WASHINGTON/JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative at the UN, Abdullah Al-Mouallimi, said the human aspect in the Yemen war is most important for the Arab coalition waging military operations to restore government legitimacy there, contradicting propaganda circulated by the Houthi militias.
Speaking at a symposium at the Arab Gulf Countries Institute in Washington, Al-Mouallimi refuted as “fairy tales” Houthi allegations against the coalition about the war in Yemen.
He rejected the Houthi stance that the war erupted in March 2015, while in reality it started in September 2014.
He also described as false that the Houthis represent a large percentage of the Yemeni population, but instead represent only 2 to 3 percent. 
Al-Mouallimi said that the coalition has not laid a sea siege on the country, barring food supplies from reaching Yemenis as claimed by the militias. He noted that food shortages exist in areas under Houthi control and relief sent to these areas does not find its way to the needy.
Al-Mouallimi also denied Houthi allegations that the coalition is not concerned about the damage done to the Yemeni infrastructure and key facilities. He said Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries have pledged more than $4 billion of continued aid to Yemenis, in addition to allocating $10 billion for Yemen’s reconstruction.
Al-Mouallimi said the Houthis will be defeated and the Yemeni people will restore their destiny under an internationally recognized leadership, a government elected with the help of Saudi Arabia, GCC countries and members in the coalition.
Hamdan Al-Shehri, a political analyst and international relations expert, told Arab News Saturday that the Houthi militias are cooperating with Iran, which is playing a dirty game by utilizing its media to spread Houthi lies to present them to the world as the underdog.
He said: “The international community should not be fooled by the Houthi and Iranian propaganda. The facts on the ground speak for themselves. The Yemeni citizens in the Houthi-controlled areas are suffering and are being oppressed and deprived of their basic needs, while the Houthi militias continue to confiscate the humanitarian aid and distribute it among themselves or sell them to the citizens to cover the expenses.”
A report by Yemen’s National Human Rights Commission issued in March pointed to crimes against unarmed civilians including indiscriminate shelling of residential compounds and popular markets, using artillery and Katyusha rocket launchers.
The report described grave violations of international human rights law and crimes against humanity, saying the perpetrators must be punished.
It cited 11 incidents in which Houthis and forces loyal to deposed President Abdullah Saleh carried out massacres, including the targeting and killing of displaced people from Tawahi, with militias dropping mortars on unarmed civilians fleeing in small boats.
According to the report, human rights teams recorded the killing of nearly 11,000 Yemeni civilians, including 679 women, 1,002 children and 9,160 men, over the past two years by Houthi gunfire and shelling.
The majority of victims were killed in 2015, the report said, confirming that Houthi and Saleh militias had been deliberately targeting civilians.
Previously, Abdul Raqeeb Fatah, the Yemeni minister of local administration and president of the Supreme Committee of Relief, accused the Houthis and Saleh’s militias of willfully starving the Yemeni people by detaining the 34 ships carrying relief, humanitarian and medical aid provided by GCC countries. He said that Houthi militias prevented ships from entering seaports of Hodeidah and Saleef.
In a statement to the Yemeni Press Agency, he said the Yemeni people have been deprived of 496,000 tons of foodstuff, 146,000 tons of oil and 275,000 tons of iron and cement.
“Despite repetitive calls to drop weapons and resort to the negotiations table with the legitimate government, this (Houthi) militia refuses to engage in a political process based on the UN Resolution 2216 and the GCC initiative and the outcomes of the Yemeni national dialogue. The international community and the United Nations have not been up to their duties either by implementing the relevant resolutions or by pressuring the militias to abide by the relevant international legitimacy and the will of the Yemeni people,” said Al-Shehri.
He added that the previous US administration opted to stay out of the Yemen conflict, unlike the Trump administration, which is willing to be more active to end the Iranian intervention in the region and put an end to the Iranian expansionist designs.
Maj. Gen. Yahya Asiri of the Saudi Defense Ministry said that the humanitarian aspect is the most important objective and that the coalition forces take maximum care to protect civilians. They keep updated lists of places, people and things that must not be targeted, he added.
Asiri said the Houthis continuously disrupt relief and humanitarian efforts and attack the Saudi border, but the Armed Forces in most cases deter the attacks through pre-emptive operations.
