20 killed as Saudi jets launch new airstrikes in Yemen

August 31, 2016 WORLD No Comments

A picture taken on August 9, 2016 shows smoke billowing behind buildings following an airstrike carried out by Saudi Arabia in the Yemeni capital Sana’a. (By AFP)

At least 20 people have lost their lives and many others sustained injuries in a number of Saudi airstrikes against residential neighborhoods across Yemen.

On Wednesday morning, Saudi military aircraft pounded al-Rawdah Village in the western-central Yemeni province of Sana’a in addition to an area close to a military academy in the capital, Sana’a, leaving four people dead and scores of others injured, Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported.

Sixteen people, mostly women and children, also lost their lives and a number of others were wounded when Saudi warplanes pounded houses in the Sahan district of Yemen’s northwestern mountainous province of Sa’ada.

Later in the day, Saudi jets launched an aerial attack against a gas station in the northwestern city of Hajjah, located 127 kilometers (78 miles) northwest of Sana’a. There were no immediate reports of casualties and the extent of damage caused.

A Houthi Ansarullah fighter walks past cooking gas cylinders in the yard of a gas station after it was hit by a Saudi airstrike in Sa’ada, Yemen, August 27, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

Separately, seven people were injured in an airstrike against a courthouse in Yemen’s northwestern province of Amran.

Saudi fighter jets also bombarded areas in the Nihm district of Sana’a Province as well as the Mustaba district in the northwestern Hajjah Province, though no reports of casualties were available.

The developments came a day after Saudi aircraft hit a parking lot in the Mafraq al-Shara’b district of the southwestern Yemeni province of Ta’izz, killing 16 civilians and injuring 10 others.

Yemenis look at a badly-damaged car following a Saudi airstrike against a parking lot in the Mafraq al-Shara’b district of the southwestern Yemeni province of Ta’izz, August 30, 2016.

Moreover, Yemeni soldiers, backed by fighters from Popular Committees, on Tuesday launched a barrage of rockets at two camps belonging to militiamen loyal to Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has resigned as Yemen’s president, in the Thaabat area and al-Wazi’iyah district of Ta’izz Province, leaving an unspecified number of pro-Riyadh gunmen dead and injured.

Saudi Arabia has pounded Yemen almost daily since March 2015. The United Nations (UN) announced on Tuesday that at least 10,000 people have been killed in the war so far.

Saudi Arabia launched the war to put Hadi, who is a Saudi ally, back in power.

The Houthi fighters and allied army units have been fighting back the Saudi invaders and their mercenaries.