163 Houthi Violations Recorded in Hodeidah in 2 Days

Houthi militants during a gathering in Yemen's capital Sanaa, March 16, 2019. (dpa)
Houthi militants during a gathering in Yemen's capital Sanaa, March 16, 2019. (dpa)
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163 Houthi Violations Recorded in Hodeidah in 2 Days

Houthi militants during a gathering in Yemen's capital Sanaa, March 16, 2019. (dpa)
Houthi militants during a gathering in Yemen's capital Sanaa, March 16, 2019. (dpa)

The UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement expressed its concern over the mounting violence in the coastal Yemeni province, a day after the Iran-backed Houthi militias attacked the Red Sea grain silos and the frontline in the eastern parts of the city.

Head of the mission General Abhijit Guha said the violent fighting that erupted around Hodeidah on August 27 was a special cause for concern.

He called on all sides to cease undermining the implementation of the Hodeidah Agreement, which was reached in Stockholm in late 2018.

He also urged them against endangering the lives of the people in the province.

Meanwhile, the joint Yemeni forces announced that they had recorded 163 violations of the UN-sponsored truce committed by the Houthis in various regions in southern Hodeidah on Thursday and Friday alone.

It cited Houthi artillery, bomb and machine gun attacks in the areas of al-Tour, al-Jah, al-Tahita, Khays and Hodeidah city. The attacks targeted residential and agricultural areas and public roads and prevented people for heading to their jobs.



Macron Tells Netanyahu Ordeal of Gaza Civilians 'Must End'

 French President Emmanuel Macron waits to welcome the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region for a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on April 14, 2025. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron waits to welcome the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region for a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on April 14, 2025. (AFP)
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Macron Tells Netanyahu Ordeal of Gaza Civilians 'Must End'

 French President Emmanuel Macron waits to welcome the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region for a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on April 14, 2025. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron waits to welcome the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region for a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on April 14, 2025. (AFP)

France's President Emmanuel Macron told Israel's leader during a phone call Tuesday that the suffering of Gazan civilians "must end" and that only a ceasefire in Gaza could free remaining Israeli hostages.

"The ordeal the civilian populations of Gaza are going through must end," Macron posted on X after the call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He also called for "opening all humanitarian aid crossings" into the besieged Palestinian territory.

The United Nation has warned that Gaza's humanitarian crisis is spiraling out of control, with no aid having entered the territory for weeks.

Palestinian group Hamas said Monday that Israel had offered a 45-day ceasefire if it releases half of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

A Hamas official told AFP that Israel had also demanded that the Palestinian fighters disarm to secure an end to the Gaza war, but that this crossed a "red line".

Macron said he told Netanyahu "the release of all hostages" and the "demilitarization of Hamas" were still an absolute priority for France.

He said he hoped for "a ceasefire, the release of all hostages, humanitarian aid, and then finally reopening the prospect of a political two-state solution".

Macron irked Israel last week when he suggested Paris could recognize a Palestinian state during a United Nations conference in New York in June.

Israel insists such moves by foreign states are premature.

But Macron has said he hopes French recognition of a Palestinian state will encourage not just other nations to follow suit, but also countries who do not recognize Israel to do so.

The creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel is widely seen internationally as the only realistic way to resolve the decades-old conflict. Israel captured Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want all three for a future state. The last serious and substantive peace talks broke down after Netanyahu returned to power in 2009.

A number of European states have recently recognized a Palestinian state in what is largely a symbolic move aimed at reviving the peace process.