Yemen Seeks European Pressure to End Houthi Aggression

Yemen's Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak with Norwegian counterpart Eni Eriksson (Saba News)
Yemen's Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak with Norwegian counterpart Eni Eriksson (Saba News)
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Yemen Seeks European Pressure to End Houthi Aggression

Yemen's Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak with Norwegian counterpart Eni Eriksson (Saba News)
Yemen's Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak with Norwegian counterpart Eni Eriksson (Saba News)

Yemen's Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak started a new round of meetings with European officials to discuss the peace process and efforts to end the war in the country.

The Minister arrived in Oslo, where he discussed with his Norwegian counterpart Ine Eriksen the path to the peace process in light of the Houthi militia's continued rejection of all peace and humanitarian efforts.

Bin Mubarak is visiting Norway as his first stop on a tour of Europe, which includes Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.

He stressed that the government continues to exert all efforts to achieve peace and restore security and stability in the country.

The government fully supports the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (SESG) Hans Grundberg.

The state-owned Saba news agency reported that the meeting addressed the Houthi ongoing aggression against the Marib governorate, which displaced millions of people.

It also discussed the maritime security in the Red Sea, the militias attacks on transit ships, and the ongoing environmental and humanitarian threat posed by the Safer oil tank.

The Minister said that this tour comes within the efforts to inform international partners of the Yemeni developments and discuss the repercussions of the Houthi coup militias' continued rejection of all peace efforts and initiatives.

It also aims to clarify the government's vision to stop the war and achieve peace, restore security and stability, and mitigate the humanitarian repercussions of the war waged by the Houthi militias.

Meanwhile, militia leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi pledged to continue fighting for control of all Yemeni regions.

During a televised speech, Houthi asserted that the group would continue to fight until it "liberates the entire country."

Meanwhile, military sources reported that the Houthi militia intensified its attacks on Arhaba district, south of Marib.

Local sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that several civilians were killed in the Houthi attacks.

The Ministry of Legal Affairs and Human Rights issued a statement condemning the targeting of civilians, dozens of whom were forced to leave their areas.

The Ministry denounced Houthi militia's "recurrent barbaric military attacks against the armless civilians of Arhaba district, who have been subjected to shelling by different weapons including ballistic missiles and laden-explosive drones."

In a press release carried by Saba news, the Ministry reported that Iran-backed Houthi militiamen frequently attacked the powerless civilians, forced them to flee their own houses and areas for their lives.

It condemned Houthis for avenging the peoples of Arhaba, forcing them either to fight their fellows or face the consequences.

The Ministry called on the UN, UNHCR, Human Rights Council, and every organization interested in protecting human rights to pressure the Houthi militia to stop its military aggression against Arhaba and Marib.

The statement also called on humanitarian aid organizations to urgently provide emergency aid to the afflicted, the displaced, and those fleeing the war. The number of displaced families in the past two days alone reached nearly 150 families.



Iran Mobilizes Remnants of Fourth Division to Stoke Syria Unrest

 Circulating images of Syria’s Fourth Division
Circulating images of Syria’s Fourth Division
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Iran Mobilizes Remnants of Fourth Division to Stoke Syria Unrest

 Circulating images of Syria’s Fourth Division
Circulating images of Syria’s Fourth Division

The Syria TV website said Iran has been working since early December to mobilize remnants of the Fourth Division, which was linked to Iran and previously overseen by Maher al-Assad, the brother of fugitive President Bashar al-Assad, to inflame the situation in Syria.

Citing regional security sources, the website reported that Iran is utilizing Ghiyath Dalla, the former commander of the Fourth Division, along with Maj. Gen. Kamal Hassan, a former head of military intelligence, and Maj. Gen. Ghassan Bilal, who previously served in the Fourth Division’s command.

According to the sources, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has over recent months kept dozens of officers from the Fourth Division and military intelligence in camps it controls along the Iraqi border, in Lebanon’s Hermel area, and in areas under the control of formations linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party in eastern Syria, is pushing for their return to Syrian territory and the mobilization of former Assad regime elements for a new wave of security operations.

The New York Times recently published a report based on interviews with participants in those moves and a review of correspondence between them, showing that the former leadership figures are determined to reassert their influence in Syria, which remains gripped by tensions more than 13 years after the outbreak of civil war.

The newspaper said it had received credible information that some former figures in the Assad regime are working to build an armed insurgent movement from exile.

One of them is backing a lobbying campaign in Washington, estimated to cost millions of dollars, in the hope of securing control over Syria’s coastal region, the stronghold of the Alawite sect to which Assad and many of his senior military and security commanders belong.

Returning to the information cited by Syria TV, Iran has several objectives in fueling tensions in Syria. Chief among them is easing US pressure on Iran in the Iraqi arena along the Iranian border, where the US envoy to Baghdad is pressing Iraqi factions to disband.

Escalation in Syria would serve as a distraction and diversion from those efforts.

The report said pressure is also expected to intensify on Lebanon’s Hezbollah to complete the process of disarming, with the possibility that it could face new military operations, alongside a potential new Israeli attack on Iran.

Mobilizing remnants of the Assad regime and extending their presence in Syria would give Tehran and Hezbollah greater room to maneuver, rather than remaining confined to a defensive posture.

They could also be used in intelligence operations to track future Israeli movements preemptively.

 


Somali President to Visit Türkiye After Israeli Recognition of Somaliland

 Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud delivers a joint press conference with the German Chancellor after talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud delivers a joint press conference with the German Chancellor after talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
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Somali President to Visit Türkiye After Israeli Recognition of Somaliland

 Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud delivers a joint press conference with the German Chancellor after talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud delivers a joint press conference with the German Chancellor after talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, on November 5, 2024. (AFP)

Somalia's president is to visit Türkiye on Tuesday following Israel's recognition of the breakaway territory of Somaliland, Türkiye’s presidency said.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will hold talks "on the current situation in Somalia in the fight against terrorism, measures taken by the federal Somali government towards national unity and regional developments", Burhanettin Duran, head of the Turkish presidency's communications directorate, said on X.

Türkiye on Friday denounced Israel's recognition of Somaliland, a self-proclaimed republic, calling it "overt interference in Somalia's domestic affairs".

Somaliland declared independence in 1991.

The region has operated autonomously since then and possesses its own currency, army and police force.

It has generally experienced greater stability than Somalia, where Al-Shabaab militants periodically mount attacks in the capital Mogadishu.

Diplomatic isolation has been the norm -- until Israel's move to recognize it as a sovereign nation, which has been criticized by the African Union, Egypt, the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The European Union has insisted Somalia's sovereignty should be respected.

The recognition is the latest move by Israel that has angered Türkiye, with relations souring between the two countries in recent years.

Ankara has strongly condemned Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, and Israel has opposed Türkiye’s participation in a future stabilization force in the Palestinian territory.


Iraq's Parliament Elects Al-Halbousi as Its New Speaker

 The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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Iraq's Parliament Elects Al-Halbousi as Its New Speaker

 The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraq's parliament on Monday elected a new speaker following overnight talks to break a political deadlock.

Haibet Al-Halbousi received 208 votes from the 309 legislators who attended, according to The AP news. He is a member of the Takadum, or Progress, party led by ousted speaker and relative Mohammed al-Halbousi. Twenty legislators did not attend the session.

Iraq held parliamentary elections in November but didn’t produce a bloc with a decisive majority. By convention, Iraq’s president is always Kurdish, while the more powerful prime minister is Shiite and the parliamentary speaker is Sunni.

The new speaker must address a much-debated bill that would have the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units become a formal security institution under the state. Iran-backed armed groups have growing political influence.

Al-Halbousi also must tackle Iraq’s mounting public debt of tens of billions of dollars as well as widespread corruption.

Babel Governor Adnan Feyhan was elected first deputy speaker with 177 votes, a development that might concern Washington. Feyhan is a member of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous, a US-sanctioned, Iran-backed group with an armed wing led by Qais al-Khazali, also sanctioned by Washington.