Yemenis Return to Streets to Protest Houthi Violations

A photo taken from social media shows Yemenis protesting in the Habish district.
A photo taken from social media shows Yemenis protesting in the Habish district.
TT

Yemenis Return to Streets to Protest Houthi Violations

A photo taken from social media shows Yemenis protesting in the Habish district.
A photo taken from social media shows Yemenis protesting in the Habish district.

New waves of protests against the Houthis have erupted in regions held by the Iran-backed militias in Yemen in recent days.

The demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the Houthi corruption and arbitrary practices against the people, demanding their overthrow.

Yemeni sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis are continuing their oppression and extortion of the people, leading them to return to staging protests that have erupted in the capital Sanaa, and cities of Ibb, Dhamar, Hodeidah and others.

In Sanaa, teachers staged a protest to pressure the Houthis ahead of the new academic year to pay their salaries that have been withheld for years.

A local source told Asharq Al-Awsat that dozens of teachers protested the unfair conditions, calling other colleagues to join a general strike to protest Houthi injustice.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source revealed that the Houthis resorted to their usual oppression to quell the protests that took place at three public schools in the Maeen district in Sanaa.

The militias arrested several teachers, confiscated their phones and accused them of incitement.

They were released 12 hours after being detained. They were threatened with being fired from their jobs and being rearrested should they again resort to protests and “impede education,” warned a Houthi member.

Days ago, people in the Ibb province took to the streets to demand the sacking of a leading Houthi member for his crimes against the locals.

Local sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that hundreds of residents of the Habish district protested against the Houthi official, who serves as the so-called director of security of the area.

The militias attempted to quell the protests by opening live fire at the demonstrators.

Witnesses said the rally was prompted by a Houthi armed assault on a vegetable vendor at a local market and the imposing of new fees on the people.

Yemeni sources had previously revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that anti-Houthi protests had erupted in four cities in July. They were held in Sanaa, Ibb, al-Bayda and Taiz to protest Houthi oppression and practices.



Gaza Health Officials Say 4 Killed in Israeli Strikes, Including Child

 People operate on a destroyed vehicle following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza city, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP)
People operate on a destroyed vehicle following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza city, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP)
TT

Gaza Health Officials Say 4 Killed in Israeli Strikes, Including Child

 People operate on a destroyed vehicle following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza city, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP)
People operate on a destroyed vehicle following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza city, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP)

Gaza's health officials said on Saturday that Israeli fire killed at least four people in the Palestinian territory, including a 10-year-old girl and the son of a top government official.

A statement from Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, said that the child "succumbed to wounds sustained this morning from Israeli army fire north of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip".

An airstrike also killed Baseer al-Barsh, the son of Munir al-Barsh who serves as director-general of Gaza's health ministry, in an encampment for displaced people in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, the ministry said.

Speaking during his son's funeral, Munir Al-Bursh said the killing was "a continuation of (Israel's) crimes", according to a ministry statement.

In addition, two Palestinians were killed and several others injured in two separate strikes near Gaza City, according to Gaza's al-Shifa hospital and the territory's civil defense, a rescue agency operating under Hamas authority.

The Israeli army did not immediately respond to an AFP inquiry on the strikes.

Israel in October last year agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the United States but since then has advanced further into Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed no let-up in strikes targeting Hamas, which led the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack against Israel, and no pullout from Gaza until Hamas gives up all of its weapons.

The 2023 attack killed 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The gunmen also dragged into Gaza some 251 hostages, 44 of them already dead.

The massive Israeli offensive in response has left most of Gaza in ruins and killed more than 73,800 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,300 people since the ceasefire was announced last year, according to the Gaza health ministry, whose figures are considered generally reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has identified five deaths in its ranks over the same period, as well as the death of one civilian contractor.


Syria Says Arrested Assad-Era General Who Led Attacks on Opposition

Former Major General Ahmed Mohammad Ismail after his arrest. (Syrian Internal Security Forces)
Former Major General Ahmed Mohammad Ismail after his arrest. (Syrian Internal Security Forces)
TT

Syria Says Arrested Assad-Era General Who Led Attacks on Opposition

Former Major General Ahmed Mohammad Ismail after his arrest. (Syrian Internal Security Forces)
Former Major General Ahmed Mohammad Ismail after his arrest. (Syrian Internal Security Forces)

Syrian authorities on Saturday said they arrested a general who served under the rule of ousted president Bashar al-Assad, saying he led operations against formerly opposition-held areas during the country's 13-year civil war.

