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UN Envoy Gives Houthis Final Shot to Engage in Yemen Peace Plan

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Griffiths and the US envoy to Jordan in early May. (Office of the UN envoy for Yemen)
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Griffiths and the US envoy to Jordan in early May. (Office of the UN envoy for Yemen)
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UN Envoy Gives Houthis Final Shot to Engage in Yemen Peace Plan

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Griffiths and the US envoy to Jordan in early May. (Office of the UN envoy for Yemen)
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Griffiths and the US envoy to Jordan in early May. (Office of the UN envoy for Yemen)

Martin Griffiths, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, arrived on Sunday in the Houthi-run capital of Sanaa after over a year of a dry up in relations with the Iran-backed militias.

His trip signals efforts for a final shot at convincing the group to restore the peace process before he leaves his post.

In mid-May, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Griffiths as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, succeeding Mark Lowcock.

While Iran-affiliated media outlets reported briefly on Griffiths’ arrival in Sanaa, other channels followed up on the UN envoy’s regional tour before landing in the capital. He visited neighboring Arab capitals like Riyadh and Muscat before heading there.

The senior diplomat is trying to get Yemeni and regional parties on board his plan for establishing a ceasefire, instating humanitarian and economic measures and rebooting peace negotiations.

Houthi negotiators refused to meet with Griffiths in Muscat, but changes like pressure from Washington, recommendations from Iran and motivation from Oman steered the group in a new direction.

Foreign intervention prompted Houthis to meet with the envoy last Thursday to complete discussing his plan.

Yemeni politicians are skeptical about the Houthis’ seriousness in engaging in the peace process. Many believe that they are committed to exploiting humanitarian and economic provisions offered in Griffiths’ plan instead of agreeing to a ceasefire and freezing their offensive in the oil-rich governorate of Marib.

Houthi negotiators in Muscat, led by Muhammad Abdul Salam Fleita, communicated that the decision to return to the table of negotiations was in the hands of their leader, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi.

Such a condition drove Griffiths to make the trip to Sanaa, political analysts told Asharq Al-Awsat.

In Muscat, Griffiths met with senior Omani officials and reaffirmed to Fleita that the UN plan encompasses the reopening of Sanaa airport and lifting restrictions on the ports of Hodeidah.

This offer stands to enhance the flow of goods in and out of the battle-ridden country.

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Arab World

Israel Announces Arrest of Prominent Jamaa Islamiya Member in Southern Lebanon

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Ain Qana on February 2, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Ain Qana on February 2, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Announces Arrest of Prominent Jamaa Islamiya Member in Southern Lebanon

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Ain Qana on February 2, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Ain Qana on February 2, 2026. (AFP)

The Israeli army announced on Monday the arrest of a member of the Jamaa al-Islamiya group in Lebanon.

The military said a unit carried out a night operation in Jabal al-Rouss in southern Lebanon, arresting a “prominent” member of the group and taking him to Israel for investigation.

Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adree revealed that the operation took place based on intelligence gathered in recent weeks.

The military raided a building in the area where it discovered combat equipment, he added, while accusing the group of “encouraging terrorist attacks in Israel”.

He vowed that the Israeli army will “continue to work on removing any threat” against it.

Also on Monday, an Israeli drone struck a car in the southern Lebanese village of Yanouh, killing three people, including a child, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. 

Adree confirmed the strike, saying the army had targeted a Hezbollah member.

The Jamaa al-Islamiya slammed the Israeli operation, acknowledging on Monday the kidnapping of its official in the Hasbaya and Marjeyoun regions Atweh Atweh.

In a statement, the group said Israel abducted Atweh in an overnight operation where it “terrorized and beat up his family members.”

It held the Israeli army responsible for any harm that may happen to him, stressing that this was yet another daily violation committed by Israel against Lebanon.

“Was this act of piracy a response to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s tour of the South?” it asked, saying the operation was “aimed at terrorizing the people and encouraging them to leave their villages and land.”

The group called on the Lebanese state to pressure the sponsors of the ceasefire to work on releasing Atweh and all other Lebanese detainees held by Israel. It also called on it to protect the residents of the South.

Salam had toured the South over the weekend, pledging that the state will reimpose its authority in the South and kick off reconstruction efforts within weeks.

After the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, the Jamaa al-Islamiya's Fajr Forces joined forces with Hezbollah, launching rockets across the border into Israel that it said were in support of Hamas in Gaza.

Hezbollah started attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, triggering the latest Israel-Hamas war. Israel later launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.

The conflict ended with a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024, and since then, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes and ground incursions into Lebanon. Israel says it is carrying out the operations to remove Hezbollah strongholds and threats against Israel.

The Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion in damage and destruction, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers. 

Arab World

Israel Says Killed Four Militants Exiting Tunnel in Gaza’s Rafah

Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Says Killed Four Militants Exiting Tunnel in Gaza’s Rafah

Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)

Israel's military said it killed four suspected militants who attacked its troops as the armed men emerged from a tunnel in southern Gaza on Monday, calling the group's actions a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire.

Despite a US-brokered truce entering its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Gaza Strip, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaching the agreement.

"A short while ago, four armed terrorists exited an underground tunnel shaft and fired towards soldiers in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip.... Following identification, the troops eliminated the terrorists," the military said in a statement.

It said none of its troops had been injured in the attack, which it called a "blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement" between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli troops "are continuing to operate in the area to locate and eliminate all the terrorists within the underground tunnel route", the military added.

Gaza health officials have said Israeli air strikes last Wednesday killed 24 people, with Israel's military saying the attacks were in response to one of its officers being wounded by enemy gunfire.

That wave of strikes came after Israel partly reopened the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on February 2, the only gateway to the Palestinian territory that does not pass through Israel.

Israeli forces seized control of the crossing in May 2024 during the war with Hamas, and it had remained largely closed since.

Around 180 Palestinians have left the Gaza Strip since Rafah's limited reopening, according to officials in the territory.

Israel has so far restricted passage to patients and their accompanying relatives.

The second phase of the Gaza ceasefire foresees a demilitarization of the territory -- including the disarmament of Hamas -- along with a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Hamas has repeatedly said that disarmament is a red line, although it has indicated it could consider handing over its weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority.

Israeli officials say Hamas still has around 20,000 fighters and about 60,000 Kalashnikovs in Gaza.

A Palestinian technocratic committee has been set up with a goal of taking over day-to-day governance in the strip, but it remains unclear whether, or how, it will address the issue of demilitarization.

Arab World

Building Collapse in Lebanon's Tripoli Kills 13, Search for Missing Continues

Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
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Building Collapse in Lebanon's Tripoli Kills 13, Search for Missing Continues

Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)

The death toll from the collapse of a residential building in the Lebanese city of Tripoli rose to 13, as rescue teams continued to search for missing people beneath the rubble, Lebanon's National News ‌Agency reported ‌on Monday. 

Rescue ‌workers ⁠in the ‌northern city's Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood have also assisted nine survivors, while the search continued for others still believed to be trapped under the ⁠debris, NNA said. 

Officials said on ‌Sunday that two ‍adjoining ‍buildings had collapsed. 

Abdel Hamid Karameh, ‍head of Tripoli's municipal council, said he could not confirm how many people remained missing. Earlier, the head of Lebanon's civil defense rescue ⁠service said the two buildings were home to 22 residents, reported Reuters. 

A number of aging residential buildings have collapsed in Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city, in recent weeks, highlighting deteriorating infrastructure and years of neglect, state media reported, ‌citing municipal officials.