WFP halts food shipments to Houthi-held parts of Yemen after militia seize warehouse

WFP halts food shipments to Houthi-held parts of Yemen after militia seize warehouse
The World Food Program has halted food shipments to Houthi-held areas of Yemen and suspended food distribution there after the militants looted one of its warehouses in the north, its deputy director said Thursday. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 17 April 2025
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WFP halts food shipments to Houthi-held parts of Yemen after militia seize warehouse

WFP halts food shipments to Houthi-held parts of Yemen after militia seize warehouse
  • WFP said 62 percent of households it surveyed couldn’t get enough food
  • The seizure was the latest friction between the Houthis and the United Nations

CAIRO: The World Food Program has halted food shipments to Houthi-held areas of Yemen and suspended food distribution there after the militants looted one of its warehouses in the north, its deputy director said Thursday.
The suspension is a further blow in the war-torn country, where hunger has been growing. In February, the WFP said 62 percent of households it surveyed couldn’t get enough food, a figure that has been rising for the past nine months. It estimates that some 17 million people – early half Yemen’s population — are food insecure.
Carl Skau, WFP’s deputy executive director and chief operating officer, told The Associated Press that Houthis seized the warehouse in the northern region of Saada in mid-March and took around $1.6 million in supplies.
The seizure was the latest friction between the Houthis and the United Nations. The militants in recent months have detained dozens of UN staffers, as well as people associated with aid groups, civil society and the once-open US Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital.
UN agencies, including the WFP, had already halted operations in Saada, the Houthis’ stronghold, in February after seven WFP staffers and another UN worker were detained, and one of the WFP members died in prison. It continued low-level operations in other parts of Yemen under the Houthis’ control.
After the seizure of the warehouse, the WFP halted shipments of new supplies to Houthi-held areas, Skau said.
“The operating environment needs to be conducive for us to continue,” he said. “We cannot accept that our colleagues are being detained, and much less so that our colleagues are dying in detention. And we cannot accept our assets are being looted.”
“It’s something we don’t take lightly because the needs are massive,” he said. “The humanitarian implications of this are deep and extensive … It’s clear the food security situation is deteriorating.”
Yemen has been torn by civil war for more than a decade. Houthi militants hold the capital Sanaa and much of the north and center of the country, where the majority of its population of nearly 40 million live. The internationally recognized government controls the south and west.
Throughout the war, Yemen has been threatened by hunger, nearly falling into full-fledged famine. The impoverished nation imports most of its food.
Skau said the WFP is seeking Houthi permission to distribute food that remains in other warehouses in the north. He said that if UN workers are released, it could resume programs distributing food to some 3 million people in Houthi-held areas.
The WFP is also providing food assistance to some 1.6 million people in southern Yemen, areas controlled by the government and its allies.
But the organization has warned its programs there could be hurt after US President Donald Trump’s administration has cut off funding for WFP’s emergency programs in Yemen.
A WFP official said the organization was reducing its staff in Yemen, and that around 200 employees – 40 percent of its workforce – have been given a month’s notice. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the personnel situation.
“We have now a challenge in the south when it comes to the funding,” Skau said. “But we’re hoping that that can be resolved moving forward.”


Libya fighting calms after truce announced

Libya fighting calms after truce announced
Updated 11 sec ago
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Libya fighting calms after truce announced

Libya fighting calms after truce announced
“Regular forces, in coordination with the relevant security authorities, have begun taking the necessary measures to ensure calm,” the defense ministry said
UNSMIL said it was “deeply alarmed by the escalating violence in densely populated neighborhoods of Tripoli“

TRIPOLI: The worst fighting in Libya’s capital for years calmed on Wednesday an hour after the government announced a ceasefire, Tripoli residents said, with no immediate statement from authorities on how many people had been killed.

Clashes broke out late on Monday after the killing of a major militia leader. After calming on Tuesday morning, the fighting reignited overnight, with major battles rocking districts across the entire city.

“Regular forces, in coordination with the relevant security authorities, have begun taking the necessary measures to ensure calm, including the deployment of neutral units,” the government’s defense ministry said.

The ministry said the neutral units it was deploying around sensitive sites were from the police force, which does not carry heavy weapons.

The United Nations Libya mission UNSMIL said it was “deeply alarmed by the escalating violence in densely populated neighborhoods of Tripoli” and urgently called for a ceasefire.

Monday’s clashes had appeared to consolidate the power of Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah, prime minister of the divided country’s Government of National Unity (GNU) and an ally of Turkiye.

However, any prolonged fighting within Tripoli risks drawing in factions from outside the capital, potentially leading to a wider escalation between Libya’s many armed players after years of relative calm.

The main fighting on Wednesday was between the Dbeibah-aligned 444 Brigade and the Special Deterrence Force (Rada), the last major armed Tripoli faction not currently in his camp, the English-language Libyan Observer reported.

Fighting also erupted in western areas of Tripoli that have historically been a gateway for armed factions from Zawiya, a town to the west of the capital.

WEEKS OF GROWING TENSIONS
Tripoli residents trapped in their homes by the fighting voiced horror at the sudden eruption of violence, which had followed weeks of growing tensions among armed factions.

“It’s terrorizing to witness all this intense fighting. I had my family in one room to avoid random shelling,” said a father of three in the Dahra area by phone.

In the western suburb of Saraj, Mohanad Juma said fighting would pause for a few minutes before resuming. “Each time it stops we feel relieved. But then we lose hope again,” he said.

Libya has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi and the country split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, though an outbreak of major warfare paused with a truce in 2020.

A major energy exporter, Libya is also an important way station for migrants heading to Europe and its conflict has drawn in several foreign powers including. Its main oil facilities are located in southern and eastern Libya, far from the current fighting in Tripoli.

While eastern Libya has been dominated for a decade by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA), control in Tripoli and western Libya has been splintered among numerous armed factions.

Dbeibah on Tuesday ordered the dismantling of what he called irregular armed groups.

That announcement followed Monday’s killing of major militia chief Abdulghani Kikli, widely known as Ghaniwa, and the sudden defeat of his Stabilization Support Apparatus (SSA) group by factions aligned with Dbeibah.

The seizure of SSA territory in Libya by the Dbeibah-allied factions, the 444 and 111 Brigades, indicated a major concentration of power in the fragmented capital, leaving Rada as the last big faction not closely tied to the prime minister.

Strong earthquake hits close to Egypt

Strong earthquake hits close to Egypt
Updated 31 min 8 sec ago
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Strong earthquake hits close to Egypt

Strong earthquake hits close to Egypt

CAIRO: A strong earthquake was recorded 431 km off the coast of northern Egypt on Wednesday, according to the country’s National Institute for Astronomical and Geophysical Research.

The earthquake measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, at a depth of 76 km.

It was felt throughout the Mediterranean, with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency stating that tremors were experienced in the Dodecanese islands and eastern Crete.

There have been no reports of loss of lives or property damage.


Israel army says killed Hezbollah militant in south Lebanon strike

Israel army says killed Hezbollah militant in south Lebanon strike
Updated 14 May 2025
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Israel army says killed Hezbollah militant in south Lebanon strike

Israel army says killed Hezbollah militant in south Lebanon strike

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said it killed a Hezbollah militant in a strike on south Lebanon on Wednesday, the latest attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group.
“Earlier today (Wednesday), the IDF (military) struck in the area of Qaaqaaiyet El Jisr in southern Lebanon, eliminating a Hezbollah terrorist who held the position of the commander of the Qabrikha area within the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” a military statement said.


Pope urges Middle East Christians not to abandon homelands

Pope urges Middle East Christians not to abandon homelands
Updated 14 May 2025
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Pope urges Middle East Christians not to abandon homelands

Pope urges Middle East Christians not to abandon homelands

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday hailed Christian communities in the Middle East who “persevere and remain in their homelands, resisting the temptation to abandon them” despite war, marginalization or persecution.
“Christians must be given the opportunity, and not just in words, to remain in their native lands with all the rights needed for a secure existence. Please, let us strive for this!” he told a meeting of Eastern Catholic Churches at the Vatican.
The pope also offered on Wednesday to mediate between leaders of countries at war, saying that he himself “will make every effort so that this peace may prevail.”
“The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies together, face to face, to talk to one another, so that peoples everywhere may once more find hope and recover the dignity they deserve, the dignity of peace. The peoples of our world desire peace, and to their leaders I appeal with all my heart: Let us meet, let us talk, let us negotiate!” he told a meeting of Eastern Catholic Churches.