He said Houthis have launched as many as 49 missiles into Saudi territories and planted dozens of mines along the Kingdom’s southern border, in addition to many sea mines.
He added that the Arab Coalition respects all pertinent UN decisions on the issue, including Resolution 2216, and the truce agreements, while the Houthis constantly fail to live up to binding commitments, and have committed as many as 4,500 violations of the cease-fire agreements.
Saudi UN envoy slams Houthi fabrications against coalition
Saudi UN envoy slams Houthi fabrications against coalition
Sudan paramilitaries claims key zone bordering Egypt, Libya
The announcements came a day after the army accused forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar of launching a cross-border attack alongside the RSF, the first allegation of direct Libyan involvement in the Sudanese war.
“As part of its defensive arrangements to repel aggression, our forces today evacuated the triangle area overlooking the borders between Sudan, Egypt and Libya,” army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said in a statement.
Since April 2023, the war in Sudan has pitted army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against his erstwhile ally Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the RSF.
In a statement on Wednesday, the RSF said its fighters had “liberated the strategic triangle area,” adding that army forces had retreated southward “after suffering heavy losses.”
The army said on Tuesday that Haftar’s troops in coordination with the RSF attacked its border positions in a move it called “a blatant aggression against Sudan.”
The war has effectively split Sudan in two, with the army holding the center, east and north, while the paramilitaries and their allies control nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million, including four million who fled abroad, triggering what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Efforts by international mediators to halt the fighting have so far failed, with violence continuing to escalate across the western Darfur region and the Kordofan region in the country’s south.
Israeli court rejects appeals to release eight pro-Palestine activists arrested aboard Gaza-bound boat
- Eight activists from Turkiye, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Brazil remain in the Ramla detention center
- The court has scheduled a detention review hearing for July 8 if authorities have not deported the activists by that date
LONDON: An Israeli court ruled to keep in detention eight pro-Palestine activists who were arrested this week by the Israeli navy aboard the Madleen ship, which was bound for Gaza.
The British-flagged vessel, operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition, had 11 activists and a journalist on board, including the Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who was carrying aid for Palestinians in Gaza as an act of solidarity amid the Israeli attacks.
Israel released Thunberg on Tuesday following pressure from European governments. However, eight activists from Turkiye, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Brazil remain in the Ramla detention center, according to the Wafa news agency and lawyers from the Haifa-based Adalah legal center.
On Wednesday, an Israeli court rejected the appeals made by Adalah’s lawyers to release the eight activists and ruled to keep them in custody.
The activists are Suayb Ordu from Turkiye; Mark van Rins from the Netherlands; Pascal Moreras, Riva Fiard, member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, Yanis Mohammadi, all from France; Tiago Ovila from Brazil; and Yasmin Ajar from Germany.
Adalah said that the Israeli court based its decision to continue the detention on the grounds of their “illegal entry into Israel.” The legal center emphasized that none of the Madleen’s activists intended to enter Israel or its territorial waters as they planned to depart from Sicily and reach Gaza’s territorial waters, which are part of the state of Palestine, via international waters.
The Israeli navy intercepted the Madleen ship early on Tuesday morning, detaining the activists and taking them to Israel.
Adalah said that the court has scheduled a detention review hearing for July 8 if authorities have not deported the activists by that date.
Following her release and deportation from Israel on Tuesday, Thunberg said: “I was very clear in my testimony that we were kidnapped on international waters and brought against our own will into Israel.”
“This is yet another intentional violation of rights that is added to the list of countless other violations that Israel is committing,” she said.
Child survivor of Gaza family strike heads to Italy
- Adam and his mother, paediatrician Alaa Al-Najjar, flew to Milan Wednesday for treatment
- He had a hand amputated and suffered severe burns across his body after the strike on the family house in Khan Yunis
ROME: An 11-year-old Palestinian boy who survived an Israeli air strike in Gaza last month, which killed his father and nine siblings, was due to arrive in Italy Wednesday for treatment.
Adam and his mother, paediatrician Alaa Al-Najjar, were due to fly to Milan in northern Italy on Wednesday evening alongside his aunt and four cousins, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.
“Adam will arrive in Milan and will be admitted to the Niguarda (hospital), because he has multiple fractures and he will be treated there,” Tajani told Rtl radio.
A plane carrying Palestinians in need of medical care is scheduled to land at 7:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) at Milan’s Linate airport, according to the foreign ministry.
