Yemen Presidential Council Sets Priorities, Vows to Restore State

The Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council meets on Saturday. (Saba)
The Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council meets on Saturday. (Saba)
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Yemen Presidential Council Sets Priorities, Vows to Restore State

The Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council meets on Saturday. (Saba)
The Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council meets on Saturday. (Saba)

The new Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council convened with the government for the first time on Saturday.

The meeting, held in Riyadh, set the priorities of the council for the upcoming period and the means to implement its duties.

Chaired by Rashad al-Alimi, the council includes seven other officials.

Official sources said the council's priorities are seeking the "highest level of consensus" in line with the current critical state of affairs in Yemen. The council will rely on consensus between local forces and political and societal groupings to operate with the aim to restore the state and ease the suffering of the people.

The council stressed that achieving economic stability and easing humanitarian suffering are its top priorities, reported the state news agency Saba.

Alimi expressed his confidence that national efforts and unity will succeed in translating into action the outcomes of the intra-Yemeni consultations that were held in Riyadh earlier this month.

The consultations represent a new phase of work towards easing the suffering of the people by the Iran-backed Houthi militias.

The council's hand is extended to just and comprehensive peace, he stressed, adding that it will not hesitate in defending the security of Yemen and its people.

It will defeat any Iranian agenda aimed at undermining Yemen's Arab identity and turning it into a source of threat to the Gulf, he continued.

Alimi said: "We realize the amount of challenges ahead of us, but we are determined enough to forge ahead."

"We are relying on the cooperation of all sides, on the local, regional and international levels, to fulfill our national duties" he declared.



Sudan Army Surrounds Khartoum Airport and Nearby Areas 

A fighter loyal to the army patrols a market area in Khartoum on March 24, 2025. (AFP)
A fighter loyal to the army patrols a market area in Khartoum on March 24, 2025. (AFP)
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Sudan Army Surrounds Khartoum Airport and Nearby Areas 

A fighter loyal to the army patrols a market area in Khartoum on March 24, 2025. (AFP)
A fighter loyal to the army patrols a market area in Khartoum on March 24, 2025. (AFP)

The Sudanese army is encircling Khartoum airport and surrounding areas, two military sources told Reuters on Wednesday, marking another gain in its two-year-old war with a rival armed group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Separately, Sudan's army said in a statement it had taken control of the Tiba al-Hassanab camp in Jabal Awliya, describing this as the RSF's main base in central Sudan and its last stronghold in Khartoum.

The army had long been on the back foot in a conflict that threatens to partition the country and has caused a humanitarian disaster. But it has recently made gains and has retaken territory from the RSF in the center of the country.

The army seized control of the presidential palace in downtown Khartoum on Friday.

Witnesses said on Wednesday that RSF had mainly stationed its forces in southern Khartoum to secure their withdrawal from the capital via bridges to the neighboring city of Omdurman.

The UN calls the situation in Sudan the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with famine in several locations and disease across the country of 50 million people.

The war erupted two years ago as Sudan was planning a transition to democratic rule.

The army and RSF had joined forces after forcing Omar al-Bashir from power in 2019 and later in ousting the civilian leadership.