Hundreds of Yemen pilgrims stuck in KSA after Houthis seize Yemenia planes
Hundreds of Yemen pilgrims stuck in KSA after Houthis seize Yemenia planes/node/2540146/middle-east
Hundreds of Yemen pilgrims stuck in KSA after Houthis seize Yemenia planes
At least 1,000 Yemeni pilgrims are stranded in Saudi Arabia after the Houthis seized Yemenia Airways flights that would carry them from the Kingdom to Houthi-held Sanaa, the Yemeni government said on Saturday. (AFP/File)
Hundreds of Yemen pilgrims stuck in KSA after Houthis seize Yemenia planes
US, UK planes pound militia targets in Taiz, Hodeidah amid escalating ship attacks
The Houthi Ministry of Transportation admitted on Thursday that the planes were seized
Updated 29 June 2024
Saeed Al-Batati
AL-MUKALLA: At least 1,000 Yemeni pilgrims are stranded in Saudi Arabia after the Houthis seized Yemenia Airways flights that would carry them from the Kingdom to Houthi-held Sanaa, the Yemeni government said on Saturday.
Last week, the Houthis seized three Yemenia aircraft at Sanaa airport and prevented them from returning to Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah airport to carry Yemeni pilgrims home, causing the Yemeni government to accuse the Houthis of “hijacking” the planes and worsening Yemenis’ misery.
The Houthi Ministry of Transportation admitted on Thursday that the planes were seized, and vowed to take control of Yemenia Airways, reschedule flights from Yemeni airports, including those controlled by the Yemeni government, and repair planes at Sanaa Airport, accusing the Yemeni government of plundering the company’s revenues.
The internationally recognized Presidential Leadership Council on Friday formed a government committee chaired by the prime minister to deal with the Houthis’ takeover of Yemenia flights and the militia’s freeze of more than $100 million of the company’s assets in Sanaa banks.
“The council hold the terrorist militia entirely accountable for the consequences of this dangerous escalation, which would exacerbate civilians’ suffering and influence the national carrier’s flights,” the presidential council said, according to official news agency SABA.
In other developments, US and British jets struck Houthi targets in two Yemeni provinces as the militia escalated their drone, missile, and drone boat attacks on ships.
Houthi media reported that US and UK planes carried out four airstrikes on Hodeidah airport in the western province of Hodeida, as well as four more airstrikes on locations in Mawiyah district of the southern province Taiz over the last 24 hours.
The latest round of airstrikes occurred after the Houthis claimed to have targeted ships in the Red Sea and Mediterranean with ballistic missiles, drones, and explosive-laden drone boats.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised statement on Friday night that their forces, in collaboration with an allied militia in Iraq, launched a number of drones at an oil tanker named Waler, which was bound for Haifa in Israel and was targeted for violating their ban on ships heading to Israeli ports.
He further claimed that the Houthis launched ballistic missiles at an American ship named Delonix in the Red Sea, and at Johannes Maersk in the Mediterranean, accusing the latter’s parent company, Maersk, of being one of Israel’s “most supportive companies.”
The Houthis also targeted a ship named Ioannis in the Red Sea with drone boats for visiting Israeli ports in the past, he said.
According to www.marinetraffic.com, the Waler is a Panama-flagged oil and chemical tanker sailing from Georgia to Egypt’s East Mediterranean port of Said, the Delonix is a Liberian-flagged chemical tanker sailing from Ukraine to an unknown destination, and the Johannes Maersk is a container ship sailing under the Danish flag and was in the East Mediterranean on Saturday.
US Central Command said on Saturday that its forces had destroyed seven drones and one ground control station vehicle in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen.
Over the past eight months, the Houthis have sunk two ships and seized one commercial ship in the Red Sea, and directed hundreds of ballistic missiles, drones, and drone boats at ships in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, and, most recently, the Mediterranean in a campaign that the Houthis claim is only targeting Israel-linked ships and those sailing to Israel in order to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza.
