Hundreds of Yemeni families trapped inside their camps in Marib province by Iran-backed Houthis are being used as a human shield against government forces, a Yemen government unit has claimed. In a report seen by Arab News on Saturday, the internationally recognized governmentâs Executive Unit for IDP Camps said that …
Read More »Iran using Houthis to blackmail UN on nuclear deal, Yemeni minister charges
The Iranian regime is using the Houthi militia as a pressure card against the international community and the US administration to extract concessions on the 2015 nuclear agreement, Yemeni Minister of Information Muammar Al-Eryani said on Thursday. Al-Eryani claimed that Iran is pressuring the Houthis for a military escalation in …
Read More »Yemen fundraising conference slotted for March
A fundraising event for Yemenâs humanitarian crisis is expected to take place in early March, hosted virtually by Sweden and Switzerland, four aid sources told Reuters on Sunday. A U.N.-backed push for international donors last June fell short of its $2.4 billion target, raising only $1.3 billion for what the …
Read More »Blinken formally announces need to unlabel Houthis as terrorists
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said he will revoke terrorist designations of Yemenâs Houthi movement effective Feb. 16, even as he warned that members of the group could be hit with more sanctions. The Trump administration imposed the specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) and foreign terrorist organization …
Read More »Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis threatened by starvation, UN warns
At least 400,000 Yemeni children under 5 could die of starvation this year without urgent intervention amid soaring rates of severe malnutrition driven by war and the coronavirus pandemic, four U.N. agencies said on Friday. The warnings come nearly six years after the outbreak of war that rendered 80% of …
Read More »US in emergency talks with Saudi after Houthi drone attack
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan discussed the recent Houthi attack targeting Abha International Airport in a phone call with US Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken, state news agency SPA reported. Both sides stressed the need to stop these hostile acts and support efforts to reach a political solution to …
Read More »BREAKING NEWS – UN in talks with Iran over Yemen
The United Nations special envoy to Yemen began a two-day visit to Iran on Sunday during to meet with senior Iranian officials to discuss the on-going conflict. Martin Griffiths will meet with Minister of Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif as part of the diplomatic efforts to reach a political solution in …
Read More »US forced to backtrack on Houthi terrorist designation in face of famine
The United States said on Friday it intends to revoke the terrorist designation for Yemenâs Houthi movement in response to the countryâs humanitarian crisis, reversing one of the most criticised last-minute decisions of the Trump administration. The reversal, confirmed by a State Department official, comes a day after President Joe …
Read More »Aid groups in Yemen opposed to US listing Houthis as terrorists
Twenty-two aid groups working in Yemen called on Sunday for the new U.S. administration to revoke the designation of Yemenâs Iran-backed Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization, saying it puts millions of lives and the peace process at risk. The U.S. State Department has initiated a review of the …
Read More »State Department backtracking over Houthis terror label
The U.S. State Department has initiated a review of the terrorist designation of Yemenâs Houthi movement and is working as fast as it can to conclude the process and make a determination, a State Department spokesperson said on Friday. President Joe Bidenâs nominee for Secretary of State Antony Blinken said …
Read More »American sanctions on Yemen to begin tomorrow
Statement by the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland: âThis decision will fuel the flames of war and starvation for millions of Yemenis. Incoming U.S. President Joe Biden must make Yemen a top priority and reverse these sanctions immediately. To jeopardise aid and supplies for a population …
Read More »Tussle at UN as US tries to list Houthis as terrorists
U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock will on Thursday urge Washington to reverse a plan to designate Yemenâs Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, warning the move would push the country into a âfamine on a scale that we have not seen for nearly 40 years.â In prepared remarks for a briefing …
Read More »Yemeni government wants global fight against Houthis in Taiz
Yemenâs internationally recognized government has called for pressure to stop the Houthi offensive and siege on several villages in the southern province of Taiz, the official Saba news agency reported. Prime Minister Maeen Abdul Malik Saeed said during a phone call with the Taiz governor, Nabil Shamsan, that Houthi crimes …
