ADEN, Yemen, Mar 3 (NNN-SABA) – At least three Yemeni civilians were killed, while 10 others injured, when intensified Houthi shelling targeted residential neighbourhoods in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, a government official said.
The source said, Houthi fighters launched an intensified shelling against government-controlled sites and residential areas in Tuhyata district of Hodeidah province.
He said that around 45 mortar shells were fired randomly by the Houthi rebels against Tuhyata, leaving three civilians killed and nearly 10 others critically injured.
A medical official confirmed that “the field hospitals couldn’t cope with the increased number of injured civilians, as a result of the indiscriminate Houthi shelling.”
“Some seriously injured people, including civilians were shifted to receive treatment at hospitals in Aden province,” the source said.
A statement revealed by the pro-government Giants Brigades, blamed the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for “committing a new massacre in Hodeidah.”
A source of the pro-government forces said, “Houthis started attacking our military locations and there will be a response for that violation.”
“Today (yesterday), the Houthi rebels stepped military operations with no respect for the cease-fire brokered by the United Nations in Hodeidah,” the source added.
The warring forces have so far failed to withdraw from Hodeidah and its southern districts, in accordance with the UN-sponsored Stockholm Peace Agreement reached last Dec.
The deal aimed to avert an all-out offensive on the lifeline port city, which is the key entry of Yemen’s most commercial imports and international aid.
The four-year civil war has killed more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, displaced three million others, and pushed the country to the brink of famine.– NNN-SABA
