‘We are Arabs and our blood is one’: Yemeni fishermen face threat of Houthi attack – but on Gaza they are firmly behind the militants
Yemen’s fishermen set out at dawn to take on seas where they know they could face pirates, smugglers, and now Houthi militant missile attacks.
“We’re always scared,” Awad tells us as he sits on the edge of the wooden fishing boat.
“Because you don’t know when you will be attacked.”
The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden have become the new battleground in the spreading war in Gaza.
Houthi missiles targeting international shipping routes have caused havoc to global trade, forced food prices up and brought heightened misery to the Yemenis who rely on the waters for their livelihoods.
Gaza war ‘affects us 100%’
The waters are choppy and it is windy the morning we join a group of fishermen in the Gulf of Aden.
They tell us their hauls have reduced, their costs have gone up, and they rarely make a profit now after hours of back-breaking work on the seas.
“The war affects our work 100 per cent,” fisherman Naeem Hamoudy tells us as he’s busy pulling in his latest haul.
Their income has been cut by as much as 90%, he insists.
Yet every one of the fishermen appears to support the action taken in support of the Palestinians – despite the impact on their livelihoods.
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Why the crisis in Ywemen is getting worse
“The Houthis oppress us,” says one.
These men are on the opposite side of Yemen’s civil war to the Houthis militants – but the Houthi stance protesting against Israeli aggression in Gaza has won grudging respect from them.
“We are with Gaza,” says Naeem.
“And we will be with Gaza until we die because we are Arabs and our blood is one blood.”
“They are killing women and children,” he goes on in reference to the Israeli bombardment in the Strip.
“It is not an army against an army.”
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But there’s no doubt life is already hard for these fishermen, and it’s getting harder.
After nearly a decade of civil war, the spreading impact of what’s happening in Gaza is affecting some of the poorest people in the world.
After several hours on the seas, the small fishing team hauled in a smaller-than-normal catch.
They’re disappointed yet insist they’re grateful too.
“Sometimes we get nothing,” Naeem says.
“But this won’t even really cover the cost of the fuel for the boat.”
He works out they’ll probably make the equivalent of a dollar each for their hours of work.
‘Biggest threat is from the Houthis’
There are considerable problems keeping Yemen’s seas safe.
We are taken on a tour along the coast by the head of Yemen’s Navy himself – Admiral Abdullah al Nakhai.
He takes us out on one of the two new boats they’ve received.
The fleet is small, he tells us – and certainly not big enough to counter the triple threats of piracy, smuggling and the Houthi attacks.
The head of Yemen’s navy – Admiral Abdullah al Nakhai
Alex Crawford, special correspondent for Sky News, onboard a naval ship in Yemen
The biggest threat, he insists, comes from the Houthis.
“We’re morally responsible for protecting our territorial waters,” he explains.
“But at the moment, we don’t have the means to protect against piracy, terrorism, smuggling and the Houthi intrusion.”
He says much more international help is needed for Yemen to counter these dangers.
“If we don’t get support to help us confront the Houthis,” he goes on, “then the opposite will be the case. And the opposite of security is chaos in the sea – that’s terrorism, piracy and disruption.”
The fleet of Yemen’s navy is small, and has to contend with the threat of militants, piracy, and smuggling
Scientists race to avert potential disaster
In the country’s ageing laboratories in Aden, the scientists are fighting a different sort of battle – that of potential catastrophic pollution of Yemen’s seas.
The Houthi attacks against ships passing through the critical Bab al Mandab Strait hit a vessel with thousands of tonnes of hazardous chemicals on board.
The Rubymar has been laying off the Yemeni Red Sea coast since mid-February and is now mostly submerged.
Yemeni scientists have already been testing water samples gathered from the waters near the sunken vessel under challenging conditions
A trail of oil was seen seeping out into the sea shortly after the attack – but scientists are far more worried about the prospect of the cargo of dangerous chemical fertiliser emptying into the waters.
“The leaking could happen any time – today or tomorrow,” Tawfiq al Sharjabi, the Minister for Water and Environment warned.
“It’s urgent we get international help to sort this as soon as possible.”
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Yemeni scientists have painted a terrifying picture of a potentially catastrophic environmental disaster if the chemical cargo is not safely extracted.
