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Hodeidah Inmates Face Torture for Refusing Houthi Recruitment

Pro-government Popular Resistance on the outskirts of Hodeidah, EPA
Pro-government Popular Resistance on the outskirts of Hodeidah, EPA
    Sanaa, Hodeidah – Asharq Al-Awsat
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Hodeidah Inmates Face Torture for Refusing Houthi Recruitment

Pro-government Popular Resistance on the outskirts of Hodeidah, EPA
Pro-government Popular Resistance on the outskirts of Hodeidah, EPA

Inmates held at the central prison in Hodeidah refused to fight alongside Houthi militias prompting Houthi gunmen to resort to violence.

Houthis set fire to prison cells and fired rounds of live bullets, killing at least three prisoners and injuring 20 others.

This came at a time Houthis amped up violence practiced against residents in areas they control. Since the break of war, Houthi militiamen are held accountable to countless looting of bank funds and imposing restrictions on commercial companies.

Reports also warned against the Iran-backed coup carrying out plans on making sales on large properties belonging to the former ruling party, the General People’s Congress, in Hodeidah and Taiz.

Houthi militias are planning to transfer hundreds of inmates on Sunday from the central prison to unknown locations, likely training camps after which they will recruit them to fight among the insurgency’s ranks, relatives of prisoners and security sources in Hodeidah told Asharq al-Awsat.

Sources said Houthis fired randomly at the prisoners, set fire to jail cells, and used gas bombs in an effort to quell the uprising of prisoners who refused to leave the prison.

A squad of Houthi militiamen led by Abu Ali al-Kahlani killed three prisoners and wounded 20 others, sources added.

Houthi ranks have been diminishing over battles with government forces and allies—pushing militias to recruit and release inmates from Houthi-run prisons in Sana'a, Ibb, Dhamar,and Hajjah. According to security sources, Houthis managed to recruit more young people, adolescents and civilian staff.

Sources said that hundreds of Hodeidah prisoners who refused to fight alongside Houthi ranks face torture and coercion—while relatives urge international humanitarian organizations to intervene to stop Houthi crimes against their imprisoned relatives.

Houthi militiamen refused to allow the family visits to prisoners and refused to allow food and water to enter jail cells, sources said.

“They will not eat or drink anything until they bow down to carry out what is required of them,” inmate relatives cited Houthi prison guards as saying.

The central prison in Hodeidah, nestled south of the city, holds more than 700 prisoners.

Many fear that the group will take up prisoners as human shields if they insist on refusing to comply with the group's desire for their recruitment.

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Arab World

Israel-Backed Armed Group Burns Homes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage after a person was hit by an Israeli strike while riding a bicycle, according to medics, in Gaza City, April 6, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Palestinians inspect the damage after a person was hit by an Israeli strike while riding a bicycle, according to medics, in Gaza City, April 6, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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Israel-Backed Armed Group Burns Homes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage after a person was hit by an Israeli strike while riding a bicycle, according to medics, in Gaza City, April 6, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Palestinians inspect the damage after a person was hit by an Israeli strike while riding a bicycle, according to medics, in Gaza City, April 6, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Residents of Maghazi camp in central Gaza said armed men linked to Israel-backed groups set fire on Thursday to land, homes, and agricultural greenhouses.

Witnesses told Asharq Al-Awsat the fires broke out in Hamas-controlled areas west of an informal “yellow line,” while Israeli forces were stationed to the east.

Several residents accused a group known as the Abu Nasira gang, led by a former security officer, of carrying out the attack.

Such groups have become a growing concern for Hamas and its security arms, as kidnapping and assassination attempts against members of the movement, its armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, and its security forces increase.

Days earlier, east of Maghazi camp, two Qassam members were lured in an attempted abduction that escalated into clashes with Israeli fire, killing 10 Palestinians.

One witness said armed men arrived shortly before noon in several four-wheel-drive vehicles, carrying weapons. They advanced dozens of meters west of the “yellow line,” near the Hosni al-Masdar mosque east of Maghazi camp, as Israeli drones flew overhead. Infantry vehicles later reinforced them amid intermittent gunfire.

The witness, who requested anonymity, said large fires broke out soon after. Residents and field sources confirmed the blazes destroyed farmland, greenhouses, and homes.

A member of a local armed faction said Abu Nasira fighters spread across the area and carried out the arson under Israeli cover, with intensified fire directed at western areas where residents and displaced people are located.

A Hamas source repeated accusations against the group, saying it is trying to assert its presence by escalating operations. The source described it as a “major threat,” carrying out kidnappings, assassinations and direct incursions under Israeli support that provides aerial cover and, at times, ground backing.

The attack coincided with Israeli escalation elsewhere in Gaza, killing a man and a child in separate incidents. An Israeli drone killed Youssef Mansour, 33, who witnesses said was bird hunting in the Mawasi area of Rafah in southern Gaza.

