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Yemeni Army Monitoring 250 Iranian Experts in the Country

Houthi militants in Yemen. (Reuters)
Houthi militants in Yemen. (Reuters)
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Yemeni Army Monitoring 250 Iranian Experts in the Country

Houthi militants in Yemen. (Reuters)
Houthi militants in Yemen. (Reuters)

The Yemeni army revealed that more than 250 Iranian experts were monitored in the country over the past few days.

They were present in several regions of the al-Hodeidah and Saada provinces and were active in military operations and training, added the army.

Military spokesman Abdo Abdullah Majali told Asharq Al-Awsat that the experts were monitored through ongoing state intelligence surveillance.

He revealed that the experts were developing rockets and fixing their spare parts, which are advanced jobs that are beyond the expertise of the militias.

Intelligence agencies were alerted to the Iranian presence in the region after noticing the development of the militias’ military capabilities, he explained.

Furthermore, Houthi prisoners revealed the presence of the Iranians during investigations with them. They also confirmed that they were active in training camps and in developing weapons.

Majali stated that the national Yemeni army has several options in which to confront the Iranian experts, but he refused to disclose them.

He did reveal however that they are primarily related to the military’s advance with the backing of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen.

He stressed that the army will immediately arrest the Iranians in order to carry out investigations with them according to Yemeni laws. They will be tried for all the actions they did in sparking the war and destroying Yemen.

They entered Yemen through illegal means and they will not be able to escape without being held accountable, he vowed.

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At Least 80 People Killed in Northeast Colombia as Peace Talks Fail, Official Says

Displaced people from recent clashes between armed groups arrive in the municipality of Tibú, Norte de Santander Department, Colombia, on January 18, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced people from recent clashes between armed groups arrive in the municipality of Tibú, Norte de Santander Department, Colombia, on January 18, 2025. (AFP)
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At Least 80 People Killed in Northeast Colombia as Peace Talks Fail, Official Says

Displaced people from recent clashes between armed groups arrive in the municipality of Tibú, Norte de Santander Department, Colombia, on January 18, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced people from recent clashes between armed groups arrive in the municipality of Tibú, Norte de Santander Department, Colombia, on January 18, 2025. (AFP)

More than 80 people have been killed in the country’s northeast region following failed attempts to hold peace talks with the National Liberation Army, a Colombian official said.

Twenty others have been injured, according to William Villamizar, governor of North Santander, where many of the killings occurred.

Among the victims are community leader Carmelo Guerrero and seven people who sought to sign a peace deal, according to a report that a government ombudsman agency released late Saturday.

Officials said the attacks occurred in several towns located in the Catatumbo region near the border with Venezuela, with at least three people who were part of the peace talks being kidnapped.

Thousands of people are fleeing the area, with some hiding in the nearby lush mountains or seeking help at government shelters.

“Catatumbo needs help,” Villamizar said in a public address on Saturday. “Boys, girls, young people, teenagers, entire families are showing up with nothing, riding trucks, dump trucks, motorcycles, whatever they can, on foot, to avoid being victims of this confrontation."

The attack comes after Colombia suspended peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, on Friday, the second time it has done so in less than a year.

Colombia’s government has demanded that the ELN cease all attacks and allow authorities to enter the region and provide humanitarian aid.

The ELN has been clashing in Catatumbo with former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a guerrilla group that disbanded after signing a peace deal in 2016 with Colombia's government. The two are fighting over control of a strategic border region that has coca leaf plantations.

The ELN said in a statement Saturday that it had warned former FARC members that if they “continued attacking the population...there was no other way out than armed confrontation.” The ELN has accused ex-FARC rebels of several killings in the area, including the Jan. 15 slaying of a couple and their 9-month-old baby.

Colombia's army said Sunday that it rescued a local community leader and a relative that the ELN was persecuting, but dozens more awaited rescue.

Defense Minister Iván Velásquez was scheduled to travel to the northeast town of Cúcuta while officials prepared to send 10 tons of food and hygiene kits for approximately 5,000 people in the communities of Ocaña and Tibú, the majority of them having fled the violence.

The ELN has tried to negotiate a peace deal with the administration of President Gustavo Petro five times, with talks failing after bouts of violence. ELN demands include that it be recognized as a political rebel organization, which critics have said is risky.