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Houthis Step up Assaults Despite Int’l Condemnation

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaks during a virtual meeting at the State Department in Washington, February 26, 2021. (AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaks during a virtual meeting at the State Department in Washington, February 26, 2021. (AP)
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Houthis Step up Assaults Despite Int’l Condemnation

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaks during a virtual meeting at the State Department in Washington, February 26, 2021. (AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaks during a virtual meeting at the State Department in Washington, February 26, 2021. (AP)

Worldwide condemnation and the US Biden administration revoking the Houthis terrorist label have failed in curbing the Iran-backed group’s persistent violence against civilians in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Houthis continue to violate international norms and laws.

Recent days have witnessed an increase in the frequency of Houthi assaults against civilian targets in Saudi Arabia.

Despite the Saudi-led Arab Coalition forces maintaining vigilance in confronting Houthi missiles and drones, shrapnel from some intercepted projectiles have hit civilian homes in Riyadh and villages in the Jazan region.

The attacks injured a number of civilians and damaged public and private property.

Over the course of the last weeks, Houthi militias launched daily attacks against Saudi Arabia. The group fired cross-border drones and missiles, disregarding international laws and covenants.

States and organizations from all over the world have urged swift and decisive action to end repeated terrorist attacks targeting vital and civilian facilities and threatening the stability of Saudi Arabia.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Iran-aligned Houthi coupists to cease hostilities and assaults against Yemen’s oil rich Marib governorate and cross-border attacks against Saudi Arabia.

Blinken confirmed that Saudi Arabia and the internationally recognized Yemeni government are “committed and eager” to find a way to end the war in Yemen and called on the Houthi group to do the same.

“The necessary first step is to stop their offensive against Marib, a city where a million internally displaced people live, and to join the Saudis and the government in Yemen in making constructive moves towards peace,” he said.

Despite international and UN efforts to broker peace in war-torn Yemen, Houthis have continued to block any serious attempts for achieving a ceasefire and rebooting political talks, Information Ministry Undersecretary Naguib Ghallab told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The group has also disregarded concessions made by the Yemeni government and used negotiations to buy time and advance their war agenda, he added.

According to Ghallab, Houthis have shown no commitment to finding a political solution for conflict in Yemen.

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Arab World

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."