Drought-hit Morocco asks citizens not to slaughter sheep on Eid Al-Adha
Performing the rite “under these difficult circumstances will cause significant harm to large segments of our people, especially those with limited income,” said the King
Updated 27 February 2025
Reuters
RABAT: King Mohammed VI of Morocco asked Moroccans on Wednesday to abstain from performing the rite of slaughtering sheep on Eid Al-Adha this year due to a drop in the country’s herd following years of drought.
Eid Al-Adha, to take place in June, commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim, or Abraham, to sacrifice his son on God’s command. Muslims mark the event by slaughtering sheep or goats. The meat is shared among family and donated to the poor.
Morocco’s cattle and sheep herds have decreased by 38 percent in 2025 since the last census nine years ago due to consecutive droughts, according to official figures.
“Our commitment to enabling you to fulfill this religious rite under the best conditions is accompanied by the duty to consider the climatic and economic challenges facing our country, which have led to a significant decline in livestock numbers,” the King said in a letter read on his behalf by religious affairs minister Ahmed Taoufiq on state TV Al Oula.
Performing the rite “under these difficult circumstances will cause significant harm to large segments of our people, especially those with limited income,” said the King, Morocco’s supreme religious leader.
Rainfall was 53 percent lower this year than the average of the last 30 years, causing a lack of pasture for livestock to feed on. Meat production has dropped, leading to higher prices in the local market and higher imports of live cattle, sheep and red meat.
The country has recently signed a deal to import up to 100,000 sheep from Australia.
In its 2025 budget, Morocco suspended import duties and a value-added tax on cattle, sheep, camels and red meat to keep prices stable in the domestic market.
Israel has shown ‘unprecedented disregard for human rights’ in Gaza, UN human rights chief says
Israel previously strongly denied allegations of war crimes and breaches of international law in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, saying that its operations targeted Hamas militants and aimed to reduce civilian harm
Updated 27 February 2025
Reuters
GENEVA: The UN Human Rights Chief accused Israel on Wednesday of showing an unprecedented disregard for human rights in its military actions in Gaza and said Hamas had violated international law.
“Nothing justifies the appalling manner in which Israel has conducted its military operations in Gaza which consistently breached international law,” said Volker Turk, while presenting a new report on the human rights situation in Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) also accused Hamas of grave violations since October 7.
“Hamas has indiscriminately fired projectiles into Israeli territory — amounting to war crimes,” Turk said.
Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. An Israeli retaliatory assault laid waste to most of Gaza and killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health officials.
Israel did not send a delegate to take to the floor to share their comments, which the representative of Chile said was regretful.
Israel previously strongly denied allegations of war crimes and breaches of international law in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, saying that its operations targeted Hamas militants and aimed to reduce civilian harm.
“The level of devastation in Gaza is massive — from homes, to hospitals to schools,” Turk said, adding that “restrictions imposed by Israel ... have created a humanitarian catastrophe,” Turk told the Council.
Turk told the 58th Council that the report highlighted grave concerns that Hamas “may have committed other breaches of humanitarian law in Gaza, including the intentional co-location of military objectives and Palestinian civilians.”
He called for all violations to be investigated independently. However, he raised doubts about the will of the Israeli justice system to deliver full accountability — in line with international standards, and said he was unaware of any measures taken by Hamas and other groups to punish those responsible for rights breaches.
The OHCHR report said it had not received a response from Israel to its request for full access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory to investigate violations by all parties.
The Palestinian representative at the Council accused Israel of committing war crimes and genocide against Palestinians, as well as denying aid to the enclave. Israel has repeatedly denied such accusations.
“Tents have been denied together with model homes. It has impeded access of food and medicines,” the Palestinian ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi told the council.
He also strongly denounced settler violence and Israeli military operations in the West Bank, mentioned in the report. At least 40,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Jenin and the nearby city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank since Israel began its operation last month after reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza after 15 months of war.
“The litany of unspeakable horrors perpetrated against the Palestinians is unprecedented,” said Frankye Bronwen Levy, the representative for South Africa.
The European Union supported the report’s call for an independent investigation, condemned Hamas’ attack, as well as Israeli escalation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq reiterated calls for an end to the war and the realization of a Palestinian state.
