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.



Trump's Idea to 'Clean Out' Gaza Threatens Jordan, Egypt, Analysts Say

Both Jordan and Egypt have repeatedly rejected any push to remove Palestinians from their land. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
Both Jordan and Egypt have repeatedly rejected any push to remove Palestinians from their land. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
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Trump's Idea to 'Clean Out' Gaza Threatens Jordan, Egypt, Analysts Say

Both Jordan and Egypt have repeatedly rejected any push to remove Palestinians from their land. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
Both Jordan and Egypt have repeatedly rejected any push to remove Palestinians from their land. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP

US President Donald Trump's proposal to uproot Gazans to Egypt and Jordan is a "hostile" move against the two US allies and aims to "liquidate the Palestinian cause", Jordanian analysts told AFP.

The US leader on Saturday floated an idea to "clean out" Gaza after more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas had reduced the Palestinian territory to a "demolition site".

"I'd rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change," Trump added.

He said the displacement of Gazans to neighboring Egypt and Jordan could be done "temporarily or could be long term".

For Oraib Rantawi, director of the Al Quds Center for Political Studies in Amman, the idea is "a hostile position" by the new US administration towards Palestinians, Jordan and Egypt.

Jordan already hosts 2.3 million Palestinian refugees and has repeatedly rejected any project aiming to make the kingdom an "alternative homeland".

"Our rejection of the displacement of Palestinians is firm and will not change. Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians," Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Sunday.

Rantawi said the idea was "a threat for the security and stability" of Israel's two neighbors, seeing a "message of pressure" for Amman and a "poisoned gift" for Cairo.

Such a plan would bring closer a wider displacement of Palestinians, particularly from the occupied West Bank to Jordan and aim to "liquidate the Palestinian cause at the expense of Arab countries", Rantawi told AFP.

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the "Nakba" or "catastrophe" -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948.

Trump's proposal comes after the United States issued a broad freeze on foreign aid except that destined for Egypt and Israel.

'Unrealistic'

Jordanian writer and political analyst Adel Mahmoud called Trump's idea "unrealistic" and a reflection of "the position of the Israeli far right" made under "a humanitarian pretext".

"Jordan and Egypt will not accept it," he added.

Egypt has previously warned against any "forced displacement" of Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai desert, and on Sunday rejected any infringement of Palestinians' "inalienable rights... whether temporarily or long-term".

"According to our experience of the 70 to 80 years of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, any temporary measure adopted by Israel ends up becoming permanent," Rantawi said.

Saleh al-Armouti, an MP with Jordan's main opposition Islamic Action Front party, said Trump's proposal was a "violation of Jordan's sovereignty" and a "declaration of war".

King Abdullah II has set out red lines including no "judaisation of Jerusalem, no resettlement of Palestinians and no alternative homeland", he said.