Yemeni Government Awaits UN Special Envoy’s Response on Hodeidah Plan

Yemeni Government Spokesman Rajeh Badi. Reuters
Yemeni Government Spokesman Rajeh Badi. Reuters
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Yemeni Government Awaits UN Special Envoy’s Response on Hodeidah Plan

Yemeni Government Spokesman Rajeh Badi. Reuters
Yemeni Government Spokesman Rajeh Badi. Reuters

The Yemeni government is still waiting for the response of UN Special Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to the proposals it has made concerning Hodeidah, mechanism of supplying its port revenues to the Central Bank and the payment of salaries.

A Yemeni government official said that Ould Cheikh did not provide any response to the plan to hand over the port of Hodeidah to a third party, under international supervision.

Yemeni Government Spokesman Rajeh Badi told Asharq Al-Awsat Tuesday that the initiative has many benefits for ensuring that port revenues reach the state treasury, consequently paying salaries of public sector employees.

The initiative would also stop weapons smuggling to coup militias in Yemen as well as end financing of arms dealers, who are still active in the black market and are dragging the country to conflicts among the Yemeni parties.

Badi referred to the tension and differences between the coup parties in Yemen, saying that what recently took place in the capital Sana’a is normal for an alliance that has been founded on the destruction of the country and lacks the right bases for the establishment of legal alliances. The skirmishes also indicate their fake intentions towards the Yemeni people.

Houthi and Saleh militias have more differences than similarities, the Yemeni government spokesman stressed, noting that observers and government officials have bet on the failure of this alliance because it is based on making personal gains and destroying Yemen.

The conflict in the capital Sana'a is prone to escalate and cause deaths among the ranks of coup leaders, Badi said, pointing out that they have never fulfilled their obligations and are not committed to any international agreements or peace treaties to avoid further conflict.

Notably, Houthi militias have carried out attacks and violations on UN and relief organizations in the period from 2015 to 2017 in the cities of Sana’a, Taiz, Hajja, Hodeidah, Ibb and Aden. They killed, kidnapped, closed outlets and offices and looted them, which confirms their efforts to block the delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need.



Erdogan: Kurdish Militia in Syria Will Be Buried If They Do Not Lay Down Arms

A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
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Erdogan: Kurdish Militia in Syria Will Be Buried If They Do Not Lay Down Arms

A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Kurdish fighters in Syria will either lay down their weapons or "be buried", amid hostilities between Türkiye-backed Syrian fighters and the militants since the fall of Bashar al-Assad this month.
Following Assad's departure, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG group must disband, asserting that the group has no place in Syria's future. The change in Syria's leadership has left the country's main Kurdish factions on the back foot.
"The separatist murderers will either bid farewell to their weapons, or they will be buried in Syrian lands along with their weapons," Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament.
"We will eradicate the terrorist organization that is trying to weave a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish siblings," he added.
Türkiye views the Kurdish YPG group- the main component of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union. Ankara has repeatedly called on its NATO ally Washington and others to stop supporting the YPG.
Earlier, Türkiye's defense ministry said the armed forces had killed 21 YPG-PKK militants in northern Syria and Iraq.
In a Reuters interview last week, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the first time, saying they had helped battle ISIS and would return home if a total ceasefire was agreed with Türkiye, a core demand from Ankara.
He denied any organizational ties with the PKK.
Erdogan also said Türkiye would soon open its consulate in Aleppo, and added Ankara expected an increase in traffic at its borders in the summer of next year, as some of the millions of Syrian migrants it hosts begin returning.