Yemen Calls for Protecting Refugees from Houthi Attacks

Yemenis at a camp for the displaced in Hodeidah. (AFP)
Yemenis at a camp for the displaced in Hodeidah. (AFP)
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Yemen Calls for Protecting Refugees from Houthi Attacks

Yemenis at a camp for the displaced in Hodeidah. (AFP)
Yemenis at a camp for the displaced in Hodeidah. (AFP)

Yemeni Permanent Representative to the UN, Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi urged the international community and the Security Council to take measures to protect civilians in both cities and refugee camps from terrorist attacks by Iran-backed Houth militias and to protect civilian objects in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Al-Saadi made his remarks Thursday during an open discussion at the Security Council on unanimously adopted civilian protection resolutions.

He stated that the attacks violate international law and international humanitarian law.

They are a real threat to vital facilities, energy supplies, global economy stability, and international and regional security and stability, he added.

“Iran is supplying ballistic missiles to the Houthis, in violation of resolutions 2216 (2015) and 2231 (2015),” he added.

“The international community has to act,” he urged. “We need true accountability here.”

“Despite the truce in Yemen, the Houthis have committed numerous violations in Marib, where 2 million of the 4 million inhabitants are displaced."

Al-Saadi said: “Civilians are being used as human shields in schools, where militias are also storing weapons. Hunger is being used as a weapon of war.”



Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)

Israeli forces have blocked supply routes to the southern Lebanese border city of al-Khiam ahead of storming it.

They have also surrounded the strategic city with Hezbollah fighters still inside, launching artillery and air attacks against them.

Hezbollah fighters have been holding out in Khiam for 25 days. The capture of the city would be significant and allow Israeli forces easier passage into southern Lebanon.

Field sources said Israeli forces have already entered some neighborhoods of Khiam from its eastern and southern outskirts, expanding their incursion into its northern and eastern sectors to fully capture the city.

They cast doubt on claims that the city has been fully captured, saying fighting is still taking place deeper inside its streets and alleys, citing the ongoing artillery fire and drone and air raids.

Israel has already cut off Hezbollah’s supply routes by seizing control of Bourj al-Mamlouk, Tall al-Nahas and olive groves in al-Qlaa in the Marayoun region. Its forces have also fanned out to the west towards the Litani River.

The troops have set up a “line of fire” spanning at least seven kms around Khiam to deter anti-tank attacks from Hezbollah and to launch artillery, drone and aerial attacks, said the sources.

The intense pressure has forced Hezbollah to resort to suicide drone attacks against Israeli forces.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television said Israeli forces tried to carry out a new incursion towards Khiam’s northern neighborhoods.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that since Friday night, Israeli forces have been using “all forms of weapons in their attempt to capture Khiam, which Israel views as a strategic gateway through which it can make rapid ground advances.”

It reported an increase in air and artillery attacks in the past two days as the forces try to storm the city.

The troops are trying to advance on Khiam by first surrounding it from all sides under air cover, it continued.

They are also booby-trapping some homes and buildings and then destroying them, similar to what they have done in other southern towns, such as Adeisseh, Yaround, Aitaroun and Mais al-Jabal.

Khiam holds symbolic significance to the Lebanese people because it was the first city liberated following Israel’s implementation of United Nations Security Council 425 on May 25, 2000, that led to its withdrawal from the South in a day that Hezbollah has since declared Liberation Day.