US and UK escalate aggression on Yemen as Signal scandal unfolds
Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
The last couple of weeks saw an unprecedent escalation by the Western coalition against Yemen, after Ansar Allah resumed Red Sea operations in retaliation for Israel’s renewed genocide and aid ban in Gaza.
For nearly two weeks, the US has conducted daily airstrikes on Yemen. The UK also took part in the heavy, non-stop aggression in different areas across Yemen.
In the early hours of Friday, March 28, US fighter jets hit more than 40 locations in the Arab country including the capital Sana’a, Saada, Marib, Al-Jawf, and Hodeidah governorates. The airstrikes reportedly left several people across the country injured.
On Thursday, March 27, at least two people were killed and two others wounded in a series of US airstrikes that targeted the Yemeni capital Sana’a.
The aggression was launched one day after the US launched 15 airstrikes on the southern and northeastern regions of Sanaa, in addition to the vicinity of Sanaa International Airport. The US and the UK targeted the Saada governorate in northwestern Yemen with dozens of airstrikes on the same day as well.
The western coalition had already intensified its airstrikes against Yemen for several days before Wednesday, March 26. Dozens of people, including women and children, were reported killed in the fierce aerial campaign.
US national security exposed after Signal chat on Yemen’s aggression plan leaked
A huge scandal has rocked the Trump administration after internal national security deliberations related to the US plans to strike Yemen were mistakenly leaked through the Signal messaging application, on Monday, March 24.
Contents of the Signal chat were published in The Atlantic after its Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was seemingly inadvertently added to the chat by US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
Goldberg disclosed the content of the chat, which was considered a huge breach of data security via a story published by The Atlantic. The journalist revealed that he knew that the US was planning to bomb different targets belonging to Ansar Allah across Yemen on March 15, two hours before the first airstrike was launched.
Goldberg elaborated that he became aware of the plan once the US Secretary of Defense Pete Hesgeth texted him the information at 11:44 am. Goldberg said that “the plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.”
The breach has provoked criticism and raised questions about the accountability in Trump’s cabinet as it has not only revealed sensitive details related to military-operations, but also what was perceived as institutional dishonesty inside the Trump administration.
Downplaying the seriousness of the leak, Trump called the incident a “witch hunt” while speaking to reporters at the Oval Office. The US President instead focused on the success of the US airstrikes in Yemen. The White House also said that the leaked information shared via the commercial messaging application was not classified.
The Democrats slammed the Trump administration calling on the officials involved to resign. Meanwhile, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee issued a bipartisan call for an expedited investigation into the breach.
Progressive movements and commentators have noted that amid the scandal, the attacks on Yemen themselves and their legality seem to be an afterthought for the Democrats who have instead focused their criticisms on the security violations of the officials’ communication.
Der Spiegel exposes new data security breach of Trump’s top officials
While the Trump administration is trying to dismiss the embarrassing scandal, German news website Der Spiegel reported on Thursday, March 27 that it found the contact data of Trump’s most important security advisers via hacked data dumps and commercial providers.
The leaked data included password details for Mike Waltz, Pete Hegseth, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, in addition to mobile phone numbers and email addresses.
The website pointed out that these phone numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use, some of which are linked to accounts on social media networks like Instagram and LinkedIn.
Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
Morning Star Editorial: Yet more anti-protest laws: a bid to crush the peace movement
MORE police power to block demonstrations and jail organisers have nothing to do with protecting worshippers and everything to do with suppressing protest rights.
Government amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill will see individuals who breach police conditions imposed on protests fined up to £2,500 and demo organisers facing jail sentences.
This shores up repressive measures already deployed by the police to shut down Britain’s huge Palestine solidarity movement. The Met cited the existence of synagogues “near” planned protest routes to deny them permission on January 18, and again on March 15.
In neither case were the synagogues on the route. In the latter the two cited were over 10 minutes’ walk away. In the centre of London or other cities, such sweeping effective exclusion zones could be used to ban almost any proposed route.
…
This is rather a political move intended to shield Israel and its ally, the British state, from criticism over occupation, war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Palestine. It is cheered on by highly partisan bodies such as the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which claims the protests cause “serious and unacceptable disruption to our communal life,” without specifying how.
