Region

ADEN — Saudi-led coalition air strikes hit rebel targets in and around Yemen's main southern city of Aden on Wednesday as clashes with forces allied with fugitive President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi intensified.

Coalition warplanes targeted rebel positions west of the port city, in Ras Imran, where heavy clashes have been raging as the Houthi rebels try to advance towards the city's strategic refinery, a military source said.

The rebels appear to be trying to seize petrol reserves stored at the refinery as the country suffers a huge shortage of fuel.

Rebel reinforcements, including tanks commanded by rebel troops, arrived Wednesday in Ras Amran from the province of Lahj, witnesses said.

The clashes Wednesday killed three southern fighters and wounded 11 others, a medic at a local hospital said.

Earlier, coalition air strikes hit rebel positions in Crater, Khor Maksar and other districts of Aden, which has seen heavy clashes between pro- and anti-government fighters.

Residents told AFP the rebels "randomly" shelled residential areas in the city, killing at least three civilians.

The rebels also shot dead four armed supporters of Hadi, medics and residents said.

In Daleh province, north of Aden, Hadi loyalists carried out several attacks that killed 16 rebels, according to pro-government militia sources.

It was not possible to independently verify the toll and the rebels rarely acknowledge their losses.

Houthi militants attacked a position of the 35th Armoured Brigade, which remains loyal to the president, north of the central city of Taez, seizing tanks and killing three soldiers, a military official said.

The rebels have also seized tanks from another post and besieged the headquarters of the brigade on the northern outskirts of Taez, the official added.

The Saudi-led coalition launched its air war on March 26 after the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels seized control of the capital Sanaa and advanced on Aden, where Hadi had taken refuge before fleeing to Riyadh.

WASHINGTON — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said on Wednesday the fighting in Yemen could engulf the region in war, and suggested after talks in Washington that US leaders shared his concerns and "want to stop this conflict as soon as possible”.

Abadi, who met with US President Barack Obama on Tuesday, also said that convincing Iraq's neighbour Saudi Arabia to halt its offensive in Yemen could be difficult.

Saudi Arabia is engaged in a three-week-old campaign of air strikes against Yemen's Houthi rebels, who are allied with Iran and have taken over the capital and forced the president to take refuge in Riyadh.

Asked about Iranian efforts to broker a peace deal for Yemen, Abadi said: "From what I understand from the [Obama] administration, the Saudis are not helpful on this. They don't want a ceasefire now."

Asked whether Obama broadly shared his concerns, Abadi said the administration did.

The White House, however, denied Obama had criticised Saudi Arabia in his talks with Abadi and renewed US support for the anti-Houthi military campaign by the Saudis and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council regional grouping.

"We firmly support current GCC-led operations... which is why we have been providing support for coalition operations," said National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey.

Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States Adel Al Jubeir said he had not heard any US criticism of the operation.

"I don't know how the Iraqi prime minister got to that assessment. But I would think the Iraqis should really focus on the problems that are in their own country," Jubeir told a press conference.

Abadi noted his country had suffered from a spillover of hostilities from neighbouring states, including the advance by Daesh militants into Iraq from Syria.

"This [Yemen war] can engulf the whole region in another conflict," Abadi said, adding: "We don't need another sectarian war in the region."

The United States is in an awkward position in both Iraq and Yemen. In Iraq, it is supporting Abadi's Shiite led-government in its war against Sunni extremists from Daesh, which puts it on the same side of the battle as Iran-backed fighters.

But the United States is also an ally of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia in its battle against Iran-backed Houthis, deepening its intelligence cooperation.

Abadi noted the US position, with some unease.

"Can you work both? Both sides? Here [you] are with Iraq against [Daesh], there, against Yemen?"

DUBAI — Three weeks of Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen have led to defections of army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, military sources said, dealing a blow to his efforts to stage a comeback.

Saleh has teamed up with his old foes, the Iranian-allied Houthis, against his former backer Saudi Arabia, displaying the political skill that enabled him to rule the heavily armed and fractious country for more than three decades.

Saudi Arabia launched the air attacks last month as Houthi rebels, who had taken control of the capital Sanaa in September, closed in on the port city of Aden and forced Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to Riyadh.

The Houthis and pro-Saleh army units have been fighting alongside each other on several fronts against militia forces loyal to Hadi.

But Yemeni military sources said the Saudi-led bombing campaign has already led five pro-Saleh military brigades to defect. One of those battled Houthis in the province of Taiz on Wednesday, they said.

Further splits could weaken Saleh and help Saudi Arabia and its allies beat back the Houthis, who are engaged in street battles for control of Aden.

"There have been announcements by units that they are defecting from him and there are real changes in that regard. This is probably the most effective way the Saudis could succeed," said a Yemeni politician opposed to the Houthis, who asked not to be named due to security concerns.

"[Saudi Arabia] has been bitten so many times, they won't take a risk by seeking an agreement with him, which would only play into his hands," he added.

Saudi military spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri has said the coalition was in contact with leaders of military units who have pledged loyalty to Hadi. It was not clear precisely why they changed sides.

“The plan for now is to just keep putting pressure on him on the ground till [Saleh] agrees to surrender,” a Saudi source said.

For his part, Saleh has dismissed allegations that he backs the Houthis and has called on all sides to open a dialogue.

Farea Al Muslimi, a researcher at the Carnegie Middle East Centre, told Reuters the air strikes had harmed Saleh more than the Houthis as the army bases were more of a clear target and have suffered huge damage.

“The Houthi-Saleh front remains united but if this dynamic changes, it would have a major impact on where the conflict goes,” Muslimi said.

History of intrigue

Pressure alone may not be enough to break a man who has managed to play his enemies off against each other as tribal warfare, separatist movements and Islamist militants destabilised Yemen.

He survived a bomb attack in his palace mosque in 2011 which killed senior aides and disfigured him. As other leaders were toppled by the Arab Spring uprisings, he found a way to retire peacefully to his villa in the capital and plot a comeback.

Despite being forced to step down in 2012 under a Gulf-brokered transition plan following protests against his rule, Saleh won immunity in the deal and has remained a powerful political player operating behind the scenes.

His first order of business was to get back at a former right-hand man in the military and a tribal leader whom he blamed for the palace blast.

They were easily forced into exile when the Houthis swept into Sanaa in September unopposed by army loyalists.

After President Hadi succeeded in securing UN sanctions against Saleh, he turned his guns against his Saudi-backed successor.

But the alliance between the Saleh loyalists and the Houthis, who are Shi’ite Muslims from the north, is plagued by historical mistrust which may benefit Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies.

Saleh waged six wars against the Houthis from 2002 to 2009, and the group fears the Saudi drive for defections could even see Saleh on Riyadh’s side once again.

“Ali Abdullah Saleh is a fickle person — if he thought he could stand against us now without failing, he would, but he’s afraid,” Houthi politburo member Mohammed Al Bukhaiti told Reuters by telephone from Sanaa.

Analysts believe Saleh’s plan appears to be to help the Houthis defeat their common enemies then to use his political base to build a role as powerbroker before turning on the rebel group and installing his son Ahmed Ali Saleh as president.

If the Saudi-led bombing reverses Houthi battlefront gains, more Saleh loyalists may be tempted to switch sides.

“Most of the leaders of the military are just going with the tide,” the Yemeni politician said. “If the progress of the war were seen going clearly against him and the Houthis they would begin to desert him.”

But Saleh has proven in the past that attempts to map out Yemen’s future without him are doomed to failure.

“When the dust settles, Saleh will have to be included in any future settlement, likely with his son getting a significant position,” said Kamran Bokhari of Stratfor global intelligence firm.

BEIRUT — A bout of fighting between militants over control of the Yarmouk refugee camp on the edge of Damascus has only compounded the misery of residents already suffering from acute shortages of food, clean water and power.

The camp, set up in 1957 to house Palestinians, has become a symbol of the desperate plight of people in rebel-held territory since the Syrian government laid siege to it in 2013.

