Locals Report Heaviest Saudi Airstrikes Yet Against Yemen Capital

Several Schools Evacuated as Neighborhoods Pounded

While Saudi airstrikes were picking up against sites across Yemen since the abandonment of the ceasefire a few days ago, locals today reported the heaviest airstrikes against the capital city of Sanaa seen yet in the nine months of war.

That’s saying something, since early in the Saudi war against Yemen they were pounding military bases across Sanaa, causing huge explosions that killed a lot of civilians. There aren’t really big military targets left, but that’s not stopping the airstrikes.

In just the past two days, reports out of Sanaa have suggested Saudi warplanes destroyed the chamber of commerce, damaged the Iranian embassy, and also badly damaged a treatment center for the blind. The presidential palace and several residential neighborhoods were targeted today.

Locals said that many of the schools in Sanaa were evacuated in a panic when large explosions were heard in the surrounding area. Casualty figures in the strikes are still not clear, but are believed to be significant.

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.