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Houthis Announce Death of Senior Commander Qubari

Man sitting in front of house rubble in Taiz, Yemen, as residents claim Houthi rockets killed 14 civilians. Photo: Reuters
Man sitting in front of house rubble in Taiz, Yemen, as residents claim Houthi rockets killed 14 civilians. Photo: Reuters
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Houthis Announce Death of Senior Commander Qubari

Man sitting in front of house rubble in Taiz, Yemen, as residents claim Houthi rockets killed 14 civilians. Photo: Reuters
Man sitting in front of house rubble in Taiz, Yemen, as residents claim Houthi rockets killed 14 civilians. Photo: Reuters

Yemen’s internationally-recognized government confirmed its determination to liberate the southwestern province of Taiz from coup militias’ hold. For the past three years, the province has been under blockade and witnessed fierce battles.

Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr said that the legitimate government headed by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi “pays particular attention to Taiz province.”

“The political leadership and the government are working hard to overcome the difficulties facing the heroes of the national army,” he said.

On the other hand, Iran-backed Houthi militias have announced the death of a senior Houthi military commander.

“Major-General Nasser Hussein al-Qubari was killed while carrying out his national duties,” Houthi-run SABA reported on Thursday.

This coincided with the killing of another senior military commander at the west coast battlefront in Yemen, where fighting continues amid a sweeping pro-government national army forces advance.
Coup forces have been struggling to regain positions lost.

“Houthi leader Lieutenant Colonel Amin Saleh Abdo al-Khudshi, an officer of the 33rd Armored Brigade and a number of his companions were neutralized by an Arab Coalition air strike on Wednesday evening in the west coast front of Taiz,” Taiz military center spokesman Col. Abdul Basset al-Bahr told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Yemen has been embroiled in a war between the Iran-backed Houthis and the internationally recognized government, which is allied with a Saudi-led Arab coalition, since March 2015. The coalition aims to restore the legitimate government of President Hadi to power.

Intense fighting continues to rattle Al Bayda province and west of Taiz, with Arab Coalition air support backing government fighters on the ground.

Alternatively, Coupists suffered large-scale losses in combatants and arsenal north of Taiz.

“Houthis blew up civilian homes in retaliation for mounting losses in their battles with pro-government popular resistance from the people of the region,” local sources in Al Hima neighborhood in Taiz told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Sources also said that coup militiamen had destroyed an underground water well, which disabled a number of water pumps. The damage done to the water network is believed to forcibly displace locals and isolate the region.

Houthis have also taken a number of people, including women and children as hostages to later be used as human shields, pushing civilians to the front line in battles with the Popular Resistance.

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Arab World

Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
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Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

At least two people were killed and four rescued from the rubble of a multistory apartment building that collapsed Sunday in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, state media reported.

Rescue teams were continuing to dig through the rubble. It was not immediately clear how many people were in the building when it fell.

The bodies pulled out were of a child and a woman, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Dozens of people crowded around the site of the crater left by the collapsed building, with some shooting in the air.

The building was in the neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh, one of the poorest areas in Lebanon’s second largest city, where residents have long complained of government neglect and shoddy infrastructure. Building collapses are not uncommon in Tripoli due to poor building standards, according to The AP news.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry announced that those injured in the collapse would receive treatment at the state’s expense.

The national syndicate for property owners in a statement called the collapse the result of “blatant negligence and shortcomings of the Lebanese state toward the safety of citizens and their housing security,” and said it is “not an isolated incident.”

The syndicate called for the government to launch a comprehensive national survey of buildings at risk of collapse.

Arab World

Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
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Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)

Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank, The AP news reported.

They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences and damage to archaeological sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.

The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new measures come three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.

Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel's accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.

Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.

His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.

The United Nations' highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.

Arab World

Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit strongly condemned the attack by the Rapid Support Forces on humanitarian aid convoys and relief workers in North Kordofan State, Sudan.

In a statement reported by SPA, secretary-general's spokesperson Jamal Rushdi quoted Aboul Gheit as saying the attack constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of their means of survival.

Aboul Gheit stressed the need to hold those responsible accountable, end impunity, and ensure the full protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and relief facilities in Sudan.