SANAA // Saudi-led coalition warplanes launched fresh air strikes against Shiite rebels across Yemen on Wednesday despite international concerns, while Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted missiles fired from Yemen.
The coalition resumed strikes days after UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait between representatives of the government and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels ended without a breakthrough.
The coalition, which has been battling to prop up Yemen’s government against the Houthis since March 2015, hit rebel positions across northern Yemen, according to coalition officials and tribal sources. The previous day, the coalition ended a three-month moratorium and resumed hitting targets around the Yemeni capital Sanaa, which is held by rebels.
The decision to recommence air strikes has alarmed the UN.
“The secretary-general is deeply concerned about reports of increased fighting between various parties in Hajjah, Saada and Sanaa provinces including over the past few days,” said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
“The reported escalation in fighting exacerbates the already dire humanitarian and human rights situation and the suffering of the Yemeni people.”
However, coalition spokesman General Ahmed Assiri said renewed coalition strikes in Yemen were justified after the failure of negotiations and a series of rebel violations of a three-month truce.
Foreign Minister Abdulmalek Al-Mikhlafi, head of the government’s delegation to the Kuwait talks, accused the rebels of escalating the situation to make the negotiations fail.
At a news conference in Riyadh, he castigated the Houthis and forces loyal to their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, for creating their own so-called governing council for Yemen., which he branded “unconstitutional”.
The UN says more than 6,400 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Yemen since the coalition air campaign began last March.
The fighting has also driven 2.8 million people from their homes and left more than 80 per cent of the population needing humanitarian aid.
Iran, which Riyadh accuses of supporting the Huthis, denounced the international community’s “inaction” while Saudi Arabia carried out what it called “atrocities” against Yemenis.
The missiles fired from Yemen and intercepted by Saudi Arabia on Wednesday morning were headed towards two southern towns in the kingdom. Clashes also flared between coalition forces and the insurgents close to the Saudi border, Fierce fighting was also reported between government forces and Houthi rebels in Haradh, which borders the southern Saudi province of Jazan.
* Agence France Presse
The specs
Price, base: Dh228,000 / Dh232,000 (est)
Engine: 5.7-litre Hemi V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 552Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.5L / 100km
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
The%20specs%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDual%20permanently%20excited%20synchronous%20motors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E516hp%20or%20400Kw%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E858Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20speed%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERange%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E485km%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh699%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
