Yemen rivals threaten to resume war as hunger and cholera worsen in the poor nation, UN envoy warns

Yemen has been engulfed in civil war since 2014, when the Iranian-backed Houthis seized much of northern Yemen. Above, Houthi loyalists in Sanaa on Jan. 12, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 16 August 2024
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Yemen rivals threaten to resume war as hunger and cholera worsen in the poor nation, UN envoy warns

  • Despite serious efforts to shield Yemen, it has been drawn into the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza
  • UN official: ‘We are continuing to witness military preparations and reinforcements accompanied by continuous threats of a return to war’

UNITED NATIONS: Yemen’s rival parties are making military preparations and threatening to return to war as hunger and cholera are increasing in the Arab world’s poorest nation, UN officials said Thursday.
UN special representative Hans Grundberg told the Security Council that despite serious efforts to shield Yemen, it has been drawn into the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with Houthi rebels continuing to attack ships in the Red Sea and the United States and United Kingdom responding with strikes on military targets in Houthi-controlled areas.
“This situation, which has lasted for over eight months now, is not sustainable,” Grundberg said. “Unfortunately, this regressive trend illustrated by continuing military activities and escalatory rhetoric has continued.”
Yemen has been engulfed in civil war since 2014, when the Iranian-backed Houthis seized much of northern Yemen and forced the internationally recognized government to flee from the capital, Sanaa.
While fighting has decreased considerably since a six-month truce in 2022, Grundberg expressed deep concern at the trajectory of events in Yemen over the past months.
“We are continuing to witness military preparations and reinforcements accompanied by continuous threats of a return to war,” he said, citing reports of clashes in a half dozen towns and cities.
“Once again,” Grundberg said, “this serves as a stark reminder of how volatile the situation is along the Yemeni frontlines.”
He also pointed to the rebels’ detention of dozens of Yemenis working for the UN, civil society, national and international organizations, diplomatic missions and the private sector – and the closure of the UN human rights office in Sanaa followed by Houthi security forces storming the office Aug. 3.
Grundberg called it “an ominous signal” of the broader direction the Houthis are taking and said it represents “a serious attack” on the UN’s ability to work in Yemen.
Grundberg and Lisa Doughten, the UN humanitarian office’s finance director, demanded that the Houthis immediately release all those detained.
Doughten told the council a lack of funding is undermining efforts to meet critical needs across Yemen, where food security is deteriorating and an initial estimate of 60,000 suspected cholera cases between April and September swelled to more than 147,000 at the beginning of August.
Current funding is only able to tackle a quarter of the cholera cases, and UN health experts warn that without immediate new money “the number of suspected cases could further increase, potentially reaching more than 250,000 in just a few weeks,” she said.
As for hunger, Doughten said 60 percent of Yemenis surveyed lacked adequate food, and the rate of severe food deprivation in Houthi-controlled areas more than doubled – from 17 percent to 36 percent – compared with last year.
She said increasing food insecurity isn’t just a problem of hunger.
“Today, an alarming 30 percent of girls in Yemen are forced into marriage before the age of 18 as families struggle to provide for them,” Doughten said. “And the number of children out of school – currently at a staggering 4.5 million – is likely to rise as more children are forced to leave school to help provide for their families.”


WEF panel stresses correlation between environmental degradation and security

Updated 9 sec ago
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WEF panel stresses correlation between environmental degradation and security

DUBAI: “Safeguarding Nature, Securing People” was the title of a panel gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday which discussed the connected issues of environmental degradation and security.

The discussion also highlighted the impact of land degradation, droughts, and extreme weather events on human and national security.

Ibrahim Thiaw, undersecretary-general of the UN and executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, moderated the session and opened by saying that in many countries, security concerns were focused on “national security, armed forces and intelligence services, but we know that the environment is also affecting us deeply.”

Ilwad Elman, chief operating officer of the Elman Peace Centre, said that only recently had we “begun to draw the strong correlation and the intersection of the two crises of human security and (that) caused by environmental stressors and environmental aggregation” and added: “In Somalia, “we find ourselves right at the nexus of that.”

She added that food and water insecurity posed not only environmental challenges but also had a “direct linkage to the desperation that yields young people particularly to be motivated to join armed groups” — not because they agreed with the ideology, but “to be able to survive.”

Elman explained the Elman Peace Centre works on “sustainable peace building” and “the rehabilitation and reintegration of young people.”

It focuses on climate resilience even though that is not its main mandate because “the environments we’re sending people back to are changing so rapidly our peace building interventions were not sustainable,” she said.

Such crises are not only limited to developing countries. Ukraine, which supplies food to 400 million people globally, was unable to do so due to the war, according to the country’s Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitalii Koval.

Some 60 percent of Ukraine’s income comes from agrarian food exports, which has been drastically impacted. This, combined with the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, has had disastrous consequences for the country, he said.

Koval added: “It is very important that the world community should elaborate new mechanisms to respond, and these mechanisms need to be immediate — not tomorrow, not sometime in the future, (but) today.”

Conflicts undoubtedly exacerbate environmental stressors, but the opposite is also true.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir said: “Land degradation leads to conflicts, leads to violence, leads to extremism, leads to terrorism, leads to migration, leads to political instability, and leads to all of us paying an extremely high price to deal with the consequences of an issue that, had we paid attention to at the outset, would have cost us a fraction of the resources.”

The link between environmental degradation and security was “very clear, but we have not been paying sufficient attention to it,” he added.

Both Al-Jubeir and Elman said environmental and land degradation were not issues limited to desert or developing countries.

They pointed out the wildfires in California and the impact of such issues on declining water levels on Germany’s Rhine river and the Panama Canal. Drought has meant lower water levels, which means fewer ships can pass through, resulting in delays and increased shipping costs.

Elman also highlighted how the “discourse of climate change has only recently shifted from a very Global North perspective, overlooking the lived realities, the indigenous best practices and solutions from communities on the ground. Resources are distributed in a way that is, I would say, still very imperialistic.”

For example, Elman addressed a meeting of the UN Security Council on the effects of climate change on international peace and security in 2021. The resolution, put forth by Ireland and Niger, was vetoed despite 111 member states being in favor of it.

And so, she said, there was a need for “spaces that are able to move the agenda forward and recognize it as a security threat of global impact, and if the Security Council is not the place for that, other avenues need to be explored.”

Al-Jubeir responded: “If it’s not efficient enough, you do it unilaterally.”

Multilateralism was great for talks, he added, but “if those talks do not lead to concrete results, there should be nothing in the way of preventing countries who have the means to engage with other countries directly and put in place mechanisms that actually work.”

As an example, he said Saudi Arabia launched the Middle East Green Initiative that brought together over 22 countries in the region to help them adopt a circular carbon economy, along with other funding and knowledge-sharing programs that ensured a comprehensive approach. 


Houthis announce the release of the Galaxy Leader ship's crew, transferring them to Oman

Updated 2 min 56 sec ago
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Houthis announce the release of the Galaxy Leader ship's crew, transferring them to Oman


Why is Israel launching a crackdown in the West Bank after the Gaza ceasefire?

Updated 15 min 24 sec ago
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Why is Israel launching a crackdown in the West Bank after the Gaza ceasefire?

