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Houthis Accused of Turning Yemen into Drug Hub in Illicit Trade Worth Billions of Dollars

A Yemeni carries bundles of mild stimulant khat leaves during a social ceremony in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 June 2023 (issued 26 June 2023). (EPA)
A Yemeni carries bundles of mild stimulant khat leaves during a social ceremony in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 June 2023 (issued 26 June 2023). (EPA)
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Houthis Accused of Turning Yemen into Drug Hub in Illicit Trade Worth Billions of Dollars

A Yemeni carries bundles of mild stimulant khat leaves during a social ceremony in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 June 2023 (issued 26 June 2023). (EPA)
A Yemeni carries bundles of mild stimulant khat leaves during a social ceremony in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 June 2023 (issued 26 June 2023). (EPA)

As the world marked the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26, the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen were again accused of turning the country into a hub for drug trafficking in the region.

On the occasion, the US and the UK released statements revealing the volume of Houthi drug smuggling while the militias continue to claim that they have been destroying illicit substances that they seize.

On June 26, the British Embassy in Yemen said the country has become a frequent market and route for drug smuggling in the region and that such operations fuel conflict and organized crime and destabilize societies.

The embassy tweeted a posted by Rosie Dyas, Spokesperson for the British Government in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) region, as saying that HMS Lancaster seized more than 10 million Sterling pounds worth of narcotics and assisted a merchant vessel in three separate incidents in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf.

In May, sources said that American and international naval units in the Middle East seized illegal drugs worth $1 billion in 2022.

They revealed that during the past months, the Houthis had obtained equipment to build factories for the production of Captagon pills in regions under their control to smuggle them abroad.

Prior to the announcement, US Navy 5th Fleet spokesman Commander Tim Hawkins said the US Navy and partner forces seized more than $130 million worth of illegal drugs that were destined to Yemen and the region.

In April, the Yemeni Coast Guard said it seized a dhow carrying over three tons of drugs during an inspection at the port of Nishtun.

Minister of Information Muammar al-Eryani accused the Houthis of being behind the smuggling, which included over three tons of cannabis and 173 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and heroin. The government-run Saba news agency said the dhow was flying an Iranian flag and was manned by seven Iranian nationals.

Meanwhile, the Houthis claimed to have destroyed hashish and narcotic pills in what was viewed as a ploy to cover their drug smuggling activities.

The Security Media Center, the official Houthi media outlet, said it destroyed over 12 tons of hashish and 4.2 million narcotic pills in Al-Jawf province, northern Yemen.

A Yemeni judicial source said the Houthi claims are false because seizing a large quantity of drugs cannot happen without arresting part of the smuggling network.

He accused the Houthis of freeing a number of prisoners accused of drug smuggling during the past years, adding that the militias have cooperated with those smugglers.

The source, who works in Houthi-controlled areas, spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat about the flow of drugs into Yemen in recent years.

He revealed that the Houthis close the files of drug cases without punishing the smugglers or dealers to encourage the spread of drugs in Yemen and to blackmail small traffickers for military purposes.

Moreover, the source spoke of evidence of the Houthis’ use of drugs to recruit young men and children. They offer them narcotics for free to increase the number of Yemenis loyal to them, he explained.

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Arab World

Israeli Settlers Impeded Firefighting Near West Bank Village, Palestinians Say

Smoke rises after Israeli settlers reportedly set fire to agricultural fields surrounding the village of Taybeh, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 10, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises after Israeli settlers reportedly set fire to agricultural fields surrounding the village of Taybeh, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 10, 2026. (AFP)
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Israeli Settlers Impeded Firefighting Near West Bank Village, Palestinians Say

Smoke rises after Israeli settlers reportedly set fire to agricultural fields surrounding the village of Taybeh, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 10, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises after Israeli settlers reportedly set fire to agricultural fields surrounding the village of Taybeh, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 10, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli settlers obstructed Palestinians putting out a large blaze near a Christian village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank late on Tuesday, a local priest and Palestinian civil defense firefighters said.

The incident comes amid rising strife in the West Bank, where some Western countries announced sanctions on settler groups this week over violent Israeli attacks on Palestinians.

Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of Taybeh, said settlers had shot firearms and surrounded people trying to take a water tanker to the site to fight the fire.

The Israeli military also temporarily stopped firefighters reaching the blaze while they arranged security coordination, Palestinian Authority Civil Defense spokesperson Nael ‌al-Azza said.

The firefighters were ‌eventually able to reach the fire and put it out, ‌though ⁠settlers continued trying ⁠to obstruct them, Fawadleh and Azza said.

Israel's military did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the incident.

'ONGOING PATTERN OF INTIMIDATION'

Reuters visited the village on Wednesday and smoke was still rising from a large area of burned hillside.

Fawadleh said he believed the fire was a result of arson, but he did not say who he thought was responsible.

