WORLD
Saudi strikes on port, oil facility in Yemen wound seven
Houthi media also reported strikes on Sunday targeting the faculty of medicine at Hodeidah University.
SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — Yemen’s Houthis said Monday that Saudi strikes targeted a key Red Sea port and oil facility in Hodeidah province, wounding seven people.
The Iran-backed group is fighting a Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government after a civil war reignited in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Saudi-coalition strikes on Ras Issa port wounded four civilians, while three more were hurt in an attack on an oil facility in Bajil district, Houthi health ministry spokesperson Anees Alasbahi said in a post on X.
“These repeated attacks on oil facilities and vital ports constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and add to the series of war crimes in Yemen that target civilians and critical infrastructure,” he said.
The Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV channel said earlier that Saudi Arabia had attacked a pier and commercial ship on Ras Issa port.
Hodeidah has the biggest seaport under Houwthi control and is a key entry point for food and aid to areas they hold.
The Ras Issa port, north of the city, also serves to import and store oil.
Houthi media also reported strikes on Sunday targeting the faculty of medicine at Hodeidah University, in the same province, while two residents told Agence France-Presse they heard an explosion in the area.
The Saudi-led coalition said it had conducted “a precision operation to neutralize vital resources” used by the Houthis.
A fragile 2022 truce in Yemen’s civil war fell apart in July after the Houthis allowed an Iranian plane to land in the capital Sanaa in defiance of Saudi control over Yemeni airspace, setting off a spate of attacks.
The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since fighting in Yemen reignited.