In northern Gaza, tank shells hit Abu Ubaida bin al-Jarrah school in Beit Lahia, killing a young girl, Retaj Rihan. She had been in a classroom tent with dozens of displaced third-grade students. She was taken in critical condition to a clinic in Jabalia al-Balad, where she died.

Gaza’s Ministry of Education condemned the attack, holding Israel responsible and saying hundreds of students have been killed during and after the war due to repeated targeting. It called for urgent international intervention.

Shortly after the school attack, Israeli fire from remotely operated cranes east of Gaza City wounded four Palestinians. The gunfire hit Ibn al-Haytham school on the western edge of Shuja’iyya, sheltering hundreds of displaced people. Others were wounded in similar fire toward Halawa camp in Jabalia al-Balad, with one reported in critical condition.

On Wednesday evening, two Palestinians were killed in separate strikes, including journalist Mohammed Washah, drawing condemnation over the killing of journalists. The strikes have killed 262 journalists since the start of the war.

The number of Palestinians killed since a ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, 2025 has risen to more than 740, according to available figures.

Arab World

Israel Carries Out Incursions in Syria’s Quneitra as UNDOF Monitors

Israeli soldiers in the buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights (file photo - AFP)
Israeli soldiers in the buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights (file photo - AFP)
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Israel Carries Out Incursions in Syria’s Quneitra as UNDOF Monitors

Israeli soldiers in the buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights (file photo - AFP)
Israeli soldiers in the buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights (file photo - AFP)

As Israeli forces press deeper into Syrian territory along the ceasefire line in the occupied Golan Heights, a Syrian official source told Asharq Al-Awsat that increased patrols by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) stem from the 1974 disengagement agreement, not new understandings with Israel.

An Israeli force on Thursday entered the village of Al-Ajraf in northern Quneitra, according to state news agency SANA.

The unit, comprising eight vehicles and more than 30 troops, set up a temporary checkpoint and searched passersby before withdrawing without making any arrests.

The move is part of a pattern of repeated incursions into the UN-monitored buffer zone separating Syrian and Israeli forces under the 1974 agreement. The incursions have continued since the ouster of former president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Israel has since escalated its operations, with near-daily incursions reaching villages and towns beyond the buffer zone, where it has set up nine military bases.

UNDOF has stepped up patrols in Quneitra and Daraa along the ceasefire line, areas frequently entered by Israeli forces. It has also begun meeting residents to document alleged violations.

Quneitra governorate’s media director, Mohammed al-Saeed, said UNDOF’s deployment remains within the framework of the 1974 agreement and does not reflect new arrangements with Israel.

He said the mission monitors the ceasefire and all parties, and is currently documenting Israeli violations against Syrian sovereignty, civilians, and property in areas entered by Israeli forces. The deployment is routine, he added, but has intensified recently.

Al-Saeed said the increased UN presence has not curbed incursions, but offers some reassurance to residents by tracking troop movements and documenting violations.

Israeli forces, he said, carry out house raids, detain civilians, set up checkpoints, search passersby, block roads, disrupt services, and fire weapons to intimidate residents.

He said the actions are aimed at pressuring residents into self-displacement.

Despite this, residents are aware of the tactics and reject leaving, he said, unwilling to repeat the displacement of 1967, when similar practices forced communities from their homes.

Arab World

Netanyahu Authorizes Direct Talks with Lebanon

Heavy machinery operates at the site of an Israeli strike carried out on Wednesday, in Ain Al Mraiseh in Beirut, Lebanon, April 9, 2026. REUTERS/Raghed Waked
Heavy machinery operates at the site of an Israeli strike carried out on Wednesday, in Ain Al Mraiseh in Beirut, Lebanon, April 9, 2026. REUTERS/Raghed Waked
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Netanyahu Authorizes Direct Talks with Lebanon

Heavy machinery operates at the site of an Israeli strike carried out on Wednesday, in Ain Al Mraiseh in Beirut, Lebanon, April 9, 2026. REUTERS/Raghed Waked
Heavy machinery operates at the site of an Israeli strike carried out on Wednesday, in Ain Al Mraiseh in Beirut, Lebanon, April 9, 2026. REUTERS/Raghed Waked

In a potential boost to Middle East ceasefire efforts, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he authorized direct negotiations “as soon as possible” with Lebanon aimed at disarming Hezbollah militants and establishing relations between the two countries.

"In light of Lebanon's repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible," his office wrote in a statement.

"Negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peace relations between Israel and Lebanon. Israel appreciates today's call by the Prime Minister of Lebanon to demilitarize Beirut," the press release added.

Lebanon has spent the last 24 hours advocating for a temporary ceasefire to allow for broader talks with Israel, a senior Lebanese official told Reuters, saying it would ⁠be a "separate track ⁠but the same model" as a fragile truce brokered by Pakistan between ⁠the US and Iran.

The official said no date or location had been set yet but Lebanon needed the US as a mediator and guarantor of any agreement.

The official ⁠spoke ⁠to Reuters after Netanyahu’s announcement.