Fresh Saudi Airstrikes Claim Lives of Two Dozen Civilians in Western Yemen

TEHRAN – Saudi warplanes conducted fresh air raids on the western Yemeni province of Amran, killing and injuring nearly two dozen civilians there.

Saudi jets pounded a residential area in the province at 3:00 am, killing and injuring nearly 24 people, including an entire family of eight people, Yemen’s al-Masirah reported on Monday, according to Tasnim News agency.

The report added that rescue and search operation are underway in the area to find those trapped under the rubble.

 Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

Over 14,000 Yemenis, including thousands of women and children, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign.

Iran urges intl. action to halt Saudi offensive in Yemen

Iran has urged the international community to intervene and stop the Saudi war on Yemen, where an ongoing offensive against the Mediterranean port of Hudaydah has put the country on the brink of famine. 

According to Press TV, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi told reporters in Tehran Monday that Iran is in contact with the regional and European governments in order to find a way to send relief aid and other humanitarian assistance to Yemen.

“The international community should understand the Yemeni people’s difficult conditions and the international organizations and the UN should make enough effort to end the aggression against the oppressed Yemeni people,” he said.

Hudaydah is a lifeline for the majority of Yemen’s population because it is where most of the international humanitarian aid arrives for distribution, including among about eight million people who are at risk of starvation.

The Saudi war and its blockade have left 22 million people in need of humanitarian aid. It has created the world’s largest food emergency and led to a cholera outbreak that is thought to have killed 2,290 people.

Qassemi said Iran has been trying “to relay the voice of the aggrieved people and the victims of the tragedy of the Saudi aggression” to the world and “looking for a mechanism to stop the aggression and provide for possible shipment of humanitarian aid” to Yemen.   

Saudi Arabia and its allies have been attacking Yemen since 2015. The invasion, which seeks to restore power to Yemen’s former Saudi-backed regime, has killed and injured more than 600,000 people, according to Yemen’s Health Ministry.

H.M