Yemeni Government Suspends Participation in Hodeidah’s Redeployment Committee

Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Hadhrami met with US ambassador to Yemen Christopher Henzel in Riyadh on Wednesday (saba news agency)
Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Hadhrami met with US ambassador to Yemen Christopher Henzel in Riyadh on Wednesday (saba news agency)
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Yemeni Government Suspends Participation in Hodeidah’s Redeployment Committee

Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Hadhrami met with US ambassador to Yemen Christopher Henzel in Riyadh on Wednesday (saba news agency)
Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Hadhrami met with US ambassador to Yemen Christopher Henzel in Riyadh on Wednesday (saba news agency)

The Yemeni government announced that it has suspended its membership in the Hodeidah Redeployment Coordination Committee holding Houthi rebels responsible for the move.

Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik has warned that the militias' recent military escalation and recurrent breaches of the UN-sponsored ceasefire in Hodeidah would thwart the Stockholm Agreement.

During a phone conversation he held on Thursday with the head of the government team engaged in the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), Maj. General Mohammed Aidhah, the PM said such violations clearly demonstrate that militia leaders have never seriously sought to achieve peace.

Abdulmalik’s remarks came a day after Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Hadhrami made clear, during a meeting with US ambassador to Yemen Christopher Henzel in Riyadh, that the suspension is meant to review the feasibility of the Stockholm Agreement in light of the continued Houthi violations of the deal.

"The government had shown so much patience versus the Houthi maximalist avoidance of the Hodeidah Agreement for one year," the FM said.

Hadhrami called on the UN to assume its responsibility in ensuring the safety of the governmental team involved in implementing the Agreement.

During his phone call with Aidhah, the Yemeni PM inquired about the health of Colonel Mohammed Abdurrab Sharaf Al-Soleihi, a member of the government team that monitors the truce, who was shot by a Houthi sniper while on duty on Wednesday despite having been notified about his movement.

"Shooting Col. Al-Soleihi while on duty is a flagrant breach and serious act that threatens the Stockholm Agreement,” said Abdulmalik.

Under the UN-sponsored deal signed in December 2018 in the Swedish capital, the Iran-backed Houthis are compelled to defuse landmines and to withdraw from Hodeidah’s seaports and open roads from and to the city in exchange for the Yemeni government halting a major military offensive that had reached Hodeidah city.



Lebanese PM Slams Int’l Community’s ‘Silence over Israeli Crimes’

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson in Beirut. (Government office)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson in Beirut. (Government office)
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Lebanese PM Slams Int’l Community’s ‘Silence over Israeli Crimes’

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson in Beirut. (Government office)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson in Beirut. (Government office)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati slammed on Monday the international community’s “silence over Israel’s crimes and destruction” in his country.

“The international community is complicit in these crimes when countries that champion humanity and human rights should be applying maximum pressure on Israel to make it stop its assault,” he added during meetings held with the ambassadors of the five permanent member states of the United Nations Security Council.

Mikati handed the ambassadors a report by the Health Ministry detailing the damage incurred by the sector from the Israeli raids.

He noted the threats to “priceless cultural heritage” in the cities of Tyre and Baalbek as a result of Israel’s attacks.

Moreover, he reiterated his government’s commitment to Security Council resolution 1701 and its determination to deploy the army in the South.

“It has welcomed every call for a ceasefire, while the Israeli enemy has turned against all proposed solutions and forged ahead in committing war crimes against Lebanon, even reaching its historic sites. These attacks are additional crimes against humanity that should be confronted and stopped,” he urged.

The PM underscored the need for pressure to end the assault to pave the way for talks over how to implement resolution 1701.

Furthermore, he said the government had approved during a recent meeting increasing the presence of army in the South and recruiting more troops. In its next meeting, the ministers will discuss the executive steps to support the recruitment of 1,500 soldiers.

Mikati met with US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson, UK Chargé D'Affaires Victoria Dunne, Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Aleksandr Rudakov, China’s Ambassador Qian Minjian, French Ambassador Herve Magro, and Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze.