AL-MUKALLA: Hundreds of Yemeni pilgrims trapped in Saudi Arabia will return to Houthi-held areas of Yemen by land, as the militia refuses to release Yemenia Airways aircraft that would transport them home, Yemen’s government said on Tuesday.
Yemen’s Ministry of Endowments and Guidance said that Yemeni pilgrims stranded at Jeddah airport were sent back to their hotels in Makkah and will be transported home by road to their districts under Houthi control.
Other pilgrims will be flown on Yemenia Airways flights from Jeddah to government-controlled Aden, then transported by bus to Sanaa and other Houthi-held Yemeni provinces, according to Yemen’s official news agency SABA.
Last week, Yemen’s Houthis seized three Yemenia flights at Sanaa airport and blocked them from going to Jeddah to bring back Yemeni pilgrims, stranding at least 1,000 people in Saudi Arabia.
The Yemeni government branded the Houthis’ capture of jets as “piracy” and urged the international community to put pressure on the Houthis to free the three planes and another plane that had been taken earlier.
The Houthi Supreme Political Council on Monday resisted requests to allow flights to carry pilgrims by applauding its authorities for taking the planes, claiming that the measure was intended to “preserve the company, its assets, and its capabilities.”
The Houthis claim they would administer the firm from Sanaa, repair the aircraft, and reschedule flights from Sanaa and other Yemeni airports, accusing the Yemeni government of mismanaging it.
This comes as the Houthis have increased their assaults on government troops in Marib, Taiz and Hodeidah over the past 48 hours, despite the militia’s negotiators meeting the Yemeni government in Muscat for UN-brokered prisoner exchange negotiations.
On Monday, the government’s Giants Brigades repelled a Houthi incursion in the Al-Abedia region of the central province of Marib, killing and injuring many assailants, according to a military source who spoke to SABA agency.
In their assault on government soldiers, the Houthis deployed canons, drones and medium weaponry in an effort to capture control of fresh regions in Marib province.
The Houthi attack in Marib occurred one day after the Houthis attacked the Giants Brigades forces in the western province of Hodeidah, killing two soldiers and injuring seven.
Yemen’s army said on Monday that its soldiers stopped a Houthi incursion attempt north of Taiz, forcing the Houthis to leave after brief fighting.
Despite a considerable decline in hostilities since the UN-brokered ceasefire came into effect in April 2022, the Houthis have continued to wage fatal attacks on government soldiers in Marib, Taiz, Dhale, Hodeidah and other disputed regions.
In a separate development, the militia said on Monday that its troops had carried out four operations against four “American, British and Israeli” ships in international waters off Yemen and the Mediterranean.
The first operation saw the militia’s missile troops firing cruise missiles against the “Israeli” MSC Unific ship in the Red Sea, according to Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea.
He said that their troops targeted the “US” oil ship Delonix in the Red Sea for the second time, employing ballistic and cruise missiles.
In the third operation, a “British landing ship” called Anvil Point was targeted in the Indian Ocean with cruise missiles, while a fourth missile targeted a ship called Lucky Sailor in the Mediterranean, which was attacked because the ship’s parent company violated the militia’s ban on sailing into Israeli ports.
The US Central Command said on Tuesday that its forces had destroyed one Houthi radar site in a Yemeni location controlled by the Houthis, marking the latest wave of attacks by US and UK aircraft against Houthi military targets in Yemen.
Since November, the Houthis have launched missiles, drones and explosive-laden ships into the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, and have recently announced plans to expand their attacks into the Mediterranean in what the Yemeni militia refers to as a campaign against Israeli ships to force Israel to end its military operations in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM: Israel said Tuesday it has connected a water desalination plant in southern Gaza to its electrical grid, in an easing of its siege of the Palestinian territory, but is not yet supplying power.
The Israeli military agency responsible for civilian operations in the Palestinian territories said it could take up to two weeks to start supplying electricity to the desalination plant in Khan Yunis, which is suffering from critical water shortages.
“A new power line from Israel has been directly connected to a water desalination plant managed by UNICEF in Khan Yunis,” said a statement from the Israeli army and the COGAT agency, referring to the United Nations children’s fund.
A source at Gaza’s Electricity Distribution Corporation said the beleaguered utility was “preparing for the possibility of them (Israel) operating the line.”
Col. Elad Goren of COGAT told a press briefing that Israel would provide electricity “once they will fix the lines from the Gazan side... in a week or two.”
He said the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority would pay for the electricity, as it did before the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7.
Israel has faced international criticism over the impact of its military assault against Hamas on Gaza’s civilian population.
Goren said infrastructure decisions were made at a political level, and that the return of the power line was based on the need to increase the desalination plant’s capacity.
UNICEF has welcomed an agreement with Israel to begin supplying the Khan Yunis plant again.
“This is an important milestone, and we are very much looking forward to seeing it implemented,” UNICEF spokesman in the Palestinian territories, Jonathan Crickx, told AFP.
Water has been scarce for Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants since the war erupted with the Hamas attacks on Israel. Sixty percent of the territory’s water distribution systems have been damaged, Crickx said.
After the Hamas attack, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced “a complete siege” on Gaza with “no electricity, no water, no gas.” Aid groups say Gaza is now gripped by a humanitarian crisis.
“Currently, the plant is only producing 5,000 cubic meters of water a day. With the new power line from Israel, the plant will ramp up production to 20,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day,” the Israeli statement said.