Yemen Complains to UNSC about Houthi Crimes in Marib

Yemeni medics at the Marib Hospital treat a girl who was injured in a Houthi missile strike on a residential area in the city of Marib, on October 3, 2021. (Photo by AFP)
Yemeni medics at the Marib Hospital treat a girl who was injured in a Houthi missile strike on a residential area in the city of Marib, on October 3, 2021. (Photo by AFP)
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Yemen Complains to UNSC about Houthi Crimes in Marib

Yemeni medics at the Marib Hospital treat a girl who was injured in a Houthi missile strike on a residential area in the city of Marib, on October 3, 2021. (Photo by AFP)
Yemeni medics at the Marib Hospital treat a girl who was injured in a Houthi missile strike on a residential area in the city of Marib, on October 3, 2021. (Photo by AFP)

Against a backdrop of raging Houthi military escalation, the internationally recognized Yemeni government filed a complaint at the UN Security Council about Houthi crimes against civilians in the northern governorate of Marib.

On Thursday, Houthis targeted the residential al-Rawdah neighborhood in Marib for the second time within a few days. In the first attack, Houthis launched three ballistic missiles, killing and injuring around 35 Yemenis, including women and children.

Yemen’s Permanent Representative to the UN Abdullah Al-Saadi sent a letter to the UNSC about the massacres Houthis are committing in Marib, where they are attacking civilians in different areas and laying siege to al-Abdiyah district.

Al-Saadi pointed out that the last Houthi attack on October 3 targeted the residential neighborhood of al-Rawdah, north of the central city of Marib.

According to the representative, the attack killed and wounded at least 29 civilians, including at least four women and five children, one of whom was only seven months old.

“This attack is not the first of its kind, as Houthi militias continue to launch ballistic missiles to kill and injure civilians in Marib and other places in Yemen, and there are many examples of such attacks, such as the attack on the al-Majma neighborhood in Marib,” said Al-Saadi.

The representative also recalled the July 3 attack on children leaving school in Taiz.

In addition, Al-Saadi shed light on Houthi crimes against civilians in the al-Abdiyah district, south of Marib.

There, Houthi militias have been depriving 5,300 families (a total of 35,000 civilians) of access to food, water, and medicine for about three weeks. The siege on al-Abdiyah has killed at least three civilians so far.

Moreover, Al-Saadi confirmed that the Houthi siege of the al-Abdiyah district deprives 34 patients of access to urgent health care, 23 of whom suffer from kidney failure, and 11 have cancer.

“Continued Houthi violation of human rights and international humanitarian law will exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation in Yemen and push the country further away from reaching a political solution to the crisis,” noted Al-Saadi.



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.