Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) announced Saturday the formation of a Supreme Military Committee under the command of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, signaling a new phase of military preparedness amid stalled peace efforts with the Houthi group.
In a televised address aired by state news agency Saba, the PLC's chairman Rashad Al-Alimi said the newly formed military committee would be tasked with preparing, equipping, leading and supporting all pro-government military forces, should the Houthis continue to reject peaceful political solutions.
Al-Alimi attributed Yemen's years-long crisis to the Houthi takeover of state institutions, accusing the group of refusing dialog. The suffering of the Yemeni people is the result of the militia's coup and its refusal to engage in negotiations, he said.
Al-Alimi also announced that government forces have regained control of state institutions and military bases from the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in several southern provinces, including Hadramawt, Al-Mahrah, and Aden. He stressed that the government will respond to public calls in the south by convening dialog sessions with southern factions.
The announcement follows recent tensions between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and the STC allegedly backed by the United Arab Emirates, which escalated into clashes and heavy strikes in southern Yemen.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since 2014, when Houthi forces captured Sanaa and large swathes of the north, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.
Yemen forms supreme military committee under Saudi-led coalition
Yemen forms supreme military committee under Saudi-led coalition
China's two major power grid operators -- the State Grid Corporation of China (State Grid) and China Southern Power Grid (CSG) -- reported a surge in investment in the first quarter of 2026, underscoring efforts to strengthen infrastructure construction and support high-quality socioeconomic development in China.
The State Grid said it completed fixed-asset investment worth 129 billion yuan (about 18.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months of this year, up 37 percent the corresponding period of the previous year. The spending has driven more than 250 billion yuan (36 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across the wider industrial chain.
Key projects such as the Panxi ultra-high-voltage (UHV) alternating current (AC) line and the Anhui-Hubei back-to-back direct current (DC) project have seen ground broken for their construction, while several west-to-east power transmission projects have been upgraded.
Investment in connecting renewable energy generation to the grid was reported to have exceeded 10 billion yuan (1.45 billion U.S. dollars) from January to March, a year-on-year rise of more than 50 percent.
The CSG also reported robust growth in investment in the three-month period, with fixed-asset investment reaching 38.45 billion yuan (5.58 billion U.S. dollars), up about 50 percent from a year earlier.
Among its achievements, the company completed and commissioned 80 key projects, including the 220 kV cross-sea power grid interconnection project, which was officially put into operation on March 20. The project ended years of grid isolation on the Weizhou Island in south China by linking it to the main power system of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The construction of 17 other major energy projects, including one linking the power grid of the Xizang Autonomous Region in southwest China with that of Guangdong Province in south China, is advancing rapidly. These projects are expected to bolster regional industries, the maritime economy, digital collaboration and the transition to green energy.
"By accelerating major project construction, investment during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) is expected to approach 1 trillion yuan (145 billion U.S. dollars), driving a further 2 trillion yuan (290 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across upstream and downstream industries," said Dong Yanle, deputy general manager of the Engineering Construction Department under the China Southern Power Grid.
China ramps up power grid investment in January-March to boost growth
