Airstrike Kills at Least 25 Near Yemen’s Capital Sanaa, Houthi Health Officials Say

A Yemen airstrike in Sanaa killed at least 25 people and wounded 30 others on Saturday, after airstrikes hit homes in the village of al-Shariya in the Bani Hashish district near the Yemeni capital, a spokesman for the Houthi-run Health Ministry said. Most of those killed and wounded were women and children.

FAKTA

• Death toll: At least 25 people killed and 30 wounded, according to the Houthi-run Health Ministry. The toll was first reported as 22 and later raised to 25.
• Location: Homes in the village of al-Shariya, in the Bani Hashish district on the outskirts of Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.
• Damage: Five houses were destroyed, and rescue teams were searching the rubble for people trapped underneath.
• Blame: Health Ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out the strikes. Saudi Arabia has not commented, and The Associated Press said it could not independently verify the claims.
• Media casualty: A cameraman for the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah television channel was among the injured.
• Wider toll: The strike came a day after an airstrike on a market in southern Yemen killed at least 30 people, according to Houthi officials.

Yemen airstrike Sanaa: homes hit in al-Shariya

Speaking to The Associated Press, Anees Alasbahi said the strikes hit several homes in al-Shariya on Saturday and that subsequent strikes targeted emergency responders. Footage from Houthi-run Al Masirah television showed staff carrying the bodies of young children from ambulances bringing casualties to a local hospital, and the rubble of destroyed houses with dust filling the air.

The Houthi-controlled news agency Saba reported renewed strikes against houses and paramedics in the same area, but gave no casualty figures for those strikes. There was no comment from the Saudi-led coalition, which has been fighting the Houthi rebels in Yemen for more than a decade. Saudi Arabia backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government.

Second deadly strike in two days

The attack came a day after an airstrike hit a market in al-Waziyah district in the south-western province of Taiz on Friday, killing at least 30 people and wounding eight others, according to Houthi officials. The Houthis and Yemen’s Saudi-backed military each blamed the other for that strike, and The Associated Press said it could not independently verify either account.

Taken together, the two strikes have killed at least 55 people in two days, according to the figures reported by the Houthi authorities. Yemeni government officials have blamed the Houthis for the mounting civilian casualties.

Yemen’s war flares again

The toll reflects the rapid worsening of Yemen’s civil war, in which a years-long truce fell apart over the summer. Fighting has escalated between the Iranian-backed Houthis, who control Sanaa and the north and west of the country, and their Saudi-backed opponents based in the south and east.

Earlier on Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted a cruise missile fired by the Houthis towards the Saudi capital, Riyadh. No damage or casualties were reported. In recent months, the Houthis have stepped up attacks on neighbouring Saudi Arabia, with airports and oil facilities among the targets.

Read more on the Yemen airstrike in Sanaa on Watan News.