Nine civilians killed in Saudi air raids on Yemen

At least nine civilians have been killed in the latest airstrikes carried out by Saudi Arabia on Yemen.

According to the latest reports from the beleaguered country on Wednesday, Saudi warplanes targeted vehicles on the main road linking the Yemeni provinces of Shabwah and al-Bayda, killing at least seven farmers in the area.

Saudi fighter jets also pounded the main road between the Yemeni capital Sana’a and the western Yemeni port city of Hudaydah, and killed two people and wounded eight others.

Saudi jets bombed several positions in the provinces of Sa’ada and Hajjah that were also hit by Saudi rocket and artillery attacks.

There has been no report on the number of casualties caused or the size of damage inflicted on the provinces.

Earlier in the day, Saudi fighter jets targeted Yemen’s northwestern province of Amran and destroyed a bridge there.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Saudi Arabia provided the militants loyal to the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, with “weapons and military assistance.”

“A Saudi military plane landed at Aden airport this afternoon carrying weapons and military assistance” to militants loyal to Hadi, the Jordanian news website al-Bawaba quoted an airport official as saying.

In retaliation for the deadly Saudi airstrikes, the Yemeni army backed by popular committees targeted Saudi military bases in the southwestern province of Jizan with rockets and artillery shells.

The Yemeni forces, in separate attacks, targeted gatherings of Saudi soldiers and military vehicles in the region.

Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen without a UN mandate in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to restore power to Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Tuesday that at least 1,693 civilians had been killed and 3,829 others injured since 26 March in the Arab country. However, local sources say over 4,500 people have lost their lives in the Saudi onslaught.

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