JEDDAH: One of Yemen’s leading politicians has called on all parties to put an end to the fighting in his country.
Mohammed Abulahoum, chairman of Justice and Building Party in Yemen, made a series of recommendations during his lecture at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.
“Enough of this fighting,” he told Arab News on Monday as he explained his proposals. “Now is the time to get to the table (for talks). Let us put our differences aside and let us go forward.”
He hoped all parties would come to their senses “and deliver something positive to the Yemeni people before the onset of Ramadan.” The holy month begins around May 27.
Abulahoum reiterated that Yemenis have never counted Tehran as an ally.
“Iran has never been, and can never be, an ally of Yemen,” he said. “Our permanent allies have always been, and will always be, the Saudis and the Gulf states.”
During his visit to Washington, Abulahoum met with senior members of the Trump administration.
The lecture at the Middle East Institute was delivered last week and Abulahoum’s message of reconciliation was met with positive response.
Opening the lecture, he said: “I’m not here to defend or attack. My main objective today is to find ways to help ordinary citizens who are affected the most rather than to help the conflicting factions.”
He said Iran had played a negative role in the region. “We can’t deny that they have ambitions in the region and have played a destabilizing role by supporting non-state armed groups,” he said. “Yemenis don’t view Iran as an ally.”
He blamed his country and other regional powers for “mishandling” the situation and inadvertently helping Iran. “Iran’s investment in Yemen is minimal, (but) the return has been high due to us and other regional powers mishandling the situation,” he said.
He said Yemen will always be “either a point of strength or weakness” to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. “It is about time that we all work together to ensure that Yemen is a source of stability — after all, this is the only option we have,” said Abulahoum.
He urged the new US administration to play its part. “The Trump administration has a critical role to play,” he said. “Not only in Yemen but the whole region.”
Addressing the Trump administration directly, he said: “Our region is waiting to see what you will do in an area facing many challenges. You can start by helping Yemen become a success story in an area that desperately needs hope.”
He listed the challenges that stared the region in the face. “There is a humanitarian challenge as a result of hunger,” he said. “If not properly dealt with immediately, we will face a catastrophic situation.”
Then, he said, there is the danger of the expansion of radical groups, such as Daesh and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as a result of fighting and the absence of a state.
“There is no time to waste; Yemenis have suffered enough,” he said. “This conflict has torn the country apart. In order to move forward, we need direct constructive talks with all conflicting groups, including the side led by (Ali Abdullah) Saleh.”
He said one needed to accept the situation in order to move forward. “We might not like the idea of talking to all sides. However, we have to put everything aside and have constructive talks. We need no spoilers,” he said.
The UN special envoy needs the support and pressure from all sides in order to go back into negotiations with the willingness to compromise, he said.
“Here, I suggest we should include Russia, France and China in the Group of 4, plus Oman, since the five members of the UN Security Council have had a united and a positive position since the first day of the conflict in Yemen,” he said.
In the south, he said, the legitimate government has to play a more productive role with all sides and not favor one over the other, especially not favoring the ones that sacrificed most in Aden during liberation.
He suggested a four-point formula to end the fighting. “One, a temporary cease-fire that will allow humanitarian access to all parts of the country on the condition that airstrikes will come to a halt, cross-border fighting and attacks will stop, no missiles will be fired, and that the Houthis will deliver a security plan for Sanaa in no later than 30 days,” he said.
Abulahoum’s second point concerns the port of Hodeidah. “It should be kept open and operate fully for all cargo under UN supervision and the Houthis should pull back from the port to an agreed upon location. After a UN inspection, shipments at the port should be handed to business people who will then distribute them to different parts of the country,” he said, and added: “Any interception by the Houthis will result in the deal being canceled.”
Point No. 3 of the Abulahoum plan is for Sanaa airport to resume flights with clear conditions and satisfactory inspections in order to serve those most in need.
Lastly, the formation of an interim government that will work with the GCC with a clear mandate to focus on reconciliation, stabilizing and preparing the country for elections within a specified time frame.
“These four points should pave the way for going back to the negotiating table with the intent of reaching a political solution that is desperately needed,” added Abulahoum.
Leading Yemeni politician suggests 4-point formula to end fighting
Leading Yemeni politician suggests 4-point formula to end fighting
Regional challenges cost Egypt around $7 bln of Suez Canal revenues in 2024, El-Sisi says
- Egypt lost more than 60 percent of the canal’s revenues in 2024 compared with 2023, El-Sisi said
CAIRO: Events in the Red Sea and regional challenges cost Egypt around $7 billion in revenues from the Suez Canal in 2024, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said on Thursday.
