By Seyed Mahdi Mir-Esmaeili*

The year we left behind (2021) was declared the Year of Fruits and Vegetables by the United Nations. This note is to introduce this year and its observance in Iran.
Today, due to the growing population and the increasing need to exploit food resources, we witness a shortage of natural resources, pollution from industrial agriculture in large scale, as well as the loss and waste of great amounts of food. Therefore, one of the goals of the Sustainable Development Plan of the UN for 2030 is to get closer to eradicating poverty in various forms. To put an end to nutrition and food poverty and hunger can be considered an important part of this goal.
Antonio Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, on December 15, 2020, declared 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables. While emphasizing the importance of nutrition and diet based on balanced intake of fruits and vegetables and its undeniable impact on health, he called for measures to be taken to increase public awareness of the consumption of fruits and vegetables.
Guterres also urged reexaminations in line with optimization of the production and consumption system of fruits and vegetables, as well as improving financial ability to provide proper nutrition.
“Furthermore, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the livelihoods of a large number of people, we must pay more attention to the poor people so that no one is deprived of the consumption of fruits and vegetables,” he added.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on its official website listed the goals of the organization in 2021 as follows:
Invite all bodies of the United Nations including education and health organizations, to increase public awareness and implement appropriate policies to address the benefits of fruits and vegetables in health
Promote diets with a balanced and varied share of fruits and vegetables
Reduction of losses and waste in food production and consumption systems
Applying best measures in the areas of:
I. Expanding the sustainable consumption and production of fruits and vegetables in order to help the sustainable food system.
II. Storage, transportation, trade, processing, retail, waste reduction and recycling as well as interactions between these developments.
III. Invite and employ smallholders, including family farmers, in local, regional and global production systems.
IV. Increase and strengthen the capacity of all countries with special attention to developing countries to apply innovative approaches and technologies to deal with losses and waste of fruits and vegetables.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, this designation was widely welcomed in different countries and was manifested in the form of virtual seminars, public education, articles and research, festivals, exhibitions, competitions, and so on. Searching for this year’s programs in cyberspace leads us to about 20,000 different articles in this regard in different languages.

International Year of Fruits and Vegetables in Iran

Despite the international importance of this program, its global value and the direct connection that the purpose of this designation had with the health of people, unfortunately no special planning was observed for this year by Iranian government bodies including the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and educational centers such as universities or trade unions. What we saw in a limited way was related to private institutions. Even in the Iranian media and magazines, the coverage of this global event was limited to a few news related to the announcement of this designation.
In the following, we will take a look at the most important activities carried out in Iran on the occasion of this event:
One of the nice events of the year was the popular movement of a group of writers in calling on families to pay attention to the tradition of Yalda Night. In this process, about 120 cultural figures invited Iranians to protect Yalda during the pandemic and its fruits, namely pomegranate and watermelon, that was widely reported in the media.
Coinciding with the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, for the first time in Iran, as the 41st celebrating country, the celebration of World Fruit Day was held on July 1.
A director of the Ministry of Health responded to the call to promote the day, in an interview urged public attention to improving nutrition and eating more fruits and vegetables. In his interview, Alireza Mahdavi, the deputy director of the Department of Non-Infectious Diseases Management of the Ministry of Health, emphasized the role of consuming fruits and vegetables in reducing and controlling non-infectious diseases.
Concurrent with the celebration of the World Fruit Day, this occasion was reflected for the first time on the state Radio and TV of the Islamic Republic of Iran. One of the most popular programs of Channel 2 was dedicated on June 29 to the International Fruit Day.
Also, several articles on this occasion were published by me and other writers in Iranian media such as ISNA, Shargh and Jam-e Jam newspapers, and Salamat, Atieh No and Azema magazines. A documentary on the World Fruit Day written by Fatemeh Pir -Mohammadi, directed by Mohammad Rouhbakhsh, edited by Azin Dehqan and narrated by Amirhossein Modarres was screened on TVA IPTV of
Iran.
One of the popular programs of the year was the Fruit Poetry Challenge. In this challenge, professional young poets were invited to publish poems with fruit-themed poems. The call was welcomed by the media. Famous poets including Mostafa Rahmandoust, Afsaneh Sha’ban-Nejad, Ja’far Ebrahimi Shahed, Peyvand Farhadi and Assadollah Sha’bani attended the event.
Another notable event of the year was the celebration of the International Day of Watermelon on August 3 in the Ava Center in Tehran.
With all that being said, the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables in Iran was not celebrated well. All that can be found in cyberspace with the corresponding hashtag in Farsi does not exceed 30 articles. The FAO Office in Iran, as the global custodian of the day, should have held more talks to encourage government, private, academic, trade unions, and media to celebrate this event. Also, Iranian institutions could have more contribution and support for this occasion.

