Yemen’s Houthis Accused of Violating Stockholm Agreement

FILE PHOTO - Ships are seen at the Hodeidah port, Yemen May 14, 2019. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad
FILE PHOTO - Ships are seen at the Hodeidah port, Yemen May 14, 2019. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad
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Yemen’s Houthis Accused of Violating Stockholm Agreement

FILE PHOTO - Ships are seen at the Hodeidah port, Yemen May 14, 2019. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad
FILE PHOTO - Ships are seen at the Hodeidah port, Yemen May 14, 2019. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad

A report released by the Yemeni Joint Forces operating on Yemen’s west coast accused Houthi militias of committing over 13,000 violations against the Hodeidah ceasefire, also known as the Stockholm Agreement.

Waddah Al-Dubeish, a spokesman for the Yemeni Joint Forces in the west coast, said that chances of reaching a political settlement “were aborted.”

Dubeish blamed Houthis for sabotaging the Agreement which was signed in Sweden last December.

He also lambasted the international silence Houthi violations were met with, and said that it was complicit in the deadly crimes that killed finding a peaceful solution.

According to data collected by the west coast operations taskforce, violations took place in different areas.

Dubeish stated that at least 1,567 violations were large enough to constitute full-fledged acts of war. These violations took place mostly in the Durayhimi, Hays and Tuhayta districts, all of which belong to the Hodeidah governorate.

These violations have resulted in hundreds of deaths of women, children and the elderly. Hundreds of others were severely injured.

According to the report, the militias partially and totally destroyed 446 homes, mosques and farms in Hodeidah. Houthis did not only kill people, but also animals and trees.

The insurgents have also exploited the calm ensured by the Stockholm Agreement to detain and kill anti-coup activists in Hodeidah.



Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
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Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)

Scores of US-backed Kurdish fighters left two neighborhoods in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo Friday as part of a deal with the central government in Damascus, which is expanding its authority in the country.

The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh, which had been under the control of Kurdish fighters in Aleppo over the past decade.

The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month between Syria’s interim government and the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast. The deal could eventually lead to the merger of the main US-backed force in Syria into the Syrian army.

The withdrawal of fighters from the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) came a day after dozens of prisoners from both sides were freed in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that government forces were deployed along the road that SDF fighters will use to move between Aleppo and areas east of the Euphrates River, where the Kurdish-led force controls nearly a quarter of Syria.

Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh had been under SDF control since 2015 and remained so even when forces of ousted President Bashar al-Assad captured Aleppo in late 2016. The two neighborhoods remained under SDF control when forces loyal to current interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa captured the city in November, and days later captured the capital, Damascus, removing Assad from power.

After being marginalized for decades under the rule of the Assad family rule, the deal signed last month promises Syria’s Kurds “constitutional rights,” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades.

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement.

Kurds made up 10% of the country’s prewar population of 23 million. Kurdish leaders say they don’t want full autonomy with their own government and parliament. They want decentralization and room to run their day-to day-affairs.