Saudi Airstrike Kills Seven Civilians in Yemen’s Hodeidah

Attack targeted bus of civilians fleeing attack on port

With the Saudi offensive against the vital Yemeni aid port of Hodeidah continuing, airstrikes continue to inflict more and more civilian casualties. On Tuesday night, the strikes targeted a bus carrying civilians trying to flee the city, killing seven.

The strikes hit the bus as it was leaving the city. Saudi officials have yet to comment on the matter, and this is the latest of several incidents of them attacking a busload of civilians for no apparent reason.

As Saudi-backed forces entered the city over the weekend, civilians are increasingly desperate to flee residential areas. It isn’t clear where the civilians will go, and leaving is dangerous itself, but Hodeidah is clearly no longer safe.

The UN has been warning about the fate of hundreds of thousands trapped in the area, noting in particular that there are 10,000 pregnant women trapped in the area, and the city’s last functional hospital is right in the midst of the fighting, inaccessible to most.

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.