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At just 17 years old, Ibrahim possesses a skill that no teenager should ever need to master: he can operate a Kalashnikov rifle with confidence. Though he is never formally enlisted in Yemeni government-aligned troops, he stands alongside his older brother and male cousins to fight against Houthi forces that advanced on his home village.

When Houthi fighters moved toward the community, Ibrahim grabbed his father’s personal rifle and joined local pro-government resistance ranks. Growing up in Yemen, he says familiarity with firearms is common, even for young people. “We keep a Kalashnikov at home, and I have fired it at weddings and other local gatherings,” Ibrahim explained in an interview with Middle East Eye. Unlike many adult combatants, he has no ambition to build a military career. For Ibrahim, this fight is strictly temporary: once his village is retaken, he plans to lay down his rifle and return to school to pursue his dream of becoming an automotive engineer. “We joined only to take back our home,” he said. “Once that goal is met, we will stop fighting.”

Ibrahim’s story is far from unique. Since the latest round of conflict erupted in Yemen, child combatants have reemerged on front lines across the country, with both major warring parties repeatedly trading accusations that the other illegally recruits and deploys minors. While neither side has formally admitted to recruiting underage fighters, independent investigations, United Nations data and international media reports have consistently confirmed that the practice occurs on both sides of the conflict.

A March 2025 report from the UN Secretary-General focused on children and armed conflict documented 564 verified cases of child recruitment and deployment in Yemen between 2021 and 2023. Of these confirmed cases, 345 were linked to Houthi forces, while 210 were attributed to Yemen’s official armed forces and their affiliated armed groups. The remaining small number of cases were assigned to unidentified actors and the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The UN confirmed that recruited children range in age from 8 to 17 years old. Of the verified cases, 293 children were deployed directly in combat roles, while 187 served in support positions including military checkpoint guards, informants, and drivers. Twenty-seven of the children used in active combat were under the age of 15.

Ahmed, Ibrahim’s 41-year-old cousin, pushed back against claims that the teen serves in frontline combat. He explained that Ibrahim carries out support duties behind the main line of troops, a role his physical size and experience allow him to fill. “Frontline fighting requires real combat experience — it is not something any untrained person can step into,” Ahmed told Middle East Eye. “Young fighters like Ibrahim provide critical backup to main force units, and their contribution matters a great deal in these desperate circumstances.”

Weeks prior, as fighting between Houthi and government-aligned forces escalated in the Taiz region, a BBC investigation broadcast an interview with a 16-year-old pro-government fighter who claimed he had participated in active frontline combat. In response to the BBC report, Colonel Abdul Basit al-Bahr, deputy head of the Moral Guidance Department at the Taiz Axis Command, told Middle East Eye that the teenager was only accompanying his father and was never enrolled as an official combatant for government forces.

“We in the armed forces maintain a clear policy on child recruitment: it is strictly forbidden, and children are never accepted into our ranks or forced to take part in military operations,” al-Bahr said. Even so, he acknowledged that government forces regularly encounter children on battlefields, some as young as 10 years old. “We implement appropriate legal and humanitarian measures for these children, and refer them to relevant authorities to resolve their situations in line with Yemeni law,” he added, noting that minors captured while fighting alongside Houthi forces are treated as vulnerable children rather than adult enemy combatants.

Independent Yemeni human rights group SAM Organisation for Rights and Liberties has documented a far larger scale of child recruitment: between 2014, when full-scale conflict resumed in Yemen, and February 2023, the group recorded 11,310 cases of recruited children, more than half of whom — 6,269 — were between the ages of 8 and 11.

SAM president Tawfeeq al-Homaidi explained that years of catastrophic economic collapse have created fertile conditions for armed groups to exploit children and their families. “When a family loses its only source of income, when the breadwinner stops getting a salary, when a child is pulled out of school because no one can pay fees, the small cash payment, food ration, or monthly stipend an armed group offers becomes a matter of basic survival, not a free choice,” al-Homaidi said.

In a joint public statement released September 26, 2026, the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedom joined 266 Yemeni human rights and civil society organizations to condemn the Houthi movement’s exploitation of children. The statement emphasized that armed groups have weaponized extreme economic hardship to force minors onto battlefields, noting that “children bear the worst of these violations: forced recruitment, deployment to active battlefields, and exploitation of their own needs and their families’ poverty through ideological and military indoctrination.”

Even so, al-Homaidi warned against framing child recruitment as solely a product of poverty, noting a broader web of driving factors. “It is wrong to reduce this problem only to poverty,” he said. “There are many other causes: ideological mobilization, exploitation of school and summer camp programs, social and tribal pressure, the allure of status, weapons and cash, interrupted education, and in some cases, direct physical coercion.”

A recent Al Jazeera English investigation from Houthi-controlled northern Yemen revealed how armed groups lure children to front lines with tangible incentives: promises of a personal Kalashnikov rifle, a one-month military training course, and a monthly stipend worth roughly $94 (50,000 Yemeni riyals). Al-Homaidi added that recent UN statements have raised sharp alarms about Houthi-run summer camps, where thousands of children are exposed to military training and sectarian ideological indoctrination.

While Houthi forces have faced the bulk of international scrutiny for child recruitment and indoctrination, the practice is not limited to their ranks. “Child recruitment is not confined only to areas under Houthi control,” al-Homaidi stressed. “UN data confirms cases among government forces and their affiliated armed groups too, though the numbers are far smaller, and coercion is rarely used.”

According to 2026 estimates from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 22 million Yemenis — over two-thirds of the country’s population — still require urgent humanitarian assistance and protection services, including 5.2 million people internally displaced by years of conflict. This ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, paired with newly intensified fighting, has created new openings for armed groups to draw children into conflict, whether through formal recruitment, local militia mobilization, family pressure, or economic desperation.

The UN’s definition of child recruitment extends far beyond formal military enlistment, encompassing any use of children in combat or support roles. For Ibrahim, however, these technical labels hold little meaning. Regardless of formal status, he carries a rifle, and he says he is fighting only to take back his home.

To protect the identities of vulnerable minors, the names of child soldiers featured in this reporting have been changed at the request of sources.

At just 17 years old, Ibrahim can expertly handle a Kalashnikov rifle. Unlike formally enlisted troops in Yemeni government-aligned forces, he fights alongside his older brother and male cousins as an informal volunteer, driven by a single goal: defending his home from advancing Houthi forces. “When the Houthis approached our village, dozens of local residents picked up personal weapons to push back, and I was among them,” he explained in an interview with Middle East Eye. Grabbing his father’s stored rifle, Ibrahim joined a local resistance cell aligned with official government forces. Growing up in Yemen, firearm familiarity came early: “We’ve kept a Kalashnikov in our home for years, and I’ve fired it at weddings and community gatherings before, so I knew how to use it,” he said. For Ibrahim, this fight is temporary. He has no ambition for a long-term military career, and plans to lay down his arms once his village is retaken to resume his studies, with the dream of one day working as an automotive engineer.

Ibrahim’s story is far from unique. Since the latest outbreak of large-scale fighting between Houthi rebels and Yemeni government forces, the widespread use of child soldiers has reemerged as a devastating feature of the country’s decade-long conflict, with both major warring parties trading accusations of underage recruitment to front lines and support roles. Neither side publicly acknowledges recruiting minors, but independent verification from the United Nations, international media, and regional human rights groups has confirmed the practice persists on both sides of the conflict.

A 2025 report from the UN Secretary-General on children and armed conflict documented 564 verified cases of child recruitment and deployment in Yemen between 2021 and 2023. Of these confirmed cases, 345 were linked to Houthi forces, while 210 were attributed to Yemeni national armed forces and their affiliated armed groups. The remaining small number of cases were traced to unidentified actors and the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The UN confirmed the children recruited ranged in age from 8 to 17 years old. Of the total, 293 were deployed directly to combat roles, while 187 served in support positions including checkpoint guards, informants, and military drivers. Twenty-seven of the children sent into active combat were younger than 15 years old.

