Qatar has deployed 1,000 soldiers into Yemen to help the Saudi-led coalition combat Iran-backed Houthi militants and those aligned with former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, as part of a continuing quest to push out the opposition forces and reinstall the internationally-recognized government in Sanaa.
Contents: The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen suffers its deadliest day; In major escalation in Yemen war, Qatar is sending 1,000 troops; Britain’s RAF drones target and kill British nationals in Syria
Yemeni Houthi jihadists have reportedly taken a number of Americans hostage in Yemen as they fight to take control of the country, the U.S. State Department confirmed Monday, and one of the American captives has been identified.
The Obama administration will be granting temporary legal status and work permits to Yemen nationals currently in the U.S. due to armed conflict in their home country.
Libya’s internationally recognized government–desperately trying to hold the shattered nation together against warlords, terrorist gangs, and the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS)–has banned visas for visitors from a number of Middle Eastern and African nations, including Yemen, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, and Bangladesh.
At least 398 children have been killed and more than 605 maimed since the “brutal armed conflict” in Yemen escalated on March 26, reported the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF on Wednesday.
Contents: As Iran rises in the Mideast, Kurds benefit in Iraq and Syria; Saudi Arabia suffers deadliest terrorism attack in years; Puerto Rico default triggers selloff in municipal bond funds
A United Arab Emirates military brigade has joined ground troops combating Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, in a move that senior Yemeni and American military officials believe could intensify a regional fight between Iran and Saudi-led Sunni Gulf countries, reports the New York Times (NYT).
Contents: Russia isolates itself further by vetoing MH17 investigation; US in major weapons sale to Saudis to compensate for Iran nuclear deal
According to South Korean sources for the Korea Times, Yemeni rebels have attacked Saudi Arabian targets with missiles purchased from North Korea.
Yemen’s internationally-recognized president has decreed that armed groups fighting against Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen merge with his national army units in an apparent effort to bring ground forces on his side together.
Nearly 25 percent of the terror suspects prosecuted in the U.S. since 2007 were influenced by Anwar al-Awlaki, the New Mexico-born cleric linked to al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based affiliate, according to an analysis by the Fordham Law School’s Center on National Security conducted at the request of NBC News.
Contents: Behind the scenes in the Iran nuclear deal; The Arab world is disintegrating into war; Saudi Arabia conducts major anti-terrorism sweep against ISIS; Massive bomb attack in Iraq market kills over 130
The newest leader of al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch has called for a string of attacks on the United States in his first public speech as the newest military commander of a Yemen based al-Qaeda organization.
Contents: Greece’s Tsipras shows up at Brussels empty-handed; Greece’s finance minister tells himself not to gloat; Report on Obama’s plans for the Mideast strategy into total fantasy; China halts trading on 1,000 companies as stock bloodbath continues
As the Shiite Houthi rebels who have taken over Sanaa continue to wage war against troops loyal to deposed Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the Sunni Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group has taken credit for another Shiite mosque bombing, stating that they plan to “take revenge” upon the Houthis for attempting to control the country.
The United Nations has upgraded the humanitarian crisis in Yemen to a Level 3 emergency, the most dire possible scenario on the UN scale. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is calling for an immediate ceasefire to allow for food, water, and medicine to enter the nation, as more than 80% of the population is entirely dependent on foreign aid to live.
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has significantly expanded its footprint in Yemen over the last year, posing a challenge to its rival al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), reports Reuters. ISIS’s ranks have been bolstered with new members amid the messy war in Yemen between Iran-allied Shiite Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Arab nations.
A massive prison break in Yemen freed nearly 1,200 detainees, including some suspected al-Qaeda militants.
Yemen’s pro-Houthi military proudly announced that it had launched a Scud missile at a base in Saudi Arabia, reports Yemeni state-run news outlet Saba.
Yemeni Houthi Shiite forces launched two separate attacks on Saudi border positions late Wednesday, killing three soldiers amid continuing escalation between both sides of the ongoing conflict in the war-torn country.
