UN Warns of Devastating Impact of Mines, Explosive Ordnance on Yemen’s Population

Safer tanker off the coast of Yemen (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Safer tanker off the coast of Yemen (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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UN Warns of Devastating Impact of Mines, Explosive Ordnance on Yemen’s Population

Safer tanker off the coast of Yemen (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Safer tanker off the coast of Yemen (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Yemeni Foreign Minister Dr. Ahmed bin Mubarak discussed on Tuesday with Resident Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen, David Gressly, the importance of expanding the application of decentralization in humanitarian work and the permanent presence of international organizations in the Yemeni governorates.

During a meeting in The Hague, the two sides reviewed the progress made in implementing the UN plan to address the issue of the Safer tanker, the floating oil storage and offloading vessel that is moored in the Red Sea north of the Yemeni city of Hodeidah.

Two weeks ago, the UN said it sent technical support to soon begin salvage 1.1 million barrels of oil from the Safer tanker moored off Yemen's coasts of Ras El-Ain.

The salvage operation is expected to cost $129 million. The UN said that $75 million had been received and another $20 million had been pledged.

The UN said it could still suspend the operation if it does not secure the remaining funds.

On Tuesday, Bin Mubarak appreciated the efforts being made and the contributions offered by the international community to avert an environmental catastrophe whose effects could last for decades.

An oil spill from the FSO Safer would destroy coral reefs and other sea life in the Red Sea, jeopardize hundreds of thousands of jobs in the fishing industry, and cut Yemen off from supplies of food and fuel, the United Nations and other organizations have warned.

During the meeting with Gressly, bin Mubarak tackled the mobilization of resources to deal with the issues of internal displacement and mine clearance.

Meanwhile, Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) and Head of the United Nations Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), Major General Michael Beary, briefed Tuesday, in a closed session, the Security Council on the situation in Hodeidah.

The General drew attention to the devastating impact of mines and explosive ordnance on the local population and assured the Council that UNMHA will continue to strengthen mine action coordination towards improving the situation.

Beary then reiterated commitment to furthering the UN's collective efforts toward stability and peace in Yemen.

The Saudi MASAM project in Yemen, overseen by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, has seen a milestone 400,000 landmines and unexploded ordnance cleared in more than five years.

 



Israeli Airstrike on Apartment Building in Lebanese Coastal Town Kills at Least 1

 A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)
A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Airstrike on Apartment Building in Lebanese Coastal Town Kills at Least 1

 A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)
A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in a coastal town south of Beirut killed at least one person, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

The ministry said 20 others were wounded in the strike Tuesday in Jiyeh, around 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the port of Sidon.

The attack hit an area that has not been a regular target of Israeli military operations and had not received prior evacuation warnings.

“It felt like it was inside the house,” Malika Al Hajj, an elderly woman living in the area, told The Associated Press. “I ran away — I don’t even know which neighbor brought me out, because everything was black. You couldn’t see anything.”

Once outside, Hajj said she discovered that the strike had hit the nearby building where her nephews live.

“Men, women and children” live inside, she said. “I just want to be reassured. I saw some of them, but the others, they told me, were taken to the hospital."

At the site of the strike, the building’s skeletal frame stands amid the rubble, its concrete shattered, windows blown out and metal twisted from the impact.

Families were seen leaving the area, carrying what belongings they could gather.

Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed at least 3,013 people and injured 13,553 others since Oct. 2023, the Lebanese government said on Tuesday.