عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Syria Returns Yemeni Embassy in Damascus to Legitimate Gov’t

Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak (Saba News)
Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak (Saba News)
TT
20
TT

Syria Returns Yemeni Embassy in Damascus to Legitimate Gov’t

Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak (Saba News)
Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak (Saba News)

The officially recognized Yemeni government has announced that it received an invitation from the Syrian government to reclaim its embassy in Damascus, following the eviction of the Houthi group’s representative from the premises.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Syrian side informed the Yemeni government of the decision to hand over the Yemeni mission in Damascus to the legitimate Yemeni government on Wednesday.

Mubarak pointed out that his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, informed him of this action, and the Houthi group’s representative was asked to hand over the embassy building and leave.

According to the Yemeni minister, the government is in the process of appointing a diplomatic mission to begin its tasks in Damascus soon.

Observers predicted that a similar step could come from Tehran.

The Houthi group’s ambassador, Ibrahim al-Deilami, still maintains control over the Yemen embassy’s headquarters in Tehran, despite the legitimate Yemeni government’s opposition.

These developments come in the wake of Arab reconciliation efforts led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, starting with the recent historic Jeddah summit, attended by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which marked Syria's return to the Arab League after an approximately 12-year suspension.

Furthermore, the resumption of Saudi-Iranian relations in March had positive implications for various regional issues, notably the Yemeni crisis, according to observers.

Mubarak pointed out that these positive outcomes are the “result of meetings held with the Syrian side in both Saudi Arabia and Egypt,” emphasizing Yemen's support for all Arab reconciliation efforts, reunification, and the resolution of conflicts.

Yemeni political and media consultant, Lutfi Naaman, sees the Syrian move as the beginning of a “new chapter in the official relations between the two countries under regional agreements.”

“We are now waiting for the decision of the Iranian authorities,” Naaman told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Back in September 2014, the Houthi group, which took control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, had appointed diplomatic missions in both Tehran and Damascus.

This was met with opposition from the legitimate Yemeni government, which called on both countries to respect international diplomatic norms and conventions.

A senior member of the Houthi government appeared to confirm the news in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

While there has been no official statement from the Syrian government, sources in Damascus informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the decision to remove the Houthi presence is seen as an attempt to revive Syria’s rapprochement with Arab nations.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

Shiny and Deadly, Unexploded Munitions a Threat to Gaza Children

Many casualties are children desperate for something to do or searching through the rubble. Eyad BABA / AFP/File
Many casualties are children desperate for something to do or searching through the rubble. Eyad BABA / AFP/File
TT
20
TT

Shiny and Deadly, Unexploded Munitions a Threat to Gaza Children

Many casualties are children desperate for something to do or searching through the rubble. Eyad BABA / AFP/File
Many casualties are children desperate for something to do or searching through the rubble. Eyad BABA / AFP/File

War has left Gaza littered with unexploded bombs that will take years to clear, with children drawn to metal casings maimed or even killed when they try to pick them up, a demining expert said.

Nicholas Orr, a former UK military deminer, told AFP after a mission to the war-battered Palestinian territory that "we're losing two people a day to UXO (unexploded ordnance) at the moment."

According to Orr, most of the casualties are children out of school desperate for something to do, searching through the rubble of bombed-out buildings sometimes for lack of better playthings.

"They're bored, they're running around, they find something curious, they play with it, and that's the end," he said.

Among the victims was 15-year-old Ahmed Azzam, who lost his leg to an explosive left in the rubble as he returned to his home in the southern city of Rafah after months of displacement.

"We were inspecting the remains of our home and there was a suspicious object in the rubble," Azzam told AFP.

"I didn't know it was explosive, but suddenly it detonated," he said, causing "severe wounds to both my legs, which led to the amputation of one of them."

He was one of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returning home during a truce that brought short-lived calm to Gaza after more than 15 months of war, before Israel resumed its bombardment and military operations last month.

For Azzam and other children, the return was marred by the dangers of leftover explosives.

'Attractive to kids'

Demining expert Orr, who was in Gaza for charity Handicap International, said that while no one is safe from the threat posed by unexploded munitions, children are especially vulnerable.

Some ordnance is like "gold to look at, so they're quite attractive to kids", he said.

"You pick that up and that detonates. That's you and your family gone, and the rest of your building."

Another common scenario involved people back from displacement, said Orr, giving an example of "a father of a family who's moved back to his home to reclaim his life, and finds that there's UXO in his garden".

"So he tries to help himself and help his family by moving the UXO, and there's an accident."

With fighting ongoing and humanitarian access limited, little data is available, but in January the UN Mine Action Service said that "between five and 10 percent" of weapons fired into Gaza failed to detonate.

It could take 14 years to make the coastal territory safe from unexploded bombs, the UN agency said.

Alexandra Saieh, head of advocacy for Save The Children, said unexploded ordnance is a common sight in the Gaza Strip, where her charity operates.

"When our teams go on field they see UXOs all the time. Gaza is littered with them," she said.

'Numbers game'

For children who lose limbs from blasts, "the situation is catastrophic", said Saieh, because "child amputees require specialized long-term care... that's just not available in Gaza".

In early March, just before the ceasefire collapsed, Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza. That included prosthetics that could have helped avoid long-term mobility loss, Saieh said.

Unexploded ordnance comes in various forms, Orr said. In Gaza's north, where ground battles raged for months, there are things like "mortars, grenades, and a lot of bullets".

In Rafah, where air strikes were more intense than ground combat, "it's artillery projectiles, it's airdrop projectiles", which can often weigh dozens of kilograms, he added.

Orr said he was unable to obtain permission to conduct bomb disposal in Gaza, as Israeli aerial surveillance could have mistaken him for a militant attempting to repurpose unexploded ordnance into weapons.

He also said that while awareness-raising could help Gazans manage the threat, the message doesn't always travel fast enough.

"People see each other moving it and think, 'Oh, they've done it, I can get away with it,'" Orr said, warning that it was difficult for a layperson to know which bombs might still explode, insisting it was not worth the risk.

"You're just playing against the odds, it's a numbers game."