Ahmed, Ibrahim’s 41-year-old cousin who fights alongside him, pushed back against claims that the teen serves on the front lines. He explained Ibrahim only carries out support duties behind frontline troops, a role suited to his current skills and physical size. “Frontline combat demands experience that most teenagers don’t have; it’s not a role anyone can step into,” Ahmed told Middle East Eye. “Even so, fighters like Ibrahim provide critical backup for our main forces, and that support makes a real difference when circumstances are this desperate.”

Recent cases of underage participation have drawn international attention. Last month, as fighting intensified around the embattled city of Taiz, the BBC broadcast an interview with a 16-year-old fighter aligned with government forces who claimed he had taken part in active frontline combat. In response to the report, Colonel Abdul Basit al-Bahr, deputy head of the Moral Guidance Department at the Taiz Axis Command, told Middle East Eye the teenager was only accompanying his father and was never enlisted as a combatant for government forces. “Our armed forces have an explicit policy banning child recruitment; it is strictly forbidden to accept children into our ranks or push them into military operations,” al-Bahr said. He did, however, acknowledge that government forces regularly encounter children on battlefields, some as young as 10 years old. “We follow appropriate legal and humanitarian protocols for these children, and refer them to relevant authorities to resolve their situations in line with Yemeni law,” he added, noting that minors captured while fighting alongside Houthi forces are treated as vulnerable children rather than adult enemy combatants.

Independent Yemeni human rights group SAM Organisation for Rights and Liberties has documented an even larger scale of recruitment: the group recorded 11,310 cases of child recruitment across Yemen between 2014, when the current conflict escalated, and February 2023. More than half of those children – 6,269 – were between 8 and 11 years old, an age group developmentally unprepared for any form of conflict participation.

SAM president Tawfeeq al-Homaidi explained that the years-long economic collapse sparked by ongoing war has created fertile ground for armed groups to exploit vulnerable children and their families. “When a family loses all income, when the breadwinner stops getting paid, when a child is forced out of school because the conflict has closed education facilities, the small sum of cash, bag of food, or monthly stipend an armed group offers stops being a choice – it becomes a matter of basic survival for the whole family,” al-Homaidi said. In a September 2026 joint statement signed by 266 Yemeni human rights and civil society organizations, the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedom condemned the Houthi movement for weaponizing extreme economic hardship to force minors onto the battlefield. “Children have borne the worst of these violations: forced recruitment, deployment to active battlefields, and exploitation of their needs and their families’ socioeconomic desperation through ideological and military indoctrination,” the statement read.

Yet al-Homaidi cautioned against reducing child recruitment solely to poverty, noting a wider range of driving factors. “Ideological mobilization, exploitation of school and summer camp programs, social and tribal pressure, the lure of status, personal weapons, and steady pay, interrupted schooling, and in some cases direct physical coercion – all of these play a role,” he explained. A recent Al Jazeera English investigation from Houthi-controlled northern Yemen revealed how armed groups lure children with tangible incentives: promises of a personal Kalashnikov rifle, a month of military training, and a monthly stipend equal to roughly $94 USD.

Al-Homaidi added that recent UN briefings on Yemen have repeatedly raised urgent alarms about Houthi-run summer camps, where thousands of children are exposed to military training and sectarian ideological indoctrination ahead of deployment. While Houthi forces have faced the majority of international scrutiny for the practice, al-Homaidi stressed that child recruitment is not limited to Houthi-held territory. “The UN has documented cases among government forces and their affiliated armed groups as well, even if the numbers are far smaller, and coercion is far less common,” he said.

As of 2026, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates more than 22 million Yemenis – nearly two-thirds of the country’s population – require urgent humanitarian assistance and protection, including 5.2 million people internally displaced by years of fighting. The latest resurgence of full-scale conflict has only created new openings for armed groups to draw children into fighting, whether through formal enlistment, informal local resistance cells, family pressure, or the overwhelming force of economic desperation. Under UN definitions, child recruitment extends far beyond formal military enlistment, encompassing any use of minors in combat or support military roles.