Residents of south Syria fear Israeli escalation after strikes
Updated 27 February 2025
AFP
KISWEH, Syria: In the Syrian region of Kisweh, southwest of Damascus, residents jolted awake by Israeli strikes voiced their fears Wednesday of a fresh escalation after similar attacks had appeared to taper off in recent weeks.
Israel said it had targeted military sites containing weapons in the Tuesday night raids, which came just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the demilitarization of Syria’s south.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least two people were killed at the headquarters of a military unit in Kisweh, while other raids struck military sites in Daraa province to the south.
“We heard successive strikes followed by explosions. The sky lit up, then we saw tongues of flame rising,” said Ahmed Mohammed, who works at a service station near the military site in Kisweh.
“We fear the resumption of Israeli strikes and an Israeli incursion.”
Members of the new Syrian government’s armed forces occupied the site, located in a large field.
Aerial photos taken by AFP showed 20 tanks at the site, three of them blackened by flames.
The owner of a nearby car dealership, who gave his name as Rayan, said most of the tanks had been moved there after they were abandoned by the former Syrian armed forces around the time of the fall of president Bashar Assad.
“When the missiles fell, the houses and windows shook,” he said, adding that a drone had been filming in the area about an hour beforehand.
After the strikes, the Israeli military said that military assets in southern Syria “pose a threat to the citizens of Israel,” adding it would “continue to operate in order to remove” such threats.
The nighttime raids came hours after demonstrations in several Syrian cities in response to Netanyahu’s call on Sunday for the “complete demilitarization” of the country’s south.
Following the toppling of Assad in December, Israel carried out a wave of hundreds of strikes against positions formerly held by his military, while also sending troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.
“While the strikes were previously focused on border crossings and abandoned weapons warehouses, they are now directly targeting vital military sites and strategic hills,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Netanyahu, he added, was starting “to put his threats into action.”
Syria’s new authorities have condemned Israel’s strikes in their territory, but the country’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa has also said it is too exhausted by years of civil war to undertake any new conflicts.
At Security Council, concerns over ‘fragmentation’ of Sudan
The war has triggered the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis
Updated 27 February 2025
AFP
UNITED NATIONS, United States: Several members of the UN Security Council on Wednesday voiced concern over the declaration of a parallel government by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, while Kenya pushed back against accusations that it had recognized the entity.
RSF rebels and their allies fighting government forces on Sunday agreed to form a rival government, triggering diplomatic tensions between Sudan and Kenya.
The parties to the agreement, inked behind closed doors in Nairobi, said the charter establishes a “government of peace and unity” in rebel-controlled areas of the northeast African country.
“Attempts by the RSF and aligned actors to establish a government in RSF-controlled territory in Sudan are unhelpful for the cause of peace and security in Sudan, and risks a de facto partition of the country,” US Representative John Kelley told a Security Council meeting.
British Ambassador Barbara Woodward also expressed “deep concern” over the development.
“Respect for Sudan’s charter rights, its unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity is vital and will be necessary for a sustainable end to this war,” she said.
Envoys from France and China echoed that view, with Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong saying the move “risks increasing the fragmentation of the Sudan.”
Deputy Algerian Ambassador Toufik Laid Koudri, speaking on behalf of the Council’s three African members Algeria, Somalia, Sierra Leone as well as Guyana, urged “the RSF and their allies to put the unity and national interest of Sudan above all other considerations.”
Sudanese Ambassador to the UN Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed denounced the move as “an unprecedented violation of the UN Charter and the AU constitution,” and accused Kenya of taking “a step that aims to dismantle the Sudan.”
His Kenyan counterpart Erastus Lokaale denied the claim.
“I reiterate that neither President William Ruto nor the Government of Kenya has recognized any independent entities in the Sudan or elsewhere,” he said.
The war in Sudan, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives, erupted after a rift emerged between Burhan and Dagalo over the future structure of the government.
The war has triggered the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.
Both warring sides face accusations of committing grave atrocities against civilians, with their leaders sanctioned by the US.
