Yemeni PM Accuses Houthis, Iran of Deadly Aden Airport Blast

A security personnel member reacts during an attack on Aden airport moments after a plane landed carrying a newly formed cabinet, in Aden, Yemen December 30, 2020. (Reuters)
A security personnel member reacts during an attack on Aden airport moments after a plane landed carrying a newly formed cabinet, in Aden, Yemen December 30, 2020. (Reuters)
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Yemeni PM Accuses Houthis, Iran of Deadly Aden Airport Blast

A security personnel member reacts during an attack on Aden airport moments after a plane landed carrying a newly formed cabinet, in Aden, Yemen December 30, 2020. (Reuters)
A security personnel member reacts during an attack on Aden airport moments after a plane landed carrying a newly formed cabinet, in Aden, Yemen December 30, 2020. (Reuters)

Yemen’s prime minister renewed accusations on Thursday that the Houthi militias and Iran were responsible for the deadly explosion at the airport in the southern Yemeni city of Aden the previous day that killed at least 25 people and wounded 110.

The explosion took place as Cabinet members were disembarking from a plane that had landed in Aden just minutes earlier on Wednesday. AP footage from the scene showed many ministers rushing back inside the plane or running down the stairs, seeking shelter. None of the Cabinet members were hurt.

Hours after the blast, the country's legitimate government said the Iran-backed Houthis had fired four ballistic missiles at the airport.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that Houthi militias stand behind this crime,” Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed said as the newly reshuffled Cabinet convened for the first time in Aden.

“Intelligence also indicates that some Iranian experts were prepping for such an operation over the last few months,” Saeed said Thursday.

Officials later on Wednesday reported a second explosion, close to a palace in the city where the Cabinet members were taken to following the airport attack. The Saudi-led coalition later shot down a bomb-laden drone that attempted to target the palace, according to Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV channel.

The newly formed Cabinet was set to meet for the first time since its formation in line with the Riyadh Agreement.

“We were supposed to begin by discussing the government program but this is an extraordinary meeting due to yesterday's cowardly and treacherous attack,” Saeed said, and asked his ministers to stand up silently for a moment to mourn the victims of the explosion.

Saeed also urged Western powers not to remain content with just condemning the attack but also to hold the perpetrators accountable.

“The international community is still debating whether to designate Houthis as a terrorist group," he said. “However, things are clear for us in Yemen. The actions of these militias prove they are a terrorist group.”



Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said his administration would announce the new structure of the defense ministry and military within days.

In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, al-Sharaa said that his administration would not allow for arms outside the control of the state.

An official source told Reuters on Saturday that Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, had been named as defense minister in the interim government.
Sharaa did not mention the appointment of a new defense minister on Sunday.
Sharaa discussed the form military institutions would take during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA said.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said last week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former opposition factions and officers who defected from Assad's army.

Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks with al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Jumblatt expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he added.