Region

SANAA — Impoverished Yemen has been mired in a devastating conflict since Iran-backed fighters overran the capital Sanaa five years ago prompting Saudi Arabia and its allies to launch a military intervention the following year.

Here is a broad overview:

Sanaa falls 

On July 8, 2014, Houthi rebels from the country's Zaidi Shiite minority launch an offensive from their northern stronghold of Saada.

In September, they enter Sanaa, seizing the government headquarters. Days later, rebel leader Abdelmalek Al Houthi hails the "victory" of a "popular revolution".

The rebels ally themselves with military units loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was forced to quit after a 2011 uprising.

In October, they capture the Red Sea port of Hodeida, a crucial entry point for imports and humanitarian aid.

In January 2015, they seize the presidential palace in Sanaa, after heavy fighting, and surround the residence of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who flees to the southern port of Aden.

Riyadh enters war 

A coalition led by Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, a bitter rival of Shiite Iran, enters the conflict in March 2015 with air strikes on the rebels.

Around a dozen countries form part of the coalition, including five from the Gulf. Washington says it contributes logistics and intelligence.

As the rebels advance southwards on Aden, Hadi flees, taking refuge in Saudi Arabia.

By August, pro-government forces have retaken five southern provinces. In October, they announce they have retaken control of the Bab Al Mandab Strait, a key waterway for international shipping.

Splits emerge in the rebel camp in 2017 and Saleh is assassinated in December by his former Houthi allies.

Battle for aid port 

In June 2018, government fighters, backed by Saudi and Emirati ground forces, launch an offensive to retake the port of Hodeida.

UN-brokered talks between the warring parties open in Sweden in December, yielding a series of breakthroughs including a ceasefire in Hodeida where combat largely ceases.

In May 2019, the UN announces the rebels have withdrawn from Hodeida and two other nearby ports, the first practical step on the ground since the truce deal.

Southern separatists 

The anti-Houthi camp is also divided, notably in the south where fighting between separatists and unionist forces loyal to the government threatens to create "a civil war within a civil war".

South Yemen was an independent state until it united with the north in 1990, and separatists remain powerful.

In January 2018, heavy fighting breaks out in Aden between unionist forces and separatists.

In August 2019, deadly new clashes erupt.

The separatist-dominated Security Belt forces, which are backed by the UAE, and pro-government fighters seize Aden and other parts of the south, and retain control despite briefly being driven out in a see-sawing battle.

The new front exposes a rift between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, who are effectively backing different sides in the south despite being partners in the anti-Houthi coalition.

Humanitarian crisis 

Yemen's conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, relief agencies say, and has triggered what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The UN children's agency UNICEF describes the conflict as "a living hell" for children, with 1.8 million under-fives suffering severe malnutrition.

In September 2019, the United States says it is in talks with the Houthis, seeking to end the war.

The negotiations open a direct channel between President Donald Trump's administration and the Houthis amid the threat of a broader regional conflict with Iran.

Peace initiative 

On September 20, the Houthis unexpectedly announce that they plan to halt all attacks on Saudi Arabia as part of an initiative to end the devastating conflict.

It follows twin attacks on Saudi oil installations, claimed by the Houthis, that knocked out half of the kingdom's production.

Riyadh's ally Washington condemns the attacks as an "act of war", placing the blame on Iran and announcing it is imposing new sanctions and sending more troops to the Gulf.

Mehdi Al Mashat, head of the Houthis' supreme political council, announces "the halt of all attacks against the territory of Saudi Arabia".

"Pursuing war is not in anyone's interest," he says.

UNITED NATIONS, United States — Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Syria's war-torn Idlib province after other members warned the conflict could become the century's worst humanitarian crisis.

During negotiations on the draft, Russia pressed unsuccessfully to include an exception for "anti-terrorist operations".

Ambassadors of Belgium, Kuwait and Germany had strongly urged that the resolution should not be vetoed, calling it a "purely humanitarian" measure.

The failed resolution said that all parties should cease hostilities "to avoid a further deterioration of the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Idlib governorate, beginning at noon Damascus time on 21 September".

Russia and China countered by presenting an alternative resolution, which may be voted on later in Thursday's session.

It specifies that the ceasefire would not apply to military operations against individuals, groups or entities "associated with terrorist groups".

Russia backs the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad, which has been conducting a four-month-long campaign to wrest Idlib province from extremist forces.

On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres joined the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer in appealing for an end to air and artillery bombardment of Idlib.

TUNIS — Former Tunisian president Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali, the first leader to be toppled by the Arab Spring revolts, died on Thursday in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia's foreign ministry told AFP. He was 83.

"We had confirmation of his death 30 minutes ago," the ministry said, without giving further details. 

His lawyer, Mounir Ben Salha, confirmed the news, citing family members and Ben Ali's doctor.

Ben Ali, who ruled his north African country from 1987 until 2011, was viewed by some as a bulwark against Islamist extremism, but faced criticism for muzzling the opposition and his reluctance to embrace democracy.

Eventually, growing frustration over unemployment and high prices snapped. 

In late 2010, the self-immolation of a young trader sparked major protests that rocked the country and sparked a deadly clampdown.

Ben Ali fled Tunisia for Saudi Arabia on January 14, 2011.

His rapid departure sparked a string of similar uprisings across the region, toppling Egyptian and Libyan strongmen Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Qadhafi.

The turmoil triggered what was to become Syria's devastating eight-year war.

In mid-2012, Ben Ali was sentenced in absentia to life in jail for his role in the deaths of protesters during the uprising that ousted him.

Little information has emerged on his life in exile.

Photos posted on Instagram in 2013 showed the former strongman smiling in striped pyjamas. 

Rumours of his death had circulated several times in recent years. 

A week ago, Ben Salha said the former president was in a "critical condition", before denying reports that he had died. 

"He is not dead, but his state of health is bad. He has left hospital and is currently being cared for at his home — his condition is stabilising", the lawyer said at the time.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said last week that on humanitarian grounds Ben Ali could return to die in his own country — “like every Tunisian” — should he wish to do so. 

Ben Ali is survived by six children; three daughters by a first marriage and two daughters and a son by Leila Trabelsi.

A career soldier, Ben Ali took power on November 7, 1987 when he toppled Habib Bourguiba, the ailing father of Tunisian independence who was by then reported to be senile.

Tunisians, including Islamists, hailed his bloodless, non-violent takeover.

He went on to make Tunisia a moderate voice in the Arab world while Western governments viewed him as an effective bulwark against extremism despite criticism of his slow move toward democracy.

Ben Ali was also sentenced in absentia to misappropriating public funds and ordering the torture of army officers who allegedly led a coup attempt against him.

Tunisia on Sunday held a presidential election, in which two outsiders — law professor Kais Saied and detained media mogul Nabil Karoui — made it through to a second round run-off. 

The country’s first post Arab Spring democratically elected president, Beji Caid Essebsi, died in July aged 92, bringing the first round of the presidential polls forward by several months.

BEIRUT — Lebanon's defence minister on Thursday exhibited two drones he said Israel had sent last month into a Beirut bastion of the Shiite group Hizbollah.

Elias Bou Saab displayed a pair of drones — one intact and the remains of the other — and used slides to give a detailed account of the alleged Israeli operation.

He said the devices were "advanced military production" and even listed the name and address of one Israeli company he said made some of the components.

The August 25 drone incident in Beirut, which came a day after Israeli strikes targeted Hizbollah operatives in Syria, drastically raised tensions in the region.

Lebanon's government and Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah both described the apparently botched operation as an act of aggression.

Israel's and Hizbollah's respective patrons, the United States and Iran, have been locked in an escalating tit-for-tat proxy war in recent months.

Bou Saab said that the data retrieved from the intact drone — from which the explosive charge was purportedly removed for the press conference — offered a set of detailed times and locations.

The operation was initiated 11.6 kilometres off the coastal airstrip of Habonim, south of the Israeli city of Haifa, he said, adding that the explosives-laden device had been guided by another larger drone in the area.

To reach its presumed target, that device flew over the Jnah district near Beirut International Airport, in what the defence minister said would have posed a risk to civilian air traffic.

Following the Beirut incident, Hizbollah had vowed to take down Israeli drones overflying Lebanon and on September 9 claimed it had downed and seized one.

The Israeli army confirmed that one of its devices "fell" in Lebanon but it has not commented on the August 25 incident.

TUNIS — At the political science faculty where Tunisian presidential candidate Kais Saied taught law, a devoted following of young voters swayed by his campaign propelled the political novice to the second round.

Now they are determined to help him to victory in next month's run-off against fellow outsider, populist media mogul Nabil Karoui.

"Many young people voted in his favour because they wanted to revolt against the system, to say that we can take things into our own hands," said Balkis, a 19-year-old student at the faculty near the capital Tunis where Saied taught constitutional law until recently.

Eight years after Tunisia's youth-led revolution that toppled longtime ruler Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali, Saied, 61, led the first round of the north African country's second freely contested presidential election by universal suffrage with 18.4 per cent of the votes.

According to a poll by Sigma Conseil institute, Saied garnered more than 37 per cent of the votes among 18 to 25 year olds, after a grassroots campaign organised by young volunteers.

Saied's surprise victory in the first round was "an new youth revolution: a ballot box revolution" said Balkis.

While admitting she did not vote for him in the first round, having not seen him as a "statesman", she said she had "no doubt of his integrity, his modesty and his respect for everyone".

For Ghofrane Bejaoui, 20, there was no question of her support for Saied.

"Of course I voted for him. He is the best candidate, respectful and above all very honest," she said.

Saied "is very respected and has a very good reputation in this faculty", said Sana Ben Nomane, a professor of public law and former colleague of Saied's.

"You hear nothing but good things about him."

Despite a stern appearance, rigid self-presentation and speech — earning him the nickname "Robocop" — former students and colleagues described Saied as a considerate teacher, who did not hesitate to support all his students.

While Saied drew young people to the polls, many others abstained in a vote that only saw 49 per cent turnout, according to the electoral commission ISIE.

Ibtihel Kahla, 20, did not vote in the first round, believing that any "honest" candidate would not stand a chance of winning.

But, surprised by Saied's victory, she now says she will "not miss the next round of the presidential election and will vote for Kais Saied".

For Mourad, another student, "young people have the right to exclude the old system and look for a new alternative".

Both Saied and his second round opponent Karoui are political outsiders who drew on "anti-system" sentiment in Tunisia, spurred by exasperation with high unemployment, a rising cost of living and failing public services.

Karoui, a media mogul and founder of a TV channel, is contesting the election from behind bars where he has been awaiting trial on money-laundering charges since August 23.

Many on campus said they were not surprised by the youth support for Saied.

"You know why? It's because there is currently a campaign aimed at undermining this man and accusing him of being a Salafist, a fundamentalist, which is totally false," said an administrative official from another Tunisian faculty on condition of anonymity.

In response, he said, "There will be a mobilisation to push the maximum number of young people to vote for him."

Moness Bkara, another former student of Saied's, was convinced of this.

"Attempts to undermine him will only improve his chances in the second round. He will be the future president of Tunisia and that makes me truly proud," she said.

Young campaigners behind Saied have already flexed their mobilisation muscles.

On Tuesday, they launched a campaign to boycott the Elhiwar Ettounsi TV channel, which they said was slighting their candidate.

The channel lost almost one million followers from its Facebook page in a single day as a result, according to Tunisian media reports.

MOSCOW — Russia on Wednesday accused the US and Syrian rebels of blocking the evacuation of a refugee camp in southern Syria, where the UN has described conditions as "critical". 

The Russian army called the isolated Rukban camp in a US-controlled desert near the Jordanian border a "death camp".

According to Moscow, a key backer of the Syrian regime, a UN-led evacuation operation is scheduled to begin on September 27 to transfer the camp's thousands of refugees to government-controlled territory. 

But Russian army general Mikhail Mizintsev told a press conference the evacuation was "on the verge of collapse because of provocations by rebels under US control". 

According to the Russian army, the rebels refused to ensure the safety of evacuation convoys and took some of the humanitarian aid distributed to the camp. 

Rights groups have warned that civilians returning to government-led territory have faced detention and conscription.

The UN said it sent aid to the Rukban camp this month, the first such delivery since February. 

According to the UN, some 12,700 people remain in the camp which is near a base used by the US-led coalition. 

Syria and Russia said in February they had opened corridors out of the camp, calling on residents to leave. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish and Iranian counterparts met in Turkey this week for their latest summit on Syria, vowing to work together to prevent further humanitarian crises in the last rebel-held bastion of Idlib. 

Russian air strikes have continued in the region despite the latest ceasefire agreed by rebel-backer Ankara and Moscow on August 31. 

Syria’s civil war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.