The UAE and Saudi alliance have killed at least 55 people including women and children, in Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.
The Saudi alliance carried out air raids on the Major Yemeni city in a bid to force the Houthi rebels in control of the city to surrender according to the rebel-run health ministry.
The Houthis say the attacks targeted city’s Public al-Thawra Hospital as well as a busy fishing port; at least 124 Yemenis were also wounded in the attack.
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Taha al-Mutawakil, the Minister for Public Health and Population in the Houthi-led administration, reported that local authorities were struggling to cope with the number of casualties, and ambulances were cautious about transporting the wounded to Sanaa or other provinces due to fears of being targeted from the air by the Saudi alliance.
The International Red Cross, which supports the al-Thawra hospital, reported that it had sent surgical supplies enough to treat up to 50 patients who are critically injured in the attack.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been attacking Yemen since March 2015 with logistical support from the United States in an attempt to reinstate the internationally recognised government of Yemeni President Abu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who was ousted by Houthi Rebels from the capital Sanaa.
At least 10,000 people have been killed in the ensuing violence and power struggle between the Saudi alliance and the Houthi rebels who are backed by Iran.
The Yemeni port city of Hodeidah is the only access for aid and other essential relief for the country that recently emerged from a really bad cholera epidemic described by WHO as the largest cholera outbreak in history.
The UN had been trying to broker a deal to avert an attack on Hodeidah by the Saudi alliance due to fears it would further hinder Yemenis’ access to food, fuel and medicine; worsening the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis.
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