Yemen

ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- A prisoner swap between pro-government Yemeni forces and Houthi militia took place on Thursday in the country's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, a military official told Xinhua.

According to the military source who asked to remain anonymous, "two pro-government soldiers were set free in exchange for the release of three Houthi rebels from the jail manned by the government forces in Hodeidah."

(AP) --- Yemen’s Houthi rebels have blocked half of the United Nations’ aid delivery programs in the war-torn country — a strong-arm tactic to force the agency to give them greater control over the massive humanitarian campaign, along with a cut of billions of dollars in foreign assistance, according to aid officials and internal documents obtained by The Associated Press.

16 Feb 2020; MEMO: The Houthi rebel group claimed on Saturday that it downed a Tornado fighter jet belonging to the Arab coalition, reported Anadolu Agency.

Speaking on Houthis-run Al-Masirah television, spokesman Yahya Saree said the jet was downed in Al-Jawf governorate in northern Yemen by a ground-to-air missile launched by air defense systems.

No statement has yet been made from coalition forces, regarding the claim.

SANAA, Feb 16 (NNN-SABA) – An airstrike in the Yemeni northeastern province of al-Jawf, on Saturday, killed at least 31 civilians and injured 12 others, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen said in a statement.

“We share our deep condolences with the families of those killed and we pray for the speedy recovery of everyone who has been injured in these terrible strikes,” Lise Grande said in the statement.

01 Feb 2020; MEMO: Yemen’s Houthi military spokesman said on Friday the group had launched 26 rocket attacks in the past week against airports in southern Saudi Arabia, facilities belonging to oil giant Saudi Aramco and “two sensitive targets deep in” the kingdom, reports Reuters.

ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Thursday met with commanders of the joint forces of the Saudi-led Arab coalition, the state-run Saba News Agency reported.

President Hadi visited the command center of the joint military forces operating in Yemen at the Defense Ministry of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia.

Hadi, accompanied by Yemen's Vice President Ali Mohsen Saleh, held a meeting with Prince Fahad bin Turki bin Abdul Aziz, commander of the joint forces of the Saudi-led Arab coalition.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A drastic escalation in fighting between the Saudi-led military coalition and Houthi rebels in Yemen has killed and wounded hundreds of people over the past week, officials and tribal leaders said Monday.

The U.S.-backed Arab coalition battling to restore Yemen’s internationally recognized government stepped up airstrikes on rebel targets northeast of the capital, Sanaa, following a monthslong lull, while Houthis shelled government-held areas.

ADEN (Reuters) - Yemen’s president told the military on Sunday it needs to be on high alert and ready for battle following an attack on Saturday by Iran-aligned Houthis on a military training camp in the city of Marib.

The attack “confirms without doubt that the Houthis have no desire for peace”, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said, in a statement on Yemen’s state news agency SABA.

The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for Saturday’s attack.

15 Jan 2019; MEMO: The President of the Yemeni Southern Transitional Council (STC), Aidarus Al-Zoubaidi, yesterday received a number of STC prisoners who had been released under the peace deal signed in Saudi Arabia, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Earlier on Saturday, the Yemeni government handed over 29 prisoners affiliated with the opposition STC to the commander of the Arab coalition forces in the city of Shabwah, Anadolu quoted a local source as saying.

KHAMIR, Yemen (Reuters) - Widow Samirah Nasser and her eight children tried to return to their Yemeni village but were forced by relentless air strikes to return to the relative safety of a refugee camp.

Shivering through yet another camp winter, she is one of 3.6 million Yemenis - around 12% of the population - displaced during a nearly five-year war that has spawned what the United Nations says is the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis.