Saudi-Led Coalition Launches Fiercest Attacks on Yemen
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – War planes from a Saudi-led military alliance bombed targets throughout Yemen's capital Sana’a on Thursday, in what witnesses described as the fiercest series of attacks on the city in over five months of war.
The raids hit the civilian’s houses and military bases, as explosions and wailing ambulance sirens forced a sleepless night on the city's nearly 2 million shell-shocked residents.
"The sick people fled the hospital in terror," an official at a private hospital said. "They were afraid the building would collapse from the non-stop bombing of the army bases nearby."
There were no immediate reports of casualties, a day after medics said the bombing killed six civilians in the city, Reuters reported.
The coalition battling Yemen’s Houthi movement appears to be escalating its ground offensive in the Arab country, amassing troops in an oil-rich region that is within striking distance of the country’s capital, The Washington Post reported.
Hundreds of soldiers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab countries have been deployed in recent weeks to participate in coalition operations in Ma’rib province, about 75 miles east of Sana’a, the capital, according local fighters and residents.
The troop buildup apparently accelerated after a Yemeni Army’s missile strike in Ma’rib last week killed 60 troops from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. It was the single deadliest day for the coalition, dealing a blow to ground forces that have been pounding the impoverished country for more than 5 months.
Saudi Arabia began a military campaign against Yemen on March 26 – without a UN mandate – in an attempt to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to restore power to fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.