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Saudi Arabia, Yemen Sign 12 Solar-Powered Water Projects Agreements

The signing ceremony was attended by the director of the SDRPY office in Aden, Ahmed Madkhali, and several local officials. (SDRPY)
The signing ceremony was attended by the director of the SDRPY office in Aden, Ahmed Madkhali, and several local officials. (SDRPY)
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Saudi Arabia, Yemen Sign 12 Solar-Powered Water Projects Agreements

The signing ceremony was attended by the director of the SDRPY office in Aden, Ahmed Madkhali, and several local officials. (SDRPY)
The signing ceremony was attended by the director of the SDRPY office in Aden, Ahmed Madkhali, and several local officials. (SDRPY)

Yemen’s interim capital, Aden, witnessed on Monday the signing of agreements for 12 potable water projects using solar energy technologies in three governorates. The agreements will also enable projects for improving the quality of life for Yemenis in five governorates.

The projects come with a tripartite contribution from the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen (SDRPY), the Arab Gulf Program for Development (AGFUND) and the Sela Foundation for Development.

They will target five governorates: Hadramout, Abyan, Lahj, Taiz and Hodeidah.

The signing ceremony was attended by the director of SDRPY office in Aden, Ahmed Madkhali, and several local officials.

During the ceremony, Madkhali explained that Saudi Arabia, through SDRPY, made qualitative contributions in meeting the needs of various basic and vital sectors in Yemen.

Madkhali stressed SDRPY’s keenness to unify efforts to achieve a stable and prosperous future for Yemenis.

According to the director, SDRPY is operating in cooperation with the Yemeni government and development partners in Yemen.

“The SDRPY seeks to contribute to improving the standard of living of the Yemeni people and their daily life, especially in the field of water. This important project will contribute to providing fresh and safe water sources with clean and renewable energy,” said Madkhali.

Participating through videoconference at the signing ceremony, an AGFUND representative explained that the projects were inspired by the need to end the suffering that Yemeni governorates are witnessing in the lack of access to potable water.

Sela Foundation for Development Executive Director Ali Hassan Bashmakh said that the projects will raise the operational efficiency of drinking water projects in the targeted governorates and will meet their daily needs of fresh and clean water.

Bashmakh praised the efforts of SDRPY and AGFUND in financing such sustainable projects in the field of water.

SDRPY has implemented as many as 224 development projects and initiatives in various Yemeni governorates to serve Yemeni people in seven main sectors: education, health, water, energy, transport, agriculture, and fishery, and building the capacity of government institutions and development programs.

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Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
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Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

A Lebanese security source said the target of a deadly Israeli airstrike on central Beirut early Saturday was a senior Hezbollah official, adding it was unclear whether he was killed.

"The Israeli strike on Basta targeted a leading Hezbollah figure," the security official told AFP without naming the figure, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The early morning airstrike has killed at least 11 people and injured 63, according to authorities, and had brought down an eight-storey building nearby, in the second such attack on the working-class neighbourhood of Basta in as many months.

"The strike was so strong it felt like the building was about to fall on our heads," said Samir, 60, who lives with his family in a building facing the one that was hit.

"It felt like they had targeted my house," he said, asking to be identified by only his first name because of security concerns.

There had been no evacuation warning issued by the Israeli military for the Basta area.

After the strike, Samir fled his home in the middle of the night with his wife and two children, aged 14 and just three.

On Saturday morning, dumbstruck residents watched as an excavator cleared the wreckage of the razed building and rescue efforts continued, with nearby buildings also damaged in the attack, AFP journalists reported.

The densely packed district has welcomed people displaced from traditional Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon's east, south and southern Beirut, after Israel intensified its air campaign on September 23, later sending in ground troops.

"We saw two dead people on the ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more," Samir told AFP, reporting minor damage to his home.

Since last Sunday, four deadly Israeli strikes have hit central Beirut, including one that killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.

Residents across the city and its outskirts awoke at 0400 (0200 GMT) on Saturday to loud explosions and the smell of gunpowder in the air.

"It was the first time I've woken up screaming in terror," said Salah, a 35-year-old father of two who lives in the same street as the building that was targeted.

"Words can't express the fear that gripped me," he said.

Saturday's strikes were the second time the Basta district had been targeted since war broke out, after deadly twin strikes early in October hit the area and the Nweiri neighbourhood.

Last month's attacks killed 22 people and had targeted Hezbollah security chief Wafiq Safa, who made it out alive, a source close to the group told AFP.

Salah said his wife and children had been in the northern city of Tripoli, about 70 kilometres away (45 miles), but that he had to stay in the capital because of work.

His family had been due to return this weekend because their school reopens on Monday, but now he has decided against it following the attack.

"I miss them. Every day they ask me: 'Dad, when are we coming home?'" he said.

Lebanon's health ministry says that more than 3,650 people have been killed since October 2023, after Hezbollah initiated exchanges of fire with Israel in solidarity with its Iran-backed ally Hamas over the Gaza war.

However, most of the deaths in Lebanon have been since September this year.

Despite the trauma caused by Saturday's strike, Samir said he and his family had no choice but to return home.

"Where else would I go?" he asked.

"All my relatives and siblings have been displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs and from the south."