At Least Eight Civilians Killed as Saudi Warplanes Pound Yemen Capital

Several Beekeepers Among the Slain in Latest Raids

The Saudi military has been talking up an escalation of the war against Yemen all week, announcing thousands of additional foreign troops to enter the country, but today seemed once again to be focused on their ongoing campaign of airstrikes against the capital city of Sanaa.

As usual, the airstrikes only hit “near” military targets, and at least eight civilians were confirmed kill in the attacks, including six beekeepers who were hit in an air salvo against a honey farm. Officials described the beekeepers as being killed “by mistake.”

Elsewhere, one of the major private hospitals in Sanaa was battered by constant explosions, and a number of the patients fled the building, fearing it was going to collapse from the strikes pounding the area, which was near military sites.

The civilian toll at this point is still very preliminary, with a number of ambulances struggling to make their way through the rubble and get to the casualties of the strikes. In addition to attacks near military bases, a number of residential areas were also hit, in apparent attempts to bomb the homes of political leaders seen as friendly to the Shi’ite Houthi movement.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.