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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and British militaries bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on Thursday, in a massive retaliatory strike using warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets, U.S. officials said.

The U.S. Air Force’s Mideast command said it struck over 60 targets at 16 sites in Yemen, including “command-and-control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities and air defense radar systems.”

President Joe Biden said the strikes were meant to demonstrate that the U.S. and its allies “will not tolerate” the militant group’s ceaseless attacks on the Red Sea. And he said they only made the move after attempts at diplomatic negotiations and careful deliberation.

“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea — including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Biden said in a statement. He noted the attacks endangered U.S. personnel and civilian mariners and jeopardized trade, and he added, “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”

Associated Press journalists in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, heard four explosions early Friday local time. Two residents of Hodieda, Amin Ali Saleh and Hani Ahmed, said they heard five strong explosions hitting the western port area of the city, which lies on the Red Sea and is the largest port city controlled by the Houthis. Eyewitnesses who spoke with the AP also said they saw strikes in Taiz and Dhamar, cities south of Sanaa.

The strikes marked the first U.S. military response to what has been a persistent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. And the coordinated military assault comes just a week after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a final warning to the Houthis to cease the attacks or face potential military action. The officials described the strikes on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. Members of Congress were briefed earlier Thursday on the strike plans.

The warning appeared to have had at least some short-lived impact, as attacks stopped for several days. On Tuesday, however, the Houthi rebels fired their largest-ever barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea, with U.S. and British ships and American fighter jets responding by shooting down 18 drones, two cruise missiles and an anti-ship missile. And on Thursday, the Houthis fired an anti-ship ballistic missile into the Gulf of Aden, which was seen by a commercial ship but did not hit the ship.

In this photo provided by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, taken from the bridge of HMS Diamond, Sea Viper missiles are fired in the Red Sea. (UK Ministry of Defence via AP)

In a call with reporters, senior administration and military officials said that after the Tuesday attacks, Biden convened his national security team and was presented with military options for a response. He then directed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who remains hospitalized with complications from prostate cancer surgery, to carry out the retaliatory strikes.

In a separate statement, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the Royal Air Force carried out targeted strikes against military facilities used by the Houthis. The Defense Ministry said four fighter jets based in Cyprus took part in the strikes.

Noting the militants have carried out a series of dangerous attacks on shipping, he added, “This cannot stand.” He said the U.K. took “limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defense, alongside the United States with non-operational support from the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain against targets tied to these attacks, to degrade Houthi military capabilities and protect global shipping.”

The governments of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand and South Korea joined the U.S. and U.K. in issuing a statement saying that while the aim is to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea, the allies won’t hesitate to defend lives and protect commerce in the critical waterway.

In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall and amphibious assault ship USS Bataan transit the Bab al-Mandeb strait on Aug. 9, 2023. (Mass Communications Spc. 2nd Class Moises Sandoval/U.S. Navy via AP)

Russia, however, requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the strikes. France, the current council president, said it will take place Friday afternoon.

The rebels, who have carried out 27 attacks involving dozens of drones and missiles just since Nov. 19, had warned that any attack by American forces on its sites in Yemen will spark a fierce military response.

A high-ranking Houthi official, Ali al-Qahoum, vowed there would be retaliation. “The battle will be bigger … and beyond the imagination and expectation of the Americans and the British,” he said in a post on X.

Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, described strikes hitting the Al-Dailami Air Base north of Sanaa, the airport in the port city of the Hodeida, a camp east of Saada, the airport in the city of Taiz and an airport near Hajjah.

The Houthis later Friday said the strikes killed five of their troops and wounded six.

A senior administration official said that while the U.S. expects the strikes will degrade the Houthis’ capabilities, “we would not be surprised to see some sort of response,” although they haven’t seen anything yet. Officials said the U.S. used warplanes based on the Navy aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and Air Force fighter jets, while the Tomahawk missiles were fired from Navy destroyers and a submarine.

FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, left, and U.S. President Joe Biden speak at the start of the meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) during the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 11, 2023. (Paul Ellis/Pool Photo via AP, File)

The Houthis say their assaults are aimed at stopping Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But their targets increasingly have little or no connection to Israel and imperil a crucial trade route linking Asia and the Middle East with Europe.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Wednesday that demanded the Houthis immediately cease the attacks and implicitly condemned their weapons supplier, Iran. It was approved by a vote of 11-0 with four abstentions — by Russia, China, Algeria and Mozambique.

Britain’s participation in the strikes underscored the Biden administration’s effort to use a broad international coalition to battle the Houthis, rather than appear to be going it alone. More than 20 nations are already participating in a U.S.-led maritime mission to increase ship protection in the Red Sea.

U.S. officials for weeks had declined to signal when international patience would run out and they would strike back at the Houthis, even as multiple commercial vessels were struck by missiles and drones, prompting companies to look at rerouting their ships.

On Wednesday, however, U.S. officials again warned of consequences.

“I’m not going to telegraph or preview anything that might happen,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters during a stop in Bahrain. He said the U.S. had made clear “that if this continues as it did yesterday, there will be consequences. And I’m going to leave it at that.”

The Biden administration’s reluctance over the past several months to retaliate reflected political sensitivities and stemmed largely from broader worries about upending the shaky truce in Yemen and triggering a wider conflict in the region. The White House wants to preserve the truce and has been wary of taking action in Yemen that could open up another war front.

The impact on international shipping and the escalating attacks, however, triggered the coalition warning, which was signed by the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

Transit through the Red Sea, from the Suez Canal to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, is a crucial shipping lane for global commerce. About 12% of the world’s trade typically passes through the waterway that separates Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, including oil, natural gas, grain and everything from toys to electronics.

In response to the attacks, the U.S. created a new maritime security mission, dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian, to increase security in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden, with about 22 countries participating. U.S. warships, and those from other nations, have been routinely sailing back and forth through the narrow strait to provide protection for ships and to deter attacks. The coalition has also ramped up airborne surveillance.

The decision to set up the expanded patrol operation came after three commercial vessels were struck by missiles fired by Houthis in Yemen on Dec. 3.

The Pentagon increased its military presence in the region after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel to deter Iran from widening the war into a regional conflict, including by the Houthis and Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.

____

Associated Press writers Ahmed al-Haj in Sanaa, Yemen; Jack Jeffery in London; Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; and Zeke Miller, Aamer Madhani and Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.

An Israeli minister met with Roger Stone to provide information that may have benefited the Trump campaign. The discovery implicates Netanyahu in an attempt to distort the 2016 US election result.

This is a rush transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.

Kim Brown: Welcome to The Real News. I’m Kim Brown. The US presidential elections of 2016 had such a profound impact on the world. A few did predict some of the things that happened, but many others did not. Now President Donald Trump’s policies seem to clash so clearly with the interests of the citizens of the US that there is no shortage of speculations, reaching from conspiracy theories to proven facts, about what interests have put him in power and for what purpose.

Here at The Real News, we reported about Russiagate, the Russian involvement with the 2016 election campaign, and also about US involvement in the politics of other countries. But new evidence shows that the Israeli government illegally offered and gave Candidate Trump intelligence which may have contributed to his victory. The FBI released new documents showing that an Israeli minister met with Trump advisor, Roger Stone, who has since been convicted of tampering with justice, and offered him information collected by Israeli intelligence services.

Now this information was reported by Politico. Richard Silverstein, in his blog, Tikun Olam, exposed that the Israeli minister involved is most likely Tzachi Hanegbi, Netanyahu’s lapdog. So indeed, when Trump won the presidential election, one man was not surprised.

Speaker 2: President-elect Trump, my friend, congratulations on being elected president of the United States of America. You are a great friend of Israel. Over the years, you have expressed your support consistently, and I deeply appreciate it. I look forward to working with you to advance security, prosperity and peace. Israel is grateful for the broad support it enjoys among the American people, and I am confident that the two of us, working closely together, will bring the great alliance between our two countries to even greater heights. May God bless America. May God bless Israel. May God bless our enduring alliance.

