Yemen on brink of 'world's worst famine in 100 years' if war continues

[rhony]

It's like medieval times in some of these countries. They don't progress. That's why dictatorship is the only solution in these countries.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/saudi-led-coalition-destroys-houthi-rigged-boats-drones-state-media-idUSKBN2BK03H?il=0

The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Houthi forces has destroyed two explosive-laden boats that the Iran-aligned group planned to use in an “imminent” attack launched from the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Saudi state media reported on Sunday.

The coalition in separate statements also said it intercepted and destroyed three armed drones launched towards southern Saudi Arabia, including the city of Khamis Mushait.

The Houthis, who ousted Yemen’s internationally recognised government from the capital, Sanaa, and now hold most of north Yemen, have kept up missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia after Riyadh last week presented a new peace initiative.

U.S. Special Envoy Tim Lenderking on Thursday returned to the region to push for the initiative, which includes a nationwide ceasefire.

The Houthis want the coalition to fully lift its sea and air blockade on areas the group controls.

The conflict, seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, has caused what the United Nations says is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

The Houthis say they are fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-yemen-attacks/yemens-houthis-say-they-attacked-saudi-capital-with-drones-no-confirmation-idUSKBN2BO4ZB?il=0

Yemen’s Houthi forces said they attacked important targets in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh using four drones on Thursday, though there was no confirmation from the Saudi authorities or independent reports of any such strikes.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it had destroyed a missile before it took off in Yemen, according to a report on Saudi state TV. The report said the Houthis had meant to use it to attack the gas-rich Yemeni province of Ma’rib.

The Iran-aligned Houthis have rejected a ceasefire proposal made last month by Riyadh because it did not include the lifting an air and sea blockade imposed by a Saudi-led military coalition on the areas they control mainly in northern Yemen.

The conflict, seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, has caused what the United Nations says is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

The coalition intervened in 2015 to support Yemen’s internationally-recognized government after it was ousted from the capital Sana’a by the Houthis.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-saudi-redsea/saudi-led-coalition-destroys-houthi-explosive-laden-boat-in-red-sea-state-tv-idUSKBN2BQ0FW?il=0

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen foiled an imminent Houthi attack on Saturday, destroying an explosive-laden boat in a southern part of the Red Sea, Saudi state TV reported.

It also quoted the coalition as saying that the Iran-aligned Houthis “continue to threaten maritime shipping lines and global trade”.

 

[sweep_shot]

Iranian 'spy ship' damaged by explosion in Red Sea

An explosion has damaged an Iranian cargo ship anchored off Yemen's Red Sea coast that is allegedly used by the Revolutionary Guards for spying, Iran's foreign ministry has confirmed.

The blast that targeted the Saviz on Tuesday caused no casualties and was under investigation, a spokesman said.

"The vessel was a civilian ship stationed there to secure the region against pirates," he added.

The New York Times reported that Israel had told the US it attacked the Saviz.

Israeli officials did not comment, but it is the latest in a series of attacks on Israeli- and Iranian-owned ships, for which the arch-foes blame each other.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the explosion that hit the Saviz at about 06:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Tuesday caused only "minor damage".

"Technical investigations about the incident and its cause are going on, and our country will take all necessary measures about it through international organisations," he added.

Mr Khatibzadeh said the Saviz was a "non-military ship", which was helping to "provide security along shipping lines and combat pirates".

"The ship was practically operating as Iran's logistical station... in the Red Sea, thus the ship's information and mission had been already announced to [the International Maritime Organization] officially."

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency cited unnamed sources as saying the explosion was caused by "limpet mines attached to the hull of the ship".

The US military's Central Command said in a statement that "no US forces were involved in the incident".

Iranian officials have not blamed anyone for the blast, but the New York Times quoted an unnamed American official as saying that Israel had informed the US that its forces attacked the vessel.

The official said the Saviz was damaged below the water line and that Israel had struck in "retaliation for earlier Iranian strikes on Israeli vessels".

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz declined to comment on the report on Wednesday, but was quoted by the Maariv newspaper as saying: "We have offensive systems operating 24/7, 365 days a year and they are ready to go into action in any arena and over any distance."