Egypt lost more than 60 percent of the canal’s revenues in 2024 compared with 2023, El-Sisi added in his statement, without going into details on the events.
Houthi fighters in Yemen have carried out nearly 100 attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea since November in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s more than year-old war in Gaza.
The attacks have forced shipping firms to divert vessels from the Suez Canal to longer routes around Africa, disrupting global trade by delaying deliveries and sending costs higher.
Israeli incursion into Wadi Al-Hujeir raises fears of revived Israeli buffer zone
- UNIFIL says actions that threaten ceasefire must stop
BEIRUT: On Thursday, Israeli forces advanced into the Lebanese border area through Al-Qantara and Aadchit Al-Qusayr, heading toward Wadi Al-Hujeir. The incursion lasted several hours.
Israeli tanks were seen heading into Wadi Al-Hujeir. The incursion, carried out in broad daylight, prompted warnings from the Lebanese army and UNIFIL.
The Lebanese army said: “The Israeli enemy continues its violations of the ceasefire agreement, attacking Lebanon’s sovereignty, its citizens, and destroying southern villages and towns.” UNIFIL, meanwhile, said that “any actions threatening the fragile cessation of hostilities must stop.”
The Israeli incursion into Wadi Al-Hujeir is the first of its kind since Oct. 1, the start of Israel’s ground war in Lebanon, and since the ceasefire came into effect on Nov. 27.
Wadi Al-Hujeir is a rugged valley in Jabal Amel, adjacent to the Israeli border. It lies between the districts of Marjayoun, Bint Jbeil, and Nabatieh. The valley extends from the Litani River in Qaaqaait Al-Jisr below the city of Nabatieh to the town of Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil district. Several towns surround it, including Al-Qantara, Aalman, Al-Ghandourieh, Majdal Selm, Qabrikha, Touline, and Taybeh.
A Lebanese security source expressed concern, stating: “This incursion into previously untouched areas, accompanied by extensive combing operations, (is) a significant expansion of the Israeli enemy’s occupation map and recalls the border zone Israel established in the 1970s through firepower and occupation, which it withdrew from entirely in 2000.”
The incursion forced families in Al-Qantara to flee to Al-Ghandourieh, at the western edge of the valley.
The Israeli army also erected earthen berms between Wadi Al-Hujeir and Wadi Saluki to block the valley road.
In response, the Lebanese army closed the road leading to Wadi Al-Hujeir at the Froun intersection in the Qaaqaait Al-Jisr area to ensure the safety of civilians. The municipalities of Majdal Selm, Qabrikha, and Touline advised residents to avoid using the valley road.
During the incursion, Israeli forces shot Lebanese citizen Hussam Fawaz from Tebnine while he was on his way to work at the Indonesian battalion’s headquarters, part of UNIFIL, in Aadchit Al-Qusayr. He was hit in the head while driving his car, abducted by the Israeli forces, and later handed over, wounded, to UNIFIL and the Lebanese Red Cross.
The Lebanese army command stated: “Israeli forces advanced into several points in the areas of Al-Qantara, Aadchit Al-Qusayr, and Wadi Al-Hujeir. The army reinforced its presence in these areas and the army command continues to monitor the situation in coordination with UNIFIL and the quintet committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.”
UNIFIL underlined its role in supporting both countries to ensure the area south of the Litani River is free of any armed personnel, assets or weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and UNIFIL, as well as respect for the Blue Line.
UNIFIL said: “There is concern at continuing destruction by the IDF (Israeli forces) in residential areas, agricultural land, and road networks in south Lebanon. This is in violation of resolution 1701.”
In the afternoon, it was reported that the Israeli forces that infiltrated into Lebanese territory, withdrew toward Wadi Saluki.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army continued using machine guns to strafe the border towns it had infiltrated, especially from Maroun Al-Ras toward Bint Jbeil. It also targeted the Aita Al-Shaab town with artillery shelling.
According to security reports, “the Israeli army was surprised by the scale of tunnels built by Hezbollah in the border area and the number that has been discovered. It is racing against time to uncover the remaining ones, destroy them and bulldoze Hezbollah’s facilities before the end of the 60-day period, half of which has already passed, for a complete withdrawal under the ceasefire agreement.”
The security source stated: “The Israeli army seems to lack confidence in the Lebanese army’s ability to destroy these Hezbollah facilities when it is deployed in the border area. It is determined to carry out this mission before its withdrawal.”
On Thursday, Israeli media reported that the “Israeli army is preparing for the possibility of remaining in southern Lebanon beyond the 60 days outlined in the ceasefire agreement.”
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported that the army “has begun establishing infrastructure for military posts along the northern border, with some of them located on the Lebanese side of the border.” It added: “During 30 days, the Israeli army killed 44 Hezbollah members who violated the ceasefire agreement — according to the army — carried out 25 attacks on Lebanese sites and recorded 120 violations of the agreement by the Lebanese side.”
On the Lebanese front, Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said: “The Israeli incursion toward Wadi al-Hujair is a highly dangerous development and a serious threat to the implementation of Resolution 1701.”
He called on the Lebanese state, “the government, army and concerned parties, to review the current performance, which has shown a complete failure to curb Israel’s continued hostilities.”
MP Kassem Hashem, from the Amal Movement bloc, described Israel’s incursion as “an occupation of additional areas of Lebanese territory and an attack on Lebanese sovereignty in light of the ceasefire agreement supervised by international entities with presence and influence.”
He said that “if such violations continue at this level, it is considered an occupation, and Lebanon has the right to defend its sovereignty and national dignity.”
Syria authorities arrest official behind Saydnaya death penalties
- Confirmation by monitor of his detention came a day after deadly clashes erupted in province of Tartus, an Assad stronghold, when gunmen sought to protect him
DAMASCUS: Syria’s new authorities have arrested a military justice official who under ousted president Bashar Assad issued death sentences for detainees in the notorious Saydnaya prison, a war monitor said Thursday.
The confirmation by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights of his detention came a day after deadly clashes erupted in the coastal province of Tartus, an Assad stronghold, when gunmen sought to protect him.
Mohammed Kanjo Hassan is the highest-ranking officer whose arrest has been announced since Assad’s ousting on December 8.
Assad fled for Russia after a militant offensive wrested from his control city after city until Damascus fell, ending his clan’s five-decade rule and sparking celebrations in Syria and beyond.
The offensive caught Assad and his inner circle by surprise and while fleeing the country he took with him only a handful of confidants.
Many others were left behind, including his brother Maher Assad, who according to a Syrian military source fled to Iraq before heading to Russia.
Other collaborators were believed to have taken refuge in their hometowns in Alawite regions that were once a stronghold of the Assad clan.
According to the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Saydnaya Prison, Kanjo Hassan headed Syria’s military field court from 2011 to 2014, the first three years of the war that began with Assad’s crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired democracy protests.
He was later promoted to chief of military justice nationwide, the group’s co-founder Diab Serriya said, adding that he sentenced “thousands of people” to death.
The Saydnaya complex, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomised the atrocities committed against Assad’s opponents.
The fate of tens of thousands of prisoners and missing people remains one of the most harrowing legacies of his rule.
After 13 years of civil war, Syria’s new leaders from Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) face the monumental task of safeguarding the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country from further collapse.
With its roots in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda, a Sunni Muslim extremist group, HTS has moderated its rhetoric and vowed to ensure protection for minorities, including the Alawite community from which Assad hails.
With 500,000 killed in the war and more than 100,000 still missing, the new authorities have also pledged justice for the victims of abuses under the deposed ruler.
They also face the substantial task of restoring security to a country ravaged by war and where arms have become ubiquitous.
During the offensive that precipitated Assad’s ousting, militants flung open the doors of prisons and detention centers around the country, letting out thousands of people.
In central Damascus, relatives of some of the missing have hung up posters of their loved ones in the hope that with Assad gone, they may one day learn what happened to them.
World powers and international organizations have called for the urgent establishment of mechanisms for accountability.
With the judiciary not yet reorganized since Assad’s toppling, it is unclear how detainees suspected of crimes linked to the former authorities will be tried.
Some members of the Alawite community fear that with Assad gone, they will be at risk of attacks from groups hungry for revenge or driven by sectarian hate.
On Wednesday, angry protests erupted in several areas around Syria, including Assad’s hometown of Qardaha, over a video showing an attack on an Alawite shrine that circulated online.
The Observatory said that one demonstrator was killed and five others wounded “after security forces... opened fire to disperse” a crowd in the central city of Homs.
The transitional authorities appointed by HTS said in a statement that the shrine attack took place early this month, with the interior ministry saying it was carried out by “unknown groups” and that republishing the video served to “stir up strife.”
On Thursday, the information ministry introduced a ban on publishing or distributing “any content or information with a sectarian nature aimed at spreading division and discrimination.”
In one of Wednesday’s protests over the video, large crowds chanted slogans including “Alawite, Sunni, we want peace.”
Assad long presented himself as a protector of minority groups in Sunni-majority Syria, though critics said he played on sectarian divisions to stay in power.
In Homs, where the authorities imposed a nighttime curfew, 42-year-old resident Hadi reported “a vast deployment of HTS men in areas where there were protests.”
“There is a lot of fear,” he said.
In coastal Latakia, protester Ghidak Mayya, 30, said that for now, Alawites were “listening to calls for calm,” but putting too much pressure on the community “risks an explosion.”
Noting the anxieties, Sam Heller of the Century Foundation think tank told AFP that Syria’s new rulers had to balance dealing with sectarian tensions while promising that those responsible for abuses under Assad would be held accountable.
“But they’re obviously also contending with what seems like a real desire on the part of some of their constituents for what they would say is accountability, maybe also revenge, it depends on how you want to characterise it,” he said.
WHO chief says he is safe after Sanaa airport bombardment
- Tedros was in Yemen as part of a mission to seek the release of detained UN staff and assess the health and humanitarian situations in the war-torn country
GENEVA: The head of the World Health Organization, who was at the Sanaa airport in Yemen amid an Israeli bombardment on Thursday, said there was damage to infrastructure but he remained safe.
“One of our plane’s crew members was injured. At least two people were reported killed at the airport,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X.
Other UN staff were also safe but their departure was delayed until repairs could be made, he added.
Tedros was in Yemen as part of a mission to seek the release of detained UN staff and assess the health and humanitarian situations in the war-torn country.
He said the mission “concluded today,” and “we continue to call for the detainees’ immediate release.”
While about to board their flight, he said “the airport came under aerial bombardment.”
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged.”
The Israeli air strikes came a day after the latest attacks on Israel by Iran-backed Houthis.
The Houthi-held capital’s airport was struck by “more than six” attacks with raids also targeting the adjacent Al-Dailami air base, a witness told AFP.
Israeli strikes kill three in Yemen as Netanyahu fires warning
- Two people died and 11 were wounded at the Houthi-held capital’s airport, and one person was killed and three were missing at Ras Issa port, Houthis said
SANAA: Israeli air strikes pummelled Sanaa’s international airport and other targets in Yemen on Thursday, leaving three people dead, a day after the latest attacks on Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was at the airport during the strike, he said, adding that “one of our plane’s crew members was injured.”
The strikes targeting the airport, military facilities and power stations in Houthi areas follow rising hostilities between Israel and the militia.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel’s strikes would “continue until the job is done.”
“We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil,” he said in a video statement.
His defense minister Israel Katz said Israel would “hunt down all the Houthi leaders... No one will be able to escape us.”
Tedros, who was in Yemen to seek the release of detained UN staff and assess the humanitarian situation in war-torn Yemen, said he and his team were about to board their flight when “the airport came under aerial bombardment.”
He said the air traffic control tower, departure lounge and runway were damaged in the strike.
The Houthi-held capital’s airport was struck by “more than six” attacks with raids also targeting the adjacent Al-Dailami air base, a witness told AFP.
A series of strikes were also fired at a power station in Hodeida, a witness and the Iran-backed Houthis’ official Al-Masirah TV station said.
Two people died and 11 were wounded at the Houthi-held capital’s airport, and one person was killed and three were missing at Ras Issa port, Houthi statements said.
Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam called the strikes, a day after the Houthis fired a missile and two drones at Israel, “a Zionist crime against all the Yemeni people.”
The Israeli military said its “fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime.”
The targets included “military infrastructure” at the airport and power stations in Sanaa and Hodeida, as well as other facilities at Hodeida, Salif and Ras Kanatib ports, an Israeli statement said.
“These military targets were used by the Houthi terrorist regime to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials,” the statement said.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is fighting Israel in the Gaza Strip, condemned the attack as an “aggression” against its “brothers from Yemen.”
On Saturday, days ahead of Wednesday’s missile and drone strike on Israel, 16 people were wounded by a Houthi attack in Tel Aviv.
The incident prompted a warning from Netanyahu, who said he ordered the destruction of the group’s infrastructure.
The Houthis have fired a series of missiles and drones at Israel since the eruption of war in Gaza in October last year, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.
The Houthis have also waged a months-long campaign against shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Scores of drone and missile attacks on cargo ships have prompted a series of reprisal strikes by US and sometimes British forces.
Israel has also previously struck the Houthis in Yemen, including hitting ports and energy facilities, after Houthi attacks against its territory.
In July, a Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting retaliatory strikes on Hodeida.
Last week, before the latest volley of attacks, Netanyahu said the Houthis would “pay a very heavy price” for their strikes on Israel.
