There
are no humanitarian corridors in Hodeida to allow civilians to flee
or ambulance crews to transport the wounded to hospitals outside of
the province. To make matter worse, a seemingly endless barrage of
coalition airstrikes presents a constant danger to those seeking to
flee the fighting.
by
Ahmed Abdulkareem
In a
familiar atmosphere of fatalities that have come to mark the passing
of a day in Hodeida, at least 49 people were killed or injured on
Saturday when two Saudi Coalition airstrikes targeted two buses
carrying civilians fleeing the fighting on a highway in Jabal Ras
district in Hodeida.
Yemen’s
Ministry of Public Health and Population said in a statement to
MintPress that at least 19 people were killed in the attack, and 30
others were injured. Many of the victims were women and children,
including five members of the same family.
Rescue
efforts were complicated by the fear of additional airstrikes, as
Saudi warplanes continued to circle the area after the initial
strikes. Saudi Arabia has been known to use double-tap strikes in
Yemen, carrying out an initial airstrike and then circling back to
target rescuers.
Doctors
at Hodeida Hospital said that the wounded are in very serious
condition and will require intensive care. They went on to say that
some victims will likely not survive due to the difficulty of moving
patients between hospitals.
There
are no humanitarian corridors in Hodeida to allow civilians to flee
or ambulance crews to transport the wounded to hospitals outside of
the province. To make matter worse, a seemingly endless barrage of
coalition airstrikes presents a constant danger to those seeking to
flee the fighting.
Over the
course of the conflict in Yemen, the coalition has carried out a
policy of targeting internally displaced people fleeing the fighting.
On August 24, coalition airstrikes targeted displaced families near
the port city of Hodeida, killing or injuring 31 people, including 24
children. Many of the victims of the strike belonged to a single
family.
More
recently, a man, his wife, and their nine-year-old daughter were
killed, along with 10 others, when a coalition airstrike targeted the
home of a displaced family in the Mustaba district in the province of
Hajjah, southwestern Yemen on October 2, 2018.
The
coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States, has
stepped up attacks on Hodeida in recent weeks, prompting thousands of
families to seek refuge elsewhere in the country. But those fleeing
the violence in the vital port city often become targets of coalition
aircraft themselves.
Meanwhile,
Yemen’s Ansar Allah has captured new strategic military locations
deep inside the Saudi region of Jizan. The media branch of Ansar
Allah released footage showing the moment that the َGanbour
military base and Saudi military outposts near it, were captured.
This
development came after MintPress revealed that the Yemen’s army
changed its approach from hit-and-run attacks, in which troops target
a military outpost or base and quickly withdraw, to a strategy in
which Yemeni forces would seize control of and retain Saudi military
sites.
A source
inside of Yemen’s military, who wished to remain anonymous, told
MintPress that the army plans to launch military operations in a bid
to control more Saudi military sites in the Saudi regions of Jizan,
Asir, and Najran, as long as the coalition continues its military
campaign against Hodeida.
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