Kim Brown: Richard Silverstein joins us today. He’s an independent journalist who writes the blog, Tikun Olam, which explores Jewish and Muslim relations and the Israeli-Arab conflict. He joins us today from Seattle. Richard, thank you so much for being here.

Richard Silvers…: I’m glad to do it. Thank you.

Kim Brown: So this, to me, is a very fascinating topic. So let’s start with what has been reported. In your opinion, tell us who is Tzachi Hanegbi and what made you think that he was the unnamed minister from the FBI report.

Richard Silvers…: Well, the FBI documents have redacted the name of this contact, but Israeli media have taken sort of the breadcrumbs in the FBI document and figured out, based on what they said about this person, that it was indeed Tzachi Hanegbi, who is a long-time Likud apparatchik who has sort of risen in the ranks over years to be one of Netanyahu’s closest political confidantes. At the time he was a minister without portfolio specializing in military and foreign affairs, which made him a perfect intermediary in this situation with Roger Stone. Because during this period, which was a couple of months before the 2016 election, Hanegbi made regular visits to the United States, and many of those visits were designed to try to create this meeting with Trump through Roger Stone.

In the documents, Hanegbi is portrayed as telling Stone that it looks like Trump’s candidacy is doomed, but that he needs an October surprise to pull things out and that Israel has just the ticket for him. It doesn’t really go into detail about what the particular intelligence information is, but it does mention that, at one of these meetings at least, Hanegbi, with another colleague of Stone named Jerome Corsi, brought an Israeli IDF lieutenant general to the conference, to the meeting.

So there is this element of Israeli intelligence being used and offered to Trump in order to win the election. I’m trying to figure out, find out what exactly the intelligence information was, but you can imagine that that’s not readily available at this point.

Kim Brown: Well, Richard, let’s imagine, shall we? I mean, you just gave us the facts. Now, let’s venture a bit into speculation. I mean, what do you think was involved or contained in the intelligence report that the Trump administration received from the unnamed Israeli minister? The term quid pro quo has floated around and attached itself to Donald Trump since he’s been president. Let’s speculate here. What do you think he got, and what do you think he was expected to give up?

Richard Silvers…: Well, if we look at what the Russians have done, their style is what’s called kompromat, which is usually trying to morally compromise their enemies. So it is possible that there was some kind of information that was meant to embarrass Hillary Clinton. It’s possible that this was more along the lines of some substantive intelligence trove like Israel and Netanyahu constantly try to present Iranian documents proving that Iran is a nuclear power or wants to get nuclear weapons. So it could be something along those lines.

But I want to just go back a little bit also and say that in the midst of the negotiations and the meetings that we’re talking about, it doesn’t seem, until the very last minute, that Hanegbi actually succeeded in meeting Trump. But there is a point in the document where it says that the last correspondence between Stone and Hanegbi was on October 30, 2016, a few days before the election.

There is a message in the document that says that the person, whose name again is redacted, did meet with Trump on October 30th or actually right before October 30th. That would mean if this was Hanegbi, that he did actually have the meeting with Trump. If he did have this meeting, he did transfer the intelligence information. So that really makes this conspiracy with a lot of substance to it rather than just a conspiracy in which they intended to sabotage the election but didn’t necessarily do it.

Now, in terms of your mention of quid pro quos, there are so many possible quid pro quos here. As you know, as your viewers know, Trump has created this deal of the century with his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. It basically presents on a silver platter everything Israel has ever wanted in a peace agreement and deprives the Palestinians of anything that they’ve ever wanted. So that would be one possible way in which he would repay this Israeli gift to him.

Trump also abrogated the nuclear accord with the Iranians and the European powers. So Netanyahu for years has wanted to destroy the nuclear agreement with Iran and has this narrative that Iran is one of the great satans of world nations and an enemy to US interests and to Israel. So those are two plum gifts that that Trump could be giving back to Netanyahu if this intelligence was transferred.

Kim Brown: Richard, in the United States, it’s illegal for candidates to accept help from a foreign country, but in Israel the law is a little different. Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have this mutually fawning relationship. Trump supported, I believe, now three presidential campaigns of Netanyahu since 2019. Talk to us about how these two men know each other. The nature of their relationship seems not necessarily transparent, though it appears outwardly that they do like each other quite a bit, and they have a lot of overlapping things as it relates to personality and policy. But how did this relationship get forged initially?

Richard Silvers…: Well, Netanyahu, over the 15 years or so that he’s been prime minister, has tilted Israeli policy from being bipartisan in US context to being solely oriented towards Republicans. So he has, as you said, been fawning over all of the Republican candidates. As you recall, during the Obama administration, he did a address to Congress, and he bypassed Obama, and he attacked US policy before the US Congress on Iran. So that’s where the orientation towards the Republican party comes in terms of Netanyahu.

You would think though that these two men wouldn’t have much in common because Trump, if anything, is an anti-Semite. He supports white supremacists, and he is hostile towards Jews who are liberal or Democratic and has even said that Jews who support Democrats are betraying their own interests and their country by doing so. But when it comes to Israel, Trump and Netanyahu have created this sort of relationship of convenience.

As you mentioned, they’re both sort of deeply narcissistic. They both view themselves as sort of, they’re monomaniacs in terms of seeing themselves as the sole savior of their country and wanting to preserve their power at any cost. They both face huge ethical and legal complications from corruption. In Netanyahu’s case, and of course Trump, we know is riddled with corruption. Netanyahu doesn’t have any sexual peccadilloes that Trump does, but they’re very, very similar in their personality. That has created this really odd couple between them and brought them together in this way, even though Netanyahu really is divorcing himself from the American Jewish community, which is very hostile to Donald Trump and also very hostile to Netanyahu’s political views about the Palestinians.

Kim Brown: If you could, Richard, before we let you go, can you update us on what the status is of the Netanyahu administration? There was a lot of news coming out of Israel regarding the elections, and then there was a lot of maneuvering happening. Can you let us know what the latest is?

Richard Silvers…: Yes, very complicated. But we just had our third election in a year in Israel, and now there is an attempt to form a unity government between one of the opposition parties and Netanyahu’s Likud party. However, because Netanyahu is under indictment on three different corruption charges, good government groups have petitioned the Supreme Court and asked it to exclude Netanyahu as prime minister. There never has been a prime minister who has been indicted serving as prime minister, and so this is testing out new law in Israel.

He will, Netanyahu will be tried under these charges, and if he is convicted, which may take some time, he will not be allowed to be prime minister. But the Supreme Court so far has shown a willingness to let this indicted prime minister continue in that role. Many Israelis who are liberal or centrist in their political views are really aghast at this because it betrays this continuing deterioration of moral values in Israeli politics that has been going on for quite some time.

So if, at some point, Netanyahu is convicted or the coalition falls apart, we will have a fourth election. Again, another unprecedented development in Israeli politics and shows that the country’s politics is quite dysregulated and quite dysfunctional, which I guess is nothing new.

Kim Brown: Well, I’m hoping the United States doesn’t follow that pattern of election dysfunctionality as we approach our election in November, though it is looking like it could head in that direction. But this is certainly a fascinating topic about the relationships and the dynamics between Netanyahu people and Donald Trump’s people and whether or not it played a part in the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States.

We appreciate you joining us today. We’ve been speaking with Richard Silverstein. He is an independent journalist who writes the blog, Tikun Olam. It explores Jewish-Muslim relations and the Israeli-Arab conflict. Richard, as always, we appreciate your reporting today. Thank you so much.

Richard Silvers…: Thanks for having me. It was fun. I enjoyed it. Thank you.

Kim Brown: Thank you for watching The Real News Network.

