Yesterday, Arab air strikes hit targets throughout northern Yemen, local officials said, as the front lines approach Houthi strongholds there.
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In Hadramawt, Yemen’s largest province, where al-Qaida has been consolidating its control, suspected al-Qaida militants attacked a police checkpoint, killing a soldier and wounding others, security and tribal officials said.
The United Nations says the war has killed almost 4,500 people, including many civilians.
The Saudi-led coalition then formed against the rebels, whom it accuses Iran of supporting militarily.
Saba news agency, which is run by the Houthi movement, said the air raids late on Thursday targeted Taiz’s palace and the Sala neighborhood, which has a dense Houhti population.
On Thursday, a bomb attack outside the governor’s office in the southern city of Aden killed at least four people and wounded 10 others, according to officials.
Meanwhile, in the port city of Aden, witnesses on the Gold Mohur beach said that on Wednesday a masked group of armed men led six men in orange jumpsuits with their hands tied behind their backs on to a boat that was subsequently blown up.
Since pro-government forces recaptured the city from Shiite Huthi rebels last month, several planes carrying humanitarian aid have landed at Aden’s repaired worldwide airport, which had been the scene of heavy clashes.
“If the warring parties continue to carry out heavy shelling and air strikes, more people will die”, Doctors Without Borders said in a statement.
According to the Amnesty global, Saudi Arabia and its allies have killed at least 2,000 civilians during their air strikes against the Houthis since March.
“No nation, no society, can afford to lose its children to conflict – whether from direct attacks, from malnutrition, from disease, from lack of education, or from the traumas of the horrors they witness”, Unicef said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia has been bombarding the Houthis in Yemen since late March in a bid to restore exiled President Hadi to power.
“If we do not receive the additional access that is required to meet the needs of those who are affected by this ongoing conflict, if we cannot support the commercial markets by ensuring that the ports are open and providing food to ensure that those who have resources can buy the food that is necessary, and if we do not see increased donor support, we are facing the flawless storm in Yemen”, she said. Residents say al Qaeda fighters have also maintained a presence in the area.
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A UN World Food Programme ship was in the port, which is on the country’s west coast, when it was hit by airstrikes on Tuesday night.
