Yemen Underlines Need for 'All Good Forces' to Confront Militias

Yemen’s President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi delivers a speech in the southern port city of Aden March 21, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer
Yemen’s President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi delivers a speech in the southern port city of Aden March 21, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer
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Yemen Underlines Need for 'All Good Forces' to Confront Militias

Yemen’s President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi delivers a speech in the southern port city of Aden March 21, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer
Yemen’s President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi delivers a speech in the southern port city of Aden March 21, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi underlined the need to defeat militias in the country, while the legitimate government called for the “participation of all good forces” to confront the insurgents.

Hadi said that Houthi militias were determined to be used as an Iranian tool in the killing, displacement and destruction of the country.

“We have no choice but to triumph over the forces of darkness in the interest of the new federal Yemen, as we have two paths: the victory of legitimacy and the new federal Yemen, or dependence on the forces of darkness represented by the Iranian Houthi militias,” Hadi said, during his meeting with the European Union Ambassador to Yemen, Antonia Calvo.

The Yemeni official news agency (Saba) said that Hadi reviewed with the EU ambassador “recent developments in Yemen and the exclusion of the Houthis of those who were their partners.”

The Yemeni president also stressed the importance of the role assumed by the European Union in “standing up to the violations committed by Houthi militias against innocent people in Sanaa, including children and women.”

The EU ambassador, for her part, expressed her satisfaction with the meeting, as it provided additional information on the latest developments in the Yemeni arena. She also emphasized “the EU’s position in support of peace, security and stability in Yemen.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdulmalik al-Mekhlafi said, during a separate meeting with the EU ambassador, that the government was keen to “preserve all good Yemeni political forces in the face of Houthi militias” and strengthen efforts to regain control over the state.

He also underlined the commitment of the Yemeni government to harness all land and maritime ports to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid and provide safe corridors to citizens.



Former Iraq President Named UN Refugee Chief, Document Shows

Former Iraqi President Barham Salih. (Reuters)
Former Iraqi President Barham Salih. (Reuters)
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Former Iraq President Named UN Refugee Chief, Document Shows

Former Iraqi President Barham Salih. (Reuters)
Former Iraqi President Barham Salih. (Reuters)

Iraq's former president Barham Salih has been chosen as the next High Commissioner for Refugees for the United Nations, a letter showed on Friday, breaking with a tradition of appointing leaders from major donor countries.

The letter, signed by UN Chief Antonio Guterres and dated December 11, says Salih has been appointed for a five-year term beginning January 1.

He replaces Italy's Filippo Grandi, a veteran UN official, who has held the position since 2016. The appointment is provisional and needs to be approved by UNHCR's Executive Committee, the document showed.

Salih, a British-educated engineer from Iraq's Kurdish region, faces major challenges with global displacement at record highs and about double the levels it was when Grandi first began.

In parallel, funding has fallen this year as key donors like the United States have cut back and other Western donors have shifted funds to defense.

About a dozen candidates were competing for the role, including several politicians as well as an IKEA executive, an ER doctor and a TV personality. More than half of them were from Europe, in keeping with a tradition of the Geneva-based agency's chief coming from top donor states.

 


Trump: ‘We Actually Do Have a Real Peace in the Middle East’

US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the Congressional Ball in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 11, 2025. (Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP)
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the Congressional Ball in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 11, 2025. (Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP)
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Trump: ‘We Actually Do Have a Real Peace in the Middle East’

US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the Congressional Ball in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 11, 2025. (Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP)
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the Congressional Ball in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 11, 2025. (Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP)

US President Donald Trump has said that there are prospects for “a real peace in the Middle East.”

When asked by a reporter at the White House about reports that he was planning to appoint an American two-star general to command the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza, Trump said Thursday: “We actually do have a real peace in the Middle East ... it’s never happened before and I think it’s very strong actually.”

The ceasefire, in effect since October 10, halted the war but it remains fragile as Israel and Hamas accuse each other almost daily of violations.

The agreement is composed of three phases. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently indicated that he expected the second phase to begin soon.

That phase involves the Israeli army pulling farther back, the ISF deploying to Gaza, and a new governing structure coming into force, including the Trump-led Board of Peace.

Trump told reporters Wednesday that he's planning to announce the Gaza Board of Peace in early 2026.

Gaza’s population of around 2 million is almost entirely displaced, and most people live in vast tent camps stretching along the coast, or set up among the shells of damaged buildings.


Series of Israeli Strikes Hit Lebanon

A convoy of Lebanese army vehicles drives near the border with Israel in the village of Alma al-Shaab during a Lebanese army media tour in south Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A convoy of Lebanese army vehicles drives near the border with Israel in the village of Alma al-Shaab during a Lebanese army media tour in south Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Series of Israeli Strikes Hit Lebanon

A convoy of Lebanese army vehicles drives near the border with Israel in the village of Alma al-Shaab during a Lebanese army media tour in south Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A convoy of Lebanese army vehicles drives near the border with Israel in the village of Alma al-Shaab during a Lebanese army media tour in south Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A series of Israeli strikes hit south and east Lebanon on Friday, state media reported, as Israel's army said it was targeting Hezbollah sites, the latest such raids despite a year-old ceasefire.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes in around a dozen locations, including up to around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, citing at times "heavy raids".

Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, and has also kept troops in five areas it deems strategic, reported AFP.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces "struck a training and qualification compound" used by Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force where operatives "underwent shooting exercises and additional training on the use of various types of weapons".

The army also "struck additional Hezbollah military infrastructure in several areas in southern Lebanon", it said.

According to the ceasefire, Hezbollah was required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers from the border with Israel, and have its military infrastructure there dismantled.

Under a government-approved plan, Lebanon's army is to dismantle Hezbollah's military infrastructure south of the Litani by the end of the year, before tackling the rest of the country.

The sites struck on Friday were generally north of the river.

Earlier this week, Israel launched a series of strikes on southern Lebanon, also saying it hit a Hezbollah training center and other targets.