Saudi Arabia-led coalition carries out fresh airstrikes in Yemen, killing five including three children  

The airstrikes carried out this week constitute a break in the larger pattern of relative peace in Yemen, months after the collapse of a formal UN-led ceasefire in October last year

January 25, 2023 by Peoples Dispatch
Saudi coalition airstrikes in Yemen
(Photo: Al-Masirah)

At least three children and an adult were killed in an air raid by the Saudi-led coalition in a village in Yemen’s Hodeidah province on Tuesday, January 24, Yemen’s Al-Masirah TV reported. It also reported that bombs were dropped in Hays and al-Jabalyah districts of Hodeidah province by spy drones.

According to Al-Masirah, another Saudi-led airstrike killed one Yemeni citizen and wounded two others in Yemen’s Sa’adah province on Wednesday. 

The repeated aggression by the Saudi-led coalition in Houthi controlled areas of Yemen haw been criticized by the local administration in Hodeidah as a “clear evidence proving to the world the lack of seriousness of the coalition to stop its absurd and criminal aggression and lift the siege imposed on the country for more than 8 years.”  

The Sanaa-based Houthi government issued a statement condemning the repeated attacks by the Saudi-led coalition. It also questioned Saudi Arabia’s practice of denying such attacks and asked for the “formation of an impartial international commission to investigate all crimes, and to bring the perpetrators to international justice.”   

The statement also accused the US of being part of the Saudi-led coalition, and responsible for all the death and destruction in Yemen. The government in Sanaa also blamed the UN for being hypocritical for failing to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its crimes.  

The airstrikes carried out this week constitute a break in the larger pattern of relative peace in Yemen, months after the collapse of a formal UN-led ceasefire in October last year. There were reports earlier this month that both the Houthis and Saudi-backed groups in the country had initiated “backchannel” talks to chalk out a longer ceasefire and hopefully to finally achieve the end of the war.  

Despite a reported decline in aggression last year, according to UN reports, more than 3,000 Yemenis were either injured or killed in airstrikes in 2022 alone. The full number of casualties due to fighting over eight years of war stands close to 50,000, with over 4,000 of them being children. Millions of people in the country have also been displaced due to the war. 

According to the UN, the war and the Saudi-led blockade of the country have been responsible for causing the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis” in Yemen since 2015.