Houthis Detain Yemeni Vice President’s Son

Yemen's late former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Reuters
Yemen's late former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Reuters
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Houthis Detain Yemeni Vice President’s Son

Yemen's late former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Reuters
Yemen's late former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Reuters

Houthi militia stormed on Friday the home of Yemeni Vice President General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and kidnapped his son Mohsen Ali Mohsen along with dozens of house guards, sources in Sana’a said.

Ahmar’s office and Houthis did not confirm or deny the news that were reported by Arabiya. Net.

On the other hand, Houthi militia released Saturday two prominent tribal leaders with a number of their followers, who were arrested on charges of participating in the uprising called for by former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on December 2, that ended up with Saleh’s death and his relatives’ injury along with hundreds of his supporters.

Observers said that Houthis might have taken this step to please “Hashid” tribe since the first leader was a communications minister in the unrecognized coup government and a leader in the Popular Congress Party; he was overthrown by Houthis after Saleh’s death and was held in one of their detention camps after being accused of supporting the uprising.

The other detainee was a tribal leader with a close relationship with the former president, and the militias blew up his house after looting it and arresting a number of his followers.

According to the Houthi version of Saba News Agency, Head of the coup Houthi Supreme Political Council Saleh al-Samad received Saturday in Amran Governorate’s elders and Hashid tribe’s sheikhs and praised their roles in standing with the group in the face of what he called “aggression.”

Samad ordered the release of Sheikh Glidan Mahmoud Glidan and Sheikh Mabkhouth al-Mashreqi.

Meanwhile, and after forty days of killing former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Houthi militia suppressed in Sana’a Saturday protests carried out by women to denounce the coup militia.

The protest, which reached to Tahrir Square in central Sana’a, called for "civil disobedience" in response to the Houthi violations.

The participants demanded that the Houthi militias hand over the corps of Saleh, of whom the houthis spread rumors that they have buried it in his hometown earlier this month.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.