Yemen Presidential Council Forms Security, Military Committee

UN envoy Grundberg meets with head of the Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi in Aden. (Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen).
UN envoy Grundberg meets with head of the Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi in Aden. (Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen).
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Yemen Presidential Council Forms Security, Military Committee

UN envoy Grundberg meets with head of the Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi in Aden. (Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen).
UN envoy Grundberg meets with head of the Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi in Aden. (Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen).

The Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council announced on Monday the formation of a joint security and military committee.

Veteran military official Haitham Qassem Taher was named as head of the 59-member committee.

The formation of the body is part of the Council's efforts to consolidate its authority and efforts to unify the army and security forces.

Official sources added that the PLC also agreed to restructure the armed and security forces in line with the declaration of the transition of power in the country.

The Saba news agency said the meeting was chaired by PLC Chairman Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi and other members of the council.

The sources added that the PLC agreed to form a committee that would assess and restructure the intelligence agencies.

The members stressed the importance of these committees in carrying out their duties to achieve security and stability and unify the armed and security forces under one national command.

This would boost the battle of restoring the state and protect the current national consensus, with the support of the Arab Coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Yemenis are hoping that the security and military committee would be a changing point in that it would unify the military and security forces, which would consolidate the ability of the legitimate forces in confronting the Houthi coup and unite national forces that are keen on restoring the state and liberating the capital Sanaa from the militias.

Meanwhile, the legitimate government warned that the ongoing nationwide truce was on the verge of collapse due to the intransigence of the Iran-backed Houthi militias. The truce is set to expire on Thursday.

United Nations envoy Hans Grundberg pledged on Monday to extend the truce.

He held talks with Al-Alimi, members of the PLC and Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak in the interim capital Aden.

The UN office in Yemen tweeted that the meeting focused on re-opening roads in Taiz, which under a years-long siege by the Houthis, and renewing the truce.

"Discussions focused on the need to deliver results for civilians in Taiz and across Yemen. Grundberg noted that renewing the truce is critical to solidify benefits delivered so far and provide space to move towards a political settlement," it added.

The representative of the warring parties met for three days in the Jordanian capital Amman last week to discuss ending the siege.

They failed to reach an agreement with the Houthis rejecting the government delegation's proposal to open the main roads.

Lifting the siege was among the articles of the truce. The question of the blockaded city is key to extending the ceasefire.

Grundberg said a proposal had been floated in what he described as "an initial round of discussions" for a phased reopening of roads in Taiz and elsewhere, which would help facilitate aid deliveries and the movement of suffering Yemenis.

The representatives agreed to hold a follow up meeting.

Bin Mubarak informed Grundberg on Monday that the government was keen on ensuring the success of the truce to ease the suffering of the people.

He accused the Houthis of committing violations and stalling, complicating efforts to end the Taiz siege.

He expressed the PLC's commitment to exercise restraint to ensure that the truce holds, demanding that the envoy and international community pressure the Houthis and guarantee that all articles of the truce are implemented.

The sources said Grundberg hailed the government's position and keenness on respecting the truce to ease the people's suffering.

He stressed that lifting the siege was at the top of his priorities and that he is keen on extending the truce.



Gaza Health Ministry Confirms Received Bodies of 15 Palestinians under Truce Deal

 Temporary tents stretch along the beachfront in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP)
Temporary tents stretch along the beachfront in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP)
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Gaza Health Ministry Confirms Received Bodies of 15 Palestinians under Truce Deal

 Temporary tents stretch along the beachfront in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP)
Temporary tents stretch along the beachfront in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP)

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza confirmed Saturday it had received the bodies of 15 Palestinians the day before under the US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal.

"The Ministry of Health announces the receipt of 15 bodies of martyrs who were released yesterday, Friday, by the Israeli occupation through the Red Cross. This brings the total number of bodies received to 330" as part of the deal, the ministry said, adding it had so far identified 97.

They were returned in exchange for the remains of 73-year-old Israeli hostage Meny Godard, which Hamas returned via the Red Cross on Thursday.


After Assad's Fall, Syrians and EU Officials Hold Rare Meeting in Damascus

Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Asaad al-Shaibani leaves the stage after addressing delegates during a day of dialogue with Syrian civil society, a first step towards structured dialogue with the Syrian government and the European Union, at Conference Palace near Damascus on November 15, 2025. (AFP)
Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Asaad al-Shaibani leaves the stage after addressing delegates during a day of dialogue with Syrian civil society, a first step towards structured dialogue with the Syrian government and the European Union, at Conference Palace near Damascus on November 15, 2025. (AFP)
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After Assad's Fall, Syrians and EU Officials Hold Rare Meeting in Damascus

Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Asaad al-Shaibani leaves the stage after addressing delegates during a day of dialogue with Syrian civil society, a first step towards structured dialogue with the Syrian government and the European Union, at Conference Palace near Damascus on November 15, 2025. (AFP)
Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Asaad al-Shaibani leaves the stage after addressing delegates during a day of dialogue with Syrian civil society, a first step towards structured dialogue with the Syrian government and the European Union, at Conference Palace near Damascus on November 15, 2025. (AFP)

Representatives of Syria’s civil society held rare open discussions Saturday in Damascus in the presence of officials from the European Union and the transitional government. They touched on sensitive topics including sectarian tensions, ethnic divisions and people killed by different sides.

