Category World News

17 people have been executed by firing squad in Yemen after being accused of espionage by Israel’s and its western allies.

Houthi-run media reported that the Specialized Criminal Court in the capital Sanaa on Saturday morning handed down the sentences in the cases of “espionage cells within a spy network affiliated with American, Israeli, and Saudi intelligence.”

According to Saba and other outlets, the court sentenced the 17 men to execution “to be carried out in a public place as a deterrent,” as well as publishing a list of names.

The total number of trial defendants in this case now stands at 20 while a woman and a man are serving ten years in prison.

According to Houthi-run media, state prosecutors in 2024 and 2025, including the United Kingdom, charged the defendants with “espionage for foreign countries hostile to Yemen.” The defendants may now appeal the sentences.

‘Since allegedly “directed” intelligence officers who were in contact with the accused Yemenis, whose allegedly “directed the targeting of several military, security, and civilian sites and the destruction of extensive infrastructure’.

After Israel’s genocidal war broke out in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis launched attacks on Israel and international maritime transit through the Red Sea in a purported effort to support Palestinians who were under siege. In response, the United States and the UK carried out dozens of deadly joint air strikes across Yemen.

Since last month’s ceasefire agreement in Gaza, the Houthis have stopped attacking.

In addition to killing political leaders and dozens of civilians, Israel has carried out frequent airstrikes against Yemen and its infrastructure, hitting fuel tanks, power plants, and a crucial port city where desperately needed humanitarian aid transits through.

The Houthis’ prime minister was killed in Sanaa in an Israeli airstrike in August, according to the Houthis’ claims in August.

According to a statement released at the time, Ahmed al-Rahawi and “several” other ministers were killed.

In the cases disclosed on Saturday, Houthi authorities, who now control Sanaa and some of Yemen’s northern regions after an armed uprising more than a decade ago, did not mention any connections to the UN or other international organizations.

However, they have increasingly raided UN and NGO offices over the past year, detained dozens of mostly local but also international staff members, and taken all-important equipment.

After being found guilty of defying the international appointee’s rulings, Dodik was fired from office for defying Bosnia’s international peace envoy, Christian Schmidt, who had oversaw a peace agreement that had kept Bosnia together since the end of its 1992-1995 war, which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people and caused thousands of others, Dodik was imprisoned for defying the international envoy.

Additionally, the court forbade him from running for president for six years, and gave him a one-year prison sentence that he avoided by posting bail. The Supreme Court of Bosnia upheld that decision in early November.

Dodik’s nationalist party, which has been in power for almost 20 years, is seen as facing a significant challenge with the election.

The winner will serve less than a year before an October general election as a result of the early voting. One and two candidates have a choice of about 1.2 million voters.

Sinisa Karan, a 63-year-old former interior minister who is Dodik’s personal choice, and Sinisa Karan, a personal choice, are the two main contenders to succeed him. The Union of Independent Social Democrats is still Dodik’s party’s leader.

Branko Blanusa, a 56-year-old electrical engineering professor who has repeatedly brought corruption allegations against Dodik and his party, was chosen by the main opposition group, the Serb Democratic Party.

The Central Election Commission will release the final official vote count only after the body has verified all outcomes, but preliminary results are anticipated on election night.

Along with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which both enjoy significant autonomy, Republika Srpska is one of Bosnia’s two main political parties. The Brcko District, a third, modest self-governing administrative body in the nation, has equal rights to the two.

Bosnian Serb leaders formally established the post-war constitutional structure of Bosnia in 1992, following the Dayton peace agreement, as Republika Srpska.

According to the most recent census, which was conducted more than a decade ago in 2013, Serbs make up 82 percent of its residents and smaller Bosniak and Croat minorities.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as President Donald Trump’s top representative at the talks, giving his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to accept the deal.

Before taking off for Switzerland, Rubio made it clear in a Sunday post on X that the US had written the proposal.

He wrote, “It is provided as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations.” It is based on input from Russia, the author says. However, it also draws on Ukraine’s ongoing and previous input.

The comments were in opposition to a claim made by a panel of veteran US senators who were most concerned with foreign policy that the plan was a Russian “wish list” rather than the actual proposal offering Washington’s positions.

Republican Mike Rounds from South Dakota claimed that the current form of this release, which “looked more like it was written in Russian”

The claim was called “blatantly false,” according to State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.

The senators earlier on Saturday warned other leaders who had threatened their neighbors that the plan would only “reward aggression” by Moscow.

The plan’s critics claim that it heavily reflects the Kremlin’s frequent demands and war narrative.

The plan also includes reducing Ukraine’s military size and promoting its sovereignty, as well as laying out a security guarantee that it won’t be attacked in the future.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, welcomed the proposal late on Friday, saying it “could form the foundation of a final peace agreement” if Washington can appoint Ukraine and its allies in Europe.

Zelenskyy promises to “work calmly” with the US and his Western allies to get through what he calls “truly one of the most difficult moments in our history,” despite the country’s cautious attitude toward its rhetoric.

Further discussions are required, according to Ukraine’s European allies, who claim that the military restrictions would make it “vulnerable to future attack” .

National security advisors will be present at the Geneva discussions in France, the UK, and Germany, also known as the E3.

As fierce fighting persuades the US-led diplomatic efforts, the conflict is getting worse.