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Likud party that Israel "must continue to fend off Iranian belligerence in our region".

"This threat is no theoretical matter," he said. "We must take action in the face of the fanatical regime in Iran, which simply threatens to wipe us off the face of the earth."

Several ships have been damaged recently in alleged Israeli-Iranian skirmishes.

Mr Netanyahu blamed Iran for an explosion that tore holes in the hull of an Israeli-owned vehicle carrier in the Gulf of Oman on 26 February - an allegation Iran's government denied.

Iranian state media, meanwhile, reported that Israel was suspected of being behind a blast that caused a fire on an Iranian container ship in the Mediterranean Sea on 10 March.

And on 25 March, an Israeli cargo ship was hit by a missile in the Arabian Sea in another suspected Iranian attack, Israeli security officials said.

The Saviz - which is owned by Iran's national maritime carrier, Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) - entered the southern end of the Red Sea in late 2016 and has been anchored in international waters near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait for the past three-and-a-half years.

The 29km-wide (18-mile) strait connects the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. Ships carrying an estimated six million of barrels of crude oil and petroleum products and millions of tonnes of cargo pass through it every day.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen's civil war alleged in 2018 that the Saviz was actually an Iranian military ship being used to spy on vessels and as "the key command centre" for co-ordinating attacks in the Red Sea by the Iran-aligned rebel Houthi movement.

The coalition said the vessel also provided logistical support and carried large amounts of military equipment for the Houthis.

Photos circulated by the coalition showed what it said was advanced communication and radar equipment, machine-guns, several speedboats and men dressed in camouflage uniforms.

Iran has consistently denied arming the Houthis. The rebels also reject allegations that they have attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea.

The US imposed sanctions on IRISL last year for allegedly transporting items intended for Iran's ballistic missile and military programmes.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56661069.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-saudi/saudi-led-coalition-intercepts-houthi-drones-state-media-idUSKBN2BY03W?il=0

The Saudi-led military coalition battling Yemen’s Houthi movement intercepted and destroyed drones launched by the Iran-aligned group towards Khamis Mushait and Jazan in southern Saudi Arabia, state media said on Sunday.

The coalition said it would take “necessary operational measures” to protect civilians in line with international law.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Twitter that two drones were fired at military hangars in Jazan airport and a military air base in Khamis Mushait.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Houthis after the movement ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital Sanaa.

The United Nations and the United States have stepped up diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire deal, which Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government have welcomed. The Houthis are pushing for the full lifting of the coalition’s sea and air blockade on areas the group controls.

Houthi forces have also launched a ground offensive in Yemen’s gas-rich Marib region, the government’s last stronghold in the north.

 

[MenInG]

Yemen's Houthi movement has attacked King Khalid air base in the Saudi Arabian city of Khamis Mushait with explosive drones, the Houthis' military spokesman said on Twitter on Saturday.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi government.

The Houthis have stepped up missile and drone strikes against Saudi Arabia in the recent months.

Saudi forces intercepted several attacks launched by the Houthis toward civilian targets in the kingdom’s Jizan region on April 14-15, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Thursday.

“The Royal Saudi Air Defense has intercepted and destroyed on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning four bomb-laden UAVs and five ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi militia from the Sa’dah governorate [in Yemen] toward Jizan,” coalition forces’ spokesperson Brigadier General Turki Al-Malki was quoted as saying.

The Houthi militia “attempted to target a number of civilian objects protected under the international humanitarian law”, including Jizan University, he said, adding that the interception resulted in scattered debris on the campus, which caused a restricted fire that was contained without any losses to civilian life.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/229526...y-have-hit-saudi-arabias-king-khalid-air-base

 

[Markhor]

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/no...-iran-shared-rise-and-fall-of-ali-abdullah-s/

Best explanation of an extremely confusing conflict in Yemen. Seems like there's so many contradictory aims and ever shifting loyalties, while people continue to suffer.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-says-iran-support-yemens-houthis-significant-lethal-2021-04-21/

Iran's support for Yemen's Houthi movement is "quite significant and it's lethal" and there is no real evidence that Tehran wants to support a constructive resolution to the conflict, U.S. special envoy on Yemen Tim Lenderking told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday.

