UN demands release of workers abducted by Houthis in Yemen

The recovery of the riyal has prompted major industrial sectors to announce price slashing of vital products, including fuel, rice, flour and cooking oil. (AFP)
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Updated 30 December 2021
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UN demands release of workers abducted by Houthis in Yemen

  • Basic commodity prices have fallen by about 40% this week in Yemen’s government-controlled areas
  • The Yemeni riyal rebounded against the US dollar for the first time this year

AL-MUKALLA: Two UN bodies working in Yemen have accused the Iran-backed Houthis of abudcting two of their Yemeni workers in Sanaa, demanding their immediate release.

Audrey Azoulay, director general of UNESCO, and Michelle Bachelet, UN high commissioner for human rights, said in a joint statement that the Houthis abducted two workers early in November in Sanaa.

The militia subsequently rejected calls for information about the locations of the workers, they warned.

“OHCHR and UNESCO recall the privileges and immunities accorded to staff of the UN system under international law, which are essential to the proper discharge of their official functions, and call for the staff members’ immediate release without any further delays,” the two UN officials said.

In November, the US strongly condemned a Houthi raid on its embassy in Sanaa and the abduction of local workers, accusing the group of contradicting their promises to work for peace in Yemen.

The US Embassy in Sanaa has been closed since early 2015 when the Houthis tightened their grip on power after toppling the internationally recognized president and later expanding across Yemen.

The central city of Marib has been a key battleground for control of the country.

Yemen’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that dozens of Houthis were killed or wounded in heavy fighting with government troops outside the city.

Fighting broke out south and west of Marib as the Houthis mounted fresh attacks on government troops in a bid to seize control of a strategic mountain range with views of the city.

Warplanes from the Arab coalition conducted several air raids in the province, targeting Houthi military vehicles that were carrying fighters and weapons to the battlefields.

On Wednesday, a coalition warplane struck a military base controlled by the Houthis in Bayan district, in the southern province Shabwa.

The airstrikes came hours after two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis ripped through the government-controlled Ataq airport in Shabwa, damaging infrastructure.

Meanwhile, basic commodity prices have fallen by about 40 percent this week in Yemen’s government-controlled areas as the riyal rebounded against the US dollar for the first time this year.

Boosted by fresh government policies and the reconstruction of the Central Bank administrative board, the Yemeni riyal achieved the biggest gains since early this year, surging to almost 770 against the US dollar this week, compared to 1700 earlier this month.

The riyal traded at 215 to the dollar in January 2015. The recovery of the riyal has prompted major industrial sectors to announce price slashing of vital products, including fuel, rice, flour and cooking oil.

The state oil company announced that the price of fuel is now 650 Yemeni riyals per liter, falling from 1200 several weeks ago.

Transportation prices have subsequently dropped by 50 percent, and food traders announced a decrease in prices for frozen chicken and other products.

The price of a 10 kilogram bag of rice fell from 19,000 riyals two weeks ago to less than 13,000 today, local grocery owners told Arab News.

The recovery of the riyal and subsequent drop in prices of food and fuel have sparked joy among Yemenis.

“The current prices are better than nothing. We demand more drops in prices,” said a government employee from the city of Al-Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout Governorate.

The Yemeni riyal began climbing against the US dollar on Dec. 6, hours after President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi reshuffled the Central Bank board, appointing a new governor and a deputy, and empowering a state-controlled auditing body to monitor and review the bank’s financial activities.

Within hours, the riyal rebounded to 1330.

Yemen Prime Minister Maeen Abdul Malik Saeed said this week that his government had “contained speculative activities by local money traders,” who have long been blamed for fueling the rapid depreciation of the currency.

The prime minister also said that the state oil company would handle imports and sales of fuel to the local market alone, a move aimed at curbing demand for the dollar by local oil traders.

Inspired by international support from regional and international donors to the government, the nationalization of oil activities is among many reforms introduced by the Yemeni government to steady the economy, including boosting revenues, punitive measures against violators of the central bank’s rule and fighting corruption.

