Yemen

04 June 2021; MEMO: Armed men affiliated with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) seized the headquarters of the official Yemen News Agency (SABA) in the provisional capital, Aden, storming it and expelling its employees on Tuesday.

The news agency's management in Aden said in a statement on Wednesday evening that "an armed group affiliated with the STC stormed the SABA headquarters in Aden and threw out the security guards and employees present in the building."

02 June 2021; MEMO: Yemen's Houthi-led National Salvation Government (NSG) has condemned the Saudi-led coalition, and more precisely the UAE, over recent controversies relating to the country's Socotra island and the Mayun island in the Bab El-Mandeb Strait.

SANAA, Jun 1 (NNN-SABA) – UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, said, the blockade on Sanaa airport and Hodeidah seaport should be lifted.

“Obstacles should be lifted, to allow fuel and goods reaching the Yemenis,” Griffiths told reporters at Sanaa airport, after concluding a two-day visit to the Houthi rebel-held Yemeni capital.

“There is a need for a cease-fire, reopening roads for the movement of the Yemeni people and returning normal life to Yemen,” Griffiths said, adding that he will re-discuss this issue with the Yemeni government and Saudi officials.

SANAA, May 29 (NNN-SPA) – At least 31 Houthi rebels were killed yesterday, in airstrikes launched by the Saudi-led coalition, in Yemen’s central province of Marib, a military source from the Yemeni government, said.

“The airstrikes killed the militants in the desert, while they were moving in three groups towards positions of the Yemeni army, in the western district of Sirwah,” the source said.

Meanwhile, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported, 15 coalition airstrikes on the Houthi positions in Sirwah, without providing further details.

SANAA, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi-led Arab coalition waged a series of airstrikes on reinforcements of the Houthi rebels in Yemen's central province of Marib on Wednesday morning, a Yemeni government military source told Xinhua.

"The strikes hit several pick-up vehicles carrying fighters from the western district of Sirwah to the frontlines of al-Mashjah and al-Kassarah," the source in Marib said on condition of anonymity.

(Reuters) --- A leader of Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement on Sunday dismissed U.S. sanctions on military officials and threatened possible expanded attacks on "aggressor countries" after Washington urged the group to engage seriously in peace efforts.

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on two Houthi military officials leading an offensive to seize Yemen's Marib region as the U.S. special envoy on Yemen called for de-escalation and pressed for a ceasefire deal. 

SANAA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi rebels shot down a drone of the Saudi-led coalition forces near the border with Saudi Arabia on Sunday morning, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.

"A surface-to-air missile downed the drone over the area of al-Marazik in al-Jawf Province," the television said, citing a statement by Houthi military spokesman Yehya Sarea.

The Saudi-led coalition has made no comment yet.

ADEN, Yemen, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Military confrontations between forces loyal to the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and Yemen's government became imminent amid rising tensions over the control of key areas, a military official told Xinhua on Saturday.

Tensions escalated in the wake of recent government's accusations to the STC on refusing to implement a Saudi-brokered deal signed between the two rivals in 2019.

20 May 2021; MEMO: The UAE is continuing to operate direct flights and tours to the Yemeni island of Socotra despite not having the permission of the government.

According to local sources, hundreds of foreign tourists have arrived on the archipelago over the past few days using visas granted to them by Abu Dhabi, from where weekly direct flights started in March.

ADEN, May 4 (NNN-SABA) – Torrential rain killed at least five Yemeni people, in the country’s south-eastern province of Hadramout, and left some others missing yesterday, according to a government official.

Five people drowned, a few others went missing, and a number of residential houses collapsed, after heavy rain and flood hit the historic district of Tarim in Hadramout, the local government source said, on condition of anonymity.

He said, the flood cut off all highways and washed away vehicles, and many families are still stuck in their homes.