UN urges Houthis to lift Taiz siege as Yemeni truce holds

Hans Grundberg, the special envoy for Yemen, said the Houthis must now gradually open the roads leading into Taiz. (AFP)
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Updated 15 June 2022
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UN urges Houthis to lift Taiz siege as Yemeni truce holds

  • Every day that goes by without the Houthis opening roads is “particularly long” for people living under siege in Taiz, Grundberg tells Arab News
  • Linda Thomas Greenfield said building on truce success is a “central focus” of President Biden's visit to the region next month

NEW YORK: The Houthis must lift their siege of Taiz to allow millions of suffering residents to access vital humanitarian assistance, healthcare and economic opportunities, Hans Grundberg, the special envoy for Yemen, urged Tuesday.

Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on Yemen, Grundberg said this action must be taken, even as he welcomed the fact that the truce has held between the Yemeni government and the Iran-backed group.

The ceasefire has seen a drastic reduction in hostilities and civilian casualties, allowed the resumption of civilian flights from the long-shuttered Sanaa airport, and facilitated the flow of fuel into Hodeidah port.

Grundberg said the Houthis must now gradually open the roads leading into the city. Taiz governorate has been under siege since 2015, when the group closed main routes and surrounded the city center, largely cutting it off from the rest of the country.

“It is critical that this truce can also deliver on easing the suffering of the people of Taiz,” Grundberg told the Security Council.

“For years, (Taizis’) freedom of movement has been greatly impeded by this conflict. As Taizis know all too well, the only open roads to the city are long and arduous,” said Grundberg. The Swedish diplomat told the council he had personally travelled for over six hours “along the narrow, winding, and rugged mountainous road from Aden to the city of Taiz. Before the conflict, the same trip on the main road would have only taken three hours.”

“In Taiz, I met with men, women, and youth, who told me about their daily plights caused by the closure of access roads in and out of the city. I have also witnessed first-hand how the severe restrictions have crippled the economy, worsened access to healthcare, and endangered travel of civilians.”

The UN has proposed a phased opening of the roads around Taiz. It includes a main route eastward from Taiz city to the Hawban area, as well as additional roads to and from other governorates. The proposal includes measures to ensure the safety of civilian travelers.

“While I am encouraged by the positive response by the Government of Yemen to the UN proposal, I am still waiting for a response from Ansar Allah,” Grundberg said.

In response to Arab News’ questions after the meeting, Grundberg said he wants to urge the Houthis to respond.

“If you consider the fact that seven years have gone and we have not seen a resolution, but only several attempts (to solve the problem) of Taiz, I think that the fact that we have been waiting for six days since the proposal was presented to them is within that context not a long time.

“But since we are within the framework of 60 days of truce, every day that goes by is particularly long. So this just highlights the fact that this is not an easy matter to solve. But I encourage all the parties, including Ansar Allah to make as speedy a progress on this issue as possible.”

Addressing the Security Council for the first time in person since the truce took effect on April 2, which was later extended to Aug. 2, Grundberg said that the ceasefire continues to hold as there have been no airstrikes inside Yemen nor cross-border attacks launched from it since the beginning of the agreement.

There has also been a significant reduction in civilian casualties, although Grundberg lamented the fact that lives were still being lost to landmines and unexploded ordinance as civilians ventured into contaminated frontline areas that were previously inaccessible to them.

Despite the overall reduction in hostilities, however, Grundberg said that violations continue with armed clashes occurring on several fronts especially in Marib, Taiz and Hodeidah governorates.

“As you are aware, we do not have independent monitoring capacities, but I take these allegations very seriously,” said Grundberg. “It is critical to prevent such alleged incidents from provoking a spiral of renewed escalations and violence.”

Grundberg also convened the first two meetings of the Military Coordination Committee, with representatives from parties and the Coalition’s Joint Forces Command. The committee had agreed to meet regularly, he added.

“The face-to face meetings represent a significant first step towards building trust and improving communication between the parties,” he said.

Since the truce began, several commercial flights have left Sanaa airport which had been closed for six years. Around 3,000 passengers have been transported to Amman and Cairo, seeking medical treatment and reconnection with family members.

Grundberg noted the country’s government “prioritizing the needs of Yemenis” by facilitating the opening of the airport, and also reiterated his “sincere appreciation to the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their instrumental roles in facilitating the flights.”

The steady flow of fuel to Hodeidah port has continued throughout the truce, he said. During the months of April and May, over 480,000 metric tons of fuel products were cleared, “more fuel than entered Hodeidah during the whole of last year.”

“The steady delivery of fuel has taken the pressure off vital services, significantly decreased queues at petrol stations that dominated Sanaa’s streets, and has allowed Yemenis to travel more easily throughout the country,” he said.

Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s permanent representative to the UN, called on Grundberg to intensify efforts to open Taiz’s main road, and not only secondary ones, “to alleviate the suffering of millions living under siege.”

She said that despite the truce the Houthis continue to mobilize and recruit across their areas of control, “indoctrinating children with extremist ideology.”

Nusseibeh, along with other council members, commended Saudi Arabia for contributing $10 million toward the UN-backed salvage operation on the decaying supertanker Safer.

US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said there was now “a cause for genuine optimism” as the truce holds, and that building on this progress will be a central focus of President Joe Biden’s visit to the region next month.

Asked by Arab News whether he shares the optimism that the truce will develop into a permanent solution for the seven-year conflict, Grundberg said he was adopting a cautious approach.

“I try to take one step at a time and not rush too quickly, but also make sure that all steps that are taken are done and implemented in a consolidated manner. What we are seeing right now are steps that have been unprecedented that we have not seen during the last seven years and that is absolutely something that we should welcome.

“But then there is absolutely more to do, more effort to be done. Therefore, we want to continue to encourage all parties on all of the issues and hope that we can take the necessary steps forward.”


Israeli strikes batter Lebanon, killing five medics

Updated 33 min 38 sec ago
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Israeli strikes batter Lebanon, killing five medics

  • Israel has pushed on with its intense military campaign against Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a US envoy could lead to an imminent ceasefire
  • Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes battered southern Lebanon and the outskirts of the capital Beirut on Friday, killing at least five medics, as ground troops clashed with Hezbollah fighters in the south.
Israel has pushed on with its intense military campaign against the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a US envoy could lead to an imminent ceasefire.
US mediator Amos Hochstein said earlier this week in Beirut that a truce was “within our grasp.” He traveled on to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz before returning to Washington, according to the news outlet Axios.
His trip aimed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern border, which escalated dramatically when Israel ramped up its strikes in late September and sent ground troops into Lebanon on Oct. 1.
Israeli troops have fought Hezbollah in a strip of towns all along the border and this week pushed deeper to the edges of Khiyam, a town some six km (four miles) from the border. Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday.
Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israeli troops had also advanced in a string of villages to the west as well. They said Israel was most likely trying to isolate Khiyam ahead of a major attack on the town.
Israeli strikes on two other villages in southern Lebanon killed a total of five medics from a rescue force affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The more than 3,500 people killed by Israeli strikes over the last year include more than 200 medics, the health ministry said.
Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from Israel’s north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which began firing across the border in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Israel also mounted more strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a once densely populated stronghold of Hezbollah.
It issued evacuation orders on the social media platform X for several buildings in the area on Friday. Reuters footage showed one of the strikes appearing to pierce the center of a multi-story building, sending the whole structure toppling in a massive cloud of smoke.


UN reports heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in south Lebanon

Updated 22 November 2024
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UN reports heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in south Lebanon

  • “We are aware of heavy shelling in the vicinity of our bases,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said
  • Asked if the peacekeepers and staff at the headquarters are safe, Tenenti said: “Yes for the moment”

BEIRUT: Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Hezbollah fighters on Friday in different areas in south Lebanon, including a coastal town that is home to the headquarters of UN peacekeepers.
A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL told The Associated Press that they are monitoring “heavy clashes” in the coastal town of Naqoura and the village of Chamaa to the northeast.
UNIFIL’s headquarters are located in Naqoura in Lebanon’s southern edge close to the border with Israel.
“We are aware of heavy shelling in the vicinity of our bases,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said. Asked if the peacekeepers and staff at the headquarters are safe, Tenenti said: “Yes for the moment.”
Several UNIFIL posts have been hit since Israel began its ground invasion of Lebanon on Oct. 1, leaving a number of peacekeepers wounded.
The fighting came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas military leader, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over their 13-month war in Gaza and the October 2023 attack on Israel respectively.
The warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice.
Israel’s war has caused heavy destruction across Gaza, decimated parts of the territory and driven almost the entire population of 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving most dependent on aid to survive.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel has also launched airstrikes against Lebanon after the Hezbollah militant group began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas’ attack last October. A full-blown war erupted in September after nearly a year of lower-level conflict.