Production: Genevieve Montinar, Taylor Hebden, Andrew Corkery
Studio: Taylor Hebden

The 2024 U.S. elections will be different from any others because more countries are now getting involved in influence operations after seeing Russia, China and Iran’s previous actions, FBI Director Christopher Wray said.

“What we have seen since 2018 is that we’ve seen more foreign actors, more nation-states want to get in the business of trying to interfere or at least influence elections. And we’ve seen the techniques evolve. In that sense, every election cycle presents bigger challenges,” Wray said Tuesday at the 10th International Conference on Cyber Security in New York City this week.

The U.S. has bolstered its defenses, though, especially in the partnerships that connect federal agencies, state election officials and private industry, he said.

“All those partnerships are exponentially more sophisticated and effective than they were in each prior election cycle,” Wray said. “So we are, in that sense, much more on guard than we were in earlier cycles. So the threats are more challenging but the defense is better.”

Wray would not say which new countries are now involved in election interference efforts but noted that in the last election, efforts by hackers in Iran to cause issues were quickly stopped and called out.

Despite the new players, China and Russia are still leading the way in attempts to not only flood the U.S. with disinformation but also launch cyberattacks against election infrastructure, Wray said..

Part of the issue, he noted, is that just the attempt to hack election infrastructure is in itself an effort to cause chaos and diminish confidence in the election results.

“Americans can and should have confidence in our election system. None of the election interference efforts that we’ve seen over the cycles that [Gen.] Paul [Nakasone] and I have been working on together have put at jeopardy the integrity of the vote count itself in any material way,” Wray said.

“So in that sense, people can have confidence. Now the other part though, is the chaos piece. The ability to generate chaos is very much part of the playbook that some of the foreign adversaries engage in and there is a potential, if we’re not all collectively on guard, that chaos can ensue at varying levels.”

When asked about the startling number of Americans who do not believe the 2020 election was legitimate and believe the January 6 terrorist attack on the Capital was an FBI operation, Wray said the American people have to “become more thoughtful and discerning consumers of information.”

AI taking ‘JV’ actors to ‘varsity’

In New York, both Wray and Gen. Paul Nakasone, the leader of U.S. Cyber Command and the NSA, spent extended amounts of time discussing artificial intelligence and its amplifying effect on the power of threat actors.

Wray said the FBI is looking at ways it can use AI “ethically and responsibly to be more effective in going after the bad guys.”

But they are also focused on nation-states stealing AI technology from U.S. companies and how different kinds of threat actors can use AI to make themselves more dangerous and effective.

“America far and away leads the world on AI. How can we protect that innovation from countries, especially China, who want to steal it,” he said.

“We are also seeing AI being used as a tool that takes less sophisticated adversaries and makes them more dangerous.”

Wray said AI has allowed hackers to craft more legitimate spearphishing emails, and agents have seen the tool used in virtual kidnappings and by people trying to hide searches for bomb-making instructions.

Where it is most dangerous, he said, is that it is taking “JV political actors or foreign actors and making them varsity level.

Nakasone echoed Wray’s comments, noting that NSA is seeing other nation-states and adversaries using U.S.-made AI models — leading the agency to believe that the defense of those tools is paramount to U.S. security.

The issue bled into a discussion of the Chinese government’s efforts to steal U.S. intellectual property. Wray said all 56 FBI field offices are dealing with investigations that lead back to the Chinese government, noting that they are attempting to steal “everything from biotech to advanced technologies in healthcare and agriculture.”

Wray repeated his previous statement that if FBI cyber personnel were only to focus on China, they would still be outnumbered 50 to 1.

“And that’s probably a conservative estimate, because the Chinese government has also shown a penchant, like some other countries, to hire cyber criminals,” Wray said. “So that’s additional workforce they can take advantage of that I can assure you we don’t. From a scale perspective, the most sweeping and broad threat to our innovation, our intellectual property, and in the long run our economic and national security, is the People’s Republic of China.”

