Yemenis inch closer than ever to war’s end in 2022

Yemenis will remember 2022 as the year that saw the longest halt in hostilities since the beginning of the war. (Reuters/File Photo)
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Updated 31 December 2022
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Yemenis inch closer than ever to war’s end in 2022

  • Ceasefire sees major drop in fighting outside Marib, Taiz, elsewhere
  • Planes take off from Sanaa airport, fuel tankers trickle into Hodeidah port

AL-MUKALLA: Yemenis will remember 2022 as the year that saw the longest halt in hostilities since the beginning of the war, and the emergence of a new governing body that united the country’s competing groups.

UN Yemen envoy Hans Grundberg said on April 1 that the internationally recognized government of Yemen and the Iran-backed Houthis had agreed to a two-month ceasefire that would entail restoring Sanaa airport, allowing fuel tankers to enter Hodeidah port, and opening highways in the city of Taiz and other provinces.

The declaration came days after the Arab coalition halted its bombing of Yemen in a bid to clear the way for peace.

Prior to the ceasefire, and as Grundberg shuttled between Yemen and regional towns to negotiate the truce, hundreds of Houthis died outside the city of Marib in heavy fighting with the government as they attempted to take control of the city in order to strengthen their position at the negotiating table.

Despite predictions that the ceasefire would be short-lived, the truce has resulted in a major drop in violence outside Marib, Taiz and other battlefields, while commercial planes finally took off from Sanaa for the first time in years and fuel tankers started to trickle into the port of Hodeidah.

On June 2, Grundberg declared that the parties had agreed to extend the ceasefire under the same conditions, despite the Yemeni government’s complaint that the Houthis had failed to relieve their siege of Taiz, a crucial condition of the truce.

Two months later, Grundberg made a similar declaration about the parties’ decision to extend the ceasefire for another two months. But in October, he said the parties failed to extend the truce after the Houthis rejected a fresh proposal about the opening of roads in Taiz and the payment of public workers.

The UN and other international organizations said that between April and October, the number of war-related deaths was at its lowest level since the beginning of 2015.

New governing body

Yemen’s former President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who took office in 2012 following an uncontested election, transferred his powers on April 7 to an eight-member Presidential Leadership Council led by Rashad Al-Alimi, the former interior minister.

The council drew together competing anti-Houthi groups, including pro-independence southerners, supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, senior military officers and governors.

Ten days later, the council returned to the southern city of Aden, was sworn in before parliament, and created a military committee to unite opposing armed groups and military forces under its authority.

The formation of the council happened days after the start of Yemen discussions in Riyadh, which brought together a large number of Yemeni political, religious, military, security and tribal forces to develop a road plan for the nation under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Fighting and assassinations

Despite the relative quiet on the battlefield in 2022, killings occurred in Aden and Sanaa, as well as the Houthi bombardment of civilian areas in Taiz, and their cross-border drone and missile assaults on the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

In March, the Houthis launched drone attacks and fired missiles against Saudi Arabian oil and water desalination facilities.

The Houthis also attacked oil infrastructure in Abu Dhabi on April 17, killing three people and raising worldwide anger.

Yemeni experts said that the Houthis initiated their strikes on the UAE and Saudi Arabia in an effort to persuade them to end their military support for the Yemeni government, which had evicted them from the southern province of Shabwa and was advancing on Marib province.

Also in 2022, politicians, military personnel and journalists were killed in a series of bombings and drive-by shootings in both government-controlled Aden and Houthi-controlled Sanaa.

Brig. Gen. Thabet Jawas, one of the army’s commanders throughout the six wars with the Houthis, was killed by a car bomb in Aden in March. In June, Saber Al-Haidari, a Yemeni journalist, was also killed in a bomb blast in the city.

In Sanaa, unidentified men killed 63-year-old Supreme Court judge Mohammed Hamran on Sept. 1, days after kidnapping him from his home.

Former Yemeni ambassador and retired military commander Maj. Gen. Dirham Noman was killed at his apartment in Sanaa on Oct. 16.

Fighting Al-Qaeda

Taking advantage of the respite in hostilities with the Houthis, Yemen’s military and security forces in September started a military offensive to dislodge Al-Qaeda militants from their long-held strongholds in the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa.

For the first time in years, Yemeni troops achieved success in the Omaran Mountain area, which has long functioned as a safe haven for Al-Qaeda, where militants planned attacks, trained and recruited members, and harbored captives.

Relapse

In October, the Houthis dashed hopes of negotiating peace and ending the conflict by flying drones at government-controlled oil terminals in Hadramout and Shabwa.

As a consequence, oil supplies were halted and the Yemeni government was forced into insolvency after losing its key source of revenue.

The UN estimated in December that more than 21 million Yemenis, out of a population of 32.6 million, would need humanitarian assistance in 2023.


After Israel strikes Iran, airlines divert flights, airspace closed

Updated 6 sec ago
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After Israel strikes Iran, airlines divert flights, airspace closed

  • Iranian airspace has been closed until further notice, state media reported
  • Six commercial aircraft have been shot down unintentionally and three nearly missed since 2001, according to aviation risk consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions

SEOUL: Airlines cleared out of the airspace over Israel, Iran and Iraq early on Friday after Israel launched attacks on targets in Iran, Flightradar24 data showed, with carriers scrambling to divert and cancel flights to keep passengers and crew safe.

Proliferating conflict zones around the world are becoming an increasing burden on airline operations and profitability, and more of a safety concern.

Six commercial aircraft have been shot down unintentionally and three nearly missed since 2001, according to aviation risk consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions.

Israel on Friday said it targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders at the start of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.

Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice, and Israel’s air defense units stood at high alert for possible retaliatory strikes from Iran.

Israeli flag carrier El Al Airlines said it had suspended flights to and from Israel.

Iranian airspace has been closed until further notice, state media reported.

As reports of strikes on Iran emerged, a number of commercial flights by airlines including Dubai’s Emirates, Lufthansa and Air India were flying over Iran.

Emirates, Lufthansa and Air India did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Iraq early on Friday closed its airspace and suspended all traffic at its airports, Iraqi state media reported.

Eastern Iraq near the border with Iran contains one of the world’s busiest air corridors, with dozens of flights crossing between Europe and the Gulf, many on routes from Asia to Europe, at any one moment.

Flights steadily diverted over Central Asia or Saudi Arabia, flight tracking data showed.

“The situation is still emerging — operators should use a high degree of caution in the region at this time,” according to Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that shares flight risk information.

Several flights due to land in Dubai were diverted early on Friday. An Emirates flight from Manchester to Dubai was diverted to Istanbul and a flydubai flight from Belgrade diverted to Yerevan, Armenia.

Budget carrier flydubai said it had suspended flights to Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Iran and Israel and a number of other flights had been canceled, rerouted or returned to their departure airports.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East since October 2023 led to commercial aviation sharing the skies with short-notice barrages of drones and missiles across major flight paths – some of which were reportedly close enough to be seen by pilots and passengers.

Last year, planes were shot down by weaponry in Kazakhstan and in Sudan. These incidents followed the high-profile downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 and of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 en route from Tehran in 2020.


Iran’s Khamenei warns Israel faces ‘bitter and painful fate’

Updated 13 June 2025
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Iran’s Khamenei warns Israel faces ‘bitter and painful fate’

TEHRAN: Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Israel would suffer severe consequences after launching deadly attacks on the Islamic republic on Friday, including Tehran and nuclear sites.
“With this crime, the Zionist regime has set itself for a bitter and painful fate and it will definitely receive it,” Khamenei said in a statement.


UN nuclear watchdog says ‘closely monitoring’ situation after Israel strikes Iran

Updated 13 June 2025
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UN nuclear watchdog says ‘closely monitoring’ situation after Israel strikes Iran

VIENNA: The UN nuclear watchdog confirmed Friday that Israeli strikes were targeting an Iranian uranium enrichment site, saying it was “closely monitoring the deeply concerning situation.”
“The IAEA is closely monitoring the deeply concerning situation in Iran. Agency can confirm Natanz site among targets,” International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said in a post on the agency’s X feed, as the IAEA’s board of governors meets this week in Vienna.
“The agency is in contact with Iranian authorities regarding radiation levels. We are also in contact with our inspectors in the country,” he added.


IRGC commander, 2 nuclear scientists killed in Israeli strikes: Iran state TV

Updated 13 June 2025
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IRGC commander, 2 nuclear scientists killed in Israeli strikes: Iran state TV

  • Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards warn Israel of “harsh punishment” for its attacks
  • Dead scientists identified as Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi

RIYADH: Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei confirmed on Friday that several military commanders and scientists were “martyred” in Israeli strikes on Tehran.

In a statement carried on state television, Khamenei warned that Israel will not go unpunished for its attacks.

State television earlier said that Hossein Salami, the chief of the Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was among those killed, along with another top Guard official and two nuclear scientists.

An anchor read a statement saying: “The news of assassination and martyrdom of Gen. Hossein Salami was confirmed.” The anchor did not elaborate.

“The martyrdom of... Major General Gholam Ali Rashid is confirmed,” state television said.

A major power center within Iran’s theocracy, with vast business interests and oversees the nation’s ballistic missile arsenal, the IRGC had been accused by Iran's neighbors of maintaining proxy militias such as the Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Al-Hashd al-Shaabi of Iraq.

Iran’s Nournews also reported that Ali Shamkhani, a rear admiral who serves as adviser to Khamenei, was “critically injured.”

State television and local media also reported the death of two scientists working on Iran's nuclear program. They were identified as Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi.

Several children were also reportedly killed in a strike on a residential area in the capital.

Iranian media and witnesses reported explosions including at the country’s main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, while Israel declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes.

In a recorded video message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel targeted Iranian scientists working on a nuclear bomb, its ballistic missile program and its Natanz uranium enrichment facility, in an operation that he said would continue "for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

“We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu said, adding that the targeted military operation was meant to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.

An Israeli military official said Israel was striking “dozens” of nuclear and military targets including the facility at Natanz in central Iran. The official said Iran had enough material to make 15 nuclear bombs within days.

Alongside extensive air strikes, Israel’s Mossad spy agency led a series of covert sabotage operations inside Iran, Axios reported, citing a senior Israeli official. These operations were aimed at damaging Iran’s strategic missile sites and its air defense capabilities.

Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice, and Israel’s air defense units stood at high alert for possible retaliatory strikes from Iran.

“Following the pre-emptive strike by the State of Israel against Iran, a missile and UAV (drone) attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate time frame,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

(With Agencies)


Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

Updated 13 June 2025
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Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

  • “We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu said in a video message
  • Says Israel also targetting scientists working on Iran nuclear weapons
  • Iran state TV reported that at least two nuclear scientists were killed in the Israeli strike

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s attack on Iran would “continue for as many days as it takes” after Israel announced it had carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites.
“This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding that Israel launched a ‘targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.’

Calling the offensive “Rising Lion,” he said Israel was also targeting Iranian commanders and missile factories, and declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes by Tehran.
“We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the recorded video message.

“We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility at Natanz... We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile program,” he said, adding that Israel had also hit Iranian nuclear scientists “working on the Iranian bomb.”

Iran state TV later reported that nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were killed in the Israeli strike.

A witness in Nantanz city said multiple explosions were heard near the facility, and a senior Iranian official told Reuters that the country’s leadership was holding a top security meeting.