Saudi-led air strikes kill 21despite ‘UN truce’
BAGHDAD: Iraq received a first batch of F-16 fighter jets from the US yesterday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office said.
Iraq ordered 36 of the $65 million (R812m) Lockheed Martin planes, but initial deliveries were delayed because of security concerns after Islamic State militants overran large areas of of the country last year.
Four jets landed at the Balad air base north of Baghdad shortly after noon, an officer in the Iraqi air force said
The delivery came as Iraqi authorities announced the start of a military operation to drive IS from the province of Anbar, west of Baghdad. SANAA: At least 21 civilians were killed and 45 others wounded when Saudi-led warplanes struck a residential neighbourhood in Yemen’s capital Sanaa early yesterday, witnesses and medics said, despite a humanitarian truce.
The warplanes destroyed nine houses in Sawan area, where most of the residents are poor, witnesses said.
Medics at the scene told Xinhua that “21 dead bodies, mostly women and children, were pulled from under the rubble; while 45 others were wounded and moved to hospitals”.
Rescue teams have been working for hours after the pre-dawn raid to search for survivors.
“It should not target the innocent people,” said a resident named Ibrahim. Residents in Sawan area said there was no presence of Shia Houthi fighters or weapons stores.
Saudi-led coalition forces continued air strikes against the Houthis yesterday, as ground fighting between Houthi and progovernment fighters raged across the country despite a UN-brokered humanitarian ceasefire.
It is the third day of the temporary truce that took effect on Friday and is due to last through the end of Muslim holy month of Ramadaan on July 17.
The UN said Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon had received assurances from Houthis, the General People’s Congress, the former ruling party led by ex-president Ali Abdullash Saleh who supported the Houthis, and other parties that “the pause would be fully respected and that there would be no violations from any combatants under their control”.
However, the truce, aimed at facilitating aid deliveries to more than 21 million people in Yemen, was breached by all warring parties.
The fresh airstrikes hit the Houthi group in Sanaa, as well as the provinces of Saada, Amran, Marib, al-Jouf, Ibb and Taiz, security sources said.
Houthi media reported that several civilians were killed or injured.
In the southern port city of Aden, the progovernment fighters have tightened control over the western entry.