Saudi-led coalition

HODEIDA, YEMEN — “This is our Eid gift from Saudi Arabia,” a visitor to a private hospital in Hodeida told MintPress as he pulled back a blood-soaked blue plastic cover draping the lifeless body of his child. The girl, whose torso and arms were dotted with holes from high-caliber bullets, did not make it to her second birthday — she was killed in a barrage of gunfire let loose by Saudi Coalition gunmen as they peppered residential neighborhoods on Al-Shuhada Street in the al Hali directorate of Hodeida.

SANA’A, YEMEN — “I struggled for 30 years to build a house and an airplane comes and destroys it in seconds,” 55-year-old Ahmed al-Sulmi al-Hubeishi told MintPress. Ahmed lost four of his children last week — Seham, Abdul Rahman, Khalid, and Waseem — when Saudi airstrikes targeted a residential neighborhood in Sana`a’s al-Ruguss district. “Now, there is nothing left — even the games that remind me of my children have been destroyed.”

AL-BAYDA, YEMEN — For the past two weeks, Yemeni military forces loyal to the Houthis have been waging a fierce campaign to rid the country’s southern al-Bayda and al-Dali provinces from al-Qaeda, ISIS and Saudi Coalition fighters. Dozens of cities, villages, and military sites in the provinces have been captured in the campaign, which was sparked in part in retaliation for ongoing Saudi attacks on civilian targets.

HODEIDA, YEMEN — At least 7,000 civilians remain trapped in Southern Hodeida’s al-Durayhimi district by Saudi-led Coalition forces, in what has become a de facto eight-month siege amid Yemen’s broader humanitarian crisis. Conditions in al-Durayhimi are dire, as civilians endure an acute shortage of food and the spread of disease and epidemics.   

HODEIDA, YEMEN — Hundreds of residents from across Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeida took to the streets for the third straight day, calling on the United Nations to take action to implement a troop withdrawal deal between the Houthis and the Saudi-led Coalition that was reached on February 19th. Residents waved Yemeni flags, Kalashnikovs, and banners emblazoned with slogans accusing Saudi Arabia and its coalition allies of undermining the agreement and prolonging the suffering of Yemeni children.

The Saudi-led coalition provided US-made weapons to al-Qaeda-linked fighters, Salafi militias and other factions taking part in the intervention in Yemen, in violation with their agreements with the US, according to a CNN investigation.

SAADA, YEMEN — Thousands of Yemenis rallied on the streets of Yemen’s northern governorate of Saada to commemorate Victims Day on Friday, in remembrance of those killed by the Saudi-led coalition since it began its war on Yemen in 2015. Protesters also expressed support for residents of Yemen’s port city of Hodeida, many saying that they are fully prepared to respond to any act against Hodeida by Saudi Arabia.

LAHEJJ, YEMEN — Yemen’s military, loyal to the Houthis, launched a retaliatory drone attack against a Saudi-led coalition military parade at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Anad airbase in Yemen’s southern province of Lahejj, killing several military personnel.
Saudi state-owned media confirmed that multiple high-ranking officials were killed and several others injured when a combat drone struck an airbase where a military parade was taking place.

HODEIDA, YEMEN — The fragile Yemeni truce reached in peace talks in Sweden in December is at risk after the Saudi-led coalition launched a military campaign this past weekend to control al Jah al Aseel in Beit al Faqih, south of Yemen’s port city of Hodeida, risking another brutal cycle of violence.
The move comes after five UAE ships landed in Yemen’s southwestern city of Mocha over the weekend loaded with dozens of armored vehicles, heavy weapons, and various weapons carriers, according to a local source speaking to MintPress News on the condition of anonymity.

SANA’A, YEMEN — (Report) Last week’s peace talks in Sweden between the Saudi-led coalition and Yemen’s Houthis was cause for celebration for many the world-over who hoped to finally see an end to Yemen’s bloody war. But many of Yemen’s people hedging their bets and have expressed frustration over the results of the week-long talks in Rimbo, talks that leaders on both sides of the conflict viewed as a victory.