Two US Navy Seals who went missing during a night-time raid on a boat off Somalia have been declared dead after a 10-day search failed to find them, military officials have said.
The unnamed pair were reported missing in the Gulf of Aden after commandos targeted the vessel, which was carrying Iranian-made weapons to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, US Central Command (Centcom) said on X.
As the team was boarding the dhow on 11 January, one of them fell into the water during rough seas, and a colleague dived in to help, officials said.
Centcom said in a statement: “We regret to announce that after a 10-day exhaustive search, our two missing US Navy Seals have not been located and their status has been changed to deceased.
“The search and rescue operation for the two Navy Seals reported missing during the boarding of an illicit dhow carrying Iranian advanced conventional weapons… concluded and we are now conducting recovery operations.”
Centcom commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said: “We mourn the loss of our two naval special warfare warriors, and we will forever honour their sacrifice and example.
“Our prayers are with the Seals’ families, friends, the US Navy, and the entire special operations community during this time.”
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In the raid, commandos seized an array of Iranian-made weaponry, including cruise and ballistic missile components such as propulsion and guidance devices and warheads, as well as air defence parts, Centcom said.
The Seals are described on navy.com as “a nimble, elite maritime military force suited for all aspects of unconventional warfare”. Their roles include “conducting insertions and extractions by sea, air or land to accomplish covert, special warfare/special operations missions”.
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21,000 square mile search
Spain and Japan helped US teams search more than 21,000 square miles of ocean for the pair, but the 10-day mission had now moved from rescue to recovery, according to Centcom.
Iran is the key backer of the Houthis, the Shia fighters who have been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea in support, they say, of Hamas which is being attacked by Israeli forces in Gaza.
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As fears the Israel-Hamas war will lead to a wider regional conflict grow, the US appears to be getting further embroiled.
On Saturday, a number of US soldiers were wounded when Iran-backed armed groups attacked the al Assad airbase in Iraq.
It came hours after Tehran vowed revenge and blamed Israel for a deadly attack on a building housing its elite forces in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria have increased since Israel began retaliating, with Washington’s support, for Hamas‘s 7 October massacre last year.
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‘Two-state solution is dead’
More than 140 attacks on US assets and personnel by Iranian-backed proxy groups have been recorded, the broadcaster Voice Of America reported.
The US has carried out a string of strikes against Houthi targets in response to the fighters’ attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea that have disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply bottlenecks.
On Saturday, US forces hit a Houthi anti-ship missile aimed into the Gulf of Aden and ready to fire, and earlier this month, US forces killed 10 Houthi fighters in the Red Sea.
On Sunday, John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the UN, told Sky News the US could send several Iranian ships helping the Houthis “to the bottom of the Red Sea”.
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He said: “We could attack air defence sites inside Iran. We could go after military headquarters of the Quds Force. We could go after camps where weapons and training have been transferred to various militia groups.
“Our attacks wouldn’t necessarily threaten the mullahs in Tehran, but as long as they are engaged in all this activity in the region – cost free to them – they will continue to do it.
“We have no deterrence now in the region, not even for goodness sake, against the Houthis.”
Watch new foreign affairs show The World with Yalda Hakim from Monday to Thursday between 9pm and 10pm on Sky News.
Sam Moore, who sang Soul Man and other 1960s hits in the legendary Sam & Dave duo, has died aged 89.
Moore, who influenced musicians including Michael Jackson, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen, died on Friday in Coral Gables, Florida, due to complications while recovering from surgery, his publicist Jeremy Westby said.
No additional details were immediately available.
Moore was inducted with Dave Prater, who had died in a 1988 car crash, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
The duo, at the Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records, transformed the “call and response” of gospel music into a frenzied stage show and recorded some of soul music’s most enduring hits, including Hold On, I’m Comin’.
Many of their records were written and produced by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter and featured the record label’s house band Booker T & the MGs.
Sam & Dave faded after their 1960s heyday but Soul Man hit the charts again in the late 1970s when the Blues Brothers, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, recorded it with many of the same musicians.
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Moore had mixed feelings about the hit becoming associated with the Saturday Night Live stars, remembering how young people believed it originated with the Blues Brothers.
Sam & Dave broke up in 1970 and neither had another major hit.
Moore later said his drug habit played a part in the band’s troubles and made record executives wary of giving him a fresh start.
