The Red Cross and UN flew medical aid into Yemen’s capital on Friday after the southern city of Aden was battered by the heaviest night yet of Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Shiite rebels.
The UN also called for a daily “humanitarian pause” of a few hours, saying aid was desperately needed in the conflict-ravaged country.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it dispatched an aircraft to Sana’a, its first aid shipment since the international campaign against Shiite rebels began last month.
Photo: EPA
“This is the first ICRC plane to have landed in Sana’a. It is loaded with 16 tonnes of medical aid,” Red Cross spokeswoman in Yemen Marie Claire Feghali said.
Residents and officials in Aden said the city was pounded after Houthi Shiite rebels and renegade soldiers loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh reached the city’s northern entrance.
“The raids began at around 10pm on Thursday and were the most violent since the start of ‘Operation Decisive Storm,’” a resident told reporters.
Residents also said coalition aircraft targeted other positions, including a city center stadium and rebel-occupied checkpoints.
In Riyadh, coalition spokesman Saudi ArabianBrigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri told reporters the latest raids targeted rebel military camps in nine towns across Yemen.
More than two weeks of heavy bombardment by the Saudi-led alliance against opponents of exiled Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and fighting between rival militias prompted the UN to call for a freeze in the violence.
UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen Johannes van der Klaauw told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, that an “immediate humanitarian pause in this conflict” was desperately needed.
He insisted that the aid delivered to date was far from sufficient.
“The situation in Aden is extremely, extremely preoccupying if not catastrophic,” he said, adding that Yemen’s second-largest city had fallen prey to “urban warfare” and “uncontrollable militias.”
Medical sources in Aden on Friday said that Houthi snipers there had killed three civilians — an elderly woman, a child and a man.
The WHO said nearly 650 people have been killed and more than 2,000 injured in the fighting, but the actual number of fatalities is likely to be far higher, since many people are not reaching hospitals and being buried immediately, Van der Klaauw said.
The UN’s children agency UNICEF said it had also airlifted 16 tonnes of aid to Sana’a, including medical supplies for 80,000 people as well as food supplements for 20,000 children.
“The supplies we have managed to bring in today can make the difference between life and death for children and their families,” UNICEF Yemen representative Julien Harneis said.
In the most direct US criticism yet of Tehran’s backing for the rebels, US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday said that the US would not accept foreign interference in Yemen.
“There have been — there are, obviously — flights coming from Iran. Every single week there are flights from Iran and we’ve traced it and know this,” he told PBS television.
On Friday, Pakistan’s parliament rejected calls to join the anti-Houthi coalition, turning down long-standing ally Riyadh’s request for troops, ships and warplanes.
“[The] Parliament of Pakistan... underscores the need for continued efforts by the government of Pakistan to find a peaceful resolution of the crisis,” it said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number