Tariq Saleh Warns: War is an Option if Houthis Wasted Peace Opportunities

The commander of the National Resistance Forces, and member of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), Brigadier General Tariq Saleh (Saba)
The commander of the National Resistance Forces, and member of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), Brigadier General Tariq Saleh (Saba)
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Tariq Saleh Warns: War is an Option if Houthis Wasted Peace Opportunities

The commander of the National Resistance Forces, and member of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), Brigadier General Tariq Saleh (Saba)
The commander of the National Resistance Forces, and member of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), Brigadier General Tariq Saleh (Saba)

The commander of the National Resistance Forces and member of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), Brigadier General Tariq Saleh, warned that war would be an option if the Houthi militias continued to waste peace opportunities.

The Council, led by Rashad al-Alimi, seeks to give an opportunity to international and regional efforts to launch a comprehensive negotiated political process that leads to ending the coup.

Yemeni official sources reported that Saleh, the son of former president Ali Abdallah Saleh, inspected several training camps of the Republican Guard Brigades and military sites on the front lines on the western coast.

Saba news agency reported that Saleh stressed that Yemenis' primary goals are to restore state institutions and the capital, achieve a just, comprehensive, and sustainable peace, protect the republic's values, and preserve the rights of the people.

He indicated that this state of "neither peace nor war" must end and would not continue indefinitely, adding that the Yemeni people would ensure the restoration of the state.

The official asserted that Houthi violations and crimes against civilians would not be tolerated and would be met firmly, reiterating that any peaceful solution through international efforts must first preserve the sacrifices of the Yemeni people and guarantee their right to govern themselves.

He warned that any proposed solutions outside the scope of maintaining the peoples' rights would not be accepted under any justification.

Saleh stressed that security units carefully monitor all hostile Houthi movements in the Red Sea, threatening global navigation security.

He lauded the tremendous efforts of the coalition that supports legitimacy led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to support the Yemeni people.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Defense, Lt. Gen. Mohsen Mohammed al-Daeri, received a British military delegation in Aden and discussed ways to enhance cooperation in combating terrorism and smuggling.

Official sources noted that Daeri referred to the continuous Iranian smuggling of weapons to the Houthi militia, saying it clearly indicated that the group aimed to exploit the ceasefire and rejected international efforts to establish peace.

He noted that the Houthi group cooperates al-Qaeda and ISIS, referring to the exchange deal that released detainees between the three groups.

The Minister urged the international community to exert real pressure on the Houthi militia to submit to peace according to the three terms of reference for peace represented by the Gulf initiative, its executive mechanism, outcomes of the national dialogue, and relevant UN resolutions, mainly resolution 2216.



Italy Arrests 7 Accused of Raising Millions for Hamas

Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Italy Arrests 7 Accused of Raising Millions for Hamas

Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Italian police said Saturday that they have arrested seven people suspected of raising millions of euros for Palestinian group Hamas.

Police also issued international arrests for two others outside the country, said AFP.

Three associations, officially supporting Palestinian civilians but allegedly serving as a front for funding Hamas, are implicated in the investigation, said a police statement.

The nine individuals are accused of having financed approximately seven million euros ($8 million) to "associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel, owned, controlled, or linked to Hamas."

While the official objective of the three associations was to collect donations "for humanitarian purposes for the Palestinian people," more than 71 percent was earmarked for the direct financing of Hamas" or entities affiliated with the movement, according to police.

Some of the money went to "family members implicated in terrorist attacks," the statement said.

Among those arrested was Mohammad Hannoun, president of the Palestinian Association in Italy, according to media reports.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi posted on X that the operation "lifted the veil on behavior and activities which, pretending to be initiatives in favor of the Palestinian population, concealed support for and participation in terrorist organizations."


Türkiye Holds Military Funeral for Libyan Officers Killed in Plane Crash

The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
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Türkiye Holds Military Funeral for Libyan Officers Killed in Plane Crash

The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)

Türkiye held a military funeral ceremony Saturday morning for five Libyan officers, including western Libya’s military chief, who died in a plane crash earlier this week.

The private jet with Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, four other military officers and three crew members crashed on Tuesday after taking off from Ankara, Türkiye’s capital, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane.

Al-Hadad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing, UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military.

The high-level Libyan delegation was on its way back to Tripoli, Libya’s capital, after holding defense talks in Ankara aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries.

Saturday's ceremony was held at 8:00 a.m. local time at the Murted Airfield base, near Ankara, and attended by the Turkish military chief and the defense minister. The five caskets, each wrapped in a Libyan national flag, were then loaded onto a plane to be returned to their home country.

Türkiye’s military chief, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, was also on the plane headed to Libya, state-run news agency TRT reported.

The bodies recovered from the crash site were kept at the Ankara Forensic Medicine Institute for identification. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc told reporters their DNA was compared to family members who joined a 22-person delegation that arrived from Libya after the crash.

Tunc also said Germany was asked to help examine the jet's black boxes as an impartial third party.


Syrian Foreign Ministry: Talks with SDF Have Not Yielded Tangible Results

SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
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Syrian Foreign Ministry: Talks with SDF Have Not Yielded Tangible Results

SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)

A source from the Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the talks with the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over their integration into state institutions “have not yielded tangible results.”

Discussions about merging the northeastern institutions into the state remain “hypothetical statements without execution,” it told Syria’s state news agency SANA.

Repeated assertions over Syria’s unity are being contradicted by the reality on the ground in the northeast, where the Kurds hold sway and where administrative, security and military institutions continue to be run separately from the state, it added.

The situation “consolidates the division” instead of addressing it, it warned.

It noted that despite the SDF’s continued highlighting of its dialogue with the Syrian state, these discussions have not led to tangible results.

It seems that the SDF is using this approach to absorb the political pressure on it, said the source. The truth is that there is little actual will to move from discussion to application of the March 10 agreement.

This raises doubts over the SDF’s commitment to the deal, it stressed.

Talk about rapprochement between the state and SDF remains meaningless if the agreement is not implemented on the ground within a specific timeframe, the source remarked.

Furthermore, the continued deployment of armed formations on the ground that are not affiliated with the Syrian army are evidence that progress is not being made.

The persistence of the situation undermines Syria’s sovereignty and hampers efforts to restore stability, it warned.