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Rebel shelling kills seven Yemen children: medics
DUBAI, Dec 1, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Rebel shelling of government-held districts
of Yemen has killed seven children over the past two days, medics and relief
agencies said.
In Yemen’s third largest city Taez, which is government-held but almost
surrounded by rebel forces, two young girls, one just nine months old, were
pronounced dead on Monday evening after a rebel bombardment that also wounded
seven other people, medics said.
There was no immediate reaction from the rebels, who have repeatedly
played up the high civilian death toll from air strikes by a Saudi-led
coalition that has been supporting the beleaguered government.
Relief organisation Doctors without Borders appealed to “all armed groups
to abide by international humanitarian law and take all necessary precautions
to avoid civilian casualties”.
On Sunday, five children were among eight civilians killed in rebel
shelling of the government-held district of Al-Durayhimi on the Red Sea
coast, medics and government source said.
The United Nations confirmed the death toll from the bombardment, which it
said was part of an uptick in fighting in and around the nearby aid port of
Hodeida, where a fragile UN-brokered truce has largely averted major
fighting.
A total of 74 civilians were killed or wounded in Hodeida province in
October as hostilities escalated, the UN mission said.
“Five children and three women were killed and another three children and
three women were injured when artillery shells hit a house in Al-Ghaza
village in Al-Durayhimi,” said Altaf Musani, UN humanitarian coordinator for
Yemen.
“This attack on women and children is unacceptable and unjustifiable.”
A total of 74 civilians were killed or wounded in Hodeida province in
October as hostilities escalated, the UN mission said.
The United Nations says all sides have been responsible for multiple war
crimes in the conflict that has gripped Yemen since 2014, creating what UN
agencies describe as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1705 hrs