Tag Archives: Saudi coalition

The US State Department has approved a potential agreement covering up to $500 million in military support services for Saudi Arabia, and has sent the agreement to Congress for review, the Pentagon said on Thursday. It was the first major defense agreement for Saudi Arabia sent to Congress since President …

Bahrain has strongly condemned the failed Houthi drone attack which targeted Abha International airport south of Saudi Arabia. The bomb-laden drone launched by the Iran-backed group was intercepted and destroyed by Arab Coalition forces.“The launch of a drone by the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia towards Abha International Airport in the …

The new UN special envoy for Yemen arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday as part of his first visit since taking office on Sep. 5. He will hold talks with senior Yemeni and Saudi officials and diplomats during his stay in the Kingdom. Hans Grundberg will meet Yemeni President Abed Rabbo …

The US led on Sunday the global condemnation of a recent escalation in Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. The Houthi militia launched three ballistic missiles toward the Kingdom on Saturday, two targeting the southwestern cities of Najran and Jazan. A third missile was launched at Dammam in the Eastern Province. …

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan received a phone call on Thursday from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to express concern over a Houthi attack on Abha airport. Eight people were wounded when Iran-backed Houthi militants targeted the airport in Asir province, with two exploding drones on …

The Iran-backed Houthi militia on Sunday snubbed the new UN special envoy for Yemen only two days after he began work. The appointment of veteran Swedish diplomat Hans Grundberg on Friday had been widely welcomed by the international community, including Saudi Arabia, amid renewed hopes of an end to the …

Twenty-one members of a Yemen-based team of Saudi and foreign mine clearance experts have lost their lives over three years operating in what has become known as the world’s largest minefield. The tragic death toll was revealed in figures showing the scale of the project being carried out in the …

Yemenis from all walks of life have hailed the UN blacklisting of Iran-backed Houthis for killing children in the war-torn country and renewed calls for tougher measures against the rebels, including designation as a terrorist organization. Yemeni politicians, human rights activists and journalists who have long advocated shaming and naming …

Arab countries and organizations have denounced the Houthi attacks targeting Saudi Arabia’s Khamis Mushait and Najran using explosive-laden drones. Saudi Arabia’s air defenses destroyed 17 drones launched toward the Kingdom’s southern region on Saturday.A booby-trapped drone targeted Khamis Mushait early in the morning before seven more targeting the southern region …

The United States on Monday said it “strongly condemned” a Houthi drone attack that damaged a school in Saudi Arabia. The explosives-laden drone was launched across the border from Yemen and crashed into a school in Asir region, Saudi Civil Defense said on Sunday. “Such attacks threaten civilians, including school children,” the …

The UN Security Council will meet this week to discuss a long-abandoned fuel tanker off Yemen amid growing fears of a catastrophic oil spill, diplomats said Wednesday. Thursday’s meeting, requested by Britain, comes after the Houthi militia said an agreement to allow a UN mission to inspect the tanker had …

A Yemeni model who was abducted and imprisoned by the Houthis said the militia sought to recruit her as a spy in exchange for her freedom, according to people who visited her in jail on Monday. Entesar Al-Hammadi and two colleagues were abducted by Houthis in Sanaa on Feb. 20. …

The Houthis on Sunday threatened to mount more drone and missile strikes on “unexpected” locations in the Arab coalition countries in response to the latest US sanctions on the militia’s leaders. Mohammed Ali Al-Houthis, the president of the Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said his movement would escalate attacks on “aggressor …

Iran on Thursday welcomed what it called a change of tone from Saudi Arabia and said it hoped they could work together to secure peace, amid moves to ease tensions between the regional rivals. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman made the statement days after Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince …

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday laid out his vision for the Kingdom’s foreign policy, with the US as a strategic partner and working with allies to find solutions to Iran’s “negative behavior.” In a 90-minute TV interview to mark the fifth anniversary of Vision 2030, the ambitious …

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the international community to question the Houthi militia’s military assaults on Marib and the “tremendous humanitarian consequences” it has led to. Blinken’s statement, that he made on Tuesday via Twitter, came after he met with the US Envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking. …

