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Lenderking Intensifies Efforts to Expand Truce in Yemen

The meeting between Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammad Al Jaber, and US Envoy Tim Lenderking, in Riyadh on Monday (SPA)
The meeting between Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammad Al Jaber, and US Envoy Tim Lenderking, in Riyadh on Monday (SPA)
    Riyad, Aden - Omar al-Badwi, Ali Rabih
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Lenderking Intensifies Efforts to Expand Truce in Yemen

The meeting between Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammad Al Jaber, and US Envoy Tim Lenderking, in Riyadh on Monday (SPA)
The meeting between Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammad Al Jaber, and US Envoy Tim Lenderking, in Riyadh on Monday (SPA)

US Envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking has intensified his meetings with Gulf, Saudi and Yemeni officials, with the aim to support the efforts of UN Envoy Hans Grundberg to consolidate the truce and launch a comprehensive political process.

In this context, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Nayef Al-Hajraf, called on the international community to support the Yemeni Leadership Council and intensify pressure on the Houthis, in order to achieve security and peace in Yemen, and to engage in a political solution to the crisis in accordance with UN references.

His comments came during a meeting with Lenderking on Monday in Riyadh, as part of the US envoy’s tour in the region.

The two sides underlined the need to support all international efforts to enhance the security, stability and peace of Yemen, and to consolidate the truce announced by the UN special envoy.

Also on Monday, the ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to Yemen, the supervisor of the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction, Mohammad bin Saeed Al Jaber, met in Riyadh with Lenderking, in the presence of US Ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin.

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that the meeting stressed the importance of maintaining the UN-sponsored truce, and the need to reopen the roads leading to Taiz to alleviate human suffering.

They two sides emphasized the need to reach a permanent ceasefire in Yemen in order to launch the political process between the Yemeni government and the Houthis.

The head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, received at his residence in Riyadh the US envoy and Fagin to discuss the latest developments in the country and the international efforts coordinated with the United Nations to revive the peace track.

Saba news agency quoted Lenderking as praising “the recent exceptional presidential and government decisions that included facilitating the entry of oil derivatives ships to the ports of Hodeidah despite the Houthi militia’s obstacles…”

Lenderking also underlined the United States’ keenness to “support the reforms led by the Presidential Leadership Council and the government,” official Yemeni sources reported.

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Israeli Forces to Stay in South Lebanon Beyond Withdrawal Deadline

A rainbow rises near the southern Lebanese border town of Khiam on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
A rainbow rises near the southern Lebanese border town of Khiam on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Forces to Stay in South Lebanon Beyond Withdrawal Deadline

A rainbow rises near the southern Lebanese border town of Khiam on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
A rainbow rises near the southern Lebanese border town of Khiam on January 24, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli forces will remain in southern Lebanon beyond a 60-day deadline stipulated in a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah because its terms have not been fully implemented, the Israeli prime minister's office said on Friday.

Under the agreement, which took effect on Nov. 27, Hezbollah weapons and fighters must be removed from areas south of the Litani River and Israeli troops should withdraw as the Lebanese military deploys into the region, all within a 60-day timeframe, meaning by Sunday at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT).

The deal, brokered by the United States and France, ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah. The fighting peaked with a major Israeli offensive that left Hezbollah severely weakened and displaced more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon.

In a statement, Netanyahu's office said the Israeli military's withdrawal process was "contingent on the Lebanese army deploying in southern Lebanon and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement, while Hezbollah withdraws beyond the Litani".

"Since the ceasefire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state, the gradual withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States."

The statement did not say how much longer Israeli forces might remain in south Lebanon, where the Israeli military says it has been seizing Hezbollah weapons and dismantling infrastructure used by the armed group.

There was no immediate comment from Lebanon.

HEZBOLLAH HAMMERED IN CONFLICT WITH ISRAEL

A Hezbollah official, asked for comment, referred Reuters to a statement issued by the group on Thursday. This said that any delay of the withdrawal would be an unacceptable breach of the agreement and put the onus on the Lebanese state to act. It said the state would have to deal with such a violation "through all means and methods guaranteed by international charters".

The Israeli military said in a statement that it remained deployed in southern Lebanon and that it is "continuing to operate in accordance with the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon".

Israeli troops had conducted strikes against Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and active observation posts in southern Lebanon over the past few days, it said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel said its campaign against Hezbollah aimed to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people forced to leave their homes in northern Israel by Hezbollah rocket fire.

It inflicted major blows on Hezbollah during the conflict, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah and thousands of the group's fighters and destroying much of its arsenal.

Hezbollah was further weakened in December when its Syrian ally, Bashar al-Assad, was toppled from power by opposition factions, cutting its overland supply route from Iran.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, noted that Israel was removing forces from Lebanon and the Lebanese army was going to locations of Hezbollah ammunition stores and destroying them, but added that more time was needed to "achieve results".

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said any "renewal of hostilities would be a devastating blow for civilians still struggling to rebuild their lives."

"Regional and international mediators must ensure this truce evolves into a lasting ceasefire, with a firm commitment to protecting all civilians and civilian infrastructure," Maureen Philippon, Country Director NRC in Lebanon, said in a statement.

More than 100,000 people remain displaced across Lebanon and the continued presence of Israeli troops is preventing civilians from returning home, according to the NRC.