Saudi Airstrikes Kill 15 on Hudaydah-Sana’a Highway

At least 15 people have lost their lives in fresh air raids conducted by Saudi warplanes on a strategic road linking the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah to the capital, Sana’a.

More than 20 people had also been injured in the aerial assaults on the Kilo 16 highway, the al-Masirah television network reported.

Over the past few days, fighting has intensified between Ansarullah fighters and Saudi-backed militants loyal to former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi around the critical highway, through which humanitarian aid is delivered to the Yemeni people.

Amanda Brydon, humanitarian policy adviser at Save the Children NGO, expressed concerns about fresh tensions in Yemen.

“What we are seeing with the fighting is [that] the critical junction at Kilo 16 is the artery towards Sana’a and other parts of the country,” she told Al-Jazeera.

Hudaydah, she said, is a lifeline for the rest of the country, where over 80 percent of the country’s commercial imports come through.

Backed by Saudi-led airstrikes, Emirati forces and militants loyal to Yemen’s former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, launched the Hudaydah offensive on June 13 despite international warnings that it would compound the impoverished nation’s humanitarian crisis.

Hudaydah is a major lifeline to more than 20 million Yemenis, most of whom are in need of humanitarian assistance due to a deadly Saudi-led war on the country launched in March 2015.

The UN reported that Saudi Arabia’s ground and air attacks on Yemen’s Hudaydah have displaced tens of thousands of families.

FARS