RIYADH/ADEN: The Iran-aligned Houthi movement fired missiles at the Saudi capital Riyadh late on Sunday, escalating tensions ahead of a visit by the UN envoy to Yemen this week to try to avert a military assault on the country’s main port city.
A Houthi spokesman has threatened more attacks in response to the offensive launched by a Saudi-led coalition on June 12 to seize control of Hodeidah port, long a key target, in an attempt to weaken the Houthis by cutting their main supply line.
The United Nations fears that an assault on the Red Sea port, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis, could trigger a famine imperilling millions of lives.
UN envoy Martin Griffiths is due in the southern city of Aden on Wednesday for talks with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in the legitimate government’s temporary capital, government officials said.
One official said Griffiths would be there only for a few hours for talks focused on averting an assault on the port.
“There is a proposal on the table,” the foreign minister of Hadi’s government, Khaled Al-Yamani, told reporters in Riyadh.
“We would accept a peace initiative on the condition that militias leave the western coast,” he said at a joint press conference to announce a $40 million project launched by Saudi Arabia for de-mining operations in Yemen.
The Houthis have indicated they would be willing to hand over management of the port to the United Nations, sources told Reuters. A US official said Washington was urging the Saudis and Emiratis to accept the deal.
The coalition said on Monday that eight members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group had been killed in battles in the mountainous Saada region in Yemen’s northwest, which is held by the Houthis along with the capital Sanaa.
Hezbollah officials could not be immediately reached for comment, but the group has previously denied Saudi accusations that it is helping Houthi rebels.
MISSILES OVER RIYADH
Saudi air defense forces intercepted two rockets over Riyadh late on Sunday, sending debris measuring up to several meters hurtling toward residential areas.
Pieces fell near the US mission in the Saudi capital and at a school in the diplomatic quarter. Debris sparked a fire at a construction site 10 km (six miles) further south and fell on the roof of a private residence, but Saudi officials said there were no casualties.
“Our rockets will reach places that the enemy will not expect,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam said. “The longer the aggression and war continue, the greater our ballistic missile capabilities.”
Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki said the alliance’s advances on Hodeidah and other fronts were pushing the Houthis to try to project strength through such attacks.
Coalition-backed forces seized Hodeidah airport last week and have been consolidating their hold in the area as more Houthi fighters, many armed with Ak-47 assault rifles, were deployed in the city and around the port.
The United Nations fears heavy fighting will worsen what is already the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis, with 22 million Yemenis dependent on aid and an estimated 8.4 million believed to be on the verge of starvation.
The Arab states say they must recapture Hodeidah to deprive the Houthis of their main source of income and prevent them from smuggling in Iranian-made missiles, accusations denied by the group and Tehran.
The coalition has pledged a swift military operation to take over the airport and seaport without entering the city center, to minimize civilian casualties and maintain the flow of goods.
UN envoy due in Yemen as strains escalate with Houthi missile launch
UN envoy due in Yemen as strains escalate with Houthi missile launch
- UN envoy Martin Griffiths is due in the southern city of Aden on Wednesday for talks with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi
- The UN fears that an assault on the Red Sea port, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis, could trigger a famine imperilling millions of lives
Over 45,850 Palestinians killed in Gaza offensive
- Israeli forces kept up their bombardment of Gaza on Monday, with the territory’s civil defense agency reporting 13 people killed in strikes in the territory
GAZA CITY: The Health Ministry in Gaza said on Monday that 49 people were killed in the Palestinian territory in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll of the war to 45,854.
The ministry also said in a statement that at least 109,139 people had been wounded in nearly 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack.
Also on Monday, the UN World Food Programme said that Israeli forces opened fire on its convoy in Gaza on Jan. 5 in an incident it described as “horrifying.”
The agency said that its convoy of three vehicles carrying eight staff members was struck by 16 bullets near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, causing no injuries.
The WFP statement said the convoy was clearly marked and had received prior security clearances from Israeli authorities.
Israeli forces kept up their bombardment of Gaza on Monday, with the territory’s civil defense agency reporting 13 people killed in strikes in the territory.
Mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and the US have been working for months to strike a deal to end the fighting in Gaza, but both warring sides have accused the other of derailing the negotiations.
Israel said on Monday that Hamas had yet to clarify whether 34 hostages it claimed it was ready to free were dead or alive, throwing doubt on the group’s assertion that it needed time to ascertain their fate.
The offer from Hamas came as Israel continued to pound the Gaza Strip, where rescuers said 13 people were killed on Monday.
In recent days, mediators have resumed indirect talks, and a senior Hamas official said late on Sunday that the group was prepared to release an initial batch of captives but would need “a week of calm” to determine whether they were still alive.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer, however, rejected that claim on Monday.
“They know precisely who is alive and who is dead. They know precisely where the hostages are,” Mencer told journalists in an online briefing. “Gaza is a very small place. Hamas know exactly where they are.”
In an earlier statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel had not received any confirmation or comment from Hamas regarding the “status of the hostages,” adding those slated for inclusion were part of a list “originally given by Israel to the mediators” last year. The Hamas official had also said the group came from a list presented by Israel and would include all the women, children, elderly, and sick captives still held in Gaza.
