Rebels kill 12 more civilians, including a mother and her four children near Taez city
Attacks by Houthi rebels in southern Yemen killed 12 civilians over two days, government officials said yesterday.
A mother and four children were killed by a rebel rocket in the government-controlled Jebel Habashi area of Taez province yesterday, an official told AFP.
“The rebels targeted the village of Musharraf between the districts of Maafer and Jebel Habashi near to the besieged city of Taez, killing the five family members,” local media reported. The official said the Katyusha rocket completely destroyed the family’s home.
On Saturday, seven members of a family, including two women, were killed by Houthi shelling in Qataba district of Al Dhalea province, officials said.
The attack happened in an area of the province where government forces are fighting to recapture territory seized by the Houthis.
Coalition strikes at the weekend killed several rebel fighters in Taez and destroyed their vehicles, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war pitting the Iranbacked Houthis against the government of President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi since March 2015.
The government is supported by the Saudi-led military coalition, of which the UAE is a part, that has carried out air strikes against the rebels and provided equipment and training for government forces.
The war has devastated Yemen and created what the UN says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with millions of people dependent on aid to survive.
The United Nations is trying to broker a political compromise to end the war but a deal to stop fighting in the vital port city of Hodeidah has not yet been put into effect.
The warring sides had agreed to a ceasefire and a troop withdrawal from Hodeidah, seen as confidence-building measures to pave the way for talks on forming a transitional government.