Saudi warplanes stage a new round of airstrikes against Yemen’s capital as the kingdom intensifies its attacks on its impoverished southern neighbor.
Targeting the heart of Sana’a on Thursday night, the aircraft strafed residential areas and a hospital, which resulted in the injury of at least one civilian, Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported.
Claiming it only hits “legitimate” military targets, Riyadh has been targeting the city’s infrastructure, including bridges and a prison.
Earlier this week, AFP reported that Saudi-led airstrikes were preventing delivery of United Nations-provided relief supplies to the lifeline airport that lies in the city. “The airport is no longer able to receive aircraft operated by the United Nations or international humanitarian organizations,” an airport official told the agency, calling on the world body to secure a halt to the raids.
Leading several of its allies, the kingdom launched a war against the Arab world’s already poorest nation in March 2015. The war has been seeking to restore power in Yemen to the country’s former Riyadh-allied officials.
Last month, a United Nations Development Programme report said the war would have claimed 377,000 lives by the end of the year through both direct and indirect impacts.
Earlier on Thursday, the kingdom carried out scores of airstrikes against other Yemeni provinces, in particular the strategic west-central province of Ma’rib, where Yemeni forces have been successfully pushing back against the Saudi-led aggression.
At least one civilian was killed during airstrikes targeting the western province of al-Hudaydah, where the invading coalition is supposed to be observing a ceasefire.