AL-MUKALLA: Yemen will enjoy peace and stability only when the Iran-backed Houthi militia stops undermining the country’s security and blackmailing the world, Yemen’s prime minister said on Tuesday.
At a meeting in Aden with new UN Yemen special envoy Hans Grundberg, Maeen Abdul Malik Saeed said the Houthis were not serious about making peace in Yemen and had moved ahead with their deadly strikes against civilians.
“Peace will not be achieved in Yemen as long as Iran insists on its aggressive blackmail against the world through its sabotage tools represented by the Houthi militia,” the prime minister said.
He also criticized the international community for not putting enough pressure on the Houthis to accept peace efforts and stop shelling residential areas, as the world did when the Yemeni government was close to seizing control of Hodeidah in 2018.
“Yemenis always compare international stands on Hodeidah with Marib. In Hodeidah, the international movement was collective and the pressures were great. But in Marib, we only see individual statements. This makes Yemenis lose confidence in the peace path,” he said.
During his visit to Aden, the UN Yemen envoy will discuss peace efforts to end the war with the Yemeni parties. His office said he welcomed the return of the prime minister to Aden and discussed with him the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement and other political developments.
Grundberg also met the leader of the separatist Southern Transitional Council, Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, and is expected to meet leaders of the main political and social forces in southern Yemen.
Hours before touching down in Aden, Grundberg urged the Yemeni parties to fully commit to achieving peace in Yemen and end the war.
“Ending the conflict and reaching a comprehensive and inclusive political solution that meets the aspirations of Yemenis should be the primary and urgent objective of all relevant actors. It is a shared responsibility that requires everyone’s full commitment to peace efforts,” Grundberg said.
Yemen’s prime minister blasts Houthis for ‘sabotaging peace, blackmailing the world’
https://arab.news/4t2hn
Yemen’s prime minister blasts Houthis for ‘sabotaging peace, blackmailing the world’
- New UN special envoy Grundberg arrives in Aden for talks on implementing Riyadh Agreement
Israel defense minister vows to stay in Gaza, establish outposts
- His remarks, reported across Israeli media, come as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds in Gaza
JERUSALEM: Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday vowed Israel will remain in Gaza and pledged to establish outposts in the north of the Palestinian territory, according to a video of a speech published by Israeli media.
His remarks, reported across Israeli media, come as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds in Gaza.
Mediators are pressing for the implementation of the next phases of the truce, which would involve an Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
Speaking at an event in the Israeli settlement of Beit El in the occupied West Bank, Katz said: “We are deep inside Gaza, and we will never leave Gaza — there will be no such thing.”
“We are there to protect, to prevent what happened (from happening again),” he added, according to a video published by Israeli news site Ynet.
Katz also vowed to establish outposts in the north of Gaza in place of settlements that had been evacuated during Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the territory in 2005.
“When the time comes, God willing, we will establish in northern Gaza, Nahal outposts in place of the communities that were uprooted,” Katz said, referring to military-agricultural settlements set up by Israeli soldiers.
“We will do this in the right way and at the appropriate time.”
Katz’s remarks were slammed by former minister and chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who accused the government of “acting against the broad national consensus, during a critical period for Israel’s national security.”
“While the government votes with one hand in favor of the Trump plan, with the other hand it sells fables about isolated settlement nuclei in the (Gaza) Strip,” he wrote on X, referring to the Gaza peace plan brokered by US President Donald Trump.
The next phases of Trump’s plan would involve an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the establishment of an interim authority to govern the territory in place of Hamas and the deployment of an international stabilization force.
It also envisages the demilitarization of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas, which the group has refused.
On Thursday, several Israelis entered the Gaza Strip in defiance of army orders and held a symbolic flag-raising ceremony to call for the reoccupation and resettlement of the Palestinian territory.
