Iran-Backed Houthis Give Yemen’s Last Jews an Ultimatum: Convert or Leave
The Iranian-backed Houthi insurgency in Yemen has given the country’s few remaining Jewish citizens an ultimatum: either convert to Islam or be exiled immediately.

The Iranian-backed Houthi insurgency in Yemen has given the country’s few remaining Jewish citizens an ultimatum: either convert to Islam or be exiled immediately.

Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels, who threw the country into civil war this year after a coup attempt against exiled president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, have written a letter to the United Nations accepting a seven-point peace plan led by Oman.

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Contents: Saudi Arabia appears to have stalled in the Yemen war; Saudi Arabia under international pressure to end Yemen airstrikes

Yemen’s internationally recognized president accused Iran of wanting to destroy his country.

Dozens of people were killed outside of Sanaa, Yemen, on Thursday when an Islamic State terrorist snuck into a Shiite mosque dressed in ultra-conservative Islamic women’s garb and carried out a suicide bombing.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels have released six foreign hostages, including two Americans, and flown them to the Gulf country of Oman, which helped negotiate their release, officials said Sunday.

Prime Minister Khaled Bahah—of the internationally recognized Yemeni government that fled to Saudi Arabia after the Iran-backed Houthis seized swathes of Yemen early this year—has returned to his homeland after months of exile.

Yemen’s internationally recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is in self-exile in Saudi Arabia, backed out of United Nations-brokered talks this week with Iran-linked Houthi rebels, according to the leader’s office.

Egypt and Qatar have deployed about 1,800 ground troops to Yemen this week, with other members of the 10-country coalition formed by Saudi Arabia in March to combat the Iran-linked Houthi rebels in Yemen expected to follow suit.

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Iran-linked Houthis and their allies are willing to accept a United Nations Security Council resolution to end the brutal war in Yemen while Saudi Arabia appears unwilling to support a negotiated settlement in the near future, according to a leaked UN email.

On Monday, Bahraini officials arrested a man for allegedly insulting soldiers who are currently fighting in Yemen. Less than a day later, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa announced his son will join the Saudi-led coalition.

Qatar has deployed 1,000 soldiers into Yemen to help the Saudi-led coalition combat Iran-backed Houthi militants and those aligned with former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, as part of a continuing quest to push out the opposition forces and reinstall the internationally-recognized government in Sanaa.

Contents: The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen suffers its deadliest day; In major escalation in Yemen war, Qatar is sending 1,000 troops; Britain’s RAF drones target and kill British nationals in Syria

Yemeni Houthi jihadists have reportedly taken a number of Americans hostage in Yemen as they fight to take control of the country, the U.S. State Department confirmed Monday, and one of the American captives has been identified.

The Obama administration will be granting temporary legal status and work permits to Yemen nationals currently in the U.S. due to armed conflict in their home country.
Libya’s internationally recognized government–desperately trying to hold the shattered nation together against warlords, terrorist gangs, and the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS)–has banned visas for visitors from a number of Middle Eastern and African nations, including Yemen, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, and Bangladesh.

At least 398 children have been killed and more than 605 maimed since the “brutal armed conflict” in Yemen escalated on March 26, reported the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF on Wednesday.

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A United Arab Emirates military brigade has joined ground troops combating Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, in a move that senior Yemeni and American military officials believe could intensify a regional fight between Iran and Saudi-led Sunni Gulf countries, reports the New York Times (NYT).

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According to South Korean sources for the Korea Times, Yemeni rebels have attacked Saudi Arabian targets with missiles purchased from North Korea.

Yemen’s internationally-recognized president has decreed that armed groups fighting against Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen merge with his national army units in an apparent effort to bring ground forces on his side together.

Nearly 25 percent of the terror suspects prosecuted in the U.S. since 2007 were influenced by Anwar al-Awlaki, the New Mexico-born cleric linked to al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based affiliate, according to an analysis by the Fordham Law School’s Center on National Security conducted at the request of NBC News.

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The newest leader of al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch has called for a string of attacks on the United States in his first public speech as the newest military commander of a Yemen based al-Qaeda organization.

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As the Shiite Houthi rebels who have taken over Sanaa continue to wage war against troops loyal to deposed Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the Sunni Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group has taken credit for another Shiite mosque bombing, stating that they plan to “take revenge” upon the Houthis for attempting to control the country.

The United Nations has upgraded the humanitarian crisis in Yemen to a Level 3 emergency, the most dire possible scenario on the UN scale. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is calling for an immediate ceasefire to allow for food, water, and medicine to enter the nation, as more than 80% of the population is entirely dependent on foreign aid to live.

The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has significantly expanded its footprint in Yemen over the last year, posing a challenge to its rival al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), reports Reuters. ISIS’s ranks have been bolstered with new members amid the messy war in Yemen between Iran-allied Shiite Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Arab nations.

A massive prison break in Yemen freed nearly 1,200 detainees, including some suspected al-Qaeda militants.

Yemen’s pro-Houthi military proudly announced that it had launched a Scud missile at a base in Saudi Arabia, reports Yemeni state-run news outlet Saba.

Yemeni Houthi Shiite forces launched two separate attacks on Saudi border positions late Wednesday, killing three soldiers amid continuing escalation between both sides of the ongoing conflict in the war-torn country.

Nearly 80% of Yemen’s civilian population is dependent on humanitarian aid for food and water, while six million are believed to be suffering “severe” hunger, and up to 8,000 people may have contracted Dengue fever. This is the dire portrait of a war-torn nation the United Nations presented this week, as fighting between Shiite Houthi rebels and supporters of Sunni President Hadi and Saudi Arabia continue to struggle for power.

The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), a Sunni group, has claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in Yemen’s capital Sanaa near the Qiba al-Mahdi mosque used by Shiite Houthi rebels, reports Reuters, citing witnesses and a security source.

Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) publicly executed at least two men accused of spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia and the United States and then hung their bodies from a bridge, reports The Long War Journal.

UN-organized peace talks between the competing Sunni and Shiite sides of the growing Yemeni civil war ended explosively after a journalist threw a shoe at a Houthi leader, prompting a melee between multiple parties at the resulting press conference. United Nations mediators nonetheless stated they were optimistic the two sides would resolve to end violence.

Contents: Fistfight breaks out at Yemen peace talks in Geneva; Report: Iran’s Supreme Leader has fired Qassam Soleimani in Syria; Emergency Eurogroup summit called for Monday to deal with likely Greece default

Car bombs killed or injured at least 50 people near mosques and the headquarters of Yemen’s dominant Houthi group in Sanaa on Wednesday, in coordinated attacks claimed by Islamic State. The four blasts rocked the capital as Saudi-led forces conducted
