Local Editor
An independent data collection project revealed that the Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen has launched 3,362 airstrikes in 2018.
More than 900 air raids targeted residential areas, civilian vehicles, market places as well as medical and education facilities, according to the Yemen Data Project.
In its 2018 data summary, the project pointed out that the Yemeni provinces of Saada and Hodeida were hit the most.
“The focus on Saada intensified in 2018 with 1,306 air raids - 39% of bombings - targeting the northern border governorate, more than in any other year since the air war started in 2015. Al-Hudaydah was the second most heavily bombed governorate in 2018 with 763 air raids - a 70% rise on the previous high of 450 in 2017,” the summary read.
Even though the rate of air raids was the lowest in any year since the bombing campaign began in March 2015, but the project said that “2018 saw a shift in the percentages of strikes hitting non-military civilian sites and military sites.”
According to the data, non-military targeting rose to 34% overall in 2018 - peaking at 48% in September - with raids on military sites falling to 21% in 2018.”
The past year also saw a 45% increase in the proportion of bombings where the target was unknown.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing Hadi’s resigned regime back to power and crushing the country’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.
According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis.
The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.
According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.
A number of Western countries, the US and Britain in particular, are also accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance.
Source: Yemenwatch.net
