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Yemen Makes ‘Concrete Progress’ in Forming New Govt.

A general view of the interim Yemeni capital Aden in 2018. (Reuters)
A general view of the interim Yemeni capital Aden in 2018. (Reuters)
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Yemen Makes ‘Concrete Progress’ in Forming New Govt.

A general view of the interim Yemeni capital Aden in 2018. (Reuters)
A general view of the interim Yemeni capital Aden in 2018. (Reuters)

“Concrete progress” has been achieved in recent days over the formation of a new Yemen government after parties agreed on the distribution of shares, revealed Western and Yemeni sources on Sunday.

“Yemeni political parties reached an agreement concerning the division of ministerial portfolios between the North and South,” the sources said.

In recent days, Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi had stressed the need to expedite the process of implementing the Riyadh Agreement, which is required to unite Yemeni parties and to confront the Iran-backed Houthi militias.

Government spokesman Rajeh Badi told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Consultations are going in the right direction towards reaching understandings between the various participating parties.”

The spokesman added that understandings are about to be reached between northern and southern Yemen on the distribution of ministerial portfolios based on the mechanism to accelerate the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement.

“All parties are keen on implementing the Agreement, and everyone is aware of the gravity of the economic and military situation in the country,” Badi said.

Signed between the legitimate government and the Southern Transitional Council in August, the mechanism to accelerate the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement calls for forming a new 24-minister government. Portfolios will be distributed equally between North and South Yemen.

Badi said, “Obstacles that some parties considered immense, were not that grave,” praising the support of Saudi Arabia to facilitate those talks.

“Our Saudi brothers are keen on removing any obstacle hindering Yemeni stability and they support easing the suffering of the Yemeni people at the hands of the Houthis,” he said.

Yemeni media had in recent hours published leaks related to the distribution of shares in the new government. However, no official sources confirmed those reports.

Meanwhile, British Ambassador to Yemen Michael Aron told Asharq Al-Awsat that all signs indicate that a breakthrough is about to be reached in the formation of a new cabinet.

He said that “good news” may be on the way.

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Israel’s Retaliatory Responses to Houthis Must Begin by Drawing Intelligence Plan

A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)
A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)
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Israel’s Retaliatory Responses to Houthis Must Begin by Drawing Intelligence Plan

A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)
A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)

Israel is considering options to respond to repeated attacks fired from Yemen in the past few days, the latest of which was a Houthi missile strike that injured more than a dozen people in Tel Aviv.
But military experts say Israel should first consider an intelligence plan for confronting the new front after it faced significant difficulties in both defending against and responding to the Houthi attacks.
On Saturday morning, Houthis launched a missile that triggered sirens throughout central Israel at 3:44 am. It was the second attack since Thursday.
Israel's military said the projectile landed in Tel Aviv's southern Jaffa area, adding that attempts to intercept a missile from Yemen failed.
“The incident is still being thoroughly investigated,” the army said, adding that following initial investigations by the Israeli Air Force and Home Front Command, “some of the conclusions have already been implemented, both regarding interception and early warning.”
Israeli military experts say the recent Houthi attacks have revealed serious security gaps in Israel's air defense systems.
“The pressing question now is why none of the other of Israel’s air defense layers managed to intercept the warhead,” wrote Yedioth Ahronoth's Ron Ben-Yishai. “The likely explanation is the late detection and the flat trajectory, which prevented the operation of all available defense apparatus.”
He said these incidents might expose a critical vulnerability in the army’s air defense system protecting Israel’s civilian and military home front.
According to Ben-Yishai, two main reasons might explain Saturday’s interception failure.
The first is that the missile was launched in a “flattened” ballistic trajectory, possibly from an unexpected direction.
As a result, Israeli defenses may not have identified it in time, leading to its late discovery and insufficient time for interceptors to operate.
He said the second, and more likely scenario is that Iran has developed a maneuverable warhead.
Such a warhead separates from the missile during the final third of its trajectory and maneuvers mid-flight—executing pre-programmed course changes—to hit its designated target, he wrote.
And while Israel has launched initial investigations into the failure of Israeli defense systems to intercept the missiles, it is now examining the nature, date and location of its response.
When Houthis launched their first missile attack on Israel last Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned them, saying, “The Houthis will learn the hard way.”
But Israeli political analyst Avi Ashkenazi wrote in the Maariv newspaper that Israel should look at reality with open eyes and say out loud that it cannot deal with the Houthi threat from Yemen, and has failed to face them.
Last Thursday, 14 Israeli Air Force fighter jets, alongside refuelers and spy planes, flew some 2,000 kilometers and dropped over 60 munitions on Houthi “military targets” along Yemen’s western coast and near the capital Sanaa.
The targets included fuel and oil depots, two power stations, and eight tugboats used at the Houthi-controlled ports.
But the Maariv newspaper warned about the increasing involvement of Iran in supporting the Houthi forces.
“Iran has invested more in the Houthis in recent weeks following the collapse of the Shiite axis, making the Houthi movement a leader of this axis,” the newspaper noted.
Underscoring the failures of Israel’s air defense systems, Maariv said the “Arrow” missile defense system, Israel's main line of defense against ballistic missiles, had failed four times in a row to intercept missiles, including three launched from Yemen and one from Lebanon.
Yedioth Ahronoth's Ben-Yishai also warned that the threat posed by maneuvering warheads on Iran's heavy, long-range missiles would become existential for Israel should Iran succeed in developing nuclear warheads for these missiles.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Channel 12 said that in recent months, the Middle East has changed beyond recognition.
The channel said that for the first time in more than half a century, a direct and threat-free air corridor has been opened to Iran through the Middle East. Israel will benefit from this corridor to launch almost daily attacks on the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon, it said.
Channel 12 also reported that according to the Israeli military, the new threat-free corridor will help Israel launch a future attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
“From Israel's perspective, the fall of the Assad regime and the collapse of the Iranian ring of fire are changing the balance of power in the Middle East,” the report added.