Read More »Yemeni feminists bemoun unprecedented absence of women in new government
The war-torn country announced a power-sharing government this weekend, but it excludes women for the first time in 20 years. Yemeni womenâs activists denounced the new power-sharing government in Yemen over its omittance of women for the first time in two decades. In December, a feminist movement launched a campaign …
Read More »Houthis captive claims he recieved Iraqi, Iranian missile training
A Houthi spy who was captured in the Yemeni city of Marib said he received training on intelligence information gathering and location sharing from Iranian and Iraqi missile experts in Sanaa. Yemenâs Defense Ministry recently announced capturing a Houthi cell of two spies who passed locations of military sites to …
Read More »Pompeo seriously thinking of calling Houthis terrorists
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo could designate the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization this week, Al-Arabiya TV reported, citing the Washington Post. US National Security Adviser Robert C. OâBrien said earlier that the US had options to deal with the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen. OâBrien added that Washington …
Read More »Houthis prisoner swap involves captive Americans
Two U.S. nationals held by Houthi rebels in Yemen have been released, Omani state media said on Wednesday, in what may have been part of a prisoner swap, with Oman sending flights to Sanaa to return 250 Yemenis from the Gulf state and abroad. âUnder the directions of Sultan Haitham …
Read More »Saudi propose new peace framework for Yemen
Saudi Arabia has presented a framework to expedite a stalled November deal in Yemenâs south designed to end a standoff between nominal allies under a Saudi-led coalition, Saudi state news agency SPA said on Wednesday. Riyadh is seeking to unite separatist and government forces in Yemenâs south to concentrate their …
Read More »More Houthi drones, missiles intercepted
Yemenâs Saudi-Led coalition said on Monday it intercepted and destroyed four missiles and six explosive drones launched overnight by Houthi forces towards the kingdom. Cross-border attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement have escalated since late May when a truce prompted by the novel coronavirus expired. In late June, missiles reached …
Read More »Saudi airstrikes target Houthi strongholds in Yemen
A Saudi-led coalition has started a military operation against Yemenâs Houthi movement after it stepped up cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, Saudi state television reported on Wednesday. In Yemen, Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported air strikes on the capital Sanaa, Marib, al-Jouf, al-Bayda, Hajjah and Saada provinces …
Read More »Saudi Arabia tries new peace plan in Yemen
Saudi Arabia has proposed a framework to end the latest standoff in southern Yemen between nominal allies under a Saudi-led coalition, three sources said, as violence escalates with the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in the north of the country. Previous clashes between Yemenâs Saudi-backed government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC), …
Read More »Houthis launch latest missile attack against Saudi-coalition
The Saudi-led Arab coalition announced that the terrorist Iran-backed Houthi militias fired on Tuesday morning two ballistic missiles from Yemenâs Sanaa province. Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said Tuesday the Houthis launched the missiles from residential areas. One rocket crashed 121 kilometers away, in the Amran province, and the second, …
Read More »Red Cross warns corona crisis could cause upheavel in Middle East
Coronavirus outbreaks across the Middle East threaten to shatter the lives of millions of already destitute people in conflict zones, and could fuel socio-economic upheaval, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday. Curfews and lockdowns imposed as public health measures to stem spread of the virus …
Read More »UN report condemns, US, France, UK in Yemeni war
The United States, Britain and France may be complicit in war crimes in Yemen by arming and providing intelligence and logistics support to a Saudi-led coalition that starves civilians as a war tactic, the United Nations said on Tuesday. U.N. investigators compiled a secret list of possible international war crimes …
Read More »UAE tries to paper over cracks in Aden coalition
A senior United Arab Emirates official called for calm on Wednesday after clashes erupted between southern separatists and presidential guards in Aden, the seat of Yemenâs government. UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash wrote on Twitter that communication and dialogue, not violence, was needed. âEscalation is not …
Read More »