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Popular Pressure Grows for Freeing Hodeidah from Houthi Hold

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi speaks to the press at the Yemeni embassy in Kuwait City, in this May 17, 2016 photo. (AFP)
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi speaks to the press at the Yemeni embassy in Kuwait City, in this May 17, 2016 photo. (AFP)
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Popular Pressure Grows for Freeing Hodeidah from Houthi Hold

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi speaks to the press at the Yemeni embassy in Kuwait City, in this May 17, 2016 photo. (AFP)
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi speaks to the press at the Yemeni embassy in Kuwait City, in this May 17, 2016 photo. (AFP)

With two years having passed since the signing of the UN-brokered Stockholm Agreement, popular pressure in Yemen is building for the liberation of the key port city of Hodeidah from the grip of Houthi militias.

The implementation of the deal, which included a framework for rehabilitating and managing the Hodeidah port complex and a commitment to use revenues from it to pay public salaries, has faltered before Houthi escalation.

Houthis have been mounting a fierce assault campaign in the governorates of Marib, Taiz and al-Jawf.

Yemeni presidential advisor and former foreign minister Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi has warned that any agreement with Iran-backed Houthi militias could undermine military victories achieved against the group.

He added that a deal would give Houthis a political win, legitimize their existence and prolong the war.

Houthis must not be rewarded for their crimes and attacks against Marib, said Al-Mekhlafi, reiterating his admonishment of attacks staged by the Iran-aligned militia against the oil-rich governorate.

“Ceasing attacks on Marib must not be presented as a Houthi concession,” noted Al-Mekhlafi.

He also raised the alarm on repeating the “Stockholm catastrophe.”

“The joint declaration being amended and presented to Houthis today stems from the same humanitarian argument made in the Stockholm Agreement, which has already failed to achieve peace and improve humanitarian conditions,” tweeted Al-Mekhlafi.

The former top diplomat said that Houthis will be forced towards peace by the steadfastness of Yemeni heroes and the Saudi-led Arab Coalition fighting to defeat the Iranian agenda in the war-torn country.

He also disputed striking any deals that reward Houthi aggression, saying they will invite Houthis to commit further crimes and terrorism.

“Houthis must not be given another chance to play on contradictions at the UN,” political analyst Abdallah Ismail told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Ismail urged the Yemeni internationally recognized government to step outside international pressure and move forward with restoring power to legitimate state institutions.

The analyst explained that the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement has reached a stalemate and that popular will for the government to move forward with a decisive battle to free Hodeidah is growing.

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Arab World

US, Domestic Pressures Seen Behind Baghdad Dismissals

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets US envoy Tom Barrack in Baghdad, June 16, 2026. Iraqi government media/Handout
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets US envoy Tom Barrack in Baghdad, June 16, 2026. Iraqi government media/Handout
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US, Domestic Pressures Seen Behind Baghdad Dismissals

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets US envoy Tom Barrack in Baghdad, June 16, 2026. Iraqi government media/Handout
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets US envoy Tom Barrack in Baghdad, June 16, 2026. Iraqi government media/Handout

A shake-up by Iraqi Prime Minister al-Zaidi in security and economic posts has raised questions over the messages he is trying to send: is he seeking to redraw the balance of power inside the state, or responding to external demands tied to his expected visit to the United States next month?

The moves came as talks to complete the cabinet lineup were still under way, giving them added political weight. Iraqi prime ministers have often avoided sweeping decisions in sovereign institutions before fully securing their governments, wary of clashing with the political forces that have anchored the system since 2003.

The changes touched some of the state’s most sensitive institutions, including the National Security Service and the central bank.

Supporters say the move shows a push to bring in new faces and project the prime minister’s ability to act independently. Critics say some of the decisions amount to recycling familiar figures within the ruling system.

Coordination Framework reaction

What drew more attention than the reshuffle itself was the response from the main political forces, especially the Coordination Framework, which backed al-Zaidi’s rise to office.

So far, there has been no strong public objection, although the decisions affected figures long tied to centers of influence inside the state.

Yassin al-Bakri, a political science professor at Al-Nahrain University, said the steps carried several messages at once. He described them as an early show of force, a test of political reactions and an attempt to present al-Zaidi as a figure able to move from business into the management of Iraq’s complex political balances.

Al-Bakri told Asharq Al-Awsat that the prime minister had stepped into an area several predecessors had avoided by moving to reorder influential posts before completing his cabinet.

That could give him wider room to negotiate over the remaining ministries, especially the Interior Ministry, which remains contested by several political parties.

Between home and abroad

The timing of the decisions carries added weight as al-Zaidi’s expected visit to the United States approaches, along with an anticipated meeting with US President Donald Trump next month.

Observers believe the changes may be meant to reassure Washington that the new government is ready to take steps on institutional reform and strengthening state authority, especially after meetings al-Zaidi held with US officials in recent weeks.

Basil Hussein, head of the “Kloatha” center for studies, said the timing of the changes, alongside a meeting with US envoy Tom Barrack, makes it difficult to dismiss the possibility that they are linked to understandings with Washington.

But Hussein said a broader reading also suggests that al-Zaidi is trying to reshape what he called the “hard core” of the security and financial agencies, ensuring their loyalty to the prime minister’s office rather than to the political forces that brought them in.

Under this reading, the reassignment of some figures affected by the reshuffle suggests the prime minister is trying to gradually loosen existing networks of influence without directly confronting powerful forces inside the Coordination Framework. But this view is weakened by the fact that some dismissed figures were replaced by others from the same party-linked circles or their allies.

Analysts are divided over whether al-Zaidi’s decisions mark the start of a confrontation with the political class or merely a calculated maneuver within existing understandings.

On one hand, his background as a businessman and his previous ties with influential actors give him deep knowledge of the system’s power centers and weak points. That could give him more room to maneuver than some of his predecessors had.

On the other hand, the limits of that room remain tied to several factors: the outcome of his expected visit to Washington, the level of external support he may secure and the willingness of Iraqi political forces to adapt to his efforts to redistribute influence inside state institutions.

Some decisions also looked, to observers, more like political settlements than a rupture. Influential figures were moved to other posts rather than pushed out entirely, suggesting the continued need to preserve the balances that govern Iraq’s political system.

In the end, al-Zaidi’s changes look like an early test of the limits of executive power in Iraq. They carry reformist elements and messages of strength, but they have not yet amounted to a break with the forces that brought him to power.

Arab World

Aoun to Rubio: Ceasefire Is Fundamental Pillar for Lebanese-US-Israeli Talks in Washington Next Week

Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, June 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, June 19, 2026. (Reuters)
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Aoun to Rubio: Ceasefire Is Fundamental Pillar for Lebanese-US-Israeli Talks in Washington Next Week

Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, June 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, June 19, 2026. (Reuters)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun received on Friday a telephone call from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss the current situation in Lebanon and the region in light of the lates developments, reported Lebanon’s National News Agency.

Rubio stressed that the United States stands with Lebanon and is working to achieve security and stability in the country, extend the authority of the state over all its territory, and support its legitimate, security, and military institutions, especially the army.

Aoun expressed his gratitude to Rubio for "his country's support for Lebanon," stressing "the need to stop the Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory by achieving a comprehensive ceasefire.”

Lebanon considers achieving a ceasefire a “fundamental pillar for the progress of the Lebanese-US-Israeli negotiations scheduled in Washington next week to reach the goals and principles from which these negotiations were launched to restore Lebanon's security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”

Fighting flared anew in Lebanon on Friday, with authorities reporting 47 killed in Israeli airstrikes and Israel announcing the deaths of four of its soldiers.

The violence is the worst since the sealing of a US-Iran deal to halt the wider Middle East war, which was supposed to also pause fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Arab World

Lebanese Villagers Return to Find Homes in Ruins

Khadija Amara, whom local residents said had not left her home, fills a jerrycan with water as she sits among the rubble of a house, which was damaged by an Israeli strike, in Qlaileh in the Tyre district, southern Lebanon, June 19, 2026. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
Khadija Amara, whom local residents said had not left her home, fills a jerrycan with water as she sits among the rubble of a house, which was damaged by an Israeli strike, in Qlaileh in the Tyre district, southern Lebanon, June 19, 2026. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
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Lebanese Villagers Return to Find Homes in Ruins

Khadija Amara, whom local residents said had not left her home, fills a jerrycan with water as she sits among the rubble of a house, which was damaged by an Israeli strike, in Qlaileh in the Tyre district, southern Lebanon, June 19, 2026. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
Khadija Amara, whom local residents said had not left her home, fills a jerrycan with water as she sits among the rubble of a house, which was damaged by an Israeli strike, in Qlaileh in the Tyre district, southern Lebanon, June 19, 2026. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Abed Hachem rebuilt his home when it was damaged in a conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militants in 2024, but is at a loss now that most of his village has been destroyed in Israel's latest round of strikes.

Where his house once stood in Qlaileh is now rubble; where his garden bloomed, dust, with more dust covering the toys and furniture strewn around the remains of his living room.

"Oh dear... Oh God. There was a building here... here... there was a building here," the 46-year-old father of three said as he pointed to the husks of buildings that once housed his neighbors, Reuters reported.

The spire of the local mosque is one of few structures still standing.

The latest round of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah fired at Israel in support of its ally Iran, drawing Lebanon into the regional war. Israel responded with air strikes and a ground invasion that occupied parts of southern Lebanon.

More than 3,900 people have been killed, and 1.2 million people have been displaced, with Israel's forced evacuation orders emptying entire villages in southern Lebanon.

Israel says its campaign was aimed at Hezbollah's forces and military infrastructure.

Now, as people like Hachem return to their homes and try to stitch their lives back together, they are reckoning with the heartbreak of seeing their communities wiped out.

"The whole village is destroyed. My house is destroyed. The village is destroyed. Where are we supposed to go now?" he said. "There is nothing left. A lifetime's work is all gone."

His neighbor, a man Hachem saw as a brother, and with whom he shared a cup of tea every morning, has been killed, along with his son.

"They have nothing to do with political parties, nothing to do with weapons, nothing to do with wars," he added, his frustration mounting. "The man was just trying to support his family, and he and his son died for nothing."

The interim deal announced between the United States and Iran brought a lull to the fighting in Lebanon earlier this week, allowing displaced people like Hachem to return home. Fighting flared again before a new ceasefire came into effect on Friday afternoon.

Hachem just wishes peace had come sooner.

"This agreement they reached, they should have made it from the very beginning," he said. "Not after people were destroyed."