Yemenis bury women, children killed in Saudi airstrike

Hundreds of mourners have taken part in the funeral of 17 women and children killed in a Saudi airstrike in Yemen's northwestern province of Hajjah earlier this week.

Mourners carried wooden coffins, painted green, to the city's Grand Mosque for prayers in Yemen's capital city of Sana'a on Thursday.

Participants chanted slogans denouncing "the Saudi aggression" and the United States and Israel collusion with the Saudi invaders.

Saudi airstrikes leveled five residential houses on Sunday, killing 10 women, 12 children and wounding another 30 people, nearly half of which were under 18.

Saudi warplanes kill nearly two dozen women in Yemen

Saudi warplanes reportedly targeted ambulances in the strikes.

Local sources claim 11 victims of the attack were from the same family.

Saudi warplanes also targeted ambulances, preventing rescue teams from accessing the area.

Many of those killed or wounded were transported to Sana'a. 

On Wednesday, a mass women's rally also took place in the capital denouncing the Saudi attack.

PressTV-Women rally in Yemen’s Sana’a to condemn Saudi strikes

Women rally in Yemen’s Sana’a to condemn the killing of 20 women and a child in Saudi-led strikes in the northern province of Hajjah.

Deteriorating humanitarian situation

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) issued a statement denouncing the attack on Wednesday.

The organization also underlined what it described as a deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Hajjah province.

“The violence has further deteriorated the health system and sanitation services in the area, increasing the risk of cholera/acute watery diarrhea spreading. Since January, 6,322 suspected cases have already been reported," read the statement.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) also said that more than 203,000 people have been forced from their homes as fighting continues in Hajjah, nearly doubling the total number of displaced people in the province to 420,000.

“Whilst the eyes of the world are on Hudaydah, air strikes and shells continue to rain down on civilians in other parts of Yemen, killing with impunity,” said NRC’s East Africa and Yemen Regional Director Nigel Tricks.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015 with the goal of bringing the government of Saudi-allied former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The Saudi regime consequently launched a campaign seeking to capture Yemen's western lifeline port city of Hudaydah on June 2018 but failed after facing strong resistance from Yemeni forces.

Despite a truce agreement to end the major fighting in the city, the deal has been constantly breached by the Saudis.

The war has so far taken a heavy toll on the Yemen’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories.

According to a report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis.

On Wednesday, the US Senate passed a resolution against US military support for the Saudi campaign.

PressTV-Senate urges Trump to end support for Yemen war

The Senate urges the Trump administration to halt the US engagement in the Saudi-led war on Yemen.

The resolution has been described as a response to Riyadh’s onslaught on Yemen along with the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

US Senator Bernie Sanders, a co-sponsor of the text, has called the war on Yemen a humanitarian and strategic disaster

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