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It’s not surprising the British and Americans have had another go at striking the Houthis in Yemen – but it’s just not necessarily all that clever.

Allied naval vessels have been threatened, the argument goes in London and Washington, the commercial shipping of other countries hit or hijacked.

It is essential something is done about it, say the politicians and military planners.

Middle East latest: Houthis warn UK and US to ‘expect response’

But how far have they thought it through? The operations risk a lot, will almost certainly not achieve their goals and are already strengthening the enemy.

The Houthis and their Iranian patrons laid a trap and Britain and America have arguably walked, or flown right into it.

The allied aim is to neutralise the threat posed by the Houthi rebel forces against international shipping in the Red Sea, through which a huge amount of oil and goods pass.

It is one of the vital arteries of international commerce. The longer the threat persists, the more it is going to affect all of us, in prices at the petrol pump and for online goods.

Once a rag-tag rebel army, the Houthis are now a fighting force to be reckoned with, dominating much of Yemen and armed and trained by Iran.

They have been attacking ships since the start of Israel’s Gaza offensive in solidarity with their Arab brothers, they say.

The Houthis are hitting the West where it hurts – but to be successful, the British-American airstrikes must entirely neutralise their threat to the Red Sea.

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Transport minister Huw Merriman says ‘we are not ruling out further strikes against the Houthis’. 

While any threat persists, international shipping must avoid the Red Sea because of the punitive cost of insurance which has in some cases risen 20-fold.

That degree of success is unfeasible. Ask the Saudis who failed to deter the Houthis despite eight years of military action supported by Gulf allies, the UK and the US.

But more to the point, the capability the Houthis are using to threaten shipping is mobile and easily hidden in the desert wastes of Yemen.

The airstrikes will certainly degrade the Houthis.

Houthi fighters at a protest on Sunday against US and UK strikes on Yemen. Pic: AP
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Houthi fighters at a protest on Sunday against US and UK strikes on Yemen. Pic: AP

Tribesmen loyal to the Houthis sit during a parade for new tribal recruits amid escalating tensions with the U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea, in Bani Hushaish, Yemen January 22, 2024. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Image:
Tribesmen loyal to the Houthis sit during a parade for new tribal recruits amid escalating tensions with the U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea, in Bani Hushaish, Yemen January 22, 2024. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah


‘Plucky’ Houthis revelling in popularity

But they only need to continue threatening shipping. For that, the Houthis need to hang on to a handful of portable assets and render the Red Sea unviable as a conduit for international shipping.

And despite everything British and American jets threw at them two weeks ago, they’ve managed to keep up the threat, letting loose missiles at shipping regardless.

Meanwhile the Houthis are benefiting from the military action where it counts for them in the arena of Arab public opinion.

While corrupt, decadent autocratic Arab regimes, as millions of Arabs see them, are doing nothing about Gaza, the plucky Houthis are. And they are revelling in it.

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Meet ‘Timhouthi Chalamet’

As Sky News has shown today, the conflict is making celebrities of the Houthis, like the man they are calling Timhouthi Chalamet, a young photogenic Houthi online influencer.

And the Houthis have successfully drawn Britain and America deeper into the Middle Eastern conflict that’s swirling around Gaza.

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Rishi Sunak may claim the airstrikes are “unrelated” to Gaza but that’s frankly nonsense. The Houthis have made this explicitly about Gaza. They began their action over the war there and will end it, most analysts agree, once there is a ceasefire.

The British and Americans are letting loose armaments worth tens of millions on one of the world’s poorest countries to allow Israel to do the same in another equally impoverished area.

That is certainly how this is being seen by hundreds of millions.

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None of that is any good for either countries’ standing in the Arab world and beyond. It is a PR disaster for Britain and America and a huge boost for the Houthis and by association their Iranian patrons.

The airstrikes may be blowing up bunkers and weapons stockpiles or rearranging sand in the desert but in the battle for hearts and minds across the Middle East, they are handing a victory to Iran and its allies.

And they are almost certainly not going to make the Red Sea a viable international trade route again, not until Israel ends its offensive in Gaza.

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Drone attacks are intensifying in Sudan – hitting schools and camps homing the displaced

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Drone attacks are intensifying in Sudan - hitting schools and camps homing the displaced

The smell of explosives is still in the air when we arrive.

Hours before, a displacement camp in Atbara housing families who fled the war in Sudan’s capital Khartoum was hit by two drone strikes in a four-pronged attack.

The first bomb on 25 April burned donated tents and killed the children in them.

