Exclusive- Houthis in Muscat Soon to Discuss Int’l Proposal

The Yemeni capital Sana’a on Dec. 3, 2017. Photo: Mohammed Huwais/AFP
The Yemeni capital Sana’a on Dec. 3, 2017. Photo: Mohammed Huwais/AFP
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Exclusive- Houthis in Muscat Soon to Discuss Int’l Proposal

The Yemeni capital Sana’a on Dec. 3, 2017. Photo: Mohammed Huwais/AFP
The Yemeni capital Sana’a on Dec. 3, 2017. Photo: Mohammed Huwais/AFP

A Houthi delegation is expected to move from Sana’a to Muscat aboard a UN airplane in the next few days to attend talks led by international and regional parties aimed at achieving peace in Yemen, informed Yemeni sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The sources spoke on Thursday about talks that kicked off with Omani officials concerning proposals made by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson regarding the Yemeni file.

When the British Foreign Office was asked whether London has made any move or proposal in this regard, the office’ spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny any UK initiative concerning Yemen.

“The British government supports all diplomatic efforts for solving the conflict in Yemen and also backs all UN efforts to bring parties to the negotiating table,” the spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, diplomats told Asharq Al-Awsat that US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called on all permanent members of the Security Council to visit Washington on January 29 and hold high-level meetings with US officials. 

The sources said that those meetings, which could include one with President Donald Trump, would prove Iran’s role in exporting arms to Yemen, including ballistic missiles to Houthi militias, in addition to Tehran’s role in shaking stability in the Middle East by supporting Lebanon's “Hezbollah.”

The diplomatic sources also spoke about a Russian-Western dispute that took place at a UN closed meeting when Moscow expressed its reservations over some points mentioned in a UN report on Yemen's civil war.

“Haley plans to invite her colleagues to inspect parts and remains of ballistic missiles launched by Houthis on Riyadh and other Saudi cities, and to reveal that those missiles came from Iran,” the sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. 



UK Police Ban Palestine Action Protest Outside Parliament

File photo: People take part in a march in support of the Palestinian people and against Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in Rabat, Morocco, 22 June 2025.  EPA/JALAL MORCHIDI
File photo: People take part in a march in support of the Palestinian people and against Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in Rabat, Morocco, 22 June 2025. EPA/JALAL MORCHIDI
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UK Police Ban Palestine Action Protest Outside Parliament

File photo: People take part in a march in support of the Palestinian people and against Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in Rabat, Morocco, 22 June 2025.  EPA/JALAL MORCHIDI
File photo: People take part in a march in support of the Palestinian people and against Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in Rabat, Morocco, 22 June 2025. EPA/JALAL MORCHIDI

British police have banned campaign group Palestine Action from protesting outside parliament on Monday, a rare move that comes after two of its members broke into a military base last week and as the government considers banning the organization.

The group said in response that it had changed the location of its protest on Monday to Trafalgar Square, which lies just outside the police exclusion zone, reported Reuters.

The pro-Palestinian organization is among groups that have regularly targeted defense firms and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.

British media have reported that the government is considering proscribing, or effectively banning, Palestine Action, as a terrorist organization, putting it on a par with al-Qaeda or ISIS.

London's Metropolitan Police said late on Sunday that it would impose an exclusion zone for a protest planned by Palestine Action outside the Houses of Parliament - a popular location for protests in support of a range of causes.

"The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest," Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said.

"We have laid out to Government the operational basis on which to consider proscribing this group."

Palestine Action's members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and, in the incident last week, damaged two military aircraft, Rowley added.