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Yemeni Govt Links Hodeidah Cooperation to Guha’s Removal

Lieutenant General (retired) Abhijit Guha, Asharq Al-Awsat
Lieutenant General (retired) Abhijit Guha, Asharq Al-Awsat
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Yemeni Govt Links Hodeidah Cooperation to Guha’s Removal

Lieutenant General (retired) Abhijit Guha, Asharq Al-Awsat
Lieutenant General (retired) Abhijit Guha, Asharq Al-Awsat

The Yemeni internationally recognized government has officially suspended meetings with the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), saying it will resume attending talks only when the head of the mission is changed.

Retired Lieutenant General Abhijit Guha is the chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) and the head of UNMHA. He succeeded Lt. Gen Michael Anker Lollesgaard in 2019.

UNMHA is focused on working to achieve its personal interests, member of the government’s RCC team, Col. Khaled al-Kawkabani, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“The UN mission in Hodeidah is working for itself and does not work within the agreed framework, and its members did not comply with what we requested regarding the killing of Colonel al-Sulayhi in an area supposedly secured by UNMHA,” al-Kawkabani said.

He also noted that UNMHA did not cooperate with the request to relocate the mission’s headquarters.

The mission, in October 2019, established five observation posts to monitor a ceasefire which was violated by Houthi militias.

“The mission's presence inside the city of Hodeidah places it under the control of the Houthis,” al-Kawkabani contended.

“Guha and his team do not think about the success of the mission as much as they think about obeying and satisfying Houthis so that they can continue their work and receive salaries,” he explained.

The government delegate added that UNMHA, under Guha, has undermined the agreement and “wasted” Hodeidah.

Houthis in Hodeidah are not only committing violations under Guha’s supervision, but are also seeking to occupy new lands.

Al-Kawkabani also accused Guha of implementing the Houthi agenda and said that it was the reason behind the Yemeni Foreign Ministry requesting his removal.

“He (Guha) has been compromised by the Houthis,” he emphasized.

According to the Yemeni Foreign Ministry, violations of the ceasefire committed by Houthi militias have escalated significantly, reaching 7,378 violations during July 2020 alone.

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Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
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Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

A Lebanese security source said the target of a deadly Israeli airstrike on central Beirut early Saturday was a senior Hezbollah official, adding it was unclear whether he was killed.

"The Israeli strike on Basta targeted a leading Hezbollah figure," the security official told AFP without naming the figure, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The early morning airstrike has killed at least 15 people and injured 63, according to authorities, and had brought down an eight-storey building nearby, in the second such attack on the working-class neighbourhood of Basta in as many months.

"The strike was so strong it felt like the building was about to fall on our heads," said Samir, 60, who lives with his family in a building facing the one that was hit.

"It felt like they had targeted my house," he said, asking to be identified by only his first name because of security concerns.

There had been no evacuation warning issued by the Israeli military for the Basta area.

After the strike, Samir fled his home in the middle of the night with his wife and two children, aged 14 and just three.

On Saturday morning, dumbstruck residents watched as an excavator cleared the wreckage of the razed building and rescue efforts continued, with nearby buildings also damaged in the attack, AFP journalists reported.

The densely packed district has welcomed people displaced from traditional Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon's east, south and southern Beirut, after Israel intensified its air campaign on September 23, later sending in ground troops.

"We saw two dead people on the ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more," Samir told AFP, reporting minor damage to his home.

Since last Sunday, four deadly Israeli strikes have hit central Beirut, including one that killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.

Residents across the city and its outskirts awoke at 0400 (0200 GMT) on Saturday to loud explosions and the smell of gunpowder in the air.

"It was the first time I've woken up screaming in terror," said Salah, a 35-year-old father of two who lives in the same street as the building that was targeted.

"Words can't express the fear that gripped me," he said.

Saturday's strikes were the second time the Basta district had been targeted since war broke out, after deadly twin strikes early in October hit the area and the Nweiri neighbourhood.

Last month's attacks killed 22 people and had targeted Hezbollah security chief Wafiq Safa, who made it out alive, a source close to the group told AFP.

Salah said his wife and children had been in the northern city of Tripoli, about 70 kilometres away (45 miles), but that he had to stay in the capital because of work.

His family had been due to return this weekend because their school reopens on Monday, but now he has decided against it following the attack.

"I miss them. Every day they ask me: 'Dad, when are we coming home?'" he said.

Lebanon's health ministry says that more than 3,650 people have been killed since October 2023, after Hezbollah initiated exchanges of fire with Israel in solidarity with its Iran-backed ally Hamas over the Gaza war.

However, most of the deaths in Lebanon have been since September this year.

Despite the trauma caused by Saturday's strike, Samir said he and his family had no choice but to return home.

"Where else would I go?" he asked.

"All my relatives and siblings have been displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs and from the south."