Nearly 80% of Yemen’s civilian population is dependent on humanitarian aid for food and water, while six million are believed to be suffering “severe” hunger, and up to 8,000 people may have contracted Dengue fever. This is the dire portrait of a war-torn nation the United Nations presented this week, as fighting between Shiite Houthi rebels and supporters of Sunni President Hadi and Saudi Arabia continue to struggle for power.
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), a Sunni group, has claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in Yemen’s capital Sanaa near the Qiba al-Mahdi mosque used by Shiite Houthi rebels, reports Reuters, citing witnesses and a security source.
Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) publicly executed at least two men accused of spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia and the United States and then hung their bodies from a bridge, reports The Long War Journal.
UN-organized peace talks between the competing Sunni and Shiite sides of the growing Yemeni civil war ended explosively after a journalist threw a shoe at a Houthi leader, prompting a melee between multiple parties at the resulting press conference. United Nations mediators nonetheless stated they were optimistic the two sides would resolve to end violence.
Contents: Fistfight breaks out at Yemen peace talks in Geneva; Report: Iran’s Supreme Leader has fired Qassam Soleimani in Syria; Emergency Eurogroup summit called for Monday to deal with likely Greece default
Car bombs killed or injured at least 50 people near mosques and the headquarters of Yemen’s dominant Houthi group in Sanaa on Wednesday, in coordinated attacks claimed by Islamic State. The four blasts rocked the capital as Saudi-led forces conducted
Al-Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate, considered the jihadist group’s most potent and dangerous branch, has confirmed that its chief was killed in a U.S. drone strike last week, according to several news reports.
The Pentagon announced Saturday that six Guantánamo Bay detainees, all Yemenis, had been transferred out of the military facility and into Oman, bordering their native country. Among the group were two men believed to have served as bodyguards for Osama Bin Laden.
A 22-year-old Yemeni rapper, who has become the first high-profile female artist of her kind in the troubled Arab nation, is receiving threats. Amani Yahya fled to Saudi Arabia due to the civil war engulfing Yemen and has dedicated her artistic career to shining a light on the suffering of Yemeni women and defying cultural norms for women in the devout Muslim nation.
Contents: Saudi Arabia shoots down Scud missile from Houthis in Yemen; Who’s causing the humanitarian crisis in Yemen?; Europeans rescue 3,000 migrants on Saturday, fear hundreds of thousands more
Al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria and Yemen are benefiting from the global focus on the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), quietly capturing territory and expanding their influence amid the turmoil in the war-ravaged countries, reports The Washington Post.
(Reuters) Saudi-led air strikes killed a group of around 20 Houthi fighters outside the southern Yemeni port city of Aden on Wednesday and also shook the capital Sanaa in the north, militiamen opposed to the Houthis said.
According to the Yemeni government-in-exile, United States diplomats are in discussions with Yemen’s Houthis, a Shiite rebel group which seized control of the Gulf country earlier this year.
The Houthis, Iran-backed rebels who overthrew the government of Yemen, have released one of four Americans held captive, according to CNN, relaying a report from Oman’s official news agency.
“Saudi-led airstrikes killed at least 80 people near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia and in the capital Sanaa Wednesday, residents said, the deadliest day of bombing in over two months of war in Yemen,” writes Reuters.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that the nation had already begun sending “humanitarian aid” relief packages to refugees fleeing the war-torn nation of Yemen, and that it was preparing to continue sending food and medicine to the region. It marks the first Turkish presence in a war in which Iran and Saudi Arabia are both backing opposite sides of a civil war.
Reuters reports that Sunni militia units have driven Iran-backed Shiite Houthi insurgents from the southern Yemeni city of Dalea, dealing the Houthis their “first significant setback” in two months of hot civil war.
CNN reports that Houthi insurgents in Yemen claim to have shot down a Saudi fighter jet near the capital city of Sanaa. The Saudis have refused to comment on the report, while the Yemeni government has flatly denied it.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has set up camps in Djibouti, located in the Horn of Africa, to care for the thousands of Yemenis fleeing the civil war. The agency needs more help, but now Iranian state media claim Djibouti turned away humanitarian aid.
