By Alexander Cornwell

DUBAI – The U.S. Navy on Wednesday said it was establishing a new multinational task force that would target arms smuggling in the waters around Yemen, the latest American military response to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Washington has sought to reassure Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who see the U.S. commitment to the region as waning, by providing additional military support in recent months following the missile and drone attacks on the Gulf nations.

Fifth Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Brad Cooper said that the task force would, from Sunday, ensure a force presence and deterrent posture in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and Gulf of Aden.

“These are strategically important waters that warrant our attention,” Cooper said on a call with reporters, adding that the trafficking of people and drugs would also be targeted.

The waters around Yemen are a key passageway for global trade, including oil supplies, and vessels have in the past been targeted by the Houthis, as well as other forces.

More than a decade ago, increased naval patrols helped curb pirate attacks on commercial vessels navigating nearby waters.

Asked about the air raids from Yemen on U.S. partners Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Cooper said the task force would impact the Houthi’s ability to obtain the weaponry needed for such attacks.

“We’ll be able to do it more vibrantly and more directly than we do today,” Cooper added.

A U.S. official told Reuters that the waters between Somalia, Djibouti and Yemen were well-known “smuggling paths” for weapons destined for the Houthis.

“The new international task force will certainly go after this issue,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Iran has long been accused of smuggling weapons to the Houthis, a charge it denies.

The new naval task force would consist of between two and eight vessels and is part of the 34-nation Combined Maritime Forces, which Cooper also commands, that has three other task forces in nearby waters targeting smuggling and piracy.

The United States has provided Saudi Arabia and the UAE this year with additional air defence support following the Houthi attacks.

But diplomatic sources have said that the Gulf states remain convinced that the U.S. commitment to the region is weakening.

The launch of the task force comes amid a two-month truce in the nearly seven-year Yemen war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions more.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Will Dunham and Mark Porter)

(Reuters) -Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that 1,026 soldiers of Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade, including 162 officers, had surrendered in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

Mariupol, which has been encircled by Russian troops for weeks, has seen the fiercest fighting and the most comprehensive destruction since Russia invaded on Feb. 24.

Russian television on Wednesday broadcast clips of what it said was the surrender. In the footage, unarmed men in military fatigues were visible walking with their hands up along a grass- and tree-lined path towards masked soldiers cradling assault rifles.

In one clip, four marines walked away from a damaged industrial building carrying a wounded person on a stretcher. One of the four carried a makeshift white flag as well. Wounded men were loaded onto a yellow bus.

An unidentified Russian soldier said: “You may be scared or not, but it is necessary to surrender anyway. The choice is not a big one. First, the encircling is tight enough. Second, there are at least five echelons (of troops), so it is not that simple to exit if someone would think that he can easily leave.”

More than a dozen solders were lined up in formation in a dark room, where an unidentified prisoner of war said in Russian: “I was in a group of 13 to 15 men who moved together and survived. We had to surrender as we had been encircled.”

The main Sea of Azov port is the biggest target in the eastern Donbas region that Moscow now calls the focus of its campaign. If captured, it would be the first major city to fall since the war began. Its capture would help secure a land passage between separatist-held eastern areas and Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed in 2014.

Reuters could not independently confirm the surrender. Ukrainian defence ministry spokesperson Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said he had no information about it, and there was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian president’s office or the Ukrainian general staff.

“In the town of Mariupol, near the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, as a result of successful offensives by Russian armed forces and Donetsk People’s Republic militia units, 1,026 Ukrainian soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade voluntarily laid down arms and surrendered,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

On Monday, a post on the Ukrainian marine brigade’s Facebook page had said the unit was preparing for a final battle in Mariupol that would end in death or capture as its troops had run out of ammunition.

“Today will probably be the ultimate battle, as there is no ammo left,” said the post. “Beyond that: hand to hand fighting. Beyond that, for some death, for others capture.”

Some Ukrainian officials said at the time that the post may have been fake, and that troops were still holding out.

The Russian defence ministry said 151 wounded Ukrainian soldiers were treated on the spot and taken to Mariupol’s city hospital.

(Reporting by ReutersEditing by Peter Graff, William Maclean and Cynthia Osterman)

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON -The chief executives of U.S. meatpackers Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS and National Beef Packing have agreed to testify at a Congressional hearing discussing cattle markets and price increases for consumers, House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Scott said on Wednesday.

“It is very important, very vital, and very urgent that we hear the perspectives from the CEOs at these companies and get the full picture of why prices have gone up for consumers and down for ranchers,” Scott said in a statement.

“In addition to this panel of CEOs, we will be convening a panel of ranchers to hear what consolidation in the beef industry has done to their bottomlines and viability,” he added.

Increased prices and profits for meatpacking companies have threatened to amplify Washington’s scrutiny of the U.S. meatpacking industry, as the Biden administration has criticized a lack of competition in the sector.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced a plan in January for new rules to bolster competition and stop “exploitation” in the sector amid concerns that a small group of meat packers was capable of dictating beef, pork and poultry prices, adding to inflation pressures caused by rising labor and transportation costs and by COVID 19-related supply constraints.

In January, the chairman of the House of Representatives subcommittee on economic and consumer policy sent a letter to major U.S. meat processing companies, seeking information on rising prices and profits.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in WashingtonEditing by Bernadette Baum)