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Death toll from zionist Saudi airstrikes against Yemen’s Taiz rises to 120

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Death toll from Saudi airstrikes against the southwestern Yemeni province of Taiz has climbed to 120 as Riyadh pushes ahead with its aerial military campaign against its conflict-ridden neighbor.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saudi warplanes struck 200 residential units, housing the families of electrical engineers and technicians, in al-Mukha district of the province, situated 346 kilometers (214 miles) south of the capital, Sana’a, late on Friday, leaving 120 people dead and over 150 others injured, al-Masirah satellite television network reported.

Reports coming out of the area also say most of the dead bodies, including women, children and elderly, were burnt beyond recognition in the flames caused by strikes.

Members of rescue teams as well as ambulances had difficulty reaching the area due to incessant bombardment, and were even at times targeted by Saudi military aircraft.

Yemeni men stand amid the ruins of buildings destroyed in a Saudi airstrike on the capital, Sana’a, on July 16, 2015. (© AFP)

 

Earlier in the day, four civilians lost their lives when Saudi warplanes carried out ten airstrikes against multiple areas in the Dhi Na’im district of the southern province of Bayda.

Several people were also killed or injured as Saudi fighter jets pounded a residential neighborhood in al-Ashah district of the northwestern Amran Province, located 53 kilometers (32 miles) northwest of Sana’a.

Saudi planes also targeted passenger buses and a popular market in Yemen’s southwestern province of Lahij. There were no immediate reports of fatalities and the extent of damage inflicted.

Yemeni children stand amid the rubble of a building damaged in a Saudi airstrike on the capital, Sana’a, on July 13, 2015. (© AFP)

 

Moreover, al-Qaeda-affiliated militants decapitated a Muslim preacher, identified as Abdelrahman al-Suleimani, in al-Abdiyah district of the central Ma’rib Province. There are reports that the cleric had condemned Saudi onslaught on Yemen in his sermons.

Yemeni army forces, backed by fighters from allied popular committees, also fired several mortar rounds at Jalah, al-Khanjar and al-Mattan military bases in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern Jizan region, which is located near the border with Yemen.

Meanwhile, a blaze broke out at al-Muharraqa base in the same Saudi region when 37 missiles reportedly slammed into the military site.

Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 – without a UN mandate – in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on July 21 that at least 1,693 civilians had been killed and 3,829 others injured in the Arab country since March 26. However, local sources say over 4,500 people have lost their lives since then.

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