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Houthis Ignore Judges’ Strike in Sanaa, Take Measures Undermining Yemeni Judiciary

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the cousin of the Houthi militia leader, forces MPs loyal to his group to legitimize his destruction of the judiciary (Twitter)
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the cousin of the Houthi militia leader, forces MPs loyal to his group to legitimize his destruction of the judiciary (Twitter)
    Aden - Waddah al-Jalil
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Houthis Ignore Judges’ Strike in Sanaa, Take Measures Undermining Yemeni Judiciary

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the cousin of the Houthi militia leader, forces MPs loyal to his group to legitimize his destruction of the judiciary (Twitter)
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the cousin of the Houthi militia leader, forces MPs loyal to his group to legitimize his destruction of the judiciary (Twitter)

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a Houthi military leader, is pressing on with measures to undermine the judiciary in Yemen’s militia-run areas, showing total indifference towards a strike led by Yemeni judges over the kidnapping and killing of Judge Mohamed Homran.

To date, most courts in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa are insisting on carrying on with their strike in protest of the killing of Homran with most judges refusing to return to work until the Houthi group meets the demands announced by the Yemen Courts Club.

The Club’s demands include charging and punishing Homran’s killers.

Homran, a 63-year-old Supreme Court judge in Sanaa, was kidnapped from outside his home on Al-Asbahi street and found dead days later.

Yemeni judges accuse al-Houthi of personally carrying out incitement against judges.

Moreover, al-Houthi is accused of establishing several measures to strip the judiciary of its powers and creating a parallel justice system that would stand in place of constitutional Yemeni courts and prosecutors.

The Public Prosecution in Sanaa had issued a notice to the Houthi minister of information to stop the broadcast of some programs on Al-Hawiya TV channel owned by Houthi commander Muhammad Ali Al-Emad.

According to legal sources, the programs in question have actively insulted and undermined the judiciary in Houthi-controlled areas.

Nevertheless, sources ruled out Houthis heeding the Prosecution’s demands, especially that al-Houthi continues to impose total control on judicial and executive institutions.

Last Sunday, al-Houthi urged so-called “free revolutionaries,” to form temporary committees to resolve disputes by reconciliation instead of the judiciary.

Al-Houthi’s demand was directed mostly to scholars, legal and tribal figures, governors, and judicial officers.

Asharq Al-Awsat, after monitoring Houthi media, discovered that al-Houthi and militia leaders had stepped in personally to resolve a total of 286 tribal disputes over the course of four years.

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Arab World

Seasonal Rainfall Deepens Yemenis’ Humanitarian Plight

Relief agencies said 200,000 people have been affected by the rainfall. (Local media)
Relief agencies said 200,000 people have been affected by the rainfall. (Local media)
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Seasonal Rainfall Deepens Yemenis’ Humanitarian Plight

Relief agencies said 200,000 people have been affected by the rainfall. (Local media)
Relief agencies said 200,000 people have been affected by the rainfall. (Local media)

Yemen is reeling from floods caused by seasonal rainfall that have swept vast swathes of the country in recent weeks, claiming dozens of lives and causing major damage in infrastructure.

Relief agencies said 200,000 people have been affected by the rainfall in April, with the number expected to rise as more rain is predicted.

Local and international assessments have said that southwestern regions of Yemen have since March witnessed heavy rain and flooding that have caused death, displacement and widespread damage in public and private property. The Mokha, Mawza, and al-Waziyah districts in Taiz and the al-Khokha and Hays districts in the Hodeidah province have been the most affected.

Several humanitarian sources said the floods have so far killed at least 24 people and affected 55,000 along the western coast regions held by the legitimate government.

Field assessments continue to determine the extent of the damage to homes, roads, water infrastructure and agricultural fields.

The number of affected people is expected to rise to some 220,000 if the rain continues, especially given the poor infrastructure and weak water drainage systems. The seasonal rainfall and ensuing floods are a recurring problem in Yemen given the weak infrastructure.

Authorities have dedicated around USD205,000 through an emergency response fund to tackle the crisis, support emergency relief operations and provide shelter to those affected.

Arab World

China Says UN Should Revisit Lebanon Peacekeeping Mission Decision

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) armored vehicle drives at the entrance of the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 30, 2026. (AFP)
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) armored vehicle drives at the entrance of the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 30, 2026. (AFP)
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China Says UN Should Revisit Lebanon Peacekeeping Mission Decision

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) armored vehicle drives at the entrance of the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 30, 2026. (AFP)
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) armored vehicle drives at the entrance of the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 30, 2026. (AFP)

China's ambassador to the United Nations said on Friday that there was a need to revisit the UN Security Council's decision to end the mandate of a long-running peacekeeping mission in Lebanon at the end of this year.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), established in 1978, patrols Lebanon's southern border with Israel. Last year, the Security Council unanimously agreed to begin a withdrawal of the mission at the end of 2026.

