To understand the circumstances surrounding my grandfathers death, we need to peer back into history. In the 1960s, yemen was two countries, north and south. The kingdom in the north was ruled by religious leaders, known as imams, who went to Great Lengths to isolate yemen from the rest of the world, but, in 1962, the kingdom ended, and, in its place, the only republic in the Arabian Peninsula was established. Five years later, the south gained independence from britain and became the only marxist state in the arab world. My family played a role in the events that took place in the north. None more so than the man who shaped my grandfathers politics. His own father. He was probably one of yemens best known political reformers from the 19305, and he advocated for modernisation, modern schools, economic developments and, importantly, the rule of law. He was always sceptical of the military. Cynthia met my great grandfather a decade after his sons death. He was still greatly mourning his
hello, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast moving news, interviews and reaction. we begin in the middle east, where us secretary of state, antony blinken, is due to arrive in riyadh for his fifth visit to the region since the israel gaza war began. his trip follows days of airstrikes by the united states against iranian linked targets in iraq, syria and yemen. his trip follows days of air strikes ijy his trip follows days of air strikes by the us against iranian linked targets in iraq, syria and yemen. the us central command say it is planning more strikes on iran linked targets. as well as saudi arabia, he s expected to visit israel, egypt, qatar and the occupied west bank. he ll be hoping to secure a new truce between israel and hamas. this is in response to attacks on international shipping in the red sea and a drone attack injordan which killed three us soldiers at a military base injordan more than a week ago. mr blinken is also expected to discuss pushing more
music. and flavour of the year indie rock band the last dinner party are named the bbc s sound of 202a. hello, i m ben thompson. welcome to the programme. hezbollah has repeated its warning of a fierce response to the killing of a hamas leader, saleh al arouri, in beirut on tuesday. they say that lebanon will be exposed to more israeli operations if they don t react. it comes as lebanon lodged a complaint with the un about the incident. the complaint says israel used six missiles in the attack that targeted him. tensions are still high in his hometown in the occupied west bank following the killing, as shaimaa khalil reports. the town of al arura in the west bank, saleh al arouri s hometown, is in a state of mourning. but there s also deep fury and rage at his killing. protesters have come out after the friday prayers protesting, chanting his name, chanting for continuation of resistance and condemning the war. saleh al arouri s killing may have taken a significant name off
hello, i m ben thompson, welcome to the programme. we start with news that the israeli defence minister has said that israel will retain security control of gaza after the fighting has ended and all hostages have been reef free. this comes as america and europe s most senior diplomat ticks head to the middle east to press israel and its strategy. they do appear to reject positions put forward last year by washington. under you have gland s so called fork proposals, hamas would no longer control gaza and israel would retain overall security control. a multinational force would take charge of rebuilding the territory. neighbouring egypt would take on an as yet unspecified role. but gaza would be run by unspecified government of palestinians as long as they are not hostile towards israel. and there would be no resettlement of israelis in the territory. well, the deputy secretary general of the fatah central committee, the hasty decision making body of the fatah party which contr
and flavour of the year. indie rock band the last dinner party are named the bbc s sound of 202a. hello, i m ben thompson, welcome to the programme. his brother has repeated its warning of a fierce response to the killing of a fierce response to the killing of a fierce response to the killing of a hamas leader. saleh al arouri in beirut on tuesday. it comes as lebanon lodged a complaint with the un about the attack. tensions are still high in his hometown in the occupied west bank, following the killing, as shaimaa khalil reports. the town of al arura in the west bank, saleh al arouri s hometown, is in a state of mourning. but there is also deep fury and rage at his killing. protesters have come out after the friday prayer s protesting, chanting his name, chanting for continuation of resistance, and condemning the war. saleh al arouri s killing may have taken a significant name off israel s and the us s most wanted list. he is a man that they have accused of being responsible