Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen intensify as rebels fire back
AP, Sanaa :
Yemeni security officials say the Saudi-led coalition has intensified airstrikes on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, targeting Shiite rebels known as Houthis.
The officials said Wednesday the airstrikes targeted rebel positions in Sanaa, including those at the presidential palace and the airport. They say at least 20 Houthis have been killed in the strikes since Tuesday. The officials, who are independent in the conflict that has torn Yemen apart, spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Meanwhile, tribal officials in the Houthi stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia, say rebels have been launching rockets into Saudi Arabia.
They say this has stepped up since a truce ended last Saturday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to reporters.
Geneva report adds: At least 81 civilians were killed in Yemen last month, most of them in Saudi-led airstrikes, despite a short-lived and repeatedly violated ceasefire, the United Nations said Tuesday. “During the month of December, at least 62 civilians were reported to have been killed by airstrikes attributed to the coalition forces,” Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN human rights agency, told reporters.
That number, he pointed out, was more than double the 29 civilians reported killed in such strikes a month earlier.
The number of civilians killed by the Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies was meanwhile cut by two thirds to at least 11 in December from 32 a month earlier, Colville said.
The remaining eight civilian deaths last month have not yet been conclusively attributed to either side, he told AFP.
The dramatic increase in the number of civilians killed in airstrikes came despite a ceasefire declared on December 15, at the same time as UN-backed peace talks between the warring sides began in Switzerland.
But the talks ended five days later with no major breakthrough, and the ceasefire collapsed on January 2 after being violated on a daily basis. Colville pointed out that UN rights agency staff had begun receiving reports of violations “within minutes of the ceasefire beginning.”
The ceasefire certainly did little to shield civilians.
On December 18, he pointed out, 18 civilians were allegedly killed when two airstrikes hit a civilian house in Wadi Kena, in Saada, and two days later, six civilians, including three children, were killed in strikes on a residential neighbourhood in Al Hudayhda City.
Yemeni security officials say the Saudi-led coalition has intensified airstrikes on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, targeting Shiite rebels known as Houthis.
The officials said Wednesday the airstrikes targeted rebel positions in Sanaa, including those at the presidential palace and the airport. They say at least 20 Houthis have been killed in the strikes since Tuesday. The officials, who are independent in the conflict that has torn Yemen apart, spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Meanwhile, tribal officials in the Houthi stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia, say rebels have been launching rockets into Saudi Arabia.
They say this has stepped up since a truce ended last Saturday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to reporters.
Geneva report adds: At least 81 civilians were killed in Yemen last month, most of them in Saudi-led airstrikes, despite a short-lived and repeatedly violated ceasefire, the United Nations said Tuesday. “During the month of December, at least 62 civilians were reported to have been killed by airstrikes attributed to the coalition forces,” Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN human rights agency, told reporters.
That number, he pointed out, was more than double the 29 civilians reported killed in such strikes a month earlier.
The number of civilians killed by the Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies was meanwhile cut by two thirds to at least 11 in December from 32 a month earlier, Colville said.
The remaining eight civilian deaths last month have not yet been conclusively attributed to either side, he told AFP.
The dramatic increase in the number of civilians killed in airstrikes came despite a ceasefire declared on December 15, at the same time as UN-backed peace talks between the warring sides began in Switzerland.
But the talks ended five days later with no major breakthrough, and the ceasefire collapsed on January 2 after being violated on a daily basis. Colville pointed out that UN rights agency staff had begun receiving reports of violations “within minutes of the ceasefire beginning.”
The ceasefire certainly did little to shield civilians.
On December 18, he pointed out, 18 civilians were allegedly killed when two airstrikes hit a civilian house in Wadi Kena, in Saada, and two days later, six civilians, including three children, were killed in strikes on a residential neighbourhood in Al Hudayhda City.
