Yemen. Balance rises to 22 dead after Saudi attacks on the Sana region

Plink minus 22 people died in Saudi attacks in the Yemeni region of Sana, according to a new balance sheet released by local media.

“The number of victims of the massacre perpetrated by Saudi enemy aviation (...) has risen to 22 people, including women and children, and the number of injured to 30,” the news agency said. Saba — a balance sheet also released on Almasirah television.

Initially, Saba had 11 dead and 20 injured.

After missile and drone firing by the Huthis against the Saudi kingdom — which occurred almost daily in October — the fighting seems to have intensified in recent days on Yemeni soil.

Almasirah exhibited a video that, according to the station, was recorded in the village of Al-Shariyah, east of Sana. The images show smoke rising from a hit site, piles of debris and wounded receiving hospital assistance.

Quoting a local source, the agency reported that Riyadh-led military coalition planes hit six homes in the region.

According to the same source, rescue teams have also been attacked, while rescue operations are still underway. The Saudi authorities have not yet commented on this information.

Syria will send thousands of soldiers to Saudi Arabia and Yemen — where some are already — to support the Yemeni Government and its Saudi ally against the Huthis, the Yemeni authorities told the AFP news agency.

In this first sending of foreign troops since the resumption of hostilities on this front, Damascus will send 3,000 military personnel to assist the kingdom, which has been the subject of recurrent attacks by the Huthis. Some of these sources have detailed that hundreds of Syrian soldiers are already present on both sides of the Yemeni-Kingdom border, which requested international aid.

On Friday, a bombing of a market in the province of Taiz (west) — where the city with the same name has been surrounded by the Huthis for weeks — resulted in the death of dozens.

Yemeni government forces and Huthis rebels blamed each other for the attack.

After four years of relative calm, the conflict in Yemen — started in 2014 with the capture of the capital Sana by Huthis rebels, which is a pro-Iran movement — was resumed in July, opening a new front in the Middle East war.

Since October, the Huthis have intensified their attacks on oil infrastructure and Saudi airports, while the Riyadh-led military coalition — which has supported the Yemeni government since 2015 — has regularly bombarded the rebel group’s positions in Yemen.

In September, an offensive by the rebels on the Yemeni coast of the Red Sea allowed them to strengthen their control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic crossing point for maritime traffic between Europe and Asia.

According to the Wall Street Journal, ships transiting through the Red Sea — where a blockade against the Saudi Arabian fleet, the world's largest exporter of crude oil — now come to contact these fighters to obtain their endorsement and thus ensure their passage.