Fighters from Daesh terror group attacked the camp earlier this month, leading to a round of clashes with other militants.

Most Daesh fighters had withdrawn on Wednesday after largely defeating their rival, the Hamas-linked Aknaf Al Maqdis, leaving Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra as the main group in the camp.

The respite may bring only a small measure of comfort to residents.

"We lack everything, even the lowest standards of living," a 40-year-old mother of two told Reuters by phone from inside Yarmouk.

Bread smuggled in to the camp is sometimes sold at 170 times its normal price, the woman said. Water tanks look like dirty swamps.

The power grid does not work, nor taps in houses. Residents have learnt to draw small amounts of electricity from phone lines to run small lights at night.

"Sometimes, I don't want to get up. Why get up only to regret it?" said the mother, who asked that her name not be used.

The camp was home to some 160,000 Palestinians before the Syrian conflict began in 2011, refugees from the 1948 war of Israel's creation and their descendents.

Most have now left. The Syrian government said on Tuesday only 6,000 remained.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said last week that residents "face a double-edged sword — armed elements inside the camp, and government forces outside".

In a school outside the camp, families from Yarmouk spoke to Reuters about how they escaped.

"We heard that [Daesh] were breaking walls and there were clashes. We did not know anything. When they came closer, people said they were killing women and children," said a Palestinian woman, who asked to remain anonymous.

Another woman, clutching a newborn child, said she thought she would die before she escaped.

“During the last hours we lived in a real misery we lost hope to stay alive. We waited for death with our children.”

Not all of Yarmouk’s residents have fled. Last Sunday, several dozen men and women, some waving Palestinian flags, held a protest inside the camp.

“It was a show of steadfastness by the people of Yarmouk, not to leave unless to go back to Palestine,” one protester said.

The 40-year-old mother also said she did want to leave, despite fighting hunger and a bout of jaundice. She feared she would be arrested by Syrian security agents. Many feel that way in Yarmouk, she said.

“There are many young men who are stuck — they defected [from the army] and now regret it.”

She never caught sight of the militants herself but heard the clashes.

“They didn’t knock on doors or storm anyone’s house,” she said.

More than 220,000 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war, which began when protests inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings erupted in March 2011 and were repressed by security forces.

An array of rebel groups, some of them hardline jihadists such as Islamic States, are now fighting the government, and sometimes each other.

About 4 million Syrians are now registered by the United Nations as refugees in other countries and about 6.5 million are internally displaced within the country.

Children in Yarmouk cannot recall life free of war.

“Our children don’t know what fruit looks like,” the 40-year-old mother said.

BAGHDAD — Daesh militants gained ground in western Iraq on Wednesday, overrunning another village near the capital of Anbar province in a dawn raid, police sources and local officials said.

Hundreds of families fled Albu Ghanim after security forces came under attack from the militants overnight and withdrew from the area, around 5km northeast of the provincial capital Ramadi.

Abu Jasim, who left Albu Ghanim soon after it fell early on Wednesday, said the insurgents had set up a checkpoint at the main entrance to the village and planted their black flag there.

"Daesh stopped us and said we have came to liberate you from these Safavids and rejectionists," Abu Jasim said. Safavid and rejectionist are derogatory terms used by hardline Sunni Islamists to refer to Shiites.

"We told them we were leaving because the kids were terrified. They let us go, and we saw bodies lying in the streets, some police and others civilians."

The militants have been making inroads on Ramadi's northern periphery since the government announced the start of a new offensive last week to recapture the Sunni heartland of Anbar.

Two federal police battalions arrived in Ramadi on Wednesday to reinforce the beleaguered forces, according to a colonel and a policeman.

Another resident who left Albu Ghanim said the jihadists had declared their victory via loudspeaker in the village mosque. Abu Amar said his son, a policeman, was missing, and he had heard the militants had a list of conscripts whom they had already begun executing.

Large parts of Anbar had slipped from the government's grasp even before Daesh seized the northern city of Mosul last June and proclaimed a “caliphate” straddling the border between Iraq and Syria.

Security forces and Shiite paramilitaries have since regained some ground in Iraq, although core Sunni territories remain under Daesh control, including Nineveh province, of which Mosul is capital, and most of Anbar.

The new Anbar campaign was intended to build on a victory in the city of Tikrit, which Iraqi security forces and Shiite paramilitaries retook this month.

But the Sunni jihadists have struck back in Anbar as well as Baiji, where they blasted through the security perimeter around Iraq's largest refinery several days ago.

The operations command for Salahuddin province in which Baiji is located said skirmishes between security forces and the militants continued on Wednesday inside the refinery compound.

The US-led coalition said in a statement on Wednesday it had conducted air strikes in support of Iraqi forces in both Baiji and around Ramadi.

BEIRUT — Poverty, gender discrimination and violence are keeping more than 12 million children in the Middle East out of school, despite efforts to expand education, the UN children's agency warned Wednesday.

An additional 3 million children in Syria and Iraq have been forced out of school by conflict, UNICEF said in a new report.

The joint report by UNICEF and UN cultural agency UNESCO's Institute for Statistics said the rates of out-of-school children in the region had been declining, "often by as much as half".

"But in recent years, progress has stalled," it said, with 4.3 million primary-aged children and 2.9 million lower secondary-aged children out of school.

An additional 5.1 million children are not receiving pre-primary school education, bringing the total number of the region's children out of school to 12.3 million, the report said.

That figure represents around 15 per cent of the children in the Middle East who should be receiving pre-primary, primary or secondary education.

Yemen had the worst rate of pre-primary school age children receiving an education, with only 6 per cent of them in school.

Djibouti and Sudan had the worst rates for secondary school-age children, followed by Iran and Morocco.

'Girls are undervalued'

The report said a study of nine countries in the region revealed a range of reasons why children were out of school, including poverty.

In many cases, families could not afford costs associated with schooling, including books and uniforms, or the loss of income from a child who could be put to work.

"Children from poor, disadvantaged families are most likely to be excluded from schooling, even though they have the most to gain," Maria Calivis, UNICEF's regional director, said at the report's launch in Beirut on Wednesday.

Gender discrimination also remains a factor.

"Girls are undervalued and, since they are not expected to work, their families see no need for them to learn," the report says, adding that early marriage is also an issue in most countries in the region.

"It's the poor, rural girls who are the most disadvantaged," said UNICEF's Dina Craissati.

Elsewhere, violence is a problem — either inside schools, or in conflict zones like Syria and Iraq, where millions of children no longer have access to education and schools have been caught up in violence.

"I used to go to school, before the soldiers came," one child said in a video produced by UNICEF.

The report said keeping children in school after enrolment was a key problem, with high drop-out rates at most levels in many countries in the region.

'What children want'

It proposes three main recommendations, including a focus on early childhood development (ECD), where the disparity between wealthy and poor children is most stark in the region.

"Levelling the playing field in terms of equal access to ECD is a matter of urgency," it said.

It also urges a cross-sector approach to helping children enter school, pointing out that factors from transport to health can affect whether a child is enrolled or not.

The report suggests a focus on "retention", to ensure that enrolled children are not pushed out of education because of factors like corporal punishment or falling behind peers.

UNICEF representatives at the report's launch urged regional governments to increase their education budgets and invest more wisely in schools.

But they recognised that widespread violence in Syria and Iraq, and the developing conflicts in Yemen and Libya, would present serious challenges to improving education in these countries.

"There have been 3 million children forced out of school in Iraq and Syria, and we are expecting even more from the coming crises in Yemen and Libya," Craissati said.

The report called for "sufficient funding for education in emergencies, and national governments in the region should adopt flexible approaches for accommodating the education needs of conflict-affected children”.

"This is what the children want, this is what parents want," UNICEF's Calivis said.

CAIRO — Egypt's Cabinet on Wednesday ordered the demolition of an abandoned, burnt-out building that had housed the headquarters of former president Hosni Mubarak's political party, which was disbanded four years ago.