“Hamas has agreed to release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead,” the official said, but the group needed time “to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead.”
On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced confidence that a ceasefire deal would come together, but possibly after President Joe Biden leaves office on Jan.20.
“If we don’t get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully, sooner rather than later,” Blinken said on a visit to Seoul.
President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over on Jan. 20, has vowed even stronger support for Israel and has warned Hamas of “hell to pay” if it does not free the hostages.
Israel’s left-leaning Haaretz newspaper reported Monday that negotiations with Hamas “are approaching a crossroads, and Israeli decision-makers are optimistic that a deal can be finalized within the next few days.”
Some Israeli news websites reported that the chief of Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, was joining the country’s negotiators in Doha.
Lebanese army redeploys in Naqoura as Israeli ceasefire violations continue
- Truce monitoring committee meets with participation of US envoy Hochstein
BEIRUT: Lebanese army convoys entered the coastal city of Naqoura on Monday to be redeployed and repositioned following the withdrawal of Israeli forces that had invaded the area during last year’s war.
The redeployment came as the quintet committee tasked with implementing the ceasefire agreement held a meeting in Ras Al-Naqoura, which US envoy Amos Hochstein attended for the first time.
Lebanese army vehicles have gathered in the south of Tyre in preparation for their entry to Naqoura after the army’s bulldozers carried out sweeping operations in the area for the past two days following the Israeli army’s withdrawal.
A security source said that the army was expected to reposition itself in the sites it had evacuated before the Israeli invasion last year.
A US military representative, a French military representative and military members representing Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL were present at the quintet committee’s meeting.
The committee met amid increasing Lebanese and UNIFIL complaints about Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.
FASTFACT
US envoy Amos Hochstein held talks with Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun before the quintet committee’s session, followed by meetings with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
A significant Israeli violation took place last Saturday.
UNIFIL said in a statement: “The peacekeepers observed an Israeli army bulldozer destroying a blue barrel marking the line of withdrawal between Lebanon and Israel in Labbouneh, as well as an observation tower belonging to the Lebanese armed forces immediately beside a UNIFIL position.”
The peacekeeping force described the move as “deliberate and direct destruction of both clearly identifiable UNIFIL property and infrastructure belonging to the Lebanese armed forces, which is a flagrant violation of Resolution 1701 and international law.”
Earlier, Israeli bulldozers uprooted a Lebanese army observation tower 10 meters from where the quintet committee’s meeting would later take place at UNIFIL headquarters.
Hochstein, who helped draft the ceasefire agreement between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, arrived on Tuesday morning at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport.
He held talks with Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun before the quintet committee’s session, followed by meetings with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Meanwhile, a patrol from UNIFIL removed the earthen barrier that Israeli forces had set up on Sunday at the southern entrance of the town of Burj Al-Muluk.
In the morning, Israeli forces demolished several houses in Naqoura before the scheduled deployment of the Lebanese army.
UNIFIL forces activated their alarm sirens in two phases, at level three and level two, from their headquarters in Naqoura.
The Israeli army demolished several houses in the town of Al-Jabin, located in the Tyre district.
The home of Lebanese Army Brig. Gen. Abbas Hassan Aqil was destroyed in the operation.
Israeli violations during the past 48 hours included combing operations in the towns of Maroun Al-Ras and Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil district, using heavy machine guns, and blowing up houses in Aitaroun.
An Israeli force penetrated Taybeh, carried out a combing operation, and blew up several houses inside the town.
Lebanese Army Command said: “In light of the violations by Israel of the ceasefire agreement and its assaults on Lebanon’s sovereignty and its citizens, hostile forces infiltrated the area of Taybeh–Marjeyoun on Sunday.
“They proceeded to block three roads with earthen barriers.
“Subsequently, a patrol from the army was dispatched to the incursion site to monitor the situation in coordination with the five-member committee overseeing the ceasefire agreement, and the roads were reopened.
Israel also fired shells at homes in Bint Jbeil, Wadi Al-Hujayr, Markaba, Mays Al-Jabal and Burj Al-Muluk.
On Monday, civil defense personnel recovered the bodies of seven Hezbollah fighters who had died in previous confrontations with Israel in the town of Khiam.
Some bodies in southern border villages have yet to be retrieved due to the Israeli incursion, despite 41 days passing since the ceasefire was reached.
Meanwhile, statements by Hezbollah officials asserting that the party has not been defeated provoked local reactions.
Hezbollah’s Liaison and Coordination Unit official Wafiq Safa said from Beirut that the party “has not been defeated and will not be defeated. It is stronger than iron, and there will be no possibility for anyone to break our morale.”
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said: “Our patience with Israel's violations is linked to the appropriate time to confront the enemy.
“It can run out before or after the 60-day deadline. When we decide to do something, you will directly see it.”
The statements sparked a series of responses.
Former President Michel Sleiman said: “This is a Hezbollah official imposing a security veto against the state carrying out its responsibilities.
