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Yemen Legitimate Govt Welcomes US Decision to Train Yemeni Forces

Houthi fighters ride on the back of a patrol truck (Reuters)
Houthi fighters ride on the back of a patrol truck (Reuters)
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Yemen Legitimate Govt Welcomes US Decision to Train Yemeni Forces

Houthi fighters ride on the back of a patrol truck (Reuters)
Houthi fighters ride on the back of a patrol truck (Reuters)

The United States revealed plans to assist the Yemeni government with military experts, including officers who train Yemeni forces and help build the army's capabilities while continuing to combat terrorism and child recruitment and prevent weapons from reaching the Houthis.

The State Department's "2021 Trafficking in Persons" report stated that Washington would use the International Military Education and Training (IMET) funding to build capacity within the Republic of Yemen Government (ROYG) military by sending selected military officers for the US for non-technical training.

These courses would focus on the professionalization of military forces and would bolster the rule of law within the Yemeni Armed Forces.

This step represents a significant turning point in the US approach in tackling the Yemeni crisis, as the Biden administration has engaged in efforts to end the Yemeni war. It also appointed special envoy Tim Lenderking to support the UN envoy's efforts to end the crisis and reach a political solution.

The report confirmed that this training would support US efforts to prevent the recruitment of child soldiers, stressing that support and cooperation can only be with the army of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.

The Department of Defense (DoD) intends to use its authority under 10 USC 333 to re-engage with and build the capacity of the Yemeni Armed Forces – the military of the recognized government of Yemen.

The report notes that these efforts support US national interests in fighting terrorism, countering violent extremist organizations and illicit smuggling, and ensuring freedom of navigation through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

"Critically, this focused support would increase Yemeni capacity to counter malign Iranian activity, including the smuggling of lethal weapons that are contributing to the continuation of the conflict."

The report noted that this "carefully calibrated support" would be provided to the Yemen Border Guard, Yemen Coast Guard, and Yemen Special Operations Forces units not directly engaged in the current conflict but rather involved in efforts against malign third party influences contributing to the ongoing conflict and crisis.

President Joe Biden determined that it is in the national interest of the US to waive in part the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the Child Soldier Prevention Act (CSPA) to allow for the provision of peacekeeping operations (PKO), IMET, and has certified that the government of Yemen is taking effective and continuing steps to address the problem of child soldiers.

It is in the US national interest to support efforts to bring about a negotiated political settlement led by the Office of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Yemen, noted the report.

"A critical element of ending the conflict in Yemen is our counterterrorism campaign and efforts to counter Iranian arms smuggling to the Houthis. […] enhancing homeland security, while simultaneously moving toward the goal of ending the war in Yemen."

The Department of State assesses that an end to the conflict will be critical in ending the further deterioration of socio-economic and security conditions, ensuring long-term stability, and securing the space for restoring effective governance institutions capable of partnering with the United States and the international community in combating terrorism.

PKO funding may be used to support UN Special Envoy efforts, including the participation of Yemen's military leadership, to reach an agreement to end the Yemeni conflict and allow for the resumption of a peaceful, inclusive, and Yemeni-led political transition.

Meanwhile, Yemeni Vice President Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar announced the government's support of Washington's decision.

Ahmar welcomed this step, stressing that the support will help build the capabilities of the Yemeni military forces in combating terrorism, extremism, illicit smuggling, and ensuring freedom of navigation.

"These decisions will have a positive impact in countering the malign Iranian activity," he said in a statement on his Twitter account.

The United States affirmed its dissatisfaction with the Houthis intransigence and their lack of commitment to the initiatives seeking a ceasefire, calling for the implementation of a nationwide ceasefire and initiating inclusive political talks to establish peace and end the crisis.

In a recent press conference, Department spokesperson Ned Price announced that Washington was beyond fed up with Houthi attacks, stressing: "We are horrified by the repeated attacks on Marib."

"We strongly condemn the Houthi missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Marib on June 29th. It took civilian lives, including the life of a child. "

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Arab World

Australia, Canada, France and United Kingdom Regret Postponement of Palestinian Elections

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Reuters)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Reuters)
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Australia, Canada, France and United Kingdom Regret Postponement of Palestinian Elections

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Reuters)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Reuters)

The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom on Tuesday expressed deep “regret” over the Palestinian President's decision to postpone the Palestinian Legislative Council elections and the Presidential elections to September 2027.

“Nearly two decades have passed since the last Palestinian Legislative Council elections and five years since the planned 2021 elections were postponed,” the ministers said in a joint statement.

“An entire generation of Palestinians has reached adulthood without the opportunity to choose their elected representatives,” they said, adding that this delay will be deeply disappointing and once again deprive Palestinians of the opportunity to vote and will further erode public confidence in democratic institutions.

“We acknowledge that significant challenges and impediments have affected the ability to conduct elections in a manner fully consistent with international standards and with the participation of all eligible Palestinians,” the ministers said.

They commended the important work of the Central Elections Commission in advancing practical preparations to address these challenges and facilitate voter participation.

