Yemen’s PLC Warns Houthis against Undermining Peace Efforts

The Presidential Leadership Council meets in Riyadh. (Saba news agency)
The Presidential Leadership Council meets in Riyadh. (Saba news agency)
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Yemen’s PLC Warns Houthis against Undermining Peace Efforts

The Presidential Leadership Council meets in Riyadh. (Saba news agency)
The Presidential Leadership Council meets in Riyadh. (Saba news agency)

The Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council warned on Sunday the Iran-backed Houthi militias against escalating the situation in the country and undermining peace efforts.

Tensions have soared in Yemen after the Houthis launched a series of attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea, prompting retaliatory strikes by the United States and UK against the militias.

The Houthis claim their attacks are a in solidarity with the Palestinian people amid Israel’s war on Gaza. They have said they are targeting vessels bound for Israel.

The PLC called on the international community to support its military forces to help them secure marine navigation in the Red Sea.

The council met in Riyadh to tackle the latest Houthi attacks in Yemen.

The militias attacked military positions on several fronts, using rockers and drones, in an attempt to make advances on the ground.

Official sources said the PLC discussed the security and military situation in Yemen, warning the “terrorist Houthis against escalating the situation on various fronts and exploiting the just Palestinian cause”.

PLC Chairman Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi chaired the meeting. He praised the readiness and vigilance displayed by the military and security forces in the battle of restoring the state and defending the republican system.

The meeting reviewed the repercussions the Houthi attacks are having on marine navigation, saying the militias were “desperate to militarize the regional waters, compound economic burdens, raise shipping costs and the prices of essential goods, and harm national sovereignty and the interests of the Yemeni people.”

The PLC hailed the “unity of the international community towards the Yemeni file and its united stance against the dangerous threats to global trade.”

It hoped the threats will reveal the “terrorist nature of the Houthi militias and the Iranian regime that supports them.” It also hoped that this would lead to more support to the government and coast guard, in line with a United Nations Security Council resolution that seeks to protect regional waters.

The PLC welcomed Washington’s re-designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization, hoping more sanctions will be imposed on them and that the international resolution on an arms embargo on Yemen would be imposed.

This is the best option to restore peace and stability in Yemen that the people deserve, it said.

The PLC instructed the government to make “coordinated efforts” with concerned parties to limit the impact the Houthi terrorist attacks in the Red Sea are having on living conditions, such as supplies of essential goods, reported Yemeni state media.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”