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Saudi airstrikes on Yemen killed 1 in Ta’izz and a child in Hudaydah
6 Saudi airstrikes targeted Sarawih district in Ma’rib
Yemen: Aden, Then and Now
Saudi Arabia Conducts over 60 Airstrikes on Areas Close to Bab Al-Mandab Strait
Saudi bombers hit the regions close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait more than 60 times over the past 12 hours after the kingdom’s army sustained heavy defeats and casualties in its week-long attacks on the army and popular forces’ positions in the coastal region.
“The Saudi warplanes hit al-Mokha and Zabab towns and the coastline in different areas next to Bab al-Mandab over the past hours,” an informed Yemeni military official told FNA.
Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is located in the Red Sea and adjacent to Yemen’s Ta’iz province, is of highly strategic importance.
The Saudi-led forces have been trying hard to seize the regions near Bab al-Mandab Strait over the past week, but to no avail due to the resistance of the Yemeni forces.
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 198 days now to restore power to Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 6,566 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.
Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.
Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.
Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition raided positions of the
Iran-backed Shiite insurgents east of the rebel-held capital Friday,
military sources said.
The air strikes targeted Huthi rebels in
the west of Marib province, amid ongoing clashes between them and forces
loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
Pro-Hadi fighters
backed by Gulf forces have been pushing to regain control of Marib
province in an apparent bid to advance on Sanaa.
They set their
sights on Marib after pushing the rebels out of five southern provinces,
including the port city of Aden to which the government returned last
month after six months in exile.
Raids also targeted rebels in Hodeida in western Yemen, other military sources said.
On Friday evening, coalition warplanes struck rebel arms depots on the Nahdain hill south of Sanaa, witnesses said.
After they overran Sanaa unopposed in September 2014, the rebels
widened their control to several Yemeni provinces, advancing in March on
Aden where Hadi had taken refuge before fleeing to Riyadh.
The coalition then launched a fierce air campaign against them and allies loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The coalition has come under mounting criticism over the civilian death toll in its campaign.
On
Thursday, the UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs,
Stephen O’Brien, called for a swift investigation of a suspected deadly
air strike on a wedding in Dhamar province the day before.
Medical sources said at least 28 people were killed, while the rebel-controlled Saba news agency said 51 died.