Republished April 09, 2018 - 2:08 PM
Original Publication Date April 09, 2018 - 5:31 AM
SANAA, Yemen - Yemeni tribal and rebel officials said Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed at least 17 people Monday, including children, in the southwestern city of Taiz and the northern rebel stronghold of Saada.
They said the Taiz airstrike hit a house in the Dimnat Khadir district, an area that has seen heavy fighting between Saudi-backed government forces and Iran-allied Houthi rebels. At least 15 people were killed, the tribal officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Another airstrike hit a workshop in Saada, killing at least two people and wounding eight others, including several schoolgirls, said Aliaa Al-Shabby, the rebels' minister for human rights. She urged an independent commission to be formed to investigate what she called "massacres committed against civilians and unarmed Yemeni people."
Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war pitting the Saudi-led coalition backing an internationally recognized government against the Iran-backed Houthis since March 2015. The coalition aims to restore the government of self-exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power.
The three-year stalemated war has damaged Yemen's infrastructure, crippled its health system and pushed the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of famine. The country is now the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 22.2 million people in need of assistance. Malnutrition, cholera and other diseases have killed or sickened thousands of civilians over the years.
The conflict has killed more than 10,000 civilians.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018