AL-MUKALLA: Authorities in the Yemeni city of Taiz and surrounding areas have stepped up security measures, including a ban on carrying weapons and the installation of security cameras, in an attempt to resolve long-standing security issues and protect international humanitarian workers.
Lt. Col. Usama Al-Sharabi, a spokesperson for Taiz police, told Arab News that vehicles carrying dozens of armed security officers were deployed in Taiz and nearby rural areas to enforce the ban on carrying firearms and to secure the city, days after masked men killed a World Food Program worker in Al-Turbah, about 70 kilometers south of the city.
“These measures are part of a comprehensive security strategy designed to restore peace and stability to every district of the city,” Al-Sharabi said.
Several people were arrested and their weapons confiscated by security forces in rural areas, which have been gripped by violence and anarchy for some time.
The killing of Jordanian national Moayad Hameidi, the head of the WFP office in Al-Turbah, on Friday by two armed, masked men was widely condemned and put pressure on local security services in and around the densely populated city to take action to tackle insecurity and the proliferation of weapons.
Officials in Taiz said the two suspected attackers and about 20 people believed to have aided them were being questioned to determine their motives.
“What I can say at this time is that the investigation is proceeding well and has yielded some significant information and that the security services will release all relevant details,” Al-Sharabi said.
Hameidi’s body was flown home to Jordan from the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Tuesday on a UN aircraft. Yemeni officials said the security campaign in Taiz had been planned two weeks before his death but as a result of the killing they had launched it more quickly to help ensure the safety of foreign workers.
“I’d like to thank the people who helped us deploy forces in their communities, as well as identify and find the suspects. Society is the motivating reason behind this accomplishment,” Al-Sharabi said.
Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, has been under siege by the Iran-backed Houthis since mid-2015 after they failed to take control of it as a result of heavy resistance from army troops and allied resistance fighters.
Members of the local armed groups that repelled the Houthi assaults have refused to disarm and resisted any efforts by security and military forces to tackle insecurity and have them integrate with state authorities.
Elsewhere, eight people, including four women, were killed on Tuesday in an explosion at Wadi Abeda, in central Marib province.
The Aden Al-Ghad news site reported that a local weapons dealer and an explosives expert were attempting to defuse a missile inside a house when it exploded, killing both of them, the dealer’s wife and five of his children, including three daughters.
In another deadly incident, also on Tuesday, an improvised explosive device killed three Yemeni soldiers and wounded one in the Moudia district of southern Abyan province. It was the latest in a series of attacks against Yemeni forces battling Al-Qaeda, local officials and media said.
Dozens of Yemeni soldiers have been killed by land mines and roadside bombs planted by Al-Qaeda operatives in Abyan’s Omaran valley since September last year, when local security and military forces launched a joint operation targeting the terrorist group’s long-standing hiding places in Abyan and Shabwa.
Guns banned and video cameras installed as security forces crack down on violence in Taiz
https://arab.news/cxgwd
Guns banned and video cameras installed as security forces crack down on violence in Taiz
- Several people were arrested and their weapons confiscated by officers deployed to secure the city, days after a World Food Program worker was killed in nearby Al-Turbah
- Elsewhere, 8 people, including four women, died in an explosion in central Marib province, and 3 Yemeni soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device in Abyan province
Gaza ceasefire enters phase two despite unresolved issues
- Under the second phase, Gaza is to be administered by a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee operating under the supervision of a so-called “Board of Peace,” to be chaired by Trump
JERUSALEM: A US-backed plan to end the war in Gaza has entered its second phase despite unresolved disputes between Israel and Hamas over alleged ceasefire violations and issues unaddressed in the first stage.
The most contentious questions remain Hamas’s refusal to publicly commit to full disarmament, a non-negotiable demand from Israel, and Israel’s lack of clarity over whether it will fully withdraw its forces from Gaza.
The creation of a Palestinian technocratic committee, announced on Wednesday, is intended to manage day-to-day governance in post-war Gaza, but it leaves unresolved broader political and security questions.
Below is a breakdown of developments from phase one to the newly launched second stage.
Gains and gaps in phase one
The first phase of the plan, part of a 20-point proposal unveiled by US President Donald Trump, began on October 10 and aimed primarily to stop the fighting in the Gaza Strip, allow in aid and secure the return of all remaining living and deceased hostages held by Hamas and allied Palestinian militant groups.
All hostages have since been returned, except for the remains of one Israeli, Ran Gvili.
Israel has accused Hamas of delaying the handover of Gvili’s body, while Hamas has said widespread destruction in Gaza made locating the remains difficult.
Gvili’s family had urged mediators to delay the transition to phase two.
“Moving on breaks my heart. Have we given up? Ran did not give up on anyone,” his sister, Shira Gvili, said after mediators announced the move.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said efforts to recover Gvili’s remains would continue but has not publicly commented on the launch of phase two.
Hamas has accused Israel of repeated ceasefire violations, including air strikes, firing on civilians and advancing the so-called “Yellow Line,” an informal boundary separating areas under Israeli military control from those under Hamas authority.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said Israeli forces had killed 451 people since the ceasefire took effect.
Israel’s military said it had targeted suspected militants who crossed into restricted zones near the Yellow Line, adding that three Israeli soldiers were also killed by militants during the same period.
Aid agencies say Israel has not allowed the volume of humanitarian assistance envisaged under phase one, a claim Israel rejects.
Gaza, whose borders and access points remain under Israeli control, continues to face severe shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel.
Israel and the United Nations have repeatedly disputed figures on the number of aid trucks permitted to enter the Palestinian territory.
Disarmament, governance in phase two
Under the second phase, Gaza is to be administered by a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee operating under the supervision of a so-called “Board of Peace,” to be chaired by Trump.
“The ball is now in the court of the mediators, the American guarantor and the international community to empower the committee,” Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas leader, said in a statement on Thursday.
Trump on Thursday announced the board of peace had been formed and its members would be announced “shortly.”
Mediators Egypt, Turkiye and Qatar said Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, had been appointed to lead the committee.
Later on Thursday, Egyptian state television reported that all members of the committee had “arrived in Egypt and begun their meetings in preparation for entering the territory.”
Al-Qahera News, which is close to Egypt’s state intelligence services, said the members’ arrival followed US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s announcement on Wednesday “of the start of the second phase and what was agreed upon at the meeting of Palestinian factions in Cairo yesterday.”
Shaath, in a recent interview, said the committee would rely on “brains rather than weapons” and would not coordinate with armed groups.
On Wednesday, Witkoff said phase two aims for the “full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza,” including the disarmament of all unauthorized armed factions.
Witkoff said Washington expected Hamas to fulfil its remaining obligations, including the return of Gvili’s body, warning that failure to do so would bring “serious consequences.”
The plan also calls for the deployment of an International Stabilization Force to help secure Gaza and train vetted Palestinian police units.
For Palestinians, the central issue remains Israel’s full military withdrawal from Gaza — a step included in the framework but for which no detailed timetable has been announced.
With fundamental disagreements persisting over disarmament, withdrawal and governance, diplomats say the success of phase two will depend on sustained pressure from mediators and whether both sides are willing — or able — to move beyond long-standing red lines.
