AL-MUKALLA: Rashad Al-Alimi, the chairperson of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, arrived in the Jordanian capital Amman on Monday in his continuing efforts to build international support for punishing the Iran-backed Houthis for their escalating attacks on government-controlled areas and the country’s oil infrastructure.
Yemen’s official Saba News Agency reported that Al-Alimi, who was accompanied by two council members, will meet King Abdullah II and other Jordanian officials to discuss the war in Yemen and lobby for international support to counter Houthi threats to international maritime traffic off the coast of the country.
Yemen’s internationally recognized government has stepped up its diplomatic pressure to gain international support for labeling the Houthi militia as a terrorist group and persuade the world to publicly denounce them for targeting oil terminals in southern Yemen over the past two months.
Al-Alimi’s visit to Jordan came a day after the Presidential Council approved, following three days of deliberation, a number of measures in response to the Houthi drone attacks on the oil facilities. The steps include the blacklisting of Houthi leaders and organizations, and the sanctioning of traders who deal with or support them, in an effort to target the militia’s financial resources.
The council also ordered the revival of government agencies involved in counterterrorism efforts and defending state infrastructure against Houthi threats.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awadh bin Mubarak urged the international community to support Yemen’s efforts to punish the Houthis. He told the US ambassador to the country, Steven H. Fagin, that the designation of the Houthis as terrorists would help to curb their deadly attacks and encourage them to stop blocking peace efforts designed to end the war.
Despite the government pressure, the Houthis continue to launch assaults on state-controlled sites around the nation, resulting in casualties and property damage.
According to local media reports on Monday, heavy fighting broke out between government soldiers and Houthis in the southern province of Lahj during the previous 24 hours as the Houthis began a fresh offensive in Al-Qabbabeh district. Several government soldiers and an African migrant reportedly were killed or injured in the fighting.
The Houthis also launched a barrage of Katyusha rockets at a village west of the Hays district in the western province of Hodeidah, local media reported. There were no casualties. The government’s Joint Forces in the area responded by targeting the Houthis responsible for the launches.
In Sanaa on Sunday, the Houthis held funeral processions for nine military personnel of various ranks who had been killed in battles with government troops.
Meanwhile, at least 10 soldiers were injured on Monday in the southern province of Abyan during a patrol when their vehicle triggered a roadside bomb in the Omaran valley, a local military official told Arab News. Similar devices have killed three soldiers and wounded 15 in the valley and neighboring areas since early last week, the source said.
In September, pro-independence Yemeni forces declared that they had taken complete control of the Omaran valley, which had long been used by Al-Qaeda militants as a base for hiding, training and planning attacks.
