RIYADH: After representatives of the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) discussed an agreement to resolve their differences in a peaceful manner, Saudi Arabia has called on both parties “to respond urgently.”
The two sides met in the Saudi capital on Thursday to resume talks on what is known as the Riyadh Initiative, which Yemen and the STC signed in 2019. It obliges all parties to accept political solutions and end the violence that erupted in Yemen earlier that year.
Thursday’s meeting was a continuation of the Kingdom’s efforts to achieve security and stability in Yemen and “to push all parties to accept political solutions instead of disputes and quarrels,” the Saudi Press Agency said in a statement.
Yemen and the STC agreed to stop all forms of political, military, security, economic, social, and media escalation, according to a mechanism agreed upon in 2019 to halt the fighting.
Saudi Arabia called on the parties that signed the Riyadh Agreement “to respond urgently to what has been agreed upon, reject disagreements, work with the agreed mechanism, and prioritize implementing the remaining provisions of the agreement.”
Saudi Arabia also noted that recent acts by the Southern Transitional Council (STC), including political and media escalation and political and military appointments, were inconsistent with what was agreed upon between the two parties.
The Kingdom said that the return of the Yemeni government formed in accordance with the Riyadh Agreement is a top priority. It reiterated its continued support for Yemen and its stability as a country and its its continued support for the Yemeni government led by President Abed Rabbu Mansur Hadi.
The Southern Transitional Council had been fighting alongside Hadi’s legitimate government since 2015 against the Iran-backed Houthi militia, which seized the capital Sanaa and some parts of Yemen in a coup launched in 2014.
In late 2019, however, the pro-independence STC purged the Hadi government from Aden, its temporary seat of power, following fierce clashes.
To help defuse the tension, Saudi Arabia helped broker a power-sharing agreement between the two sides.
Nayef Al-Hajraf, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), called on the parties to respond to Saudi Arabia’s efforts and implement the provisions of the agreement.
He stressed the need to work with the agreed mechanism and give priority to the public interest.
“It is vital to unite the ranks of the various segments of the Yemeni people, prevent bloodshed, and support efforts to reach a comprehensive political solution that ends the crisis in Yemen,” Al-Hajraf said.
The secretary-general praised the efforts made by Saudi Arabia in supporting Yemen along with its keenness to bring the Riyadh Agreement parties together to follow up on their commitments.
The Arab Parliament praised Saudi Arabia’s urgent call for the two sides to implement the provisions of the agreement and stop all forms of escalation.
It said in a statement that the call comes as an extension of the Kingdom’s “unremitting efforts and keenness to maintain consensus between the two sides, with the aim of achieving security and stability in Yemen, and unifying efforts to restore the legitimate state institutions and confront the Houthi militia.”
Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dr. Yousef bin Ahmed Al-Othaimeen, welcomed the Kingdom’s invitation to the parties to the Riyadh Agreement to respond urgently to the mechanisms.
He also urged the two parties to stop all forms of escalation.
Saudi Arabia calls on Yemen, Southern Transitional Council ‘to respond urgently’ to Riyadh Initiative
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Saudi Arabia calls on Yemen, Southern Transitional Council ‘to respond urgently’ to Riyadh Initiative
- Two sides met in the Saudi capital on Thursday to resume talks on the Riyadh Initiative, which Yemen and STC signed in 2019
- Meeting was a continuation of the Kingdom’s efforts to achieve stability in Yemen and ‘push all parties to accept political solutions’
Hezbollah chief says response to Israeli strikes on Beirut will be on ‘central Tel Aviv’
“The response must be expected on central Tel Aviv,” Qassem said, after deadly strikes on three central Beirut districts in recent days, one of which killed Hezbollah’s spokesman Mohammed Afif and four members of his media team.
More to follow...
Israel says not fighting Lebanese army, after soldiers killed
- “We emphasize that the (Israeli army) is operating precisely against the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” the military said
- “The (army) is looking into reports regarding soldiers of the Lebanon Armed Forces who were injured during the strike”
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said Wednesday it was fighting the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, not the Lebanese army, after the latter said four of its soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes.
“We emphasize that the (Israeli army) is operating precisely against the Hezbollah terrorist organization and is not operating against the Lebanon Armed Forces,” the military told AFP in a statement.
The Lebanese army said Israeli fire killed a soldier Wednesday, a day after it said three other personnel died in a strike on their position in the town of Sarafand, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the southern border.
South Lebanon has seen intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants whose group holds sway in the area.
Israel’s military said it struck “a terrorist infrastructure site in which a number of Hezbollah terrorists were operating in the area of Sarafand” on Tuesday night.
“The (army) is looking into reports regarding soldiers of the Lebanon Armed Forces who were injured during the strike,” it added, but did not refer to the other deadly incident mentioned by the Lebanese army.
Since September 23, Israel has ramped up its bombing campaign in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops, after almost a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.
Israel insists on right to act against Hezbollah in any deal to end fighting
- Lebanon’s government is likely to view any such demand as an infringement on its sovereignty
- Hochstein told reporters the talks had made “additional progress”
BEIRUT: Israel’s defense minister says his country insists on the right to act militarily against Hezbollah in any agreement to end the fighting in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s government is likely to view any such demand as an infringement on its sovereignty, complicating efforts to end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted into all-out war in September.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement Wednesday that “the condition for any political settlement in Lebanon is the preservation of the intelligence capability and the preservation of the (Israeli military’s) right to act and protect the citizens of Israel from Hezbollah.”
