Several Killed, Wounded in Suicide Attack in Yemen’s Aden

Ten civilians and members of the police were killed in a suicide bombing in the southern Yemeni city of Aden. (Reuters)
Ten civilians and members of the police were killed in a suicide bombing in the southern Yemeni city of Aden. (Reuters)
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Several Killed, Wounded in Suicide Attack in Yemen’s Aden

Ten civilians and members of the police were killed in a suicide bombing in the southern Yemeni city of Aden. (Reuters)
Ten civilians and members of the police were killed in a suicide bombing in the southern Yemeni city of Aden. (Reuters)

Ten civilians and members of the police were killed on Tuesday in a suicide bombing in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, said police sources.

ISIS’ affiliate in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack that took place at a building in the Sheikh Othman district in the central part of the city.

Residents several kilometers (miles) away heard a large explosion and saw thick black smoke rising from the area.

The attack caused panic in this densely populated area, which is busy with schools, markets and street vendors.

Ambulances rushed to the site, where the building was badly damaged, and debris and body parts littered the area.

According to medical officials, six soldiers were killed but officials believe the death toll will rise. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the press.

ISIS claimed responsibility in an online statement, hours after the attack. It named the suicide bomber as Abu Hagar al-Adani, which indicates the attacker hailed from Aden.

The security building is an operations center for the UAE-trained Security Belt, a parallel body to the government's forces.



Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

Former head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks on Sunday with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose group led the overthrow of Syria's President Bashar Assad, with both expressing hope for a new era in relations between their countries.

Jumblatt was a longtime critic of Syria's involvement in Lebanon and blamed Assad's father, former President Hafez Assad, for the assassination of his own father decades ago. He is the most prominent Lebanese politician to visit Syria since the Assad family's 54-year rule came to an end.

“We salute the Syrian people for their great victories and we salute you for your battle that you waged to get rid of oppression and tyranny that lasted over 50 years,” said Jumblatt.

He expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

Jumblatt's father, Kamal, was killed in 1977 in an ambush near a Syrian roadblock during Syria's military intervention in Lebanon's civil war. The younger Jumblatt was a critic of the Assads, though he briefly allied with them at one point to gain influence in Lebanon's ever-shifting political alignments.

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he said, pledging that it would respect Lebanese sovereignty.

Al-Sharaa also repeated longstanding allegations that Assad's government was behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which was followed by other killings of prominent Lebanese critics of Assad.

Last year, the United Nations closed an international tribunal investigating the assassination after it convicted three members of Lebanon's Hezbollah — an ally of Assad — in absentia. Hezbollah denied involvement in the massive Feb. 14, 2005 bombing, which killed Hariri and 21 others.

“We hope that all those who committed crimes against the Lebanese will be held accountable, and that fair trials will be held for those who committed crimes against the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said.