Yemen Demands Extension of Arms Embargo against Iran

Houthis ride on the back of a police patrol truck after participating in a gathering in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb.19, 2020. (Reuters)
Houthis ride on the back of a police patrol truck after participating in a gathering in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb.19, 2020. (Reuters)
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Yemen Demands Extension of Arms Embargo against Iran

Houthis ride on the back of a police patrol truck after participating in a gathering in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb.19, 2020. (Reuters)
Houthis ride on the back of a police patrol truck after participating in a gathering in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb.19, 2020. (Reuters)

The legitimate Yemeni government urged on Saturday the need to extend the arms embargo against Tehran after busting a Houthi cell that confessed to smuggling weapons from Iran.

In a series of tweets, Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said the cell admitted to receiving training in Iran and to having connections to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

“This is damning evidence of Iranian complicity in running smuggling operations and supporting the militias with weapons (ballistic missiles and drones) to implement their destructive agenda in the region,” he said.

The confessions confirm that the Houthis were exploiting the Stockholm agreement on Hodeidah in order to use the coastal city’s ports “to smuggle Iranian weapons, escalate their terrorist military operations in Yemen and target civilians in Saudi Arabia and oil and trade ships in the Red Sea, he continued.

Moreover, the minister said the Iranian regime’s ongoing smuggling of arms to the Houthis was a flagrant violation of relevant international resolutions on Yemen.



Israeli Official Says Hamas is Only Obstacle to Release of Hostages

Destroyed buildings stand inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Destroyed buildings stand inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
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Israeli Official Says Hamas is Only Obstacle to Release of Hostages

Destroyed buildings stand inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Destroyed buildings stand inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israel is fully committed to reaching an agreement to return its hostages from Gaza but faces obstruction from Hamas, a senior Israeli foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

"Hamas is the only obstacle to the release of the hostages," foreign ministry director general Eden Bar Tal told a briefing with reporters.

Both Israel and Hamas are under pressure from outgoing US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump to reach a deal before the Jan. 20 inauguration. But the sides have come close before, only to have talks collapse over various disagreements.

Israel says about 100 hostages remain in Gaza — at least a third of whom it believes were killed during the Oct. 7 attack or died in captivity.

The first batch of hostages to be released is expected to be made up mostly of women, older people and people with medical conditions, according to the Israeli, Egyptian and Hamas officials.