Saudi keeps up airstrikes – killing 60
SAUDI-led air strikes near the Yemeni capital of Sanaa have hit a hotel, killing an estimated 60 people and injuring 13, Yemeni officials have said.
Dozens of Shia Houthi rebels as well as civilians were among the dead, officials told AP on Wednesday on condition of anonymity.
The two-storey hotel in Arhab, 35km north of Sanaa, was destroyed in the attack.
Saudi Arabia and its regional partners have used Iran’s influence over Yemen’s Houthi rebels to justify an extensive bombing campaign since March 2015.
The air strikes, carried out for the exiled internationally recognised Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, have been criticised for causing loss of civilian life. DESTRUCTION: The entry point for one of the bombs.
The bombing of a funeral gathering mistaken for a military target killed 140 people in October.
International aid agencies released a report last week that said Yemen had more air strikes in the first half of this year than in all of last year, increasing the number of civilian deaths and forcing more people to flee.
Western governments sell arms to Saudi Arabia for use in the war.
The conflict has left 70% of the country’s 27 million people reliant on some form of aid – 14.5 million people don’t have regular access to clean water, 7.3 million live on the brink of famine and more than 500,000 have been infected by the worst cholera outbreak in modern history.
Saudi blockades of airspace and ports have been blamed for creating the humanitarian crisis and adding to the misery by holding up desperately needed food, medicine and other supplies from entering the country.
Air strikes have also been known to hit hospitals and other vital civilian infrastructure.