Saudi airstrike off Hudaydah coast leaves 13 Yemeni fishermen dead

Yemeni military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity on Sunday, told Yemen’s al-Masirah television network that Saudi warplanes struck two fishing boats in waters off the Seven Brothers Islands, also known as the Sawabi Islands or Seba Islands, in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, killing 13 people and injuring four others.

The sources added that another four Yemeni fishermen remained unaccounted for.

Later in the day, scores of Saudi troopers and Saudi-backed Yemeni militiamen loyal to the former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, were killed and injured as Yemeni army troops, backed by allied fighters from Popular Committees, made territorial advances in the Hayran district of the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah.

Moreover, Yemeni troopers and their allies shot and killed five Saudi mercenaries at the al-Alab border crossing of the kingdom’s southwestern border region of Asir.

Some 15,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the onset of the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen in March 2015.

The United Nations says a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in need of food aid, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.

A high-ranking UN aid official has warned against the “catastrophic” living conditions in Yemen, stating there is a growing risk of famine and cholera there.

“The conflict has escalated since November, driving an estimated 100,000 people from their homes,” John Ging, UN director of aid operations, told the UN Security Council on February 27.