  • Prominent human rights groups call it a form of apartheid since the over 500,000 Jewish settlers in the territory have all the rights conferred by Israeli citizenship

In the days since a fragile ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip, Israel has launched a major military operation in the occupied West Bank and suspected Jewish settlers have rampaged through two Palestinian towns.
The violence comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces domestic pressure from his far-right allies after agreeing to the truce and hostage-prisoner exchange with the Hamas militant group. US President Donald Trump has, meanwhile, rescinded the Biden administration’s sanctions against Israelis accused of violence in the territory.
It’s a volatile mix that could undermine the ceasefire, which is set to last for at least six weeks and bring about the release of dozens of hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, most of whom will be released into the West Bank.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, and Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. Escalations in one area frequently spill over, raising further concerns that the second and far more difficult phase of the Gaza ceasefire — which has yet to be negotiated — may never come.
A rampage and a military raid
Dozens of masked men rampaged through two Palestinian villages in the northern West Bank late Monday, hurling stones and setting cars and property ablaze, according to local Palestinian officials. The Red Crescent emergency service said 12 people were beaten and wounded.
Israeli forces, meanwhile, carried out a raid elsewhere in the West Bank that the military said was in response to the hurling of firebombs at Israeli vehicles. It said several suspects were detained for questioning, and a video circulating online appeared to show dozens being marched through the streets.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military launched another major operation, this time in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, where its forces have regularly clashed with Palestinian militants in recent years, even before Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip triggered the war there.
At least nine Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, including a 16-year-old, and 40 were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The military said its forces carried out airstrikes and dismantled roadside bombs and “hit” 10 militants — though it was not clear what that meant.
Palestinian residents have reported a major increase in Israeli checkpoints and delays across the territory.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz cast the Jenin operation as part of Israel’s larger struggle against Iran and its militant allies across the region, saying “we will strike the octopus’ arms until they snap.”
The Palestinians view such operations and the expansion of settlements as ways of cementing Israeli control over the territory, where 3 million Palestinians live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority administering cities and towns.
Prominent human rights groups call it a form of apartheid since the over 500,000 Jewish settlers in the territory have all the rights conferred by Israeli citizenship. Israel rejects those allegations.
Netanyahu’s far-right partners are up in arms
Netanyahu has been struggling to quell a rebellion by his ultranationalist coalition partners since agreeing to the ceasefire. The agreement requires Israeli forces to withdraw from most of Gaza and release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners — including militants convicted of murder — in exchange for hostages abducted in the Oct. 7 attack.
One coalition partner, Itamar Ben-Gvir, resigned in protest the day the ceasefire went into effect. Another, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to bolt if Israel does not resume the war after the first phase of the ceasefire is slated to end in early March.
They want Israel to annex the West Bank and to rebuild settlements in Gaza while encouraging what they refer to as the voluntary migration of large numbers of Palestinians.
Netanyahu still has a parliamentary majority after Ben-Gvir’s departure, but the loss of Smotrich — who is also the de facto governor of the West Bank — would severely weaken his coalition and likely lead to early elections.
That could spell the end of Netanyahu’s nearly unbroken 16 years in power, leaving him even more exposed to longstanding corruption charges and an expected public inquiry into Israel’s failure to prevent the Oct. 7 attack.
Trump’s return could give settlers a freer hand
Trump’s return to the White House offers Netanyahu a potential lifeline.
The newly sworn-in president, who lent unprecedented support to Israel during his previous term, has surrounded himself with aides who support Israeli settlement. Some support the settlers’ claim to a biblical right to the West Bank because of the Jewish kingdoms that existed there in antiquity.
The international community overwhelmingly considers settlements illegal.
Among the flurry of executive orders Trump signed on his first day back in office was one rescinding the Biden administration’s sanctions on settlers and Jewish extremists accused of violence against Palestinians.
The sanctions — which had little effect — were one of the few concrete steps the Biden administration took in opposition to the close US ally, even as it provided billions of dollars in military support for Israel’s campaign in Gaza, among the deadliest and most destructive in decades.
Trump claimed credit for helping to get the Gaza ceasefire agreement across the finish line in the final days of the Biden presidency.
But this week, Trump said he was “not confident” it would hold and signaled he would give Israel a free hand in Gaza, saying: “It’s not our war, it’s their war.”


