Houthis: Gov't air raids targeting civilian areas

Image:A file photo showing a damaged building in the northwestern Yemeni province of Sa'dah

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Tue, 15 Sep 2009

A file photo showing a damaged building in the northwestern Yemeni province of Sa'dah

Houthi fighters, who are engaged in heavy fighting with government forces in northern Yemen, say the army is bombing civilian areas in Sa'dah province.

Military aircraft bombarded Baqim refugee camp, near the northern border with Saudi Arabia, and civilian areas in the city of Dhahyan, announced the Zaidi Shia fighters.

They also said that the air raids had inflicted heavy damages on homes, markets and other public areas.

The announcement came as intense fighting continued between the fighters and government troops on a route linking Harf Sufyan in the northern Yemeni province of Amran with Sa'dah city.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said earlier that clashes in the past month displaced around 50,000 people, bringing the total count to 150,000 since 2004.

This is while international aid agencies warn that the deteriorating humanitarian situation in northern Yemen has displaced another 35,000 people in just the past few days.

Based on figures released by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), close to 75,000 children have also been directly affected by the unrest.

"Due to the ongoing fighting and lack of security, many of the displaced have been beyond the reach of the aid community," says UNICEF's chief communications and information officer.

Humanitarian organizations have repeatedly called on both sides of the conflict to open humanitarian corridors and allow urgently needed relief items to reach civilians and the displaced.

Since 2004, the Yemeni army and the Zaidi Shia fighters have been fighting a war which has claimed the lives of thousands.

After just over a year of relative peace, a fifth round of fighting broke out on August 11 as the Yemeni government launched a new wave of attacks against the northern provinces of Sa'dah and Amran.

The Yemeni government accuses the Houthis of trying to restore a Zaidi imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 coup.

The rebels, however, say they are defending their people, which make up around 40 percent of Yemen's overall population and the clear majority in the north, against religious oppression. They say they fighting for their civil rights.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=106230