If the cargo leaks out of the ship’s containers instead, the chemicals could end up destroying swathes of the Red Sea and its precious marine life.
The sinking Rubymar. Pic: Al-joumhouriyah Tv
“If it happens,” Mr al Sharjabi said, “it will affect the whole Red Sea – the mangrove trees, the marine life and the Red Sea coast. Imagine how many fishermen rely on the sea every day and this will affect the whole fishing community”.
A document outlining the urgency of removing the chemicals from the sunken ship – seen by Sky News – was sent to the United Nations two weeks ago.
Yemeni scientists have already been testing samples gathered from the waters near the sunken vessel under challenging conditions.
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The lab manager at the Aden Oil Refinery, Dr Safa Gamal Nasser
Dr Safa Gamal Nasser, the lab manager at the Aden Oil Refinery, told us the scientists were struggling with antiquated equipment and a lack of raw materials such as the solutions required to conform to international testing standards.
“We are doing our best,” she said.
But she went on to say Yemen is in desperate need of outside help.
Alex Crawford reports from Yemen with camera Jake Britton, Specialist producer Chris Cunningham and Yemen producer Ahmed Baider.
Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has met Vladimir Putin for talks in Russia – as the US president called on Moscow to “get moving” with ending the war in Ukraine.
Mr Witkoff, who has been pressing the Kremlin to accept a truce, visited Mr Putin in St Petersburg after earlier meeting the Russian leader’s international co-operation envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Mr Putin was shown on state TV greeting Mr Witkoff at the city’s presidential library at the start of the latest discussions about the search for a peace deal on Ukraine.
Before Friday’s meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down expectations of a breakthrough and told state media the visit would not be “momentous”.
Follow the latest updates on the war in Ukraine
However, Sky News Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett said he believes the meeting – Mr Witkoff’s third with Mr Putin this year – is significant as a sign of the Trump administration’s “increasing frustration at the lack of progress on peace talks”.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump issued his latest social media statement on trying to end the war, writing on Truth Social: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war – A war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!”
Dialogue between the US and Russia, aimed at agreeing a ceasefire ahead of a possible peace deal to end the war, has recently appeared to have stalled over disagreements around conditions for a full pause.
Mr Trump, pictured at a cabinet meeting at the White House earlier this week, has called for Russia to ‘get moving’. Pic: AP
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Secondary sanctions could be imposed on countries that buy Russian oil, Mr Trump has said, if he feels Moscow is dragging its feet on a deal.
Mr Putin has said he is ready in principle to agree a full ceasefire, but argues crucial conditions have yet to be agreed – and that what he calls the root causes of the war have yet to be addressed.
The Russian president wants to dismantle Ukraine as an independent, functioning state and has demanded Kyiv recognise Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and other partly occupied areas, and pull its forces out, as well as a pledge for Ukraine to never join NATO and for the size of its army to be limited.
Zelenskyy renews support calls after attack on home city
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Children killed in strike on Zelenskyy’s home town
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his appeals for more Patriot air defence systems after the deaths of 20 people, including nine children, who were killed when a Russian missile hit apartment buildings and a playground in his home city of Kryvyi Rih last week.
Speaking online at a meeting of the so-called Ramstein group of about 50 nations that provide military support to Ukraine, named after a previous meeting at America’s Ramstein air base in Germany in 2022, Mr Zelenskyy said recent Russian attacks showed Moscow was not ready to accept and implement any realistic and effective peace proposals.
Mr Zelenskyy also made his evening address to the nation, saying: “Ukraine is not just asking – we are ready to buy appropriate additional systems.”
The UK’s defence secretary, John Healy, has said this is “the critical year” for Ukraine – and has confirmed £450m in funding for a military support package.
A family of five Spanish tourists, including three children, have been killed in a helicopter crash in New York City.
A New York City Hall spokesman identified two of those killed as Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive, and Merce Camprubi Montal – believed to be his wife, NBC News reported.
The pilot was also killed as the aircraft crashed into the Hudson River at around 3.17pm on Thursday.
New York Police commissioner Jessica Tisch said divers had recovered all those on board from the helicopter, which was upside down in the water.
