Saudi Airstrike on Hudaydah Kills 20 Yemeni Civilians

A Saudi airstrike has claimed the lives of at least 20 Yemeni civilians and 10 others sustained injuries in province of Hudaydah as the regime in Riyadh continues its atrocious campaign against its crisis-hit southern neighbor, Press TV reported.

According to Yemen’s al-Masirah television network, the casualties were caused after Saudi warplanes targeted a group of farmers in a vegetables market in Masoudi area of Bayt al-Faqih district of the western province on Wednesday.

The latest aerial assault came after Saudi fighter jets struck a car as it was travelling along a road in Bani Hassan area of the Abs district in Hajjah province on Sunday afternoon, leaving four people dead and another injured.

 On October 13, the Saudi planes targeted two buses that were carrying civilians fleeing the port city of Hudaydah, killing at least 17 civilians and wounding 20 others.

Hudaydah has become a flashpoint of the war being waged by Riyadh and its allies against the Arab world’s poorest nation.

The offensive has raised the prospect that the nation could be tipped over the edge of famine as the port city in the Mediterranean takes in the bulk of Yemen’s vital imports.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock has recently said  the war on Yemen has left as many as 8.4 million people in the Arab world’s already poorest nation in need of urgent food aid.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi  back to power and crushing the country’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The Legal Center for Rights and Developments in Yemen, in a statement released on October 15, announced that the ongoing Saudi-led military campaign against the impoverished and conflict-plagued Arab country  has resulted in the death of 15,185 civilians, including 3,527 children and 2,277 women.

A total of 23,822 civilians, among them 3,526 children and 2,587 women, have also sustained injuries, and are currently suffering from the lack of medicine, medical supplies and poor treatment due to the crippling Saudi siege.

The center further noted that the Saudi military aggression has also caused the death of nearly 2,200 Yemenis from cholera.

It highlighted that aerial assaults being conducted by the Saudi-led alliance have resulted in the destruction of 15 airports and 14 ports, and damaged 2,559 roads and bridges in addition to 781 water storage facilities, 191 power stations and 426 telecommunications towers.

H.M