The Israeli military has once again called on civilians in Yemen to evacuate several ports, after it intercepted a missile launched by the Houthi militia.

The “repeated warning” concerns the Houthi-controlled harbours of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and Salif in the west of the country, an army spokesman wrote in Arabic on X.

The Houthis are using the ports for “terrorist activities,” the spokesman said, adding that civilians should stay away from the facilities for their own safety.

The latest development comes days after Israel called on civilians to evacuate the three harbours on Sunday evening.

No information on subsequent Israeli attacks on the ports has emerged.

The Iran-backed Houthi militia has regularly launched missile and drone attacks against Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October 2023.

The group, which says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas, has recently stepped up its attacks, with one rocket hitting close to Tel Aviv’s international airport earlier this month.

In response, Israel attacked the international airport in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.

Another launch was reported by the Israeli military on Wednesday, with sirens sounding in Jerusalem and other cities.

The missile was intercepted. (dpa/NAN)

The UN Human Rights High Commissioner, Volker Türk, has voiced concern over the recent deportation of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States, particularly to third countries.

Türk, in a statement on Tuesday said that situation raised serious concerns regarding a wide array of rights that are fundamental to both U.

He said his Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had received information that over 100 Venezuelan deportees were being detained at a notorious prison in El Salvador.

OHCHR said 142,000 people were deported from the U.S. between January 20 and April 29, according to official data.

In particular, the fate and whereabouts of at least 245 Venezuelans and some 30 Salvadorans sent to El Salvador remain unclear.

Many were deported under the U.S. Alien Enemies Act as alleged members of criminal groups and have reportedly been detained at the Centre for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) in the Central American country.

Detainees at the maximum-security prison are treated particularly harshly, without access to legal counsel or family members and have no contact with the outside world.

OHCHR has received information from family members and lawyers regarding more than 100 Venezuelans believed to be held in CECOT.

The reports indicate that many were not informed of the U.S. Government’s intention to deport them to be detained in a third country.

Furthermore, many had no access to a lawyer and were unable to challenge the lawfulness of their removal before being flown out.

They include the rights to due process, protection from arbitrary detention, equality before the law, and protection from exposure to torture or other irreparable harm in other States.

Neither the U.S. or Salvadoran authorities have published official lists of the detainees, and their legal status in El Salvador remains unclear.

Many family members interviewed by OHCHR voiced deep distress at not knowing where, and in what circumstances, their loved ones are being held. Some only became aware when they recognized their relatives from videos on social media of them in or being taken to CECOT.

“Families we have spoken to have expressed a sense of complete powerlessness in the face of what has happened and their pain at seeing their relatives labelled and handled as violent criminals, even terrorists, without any court judgment as to validity of what is claimed against them,” Türk said.

“The manner in which some of the individuals were detained and deported – including the use of shackles on them – as well as the demeaning rhetoric used against migrants, has also been profoundly disturbing,” he added.

The High Commissioner welcomed the essential role that the U.S. judiciary, legal community and civil society are playing to ensure the protection of human rights in this situation.

“I have called on the U.S. Government to take the necessary measures to ensure compliance with due process, to give prompt and full effect to the determinations of its courts, to safeguard the rights of children.

”I also urge the government to stop the removal of any individual to any country where there is a real risk of torture or other irreparable harm,” he said. (NAN)

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, a U.S. government representative confirmed.

The meeting took place in the Saudi capital before a scheduled meeting between Trump and leaders of several Gulf countries.

It is the first between a U.

The meeting also came a day after Trump said that he would be lifting sanctions imposed on Damascus.

Trump, who was in Saudi Arabia for the first leg of his three-nation Gulf tour, said lifting the sanctions were a chance for the war-torn country to shine.

The White House said on Tuesday that Trump had agreed to say hello to the Syrian President.

Sanctions were imposed by the U.S. and other countries in response to former president Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on protesters in 2011.

The violence in his regime carried out against civilians during the ensuing civil war.

Al-Assad was overthrown in early December by an Islamist rebel alliance led by al-Sharaa, who was later appointed interim president.

Once an insurgent leader, al-Sharaa has since renounced both al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

However, doubts remain as to whether he has fully abandoned extremist ideology and he is still listed on U.S. and EU terrorist lists.

The last meeting between U.S. and Syrian leaders was in 2000 between then presidents Bill Clinton and Bashar’s father, Hafez al-Assad. (dpa/NAN)