The fact that marches may upset people who support or identify with the state of Israel is not intimidation. It is a disgraceful sleight of hand, and a serious threat to the right to free speech and assembly, to pretend it is.
The Starmer government decided in January to crush the mass protest movement where the Tories had tried and failed.
…
Unions and many MPs have begun to revolt at the government’s anti-working-class economic agenda. That needs to be extended to its assault on democratic rights.
As for the Palestine marches: Israel’s renewed war on Gaza makes them as important as ever, and it is their size which has so far prevented their suppression. We stay on the streets.
Original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/editorial-yet-more-anti-protest-laws-bid-crush-peace-movement
Nine arrested in police crackdown on Youth Demand
A Youth Demand welcome talk and a number of houses were raided last night and this morning. Nine people, including one attending their first meeting and a journalist were arrested.
Over 30 Metropolitan Police officers raided the Youth Demand Welcome Talk at the Quaker Meeting House in Westminster at 7.30p.m. yesterday. Six arrests were made including one attending their first ever welcome talk and a journalist. Three people were released in the early hours of the morning while three remain in custody. Police said that the arrests were for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
In a separate incident at around 8:00a.m. this morning Youth Demand supporter Eddie Whittingham was arrested at his house in Exeter but was released without charge. Two other supporters were arrested at unknown locations. The situation is ongoing.
The Welcome Talk is an opportunity to share information about the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank and about the mass killing that is being imposed on vulnerable people across the globe as a result of the accelerating climate crisis. It is also an opportunity to share plans for non-violent civil resistance actions to take place in April.
One of those arrested last night and released this morning was Ella Grace-Taylor, 20, an actor musician student said:
“At this point, it couldn’t be clearer that we are in a police state. Our politicians will stand by as police engage in mass arrests and imprisonment of anyone who speaks out against the government for being responsible for genocide. By arming Israel and refusing to call what is happening a genocide, they are perpetrating mass slaughter. Hundreds of children were killed in Palestine in the last week. We won’t stop saying it. We won’t be intimidated.”
A Youth Demand spokesperson said:
“It’s clear that the government sees Youth Demand as a threat. They know that we are right. There are thousands of young people who are horrified by what the government is doing to facilitate genocide and who know that they have been betrayed as their future is fucked. We will not be silenced. Young people all over the country are coming together to shut London down day after day throughout April. Sign up for action at youthdemand.org “
Youth Demand campaign on the climate crisis and Israeli genocide.
Britain sent over 500 spy flights to Gaza
https://www.declassifieduk.org/britain-sent-over-500-spy-flights-to-gaza/
Declassified UK Exclusive: New study reveals the scale of British intelligence gathering above Gaza, raising fears of complicity in Israeli war crimes
The Royal Air Force (RAF) has conducted at least 518 surveillance flights around Gaza since December 2023, an investigation by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) for Declassified UK has found.
The flights, carried out by 14 Squadron’s Shadow R1 aircraft from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, have been shrouded in secrecy, raising concerns about whether British intelligence has played a role in Israeli military operations that have resulted in mass civilian casualties in Gaza.
These revelations come as Israel faces allegations of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and war crimes at the International Criminal Court (ICC), with warrants issued for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
The UK government insists that the flights are purely for hostage recovery, but the lack of transparency has done little to allay suspicions that the intelligence gathered may be facilitating Israeli attacks.
Surveillance sorties continued during and after the ceasefire, despite Israel’s renewed bombing of Gaza killing hundreds of children.
Over 500 missions in 15 months
AOAV’s analysis of flight-tracking data shows that between 3 December 2023 and 27 March 2025, the RAF carried out at least 518 Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) flights over or close to Gaza’s airspace.
Both Labour and Conservative governments have enacted the policy, with at least 215 flights taking place during Keir Starmer’s tenure as prime minister and 303 under Rishi Sunak’s administration.
The frequency of flights remained high throughout 2024, with some months seeing as many as 49 sorties. The missions have typically lasted up to six hours, with the longest flight recorded at seven hours and four minutes.
…
Article continues at https://www.declassifieduk.org/britain-sent-over-500-spy-flights-to-gaza/