“Four victims were pronounced dead on scene and two more were removed to local area hospitals, where sadly both succumbed to their injuries,” she said.
The helicopter was submerged upside down in the Hudson. Pic: Reuters
A crane lifted out the wreckage on Thursday evening. Pic: AP
The Spanish president Pedro Sanchez called the news “devastating”.
“An unimaginable tragedy. I share the grief of the victims’ loved ones at this heartbreaking time,” he wrote on X.
Rotor blade ‘flew off’
The aircraft was on a tourist flight of Manhattan, run by the New York Helicopters company.
Witnesses described seeing the main rotor blade flying off moments before it dropped out the sky.
Agustin Escobar and Merce Camprubi Montal.
Pic: Facebook
Lesly Camacho, a worker at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, said she saw the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before it slammed into the water.
“There was a bunch of smoke coming out. It was spinning pretty fast, and it landed in the water really hard,” she said.
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Witness saw ‘parts flying off’ helicopter
Another witness said “the chopper blade flew off”.
“I don’t know what happened to the tail, but it just straight up dropped,” Avi Rakesh told Sky’s US partner, NBC News.
Video on social media showed parts of the Bell 206 helicopter tumbling through the air and landing in the river.
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New York mayor confirms six dead
The crash happened near Pier 40. Pic: AP
New York Mayor Eric Adams confirmed the six deaths and said authorities believed the tourists were from Spain.
He said the flight had taken off from a downtown heliport at around 3pm.
Pic: Cover Images/AP
The crash happened close to Pier 40 and the Holland tunnel, which links lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighbourhood with Jersey City to its west.
Tracking service Flight Radar 24 published what it said was the helicopter’s route, with the aircraft appearing to be in the sky for 15 minutes before the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have started an investigation.
Agustin Escobar.
Pic: Europa Press/AP
Thursday’s incident comes less than three month after 67 people died when an army helicopter and American Airlines jet collided over the Potomac River in Washington DC.
A former ballerina who spent more than a year in a Russian jail for donating £40 to a charity supporting Ukraine has returned home to the US after being freed in a prisoner exchange.
Ksenia Karelina landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at around 11pm, local time, on Thursday.
A smiling Ms Karelina was greeted on the runway by her fiance, the professional boxer Chris van Heerden, and given flowers by Morgan Ortagus, President Donald Trump’s deputy special envoy to the Middle East.
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Ksenia Karelina arrives at Joint Base Andrews. Pic: AP
Van Heerden said in a statement he was “overjoyed to hear that the love of my life, Ksenia Karelina, is on her way home from wrongful detention in Russia.
“She has endured a nightmare for 15 months and I cannot wait to hold her. Our dog, Boots, is also eagerly awaiting her return.”
He thanked Mr Trump and his envoys, as well as prominent public figures who had championed her case, including Dana White, a friend of Mr Trump and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Ms Karelina, 34, a US-Russian citizen also identified as Ksenia Khavana, was accused of treason when she was arrested in Yekaterinburg, in southwestern Russia, while visiting family in February last year.
Investigators searched her mobile phone and found she made a $51.80 (£40) donation to Razom, a charity that provides aid to Ukraine, on the first day of Russia’s invasion in 2022.
She admitted the charge at a closed trial in the city in August last year and was later jailed for 12 years, to be served in a penal colony.
At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr Trump, who wants to normalise relations with Moscow, said the Kremlin “released the young ballerina and she is now out, and that was good. So we appreciate that”.
Ksenia Karelina is hugged by her boyfriend, Chris van Heerden. Pic: Reuters
He said the release followed conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian security services accused her of “proactively” collecting money for a Ukrainian organisation that was supplying gear to Kyiv’s forces.
The First Department, a Russian rights group, said the charges stemmed from a $51.80 donation to a US charity aiding Ukraine.
Washington, which had called her case “absolutely ludicrous”, released Arthur Petrov, who it was holding on charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia, in the prisoner swap in Abu Dhabi.
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Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia in recent years as tensions between Moscow and Washington spiked over the war in Ukraine.
Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the US carried out in the last three years – and the second since Mr Trump took office.
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said members of the Trump administration “continue to work around the clock to ensure Americans detained abroad are returned home to their families”.
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