Legitimacy Spokesman to Asharq Al-Awsat: Isnad Aids in Restoring Ports

Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Legitimacy Spokesman to Asharq Al-Awsat: Isnad Aids in Restoring Ports

Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Yemeni government's top priority is to restore basic services and stabilize security in all Yemeni provinces, according to a senior Yemeni government official.

"The main services are to ensure the stability of electricity, especially as the country is coming to a hot summer season, and some areas of the country are suffering from shortages of basic necessities," Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi told Asharq al-Awsat.

The spokesman stressed the importance of the Isnad Center for comprehensive humanitarian operation throughout Yemen and King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief). He stated that a Yemeni Higher Committee was formed to implement the grant program which enables the government overcome power cuts in all Yemeni provinces.

Badi stressed that the government's priority is to resolve the situation of workers in Aden and the rest of the Yemeni provinces, indicating that the return of the Yemeni government to Aden is a “message to the inside and outside that Yemenis only accept the legitimacy of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and that the society will not be associated with any armed rebellion within Yemeni territories.”

Badi stated that Isnad center and KSRelief are both working to increase productivity in all Yemeni ports urgently and quickly, noting that this is done in four ports Mukalla, al-Sheih, Aden and al-Mocha, by reconstructing their docks to increase the reception of relief aid.

On recent military developments carried out by the Yemeni National Army, backed by the Coalition, the spokesman said that the field visits of Arab coalition commanders was a clear message to those who doubt that Midi on the west coast was completely liberated, lauding the progress of the forces in Saada governorate. For the first time, Yemeni forces reached Marran heights, hometown of Houthi militia leader.

He also discussed the reconstruction on the main roads in Yemeni governorates, done under the support of Isnad center. He stated that the operations are done as well in areas reaching governorates under Houthi militias control in order to ensure the speedy access of aid to all Yemenis, including citizens in areas under Houthis control.

Badi concluded by revealing that some relief aid is confiscated in Houthi areas and charges are imposed on them which led to raising their prices in the black market.



France, Germany, UK and Italy Condemn Israel's 'E1' West Bank Plan

A bulldozer prepares roads at the site of the former Israeli settlement of Kadim near the West Bank city of Jenin, 19 August 2026. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
A bulldozer prepares roads at the site of the former Israeli settlement of Kadim near the West Bank city of Jenin, 19 August 2026. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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France, Germany, UK and Italy Condemn Israel's 'E1' West Bank Plan

A bulldozer prepares roads at the site of the former Israeli settlement of Kadim near the West Bank city of Jenin, 19 August 2026. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
A bulldozer prepares roads at the site of the former Israeli settlement of Kadim near the West Bank city of Jenin, 19 August 2026. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

France, Germany, Britain and Italy condemned on Thursday plans by Israel to open up construction tenders for a residential property project called 'E1' in the occupied West Bank.

"The decision by the Israeli government ⁠to publish bid offers ⁠for construction projects within the framework of the E1 settlers' project is unacceptable," said ⁠a joint statement by the leaders of those four countries.

"At a time of grave instability in the West Bank with unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians, and serious restrictions on the Palestinian economy, this decision is even more concerning," said the statement, urging Israel "to retract these plans immediately and end its expansion of settlements in the West Bank."

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have settled among millions of Palestinians in land captured by Israel in a 1967 war.

Nearly all ⁠countries ⁠and a range of UN bodies consider that such settlements violate international law.


Israelis Return to Last West Bank Settlement Closed over 20 Years Ago

15 August 2026, Palestinian Territories, Hebron: Israeli soldiers deploy in the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank, as Israeli settlers tour the area under their protection after forces closed roads and alleys, restricting the movement of Palestinian residents. Photo: Mamoun Wazwaz/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
15 August 2026, Palestinian Territories, Hebron: Israeli soldiers deploy in the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank, as Israeli settlers tour the area under their protection after forces closed roads and alleys, restricting the movement of Palestinian residents. Photo: Mamoun Wazwaz/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Israelis Return to Last West Bank Settlement Closed over 20 Years Ago

15 August 2026, Palestinian Territories, Hebron: Israeli soldiers deploy in the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank, as Israeli settlers tour the area under their protection after forces closed roads and alleys, restricting the movement of Palestinian residents. Photo: Mamoun Wazwaz/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
15 August 2026, Palestinian Territories, Hebron: Israeli soldiers deploy in the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank, as Israeli settlers tour the area under their protection after forces closed roads and alleys, restricting the movement of Palestinian residents. Photo: Mamoun Wazwaz/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Israelis began moving into the occupied West Bank settlement of Kadim on Thursday, the local settler council said, the last of four communities from which Israel withdrew more than two decades ago to be repopulated.

It came a week after Israel officially reopened neighboring Ganim, in a move emblematic of the current government's policy of rapid settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The Samaria regional council, which administers Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank, described the return to Kadim as a "historic milestone".

"At this very moment, the families of the pioneering settler core are moving into Kadim, a community that was uprooted during the disengagement," it said in a statement.

It said that 30 families were moving to live permanently in the settlement, accompanied on Thursday by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and head of the Samaria regional council, Yossi Dagan.

Kadim is one of four Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that Israel evacuated under former prime minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan in 2005, which also included abandoning all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.

The move came partly because of their isolated location in the north of the West Bank, among many Palestinian cities and villages.

Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, settlement construction and expansion have surged, including with the re-establishment of all four evacuated communities -- Ganim, Sa-Nur, Homesh and now Kadim.

"Twenty-one years after the crime of the expulsion from northern Samaria, today we have completed the rectification," Smotrich was quoted as saying in the statement on Thursday.

"These communities constitute a real security buffer for the entire State of Israel," he added, vowing to establish 19 settlements in the northernmost part of the West Bank.

Dagan said: "We have come home, and this time to stay and grow twentyfold."

"We are raising the flag again, closing the circle, and continuing to build Samaria with full force," he added, using the Biblical term for the northern West Bank.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the territory, which are illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians.


Türkiye, Egypt, Qatar Condemn Israeli Attacks on Gaza, Call on Israel to Comply with Ceasefire Obligations

Palestinians carry the body of a person killed following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, 19 August 2026.EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Palestinians carry the body of a person killed following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, 19 August 2026.EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
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Türkiye, Egypt, Qatar Condemn Israeli Attacks on Gaza, Call on Israel to Comply with Ceasefire Obligations

Palestinians carry the body of a person killed following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, 19 August 2026.EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Palestinians carry the body of a person killed following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, 19 August 2026.EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

Türkiye, Egypt and Qatar on Thursday strongly condemned recent Israeli strikes in Gaza, saying in a joint statement that Israel must comply with its obligations under a ceasefire agreement and refrain from steps that could escalate tensions.

"The mediating countries underline that the intensification of Israeli attacks undermines regional and international efforts at a critical juncture, as intensive efforts are under way to implement the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, including the meeting between the Board of Peace and Israeli officials, and constructive steps are being taken in the negotiation process," they said, Reuters reported.

The international community and Board of Peace must take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the ceasefire and prevent further escalation, they added.