Yemen

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group attacked the United Arab Emirates in what the group said was an operation using missiles and drones, setting off explosions in fuel trucks that killed three people and causing a fire near the airport of Abu Dhabi, capital of the region’s commercial and tourism hub. The strike on a leading Gulf Arab ally of …

The U.N. Security Council has condemned the seizure of a United Arab Emirates ship and demanded that Yemen’s Houthi rebels immediately release the vessel and its crew. A press statement from the U.N.’s most powerful body called on all sides “to resolve the issue quickly and underlined the importance of …

The United Nations found thousands of weapons recently seized in the Arabian Sea likely came from a single port in Iran, evidence Tehran is exporting arms to Yemen and elsewhere, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. Yemen has been wracked by civil war since 2014, pitting Iran-backed Houthi militia against …

The hijacking of a UAE-flagged cargo ship off the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah is a “flagrant violation” of the principles of international law, the Arab coalition said on Tuesday. The Rawabi had been transporting medical equipment from the remote Yemeni island of Socotra in the Arabian Sea to the …

Jabal Haraaz is a mountainous region in the Southeastern Yemeni Peninsula. It is a collection of beautiful medieval villages. Coffee has been farmed and traded in the area since the 1400s. By Arthur BlokMost farmers in this region are from the Dawoodi Bohras, a highly literate and tight-knit community. Some …

Hizbullah on Monday dismissed as “ridiculous” Saudi charges that it aids Yemen’s Huthi rebels in launching strikes against the kingdom. On Sunday, the spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Huthi rebels were “militarizing” Sanaa airport and using it as a “main center for launching ballistic missiles and …

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has said it will present Sunday “evidence” of involvement of Lebanon’s Hizbullah in Yemen and its use of Sanaa airport to “target the kingdom.” Saudi Arabia has long accused Iran of supplying Yemen’s Huthis with sophisticated weapons and Hizbullah of training the insurgents, charges …

A Saudi citizen and a Yemeni resident of the Kingdom were killed after a Houthi projectile hit Jazan on Friday. The projectile fell in Samtah, a town in Jazan, and also damaged an industrial workshop, the Arab coalition said. Earlier, a projectile hit a village neighbouring Najran and damaged a …

The US Navy seized a large cache of assault rifles and ammunition being smuggled by a fishing ship from Iran likely bound for war-ravaged Yemen. US Navy patrol ships discovered the weapons aboard what the Navy described as a stateless fishing vessel in an operation that began on Monday in …

US President Joe Biden should consider a military option as a means of pressuring Iran to back down from its pursuit of nuclear weapons and aggressive drone program, a panel of former elected US officials and diplomats told an audience on Wednesday.  The panel was hosted by the National Council …

The U.S. Navy announced Wednesday it tested a laser weapon and destroyed a floating target in the Mideast, a system that could be used to counter bomb-laden drone boats deployed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. The test Tuesday saw the USS Portland test-fire its Laser Weapon System …

Hizbullah military commander and expert Akram al-Sayyed has died in artillery shelling in Yemen’s Marib governorate, Yemeni Information, Culture and Tourism Minister Moammar al-Aryani has said, describing the development as “a painful blow to Tehran’s regime and its sectarian militias.” “Al-Sayyed, 35, had entered Yemen in August 2017 among a …

The US seized two large caches of Iranian arms, including 171 surface-to-air missiles and eight anti-tank missiles, intended for the Houthi militia in Yemen.  The US justice department on Tuesday said navy troops seized the weapons from two vessels in the Arabian Sea while conducting routine maritime security operations.  “Iran’s …

Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi confirmed to Lebanon’s MTV on Friday that he will announce his resignation today at 1 p.m. local time (1100 GMT). He also said to the local television that his resignation may ease the crisis between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. He said “since the first day …