Qatar, Egypt, US using Cairo hub to monitor Gaza ceasefire

Updated 41 min 4 sec ago
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Qatar, Egypt, US using Cairo hub to monitor Gaza ceasefire

  • Negotiators tackling disputes, violations in bid to prevent escalation
  • Qatari official says ‘we’re banking on the support’ of Trump administration

LONDON: Negotiators from Qatar, Egypt and the US are operating a hub in Cairo to monitor and protect the ceasefire in Gaza amid concerns over violations, The Guardian reported.

US President Donald Trump took credit for the ceasefire deal, but said he was not confident that it would hold.

Majed Al-Ansari, an adviser to the Qatari prime minister and spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday: “If it wasn’t for (Trump) this deal wouldn’t be in place right now, so we’re banking on the support of this administration.”

Violations of the ceasefire, the first stage of which is set to last six weeks, have already been reported. On Monday, medics in Gaza said eight people had been struck by Israeli fire.

Negotiations on the second phase are expected to prove more challenging, and will begin early next month.

The hub aims to smooth communication between Israel and Hamas amid a dearth of trust. Timed hostage and prisoner releases have been spaced out to allow for coordination and time to solve disputes.

The deal “gives us enough time to exchange lists, agree on them, deal with any issues with the lists which might arrive and deal with any breaches,” Al-Ansari said.

Breaches are reported to the hub, which operates around the clock, and mediators speak to liaisons from Israel and Hamas in an attempt to prevent escalation.

“This is what has been happening in the last 48 hours. We got calls about possible breaches, we dealt with them immediately and the ceasefire held in place,” Al-Ansari said.


Libyan PM uncertain US policy on Libya will shift under Trump

Updated 45 min 3 sec ago
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Libyan PM uncertain US policy on Libya will shift under Trump

DAVOS: Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Al-Debeibeh on Wednesday said that opinions are mixed on whether a new US administration under President Donald Trump would shift its approach to the Libyan situation.

Panel moderator Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, editor of Foreign Affairs, asked Al-Debeibeh to reflect on Trump’s return and if his new term as president would affect Libya’s stability.   

“I believe not only Libya fears the return of Trump, many others, including Europeans, have somehow reservations and different views about how to perceive (it),” he told a panel on global security at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Al-Debeibeh said Libya’s ongoing political crisis cannot be solved only from the point of view of security.

“Our institutions are still weak,” he said. “If we only focus on security, this is not the best recipe to solve the problems we have. Like many examples, in Syria lately and Afghanistan, we (in Libya) reject the idea of security-(based) solutions only.

“There are alternatives that we need to look into, such as reviving our heritage, our economic fabric, and this is precisely what is going to be the building blocks leading to a long-lasting stability here.

“If Mr Trump, the new American administration or whoever is in charge, if they really want Libya to be stable, then they shall look to find other ways to help us, not only through security, because otherwise, we are going back to square one.

“Unfortunately, when the diagnosis is wrong, then the result is wrong.

“If we focus on security only, this is going to backfire at the end of the day.”

The panel on global security at WEF 2025 (WEF/Supplied)

Al-Debeibeh pointed to the fragility of state institutions and challenges to rebuilding a new Libya. But he said that his country is recovering slowly through the national unity government, and has managed to reestablish state institutions and services, today more than any time before.

“I have to tell you things are not rosy, but we somehow managed to recover to normal life in Libya and I would very much like thank the international community for backing us.”

He said the main challenge remains in the work to democratize Libyan society, saying that “democracy is the only solution.”

However, foreign intervention in Libya is a big challenge, because there are “powers who want to intervene, they want to impose their own agenda for many reasons.”

Yet, his country still needs to establish democratic institutions, a constitution that reflects Libyan society and to hold a referendum on the draft constitution. 

“We have enough of weapons, we need stability to begin with, we need to stabilize the economy because it is the way to stabilize the political situation. We have oil, we want foreign companies to come to invest in a win-win situation. So, the more the economy is stable, the more we have a stable country.”