Ahead of Proposed Ceasefire, Saudi Arabia Pummels Yemen with Heavy Bombing

[polly7]

Published on
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
byCommon Dreams

Escalating airstrikes come as humanitarian crisis mounts and UN official warns 'Hundreds of thousands of people across Yemen are struggling to meet their basic needs'

by Sarah Lazare, staff writer

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Children play near damaged buildings in the Al-Ora's neighborhood of Zinjibar. (Photo: UNHCR/A.Al-Sharif)

Just hours before a five-day humanitarian ceasefire is set to take place, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday pummeled Yemen with airstrikes, hitting the capital Sanaa and the southern port of Aden, according to witnesses.

Backed by Washington, the bombings are in-step with escalating attacks in the lead-up to the planned temporary truce. On Monday, the coalition launched fresh airstrikes on Sanaa, reportedly killing at least 90 people and wounding 300, in one of the deadly such attacks since the air war began on March 26.

The latest barrage comes amid mounting concerns that the ongoing bombings by the Saudi-led coalition, in addition to a naval blockade, are creating an increasingly dire humanitarian situation in the country as supplies of food, water, and medicine dwindle.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced on Tuesday that it has delivered a shipment of aid to the Yemen port of Hodeida in hopes of delivering it during the planned ceasefire, with more shipments slated to follow if the truce holds.

Arriving in Sanaa on Tuesday, the new United Nations envoy to Yemen, Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, declared that there is no military solution to the country's crisis. "We are convinced there is no solution to Yemen's problem except through a dialogue, which must be Yemeni," he reportedly said.

More: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/05/12/ahead-proposed-ceasefire-saudi-arabia-pummels-yemen-heavy-bombing

[bemildred]

1. MEE EXCLUSIVE: Al-Qaeda pulls out of key government buildings in southeastern Yemen

AL MUKALLA, Yemen - Jubilation was the feeling of many on Thursday at a small airport in southeastern Yemen as a man with a white beard fervently declared that Sons of Hadramout, a new name for al-Qaeda, have officially pulled out of the airport and handed it back to locals. For the crowd, it was a gesture by al-Qaeda militants that they would honour their promise and fully withdraw from the city.

Exploiting nation-wide violence and a split army, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or AQAP, al-Qaeda's active branch in Yemen, stormed the port city of Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout province on 2 April, after engaging in brief clashes with army troops. The militants broke into the city's prison, looted a large government bank, drove army troops out of the city and took control of their bases.

In the following days, an army brigade and security units crumbled quickly as terrified soldiers agreed to save their skin by handing over positions to al-Qaeda in exchange for driving them off to their hometowns in northern Yemen. Al-Qaeda prepared four large buses to carry the remaining soldiers with their personal arms and properties.

The militants did not raise their black flag; they were unwilling to enact their radical interpretation of Islam and announced that they would not mind handing over key government institutions to locals provided there is a coherent entity that would take charge.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/al-qaeda-pulls-out-key-government-institutes-mukalla-956533229