Arab Coalition targeted forces loyal to Yemen’s Saleh in Sana’a

Arab Coalition fighter jets bombarded areas in the Yemeni capital of Sana on early Wednesday, targeting the forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. According to sources, the coalition aircrafts bombed the camp of Rima Hamid of former President Saleh in the Directorate of Sanhan south of the capital Sanaa.

Arab coalition forces have destroyed a large weapons warehouse belonging to the Houthi militias and ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Jabal Dhofar area in the southwest of the capital Sana’a. Eye witness accounts confirmed hearing a chain of explosions across the capital. The warehouse erupted into flames after being raided several times last night.

Similarly, military sources in Saada, the west of Yemen, have noted that several border areas have been the target of dozens of raids. Coalition aircraft have targeted the militias’ rocket-launching platforms in Baqim border. They have also targeted militia sites and units in al-Thu’ban, Mersa, Saddad and Kataf.

Meanwhile, in the north-west governorate of Hajjah in Yemen, air raids were carried out on more than 15 sites and militia targets in the southern parts of Harad and Medi. Violent clashes have routinely been taking place in these areas.

At least 43 civilians were killed Saturday by a fresh round of U.S.-led airstrikes on the northern city of Raqqa, state news agency SANA reported. SANA said the victims lost their lives when the U.S.-led warplanes carried out several air raids at noon Saturday, targeting residential areas in Raqqa. This comes hours after seven children were killed in Raqqa overnight Friday.

SANA said the U.S. coalition went on a spree of airstrikes targeting the residential areas in the city. Meanwhile, Dina Asa'ad, a Raqqa-based official in the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), said the coalition carried out an attack on Thursday evening on Raqqa with white phosphorous.

In remarks carried by SANA, Asa'ad said the white phosphorous bombs struck the National Hospital in Raqqa. "Over 20 bombs struck the hospital, which damaged the electricity generators, ambulances and several wards inside the hospital," she was quoted as saying. The hospital serves over 100,000 people in the city, she noted.

Asa'ad pointed out that there is no presence of the IS militants in the hospital, adding that what Raqqa is subject to cannot be fighting terrorism, but destruction. "The attacks targeted schools and bakeries. Even the government institutions have been completely destroyed as well as the water wells in the city," she said.

Fawaz Assaf, the head of SARC in Raqqa, said the U.S.-led coalition and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are jointly fighting IS in Raqqa, are implementing the "scorched land" tactic. Over 65 governmental institutions and buildings have been completely obliterated, he said, adding that the sugar factory is the most important of those destroyed establishments.

He added that the shelling and airstrikes hit the schools, banks, marketplaces, and bakeries, noting that the streets have become empty of buyers. Two months ago, the SDF, with help of the U.S., unleashed a wide-scale offensive to drive out IS from Raqqa, seizing control of 45 percent of the city.

But the Syrian government has countlessly complained to the UN Security Council about what it described as "the crimes of the coalition" in targeting civilians and destroying infrastructure. The Syria Foreign Ministry has urged the UN to dissolve the U.S.-led coalition, which started its operations in Syria in 2014.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned Tuesday of the rising trend recently of air strikes targeting civilians in Yemen, urging for an end to such practices.

The ICRC said it was extremely alarmed about recent air strikes that had killed and injured dozens of civilians in the Saada and Taiz governorates in Yemen. In the latest air strike, nine members of one family were killed and three critically injured. The casualties were between three and 80 years old.

"Our colleagues have been to the village of Mahda, on the outskirts of Saada city, where they saw a house literally flattened by the explosion, while a crater showed where the impact had occurred," said Alexandre Faite, head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen.

"We strongly deplore the trend whereby public places, such as markets, as well as private houses, have been targeted by the belligerents. This is a pattern that runs counter to the basic tenets of the law of armed conflict, and it must be stopped."