Saudi-backed “National Shield Forces” were seen deploying in Aden a day after separatist leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi fled Yemen for the United Arab Emirates. The city has been at the centre of al-Zubaidi’s Southern Transitional Council (STC).
An Israeli attack on a tent in southern Gaza has killed at least three Palestinians and wounded three others, local rescuers say, as Israel continues to bomb the coastal enclave despite an October ceasefire.
The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said on Thursday that its teams recovered the bodies of three slain residents after the Israeli military bombed a family’s tent in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis.
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Three others were wounded, including one person who suffered critical injuries, the agency said in a post on Telegram.
Separately, Israeli fire killed an 11-year-old Palestinian girl named Hamsa Housou in northern Gaza’s Jabalia area.
Her uncle, Khamis Housou, said he woke up to screaming in the family’s building. “I saw Hamsa lying on the floor and blood coming out of her nose and mouth,” he said.
The attacks come as Israel has continued its military assault on Gaza despite a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement that came into effect on October 10.
At least 425 Palestinians have been killed and 1,206 others wounded in Israeli attacks since October 11, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of displaced families have been sheltering in makeshift tent camps across Gaza after their homes were destroyed in Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the territory.
Israel has refused to allow a free flow of shelter supplies into the Gaza Strip, despite warnings from the United Nations and humanitarian groups that Palestinians are suffering amid a series of deadly winter storms.
Encampments have been flooded due to heavy rainfall in recent weeks, prompting calls from Palestinians for better tents, blankets and warm clothes.
Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said this week that Palestinians in Gaza were suffering from “respiratory infections, wound complications [and] skin diseases” as a result of harsh living conditions.
Babies are also “suffering from severe cold”, the group said, “all the while Israel continues to block or delay the entry of vital supplies like tents, tarpaulins, and temporary housing”.
Meanwhile, Israel has moved to block international aid groups, including MSF and the Norwegian Refugee Council, from operating in the Strip.
Israel has revoked the operating licences of 37 aid organisations for failing to comply with new regulations that require them to provide detailed information on staff members, funding and operations.
Experts say those requirements contravene humanitarian principles and follow a longstanding Israeli government campaign to vilify and ultimately impede the work of aid groups providing assistance to Palestinians.
On Thursday, the Reuters news agency reported that MSF, Medecins du Monde Suisse and the Danish Refugee Council said the Israeli authorities refused to allow their international staff to enter Gaza this week.
Israeli gunfire killed 11-year-old Hamsa Hosou in northern Gaza, her family says, despite a ceasefire in place for nearly three months. She is among more than 400 Palestinians reported killed since the truce took effect.
Iran is experiencing a nationwide internet blackout, online monitoring group NetBlocks has said, amid escalating protests over a worsening economic crisis.
In a post on social media on Thursday, NetBlocks noted that the apparent blackout follows “a series of escalating digital censorship measures targeting protests across the country and hinders the public’s right to communicate at a critical moment”.
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Protesters have taken to the streets in cities across Iran since late December amid anger over the soaring cost of living and the devaluation of the local currency.
At least 21 people, including security forces, have been killed since the demonstrations began, according to a tally by the AFP news agency, citing local media and official statements.
The Iranian authorities have offered mixed messages in response to the unrest, with President Masoud Pezeshkian calling for “utmost restraint” in the handling of the demonstrations.
But earlier this week, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said rioters must be “put in their place”. The country’s top judge also accused demonstrators of “operating in line” with the United States and Israel.
Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said there would be no leniency for those who “create insecurity”.
“If anyone comes into the streets for riots or to create insecurity, or supports them, then no excuse remains for them,” he said. “The matter has become very clear and transparent. They are now operating in line with the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres this week underscored the need to prevent further protest-related casualties, his spokesperson told reporters.
“He also calls on the authorities to uphold the right of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” Stephane Dujarric said during a briefing on Monday.
“All individuals must be allowed to protest peacefully and express their grievances.”
Iran last saw mass demonstrations in 2022 and 2023 after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in police custody after being arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.
Amid the current wave of protests, rights groups also have accused the Iranian authorities of resorting to tactics including raiding hospitals to detain wounded protesters.
On Tuesday, Amnesty International said security forces entered Imam Khomeini Hospital in the western city of Ilam, firing tear gas, smashing doors and assaulting people inside, including medical workers.
Al Jazeera witnessed injured civilians arriving at an Aleppo hospital as intense artillery fire streaked across the sky and ricocheted off buildings. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syrian army have been engaged in increasingly intense fighting after integration talks broke down.
A French researcher serving a three-year sentence in Russia has been freed in a prisoner exchange with Moscow, French and Russian officials have said.
President Emmanuel Macron announced the release of Laurent Vinatier, who had been jailed for allegedly violating Russia’s so-called “foreign agent” laws, saying that the researcher was “free and back in France.”
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“I share the relief of his family and loved ones. My gratitude to our diplomatic agents for their mobilisation”, Macron said on Thursday.
Russia’s FSB security service announced that Vinatier, 49, had been swapped for basketball player Daniil Kasatkin, 26.
Kasatkin was arrested last June at a Paris airport and was wanted by the United States over an alleged involvement in ransomware attacks – an allegation that Kasatkin has previously denied.
The FSB said Vinatier had been pardoned by President Vladimir Putin, who promised last month to look into the case after a French journalist raised it during the Kremlin leader’s annual news conference.
Vinatier was arrested by the FSB at a Moscow restaurant in June 2024 and convicted four months later of breaking laws requiring individuals deemed to be “foreign agents” to register with the Russian authorities.
While behind bars, he was placed under additional investigation for espionage, and he had been facing a likely further trial in the coming months.
The FSB said that the researcher, acting on instructions from Swiss intelligence, had collected sensitive political and military information, including combat and training plans, that could target Moscow’s security.
However, it said that the case against Vinatier had been dismissed due to his “active repentance.”
Before he was arrested, Vinatier worked for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Swiss-based conflict mediation organisation, where fellow scholars respected him.
At his trial, the researcher said he loved Russia, apologised for breaking the law, and even recited a verse by Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
Frederic Belot, a lawyer representing Vinatier, said the decision was a “huge relief”.
“We are extremely happy that he has been released for Orthodox Christmas,” Belot added, who also represents Kasatkin.
Relations between Paris and Moscow have been frosty in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022.
While Macron has been outspoken in his support for Kyiv’s military efforts alongside other European allies, including the UK, he has also expressed a willingness to engage with Russia to end the war.
On Thursday, Moscow condemned a security plan agreed by Ukraine and its European allies in the French capital, Paris, for the deployment of a peacekeeping force as an “axis of war”.
Earlier this week, European leaders and United States envoys announced that the security guarantees for Kyiv would include a US-led monitoring mechanism and a European multinational force, in the event of a ceasefire.
However, Moscow rejected the plan.