The British ambassador to Yemen called on the Houthis to immediately release two Yemeni UN employees who are being detained by the militia. “The UK is alarmed by reports of detention of UN staff in Yemen,” Richard Oppenheim said on Saturday. “Aid workers must be allowed to do their work …

The Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis in Yemen had on Friday said it destroyed three drones launched towards southern Saudi Arabia and a fourth over Yemen. It said the group “failed to launch two ballistic missiles” and they fell inside Yemen. Saudi Aramco, the state oil firm, said that it …

The United States condemns the detention of Yemeni staff of the U.S. embassy in Sanaa by the Houthi movement and demands their immediate release, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Friday. Dozens of Yemeni citizens and their family members have been detained and mistreated by the …

A group of U.S. senators are opposing the Biden administration’s first major arms sale to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over Riyadh’s involvement in the conflict in Yemen, three senators announced on Thursday. A joint resolution of disapproval to block a proposed $650 million in U.S. arms sales to the …

Airstrikes took out a secret hideout in Yemen housing experts belonging to the Iran Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, the Arab coalition said on Thursday. The capital, Sanaa, as well as locations in the governorates of Dhamar, Saada, and Al-Jawf were hit in a wide-ranging coalition operation to weaken the Iran-backed …

Yemen’s warring sides clashed south of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah late on Saturday, after Iranian-backed Houthi fighters moved into territory ceded by forces allied to a Saudi-led coalition, military sources and witnesses said. Yemeni forces backed by the United Arab Emirates had on Friday announced they were …

Leaders of both the US Senate and House Foreign Relations committees on Friday condemned the Iranian-backed Houthis who recently breached the US Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, and are holding staff hostage. Washington closed the embassy in 2015 amid escalating violence in the country and American diplomats left the country. However …

Democratic U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar filed legislation on Friday seeking to block the sale of $650 million air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia, the first major arms sale to the kingdom during President Joe Biden’s administration. Omar said she filed the measure, known as a joint resolution of disapproval, because of …

Yemeni forces under a Saudi-led coalition said on Friday they had withdrawn from around the main Red Sea port of Hodeidah held by their foes the Houthis to help deter the Iran-aligned group’s advances in other parts of Yemen. A joint statement by United Arab Emirates-backed forces, including the Giants …

Information Minister George Kordahi announced Friday that he would consider resigning if Saudi Arabia offers Lebanon “guarantees” on reversing the measures it has taken since the eruption of the diplomatic row related to his remarks on the Yemen war. “I’m not clinging to any ministerial post and I don’t want …

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen said on Wednesday its troops were redeploying in line with its strategy to support Yemeni forces, but were not withdrawing. Yemeni security sources told Reuters the Saudi military had withdrawn from a major military base in Burayqah district in the southern …

Guns supplied by Iran to its Houthi allies in Yemen are being smuggled across the Gulf of Aden to Somalia, according to a Geneva-based think tank, where al Qaeda-linked al Shabab insurgents are battling a weak and divided government. The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime said its study drew …

The United States has called on Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies to restore relations with Lebanon, saying the struggling nation needed international support. “Our position is that diplomatic channels should remain open if we are to seek to improve the humanitarian conditions of the Lebanese people,” State Department spokesman …

U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking will travel to the Middle East on Thursday for talks with the Yemeni government and civil society representatives, regional government officials, and other international partners, the State Department said. Lenderking remains focused on the need for the “Houthis to stop their offensive on …

Expecting a possible siege, pro-government forces in central Yemen are preparing to defend Marib city, their last northern stronghold, against advancing Houthi fighters bent on taking full control of one of Yemen’s key energy-producing regions. Should Marib governorate fall to the Houthis it would deal a blow to the military …

Yemen’s Houthis on Sunday put up posters in support of a Lebanese minister whose criticism of the Saudi-led war in Yemen sparked a diplomatic row between Lebanon and Gulf states. Saudi Arabia has expelled Lebanon’s envoy and recalled its ambassador from Beirut, with Bahrain and Kuwait following suit. The UAE …

