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SANAA, Yemen – An air raid by a Saudi coalition on a fruit and vegetable market near the port of Hodeida on the tip of Yemen has killed at least 21 civilians, including children, a US aid agency said Thursday.
Wednesday's attack took place as the coalition feared a new assault by the coalition against Hodeida, a vital city for the delivery of international aid to Yemen, ravaged by a brutal war that lasted three and a half years between the alliance led by the Saudis and Shite rebels, the Houthis.
The coalition tried to remove Hodeida from Iran-backed rebels, but the campaign, like the rest of the war in Yemen, was deadlocked.
The air strike, which hit a vegetable packing plant in the open-air market in Bayt el-Faqih just south of Hodeida, also injured 10 people. The first reports report five deaths but the number of deaths has gradually increased during the night.
Abdullah Shahawi, director of Bayt el-Faqih Hospital, said all the victims were civilians and that at least two children were among the dead.
In the capital, Saana, the rebel-controlled Al Masirah TV channel, reported a smaller number of casualties, reporting at least 20 dead and 10 wounded. The different numbers of dead could not be solved immediately.
Also on Wednesday, three other people were killed and six others injured when three vehicles were hit by vehicles on the road on July 7 in the district of Al Hali, in the province of Hodeida, said Thursday in a statement the Bureau coordinating the humanitarian affairs of the United Nations.
"Civilians are paying a heavy price because of this conflict," said Lise Grande, United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Yemen. "This is the third time this month that fighting has claimed many lives in Hodeida."
A video footage obtained by the Associated Press showed the consequences of the strike, with body parts scattered on the market and coffins lined up at the hospital. The video could not be confirmed independently, but it corresponds to events reported by the access point. A spokesman for the coalition led by Saudi Arabia has not responded to several phone calls and messages seeking comment.
Journalists were prevented from visiting rebel-held areas in Hodeida, including Wednesday's airstrike. Yemeni security officials confirmed the strike but did not know what the target was.
It is not uncommon for coalition planes to strike civilians and marriages, funerals, homes and hospitals have already been bombed. In August, an air strike hit a bus carrying children while they were going to school in northern Yemen, killing more than 40 people.
The growing number of civilian casualties in the war prompted human rights groups to call for the suspension of US and European arms sales worth billions of dollars. dollars, to Saudi Arabia, which has been one of the world's largest arms buyers for decades.
Save the Children said Thursday that the cost of staple foods such as flour, rice, salt, sugar and cooking oil has nearly doubled since the conflict began in March 2015. In Yemen, the average income was halved, falling to 3.39 USD a day. The organization also said that 52% of the population lived below the international poverty line, compared to 30% in 2014.
"The economic collapse is the silent assassin of Yemen; many Yemenis are struggling to survive, "said Tamer Kirolos, group director in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia and its powerful young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who led the coalition campaign in Yemen, were outraged by the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi earlier this month in the Saudi consulate in Turkey. The assassination of Kashoggi also sparked a widespread condemnation of the Crown Prince and tainted his international reputation after Turkish news claimed that members of his entourage were involved in the murder.
The Saudi-led coalition has recently sent reinforcements to the west coast of Yemen, which many fear as an intensified battle for Hodeida.
The city's port literally keeps millions of starving Yemenis alive, serving as a point of entry for 70 percent of food imports and international aid. An extended Hodeida siege by the coalition could cut that lifeline.
Yemeni officials said on Wednesday that reinforcements have arrived in tanks and armored vehicles provided by the United Arab Emirates, a key member of the coalition. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to talk to reporters.
The assault on Hodeida, held by the rebels, began in June, then stopped in August when the UN envoy for Yemen attempted to prepare peace talks, the first in two years. This attempt collapsed and the offensive resumed in mid-September. The fighting in Hodeida has already killed hundreds of civilians and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
Citing humanitarian partners, the US aid agency said more than 170 people had been killed, at least 1,700 injured and more than 570,000 people had been forced to flee their homes in Hodeida province since then. intensification of fighting in June.
About 10,000 people have been killed so far and the conflict has devastated Yemen and pushed it to the brink of starvation. The war also left about two-thirds of Yemen's 27 million people dependent on aid and more than 8 million people are at risk of starvation.
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Magdy brought back from Cairo.