The EU-organized meetings known as “The Day of Dialogue” are the first to be held in Damascus after taking place in past years in Brussels. Saturday's meetings came nearly a year after the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule in Syria in a stunning offensive by opposition groups in early December.

The meetings that used to take place within the framework of the Brussels Conferences were mostly boycotted by then-President Bashar al-Assad’s government. The EU said Saturday's meetings were organized in cooperation with Syrian civil society and the Syrian transitional authorities.

“The meeting that used to be held to talk about Syria is now being held in Syria,” Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said in a speech at the opening session held at a conference center in the southern outskirts of Damascus.

Al-Shaibani added that Saturday’s meetings represent “a solid partnership with the civil society and our partners in the European Union.”

Michael Ohnmacht, chargé d’affaires of the EU delegation to Syria, said 500 people from Syria’s different religious and ethnic groups took part in the meetings and “this is something very positive.”

“This is what we hope for Syria’s future, to see this inclusive state which will be a state in the form of all its citizens,” Ohnmacht said.

Despite the changes in Syria over the past year, sectarian violence in the country’s coastal region in March and the southern province of Sweida in July between pro-government gunmen and members of the country’s Druze and Alawite minorities left hundreds of people dead.

Such acts of violence show that Syria still faces major crises in the 14-year conflict that has left half a million people dead.

“Today’s dialogue is the beginning of change and rebuilding Syria only happens through partnership based on respect between the state and civil society,” said Social Affairs Minister Hind Kabawat.

During one of the sessions on transitional justice and the fate of the missing, Syrians demanded answers on issues still pending, such as more than 130,000 people who went missing under Assad's rule while an ethnic Kurd spoke about state discrimination they have faced for decades. Another spoke about violence against some women who belong to minority sects.

Mazen Darwish, a Syrian lawyer and one of the country’s most prominent activists who was repeatedly jailed in Syria before he went into exile years ago, said no one regrets the fall of the Assad family rule adding that this does not mean that “the future of Syria will be rosy and great.”

“Today we have an opportunity in Syria and we have to take advantage of it,” Darwish said.


Trump's Africa Envoy Says Sudan 'World's Biggest Humanitarian Crisis'

US Department of State's senior advisor to the president for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, speaks during the signing ceremony of the Doha Framework for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the DRC Government and the Congo River Alliance/March 23 Movement (AFC/M23) in Doha on November 15, 2025.
US Department of State's senior advisor to the president for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, speaks during the signing ceremony of the Doha Framework for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the DRC Government and the Congo River Alliance/March 23 Movement (AFC/M23) in Doha on November 15, 2025.
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Trump's Africa Envoy Says Sudan 'World's Biggest Humanitarian Crisis'

US Department of State's senior advisor to the president for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, speaks during the signing ceremony of the Doha Framework for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the DRC Government and the Congo River Alliance/March 23 Movement (AFC/M23) in Doha on November 15, 2025.
US Department of State's senior advisor to the president for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, speaks during the signing ceremony of the Doha Framework for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the DRC Government and the Congo River Alliance/March 23 Movement (AFC/M23) in Doha on November 15, 2025.

US President Donald Trump's Africa envoy Massad Boulos on Saturday called the war in Sudan "the world's biggest humanitarian crisis", telling AFP he hoped to see diplomatic progress towards peace.

Since its outbreak in April 2023, the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 12 million.

At the end of October, the paramilitary group seized control el-Fasher, the conclusion of a bitter 18-month siege for the strategic hub in western Sudan's Darfur region and marked by reports of mass killings and sexual violence.

"The conflict in Sudan, the humanitarian side of this conflict, is the world's biggest humanitarian crisis today, and the world's biggest humanitarian catastrophe," Boulos told AFP in an interview in Doha.

"Especially what happened in el-Fasher in the last two or three weeks. We've all seen those videos. We've seen those reports. Those atrocities are absolutely unacceptable. This must stop very quickly."

Washington has urged the warring parties to finalize a truce in Sudan.

The country's army-aligned government has indicated it will press on with the war following an internal meeting on a US ceasefire proposal.

And while the RSF has said it agrees to the humanitarian truce presented by mediators, the paramilitary group has also continued its offensive.

Boulos said the US and its mediating partners in Sudan were calling on the two sides to agree to a "three-month humanitarian truce".

"It's being discussed and it's being negotiated... we're urging them to accept this proposal and implement it immediately, without delay," he said.

In September the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt jointly called for a humanitarian truce followed by a permanent ceasefire and a transition toward civilian rule, but suggested that no warring party should be part of that transition.

Boulos said the US hopes, with its partners, to "achieve some breakthrough in the coming weeks" on the larger plan including on a transition to a civilian-led government.

"The top priority right now remains the humanitarian aspect and the humanitarian truce," he said.