"What we are experiencing is not a series of isolated incidents, but an ⁠ongoing pattern of intimidation and unjustified violence that undermines our ‌fundamental right to safety, security, and dignity," he said ‌in a statement.

The West Bank and Jerusalem are home to around 50,000 Palestinian Christians, members ‌of a religious community there stretching back to antiquity in a region that is ‌home to many of the faith's most important holy sites.

Taybeh is one of the only Christian villages remaining in the West Bank and was visited last year by the Greek Orthodox patriarch and the Roman Catholic cardinal of Jerusalem.

Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 3.4 million Palestinians ‌in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war, which Palestinians see as part ⁠of a future ⁠state.

A UN inquiry released on Tuesday found that Israeli authorities were directly involved in settler attacks that have killed, injured and displaced Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel's mission in Geneva rejected that report's findings. Israel says its military and police maintain security in the West Bank and condemn any forms of violence.

Governance in the West Bank has been split since the 1993 Oslo Accords into different zones delineating Israeli military and Palestinian Authority control.

Parts of Taybeh are located in Area B, where the PA runs civil administration but where security control must be coordinated with Israeli authorities.

The movement and deployment of Palestinian emergency responders into Area B generally requires coordination with Israeli security bodies, Palestinians say.

Although the PA has a Civil Defense center in Taybeh, the Israeli military prevented them accessing the site of the fire until the security coordination was complete, Azza said.

Arab World

Asharq Al-Awsat Publishes Palestinian Factions’ Amendment to 8th Clause of Gaza Agreement

Palestinians are seen at a school sheltering displaced people in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday. (AFP)
Palestinians are seen at a school sheltering displaced people in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday. (AFP)
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Asharq Al-Awsat Publishes Palestinian Factions’ Amendment to 8th Clause of Gaza Agreement

Palestinians are seen at a school sheltering displaced people in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday. (AFP)
Palestinians are seen at a school sheltering displaced people in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday. (AFP)

Mediators of Gaza’s fragile ceasefire, along with Palestinian factions, are counting on US President Donald Trump’s administration to press Israel to accept the agreed wording on a 15-point roadmap received by Hamas last April.

Palestinian factions reached “close” positions with mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Türkiye on amendments to the roadmap, focusing mainly on the disputed eighth clause on weapons in Gaza.

The amended wording of the eighth clause, seen by Asharq Al-Awsat, calls for the inventorying and storage of weapons, including infrastructure, to be carried out gradually and in stages, according to a timetable.

The process would take place in parallel with Israel’s withdrawal from the areas it controls in the Gaza Strip and the completion of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement with all its requirements.

Those include “the full implementation of the humanitarian protocol, the halt to targeted attacks, Israel’s commitment to withdrawal from the enclave, the entry of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and its assumption of duties, the deployment of the International Stabilization Force, and the dismantling of armed militias.”

The amendment added that implementation shall be carried out through the national committee, with the support of international forces and in cooperation with Palestinian organizations.

All of this comes within the framework of Trump’s plan and in accordance with relevant international resolutions and laws.

Indirect talks between Israel on one side and Hamas and other factions on the other have stalled over moving to new phases of the Gaza ceasefire announced last October, which Israel has repeatedly breached, killing more than 970 Palestinians since then.

The Palestinian side has insisted on implementing the requirements of the first phase, including the Israeli army’s withdrawal from the territory it occupies and the entry of aid and goods into Gaza. Tel Aviv, meanwhile, is pressing for the factions to disarm, describing this as the most prominent provision of the second phase.

Hamas delegation stays in Cairo

According to two Hamas sources and other sources from Palestinian factions involved in the Cairo meetings, the Hamas delegation was asked to stay in Cairo and await the response to the agreed wording.

Other faction delegations that had come from abroad left, while some members who had recently been based in Egypt remained.

A Hamas source said the movement’s delegation in Egypt would likely be asked to hold further consultations with the mediators on some issues that Israel, and even the Trump administration, may object to in the proposed amendments, mainly over the text rather than the substance.

According to the four sources, the mediators told the factions that took part in the meetings that they would seek agreement with the US administration and Israel on the wording reached and would brief them on developments from consultations with all parties.

Another Hamas source said Türkiye was playing “an important and major role” in persuading the US administration, while Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was in direct contact with US envoy Steve Witkoff to push for the success of the important step that had been reached.

Nickolay Mladenov, the High Representative for Gaza at the Board of Peace, is expected to arrive in Cairo on Wednesday or Thursday.

But a source close to the Board of Peace team told Asharq Al-Awsat that Mladenov would likely begin his visit “in Israel first, to reach understandings with officials there before moving on to Cairo.”

Palestinian sources were pessimistic about Israel’s response and expected it to be “negative” toward the wording of the roadmap amendments.