“Boosting state revenues will reduce food and fuel prices,” the prime minister told a gathering of businessmen in Aden this week.

The skyrocketing prices of fuel, falling currency and power cuts repeatedly fueled unrest and union strikes across the government-controlled areas.

In September, three people were killed in Aden, Al-Mukalla and other cities when police clashed with people protesting against the plunging currency and crumbling public services.

The fall of the riyal also pushed many state-funded universities to closure as students could not afford transportation prices.

But despite the latest optimism, economists expressed concerns that the recovery of the riyal could be temporary, citing previous rebounds that were followed by rapid devaluation.

In December last year, the Yemeni riyal recovered by 20 percent, boosted by the news about the formation of a new government. But it subsequently tumbled to a historic low of 1,000 against the dollar despite the Central Bank closing dozens of local exchange offices and companies that violated its monetary rules.

Mustafa Nasr, director of the Economic Media Center, said that the new recovery of the riyal “is in response to anticipated financial support from international donors and enthusiasm about the new administration, not due to government measures.”

He added: “If we exclude the decision to limit the distribution of fuel to the state oil company, there are no practical measures that have enhanced the stability of the Yemeni riyal so far.”


Saudi companies exhibiting at ArabPlast in Dubai to showcase petrochemical innovations

Updated 3 sec ago
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Saudi companies exhibiting at ArabPlast in Dubai to showcase petrochemical innovations

  • ArabPlast will feature a diverse range of products, technologies and solutions that shape the future of plastics and petrochemicals in the region

LONDON: Saudi petrochemical firms will showcase their products and innovative solutions at the 17th ArabPlast, hosted by the Dubai World Trade Center, the Emirates News Agency — WAM —reported. 

ArabPlast, an international trade show that takes place from Jan. 7-9, is an important event in the calendar of companies working in the plastics, recycling, petrochemicals, packaging and rubber industries.  

In 2025, ArabPlast will host 12 national pavilions and 750 exhibitors from a total of 35 countries, including companies from Saudi Arabia, Austria, China, Egypt, Germany, Italy, India, Switzerland, Jordan, UAE and the rest of the GCC countries.  

They will showcase “a diverse range of products, technologies and solutions that shape the future of plastics, petrochemicals and rubber sectors in the region,” WAM reported. 

Nidal Mohammed Kadar, director of ArabPlast, said that the event would also feature the “latest developments in robotics and artificial intelligence technologies in the field of recycling,” which will contribute to sustainability. 

Sadiq Al-Lawati, executive director of Polymers Marketing at OQ Oman, said that ArabPlast will focus on “sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions” as the global demand for plastic increases in industrial sectors, such as construction, food and beverage, aviation, automotive, health care and sports. 

Alongside the exhibitions, hundreds of professionals and decision-makers will discuss the latest solutions and challenges that the plastic and petrochemical industries are facing in the Arab region.  


Two Israeli strikes hit south Beirut: Lebanon state media

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut’s southern suburbs on November 24, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 24 November 2024
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Two Israeli strikes hit south Beirut: Lebanon state media

  • “Israeli warplanes launched two violent strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs in the Kafaat area,” official National News Agency said
  • The raids “caused massive destruction over a large geographical area” of the Kafaat district, NNA said

BEIRUT: Lebanese state media reported two Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, about an hour after the Israeli military posted evacuation calls online for parts of the Hezbollah bastion.
“Israeli warplanes launched two violent strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs in the Kafaat area,” the official National News Agency said.
The southern Beirut area has been repeatedly struck since September 23 when Israel intensified its air campaign also targeting Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon’s east and south. It later sent in ground troops to southern Lebanon.
AFPTV footage showed grey smoke billowing over south Beirut.
The raids “caused massive destruction over a large geographical area” of the Kafaat district, NNA said.
Earlier Sunday, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee warned on social media platform X that the military would strike “Hezbollah facilities and interests” in the Hadath and Burj Al-Barajneh districts, also sharing maps of the areas to be evacuated.
Full-on war erupted following nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Iran-backed Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas, after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack sparked the Gaza war.


