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First Yemeni Flight Departs Sanaa to Amman

16 May 2022, Yemen, Sanaa: A Yemen Airways plane is welcomed with a water salute at the Sanaa international airport. (dpa)
16 May 2022, Yemen, Sanaa: A Yemen Airways plane is welcomed with a water salute at the Sanaa international airport. (dpa)
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First Yemeni Flight Departs Sanaa to Amman

16 May 2022, Yemen, Sanaa: A Yemen Airways plane is welcomed with a water salute at the Sanaa international airport. (dpa)
16 May 2022, Yemen, Sanaa: A Yemen Airways plane is welcomed with a water salute at the Sanaa international airport. (dpa)

The first commercial flight in six years took off from Yemen’s Sanaa on Monday as part of the two-month nationwide truce.

The flight by national carrier Yemenia - also known as Yemen Airways - was bound for Jordan’s capital of Amman. It had 126 passengers on board.

Today's flight was scheduled for weeks earlier but disputes over passports issued by the Iran-backed Houthi militias, who control Sanaa, had delayed it.

The government refuses to recognize passports that are not issued by legitimate authorities.

The flight was able to take off following efforts by the UN envoy, with the support of the Saudi-led Arab coalition and great facilitations provided by the government.

The government-run SABA news agency said last week that new Yemeni passports would be issued in Jordan for those arriving with Houthi-issued travel documents.

The return flight from Amman is scheduled for later on Monday.

For Wednesday, Yemen Airways announced another flight from Sanaa to Amman and a return one to the Yemeni capital.

The truce accord calls for two commercial flights a week to and from Sanaa to Jordan and Egypt.

The UN envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, hailed what he described as "constructive cooperation” of the Yemeni government.

"This should be a moment of coming together to do more, to start repairing what the war has broken," he said in a statement. He urged both parties to implement all truce commitments and "move towards resuming a political process to sustainably end the conflict."

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Arab World

Israel Sentences 2 Soldiers to Military Prison for Desecration of Christian Statue in Lebanon

Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 11 May 2026. (EPA)
Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 11 May 2026. (EPA)
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Israel Sentences 2 Soldiers to Military Prison for Desecration of Christian Statue in Lebanon

Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 11 May 2026. (EPA)
Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 11 May 2026. (EPA)

Israel’s military said Monday that two soldiers will spend weeks in military prison for the desecration of a Christian statue in southern Lebanon.

One soldier, who stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary, was sentenced to 21 days and a soldier who filmed the incident was sentenced to 14 days, a military spokesperson said.

“The army views the incident with great severity and respects freedom of religion and worship, as well as holy sites and religious symbols of all religions and communities,” Lt. Col. Ariella Mazor wrote on X.

The incident came days after images of an Israeli soldier wielding an ax against a fallen statue of Jesus on the cross in the southern village of Debel sparked widespread condemnation. Soldiers who participated in hacking down the crucifix also received time in military prison.

Israeli forces occupied the area during the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, which began on March 2 when the Iran-backed Lebanese group fired missiles over the border two days after the US and Israel launched their war with Iran. Israel then launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon and its forces have remained despite a weekslong truce.

Israel's military says it only targets buildings that were used as outposts by the Iran-backed group.

The scale of destruction has Lebanese officials and residents worried that large numbers of people displaced by the latest war will have nowhere to return if the fragile truce holds.

Arab World

Syria Says Two Soldiers Killed in Attack in Northeast

A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
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Syria Says Two Soldiers Killed in Attack in Northeast

A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)

Syria said two soldiers were killed in an attack by unidentified assailants in the country's northeast on Monday, while a military source told AFP investigations were underway to identify the perpetrators.

In recent months, Syria's new government has expanded its control to parts of the country's north and northeast that were previously held by Kurdish-led forces, including areas near the site of Monday's attack.

The government has also formally joined the international coalition against the ISIS group, which has long launched attacks in those areas.

The two soldiers were killed "and others wounded in a treacherous attack by unknown assailants" on a bus in Hasakeh province, state news agency SANA quoted the defense ministry as saying.

A military source told AFP on condition of anonymity that a military bus "came under gunfire" along the highway between Ras al-Ain in Hasakeh province and Ain Issa in Raqqa province, adding that two soldiers were killed and two others wounded.

Investigations were underway to determine who was behind the attack, the source added.

Once in control of large swathes of Syria and Iraq, ISIS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 in a battle spearheaded by Kurdish-led forces with support from a US-led international coalition.

The extremists however maintain a presence in Syria, mainly in the country's vast desert, and repeatedly attacked Kurdish-led forces while they controlled swathes of the northeast.

In February, after government forces seized control of many of those areas, ISIS urged its members to fight Syria's new authorities.

Days later, state media said four Syrian security personnel were killed in an ISIS attack in the northern city of Raqqa, which had been recently taken by Damascus's forces.

Arab World

UN: Sudan Drone Strikes Killed at Least 880 Civilians between January and April

Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)
Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)
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UN: Sudan Drone Strikes Killed at Least 880 Civilians between January and April

Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)
Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)

At least 880 civilians were killed in drone strikes in Sudan between January and April this year, the UN said Monday, warning such strikes were pushing the conflict towards a "new, even deadlier phase".

Drone attacks by both Sudan's army and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war since April 2023, have intensified across the country in recent months, reported AFP.

The United Nations rights office said that its Sudan team had determined that "drone strikes accounted for at least 880 civilian deaths -- more than 80 percent of all conflict-related civilian deaths -- between January and April this year".

"Armed drones have now become by far and away the leading cause of civilian deaths," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in the statement.

A growing use of drones allows fighting to continue "unabated" in the rainy season, which in the past has seen a lull, he said.

"An intensification of hostilities in the coming weeks... risks hostilities expanding even further to central and eastern states, with lethal consequences for civilians across enormous areas," he said.

More than three years of civil war in Sudan have already killed tens of thousands, displaced over 11 million and thrust several areas into famine.

But now, Turk warned that "unless action is taken without delay, this conflict is on the cusp of entering yet another new, even deadlier phase".

Most of the civilian deaths attributed to drone strikes in the first three months of the year were recorded in the Kordofan region and Darfur.

Those strikes have continued, with most recently on May 8 drones striking Al Quoz in South Kordofan and near El-Obeid in North Kordofan, reportedly killing 26 civilians and injuring others, the rights office said.

It said belligerents had used drones to repeatedly strike civilian objects and infrastructure, "diminishing access to sufficient food, clean water and health care".

Markets have been repeatedly targeted, with at least 28 such attacks resulting in civilian casualties in the first four months of the year.

Health facilities have been hit at least 12 times, it added.

Now, the rights office said, drone strikes by the RSF and the Sudanese army were increasingly spreading beyond Kordofan and Darfur, to Blue Nile, White Nile and Khartoum.

Turk warned that heightened violence would disrupt provision of critical humanitarian assistance. 

"Much of the country, including Kordofan, is now facing an increased risk of famine and acute food insecurity," he said, adding that the situation was being exacerbated by fertilizer shortages linked to the Middle East war.