分类： world

As Saudi Arabia races to reverse rapid territorial gains made by Houthi forces across Yemen, new details have emerged of Pakistan’s deepening involvement in the conflict, with four planeloads of military hardware dispatched to the internationally recognized Yemeni government in September.

The arms shipment, which arrived at the strategic port city of Aden, was first reported by Reuters on Friday, marking a clear shift away from Pakistan’s earlier neutral stance as Houthi fighters advanced. Citing a senior Pakistani government official, Reuters confirmed the cargo included critical military assets: air defense systems, light artillery pieces, surveillance drones, and specialized anti-drone technology designed to counter Houthi aerial attacks. Beyond weapons supplies, Pakistani military advisors are already operating on the ground alongside Saudi coalition forces to train and assist Yemeni government troops, according to the report.

Multiple Western and Arab diplomatic sources confirmed to Middle East Eye that Saudi Arabia is currently gearing up for a large-scale, high-intensity military campaign to push back the Houthi offensive that has already given the group full control over Yemen’s entire Red Sea coastline. In recent days, heavy clashes have intensified around the strategically vital city of Taiz, where Houthi fighters scored a key tactical victory this week by destroying a critical bridge connecting government-held areas surrounding Taiz to the southern port of Aden.

If Houthi forces succeed in seizing full control of Taiz from Yemeni government forces, they will effectively cut off Aden from northern government-held territories, severing the government’s primary overland supply routes and putting the seat of the Yemeni administration under increased strategic pressure.

In response to the rapid advance, Saudi Arabia has dramatically scaled up its air campaign against Houthi positions across the country. Houthi spokespersons reported Thursday that the Saudi-led coalition launched 94 separate air strikes within a 24-hour period. For its part, the Saudi military confirmed it carried out a targeted high-value operation in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, struck 11 military sites in the Houthi stronghold of Saada, and conducted 27 air raids against what it described as an integrated Houthi military network in Taiz.

The fighting has spilled across the border into Saudi territory, with Houthi forces repeatedly targeting Saudi civilian infrastructure, including a recent attack on Riyadh’s international airport. On Thursday, Saudi authorities accused the group of launching a drone strike on an electricity distribution station in the holy city of Medina, which supplies power to the Prophet’s Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites. The Houthis have denied any involvement in the attack on the station.

Pakistan’s decision to step up military support for Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government comes as the first major test of the Mecca Pact, a joint defense agreement signed by Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia back in August. For weeks after the pact was signed, both Pakistan and Turkey remained on the sidelines as Houthi fighters swept along the Red Sea coast and imposed a shipping blockade on Saudi vessels transiting the vital waterway.

Regional security analysts note that both nations face a delicate balancing act, as they seek to maintain strong alliance ties with Saudi Arabia while managing their own distinct security priorities. Pakistan shares a long border with Iran, the key regional backer of the Houthi movement that has provided the group with arms, intelligence, and military advisory support for years.

While the United States remains Saudi Arabia’s most critical security partner, the Trump administration has so far avoided taking a public role in the latest campaign against the Houthis, even as it joins Pakistan in deploying military advisors and supplying advanced weapons systems to the coalition.

In a separate move to shore up its regional alliances ahead of the anticipated offensive, Saudi Arabia moved this week to repair strained relations with the United Arab Emirates, a fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member with which it had clashed over Yemen policy amid the UAE’s support for southern Yemeni secessionist movements. On Tuesday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed UAE Vice President Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan for high-level talks in Riyadh, a public signal of mended ties ahead of the planned military push.

In a raw, firsthand account recorded inside the besieged Gaza Strip for the premiere episode of Middle East Eye’s *The Gaza Podcast*, 24-year-old newly graduated Palestinian doctor Maryam Youssef has laid bare the unimaginable realities of practicing medicine amid ongoing conflict, systemic deprivation, and unprocessed collective trauma.

Youssef’s journey at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis began after her family was displaced for the second time by Israeli military operations, leaving her with no safe alternative but to volunteer at the facility that would become both her workplace and her home. Like nearly every medical center across Gaza, Nasser has faced repeated Israeli targeting, sieges, and raids—including a weeks-long major military siege in early 2024 and a deadly double-tap airstrike in August 2025 that left dozens dead.

Just 48 hours into her role at the hospital, Youssef contracted chickenpox, a highly contagious infection that forced her to isolate alone in a small room for four to five days while Israeli bombs pounded the surrounding area. She hid her illness from her grieving mother, who had recently lost her brother, waiting weeks to share the news to avoid adding to her family’s pain. “The first two days no one knew. On the third day, my colleagues noticed and got me some medication,” Youssef recalled to podcast host Hussam Tannera. Like all residents of Gaza during Israel’s complete blockade on food entry, Youssef lived with constant hunger: “I think I was hungry most of the time, just as everyone else was. I was drained because even before this, I was staying in the hospital most of the time.”

Systemic shortages of medical supplies have forced Gaza’s medical workers to make impossible compromises that compromise patient care, Youssef explained. “Because of the blockade, we have had to re-use single-use items. You have to hold scissors at a certain angle if you want them to cut. That’s not the best way to treat patients, but because of our situation we have to think about what not only is best, but also what do we have.”

The trauma of conflict has left deep, unprocessed scars for Youssef, who lost her uncle and his entire family in an Israeli strike—learning of their deaths only through a Telegram news alert, when she could not reach her mother by phone to confirm the news. Rather than stepping back to grieve, she threw herself into treating wounded civilians in the hospital’s emergency department to cope: “There were multiple casualties downstairs, and that’s how I kept myself busy.”

For months, Youssef operated in a constant state of “survival mode,” a psychological defense mechanism that allowed her to keep caring for patients but prevented her from processing her own loss and trauma. It is only in recent weeks, after the October 2025 ceasefire, that she has begun to unpack what she lived through. “I don’t think I have processed it. I’m processing right now. When you’re in that mode, you’re in survival mode, and I think I just recently unlocked this mode, because this is a very big burden, and I didn’t feel like I am ready to face it yet,” she said. Today, she uses dark humor as a coping mechanism: “I make a lot of jokes about what life was like at the hospital. I think this is my way of processing it. It’s a defence mechanism.”

Youssef’s account is far from an individual story. It reflects the broader humanitarian and health crisis that continues to grip Gaza months after the ceasefire was declared. According to World Health Organization (WHO) data, more than 1.7 million Palestinians remain internally displaced, most living in overcrowded makeshift shelters with inadequate access to clean water, sanitation, and basic shelter. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that 94 percent of Gaza’s population is in urgent need of shelter and basic household assistance. As of last week, the WHO confirmed only 19 of Gaza’s 36 pre-war hospitals are even partially functioning, with no facility operating at full capacity. Critical supplies including essential medicines, diagnostic tools, medical equipment, and fuel remain in catastrophic short supply. The WHO has also estimated that roughly one million Gazans require mental health and psychological support to address the prolonged trauma of war and displacement.

Contrary to widespread international narratives that life has returned to normal in Gaza after the ceasefire, Youssef says the war has merely reshaped itself into a constant, grinding reality. “Most people believe that life is going on and we have moved on,” she said. “The war reshaped itself. It’s not constant bombing all the time, and it’s not like before when 100 people are dying every day… but it’s still happening, it’s a constant rhythm.” Palestinian authorities confirm that at least 1,402 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 5,000 injured since the October 2025 ceasefire took effect.

Youssef’s comments come as the gap between official reconstruction plans and on-the-ground reality continues to widen. Last week, the US-backed Board of Peace unveiled its long-awaited recovery framework for Gaza, with senior adviser Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, acknowledging that progress has been far slower than projected. While the board says $18 billion in reconstruction funding has been pledged internationally, only $280 million has actually been disbursed for on-the-ground projects. Full recovery and reconstruction are estimated to cost $71.4 billion over the next decade.

Board of Peace director-general Nickolay Mladenov admitted that major political obstacles have delayed implementation, particularly amid ongoing Israeli election cycles that have made diplomatic negotiations far more fraught. “Discussions with Israel right now are not easy because of the elections there. Everything is a little bit more emotional, a little bit more politically sensitive,” Mladenov said, adding that the board has no fixed timeline for delivery: “We are not bound by a calendar – we’re bound by verification.”

