Houthi attacks in Red Sea derailing Yemen peace efforts, says US envoy

Special Houthi attacks in Red Sea derailing Yemen peace efforts, says US envoy
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Houthi militants board the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea, off Hodeidah, Yemen, Nov. 20, 2023. (Screengrab/Getty Images)
Special Houthi attacks in Red Sea derailing Yemen peace efforts, says US envoy
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A Southern Transitional Council (STC) fighter mans a mounted gun in the back of a pick-up truck, Aden, Yemen, Apr. 26, 2020. (AFP)
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Updated 03 April 2024
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Houthi attacks in Red Sea derailing Yemen peace efforts, says US envoy

Houthi attacks in Red Sea derailing Yemen peace efforts, says US envoy
  • Tim Lenderking says the strikes are also ‘complicating the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Yemenis and others in need, including the Palestinian people’
  • Meanwhile, at least 12 Yemeni government soldiers are killed and 12 wounded during Houthi attack in southern Yemeni province of Lahj

AL-MUKALLA: Attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea have hindered the progress of peace talks to end the war in Yemen, and impeded the delivery of crucial humanitarian support to countries dependent on aid, including Yemen itself and Palestine, a leading US official said on Wednesday.

Speaking after visits for talks to Saudi Arabia and Oman, Tim Lenderking, Washington’s special envoy for Yemen, said retaliatory strikes against Houthi targets by a US-led coalition have hampered the militia’s ability to attack international shipping.

“The Houthis must immediately halt their attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden because they are undermining progress on the Yemen peace process and complicating the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Yemenis and others in need, including the Palestinian people,” he said.

He praised the efforts of the US-led coalition ability to maintain security of Red Sea shipping lanes by minimizing the Houthi attacks, but said that a political settlement is needed to alleviate tensions.

“We favor a diplomatic solution, we know that there is no military solution,” Lenderking added.

For several months, the Houthis have been targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden with drones, ballistic missiles and remote-controlled boats. They say their actions are in support of the people of Palestine during the war in Gaza, and that they are only targeting ships bound for, or with connections to, Israel in an attempt to force authorities in the country to allow more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Lenderking described the attacks in the Red Sea as an “act of terrorism” and accused Iran of supporting them by providing the Houthis with weapons, financing and information. In January, Washington placing the Houthis back onto its list of terrorist organizations to put pressure on the group to halt their attacks on international maritime traffic. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had removed them from the list in February 2021.

Although there has been a significant decline in Houthi attacks on shipping over the past week, the militia’s leader, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, on Wednesday repeated his pledge that the strikes would continue until Israel lifts its siege of Gaza.

“Our people are targeting the Israeli enemy and preventing them from crossing and navigating the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean,” he said during a televised speech.

The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for any attacks on ships, or drone or missiles strikes against Israel, since March 26, despite repeated alerts from the US Central Command and US marine agencies about incidents in the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, at least 12 Yemeni government soldiers were killed and 12 wounded on Wednesday morning when the Houthis attacked their position in the southern Yemeni province of Lahj. It was the latest in a series of deadly attacks on government forces in Lahj, Dhale and Abyan.

An official from the Yemeni military in Aden told Arab News that forces loyal to the Southern Transitional Council in the Kirsh region of Lahj came under heavy artillery fire shortly before 1 a.m. on Wednesday, before the Houthis launched a ground assault that resulted in heavy fighting that left dozens dead or wounded on both sides.

“The Houthis used a variety of military tactics in their attack, including heavy cover fire,” said the official, who asked to remain anonymous. “They failed to make any gains on the ground and our soldiers were able to push them back.”

The attack on Wednesday raised the total number of deaths caused by Houthi attacks on pro-independence southerners to 20 in 10 days, following previous assaults in Dhale, Lahj and Abyan in which eight separatists were killed.


