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Houthis Release 5 Yemeni UN Staffers in Sanaa After Weekend Detention at Offices 

Houthi militants stand guard during the funeral procession for their chief of staff, Mohammed al-Ghamari, and his companions, who were killed in an Israeli strike, during a funeral procession in Sanaa, Yemen, 20 October 2025. (EPA)
Houthi militants stand guard during the funeral procession for their chief of staff, Mohammed al-Ghamari, and his companions, who were killed in an Israeli strike, during a funeral procession in Sanaa, Yemen, 20 October 2025. (EPA)
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Houthis Release 5 Yemeni UN Staffers in Sanaa After Weekend Detention at Offices 

Houthi militants stand guard during the funeral procession for their chief of staff, Mohammed al-Ghamari, and his companions, who were killed in an Israeli strike, during a funeral procession in Sanaa, Yemen, 20 October 2025. (EPA)
Houthi militants stand guard during the funeral procession for their chief of staff, Mohammed al-Ghamari, and his companions, who were killed in an Israeli strike, during a funeral procession in Sanaa, Yemen, 20 October 2025. (EPA)

Houthi militants released five Yemeni United Nations staff members and allowed 15 international ones to move freely within the UN compound after detaining them there in Sanaa over the weekend, a UN spokesperson said Monday.

Stephane Dujarric, the UN spokesperson, also said Houthi militants had left the compound after the latest of such raids on international organizations.

The Houthis have a long-running crackdown against the UN and others working in Yemen's Houthi-held areas, including capital Sanaa, the coastal city of Hodeidah and Houthi stronghold in the northern province Sadaa.

The militants have repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the detained UN staff and employees of other organizations and embassies were spies, which the UN has denied.

Dozens of people have been detained. A World Food Program worker died in detention earlier this year in Sadaa.

Dujarric also told reporters Monday that Secretary-General António Guterres spoke with the foreign ministers and leaders of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iran earlier in the day regarding the detainment of staff.

He said that as the UN engages in the sensitive negotiations with the Houthis, it is important for member states who have influence in the region, like those three countries, to use their leverage to assist in the release of international and national staff.

The Houthis held a funeral on Monday for their military chief of staff who was killed in a recent Israeli strike, with more than 1,000 people gathered in Sanaa.

The Houthis acknowledged last week that Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Ghamari was killed in an Israeli airstrike along with other militant leaders. The Houthis did not say when the strike took place. The death further escalated tensions between the rebels and Israel.

Nearly two months ago, Israeli airstrikes killed senior Houthi government officials in Sanaa, including their prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi.

The Houthis said al-Ghamari was killed along with his 13-year-old son, Hussain, and “several of his companions,” according to the Houthi-controlled SABA news agency, which didn’t provide further details.

The UN sanctioned al-Ghamari for his “leading role in orchestrating the Houthis’ military efforts that are directly threatening the peace, security and stability of Yemen, as well as cross-border attacks against Saudi Arabia.”

The US Treasury sanctioned him in 2021 for his responsibility in “orchestrating attacks by Houthi forces impacting Yemeni civilians” and said he had been trained by Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

The US and Israel had launched an air and naval campaign against the Houthis in response to the militants’ missile and drone attacks on Israel and on ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis have said they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians over the war in Gaza.

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Arab World

US Says Gaza ‘Phase Two’ Beginning with Goal of Hamas Demilitarization

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP)
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP)
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US Says Gaza ‘Phase Two’ Beginning with Goal of Hamas Demilitarization

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP)
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP)

President Donald Trump's envoy said Wednesday that a plan to end the Gaza war was now moving to Phase Two with a goal of disarming Hamas, despite a number of Israeli strikes during the ceasefire.

"We are announcing the launch of Phase Two of the President's 20-Point Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction," envoy Steve Witkoff wrote on X.

The second phase will also include the setup of a 15-person Palestinian technocratic committee to administer post-war Gaza. Its formation was announced earlier Wednesday by Egypt, a mediator.

Phase Two "begins the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel."

"The US expects Hamas to comply fully with its obligations, including the immediate return of the final deceased hostage. Failure to do so will bring serious consequences," he said.

Arab World

Lebanon Arrests Syrian Citizen Suspected of Funding Pro-Assad Fighters

A damaged portrait of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad lies on the ground in the western Syrian port city of Latakia on Dec. 15, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
A damaged portrait of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad lies on the ground in the western Syrian port city of Latakia on Dec. 15, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
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Lebanon Arrests Syrian Citizen Suspected of Funding Pro-Assad Fighters

A damaged portrait of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad lies on the ground in the western Syrian port city of Latakia on Dec. 15, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
A damaged portrait of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad lies on the ground in the western Syrian port city of Latakia on Dec. 15, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanese authorities have arrested a Syrian citizen who is suspected of sending money to fighters loyal to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, judicial officials said Wednesday.

Ahmad Dunia was detained in recent days in Lebanon’s region of Jbeil north of Beirut and is being questioned over alleged links to Assad’s maternal cousin Rami Makhlouf as well as a former Syrian army general who left the country after Assad’s fall in December 2024, the officials said.

