Saturday, May 9, 2015

Yemen conflict: Civilians 'struggle to flee' Saada strikes

Civilians in the city of Saada in northern Yemen are struggling to flee Saudi-led coalition air strikes targeting Houthi rebels, reports and aid workers say.

Teresa Sancristoval, of medical charity MSF, said fuel shortages meant many people were having to travel by foot.

The UN's representative in Yemen says the indiscriminate bombing of populated areas is against international law.

Air strikes have killed at least 1,400, more than half civilians, the UN says.

Saudi Arabia says the offensive is to restore Yemen's exiled president to power, weeks after the Shia Houthi rebels - backed by forces loyal to Yemen's former president - took over the capital Sanaa.

The Saudis on Friday said they regarded all of Saada province as a "military zone" and told civilians to leave.

Trapped civilians

The UN's humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Johannes Van Der Klauuw, said he was "deeply concerned" by the impact of the latest air strikes on northern Yemen.

"Many civilians are effectively trapped in Saada as they are unable to access transport because of the fuel shortage," he added.

Smoke rises in distance behind buildings in Saada on 9 May 2015 — The Saudi-led coalition had dropped leaflets to warn residents of a surge in strikes

Up to 130 strikes took place across the country on Saturday targeting rebel buildings, weapons stores and camps, a coalition spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, Brig Gen Ahmad Assiri, said it was in response to Houthi rebels firing shells into Saudi Arabia earlier this week, killing 10 people.

Hundreds of families have already fled Saada province, security officials and Houthi rebels say.

Population 'living in fear'

Teresa Sancristoval, the emergency coordinator for Doctors without Borders (MSF) based at Saada's al-Gumhary Hospital, described intense bombing overnight, with reports of up to 140 strikes hitting the city in total.

"There is no electricity, no working telephones... many civilians are suffering the consequences," she said.

The coalition's order to evacuate was not heard by everyone, she warned. Leaflets were dropped in Old Saada - the rebels' stronghold in Saada province - on Friday.

A man rides a motorcycle past a headquarters of the Houthi group, which was destroyed after an air strike by a Saudi-led coalition, in Saada, Yemen (April 26, 2015) — A Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes against rebels in Yemen for the past six weeks

Buildings damaged by air strikes in Saada on 9 May 2015 — MSF says more than 20 buildings were hit by air strikes overnight

She said her team had been treating seven pregnant women who were in labour, but five of them fled due to the intensity of the air strikes.

"The population that remains is very scared and worried... The market, storage facilities and government buildings have been destroyed and many civilians are suffering the consequences," she said.

Gen Assiri said the Houthi rebels were preventing residents from leaving areas under fire. A Houthi spokesman, Hamed al-Bokheiti, later denied this.

Saudi Arabia on Friday offered a five-day truce, which would start at 23:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

But senior Houthi official Mohamed al-Bukhaiti told the BBC that the ceasefire had not been formally proposed and the Houthis would not respond until a plan was properly laid out.

Air strikes have killed at least 1,200 people, more than half civilians, the UN says.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia has accused Shia rival Iran of arming the Houthis, a charge Iran and the Houthis deny.

The Saudis have been sheltering the internationally recognised Yemeni President Mansour Abdrabbuh Hadi, who fled there in March.