Yemen's FM sends complaint to Lebanon over Houthi 'media activities'

Yemen's Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak sent a letter to the Lebanese interior minister about Houthi media broadcasting illegally from inside Lebanon.

Mubarak, from the Saudi-backed Yemen government, said that the rebels have been airing programmes through pro-Houthi TV channels, Al-Masirah and Al-Sahat, from Lebanon without legal licenses, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.

Mawlawi in response requested security agencies to investigate the operations of the two channels, adding that it is essential to respond to groups that "create obstacles facing Lebanon's efforts to strengthen relations with Arab countries and endanger the sovereignty of those countries". 

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon reached a new low last year, in part due to the political power wieled by Hezbollah, an ally of the Houthis.

In October, Lebanon's former Information Minister George Kurdahi criticised the Saudi-led coalition’s campaign in Yemen, and said Iranian-backed Houthi rebels were merely defending themselves "in the face of external aggression against Yemen for years".

His comments led to a diplomatic crisis between Lebanon and Gulf states.

Yemen has been mired in violence since the Iran-backed Houthis ousted the internationally-recognised government from Sanaa, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in a conflict often seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The war in Yemen has raged on for seven years, resulting in around 377,000 deaths and spawning one of the world's worst humanitarian crises according to the UN. 

Although Saudi officials expected the conflict to last a matter of weeks, the Houthi rebels continue to control key areas in the north and west and there is little hope for an imminent end to the fighting.