UN, international community condemn Houthi drone attack on Yemeni oil terminal

UN, international community condemn Houthi drone attack on Yemeni oil terminal
Yemen’s internationally-recognized government said its forces had intercepted armed drones launched by the Houthi militia. (File/AFP)
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Updated 22 October 2022

UN, international community condemn Houthi drone attack on Yemeni oil terminal

UN, international community condemn Houthi drone attack on Yemeni oil terminal
  • US called on the Houthis to immediately halt such attacks
  • Arab countries and organizations also strongly condemned the incident

LONDON: The UN on Saturday condemned an armed drone attack launched By Yemen’s Houthi militia on a southern oil terminal in Hadramout province a day earlier, saying it was a “deeply worrying” military escalation.
“I condemn the aerial attack claimed by Ansar Allah yesterday, Oct. 21, against the vessel at Al-Dhabba oil terminal in Hadramout governorate,” the UN’s envoy to Yemen said referring to the Houthis by their official name.
“At this critical juncture, I call on the parties to show utmost restraint and double their efforts to renew and expand the truce, lay the groundwork for a permanent cease-fire, and activate a political process to end the conflict,” said Hans Grundberg.
“I reiterate that all parties must abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure,” he added in a statement.

Yemen’s internationally-recognized government said on Friday that drones launched by the Iran-backed Houthis attacked the Al-Dhabba oil terminal, located in the southern town of Al-Shihr, as the Nissos oil tanker was preparing to dock.
Grundberg held a phone call with Yemen’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak on Friday to discuss the “catastrophic consequences of the Houthi attacks on oil ports,” the minister had said, adding that he stressed that the Houthis are only “reinforcing the conviction that they are merely a terrorist group, not a peace partner.” He also called for the UN to take a “strong stance against these terrorist acts.”
Bin Mubarak said he also held a call with the US ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, to discuss the consequences of the attacks on civilian facilities and commercial ports, and how it would worsen the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, adding he “demanded strong measures to put an end to Houthi terrorism.”
Separately, Fagin said the US strongly condemned the incident and called on the Houthis to immediately halt such attacks, which hinder navigational rights and freedoms and jeopardize international commerce.
“We are glad that no lives were lost in the attack and that the ship was able to depart safely, but such attacks threaten Yemen’s peace and security, hinder the flow of essential goods, and will only trigger further economic instability and suffering across the country,” Fagin said in a statement.

“We remind the Houthis that the world is watching their actions and that the only path forward to ending eight years of destructive war is to deescalate and redouble efforts to reach a durable cease-fire and end Yemen’s conflict through a negotiated political settlement,” he said. “Only through an extension of the truce can we ensure payment of salaries, free movement on Yemen’s roads and through its ports and airports, and an end to the cycle of destructive violence that has plagued Yemen for eight years.”

The UK government said this is “a part of a pattern of Houthi attacks which hurt first and foremost the Yemeni people. Such attacks hinder the flow of trade which then directly increases the cost of key daily services and products for Yemenis. We urge the Houthis to stop harming  the Yemeni people.” 

The Delegation of the European Union to Yemen said: “Houthi attacks on international shipping are an affront to core principles of the law of the sea, jeopardizing freedom of navigation through the region’s waterways and blocking access to Yemeni ports. They deprive Yemenis the ability to afford fundamental necessities and could impact the flow of essential goods into Yemen.”