The National Democratic Party (NDP) building, a concrete tower block that looms over the River Nile in Cairo, was gutted during the uprising against Mubarak's rule in 2011, and served as a potent symbol of the revolt.

Successive governments have discussed plans to knock down the building since the NDP was dissolved. Some activists who took part in protests have said the headquarters should be preserved as a monument to the uprising. The statement did not give any reason or timing for the demolition.

Since a major economic summit last month in the coastal resort of Sharm El Sheikh, one side of the building has been covered in a large banner promoting investment in Egypt.

While Egyptian courts have been gradually absolving Mubarak-era figures, they have been handing down lengthy sentences to liberal and Islamist activists in cases ranging from political protests to acts of violence.

Earlier this month a court began a retrial of Mubarak, 86, in a case which accused him of diverting public funds. He was sentenced to three years in jail last May in the case but the conviction was overturned by Egypt's high court in January.

In November, a court dropped charges against Mubarak of conspiring to kill demonstrators during the uprising, raising fears among rights activists that the old guard was making a comeback.

The NDP was dissolved by a court order in April 2011. It had dominated Egyptian politics since it was founded by Mubarak's predecessor, Anwar Sadat, in 1978.

CAIRO — Two students from an Egyptian military academy were killed and six were wounded on Wednesday when a bomb targeting a minibus exploded in the northern city of Kafr Al Sheikh, two health ministry officials said.

While members of Egypt's security forces have regularly been targeted in attacks claimed by Islamist militant groups in a wave of violence since 2013, this appeared to be the first such attack on young students linked to the army.

Egypt is facing an insurgency mainly based in the North Sinai that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since mid-2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi after protests against his rule.

The bomb exploded as the minibus stopped near the city's stadium, a witness told Reuters by phone. Kafr Al Sheikh is about 130km north of Cairo in the mostly agricultural Delta region.

"My son is dead! My son is dead! He was going to his college and they killed him," said Mohamed Abu Daoud at the scene of the explosion, clutching his son's blood-stained white shirt.

Several students who witnessed the attack were crying close by the area of the blast where blood had pooled on the ground.

Students attend military academies from their late teens to early twenties and go on to a career in the army.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's attack.

Sinai Province, a militant group that has pledged allegiance to Daesh, has claimed such attacks in the past but has mainly focused on targets in the Sinai Peninsula, a strategic area bordering Israel, Gaza and the Suez Canal.

Other groups have launched attacks in Cairo and other cities.

ANKARA/DUBAI — Iran said on Wednesday it would only accept a deal over its contested nuclear programme if world powers simultaneously lifted all sanctions imposed on it.

The comments by President Hassan Rouhani came the day after US President Barack Obama was forced to give Congress a say in any future accord — including the right of lawmakers to veto the lifting of sanctions imposed by the US

Bolstering the role of a highly assertive Congress injects an element of uncertainty into the crucial final stages of negotiations between major powers and Iran, which are aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for relief from sanctions.

"If there is no end to sanctions, there will not be an agreement," Rouhani said in a televised speech in the northern Iranian city of Rasht, echoing remarks made last week by Iran's most powerful authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"The end of these negotiations and a signed deal must include a declaration of cancelling the oppressive sanctions on the great nation of Iran," said Rouhani, who is widely viewed as a pragmatist.

A tentative deal between Iran and the six world powers was reached in Switzerland on April 2, and aimed at clearing the way for a final settlement on June 30.

Discussions will resume on April 21. However, different interpretations have emerged over what was agreed in the framework, suggesting that nailing down a final agreement will be tough, even without the added complication of Congress.

Many Congressmen have been highly critical of the US-led negotiations, supporting Israel, which has said the framework proposal will not prevent Iran from developing atomic arms. Tehran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

US reassurance

While Israel said it was pleased with the move by Congress, Rouhani said it was a domestic US issue that should have no bearing on the negotiations between Iran, the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China.

"What the US Senate, Congress and others say is not our problem," Rouhani said. "We want mutual respect... We are in talks with the major powers and not with the Congress."

