Yemen: 9 civilians killed in Saudi coalition airstrike

By Murat al-Arifi and Ali Oweida

SANAA

At least nine civilians were “mistakenly” killed on Tuesday and another 11 wounded in an air raid by the Saudi-led coalition in western Yemen’s Hudaydah province, a local military source said.

The coalition’s fighter jets struck a bus carrying displaced people near a checkpoint for Yemen’s Houthi militia in Mati in Al-Jarrahi directorate, said the source, who spoke to Anadolu Agency anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to media.

The target was the Houthis at the checkpoint, the source added.

No immediate statement has been issued yet by the coalition over the incident.

Last week, Yemeni government forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition captured Al-Hudaydah’s international airport following clashes with Houthi militia.

Impoverished Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies -- who accuse the Houthis of serving as proxies for Shia Iran -- launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

The following year, UN-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait failed to end the destructive conflict.

The violence has devastated Yemen’s infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation as “one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times”.