SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Ahead of Proposed Ceasefire, Saudi Arabia Pummels Yemen with Heavy Bombing
Escalating airstrikes come as humanitarian crisis mounts and UN official warns 'Hundreds of thousands of people across Yemen are struggling to meet their basic needs'
May 12, 2015
Just hours before a five-day humanitarian ceasefire is set to take place, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday pummeled Yemen with airstrikes, hitting the capital Sanaa and the southern port of Aden, according to witnesses.
Backed by Washington, the bombings are in-step with escalating attacks in the lead-up to the planned temporary truce. On Monday, the coalition launched fresh airstrikes on Sanaa, reportedly killing at least 90 people and wounding 300, in one of the deadly such attacks since the air war began on March 26.
The latest barrage comes amid mounting concerns that the ongoing bombings by the Saudi-led coalition, in addition to a naval blockade, are creating an increasingly dire humanitarian situation in the country as supplies of food, water, and medicine dwindle.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced on Tuesday that it has delivered a shipment of aid to the Yemen port of Hodeida in hopes of delivering it during the planned ceasefire, with more shipments slated to follow if the truce holds.
"Hundreds of thousands of people across Yemen are struggling to meet their basic needs and are in desperate need of help," declared UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards.
Numerous Yemeni and international aid organizations have condemned the siege and attacks, which have hit refugee camps, humanitarian aid warehouses, crowded residential neighborhoods, and civilian infrastructure.
Arriving in Sanaa on Tuesday, the new United Nations envoy to Yemen, Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, declared that there is no military solution to the country's crisis. "We are convinced there is no solution to Yemen's problem except through a dialogue, which must be Yemeni," he reportedly said.
But even with a pause allegedly looming, Saudi Arabia is continuing its military deployments, with Saudi outlets reporting Monday that the country is sending tanks and artillery to the border with Yemen.
The UNHCR estimates that, across the Yemen, over 300,000 civilians have been displaced by the ongoing conflict, which "has also affected many of the 250,000 mainly Somali refugees in Yemen alongside the 330,000 people already internally displaced by previous waves of conflict." On Wednesday, the UN agency OCHA estimated that 1,527 people have been killed in the conflict and 6,266 wounded.
Many have raised concerns about whether the temporary truce will hold. In late April, Saudi Arabia made a surprise announcement that its "Operation Decisive Storm" had reached its conclusion, yet unleashed new bombings within hours of the announcement.
Furthermore, on Monday, the third suspected U.S. drone strike in 36 hours hit Mukalla, on the southern coast of Yemen, killing at least four people.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
Just hours before a five-day humanitarian ceasefire is set to take place, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday pummeled Yemen with airstrikes, hitting the capital Sanaa and the southern port of Aden, according to witnesses.
Backed by Washington, the bombings are in-step with escalating attacks in the lead-up to the planned temporary truce. On Monday, the coalition launched fresh airstrikes on Sanaa, reportedly killing at least 90 people and wounding 300, in one of the deadly such attacks since the air war began on March 26.
The latest barrage comes amid mounting concerns that the ongoing bombings by the Saudi-led coalition, in addition to a naval blockade, are creating an increasingly dire humanitarian situation in the country as supplies of food, water, and medicine dwindle.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced on Tuesday that it has delivered a shipment of aid to the Yemen port of Hodeida in hopes of delivering it during the planned ceasefire, with more shipments slated to follow if the truce holds.
"Hundreds of thousands of people across Yemen are struggling to meet their basic needs and are in desperate need of help," declared UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards.
Numerous Yemeni and international aid organizations have condemned the siege and attacks, which have hit refugee camps, humanitarian aid warehouses, crowded residential neighborhoods, and civilian infrastructure.
Arriving in Sanaa on Tuesday, the new United Nations envoy to Yemen, Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, declared that there is no military solution to the country's crisis. "We are convinced there is no solution to Yemen's problem except through a dialogue, which must be Yemeni," he reportedly said.
But even with a pause allegedly looming, Saudi Arabia is continuing its military deployments, with Saudi outlets reporting Monday that the country is sending tanks and artillery to the border with Yemen.
The UNHCR estimates that, across the Yemen, over 300,000 civilians have been displaced by the ongoing conflict, which "has also affected many of the 250,000 mainly Somali refugees in Yemen alongside the 330,000 people already internally displaced by previous waves of conflict." On Wednesday, the UN agency OCHA estimated that 1,527 people have been killed in the conflict and 6,266 wounded.
Many have raised concerns about whether the temporary truce will hold. In late April, Saudi Arabia made a surprise announcement that its "Operation Decisive Storm" had reached its conclusion, yet unleashed new bombings within hours of the announcement.
Furthermore, on Monday, the third suspected U.S. drone strike in 36 hours hit Mukalla, on the southern coast of Yemen, killing at least four people.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
Just hours before a five-day humanitarian ceasefire is set to take place, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday pummeled Yemen with airstrikes, hitting the capital Sanaa and the southern port of Aden, according to witnesses.
Backed by Washington, the bombings are in-step with escalating attacks in the lead-up to the planned temporary truce. On Monday, the coalition launched fresh airstrikes on Sanaa, reportedly killing at least 90 people and wounding 300, in one of the deadly such attacks since the air war began on March 26.
The latest barrage comes amid mounting concerns that the ongoing bombings by the Saudi-led coalition, in addition to a naval blockade, are creating an increasingly dire humanitarian situation in the country as supplies of food, water, and medicine dwindle.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced on Tuesday that it has delivered a shipment of aid to the Yemen port of Hodeida in hopes of delivering it during the planned ceasefire, with more shipments slated to follow if the truce holds.
"Hundreds of thousands of people across Yemen are struggling to meet their basic needs and are in desperate need of help," declared UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards.
Numerous Yemeni and international aid organizations have condemned the siege and attacks, which have hit refugee camps, humanitarian aid warehouses, crowded residential neighborhoods, and civilian infrastructure.
Arriving in Sanaa on Tuesday, the new United Nations envoy to Yemen, Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, declared that there is no military solution to the country's crisis. "We are convinced there is no solution to Yemen's problem except through a dialogue, which must be Yemeni," he reportedly said.
But even with a pause allegedly looming, Saudi Arabia is continuing its military deployments, with Saudi outlets reporting Monday that the country is sending tanks and artillery to the border with Yemen.
The UNHCR estimates that, across the Yemen, over 300,000 civilians have been displaced by the ongoing conflict, which "has also affected many of the 250,000 mainly Somali refugees in Yemen alongside the 330,000 people already internally displaced by previous waves of conflict." On Wednesday, the UN agency OCHA estimated that 1,527 people have been killed in the conflict and 6,266 wounded.
Many have raised concerns about whether the temporary truce will hold. In late April, Saudi Arabia made a surprise announcement that its "Operation Decisive Storm" had reached its conclusion, yet unleashed new bombings within hours of the announcement.
Furthermore, on Monday, the third suspected U.S. drone strike in 36 hours hit Mukalla, on the southern coast of Yemen, killing at least four people.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.