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Houthis Task All-Female ‘Zaynabiyat’ Militia with Drafting Child Soldiers

A child seen next to Houthi women carrying weapons in Sanaa, Yemen. (Reuters)
A child seen next to Houthi women carrying weapons in Sanaa, Yemen. (Reuters)
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Houthis Task All-Female ‘Zaynabiyat’ Militia with Drafting Child Soldiers

A child seen next to Houthi women carrying weapons in Sanaa, Yemen. (Reuters)
A child seen next to Houthi women carrying weapons in Sanaa, Yemen. (Reuters)

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have charged its all-female militia, Zaynabiyat, with the recruitment of child soldiers in areas under their control. Women fighters will attract minors to join Houthi ranks by reaching out to their mothers, local sources reported.

This comes at a time Houthi militants are mounting a fierce offensive in the central Marib governorate.

Yemenis and human rights activists have sounded the alarm against the repercussions of Houthis brainwashing children with sectarian and extremist ideology to later use them as cannon fodder at battlefronts.

Since late January, hundreds of children in Sanaa and its countryside and some governorates, such as Ibb, Dhamar, Amran and Hajjah, have been subjected to Houthi incitement and recruitment attempts.

Houthis, after practicing coercive violence and depriving targeted Yemeni children from education, incite recruited minors to undertake sectarian hostilities and join the fight against internationally recognized state institutions in the war-torn country.

“A few days ago, the Houthi Zaynabiyat militias held a number of workshops and seminars for Yemeni mothers in Sanaa’s Old City neighborhoods,” locals told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Mothers are being indoctrinated under an Iran-inspired agenda focused on demonizing pro-government forces in Yemen.

Over the last 48 hours, female Houthi militants visited dozens of homes in Sanaa to invite Yemeni women to join the militias’ sectarian seminars, locals revealed.

Women who rejected the invitation were threatened with being cut off from their share of UN aid and household gas supply.

They were also told that their families will be punished by the militias.

The Houthis have selected their most prominent cultural supervisors and religious ideologues to lecture Yemeni mothers.

According to sources, Houthis perceive Yemeni women as a weak link that can be easily exploited.

Therefore, they focusing their efforts on conditioning Yemeni mothers into accepting and encouraging to send their children to fight alongside the Houthis, especially in Marib.

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What to Know About Fighting in Lebanon and Gaza

A Lebanese man stands on the rubble of a house that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike Tuesday night, in Bint Jbeil, South Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. (AP)
A Lebanese man stands on the rubble of a house that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike Tuesday night, in Bint Jbeil, South Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. (AP)
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What to Know About Fighting in Lebanon and Gaza

A Lebanese man stands on the rubble of a house that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike Tuesday night, in Bint Jbeil, South Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. (AP)
A Lebanese man stands on the rubble of a house that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike Tuesday night, in Bint Jbeil, South Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. (AP)

Relentless Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs overnight and closed off the main highway linking Lebanon with Syria, forcing fleeing civilians to cross the border by foot.
The airstrikes came as the supreme leader of Iran, which backs the anti-Israel militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, praised the country’s recent missile strike on Israel and said Friday it was ready to do it again if necessary.
Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel almost exactly a year ago, killing 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 people hostage, and setting off a war with Israel that has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since then in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians. It says more than half were women and children, The Associated Press said.
In late September, Israel shifted some of its focus to Hezbollah, which holds much of the power in parts of southern Lebanon and some other areas of the country, attacking the militants with exploding pagers, airstrikes and, eventually, incursions into Lebanon.
Here’s what to know:
What is the latest on Israel’s operations in Lebanon? Israel said it targeted the crossing with Syria because Hezbollah militants were using it to bring in weapons, and that its jets had also struck a smuggling tunnel. Much of Hezbollah's weaponry is believed to come from Iran through Syria.
Tens of thousands of people fleeing war in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks.
Israeli officials said they were targeting Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in the Beirut suburb airstrikes. It did not say if any militants were killed, but it says it has killed 100 Hezbollah fighters in the last 24 hours.
Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon. Two Israeli soldiers were also killed in a Thursday drone attack in northern Israel, military officials said. An umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias in Iraq calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it carried out three drone strikes Friday in northern Israel.
The Israeli military launched a ground incursion into Lebanon earlier this week and has been fighting Hezbollah militants in a narrow strip of land along the border. A series of attacks before the incursion killed some of the group’s key members, including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah, in a display of solidarity, began launching rockets into northern Israel just after Hamas' Oct. 7 cross-border attack.
On Thursday, Israel extended its evacuation warnings to communities in southern Lebanon, including and beyond an area that the United Nations had declared a buffer zone after Israel and Hezbollah fought a brief 2006 war.
Lebanese officials say nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced from their homes because of the fighting.
What happened in the airstrike on a West Bank cafe? A Thursday airstrike on a West bank cafe, which Israeli officials said had targeted Palestinian militants, also killed a family of four, including two young children, relatives said.
The Palestinian health ministry said at least 18 Palestinians had been killed.
The Israeli military said the airstrike in the Tulkarem refugee camp killed several militants, including Hamas’ leader in the camp, whom it accused of involvement in multiple attacks on Israeli civilians, and of planning an attack on Israel on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 assault.
Tulkarem, a militant stronghold, is frequently targeted by the Israeli military.
Airstrikes used to be rare in the Palestinian territory, but they have grown more common as Israeli forces clamp down, saying they want to prevent attacks on their citizens.
Israeli fire has killed at least 722 Palestinians in the West Bank since Oct. 7, Palestinian health officials say. In that time, Palestinian fighters have launched a number of attacks on soldiers at checkpoints and within Israel.
What is Iran saying? A top Iranian official warned Friday that it would harshly retaliate if Israel attacks Iran.
“If the Israeli entity takes any step or measure against us, our retaliation will be stronger than the previous one,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in Beirut after meeting Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Araghchi's visit came three days after Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel, the latest in a series of rapidly escalating attacks that threaten to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.
What did Biden say about Netanyahu? President Joe Biden said he couldn't say if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding up a Mideast peace deal to influence the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election.
“No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None. None. And I think Bibi should remember that,” Biden told reporters Friday, using the Israeli leader's nickname. “And whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know, but I’m not counting on that.”
Biden, who has long pushed for a diplomatic agreement, and whose relationship with Netanyahu has grown increasingly complicated, was responding to comments made by one of his allies, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
“I don’t think you have to be a hopeless cynic to read some of Israel’s actions, some of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s actions, as connected to the American election,” Murphy said on CNN.
A peace deal would help smooth divisions in the Democratic Party and could increase electoral support for Vice President Kamala Harris. Netanyahu, though, worries his far-right coalition would stop supporting him if he signed an agreement, leaving him out of power and facing his own legal problems.
Netanyahu has a markedly closer relationship with former President Donald Trump than he does with Biden.