Information Minister George Kordahi on Sunday stressed that he will not resign despite the growing diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. In remarks to al-Jadeed television, Kordahi emphasized that such a move is “out of the question.” The crisis erupted Friday when Saudi Arabia gave Lebanon’s ambassador …

Saudi Arabia on Friday ordered the Lebanese ambassador to the kingdom to leave the country within 48 hours and stopped all imports from Lebanon, a response to comments by a Lebanese minister who described the war in Yemen as a Saudi “aggression.” Saudi state media added that the kingdom’s ambassador …

Saudi Arabia is seeking Washington’s help in bolstering its defences as it comes under intense U.S. pressure to end a blockade of Yemeni ports that its Houthi enemies say is an obstacle to ceasefire talks, two sources with knowledge of efforts to end the Yemen war and a U.S. official …

Lebanon’s powerful Shi’ite group Hezbollah praised information minister George Kordahi, who delivered remarks critical of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen prior to taking office, and described the backlash against him from Riyadh and other Gulf countries as “unjust”. In a statement issued on Thursday, the group condemned “the unjust …

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday distanced himself from comments made by the country’s Information Minister George Kordahi suggesting that the Iran-backed Houthis were “defending themselves” in Yemen. Kordahi had been responding to a question from the host of “Barlamanasha3b,” an Al Jazeera-affiliated youth TV show, asking about his …

The Houthi militia’s planned attacks using explosive-rigged boats in the Red Sea pose a threat to global maritime trade lines in the area, Yemen’s information, culture and tourism minister Moammar Al-Eryani warned. The Arab coalition earlier said it destroyed four Houthi boats loaded with explosives during an airstrike in Yemen’s …

The Arab coalition on Saturday said it had destroyed four explosive-laden Houthi boats in Yemen’s western province of Hodeidah. A coalition statement said warplanes targeted Al-Jabanah coastal base, east of Hodeidah city, where the vessels had been prepared to attack international ships sailing through the Red Sea. “The coalition efforts …

The US on Wednesday demanded an end to the Houthi siege of Abedia to allow beleaguered civilians access to humanitarian aid. The Iran-backed militia has surrounded the district in the battleground Yemeni province of Marib for more than three weeks, denying 35,000 people access to food, drinking water, medicines and …

Saudi Arabia called on the United Nations to hold Yemen’s Houthi militia accountable after 10 people that were injured in a drone attack on an airport. Passengers and airport staff were among those hurt when the explosives-laden drone hit King Abdullah Airport in Jazan on Friday. The injured included six …

A car bomb targeting the governor’s convoy shook Yemen’s southern port city of Aden on Sunday killing at least six people and wounding seven, the information minister said on Twitter. Governor Ahmed Lamlas and agriculture minister Salem al-Suqatri, both members of a southern separatist group, survived a “terrorist assassination attempt”, …

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen said a hostile projectile launched by the group hit King Abdullah airport in Jizan, injuring five civilians, the Saudi state news agency reported on Friday. “There were five minor injuries among civilians, passengers and airport employees,” the agency quoted a coalition …

Bahrain, Russia and other members of the U.N. Human Rights Council pushed through a vote on Thursday to shut down the body’s war crimes investigations in Yemen, in a stinging defeat for Western states who sought to keep the mission going. Members narrowly voted to reject a resolution led by the …

The European Union is applying pressure for a ceasefire in Yemen and to stop the attacks on Saudi Arabia, an EU official said Sunday, adding that Houthi assaults on the Kingdom violated international law. “The EU countries are Saudi Arabia’s largest strategic partner,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and …

Falling debris from a Houthi drone intercepted by Saudi air defenses damaged houses and shops in the southern region of Jazan, authorities said early Saturday. The drone fragments of the bomb-laden unmanned aircraft scattered over a residential neighborhood in Uhud Al-Masarah governorate, but fortunately did not result in death or …