Yemenis fire ballistic missile at Saudi Arabia

1. Senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami has slammed the Nigerian army for its recent massacre of Shia Muslims. Ayatollah Khatami said the crimes played into the hands of the Zionists and Takfiris. He then rejected as a lie the claim that Shias had blocked the convoy of the army chief.

2. Islamic Human Rights Commission says it has credible evidence of mass graves containing bodies of Shia Muslims recently killed by the Nigerian army. The human rights group says it has photographs and testimonies that prove the army has buried hundreds of bodies after attacking Shias in Zaria earlier this week.

3. Saudi Arabia has carried out fresh attacks on Yemen in violation of a UN-brokered ceasefire which came into effect on Tuesday. Saudi warplanes pounded a region in the province of Sa’ada, killing at least 15 civilians. Saudi jets have also launched air raids in the provinces of Ma’rib, Ta’izz, and Jawf.

4. Yemen’s Ansarullah fighters and allied army units have fired two ballistic missiles at Saudi border regions in retaliation for Riyadh’s repeated violations of the current ceasefire. Saudi officials say one of the missiles was intercepted by the kingdom’s air defense forces and another hit a desert area near Najran.

5. Yemen’s Ansarullah movement has filed a complaint with the United Nations against Saudi Arabia over the kingdom’s repeated violations of the recently introduced ceasefire. In the meantime, representatives from different Yemeni political groups continue negotiations in Switzerland in an effort to put an end to the country’s conflict.

6. Third round of international talks aimed at ending the Syrian crisis have begun in the US city of New York. Representatives from over a dozen countries are participating in the negotiations. Participants are still at odds over a list which differentiates between terrorist and opposition groups in Syria.

7. Turkish forces have killed at least 55 militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or the PKK in three-days. Ankara has placed several mainly Kurdish provinces under curfew. The Turkish government has deployed thousands of police officers and army soldiers to crack down on the Kurds in the southeast.

8. A UN report says the number of refugees across the world is likely to have surpassed a record 60 million this year. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees announced the displacement has been mainly caused by the Syrian war and other conflicts.

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