The Saudi-led military coalition said on early Sunday that the Houthi rebels launched four attacks on the kingdom, state media reported.
The attacks damaged civilian cars and homes but caused no casualties, it said.
It was the latest escalation in a slate of Houthi cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia, just as peace talks between the two sides remain stalled. The ongoing conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels has taken a devastating toll on Yemen since 2015.
A facility run by state-owned oil company Aramco in Jizan, southern Saudi Arabia was targeted by the Houthis early Sunday, the coalition said.
They also hit a desalination plant in Al-Shaqeeq, a power station in the southern Dhahran al Janub city, and a gas facility in Khamis Mushait, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Photos and a video clip posted by the state news agency showed firefighters tackling a blaze at the power station.
Local news outlet Al Ain later reported the coalition saying that it intercepted and destroyed nine drones launched in the kingdom’s southern region that targeted economic facilities.
The coalition also foiled an attack on an Aramco Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility in the Saudi port city of Yanbu, according to state television.
Sunday’s attacks come days after an oil refinery in the Saudi capital Riyadh was hit by a drone strike on March 10. The attack was claimed by the Houthis.
What’s the latest in the conflict?
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council invited the Houthis for talks on Yemen on the conflict in Riyadh from March 29.
But earlier this week, the rebels said they would welcome talks with the coalition if the venue is a neutral country, including some Gulf states.
It also said that the priority was lifting “arbitrary” restrictions on Yemeni ports and Sanaa airport.
Yemen has been drawn into a civil war since 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthis ousted the government.
The rebels took control of the country’s northern parts, including the capital, Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government to flee to the south.
The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the rebels in Yemen since 2015.
In response, the Houthis have frequently targeted the kingdom’s southern region with missile and drone attacks.
adi/jcg (AFP, Reuters)
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Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
Shortage of aid
The humanitarian crisis in war-torn Yemen is getting worse again. According to the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP), 13 million people there are in danger of starvation. This is due to the ongoing civil war in Yemen and a shortage of humanitarian aid.
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Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
High dependency
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many more people are going hungry. Yemen is one of the most deprived countries, with more than 40% of the population dependent on WFP deliveries.
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Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
Running out of money
“We’re feeding 13 million people out of a nation of 30 million people and we are running out of money,” David Beasley, the head of the WFP, told the Associated Press recently. “So, what am I gonna do for the children in Yemen? Steal it from the children in Ethiopia, or Afghanistan, or Nigeria or in Syria? That’s not right,” he said.
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Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
Incomplete aid packages
At the moment only those who could die of starvation are actually receiving their full ration, said Corinne Fleischer, director of the WFP’s program for the Middle East and North Africa. That equals about five million people. And the donations so far only cover 18% of the almost $2 billion (€1.8 billion) that the WFP needs for its work in Yemen.
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Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
Ukraine war worsens hunger
The Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens to makes things even worse here because the WFP was sourcing around half of its wheat from Ukraine. Even before the war began, prices had risen so much that wheat had to be rationed. The World Bank has also suggested that the Ukraine war will bring about worse famine.
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Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
Bloody civil war
A bloody civil war, in which external states have got involved, has been ongoing in Yemen for the past seven years. Since 2015, a Saudi Arabia-led coalition has fought the Iran-supported Houthi rebels, who now control most of the country. This includes the capital, Sanaa.
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Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
Chaos in Aden
The southern city of Aden has been controlled by separatists since 2020 and has been the base of the internationally recognized government, headed by Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, since the Houthis pushed it out of Sanaa. Terrorist groups are active in Aden — this picture shows the aftermath of an attack that killed eight in 2021.
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Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
No shelter
The battle for the oil-rich city of Marib was particularly harsh. The city is seen as strategically important and was the last bastion of the officially recognized government in the north. The fighting just goes on here, with the Saudis continually bombing the area. Civilians are forced to keep moving their displaced persons camps because the frontlines keep shifting.
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Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
Hospitals full up
Health care in Yemen is even worse than it was before. The ongoing war as well as the COVID-19 pandemic have only made things more dire in the poorest country on the Arabian peninsula.
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Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
Schools bombed
In a 2021 report, UNICEF said that education has been one of the Yemen war’s biggest casualties. More than 2 million school-age girls and boys are not attending classes. That is twice as many children as before the war started. Many schools have been bombed.
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Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
Spiral of misery
Power, clean water, petrol — there’s always something missing in Yemen. The queues at petrol stations just keep getting longer. Without more funding for aid, this downward spiral of misery will only continue.
Author: Diana Hodali
Yemen’s Houthi rebels hit Aramco, other facilities in Saudi Arabia
Source:
Pinoy Pop News
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