In Yemen, child soldiering continues despite Houthi promise

In the video, a man stands in front of a blackboard in a full classroom, teaching the parts of an AK-47 rifle. He then hands it over to a boy, showing him how to cock it.

Other children crowd around, many who appear to be no older than 10, asking for their turn. The video, leaked online this month, provides a rare window into child soldier indoctrination by Yemen's Houthi rebels. Local residents confirmed to The Associated Press that it was filmed in recent weeks in Yemen's rebel-held province of Amran, northwest of the capital, Sanaa.

Despite an agreement with the U.N. in April to halt the practice, the Houthis continue to recruit children into the military ranks to fight in the country's grinding civil war, Houthi officials, aid workers and residents told the AP.

Two Houthi officials said the rebels recruited several hundred children including as young as 10 over the past two months.

Those children have been deployed to front lines, as part of a buildup of forces taking place during a U.N.-brokered truce, which has held for more than two months, one official said.

The officials, both hardliners within the Houthi movement, said they see nothing wrong with the practice, arguing that boys from 10 or 12 are considered men.

"Those are not children. They are true men, who should defend their nation against the Saudi, American aggression, and defend the Islamic nation," one of them said. The two spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid frictions with others among the Houthis.

The Houthis have used what they call "summer camps" to disseminate their religious ideology and to recruit boys to fight.

Such camps take place in schools and mosques around the Houthi-held part of Yemen, which encompasses the north and...