ReliefWeb

Last week in the Middle East, hostilities flared up again in Al Bayda governorate in Yemen, while clashes continue in the south of Marib governorate. Along the Saudi border, Houthi forces launched an offensive against Sudanese forces. In Syria, Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes on regime force positions in Homs governorate, as regime forces continued to shell barrages on the Idleb enclave. In Iraq, a suicide attack by the Islamic State (IS) in Baghdad city killed dozens of civilians. Two rockets were fired by suspected Palestinian militants at Israel from Lebanon, whereupon Israeli forces launched retaliatory artillery shelling into Lebanon. In Turkey, Muslim groups protested incursions by Jewish settlers into the Al Aqsa compound, while two attacks against Kurdish people were reported. Lastly, violent demonstrations against water shortages and electricity outages continued in Iran, with clashes against police leaving at least five demonstrators and a police officer dead.