Blast in Yemen Kills 5 Children Who Were Playing Soccer
The circumstances surrounding their deaths on Friday night in the Al-Hashmah subdistrict of Taiz province remain unclear. However, the Yemen Center for Human Rights and another rights group called Eye of Humanity along with Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV said an artillery shell was fired by militias backed by the Islah party, which is allied to the internationally recognized government in south Yemen.
A spokesperson for the United Nations children's agency UNICEF told The Associated Press that they are aware of reports about the incident but can't verify the facts at the moment.
Two local residents who were eyewitnesses, Ahmed al-Sharee and Khaled al-Areki, told the AP that the children were playing soccer when the explosion happened.
At least three people with minor to moderate injuries were also taken to the hospital, according to the eyewitnesses. Meanwhile, Mahmoud al-Mansi, another eyewitness, said the explosive was directed from an area where forces allied with the Islah party were present.
The Yemen Center for Human Rights condemned the incident in a report that included graphic photos of the children's torn bodies. Citing healthcare sources at Al-Rafai Hospital, where the victims arrived unresponsive, the group said they died from shrapnel injuries. Two of the children were 12 years old, while two others were 14 years old, according to the group. The age of the fifth child is unknown.
Taiz city, the capital of the province of the same name, has been a battleground, pitting the Iran-backed Houthi militias and other militias backed by the Islah party against each other and other factions in Yemen's civil war.
The city was under Houthi blockade since 2016, restricting the freedom of movement and flow of essential goods to residents, but Houthis recently opened key roads.
Yemen's ruinous civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile. A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and including the United Arab Emirates intervened the following year to try to restore the government to power.
The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council controls much of the south, which has been fractured by the civil war. The council advocates for the south's secession and has its own militia forces, allied to the internationally recognized government fighting the Houthis.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LBCI
2 hours ago
- LBCI
Netanyahu says working with Trump on Arab normalization
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that he is coordinating closely with U.S. President Donald Trump to pursue normalization agreements with additional Arab states, as well as a potential deal in Gaza. In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu said, "I worked with Trump during my last visit to the United States on an agreement regarding Gaza. I hope an agreement is reached, and I believe we will eventually achieve all of our goals in Gaza, including the destruction of Hamas." On Iran, Netanyahu emphasized the importance of maintaining pressure. "We scored a great victory over Iran," he claimed, suggesting that this could lead to "tremendous growth." He also made a controversial remark regarding targeted assassinations, stating: "We have killed Iranian nuclear scientists in the past, but not like the senior scientists we eliminated in the recent war."
Nahar Net
6 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Syrian, Israeli officials meet in Baku
A Syrian and an Israeli official met face to face in Baku Saturday on the sidelines of a visit to Azerbaijan by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a diplomatic source in Damascus said. The meeting marked a major step for the two countries which have been foes for decades, and comes after Israel initially cold-shouldered Sharaa's administration as jihadist because of his past links to al-Qaida. "A meeting took place between a Syrian official and an Israeli official on the sidelines of Sharaa's visit to Baku," the source said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Israel is a major arms supplier to Azerbaijan and has a significant diplomatic presence in the Caucasus nation which neighbors its arch foe Iran. Sharaa himself did not take part in the meeting, which focused on "the recent Israeli military presence in Syria", the source added. After the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria to prevent key military assets falling into the hands of the Islamist-led interim administration headed by Sharaa. It also sent troops into the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone that used to separate the opposing forces in the strategic Golan Heights, from which it has conducted forays deeper into southern Syria. Sharaa has said repeatedly that Syria does not seek conflict with its neighbors, and has instead asked the international community to put pressure on Israel to halt its attacks. His government recently confirmed that it had held indirect contacts with Israel seeking a return to the 1974 disengagement agreement which created the buffer zone. Late last month, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel was interested in striking a peace and normalization agreement with Syria. A Syria government source quoted by state media responded that such talk was "premature". But during a visit to Lebanon this week, U.S. special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said: "The dialogue has started between Syria and Israel". After meeting Sharaa in Riyadh in May, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters he had expressed hope that Syria would join other Arab states which normalized their relations with Israel. "(Sharaa) said yes. But they have a lot of work to do," Trump said. During his visit to Baku, Sharaa held talks with his counterpart Ilham Aliyev, the two governments said. Azerbaijan announced it would begin exporting gas to Syria via Turkey, a key ally of both governments, a statement from the Azerbaijani presidency said.
MTV Lebanon
8 hours ago
- MTV Lebanon
Blast in Yemen Kills 5 Children Who Were Playing Soccer
Five children in southwestern Yemen died after an explosive device detonated in a residential area where they were playing soccer, rights groups and eye witnesses said Saturday. The circumstances surrounding their deaths on Friday night in the Al-Hashmah subdistrict of Taiz province remain unclear. However, the Yemen Center for Human Rights and another rights group called Eye of Humanity along with Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV said an artillery shell was fired by militias backed by the Islah party, which is allied to the internationally recognized government in south Yemen. A spokesperson for the United Nations children's agency UNICEF told The Associated Press that they are aware of reports about the incident but can't verify the facts at the moment. Two local residents who were eyewitnesses, Ahmed al-Sharee and Khaled al-Areki, told the AP that the children were playing soccer when the explosion happened. At least three people with minor to moderate injuries were also taken to the hospital, according to the eyewitnesses. Meanwhile, Mahmoud al-Mansi, another eyewitness, said the explosive was directed from an area where forces allied with the Islah party were present. The Yemen Center for Human Rights condemned the incident in a report that included graphic photos of the children's torn bodies. Citing healthcare sources at Al-Rafai Hospital, where the victims arrived unresponsive, the group said they died from shrapnel injuries. Two of the children were 12 years old, while two others were 14 years old, according to the group. The age of the fifth child is unknown. Taiz city, the capital of the province of the same name, has been a battleground, pitting the Iran-backed Houthi militias and other militias backed by the Islah party against each other and other factions in Yemen's civil war. The city was under Houthi blockade since 2016, restricting the freedom of movement and flow of essential goods to residents, but Houthis recently opened key roads. Yemen's ruinous civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile. A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and including the United Arab Emirates intervened the following year to try to restore the government to power. The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council controls much of the south, which has been fractured by the civil war. The council advocates for the south's secession and has its own militia forces, allied to the internationally recognized government fighting the Houthis.
