Yemen’s Alimi Calls for Int’l Efforts to Stop Arms Smuggling to Houthis

The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, met Monday with the US Ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, in Riyadh. SABA
The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, met Monday with the US Ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, in Riyadh. SABA
TT

Yemen’s Alimi Calls for Int’l Efforts to Stop Arms Smuggling to Houthis

The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, met Monday with the US Ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, in Riyadh. SABA
The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, met Monday with the US Ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, in Riyadh. SABA

The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, has said it was important for the international community to counter Iranian attempts so smuggle weapons to the Houthi militias.

Alimi met Monday with the US Ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, in Riyadh.

They discussed bilateral relations, the situation in Yemen and developments in the region and the world.

Alimi’s warning came as the Iran-backed Houthis have said they will continue to strike merchant ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in what they call solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

State news agency SABA quoted Alimi as saying that Houthi attacks on vessels had severe repercussions on the living conditions of Yemenis, the people in the region and their national economies.

Meanwhile, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg has returned to Muscat as part of his efforts to support the pace process that is set to end the conflict in Yemen.

Grundberg’s office said on “X” that the envoy met in Muscat with the spokesman of the Houthi militias, Mohammed Abdulsalam.

It said that Grundberg also held talks with senior Omani officials. “They discussed ways to make progress on a UN roadmap for Yemen and the need for broader de-escalation in the Middle East,” said the statement.

In his latest briefing to the UN Security Council last week, the envoy called “on the parties to refrain from unilateral escalatory measures and engage in good faith dialogue under the auspices of the UN to find common solutions through collaboration, and to turn disputes into opportunities to take the path towards common prosperity.”

He also called for separating the Yemeni crisis from other crises in the region, including the Israeli war on Gaza.



Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
TT

Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus began on Saturday, Gaza's Health Ministry said, as Palestinians in both the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel's ongoing military offensives.

Children in Gaza began receiving vaccines, the health ministry told a news conference, a day before the large-scale vaccine rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the UN World Health Organization. The WHO confirmed the larger campaign would begin Sunday.

“There must be a ceasefire so that the teams can reach everyone targeted by this campaign,” said Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, deputy health minister, describing scenes of sewage running through crowded tent camps in Gaza.

Associated Press journalists saw about 10 infants receiving vaccine doses at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel is expected to pause some operations in Gaza on Sunday to allow health workers to administer vaccines to some 650,000 Palestinian children. Officials said the pause would last at least nine hours and is unrelated to ongoing cease-fire negotiations.

“We will vaccinate up to 10-year-olds and God willing we will be fine,” said Dr. Bassam Abu Ahmed, general coordinator of public health programs at Al-Quds University.

The vaccination campaign comes after the first polio case in 25 years in Gaza was discovered this month. Doctors concluded a 10-month-old had been partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus after not being vaccinated due to fighting.

Healthcare workers in Gaza have been warning of the potential for a polio outbreak for months. The humanitarian crisis has deepened during the war that broke out after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were militants.

Hours earlier, the Health Ministry said hospitals received 89 dead on Saturday, including 26 who died in an overnight Israeli bombardment, and 205 wounded — one of the highest daily tallies in months.