AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s government has asked its citizens in Lebanon to leave as the war between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah escalates.
The Yemeni embassy in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, has requested that Yemenis in Lebanon travel by land to the Lebanon-Syria border due to the lack of charter flights for air evacuation.
Yemenis who wish to leave Lebanon should first request a transit visit from the Syrian government, it said.
The Yemeni embassy will arrange buses and other transport to take them by land from Lebanon to Syria and then to Jordan, where they will be transferred to Yemeni Sanaa or Aden airports on Yemenia Airways flights, according to the Yemeni embassy.
This comes as Yemenis in Lebanon have urged their government to evacuate them immediately as Israel has increased its airstrikes on the Lebanese capital and other areas of the country, targeting Hezbollah locations.
However, Yemenis reject the embassy’s proposal to evacuate them by land to Syria, saying that the Syria border crossing with Lebanon is congested with thousands of people fleeing the war and also prone to Israeli airstrikes.
Mushtaq Anaam, a Yemeni national living in Beirut’s Cola, told Arab News that a recent Israeli airstrike struck 70 meters from where he lives and that he refused to travel from Lebanon to Syria by land after hearing an Israeli military spokesperson threaten to strike the Lebanon-Syria border, claiming it to be an entry point for weapons to Hezbollah.
“I’d rather stay here than travel through Syria, which is a dangerous route that has been bombed repeatedly,” said Anaam, who is a postgraduate student in Lebanon.
Anaam suggested that the Yemeni government work with the Lebanese authorities to allow Yemenia Airways planes to transport them or that they be evacuated by sea.
“The situation here is dire, and the war is becoming more intense by the day,” he said.
However, the Yemeni embassy in Beirut said that it was unable to secure a flight to evacuate Yemenis by air and that the only viable option was to travel by land through Syria.
The Yemeni embassy in Beirut and Yemeni foreign ministry officials were unavailable on Thursday to respond to Arab News’ requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea claimed on Thursday that their military forces launched a barrage of drones at “vital targets” in the Israeli capital in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese people, vowing to carry out more attacks on Israel until it ended its war in Palestine and Lebanon.
The Israeli military said that it shot down a drone over the Mediterranean Gush Dan on Thursday morning, while another landed in an open area, but did not elaborate on the origins of the two drones.
Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes on Yemen’s western city of Hodeidah on Sunday, targeting ports, power plants and fuel tanks in response to a Houthi missile attack on Israel’s capital.
Since November, the Houthis have attacked more than 100 commercial and naval ships in the Red Sea and other seas off Yemen, using drones, ballistic missiles and drone boats in a campaign that the Yemeni militia claims is in support of the Palestinian people.
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Yemen’s government asks Yemenis to leave Lebanon as war intensifies
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https://arab.news/zvcw5
Yemen’s government asks Yemenis to leave Lebanon as war intensifies
- Houthis claim their military forces launched barrage of drones at ‘vital targets’ in the Israeli capital in support of Palestinian and Lebanese people
- Yemenis who wish to leave Lebanon should first request a transit visit from the Syrian government
Sweeping US defense bill passes Congress, including real of Syria sanctions
WASHINGTON: The US Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to advance a $901 billion bill setting policy for the Pentagon, sending the massive piece of legislation to the White House, which has said President Donald Trump will sign it into law. The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, is a compromise between separate measures passed earlier this year in the House of Representatives and Senate. It authorizes a record $901 billion in annual military spending, with a 4 percent pay raise for the troops. It also authorizes reforms to the system for acquiring military equipment and includes efforts to boost competitiveness with US archrivals China and Russia.
The Senate backed the bill by 77 to 20, with strong support from both parties. Two of the “no” votes were from Republican senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul.
“This will be the 65th year in a row, the 65th consecutive year, that Congress has come together across the aisle and across two chambers to send the president a bill designed to sustain and strengthen the national defense,” said Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican Senate Armed Services Committee chairman. The House passed the bill last week, by 312 to 112, also with broad bipartisan support. In a break with Trump, whose fellow Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate, this year’s NDAA includes several provisions to boost security in Europe, despite Trump’s release earlier this month of a National Security Strategy seen as friendly to Russia and a reassessment of the US relationship with Europe.
The fiscal 2026 NDAA provides $800 million for Ukraine — $400 million in each of the next two years — as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays US companies for weapons for Ukraine’s military.
It also authorizes the Baltic Security Initiative and provides $175 million to support Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia’s defense. And it limits the Department of Defense’s ability to drop the number of US forces in Europe to fewer than 76,000 and bars the US European Commander from giving up the title of NATO Supreme Commander.
WINS FOR BOTH PARTIES
Members of Congress take great pride in having passed the NDAA every year for more than six decades.
The measure’s record price tag is $8 billion more than Trump had requested. This month a handful of Republicans and Democrats called for the addition of a provision to strengthen military helicopter safety rules, following a fatal crash between an Army Black Hawk and an American Airlines passenger jet that killed 67 people.
Anger over that issue was not strong enough to derail the NDAA. Senate leaders have promised to address it in upcoming legislation. The NDAA also repeals the tough “Caesar” sanctions imposed on Syria under its former leader Bashar Assad. And it has a provision to withhold a chunk of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget if he does not provide Congress with unedited videos of military strikes on boats in the southern Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The Trump administration has said the strikes are directed at Venezuelan drug-traffickers. The Senate vote came a day after Trump ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, his latest move to increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
It repeals the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMFs) against Iraq, an attempt to reassert Congress’ role in deciding to send troops into combat.
During his first term, Trump said the 2002 AUMF provided legal authority for the 2020 killing in Iraq of senior Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
The NDAA does not include funding to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, an idea championed by Trump but a change that cannot be formalized without congressional approval.
However, it includes some of the “culture war” efforts popular with politicians on the US right. One measure bars transgender women from participating in athletic programs designated for women at US military academies.
It also codifies into law executive orders by Trump ending diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the Pentagon.
The Senate backed the bill by 77 to 20, with strong support from both parties. Two of the “no” votes were from Republican senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul.
“This will be the 65th year in a row, the 65th consecutive year, that Congress has come together across the aisle and across two chambers to send the president a bill designed to sustain and strengthen the national defense,” said Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican Senate Armed Services Committee chairman. The House passed the bill last week, by 312 to 112, also with broad bipartisan support. In a break with Trump, whose fellow Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate, this year’s NDAA includes several provisions to boost security in Europe, despite Trump’s release earlier this month of a National Security Strategy seen as friendly to Russia and a reassessment of the US relationship with Europe.
The fiscal 2026 NDAA provides $800 million for Ukraine — $400 million in each of the next two years — as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays US companies for weapons for Ukraine’s military.
It also authorizes the Baltic Security Initiative and provides $175 million to support Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia’s defense. And it limits the Department of Defense’s ability to drop the number of US forces in Europe to fewer than 76,000 and bars the US European Commander from giving up the title of NATO Supreme Commander.
WINS FOR BOTH PARTIES
Members of Congress take great pride in having passed the NDAA every year for more than six decades.
The measure’s record price tag is $8 billion more than Trump had requested. This month a handful of Republicans and Democrats called for the addition of a provision to strengthen military helicopter safety rules, following a fatal crash between an Army Black Hawk and an American Airlines passenger jet that killed 67 people.
Anger over that issue was not strong enough to derail the NDAA. Senate leaders have promised to address it in upcoming legislation. The NDAA also repeals the tough “Caesar” sanctions imposed on Syria under its former leader Bashar Assad. And it has a provision to withhold a chunk of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget if he does not provide Congress with unedited videos of military strikes on boats in the southern Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The Trump administration has said the strikes are directed at Venezuelan drug-traffickers. The Senate vote came a day after Trump ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, his latest move to increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
It repeals the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMFs) against Iraq, an attempt to reassert Congress’ role in deciding to send troops into combat.
During his first term, Trump said the 2002 AUMF provided legal authority for the 2020 killing in Iraq of senior Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
The NDAA does not include funding to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, an idea championed by Trump but a change that cannot be formalized without congressional approval.
However, it includes some of the “culture war” efforts popular with politicians on the US right. One measure bars transgender women from participating in athletic programs designated for women at US military academies.
It also codifies into law executive orders by Trump ending diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the Pentagon.
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