Saudis Increase Airstrikes Against Yemen, Strikes Reported Nationwide

At Least 20 Strikes Reported on Thursday

After a Tuesday announcement by Saudi forces that they were ending the airstrikes against Yemen, they launched a handful of strikes Wednesday. Officials downplayed that too, saying they were “winding down” the operation.

Today, the air campaign seems less wound down than ever, with an increasing number of strikes being reported all across the nation, at least 20 separate incidents in total.

Beginning their strikes at the start of the month, Saudi warplanes have killed over 1,000 people in Yemen, including hundreds of civilians. This is only part of the humanitarian disaster the war is causing, however.

Perhaps the bigger calamity in the long run will be the Saudi-led naval blockade of Yemen, as the nation imports over 90% of its food, almost entirely by sea. Though they aren’t formally banning food shipments from entering the country in theory, in practice they’ve virtually halted such shipments, keeping cargo ships stranded off coast for weeks on end awaiting interminable searches.

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.