Red Sea Retreat: German Navy Abandons Waters Amid Escalating Houthi Threat
Two German warships are diverting around Africa. Israel and Hezbollah want to make a new attempt at ceasefire talks. All developments in the news blog.
10:35 pm: The Israeli army has attacked targets in eastern Lebanon, including the ancient city of Baalbek. The Lebanese Ministry of Health later announced that at least 19 people had been killed there. Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli Air Force bombed the city and the surrounding villages. Areas were also attacked where the Israeli army had not asked residents to evacuate in advance. One of the local residents says that the villages of Duris and Budai, among others, were attacked. In Baalbek, the tremors were felt and loud explosions were heard, said one of the residents.
When asked, the Israeli army said they cannot confirm attacks on the city of Baalbek. The air force bombed, among other things, Hezbollah command centers in the city area. “Hezbollah systematically abuses civilian infrastructure and areas throughout Lebanon to plan and carry out terrorist activities,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
An army infographic shows that a Hezbollah position near Duris was also hit. When asked, the Israeli army said they were investigating reports of attacks on the two villages of Duris and Budai near Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country.
8:38 pm: According to authorities there, several deaths have occurred in attacks by Israel in south-east Lebanon. The Lebanese Ministry of Health said at least 11 people were killed and another 15 injured in the town of Sohmor. When asked, the Israeli army initially made no comment on the report.
6:54 pm: The Israeli military reports that it has attacked Hezbollah fuel depots in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. A Lebanese insider reports that a huge column of smoke has risen above the tanks. In the Bekaa Valley there are historic buildings such as the ruins of the Roman temple at Baalbek and the ruins of the Umayyad city of Anjar, both of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
5:41 pm: The new head of Hezbollah, Naim Kassim, has agreed in principle to a ceasefire with Israel – but only on the “conditions” of his organisation. “If the Israelis decide they want to stop the aggression, we say we agree, but on our terms,” Kassim said in a speech. Meanwhile, US special envoys Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein were expected to visit the region again.
A suitable plan for a ceasefire is not currently on the table, Kassim said in his first speech as head of Hezbollah, which was pre-recorded and then broadcast on the Hezbollah channel Al-Manar-TV. “We will not beg for a truce,” he added.
3:38 pm: Due to the serious threat situation, the Federal Navy largely avoids the Red Sea. The two German naval ships “Baden-Württemberg” and “Hessen” are giving up passage through the Suez Canal on their return journey from India to Europe and are taking the much longer route around Africa, as a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Defense in Berlin says. The reason for this is that the Shiite Houthi militia in Yemen, a state bordering the Red Sea, is able to “carry out fairly complex airstrikes.”
Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) made the decision because the threat level was “high,” a ministry spokesman said. Neither ship has sufficient air defense technology yet. “The priority is the safety of the crew,” said the spokesman. The trip around Africa should happen quickly; there would be “no disadvantage” to the crew. The “Spiegel” first reported on the minister’s decision.
For months, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked merchant ships sailing through the Red Sea from Yemen. That is why most of the big shipping companies now avoid the sea area. Like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Houthi militia is part of the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” directed against Israel. According to his own statements, he carried out the attacks on the merchant ships “out of solidarity” with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.