Yemen's Houthi rebels have called for the full withdrawal of a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after the latter said it had begun reducing its deployment in the war-torn country.

"We call on the aggressors to withdraw from Yemen, as the Republic of Yemen rejects aggression, siege and air embargo," Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the Houthi rebels' Supreme Revolutionary Committee, tweeted on Monday.

"Withdrawing from Yemen is the ideal decision that must be taken at this time," he added.

Yemen's latest conflict broke out in late 2014 when the Houthis, allied with forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, seized much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.

The war escalated in March 2015 when the Saudi-UAE-led coalition launched a ferocious air campaign against the rebels in a bid to restore the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Since then, tens of thousands of civilians and combatants have been killed and as many as 85,000 children may have starved to death.

A senior UAE official said on Monday the country would reduce its troop presence in Yemen, moving from a "military-first" to a "peace-first" strategy.

"We do have troop levels that are down for reasons that are strategic in (the Red Sea port city of) Hodeida and reasons that are tactical" in other parts of the country, a senior UAE official, who requested anonymity, was quoted as saying by news agencies.

According to the unnamed UAE official, the Gulf state pulled out some of its forces from areas including the southern port of Aden and the western coast.

The UAE official emphasised his country's continued support for Saudi Arabia, saying discussions on troops' movements had been coordinated for more than a year.

"This is not really a last-minute decision. This is part of the process within the coalition that's been discussed extensively with our partners, the Saudis."

Gamal Gasim, a political science professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, told Al Jazeera the UAE's redeployment was contrary to Saudi Arabia's strategy of crushing the Iran-aligned rebels.

"The UAE more likely intends to split Yemen into two countries of South and North where it will have influence and dominance over the southern part. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is more interested in defeating the Houthis and ending Iranian influence," Gasim said.

Yemeni journalist and human rights activist Tawakkol Karman told al Jazeera that the UAE was pressured into pulling out of Yemen by Iran, and as a "cosmetic" move to improve its image.

"This [the withdrawal of UAE troops from Yemen] is a cosmetic withdrawal meant to improve the UAE's image ... [after] their failure in Yemen... [and following] a piece of advice from the UK.

"[Another] reason was a serious warning from Iran to the UAE. If they remain in Yemen, then their luxurious, glassy towers will be targeted by any of Iran's arms in the region," explained Karman.

Echoing similar sentiments, Saeed Thabit, a Qatar-based Yemeni political analyst, questioned the veracity of the UAE official's comments.

"The UAE announcement appears to be disingenuous and doesn't reflect a sincere desire to end the war in Yemen, partly because it was leaked in an anonymous fashion without an official announcement," Thabit said.

"The UAE troops still have a substantial presence in Yemen, and this development was made more to antagonise the Saudis who are facing more military pressure from the Houthis at their borders with Yemen."

The Houthis, who have faced persistent coalition bombing that has exacted a heavy civilian death toll - have stepped up missile and drone attacks across the Saudi border in recent weeks.

At least one person has been killed and 56 wounded in Saudi Arabia in three such Houthi attacks since June 12, according to Saudi authorities.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying sophisticated weapons to the Houthis, a charge Tehran denies.

The UAE announcement also comes amid a standoff between the United States and Iran, which spiked in June when Iranian forces shot down a US drone following a series of suspected tanker attacks Washington has blamed on Tehran over Iranian denials.

Diplomats have said the UAE prefers to have military forces and equipment on hand should tensions between the US and Iran further escalate in the Gulf.

The UAE official said: "Many people asked if this is also linked to the current rise of tensions with Iran. I would say fundamentally no ... But of course, we cannot be blind to the overall strategic picture." </s> Air strikes by the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen targeted an area north of the capital Sanaa on Thursday, Al-Masirah TV, a television station run by Yemen's Iranian-aligned Houthi group said.

The two strikes come a day after the coalition vowed to respond firmly to a Houthi missile attack on a civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that wounded 26 people.

There was no immediate confirmation from the coalition about the strikes.

Twenty-six people were injured following the attack by Yemeni rebels at an airport in Saudi Arabia yesterday, prompting fresh tensions between Riyadh and its fierce regional rival Iran.

