Trump administration again labels the Houthis a ‘foreign terrorist organization’

Update Supporters of Yemen’s Houthis attend an anti-Israel rally in solidarity with Gaza and Lebanon in Sanaa on November 1, 2024. (AFP/File Photo)
Supporters of Yemen’s Houthis attend an anti-Israel rally in solidarity with Gaza and Lebanon in Sanaa on November 1, 2024. (AFP/File Photo)
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Trump administration again labels the Houthis a ‘foreign terrorist organization’

Trump administration again labels the Houthis a ‘foreign terrorist organization’
  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the department had restored the designation

WASHINGTON: The State Department on Tuesday reinstated the “foreign terrorist organization” designation for Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group, fulfilling an order announced by President Donald Trump shortly after he took office.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the department had restored the designation, which carries with it sanctions and penalties for anyone providing “material support” for the group.
“Since 2023, the Houthis have launched hundreds of attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, as well as US service members defending freedom of navigation and our regional partners,” Rubio said in a statement. “Most recently, the Houthis spared Chinese-flagged ships while targeting American and allied vessels.”
The Houthis have targeted more than 100 merchant vessels in the critical trade corridor with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023. In January, the group signaled that it will limit its attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships after a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip but warned wider assaults could resume if needed.
Trump’s first Republican administration had similarly designated the Houthis in its waning days, but the designation had been revoked by President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration over concerns it would badly affect the delivery of aid to Yemen, which was considered to be facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The United Nations said last month that it suspended its humanitarian operations in the stronghold of Yemen’s Houthi rebels after they detained eight more UN staffers.
The rebels in recent months have detained dozens of UN staffers, as well as people associated with aid groups, civil society and the once-open US Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. None of the UN staffers has been released.
The Iranian-backed Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2014, when they descended from their stronghold in Saada and took control of Sanaa and most of the north.


Palestinian president welcomes Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza

Palestinian president welcomes Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza
Updated 9 sec ago
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Palestinian president welcomes Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza

Palestinian president welcomes Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza
Abbas also said he was ready to hold presidential and parliamentary elections if circumstances allow

CAIRO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbad said on Tuesday he welcomed an Egyptian plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip and urged US President Donald Trump to support such a plan that would not involve displacing Palestinian residents of the enclave.
Speaking at an Arab League summit that aims to counter Trump’s “Gaza Riviera” plan, Abbas also said he was ready to hold presidential and parliamentary elections if circumstances allow, adding his Palestinian Authority was the only legitimate governing and military force in the Palestinian Territories.
Abbas said that he would issue a general amnesty for all those dismissed from the Fatah movement which rules the West Bank.

UN’s Guterres supports Arab-led efforts to mobilize support for Gaza’s reconstruction

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. (File/AFP)
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. (File/AFP)
Updated 1 min 14 sec ago
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UN’s Guterres supports Arab-led efforts to mobilize support for Gaza’s reconstruction

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. (File/AFP)
  • Speaking at the Cairo summit, Guterres also called for the resumption “without delay” of negotiations on continuing a ceasefire in Gaza
  • He also expressed concern over an escalation of violence in the West Bank

CAIRO: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday he supported an Arab-led initiative to mobilize support for reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
Egypt presented a plan for reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday at an Arab League summit in Cairo. The plan, seen by Reuters, aims to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a Middle East “Riviera” in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking at the Cairo summit, Guterres also called for the resumption “without delay” of negotiations on continuing a ceasefire in Gaza, and he expressed concern over an escalation of violence in the West Bank.


Palestinian president meets Syrian counterpart for first time since Assad’s fall

Palestinian president meets Syrian counterpart for first time since Assad’s fall
Updated 23 min 17 sec ago
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Palestinian president meets Syrian counterpart for first time since Assad’s fall

Palestinian president meets Syrian counterpart for first time since Assad’s fall
  • Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmad Al-Sharaa meet in Cairo on sidelines of emergency Arab summit
  • Both leaders oppose Israeli policies that threaten to further encroach on their territory

LONDON: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has met the president of the Syrian Arab Republic for the first time since the change of power in Damascus last December.

