Hodeidah Operation Reveals Names of Foreign Houthi Trainers

Yemeni pro-government forces advance towards the port city of Hodeidah. (AFP)
Yemeni pro-government forces advance towards the port city of Hodeidah. (AFP)
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Hodeidah Operation Reveals Names of Foreign Houthi Trainers

Yemeni pro-government forces advance towards the port city of Hodeidah. (AFP)
Yemeni pro-government forces advance towards the port city of Hodeidah. (AFP)

The Yemeni national army captured on Monday a naval base that the Iranian-backed Houthis were using as a headquarters in the port city of Hodeidah.

The forces also seized plans, documents, Iranian-made equipment and the names of foreign Houthi trainers during the operation.

Lebanese and Iranian names were included in the list.

The operation came at a time when the militias were continuing their violation of the humanitarian truce that was announced in mid-November by the joint forces and Arab coalition.

Spokesman for the Amaleeqa Brigades Waddah al-Dbeish said that the operation was in retaliation to the militias’ violation of the ceasefire and their shelling of liberated residential neighborhoods.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the operation secured a number of buildings and villas in the Khamseen road.

The army also discovered maps of naval mines that the Houthis had planted at sea.

Moreover, they found modern Iranian equipment that are used for naval purposes.

Dbeish vowed that the joint forces will not suffice with simple self-defense, but they will retaliate to any Houthi attack with an operation that will lead to the liberation of positions in Hodeidah.

One such operation, he said, led to the recapture of vast areas of an air base in Hodeidah.

The forces seized planes and equipment and dismantled mines that were planted by the Houthis, including explosives that were placed inside three MiG planes.



Lebanon to Cooperate with Interpol on Arrest of Syrian Official Accused of War Crimes

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
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Lebanon to Cooperate with Interpol on Arrest of Syrian Official Accused of War Crimes

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday Lebanon will cooperate with an Interpol request to arrest former Syrian intelligence officer Jamil Hassan, accused by US authorities of war crimes under the toppled Assad government.

Last week, Lebanon received an official notice from Interpol urging judicial and security authorities to detain Hassan, whose whereabouts remain unclear, if he is found on Lebanese soil, three Lebanese judicial sources told Reuters.

"We are committed to cooperating with the Interpol letter regarding the arrest of the Director of Syrian Air Force Intelligence, as we continue to cooperate on all matters related to the international system," Mikati told Reuters.

The directive also called for Hassan's arrest if he enters Lebanon, with the ultimate aim of extraditing him to the United States, the sources said.

On Dec. 9, a US indictment unsealed charges against Hassan, 72, with war crimes, including the torture of detainees, some of them US citizens, during the Syrian civil war.

Hassan is also one of three senior Syrian officials who were found guilty by a French court in May of war crimes over their involvement in the disappearance and subsequent death of a French-Syrian father and his son.

According to Lebanese judicial sources, the Interpol arrest warrant accuses Hassan of involvement in "crimes of murder, torture, and genocide."

Hassan is also allegedly responsible for overseeing the deployment of thousands of barrel bombs against the Syrian population, leading to the deaths of countless civilians, the sources said.

The Interpol request was circulated among Lebanon’s General Security and border control authorities.

Up to 30 lower-ranking former intelligence and Fourth Division army officers under the Assad administration are now in police custody in Lebanon following their arrest by Lebanese authorities, two security sources told Reuters.