CAIRO: Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit called on the international community on Tuesday to take immediate action in order to contain the dangerous developments in Yemen.
His spokesman Mahmoud Afifi quoted Aboul-Gheit as saying that the assassination of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Monday demonstrates the criminal nature of the Houthi militants.
Aboul-Gheit said Saleh’s death leaves Yemen, which is already exhausted by war, on the brink of further deterioration on the humanitarian level.
The Houthi militias have rejected all solutions that have been proposed to resolve the conflict that erupted in 2014, he said according to his spokesman. Their refusal to deal with any political efforts reveals that their devious plot is aimed at having the Yemeni people submit to their rule, he said, according to Asharq Al-Awsat.
This plan should be thwarted through all possible legitimate means, he said.
“It is time the international community, especially the influential powers, realized that the Houthi militia is a terrorist organization that is ruling the people through the force of arms. All means should be used to save the Yemeni people from this nightmare,” he stressed.
He warned Yemen’s situation could explode further and worsen humanitarian crisis. “All means should be tackled for the Yemeni people to get rid of this black nightmare,” he said.
The UAE is a key member of the mostly Gulf Arab alliance that sees the Houthis as a proxy of Iran.
Ahmed Ali, the powerful former military commander of Yemen’s elite Republican Guards, appeared to have been groomed to succeed his father, and he may be the family’s last chance to win back influence.
The whereabouts of Saleh’s other key relatives, who had led six days of street battles against the Houthis in the capital Sanaa before their rout on Monday, were unknown.
The Houthi leader, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, reached out to Saleh’s political party and said his movement had no quarrel with it, underscoring the influence Saleh’s allies still have in Yemen.
The Houthis moved to cement their grip on the capital Tuesday.
Residents reported a few minor clashes between the Houthis and Saleh supporters late on Monday in southern districts which had been loyal to the slain strongman.
But there was no repetition of the heavy fighting that had rocked Sanaa for the five previous nights. New checkpoints manned by militias sprung up across Sanaa as their leaders hailed their control of the capital.
“We declare the end of security operations and the stabilization of the situation,” senior Houthi official Saleh Al-Sammad told the terrorists’ Almasirah television channel late on Monday.
Al-Sammad said he had ordered the security forces to “take steps against the saboteurs and all those who collaborated with them.”
The capital was awash with rumors of widespread arrests of suspected Saleh supporters in the army and the militia regime.
The former strongman retained the loyalty of some of the best-equipped units of the army after he was forced to step down as president in 2012. The Houthis called a mass rally for Tuesday afternoon to celebrate their “foiling of the plot.”
Saleh was forced to step down in 2012, after his forces waged a bloody crackdown on peaceful Arab Spring-inspired protests calling for his ouster.
The 75-year-old had survived a civil war, rebellion in the north, an Al-Qaeda insurgency in the south and a June 2011 bomb attack on his palace that wounded him badly.
Relatives of Yasser Al-Awadi, deputy secretary-general of Saleh’s General People’s Congress party (GPC) who was reported to have been killed by the Houthis on Monday, told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV he was safe but GPC Secretary-General Araf Al-Zouka had died in the Houthi attack on Saleh’s convoy.
In the southern city of Aden, where the internationally recognized government is based, residents set off fireworks and expressed joy.
Saleh’s legacy is mixed. He is still loved in much of the north and many supporters will bear a grudge toward his killers. Some feared Saleh’s death would only create more instability in Yemen.
“We expect things will get worse for us. This will be the beginning of a new conflict and more bloodshed. The war will not end soon,” said Aswan Abdu Khalid, an academic at the psychology department at the University of Aden.
Yemen’s war has led to what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The world body says millions of people may die in one of the worst famines of modern times, caused by warring parties blocking food supplies.
The death of Saleh, who once compared ruling Yemen to dancing on the heads of snakes, deepens the complexity of the multisided war.
Much is likely to depend on the future allegiances of his loyalists.
