created a ruckus and they are Congress workers. I am against Mahisha Dasara even now. Congress cannot defeat me in the Lok Sabha election, which is why they are doing such drama,” he said.

RANCHI: The Enforcement Directorate has issued a fresh summons to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and asked him to again record his statement in a money laundering case between January 27 and 31, official sources said on Monday.

The central agency for the first time in the case on January 20 after investigators went to his official residence here. They recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during the about seven hours they spent at his home.

Soren has been asked to join the investigation again between January 27 and 31, and a Enforcement Directorate team will go to his residence like the last time, the sources said.

The recording of statement did not finish that day (January 20), and hence, the chief minister has been asked to join the probe again, they said.

The agency is understood to have put about 25-30 questions to Soren during the last week questioning in the money laundering case linked to alleged instances of illegal land deals.

After the ED officials had left, the chief minister had said a conspiracy has been hatched against him.

Soren, 48, who is also the executive president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), had earlier skipped seven summonses of the ED, and gave his nod for questioning when the eighth summons was sent.

The investigation pertains to a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand, according to the central probe agency.

The ED has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who served as the director of the state’s social welfare department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.

JORABAT: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday paid tributes to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary and said he was a leading example of Indian values of pluralism and tolerance.

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Gandhi had halted here on Monday night.

Gandhi offered floral tributes before a garlanded photograph of Netaji at the campsite here.

He posted on X, “Our heartfelt tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 127th birth anniversary. Netaji’s Indian National Army with brigades named Gandhi, Nehru, Azad, Subhas, and Rani of Jhansi regiment played an integral role in India’s freedom struggle.”

He was a leading example of Indian values of pluralism, social and economic justice, tolerance, and gender inclusivity. Jai Hind!.

Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered Meghalaya on Monday evening and will re-enter Assam on Tuesday.

RANCHI: Security has been beefed up around the Chief Minister’s house and zonal office of the Enforcement Directorate here on Saturday, ahead of the scheduled questioning of CM Hemant Soren by the federal agency sleuths in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.

The ED officials are scheduled to visit the CM House around noon for questioning in connection with the case.

Barricading was done outside the ED office and CM residence.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Ranchi, Chandan Kumar Sinha told PTI: “More than 1,000 security personnel have been deployed. Three-layer security has been ensured.”

Ranchi administration has ensured three-layer security arrangements around the probe agency’s office and CM House to avoid any untoward incident, he said.

There will be restrictions on traffic movement near CM’s residence until the questioning gets over, the official said.

The agency had sent a letter on January 13 asking the chief minister to be available for questioning in the case between January 16 and January 20.

In reply, Soren told the ED it can record his statement on January 20 at his residence.

Amid protest by the JMM and several tribal outfits, the probe agency wrote to the chief secretary, director general of police and the Ranchi senior superintendent of police to ensure security and to maintain law and order when ED officials visit the CM’s residence to question him, an official said.