90 Killed in Saudi Airstrike on Yemeni Capital

Over 300 Reported Wounded in Deadliest Strike Yet

In the lead-up to the Tuesday ceasefire, Saudi warplanes escalated their strikes on Yemen, with one attack on a rocket base in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa setting off a series of explosions that killed 90, including a large number of civilians, and wounded 300.

The rocket depot was on Mount Noqum on the outskirts of Sanaa, and the ensuing explosions sent a cascade of debris off the mountain top and down onto residential neighborhoods below.

This is just the latest in a long line of Yemeni military depots attacked by the Saudis which caused large civilian tolls. Saudi officials have in the past defended those explosions as proof that the depots, still under control of what is left of the Yemeni military, were being used by the Shi’ite Houthis.

As the civilian death toll soars in the war, much of Yemen’s military, such as it is, has been seen backing the Houthis against the Saudi attacks, a move that has been greatly bolstered by long-time dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh, a former foe of the Houthis, urging his supporters to resist the Saudis after his house was destroyed in an airstrike.

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.