Houthi Attack Repelled in Yemen's Hajjah

Yemeni tribesmen hold positions during fighting against the Houthis in Marib city on June 27, 2016. (Getty Images)
Yemeni tribesmen hold positions during fighting against the Houthis in Marib city on June 27, 2016. (Getty Images)
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Houthi Attack Repelled in Yemen's Hajjah

Yemeni tribesmen hold positions during fighting against the Houthis in Marib city on June 27, 2016. (Getty Images)
Yemeni tribesmen hold positions during fighting against the Houthis in Marib city on June 27, 2016. (Getty Images)

The Yemeni military declared on Thursday that it has repelled an attack by the Iran-backed Houthi militias on the Abs front in the northwestern Hajjah province.

Several Iran-made armed drones were downed during the fighting, it added.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition offered air support during the operation. It carried out 15 raids in the Marib and Hajjah provinces in the past 24 hours, destroying eleven Houthi military vehicles.

On Wednesday, the coalition said it carried out 17 strikes against the Houthis in the same provinces, destroying 14 of their vehicles and leaving dozens of casualties among their ranks.

Yemeni sources said the Houthis in Hajjah were trying to regroup and recapture lost territories in the Abs district. They even forced hundreds of civilians to take up arms.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani slammed the militias for forcing civilians to join the fighting and "leading them to their death in suicide missions on various fronts."

"This is the systematic murder and genocide of the people of those regions," he added, saying it was yet another crime that can be added to the Houthis' long list of atrocities against the Yemeni people.

He accused the terrorist Houthis of exploiting the "poverty and ignorance" of some communities to further their agenda and violations in the country, including the looting of salaries and humanitarian aid, driving students out of school and recruiting children to their ranks.

The minister called on the international community to condemn the Houthis, designate them as terrorist and put their leaders on trial for war crimes.

Meanwhile, the military said it was sweeping recently liberated areas in the al-Safra district in Saada for mines planted by the Houthis.

The northern Saada province is the main Houthi stronghold in Yemen.

On Wednesday, the army announced that its forces had liberated new positions in the Safra district.

The Saba news agency reported that the military liberated the positions of Sharqan, Tibab al-Azabi and al-Hadiby in a rapid attack that left several Houthis dead and injured.



In Gaza, Summer Heat Amplifies the Daily Struggle to Survive

Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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In Gaza, Summer Heat Amplifies the Daily Struggle to Survive

Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

For Rida Abu Hadayed, summer adds a new layer of misery to a daily struggle to survive in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

With temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), daybreak begins with the cries of Hadayed’s seven children sweltering inside the displaced family’s cramped nylon tent. Outside, the humidity is unbearable.

The only way the 32-year-old mother can offer her children relief is by fanning them with a tray or bits of paper — whatever she can find. If she has water, she pours it over them, but that is an increasingly scarce resource, The Associated Press said.

“There is no electricity. There is nothing,” she said, her face beaded with sweat. “They cannot sleep. They keep crying all day until the sun sets.”

The heat in Gaza has intensified hardships for its 2 million residents. Reduced water availability, crippled sanitation networks, and shrinking living spaces threaten to cause illnesses to cascade through communities, aid groups have long warned.

The scorching summer coincides with a lack of clean water for the majority of Gaza’s population, most of whom are displaced in tented communities. Many Palestinians in the enclave must walk long distances to fetch water and ration each drop, limiting their ability to wash and keep cool.

“We are only at the beginning of summer,“ Hadayed’s husband, Yousef, said. “And our situation is dire.”

Israel had blocked food, fuel, medicine and all other supplies from entering Gaza for nearly three months. It began allowing limited aid in May, but fuel needed to pump water from wells or operate desalination plants is still not getting into the territory.

With fuel supplies short, only 40% of drinking water production facilities are functioning in the Gaza Strip, according to a recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. All face imminent collapse. Up to 93% of households face water shortages, the June report said.

The Hadayeds were displaced after evacuation orders forced them to leave eastern Khan Younis.

“Our lives in the tent are miserable. We spend our days pouring water over their heads and their skin,” Yousef Hadayed said. “Water itself is scarce. It is very difficult to get that water.”

UNICEF’s spokesperson recently said that if fuel supplies are not allowed to enter the enclave, children will die of thirst.

“Me and my children spend our days sweating,” said Reham Abu Hadayed, a 30-year-old relative of Rida Abu Hadayed who was also displaced from eastern Khan Younis. She worries about the health of her four children.

“I don’t have enough money to buy them medicine,” she said.

For Mohammed al-Awini, 23, the heat is not the worst part. It's the flies and mosquitoes that bombard his tent, especially at night.

Without adequate sewage networks, garbage piles up on streets, attracting insects and illness. The stench of decomposing trash wafts in the air.

“We are awake all night, dying from mosquito bites,” he said. “We are the most tired people in the world.”