UN-Sponsored Yemeni Talks in Amman to Complete Truce Terms

A military policeman carries a weapon as he waits at the funeral of Houthi fighters killed during recent fighting against government forces, in Sanaa, Yemen December 6, 2021. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah/File Photo
A military policeman carries a weapon as he waits at the funeral of Houthi fighters killed during recent fighting against government forces, in Sanaa, Yemen December 6, 2021. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah/File Photo
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UN-Sponsored Yemeni Talks in Amman to Complete Truce Terms

A military policeman carries a weapon as he waits at the funeral of Houthi fighters killed during recent fighting against government forces, in Sanaa, Yemen December 6, 2021. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah/File Photo
A military policeman carries a weapon as he waits at the funeral of Houthi fighters killed during recent fighting against government forces, in Sanaa, Yemen December 6, 2021. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah/File Photo

Yemeni delegates are expected to start a new round of talks this week in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Consultations are a part of the efforts exerted to reach consensus for implementing the rest of the items of the Yemeni humanitarian truce in place.

Lifting the siege on the city of Taiz and opening vital roads to contact areas are examples of the items Yemeni representatives will be discussing.

Houthis militias officially announced that their representatives would go Sunday to Amman to attend the consultations.

For its part, the Yemeni government had identified its delegates after the truce entered into force.

The truce expires on July 2, but the UN hopes to extend it and build on it to launch multiple tracks of consultations aimed at finding lasting peace.

Meanwhile, Yemeni and human rights activists launched a wide campaign on social media on Sunday to demand the lifting of the siege on Taiz. At least 26 human rights organizations have signed a statement calling for international pressure to compel the Houthis to end the siege on the Yemeni city.

The statement called on the international community to pay adequate attention to the siege on Taiz and the humanitarian crisis it generated there.

The human rights groups called on the international community to prioritize Taiz to end the war in Yemen, given the central importance of this file in the Yemen crisis.

“Taiz has been subjected to a suffocating siege since 2015, in light of an international engagement that makes lifting this siege and alleviating the suffering of its civilians a sub-issue that receives little attention, with promises that are soon repudiated,” said the statement.

“The Taiz file is not considered except in some of the margins of international efforts and discussions to end the war in Yemen, despite the city living in the harshest conditions of war,” it added.



Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)

The Lebanese military said it has detained a group of people linked to firing rockets into Israel last month.

In a statement issued late Wednesday night, the army said it had detained several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks toward Israel in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group denied at the time it was behind the firing of rockets, The Associated Press reported.

The army said that a vehicle and other equipment used in the rockets attacks were confiscated and the detainees were referred to judicial authorities. The army said it had carried out raids in different parts of Lebanon to detain the suspects without giving further details.

On Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported that Gen. Rodolph Haikal briefed a weekly cabinet meeting about the security situation along the border and the ongoing implementation of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

Three security and one judicial official told The Associated Press that four Palestinians linked to the Hamas group are being questioned.

A Hamas official told the AP that several members of the group were detained in Lebanon recently and released shortly afterward adding that they were not involved in firing rockets into Israel. He said in one case authorities detained a Hamas member who was carrying an unlicensed pistol.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah started launching attacks on Israel a day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with the Palestinian militants’ attack on southern Israel. The war that left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused wide destruction ended in late November with a US-brokered ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire went into effect in late November, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes that left dozens of civilians and Hezbollah members dead.

On Tuesday, the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said that at least 71 civilians, including 14 women and nine children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect.