UN’s Yemen Envoy Condemns Houthi Attack on Taiz

The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, during a previous visit to Sanaa, June 2022 (EPA)
The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, during a previous visit to Sanaa, June 2022 (EPA)
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UN’s Yemen Envoy Condemns Houthi Attack on Taiz

The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, during a previous visit to Sanaa, June 2022 (EPA)
The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, during a previous visit to Sanaa, June 2022 (EPA)

The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, has condemned the Houthi attack on Taiz in southwest Yemen.

Grundberg said in a statement: "I condemn the attack that was launched from areas controlled by Ansar Allah on Sunday night in Dabab area in Taiz that left a number of soldiers killed or wounded and threatens to seriously worsen the humanitarian situation for civilians."

The envoy called on the parties to seize the opportunity provided by the truce extension to demonstrate total commitment to ending the prolonged conflict in Yemen and the suffering of its people.

He also urged the parties to engage with his office to continue discussions to meet their obligations under the truce.

"My efforts will continue to work with the parties to navigate the path toward reaching a comprehensive political and peaceful settlement of the conflict," reiterated Grundberg.

Meanwhile, the US envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, stressed the need to coordinate work with the Gulf countries to advance a path toward a political solution to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

During a reception hosted by the National Council on US-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) to welcome the new Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, Jassem al-Budaiwi, Lenderking said he believed a peace agreement in Yemen could soon be achieved.

The envoy lauded the efforts and contributions made by the Gulf states to improve the humanitarian situation in Yemen and alleviate a severe crisis.

Lenderking shed light on the role of Kuwait as "a peacemaker and bridge builder."

US Department of Defense Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs Ilan Goldenberg affirmed Washington's strong defense commitment in the region.

The US "stands firmly committed to the defense of Kuwait, something that has been the keystone of our relationship," he asserted.

Goldenberg continued, "the defense partnership is one of the most important security relationships the US has, and we will always value that partnership."

He also expressed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's "gratitude for several key elements of the strong relationship" with Kuwait.



An Israeli Strike that Killed 3 Lebanese Journalists Was Most Likely Deliberate

A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)
A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)
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An Israeli Strike that Killed 3 Lebanese Journalists Was Most Likely Deliberate

A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)
A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)

An Israeli airstrike that killed three journalists and wounded others in Lebanon last month was most likely a deliberate attack on civilians and an apparent war crime, an international human rights group said Monday.
The Oct. 25 airstrike killed three journalists as they slept at a guesthouse in southeast Lebanon in one of the deadliest attacks on the media since the Israel-Hezbollah war began 13 months ago.
Eleven other journalists have been killed and eight wounded since then, Lebanon's Health Minister Firass Abiad said.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, and women and children accounted for more than 900 of the dead, according to the Health Ministry. More than 1 million people have been displaced since Israeli ground troops invaded while Hezbollah has been firing thousands of rockets, drones and missiles into Israel - and drawing fierce Israeli retaliatory strikes.
Human Rights Watch determined that Israeli forces carried out the Oct. 25 attack using an air-dropped bomb equipped with a US produced Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, guidance kit.
The group said the US government should suspend weapons transfers to Israel because of the military´s repeated "unlawful attacks on civilians, for which US officials may be complicit in war crimes."
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the report.
The Biden administration said in May that Israel’s use of US-provided weapons in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but that wartime conditions prevented US officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
The journalists killed in the airstrike in the southeastern town of Hasbaya were camera operator Ghassan Najjar and broadcast technician Mohammed Rida of the Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV, and camera operator Wissam Qassim, who worked for Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.
Human Rights Watch said a munition struck the single-story building and detonated upon hitting the floor.
"Israel’s use of US arms to unlawfully attack and kill journalists away from any military target is a terrible mark on the United States as well as Israel," said Richard Weir, the senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Weir added that "the Israeli military’s previous deadly attacks on journalists without any consequences give little hope for accountability in this or future violations against the media."
Human Rights Watch said that it found remnants at the site and reviewed photographs of pieces collected by the resort owner and determined that they were consistent with a JDAM guidance kit assembled and sold by the US company Boeing.

The JDAM is affixed to air-dropped bombs and allows them to be guided to a target by using satellite coordinates, making the weapon accurate to within several meters, the group said.
In November 2023, two journalists for Al-Mayadeen TV were killed in a drone strike at their reporting spot. A month earlier, Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and seriously wounded other journalists from France´s international news agency Agence France-Presse and Qatar´s Al-Jazeera TV on a hilltop not far from the Israeli border.