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Yemen Insurgents Continue to Recruit Children

Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sana’a on March 13, 2015. Reuters
Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sana’a on March 13, 2015. Reuters
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Yemen Insurgents Continue to Recruit Children

Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sana’a on March 13, 2015. Reuters
Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sana’a on March 13, 2015. Reuters

Yemen’s insurgency leaders have held a meeting with a number of elders loyal to former president Ali Abdallah Saleh to discuss the forcible recruitment of children following huge human losses within their ranks on the front lines, sources in Al-Mahwit governorate said.

The sources confirmed that the meeting discussed the recruitment mechanism in areas such as al-Taweelah, Bani Saad, and Shibam. Houthi supervisors were assigned to follow up the enlisting.

Meanwhile, insurgency militias continued to enforce taxes in Hawit and Amran which fall under their control. They have forced stores and merchants to pay sums of money for the alleged funding of the celebrations commemorating the insurgency coup on September 21.

Meanwhile, the popular resistance in Tuhama district continued to target Houthi and Saleh military bases, amid intensified clashes in several battlefronts in Taiz, Marib, Nahim, and al-Baydaa.

Coalition warplanes carried out raids on Houthi and Saleh militias, destroying three vehicles, five motorcycles and killing and injuring several of them, according to military sources.

The coalition also staged raids on Houthi targets in al-Jawf district, leading to deaths among the insurgents.

Army troops advanced in Marib and regained control over new mountainous areas following severe clashes in Heilan and al-Mashjah.

National army troops also succeeded in thwarting an insurgency attack in al-Tebbah al-Sawdaa of al-Qabitah district in Lahij governorate, a military source informed Asharq Al-Awsat.

In addition, militias continued to attack residential areas in Taiz, killing and injuring several civilians including women and children.

A military source in Taiz reiterated to Asharq al-Awsat that several residents were killed and a child was injured. He added that the western front of Taiz witnessed severe clashes, forcing the insurgents to flee.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) condemned the shelling on residential areas in Shab al-Doubba and Souk al-Samil in Taiz on Friday September 15, which left three children dead and nine others severely injuring.

ICRC's Regional Director for the Near and Middle East Robert Mardini urged all warring sides to take every precaution to spare civilians.

“We cannot turn a blind eye on the rising number of civilians injured or killed as a result of indiscriminate attacks in Yemen's conflict. Too often in recent months, civilians, women, men and children, have been in harm's way, becoming victims of shells and bombs," said Mardini.

The Regional Director added that what happened on Friday is yet another stark reminder of the immense suffering that civilians across Yemen are enduring in their daily lives.

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Baku Seeking to Diffuse Tensions between Israel, Türkiye in Syria

Turkish troops return after a joint US-Türkiye patrol in northern Syria, as it is pictured from near the Turkish town of Akcakale, Türkiye, September 8, 2019. (Reuters)
Turkish troops return after a joint US-Türkiye patrol in northern Syria, as it is pictured from near the Turkish town of Akcakale, Türkiye, September 8, 2019. (Reuters)
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Baku Seeking to Diffuse Tensions between Israel, Türkiye in Syria

Turkish troops return after a joint US-Türkiye patrol in northern Syria, as it is pictured from near the Turkish town of Akcakale, Türkiye, September 8, 2019. (Reuters)
Turkish troops return after a joint US-Türkiye patrol in northern Syria, as it is pictured from near the Turkish town of Akcakale, Türkiye, September 8, 2019. (Reuters)

With growing influence after its recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenian separatists in 2023, Azerbaijan is using its close ties with Israel and Türkiye to defuse tensions between the regional foes in Syria.

Azerbaijan’s top foreign policy adviser Hikmet Hajiyev told AFP that Baku has hosted more than three rounds of talks between Türkiye and Israel, who are both operating in Syria to reduce what they see as security threats.

“Azerbaijan is making diplomatic efforts for an agreement,” Hajiyev told Turkish journalists in Baku on a visit organized by the Istanbul-based Global Journalism Council. “Both Türkiye and Israel trust us.”

The overthrow of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad sparked security concerns in Israel.

It has since staged hundreds of strikes deep inside Syria, the latest on Friday, to allegedly stop advanced weapons falling into the hands of Syria’s extremists and to protect the Druze minority.

Israel has accused Ankara of seeking to turn Syria into a Turkish protectorate, raising fears of a confrontation.

In Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev is considered a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He has consistently aligned himself with Ankara’s positions on key international matters, including the Syrian issue.

Azerbaijan also enjoys good relations with Israel, which is very reliant on Azerbaijani oil, and is a major arms supplier to Baku.

And now Baku, which has established contacts with Syria’s new rulers, is pushing quiet diplomacy by facilitating technical talks between Türkiye and Israel.

“We are successful if the two parties agree on a common model that respects each other’s concerns,” Farid Shafiyev, chairman of the Baku-based Center for Analysis of International Relations, told AFP.

“Syria, and especially its northern territories, is the Turkish security concern,” he said.

Türkiye wants to control northern Syria but also to “have a stronger presence” around the Palmyra and T4 airbases to ensure security around Damascus, he added.

In facilitating Türkiye-Israel dialogue on Syria, Azerbaijan is playing a “strategic role,” said Zaur Mammadov, chairman of Baku Political Scientists Club.

“(It) reflects Azerbaijan’s growing influence as a mediator... among regional actors,” he said.

Azerbaijan fought two wars with arch-foe Armenia for control of the disputed Karabakh region -- one in the 1990s and another in 2020 -- before it managed to seize the entire area in a 24-hour offensive in September 2023.