Lebanese officials mediating between Israel and Hezbollah have called for a return to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between the sides.
It calls for Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces to withdraw from a buffer zone in southern Lebanon patrolled by UN peacekeepers and Lebanese troops.
US envoy Amos Hochstein, who has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, held a second round of talks on Wednesday with Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah who has been mediating on their behalf.
Hochstein told reporters the talks had made “additional progress,” and that he would be heading to Israel “to try to bring this to a close, if we can.” He declined to say what the sticking points are.
Israeli strikes and combat in Lebanon have killed more than 3,500 people and wounded 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The war has displaced nearly 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.
On the Israeli side, 87 soldiers and 50 civilians, including some foreign farmworkers, have been killed by attacks involving rockets, drones and missiles. Hezbollah began firing on Israel the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack triggered the war in Gaza.
That attack killed some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and another 250 were abducted. Around 100 hostages remain inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed nearly 44,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Lebanese army said in a statement a soldier was killed by an Israeli airstrike that hit his vehicle on the road linking Burj Al-Muluk and Qalaa in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said it was looking into reports.
The night before, three soldiers were killed by an airstrike that targeted an army post in the town of Sarafand, near the coastal city of Saida.
Wissam Khalifa, a resident of Sarafand who lives next to the army post and was injured in the strike, said he was shocked that it was targeted.
“It’s a safe residential neighborhood. There is nothing here at all” that would present a target, he said. “Regarding the martyred soldiers, I don’t even know if there was a gun in the center. Why did this strike happen? We have no idea.”
The Lebanese army has not been an active participant in the fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah over the past 13 months, but more than 40 soldiers have been killed in the conflict.
Altogether, more than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since Oct. 8, 2023, the vast majority of them in the past two months.
US envoy to travel to Israel in bid to seal Hezbollah ceasefire
- “So I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can,” Hochstein said in Beirut
BEIRUT: US envoy Amos Hochstein said he will travel to Israel on Wednesday to try to secure a ceasefire ending the war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah group after declaring additional progress in talks in Beirut.
Hochstein, who arrived a day earlier in Beirut, said he saw a “real opportunity” to end the conflict after the Lebanese government and Hezbollah agreed to a US ceasefire proposal, although with some comments.
“The meeting today built on the meeting yesterday, and made additional progress,” Hochstein said after his second meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, endorsed by the Iran-backed Hezbollah to negotiate.
“So I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can,” Hochstein said.
The diplomacy aims to end a conflict that has inflicted massive devastation in Lebanon since Israel went on the offensive against Hezbollah in September, mounting airstrikes across wide parts of the country and sending in troops.
Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from its north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Hezbollah, still reeling from the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders, has kept up rocket fire into Israel, including targeting Tel Aviv this week. Its fighters are battling Israeli troops on the ground in the south.
Although diplomacy to end the Gaza war has largely stalled, the Biden administration aims to seal a ceasefire in the parallel conflict in Lebanon before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
“We are going to work with the incoming administration. We’re already going to be discussing this with them. They will be fully aware of what we’re doing,” Hochstein said.
Lebanese army says soldier killed by Israeli fire
- South Lebanon and the capital have seen heavy strikes in recent days
BEIRUT: The Lebanese army said Israeli fire killed a soldier on Wednesday, a day after it said three other personnel died in a strike on their position in south Lebanon.
South Lebanon has seen intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants whose group holds sway in the area.
A soldier “died of his wounds sustained due to the Israel army targeting of an army vehicle” in south Lebanon, a statement on X said, after reporting two personnel wounded in the incident near Qlayaa in south Lebanon.
On Tuesday, the military said three soldiers were killed when “the Israeli enemy targeted an army position in the town of Sarafand,” where the health ministry said eight people were wounded.
AFP images showed destruction at the site in Sarafand on the Mediterranean coast, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the southern border, with a concrete structure destroyed and a vehicle among the debris.
Israel army says hit over 100 ‘terror targets’ in past day
The Israeli military on Wednesday said it struck more than 100 “terror targets” in Lebanon over the past day and had “eliminated” two Hezbollah commanders at the weekend.
The targets included “launchers, weapons storage facilities, command centers, and military structures,” the army said in a statement.
The announcement came as US envoy Amos Hochstein was in Lebanon, seeking to hammer out a truce between Israel and Hezbollah.
The military also said “on Sunday, the (air force) eliminated the commanders of Hezbollah’s anti-tank missile and operations unit in the coastal sector” who were “responsible for terror attacks against Israeli civilians.”
The army added that its troops continued to conduct “limited, localized, targeted raids” in southern Lebanon.
Since September 23, Israel has ramped up its bombing campaign in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops, after almost a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.
South Lebanon and the capital have seen heavy strikes in recent days, though the situation was calmer in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, with US envoy Amos Hochstein visiting for truce talks.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Israeli shelling and air strikes in south Lebanon overnight and on Wednesday, saying Israeli troops were seeking to advance further near the town of Khiam.
Hezbollah on Tuesday said it had attacked Israeli troops near the flashpoint border town.
The NNA also said that Israel forces were “attempting to advance from the Kfarshuba hills... to open up a new front under the cover of fire and artillery shells and air strikes.”
“Violent clashes are taking place” between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, it added.
Hezbollah said it carried out several attacks on Israeli troops near the border Wednesday.