Senior Hezbollah official survives Israeli assassination attempt, sources say

Senior Hezbollah official survives Israeli assassination attempt, sources say
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Senior Hezbollah official survives Israeli assassination attempt, sources say

Senior Hezbollah official survives Israeli assassination attempt, sources say
  • The target, Wafiq Safa, heads Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies
  • Safa was the same Hezbollah official who in 2021 warned the judge investigating Beirut’s catastrophic 2020 port explosion against questioning politicians allied with the militia

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: A senior Hezbollah official eluded an Israeli assassination attempt on Thursday in Beirut, three security sources said, as Israeli strikes there killed 22 people and the UN said its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon were in growing danger.
Wafiq Safa, who heads Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies, was targeted by Israel on Thursday night but survived, the security sources said.
Earlier on Thursday, a Lebanese security source told Reuters that Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut targeted at least one senior official in Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The Israeli strikes hit a densely packed residential neighborhood of apartment buildings and small shops in the heart of Beirut. Israel had not previously struck the area, which is removed from Beirut’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah’s headquarters have been repeatedly bombed by Israel.
Israel did not issue evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes on Thursday, which were the deadliest attack on central Beirut since the beginning of the hostilities.
The number of casualties rose quickly, and as midnight approached the Lebanese Health Ministry reported 22 people killed and 117 wounded. Among the dead was a family of eight, including three children, who had evacuated from the south, according to a security source.
Reuters witnesses said at least one strike hit near a gas station and a thick column of smoke was visible. A large fire blazed in the background as rescue workers searched the rubble for survivors, according to video broadcast by Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television.
There was no immediate comment on the incident by Israel.
After Israel killed a series of high-ranking Hezbollah officials in recent weeks, including top leader Hassan Nasrallah, Safa was among the few surviving senior figures as the group’s upper echelons struggled to reorganize.
The attempt to kill Safa, whose role merges security and political affairs, marked a widening of Israel’s targets among Hezbollah officials, which previously focused on the group’s military commanders and top leaders.
Safa, whom Middle East media reports said was born in 1960, oversaw negotiations that led to a 2008 deal in which Hezbollah exchanged the bodies of Israeli soldiers captured in 2006 for Lebanese prisoners in Israel. The 2006 incident triggered a 34-day war with Israel.
Reuters also reported that in 2021 Safa warned the judge investigating Beirut’s catastrophic 2020 port explosion, who sought to question several politicians allied with Hezbollah, that Hezbollah would remove him from the probe.
The Israeli military issued a new evacuation warning on Thursday night for Beirut’s southern suburbs including specific buildings. Earlier in the day, Israel warned Lebanese civilians not to return to homes in the south to avoid harm from fighting.

 


S.Sudan floods affect 893,000, over 241,000 displaced: UN

S.Sudan floods affect 893,000, over 241,000 displaced: UN
Updated 10 October 2024
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S.Sudan floods affect 893,000, over 241,000 displaced: UN

S.Sudan floods affect 893,000, over 241,000 displaced: UN

NAIROBI: Some 893,000 people have been affected by flooding in South Sudan and more than 241,000 displaced, the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said Thursday in a grim update on the disaster.

Aid agencies have warned that the world’s youngest country, highly vulnerable to climate change, is facing its worst flooding in decades.

“Flooding continues to affect and displace people across the country,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

“Heavy rainfall and floods have rendered 15 main supply routes impassable, restricting physical access.”

OCHA said about 893,000 people were flood-affected in 42 of South Sudan’s 78 counties as well as the Abyei Administrative Area, a disputed zone claimed by both Juba and Khartoum.

It said Unity and Warrap states in the north of the country accounted for more than 40 percent of the affected population.

More than 241,000 people were displaced in 16 counties and the Abyei area “seeking shelter on higher ground,” OCHA added.

Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, the world’s youngest nation has remained plagued by chronic instability, violence and economic stagnation as well as climate disasters such as drought and floods.

The World Bank said in an October 1 update that the latest floods were “worsening an already critical humanitarian situation marked by severe food insecurity, economic decline, continued conflict, disease outbreaks, and the repercussions of the Sudan conflict.”

It said an estimated nine million people, including refugees, will experience “critical needs” in 2024.

The conflict in Sudan has seen more than 797,000 refugees pour into South Sudan as of September, the World Bank said, almost 80 percent of them South Sudanese returnees.

The country also faces another period of political paralysis after the presidency announced yet another extension to a transitional period agreed in a 2018 peace deal, delaying elections due to take place in December by another two years.

Key provisions of the transitional agreement remain unfulfilled — including the creation of a constitution and the unification of the rival forces of President Salva Kiir and his foe Reik Machar.

The delays have left South Sudan’s partners and the United Nations increasingly exasperated.

UN mission chief Nicholas Haysom said on Wednesday there was deep frustration and fatigue among the South Sudanese people.

The international community needed “tangible evidence that this country’s leaders are genuinely committed to a democratic future.”

South Sudan boasts plentiful oil resources, but the vital source of revenue was decimated in February when an export pipeline was damaged in war-torn Sudan.


Civilians flee Gaza’s Jabalia in tightening Israeli siege

Civilians flee Gaza’s Jabalia in tightening Israeli siege
Updated 10 October 2024
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Civilians flee Gaza’s Jabalia in tightening Israeli siege

Civilians flee Gaza’s Jabalia in tightening Israeli siege

GAZA CITY: Civilians fled heavy bombings in northern Gaza on Thursday as Israeli troops advanced on Jabalia refugee camp, leaving many trapped in the line of fire.

“The bombardment has not stopped. Every minute there are shells, rockets and fire on the buildings and everything that moves,” Areej Nasr, 35, told AFP after fleeing from Jabalia camp to Gaza City Thursday.

She said those wounded in strikes could not be rescued.

“No ambulance has arrived, and no one is assisting the wounded. There are dozens lying on the ground,” Nasr said.

The Israeli army, which said it had surrounded Jabalia over the weekend, issued new evacuation orders on Tuesday, telling residents to leave the camp and the entire Jabalia district around it.

Despite a year of strikes and fierce fighting, analysts say Hamas is regrouping.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said they currently cannot currently reach the wounded and dead in Jabalia, saying access is too complicated and dangerous at the moment.

“Many reports reach our teams, but unfortunately, we cannot access them, either because the area is a red zone or because the Israeli occupation is targeting that area,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP Thursday.

An AFP photographer in Jabalia Wednesday saw towering piles of rubble where buildings once stood, now littered with fragments of the belongings of former residents.

Several people took turns carrying a woman out of the camp by foot, her injured leg in a makeshift splint made of a broken piece of board salvaged from furniture.

The Israeli army on Thursday said it had “eliminated” more than 50 Palestinian combatants, “including those who fired anti-tank missiles toward the troops,” and “located large quantities of weapons, including AK-47, an RPG, and ammunition.”

Bassal said that at least 140 people have died in Jabalia alone so far during Israel’s latest operation in the camp.

Gaza City also suffered heavy artillery strikes, including on the Rimal neighborhood on Thursday, defense reported.

Bassal said the Rimal Clinic, which houses displaced Palestinians, was struck in a strike, killing at least two and injuring many.

Amjad Aliwa, an emergency physician at nearby Al-Shifa Hospital, once the largest medical complex in Gaza, said that a wave of injured people arrived after the bombing.

“The majority of the injured are children and women, with severe and serious wounds, including burns,” he told AFP, adding that “the number of injured is large, and our resources are limited.”

He said that teams “do not have the most basic medical supplies and necessities,” a reminder of the shortages that have hit the north of Gaza particularly hard since the start of the war.

Humanitarian organizations have complained that the drastic conditions brought about by current military operations have limited their work.

Louise Wateridge, spokeswoman for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said Thursday that “people have nowhere left to go, and the humanitarian space in Gaza continues shrinking.”

She said that between October 8 and 10, “118 attacks have impacted the area, in contrast to a total of 140 incidents recorded there in the entire month of September.”

She added that Jabalia refugee camp bore the brunt of these attacks, with 80.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s attack on October 7 last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which include hostages killed and who died in captivity.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 42,065 people in Gaza, most them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations has described as reliable.


Erdogan says Gaza ‘shame of humanity,’ calls for permanent ceasfire

Erdogan says Gaza ‘shame of humanity,’ calls for permanent ceasfire
Updated 10 October 2024
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Erdogan says Gaza ‘shame of humanity,’ calls for permanent ceasfire

Erdogan says Gaza ‘shame of humanity,’ calls for permanent ceasfire
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated his claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted ‘genocide’ and called it the ‘shame of humanity’
  • Erdogan branded Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the ‘butcher of Gaza’ and compared him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler

TIRANA: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his attacks on Israel as he arrived in Tirana Thursday, the first stop of a Balkans tour that will also take him to Serbia.
Repeating his claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted “genocide,” he branded it the “shame of humanity,” at a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
“The international community, we must do our best to urgently guarantee a permanent ceasefire and exert the necessary pressure on Israel,” he added.
“The genocide that has been going on in Gaza for the past year is the common shame of all humanity,” he added.
The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
According to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, 42,065 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, mostly civilians. The UN has said the figures are reliable.
Erdogan has branded Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the “butcher of Gaza” and compared him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.
“The aggression led by the Netanyahu government now threatens the world order beyond the region,” Erdogan said.
Later Thursday Erdogan, accompanied by Prime Minister Edi Rama, inaugurated the Great Mosque of Tirana.
The largest Muslim place of worship in the Balkans, it has a capacity of up to 10,000 people. The project, funded by Turkiye, cost 30 million euros.
Turkiye is also a major employer in Albania. As Erdogan said in February, over 600 Turkish companies operate in the country, providing jobs to more than 15,000 workers.
It is also one of the five biggest foreign investors in Albania, he said, with $3.5 billion (3.2 billion euros) committed.
The two NATO member countries also have close military ties, with Turkiye supplying Tirana with its Bayraktar TB2 drones.
For the second stage of his tour Erdogan traveled from Albania to Serbia, where he was greeted at Belgrade airport by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
Turkiye made a diplomatic comeback here in 2017 when Erdogan made a landmark visit to Belgrade.
The five century Ottoman presence in Serbia has traditionally weighed heavily on Belgrade-Ankara relations.
Another source of tension has been Turkiye’s historic ties with Serbia’s former breakaway province of Kosovo. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move Belgrade still refuses to recognize.
Erdogan’s 2017 visit repaired the relationship with Serbia, Belgrade analyst Vuk Vuksanovic told AFP.
But Belgrade was furious last year when Turkiye sold drones to Kosovo, something Serbia said was “unacceptable.”
The row could however still be patched up, Vuksanovic insisted.
“I would not be surprised if we see a military deal at the end of this visit,” he said.
He expected talks in Belgrade on Friday to focus on “military cooperation, the position of Turkish companies — and attempts by Belgrade to persuade Ankara to tone down support for Kosovo.”
While the rapprochement is relatively new, economic ties between the two countries are already significant.
Turkish investment in Serbia has rocketed from $1 million to $400 million over the past decade, the Turkiye-Serbia business council told Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency.
Turkish exports to Serbia hit $2.13 billion in 2022, up from $1.14 billion in 2020, according to official Serbian figures.
Turkish tourists are also important for Serbia, second only to visitor numbers from Bosnia.


Japan provides 950 million yen aid to affected regions in Syria

Japan provides 950 million yen aid to affected regions in Syria
Updated 10 October 2024
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Japan provides 950 million yen aid to affected regions in Syria

Japan provides 950 million yen aid to affected regions in Syria
  • The economic situation was further worsened by the February 2023 earthquakes
  • The UN estimates that 16.7 million people in Syria need humanitarian assistance in 2024

TOKYO: The government of Japan has committed approximately 915 million yen in partnership grant aid to support activities of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Syria.
The assistance aims to support humanitarian early recovery in regions affected by the crisis and the February 2023 earthquakes.
The Syria crisis entered its fourteenth year, and the situation continues to deteriorate, leading to further displacement and increasing hardships for the people.
The economic situation was further worsened by the February 2023 earthquakes, resulting in a significant loss of livelihoods and heightened vulnerabilities across the country.
The UN estimates that 16.7 million people in Syria need humanitarian assistance in 2024, the highest number since the onset of the crisis.
While continuing to deliver life-saving support, UNHCR has also expanded its humanitarian early recovery activities to improve socioeconomic conditions and resilience of affected people.
With the support from the government of Japan, UNHCR will enhance capacity-building and self-reliance of internally displaced people, returnees, and host communities in Aleppo, Homs, and Hama governorates affected by the crisis and earthquakes.
The initiatives encompass the rehabilitation of vocational training facilities to produce skilled workers, the small business start-up support to empower vulnerable people toward economic self-sufficiency, and the rehabilitation of civil registries and cadastral offices to facilitate access to critical legal services, enabling people to exercise their basic rights.
These initiatives represent a significant step toward improving the socioeconomic situation of the people in Syria.
UNHCR will continue to work closely with the government of Japan and the international community to further strengthen humanitarian early recovery in Syria.