At least 16 members of the extended family of a Yemeni mosque imam were killed on Wednesday in an air strike on their family home in northern Yemen by the Saudi-led Arab coalition, a Reuters witness, a medic and a resident said. “It’s up to Iran to mend its behavior”, he added.
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Bahram Qassemi was reacting to comments by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir who accused Tehran on Wednesday of “supplying weapons to Houthis” in Yemen and “destabilizing Arab countries”. Since 2002, the USA has been conducting counterterror strikes and operations against radical militants as part of US national security policy.
As the main stronghold of Houthis, Saada province is the starting point from where the Houthi militias advanced and seized control of the capital Sanaa in 2014, forcing the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.
Yemeni security and medical officials say the death toll in Monday’s suicide bombing by the Islamic State group in the southern city of Aden has risen to 72.
A Saudi-led, USA -backed coalition has conducted an extensive air campaign against the Houthis since March 2015, pushing them out of southern Yemen, but failing so far to dislodge them from the capital Sanaa and the rest of the north.
The fighting has allowed al-Qaida and an IS affiliate to expand their reach, particularly in the country’s south.
On Tuesday, the Yemeni army fired a ballistic missile at the Abha airport in the Saudi region of Asir.
The conflict has displaced three million Yemenis and forced 200,000 to seek refuge overseas.
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According to the United Nations, almost 10,000 Yemenis, including 4,000 women and children, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign.