Looking to reassure his various negotiating partners, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday he was confident Obama would be able to get Congress to approve the final deal.

"Looming large is the challenge of finishing the negotiation with Iran over the course of the next two and a half months," Kerry said after arriving in Germany for a meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers.

"We are confident about our ability for the president to negotiate an agreement and to do so with the ability to make the world safer," he said.

Obama has invested enormous political capital throughout his presidency in securing an accord to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon, relying on tight sanctions that crippled Iran's economy and forced it to negotiate.

Some US lawmakers who had objected to the earlier bill, but agreed to the compromise, said the administration had assured them the bill would not interfere with the negotiations.

"The administration has assured me that [Tuesday's] vote will not impede negotiators' ability to do their jobs and work toward a final deal with Iran," said Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.

A combination of US and EU sanctions have choked off nearly 1.5 million barrels per day of Iranian exports since early 2012, reducing its oil exports by 60 per cent to around 1 million barrels a day.

While Iran denies its nuclear programme has any military element, it has never welcomed intrusive inspections and has in the past kept some nuclear sites secret.

A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for scheduled technical talks, Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency reported. Talks with the IAEA run parallel to the negotiations with world powers.

DAMASCUS — Militants from Daesh terror group have lost ground to Palestinian fighters in Syria's Yarmouk camp, Palestinian officials and a resident said on Tuesday.

UN officials in Syria said, meanwhile, they were discussing ways of getting humanitarian aid into the camp and helping residents who have fled Yarmouk.

Daesh fighters have retreated from much of the territory they seized in the camp in southern Damascus after entering it on April 1, a resident calling himself Samer told AFP.

"We haven't even seen any Daesh members in over three days," he said.

The withdrawal was confirmed by an official from a pro-Syrian regime Palestinian faction’s fighting against Daesh inside Yarmouk.

"There are intermittent but ongoing clashes between Palestinian factions and IS [Daesh]," said Khaled Abdel Majid, head of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, adding that Daesh had withdrawn from most of the neighbourhoods it previously controlled.

Daesh fighters were now confined largely to the camp's southwest, with Palestinian factions — both pro- and anti-Syrian regime — controlling most of the east and north, Palestinian sources said.

Regime forces are stationed outside the camp and have maintained a tight siege, but Abdel Majid said the Palestinian factions had established a "joint operations room" with government forces.

A Syrian security source in Damascus also said "the Palestinian factions have made progress and were able to recapture key points... and the operation is ongoing."

The Palestinian forces inside the camp include the anti-regime Aknaf Beit Al Maqdis group that has fought alongside Syrian rebels.

Plunged into further hardship

Fighters from the Palestinian Fatah and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine groups are not participating, Palestinian officials said.

Both groups have said they want Yarmouk to remain neutral and do not want to be seen as taking a side in the conflict between Syria's government and opposition forces.

The Daesh advance rattled residents and the government, with Syria's reconciliation minister saying a military operation would be necessary to expel the jihadists.

Their move into Yarmouk plunged it into further hardship, worsening already dire conditions caused by the siege which has gone on for more than 18 months.

Once home to some 160,000 Palestinians and some Syrian residents, Yarmouk's population had shrunk to just 18,000 by the time Daesh moved in.

According to Palestinian sources, some 2,500 civilians have managed to escape the camp, but aid agencies and the United Nations have warned of a serious humanitarian crisis and urged all parties to allow the creation of a humanitarian corridor.

Pierre Krahenbuhl, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, told AFP in Damascus on Tuesday that the situation in Yarmouk remained "catastrophic in human terms".

He said UNRWA was unable to enter the camp but was seeking "to find ways to resume distributions for people who are inside".

"It will be very difficult but we will try, we will discuss how to find places where distributions can take place that people can reach safely."

He also stressed the symbolic importance of Yarmouk, the largest Palestinian camp in Syria.

"For Palestine refugees, Yarmouk is something very special. They have no intention of abandoning Yarmouk. Yarmouk is a place that is very deep in their identity."