*Seyed Mahdi Mir-Esmaeili is an Iranian commerce expert.

By Zohreh Qanadi*

I don’t know the exact origin of art in the long history of humankind. Perhaps it started with a caveman marking his feelings on stone walls. And then, over thousands of years, what we may fairly call ‘art’ has diversified into many fields, each with its own tools, techniques and results. At moments, however, separate fields of art joined hands to provide artists with more effective tools. One such example is where glass and paint make a united front of human expression, presenting colorful paintings on glasswork.
“Some believe that this form of art had existed in pre-Islamic Iran and was subsequently marginalized and forgotten over time. They say that this form of art re-emerged in the Safavid and Zand eras,” said Saeid Rezakhan, a longtime practitioner of Reverse Glass Painting in an exclusive interview with Iran Daily. The interview was conducted on the occasion of ‘The Nature of Glass’ exhibition, organized by Rezakhan, which reflects the different styles used by the Reverse Glass Painters of Iran.
“Here, you see the design that came from the heart of Reverse Glass Painters. What erupts from within them is turned into a design that is painted on the back of glass and invites the passerby to stroll around in this glass garden,” wrote Reverse Glass Painters on their inviting brochure.
A collection of works by 27 painters are on display in the exhibition from December 26, 2021 to January 5, 2022.
“Once upon a time, this form of art was introduced as architectural ornaments,” said Rezakhan. “We need to see how we can bring it back into our homes or workplaces.”

*Zohreh Qanadi is a staff writer at Iran Daily.


Would you tell our readers about your artistic and professional background?
I came across the art of reverse painting on glass in 1992. At that time, I didn’t know that such a painting technique exists and is known as Reverse Glass Painting or Under Glass Painting. That’s why I used to consider myself the creator of this form of art in Iran, and since I had no prior notion of it, my reverse glass paintings were very different from the works of veterans and forerunners. I attempted several times to hold an exhibition on Reverse Glass Painting, and finally in December 2015, the exhibition titled ‘Nature Frame’ was held with the support of the Under Glass Painting Museum in Tehran. In January 2017, together with four other friends, we arranged a group called the Reverse Glass Painters of Iran to nationally introduce the art of Reverse Glass Painting.

We have heard different narratives about the history of Reverse Glass Painting in the country. Please describe briefly the history and the narratives surrounding it.
Some consider it an art imported from Europe, namely from Venice in Italy and Bavaria in Germany. It is believed that the art of reverse painting on glass entered Iran during the Safavid Period (1501-1736 CE). It became prevalent in the country during the Zand Era (1750-1779 CE) as architectural ornaments used in houses of nobles and aristocrats.
However, others believe that this form of art existed in pre-Islamic Iran and was subsequently marginalized and forgotten over time. They say that this form of art re-emerged in the Safavid and Zand eras. But it is not clear what caused its re-emergence. This issue is not mentioned anywhere. So, we can assume three theories:
Domestic artists returned to this form of art because of either their personal findings or the background that this form of art had had in Iran.
The Indian and Chinese art of reverse painting during the Safavid and Zand eras made an impact on Iranian limners and painters. (As this painting skill has a long history in India and China).
Some European paintings with religious themes were imported to Iran by Western merchants.

What do you think happened?
My opinion is that reverse painting on glass had existed in Iran in the pre-Islamic era. You will be astounded by seeing the extraordinary elegance and variety of the Achaemenid-era glassworks. It is quite unbelievable to me that people who created such glass artworks didn’t reach the level of skill that this art form is now known for. There is even a glass lotus-shaped bowl that has remnants of paint visible on its back. (This bowl dates back to sometime between the Achaemenid and the Sassanid periods.)

Can we consider the paintings done on glassware dating back to the pre-Islamic era as works that utilized this technique?
Yes, parts of these artworks are reverse paintings. That’s why it is feasible to consider the possibility of this art form having an Iranian origin.