Nakasone said the U.S. is attempting to combat China’s size advantage through key collaborations with the private sector that allow them to work faster.

The general, who is retiring next month, noted that the government has a cybersecurity collaboration center created in 2020 that allows coordination with more than 850 defense industrial base companies.

Participants can share information about vulnerabilities immediately, and it has become a big advantage in the fight against adversaries seeking to exploit prominent bugs, Nakasone said.

The Iran-aligned Yemeni rebel group waging an ongoing campaign of attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea over Israel’s war in Gaza has told Newsweek that it would respond forcefully to the U.S. bombing Yemen.

“Any strike against us will be responded to, absolutely, without the slightest doubt, with all force and determination, and the region will be on the verge of escalation, the end of which no one knows,” Nasreddin Amer, deputy information secretary for Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, told Newsweek on Thursday as reports first emerged of up to a dozen strikes being conducted by the United States and the United Kingdom in Yemen.

“Any strike against us has no justification,” Amer added, “as it is only support for Israel to continue killing the oppressed Palestinian people.”

U.S. President Joe Biden later confirmed the operation in a statement issued by the White House, saying that the U.S. and the U.K. jointly operated “with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands” to conduct “strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways.”

“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea—including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” the U.S. leader added. “These attacks have endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation.”

Biden referred to the strikes as “a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes,” and warned he “will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”

Yemeni protesters loyal to Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi movement, lift their rifles as they participate in a protest against Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and threats by the United States and United Kingdom amid U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s warning of a military response to rebel attacks in the Red Sea on Thursday in Sanaa, Yemen.
Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images

In the aftermath of the strikes, a U.S. defense official told Newsweek that “manned aircraft from the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force were used” in the operation and that “this strike occurred from air, surface, and subsurface platforms.”

“This multilateral action included suppressing air defense by targeting radar systems, UAS [unmanned aerial system] storage and launch sites, cruise missile storage and launch sites, as well as ballistic missile storage and launch sites,” the U.S. defense official said. “Degrading these capabilities hinders the Houthi’s ability to continue their malign behavior in the future.”

A senior U.S. military official speaking to reporters on Thursday evening said that “the aim of these strikes was very clear from the beginning and from the president, and it was to remove the capability for the Houthis to target maritime vessels, whether they be commercial or military, in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden.” The U.K. was said to have provided fighter jets that participated in the operation.

A senior Biden administration official also speaking with reporters Thursday evening said that targets of the joint U.S.-U.K. strikes focused “specifically on Houthi missile, radar and UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] capabilities, the capabilities that are essential to the Houthis’ campaign against commercial shipping in international waters.”

The senior administration official said that the U.S. was preparing for potential retaliation by the group.

“While we fully expect this action to diminish the Houthis’ capability and, certainly, over time, to reduce their capacity and propensity to conduct these attacks,” the senior administration official said, “we will not be surprised to see some sort of response.”

The senior administration official also dismissed Ansar Allah’s connection between its maritime campaign and the war in Gaza as “completely baseless and illegitimate.”

“The Houthis also claim to be targeting specifically Israeli-owned ships or ships bound for Israel. That is simply not true,” the senior administration official said. “They are firing indiscriminately on vessels with global ties. Most of the ships that have come under attack have nothing whatsoever to do with Israel and even if that were not the case, it is no justification for these illegal attacks in international waterways.”

As the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution Wednesday demanding an immediate end to Ansar Allah’s campaign in the Red Sea, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that “there will be consequences” in response to the largest missile and drone attack to date conducted by Ansar Allah, widely known as the Houthis, against merchant vessels in the Red Sea on Tuesday.

U.S. and U.K. warships deployed to the region responded to the attack, firing down a number of projectiles in line with a mission established last month alongside 10 other coalition partners.

White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby repeated Blinken’s prior to the strikes on Thursday, asserting that “we’re going to do what we have to do to counter and defeat these threats that the Houthis keep throwing up on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.”

