عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Tareq Saleh Leads ‘Republican Guards’ against Houthis on Yemen’s West Coast

General Tareq Saleh, the nephew of slain former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (Reuters)
General Tareq Saleh, the nephew of slain former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Tareq Saleh Leads ‘Republican Guards’ against Houthis on Yemen’s West Coast

General Tareq Saleh, the nephew of slain former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (Reuters)
General Tareq Saleh, the nephew of slain former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (Reuters)

General Tareq Saleh, the nephew of slain former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, joined the fighting against the Houthis militias in the battle for the western coast.

Saleh is leading the “Republican Guards” unit, a name he chose for his troops, who used to make up the special forces that were loyal to the late Saleh.

This development coincided with the launch of the December 2 news website that specializes in covering the field operations of this unit.

The website revealed that the Houthis threatened to kill Tareq Saleh’s detained relatives in Sanaa, who include his son, brother and cousins, but he was undeterred and insisted on joining the battle against the Iran-backed group.

Sources loyal to the General People’s Congress told Asharq Al-Awsat that Saleh’s forces breached on Thursday the Houthi frontlines at the Khalid bin al-Walid camp and Jabal al-Nar on the western coast. His forces had launched their attack from their main base in the city of al-Mokha, where they had arrived days earlier from Aden.

Observers said that their advance is aimed at covering their back from the East, by seizing Houthi positions west of Taiz, before turning north towards al-Hodeidah.

December 2 is named after the date the late Saleh announced that he severing his alliance with the Houthis and prepared to open a new chapter in ties with the Saudi-led Arab Coalition aimed at liberating Yemen. His decision ultimately cost him his life and he was killed by the Houthis on December 4.

The late Saleh’s uprising was the “spark that launched the new revolution” against the Houthis, said the website. “This uprising can only end with the recapture of Sanaa and ending the Houthi existence.”

“The national resistance forces established by General Tareq Saleh is a significant addition to the military effort to support the resistance in the South and the Arab coalition forces,” it continued.

It confirmed previous Asharq Al-Awsat reports that Tareq Saleh and his officers stripped themselves of their military ranks so that they could stand on equal footing with their soldiers.

They had vowed to restore their ranks once Yemen is liberated from the militias.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Political Tensions between Lebanon and Iran Reach New Heights

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (center), Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi (left) and Iranian FM Abbas Araqchi meet in Lebanon in June. (Lebanese Presidency)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (center), Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi (left) and Iranian FM Abbas Araqchi meet in Lebanon in June. (Lebanese Presidency)
TT
TT

Political Tensions between Lebanon and Iran Reach New Heights

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (center), Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi (left) and Iranian FM Abbas Araqchi meet in Lebanon in June. (Lebanese Presidency)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (center), Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi (left) and Iranian FM Abbas Araqchi meet in Lebanon in June. (Lebanese Presidency)

Tensions between Lebanon and Iran have reached unprecedented levels, reflecting a shift in how Beirut views its ties with Tehran, especially when it comes to Hezbollah’s arsenal and Iranian meddling in Lebanese internal affairs.

The tensions are not just playing out in the media, but in official positions taken by Lebanon’s top officials.

The latest example was Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi’s announcement last week that he was declining an invitation by his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi to visit Tehran. He instead proposed meeting in a neutral country.

An official Lebanese source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Raggi’s position does not stem from his personal views, but from a “clear political stance that Lebanese-Iranian relations cannot go back on track if they are not based on equality.

Iran must only limit its dealings in Lebanon to the state and no other party, namely Hezbollah, it added.

The root of the crisis lies in Iran’s absolute support for Hezbollah and how Tehran views it as an extension of its Revolutionary Guards Corps, an entity that exists parallel to the Lebanese state and even violates its jurisdiction in taking decisions of war and peace.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source warned that Iran maintaining this position towards Lebanon, “complicates the situation inside Lebanon and exposes the country to a new war with Israel.”

Lebanon cannot withstand such a new conflict, it added.

Araqchi on Thursday said he would visit Lebanon after Raggi issued a formal invitation.

Raggi was not the only senior Lebanese official to take issue with Iran. Earlier this year, President Joseph Aoun refused to meet with Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani while he was visiting Beirut.

The source said the refusal was a “direct message that the Lebanese state no longer tolerates parallel channels or relations that go beyond formal and constitutional levels.”

“This is the Lebanese state’s official position,” it stressed. “Iran will be welcomed if its changes the way it approaches Lebanon, whereby relations should be between official and constitutional institutions. Both countries should be equals, not with one being subordinate to the other.”

Earlier in 2025, Aoun received Iranian Speaker of the Shura Council Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, informing him that Lebanon has “grown weary” of other countries “waging their wars on its territory.”

“It is about time that the Lebanese people are relieved of wars and tragedies,” he said, referring to the “support war” Hezbollah had launched in 2023 in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza with Iran’s backing.

On Sunday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei renewed Tehran’s call on Beirut to hold dialogue.

“Iran would rather avoid making statements that would distract Lebanon from focusing on its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The real danger against Lebanon’s sovereignty and dignity are Israel’s ambitions and hegemony,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Ali Akbar Velayati, declared that Tehran will continue to support Hezbollah.

Meeting with Hezbollah representative in Tehran, Abdullah Safieddine, he described the party as one of “the most important pillars of the Resistance Axis.”

Hezbollah is playing a “fundamental role in confronting Zionism,” he added.

Such statements demonstrate how Iran views Hezbollah’s arsenal as part of Tehran's regional security system, not as an issue related to Lebanon’s sovereignty.

