Saudi Arabian-led coalition warplanes yesterday struck Yemeni rebel targets, including in the capital Sana’a, two days after the insurgents claimed drone strikes that shut a key oil pipeline in the neighboring kingdom.
The new bombardment came after the UN envoy, who has been spearheading efforts to end more than four years of conflict in Yemen, warned it still faced the threat of plunging into all-out war.
The Saudi Arabian-led coalition confirmed that its warplanes were carrying out multiple strikes following drone attacks on its main east-west pipeline on Tuesday.
Photo: Reuters
“We have begun to launch airstrikes targeting sites operated by the Houthi militia, including in Sana’a,” said a coalition official, who declined to be identified.
The rebels’ al-Masirah television reported six strikes on Arhab District of Sana’a Province, followed by further strikes, including at least one in Sana’a itself.
A second witness said that the raids began at about 8am while many Yemenis were asleep.
The rebels said their Tuesday attack on the pipeline was a response to “crimes” committed by Riyadh during its air war in Yemen.
The pipeline, which can carry 5 million barrels of crude per day, provides a strategic alternative route for Saudi Arabian exports if the shipping lane from the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz is closed.
Iran, which Arab Gulf states accuse of supporting the Yemeni rebels, has repeatedly threatened to close the vital conduit for global oil supplies in case of a military confrontation with the US.
The Saudi Arabian Cabinet on Wednesday called for “confronting terrorist entities which carry out such sabotage acts, including the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen.”
The United Arab Emirates echoed the call.
“We will retaliate and we will retaliate hard when we see Houthis hitting civilian targets like what happened in Saudi Arabia,” Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said.
On Tuesday, UN observers confirmed that rebel fighters had pulled out of Hodeida Port and two other Red Sea terminals, unilaterally carrying out a key redeployment that was supposed to follow a ceasefire in December last year.
UN envoy Martin Griffiths welcomed the pullback, but on Wednesday warned the UN Security Council that the risks of a slide into all-out war remained high.
“Despite the significance of the last few days, Yemen remains at the crossroads between war and peace,” he said.
“There are signs of hope,” but there are also “alarming signs” of war, Griffiths added.
He nonetheless hailed “a new beginning in Hodeida,” where rebel fighters handed control of the port to coast guards, saying that “change is now a reality.”
Hodeida is the main entry point for the bulk of Yemen’s imports and humanitarian aid, providing a lifeline to millions of people who are on the brink of famine.
UN Children’s Fund executive director Henrietta Fore said that while a ceasefire was largely holding in Hodeida, fighting was raging “across 30 active conflict zones — home to nearly 1.2 million children.”
“We are at a tipping point. If the war continues any longer, the country may move past the point of no return,” Fore told the council. “Hospitals, clinics and water systems are in ruins, with half of the country’s hospitals and clinics destroyed.”
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