Region

MUSCAT — Iran's foreign minister met the Yemeni rebel spokesman in Oman on Wednesday, reiterating Tehran's support for a ceasefire and a return to talks to end the country's long conflict.

Mohammad Javad Zarif's comments came a day after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, whose country leads a military coalition supporting the Yemeni government, called on the Houthis to stop fighting and enter peace negotiations.

At the talks with Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam, Zarif "once again stressed our country's view regarding the political solution being the only solution to the crisis of Yemen", the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The foreign minister “emphasised our country’s support for a ceasefire and Yemeni-Yemeni talks”, it added.

Abdul Salam and other leaders of the Iranian-backed rebel movement live in exile in Muscat.

Several meetings have taken place in past years between Iran’s chief diplomat and the Houthi spokesman in the Omani capital.

The war in Yemen, in which tens of thousands of people have been killed since the conflict erupted in 2014, has flared anew in the past two months with a rebel campaign to seize Marib city, the government’s last stronghold in the north.

Saudi Arabia has proposed a “comprehensive” ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table, a proposal that the Houthis immediately rejected, saying a blockade on the country must first be lifted.

Riyadh accuses its arch-foe Iran of supporting the rebels with weapons and missiles and helping them build drones used to attack the kingdom.

Tehran denies the allegations and says its support for the Houthis is solely political.

On Tuesday, the Saudi crown prince struck a conciliatory tone in a television interview, saying he sought “good” relations with Tehran, after sources said the rivals had held secret talks in Baghdad.

“Iran is a neighbouring country, and all we aspire for is a good and special relationship with Iran,” he said.

The two countries, locked in a struggle for regional dominance, cut ties in 2016 after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions following the kingdom’s execution of a revered Shiite cleric.

The talks in Baghdad, facilitated by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhemi, have been confirmed to AFP.

In his meeting with Abdul Salam, Zarif expressed regret over “the six-year imposed war on the people of Yemen, and called for ending the war and lifting” the Saudi-enforced blockade on the country.

BEIRUT — “Alephia 2053”, an Arabic-language animated feature set in a bleak future, has struck a chord in a region all too familiar with autocratic rule and bold, bloody resistance.

Released on YouTube on March 21, a decade after the Arab Spring uprisings, the Lebanese-made thriller has already garnered more than 8 million views.

The 60-minute film’s success is a testament to the growing popularity of online streaming platforms because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But it is also “proof that the movie reflects people’s thoughts”, says Rabih Sweidan, the film’s Lebanese creator and executive producer.

“Everyone sees it from their perspective and they see themselves and their communities in it.”

The storyline, set in 2053 in the fictional Arab state of Alephia, follows a group of undercover agents plotting to take down hereditary ruler Alaa Ibn Ismail and his autocratic regime, described as the most tyrannical in the world.

Through a meticulous operation led by operatives who have infiltrated top regime ranks, the “resistance” succeeds in toppling the dictator in a coup and ending a century of autocratic rule.

They are buoyed by crowds taking to the streets chanting the now-famous Arab Spring refrain — “the people demand the fall of the regime” — in the face of heavily armed security forces who respond with live fire.

The movie closes with a familiar scene: fists are thrown into the air as a euphoric crowd pulls down the statue of the fallen dictator with ropes.

Sweidan says Alephia 2053, with its uncannily familiar-looking dictator figure, is “a fictional movie but it is based on reality. It is a description of social reality”.

It is not inspired by any single Arab country but depicts conditions familiar to many across the world, he says.

“The world has become a small village, where the situation is the same in more than one place,” Sweidan adds.

“Alephia could be the 23rd country in the Arab League,” which has 22 members.

The animation, directed and illustrated by Jorj Abou Mhaya, is produced by Lebanon’s Spring Entertainment company.

“More than 70 per cent of the work took place in Lebanon and was done by Lebanese,” says Sweidan, though it also received backing from Malil’Art animation studio in Angouleme, France.

Though the movie is highly reminiscent of the 2011 uprisings, Sweidan says it is an attempt to break away from what he calls an obsession with the past.

“There is always a tendency in the Arab world to imagine what might have happened in the past, but there is no theatrical or cinematic work that imagines what the Arab world will be like in the future,” says Sweidan, who first thought of the plot four years ago.

“The idea for the film came from a question: What will the Arab world look like in 20 or 30 years?”

According to Sweidan’s vision, the future holds more promise.

The film tries to express this through colour grading: The closing scenes incorporate a livelier gradient than the dim and dusty scheme that dominates the first chunk of the film, says Sweidan.

“Things can’t always remain dark,” he adds.

“What this film wants to imagine is a future that’s not as bad as the past or the present.”

Lebanese cinema critic Elias Doummar called it “a milestone in Arab animation”.

“It portrays Arab reality and its audience just keeps on growing.”

DUBAI — Yemen government forces have thwarted a "massive" Houthi attack west of Marib city and reinforced their positions as they defend their last northern stronghold, two military commanders and an official said Tuesday.

But they said the Iran-backed insurgents had advanced in four areas of the Mashjah front, another key battlefield in their battle to seize the oil-rich region from Saudi-led coalition-backed government forces.

Fierce fighting on multiple frontlines around the strategic city has left at least 67 dead over the past 24 hours, including some 27 loyalist personnel, the three sources said.

According to one of the commanders taking part in the defence of Marib, the government forces "succeeded in repelling a massive attack" at Tala'a Al Hamra, about 18 kilometres west of the city.

"Losing it would enable [the rebels] to advance towards hills and sites close to Marib, and the road would be clear towards the western entrance to the city," the source added.

The second commander confirmed the details. Tala'a Al Hamra is located near the main highway connecting Marib with the rebel-controlled capital Sanaa.

On Sunday, military sources told AFP that the rebels had taken full control of the Kassara battlefield to the northwest, putting them within six kilometres of the city centre, as well as progressing on western frontlines despite Saudi-led coalition airstrikes.

The Yemeni government's Information Minister Muammar Al Eryani disputed the version related by the loyalist officials on the ground, and denied that the Houthis had taken Kassara.

Multiple government sources have told AFP that the next two weeks will decide the fate of the offensive which erupted in early February, saying that some 2,000 of their soldiers have been killed so far, along with thousands more Houthi fighters.

The rebels rarely disclose their own losses.

The three sources said that government forces are building defences on the outskirts of Marib, digging trenches and piling up earth mounds in anticipation of any military breakthrough by the rebels.

In a series of meetings with representatives of Yemeni civil society, women, political parties and journalists, the UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, said the attack on Marib had to stop.

In the talks in Egypt which concluded Monday he warned of the dire humanitarian consequences of the offensive, and said it jeopardised the peace process.

The government estimates that two million displaced people have made their way to Marib, seeking safety from a devastating war now in its seventh year.

The US administration of President Joe Biden is mounting a renewed push to end the conflict, warning that the suffering will only end when a political solution is found.

Meanwhile,  Saudi forces on Tuesday destroyed an explosive-laden boat off the coast of the Red Sea port of Yanbu, the defence ministry said.

“A bomb-laden unmanned [vessel] was intercepted and destroyed this morning,” the ministry said in a statement, published by the official Saudi Press Agency.

“Naval units were able to detect and monitor the activity of the bomb-laden [boat] in the Red Sea waters off the shores of Yanbu.”

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the incident, which the ministry said was under investigation.

The incident comes as fighting escalates in neighbouring Yemen between Saudi-backed government forces and Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.

Yanbu, 860 kilometres east of the Saudi capital Riyadh, lies some 975 kilometres north of Saudi’s frontier with Yemen.

VIENNA — Parties to the Iran nuclear agreement on Tuesday decided to “speed up” talks in Vienna, Tehran said, to revive the tattered accord.

The remaining partners to the 2015 deal have been engaged in negotiations since early this month to try to bring the United States back onboard.

Delegates from Britain, China, France, Germany, Iran and Russia met for less than two hours to kick off the third round of EU-chaired negotiations in a Vienna luxury hotel, according to diplomats.

“During the meeting the participants decided to speed up the process of talks,” Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Iran has refused to negotiate with the US directly, but US delegates are staying in an adjacent hotel and are being regularly updated by EU negotiator Enrique Mora’s team in a round of shuttle diplomacy.

“Back in Vienna for the JCPOA Joint Commission, experts discussions and separate contacts with US in this third week of talks to advance on our objectives: US rejoining the JCPOA and full implementation of the deal,” Mora wrote on Twitter, using the acronym of the agreement’s formal name.

The 2015 accord aimed to give Iran sanctions relief in exchange for a curtailment of its nuclear programme, but the deal started to unravel in 2018 when then US president Donald Trump rejected it.

In retaliation to the US reimposing sanctions, Iran has started to step up its nuclear activities since 2019.

Tehran has insisted on its readiness to return to its nuclear commitments once it is sure of sanctions relief, and US President Joe Biden has said he is ready to revive the agreement.

‘Major differences remain’ 

Negotiators have lauded progress in the talks, but warn there is still a long way to go and details need to be worked out.

“We do see some important progress registered, while we also see some major differences remain at this critical juncture,” Chinese negotiator Wang Qun told reporters after Tuesday’s meeting.

Mora had said in a column published on Monday on the Spanish site Politica Exterior that “many obstacles” remained, mentioning “domestic politics in Tehran and Washington, where the agreement probably has more detractors than supporters”.

The hope is to achieve a concrete result “by the end of May”, before Iranian presidential elections in June, a diplomat familiar with the discussions told AFP ahead of the latest round.

Last Thursday, Iran’s foreign ministry issued a defence of its negotiating team, following days of growing criticism by state media.

A senior US official last week said Washington had shared details of the sanctions it was prepared to lift with Tehran.

MOGADISHU — Civilians fled their homes in the Somali capital, fearing more clashes over President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s bid to stay in power, which drew criticism on Tuesday from key political allies.

Mogadishu residents piled televisions and mattresses into rickshaws, or loaded belongings onto donkeys as the city remained on a knife’s edge, with government and opposition troops boosting their military presence in different parts of the capital.

Mogadishu is witnessing its worst political violence in years after February elections were delayed and the president earlier this month extended his mandate for two years.

Months of UN-backed talks failed to overcome the election impasse, and the dispute turned violent on Sunday as forces loyal to the president traded gunfire with fighters allied to his political rivals, leaving at least three dead.

In a blow to the president, best known by his nickname Farmajo, the leaders of two federal states who have until now supported him, rejected the extension of his mandate and called for elections to be held.

Another ally, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, welcomed the statement from the states of Galmudug and Hirshabelle and also called for “the acceleration of fair and free elections”.

Roble called on military commanders to “get the forces back to their camps” and urged opposition politicians to “stop acts and movements that can create violent conflict”.

Army divided 

Alarm is mounting over a splintering of the country’s security forces into rival factions.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a statement that the “immediate trigger” for Sunday’s violence was the influx of army units loyal to one of the opposition presidential candidates, who had abandoned their posts in south-central Hirshabelle — one of the frontlines of the fight against the Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab.

These troops, who have barricaded roads and deployed trucks mounted with machine guns, were now “in control of sections of the capital”, said the ICG.

AFP spoke with one military commander who had entered Mogadishu to fight for the opposition and vowed to remain in the capital until Farmajo had been toppled.

The UN Mission in Somalia said it was “alarmed” by clan divisions within the Somali national army and warned the political conflict distracted from the battlefield where Al Shabaab militants are waging a deadly insurgency.

“Use of security forces for pursuit of political objectives is unacceptable,” UNSOM said in a statement.

‘Fear for our lives’ 

Since the fighting on Sunday, both sides have built up their presence in the capital, terrifying citizens weary of decades of civil conflict and an Islamist insurgency.

“Armed men dressed in military uniforms, they came to us... and told us to leave and escape with our wives and children,” said Mogadishu resident Abdi Ali Abdi.

Residents in Siigaale, a neighbourhood in southern Mogadishu, said opposition reinforcements arrived overnight and had taken up positions not far from government troops.

“We fear for our lives... We have decided to get out of here before it is too late,” said Shamis Ahmed, a mother of five who abandoned her home.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on all parties to refrain from further violence while the United States, a key ally, warned of sanctions if negotiations for elections do not urgently resume.

‘On the precipice’ 

The fragile nation has not had an effective central government since the collapse of a military regime in 1991 led to decades of civil war and lawlessness fuelled by clan conflicts.

Mogadishu has not seen street combat on this scale for years and the conflict has dangerously sharpened clan divisions, analysts say.

Clan identity is the main driver of politics and many aspects of daily life in Somalia.

Somalia analyst Omar Mahmood said the fracturing of Somalia’s security forces along these lines puts the already-fragile country on a “precipice”.

“When we’re talking about the breakdown of security forces along clan lines it really is reminiscent of the civil war that began in the late 80s and early 90s in Somalia,” the senior analyst for the International Crisis Group told AFP.

For more than a decade conflict has centred on Al Shabaab, the Islamist insurgents linked to Al Qaeda, who control swathes of countryside and regularly stage deadly attacks in the capital.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli occupation authorities on Sunday allowed Palestinians to gather in a flashpoint plaza outside Jerusalem's walled Old City, in a move apparently aimed at easing tensions after days of clashes.

