Sanaa Hit by Dozens of Airstrikes After New Government Offensive — Al Jazeera

Dozens of airstrikes have hit Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, after the government announced Operation Dawn of Yemen to retake the city from Houthi control. The Houthis have held Sanaa since September 2014, and before the new campaign the city had largely avoided bombing following a truce between the internationally recognized government and the Houthis announced in 2023, Al Jazeera reports.

Civilian casualties

On Monday, an airstrike in the Sawwan area of Sanaa Governorate killed a child and injured seven other civilians. Since the start of the new offensive, Sanaa International Airport has also been hit, killing two employees.

Government ground forces are hundreds of miles from the capital and are fighting the Houthis on Yemen’s western coast and near Taiz. Therefore, attacks on Houthi positions in Sanaa are carried out from the air. Residents of the city fear strikes near areas where Houthi military facilities may be located.

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Fears of displacement and shortages

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 200,000 people have been forcibly displaced in Yemen in recent weeks due to intensified fighting. Most of them are from Taiz Governorate in the country’s southwest, where the most intense ground fighting between government forces and the Houthis continues.

Residents of Sanaa have also begun stockpiling food and fuel amid fears of rising prices and supply disruptions. Wafiq Saleh, executive director of the Taiz Center for Yemeni-Gulf Studies, said that higher food and fuel prices would worsen the humanitarian situation. Last week, the UN World Food Programme warned that three quarters of families in some areas of Yemen are suffering from hunger.

Operation objectives

The Yemeni government said it would continue the operation until it achieves its objectives, including retaking Sanaa. The Saudi coalition supporting the government named Sanaa, Saada and Amran among the main sources of the Houthi missile threat. Saudi Arabia has also been subjected to Houthi missile attacks, including strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh; the latest of them, according to the publication, killed 12 people.