Yemeni Prime Minister: Houthi Economic War Hits Harder Than Military Conflict

Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak called the new political alliance “a fresh voice and a renewed vision,” supporting national efforts to unite and free Yemen from Houthi control (Saba News Agency)
Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak called the new political alliance “a fresh voice and a renewed vision,” supporting national efforts to unite and free Yemen from Houthi control (Saba News Agency)
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Yemeni Prime Minister: Houthi Economic War Hits Harder Than Military Conflict

Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak called the new political alliance “a fresh voice and a renewed vision,” supporting national efforts to unite and free Yemen from Houthi control (Saba News Agency)
Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak called the new political alliance “a fresh voice and a renewed vision,” supporting national efforts to unite and free Yemen from Houthi control (Saba News Agency)

Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak said his government is eager to engage with a new political alliance of Yemeni forces launched in Aden.

He noted that the Houthis’ economic war is now hitting the Yemeni people’s daily lives harder than the military conflict.

On Tuesday, Yemeni parties and factions formed a coalition in Aden aimed at restoring the state, ending the Houthi takeover, and preserving the republic under a federal system.

Mubarak called the new political alliance “a fresh voice and a renewed vision,” supporting national efforts to unite and free Yemen from Houthi control.

He said his government is “fully open” to working with the coalition to restore the state, defeat the Houthi takeover, and achieve peace.

Mubarak stressed the need for unity under a national vision focused on stability, sovereignty, and building a strong, unified Yemen.

“We know the challenges ahead, but with our belief in our cause and the will of our people, we can make a difference,” he said.

The premier said the Houthi economic war has caused more damage than the military conflict, harming citizens’ lives, draining resources, and leading to higher poverty and unemployment rates, as well as a collapse in basic services.

He stressed the need for unity and support for state institutions to tackle the economic crisis, protect the national economy, and ease the burdens on citizens.

Mubarak said the Houthi militia’s ongoing economic war and attacks on oil facilities have severely hurt Yemen's economy. This has led to a sharp decline in the value of the rial, rising prices for basic goods, and worsened the humanitarian crisis affecting millions.

Mubarak stressed that the right to export oil and strengthen the national treasury is vital for the people, and the government is determined to stop the Houthis from blocking this crucial resource.

He also reaffirmed his government’s commitment to fighting corruption, improving transparency, and strengthening accountability in state institutions.

Steps will be taken to improve oversight and accountability, reiterated the prime minister.



An Israeli Strike that Killed 3 Lebanese Journalists Was Most Likely Deliberate

A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)
A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)
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An Israeli Strike that Killed 3 Lebanese Journalists Was Most Likely Deliberate

A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)
A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)

An Israeli airstrike that killed three journalists and wounded others in Lebanon last month was most likely a deliberate attack on civilians and an apparent war crime, an international human rights group said Monday.
The Oct. 25 airstrike killed three journalists as they slept at a guesthouse in southeast Lebanon in one of the deadliest attacks on the media since the Israel-Hezbollah war began 13 months ago.
Eleven other journalists have been killed and eight wounded since then, Lebanon's Health Minister Firass Abiad said.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, and women and children accounted for more than 900 of the dead, according to the Health Ministry. More than 1 million people have been displaced since Israeli ground troops invaded while Hezbollah has been firing thousands of rockets, drones and missiles into Israel - and drawing fierce Israeli retaliatory strikes.
Human Rights Watch determined that Israeli forces carried out the Oct. 25 attack using an air-dropped bomb equipped with a US produced Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, guidance kit.
The group said the US government should suspend weapons transfers to Israel because of the military´s repeated "unlawful attacks on civilians, for which US officials may be complicit in war crimes."
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the report.
The Biden administration said in May that Israel’s use of US-provided weapons in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but that wartime conditions prevented US officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
The journalists killed in the airstrike in the southeastern town of Hasbaya were camera operator Ghassan Najjar and broadcast technician Mohammed Rida of the Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV, and camera operator Wissam Qassim, who worked for Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.
Human Rights Watch said a munition struck the single-story building and detonated upon hitting the floor.
"Israel’s use of US arms to unlawfully attack and kill journalists away from any military target is a terrible mark on the United States as well as Israel," said Richard Weir, the senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Weir added that "the Israeli military’s previous deadly attacks on journalists without any consequences give little hope for accountability in this or future violations against the media."
Human Rights Watch said that it found remnants at the site and reviewed photographs of pieces collected by the resort owner and determined that they were consistent with a JDAM guidance kit assembled and sold by the US company Boeing.

The JDAM is affixed to air-dropped bombs and allows them to be guided to a target by using satellite coordinates, making the weapon accurate to within several meters, the group said.
In November 2023, two journalists for Al-Mayadeen TV were killed in a drone strike at their reporting spot. A month earlier, Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and seriously wounded other journalists from France´s international news agency Agence France-Presse and Qatar´s Al-Jazeera TV on a hilltop not far from the Israeli border.