May 14th, 20220DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates' de facto leader, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (MbZ), was elected president of the Gulf Arab state by a federal supreme council on Saturday, solidifying his rule over the OPEC oil producer and key regional player.
He becomes president at a time when the UAE's long-standing ties with the...
April 9th, 20220On Thursday, Saudi-backed Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi ceded power to a council whose members form the core of an anti-Houthi alliance as Saudi Arabia looks to exit a costly war that has strained Washington's ties with Gulf allies.
Why does this move matter?
The war is a multifaceted one and Saudi Arabia has struggled to...
March 18th, 20220By Andrea Germanos
Multiple United Nations agencies on Monday sounded heightened alarm over the food crisis in Yemen, warning of a projected fivefold increase in famine conditions.
Warnings from the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF came in response to the just-released Integrated Phase...
February 18th, 20220A single activist helped turn the tide against NSO Group, one of the world’s most sophisticated spyware companies now facing a cascade of legal action and scrutiny in Washington over damaging new allegations that its software was used to hack government officials and dissidents around the world.
It all started with a software glitch...
February 8th, 20220ADEN — The Saudi-led coalition deployed newly formed units near Yemen's Marib, where battles abated over the last week, according to military and government sources, as the warring sides hold their positions in the fight for energy-rich areas that has led to the war's biggest escalation in years.
Last month the Houthi movement...
November 18th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of U.S. senators are opposing the Biden administration's first major arms sale to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over Riyadh's involvement in the conflict in Yemen, three senators announced on Thursday.
A joint resolution of disapproval to block a proposed $650 million in U.S. arms sales to the Kingdom of...
November 5th, 20210Lebanon is facing its worst rift yet with oil-rich Gulf Arab states, spurred by comments made by Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi before his official appointment about the Saudi-led campaign that has created a severe humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Thursday he had agreed with...
October 8th, 20210GENEVA — Bahrain, Russia and other members of the U.N. Human Rights Council pushed through a vote on Thursday to shut down the body's war crimes investigations in Yemen, in a stinging defeat for Western states that sought to keep the mission going.
Members narrowly voted to reject a resolution led by the Netherlands to give the...
September 17th, 20210An alarming discovery that the Israeli spyware company NSO Group targeted an ordinary citizen’s iPhone yet again caused Apple to deliver an important security update to its users.
Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab said a security issue in Apple’s software was exploited to plant spyware on a Saudi...
September 16th, 20210DEARBORN — The tragic kidnapping, torture and murder in Yemen of Abdulmalek Alsanabani, a Yemeni student who resided in California, sparked outrage and protests in the U.S. and Yemen this week.
Alsanabani was a 25-year-old living in Fresno, California and had decided to take an often dangerous journey across the south of Yemen to...
July 22nd, 20210MT. ARAFAT — Thousands of face-masked Muslims gathered on Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat on Monday, praying for an end to the pandemic and faster vaccination as the annual haj pilgrimage reached its climax.
Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, has barred worshippers from abroad for a second year running and...
July 8th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman said he held "a great meeting" on Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in which they explored strengthening U.S.-Saudi ties and reviewed regional developments.
Prince Khalid, the brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto...
June 24th, 20210YEMEN — On Thursday, the U.S. called on the international community, especially regional countries, to fulfill their pledges to increase funding for humanitarian assistance to Yemen and warned that aid programs could otherwise be forced to close.
U.S. Special Envoy to Yemen Timothy Lenderking told a webinar sponsored by the...
May 29th, 20210A Danish pension fund, which prides itself on being the world's strictest on human rights violations, says it is considering adding Israel to a long list of countries it excludes following this month's conflict with Palestinians.
The $22 billion Akademiker looks after the pensions of Denmark's teachers and university lecturers and has...
May 5th, 20210RIYADH – Saudi Arabia is considering barring overseas pilgrims from the annual Hajj for the second year running as COVID-19 cases rise globally and worries grow about the emergence of new variants, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Such a move would restrict the pilgrimage to Mecca, a once in a lifetime duty...
April 28th, 20210BEIRUT — Samir Sfeir, a well-known Lebanese music composer, is believed to be detained in Saudi Arabia for unknown reasons, according to local media and international news sources.
Sfeir has sung about Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun and is said to be close to the president’s party. He is from Ajaltoun, Lebanon.
The Lebanese...
April 9th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — Metro Detroit Yemeni and other activists have been leading a hunger strike for 11 days in front of the White House, protesting the U.S.-backed Saudi blockade during an ongoing six year war in Yemen. The Yemeni Liberation Movement (YLM) is calling for the Biden-Harris administration to withdraw all material and...
April 6th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) joined Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) in leading 76 of their congressional colleagues to call for the Biden administration to publicly increase pressure on Saudi Arabia to lift the blockade on Yemen immediately, unilaterally and...
April 6th, 20210- From contributor Laura Albast
Activists from the Yemeni Liberation Movement (YLM) and other organizations held a rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. They carried banners calling for an end to the U.S.-backed Saudi blockade on the embattled country.
The five Michigan natives leading the action staged a...
April 2nd, 20210Yemen received a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines this week, after the country’s internationally recognized government declared a national health emergency.
Though the actual figures are believed to be much higher, Yemen’s emergency coronavirus committee has recorded more than 4,100 coronavirus infections and 864 deaths so far. The...
March 26th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Special Envoy Tim Lenderking was scheduled to travel to the Middle East on Thursday, to press a plan for a ceasefire in Yemen, talks on settling its civil war and an end to the humanitarian catastrophe that it has caused, the U.S. State Department announced.
Lenderking’s trip was expected to include...
March 1st, 20210SANAA — Unable to find work, Ahmed Farea has sold everything, including his wife’s gold, to feed and house two young daughters in one small room.
Elsewhere in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, widow Mona Muhammad has work, but struggles to buy anything more nutritious than rice for her four children amid high prices.
And in a nearby...
February 25th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) is joining dozens of lawmakers in urging transparency from the Biden administration regarding U.S. involvement in the Saudi/UAE-led coalition’s war in Yemen as the U.S. ends its support for "offensive" operations.
In a letter expressing their strong support for President...
February 4th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, President Biden declared a halt to U.S. support for a Saudi Arabia-led military campaign in Yemen, demanding that the more than six-year war, widely seen as a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, “has to end.”
Biden also named veteran U.S. diplomat Timothy Lenderking as the U.S. special...
January 14th, 20210NEW YORK — On Thursday, three top United Nations officials all called on the United States to revoke its decision to designate Yemen’s Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, warning it would push the country into a large-scale famine and chill peace efforts.
U.N. Yemen mediator Martin Griffiths, U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock and...
December 30th, 20200YEMEN - As the newly formed government arrived at Aden Airport in Yemen, several explosions went off, killing at least 22 and injuring more than 50 people.
https://youtu.be/KN2bmuo5CKQ
Above: Deadly explosions hit Yemen's Aden Airport as newly formed government arrives (viewer discretion advised)
All of the Cabinet members are safe,...
November 26th, 20200RIYADH — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman earlier this week, despite a denial of the meeting by Israeli officials.
On the discussion table was a country that has played the role of boogeyman for both Israel and its allies in the U.S. government: Iran. The two leaders talked...
June 15th, 20200NEW YORK — On Monday U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres removed a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition from a U.N. blacklist. The coalition was condemned and was on the list for several years for killing and injuring children in Yemen.
Reuters reports that Guterres wrote in his annual report to the U.N. Security Council on...