The staired plaza outside Damascus Gate in Israeli-Occupied East Jerusalem is a traditional gathering spot for Palestinians during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Jerusalem, a perennial powder-keg of religious tension, has seen some of its worst violence in years over recent days, triggered in part by an Israeli decision to block Palestinians from gathering on the Damascus Gate steps following prayers.

But as crowds were building in the plaza on Sunday, Commissioner Kobi Shabtai ordered the barricades be removed.

The decision came "following consultations with local leadership, religious leadership, situation assessments, while taking into consideration the shop owners who need to make a living, and in order to lower the level of violence", a spokesman told AFP.

"Our forces are still deployed on the ground, and we won't let violence resurge," the spokesman said.

Hundreds of Palestinians, including male youths who tossed the barricades to the side, held celebratory rallies in the plaza, watched over by police.

Minor scuffles erupted after some of the revellers began waving Palestinian flags, moves which prompted police to storm the plaza.

AFP reporters saw several young Palestinians being detained by police.

But the plaza remained open, with police maintaining a heavy presence in the area into the early hours on Monday.

Samir Gheith, a 66-year-old Palestinian from Jerusalem, said people had been looking forward to gathering at Damascus Gate during Ramadan after it was closed last year due to coronavirus restrictions.

“I think they don’t want to see us be happy,” he told AFP, referring to the initial decision to barricade the plaza.

“But then they came to understand that they needed to put a stop to all these tensions,” he said.

There have been nightly disturbances since the start of Ramadan on April 13.

Tensions rose on Thursday when far-right Israeli demonstrators marched to the Old City with chants of “death to Arabs”.

More than 100 Palestinians were wounded in clashes with occupation forces and dozens were arrested.

The violence was the worst in years between Israeli authorities and Palestinians in the disputed Holy City, with Palestinians throwing stones and bottles at officers, who responded with stun grenades and water cannon.

Skirmishes broke out again on Friday after Muslim worshippers left Jerusalem’s revered Al Aqsa Mosque following night prayers.

Jewish extremists in return took to the streets to bully Arabs, with police arresting dozens involved in the attacks.

Overnight Friday into Saturday, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired dozens of rockets at southern Israel, with the military wing of Hamas, the Islamist rulers of the Palestinian enclave, voicing support for the East Jerusalem protesters.

In the early hours of Monday, the Israeli forces said at least four rockets had been fired from Gaza towards Israel, of which two were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system.

Two of them exploded inside the Gaza Strip, the Israeli forces said.

DUBAI — The UN called on Monday for the swift repair of two ports in southern Yemen to reduce the cost of imported food, as the war-torn country races against the threat of large-scale famine.

The ports of Aden and Mukalla, controlled by the internationally recognised government, are two of the four main entry points for food and aid into the country. Houthi rebels control the other two main ports.

More than six years of fighting between the government and the Iran-backed rebels, who control much of the north, has caused major damage to the Aden and Mukalla ports, raising war risk premiums and, by default, the price of food passing through.

Yemen imports 90 per cent of food for its 30 million population, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The UN agency said 60 per cent of total food imports into the impoverished country last year came through the rebel-controlled Red Sea ports of Hodeida and Salif, followed by the ports of Aden (36 per cent) and Mukalla (3 per cent).

Fixing the ports will “reduce the cost of food in Yemen”, Auke Lootsma, the UNDP’s resident country representative, told AFP.

“The looming famine in Yemen is a question of food affordability and not food availability.”

“For example, 50 per cent of a kilogramme price of wheat is made up of transport costs, such as shipping, insurance and demurrage.”

The UNDP warned last month that famine could become part of Yemen’s “reality” this year, after a donor conference sought to raise $3.85 billion from more than 100 governments and donors, but only reached $1.7 billion.

In its damage and capacity assessment report, the UNDP said that $49.6 million — $21.6 million for Aden and $28 million for Mukalla — was needed to maintain current port operations and restore those operations to pre-war conditions.

Doing so would help reduce war risk premiums, the UNDP said.

“With Yemen on the brink of wide scale famine, the timing of the ports’ restorations is more critical than ever,” said the report.

“If port infrastructure such as buoys, navigations systems and cranes were fixed, costs to shipping companies would decrease, ultimately making food more affordable to Yemenis and more humanitarian aid available.”

The UN describes Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.