For Ibrahim, however, these formal definitions mean little. He does not see himself as a child soldier; he sees himself as a young Yemeni defending his home. “I’m here to take back our village,” he says. For the sake of Yemen’s children and the country’s future, human rights advocates warn, ending this cycle of exploitation will require both a ceasefire to end ongoing fighting and coordinated international action to address the economic collapse and systemic vulnerability that drive recruitment. (Note: All names of minors featured in this report have been changed at the request of sources to protect their safety.)

The recent arrest of a 20-year-old U.S. Marine on suspicion of robbery and murder has pulled back the curtain on deep, unresolved anger that has simmered for generations among residents of Okinawa, the Japanese prefecture that hosts the bulk of U.S. military forces stationed in Japan.

Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force at the heavily-contested Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan City, was taken into Japanese police custody on Sunday. The suspect is accused of killing 39-year-old local woman Anna Yagi in a Naha hotel room on October 3. According to Okinawa prefectural police, Yagi was found dead early that morning, with security footage capturing a man matching Ballard’s description entering the hotel with Yagi and leaving alone carrying her belongings. Local media reports, citing police sources, indicate Yagi was strangled with a cord. Japanese law enforcement retains primary jurisdiction over the case because the alleged crime is not tied to Ballard’s official military duties, a core tenet of the long-standing U.S.-Japan security agreement governing troop presence.

For Okinawans, the arrest is not a shocking incident—it is a devastating repetition of a pattern that has played out for decades. “Honestly my first reaction was, ‘Not again,’” Ai Sato, a 52-year-old lifelong Okinawa resident, told reporters. “Nothing has changed since I was a child. How many times are we going to repeat the same thing, create more victims, cause their families to suffer, and ultimately, cause the people of Okinawa to grieve?”

Akemi Oshiro, a 62-year-old Ginowan resident, echoed that exhaustion and frustration. “I know we shouldn’t get used to terrible things like this, but because they keep happening, I’ve stopped being surprised,” she said.

Within days of the arrest, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Okinawa’s capital Naha and across Japan in Tokyo to denounce the killing and demand systemic change. Social media platforms filled with public outrage, with many users repeating the rallying cry “Enough is enough.”

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi submitted an official diplomatic protest to Washington following the arrest, but many Okinawans say such performative gestures have done nothing to address the root issue. Sato, for her part, is demanding concrete action, calling on Takaichi to leverage her stated close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump to negotiate tangible reforms. “I am deeply disappointed by the same kinds of government comments we have been hearing for decades — that they will protest or that they take the matter seriously,” Sato said. “I want Prime Minister Takaichi to call President Trump directly… and discuss concrete measures to prevent this from happening yet again.”

Okinawa’s fraught relationship with the U.S. military dates back to the end of World War II, when U.S. forces occupied the islands until they were returned to Japanese control in 1972. Today, roughly 55,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed across Japan, and 70% of all U.S. military-exclusive land in Japan is concentrated on Okinawa—one of Japan’s smallest prefectures by total area. Data from the Okinawa Prefectural Government shows that since the 1972 handover, 6,409 criminal offenses involving U.S. military personnel have been recorded on the island.

High-profile violent crimes by U.S. service members have repeatedly sparked mass protest movements across the prefecture for decades. In 1995, three U.S. servicemen abducted, beat, and raped a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl, triggering nationwide outrage and massive demonstrations. A 2016 rape and murder of a 20-year-old local woman by a former U.S. Marine drew tens of thousands of protesters to the streets; the former Marine was ultimately sentenced to life in prison. Just one year ago, in 2025, another U.S. Marine was convicted of choking and sexually assaulting a Japanese woman in Okinawa.

Beyond violent crime, local residents have long resented the constant disruption of daily life from base activity, including excessive aircraft noise, repeated crash incidents, and environmental damage from military operations. For many Okinawan families, the persistent risk of harm has become a normalized part of life on the island, a reality that continues to erode trust in both the Japanese and U.S. governments.

“Even 80 years after the war, Okinawa where we live is a place that is so unnerving,” said Hitomi Miyagi, a 48-year-old mother of two from Okinawa. “We will not stop raising our voices hoping for an Okinawa, where we can live in peace.”

