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’s hostage forum releases AI-generated video of last Gaza captive
- The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling
JERUSALEM: An Israeli group representing the families of Gaza hostages released on Tuesday an AI-generated video of Ran Gvili, the last captive whose body is still being held in the Palestinian territory.
The one-minute clip, created whole cloth using artificial intelligence, purports to depict Gvili as he sits in a Gaza tunnel and appeals to US President Donald Trump to help bring his body back to Israel.
“Mr President, I’m asking you to see this through: Please bring me home. My family deserves this. I deserve the right to be buried with honor in the land I fought for,” says the AI-generated image of Gvili.
Gvili was 24 at the time of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
He was an officer in Israel’s Yasam elite police unit and was on medical leave when he learnt of the attack.
He decided to leave his home and brought his gun to counter the Hamas militants.
He was shot in the fighting at the Alumim kibbutz before he was taken to Gaza.
Israeli authorities told Gvili’s parents in January 2024 that he had not survived his injuries.
The AI clip was released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing those taken captive to Gaza.
The Forum said it was published with the approval of Gvili’s family.
“Seeing and hearing Rani speak in his own voice is both moving and heartbreaking. I would give anything to hear, see and hold him again,” Gvili’s mother Talik said, quoted by the Forum.
“But all I can do now is plead that they don’t move to the next phase of the agreement before bringing Rani home — because we don’t leave heroes behind.”
The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling.
In the first stage, Palestinian militants were expected to return all of the remaining 48 living and dead hostages held in Gaza.
Since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, militants have released 47 hostages.
In the next stages of the truce, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet Trump in Florida later this month to discuss the second phase of the deal.