The Lebanese government earlier this year took a landmark decision to impose state monopoly over arms, which effectively calls on Hezbollah to lay down its weapons.

Another adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Shamkhani, had previously openly declared that efforts to disarm Hezbollah “will fail.”

“These arms are those of the Lebanese people to defend their territory against Israel,” he added, rejecting any discussions about handing them over to the Lebanese state.

The official Lebanese source stressed that “there can be no going back” from the decision to impose state monopoly over arms.

“The internal and external objections will not change the state’s policy that has taken the decision to impose its authority throughout Lebanon,” it continued.

Arab World

Seven Killed in Drone Strike on Hospital in Sudan's Restive Kordofan Region

The Sudanese flag flutters in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum on December 13, 2025. Since April 2023 war has raged between the Sudanese regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), killing tens of thousands of people and created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
The Sudanese flag flutters in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum on December 13, 2025. Since April 2023 war has raged between the Sudanese regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), killing tens of thousands of people and created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
TT
TT

Seven Killed in Drone Strike on Hospital in Sudan's Restive Kordofan Region

The Sudanese flag flutters in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum on December 13, 2025. Since April 2023 war has raged between the Sudanese regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), killing tens of thousands of people and created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
The Sudanese flag flutters in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum on December 13, 2025. Since April 2023 war has raged between the Sudanese regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), killing tens of thousands of people and created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)

A drone strike Sunday on an army hospital in the besieged southern Sudan city of Dilling left "seven civilians dead and 12 injured", a health worker at the facility told AFP.

The victims included patients and their companions, the medic said on condition of anonymity, explaining that the army hospital "serves the residents of the city and its surroundings, in addition to military personnel".

Dilling, in the flashpoint state of South Kordofan, is controlled by the Sudanese army but is besieged by rival paramilitary forces.

The greater Kordofan region is currently facing the fiercest fighting in Sudan's war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as both seek to wrest control of the massive southern region.

The RSF controls swathes of Kordofan along with their allies, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) faction led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, which has a historic foothold in the region's Nuba Mountains.

Together, the forces have besieged the region's key cities with army divisions, including Dilling and South Kordofan state capital Kadugli, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) south.

Famine has gripped Kadugli since September, according to the UN, which estimates Dilling is suffering the same conditions, but a lack of access to data has prevented an official declaration.

Sunday's strike comes a day after a drone strike on a United Nations peacekeeping base killed six Bangladeshi troops in Kadugli.

- Wider attack -

Last week, SPLM-N said the capture of Dilling and Kadugli was "only a matter of time", urging the army and its allied militias to withdraw.

The RSF, emboldened by its seizure of the army's last holdout position in Darfur in October, has pushed through Kordofan in an attempt to capture the country's central corridor.

The UN has repeatedly warned the region is in danger of witnessing a repeat of the atrocities that unfolded in North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, including mass killing, abductions and sexual violence.

Paramilitaries have set their sights on Kadugli, Dilling and North Kordofan state capital El-Obeid, which lie on a north-south axis between the South Sudan border and the capital Khartoum.

El-Obeid also lies on a key highway that connects Darfur to Khartoum, which the army recaptured in March.

With the RSF in control of all of Darfur's major cities, Sudan is effectively split in two.

The army holds the center, east and north, while the RSF and its allies control the west and parts of the south.

Across the country, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

Arab World

Tunisian Police Clash with Youths in Kairouan after Man's Death

Activists and political opponents take part in a protest against Tunisian President Kais Saied, calling for an end to one-man rule and the restoration of democracy, in Tunis, Tunisia, December 13, 2025. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui
Activists and political opponents take part in a protest against Tunisian President Kais Saied, calling for an end to one-man rule and the restoration of democracy, in Tunis, Tunisia, December 13, 2025. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui
TT
TT

Tunisian Police Clash with Youths in Kairouan after Man's Death

Activists and political opponents take part in a protest against Tunisian President Kais Saied, calling for an end to one-man rule and the restoration of democracy, in Tunis, Tunisia, December 13, 2025. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui
Activists and political opponents take part in a protest against Tunisian President Kais Saied, calling for an end to one-man rule and the restoration of democracy, in Tunis, Tunisia, December 13, 2025. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui

Clashes erupted for a second night on Saturday between police and youths in the central Tunisian city of Kairouan after a man died following a police chase, according to his family, fueling authorities’ fears that protests could spread across the country.

As Tunisia prepares to mark the January anniversary of the 2011 revolution, which sparked the Arab Spring uprising, tensions have risen amid protests, and a powerful UGTT union call for a nationwide strike next month.

Thousands have been protesting for weeks in the southern city of Gabes, demanding the closure of a chemical plant on environmental grounds, said Reuters.

Witnesses said demonstrators in Kairouan threw stones, petrol bombs and flares, and blocked streets by burning tyres, prompting police to disperse crowds with tear gas.

The family said the man, riding a motorcycle without a license, was chased by police, beaten, and taken to a hospital. He later fled and died on Friday from a head injury.

The government was not immediately available to comment. Relatives of the deceased said they will not remain silent and will spark major protests if those responsible are not held accountable.

In a bid to defuse tensions, Kairouan's governor visited the family on Saturday evening and pledged to open an investigation to determine the circumstances of the death and establish accountability, witnesses said.

Tunisia President Kais Saied shut down parliament and began ruling by decree in 2021 in what he called a move to root out rampant corruption and mismanagement, but which the opposition called a coup.

Rights groups accuse Saied of using the judiciary and police to stifle criticism, something that Saied denies.