Gaza ministry: hospitals to cut or stop services ‘within 48 hours’ over fuel shortages

Updated 22 November 2024
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Gaza ministry: hospitals to cut or stop services ‘within 48 hours’ over fuel shortages

  • All hospitals in Gaza would have to stop or reduce services “within 48 hours“

GAZA: The Hamas government’s health ministry warned Friday all hospitals in Gaza would have to stop or reduce services “within 48 hours” for lack of fuel, blaming Israel for blocking its entry.
“We raise an urgent warning as all hospitals in Gaza Strip will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation’s (Israel’s) obstruction of fuel entry,” Marwan Al-Hams, director of Gaza’s field hospitals, said during a press conference.


Israel says to end ‘administrative detention’ for West Bank settlers

Updated 22 November 2024
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Israel says to end ‘administrative detention’ for West Bank settlers

  • Practice allows for detainees to be held for long periods without being charged or appear in court
  • The Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said in August that 3,432 Palestinians were held in administrative detention

JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities will stop holding Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank under administrative detention, or incarceration without trial, the defense ministry announced Friday.
The practice allows for detainees to be held for long periods without being charged or appear in court, and is often used against Palestinians who Israel deems security threats.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said it was “inappropriate” for Israel to employ administrative detention against settlers who “face severe Palestinian terror threats and unjustified international sanctions.”
But, according to settlement watchdog Peace Now, it is one of only few effective tools that Israeli authorities to prevent settler attacks against Palestinians, which have surged in the West Bank over the past year.
Katz said in a statement issued by his office that prosecution or “other preventive measures” would be used to deal with criminal acts in the West Bank.
B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, said authorities use administrative detention “extensively and routinely” to hold thousands of Palestinians for lengthy periods of time.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said in August that 3,432 Palestinians were held in administrative detention.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday that eight settlers were held under the same practice in November.
Yonatan Mizrahi, director of settlement watch for Peace Now, said that although administrative detention was mostly used in the West Bank to detain Palestinians, it was one of the few effective tools for temporarily removing the threat of settler violence through detention.
“The cancelation of administrative detention orders for settlers alone is a cynical... move that whitewashes and normalizes escalating Jewish terrorism under the cover of war,” the group said in a statement, referring to a spike in settler attacks throughout the Israel-Hamas conflict over the past 13 months.
Western governments, including Israel’s ally and military backer the United States, have recently imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers and settler organizations over ties to violence against Palestinians.
On Monday, US authorities announced sanctions against Amana, a movement that backs settlement development, and others who have “ties to violent actors in the West Bank.”
“Amana is a key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement and maintains ties to various persons previously sanctioned by the US government and its partners for perpetrating violence in the West Bank,” the US Treasury said.
Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank — which Israel has occupied since 1967 — is home to three million Palestinians as well as about 490,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.


UK would arrest Netanyahu over ICC warrant: Senior politician 

Updated 22 November 2024
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UK would arrest Netanyahu over ICC warrant: Senior politician 

  • Emily Thornberry: Britain has ‘obligation under Rome Convention’ to arrest Israeli PM if he enters country 
  • Court: ‘Reasonable grounds to believe’ Netanyahu responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity in Gaza

LONDON: The UK will arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he enters the country, a senior British politician has said.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on Thursday for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, alongside his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, pertaining to the Gaza war.

Emily Thornberry — Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, and former shadow foreign secretary and shadow attorney general — told Sky News: “If Netanyahu comes to Britain, our obligation under the Rome Convention would be to arrest him under the warrant from the ICC.

“(It is) not really a question of should — we are required to, because we are members of the ICC.”

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has refused to be drawn on whether Netanyahu would be arrested if he set foot on British soil, saying it “wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment.”

She told Sky: “We’ve always respected the importance of international law, but in the majority of the cases that they pursue, they don’t become part of the British legal process.

“What I can say is that obviously, the UK government’s position remains that we believe the focus should be on getting a ceasefire in Gaza.”

Netanyahu’s arrest warrant is the first to be issued against the premier of a major Western ally by an international court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

His office denounced the warrant as “anti-Semitic,” adding that Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions.” Israel is not an ICC member and rejects the court’s jurisdiction.

US President Joe Biden called the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant “outrageous,” adding: “Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he plans to invite Netanyahu to visit Budapest, adding that the arrest warrant will “not be observed” by his government.

The Italian and French governments, however, have indicated that Netanyahu will be arrested if he visits either country.

The ICC said on Thursday it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”

The court also issued a warrant for Hamas commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Israel says Al-Masri, believed to have been the mastermind behind the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, was killed in Gaza earlier this year.

The ICC said it issued the warrant for his arrest because of insufficient evidence to prove his death.