Who is Yemen's new Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, seen as fierce opponent of Houthis?

Yemen has appointed Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak as its new prime minister at a time when the country is witnessing heightened tensions as a result of the wave of attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea attacks by Houthi rebels. Bin Mubarak, who has been serving as Yemen’s foreign minister since 2020, will succeed Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, who was the country’s premier since 2018 and has left the post to take on the role of an advisor to the Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council. Who is Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak? Bin Mubarak came to prominence in world as well as Yemen politics in 2015 when he was abducted by the country’s Iran-aligned Houthis while he served as presidential chief of staff during a power struggle with then-President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. His kidnapping led to political unrest in Yemen, which thereby resulted in hostilities between the Houthis and Hadi’s presidential guards, and the resignation of the government and the president. According to a report by Al Jazeera, Bin Mubarak, who also served as former Yemeni ambassador to the US, is widely viewed as a fierce opponent of the Houthi rebels. Bin Mubarak was appointed as Yemen’s representative to the United Nations in 2018. In the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the Iran-backed Houthis are supporting Hamas. They have started attacking ships in the Red Sea, calling the strikes a retaliation for the Gaza war. The rebel group said they will not stop attacking until Israel ends the hostilities in Gaza. The Gaza war has escalated tensions in West Asia and the international community is trying to prevent a wider conflict in the region. The Israel-Hamas war broke out on 7 October after Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel, killing hundreds of innocent civilians and taking more than 200 people as hostages. In retaliation to the attack, Israel launched a massive military operation in Gaza intending to dismantle the Palestinian terrorist group’s network and freeing the hostages. With inputs from agencies