Yemen’s Alimi Urges Europe to Follow Washington’s Example and Blacklist Houthis

Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi meets with EU Ambassador to Yemen Gabriel Munuera Vinals in Riyadh on Monday. (Saba)
Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi meets with EU Ambassador to Yemen Gabriel Munuera Vinals in Riyadh on Monday. (Saba)
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Yemen’s Alimi Urges Europe to Follow Washington’s Example and Blacklist Houthis

Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi meets with EU Ambassador to Yemen Gabriel Munuera Vinals in Riyadh on Monday. (Saba)
Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi meets with EU Ambassador to Yemen Gabriel Munuera Vinals in Riyadh on Monday. (Saba)

Chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi urged on Monday the European Union to designate the Iran-backed Houthi militias as terrorist.

The United States had re-designated the Houthis as terrorist earlier this month in wake of the attacks they have been carrying out against commercial traffic in the Red Sea.

As of Monday, the Houthis have carried out 34 missile and drone attacks against vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in response to Israel's war on Gaza.

Since January 12, the United States has carried out 10 strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation to their attacks.

Meanwhile, Denmark on Monday sent a frigate to the Red Sea, where it will participate in a US-led coalition to safeguard commercial traffic against the Houthi attacks.

Denmark, home to shipping company Maersk, is sending the 139-meter Iver Huitfeldt frigate to the area as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian formed last month to protect merchant vessels.

“If you think that the answer to the Houthis is to simply allow them to terrorize free world trade, you are on the wrong track," Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told reporters on board the frigate before it departed the Korsor naval base.

"That is also why we, together with the Americans and the British, are now showing responsibility and sending a signal that we will not tolerate what is happening,” the minister said.

Alimi received in Riyadh on Monday European Union Ambassador to Yemen Gabriel Munuera Vinals for talks on the latest local developments and the opportunities to resume the United Nations-mediated efforts to revive the political process.

They also tackled the impact the terrorist Houthi attacks in the Red Sea are having on international security and peace and the Yemeni people, reported the state news agency Saba.

Vinals briefed Alimi on the EU’s position on the Houthi escalation, adding that it continues to fully support the efforts of UN envoy Hans Grundberg to launch a comprehensive political process.

Alimi praised Europe for the support it has shown the PLC, government and Yemeni people.

He stressed however, the importance of the Europeans “taking punitive measures against the Houthi militias and designating them as a terrorist organization.”

Alimi had previously said the American and British strikes against the Houthis would not yield a solution to the crisis in Yemen. Rather, he underlined the need to support government forces as they seek to recapture Hodeidah and state institutions that have been seized by the Houthis.

On the ground, the Houthis have pursued military escalation. They launched attacks on liberated areas in the Saada and al-Jawf border regions.

The fiercest attack was reported in the Bihan area in the liberated Shabwa province.

The Giants Brigades clashed with the Houthis in Bihan, leaving some 20 of their members dead.

Commenting on the unrest, PLC member Faraj al-Bahsani said the militias “don't don’t believe in peace and want to drag the region towards conflict.”



Erdogan Accuses Israel of Seeking to ‘Dynamite’ Syria ‘Revolution'

 Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 4th edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2025) in Antalya, on April 11, 2025. (AFP)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 4th edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2025) in Antalya, on April 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Erdogan Accuses Israel of Seeking to ‘Dynamite’ Syria ‘Revolution'

 Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 4th edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2025) in Antalya, on April 11, 2025. (AFP)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 4th edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2025) in Antalya, on April 11, 2025. (AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Israel of sowing divisions in Syria in a bid to "dynamite" the "revolution" that toppled strongman Bashar al-Assad.

Türkiye is a key backer of Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa whose Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group led the opposition coalition which ousted Assad in December.

"Israel is trying to dynamite the December 8 revolution by stirring up ethnic and religious affiliations and turning minorities in Syria against the government," Erdogan told a diplomacy forum in the southern Mediterranean resort of Antalya.

Erdogan's comments come as officials from Türkiye and Israel began talks this week aimed at easing tensions over Syria.

Israel has launched air strikes and ground incursions to keep Syrian forces away from its border.

A Turkish defense ministry source said on Thursday that the first technical meeting with Israel had taken place in Azerbaijan on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned this did not mean the two sides were moving towards normalizing ties strained over Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.

Türkiye has suspended all trade with Israel, with Erdogan accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "genocide" in the Palestinian territory since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel began the war.

On Friday, Erdogan condemned Israel's "barbarism" after a pre-dawn air strike that officials in Gaza said killed 10 members of the same family.

"Just this morning, 10 people, including seven children, from the same family were martyred in Khan Younis. If this is not barbarism, I ask you, what is it?" he asked at the diplomacy forum.

- Sharaa at diplomacy forum -

Sharaa, who arrived in Antalya earlier in the day, was due to meet with Erdogan on the sidelines of the diplomacy forum.

It marks his second trip to Türkiye as leader after Erdogan welcomed him to the capital Ankara in February.

After meeting with Qatar's foreign minister Sharaa, wearing a suit and a tie, was mobbed by reporters clamoring for comment.

Ankara's influence on Syria's new authorities has worried Israel, which considers Sharaa's forces to be extremists and has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria since Assad's ouster.

"Israel is turning into a problematic country that directly threatens the stability of the region, especially with its attacks on Lebanon and Syria," Erdogan told the forum.

The Turkish leader said the Syrian "revolution" offered an opportunity to bring stability to the region and warned it should not be wasted.

"We will not allow Syria to be dragged into a new vortex of instability," he said.

He also said Israeli strikes were denting efforts to combat the ISIS group.