“May God have mercy on those who lost their lives, houses and livelihoods due to unilateral war decisions. A futile support war that had catastrophic consequences.”
The Tajadod (Renewal) parliamentary bloc said: “The positions expressed by Wafiq Safa confirm that Hezbollah is trying to cover up its losses, surrender, suicidal choices and continued disruption of the constitution and institutions.
“It would have been better for Hezbollah, following the disastrous war it caused, to learn and return to its Lebanese identity just like any other component in the country. However, it insists on its behavior that contradicts the meaning of Lebanon as a diverse and open country and the concept of the state and its institutions. Enough is enough. The era of terrorizing the Lebanese people is over.”
MP Sethrida Geagea addressed Safa, saying: “Wafik Safa, look at yourself. Feel your hands. You know very well what you have committed against your people and the Lebanese. A final phrase to summarize your situation: People with any sense of shame are a thing of the past.”
MP Michel Daher said: “Should not Wafik Safa ask about who will take in the displaced again if war is renewed, God forbid? We are tired of this rhetoric and approach. We want a proper country.”
World Food Programme condemns Israeli attack on its Gaza convoy
- WFP said convoy of three vehicles carrying eight staff members from central Gaza to Gaza City in the north was struck by 16 bullets near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint
GENEVA: The UN World Food Programme said on Monday that Israeli forces had opened fire on one of its convoys in the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza in what it called a “horrifying incident.”
The agency said the convoy of three vehicles carrying eight staff members from central Gaza to Gaza City in the north was struck by 16 bullets near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint on Sunday, causing no injuries but immobilizing the convoy.
The vehicles were clearly marked and had received prior security clearances from Israeli authorities, a WFP statement said.
“The World Food Programme (WFP) strongly condemns the horrifying incident on January 5,” it said.
“This unacceptable event is just the latest example of the complex and dangerous working environment that WFP and other agencies are operating in today,” WFP said, calling for improvements in security conditions to allow aid to continue.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.
International aid agencies working to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza have frequently accused Israeli forces of hampering or threatening their operations amid Israel’s campaign to wipe out Hamas militants.
Turkiye’s Erdogan says ready to intervene to prevent any division of Syria
- Erdogan’s warning is the latest aimed at Kurdish-dominated SDF and to the US, which backed the SDF’s offensive against Daesh
ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday he would order an intervention to prevent any splintering of Syria, a warning aimed particularly at the country’s Kurdish forces.
“We can not accept under any pretext that Syria be divided and if we notice the slightest risk we will take the necessary measures,” the Turkish head of state said, adding that “we have the means.”
Erdogan’s warning is the latest aimed at the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces and to the United States, which backed the SDF’s offensive against Daesh.
Saying there is no room for “terror” in Syria, Erdogan said that “should the risk present itself, we could intervene in one night.”
At least 100 people died in fighting over the weekend between pro-Turkish factions and the Kurdish-dominated People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF.
Ankara considers the YPG to be an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been in an armed struggle with the Turkish state since the 1980s and is classified by Turkiye and its Western allies as a terrorist movement.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had said that “the elimination of the PKK/YPG is only a matter of time,” raising the possibility that the movement could join the Syrian government and lay down its arms.
But he warned that Western countries should not use the threat of Daesh as “a pretext to strengthen the PKK.”
French President says Algeria ‘dishonors itself’ by holding novelist Boualem Sansal
- Boualem Sansal has been imprisoned in Algeria on national security charges since November
- Emmanuel Macron said Sansal was being held 'in a totally arbitrary manner' by the Algerian authorities
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Algeria was “dishonoring itself” by holding French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal, who was arrested in Algiers in November.
Sansal, a major figure in modern francophone literature, was arrested at the Algiers airport at a time of growing tensions between France and its former colony.
“Algeria, which we love so much and with which we share so many children and so many stories, is dishonoring itself by preventing a seriously ill man from receiving treatment,” Macron said in a speech to French ambassadors gathered at the Elysee Palace.
“And we who love the people of Algeria and its history urge its government to release Boualem Sansal,” he added.
He described Sansal as a “freedom fighter,” saying he was being held “in a totally arbitrary manner” by the Algerian authorities.
A critic of the Algerian authorities, Sansal, 75, has been imprisoned in Algeria on national security charges.
In mid-December, the Gallimard editing house said Sansal had been hospitalized, raising fears about the writer’s health in detention.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune first mentioned his arrest in late December, describing him as an “imposter” sent by France.
Sansal is known for his strong stances against both authoritarianism and Islamism, as well as being a forthright campaigner on freedom of expression issues.
In 2015, he won the Grand Prix du Roman of the French Academy, the guardians of the French language, for his book “2084: The End of the World,” a dystopian novel set in an Islamist totalitarian world in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.
The controversy is taking place in a tense diplomatic context between France and Algeria, after Macron renewed French support for Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara during a landmark visit to the kingdom in 2024.
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is de facto controlled for the most part by Morocco.
But it is claimed by the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, who are demanding a self-determination referendum and are supported by Algiers.