After years of fragile calm following a 2022 truce that paused one of the world’s deadliest modern conflicts, Yemen has once again descended toward large-scale open war. On Sunday, the Saudi-backed internationally recognized Yemeni government launched a sweeping military offensive aimed at recapturing vast swathes of territory controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah.

In an official statement announcing the campaign, Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi confirmed that national armed forces would push to reclaim all Houthi-held lands, which are home to roughly 70% of Yemen’s total population, including the capital city of Sanaa. Al-Alimi emphasized that the offensive would not end “until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia.”

Houthi administrative sources quickly countered the government’s move, reporting that Saudi-led coalition forces had carried out at least 50 air and missile strikes across Houthi-held territory within a 12-hour window of the offensive announcement. Coinciding with al-Alimi’s declaration, the Houthi movement responded with coordinated strikes of its own, launching a wave of ballistic missiles and drones targeting key facilities operated by Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned national oil company. One strike hit an Aramco site near the capital Riyadh, triggering a large blaze that was captured in photos and widely shared on social media.

The current escalation follows a major strategic breakthrough for the Houthis just one month prior, when the group seized key high-value territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The gain gave the Houthis unprecedented control over a critical stretch of one of the world’s busiest commercial shipping routes, amplifying the economic pressure that Iran has leveraged through its restrictions on vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a response to recent joint US-Israeli military actions in the region.

Diplomatic and military context for the offensive reveals shifting US involvement. Earlier this year, former President Donald Trump rejected a direct request from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for US military aircraft to carry out independent airstrikes against Houthi targets. However, anonymous US officials confirmed to Axios on Friday that Washington continues to provide Riyadh with extensive support that stops short of direct combat participation, most notably real-time intelligence and precision targeting data to aid coalition strikes.

Military analysts note that the current mobilization marks one of the largest military buildups since the 2022 truce halted eight years of brutal full-scale civil war. Alongside the Saudi-led air campaign, the Yemeni government is reportedly prepared to deploy up to 100,000 ground troops to advance on Houthi positions.

The human cost of the original 2014–2022 civil war already stands as one of the worst global humanitarian catastrophes of the 21st century. Backed by extensive US military support for the Saudi air campaign, the conflict killed an estimated 377,000 people through direct and indirect causes by the end of 2021, according to data from the United Nations Development Programme. Of that total, 154,000 died from direct combat, while another 223,000 perished from indirect consequences including widespread hunger, preventable disease, and the total collapse of national healthcare systems and basic public infrastructure. A staggering 259,000 of those deaths were children under the age of five.

Even before Sunday’s formal escalation of hostilities, renewed skirmishes over the past month had already sparked a worsening humanitarian emergency across Yemen. The International Organization for Migration reports that more than 149,000 Yemenis have already been displaced from their homes since fighting reignited. The United Nations World Food Programme adds that ongoing clashes have cut off critical food supply routes, leaving more than 18.3 million Yemenis — more than half the country’s population — at risk of severe acute food insecurity.

It was just after 5 a.m. on Saturday when 14-year-old Fuad opened his eyes at his father’s home, his mind already set on the routine of a school day. But the routine Fuad expected would never come—instead, he learned that the two women who raised him were already gone, killed in an Israeli airstrike that reduced their western Gaza City apartment to rubble overnight.

Mary Abu Dawud, 40-something, and her mother Maysaa, 72, were two of the five Palestinian civilians killed when three missiles slammed into the al-Asala residential building shortly after 1:30 a.m. that same day, Palestinian authorities and local church leaders confirmed. Recounting the destruction described to him by first responders, Fuad shared the harrowing details of the blast that took his family: “My mother was thrown violently against the wall by the force of the explosion, and my grandmother was swallowed by flames when the missile hit our home.” His voice breaking, the teen added, “Today I lost the most precious people in my life. There are no words that can ever describe what I feel right now.”

