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Yemen Threatens to Punish Shipping Companies Cooperating with Houthis

Shipping vessels in Hodeidah port (Reuters)
Shipping vessels in Hodeidah port (Reuters)
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Yemen Threatens to Punish Shipping Companies Cooperating with Houthis

Shipping vessels in Hodeidah port (Reuters)
Shipping vessels in Hodeidah port (Reuters)

The Yemeni government threatened to revoke the licenses and block any shipping company cooperating with the Houthi militia.

Ports of Aden Corporation sent a letter to two shipping companies, warning against shipping towards Hodeidah port, stressing that the two companies approval to divert their shipping routes to Hodeidah "is a clear and explicit violation of the directives of the legitimate government."

The letter warned it might cancel the permits granted to the companies, stopping their activities in the ports, noting that any navigational activity not approved by the legitimate government is a recognition of the coup militias.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik asserted the need to take all measures that preserve public funds and implement decisions regulating imports, consistent with the government's obligations in combating money laundering and financing terrorism.

Abdulmalik chaired the ministerial committee meeting in Aden to discuss economic developments and develop solutions to secure trade in land and sea ports.

According to the Saba news agency, the committee discussed the measures and decisions to facilitate imports.

The committee also reviewed the plans and procedures to regulate trade movement, which could facilitate and ensure ease of arrival of goods and reduce the cost of transportation and insurance in the ports of the liberated areas.

The committee stressed the need to take all procedures and measures to preserve public funds, implement government decisions regulating imports, and comply with the government's obligations in combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

It emphasized taking the necessary steps to prevent transgressions or violations of local and international laws and mechanisms, including communicating with countries and export destinations.

According to the Yemeni official media, ministers briefed the committee on implementing previous decisions and the required mechanisms and procedures.

The Ministries of Transport and Trade denied any change in the ship's movement heading to Yemeni ports, including Hodeidah port, under the Houthi control.

They confirmed the ongoing coordination with the UN and the coalition supporting legitimacy of imposing the mechanisms.

Earlier, the Houthi militia claimed a change in the navigation movement heading to Hodeidah ports against the UN mechanism used to enter ships.

The Transport Minister, Abdulsalam Hameed, confirmed that the ship's movement to the ports in liberated areas and Aden had stayed the same.

Hameed assured major merchants, importers, and shipping companies there were solutions to the difficulties facing trade activity and organizing transportation of the goods according to the regulatory frameworks.

The government is in full coordination with the UN and the coalition led by Saudi Arabia, asserted the minister, accusing the militias of spreading lies.

He vowed that the government and its competent agencies would take all legal measures against commercial ships, cargo owners, and navigational agencies that violate the law and the mechanisms.

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Lebanon’s PM Visits Syrian President to Discuss Border Demarcation and Security

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria April 14, 2025. (Dalati & Nohra/Handout via Reuters)
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria April 14, 2025. (Dalati & Nohra/Handout via Reuters)
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Lebanon’s PM Visits Syrian President to Discuss Border Demarcation and Security

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria April 14, 2025. (Dalati & Nohra/Handout via Reuters)
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria April 14, 2025. (Dalati & Nohra/Handout via Reuters)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam led a high-level ministerial delegation to Syria on Monday for talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, marking the most significant diplomatic visit between the two countries since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December.

"My visit to Damascus today aims to open a new page in the history of relations between the two countries, based on mutual respect, restoring trust, good neighborliness," Salam said in a statement on X.

At the center of discussions was implementing a March 28 agreement signed in Saudi Arabia by the Syrian and Lebanese defense ministers to demarcate land and sea borders and improve coordination on border security issues, Salam said in the statement.

The Lebanese-Syrian border witnessed deadly clashes earlier this year and years of unrest in the frontier regions, which have been plagued by weapons and illicit drug smuggling through illegal crossings.

During Monday’s meeting, Salam and Sharaa agreed to form a joint ministerial committee to oversee the implementation of the border agreement, close illegal crossings and suppress smuggling activity along the border.

The border area, especially near Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and Syria’s Qusayr region, has long been a corridor for illicit trade, arms trafficking, and the movement of fighters — including Hezbollah fighters who backed the Assad government during Syria’s 14-year civil war.

Hezbollah has been significantly weakened in its recent war with Israel and since Assad's ousting, it lost several key smuggling routes it once relied on for weapons transfers.

Lebanon also pressed Syria to provide clarity on the fate of thousands of Lebanese nationals who were forcibly disappeared or imprisoned in Syrian jails in the 1980s and 1990s, during Syria’s nearly 30-year military presence in Lebanon. Human rights groups have long documented the lack of accountability and transparency regarding these cases, with families of the missing holding regular demonstrations in Beirut demanding answers.

Syrian officials for their part raised the issue of Syrian nationals detained in Lebanese prisons, Salam said. Many of the detainees were arrested for illegal entry or alleged involvement in militant activity. Rights advocates in both countries have criticized the lack of due process in many of these cases and the poor conditions inside detention facilities.

Lebanon pledged to hand over people implicated in crimes committed by the Assad government and security forces, many of whom are believed to have fled to Lebanon after the government’s collapse, if found on Lebanese soil, a ministerial source told The Associated Press.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly comment.

In return, Lebanese officials requested the extradition of Syrians wanted in Lebanese courts for high-profile political assassinations, "most notably those involved in the bombing of the Al-Taqwa and Al-Salam mosques, those convicted of assassinating President Bashir Gemayel, and other crimes for which the Assad regime is accused," Salam said.

For decades, Lebanon witnessed a long series of politically motivated assassinations targeting journalists, politicians and security officials, particularly those opposed to Syrian influence. The 2013 twin bombings of the Al-Taqwa and Al-Salam mosques in Tripoli in northern Lebanon killed more than 40 people and intensified sectarian tensions already heightened by the spillover from the Syrian war.

Syria has never officially acknowledged involvement in any of Lebanon’s political assassinations.

Salam said he also pushed for renewed cooperation on the return of Syrian refugees.

Lebanese government officials estimate the country hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, of whom about 755,000 are officially registered with the UN refugee agency, or UNHCR, making it the country with the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.

While Lebanese authorities have long urged the international community to support large-scale repatriation efforts, human rights organizations have cautioned against forced returns, citing ongoing security concerns and a lack of guarantees in Syria.

Since the fall of Assad in December, an estimated 400,000 refugees have returned to Syria from neighboring countries, according to UNHCR, with about half of them coming from Lebanon, but many are hesitant to return because of the dire economic situation and fears of continuing instability in Syria.