Today, Youssef continues her medical internship at a primary healthcare clinic in Gaza, still working to care for a population grappling with the unending consequences of war, while slowly working through her own trauma. Her account offers an unflinching reminder of the human cost of conflict that persists long after ceasefire declarations make global headlines.

For 48-year-old Palestinian displaced mother Dima Awad, moving out of a rain-prone makeshift tent before the winter cold and wet season arrives hinges on one simple, increasingly unattainable item: a toilet seat.

Awad, who now lives with her only son after being separated from her husband when he left Gaza for medical treatment during the ongoing conflict, has already paid rent on a small garage in western Gaza City and moved most of her few belongings into the space. But the unfit structure lacks a working bathroom, and she has been searching unsuccessfully for two weeks for an affordable toilet seat to complete the basic conversion.

“Of course there is no way to find a new toilet seat at an affordable price right now. The second-hand options are also unsuitable, and still far out of my budget,” Awad explained to Middle East Eye. Current market prices for the scarce basic fixture now run between 1,500 and 2,000 Israeli shekels, or $486 to $648 — more than twice the 600 shekel ($194) monthly rent Awad pays for the garage. She had chosen the space after finding all other available housing completely unaffordable, and hoped to avoid repeating last year’s experience of sleeping in a flooded tent as winter rains poured through.

The scarcity of toilet seats in Gaza is no accident. For nearly 20 years, Israel has enforced a blockade on the besieged enclave, barring or restricting entry to hundreds of everyday items classified as “dual-use” goods that Israel claims could be repurposed for military activity. The restricted list has long included core civilian necessities: construction materials, water and sewage pumps, electrical equipment, generators, medical devices, and even mobility aids like wheelchairs and crutches.

When the large-scale conflict began in October 2023, Israel sealed Gaza’s border crossings entirely and drastically cut the flow of all commercial and humanitarian goods, including food, medicine, and fuel. A ceasefire agreement reached in October 2025 required Israel to lift restrictions and allow unimpeded entry to international aid — but nearly a year later, the vast majority of restrictions remain in place.

Aid workers refer to the unpublicized roster of banned items as a “ghost list”: hundreds of goods have been added to the restricted roster since Israel last published an updated public list in 2017, leaving traders and aid groups to navigate an opaque system where shipments can be rejected without clear explanation. The ban extends far beyond construction and medical materials to include mundane, everyday items that most of the world takes for granted: batteries, lighters, children’s toys, and even hair clips.

Imad Sersawi, a 45-year-old father of five displaced from Gaza’s Shujaiya neighborhood, says the constant disappearance of goods from local markets has made daily survival an unpredictable struggle. A single disposable lighter, a critical tool for families cooking over open fires, now costs 90 shekels ($29) and is rarely found in stock. Sersawi’s lighter is shared by the entire displacement camp whenever anyone needs to start a fire.

“One day you find something; the next day it’s banned and disappears for God knows how long. Some things haven’t been allowed in for years,” Sersawi said. He promised his children new toys once the war ended, but even after the ceasefire, toys remain banned. Existing pre-war stock is sold at exorbitant prices: a small rubber ball now costs 100 shekels ($32), enough to feed his entire family for two days. “People outside Gaza might say that basic necessities are missing and that we are focusing on these secondary things. But the fact is that we are being left without either the essentials or the non-essentials,” he explained.

The shortage of ordinary goods has also eroded small, routine comforts for Gazan women, many of whom live in crowded displacement camps with limited access to basic personal items. Palestinian journalist Baidaa Othman, who remains displaced in Deir al-Balah after her Gaza City home was destroyed, recently traveled across two governorates just to find a simple hair claw clip, eventually paying 10 times the original pre-conflict price. A clip that once cost 4 shekels ($1.3) set her back 45 shekels ($14.5).

“Now it’s not just about being able to get the basic necessities. It has reached a point where, when you want to buy something very simple, you have to go to extraordinary lengths to find it,” Othman said. “Even the simplest things as basic as a hair clip have become difficult to find. On top of all the basic necessities that are unavailable in Gaza, now the everyday things that no one would normally think twice about have become unavailable.”

Palestinian physiotherapist Sojood Hasan noted that while a missing hair clip does not cause immediate physical harm, the constant lack of even small, routine items wears away at Gazans’ sense of control over their own lives. For Othman, the shortage of ordinary goods is a deliberate policy, not a random side effect of conflict.

“On top of the displacement and all the hardships we face, including having to cook with firewood, it’s only natural for women to want to put their hair up to keep it off their faces and necks in the heat. So it’s not a secondary item any more,” she said. “The Israeli occupation knows exactly what it is doing. This is not random; it is a policy of making even the simplest things a struggle for Gazans.”

As Brazil prepares for its October 4 presidential election, the long-standing and multifaceted relationship between Israel and Brazil has moved to the center of political debate, driven by a high-profile show of support from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro. The moment of support came in late July, during Flavio Bolsonaro’s official campaign launch in Sao Paulo. A pre-recorded video from Netanyahu played for the assembled crowd, where the Israeli leader hailed Flavio as a champion of both Brazil and the friendship between the two nations. This public backing came as no surprise to regional analysts, given the deep web of political, military, and ideological ties that have connected Israel to Brazil’s right-wing establishment—and the Bolsonaro family in particular—for decades.

Flavio, the son of imprisoned former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, is running to unseat incumbent leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the upcoming poll. If no candidate secures an absolute majority in the first round on October 4, a runoff election will be held on October 25. Current polling shows the race is extraordinarily tight: Lula holds a narrow lead of just one percentage point in first-round surveys, and polls project a close result if the race proceeds to a second round.

Netanyahu’s public endorsement comes as the Israeli leader faces his own domestic electoral test on October 27, at a time when Israel faces growing international isolation over its military campaign in Gaza, with widespread allegations of genocide and war crimes. David Magalhaes, an international relations professor at Brazil’s Federal University of Uberlandia, explains that a Flavio Bolsonaro victory would deliver significant strategic benefits to Netanyahu. “At a time when Israel is increasingly isolated within the international community, a situation that has worsened because of the indications of extermination or genocide in the Gaza Strip, a close ally in Brazil would be a major win,” Magalhaes told Middle East Eye. A Flavio win, he adds, would send a message to Israeli voters that their country’s international isolation is not complete.

Flavio has already laid out plans to deepen bilateral ties if elected. He has promised to relocate Brazil’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that would break with the consensus position of most of the international community, which does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over occupied East Jerusalem. He has also pledged Brazil’s membership in the so-called Isaac Accords, an initiative launched earlier this year by Argentina’s President Javier Milei alongside Netanyahu, designed to integrate Israel into Latin America’s economic, political, and security frameworks. Ideologically, Flavio has embraced the messianic interpretation of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, aligning himself firmly with the most hardline elements of Israeli politics. His agenda would represent a return to the close partnership Brazil enjoyed with Israel during his father’s 2019-2022 presidency, and would expand that relationship even further.

The roots of Israel’s influence in Brazil stretch back decades, built through deep connections to Brazil’s military, security forces, and evangelical political blocs. These ties have persisted across both left- and right-wing Brazilian governments, according to academic research. Bruno Huberman, an international relations professor at Sao Paulo’s Pontifical Catholic University, explains that Israeli influence in Brazil was “built mainly through the armed forces and the police, and from there it extends to far-right parties and movements.” Huberman notes that even during Lula’s first presidential term from 2003 to 2011, when Brazil sought closer ties to Arab nations and the Global South, the relationship with Israel was maintained as a strategic counterweight, centered around arms imports that created long-term technological dependence. For Brazil’s military and police, the relationship is also underpinned by shared ideological ground around counterterrorism and Islamophobia, creating persistent internal pressure within the Brazilian state for closer bilateral ties.

When Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, he doubled down on these existing military ties, appointing active and retired military officers to more than half of his federal cabinet posts and placing over 6,000 military personnel into civil service roles. Research by Huberman and Isabela Agostinelli dos Santos, an international relations professor at Sao Paulo’s FECAP higher education institution, finds that despite occasional diplomatic disagreements, “continuities outweigh ruptures” in the bilateral defense relationship, with arms trade consistently anchoring the partnership. Defense ties between the two countries date all the way back to 1964, during Brazil’s military dictatorship, and the modern defense industry relationship took shape in the early 2000s, with Israeli defense giant Elbit Systems playing a central role. By 2014, total bilateral arms deals had reached almost $190 million, with much of that business conducted under Lula’s Workers’ Party government. “So Bolsonaro didn’t usher in a ‘new era’. In fact, he intensified structural dynamics that were already under way,” Santos explains. Any Brazilian government would struggle to quickly reverse these long-standing military dependencies, giving Israel a persistent and influential role in Brazil’s defense sector.

The Bolsonaro family has long played a central role in advancing Israeli interests in Brazil. Flavio’s brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, is a key figure in maintaining these ties. In January 2025, when an Israeli soldier on vacation in Brazil was accused of war crimes committed during his service in Gaza, Eduardo worked directly with Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli to pressure Brazilian authorities to drop the investigation, a move he later publicly boasted about. “Thanks to our efforts with Minister Chikli, the decision not to investigate set a precedent,” Eduardo said in an interview following the incident.

For Lula, the deep roots of Israeli influence in Brazil create a delicate political balancing act. Lula has been one of the most prominent international critics of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, calling it a genocide and an attempt to exterminate the Palestinian people. Brazil joined South Africa’s legal case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and after Lula compared the Gaza violence to the Holocaust, Israel declared Lula persona non grata, prompting Brazil to withdraw its ambassador from Tel Aviv. Today, diplomatic relations between the two countries are maintained only at the charge d’affaires level. Yet despite this public rift at the executive level, Lula has not moved to sever long-standing defense ties. In 2024, five months after the Brazilian military signed a $210 million contract with Elbit for 36 Atmos 2000 self-propelled howitzers, Lula suspended the deal but did not cancel it entirely, reflecting the tricky balance he must maintain between his public criticism of Israel and the deep pro-Israel ties within Brazil’s political and military establishment.

Even within Brazil’s legislature, pro-Israel sentiment has grown in recent years, driven by three powerful parliamentary caucuses, nicknamed the “three Bs”: bullets (representing legislators with military backgrounds), beef (representing powerful agribusiness interests), and Bible (representing evangelical Christian lawmakers). Brazil’s evangelical community numbers around 40 million voters, and polling shows Flavo Bolsonaro holds a commanding lead among this demographic, with 52 percent support in the first round and 62 percent in a projected runoff, compared to just 26 and 32 percent for Lula. In November 2025, even as Lula’s executive branch adopted a critical stance toward Israel, the Brazilian legislature revived the Brazil-Israel Parliamentary Front, a cross-party group first established in 2004. Flavio Bolsonaro, a member of the front, used its launch to confirm that a Bolsonaro presidency would fully restore close bilateral ties with Israel. “Even with a president who is more critical of Israel, the legislative base is becoming increasingly pro-Israel, largely because of the alliance between the evangelical caucus and the so-called ‘bullet caucus,’” Santos notes.

For Brazilian voters, the Israel-Palestine issue rarely decides election outcomes, but it does reinforce existing political divides, according to Feliciano de Sa Guimaraes, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo’s Institute of International Relations. “Jobs, living costs and public security matter far more to most voters,” Guimaraes explains. But polling shows shifting public opinion on Israel: latest Pew Research data from earlier this year finds that just over half of Brazilians hold an unfavorable view of Israel, and more than 60 percent lack confidence in Netanyahu. Since the start of the war in Gaza, Guimaraes says, pro-Israel sentiment has shifted disproportionately to right-wing voters aligned with Flavio Bolsonaro, while left-leaning voters have moved closer to Lula’s critical position. “For most voters, the Israel-Palestine issue mainly reinforces existing loyalties, since the issue now follows Brazil’s left–right divide,” Guimaraes says.

Lula has already raised concerns about foreign interference in Brazil’s election, issuing a public warning in June to former U.S. President Donald Trump to stay out of the race. He later reiterated that warning in a speech the UN General Assembly, where Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reports the warning was also aimed at Netanyahu and Milei, even though Lula did not name them directly. As voters head to the polls in less than a week, the deep ties between Israel and Brazil’s political factions will remain a defining undercurrent of what is already one of the most contentious elections in Brazil’s recent history.

In the war-torn Yemeni city of Taiz, 36-year-old female security officer Tahani patrols local markets in her uniform, unarmed by conventional military standards, but carrying the weight of a historic shift in Yemeni society. Her daily work represents one of the most visible changes to Yemen’s security landscape in the decade since the 2015 outbreak of war: the rapid expansion of women’s roles in the country’s security apparatus.

Before the war, female soldiers were virtually absent from public security roles in Yemen. Today, women serve across every corner of the national security sector, from police stations and prosecution offices to frontline military checkpoints and high-stakes security raids. Tahani is one of thousands of women who joined Yemen’s expanding women’s police force in 2022, a move that transformed her life and opened a new path for Yemeni women seeking economic independence and public service.

A divorcee from a poor rural background who previously worked as a housewife struggling to support her only child, Tahani describes the recruitment drive for Taiz’s women’s police as the chance to fulfill a long-held dream. “Yemen needs female soldiers just as it needs female teachers,” she told Middle East Eye in an exclusive interview. On a typical day, Tahani rises early to cook breakfast for her son and get him ready for school before heading to the station, where she works alongside both male and female colleagues.

Her role fills a critical gap in Yemeni security, shaped by the country’s conservative social norms. Many Yemeni women prefer to interact with female officers when filing reports, undergoing searches, or providing testimony, and Tahani and her colleagues specialize in supporting these women. One of her most dangerous and essential duties is participating in home raids targeting criminal suspects. Per Yemeni tradition, male security personnel cannot enter a home where women are present, so female officers must lead the entry into these properties. “This is one of the most dangerous tasks. We must be cautious and have our weapons drawn, and we never raid a home without a plan,” Tahani explains. While she has received full tactical training, she has never had to fire on a suspect, as male colleagues provide overwatch from behind during these operations.

Today, amid a new wave of military escalation across Yemen, the work of female security officers has become even more critical. The numbers tell the story of the force’s rapid growth: back in 2014, there were just 2,868 female police officers across the entire country. Over the past decade, both the Yemeni government and Houthi authorities have ramped up recruitment of female soldiers, growing the force exponentially. Last year, the United Nations Development Programme supported capacity-building training for 69 female officers in Aden Governorate, equipping them with professional skills to carry out their duties. As security inspections have doubled and raids on suspected cells have intensified with the recent escalation, female officers have been stretched thinner than ever.

“This is the most serious situation since I started my job in 2022, as there are more home raids requiring female soldiers to be present,” Tahani says. “My colleagues at checkpoints have also doubled their efforts, because, during war, weapons can be smuggled and sleeper cells can spread among residents, so we must stay vigilant.”

Her more experienced colleague, 43-year-old Sali, who joined the force in 2016 and has served at checkpoints and stations across Taiz, echoes that sentiment. Sali explains that during periods of military escalation, security work becomes a 24/7 responsibility, extending even into personal time and daily commutes. “Security awareness must be high in such situations. We have to monitor all activity and people around us to prevent crime before it occurs,” she says. Sali adds that officers are also working to raise public awareness about the risks of sharing sensitive information about military and security developments on social media, noting that such posts can inadvertently provide intelligence to enemy forces.

Yemeni army Captain Muamer Abdulmonem, a 20-year veteran of the force, says that while female soldiers play a key role in routine security, their contribution becomes irreplaceable during periods of escalation. “During the recent escalation, there has been a dire need not only for female soldiers, but also for female volunteers. Many have been supporting the army and security forces, particularly by monitoring sleeper cells and unfamiliar individuals arriving in communities,” Abdulmonem explains. He notes that sleeper cells often hide in plain sight, operating under the guise of displaced families, street vendors, or beggars, making community-based surveillance by female security personnel especially critical. The captain also points out that female officers are the only ones who can lawfully and culturally search female travelers, a key task given that criminal networks often exploit women to smuggle weapons and contraband in a society where male officers cannot search them.

While Yemen’s women’s police force was first established in 2000, it remained a small, marginalized institution for nearly 15 years. It is only over the past decade that the force has grown significantly and won broader acceptance across Yemeni society. Tahani’s brother, 31-year-old Thaker, says his family was initially hesitant to allow Tahani to join the force, but their opposition softened once they saw that she would be working exclusively with other women on cases involving female civilians. “Tahani works with women and deals with women, so she is like any other woman working in the civil sector, and the family has accepted that,” Thaker says. “A respected woman can work anywhere to serve her country. Women are entering all kinds of professions and that society must accept female soldiers, as it is society itself that needs them to interact with women.”

That growing acceptance is visible among the Yemeni public as well. Amni Qaheri, a Taiz resident who has interacted with female officers while reporting a stolen phone and undergone searches at city checkpoints, says she appreciates the presence of female soldiers. “It was a good experience to see that there are female soldiers we can deal with. I hope their numbers increase, or even that a women’s police station is established where all the staff are women, so we can have an even higher level of freedom,” Qaheri says. She adds that searches carried out by female officers make her feel far more comfortable, and that “they do their job perfectly.”

Yemeni sociologist Hail Saeed says that while social acceptance of women in security roles is growing across the country, it remains uneven across different regions and demographic groups. “Some families and communities still harbour reservations due to the nature of security work, particularly regarding field operations or night shifts,” Saeed explains. Even so, he notes that female soldiers fill a uniquely critical role in a conservative society, especially when working with women and minors. “Having women in the police helps ensure greater privacy and comfort for female citizens during searches, interrogations, or when filing complaints,” Saeed says. “It also facilitates access to information that some women might hesitate to share with a male officer due to social customs in a conservative society.”

Saeed predicts that public acceptance will continue to grow in coming years, as long as female security personnel continue to demonstrate competence, discipline, and a commitment to public service that respects local cultural norms. “Community acceptance may expand gradually if the work of female soldiers is linked to competence, discipline, and community service, while taking cultural and social sensitivities into account,” he says.

(Note: The names of female police officials have been changed at their request to protect their privacy.)

A remarkable act of courage and quick thinking has saved dozens of lives onboard a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, after an unprovoked attack by the co-pilot sent the plane plummeting mid-air. The hero of the incident, Indian captain Smit Machchhar, has recounted his harrowing experience in an emotional video conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sharing how he fought through injuries to retake control of the descending aircraft.

According to Machchhar’s account, the attack unfolded while the flight was two hours into its journey from Dubai to Israel, leaving him injured on the cockpit floor at the hands of his fellow crew member. Even as he grappled with his wounds and the ongoing assault, the captain noticed the plane entering a dangerous rapid descent. Refusing to give up, he summoned every last bit of strength to force open the locked cockpit door from inside, allowing passengers to enter and help subdue the attacker.

“I was lying on the floor injured but I told myself to go for one last push to open the door from inside,” Machchhar told Modi in the call. “Others came in and also played a role [in controlling the situation]. I was of course fighting for my own life but at the same time I knew I was not going to let others die.”

In the chaotic minutes after the attack, the plane dropped more than 17,000 feet (around 5,200 meters) before the combined effort of passengers and remaining crew overpowered the attacker and stabilized the aircraft. The flight was immediately diverted to Tabuk, a city in northwestern Saudi Arabia, for an emergency landing, which was completed safely with no fatalities among passengers and crew.

Following the emergency landing, Machchhar was first transported to a local hospital in Tabuk for immediate treatment. He was later airlifted to a medical facility in Abu Dhabi, where medical teams report he is in stable condition. On Thursday, the Indian embassy in the United Arab Emirates confirmed that the captain is in good overall health and progressing well with his recovery. Deepak Mittal, India’s ambassador to the UAE, met with Machchhar after his transfer, saying he was deeply proud of the pilot’s extraordinary bravery and reassured by his steady recovery.

Even as he recovers from his injuries, Machchhar has displayed a remarkably resilient attitude. “I am not looking at this wound like a wound because that would make my recovery even more difficult,” he said. “I am looking at it as a journey which is slowly going on and will take time but I am confident that the recovery will be there and I will become fit and healthy again.”

Leaders from across the globe have praised Machchhar for his life-saving actions. Prime Minister Modi told the captain that his courage, patience, and split-second decision-making preserved the lives of every person on the flight, and that the entire nation of India stands proud of his heroism. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also joined in honoring the pilot, calling him a “true hero” for protecting all onboard regardless of nationality.

A decades-long rivalry between Eritrea and Ethiopia has boiled over into a full breakdown of diplomatic relations, triggering grave concerns that a new conflict could ignite across the already volatile Red Sea region, drawing in multiple global and regional powers. The crisis erupted after an alleged drone strike targeted Ethiopian military headquarters in the capital Addis Ababa earlier this week, ending a period of relative calm in the city amid Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s ongoing fight against a coalition of rebel movements across the country’s Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions.

Following the explosion at the Ethiopian National Defence Force headquarters in Addis Ababa’s Tor Hayloch neighborhood, Western and regional officials confirmed to Middle East Eye that the strike was carried out by a drone. Ethiopian authorities quickly pinned blame on Asmara, accusing Eritrea of carrying out “direct and indirect acts of hostility and belligerence” in a formal government statement. In response, Addis Ababa announced the expulsion of 10 Eritrean diplomats and the permanent closure of its embassy in Asmara, Eritrea’s capital.

Eritrean officials rejected Ethiopia’s accusations and reciprocated by cutting all diplomatic ties with Addis Ababa. In a statement from Eritrea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officials accused Ethiopia of fueling internal unrest in Eritrea by arming, training, and hosting anti-government armed opposition groups with the explicit goal of forcing regime change in Asmara. “Ethiopia has pursued an agenda of incessant hostility” against Eritrea, the statement read.

This diplomatic rupture caps months of steadily deteriorating relations between the two neighboring countries, a turnabout that surprised many observers after their unexpected alignment during Ethiopia’s 2020–2022 civil war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the former ruling party of Ethiopia’s Tigray region. In the years since that conflict concluded, the old rivalry between the two states reemerged with renewed intensity. Ethiopia has laid claim to parts of Eritrea’s Red Sea coastline, and has repeatedly accused Asmara of covertly supporting the TPLF – a charge Eritrean officials have consistently denied.

In an exclusive interview with Middle East Eye last month from Asmara, Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh framed Ethiopia’s territorial ambitions in stark terms, comparing Abiy Ahmed’s expansionist vision to Israel’s regional strategy. “[Abiy Ahmed] has a two-waters strategy like Israel. Only for him it is from the Nile River to the Red Sea,” Saleh said, drawing a parallel to Israel’s longstanding territorial vision stretching from the Gaza Strip to the Jordan River along the occupied West Bank frontier.

The breakdown of diplomatic ties comes at an already precarious moment for the Horn of Africa and Red Sea region, with active conflicts already underway in Yemen and Sudan. Analysts and regional diplomats warn that the standoff between Eritrea and Ethiopia could easily widen into a larger conflict that draws in multiple outside powers, which are already aligned with different actors in the region’s existing disputes.

The complex web of alliances raises the risk of escalation. The TPLF, which remains in open rebellion against Abiy Ahmed’s federal government, is already aligned with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which is currently fighting Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. The RSF, which has been accused of genocide in Sudan, is backed by the United Arab Emirates and maintains training facilities inside Ethiopia. Eritrea, for its part, is aligned with Egypt and Saudi Arabia in their support for the SAF.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed counts the UAE as one of his strongest international backers; the Gulf state has supplied Abiy’s forces with drones and other critical military equipment. Saleh also noted in his interview that Eritrea believes the UAE is cooperating with Israel against Asmara. This aligns with a long history of Israeli support for Ethiopia: dating back to the late 1970s and 1980s, Israel supplied arms to Ethiopia’s Marxist Derg government, which were used to wage war against Eritrean independence fighters.