Houthi Minister Accuses Saleh of Killing Politicians

 A poster bearing the portrait of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and announcing the 35 year anniversary of the establishment of his General People's Congress party is seen on a Sanaa street on August 19, 2017. Mohammed Huwais / AFP
A poster bearing the portrait of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and announcing the 35 year anniversary of the establishment of his General People's Congress party is seen on a Sanaa street on August 19, 2017. Mohammed Huwais / AFP
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Houthi Minister Accuses Saleh of Killing Politicians

 A poster bearing the portrait of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and announcing the 35 year anniversary of the establishment of his General People's Congress party is seen on a Sanaa street on August 19, 2017. Mohammed Huwais / AFP
A poster bearing the portrait of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and announcing the 35 year anniversary of the establishment of his General People's Congress party is seen on a Sanaa street on August 19, 2017. Mohammed Huwais / AFP

A “Houthi” minister in the Sanaa coup government accused on Sunday former president Ali Abdullah Saleh of killing political leaders during his tenure.

Hassan Zaid, who holds the post of minister of Youth and Sports within the illegitimate Houthi government in Sanaa, wrote on his Facebook account on Sunday that “impertinence and cruelty that can reach the level of atrocity is embodied in the refusal of head of the General People's Congress party to uncover the fate of the forced hidden Nasserite leaders.”

Zaid threatened the former president of opening the file of “illicit gains.”

The Houthi minister said he would not stop digging in the files of corruption and assassinations, the smuggling of weapons, in addition to giving up state lands.

In August, a war of words between the two previous allies, Houthi and Saleh’s supporters, exploded into a military confrontation when militants believed to be linked to Saleh’s Republican Guards fired at a Houthi military position in the Joulat al-Misbaha where the two groups exchanged fires in the presence of a high-security deployment.
Reports said the clashes erupted after Houthi fighters tried to set up a security checkpoint near the home of Saleh in Sana’a.

Last August, Zaid also confessed that, around two years ago, he had asked the head of the so-called Supreme Political Council, Saleh al-Samad, to assassinate President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi and place him under house arrest in the Yemeni capital.

He also revealed that Saleh was granting military ranks to Qaeda militants and accused the former president of using them to assassinate academics, military officials and security leaders.

“The former regime of Saleh was granting military grades and was hiring hundreds of guards to protect armed bandits and Qaeda members who were later tasked to kill patriots from the military, security and academic leadership,” he said.



Turkish, US, Syrian Top Diplomats to Weigh Details of Syria’s Release from US Sanctions

People celebrate in Damascus' Umayyad square after US President Donald Trump's decision to lift sanctions in Syria, on May 13, 2025. (AFP)
People celebrate in Damascus' Umayyad square after US President Donald Trump's decision to lift sanctions in Syria, on May 13, 2025. (AFP)
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Turkish, US, Syrian Top Diplomats to Weigh Details of Syria’s Release from US Sanctions

People celebrate in Damascus' Umayyad square after US President Donald Trump's decision to lift sanctions in Syria, on May 13, 2025. (AFP)
People celebrate in Damascus' Umayyad square after US President Donald Trump's decision to lift sanctions in Syria, on May 13, 2025. (AFP)

The foreign ministers of Türkiye, the United States and Syria will meet in southern Türkiye on Thursday to discuss details of US President Donald Trump's pledge to lift sanctions on Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday.

In a surprise announcement, Trump said on Tuesday he would order the lifting of sanctions on Syria at the behest of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It was a major US policy shift ahead of his meeting on Wednesday with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the crown prince, and Erdogan, who joined virtually.

Erdogan has repeatedly urged Trump to rescind the US sanctions on Syria since the president returned to the White House in January.

Speaking to state broadcaster TRT Haber ahead of an informal NATO foreign ministers' meeting in the southern Turkish province of Antalya, Fidan said the leaders' meeting on Wednesday was of "historic importance".

He said the lifting of sanctions would enable financial flows, investment and infrastructure development in Syria, which was politically fractured and left in widespread ruins by the war.

"Now tomorrow, we, as the three foreign ministers - Mr. Rubio, Mr. Al-Shaibani, and myself - will come together after the NATO meeting in Antalya and we will work on how to carry forward the details of the agreement that the leaders set the framework for and agreed upon," Fidan said, referring to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.

"Of course, there is a (congressional) leg to this matter in the United States, there is an administration leg, but there is a will that Mr. Trump has put forth from the start. Within the framework of this will, and the work we will do, we hope the majority of these sanctions will be lifted as soon as possible."

Removing US sanctions that cut Syria off from the global financial system will clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organizations working in Syria, easing foreign investment and trade as the country rebuilds.