He married his wife Joyce in 1982, and she helped him get treatment for his addiction that he credited with saving his life.
Moore spent years suing Prater after his former partner hired a substitute and toured as the New Sam & Dave.
He also lost a lawsuit claiming the pair of aging, estranged singers in the 2008 movie Soul Men was too close to the duo.
In another legal case, he and other artists sued multiple record companies and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 1993, claiming he had been cheated out of retirement benefits.
Despite his million-selling records, he said in 1994 his pension amounted to just 2,285 US dollars (£1,872), which he could take as a lump sum or in monthly payments of 73 US dollars (£60).
“Two thousand dollars for my lifetime?” Moore said at the time. “If you’re making a profit off of me, give me some too. Don’t give me cornbread and tell me it’s biscuits.”
Moore wrote Dole Man, based on Soul Man, for Republican Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign and was one of the few entertainers who performed at President Donald Trump’s inaugural festivities in 2017.
Eight years earlier, he objected to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s use of the song Hold On, I’m Comin’ during his campaign.
The fires that have been raging in Los Angeles County this week may be the “most destructive” in modern US history.
In just three days, the blazes have covered tens of thousands of acres of land and could potentially have an economic impact of up to $150bn (£123bn), according to private forecaster Accuweather.
Sky News has used a combination of open-source techniques, data analysis, satellite imagery and social media footage to analyse how and why the fires started, and work out the estimated economic and environmental cost.
More than 1,000 structures have been damaged so far, local officials have estimated. The real figure is likely to be much higher.
“In fact, it’s likely that perhaps 15,000 or even more structures have been destroyed,” said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at Accuweather.
These include some of the country’s most expensive real estate, as well as critical infrastructure.
Accuweather has estimated the fires could have a total damage and economic loss of between $135bn and $150bn.
“It’s clear this is going to be the most destructive wildfire in California history, and likely the most destructive wildfire in modern US history,” said Mr Porter.
“That is our estimate based upon what has occurred thus far, plus some considerations for the near-term impacts of the fires,” he added.
The calculations were made using a wide variety of data inputs, from property damage and evacuation efforts, to the longer-term negative impacts from job and wage losses as well as a decline in tourism to the area.
The Palisades fire, which has burned at least 20,000 acres of land, has been the biggest so far.
Satellite imagery and social media videos indicate the fire was first visible in the area around Skull Rock, part of a 4.5 mile hiking trail, northeast of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighbourhood.
These videos were taken by hikers on the route at around 10.30am on Tuesday 7 January, when the fire began spreading.
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At about the same time, this footage of a plane landing at Los Angeles International Airport was captured. A growing cloud of smoke is visible in the hills in the background – the same area where the hikers filmed their videos.
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The area’s high winds and dry weather accelerated the speed that the fire has spread. By Tuesday night, Eaton fire sparked in a forested area north of downtown LA, and Hurst fire broke out in Sylmar, a suburban neighbourhood north of San Fernando, after a brush fire.
These images from NASA’s Black Marble tool that detects light sources on the ground show how much the Palisades and Eaton fires grew in less than 24 hours.
On Tuesday, the Palisades fire had covered 772 acres. At the time of publication of Friday, the fire had grown to cover nearly 20,500 acres, some 26.5 times its initial size.
The Palisades fire was the first to spark, but others erupted over the following days.
At around 1pm on Wednesday afternoon, the Lidia fire was first reported in Acton, next to the Angeles National Forest north of LA. Smaller than the others, firefighters managed to contain the blaze by 75% on Friday.
On Thursday, the Kenneth fire was reported at 2.40pm local time, according to Ventura County Fire Department, near a place called Victory Trailhead at the border of Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
This footage from a fire-monitoring camera in Simi Valley shows plumes of smoke billowing from the Kenneth fire.
Sky News analysed infrared satellite imagery to show how these fires grew all across LA.
The largest fires are still far from being contained, and have prompted thousands of residents to flee their homes as officials continued to keep large areas under evacuation orders. It’s unclear when they’ll be able to return.
“This is a tremendous loss that is going to result in many people and businesses needing a lot of help, as they begin the very slow process of putting their lives back together and rebuilding,” said Mr Porter.
“This is going to be an event that is going to likely take some people and businesses, perhaps a decade to recover from this fully.”
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.