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Tehran Boosts Support for Houthis by Appointing Ambassador to Sanaa

An Iranian arms shipment destined for the Houthis was confiscated last February (US Navy)
An Iranian arms shipment destined for the Houthis was confiscated last February (US Navy)
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Tehran Boosts Support for Houthis by Appointing Ambassador to Sanaa

An Iranian arms shipment destined for the Houthis was confiscated last February (US Navy)
An Iranian arms shipment destined for the Houthis was confiscated last February (US Navy)

Iran has stepped up its political and military support for Houthi coup militias in Yemen by appointing and dispatching a new Iranian ambassador to the insurgency-held capital, Sanaa. This sparked public rage in the war-torn country.

The internationally-recognized government headed by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi urged a response against the hostile move by Tehran.

Iran had previously avoided officially recognizing Houthis in Yemen, but changed its policy after Houthis appointed Ibrahim al-Dulaimi as ambassador to Iran in 2019. Tehran accepted the appointment and handed over the keys to the Yemeni embassy to al-Dulaimi.

"Hassan Eyrlou... ambassador for the Islamic Republic of Iran in Yemen, has arrived in Sanaa," foreign ministry spokesman Said Khatibzadeh told the Fars news agency.

"He has presented his letters of credentials to Mehdi al-Mashat, head of Yemen's supreme political council," he added, referring to an executive body formed by Houthi militias.

Fars did not specify when or how the ambassador had reached Sanaa, but the announcement came shortly after more than 1,000 prisoners were freed in a landmark exchange between the warring sides in Yemen.

Well-informed sources based in Sanaa revealed that Eyrlou had arrived to Sanaa onboard an Omani flight that transported 283 injured Houthis who were a part of a deal with Washington on releasing two US citizens captured by Houthi militias.

Yemeni activists accuse the UN of facilitating the transport of Iranian officers and experts to Yemen, where they help embolden a Houthi coup d'etat by providing military support.

Iranian military advisors are responsible for giving Houthis access to explosive-making technologies and providing militants with training sufficient to assemble and operate missiles and drones smuggled from Iran.

Yemeni activists have urged the government to respond to Iran sending Eyrlou to Sanaa, saying that the move violates national sovereignty, plays into Tehran's policy on prolonging the war in Yemen, and violates international laws and resolutions.

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7 Killed by Russian Attacks as Moscow Pushes Ahead in Ukraine's East

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV
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7 Killed by Russian Attacks as Moscow Pushes Ahead in Ukraine's East

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV

Russian shelling in the town of Chasiv Yar on Saturday killed five people, as Moscow’s troops pushed ahead in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
The attack struck a high-rise building and a private home, said regional Gov. Vadym Filaskhin, who said the victims were men aged 24 to 38. He urged the last remaining residents to leave the front-line town, which had a pre-war population of 12,000.
“Normal life has been impossible in Chasiv Yar for more than two years,” Filaskhin wrote on social media. “Do not become a Russian target — evacuate.” A further two people were killed by Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region. One victim was pulled from the rubble of a house in the village of Cherkaska Lozova, said Gov. Oleh Syniehubov, while a second woman died of her wounds while being transported to a hospital.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it captured the town of Pivnichne, also in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim.
Russian forces have been driving deeper into the partly occupied eastern region, the total capture of which is one of the Kremlin’s primary ambitions. Russia’s army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defense in the area.
At the same time, Ukraine has sent its forces into Russia’s Kursk region in recent weeks in the largest incursion onto Russian soil since World War II. The move is partly an effort to force Russia to draw troops away from the Donetsk front.
Elsewhere, the number of wounded following a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Friday continued to rise.
Six people were killed, including a 14-year-old girl, when glide bombs struck five locations across the city, said regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. Writing on social media Saturday, he said that the number of injured had risen from 47 to 96.
Syniehubov also confirmed that the 12-story apartment block that was hit by one bomb strike, setting the building ablaze and trapping at least one person on an upper floor, would be partly demolished.
Ukrainian officials have previously pointed to the Kharkiv strikes as further evidence that Western partners should scrap restrictions on what the Ukrainian military can target with donated weapons.
In an interview with CNN on Friday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that Kyiv had presented Washington with a list of potential long-range targets within Russia for its approval. “I hope we were heard,” he said.
He also denied speculation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ’s decision to dismiss the commander of the country’s air force Friday was directly linked to the destruction of an F-16 warplane that Ukraine received from its Western partners four days earlier.
The order to dismiss Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk was published on the presidential website minutes before an address which saw Zelenskyy stress the need to “take care of all our soldiers.”
“This is two separate issues,” said Umerov. “At this stage, I would not connect them.”
The number of injured also continued to rise in the Russian border region of Belgorod, where five people were killed Friday by Ukrainian shelling, said Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. He said Sunday that 46 people had been injured, of whom 37 were in the hospital, including seven children. Writing on social media, Gladkov also said that two others had been injured in Ukrainian shelling across the region.