AL-MUKALLA: A Yemeni government soldier and a child have reportedly been killed in two separate Houthi attacks.
Early on Wednesday, in the latest strike against government troops around the country, the Iran-backed Houthis launched an assault in the Yafaa region of Lahij province.
In the heavy fighting that followed, at least one Yemeni government soldier died, and several others were injured, before the attackers withdrew.

IDLIB: In the city of Idlib in rebel-held northwestern Syria, many are struggling financially to maintain long-held traditions for the upcoming Eid-Al-Fitr holidays.
The Islamic holiday is expected to fall on April 21, but a deteriorating economy means many Syrians cannot afford to take part in traditional customs, such as buying new clothes and an assortment of food items to enjoy.
Abu Udai, a sweets vendor from Deir El-Zour, told Arab News “I am a father and could not provide all of my household’s needs, such as clothing for my children or getting sweets for Eid.

N’DJAMENA: Around 320 Sudanese soldiers have fled the fighting raging in their country to neighboring Chad, the country’s defense minister said Wednesday.
“They arrived in our territory, were disarmed and detained” on Sunday, General Daoud Yaya Brahim told a press conference, saying the troops feared being killed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battling those of army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
“The situation in Sudan is worrying and deplorable, we have taken all the necessary measures in the face of this crisis,” the minister said.

RAMALLAH: The international community must prevent Israel’s “dangerous” escalation of activities in Jerusalem amid a surge in violence and arrests, Palestine’s Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Fadi Al-Hadmi has said.

His appeal came as the Israeli army and police escalated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque two days before the end of Ramadan, and stepped up arrests of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Palestinian sources said that Israeli authorities rounded up 13 people at dawn on Wednesday.

LALISH, Iraq: One by one, members of Iraq’s minority Yazidi community light oil lamps to mark their New Year at a sacred shrine, but for Omar Sinan the celebration cannot erase the atrocities of extremist rule.
In 2014, the Daesh group swept across swathes of Iraq, carrying out horrific violence against the Kurdish-speaking community whose non-Muslim faith the extremists considered heretical.
Daesh massacred thousands of men and abducted thousands of women and girls as sex slaves.