Kidnapping of Yemeni UN employees by Houthis widely condemned

A United Nations vehicle in Yemen's third city of Taiz, in February. (AFP)
A United Nations vehicle in Yemen's third city of Taiz, in February. (AFP)
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Updated 08 June 2024
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Kidnapping of Yemeni UN employees by Houthis widely condemned

Kidnapping of Yemeni UN employees by Houthis widely condemned
  • Houthis also reportedly abducted Yemeni workers in other Yemeni provinces under their control

AL-MUKALLA: Human rights groups on Saturday strongly denounced the Houthis’ abduction of scores of Yemenis working for the UN and for US organizations in Yemen.

Yemeni Human Rights Minister Ahmed Arman said on Friday that the Iran-backed militia had kidnapped around 50 Yemeni personnel from various UN agencies, the US Embassy, US-funded NGOs, and other foreign organizations in Sanaa after storming their residences.

The Houthis also reportedly abducted Yemeni workers in other Yemeni provinces under their control.

On Saturday, Arman told Arab News that the Houthis had resumed their raids on residences in Sanaa and abducted more Yemenis working for foreign organizations, but did not provide the names of those people or the organizations they work for.

In a joint statement, 118 Yemeni human rights organizations said the Houthi intelligence and security services had conducted simultaneous raids on the homes of Yemenis working for the UN and other international organizations in Sanaa, Hodeidah, Saada, and Amran, abducting them and taking their mobile phones and laptops.

“The Houthi militia’s continued crimes constitute a blatant breach of national and international laws and standards, as well as a manifest disrespect for all international and regional attempts aimed at restoring peace in the country,” the Yemeni groups said in their statement.

The Houthis have not provided an official explanation for their campaign, but they have previously accused Yemeni workers employed by foreign embassies or organizations of collaborating with their enemies.

When asked by Arab News to comment on reports that the Houthis were continuing to target Yemeni UN agencies’ personnel, Farhan Aziz Haq, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said: “We have nothing new to report.”

The Houthi raids occurred as the US military said it had intercepted a fresh barrage of Houthi drones and missiles over the Red Sea and Bab Al-Mandab Strait.

The US Central Command said on Friday night that the Houthis had fired four ballistic missiles from regions under their control over the Red Sea in the previous 24 hours, none of which hit any navy or commercial ships.

CENTCOM forces destroyed four drones and two ballistic missiles in Yemeni areas controlled by the Houthis before they reached their targets on international shipping routes.

The US military also destroyed one Houthi drone launched into the Bab Al-Mandab Strait and a Houthi boat in the Red Sea.

Houthi media said on Friday that US and UK planes had carried out four airstrikes on the airport in the western province of Hodeidah, and another on the province’s Al-Salif port.

Four more US and US airstrikes hit a military base north of Sanaa on Friday, according to the Houthis.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea announced on Friday that their forces had launched drones and missiles at two ships in the Red Sea for allegedly breaching their ban on sailing to Israel.

According to ship-monitoring apps, one of the ships, the Elbella, is a Malta-flagged container ship heading from Jeddah to Egypt, while the other, the Aal Genoa, is a Cyprus-flagged general cargo ship sailing from Poland to the UAE.

Since November, the Houthis have sunk one ship, seized another, and fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at international naval and commercial ships in what the Yemeni militia claims are actions in support of the Palestinian people intended to force Israel to end its assault on Gaza.


Lebanon files complaint against Israel at UN labor body over deadly pager explosions, minister says

Lebanon files complaint against Israel at UN labor body over deadly pager explosions, minister says
Updated 8 sec ago
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Lebanon files complaint against Israel at UN labor body over deadly pager explosions, minister says

Lebanon files complaint against Israel at UN labor body over deadly pager explosions, minister says
Lebanese Labor Minister Moustafa Bayram said he traveled to Geneva to formally file the complaint against Israel at the International Labor Organization
Bayram said the casualty count was even higher than first reported

GENEVA: A Lebanese government minister said Wednesday his country was filing a complaint against Israel at the UN’s labor organization over the string of deadly attacks involving exploding pagers, saying workers were among those killed and injured.
The explosions in mid-September were widely blamed on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. The blasts killed at least 37 people, including two children, wounded more than 3,000 and deeply unsettled even Lebanese who have no Hezbollah affiliation.
Lebanese Labor Minister Moustafa Bayram said he traveled to Geneva to formally file the complaint against Israel at the International Labor Organization, a sprawling UN agency that brings together governments, businesses and workers.
Bayram said the casualty count was even higher than first reported, saying “more than 4,000 civilians fell — between martyrs and injured and maimed — in a few minutes by this attack.”
“This method of warfare and conflicts may open the way for many who are evading international humanitarian law to adopt this method of warfare,” the minister told reporters at the UN compound in Geneva.
“It’s a very dangerous precedent, if not condemned,” he said. “We are in a situation where ordinary objects — objects used in daily life — become dangerous and lethal.”
Speaking in Arabic, Bayram insisted that ILO conventions guarantee the safety and security of workers, who “were in their workplace and had their pagers or walkies-talkies exploding all of a sudden,” according to an interpreter.
“I do not know where the outcome (of the complaint) will go, but at least we raised our voices to say and warn against this dangerous approach that strikes at human relations and leads to more conflicts,” he added.
An ILO spokeswoman said she was not immediately aware of the complaint or what redress might be possible through it.

Hezbollah chief says tens of thousands of ‘trained’ combatants ready to fight Israel

Hezbollah chief says tens of thousands of ‘trained’ combatants ready to fight Israel
Updated 4 min 9 sec ago
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Hezbollah chief says tens of thousands of ‘trained’ combatants ready to fight Israel

Hezbollah chief says tens of thousands of ‘trained’ combatants ready to fight Israel
  • “We have tens of thousands of trained resistance combatants” ready to fight, Naim Qassem said
  • He said the results of the US presidential election will have no impact on any possible ceasefire deal

BEIRUT: Hezbollah’s chief said Wednesday his group had tens of thousands of combatants ready to fight, adding that nowhere in Israel was off-limits to attacks.
“We have tens of thousands of trained resistance combatants” ready to fight, Naim Qassem said in a speech marking 40 days since his predecessor was killed.
He also said nowhere in Israel would be “off-limits” to the group’s attacks.
He said the results of the US presidential election will have no impact on any possible ceasefire deal.
“We don’t base our expectations for a halt of the aggression on political developments... Whether (Kamala) Harris wins or (Donald) Trump wins, it means nothing to us,” he said in a pre-recorded speech before Trump’s win was announced.
“What will stop this... war is the battlefield” he said, citing fighting in south Lebanon and Hezbollah attacks on Israel.
The speech was Qassem’s second since he was named Hezbollah secretary-general last week.
He replaced the group’s decades-long chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive Israeli strike on the group’s south Beirut bastion.


Iran plays down importance of US election, voices readiness for confrontation

Iran plays down importance of US election, voices readiness for confrontation
Updated 49 min 15 sec ago
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Iran plays down importance of US election, voices readiness for confrontation

Iran plays down importance of US election, voices readiness for confrontation
  • Arab and Western officials tell Reuters Trump may reimpose “maximum pressure policy” through more sanctions on Iran
  • They fear Trump may also empower Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites and conduct assassinations

DUBAI: Iranians’ livelihoods will not be affected by the US elections, government spokesperson Fatemeh MoHajjerani was reported as saying on Wednesday after Donald Trump claimed victory in the presidential vote.
Arab and Western officials have told Reuters Trump may reimpose his “maximum pressure policy” through heightened sanctions on Iran’s oil industry and empower Israel to strike its nuclear sites and conduct assassinations.
“The US elections are not really our business. Our policies are steady and don’t change based on individuals. We made the necessary predictions before and there will not be change in people’s livelihoods,” MoHajjerani said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The Revolutionary Guards did not directly react to Trump’s claimed electoral victory but said Tehran and its allied armed groups in the region are ready for confrontation with Israel.
“The Zionists do not have the power to confront us and they must wait for our response... our depots have enough weapons for that,” the Guards’ deputy chief Ali Fadavi said on Wednesday, as Tehran is expected to respond to Israel’s Oct. 25 strikes on its territory which killed four soldiers.
He added Tehran does not rule out a potential US-Israel pre-emptive strike to prevent it from retaliating against Israel.
In his first term, Trump re-applied sanctions on Iran after he withdrew from a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and world powers that had curtailed Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for economic benefits.
The reinstatement of US sanctions in 2018 hit Iran’s oil exports, slashing government revenues and forcing it to take unpopular steps, such as increasing taxes and running big budget deficits, policies that have kept annual inflation close to 40 percent.
Iran’s national currency has weakened at the prospect of a Trump presidency, reaching an all-time low of 700,000 rials to the US dollar on the free market, according to Iranian currency tracking website Bonbast.com.


