New UN Efforts to Resolve Yemen’s Crisis

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (on screen), the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Yemen, briefs the Security Council via video conference. UN Photo/Kim Haughton
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (on screen), the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Yemen, briefs the Security Council via video conference. UN Photo/Kim Haughton
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New UN Efforts to Resolve Yemen’s Crisis

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (on screen), the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Yemen, briefs the Security Council via video conference. UN Photo/Kim Haughton
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (on screen), the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Yemen, briefs the Security Council via video conference. UN Photo/Kim Haughton

New York- UN special envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Friday that Yemenis should adopt the language of peace as a primacy for solving the Yemeni crisis.

“The UN will continue working with Yemenis to mainstream the language of peace and reach a political solution,” he said.

Speaking to the Security Council by video link, Ould Cheikh uncovered he had received a letter last month from the Houthis and the General People's Congress, a party led by ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, "reaffirming the need to build on what was discussed in the Kuwait talks,” which were suspended in August 2016.

The UN envoy said that in response to the Houthis, he has listed three demands: Meet him in a third country, discuss his proposals and turn them into a concrete agreement that would lessen the bloodshed and alleviate the human suffering, and commit to join those meetings as soon as possible.

"Every day we spend lingering without serious action towards a solution means more destruction and greater loss of lives,” Ould Cheikh said, adding that, “those who survived cholera will continue to suffer the consequences of 'political cholera' that infects Yemen and continues to obstruct the road towards peace.”

Before Ould Cheikh’s comments, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien also addressed the Council and said 17 million Yemenis are hungry, nearly 7 million facing famine, and about 16 million lack access to water or sanitation.

Separately, Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdel-Malak Al-Mekhlafi said on Friday that the legitimate government is ready to offer all the needed concessions for a solution to the Yemeni crisis in the framework of the three references based on the Gulf initiative, outcomes of Yemeni national dialogue and UN resolution 2216.



Coalition Bases in Northeast Syria on High Alert Amid Fears of Militia Attacks

US Bradley armored vehicles on patrol along the main road connecting Qamishli in the east to Tel Tamr in the west, in Syria’s Hasakah province.
US Bradley armored vehicles on patrol along the main road connecting Qamishli in the east to Tel Tamr in the west, in Syria’s Hasakah province.
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Coalition Bases in Northeast Syria on High Alert Amid Fears of Militia Attacks

US Bradley armored vehicles on patrol along the main road connecting Qamishli in the east to Tel Tamr in the west, in Syria’s Hasakah province.
US Bradley armored vehicles on patrol along the main road connecting Qamishli in the east to Tel Tamr in the west, in Syria’s Hasakah province.

US-led coalition forces in northeastern Syria were placed on high alert Friday following Israel’s military strikes against Iran, amid concerns that Iranian-backed militias in Iraq may retaliate with cross-border attacks.

Military sources reported that coalition bases in al-Hasakah province raised their alert level. Coalition aircraft conducted aerial patrols over the bases and along the Syrian-Iraqi border, anticipating potential attacks from factions aligned with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The precautionary measures come on the heels of Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion,” which targeted senior IRGC figures in Tehran in what Israeli officials described as a preemptive strike. In response, the Iraqi militia Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada warned it could dispatch dozens of suicide bombers to strike US interests if the conflict escalates.

Witnesses in northeastern Syria reported heavy aerial activity over al-Malikiyah and toward the Simelka-Faysh Khabur border crossing with Iraq’s Kurdistan Region early Friday. Troop movements were also observed within coalition bases.

According to local sources, over 100 trucks crossed from Iraq into Syria Thursday night via the al-Waleed border crossing. The convoy reportedly delivered military equipment, vehicles, weapons, fuel, and supplies to coalition bases in Kharab al-Jir, the Rmelan oil field, Kasrak (on the Qamishli-Tel Tamr road), and al-Shaddadi in southern Hasakah.

The heightened readiness follows a recent US decision to reduce its military presence in Syria, including the closure of three coalition facilities in Deir Ezzor province, among them the al-Omar oil field and the Conoco gas plant.

Despite the drawdown, sources say the coalition continues to receive weekly resupply shipments from its bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, maintaining its operations against ISIS cells and sustaining patrols in the region.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) carried out a joint operation with coalition forces targeting a suspected ISIS sleeper cell in the town of al-Mansoura, west of Raqqa. Three suspects were arrested, including two senior figures allegedly involved in bomb-making operations. A full curfew was imposed on the area during the raid.

The SDF confirmed it seized weapons, explosive devices, and documents, and vowed to continue its counterterrorism efforts in partnership with the international coalition.