Envoy Fu Cong said China, which has ‌taken over the presidency ‌of the Security Council for May, ‌was ⁠concerned about the situation ⁠in Lebanon. He said there was no real ceasefire in place, only a "lesser fire."

"It is incumbent on Israel to stop this bombardment of Lebanon," he told reporters.

More than 2,500 people have been killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon since March 2, when armed group Hezbollah fired on Israel in ⁠support of its ally Iran and triggered ‌an Israeli ground and air ‌campaign that has left swathes of southern Lebanon in ruins.

Israel's mission to ‌the United Nations did not immediately respond to a ‌request for comment, but Israel says its military activities in Lebanon are aimed at stopping attacks by Hezbollah.

Responding to a question about the UNIFIL mandate, Fu said: "We do believe we should ‌revisit the decision actually to withdraw the UNIFIL."

Fu said he had spoken recently about the ⁠issue ⁠to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. He said the UN secretariat was thinking about a review and would come up with options in June for the implementation of UN resolution 1701 that ended a round of deadly conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

"I think at least the view of the overwhelming majority of the Security Council is that this is not the time to redraw UNIFIL," Fu said.

UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said last month that some form of ongoing UN presence might continue after the UNIFIL mandate ends.

Arab World

Lebanon Says 13 Killed in Israeli Strikes in South

A man sits watching as Lebanese first responders search for human remains amongst the rubble the day after a house was targeted in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, on May 1, 2026. (AFP)
A man sits watching as Lebanese first responders search for human remains amongst the rubble the day after a house was targeted in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, on May 1, 2026. (AFP)
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Lebanon Says 13 Killed in Israeli Strikes in South

A man sits watching as Lebanese first responders search for human remains amongst the rubble the day after a house was targeted in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, on May 1, 2026. (AFP)
A man sits watching as Lebanese first responders search for human remains amongst the rubble the day after a house was targeted in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, on May 1, 2026. (AFP)

Lebanon's health ministry said 13 people were killed on Friday in Israeli strikes in the south, including in a town where Israel's army had issued an evacuation order despite a ceasefire.

The strikes in Habboush killed eight people, including a child and two women, and wounded 21 others, the ministry said, raising an earlier toll.

Other strikes in Zrariyeh killed four people, two of them women, and wounded four more, it said.

The ministry also reported a strike in Ain Baal near the coastal city of Tyre killed one person and wounded seven others.

In Habboush, where the Israeli evacuation warning was issued, an AFP photographer saw clouds of smoke rising after the raids.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli warplanes "launched a series of heavy strikes... less than an hour after" the warning.

Israel's military had said it would act "forcefully" against Hezbollah after the Iran-backed group's "violations of the ceasefire agreement", and told residents to flee to open areas at least one kilometer (0.6 miles) from the town.

The NNA also reported Israeli strikes and artillery fire on other south Lebanon locations, including Tyre.

Israel has kept up deadly strikes on Lebanon despite the April 17 ceasefire that sought to halt more than six weeks of war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The ceasefire text grants Israel the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".

Israeli soldiers are operating inside a "Yellow Line" running some 10 kilometers deep inside Lebanon's border, where they are carrying out wide-scale detonations and demolitions of buildings.

The NNA said Israeli troops carried out detonations in the southern town of Shamaa, and "demolished a monastery and a school" run by a religious order in the town of Yaroun after other detonations of "homes, shops and roads" there.

- 'Fear for their lives' -

Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks on Israeli troops and sites in southern Lebanon on Friday, saying they were in response to Israeli ceasefire violations.

The group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Lebanon's health ministry on Friday raised the toll from Israeli strikes since March 2 to more than 2,600 dead, including 103 emergency workers and paramedics.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' under-secretary general for national society development and coordination, Xavier Castellanos, said that when Lebanese Red Cross volunteers go on a mission, "they fear for their lives".

Two Lebanese Red Cross paramedics are among those killed in Israeli strikes.

"That a person that is trying to save lives, is trying to alleviate human suffering, might be targeted, might be killed... this is something that I found absolutely unacceptable," Castellanos told reporters near Beirut.