Saudi-led airstrikes kill at least 60 in Yemen just before truce

At least 60 people were reported killed in late-night airstrikes targeting the port city of Mukha just hours before officials of the Saudi Arabian-led coalition on Saturday announced a five-day humanitarian truce in fighting with Houthi rebels who have seized the capital, Sana, and other Yemeni cities.

The air attacks struck a residential neighborhood near an electric station that provides power for the Taizz province city, known as a major coffee-growers marketplace.

Some reports placed the death toll as high as 120. The Ministry of Health said that about 100 people were injured, many of them women and children.

Tamim Shami, a Ministry of Health spokesman, termed the strikes “crimes against humanity in which civilians are directly targeted in their homes.”

Among the dead, the spokesman said, were members of families who had already fled fighting elsewhere in Yemen.

Mohammed Qadesi said his brother, an engineer, was among those killed, along with his brother’s wife and five children. “It is not fair what is happening to innocent people,” Qadesi said in a telephone interview.

Rescue workers said access to the victims was restricted by fear of additional air raids that would target ambulance crews.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has expressed concern about a recent increase in violence, including more ground fighting.

“The suffering of the civilian population has reached unprecedented levels. More than 100 days into the crisis, severe shortages of water, food and fuel continue across the country, together with airstrikes and fighting on the ground,” said Antoine Grand, head of the Red Cross delegation in Yemen.

Leaders of the coalition, which is seeking to restore ousted President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi to power, announced a five-day humanitarian truce to begin at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, said to be have been requested by Hadi. But they also said the coalition would respond with force to any violations by the Houthi rebels.

A Houthi leader, meanwhile, said consultations were nearing completion for the formation of a president council and national unity government.

The new truce would be the third since the conflict began; previous truces in May and June failed to halt fighting, with each side accusing the other of infractions.

Al-Alayaa is a special correspondent.