Prominent Foe of Houthis Appointed Yemen Chief of Staff

General Sagheer bin Aziz. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
General Sagheer bin Aziz. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Prominent Foe of Houthis Appointed Yemen Chief of Staff

General Sagheer bin Aziz. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
General Sagheer bin Aziz. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi appointed on Friday Commander of the Joint Operations General Sagheer bin Aziz as Chief of Staff, promoting him to Lieutenant General.

He succeeds Abdullah Salem al-Nakhai

His appointment coincides with the intensification of fighting between the army and Iran-backed Houthi militias on the Nihm, al-Jawf and Sarwah fronts.

Bin Aziz previously acted as head of the government team at the redeployment committee in Hodeidah. Hadi appointed him commander of the joint operations in July.

Bin Aziz is a member of parliament and prominent member of the General People’s Congress. He is also a former member of the Republican Guard, which he joined in 1983.

He had waged numerous battles of the so-called six wars against the Houthi rebellion since 2004. The Houthis destroyed his home Harf Sufyan and displaced his relatives.

In one of his latest statements, bin Aziz vowed that operations against the Houthis will continue on various fronts.

Observers believe that bin Aziz’s field successes and repelling of major Houthi offensives towards Marib al-Jawf drove Hadi to appoint him as chief of staff.

Yemeni journalist Yehya al-Abed said the appointment was a positive step in bringing together republican parties and confronting attempts to undermine military efforts against the Houthis.

He highlighted bin Aziz’s significant record against the Houthis, since the days of the six wars, and his national heroics, the latest of which took place during the recent Nihm and Jawf battles.

Moreover, he noted that bin Aziz enjoys close ties with all military units and commands, which will help boost the army and speed up military operations against the Houthis.

Bin Aziz boasts both a military and political career in Yemen. He is a member of parliament and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

He earned his first military rank – lieutenant - in 1990. He rose to the rank of brigadier-general in 2007. He served under Tariq bin Ziad of the Republic Guard during the term of late former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Bin Aziz is among the founding members of the General People’s Congress in the Harf Sufyan district, which later motivated him to pursue politics. He was elected to parliament in 1997 and re-elected to the current parliament in 2003.



Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”