Civilians Killed in Saudi Airstrike on Yemen’s Hudaydah
It was yet another violation of the 2018 Stockholm Agreement between the warring sides in Yemen.
The airstrike hit an area to the east of Hays City in Hudaydah overnight on Sunday.
Yemeni media outlets cited local sources as saying that the air raid killed three people and injured seven others.
The airstrike apparently aimed to support the Saudi militants amid reports of fierce clashes between Yemeni army and allied fighters from popular committees, and Saudi-backed militants in Hays District.
The attack came in violation of the Stockholm Agreement that was reached in December 2018 following peace negotiations between representatives from Yemen’s popular Ansarullah movement and Riyadh-backed mercenaries loyal to Yemen’s former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur.
The document set out three undertakings, which include a ceasefire along the Hudaydah front and the redeployment of armed forces out of the city and its port; an agreement on prisoner exchange; and a statement of understanding on the southern Yemeni city of Ta’izz.
The popular Ansarullah movement has said they expected the Stockholm Agreement to lead to peace, but instead, Saudi Arabia has continued to violate the UN-backed agreement, killing and injuring thousands of Yemenis ever since.
Separately, Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network reported that fierce clashes erupted between the warring parties between the districts of al-Jubah and Wadi Abidah in Ma’rib Province, and that Saudi jets intensified their airstrikes on the strategic province in a bid to hinder the progress of the Yemeni troops towards Ma’rib City.
Al-Mayadeen cited sources as saying that the Yemeni forces “are stationed about three to four kilometers away from the al-Falaj checkpoint, the southern entrance to the capital of Ma’rib Province”.
Muhammad Elwan, deputy Governor of Ma’rib, has said that Yemeni tribes in Ma’rib City decided to join the operation of liberating the remaining territories in Ma’rib from the control of militants loyal to the former Saudi-backed government, adding the upcoming days will witness “big surprises and the remaining districts of Ma’rib Province will be restored.”
Ma’rib, which is located right in the middle of a whole host of other Yemeni provinces, has turned into a focus of the Yemeni army’s liberation operations since last year.
The province’s recapture, towards which many advances have been made so far, is expected to pave the way for further military victories for the Yemeni armed forces.
Last month, Yemen’s Defense Minister Mohammad al-Atefi said the capture of Ma’rib City is “a matter of time,” noting that the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen has already been defeated and that the aggressors have no choice but to admit defeat.
Source: Press TV
