UN Urges Rivals in Yemen to Take Concrete Steps towards Peace
The UN Security Council's meeting Wednesday focused on Yemen, covering political, military, and humanitarian updates alongside ongoing peace endeavors. UN Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg, highlighting provided an update on his mediation efforts. Though the sides continue to display general willingness to seek solutions, sporadic fighting, and exchanges of gunfire continue on some fronts, particularly in the governorates of Taiz, Marib, Dhale, Hodeida, Shabwa, and Sa'ada, Grundberg said.
The Houthi group must open all roads and crossings in and around Taiz and lift the siege imposed on the city for over eight years, said Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor in a statement. Euro-Med Monitor documented many cases of humanitarian suffering in Taiz, and one case was related to a patient who died while being transported to a hospital due to delays caused by the busy and rugged alternative mountain roads. Nearly three million Yemenis in Taiz find severe difficulty in having access to basic humanitarian necessities, including food, water, and health care.
Yemen is moving towards implementing a package of agreed-upon measures to create an institutional and financial environment suitable for accommodating the Saudi financial grant, estimated at around $1.2 billion, an Aden-based banking official told local media. This comes amid challenging and critical circumstances faced by the country due to financial resource shortages and the worsening of the economic crisis.
The President of the Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, arrived Wednesday in Al-Mahra on his first visit to the governorate since he came to power in April last year. An official source stated that Al-Alimi arrived at Al-Ghaydah Airport, coming from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, accompanied by several ministers and officials. Last week, Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalek also arrived in Aden, coming from Saudi Arabia.
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian plans to visit Saudi Arabia in the "near future" for talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Tehran has said. In June this year, Prince Faisal visited Iran and presented Amirabdollahian with an invitation from Saudi Arabia's King Salman to visit the kingdom. It was the first time a Saudi foreign minister had visited Tehran in seven years. Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran in 2016 after attacks on its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad following Riyadh's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr.