The United Arab Emirates has drawn some forces from the port city of Aden, according to officials and witnesses. The Saudi-backed Yemeni government and UAE-backed separatists are negotiating a deal to end the standoff in the city (Reuters)
Houthi Rebels Release Prisoners in Yemen
Houthi rebels released close to three hundred detainees in a goodwill gesture, the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed. The UN special envoy for Yemen said he hopes the move will facilitate the release of all conflict-related detainees (United Nations)
Houthis Claim Major Attack on Saudi Forces
Houthi rebels in Yemen released a video claiming their forces killed or wounded five hundred Saudi and Yemeni forces in an August attack that crossed into Saudi Arabia’s southern Najran region. Saudi officials have not yet responded to the claim (CNN)
Air Strikes Kill Sixteen in Yemen
Sixteen people, including seven children, were killed by air strikes in the country’s south, according to a local official and a doctor. The official said the Saudi-led coalition conducted the strikes (Agence France-Presse). Separately, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today reported that two million children in Yemen are out of school, and another 3.7 million are at risk of losing their education, as a result of the ongoing Yemeni civil war (Al Jazeera)
Attacks on Saudi Arabia Send Oil Prices Soaring
Drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil processing center and its Khrais oil field disabled more than half of the country’s daily oil production (Financial Times)
Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attacks, while the United States released photographs purporting to show Iran may have been behind them. Tehran denied involvement in the attacks (New York Times)
Oil prices rose to above $71 per barrel at the start of trading Monday, the biggest single-day percentage jump in nearly thirty years (Financial Times)
United States Holding Talks With Yemen’s Houthis
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker said the United States is currently holding talks with Houthi rebels to end the country’s civil war (Agence France-Presse)
UN Report Details Possible War Crimes in Yemen
A new report by a UN-commissioned panel of experts found that France, the United Kingdom, and the United States may be complicit in ongoing war crimes in Yemen. The group called for an end to violence against civilians and to the “pervasive lack of accountability” for backers of the conflict, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (United Nations)
Scores Presumed Dead in Strike on Yemen Prison
An air strike by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen hit a detention center run by Houthi rebels, killing an estimated one hundred people, according to the Red Cross. The coalition said the strike had destroyed an ammunition warehouse (Washington Post)
Rift Between UAE and Saudi Arabia Widens in Yemen
Air campaigns backed by the United Arab Emirates around the southern Yemeni city of Aden have killed or wounded three hundred people, the Emirati defense ministry said (Al Jazeera)
The strikes signal an escalation in the battle for Aden between UAE-backed separatists and Yemeni government forces, who are supported by Saudi Arabia (Middle East Eye)
The Yemeni government called the UAE strikes “illegal and outside international norms,” and urged Saudi Arabia to stop them. The UAE, which is also part of the Saudi-led coalition against Iran-backed Houthi rebels, said it was defending itself against “terrorist militias” in the south (Financial Times)
Yemeni Forces Retake Aden Airport
Government forces have retaken control of the airport in the port city of Aden from separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates, Yemeni officials said (Reuters)
Air strikes killed thirty government forces who were en route to Aden this morning, according to a commander. Emirati officials declined to immediately comment (Associated Press)
Fighting Resumes in Yemen’s Aden
Fighting between government forces and southern separatists resumed today in Aden’s eastern suburbs (Reuters)
The Yemeni government recaptured territory in Aden, including the Aden airport (Reuters)
United States Hopes to Meet With Yemen’s Houthis
The United States is reportedly preparing to engage in direct talks with Houthi forces to end the war in Yemen (Wall Street Journal)
Separately, Yemen’s government reclaimed several districts and towns in Abyan province from southern separatists (Associated Press)
Finally, the Saudi-led coalition said that it downed a Houthi drone targeting Saudi Arabia (Reuters)
UN Ends Yemen Aid Programs Amid Funding Shortfalls
Nineteen million people in Yemen are set to lose UN-facilitated emergency health care and five million will soon be cut off from a clean water program after UN member states failed to follow through on funding pledges. Only three of the more than thirty major UN aid programs in Yemen are fully funded through the end of the year (United Nations)
Yemeni Separatists Visit Saudi Arabia
The leader of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council is reportedly visiting Saudi Arabia to discuss the crisis in Aden (Reuters)
Meanwhile, southern separatists captured more government military bases in Aden (Reuters)
Separately, U.S. officials said that a U.S. MQ-9 drone was shot down yesterday in Dhamar near Sanaa. Houthi officials claimed that their air defenses were responsible (Reuters)
Yemeni Separatists Capture Government Bases
Yemen’s southern separatists captured two government military bases near Aden today, while the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on Houthi targets in Sanaa (Reuters)
Saudi Arabia also reported that one of its soldiers was killed near its border with Yemen (Associated Press)
Separatists Withdraw From Seized Buildings in Yemen’s Aden
Southern Yemeni separatists withdrew from government buildings they previously seized in Aden but retained command over military camps important to controlling the city’s port (Reuters)
This came two days after the separatists said they were ready to meet with Saudi Arabia to resolve the situation in Aden (Reuters)
Separately, the separatists’ refusal to release control of Aden’s port reportedly delayed a summit in Saudi Arabia to negotiate a new Yemeni government (Reuters)
Finally, Houthi forces bombed a Saudi oil facility in Shaybah, but Saudi Arabia said the attack did not affect production (Reuters)
Southern Yemeni Separatists Call for Concessions
A spokesperson for Yemeni separatists who took control of the southern port city of Aden said that the group will not relinquish control and called on the government to transfer authority from allied militants in the area to the separatists. The Saudi-backed government of Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi relocated to Aden after Hadi was ousted in 2015 (Reuters)
Fighting in Yemen’s Aden Kills Scores of People
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, scores of people were killed and hundreds others were wounded during recent fighting in Aden between Emirati-backed separatists and Saudi-backed government forces (Guardian)
The separatists warned that the only path forward is for Islamists and northerners to be removed from positions of power in the south (Reuters)
Separately, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pledged support to Yemen’s Houthi movement (Reuters)
Emirati and Saudi Leaders Meet Over Yemen
Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and Saudi King Salman called for dialogue to defuse tensions between coalition members in Yemen after separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates captured a major city from forces loyal to the Saudi-backed government (Al Jazeera)
Separately, Houthi forces launched drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport (Reuters)
Yemeni Separatists Take Control of Aden
Separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates took control of government military camps and the presidential palace in the port city of Aden, splintering the anti-Houthi movement. Aden has been the temporary seat of the Saudi-backed government since late 2014 (Al Jazeera)
After Saudi Arabia intervened, the separatists agreed to a ceasefire (Reuters)
Separately, the United Nations reported that as many as forty people have been killed in Aden since August 8 (Reuters)
Additionally, the World Food Program said it will resume food aid in Sanaa beginning this week, following a two-month suspension (Reuters)
Finally, Houthi infighting reportedly killed Ibrahim Badreddin al-Houthi, the brother of the movement’s leader (Reuters)
Separatists in Yemen Attempt to Seize Presidential Palace
Southern separatists attempted to seize the presidential palace in Aden yesterday, signaling a rift in the anti-Houthi coalition. In a videotaped statement, Yemen’s interior minister called the attempt “a declaration of war against the legitimate government” (Wall Street Journal)
Al-Qaeda Attack in Yemen Kills Twenty Troops
Al-Qaeda militants killed at least twenty Yemeni troops in Abyan province before seizing weapons and equipment from a government military camp (Associated Press)
Separately, the United Nations launched an investigation into potential fraud and corruption within the World Health Organization’s office in Yemen (Associated Press)
Additionally, the World Food Program and Yemeni’s Houthi rebels agreed to a deal lifting a partial suspension of UN aid that has been in place since June (Reuters)
Finally, Houthi rebels launched drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid airbase and Abha and Najran airports (Reuters)
More Than Fifty Killed in Attacks Across Yemen’s Aden
At least forty people were killed by a missile fired by Houthi rebels at a military parade in the southern city of Aden today, while at least ten people were killed and nearly thirty others wounded in a suicide bombing attack involving multiple vehicles that targeted a police station (Associated Press)
Attack on Yemen Market Kills Fourteen People
An air strike on Yemen’s al-Thabet market killed fourteen people yesterday. The Saudi-led coalition accused Houthi rebels to be behind the attack (Associated Press)
The Houthi-run government blamed the Saudi coalition (Associated Press)
Separately, the head of the UN Development Program reported that the consequences of the war in Yemen are equivalent to reversing twenty years of development (Associated Press)
Yemen’s Houthis Launch Drones Targeting Saudi Arabia
Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a drone targeting Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport yesterday. Saudi officials did not confirm the attack (Reuters)