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Ceasefire for Hodeidah agreed at peace talks: UN

Yemen's foreign minister Khaled Al-Yamani (2ndL) and rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam (R) shake hands under the eyes of the UN's Antonio Guterres (C), Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Margot Wallström (L) and UN special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths (R), during peace consultations taking place in Rimbo, Sweden, on December 13, 2018. (AFP)
Updated 13 December 2018
Arab News
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Ceasefire for Hodeidah agreed at peace talks: UN

  • The agreement between Yemen’s warring parties included the deployment of neutral forces and the establishment of humanitarian corridors.
  • Guterres: Consensus has been reached regarding aid delivery to Taiz
Updated 13 December 2018
Arab News

LONDON: A ceasefire agreement has been reached with respect to the city of Hodeidah and its port, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres announced Thursday at a press conference at the end of peace talks on Yemen.
Guterres added that the agreement between Yemen’s warring parties included the deployment of neutral forces and the establishment of humanitarian corridors. A political framework will be discussed in a next round of meetings scheduled for January.

The withdrawal of armed forces from the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, a vital aid route caught up in the fighting, will happen "within days," UN Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths said.
"The design of the withdrawal is first from the three ports, within days, then from the city," Griffiths told reporters, referring to the Yemeni ports of Hodeidah, Salif, and, Ras Isa. 
The pullout, which will open a road cutting across Hodeida crucial to humanitarian aid delivery, "has been agreed by both sides", Griffiths said.

Guterres also said that consensus has been reached regarding aid delivery to Taiz. 

The Saudi ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Al-Jaber said that the agreement includes a Houthi withdrawal from Taiz and the release of thousands of detainees. 
Mohammed Al-Jaber said the agreements, which have not been released to the public in full after talks in Sweden, required the Houthis "withdrawing from the city and port of Hodeidah, as well as Taiz, and the release of thousands of detainees and prisoners."

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash welcomed the agreement between Yemen's warring parties to a ceasefire in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Thursday.
"Encouraging news today from Sweden. Important political progress made including the status of Hodeidah. The Coalition & Yemeni forces' military pressure enabled this significant breakthrough," Gargash said in a tweet.

 

Yemen's Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Yamani and Houthi negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam shook hands to loud applause at the close of UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden, as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and special envoy Martin Griffiths looked on smiling.

Al-Yamani welcomed the UN-backed agreement reached at peace talks in Sweden regarding the port city of Hodeidah.
But Yamani, speaking at the end of the talks near Stockholm, said he regretted that the consultations had not resulted in a significant agreement to improve Yemen's economy which has collapsed after nearly four years of war.

Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Khalid bin Salman, welcomed the United Nations backed agreement between Yemen's warring parties to a ceasefire in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Thursday.
"The agreement announced today will help bring back security to the region including the security of the Red Sea, a vital water way for international trade," he said on his twitter account, adding that he hoped Iran-allied Houthis would stop "working on behalf of the Iranian regime’s interests".

Prince Khalid bin Salman added that the Kingdom welcomes the Hodeidah agreement and praises the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths for his efforts. He continued by saying that the Houthi militia agreed to withdraw from Hodeidah after military pressure was applied.

Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed said that Saudi Arabia’s support will enable the government to overcome difficulties and restore stability in the country. 

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that the agreement between the “Yemeni Government and the Houthis is an important step towards ending the conflict in Yemen - the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.”

“We have been working with the United Nations to bring the two sides in this terrible conflict together for the first time in years, including through constructive talks with key Saudis and Emiratis during my recent visits, and regular discussions with Oman.

 

UN chief Antonio Guterres led his mediators on Thursday in a last-minute push for a truce in Yemen's war as the Houthis and the government wrangled over Hodeidah port and Sanaa airport.
The warring parties have been in the rural Swedish village of Rimbofor UN-brokered talks, now in their seventh day, working for an agreement on key issues including a cessation.

Earlier, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said the outcome of Yemen’s peace consultations will be conveyed to the UN Security Council on Friday.

The consultations, which started last week near Stockholm, took place in “positive spirit and good faith,” she said in a telephone interview with Reuters.

 

Topics: Yemen Hodeidah Antonio Guterres

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Hamas military arm releases new video of Israeli hostage in Gaza

Updated 30 November 2024
Reuters
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Hamas military arm releases new video of Israeli hostage in Gaza

  • The family of hostage soldier Edan Alexander, 20, declined to comment but permitted the 3-1/2 minute video to be published
  • The video shows a pale-looking Alexander sitting in a dark space against a wall
Updated 30 November 2024
Reuters

JERUSALEM: Palestinian militant group Hamas published a video of an Israeli-American hostage on Saturday, in which he pleads for US President-elect Donald Trump to secure his release from captivity.
The family of hostage soldier Edan Alexander, 20, declined to comment but permitted the 3-1/2 minute video to be published. Alexander was abducted to Gaza during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.
The video shows a pale-looking Alexander sitting in a dark space against a wall, identifying himself, addressing his family, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump. It is unclear whether his statement was scripted by his captors.
Netanyahu said in a statement that the video was cruel psychological warfare and that he had told Alexander’s family in a phone call that Israel was working tirelessly to bring the hostages home.
Around half of the 101 foreign and Israeli hostages still held incommunicado in Gaza are believed to still be alive.
Hamas leaders were expected to arrive in Cairo on Saturday for ceasefire talks with Egyptian officials to explore ways to reach a deal that could secure the release of hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners.
The fresh bid comes after Washington said this week it was reviving efforts toward that goal.
The Hostages Families Forum urged the administrations of both outgoing US President Joe Biden and Trump — who takes office in January — to step up efforts in order to secure a hostage release.
“The hostages’ lives hang by a thread,” it said.

Topics: War on Gaza Hamas hostages Israeli

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World Central Kitchen says pausing Gaza operations after Israeli strike

Updated 32 min 55 sec ago
AFP
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World Central Kitchen says pausing Gaza operations after Israeli strike

  • WCK in a statement said it “had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7 Hamas attack“
  • “All three men worked for WCK and they were hit while driving in a WCK jeep in Khan Yunis,” Bassal said
Updated 32 min 55 sec ago
AFP

GAZA: US charity World Central Kitchen said Saturday it was “pausing operations in Gaza at this time” after an Israeli air strike hit a vehicle carrying its workers.
The Israeli military confirmed that a Palestinian employee of WCK was killed in a strike, accusing the worker of being a “terrorist” who “infiltrated Israel and took part in the murderous October 7 massacre” last year.
WCK in a statement said it “had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7 Hamas attack,” and did not confirm any deaths.
Earlier Saturday, Gaza civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed, including “three employees of World Central Kitchen,” in the strike in the main southern city of Khan Yunis.

“All three men worked for WCK and they were hit while driving in a WCK jeep in Khan Yunis,” Bassal said, adding that the vehicle had been “marked with its logo clearly visible.”
WCK confirmed a strike had hit its workers, but added: “At this time, we are working with incomplete information and are urgently seeking more details.”
The Israeli army statement said representatives from the unit responsible for overseeing humanitarian needs in Gaza had “demanded senior officials from the international community and the WCK administration to clarify the issue and order an urgent examination regarding the hiring of workers who took part in the October 7 massacre.”
It also said its strike in Khan Yunis had hit “a civilian unmarked vehicle and its movement on the route was not coordinated for transporting of aid.”
In April, an Israeli strike killed seven WCK staff — an Australian, three Britons, a North American, a Palestinian and a Pole.
Israel said it had been targeting a “Hamas gunman” in that strike, but the military admitted a series of “grave mistakes” and violations of its own rules of engagement.
The UN said last week that 333 aid workers had been killed since the start of the war in October of last year, 243 of them employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Palestinian militants’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 44,382 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.

 

Topics: War on Gaza Israel Palestinians World Central Kitchen

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Israel hits Hezbollah targets in Lebanon days into fragile truce

Updated 30 November 2024
AFP
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Israel hits Hezbollah targets in Lebanon days into fragile truce

  • The army said it had also struck “military infrastructure” on the Syria-Lebanon border, where it accused Hezbollah of smuggling weapons in violation of the truce
  • Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported “continued violations of the ceasefire” by Israel
Updated 30 November 2024
AFP

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military carried out air strikes in Lebanon Saturday against Hezbollah activities that it said “posed a threat,” days into a fragile ceasefire between it and the Iran-backed group.
The army said it had also struck “military infrastructure” on the Syria-Lebanon border, where it accused Hezbollah of smuggling weapons in violation of the truce.
In a speech this week announcing his government was ready to accept a ceasefire after more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned that Israel would maintain “full military freedom of action” in the event of any breach.
In a statement on Saturday, the military listed four separate strikes in Lebanon on facilities, weapons and vehicles belonging to Hezbollah, saying it had acted “against activities in Lebanon that posed a threat to the State of Israel, violating the ceasefire understandings.”
Lebanon’s health ministry said that an Israeli “strike on a car in Majdal Zoun wounded three people including a seven-year-old child.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported “continued violations of the ceasefire” by Israel, including an incident in which an Israeli tank “crushed a number of cars and surrounded some families” who were later evacuated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Separately, Israel’s military said it had launched a “strike on military infrastructure sites adjacent to border crossings between Syria and Lebanon that were actively used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons,” adding that the alleged smuggling took place after the ceasefire took effect.
The ceasefire deal, which was intended to end more than a year of cross-border exchanges of fire and two months of all-out war, went into effect early on Wednesday.
As part of the terms of the agreement, the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers will deploy in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws over a period of 60 days.
Hezbollah is also meant to withdraw its forces north of the Litani river, approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
On Friday, the group’s chief Naim Qassem vowed to cooperate with the Lebanese army “to implement the commitments of the agreement.”
NNA reported that army chief Joseph Aoun met US Major General Jasper Jeffers to discuss “the general situation and coordination mechanisms between concerned parties in the south.”
The US military’s Central Command said Jeffers arrived in Beirut this week “to serve as co-chair for the implementation and monitoring mechanism of the cessation of hostilities.”
According to Lebanon’s health ministry, at least 3,961 people have been killed in the country since October 2023 as a result of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, most of them in recent weeks.
On the Israeli side, the hostilities have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say.
Israel stepped up its campaign in south Lebanon in late September after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas following the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon Israel

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West faces ‘reckoning’ over Middle East radicalization: UK spy chief

Updated 30 November 2024
Arab News
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West faces ‘reckoning’ over Middle East radicalization: UK spy chief

  • MI6 head Richard Moore cites ‘terrible loss of innocent life’
  • ‘In 37 years in the intelligence profession, I’ve never seen the world in a more dangerous state’
Updated 30 November 2024
Arab News

LONDON: The West has “yet to have a full reckoning with the radicalizing impact of the fighting, the terrible loss of innocent life in the Middle East and the horrors of Oct. 7,” the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6 has warned.

Richard Moore made the comments in a speech delivered to the British Embassy in Paris, and was joined by his French counterpart Nicolas Lerner.

Moore said: “In 37 years in the intelligence profession, I’ve never seen the world in a more dangerous state. And the impact on Europe, our shared European home, could hardly be more serious.”

Daesh is expanding its reach and staging deadly attacks in Iran and Russia despite suffering significant territorial setbacks, he added, warning that “the menace of terrorism has not gone away.”

In October last year, Ken McCallum, the head of Britain’s domestic intelligence service MI5, said his agency was monitoring for increased terror risks in the UK due to the Gaza war. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in over a year of fighting.

In Lebanon, a 60-day truce agreed this week between Hezbollah and Israel brought an end to a conflict that has killed thousands of Lebanese civilians.

Topics: War on Gaza

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Israel military strikes kill 32 Palestinians in Gaza, medics say

Updated 30 November 2024
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Israel military strikes kill 32 Palestinians in Gaza, medics say

  • Among the 32 killed, at least seven died in an Israeli strike on a house in central Gaza City
Updated 30 November 2024
Reuters

The Israeli military said it killed a Palestinian it accused of involvement in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel in a vehicle strike in Gaza, and is investigating claims that the individual was an employee of aid group World Central Kitchen.
At least 32 Palestinians were killed in Israeli military strikes across Gaza overnight and into Saturday, with most casualties reported in northern areas, medics told Reuters.
Later on Saturday medics said seven people were killed when an Israeli air strike targeted a vehicle near a gathering of Palestinians receiving aid in the southern area of Khan Younis south of the enclave.
According to residents and a Hamas source, the vehicle targeted near a crowd receiving flour belonged to security personnel responsible for overseeing the delivery of aid shipments into Gaza.
Among the 32 killed, at least seven died in an Israeli strike on a house in central Gaza City, according to a statement from the Gaza Civil Defense and the official Palestinian news agency WAFA early on Saturday.
The Gaza Civil Defense also reported that one of its officers was killed in attacks in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, bringing the total number of civil defense workers killed since October 7, 2023, to 88.
Earlier on Saturday, WAFA reported that three employees of the World Central Kitchen, a US-based, non-governmental humanitarian agency, were killed when a civilian vehicle was targeted in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
The World Central Kitchen has not yet commented on the incident.

Topics: War on Gaza Gaza Israel

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