The second hit a school serving as a shelter for the spillover of homeless families.

Sudan

Chunks of cement and plaster had been blasted off the walls of the classrooms where they slept when the second explosive was dropped.

Blood marked the entrance of the temporary home closest to the crater.

Inside, shattered glass and broken window frames speak to the force of the explosion. We were told by their neighbours that four people in the family were instantly killed.

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“People were torn apart. This is inhumane,” says their neighbour Mahialdeen, whose brother and sister were injured. “We are praying that God lifts this catastrophe. We left Khartoum because of the fighting and found it here.”

Wiping a tear, he says: “It is chasing us.”

Sudan

The sanctuary city held by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) about 200 miles northeast of Khartoum has been hit by six drone attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since the start of the year.

These latest strikes are the most deadly.

The drones – known for targeting civilian infrastructure – hit the displacement camp twice, the nearby power station supplying the city with electricity and an empty field with four bombs in the dark, early hours of the morning. First responders have told Sky News that 12 people were killed, including at least two children.

Sudan

RSF increasingly using drones to carry out attacks

Data from the conflict-monitoring organisation ACLED shows the RSF has carried out increasing numbers of drone attacks across the country.

The most targeted states have been Khartoum and North Darfur, where fighting on the ground has been fierce, as well as Atbara’s River Nile State.

The data suggests that the increase in strikes has been driven by a change in tactics following the SAF’s recapture of Khartoum in late March, with the number of strikes carried out by the RSF spiking shortly after their withdrawal from the capital.

Satellite imagery shows the RSF’s airpower has allowed it to continue to attack targets in and around Khartoum.

Nearby Wadi Seidna Airbase was targeted after the attack on Atbara, with damage visible across a large area south of its airfield.

We were given access to the remains of latest suicide drones launched at Khartoum and could not find discernible signs of commercial origin.

Drone experts told Sky News that they are self-built devices made from generic parts with no identifiable manufacturers for the components.

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Two years of war in Sudan

Drones sighted in South Darfur are consistent with Chinese models

High-resolution satellite images confirm the presence of drones at the RSF-held Nyala Airport.

While the total number of drones kept at this location is unknown, imagery from Planet Labs shows six on 24 April.

This is the highest number of drones observed at the airport, suggesting an increase in the RSF’s available airpower.

The location and number of drones visible in satellite imagery at Nyala Airport has varied over time, suggesting they are in active use.

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Yousra Elbagir visits wartorn home in Sudan

While it is not possible to determine the exact model of drones sighted at Nyala Airport, a report published by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Lab has previously found them to be consistent with the Chinese-produced FH-95.

Analysis carried out by Sky News confirms these findings, with the measurements and visible features matching those of the CH-95 and FH-95. Both designs are produced in China.

The United Arab Emirates is widely accused of supplying Chinese drones to the RSF through South Sudan and Uganda, as well as weapons through Chad. The UAE vehemently denies these claims.

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Sudanese military in presidential palace

Evidence of new airfields

Satellite imagery viewed by Sky News suggests the RSF has worked to increase its air capabilities outside of South Darfur.

In late 2024, five new airstrips appeared in West Kordofan between the contested cities of North Darfur capital Al Fashir and Khartoum.

While the purpose of these airstrips is unknown, it is clear they carry some level of military significance, having been targeted by air in April.

In high-resolution images, no aircraft can be seen. Damage is visible next to a structure that appears to be an aircraft hangar.

The rapid escalation in drone strikes is being brutally suffered on the ground.

In Atbara’s Police Hospital, we find a ward full of the injured survivors.

One of them, a three-year-old girl called Manasiq, is staring up at the ceiling in wide-eyed shock with her head wrapped in a bandage and her feet covered in dried blood.

Her aunt tells us the explosion flung her small body across the classroom shelter but she miraculously survived.

She has shrapnel in her head and clings onto her aunt as her mother is treated for her own injuries in a ward on the first floor.

Sudan

In a dark room deeper in the ward, a mother sits on the edge of a hospital bed holding her young injured daughter. Her son, only slightly older, is on a smaller adjustable bed further away.

Fadwa looks forlorn and helpless. Her children were spending the night with relatives in the temporary tents when the first strike hit and killed her eight-year-old son.

His surviving sister and brother have been asking after him, but Fadwa can’t bring herself to break the news.

“What can I say? This is our fate. We fled the war in Khartoum but can’t escape the violence,” Fadwa says, staring off in the distance.

“We are condemned to this fate.”