A missile fired by Houthi rebels hit the airport's arrivals hall in the mountain resort city of Abha, according to Saudi officials, injuring passengers of different nationalities.

The Saudi-led coalition which is fighting the Houthis in Yemen immediately pointed the blame at Iran, saying Tehran had equipped the rebel group with 'advanced weapons'.

A rebel TV network acknowledged the attack and said Houthi forces had fired a cruise missile.

How the Yemen conflict is a proxy for tension between Iran, the US and Saudi Arabia Yemen's civil war has been raging since 2015 and has global implications. On one side is a government-in-exile backed by Saudi Arabia, which in turn is an ally of the United States. On the other are the Houthi rebels, who also claim to be the legitimate government of Yemen. The Houthis are backed by Saudi Arabia's regional enemy, Iran. Tens of thousands of people have died and the UN says that most of the country's 29million people are in need of aid. The conflict has come to wider global prominence in recent months. First, the fallout from the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year strained relations between Saudi Arabia and the rest. It led to demands for Europe and the U.S. to stop providing arms to Saudi Arabia, some of which are used in Yemen. Second, the escalating tension between the U.S. and Iran has sparked fears that any sudden movement in Middle East politics could trigger a war. An attack on Saudi oil tankers last month, claimed by the Yemeni rebels, sent tensions spiralling as the U.S. blamed Iran for the act of sabotage. Donald Trump's White House has not ruled out military action against Iran, although both sides insist they do not want a war. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said there 'won't be any war' while U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. 'fundamentally does not seek any war'.

Eight of those wounded at Abha airport were admitted to hospital, coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said in a statement.

He said at least one Indian was among three women wounded along with two Saudi children.

The other 18 were discharged after receiving first aid. Flights from the airport, which is around 100 miles from the Yemeni border, were disrupted for several hours before returning to normal.

The attack is the latest flashpoint in long-running tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The rivalry is closely watched around the world because the U.S. is a close Saudi ally and any war with Iran could escalate into a wider conflict.

Accusing Iran of arming the rebels, the Saudis said the attack 'proves this terrorist militia's acquisition of new special weapons' [and] the continuation of the Iranian regime's support and practice of cross-border terrorism.'

The latest violence 'could amount to a war crime of targeting civilians and civilian objects in a systematic manner', the Saudis suggested.

The coalition has vowed to 'take stern action' to deter the rebels and protect civilians.

Saudi Arabia's ally Bahrain also condemned the attack, saying it was a 'cowardly criminal act against innocent civilians'.

The rebels acknowledged earlier that they had launched a missile at the airport in the Saudi city.

One Houthi spokesman, Mohammed Abdel-Salam, said the attack was in response to Saudi Arabia's 'continued aggression and blockade on Yemen.'

The latest Middle East flashpoint comes just weeks after the Houthi forces claimed responsibility for sabotaging Saudi oil tankers in the Gulf of Yemen.

Saudi and UAE officials were tight-lipped about the extent of the damage but pictures showed at least one tanker with a hole in its hull.

The mysterious sabotage sent tensions spiralling in the Middle East as the U.S. blamed Iran and its allies for the attack - which divers said appeared to be the work of magnetic explosives.

The Houthis said the sabotage was meant to send a message to the kingdom to 'stop your aggression' on Yemen.

The rebels, who have faced persistent coalition bombing since March 2015, have stepped up missile and drone attacks across the border in recent weeks.

The incidents sparked fears of a Gulf war breaking out 'by accident' with the U.S. and Iranian militaries on high alert amid high tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani has threatened to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal with the West, which is faltering already after Donald Trump pulled out of it last year.

The U.S. deployed B-52 bombers and an assault ship to bolster an aircraft carrier in the region.

Tensions heightened further after two pumping stations on a major Saudi oil pipeline were attacked by explosive-laden drones, halting the flow of crude along it.

Today Japanese leader Shinzo Abe will travel to Iran in an effort to ease tensions between the White House and Tehran.

Yemen's civil war has been raging since March 2015, with the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in the Middle East state.

According to the United Nations, 22 of the country's 29million people are in need of aid.

An air strike by the Saudi-led coalition that killed dozens of people in Yemen last August was branded an apparent war crime by Human Rights Watch.

Yemen has also witnessed two outbreaks of cholera and acute watery diarrhea since 2016.

