Russia to reopen embassy in Yemen’s Aden early next year

Special Russia to reopen embassy in Yemen’s Aden early next year
A view of the downtown of the port city of Aden, Yemen, Oct. 31, 2019. (Reuters)
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Updated 08 October 2024
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Russia to reopen embassy in Yemen’s Aden early next year

Russia to reopen embassy in Yemen’s Aden early next year
  • Charge d’Affaires of the Russian Embassy in Yemen Evgeny Kudrov and Yemen’s FM Shaya Al-Zindani said the embassy would reopen at the beginning of next year
  • Kudrov also expressed his government’s support for the internationally recognized government of Yemen

AL-MUKALLA: Russia will reopen its embassy in Aden, Yemen’s interim capital, in early 2025. Coming nearly a decade after it closed, the news has boosted hopes for the reintroduction of foreign diplomatic missions in the southern city.

During a meeting in Riyadh on Tuesday, Charge d’Affaires of the Russian Embassy in Yemen Evgeny Kudrov and Yemen’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Shaya Al-Zindani said the embassy would reopen “at the beginning” of next year.

Kudrov also expressed his government’s support for the internationally recognized government of Yemen.

An official at the Yemen Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who asked to remain anonymous, said Russia had taken “serious” steps toward reopening the embassy. He added that India and some Gulf Cooperation Council states might follow suit by opening embassies in Aden.

Foreign diplomatic missions in Sanaa, Yemen’s official capital, were closed when the Houthis took power in the country a decade ago.

The city of Aden has experienced relative calm in recent years following the formation of the Presidential Leadership Council, which brought together rival Yemeni factions.

Shortly after being liberated from the Houthis in mid-2015 it experienced anarchy, with explosions, assassinations and bloody clashes. However, the Yemeni government says it is now safe and that security and military forces are willing to protect foreign diplomatic missions that relocate there. 

Russia’s announcement came a day after the Kremlin denied a Wall Street Journal report claiming that arms dealer Viktor Bout, released from the US during a prisoner swap in 2022, is negotiating a deal with the Yemen Houthi militia to provide them with small arms, including Kalashnikov assault rifles.

Last month, US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking expressed concern over news reports that Russia was in talks with the Houthis about supplying them with advanced anti-ship missiles.

Meanwhile, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Monday sanctioned Hamed Abdullah Hussein Al-Ahmer, a Yemeni MP and banking, oil, and telecom tycoon, as well as several other individuals and businesses, for their support of Hamas.

According to OFAC, Al-Ahmer, who is based in Turkey, is a major Hamas supporter and an agent for the group’s investments, which have which generated over half a billion US dollars.

Al-Ahmer is president of the Istanbul-based League of Parliamentarians for Al-Quds, which was founded in 2015 and operates banking, oil, media and telecom businesses in Yemen, Turkey and elsewhere.

“He is a key member of Hamas’ once-secret investment portfolio, which at its peak managed over $500 million worth of assets enabling Hamas’s leaders to live in luxury outside the Palestinian territories despite the real humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza,” the OFAC said.

Al-Ahmer has not officially responded to the US sanctions but on Monday, the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, he appeared on video expressing his support for the “resistance” of people in Palestine and Lebanon.

“We applaud the Palestinian and Gazan people’s resilience in the face of an attack by the Zionist destruction machine, which is supported by America and Europe,” he said.


New Israel FM says Palestinian state not ‘realistic’

New Israel FM says Palestinian state not ‘realistic’
Updated 15 sec ago
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New Israel FM says Palestinian state not ‘realistic’

New Israel FM says Palestinian state not ‘realistic’
JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state as a “realistic” goal, after Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas reiterated his commitment to a “sovereign” country.
“I don’t think this position is realistic today and we must be realistic,” the newly appointed minister said in response to a question about the creation of a Palestinian state in exchange for a normalization of ties between Israel and Arab countries.
The normalization drive was a part of the 2020 Abraham Accords overseen by Donald Trump, and the process could resume after the president-elect returns to the White House in January.
A Palestinian state would be “a Hamas state,” Saar added of the Palestinian militant group in Gaza with which Israel has been at war for more than a year.
Abbas, in comments carried by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, said Sunday that “security and stability” could only be achieved with the establishment of “sovereignty and independence on the land of the Palestinian state.”
The Palestinian Authority leader was speaking ahead of the 20th anniversary Monday of the death of iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Abbas also reaffirmed his push for “peace, and we will continue to work to achieve it.”
As Saar spoke in Jerusalem, Arab and Muslim leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia for a summit addressing the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, where Israel is also fighting Hamas ally Hezbollah.
A draft resolution at the summit stressed “firm support” for “national rights” for the Palestinian people, “foremost among which is their right to freedom and to an independent, sovereign state.”
The war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 43,603 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran, began firing on Israel after the October 7 attack.
The regular cross-border exchanges escalated in late September when Israel intensified its air strikes and later sent ground troops into southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah says Israeli army ‘unable’ to occupy any Lebanese villages

Hezbollah says Israeli army ‘unable’ to occupy any Lebanese villages
Updated 28 min ago
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Hezbollah says Israeli army ‘unable’ to occupy any Lebanese villages

Hezbollah says Israeli army ‘unable’ to occupy any Lebanese villages
  • Israeli troops on Sept. 30 began what military called “localized and targeted raids” against Hezbollah
  • Israel said aim is to make northern border safe for return of tens of thousands of Israelis displaced

BEIRUT: Hezbollah said on Monday that the Israeli military has been incapable of occupying even a single village in Lebanon since launching cross-border ground operations six weeks ago.
Israeli troops on September 30 began what the military called “localized and targeted raids” against Hezbollah in Lebanon’s southern border area, a week after escalating air strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
“After 45 days of bloody fighting, the enemy is still unable to occupy a single Lebanese village,” Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif told a news conference in south Beirut, a stronghold of the movement and a repeated target of Israeli air raids.
Hezbollah, armed and financed by Iran, had on October 23 issued a similar statement that said Israel’s army “has not been able to fully establish its control or completely occupy any village” in southern Lebanon.
Israel has said its aim is to make its northern border safe for the return of tens of thousands of Israelis displaced when Hezbollah began cross-border fire, which it described as support for Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza, more than a year ago.
On November 3, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops at the Lebanon border that the operation aimed to push Hezbollah back over the Litani River.
He said a second goal was to stop any attempt to rearm and the third was “to respond firmly to any action taken against us,” according to his office.
On Monday Hezbollah spokesman Afif said the group’s fighters had repulsed Israeli troops in Khiam, about six kilometers (four miles) from the border.
He added that the Israelis also failed in attempts “to penetrate on several fronts at Bint Jbeil,” about 17 kilometers southwest of Khiam.
Footage verified by AFP last week showed massive detonations in the village of Mais Al-Jabal, between Bint Jbeil and Khiam. Similar aerial scenes have been captured from several border villages since Israel sent in ground troops.
Hezbollah accuses Israel of seeking to create a “no man’s land” on the frontier.
Afif denied that Israeli strikes on Lebanon had diminished the group’s missile stock.
He asked how that could be the case “when we targeted the suburbs of Tel Aviv several days ago” and employed for the first time Fateh missiles.
The group announced on November 6 that it had begun to use Fateh-110 Iranian-made surface-to-surface guided missiles.
In a March report, the Center for Strategic and International Studies described Hezbollah as “probably the most heavily armed non-state group in the world,” with an estimated 120,000-200,000 rockets and missiles.
Asked about ceasefire prospects, Afif said that since the election of Donald Trump last week to the United States presidency, there were “contacts between Washington, Moscow, Tehran and other capitals.”
But he said, “according to my information nothing official has reached Hezbollah or the Lebanese state.”
Israeli strikes killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders but Afif said the group remains “ready for a long war.”


‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking

‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking
Updated 58 min 42 sec ago
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‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking

‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking
  • Corruption is endemic in the state institutions of oil-rich Iraq

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s anti-corruption agency on Monday announced an investigation into a prime ministerial aide over an alleged audio recording in which he referred to a bribe as being too small.
Corruption is endemic in the state institutions of oil-rich Iraq, but the top echelons of power often evade accountability.
The aide, Abdel Karim Al-Faisal, denied the accusation and has denounced on Facebook the “fabricated” audio clip.
In the recording obtained by Iraqi media, a man alleged to be Faisal criticized his interlocutor, during a phone call, for the bribe being “only $1 million.”
The Commission of Integrity anti-graft body said in a statement it was acting under a directive from Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani in opening “an investigation into an audio recording attributed to the head of the Commission of Advisers to the Prime Minister’s Office.”
It added that it was acting “in coordination with a criminal court judge handling anti-corruption cases.”
AFP was not able to authenticate the recording.
In the past few weeks several leaks of alleged recordings have shaken Iraq.
Last month, the chief of the tax bureau, Ali Alawi, was suspended for 60 days after an investigation opened following such a leak. An audio recording attributed to him led to accusations that he had granted tax reductions.
He was also placed in detention, a source with the Commission of Integrity told AFP, under cover of anonymity.
The former head of the integrity commission himself was fired, only to be given an advisory post at the justice ministry.
This came after judicial authorities in September had announced a probe into the integrity commission chief over alleged audio recordings attributed to him and related to suspected bribery.
It is not unknown in Iraq for public officials to try to settle scores by trading accusations.
One of the country’s biggest-ever corruption cases involved the theft of $2.5 billion in public funds from 2021 to 2022.
At the end of August, the judiciary issued arrest warrants for a businessman alleged to be the main suspect in that case, and for a former government official.


Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears

Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears
Updated 11 November 2024
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Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears

Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears
  • The meeting will come amid hopes of a truce in Israel’s war in Gaza suffering a setback with Qatar suspending its mediation role in the negotiations

WASHINGTON: Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday in Washington, the State Department said, as a deadline set by Washington to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza nears.
The meeting will take place at 5 p.m. ET (2200 GMT), according to the department’s public schedule, which did not offer further details.
Hopes for a truce in Israel’s war in Gaza suffered a setback, with Qatar suspending its role as a mediator in negotiations. Israel separately said on Monday there was progress in talks about a ceasefire in its war in Lebanon.
The US government said in an Oct. 13 letter that Israel had 30 days to take specific steps to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israel’s military assault in the last 13 months has displaced nearly the entire population, caused a hunger crisis and led to allegations of genocide at the World Court, which Israel denies.
Since that letter, Blinken has urged Israel to substantially increase humanitarian aid. Earlier this month, he spoke to Dermer and discussed a diplomatic solution in Lebanon as well as ending the war in Gaza, according to the State Department.
Some analysts say Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration may no longer have enough leverage after Republican Donald Trump won the US presidential election. He is set to take office on Jan. 20.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 43,000, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel’s separate military operations in Lebanon have killed over 3,000 and displaced over a million. Israel says it is targeting Lebanese Hezbollah militants. 


Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years

Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years
Updated 11 November 2024
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Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years

Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years
  • Zammel, a former lawmaker, businessman and head of a small liberal party, received around seven percent of the presidential vote

TUNIS: Former Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel was sentenced on Monday to two years and eight months in prison, raising his cumulative jail time to 35 years following previous trials.
Zammel, one of only two candidates allowed to stand against President Kais Saied last month, was arrested in early September, on the same day that the electoral authorities had approved his candidacy.
A court in Marouba, near the capital Tunis, “increased by two years and eight months” his sentence, after he was convicted of falsifying endorsements to stand in the election, his lawyer Abdessatar Messaoudi said.
Zammel, 47, has now been handed down cumulative sentences of 35 years in jail, Messaoudi said, adding that the former candidate was being prosecuted in 37 different cases.
Each endorsement alleged to have been falsified is grounds for opening a new case, he added.
Zammel, a former lawmaker, businessman and head of a small liberal party, received around seven percent of the presidential vote, whereas Saied won more than 90 percent, according to the Tunisian election board, ISIE.
Saied was democratically elected president in 2019 but two years later staged a sweeping power grab, dissolved parliament and revised the constitution.