Bombing frightens, angers civilians in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni civilians shuddered in fear and bristled with anger under an intense Saudi-led bombing campaign against Shiite rebels on Tuesday, day six of fighting that prompted international aid organizations to express alarm over high civilian casualties from the strikes and violence roiling the country.

Residents of the capital, Sanaa, sought shelter and got little sleep during the night, while some took to the rooftops in anger or frustration, firing automatic rifles skywards toward the roar of warplanes. Schools, universities and government offices were all closed, along with most shops. Few cars ventured onto the mostly deserted streets.

“We haven’t slept — one child screams and a second cries,” said Mustafa al-Ahmadi, a father of eight who said the family seeks shelter in their basement when close explosions rock the house. “Once it’s quiet, we return to our room, but the minute we step in, a second explosion rocks the house ,so we return to the basement. This is how we spend the night, running back and forth.”

Late Tuesday night, Yemeni military officials said the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, took up positions overlooking the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which serves as a gateway for oil tankers headed to Europe, raising the risk they could threaten the key global shipping route with heavy weapons.

In what was likely the worst night yet for Sanaa, aircraft late Monday and early Tuesday repeatedly bombed a weapons depot in the southern Faj Atten neighborhood, sending an eruption of fire into the air and shaking windows for miles around.

Officials from all sides said strikes hit the city’s so-called “security belt” of army camps surrounding the capital, some of which stored ballistic missiles. Those camps are held by the rebels or their allies, military units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

“We ran to the shop to take shelter after 1 a.m. because of airstrikes on the mountain,” said Abdel-Rahman al-Hamidi, who lives near a rebel camp that was returning fire at warplanes. Many other shops are locked up with heavy metal chains.

The campaign by the Saudi-led coalition, made up mainly of Sunni Arab states, aims to weaken the Iranian-allied Houthis, who have overrun much of the country with the help of Saleh’s loyalists and forced Yemen’s current president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, to flee abroad.

The U.N. human rights office in Geneva said that in the past five days, at least 93 civilians have been killed and 364 wounded in five Yemeni cities engulfed in the violence, including, Sanaa. The overall figures are likely much higher.