Iran-backed Houthis plan to launch a criminal investigation against Entesar Al-Hammadi, a young Yemeni model and actress, who was abducted from a Sanaa street on Feb. 20, the model’s lawyer Khaled Mohammed Al-Kamal said on Wednesday. The kidnapping of Al-Hammadi and two of her friends is the latest in a …

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has told Congress it is proceeding with more than $23 billion in weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates, including advanced F-35 aircraft, armed drones and other equipment, congressional aides said on Tuesday. A State Department spokesperson said the administration would move forward with the …

The US secretary of state called for a nationwide cease-fire in Yemen and a “durable peace agreement” during a phone call with the country’s prime minister on Thursday. “Secretary (Antony) Blinken welcomed the Republic of Yemen Government’s support for a comprehensive, nationwide cease-fire and UN-led political talks and its continued …

An air attack on an oil refinery in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Friday caused a fire that was brought under control, the energy ministry said, after Yemen’s Houthi group said it targeted the site with six drones. The refinery is operated by state-controlled oil giant Saudi Aramco. The attack, …

Dozens of Yemeni protesters stormed a presidential palace in the southern port city of Aden on Tuesday demanding payment of public sector salaries, witnesses said. Yemen’s Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik and other members of the internationally recognised government remain holed up inside the building, two Yemeni officials said. Most of …

Tehran supports attacks on Saudi Arabia by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ overseas Quds Force has admitted. Ismail Qaani told a conference in the northeastern city of Mashhad that the Houthis had launched  “18 operations in less than 10 days” targeting …

The UAE has called on the UN Security Council to condemn the obstruction of the delivery of humanitarian aid by armed groups and demand that they fully respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, state news agency WAM reported. The UAE submitted the written statement to the UN Security Council …

The U.S. State Department said on Thursday that “some hopeful progress” has been made toward a ceasefire in Yemen, but more commitment was needed from the parties to the civil war. The comments were in a statement on a just-concluded visit to the region by Timothy Lenderking, the U.S. special …

The United States on Monday expressed alarm at “genuine security threats” to Saudi Arabia from Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis and elsewhere in the region after attacks on the heart of the Saudi oil industry, and it would look at improving support for Saudi defences. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Embassy …

Yemen’s Houthi forces fired drones and missiles at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry on Sunday, including a Saudi Aramco facility at Ras Tanura vital to petroleum exports, in what Riyadh called a failed assault on global energy security. Announcing the attacks, the Houthis, who have been battling a …

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi group in Yemen said it intercepted six explosive drones fired towards the kingdom on Friday, with the Houthis claiming to have launched attacks into southern Saudi Arabia since dawn. Parts of the destroyed drones fell and injured a 10-year-old boy and also a man …

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on two military leaders of the Houthi movement in Yemen, accusing them of procuring weapons from Iran and organizing attacks, in the Biden administration’s first punitive action against the group. The sanctions contrast with the State Department’s decision last month to revoke terrorist …

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a “disappointing” $1.7 billion had been pledged by countries on Monday for humanitarian aid in Yemen – less than half the $3.85 billion the world body was seeking for 2021 to avert a large-scale famine. “For most people, life in Yemen is now unbearable. Childhood …

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 government’s Executive Unit for IDP Camps said that …

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 …

A fundraising event for Yemen’s 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 …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said he will revoke terrorist designations of Yemen’s 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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

The United States said on Friday it intends to revoke the terrorist designation for Yemen’s Houthi movement in response to the country’s 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 …

Twenty-two aid groups working in Yemen called on Sunday for the new U.S. administration to revoke the designation of Yemen’s 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 …

The U.S. State Department has initiated a review of the terrorist designation of Yemen’s 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 Biden’s nominee for Secretary of State Antony Blinken said …

Statement by the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland: “This 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 …

U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock will on Thursday urge Washington to reverse a plan to designate Yemen’s Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, warning the move would push the country into a “famine on a scale that we have not seen for nearly 40 years.” In prepared remarks for a briefing …

Yemen’s 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 …

The war-torn country announced a power-sharing government this weekend, but it excludes women for the first time in 20 years. Yemeni women’s 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 …

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. Yemen’s Defense Ministry recently announced capturing a Houthi cell of two spies who passed locations of military sites to …