Hadi: We Look Forward to Peace, Reject Houthis Importing Iranian Experience to Yemen

 Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi (Reuters)
Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi (Reuters)
TT

Hadi: We Look Forward to Peace, Reject Houthis Importing Iranian Experience to Yemen

 Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi (Reuters)
Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi (Reuters)

Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi on Monday reaffirmed his government’s keenness to achieve peace, years after Iran-backed Houthi militias waged a nationwide coup. The leader also accused the militant group of using the power of arms to transfer the Iranian experience to Yemen forcibly.

“This is a matter that the people of Yemen won’t accept,” noted the president about Houthis looking to import Iranian ideology and revolution to the war-torn country.

Hadi’s comments came during a meeting with the Chargé d’Affairs of the US Embassy in Yemen, Catherine Westley. On the same day, the president had also received the credentials of several new ambassadors appointed to Yemen.

While drawing emphasis on the need to achieve peace per international resolutions, especially UN Security Council Resolution 2216, Hadi stressed the need to stabilize the national economy in another Monday meeting with the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY).

Hadi acknowledged the CBY’s role in controlling the banking market, stabilizing the economy, and putting in place measures to limit the local currency’s decline against foreign currencies.

The president reiterated Yemen’s keenness on achieving the Yemeni people’s aspirations for peace after having long suffered from the war launched by Iran-backed Houthi militias.

Hadi explained that coup militias seek to impose their approach and transfer the Iranian experience to Yemen, which he confirmed Yemenis could not accept.

Hadi highlighted the official state’s commitment to all peace efforts in their various stages, the latest of which being the Stockholm Agreement, Saba News Agency reported.

“We have halted (according to the agreement) the entry of our forces into Hodeidah governorate after them having been only a few meters away from the port of Hodeidah,” said the president.

“On the other hand, Houthis did not abide by their pledges to end the siege on Taiz and release the prisoners and detainees (all for all) as the first steps towards peace,” he added.



Israel Says It Captured Weapons from Iran Being Smuggled to West Bank

An Israeli soldier holds a weapon during an Israeli raid, in Al-Faraa camp near Tubas, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
An Israeli soldier holds a weapon during an Israeli raid, in Al-Faraa camp near Tubas, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Israel Says It Captured Weapons from Iran Being Smuggled to West Bank

An Israeli soldier holds a weapon during an Israeli raid, in Al-Faraa camp near Tubas, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
An Israeli soldier holds a weapon during an Israeli raid, in Al-Faraa camp near Tubas, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli authorities say they seized a large cache of weapons originating in Iran and bound for Palestinian fighters in the West Bank.

A joint statement from the military and Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency on Wednesday said the cache included rockets, explosives, mortar launchers, sniper rifles and other weapons. They released photos purporting to show the weapons.

The statement did not say where the seizure took place, and the military did not respond to a request for comment.

The statement identified two units of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, one purportedly based in Syria, that it said were responsible for the smuggling, and named their commanders. It did not provide further evidence of Iran’s involvement.

Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the occupied West Bank in recent years, targeting what it says are militants planning attacks.

The violence spiked after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Health Ministry says nearly 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since then. There has also been a rise in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.