What different styles are there in Reverse Glass Painting?
Reverse Glass Painting is a technique. Therefore, it includes a variety of artistic styles. Unfortunately, because this technique is not so well-known, few people are familiar with it and, likewise, there are very few specific styles of it. But in terms of classical styles, there are seven to consider: Gol o morgh [flower and bird], portrait (limner portraits of Qajar princes), fantasy creations, iconography, European style illustrations (views of buildings, bridges, clock towers, etc.), Reverse Glass Calligraphy and finally personal methods used by distinctive people in the past that were not common among other artists.
 
What is your estimate of the number of reverse glass painters in Iran?
Unfortunately, no exact statistics have been released by the relevant organizations. But based on my experience, as well as my trips to the different parts of the country, I estimate that about 400 artists are practicing in this field across the country. These are just the artists that I know and have seen their work.

What do you think of the movement to virtualize exhibitions and training courses and its impact on this art form?
I have repeated this many times in my interviews. The world is changing. The move towards virtualization of education, exhibitions and sales of artworks has begun long ago. But what we have seen in the past two years has been the acceleration of this movement. During these two years, Reverse Glass Painting, like many other forms of art, has entered the virtual arena. This accelerates the expansion of this style of painting but it also has its drawbacks. For example, shallow communication in cyberspace is among its disadvantages.

How do you think we can promote or introduce this form of art besides holding exhibitions? For example, can it be used in the interior architecture of our homes or workplaces?
There is a lot we can do to introduce Reverse Glass Painting. The fact is that this technique is very obscure in Iran. That is why there is a lot of room for action in this area. The first option that comes to my mind is writing a book since we do not have any significant source in this regard. Holding conferences and workshops, developing a new academic discipline, or even introducing this technique as a unique course in art schools all seem necessary to fully introduce the art.
Regarding its use in interior architecture, I think that conducting a needs assessment and marketing are necessary. Once upon a time when old buildings with their old architectural styles existed, this form of art was introduced as architectural ornaments to the art of plastering and Orosi [colorful sash] windows. Reintroducing this form of art to interior architecture, as I said, needs assessment; designing and marketing should be done. We need to assess how we can bring it back into our homes or workplaces. Partitions, tables and cupboards, decorating fireplaces and other architectural ornaments provide opportunities for using this old form of art. But there is an interesting point here that you also mentioned in your question: Introducing this skill by entering it into our daily lives. Entering this form of art into public life will be an extensive advertisement for it.

What place does this art form have in the world?
We have a specialized museum in its name in Iran: The Under Glass Painting Museum. As far as I know, nowhere else in the world is there a specialized museum in this field. But artists all across the world are practicing this painting technique. For example, there are many reverse glass painters in China and, especially, India. A lot of artworks in this field that come from these two countries date back to past centuries. There are also artists that practice reverse painting on glass in Turkey, Italy, Germany and the United States. However, in other countries, the artists that practice this form of art are not organized in groups, rather they work individually.

Do you interact and communicate with peers abroad?
No, unfortunately not. Such communications have not taken place until today, and if there were any, it was personal communication made through friends in cyberspace, which is another advantage of cyberspace.

These days we are witnessing the holding of an exhibition entitled ‘The Nature of Glass’. Please tell us about this exhibition.
Earlier this year (specifically on March 20), artists of the group of Reverse Glass Painters sent their works to me to be exhibited in the planned show. About 90 works were selected to attend the exhibition. To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the exhibition was postponed several times. Finally, we held the first exhibition of the year last month, which was titled “The Garden of Glass Flowers”. Remaining paintings have been on display in an eleven-day exhibition titled, ‘The Nature of Glass,’ launched on December 25. There are still some paintings remaining that we will show in the future.
Unfortunately, we are still dealing with the aftershocks of the coronavirus pandemic. In this situation, we could not coordinate a large gallery. That’s why we planned to showcase the works in three parts. To date, we have held two exhibitions in the Abi [Blue] Gallery in Tehran.


Reverse Glass Painting is a game of paint and light. The light reflects and brags about the transparency of the glass to spectators. Here, the paints find another splendor and seem shinier than they really are. This is the very magic of glass. The magic that bestows a certain splendor to paints and designs. But in ‘The Nature of Glass’, aside from this game of paint and light, we are also confronted with the combination of paints and their blending. The strokes and dragging of the brush and the blending, dilution and contrast of paints with each other all result in the creation of a certain texture in reverse painting on glass. Thus, you face a world of diversity that displays signs of the utilization of a technique. The technique of reverse painting on glass separates it from various other styles in the sphere of art, in a way that we can see a range of styles in the realm of arts created on the back of glass. In the exhibition titled, ‘The Nature of Glass’ we observe a variety of paint applications, paint spreading and subject matters that stem from within the glass painting artist. This is because art erupts from within and reverse glass painters are no exception to this rule. Here, you see the design that comes from the heart of Reverse Glass Painters. What erupts from within them is turned into a design that is painted on the back of a glass and invites the passerby to stroll around in this glass garden.

“As a child, I used to paint on everything that came across my way,” says Susan Shavand, an artist born in 1964, with a single painting in ‘The Nature of Glass’ exhibition. “It was my greatest hobby, to the extent that I used to carry my tools around everywhere I went.”
As painting was not considered to be a decent profession to pursue for a girl at the time, her father forced her to give it up. Deprived of her colorful dream, she set her mind on becoming a medical doctor. That was not meant to be, either.
“Public universities’ admission exam was a real monster,” she recalls. In 1992, she started working as a medical assistant in Iranmehr Hospital, where she served for 20 years.
Shavand said, “I kept drawing and painting throughout all those years.” But it was after her retirement that her interest in painting was indeed rekindled.
“I took several courses in three years and attended some 20 exhibitions,” she claimed. At the age of 53, she finally made her long-lost dream come true: Studying graphics in an academic setting. And after four years, she got her bachelor’s degree.
“It shows waves upon waves, representing the turbulent nature of life as it is,” she told me about her painting.
Asked if it’s somehow an autobiographical work, she responded, “Why not? There is a little sailor on the bottom of the painting, trying to navigate the wild waters.”



 

Iran urges UNSC to hold US, Israel accountable

International Desk

President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi vowed revenge on Monday for the assassination of Iran’s revered Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani unless former US president Donald Trump was put on trial.
“If a mechanism for the trial of Mr. Trump, (former secretary of state Mike) Pompeo and other criminals is set up in a fair court to address their appalling crime and they are brought to justice for their despicable acts, it would be better. If not, I am telling all the American statesmen that a hand of revenge will undoubtedly come out of the Muslim world’s sleeve,” Raeisi warned as he addressed a large gathering in the Iranian capital Tehran to mark the second anniversary of the US assassination of General Soleimani in Iraq.
Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutuion Guards Corps, was on a mission in Iraq to meet the then prime minister when his convoy came under a drone attack near Baghdad Airport on January 3, 2020.
The strike, directly ordered by Trump, led to the martyrdom of the top commander and his entourage on the spot, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).
Raeisi said Trump as “the prime criminal” of the case must be punished by death for his central role in the deadly strike.  
He added the US “assassinated a nation, not a person” by the targeted killing that sent shockwaves throughout the region and the whole Muslim world.
The president noted that Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has rightly said that “martyr Soleimani” is more dangerous to the enemy than “General Soleimani,” because the likes of Soleimani will rise in the future.

‘Harsh revenge’

Also on Sunday night, Zeinab Soleimani, the commander’s daughter, renewed her pledge to avenge her father’s assassination.
“We vow to move closer, hand in hand and step by step, to the horizon of exacting ‘harsh revenge’ on enemies whose hands are stained with their blood,” Zeinab said during a vigil at Baghdad Airport, according to Press TV.
Manar, the daughter of Muhandis, also spoke at the event, reasserting that “we will take revenge for the blood” of the two commanders and their companions.
In a message on Sunday, Iraqi President Barham Salih paid tribute to “the brave stand of the two heroes” who “sacrificed their precious souls” to defeat the Daesh terror group in Iraq and Syria and to protect the region.

US, Israeli must be held accountable

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations urged the UN Security Council in a letter to hold the United States and Israel, which Tehran says was also involved in the assassination, to account.
“Given the dire implications of this terrorist act on international peace and security, the Security Council must live up to its Charter-based responsibilities and hold the United States and the Israeli regime to account for planning, supporting, and committing the terrorist act,” Majid Takht-Ravanchi wrote to Mona Juul, the rotating president of the world body.
The Iranian diplomat noted former head of the Israeli military intelligence Tamir Hayman admitted last December that the Tel Aviv regime was involved in the 2020 assassination and described it as “an achievement” and one of the two significant and important targeted killings during his term.
“As I have on numerous occasions underlined,” Takht-Ravanchi said, “this internationally wrongful criminal act was a grave breach of the obligations of the United States under the international law, and thus entails its international responsibility.”
“This criminal act also entails the criminal responsibility of all those who had aided, abetted or otherwise assisted and supported, by any means, directly or indirectly, the planning or perpetration of this terrorist act, the clear example of which is the supportive role and the involvement of the Israeli regime in it,” Iran’s UN envoy added.
In July 2020, the UN rapporteur for the extrajudicial killing concluded in a report that General Soleimani’s assassination was “unlawful” and “arbitrary” and violated the UN Charter.
Last year, Iran requested Interpol “red notices” against dozens of US officials, including Trump who also had an arrest warrant issued by an Iraqi court.
Takht-Ravanchi also emphasized that General Soleimani played a significant role in combatting international terrorism, and was rightfully entitled “Hero of the Fight against Terrorism and the General of Peace.”
“Therefore, his cowardly assassination was a big gift and service to the Daesh and other Security Council-designated terrorist groups in the region,” the Iranian diplomat said.


 

 National Desk

Iran’s daily COVID-19 fatalities dropped to below 25 on Monday for the first time in the past 666 days, according to figures by the Health Ministry.
The Health Ministry announced in a statement on Monday that the country’s daily COVID-19 fatalities and cases in the past 24 hours stood at 22 and 1,677, respectively.
On February 2, 2020, the country had for the last time seen a daily death toll of less than 25, with the fatalities standing at 21.
According to the ministry, the total COVID-19 death toll and cases since the beginning of the outbreak in the country in late February 2020 stand at 131,702 and 6,198,590.
It said 2,624 patients are in critical condition, and 334 new ones have been hospitalized.
According to the statement, 6,042,589 people have so far either recovered from the disease or have been discharged from hospitals, and 42,281,617 diagnostic tests have been carried out in the country.
Since the outbreak, Iran has grappled with five waves of COVID-19 infections, with the last one being the greatest and deadliest of all and troubling the country until a few weeks ago. Sparked mainly due to the spread of the Delta variant, the wave caused the country to see record high daily deaths and cases of over 700 and 40,000, respectively.
The wave has subsided in the country thanks to the greater pace of the public vaccination on the back of the rise in imports and domestic production of COVID-19 jabs since the beginning of the incumbent administration’s term in office in August under President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi.
Iran has so far imported 86 batches (over 150 million doses) of COVID-19 jabs and, in addition to Noura and COVIran Barekat, has produced a number of other vaccines including Fakhra (Defense Ministry), Razi Cov Pars (Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute), and Soberana 2 – or PastoCoVac (Cuba’s Instituto Finlay de Vacunas and Iran’s Pasteur Institute).
The Health Ministry added in its Monday statement that the total number of administered vaccine doses in the country stands at 120,423,022, of which 59,909,150 have been given to people as the first dose, 52,140,405 as the second dose, and 8,373,467 as the third shot. Between Sunday and Monday, 419,585 doses were administered.

Omicron cases

In a press conference on Monday, the deputy Iranian health minister for treatment and education, Saeid Karimi, said the number of confirmed Omicron cases in the country has reached 194.
Iran on December 19 said the first definite case of infection with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was ‎detected in the country and two suspicious patients were also identified.‎
‎This was announced by the head of the Health Ministry’s Center for Communicable Diseases Control and ‎Prevention.‎
Speaking in a televised interview, Mohammad Mehdi Gouya added the positive case is an Iranian ‎passenger returning to the country from a regional state, the UAE, where the new variant has spread.‎‎

International Desk

Talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers recommenced in Vienna on Monday after a brief New Year’s break with negotiators engaging in bilateral and multilateral meetings.
The eighth round began last week with a focus on the removal of US sanctions on Iran in a verifiable process and guarantees that Washington will not ditch the multilateral accord, officially called the JCPOA, as it did under former president Donald Trump in 2018.
Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani said on Thursday that “good progress” was made during the discussions last week.
 Hour before the resumption of the Vienna talks, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said the European parties to the JCPOA – France, Britain and Germany – have realized that they have to back down from their “maximalist demands” in order to revive the deal.
“If we have a common text today, that’s because the Western side realized that it must back down from its maximalist demands, and what we have today (the text) is a result of the Western parties’ realization in the Vienna talks that they cannot demand anything beyond the JCPOA on the nuclear issue and implement fewer commitments to lifting sanctions than those stipulated under the JCPOA,” Saeed Khatibzadeh said at a news conference, Press TV reported.
Khatibzadeh hailed two other parties – Russia and China – for their positive roles in the Vienna talks, saying unlike the European trio, they “do not have Alzheimer’s and know that it was the Americans who actively tried to destroy the JCPOA.”
Trump launched a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran by imposing the “toughest ever sanction” on the country after he unilaterally walked out of the JCPOA in order to pressure the country into negotiating a “better deal”.
Now his successor Joe Biden seeks to rejoin the deal. Iran demands that the US must remove its sanctions before it reenters the deal.
The US is not participating in the talks, as it is no longer a JCPOA member.
Khatibzadeh noted that Iran and the US exchange their views via indirect, written texts in order to avoid any misunderstandings and misinterpretations.
He said progress has been made in four areas of the talks, namely, the lifting of sanctions, nuclear issues, the guarantees, and the verification. The spokesman noted that the level of progress made in the four areas varies.
Iran said a “good deal” would be within reach as soon as possible “if the opposing sides continue the talks in good faith”.

