Houthi Attacks Displace 10,000 Yemenis From Marib Outskirts

Children walk at a camp for people recently displaced by fighting in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf between government forces and Houthis, in Marib, Yemen March 8, 2020. Picture taken March 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ali Owidha
Children walk at a camp for people recently displaced by fighting in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf between government forces and Houthis, in Marib, Yemen March 8, 2020. Picture taken March 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ali Owidha
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Houthi Attacks Displace 10,000 Yemenis From Marib Outskirts

Children walk at a camp for people recently displaced by fighting in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf between government forces and Houthis, in Marib, Yemen March 8, 2020. Picture taken March 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ali Owidha
Children walk at a camp for people recently displaced by fighting in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf between government forces and Houthis, in Marib, Yemen March 8, 2020. Picture taken March 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ali Owidha

Houthi militias have not only displaced thousands of Yemenis over the past years but also targeted those displaced in the camps on the outskirts of Marib governorate with missiles, creating a new wave of displacement to Marib city.

The Government of Yemen's Executive Unit for Internally Displaced Persons issued a report on this and affirmed that more than 1,500 families, equal to 10,000 people, were forced to flee again from Mudghal district in Marib’s outskirts to its capital and other government-controlled districts as a result of Houthi attacks.

According to the report, of which Asharq Al-Awsat has obtained a copy, Raghwan district in northwestern Marib has hosted thousands of displaced people from the conflict areas in Majzar and Naham districts.

The total number of internally displaced persons has amounted to more than 20,000, the report noted.

“Due to the clashes and the intensified battles, thousands of families were forced to flee from their homes. Some were displaced for the second time and others for the third time.”

Some fled on feet and were displaced to the districts of Sirwah, Medina, and Wadi, while others were displaced to nearby locations within the directorate itself, the report indicated.

It recalled the first tragedy resulting from the torrents that swept away some camps in all directorates of the governorate, with the absence of any intervention by the humanitarian partners in the district.

It further pointed out that the meteorology department expects heavy rains in the coming days and fears a new tragedy for the displaced in the governorate directorates.

The Executive Unit’s field monitoring and evaluation team hastened to monitor the recent displacement to know the whereabouts of those displaced. It requested its partners to respond quickly to provide them with all their needs, in terms of shelter and non-food items.

It set toilets, provided water tanks and hygiene bags, and asked the Food Security Bloc to direct partners to respond rapidly and cover the needs of the displaced, including food baskets.



France, US Push at UN for Stronger Lebanese Army

The base of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Ebel El Saqi Marjayoun District, southern Lebanon, 10 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER
The base of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Ebel El Saqi Marjayoun District, southern Lebanon, 10 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER
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France, US Push at UN for Stronger Lebanese Army

The base of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Ebel El Saqi Marjayoun District, southern Lebanon, 10 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER
The base of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Ebel El Saqi Marjayoun District, southern Lebanon, 10 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER

Strengthening Lebanon's army will be crucial to implementing a key United Nations Security Council resolution that aims to keep peace on the country's border with Israel, the United States and France said on Thursday.
Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood told a meeting of the 15-member Security Council that the international community must focus its efforts on strengthening Lebanese state institutions, Reuters reported.
"The solution to this crisis is not a weaker Lebanon. It's a strong and truly sovereign Lebanon, protected by a legitimate security force, embodied in the Lebanese Armed Forces," he said.
A UN peacekeeping mission -known as UNIFIL- is mandated by resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, to help the Lebanese army keep its southern border area with Israel free of weapons or armed personnel other than those of the Lebanese state. That has sparked friction with the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah.
A year ago Hezbollah began firing at Israel in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas at the start of the Gaza war.
The conflict has escalated in recent weeks as Israel carried out air strikes and launched a ground incursion in Lebanon's south.
French UN Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said an immediate ceasefire was needed and that a proposal for a 21-day truce -put forward by France and the US last month- still stands. Wood said the US was working toward a diplomatic solution, but made no mention of a ceasefire.
Lebanon's acting UN Ambassador Hadi Hachem told the council that "only diplomatic solutions and the implementation of international resolutions, the commitment to international law and international humanitarian law is the means to end this war and this aggression."
'DO THE JOB'
Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon told the council that resolution 1701 must be enforced, along with resolution 1559, which was adopted in 2004, and "calls for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias."
"We are fulfilling our obligations to ensure this, and the council must support us in our efforts," he said.
De Riviere told the council that one of the goals of a conference that France plans to hold on Lebanon on Oct. 24 was to guarantee Lebanon's sovereignty.
"We want heightened support for Lebanese institutions, in particular, the Lebanese Armed Forces," he said, later telling reporters: "We need the Lebanese Armed Forces to be deployed to the south and do the job ... What we need to do is to make sure that the Lebanese Armed Forces are properly equipped and trained."
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said that UNIFIL was ready to support all efforts towards a diplomatic solution.
"UNIFIL is mandated to support the implementation of resolution 1701, but we must insist that it is for the parties themselves to implement the provisions of this resolution," he told the Security Council.
The resolution bans all parties from crossing the Blue Line - a UN-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - by ground or air. UN officials have for years reported violations by both sides.