Yemen Presidential Council Stresses Need to Take Deterrent Measures against Houthi Terror

Dr. Rashad al-Alimi chairs the Presidential Leadership Council meeting on Sunday. (Saba)
Dr. Rashad al-Alimi chairs the Presidential Leadership Council meeting on Sunday. (Saba)
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Yemen Presidential Council Stresses Need to Take Deterrent Measures against Houthi Terror

Dr. Rashad al-Alimi chairs the Presidential Leadership Council meeting on Sunday. (Saba)
Dr. Rashad al-Alimi chairs the Presidential Leadership Council meeting on Sunday. (Saba)

Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council said on Sunday it will implement deterrent punitive measures against the Iran-backed Houthi militias in response to its terrorist escalation.

It held the militias fully responsible for the consequences of their attacks on life-saving humanitarian supplies.

PLC Chairman Dr. Rashad al-Alimi convened the virtual council meeting that tackled ongoing efforts to take measures to stop Houthi terrorism and attacks against oil export ports.

Yemeni sources said the meeting discussed local developments and structural reforms at “sovereign agencies.”

It also tackled “government measures to implement National Defense Council Resolution No. (1) of 2022 related to the classification of the Houthi militias as terrorist,” the sources added.

The council discussed proposals to strengthen the role of agencies concerned with combating terrorism, deterring Houthi attacks on infrastructure and economic facilities and threats to international peace and security.

The Presidential Leadership Council stressed its commitment to defending national sovereign interests and facilities, securing basic services and livelihoods, and limiting the repercussions of the systematic terrorist targeting of the oil sector and civilian facilities.

Meanwhile, Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak discussed with US Ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin on Sunday the developments in Yemen and the repercussions of the continued terrorist Houthi attacks on ships and economic and oil installations, reported the state news agency Saba.

They discussed the difficulties impeding peace efforts in Yemen in wake of the Houthi escalation and their threat to international navigation and international peace and security.

Bin Mubarak said the government is proceeding with the procedures to implement the decision to designate the militias as a terrorist organization.

He highlighted the importance of the international community's support for the decision to help contain the Houthi threat.

For his part, the US ambassador renewed his country's condemnation of the Houthi terrorist attacks on oil facilities, stressing his country's support for the security, stability and unity of Yemen.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.