Saudis Kill Hundreds of Yemeni Civilians by Airstrikes in Genocidal Rage

Jan. 21, 2022 (EIRNS)—The Saudi military has dramatically escalated the violence against Yemen with a wave of airstrikes which have killed and wounded more than 200 people, wounding dozens more, and cutting off internet service throughout the country. In Saada, in the heart of the stronghold of the Houthis about 110 miles north of the capital Sana’a, an airstrike hit the city prison killing at least 150 people—a death toll that is likely to climb—and wounding about as many more. Aid workers told AFP that hospitals were overwhelmed in Saada after the prison attack, with one receiving 70 dead and 138 wounded, according to Doctors Without Borders. Two other hospitals have received “many wounded” and as night fell, the rubble was still being searched, the aid agency said. “It is impossible to know how many people have been killed,” Ahmed Mahat, Doctors Without Borders head of mission in Yemen said. “It seems to have been a horrific act of violence.”

“We Condemn the terrific aggressive murder attack on Saada Prison, and destroying the internet connection in Yemen that violates the Right to information and may hide a massive attack at any moment!” said Fouad Al Ghaffari, the leader of the ALBRICS Youth Parliament in Sana’a, in a message transmitted by text to the Schiller Institute.

In the port city of Hodeidah, three children were reported killed when an airstrike hit a communications facility. AFP reports that the Saudi-led coalition claimed the attack on Hodeidah but did not say it had carried out any strikes on Saada. Netblocks, an advocacy group on cybersecurity and internet governance, attributed the collapse of Yemen’s internet to the Hodeidah airstrike. Iran’s Tasnim News also cites the Lebanese news channel Al Mayadeen reporting a Saudi airstrike in a residential neighborhood of Hodeidah, killing six civilians and wounding another 18.

The Saada airstrike followed a missile attack launched by the Houthis on an oil facility in Abu Dhabi in the U.A.E. killing three workers on Jan. 17. U.A.E. officials had promised vengeance for that attack, which also garnered international condemnation.