Is Hezbollah sincere in ceding ‘resistance’ to Lebanon’s government?
Hezbollah remains Lebanon’s dominant armed force, raising questions about whether the government can reclaim full control
The group has professed confidence in the new administration, but many doubt it will coordinate with the army to implement ceasefire deal
Updated 27 February 2025
Nadia Alfaour
DUBAI: Thousands gathered in Beirut on Sunday to mourn Hezbollah’s founding leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as his body was finally laid to rest nearly five months after his killing. The elaborate funeral, held under the watchful eye of Israeli fighter jets overhead, served as a stark reminder of the Iran-backed group’s ongoing conflict with Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz made it clear that figures like Nasrallah would continue to meet their demise, stating: “You will specialize in funerals, and we will in victories.”
Last November, Hezbollah’s new leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, pledged to coordinate closely with the Lebanese army to implement a ceasefire deal between the governments of Lebanon and Israel. “There will be high-level coordination between the Resistance (Hezbollah) and the Lebanese army to implement the commitments of the deal,” he said in an address to supporters.
But as the dust settles from Nasrallah’s funeral, a critical question emerges: Is Hezbollah truly committed to ceding control of “resistance” to the Lebanese state, as many assumed?
Long the dominant force in Lebanon, Hezbollah suffered heavy losses during its 14-month conflict with Israel from Oct. 8, 2023, the day after a Hamas-led attack by Palestinian militants on Israel. Nasrallah was killed on Sept. 27, 2024, when Israeli forces bombed a building in southern Beirut where he was meeting with Hezbollah commanders.
But as the dust settles from Nasrallah’s funeral, a critical question emerges: Is Hezbollah truly committed to ceding control of “resistance” to the Lebanese state, as many assumed? (AFP)
What made matters worse was the fall in December of ally Bashar Assad in Syria, a reliable conduit for Middle East militant groups for weapons from Iran.
It is undeniable that Hezbollah is facing mounting challenges. A recent Wall Street Journal report cited an anonymous source close to Hezbollah as saying that fighters not originally from the south had been told to vacate their positions and that the Lebanese Armed Forces would be allowed to take control of the area as per the terms of the ceasefire.
The source also said the war had emptied Hezbollah’s coffers, making it impossible for it to fulfill its financial obligations to the families of slain soldiers, and supporters who lost their businesses and homes during the war.
The WSJ report also quoted residents as saying that Al-Qard Al-Hassan, Hezbollah’s primary financial institution, had “frozen payments for compensation checks that had already been issued.”
At the same time, Israel has extended its presence in five strategic positions on the Lebanese side of the Blue Line, citing security concerns. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, described it as a “temporary measure” to protect displaced northern Israeli communities.
Lebanese officials, however, view it as an “occupation” and are engaged in diplomatic efforts with Washington and Paris to secure a full Israeli withdrawal.
Nasrallah’s successor Sheikh Naim Qassem told supporters his group’s resistance will continue. (AFP)
In his televised address to mourners on Sunday, Qassem vowed to continue in his predecessor’s footsteps, asserting that “the resistance is not over.” He accused the Lebanese government of bowing to American pressure, particularly in preventing two Iranian planes from landing at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport.
That decision, reportedly influenced by US warnings of an imminent Israeli strike, sparked protests, with Hezbollah supporters storming the streets and attacking a UN convoy, injuring two peacekeepers.
The attack on UNIFIL peacekeepers prompted swift condemnation. President Joseph Aoun called it a “flagrant violation of international law” and vowed that security forces would act against those destabilizing the country. Meanwhile, Hezbollah dismissed the government’s actions as merely following “an Israeli order.”
Lebanon’s new government finds itself in a precarious position, balancing the need for international credibility with the reality of Hezbollah’s entrenched power.
On Tuesday, Lebanon’s parliament began a two-day debate on the government’s ministerial statement, which sets out the objectives of the new administration.
