Yemen's Houthis Accused of Abducting 120 Civilians in Dhamar

People transfer empty cooking gas cylinders to a truck for resupplying them at a petrol station, amid cooking gas shortages in Sanaa, Yemen, 12 December 2019. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
People transfer empty cooking gas cylinders to a truck for resupplying them at a petrol station, amid cooking gas shortages in Sanaa, Yemen, 12 December 2019. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
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Yemen's Houthis Accused of Abducting 120 Civilians in Dhamar

People transfer empty cooking gas cylinders to a truck for resupplying them at a petrol station, amid cooking gas shortages in Sanaa, Yemen, 12 December 2019. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
People transfer empty cooking gas cylinders to a truck for resupplying them at a petrol station, amid cooking gas shortages in Sanaa, Yemen, 12 December 2019. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

Houthi coup militias have abducted 120 civilians from a village in Yemen's Dhamar province, their second stronghold after Saada governorate.

The militias bombed the village, leaving one civilian dead and five others injured, including children and women. Two houses were also destroyed.

“The Iranian-backed militias raided the village a day after its siege, stormed houses, and kidnapped 120 residents, most of them children, taking them to the province’s Marda prison,” Saba news agency quoted local sources as saying on Friday.

The insurgents have established more than 60 new checkpoints around the village since the beginning of their military campaign, Saba reported.

They also continued their military escalation in the coastal Hodeidah province, in the west, shelling National Army positions and targeting the city’s eastern port.

This comes in line with a series of violations of the UN ceasefire deal in Hodeidah.

Also Friday, Yemen's National Army announced the liberation of new positions in al-Jawf governorate, in the north.

An official military source said: “National Army forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, attacked on Thursday the coup militias in the area.”

The attacks resulted in the liberation of areas north of al-Jawf and inflicting the militias significant losses.

“Coalition aircraft raided Houthi reinforcements, causing deaths and injuries in their ranks, and the destruction of three vehicles,” the source added.

Meanwhile, security forces made a drug bust in a smuggling attempt to Houthi-run areas in al-Jawf.

“Security services have managed to seize 64 kilograms of hashish during a handover process between smuggling gangs east of al-Hazm district,” Saba quoted al-Hazm directorate’s Police Chief Major Hazam Shehat as saying.

This operation is the second in the directorate during December, he noted.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”