Fuad had been living with his father following his parents’ divorce. When he woke that morning, his father was already waiting by his bedside, struggling to deliver the devastating news. The pair rushed straight to the hospital, but by the time they arrived, there was nothing to do but mourn. “When we got there, he told me they had been killed and that I needed to pray for them,” Fuad recalled. “We went to see their bodies, but they were already wrapped in burial shrouds.”

After the identification process, the remains of Mary and Maysaa were transported to St Porphyrius Church in central Gaza City, where relatives, local Christian community leaders, and Muslim neighbors gathered to hold funeral prayers. Photographs from the service show rows of mourners standing somberly around the covered bodies of the two women, heads bowed in grief. According to church records, the pair had spent much of the ongoing war taking shelter at the Holy Family Catholic Church before recently moving into the al-Asala apartment for what they thought would be greater safety.

Other survivors of the airstrike shared chilling accounts of the sudden chaos that unfolded as they slept. Emad Kullab, a 30-year-old resident who was on the building’s fourth floor with his family when the missiles hit, described the moment the attack began as “the whole world turning upside down around me.” “It was pure horror,” Kullab said. “Dust and flying rubble blinded all of us. I ran downstairs as soon as I heard people screaming for help, and what I saw will never leave me: neighbors torn apart by the blast, women and children bleeding, fires spreading across every floor.”

Kullab confirmed that Mary and Maysaa died instantly in the strike. He remembered Mary as a caring local doctor and Maysaa as a warm, kind neighbor who was friendly to everyone in the building, regardless of faith. “This was a residential building full of completely innocent people,” he said. “It was one of the calmest, most peaceful buildings in all of Gaza, but the Israeli occupation is determined to destroy everything here, no matter what.”

Yasser Abu Juba, a 19-year-old who lives in a nearby building and was one of the first first responders to reach the al-Asala site, helped pull survivors from the rubble and worked to extinguish spreading fires. He shared unflinching details of the carnage he witnessed that morning: “The building doorman was decapitated by a piece of missile shrapnel. His phone was still open, right where he dropped it—he had been playing PUBG when the blast hit.” Abu Juba added, “One of our Christian neighbors was also decapitated, another woman’s body was so badly disfigured it was almost unrecognizable. An elderly woman in the building next door was also killed, her body shattered. Dozens more were hurt. I will never be able to forget the things I saw with my own eyes that day.”

Gaza’s Christian community is one of the smallest in the region, numbering fewer than 1,000 people, most of whom identify as Orthodox Christians. This airstrike marks the latest in a years-long string of attacks on Palestinian Christian communities and their places of worship during the ongoing conflict. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem released a statement following the latest deaths, expressing “deep sorrow and unshakable grief” over the killing of the two women and extending condolences to their surviving family and the entire Gaza Christian community.

George Anton, the Latin Patriarchate’s director of operations in Gaza, explained that the deaths have left a lasting wound across the Strip’s tight-knit Christian community: “This killing has left deep sorrow among all Christian families in the Gaza Strip.” At the funeral, held October 3 at St Porphyrius in Gaza City’s al-Zaytoun neighborhood, Muslim neighbors and friends joined the Christian community to mourn Mary and Maysaa, a demonstration of shared grief across Gaza’s faith communities.

Previous attacks have already left dozens of Christian Palestinians dead: In October 2023, an airstrike on the St Porphyrius Church compound killed at least 18 people who had taken shelter there. Two months later, in December 2023, the Patriarchate confirmed a mother and daughter were killed inside the Holy Family parish compound. Most recently, in July 2025, an Israeli strike on the Holy Family Catholic Church compound left three people dead and multiple others injured, including the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli.

For Fuad, the grief is a deeply personal, unending pain. When he returned to the wreckage of his mother’s apartment after the funeral, one small, mundane object stuck with him: her favorite ceramic mug, left half-buried in the rubble. “I came back to see the house where they lived, and I saw the mug my mother loved so much,” he said. The teen ended with a blunt, devastating observation that reflects the shared fear of all Gazans, regardless of their faith: “The Israeli occupation does not distinguish between Christians and Muslims. We are all at risk of being killed here in Gaza. I don’t even know if I will still be alive after this interview ends.”