Photo released, Reuters
Aden airport bombing at the end of last year
A report submitted to the UN Security Council stated that the attack that targeted Aden airport in Yemen at the end of last year was carried out with ballistic missiles similar to those owned by the Houthis.
The attack, which was carried out on December 30, 2020, killed about twenty civilians, and more than a hundred wounded, including passengers who were leaving, airport employees and journalists.
The confidential report was submitted to the United Nations experts assigned to discuss the sanctions imposed on Yemen, and the French News Agency published a summary of it.
According to the report, Aden International Airport was hit by three ballistic missiles “minutes after the landing of a plane carrying Prime Minister Moein Abdel-Malik Saeed and members of the unity government.”
According to the group of experts, “the short-range, accurate-guided surface-to-surface ballistic missiles carry segmented warheads, and it is likely that they are a long-range version of the Badr-1 missile, which since 2018 has been part of the Houthi arsenal.”
The experts added, “Given the location of the bombing, it is clear that the intention was to hit the plane carrying government officials, such as the VIP reception hall where a press conference was scheduled to take place at the time of the attack.”
According to the report, the rockets were fired from “facilities that were under the control of the Houthi forces at the time of the bombing.”
Aden, the southern port city, is the temporary capital of Yemen after the internationally recognized government moved there since the Houthis expelled it from Sanaa in the north.
This report comes days after the targeting of a station for the distribution of petroleum products in the city of Jizan in southern Saudi Arabia, in an attack claimed by the Houthis.
The show coincided with an increase in drone and missile attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Arabias energy and security infrastructure.
The coalition forces also renewed the bombing of the capital, Sanaa, which is under the control of the Houthis.
Photo released, Reuters
The bombing killed more than twenty civilians
The report comes on the impact of the discussion about the future of the Saudi initiative for a comprehensive ceasefire in Yemen, under the supervision of the United Nations.
The internationally recognized Yemeni government welcomed the Saudi initiative, while the Ansar Allah movement demanded that the blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition be lifted before the initiative was approved.
Last February, the Joe Biden administration announced its intention to cancel the classification of the Houthi group as a “terrorist organization”, in a move aimed at lifting the ban on sending basic aid to Yemen.
The conflict erupted in late 2014, when the Houthis took control of a large part of the west of the country.
In 2015, Riyadh led a military coalition of Arab countries to support the internationally recognized government, but it is still struggling to defeat the Houthis.
An estimated 20 million people – a third of Yemen’s population – depend on humanitarian aid. About two million children suffer from acute malnutrition.
In addition to the conflict, Yemen witnessed a collapse in its health system, which made it unable to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic.
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https://www.bbc.com/arabic/middleeast-56587972