A UN-mediated truce in Yemen that had been in place since April, expired on Oct. 2 without the parties reaching an agreement, amid differences over payment of salaries for civil servants in Houthi-controlled areas, and the incident is the first major escalation since then.
During a separate call with Sweden’s envoy to Yemen Peter Semneby, the Yemeni foreign minister reiterated that the international community should take concrete measures to put an end to the Houthi-Iranian UAVs aggression.
The Arab League also condemned the attack and said that the present dangerous Houthi escalation represents a disregard and a defiance to the tireless international and regional efforts aimed at renewing the truce, adding that the militia’s targeting of oil ports will further deteriorate the humanitarian situation in Yemen, and would pollute the marine environment.
The Arab Parliament affirmed its full solidarity with the legitimate government in “whatever it takes to confront the coup militias,” asserting its rejection of the escalation by the Houthis and their determination to foil the peace efforts.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation stressed that the attack represents a threat to regional and international energy supplies, is a violation of UN Security Council Resolution No. 2216 and international laws and norms, and a threat to global energy corridors and the marine environment.
Secretary-General Hussein Ibrahim Taha called on the Iran-backed group to respond to international and regional efforts to renew the truce, and to cooperate with all efforts to reach a political and comprehensive solution to the Yemeni crisis.
The Gulf Cooperation Council also warned of the threat the attack poses on civil and economic facilities and global energy supplies and installations, and called on the international community to assume its responsibilities to ensure such acts are not repeated, in order to preserve the movement of trade and oil supplies, and maintain security and stability in the region.
Secretary-General Nayef Al-Hajraf affirmed the GCC’s firm position toward supporting everything that guarantees the security and stability of Yemen, backing the endeavours of the legitimate Yemeni government, and the UN efforts to renew the truce in Yemen and to reach a comprehensive political solution to end the war.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan also issued similar statements condemning the attack, calling it a dangerous escalation, and calling on the international community to unite efforts and take a decisive stance to stop the crimes committed by the Houthis.


Israel: 2 soldiers wounded in West Bank drive-by shooting

Israel: 2 soldiers wounded in West Bank drive-by shooting
Updated 58 min 56 sec ago

Israel: 2 soldiers wounded in West Bank drive-by shooting

Israel: 2 soldiers wounded in West Bank drive-by shooting
  • The attack was the third to take place in the Palestinian town of Huwara in less than a month
  • One soldier was seriously wounded and the second was in moderate condition

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said two soldiers were wounded, one severely, Saturday evening in a drive-by shooting in the occupied West Bank, the latest in months-long violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
The attack was the third to take place in the Palestinian town of Hawara in less than a month. One soldier was seriously wounded and the second was in moderate condition, the military said. A manhunt was launched as forces sealed roads leading to Hawara.
No Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the shooting attack, but Hamas, the militant group ruling the Gaza Strip, praised it.
“The resistance in the West Bank can surprise the occupation every time and the occupation cannot enjoy safety,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said.
Violence has surged in recent months in the West Bank and east Jerusalem amid near-daily Israeli arrest raids in Palestinian-controlled areas and a string of Palestinian attacks.
US-backed regional efforts to defuse tensions have led to the meeting of Israeli and Palestinian officials in Jordan and Egypt respectively, where parties hoped to prevent a further escalation during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
On Feb. 27, when Israeli and Palestinian officials met in Jordan’s Aqaba, a Palestinian gunman shot and killed two Israelis in Hawara. Another shooting attack in Hawara took place as the parties met again in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, wounding two Israelis.
Eighty-six Palestinians have been killed by Israeli or settler fire this year, according to an Associated Press tally. Palestinian attacks have killed 15 Israelis in the same period.
Israel says most of those killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for their future independent state.


Houthi drone attacks Yemen defense minister’s convoy in Taiz

File photo of Yemeni Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Mohsen Al-Daeri. (Screenshot)
File photo of Yemeni Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Mohsen Al-Daeri. (Screenshot)
Updated 25 March 2023

Houthi drone attacks Yemen defense minister’s convoy in Taiz

File photo of Yemeni Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Mohsen Al-Daeri. (Screenshot)
  • Muammar Al-Eryani, Yemen’s information minister, accused the Houthis of attempting to derail peace attempts

AL-MUKALLA: A Yemeni government soldier was killed and two others wounded on Saturday when an explosives-laden drone fired by Iran-backed Houthis attacked a convoy conveying senior military leaders, including Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Mohsen Al-Daeri, in the besieged city of Taiz, Yemeni officials and local media said.

A Yemeni government official told Arab News that the Houthis launched a drone at a convoy carrying the defense minister, the army’s chief of staff, and the governor of Taiz as they traveled from the Red Sea town of Mocha to Taiz. Al-Daeri and all other government officials were unhurt.

Muammar Al-Eryani, Yemen’s information minister, accused the Houthis of attempting to derail peace attempts.  

“This sinful targeting, which comes in the wake of the terrorist Houthi militia’s continuous escalation on multiple fronts, confirms its insistence on sabotaging efforts to restore the ceasefire and calm the situation,” the minister said on Twitter. 

