Four Yemeni civilians and five Houthi rebels were killed in a Saudi-led military coalition airstrike that targeted an insurgent vehicle in southwest Yemen, local and medical sources said on Saturday.
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The attack took place Friday evening in the district of Makbana, 35 kilometers northwest of Taez, a city under government control but under siege since 2015 by the Houthis, a local official told AFP speaking under the on condition of anonymity. "
Four civilians had boarded the military vehicle before it was bombed by the coalition killing all the passengers, or nine people in all,
" he said.
A medical source confirmed this report to AFP, adding that two civilians who were not far from the targeted vehicle had been injured. A Houthi media for its part mentioned the death of 18 civilians. The Riyadh-led coalition, which has supported Yemeni government forces since 2015 against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, did not immediately comment on the incident.
Taez, Yemen's third-largest city, remains under government control, but most of the surrounding districts, including Makbana, are in the hands of the Houthis, who already control most of the country's north.
The war between the Yemeni authorities and the insurgents since 2014 will have caused by the end of the year, directly and indirectly (hunger, disease, lack of water), the death of around 377,000 people, according to a report. from the UN last week.
The United Nations calls the situation in the country the worst humanitarian disaster in the world today.
Millions of people have also been displaced as a result of the fighting.