Israel records 160 launches fom Lebanon as Hezbollah targets Tel Aviv, south

Israeli security forces and people inspect a damaged house at a site hit by rockets fired from Lebanon in Rinatya village.
Updated 23 min 36 sec ago
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Israel records 160 launches fom Lebanon as Hezbollah targets Tel Aviv, south

  • Medical agencies reported that at least 11 people were wounded, including a man in a “moderate to serious” condition

JERUSALEM: Israel’s army said Hezbollah fired around 160 projectiles into its territory from Lebanon on Sunday, with the group saying its attacks had targeted the Tel Aviv area and Israel’s south.
The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it had “launched, for the first time, an aerial attack using a swarm of attack drones on the Ashdod naval base” in southern Israel.
Later, it said it fired “a barrage of advanced missiles and a swarm of attack drones” at a “military target” in Tel Aviv, and had also launched a volley of missiles at the Glilot army intelligence base in the city’s suburbs.
The Israeli military did not comment on the specific attack claims when contacted by AFP.

But it said earlier that air raid sirens had sounded in several locations in central and northern Israel, including in the greater Tel Aviv suburbs.
It later reported that “approximately 160 projectiles that were fired by the Hezbollah terrorist organization have crossed from Lebanon into Israel.”
Some of the projectiles were shot down.
Medical agencies reported that at least 11 people were wounded, including a man in a “moderate to serious” condition.
AFP images from Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, showed several damaged and burned-out cars, and a house pockmarked by shrapnel.
The wave of projectiles follows at least four deadly Israeli strikes in central Beirut in the past week, including one that killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.
In a speech on Wednesday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem had said the response to the recent strikes on the capital “must be expected on central Tel Aviv.”
The Lebanese army, meanwhile, said that a soldier was killed on Sunday and 18 others injured, “including some with severe wounds, as a result of an Israeli attack targeting a Lebanese army center in Amriyeh.”
Though the Lebanese army is not a party to the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli strikes have killed 19 Lebanese soldiers in the last two months, authorities have said.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign, later sending in ground troops after nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack, which sparked the Gaza war.
Lebanon’s health ministry says at least 3,670 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most of them since September this year.


Israeli strike on Lebanese army center kills soldier, wounds 18 others

Updated 24 November 2024
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Israeli strike on Lebanese army center kills soldier, wounds 18 others

  • It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops
  • Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts

BEIRUT: An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah militants.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel’s ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country’s north.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.

Lebanon’s army reflects the religious diversity of the country and is respected as a national institution, but it does not have the military capability to impose its will on Hezbollah or resist Israel’s invasion.


Top EU diplomat urges ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Hezbollah-Israel war

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference.
Updated 24 November 2024
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Top EU diplomat urges ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Hezbollah-Israel war

  • “We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701,” Borrell said

BEIRUT: The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to the Lebanese capital for talks.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its air campaign in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops following nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza war.
“We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701,” Borrell said after meeting Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of Hezbollah.
Resolution 1701 ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war of 2006 and stated that Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces in the country’s south, where Hezbollah holds sway.
It also called for Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon.
“Back in September I came and was still hoping we could prevent a full-fledged war of Israel attacking Lebanon,” Borrell said on Sunday.
“Two months later Lebanon is on the brink of collapse.”
He said the European Union was ready to provide 200 million euros for Lebanon’s army, whose deployment in larger numbers along the border forms a crucial point in truce talks.
France and Washington have been spearheading ceasefire efforts, with US envoy Amos Hochstein visiting Lebanon and Israel this week to discuss a truce plan based on implementing Resolution 1701.
“We must pressure the Israeli government and maintain the pressure on Hezbollah to accept the US proposal for a ceasefire,” Borrell said, calling for an “immediate” truce.