Saudi airstrikes in Yemeni province of Taiz kill 120 civilians

 

Houthis on the way to the aiport of Aden, The picture is from May 2015

Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed more than 120 civilians and wounded more than 150 after shelling a residential area in the Yemeni province of Taiz on Friday evening, security officials, medical officials and witnesses said.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters, said that most of the houses in the area were leveled and a fire broke out in the port city of Mokha. Most of the corpses, including children, women and elderly people, were charred by the flames, they said.

Ahmed Mohammed al-Mouzay, a resident of the area who participated in rescue operations, said most of his neighbors had passed away. Many of the dead and wounded were transported in private cars or in animal-drawn carts drawn to hospitals, he added.

A security official said it was not possible to move the injured into the provincial capital because of road closures due to ongoing fighting.

Security officials said this comes after Saudi-led coalition planes launched dozens of airstrikes on positions of Houthi rebels and their allies in Mokha. The closest Houthi outpost to Friday evening's deadly strike is at least 5km away, officials and area residents said.

Saudi officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The fighting in Yemen pits the Houthis and troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants and loyalists of exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is now in Saudi Arabia.

Fierce battles between Shiite Houthi rebels and pro-government forces in Yemen's Marib province and in Taiz Friday killed 20 people, according to officials.

Nine rebels and seven anti-Houthi tribesmen were killed in clashes in Marib, medical officials said. Houthi shelling killed four civilians in the city of Taiz, according to medical and security officials.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

The Saudi-led coalition backed pro-government fighters in Friday's clashes, bombing rebel positions.

Clashes also raged north of the strategic southern port city of Aden, according to a security official. Anti-Houthi fighters in Aden said Thursday they seized full control of the city, after they pushed the rebels from their last holdout.

This current push north of Aden is the start of a wide-scale campaign to clear the city's surrounding area of rebels, a security official said. The anti-Houthi forces made significant gains in Aden over the past week, with battles to drive the rebels and their allies out of the city stretching on for days.

The battle for Aden has become the epicenter of Yemen's conflict over the past several weeks. The Houthis seized the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, last September and then began pressing their advance south. Fierce fighting over Aden broke out in March, sparking the Saudi-led airstrikes that have been targeting the rebels to halt their advance.