LONDON: The second aid ship from the UAE arrived at Beirut port on Sunday, carrying 3,000 tonnes of relief supplies as part of the UAE Stands with Lebanon campaign.

The UAE launched its campaign to support Lebanon last October as Israel’s war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah escalated in the south of the country.

Nasser Yassin, Lebanon’s environment minister and head of the government’s emergency committee, and Brig. Gen. Bassem Nabulsi, the chairman of the Supreme Relief Authority, received the ship at Beirut port.

Supplies included food, essentials for women and children, winter necessities, and shelter equipment, the Emirates News Agency reported.

Sultan Mohammed Al-Shamsi, the vice chairman of the UAE Aid Agency, said that the UAE’s moral obligation to support the Lebanese people “stems from the humanitarian legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, who dedicated himself to helping nations in need.”

The UAE announced its plan to reopen the embassy in Beirut following a phone call between the newly elected Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and the UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, on Saturday.

The leadership in Saudi Arabia welcomed the election of Aoun after a two-year political void in Lebanon. Riyadh has dedicated efforts to help the Lebanese people cope with the devastation caused by the Israeli war and has dispatched several aid planes since 2024.

CAIRO: An explosion at a gas station triggered a massive fire in central Yemen, killing at least 15 people, health officials said Sunday.
The explosion occurred Saturday at the Zaher district in the province of Bayda, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said in a statement. At least 67 others were injured, including 40 in critical condition.
The ministry said rescue teams were searching for those reported missing. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the explosion.
Footage circulated online showing a massive fire that sent columns of smoke into the sky and left vehicles charred and burning.
Bayda is controlled by the Houthis, who have been at war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government for more than a decade.
Elsewhere in Bayda, the Houthis attacked and looted Hanaka Al-Masoud village in the Al-Qurayshiya district last week, according to the internationally recognized government. It said there were fatalities but gave no figures.
Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani said the attack came after a weeklong siege of the village.
“This horrific attack targeted citizens’ homes and mosques, and resulted in many casualties, including women and children, and the destruction of property,” he said.
Rights activist Riyadh Al-Dubai said the Houthis detained dozens of men and looted homes, seizing valuables such as gold, money, daggers and other possessions. He said shelling by the Houthis had continued relentlessly day and night for more than five days.
The US Embassy in Yemen condemned the attack, saying in a statement that the “deaths, injuries, and wrongful detentions of innocent Yemenis perpetrated by Houthi terrorists are depriving the Yemeni people of peace and a brighter future.”
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when the Houthis took control of the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north, forcing the government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia. 
The war has killed more than 150,000 people including civilians and combatants, and in recent years deteriorated largely into a stalemate and caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.