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Rights Report Documents Houthi Violations against Women in Yemen

A rights report shed light on Houthi abuses against women in Sanaa. (Reuters)
A rights report shed light on Houthi abuses against women in Sanaa. (Reuters)
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Rights Report Documents Houthi Violations against Women in Yemen

A rights report shed light on Houthi abuses against women in Sanaa. (Reuters)
A rights report shed light on Houthi abuses against women in Sanaa. (Reuters)

A human rights report shed light on the Houthi militias’ violations against women in Yemen in the past three years.

It accused the group of the arrest and enforced disappearance of 1,181 women during the mentioned period and their exposure to killing, torture and rape.

The report was released on Friday during a seminar organized by the Women for Peace in Yemen Coalition, the March 8 Bloc for Yemeni Women and the Yemeni Organization for Combating Human Trafficking.

It documented 274 cases of enforced disappearance, and 292 arrests of human rights activists from the education sector.

It also documented 246 arrests of relief and humanitarian workers, 71 cases of rape and four suicides, in addition to dozens of detention cases of male and female children with their mothers.

According to the report, 321 female detainees have been released while 293 female minors are still in Houthi prisons.

The violations included killing, disfigurement, detention, arrest, kidnap, torture and sexual violence, the report noted, adding that female detainees were raped by supervisors in the militias’ prisons.

It recorded several suicide attempts by the detained girls in the central prison in Sanaa, stressing that Houthis did not allow medical examinations and the launch of probes into causes of deaths inside the detention centers.

“The detained women were subjected to all kinds of physical torture, including beatings with sticks and electric wires, slapping, suffocating and waterboarding, in addition to verbal insults and demeaning and psychological torture to confess to things they did not do, as well as fabricating malicious and immoral accusations (concerning prostitution networks).”

During these three years, hundreds of cases of arrests and detentions against Yemeni women and even foreign women working in the humanitarian, media, and human rights fields and political activists were recorded, especially in the capital, Sanaa, and the Houthi-run governorates.

The human rights report reviewed the testimonies and stories of a number of cases, calling on the militias to release all the women detained in official and secret prisons and those held in police, criminal investigation and political security departments in Sanaa and Dhamar, and to stop arresting more women.

It also urged the militias to disclose the whereabouts of detained and forcibly disappeared women and release them immediately, allow human rights organizations, feminists and human rights activists to visit detainees and provide them with legal aid and to halt all practices of gender-based violence against women.

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Arab World

Lebanon, Britain to Hold Joint Military Exercise Starting Tuesday

A Lebanese flag flies as buildings lie in ruins in Mansouri, as seen from Henniye, Lebanon, September 29, 2026. (Reuters)
A Lebanese flag flies as buildings lie in ruins in Mansouri, as seen from Henniye, Lebanon, September 29, 2026. (Reuters)
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Lebanon, Britain to Hold Joint Military Exercise Starting Tuesday

A Lebanese flag flies as buildings lie in ruins in Mansouri, as seen from Henniye, Lebanon, September 29, 2026. (Reuters)
A Lebanese flag flies as buildings lie in ruins in Mansouri, as seen from Henniye, Lebanon, September 29, 2026. (Reuters)

Lebanon's army will hold exercises with the British military this month, both sides said on Monday, with the drills also to involve personnel and representatives from countries including the United States and France.

Britain has been a key supporter of the cash-strapped Lebanese army and has provided millions of dollars in assistance over the years, including helping train Lebanese soldiers to secure the country's land borders.

The Lebanese army said that the joint "Pegasus Cedar 2026" exercise would begin on Tuesday and aimed to "bolster the capabilities of military units and raise the level of coordination between the Lebanese army and friendly armies".

It said the exercise would include "training on reconnaissance, raids and combat in built-up areas", among other activities.

A British embassy statement said British soldiers based in Cyprus would "join their Lebanese counterparts in the Air Assault Regiment in a landmark military exercise aimed at strengthening bilateral defense ties and enhancing operational readiness".

"Personnel from the armies of the United States and Italy will also take part, with representatives from the armies of France, Cyprus, Qatar, and Jordan joining as observers," it added.

The exercise, to be held over three weeks, builds on a previous UK-Lebanon military training exercise held in September 2023, the embassy statement added.

Lebanese authorities have called for increased support for the country's under-resourced army, which counts some 80,000 personnel and depends heavily on foreign aid.

The military faces enormous challenges in completing its deployment to south Lebanon under a framework agreement reached in June between Israel and Lebanon that involves the disarmament of the Hezbollah group and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Hezbollah drew the country into the Middle East war in March by attacking Israel, which responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion.