Adam had a hand amputated and suffered severe burns across his body following the strike on the family house in the city of Khan Yunis on May 23.
His mother was at work when the bomb hit the house, killing nine of her children and injuring Adam and his father, doctor Hamdi Al-Najjar, who died last week.
Al-Najjar, who ran to the house to find her children charred beyond recognition, told Italy’s La Repubblica daily: “I remember everything. Every detail, every minute, every scream.”
“But when I remember it’s too painful, so I try to keep my mind focused entirely on Adam,” she said in an interview published Wednesday ahead of their arrival.
Asked by his mother during the interview to describe his hopes, Adam said he wanted to “live in a beautiful place.”
“A beautiful place is a place where there are no bombs. In a beautiful place the houses are not broken and I go to school,” he said, according to La Repubblica.
“Schools have desks, the kids study their lessons but then they go play in the courtyard and nobody dies.
“A beautiful place is where they operate on my arm and my arm works again. In a beautiful place my mother is not sad. They told me that Italy is a beautiful place,” he said.
Al-Najjar said she has packed the Qur’an, their documents and Adam’s clothes.
“I am heartbroken. I am leaving behind everything that was important to me. My husband, my children, the hospital where I worked, my job, my patients,” she said.
“People are dying of hunger. If not of hunger, of bombs. We would just like to live in peace,” she told the daily.
Adam is one of 17 children being brought to Italy on Wednesday from Gaza along with relatives, Tajani said.
The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 54,981 people, the majority civilians, have been killed in the territory since the start of the war. The UN considers these figures reliable.
UAE foreign minister holds talks with US counterpart in Washington
- Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Marco Rubio discussed enhancing strategic ties to support shared interests
- Sheikh Abdullah said that the US is a key strategic ally of the UAE, and the UAE will work with the US to promote peace and stability
LONDON: UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan held talks on Wednesday with his US counterpart Marco Rubio at the US Department of State headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The meeting focused on enhancing strategic ties to support shared interests, according to the Emirates News Agency.
They assessed collaboration in the economic, commercial, scientific, advanced technology, and artificial intelligence sectors, along with the results of US President Donald Trump’s recent visit to the UAE in May.
Sheikh Abdullah said that the US is a key strategic ally of the UAE, and the UAE will work with the US to promote peace and stability both in the region and globally.
During the meeting, Sheikh Abdullah and Rubio also discussed regional developments.
The meeting was attended by Yousef Al-Otaiba, UAE ambassador to the US; Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, assistant minister for political affairs; Saeed Mubarak Al-Hajeri, assistant minister for economic and trade affairs; and Dr. Maha Taysir Barakat, assistant minister for medical affairs and life sciences at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
More than 55,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza war
- Gaza Health Ministry says more than half the victims are women and children
- More than 127,000 Palestinians have been wounded
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: The Palestinian death toll from the 20-month Israel-Hamas war has climbed past 55,000, the Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday.
The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but has said that women and children make up more than half the dead.
It’s a grim milestone in the war that began with Hamas’ attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and shows no sign of ending. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians, because they operate in populated areas.
The ministry says 55,104 people have been killed since the start of the war and 127,394 wounded. Many more are believed to be buried under the rubble or in areas that are inaccessible to local medics.
Israeli forces have destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced about 90 percent of its population and in recent weeks have transformed more than half of the coastal territory into a military buffer zone that includes the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah.
A 2½-month blockade imposed by Israel when it ended a ceasefire with Hamas raised fears of famine and was slightly eased in May. The launch of a new Israeli- and US-backed aid system has been marred by chaos and violence, and the UN says it has struggled to bring in food because of Israeli restrictions, a breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting.
Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid, but the UN and aid groups deny there is any systematic diversion of aid to militants.
Hamas has suffered major setbacks militarily, and Israel says it has killed more than 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The militants still hold 55 hostages — less than half of them believed to be alive — and control areas outside of military zones despite facing rare protests earlier this year.
The war began when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages. More than half the captives have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered the remains of dozens more.
Israel’s military campaign, one of the deadliest and most destructive since World War II, has transformed large parts of cities into mounds of rubble. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in squalid tent camps and unused schools, and the health system has been gutted, even as it copes with waves of wounded from Israeli strikes.
