Saudi-Led Coalition Escalates Its Crimes Against Yemenis as Peace Talks Draw Near

M.A.

As Yemen awaits for the upcoming negotiations between the warring parties in early December, the Saudi-led coalition continues and commits various crimes all over Yemen, in a sign of showing the rejection of peace and to hinder any peace talks that could end the war that has triggered the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world since 100 years.

• Saada governorate, north of Yemen

An elderly woman lost her life while a girl was injured on Thursday after an airstrike conducted by the US-backed Saudi coalition joint air force in the northern Yemeni province of Saada.

The elderly woman died of her wounds that she got from a Saudi aerial raid, which targeted Shaaban district in the bordering region of Razih.

In addition, a two-year-old girl was injured after coalition raids targeted during mid-night, the Nashour area.

In the same context, the Saudi army launched intensive missile bombardment on residential areas in the district of al-Zaher, causing material damage to the property of the citizens, while coalition warplanes launched an airstrike on a citizen’s car that was traveling on the main road within the west of the district of Haidan in the same governorate.

The aggressive coalition continues with the intensification of raids and land bombardment on the province of Saada by targeting citizens and various vital installations in the province.

On Friday, villages were exposed to a rocket attack artillery shelling in Saada on Friday, causing severe damage to homes and property.

According to a local source from the northern province, the Saudi militia targeted with rockets and artillery shells, residential areas in the bordering district of Razih, resulting in damage to property.

The source added that many livestock were killed during the Saudi bombardment within different areas in the district of Munebah bordering district.

The Saudi army also targeted with a series of raids several areas in Saada, where it has targeted in the past few hours residential areas in the bordering regions of Munebah, Razih, Shada and Baqm by dozens of rockets and artillery shells.

• Hodeidah province, West coast of Yemen

Last Thursday night, eight civilians, including two women, were wounded when a Saudi air strike targeted the home of a citizen in Karama village.

According to a local source from Hodeidah, quoting medical sources, two cases were subjected to serious injuries and their chances of survival are slim, noting that a third injured man died on Friday as a result of the critical wounds from the Saudi strike.

A few hours after the aforesaid crime, A civilian was killed and 5 others were wounded, including two women and a child, as a Saudi unmanned combat drone targeted 4 houses within the 24 neighborhood in the district of al-Mean’a

On Friday, a child was killed by Saudi mercenaries open fire as they randomly started shooting civilians in the area of al-Swaiq, Tuhita district.

Additionally, the Saudi-led military aircraft carried out a raid on the aforesaid district, nine others during nighttime on the al-Jabliah area.

It is worth mentioning that the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is holding a number of ships carrying goods near the bordering province of Jizan even though they got permits from the United Nations, according to a statement by the Yemeni Economic Commission.

The statement also pointed out that 4 million people in the coastal port city of Hodeidah are below the poverty line and on the verge of famine due to the aggressive policy followed by the Saudi-led coalition.

The Saudi war against Yemen was launched in March 2015, where it has killed more than 56,000 thousands of civilians, according to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization.

The war has resulted in the worst humanitarian crisis since world war II. The UN said the impoverished state is on the brink of famine, where more than 14 million people are facing possible starvation after nearly four years of war.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock made appeal during a press briefing after arriving in the Yemeni capital Sana’a on Thursday.

“I’d like to see a cessation of hostilities, especially around the key infrastructure, especially around Hudaydah,” Lowcock said

The UN official said the fighting has once again highlighted the ongoing humanitarian tragedy in the war-ravaged Arab country.

“I have come because I am very concerned about the humanitarian situation here, which has deteriorated since I was here last.”

The developments come as the UN peace envoy Martin Griffiths is hoping to bring warring factions to Sweden in the coming days for negotiations on ending the conflict.

Griffiths says that he has received “firm assurances” that the warring Yemeni parties would attend talks in the Swedish city of Stockholm.

The Saudi-backed side has, however, stepped up the raids aimed at seizing Hodeidah despite the peace efforts.

Ansar Allah has warned that the rise in Saudi assaults on Hodeidah could frustrate efforts by Griffiths to rekindle peace talks in Sweden next month.