Pope Leo XIV, the first American to head the global Catholic Church, pledged to make "every effort" for peace and offered the Vatican as a mediator in global conflicts, saying war was "never inevitable".
Leo, who was elected last week to succeed the late Pope Francis, has made repeated calls for peace in the early days of his papacy. His first words to crowds in St Peter's Square were "Peace be with all you".
He returned to the issue while addressing members of the Eastern Catholic Churches, some of which are based in conflict-ridden places such as Ukraine, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and often face persecution as religious minorities.
"The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies together, face-to-face, to talk to one another, so that peoples everywhere may once more find hope and recover the dignity they deserve, the dignity of peace," Leo said.
"War is never inevitable. Weapons can and must be silenced, for they do not resolve problems but only increase them. Those who make history are the peacemakers, not those who sow seeds of suffering," he added.
Pope Leo warned against the rise of simplistic narratives that divide the world into good and evil. "Our neighbours are not first our enemies, but fellow human beings," he said.
On Sunday, the pontiff called for an "authentic and lasting peace" in Ukraine, a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all Israeli hostages held by militant group Hamas, and welcomed the fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
Leo spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday in his first known conversation with a foreign leader as pope. He offered to facilitate peace talks as world leaders come to his inauguration mass, the Ukrainian leader said.
Zelenskiy hopes to be present for the event in St Peter's Square on May 18 and is ready to hold meetings on the sidelines, the Ukrainian leader's chief of staff Andriy Yermak told Reuters on Tuesday.


Trump meets new Syria leader after lifting sanctions

Trump meets new Syria leader after lifting sanctions
Updated 5 min 35 sec ago
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Trump meets new Syria leader after lifting sanctions

Trump meets new Syria leader after lifting sanctions
  • Al-Sharaa was named president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups
  • Trump said he agreed to meet with Al-Sharaa after being encouraged to do so by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Donald Trump became the first US president in 25 years to meet a Syrian leader on Wednesday after he offered sanctions relief in hopes of offering a new path to the war-battered country.
Trump, in Riyadh on the first state visit of his second term, met with Ahmed Al-Sharaa, an erstwhile Islamist guerrilla turned interim president after the December of longtime strongman Bashar Assad.
The two held brief talks ahead of a larger gathering of Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia during Trump’s tour of the region, a White House official said.
No US president has met a Syrian leader since Bill Clinton saw Hafez Assad, Bashar’s father, in Geneva in 2000 in a failed effort to persuade him to make peace with Israel.
Trump announced on Tuesday that he was lifting “brutal and crippling” Assad-era sanctions on Syria in response to demands from Sharaa’s allies in Turkiye and Saudi Arabia — in his latest step out of tune with US ally Israel.
Trump said it was Syrians’ “time to shine” and that easing sanctions would “give them a chance at greatness.”
Syrians celebrated the news, with dozens of men, women and children gathering in Damascus’s Umayyad Square.
“My joy is great. This decision will definitely affect the entire country positively. Construction will return, the displaced will return, and prices will go down,” said Huda Qassar, a 33-year-old English-language teacher.
The Syrian foreign ministry called Trump’s decision a “pivotal turning point” that would help bring stability.
The United States imposed sweeping restrictions on financial transactions with Syria during the brutal civil war and made clear it would use sanctions to punish anyone involved in reconstruction so long as Assad remained in power without accountability for atrocities.
Trump gave no indication that the United States would remove Syria from its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism — a designation dating back to 1979 over support to Palestinian militants that severely impedes investment.
Other Western powers including the European Union have already moved to lift sanctions but the United States had earlier held firm on conditions.
A senior envoy of the Joe Biden administration met Sharaa in Damascus in December and called for commitments, including on the protection of minorities.
In recent weeks, Syria has seen a series of bloody attacks on minority groups, including Alawites — the sect of the largely secular Assad family — and the Druze.
Israel has kept up a bombing campaign against Syria both before and after the fall of Assad, with Israel pessimistic about change under Sharaa and hoping to degrade the military capacity of its longtime adversary.
Rabha Seif Allam of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo said that the easing of US sanctions would allow Syria to reintegrate with the global economy, including by allowing bank transfers from investors and some of the millions of Syrians who fled during the civil war.
“Lifting sanctions will give Syria a real opportunity to receive the funding needed to revive the economy, impose central state authority and launch reconstruction projects with clear Gulf support,” she said.