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Ship carrying aid for Gaza bombed by drones, as NGO points finger at Israel

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Ship carrying aid for Gaza bombed by drones, as NGO points finger at Israel

A ship carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza has been bombed by drones while it was in international waters.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the NGO responsible for the ship, has pointed the finger at Israel.

Video shows fire raging onboard the vessel, which put out an SOS distress call after it was attacked off the coast of Malta.

It comes as the case against Israel at the International Court of Justice continued this week.

Gaza remains under blockade, with Israel having now refused to allow international aid into the devastated enclave for almost two months despite global outcry.

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The hospital Ghena went to for treatment has been destroyed

Following the drone attack, the Maltese government confirmed that after several hours all crew were safe and the fire was under control.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said: “Israeli ambassadors must be summoned and answer to violations of international law, including the ongoing blockade (of Gaza) and the bombing of our civilian vessel in international waters.”

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It asserted that the drone attack “appears to have specifically targeted the ship’s generator” and had left the vessel at risk of sinking.

Describing the attack, it said: “Armed drones attacked the front of an unarmed civilian vessel twice, causing a fire and a substantial breach in the hull.

Palestinian boy Osama Al-Reqep, 5, lies on a bed at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Pic: Reuters
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A five-year-old boy lies on a bed at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Pic: Reuters

“The last communication in the early morning of the 2nd of May, indicated the drones are still circling the ship.”

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It released video footage shot in the dark that showed lights in the sky in front of the ship and the sound of explosions. The footage also showed the vessel on fire.

The Israeli foreign ministry has not commented on what happened.

Yesterday, UN aid coordinator Tom Fletcher called on Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza, which has been in force for almost two months.

“Yes, the hostages must be released, now. They should never have been taken from their families,” he said.

“But international law is unequivocal: As the occupying power, Israel must allow humanitarian support in.”

Aid should never be a “bargaining chip”, he added.

‘Children going to bed starving’

Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA said: “The siege on Gaza is the silent killer of children, of older people.

“Families – whole families, seven or eight people – are resorting to sharing one can of beans or peas. Imagine not having anything to feed your children. Children in Gaza are going to bed starving.”

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Germany’s far-right AfD party officially classified as ‘extremist’ organisation

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Germany's far-right AfD party officially classified as 'extremist' organisation

Germany’s spy agency has officially classified the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as an “extremist” organisation. 

The party has been growing in popularity and came second in February’s general election.

The country’s domestic intelligence agency said on Friday that it was an extremist entity which threatens democracy.

Its 1,000-page internal report claimed views around ethnicity held by the AfD aim to exclude certain groups from equal participation in society.

“The party’s prevailing understanding of the people based on ethnicity and descent is incompatible with the free democratic basic order,” the agency said in a statement.

“Specifically, the AfD considers, for example, German citizens with a migration background from predominantly Muslim countries not equal members of the ethnically defined German people.”

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Why Germans are voting far-right

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AfD’s co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla described the decision as a “serious blow to German democracy”.

In a joint statement on Friday, they said: “The AfD is now being publicly discredited and criminalised as an opposition party shortly before the change of government.

“The associated, targeted interference in the democratic decision-making process is therefore clearly politically motivated. The AfD will continue to defend itself legally against this defamation that jeopardises democracy.”

The party leaders have consistently denied the party is either far right or extremist.

Local branches of the party in the east German states of Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt had already been classified as extremist by regional spy chiefs.

The entire party was also previously designated “suspected” far-right extremist.

However, the announcement allows intelligence agencies to increase surveillance on the group.

It may also embolden opponents to try to get the party banned.

Candidate for Chancellor and co-leader of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel reacts after exit polls for the 2025 general election, in Berlin, Germany, February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
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AfD leader Alice Weidel. Pic: Reuters

Anti-AfD protests in Berlin in February. Pic: Reuters
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Anti-AfD protests in Berlin in February. Pic: Reuters

The decision was welcomed by the country’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser, who said in a statement that the new assessment was “clear and unequivocal”, adding that the party “discriminates against entire segments of the population and treats citizens with a migration background as second-class Germans”.

She underlined that “there has been no political influence on the findings” but said the new classification was likely to be subject to judicial review.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that although the intelligence agency has provided a “very detailed justification” for the decision, “ban proceedings must not be rushed”.

Anton Baron, a regional politician in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, described the decision as “politically questionable”.

While the ruling is a blow for the party, it is unlikely to influence hardcore supporters, many of whom live in states where the party was already designated extremist at a local level.

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