Later that same day, reports emerged across news outlets and social media of airstrikes conducted by the U.S. and U.K. in Yemen. Footage that Newsweek was unable to verify appeared to show fires raging at Al-Dilaimi airbase in Sanaa corresponding with reports of airstrikes.

Ansar Allah has long contended with enemy aerial action, mostly from a U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition established in March 2015 after the group took control of Sanaa amid a civil war that continues to divide Yemen to this day. While a ceasefire first brokered by the United Nations in April 2022 has managed to halt most hostilities, parties to the conflict and international supporters have so far failed to come up with a lasting peace plan.

Iran has long denied U.S. accusations that it directly provided Ansar Allah with military aid, though the group has managed to amass a sizable arsenal of missiles and drones. These platforms have been directed against both commercial vessels, as well as southern Israel since the war in Gaza began in October with an unprecedented surprise attack led by the Palestinian Hamas movement.

U.S. troops have also come under near-daily attack in Iraq and Syria by militias also aligned with a broader pro-Iran “Axis of Resistance” proclaiming solidarity with Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza.

Hamas issued a statement on Thursday night condemning the U.S.-led strikes in Yemen, calling them “a crime and a blatant aggression against Yemeni sovereignty, and a threat to the security of the region, which is witnessing American and British militarization that came to protect the Nazi-Zionist occupation and to cover up its crimes against the Palestinian people and the entire region.”

“As we highly value the position of brotherly Yemen and its heroic people in standing with our Palestinian people in the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood,” Hamas said, “we affirm that the brutal aggression against Yemen is an uncalculated act of terrorism, under the influence of the will of the Zionist occupation and its extremist Nazi leadership, and will only increase the stoke the fire and increase the tension in the region. Washington and London bear responsibility for its repercussions.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Barred from giving a formal closing argument, Donald Trump still seized an opportunity to speak in court at the conclusion of his New York civil fraud trial Thursday, unleashing a barrage of attacks in a six-minute diatribe before being cut off by the judge.

Trump spoke as the judge was trying to find out if the former president would follow rules requiring him to keep his remarks focused on matters related to the trial. Asked whether he would comply with the guidelines, Trump defied the judge and simply launched into his speech.

“We have a situation where I am an innocent man,” Trump protested. “I’m being persecuted by someone running for office and I think you have to go outside the bounds.”

Judge Arthur Engoron — who had denied Trump permission earlier to give a closing statement at the trial — let him continue almost entirely uninterrupted for what amounted to a brief personal summation, then cut him off and recessed for lunch.

Trump, the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, has repeatedly disparaged Engoron, accusing him in a social media post Wednesday night of working closely with the New York attorney general “to screw me.”

On Wednesday, Engoron had nixed an unusual plan by Trump to deliver his own closing remarks in the courtroom, in addition to summations from his legal team, after lawyers for the former president would not agree to the judge’s demand that he stick to “relevant” matters.”

After two of Trump’s lawyers had delivered traditional closing arguments Thursday, one of them, Christopher Kise, asked the judge again whether Trump could speak. Engoron asked Trump whether he would abide by the guidelines he had laid out earlier, which included not trying to introduce new evidence or making a campaign speech.

Trump then launched into his remarks.

“This is a fraud on me. What’s happened here, sir, is a fraud on me,” Trump said. He later accused the judge of not listening to him. “I know this is boring to you.”

“Control your client,” Engoron warned Kise.

Engoron then told Trump he had a minute left, let him speak a little more, and then adjourned.

Lawyers representing New York state were scheduled to give their closing remarks in the afternoon.

The exchange took place hours after authorities responded to a bomb threat at the judge’s house. Police checked out the threat at Engoron’s Long Island home, which came a day after he denied the former president’s extraordinary request to deliver his own courtroom close, officials said. The proceedings were not delayed.

At 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, hours before the trial’s final day was to begin, Nassau County police said they responded to a “swatting incident” at Engoron’s Great Neck home. Nothing amiss was found at the location, officials said.

