Yemen: Houthis Accused of Planting Mines in Northern Hodeidah

Yemeni pro-government forces man a barricade in the area of al-Fazah in Yemen's Hodeidah province on June 16, 2018. (AFP)
Yemeni pro-government forces man a barricade in the area of al-Fazah in Yemen's Hodeidah province on June 16, 2018. (AFP)
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Yemen: Houthis Accused of Planting Mines in Northern Hodeidah

Yemeni pro-government forces man a barricade in the area of al-Fazah in Yemen's Hodeidah province on June 16, 2018. (AFP)
Yemeni pro-government forces man a barricade in the area of al-Fazah in Yemen's Hodeidah province on June 16, 2018. (AFP)

The legitimate Yemeni forces accused the Iran-backed Houthi militias of planting mines at the entrance of villages in the northern Hodeidah province.

The national army reported witnesses as saying that the militias planted the mines at the al-Kadan intersection in the al-Doha district villages.

The Houthi actions are in violation of the truce agreement reached with the legitimate government in Sweden last week.

Moreover, the army accused the militias of shelling military positions in Hodeidah, leaving casualties among the forces.

The army’s Amaleeqa Brigades announced that four of its forces were killed and 16 injured in Houthi attacks in Hodeidah city. The Brigades have meanwhile, respected the truce.

“This commitment to the ceasefire will not last if the United Nations does not put a stop to ongoing Houthi violations,” warned the Brigades.

Field and medical sources said that six civilians have been wounded in the militia attacks in Hodeidah since Thursday.

The truce went into effect on Tuesday.

The sources revealed that the Houthis had opened fire at a wedding convoy in Hays in southern Hodeidah, wounding several people. They also attacked a man and his wife, who were riding on a motorcycle in al-Jah region in the South. The women has incurred severe burns.

Local forces in Hodeidah city said that the militias had deployed Thursday three tanks in the Zayed and Sanaa streets.

The UN-brokered agreement in Sweden calls for a ceasefire in Hodeidah and withdrawal of legitimate forces and Houthis from the province.

On Friday, the Security Council approved a resolution that calls for the deployment of a UN team that would oversee the implementation of the truce.



UNRWA Lebanon Says Not Impacted by US Aid Freeze or New Israeli Law

 Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
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UNRWA Lebanon Says Not Impacted by US Aid Freeze or New Israeli Law

 Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)

The director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon said on Wednesday that the agency had not been affected by US President Donald Trump's halt to US foreign aid funding or by an Israeli ban on its operations.

"UNRWA currently is not receiving any US funding so there is no direct impact of the more recent decisions related to the UN system for UNRWA," Dorothee Klaus told reporters at UNRWA's field office in Lebanon.

US funding to UNRWA was suspended last year until March 2025 under a deal reached by US lawmakers and after Israel accused 12 of the agency's 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war.

The UN has said it had fired nine UNRWA staff who may have been involved and said it would investigate all accusations made.

Klaus said that UNRWA Lebanon had also placed four staff members on administrative leave as it investigated allegations they had breached the UN principle of neutrality.

One UNRWA teacher had already been suspended last year and a Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed in September in an Israeli strike - was found to have had an UNRWA job.

Klaus also said there was "no direct impact" on the agency's Lebanon operations from a new Israeli law banning UNRWA operations in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and that "UNRWA will continue fully operating in Lebanon."

The law, adopted in October, bans UNRWA's operation on Israeli land - including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognized internationally - and contact with Israeli authorities from Jan. 30.

UNRWA provides aid, health and education services to millions in the Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab countries of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Its commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday that UNRWA has been the target of a "fierce disinformation campaign" to "portray the agency as a terrorist organization."