UAE cmdr., Blackwater mercenary hit in Yemen: Report

A Blackwater mercenary of French nationality has been killed and a senior UAE military commander injured in an attack by Yemeni forces in Ta’izz Province, the al-Masira television says.

Yemeni forces fired rockets at their vehicle in the al-Sanama district, killing four occupants, the report said. Some Yemeni reports said the Emirati commander had been killed.  

Saudi warplanes, meanwhile, carried out fresh airstrikes against Sana'a after dozens of raids in what residents described as the heaviest aerial attacks yet in nine months of aggression. 

The neighborhoods of Tabet Zahban and al-Nahdin were targeted in the new attacks.

The al-Mukha and Warazan districts in Ta’izz also came under the Saudi aerial bombings in which an unspecified number of civilians were killed or injured. 

WHO urges access in Ta’izz

The World Health Organization (WHO) called for access to the provincial capital of Ta’izz to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians amid heavy Saudi airstrikes and shelling by pro-Riyadh forces. 

The organization said in a statement that all hospitals had been forced to close some services and were overwhelmed with wounded patients.

Five trucks carrying health supplies "urgently needed to be delivered to hospitals" have been prevented from entering the city since December 14, 2015, it said.

More than 250,000 people in Ta'izz have been living under “virtual siege” since November, WHO said. It called on all parties to the conflict to allow the secure movement and delivery of medical and humanitarian supplies.

“The situation is deteriorating and the needs are huge,” Ahmed Shadoul, WHO representative in Yemen, told Reuters. 

Army gains

Separately, Yemen's army forces and their allies retook the al-Thaqaleen area of Ta’izz Province, and an area in the city of Midi in Hajjah Province after clashes with militants loyal to fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

In Ma'rib Province, at least 20 mercenaries were killed and several others captured on Friday as their push into Hailan in the Sarwah district was repelled. 

Two Saudi soldiers were killed in al-Tuwal in the southwestern province of Jizan in retaliatory attacks by Yemeni forces.

Saudi Arabia began military strikes against Yemen on March 26, 2015. The airstrikes are supposedly meant to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to Hadi.

More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 injured since the Saudi airstrikes began in late March.

The Yemeni army and Popular Committees are fighting back the Saudis and their mercenaries.

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