TAEZ: At least 92 people have been killed in Saudi-led coalition air strikes and fighting between supporters of President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his opponents in southern Yemen, sources said on Saturday.

In the key port city of Aden and in the adjacent Lahj province alone, 46 rebels died in ongoing clashes and 12 hours of intense air strikes that lasted until early Saturday, a military source close to them said.

A medic in Aden said that eight pro-Hadi militiamen were killed and 32 were wounded.

The military source and pro-Hadi militiamen said that coalition warships were also taking part in the shelling.

Warplanes’ targets included the rebel-held presidential palace which was Hadi’s last refuge before he fled to neighbouring Saudi Arabia last month, military officials said.

Air strikes also hit the rebel-held Al-Anad air base in Lahj north of Aden, which housed US troops supporting a long-running drone war against Al Qaeda before the fighting forced them to withdraw.

Residents in Lahj said that the rebels have captured “dozens” of civilians they accused of aiding the coalition by giving them information on rebel targets.

Government officials earlier gave a toll of 38 killed in clashes in the southern towns of Daleh and Loder.

Our Correspondent adds:

Civilians are continuing to die in Yemen with the total number killed between March 26 and April 22 now estimated at 551, including 31 women and at least 115 children, the UN Human rights office said on Friday.

“These are just the civilian casualties,” said Rupert Colville, the spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). “The total number of people killed is considerably higher. Another 1,185 civilians have been injured, including 35 women and 67 children.”

Colville said at least 64 public buildings were either partially or completely destroyed by fighting, adding that several airstrikes hit military and civilian positions in a number of cities, killing 58 civilians including seven children.

Colville pointed to specifically to an attack on a bridge by aircraft after the official end of the coalition’s ‘Operation Decisive Storm’ on April 22, which killed 40 civilians, including seven children, and to an airstrike the previous day in the capital, Sana’a, which killed 20 civilians and injured 120 others, and damaged several UN offices, including the OHCHR in Yemen.

“Violence has persisted across southern governorates due to street battles between groups supporting members of the popular committees affiliated with the Houthis and local armed groups in Abyan, Dhale, Aden and Lahj,” said Mr Colville.

“In Abyan Governorate on April 21, at least 14 civilians were killed and another 14 injured, reportedly due to indiscriminate shooting. We have reports of killings by sniper of a child in Dhale and four civilians emerging from a mosque in Aden.”

He also pointed to reports of arbitrary detention and “disturbing” reports about the humanitarian situation in various parts of the country, particularly relating to healthcare, and he urged all sides to ensure that international human rights and humanitarian laws are respected, and to ensure that all measures are taken to ensure civilians are protected.

“All sides must ensure that the humanitarian aid — that is so desperately needed — can reach people in Yemen,” Colville said.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2015

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