Yemen Mobilizes European Efforts to Pressure Houthis, Support Economic Reforms

The head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, in Munich Security Council (Saba)
The head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, in Munich Security Council (Saba)
TT

Yemen Mobilizes European Efforts to Pressure Houthis, Support Economic Reforms

The head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, in Munich Security Council (Saba)
The head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, in Munich Security Council (Saba)

The head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, intensified his meetings with European officials to mobilize European efforts to pressure the Houthi militia and support economic reforms.

Alimi, who is visiting Brussels, is heading back to Munich to participate in the Munich Security Conference. He is scheduled to speak at a dialogue session on the developments in Yemen, opportunities for restoring peace and stability, and ending the worst human suffering in the world.

On the sidelines of the conference, Alimi is scheduled to meet several international leaders and officials participating in the global gathering to discuss common challenges and ways to coordinate positions and visions at various levels.

Alimi and council member Faraj al-Bahsani met the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.

The meeting addressed the local developments and needed European involvement to reduce humanitarian suffering and support resorting peace, stability, and development.

The head of the Council stressed the importance of an advanced understanding of the Yemeni issue based on correcting misleading narratives about the roots of the crisis.

Alimi noted that reaching sustainable peace in Yemen was difficult without pressuring the militia and their Iranian supporters.

Also in Brussels, the Yemeni leader met the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, and reviewed the Yemeni developments and the European pressures required to push the Houthi terrorist militias to deal seriously with efforts to establish peace.

He asserted the need to pressure the militia to prioritize the Yemeni interests over the Iranian regime and its regional project.

The meeting touched on economic and service reforms led by the Presidential Leadership Council and the government and the challenges faced by the Yemeni state to alleviate human suffering in the wake of the Houthi terrorist attacks on oil facilities and global energy supplies.

Saba news agency quoted Urpilainen as confirming the EU's commitment to supporting the Council and the government through a larger package of humanitarian and more sustainable financial aid.

The European official also affirmed the EU's readiness to provide technical support and assistance to promote comprehensive institutional and economic reforms in Yemen.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik said the efforts to renew the UN armistice have collided with the Houthis' intransigence since last October.

Abdulmalik explained that not renewing the ceasefire and the Houthi terrorist attacks on oil facilities complicated the situation.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of having the necessary guarantees that ensure Houthis would take advantage of the situation and return to violence, calling for a real path to peace.

He stressed that illogical and unrealistic solutions may further exacerbate the crisis and that half-solutions cannot lead Yemen to any sustainable solutions for peace.

Abdulmalik accused the Houthis, backed by Iran, of continuously breaking many rules by allowing the entry of oil shipments from Iranian funding sources.

Iran supports Houthis with weapons and fuel, said Abdulmalik, adding that the militias' terrorist acts threaten to break many mechanisms, including the weapons inspection mechanism.



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
TT

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)
TT

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)
TT

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.