Huge Revenues Push Houthis to Tighten Grip Over Yemeni Institutions

Hodeidah port on the Red Sea, west of Yemen (AFP)
Hodeidah port on the Red Sea, west of Yemen (AFP)
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Huge Revenues Push Houthis to Tighten Grip Over Yemeni Institutions

Hodeidah port on the Red Sea, west of Yemen (AFP)
Hodeidah port on the Red Sea, west of Yemen (AFP)

The huge revenues of several Yemeni institutions prompted the Houthi militia to implement new administrative and financial measures to control and manage the profit in their favor.

The new measures introduced e-accounting systems and complex administrative control procedures, dismissed the head of these institutions, and replaced them with group members.

Sources in Sanaa stated that the group assigned several affiliated companies, specialized in technology, to prepare new accounting systems for institutions, such as the Red Sea Ports Authority, the Oil Corporation, the Kamaran Company, the Public Telecommunication Corporation, the Economic Corporation, the Post, the Tax Authority, the Tax Authority Customs, and the capital's secretariat revenues.

The militia sought to establish a supervisory body to oversee all revenue institutions and monitor their activities, profits collection, and disbursement mechanism.

According to the sources, this procedure was established after the militia discovered it was difficult to launch alternative revenue institutions similar to other institutions it created.

The militias lack qualified technical cadres loyal to them to replace the personnel working in institutions such as the Red Sea Ports Authority, the tax and customs authorities, the Public Telecommunication Corporation, the oil companies, Kamaran, and others.

Houthis aimed to appoint their leaders at the top of these institutions to gain the support of technical staff and employ several of their members in various departments as informants to monitor the progress of accounting and administrative activities and procedures.

The militia began using the "Code of Ethics and Conduct," which it recently announced, and it includes rules for public servants, including accepting Houthis' right to rule and participating in their sectarian activities.

The sources stated that the militias have started implementing new accounting procedures in Hodeidah port after it achieved huge revenues during the past eight months, during the UN-sponsored truce, which Houthis refused to extend.

They said the militias noticed it was possible to obtain data and information about Hodeidah port revenues and several other institutions, given the nature of the administrative and accounting procedures of the institutions under Houthi control since Sept. 2014.

In October, the Yemeni government revealed that the militias had achieved more than YR203 billion after Hodeidah port received 54 shipments of oil and its derivatives during the humanitarian truce that began on Apr 2 and ended on Oct 2. One of its most important provisions was to allow the port to operate and permit fuel shipments fully.

Hodeidah port continues to receive fuel shipments despite the end of the armistice more than two months ago after Iran's arm stipulated that the salaries of employees in its areas of control are paid from oil and gas revenues in the liberated governorates only, and its refusal to include the Hodeidah revenues in the salary disbursement.



Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
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Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

At least two people were killed and four rescued from the rubble of a multistory apartment building that collapsed Sunday in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, state media reported.

Rescue teams were continuing to dig through the rubble. It was not immediately clear how many people were in the building when it fell.

The bodies pulled out were of a child and a woman, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Dozens of people crowded around the site of the crater left by the collapsed building, with some shooting in the air.

The building was in the neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh, one of the poorest areas in Lebanon’s second largest city, where residents have long complained of government neglect and shoddy infrastructure. Building collapses are not uncommon in Tripoli due to poor building standards, according to The AP news.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry announced that those injured in the collapse would receive treatment at the state’s expense.

The national syndicate for property owners in a statement called the collapse the result of “blatant negligence and shortcomings of the Lebanese state toward the safety of citizens and their housing security,” and said it is “not an isolated incident.”

The syndicate called for the government to launch a comprehensive national survey of buildings at risk of collapse.


Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
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Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)

Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank, The AP news reported.

They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences and damage to archaeological sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.

The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new measures come three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.

Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel's accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.

Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.

His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.

The United Nations' highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.


Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit strongly condemned the attack by the Rapid Support Forces on humanitarian aid convoys and relief workers in North Kordofan State, Sudan.

In a statement reported by SPA, secretary-general's spokesperson Jamal Rushdi quoted Aboul Gheit as saying the attack constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of their means of survival.

Aboul Gheit stressed the need to hold those responsible accountable, end impunity, and ensure the full protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and relief facilities in Sudan.