Yemen’s Ghaydah Airport Welcomes First Commercial Flight

Passengers coming from Hadramout through the Yemeni flight upon landing at  al-Ghaydah Airport (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Passengers coming from Hadramout through the Yemeni flight upon landing at al-Ghaydah Airport (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT

Yemen’s Ghaydah Airport Welcomes First Commercial Flight

Passengers coming from Hadramout through the Yemeni flight upon landing at  al-Ghaydah Airport (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Passengers coming from Hadramout through the Yemeni flight upon landing at al-Ghaydah Airport (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Yemen's Al-Ghaydah Airport has resumed flights after rehabilitation by the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY).

A Yemen Airways airplane coming from Riyan International Airport in Hadramout governorate landed on Thursday at the airport.

The rehabilitated airport contributes to upgrading services provided within the Yemeni transportation sector, and supports other vital service sectors in the country.

The project to rehabilitate the Al-Ghaydah Airport aims to increase the airport’s efficiency, ensure the highest safety levels, facilitate transportation, and support social bonds, according to SPA.

The program seeks to boost the quality of services provided to travelers and airlines in accordance with the requirements of the international air navigation systems.

So far, SDRPY has implemented 229 projects and development initiatives to serve the Yemeni people in seven main sectors, which are education, health, water, energy, transportation, agriculture and fisheries, and capacity building of government institutions.

Moreover, SDRPY has launched development programs to serve the brothers in Yemen.



Israeli Fire Kills at Least 4 Palestinians in Gaza

A displaced Palestinian woman stands on a balcony inside a building damaged during the war at Al-Aqsa University, now used as a shelter, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 5, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer
A displaced Palestinian woman stands on a balcony inside a building damaged during the war at Al-Aqsa University, now used as a shelter, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 5, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer
TT

Israeli Fire Kills at Least 4 Palestinians in Gaza

A displaced Palestinian woman stands on a balcony inside a building damaged during the war at Al-Aqsa University, now used as a shelter, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 5, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer
A displaced Palestinian woman stands on a balcony inside a building damaged during the war at Al-Aqsa University, now used as a shelter, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 5, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer

Israeli forces shot and killed a young female student on Thursday while she was attending a class held in a tent in the town of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, health and education officials said.

The education ministry said third-grade student Ritaj Rihan was hit by a bullet in front of her classmates, causing them "a strong psychological shock,” Reuters reported.

Later on Thursday, health officials said three other Palestinians were killed in two separate airstrikes in northern and southern Gaza Strip, bringing Thursday's death toll to at least four.

Medics ⁠said an Israeli ⁠airstrike near a hospital in Jabalia, in the north of the enclave, killed at least two people, while another strike killed one person in Khan Younis, in the south.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on any of the incidents.

Under a ceasefire in place since last October, ⁠Israel still occupies more than half of the Gaza Strip. Nearly all buildings in the Israeli-controlled sector have been levelled and residents driven out.

That leaves virtually the entire population of more than two million people confined to about a third of Gaza's territory, mostly in makeshift tents and damaged buildings, where life has resumed under the control of an administration led by Hamas.

Displaced Gaza children are attending classes given by volunteer teachers in crowded tents in some areas, keen to continue their ⁠education despite ⁠the widespread destruction of schools.

These makeshift classrooms face severe challenges, including harsh weather, resource shortages, and security risks.

More than 700 Palestinians have been killed since the October deal took effect, while militants have killed three Israeli soldiers. Palestinians say Israeli forces have been moving some of the yellow concrete markers westward, encroaching into unoccupied territory. Israel denies this.

Israel's assault on Gaza has killed more than 71,000 people, according to the enclave's health ministry. The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.


Nawaf Salam Asks Pakistani Counterpart to Ensure Lebanon Included in Ceasefire Deal

FILED - 16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. Photo: Markus Lenhardt/dpa
FILED - 16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. Photo: Markus Lenhardt/dpa
TT

Nawaf Salam Asks Pakistani Counterpart to Ensure Lebanon Included in Ceasefire Deal

FILED - 16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. Photo: Markus Lenhardt/dpa
FILED - 16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. Photo: Markus Lenhardt/dpa

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Thursday asked his Pakistani counterpart, Shehbaz Sharif, to affirm that the ceasefire should include Lebanon, according to the German news agency (dpa).

In a phone call with Sharif, Salam “requested confirmation that the ceasefire must cover Lebanon, to prevent a repeat of the Israeli attacks witnessed yesterday,” a statement said.

Salam also praised the “efforts undertaken by the Pakistani prime minister that led to the ceasefire.”

For his part, Pakistan’s prime minister condemned the “recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon,” stressing that his country is working to help secure peace and stability there.


Israel Says Will Continue to Strike Hezbollah 'Wherever Necessary'

People inspect the aftermath of a building destroyed in an Israeili airstrike in the Corniche el-Mazraa neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon, 09 April 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
People inspect the aftermath of a building destroyed in an Israeili airstrike in the Corniche el-Mazraa neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon, 09 April 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
TT

Israel Says Will Continue to Strike Hezbollah 'Wherever Necessary'

People inspect the aftermath of a building destroyed in an Israeili airstrike in the Corniche el-Mazraa neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon, 09 April 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
People inspect the aftermath of a building destroyed in an Israeili airstrike in the Corniche el-Mazraa neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon, 09 April 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel would keep hitting Hezbollah "wherever necessary,” the day after Israeli strikes pummeled Lebanon.

"We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with force, precision, and determination," Netanyahu said on his personal X account.

"Our message is clear: anyone who acts against Israeli civilians -- we will strike them. We will continue to hit Hezbollah wherever necessary, until we fully restore security to the residents of the north" of Israel, he added.

Israeli strikes hit busy commercial and residential areas in central Beirut without warning on Wednesday, hours after a ceasefire was announced in the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Lebanon said at least 203 people were killed and hundreds were wounded, making it the deadliest day in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.

 

People walk among the debris of cars and a building destroyed in an Israeili airstrike in the Corniche el-Mazraa neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon, 09 April 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

 

US President Donald Trump told PBS News Hour that Lebanon was not included in the deal because of Hezbollah. When asked about Israel’s latest strikes, he said, “That’s a separate skirmish.”

Israel had said the agreement does not extend to its war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah, although Iran and mediator Pakistan said it does.

There was no sign of Hezbollah launching strikes against Israel in the first couple of hours after the attacks.

In response to the attacks on Lebanon, Iran later Wednesday said it was again halting the movement of oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the country's state-run media reported.

Lebanon's health minister said at least 1,000 people were wounded in Wednesday's strikes.

The death toll was the highest for a single day in Lebanon during more than five weeks of renewed war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel said Thursday it killed Ali Yusuf Harshi, an aide to Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem.