GENEVA (AP) — A small Alpine river dammed by a landslide that largely buried the Swiss village of Blatten is now flowing through the debris, and the level of a newly created lake that raised worries about potential new destruction has fallen, authorities said Saturday.
A huge mass of rock, ice and mud from the Birch glacier thundered into the Lötschental valley in southern Switzerland on Wednesday, destroying much of the village. Buildings that weren't buried were submerged in a lake created by the small Lonza River, whose course was dammed by the mass of material.
Authorities worried that water pooling above the mass of rock and ice could lead to risks of its own. Still, the regional government in Valais canton (state) said that the Lonza has been flowing through the full length of the debris since Friday.
Geologist and regional official Raphaël Mayoraz said Saturday that the level of the lake has since gone down about 1 meter (3.3 feet).
“The speed at which this lake is emptying comes from the river eroding the deposit,” he said at a news conference. “This erosion is relatively slow, but that's a good thing. If it is too fast, then there is instability in this channel, and that could lead to small slides of debris.”
“The Lonza appears to have found its way, but it too early to be able to give an all-clear,” said Matthias Bellwald, Blatten's mayor.
The outlet of a dam downstream at Ferden, which is normally used to generate electricity, was opened partially on Friday evening to allow water to flow further down the valley and regulate the volume of water behind the dam. Authorities are still leaving open the possibility of evacuations further downstream if required, though the risk to other villages appears very low.
Days before most of the glacier collapsed, authorities had ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as livestock, from Blatten. Switzerland's president said on Friday that the government was looking for ways to help the evacuees.
Water from the Lonza river flows over the mud and stone, after the formation of a lake by the last houses of the village of Blatten, Switzerland, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via AP)
Check dams set up on the water from the Lonza river flows over the mud and stone, after the formation of a lake by the last houses of the village of Blatten, Switzerland, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via AP)
ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Saudi warplanes have reportedly struck on Friday forces in southern Yemen backed by the United Arab Emirates, a separatist leader says.
This comes as a Saudi-led operation attempts to take over camps of the Southern Transitional Council, or STC, in the governorate of Haramout that borders Saudi Arabia.
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE rose after the STC moved last month into Yemen’s governorates of Hadramout and Mahra and seized an oil-rich region. The move pushed out forces affiliated with the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, a group aligned with the coalition in fighting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen accused the head of the STC of blocking a Saudi mediation delegation from landing in the southern city of Aden.
The STC deputy and former Hamdrmout governor, Ahmed bin Breik, said in a statement that the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces advanced toward the camps, but the separatists refused to withdraw, apparently leading to the airstrikes.
Mohamed al-Nakib, spokesperson for the STC-backed Southern Shield Forces, also known as Dera Al-Janoub, said Saudi airstrikes caused fatalities, without providing details. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify that claim.
Al-Nakib also accused Saudi Arabia in a video on X of using “Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda militias” in a "large-scale attack " early Friday that he claimed sepratists were able to repel.
He likened the latest developments to Yemen’s 1994 civil war, “except that this time it is under the cover of Saudi aviation operations.”
Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadramout who was chosen Friday by Yemen's internationally recognized government to command the Saudi-led forces in the governorate, refuted STC claims, calling them “ridiculous” and showing intentions of escalation instead of a peaceful handover, according Okaz newspaper, which is aligned with the Saudi government.
Earlier on Friday, al-khanbashi called the current operation of retrieving seized areas “peaceful.”
“This operation is not a declaration of war and does not seek escalation,” al-Khanbashi said in a speech aired on state media. “This is a responsible pre-emptive measure to remove weapons and prevent chaos and the camps from being used to undermine the security in Hadramout,” he added.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen demands the withdrawal of STC forces from the two governorates as part of de-escalation efforts. The STC has so far refused to hand over its weapons and camps.
The coalition's spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said Friday on X that Saudi-backed naval forces were deployed across the Arabian Sea to carry out inspections and combat smuggling.
In his post on X, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jaber, said the kingdom had tried “all efforts with STC” for weeks "to stop the escalation" and to urge the separatists to leave Hadramout and Mahra, only to be faced with “continued intransigence and rejection from Aidarous al-Zubaidi," the STC head.
Al-Jaber said the latest development was not permitting the Saudi delegation's jet to land in Aden, despite having agreed on its arrival with some STC leaders to find a solution that serves “everyone and the public interest.”
Yemen’s transport ministry, aligned with STC, said Saudi Arabia imposed on Thursday requirements mandating that flights to and from Aden International Airport undergo inspection in Jeddah. The ministry expressed “shock” and denounced the decision. There was no confirmation from Saudi authorities.
ِA spokesperson with the transport ministry told the AP late Thursday that all flights from and to the UAE were suspended until Saudi Arabia reverses these reported measures.
Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war for more than a decade, with the Houthis controlling much of the northern regions, while a Saudi-UAE-backed coalition supports the internationally recognized government in the south. However, the UAE also helps the southern separatists who call for South Yemen to secede once again from Yemen. Those aligned with the council have increasingly flown the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990.
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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
Southern Yemen soldiers of Southern Transitional Council (STC) at a check point, in Aden, Yemen, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo)