Arab World

Attacks on Gulf States...an Obstacle to Egypt-Iran Rapprochement

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during his meeting with his Iranian counterpart in Cairo in December 2024 (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during his meeting with his Iranian counterpart in Cairo in December 2024 (Egyptian Presidency)
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Attacks on Gulf States...an Obstacle to Egypt-Iran Rapprochement

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during his meeting with his Iranian counterpart in Cairo in December 2024 (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during his meeting with his Iranian counterpart in Cairo in December 2024 (Egyptian Presidency)

After two years of steadily improving ties that appeared to be moving toward the restoration of full diplomatic relations, Egypt and Iran now seem to be facing a major setback. Egypt views Iran's current war and the subsequent attacks it carried out against Gulf states as a violation of one of its key conditions for fully normalizing relations: that Iran must not threaten the security of the Gulf or the wider region.

In a series of official statements and comments, Egypt has strongly condemned the Iranian attacks targeting Gulf Arab states, describing them as a dangerous escalation, a blatant violation of national sovereignty, and a direct threat to regional security and stability.

In its latest position, Egypt on Wednesday condemned "in the strongest terms" what it described as Iran's attacks on Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, saying they constituted "a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of these sisterly states and a highly dangerous escalation that threatens the security and stability of the entire region," according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

Egypt stressed that "the security and stability of sisterly Arab states are an integral part of Egyptian and Arab national security," reiterating its categorical rejection of any actions or practices that undermine state sovereignty or threaten territorial integrity and security. It also underscored the importance of de-escalation and respect for international law in order to preserve regional security and stability.

For its part, Iran has been seeking to restore momentum in its relationship with Egypt. On Monday, Iran's mission in Cairo announced that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had met in Tehran with Mojtaba Ferdowsi, head of Iran's Interests Section in Cairo, to discuss the course of bilateral relations.

According to the mission, Ferdowsi briefed Araghchi on the latest developments in relations between the two countries, as well as ongoing political contacts and cooperation in several fields.

The mission said Araghchi emphasized the importance of continuing bilateral consultations, adding that Egypt-Iran relations had made notable progress in recent years and that "continuous dialogue and consultation between Cairo and Tehran constitute an important pillar in supporting efforts for peace and stability in the Middle East."

Egyptian and Iranian presidents and their delegations on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia in October 2024 (Egyptian Presidency)

Bare Minimum

Diplomatic relations between Egypt and Iran were severed in 1979 before being resumed 11 years later at the chargé d'affaires level.

Over the past two years, Egyptian and Iranian officials have held a series of meetings to discuss the possibility of developing relations further. Progress gained momentum in May 2023 following a presidential directive in Iran instructing the Foreign Ministry to take the necessary steps to strengthen relations with Egypt.

The period also saw meetings between the two countries' foreign ministers, as well as encounters between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and both Iran's late president Ebrahim Raisi and current President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Asked about the prospects for advancing bilateral ties under current circumstances, former Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed El-Orabi said there was little room at present to speak of further development in Egypt-Iran relations.

"The region is experiencing turmoil that requires maintaining only the minimum level of relations necessary to manage the situation, reduce tensions and prevent further escalation," he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He added: "The situation is not as dynamic as Tehran portrays it. There are certainly contacts and consultations, but they are aimed at addressing concerns that could further destabilize the region, not at deepening relations. Egypt rejects Iran's attacks on Gulf states and has strongly condemned them. That message has reached Iran, which is now trying to restore the level of rapprochement that existed before the current war."

File: The Egyptian Foreign Minister and his Iranian counterpart in Cairo (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)

Tarek Fahmy, professor of political science and international relations at Cairo University, said Egypt had approached Iran cautiously even before the war because of a longstanding lack of trust.

"Even when Iran responded by changing the name of Islambouli Street, named after the assassin of President Anwar Sadat, Egyptian officials stressed that this was not the basis of Egypt's demands for restoring relations with Iran," Fahmy said.

"There were broader political and security requirements related to regional security, foremost among them the security of the Gulf states and non-interference in Arab affairs."

He added that despite Iranian assurances intended to demonstrate goodwill and meet Egypt's requirements, which helped advance relations to some extent, Iran's current war and the subsequent attacks directed at Gulf states prompted Egypt to stand firmly behind Gulf security.

The Message Was Received

During two phone calls with the Iranian president in March and May, Sisi stressed Egypt's categorical rejection of any violation of Gulf states' sovereignty.

"The message has reached Iran, and Tehran has taken notice of it," Fahmy said. "It is now working to address the issue in an effort to restore the trajectory of relations with Cairo."

According to Fahmy, Iran wants Egypt to be one of the principal parties involved in any current or future negotiations with the United States, Israel or the International Atomic Energy Agency because of Egypt's credibility and its ability to maintain channels of communication with all sides.

"Tehran understands that its negotiations cannot rely on Pakistan alone," he said, adding that Iran also views Egypt as a key stabilizing force for regional security and stability.

Nevertheless, Fahmy does not expect Cairo to restore full diplomatic relations with Tehran unless Iran fulfills Egypt's conditions and requirements.

"Egypt will not take that step unless stability and balance are restored in the Gulf and the region as a whole," he said.