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US, UK Express Concern after Latest Houthi Escalation in Yemen’s Marib

The State Department in Washington, DC, December 14, 2014. (AP)
The State Department in Washington, DC, December 14, 2014. (AP)
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US, UK Express Concern after Latest Houthi Escalation in Yemen’s Marib

The State Department in Washington, DC, December 14, 2014. (AP)
The State Department in Washington, DC, December 14, 2014. (AP)

The United States and Britain expressed their concern over the latest field escalation by the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen’s Marib and al-Jawf provinces.

The militias had launched on Sunday rocket and drone attacks on Marib, as well as ground attacks on the neighboring al-Jawf.

Yemeni officials blamed the latest spike in attacks on the United States’ decision to revoke the terrorist designation of the Houthis. The move, they added, gave the militias the green light to continue their war on the Yemeni people.

“The United States is deeply troubled by continued Houthi attacks,” said a State Department statement on Monday. “We call on the Houthis to immediately cease attacks impacting civilian areas inside Saudi Arabia and to halt any new military offensives inside Yemen, which only bring more suffering to the Yemeni people.”

“We urge the Houthis to refrain from destabilizing actions and demonstrate their commitment to constructively engage in UN Special Envoy Griffiths’ efforts to achieve peace. The time is now to find an end to this conflict,” it stressed.

British Ambassador to Yemen Michael Aron strongly condemned the attacks on Marib and al-Jawf, urging the Houthis to cease such assaults immediately and prove their commitment to achieve peace by supporting the efforts exerted by the UN envoy.

The Biden administration’s decision to drop the terror designation was met with a largely lukewarm reception by the Houthis.

Iran’s “ambassador” to Sanaa, Hasan Irlu said he was “not optimistic” over the move that was announced by the “great Satan”, meaning the US.

In a tweet, Irlu, who is the effective military rule of Sanaa, said the new American administration is adopting a different approach than its predecessor whereby it is imposing direct political and military involvement in Yemen, similar to its presence in Iraq and Syria.

Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik said the Houthi ballistic missiles and drone attack against civilian neighborhoods in Marib and al-Jawf took place while international and UN efforts were underway to reach a political solution to the conflict.

This “is new evidence to the international community that the militias do not believe in peace and are forging ahead in implementing Iran’s malign agenda in the region,” he added.

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Arab World

UN: Average of 47 Women and Girls Killed Daily During Gaza War

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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UN: Average of 47 Women and Girls Killed Daily During Gaza War

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

An average of at least 47 women and girls were killed each day during the war in Gaza, according to figures published by UN Women on Friday, and the agency warned that deaths have continued six months into a fragile ceasefire.

More than 38,000 women and girls were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and December 2025, according to the report by UN Women, an agency that focuses on gender equality.

"Women and girls accounted for a proportion of deaths far higher than those observed in previous ⁠conflicts in Gaza," ⁠Sofia Calltorp, the agency's humanitarian action head, told reporters in Geneva.

"They were individuals with lives and with dreams," she added, according to AFP.

The agency expressed concern that the killing of women and girls has continued since an October ceasefire, though it does not know exactly how many have died due to ⁠a lack of gender-aggregated data.

October's ceasefire halted two years of full-scale war but left Israeli troops in control of a depopulated zone that makes up well over half of Gaza, with Hamas in power in the remaining, narrow, coastal strip.

More than 750 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to local medics, while militants have killed four Israeli soldiers. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for ceasefire violations.

Israel says it aims to thwart attacks by Hamas and ⁠other militant factions.

UN ⁠children's agency UNICEF said on Friday that children continued to be killed and injured at an alarming rate in Gaza, with at least 214 reported dead in the last six months.

Around one million women and girls are displaced in Gaza, UN Women said.

"Extensive damage to infrastructure has made it almost impossible for women and girls in Gaza to access their basic needs like healthcare," said Calltorp.

World Health Organization figures show more than 500,000 women lack access to essential services including antenatal and postnatal care and management of sexually transmitted infections.

Arab World

Lebanon Says Israeli Strike in South Kills One Despite Truce

An Israeli helicopter fires a projectile, as it flies over Lebanon, after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, as seen from Israel, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
An Israeli helicopter fires a projectile, as it flies over Lebanon, after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, as seen from Israel, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Says Israeli Strike in South Kills One Despite Truce

An Israeli helicopter fires a projectile, as it flies over Lebanon, after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, as seen from Israel, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
An Israeli helicopter fires a projectile, as it flies over Lebanon, after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, as seen from Israel, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike on a motorcycle in the south killed one person on Friday, despite the start of a 10-day ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

The truce, announced by US President Donald Trump, went into force at midnight (Thursday 2100 GMT), seeking to end more than six weeks of war that has killed nearly 2,300 people in Lebanon and displaced more than a million.

"A motorcyclist was killed in the town of Kunin, in the Bint Jbeil district, after being targeted by an enemy drone," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.

Under the terms of the truce, Israel reserves the right to continue targeting Iran-backed group Hezbollah to prevent "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".

Israel also said it will maintain a 10-kilometer (six-mile) security zone along the border in southern Lebanon.

The ceasefire agreement makes no mention of an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the area between this security zone and the Litani River, located around 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Israel, had not yet been "cleared of terrorists and weapons", and that if diplomatic pressure did not achieve that goal, then military action could resume.

However, Trump said on his Truth Social network that "Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the USA. Enough is enough!!!"

After a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end the previous war between Hezbollah and Israel, the latter continued to bomb Lebanon, usually saying it was targeting Hezbollah.

Arab World

Israel Says Military Operation Against Hezbollah 'Still Not Complete'

A man next to an ambulance looks at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
A man next to an ambulance looks at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
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Israel Says Military Operation Against Hezbollah 'Still Not Complete'

A man next to an ambulance looks at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
A man next to an ambulance looks at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki

Israel's defense minister said on Friday that the campaign against Hezbollah was not yet complete, just hours after a 10-day ceasefire came into force in Lebanon.

He also warned that if the fighting resumed, displaced residents returning to the country's war-torn south would have to evacuate again.

"The ground maneuver into Lebanon and the strikes on Hezbollah have achieved many gains, but they are still not complete," Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a broadcast statement.

There remained areas of the south that had not yet been cleared of Hezbollah militants, which would have to happen one way or another, he added.

"The area between the security zone and the Litani (River) line, which is currently under our control, has not yet been cleared of terrorists and weapons," Katz warned.

"This will have to be carried out either through diplomatic means or by continued IDF activity once the ceasefire ends."

As the truce took effect at midnight (2100 GMT), thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians began heading south, hoping to return to their homes.

But Katz said a fresh bout of fighting could force them to leave again.

"If the fighting resumes, those residents who return to the security zone will have to be evacuated to allow completion of the mission," AFP quoted him as saying.

According to details of the truce released by the US State Department, Israel reserves the right to continue targeting Hezbollah to prevent "planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks".

Israel, whose troops are occupying parts of southern Lebanon, has also said it will maintain a 10-kilometer (six-mile) security zone it has established along the border.

"The security zone has been cleared of militants and weapons, is empty of residents, and will continue to be cleared of terrorist infrastructure, including the destruction of homes in front-line villages that have effectively become terrorist outposts," Katz said.

The details of the truce also stipulate that Lebanon "with international support... will take meaningful steps to prevent Hezbollah" from undertaking any attacks against Israeli targets.