The officials described Dunia as the “financial arm” of the wealthy Makhlouf, saying he had been sending money to former Assad supporters in Syria who work under the command of ousted Syrian general Suheil al-Hassan who is believed to be in Russia.

The officials said the money was mostly sent to pro-Assad fighters who are active in Syria’s coastal region, where many members of his Alawite minority sect live.

Allegations that Dunia was financing Assad allies was first reported by Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV. He was then arrested by Lebanese security forces, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The arrest came a week after a Syrian security delegation visited Beirut and handed over to officials in Lebanon lists of dozens of names of former members of Assad’s security agencies whom they said are directing anti-government operations in Syria from Lebanon. Dunia’s name was one of those on the list, the officials said.

Since Assad’s fall, there have been several skirmishes between his supporters and the country’s new authorities.

In March last year, violence that began with clashes between armed groups aligned with Assad and the new government’s security forces spiraled into sectarian revenge attacks and massacres that killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority.

Arab World

Sudan Peace Talks Resume in Cairo as War Nears 3-Year Mark

Displaced women fill water at displaced persons camp in El Obeid, North Kordofan State, Sudan, January 12, 2026. (Reuters)
Displaced women fill water at displaced persons camp in El Obeid, North Kordofan State, Sudan, January 12, 2026. (Reuters)
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Sudan Peace Talks Resume in Cairo as War Nears 3-Year Mark

Displaced women fill water at displaced persons camp in El Obeid, North Kordofan State, Sudan, January 12, 2026. (Reuters)
Displaced women fill water at displaced persons camp in El Obeid, North Kordofan State, Sudan, January 12, 2026. (Reuters)

Sudan peace efforts resumed in Cairo on Wednesday as Egypt, the United Nations and the United States called for the warring parties to agree to a nationwide humanitarian truce, as the war between the army and its rival paramilitary nears the three-year mark.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters that Egypt wouldn't accept the collapse of Sudan or its institutions, or any attempt to undermine its unity or divide its territory, describing such scenarios as “red lines.”

Abdelatty said during a joint news conference with Ramtane Lamamra, the UN secretary‑general’s personal envoy for Sudan, that Egypt won't stand idly and won't hesitate to take the necessary measures to help preserve Sudan’s unity.

″There is absolutely no room for recognizing parallel entities or any militias. Under no circumstances can we equate Sudanese state institutions, including the Sudanese army, with any other militias,” he said on the sidelines of the fifth meeting of the Consultative Mechanism to Enhance and Coordinate Peace Efforts.

Lamamra said that the fifth such meeting demonstrated that diplomacy remains a viable path toward peace.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, and the military have been at war since April 2023. The conflict that has seen multiple atrocities and pushed Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Although repeated attempts at peace talks have failed to end the war, Abdelatty said that there's a regional agreement to secure an immediate humanitarian truce, including certain withdrawals and the establishment of safe humanitarian corridors.

Humanitarian aid Massad Boulos, the US senior adviser for Arab and African Affairs, said Wednesday that more than 1.3 metric tons of humanitarian supplies entered el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on Wednesday, with the help of American-led negotiations, marking the first such delivery since the city was besieged 18 months ago.

“As we press the warring parties for a nationwide humanitarian truce, we will continue to support mechanisms to facilitate the unhindered delivery of assistance to areas suffering from famine, malnutrition, and conflict-driven displacement,” Boulos posted on X.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed with Boulos the need to increase coordination between both countries to achieve stability in Sudan, with Sisi expressing appreciation to US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war.

US and key mediators Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, known as the Quad, proposed a humanitarian truce, which both sides reportedly agreed to, but the conflict has persisted.

“The President emphasized that Egypt will not allow such actions, given the deep connection between the national security of both brotherly countries,” the Egyptian president’s office said in a statement.

The United States has accused the RSF of committing genocide in Darfur during the war, and rights groups said that the paramilitary group committed war crimes during the siege and takeover of el-Fasher, as well as in the capture of other cities in Darfur. The military has also been accused of human rights violations.

Latest wave of violence

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, said on Tuesday that at least 19 civilians were killed during ground operations in Jarjira in North Darfur on Monday.

A military-allied Darfur rebel group said that it carried out a joint military operation with the army in Jarjira, saying that the operation liberated the area and its surroundings and forced RSF fighters to flee south.

At least 10 others were killed and nine others injured, also on Monday, in a drone attack that hit Sinja, the capital city of Sennar province, according to OCHA and the Sudan Doctors Network.

Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement that the drone strike was launched by the RSF and hit several areas in the city, describing the attack as the latest crime added “to the long list of grave violations against civilians.”

The group said that civilians are being deliberately targeted in a “full-fledged war crime.”

The Sudan Doctors Network also said that it “holds the Rapid Support Forces fully responsible for this crime and demands an end to their targeting of civilians and the protection of civilian infrastructure.”

Recent violence displaced more than 8,000 people from villages in North Darfur, with some fleeing to safer areas within the province and others crossing into Chad, according to the latest estimate by the International Organization for Migration.