SANAA, 24 July 2008 (IRIN) - Since 2004 hundreds of people have been killed and thousands displaced as a result of fighting between Shia rebels and government forces in the northern governorate of Saada. IRIN takes a look at the background to the conflict, and tries to shed light on why it still smoulders today.

BEIRUT, 22 July 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of children in Lebanon are denied full access to education, healthcare and residency because they do not have Lebanese citizenship. Lebanese women cannot pass on their nationality to their children and in the event of separation, it is the father who gains automatic custody, according to Lebanese nationality law.

BEERSHEBA, 21 July 2008 (IRIN) - "I mostly try to talk with my hands," said Mona. "I try to explain where it hurts or what is bothering me. If the doctor understands, then he understands. If not, not." Mona, like thousands of the other Bedouin-Arab women in the Negev desert, struggles to cope with a language barrier that is a major factor in their inability to receive proper medical treatment.

SANAA, 08 July 2008 (IRIN) - Ahmed is among an estimated 30,000 street children in Yemen, of whom 60 percent work and sleep on the streets and tend to be separated from their families, according to a new study. The remaining 40 percent work the streets but return to some kind of makeshift home at night.

DAMASCUS, 30 June 2008 (IRIN) - Basil the baker is not a happy bread maker. “Everything is more difficult to afford now, and it will get worse,” he said, amid the dough and ovens of his bakery in the middle class district of Shalan in Damascus. The availability of cheap food has been a cornerstone Syrian domestic economic policy.