Houthis Deprive Locals of Healthcare in Sanaa

Sanaa, EPA
Sanaa, EPA
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Houthis Deprive Locals of Healthcare in Sanaa

Sanaa, EPA
Sanaa, EPA

Healthcare sources based in Yemen’s Sanaa, which is overrun by coup militias, revealed that Houthis have deprived locals from primary and secondary healthcare.

Sources added that the Iran-backed Houthi militias loot state assets and employ them to their war effort.

Houthis have marginalized and banished cadres and employees who do not believe in their adopted Khomeinist ideals. Those expelled were replaced by Houthi followers from Saada, a Houthi stronghold.

The replacements were found to be devoted to looting properties of citizens and merchants, unrightfully imposing royalties and taxes and shuttering projects and companies that refuse to donate to the Houthi war effort.

Houthis, according to sources, worked to collapse the health system, staging armed attacks against hospitals, where they seized medical equipment and drugs.

More so, in areas under their control, Houthis prevent the entry of medical supplies and life-saving drugs, especially those used to treat patients with chronic diseases.

Houthi practices have left millions of citizens with no access to basic healthcare, humanitarian relief and food.

The number of health institutions and facilities either affected or totally shuttered by Houthi actions reached 600, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The sources, speaking under the conditions of anonymity, also accused Houthi leaders of inhibiting the maintenance of medical devices and equipment.
Militia leaders, for their part, considered maintenance not a priority for the stage.

Medical sources indicate that there are 40,000 cancer patients who do not receive adequate medical care in the group's control areas.

At least 50% of the patients are dying as a result of the disruption of the radiation apparatus for oncology, and the lack of medicines due to the group preventing a number of drugs and confiscating most of the aid.

Sources at Al Thawra Modern General Hospital (TMGH) revealed that Houthis have restricted healthcare privileges to its own fighters and loyalists mainly.



Switzerland Lifts Economic Sanctions on Syria

A drone view shows the Syrian central bank, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024. (Reuters)
A drone view shows the Syrian central bank, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024. (Reuters)
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Switzerland Lifts Economic Sanctions on Syria

A drone view shows the Syrian central bank, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024. (Reuters)
A drone view shows the Syrian central bank, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024. (Reuters)

Switzerland said on Friday it will lift a raft of economic sanctions imposed on Syria, including the Middle Eastern country's central bank.

After the toppling of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, targeted sanctions against individuals and entities linked to the former government will still remain in place, Switzerland's governing Federal Council said.

"The aim of this decision is to promote the country's economic recovery and an inclusive and peaceful political transition," the council said in a statement.

After an initial easing of sanctions in March, Switzerland is now lifting restrictions on the provision of certain financial services, trade in precious metals and the export of luxury goods, the government said.

Some 24 entities including the central bank of Syria have also been removed from the sanctions list, it added.

The announcement follows the EU's decision to lift its economic sanctions on Syria at the end of May after a similar move by the US Treasury Department in the same month.