News / Yemen

Fresh Saudi strike leaves four civilians dead, nearly dozen injured in Yemen

Monday, 20 May 2019 2:55 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 23 May 2019 3:02 PM ]

At least four civilians have been killed when Saudi military aircraft carried out an airstrike on Yemen’s northwestern province of Hajjah as the Riyadh regime presses ahead with its bombardment campaign against its southern neighbor.

Saudi fighter jets conducted the aerial assault against a vehicle as it was traveling along a road in the Mustaba district of the province on Monday afternoon, leaving four people dead and eleven others injured, unnamed local sources told Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network.

Earlier in the day, two people lost their lives and a child girl sustained injuries when Saudi-backed militiamen loyal to Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi shelled a house in the Qa'atabah district of the southwestern Yemeni province of Dhale.

The development came only a few hours after Yemeni soldiers and allied fighters from Popular Committees struck a battle tank belonging to Saudi-paid militiamen in the same Yemeni district, killing scores of the mercenaries in the process.

Yemeni soldiers loyal to the Houthi Ansarullah movement line up during a graduation ceremony for a new batch of cadets in the northwestern city of Sa’ada on April 20, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

Yemeni troops and their allies have launched a major offensive to retake the town of Qa'atabah from the grip of Saudi-sponsored forces.

Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah fighters advance in Qa'atabah town of Yemen’s southwestern province of Dhale on May 20, 2019. (Photo by Yemen’s Operations Command Center)

A Yemeni military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the operation has led in the recapture of more than 70 percent of the town, destruction of dozens of cars and armored vehicles belonging to Saudi mercenaries as well as deaths and injuries of more than 150 militiamen.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

Yemenis visit a cemetery in the capital Sana’a on April 5, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the Saudi-led war has claimed the lives of over 60,000 Yemenis since January 2016.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk