Mouallimi: We are Contacting UN Officials to Correct Errors in their Reports

Saudi Ambassador to the UN Abdullah al-Mouallimi. (AFP)
Saudi Ambassador to the UN Abdullah al-Mouallimi. (AFP)
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Mouallimi: We are Contacting UN Officials to Correct Errors in their Reports

Saudi Ambassador to the UN Abdullah al-Mouallimi. (AFP)
Saudi Ambassador to the UN Abdullah al-Mouallimi. (AFP)

Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative at the United Nations Abdullah al-Mouallimi stated that the international organization’s recent report on Yemen was “inaccurate” and contained misleading information.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that Riyadh will continue communication with UN officials in order to clarify their report, which accused the Saudi-led coalition of being responsible for the death and injury of 683 children in Yemen.

He added that the report relied on weak sources and that the UN did not put any effort into finding strong ones.

Once the facts and information are obtained from the ground in Yemen, the UN would be able to monitor the humanitarian situation there better, explained Mouallimi.

Yemeni Ambassador to the US Ahmed bin Mubarak echoed the Saudi accusations, adding that the UN based its report on the findings of groups that are biased and politicized in their work in Yemen. These groups are close to either deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh or the Houthi militia.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the relief organizations that have been seized by coup forces in Yemen have sought to distort the facts and accuse the legitimate government and those aiding it of baseless charges.

“It is laughable to accuse the Yemeni government of recruiting children while the entire world witnesses child recruitment and has not lifted a finger to stop it,” he continued.

“The world has not condemned the recruitment of children and their use as human shields by the Houthis,” he noted.

Furthermore, the ambassador stressed that the Yemeni government set up, in cooperation with the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid, a center for the rehabilitation of children in order to allow them to once again return to normal life.

He wondered why this fact was not included in the UN report.



French Prosecutors Seek New Arrest Warrant against Bashar Assad

A bullet-riddled portrait of Syria's Bashar al-Assad adorns Hama's municipality following the city's capture by opposition forces on December 6, 2024. (AFP)
A bullet-riddled portrait of Syria's Bashar al-Assad adorns Hama's municipality following the city's capture by opposition forces on December 6, 2024. (AFP)
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French Prosecutors Seek New Arrest Warrant against Bashar Assad

A bullet-riddled portrait of Syria's Bashar al-Assad adorns Hama's municipality following the city's capture by opposition forces on December 6, 2024. (AFP)
A bullet-riddled portrait of Syria's Bashar al-Assad adorns Hama's municipality following the city's capture by opposition forces on December 6, 2024. (AFP)

French prosecutors said Monday they have requested a new arrest warrant against Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad over a deadly 2013 chemical attacks after a previous one was cancelled, AFP reported.

It is now up to investigating magistrates to decide whether to issue the new warrant.

French investigators have since 2021 been looking into a suspected Syrian government sarin gas attack that killed more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, on August 4 and 5, 2013, in the areas of Adra and Douma outside Damascus.

The Court of Cassation, France’s highest court, on Friday ruled there were no exceptions to presidential immunity, even for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, annulling a French warrant against Assad issued in 2023 when he was still leader.

It however added that, as Assad, who was toppled in December, was no longer president, new warrants could be issued and the French investigation could continue.

In November 2023, the French judiciary issued an arrest warrant against Assad on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes, in connection with the chemical attacks attributed to the Syrian government under his rule.

The French judiciary tackled the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby a court may prosecute individuals for serious crimes committed in other countries.

An investigation – based on testimonies of survivors and military defectors, as well as photos and video footage – led to warrants for the arrest of Assad, his brother Maher – then head of the Syrian army's fourth division – and two generals, Ghassan Abbas and Bassam al-Hassan.

Public prosecutors approved three of the warrants, but issued an appeal against the one targeting Assad, arguing he should have immunity as a head of state.

The Paris Court of Appeal in June last year however upheld it, and prosecutors again appealed.

Assad and his family fled to Russia, according to Russian authorities, after opposition fighters seized power on December 8.

Another French warrant is already out for Assad's arrest, issued in January for suspected complicity in war crimes for a bombing in the Syrian city of Daraa in 2017 that killed a French-Syrian civilian.