Earlier this year President Donald Trump vetoed a bill passed by Congress to end U.S. military assistance for the Saudis in Yemen.

Trump has been under pressure over relations with Saudi Arabia since the kingdom was blamed for murdering dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.

The columnist went missing on October 2 last year in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where Turkey believes he was killed and then dismembered with a bone saw.

Khashoggi, who had lived for a time in the U.S., wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of the Saudi regime.

Riyadh initially denied any knowledge of his disappearance before saying Khashoggi was killed after 'negotiations' to convince him to return to Saudi Arabia failed.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto leader Mohammed bin Salman came under global suspicion over his possible role in the killing.

The kingdom later said the death penalty was being sought against five suspects, in an effort to distance the prince from the murder. </s> London, 31 Jan - On January 31 Yahoo reports in an article by Mohammed Ghobari and Ali Abdelaty, that on Monday, three armed Houthi boats attacked a Saudi warship off the western coast of Yemen. Saudi state news agency SPA reported that the explosion killed two crew members and injured three others.

According to the group's official news channel al-Masira, the Houthis claim that they launched a ballistic missile at a Saudi-led coalition military base on the Red Sea island of Zuqar on Tuesday morning. It is still unclear if there were any casualties.

There was no immediate coalition reaction to the Houthi’s claim.

These attacks show an escalation to the combat on Yemen's western coast between the Iran-allied Houthis and the coalition that is backing Yemen's internationally recognized government.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said in a statement on SPA, "A Saudi frigate on patrol west of Hodeidah port came under attack from three suicide boats belonging to the Houthi militias.”

One of the boats collided with the rear of the vessel, and caused the explosion that killed the two crew members and wounded three others.

However, the Houthi movement's al-Masira channel contradicted this account, and quoted a military source as saying the explosion was caused by a guided missile.

This was the second attack on ships in the last six months by the Houthis, off the coast of Yemen.

The Houthi’s are engaged in battles on the mainland with coalition troops and pro-government fighters, who are trying to advance northward and drive the Houthis away from the Red Sea ports.

The Saudi-led coalition warned that this attack "would impact international navigation and the flow of humanitarian assistance to the port for Yemeni citizens.”

In a campaign to try to restore the ousted administration government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies have carried out thousands of bombing raids in Yemen since March 2015.

In another Yahoo News article by Mohammed Ghobari and Ali Abdelaty on January 30, 2017, they report that the three crew members who were injured are in a stable condition, and that the fire was put out by crew.

The Iran-allied Houthi group that controls Yemen's capital claimed responsibility three attacks carried out on ships off the coast of Yemen in the last six months.

A military official was quoted as saying to the Saba Yemeni news agency, run by the dominant Houthi movement, "The Saudi warship was involved in aggression against western coastal cities and Yemeni fishermen.”

A building in southern Saudi Arabia, used by United Nations staff to monitor ceasefire violations in Yemen, was damaged by cross-border rocket fire on Monday.

A U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer was targeted in a failed missile attack from Yemen in October, and former President Barack Obama launched cruise missile strikes on coastal radar sites in Washington's first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen's conflict.

Also in October, a Saudi-led force rescued passengers from a vessel being used by the United Arab Emirates military that was attacked by Houthi fighters in the Bab al-Mandab strait, a strategic Red Sea shipping lane.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration says that more than 3.4 million barrels of oil passed through the 20 km (12 mile)-wide Bab al-Mandab each day in 2013.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies have carried out thousands of bombing raids in Yemen, as part of a campaign to restore the ousted internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. </s> A cruise missile strike on Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport launched from within Yemen has left at least 26 injured, officials in the desert kingdom have confirmed.

Houthi rebels in Yemen said they carried out the attack on the airport, in south-western Saudi Arabia, using cruise missiles. The Houthi rebels said the attacks were in response to “continued aggression” in Yemen by Saudi Arabia.

The number of wounded represent the largest civilian toll since Saudi Arabia became involved in the civil war in Yemen.

According to a Houthi military spokesman, the airport strike represents the beginning of a wider assault on Saudi as the group will target every airport in the kingdom. He said the coming days will reveal “big surprises”.

The Sun report: Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels promised to respond to what they said was a war crime.

According to Houthi-run Masirah TV, the rebels had launched a cruise missile attack on the airport, which is about 125 miles north of the border with Yemen.

Another Houthi spokesman, Brigadier General Yahia Sarie was quoted as saying that the missile hit and destroyed the airport’s traffic control tower. US-made air defense systems were unable to intercept the missile, he said.

The Saudi-led military coalition said, which has been fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen, said it would make a “firm” response.

A coalition statement, carried on Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV, said a projectile hit the arrivals hall at Abha airport, causing material damage.

Three women and two children were among the 26 wounded, who were of Saudi, Yemeni and Indian nationalities, it said.

Eight people were hospitalised and 18 sustained minor injuries, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said.

“Targeting Abha airport proves that the Houthis have obtained advanced weapons from Iran,” the coalition statement said, saying the attack could amount to a war crime.

The attack comes amid tensions in the Gulf, which has seen a massive US military build up in response to what it says are Iranian threats.

In May a pipeline in Saudi Arabia came under attack from drones armed with explosives flown by the rebels.

The Houthis have repeatedly launched drone and missile attacks on Saudi cities, but two Saudi sources said this was the first time an Aramco facility was hit by drones. </s> Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Pro-government forces recently launched a major offensive against Houthi rebels in Yemen

At least 20 people in the rebel-held Yemeni port city of Hudaydah have been killed in air strikes blamed on the Saudi-led coalition.

The strikes hit a fish market and the entrance to a nearby hospital, eyewitnesses and medics said.

However a Saudi spokesman said the coalition had not flown over Hudaydah, blaming the attack on rebels instead.

Six weeks ago, the Saudi-led coalition launched a major offensive to drive Houthi rebels out of the city.

Aid agencies have previously warned that any disruption to vital supplies coming through the key Red Sea port could affect millions of Yemenis, who rely on them to survive.

The Red Cross tweeted that it was sending medical supplies to help treat those severely wounded in Thursday's attack.

Among those killed or injured in Thursday's strikes were local fishermen who were attending the market on the sea front.

Eyewitnesses described seeing debris and two damaged ambulances close to a local hospital.

"The number of people killed in the two attacks has reached 20," a doctor at Hudaydah's main al-Thawra hospital told AFP news agency, adding that at least 60 people had been admitted with injuries.

Other reports put the death toll higher.

For a little more than three years, Yemen has been locked in a seemingly intractable civil war that has killed nearly 10,000 people - two-thirds of them civilians - and pushed millions to the brink of starvation, according to the United Nations.

Fighting began in 2014 when the Houthi Shia Muslim rebel movement took advantage of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi's weakness and seized control of northern Saada province and neighbouring areas. The Houthis went on to take the capital Sanaa, forcing Mr Hadi into exile in Saudi Arabia.

The conflict escalated dramatically in March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Arab states - backed by the US, UK, and France - began air strikes against the Houthis, with the declared aim of restoring Mr Hadi's government.

Speaking to the BBC last month, Mr Hadi said that military intervention by the Saudi-led coalition had gone on longer than expected, but said that the alternative option was far worse. </s> Saudi Arabia claims to have shot down seven ballistic missiles fired by Yemen's Houthi militia, with debris killing a man in what was the first death in the capital Riyadh during the Saudi-led coalition's three-year military campaign in Yemen.

Saudi forces destroyed three missiles over north-eastern Riyadh shortly before midnight, as well as others fired at the southern cities of Najran, Jizan and Khamis Mushait, the coalition said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

SPA said one man died and two other people were injured by "falling debris" in Riyadh.

However, videos shared online appeared to show a Saudi defence missile veering off course and crashing into a residential neighbourhood.

Reuters reporters in Riyadh heard several booms and saw smoke in the air.

Another witness said he saw a long stream of light followed by additional explosions.

In the al-Malqa neighbourhood, emergency personnel gathered near a crater in the ground and inspected shattered glass in nearby homes.

Iran' s state-owned Press TV claimed that a missile fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh but was intercepted.

It also claimed airports in Abha, Najran and Jizan were also targeted by missiles fired from Yemen.

The casualties were the first in Saudi Arabia's capital since the Saudi-led war in Yemen began in March 2015, although previous rockets fired by the Yemeni rebels caused deaths in other parts of the kingdom.

The attacks marked the third time in five months that missiles have flown over Riyadh, as the Houthis step up efforts to demonstrate they can reach the Saudi capital.

The missile attacks threaten to escalate a regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Houthi ballistic missiles have increased in range over time, with the first one targeting Riyadh fired in May last year, according to the United Nations.

The Saudi-led coalition of Gulf Arab states launched military operations against the Houthis in Yemen in March 2015, after the Iran-aligned Shiite militia seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa and forced President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi to flee.

Riyadh saw the move as a regional power grab by arch-foe Iran, although the Houthis deny any help from Tehran.

Saudi Arabia has called Iran's alleged supply of rockets to the Houthis "direct military aggression."

The United States, which provides support to the coalition, has also displayed what it said were Iranian-made weapons supplied to the Houthis, calling them conclusive evidence that Tehran was violating UN resolutions.

The conflict in Yemen has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced more than 2 million, unleashing a humanitarian crisis in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country where nearly 1 million people have been infected with cholera. </s> Alwaght-Leader of Yemen's Ansarullah movement Abdul Malik Badreddin al-Houthi has stressed that Saudi Arabia will eventually face defeat in its all-out military aggression against the country just as it failed in Syria and Yemen.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Akhbar daily newspaper published on Friday, Houthi said Saudi Arabia's policies in Yemen are doomed to failure, stressing that the Riyadh regime has not shied away from killing thousands of women and children, targeting crowded markets and social events such as weddings and bombing densely populated neighborhoods, schools and mosques in order to realize its goal of occupying the entire Yemeni soil.

He added that the Yemeni media outlets have sought to expose the extent of the tragedy and horror that the Saudi-led military aggression haunts Yemen and its nation.

The Ansarullah leader went on to say that the unjust economic blockade against Yemen is also aimed at limiting the movement of ordinary people, including patients who are in need of medical treatment abroad, restricting humanitarian supplies, devaluation of local currency, drying up the salaries of civil servants, starving the Yemeni people and destroying factories plus service facilities.

“The Yemeni people have however remained steadfast, and managed to confront all forms of aggression much to the surprise of Saudi-led forces, which though the Yemeni people would surrender within weeks after the military campaign,” he pointed out.

Al-Houthi said, “Saudi Arabia is now in the midst of unprecedented attrition as its political, economic, security and military problems continue to exacerbate.

The Ansarullah chief said Saudi Arabia is being used "like a milking cow" by Americans, emphasizing that US President Donald Trump has been more successful than his predecessor Barack Obama to get money out of the Riyadh regime.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Al-Houthi pointed to Yemen’s missile capabilities, underlining that the main goal is to reach the level of deterrence.

“Our missiles can now reach the heart of enemy areas. They have reached Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Above all, they have penetrated the US-made air defense systems which they heavily depend on. Our Burkan-2 (Volcano-2) ballistic missiles have reached al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh and go even longer,” he commented.

Al-Houthi said Yemen's resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, and a number of his administration members are currently being incarcerated inside Saudi Arabia.

About 14,000 people have been killed since the onset of Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Yemen in March 2015. Much of the Arabian Peninsula country's infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and factories, has been reduced to rubble due to the war.

The United Nations says a record 22.2 million people are in need of food aid, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.

In other remarks, al-Houthi Houthi rebels has warned that his fighters would unite with Hezbollah against Israel if a war erupted in Lebanon or Palestine.

He added that "our announcement that we are prepared to send fighters in any Israeli war against Lebanon or Palestine, is based on our principles".

The Ansarullah leader point out that the Israeli regime is "a true enemy" for every Arab and Muslim country, and if Yemen had borders with Lebanon or Palestine, the Ansarullah movement would participate in fighting with the Lebanese and Palestinians.

"We will not be reluctant to send fighters in a new war. Many of Yemen's tribesmen are ambitious to fight against Israel, and they are looking for the day to participate along with the freemen of the Islamic nation against the Israeli enemy," he added.

He said they had informed Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of their intent to fight. The Ansarullah leader revealed that they had intercepted Israeli regime's military activities in the Red Sea and Mandeb Strait, and added that there had been some Israeli air strikes on the Yemeni coast.

Al Houthi also revealed that the Israeli regime had participated alongside UAE officers in planning several military activities in Yemen. </s> Red Cross says strike hit bus at market in Dahyan, in rebel-held north of country

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Saudi Arabia is facing an international outcry after at least 29 children were among dozens of civilians killed by a US-backed Saudi-led coalition airstrike that hit a bus in Yemen’s Houthi rebel-held north.

The attack was the latest coalition bombing raid to hit civilians; previous airstrikes have hit markets, schools and hospitals. Humanitarian workers on the ground said the latest incident must shake the world’s conscience about atrocities committed continuing during Yemen’s deadlocked three-year war.

Save the Children, quoting its staff on the ground, said the children were on a bus heading back to school from a picnic at the time of the attack when the driver stopped to get a drink at the market in Dahyan, in Sa’ada governorate.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), one of the few humanitarian institutions helping civilians in war-torn Yemen, said its team at an ICRC-supported hospital in Sa’ada had received the bodies of 29 children, all under 15 years old. It also received 48 wounded people, including 30 children, it said.

“Under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected during conflict,” the ICRC tweeted.

Abdul-Ghani Sareeh, from the Sa’ada health department, told Reuters the attack had killed 43 people and wounded 63.

The attack was condemned by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, who called for “an independent and prompt investigation”.



“The secretary general emphasises that all parties must take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations,” said a spokesman for Guterres.

The Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV broadcast unverified footage of dead and bloodied children, many still carrying their blue Unicef rucksacks, being transferred to a hospital.

In a statement carried by the official Saudi press agency, the Saudi-led coalition called the strike a “legitimate military action” targeting elements responsible for a Houthi missile attack on the Saudi city of Jizan on Wednesday. “[The airstrikes] conformed to international and humanitarian laws,” the statement said. It accused the Iran-aligned Houthis of using children as human shields.

The coalition, also backed by the UAE, launched a military intervention in Yemen in 2015 aimed at countering the advances of the Houthi rebels, who are viewed by Riyadh as Iranian proxies, and reinstating the ousted president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The International Rescue Committee said it was appalled by Thursday’s incident and called for an inquiry.

The IRC’s Yemen country director, Frank McManus, said: “Today should be the day the world wakes up to the atrocities going on in Yemen … a bus full of school children cannot be viewed as mere collateral damage. Even wars have rules, but rules without consequences mean nothing. If there is any chance of innocent lives, especially those of children, being lost in an attack, that attack should not take place.”

Unicef’s regional director in the Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere, asked: “Does the world really need more innocent children’s lives to stop the cruel war on children in Yemen?”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A doctor treats an injured child. Photograph: Naif Rahma/Reuters

In Washington, a state department spokeswoman Heather Nauert called for the coalition to investigate the incident.

“We are certainly concerned about the reports that there was an attack that resulted in the deaths of civilians,” she said. “We call on the Saudi-led coalition to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident.”

Recent fighting in Yemen has focused on the port city of Hodeidah, through which most of Yemen’s aid and food arrives.



Saudi and UAE forces have advanced towards Hodeidah, which is held by the Houthis, prompting an intensification of Houthi missile attacks on Saudi targets. Two Houthi missile attacks on oil tankers off the Yemeni coast in recent weeks led to Saudi Arabia temporarily suspending oil shipments through the strategic shipping lane of Bab al-Mandeb.

The Saudi-led coalition was accused of carrying out airstrikes on 2 August near a fish market and hospital in Hodeidah that killed 55 people and injured 130 more.

The UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that since June, when fighting around Hodeidah escalated, its partners in the area had registered 50,500 displaced households.

“So many people have died in Yemen – this conflict has to stop,” said Lise Grande, the UN’s Yemen humanitarian coordinator.

Helen Lackner, author of Yemen in Crisis: Autocracy, Neo-Liberalism and the Disintegration of a State , said any escalation of war in Hodeidah would be catastrophic.

