Almost 100 people were killed on Monday in air strikes across Yemen, the Houthi-run state news agency reported, as a Saudi-led coalition stepped up attacks that are likely to weigh on efforts to broker a humanitarian truce.
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Also in Aden, rebels fired “12 rockets” at a port close to the oil refinery, sparking new fires, simply two days after flames have been put on the market following days of comparable assaults on the world, stated Aden Refinery Co. spokesman Naser al-Shayef. In March, a Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition began launching airstrikes against the rebels and their allies. The attack follows another airstrike on Sunday that killed at least 30 people at another market near Aden.
The conflict in Yemen has pit the Houthis and troops loyal to the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh against southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants and loyalists of exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi – who is now based in Saudi Arabia.
“We are now in consultations for guarantees to ensure the success of the truce”, Hadi spokesman Rajeh Badi told Reuters.
The raids were an attempt to make the talks with the United Nations fail, she said, adding that several employees and others were killed.
Badi said a sought-after “humanitarian pause” would last till the end of the three-day Eid, expected to start on July 17.
Both the Houthis and the Yemeni government-in-exile have signalled a readiness to observe such a truce. Last Wednesday, it declared its highest-level humanitarian emergency in the country, where over 80 percent of the population needs assistance.
Saleh retains the loyalty of major units of the Yemeni military and is an ally of the Houthis.
“They destroy our people for not any reason”, said Kakalla, asking sardonically, “Is this a military site?”
It is unclear how numerous dead were were civilians or Houthi rebels who the coalition planes have been targeting.
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“It is unacceptable that airstrikes take place in highly concentrated civilian areas where people are gathering and going about their daily lives, especially at a time such as Ramadan”, said MSF head of mission in Yemen, Colette Gadenne.
