Lebanese ‘Hezbollah’ Provided Yemen’s Houthis with Military Communications System

Arab Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki. (SPA)
Arab Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki. (SPA)
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Lebanese ‘Hezbollah’ Provided Yemen’s Houthis with Military Communications System

Arab Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki. (SPA)
Arab Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki. (SPA)

The Saudi-led Arab coalition to restore legitimacy in Yemen announced on Monday that it has evidence that proves the presence of foreign military experts in Yemen, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said that these experts are training the Iran-backed Houthi militias and providing them with an integrated military communication system.

The Lebanese “Hezbollah” group, which is also backed by Iran, is involved in these operations, he added during a press conference in Riyadh.

There is enough evidence that proves that the Iranian regime is providing the Houthis with weapons that are being smuggled through Beirut’s southern suburbs to Syria and then to Iran’s Bandar Abbas port city, he revealed.

“‘Hezbollah’ is the Houthis’ greatest arms supplier,” he added.

Moreover, Maliki cited the party’s role in operating different command and control positions in the Saada province. Five of these positions, located in Mashtab, Maran, Razeh, Al-Maglag and Al-Noua'a mountains, have been destroyed by the coalition forces.

Addressing humanitarian efforts in Yemen, he said that the Arab coalition had issued 26,997 relief permits between March 26 and June 9, 2018.

He highlighted Saudi Arabia’s topping of the world donor countries list of the UN-sponsored Response Plan in Yemen 2018.

The King Salman Humanitarian Act and Relief Center has provided relief assistance for 4,954,742 beneficiaries within 167 days as part of the Comprehensive Humanitarian Operation Plan for Yemen.

On the ground, Maliki stressed that the Yemeni national army was scoring victories throughout the country, citing its major advances in Saada, Taiz and al-Baydha provinces.

Moreover, he drew attention to the Houthis’ recruitment of widows to join their war effort.

He deemed this an unprecedented flagrant violation of human rights and Yemen’s conservative traditions.

In another victory for the alliance, he declared the Yemeni zone neighboring Saudi Arabia free of ground-based militias after it was purified by the coalition forces and Yemeni national army.

A few pockets in Saada and Omran are still being used for the launching of ballistic missiles and projectiles.



Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.