Saudi Arabia has led 30 attacks on several targets in the Al-Dailami airbase, which is located in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen. According to U.S. News, the air-base had been used by Houthi forces “to launch drone and ballistic missile attacks.”
RELATED:
Yemeni Death Toll From Saudi-led War in Five Times Higher Than Previously Reported: Study
This recent attack takes place just a few days after the Red Cross warned of a “catastrophic” situation in Yemen, in which the basic necessities of some 20 million people are not being met. The Red Cross also added that millions of underserved people are suffering due to the effects of famine and are in need of aid, making Yemen “the world’s single largest humanitarian crisis.”
“People in Yemen face two horrifying menaces: war and hunger. Civilians have paid the heaviest price for the conflict. Millions are displaced and millions go to bed hungry every night,” Fabrizio Carboni, from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC,), explained.
Among some of the issues experienced by Yemen are, due to the conflict, are: the depreciation of the currency, the Riyal; reduction of imports; difficulty in internal mobilization; increasing cost of living as basic products as sugar, rice and milk have increased in price (by 30 percent since last month); a lack of clean water and medication. The infrastructure has also become vulnerable and a spike in infectious diseases, such as cholera and measles, have become prevalent, according to the ICRC.
“We estimate that the number of killed to be 56,000 civilians and combatants between January 2016 and October 2018,” as a result of the war, Andrea Carboni, from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), said.
The Yemeni Civil War began in 2015, as a conflict waged between the government and the Houthi forces.
Starting in 2001, the United States became involved in aerial bombings against jihadist groups, and, in 2009, backed a land-based campaign against al-Qaida forces.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia became involved in leading a military intervention to oust the internationally recognized government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Iran, another important player in the ongoing Yemen conflict, is an ally of the Houthis.