Arab League rings alarm bells over Houthi menace
Arab League rings alarm bells over Houthi menace
Aoun reassures Lebanon that risk of war is ‘fading’ in year-end message
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday sought to reassure citizens in his year-end address, saying “the overall atmosphere remains positive and the risk of war is fading,” amid widespread concern over a possible Israeli escalation against Hezbollah.
Fear of renewed attacks followed Israeli criticism of a Lebanese Army weapons-confiscation operation that is set to enter its second phase at the start of the 2026. The plan include the expansion from areas north of the Litani River to the Awali River, after the first phase was completed south of the Litani.
President Aoun cautioned that this does not mean “completely eliminating the risk of war,” stressing that “work is underway with various friendly and brotherly countries to completely neutralize the threat of war.”
Addressing Internal Security officials, Aoun said that the “situation is among the best,” noting that this assessment has been echoed by foreign visitors to Lebanon, despite the strain caused by large numbers of Syrian and Palestinian refugees.
He added that security forces were fully carrying out their duties and solving crimes with notable speed, pointing to the successful visit of Pope Leo XIV earlier this year as further evidence of progress.
On Monday, Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Alaa Moussa stressed during a Beirut press conference that implementing “international agreements and resolutions, foremost among them the Nov. 27, 2014 agreement and Resolution 1701, constitutes the fundamental approach to sparing Lebanon further security tensions,” speaking of “dire consequences that could result from continued escalation.”
The Egyptian diplomat indicated that “there are no hidden warnings or threats directed at Lebanon, but rather a clear commitment to the agreements signed by the concerned parties, which must be fully implemented by everyone.”
The ambassador stated that his country, under the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, is “exerting intensive efforts to reduce tensions in southern Lebanon and the region in general, through active diplomatic contacts led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty with relevant regional and international parties.”
Israeli military spokesman Avichai Adraee published on Wednesday a summary of Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2025.
“The Army targeted approximately 380 armed operatives, including Ali Tabatabai (chief of staff), Hassan Kamal (responsible for anti-tank missiles on the southern front), Abbas Hassan Karky (logistics officer in the southern command), and Khodr Saeed Hashem (commander of the naval force in the Radwan Unit),” he said.
“It also attacked approximately 950 military targets, including 210 launch sites and weapons depots, 140 military buildings, and about 60 tunnel entrances,” Adraee added.
In the statement, he accused Hezbollah of committing about 1,920 ceasefire violations and said the military would continue its raids and targeting operations in the new year.
UNIFIL Com. Gen. Diodato Abagnara said in his end-of-the-year message that “UNIFIL will continue to support Lebanon and Israel in implementing their obligations under Resolution 1701, building on the stability achieved in 2025 and strengthening efforts toward a lasting peace.”
As part of the weapons restriction plan, on Tuesday, the Fatah movement — the Palestinian National Security Forces in Lebanon — handed over a new batch of heavy and medium weapons from the Ain Al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp to the Lebanese Army in four trucks, away from the media.
This is the second batch of weapons to be handed over from the camp, which is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. It represents the fifth phase of the Palestinian weapons handover process in the camps, four of which were completed between Aug. 21 and Sept. 13, 2025, encompassing nine camps, including Ain Al-Hilweh.
The handover follows and implements an agreement reached between Aoun and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after the latter’s visit to Lebanon in May.
Abbas had announced “the Palestinian Authority’s support for the Lebanese state’s plan to extend its authority over all Lebanese territory, including the Palestinian camps.”
Hamas continues to refuse to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese Army, while Hezbollah maintains its weapons north of the Litani River.
The Lebanese Army implemented “exceptional security measures in various Lebanese regions on New Year’s Eve, with the aim of maintaining security.”
It called on citizens to “cooperate with the security measures taken to maintain public safety and prevent incidents,” warning of the consequences of firing weapons, which will be prosecuted as it poses a threat to public safety.
In another measure, authorities announced that gun licenses and traffic permits will be suspended until Jan. 2, 2026.
In Beirut’s southern suburbs, residents signed a pledge as part of an Internal Security Forces campaign against celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve, committing not to fire weapons in public and to report violations with photos or videos.
