UN Security Council Renews Sanctions on Houthis

The Security Council voting on extending sanctions against Houthis (Security Council)
The Security Council voting on extending sanctions against Houthis (Security Council)
TT

UN Security Council Renews Sanctions on Houthis

The Security Council voting on extending sanctions against Houthis (Security Council)
The Security Council voting on extending sanctions against Houthis (Security Council)

The UN Security Council extended the sanctions imposed on Yemen until Nov. 15, including the arms embargo on several Houthi leaders, classified as a terrorist entity under UN Resolution 2624.

The Council also extended the mandate of the panel of experts tasked with managing the sanctions until Dec. 15.

The 15 members voted unanimously on Resolution No. 2675 to technically extend the previous resolution that imposed a comprehensive arms embargo on the Houthis, described as entities threatening peace, security, and stability in Yemen.

It also accused the Houthis of attacking civilians and civil infrastructure in Yemen, targeting tankers in the Red Sea using explosives and naval mines, and repeatedly committing cross-border terrorist attacks.

The Council accused the Houthis of attacking civilians and infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The new vote technically extended the former decision and maintained its classification of the Houthi militia as a "terrorist group."

It also condemns their cross-border terrorist attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

It called for immediate measures to stop such attacks and the inclusion of the Houthis as an "entity" in the sanctions list within the UN's arms embargo.

The Security Council also held a closed consultation session in which Security Council members received a briefing on Yemen.

The briefers were Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya, and the head of the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), Major General Michael Beary.

Diplomats reported that Grundberg told Council members that Yemen was still witnessing the most prolonged period of calm in the fighting since the start of the UN-led ceasefire between the Yemeni government and the Houthi group in Apr. 2022, despite the failure of the two parties to renew the agreement in early Oct. 2022.

The Special Envoy addressed diplomatic efforts and his visits to Saudi Arabia to discuss progress toward a national ceasefire and a comprehensive political process by the Yemenis under the auspices of the United Nations.

He also briefed the meeting on his talks with the head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, in Aden, and Omani officials and chief Houthi negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam in Muscat.



EU Top Diplomat Has ‘No More Words’ on Middle East Suffering

A displaced Palestinian woman carries her belongings as she flees Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip walk on the main Salah al-Din road on November 17, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A displaced Palestinian woman carries her belongings as she flees Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip walk on the main Salah al-Din road on November 17, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
TT

EU Top Diplomat Has ‘No More Words’ on Middle East Suffering

A displaced Palestinian woman carries her belongings as she flees Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip walk on the main Salah al-Din road on November 17, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A displaced Palestinian woman carries her belongings as she flees Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip walk on the main Salah al-Din road on November 17, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

The European Union's outgoing top diplomat Josep Borrell said Monday he had "no more words" to describe the situation in the Middle East, before chairing his last planned meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers.  

"I exhausted the words to explain what's happening in the Middle East," Borrell told reporters, barely concealing his frustration at the EU's failure to weigh on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during his five-year mandate.  

"There are no more words," he said. "It's about 44,000 people killed in Gaza, the whole area is being destroyed, and 70 percent of the people being killed are women or children."

"The most frequent ages of casualties are children below nine years old," said the 77-year-old foreign policy chief.

Borrell confirmed he would urge ministers Monday to suspend a political dialogue with Israel -- part of a wider agreement governing trade ties -- over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.  

But the proposal is expected to be given short shrift by numerous member states including key powers France and Germany, as well as Italy and the Netherlands.  

Since Israel unleashed its devastating offensive in Gaza in retaliation for the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, the EU's member states have been deeply divided over the conflict.  

Borrell has often been an outlier in denouncing what he views as Israel's excesses.  

On Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Borrell likewise voiced his frustration at the shortcomings in the European response as the conflict on its doorstep reaches its 1,000th day.  

"Too many times we haven't been united. Too many times discussions took too long," Borrell said.  

"My last call to my colleagues will be: Be more united, take decisions quicker," he said. "Russia is not stopping the war because you are thinking about it."  

"You cannot pretend to be a geopolitical power if you are taking days and weeks and months to reach agreements in order to act," warned Borrell, who is due to hand over to his designated successor, former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas, in December.