Ahead of Proposed Ceasefire, Saudi Arabia Pummels Yemen with Heavy Bombing [View all]

[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