Civilian Death Toll on the Rise as Saudi Arabia Leads Airstrikes on Yemen

Photograph shared by Yemeni journalist Nasser Arrabyee on Twitter  @narrabyee on Twitter

Photograph shared by Yemeni journalist Nasser Arrabyee
@narrabyee on Twitter

A total of 18 civilians have been killed and 24 people injured as Saudi Arabia and its allies bombed Houthi rebels in airstrikes on Yemen early this morning, announced the Yemeni Ministry of Health.

A 10-nation coalition which includes Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Sudan, Morocco, Pakistan, Egypt and Jordan have started airstrikes against Yemen to fight Houthi rebels, who have taken control of Yemen in January. Dubbed Operation Decisive Storm, the operation has the full blessing of the US, a key Saudi ally.

On Twitter, the human toll of the attack came to light as Yemenis woke up to the carnage in the capital Sanaa. The first airstrike took place just after 2 am.

Yemen Updates tweets:

Yemeni political activist Ammar al-Aulaqi tweeted that families were fleeing Sanaa after the airstrikes resumed at 6:09am:

Just like Ammar el Aulaqui, several Yemeni Twitter users are sharing photographs of the destruction caused by the airstrikes, that hit several civilian neighbourhoods in the north of Sanaa.

 

Yemeni journalist, Nasser Arrabyee also tweeted about the civilian houses destroyed by the attack.

Yemeni blogger and activist Afrah Nasser tweeted that the current situation in Aden is a bloody street war with several causalities.

She also highlighted the humanitarian crisis that will only get worse after these attacks, since in Yemen more than 15.9 million people are in need of some kind of humanitarian assistance.

Finally, Hisham Al-Omeisi tweets reflect that the civilian death and injury toll is only going to increase given that there is no infrastructure in place to protect the civilians during war time, especially against airstrikes.   

Stay tuned for more coverage from Yemen.

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