Yemen Urges Firm Action Against Houthis to Resume Oil Exports

Houthis aboard a vehicle in one of the streets of Sanaa, Yemen  (EPA)
Houthis aboard a vehicle in one of the streets of Sanaa, Yemen (EPA)
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Yemen Urges Firm Action Against Houthis to Resume Oil Exports

Houthis aboard a vehicle in one of the streets of Sanaa, Yemen  (EPA)
Houthis aboard a vehicle in one of the streets of Sanaa, Yemen (EPA)

The Yemeni government is calling on the international community to take firm stances and measures against the Houthi group. It also urged efforts to resume oil exports, which have been halted for a year due to Houthi attacks on export ports.

This call from the Yemeni government comes at a time when the Houthi group continues to violate the ceasefire, particularly in southwestern Taiz fronts.

This is happening concurrently with suppression campaigns targeting those demanding their salaries in areas under Houthi control.

With over 80% of Yemenis enduring dire circumstances due to the ongoing war and Houthi insurgency, the government emphasized, during its address to the 54th session of the Human Rights Council, the necessity of enabling it to resume oil exports.

This would allow the government to fulfill its urgent financial obligations to its citizens, including paying salaries that support the population in coping with challenging living conditions and financing food imports into both government-controlled areas and Houthi-run regions.

Nabil Abdulhafiz, the Deputy Minister of Human Rights in the Yemeni government, reaffirmed the support for the National Committee to investigate allegations of human rights violations.

The committee is regarded as an independent national mechanism that efficiently and independently carries out its work, receiving all necessary facilitations and cooperation to uncover the truth, achieve accountability, justice, and provide reparations to victims.

The Yemeni government called upon the members of the Human Rights Council to address the human rights situation in Yemen.

The appeal stems from Yemen’s need for support, technical assistance, and capacity-building to enable the government to meet its human rights commitments.

The government is also seeking to encourage and support the committee in continuing its mission to ensure accountability and justice.

Moreover, Abdulhafiz said that recent steps taken in reshaping the Supreme Judicial Council are evidence of the Presidential Leadership Council’s commitment to achieving justice and revitalizing its institutions.

Abdulhafiz further noted that his country’s government “remains committed to the humanitarian ceasefire and the execution of all its provisions, while militias continue to defy their obligations, including opening crossings and roads between all Yemeni cities and lifting the siege on the city of Taiz.”

The Yemeni official accused the Houthi group of persistently violating and attacking civilians and displacement camps in areas such as Marib, Al-Dhale, Hodeidah, and Taiz.

These provocations manifest in their military build-up, parades, threats, and the unlawful use of military force.

Abdulhafiz urged the international community and the Human Rights Council to press the Houthi militias to cease their violations, halt their looting of Yemeni resources, and cease targeting vital facilities and infrastructure.



Türkiye's Foreign Minister to Visit Iraq to Discuss Kurdish Militants and Security

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard and Sweden's Minister of Justice Gunnar Strommer (both not pictured) in Ankara, Türkiye, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard and Sweden's Minister of Justice Gunnar Strommer (both not pictured) in Ankara, Türkiye, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Türkiye's Foreign Minister to Visit Iraq to Discuss Kurdish Militants and Security

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard and Sweden's Minister of Justice Gunnar Strommer (both not pictured) in Ankara, Türkiye, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard and Sweden's Minister of Justice Gunnar Strommer (both not pictured) in Ankara, Türkiye, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will visit Iraq on Sunday for talks with officials on the fight against Kurdish militants, security issues and bilateral ties, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Saturday.

Ties between the neighbors have been rocky in recent years due to Ankara's cross-border military operations against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants based in northern Iraq's mountainous regions.

However, they have improved since Baghdad labelled the group a "banned organization" last year and the countries agreed to hold high-level security talks.

Fidan's visit comes amid repeated calls from Türkiye for the Kurdish YPG militia in northeastern Syria to disband following the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month, with Ankara warning of a new incursion unless its concerns are addressed.

The YPG spearheads the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Türkiye deems them terrorists that are an extension of the PKK, which the West also considers a terrorist organization.

The source said Fidan would meet Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and other Iraqi officials during the visit, adding he would repeat Ankara's expectation for Iraq to label the PKK a terrorist organization and remove it from its lands.

Fidan will emphasize the need for regional countries "to act together against this terrorist organization's attempts to gain legitimacy and ground," the source said, with bilateral ties and trade also be on the agenda.

On Thursday, Hussein said Türkiye attacking Kurdish forces in northern Syria would be dangerous and create more refugees.

Since Assad's toppling by an administration friendly towards Ankara, Syria's Kurdish factions have been on the back foot, and negotiators from the United States, Türkiye, Damascus and the SDF have been zeroing in on a potential deal on the group's fate.

Fidan's visit also comes amid a domestic political effort to end the decades-old conflict between Türkiye and the PKK.