“From the humanitarian point of view, [any escalation of war in Hodaidah city] will be a disaster. It will cause massive worsening of disease, cholera, of death, or hunger,” she said. “The remaining population in Hodaideh, which must be at least 400,000 people, are going to have an extremely bad time because street-by-street fighting plus airstrikes on low-quality cement buildings is going to be really damaging.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Smoke rises after an airstrike over Yemen. Photograph: Mohamed Al-Sayaghi/Reuters

The coalition has been criticised for repeatedly targeting civilian areas, including markets and hospitals, during the conflict, which has claimed more than 10,000 lives and left millions of people on the brink of starvation.

UN envoy confirms first Yemen peace talks in two years Read more

It carried out 258 airstrikes on Yemen in June alone, nearly a third of which hit residential areas, according to the Yemen Data Project, an independent group collecting statistics about the conflict.

The situation in Yemen has been described as the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis. Between January and May, aid agencies helped 7.5 million people, the OCHA said this month. The Houthis also stand accused of causing civilian deaths.

According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade, the UK has licensed £4.7bn worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia since 2015, including £2.7bn worth of aircraft, helicopters, and drones, and £1.9bn worth of weapons systems such as grenades, bombs and missiles.

Andrew Smith, from the organisation, said: “This atrocity cannot be ignored. The UK government has been utterly complicit in the destruction. It has armed and supported the Saudi-led coalition right from the start. The death toll has spiralled and the humanitarian crisis has only got worse, and yet the arms sales have continued.”

Fabian Hamilton, the shadow minister for peace and disarmament, called on Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt to suspend all arms export licences to Saudi Arabia until a ceasefire is agreed in Yemen. “The idea that British weapons could have been used in this attack, in which innocent children have died, is sickening,” he said. </s> Yemen's Houthis launched an attack on Abha civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia on Sunday that killed one person and wounded 21 others, the Saudi-led coalition battling the group in Yemen said.

Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV earlier said that the rebels had targeted Abha and Jizan airports in the south of the kingdom with drone attacks.

"A terrorist attack by the Iran-backed Houthi militia targeted Abha airport, killing a Syrian resident and wounding 21 civilians," the coalition said in a statement carried on Saudi state television.

It did not confirm an attack on Jizan airport, the Reuters news agency reported.

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV said a suspected drone hit the parking lot in Abha airport, which is about 200km north of the Yemen border and serves domestic and regional routes.

Saudi state TV said flights had resumed at the airport, where operations were now running normally.

Earlier this month, a Houthi missile hit Abha airport in a strike that wounded 26 people.

The Western-backed coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) intervened in Yemen in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised government that was ousted from power in Sanaa by the Houthis in late 2014.

The Saudi-led coalition has continued its campaign of air strikes against Houthi-held areas which has caused thousands of deaths since 2015.

The Houthis have stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities in the past month amid rising tension between Iran and Gulf Arab states allied to the United States.

Riyadh has accused Iran of supplying the Houthis with the weapon used in the 13 June attack on Abha airport. Tehran and the Houthis deny coalition charges that Iran supplies the Houthis with missiles and drones.

The coalition has targeted Houthi military sites around the capital Sanaa and Hodeidah port city.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Britain and the US, in a joint statement published by the Saudi Embassy in Washington on Sunday, voiced concern about the escalation in Houthi attacks - without any mention of the latest drone launches.

The quartet also voiced concern about "dangers posed by Iranian destabilising activity" to peace and security both in Yemen and the broader region, citing attacks on oil tankers in Gulf waters.

Tehran has denied involvement in the tanker attacks, which no one has claimed responsibility for.

On Twitter, some Saudis expressed frustration over the latest attack on Abha airport and called it "an act of terrorism".

Others mourned the death of the Syrian resident killed in the attack.

The escalation in violence threatens a UN-sponsored deal for a ceasefire and troop withdrawal from Hodeidah, which became the focus of the war last year when the coalition tried to seize the port, the Houthis' main supply line and a lifeline for millions of Yemenis.

The quartet's statement called on all Yemeni parties to engage constructively with UN special envoy Martin Griffiths to accelerate implementation of the agreement.

The deal, reached at peace talks in Sweden last December, had stalled for months before the Houthis unilaterally withdrew from three Red Sea ports in Hodeidah last month.

The Saudi-led alliance has yet to verify the redeployment or meet it by pulling back pro-coalition troops massed on the outskirts of Hodeidah.
Houthis warn of worse attacks if Saudi Arabia continues its escalation and aggression in Yemen.