Houthis Commit Widespread Violations a Week Before Yemen Truce Ends

Displaced Yemenis receive food aid amid a heightened food insecurity, at a camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on the outskirts of Sanaa, Yemen, 29 April 2022 (issued 27 June 2022). (EPA)
Displaced Yemenis receive food aid amid a heightened food insecurity, at a camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on the outskirts of Sanaa, Yemen, 29 April 2022 (issued 27 June 2022). (EPA)
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Houthis Commit Widespread Violations a Week Before Yemen Truce Ends

Displaced Yemenis receive food aid amid a heightened food insecurity, at a camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on the outskirts of Sanaa, Yemen, 29 April 2022 (issued 27 June 2022). (EPA)
Displaced Yemenis receive food aid amid a heightened food insecurity, at a camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on the outskirts of Sanaa, Yemen, 29 April 2022 (issued 27 June 2022). (EPA)

The Iran-backed Houthi militias are committing widespread violations, most notably in the besieged Taiz province, al-Jawf, Marib and the western coast, a week before the UN-sponsored truce ends.

A rights group in the al-Jawf province said the militias committed 20 violations against civilians in July.

They included the killing and injury of 18 people, arbitrary arrests and damage to three properties due to mines planted by the militias.

It added that the Houthis are committing almost daily violations in the province amid the truce that was announced in early April.

It called on the UN, international community and all local and international rights groups to condemn the ugly Houthi crimes, act to stop them and hold the perpetrators to account.

In Taiz, the militias renewed their shelling of residential neighborhoods in the city a day after a child was killed and 11 others injured in shelling.

Media Ministry Undersecretary Fayyad al-Numan condemned the international community and UN’s “overlooking” of these violations.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the international community and UN envoy were seeking to extend the humanitarian truce to claim personal accomplishments, while disregarding the suffering of the people, who are the victims of the “ugliest crimes committed by a terrorist group.”

He accused the Houthis of war crimes, starving the people and laying siege to regions.

He lamented how the truce was implemented solely by the legitimate government, while the Houthis “not only rejected the deal, but defied the world, international community and UN Security Council, by refusing to positively approach the UN envoy’s proposals to ensure the success of the truce.”

Moreover, Numan described envoy Hans Grundberg and his backers’ role as “weak” and not enough to “achieve any breakthrough in the implementation of the truce so that it could act as the first step in the transition towards peace based on the three main references.”

The official warned that the lack of real deterrent measures against the Houthis will render the extension of the truce for a second time as mere ink on paper seeing as the militias are continuing to violate it.

Government reports have said Houthi violations of the truce have killed and injured 128 people in Taiz alone. Hundreds of people have been killed and injured in other regions, whether by shelling, sniper fire or landmines.



Tributes Paid to Lebanon Conservationist Killed in Israeli Strike

Mona Khalil in 2004 with a newborn marine turtle near her home in Lebanon. Photograph: Joseph Barrak/AFP/Getty Images
Mona Khalil in 2004 with a newborn marine turtle near her home in Lebanon. Photograph: Joseph Barrak/AFP/Getty Images
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Tributes Paid to Lebanon Conservationist Killed in Israeli Strike

Mona Khalil in 2004 with a newborn marine turtle near her home in Lebanon. Photograph: Joseph Barrak/AFP/Getty Images
Mona Khalil in 2004 with a newborn marine turtle near her home in Lebanon. Photograph: Joseph Barrak/AFP/Getty Images

Activists and campaign groups on Saturday paid tribute to Lebanese environmentalist Mona Khalil who died from injuries sustained in an Israeli strike in the country's south, where she dedicated her life to turtle conservation for decades.

A medical source had previously told AFP that Khalil, aged in her late seventies, was badly wounded in an Israeli strike on June 4 that hit her home in the village of Mansouri, around 10 kilometres (six miles) south of the coastal city of Tyre. She died on Friday.

Julien Jreissati, program director at Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa, said Khalil had "dedicated decades of her life to protecting the sea turtles and coastline of Mansouri".

"Her loss is not only a loss for her family and community, but for the environmental movement in Lebanon and the region," he told AFP.

A wide stretch of south Lebanon's coastline near Tyre, which includes some of the country's best-preserved beaches, is a nesting site for turtles, including endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles.

After returning to her native Lebanon from the Netherlands more than two decades ago, Khalil set up the Orange House Project in Mansouri, a conservation project combined with ecotourism, where visitors could see turtle hatchings and take part in conservation activities.

"For decades, Mona stood at the forefront of conservation efforts along the southern coast," said the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), mourning "one of Lebanon's most dedicated environmental defenders and a tireless champion of sea turtle conservation".

Her efforts contributed "significantly to the protection of one of Lebanon's most important sea turtle nesting sites in Hima Qoleileh-Mansouri, a seven-kilometre stretch of sandy and rocky shoreline that hosts more than 58 endangered sea turtle nests annually", it said.

Khalil inspired communities and "helped build a culture of environmental stewardship rooted in local ownership and collective responsibility", it added in a statement on Friday.

Local environmental group Green Southerners on X mourned "a pioneering environmental defender" who for decades "dedicated her life to protecting endangered sea turtles and their nesting habitats".

"Through the Orange House, she inspired generations of Lebanese to value and protect their natural heritage and coastal ecosystems," it added.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) had been reporting heavy strikes in the Tyre district, including raids on Mansouri, earlier this month when Khalil was wounded.

The village is also located near an area where Israeli troops are operating inside south Lebanon.

Khalil was among the few local residents still holding out there despite the Israel-Hezbollah war and sweeping Israeli military evacuation orders for the country's south.


Israel Carries Out Deadly Strikes in South Lebanon Despite Truce Announced with Hezbollah

Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, Lebanon, June 20, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer       TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, Lebanon, June 20, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
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Israel Carries Out Deadly Strikes in South Lebanon Despite Truce Announced with Hezbollah

Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, Lebanon, June 20, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer       TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, Lebanon, June 20, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Israel carried out deadly strikes in south Lebanon on Saturday, hours after the US announced a renewed ceasefire in fighting that had strained a fledgling deal with Iran.

US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian this week signed a preliminary agreement to halt the Middle East war on all fronts, including Lebanon -- a key demand of Tehran's.

But follow-up talks scheduled for Friday in Switzerland were indefinitely postponed as Israel launched a wave of strikes in Lebanon that left dozens of people dead after four of its soldiers were killed in combat, sparking a furious reaction at home.

On Friday afternoon, a US official announced a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah brokered by US and Qatari mediators, with Israel's ambassador to Washington saying it would respect the truce if Hezbollah did.

But on Saturday an Israeli military official said it was conducting fresh attacks against the Iran-backed movement, which it accused of having "launched more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon" overnight.

Lebanese state media reported Israeli air raids on around 20 locations, with the country's civil defense agency saying 16 people were killed in the Nabatieh area.

The Lebanese army said an Israeli strike killed a soldier on the Kfarrumman-Nabatieh road and accused Israel of undermining efforts to restore stability.

Israel's Arabic-language military spokesperson said calm could be achieved if Hezbollah halted what she described as hostile activity and violations of agreements, adding Israel's presence in a security zone aimed to remove threats and dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure, not harm civilians.

The US-Iran understanding announced this week calls for an immediate, permanent end to military operations by the parties and their allies across multiple fronts, including Lebanon.

Israel, which was not part of those negotiations, has opposed provisions it says could constrain its campaign in Lebanon.


Gaza Health Officials Say Israeli Strikes Kill Five

Palestinians inspect a destroyed vehicle following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 18 June 2026. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Palestinians inspect a destroyed vehicle following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 18 June 2026. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
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Gaza Health Officials Say Israeli Strikes Kill Five

Palestinians inspect a destroyed vehicle following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 18 June 2026. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Palestinians inspect a destroyed vehicle following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 18 June 2026. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

Gaza health officials said Israeli strikes on Saturday killed five people, including four members of the same family, in the latest violence to rock the Palestinian territory despite a ceasefire.

Israel and Hamas trade near-daily accusations of truce violations and the Gaza Strip remains gripped by bloodshed as progress on permanently ending the war remains stalled.

An overnight Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City killed four members of the al-Safadi family, including the husband, wife and their two daughters, said the civil defense agency, a rescue service that operates under Hamas authority.

AFP quoted it as saying that the strike also injured 12 others.

Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital confirmed receiving the bodies of four members of the al-Safadi family, including two children.

The hospital also said it had received another body following a separate Israeli drone strike near an intersection in the north of Gaza City.

When asked by AFP about the two incidents, the Israeli military did not offer an immediate response.

At least 1,012 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on October 10 last year, according to Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks during the same period.

Restrictions imposed on media outlets and limited access in Gaza prevent AFP from independently verifying tolls or freely covering the violence there.