The Yemeni army has continued in its advances against the Houthis, liberating strategic areas in Saada that were strong-holds of the militia, the armed forces media center said Thursday.

Backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition, the army advanced in the western part of Saada province, northwestern Yemen, making gains in Baqem district.

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ISIS has claimed responsibility for a deadly explosion that killed four Americans — two US service members, a defense contractor and a Department of Defense civilian — in the Syrian city of Manbij on Wednesday, according to the US military.

All four US personnel that were killed were Americans, according to Commander Sean Robertson, a spokesman for the Pentagon.

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Heavy clashes broke out on Friday between the Yemeni government’s Elite Forces in Shabwa province and tribal gunmen protecting suspected al-Qaeda members in the north-western district of Markha.

Colonel Mohammed Salem Al Bouher, commander of the Elite Forces, told The National that six of his troops and nine of the gunmen were killed in the clashes in a village called Al Hajar.

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Yemen’s Houthi forces have started to redeploy from the port of the Red Sea city of Hodeidah as part of a U.N.-sponsored peace agreement signed in Sweden earlier this month, a U.N. source and a spokesman for the group said on Saturday.

The Iranian-aligned Houthis have agreed with the Saudi-backed government to implement a ceasefire in Hodeidah province and withdraw their respective forces.

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Kurdish leaders in northern Syria have appealed to Damascus for protection from a threatened Turkish military attack, as they reel from the decision by Donald Trump to withdraw US troops from the war-torn country.

Syrian state media claimed on Friday that regime forces had entered the Kurdish-controlled city of Manbij close to the Turkish border, as the government grinds towards its stated aim of retaking “every inch” of the country after nearly eight years of civil war.

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