"We would welcome Iran playing a constructive role, if they are willing to do so," Lenderking said. "We have not seen any indication of that."

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/yemens-houthis-say-they-have-attacked-saudi-border-frontline-2021-05-29/

Yemen's Houthi movement issued video footage on Saturday purportedly of an incursion by its fighters into a Saudi Arabian border area on the frontlines in which Houthi-run media said Saudi soldiers were captured and killed.

The spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition which has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi group for over six years did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Houthi-run Al Masirah television on Twitter cited a military source as saying more than 80 Saudi soldiers and Sudanese "mercenaries" were killed or injured, while tens were captured in the operation in the vicinity of Al Khoubah in the southern Saudi region of Jazan.

If confirmed, the attack would further complicate attempts by the United Nations and United States to establish a ceasefire in a conflict widely seen in the region as a proxy war between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Some of the video footage on Al Masirah's Telegram account, the authenticity of which could not be independently verified by Reuters, showed men in military uniform coming under fire as they fled down a rocky mountain slope.

Sudanese troops have been deployed as part of the Saudi-led military alliance that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital Sanaa.

The war has been in military stalemate for years, with the Houthis holding most of northern Yemen.

 

[Firebat]

Saudi-led coalition destroys drone fired by Yemen's Houthis, state TV

CAIRO, June 20 (Reuters) - The Saudi-Led coalition fighting in Yemen said on Sunday it had destroyed a drone launched by Iran-aligned Houthi movement towards the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, Saudi state TV reported.

On Saturday, Saudi air defences had intercepted 17 armed drones the coalition said were launched by Houthis towards the kingdom.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middl...-fired-by-yemens-houthis-state-tv-2021-06-20/

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/top-houthi-negotiator-says-no-point-meeting-new-un-envoy-now-2021-08-08/

The chief negotiator for Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Sunday it would be futile to hold talks with the United Nations new special envoy for Yemen without movement on the group's key conditions under stalled peace efforts.

The appointment of Swedish diplomat Hans Grundberg on Friday as the new U.N. envoy comes as the United Nations and United States struggle to secure a breakthrough to end more than six years of war between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition that backs Yemen's recognised government.

A U.N.-led initiative for a ceasefire and the lifting of sea and air restrictions imposed by the coalition on Houthi-held areas has stalled, with the coalition seeking a simultaneous deal and the Houthis insisting on an end to the blockade first.

"There is no use in having any dialogue before airports and ports are opened as a humanitarian necessity and priority," Houthi negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam, who is based in Oman, tweeted in response to Grundberg's appointment.

When contacted by Reuters, Abdulsalam said in a text message a meeting would be pointless as Grundberg "has nothing in his hands" and that there was no progress following last month's visit to Riyadh by the U.S. envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking.

Lenderking's latest trip to the region came as ground battles spread beyond Yemen's gas-rich Marib, the government's last northern stronghold that the Houthis are trying to seize. The conflict, widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the Saudi-backed government from the capital Sanaa, but the war has been in military stalemate for years with the group controlling most big urban centres. The Houthis say they are fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/least-two-killed-blast-yemens-aden-reuters-witness-2021-10-10/

A car bomb targeting the governor's convoy shook Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Sunday killing at least six people and wounding seven, the information minister said on Twitter.

Governor Ahmed Lamlas and agriculture minister Salem al-Suqatri, both members of a southern separatist group, survived a "terrorist assassination attempt", the state news agency said.

Killed in the attack were the governor's press secretary and his photographer, the head of his security detail and a fourth companion as well as a civilian bystander, a local government source said.

A body covered with a blanket lay on the street next to a charred vehicle in al-Tawahi district, which houses the headquarters of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC). Firefighters and police were deployed to the area.

Lamlas is secretary general of the STC, which has vied with the Saudi-backed government for control of Aden and Yemen's wider south. STC has also seen infighting among its ranks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility as STC spokesman Ali Al-Kathiri blamed Islamist militant groups.

Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani said the attack sought to destabilise government-held areas and stressed the need to fully implement a Saudi-brokered pact aimed at ending a power struggle in the south.

The government and the STC are nominal allies under a coalition led by Saudi Arabia which has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

Tensions have simmered following a deal which saw a new cabinet formed including STC members. A planned redeployment of troops from both sides outside Aden has yet to materialise.

Instability in the south complicates United Nations-led peace efforts to end the war in Yemen which has killed tens of thousands of people and left 80% of the population needing help.

The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the government from the capital Sanaa, forcing it to rebase in the south. The Houthis hold most of the north.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-led-coalition-asks-civilians-immediately-evacuate-sanaa-airport-al-arabiya-2021-12-20/

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen on Monday said it carried out air strikes on what it called military targets at Yemen's Sanaa international airport, from where drone strikes have been launched against Saudi targets.

The Yemeni capital is held by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which has been battling the coalition for seven years.

During the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, Houthi forces have sent drones and fired missiles into Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi-led coalition has retaliated with air strikes inside Yemen.

Tuesday's strikes hit six sites, including places used for launching drone attacks, training drone personnel, housing trainers and trainees, and storing drones, the coalition said.

It said it had asked civilians to evacuate the airport before the strike, according to a statement carried by Saudi state media.

The airport has been closed to civilian flights since 2015 although U.N. planes have been permitted to land there.

A spokesperson for the U.N's World Food Programme said a U.N. team was on the ground at the airport to verify the extent of any damage.

Houthi-run Saba media, quoting the head of the Houthi administration's aviation authority, said the airport had been put out of operation.

But coalition spokesman Brigadier General Turki al-Malki said the strikes would have no effect on operational capacity, airspace management, air traffic, or ground handling operations.

He said the coalition had removed protections from specific sites in the airport which it said were being used for military purposes, and the operation was in accordance with international humanitarian law.

"The operation comes in response to threats and the use of the airport's facilities to launch cross-border attacks," it said.

On Sunday, the coalition said it had destroyed a drone launched from the airport aimed at Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah airport in Jizan, near Yemen's border. It also said it struck drones workshops in Sanaa city. The coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from Sanaa.

 

[PakLFC]

We are facing tragedy on a monumental scale here unless Saudi's at the very least stop bombing these poor people. Already the most impoverished Arab country it is terrible to see what is being done to these poor people. Glad to see Pak did not get involved in this unjust war even when Saudi pressurised Pak to do so.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Why is this crisis not being raised in OIC by Imran Khan?

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/houthis-have-fired-430-missiles-851-drones-saudi-arabia-since-2015-saudi-led-2021-12-26/

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said on Sunday the Iran-aligned Houthi group had fired 430 ballistic missiles and 851 armed drones at Saudi Arabia since the war started in 2015, killing 59 Saudi civilians.

The spokesman of the Saudi alliance, General Turki al-Malki, said the Iran-aligned movement had been using Sanaa airport as a base to launch attacks on the kingdom, an allegation the Houthis deny.

Yemen has been mired in violence since 2014 when the Houthis took over the capital Sanaa and ousted the internationally recognised government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates intervened against the Houthi movement in 2015 but the war has stalemated for years, killing tens of thousands of Yemenis, mostly civilians.

Saudi Arabia has been under pressure from Western allies to lift a blockade on Yemen ports and Sanaa airport, which contributed largely to create what the U.N. calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Lifting the blockade has also been a condition from the Houthis to start ceasefire talks.

Malki denied there was a blockade on Yemen, adding that Sanaa airport remains open for U.N. and humanitarian organisations' flights.

The conflict is largely seen as another proxy war between Middle East arch rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Malki shared videos with reporters which he said showed military advisers from the Iran-Backed Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, helping the Houthis in Yemen. Hezbollah and the Houthis deny the Lebanese group has a role in the war.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-led-coalition-says-houthis-actions-turn-yemen-ports-into-legitimate-2022-01-08/

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen believes the use by Houthi forces of two ports as military bases would turn them into legitimate military targets, coalition spokesman Brigadier General Turki al-Malki said on Saturday.

"We do not want to target the ports ... We want to reach a comprehensive political solution," al-Malki told a press conference, but added that if the Houthis use any civilian sites they forfeit immunity thus making the ports targets for their forces.

The ports of Hodeidah and Salif are controlled by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement and which the Saudi-led coalition has said uses them as launching points for missiles, drones and marine operations.

However, air and sea access to Houthi-held areas is controlled by the Saudi-led coalition, that intervened in Yemen in early 2015 after the movement ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital Sanaa.

Houthi forces on Sunday hijacked a United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo vessel that they said was engaged in "hostile acts", but which the military alliance led by Riyadh said was carrying hospital equipment, part of a struggle to assert control over imports into the country.

Restrictions on the import of fuel and other goods into Yemen, where 16 million people don't have enough food reliably available and millions are on the brink of famine, have been a key point of contention in the conflict.

The Houthis said on Wednesday that the coalition had diverted to a Saudi port a fifth fuel vessel heading for Hodeidah.

 

[MenInG]

Eight years after launching its military campaign in Yemen, Saudi Arabia wants to extricate itself from the conflict, despite slim hopes of lasting peace, to focus on ambitious projects at home.

The oil-rich monarchy gave a signal this month by announcing plans to resume ties with Iran, which backs Yemen's Huthi rebels against the Saudi-supported government in a proxy war.

But as Saudi Arabia instigates sweeping social and economic changes as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's "Vision 2030" reform, it "is seeking to shift its approach in Yemen from a military strategy to a soft security and political one", said Ahmed Nagi, from the International Crisis Group.

Since the Saudi-led military intervention began on March 26, 2015, the kingdom has pounded its impoverished neighbour with air strikes in a conflict that has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed through direct and indirect causes, with 4.5 million people internally displaced and more than two-thirds of the population living below the poverty line, according to UN estimates.

Nagi said that "military operations, such as air strikes" are now likely to cease, adding that the priority now is a "diplomatic solution".

The Saudi-led intervention, which marks its eighth anniversary on Sunday, came after the Huthis took control of the capital Sanaa in 2014.

Rebranding project

A UN-brokered ceasefire that took effect last April brought a sharp reduction in hostilities. Even though the truce expired in October, fighting has largely remained on hold.

Even before the truce, Saudi Arabia and the Huthis were engaging in back-channel negotiations, including talks in neutral neighbour Oman.

Riyadh's top priority is securing border areas and stopping the drone and missile attacks that have targeted its all-important oil facilities, analysts say.

"Saudi is currently negotiating with the Huthis to establish understandings that would enable it to secure its borderlands while maintaining influence" in areas controlled by Yemen's government, Nagi said.

"This new approach could enable Saudi to remain the key actor in Yemen's domestic politics, to ensure that no security threats can affect the kingdom in case conflict continues at the local level," Nagi added.

The Saudi-led intervention's stated aim was to protect civilians from Huthi attacks, restore the government and stop Yemen becoming a safe haven for Iranian-backed forces.

Eight years in, the rebels control swathes of the country and command an impressive arsenal of weapons that they have used to attack Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, another coalition member.

For Riyadh, the fallout jeopardises a rebranding project that aims to turn the conservative country into a hub for tourism and investment.

Saudi Arabia, relatively closed off for decades, is building a $500 billion futuristic new city, NEOM, and a swathe of holiday resorts and attractions.

"There is a huge focus in Saudi now on development, tourism, mega-projects," said an analyst following the negotiations between Riyadh and Huthi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the press.

For Riyadh, there is concern that "anything involving conflict" will harm investment and stability, the analyst added.

'Wash their hands'
The unofficial talks with the Huthis are now maturing into a potential "understanding" that could pave the way for a slimmer Saudi military role ahead of a UN-sponsored inter-Yemeni dialogue, the analyst said.

"They want to go from some form of Saudi-Huthi understanding to being able to hand it over to a wider UN process," he said.

The Saudis "want to wash their hands of the situation," and avoid responsibility for any future flare-ups, he added.

A Saudi official, also speaking anonymously, said the country "will not tolerate any threat to our security", noting it shares a long border with Yemen.

"Iran can and should play a major part in promoting this -- and we hope it will," the official said, confirming negotiations with the Huthis aimed to revive UN-facilitated peace talks.

"We did see some progress of course, and we want to build on that progress to achieve lasting peace to open up for a political solution," the official said.

Many analysts are pessimistic that Riyadh's plans for a downsized military role will bring peace to Yemen, which remains deeply fractured along religious, regional and political lines.

Saudi Arabia, nonetheless, has "decided to leave Yemen whatever the price is", said an Arab diplomat in Riyadh. "They are... stuck in a swamp that is very costly on all levels."

AFP

 

[MenInG]

At least 78 people have been killed in a crush at a school in the Yemeni capital Sanaa during a distribution of charity for Ramadan, officials say.

Video footage on social media shows chaotic scenes after the incident in the Bab-al-Yemen area of the city.

Reuters news agency reports that hundreds of people crowded into the school to receive donations which amounted to about $9 (£7) per person.

Houthi rebels have run the city since they drove out the government in 2015.

Those responsible for the distribution have been detained and an investigation is under way, the interior ministry said.

A spokesman for the ministry blamed the crush on the "random distribution" of funds without coordination with local officials.

Many people were also injured with 13 in a critical situation, a health official in Sanaa said.

"Women and children were among the dead," a Houthi security official told AFP news agency on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to journalists.

The Associated Press news agency quotes two eyewitnesses who said Houthi fighters had fired into the air in an attempt at crowd control, apparently striking an electrical wire which resulted in an explosion. This caused panic that led to the crush, they added.

The event happened during the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is marked by a period of fasting.

Yemen has been devastated by the conflict that escalated in 2015, when the Houthis seized control of large parts of the west of the country.

President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi fled abroad and a Saudi-led alliance of Arab states intervened to restore his rule. However, years of military stalemate followed.

The fighting has reportedly left more than 150,000 people dead and more than 23 million people - three-quarters of the population - in need of some form of aid.

Last week a major prisoner swap between warring sides in Yemen started, seen as part of stepped-up efforts to end the devastating eight-year conflict.

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi supreme evolutionary committee, blamed Wednesday's crush on the country's humanitarian crisis.

"We hold the countries of aggression responsible for what happened and for the bitter reality that the Yemeni people live in because of the aggression and blockade," he said on Twitter.

Bbc

 

[FearlessRoar]

Yemen's internationally recognized government has welcomed U.N.-led efforts to end the country's civil war after the warring parties committed to take steps towards a cease-fire.

The Arabian Peninsula's poorest country has been gripped by conflict since the Iran-backed Houthi rebels overran Sanaa in 2014, triggering a Saudi-led military intervention in support of the government the following year.

A U.N.-brokered cease-fire brought a sharp reduction in hostilities in April 2022. The truce expired in October last year, though fighting largely remains on hold.

On Saturday, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said the two sides had committed to a new cease-fire and to engage in a U.N.-led peace process.

The Yemeni government said later it "welcomed the statement issued by the Special Envoy... regarding the efforts made to reach a roadmap under the auspices of the United Nations to end the war."

The government, in a statement released late Saturday, also "expressed its thanks" to Saudi Arabia and Oman for their efforts to advance the peace process.

Ahmed Nagi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank, said the United Nations would play the leading role in the process.

Its announcement "frames the progress made in negotiations over the past months", he told AFP.

It signals that the "U.N. now leads the negotiations, with the Saudis stepping back and allowing the U.N. to handle future political deals", he said.

Saudi Arabia is pushing to extricate itself from the conflict, despite slim hopes of a lasting peace.

Many analysts are pessimistic that Riyadh's plans for a downsized military role will bring peace to Yemen, which remains deeply fractured along religious, regional and political lines.

Source: VOA

Yemen Government Welcomes UN Road Map to End War

www.voanews.com