In a statement, security forces announced "the arrest of former Major General Ahmed Mohammad Ismail, a high-ranking commander in the Republican Guard of the former regime's army".

Military records indicate that "he began his service as a platoon commander, then served as a company commander in the 2nd Battalion of the 101st Airborne Regiment. He was subsequently promoted, at the beginning of 2016, to Chief of Operations of the same regiment, and directly participated in commanding military assaults on the cities of Aleppo and Daraa, as well as on Eastern Ghouta."

Located near Damascus, Eastern Ghouta was an opposition stronghold during the civil war until 2018, and the site of a major chemical attack five years prior.

US intelligence says more than 1,000 people were killed with sarin nerve gas in the suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, in 2013 during Syria's civil war.

The attack was attributed to the Syrian government under the rule of Assad, who was toppled in late 2024.

The government at the time denied involvement and blamed the opposition factions.

Since Assad was overthrown in December 2024, Syria's new authorities have arrested dozens of former security officials, while trials began in April.

Earlier this month Syrian authorities said they had arrested nine former pilots including three generals accused of taking part in lethal bombings of towns and villages under Assad's rule.

Syria sentenced Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher, and five other security officials to death in absentia in August for atrocities committed during the civil war.

The former president fled Syria as his government fell and is believed to be living in Russia.


UN Peacekeeping Chief in Lebanon Says Smooth Transition Is Critical Before Pullout

 Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major General Diodato Abagnara of the Italian Army at the UNIFIL base, near Mansouri, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major General Diodato Abagnara of the Italian Army at the UNIFIL base, near Mansouri, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)
TT

UN Peacekeeping Chief in Lebanon Says Smooth Transition Is Critical Before Pullout

 Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major General Diodato Abagnara of the Italian Army at the UNIFIL base, near Mansouri, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major General Diodato Abagnara of the Italian Army at the UNIFIL base, near Mansouri, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)

The head of United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon said on Saturday it was critical to ensure other UN agencies and Lebanese troops could assume the tasks carried out by the force before it begins withdrawing at the end of this year.

Major General Diodato Abagnara of Italy spoke to Reuters in southern Lebanon at a position operated by the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, which has been monitoring hostilities in southern Lebanon for nearly 50 years.

Since a new war erupted between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese armed ‌group Hezbollah in ‌March, the force has also provided security escorts for humanitarian aid ‌convoys ⁠to residents in a ⁠small cluster of predominantly Christian southern Lebanese towns now encircled by Israeli troops. Residents in much of the rest of southern Lebanon have been forcibly displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders.

The UN Security Council has ordered UNIFIL to begin withdrawing at the end of 2026, triggering concerns over whether aid deliveries can continue and how the force can transfer its positions to Lebanese troops.

“There are other United Nations entities here in the south, and so what is ⁠very important for us (is) to conduct a very smooth transition to ‌different entities, or for the future of a new ‌mission,” Abagnara told Reuters.

He said UNIFIL was already working with the UN’s country team to ensure ‌humanitarian assistance in Israeli-occupied areas and information sharing with the Lebanese army about “sensitive areas (and) how ‌they can manage this situation.”

Abagnara acknowledged that it could be “very difficult” to hand over some of UNIFIL's posts to Lebanese troops given that more than half lie within areas now controlled by Israeli troops.

ISRAEL DEMOLISHES TOWN NEAR UN POST

Diplomats worry UNIFIL’s departure will mean an end to the UN's "eyes and ‌ears" in southern Lebanon.

Abagnara spoke to Reuters at a position overlooking Mansouri, a town where Israeli forces have been carrying out demolitions ⁠since ordering residents ⁠to leave in June, despite a ceasefire. Reuters reporters could see excavators in the town knocking down trees and multi-storey homes.

Abagnara described demolitions as “another violation” of UN Security Council resolutions on Lebanon. Israel's military has said it is destroying Hezbollah infrastructure across southern Lebanon.

As a US-backed plan for Lebanon's army to disarm Hezbollah and take control of southern Lebanon has stalled, a diplomatic scramble is underway to address the vacuum that will be left by UNIFIL’s withdrawal.

Lebanon wants an extension. Other countries have discussed a new multinational mission, though it remains unclear what kind of mandate it would have.

Abagnara said an extension would be “a great honor” but that without a new Security Council decision, his force would need to stop operating at the end of the year.

“It's not a long time," he said. "The presence of United Nations in the South is very, very essential. And according to me, more now than ever.”