Yemeni minister says ‘disastrous’ UN report described Houthi as leader of the revolution

The UN Security Council designated sanctions on Abdul Malik Al-Houthi in April 2015 for engaging in acts that threatened the peace, security, and stability of Yemen. (File/AFP)
Updated 30 August 2018
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Yemeni minister says ‘disastrous’ UN report described Houthi as leader of the revolution

DUBAI: Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Iryani condemned the United Nations on Wednesday over its report on war crimes in Yemen, in which he says the leader of the Houthi militia was referred to as a “leader of the revolution.”

The UN Security Council designated sanctions on Abdul Malik Al-Houthi in April 2015 for engaging in acts that threatened the peace, security, and stability of Yemen.

Describing the report as “disastrous,” Al-Iryani said on his Twitter account that it was based on “a number of fabrications” aiming to harm the internationally recognized government and the member states of the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting the militias.  

The minister said the report did not mention all the “terror acts” carried out by the militia group on officials, government headquarters and military and security sites of the government.

The report ignored hundreds of rockets launched by the Houthi militia under Iranian pretexts targeting the Saudi capital Riyadh and Makkah and a number of other cities in the Kingdom, the minister said.

There was no mention of the killing of a number of civilians, in addition to the targeting of oil tankers in international waters, he added.

The Arab coalition also refuted the UN report on Yemen, saying it made a series of accusations against the alliance.

In a strongly worded statement, the coalition, which supports forces loyal to the internationally recognized government, rejected the claim that it did not provide information requested by the UN.

The coalition dismissed as “false” and “inaccurate” claims in the report that its forces were obstructing humanitarian access to civilians in the country.


USS Gerald Ford leaves Crete as Iran talks begin: AFP

Updated 6 sec ago
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USS Gerald Ford leaves Crete as Iran talks begin: AFP

  • Its departure comes amid a new round of indirect talks between the United States and Iran on the latter’s nuclear program
  • Washington has more than a dozen warships in the Middle East: one aircraft carrier, nine destroyers and three other combat ships
SOUDA, Greece: The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, sent to the Mediterranean this week in a military build-up to put pressure on Iran, left a naval base in Crete Thursday, an AFP photographer said.
Its departure came as a new round of indirect talks between the United States and Iran on the latter’s nuclear program, mediated by Oman’s foreign minister, opened in Geneva Thursday morning.
The vessel has been at the US Naval Support Activity Souda Bay base in Crete since Monday. The US embassy in Athens has declined to comment on the carrier’s presence, forwarding questions to the Pentagon in Washington.
President Donald Trump ordered strikes on Iran last year. He has repeatedly threatened Tehran with fresh military action if it does not cut a new deal on its contentious nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at building an atomic weapon.
Washington has more than a dozen warships in the Middle East: one aircraft carrier — the USS Abraham Lincoln — nine destroyers and three other combat ships.
It is rare for there to be two US aircraft carriers, which carry dozens of warplanes and are crewed by thousands of sailors, in the Middle East.