Eight civilians killed in new Saudi airstrikes on western Yemen

Iran Press TV

Wed Sep 23, 2015 10:2AM

Nearly a dozen civilians have lost their lives in three Saudi airstrikes against Yemen's western province of Hajjah.

On Wednesday, Saudi fighter jets bombarded a residential neighborhood in the Sharas district of the province, located 127 kilometers (78 miles) northwest of the capital, Sana'a, leaving eight people dead.

Saudi warplanes also launched several airstrikes against a building housing the state-run television network north of Sana'a. There were no immediate reports of casualties and the extent of the damage inflicted.

Separately, Yemeni army soldiers backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees took control of the al-Hathira military camp in Saudi Arabia's southwestern region of Jizan. Yemeni forces also destroyed a number of military equipment belonging to Saudi troopers in the process.

Earlier on Wednesday, Yemeni army soldiers and allied forces mounted major offensives against al-Tawal, al-Khobe and al-Khojrah areas in Saudi Arabia's Jizan region.

Six Saudi soldiers lost their lives on Tuesday evening, when Yemeni troopers and fighters from Popular Committees carried out operations in Saudi Arabia's border regions of Jizan and Asir. An arms depot was also destroyed during the operations.

Moreover, Yemeni soldiers and their allies fired more than 70 mortar shells and artillery rounds at Saudi military positions in Jizan on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern over the rising number of civilian casualties in Yemen, calling for an end to the conflict.

Ban called on all the parties to the Yemeni crisis "to take all feasible precautions to avoid loss of civilian life and damage to civilian objects."

Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 – without a United Nations mandate – in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to fugitive former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh.

According to a report released on September 19 by the Yemen's Civil Coalition, over 6,000 Yemenis have so far lost their lives in the Saudi airstrikes, and a total of nearly 14,000 people have been injured.