Lenderking in the Region to Push Forward Peace in Yemen

US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking. (US State Department)
US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking. (US State Department)
TT
20

Lenderking in the Region to Push Forward Peace in Yemen

US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking. (US State Department)
US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking. (US State Department)

The US State Department called on Monday the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen to “immediately cease their attacks on Yemeni ports” and to engage in peace efforts.

It added that US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking started travel on November 27 to Oman and Saudi Arabia to support ongoing peace efforts.

“The environment created by the UN-mediated truce presents the best opportunity Yemen has had for peace in several years,” continued the State Department in a statement.

“At this critical moment, we remind the Houthis that Yemenis are calling for peace, not a return to war,” it said.

“To that end, we call on the Houthis to immediately cease their attacks on Yemeni ports, which are disrupting the flow of much-needed resources and exacerbating suffering across Yemen. Such attacks only risk plunging Yemenis into another pointless cycle of violence and suffering,” it added.

“We urge the Houthis to instead seize this opportunity for peace, cooperate with the UN, and accept that the only path forward to ending eight years of destructive war is through a negotiated, inclusive Yemeni-led political settlement,” it stressed.



Israel Renews Attacks on South Lebanon

People inspect damage after Israeli airstrikes near Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on June 27, 2025. 
People inspect damage after Israeli airstrikes near Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on June 27, 2025. 
TT
20

Israel Renews Attacks on South Lebanon

People inspect damage after Israeli airstrikes near Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on June 27, 2025. 
People inspect damage after Israeli airstrikes near Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on June 27, 2025. 

Two people were killed, and five others were wounded in three separate attacks by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon on Saturday.

The strikes came one day after Israel's military launched on Friday one of its biggest attacks on Lebanon since a November 27 ceasefire went into effect, killing one civilian and wounding 25 others in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh.

On Saturday, one person was killed and another was injured in an Israeli drone attack that targeted a car in the town of Kounine, in the southern part of the country.

Later, an Israeli drone hit a motorcycle in the town of Mahrouna, in the Tyre district, south of Lebanon.

The driver, a member of Mahrouna municipality, was killed and two others were injured in the attack, as a passing vehicle was caught in the blast, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Also on Saturday, four people were wounded in an overnight Israeli drone strike on a house in the southern town of Shaqra, in the Bint Jbeil district.

Israeli forces had also conducted sweeping operations using machine guns from the al-Bat mountain toward southern villages.

New Attack on UNIFIL Forces

Moreover, a video published on Saturday showed a group of people intercepting a patrol of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the so-called Marj al-Khoukh area, between Ebel al-Saqi and Khiam.

 

They asked the UNIFIL patrol to leave the town because it was not accompanied by the Lebanese army, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, NNA.

 

Local sources said the persons that intercepted the UNIFIL patrol were not from Ebel al-Saqi, which is resided by Christians and Druze.

 

Later, Ebel al-Saqi Mayor, George Rahal, and the town's residents condemned in a statement the attack on the patrol.

 

They emphasized that “this incident completely contradicts the peaceful principles and ethics of the people of Ebel al-Saqi.”

 

A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah stipulates that southern Lebanon must be free of any non-state arms or fighters, Israeli troops must leave southern Lebanon as Lebanese troops deploy there and all fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border must stop.

 

Israeli troops remain in at least five posts within Lebanese territory and its air force regularly kills rank-and-file Hezbollah members or people affiliated with the group.