Scores of African migrants killed by a U.S. strike on a detention center in Saada are among the casualties of multilateral attacks on Yemen in recent days, Aseel Saleh reports.
An F/A-18E Super Hornet launching from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier during Red-Sea operations against Houthis forces in Yemen on March 28. (US Navy)
By Aseel Saleh
Peoples Dispatch
Israel, the U.S. and the U.K. have conducted a drastic escalation of assaults on Yemen over the last few days. A series of airstrikes targeting multiple sites in different areas across the Arab country have killed dozens, and wounding scores of others.
On Saturday, April 26, Israeli warplanes struck a power plant and fuel storage facilities in Hodeidah Port, in western Yemen. At least six people were killed in the assault, all of them port employees of the Yemen Petroleum Company, Arab News reports. The attack reportedly destroyed most of the port’s fuel-storage capacity estimated at 150,000 tons, leaving Hodeidah governorate with an overall capacity of 50,000 tons.
US Strikes Migrant Shelter
On Sunday, April 27, at least 68 African migrants were killed, as a U.S. airstrike targeted a facility sheltering migrants in Yemen’s northwestern governorate of Saada.
The emergency teams of Yemen’s Mine Action Center said on Tuesday that they participated in recovering the bodies of the facility victims, and that they discovered remnants of the banned U.S.-manufactured GBU-39 JDAM bunker-buster bomb at the site of the aerial raid. The center denounced the use of such highly explosive weapons against civilian infrastructure, which “constitutes a grave violation of international law under Article 8 of the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols.”
U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said on Wednesday that he was “deeply alarmed” by the attack on the migrants’ facility, AFP reported. Grundberg urged all parties “to take the necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and ensure accountability for every loss of civilian life.”
Grundberg, on screen, briefing the Security Council on March 6. (UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe)
The U.N. official called on all actors “to prioritize de-escalation, exercise restraint, and focus on efforts toward a negotiated, peaceful future for Yemen.”
US & UK Strike Buildings in Yemen
On Tuesday, the U.K. joined the U.S. in carrying out a new wave of airstrikes, which targeted a cluster of buildings located 24 kilometers away from Yemen’s capital Sanaa. The coalition claimed that the targeted buildings were used by Yemen’s Ansar Allah to manufacture a type of drones used to attack ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. No casualties were reported from the attack so far.
UK forces conducted a joint operation with US allies against a Houthi military facility in Yemen yesterday.
Defence Secretary @JohnHealey_MP explains ? pic.twitter.com/KWOQpmu3MQ
— Ministry of Defence ?? (@DefenceHQ) April 30, 2025
On the same day, the U.S. also launched a series of separate airstrikes in different districts in Sanaa including Bani Hushaysh, Al-Husn, Hamdan and Bani Matar. In addition, six U.S. airstrikes targeted Bart al-Anan district in the northeastern governorate of Al-Jawf, and four airstrikes targeted Sahar district in Saadah.
US Hit 1000 Targets Across Yemen Since Mid-March
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday, that U.S. fighter jets have struck more than 1,000 targets across Yemen, since U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a large-scale aerial campaign to be launched against the Arab country in mid-March, 2025.
24/7 operations continue against Iran-backed Houthis from CENTCOM forces aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70).#HouthisAreTerrorists pic.twitter.com/ArFPA86WYo
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 26, 2025
Trump claimed that the campaign aimed to protect U.S. shipping, air, and naval assets and to restore “navigation freedom” from Ansar Allah’s attacks, after they resumed a ban on Israeli ships due to Israel’s continuous blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
On Wednesday, the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni government issued a warning to the U.K. of severe consequences after its aggression on Yemen:
“In a display of typical British arrogance, the UK Ministry of Defense announced its participation in a joint military attack with the American enemy on our country, south of Sanaa. In response, the Government affirms that the British enemy must consider the consequences of its entanglement and anticipate the outcomes of its aggression against Yemen.”
The statement continues:
“While we pledge to respond to this unlawful and unjustified aggression, we emphasize that this attack falls within the ongoing Anglo-American efforts to support the Israeli enemy by attempting to halt Yemen’s assistance to Palestine, so that the Israeli enemy can continue its genocide in Gaza.”
The statement goes on to say “the joint aggression is yet another confirmation that the US and the UK are partners in the same war, against both Yemen and Palestine.”
The Yemeni government further reaffirmed that “Yemen’s position remains firm in supporting the Palestinian people in the battle of promised liberation and sacred resistance.”
Aseel Saleh is a correspondent for Peoples Dispatch.
This article is from Peoples Dispatch.
Views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
According to Amnesty International (February, 9, 2024):
‘…the criminal court in Dhamar in northern Yemen sentenced nine individuals to death – with seven sentenced to be executed by stoning, and two by crucifixion – while 23 others were handed prison sentences between six months and 10 years on charges including “homosexuality”, “spreading immorality”, and “immoral acts”’
Does that justify bombing a country because it is trying to stop a genocide?