Al-Eryani had earlier warned that large-scale military operations would resume throughout the nation if the Houthis continued their assaults on government soldiers, particularly in the central province of Marib. 

Scores of fighters have been killed or injured since early last week, when the Houthis began a series of intense assaults on government troops in the district of Hareb, south of Marib province, capturing a few villages.

Those attacks, as well as other less intense shelling and ground attacks in Taiz, have dashed hopes of a peaceful solution to the war, which had arisen following the latest successful round of prisoner-swap talks between the Houthis and the Yemeni government, which resulted in an agreement to release more than 800 prisoners during Ramadan.

Al-Eryani said Houthi raids in Hareb had resulted in the displacement of a significant number of people and posed the prospect of all-out conflict, which would put an end to the country’s relative peace since the UN-brokered ceasefire came into force in April last year.

Speaking to a group of military personnel in Taiz’s Al-Bareh on Friday, the minister pledged to defeat the Houthis, retake Sanaa and other areas currently controlled by the Iran-backed militias, and urged soldiers to remain alert.

“To reclaim every square inch of our territory, retake our capital, and restore our legitimate leadership to its proper position, we must all share the same spirit and direct our firearms against these militias,” the minister said. 

Brig. Gen. Mohammed Al-Kumaim, a Yemeni military analyst, said the Houthis have used the UN-brokered truce to regroup, and to target military officials and government-controlled areas. He suggested that the Yemeni government should abandon any agreements with the Houthis and resume military operations.

“Following this attack on the convoy of the highest military authority in the Yemeni army, the government is expected to terminate all accords, including the Stockholm Agreement, and unleash the fronts,” Al-Kumaim said.

Since October, the Yemeni government has labeled the Houthis a terrorist organization. It threatened to withdraw from the Stockholm Agreement and other agreements with the Houthis and resume military offensives when the Houthis shelled oil facilities in Hadramout and Shabwa with drones and missiles, halting Yemen’s oil exports.


Judicial overhaul legislation must be halted, Israel Defense Minister

Judicial overhaul legislation must be halted, Israel Defense Minister
Updated 25 March 2023

Judicial overhaul legislation must be halted, Israel Defense Minister

Judicial overhaul legislation must be halted, Israel Defense Minister
  • Gallant asked Netanyahu’s coalition to wait until after the Jewish passover holiday that begins on April 5
  • “I will not take part in this,” Gallant said

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called on Saturday for an immediate and temporary halt to the far-right government’s contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary, the first public dissent from within Prime Minister Benjamin’s coalition.

Citing the need for dialogue with the opposition, Gallant asked Netanyahu’s coalition to wait until after the Jewish passover holiday that begins on April 5 before pushing ahead with its divisive plan to overhaul the judiciary.

He said he is worried that the overhaul plans pose a threat to the country’s security. The plan has sparked the largest protest movement in Israel’s history, bringing thousands to face off against police in the streets weekly.

“I will not take part in this,” Gallant said, although did not elaborate on what would happen if the government pressed on. His statement indicated the first crack in Netanyahu’s coalition, the most right-wing government in Israeli history.

In recent weeks, discontent over the overhaul has even surged from within the Israeli army — what Israelis consider to be the country’s most respected and unifying institution. A growing number of Israeli reservists have threatened to withdraw from voluntary duty in the past weeks, posing a broad challenge to Netanyahu as he plows ahead with the reform while on trial for corruption.

“The events taking place in Israeli society do not spare the Israel Defense Forces — from all sides, feelings of anger, pain and disappointment arise, with an intensity I have never encountered before,” Gallant said in a televised address on Saturday after the end of the Jewish Sabbath. “I see how the source of our strength is being eroded.”

Gallant said that the national crisis over the judicial overhaul has created a “clear, immediate and tangible danger to the security of the state.”


Houthis restricting humanitarian flights arriving in Yemen’s Sanaa

Workers unload aid shipment from a plane at the Sanaa airport, Yemen in 2017. (Reuters/File Photo)
Workers unload aid shipment from a plane at the Sanaa airport, Yemen in 2017. (Reuters/File Photo)
Updated 25 March 2023

Houthis restricting humanitarian flights arriving in Yemen’s Sanaa

Workers unload aid shipment from a plane at the Sanaa airport, Yemen in 2017. (Reuters/File Photo)
  • Houthis said their decision was in response to an alleged barring of commercial flights to and from the Yemeni capital

SANAA: The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen said they were imposing severe restrictions starting Saturday on UN and other humanitarian flights arriving in the capital, Sanaa.

The Houthi-run Civil Aviation Authority said no humanitarian flights would land in Sanaa between March 25-30. It said in a statement they would allow such flights in Sanaa only on Fridays.

The Houthis said their decision was in response to an alleged barring of commercial flights to and from the Yemeni capital, and a ban of booking flights from Sanaa.

The UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Sanaa International Airport was partly reopened for commercial fights last year as part of a UN-brokered cease-fire deal between Yemen’s warring parties. The cease-fire expired in October when the two sides failed to reach a compromise to renew the truce.

The Houthi move comes amid an escalation in fighting in the central province of Marib, where the Houthis in recent days attacked government-held areas.

The Houthi restrictions on humanitarian flights is likely to exaggerate the suffering of Yemenis in Houthi-held areas, including the capital.

Yemen’s conflict has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. More than 21 million people in Yemen, or two-thirds of the country’s population, need help and protection, according to the UN.


Outrage in Lebanon after PM’s last-minute decision to delay daylight savings

Outrage in Lebanon after PM’s last-minute decision to delay daylight savings
Updated 25 March 2023

Outrage in Lebanon after PM’s last-minute decision to delay daylight savings

Outrage in Lebanon after PM’s last-minute decision to delay daylight savings
  • Move forces country’s Muslims to change fasting hours during Ramadan
  • Lebanese institutions on Saturday took divergent positions on the move

BEIRUT: An abrupt decision by Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to postpone the start of daylight saving time by one month has turned into a major political dispute, overshadowing the country’s dire economic crisis.
Despite repeat IMF warnings over the state of the Lebanese economy, the latest political controversy surrounding the postponement from March 25 to April 21 is dominating debate in the country.
The dispute over daylight saving time also involves religious and sectarian differences, and comes as Muslims mark the holy month of Ramadan. It means those fasting must break their fasts an hour earlier than planned.
Lebanese institutions on Saturday took divergent positions on the move. One media outlet said that it “will not abide by the decision and will commit to the universal time.”
According to one political observer, the dispute reflects a “political vacuum, given that an absurd decision was explained in a sectarian way.”
This dispute “showed the loss of confidence in the ruling political class and the scale of randomness that political action in Lebanon can slip into.”
The postponement caused confusion among institutions working with other states, notably the international airport, banks and mobile phone networks that automatically adjust to daylight savings each year.
Airlines were forced to reschedule flights, and the two major mobile networks in the country sent a written message to subscribers, asking them to “manually adjust the time on their mobile phones before the midnight of Saturday-Sunday, to avoid the time change on their screens.”
Secretary General of Catholic Schools Father Youssef Nasr said: “Private educational institutions and the Federation of Private Educational Institutions will abide by Mikati’s decision until it is reversed.”
Mikati’s move was met with sarcasm on social media platforms. One political activist said: “We are in the republic of wasting time.”
Another said: “It looks like Lebanon’s connection to the global system is not important.”
Other warned that the decision “was taken by leaders who do not acknowledge the presence of others in the country.”
Free Patriotic Movement MP Saeed Nasr said in a press conference: “Such decision leads to many problems and disruptions in software, applications and electronic devices that rely on daylight saving time in their operations, thus resulting in errors in setting times and dates, delaying production and delivery processes, which could possibly affect banks and SWIFT payments.
Meanwhile, amid political dispute over the postponement — with opposition to the move led by FPM MPs and MP Nadim Gemayel — the Lebanese Cabinet is scheduled to hold a session on Monday to discuss boosting salaries and incentives following a collapse in the wages of public and private sector employees.
Retired army members are likely to protest in Riad Al-Solh Square in central Beirut during the Cabinet meeting, following a similar move earlier this week.
Veteran representatives said that the call to protest came after negotiations with the government failed to meet their basic demands, especially fair and legal wages and an increase in medical and educational benefits.