The votes were set to happen next month. On Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree calling for simultaneous presidential and legislative elections on Sept. 11, 2027, canceling a legislative vote scheduled for Nov. 28, 2026, after his Fatah movement and other Palestinian factions agreed to postpone it.

The widely anticipated decision sets a new date for Palestinians to elect both their president and lawmakers amid concerns over Israeli restrictions and the security situation in Gaza and the West Bank.

In their statement, the foreign ministers said credible elections are an important element of the commitment that Abbas and the Palestinian Authority made to reform, including democratic renewal and accountable governance, and are in line with the July 2025 New York Declaration.

They also noted that strengthening Palestinian governance is essential to continue building the institutional foundations of a viable two-state solution, which is the only path to lasting peace and security for both Israel and Palestine.

The ministers then called on the Palestinian Authority to reconsider the decision to postpone elections and to take the necessary steps to hold legislative and presidential elections, without further delay.

“We will continue to support efforts to deliver on these elections. We reiterate our call on Israel to refrain from actions that could impede the conduct of elections, including the practical arrangements necessary for all Palestinians to participate,” they said.

The four ministers also reiterated their longstanding position that Hamas can have no role in the future governance of Palestine.

Arab World

Watchdog Chief Says Urgent to Find Remaining Assad-Era Chemical Weapons

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) and OPCW Director General Dallafior (L) attend a joint press conference at the Tishreen Palace in Damascus, Syria, 13 October 2026. (EPA)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) and OPCW Director General Dallafior (L) attend a joint press conference at the Tishreen Palace in Damascus, Syria, 13 October 2026. (EPA)
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Watchdog Chief Says Urgent to Find Remaining Assad-Era Chemical Weapons

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) and OPCW Director General Dallafior (L) attend a joint press conference at the Tishreen Palace in Damascus, Syria, 13 October 2026. (EPA)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) and OPCW Director General Dallafior (L) attend a joint press conference at the Tishreen Palace in Damascus, Syria, 13 October 2026. (EPA)

The head of the world's chemical weapons watchdog on a visit Tuesday to Syrian capital Damascus said the remaining chemical weapons from the era of ousted president Bashar al-Assad must be urgently identified and destroyed.

Assad was repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons during Syria's 13-year civil war, and there has been widespread concern about the fate of Syria's stocks since his 2024 ousting.

Sabrina Dallafior, the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), hailed cooperation with the new authorities over chemical weapons which Assad allegedly used in mass attacks against his own citizens during the war.

"The most urgent priority now is to assess those sites of most concern from a proliferation perspective," Dallafior said during a joint press conference with Syria's foreign minister.

"That means identifying and securing any remnants of the Assad-era chemical weapons program," she said.

She said that "the OPCW verified the destruction by Syria of 42 chemical aerial bombs for the first time. Verified destruction in cooperation with the new government. This is a milestone."

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani meanwhile said that eliminating chemical weapons was "a responsibility towards the victims and a commitment to ensuring that future generations never experience such atrocities again".

He said he had discussed with Dallafior "a roadmap to build on the progress made and move towards the final closure of the file".

The top diplomat said Syria had handed over more than 100,000 official documents to the OPCW and granted the watchdog access to records and witnesses.

Izumi Nakamitsu, head of the UN disarmament office, said an OPCW team in August "verified the irreversible destruction of 42 aerial bombs" by Syrian authorities.

"This significant development means that, for the first time since 2014, the OPCW has verified the destruction of chemical munitions from the Syrian Arab Republic," she said.

The OPCW reinstated Syria in July, following an unprecedented move in 2021 of stripping Syria of its voting rights after finding its air force had used nerve agent sarin and chlorine gas on its own people.

In 2013, Syria agreed to join the OPCW and disclose and hand over its toxic stockpile under Russian and US pressure, and to avert the threat of air strikes by Washington and its allies.

This came after a suspected chemical attack on the Eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus that killed more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, and was attributed to the Syrian government, which denied involvement and blamed opposition forces.

Arab World

Move to Repeal Syria’s Anti-Brotherhood Law Raises Questions over Group’s Political Return

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and several ministers attend a military parade in Damascus. (Syrian Defense Ministry)
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and several ministers attend a military parade in Damascus. (Syrian Defense Ministry)
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Move to Repeal Syria’s Anti-Brotherhood Law Raises Questions over Group’s Political Return

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and several ministers attend a military parade in Damascus. (Syrian Defense Ministry)
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and several ministers attend a military parade in Damascus. (Syrian Defense Ministry)

Syrian lawmakers are gathering signatures to propose repealing a law that makes membership in the Muslim Brotherhood punishable by death, as the group signals it wants to return to politics after decades of prohibition.

The parallel moves have raised questions about whether Syria’s transitional authorities will allow the Brotherhood back into political life, and how much room they will give political parties.

Abdel Nasser Houshan, chairman of the People’s Assembly’s Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the proposal to repeal Law No. 49 of 1980 was still at the signature-gathering stage and had not been submitted to the assembly.

Under the assembly’s rules, 17 members must first approve the proposal before a bill can be drafted and submitted for referral to the relevant committee, he said.

The legacy of Law 49

Media leaks had suggested lawmakers could discuss the proposal at their next session, expected in the middle of this month. Houshan’s comments indicate that the steps needed to bring it before the assembly remain incomplete.

Enacted in July 1980 under former President Hafez al-Assad, Law 49 classified every member of the Muslim Brotherhood as a criminal punishable by death. It became a key weapon in the former government’s confrontation with the group, whose members and supporters faced decades of arrests and persecution.

Hussam Jazmati, a researcher on Islamist organizations and groups, expects “broad support inside and outside the assembly” for repealing the law, given the abuses associated with it under the former government.

Repealing the “strange” law matters regardless of whom it targeted, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He called it “one of the instruments of state terror under the Assad regime,” saying security agencies used it to pursue people merely suspected of belonging to the Brotherhood.

The law left a deep legacy of intimidation in Syrian society, particularly in conservative and religious communities, he said.

“Sympathy for its victims could provide a basis for supporting its repeal, even among groups that do not support the Brotherhood politically.”

Yet the law’s legal status is itself unclear.

The declaration issued at the “Victory Conference” on Jan. 29, 2025, after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, suspended all exceptional laws. It remains unclear whether that covered Law 49 — or whether the law still requires a legislative repeal.

The declaration also dissolved the Baath Party, the parties of the National Progressive Front and their affiliated organizations, and banned their reconstitution.

It dissolved military factions and revolutionary political and civilian bodies, requiring their integration into state institutions.

But it did not dissolve all political parties without exception, leaving unresolved the legal basis for party activity during the transition.

A test of political will

For Abdel Rahman al-Haj, a researcher specializing in Islamist movements, bringing the repeal before the People’s Assembly would be “a test of the transitional government’s political will.”

An indefinite delay could signal that the authorities do not want to ease the Brotherhood’s return to politics or allow it an active role in the next phase, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Leaving the law in place without invalidating it in the constitutional declaration, and leaving it to the People’s Assembly, will be understood as additional pressure on the group,” he said.

The Brotherhood had already faced various forms of pressure to dissolve itself, he added.

The Syrian Brotherhood’s Shura Council held its fifth regular session on Sept. 27, 2026, issuing a 16-point statement on political, security and economic developments, as well as regional and international issues.

The statement affirmed the group’s desire to participate in political life and called for pluralism and rules governing party activity. Observers read it as preparation for a return to politics inside Syria.

Al-Haj said its second and sixth points showed that “the group wants to engage in party competition and is preparing for the return of political life as set out in the constitutional declaration.”

The Brotherhood appears to feel it faces “systematic exclusion and marginalization,” he said. At this stage of the transition, he added, it needs to test how serious the government is about establishing a legal framework for political activity ahead of an agreed political transition.

Jazmati sees a more immediate obstacle.

“The return of political life depends on the authorities’ will,” he said, adding that they do not appear to want organized parties, at least during the transition.

Still, he believes the Brotherhood could return to political activity “in one way or another.” Syria has a broad religious current that could find expression in several political parties and organizations, whether or not a new political parties law is enacted.

Sympathy for victims, doubts about the group

Jazmati draws a distinction between sympathy for the Brotherhood’s treatment under Assad and support for the organization today.

“There is widespread sympathy for the victims of arrests, persecution and abuses committed by the former regime, and support for addressing the injustices and providing redress for the harm they suffered,” he said.

That sympathy, however, “does not necessarily mean support for the group’s return in its current organizational form.”

The Brotherhood’s record during the Syrian revolution draws a less favorable assessment, he said, citing accusations that it tried to dominate opposition institutions and bore some responsibility for their failures, along with criticism of its management of political and relief work.

He described that negative view as resting on “a set of facts as well as a set of exaggerations,” stressing the need to distinguish between former detainees and victims of the government and the political organization that exists today.

Early in the revolution, sections of the Brotherhood’s support base welcomed its participation in preparatory conferences to establish the opposition Syrian National Council. Criticism of its performance within opposition institutions later intensified.

“The group’s popularity declined during those years, while other Islamist currents rose, particularly the current from which the leaders of Syria’s present authorities emerged,” Jazmati said.

Could a return spur other groups?

The Brotherhood’s signals have also raised questions about what its return could mean for Islamist organizations and other political forces waiting for rules governing party activity.

Al-Haj sees the prospect of its return encouraging other Islamist organizations as “possible, but unlikely.”

The Brotherhood’s presence rests on “its organizational and political history, rather than solely on its Islamist ideology,” he said. Other currents compete to represent that ideology, including the one from which Hayat Tahrir al-Sham emerged.

He expects the group to attract some Syrians who share its ideological outlook and are dissatisfied with the course of the transition.

Its return could do more to encourage non-Islamist organizations than Islamist ones to prepare for political participation, he said. But the transition’s uncertain contours make the consequences difficult to predict.

With the repeal proposal still at an early stage and the rules for party activity unresolved, the Brotherhood’s return to politics would test more than its own future.

It would also test the limits of pluralism Syria’s transitional authorities are prepared to allow.