Iranian Revolutionary Court sentences four individuals to death over charges of spying for Israel

Iranian Revolutionary Court sentences four individuals to death over charges of spying for Israel
Updated 06 November 2024
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Iranian Revolutionary Court sentences four individuals to death over charges of spying for Israel

Iranian Revolutionary Court sentences four individuals to death over charges of spying for Israel

DUBAI: Four people were sentenced to death by a revolutionary court in northwestern Iran over charges of spying for Israel, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.
Fars said three of the defendants — whose nationalities it did not give — were accused of helping Israel’s spy agency Mossad move equipment used in the 2020 assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Fakhrizadeh was viewed by Western intelligence services as the mastermind of a covert Iranian program to develop nuclear weapons capability. The Islamic Republic has long denied any such ambition.
The Jewish Chronicle newspaper reported in February 2021, citing intelligence sources, that Fakhrizadeh was killed by a one-ton gun smuggled into Iran in pieces by Mossad agents, both Israeli and Iranian nationals.
Israel declined to comment at the time of his killing and on Wednesday an Israeli government spokesman said in response to the Fars report: “We never comment on such matters. There has been no change in our position.”
Fars said the fourth defendant sentenced to death was linked to another unspecified espionage case.


Rescuers pull 30 bodies from a building in central Lebanon hit in an Israeli strike

Rescuers pull 30 bodies from a building in central Lebanon hit in an Israeli strike
Updated 06 November 2024
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Rescuers pull 30 bodies from a building in central Lebanon hit in an Israeli strike

Rescuers pull 30 bodies from a building in central Lebanon hit in an Israeli strike
  • The airstrike hit the building in the town just north of the port city of Sidon, an area that has not been regularly targeted by Israeli military operations

BARJA: Lebanese rescuers pulled 30 bodies out of the rubble after a late night Israeli strike on an apartment building in the town of Barja, Lebanon’s Civil Defense service said Wednesday as the Mideast wars press on with no signs of abating.
It remained unclear if there were any survivors or bodies still trapped under the rubble following the Tuesday night airstrike, which came without warning. There was no statement from the Israeli military and the strike’s intended target also was unknown.
Barja, a town just north of the port city of Sidon in central Lebanon, has not been regularly targeted so far in the conflict.
“Something pulled me hard, and then the explosion happened,” said Moussa Zahran, who was at home with his wife and son when the building was hit. He said he couldn’t see but started digging through the rubble until he found his wife and son — alive but injured — and pulled them out. Both are still in the hospital, he said.
Another building resident, Muhyiddin Al- Qalaaji, said he was at work when the strike happened and heard the news from his wife who called him frantically.
“There are many dead and injured,” he said as he carried out what he could salvage of the family’s belongings on Wednesday morning.
Civil defense official Mostafa Danaj said some of the neighbors have reported there are still people missing.
Israeli forces and the Hezbollah militant group have been clashing for more than a year, since Hezbollah started firing rockets across the border soon after the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza in October last year.
The war on the Lebanese front has substantially escalated since mid-September, with Israel launching a massive aerial bombardment and ground invasion.
On Wednesday, sirens blared across northern and central Israel, including in the populous metropolitan area of Tel Aviv, as Hezbollah launched 10 rockets toward Israel. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services said there were no reports of injuries.
A large portion of a rocket slammed into a parked car in the central Israeli city of Raanana. Rockets also struck an open area near Israel’s main airport, Israeli media reported, though the airport said flights were operating as normally.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services said there were no injuries. Israeli police said they arrested 40 people during protests on Tuesday night when the demonstrators blocked Israel’s main highway in Tel Aviv.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a surprise announcement that sparked protests across the country. Gallant’s replacement is Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a longtime Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister.
While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant said military force created the necessary conditions for at least a temporary diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the militant group.
The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others, taking them back to Gaza as hostages.
Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.
Since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted in 2023, at least 3,000 people have been killed and some 13,500 have been wounded in Lebanon, about a quarter of them women and children, the Health Ministry reported.
Hezbollah continues to send dozens of rockets and drones toward Israel. The projectiles have killed 72 people in Israel so far, including 30 soldiers, according to Netanyahu’s office.
A report by Lebanon’s crisis response unit said that 361,300 Syrians and over 177,800 Lebanese have crossed into Syria between Sept. 23 and Nov. 1, to escape the fighting.
Another night of protests was planned across Israel on Wednesday evening, over Gallant’s firing.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza but the prime minister had avoided letting go of his rival before the US presidential election on Tuesday.
By midday Wednesday in the Middle East, Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States in a remarkable political comeback.