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
Lebanese PM designate Salam says he is against exclusion
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam said on Tuesday that his hands are extended to everyone, saying he was opposed “to exclusion” a day after the Iran-backed Hezbollah group accused opponents of seeking to exclude it by nominating him.
Salam said he was against exclusion and on the contrary supported unity. “This is my sincere call, and my hands are extended to everyone,” he said.
Sudan rescuers say more than 120 killed by shelling around capital
- Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has escalated in recent weeks after more than 20 months of war in Sudan
Port Sudan: Sudanese volunteer rescuers said shelling of an area of Omdurman, the capital Khartoum’s twin city just across the Nile River, killed more than 120 people.
The “random shelling” on Monday in western Omdurman resulted in the deaths of 120 civilians, said the Ombada Emergency Response Room, part of a network of volunteer rescuers across the war-torn country.
The network described the toll as preliminary and did not specify who was behind the attack.
The rescuers said medical supplies were in critically short supply as health workers struggled to treat “a large number of wounded people suffering from varying degrees of injuries.”
Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has escalated in recent weeks after more than 20 months of war in Sudan.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war which has left the country on the brink of famine, according to aid agencies.
Both the army and the RSF have been accused of targeting civilians, including health workers, and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.
Most of Omdurman is under army control while the RSF holds the capital and part of the greater Khartoum area.
Residents on both sides of the Nile have reported shelling across the river, with bombs and shrapnel regularly striking homes and civilians.
Erdogan ally urges jailed Kurdish militant leader to announce PKK’s disbandment
ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s key nationalist ally urged jailed PKK militant group leader Abdullah Ocalan to explicitly announce the group’s disbandment after his next expected meeting with the country’s pro-Kurdish political party.
The remarks by nationalist Devlet Bahceli came after a rare meeting between officials from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party and Ocalan last week.
The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye, has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
'Final round' of Gaza talks to start Tuesday in Qatar: source briefed on negotiations
Dubai: A “final round” of Gaza truce talks is due to start Tuesday in Qatar, said a source briefed on the negotiations aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas war after more than 15 months.
“A final round of talks is expected to take place today in Doha,” the souce told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that Tuesday’s meetings “are aimed at finalizing the remaining details of the deal” with the heads of Israel’s intelligence agencies, the Middle East envoys for the incoming and outgoing US administrations and Qatar’s prime minister present.
Mediators are to meet separately with Hamas officials, the source said.
Syria’s new central bank chief vows to boost bank independence post Assad
- Central bank is preparing draft law to boost independence, review of FX, gold reserves is under way
- Governor says wants avoid printing money due to inflation impact
DAMASCUS: Syria’s new central bank governor, Maysaa Sabreen, said she wants to boost the institution’s independence over monetary policy decisions, in what would be a sea change from the heavy control exerted under the Assad regime.
Sabreen, previously the Central Bank of Syria’s number two, took over in a caretaker role from former governor Mohammed Issam Hazime late last year.
She is a rare example of a former top state employee promoted after Syria’s new Islamic rulers’ lightning offensive led to President Bashar Assad’s fall on Dec. 8.
“The bank is working on preparing draft amendments to the bank’s law to enhance its independence, including allowing it more freedom to make decisions regarding monetary policy,” she told Reuters in her first media interview since taking office.
The changes would need the approval of Syria’s new governing authority, though the process is at this stage unclear. Sabreen gave no indication of timing.
Economists view central bank independence as critical to achieve long-term macroeconomic and financial sector stability.
While the Central Bank of Syria has always been, on paper, an independent institution, under Assad’s regime the bank’s policy decisions were de facto determined by the government.
Syria’s central bank, Sabreen added, was also looking at ways to expand Islamic banking further to bring in Syrians who avoided using traditional banking services.
“This may include giving banks that provide traditional services the option to open Islamic banking branches,” Sabreen, who has served for 20 years at the bank, told Reuters from her office in bustling central Damascus.
Islamic banking complies with sharia, or Islamic law, and bans charging interest as well as investing in prohibited businesses such as trading in alcohol, pork, arms, pornography or gambling. Islamic banking is already well established in the predominantly Muslim nation.
Limited access to international and domestic financing meant the Assad government used the central bank to finance its deficit, stoking inflation.
Sabreen said she is keen for all that to change.
“The bank wants to avoid having to print Syrian pounds because this would have an impact on inflation rates,” she said.
Asked about the size of Syria’s current foreign exchange and gold reserves, Sabreen declined to provide details, saying a balance sheet review was still underway.
Four people familiar with the situation told Reuters in December that the central bank had nearly 26 tons of gold in its vaults, worth around $2.2 billion, some $200 million in foreign currency and a large quantity of Syrian pounds.
The Central Bank of Syria and several former governors are under US sanctions imposed after former Assad’s violent suppression of protests in 2011 that spiralled into a 13-year civil war.
Sabreen said the central bank has enough money in its coffers to pay salaries for civil servants even after a 400 percent raise promised by the new administration. She did not elaborate.
Reuters reported that Qatar would help finance the boost in public sector wages, a process made possible by a US sanctions waiver from Jan. 6 that allows transactions with Syrian governing institutions.
Inflation challenge
Analysts say stabilising the currency and tackling inflation will be Sabreen’s key tasks — as well as putting the financial sector back on a sound footing.
The Syrian currency’s value has tumbled from around 50 pounds per US dollar in late 2011 to just over 13,000 pounds per dollar on Monday, according to LSEG and central bank data.
The World Bank in a report in spring 2024 estimated that annual inflation jumped nearly 100 percent year-on-year last year.
The central bank is also looking to restructure state-owned banks and to introduce regulations for money exchange and transfer shops that have become a key source of hard currency, said Sabreen, who most recently oversaw the banking sector.
Assad’s government heavily restricted the use of foreign currency, with many Syrians scared of even uttering the word “dollar.”
The new administration of de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa abolished such restrictions and now locals wave wads of banknotes on streets and hawk cash from the backs of cars, including one parked outside the central bank’s entrance.
To help stabilize the country and improve basic services, the US last week allowed sanctions exemptions for humanitarian aid, the energy sector and sending remittances to Syria, although it reiterated the central bank itself remained subject to sanctions.
Sabreen said allowing personal transfers from Syrians abroad was a positive step and hoped sanctions would be fully lifted so banks could link back up to the global financial system.
