Yemen’s Presidential Council Calls for Comprehensive Strategy to Deter the Houthis

Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, met in Riyadh with the US Ambassador. (Saba)
Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, met in Riyadh with the US Ambassador. (Saba)
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Yemen’s Presidential Council Calls for Comprehensive Strategy to Deter the Houthis

Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, met in Riyadh with the US Ambassador. (Saba)
Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, met in Riyadh with the US Ambassador. (Saba)

In light of mounting Houthi threats, the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council stressed that deterring the pro-Iranian group requires a comprehensive local, regional and international strategy.
For his part, US Ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin affirmed Washington’s support for the Yemeni government to strengthen its legal powers. This came during separate meetings and communications he held with the Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, and members of the Council, Aidaroos Al-Zubaidi, Tariq Saleh, and Othman Majli.
The official media reported that Al-Alimi met in Riyadh with the US Ambassador, and emphasized the need to support the government’s efforts to deter any threat to the state legitimacy, impose control over the entire Yemeni territory, and secure international shipping lines and vital national infrastructure.
According to the agency, the Yemeni official called on the donor community to fulfill its pledges to the humanitarian response plan through the Central Bank of Yemen, accelerate procedures for transferring the headquarters of international organizations and their local partners to the temporary capital, Aden, and strictly adhere to the legal status of the United Nations member state.
Al-Zubaidi, during a video call with Fagin on Wednesday, expressed the readiness of the Presidential Leadership Council to engage in any regional and international efforts aimed at putting an end to the terrorism practiced by the Houthi militias in Yemen and the region, whether by peace or war, while stressing that eliminating the Houthi threat requires cooperation between regional and foreign countries.
Saba quoted the US Ambassador as affirming the US government’s “support for all the measures taken by the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council to strengthen the state’s authority.”
He also stressed that his country was following with great concern the growing Houthi escalation in the international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and the Gulf of Aden, and is working side by side with local, regional and international partners to put an end to these threats, according to Saba.
Also, the US embassy’s account on X platform stated that Fagin discussed with member of the Presidential Leadership Council, Tariq Saleh, the continued US support to the Yemeni government, including strengthening cooperation with the Yemeni Coast Guard to enhance maritime security.

 



Syria Reportedly Foiled ISIS Plots on Sharaa's Life

FILE PHOTO: Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends a meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, October 15, 2025. Sputnik/Sergey Bobylyov/Pool via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends a meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, October 15, 2025. Sputnik/Sergey Bobylyov/Pool via REUTERS
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Syria Reportedly Foiled ISIS Plots on Sharaa's Life

FILE PHOTO: Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends a meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, October 15, 2025. Sputnik/Sergey Bobylyov/Pool via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends a meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, October 15, 2025. Sputnik/Sergey Bobylyov/Pool via REUTERS

Syria has foiled two separate ISIS plots to assassinate President Ahmed al-Sharaa, two senior officials said.

The sources, a senior Syrian security official and a senior Middle Eastern official, said the plots on Sharaa's life were foiled over the last few months.

According to Reuters, the sources said that, in one case, the ISIS plot was centered around a pre-announced official engagement involving Sharaa, declining to provide further details due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The Syrian information ministry declined to comment.

The reported plots came to light as Syria is poised to join a US-led global anti-ISIS coalition when US President Donald Trump hosts Sharaa on Monday for a historic White House meeting, the first ever by a Syrian head of state.

Over the weekend, the Syrian interior ministry launched a nationwide campaign targeting ISIS cells across the country, apprehending more than 70 suspects, government media said.

The senior Syrian security official said they were acting on intelligence that the group was planning operations against the government and Syrian minority groups.

It was also intended as a message that Syrian intelligence have deeply penetrated the group and that joining the coalition would bring a major asset to global operations against the militants.


Gaza Health Officials Say Israel Handed Over the Bodies of 15 Palestinians 

Palestinians sit outside their make shift homes along a road near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on November 9, 2025, following a US-brokered truce that halted the two-year war. (AFP)
Palestinians sit outside their make shift homes along a road near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on November 9, 2025, following a US-brokered truce that halted the two-year war. (AFP)
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Gaza Health Officials Say Israel Handed Over the Bodies of 15 Palestinians 

Palestinians sit outside their make shift homes along a road near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on November 9, 2025, following a US-brokered truce that halted the two-year war. (AFP)
Palestinians sit outside their make shift homes along a road near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on November 9, 2025, following a US-brokered truce that halted the two-year war. (AFP)

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said it had received on Monday the bodies of 15 Palestinian prisoners under the US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal.

"The ministry of health announces the receipt of 15 bodies of martyrs released today by the Israeli occupation through the Red Cross, bringing the total number of bodies received to 315" under the hostage-prisoner exchange deal, the ministry said.

They were returned in exchange for the remains of Israeli officer Lieutenant Hadar Goldin handed back to Israel the day before. Goldin was killed in the 2014 Gaza war.

Meanwhile, US envoy Jared Kushner held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday, the premier's office said, without providing further details.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently meeting in his office in Jerusalem with US President (Donald) Trump's special envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner," Netanyahu's office said.

Israeli media reports said that Kushner's visit came as Washington presses efforts to ensure that the US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza holds.


One Dead in Israeli Strike in South Lebanon

FILE PHOTO: People gather as smoke rises after Israeli strikes following Israeli military's evacuation orders, in Tayr Debba, southern Lebanon November 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Hankir/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People gather as smoke rises after Israeli strikes following Israeli military's evacuation orders, in Tayr Debba, southern Lebanon November 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Hankir/File Photo
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One Dead in Israeli Strike in South Lebanon

FILE PHOTO: People gather as smoke rises after Israeli strikes following Israeli military's evacuation orders, in Tayr Debba, southern Lebanon November 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Hankir/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People gather as smoke rises after Israeli strikes following Israeli military's evacuation orders, in Tayr Debba, southern Lebanon November 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Hankir/File Photo

An Israeli strike on a main highway in southern Lebanon killed one person Monday, the Lebanese health ministry said, as Israel intensifies attacks on the country.

Over the weekend, strikes killed five other people, with Israel accusing Hezbollah of rearming.

"An Israeli strike on a car in the area of Baissariyeh killed one person," the health ministry said Monday.

An AFP journalist saw a bombed out car on the road linking the cities of Sidon and Tyre, with traffic piling up as rescuers worked to retrieve the remains.

Despite a ceasefire in place since November 2024, Israel has kept up attacks on Lebanon, where it continues to hold five positions.

The European Union on Saturday joined a growing chorus of condemnation of Israel's intensified strikes, urging "to cease all actions that violate... the ceasefire agreement reached a year ago.”