The false report came days after a fake emergency call reporting a shooting at the home of the judge in Trump’s Washington, D.C. criminal case. The incidents are among a recent spate of similar false reports at the homes of public officials.

Taking the bench a few minutes late, Engoron made no mention of the incident at his home.

Thursday’s court action featured the start of closing arguments in the trial over allegations that Trump exaggerated his wealth on financial statements he provided to banks, insurance companies and others.

“Forty-four days of trial — not one witness came into this courtroom, your honor, and said there was fraud,” Kise said, contending his client “should get a medal” for his business acumen instead of punishment he deemed the “corporate death penalty.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, wants the judge to impose $370 million in penalties. Trump says he did nothing wrong. He contends outside accountants that helped prepare the statements should’ve flagged any discrepancies and that the documents came with disclaimers that shield him from liability.

Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom before the start of closing arguments in his civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, in New York. (Curtis Means/Daily Mail via AP, Pool)

The former president had hoped to make that argument personally, but the judge — initially open to the idea — said no after a Trump lawyer missed a deadline for agreeing to ground rules. Among them, Engoron warned that Trump couldn’t use his closing remarks to “deliver a campaign speech” or use the opportunity to impugn the judge and his staff.

“This entire case is a manufactured claim to pursue a political agenda,” Kise said in his closing argument. “It has been press releases and posturing but no evidence.”

Lawyers from James’ office were to deliver their closing argument Thursday afternoon.

Trump returned to court as a spectator Thursday despite the death of his mother in-law, Amalija Knavs, and the launch of the presidential primary season Monday with the Iowa caucus.

Since the trial began Oct. 2, Trump has gone to court nine times to observe, testify and complain to TV cameras about the case, which he called a “witch hunt and a disgrace.”

He clashed with Engoron and state lawyers during 3½ hours on the witness stand in November and remains under a limited gag order after making a disparaging and false social media post about the judge’s law clerk.

Thursday’s arguments were part of a busy legal and political stretch for Trump.

Judge Arthur Engoron sits in the courtroom before the start of closing arguments in former President Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

On Tuesday, he was in court in Washington, D.C., to watch appeals court arguments over whether he is immune from prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the 2020 election — one of four criminal cases against him. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

In New York, James sued Trump in 2022 under a state law that gives the state attorney general broad power to investigate allegations of persistent fraud in business dealings.

Kise argued the case amounted to the “weaponization” of a consumer protection statute and, urging Engoron to consider his legacy as a judge, warned that a ruling in the state’s favor would have a chilling effect on every company doing business in the state.

Engoron decided some of the key issues before testimony began. In a pretrial ruling, he found that Trump had committed years of fraud by lying about his riches on financial statements with tricks like claiming his Trump Tower penthouse was nearly three times its actual size.

The trial involves six undecided claims, including allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records.

Trump’s company and two of his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., are also defendants. Eric Trump was also in court for closing arguments.

Besides monetary damages, James wants Trump and his co-defendants barred from doing business in New York.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, with lawyers Christopher Kise and Alina Habba, attends the closing arguments in the Trump Organization civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court in the Manhattan borough of New York, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. (Shannon Stapleton/Pool Photo via AP)

State lawyers say that by making himself seem richer, Trump qualified for better loan terms from banks, saving him at least $168 million.

Kise acknowledged that some holdings may have been listed “higher by immaterial” amounts, but he added” “there’s plenty of assets that were undervalued by substantial sums.”

Engoron said he is deciding the case because neither side asked for a jury and state law doesn’t allow for juries for this type of lawsuit. He said he hopes to have a decision by the end of the month.

Last month, in a ruling denying a defense bid for an early verdict, the judge signaled he’s inclined to find Trump and his co-defendants liable on at least some claims.

“Valuations, as elucidated ad nauseum in this trial, can be based on different criteria analyzed in different ways,” Engoron wrote in the Dec. 18 ruling. “But a lie is still a lie.”

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Associated Press reporters Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

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