While violence has dropped since June, Israel still carries out attacks and demolitions, and its troops are occupying a self-declared "security zone" running around 10 kilometers (six miles) inside Lebanon along the border.

The fighting followed another conflict that erupted in 2023 that led to an all-out war the following year.

Last month in Paris, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and Jordan's King Abdullah II, and discussed international support for the country's military.

Arab World

UN Chief Calls for Gaza Ceasefire Ahead of Oct 7 Anniversary

A photograph shows destruction at the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, with an Israeli flag fluttering in the background, on October 5, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows destruction at the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, with an Israeli flag fluttering in the background, on October 5, 2026. (AFP)
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UN Chief Calls for Gaza Ceasefire Ahead of Oct 7 Anniversary

A photograph shows destruction at the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, with an Israeli flag fluttering in the background, on October 5, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows destruction at the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, with an Israeli flag fluttering in the background, on October 5, 2026. (AFP)

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza ahead of the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

"It is time for the ceasefire to become permanent. It is time to allow humanitarian assistance at scale. And it is time to respect international law," Guterres said in a statement, calling for a "political path to lasting peace across the whole region."

"Let this anniversary mark not only another year of mourning, but also a renewed determination to build a different future: one in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace and security, with their rights, dignity, and aspirations fulfilled," Guterres said.

The UN chief acknowledged Israel's casualties in the statement, calling the Hamas attack "abhorrent" for "killing more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals" and the hostage-taking of another 251 people.

Guterres also said Palestinians in Gaza have faced a "massive loss of life, displacement and destruction," without specifying their death toll.

"Their suffering, too, demands an end, now," Guterres said.

Israel's years-long military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 74,200 people according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which is under Hamas' authority and whose figures are deemed reliable by the UN.

Guterres acknowledged that a brief ceasefire, announced by US President Donald Trump in October 2025, "brought some relief. But it has yet to deliver security, adequate humanitarian assistance or a credible path to recovery and peace."

Israel, which still controls most of Gaza, refuses to withdraw its soldiers until Hamas' disarmament has been verified.

Hamas, for its part, has advocated for gradual disarmament rather than immediate and unilateral surrender of its arsenal.

Since the 2023 attacks, Israel has waged military attacks on several fronts, notably invading southern Lebanon to confront Hezbollah, the movement backed by Tehran, and launching war against Iran in late February alongside the United States.

Arab World

ISIS Attack Kills Iraqi Policeman Near Kirkuk

Iraqi police patrol vehicles are stationed outside the Karkh Court house during the trial of six French citizens accused of terrorism in Baghdad, on October 5, 2026. (AFP)
Iraqi police patrol vehicles are stationed outside the Karkh Court house during the trial of six French citizens accused of terrorism in Baghdad, on October 5, 2026. (AFP)
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ISIS Attack Kills Iraqi Policeman Near Kirkuk

Iraqi police patrol vehicles are stationed outside the Karkh Court house during the trial of six French citizens accused of terrorism in Baghdad, on October 5, 2026. (AFP)
Iraqi police patrol vehicles are stationed outside the Karkh Court house during the trial of six French citizens accused of terrorism in Baghdad, on October 5, 2026. (AFP)

At least ‌one Iraqi federal policeman was killed and four others wounded on Monday when ISIS militants attacked a federal police site southwest of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, two security sources told Reuters.

The attackers used semi-automatic machine guns and sniper fire against the federal police regiment stationed near Hawija, about 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, the sources said.

There ‌was no ‌immediate claim of responsibility. But ‌security and ⁠army sources said ⁠ ISIS militants, who are still active in the area, were involved in the attack.

The attack is the first reported assault by ISIS on Iraqi security forces since US forces completed their withdrawal ⁠from Iraq on September 30, ending ‌the military mission in ‌the country.

The United States had led a ‌coalition that supported Iraqi forces in the fight ‌against ISIS, including efforts to prevent the militant group from regrouping.

Washington said it would continue to provide targeted training and intelligence support after ‌the withdrawal, while Iraqi forces would take full responsibility for the country’s security ⁠and ⁠for suppressing ISIS remnants.

Despite the defeat of ISIS nearly a decade ago, the group retains sleeper cells in Iraq, Iraqi security officials told Reuters ahead of the US withdrawal.

The withdrawal had raised concerns that a security vacuum could provide an opening for ISIS to regain strength, with some officials warning that Iraqi forces would now have to contain the group without the coalition’s military presence.