18/03/2025

TUESDAY | MAR 18, 2025

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Group files suit to block deportations WASHINGTON: The American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a lawsuit challenging as unconstitutional the Trump administration’s actions to deport international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinian rights. The lawsuit, filed on Saturday in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, seeks a nationwide temporary restraining order to block enforcement of two executive orders. The lawsuit comes after the detention of a Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent resident of Palestinian descent, whose arrest sparked protests this month. Justice Department lawyers have argued that the government is seeking Khalil’s removal because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to believe his activities or presence in the country could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences”. Rubio on Friday said the United States will likely revoke visas of more students in the coming days. He defended the decision to revoke Khalil’s green card on Sunday, saying that the administration was revoking visas daily. The ADC lawsuit was filed on behalf of two graduate students and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who say their activism and support of the Palestinian people “has put them at serious risk of political persecution”. “This lawsuit is a necessary step to preserve fundamental constitutional protections. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all persons within the United States, without exception,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC. – Reuters BEIRUT: Syrian troops exchanged fire with Lebanese soldiers and armed groups in northeast Lebanon on Sunday and yesterday in a new round of border clashes. A Lebanese security source said three Syrian soldiers had crossed into Lebanon and were killed by armed members of a tribe who feared their town was under attack. In retaliation, Syrian troops shelled Lebanese border towns. Lebanon’s army said it had handed over the bodies of the three Syrians to Syrian authorities. – Reuters TEL AVIV: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he was seeking to dismiss the head of Israel’s internal security agency, who swiftly called the move political and said the premier expected “personal loyalty”. Netanyahu and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar have been engaged in a public spat in recent weeks over reforms to the agency. Shin Bet has been conducting an investigation into some of Netanyahu’s aides for allegedly receiving payments. – AFP CHINA URGES ‘DIALOGUE’ AFTER HOUTHI ATTACK BEIJING: China called for “dialogue” and a de-escalation of tensions in the Red Sea after Houthis claimed to have twice attacked a US aircraft carrier group. Its Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said: “The situation in the Red Sea and the Yemen issue are complex and should be properly resolved through dialogue and negotiation.” – AFP SYRIAN TROOPS CLASH WITH LEBANESE ARMY NETANYAHU SEEKS TO FIRE SPY CHIEF

A Yemeni fighter holds a missile fragment at the site of a US strike in Saada. – REUTERSPIC

Houthis attack US carrier group

o Cease all military activity, says UN

SANAA: Yemen’s Houthis twice attacked an American aircraft carrier group within 24 hours, calling it retaliation for deadly US strikes. The Houthis initially said they launched 18 missiles and a drone at the “aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships” in the Red Sea, before hours later claiming to have fired a second round. There was no immediate comment from the United States about the attacks. In a statement posted on Telegram yesterday, a Houthi spokesperson said the attacks on the carrier group were “in retaliation to the continued American aggression against our country”.

agreement between Israel and Hamas mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States. Israel wants to extend the ceasefire’s first phase, a proposal backed by US envoy Steve Witkoff. Hamas says it will resume freeing hostages only under the second phase that was due to begin on March 2. “Hamas has complied fully with the agreement, while the occupation (Israel) didn’t comply with some clauses. “It (Israel) seeks to foil the agreement and impose new conditions,” Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua said yesterday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday negotiators had been instructed to be The Houthi Health Ministry said women and children were among the 53 people killed and 98 wounded in US strikes on Saturday. Houthi media reported more explosions on Sunday night, accusing the Americans of targeting a cotton ginning factory in the western region of Hodeida as well as the Galaxy Leader , an Israeli ship captured more than a year ago. Houthi leader Abdulmalik al Huthi called on Yemenis to march yesterday to show defiance. In response to the latest escalation along the maritime trade route, the United Nations has urged both sides to “cease all military activity”.

Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, claiming to be acting in solidarity with Palestinians. Before this weekend’s targeting of the US carrier group, the Houthis had not claimed attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since Jan 19, when a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip. The group said it relaunched its attacks over Israel’s halting of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and would “move to additional escalatory options” if “the American aggression against our country continues”.

Saturday’s strikes “targeted Houthi leaders and took them out”. The US Central Command confirmed a “large scale operation” against the Houthis, which it said on Sunday night was continuing. Witnesses in Sanaa reported a “horrific explosion” that shook houses and shattered windows. Footage on Houthi media showed children, including a dazed girl with blackened legs wrapped in bandages, and a woman being treated in hospital. The Houthis have sealed off areas around the blast sites, however, making it impossible to gauge the true scale of the destruction. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the deadly US strikes. – AFP planting bombs since the ceasefire took effect. An Israeli drone had fired a missile at a group of Palestinians in the town of Juhr Eldeek in central Gaza on Sunday, killing a 62-year-old man and wounding several others, the medics said. Several others were hurt when an Israeli drone fired a missile towards a group of people in Rafah, they said. The Israeli military said it was not familiar with the reported drone strikes. Israel’s military offensive on Gaza, which began on Oct 7, 2023, has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, displaced most of the population and reduced much of the territory to rubble. – Reuters

BR I E F S

Washington has vowed to keep striking Yemen until the Houthis stop attacking Red Sea shipping, with President Donald Trump warning he will use “overwhelming lethal force”. Israeli airstrike kills three in Gaza, say medics The Houthis, who control much of the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, have attacked Israel and Washington’s weekend strikes against the Houthis were the first since Trump’s return to the White House in January. US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz told ABC News that

CAIRO: An Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian men in the Gaza Strip, medics said yesterday, and there was no sign of progress at renewed ceasefire talks. Medics said the three men were killed near Bureij camp in the centre of the devastated Palestinian enclave by a missile fired from a drone. Israel’s military did not immediately comment. In Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, medics said three people were wounded in another airstrike. Rafah residents have reported frequent fire by Israeli forces deployed in areas next to the border inside the city boundaries. The bloodshed underscores the fragility of a three-stage ceasefire

ready to continue talks based on the mediators’ response to a US proposal for the release of 11 living hostages and half of the dead captives. Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander and four bodies of the hostages if Israel agreed to begin talks immediately on implementing the second phase of the agreement. Israel accused Hamas of waging “psychological warfare” on the families of hostages. Palestinian officials say dozens of people have been killed by Israeli fire despite the Jan 19 truce that halted large-scale fighting in Gaza. Israel’s military has said its forces have intervened to thwart threats by “terrorists” approaching its troops or