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned, six weeks after returning to his post in a deal with military coup leaders he argued could save a transition toward democracy.
Hamdok, who had failed to name a government as protests continued against the military takeover in October, said Sunday a roundtable discussion was needed to produce a new agreement for Sudan’s political transition.
“I decided to give back the responsibility and announce my resignation as prime minister, and give a chance to another man or woman of this noble country to ... help it pass through what’s left of the transitional period to a civilian democratic country,” Hamdok said in a televised address, Reuters reported.
The announcement throws Sudan’s political future even deeper into uncertainty, three years after an uprising that led to the overthrow of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir.
An economist and former United Nations official widely respected by the international community, Hamdok became prime minister under a power-sharing agreement between the military and civilians following Bashir’s overthrow.
Ousted and placed under house arrest by the military during a coup on Oct. 25, he was reinstated in November.
But the deal for his return was denounced by many in the civilian coalition that had previously supported him and by protesters who continued to hold mass demonstrations against military rule.
On Sunday, Hamdok said he had tried in vain to forge a consensus between deeply divided factions that would have allowed for the completion of a peace process signed with some rebel groups in 2020, and the preparation of elections in 2023.
“I have tried as far as I am able to spare our country the danger of slipping into disaster,” Hamdok said. “Despite all that was done to bring about the desired and necessary agreement to fulfill our promise to the citizen of security, peace, justice and an end to bloodshed, this did not happen.”
In the latest rallies on Sunday, hours before Hamdok’s speech, security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators in Khartoum as protesters marched toward the presidential palace.
At least three people were killed, bringing to 57 the death toll in protests since the Oct. 25 coup, a doctors’ committee aligned with the protest movement said. Six died and hundreds were injured in nationwide demonstrations on Thursday.
 

International Desk

Yemeni forces have seized an Emirati-flagged ship carrying military equipment off Hodeida Province in the Red Sea, an army spokesman said on Monday, citing hostile acts for the capture.
“The Yemeni armed forces are seizing an Emirati military cargo ship with military equipment on board that entered Yemeni waters without any license and engaged in hostilities targeting the security and stability of the Yemeni people,” Yahya Saree said in tweet.
He added that the “unprecedented operation” was part of Yemen’s fight against the ongoing Saudi-led “aggression”.
A Saudi-led coalition, waging a seven-year war on Yemen in an effort to reinstate a former friendly government, said the vessel, named Rawabi, was captured on Sunday as it was returning to the Saudi city of Jizan carrying medical supplies after finishing a mission to set up a field hospital on Yemen’s Socotra island, off the country’s south coast.
Turki al-Malki, a Saudi military spokesman, urged Yemen’s Ansarullah movement that controls the capital Sana’a and many other regions to “promptly release the ship” or the coalition will “undertake all necessary measures…, including the use of force if necessary” to take back the ship, AFP reported.
Malki was unable to confirm the number of people on board. There was no immediate comment from the United Arab Emirates.
Fighting has intensified over the past few weeks in Yemen with Saudi Arabia carrying airstrikes almost on a daily basis mainly pounding civilian targets, according to Yemeni officials. The Saudi war on Yemen that began on 2015 has displaced millions and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the United Nations says.
A crippling air and sea blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia has added to the misery of the Yemeni people.  
UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg last week said the uptick in fighting “undermines the prospects of reaching a sustainable political settlement to end the conflict”.
“The escalation in recent weeks is among the worst we have seen in Yemen for years and the threat to civilian lives is increasing.”
In late November the United Nations said the war would have killed 377,000 people by years’ end, both directly and indirectly through hunger and disease.