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YEMEN-CONFLICT-HODEIDA
Eight people killed in shelling in Yemen’s Hodeida
DUBAI, Dec 4, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – At least eight people were killed in the
shelling of an industrial compound in Yemen’s strategic port of Hodeida, the
government said Friday, pointing the finger at the Iran-backed Huthi rebels.
There has been an uptick in fighting in and around the lifeline port of the
western city, where a fragile UN-brokered truce has largely averted major
battles between the government — backed by a Saudi-led military coalition —
and the Huthi insurgents.
Yemeni Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani condemned the Huthis’ “ugly
terrorist attack” on the Thabit Brothers industrial compound on Thursday,
according to the official Saba news agency.
He said that eight workers were killed and 13 others were injured, while
medical sources told AFP there were at least 10 deaths.
The United Nations Mission to support the Hodeida Agreement (UNMHA) also
condemned the incident.
“The killing of civilians must stop,” it said Thursday, urging all parties
to maintain the ceasefire.
“In addition to being a working factory servicing the population and
providing employment, the site of the industrial complex is being considered
as one of the possible locations of an UNMHA office,” it said.
The United Nations said that a total of 74 civilians were killed or wounded
in Hodeida province in October as hostilities escalated.
And in late November, five children were among eight civilians killed in
rebel shelling of the government-held district of Al-Durayhimi on the Red Sea
coast.
Yemen, which since 2014 has been gripped by a war between Iran-backed Huthi
rebels and a beleaguered government supported by the Saudi-led military
coalition, faces the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have killed and millions
displaced and on the brink of famine.
The UN said Thursday that malnutrition has now hit record levels, narrowing
the window of opportunity to prevent a famine as the coronavirus and funding
shortfalls threaten a humanitarian perfect storm.
The number of people facing the second-highest level of food insecurity in
Yemen is set to increase from 3.6 million people to 5 million in the first
half of 2021, the United Nations World Food Programme warned.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1346 hrs