Israel has extended its presence in five strategic positions on the Lebanese side of the Blue Line. (AFP)
Opening the debate, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam reiterated the state’s monopoly on the use of force, emphasizing the need to enforce UN Resolution 1701, which calls for Hezbollah’s disarmament south of the Litani River, and to his commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab, meanwhile, called for national unity, warning that “if the state fails to act, alternative forces will take over.”
In a sign that Hezbollah is perhaps willing to work with the new administration for the collective good of Lebanon, Mohammad Raad, head of the group’s parliamentary bloc, issued a statement on Tuesday in support of Salam’s government.
“We give our confidence to the government,” said Raad, expressing hope the new administration would “succeed in opening the doors to real rescue for the country.”
“We are keen on cooperating to the greatest extent to preserve national sovereignty and its stability and achieve reforms and take the state forward,” he added.
FASTFACTS
• Hassan Nasrallah, who helped found Hezbollah in 1982, following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, was killed on Sept. 27 last year.
• Nasrallah’s funeral was held on Sunday at the 48,000-seat Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium located in southern Beirut.
• The funeral also honored Hashem Safieddine, who led Hezbollah for just a week after Nasrallah’s death before he was killed by Israel.
While Prime Minister Salam has reaffirmed Lebanon’s commitment to UN Resolution 1701, there is little indication that the state can enforce this mandate without Hezbollah’s consent.
“The current government has a limited life and has several priorities; implementing the ceasefire agreement is at the top of them,” Nadim Shehadi, an economist and political adviser, told Arab News.
“How quick this will be is as much a logistical as it is a political question. It is wrong to assume that the Lebanese army can disarm Hezbollah without its political consent. There are competing interpretations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Shehadi added: “Nasrallah’s funeral on Sunday was significant. It was a political show of force accompanied by a defiantly uncompromising speech by Qassem.”
Sheikh Naim Qassem, pledged to coordinate closely with the Lebanese army. (AFP)
The US has made clear its stance on Hezbollah’s disarmament, tying Lebanon’s financial aid to progress on this front. The Trump administration recently froze all foreign aid through the State Department and USAID, citing misalignment with US interests.
In 2024, Lebanon received $219 million from USAID and an additional $17 million from the State Department. President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend aid was seen by many as a means to pressure Lebanon into fully implementing Resolution 1701 and preventing Hezbollah’s rearmament.
“American aid cuts are less chaotic than expected and are in fact linked to performance. The devil is everywhere, including the details,” Shehadi said. “Given the amount of bureaucracy involved and the immensity of cuts that the administration is carrying out across the board, one worries more about the implementation than about the principle.”
Hezbollah’s massive turnout for Nasrallah’s funeral underscored its continued influence. “Our struggle in support of Gaza is part of our faith in the liberation of Palestine,” Qassem, the new Hezbollah chief, told the mourners.
“We confront the Zionist regime and its supporter, the great tyrant, the US, which is conspiring against Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran.”
By contrast, President Aoun told a visiting Iranian delegation that was in Beirut for the funeral that Lebanon was “tired” of external conflicts playing out on its territory. “Lebanon has grown tired of the wars of others on its land,” he said, according to an official statement.
“Countries should not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.”
In a recent op-ed for Arab News, Dania Koleilat Khatib, a specialist in US-Arab relations, said: “The US should be wise enough to realize that the continued presence of Israeli forces in Lebanon and their operations aimed at eliminating Hezbollah members will only strengthen the group in the long run.
Hezbollah’s massive turnout for Nasrallah’s funeral underscored its continued influence. (AFP)
“For stability, Israel must withdraw, and the Lebanese state must be strengthened. If this happens, Hezbollah will eventually be decommissioned as an armed movement.”
Despite Hezbollah’s assurances that it would coordinate closely with the Lebanese government to implement the ceasefire, its words and actions tell a different story.
Even now, it remains Lebanon’s most powerful armed entity, seen by its critics as undermining the state’s sovereignty while blaming external actors for its challenges.
The group’s financial troubles may weaken it in the long term, but for now its grip on Lebanon’s security landscape appears as firm as ever.
Whether the Lebanese government can assert full control over national defense — or whether Hezbollah will remain a state within a state — remains an open and pressing question.