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.



Israel Demolishes Seven Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem

A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
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Israel Demolishes Seven Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem

A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)

Municipal workers began demolishing seven homes in occupied east Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood on Tuesday, Palestinian residents and the municipality said, after an Israeli court called their construction illegal.

"This morning the Jerusalem Municipality, with a security escort from the Israel police, began its enforcement against illegal buildings in the Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan," Jerusalem's Israeli-controlled city hall said in a statement.

Activist Fakhri Abu Diab, one of those affected by the demolition, confirmed that "at least seven homes have been demolished, and the operation is ongoing".

He said that both houses and apartments were affected.

"They demolished my home, which I had renovated after it was previously demolished earlier this year, as well as my son's house, Haitham Ayed's family home, and four homes belonging to the Al-Ruwaidi family," Abu Diab told AFP.

He said around "40 people, including children, were affected by the demolitions in the neighborhood, leaving them homeless".

An AFP photographer saw at least four bulldozers operating on Tuesday at demolition sites in the neighborhood under tight Israeli police supervision.

In a statement, Jerusalem city hall pointed to court orders that call for the demolition of the buildings due to zoning laws that make them illegal.

However, Palestinian residents and activists accuse the municipality of concealing its true intentions.

"The buildings, like most of the buildings in the neighborhood, are located on an area that is a green designation, that is, an open public area and where there is no possibility for zoning," the municipality said, adding that the area would become a green zone instead.

Abu Diab said the true aim of the demolitions was "to reduce the percentage of Arabs and alter the demographic composition of Jerusalem in favor of (Israeli) settlers", connecting them to west Jerusalem.

Israel "is above international law, has escaped accountability, and is exploiting global focus on the wars in Gaza and Lebanon and the US elections", he said.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community.

Some 230,000 Israeli settlers live in east Jerusalem, according to the United Nations. Another 3,000 live in Palestinian neighborhoods within east Jerusalem's boundaries, according to Israeli rights organization Peace Now.