Abbas and Ahmad Al-Sharaa met in Cairo on the sidelines of an emergency Arab summit that will focus on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and oppose US President Donald Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians in Gaza and “take over” the enclave.

Abbas and Al-Sharaa discussed the latest developments in the occupied West Bank and stressed that the Gaza Strip was an integral part of Palestine’s territory.

Abbas said that the priorities were to maintain the ceasefire in Gaza, provide aid, and for Israeli forces to withdraw from the enclave, according to the Palestine News Agency.

Both Abbas and Al-Sharaa are opposing Israeli policies that threaten to further encroach on their territory. The Israeli government’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank, the displacement of thousands of Palestinians from refugee camps, and its plans to annex part of the territory jeopardize the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state.

Following the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December, Israeli forces have occupied parts of the southern Syrian region, including the strategically important summit of Mount Hermon, shattering a decades-long agreement.

Hussein Al-Sheikh, the secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and Diab Al-Louh, the Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, were also present at the meeting.


Sudan’s RSF signs ‘transitional constitution’: alliance member

Sudan’s RSF signs ‘transitional constitution’: alliance member
Updated 04 March 2025
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Sudan’s RSF signs ‘transitional constitution’: alliance member

Sudan’s RSF signs ‘transitional constitution’: alliance member
  • “The constitutional document was signed in Nairobi last night by all parties involved in the signing of the founding charter,” said Ahmed Tuqud Lisan
  • The next step would be to form the government, which will “be announced inside Sudan“

NAIROBI: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allies have signed a constitution paving the way for the formation of a parallel government, a member of its coalition said Tuesday.
“The constitutional document was signed in Nairobi last night by all parties involved in the signing of the founding charter,” Ahmed Tuqud Lisan, a member of the preparatory committee of the Sudan Founding Alliance told AFP.
For nearly two years, the RSF and the regular army have been in a devastating war that has uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the United Nations calls the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises.
Last week, the RSF and its alliance of political and military partners signed a charter vowing to establish a “government of peace and unity” in rebel-controlled areas of Sudan.
The “transitional constitution” signed on Monday documents the “tasks of the transitional period, the decentralized governing system and the structures of the executive authority,” Lisan said.
The next step would be to form the government, which will “be announced inside Sudan,” he added.
Kenya has been criticized for hosting the RSF and its allies, with Sudan’s army-aligned government recalling its ambassador in protest last month.
Sudan’s foreign ministry accused Kenyan President William Ruto of acting on “his commercial and personal interests with the militia’s regional sponsors.”
The RSF’s constitution, seen by AFP, was signed by 24 signatories including RSF deputy Abdel Rahim Dagalo.
The war between the RSF and the army has torn the country in two, with the army controlling the north and east, while the RSF holds nearly all of the western region of Darfur and swathes of the south.


Lebanon state media say one dead in Israel strike on south

Lebanon state media say one dead in Israel strike on south
Updated 04 March 2025
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Lebanon state media say one dead in Israel strike on south

Lebanon state media say one dead in Israel strike on south
  • “An enemy drone launched a strike” targeting a vehicle in Tyre district
  • On Friday, the Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah weapons smuggler in a strike on eastern Lebanon the previous day

BEIRUT: Lebanese official media said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south on Tuesday killed one person, the latest deadly raid amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
“An enemy drone launched a strike” targeting a vehicle in Tyre district, killing one person, the National News Agency said.
It published an image of a burning, mangled car.
A November 27 truce agreement largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war during which Israel sent in ground troops.
Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory since the deal took effect.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah weapons smuggler in a strike on eastern Lebanon the previous day.
On Thursday, the Israeli military said its forces struck a Hezbollah observation post in the south and on Wednesday it said it targeted a “significant” Hezbollah militant in the east.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel was due to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems “strategic.”
The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Last week, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces would remain indefinitely in what he called a “buffer zone” in south Lebanon.