Anticipated Military Victory in Yemen Confuses Insurgents, Drives them to Mobilize Forces

Yemen Houthi militants. (AFP)
Yemen Houthi militants. (AFP)
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Anticipated Military Victory in Yemen Confuses Insurgents, Drives them to Mobilize Forces

Yemen Houthi militants. (AFP)
Yemen Houthi militants. (AFP)

Houthi militias killed on Sunday a tribal leader in Dhamar city (100 kilometers south of Sanaa) along with four of his relatives in a continuation of their practices against supporters of former Yemeni President Ali Saleh and civilian, military and tribe members of his party following his death.

The group renewed on Sunday calls for its supporters to mobilize fighters in light of its anticipation and fear of the imminent military victory sought by the legitimate government and the Saudi-led coalition forces following recent field developments.

Houthi militants killed prominent tribal leader Sheikh Dhaif Allah Mothana along with his brother and two of his sons as they were passing a Houthi checkpoint in Dhamar, according to local sources and witnesses in the area.

They said that the militants objected to the tribal leader’s hanging of a Saleh poster on the window of his car. The situation then escalated and the militants broke the glass and shot Sheikh Mothana and his relatives.

Sources in Sanaa meanwhile said that head of the coup Presidency Council of Yemen Saleh al-Sammad met Sunday with officials loyal to the Houthis in Dhamar and Sanaa.

"We are heading to a new stage that requires supporting the fronts with popular momentum and vigils," Sammad said.

He also met Parliament Speaker Yahya al-Ra'i amid speculation that their talks were about the process of forcing the People's Congress party to support Houthis and rearranging it after Saleh’s death to ensure that it remains a political interface for the coup militia.

Houthis described Saleh as the “militia’s traitor leader" since he was assassinated on December 4 and his relatives, supporters and party leaders have been harassed in an attempt to blur everything related to him and criminalize all that glorifies him after the group looted his houses and the properties of his relatives.



Erdogan Warns No Place for 'Terrorist' Groups in Syria

This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
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Erdogan Warns No Place for 'Terrorist' Groups in Syria

This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said there was no place for "terrorist organizations" in Syria under its new leaders, in a warning regarding Kurdish forces there.

The fall of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad last month raised the prospect of Türkiye intervening in the country against Kurdish forces accused by Ankara of links to armed separatists.

Erdogan's comment came during a meeting in Ankara with the prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region, Masrour Barzani, the Turkish leader's office said in a statement.

Erdogan told Barzani that Türkiye was working to prevent the ousting of Assad in neighboring Syria from causing new instability in the region.

There is no place for "terrorist organizations or affiliated elements in the future of the new Syria," Erdogan said.

Ankara accuses one leading Kurdish force in Syria, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Türkiye.

The PKK has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is banned as a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.

The Turkish military regularly launches strikes against Kurdish fighters in Syria and neighboring Iraq, accusing them of PKK links.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: "The elimination of the PKK/YPG is only a matter of time."

He cited a call by Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group has long had ties with Türkiye, for the Kurdish-led forces to be integrated into Syria's national army.

The United States has backed the YPG in its fight against ISIS, which has been largely crushed in its former Syrian stronghold.

But Fidan warned that Western countries should not use the threat of IS as "a pretext to strengthen the PKK".