Yemen

According to the organisation, during a 14-month period, weapons supplied by the US and Britain killed 87 civilians and wounded 136 others across Yemen, Xinhua news agency reported. Oxfam's report on Wednesday said that "hundreds of attacks on civilians in Yemen" were carried out between January 2021 and February 2022 with weapons supplied by the two Western countries.

According to the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, the militia held the parade on Wednesday to celebrate the eighth anniversary of its capture of Sanaa on September 21, 2014, reports Xinhua news agency. Air and sea missiles, which the TV claimed to be Houthi-made, were displayed. Top leader Mehdi al-Mashat delivered a speech, calling for the Yemeni government and the Saudi-led military coalition to engage in peace, and lift the blockade on the Sanaa airport and Hodeidah seaport.

The Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen agreed to grant the ship access to the port after having withheld it for more than a week, Xinhua news agency quoted the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV as saying. Last week, the Houthi rebels accused the coalition of having been holding the ship since April 27 despite permission granted by the UN.

"We announce that we launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at the Aramco oil facilities in Jeddah and other vital energy facilities in Jazan," Xinhua news agency quoted the militia-run al-Masirah TV as saying on Sunday citing a statement by Houthi spokesman Yehya Sarea. "The strikes were accurate," he said, vowing of launching more attacks in the coming days.

The Unicef announced that 10,200 children have been killed or injured since the ongoing conflict in Yemen escalated nearly seven years ago. Just over the first two months of this year, 47 children were reportedly killed or maimed in several locations across Yemen, he added. Last week, the Unicef had said that some 21 million people, or nearly 70 per cent of Yemen's total population, need life-saving humanitarian assistance. In the country, nearly 400,000 children under the age of five are slipping from acute malnutrition to severe acute malnutrition, the humanitarian agency said.

The battle raged on in Harad city near the Saudi border and the adjacent Abs district. "A total of 106 militants were killed on Friday in a battle with the government armed forces in Harad," one of the sources told Xinhua news agency on Saturday."Dozens of vehicles of the Houthi militia were also bombed by the coalition airstrikes," the source added, referring to the Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government army.

A mediation conducted by local tribal figures has failed to release five UN staffers reportedly kidnapped in Yemen's turbulent southern province of Abyan, a government official said. There were attempts to form a new mediation committee to conduct another round of negotiations with the kidnappers during the upcoming days, according to the official.

At least 10 soldiers were killed on Tuesday in heavy fighting between pro-government Yemeni troops and Houthi militants in the southern province of Dhalea, a military officer said. The Houthi attack was aborted by the government forces following hours of ferocious fighting near the Qatabah district in northern Dhalea, a source added.

"The rebels recaptured the al-Mihsam military camp and the range of high mountains from the army during today's battle," the source told Xinhua news agency on Saturday. "The rebel snipers killed more than 60 soldiers who had infiltrated into the southern and western neighbourhoods and wounded 140 others," he said.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for  the drone attack last week in the industrial area of Musaffah in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi. The attacks are said to be in response to the airstrikes by the Saudi-led military coalition which has been carpet-bombing the Houthis in Yemen since 2015. Given the region’s importance in global energy security, it becomes pertinent to understand the history of the Yemen politics, the emergence and relevance of Houthis in civil war and why is the Saudi-led coalition dropping bombs across Yemen.