Several Yemeni Civilians Killed by Saudi Military As Riyadh Underlines ‘Political Solution’

At least five civilians lost their lives in separate shelling and shooting attacks by Saudi forces across Yemen, on the same day that the kingdom’s cabinet alleged the regime was seeking a political solution to the war on Yemen.

Local sources told Yemen’s al-Masirah television network that a couple lost their lives when Saudi-backed militants opened fire on them in an area of the Salh district of the southwestern Ta’izz province late Tuesday. A man sustained gunshot wounds as well.

A civilian was also killed in Raqou area of the Monabbih district in northwestern province of Sa’ada, when Saudi border guards fired indiscriminate shots.

Earlier in the day, Saudi forces shelled a residential neighborhood in the Rahabah district of Yemen’s central province of Ma’rib, leaving a couple dead and a woman seriously wounded.

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers claimed in a statement that the country, along with the United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States, remained committed to a political solution to the ongoing crisis in Yemen, the pro-government Okaz newspaper reported.

The cabinet also noted Riyadh supported the efforts by new UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg towards resolving the situation.

Meanwhile, Saudi warplanes conducted nearly two dozen airstrikes against residential neighborhoods across Yemen on Tuesday evening.

They repeatedly bombed the Sirwah district in the central province of Ma’rib.

Saudi jets also conducted six aerial assaults against the al-Abdiyah district, and bombarded the Mahliyah district in the same province.

There were, however, no immediate reports about possible casualties and the extent of damage.

Warplanes also launched three airstrikes against the Nati' district in Yemen’s central province of Bayda.

Additionally, Saudi warplanes carried out an air raid against the Kitaf wa Al Boqe'e district in Yemen’s Sa’ada province.

Separately, forces of the Saudi-led military coalition and their mercenaries violated 226 times a ceasefire agreement in the western coastal province of Hudaydah during the past 24 hours.

An unnamed source in Yemen’s Liaison and Coordination Officers Operations Room said the violations included 17 reconnaissance flights over various regions, including Hays, al-Fazza, al-Jabaliya and al-Jah neighborhoods, in addition to 56 counts of artillery shelling and 145 shooting incidents.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and regional allies, launched a war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi’s government back to power and crushing popular Ansarullah resistance movement.

The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases.

Yemeni armed forces and allied Popular Committees, however, have grown steadily in strength against the Saudi-led invaders, and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.