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Yemeni Officer Succumbs to Houthi Sniper Shot in Hodeidah

Yemeni local coast guards talk to each other after their deployment at Hodeidah port in Hodeidah, Yemen May 13, 2019. (Reuters)
Yemeni local coast guards talk to each other after their deployment at Hodeidah port in Hodeidah, Yemen May 13, 2019. (Reuters)
    Riyadh, Aden – Asharq Al-Awsat
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Yemeni Officer Succumbs to Houthi Sniper Shot in Hodeidah

Yemeni local coast guards talk to each other after their deployment at Hodeidah port in Hodeidah, Yemen May 13, 2019. (Reuters)
Yemeni local coast guards talk to each other after their deployment at Hodeidah port in Hodeidah, Yemen May 13, 2019. (Reuters)

A Yemeni officer died in Aden on Friday after succumbing to a gunshot by the Iran-backed Houthi militias in the coastal city of Hodeidah.

Mohammed al-Sulihi was shot by a Houthi sniper in March while he was manning a United Nations observation post on the outskirts of the city.

The legitimate Yemeni government had criticized the UN for failing to transfer him abroad where he could receive better medical treatment.

UN special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths tweeted his condolences, saying: “My deepest condolences for the tragic death of Col. Al-Sulihi to the Government of Yemen and his family. He was shot in Hodeidah in a deplorable and unacceptable attack. He will be remembered for his service in support of bringing peace to his country.”

The envoy’s “mild” condemnation was criticized by Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani, who accused Griffiths and head of the UN mission to Hodeidah of “shirking” their duties and failing to “clearly” condemn the attack against Sulihi.

He also accused them of failing to act after his health deteriorated.

Eryani stressed that Sulihi’s death demonstrates again that the Houthis never fulfill their pledges and cannot be trusted as real partners in peace.

Head of the government team at the Hodeidah redeployment committee, Mohammed Ayda, offered his condolences over the officer’s death, saying it also marked the “death” of the Stockholm agreement.

President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi sent a cable of condolences to Sulihi’s family, hailing his “national role in cementing peace and enforcing the ceasefire” in line with the Hodeidah agreement.

Saudi-led Arab coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki, meanwhile, slammed the Houthi escalation against civilians, which underscores their rejection of all efforts and initiatives to reach a ceasefire.

The coalition said the militias had fired a ballistic missile towards civilian locations in the city of Marib.

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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)

Lebanon has started to exert serious efforts to restrict the possession of weapons inside Palestinian refugee camps in the country in line with President Joseph Aoun’s inaugural speech.

The president had demanded that the possession of weapons in the country and the camps be limited to the state.

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee met at the government headquarters in Beirut three days ago to discuss the issue.

All Palestinian factions attended the meeting, and the gatherers agreed to “completely” resolve the Palestinian possession of arms outside the camps. They also agreed to outline how to restrict weapons inside the camps in line with the president’s speech.

The Lebanese state has yet to come up with the mechanism to confiscate the weapons inside the camps.

A Lebanese security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the arms will be tackled through a political approach drawn up by the government. “It will be carried out by the army with the security agencies and in coordination with the Palestinian factions in the camp, led by the Fatah movement, which is the official representative of the Palestinian people,” it added.

The Palestinians have expressed their “complete understanding” of the issue, it remarked.

The laying down of weapons by Palestinian factions is a step towards all illegal weapons throughout the country being turned over to the Lebanese state, it went on to say.

“There are no longer any excuses for weapons to remain in possession of any organization,” stressed the source.

Lebanese groups will be demanded to lay down their arms after the Palestinian ones do, it added.

In a first, the Palestinian factions have been very receptive to a Lebanese head of state’s demand to cooperate in limiting the possession of weapons in the refugee camps.

Member of the Palestinian National and Central Councils Haitham Zaiter said that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) recognizes that the camps are part of Lebanese territories, so they come under the authority of the state and its laws.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “complete coordination” is ongoing between the Lebanese security agencies and PLO inside the camps where several wanted Lebanese and Palestinian suspects and others from other nationalities have been turned over to the authorities.

The suspects had sought refuge in the camps to avoid justice in the crimes they have committed, he acknowledged.

“The PLO is the sole representative of the Palestinian people inside Palestine and in the diaspora,” he stated.

Moreover, Zaiter explained that Palestinian weapons in Lebanon are either carried by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) outside the camps or by non-partisan individuals inside the camps.

The PFLP-GC laid down its weapons as soon as the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad collapsed in December.

Heavy weapons inside the camps had been previously brought in with the aim to undermine the PLO, he added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “has constantly called for coordination with Lebanese authorities to limit the possession of these weapons,” Zaiter said.