US, Britain Launch Raids on Yemen Capital Sanaa, Elsewhere

File photo: Flames rise as people stand near an object that the Houthi military media says is an American MQ9 Reaper drone they have shot down, in a location given as Al Jawf Governorate, in Yemen, in this screengrab from a video released on November 8, 2024.  Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
File photo: Flames rise as people stand near an object that the Houthi military media says is an American MQ9 Reaper drone they have shot down, in a location given as Al Jawf Governorate, in Yemen, in this screengrab from a video released on November 8, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
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US, Britain Launch Raids on Yemen Capital Sanaa, Elsewhere

File photo: Flames rise as people stand near an object that the Houthi military media says is an American MQ9 Reaper drone they have shot down, in a location given as Al Jawf Governorate, in Yemen, in this screengrab from a video released on November 8, 2024.  Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
File photo: Flames rise as people stand near an object that the Houthi military media says is an American MQ9 Reaper drone they have shot down, in a location given as Al Jawf Governorate, in Yemen, in this screengrab from a video released on November 8, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS

The United States and Britain launched raids on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the Amran governorate and other areas, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement, reported on Sunday.
Houthi media and residents said about nine raids had targeted the Sanaa, its suburbs and Amran governorate, reported Reuters.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November last year, in solidarity with the Palestinians in Israel's war with Hamas.
The attacks have drawn US and British retaliatory strikes and disrupted global trade as ship owners reroute vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.



Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”