HARF SUFIAN, YEMEN // High in the mountains of northern Yemen, Naser Yahia Dhawi, a tribal militant fighting alongside government troops, held a dagger and a Quran, which he claimed he took from slaughtered Shiite rebels.
"The Houthis are aggressive fighters and difficult snipers, though we have killed many of them," said the 20-year-old, wearing military fatigues. "Our confrontation with them gets tough at night as they attack us with artillery and shells."
The young fighter was speaking from the rugged and arid mountain known as al Jabal al Aswad, or black mountain, where four military brigades have set up base from where they aim to intensify operations against nearby al Houthi rebels.
The camp has expanded with dozens of tents and shelters erected to cope with the influx of about 1,000 troops.
Mr Dhawi said he was one of about 400 tribal fighters in Harf Sufian backing the army in its offensive, which has been going on in both Harf Sufian and the northern province of Sa'ada, the main rebel stronghold, since August 11.
On Wednesday, fierce fighting left 30 dead across northern Yemen. Among the dead were four soldiers and five rebels killed in the Harf Sufian district of Amran, where the military has established the mountain stronghold.
On the way to the mountain, which is 171km north of the capital Sana'a, army vehicles with armed soldiers and their tribal militant allies buzzed back and forth along the bumpy, checkpoint-dotted road. Mobile phone service is suspended around Harf Sufian.
Mansour Khudhair, 22, another tribal fighter from Hashid, the biggest tribe in Yemen, which has deployed hundreds of fighters in support of the army, said he was fighting not only for Yemen, but also spoils of war.
"I am fighting to defend my country but also because al Houthis have a lot of guns and I would like to get some of them," Mr Khudhair said, wearing traditional tribal dress with a Kalashnikov rifle hanging from his shoulder.
One army soldier said tangible progress on the ground has been made, particularly after the deployment of Yemen's highly trained al Amalikah brigade to the battlefield in Harf Sufian a month ago. New roads have been built in the mountains which will be used as barricades, according to a local guide.
"We are making great progress - Many dead bodies of rebels were left around al Shaqra; we are now besieging Harf city from different sides," said the soldier, who asked to remain anonymous as he is not authorised to talk to media.
The soldier said attacking Harf would not be easy as it is riddled with about 700 locally made mines.
Another army officer said local criminals were backing the rebels.
"We know that scores of wanted criminals are supporting the rebels because they think if any political compromise is reached with the government, they would be part of the deal," the officer said.
On leaving the camp, a weighty explosion hit the mountain a few hundred metres away and smoke and dust could be seen in the air. Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, said this week that his government was ready to fight the rebels for as long as six years, recognising the difficulty of the task the army faces.
Yemen launched Operation Scorched Earth on August 11 in a bid to finally crush the uprising that has left thousands dead since it first broke out in 2004. The authorities accuse the rebels of seeking to restore the Zaidi Shiite imamate that was overthrown in a republican coup in 1962, triggering an eight-year civil war. The rebels deny the charge. A minority in mainly Sunni Yemen, the Zaidis are the majority community in the north and President Saleh is himself a Zaidi.
The collapse of truce offers presented by both sides during the past two months has led to increasingly fierce fighting, which rights groups say has caused growing numbers of displaced people. According to Yemen Red Crescent Society, a local relief organisation, about 60 families are displaced every day.
"The situation of the displaced is catastrophic. Their number is on the rise as long as the battle goes on," said Obaid Mardam, representative of the Yemen Red Crescent Society in Amran.
Ali Dhawi, deputy head of the ruling party office in Harf Sufian, said 35,000 out of Harf Sufian's population of 45,000 have been displaced by the fight.
Tens of thousands are now living in scattered, makeshift camps, on roadsides and in the open in the cities of Arman, Hajja, al Jawf and Sa'ada.
Abdullah Hasan al Awam, 60, fled his home village of Haidan in Sa'ada last Friday along with his seven-member family and 50 other people. He and his family are now living day to day in Amran. "We fled because of the heavy shelling of the aircraft to Haidan which is controlled by al Houthis," Mr al Awam said. "It took us two days to reach here. We were living in fear as al Houthis fire from places close to our houses. The warplane hit a nearby house and three were killed."
With a pale face and covered in dust, Mr al Awam said he and the male members of his family had been sleeping rough.
"Some benevolent locals accepted to house our women, but we, men, have been living here in the open without any shelter. We have no blankets and mattresses. It is a miserable situation," he said while cuddling his son.
The UN estimates that intensified combat has forced 55,000 highland villagers from their homes, adding to the 95,000 displaced from previous bouts of fighting in the five-year-old conflict. Thousands have been killed and displaced since the insurgency began in 2004.
Furthermore, old camps which were holding those who fled earlier fighting are straining under a new influx and are inaccessible because of the turmoil, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Thousands of displaced people are stranded around the war zone with aid agencies unable to reach them because of the intensified fighting, local and international aid agencies said.
The UNHCR said in a statement on Tuesday: "Local residents and displaced people, caught up in the fighting - continue to face a dire humanitarian situation, unable to leave the embattled city to seek safety and shelter elsewhere."
malqadhi@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
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If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh12 million
Engine 8.0-litre quad-turbo, W16
Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch auto
Power 1479 @ 6,700rpm
Torque 1600Nm @ 2,000rpm 0-100kph: 2.6 seconds 0-200kph: 6.1 seconds
Top speed 420 kph (governed)
Fuel economy, combined 35.2L / 100km (est)
Results
4pm: Maiden; Dh165,000 (Dirt); 1,400m
Winner: Solar Shower; William Lee (jockey); Helal Al Alawi (trainer)
4.35pm: Handicap; Dh165,000 (D); 2,000m
Winner: Thaaqib; Antonio Fresu; Erwan Charpy.
5.10pm: Maiden; Dh165,000 (Turf); 1,800m
Winner: Bila Shak; Adrie de Vries; Fawzi Nass
5.45pm: Handicap; Dh175,000 (D); 1,200m
Winner: Beachcomber Bay; Richard Mullen; Satish Seemar
6.20pm: Handicap; Dh205,000 (T); 1,800m
Winner: Muzdawaj; Jim Crowley; Musabah Al Muhairi
6.55pm: Handicap; Dh185,000 (D); 1,600m
Winner: Mazeed; Tadhg O’Shea; Satish Seemar
7.30pm: Handicap; Dh205,000 (T); 1,200m
Winner: Riflescope; Tadhg O’Shea; Satish Seemar.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs: 2018 BMW R nineT Scrambler
Price, base / as tested Dh57,000
Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm
Torque 116Nm @ 6,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.3L / 100km
The specs: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor
Price, base / as tested Dh220,000 / Dh320,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission 10-speed automatic
Power 421hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 678Nm @ 3,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.1L / 100km
