Yemeni Government Prepares to Confront Houthi Intransigence

Yemeni cabinet meeting (Saba)
Yemeni cabinet meeting (Saba)
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Yemeni Government Prepares to Confront Houthi Intransigence

Yemeni cabinet meeting (Saba)
Yemeni cabinet meeting (Saba)

The Yemeni government is preparing for all possibilities to confront Houthi intransigence, Prime Minister Maeen Abdul-Malik said, calling for increasing its level of readiness.

Abdul-Malik said that using the truce to serve Iran's agenda is unacceptable.

He was speaking at the cabinet meeting in Aden, which discussed several political, military, economic, and service issues and government reform.

According to Saba news agency, the Prime Minister briefed the cabinet on the most recent developments, including the UN and international moves to extend the humanitarian ceasefire.

The cabinet asserted its firm position on compelling the Houthi militias to open Taiz roads, pay employees' salaries from the revenues of Hodeidah ports, and release all abductees and prisoners.

The government stressed the need to boost its preparedness for all possibilities until the state is restored and the Houthis end their coup.

The militias continue to defy the international community and the Yemeni people's will through their failure to implement the terms of the UN armistice and continue their military mobilization, said the cabinet.

The UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, along with the US, EU, and regional countries, seek to extend the Yemeni truce, which expires on Oct. 2.

Yemeni sources said the Houthis will likely continue their intransigence in closing Taiz crossings and the roads between the provinces, seeking to prepare for another round of fighting.

The head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, hopes that his participation in the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly will lead to mobilizing political and economic support from world leaders.

Alimi is expected to deliver a speech on Thursday, according to official sources.

Meanwhile, the Houthi militia continues to obstruct all international efforts on the issue of prisoners and abductees while continuing its military parades and imposing levies and royalties to finance its war efforts.

The Yemeni army confirmed Wednesday that two soldiers were injured in a Houthi bombing on its positions in Taiz after a soldier was killed in a drone attack west of the city.

The media center of the Taiz military axis stated that it had monitored 17 violations of the UN truce, including repelling an attempt to infiltrate its positions on the al-Aqroud front, southeast of the city.

During the truce that began on Apr. 2, the Houthi militia recruited thousands of militants, redeployed them, and continued smuggling Iranian weapons into the country.

According to the Yemeni army, the Iranian-backed Houthis committed on Sunday 127 violations of the UN truce on various fronts.



France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
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France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)

Paris declined to comment on Algeria’s “strong condemnation” of the French government’s decision to recognize Morocco’s claim over the Sahara.

The office of the French Foreign Ministry refused to respond to an AFP request for a comment on the Algeria’s stance.

It did say that further comments could impact the trip Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is set to make to France in late September or early October.

The visit has been postponed on numerous occasions over disagreements between the two countries.

France had explicitly expressed its constant and clear support for the autonomy rule proposal over the Sahara during Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne’s visit to Morocco in February, reported AFP.

The position has helped improve ties between Rabat and Paris.

On Thursday, the Algerian Foreign Ministry expressed “great regret and strong denunciation" about the French government's decision to recognize an autonomy plan for the Western Sahara region "within Moroccan sovereignty”.

Algeria was informed of the decision by France in recent days, an Algerian foreign ministry statement added.

The ministry also said Algeria would draw all the consequences from the decision and hold the French government alone completely responsible.