Yemen government blames separatists for Aden clashes

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Fighters from the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) drive their pick up in Aden on Thursday. (AFP)
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Smoke rises during clashes in Aden, Yemen Thursday. (Reuters)
Updated 08 August 2019
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Yemen government blames separatists for Aden clashes

  • One person killed as southern separatists and presidential guards clash for a second day
  • Government says fighting 'threatens security and stability'

ADEN: Southern separatists and presidential guards fought for a second day on Thursday in Aden, with at least one person killed, residents said.

That followed three deaths and nine injuries when gunfire erupted between the rivals on Wednesday.

The separatists are nominally allied with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in a coalition battling the Iran-aligned Houthis. But they have rival agendas for Yemen and the separatists accused a Hadi-allied party of complicity in an attack last week on their soldiers.

Hadi’s internationally recognized government Thursday blamed the separatist leaders for the flare up that “threatened the safety and stability of citizens and security and stability in general.”

After Wednesday’s  funeral for some of the troops killed in last week’s missile strike on a parade, separatist supporters fought with guards near the hilltop presidential palace in the Crater district of the southern port city, witnesses said.

Thursday's fatality came when fighting flared again and a stray bullet hit a man walking in the street, witnesses and his relatives said. Sounds of gunfire and heavy weaponry echoed into the evening while smoke and fire could be seen rising.

The UN envoy for Yemen and a senior UAE official have both called for calm in the city.


Israeli military says it will pursue every successor of Iran’s Khamenei

Updated 58 min 52 sec ago
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Israeli military says it will pursue every successor of Iran’s Khamenei

  • The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader has more or less reached a majority consensus
  • Minor disagreement over whether their final ⁠decision must follow an ‌in-person meeting or instead ‌be issued

The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran’s next ‌supreme ‌leader.
In a ‌post ⁠on X in ⁠Farsi, the Israeli military also warned it would ⁠pursue every ‌person ‌who seeks ‌to ‌appoint a successor for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ‌referring to the clerical body ⁠charged with ⁠choosing the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.
The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader, succeeding the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said on Sunday.
The Mehr news agency quoted him as saying “some obstacles” still ‌needed to ‌be resolved regarding the ‌process.
On ⁠Saturday, a senior ⁠cleric in the Assembly of Experts said its members would meet “within one day” to choose the leader.
Iranian media said the group had a minor disagreement over whether their final ⁠decision must follow an ‌in-person meeting or instead ‌be issued without adhering to this ‌formality.
Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, another member ‌of the Assembly of Experts, said in a video released by Nournews on Sunday that an in-person meeting by the ‌assembly for a final vote was not possible under current conditions.
He ⁠said ⁠a candidate had been picked, based on the late supreme leader’s advice that Iran’s top leader should “be hated by the enemy” instead of praised by it.
“Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” Heidari Alekasir said of the chosen successor, days after US President Donald Trump said that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, was an “unacceptable” choice for him.